THE persons originally uniting in this organization, were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Brooklyn, who, desiring the establishment of a Methodist Church with the Congregational form of government, held a meeting on Monday evening, May 8th, 1848, and resolved to form a new religious Society, to be known as the "First Congregational Methodist Church of the City of Brooklyn."

The certificate of incorporation was recorded in the Clerk's Office of King's County, N. Y., on the 5th of June, 1848.

The Second Congregational Church, at the corner of Lawrence and Tillary Streets, was purchased, and regular religious services held therein until January 1st, 1859. Rev. John C. Green was the first Pastor, and held the position until his health failed in August, 1853, when the Rev. James J. Bell, of the Methodist

Episcopal Church, was selected as his successor, and, having withdrawn from that body, at once entered upon his duties as Pastor. After serving the Church satisfactorily, Mr. Bell resigned on the 1st May, 1856, and accepted a call to the pastorate of the North Congregational Church, at East Hampton, Ct., where he is now laboring with success.

In October, 1858, the Society purchased the lots in State Street, near Hoyt, and erected their present neat and commodious church edifice. Its present capacity is about nine hundred sittings, with unoccupied spaces for additional pews, sufficient to increase the capacity of the building to twelve hundred sittings. The entire cost of the enterprise-ground, building, and furniture, was $30,000. T. Reeve & Co. were the architects and carpenters. John French, mason. The car

pets, upholstery, &c., were furnished by Husted & Carll.

On the 19th November, after interesting religious exercises by the leading Congregational clergymen of Brooklyn, the corner stone was laid. On the 17th day of April, 1859, the Lecture-room was occupied. On the 30th day of June following, the Church was dedicated to the service of Almighty God. Rev. Richard S. Storrs, Jr., D.D., Pastor of the Church of the Pilgrims, preached the dedicatory sermon. Rev. Rufus W. Clark, of the South Congregational Church, and other Congregational clergymen, assisted in the exercises.

On the first Sabbath in May, 1860, Mr. Washington Gladden, of Owego, N. Y., preached his first sermon in this church, and having received and accepted a call extended to him by the Church and Society, began his pastoral labors on the first Sabbath in June. A Council was convened on the 15th day of November, 1860, when Washington Gladden was ordained and duly installed as Pastor of the Church. Rev. William Alvin Bartlett, of the Elm Place Congregational Church, preached the Installation Sermon. Rev. R. S. Storrs, Jr., D.D., gave the right hand of fellowship; Rev. Rufus W. Clark delivered the charge to the Pastor; and Rev. Moses Tyler, of Poughkeepsie, that to the People.

At a special meeting of the members of the Church and Society, held Wednesday evening, Jan. 9th, 1861, called for the purpose of acting upon the report of a committee appointed Dec. 4th, 1860, it was unanimously

Resolved, That this Church be hereafter known as the STATE STREET CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF BROOKLYN.

On the 1st of June, 1861, Rev. W. Gladden resigned, and accepted a call to the pastorate of the Congregational Church at Morrisania, New York.

The first effort to obtain a successor was made on the 4th day of June following, by an application to the Rev. Newton

Heston, (formerly of Philadelphia,) of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Newark, N. J. A call from the Church and Society, bearing date 4th July, 1861, was forwarded to Mr. Heston on the 13th August. After serious deliberation, involving considerable delay, Mr. H. referred the committee to the Episcopacy, and expressed a willingness to assume the relation of Pastor, provided he could do so with the sanction of the Bishops of the M. E. Church. Negotiations were therefore opened by the committee, and every effort made to secure the desired sanction. It was not until the 19th October that a final and decisive answer was received from the Bishops, to the effect that there was no law or precedent in the M. E. Church which would allow of the appointment of one of its preachers to a Church of another denomination, however much that Church might desire it. The whole subject was then referred again to Mr. Heston, for final consideration, and resulted in his acceptance of the unanimous call of the Church; and his withdrawal from the Methodist Episcopal Church, by the following letter:

NEWARK, N. J., Nov. 1st, 1861. Rev. J. M. TUTTLE, Presiding Elder of Newark District-Newark Conference: DEAR BROTHER,-For reasons satisfactory to my own mind and conscience, and which I need not here enumerate, I have concluded to accept a call to another field of ministerial labor, and to become connected with another branch of the great Christian Household in

this country.

