052 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



Three boards contemplated work in Puerto Rico, 

 namely, the Missionary Society of the Methodist 

 Episcopal Church, the Board of Missions of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and probably 

 of the Southern Baptist Convention. Three boards 

 were " seriously disposed to consider " the opening 

 of missionary work in the Philippine Islands, name- 

 ly, the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presby- 

 terian Church in the United States of America, 

 the -Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, and the A'merican Baptist Missionary 

 Union. In the interest of the principles of comity 

 and the belief that the situation in respect to these 

 countries afforded an excellent opportunity of carry- 

 ing out these principles from the point of view of 

 Christian fellowship, the meeting recommended 

 " that each of the boards mentioned appoint a com- 

 mittee of two on the field or fields which it thinks of 

 entering, each group of committees to confer with 

 a view to frank and mutual understanding as to 

 the most effective and equitable distribution of the 

 territory and work under the several boards ; second, 

 that the committee take early steps to secure all 

 available information regarding these various is- 

 lands as missionary fields, and that all the informa- 

 tion thus obtained be shared with the other com- 

 mittees concerned, with a view to subsequent action ; 

 third, that the committee on the Philippine Islands 

 be requested to inform the American Board that 

 no board has expressed an intention of undertaking 

 work in the Ladrone Islands, and that the question 

 was raised whether the equipment of the American 

 Hoard in connection with the Caroline Islands does 

 not better fit it for work in the Ladrone Islands, if 

 it should become expedient to undertake it." 



II. Presbyterian Church in the United States 

 (Southern). The tables published with the "Jour- 

 nal of the General Assembly" give statistics of this 

 Church for 1898, of which the following is a sum- 

 mary : Number of synods, 13 ; of presbyteries, 77 ; 

 of ministers, 1,448 ; of churches, 2,873 ; of commu- 

 nicants, 217,055 ; of pupils in Sabbath schools, 146,- 

 907 ; of candidates, 362 ; of licentiates, 73 ; of ruling 

 elders, 8,957 ; of deacons, 7,533 ; of teachers in Sab- 

 bath schools, 20,250; of baptized non-communicants, 

 39.326; of additions during the year on examina- 

 tion, 10,842 ; of baptisms, 3,998 of adults and 4,901 

 of infants ; of licensures, 54 ; of ordinations, 70 : of 

 churches organized, 82. Amount of contributions : 

 For home missions (Assembly's), $28,562; for evan- 

 gelization (local), $110.232 ; for the Invalid fund, 

 $13,377; for foreign missions, $121.662 ; for educa- 

 tion, $53,894 ; for publication, $7.969 ; for colored 

 evangelization, $12,383 ; for the Bible cause, $5,096 ; 

 presbyterial contributions. $15,472 ; for pastors' sal- 

 aries, $792,807 ; for congregational purposes, $587,- 

 917; miscellaneous contributions, $97,681. The 

 number of members is 5,361 ; of pupils in Sabbath 

 schools, 3,409, and the amount of contributions 

 $13,960 more than in 1897; and increase is shown, 

 since 1874, or in twenty-five years, of 112,099 com- 

 municants, 86,644 pupils in Sabbath schools, and 

 $735,391 in contributions. 



The report of Frcdericksburg College to the Gen- 

 eral Assembly showed that it had been separated, 

 in compliance with the directions of the previous 

 General Assembly, from the Home and Training 

 School, in which there were 35 students. The prop- 

 erty of the institution was valued at $10,200 while 

 its outstanding obligations were $14.260. The train- 

 ing school for woman missionaries was discon- 

 tinued. 



Ten students had attended the classes of Stillman 

 Institute for the Training of Colored Ministers. 



The Executive Committee of Publication esti- 

 mated that its issues from the press during the year 

 had been, in round numbers, 100,000 copies of books 



and tracts. It had made grants to Sabbath schools, 

 churches, mission fields, pastors, and evangelists to 

 the amount, in all, of $6,918. The contributions 

 of the churches to this work had been $7,005. 



The receipts of the Executive Committee of Home 

 ^Missions for the year, including those for the As- 

 sembly's home missions arid for the Invalid fund 

 had been $52,353, and the expenditures $39,300. 

 The funds were classified as on account of home 

 missions proper: of the Regular Loan fund, from 

 which during twelve years $6,955 had been loaned, 

 enabling 51 white churches to erect or repair 

 church buildings; of the William A. Moore fund 

 for Church Erection, from which $4,825 had been 

 loaned to 19 churches, and which had now $2.357 

 cash on hand; and of the Invalid fund, from the 

 income of which $10,480 had been paid out in aid 

 of 39 aged or infirm ministers and 107 widows or 

 families of deceased ministers. After retiring from 

 the control of Armstrong Academy, School, and 

 Home for Indian Boys in 1894, the board began a 

 system of school work in towns and neighborhoods 

 in the Indian Territory, which had grown in impor- 

 tance. About 650 pupils had been in the schools 

 during the past session, more than one third of 

 whom were missionary pupils, taught free of charge. 

 Six white and five Indian ministers were engaged 

 in the Territory, supplying all the organized churches 

 and "eight or ten other points "with regular or 

 occasional preaching, and returning 130 additions 

 by profession. Mission work was also carried en 

 among Mexicans immigrating to the United States. 



The receipts of the Executive Committee of For- 

 eign Missions had been $146,478, a larger sum than 

 was ever before contributed in a single year. The 

 expenditures had exceeded that sum by $363. 

 Eight new missionaries had been sent out during 

 the year, and one had been added by marriage. 

 The whole number of missionaries on the roll was 

 155, of whom 56 were ordained ministers. The 

 whole number of communicants in the mission 

 fields was 2,948, and 533 additions by profession of 

 faith were recorded in 1897. To these numbers 

 should be added the members of a church in Brazil 

 from which no report had been received. The addi- 

 tions were equivalent to about 17 per cent, of the 

 membership, while the additions to the home 

 churches averaged about 7 per cent. 



The General Assembly met in New Orleans, La., 

 May 19. The Rev. E. M. Green, D. I)., of Danville, 

 Ky., was chosen moderator. A complaint was pre- 

 sented from the Rev. Dr. W. M. McPheeters and nine 

 others against the act of the Synod of South Can - 

 lina in officially indorsing a petition to the Post- 

 master-General and through him to the President 

 of the United States asking that the transmission < f 

 the mails on Sunday be stopped and all post ofliccs 

 closed on that day. The petition had been coir- 

 rnunicated to the Synod of South Carolina with a 

 request for indorsement of it by Bishop Stevens f 

 the Reformed Episcopal Church. A motion \v;is 

 made that the synod declare itself unable to comply 

 with the request, " not because it fails to recognize 

 the fact that the transportation of the mails and 

 the opening of the post offices on the Sabbath is a 

 flagrant violation of God's law as declared in his 

 Word, and as impressed upon the constitution of 

 nature; nor because it was in any doubt as to the 

 injurious tendencies and effects of such violaiii'i 

 of God's law upon our material, moral, and politicnl 

 interests as a people; but simply because it is our 

 settled conviction that synods ami councils as sue i 

 should handle or conclude nothing but that \vliic i 

 is ecclesiastical, and should not intermeddle wit i 

 civil affairs which concern the commonwealth. 

 This was modified so as to give way to a motion t > 

 table a motion previously made to refer the subject 



