fathers and brethren representing the Presbyterian Churches all over the world should ascend to Heaven on behalf of Ireland, and that they would plead at the throne of grace that God would bring light out of their present darkness, order out of their present confusion, and bring about a time when peace and plenty would take the place of embroilment and strife, and the Gospel would be the power of God unto salvation all over Ireland. Let them so approach His throne of grace, remembering that what seemed impossible with men-ay, and with the greatest statesman-was possible, and very easy too, with the Lord of Hosts.

Mr. E. A. STUART-GRAY, of Gray and Kinfauns (Elder, Free Church of Scotland), proposed a cordial vote of thanks, which was agreed to unanimously, to the Duke of Argyll for the use of his grounds, and to Lord Balfour for presiding.

WEDNESDAY, 4th July.

EXETER HALL, 4th July 1888. The Council met at eleven o'clock, according to adjournment, in the Lower Hall. Rev. Principal CAIRNS, D.D., was called to the Chair, and opened the meeting with devotional exercises.

Dr. DYKES gave in a report from the Business Committee, recommending that the business for this day be as proposed in the Programme, and that Dr. Cairns be Chairman during the present session, and Warden van Norden, Esq., New York, in the evening; and that Dr. Chambers, New York, be Chairman to-morrow forenoon, and ChiefJustice Taylor, Manitoba, in the evening.

Dr. MATHEWS gave in the Report of the Committee on Statistics. In referring to it he said :-You will see that the Report goes far beyond a simple return of figures in connection with our different denominations. It affords rather a general survey of our Presbyterian Churches in their varied branches and workings, and seeks to show, as far as possible, the directions in which our Church has grown, as well as the dimensions it possesses to-day. The collecting of the information contained in the Report has been a work of considerable labour; and as it is not given to man to be infallible, it is extremely likely that brethren will detect slips and oversights and errors which the Committee have failed to notice. For all these failures and oversights the Committee crave the forbearance of the Council, and ask your assistance in making the necessary corrections before the Report is finally printed for the Volume of Proceedings.

The first thing that impresses one in the Report is the large size to which the Presbyterian Churches of the world have attained. We number now four millions of communicants, and if you allow each communicant to have some five persons connected with him, you very easily learn that there are twenty millions of persons associated with the Presbyterian Churches of the world. The figure is startling, but we must look at it not with any pride or vanity, but with thankfulness that the principles we hold and represent have commended themselves to so many brethren in varied lands, and that we are no longer an unknown quantity among the Churches of the world. Then observe how closely the Presbyterian Churches of the European Continent, including Great Britain, run side by side with the Pres

byterian Churches of America in reference to communicants, the number of Sabbath-school children, elders, etc. etc. That is an

interesting fact, whether you view it from the European or the American side. The contributions of the various Churches cannot easily be ascertained, still, an attempt has been made to give an exhibit on this point, and in a general way it may be stated, that under £2, or something like 9 dollars, is the annual contribution of each communicant for the support of Christian work throughout the varied sections of the Presbyterian Church. That is not a large sum, and one that by no means corresponds to what we believe to be the wealth or duty of our Churches; but it amounts to nearly £6,000,000 a year, and is a freewill offering to the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. General and specially ministerial education is not one of the subjects overlooked by Presbyterians. The principles we hold are not principles which ordinarily commend themselves to persons devoid of education; rather are they principles which call for the highest gifts and culture. Hence we sustain a goodly number of Colleges and of Universities, while in almost every theological seminary -whether in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, or Australia-there is a three years' course, and in some cases a four years' course, of study required of Presbyterian students for the ministry. The mind of the Presbyterian Churches everywhere seems to have gravitated towards a three or four years' course of theological study as the least that would serve to fit a man for the work of the Christian ministry.

Then there is a lengthened Return as to the Evangelistic and Missionary works of the Churches. This is a very remarkable collection of figures-a very Golconda of treasure for Christian men to dig into and to think about. It will, no doubt, be a surprise to many brethren, as it was to myself, to learn what the churches of our faith and order are doing for the advancement and upbuilding of the Church of our Divine Master on this earth, and to find that nearly 60,000 communicants have been gathered out of heathenism, and to-day profess faith in Christ, as the result of the labours of our missionaries, of whom more than 500 are ordained ministers. Connected with this subject there is a brief-too brief-Report of our Women's Missionary Associations. This is a comparatively new form of work, one, however, which has been successful in contributing to the missionary cause during the last year a sum of about £100,000, and this without taking the place of moneys previously contributed; though, doubtless, by its existence provoking the zeal of others to increase their contributions. Towards the close of the Report there There will be found there a pretty

are several interesting pages.

