PRESBYTERIANS. 



a view to founding thereon a basis for the con- 

 solidation of Presbyterian Missions, or, that 

 failing, of a more perfect cooperation between 

 them. Doctrinal questions were discussed at 

 the fifth day's session, Monday, July 9th. 

 Papers were read on " The Unbelief of the 

 Present Day " (Rev. Dr. Patton, of Chicago, 

 111.), " How Should we View Discoveries in 

 Science, and Speculations in Philosophy ? " 

 (Rev. Dr. McCosh, of Princeton, N. J.), " The 

 Personality of the Divine Being " (Rev. Dr. 

 Potts, of Belfast, Ireland). The " Helps and 

 Hinderances to Spiritual Life " were brought 

 under review,, at the close of which the Coun- 

 cil expressed its deep interest in the sanctifica- 

 tion of the Sabbath and the suppression of 

 drunkenness, as bearing on the prosperity and 

 spiritual life of the Church; advised the use 

 of effort " to place the duty of sanctifying 

 the Sabbath on the ground of divine obliga- 

 tion, in order effectually to counteract the 

 many plausible efforts made to sap its founda- 

 tion;" and expressed the conviction that the 

 time had come for the Church to grapple 

 with the evil of intemperance in a more 

 earnest spirit. The representatives of the 

 Reformed Churches on the Continent of Eu- 

 rope gave accounts of the condition of their 

 respective bodies; after which the Council 

 passed a resolution of sympathy and encourage- 

 ment with the Continental Churches, and or- 

 dered a committee appointed to collect infor- 

 mation respecting them, and consult concerning 

 their welfare. On the sixth day, a paper was 

 read by Prof. Lorimer, of London, on "The 

 Desiderata of Presbyterian History," after 

 which a committee was appointed, with Prof. 

 Lorimer as convener, to correspond with all 

 the branches of the Church represented in the 

 Alliance, with reference to procuring materials 

 for their history, and report at the next meet- 

 ing of the Council. A resolution was passed 

 advising cooperation and combined action in 

 missionary operations in Southern and Western 

 Africa. Another resolution commended the 

 importance of the training of the young as a 

 branch of Christian work, as well as the duty 

 of parents. An address was adopted for pres- 

 entation to the Queen, which contains the 

 following passage : 



While we wish success to all efforts put forth in 

 sincerity and faith by any branch of the Christian 

 Church within your territories, in order to promote 

 the knowledge and belief of Scripture truth, we ven- 

 ture to indicate the deep interest which we take that, 

 while residing in Scotland, your Miyesty joins in the 

 Presbyterian worship and communion. ^ We are met 

 together through our common interest in the prin- 

 ciples of the Protestant Reformation, and we de- 

 sire to make our Presbyterian polity subservient to 

 the influence of those principles throughout the 

 world. 



The Council decided to hold its next meeting 

 in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1880. The following 

 table has been prepared to show the condition 

 and strength of the Churches which were 

 represented in the Council : 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 651 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

 The table on page 652 gives a summary of the 

 statistics of the Protestant Episcopal Church 

 as they are given in the Church Almanac of 

 the Protestant Episcopal Tract Society for 

 1878. 



Number of dioceses, 48; of missionary dis- 

 tricts, including Africa, China, and Japan, 18; 

 of bishops, 61, and one bishop-elect ; of priests 

 and deacons, 8,211; whole number of clergy, 

 8,272; of parishes, about 2,900; number of 

 communicants reported in 45 dioceses and 9 

 missionary districts, 302,069 ; number of Sun- 

 day-school teachers in 11 dioceses and 5 mis- 

 sionary districts, 28,569 ; number of Sunday- 

 school scholars in 46 dioceses and 5 missionary 

 districts, 266,261 ; amount of contributions in 

 41 dioceses and 5 missionary districts, $6.467,- 

 208.62. Whittaker** Almanac givei totals of 

 3,216 priests and deacons, 281,977 communi- 

 cants, 29,548 Sunday-school teachers, 276,018 

 Sunday-school scholars, and $6,784,268.07 of 

 contributions. 



The triennial General Contention of the 

 Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 

 States met in Boston, Mass., October 8d. The 

 opening sermon was preached by Bishop Wil- 

 liams, of Connecticut. The Rev. Alexander 

 Burgess, D. D., was chosen President of the 

 House of Clerical and Lay Deputies. The 

 committee who had been appointed by the 

 previous Convention to represent the Church 

 at the Provincial Synod of Canada made a re- 

 port of their cordial reception by the Synod, 

 and the establishment of fraternal relations 

 between the two bodies. A deputation, ron- 

 sisting of the Lord Bishop of Huron and Nia- 

 gara, the Dean of Huron, the Archdeacon of 

 Niagara, and two lay representative*, WM re- 

 ceived from the Provincial Synod. The open- 

 ing sermon of the Bishop of Connecticut con- 

 tained an exposition of the duty of prosecuting 

 Christian work by and upon individuals and in 

 sympathy with their wanU, and of giving prom- 



