Various - The American Missionary. Volume 43, No. 07, July, 1889

PRESIDENT, Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D.D., LL.D., N.Y.

Vice-Presidents.

Rev. A.J.F. Behrends, D.D., N.Y.

Rev. F.A. Noble, D.D., Ill.

Rev. Alex. McKenzie, D.D., Mass.

Rev. D.O. Mears, D.D., Mass.

Rev. Henry Hopkins, D.D., Mo.

Corresponding Secretaries.

Rev. M.E. Strieby, D.D., 56 Reads Street, N.Y.

Rev. A.F. Beard, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.

Recording Secretary.

Rev. M.E. Strieby, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.

Treasurer.

H.W. Hubbard, Esq., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.

Auditors.

Peter McCartee.

Chas. P. Peirce.

Executive Committee.

John H. Washburn, Chairman.

Addison P. Foster, Secretary.

For Three Years.

J.E. Rankin,

Edmund L. Champlin,

Wm. H. Ward,

J.W. Cooper,

John H. Washburn.

For Two Years.

Lyman Abbott,

Chas. A. Hull,

Clinton B. Fisk,

Addison P. Foster.

For One Year.

S.B. Halliday,

Samuel Holmes,

Samuel S. Marples,

Charles L. Mead,

Elbert B. Monroe.

District Secretaries.

Rev. C.J. Ryder, 21 Cong'l House, Boston.

Rev. J.E. Roy, D.D., 151 Washington Street, Chicago.

Rev. Rev. C.W. Hiatt, Cleveland, Ohio .

Financial Secretary for Indian Missions.

Rev. Chas. W. Shelton.

Field Superintendents.

Rev. Frank E. Jenkins,

Prof. Edward S. Hall.

Secretary Of Woman's Bureau.

Miss D.E. Emerson, 56 Reade St. N.Y.

Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretaries; letters for "THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY," to the Editor, at the New York Office; letters relating to the finances, to the Treasurer.

In drafts, checks, registered letters, or post office orders, may be sent to H.W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—The date on the "address label," indicates the time to which the subscription is paid. Changes are made in date on label to the 10th of each month. If payment of subscription be made afterward, the change on the label will appear a month later. Please send early notice of change in post-office address, giving the former address and the new address, in order that our periodicals and occasional papers may be correctly mailed.

"I bequeath to my executor (or executors) the sum of – dollars, in trust, to pay the same in – days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the 'American Missionary Association,' of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes." The Will should be attested by three witnesses.

The receipts of the Association for the eight months to May 31, 1889, are: from donations, $134,993.37; from estates, $26,530.09; income, $6,479.21; tuition, $26,084.21; U.S. Gov't, $9,540.87, total, $203,627.75. Expenditures for the eight months, $229,422.82. Debtor balance, $25,795.07.

The debtor balance reported in the last MISSIONARY for the seven months ending April 30th, was $28,328.14. The showing, therefore, is favorable, and we appeal to our friends to make their contributions so generous that at the end of the fiscal year we may report entire freedom from debt.

At the recent meeting of the American Home Missionary Society, held in Saratoga (June 6th), the question of the future relations of the newly formed Congregational Conference of Georgia to that Society, and to the earlier Congregational Association of that State, was fully discussed, and resulted in the following action:

In the full conviction that these churches are in accord with the principles of Congregationalism, and with the principles of this Society, and with those held by the Congregational churches which it represents:

Resolved. That we heartily welcome them to fellowship with us in the Gospel. We commend them to the fraternal sympathy and prayers of all our people, and we request the officers of the society to extend to them such financial aid as they may need as promptly as the state of its treasury will allow.

Resolved. That this Society rejoices to learn that an effort is making to unite the Georgia Congregational Conference and the Georgia Congregational Association on principles of equal recognition and fellowship of all the churches of each body, and trust that such a union will be accomplished.

We are in full and hearty agreement with the general spirit of these utterances. In the hope that the churches of the Georgia Conference are in accord with the principles of Congregationalism, which do not discriminate against men because of caste or color, we are prepared to welcome them heartily. That Conference has already published its Articles of Faith and of Church Government, and these have assured us of its adherence to the general principles of the Congregational faith and order. The only question still open is as to the readiness of that body to unite with the Congregational churches already existing in that State in the practical recognition of the broad Christian and Congregational principles in the fellowship of all churches irrespective of caste distinctions.

The second resolution quoted above rejoices in the effort now making to unite the two Congregational bodies in Georgia on that basis. We trust that effort may be successful, for we believe that such a union is essential to recognition by the National Council and to the cordial fellowship of the Congregational churches. The Georgia Association, ever since its organization in 1878, has been recognized and represented in every subsequent meeting of the National Council, and we cannot see how the Council can consistently welcome another organization, covering the same State, that is kept separate from the older body by the line of race or color; nor do we believe that the Congregational churches of this country will fellowship both organizations thus held apart. We are confirmed in the correctness of this impression from the decided and independent utterances of the influential religious papers which so largely represent the sentiments of the Congregational churches of this country.

We present below some extracts from such of these papers published since the Saratoga meeting as have come to hand before the MISSIONARY goes to press, while in another portion of our pages we give more at length the prior utterances of these journals on the same general subject. We deem the question to be so important that we wish to lay it fully before our readers.

We have nothing but satisfaction to express with this action. It would be absurd to imagine that Congregationalists could forget their spotless record, and could now, for the pride of the addition of fifty or a hundred churches, consent to help a movement that should put colored brothers in a separate fellowship by themselves. This they will never do. They will hold out a warm hand of welcome to all comers, and warmest to those who come to them from the South, white and black: but they want them to come together, not apart.