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September 15, 1909. THE PRESBYTERI larger. The relative strength of the leading denominations of Protestants would then be: Methodist 5,749,838, Baptist 5,662,234, Presbyterian, 2,280,069, Lutheran 2,112,494, Disciples 1,142,359. These five hnflips rnmKinffl i?fln/1n tvir,-- ? 1?'r -f -11 1UV1UUV IUU1C Hldll UUC*lldl 1 UI ail the churches' membership, and five-sixths of all the Protestant membership. The total seating capacity of church buildings is reported as 58,536,830, an increase of 34.4 per cent, the Protestants providing 53,282,445, and the Romanists 4,494,377, while the minor sects not embraced in these two bodies provide a few hundred thousand. Of church property, not including colleges, universities, schools, convents, etc., the total value is $1,257,575,867, of this the Protestants having $935,942,578, and the Romanists $292,638,747. Of church indebtedness, which is 8.6 per cent of the value of church property, $53,301,254 is due by Protestants, and $49,488,055 . by Romanists, the Protestant proportion of debt be .? ? pci tcm, ana ine rcomamst lo.y per cent. The total number of Protestant organizations is given as 195.618, averaging 104 members each, and of Romanist 12,482, averaging 969 each. Even with figures only approximately exact, some interesting facts may be seen. One is the smallness, with all its vaunting, of the Christian Science cult. Instead of niHnbering a million or a million and a half adherents as is sometimes claimed, they are only 85,717 strong, and that notwithstanding the known facts that at least 20.000 of them are duplicated in church membership by being enrolled in the "mother U r A ? i-iiuiui, L>osion, 01 ti,oM memoers, as well as in the local congregations. Another suggestive fact is in connection with the little growth of Unitarianism. In 1890 it had 67,749 members; in 1906, only 70,542. And yet in wealth, social and educational prestige and every other outward advantage, its opportunities far surpassed all others. Strong doctrine is needful to . growth and power. So, too, the Universalists numbered only 49,194 and 64,158. The large increase in the Lutheran and "Evangelical" bodies was due in part, like that of the Romanists, to immigration. It is surprising to see that New Jersey, with its large Presbyterian population, is a little more than half Roman ist, while next to New Mexico, Rhode Island, Montana, and Massachusetts come highest in that same faith. Tennessee is put down as having the highest percentage of Presbyterians in any one State's church membership. It is given as 11.4 per cent. WHAT THE EDITOR LEAVES OUT. In the "Cumberland Presbyterian" is an editorial entitled, "What the Editor Leaves Out." One of the most important duties of an editor is wisely to "leave out." i. He must leave out all bitterness and all that would encourage needless strife. 2. He HI 11 l'f ? 4- 4- V* #-? 4- ^ ' ? ' T "T wiiii L uiai vviuv.il l? 111C11CV.11 vc nir gOOCl. nis every page must have an aim for the benefit of Christ's people. 3. He must have firmness to decline articles which have -been laid before the same community in the columns of other papers. 4. He must avoid being made the catspaw of enthusiastic cranks. The harmony and progress of the Church depends much on the prudence of the editor in omitting. ? -? AN OF THE SOUTH. 3 A SABBATH IN EDINBURGH. My last letter was from Chester. That was a week ago. A great many things have happened in my life during this week. From Chester I went direct to Glasgow. There I found a modern commercial city of some eight hundred thousand people. Of all the cities of Great Britain, it stands next to London in size. I spent a day at Robert Burns' old home, which is less man iwu nunrs irom oiasgow. it was a day lull ot interest and pathos. I have read somewhere that when they took Burns' mother to see one of the beautiful monuments that have been erected to him, that instead of going into ecstasies over it she shook her head sorrowfully and said: "Robbie asked for bread and ye gave him a stanc." One day I spent in going over what is known as the Trossach route. A delightful little steamer took us nearly the whole length of Loch Lomond. Then we drove in a great coach for five miles over the mountains to Loch Katrine. After lunch we boarded the little steamship ''Walter Scott," and went the whole lentrth of Loch Katrine. Then we went by coach over the mountains to Aberfogle. That was a day of exquisitely beautiful scenery and of history and poetry and romance. Sir Walter Scott has made that whole country an enchanted land. Ellen's Isle, and many places in the Lady of the Lake were pointed out to us. A day and a night we spent at Stirling. There I saw my first real castle. There I saw the field of Bannockburn. I climbed the great Wallace Monument and got the finest view I have had on this side. Best of all, I went into old Greyfriars church and churchyard. A great deal of Presbyterian history centers about that old church, but nothing touched my heart more than the privilege of standing beside the grave of Henry Drummond, who is buried just back of the church. Stirling is not a very large place. It has a population of about fifteen thousand, but the history of Scotland centers about it. If your patriotic blood does not begin to stir as you visit these various places about old Stirling, you might as well go home. You are hopeless. During this week we had the privilege of hearing the bagpipe very often. In the Queen's Park in Glasgow, there were about fifteen of the pipers dressed in their kilties and plaids, and they marched and piped for dear life. After hearing them for a week, and after the most mature deliberation, it is my honest opinion that while the bagpipe is a most excellent thing for stirring the patriotic blood of a Scotchman, it is not to be classed among the musical instruments* Friday night found us, my Methodist friends and I, in Edinburgh. I had determined to spend at least one Sabbath there. It is a far cry from Chester to Edinburgh. It is hard to realize that they are in the same kingdom, or even in the same century. In nothing do they differ more than in their religion. In Chester I had to search for a Presbyterian Church, and then submit to the humiliation of having it called a chapel. You do not have to search in Edinburgh. It is almost impossible here to get away from a Presbyterian i^nurcn. f-very time you turn a corner you come face to face with one, and. moreover, it is the Church, the State Church of Scotland. On Saturday afternoon I bought a copy of the Scotsman for the express pur4.