it had expended during the year for benevolent work $8,402.

The Tuscaloosa Institute for the instruction of colored ministers returned 28 students, of whom 18 were Presbyterians, 7 Methodists, and 3 Baptists. They were described as men of fair ability. The institute requires as qualifications for admission, only capacity to read intelligently and write legibly, and an acquaintance with the four elementary rules of arithmetic, but not all the candidates sent by presbyteries had even these qualifications.

The entire resources of the Committee of Home Missions for the year were $72,099; the amount disbursed by the treasurer was $66,229. The sum of $3,454 had been received for church erection, and $2,050 had been loaned to ten congregations. Out of $19,198 which had come into the hands of the treasurer on account of the Evangelistic fund, $13,355 had been paid to the support of fifty-six ministers as evangelists. The amount of the Invalid fund had been $15,257, from which $13,926 had been paid in aid of 138 beneficiaries. The resources of the Colored Evangelistic fund were returned at $7,413. The fund had been applied to the support of Tuscaloosa Institute, in aid of the erection of four church buildings, and to the partial support of 2 white ministers and 31 colored ministers, licentiates, and candidates working among the colored people.

Union Theological Seminary had been attended by 66 students; $32,283 had been obtained toward the endowment of a fifth professorship. Columbia Theological Seminary had invested funds amounting to $235,000, from which an income of $13,000 was derived.

The Committee of Foreign Missions had received from all sources $96,054, $8,014 more than it had received in any previous year. Nine missionaries had been added to the force in the field, and it was now employing 72 missionaries and 56 native helpers. The missions were in Mexico, Brazil, China, Japan, Greece, and Italy, and among the American Indians.

The General Assembly met at Chattanooga, Tenn., May 16. The Rev. Dr. H. G. Hill, of North Carolina, was chosen moderator. The report of the joint committee of this Church and the Northern Presbyterian Church on co-operation, with the plan of co-operation embodied in it, was adopted in the same form as it was adopted by the Northern General Assembly. A further decision was reached respecting the right of ministers to discuss the doctrine of evolution and the action of the General Assembly concerning it, as follows: The Presbytery of Charleston, of the Synod of South Carolina, had passed a resolution declaring the views that had been expressed by Dr. Woodrow (see discussions of this case in previous volumes of the "Annual Cyclopædia") concerning the origin of Adam's body (they being substantially that it was derived by evolution from the body of animals), to be contrary to the standards of the Church, and that the decision of the General Assembly upon the subject was conclusive, and all further discussion of it should cease. The Synod of South Carolina, reviewing the records of the presby tery, had declared this action to be unwise, irregular, and unconstitutional, and an infringement

of the rights of free thought and free speech. The subject came before the Assembly on the review of the minutes of the Synod. After discussion the Assembly passed a minute disapproving the action of the Synod, " together with the reasons assigned therefor, inasmuch as it appears to the General Assembly, from our inspection of the records, that the action of the Charleston Presbytery was not intended to limit either the right of private judgment or the constitutional right of proper discussion." A paper looking to "a more aggressive work was adopted, in which the presbyteries were recommended to assign each vacant charge within their respective bounds to some minister, whose duty it shall be to take charge of such congregation, supply it with week-day preaching, moderate the session, and take spiritual oversight of it until a minister can be regularly employed. A paper was adopted approving of the signing by members of the Church of a petition to Congress asking that Sunday work be stopped in the PostOffice, the army, and interstate commerce; and recommending members to abstain from traveling on the Sabbath. A draft of a directory for worship was presented for consideration, and was sent down to the presbyteries. It was resolved to undertake a mission in the Congo.

III. United Presbyterian Church of North America.-The statistical reports of this Church, presented to the General Assembly in May, showed that it had 753 ministers, 243 of whom

are

"without charge," 903 congregations, and 101,858 communicants. The whole amount of contributions was $1,110,853; of which $108,585 were for foreign missions, $60,286 for home missions, $18,084 for ministerial relief, $50,307 for church extension, and $49,296 for the Women's General Missionary Society.