I write you, therefore, as the representative of the Newark Conference for the time being, to inform you of my purpose, that you may make such provision for the Union Street charge as in your judgment shall be advisable.

From this date also, you will please regard me as withdrawn from the Methodist Episcopal Church, and will please report me accordingly at the next session of the Newark Conference. With all good feeling toward my brethren of the Newark Conference, and all

others who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth, I remain,

Your brother

and fellow-laborer in the Gospel, NEWTON HESTON.

On Sabbath evening, 27th October, Mr. H. preached his last sermon, as pastor, in the Union Street M. E. Church, at the close of which he read a carefully prepared valedictory, giving the reasons and convictions which had finally induced his acceptance of this call. He said:

"The struggle with my feelings has been intense: no one can know what this decision

has cost me what anxious thought-what sleepless hours. It is no easy thing to sever such a church connection; and, should your feelings change toward me, mine shall remain unchilled. You may not see my motives aright-you may not comprehend my heart now, but you will hereafter.

I

desire a settled pastorate-a permanent field of labor-free from the uncertainties, the changes, and contingencies of the itinerant system. I wish to take hold of a Church, feeling that I have something to cling to, as a man works for and clings to his home; that we may grow up together, and live and flourish in mutual success, sympathy and love, free from the disheartening prospect of an early and forced separation. I want all the moral power which such a relation gives to true manhood—all the spur, devotion, courage

On Monday evening, Nov. 4th, Mr. H., by special request, delivered a farewell lecture in the Union Street M. E. Church, at the close of which the Officiary arose, and approaching the altar, one of their number, Mr. Samuel W. Clark-with very kind and touching words, in which he forcibly expressed the earnest regard of his former associates for the retiring minister, recognized the fact that this change in denominational relations was not the result of any discontent, or failure, or friction, but of conscientious conviction; and avowed the unchangeable tenderness and respect with which they should follow him-presented him with a superbly bound parting gift.

The union of the State Street Church with its new Pastor promises great prosperity.

OUR ships of war, on foreign stations, are accustomed to give their men an annual or semi-annual "liberty" of three days on shore. It is expected that all the individuals comprising each successive draft will duly return and report themselves on board. And yet it is morally certain that all will not. And if the strategy of midshipman, master's-mate, and detective police fail to entrap the absentees, and the missing are still missing, an ominous "R" is written against their names in the ship's roll; and the department at home is duly informed that Smith, seaman; Jones, ordinary seaman; and Brown, landsman, have run. These contingencies are so certain to happen during the cruise, that every muster roll is ruled for a column to be headed with "R," just as regularly as other columns are headed with "D," for

There is a sinister column in the muster roll of our churches. It is a column, indeed, which we could ill afford to lose; for its figures are essential to a truthful exhibit of our effective force. The summary of " males " and " females" makes a substantial row of units, tens and hundreds; but then follows this minus column, to caution you against that sanguine fellow, "total;" he deals too much in the poetry of mathematics; some of his figures are figures of speech-his pretensions need to be sobered down. The minus column proceeds to abate on "total's" statements, and sometimes very emphatically; as in

1 We trust our contributor here intends no covert satire upon the common ecclesiastical signification of these pregnant initials!-EDS.

this instance of a Church within the bounds of our own State, reported a year or two ago as composed of " 3 males, 9 females-total, 12;" upon which the goodnatured soul, who takes a bright view of things, would ejaculate, Well done; here is a beginning; here is the nucleus for a rising Church, which, by the power of the Spirit, shall in due time bless the whole community. But that ill-favored villain of a column, close by, checks the ardent aspiration, and adds to the statement a wicked codicil of his own-"males, 3; females, 9; total, 12; ABSENT, 10." The figures almost leer at you as you sadly reverse your former decision, and running your eye along the row, find every other column occupied by a "0," which says, ominously, "nothing done here-nobody to do it."

