German Churches, and more particularly with the Germau Reformed Church of the United States. Our Synod was represented at the meeting in Frankfort by a personal delegate, then again by three regular delegates at the Diet of Lübeck in 1856, and by one delegate at the Diet of Hamburg in 1858. Owing to this living representation, and other reasons, the correspondence has been regularly carried on, and is duly noticed in the annual transactions of that body, and also more at length in the official report of its activity in the large field of Inner Mission, 1857, p. 70– 80, where our Synod and its relations to Germany are spoken of in the most respectful and fraternal terms. The standing President of the Church Diet, Dr. von Bethmann Hollweg, a noblemen of princely fortune, and what is better, a distinguished scholar and statesman, now a member of the Prussian Cabinet,* and what is best of all, a most earnest, humble and devout Christian, has manifested from the beginning the deepest interest in this relation, which is the more to be appreciated as he is not a member of the Reformed, but of the Evangelical Church of Prussia. This correspondence has had already a happy effect, and forms an interesting chapter in the history of our Church. It proclaims the union of faith and love, which still binds the vital Christianity of Germany to its offspring in this country in spite of the intervening ocean; it brought us into felt contact with the movements, trials and progress of the former; it made us better known among our brethren abroad; and it promises to end in the establishment of a permanent personal link between the two parties, in case the Theological Tutorship scheme, as adopted at the last meeting of Synod, should go into successful practical operation, as we hope and trust it may.

For the correspondence itself, we must refer the reader to the Minutes of Synod and the transactions of the Church

*

According to the latest news from Prussia, the Prince Regent, in reconstructing his Cabinet on the 3d of November, has appointed Dr. von Bethmann Hollweg Minister of Cultus and Public Instruction, which gives him the supreme control of the Ecclesiastical Affairs and the Universities of Prus

sia.

Diet. The last Synodical letter was accompanied by a translation of the service for the reception of immigrants from our new Liturgy, which had been prepared in response to a recently introduced custom in several German churches of a solemn dismission of emigrants by divine service. But we regret to say, that this particular form does not meet the expectations of our friends in Berlin. They object to it, and very properly too, that it is more adapted to the reception of strangers than brethren of the same faith. It ought to contain a distinct recognition of the community of origin and faith. But this will no doubt be attended to in the final revision of the new Liturgy.

The Synod of Allentown, in 1857, resolved also very properly to open a correspondence with the Reformed Conference of Germany, which was expected to meet this year at Elberfeld, and the Reformed Pastoral Conference of Switzerland, which held its last annual meeting in August at Aarau. Committees were appointed for the purpose, who discharged their duty in connection with some brethren of the Western Synod, and laid a copy of their appropriate and affectionate letters before Synod, which were ordered to be incorporated in the Minutes. But for some cause or other, no reply has been received as yet. The letter to Ger many was probably misdirected, and the letter to the Swiss Conference, sent to the care of Dr. Hagenbach, seems unfortunately to have miscarried, if we are to judge from the report of the late Conference in Hagenbach's Reformirte Kirchenblatt, where no notice is taken of such a letter at all. But we have not yet received the full official report, which is sent to us every year by a friend at Basel. We are confident, from personal knowledge of many Swiss ministers, that a letter from Synod, if received in due time, would have been responded to in the kindest spirit. But it is very difficult to carry on such a correspondence at such a distance, without an occasional exchange of a personal delegate, who acts as a living mediator between the two parties. For this reason, also, among many others, the establishment of a Theological Tutorship is very de

sirable, as it is intended not only to benefit directly our Seminary, but also to form a perpetual and living bond of union between our Church and the German Churches of Europe.

THE THEOLOGICAL TUTORSHIP.

The character of this new scheme to enlarge the usefulness and to increase the efficiency of our Theological Institution, will best appear from the following report of the Committee which had been appointed by the Synod of the preceding year:

The immediate occasion of the Tutorship, to which the consideration of Synod at its last annual meeting was directed by the Classis of Mercersburg, is the generous offer of Dr. von Bethmann Hollweg, President of the German Evangelical Church Diet, first made in a more general way, and afterwards especially tendered to our own body, to establish a fund of two thousand Prussian dollars, the interest of which shall aid in sustaining a pious young divine of the German Church in America as a student at the Universities of Germany, with the view to qualify him more fully for the position of a theological teacher in our Seminary.

By way of response to this offer of a noble and distinguished friend in Europe, and by way of reviving, at the same time, the effort of the Alumni Association of our Seminary to found a third Professorship, we recommend the establishment of a Theological Tutorship, the nature and object of which will appear from the following particulars:

1. The object of the Tutorship is to increase the teaching force of the Seminary, and to raise the standard of theological education among the students; to be a school for the training of professors in our institutions; and to serve, at the same time, as a perpetual and living bond of union between our Church and the mother Churches of Germany.

2. The Tutorship contemplates the employment and support of a regular succession of two young men, graduates of our literary and theological institutions, and distinguished for diligence, scholarship and Christian character, who shall be simultaneously engaged, the one in completing his theological and general literary education in Europe, the other in teaching, as assistant professor, such branches in our Seminary as may be assigned him, with his own consent, by the Faculty and the Board of Visitors under the sanction and approbation of Synod.

