need a few lessons yet before they learn who are their true friends. The whites are a little more favorably disposed toward us than formerly, but take no interest in our work; and, although admitting the necessity of instructing the freed people, evidently cordially hate all Yankee teachers.

In Washington, D. C., the mission corps consists of Rev. J. M. Armour, superintendent, at a salary of $1000 per annum; teachers, the Misses C. S. Clough, M. J. Divoll and S. E. Morse, at a salary each of $480 per annum. Two of the latter expect to leave this summer. In anticipation of this, Miss Helen M. Johnston was elected and is now at her post. The remaining vacancy will be filled in due time. Miss Duncan has been employed for some time in relieving the physical necessities of the destitute. Her salary is paid out of a fund provided for this purpose under control of the superintendent. The following extracts from a letter of Rev. Armour, dated 4th instant, will show the condition and working of the schools in this mission, which are highly encouraging: "The whole number of scholars present at any time in the day schools since the commencement of the present term has been two hundred and forty, average daily attendance one hundred and sixty (there are usually from six to twelve adults in the day school); of these twenty are in the alphabet, one hundred and forty in reading, one hundred in arithmetic, forty-one in geography and forty-four in writing. The Bible is read in course every morning, at the opening of the school. The Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, book of Genesis and other portions of Scripture, have been read, or rather studied, the scholars attending as a large Bible-class with lively interest. The Psalms are sung every morning, the children learning the tune set to each psalm, and becoming sufficiently familiar with the words to be able afterward to sing without lining. In this way they have proceeded as far as the 35th Psalm. We have now four rooms, in which each teacher has charge of thirty to fifty scholars (the plan of collecting a large number of colored children in one room is now generally abandoned). We have a large room for general exercise. We have night school twice a week, Tuesday and Friday. The attendance was formerly from forty to fifty; it has been for some time from seventy-five to eighty. Nearly all of these are adults, working men and women, many of them in middle age and some advanced in years, mothers and grandmothers with spectacles. They learn reading, writing, and something of arithmetic and geography. The blackboard and oral instruction are used in teaching arithmetic. A fine set of Colton's maps, donated to the mission by a benevolent friend in New York, is of great use in teaching geography. The praiseworthy diligence of the night scholars receives its usual reward in the substantial attainments made, slowly but surely. Hard-working men of fifty and even sixty years of age learn to read easily, to write a fair hand, to spell correctly and use readily the simple rules of arithmetic. The unfeigned satisfaction they take in making these attainments is evident to all. I can only add my testimony to that of hundreds of others who have labored among the freed people, that they learn as readily as white people, and that they generally manifest a far greater eagerness to learn than ignorant whites, whether native or foreign.'

FOREIGN MISSIONS.-The past year has been signalized by conspicuous tokens of divine favor. The actual and proper field of our Mission lies in the northern part of Syria, extending some eighty miles from north to south, and about forty-five miles from east to west. There are only two towns of any importance in the whole district: Latakiyeh, the Laodicea of Seleucus Nicator, and Jebileh, anciently called Gabala. Both these are on the Mediterranean coast, the former one hundred and twenty miles north

from Beirut and sixty miles south of Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians; the latter, some seventy-eight miles further south. Latakiyeh, comprising some fifteen thousand or twenty thousand inhabitants, is the present centre of our Missionary operations. The entire Mission field includes a population of nearly two hundred thousand, of whom seventy thousand are Nusairii. The Moslem element is numerically about the same, and the different Christian sects half as many more. In the extreme south there exists a remnant, about ten thousand in number, of the old Assassins -a sect having something in common with the Nusairiyeh, the pagans of Syria, but a much more debasing theology and ritual. It is apparent from this sketch, that, with the present force, the operations of the Mission are and must be very limited relatively both to the field and its population.

It is now ten years since the organization of the Mission, and the interest manifested in it from the first by the people continues unabated. No time has it flagged even for an hour. Every demand made by it upon their sympathy and liberality has been promptly met. We are able to say what perhaps no other Church in the country can do in regard to its foreign work: no year has closed upon us with an indebted or even exhausted treasury.

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.-The report of the Superintendents is as follows: There were twelve students in attendance during the year. Their names and grades are as follows: First year. D. C. Faris, Isaiah Faris, D. Gregg, Jr., W. J. Gillespie, John Hood, D. B. Willson. Second year. J. M. Faris, A. W. Johnson. Third year. J. A. Black, J. R. McFarland, T. A. Sproull and A. Wright.

It is with great satisfaction and with thankfulness to the Head of the Church that we are able to present to Synod the names of six new students, almost doubling the class of the previous session. The means adopted at last Synod with a view to receiving an increase of candidates for the office and work of the ministry have been manifestly approved of God, and by his blessing rendered successful.

