Fourth Annual Report of the N. Y. State Conference.
THIS Conference, composed of the S. D. Adventist churches of N. Y. and Northern Penn., convened at Nile, Allegany Co., N. Y., Oct. 13, 1865, pursuant to the call of the Executive Committee. At 9 o'clock A. M., the president, A. Lanphear, called the meeting to order. Prayer by Bro. Cottrell. The credentials of the delegates of the several churches being called for, it was found that the following churches, (with the exception of Alba, Penn., and Brookfield, N. Y.) were duly represented: Adams' Center, Alba, Allegany Co., Bangor, Brookfield, Buck's Bridge, Catlin, Champlain, Clarkson, Farmington, Kirkville, Lancaster, Lockport, Mannsville, McKean Co., Middle Grove, Norfolk, Olcott, Oswego, Rochester, Roosevelt, Ulysses, Verona, West Monroe, and Wheeler. Two of these churches, Lockport and Verona, asked for admission to the Conference, and were received. The Secretary's report for the past year was called for, read, and accepted. The letters from the several churches were then read. These were generally brief, many of them merely reporting the number of members and the amount of their s. b. fund. Some, however, contained cheering intelligence of the work of the Lord in their midst, and in general they evinced a steadfastness and persevering zeal in the cause of truth. By vote of the Conference, a committee was appointed to nominate officers for the ensuing year, viz: R. F. Cottrell, N. Fuller, S. B. Whitney, J. B. Lamson, and L. R. Chapel. Adjourned to 2 o'clock P. M. The nominating committee reported, for President, A. Lanphear, Secretary, R. F. Cottrell, Treasurer, W. S. Salisbury, Executive Committee, A. Lanphear, J. N. Andrews, and C. O. Taylor. The report was accepted, and the nominees unanimously elected. The reports of ministers were then called for, whereupon written reports of labors, receipts and expenditures from Elders J. N. Andrews, N. Fuller, C. O. Taylor, S. B. Whitney, R. F. Cottrell, and A. Lanphear, were read, and, upon separate motions, accepted. After a vote that a certain sum of money mailed by the church at Lancaster, and lost, should be lost to the Conference, a committee of six were appointed to act with the Executive Committee in settling ministers' accounts, viz: J. M. Aldrich, J. Lindsey, W. S. Salisbury, J. Witter, O. P. Rice, and J. B. Lamson. By a vote of the Conference the evangelical ministers of the past year were approved as such for the year173to come. It was also voted that Bro. A. Lanphear continue his labors as preacher, as in the past year. A request that Eld. J. L. Baker be accredited as a minister of this Conference was referred to the Executive Committee. The Treasurer's report was called for, which was as follows: Total receipts, $2269.35. Paid out $1102.48. Balance on hand, $1166.87. This balance was disbursed by the committee on ministers' accounts, acting in connection with the member of the Executive Committee present, except $200, which was given, by a vote of the Conference to the General Conference Fund. A motion was made for the re-adoption of the following Resolution passed at the last year's session of this Conference: "Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Conference that the entire sums of Systematic Benevolence should be put into the State Conference Treasury." While this motion was pending, the Conference adjourned to first-day, Oct. 15, at 8 o'clock. Oct. 15. Met according to adjournment. The above motion was taken up, and unanimously adopted. As some confusion existed from the fact that some of the churches had their Systematic Benevolence arranged from the first of January instead of the first of October, the beginning of the Conference year, on motion it was Re-resolved, "That all the churches of this Conference should arrange their Systematic Benevolence at the commencement of each Conference year, according to the plans set forth on the first page of our Systematic Benevolence blank books." The church at Catlin had presented a request by her delegate to be allowed to reserve a part or the whole of her s. b. fund the coming year, for the purpose of building a meeting-house. A motion was now made to this effect and lost. Bro. Aldrich urged the necessity of using this s. b. fund strictly for the purpose for which it was raised, viz: the preaching of the truth; until such time as there should be a surplus in the Treasury which might be given by Conference to aid poor churches in building places of worship. He also urged the necessity of the churches' unanimously adhering to the expressed opinion of the Conference. That it was unsafe to establish precedents in these matters that would prove ruinous to the object of the association of the churches in Conference, by leading to inequality and confusion. For these reasons it had been voted, on accepting the reports of the several churches, that the report of the church at West Monroe should be accepted with a protest, in consequence of her having reserved a part of her s. b. fund, contrary to the expressed opinion of the Conference. The following resolutions were unanimously adopted during the session of the Conference: Resolved, That whenever the several churches shall have arranged their s. b. pledges for the ensuing year, it shall be the duty of the respective Church Clerks to report immediately to the Conference Treasurer the amount pledged for the year; and also that it shall be the duty of the Treasurer to see that the same be duly reported to him. Resolved, That we have not only been greatly disappointed in not meeting with Bro. and sister White, and Bro. Loughborough, at this session of Conference, but our disappointment has deepened into heart-felt sorrow and grief on account of the existing cause of their absence. Resolved, That in view of the critical condition of our dear Bro. White,—of God our chosen leader—and also the serious illness of brethren Loughborough and Bourdeau—two of God's efficient ministers—we, as a people, have occasion to weep and mourn; and also great reason to humble ourselves before God our Saviour, and to continue in fasting and earnest prayer, that He who is the source of all our strength and all our hopes, and the great Physician of his people, may, in great mercy to his cause, his people, and his afflicted ones, interpose his mighty arm in their behalf. Resolved, That while we deeply regret to lose the labor and influence of Bro. J. M. Aldrich in our Conference, we feel cheerfully to submit to the order of Providence by which he is taken from us; and that with heartfelt gratitude for his faithful labors in the past, we follow him with our prayers, that in the new relation he is called to sustain to the cause, he may be eminently successful, and an instrument of much good. Resolved, That we highly appreciate the labors of Bro. Cottrell in writing for the Review, and that we request him to continue to furnish its readers with articles from his pen, as he has done during the year past. Resolved, That we feel a deep interest in the case of the freedmen, and an earnest desire that the message of the third angel may be sent to those in the South from whom it has been hitherto excluded by the horrid tyranny of the institution of slavery. Resolved, That we tender our sincere thanks to the members of the S. D. Baptist church of this place for the use of their meeting-house on this occasion, and for the kind and liberal entertainment they have given us. Resolved, That the report of this Conference be published in the Review. Adjourned sine die.
A. LANPHEAR, President.
R. F. COTTRELL, Secretary.