The General Assembly met at Springfield, Ohio, May 22. The Rev. E. S. McKittrick was chosen moderator. The Quarter-Centennial Commission reported that the amount raised toward the fund under its charge was about $400,000. A report was submitted from the Permanent Committee on Reform, naming the principal reforms which were sought to be accomplished. They include the suppression of impure literature; the preservation of personal purity; the maintenance of the Sabbath and its establishment on a Scriptural basis: the amendment of the laws relating to marriage and divorce, so as to make them conformable to the divine standard: the suppression of evils resulting from the traffic in intoxicating drink by securing its prohibition; resistance to the encroachments made by secret orders on individual and public rights; settlement of national difficulties by arbitration and the abolition of war and the establishment of Christian institutions, laws, and usages on a constitutional basis. The Assembly gave its approval to the proposed amendment to the Constitution of Pennsylvania prohibiting the traffic in intoxicating liquors, and advised members of the Church in that State to work and vote for it. It also directed a pastoral letter, embodying its sentiments on the subject, to be addressed to the United Presbyterian organization in Pennsylvania. In answer to memorials asking that churches having organs be refused aid from the boards, the Assembly replied that it was in

expedient to change the rule adopted by the General Assembly of two years before, under which each congregation was permitted to determine its own course in the use of instrumental music in worship. An overture was ordered sent down to the presbyteries prohibiting the licensing of ministerial students who use tobacco, and disqualifying members using it in any form from eligibility to the office of ruling elder.

IV. Reformed Presbyterian Church, United States of America (Synod).-The following is a summary of the statistics of this Church as they were presented to the Synod in June, 1889: Number of presbyteries (including one in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia), 11; of congregations, 124; of ministers, 124; of communicants, 10,817; of persons attending Sabbathschools, 13,508; of baptisms during the year, 478. Amount of contributions: For foreign missions, $15,467; for home missions, $5,697; for the Southern Mission, $5,729; for the Chinese Mission, $1,801; for the Theological Seminary, $6,275; for education, $2,607; for Sustentation, $2,081; for church erection, $24.171; for pastor's salaries, $80,883; for national reform, $6,480; total contributions, including miscellaneous, $215,701.

The Synod's Board of Trustees had received bequests amounting to $952.50 for the Endowment fund of the Board of Missions, and $1,452.50 for the Theological Seminary Endowment fund; with $3,882.50 of additional subscriptions for increasing the latter fund. The whole amount of endowment, held by the board for investment purposes was $200,634, and it had increased $16,057 during the year.

The Latakiyeh Mission in Syria, with a station also in Cyprus, returned 9 missionaries and 185 native members; 25 schools attended by 735 pupils 18 Sabbath-schools, with 643 pupils; and 13 baptisms during the year. The Tarsus Mission in Asia Minor, closing its sixth year, employed 13 teachers and 3 helpers, and returned about 245 pupils and an increase of 25 members.

The Freedmen's School, Knox Academy, Selma, Ala., returned an average for the year of 330 pupils, the highest enrollment having been 381. The Chinese mission at Oakland, Cal., returned 10 Christian Chinese. An Indian mission has been begun at Fort Sill, in the Indian Territory, The Synod met at Belle Center, Ohio, June 5. The Rev. R. M. Sommerville was chosen moderator. The committee appointed to confer with a Committee of the General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church reported that the committees had held a joint meeting at Beaver Falls, Pa., Nov. 13, 1888, at which a paper was adopted showing that both the churches agreed entirely in all the doctrines of grace and salvation, in all the practices of worship, and in all the principles of their respective professions; and that they differed in only one point, viz., the practical application of the principle of Christ's rulership over the nations-the General Synod allowing its members to incorporate by voting with the present, existing Government, and the Synod refusing its members this privilege "while the nation fails to own Christ." Conferences being believed to be beneficial, the committee recommended a continuance of the negotiations. The report of the Committee on

National Reform asserted the impossibility of the Church co-operating with the civil government or with other bodies on a purely secular basis, and insisted that the conviction be cherished “that it is a great sin and scandal against the Christian religion for Christians to be in sworn allegiance to a constitution of civil gov ernment that makes the will of man supreme." The Synod resolved that identification with Christless civil power is none the less sinful because of the interest taken in the reform by numerous Christians; and that its testimony must be explicit and consistent, "and we must make others understand that we are in no sense identified with political parties." A committee appointed to secure signatures to petitions to Congress for national reform was endeavoring to secure the presentation to the next Congress of a petition bearing the name of every communicant in the Church. The Synod resolved to cooperate with the American Sabbath Union to preserve the American Sabbath as a day of rest and worship. It resolved to give "to all Scriptural measures, moral, political, or legislative," for the suppression of the liquor traffic, "all that support and advocacy which is consistent with our position of political dissent." The following resolution, adopted by the Synod, further defines its position in political dissent.

