'••J. Inasmuch as some incidental expressions, uttered in limes of great public excitement, arc found upon our records, and have been pointed out in the report of the committee aforesaid, which seem to be ambiguous or inconsistent with the above declarations and others of like import, this Assembly docs hereby disavow them wherever found, ami docs not recoguise such as forming any pari of the well-considered, authoritative teachings or testimony of our Church."
At that lime this Church consisted of ]•_> synods, 62 presbyteries, 1821 churches. 1079 ministers, and 111'. is.; communicants. Their contributions amounted to $1,138,681. The Assembly conducts its benevolent operations through three general committees (the work of foreign missions and of sustentation being united un- der the same committee), viz. the Executive Commit* ice of Foreign Missions and Susten i at ion. of Education, and of Publication. Foreign missions arc maintained in i he l ndian Territory, Mexico. South America. Creece, Italy. India, and China, and domestic missions in new and destitute localities in the South, at an annual cost of $71,121, supporting 7."> missionaries in foreign fields, of whom 26 are ordained ministers. 1 licentiates, and 21 assistant missionaries, all from the United Slates: 9 ordained ministers and 25 assistant missionaries are na- tives of the countries in « hich they labor. With these foreign missions are connected 22 churches, with 1200 communicants: also 13 traiuing - schools of various made-, containing 250 pupils, 'i he Sustentation Hoard
extends aid to the amount of $20,000 in support of their
ministers to 185 churches in 57 presbyteries; $6000 to
the support of evangelistic labor, and $10,000 to relieve disabled ministers and families of deceased ministers.
A publishing house is maintained at Richmond, Va,
.and. with a capital of about $40,000, is-ms Presbyte- rian hooks for ministers and congregational ami Sun- day-school libraries. It also aids in the education for the ministry of young men ol limited means, and in the publication and dissemination of a religious and doctri- nal literature.
In all educational work, this branch of the Pi riau church has always held very advanced ground. Ft declares in its constitution thai ••because it is highly
reproachful to religion, and dangerous to the Church, to intrust the holy ministry to weak and ignorant men. the Presbytery shall try each candidate as to his know h dge
oi the Latin language and the original languages in which the Holy Scriptures were written. They shall also examine him in the an- and Bei< no-." The first written test required of the candidate is "a Latin exe- gesis on some common head in divinity." The common requirement in it- pn sbj teries is equal to the cui-runt/urn
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 543 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES
in most American colleges. The demands of the Church for the education of its ministry and its own youth have everywhere made it the patroness of learning and en- gaged it ill the founding of institutions for higher edu- cation. It has been the pioneer of education in nearly all the older Southern communities. During the civil war, many of the institutions of learning founded and endowed by the Presbyterian Church in the South per- ished by the loss of endowments in the general financial wreck. " Among them were Oglethorpe University, Ga. ; Oakland College, Miss. ; La Grange College, Tenn. ; and other valuable institutions of less prominence. Centre College, Ky., was lost through decisions of the United States courts in favor of a minority adhering to the old Assembly. Others were suspended by the enlistment of the students in the armies, and were crippled by the partial loss of endowments. The following, founded and endowed by Presbyterians, survived the disasters of the war, and now, under Presbyterian control or au- spices, are rendering valuable service to the country : Hampden Sidney College, Va. ; Davidson College, N. C. ; Stewart College, Tenn. ; Westminster College, Mo.; King College, Tenn.; and Austin College, Texas. Central Uni- versity, at Richmond, Ky., has been founded and suc- cessfully opened since the war. The synods of Nash- ville, Memphis, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas, conjointly, have also projected a university (the South-western) to be strictly under Presbyterian con- trol, for which they are now soliciting an endowment. It has been located at Clarkesville, Tenn. Stewart Col- lege has been merged in it. The financial prostration of the South since the war has rendered the endowment of its institutions of learning slow and difficult. Of academics and schools competent to prepare boys for college or young men for the university, or to give a good mathematical and classical education, thorough so far as it goes, to those whose means do not admit of more elaborate courses, there is a great insufficiency throughout the South. Those which had previously acquired success and reputation were generally broken up through the disastrous effects of the war, arid the poverty and depression of the people have operated to the discouragement of efforts to establish others. Of such institutions there are some of a high character, maintained under Presbyterian auspices; as the Bing- ham School, Mebanesville, N. C. ; Pleasant Ridge Acad- emy, Green County, Ala.; Edgar Institute, Paris, Ky. ; Military and Classical Institute, Danville, Ky.; Finlay High School, Lenoir, N. C. ; and Kemper Institute, Booneville, Mo. The Southern Presbyterian Church has two theological seminaries, each endowed and fur- nished with buildings, libraries, and four professors of eminent ability and learning — Union Seminary, at Hampden Sidney, Va.; and Columbia Seminary, at Co- lumbia, S. C. It has recently established a third, at Tuscaloosa, Ala., for the education and training of col- ored men for the ministry; and for this it is now gathering an endowment. There are no Presbyterian schools or colleges for girls in the South endowed beyond the provision of buildings, apparatus, and li- braries; but there are many institutions under Presby- terian control or auspices in which every reasonable comfort is combined with advantages for the thorough education and accomplishment of girls. Among these are many colleges, collegiate institutes, and seminaries which afford a high grade of instruction to young la- dies, and are widely esteemed for general excellence and efficiency.