"Approved the twenty-first day of April, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five. "JAMES POLLOCK." -Minutes, 1855, pp. 53, 54. 5. The Trustees. "As trustees of the Presbyterian House, the following individuals were elected: John A. Brown, M. W. Baldwin, Charles S. Wurts, Samuel H. Perkins, John C. Farr, Rev. Albert Barnes, Rev. Thomas Brainerd, D.D., Rev. Benjamin J. Wallace, Rev. Henry Darling, and Rev. David H. Riddle, D.D."-Minutes, 1855, p. 29. 6. The Legal Title secured through the Liberality of John A. Brown, Esq. "Resolved, That the General Assembly notice with pleasure the manifestation of promptness and liberality in the president of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian House, John A. Brown, Esq., of Philadelphia, who, by a munificent donation, has secured to the trustees the legal title of the Presbyterian House."-Minutes, 1857, p. 410. SECTION 6.-THE EDUCATION COMMITTEE. 1. Formation of the Permanent Committee. Located in New York. Consisting of fifteen, seven of whom must reside in or near New York. Five constitute a quorum. Classes and term of office. Duties of the committee. The Synods and Presbyteries urged to co-operate. Plans of co-operation.-2. Organization and report of the committee. Plan for aiding beneficiaries, adopted.-3. The plan of the committee endorsed and commended. The charter approved and accepted. Candidates to retain their Church and Presbyterial relations unchanged during their studies. The act of incorporation.-4. The plan again commended. No student ought to receive from educational funds a larger appropriation than is contemplated by the plan of the Assembly. The endowment of scholarships urged.-5. The committee instructed to continue their work, and to revise the plan and submit it to the Presbyteries. 1. Formation of the Permanent Committee. [In 1854, the committee reported a plan, which was adopted, and which will be found substantially merged in the following action of 1856. See Minutes, 1854, pp. 506, 507.] "The special committee, to whom was referred the report of the Permanent Committee on the education of young men for the Gospel ministry, presented a report, which was adopted, and is as follows: "The committee to whom was referred the reports of the Committee on Education, and of the several education societies co-operating with this Assembly, respectfully report, that, having carefully considered the resolutions proposed by the Committee on Education, they would recommend their adoption by the Assembly, with divers alterations and additions, in the following form: "Resolved, 1. That a committee of fifteen ministers and members of the Presbyterian Church, of whom five shall be laymen, shall be appointed by the General Assembly, to be called The Permanent Committee on Education for the Ministry; seven at least of whom shall reside in or near the city of New York, which shall be the seat of its operations. Five members of this committee shall constitute a quorum; but for the election of a secretary of education, or for action upon his salary, a majority shall be necessary to constitute a quorum. "Resolved, 2. This committee, as thus constituted, shall divide itself into three equal classes,—the first, second, and third,-whose terms of office shall expire respectively in one, two, and three years. The General Assembly shall annually elect, after its first organization, five members of this committee for three years, to fill such vacancies. It shall also fill any vacancy which may have occurred in the other classes. The committee shall have power to fill any vacancies occurring in the interval between the sessions of two Assemblies, for such an interval. "Resolved, 3. The duties of the Assembly's committee shall be, to superintend the whole cause of education in behalf of the Assembly; to appoint a general secretary; to determine his salary and direct his movements; and also a treasurer, to take charge of the funds which may be collected and paid into the treasury, for the purposes of education; to devise and adopt such principles, rules, and regulations, in reference to aiding candidates for the ministry, as they shall deem proper and feasible; to receive and disburse funds raised within the bounds of the Presbyterian Church or elsewhere, and, when so directed by the donors, to invest funds for the purposes of ministerial education; to take the general oversight of such beneficiaries as receive assistance directly from the treasury of the committee; to make a full annual report of all that has been done, so far as they can learn, throughout the Church in behalf of education for the ministry;-in a word, to do all that is proper and neces sary to the development of an educational spirit and activity throughout the Church, and the successful prosecution of this great and important cause of Christian benevolence. "Resolved, 4. It shall be the duty of the secretary of Education to visit, as far as may be, the Synods, Presbyteries, and churches throughout our bounds, for the purpose of awakening the interest and concentrating the energies of the whole Church; to visit the colleges and seminaries where young men, aided by the Permanent Committee, are pursuing their studies, for the purpose of counsel and encouragement, and for the purpose of presenting to young men the claims of the ministry upon them; to present the cause to the churches and collect funds as directed by the Assembly's committee; and to make a quarterly report, in writing, of his labors to the said committee. 