730 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



more or less with unabated reverence and affec- 

 tion." A report of a Committee on Church and 

 Christian Education appointed by the previous 

 General Assembly expressed satisfaction at signs 

 of a reawakening in this Church and in all the 

 evangelical churches to the great importance of 

 Christian education, and at the increasing number 

 of schools of various grades under direct church 

 control; advised all the synods, presbyteries, and 

 church sessions to undertake whatever might be 

 practicable in furtherance of this cause; and em- 

 bodied a constitution for parochial schools, to be 

 maintained by single congregations or by two or 

 more contiguous congregations, and to be gov- 

 erned by boards of trustees, all male communi- 

 cants in the Presbyterian Church, appointed by 

 the Church sessions; the schools to be primary 

 and preparatory in grade, for young men or young 

 women or both, and to be distinctively Christian 

 in character, with the Bible as a text-book and the 

 standard of the Church in use. The report also 

 included a plan of organization contemplating 

 the appointment of permanent committees on 

 -church and Christian education by the Assembly, 

 the synods, and the presbyteries, the duty of 

 which should be to gather and disseminate in- 

 formation and stimulate interest in the subject. 

 'This report was adopted. The Assembly decided 

 that in case of the failure of the regular meeting 

 or of an emergency, the moderate* may convene 

 a presbytery without the concurrence in request 

 of two ministers and two elders. To an overture 

 of inquiry on the subject, the Assembly responded 

 that there is no warrant in the Scriptures for the 

 observance of Christmas and Easter as holy days, 

 "but on the contrary (see Galatians iv, 9-11, 

 and Colossians ii, 16-21) that such observance 

 is contrary to the principles of the Reformed 

 Church, conducive to will worship, and not in 

 harmony with the simplicity of the Gospel of 

 Christ." A change in the baptismal formula 

 whereby the clause " I baptize dhee into the 

 name," etc., is changed into " I baptize thee in the 

 name," etc., submitted by the preceding General 

 Assembly, having been approved by the presby- 

 teries, was enacted into an amendment to the 

 directory of worship. A minute was adopted ex- 

 pressing the strongest condemnation of the law- 

 less spirit manifested in lynching, and, while ex- 

 pressing also the abhorrence of the Assembly for 

 the crimes which have led to the disorders al- 

 luded to, urging all the Presbyterian people and 

 ministers " in all scriptural ways to do their 

 utmost toward cultivating and maintaining that 

 order and reverence for authority which are en- 

 joined by the Word of God." A committee of 

 three ministers and two ruling elders was ap- 

 pointed to attend the unveiling of the Presby- 

 terian historical monument erected in the Old 

 Scots burial ground in Monmouth County, New 

 Jersey, where the first general presbytery of 

 which any official record exists assembled. A 

 committee was appointed to prepare a pastoral 

 letter, to be read in all the churches, on the 

 subject of card playing, dancing, theater going, 

 and other worldly amusements. 



A committee reported concerning the propriety 

 of ministers performing the marriage ceremony 

 in case the parties are under age when there is 

 reason to suppose that the consent of the parents 

 has not been obtained, that it would be unwise 

 and inexpedient to attempt to lay down any in- 

 flexible rule for the guidance of the ministry in 

 the performance of the marriage ceremony, the 

 great bond of society. The enlightened" con- 

 science and the laws of the land are as a rule 

 the safest and only guides to be followed in such 



cases. But in instances like those described the 

 greatest prudence and caution should In- exer- 

 cised by the minister. He should assert hi> in- 

 fluence as far as he could properly and prudently 

 do so to prevent such marriages, and only consul 

 to perform the ceremony in those cases where he 

 is satisfied from all the circumstances that the 

 best "Interest of all the parties (including \ lie- 

 parent or parents) will be subserved by his so 

 doing. 



III. United Presbyterian Church in North 

 America. The following is a summary of the 

 statistics of this Church reported to the General 

 Assembly in May, 1899: Number of synods, 12; 

 of presbyteries, 66; of ministers, 957, of whom 

 674 are returned as pastors and stated -nppli< -s 

 and 283 as without charge; of licentiates, 101 : <>f 

 licensures, 56; of students of theology. 7-">: of 

 ministers ordained during the year, 48; of ruling 

 elders, 3,880; of congregations, 968, of which >7.~> 

 had pastors and stated supplies and 193 \\ere 

 vacant; of mission stations, 507; of houses of 

 worship erected during the year, 32, at a total 

 cost of $'2ti I. :;_';; of parsonages, 328, of which 19 

 were erected during the year, at a total cost of 

 $30,347; of members in America. 1 14. ii.">.~> : in the 

 whole Church. 12U,7s:} : of members received on 

 profession during the year, total. >.s:U : of bap- 

 tisms, 2,755 of lnfant and 1,384 of adults: of 

 Sabbath schools. 1.126. with 12..VM ..Hirer^ and 

 teachers and li:?..~i<2 pupil-*: of Young People's 

 Societies, 1,029, with 41.:X> member-*. Amount 

 of contributions (in America): For salaries <>t 

 niini-ters. .sV.M;.-_:is : for . >n;j i r-.u ional puip.-.-. 

 $508,637; for the boar.!- ": for -ciicral 



purposes, $133,2'.1 : total for America. . v M,.~>iil, (579; 

 total for the Church. xl..Vl-J.7iii: average per 

 member in America. .*!:'.. :;!i : a \eragc salary of 

 pastors in America. Si. <)_".. Of the ;><)7 mi i"ii 

 stations, 484 are preaching stations in the foreign 

 Hi-Id (I'^vpt and India). The amount of contri- 

 butions of Sabbath schools was returned M 

 $90,1201 



The Board of Education reported to the Gen- 

 eral Assembly that more than ordinary intcn-1 

 had been taken during the year toward increas- 

 ing endowment funds and in securing buildings. 

 The contributions to the college and -culinary 

 fund amounted to $9,200. or $.'S.:5Sl more than in 

 the preceding year. This sum was distributed 

 among 11 institutions. 



The Young People's Christian Union Conven- 

 tion was held in I'ittshurir. Pa., Aug. 2 to 7. 

 and was attended by 7.<>:{'. delegates. lleporls 

 were made of 598 Christian Union and 1<; Chris- 

 tian Endeavor Societies with .'J1.077 members and 

 5,096 tithers; and of 295 Junior Societies and 123 

 Junior Missionary Societies, with 15..V23 members. 

 1,771 of whom came from homes outside of 1 1n- 

 Church. The senior societies had contributed 

 $36,540, and the Juniors $8,704. The sum of 

 $25,000 had been contributed toward a proposed 

 thank offering of $50,000. 



Of $8,000 appropriated by the General Assem- 

 bly of 1898 for ministerial relief, the board had 

 received $5,803. The payments to beneficiaries 

 had amounted to $10,390. The usefulness, and in 

 fact the necessity of the endowment fund \\as 

 made more and more apparent. Twenty-three 

 ministers and 47 widows and orphans had been 

 aided during the year. There were now <i! bene- 

 ficiaries on the roll. The amount of the endow- 

 ment fund was $105.32.'!. 



The Board of Home Missions reported 1o the 

 General Assembly that the net im-rca-e of mem- 

 bership in the missions had been greater than in 

 the Church at large. For the first time the con- 



