706 



PKESBYTERIANS. 



ganized, they adopted the Westminster Confession of 

 Faith, modified in the following particulars : 



1. That there are no eternal reprobates. 



2. That Jesus died, not for a part only, but for all 

 men, and in the same sense. 



3. That all infants dying in infancy are saved. 



4. That the Holy Spirit operates on all the world 

 on all for whom Christ died, in such a manner as to 

 render all men responsible, and therefore inexcusable. 



By these exceptions it will be seen that we have an 

 amended form of the Westminster Confession of 

 Faith ; and, if this puts us out of harmony with the 

 Consensus of the Keformed Confessions, we will be 

 glad to have the fact clearly and unequivocally 

 stated. 



That this may be certainly done by the next 

 Council, delegates were appointed to attend the 

 next meeting of the Alliance, to be held in Bel- 

 fast, Ireland, in 1 884. On the subj ect of Sabbath 

 observance, in reply to an invitation from a 

 committee of the Southern Presbyterian Church 

 to join in representations to the civil authori- 

 ties against running railroad trains and deliv- 

 ering mails on the Lord's day, the Assembly 

 declared that : 



While we deplore the fact that trains are run and 

 mail is delivered on the Sabbath, we do not see the 

 consistency in invoking civil power to check the evil, 

 while our business men make the demand for hand- 

 ling and carrying freight, and while ministers and 

 church members demand the running of trains and 

 the delivery of mails on the Sabbath. We therefore 

 recommend that this General Assembly insist upon 

 the better observance of this day by all the members 

 of the Church, to the end that a public sentiment may 

 be cultivated in its favor. 



Co-operation was, however, pledged to " any 

 judicious movement looking to the better ob- 

 servance of the Sabbath." 



VII. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA. 

 The dispute which arose, when the union of 

 the Presbyterian churches in Canada took 

 place in 1875, over the disposition of the 

 Temporalities Fund, which had belonged to 

 the organization known as the Presbyterian 

 Church of Canada in connection with the 

 Church of Scotland, was carried to the Impe- 

 rial Privy Council, and was finally decided by 

 that court early in the year. A number ot 

 ministers, who held aloof from the union and 

 upheld the organization in connection with, 

 the Church of Scotland, resisted the transfer 

 of the fund to the United Church. The mod- 

 erators of the churches entering into the union 

 secured from the Legislature of Ontario an act 

 giving the possession of the fund to the United 

 Church. This was contested in the courts, 

 and, after a prolonged litigation, the Privy 

 Council decided that the transfer was unlaw- 

 ful, and an injunction could be issued prevent- 

 ing the disposition of the funds for the advan- 

 tage of the United Church. 



VIII. ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 

 The Endowment Committee of this Church 

 reported to the General Assembly in May that 

 during the year eight new parishes, with a 

 population of 24,670, had been endo.wed, mak- 

 ing a total of churches endowed since the be- 

 ginning of the scheme 312. The total revenue 

 for 1881 amounted to 14,847, against 18,594 



in 1880, and 14,581 in 1879. The income for 

 home missions had been 9,130, and the 

 expenditure had been 81 more than that 

 amount. The sum of 1,520 had been voted 

 to 53 mission stations, 3,285 had been granted 

 to 77 mission churches, and 5,982 had been 

 voted toward the enlargement or erection of 

 17 churches. The Committee on Christian 

 Liberality reported a decrease of 38,343 in 

 the total amount of contributions, the present 

 amount, exclusive of seat rents, being 281,- 

 503, against 319,847 in 1880. The For- 

 eign Missions Committee reported an im- 

 proved financial condition. Its entire revenue 

 had been 22,853, showing a marked im- 

 provement on the revenues of former years, 

 though it was still behind the sums raised by 

 the Free and United Presbyterian churches 

 for similar purposes. The income of the Jew- 

 ish Mission had been nearly 1,000 below its 

 expenditures ; and only one convert was re- 

 ported. 



The General Assembly of the Church of 

 Scotland met in Edinburgh May 25th. The 

 Kev. Dr. William Milligan was chosen Mod- 

 erator. For the first time the Assembly took 

 formal notice of the agitation which is active 

 in the other churches of the kingdom in favor 

 of disestablishment, and resolutions were 

 adopted to the effect that a committee be ap- 

 pointed to watch over and take any steps that 

 might be thought necessary and advisable in 

 regard to any question or measure brought 

 before the Legislature affecting the interests 

 of the Church ; and, should opportunity arise, 

 to aid by active good-will and co-operation in 

 any movement having for its object the pro- 

 motion of the cause of national religion and 

 the interests of the true Protestant religion in 

 Scotland; and that a pastoral letter be issued 

 to the members of the Church, instructing 

 them in its principles, and reminding them of 

 the many blessings it had conferred on Scot- 

 land, and of the duty under which its mem- 

 bers lay to be loyal to an institution which 

 God had so blessed, and transmit it unim- 

 paired to future generations. The case of 

 the mission at Blantyre, Central Africa, in 

 which the Assembly of 1881 had felt itself 

 obliged to censure some irregularities in ad- 

 ministration and cruel acts toward natives, 

 was brought up again by the petitions of the 

 Eev. Duff Macdonald asking to be personally 

 exonerated from the censure, and of Mr. John 

 Buchanan for a reconsideration of the case. 

 The Assembly adopted an expression modify- 

 ing its censure as against Mr. Macdonald, testi- 

 fying to the good work he had done, and de- 

 claring that no good reason existed why he 

 should not still be considered useful in Chris- 

 tian work. The present management and 

 condition of the mission were represented to 

 be wholly satisfactory. The statement of doc- 

 trine and formula to be used in the admission 

 of native preachers, which had already met 

 with the approval of the other Scottish Pres- 



