738 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



minister of this Church," was carried by a 

 vote of 288 to 29. The decision was formal- 

 ly communicated to Mr. Macrae, after which 

 he was permitted to make a short address to 

 the Synod. Mr. Macrae's congregation after- 

 ward seceded from the United Presbyterian 

 Church. 



X. JKISH PKESBYTEKIAN CHURCH. The fol- 

 lowing is a summary of the statistics of the 

 Irish Presbyterian Church, as they were pub- 

 lished in connection with the report of the 

 proceedings of the General Assembly of 1879 : 

 Number of sittings provided, 228,239 ; total 

 number of families, 79,632; of communicants, 

 106,776 ; of communicants added, 6,282, against 

 4,728 communicants left ; of baptisms, 9,068 ; 

 of elders, 2,145 ; of deacons, 6,746; of contribu- 

 tors to the Sustentation Fund, 39,392 ; of sti- 

 pend-payers, 68,238. The number of national 

 schools reported as under Presbyterian man- 

 agement was 712, and of Sunday-schools 1,053, 

 with 8,579 teachers and an average attendance 

 of 72,288 scholars. 



The General Assembly of the Irish Presbyte- 

 rian Church met in Belfast June 2d. The Rev. 

 Professor Watts, D. D., of Belfast, was chosen 

 Moderator. Statistical reports were presented, 

 showing that the entire income of the Church 

 for the year had been 154,377, or 575 less 

 than the income for the previous year; that 

 the entire indebtedness of the Church was 72,- 

 000; that about 228,000 sittings were provided 

 in the churches ; and that the number of fami- 

 lies connected with the Church had increased 

 478. Exciting discussions took place on the 

 subject of church music. Petitions were pre- 

 sented, asking that, as hymns and paraphrases 

 of the Psalms were now in use in many of the 

 congregations, the Assembly appoint a com- 

 mittee to prepare a selection of such hymns 

 and paraphrases. These petitions were reject- 

 ed by a vote of 157 to 225 ; the ministers giv- 

 ing a majority of one in favor of them, and the 

 elders a majority of 69 against them. The com- 

 mittee appointed by the previous Assembly on 

 the course to be pursued toward congregations 

 which persist in using musical instruments in 

 the service, presented a report advising that, 

 while the authorized mode of celebrating praise 

 in the Church was purely vocal, yet no disci- 

 pline should be exercised on ministers or congre- 

 gations using instruments. An amendment was 

 offered to the effect that, as the Assembly had 

 pronounced against instrumental music in 1873, 

 that decision should be reaffirmed, and the pres- 

 byteries should be instructed to bring the law 

 before transgressing congregations, and report 

 to the next Assembly ; which was adopted by 

 a vote of 313 to 278. 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics 

 of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the 

 United States, divided into 48 dioceses and 14 

 missionary jurisdictions, as they are given in 

 Whittaker's "Protestant Episcopal Almanac 

 and Directory " for 1880 : 



Number of baptisms during the year, 45,- 

 476; of confirmations, 26,903; of candidates 

 for orders, 369 ; of Sunday-school teachers, 

 34,000 ; amount of contributions, $6,582,979. 

 The churches in Europe included in the table 

 are: the Church of the Holy Trinity, Paris, 

 France; St. Paul's Church, Rome, Italy ; 

 American Episcopal Church, Florence, Italy; 

 St. John's Church, Dresden, Germany; Em- 

 manuel Church, Geneva, Switzerland ; the 

 Church of the Holy Spirit, Nice, France. The 

 " Church Almanac " gives the number of com- 

 municants reported in 48 dioceses and 10 mis- 

 sionary districts as 322,713. 



