In so grave a matter as the restoration of organic unity, we may not
surrender anything which is of Divine authority, or accept terms of
communion which are contrary to God's Word. We cannot recognize any
usurpation of the rights and prerogatives of national Churches which
have a common ancestry, lest we heal "the hurt of the daughter of my
people slightly," and say "peace, where there is no peace;" but we do
say that all which is temporary and of human choice or preference we
will forego, from our love to our own kinsmen in Christ.

The Church of the Reconciliation will be an historical and Catholic
Church in its ministry, its faith, and its sacraments. It will inherit
the promises of its Divine Lord. It will preserve all which is catholic
and Divine. It will adopt and use all instrumentalities of any existing
organization which will aid it in doing the Lord's work. It will put
away all which is individual, narrow, and sectarian. It will concede to
all who hold the faith all the liberty wherewith Christ hath made His
children free.


/Missions/.--In the presence of brethren who bear in their bodies the
marks of the Lord Jesus, I hardly know how to clothe in words my
thoughts as I speak of Missions. The providence of God has broken down
impenetrable barriers--the doors of hermit nations have been opened;
commerce has bound men in common interests, and so prepared "a highway
for our God"--Japan, India, China, Africa, Polynesia, amid the solitudes
of icy north, and in the lands of tropic suns, world-wide there are
signs of the coming of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The veil which has
so long blinded the eyes of the ancient people, our Lord's kinsmen
according to the flesh, is being taken away. We bless God for the good
example of martyrs like Patteson, Mackenzie, Parker, Hannington, and