PRESBYTERIANS. 



773 



a deceased wife's sister was sent down to the 

 presbyteries. A proposition to introduce term- 

 service in the elderships was rejected. 



VI. Church of Scotland. The General Assem- 

 bly of the Church of Scotland met in Edin- 

 burgh, May 20. The Rev. John Cunning- 

 ham, of Crieff, was chosen moderator. The 

 report on the statistics of Christian liberality 

 showed that the entire amount of the contri- 

 bution for the year had been 311,378, against 

 304,077 in 1884, and 316,480 in 1883; 

 63,197 had been paid for seat-rents. The 

 capital of the Aged Infirm Ministers' fund was 

 returned at " not far short of 20,000." A 

 legacy of 30,000 had been left to the Church, 

 the interest of which is to be applied to the re- 

 lief of aged and infirm ministers, and the pro- 

 vision of holiday rests for ministers in feeble 

 health. The Colonial Committee reported that 

 it had given out of its funds 9,116 since 1870 

 in aid of Continental chaplaincies, and 3,586 

 since 1879 for army and navy chaplaincies. 



The report on Sunday-schools gave returns 

 of 2.020 schools, with a total attendance of 

 206,318, and an average attendance of 161,- 

 384 children and 19,266 teachers. 



The income of the Home-Mission Committee 

 had been 10,005, besides which 14,644 had 

 been brought forward from the previous year. 

 The expenditure had been 11,014. Sixty- 

 eight stations had been supplied and 71 mis- 

 sion churches aided. The income for the mis- 

 sion to the Highlands had been 1.485. 



The Committee of the Jewish Mission re- 

 ported concerning educational work at Con- 

 stantinople, Smyrna, Salonica, Beyrout, and 

 Alexandria. A grant of 1,000 had been re- 

 ceived from the Beaconsfield Memorial fund 

 to establish a hospital at Smyrna in memory 

 of the late Prime Minister. 



The Foreign Mission Committee returned 

 an income of 22,051, and an expenditure of 

 24,598. 



The Committee on Church Interests pre- 

 sented a report narrating the steps which it 

 had taken since the last Assembly in regard to 

 the movement for disestablishment. The com- 

 mittee had working committees in 1,000 out 

 of the 1,300 parishes of the Church, which 

 could be set to work if the interests of the 

 Church were threatened. It considered that 

 the position of the Church had improved. The 

 Assembly approved the policy of the commit- 

 tee, and recommended that the organization 

 for Church defense throughout the country 

 be maintained and strengthened. 



A deputation was received from the Irish 

 Presbyterian General Assembly, with which 

 no intercourse had been had for thirty years. 

 The chairman of the deputation, the Rev. Dr. 

 J. Y. Killen, of Belfast, referred in his address 

 to the Government's proposed Irish legislation, 

 and said that he believed that the passing of 

 the Home-Rule Bill would lead to the estab- 

 lishment of Roman Catholic ascendency and 

 the extinction of Protestantism over the greater 



part of Ireland. The Assembly, by resolution, 

 expressed a warm interest in the cause of 

 Protestantism in Ireland, with the hope that 

 the Almighty would so order events that the 

 differences and trials of that country might be 

 speedily removed. A deputation was appoint- 

 ed to attend the next meeting of the Irish As- 

 sembly. A motion was approved conveying 

 to the other churches a renewal of the Assem- 

 bly's sense of the evils of disunion, and an as- 

 surance of its readiness to promote union on 

 the basis of the establishment; and also ex- 

 pressing a readiness to do all that was possible 

 to remove doubts from the minds of Presby- 

 terian brethren at present dissociated from the 

 Church, and its desire that the Presbyterian 

 churches should make full recognition of each 

 other as Christian churches in their work 

 both at home and abroad. The Assembly also 

 enjoined the members of the Church u to 

 maintain, both in public and in private, a spirit 

 of Christian charity, and to abstain from all 

 such expressions as might estrange or irritate 

 members of other churches." An overture 

 was adopted to' the effect that it should be 

 competent for the congregation of a vacant 

 parish to elect an ordained minister of any 

 other Presbyterian Church in the United 

 Kingdom. 



VII. Free Church of Scotland. The General 

 Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland met 

 in Edinburgh, May 20. The Rev. Dr. A. Som- 

 erville, of Glasgow, was chosen moderator. 

 The report on the finances of the Church 

 showed that for the year ending March 31, 

 1886, the whole amount of the sums raised for 

 the various objects of the Church was 594,- 

 050, against 626,028 reported in the previ- 

 ous year. 



The report on Sunday-schools showed the 

 number of schools, congregational and mission- 

 ary, to be 1,939, with 18,104 teachers and 

 202,326 pupils. The income of the Church 

 Extension Building fund had been 2,435, 

 making the total income, during the nine years 

 of its existence, 86,596. Grants had been 

 passed to the extent of 50,708. The year's 

 contributions for the Sustentation fund had 

 been 171,900. The dividend was again fixed 

 at 160. 



The entire revenue of the Foreign Mission 

 Committee for the year had been 97,229. 

 This was the largest amount reported for one 

 year in the history of the Church. Adding 

 the sums contributed for the conversion of the 

 Jews on the Continent and in the colonies, the 

 total missionary revenue of the Church had 

 been 112,009. 



The Committee on Church and State pre- 

 sented a report relating mainly to the progress 

 of the agitation for disestablishment and its 

 proceedings with reference thereto. The As- 

 sembly approved the course which the com- 

 mittee had pursued in opposing Mr. Finlay's 

 bill, and advised that the agitation on dises- 

 tablishment be brought to an end. To the 



