CHRISTIAN UNION (THE). 



CHURCH OF GOD. 



107 



The agitation of the natives against the for- 

 eigners, and, in particular, against the French 

 and English, continued also throughout the 

 year 1872. The English minister, Mr. Wade, 

 was even insulted in the streets of Peking, and 

 consequently presented to the Chinese court a 

 memorial summing up all the complaints of the 

 foreigners, and demanding satisfaction. Prince 

 Kung recognized the justice of the remon- 

 strances, and promised redress. 



The treaty between China and Japan, which 

 was negotiated in the latter part of the year 

 1871, was kept very secret by both Govern- 

 ments, and the representatives of the foreign 

 powers were led to suspect that it embraced a 

 defensive and offensive alliance directed against 

 the foreign powers ; for, in the latter part of 

 the year, it was reported that Japan demanded 

 a modification of the treaty. 



CHRISTIAN UNION (THE). The Fourth 

 General Council of the Christian Union of the 

 United States met at Woodhull, Henry County, 

 111., on the 30th of May. Twenty-six dele- 

 gates were present from the States of Iowa, 

 Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio. A stand- 

 ing committee, appointed at the previous Gen- 

 eral Council, to meet commissioners from the 

 Quadrennial Convention of the Christian Con- 

 nection North, reported that they had not 

 been notified of the appointment of any com- 

 missioners on the part of the Christian Con- 

 nection, and that no meeting had been held, 

 and added : " Therefore no official action has 

 been taken. "We have been ready and anxious 

 for the consummation of union with all who 

 follow Christ, but not at the cost of Christian 

 liberality and the loss of our unsectarian van- 

 tage-ground." A similar committee, who were 

 appointed to confer with commissioners from 

 the Christian Connection South, reported : 

 "We have taken no action in the premises, 

 further than an informal correspondence with 

 a few prominent brethren of said Christian 

 Connection, who have represented their or- 

 ganization as willing to unite, on the condi- 

 tions of our adopting their articles of religion, 

 rules of order, and organic nomenclature. 

 Conceiving that union, upon such conditions, 

 is not desirable to any of the independent, 

 creedless churches in this Union, and in con- 

 sideration of the fact that the union we seek is 

 not the amalgamation of sects, or the estab- 

 lishment of any creed, other than the Bible ; 

 and, as our chief object is to develop the unity 

 of the Spirit, in striving to promote and inten- 

 sify ^esteem and affection among all the true, 

 disciples of our Divine Master, we would re- 

 spectfully submit that the union indicated by 

 the Christian Connection South is not such as 

 would be acceptable on the part of this body." 

 An address on fraternal relations was adopted. 

 It states that the members of the Christian 

 Union " do not propose any interference with 

 the doctrines, peculiarities, or conscientious 

 predilections of Christians for their own 

 modes of worship or external rites ; " that, 



in their confederate and conciliar relations, 

 they " seek the meeting together of Christians 

 whose sympathies and labors are earnestly di- 

 rected toward the unity of all God's children 

 who recognize the one head and master of the 

 Church of Christ ; " that it is their desire, in 

 their councils, "to confine the worship and 

 business thereof to the momentous and vital 

 points in which there is an avowed agreement ; 

 that the oneness of our faith and agreement in 

 the Gospel of Christ may be exhibited, with- 

 out associating with it other and minor ob- 

 jects, which might, by dividing attention, pre- 

 vent the importance of union in fundamental 

 objects from being duly recognized ; " and 

 that they " recognize the ground of such union 

 to reside in the supreme importance of the 

 points in which all Christians are and must be 

 agreed." 



The churches connected with the Union in 

 the different States were represented as gen- 

 erally in a prosperous and peaceful condition. 

 The Council chose a board of missions, and 

 appointed a general missionary. The next 

 meeting of the General Council will be held 

 at Wesley, Montgomery County, Ind., in May, 

 1874. 



CHURCH OF GOD. The Tenth Triennial 

 General Eldership of the Church of God in 

 North America met at Mount Carroll, 111., 

 on the 20th of May. Delegates were in attend- 

 ance from the East Pennsylvania, West Penn- 

 sylvania, East Ohio, West Ohio, Indiana, Mich- 

 igan, Southern Indiana and Illinois, Illinois, 

 Iowa, and Kansas and Missouri Elderships. 

 The German eldership was represented by 

 letter. The regular business of the session 

 related chiefly to the publishing interests, 

 the newspapers, and missions, of the Church. 

 The publishing interests and papers, though 

 not extensive, were found to be well estab- 

 lished and prosperous. The Board of Mis- 

 sions, which was organized in 1869, had con- 

 ducted missionary work successfully in Kansas 

 and Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, among the 

 freedmen, and at special points in the Central 

 States, and had founded two funds of $1,000 

 each. The most important missionary work 

 had been conducted at Chicago, for the use of 

 which a property, valued at about $20,000, 

 had been accumulated. Several efforts had 

 been made, between 1854 and 1866, to estab- 

 lish a denominational school, but all had failed. 

 The General Eldership was visited by a frater- 

 nal delegate from the Free-Will Baptist General 

 Conference, who proposed, on behalf of that 

 body, that the Church of God should take an 

 interest in Hillsdale College, a denominational 

 school of the Free- Will Baptists at Hillsdale, 

 Mich., by endowing a professorship, and 

 designating a professor. The offer was ac- 

 cepted ; a professor was chosen ; arrange- 

 ments were made for paying his salary, and 

 for permanently endowing his chair, by the 

 sale of scholarships, and a visiting committee 

 to the college was appointed. Three frater- 



