PRESBYTEEIANS. 



593 



'rof. McGiffert's name was presented for ad- 

 mission to the Manhattan Congregational Asso- 

 ciation April 11, and was referred according to 

 the rules of the body. 



Revision of the Confession. The committee 

 of the General Assembly on revision of the creed 

 in August sent out a note to the presbyteries 

 reciting the action of the General Assembly, and 

 asking them a number of questions the answers 

 to which would be helpful to a full and clear 

 understanding of the mind of the Church. These 

 questions, the committee explained, were simply 

 suggestive, putting no restrictions upon the pres- 

 byteries except that it should be remembered that 

 the committee was not empowered to consider any 

 suggestions conflicting with the system of doctrine 

 taught in the Holy Scriptures and contained in 

 the Confession of Faith. The questions were: 

 " (1) Do you desire a revision of our Confession 

 of Faith? or (2) do you desire a supplementary, 

 explanatory statement? or (3) do you desire to 

 supplement our present doctrinal standards with 

 a briefer statement of the doctrines ' most surely 

 believed among us,' expressing in simple language 

 the faith of the Church in loyalty to the system 

 of doctrine contained in the Scriptures and held 

 by the Reformed churches? or (4) do you desire 

 the dismissal of the whole subject, so that our 

 doctrinal standards shall remain as they are, with- 

 out any change whatever, whether revisional, sup- 

 plementary, or substitutional ? If your preference 

 is for revisional action, state in what direction 

 and to what extent you would have revision un- 

 dertaken. The revision reported to the Assembly 

 in 1892 might be helpful as a basis for judgment. 

 If your preference is for an explanatory state- 

 ment, indicate what specific points in the Confes- 

 sion the statement should cover. The committee 

 considers it as quite evident that due regard to 

 the above questions and suggestions may be of 

 great service in contributing to a better knowledge 

 of the mind of the Church on this important mat- 

 ter. The committee also would respectfully re- 

 quest the presbyteries, in reporting their action, 

 to state the votes both in the affirmative and the 

 negative." The committee met Dec. 8 to examine 

 and compare the answers made by the presbyteries 

 to their questions. They found: " 1. That the re- 

 turns plainly indicate that the Church desires 

 some change in its creedal statement. 2. These 

 returns indicate plainly that no change is desired 

 which would in any way impair the integrity of 

 the system of doctrine contained in the Confession 

 of Faith. 3. These returns also indicate that a 

 large plurality desire that changes should be made 

 by some new statement of present doctrines. 4. 

 These returns also indicate a desire upon the part 

 of many presbyteries for some revision of the 

 present Confession." The committee unanimously 

 agreed to recommend to the General Assembly 

 that some revision or change be made in the con- 

 fessional statements. The determination of the 

 method of formulating the changes that seemed 

 to be desired was referred to a subsequent meet- 

 ing of the committee, and a meeting was appointed 

 to be held Feb. 12, 1901, when it was expected 

 the preparation of a statement to be presented to 

 the General Assembly would be considered. 



II. Presbyterian Clmrch in the United 

 States (Southern). The following is a sum- 

 mary of the statistics of this Church from the 

 table published by the stated clerk, William A. 

 Alexander, with the journal of the General As- 

 sembly of 1900: Number of synods, 13; of presby- 

 teries, 79; of churches, 2,959; of ministers, 1,461; 

 of candidates, 317; of licentiates, 70; of ruling 



fsrs, 8,845; of deacons, 7,733; of communicants, 

 VOL. XL. 38 A 



225,890; of baptized noncommunicants, 40,629; of 

 teachers in Sunday schools, 20,881; of pupils in the 

 same, 141,507; of members added on examination 

 during the year, 7,733; of baptisms, 3,051 of adults 

 and 4,853 of infants; of lie-ensures, 63; of ordina- 

 tions, 48; of churches organized, 69. Amount of 

 contributions: For home missions (assembly's), 

 $26,658; for evangelistic work (local), $123,016; 

 for the Invalid fund, $15,030; for foreign missions, 

 $141,507; for education, $90,612; for publication, 

 $7,848; for colored evangelization, $11,332; for the 

 Bible cause, $4,803 ; for pastors' salaries, $805,945 ; 

 presbyterial, $16,052; congregational, $667,268; 

 miscellaneous, $122,875. 



The increase in the number of communicants 

 for the year was 4,696, or about 2 per cent, of the 

 membership. The average contribution was about 

 $9 per member. 



The Executive Committee of Home Missions 

 reported to the General Assembly that its total 

 receipts for the year, including the balance of 

 $12,088 from the preceding year, had been $43,690. 

 Its expenditures on field work had been $30,433. 

 It had supported, fully or partly, 137 missionaries 

 for the whole or part of the year. Six hundred 

 dollars had been loaned from the regular loan fund 

 to four churches, making the total amount of loans 

 to white churches during the fourteen years since 

 the fund was instituted $7,905. Of this sum, 

 $3,078 were outstanding and the Assembly had 

 canceled $404 on two loans. Two hundred and 

 fifty-five dollars had been loaned about ten years 

 to five colored congregations, of which $128 had 

 been returned, and the Assembly had canceled the 

 rest. From the Moore Church Erection fund, the 

 total assets of which were given as $5,244, $1,450 

 had been loaned to five congregations. Since this 

 fund had come into the treasury loans amounting 

 to $6,275 had been made to 24 churches, and 

 $3,709 had been paid back. The regular loan 

 fund loans were made as debts of honor without 

 interest; the loans from the Moore fund were se- 

 cured by mortgage on the church property. The re- 

 sources of the Invalid fund for the year had been 

 $15,370, and from it $13,856 had been paid to 149 

 beneficiaries ministers and widows and families 

 of ministers. Ten new ministers and five families 

 of ministers deceased had been added during the 

 year to the list of beneficiaries. In addition to 

 the ordinary work of the committee, the report 

 presented the conditions of its work in the Indian 

 Territory and New Mexico, and among Mexicans 

 in Texas. 



The Executive Committee of Education for the 

 Ministry reported all but two of the presbyteries 

 as co-operating with it a larger number than for 

 many years before. It had received from all 

 sources $18,335, the receipts resulting from the 

 regular collections having been the largest since 

 1895. One hundred and ninety-five beneficiaries 

 had been enrolled, or 20 less than in the previous 

 year. The proportion 'to the entire number of 

 candidates of those aided through the committee 

 was remarked upon as being very large. Three of 

 the persons aided were strangers, a fact which 

 suggested doubts to the committee as to the legal- 

 ity of extending aid to such persons. On this 

 subject the Assembly advised sessions and presby- 

 teries not to receive candidates who had been re- 

 jected or dropped by other presbyteries or ecclesi- 

 astical bodies without correspondence with such 

 bodies. 



The Executive Committee of Colored Evangel- 

 ization had received $8,454 on the general fund 

 for colored evangelization and $539 on the special 

 or improvement fund of Stillman Institute the 

 whole being an increase of about $1.000 over the 



