PRESBYTERIANS. 



675 



proper ways seek to secure a better acquaintance 

 and more intimate Christian fellowship with the 

 ministers and members of the Protestant Epis- 

 copal Church, and that the committee be in- 

 structed to take no further steps looking to 

 practical unity with the Episcopal Church until 

 the General Convention of that body shall have 

 answered the Assembly's proposition for minis- 

 terial reciprocity. On the subject of reunion 

 with the Southern Presbyterian Church, the As- 

 sembly expressed joy that the General Assembly 

 of that body had received overtures from its own 

 presbyteries asking for the appointment of a 

 special committee to confer upon the subject of 

 organic union with a similar committee of this 

 Assembly, if one should be appointed; and it 

 directed the appointment of a special committee 

 to confer with a similar committee, if one should 

 be appointed, of the Southern Church, ' to take 

 into consideration the whole question of the or- 

 ganic union of the two bodies upon the basis of 

 our common standards," and to report to the 

 next Geaeral Assembly. The committee ap- 

 pointed in 1892 and continued in 1893 to inquire 

 into the relations of the theological seminaries 

 to the General Assembly reported, advising that 

 whatever plans might be adopted by the Gen- 

 eral Assembly with reference to the seminaries 

 existing at the time of the reunion should be 

 adopted without impairment of any of the rights 

 of the General Assembly or of the seminaries 

 which might have accrued by reason of the 

 compact of 1879, and proposed, as fundamental 

 principles to control the future management of 

 the theological education of the ministry of the 

 Church, the 2 resolutions : 



That it is the judgment of this committee that the 

 instruction given in the theological seminaries of the 

 Presbyterian Church in the United States of America 

 should be under the control and direction of that 

 Church, and that all funds and property held for the 

 purpose of theological instruction shall be used only 

 for theological education in the doctrines set forth in 

 the standards of the Presbyterian Church in the 

 United States of America. 



The committee further held 



That no member of the Presbyterian Church should 

 be requested to give property for the purpose of theo- 

 logical education, according to the standards of the 

 Church, unless the Church shall secure to the donor 

 the permanent application of the property to that 

 purpose. The burden of preserving the property 

 thus given should not be cast upon the donor or his 

 legal representatives, but upon the Church, which 

 should so protect the gift that it will be applied solely 

 to the purposes which the donor had in view at the 

 time of the gift. Such donations or bequests become 

 sacred trusts, which should be carefully guarded, 

 both out of regard for the wishes of the living and of 

 reverence for the memory of the dead. No alienation 

 of funds or perversion from the original intention to 

 have them used in connection with the Presbyterian 

 Church should ever be possible. 



The report advised that the following changes 

 be made in the management of the existing 

 theological seminaries of the Church : 



1. That the seminaries should so amend their 

 charters that all- of their funds and property, sub- 

 ject to the terms and conditions of existing or specific 

 trusts, shall be declared to be held by them in trust 

 for the Presbyterian Church in the United States of 

 America, for the purpose of theological education 

 according to the standards of said Church, and that 



no part of the funds and property so held in trust 

 shall be used for any other purpose than for the the- 

 ological education in the doctrines set forth in the 

 standards of the Presbyterian Church in the United 

 States of America; 



2. That the seminaries should so amend their 

 charters that the election of the trustees, directors, 

 or commissioners, or whatever the bodies governing 

 either the teaching or property, or both, shall be 

 named, shall be subject to the approval of the next 

 succeeding General Assembly, and that no election 

 shall take effect until approved by the General As- 

 sembly; failure of the General Assembly to which 

 said elections are reported for approval to act there- 

 on shall be regarded as approval of said elections. 



3. That the seminaries should so amend their 

 charters that the election, appointment, or transfer 

 of all professors and teachers in said seminaries shall 

 be submitted to the next succeeding General Assem- 

 bly for its approval, and that no such election, ap- 

 pointment, or transfer shall take effect, nor shall any 

 professor or teacher be inducted into office until his 

 election, appointment, or transfer shall have been 

 approved by said General Assembly ; failure of the 

 General Assembly to which the said elections, ap- 

 pointments, or transfers are reported for approval to 

 act thereon shall be regarded as approval thereof; 

 and that all of said professors or teachers shall be 

 either ministers or members in good standing of the 

 Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. 



4. That the, several seminaries, in amending their 

 charters as heretofore requested, shall provide in the 

 charters that in the event of the violation of any of 

 the terms of said amendments, or the misuse or di- 

 version of the funds or property held by them, then 

 the General Assembly snail be empowered to provide 

 against such violation of the provisions of said char- 

 ters, and for the enforcement of the same, and for the 

 protection of the trusts on which said property and 

 funds are held, in such manner, and in the name of 

 such person or corporation as it may direct by reso- 

 lution certified by its clerk, in any civil court having 

 jurisdiction over the corporations whose charters are 

 so amended. 



It further recommended the adoption of the 

 following resolutions : 



1. That each and all of the seminaries of the 

 Church be requested to secure, at the earliest mo- 

 ment practicable, such changes in their charters, or 

 amendments thereto, as will provide 



(a) That all of their funds and property, subject to 

 the terms and conditions of existing or specific trusts, 

 shall be declared to be held by them in trust for the 

 Presbyterian Church in the United States of Amer- 

 ica, for the purposes of theological education accord- 

 ing to the standards of said Church, and that no part 

 of the funds and property so held in trust shall be 

 used for any other purpose than for theological edu- 

 cation in the doctrines set forth in the standards of 

 the Presbyterian Church in the United States of 

 America. 



(b) That the election of the trustees, directors, or 

 commissioners, or whatever the bodies governing the 

 teaching or property shall be named, shall be subject 

 to the approval of the next succeeding General As- 

 sembly, and that no election shall take effect until 

 approved by the General Assembly ; failure of the 

 General Assembly to which said elections are re- 

 ported for approval to act thereon shall be regarded 

 as approval of said elections. 



(c) That the election, appointment, or transfer of 

 all professors and teachers in all seminaries shall be 

 submitted to the next succeeding General Assembly 

 for its approval, and that no sucli election, appoint- 

 ment, or transfer shall take effect, nor shall any pro- 

 fessor or teacher be inducted into office, until his 

 election, appointment, or transfer shall have been 

 approved by the said General Assembly ; failure of 

 the General Assembly to which the said elections, 