"There are certain acts that do not involve sinful relations to an irresponsible constitution of government, and which are not acts of incorporation with the Government, which this Church has always recognized the right of her members to perform. The simple act of voting for amendments to State Constitutions belongs to the class of political acts which are not inconsistent with the principles of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, or with her position of political dissent." A committee on the preparation of tracts on the relation of civil government to our Lord Jesus Christ, and on the reasons for the Church's political dissent from the Government of the nation, reported a list of topics which had been assigned to as many members of the Synod for the preparation of discussions upon them.

V. Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America (General Synod). - This body includes forty-six churches, with the mission in India, forty-eight ministers, and two licentiates. As reported to the General Synod, the available resources, including the balance from the previous year, of the Disabled Ministers' fund had been $311; of the Educational fund, $595; of the Church Extension fund. $4.733; of the Sustentation fund, $9,072; and of the Theological Seminary fund, $8,046. The permanent funds of the Theological Seminary amounted to $54,225. The receipts of the Domestic Mission Board were $4,044. This sum included legacies amounting to $2,100, which were funded in the Sustentation fund. A growing lack of preachers in many of the vacant congregations was complained of. The Board of Foreign Missions had received $3,225, which, added to the balance from the preceding year, made its entire available resources $11,655. The mission in Roorkee, Northwestern Provinces of India, had been in successful operation, with eight stations and an orphanage, and returned eighteen baptisms during the year.

The General Synod met in Tarentum, Penn., May 15. The Rev. H. H. Brownell, of Iowa, was chosen moderator. The report of the Committee on Union with the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, reciting the proceedings and conclusions of the joint committee, was presented and adopted, and provision was made for a meeting on the call of the committees of the two bodies. The report on the Sabbath condemned the session of Congress through the greater part of the Sunday preceding March 4, 1889, as a flagrant violation of the holy day, protested against the continuance of the mail service, and uttered testimony against excursions and unnecessary business and serving of food on the Lord's Day. The Synod declared itself ready for union with other Christian bodies on the basis of reformation principles as embodied in the "Westminster Confession and Catechisms; Presbyterial Form of Government," a testimony "including truths maintained and errors condemned by the testimonies of the Reformed and United Presbyterian Churches of North America"; and "a directory for worship which shall conform and limit the service of God's house to the requirements of his word, it being agreed that such directory shall exclude all human composition and mechanical instrumentation from the service of praise."

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VI. Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church met in Kansas City, Mo., May 16. The Rev. J. W. Hubbard was chosen mod erator. The report of the Board of Education showed that the receipts had been larger than those for any previous year. Forty-eight young ministers in the Church schools had been assisted by it. A committee appointed in 1887 respecting the form in which title to property acquired for church or educational purposes should be taken, advised that the deeds to such property be made to the General Assembly's Board of Trustees. A corresponding delegate from the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, colored, addressed the Assembly concerning the condition and needs of that body. Its needs were for an educated ministry, and for the appreciation of that necessity among the people. The times," he said, "are not as they once were. An uneducated negro can no longer preach effectively among the negroes. The negro population of the South is being educated." The Board of Missions reported concerning the condition of domestic missions; of missions to the Indians, including a school among the Cherokees; and of missions in Japan and Mexico. Fifty thousand dollars was designated as the sum to be asked from the Church for the purposes of Home and Foreign Missions for the ensuing year. Provision was made for assisting the Cumberland Presbyterian school for colored people at Bowling Green, Ky., the property rights of which are vested in the General Assembly, and for erecting new buildings for it. The Assembly decided that marriage by a candidate for the ministry or licentiate after beginning his candidacy should operate as a bar to his receiving aid from the Board of Education. Aid was also refused to candidates using tobacco. A report on temperance was adopted, pledging the Assembly to a decided advocacy of the principle of prohibition,

but refusing to indorse any political party. Five persons were appointed to represent the Assembly in the American Sabbath Union; State conventions in behalf of Sabbath observance were approved; each synod was advised to appoint a committee to co-operate with other religious bodies in arranging for such conventions; and sympathy was expressed with the petition to Congress for a law against Sunday work so far as the jurisdiction of the General Government extends. A standing committee on church property was instituted for the purpose of gathering information and statistics throughout the bounds of the Church regarding vacant church property; and the synods and presbyteries were advised to form similar committees in aid of the Assembly's committee and to secure accurate, detailed information of the condition of such properties within their several jurisdictions.

