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HISTORICAL STATEMENT

HISTORICAL STATEMENT

The Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York was founded by a group of Christian ministers and laymen of the Presbyterian Church who believed that it was wise to plant a training school for ministers in a great city. They met first October 10, 1835, and, after three intermediate meetings, constituted a Board of Directors by the election of ten ministers and fourteen laymen, November 9 and 16, 1835. This Board of Directors held its first meeting January 18, 1836, when it chose its officers, appointed its committees, adopted the Preamble, and proceeded to further business. January 18, 1836, is therefore regarded as the official date of the founding of the Seminary.

The Seminary was opened for instruction on Monday, December 5, 1836. The Legislature of the State of New York passed the Act of Incorporation, March 27, 1839, and this was accepted by the Board of Directors, December 20, 1839.

The Founders of the Seminary were Presbyterians of the broader type represented in the New School branch of the Church, and had many affiliations with New England Congregationalism. They had in view a service of wider boundaries than those of the Presbyterian Church alone. The Seminary has been from the outset independent of any ecclesiastical control. The only approach to this was that on May 16, 1870, a few months after the Reunion of the Old and New School wings of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, it conceded to the General Assembly of that Church the right of veto on the election of its Professors, in the interests of harmony within the Church, and of similarity of standing for all its Theological Seminaries. This concession was withdrawn October 13, 1892. Now, as heretofore, Union Seminary is ecclesiastically independent, according to the plan of its Founders, and the provisions of its Charter.

For many years the Directors and Professors gave their assent to the Westminster Standards, the exact formula varying from time to time. Since 1905 this requirement has ceased, and a new form of declaration has been provided, which se

cures the Christian character of the institution in more comprehensive terms. At the present time the Board of Directors and the Faculty include representatives of the Presbyterian, Congregational, Protestant Episcopal, Baptist, and Methodist Episcopal Churches.

The principles underlying the foundation of the Seminary were expressed in the Preamble adopted at the beginning by the Founders. The Preamble reads as follows:

PREAMBLE

That the design of the Founders of the Seminary may be fully known to all whom it may concern, and be sacredly regarded by the Directors, Professors and Students, it is judged proper to make the following preliminary statement:

A number of Christians, both clergymen and laymen, in the cities of New York and Brooklyn, deeply impressed with the claims of the world upon the Church of Christ to furnish a competent supply of well-educated and pious ministers of the Gospel; impressed also with the inadequacy of all existing means for this purpose; and believing that large cities furnish many peculiar facilities and advantages for conducting theological education; having, after several meetings for consultation and prayer, again convened on the 18th of January, A. D. 1836, unanimously adopted the following resolutions and decla

rations:

I. RESOLVED, in humble dependence on the grace of God, to attempt the establishment of a Theological Seminary in the City of New York.

2. This Institution (while it will receive others to the advantages it may furnish) is principally designed for such young men in the cities of New York and Brooklyn as are, or may be, desirous of pursuing a course of theological study, and whose circumstances render it inconvenient for them to go from home for this purpose.

3. It is the design of the Founders to furnish the means of a full and thorough education, in all the subjects taught in the best Theological Seminaries in the United States, and also to embrace therewith a thorough knowledge of the standards of faith and discipline of the Presbyterian Church.

4. Being fully persuaded that vital godliness well proved, a thorough education, and a wholesome practical training in works of benevolence and pastoral labors, are all essentially necessary to meet the wants and promote the best interests of

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