694 



PRESBYTERIAN'S. 



Missions was effected. The separate depart- 

 ments of the Board were ordered to be discon- 

 tinued and their two treasuries consolidated, 

 and the churches receiving aid from the Board 

 were divided into two classes, to be called sus- 

 tentntion pastorates and mission churches. Sus- 

 tcntation pastorates are required to be regu- 

 larly constituted, to take up annual collections 

 for the Board according to some systematic 

 plan, and to contribute not less than $600 of 

 money toward the annual support of the pas- 

 tor, and at the rate of not less than $6.50 per 

 member, upon which, with the recommenda- 

 tion of the Presbytery, the Board shall supple- 

 ment the salary so as to make it at least $900. 

 The annual rental value of the parsonage, where 

 one is occupied by the minister, may be de- 

 ducted from the amount to be paid by the 

 Board. The continuance of aid in cases where 

 the existence of a sustentation pastorate would 

 prevent the grouping of churches which ought 

 to be united in the support of a single minister, 

 was discouraged. It was further ordered that 

 churches renewing applications for aid should 

 be required to make an annual decrease in the 

 amount asked for whenever such decrease 

 should be practicable; and that no church 

 should receive aid either in sustentation or as 

 a mission church, except in special cases to be 

 agreed upon by the Presbytery and the Board. 



A new basis of representation in the Gen- 

 eral Assembly was adopted. It provides that 

 the commissioners to the General Assembly 

 shall consist as nearly as possible of ministers 

 and elders in equal numbers ; that the ratio of 

 representation shall he one commissioner from 

 each Presbytery containing not more than 2,- 

 500 ministers and communicants combined, and 

 two commissioners from each Presbytery con- 

 taining more than 2,500 and less than 5,000 

 ministers and communicants combined ; and 

 that no Presbytery hereafter organized shall 

 be entitled to a representative till it shall have 

 not less than 500 ministers and communicants 

 combined. 



Resolutions were adopted protesting against 

 the appropriation of public moneys to denomi- 

 national institutions, approving the efforts of 

 the International Sabbath Association and of 

 all others to put down " Sabbath desecration by 

 railroad companies, and any other methods of 

 Sabbath desecration or pleasure," and advising 

 the people of the Church to discourage attend- 

 ance upon public gatherings, even professedly 

 religious ones, which involve such desecration 

 of the Sabbath ; and calling the attention of 

 those who control the secular press to the pro- 

 priety and duty of giving less prominence to 

 the details of crime, especially of all forms of 

 licentiousness. 



II. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF THE UNITED 

 STATES. The following is a summary of the 

 statistics of this Church as they were reported 

 to the General Assembly in May, 1878. The 

 statistics for 1877 are also given for compari- 

 son: 



The Executive Committee of Publication re- 

 ported to the General Assembly that the assets 

 of the Publishing House were valued at $19,- 

 034, and its liabilities amounted to $26,318, 

 showing an excess of liabilities of $7,284. The 

 Committee had endeavored to sell the proper- 

 ty of the publishing house at Richmond, Va., 

 without success, as they had not been able to 

 obtain an offer bearing a fair proportion to its 

 value. The report of the Committee gave a re- 

 view of the embarrassments which the estab- 

 lishment suffered, growing out of the defalca- 

 tion of a former agent and the difficulty of 

 making collections. The business of publica- 

 tion had been carried on during the past year 

 by contract. 



The total receipts of the Committee on Sus- 

 tentation for the year for all the funds under 

 its charge had been $53,632, of which $16,652 

 were for sustentation, and $776 for the colored 

 evangelistic fund. The receipts of the Com- 

 mittee on Beneficiary Education for the year 

 ending May 1, 1878, were $11,023. Seventy- 

 nine candidates had made applications for as- 

 sistance, of whom 41 were attending theologi- 

 cal seminaries. The Committee on the Insti- 

 tution for training Colored Ministers at Tusca- 

 loosa, Ala., reported that the institution had 

 been opened with the Rev. J. A. Dickson, D. D., 

 as instructor, and had been attended by ten 

 students. Many had been prevented from at- 



