to the inferior judicatories and congregations for ratification. A favorable report was presented of the juvenile mission and Sundayschool enterprise. It was sustaining the mission in India, the only foreign mission in connection with the Church. In the Manitoba mission, forty-nine congregations had contributed to the support of the work among them. Synod of the Lower Provinces.-The two synods of the Lower Provinces of British North America met in June. The basis of union as adopted by the joint committees of the four churches in their meetings at Montreal and St. John, and approved by the General Assembly and the Synod of the churches in Canada, was also approved by both these bodies.

VIII. CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.-Reports of the voluntary contributions in the Church of Scotland for all objects during the year ending in May, 1873, were published from 1,012 parishes. The total amount raised was £255,350 108. 6d. Nearly three hundred churches, many of them wealthy ones, had failed to report. Of this sum, £41,561 were raised by church-door collections, £35,225 by seat-rents, £16,671 were given for parish and social missions; £10,549 for week-day and Sundayschools; £31,851 for church extension, and kindred objects; £40,342 for the six missionary and educational schemes; £3,275 for other objects recommended by the General Assembly; the collections in Sunday-schools for missionary purposes amounted to £1,027; the gifts for the endowment of chapels were £15,715; local subscriptions, £22,710; contributions to the associations for augmenting small livings, £6,900; to the associations for female education in India and for the education of female Jews, £2,293; to other Christian and charitable objects, £27,224. The total income of the foreign mission fund was £36,477, of which £18,485 were received from home sources, and £3,081 were received by the Ladies' Society for Female Education; the remainder consisted of contributions from abroad. Thirty-seven thousand pounds had been subscribed toward the fund of £50,000 started several years before to provide homes for missionaries, and many grants had been made for this object. The sum of £8,117 had been received for the Indian mission scheme. The income of the home mission funds was £9,509. Seventy-seven mission stations were supplied, at which there was an average attendance of 9,500 persons. Fifteen thousand pounds had been raised during the year for the fund of £100 for the endowment of 100 more parishes, and fifteen parishes had been endowed. The General Assembly of the Established Church of Scotland met at Edinburgh, May 22d. Her majesty was represented by the Earl of Airlie. The Rev. Dr. Gillan was elected moderator. The Earl of Airlie presented the customary gift of £2,000 from the Queen for the spread of religion and education in the Highlands and islands of Scotland. The

Queen had also subscribed to the fund for the endowment of one hundred additional parishes. Deputies from Canada and the Eastern Provinces of North America spoke of the progress of the negotiations for the union of the Presbyterian Churches of the Provinces. The revenue of the colonial committee had risen to £5,214, while their expenses were only £2,954. A committee was appointed to address the Presbyterians of America in reference to their coöperating with this Church and the Free Church in the mission work in Rome. By the latest reports, the number of Sundayschools connected with this Church was 1,810; number of teachers, 15,534; number of scholars, 173,281. These returns show a decrease of 435 schools, 90 teachers, and 2,200 scholars.

IX. FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.-The General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland met at Edinburgh, May 22d. The Rev. Dr. Duff was elected moderator. Since the previous meeting of the General Assembly a very strong opposition to the scheme for union with the United Presbyterian and Reformed Presbyterian Churches had been provoked in the Highlands through the agency of the opponents of union in the General Assembly, the chief of whom was the Rev. Dr. Begg. It had become evident that an attempt to push the scheme of union in the face of this opposition, would almost certainly lead to a disruption of the Church. The supporters of the union movement had therefore decided to suspend their efforts to promote that measure, and devote their energies to carrying the scheme for the "mutual eligibility" of the ministers of the three negotiating Churches to each other's pulpits. As applied to the Free Church, this scheme provided that ministers of the United Presbyterian and Reformed Presbyterian Churches may be inducted into pulpits of the Free Church on signing its formulas. The question of approval of the scheme had been submitted to the presbyteries by the previous General Assembly. The report of the votes showed that it had been approved by fifty-six presbyteries, and disapproved by fifteen presbyteries, while five presbyteries had made no response. The General Assembly was thus empowered to pass the scheme into a law. Such a step was, however, bitterly opposed by the party who had contended against the union movement. They had obtained 123,000 signatures to a petition against the measure, and threatened to secede if it were pressed. The scheme was formally submitted to the Assembly on the 28th of May. An excited debate took place upon it. Its friends finally consented to a modification in its terms, so that a minister called from one of the other bodies by a congregation of the Free Church should be required, before accepting the call, to declare his willingness to subscribe to the formulas which are subscribed by all Free Church ministers at the time of their ordination. This concession having been made, the

