#558 
 
 111 
 
BENEFICIARY 
 
 MINISTERIAL EDUCATION; 
 
 THB 8TJB8TANOB OF A. RBPORT ADOPTED BT T3B 
 
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
 AT ITS gESSIONi IB 
 
 CHARLOTTE, N. C, 
 la May, 1864. 
 
 PREPARED BT T B: B 
 
 &EV. JOSEPH R. WILSON, D. D., AUOUSTA, OA,, 
 
 ind Published by Order of the Assembly. 
 
 RICHMOND: 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION, 
 
 1864. 
 
Na 6L 
 
 BENEFICIARY 
 MINISTERIAL EDUCATION. 
 
 There never has been a time, in the history of the Presby- 
 terian Church, when there was serious difference of opinion 
 touching the necessity of an educated Ministry. From the 
 •earliest period of her existence, she has, by every form of 
 official action possible to such a. testimony, uttered a distinct ■ 
 And emphatic voice in behalf of the highest standard ©f men- 
 tal quali notion on the part of those who were chosen to 
 .preach the Gospel from her saered desks. Whilst, indeed, no 
 Church has more strenuously insisted upon the unspeakable 
 importance of healthy and vigorous piet: in the pulpit ; yet 
 none has been .more determined to possess a pulpit character- 
 ised by something more and better than the impatient aead, 
 the unguarded Enthusiasm, and the heated impulses, in which 
 mere vehemence of religious emotions is so apt, when left to 
 itself, to waste its fires; — a pulpit where saintly ardor of soul 
 shall be tempered and directed by discipline of mind, breadth 
 of knowledge and accuracy of scholarship. 
 
 Regarding, therefore, the conclusions of the Church with 
 reference to this vital point, as sound and irreversible, our at- 
 tention is now fixed upon another branch ef the subject of 
 Ministerial training, to which the wisdom of our denomina- 
 tion has been long directed, but where the decision* of that 
 wisdom has not appeared so satisfactory to all good men. # We 
 are to consider, in some of its respects, the great question of 
 * beneficiary education ; ' and particularly, whether that schemd* 
 of stipendiary schooling, with whose details o\ir connection 
 with the Presbyterian Church in the former United States 
 has rendered us familiar, is the best one for us, in our new 
 condition as a separate ecclesiastical organization, to continue. " 
 It will be recollected that the General Assembly which coa- 
 2 
 
 *PnDD n % n 
 
4 MINISTERIAL EDUCATION* 
 
 vened (December, 18G1,) in the city of Augusta, unanimous- 
 ly passed a serie3 of resolutions, "solemnly re-affirming the 
 deliverances made in our former connection, concerning the 
 responsibility that rests on the Church to secure and main- 
 tain for itself a pious, gifted, and learned Ministry: and in 
 conformity with this re-affirmation, appointed " an Executive 
 Committee to aid Candidates for the Gospel. Ministry* who 
 tnay need assistance/' chose a " Secretary of Education," and 
 did all other things that we required to set in motion a sys- 
 tem whose operation migbt impart efficiency to this arm of 
 the Church's usefulness. There is now raised, not simply the 
 question : shall the scheme of beneficiary education, so long 
 in prosperous use by the Old Assembly, and so much in favor 
 throughout the entire country, be set aside for a new and alto- 
 gether different plan ? But. in addition, the enquiry is stated : 
 shall the solemn action of oar own initiative Assembly which 
 formally contained a substantial adoption of this tried scheme, 
 be, before three years have elapsed, and, time has been allowed 
 to test its value under changed conditions — shall this, too, be 
 swept away for the inauguration of some policy wholly foreign 
 and novel ? The fact that onr first Executive Committee of 
 Education was suddenly arrested in their word by the paraly- 
 sis of war, and compelled even' to disband, almost at the be- 
 ginning of their career; and the additional fact that the new 
 Committee appointed in their stead have been unable, owing 
 to continuance of the same causes which operated at the out- 
 set, to much more than maintain a nominal existence ; — this 
 state of facts, throwing us back to the point whence the ori- 
 ginal Assembly started, would appear to offer an opportunity 
 for reviewing the whole subject, as auspicious as if nothing 
 whatever had been done. But still, that Assembly did act ; 
 and its action was, 'no doubt, as maturely considered by that 
 body as it could have been, had it been assured beforehand 
 that the fairest and fullest play would have been secured to 
 it proposed policy by every favoring circumstance of peace.* 
 It ought; therefore, to be only under the stress of solemn 
 convictions of duty whose path is illuminated by light which 
 our brightest comet did not possess in 1861, that its successor 
 in 1864 should undertake to reverse its decisions in a matter 
 so grave and vital, or even suggest a material alteration in the 
 
