708 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



planation that it had been found needful in all 

 the mission fields to have simple formulas for 

 the native candidates. It was found by all 

 missionaries that it would never do to make use 

 of the "Westminster Confession of Faith, the 

 Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and the other 

 standards in the native churches. Negotia- 

 tions had been going on between the committees 

 of the Established and Free Churches and of 

 this Church for some time in regard to this 

 matter; and the document now offered, which 

 had been drawn up by the synod's committee, 

 containing a simple statement of Christian 

 doctrine, had been approved, in the main, by 

 the committees of the Established and Free 

 Churches. The statement and formula were 

 adopted. The synod resolved to petition Par- 

 liament in favor of the disestablishment of the 

 Church of Scotland. An effort was made to 

 have the synod rescind the action it had taken 

 in 1872 on the use of instrumental music in 

 public worship, and adopt fresh restrictive leg- 

 islation on the subject, but it failed. 



XL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 

 This Church is made up, according to the statis- 

 tical reports for 1882, of 275 congregations, be- 

 sides several preaching-stations, 264 ministers 

 with charges, 24 missionaries, and 56 other min- 

 isters, 56,099 communicants, and about 108,000 

 adherents. The number of church-sittings, as 

 reported to the synod, was 141,903, showing 

 an increase of 5,007 during the year. The 

 Union Thanksgiving Fund, which was now 

 completed, amounted to 155,839. The en- 

 tire income of the Church for the year had 

 been 208,226, against 205,603 in 1880. The 

 Home Mission Committee presented a propo- 

 sition that the synod undertake to create at 

 least fifteen or twenty new congregations, each 

 with a suitable church, within the next five 

 years, and to raise 25,000 for church -building 

 purposes. The Foreign Mission Committee re- 

 ported that the annual expenditures on its 

 work were not less than 13,500, while its in- 

 come did not exceed 11,500. The missions 

 were in the Amoy, Swatow, and Formosa dis- 

 tricts of China, and returned 26 missionaries, 

 74 native evangelists, 37 native students, 316 

 adult baptisms during the year, and 2,342 com- 

 municants, with 1,000 baptized children. Five 

 native pastors had been settled over self-sup- 

 porting churches, a second native presbytery 

 had been formed, a medical mission had been 

 established and another one revived, and a 

 home for Bible women had been opened dur- 

 ing the year. The Synod of the Presbyterian 

 Church in England met in London, April 23d. 

 The Rev. "William McCaw, of Manchester, was 

 chosen Moderator. 



XII. PRESBYTERIAN CmjRcn IN IRELAND. 

 The statistics of this Church, presented to the 

 General Assembly in June, show the entire 

 number of communicants to be 102,825, as 

 against 109,395 in 1881, and 122,792 in 1864. 

 Reports were made of 558 congregations and 

 7 mission stations. The entire amount raised 



by the Church for all purposes had increased 

 by 7,016 over the amount reported in the pre- 

 vious year. The number of Sunday-schools 

 connected with the Assembly was 1,101, with 

 8,552 teachers and 91,025 scholars. The Com- 

 mittee on Elementary Education reported that 

 828 of the 7,590 schools of the National Board 

 were under Presbyterian management. The 

 report of Belfast College stated that the Pres-* 

 byterian Church now required from its theo- 

 logical students a university degree in arts, 

 and also attendance on the Presbyterian Col- 

 lege classes during the undergraduate course. 

 The Committee on Colonial Missions reported 

 that three ministers had recently been sent 

 to New South Wales. Grants of 650 had 

 been made to Canada and Manitoba College. 

 Twenty-seven missionaries, of whom 21 were 

 ordained ministers, had been employed in Can- 

 ada, laboring with considerable success, espe- 

 cially among the French-speaking population. 



The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 

 Church in Ireland met in Belfast in May. The 

 Rev. T. Y. Killen, of Belfast, was chosen Mod- 

 erator. The question of the use of instrumen- 

 tal music in worship engaged a large share of 

 attention. A resolution was adopted, by a 

 vote of 360 to 345, ordering that the prohibition 

 which the Assembly had issued in the previous 

 year against the use of instrumental music in 

 churches be carried out without delay. After- 

 ward, a notice of motion, signed by sixty mem- 

 bers of the Assembly, was read, stating that 

 in the next year a proposal would be made to 

 rescind the resolution which had been carried 

 by so narrow a majority at the present Assem- 

 bly. The Assembly recommended that the 

 examinations before the Theological Commit- 

 tee, instead of referring to the theological 

 views and personal experience of the candi- 

 dates, should embrace such subjects as Hebrew, 

 Biblical Criticism, Greek Testament, Christian 

 Ethics, Church History, and Systematic The- 

 ology. 



XIII. REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN 

 SCOTLAND. The Reformed Presbyterian Synod 

 of Scotland met at Glasgow in May. A report 

 was presented by the National Reform Com- 

 mittee, which held that the fundamental evils 

 of the British Constitution consist in the Word 

 of God not being recognized as the standard 

 of legislation ; that the headship of Christ is 

 invaded by the British Crown ; and that epis- 

 copacy, with its unscriptural hierarchy and lit- 

 urgy, was established and endowed. The hold- 

 ing of public meetings to agitate these views 

 and the pressing of them upon members of 

 Parliament were urged. 



XIV. WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODIST 

 CHURCH. The following are the statistics of 

 this Church as they were reported to the Gen- 

 eral Assembly at Bala in June. Number of 

 ordained ministers, 600 ; of preachers, 357 ; of 

 chapels, 1,324; of communicants, 118,635; of 

 adherents, 279,189 ; of Sunday-school teach- 

 ers, 22,262 ; of scholars in Sunday-schools, 



