704 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



For salaries of ministers $401,493 



For congregational purposes 265,717 



To the boards. 140,716 



General contributions 62,199 



Total $930,125 



Average per member 11 40 



Average salary of pastors 868 00 



Increase of members during the year, 1,636. 



The Board of Church Extension had re- 

 ceived $23,334, and reported its liabilities to 

 be $17,562, and that these were partly offset 

 by a balance in the treasury of $10,148. 



The Board of Ministerial Relief had re- 

 ceived $10,625, and returned twenty-two bene- 

 ficiaries receiving aid regularly. Its endow- 

 ment now reached $30,000, which was prin- 

 cipally invested in Government bonds. 



The Board of Education had received $12,- 

 059, and reported investments and other assets 

 to the amount of $16,260. It had aided twen- 

 ty students of theology. 



The Board of Freedmetfs Missions had re- 

 ceived $12,727, and reported an indebtedness, 

 largely on account of real estate, of $12,727. 

 It had 718 pupils in its day- and boarding- 

 schools, and 1,000 in Sunday-schools. Fifty- 

 seven students from its schools were engaged 

 in teaching, and had about 2,500 pupils under 

 their charge. The board sustains a college 

 and industrial school at Knoxville, Term., and 

 a considerable school at Chase City, Va. 



The Board of Home Missions had received 

 $39,344. . It had 76 men able and willing to 

 receive appointments, while the time of only 

 68 missionaries was asked for by the presby- 

 teries. The 244 mission stations reported 11,- 

 564 members, and 12,964 attendants at Sun- 

 day-school. 



The receipts of the Board of Foreign Mis- 

 sions had been $77,872. The following report 

 was made of the condition of missions on the 

 first day of January, 1882 : Presbyteries, 2 ; 

 stations (places where foreign missionaries are 

 located), 8; out-stations, 69 ; foreign ordained 

 ministers, 15 ; female missionaries, including 

 the wives of missionaries, 27 (unmarried, 13) ; 

 native ordained .ministers, 8 ; licentiates, 5 ; 

 native teachers and helpers, 184 ; total foreign 

 and native laborers in the two missions, 239 ; 

 native congregations, 19 ; communicants, 1,- 

 565 ; increase, 370 ; decrease, 141. Total net 

 increase, 229. Baptisms adults, 130; infants, 

 189 ; total, 319. Sabbath-school scholars, 2,- 

 244 ; in other schools, 4,577 ; in all the schools, 

 6,151. Contributions for church and benevo- 

 lent purposes, $5,058; for schools, $11,171 ; for 

 books, $6,243 ; total by the natives, $23,272. 

 Books sold and distributed (by the Egyptian 

 mission), 27,150 volumes. Total value of the 

 property in both missions, $122,268. Of the 

 members, 1,168 were in Egypt, and 397 in 

 India. 



The twenty-fourth General Assembly of the 

 United Presbyterian Church in North America 

 met at Monmouth, 111., May 24th. The Rev. 

 Dr. David Paul, of Ohio, was chosen Moder- 



ator. The principal interest of the proceed- 

 ings lay in the action which was taken on the 

 subject of permitting the use of instrumental 

 worship in the churches. An overture to re- 

 scind the rule prohibiting the use of instru- 

 mental music in worship had been sent down 

 to the presbyteries to be voted upon. The re- 

 port of the voting showed that 1,233 votes had 

 been cast, of which 620 were in favor of the 

 repeal of the prohibition, and 612| were 

 against it, while nine persons entitled to vote 

 were returned as not voting. The proposition 

 thus appeared to be carried by a majority of 

 eight, although it had failed to receive the 

 assent of a majority of the whole number of 

 persons entitled to vote. The Assembly, con- 

 sidering the measure lawfully carried, ratified 

 the action, and declared, by a vote of 125 to 

 99, that the rule prohibiting the use of instru- 

 mental music was repealed. In connection 

 with this action, it further resolved that its 

 decision was not to be considered as authoriz- 

 ing instrumental music in the worship of God, 

 but simply as a declaration of the judgment 

 of the Church that there is no sufficient Bible 

 authority for an absolutely exclusive rule on 

 the subject. '''That while there may be a 

 liberty here, it is a liberty which in itself, 

 especially in the present state of the Church, 

 should be stringently regulated and kept from 

 abuse, or any use that would conflict with the 

 required simplicity of Christian worship." 

 And it instructed the lower courts "to ab- 

 stain, and have all under their authority ab- 

 stain, from any action in this matter that 

 would disturb the peace and harmony of con- 

 gregations, or unreasonably disregard the con- 

 scientious convictions of members." 



The party in the Assembly opposed to this 

 action maintained that the measure had not 

 been lawfully carried in the presbyteries, be- 

 cause it had not received a majority of the 

 votes entitled to be cast, and contended that 

 the nine votes not cast should be taken ac- 

 count of; and they presented a protest em- 

 bodying their views, in answer to which a 

 paper was filed by the committee having the 

 subject in charge, vindicating the action of the 

 Assembly, and its interpretation of the consti- 

 tution of the Church. 



A committee was appointed to prepare a 

 brief statement of principles for use in mission 

 work, and report to the next Assembly. The 

 Assembly declared its readiness to co-operate 

 with other churches in every proper way to 

 secure the enforcement of legislation for the 

 protection of Christian citizens in the enjoy- 

 ment of their rights on the Lord's day. 



No progress was made in the negotiations 

 with the Associate Reformed Synod of the 

 South, for union. 



IV. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (SYN- 

 OD). The statistics of this body, as reported at 

 the meeting of the synod in May, show that the 

 ten presbyteries of which it is composed in- 

 clude 108 ministers, 122 congregations, and 



