648 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



synods holding the property in trust for the semina- 

 ries differ more or less in detail, but have this com- 

 mon feature : that these corporations own the prop- 

 erty and have its control and management, free from 

 any direct interference by the General Assembly, 

 save as to the property given them by the Assembly, 

 as to which the Assembly may direct the manage- 

 ment. While it is claimed that the power of the 

 Assembly, under the compact of 1870, and the plan of 

 reunion over the various theological seminaries is 

 limited to the exercise of the right of approval, or 

 veto, of the appointment of professors ana the pre- 

 rogative of receiving annual reports from the semi- 

 naries, "according to the plan of government of 

 Princeton, Western, McCormick, Danville, and 

 Omaha, the General Assembly has the right to 

 control the election of boards of directors." 



The Committee on Church Unity reported 

 concerning the results of an oral conference 

 held at Baltimore with the members of the 

 Episcopal Commission in attendance upon the 

 Triennial Protestant Episcopal General Conven- 

 tion. The "unhappy attitude" in which the 

 two Churches often stood toward each other, 

 " with almost entire isolation, almost entire ab- 

 sence of all that personal intercourse and mu- 

 tual recognition, Christian fellowship, and hearty 

 co-operation which ought to obtain between them 

 as brethren in Christ," was discussed. Chris- 

 tian unity, a unity of spirit, the committee 

 held, " must precede and prepare the way for 

 all church unity, and is in itself a duty of pres- 

 ent and imperative obligation. An external 

 union, even if it were practicable, were worse 

 than worthless if it was not the outgrowth and 

 manifestation of a real inward spiritual union." 

 The committees had therefore agreed to hold in 

 abeyance for the present the question of an ex- 

 ternal union, and to seek, first, as a necessary 

 prerequisite to it, and in itself as a present and 

 imperative duty, a larger measure and manifes- 

 tation of Christian unity. 



A correspondence with the Protestant Episco- 

 pal Commission was inclosed, in one of the let- 

 ters, of which the commission declared that, 



according to our understanding, our [the Protestant 

 Episcopal] Church in America to-day stands with the 

 authority of the presbytery fully recognized, and with 

 it, standing in its relative'position of control of legis- 

 lation, precisely as the English Presbyterians of 1660 

 caused it to stand in the Church of England when 

 they professed that they would be content with the 

 Anglican Episcopate, provided such and such author- 

 ity was secured to the body of the presbytery. 



The Presbyterian Committee replied that this, 

 with other expressions of the Episcopal commis- 

 sion, and its declaration of its readiness to modi- 

 fy some things in its position, if necessary, for 

 the sake of union, induced the hope 'that closer 

 co-operation between the two bodies might be 

 brought out in the near future. The Assembly, 

 in its action upon this report, recognized "the 

 growing conformity between the polities of the 

 Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches," and ex- 

 pressed its readiness to co-operate with the Gen- 

 eral Convention of the Protestant Episcopal 

 Church in all Scriptural measures for the promo- 

 tion of closer fellowship between the two 

 Churches. "Especially would it delight in min- 

 isterial reciprocity under regulations satisfac- 

 tory to both parties." It recommended the 

 holding of conventions according to the terms 



which had been proposed by the Episcopal 

 Commission for the promotion of Christian unity. 



The same committee reported a plan for fed- 

 eral union between the Reformed Churches in 

 the United States holding to the Presbyterian 

 system. The plan contemplated the preserva- 

 tion of the independence and autonomy of the 

 bodies entering into the federation and the giv- 

 ing of full credit to all their acts, but provided 

 for the constitution, for the prosecution of work 

 that can be better done in union than sepa- 

 rately, of an ecclesiastical assembly, to be known 

 as ""the Federal Council of the Reformed 

 Churches of the United States of America hold- 

 ing to the Presbyterian system." This Federal 

 Council, it was contemplated, should en- 

 deavor to promote united work for the recla- 

 mation of the Christless masses in the large 

 cities, towns, and old rural settlements of 

 the country ; co-operation in home missionary 

 work by the different denominations in the new 

 settlements and among the freed men of the 

 South in such a way as to remove denominational 

 friction, etc. ; and the prosecution of foreign 

 mission work on the same principle of comity, 

 so that different denominations shall cultivate 

 different fields; should keep watch of current 

 movements, and take such action as may concen- 

 trate the union of all the' churches for the main- 

 tenance of their principles and interests; should 

 have power to " advise and recommend in all 

 matters pertaining to the general welfare of the 

 Kingdom of Christ, but shall not exercise au- 

 thority, except such as is conferred upon it by this 

 instrument, or such as may be conferred upon it 

 by the federated bodies. It shall not interfere with 

 the creed, government, or worship of the de- 

 nominations. All matters of discipline shall be 

 left to the exclusive and final judgment of the 

 ecclesiastical authorities of the denomination in 

 which the same may arise." The Federal 

 Council shall " have the power of opening and 

 maintaining a friendly correspondence with the 

 highest assemblies of other religious denomi- 

 nations, for the purpose of promoting union 

 and concert of action in general or common in- 

 terests." 



The Committee on Co-operation in Home Mis- 

 sionary Work reported concerning the action 

 which had been taken by the Board of Home 

 Missions to insure caution in the organization 

 of mission churches encouraging such only as 

 are likely to become in time self-supporting 

 and concerning its conference with representa- 

 tives of the Home Mission Board, the American 

 Home Missionary Society, and the Board of 

 Domestic Missions of the Reformed Church in 

 America. It was found that the rules of the 

 various societies already in force were sufficient 

 for the purpose. The committee in the judicial 

 case of Prof. Charles A. Briggs (see "Annual 

 Cyclopaedia " for 1892) presented a report affirm- 

 ing the pertinency of the appeal from the prose- 

 cuting committee of the Presbytery of New 

 York from the decision of the presbytery acquit- 

 ting Prof. Briggs of the charge of heresy brought 

 against him. The report declared that 



The appellant in this case was the Church itself 

 represented by the prosecuting committee, and as 

 such it had a right of appeal as an original party ; 

 and that the prosecuting committee of the presby- 



