supplies. We have believed it a better policy and the only true economy to pay the laborer more, so that we could command his entire services. The Joint Committee on Home Missions had recommended that the name of the new Board be, "The Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America." This suggestion was adopted, and also the following provisions, with reference to the late "Board of Domestic Missions," and "Permanent Committee on Home Missions:" 1. That this Assembly designate the locality in which the chief operations of the new Board shall be carried on, and in which the principal office for that purpose shall be located. 2. That a Committee be appointed by this Assembly, whose duty it shall be to endeavor to procure all the legislation required by the exigencies of the case, and direct the transfer of property now held by the two bodies above described, on receiving the opinion of competent counsel that the authority of the new body is perfect. 3. Meantime, till such a result has been reached, that both of the existing organizations be kept up in the form required by their respective charters. Subsequently, by an affirmative vote of two-thirds, the Assembly decided that the place for the future. Board of Home Missions shall be the city of New York. It having been agreed that the existence of both the Board of Domestic Missions and the Permanent Committee on Home Missions, as corporate bodies, be maintained until such a time as they can be joined into one Board, thereupon two Secretaries and a Treasurer were elected by acclamation, as the officers of the new Board into which they are to be merged. The Assembly, however, while thus exercising its right to designate the officers of one of its Boards, expressed its desire that the act, apparently necessary in the peculiar decision. With reference to all the Boards and Permanent Committees of both the Old and the New School, the Assemblies of 1869, at their adjourned meetings at Pittsburg, raised Joint Committees to combine and consolidate the former organizations, and to report to the General Assembly of 1870. In each case these Committees faithfully discharged their trust, and, with some judicious modifications, their reports were adopted. The great importance of the subject demands an early reference to the plans adopted for HOME MISSIONS and for FOREIGN MISSIONS. The Board of Domestic Missions of the Old School, and the Permanent Committee on Home Missions of the New School, each presented its Annual Report to the Assembly. A Standing Committee, of which the Chairman was of the late Old School branch, carefully considered these documents. In reviewing them in its report and resolutions, this Committee spoke in terms of approbation with reference to both organizations, commending the efficiency and competency of their management. The following extract from the Report of the New School Permanent Committee on Home Missions was especially approved, as well calculated to indicate the proposed future policy of the new Board in the Reunited Church: There was an obvious propriety that we should insure those whom we sent into the field against suffering. We first guaranteed them $600 and their necessary travelling expenses, and as prices advanced we were compelled to advance the rate per annum $200 more. We found in the field at first many who, for want of adequate support, could not give themselves wholly to their ministry. Some were teachers, many were farmers, and in consequence many of them were non-resident stated supplies. We have believed it a better policy and the only true economy to pay the laborer more, so that we could command his entire services. The Joint Committee on Home Missions had recommended that the name of the new Board be, "The Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America." This suggestion was adopted, and also the following provisions, with reference to the late "Board of Domestic Missions," and "Permanent Committee on Home Missions:" 1. That this Assembly designate the locality in which the chief operations of the new Board shall be carried on, and in which the principal office for that purpose shall be located. 2. That a Committee be appointed by this Assembly, whose duty it shall be to endeavor to procure all the legislation required by the exigencies of the case, and direct the transfer of property now held by the two bodies above described, on receiving the opinion of competent counsel that the authority of the new body is perfect. 3. Meantime, till such a result has been reached, that both of the existing organizations be kept up in the form required by their respective charters. Subsequently, by an affirmative vote of two-thirds, the Assembly decided that the place for the future Board of Home Missions shall be the city of New York. It having been agreed that the existence of both the Board of Domestic Missions and the Permanent Committee on Home Missions, as corporate bodies, be maintained until such a time as they can be joined into one Board, thereupon two Secretaries and a Treasurer were elected by acclamation, as the officers of the new Board into which they are to be merged. The Assembly, however, while thus exercising its right to designate the officers of one of its Boards, expressed its desire that the act, apparently necessary in the peculiar exigencies of the case, might not be used as a precedent under ordinary circumstances. Arrangements were also made by which the necessary legislation for com bining both the existing organizations into one may be promptly and satisfactorily obtained. The new Board will consist of twenty members, five constituting a quorum. There is every indication that in the future Church our Domestic Missionaries will be more adequately supported, and that their work will more thoroughly than ever before enlist the prayers and efforts of all God's people. In many portions of the field where two or more Mission stations have hitherto existed, these will be combined into one, which, by its greater strength, will become more efficient for good. By a similar concentration of resources, in various places where two missionaries have hitherto labored, one will be retained, and the other commissioned to a new and more destitute position, where he will find ample room in which to work for Christ. As to FOREIGN MISSIONS, the task of the General Assembly was more simple, as there were not two Boards or Committees to be fused together. The New School having hitherto performed its part in the matter through the American Board, the only measure necessary was to give both former branches a proper representation for the future management of the work. The consolidated Church adopts as its own the old organization, retaining its name. The number of the Board was fixed by the Assembly at fifteen members, divided into classes of five each, each class serving three years, and one-third of the whole number con stituting a quorum. The churches of the former New School branch are preparing, after the present financial year, to retire from their long and pleasant connection with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and to bring their contributions and their co-operation to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. It was understood that a third Secretary, elected from the former New School branch, would be added to the two former Secretaries of the Board. The work of assuming the support and control of certain missions hitherto sustained by the New School branch, in correspondence with the American Board, must evidently be a gradual one. Harmony and kindly feeling will doubtless still obtain between those sister societies, that work together in different fields for a common object. A Committee appointed by the New School Assembly, in 1869, to confer with the American Board, was continued to complete the nego tiations already commenced, and to report to the next Assembly. The report of this Committee, of which the Rev. Dr. Jonathan F. Stearns was the Chairman, is so important that it is given in full in the Appendix, as well as the action of the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to which the conference of the Assembly's Committee with the officers of that Board gave rise. The subject of PUBLICATION Occupied much of the attention of the Assembly, and elicited considerable debate. Both portions of the Church possessed organizations well officered and appointed to perform the work of preparing and circulating religious literature |