body, that at the earliest practicable moment we may see the establishment of correspondence with the other Assembly, we hereby

Resolve, That this Assembly reiterates its cordial desire to establish fraternal relations with that As

sembly on terms of perfect equality and reciprocity, so soon as it is agreeable to their brethren to respond to this assurance by a similar expression.

This was adopted, and telegraphed to the Southern General Assembly. The Southern General Assembly, in the mean time, had taken action on the subject of fraternal relations. This action being reported the next day, the Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution in substance identical with that of that body, as declarative of the spirit in which its action was taken, as follows:

In order to show our disposition to remove, on our part, all real or seeming hinderance to friendly feeling, the Assembly explicitly declares that, while condemning certain acts and deliverances of the Southern General Assembly, no acts or deliverances of the Northern Assembly, or of the historical bodies of which the present Assembly is the successor, are to be construed or admitted as impugning in any way the Christian character of the Southern General Assembly, or of the historical body or bodies of which it is the successor.

The previous General Assembly had sent down to the presbyteries an overture providing for a basis of representation in the General Assembly, by synods instead of by presbyteries, as had always before been the rule. The object was to reduce the number of members of the General Assembly, which had become inconveniently large. The report of the vote of the presbyteries showed that 19 presbyteries had answered the overture in the affirmative, 101 in the negative, and that 53 presbyteries had not reported. The overture was consequently lost. The subject was again referred to a committee, who were to prepare a plan for reduced representation to the General Assembly, publish their report in all the Church papers before the spring meetings of the presbyteries, and report to the next General Assembly. The necessary action was taken to carry into effect the provision which had been adopted by the Church for the election of elders for a term of years, by churches preferring that tenure to one for life. The deliverances of previous General Assemblies of both branches of the Church, condemning promiscuous dancing, and regretting the giving of dancing-parties by Christian families, were reaffirmed. The session of each church was declared fully competent to decide when discipline in such cases is necessary, and when it should be administered. It was declared not in accordance with Presbyterian usage to invite persons to the Lord's Supper who are not connected with any branch of the visible Church. A committee was appointed to inquire whether Roman Catholic baptisms should be recognized as valid, and report to the next General Assembly.

The sixth anniversary of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was held at Philadel

phia, April 27th and 28th. The receipts for the year had amounted to $77,561.53. Sixteen new missionaries had been taken under the care of the Society during the year. The report stated that during the same period 110 auxiliary societies and 56 mission hands had been added to the list, making a present total of 648 of the former and 342 of the latter. Nineteen new presbyterial societies had also been organized, making 26 in all.

II. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES (Southern General Assembly). The following is a summary of the statistics of this Church, as they were reported to the General Assembly in May, 1876: Synods... Presbyteries...

Ministers and licentiates..
Candidates..

Churches...
Licensures.
Ordinations.
Installations.

12

18 1,079

1-9

1,890

41

47

༣

5,415

8177

7.098

8,454

112.188

2416

4.676

92.280

67,804

$89,591

13.500

9.641

45.054

82.329

8,666

11,556

548.429

882.814

50,068

$1,138,671

The Executive Committee of Publication reported to the General Assembly that their receipts had been: From contributions of the churches, $6,570.21; from sales and subscriptions, $35,394.79; and receipts from other sources swelled the total amount of available funds to $42,704.26. Their disbursements had been $41,866.24. The assets of the committee amounted to $61,105.20, and their liabilities to about $20,000. The business capital now amounted to $39,576.36. The arrangements with the Reformed Church in America, contemplated in the plan of cooperation between the two Churches, had been in part begun. The Reformed Board had approved for sale all the books of the committee but one, and all the publications of the Reformed Board but s few small volumes were offered on the shelves of the committee's store. The objections in the case of the excepted books were based upon the introduction into them "of sentiments or incidents connected with the recent troubles of the country which might not produce edification in the opposite section from that in which they were first issued."— The

