.576 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



opinion that uniform legislation may be enacted 

 by the States that will conserve the family in- 

 stitution and preserve the sanctity of the mar- 

 riage bond." Ministers were urged to instruct 

 their congregations on the subject, and to " exer- 

 cise due diligence before the celebration of a mar- 

 riage to ascertain that there exist no impediments 

 thereto, as defined in our Confession of Faith." 

 A committee was appointed to report to the next 

 General Assembly as to plans for encouraging 

 Young People's Societies in the Church. As to 

 theological seminaries, the Assembly resolved, 

 " that in view of the restless spirit of the times 

 in which we live and the dangerous influence 

 exerted by some revolutionary theories, we do 

 affectionately exhort the governing boards of all 

 our seminaries to exercise the utmost caution in 

 the election of professors. And in view of the as- 

 saults recently made on that which we regard as 

 the vital truth as to the nature and inspiration 

 of the Scriptures, and particularly in view of the 

 .assaults on the integrity and authority of the Old 

 Testament, we do reaffirm the historic faith of 

 the Church in the oracles of God as the veracious 

 record of his dealings with men from the beginning 

 of human history. It is our unshaken belief that 

 these sacred books were written by holy men of 

 old, who spoke as they were moved by the Holy 

 Spirit, and that this fact has the solemn witness 

 of the apostles and of the Lord Jesus Christ him- 

 self." 



II. Presbyterian Church in the United 

 States (Southern). The following is the sum- 

 mary of the statistics of this Church as published 

 with the minutes of the General Assembly for 

 1902: Number of synods, 13; of presbyteries, 79; 

 of candidates, 291; of licentiates, 62; of ministei's, 

 1,501; of churches, 3,017; of communicants, 239,- 

 642 ; of members added on examination during the 

 year, 10,405 ; of baptisms during the year, 3,624 of 

 adults and 4,868 of infants; of baptized non-com-, 

 municants, 42,312; of teachers in Sabbath-schoote, 

 20,784; of pupils in Sabbath-schools, 149,482; of 

 ruling elders, 9,130; of deacons, 7,887; amount of 

 contributions for home missions (Assembly), 

 $31,145; for evangelistic work (local), $130,469; 

 for Ministers' Relief, $19,401 ; for foreign missions, 

 $131,756; for education, $132,521 ; for publication, 

 $9,087 ; for colored evangelization, $12,743 ; for the 

 Bible cause, $4,767; presbyterial, $16,932; for 

 pastors' salaries, $820,193; congregational, $807,- 

 383; miscellaneous, $111,252; total, according to 

 the footing of the tables, $2,227,649; average con- 

 tribution per member, $9.70. The figures show an 

 increase for the year of 16 ministers, 26 churches, 

 1,651* communicants, and 1,693 teachers in Sab- 

 bath-schools; a decrease of 85 pupils in Sabbath- 

 schools; and an increase of $61,960 in total con- 

 tributions. A comparison with the statistics of 

 1882 shows a gain in twenty years of 39 per cent, 

 in the number of ministers, 50 per cent, in that of 

 churches, 85 per cent, in communicant member- 

 ship, and 97 per cent, in the total amount of con- 

 tributions. 



The Executive Committee of Ministerial Relief, 

 instituted by the General Assembly of 1901, re- 

 ported that it had completed its organization and 

 had been incorporated under the laws of Virginia. 

 The sum of $4,475 had been contributed toward 

 an endowment fund, and was bearing interest. A 

 plan had been presented to the churches asking 

 their cooperation for obtaining an adequate en- 

 dowment through systematic contributions of an 



* After making up the tables an error in the addition was 

 discovered by which the increase in membership was made 

 to appear 1,013 less than it actually was. The true increase 

 was 2,664. 



average of 10 cents per member per month for five 

 years; but the responses had not as yet been 

 liberal. Toward the Annual Support fund of $20,- 

 000 asked for by the General Assembly of 1901, 

 $14,897 had been contributed. The committee had 

 made appropriations averaging $100 each to 145 

 beneficiaries, but had been able to pay only 90 

 per cdnt. of the amounts. 



Seventy-six out of the 77 white presbyteries, and 

 a number of societies and individual friends were 

 cooperating with the Executive Committee of 

 Education for the Ministry. The total receipts of 

 the committee had been $13,509, as compared with 

 $11,579 in 1901. One hundred and sixty-two 

 beneficiaries had been aided, as compared with 166 

 in the previous year. The maximum of aid given 

 had been raised from $75 to $85. The report noted 

 a continued decline in the number of beneficiaries. 



The total receipts of the Executive Committee 

 of Home Missions had been $35,294. The previous 

 year's deficiency of $6,526 had been removed. 

 Including six missionaries employed among the 

 Mexicans, 132 ministers and teachers had been 

 supported in whole or in part, and 325 churches 

 aided. Circumstances had permitted but little 

 to be appropriated for church erection, of which 

 6 cases had been aided, with $1,545. The fund ot 

 $5,000 known as the Moore fund, left by the 

 testator for the aid of feeble churches in the erec- 

 tion of houses of worship by loans at 3 per 

 cent., had been very helpful to at least 20 or 

 more churches, 4 churches having taken advan- 

 tage of it during the past year. There were now of 

 it $2,505 secured by mortgage and $2,717 in cash. 

 Of the 8 schools in the Indian Territory, aggrega- 

 ting 17 teachers and nearly 900 pupils, about half 

 had developed into self-sustaining schools. Du- 

 rant College returned 6 professors and nearly 

 300 students, and had erected a new brick build- 

 ing. Two evangelists and 3 native preachers were 

 engaged in the Mexican work in Texas, which 

 returned 11 churches and 10 Sabbath-schools. 

 More native preachers were needed there. 



The Executive Committee of Colored Evangel- 

 ization had paid to colored ministers and churches 

 $4,231, and reported more than 2,000 communi- 

 cants in 84 churches. Its work was " character- 

 ized by encouraging development in every part of 

 it, rather than by the conspicuous growth of any 

 one department." Five new churches had been 

 organized, 8 church buildings erected or pur- 

 chased, the committee aiding in the cases of 5 

 of the number, and 35 colored mission Sabbath- 

 schools maintained, with 170 teachers and 2,270 

 pupils. In the case of the Sabbath-schools, the 

 difficulty was said to be " not to gather the chil- 

 dren, but to find Christians willing to teach them." 

 The committee had decided to put the students 

 of Stillman Institute upon a self-supporting basis, 

 and to purchase the Ferguson-Williams College, 

 at Abbeville, S. C. Besides these institutions 2 

 other schools for colored pupils were mentioned 

 in the report. 



The Executive Committee of Foreign Missions 

 reported that although it had been very much 

 embarrassed by the lack of sufficient funds, it 

 had closed the year without debt. The receipts 

 from all sources had been $164,883, being $1,827 

 more than the receipts of the previous year. 

 Among the principal events in the foreign lidd 

 noted were a larger number of professed con- 

 versions in Africa than in any previous year, al- 

 though the force of workers had been reduced; 

 the warm welcome given by the people to the re- 

 turning missionaries in China; a spirit of self-help 

 among the native Christians in Korea; revival in 

 Japan ; the organization of an independent synod 



