PRESBYTERIANS. 



577 



in Mexico; and progress in independence in Brazil, 

 where the secretary of the committee had visited 

 the missions. 



The Committee on the Twentieth Century Fund 

 reported that ten of the synods had undertaken 

 to raise $1,720,000 for the fund, while no report 

 had been received from the Synod of Kentucky; 

 and that $423,000 had been contributed and sub- 

 scribed up to April 1. About 50 colleges, high 

 schools, presbyterial schools, etc., were expecting 

 to be aided by the fund. The report was hope- 

 ful of the ultimate success of the enterprise, and 

 represented that the interest in it, while not uni- 

 versal, was " wide-spread and deepening wherever 

 any means are used to awaken and foster it." 



The General Assembly met at Jackson, Miss., 

 May 15. The Rev. W. T. Hall, D. D., of Colum- 

 bia Theological Seminary, was chosen moderator. 

 Upon the presentation of the report of the Ken- 

 tucky Theological Seminary, an institution 

 formed by the consolidation of the Louisville 

 Theological Seminary of this Church and the 

 Danville Theological Seminary of the Northern 

 Presbyterian Church, to be under the jurisdiction 

 of the Northern Presbyterian and Southern 

 Presbyterian Synods in Kentucky and the two 

 General Assemblies jointly, the question was 

 raised as to what should be the future relations 

 of the General Assembly to the institution. Could 

 the General Assembly with propriety sanction a 

 division of its control? Upon the report and rec- 

 ommendation of the Committee on Theological 

 Seminaries, the Assembly decided that the ac- 

 tion of the previous General Assembly, assenting 

 to the consolidation, be left undisturbed ; that ques- 

 tions relative to the teaching of the Standards as 

 they now are, or as they might be modified in the 

 future, are not germane to the present matter, as 

 it lies within the power of the controlling synods; 

 and that the rights of the Assembly to grant au- 

 thority to another denomination to pass upon the 

 orthodoxy of its ministers and to receive reports 

 from a seminary in whole or in part under the con- 

 trol of another denomination, which had been ques- 

 tioned, were involved in the constitutional right 

 of the General Assembly to cooperate with, other 

 denominations in the prosecution of Christian 

 work. It was shown in the debate on this sub- 

 ject that by the terms of the consolidation of the 

 seminaries the General Assembly was vested with 

 power to insist upon the teaching of its present 

 Confession of Faith for all time. A number of 

 overtures had been sent up expressing dissatis- 

 factioYi over the action of the previous General 

 Assembly on the subject of infant salvation, 

 some of them asking the Assembly to rescind 

 parts of it, and others desiring that some declara- 

 tory or explanatory statement be made that shall 

 clour the Church of the imputation of teaching 

 that some dying in infancy are eternally lost; 

 while others sought the amendment of the Con- 

 fession so that it shall teach in unmistakable 

 terms the salvation of all who die in infancy. 

 The Assembly of 1900, in view of the use of the 

 words " elect infants " in it, had ordered a foot- 

 note appended to the section declaring that it 

 could not, by any fair interpretation, be con- 

 strued to teach that any of those who die in 

 infancy are lost. The Assembly of 1901 rescinded 

 this action, and gave five reasons why it should 

 not act to modify the paragraph containing the 

 words, the fifth of which was " because, while 

 we have a well-grounded hope, founded on Scrip- 

 ture, that all infants dying in infancy are saved, 

 yet the Confession of Faith goes as far as the 

 Scriptures justify a positive creedal statement 

 upon this subject." By the action of the present 

 VOL. XLII. 37 A 



Assembly this fifth reason was rescinded; a 

 declaration was made that " this Assembly is" 

 fully persuaded that the language employed in 

 chapter x, section 3, of our Confession of Faith, 

 touching infants dying in infancy, does not teach 

 that there are any infants dying in infancy who 

 are damned, but is only meant to show that 

 those who die in infancy are saved in a different 

 manner from adult persons who are capable of 

 being outwardly called by the ministry of the 

 Word. Furthermore, we are persuaded that the 

 Holy Scriptures, when fairly interpreted, amply 

 warrant us in believing that all infants who die 

 in infancy are included in the election of grace, 

 and are regenerated and saved by Christ through 

 the spirit." For the more efficient provision of 

 ministerial relief, all the presbyteries and all the 

 churches were requested to appoint committees 

 on that cause; a secretary was appointed over 

 this business, to devote his whole time to it; a 

 collection was advised to be taken every year in 

 July in every church for the cause; and the 

 work of the home and school at Frederick sburg, 

 Va., being regarded as virtually a branch of min- 

 isterial relief, its Board of Trustees and the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee on Ministerial Relief were di- 

 rected to consider the wisdom and feasibility of 

 consolidating those two branches of the domestic 

 work of the Church under one management. Pro- 

 vision was made for the equitable apportionment 

 of the debt of the home and school for its pay- 

 ment among the 79 presbyteries. The Perma- 

 nent Committee on the Church and Christian 

 Education reported concerning the collections and 

 the organization and projection of schools under 

 the Twentieth Century fund scheme, and that the 

 day school had been made a part of the home 

 mission work in some of the presbyteries; and 

 the Assembly reaffirmed its belief that the synods 

 and presbyteries and congregations " must bend 

 every energy to maintain and extend the system 

 of Christian education established by the found- 

 ers of the Presbyterian Church. To this end the 

 support and patronage of this Assembly will be 

 given only to those academies and colleges in 

 which Biblical and spiritual instruction is com- 

 bined with the usual courses of study in clas- 

 sical, scientific, and literary subjects." A commit- 

 tee was appointed to prepare a catechism on the 

 history of the Church. Ministers were urged to 

 keep the subject of the sanctity of the Sabbath 

 constantly before the people; members to keep 

 the day holy " according to the teaching of God's 

 Word," abstaining from all forms of Sabbath dese- 

 cration, and to build up in every way a healthy 

 public sentiment on the subject; sessions to take 

 steps to bring the question home to the minds 

 and hearts of the members; and each presbytery 

 to hold a popular service for the consideration 

 of the subject. An amendment to the Book of 

 Church Order was approved, to be sent down to 

 the presbyteries, omitting the requirement of a 

 Latin thesis on the examination of candidates for 

 ordination. 



Afro-American Synod. The Independent 

 Afro-American Synod received a charter in 1901 

 from the State of South Carolina. At the meet- 

 ing of the synod in that year, at Abbeville, S. C., 

 a report on Narrative and Prospects was adopt- 

 ed, recognizing the great need of a separate and 

 distinct negro Presbyterian Church and work, for 

 the more effectual reaching of the colored people 

 and the developing in them of " those higher prin- 

 ciples of morality and religion and a more stal- 

 wart Christian manhood and womanhood"; 

 they would therefore make the greatest efforts 

 to establish, at the earliest time compatible with 