66 Resolved, 5. The treasurer of the committee shall render quarterly accounts of all moneys received and disbursed; and he shall pay out no moneys, unless thus directed by a written order of the committee, which order or orders shall constitute his vouchers. "Resolved, 6. The Synods, Presbyteries, and churches are earnestly requested to co-operate with the Assembly's committee in a work of such urgent and inestimable importance; to correspond with them on all points, where mutual sympathy and action are necessary to bring up the cause to its legitimate position in the prayers and efforts of God's people; to search out candidates for the ministry within their respective bounds, and to raise funds necessary for their support while in a course of preparation for the sacred office. It is particularly urged upon them to take up an annual collection in behalf of the education cause, which, if not required within their own bounds, may be transmitted to the treasury of the Assembly's committee, to be used for the support of such beneficiaries as may be under their patronage. "Resolved, 7. Synods, Presbyteries, and churches may, at their own. election, carry forward educational operations within their bounds, through their own agencies and local organizations, and assist their young men directly from their own funds, and according to their own rules and regulations, or operate through the Assembly's committee, contributing their funds to the general treasury, and placing their candidates under the patronage and supervision of the said committee. Where the former of these methods is adopted, it is very desirable that a yearly report be made to the Permanent Committee, in order that the combined results of the whole cause may appear in the committee's annual report to the General Assembly. "Resolved, 8. The Permanent Committee shall be empowered to make such arrangements with the Central American Education Society at New York, and the Philadelphia Education Society at Philadelphia, as shall insure, if possible, the harmonious co-operation of these societies in the work of educating men for the Gospel ministry. "Resolved, 9. It is recommended that the young men aided by the Assembly's committee, be ordinarily placed as soon as possible under the care of Presbyteries; and that in all ordinary cases they be licensed, if convenient, by the Presbyteries to which they naturally belong. [See Form of Government, chap. xiv, sec. 2.] "Resolved, 10. That it be recommended that the annual collection in aid of education for the ministry be taken up on the Sabbath succeeding the day of prayer for colleges; and it is also recommended that an appropriate sermon be preached on the occasion of that collection. "Resolved, 11. That the Presbyteries be directed to report to the General Assembly the amounts contributed by the several churches. under their care, in aid of the education of young men for the ministry, and that the said sums be placed in a separate column in the statistical minutes of the Assembly. "The following were appointed the Education Committee, in accordance with the above resolutions: Rev. John J. Owen, D.D., Rev. George L. Prentiss, D.D., Rev. Asa D. Smith, D.D., Mr. Jesse W. Benedict, Mr. Anson G. Phelps, Mr. Joseph B. Sheffield, Mr. Walter S. Griffith, Mr. William A. Booth, Rev. John Jenkins, Rev. George Duffield, Jr., Hon. William Darling, Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, D.D., Rev. Henry Smith, D.D., Rev. Harvey Curtis, and Hon. William Jessup, LL.D."-Minutes, 1856, pp. 222-224. 2. Organization and Report of Committee. Plan for aiding Beneficiaries. "The Standing Committee, to whom was referred the report of the Permanent Committee on Education for the Ministry, respectfully report, recommending the adoption of the following resolutions: "Resolved, 1. The General Assembly recognizes, with gratitude to God, the organization of the Permanent Committee on Education for the Ministry, and the appointment of a General Secretary, Rev. Thornton A. Mills, D.D., who has entered on the duties of his office; also, the fact that the report of the committee presents and enforces the foundation principles of this work, especially in its relation to churches and Presbyteries. "Resolved, 2. The Assembly, deeply impressed with the importance of a plan of action which shall develop the resources of the whole Church, 'and bring each section of the Church to the work of training its own ministry, adopts the arrangement recommended in the report of the Permanent Committee, with some additions and alterations, in the following form: "1. It is the duty of the Church, in obedience to the Saviour's last command to preach the Gospel to every creature, to give constant and becoming attention to the increase of the ministry. "2. The Presbyterian Church, in its congregations, Sessions, Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assembly, possesses a superior system of means for conducting this work in a most successful manner. "3. It is particularly desirable that each Presbytery should make the subject of the ministry a topic of serious consideration in its stated meetings, at least once every year, and adopt arrangements to have presented to the churches, through their own ministers as far as possible, the wants of our Church, our country, and the world, in this respect; to press on young men their duty to give themselves to this work; on parents their obligation to dedicate their children to it, and train them for it; and on individual churches their privilege and duty to see that all their sons, who give promise of suitable qualifications for the ministry, are sought out and encouraged to enter it; to make adequate provision for the education of all such as are in circumstances to need their aid, and who show by their characters and improvement that they are worthy of it; and to see that in each church an annual collection is made in behalf of this cause. "4. It is important that the claims of the Christian ministry on pious. young men, in a course of education, should be publicly presented once every year in all the colleges within our bounds; and it is recommended that the general secretary, in connection with the officers in these institutions, secure the performance of this service. "5. While the General Assembly does not design to interfere with the action of separate churches and Presbyteries, or the combined action of a number of them in their synodical capacity, it decidedly recommends its Permanent Committee as the bond of union and medium of |