 t> * The following [Art V of the Constitution of the Education Commit- 
 tee organized at Augusta,) indicates the principal basis of the plan: "It 
 shall be the duty of this Committee to dispense aid, in prosecuting their 
 education, to such Candidates for the Gospel Ministry as may be recom- 
 mended to them by the Presbyteries It shall hold and disburse all funds 
 put into its hands for this purpose. It shall also have n general oversight 
 of the diligence and deportment of those who are aided by It." 
 
MUflSTEMAL EDUCATION, . 5 
 
 great law of tho Church touching this matter. The Church 
 should be slow to alter where alteration is not demanded by 
 the detection of serious error, or the discovery of some hith- 
 erto unsuspected .truth. In permanency reposes strength. 
 
 If\s believed, however, that thej who most desire to sefi 
 the whole field of beneficiary education again explored, have 
 difficulties to examine and to remove that lie back of evor$' 
 possihjo scheme. These d fficulties attach toc^tain injurious 
 consequences involved in tlu; policy which exhibits its essen- 
 tial character in the use of the word " beneficiary. 1 * It is 
 thought by many that there should be no ecclesiastical rccog? 
 nition of wdfgaiey in Candidates for the Ministry ; and that 
 (the Church has no authority to bestow benefits, out of her mea- 
 gre treasury, upon aspirants to the sacred office who aro too 
 poor to help themselves. They would, therefore, disencum- 
 ber the Church altogether from the charge of their mainten- 
 ance, a^d tli row this burden where (say they) it honestly 
 belongs, i.e. upon, the students, themselves ; a measure which 
 would necessarily revolutionize the whole subject of Ministe- 
 rial education aa it has been heretofore understood. 
 
 The confusion of thought which has resulted from tho use 
 of the word "beneficiary/ 3 as applied "to qualify the educa- 
 tion we are considering, and many of the difficulties which 
 serve to obstruct the Church's path of duty in the .premises, 
 would be removed if a clear statement of her relation to the 
 Candidate could be authoritatively made by the General As- 
 sembly. It U expressed with sufficient distinctness in tho 
 following proposition: a proposition that, we feel confident, 
 indicates the real belief of the great body of God's people 
 touching this point. It is this: Ecery Candidate for the Gos- 
 pel Ministry docs, in' sundering the ties which connected him with 
 secular avoeati ns, so far dedicate himself to the service of God 
 intlie Chinch, as to entitle him to expect at hei hands the education 
 ivhtch he may yet need for that service ; and he is, therefor!) n:t 
 to be regarded by the Church or by himself, in the light of an ob- 
 ject of charily, but as a laborer already occupyin / a place in the 
 field of Ministerial duty. This statement it is not proposed to 
 elaborate at any length, Whan once announced it immedi- 
 ately commends its self-evidencing truth to every thinker. It 
 sets aside, ..1 together, the common notion, that a reception of 
 pecuniary aid by the Candidate, when such aid is administered' 
 by the authority of the Church, places the recipient in the at- 
 titude of beggary ^nd the bestGwer in the attitude of bene- 
 facture; a notion cruelly unjust to the Candidate, dishonoring 
 to the Church herself, and opposed to every intelligent idea of 
 the Ministerial work, which, from the first step of incipient 
 