Such facts as these have sometimes suggested to us that the column in our statistics, headed "Absent," ought, like that significant column in our navy muster rolls, to be headed "R." The churches which so often complain of "desertion," might sometimes interpret the phrase of their own members, as well as of their absent Lord. To be sure, the non-resident does not abscond; he does not flee from the fold because restless within it. He goes at the call of business, or pleasure; perhaps, indeed, at the call of Christian duty. And though his new home may be under the very eaves of some "sister Church," he takes no pains to associate himself with it, or be recognized by it, or give to it the sanction and aid of his name and his service. Is not the effect, there fore, very nearly the same? Is not the Church at home weakened by his absence? Is any other Church the gainer by his arrival? It might be safely given as the general experience of our churches, that members of other churches residing near them add little to their efficiency; render very little sympathy and help in the Sabbath School, the prayer-meeting, and the outdoor plans for home evangelization; in fact, do not always make themselves known

as Church members. The seventy-five thousand enrolled on the lists of our Massachusetts churches, muster well in the rank and file of the statistical tables; but the eleven thousand "absent" make a serious abatement; in a very large proportion of the cases, probably, a needless abatement. It reduces our actual working numbers more than fourteen per cent. And if the eleven thousand thus detached from the various forces already in the field, were fairly united to some other division in the grand army of the great King, we could find no cause of complaint. We should feel that the Master had need of them elsewhere, and that he had deployed them to another position on the ground, where they could quit themselves like men, and like soldiers of the cross, just as well as if still attached to the regiments from which they were drawn.

Some of

A portion of this drainage from our churches has united with the general current of imigration to the broad vallies of the West, and to the Pacific coast. Some of it floats away upon the sea. it, this year, especially, has taken the direction of the camp and the blockade. Many of our churches have sent forth their best men into the field; and we thank God that so many of our Christian soldiers are faithful to their vows as soldier Christians. But it is both true and sad that in the turmoil of business that knows no respite, either by sea or by land, many who were in "good and regular standing" at home, have been swept away, and no tidings have come back. The individnal has been lost in the mass. Pastors and Church clerks have labored to recover some clue to the whereabouts of the absent; nothing came of their labor but

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But for every one who brings "a letter," and regularly transfers himself to the Church near which he has planted his new home, it may be assumed, without fear of overstatement, that those who remove without such transfer of Church relation, would count up to a two-fold, threefold, or even four-fold majority. The changes in New England for the past statistical year, amount, in round numbers, to 3,600 " removals," and a few more "additions by letter;" while the absentees number nearly 26,000. This much is to be taken into the account, however, by way of palliation; all of the twenty-six thousand have not become absentees within the year. Perhaps most of them were absentees before. Many of them are chronic cases, who have long been in "regular standing" in the 'absent' column, and most likely will continue to be placed there till the column of deaths shall receive them, and report them for the last time.

There are some instructive facts in the reports which the churches have furnished. The attention which they give to this portion of their returns is not probably much greater in one State than in another; and yet the tables represent a very great difference in actual condition. We have been figuring out the percentage of absentees in the summaries for each of the New England States, as they are given in the last returns. For the sake of comparison, we will prefix the percentage of the two preceding years:

absentees enough to sink her percentage to very nearly the point at which it stood in 1859.

Vermont is better off than last year. Her Church members number more, and her absentees not proportionally so many.

Massachusetts was improving last year. This year she has fallen back more than she had gained before.

Rhode Island reported, in 1859, that seventeen per cent. of her Church members were non-resident; in 1860, only seven per cent.; at which we felt encouraged. But this year, with an actual loss of members, she confesses more than double the number of absentees: descensus facilis.

Connecticut reports a steady increase in the absent column for all three periods; and that, too, this year, with a loss in membership. She stands now, however, first on the list.

These figures give to the several States some sudden transpositions in rank, as will be seen by a glance at the following:

Jan. 1,'59. Jan. 1,'60. Jan. 1,'61. .151 .151 .163

.181 .17

Maine,
New Hampshire, .171
Vermont,

.123

.161

.131 .14

The evil of which we speak is more easily seen by comparison of individual churches. If you will run your eye down the quadripartite numbers given in our last returns, you must conclude that if confidence is to be placed in figures, some of our churches must be in a dilapidated condition. To" unite by profession" with some of them-if the neophyte follow the example of his predecessors-one would