598 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



their own congregations, 162 native evangelists 

 and 48 native theological students; and 84 or- 

 ganized congregations, 121 preaching stations 

 with 6,703 communicants, and 12 hospitals were 

 connected with the missions. The income of the 

 society had been 24,002. The Woman's Mis- 

 sionary Association had an income of 3,000 a 

 year, and supported a large staff of woman mis- 

 sionaries in the foreign field. A plan it had in 

 contemplation for the establishment of women's 

 hospitals in China was approved by the Synod. 



The Synod met in London, April 30. The Rev. 

 John Watson, of Liverpool, was chosen moder- 

 ator. The report of the Committee on Religion 

 and Morals spoke of the widespread indiffererice 

 prevailing in the land, as shown in diminished 

 attendance at places of worship and diminished 

 interest in the work and welfare of the Church. 

 An overture asking the Synod to declare it 

 legal for elders to dispense the Lord's Supper at 

 home mission churches was " passed from," the 

 proposition being regarded as illegal. A proposi- 

 tion to mark the opening of the twentieth century 

 by a special movement for deepening the spiritual 

 life of the Church was approved, and a synodical 

 meeting of ministers and elders for prayer and 

 conference was appointed to be held in Liverpool 

 in October. A proposal to appoint a large com- 

 mission of Synod to deal with matters which 

 might arise during the intervals between the 

 meetings of the body was referred back. Pres- 

 byteries and sessions were advised to co-operate 

 with local councils in the simultaneous missions 

 contemplated by the National Council of the Free 

 Evangelical Churches to mark the opening of the 

 new century. A resolution was passed expressing 

 regret that " through the influence of the au- 

 thorities of the Anglican Church Presbyterian 

 soldiers in India have been deprived of the use of 

 garrison churches erected in that country at the 

 public expense for the religious worship of the 

 Protestant soldiers, or have been hampered in 

 the use of them by intolerable restrictions," and 

 urging the Government to take steps to remedy 

 the injustice complained of. It. was announced 

 that in view of the use of the designation Pres- 

 byterian by some of the Unitarian churches, a 

 committee had decided to issue a brief explana- 

 tory and historical tract for use in districts where 

 the confusion of names operated prejudicially to 

 the interest of the Church. 



VIII. Church of Scotland. The statistical 

 returns of this Church for 1899 give it 1846 

 churches and mission stations, with about 2,000 

 ministers, 648,476 communicants, and in 2,200 

 Sunday schools 20,834 teachers and 227,452 pupils. 



Seven new churches, 3 halls, 2 manses, and 2 mis- 

 sion houses had been added to the property of the 

 Church through the operations of the Highlands 

 and Islands Commission. The amount available 

 for distribution by the Association for Augment- 

 ing Smaller Livings was 9,916, or 1,366 more 

 than in 1899. The capital fund had reached 85,- 

 !)."><;. The Jewish mission reported that of 2,188 

 children attending its schools, 1,402 were Jews. 

 Kight thousand pounds sterling had been raised 

 for the Jubilee Thank Offering fund, for which it 

 was sought to raise 14,000. The Endowment 

 Committee reported that 408 churches had been 

 endowed since the institution of the scheme. 



The combined income of the funds for foreign 

 missions amounted to 50,691. One hundred and 

 fifteen foreign agents were employed in the mis- 

 sion fields, from which were returned 9,891 bap- 

 tized converts. 12.584 pupils in schools, and 1,063 

 under instruction in zenanas. 



The General Assembly met in Edinburgh, May 



24. The Rev. Norman MacLeod was chosen mod- 

 erator. The report on education showed that the 

 full number of students allowed by the regula- 

 tions were enrolled in the training colleges, and 

 that the decline in the number of young men 

 students had ceased. The report of the Proba- 

 tioners' Committee, however, showed no improve- 

 ment. There were only 108 students in the divin- 

 ity halls, the number having fallen to that figure 

 from 245 in 1889; and so far only 34 men had ap- 

 plied for license in the present year. The total 

 number of probationers and unattached ministers 

 was 329. The severity of the entrance examina- 

 tions for the university faculties, the prevalence 

 of materialistic views of life, the disinclination of 

 young men of learning to sign the Confession of 

 Faith, and the existence of a time of religious 

 indifference were alleged by different speakers as 

 causes for this decline. A committee appointed 

 by the previous General Assembly to ascertain if 

 the Church had the power to alter the terms of 

 subscription to its Confession of Faith, reported 

 that in the opinion of various eminent lawyers 

 such a power did not exist. A deed to the pos- 

 session of lona Cathedral from the Duke of 

 Argyll, its late owner, was presented to the As- 

 sembly, and the formal notification of the gift 

 was marked by the expression of tributes to the 

 memory and virtues of the deceased donor. The 

 report on foreign missions represented that the 

 past year had been one of unusual encourage- 

 ment. The committee was free from debt. In 

 the matter of a correspondence (mentioned in the 

 Annual Cyclopaedia for 1899) with the Indian 

 authorities respecting the use of the churches in 

 India by Presbyterian soldiers, satisfactory assur- 

 ances had been received from Lord George Ham- 

 ilton. The closing address of the moderator com- 

 prised a survey of the departing century and the 

 outlook for the new one, in the course of which 

 the speaker claimed that the ecclesiastical con- 

 stitution of the Established Church combined 

 state alliance with spiritual alliance in a manner 

 more perfect than had ever been attained by any 

 other church in Christendom. 



IX. Free Church of Scotland. The number 

 of members of this Church at the end of 1S<)<) 

 was 296,685, showing an increase of 2,401. Of 

 the 1,109 congregations (3 more than in 1899) 1,00'J 

 were regular sanctioned charges, the remainder 

 being mission stations. The number of pupils in 

 Sunday schools (215,874) was 4,383 less than in 

 1899. 



The total contributions of the Church for all 

 purposes amounted to 706,546, a decrease of 

 7,196 as compared with the previous year. The 

 amount was. however, 45,000 in excess of the 

 average of the last five years. The funds for the 

 support of the ministry showed an increase of 

 more than 3,000. The income of the Home 

 Mission and Church Extension Committee \\:vs 

 12,292, an increase of 1.107. 



The General Assembly met in Edinburgh, May 

 24. The Rev. Ross Taylor, D. D., was Hio-.-n 

 moderator, and made an address on the influence 

 which had been brought to bear upon religion- 

 thought during the nineteenth century, including 

 the theory of evolution and biblical eritici.-m 

 Holding that one unswerving purpose could 1>< 

 traced through all the processes in Nature, In 

 asked if it was possible to believe that all this \VM 

 due to force alone apart from intelligence or \yi" 

 With all that had been accomplished in biblica 

 criticism, he found that the great fact of Chris 

 tian experience remained untouched. A report <u 

 the progress of the Church called attention to 

 the fact that while the membership had increased. 