 *T5 <~7 o «•% i r> 
 
6 MINISTERIAL EDUCATION; • 
 
 Candidacy to the last steps of fhe preacher'* finished labors, 
 righteously demands for the spiritual workman his hire: and 
 this, too, by the express ordinance of God. ^he association 
 of charity, therefore, with the subject of beneficiary education, 
 is uncalled for, and is plainly injurious to tike honor of yiat , 
 blessed Master who will have no man whom He calls into* the 
 immediate service of the Church, and thus of JJimscif, be 
 came the bearer of His own charges, And, so prevalent and 
 so vicious is tht habit of associating these two things together 
 — so wide-spread is the unhappy assumption that the Church, 
 in the relations she sustains to her Candidates [or the Minis* 
 try, is a grand elemosynary institution — that you find it im- 
 possible to prevent mankind -from going farther, and carrying 
 forward this assumption to its logical result in the conflfequent 
 belief, that all Ministerial support is from first to last mere? 
 tender-hearted bounty which may he witheld without sin, 
 but which, when bestowed, entitles the besto \ ers to the 
 iiigh praise of disinterested benevolence. With this deep- 
 seated impression in the public, mind the pulpit itself has 
 been compelled to maintain a constant and wasting strug- 
 gle ; a struggle which is destined to co.nti.nue between the 
 pastor's demand for an adequate support while exclusively- 
 devoted to the full service of the church, and the people's 
 resistance to this demand, until the day when it shall 
 come to be distinctly understood that; fr*ojii the very out- 
 r.et of the minister^ career — from tb.i moVoent when ho 
 first puts his h, md to the plough in the field of " prijpvra- 
 Hon — he is a claimant, not upon the church's generosity, 
 but upon her justice; not upon her feeling effpity, b't 
 upon her sense of duty. Having given himself to her, does 
 he bespqak her charity, when, with all .her wealth she 
 could not repay his .service, or, with ail her endowments, do- 
 without it? No,, the favored party, a« along, — if either 
 may be" so styled— is not he, So that every consideration t ; 
 whether of gratitude to her Lord for bestowing the young 
 man upon her; or of honesty in her treatment of him who 
 has cheerfully acceded to this disposition of his person, by 
 which he chooses her service in preference to all others, 
 gives force to, the proposition that be, is entitled to her 
 sympathies not only, but alao to the utmost liberality of 
 support at hep hands, as well while taking iSe steps that 
 may conduct him to her pulpit as during the whole perioa) 
 of his incumbency therein. The strength of which position 
 will further appear, when you reflect, thftt, although God; 
 ha? imparted to the church the indwelling presence of the 
 Ifoly Gbo&t, and cheered her with fr,he- promise of glorious 
 
MINISTERIAL EolCATiOX. # 7 
 
 triumphs, over ^very opposing kingdom; yet, in order to. 
 give her a formal completeness for her gigantic work, Tic- 
 has so organized her as to secure the co-operation of tlio^ 
 principle of seff-pctpetvation — a principle' which oDvi<5us}y 
 Jodges with her the elements of a distinct arid solemn re 
 SrponsibfHfy in the matter of providing, through her Hcensfng 
 and ordaining agency, her own ministers down to the end of 
 time, And the duty to provide involves"the duty of making 
 provision effective. . Effective, however, it cannot be, unl 
 those enndidates Jor tl e sacred office whom the Master has 
 oal)ed and placed in the ehuich's J^and*-, as a precious fift, 
 he by her properly trained for their destined work ; and, 
 clearly, this indispensable training included rtll that is ■ 
 meant by*" ministerial education," She has no right, there- 
 fore, to conipef; or evert advice, the candidate to sup] 
 himstf/— much less to treat him as a burden fepon her chanty- 
 in the even* ^>f his declining to do this. The obligation is- 
 all her own, as the brrvnis accrming archers. And so she, 
 herself acknowledges, by ordahilng those inexorable b 
 for hir. education —both as* to its nature Mid its extent— r t 
 departure bom which, so Far from being option.-)! with I 
 may <iebar biril frorn sftfcGoesi to he* pil| h Thus bim 
 him to he-; service with one kaad, oan >i c, v.iib the other, 
 ' repel him when he dwtnands' ihe no sns of e;,g:igir.g himseli" 
 in ifc .' This would he, indeed, requiring khe bricks wt 
 refusing thv stiaw. B»f, if they who coniK to her doors, 
 seeking entrance into her nhrstiy. i tlaeir frwnfls 
 