VII. Presbyterian Church in Canada.— The following is a summary of the statistics of this Church as they were reported to the General Assembly in June: Number of churches, 1,837; of sittings, 435,177; of families, 79,678; of communicants, 152,013, showing an increase during the year of 6,373; of baptisms during the year, 985 of adults and 10,090 of infants; received on profession of faith, 11,832; number of manses, 541; of attendants on Sabbath-school and Bibleclass, 119,985, with 20,022 teachers. Amount of contributions: For ministerial support, $744,672; for churches and manses, $501,298; for congregational purposes, $1,555,867; for colleges, $112,897; for home missions, $96,026; for foreign missions, $77,021; for all purposes, $1,942,723. The work of the Board of Home Missions is divided into two departments, viz., home mission work proper, in districts not able to maintain a settled pastor; and augmentation work, for the maintenance of a fixed minimum in pastoral salaries ($750 in the East and $900 in the Northwest, with a free manse in both cases). The whole number of mission stations was about 850, with which were connected 13,000 communicants and about 40,000 attendants of Sabbathschool. In these stations, $45,000 had been raised for self-support. One hundred and eightyone congregations were helped from the augmentation fund.

The receipts for French evangelization had been $44,913. The committee had maintained, among the French-speaking population, chiefly in the Province of Quebec, 25 mission churches, with 89 preaching stations-in which 200 additions by profession of faith were returned-33 mission schools, in which 912 pupils were enrolled; and a boarding and high school at Point aux Trembles, with 145 pupils. A building had been bought in Ottawa for a school for young women. Nearly 80 annuitants had been aided from the Aged and Infirm Ministers' fund, with an average sum of $175 each. Seventy-five candidates had been graduated from the five theological colleges. The Board of Foreign Missions had expended $85,016 on its Foreign work in China, Central India, Trinidad, Demarara, and the New Hebrides islands. Seven ordained ministers and seven women missionaries had been added to its force. Five of these, who had been appointed to Honan, China, were supported by individual congregations or members

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of congregations. The board was directed by the General Assembly to consider propositions for establishing missions to the Jews and among the Chinese in British Columbia. Resolutions were passed expressing "emphatic condemnation" of the act passed by the Province of Quebec, incorporating the Order of the Society of Jesus, particularly on the grounds "that the body thus incorporated is an alien one, and under ban throughout the empire," and that its influence "is hurtful to the public welfare, and even dangerous to the public peace"; expressing like emphatic condemnation of the Jesuits' Estates' act passed more recently in the same province, on the ground that besides carrying with it an unconstitutional and dangerous recognition of the authority of the Pope, and a consequent invasion of the supremacy of the Queen, it diverts public funds and funds held in trust for educational purposes to ecclesiastical and sectarian uses, and is subversive of well-understood civil and religious right." The moderator was authorized to sign a petition on behalf of the General Assembly to the Governor-General in Council asking for the disallowance of the Jesuit Estates' act; the support of the Assembly was pledged to measures for obtaining an authoritative expression as to the constitutionality of the two acts in question; and a committee was appointed, acting by itself or in concert with other bodies, "to guard the interests of civil and religious liberty." Liberty of conscience was accorded to members of the Church with reference to marriage with a deceased wife's sister. The committee on union with other churches reported upon conferences that had been held during the year with committees of the Episcopal and Methodist churches. A revised edition of the "Book of Forms and Rules of Procedure" was adopted for publication.

