698 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



As reported to the General Assembly in May, 

 the receipts of the Board of Ministerial Relief 

 for the year had been $103,745, of which $82,- 

 664 had been from contributions, and $15,199 

 from the permanent fund, and $5,882 were 

 represented by boxes of clothing. The board 

 had given aid to 204 ministers, 279 widows, 

 and 23 families, and had the care of a Ministers' 

 Home at Perth Amboy, N. J. 



The Board of Aid for Colleges had received 

 $40,049, and had aided 21 institutions. 



The Board of Education returned its receipts 

 at $72,733, or $4,500 more than the receipts 

 of the preceding year. The increase of candi- 

 dates needing help had, however, been so great 

 that a slight reduction of the allowances to 

 each had been made necessary. The board 

 had under its care 619 young men, of whom 

 104 were colored students. 



The Board of Church Extension had received 

 $120,696, and had appropriated $108,042 in 

 aid of 240 churches building houses of wor- 

 ship. 



The Board of Home Missions reported to the 

 General Assembly that its total receipts for the 

 year had been $498,890, or $28,000 more than 

 had been received during the previous year. 

 The board was, nevertheless, in debt to the 

 amount of $110,000. Of the amount received, 

 $124,523 had been contributed through the 

 Woman's Board of Home Missions. The board 

 supported wholly, or in part, 1,435 ministers 

 and 175 teachers; had under its care congre- 

 gations representing an aggregate of 150,000 



persons; 2,113 Sunday schools, having 135,000 

 members; church edifices valued at $4, 384, 940 

 and parsonages valued at $412,324. One linn' 

 dred and ninety-five new churches and 380 

 Sunday schools had been organized, and 15,818 

 members had been added to the churches. 



The Board of Missions to Freedmen had re- 

 ceived $116,220, $17,254 of which had been 

 given by the colored churches. It had under 

 its care 198 churches, with 11,372 communi- 

 cants, and 194 Sunday schools, with 13,349 

 pupils. 



The receipts of the Board of Foreign Mis- 

 sions had been $757,635. It employed 446 

 ordained ministers and 1,114 lay missionaries, 

 and returned 21,073 communicants in its mis- 

 sion churches. The missions are : Among the 

 Indian tribes in the United States (Senecas, 

 Chippewas, Omahas, Dakotas, Creeks, Semi- 

 noles, Nez-Perces, Winnebagoes, lowas and 

 Sacs, Choctaws, and Sacs and Foxes); in 

 Mexico, the United States of Colombia, Brazil, 

 and Chili ; Africa ; India ; Laos ; China ; Japan ; 

 Corea; Persia; and Syria. 



The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 

 Church in the United States of America met 

 in Cincinnati, Ohio, May 21. The Rev. Elijah 

 R. Craven, D. D., of Newark, N. J., was chosen 

 moderator. The topic of discussion which 

 awakened most interest was that of the valid- 

 ity of Roman Catholic baptism, which came 

 up for direct decision in a case of appeal to 

 the Assembly, and was also brought before it 

 in resolutions seeking a formal deliverance on 

 the subject. The case brought upon appeal was 

 one in which a person who had been baptized 

 in a Roman Catholic church, applying for 

 membership in a church of the Synod of New 

 York, was required to be rebaptized before 

 being admitted to the ordinance of the Lord's 

 Supper. A member of the session complained 

 to the Presbytery, but that body failed to en- 

 tertain the complaint. It was next carried to 

 the Synod, which also declined to entertain it, 

 and was then brought before the General As- 

 sembly. This body decided that its former 

 deliverances left the matter of the admission 

 of Roman Catholics with the synods severally, 

 and decided not to entertain the appeal. The 

 same subject was brought up in a resolution 

 offered by Judge C. D. Drake, affirming it to 

 be the deliberate and decided judgment of the 

 Assembly "that the Roman Catholic Church 

 has essentially apostatized from the religion of 

 the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore can not 

 be recognized as a Christian church; and as 

 we do not recognize it as a portion of the visi 

 ble Church of Christ, we can not consistently 

 view its priesthood as other than a usurpation 

 of the sacred functions of the ministry, its or- 

 dinances as unscriptural, and its baptism as 

 totally invalid." 



Another resolution was offered by the Rev. 

 Dr. Philip Schaff, declaring " that it is tl 

 deliberate and decided judgment of this As- 

 sembly, in full accord with the Reformed con- 



