Since the report to the General Convention in 1835, there have been expended, in erecting the new building, the sum of $26,277 08; in alterations of the old building, building vaults, laying flagging, and planting trees, $3,761 55: for bedsteads, and other furniture, $948; and in paving the Tenth Avenue, $1,386 59, which, added to the $58,593 60, reported to the last Convention, will make the cost of the two buildings the furniture therein, and the improvement of the real estate, amount to $9),966 82. The whole cost of the new building is $32,091. Owing to the payment of the Lorillard legacy, the Trustees have been enabled to discharge the mortgage mentioned in the report of the year 1835. Since the present statenent of the finances was prepared, the assessment for building a sewer in 20th Street, between 8th Avenue and Hudson River, has been confirmed, by which the property of the Seminary is charged in the sum of $3,489 78. Payment of this sum is expected within 60 days from the day of confirmation. Its abstriction from the funds of the institution will increase the deficiency of income to the amount of the interest upon said sum. Since the Triennial Report of 1835, the accessions to the number of stu. dents have been as follows: Number of students when the report was made, of 1835, Including the present members, upwards of 344 students have entered the Institution since its establishment in 1817. Exceeding by 38 the result of the three preceding commencements. Eleven of the Alumni having died; their present number is 157. The Church in these States must feel truly grateful to its Divine Head in contemplating the degree to which, under his guidance and blessing, the object has been attained, for which the Seminary was founded-the training of a well appointed and faithful minis try, to spread abroad his Gospel, and the glory of his name. The Alumni have facilities for the exercise of a wide influence and example. In their judgment and affections, the Seminary, it is believed, holds an honoured place. She ex pects from them, as grateful sons, the confidence and support which will enable her to stand and prosper. During the last three years two students have died, and twenty-eight have left the Seminary from various causes. Some of this number have discontinued their studies for the sacred office. Others, it is understood, have been admitted into Holy Orders. The number of students at present connected with the Institution is : In the Senior Class, In the Middle Class, 44 The average annual expenses of a student, including board, washing, fuel, and lights, amount to about $124; a sum, exceeding the estimate of former years, and which is to be attributed to the increased cost of the necessaries of life. The Trustees entertaining doubts, whether the present is the best mode of conducting the domestic economy of the Seminary, have referred it to their Standing Committee (with power) to consider the expediency of abolishing the Commons, and of appointing a steward, with appropriate duties. They have much satisfaction in stating, that through the considerate benevolence of several individuals, a suitable room has been fitted up in the new wing, for the use of the sick, and certain gentlemen of the medical profession, in the city of New. York, have kindly offered in such cases their gratuitous services. Under their advice, provision has been made by the Board of Trustees, for such gymnastic exercises, as will, it is thought, be conducive to the health and vigor of the resident students. In this connection it is proper to state, that there is no reason to believe that the health of its inmates has been more interrupted than might be expected in so large a number of young men living under strong temptation to indulge in sedentary habits. No proper opportunity has been lost, of affectionately commending to their consideration, the importance of a due regard to exercise, as a matter no: only of individual interest, but of duty to the Church. The uniform experience of Theological Seminaries evinces, that the surest way of securing their efficiency, to any extent, is to provide, with a wise foresight, the means of aiding in the support of well qualified students. To further this object, and to ensure to it the lasting usefulness of their liberality, the congregation of St. George's Church, in the city of New-York, have completed a Scholarship, to be called the "St. George's Church Scholarship," with an endowment of $2000. The endowment, also, of the "St. Mark's Church, in the Bowery," Professorship of Ecclesiastical History, "referred to in the last Triennial Report, as having been offered by Mr. Stuyvesant, has been carried into effect, upon the conditions required by the Statutes, and in accordance with the pious and benevolent views of the donor. The Rev. Wm. R. Whittingham, D. D., of the Diocese of New-York, was, on the 13th of January, 1836, unanimously appointed by the Trustees, on the nomination of the founder, to discharge the duties of this Professorship. Since the report made to the Convention in 1835, the course of study has not materially varied. In the departments of "the Evidences of Revealed Religion," &c., and of “Pastoral Theology and Pulpit Eloquence," gratuitous instructions have again been given. In the former, by the Rev. Dr. Seabury, and in the latter, by the Rev. Hugh Smith and the Rev. Benjamin I. Haight. The Trustees deeply regret that these two important Professorships still remain vacant from the want of means for their support. In reference to the depart. ment of Pastoral Theology and Pulpit Eloquence, which must always be re. garded as of vital importance in preparing Theological students for an efficient discharge of the Christian ministry, the Trustees, in 1836, appointed an agent to present to the members of the Church throughout the Union an appeal for a suitable endowment. His untimely death, and the commercial distress of the country, disappointed the Board, in the hope which they entertained from this