766 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



foreign missionaries, 64 teachers and helpers, 

 C churches, with 837 communicant members 

 uiul an average of 957 attendants, 1,903 schol- 

 ars, and 13 theological students. The mission 

 in Egypt returned 21 foreign missionaries, 149 

 native agents, 12 churches, with 1,036 mem- 

 bers and an average attendance of 1,837, 49 

 schools, with an average monthly attendance 

 : L',^19 pupils, and 42 Sunday-schools, with 

 an average attendance of 1,491. The native 

 Christians had contributed, in India, $259, and 

 in Egypt, $4,747, besides paying considerable 

 sums in tuition fees in both countries. A mis- 

 sion among the Chinese at Los Angeles, Cali- 

 fornia, hitherto under the charge of the pres- 

 bytery, was taken under the care of the Geu- 

 .Tul Assembly. 



* The General Assembly of the United Presby- 

 terian Church of North America met at Alle- 

 gheny City, Pennsylvania, May 25th. The 

 Rev. D. W. Carson, D. D., of Burgettstown, 

 Pennsylvania, was chosen Moderator. The 

 most important questions considered were 

 those relating to psalmody and the use of in- 

 strumental music in worship. A memorial was 

 presented calling the attention of the Assembly 

 to the fact that congregations in at least seven 

 presbyteries had, in contravention of the provi- 

 sions of the "Directory of Worship, "introduced 

 instrumental music into their public worship 

 or into the worship of the Sabbath-school, and 

 asking it to direct the presbyteries within whose 

 bounds the law is thus disregarded " to take 

 steps promptly to have the disorder corrected 

 in the congregations under their care respect- 

 ively." The majority of the committee to 

 whom this memorial was referred presented a 

 report in favor of taking the action requested. 

 The report of the minority maintained that 

 the Assembly could acquire jurisdiction over 

 the subject only upon appeal in a case directly 

 brought before it from the lower courts. The 

 Assembly accepted this view, and adopted a 

 resolution declaring that " in the case in ques- 

 tion the presbyteries and synods are compe- 

 tent, and are expected by the Assembly to 

 apply the law." A memorial was also pre- 

 sented asking that an overture respecting the 

 repeal of the law prohibiting the use of instru- 

 mental music in worship be submitted to the 

 presbyteries. The report of the committee on 

 this subject recognized that a deep and wide- 

 spread dissatisfaction with this law existed, 

 and that it was proper to take the opinion of 

 the Church upon it. The resolution submit- 

 ting the question of repeal to vote was passed 

 by a vote of 131 to 22. The committee which 

 had been appointed to confer with a committee 

 of the Associate Reformed Synod of the South 

 with reference to union reported proposing a 

 plan for union without formal basis, but by 

 agreement under which each church should 

 accept the others standards, with the reserva- 

 tion of the privilege of quiet dissent as to par- 

 ticular articles, and of the power to revise the 

 standards in the future. The committee was 



continued with full power to represent that as- 

 sembly as a commission in submitting the propo- 

 sitions for union, in the acceptance of such 

 action as might be taken by the Associate Re- 

 formed Synod of the South, and in the adop- 

 tion of such other arrangements as might be 

 deemed necessary for the consummation of the 

 proposed measure, subject to the ratification 

 of the next General Assembly. 



IV. ASSOCIATE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN 

 CnuHcn. The Associate Reformed /Synod of 

 the /South met at Ebeuezer, Georgia, in August. 

 The Rev. Dr. Phillips was chosen Moderator. 

 A basis of union with the United Presbyterian 

 Church of North America (see the section of 

 this article on that Church) was submitted by 

 the committee having the subject in charge, 

 with a recommendation that it be adopted. 

 The Synod ordered it referred to the presby- 

 teries, whose votes upon it should be reported 

 to the Synod at its next meeting to guide its 

 final action. 



V. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCII (SYN- 

 OD). The Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian 

 Church met at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 

 24th. The Rev. T. P. Stevenson was chosen 

 Moderator. The Committee on Sabbath-schools 

 reported the number of schools as 101, with 

 1,087 teachers and 10,097 scholars. The re- 

 ceipts and expenditures of the Board of For- 

 eign Missions had been each $11,158. The 

 mission in Syria returned 104 members of the 

 Church, 316 children in Sunday-schools, and 

 424 pupils in fourteen day-schools. Industrial 

 departments had been established in connec- 

 tion with the boarding-school at Luadea. 



VI. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (GEN- 

 ERAL SYNOD). The General Synod of the Re- 

 formed Presbyterian Church met at Cedar- 

 ville, Ohio, in May. The Rev. James G. Boice, 

 of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was chosen 

 Moderator. The Synod resolved to discard 

 the term " New School Covenanters," as a 

 term of discrimination between this denomina- 

 tion and the other one of the same name. The 

 Treasurer of the Board of Foreign Missions re- 

 ported that he had $1,900 in his hands. The 

 Synod resolved to re-establish its mission in 

 Northern India which had been suspended 

 since 1868, since which time the Synod had 

 co-operated with the Northern Presbyterian 

 Church in sustaining missions in that region. 

 The establishment of an academy for the edu- 

 cation of youth was determined upon. The 

 Synod was informed that a bequest had been 

 made to it by Mr. Francis Lamb, conditioned 

 upon the continued existence of the Reformed 

 Presbyterian Church, sufficient to equip and 

 endow a theological seminary in Philadelphia, 

 Pennsylvania. 



VII. CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

 The statistical reports of this Church which 

 were presented to the General Assembly in 

 May show that it includes 116 presbyteries, 

 1,386 ministers-, with 276 licentiates and 154 

 candidates, 2,570 congregations, and 113,933 



