our first communication, and the length of time
and the amount of correspondence which may yet be necessary, before we
can see 'eye to eye,' give a striking illustration of the force of these
remarks."

So far as the preamble and resolutions of the Synod of 1857 embody the
doctrines, and what we supposed to be the policy of our Church, we
heartily agreed with them. Of course we were pained to see that they
implied, that, in organizing a Church at Amoy, we had not proceeded
according to the order of our Church, or had found great difficulty in
doing so. This was altogether a mistake, and was already producing evil
results. We think there is another mistake in the preamble. It seems
small, but because of this fact, and of its plausibility, it has done
more, perhaps, than anything else in leading our Church into the false
position which she seems now to occupy. Therefore, we should examine it
with some care. It is the assumption, as a matter of course, that, "the
converts at Amoy" are "an _integral part_ of our Church," in this
country. What made them so? Is it because they were converted through
the instrumentality of the preaching of our Missionaries? This is a new
doctrine, that a convert as a matter of course belongs to the Church of
the preacher through whose instrumentality he has been led unto Christ.
Perhaps it was the doctrine of some of the Corinthians, when they said,
"I am of Paul, and I of Apollos," &c., but it was not the doctrine of
the Apostle who reproved them. Besides this, how shall we know which of
them were converted through our instrumentality? The English
Presbyterian brethren and ourselves have preached indiscriminately. Is
it because they were baptized by our Missionaries? But many of them were
baptized by the English Presbyterian brethren. They have baptized in our
churches, and we in theirs. If they be an _integral part_ of the Dutch
Church in America, they are also an integral part of the Presbyterian
Church in England. We, it is true, baptized a majority, say two-thirds.
Are they, then, two-thirds of an integral part in America, and one-third
of an integral part in England? No. The whole is a fallacy. Each
individual Church there is an integral part of the whole of them. All
together, they form an _integer_. They might by the act of our Church,
and _a correlative act on their own part_, become an integral part of
the Church in America? In a similar way they might become an integral
part of the