PRESBYTERIANS. 



767 



communicants. The increase in the number 

 of communicants from the previous year was 

 2,070. 



The Board of Missions reported that it had 

 received $21,133, and had disbursed $11,233. 

 The Woman's Board of Foreign Missions had 

 received $1,903. The former board sustained 

 domestic missions at several points within the 

 United States ; an Indian mission (Bethel Pres- 

 bytery), with which were connected 13 or- 

 dained and licensed preachers, 24 organized 

 congregations, and 527 communicants; and a 

 mission at Osaka, Japan, where three persons 

 had been baptized during the year. The board 

 was advised by the General Assembly to en- 

 deavor to send missionaries into Mexico. 



The fifty-first General Assembly of the Cum- 

 berland Presbvterian Church met at Austin, 

 Texas, May 19th. The Rev. W. J. Darby, of 

 Evansville, Indiana, was chosen Moderator. 

 Adverse action was taken on propositions to 

 change the name of the Church, the assembly 

 ordering the whole subject " dropped without 

 any further discussion." A committee was ap- 

 pointed to revise the " Confession of Faith " and 

 " Form of Government of the Church." On the 

 subject of the Presbyterian General Alliance, 

 which had declined to admit the delegates of 

 this Church to the meeting of its Council in 

 1880, on the ground that they had not sub- 

 mitted official evidence of the adherence of 

 Cumberland Presbyterians to the Reformed 

 confession, the Assembly expressed its adher- 

 ence to that confession and its desire to con- 

 nect itself with the Councils of the Alliance 

 and maintain the Presbyterian system. It ap- 

 proved the constitution of the Alliance, or- 

 dered its " Confession of Faith " to be submitted 

 to that body, and appointed a committee to 

 take charge of the subject in the future. Tho 

 question of the competency of elders to sit as 

 moderators of the courts of the Church was 

 considered in reports of committees and the 

 debates of the Assembly, with expressions of 

 widely different opinions. 



VIII. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH is CANADA. 

 The statistical returns presented to the Gen- 

 eral Assembly in June represented the whole 

 number of congregations or stations constitut- 

 ing pastoral charges connected with this Church 

 as 1,506, and the whole number of members as 

 112,970. The aggregate number of persons 

 connected with the congregations was 387,000, 

 and the whole number connected with Sunday- 

 schools and Bible-classes was 85,856. The 

 total amount of contributions was $1,245,495, 

 of which $52,355 were for college funds, gen- 

 eral and special, $16,848 for French evangeli- 

 zation, and $32,732 for foreign missions. 



The French Evangelization Committee had 

 sustained 12 schools, with which were con- 

 nected 18 teachers and 475 pupils. In nil, 

 more than two thousand French Canadians 

 had been educated in its schools. 



The Foreign Mission Committee sustained 

 through its eastern section, which is supported 



by the churches in the Maritime Provinces, 

 missions in the New Hebrides and Trinidad 

 (where four missionaries were employed), 

 which were represented to be in a prosperous 

 condition. Through its western section, sup- 

 ported in Ontario and Quebec, the committee 

 sustained missions in the Northwest Territory 

 (four missionaries) ; China (the Island of For- 

 mosa, two missionaries); and at Indore in In- 

 dia (four missionaries). Many patients had 

 been treated at the Mitckay Hospital in Tam- 

 sui, Formosa; and a considerable number of 

 publications had been issued in connection with 

 the mission in India. The Holkar at Indore 

 had ordered the mission school at that place 

 to be closed unless the missionaries should giro 

 a written pledge that Christianity should not 

 be taught, which they could not do. 



The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 

 Church of Canada met in Kingston in June. 

 The Rev. Dr. McVicar was chosen Moderator. 

 The discussion of the question of the recog- 

 nition of the Roman Catholic ordination of 

 converted priests, who might apply for admis- 

 sion to the ministry of the Church, which had 

 engaged the attention of the last General As- 

 sembly, was continued. The Assembly de- 

 clined to come to a decision on the general 

 question, but expressed its readiness at all 

 times to give directions to presbyteries in 

 cases of practical difficulty in which the ques- 

 tion might be involved, reserving to itself the 

 right to deal with each case upon its merits. 

 An overture in favor of the obligatory intro- 

 duction of instruction in the Bible into all the 

 schools of the Dominion was, after discussion, 

 laid on the table. A question in reference to 

 the support of the colleges, which had caused 

 some irritation, was settled by the constitution 

 of a common fund from which each of these 

 institutions can draw a fixed amount. 



IX. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 

 The statistical reports of this Church for 1881 

 show that it is composed of ten presbyteries, 

 comprising 273 congregations, with 55,201 

 communicants, 165,000 adherents, and 61,962 

 Sunday-school scholars. 



Tho entire income of the Church for the year 

 was 205,486. Tho whole amount paid for 

 stipends was 88,151. The income of the Sut- 

 tentation Fund had been 37,420, and the aver- 

 age stipend was 309. The Union Thanl~ 

 giving Fund had reached the amount of 148,- 

 825. The Widows' and Orphan* 1 //.</ re- 

 turned an income of 3,003, and the Aged 

 Ministers' Fund of 384. 



The income of the Foreign Mission Fund for 

 the year had been 12,176. The missions in 

 Amoy. Swatow. and Formosa, China, returned 

 28 organized churches and 49 stations, with 

 2,342 communicants and 11 students, and were 

 managed by a staff of 1 < missionaries, 8 wotm-n 

 missionaries, and 65 native evangelists. The 

 Women's Missionary Association had rnisod 

 during the year 1,500 for work among the 

 women of China. 