Executive Committee on Education reported to the General Assembly a deficiency of a little over $3,000 in their receipts. The entire amount of funds furnished had been $15,131.97. The committee were still in debt about $32,000. Ninety-five persons were enrolled upon the list of beneficients, of whom fiftyfour were pursuing their studies at theological seminaries. The Committee on Evangelistic Labor reported that thirty-six out of sixty-four presbyteries employed evangelists. Fifty evangelists had been employed during the year, eleven more than had been employed the previous year.—The Executive Committee on Sustentation reported to the General Assembly that their total receipts during the year for the several departments classed under the general head of sustentation (embracing sustentation, the evangelistic fund, the colored evangelistic fund, the invalid fund, and the relief fund) had amounted to $45,800.91. This amount, together with the balance of $12,185.85 which was on hand, made the total amount under the control of the committee during the year $57,986.76. The receipts for sustentation had been $22,664.68, against $21,186.65 the preceding year. The receipts of the evangelistic fund had been $852.22 more than those of the previous year, and the payments to presbyteries $578.82 more than those of the year before. Fifty-one evangelists had been employed by thirty-six presbyteries, with generally satisfactory results. The receipts for the colored evangelistic fund had been sufficient to meet the demands that had been made upon it. The receipts for the invalid fund had been $1,700.25 more than those of the previous year, and had been adequate to meet all the applications for aid.-The Committee on Foreign Missions reported to the General Assembly that their total receipts for the year from all sources had been $61,273.27, or $19,038.98 more than the total contributions of the preceding year. Their total expenditures had been $56,498.76, and their indebtedness had been reduced to $9,848.67. The Home Department had been managed at an expense of only a fraction more than seven per cent. of the receipts. A considerable increase was reported in the number of contributing churches, ladies' missionary associations (from 58 to 108), and Sunday-schools, and in the amount of contributions from them. The committee had six principal stations in the southwestern Indian Territory, one in Mexico, two in the United States of Colombia, two in the Empire of Brazil, one in Italy, one in Greece, one among the Greeks in European Turkey, and two in China, with a much larger number of out-stations in all these different parts of the world. Connected with these various stations were 12 schools of various grades, embracing in all more than 500 pupils. The number of laborers connected with the missions was 75. The General Assembly resolved to forward the work of the committee.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States met at Savannah, Ga., May 18th. The Rev. B. M. Smith, D. D., of Virginia, was chosen moderator. The Assembly adopted resolutions expressing its approval, in general, of the proceedings of the Conference held in London in July, 1875; also of the general tenor of the constitution of the new alliance. It decided to appoint delegates to represent the Presbyterian Church in the United States in the General Council to be held in Edinburgh in 1877, “provided that this appointment of delegates shall not be understood as pledging any funds of the Church to defraying the expenses of the General Council;" and it provided that the delegates should select from their own number members to prepare any papers concerning the condition and position of the Church, to be spread upon the records of the council; further, that if the delegates shall be unable to attend the council, they should be authorized to represent the Church in an official letter. This action was supplemented by a resolution, "That, in appointing delegates to the General Presbyterian Alliance, it is with the distinct declaration that it is not to be regarded as another and a higher court, but as an assemblage of committees appointed by their several churches, which they represent for the purpose of joint conference and joint report, and for such action only as belongs to an association of delegates thus constituted." There were chosen as delegates to the council one minister and one elder from each synod, and four delegates from the Church at large. A committee had been appointed by the previous General Assembly to take into consideration the deliverances which had been uttered by the Southern Presbyterian Church through its General Assemblies on secular matters. This committee submitted a report, carefully reviewing and comparing all the declarations of the General Assembly touching questions of politics and slavery, from its organization in 1861 to the present time. It began by quoting the explicit declaration adopted at the formation of the Southern General Assembly, that the Church has nothing to do with political matters, and followed this with quotations to the same effect from a pastoral letter adopted in 1865; from the report on foreign correspondence in 1862; from a letter of the Synod of Kentucky to the General Assembly in 1867; from the declaration of 1861, that in its ecclesiastical capacity the Church is neither the friend nor the foe of slavery; and from declarations to the same effect in the Pastoral Letter of 1865. On the other hand, expressions were referred to which were alleged to be inconsistent with the principle thus enunciated in the narrative adopted in 1862; in the report of 1862 on theological seminaries, as in the Pastoral Letter of 1862; in the narrative of 1863; and in the narrative of 1864. In some of these papers the words "we," "our cause," our army," referring to the

