n, and the Congregational
Church. It was also resolved that "the minutes [of the General Synod] be
sent to the Congregational Association of New Hampshire, to the Assembly
of the Cumberland Presbyterians, to the Constitutional Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church, and to the Synod of the German Reformed Church."
(28.) At Dayton, O., 1855, sixteen sectarian ministers were seated as
advisory members. (7.) At Reading, 1857, the Committee on Ecclesiastical
Correspondence reported: "With the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church we have now been in correspondence for twelve years, and every
interchange of delegates only strengthens the conviction expressed at
its commencement, that it 'would draw more closely the bonds of
Christian union, and so level the mountains and elevate the valleys of
sectarianism as to prepare the way of the Lord in His coming to
millennial glory.' We rejoice to-day to greet a delegate from that large
and influential body of Christians, and tender to him our Christian
salutations and brotherly love." (41.) At Pittsburgh, 1859, where
fourteen sectarian ministers were invited to seats in the convention,
the same committee stated: "The most interesting point to which your
committee would call the attention of the General Synod is the prompt
and cordial response of the Northern Provincial Synod of the United
Brethren (Moravian) to the overture for correspondence made to them at
our last meeting in Reading. Like ourselves, they acknowledge the
Augsburg Confession as their common bond of union, and have, ever since
the commencement of the last century, sustained a peculiar and intimate
relation towards our Church. It is only by discipline and forms of
church-government that we are separated, and we trust that the step
which has now been taken will draw us still more closely together, and
tend to our mutual edification and progress in Christian activity as
well as in brotherly love." (30.) At Lancaster, Pa., 1862, the delegate
to the German Reformed Church reported "that he was most kindly received
by that body, and was charged by the same to return its cordial
salutations to this Synod, with the hope on the part of our German
Reformed brethren that the present fraternal correspondence between our
Churches, twin-sisters of the Reformation, may never be interrupted. The
President of that body was appointed as delegate to this Synod, and we
rejoice to see him present with us now and taking an active intere