PRESBYTERIANS. 



year on the subject of instrumental music in 

 worship, and to adhere to what had been the 

 " Scriptural practice of the Church for three 

 hundred years " ; but it decided that it saw no 

 cause to reopen the question. The review of 

 the progress of the temperance reform within 

 the Church showed that more than 550 of the 

 ministers, seven eighths of the divinity students, 

 and a large proportion of the Christian work- 

 ers, were abstainers. The Assembly resolved 

 to petition Parliament in favor of the clause in 

 the new police bill making more efficient the 

 penalties against Sunday trading; also in favor 

 of setting apart a certain Sunday in the year 

 for ministers to preach sermons of warning 

 against Sabbath desecration. 



X. United Presbyterian Chnreh in Scotland. 

 The statistical reports of this body give the 

 number of members of the Church as 179,891, 

 and show an increase of 1,696 over the number 

 returned in 1884. 



The General Synod of the United Presbyte- 

 rian Church in Scotland met in Edinburgh, 

 May 4. The Rev. Dr. J. L. Aikman, of Glas- 

 gow, was chosen moderator. 



XI. Presbyterian Chnreh in Ireland. This body 

 includes nearly half the Protestant population 

 of Ireland, and consists of 553 congregations, 

 with 620 ministers, 2,075 elders, 7,196 deacons, 

 and 101,452 communicants. For the oversight 

 of these, it has 37 presbyteries, which are 

 formed into five synods, and a supreme body 

 of control, the General Assembly. The num- 

 ber of Sunday-school pupils is 95,469. 



The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 

 Church in Ireland met in Belfast, June 1. The 

 Rev. James Whigham, of Ballinasloe, was elect- 

 ed moderator. A large number of memori- 

 als were presented concerning the use of in- 

 strumental music in worship, forty-eight out 

 of eighty-two of them being in favor of exclud- 

 ing instruments. It was ascertained that, un- 

 der the action of the Assembly in 1883 and 

 1884, a number of organs or harmoniums had 

 been introduced into the churches, but that it 

 was customary to stop them five minutes before 

 the beginning of the regular service. A mo- 

 tion to rescind the action of the two previous 

 Assemblies permitting a qualified use of instru- 

 ments and to enforce the prohibition against 

 it, led to so much excitement in the discussion 

 as to provoke the temporary withdrawal of the 

 members of the Assembly who supported the 

 resolution. The seceders were induced to re- 

 turn, and it was agreed to let the motion re- 

 main till the next year's Assembly. 



XII. Presbyterian Chnreh in England. The Tenth 

 Synod of the Presbyterian Church of England 

 met in London in May. The Rev. Robert 

 Taylor was chosen moderator. A statement 

 regarding the growth of the Church showed 

 that while in 1859 the total amount of the 

 congregational contributions was 80,000, in 

 1883 it reached 193,358. More than half of 

 this sum had been given by congregations that 

 did not exist in 1859. 



PRIME, SAMUEL I. 



703 



XIII. Welsh Calvinlstie Methodists. The follow- 

 ing is a summary of the statistical reports of 

 this body : Number of ministers, 612, of whom 

 354 are pastors of particular churches ; of eld- 

 ers, 4,483; of chapels and mission - rooms, 

 1,383; of communicants, 128,874, showing an 

 increase of 3,869 from the previous year, and 

 of 8,415 in ten years; of adherents, 277,290; 

 of members of the Sunday schools, 185,392; 

 total amount of contributions for the year, 

 174,000, which included 74,000 in support 

 of the ministry, 24,000 in pew-rents, 36,000 

 to pay chapel debts, 7,400 for home and for- 

 eign missions, and 950 in aid of English 

 churches. Twenty-one new chapels had been 

 opened during the year. The number of min- 

 isters' residences in the connection was 57. 

 The number of English churches was 178, or 

 nine more than in the previous year, and they 

 returned 9,598 members, showing an increase 

 of 945 from the previous year, or at the rate 

 of 10 per cent., while the rate of increase in 

 the Welsh churches was only 3 per cent. The 

 number of congregations in which the services 

 have been changed from Welsh to English is 

 represented to be steadily increasing. 



XIV. Presbyterian Chnrch in New Zealand. The 

 Presbyterian Church in New Zealand is organ- 

 ized into eight presbyteries, and these return 

 101 churches, 99 preaching-places, with a total 

 average attendance of 16,237 persons, 74 min- 

 isters in charge, 224 elders, 821 managers, 6,298 

 communicants, and 127 Sunday schools. The 

 collections of the year were : for the benevolent 

 objects of the Church, $4,340 ; for congrega- 

 tional objects, $112,570; for acquiring and 

 improving church property and paying church 

 debts, $36,085 ; for miscellaneous objects, $8,- 

 125 ; collections in Sunday schools, for mis- 

 sionary and other purposes, $3,545. 



PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. See page 197. 



PRIME, SAMUEL IRENJ1US, an American jour- 

 nalist, born in Ballston, N. Y., Nov. 4, 1812; 

 died in Manchester, Vt., July 18, 1885. In his 

 infancy his parents removed to Cambridge, N. 

 Y., where he spent his boyhttod, his father be- 

 ing pastor of the Presbyterian Church known 

 as " The Old White Meeting-House." He be- 

 gan the study of Latin at eight, of Greek at 

 nine, of Hebrew at ten ; and in two years was 

 fitted to pass the entrance examination into 

 college. He was graduated at Williams Col- 

 lege in 1829, taught school for a while, studied 

 theology at Princeton, and in 1833 was licensed 

 to preach. His first sermon was delivered in 

 Bedford, N. Y., where, just fifty years after- 

 ward, he celebrated the semi-centennial anni- 

 versary of that event. In 1834 he was called 

 to the church in Ballston Spa, N. Y. Not be- 

 ing very rugged, and more zealous than pru- 

 dent in his work, Mr. Prime broke down and 

 had to give up preaching for a while. He spent 

 some time in teaching in Newburg, N. Y., 

 but in 1837 he became pastor of the Presby- 

 terian Church in Matteawan, N. Y., where he 

 remained for three years, and where he was 