Southern side in the war, were inadvertently used, and should have been disapproved. The narrative of 1864 contained two expressions that deserved notice: first, it said: "The longcontinued agitations of our adversaries have wrought within us a deeper conviction of the Divine appointment of domestic servitude, and have led to a clearer comprehension of the duties we owe to the African race." This was explained by the committee to mean : "By declaring the institution of slavery to be of Divine appointment,' the Assembly must not be understood as expressing the opinion that it was ordained of God as a positively Divine and obligatory institute of society for all communities, but simply that, as it was recognized and enforced by the law of the Confederate States, and was an existing relation prevailing throughout its boundaries, it was, in the sense of all established civil relations, a matter of Divine appointment for the time being in the midst of the people of the States." The other expression was: "We hesitate not to affirm that it is the peculiar mission of the Southern Church to conserve the institution of slavery, and make it a blessing both to master and slave." Of this the committee said:

From all that is known to us as to the meaning intended by the Assembly which adopted that paper, as well as from the context itself, it is manifest that its true intent was not to assert that it was the duty of the Church to conserve the institution of slavery in the sense of perpetuating it a word never used by it in reference to this subject-but to make the best of the relation and arrangement as it existed, and, by the administration of that gospel which is intrusted to the Church, "make it a blessing both to master and slave."

ence of 1875 (see ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1875), approved by the Assembly at St. Louis, explains with sufficient clearness the position of our Church. But, inasmuch as it is represented by the overture that misapprehensions exist in the minds of some of our people as to the spirit of this action, in order to show our disposition to remove on our part all real sembly explicitly declares that, while condemning or seeming hinderances to friendly feeling, the Ascertain acts and deliverances of the Northern Assembly, no acts or deliverances of the Southern Presbyterian Assemblies are to be construed or ad

mitted as impugning in any way the Christian character or standing of the Northern General Assembly, or of the historical body or bodies of which it is the successor.

A report was adopted on the subject of a theological institute for colored people. It recommended that such an institute be established; that it be located at Tuscaloosa, Ala., and the Rev. Dr. Stillman be appointed its principal.

III. UNITED, REFORMED, AND ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERIANS. (a.) United Presbyterian Church of North America.-The following is a summary of the statistics of this Church, as they were presented to the General Assembly at its meeting in May, 1876: Number of synods, 8; of presbyteries, 57; of ministers without charge, 159; of pastors and stated supplies, 465; of congregations with pastors or stated supplies, 561; of congregations vacant, 248; of members, 77,414; of adults baptized, 500; of infants baptized, 3,961; of Sunday-schools, 638; of officers and teachers in the same, 7,289; of Sunday-school scholars, 53,364; of theological seminaries, 4; of colleges, 3; total amount of contributions, $873,675.

The Board of Education reported to the General Assembly that their total receipts for

they had a balance from the previous year of $372.86. Their total expenditures had been $3,732.45; their total liabilities were $2,860.71. Twenty young men intending to enter the ministry had been aided by the funds of the Church.-The Board of Publication reported to the General Assembly as the condition of their finances: Total assets, $101,736.55; total liabilities, $30,540.22; receipts for the year, $25,178.39; expenditures, $27,085.32; cash on hand May 1, 1876, $1,504.39.-The Board of the Freedmen's Mission reported to the General Assembly that their total receipts since the last report had been $12,388.80. The treasurer had at present a balance of $573. An appropriation of $12,000 was asked to pay all indebtedness, furnish the school-building, and carry on the work for the coming year. The Board of Ministerial Relief reported to the General Assembly that their total receipts for the year had been $2,501.42, and their total expenditures $644.43. Four ministers, or families of deceased ministers, had received help during the year.-The Board of Home Missions reported to the General Assembly that the total contributions to their treasury for the year had been $35,294.82, being thirteen dollars more than had been contributed

