PRESBYTERIANS. 



697 



Monroe County, Va., August 15th. The Rev. 

 W. S. Moffatt was chosen Moderator. The 

 Treasurer of Erslcine College reported that the 

 amount of the endowment funds of the institu- 

 tion was $79,222, and that his receipts and ex- 

 penditures for the year had been $7,371. Sev- 

 enty-one students had been enrolled during the 

 year. The Theological Institution had been 

 attended by six students. The receipts of the 

 Foreign Mission Fund had been $2,558, and the 

 expenditures in its behalf $630. The amount 

 of the invested funds for foreign missions was 

 $2,664. The Synod employed one missionary 

 in Egypt, who was working in cooperation with 

 the'mission of the United Presbyterian Church. 

 The establishment of an independent mission 

 in Mexico was determined upon, and the Rev. 

 Neill E. Pressly was appointed missionary to 

 take the charge of it. Twelve persons received 

 appointments as homo missionaries, four of 

 whom would labor in Texas. The Synod hav- 

 ing lost its church in Louisville, Ky., by the 

 secession of a majority of its congregation, the 

 adhering pastor of the church was authorized 

 to visit the churches of the Synod for the 

 purpose of securing means to supply another 

 church lot and building. 



VII. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF CANADA. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics of 

 this Church as they were reported to the Gen- 

 eral Assembly in June, 1878 : Number of pas- 

 toral charges, 740 ; of ministers, 613; of church- 

 es and congregations, 1,389 ; of families con- 

 nected with the same, 60,466; of communicants, 

 98,371 ; of baptisms, 9,261 ; total amount prom- 

 ised for stipends, $492,732 ; amount raised 

 for congregational purposes, $863,043 ; total 

 amount of contributions for all purposes, $1,- 

 027,359, or $41,244 over the total contributions 

 of the previous year. The increase in the num- 

 ber of communicants from the previous year 

 was 4,583. 



The accounts of some of the funds are still kept 

 in the separate names of the several churches 

 which entered into the union by which this 

 body was formed in 1874. The summaries in- 

 cluded the following : Widows' 1 and Orphans 1 

 Funds, $41,855 ; number of beneficiaries, so far 

 as reported, 117. A committee was ordered by 

 the General Assembly to consider and report 

 as to the amalgamation of the several funds 

 under this head. Aged and Infirm Ministers' 

 Funds. Receipts, $4,576; expenditures, $6,177 

 of which $4,560 were paid in the eastern 

 section of administration to twenty annuitants. 

 Home Missions. The receipts of the Board of 

 the eastern section were $9,572, and their ex- 

 penditures $10,202. Fourteen preachers and a 

 considerable number of young men were in the 

 field, and a Presbytery had been formed in 

 Newfoundland since the union. The Commit- 

 tee of the western section reported that their 

 receipts had been $30,435, and their expendi- 

 tures $36,302. The Committee had charge of 

 120 mission fields, 355 preaching stations, 89 

 supplemented congregations, 102 churches with 



a Sabbath attendance of 24,400, 7,908 families 

 in connection with the Church, 4,700 commu- 

 nicants in the mission stations, and 4,336 in the 

 supplemented congregations. Board of French 

 Evangelization. Receipts, $23,500. Forty- 

 four ministers and students were regularly em- 

 ployed. The missions of the Church were con- 

 ducted among the Indians of the Northwest 

 Territory ; among the coolies brought from In- 

 dia and China to labor in the plantations on 

 the island of Trinidad ; in the New Hebrides 

 islands of the South Pacific Ocean ; in the 

 Province of Indore, in central India; and in 

 the island of Formosa. 



The fourth General Assembly of the Pres- 

 byterian Church of Canada met at Hamilton, 

 Out., June 12th. The Rev. Dr. Jenkins, of St. 

 Paul's Church, Montreal, was chosen Moder- 

 ator. The subject of the hymnology of the 

 Church was brought before the Assembly by 

 overtures from several synods, which suggest- 

 ed that an effort should be made to promote 

 greater uniformity. A committee was appoint- 

 ed to consider the subject, which afterward 

 reported, recommending the provision of " a 

 hymn-book which may be allowed by the As- 

 sembly for such congregations as desire the 

 use of a hymn-book in their service of praise," 

 not with the design of restricting the liberty 

 of congregations now using hymn-books, but 

 of making a selection which may commend it- 

 self for general adoption. Upon the further 

 recommendation of this report, a committee 

 was appointed to provide a selection chiefly, 

 but not exclusively, from the four hymn-books 

 now in use in the churches, and publish the 

 same as a book of praise allowed by the Gen- 

 eral Assembly. Attention was given to the 

 fact that a body consisting of a number of 

 members of the former Presbyterian Church in 

 Canada in connection with the Church of Scot- 

 land, who had refused to go into the union, had 

 applied to be incorporated under the name of 

 tneir former Church, whereby they would be in 

 a position to assert claims inconsistent with the 

 rights conferred upon this Church by the union, 

 and with its interests. The Committee on the 

 Protection of Church Property was therefore 

 instructed to watch and resist, in the name of 

 the Assembly, " any application for legislation 

 affecting the interests of the united Church 

 as legally identical with the several churches 

 which were merged in and now constitute the 

 Presbyterian Church of Canada." The Com- 

 mittee on Sunday Schools reported that four- 

 teen Presbyteries had held Sunday-school con- 

 ferences in accordance with their recommenda- 

 tions, and that efforts had been made by them 

 to secure the reading of the Bible in the pub- 

 lic schools as a text-book. In a report on col- 

 leges, which was adopted, the Assembly de- 

 cided that the British churches should be asked 

 to take a part in the founding of Christian ed- 

 ucational institutions in Manitoba, and $100,- 

 000 was named as the sum needed to secure the 

 proper equipment of Manitoba College. 



