Beneficiary Education [pp. 236-264]

250 BENEFICIARY EDUCATION. [April
purify, strengthen, and unite all Christian churches, so that, with
combined energy and zeal, they might go forth in glad compli
ance with the Redeemer's command, teaching all nations, and
preaching the everlasting Gospel to every creature under heaven." But how did these great men seek to realize their grand
idea? Not only by the Confession of Faith they put forth in
such power, but by the measures they adopted for the propagation of this faith, and the increase of an able evangelical ministry. Under the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, in 1655,
some of the principal men of this Assembly, with others like
minded, who had not been members, formed a general society
"for Mze ~1a in ta in in g of st~donts of c/toicc abitity at t/?c?I;2iz;e7~sity, and, princ~ally, in order to t/~c`ni'iistry."
The immediate object of this society was to provide for "the
ordinary necessities of the church;" also, "to relieve the sad
condition of dark corners, both in England and Wales, and:
several parts of England."
The Constitution provides that the society shall be managed
by:
"SIXTY TRUsTEEs,whereofthirty~six are to be gentlemen or citizens of eminence, and twenty-four to be ministers in or within five miles of the city of
London, of which any seven shall make a quorum in ordinary cases, whereof
three are to be ministers.
"The scholars must be of eminent parts, of an ingenuous dispesition, and
such as are poor, or have not a sufficient maintenance any other ways; and it
required that a special regard be had to Godliness."
This society was to be supported by subscriptions, solicited
for eight years, in order to carry the student through five years
of preparatory and classical studies, and three years of divinity
at one of the universities. The society contemplated aid, also
to "such foreigners, as being poor, are most eminent for parts,
learning, and piety, that thus they may be more able to
preach practically and powerfully to their people, and further
the work of conversion and edification in foreign parts."
Among the names of the patrons and trustees of this society
we find those of Edmund Calamy, Richard Baxter, Williarn
Bates, Matthew Poole, Thomas Man ton, John Stillingfleet, and
Ralph Cudworth. "This tract" says the Amcriean ~uarter/y ~C(~
ister, "is a most venerable and interesting document. The reader
will discover that education societies are not of so recent on