186 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



not refuse to think of them. I entertain in their be- 

 half what I conceive to be a reasonable hope that 

 somehow, before their destinies are fixed, there shall 

 be revealed to them the love of God in Christ Jesus. 

 In this, as in other questions in which God has given 

 no decisive answer, 1 merely claim the liberty of the 

 Gospel. 



In reply to the questioning by members of 

 the council, he said that his faith was more 

 vital to him now than when he offered himself 

 to the board, but that he had not intentionally 

 changed the form of his expression of belief 

 regarding future probation. He had intended 

 to convey the same impression to the board 

 as now. He had found the doctrine neither 

 taught nor forbidden in the Scriptures. The 

 council expressed its satisfaction with the ex- 

 amination, and advised the Berkeley Street 

 Church to endeavor to secure an arrangement 

 by which he could work under the same direc- 

 tion as the other missionaries of the Congre- 

 gational churches ; and that, in case such an 

 arrangement could not be made, the church it- 

 self assume the responsibility of his direction 

 and support. Mr. Noyes was then ordained. 

 Application was afterward made to the Pru- 

 dential Committee of the American Board to 

 accept the candidate as a missionary to Japan. 

 This the committee declined to do in a letter 

 in which its own action and the action of the 

 American Board at the annual meetings in 1886 

 and 1887 approving its course were reviewed. 

 Respecting the present situation of the case, 

 the committee had hoped, when the new ap- 

 plication was presented, that experience and 

 further study had so far modified Mr. Noyes's 

 previously expressed views, that he could with- 

 draw his former statements, and so express 

 himself that he could be approved without 

 violation of the instructions of the board. But 

 in this particular it had been disappointed. 

 Had he been able to withdraw or modify his 

 statements previously made, his case might 

 possibly be considered simply on the basis of 

 a new statement. But he had repeatedly as- 

 sured the committee in conference that he had 

 not consciously altered his opinions or his ex- 

 pression of them. All of his statements taken 

 together made it plain that he was to be in- 

 cluded among those candidates " who accept, 

 under some form of statement, the hypothesis 

 of a probation after death," and in relation to 

 whom the board had given instructions ad- 

 verse to their appointment. The committee 

 had therefore voted : 



That inasmuch as the Eev. William H. Noyes de- 

 clines to withdraw the statements made by him to the 

 committee at the time of his previous applications 

 for appointment which favor the hypothesis of a 

 probation after death this hypothesis being, as he 

 there states, " in harmony with Scripture," and one 

 which "honors Christ in giving completeness to his 

 work," and which is to him ' a necessary corollary " to 

 a belief in the universality of the atonement; and in- 

 asmuch as he has now emphatically stated to the com- 

 mittee that he knows of uo change in his feelings or 

 his expression of them, nor in his position, since he 

 first presented them to the Prudential Committee in 



1866, except that his faith has become " more vital'- ; 

 therefore, in accordance with the instructions given to 

 the committee by the board at its annual meeting in 

 1886, which were reaffirmed with emphasis in 1887, 

 when this particular case was under review, the com- 

 mittee has no option but to decline to appoint the ap- 

 plicant so long as he holds these views. 



Congregational Union of England and Wales. 



The Congregational Union of England and 

 Wales met in London, May 7. The Rev. Dr. 

 Bruce presided, and the Rev. Griffith John 

 was chosen president for the ensuing year. 

 The financial statement showed that the in- 

 come of the Union for the year had been 10,- 

 122, and the expenditure, 11,092. The sec- 

 retary's report represented that the proposed 

 conference between the Congregational and 

 Baptist churches had been postponed, but not 

 without hope that the aim of preventing de- 

 nominational overlapping would presently be 

 accomplished. The decision of the Tooting 

 case in favor of the Congregationalists was 

 mentioned, with an expression of regret that 

 such a cause of contention with the Presby- 

 terians should have existed. A plan had been 

 prepared for the celebration of the bicentenary 

 of the revolution of 1688, with addresses and 

 lectures, and by making the subject a special 

 feature of the autumnal meetings of the body. 

 The proposed celebration Avas approved of by 

 the Union. The formation of church-guilds 

 had been encouraged. Measures had been 

 taken for the Union becoming its own pub- 

 lisher of books, etc. The committee had sup- 

 ported the bill for legalization of marriage with 

 a deceased wife's sister; had abstained from 

 taking action in reference to the early closing 

 bill ; had arranged for presentation to the 

 Union of a memorial of the Band of Hope 

 Union, in reference to the use of non-alcoholic 

 liquors at the sacrament ; and had devised 

 plans by which the time of the Union should 

 not be so much encroached on as heretofore 

 by deputations. They had not acceded to Rev. 

 Foster Lepine's suggestion that arrangements 

 should be made by which party politics would 

 be avoided at the representative meetings of 

 the Union. The Jubilee fund had been closed 

 with total receipts recorded at 434,470, and 

 total disbursements at 248,875. The Welsh 

 churches had raised 100,000 for the ex- 

 tinction ,of debts, and 93,236 had been con- 

 tributed toward metropolitan church exten- 

 sion. The working expenses of the scheme 

 for seven years had amounted to 2,201, no 

 part of which had come out of the contribu- 

 tions. A protest was adopted against the 

 management of Halloway College, an institu- 

 tion, it was held, which, while the founder had 

 intended it should be undenominational, ap- 

 peared to have fallen too much under the influ- 

 ence of the established Church. A letter of 

 commendation was ordered sent to the Aus- 

 tralian and Canadian churches. A resolution 

 was adopted protesting against fresh legisla- 

 tion which should provide for supporting de- 

 nominational schools out of the rates. 