arrangement. A generous offer was subsequently made during their recess, to their Standing Committee, by the Vestry of Trinity Church, in the city of New. York, to contribute the sum of $25,000 for the endowment of a Professorship, to be termed the "Hobart Professorship of the Evidences of Christianity and of Moral Science in its relations to Theology," whenever a like sum was raised for the endowment of the Professorship above alluded to. For the attainment of so desirable an end, arrangements were immediately made by the Standing Committee, to enlist in the cause of the Seminary, the grateful regards of its Alumni; and it is believed, that under ordinary circumstances, the object would have been accomplished by this zealous band of agents within the time proposed by the Vestry of Trinity Church for the acceptance of their offer. The Trustees, however, at their meeting in June, 1837, under the existing deficiency of income for the current uses of the Seminary, found that an appeal for annual collections was of imperative necessity; and apprehending that the efforts of the Alumni in behalf of the Professorship, might interfere with such a measure of relief, they were constrained to pass a resolution, authorizing them to suspend, for the present, their contemplated agency. To the venerable Corporation in question, the Board have expressed their grateful sense of their generous offer, and have readily obtained from them an extension of the time proposed, for completing the endowment of the Professorship which they selected, until the 1st of January, 1839. The examinations of the Students have been regularly held every Session. The results have been given to the Church in the printed proceedings of the Board. They afford the strongest proof of the industry of the Students in availing themselves of the many valuable privileges, furnished by the Seminary, for a thorough education for the work of the ministry, and of the ability, zeal, and fidelity of the Professors, whom the Providence of God has made their daily guides and instructors. It is with sincere regret, that the Board have to announce the resignation of their Treasurer, in consequence of ill health. They have to lament in him the loss of an officer, whose industry and abilities in the management of their finances have, for a period of sixteen years, been truly felt and appreciated. Of the facilities afforded by Theological Seminaries, for a due preparation for the sacred calling, a most important one is the founding and sustaining of a suitable Library. In relation to our own, your Board have the satisfaction of being able to state, that the arrangements alluded to in 1835, for its immediate and permanent increase, have been completed. Ten thousand dollars have been raised for this object, viz: Six thousand, by the subscriptions of donations of individuals, to be for ever held in trust by the Board, for a permanent endowment, paying interest semi-annually, at the rate of six per cent. per annum; and the balance of four thousand dollars, contributed for immediate investment in books, by a liberal grant from the Corporation of Trinity Church, in the city of New-York. In consequence of this endowment, and of donations in books from the friends of the Seminary, both at home and abroad, many and highly valuable additions have been made; the entire Library has been re-arranged, numbered, and compared with the Catalogues, and now consists of 6,775 printed volumes, being an increase of 2,704 since 1835. The General Convention were apprised in the last Triennial Report, of the important step taken by the Trustees in the commencement of an additional building, for the accominodation of Students. The Board are highly gratified to announce its completion and occupation, so far as to furnish (besides apartments for one of the Professors and his family) accommodations for one hun. dred and ten Students, a chapel, and commodious Lecture rooms in the first and basement stories. The stories above these, in the western wing, from the want of funds, remain in an unfinished state. In addition to the matters which have been stated, as having engaged the consideration of the Trustees, they have adopted (as will be perceived on refer. ence to their proceedings, copies of which accompany this report,) the following amendment of the III. Article of the Constitution, which they propose to the General Convention, and respectfully request their concurrence in it, as a part of the same : "It shall be competent for three Trustees, assembled at the time and place appointed for any stated or special meeting of the Board of Trustees, (if a quorum shall not be present,) to adjourn such meeting from day to day, or for any number of days, not exceeding at one time seven days; and any Board of Trustees, to be convened in pursuance of any such adjournment, shall be deemed to be legally convened and constituted, provided such Board be formed within ten days next after the time originally appointed for such stated or special meeting." From the statement of the Finances, now submitted, it will be seen that the Seminary is yet suffered, from year to year, to struggle with embarrassments on account of an inadequate income. The Trustees, in deliberating upon the most effectual means for the relief of this necessity, deemed it their duty, in the year 1837, to direct an appeal, to the Ministers and Vestries of Churches throughout the United States, for collections or contributions for the current expenses of the Seminary for the next five years. Most painful is it to record, that of the whole number of Episcopal Clergy men within the bounds of the United States, but about forty have responded to the call. If this non-compliance is owing to the impression, which has gone abroad, of the real property of the Seminary having become so productive as to stand in need of no efforts of ministerial zeal or individual liberality, the Trus. tees can do no more than earnestly and respectfully solicit attention to the financial