PART VI. OF THE FUNDS AND THE TRUSTEES. CHAPTER I. OF THE MISSIONARY FUND. Sect. 1. Resolutions on the subject, in 1791. THE committee appointed to devise a method to raise a permanent fund for the support of Missionaries and for the other purposes of the General Assembly, made the following report: viz. The committee of finance beg leave to report, that in the opinion of your committee the common expenses of the General Assembly, and of supporting its missionaries, ought to be made a common burden, and equalized as far as possible; that for this purpose a general and permanent arrangement ought to be made on this subject: they, therefore, submit the following resolutions : viz. Resolved 1st. That it be enjoined on the several Presbyteries subordinate to this Assembly, that they take effectual measures to collect money annually from all the churches under their jurisdiction, and to forward the same yearly to the treasurer of the General Assembly, with the name and state of their churches settled and vacant, and the sum received from each. 2. That the several Synods use their endeavours to promote this collection; and that for this purpose they annually call the Presbyteries of which they are composed to account and inquire into their diligence herein. The Presbyteries shall do the like with respect to their members, as often as occasion may require. 3. That the monies so collected shall be placed in one fund, and appropriated to defraying the in cidental expenses of the General Assembly and the expenses of the commissioners at a reasonable allowance to each, according to the distance from which he comes-provided, that the sum allowed to each commissioner shall not execed one dollar for every forty miles in coming to and returning from the Assembly, and half a dollar per day for his expenses during the time, he shall attend his duty in the Assembly: and whereas, this Assembly has it much at heart to supply with the means of eternal life, the multitudes, who are ready to perish on the frontiers of the United States, and have already adopted temporary expedients for that purpose; and as the demand is likely to be permanent and should be supplied by permanent funds; therefore, Resolved, 4. That the Synod of Virginia and of the Carocontinue to prosecute the plans for this pur ས pose, which they have formed, or may form, under the direction and allowance of the General Assembly; and account annually for their conduct, and report their success in this business. 5. That the Presbyteries composing the Synods of New York and New Jersey, and that of Philadelphia, use their best endeavours to forward yearly to the general treasurer a collection from each of their churches settled and vacant, with an account of the sums received from each; and that those Synods be enjoined to see that the said Presbyteries do their duty in respect to this collection. The fund thence arising to be applied to the support of Missionaries to preach the gospel, organize churches, and administer ordinances on the frontier parts of the United States, and to no other purpose whatever, save that each fund shall be equally charged with the expense of the necessary printing done by order of the General Assembly. 6. This Assembly, presuming on the concurrence of its successors, do resolve, lastly, that there shall be printed annually, or as often as shall be thought expedient, a statement of the receipts and expenditures arising from said collections; in which shall be detailed all the churches settled and vacant, the sum, (if any) received from each, for what purpose received, and how applied. And that each Presbytery shall be furnished with at least as many copies as there are churches subordinate thereto, to be transmitted to the churches for their information and satisfaction. All which is submitted, &c.—Vol. I. p. 38–40. Sect. 2. A Plan for managing the funds proposed by the Trustees, in 1800. The Assembly resumed the consideration of the subjects contained in the communication of the corporation for managing their funds, and agreed that the following objects deserve consideration: viz. 1st. The gospelizing of the Indians on the frontiers of our country-connected with a plan for their civilization, the want of which, it is believed, has been a great cause of the failure of former attempts to spread Christianity among them. The ideas of the president of the corporation, delivered in his addres at their first meeting, would on this point deserve a serious attention. 2nd. The instruction of the negroes, the poor and those who are destitute of the means of grace in various parts of this extensive country: whoever contemplates the situation of this numerous class of persons in the United States, their gross ignorance of the plainest principles of religion, their immorality and profaneness, their vices and dissoluteness of manners, must be filled with anxiety for their present welfare, and above all for their future and eternal happiness. 3d. The purchasing and disposing of bibles; and also of books and short essays on the great principles of religion and morality, calculated to impress the minds of those to whom they are given with a sense of their duty both to God and man, and consequently of such a nature as to arrest the attention, interest the curiosity and touch the feelings of those to whom they are given. 4th. The provision of a fund for the more complete instruction of candidates for the gospel ministry previously to their licensure. The want of this having been a subject of general inconvenience, it would deserve consideration, whether it would not be both easy and practicable to appoint a number of professors of theology, (perhaps one in each Synod,) to whom the candidates might resort as a matter of choice, though not of necessity; which professors might immediately be provided with a suitable library, (the property of the corporation,) and receive a small salary, to be augmented as their labours increase and the funds are extended. It would be a most desirable extension of this plan, if the funds could be rendered adequate to furnish partly or wholly the means of subsistence to the candidates for the ministry who may need such assistance, during the time of their attendance on the professors. As to the means and methods by which the funds necessary to the compassing of these objects may be provided, the following ideas are suggested: 1st. The continuance of the annual contributions which are now ordered, and which, it may be fairly presumed, will be abundantly more productive than they now are, when it is known that the objects here specified are in the view of the Assembly. For it has been found by experience that there is among the people generally a great readiness and freedom to contribute, and that with liberality, to the promotion of every plan calculated to spread the gospel among those who are deprived of its blessings. 2nd. The appointment of two or more suitable persons to travel through the country to solicit and receive donations for the purposes that have been mentioned. The expenses of such persons to be paid them, a small compensation to be allowed |