APPENDIX. I. STATISTICS OF THE CHURCH (OLD SCHOOL BRANCH) SINCE 1837. BY THE REV. DAVID IRVING, D.D. A GENERATION has passed away since our Church became two bands. The forces which divided it did not arrest the life and aggressive action of the two separate parts. Each gradually took up an independent position, and sought in its own way to advance the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom. Each at the outset had its own defined policy, which has either been modified or enlarged to meet new demands or a new order of things; and each has been brought, as the result of a thorough and intelligent experience, to see eye to eye, as to the best mode of conducting the work and the varied schemes of the Church. But it is only with one branch of the reunited body we have to do, and to show in figures, as far as these can express its vital forces, the things accomplished by it. Energy and an enlightened denominational zeal has marked the ecclesiastical life and history of the Old School branch. Holding to certain great principles of action before the disruption, it has steadily and with an increasing devotion maintained them since. This has not interfered with what it regarded as outside efforts. To humane and philanthropic enterprises it has given, through its local churches and individual gifts, much generous sympathy and aid, and it may be truly said that no portion of Christ's Church, according to its numerical strength, has done more for such movements than the members of the Presbyterian family in this land. A small part of what the Old School has done in this line of effort may be seen in the "Miscellaneous" column of its "Minutes," which amounts in the last three years to $1,211,654. This sum is mainly the result of congregational collections; the steady outflow of individual donations cannot be estimated. It took time for each branch to settle down into a healthy and working condition; hence the Minutes of 1838 can give no just estimate of the relative strength and state of the two parties. These can be gathered more truly from the published records of 1840, when each knew its true place and the number of its friends and adherents. The undivided Church made the following report in 1837: CANDIDATES. The following is the statistical report of the Old School in 1840: LICENTIATES. CANDIDATES. From this period until 1869, the last time when its Minutes as a distinct organization were issued, we have thirty working years, including that of 1840; dividing this into three equal portions, and we have the following results: In the first decade there is a gain of 6 synods, 26 presbyteries, 639 ministers, 67 licentiates, 165 candidates, 749 churches, and 74,247 members. In the second decade there is a gain of 10 synods, 46 presbyteries, 717 ministers, 45 licentiates, 129 candidates, 975 churches, and 78,800 members. In the third period there is a decrease of 6 synods, 25 presbyteries, 196 ministers, 110 licentiates, 117 candidates, 747 churches, and 20,727 communicants. This last period covers two important secessions from the body. One of these in 1861, when 10 synods, 45 presbyteries, embracing 741 ministers, and 1,134 churches, with nearly 76,000 communicants, in what was then called the Confederate States, withdrew, and were organized into a separate Church; the other in 1866, when the larger portion of the churches in Kentucky, and about one-half of the churches in Missouri, embracing some 10,000 members, ceased to be enrolled as an integral part of our Church. This last period, though showing from the causes specified a loss in the aggregate, was yet equally with the others a reaping time, and considering all the circumstances in our national and ecclesiastical affairs, was one of the richest results and most decided growth. Thus 370,589 members in the three decades were admitted on profession of their faith into communion with the church. In the first were received 93,546 on examination; in the second, 139,657; and in the third, 137,386. Taking the first twenty years, when a comparison only can be drawn between the relative increase of the Old School Church and that of the country at large, and we have this interesting fact, that whilst the increase of population in the latter from 1840 to 1860 was 81+ per cent, the advance in the membership of our Church was 131 per cent. At the time of the separation the Church was engaged in evangelistic efforts at home and abroad. The organizations aided were both ecclesiastical and voluntary. These were not, however, as numerous and comprehensive as the schemes instituted and fostered by each branch in later times. Three prominent causes were aided by those who adhered to the Old School body, and these were in one form or another under ecclesiastical control, viz., Foreign Missions, Domestic Missions, and Education. As soon as the division took place, the Western Foreign Missionary Society was transferred to the General Assembly, and through it as the Board of Foreign Missions has the |