PRESBYTERIANS. 



to the synod " for the purpose of the case being 

 proceeded with according to the methods and 

 requirements of the constitution." The appeal 

 and complaints against the Presbytery of New 

 York were dismissed and the judgment of the 

 presbytery complained of and appealed from was 

 sustained. 



II. Presbyterian Church in the United 

 States (Southern). The following is a sum- 

 mary of the statistics of this Church as pre- 

 sented in the reports to the General Assem- 

 bly in May: Number of synods, 13; of presby- 

 teries, 77; of ministers, 1,471; of churches, 2,919; 

 of members, 221,022; of teachers in Sabbath 

 schools, 19,808; of pupils in the same, 143,609; of 

 candidates for the ministry, 357; of licentiates, 

 60; of ruling elders, 8,979; of deacons, 7,571; of 

 baptized noncommunicants, 41,627; of churches 

 organized during the year, 56, against 14 dis- 

 solved; of members added on examination, 8,613; 

 of adults baptized, 2,847; of infants baptized, 

 4,588. Amount of contributions: For home mis- 

 sions (Assembly's), $30,005; for local evangelistic 

 funds, $116,533; for the Invalid fund, $13,732; 

 for foreign missions, $111,191; for education, 

 $52,732; for publications, $12,587; for colored 

 evangelization, $12,459; for the Bible cause, 

 $4,025; for presbyterial purposes, $15,948; for 

 pastors' salaries, $802,607; for congregational 

 purposes, $583,570; miscellaneous contributions, 

 $96,276. The whole amount of contributions, 

 according to the footing of the tables, is 

 $1,851,771. The increase in the number of 

 communicants during the year was 3,947; in- 

 crease in the aggregate of contributions, $4,917; 

 while the number of pupils in Sabbath schools 

 was 2,268 less than in 1898. A comparison of the 

 tables with those of past years shows that the 

 net growth of the Church in the number of com- 

 municants for the past four years had been 2 per 

 cent., or only half as large a percentage as in the 

 years preceding. 



The report of the Executive Committee on Edu- 

 cation showed that the collections for that cause 

 had amounted to $16,809, and that assistance had 

 been given to 215 candidates for the ministry. 



The Executive Committee on Home Missions 

 showed in its thirty-third annual report that it 

 had received during the year for all purposes 

 $50,355, and had expended $47,598. In the home 

 mission department the committee had assisted 

 in the support of 124 ministers and teachers in 

 Florida, Arkansas, Texas, and the Indian Terri- 

 tory, and aided in the erection of four churches. 

 In church erection, during the past thirteen years 

 $7,305 had been loaned to 54 churches for whites, 

 of which $4,365 had been repaid or canceled, 

 and $255 had been loaned to colored congrega- 

 tions, of which $128 had been returned. An en- 

 couraging increase had taken place during the 

 past five years in contributions from $23,685 to 

 $31,906. The total receipts to the Invalid fund 

 during the year had been $14,573, an increase 

 over the previous year of $3,764, and the pay- 

 ments to beneficiaries had increased from 65 cents 

 to 90 cents on the dollar of the amounts asked 

 by presbyteries. 



The Committee on Colored Evangelization re- 

 ported to the General Assembly that it had begun 

 the year with considerable indebtedness on the 

 general fund. It had received $6,621 on this 

 account, had paid all debts, had maintained the 

 work in all its departments, and closed the year 

 with $2,000 to its credit. Twenty-two students 

 had attended Still man Institute, J2 in the theo- 

 logical and 10 in the academic departments. 

 The Executive Committee on Foreign Missions 



reported that its net receipts had been $144,990, 

 or $1,053 less than in the previous year, and its 

 expenditures had been $145,343. The year had 

 closed without debt, ami with a balance of $54 

 in the treasury. Four missionaries had been sent 

 out during the year, one of whom went at his 

 own charge, while the salary of another was paid 

 by contributions from the field to which he was 

 sent. The committee had 6 men and 8 women 

 under appointment, and the applications of 8 can- 

 didates were under consideration. Reports were 

 given from missions in China, Japan, Korea. West 

 Africa, Brazil, and Mexico. Contributions had 

 been made by the Young People's Societies for 

 the support of a mission in Cuba. Four hundred 

 and eighty-four members had been added during 

 the year in the mission fields on profession of 

 faith. A fund of $10,393 had been secured for 

 putting and maintaining a steamboat on the Con- 

 go river. 



The Committee on Systematic Benevolence had 

 received reports from 72 presbyteries, leaving only 

 5 which made no report. The reports were in 

 the main full and satisfactory. 



The General Assembly met at Richmond, Va , 

 May 18. The Rev. Dr. J. F. Cannon was chosen 

 moderator. The committee appointed to confer 

 with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church 

 on the subject of union reported that one of their 

 number had vteited the synod of that Church and 

 presented the subject to it. The synod responded,, 

 expressing the highest respect for this Church and 

 its desire for union with it, " provided our his- 

 torical testimony in favor of an exclusive use of 

 an inspired psalmody for the united Church might 

 be maintained." But as this testimony appeared 

 to be a barrier to organic union, the synod re- 

 garded it as unwise to prosecute negotiations to 

 that end. The report of the Committee on Col- 

 ored Evangelization presented the cause under its- 

 charge as including the entrance into a mission 

 field, the erection of churches and manses, the es- 

 tablishment and maintenance of schools, the sup- 

 port of evangelists and pastors, the selection and 

 training of ministers, and everything connected 

 with the elevation of a race. The establishment 

 of Sunday schools among colored people taught 

 by white teachers was advancing, with an in- 

 crease in the number of such schools from 13 to 

 23. The colored ministers and evangelists had 

 been paid $2,427 by the committee, the sum cov- 

 ering all indebtedness. The students at Stillman 

 Institute were now required to earn their board 

 by laboring on the farm, and to bear all their 

 other expenses themselves. The colored churches 

 were being organized into an independent synod, 

 which had held its first meeting at Chester, S. C., 

 Jan. 19. The committee had decided to bring all 

 the colored ministers together in a " summer 

 school " at Tuscaloosa, where they would be dili- 

 gently instructed in all the various departments 

 of Church work. Plans had been matured for a 

 considerable enlargement of the school work of 

 Stillman Institute. Among them was an arrange- 

 ment for keeping the doors of the institute open 

 continuously, with some school in session all the 

 time. The report on the Sabbath, while it cited 

 numerous instances illustrating the growing dis- 

 regard of the Lord's Day by world's people, pre- 

 sented as a gratifying incident in connection with 

 the matter "the frequent commendatory notices 

 of the conduct of church members." The dis- 

 tinction, the report said, "is everywhere drawn 

 between the Church and the world. The state- 

 ment is constantly reiterated that while the day 

 is losing its hold upon the outside world, the 

 people of God, with few exceptions, regard it 