full list of the different newspapers, publications, and periodicals that

are connected with our Churches. You have Presbyterian papers in the Chinese, Japanese, Hindustani, Kaffir, Syriac, Arabic, and Turkish languages, and many others, as well as in the mother tongues of every European country, all giving forth the same sound of salvation through faith in Christ. There will also be found there a short list of publications issued during the last four years by members of our congregations. Such a list is inevitably defective; but the Committee hope that by future Councils its shortcomings may be remedied, at least to some extent; and that such full statistics may be collected as will show fairly and justly what is being done by the Reformed Churches that hold the Presbyterian system, whether they belong or not to the Alliance of which we ourselves are members. May I urge brethren to help as far as they can in the gathering up of these returns? One of the weak points of Presbyterians is their negligence to care for their own. I think it was King James who called us "God's silly people," because we did so much work for other societies and neglected our own so largely. If we knew what our brethren of these Allied Churches are doing, our people would assuredly take a greater pride in their Denominational organisations, stand up more loyally for their own churches, and not shrink from the obligations then confessedly incumbent on them as forming one of the influential communities of the world.

Rev. Dr. BURNS (Halifax):-I beg to move the reception of the Report, and the following resolution thereon :—

"(1) That this Council gratefully acknowledges the assistance rendered by brethren in many lands to its Committee on Statistics, by which there has been laid before it to-day so many facts of the deepest interest to the Churches of this Alliance; that it most cordially thanks those brethren for their services, and earnestly requests that they will continue to aid in the preparation of the Reports to be presented to successive Councils of the Alliance. (2) That this Council desires that, by means of these Reports, there may ultimately be placed on record the whole series of facts connected with or bearing on the history, condition, and working of the various Churches of this Alliance, and therefore, in re-appointing, the Committee authorises and instructs it to include in its Report to next Council all such matters as may come legitimately within the range of this commission. (3) That the cordial thanks of the Council be given to the Committee, and especially to Dr. Mathews, the Convener, to whose exertions the Report is due."

The Report speaks for itself. It indicates a vast amount of labour as expended upon it by Dr. Mathews, who has so pleasantly, instructively, and interestingly presented the Report to us, and to whose onerous labours, I believe, are largely due those voluminous and valuable returns. There is the greatest ground of encouragement presented by the Report and the closing remarks of Dr. Mathews,

which had the right ring about them. At a militia muster some time ago in Nova Scotia, a young man was called on rather suddenly by the captain, when he was asked whether it was right or left he was

on.

"Which side?" inquired the captain; "which side?" The young man got flustered, and replied, "I am a staunch Presbyterian." That was, perhaps, not in point there, but it is in point here; but we cannot have listened to Dr. Mathews without feeling that he is a staunch Presbyterian, and that we are under a sense of obligation to the Secretaries, especially to Dr. Mathews, for the great labour he has bestowed upon the matters contained in the Report he has presented.

Principal RAINY (Edinburgh), in seconding the resolution, said :— I attach great importance to this elaborate document, not only for its own sake, but for the sake of the whole region towards which it points. It shows that we Presbyterians are not so little after all-a point, by the way, upon which very few of us want reassuring. When originally constituted, this Alliance limited its interest to matters connected with its own immediate field. The more importance attaches to our now doing justice to those fields of inquiry and discussion which have opened out to us as we have gone along. Such a Report as this points very much to this. It is an instruction as to the way in which God's providence has been educating the various branches of the Presbyterian Church. In that view it is a most important document, which will do much, not only to meet the intelligent curiosity of our people, but communicate instruction of a suggestive character to all churches interested in the Alliance as members of it. This is a line on which we may make very great progress. I hope we shall have information, not merely as to statistics, but also as to one another's methods in all the various departments of work in which we are trying to serve Christ. I believe the more we follow out that line the more we shall find how remarkably unity and variety are combined together in the whole state of the Presbyterian Churches throughout the world. I hope that Dr. Mathews will be able to gather much valuable information on these topics before another Council.

The Rev. W. M. ALEXANDER (Victoria) indicated a misapprehension in the Report regarding the object of federation in the Australian churches. Federation did not unite churches formerly antagonistic; its only effect was that it brought churches together in federal union whose enormous geographical distances had formerly kept them apart.

Professor BALOGH, of Hungary, presented a volume of statistics relating to the Church in Hungary, and said :—I have much pleasure,