PRESBYTERIANS. 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 701 



this Church as they were reported at the meet- 

 ing of the Synod in May : Number of commu- 

 nicants, 50,587 ; of ministers, 267 ; of Sunday- 

 schools, 372, with 5,589 teachers and 53,003 

 scholars; total amount received for stipends 

 during the year, 71,357 ; total income of the 

 Church for all purposes during the same peri- 

 od, 229,414. The sum of 125,825 had been 

 received toward a " Union Thanksgiving Fund " 

 of 250,000, which it was proposed to estab- 

 lish in commemoration of the consummation 

 of the union between the English Presbyterian 

 Church and the United Presbyterians of Eng- 

 land, of which 17,519 had been added during 

 the year. The year's income of the widows' 

 and orphans' fund had been 2,513, and that 

 of the sustentation fund 26,047. The Synod 

 had a church-building fund of 22,430. The 

 receipts of the Synod during 1877 for foreign 

 missions were 13,018. Seventy-two stations 

 had been formed in the districts of Amoy and 

 Swatow, China, and the island of Formosa, 

 in connection with which 15 European mis- 

 sionaries and 57 native evangelists were em- 

 ployed, and 31 theological students were en- 

 rolled. The whole number of converts was 

 2,117. Two hundred persons had been bap- 

 tized during the year. 



The third Synod of the Presbyterian Church 

 in England met in Manchester, April 29th. 

 The Rev. Professor Chalmers, of the London 

 College, was chosen Moderator. The business 

 of the Synod consisted chiefly of a review of 

 the affairs of the Church in reference to its 

 statistics, funds, home and foreign missions, 

 educational institutions, and Sunday schools. 

 The Sunday schools of the Church were put 

 under the supervision of the sessions, which 

 were made responsible for the admission and 

 dismissal of superintendents and teachers. The 

 Synod recommended the establishment of a 

 proprietary grammar school, at which the sons 

 of Presbyterians could receive an education 

 in accordance with the principles of the 

 Church. 



XII. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND. 

 The Irish Presbyterian Church consisted, ac- 

 cording to the statistical reports for 1878, of 

 37 Presbyteries, of which 36 are in Ireland 

 and one in India. The 36 Presbyteries in Ire- 

 land numbered 626 ministers, 559 congrega- 

 tions, 79,154 families, and 106,110 communi- 

 cants, with 1,099 Sunday schools, having 8,510 

 teachers and 72,909 children. The Presbytery 

 of Katiawar and Gujerat in India had the charge 

 of six principal and six minor stations, with 

 nine ordained missionaries and a native church 

 of 1,720 adherents. The total income of the 

 Church for the year, exclusive of that accruing 

 from the two colleges and the invested funds, 

 was 154,953. 



The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 

 Church in Ireland met at Belfast, June 6th. 

 The Rev. Professor Witherow, Professor of 

 Pastoral Theology in Derry College, was cho- 

 sen Moderator. The statistical reports showed 



that 79,157 families were represented in the 

 congregations, being an increase during the 

 year of 709 families. The number of Sunday 

 schools was 1,099, with 8,510 teachers and 

 72,909 scholars. The total amount of money 

 raised for church purposes was 154,953, 12,- 

 000 in advance of any sum raised in previous 

 years, and nearly double the amount that the 

 Church was able to raise in 1865, when its 

 statistics were first put into tabular form. 

 The sum of 21,000 had been secured for the 

 endowment fund of the Theological College, 

 and was to be applied to the provision of build- 

 ings. The report on elementary education 

 showed that 687 schools were entirely under 

 Presbyterian management, and that of 147 new 

 schools taken under the National Board during 

 the year, 14 were Presbyterian. Resolutions 

 were adopted declaring the adherence of the 

 Assembly to the principle of united non-secta- 

 rian education as opposed to the denomina- 

 tional system. The subject of the use of in- 

 strumental music in worship was again dis 

 cussed, the Committee on that subject report- 

 ing that six out of the eight congregations 

 using harmoniums had agreed to discontinue 

 them, and that they hoped the two congrega- 

 tions which still held out would yet be persuad- 

 ed to follow their example, but deprecating the 

 making of the matter a subject of church disci- 

 pline. The Committee was reappointed. A 

 report was made upon the Jewish mission, de- 

 scribing the work carried on at Vienna, Bonn, 

 and other places. A petition to Parliament 

 was adopted, praying for the assimilation of 

 the English law of burials to that of Ire- 

 land. 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

 The table on page 702 is a summary of the 

 statistics of the Protestant Episcopal Church 

 in the United States for 1877-'78, as they are 

 given in Whittaker's " Protestant Episcopal 

 Almanac and Directory for 1879." 



The " Church Almanac " of the Protestant 

 Episcopal Tract Society publishes only such sta- 

 tistics as are officially recorded in the Diocesan 

 Convention journals for the current year. It 

 gives the whole number of the clergy (including 

 the bishops) as 3,330 ; of parishes, about 2,900 ; 

 of communicants in 48 dioceses and 10 mission- 

 ary districts, 312,718 ; of Sunday-school teach- 

 ers in 39 dioceses and 6 missionary districts, 

 28,365 ; of Sunday-school scholars in 40 dio- 

 ceses and 9 missionary districts, 268,555 ; and 

 the amount of contributions as $5,788,2.66. 



The receipts of the Domestic Committee of 

 the Board of Missions for the year ending Sep- 

 tember 1, 1878, were: from collections, contri- 

 butions, and interest on investments, for domes- 

 tic missions proper, $103,461 ; designated for 

 work among the colored people of the South, 

 $14,300 ; designated as special contributions 

 for individual bishops, schools, and other in- 

 stitutions, $25,864 ; total, $143,266. The debt 

 of $5,138 standing against the Committee in 

 the previous year had been paid off, and the 