Previous declarations were reiterated in favor of teaching in the public schools the fundamental historical facts and doctrines of the Bible, with provision of a conscience clause for the relief of objectors and permission to trustees to dispense with such instruction when it deemed expedient. The conviction of the Assembly was declared that the general liquor traffic is contrary to the word of God; that prohibition is the proper goal of all temperance legislation; and that sympathy with Prohibition should be considered an essential qualification in members of Parliament.

VIII. The Kirk of Scotland.-The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland met in Edinburgh, May 23. The Rev. Dr. Gloag, of Galashiels, was chosen moderator.

The report of the votes of the presbyteries upon the overture sent down by the previous Assembly respecting the subscription of officebearers showed that out of 84 presbyteries, 64 had pronounced in favor of the overture and 16 against it, while 4 had cast qualified votes. The overture was made a standing law of the Church. It requires only a general subscription to the Confession as a whole, and relieves the subscriber of "everything that does not enter into the substance of the Confession." The Committee on Foreign Missions reported that the number of baptized persons in India had increased during the year from 3,000 to 3,700. The financial condition of the missions

was good. The relations of the Assembly with the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in England in connection with the Church of Scotland, were brought to notice by a motion for allowing delegates from that Synod to take seats in the Assembly without voting-which was denied. A debate took place on the failure of the Church to draw large masses of the people into its congregations, and the means of remedying it. A committee was appointed to consider and report as to the extent to which divinity students might with propriety be allowed to take part in the public worship of the Church. A motion to delete the Apostles' Creed from the services of worship was lost, it receiving only two votes.

The Presbyterian churches in Canada, in connection with the Church of Scotland, include those churches and parts of churches connected with the Church of that name that declined to go into the union from which the Presbyterian Church in Canada has resulted. The Synod of Pictou, N. S., exclusive of the very large parish of Prince Edward Island and one other, from which reports were not received, returns 1,960 families, with 1,957 communicants; payments for stipends, $9,020; and contributions to the schemes of the Church, $2,471. In the provinces of Montreal and Quebec there are 21 churches of this connection.

IX. Free Church of Scotland. The General Assembly met in Edinburgh, May 23. The Rev. Dr. John Laird was chosen moderator. The feature of the business concerning which most interest was felt was the election of a Professor of New Testament Exegesis, in the Free Church College of Edinburgh. The principal candidate was the Rev. Marcus Dods, D. D., a theologian, whose views upon controverted questions respecting the inspiration of the Scriptures were regarded as "broad" in the most liberal sense, and who had not hesitated to utter them explicitly. An address which he had delivered at the meeting of the Presbyterian Alliance in London, in 1888, attracted much attention at the time for the boldness with which those views were enunciated. The bearing of Dr. Dods's views and his fitness in other respects for the professorship were fully discussed in the Assembly, after which he was elected, receiving 383 votes to 280 votes cast for two other candidates. An informal meeting of the members of the Assembly opposed to the selection of Dr. Dods was held during the sessions of the Assembly, at which the subject of forming an association for the maintenance of the orthodox views was discussed. Several overtures concerning a revision of the Confession of Faith came before the Assembly. Motions were made in various forms that the subject be passed from as not called for; that a committee be appointed to consider it; that the proposers of the overtures should be called upon to specify what doctrines are opposed to the Scripture; and that whatever might happen, the Calvinistic element should not be tampered with. A motion to appoint a committee to inquire into the condition of opinion in the Church regarding the Confession of Faith, and to consider what steps should be taken, was adopted by a vote of 413 to 130. The Assembly resolved to invite all ministers and members of the Free Church to consider the sub

ject of union with the United Presbyterians, and to promote local and general co-operation between the two Churches. The report of the Committee on Church and state defined the position of the Free Church to be that of holding that establishment in Scotland is inexpedient, unjust, and wrong, and should be terminated as speedily as possible. The matter had got past discussion, and had entered into the region of practical politics. There were apparently an everincreasing number of Established Churchmen who saw the situation and confessed that their position was anomalous and indefensible, and would not lend their support to keep their Church in it. The number of the minority in the Free Assembly supporting the establishment principle was also diminishing. A great change over this question had taken place within a year in the Highlands, and the principle of disestablishment was now predominant in every constituency in the North. The Committee on Temperance represented that the reports from presbyteries had been more numerous than in any former year, and showed that both in congregations and presbyteries Gospel temperance work was now recognized as an important department

of Christian effort.

