FROM THE WILL OF THE RT. REV. CHARLES REUBEN HALE, D. D., LL. D., BISHOP
COADJUTOR OF SPRINGFIELD, _born 1837; consecrated July 26, 1892; died
December 25, 1900_.
[Illustration: Cross] In the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
I, Charles Reuben Hale, Bishop of Cairo, Bishop Coadjutor of
Springfield, of the City of Cairo, Illinois, do make, publish,
and declare this, as and for my Last Will and Testament, hereby
revoking all former wills by me made.
First. First of all, I commit myself, soul and body, into the
hands of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour, in Whose Merits
alone I trust, looking for the Resurrection of the Body and the
Life of the World to come.
* * * * *
Fourteenth. All the rest and residue of my Estate, personal and
real, not in this my Will otherwise specifically devised,
wheresoever situate, and whether legal or equitable, I give,
devise, and bequeath to "The Western Theological Seminary,
Chicago, Illinois," above mentioned, but nevertheless _In
Trust_, provided it shall accept the trust by an instrument in
writing so stating, filed with this Will in the Court where
probated, within six months after the probate of this Will--for
the general purpose of promoting the Catholic Faith, in its
purity and integrity, as taught in Holy Scripture, held by the
Primitive Church, summed up in the Creeds and affirmed by the
undisputed General Councils, and, in particular, to be used only
and exclusively for the purposes following, to wit:--
(1) The establishment, endowment, printing, and due circulation
of a yearly _Sermon_, to be delivered annually forever, in
memory of my dear wife, Anna McK. T. Hale, to be known as "The
Hale Memorial Sermon," and
(2) The establishment, endowment, publication and due
circulation of Courses of Lectures, to be delivered annually
forever, to be called "The Hale Lectures."
* * * * *
The subject of this Sermon shall be some branch of Church Work,
in any part of the world, which, in the judgment of the Trustees
of "The Western Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois,"
deserves to be better known, in order that it may be more
adequately appreciated. These sermons shall be preached at such
time and place as the said Trustees of The Western Theological
Seminary, Chicago, Illinois, may appoint, and shall be printed
in a style similar to the Sermons of this kind already published
under my direction, viz: "Confucianism in its relation to
Christianity," and "The Religion of the Dakotas." One hundred
copies of each of these Sermons are to be given, so soon as they
come from the press, to the preacher thereof, and one copy of
such Sermon is, so soon thereafter as may be, to be sent to each
Bishop in the Anglican Communion, and to such other Bishops as
may be in full communion with these Bishops, to the Patriarchs
and other chief Hierarchs of the Orthodox Eastern Churches, and
to the chief Public Libraries throughout the world. Should it
be, at any time, deemed expedient to offer any of these Sermons
for sale, the entire receipts, over and above the expenses
incurred in such sale, shall be given to "The Domestic and
Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in
the United States of America," a Corporation existing under the
laws of the State of New York, for the uses of said Society.
* * * * *
The preacher of the Hale Memorial Sermon shall always be a
clergyman of the American Church, commonly called "The
Protestant Episcopal Church," or of some Church in communion
with the same, or of one of the Orthodox Eastern Churches.
* * * * *
The Western Theological Seminary has gladly accepted the Trusteeship as
outlined in the above extracts from the will of the late Bishop Hale.
It will be the aim of the Seminary, through the Hale Sermons, to make
from time to time some valuable contributions to some of the Church
problems of the day, without thereby committing itself to the utterances
of its own selected Preachers.
Church Work
Among the Negroes
in the South