EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. 



271 



General Conference of 1874, who died during 

 their return home or shortly afterward by or 

 in consequence of a disaster to the steamship 

 Ville du Havre, on which they were passen- 

 gers. The funds obtained had been invested 

 in New York City bonds, and amounted, in- 

 cluding premiums, at the time of making the 

 report, to the following sums : Cook fund, 

 $8,421.71; Pronier fund, $5,956.18; Canasco 

 fund, $5,914.13. The Alliance expressed its 

 preference for Edinburgh as the place for 

 holding the next General Conference. 



The Annual Conference of the British Branch 

 of the Evangelical Alliance was held at Bel- 

 fast, beginning October 19th. The proceed- 

 ings began with a meeting for prayer, over 

 which Sir Thomas McClure, Bart., V. L., pre- 

 sided. A conversazione was held in the even- 

 ning. Lord Waveney presided, and delivered 

 an address in which he dwelt upon the craving 

 for closer union among Evangelical Christians, 

 and showed how the Alliance satisfied this 

 yearning, while yet fully recognizing individual 

 Ifberty in thought and action. The Rev. Dr. 

 Henry, of Queen's College, delivered an ad- 

 dress of welcome to the foreign delegates and 

 visitors. Replies were made by Lord Alfred 

 Churchill on behalfjof the council of the Atli- 

 ance, the Right Hon. Martin William Brooke 

 for the Irish branch, Mr. Findlay Anderson for 

 the Scottish branch, the Rev. Mr. Hitchcock, 

 of Paris, for the American branch, Pastor Au- 

 guste Fisch for France, Pastor G. Rochedieu 

 for Belgium, Pastor van Audel for Holland, 

 Mr. 0. Faithful for Spain, the Rev. J. 0. Asten 

 for Germany, and the Rev. Teofilo Gey for 

 Italy. The two succeeding days, Wednesday 

 and Thursday, October 20th and 21st, were oc- 

 cupied with business conferences. The annual 

 address was delivered by the Rev. J. W. Mc- 

 Kay. The annual report of the Alliance spoke 

 of the rapid growth of the body and the for- 

 mation of new branches ; of some results of 

 the General Conference held in the city of 

 New York in 1873 ; of the organization and 

 meeting of the Dominion branch at Montreal 

 in 1874; of the visits of deputations of the 

 Alliance to the embassadores from Japan, 

 the Shah of Persia, and the Emperor of Rus- 

 sia, who had visited England ; of the success- 

 ful results of the efforts which had been made 

 in behalf of a better observance of the Sab- 

 bath in Switzerland ; of efforts which had been 

 made in behalf of religious liberty or toleration 

 in Russia, Turkey, and Persia; of movements 

 to promote a more free exchange of pulpits be- 

 tween ministers of different denominations ; 

 and of other movements in which the Execu- 

 tive Committee had taken a more or less active 

 part. The most important paper presented by 

 the meeting was one which had been prepared 

 by the Dean of Canterbury on the subject, 

 "The Communion and Cooperation of Chris- 

 tians in all Lands an Increasing Obligation on 

 the Universal Church. " The dean was pre- 

 vented by illness from being present, and the 



paper was read for him by the secretary of the 

 Alliance. 



Other papers were read upon " The Life of 

 the Church and how to quicken it " (Rev. J. P. 

 Chown) ; " The Revealed Will of Christ that 

 his People should be manifestly One, for a Tes- 

 timony to Doctrine, as well as for United Action 

 in evangelizing the World" (Rev. Donald Fra- 

 ser, D.D.); "The Headship of Christ in his 

 Church the True Bond of Union among its 

 Members" (Rev. Canon Battersby); "The 

 Signs of the Times as regards the Position and 

 Progress of Evangelical Religion throughout 

 the World" (Rev. Alexander McCauley); 

 " Religious Liberty and the Means of guarding 

 it" (Rev. William Wright, from Damascus); 

 and "Infidel and Superstitious Tendencies of 

 the Present Age, and how best to meet Them." 

 The Right Hon. Master Brooke gave an ac- 

 count of the Old Catholic movement, and of 

 the congress held at Bonn in the preceding 

 August, which he had attended. The Rev. 

 Dr. Aveling, of London, the Rev. Auguste 

 Fisch, of Paris, the Rev. J. Duncan, laboring for 

 the Spanish Evangelization Society in Spain, 

 the Rev. G. Rochedieu, of Belgium, and the 

 Rev. Teofilo Gey, of Rome, spoke of the state 

 of religion, particularly of Evangelical Protes- 

 tantism in the countries which they repre- 

 sented. Mr. Gey presented a request in the 

 name of the four thousand Protestants in Rome, 

 to have the next General Conference of the 

 Alliance held in that city. It was referred to 

 the consideration of the council. Mr. Wright, 

 of Damascus, made a strong representaMon of 

 the persecutions which had been inflicted upon 

 subjects of the Turkish Empire in Syria, who 

 had renounced Mohammedanism and become 

 Christians. 



The first Biennial Conference of the Ameri- 

 can Branch of the Evangelical Alliance met at 

 Pittsburg, Pa., October 26th, and continued 

 in session four days; Mr. William E. Dodge, 

 President, was unable to be present, and Mr. 

 Felix R. Brunot presided in his stead. The 

 meetings began on the evening of October 26th, 

 with religious services, addresses of welcome 

 by the presiding officer and gentlemen repre- 

 senting the city in which the conference was 

 held, and replies by members of the Alliance. 

 The regular discussions began Wednesday, Oc- 

 tober 27th, when papers were read as follows : 

 1. "Reunion of Christendom," the Rev. W. I. 

 Budington, D. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y., the Rev. 

 H. D. Ganse, D. D., New York ; 2. " Increased 

 EflSciency of Sunday-Schools," Rev. J. H. Vin- 

 cent, D. D., Plainfield, N. J. ; 3. "Bible Re- 

 vision," the Rev. E. V. Gerhart, D. D., of Lan- 

 caster, Pa., the Rev. Philip Schaff, D. D., of 

 New York; 4. "The Best Way of reaching 

 the Masses," the Rev. G. W. Heacock, D. D., of 

 Buffalo, N. Y. 



The topics and papers for the third day, 

 Thursday, October 28th, were: 1. "Art in Re- 

 lation to Worship," the Rev. E. A. Washburn, 

 D. D., of New York ; 2. " Ultratnontanism and 



