PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 542 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES
ods, 56 presbyteries, 611 ministers, 777 congregations, and 7t;.<tt;:; communicants. It has theological semina- ries al Newburgh, N. V. •. Allegheny, Pa.; and Xenia, <). : and missionary seminaries al Osiool and Ramleh, Egypt Westminster, Monmouth, and Ohio Central colleges arc also under iis charge. It lias boards of Foreign Missions, of Borne Missions, of Publication, of Church Extension, of Freedmen, and of Education, with mission stations in India, Egypt, and Syria. The Mis- sion (" China, which was instituted as a memorial of the "union" of the different bodies in 1858, has been transferred to California, its missionary contributions were, in L876 77. for foreign, $77,126; home, $29,750. lis periodical publications arc one monthly, one semi- monthly, and two weekly newspapers.
The Associate Reformed Synod ofth< South has -'ill its separate organization. Cordial in its relations with the United Presbyterian Church, ii has one missionary now laboring together with the missionaries of the lat- ter ( ihnrch in Egj i'i : and, slavery having ceased to be an object of contention, is now considering the propriety of organic union with that body. In l*7."> a plan of co-operation was proposed between this Church and the United Presbyterian Church, (forth, which provides thai "the presbyteries of each church shall sustain the same relation to those of the other that they do to the co-ordinate courts of their own body, and that the min- isters and licentiates of each shall he eligible to ap- pointments and settlements in congregations of the other;" that the courts of each shall respect the disci- pline of the other: that ministers ami members of the two bodies he recommended to cultivate friendly rela- tions and Christian fellowship with each other: that the existing relations of the two churches (actual co- operation) in i he work of foreign missions he continued : that a friendly co-operation of help and non-interference he practiced in the fields of home minimis and Church extension; that the two bodies co-operate in building and sustaining the Normal or Training School of the United Presbyterian Church for the Preedmen, estab- lished at Know ille. Teiin. : and that in the work of publication the Associate Reformed Synod co-operate with the Board of Publication of the United Presbyte- rian 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 towards union without further instruction. The Southern Church has a liter- ary institution named Erskine College and a theological school, both at DueWest,S.C. It numbers about 70 ministers, nearly one third of whom are in South Caro- lina, the rest in oilier Southern states.
15. Tin-. Assoi i mi. Swmi <>f North Ami kk \ is
I of 80me who declined lii cnlcr inlo I he union
with the Associate Reformed Synod in L858 (see X". i l above i. and consists of the presbyteries of [owa, < ilarion, Muskingum, and Northern Indiana; and had, in 1876, 12 ministers, '_' licentiates, .'il congregational charges >>r stations, and 1115 < imunicants. The total contribu- tions Were $679.85.
16. I'm: United Syn< r mi: Presbyterian
Church, South. In 1857 the New-School Presbytery of Lexington affirmed slavery to he right and Bcripttiral in principle. The Assembly i 1857 | replied by condemn- ing the position, and refused to allow either the princi- ple or the practice. The delegates from the Southern churches protested, and. declaring this action to be an "indireel excision" of their congregations, withdrew. and in 1858, al Knoxville, Tenn., organized themselves as ••The United Synod of the Presbyterian Church, South, iisting ol some 100 ministers and al t 200
'ems A proposal for union with the Old-
Scl 1 I'n sbj terian Church was declined by this latter
body because coupled with the condition that the As- sembly set aside iis doctrinal decisions of 1838. In 1859 the I nited Synod reported M presbyteries, lis minu> ters, L87 churches, and 12,125 communicants, ol whom
323 wen colored. In 1801 the synod joined the Pres- byterian < Ihurch, South.
' 17. Tin-. Presbyterian Chcr< n. South, dates its organization from Dec. I. 1861, when the commission- ers from all the presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church within the Confederate Mates met in Augusta, c.i.. and organized as a General Assembly. The style and title then chosen was. Tht Presbyterian Church of the Confederate stat<.< of America ; hut alter the over- throw of the Confederacy the word united was substi- tuted fur Confederate, and of America was dropped. The Presbyterian Church. South, disavows all connec- tion with political matters, ami holds to strictly eccle- siastical labor. In 1876, at the Assembly held in Sa- vannah. Ga., when the appointment of delegates t>> the Pan -Presbyterian Council of Edinburgh in 1*77 was considered, all expressions used in the different courts during the exciting times of the civil strife were re- scinded a- ini sistent with the platform of 1862. The
report then adopted closed with the following declara- tions:
I "1. We solemnly reaffirm t ho explicit and formal state- ment, set forth at the time of the organization of our General Assembly in Mil. in an ' Address to the Churches of Jesus chri>t throughout the Earth.' This document clearly and forcibly details our position concerning the nature and functions of the Church as a spiritual body, ;mil. therefore, ' non-secular and non-political.'