We print in this number the first of a series of five articles, from the pen of Dist. Sec. Woodworth, on the general topic, “Congregationalism in the South.” They will give an outline of its history, and hints as to its responsibility and opportunity. While it will not be, as it has not been, the sole object of the Association to extend the form of church polity, to which most of the churches which contribute to it are attached, but rather to labor for the intelligent Christianization of the people who most need it, we are disposed to think that there will be found a greater affinity between the Southern people and the Congregational way than many have supposed. We do not endorse all the utterances on the incompatibility between the two which were made at the last Annual Meeting, and are glad to have so careful a survey of the whole subject as these articles will furnish. * * * * * CONGREGATIONALISM IN THE SOUTH. 1. Before the War. DIST. SEC. C. L. WOODWORTH, BOSTON. Few are aware, perhaps, that up to 1861 Congregationalism had but two churches south of Mason and Dixon’s line; and these were not indigenous to the soil, but the transplanted growths of other lands. The first was the old Circular Church of Charleston, S.C., organized in 1690, of Irish and Scotch Presbyterians, of Congregationalists from the North, and of Huguenots from the persecutions in France. The second was the Midway Church, in Liberty County, Georgia, which was formed in 1695, as a colony from the First Congregational Church of Dorchester, Mass. It first planted itself on the Ashley River in South Carolina, at a place which is called Dorchester; but in 1752, the colony having grown to more than five hundred souls, emigrated bodily into Georgia, transplanting the church into that new country. Among the eminent men on its roll of preachers was the father of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. Both these churches have a very distinct and striking history. Both sent out hundreds of most intelligent and worthy members, who adorned all the walks of life--teachers, preachers, professors, lawyers, judges, governors, senators--but neither of them ever propagated itself. Both were ministered to for years by men of other denominations, though none ventured to tamper with their polity. It is a singular illustration of the toughness and vigor of the Congregational life, and of the uncongenial soil in which it was planted.