702 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



and the expenditure at 25,087. The Com- 

 mittee on Home Missions reported that its 

 receipts for the year had been 8,645; that 

 it had aided 60 mission stations, having 1,930 

 communicants, with 1,520 ; 74 mission 

 churches, having 10,246 communicants, with 

 3,265 ; and had provided for the addition of 

 21 places of worship with 7,213 sittings. The 

 Committee on Christian Liberality reported 

 that the total contributions of the Church, in- 

 cluding payments for seat-rents, amounted to 

 498,863. The Foreign Mission Committee re- 

 ported that its receipts for 1884 had been: 

 from collections and contributions, 10,154; 

 from legacies, 817; special for the proposed 

 Universities Mission to the Aborigines, 1,366; 

 in all, 12,337, besides the contributions from 

 abroad, which were 912 less than in 1883. 

 Good progress was reported in the Darjeeling 

 mission, India, and in China through the dis- 

 pensary work; but in East Africa the year 

 " must be marked as perhaps the most agitated 

 and troubled through which the mission has 

 passed." Reports were also made concerning 

 the Continental chaplaincies, by the Colonial 

 Committee, of the condition of churches in 

 British colonies beyond Europe, and by the 

 Committee on the Highlands and Islands, all 

 having to deal with missionary work in some 

 form. The Assembly was informed that a ma- 

 jority of the presbyteries had approved of the 

 change in the act for the admission of min- 

 isters from other churches proposed by the 

 previous General Assembly. The law of the 

 Church therefore now requires that applicants 

 asking to be thus received shall satisfy the 

 standing committee that they have passed 

 through a course of literature, philosophy, 

 and divinity, equal in extent to that pre- 

 scribed for licentiates the change consisting 

 in the substitution of "and" for u or." An- 

 other overture was ordered sent down, pro- 

 viding for the appointment to parishes of 

 ordained ministers from other Presbyterian 

 churches under similar- conditions to those 

 which are imposed for the appointment of or- 

 dained ministers of this Church not holding a 

 parochial charge. The Assembly repeated its 

 previous declarations on the subject of intem- 

 perance, and urged ministers frequently to 

 warn their parishes against its evils, "espe- 

 cially at those seasons when special tempta- 

 tions exist," and to preach on the subject on 

 Sunday, the 20th of December, with special 

 prayer,j'in view of the social customs of the 

 New -Year season." A committee was ap- 

 pointed to consider what measures could be 

 adopted to promote the spiritual interests of 

 the great number of the population who neg- 

 lect all religious ordinances. 



IX. Free Church of Scotland. The General As- 

 sembly of the Free Church of Scotland met 

 in Edinburgh, May 21. The Rev. Dr. David 

 Brown, Principal of the Free Church College, 

 Aberdeen, was chosen moderator. The Fi- 

 nance Committee reported that the whole sum 



raised during the year for the various objects 

 of the Church was 626,028. The number of 

 members was upward of 324,000, showing an 

 increase of more than 2,000. The Sunday 

 schools returned 18,109 teachers and 205,392 

 pupils. The Home Mission Committee re- 

 turned as aided by it, 30 ordinary stations, in 

 which there had been a gain of 263 communi- 

 cants, 2 territorial mission-stations; 34 church- 

 extension charges, with an aggregate member- 

 ship of 4,443 ; 19 territorial church-extension 

 charges, with 7,859 communicants, and 86 con- 

 gregational missions. The amount of the sus- 

 tentation fund was returned at 171,358; it 

 provided to the ministers who were entitled 

 to enjoy its benefits a " common allowance " 

 of 160, with a "higher surplus " of 17. The 

 amount of the widows' and orphans' fund 

 was 300,451. The Continental Committee 

 returned as under its care during the year, 9 

 " sanctioned charges " in Italy, Switzerland, 

 France, and Portugal ; and 11 stations, 2 of 

 which, at Geneva and Vienna, were new. The 

 Committee of Missions to the Jews made re- 

 port of operations at 6 stations, in Amsterdam, 

 Breslau, Constantinople, Prague, Pesth, and 

 Palestine (Tiberias). The total revenue of the 

 Foreign Mission Committee for the year had 

 been 64,643. Adding to this the sums con- 

 tributed for the Continental and colonial work 

 and for the missions to the Jews, the entire 

 missionary income of the Church was 107,245. 

 The Foreign Mission Committee reported con- 

 cerning the missions in India, Africa, the New 

 Hebrides, and Syria, that 489 adult converts 

 had been added to the Church, and 475 chil- 

 dren baptized during the year. Fifty-three 

 ordained missionaries (including 14 natives), 8 

 medical missionaries (4 natives), 39 missionary 

 catechists, 129 native catechists, and other la- 

 borers, to the total number of 544 Christian 

 agents, had been employed. The 6 colleges and 

 250 schools were attended by 16,233 pupils and 

 students. On the question of disestablishment, 

 the Assembly declared that, adhering to the 

 declarations of recent assemblies, it affirmed 

 " that disestablishment and disendowment in 

 Scotland are not only demanded by the princi- 

 ples of the protest of 1843, but they are ur- 

 gently called for in the interests of justice and 

 of the peace and welfare of the country ; also 

 that, if carried out in a fair and considerate 

 manner, the change will inflict no injury on 

 any religious interest, and is fitted to open the 

 prospect of a far happier ecclesiastical condi- 

 tion in Scotland. Further, inasmuch as the de- 

 cision of this question lies with those who ar 

 intrusted with political power and responsibi 

 ity, the Assembly leave the question, with all 

 confidence, in the hands of their people. 

 Assembly remit to the committee to prepare * 

 statement of the position of the Church on tbw 

 question, as set forth in the findings of t 

 General Assemblv, and to circulate the same a; 

 they may see fit?' The Assembly was oyer- 

 tured to recall the declaration of the previous 