party opposed to the union gave their consent to have the measure adopted without a vote, provided they were allowed to enter their dissents upon the record. The resolution, as adopted, besides the provisions in relation to the signature of the Free Church formulas by ministers called from the other Churches, contains a reservation that "the Free Church still adheres to the great fundamental principles regarding the headship of Christ over the Church, and his headship over nations and rulers officially and collectively, as well as individually." To guard against any possibility of irregularity in the proceedings on this subject, the Assembly ordered the resolution to be sent down to the presbyteries for approval, after which it should become a standing act. The only point of difference between the formula of the Free Church and that of the United Presbyterian Church concerns the relation of civil_magistrates to religion. The formula of the Free Church recognizes the obligation of the state to further the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ, while that of the Free Church holds that the state should have nothing to do with the Church of Christ in the way of giving it state money or state support, and that the present connections of Church and state should be severed. The subject of disestablishment came directly before the Assembly, when a resolution was adopted to the effect that the Scottish State Church is indefensible on Scriptural grounds; that it is the duty of the Free Church to assume an attitude of watchfulness in respect to the ritualism and rationalism recognized in the Church of England; that the maintenance of the established Churches in the actual circumstances of the country tends necessarily to embody the principle of concurrent endorsement of truth and error; but that, while it concerns the highest interest of religion and of the country that this state of things should come to an end, the main duty of the Free Church lies in the line of so using its influence that the public mind may be prepared for dealing with the question wisely and scripturally when it comes to be finally decided.

In connection with the home mission work of the Church, the Assembly recommended to the members that they support the new scheme for raising £20,000 in Glasgow, and £10,000 in Edinburgh, and other parts of the country, for the mining population. The increase of the home-mission fund for the year had been £12,995. The income of the fund for the conversion of the Jews was £5,471. A fund of $5,500 had been accumulated for the building of mission premises at Constantinople. One thousand pounds were still wanted for this purpose. It was reported that the Church had raised, during the year ending in March, the total sum of £452,789 78. 4d., made up as follows: for the sustentation fund, £136,364, 38. 8d.; for the local building fund, £73,250, 198. 3d.; for the congregational fund,

£147,715, 68.1 d.; for missions and education, £77,350; miscellaneous contributions, £18,108, 138. 3d. There are reported as connected with the Free Church of Scotland 2,614 Sunday schools, with 18,815 teachers, 151,848 scholars, showing a decrease of 76 schools, 210 teachers, and 5,699 scholars.

X. UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.-The number of congregations on the roll of the synod of this Church at the end of 1872 was 611; number of communicants, 182,810, showing an increase of 1,884 during the year. The proportion of this increase was nineteen times greater in England than in Scotland. The total of contributions and income from all sources was £330,933, or £5,777 more than had ever before been collected in one year. Of this sum, £69,897 were contributed for missionary and benevolent purposes at home and abroad. The total contributions during the year for ministerial stipends were £129,730, 188. 3d., an average of £212, 68. 6d. for each minister. The foreign missionfields of this Church are in Jamaica, Trinidad, Old Calabar, Kaffraria, India, China, and Spain. There were connected with them at the time of making the last report, in May, 1873, fortythree ordained European and fifteen ordained native missionaries, eight European medical missionaries, two native licentiates, eleven European male and female teachers (and two about to depart), and 220 native assistants and teachers. The number of principal stations was 54; of out-stations, 143; of communicants, 6,630; of candidates, 1,024; of week-day schools, 157; of pupils in the same, 9,183. The Mission Board had during the year sent £2,853 to Continental Europe for the help of the evangelical churches and societies there. The sum of £10,700 had been contributed for starting a mission in Japan. The synod of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland met in Edinburgh, May 12th. The Rev. Dr. Joseph Brown, of Glasgow, was chosen moderator. A petition in favor of the resolution offered in Parliament by Mr. Small for the disestablishment of the state Churches of England and Scotland was, in accordance with a resolution unanimously passed by the synod, signed by the moderator in its name, and by 440 members of the synod. A “general and provisional" approval was given by the vote of a large majority of the synod to the scheme for a union between the English Presbyterian Church and the United Presbyterians in England. A committee was also appointed to consider on what principle a union could be effected between the United Presbyterians in Ireland, the Irish General Assembly, and the Eastern Reformed Presbyterian Synod. Arrangements were made to convert the synod into a General Assemby. The Sunday-school reports of this Church show the number of teachers to be 10,870; of scholars, 106,500.

The United Presbyterian Synod of England met on the 13th of October. A large majority

of the sessions and presbyteries, both in England and Scotland, had replied favorably to the overture which had been sent down to them respecting union with the English Presbyterian Church. The synod determined that the negotiations for union should be pursued on the plan of the Union Committee, with such additional federalities between the churches in England and Scotland as might be required to remove objections, and make the union more complete; that the committee should be reappointed, and that the opinions of congregations should be ascertained in the following February and March.

XI. RERORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.-The General Synod of this Church met at Edinburgh in May. It approved of what its committee had done in the matter of union with the United Presbyterian and Free Churches, but deprecated the "mutual eligibility" scheme, if it is to be regarded as a settlement of the whole question, although it would accept it as a step toward incorporation. It expressed the conviction that union ought to be sought, and appointed a committee to promote that object.

XII. IRISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.-The General Assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church met at Belfast in June. A proposition to enact a special law prohibiting the use of instrumental music in church services led to an excited debate. The question was disposed of by the adoption of resolutions to the effect that the Assembly would refrain from pressing any law on the subject, and that the members should give up the agitation of the question, and address themselves with increased diligence to the improvement of the psalmody of the Church. The home income of the mission fund of this Church for the year was £6,371 28 6d. In addition to this amount, £1,040 18 had been received in India from government grants, school fees, and subscriptions. The mission is in India, and had connected with it, according to the last report, 5 stations, 4 branch stations, 7 ordained European mission. aries, 51 European and native assistants, 2 high-schools, with 319 pupils, and 16 vernacular schools, with 880 pupils. The number of communicants was 138.

XIII. VICTORIA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. The General Assembly of the Victoria Presbyterian Church (in Australia) met in December, 1872. A scheme of sustentation, adopted by the previous General Assembly and approved by the congregations, had just been put in operation. Its object was to raise the mininum stipend of ministers to £300. The statistical reports showed the number of settled ministers to be 114; unsettled ministers, 12; members and adherents 45,000; children in the Sunday-schools, 21,058; contributions of the congregations, £67,958; total income of the Church from all sources, £72,000. A joint scheme had been agreed upon with the clergy and members of the Church of England for

students had been helped during the year, and the society entered the new year with sixtyfive students, and many applications on file. The receipts of the American Church Missionary Society for the year ending October 1, 1873, were $65,508.11, an increase of $11,569.46 over the receipts of the previous year. The balance in the Treasury on October 1, 1873, was $4,452.43. The society held $42,000 of permanent and trust funds; sixty missionaries had been commissioned during the year for work in the domestic field, of whom forty-two were laboring at the close of the year. The foreign missions were in Costa Rica and in Mexico. Of the former mission, the work was spoken of as "small, and chiefly prospective." In Mexico, a great interest prevailed in the movement of the reformation. Two missions were carried on in the city of Mexico, and fifty mission-stations had been established in other places.