during any previous year in the history of the board. Claims amounting to $32,824.91 had been paid during the year, leaving a balance in the treasury of $2,709.43.-The Board of Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church reported to the General Assembly that their total receipts for the year had been, including the balance on hand at the beginning of the year, $75,061.20, and their total expenditures $71,950.06. There was an apparent balance in the treasury of $3,111.14, but, taking into account the amount the board still owed, and the obligations coming due, it was estimated that there would be on the 1st of July a deficiency of $18,981.86. The estimates for the ensuing year called for $84,526, currency. This amount was approved by the General Assembly. Missions were supported in Syria, India, Egypt, and China, concerning which the following statistics were given: Number of foreign missionaries, 38; of native laborers, 114, of whom 4 were ordained and 9 were licensed. Number of communicants: in Syria, 84; in India, 153; in Egypt, 86; in China, 21; total, 915, an increase of 142; number of baptisms, 136. Number of pupils in the schools: in Syria, 417; in India, 1,143; in Egypt, 1,151; in China, 25; total 2,736. 11,890 volumes had been used in the mission fields, chiefly in Egypt.

The eighteenth General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in North America met in Philadelphia, May 24th. The Rev. Dr. James Brown, of Keokuk, Iowa, was chosen moderator. A resolution was adopted protesting "most solemnly against the opening of the Centennial grounds on the Lord's-day," and pledging support to the Centennial Commission in the resolution they had adopted to close these grounds on that day.

The subject of permitting the use of instruments of music in the churches was brought to the attention of the Assembly by a petition for the repeal of the section of the Directory of Worship which prohibits such instruments. The committee to whom it was referred reported an overture to be submitted to the presbyteries repealing the section. The overture was lost, failing to receive the two-thirds vote requisite to pass it, although it received the vote of a majority of the members present (86 to 74). The Committee on Conference with the Associate Reformed Synod of the South made a report recommending the cooperation of the two bodies in all Church work. Their action was approved. The presbyteries were instructed to require all congregations under their care to seek through them whatever preaching they might desire; and ministers and licentiates were forbidden to make any arrangements with congregations for preaching except through the presbyteries under whose care the congregations may be. A plan to establish a theological seminary in India, to be under the care of the Presbytery of Sealkote, was heartily approved.

(b.) The General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America met in Philadelphia, May 18th. The Rev. John Alford, of Newcastle, Del., was chosen moderator. The report of the treasurer of the Board of Foreign Missions showed that the expenditures for the year had been $57, while the receipts were $63, and that a balance remained in the treasury of $1,453.55. The Board of Domestic Missions reported that the amount of their appropriations had been $1,950. A committee was appointed to confer with a committee of the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America (O. S.) on the subject of a union of the two bodies. A report on the "Signs of the Times" was adopted. It reviewed the state of the religious and secular world, and designated the first Thursday in November as a day of thanksgiving, and Thursday of the first week in January as a day of fasting and prayer, in the Church.

(c.) The Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church met in Pittsburg, Pa., May 24th. The Rev. Joseph Beattie, missionary to Syria, was chosen moderator. The synod was composed of about one hundred and fifty members, representing about one hundred ministers and congregations. The whole amount of contributions given by the churches during the year was $190,000, or about nineteen dollars per member. The number of theological students was increasing.

(d.) The Associate Synod of North America met at Portland Mills, Ind., May 24th. The Rev. H. S. Atchison was chosen moderator. It appeared from the statistical tables that this body embraced the four presbyteries of Iowa, Clarion, Muskingum, and Northern Indiana, and that it had 12 ministers, 2 licentiates, 34 congregational charges or stations, and 1,115 communicants. The total amount of contributions to the various causes of the Church during the year had been $679.85.

