The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-05-28
PRESBYTERIAN REUNION.
The Plan AdOpeed by the Two Assemblies i'm
New YOrk-Full Text of the Joint Commit
tees Report.
/. 4.


The Plan AdOpeed by the Two Assemblies in
New YOrlx-Full Text of the Joint Commit
tees Report.
This is the plan agreed upon by the joint COM
mittee of the Old and New School Presbyterian
Assemblies now in New York as a basis of re-
union. Last evening it was adopted
PLAN OF REUNION.
''Believng that the interests of the Redeemer's
Kingdom would be promoted by the healing of
our divisions, and that the two bodies bearing
the same name, having the same constitution,
and each recognizing the other as u sound and
orthodox body, according to the principles of
the confession common to both, cannot be justi-
fed by any but the most imperative reasons in
maintaining separate and, in some respects,
rival organizations, we are now clearly of the
opinion that the reunion of those bodies ought,
as soon as the necessary steps can be taken, to
be accomplished upon the basis hereinafter set
forth:-
81. The Presbyterian Churches in the United
States of America, namely that whose General
Assembly convened in the Brick Church in the
city of New York on the Goth day of May, 1869,
and that whose General Assembly met in the
Church of the Covenant in the said city on the
same day. shall be reunited as one Church, under
the name and style of the Presbyterian Church
in the United States of America, possessing al
the legal and corporate rights and powers per-
tanning to the Church previous to the division in
1885, and all the legal and corporate rights and
powers which the separate churches nowpossess,
-. The reunion shall be effected on the doc
standards; the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments shall be acknowledged to be the in
spired Word of God, and the only infallible rule
| of faith and practice; the Confession of Faith
| shall continue to be sincerely received and
adopted as containing the system of doctrine
| taught in the Holy Scriptures; and the govern
| ment and discipline of the Presbyterian Church
in the United States shall be approved as con-
| tanning the principles and rules of our polity.
''3. Each of the said Assemblies shall submit
| the foregoing basis to its Presbyteries, which
| shall be required to meet on or before the 18th
| day of October, 1869, to express their approval
or disapproval of the same by n categorical an
swer to the following questions
| do you approve of the reunion of the two
| bodies now claiming the name and rights OF the
| Presbyterian Church in the Uuited States of
| America, on the following basis, namely:-The
| reunion shall be effected on the dOctrinal and
| ecclesiastical basis of our common standard;
| the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments
| shall be acknowledged to be the inspired word
| of God, and the only infallible rule of faith
| and practice; the Confession of faith shall con-
| tinue to be sincerely received and adopted as
| containing the system of doctrine taught in the
| Holy Scriptures; and the government and dis
| cpline of the Presbyterian Church in the United
| States shall be approved containing the prin-
| ciples and rules OF our pOlity.
Each Presbytery shall, before the 1st day of
! November, 1869 forward to the Stated Clerk of
| the General Assembly with which it is con-
nected, statement of its vote on the said Basis
| of Reunion.
| ~. The said General Assemblies now sitting
shall, after finishing their business, adjourn to
meet in the city of Pittsburg Pennsylvania, on
the second Wednesday of November, 1869, at IL
| o'clock A. NJ.
IF the two General Assemblies shall then find
| and declare that the abOVe-named Basis of Re-
union has been approved by two-thirds of the
| Presbyteries connected with each branch of the
| Church, then the same shall be of binding force,
| and the two Assemblies shall take action accord
| ingly
% The said General Assemblies shall then
| and there make provision for the meeting of the
| General Assembly of the United Church on the
third Thursday of May, 1870. The Moderators
| of the two present Assemblies shall jointly pre-
side mt the Assembly of 1870 until another Mode
rator is chosen. The Moderator of the Assem-
| blv now sitting at the Brick Church aforesaid
shall if present, put all votes, decide questions
| of order and the Moderator of the other Assem-
blv shall, if present, preach the opening sermon;
and the stated clerks of the present Assemblies
| shall act as stated clerks of the Assembly of the
United Church until stated clerk or clerks
shall have been chosen thereby; and no COM
missioner shall have right to vote or deliberate
in said Assembly until his name shall have been
enrolled by the said clerks, and his commission
examined and filed among the papers of the
Assembly.
sc. Each Presbytery Of the separate churches
shall be entitled to the same representation in
the Assembly of the United Church in 1870 as
It is entitled to in the Assembly with which II is
now connected"
CONCURRENT DECLARATIONS.
"As there are matters pertaining to the inte-