EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. 



ond dny of the session was tho " Unchange- 

 ableness of the Apostolic Gospel." Papers 

 read on this subject by Professor Orelli 

 of the University of Basel, and Professor Fr. 

 Godet of Neufch&tel. The address of Professor 

 Or. -Hi attracted an unusual degree of attention, 

 and was considered the most important paper 

 contributed to tho meeting. Papers were read 

 in the French section on " Home Evangeliza- 

 tion" by the Rev. M. Lelievre of Nismes, 

 France, the Rev. H. 8. Ashton of London, and 

 the Rev. Dr. Fisch of Paris. Pastor Leli^vro 

 represented that France was undergoing a re- 

 ligious awakening, in the development of which 

 it invoked the cooperation of the whole Prot- 

 estant family, and spoke of Belgium as being 

 in a similar situation and having similar needs. 

 Mr. Ashton described the evangelistic labors 

 of Mr. and Mrs. McAll in Paris, which, having 

 been begun in 1871, had extended till they em- 

 braced twenty-three stations regularly attended 

 by more than five thousand hearers. Professor 

 Eiuilio Comba, of the Waldensian College in 

 Florence, spoke on evangelistic work in Italy. 

 At another sectional meeting papers were read 

 on " Preparation for the Ministry of the Gos- 

 pel," by Professor Guest of Breslau and Pro- 

 fessor Porret of Lausanne. These speakers 

 held that the present system of education for 

 the ministry is defective, and not adapted to 

 the wants of the age ; that it should be more 

 comprehensive and less ecclestiastical, and 

 should rely more on ethical and Biblical than 

 on dogmatical forces. The subject of Sunday- 

 schools was discussed in the Anglo-American 

 section, with addresses by the Rev. Dr. T. D. 

 Anderson of New York, the Rev. Dr. Oswald 

 Dykes of London, several speakers from Ger- 

 many, France, Switzerland, and Italy, and the 

 Rev. Dr. John Hall of New York. 



The most important discussion of the third 

 day was held in the Anglo-American section 

 on the subject of religious liberty. The Rev. 

 Dr. James II. Rigg, ex-President of the Eng- 

 lish "Wesleyan Methodist Conference, gave a 

 survey of the position of the different coun- 

 tries of the world in reference to that ques- 

 tion, from which he drew the conclusion that 

 the principle of liberty was becoming better 

 understood by the nations of Europe, and 

 would ultimately be generally recognized. The 

 Rev. Eustace Carder of England presented a 

 paper on the functions of conscience in rela- 

 tion to civil and religious liberty. The subject 

 of " Christian Union " was considered in the 

 same section, in a paper by the Rev. T. D. 

 Anderson of New York, and in an address by 

 the Rev. William Arthur of London. 



Social questions were considered on the 

 fourth day, when papers were read on the 

 44 Relations of Christianity and Modern Soci- 

 ety," by Professor Wach of the University ot 

 Leipsic ; " Our Duty to the Working Classes," 

 by Mr. G. Steinheil, manufacturer, of Alsaoe, 

 and the President of the Conference; and 

 44 Socialism and Communism," by the Rev. Dr. 



Washburn of New York. Other papers were 

 on the l4 Christian Regeneration of tho East," 

 by Dr. Fabri of Barmen, Germany, and 44 The 

 Christian and Anti-Christian Influence of the 

 Press on the Nation," by the Rev. A. Jouelli, 

 editor of the "Allgemeine Schweitzerzei- 

 tung," of Basel, the Rev. Dr. E. de Pressen*6 

 of France, who spoke of the mission of the 

 Protestant press, and the Rev. L. B. White of 

 London. " The Present State of Religious 

 Liberty " again engaged attention in the con- 

 sideration of a paper which had been pre- 

 sented on behalf of the Rev. J. P. Thompson, 

 D. D., of Berlin, embodying a memorial of the 

 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 

 Missions in reference to the interference by the 

 police with persons connected with its missions 

 in Bohemia, and calling attention to restric- 

 tions which were imposed on the exercise of 

 religious freedom in Bavaria. The memorial 

 recited that the missionaries of the Board, who 

 had for some years been laboring in Austria, 

 had carefully conformed to the regulations of 

 the Government concerning domestic worship 

 and public religious meetings, and till recently 

 had been allowed to carry on their work of 

 evangelization with only occasional interrup- 

 tion from the police. As teachers of religion 

 they had scrupulously refrained from inter- 

 meddling with the domestic concerns of the 

 state. Their converts had taken the precau- 

 tion to withdraw from the recognized churches 

 to which they had belonged in the manner 

 prescribed by law, and had submitted to the 

 police a statement of their belief and of their 

 desire to worship together as Biblical Chris- 

 tians, not connected with any recognized con- 

 fession. The police had allowed them to hold 

 religious meetings in a public hall and in their 

 private dwellings, and, after carefully inspect- 

 ing these assemblies, had found nothing in 

 them contrary to law. Suddenly, however, 

 and without the assignment of any cause, the 

 authorities began to look upon these assemblies 

 with suspicion. " Gendarmes would enter a 

 meeting and take down the names of all pres- 

 est, by way of warning. They would even go 

 into private houses at the hour of family wor- 

 ship and take notice of any strangers present. 

 At length, on the 20th of March, 1879, in 

 place of the customary permission to hold 

 evangelical meetings, Mr. Adams and his as- 

 sistant Mr. Elorky were notified that persons 

 belonging to a confession not legally recog- 

 nized have only the right to hold domestic 

 worship, and that at domestic worship only 

 the family and members of the household may 

 be present. The right to hold public religious 

 meetings, in accordance with the provisions 

 of the meeting-law, was also denied, and the 

 meetings Messrs. Adams and Horky had an- 

 nounced to the police, both public and private, 

 were forbidden. Mr. Adams and his assistant 

 Mr. Nowak were summoned before the police, 

 and, under a penalty of twenty-five days' im- 

 prisonment or a hundred florins' fine, were for- 



