PRESBYTERIANS. 



737 



Number of congregations, 544; of ministers, 

 583; of eldors, 4,(il v 2; of preachers, 68; of 

 students of divinity, 74; of meinbers,175,066; 

 amount of income for congregational purposes, 

 230,754 ; congregational income for missions 

 and benevolence, 86,390 ; income from volun- 

 tary contributions and other sources of reve- 

 nue, 41,242; total income, 867,388. 



The Synod of the United Presbyterian Church 

 met in Edinburgh May 5th. The Rev. George 

 Jeffrey, D. D., was chosen Moderator. The 

 report on the statistics of the Church showed 

 that the number of congregations was ten more 

 than in 1878, and that there had been an in- 

 crease of about 1,500 members during the year. 

 The income of the Church was 11,690 less 

 than in 1877. The Synod proceeded to the dis- 

 oassion of the " Declaratory Statement on the 

 Subordinate Standards " which had been pro- 

 visionally adopted by the preceding Synod (for 

 the text of which see the " Annual Cyclopedia " 

 for 1878, article PRESBYTERIANS). The state- 

 ment was adopted finally, after which the Rev. 

 David Macrae of Gourock moved an additional 

 declaration that " in regard to the ultimate pen- 

 alty of sin the Church does not hold herself 

 bound to the interpretation of the Westmin- 

 ster Confession as to what the Scriptures say 

 on this subject." An earnest debate followed 

 upon the motion, in the course of which the 

 attention of the Synod was brought to the fact 

 that Mr. Macrae, in a speech before the Pres- 

 bytery to which he was attached, had said that 

 the Church had had recourse to "Jesuitical 

 devices " in the preparation of the declaratory 

 act. The epithet employed by Mr. Macrae was 

 regarded as offensive, and he was requested to 

 withdraw it. He refused to do so, whereupon 

 the Synod passed a resolution of censure upon 

 him for applying the word " Jesuitical " to the 

 proceedings of the court, and the censure was 

 administered to him by the Moderator. Mr. 

 Macrae's motion failed to receive attention. A 

 committee was appointed to confer with Mr. 

 Macrae upon the views expressed by him in his 

 motion and his speech. The committee re- 

 ported, after having held conferences with Mr. 

 Macrae, that they had unanimously found that 

 his views were irreconcilable with the teach- 

 ing of Scripture as exhibited in the standards 

 of the Church, and with any reasonable amount 

 of liberty that could be allowed to ministers in 

 relation to the standards, and recommended 

 that he be suspended from the exercise of his 

 ministry, and that a commission be appointed 

 to deal with him and report at the next meet- 

 ing of the Synod. Among the questions and 

 answers which were quoted in the report as 

 indicating his position were: 1. "Do the lost 

 in hell exist for ever ? " " No, if in the state 

 described in the Westminster Confession." 2. 

 41 Will they exist for ever in any state ? " " We 

 do not know. The Bible speaks explicitly of 

 everlasting life for the good, nowhere of ever- 

 lasting existence for the bad." Mr. Macrae 

 made an explanatory statement of his belief. 

 VOL. xix. 47 A 



It was decided to leave the question of sus- 

 pension to the commission, which was ap- 

 pointed to consist of twenty ministers and ten 

 elders, to have presbyterial powers to proceed 

 in the case as they should see cause, the right 

 of appeal to be reserved for both the accused 

 and the members of the commission to an in 

 hunc effectum Synod, or, failing this, to a regu- 

 lar meeting of the Synod. The returns of the 

 views of the presbyteries and sessions on the 

 question of marriage with a deceased wife's 

 sister showed that a majority of those bodies 

 were in favor of a relaxation of the law of the 

 Church which excluded from membership per- 

 sons who contracted such marriages. A com- 

 mittee was appointed to consider the subject 

 and report upon it to the next meeting of the 

 Synod. 



The committee appointed by the Synod to 

 deal with the Rev. David Macrae in reference to 

 his views on future punishment held a confer- 

 ence with him after the adjournment of the Syn- 

 od. The committee found that " the conduct of 

 Mr. Macrae in the premises warrants and re- 

 quires his separation from his ministerial charge 

 and suspension sine die from all ministerial func- 

 tions." This decision was communicated to 

 the parish church of Gourock on the following 

 Sunday, upon which a protest on the part of 

 the session against the procedure of the com- 

 mittee was read from the pulpit. Mr. Macrae 

 had demanded to be tried by libel, so that the 

 points in which he differed in doctrine from 

 the Church might be specified ; but the com- 

 mittee decided that, inasmuch as there was no 

 doubt respecting his views, this was unneces- 

 sary. Mr. Macrae then took an appeal to the 

 Synod on three points: 1. The decision not to 

 try him for libel ; 2. The suspension from the 

 ministry ; 3. The final action of the committee. 

 A special session of the Synod to review the 

 case was called, to meet July 22d. At this 

 meeting the appeal from the preliminary act of 

 the committee in suspending Mr. Macrae was 

 first called up. This was dismissed, and the 

 committee was sustained by a large majority. 

 On the appeal against the refusal of the com- 

 mittee to proceed by libel, a motion to grant a 

 libel was rejected, and a motion to reject the 

 appeal was carried by 277 votes against 47 for 

 a motion that the appeal be sustained. On the 

 third point of appeal, against the final action of 

 the committee that Mr. Macrae's conduct war- 

 ranted his suspension sine die from all minis- 

 terial functions, a motion that, "Inasmuch as 

 certain questions addressed by the committee 

 to Mr. Macrae were not based either on Scrip- 

 ture or the Confession, and inasmuch as the di- 

 vergence between Mr. Macrae and the Church, 

 on doctrinal points does not require suspension 

 sine die, but may be dealt with by censure or 

 prohibition, the final decision of the committee 

 be not sustained," was rejected ; and a motion 

 to "dismiss the protest and appeal and affirm 

 the finding of the committee, and, on the ground 

 of its finding, declare Mr. Macrae no longer a 