X. United Presbyterian Church of Scot land. The statistical returns of this Church, presented to the Synod in May, showed that the whole number of members was 182,963, or 793 more than in 1888. The gain was above the average rate of increase for the last ten years.

The

The Synod met in Edinburgh in May. Rev. Dr. Drummond was chosen moderator. The third jubilee of the secession in Glasgow and the west of Scotland was celebrated in Glasgow in December, 1888, at a meeting which was attended by representatives of all the denominations except the Established Church. Historical papers were read by Dr. Andrew Thomson on The Origin of the Secession Church," and by Principal Cairns on "The Religious History of Glasgow." In an address on "The Recent Movements and Present Position of the United Presbyterian Church" the Rev. A. B. McEwen claimed that the Church had moved forward in its creed, its worship, and its organization. While there were few doctrines held forty years before which they would be inclined to discuss or deny, there had been a change. Doctrines once prominent had fallen into the background, and other truths were now given a foremost place. Their Church was the first Presbyterian Church to discuss the use of instrumental music, and in their case the transition had been made with very little friction. The work of the Church abroad was presented by Dr. Corbett; Principal Rainy spoke of "The Influence of the Secession on the Religious Life of Scotland."

XI. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland. -The income of this Church is derived from the proceeds of investments, gifts, and bequests, and congregational contributions. The total amount for 1888 is given in the "Blue Book" of the General Assembly as £214.683, or £9,577 more than in the previous year. The number of children in Sunday-schools was 105,960. The clerk of the General Assembly made return of the number of enrolled clergymen as 668, the largest number reported in the history of the Church.

From the foreign mission fields were returned 4 missionaries and their wives in China and in India, 353 communicants, 1,653 baptized members, and a Christian community of 2,194 persons, with 26 schools for boys and 18 for girls. Mission churches were also sustained in continental Europe.

The General Assembly met at Belfast, June 3. The Rev. William Clarke was chosen moderator. The General Assembly having been formed in July, 1840, by the union of the Synod of Ulster and the Secession Synod, the year 1890 would be its fiftieth or jubilee year. A committee was appointed to make arrangements for the due cele bration of the festival on the 10th of July, and for holding a "jubilee meeting" of the Assembly. The delegates that represented the Assembly in the General Council of the Alliance of Reformed Churches holding the Presbyterian System, held in London in July, 1888, made a report concerning the proceedings of that body, of one feature of which it was remarked:

The only topic eliciting diversity of opinion was one phase of the intellectual tendencies of our day in their bearing on faith. One of the delegates read a paper, in which he ascribed a large amount of unbelief of our age to the extent of the demands made Among these demands the writer specified the docupon the faith of men as a condition of salvation. trine of a plenary verbal inspiration, involving the doctrine of the infallibility of Scripture. He claimed that a Christian creed should not demand anything beyond what he alleged Christ required, viz., that men should follow him and accept him as the true Ruler of their lives. We have no right, he maintained, to ask more, or to require that men should accept a number of propositions about him. The Council was careful to vindicate itself before the churches of Christendom by setting apart an hour and a half for the criticism of this paper, and the delegates took part in its review and condemnation.

A proposition was considered for forming a United Presbytery in China, to consist of the missionaries of this Church and of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

XII. Presbyterian Church in England.The statistical report to the Synod of 1889 gave the number of congregations as 287, and the number of members as 64,054, against 62,566 in 1888. The total income had been £210,376. It was represented in the Synod that while ten years previously the value of the entire property of the Church was £1,000,000, it was now £1,500,000, and that within the same period the aggregate debt had decreased from £121,000 to £94,000. The year's income for missions had been £17,000. The Church had in China 28 ordained European missionaries and 16 woman missionaries, with many native evangelists. Eight native pastors were supported by their own congregations. The Church in China was becoming self-supporting, and sending out missionaries.

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The

The Synod met in London, April 29. Rev. Alexander McLeod, D. D., presided as moderator. The Committee on the Confession of Faith which had been adopted in the Synod of the previous year for submission to the presbyteries (see Annual Cyclopædia" for 1888), reported back the document as it had been revised by it in the light of the amendments suggested by the presbyteries. The most important differences in view were in respect to the wording to be given to Article XIX, treating of Holy