statements contained in this report. These statements, showing that the annual income of such property is less than $500, expose the error of such a reliance, and justify the strong fears which their Finance Committee have recently been obliged to express: "that unless more general efforts are made to raise funds to meet the deficiency in the income of the Seminary, its present capital will soon be expended; great embarrassment in conducting the affairs of the Institution may then ensue, and the benefit now conferred by it upon the cause of religion and sound learning be greatly diminished." To avert such a result, a common duty rests upon our household of faith, from her highest to her humblest member. The Seminary has been established for the good of the whole Church, by the unanimous voice of the highest council of the Church. She has justified the expectations which were formed at her foundation, in a degree, which calls for our fervent gratitude to God. Upon this central school we have, in this western world, to depend as the chief source, of supplying an apostolic, well trained, and faithful ministry, to preach the comfortable doctrine of Christ, and to break down the kingdom of sin, Satan and death. Under this view, notwithstanding the disappointment experienced in the measures which have been formed to relieve the finances, the Trustees cannot abandon the hope, that the Clergy and Laity will embrace the first op portunity of sustaining them. By giving to this noble Institution their confi. dence, their patronage and their prayers, they may make her " an eternal excel. lency-a joy of many generations." To withhold heart and hand in the present crisis is to peril her honour and prosperity, and the increase, the strength, and the glory of the Church, for which the Saviour shed his blood. All which is respectfully submitted. HENRY ANTHON, Sec'y. Resolutions submitted to the General Convention. At an adjourned meeting of the Trustees of the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, held in Trinity Church, New-York, September 3d, 1838, the following Preamble and Resolu tions were adopted : Whereas, the continued and increasing deficiency of the income of the Seminary to meet its ordinary annual expenditure, imposes on the Board of Trustees the painful duty of resorting to early measures of retrenchment, in order to the preservation of the remaining capital fund, the necessary effect of which meas ures must be to abridge the means of Theological education now afforded to the students: And whereas, all the great interests of the Church at large, and especially those of the Missionary cause, are connected with the prosperity of this Institution, and deeply concerned in the maintenance and preservation of an enlarged and liberal system of instruction, by which to furnish a continued supply of faithful and efficient heralds of the Gospel: Therefore, 1. Resolved, That the present financial condition of the Seminary be earnestly recommended to the deliberate consideration of the General Convention, with a view to such action thereon, as in the wisdom of that body may appear most effectual in calling forth throughout the whole Church a more general co-ope. ration in sustaining the Institution. 2. Resolved further, That the attention of the General Convention be specially solicited to a consideration of the expediency of some general regulation, by which the relief of the Seminary during the continuance of its present urgent necessities may be embraced among the objects of those stated collections, which, in the shape of systematic charity offerings, or otherwise, are made in the various congregations of our Church. Allest, HENRY ANTHON, Sec'y. APPENDIX B. Conservator's Report to the General Convention of 1838. To the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the United States of America: The undersigned, appointed at the last General Convention Conservator of the Books, Manuscripts, &c., belonging to the Convention, begs leave respectfully to report— That since the last meeting of your Body, he has endeavoured diligently to fulfil the purposes of his appointment, and he is happy to say, that his efforts have not been without success. For the better understanding of his acts, he will arrange the particulars of what he has to report under separate heads. 1. Periodicals of the Church. In addition to those named in my former communication, printed on pp. 89-90, of the last Journal of this Convention, I have now to state, that I have continued to take, and preserve for the Church, "The Gambier Observer," 99 66 The Churchman," "The Episcopal Recorder," and The Southern Churchman." From the Rev. Dr. Rudd, editor of "The Gospel Messenger," printed in the Western part of New-York, I have received six volumes of that work as a present to the Collection, accompanied by a promise, that the rest of the work shall be hereafter given, so that the series shall be complete. "The Christian Witness," of Boston, and the "Chronicle of the Church," of New-Haven, have both been established since the last General Convention. Of these, the latter has been sent by the editor to me, and I have preserved it for the collection; for the former I have applied to one of the gentlemen interested in its publication, and there is no doubt that I shall get it. "The Charleston Gospel Messenger," and "Protestant Episcopalian," (of the former of which I have seven volumes, and of the latter four,) I would gladly have continued to take, but have not been able to encounter the expense. Neither have I, for the same reason, a file of "The Missionary," of New-Jersey. In truth, the periodicals of the Church have now become so numerous, that I fear, unless their respective proprietors will give them to the Convention, it will not be in my power longer to procure them. The subscription price, together with the postage, is a heavy tax. I would bear it cheerfully, if I could, but I am not in a condition to do so. Availing myself, however, of the privilege |