The Benevolent Work of the Church, and the Report of the Committee of Twenty-One [pp. 246-272]

260 THE BENEYOLENT WORK OF THE CHURCH. [April,
trolled all important operations, and decided q~estions of
practical moment; whereas, the proposed COMMISSION would
be really representat~ve; composed of persons who would be
expected, by those delegating them, to be always present at
th~ meetings, a working body, among whom (as Dr. Adams
in 1870 expressed it), "Non-attendance would be interpreted
as resignation."
Although the principle underlying the Old School Boards
was very essential for church work,-thc principle of representin~
all sections,-practically, as those Boards were constituted,
instead of juardin~ a~ainst centraUzation of power, they pro duced it. The effect, especially when the officers were men of
great influence, and had district secretai4es and hundreds of
missionaries suThect to their control, seemed, to many in both
branches of the Church, to be an unwise empowering of a few
at the expense of the many. No wonder that remote parts
complained of their interests being ignored by such local
bodies; that Presbyteries every now and then acted, or il~reat ened to act, independently; that missionaries (as Dr. Paxton
showed at Philadelphia in 1870) renounced the boards and
made appeals to the wealthy chur~hes for themselves; and
that the disturbances, at one time, could only be quelled by
the temporary establishment of coo~rdinate executive com mittees, at Louisville and New Orleans. Well might the
earnest orators of the opposition exclaim that "this ghost 0~
objecting hadfor mwuj years disturbed the Boards." Hardly
- an Old School Assembly in years past convened that did not
witness complaint and conflict on this subject. Every admin istrat~on of the Board of Missions was blamed, and threw
back the blame upon the churches. This periodical mani festation of dissatisfaction ought not to be regarded as evinc ing a mere factious and fault-finding disposition. Rather does
it indicate a healthy, though it may be a misdirected, desfre that such an organization as ours should he more effcient,
and the -faciliiles afforded for this sort of work more fully put
iii requisition. The real want is a closer contact between the
— J?oards and all parts ~ the Church, such as a wisely-arranged
general commission will secure.