694 



UNITED BRETHREN. 



UNITED STATES. 



your most celebrated Unitarians, the more because 

 we have some of them already in, translation. It will 

 give us great pleasure to send in time, to your Associ- 

 ation, copies of our publication. We will even not 

 neglect to send you a statement of in what measure 

 and to what purpose your offer was applied. 



At last we are glad to express that, as, up to this 

 time, we have gained a great spiritual enjoyment from 

 the books you so kindly sent to us, we shall after- 

 ward, too, be very glad to have the pleasure of re- 

 ceiving some of your tracts from time to time. 



Accept, dear brethren, our best thanks for your 

 very kind offers, in the name of Unitarianism. And, 

 asking our Heavenly Father's blessing upon all your 

 apostolic labors, we remain, 



Your brethren in Christ, 



ALEXIUS NAGY DE KAL, 

 Supremus Curator, Consistoriia parte seculari praeses. 



JOANNES KRIZA, 



Superintended EcclesiarumUnitariarum in Hungaria. 

 MOSES PAP, Generalis Notarius. 



CLATJSENBUBG, the 23d of December, 1869. 



la India, the Unitarians have missions at 

 Calcutta, Salem, Secunderabad, and Madras, 

 with schools at the three first-named places. 



In Australia there are Unitarian associations 

 at Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. 



UNITED BRETHREN. The Fifteenth 

 Quadrennial General Conference of the United 

 Brethren in Christ met at Lebanon, Pa., on the 

 20th of May. A proposition to abrogate the 

 rule against secret societies was the subject of 

 a debate of considerable length. The follow- 

 ing rule was adopted on the subject by a vote 

 of 71 to 26. It does not differ materially from 

 the old rule : 



"We believe that secret societies are evil in their 

 nature and tendency (a secret society is one whose 

 initiatory ceremony is a secret) ; and any member or 

 preacher of our Church, who shall be found connect- 

 ed in any way with such a society, shall be admon- 

 ished to sever said connection. It the offender be a 

 lay member, he shall be so admonished by the 

 preacher in charge ; if a preacher or exhorter, by the 

 presiding elder ; if a presiding elder, by the bishop ; 

 if a bishop, by the presiding elder of the district in 

 which such bishop may reside. If such offending 

 person fails to comply^ with this admonition within 

 six months after it is given, his name shall be erased 

 from the record, and he be no longer considered a 

 member of our Church. Provided, further, that, 

 should the accused deny said connection, the case 

 shall be tried according to sections nineteen and 

 twenty of Discipline, respectively. 



The following was the expression of the 

 Conference on the subject of lay representa- 

 tion : 



Resolved, That while we do not consider lay repre- 

 sentation in general and annual conferences as wrong 

 in principle or practice, and inasmuch as there is no 

 general desire expressed in favor of lay representa- 

 tion, w^e do not deem it expedient at present to take 

 action in regard to it. 



The law prohibiting the introduction of 

 choirs and instruments of music into the 

 churches was so modified as to be a rule of 

 advice. 



A rule was adopted which prohibits bishops 

 from remaining more than four consecutive 

 years in the same district. An effort was made 

 to abolish the district system of the Episco- 

 pacy by a rule allowing the bishops to make 

 a division of their work annually over the 



whole field, as in the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, but it failed. Superintendents of 

 Sunday-schools were required to be selected 

 from members of the church, and to be made 

 members of the Quarterly Conferences, except 

 when suitable persons cannot be obtained from 

 among the members. Steps were taken look- 

 ing to the foundation of a Biblical Institute for 

 the education of candidates for the ministry. 

 The growth of the Church, in all its interests, 

 had been very rapid since the preceding Gen- 

 eral Conference. 



The Church of the United Brethren sustains 

 177 home missions, 95 frontier missions, and 

 one foreign mission. There were paid, during 

 the four years ending May, 1869, $188,538.40 

 for home missions; $81,300.52 for frontier 

 missions; and $6,183.45 for foreign missions. 

 The receipts of the mission fund for 1868 were 

 $14,079.92. One hundred and seventy-seven 

 missionaries were employed in the home work, 

 ninety-three in the frontier work, and three on 

 the foreign work. The foreign mission, which 

 is at Shengay, Africa, has made but little prog- 

 ress, on account of the sickness of the laborers. 

 The chief missionary, the Rev. O. Hadley, re- 

 turned to the United States and died. The 

 Missionary Visitor has a circulation of 14,000 

 copies. 



UNITED STATES. The fifteenth amend- 

 ment to the Constitution of the United States, 

 which provided that the right of citizens of the 

 United States to vote shall not be denied or 

 abridged by any State, was introduced and 

 passed by Congress during the session which 

 closed on March 4, 1869 (see CONGKESS, UNITED 

 STATES). It was then submitted to the States, 

 and ratified by a large number previous to the 

 end of the year ; there were not, however, the 

 three-fourths required by the Constitution. 



The Administration of Andrew Johnson 

 closed on the 4th of March, and the ex-Presi- 

 dent went to Tennessee. There he became a 

 candidate before the Legislature of the State 

 for a seat in the United States Senate, but failed 

 of an election by two votes. The members of 

 his Cabinet, Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State, 

 Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, John 

 M. Schofield, Secretary of War, Hugh McCul- 

 loch, Secretary of the Treasury, Orville H. 

 Browning, Secretary of the Interior, William 

 M. Evarts, Attorney-General, and Alexander 

 W. Randall, Postmaster-General, resigned their 

 offices at the same time. 



After the canvass of the votes of the States 

 for President by Congress, Senator Morton, of 

 Indiana, and Representatives Pruyn, -.of New 

 York, and Wilson, of Iowa, were appointed a 

 committee, to present to General Grant the 

 certificate of his election as President of the 

 United States. In discharge of this duty, Sen- 

 ator Morton addressed the President-elect, at 

 his office as General of the Army, announcing 

 that with his companions they were the com- 

 mittee appointed by Congress to present him 

 with his commission as President of the United 



