The record-union., 1893-05-20
Special to the RECoRD-UNIoS.

WASHINGTON, May l9.-Ihe attendance
at the second days session of the Presby-
terian General Assembly was fully as
large as that of yesterday. The annual
reports of the various church boards,
such as those on temperance, beneflcence,
missions, freedmen, etc, show encourage
ing results in every branch of the work
undertaken by the Presbyterian Church.
These reports will be taken up by the
General Assembly and considered from
time to time.
The report of the Committee on Tenn
perance contemplates with shame the
spectacle of vast national grogshop' at
the Worlds Fair, and favors the estab-
lishment by Congress of an impartial
commission to make inquiry concerning
the liquor traffic, such as has been pro-
vided for in bill passed several times
by the Senate, but defeated by the liquor
interest in the House.
The report emphasizes the statement
that the church is not a political organ
ization, but if the question of morals be-
comes a question of politics also, the
church will not be precluded on that ac-
count from dealing with it. The report also
HlOtSSLo az dAnSb lllG obCbA hlAC" II sio bAaO
army canteen," in which it is claimed
officers and soldiers are detailed to act as
saioon-keepers.
The report of the Committee on Sys-
tematic Benificence shows that the total
receipts of all the boards during the year
was s., 799, ,562, an increase over last year
of Sl7S, 765.
In the Sunday-school and foreign mis-
sion fields the year was one of prosperity
and development. Home mission work,
however, has not been so prosperous,
partly owing to the lack of funds and
partly owing to the increasing difficulty
of reaching the foreign and skeptical ele-
ment Of our population.
Rev. DIR. Duncan of the Episcopal
Church was introduced. He is a member
OF the Joint Committee on Church Unity.
He said that his committee had been in
session two days. There was four points
that the Episcopal Church deemed essen
tial to basis of union. on three Of these
they were practically agreed and the
fourth involved largely a difference in
terms. He prophesied, therefore, unity in
the not distant future.
pointment of committee to formulate
the expression of opinion on the Chinese
Exclusion Act as it affects foreign mis-
sionary work. Adopted.
After routine business was disposed of
eX-Moderator Young projected into the
proceedings the first of the important
questions before the Assembly, the re-
port of the Committee on the Relation of
the Assembly to Theological Seminaries.
The committee says: at was evidenced
at the time of the formation of the first
theological seminary in the Presbyterian
Church that it was the purpose of the
church to maintain direct and complete
control by it's General Assembly of the
teachings and property of its theological
seminaries. AS the church grew in
numbers with the growth of the country
other seminaries and schools We're
formed, some of them on substantially
the same plan as were those at Princeton,
Western, Mccormick, Danville and
Omaha. Other seminaries. organized
under different plans, became connected
with the church. Union and Lane were
typical of two classes and Auburn and
San Francisco of other classes. While
the Union and Lane are regarded as in
connection with the Presbyterian Church,
the church has no control of any kind
over the teaching or property of these
seminaries, and can afford the donors of
funds to them no protection in the matter
of applying their gifts to the purposes for
which they were made. The Auburn
seminary is controlled by certain pres
byteries and San Francisco by certain
synods.'
The committee says that it came to no
conclusion as to what method should be
adopted by the church. either by securing
more effective control over the property
and teachings existing in the seminaries.
or the securing of control of the teachings
and property of future seminaries.
Elder Thomas McDougall of Cincinnati
who largely drafted the report, saidIhe
believed the time had come in the matter
of the control of the theological semina-
riesI when the genius of the Presbyterian
Church should be at least equal to the
executive ability displayed in ordinary
business, and if any teacher employed
for specific purpose at a specific salary
should, for any reason, become unit to
discharge his duties, way might be
found to dispense with his services with
out splitting up the church. [Applause !
The report was approved, and the COM
mittee continued.
Rev Charles A. Dickey, Chairman of
the special Committee of Judicial Com
missions, reported in favor of sending an
overture down to presbyteries tor a
change in Chapter NIL, Section lis, so as
to provide that the General Assembly,
each synod and presbytery shall have
power to appoint judicial commissions
from their respective bodies in numbers
OF not less than eighteen from the GEN
eral Assembly, twelve from any synod
and seven from any presbytery, all judi
cial cases to be submitted TO such COM
missions, and their decisions shall be
subject to reversal only by superior
judicatory, except in matters of law,
which shall be referred to the appointing
iudicatory for adjudication, and also that
all matters relating TO the constitution
and doctrine may be reviewed in the APP
pointing body and by the superior judi
catory.
Rev. DR.. Smith, Chairman of the Com
rnittee on Church Unity, reported that it
f0 6rn1N 81, tI,-