PRESBYTERIANS. 



645 



tive committee on the education of colored 

 candidates for the ministry was instituted, and 

 provision was suggested for the support of 

 candidates by presbyteries, and by an annual 

 collection to be taken for the purpose. 



On the subject of " worldly amusements," a 

 paper was adopted discountenancing " the 

 modern dance in all its forms," as tending to 

 evil, declaring that some forms of this amuse- 

 ment are more mischievous than others, " the 

 round dance than the square, the public ball 

 than the private party, but none of them are 

 good ; " urging Christian parents not to send 

 their children to dancing-schools, and leaving 

 the judgment of all cases of offending to the 

 church sessions. The Committee on the Book 

 of Church Order reported that 25 presbyteries 

 had accepted the revised book ; 85 presby- 

 teries had voted not to adopt it, but 20 of 

 them had expressed general approval of the 

 work of revision, and asked that it might go 

 on. The committee presented seven points to 

 be submitted to the presbyteries to be voted 

 on separately from the body of the work, and 

 were ordered to put them into suitable shape, to 

 be sent down as an overture. The course of 

 the Committee of Publication, who had suf- 

 fered a great loss by the defalcation of their 

 recent secretary, in offering to make good the 

 loss, and its efforts to collect money for that 

 purpose, was approved. The Assembly de- 

 cided to hold its correspondence hereafter 

 with all churches with which it maintains 

 friendly relations by letters, instead of by 

 deputations, excepting the Reformed Church 

 of America, with which a peculiar cooperative 

 alliance exists. Delegates were appointed to the 

 Presbyterian Council to be held at Edinburgh. 



III. UNITED AND REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS. 

 (a.) United Pretbyterian Church of North Amer- 

 ica. The following is a summary of the sta- 

 tistics of this Church as they were reported to 

 the General Assembly in May : 



Synods .................................. 



Presbyteries ............................. 



MINISTERS. 



Ministers without charge .................. 



Pastors and stated supplies ................ 



Total ministers ........................... 



Ministers deceased ...................... 



Received from other churches ............. 



Dismissed to other churches ............... 



Ministers ordained ........................ 



Ministers installed ......................... 



Ministers released ........................ 



Licentiates ................................ 



Licensures ........ . ...................... 



Students of theology ....................... 



CONOREGATIONB. 



Congregations with pastors or stated sup- 

 plies .................................... 



Congregations vacant ..................... 



Total congregations ....................... 



Congregations organized during the year. . . 

 Congregations dissolved or dismissed ....... 



Mission stations ........................... 



New stations during the year .............. 



Houses of worship erected 



Total cost of houses reported 



Average cost 



Congregations having no houses 



Parsonages 



u built 



" built, total cost 



**0 



* 





ia 



,.,! 

 $10,510 



MEMBERSHIP. 



Members received on profession 4,484 



Members received on certificate 8.X44 



Deaths and removal* 4,M4 



Total members reported. 78,481 



Adults baptized 604 



InfanU baptized 8^U6 



SABBATH-SCHOOLS. 



Schools open the whole year fill 



Schools open part of the year 1M 



Total schools reported Tol 



A verage months open 10.6 



Officers and teachers 6,s5 



Number of scholars reported 5H.889 



Contributions by Sabbath- school*. $82,481 



C'ONTIUBrTlONS. 



Salaries of pastors and supplies. $457.156 



Congregational expenses. Kto.MT 



To the boards HO.ftsS 



General contributions. -IK,* '5 



Total contributions 64tS,Wl 



Average contribution per member 1184 



Average salary of pastor* Obi 



The nineteenth General Attembly of the 

 United Presbyterian Church of North America 

 met at Sparta, Illinois, May 23d. The Rev. R. 

 B. Ewing, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was 

 chosen moderator. A report was adopted on 

 temperance, declaring that every church mem- 

 ber should consider himself pledged to total 

 abstinence, that it is " inconsistent with mem- 

 bership in the Church of Christ to be engaged in 

 the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liqnore 

 as a beverage, or in any other way aid or abet 

 in the manufacture, sale, or use of intoxicating 

 liquors," and that it is the duty of all Christiana 

 to combine in their efforts to promote a refor- 

 mation on this subject, and condemning the 

 license system. A committee was appointed 

 to meet with committees of other Evangelical 

 churches at Xenia, Ohio, on the fourth Tuesday 

 in October, to devise a plan for united effort in 

 this cause. A request for a change in tto basis 

 of representation in the General Assembly, so 

 that the ministers only who are engaged in the 

 actual work of the ministry should be counted 

 in adjusting it, was denied on the ground that 

 it would infringe upon the ordained preroga- 

 tives of the ministry. In connection with tnis 

 action, the Assembly enunciated the doctrine 

 that u the rights and privileges pertaining to 

 the ministerial office are not founded on the ex- 

 ercise of that office. By ordination to the office 

 of the ministry, authority to govern, as well as 

 to teach, is conferred." A request for a more 

 definite deliverance on the law against the mar- 

 riage of a deceased wife's sister was answered 

 by a declaration that the law on the subject i 

 specific, and is a part of the organic law of the 

 Church, and by an injunction that it be faith 

 fully taught, and that violations of it bo dealt 

 with by sessions, consistently with it* npint and 

 design. Four ministers and four elders 

 appointed delegates to the Council of the 

 byterian Alliance. 



(ft.) Synod of tht Rrformtd 

 Church (0. ). The following i nn 

 mary of the statistics of this body Ml* 

 ported at tho meeting of the Synod in May, 

 1877: Number of presbyteries (New York, 

 Philadelphia, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Ohio, 



