7. Two other agencies may he briefly noted:
1 1 . i i 'ontint iitnl aii'l Fan ign ( 'hurches < 'ommittee. — Es- tablished as the medium of communication between the churches and other Reformed churches of < IhrisLendom. It is charged with the duty of cultivating friendly rela- tions with such churches, and administering such sums as the liberality of the Church bestows on societies and agencies abroad seeking to spread the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. For many years the committee have been able to aid the ('mini/ Society of the French /.'<- formed Church, and the Evangelization Commission of the Waldensian ('lunch in Italy, from time to time it
has aided other agencies. The care of certain chap- laincies on the Continent intended for the benefit of Presbyterians temporarily resident there also devolves on this committee. In income in 1876 was £1205.
(2.) The Army and Navy Chaplains Committet are in- trusted with the oversight of chaplains laboring in gar- rison towns or at the camps. The convener of the com- mittee communicates, in behalf of the Church, with the naval and military authorities.
No Church in Europe has taken more prompt and energetic steps for the general diffusion of school educa- tion than the Presbyterians of Scotland. As early as L695 it was enacted ••that there he a school founded and a school - master appointed in every parish by ad- vice of the presbyteries, and to this purpose that the heritors do. in every congregation, meet among them- selves, and provide a commodious house for a and moilil'y a stipend to the school-master, which shall not he under ten meiks (£6 \'-'<s. 1 /. i nor above twenty merits." As almost all the population of the country is Presb) terian, the common-school system long sustained
a parochial character. When, in L843, the free Church
; was organized, it was resolved to erect schools in connection with the congregations of the Free Church,
and the educational bi theme « hich in consequence sprang up was co-extensive with the parochial system of the
Established Church. In L873, of 2108 schools inspected
by the govt rnmenl inspectors. L879 belonged ti tablished and .",77 to the free Church: while of non- Presbyterian scl Is i her.' were eighty-six belonging
to the Episcopal and Bixty-six to the Catholic Church. The introduction of the new national system ofeduca-
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 519 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES
tion has in a great measure superseded the operations of the educational scheme of the Church of Scotland. Few schools now remain in relation to it. The care of the committee is now chiefly occupied with providing religious instruction in all schools desiring it, and giv- ing grants for excellence in religious instruction. The Scottish universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aber- deen are in organic connection with the Church of Scot- land by means of theological professorships ; while at St. Andrew's an entire college, St. Mary's, is appointed solely to the teaching of theology and the languages connected with it. The theological institutions are the theological faculties of the several national universities. The number of professors is, at Edinburgh, four; Glas- gow, four; St. Andrew's, three; Aberdeen, four. Stu- dents, 198. Students of divinity are required to attend a full course of arts at the university, and three years more at the Divinity Hall. The sessions in both cases last about five months. Students in this and the other Presbyterian churches of Scotland have often assistance from bursaries or scholarships, which are allotted chiefly by competition. See Hetherington, Hist, of the Church of Scotland; M'Crie, Lives of Knox and Melville; id. Sketches of Church History, and Review of Scott ; Fes- senden, Encycl. of Relig. Knowledge ; Cyclop, of Relig. Denominations (Lond. and Glasg.); Wilson, Presb.Hist. Almanac ; Schem, Eccles. Year Bool:
2. United Presbyterian Church. — In 1732 the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, as retiring moderator of the Syn- od of Stirling and Perth, preached a sermon on Christ as the Corner-stone, in which he sharply inveighed against the corruptions and abuses that had crept into the Scot- tish Church. His sermon gave great offence, and in- curred the censure of the synod. He appealed to the General Assembly, who condemned and rebuked him. Upon entering his protest, they handed his case over to the Commission. The Commission summarily sus- pended Erskine and three other ministers — Wilson, Moncrieff, and Fisher, who had joined in his protest — and cast them out of ministerial communion. The four brethren, deeming this treatment unconstitutional and unscriptural, immediately organized themselves into a presbytery, to which they gave the name of the Asso- ciate Presbytery, and published their testimony, or vin- dication of their secession. The next Assembly showed a disposition to make concessions, but the seceders re- fused to listen. How far they were right in this has been debated. That they were not satisfied to return to the bosom of the Establishment is clear, for they went on to gather congregations and appoint a pro- fessor of theology ; and, in consequence of their activity and the popular sympathy, they increased rapidly. The Assembly next proceeded to harsher measures, and in 1740 deposed the seceding ministers, now eight in num- ber. The doors of the churches were closed against them, and some of them, as Moncrieff, preached all win- ter in the open air. Great difficulty was found in pro- curing sites for houses of worship. Still they grew, and in 1745 the presbytery expanded into a synod with thirty settled congregations and sixteen vacancies. But now a dissension arose about the burgess oath, and in 1747 they split into two synods. The General Asso- ciate Synod, or Anti-burghers, denounced the oath as sanctioning the Establishment with all its corruptions; the Associate Synod maintained that it only referred to the true Protestant faith, in opposition to popery. After seventy-three years of separation, during which each throve and sent offshoots to other parts of the world, both branches reunited (a few only standing aloof) in 1820, under the name of the United Secession Church, when the new body embraced 373 congregations.