Church on the one hand, and on the other a large increase in the The following summary of the above table, will afford a more satisfactory view of the growth of the Board, and of the periods of its most marked usefulness: The number of candidates aided since the commencement, from the Treasury of the Board, has been 3400. During the first years of its existence, many of those counted above as candidates were sustained by societies only auxiliary to the Board, and which often did not report the names of their beneficiaries. The average length of time they were under the care of the Board, it would be almost impossible to ascertain. Some have been enabled to study continuously from the commencement of their preparatory course; a large number have begun with the Freshman or Sophomore year in College. Undoubtedly the aid thus afforded to those preparing for the ministry has saved for the Church thousands of years of labor that would otherwise have been spent in employments whose chief end was pecuniary support. The results, for the cause of religion, and in the conversion of souls, time cannot reveal, nor could millions of money equal in value. Upon these statistics the following remarks may be made: 1. The two periods of greatest prosperity in the work of education, were the revival periods of 1833-40, and 1856-61. And God raised up instruments at those times to carry out his designs of blessing to the Church, especially Dr. John Breckinridge, Rev. Messrs. Kollock, Steele, Chester and others, at the former, and Dr. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, and a number now living, at the latter of them. 2. The two periods were marked by peculiar judgments. The first was one of great commercial prosperity, succeeded by revulsions and bankruptcies.* It was the period of universal alarm on account of the Asiatic cholera, which then first visited our continent. The second period was one of commercial disasters, so sudden and so extensive as to be a means generally noticed in the churches, by which multitudes were forcibly arrested in a career of worldliness * Among other calamities in 1835, was the great fire at New York, in which five hundred and twenty-nine buildings, worth seventeen millions of dollars, were consumed. and folly, and humbled at the feet of Christ. The crash came "as if thunders from a clear sky had simultaneously broken over the whole land."* By judgments the inhabitants of the earth learn righteousness. 3. The number of candidates during the closing two years of the war, 1864 and 1865, was less in each than in any year except 1841, since the thorough organization of the Board thirty-three years ago; and the average of the past five years was less than for any equal period within the same time. But with the revivals of the past winter and spring, the number begins rapidly to increase. 4. Revival periods require special exercise of prudence, and careful examination of young men proposing to enter the ministry. 5. A glowing interest in the spread of the gospel is ever both a preparation for, and a result of spiritual refreshing. The first of the periods indicated, was a manifest era in foreign missions. Then several of the important American missions were founded, and many of the most devoted of modern missionaries went forth.† Home missions to the West and South flourished. Institutions for the relief of the various human woes were multiplied. The last mentioned period was simultaneous also with remarkable advancement in works of beneficence, both at home and abroad. 6. The willingness of Christians to consecrate property and money to raise up, educate, and send forth laborers into the world's harvest, is one of the most plain characteristics of a Church kindled afresh with heavenly love and zeal. CANDIDATES. The statistics as to the number of candidates for the past ecclesiastical year are as follows: The deaths of two candidates have been reported to us; both spoken of as having been young men of exemplary piety; one of them, Mr. P. P. Irwin, having felt it his duty to engage in the defence of his country, died a martyr to her liberties, from the sufferings endured in the Andersonville prison. Forty-six are reported as having finished their theological * Humphrey; History of Revivals, pp. 275—80. The Report of 1834, by Rev. Dr. John Breckinridge, says, "sixty young men are supposed to be looking to the foreign missionary field.” studies. Two have been separated from their connection with the Board on account of having married during the progress of their studies. Five have voluntarily withdrawn from dependence upon our Treasury; two of whom have repaid in full the amount of their obligations to it. PRESBYTERIAL STATISTICS. The following table is an approximation towards an acquaintance with the general work of education on the part of the Presbyteries. A printed circular was sent to the Stated Clerk of every Presbytery in the Church, inquiring as to the number of institutions of learning under the care of our denomination, the amount of money contributed to them, the number of candidates for the ministry (whether under the care of the Board or not), their degree of advancement in study, and the amount of aid afforded to them as such from sources outside of the Board. Out of one hundred and eighty-five Presbyteries, sixty-five of the most important have furnished satisfactory replies; from a number of others none could have been expected. The result is given partly in the subjoined table, and partly in others. We may add the hope that next year a similar circular may be responded to by all the Presbyteries in the country, and thus a satisfactory view be afforded to the Church of its efforts in behalf of education. It will be seen from this table that large amounts have been given by the Presbyterian Church to education which have not passed through the hands of the Board. |