 choose for t hem, to aiford all ueedlul pecuniary aid to help 
 them forward t...the period of tin-ir erdination, thii is arret hei 
 matter. Ti j church nay accept tbia asaietaact, Hut, in 
 doing so, she is siinply accepting a contribution tp her trea- 
 sury foe which »h& ouglr, to be grr.te.'i.l. tibe has iTo 
 thorily to th:narul it. 
 
 It is, -truly, no wonderful sacri$ca for a young mr 
 make, when casting wide all those worldly, prosptcts which 
 offer tn him the reward.- of ambition, or wealth, or ease, in 
 a hundred other pursuits of life, he resolvae to devote his 
 energies and his time to the service of God as a herald of 
 salvation ; and, thtw resolving, seeks to prepare himself, at 
 his own cost, for so high and so sacred a calling, Doubt I 
 it is an honor unspeakable to be selected by tie Holy Ghost 
 to be<a messenger of grace to lost men. And he who is ti 
 distinguished, by bem^ permitted to look forward to unu- 
 sual labors, and uncommon sacrifices, and, perhaps, to pre- 
 eminent usefulness in the cause of Christ, may well afibrqi 
 to inaugurate his career, by easting all his property, as 
 
8 M1NISTEMAL EDUCATION. 
 
 ■m 
 does all Lis talents, into the effort to prove worthy of so 
 peculiar a distinction. But the point at issue does not lie 
 Tiere.- It is, not what the candidate may esteem as I is privi- 
 lege, but what the church must regard as her duty. If he be 
 in the condition which enables him to enjoy the luxury of 
 ottering to the church, himself not only, but himself pro- 
 pared for his ordination vows, let him esteem it no hardship 
 to taste the honey of such an act of dedication. But, nev- 
 ertheless, if this he cannot do— or, if this he feels that ho 
 ougfet not to do'— then, must the church take him up from 
 the beginning, conduct him into her schools, and,, by every ' 
 means in her power, endcayor to make him a workman who 
 will never " need to be ashamed." 
 
 We are aware, indeed, that however you may dispose 
 of this fundamental position in a discussion of the subject 
 of beneficiary education,— even though it ma^ readily be 
 granted — yet, objections are urged to the existing scheme 
 adopted by the wisdom of the almost unanimous church, 
 for meeting her obligations in tfie premises; and, on the 
 ground of these objections, the plea for a radical change 
 is set up, with a degree of plausibility. That this sys- 
 tem is free from difficulties, no one will pretend,, That it 
 lias been, and is always Jiable to be, abused, every obser- 
 ving and reflecting Christian must promptly allow. That 
 the old " Board of Education" had seen some of the prin- 
 ciples which underlie the whole subject, to dangerous, or, 
 at least unwise, extremes, many thoughtful persons have 
 justly believed. But, if we steadily look at some of the 
 'difficulties of continuing this system, (in its new organi- 
 zation under our General Assembly,) which have been 
 pointed out, — if we measure their true magnitudes, — it 
 will be seen that they are by no means insuperable in 
 themselves, or fatal to the plan proposed; but that they 
 are simply those inseparable adjuncts to it as a plau 
 whose working has necessarily been entrusted to the im- 
 perfections of human wisdom, and is applied tG the weak" 
 ncss of human subjects. It may be well, however, to 
 glance at a few of the difficulties which are said to iiesefc 
 this path of the church's usefulness, 
 
