PRESBYTERIANS. 



Catholic- baptism. A pastoral letter was or- 

 dered drafted for bringing the subject of family 

 prayer before the congregations, and for im- 

 pressing upon pastors the obligation of urging 

 it upon the churches. A decision was given 

 by the Assembly adverse to the right of a ses- 

 sion to instruct its delegates to presbytery how 

 to vote on a given question. 



III. United Presbyterian Church of North America. 

 The statistical committee of this Church re- 

 ported to the General Assembly in May that 

 the number of ministers was 732; of congre- 

 gations, 858; and of members, 87,637. The 

 figures show an increase of 2 ministers, 19 

 congregations, and 2,194 members. An in- 

 crease of 739 members was also returned from 

 the two presbyteries in India and Egypt. 



The Board of Ministerial Relief reported that 

 their endowment fund now amounted to $45,- 

 000, it having increased $15,000 during the 

 year. Aid to the amount of $3,600 had been 

 distributed to 26 persons. 



The Board of Home Missions had received 

 $33,657, besides $16,191 of special funds from 

 the Quarter-Centennial Commission, while its 

 expenditures had amounted to $41,802. This 

 showed a deficiency on the general account of 

 $8,145. Aid had been granted to 209 stations, 

 comprising, so far as was reported, 11,324 mem- 

 bers, and on which there had been a net gain 

 of 1,335 members. Among the missions of 

 which especial notice was made were one to 

 the Chinese in Los Angeles, Cal., and one to 

 the Warm Springs Indians in Oregon. 



The Board of Publication reported that the 

 total amount of the business done during the 

 year in that department was $53,309. 



The Committee on Sunday-Schools reported 

 786 schools, with a total enrollment of 78,525 

 persons, and an average attendance of 49,940 

 persons. The schools had contributed, toward 

 their own expenses and for the enterprises of 

 the Church, $55,237. 



General Assembly. The General Assembly 

 of the United Presbyterian Church in North 

 America met in St. Louis, Mo., May 28. The 

 Rev. W. H. French, D. D., was chosen moder- 

 ator. Memorials were received on the ques- 

 tion of the use of instrumental music in wor- 

 ship, which a previous General Assembly had 

 determined to tolerate, some asking that no 

 further action be taken on the subject, others 

 that a declaration be passed forbidding the use. 

 A memorial was presented from a convention 

 of members of the Church which was held in 

 August, 1883, in opposition to the admission 

 of instrumental music, and was supported in 

 an address by the president of the convention. 

 The subject came up also in the report of the 

 Committee on Home Missions, which recom- 

 mended that appropriations be made to mis- 

 sions using organs, while the minority report 

 urged that they be refused. The minority re- 

 port was rejected by a vote of 82 to 129, and 

 the majority report was adopted. The Judi- 

 ciary Committee, to whom the memorials on 



the subject had been referred, made a report 

 advising that " the request of memorialists ask- 

 ing the Assembly to decide that, according to 

 the standards of our Church, the use of instru- 

 mental music in worship is unlawful, be not 

 granted." This resolution was adopted by a 

 vote of 113 to 84, while an amendatory resolu- 

 tion committing the General Assembly to the 

 declaration that the standards of the Church 

 authorize the use of instruments received only 

 two votes. The Committee on Bills and Over- 

 tures reported on the subject, recommending 

 that the Assembly treat the present settlement 

 as final. This was adopted, while an amend- 

 ment sending the question down in overture to 

 the presbyteries was rejected. A committee was 

 appointed to meet in conference at Pittsburg, 

 Pa., Sept. 25, 1884, with representatives of the 

 different psalm-singing churches in America. 



IV. Reformed Presbyterian Chnrch, Synod. The 

 following is a summary of the statistics of the 

 Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church 

 in the United States : 



Number of presbyteries (New York, Ver- 

 mont, Philadelphia, Rochester, Pittsburg, Ohio, 

 Lakes, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and New Bruns- 

 wick and Nova Scotia), 11 ; of ministers, 110; 

 of congregations, 124 ; of communicants, 10,- 

 671 ; of persons in Sunday-schools, 1,196 teach- 

 ers and 9,777 scholars. Amount of contribu- 

 tions, $216,893, divided as follows: for foreign 

 missions, $13,264; for home missions, $3,340; 

 for the Freedrnen's Mission, $3,585 ; for na- 

 tional reform, $4,764 ; for the Theological Sem- 

 inary, $2,901 ; for the educational fund, $16,- 

 273; for church-erection, $31,949; for pastors' 

 salaries, $83,926 ; miscellaneous, $56,932. 



The Board of Church Erection reported to 

 the Synod at its meeting that it had given aid 

 to five churches. The Synod's Committee on 

 Finance returned the endowment funds of the 

 various institutions and benevolent enterprises 

 of the body at $140,052. Ten ministers were 

 engaged in domestic missionary work under 

 the direction of the Synod. Ten persons were 

 employed, as missionaries or teachers, in the 

 Southern mission, which returned 38 commu- 

 nicants and about 530 pupils. A Chinese mis- 

 sion is sustained at Oakland, Cal. The foreign 

 mission is at Latakieh, Syria, with two stations 

 and a mission at Tarsus. It returned 144 com- 

 municants and 25 schools, with 688 pupils. 



Synod. The Synod of the Reformed Presby- 

 terian Church met at North wood, Ohio, May 

 28. The Rev. P. H. Wylie was chosen mod- 

 erator. The Synod is identified with the na- 

 tional reform movement, or the agitation for 

 the adoption of an amendment to the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States embodying a definite 

 recognition of the Christian religion. Three 

 ministers had been laboring throughout the 

 year, and four others, for a shorter time, under 

 its direction, in advocacy of that measure. 

 Ministers were again exhorted to press the 

 position of dissent from the Constitution of the 

 United States on the attention of the congrega- 



