the Missionaries have pursued, it is not that they have worked thus in
harmony and unison with the English Presbyterian brethren, but that they
have failed to keep the churches under their care ecclesiastically
distinct. Some do feel inclined to censure us for this. It must be,
however, because of some great misapprehension on their part. The Synod
has distinctly uttered a contrary sentiment, i.e. that the course of the
Missionaries is not censurable. We do not believe that our Church, when
she understands the true state of the case, will ever censure us on this
account. It would not be according to the spirit of her Master. He
prayed that His people might be one, but he never prayed for their
separation from each other. When separation is necessary, it is a
necessary _evil_. But more of this hereafter. Our Church might well have
censured us, if we had adopted lower principles as her representatives
in building up the Church of Christ in China.

The first organization of a church at Amoy under our care, by the
ordination of a Consistory, took place in 1856. The Missionaries of our
Board then on the ground were Doty and Talmage. Mr. Douglas was the only
Missionary of the English Presbyterian Church. (Mr. Joralmon, of our
Church, arrived between the time of the election and the ordination of
office-bearers.) When the time came for the organization of the Church,
we felt a solemn responsibility resting on us. We supposed it to be our
duty to organize the Church in China with reference simply to its own
welfare, and efficiency in the work of evangelizing the heathen around.
Believing (after due deliberation) that the order of our own Church in
America would best secure this end, of course we adopted it. We did not
suppose that we were sent out to build up the _American_ Dutch Church in
China, but a Church after the same order, a purely Chinese Church. How
much the growth and efficiency of our Church in this country has been
promoted by retaining (rather inserting) the term "_Dutch_" in her name,
I will not now attempt to discuss. I suppose the principal argument in
favor thereof is found in the fact that our Church, in the first
instance, was a colony from Holland. The Church in China is not a colony
from Holland, or America. We must not, therefore, entail on her the
double evil of both the terms "_American_" and "_Dutch_" or the single
evil of either of these terms. Your Missionaries will never consent to
be instrumental i