PRESBYTERIANS. 



665 



children of ministers had been assisted from the 

 Invalid fund. 



Tin- total receipts of the Executive Committee 

 of Ki.ri'i^n Missions for the year had been $180,- 

 2?(i. or *!?.-'!.,'."> in CMC-- of the receipts of any 

 prev inn- year. One hundred and two mission- 

 aries were at work, as follow: 33 in China, 28 

 in Bra/.il, li in Mexico, 4 to the Greeks, 2 in Italy, 

 l?:' in .lajian, 4 in the Congo Free State, and 2 in 

 Cuba. One hundred and twenty-three native 

 helpers had been employed, and the number of 

 communicants was 2,702, 391 of whom had been 

 received by baptism during the year. An au- 

 tonomous church, with a local synod, has been 

 formed in Greece, with which the older churches 

 established under the mission have been incor- 

 porated. 



The General Assembly met at Hot Springs, 

 Ark., May 19. The report of the Standing Com- 

 mittee on Colored Evangelization commended the 

 work that was already accomplished in behalf of 

 that cause, and advised an increase of financial 

 support to it of $200,000. The committee was 

 empowered by the Assembly to confer with the 

 Freedmen's Board of the Presbyterian Church 

 df the Tinted States of America "to ascertain 

 whether there is not some basis of co-operation 

 or united effort in the religious culture of the 

 negro." A commissioner who had been ap- 

 pointed to assist in the organization of a synod 

 of colored Presbyterians reported that that ob- 

 ject had not yet been effected. A committee ap- 

 pointed to consider the subject reported in favor 

 of the organization of a colored synod, which for 

 the present should be in connection with the 

 General Assembly. An ad interim committee 

 was appointed, with power, if it should deem it 

 advisable, to call a conference of all the colored 

 ministers connected with the Church, " to confer 

 with them about organizing an independent 

 Presbyterian Church, and any other matter per- 

 taining to the best interests of Presbyterianism 

 among the colored people." 



The Executive Committee of Foreign Missions 

 was authorized to confer with the Board of 

 Foreign Missions of the Northern Church with 

 reference to co-operation in the foreign mission 

 field. A proposition for the observation of ; 'a 

 week of self-denial " in behalf of foreign mis- 

 sions was not favored, the feeling of the Assembly 

 appearing to be that such an expedient should 

 not be adopted except on the occasion of an 

 emergency. The Assembly refused to approve 

 the appointment of financial agents in the 

 synods for the purpose of visiting the churches 

 and raising money for foreign missions. An 

 effort was made in favor of the institution of 

 more stringent regulations concerning the 

 tarnishing of aid to students for the ministry: 

 but the Assembly decided to make no change in 

 -'em of beneficiary education. On the con- 

 sideration of the report of the Executive Com- 

 mittee of Home Missions, the Assembly recorded 

 its disapproval of the employment of paid finan- 

 cial agents to solicit contributions. An ad in- 

 terim committee was appointed to consider the 

 relations of the home mission work of the Gen- 

 eral Assembly and the home mission work of 

 the synods and presbyteries, and the means of 

 bringing them into harmony. The work of re- 

 vision of the Directory of Worship, which has 



been going on for several years in the Assembly's 

 committee, was continued by referring it to a 

 new committee, to which the presbyteries are 

 invited to send their views, to be incorporated in 

 the work if the committee deem it desirable. On 

 the question of the proper kind of wine to be 

 used in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, 

 diverse reports were made by the committee to 

 which the subject was referred. The Assembly 

 decided that the ordinary fermented wine was 

 the scriptural wine, but that the validity of the 

 sacrament was not affected by the use of un- 

 fermented grape juice. 



On an invitation of the Northern General 

 Assembly to petition Congress against the open- 

 ing of the Columbian Fair on Sunday, and 

 against permitting the sale of liquor within its 

 gates, the Assembly decided that, while it was 

 opposed to any mingling of the affairs of Church 

 and state, this was a matter in which the in- 

 terests of religion and the Church are vitally 

 concerned, and the particular occasion was a 

 critical one, and to join in the petition. 



III. United Presbyterian Church in 

 North America. The following is the sum- 

 mary of the statistics of this Church as they 

 were reported to the General Assembly in May. 

 1892 : Number of synods, 10 ; of presbyteries, 60 ; 

 of ministers, 791 ; of licentiates, 61 ; of students 

 of theology, 92 ; of ruling elders, 3,619 ; of con- 

 gregations, 920; of pastoral charges, 158; of 

 mission stations, 169; of new mission stations 

 during the year, 11; of members, 109,018; of 

 members received on profession, 6,975 ; of bap- 

 tisms, 1,661 of adults and 4,149 of infants; of 

 Sabbath schools, 1,090, with 11,415 officers and 

 teachers, and 98,859 pupils ; of young people's 

 societies, 589, with 23,094 members. Amounts 

 of contributions : For salaries of ministers, 

 $543,400; for congregational purposes, $401,- 

 690 ; for the boards, $267.023 ; for general pur- 

 poses, $74.175; total, $1,286,288; average per 

 member, $13.38 ; average salary of pastors, 

 $1,025. 



The thirty-fourth General Assembly met in 

 Allegheny, Pa., May 26. The Rev. David Mc- 

 Gill, D. D., was chosen moderator. The Com- 

 mittee on Federation of Churches, appointed by 

 the preceding General Assembly, reported that 

 it had called a conference which only a few dele- 

 gates attended, some of the churches having 

 apparently overlooked the matter. Those who 

 met submitted a statement to the churches in- 

 terested, and requested the appointment of dele- 

 gates to another conference. The report ex- 

 plained that this was not a movement for a 

 consensus creed, but for such a federation as 

 would provide for a General Council to take 

 action in relation to subjects common to all, 

 and to unite the moral forces of the Church 

 against prevailing evils. The Woman's Board 

 reported that its receipts for the year had been 

 $35,869, and its expenditures $39,552. It had 

 during the year separated the work of church 

 extension from that of home missions, and ap- 

 pointed a secretary for it. Its work in the 

 home mission department had increased. The 

 work of the board was approved by the Assem- 

 bly, and its zeal and efficiency were commended. 

 In consonance with the recommendation of a 

 committee which had been appointed to consider 