The course of study, as usual. has been extensive and very thorough in all the departments. The examination at the close of the session, extending over two days, including the evenings, was highly satisfactory, and indicating proficiency of attainment in the students. The deportment of the young men was warmly commended to the Board by the professors, and we had before us ample proof of their industry and diligence in attending upon the prelections of their teachers.

We regret to say that the health of Professor Willson has been feeble during a considerable part of the session. With great effort, and even sacrifice, he succeeded in keeping up the studies in the different branches belonging to his department. It did not appear that the students had been losers by his illness. We hope that the rest of the summer may recuperate and establish his health.

TEMPERANCE. The following was adopted:

Resolved, 1. That this Synod hereby reiterates its direct and emphatic testimony against the sin of selling and using intoxicating liquors as a beverage.

Resolved, 2. That sessions be directed to make a searching investigation of this sinful practice among the members under their care, and where it is found apply the discipline of the Lord's house.

Resolved, 3. That ministers, elders and members be directed to use all lawful means for efficiently aiding the cause of temperance, and warned

against signing petitions for license or doing any thing that would countenance the sale or use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage.

Resolved, 4. That parents be warned against the practice of furnishing or allowing intoxicating liquors as a beverage in the family or at their social parties and entertainments; and that the youth be urged to discountenance the drinking practices which are so common in the social circle and the ordinary walks of life, and to shun those fascinating customs and temptations with which so many are ensnared and ultimately ruined.

MARRIAGE.-The Committee on Marriage report that two papers bearing on this subject have been referred to them-one from Pittsburg and Allegheny congregation, Pa., signed by seventeen members of the Church, and the other from the session of Union congregation, Pa. These petitioners memorialize Synod either to return to the former usage of requiring the proclamation of banns three several Sabbaths in the congregation previous to the solemnization of marriage, or to adopt and enjoin the observance of some method better suited to secure the end sought by the regulation lately repealed.

The committee are impressed with the gravity and importance of this whole subject. An institution of such vital interest to the parties immediately concerned, and affecting in so many ways the peace of families and the well-being of society, ought to be shielded by every safeguard that either ecclesiastical or civil authority can place around it. Difficult as it must be in any case to suggest the effectual preventives against rash and improper marriages, it is made doubly so, if not wholly impracticable, by the inadequacy of civil statutes on the subject, and the indiscriminate manner in which ministers and other authorized persons receive applications for their services in performing the marriage ceremony. That movements are making in some instances by the legislative authority of the country for a reform in this direction and for greater stringency in marriage laws, should be hailed with satisfaction, and deserve all the encouragement that can be given. The committee are not prepared to recommend to Synod a return to the old law requiring proclamation of banns, satisfied that in the present state of sentiment and feeling, both in the Church and out of it, it must fail to secure the end desired by us all; neither are they prepared, partly from want of time, to submit a plan to Synod for its approval and adoption different from that now on the books. The committee recommend the adoption of the following:

1. That in view of the divine institution of marriage, and its vital connection with the happiness of families and the well-being of society, it is the deliberate judgment of this Synod that the purpose of entering into it should in every case have due publicity.

2. That Synod approve of the proposed amendments to the marriage code in the State of Pennsylvania, in so far as they are calculated to secure this end or otherwise guard against and prevent rash and clandestine marriages. 3. That our ministers are enjoined to exercise the utmost caution, and in no case to solemnize marriage without satisfactory evidence that the parties are of age and that no obstacles are in the way.

4. That Synod prepare and publish an address on the subject of marriage, particularly with reference to alliance by members of the Church with nonprofessors and with persons of irreligious and godless character.

5. That Presbyteries be directed to bring this whole subject to the attention of the legislative authorities of the States, so far as practicable, and

especially the importance of requiring by statute due publicity to all marriages before their solemnization.

DISCIPLINE.-An inquiry from the session of Salem (Pa.) congregation, asking an answer to the following: "Is it wrong for Covenanters to vote for proper amendments to the State Constitution ?" We suggest the following reply: That while there may be instances in which it would not be wrong to do so, yet as there are other ways by which countenance and approbation may be given to what is proper, as by petition and by public and private expression, Synod does not recommend such a course.

TESTIMONIAL.-Resolved, That in view of the eminent services of the Rev. James McKinney in disseminating and maintaining Reformation principles in this land, a testimonial be presented to the surviving members of his family; and that S. Carlisle, S. Bowden and James Wiggins, No. 90 Warren street, New York, be a committee to receive and invest the funds that may be raised for this purpose. Such sums to be forwarded to the committee on or before October 1, 1866.

AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.Resolved, 1. That R. Z. Willson, J. C. K. Milligan and H. O'Neill be appointed a committee to prepare and present an address to the Congress of the United States, urging upon that body the character and claims of Messiah the Prince to national recognition, and his law as the only safe and proper basis for the reconstruction of the Government.

Resolved, 2. That Revs. S. O. Wylie, T. P. Stevenson, J. R. W. Sloane and A. M. Milligan be appointed to write, or have written, and publish and circulate tracts upon this subject, to observe the phases of this movement and to take such action as in their judgment may seem proper.

Resolved, 3. That this Synod appoint delegates to attend the superior judicatories of the several Churches in this country at their next sessions, and urge upon them vigorous and decisive action.

Resolved, 4. That Presbyteries be directed to take this subject into earnest and prayerful consideration, and appoint some of their members to attend meetings of inferior judicatories, to lay the subject before them, appoint some of their members to preach, deliver addresses, distribute tracts, &c.

Resolved, 5. That our people be directed to circulate petitions to Congress for the amendment of the Constitution, co-operating with the National Association for that purpose.

THE PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL ALMANAC.-It was Resolved, That the members of our churches be requested to aid in the circulation of the Almanac, prepared and published for the preservation of the past and current history of the various branches of the Presbyterian Church, and that the labors of Joseph M. Wilson, of Philadelphia, Pa., in behalf of MANSES meets with the hearty approval of this Synod.

The Synod adjourned to meet in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Allegheny, Pa., on Wednesday, May 22, 1867, at ten o'clock, A. M. Closed by singing the cxxxiii. Psalm.

Rev. R. Z. WILLSON, Synod Clerk.

Rev. R. J. DODDS, Moderator.

In Memoriam.

"PRECIOUS IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD IS THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS."Psalm cxvi. 15.

WILLSON, D.D., JAMES MCLEOD-Professor in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, died in Allegheny City, Pa., August 31, 1866, in the fifty-seventh year of his age.

Professor Willson was the second son of the late Rev. James R. Willson, D.D., for many years professor in the same seminary, and distinguished as one of the most learned, able and eloquent divines of his day, as well as for his uncompromising attachment to the distinctive principles of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.† His mother, Jane Roberts, was a sister of the late Rev. William L. Roberts, D.D., also well known as an able and eloquent preacher and a zealous Covenanter. The Willson family has been for some three generations prominent and distinguished in the Reformed Presbyterian Church in this country, so that the name has become a familiar household word among Covenanters. The family is of Scotch-Irish descent. Its ancestors had emigrated from Rosstrevor, county Down, Ireland, in 1721, making their first settlement in the neighborhood of Back river, Delaware. Subsequently they removed to Central Pennsylvania, locating at an early period in the Cove, a fine valley, about a mile and a half wide, lying west of Chambersburg, between the North Mountain and Bear Ridge. In 1769 they crossed the intervening mountains, at that time a very arduous undertaking, and fixed their abode in what was then an unbroken forest, now constituting the townships of Rosstrevor and Elizabeth. The subject of this sketch was born Nov. 17, 1809, in the forks of Yough, near Elizabeth, Allegheny county, Pa. From childhood he was apt in the acquisition of learning and diligent in his studies. His father being in early life principal of the academy at Bedford, Pa., and afterward a classical teacher in Philadelphia, McLeod was under his instruction. His studies were continued at Newburg, N. Y., whither his parents had removed in 1817. So thorough had been his previous training, and so advanced his scholarship, that on entering college he took high rank at once in the senior class. He graduated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., in 1829, before he had completed his twentieth year. After leaving college he spent some years in teaching, first in an academy at Belair, Maryland, then at the village of Schodack, near Albany, N. Y., and lastly at the city of Troy, N. Y.; in the latter place as principal of the High School. While employed at Schodack, he became acquainted with Miss Rebecca Burt, of Schenectady, to whom he was married April 30, 1833, and by whom he had eleven children, seven of whom, two sons and five daughters, survive him-one having died in early youth and three in infancy. His faithful and devoted wife, partner of his joys and sorrows for nearly twenty-seven years, was removed by death in 1860. She was a woman of superior intelligence and exemplary piety, and

*This notice consists mainly of extracts from an obituary in the Reformed Presbyterian and Covenanter, for December, 1866, prepared by Mr. DAVID SMITH, an elder of Dr. Willson's former charge in Philadelphia, and his life-long friend.

† A memoir of JAMES R. WILLSON, D.D., (written by his son, whose memoir is here given), is published, with his portrait, in The Presbyterian Historical Almanac for 1866, pp. 293-208.

A memoir of WILLIAM L. ROBERTS, D.D., is published in The Presbyterian Historical Almanac for 1866, page 292.