(e.) The Associate Reformed Synod of the South met at Hopewell, S. C., September 21st. The Rev. William B. Pressly was chosen moderator. The committee who were appointed by the synod of the previous year to confer with a similar committee of the United Presbyterian Church, with a view to the coöperation of the two Churches in certain departments of their work, reported that the two committees had met at Baltimore, December 15, 1875, and agreed upon a plan of cooperation. This plan provided that "the presbyteries of each Church shall sustain the same relation to those of the other that they do to the coördinate courts of their own body, and that the ministers and licentiates of each shall be eligible to appointments and settlements in congregations of the other;" that the courts of each shall respect the discipline of the other; that ministers and members of the two bodies be recommended to cultivate friendly relations and Christian fellowship with each other; that the existing relations of the two Churches (actual coopera

tion) in the work of foreign missions be continued; that a friendly cooperation of help and non-interference be practised in the fields of home missions and Church extension; that the two bodies coöperate in building and sustaining the Normal or Training School of the United Presbyterian Church for the Freedmen, established at Knoxville, Tenn.; and that, in the work of publication, the Associate Reformed Synod cooperate with the Board of Publication of the United Presbyterian Church. These provisions were adopted by the Synod. The Committee on Correspondence with the United Presbyterian Church was reappointed, but was instructed to take no direct steps toward union without further instruction. The Board of Foreign Missions reported that their receipts for the year had been $4,732.69, and their ordinary expenses $604.08. They had invested the sum of $2,664, and had $1,464.61 on hand.

IV. CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIANS. The forty-sixth General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church met at Bowling Green, Ky., May 18th. The Rev. J. M. Gill, of Elkton, Ky., was chosen moderator.

The Committee on Missions reported that the missionary work of the year had in the aggregate exceeded that of any former year, especially so far as the collecting and disbursing of money are concerned. The gifts to the missionary cause had been far in advance of those of former years. The most important home-missions were at St. Louis, in Colorado, and on the Pacific coast.

The question was asked the Assembly by a presbyter, whether baptism, as administered by Roman Catholics, is to be regarded as a valid Christian baptism? The committee to whom it was referred expressed the opinion that it could not be so regarded, and recommended an answer in the negative. "Notwithstanding this," they reported, "each church session must decide for itself what shall be done in each particular case that may come before them, as no absolute rule can be laid down which will meet the peculiarities of every case." Their report was adopted by the Assembly. A resolution adopted by the Assembly declared "that, as a denomination of Protestants, we are not dependent on regular succession from the Roman Church, or any other body of Christians, for authority to preach the Gospel and administer the ordinances of the Church." The Committee on Education reported of the institutions of the Church: Lincoln University, Lincoln, Ill., had an endowment and property estimated to be worth $264,700, and liabilities estimated at $3,017.55. The faculty numbered nine professors and three tutors, and nearly 300 students were in attendance. Cumberland University had eleven professors and 375 students. It was the oldest institution in the Church, and had had great reverses in the loss of its endowments and buildings during the war. Trinity Uni

versity reported a year of "reasonable success.' Bethel College, McKenzie, Tenn., reported four teachers, 110 matriculations, and five candidates for the ministry among its students. Cumberland Female College, McMinnville, Tenn., had an annual average of about 100 students. Waynesburg College had about 200 students. A new college building had been begun, which would cost over $60,000.

The Board of Publication reported to the General Assembly that their receipts and expenditures during the year had been each $56,206.14. The assets of the Publishing House, deducting liabilities, were valued at $49,499.01, showing an increase of value from the previous year of $21,528.46.

The Colored Cumberland Presbyterian Church has been formed by the amicable separation of colored members from the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and their organization into an independent body. The first number of their newspaper organ, The Banner of Light, was published in September, 1876. It stated that the number of members of the Colored Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the States of Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Missis sippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky, was, in May, 1874, 3,925; that the number of ministers at that time was seventeen; and that the value of church property was $12,550. Since that time the Presbytery of Missouri had added 240 members, and the same presbytery had raised $529.25 in 1874. Later reports than for 1874 had not been received from the other States.

V. PRESBYTERIANS IN CANADA. (a.) Pres byterian Church in Canada.-The following is a summary of the statistics of this Church as they were reported to the General Assembly in June: