The General Assembly [pp. 521-553]

General Assembly.
appoint a sufficient number of agents, assigning to each a definite field of labour, whose duty it shall be to advance the work
in every proper way, and especially, by bringing it before the
church judicatories in their respective districts.
5. That in order to increase and enlarge our operations
among the Indian tribes, the Board be authorized and encouraged to employ such additional assistance as the exigencies of
this branch of the Missionary work may require.
The report was accepted, and, on motion of Dr. Plumer, the
following resolution was added to the report of the committee,
and, as so amended, it was adopted:
6. That all our people and churches be solemnly reminded
of the duty of making prayer, without ceasing, to God, for the
success of missionary efforts, not only among Pagans and
Mahomedans, but also in Papal countries.
The subject of this overture was brought before the Synod
of New Jersey last fall, in consequence of an address from the
Rev. Dr. Baird, the representative of the American Protestant
Union. That gentleman in a kind and liberal spirit urged with
much zeal, that in view of the great importance of missions to
Papal countries, of the rapidly increasing facilities for prosecuting the work, and of the little now done by our body in this
interesting field, that the Presbyterian Church would either
engage in this enterprise in a definite and organized manner, or
give it up entirely, throwing open their congregations to the
American Society, having this work as their special object.
The Synod felt that the latter course was out of the question.
It was opposed to the settled policy of the Church, to the fixed
opinions and preferences of a large portion of our members, and
to the frequently repeated decisions of our General Assembly.
The thing, therefore, could not be done. The question then
arose-Shall things continue in the state in which they now
are?-this great work being left as a mere subordinate department of our Foreign Missionary operations, without any special
appeal and separate collections, and all our churches left open
to the visits and solicitations of the agents of another society.
There was a general conviction that this, of all methods, was
the most inexpedient. It was not to be expected that our
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