666 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



the relations of the board to the other boards of 

 the Church, the Assembly declared the relation 

 to be that of an auxiliary, and it adopted a 

 minute more closely setting forth the fact. The 

 board was given the right, which was already 

 enjoyed by the other boards, of appearing and 

 speaking in the General Assembly through its 

 representatives. The Permanent Committee on 

 Theological Seminaries having recommended 

 action relative to the Assembly having a veto 

 power in the election of professors, and control 

 of the seminaries in other points, the Judiciary 

 Committee reported that, as now constituted, the 

 Assembly had no power so to interfere in the 

 affairs and work of the existing seminaries. 

 This report was adopted, and a committee was 

 appointed to prepare and submit to the next 

 General Assembly a form of overture on the 

 powers of the Assembly over the seminaries. 

 Memorials were received from the Presbytery of 

 Sealkote, India, asking for the organization of 

 three new presbyteries and of the Synod of 

 Punjaub; from members of the same presby- 

 tery requesting the General Assembly to define 

 the relation between the foreign missionaries and 

 the native ministers; and from the session, ask- 

 ing for a deliverance on the duties and powers 

 of the presbytery and its members. These re- 

 quests brought up the question of the amount of 

 authority to be given to the native ministers, 

 and of the extent to which they shall be allowed 

 to participate in the control of the funds and in 

 the general management of the mission. They 

 were referred to the Board of Missions, to be re- 

 ported upon at the next General Assembly. The 

 lower courts of the Church were admonished to 

 enforce the law of the Church on the subject 

 of psalmody, " as prohibiting the use of unin- 

 spired songs in the worship of God under any 

 or all circumstances." The proper committee 

 was instructed to bring in an overture amend- 

 ing the Book of Government so as to limit the 

 right of appeal to the Assembly to matters of 

 doctrine, and the interpretation and rules and 

 regulations in discipline and the order of wor- 

 ship. The report on reform reiterated and em- 

 phasized the previous declarations of the Gen- 

 eral Assembly concerning prison and divorce 

 reform, secret oath-bound societies, temperance, 

 and the observance of the Sabbath ; condemned 

 the Chinese exclusion act ; and declared it not 

 within the province of the Assembly to give a 

 deliverance on the question of giving women 

 the right to vote for members of Congress. The 

 work of the American Sabbath Union was com- 

 mended. 



The negotiations for union with the Associate 

 Reformed Synod of the South have suffered a 

 delay in consequence of difference of views con- 

 cerning the position to be given in the new 

 standards to the fourteenth, fifteenth, and six- 

 teenth articles in the " Testimony " of the United 

 Presbyterian Church (concerning secret socie- 

 ties and slavery). 



IT. Cumberland Presbyterian Chnrch. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics of 

 this Church as they were reported to the Gen- 

 eral Assembly in May: Number of presbyteries, 

 124: of congregations, 2,916; of ordained min- 

 isters, 1,670; of additions to the Church, 14,862; 

 of communicants, 171,609. Contributions: For 



church erection, $9,428; for ministerial relief, 

 $9,868; for ministerial education, $10,525; for 

 home missions, $22,499; for foreign missions, 

 $20,431. Total contributions, $794,576. 



The sixty-second General Assembly met in 

 Memphis, Tenn., May 19. The Rev. W. S. Dan- 

 ley, I). D., of Missouri, was chosen moderator. 

 The Board of Education had received $10,665, 

 and had aided 90 students during the year. The 

 Board of Missions and Church Erection had re- 

 ceived $42,885, of which $20,431 were for foreign 

 missions and $22,498 for home missions, while a 

 small sum was described as " other receipts." Of 

 the total sum, $12,305 had been received through 

 the Woman's Boards. Favorable reports were re- 

 ceived from the mission in Japan, which is con- 

 nected with the United Church of Christ in that 

 country ; in Mexico, where there are stations 

 at Aguas Calientes and Guanajuato ; and in the 

 Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Nations of 

 Indians. In the Home Mission department mis- 

 sions are maintained in 30 cities. The total re- 

 sources of the Church Erection fund were $9,428, 

 and $4,485 had been expended on its account. 

 The total contributions to the Ministerial Relief 

 fund had been $9,868, and the total income $10,- 

 392, while $5,897 had been paid to beneficiaries. 

 A woman's department had been found helpful 

 by the board. The Board of Publication report- 

 ed the completion of the new building at a cost, 

 for building and land, of $81,603. The profits 

 of the year had been $7,405. The question hav- 

 ing been asked the Assembly by a presbytery, 

 whether a woman can be ordained as an elder, it 

 was referred to a committee, from which a ma- 

 jority report denying the legality of such ordina- 

 tion, and a minority report affirming it, were pre- 

 sented. The minority report was adopted. It 

 finds that there is no prohibitory law against the 

 ordination and installation of women as ruling 

 elders, and recommended that the Assembly de- 

 clare that the same may be done where it shall 

 appear needful. A protest was entered against 

 this action. The Assembly decided that the pres- 

 byteries have authority to license exhorters or 

 lay preachers; but it 'denied that any presby- 

 tery could set up a standard of scholarship for 

 an ordained minister. A motion that the mis- 

 sion in Japan be withdrawn from its connection 

 with the United Church and its work be made 

 strictly denominational, was defeated, and the 

 Assembly decided that the existing relations 

 should not be disturbed. The Young People's 

 Society of Christian Endeavor was commended, 

 and a separate denominational organization was 

 decided against as hurtful and unwise. The 

 Assembly declared that while unwilling to com- 

 mit the Church to the advocacy of any political 

 platform, it was not willing that the danger of 

 so doing should deter it from an unqualified dec- 

 laration in favor of the prohibition, by legislative 

 enactment, of the manufacture and sale of in- 

 toxicating liquors. Positive prohibition was the 

 only consistent position for the Church to take 

 on that question. Action was taken on several 

 points pertaining to the constitution and work 

 of the Boards of Publication and Education. 



Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Colored). 

 This Church was organized in May, 1869, at 

 Murfreesborough, Tenn., under the direction of 

 the General Assembly of the' Cumberland Pres- 



