dard thus set up, so as to come upon a platform of decent support for the minister.

5th. The effect upon the aid-receiving churches has, in many cases, been most stimulating in all the work of the Church; encouraging them in all the services of God's house, and bringing them to systematic giving; and thus, also, bringing down upon them the Divine blessing in revival and ingathering.

6th. The Committee are enabled, by the liberal support of the aid-giving churches, to relieve the Home Mission Board of a class of its Mission Stations, from year to year, so as to set free their means for new fields beyond.

7th. The Committee expect, as they receive new churches under their care, to dismiss old ones, who shall have become self-sustaining; and who will, as they become so, be also contributors to all the schemes of the Church.

The Committee on Manses beg leave to make the following Report:

During the year, the wishes of the General Assembly, as indicated by their action in 1871, have been carried out as fully as possible. Communications have been sent to each Presbytery, and many letters addressed to individual churches, soliciting information concerning Manses.

Every effort has been made by the Committee to obtain all the facts possible, thoroughness and completeness being the two ideas kept constantly in view. The time and labor, thus necessary to make these efforts successful, will doubtless yield a better return, and prove more useful than any suggestions based upon partial reports.

The value of this definite knowledge is such that the Committee have pursued the line of inquiry, according to the plan of the preceding year, and submitted the following questions to the churches, viz. :

1. What year was your church organized?

2. Have you a House of Worship?

3. Have you a Manse?

4. If you have a Manse, what year was it bought or built for a Manse?

5. What is about the value of your Manse?

6. What is saved annually by your minister living in the Manse?

7. If without a Manse, what is about the rent paid for a house for your Minister to live in?

These questions have awakened considerable interest throughout the Church,

and the Committee record with pleasure the fact, that said interest is growing into activity, the members of the churches evidently feeling the necessity of making suitable provision for their ministers, as a measure of justice, going beyond the domain of a mere conception of duty, to an earnest realization of it as a vital principle; and the fact is being acknowledged, that a church, to be fully organized for the service of God, must, in addition to a House of Worship, have also a Manse.

During the memorial year, a decided accession was made to the number of Manses. "The Report of the Memorial Fund" states, that the amount, raised and devoted to the erection of Manses, was $693,767, which gives at least one hundred and seventy-five Manses, as the result of efforts made during that auspicious period.

The responses to the first question, What year was your church organized? give the chronological history of the Church. The information is thoroughly reliable, being gathered from each congregation. This inquiry has stimulated many churches to save from threatening oblivion their local histories. The second question, Have you a House of Worship? calls for replies, indicating the degree of attention paid to the department of Church erection. The third question, Have you a Manse? is intended to obtain specific and intelligent responses on this all-important subject. The fourth question calls for a chronological history of the erection or purchase of Manses, enabling the lovers of the history of the Church to trace, year by year, the rise and progress of this department of the work of the people. The fifth question opens up the money value of the subject, and is important in order to have a full understanding of it. The sixth and seventh questions involve more than at first sight appears, as the amount saved by ministers living in the MANSE, and the amount lost by the lack of MANSES, enter largely into the question of the "Sustentation of the Ministry."

The necessity of providing MANSES is pressing itself upon the people, and many of them are taking up the work promptly. The Presbyteries have generally complied with the instructions of the Assembly, by appointing Special Committees on MANSES. These "Special" Committees might be made "Standing" Committees on Manses, and thus enable each Presbytery to take up, at their regular meetings, the consideration of the subject, as one of the necessary elements of the progress of the Church; and the ministers and elders might also be urged, to use diligence in promoting among the people, a state of sentiment on the subject, in full accord with the spirit and letter of the action of the Assemblies of 1870 and 1871; and the Committee respectfully indicate, that such a recommendation be issued by this Assembly.

The plans and specifications authorized by the General Assembly of 1871 are in the course of preparation, and will be ready in due time. The Committee, feeling the importance of having the best plans for Manses, have exercised unusual care in this department of the work.

The coöperation of the churches is earnestly desired. This can be done by responding to the communications, issued by the Committee, as every thing depends upon the closeness and thoroughness of the work committed to its care. The Report proposes to give, first, the aggregate responses to every inquiry; then, by Synods, and by Presbyteries, the condition of each church being fairly recorded. With this Report, thus complete, and in possession of the Church, the time will have come for the Assembly to issue a deliverance, covering the whole case, and thus hasten the time when the Manse shall be the happy home of every minister of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

The Assembly of 1871 made an appropriation to pay the necessary expenses of the Committee on Manses. The Committee, therefore, report that the expenses during the year have been as follows: for postage, $61.50; envelopes and paper, $10; printing Report to this Assembly, $9; printing action of the last Assembly as a letter-head, $5; copying lists of Presbyteries and letters, $25; expenses of Chairman attending this General Assembly, $37; making a total of $147.50. Respectfully submitted,

JOSEPH M. WILSON, Chairman.