The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1875-02-03
For THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.
REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE COM
MITTEE.
REFORMED CHURCH AND SOUTHERN PRES
BYTERIAN CHURCH.

in America, having been directed by their
respective bodies, to "receive the plans pre-
pared by the Boards and Committees" of
the respective Churches, and to modify as
far as necessary and harmonize them all in
one comprehensive scheme of cooperative
union" respectfully report, that they met
for that purpose in the city of New York on
the 18th day of January, 1875, and after q
series of harmonious joint.sessions, agreed
upon the following scheme, which was after
wards duly approved by each Committee in
its separate session, and is accordingly re-
commended by each for adoption by its own
General Assembly or General Synod:
For the purpose of perfecting as far as
possible the scheme of cooperation which, in
outline, was agreed upon by the General AS
sembly of the Presbyterian Church in the
United States, and the General Synod of the
Reformed Church in America in the sessions
of 1874, it is further'agreed and ordered by
these two bodies that actual cooperation in
denominational work be begun between them
in the following particulars
1. PUBLICATION.
1. The publishing house of each denomi-
nation shall be agent and depository for the
sale of the publications of the other denom
nation. The details of such agencies and
the commercial terms upon which they shall
be conducted, shall be adjusted between the
Board and Committee having charge of that
department of church work.
2. The same Board and Committee are
empowered to unite in the publication of
child's paper, upon which, when issued, they
are directed to put the imprint of both de
nominations.
IL HOME MISSIONS.
Inasmuch as the work which the Assem-
bly's Sustentation Committee is doing for
the evangelzation of the colored population
of the South justly makes larger demands
upon the help of the Reformed Church, than
any part of the Domestic Missionary work
of the last named Church can, at this time,
make upon the help of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States, it is recon
mended that the members of the Reformed
Church consider with great sympathy that
department of the Assembly's Home Mis-
sionary work, and send their contributions
to that general cause to the treasury of the
Assemblys Committee. A particular sc-
count of the receipt and use of all sums thus |
cntroibuted shall be made to the Board of Do |
mestc Missions of the Reformed Church.
III. FOREIGN MISSIONS.
L. The principle announced in the general
plan adopted by the Assembly and the Syn
cd in 1874, namely that contiguous Foreign |
Missions of the two Churches ought to aim
at I" the establishment of one united Church,
shall be carried into practice whenever such |
contiguity shall exist; apd it is accordingly |
ordered that where any missionary church
es under the care of the Board and Commit |
tee of the two denominations are or shall be |
so near to each other as to admit of practical
and profitable ecclesiastical relations Of any |
sort, those churches shall for all the purposes
of such relations between themselves treat |
each other as though they had been plant |
ed and nurtured by one and the same de-
nomination. And this agreement is made,
not only for the sake of expressing, as it |
does, the confidence which these two Amer
lean denominations have in each other; but
chiefly with the view of contributing to the |
establishment in each missionary country of
native Church that shall grow from its own
root.
2. When the missions of either Church
shall stand in need of men who cannot be
supplied from the ministry of that Church,
information of such need shall be given by
the Board or Committee of the one Church
to that of the other, whose duty it shall there
upon be to discover, if possible, and to recon
mend from among the ministers of its own
body person or persons suitable for such ap-
pointment; and young men in either Church
who contemplate the work of Foreign Missions
shall upon recommendation from the Board
or Committee of their own Church, be as ell
igible to appointment by that of the other as
by their own. The person or persons SO re-
commended and appointed shall in every case
come under the care and direction of the
Board or Committee from which they shall
receive appointment; but they shall not be
required to transfer their ecclesiastical rela-
tions to any American Presbytery or Chassis
of the body into whose missionary service
they thus shall come.
3. 1t is recommended to the professors in
the Theological Seminaries of the respective
denominations, to the students and the So
cieties of Enquiry, that they in every way
encourage an equal acquaintance with the
Missions of the two Churches, in order that
the presentation thus made of variety of
acceptable fields may give scope and stimu-
lation to the missionary spirit of the theo.
logical students of both denominations.
4. To this end, and also for the increase
of general sympathy between the Churches
in regard to this very important form of
Christian work. it is ordered that the Board