The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-17
Preparations for the Meeting
in this City-The Prelimi-
nary Organization and
Opening Exercises r
The Work Before
1.-THE Leading
Questions and
Qa Its Probable .s-aa
ETC.. ETC.. ETC.. ETC.. Etc.

Thursday May 10, is the day fixed for the
meeting in this city of the first General Assem-
by of the Reunited Presbyterian Church, an
event of great Importance and significance, not
Eonly to the communion which it more directly
concerns, but to the Christian world at larges I.
The First Of the Reunited
will possess an absorbing interest, not only from
the fact that for the first time in a generation
the representatives of the Church come together
in perfect harmony and without the semblance
of dscord, but also by reason of the vast
amount Of labor that will be required to con-
solidate the union and reorganize all the
machinery of the denomination. Four different
churches OF this city sent invitations to the
adjourned meetings of the last Assemblies held
in Pittsburg to have the General Assembly of
this year held in them, and very appropriately
the First Presbyterian Church, at the corner of
Seventh street and South Washington Square,
which fguered so conspicuously in the disrup-
ton, was selected. The adjourned meetings of
the two Assemblies, at which the union was con-
summated, were held in Pittsburg, because, as
the charters of both bodies were derived from the
Legislature of Pennsylvania it was deemed ex-
pedient to have the reunion take place within
the same political jurisdiction, and the same
argument had due weight in causing Philadel-
phia to be selected for the meeting of the first
General Assembly under the reunion.
The sixth and concluding article of the basis
of reunion, which will be found in full below,
provides that each presbytery of the separate
Churches shall be entitled TO the same represen-
tation in the Assembly of the United Church in
1870 as it is entitled to in the Assembly with
which it is now connected" AS the last "Old
School" Assembly alone numbered about three
ma apnha nd he ggNavu SohanlO oh
two hundred and forty, the first Assembly of the
reunited Church will prove rather unwieldy
body. Heretofore the two Assemblies have con-
sisted of one clerical and one lay delegate
ally Ruling Elder-from each Presbytery
represented and of an additional clerical and
lay delegate from each Presbytery comprising
more than twenty-four churches. Practically,
however the attendance of lay Delegates was
seldom or never equal to that of ministers, but
the total number of late has been about the
same as last year. This ratio will have to be
raised and it ia probable that after the session
of the approaching Assembly the extra dele
gates-or commissioners, as they are called
will be allowed only to such Presbyteries as in
clude more than thirty-six churches, thus re-
ducing the total membership of the Assembly by
about one-third.
The Philadelphia Delegates.
The five Presbyteries into which this city and
the Immediately surrounding territory are
divided are entitled to eleven ministerial and
the same number of lay delegates. The names
| of these delegates are as follows:-
! PHILADELPHIA PREsBYTERY (oLD SCHOOL,.
Ministers. Ratia9 Elders
| Rev w. p. Breed, ID. ID. j. 4. Thomas
PHILADELPHIA CENTRAL PREsBYTERY (oLD soHooL).
! Rev. g. w Musgraye, D.D. Hon. James Pollock,
Rev. ID. A Cunningham. Hon. j. Ross Snowden.
PHILADELPHIA SECOND PREsBYTERY (oLD SCHOOL,
| Rev. M. G. Ralston, DID. G. r.. Fox,
| Rev. Thomas Murphy, Robert Cornelius
| PHILADELPHIA THIRD PREsBYTRRY (HBw scHooL)
Rev @. f. Wiswel ID. d. Hon. William Strong
| Rev Charles Brown. Hon. Joseph Allison.
| PHILADELPHIA FOURTH PREsBYTKRY (NEw sCHO0L).
Rev. James Y. Mitchell, General < N. Gregory
Rev. James Wood. j. Hilderburn.
Drs. Musgraye and Wiswell have been two o
the most prominent advocates of reunion, anS