of, is the
advantage of carrying out the _policy_ of our Church. This, in itself
considered, might be regarded worthy of but little attention.
Cannot--ought not--the Church change her policy if wrong, or if a better
can be adopted? Surely her laws are not like those of the Medes and
Persians. But the argument has been used with so much earnestness and
perseverance, both in the Reports of the Committees and in the
discussions in Synod, that it demands some investigation. Instead of
the course pursued by the Missionaries being, as it is contended,
contrary to, it is the true policy of our Church--the policy in
existence long before the decision of 1857. If the course now required
of them be the present policy of our Church, it is a _mistaken_ policy,
contrary to the very genius of our institutions, and ought to be
corrected. It is so contrary to our time-honored Constitution that
either it or the Constitution must be sacrificed. In order to save the
policy it was found necessary during the past year to amend the
Constitution by a clause so sweeping, that if the circumstances of a
Missionary Classis require it, "_all the ordinary requirements of the
Constitution_" may be dispensed with by the General Synod. Can it be
that a policy which requires _such constitutional changes_ can be the
old and proper policy of our Church? But if the policy be continued we
are not yet done with changes. The very _name_ of our Church must be
changed. It now is "The Reformed Protestant Dutch Church _in North
America_." We must expunge the words "_in North America_," or must add
India, China, and Japan, and every other country where the Church may
undertake Missionary work. We know it has been said of this policy, "it
is our _settled, irreversible_ policy." Is every thing then to be
regarded as _unsettled_ and _changeable_ but this policy of the Church?
We answer, No. The Church may change her name, if she please, as she has
changed her Constitution. Or she may change her policy. But there are
certain fundamental principles of Church government which she may not
change. Hence, even yet, the principles for which the Missionaries
contend must remain the true policy of our Church, for they lie at the
very foundation of Presbyterial order. A full discussion of this subject
will come up most naturally when we discuss the _evils_ of the course
now required of us. I will now allude to only one fact. The Board of
Foreign Missions was formed on this pri