Morning journal and courier., 1888-09-24

occasionally in the newspapers of our de-
nomination. It is strange that SO grave
matter receives 80 little attention from those
who should watch for our interests. Our
church and our men and means have been
handed over to the Presbyterian church for
ages, and perhaps it is now thought to be
useless to raise objection to this last convey
ance. If the churches and all the property
of the missions were transferred outright to
the foreign board of the Presbyterian church,
and our connection with these missions end
ed, when everything is passed over We would
be saved further support and could begin
new missions elsewhere. The Japanese
would then be saved the strife and conten-
tions that must follow for ages between their
ministry and the churches. It may be we'll
to recall what New England ministry has
done with and for our churches, beginning
at the time when our churches were many
in New England, New York and elsewhere.
In 1901 Rev. Jedediah Andrews, native of
Massachusetts, and graduate of Harvard, or
ganized an Independent church in Philadel-
phia About that time Rev. Francis Maca-
nie, from Ireland, began organizing Presby-
terian churches in this country-in Mary
land, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In
t704 Mr.. Andrews joined the presbytery of
Philadelphia, the first organized on the con-
tinent. It took about seventy years to bring
over what is now the First Presbyterian
church of Philadelphia.
In 1715 the ministers of the Congregation
al churches of the colony of New York or
ganized presbytery-two years kafore there
was Presbyterian church in the colony.
That made two denominations where there
was but one, and the party strife has gone on
from 1715 until now. In 1900 the body of
ministers known as the general association Of
Connecticut proposed plan by which the
ministers of Congregational churches west
west of the Hudson should unite with the
presbytery. No churches were consulted.
In 1910 meeting was held in central New
York to organize a State association, but
nearly all the ministers had already joined
] the presbytery, and no Congregational asso-
citation was formed.
The proposed plan of union of the Japa-
nese churches is almost identical with this
plan of 1900, by which we lost about four
hundred of the best churches of the State of
New York, leaving the poor and weak that
need help from year to year Congregational.
The vexation, irritation and perplexity of
that plan has followed our churches from the
Hudson to the Pacific. Rev. j. G. Hart, in
the Congregational Quarterly for July, 1858,
says of the plan of union in Ohio: 'sIn-
stead of one class of churches after the mod
el of New England, with here and there a
Presbyterian church, it has given us old and
new school Presbyterian churches, Plan of
Union, Congregational and Independent
churches. It has been resisted as strenuous
] ly as it would have been in Connecticut.
There, as here, it would have found or
formed the same parties, with, as a Presby-
terian deacon said, the ministry on one side
and the people on the other In the min
utes of the western Congregational conyen-
| tion, held in Michigan City in 1916, of which
G. G. Hammond, late of Chicago, was secre-
tary, many instances of the partisan working
of the plan are related. Rev. Mr.. Lock-
| wood stated the case of a Congregational
church in Dundee, Michigan, which had been
recently visited by the Presbyterian breth-
rem. Nearly all the members were called
upon to unite with the presbytery-the prin-
| cipal motive being that they could not other
| wise obtain aid from the Home missionary
society. He also alluded to the fact that
in the little village of Clinton there is, be-
| sides the Congregational church, which
sustains itself, small Presbyterian organi-
| zation which for several years has been
kept in useless existence by help from the
Home missionary society. He said that to
very many in the community this appeared
to be misappropIiation of funds, and yei
the facts are fully known to the agent oi
the society.