 1. The objection, often urged, that a promise of % sup? 
 port to indigent candidates is frought with- the danger of 
 attracting men from the lower orders "of society, thereby 
 threatening the pulpit with the evils of rustic coarseness 
 on the one hand, and, on the other, deterring men of 
 commanding sociaj position from seeking it — this is 
 
MlNySTERIAL EDUCATION. 
 
 liarJly deserving of serious refutation. Under any state 
 of things — seeing that "not many rich, not many noble 
 are called" — it must be the case that comparatively few 
 in affluent circumstances would be expected to enter the 
 ministerial ranks. To the poor, and, to a large extent, 
 by the poor, was the gospel ordained to be preached. But, 
 notwithstanding this, it is believed that the ministry of 
 our church — composed to a considerable extent of those 
 who were once " beneficiaries" — has never been materi- 
 ally damaged by any lack ©f refinement in its incum- 
 bents* At any rate, God's order is the best. 
 
 2. A more formidable objection lies against a tendency 
 which the beneficiary scheme is said to strengthen, to in- 
 duce men to aspire to the sacred cilice from improper mo- 
 tives ; for its high social position, its sources of personal 
 influence and aggrandizement, and the assurance it gives, 
 in most cases, of a respectable living. That this ten- 
 dency has, in some instances, become effect, is as undeni- 
 able as lamentable. But it is, on the other hand, histori- 
 cally trfce, that the examples of genuine piety, whose pre- 
 vailing inducement for seeking this holy service has been 
 the desire to promote the glory of God, father than to 
 aim at the prizes of worldly ambition, or of mere profes- 
 sional emolument, are as numerous under the system in 
 question as could be hoped for under any plan which im- 
 plies the abandonment of this. The objection, therefore, 
 presses only upon the corruption of the human heart, as 
 tying back of the whole matter, viewed in whatever as- 
 pect it may present itself. 
 
 3. A third drawback is, that it is supposed to beget a 
 spirit of mcndiciti/j instead of cultivating that of personal 
 thrift and manly independence. This may be said to be 
 practically counteracted by the fact that no candidate 
 has ever yet been supported from the treasury of the 
 church, to such an extent as to remove all care from his 
 mind touching his daily sustenance. "We, however, be- 
 lieve that, as a general thing, our candidates have not 
 been liberally eno%h sifpplied with pecuniary help ; 
 and that, whenever the feeling of mendicity has humbled 
 their honest pride, this has been due' not to the aids they 
 have received, but to the 6^?Y?7in which the stinted allow- 
 ances have, too often, been extended. Spirited"young men 
 have been made to experience the emotions of a beggar, 
 because the hand which doled out tq them their pittance 
 has been thai of a lordly benefactor. But let this notion 
 