3. Every two years the Board of Visitors of the Theological Seminary, on consultation with the Faculty, shall recommend to Synod one of the graduates of the Seminary duly qualified, and willing to assume the requisite conditions as a candidate for the first term of the Tutorship, who, if elected by Synod, shall visit Europe for two years with the view to prosecute and complete his studies under the general direction of the Faculty in one or more of the principal Universities of Germany and Switzerland.

4. On the return of the first incumbent of the Tutorship from Europe, the Synod, on recommendation of the Board of Visitors, shall elect him Tutor in the Seminary for a period of two years, after which time, the second incumbent on his return shall in like manner succeed him as teaching tutor; and thus a regular succession of travelling and teaching Tutors shall be kept up biennially, as long as the plan may be perpetuated.

5. Before a young man can be appointed for the first period of his Tutorship and be entitled to its benefits, he must submit to an examination before the Board of Visitors in all the branches taught in the Seminary, and sign a written pledge, to be recorded by the Board, that he will faithfully comply with the following conditions: first, to prosecute his studies in the Universities of Europe for two years under the general direction and advice of the Faculty; secondly, to send either to the Faculty or to the Synod, an annual report on the progress of his studies and the state of theology and religion in the old world, especially in the land of our forefathers; thirdly, after his return, to engage, with the consent of Synod and its Board of Visitors, in the active duties of teaching in the Seminary, under the direction of the Faculty and the Board, for a period of two years; and finally, at the expiration of his term of office, to enter the work of the ministry in the German Reformed Church.

6. If, for any reason, the regular biennial succession, as above described, be interrupted, the teaching tutor may be reelected at the expiration of his term of office for another term of two years; the acceptance of the new appointment, however, to be at his own option.

7. The travelling incumbent of the Tutorship shall receive towards his support during his absence in Europe the sum of at least two hundred dollars annually from the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Seminary, and, in addition to it, the annual proceeds of the Bethmann Hollweg-Fund for the time being, provided that the benevolent donor, as we have reason to believe, from the renewal of his offer in a recent letter to Synod, be willing to agree to this arrangement under the present scheme.

8. The teaching incumbent shall receive from the Board of Trustees, the annual salary of four hundred dollars, or more, as the proceeds of the fund may justify, to be paid in like manner as the salary of the Professors. He shall also be entitled to the free use of two rooms in the Seminary building, where he is expected to reside.

9. To provide for this additional annual expenditure of six hundred dollars, and before the scheme can go into full operation, there shall be created a fund of not less than ten thousand dollars, to be called the Fund of the Theological Tutorship, and to be safely invested at legal interest by the Board of Trustees of the Seminary, and held by them in trust for Synod.

10. If, from any cause, the proceeds of the Tutorship Fund, either in whole or in part, should not be required for its legitimate objects, then the proceeds or surplus, as the case may be, shall be either added to the endowment fund until it be equal in amount to a regular professoral fund, with a view to increase the annual appropriation to the two Tutors, hereafter to be elected, or to be applied to the benefit of the Seminary Library.

11. If the entire scheme of the Theological Tutorship should at any time and for any cause, be given up, or superseded, then the Tutorship Fund shall

either be merged into a Fund for a new regular Professorship in the Seminary, or the annual proceeds of it be devoted in equal shares to the cause of Beneficiary Education and the increase of the Library of the Theological Seminary.

12. In case the Western Synod should see fit to establish a similar Tutorship in her Seminary, the Eastern Synod shall give her the right to one-half of the annual proceeds of the Bethmann Hollweg-Fund, and of any other funds which may be contributed towards it by European friends for the general benefit of the German Reformed Church.

These are the outlines of the Theological Tutorship plan as far as your committee have been able to mature it.

If our Church is to keep pace with the progress of the age and the leading Christian denominations, she cannot long be contented with the present inadequate teaching force of the Seminary, and must aim at a full and complete faculty, which requires at least four professors for the various branches of theology, exegetical, historical, systematic, and practical. The duties of teachers, like those of preachers and public speakers generally, are the same for a small as for a large audience, and even more arduous, because less encouraging. An increase of the faculty would also be one of the surest means to increase the number of students and consequently of ministers for the growing wants of our Church.

The adoption and execution of the Tutorship scheme would be an important step towards this end, and it would answer substantially the purpose of a third Professorship at considerably less expense, and thus secure the object at which the Alumni Association of the Seminary has been aiming for several years. But, in addition to this, it would afford many of our rising ministers a rare opportunity of adding to their American training the invaluable advantages of a European visit and education in the first Universities of the world, and under the patronage of some of the leading men in the Churches of Germany. It would have a tendency to promote generally among our stu. dents and ministers a higher grade of scholarship, and so far greatly to raise the standing and efficiency of the Church. It would increase the number of ministers, from whom a choice may be made by the proper authorities to fill the vacant professorships in our literary and theological institutions. It would infuse new life from time to time into our Seminary, and keep it in constant contact with the progress of theological science and literature of Europe. And finally, it would be a permanent practical fruit of the fraternal correspondence of our Synod with the Churches of the fatherland recently established, and perpetuate the union between them by a living chain of delegates and representatives of our Church to Germany.

In conclusion, your committee would remark, that, having received discretionary powers from the last Synod to take preparatory steps towards raising the necessary subscriptions, they intended at first to address a circular to twenty or more individuals in the Church, who might be able and willing either to give or to raise $500 each towards the establishment of such a Tutorship, and thus bring their scheme before Synod with a reasonable prospect of speedy success. But, in view of the continued financial pressure of the country, they thought it best to refrain from the attempt at present, and