PRESBYTERIANS. 



657 



That, without derogating from the just respect that 

 .8 due to the General Assembly as the superior court 

 of the Church, we nevertheless claim that our obedi- 

 ence and submission are due to it only as its decisions 

 are in accordance with the mind of Christ, as ex- 

 pressed in the standards of the Church. 



Other resolutions looked to securing from 

 the General Assembly a revisal of its action 

 and the adoption of proper steps " for ascer- 

 taining in a constitutional way the sense of the 

 Church on the lawfulness of using instrumental 

 worship." 



IV. Reformed Presbyterian Church, Synod. The 

 Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church 

 (0. S.) returned for 1883 1 12 ministers, 80 of 

 whom were pastors ; and 124 congregations, 40 

 of which had a membership varying from 80 

 to 50. An increase of five ministers and an 

 increase of 129 members were reported. The 

 following statistics were returned of the mis- 

 sion at Latakieh, Syria : Communicants (includ- 

 ing the four ministers and the teachers), 138; 

 schools, 27, with enrollments of 648 pupils. 



The Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian 

 Church met at Allegheny City, Pa., May 23d. 

 A question was started at the opening of the 

 session by the moderator's reading of the open- 

 ing sermon, whether reading of sermons was 

 proper. A motion was made to disapprove 

 the sermon on this account. It was alleged in 

 support of the motion that reading sermons 

 , was contrary to the traditions of the Covenant- 

 er Church, and that to allow this innovation 

 to remain unchallenged would be to establish 

 a dangerous precedent. The subject was dis- 

 posed of by the adoption of a resolution declar- 

 ing that " the reading of certain discourses on 

 special subjects before this court shall not be 

 construed as a precedent for reading sermons 

 in ordinary ministrations." A proposition look- 

 ing to the abolition of tokens or tickets for 

 communion was considered, and was met by 

 the adoption of a paper advising all the people 

 of the Church " to observe the custom as here- 

 tofore, until such time as the Church, in its 

 wisdom, may deem it proper to dispense with 

 it." A question concerning the intermarriage 

 of converts with non-Christians, which had 

 given trouble in the Latakieh mission, Syria, 

 was answered with the advice that " such 

 questions must be deter 1 nined by the constitu- 

 tional and statute law of the Church; and in 

 determining particular cases, there as here, all 

 the circumstances must be taken into account." 

 The Presbytery of Vermont was organized, 

 . with five congregations. 



V. Reformed Presbyterian (linrch, General Syn- 

 od. The General Synod of the Reformed Pres- 

 byterian Church (N . S.) met in Philadelphia, 

 Pa., May 23d. The value of the endowment 

 fund of the Theological Seminary was report- 

 ed at $33,954, while the receipts of the institu- 

 tion had been $2,740, and its expenditures 

 $2,731. The management of the seminary 

 was criticised in the debates. The Treasurer of 

 the Board of Foreign Missions reported a bal- 

 ance on hand of $2,220. 

 VOL. xxiii. 42 A 



VI. Cumberland Presbyterian Chnreh. The 



summary of the statistics of this Church for 

 1883 is as follows: 



Synods 27 



Presbyteries iia 



Ministers .'.'.'.'..".'.'.'.' i UJ 



Congregations 



Ruling elders 



Deacons '.' .'.'".'.'.' '.*.,, 



Members '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. } i" T.VI 



Added on profession ' ^ '.,]:> 



Adult baptisms ;,' | ,-,:, 



Infant baptisms ..........'... Ki.'Js 



Officers and teachers in Sunday-schools .. '. 



Sunday-school pupils '.'. ' :,;.' ;,u 



Total contributions $417,W8 



The receipts of the Board of Publication for 

 the year had been more than $56,000. It was 

 free from the debt under which it had suffered 

 for a long time, and contemplated the publica- 

 tion of works by denominational authors. 



The Board of Missions reported that its re- 

 ceipts for the year had been $33.642, or 50 

 per cent, more than the receipts of the previ- 

 ous year. The board returned property to the 

 value of $31,687, while its liabilities were 

 small. The Japanese mission had enjoyed 

 great prosperity, and a very large relative in- 

 crease of members. 



The Woman's Board of Missions had received. 

 $5,233 during the year, and $10,141 since its 

 organization three years before. It had three 

 missionaries in Japan, conducted a girls' school 

 in that country, and was about to found an or- 

 phanage at Osaka. 



The fifty-third General Assembly of thft 

 Cumberland Presbyterian Church met at Nash- 

 ville, Term., May 17th. The Rev. A. J. Me- 

 Glumphy, D. D., President of Lincoln Uni- 

 versity, was chosen moderator. The most im- 

 portant topic considered was the report upon 

 the revision of the Confession of Faith and 

 Government transmitting the votes of the 

 presbyteries on the revised Confession which 

 had been submitted by the preceding General 

 Assembly to them (see "Presbyterians," sec- 

 tion " Cumberland Presbyterians," in " Annual 

 Cyclopaedia " for 1882). The result of the vot- 

 ing was recorded as follows: 1. As to the In- 

 troduction, Confession of Faith, and Catechism; 

 presbyteries approving, 99, of which 61 were 

 recorded as approving unanimously; presby- 

 teries disapproving, 8 ; presbyteries not report- 

 ing, 6 ; presbyteries submitting memorials, 4. 

 2. As to the constitution and rules of disci- 

 pline : Presbyteries approving, 104, of which 

 65 approved unanimously ; disapproving, 3 ; 

 not reporting, 6 ; submitting memorials, _ 4. 

 The report of the committee was concurred in, 

 whereby the Confession as revised was declared 

 to be the Confession of the Church. Numerous 

 memorials and propositions suggesting amend- 

 ments to the Confession were sent in, to which 

 the Assembly answered that, in view of the fact 

 that the subject had been so recently acted 

 upon by the presbyteries, and their action ap- 

 proving the revised Confession had been so 

 nearly unanimous, it seemed unwise to attempt 

 at this time to determine what, if any, proposi- 



