PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 54S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES
missionaries od this interesting field. The children of the Sabbath-schools are pledged to collect £500 per an- num fortbe maintenance oi the Day-spring, mission-ship. The total contributions to the home and heathen mis- sions in 1876 amounted to £2220. The capital invested funds of the Church, Sept 30, 1876, were as follows:
1. Theological Hall endowment £14,2-20
2, Ormond and Patrick Hamilton scholarships... 2,nuo :;. Rokew 1 Chnrcfa endowment 1,000
4. Infirm Ministers' Fund B,209
5. Widows and Orphans' Fund 18,203
G Brodie Beqnesl (Home-mission work) 2,000
7. Loan Fund tor chinch and manse building (be- in/ the accumulation of live years' state aid), l. 5.000
Total £60,632
There are two colleges in connection with this ( hurch —one lor boys, under the principalship of Dr. Morison, which lias run a long and prosperous career: the other for girls, under the charge of the Rev. < leorge Tait, was but recently opened.
■_'. Presbyterian Church of New Smith Wales. — In 1802 about a dozen Presbyterian families, living on the hank- of the Hawkesbury River, resolved to meet for the worship of God according to the forms of their fa- thers, though they had no minister. A .Mr. James Mi 'in ministered to tlicin as catechist. At a cost of £400 i hey built a church, which hears the appropriate name of Ebenezer. In 1823 Dr. Lang went to the col- ony, i he first Presbyterian minister. Considerable ad- ditions were made thereafter, but the history of the Church was not harmonious, and various divisions look place. At length, in 1865, a general union took place, through the amalgamation of separate bodies corre- sponding to the Churcb of Scotland, the Free Church, and the United Presbyterian; the new body being called -The Presbyterian Church of New South Wales."
According to the articles of union the Word of God is the supreme and only authoritative rule of faith and practice for the Church; the Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Form of Presbyterial Church Government, the Directory for the Public Worship of God, and the Second Book of Disci- pline, are the subordinate standards ol'lhis Church: explanations are then given as to the relative authority of the subordinate standards, the renunciation of intol- erant principles, and the recognition of the spiritual independence of the Church; the jurisdiction of the Church is declared to he independent of other churches. and ministers and probationers from other Presbyterian churches are admissible if they afford satisfactory evi- dence of their qualifications and eligibility, and on their subscribing the formula. The Church has prospered since the union, but not in proportion to the growth of the colony. It now consists of 7 presbj teries, 68 min- isters, 7() charges, and 108 church-buildings. It has schemes for Church Extensi Foreign Missions. Sab- bath-schools, Sustentation Fund, and Church and Manse Fund; its foreign missions are to the New Hebrides and the < 'hinese: it has three theological tutors, and its estimated total income for int.") was £15,000. The
minimum stipend is £200 will - £250 without, a
manse. It is expected that £300 will now be reached through the Sustentation Fund. The legislature hav- l an act for the establisl ml of denomina- tional colleges affiliated to the University of Sydney, St. Andrew's Pre-I>\ icriau College has sprung into ex- istence, it affords a home for young men attending the university, and the means of theological education for students of divinity. The General Assembly has en- acted that after 1878 none but graduates shall be ad- mitted as candidates for the office of the ministry.
Mission Work. — Three classes are recognised: the aborigines, the Polynesian iril.es. and the Chinese in the gold-fields. The aborigines are so widely scattered that efforts among them have been chiefly desultory. A devoted Chinese catechist labors successfully among his countrymen at Sydney. The New Hebrides Mis- sion has a share of support from this Church, which at
one time supported the Rev. James D. Gordon, who, alter returning to Eromanga, was murdered in 1872.
3. The Synod of EasU rn . I ustralia is formed of i hose who stood aloof from the general union of 1865, on the ground that Free-Church principles were not sufficiently maintained. It consists of two presbyteries, having nine ministers and charges.
■1. Presbyterian Church of Queensland. In 1859 the district ofMoreton Bay was declared a separate colony, called Queensland. The first Presbyterian minister had arrived in Is !7. In 1863 the separate congregations belonging to the different sections of Presbyterianism united as "The Presbyterian church of Queensland." The basis of union was the Westminster Confession, and all the Presbyterian congregations in the colony were embraced, there are:: presbyteries, 24 charges, and 20 ministers. The General Assembly meets the first Monday of May. There are committees for Sab- bath-schools (2410 scholars), Home Mission and Churcb Extension, Sustentation. Training Voting Men for the Ministry, and the Support of Aged and Infirm Minis- ters. The Presbyterian population of the colony is 22, 'The annual contributions are about £9000.
5. Presbyterian Church of Tasmania. — The fir-i Presbyterian minister arrived at Hobart 'Town in 1822 or 1823. In 1835 there was constituted the Presbytery of Van Piemen's Land, and the Scotch Church was placed on an equality with the English, in 1845 an attempt was made by the bishop of the English Church in Van Diem en's Land to obtain authority over all the inhabitants, but the Presbyterians succeeded in (beck- ing Ibis, and in getting a rule recognised limiting the power of the English bishop in these colonies to the