10 MINISTERIAL EDUCATION. 
 
 be once removed from the mind of the church-w-let it 
 come to be distinctly understood that her candidates are 
 not her debtors, but her creditors — that they are receiv- 
 ing simply what is their due, not what is their need in 
 distress — and, in no case, will they sink beneath the con- 
 sciousness of shame, but will hold up their heads in the 
 consciousness of unabashed self-rospect. The same re- 
 sult, indeed, might be reached (it is contended) by driv- 
 ing these men from the doors of the church, with the 
 haughty, to do the double work of elevating their char- 
 acters, and providing for their own education, by employ- 
 ing themselves in teaching, or some other useful pnrsuit, 
 or by stripping themselves, for winning in the arena of 
 scholarly conflict, those bursaries which have been pro- 
 vided for the ambitious victors. But, to say nothing 
 more of the want of right in the church thus to treat her 
 future ministers, such a plan is surrounded with formida- 
 ble impediments on the ground of simple expediency. 
 Experience demonstrates, that those students who, in or- 
 der to secure a livelihood which shall maintain them 
 throughout their course of preparation for the pastoral 
 office, devote their energies to teaching, or to mechanical 
 labor, do, in a majority of cases, waste, in harassing ef- 
 forts to procure a livelihood, that precious time which 
 would otherwise be far more profitably employed in direct^ 
 and consecutive study. Thus the requisite education is 
 delayed, unless they meanwhile study privately ; and, if 
 this be done, their* training is fragmentary, imperfect, and* 
 in many ways damaging to their future influence. Or, if 
 they find, as has too often been the case, that they and 
 theirs can be more easily supported, by the methods they 
 have been forced to adopt by a parsimonious church, they 
 by-and-by resist the gradually enfeebled call which once 
 had stirred their souls, and fail to enter the ministry at 
 all. And, as to bursaries, or scholarships, to be con- 
 tended for as the reward of talent, these do not exist to 
 any extent; and if they did, tfiey i^ould necessarily be 
 left open to all students, religious Dr irreligious, and to 
 those seeking the several professions ajike. By means 
 of such a plan, therefore, if brought into being, we might 
 secure a talented ministry, but it would bo insignificantly 
 limited as to numbers. And besides, God, under no dis- 
 pensation, has called only those of high intellectual gifts 
 ■ — men of commandirg genius — into the ministry ; while 
 yet there has been a place for every one who was divinely 
 
MINISTERIAL EDUCATION, 71 
 
 called, where he might be useful, whether great or small 
 in the order of his native abilities. To the_ reply, how- 
 ever, that the scholarships in question might easily be- 
 increased in number by the use of those monies which 
 are now expended in beneficiary education ; and might 
 also be confined in their destination to candidates for the 
 ministry ex-clusively, — the obvious and the crushing re- 
 joinder is, that thus there. would be lodged in the very 
 bosom of the church a source of evil, from whose baleful 
 presence must_ne.<;essarily issue ambitions, envies, jeal- 
 ousies, to poison the fountain of ministerial character? 
 .and jeopard the dearest interests of Zion, For, in the 
 emulation of an excited conflict foT precedence, the con- 
 testing candidates would experience every Influence which 
 fosters pride ; and, after a generation or two, the fatal 
 effects would be witnessed in the disorders of a torn 
 church, when the lewliness of Jobn has given place to 
 the vain-glory of Diotrephcs, The inexorable law of 
 Chist s kingdom is humility. - , 
 
 Still other abjections to the present scheme of bencfi. 
 riary education exist, and are urged, But it would not 
 be possible to di-cis; them all in a document like this, 
 which can serve only as an introduction into a fieM 
 which is capable of the widest exploration, But, we 
 believe that, however far. such exploration might be 
 conducted, at "each successive step the friends of the 
 existing plan would ~find ne-w cause for admiring the. 
 wisdom which devised it — for applying themselves to 
 the effort to perfect it, — and (whilst praisjng the Head 
 of the Church - for the eminency of its past success,) 
 for exerting every appliance of spiritual foresight to 
 expand- its usefulness. We can see, then, no cause for 
 alarm in the proper administration of this plan, in any 
 evil influences it may exert upon the* beneficiary, if care 
 be taken to instruct him in his true position as such; 
 nor in any wrong it can do the church, if care be taken 
 to place her upon the ground of unencumbered and ab- 
 solute duty in the premises, 
 
 In accordance with these views, the General Assem 
 bly unanimously passed the following resolutions: 
 
 1. Resolved, Tlhat in the judgement of this Assembly, 
 it is the duty of the church to pr*ay unceasinglj r to her 
 He'ad for a large increase of candidates* for the gospel 
 ministry ; — and when they are received at His hands, 
 it is her furthej* duty to provide them with a suitable- 
 
12 MINISTERIAL EDUCATION. 
 
 education in the way of preparing them for their work, 
 and to provide it, not as a matter of charity y bwt of justice 
 to all the partus concerned. 
 
 2. Resolved^ That this Assembly can discover no suf- 
 ficient reason for superceding, at this time, the organ- 
 ization of the Executive Committee of Education. 
 
 RICHMOND, va: 
 PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 
 
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