The Bible and Common Prayer-Book Society had distributed during the year ending October 1, 1873, 33,000 volumes. The field of distribution was spoken of in the report as extending "throughout the length and breadth of the land." New opportunities were opening constantly.

The receipts of the General Protestant Episcopal Sunday-School Union and Church-Book Society for the year ending in June, 1873, were $3,858.38, and the expenditures, $3,744.75. Thirteen thousand one hundred and seventyfive literary books, and 167,549 instructive books had been sold during the same time; 2,434 of both kinds had been given away, and 5,510 had been disposed of by order of the Society for promoting Religion and Learning, and to pastors and others having privileges.

The Convention of the Diocese of New York met on the 25th of September. Bishop Potter in his address spoke of the contemplated construction of a cathedral. He had appointed a committee to make the primary movement in this object, through whose agency a charter had been obtained, giving them power to buy a site and build the cathedral. The trustees had resolved, however, not to attempt the erection of such a building without sufficient pecuniary means at the outset.

A report was made at the meeting of the Board of Missions of a project for building a cathedral at Omaha, Nebraska. Three thousand dollars had been subscribed for this purpose; but as $30,000 were needed, nothing had been done, or would be, until the enterprise could be undertaken without danger of embarrassment.

The Year-Book of Trinity Parish, New York, for 1874, contains statements designed to correct what is styled an exaggerated idea of the wealth of the corporation, which has prevailed for many years. It is claimed in this statement that "in estimating the value of the property the calculation ought to be limited to what yields an income." A very large part

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of the Trinity estate-including the churchyards of Trinity and St. Paul's, the burialground on Hudson Street, and Trinity Cemetery at Carmansville-is not only unproductive, but is, much of it, an actual source of expense. Leaving out of account these unproductive lots, and estimating only what yields an income, the entire estate is represented as being worth only $7,000,000 or $8,000,000; it returned an income during 1873, of only about $500,000. "Of this income," the Year-Book states, a large part is consumed by the expenses of the estate. About one-tenth is given away to poor churches outside of the parish. Not one dollar is hoarded; the entire income is spent for the purposes of the sacred trust; and it frequently happens, and was almost invariably the case until within a few years, that the annual expenditures exceeded the income."

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The Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament is an organization of members of the Church of England and of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the main objects of which look to the advancement of ritualistic doctrines and practices. The American branch of the confraternity was organized several years ago, but did not attract attention-in fact, its existence was not generally known-until an account of the conference and anniversary of the associates which took place at St. Ignatius Church in the city of New York, on the festival of Corpus Christi of 1873, was published in an English paper. A greater degree of importance was attached to the proceedings than would otherwise have been by the fact that Bishop Quintard, of Tennessee, was said to have been present at the celebration. The church was furnished for the occasion in accordance with the requirements of the "advanced ritual," with candles, eucharistic lights, crosses, mural pictures, and other ornaments. An address was delivered by the Rev. Dr. F. C. Ewer, Superior - General of the American branch. He stated that while the society in 1869 numbered only 21 priests associate and 89 lay associates, it had now 377 associates, of whom 69 were priests. Daily celebrations had been instituted in Boston and Philadelphia. Celebrations still continued in New York and Baltimore, and at a point in the far West. The eucharistic vestments were worn in churches in at least ten of the forty-one dioceses, viz.: in those of Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Albany, Western New York, Pennsylvania, Pittsburg, Maryland, Florida, Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Eucharistic lights, Dr. Ewer represented, had recently been placed upon the altar of Trinity Church, New York.

The secretary was directed at this meeting "to forward semi-annually to all priests associate a printed list of all priests associate, which list is to be considered confidential." A resolution was also passed expressing the grateful appreciation of the society "of the