352 



EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. 



bidden to hold in private houses any meeting 

 for religious exercises, or to admit to their 

 family worship any person not strictly a mem- 

 ber of their own households. They were even 

 forbidden to attend religious worship in each 

 other's houses, or in any society not recognized 

 by law." These acts were considered to be in 

 direct contravention of the fundamental law 

 of Austria, and were supposed by Dr. Thomp- 

 son to be unknown to the Emperor and his 

 immediate counselors, and " due to the exces- 

 sive and mistaken zeal of the provincial au- 

 thorities." Another statement described the 

 case of the people of two villages in which 

 voluntary assemblies for worship had been 

 similarly interfered with. The case was dis- 

 cussed in the Anglo-American section and in 

 meetings of the several deputations, and the 

 following memorial was agreed upon, to be 

 presented to the Emperor of Austria by an 

 international deputation representing the Al- 

 liance as a whole : 



The seventh General Conference of the Evangelical 

 Alliance, in Basel (Switzerland) assembled, has re- 

 ceived from members of a religious community, not 

 recognized by the state, in Prague and its neighbor- 

 hood, representations, as shown in the documents 

 hereto attached, respecting infringements of the lib- 

 erty of faith and conscience in particular, even of the 

 exercise of family worship, which they, in contraven- 

 tion of the guarantees contained in the Constitution, 

 have had to suffer, which sufferers, as they inform us, 

 have made due appeal to the supreme Government or 

 Austria ; and this Conference of the Evangelical Alli- 

 ance, under a sentiment of fraternal sympathy, es- 

 teems it a duty to associate itself with those petition- 

 ers, and begs to present to his Majesty the Emperor of 

 Austria; with profound respect and due confidence, 

 its petition, praying that as speedily as possible it may 

 grant to the request of our brethren in faith an an- 

 swer, whereby these questions may bo decided in a 

 sense favorable to toleration and religious liberty. 



The deputation consisted of the President 

 (ex-Councilor Sarasin) and Vice-Presidents of 

 the Alliance, and included among its members 

 Count Bismarck-Bohlen, a cousin of Prince 

 Bismarck and an aide-de-camp of the Emperor 

 of Germany. 



The Conference also considered some cases 

 of the restriction of religious freedom which 

 had occurred in Greek territory, where it was 

 represented that the rights of parents not of 

 the orthodox religion to have their children 

 educated without the interference of the au- 

 thorities of the Greek Church had been in- 

 fringed upon. This was regarded as in contra- 

 vention of the provisions of the Treaty of Ber- 

 lin. It was stated that Lord Salisbury had 

 ordered remonstrances to be made against these 

 interferences, and they would probably cease. 

 Cases of persecution said to have occurred in 

 Spain were referred to the British Committee, 

 to be dealt with as should seem fit to them. 



The fifth day was given to the discussion 

 of subjects connected with the work of mis- 

 sions. A paper was read on " Missions to the 

 Jews," by M. de le Roi of Breslau and Pro- 

 fessor Christlieb of the University of Bonn ; 

 and one of the editors of the "Allgemeine 



Missions Zeitung " gave a review of the condi- 

 tion of Protestant missions among the heathen, 

 and was followed by addresses on the general 

 subject of missions, on the "Eesults of Mis- 

 sionary Labor in India and Africa," and on 

 kindred topics, by the Kev. "William Arthur of 

 England, the Kev. Dr. Barde of Geneva, the 

 Rev. Dr. Murray Mitchell of England, and the 

 Kev. Dr. Heman. Professor Christlieb's ad- 

 dress embodied a condemnation of the British 

 opium-trade as being one of the greatest hin- 

 drances to the progress of Christianity in Chi- 

 na, and the following resolution proposed by 

 him was adopted unanimously : 



Resolved* That this Conference, prompted by the 

 reports laid before it as to the present state of Evan- 

 gelical missions in China and India, expresses its full 

 sympathy with the efforts for the suppression of the 

 opium-traffic which have been made during many 

 years past, and desires to support the protests against 

 this trade which from time to time have been raised 

 by various Evangelical and Missionary Churches^ and 

 by many distinguished friends of Christian missions. 

 The Conference unites with their English brethren in 

 declaring this long-established trade to be a crying 

 injustice against Cnina. a cause of offense which deep- 

 ly injures the honor 01 the Christian name, both in 

 Christian and heathen countries, and especially an 

 immense obstacle to the spread of Christian missionary 

 work. The Conference reels constrained to place on 

 record its conviction that a change in the policy of 

 England as regards this traffic is urgently necessary, 

 and it instructs its president to bring tins resolution 

 to the knowledge of her Majesty's Secretary of State 

 for India. 



On the last day of the session, Saturday, 

 September 6th, topics relating to Christian 

 union were discussed in papers by the Kev. 

 Dr. Plitt, Professor in the Moravian Theologi- 

 cal Seminary at Gnadenfeld, Prussia, the Rev. 

 Th. Fallot of Paris, and the Rev. J. F. Hurst, 

 D. D., President of Drew Theological Seminary. 



The deputation appointed by the General 

 Conference to present a memorial to the Em- 

 peror of Austria in behalf of religious liberty 

 were received by his Majesty at the palace in 

 Buda-Pesth, and presented' the petition of the 

 Alliance to him. The Emperor received the 

 memorial very graciously, promised to inquire 

 into the subject of the grievances to which it 

 related, and assured the deputation that justice 

 should be done if the facts as stated in it were 

 substantiated. 



The third biennial meeting of the Evangeli- 

 cal Alliance of the United States was held at 

 St. Louis, Missouri, beginning October 28th. 

 The meetings were continued through the two 

 succeeding days, during which papers were 

 read as follows : " Christian Scholarship and 

 Christian Unity," Rev. James S. Bush, D. D. 

 (Episcopalian), of New York; "The Sunday 

 Question," ex -President T. D. Woolsey of 

 Yale College ; " Christian Truth and the Peri- ' 

 odical Press," Rev. W. Craig, D. D. (Presby- 

 terian), of Iowa ; " City Missions and our For- 

 eign Population," Rev. W. V. Tudor, D. D. 

 (Methodist), of St. Louis, Missouri; "Harmony 

 in Essential Doctrines promoted by the Alli- 

 ance," Rev. J. L. Burroughs, D. D. (Baptist), 



