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PRESBYTERIANS. 



previous year. Its work had been extended by 

 entering new fields, and it had aided in the con- 

 struction of two churches and the purchase of one 

 manse. Work done by white people in the mission 

 Sunday schools for colored people was especially 

 mentioned, and comprised 179 teachers instructing 

 1,987 pupils in 37 Sunday schools. Fifty-three 

 ministers had been sustained in whole or in part 

 by the committee, some of them having been other- 

 wise supported by white presbyteries. The total 

 sum of $3,094 had been paid to colored ministers 

 and churches. Report was made of the work of 

 Stillman Institute, Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Ferguson- 

 \\illiams College, Abbeville, S. C.; and North 

 Wilkesboro Industrial Institute, North Carolina. 

 A preachers' institute of colored ministers had been 

 held during ten days in June, 1899, at Stillman 

 Institute; but while the object of instructing the 

 ministers was successfully pursued, the committee 

 had failed to accomplish the other object which 

 they had hoped to promote there, namely, the 

 completion of the organization of the Independent 

 Colored Presbyterian Church. This organization, 

 which had taken the name of " The A fro- American 

 Presbyterian Church," was opposed as a separate 

 church by the two largest and most influential col- 

 ored presbyteries those of Ethel and Central 

 Alabama and it was doubtful whether those ad- 

 hering to it would be able to sustain it as a vigor- 

 ous, independent body. The Assembly's standing 

 committee on this work insisted, however, that in- 

 dependent organization was the wisest solution of 

 the questions relative to colored Presbyterians, 

 and that that end should be kept in view by the 

 Church. 



The Executive Committee on Publication re- 

 ported that the net assets of the publishing house 

 were $116,942. An increase of a little more than 

 25 per cent, had taken place in the business. The 

 colportage work, also, had nearly doubled, and 

 grants to an increased amount had been made. 

 Four young men had been employed during the 

 vacation of the Theological Seminary, and re- 

 ported 18 Sabbath schools organized, with 70 

 teachers and 663 pupils. 



The receipts for the year of the Executive Com- 

 mittee of Foreign Missions had been $161,161, an 

 increase over the previous year of $16,171. The 

 number of additions to the mission churches was 

 642. The committee expressed the conviction in 

 its report that the principle of the subordination of 

 the educational to the evangelistic side of the mis- 

 sionary work should be adhered to. Steps which 

 had been taken to call the attention of the King 

 of the Belgians to certain acts committed by the 

 Zappo Zaps in the Congo Free State were approved 

 by the General Assembly; and that body voted 

 acknowledgments to the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, South, and to the Presbyterian Church in 

 the United States of America for courtesies given 

 in the mission fields, and to the Baptists for desires 

 expressed in favor of co-operation and comity. 



Seventy-four presbyteries reported 2.063 Sunday 

 schools, with 18,791 officers and teachers and 131,- 

 561 scholars enrolled, and an average attendance 

 of 94,163. These schools had contributed for all 

 objects $87,100. The General Assembly recom- 

 mended that a general collection be taken in the 

 Sunday schools for the advancement of the Sunday- 

 school interests of the Church, and that at least 

 one Sunday-school institute be held each year 

 within the bounds of every presbytery. 



The General Assembly met in Atlanta, Ga., May 

 17. Judge J. W. Martin, of Arkansas, was chosen 

 moderator. The " permanent committee " ap- 

 pointed by the previous General Assembly to con- 

 sider certain overtures on the subject of the 



Church and Christian education, reported that its- 

 work had been mainly directed to securing the 

 attention of the synods and presbyteries to the 

 paper which had been adopted by the Assembly 

 (see Annual Cyclopaedia for 1899, page 730). 

 Fifty-seven presbyteries had approved and recom- 

 mended the paper and appointed permanent com- 

 mittees on Church and Christian education. Six 

 presbyteries had indorsed or approved or com- 

 mended the constitution and plan of organization 

 proposed, but declined for the present to appoint 

 permanent committees, while other presbyteries 

 had failed to take definite action. Only one had 

 expressed disapproval of the paper. Five of the 12 

 synods had approved and commended the plan, 

 and had appointed permanent committees. The 

 result of the canvass was regarded as indicating 

 a greater interest in the subject than had been 

 anticipated. Along with its report, the committee 

 submitted a draft of a constitution for the pro- 

 posed educational organization. It also communi- 

 cated an enumeration of existing schools actually 

 or virtually under Presbyterian control, which in- 

 cluded 6 theological schools, 10 colleges and uni- 

 versities for young men, 41 colleges and seminaries 

 for young women, 23 co-educational schools and 

 colleges, 33 academies and high schools for young 

 men, 7 orphanages, 9 Indian schools, and 6 colored 

 schools. The committee was reappointed. The 

 committee engaged in the preparation of a new 

 hymn book reported progress. The old Psahn~ 

 and Hymns was made the basis of the new 

 collection, and a brief formal statement was pre- 

 sented of the rules and principles by which the 

 committee had been guided in selecting and ar- 

 ranging the hymns and tunes. An effort to raix 

 $1,000,000 for the permanent work of the Church. 

 to be known as the Twentieth Century fund, was 

 approved, and a committee, consisting of a minis- 

 ter and an elder from each synod, was appointed 

 to have general management and oversight of it. 

 The object of the fund was defined to be ' t<> 

 promote and put upon a surer basis the cause of 

 Christian education; to endow and equip more 

 fully our theological seminaries, our schools, col- 

 leges, and other institutions of learning; . . . and 

 to found such new institutions of similar character 

 as may seem advisable." The Assembly advised 

 that this movement should not interfere with or 

 displace plans that were now in operation in dif- 

 ferent parts of the Church looking to the same 

 end, but should rather seek to unify all these local 

 efforts and stimulate and encourage them through 

 sympathetic co-operation. The synods were in- 

 vited to appoint each a committee of three to en- 

 operate with the Assembly's committee. A com- 

 mittee was appointed to prepare a catechism on 

 the nature and government of the Church. 1 lit 

 Assembly declined to grant the prayer of an over 

 ture asking for the insertion of a clause in the 

 Confession of Faith, declaring that all dying jr 

 infancy are elect infants and regenerated, on the 

 ground that "the present language of the ('onie- 

 sion can not, by any fair interpretation, be entr 

 strued as teaching that any of those who die in 

 infancy are lost"; and this answer was ordered 

 printed as a footnote in future editions of the Con 

 fession of Faith. The report of the Permai 

 Committee on the Sabbath, finding the desecration 

 of the Lord's Day generally increasing, urged ii|><i 

 all the presbyteries the duty and respon-oliilit" 

 of holding up the subject of more faithful 

 servance constantly before the churches, with i 

 view of awakening a deeper interest, and warned 

 the people of the Church against the great danger 

 of becoming through their patronage " partakers 

 of other men's sins " by having anything to d > 



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