W. R. H. in Congregationalist.
RESOLUTIONS OF A. M. A. AND A. H. M. S.
At the recent annual meeting of the American Missionary Association, held in Cleveland, O., a petition was presented requesting the appointment of a committee to report on the policy of the Association in regard to race or color prejudice in the support of schools and churches. As the Executive Committee, to whom that petition was referred, are entering upon enlarged church work in the South, they feel called upon to take early action on this petition, and make the following announcement:
1. That in accordance with the New Testament doctrine upon which the Association was founded, and by which it has from the beginning been governed, that God has made of one blood all the nations of men, we reiterate the rule, which we believe that fidelity to Christ requires, that all our churches and schools shall open their doors impartially to persons of every class, race and color.
2. That in obedience to the same New Testament doctrine, we shall require that all churches aided by us shall unite with neighboring churches of the same faith and order in Christian fellowship in the same conferences or associations, and in church councils, and in other usual means of fraternity and fellowship, making no distinctions on account of race or color.
3. That this Association will not enter upon any new church work in any city or town where the American Home Missionary Society has already established a church work, without previous conference with the officers of its sister society.
The American Home Missionary Society is taking steps to enlarge its work in the Southern States. Recent statements and inquiries having been made which show a misapprehension, on the part of some, of the methods of its work in that part of the country, the Executive Committee deem it proper to state: That the American Home Missionary Society still adheres to its long-established usage in declining to aid in the support of a missionary to serve any church, whether in the South or North, which refuses to receive to its membership any applicant, solely on account of color. That it still expects, as it has from the beginning, that any church, wherever situated, that receives its aid in supporting a minister, will unite with the association, convention, or other ecclesiastical body of the denomination within whose bounds he is appointed to labor; and by participating in councils, conferences and other customary gatherings for mutual help and edification, will show its Christian fellowship with other Congregational churches. And that, in case of proposals to form or aid churches in cities or towns where the American Missionary Association has organized missionary operations, this society will not enter on such work without first corresponding or conferring with its sister association.
A MISTAKEN POLICY.
BY REV. W. HAYNE LEAVELL.