668 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



II. Presbyterian Chnreh in the United States. 



(Southern). The following is a summary of 

 the statistics of this Church, as they were re- 

 ported to the General Assembly in May, 1884: 



The Committee on Sunday-Schools made re- 

 port of 1,146 Sunday-schools, excluding about 

 thirty "union 1 ' schools, with 10,163 teachers 

 and 77,557 scholars. 



The total receipts of the Committee on Edu- 

 cation for the year had been $14,317. The 

 committee returned 137 candidates enrolled, to 

 whom $15,705 had been remitted. 



The business of the Publishing House for 

 nine months, the period during which it had 

 been under the care of the General Assembly's 

 committee, had amounted to $14,620, indicat- 

 ing a business of $20,000 for the year. Books 

 had been granted for distribution to the needy 

 and destitute to the amount of $1,061. The 

 Union Theological Seminary had been attended 

 by forty-eight and the Columbia Seminary by 

 thirty-four students. In the Tuscaloosa Insti- 

 tute for the Education of Colored Ministers, the 

 course of study had been extended to four years. 

 The number of students in attendance was 

 thirty-one. The Executive Committee of Home 

 Missions returned its total receipts at $61,076. 

 The amount received in direct contributions 

 from the churches ($52,992) was greater than 

 had been reported in any previous year. The 

 receipts for sustentation had been $25,602, 

 while $24,900 had been spent in building and 

 repairing houses of worship, in aiding the sup- 

 port of 193 ministers, and in behalf of work 

 among the colored people. The evangelistic 

 fund had received $3,479, and $17,555 had 

 been paid out from it to aid 71 evangelists. 

 The receipts of the invalid fund bad been 

 $9,892, and the payments from it $10,582, for 

 24 infirm ministers, 72 widows, and 7 cases of 

 children of deceased ministers. The receipts to 

 the Committee for Colored Evangelistic Work 

 had been only $227 ; but the amount applied 

 to that work, through the committee and other 

 agencies, was $3,221. The sum of $41,000 was 

 invested in the relief fund, and $3,600 paid to 

 the families of eleven deceased ministers. 



The receipts of the Committee of Foreign 

 Missions had been $70,167. The committee 

 reported an indebtedness of $1,377. The fol- 

 lowing is a general summary of the missionary 

 work under the charge of the committee: 



Number of missions ."*. 7 



Number of stations and out-stations (about) 75 



Number of ordained missionaries ^8 



Number of female assistants 3 



Whole number of laborers from this country 6 



Number of native preachers 14 



Native licentiates 4 



Native teachers and other native helpers 88 



Whole number of laborers 112 



Number of organized churches 45 



Number of church-members (approximate) 1 ,750 



Added during the year, approximately 217 



Number of theological training-classes 4 



Number of pupils in the same 14 



Boarding-schools for boys 3 



Number of pupils in the same 140 



Boarding-schools for girls 6 



Number of pupils in the same 180 



Day-schools 12 



Number of pupils in the same 225 



Whole number of pupils 545 



General Assembly. The General Assembly 

 of the Presbyterian Church in the United States 

 met in Vicksburg, Miss., May 15. The Rev. 

 T. D. Witherspoon, D. D., was chosen moder- 

 ator. The question whether fraternal delegates 

 should again be sent to the General Assembly 

 of the Northern Presbyterian Church and to 

 the' General Synod of the Reformed Church in 

 America was considered. The previous Gen- 

 eral Assembly had decided that correspond- 

 ence with the general courts of sister churches 

 with which it would maintain fraternal rela- 

 tions should be by letter, except that delegates 

 should be sent to the Northern Presbyterian 

 General Assembly and the General Synod of 

 the Reformed Church in America " at their 

 next ensuing sessions in 1883 and 1884 respect- 

 ively," meaning the session of one body in June, 

 1883, and of the other in May, 1884. The As- 

 sembly decided to abide by its action of 1883. 

 In transmitting its decision to the Northern 

 General Assembly, it added the assurance that 

 in taking this course it would not be understood 

 " as receding in the least from any former ex- 

 pression of fraternal regard." A paper was 

 adopted with respect to co-operation with the 

 Presbyterian Church in the United States of 

 America in enterprises in which the interests 

 of the two churches may come in contact. It 

 decided that it was impracticable to adopt a 

 plan for co-operation in home missions that 

 should be universally applicable throughout 

 the Church, and that the whole matter should 

 be left "to the working of those broad princi- 

 ples of justice and Christian charity which alone 

 will restrain either Church from encroaching 

 upon the natural territory of the other." For 

 comity in matters of discipline, the several 

 courts of the Church were enjoined to have 

 due regard to the discipline of all the ses- 

 sions, presbyteries, and synods of the North- 

 ern Church, expecting a reciprocal regard from 

 them. The attention of the presbyteries and 

 sessions was directed to the importance of 

 taking notice of violations of the law of the 

 Church on Sabbath observance, and it was ad- 

 vised that the sessions be enjoined to adminis- 

 ter discipline, " at least so far as admonition and 

 reproof are concerned," whenever it should be 

 necessary. An opinion was expressed adverse 

 to the recognition of the validity of Roman 



