PRESBYTERIANS. 



683 



The Committee on Christian Life and Work 

 made return of 18,931 members in the 277 

 branches of the Women's Guild, and 28,482 

 members in the 645 branches of the Young 

 Men's Guild. 



The 2,141 Sabbath schools returned 220,860 

 pupils, an average attendance of 173,948, and 

 20,752 teachers, besides 44,929 young people at- 

 tending 1,208 ministers' or other Bible classes. 



Seven hundred persons were baptized during 

 the year at the foreign mission stations. 



The General Assembly met at Edinburgh, May 

 24. The Rev. Prof. Story was chosen moderator. 

 Answers to a series of questions sent out by the 

 last Assembly as to the prevalence of betting and 

 gambling were sent in by 1,179 parishes; and of 

 these, 797 reported that the practice did not exist, 

 28 reported that they had not the means of 

 knowing, 33 " not so far as known," and 321 that 

 gambling prevailed more or less largely. Sixty- 

 four of the schedules declared that football 

 matches and other athletic contests had a very 

 close connection with the spread of the evil. 

 Fifty-nine declared that the prominence given 

 to sporting events in newspapers, and especially 

 in the evening newspapers, did much to foster 

 and extend the gambling spirit. Forty-seven 

 pointed to the encouragement given to gambling 

 by the sanction of lotteries and raffling at bazaars 

 for church purposes. The Rev. Dr. Marshall 

 Lang, in moving the adoption of the report, said 

 the press did not offer itself as a director of 

 morals ; it supplied a demand of the public 

 mind. What the Church should do was to try 

 to reduce the demand, and the sporting columns 

 would become immediately curtailed. He be- 

 lieved that they would never reach the root of 

 the evil until a healthier, purer, and more noble 

 social life prevailed. The agitation for disestab- 

 lishment was discussed ; and the Assembly de- 

 cided, respecting the question of union with the 

 Free and United Presbyterian Church, that, in 

 view of the persistent hostility of those Churches, 

 it was not the duty of the Church of Scotland to 

 make any proposal for conference with them. 



VIII. Free Church of Scotland. The Gen- 

 eral Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland 

 met in Edinburgh, May 24. The Rev. Principal 

 Douglas was chosen moderator. 



The report of the Finance Committee showed 

 that the total income of the Church for the past 

 year had been 665.419, an increase of 19,582. 

 Of this sum, 175,291 were contributed to the 

 Sustentation fund and 99,096 to missions. The 

 sum received from congregations was 497,937. 

 A decrease appeared in the contributions from 

 congregational sources of 6,689, and an increase 

 in legacies of 26,271. A question was asked re- 

 specting a report which had been published to the 

 effect that some moneys belonging to the Church 

 had been invested in a certain estate to be used 

 in endowing a monastery. The reply was made 

 that the statement was false. The money had 

 been lent to a Roman Catholic gentleman. It 

 would be a dangerous policy for the Free Church 

 to give encouragement to the idea that in deal- 

 ing with business men about business matters 

 they were to inquire what their religious opinions 

 were. The requisite condition to insure success 

 was to see that the investment was safe. Under 

 the agreement made many thousand pounds 



payable by the tenants of the borrower, which 

 had hitherto been applied in other directions, 

 were now to be applied year by year for advanc- 

 ing the cause of the Free Church, while the 

 capital was safely placed. A resolution was 

 adopted affirming the necessity of disestablish- 

 ment and disendowment in Scotland. 



IX. United Presbyterian Church in Scot- 

 laud. The synod of the United Presbyterian 

 Church in Scotland met in Edinburgh, May 7. 

 The Rev. Dr. Oliver, of Glasgow, was chosen mod- 

 erator. The Committee on General Statistics re- 

 ported progress in every department of the work 

 of the Church, and represented that their figures 

 showed that the Church was telling on a com- 

 munity in Scotland beyond the families that 

 were brought up within their own membership. 

 The treasurer's report showed that the total in- 

 come for the year had been 86,138, as compared 

 with 82,856 for the previous year. The expendi- 

 ture had been 79.919, or 2,756 more than in the 

 previous year. Reports on Church extension, 

 the Aged and Infirm Ministers' fund, the care of 

 youth, and other matters were submitted. The 

 report on stipend augmentation showed that 

 the minimum stipend of the Church was 184, 

 in addition to an allowance of 20 for a house 

 where no manse was provided. The report of the 

 Foreign Mission Committee returned the income 

 for the past year as having been 33,543, or 

 2,306 less than that of the previous year. Eight 

 hundred and thirty-eight agents were employed, 

 and 18,460 communicants were enrolled as con- 

 nected with the stations. The income of the 

 zenana mission had been 4,639, or 358 more 

 than in the previous year, and the expenditure 

 4,262. A credit balance of 8,139 existed in 

 favor of the ordinary fund. Twenty-six zenana 

 missionaries and 101 native agents were em- 

 ployed. Two of the missionaries were fully 

 qualified physicians. A report was adopted rec- 

 ommending the promotion by all suitable means 

 the passage of an equitable measure for the dis- 

 establishment and disendowment of the Church 

 of Scotland. A report on temperance and public 

 morals advised all the ministers of the Church to 

 direct the attention of their congregations at all 

 suitable times to the evils of intemperance, de- 

 plored the prevalence of gambling, betting, and 

 raffling, and deprecated the continuance of the 

 opium traffic under any plea whatever. 



X. Presbyterian Church in Ireland. 

 The question of psalmody and music came be- 

 fore the Assembly in 2 cases. In the first case 

 a motion was made to censure the Presbytery of 

 Dublin for having acted beyond its powers in 

 approving the use of the hymn book issued by 

 the Presbyterian Church in England, and an 

 optional liturgy. In the second case the Fish- 

 erwick Place Church, of Belfast, Ireland, had 

 done away with the stated preaching service on 

 Sunday evening and substituted an evangelistic 

 service, with an organ. This act was regarded 

 by the conservative party as an evasion of the 

 " truce " by which peace had been obtained in 

 controversy over instrumental music, by which 

 it was agreed that while the organ should not 

 be used "at the "stated services" of Sunday, 

 those congregations which already had instru- 

 ments might use them in the Sunday school, in 

 evangelistic services, and in the prayer meeting. 



