PRESBYTERIANS. 



649 



Presbyterians as exist between the latter and 

 the United Presbyterians. A decision was 

 given on a question of posture at worship in 

 the Inverness High Church, the effect of which 

 is that the standing posture in singing was 

 ruled to be permissible. The Commission of 

 the Assembly were authorized to hear such 

 appeals or dissents as might arise in connection 

 with the preliminary consideration of the case 

 of Prof. Smith by the Presbytery of Aberdeen. 

 The Reformed Presbyterians, who refused to 

 join the Free Church with their brethren in 

 1876, have commenced legal proceedings against 

 the latter. Their bill recites that the majority 

 of the Reformed Presbyterian Synod, by their 

 union with the Free Church, departed from 

 the distinctive principles of the Reformed Pres- 

 byterian Church, and are not, therefore, en- 

 titled to the name of that Church or to any 

 of the privileges or advantages belonging 

 thereto. 



VIII. UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (SCOT- 

 LAND). The following is a summary of the 

 statistical reports of this Church, as presented 

 to the General Assembly in May : Number of 

 congregations, 626, an increase of 4 over the 

 number reported in the previous year (ninety- 

 eight congregations had united with the English 

 Presbyterian Church) ; number of communi- 

 cants, 172,170, an increase of 1872; number 

 of Sunday-school teachers, 10,281 ; of Sunday- 

 school scholars, 79,101. The total income of 

 the Church bad diminished slightly in conse- 

 quence of the loss of the contributions of the 

 English members, who had become connected 

 with the English Presbyterian Church ; it 

 amounted to 406,204. 



The Synod of the United Presbyterian Church 

 met at Glasgow, May 14th. The Rev. William 

 France, of Paisley, was chosen moderator. 

 The most important question considered was 

 concerning the revision of the standards of the 

 Church. Four overtures had been sent up, 

 asking for a revision, among them one from 

 the session of Gourock, which was vigorously 

 supported in debate by the Rev. Mr. Macrae, 

 pastor of the church at that place. After an 

 exciting debate, in which it was remarked that 

 no one denied the authority of the Church to 

 revise its standards, the following action was 

 taken on the subject : 



The Synod dismisses the overture from the Gou- 

 rock Session, and declares (1) its steadfast adherence 

 to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Cate- 

 chism as containing the system of doctrine taught in 

 the Holy Scriptures ; (2) the Synod strongly disap- 

 proves and condemns the conduct of thone^ persons 

 who, having solemnly professed to give their assent 

 to those standards, do, notwithstanding, indulge in 

 denouncing them as erroneous and unscriptural, and 

 in impeaching their brethren in the eldership and 

 ministry with not believing and not preaching tho 

 doctrines of them : in particular (8) the Synod can- 

 not tolerate the denial or disparagement of thoso 

 doctrines commonly called the doctrines of grace, 

 which it has been the distinguishing glory of this 

 church in every period of its history to maintain 

 and to preach ; (4) in respect of the great importance 

 of the question raised by the overture from the Pre- 



bytery of Glasgow, and the difficulties attending it 

 requiring great deliberation (such aa the relation of 

 this church to other Presbyterian churches), the 

 Synod appoints a committee to consider the whole 

 subject brought up by the overture from the Pres- 

 bytery of Glabgow, and report to tiiTSyuod in May, 

 1878. 



A resolution was adopted by a vote of 141 

 to 139, affirming the equal right of elders to 

 participate with ministers in the act of ordina- 

 tion. It was, however, agreed that henceforth 

 the method of procedure should be altered, so 

 that the laying-on of hands should simply be 

 vested in the moderator for the time being, 

 and should be performed with the other mem- 

 bers of the Presbytery standing around him. 



IX. ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Thig 

 Church has received a barge accession of mem- 

 bers and strength by the incorporation with it 

 of the congregations of the United Presbyterian 

 Church in England. The following is a sum- 

 mary of the statistics of the whole Church, as 

 they were reported at the meeting of the Synod 

 in April: Number of presbyteries, 10; of con- 

 gregations, 258; of communicants, 43,484; of 

 teachers in Sunday-schools, 4,867; of scholars 

 in the same, 42,058. Nearly one-half of the 

 258 church buildings are stated to be freehold, 

 and to be insured in the amount of 488,690. 

 The churches furnished 106,774 sittings, of 

 which 51,853 were appropriated. The total 

 amount of debts on churches and manses was 

 99,955. Besides Sunday-school scholars, the 

 churches reported 6,748 day scholars, 2,933 

 members of Young Men's Societies, and 6,601 

 members of Bible classes. The total income oi 

 the Church for the year had been 167,465. 



X. IRISH PRESBYTERIAN CHUBCH. Accord- 

 ing to the statistical reports of this Church, 

 presented to the General Assembly in June, 

 the number of communicants was 107,000, or 

 1,000 less than were returned in 1876. The 

 number of congregations, however, had in- 

 creased, and an advance was noticed in the 

 financial returns. The number of Sunday- 

 schools was 965, with 8,792 teachers, and an 

 average attendance of 70,882 scholars. 



The General AuemMy of the Irish Presby- 

 terian Church met at Belfast, June 4th. The 

 Rev. George Bellis was chosen moderator. The 

 repcrt of the Sustentation Fund was presented, 

 and in the discussion of tho subject it was 

 stated that the fund had been started 7 years 

 before, and was intended to make good the 

 loss which had followed the withdrawal of the 

 parliamentary grant called the Regium Ikmum. 

 It was originally intended that it should amount 

 to80,000 per annum, but it had never amoun tod 

 to more than the present year's income, 24,- 

 610, in the neighborhood of which figure it had 

 been nearly stationary for several rear*, 

 question of instrumental music in the church* 

 was again brought under discussion. The har- 

 moniums had not yet been removed from *oi 

 churches, as previous assemblies had reque 

 A committee was appointed to deal wit! 

 congregations which continued to u*e tbM U 



