PRESBYTERIANS. 



765 



The Institute for the Training of Colored 

 Ministers, at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, had been 

 attended by twenty-three students, eight of 

 whom were Presbyterians, five Baptists, and 

 ten Methodists, one of whom had entered tbo 

 Presbyterian ministry. 



The receipts of the Committee of Foreign 

 Missions for the year had been $59,215, or 

 $10,737 more than for the previous year; the 

 committee was in debt to the amount of 

 $12,000 ; and it owned property in foreign 

 lands valued at $75,000. Eighteen ordained 

 ministers and one missionary physician, with 

 twenty-six American and thirty-four native 

 assistants, were engaged in the service of the 

 missions. 



The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 

 Church in the United States met at Staunton, 

 Virginia, May 19th. The Rev. R. P. Farris, 

 D. D., of St. Louis, Missouri, was chosen Mod- 

 erator. The most important subject considered 

 was that of retrenchment and reform in the 

 administration of the benevolent funds of the 

 Church, which was brought before the Assem- 

 bly in majority and minority reports of a com- 

 mittee that had been appointed by a previous 

 General Assembly to consider it. The majority 

 report advised against any important change in 

 the plan of administration, except in the depart- 

 ment of relief. The report of the majority 

 recommended the abolition of all the secretari- 

 ats ; the commission of all the work that can 

 be done by presbyteries to the presbyteries ; and 

 the appointment of a single central treasurer, 

 who should be a deacon and not a minister, 

 to receive and disburse all the funds for causes 

 which can not be managed by the presbyteries 

 in their individual capacity. The considera- 

 tion of the nature of the office of deacon was 

 connected with this subject, and was discussed 

 in an elaborate paper by the Rev. Dr. J. L. 

 Girardeau, which attracted much attention. 

 The minority report was rejected, and no 

 definite conclusion was reached. An appeal 

 was made to the Assembly against the action 

 of the Synod of Georgia in a case of discipline. 

 The appellant had been tried for moral delin- 

 quency; the jury had given a verdict that the 

 charges were not proven ; and he was admon- 

 ished. He afterward asked for a letter of 

 dismission, and it was refused, for the reason, 

 as assigned, that he was under judicial cen- 

 sure. He appealed, on the ground that he 

 had been condemned without being given a 

 hearing in his own defense, to the presbytery, 

 and then to the Synod, both of which bodies 

 refused him a hearing. His appeal was sus- 

 tained by the Assembly, whose decision was 

 given in his favor by a large majority. The 

 Committee of Foreign Missions was authorized 

 to establish a mission in Africa whenever that 

 can be done without conflict with the interests 

 of the other missions, and to conduct corre- 

 spondence with reference to carrying out the 

 scheme of co-operation between the mission- 

 aries of the " Reformed Churches " in foreign 



fields, which was suggested by the General 

 Presbyterian Council. The Assembly decided 

 that the stated, or temporary, supply is not an 

 officer recognized in the law of the Church ; 

 and that when any one is serving in that ca- 

 pacity, he has all the rights of a minister, and 

 may not be a member of the session, though 

 he may be its Moderator. An overture was 

 sent down to the presbyteries asking them to 

 vote whether a provision for the demission of 

 the Eldership shall be incorporated in the 

 " Book of Discipline." 



III. UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF 

 NORTH AMERICA. The statistical summaries 

 presented to the General Assembly, in May, 

 gave tha following items respecting the con- 

 dition of this Church for the year : Number 

 of synods, 9 ; of presbyteries, 01 ; total nuirf- 

 ber of ministers, 704 ; number of licentiates, 

 47 ; of students of theology, 65 ; of congre- 

 gations, 814 ; of members, 82,937 ; of Sunday- 

 schools, 768, with 8,377 officers and teachers, 

 and 72,020 scholars. Amount of contribu- 

 tions: For salaries of ministers, $444,915; 

 for congregational expenses, $230,706 ; to the 

 boards, $137,144; general contributions, $40,- 

 775 ; making a total of contributions of $853,- 

 541, and an average per member of $10.74. 

 The average salary of the pastors was $910. 



The general condition of the boards and be- 

 nevolent enterprises was represented in their 

 reports as follows: 



Board of Church Extension: Receipts, ex- 

 clusive of a balance from the previous year, 

 $19,781 ; appropriations had been made to the 

 amount of $22,112. 



Ministerial Relief: The board had received 

 $4,914, had paid $2,785 to beneficiaries, had 

 invested $2,265 permanently, and had cared 

 for nineteen cases of disabled ministers, and 

 widows and orphans of deceased ministers. 



The Board of Publication returned a surplus 

 of assets over liabilities of $72,036, and re- 

 ported that its receipts for the year had been 

 $60,723. 



The Board of Education had $13,040 in- 

 vested as a permanent fund, and had given aid 

 during the year to nineteen students of the- 

 ology. 



The Board of Freedmen't Mi**ion had re- 

 ceived $13,129, held property valued at $85,- 

 900, and had a church, a theological class of 

 80 members, and a college with an enrollment 

 of 185 students at Knoxville, Tennessee, and a 

 mission and a school of 210 pupils at Chu-o 

 City, Virginia. 



The Board of Home Miuiont had granted 

 $46,548 in aid of 208 stations. The reports, 

 no far as received, gave the number of mem- 

 bers in these stations as 11,116, the average 

 attendance on worship as 18,428, and the :i\er 

 age attendance on the Sunday-schools as 12,- 

 016 pupils. 



The receipts of the Board of Foreign 

 tiont had been $65,032, and its expenditures 

 $65,29j. The mission in India returned 14 



