BAPTISTS. 



63 



business of the meeting was the consideration 

 of the case of H. R. Holsinger, one of the ed- 

 itors of the " Progressive Christian," who was 

 charged with having published unwarrantable 

 criticisms of certain customs observed by the 

 Brotherhood, and with having caused divisions. 

 The committee, to which the case had been re- 

 ferred by the previous Annual Meeting, re- 

 ported recommending that Mr. Holsinger be 

 expelled, and added to their recommendation 

 a statement that the church at Berlin, Pa., of 

 which tbe accused was a member, had refused 

 to allow the trial which had been instituted 

 against him to proceed secretly, as in the ordi- 

 nary way, and had insisted on the presence 

 of a short-hand writer to take a minute of the 

 proceedings. Mr. Holsinger's friends made 

 several efforts to bring him and the meeting 

 into accord, but their offers were rejected, and 

 the report of the committee was adopted by 

 an overwhelming majority. A memorial was 

 afterward presented from Mr. Holsinger's side 

 asking that a committee, one half of whom 

 should be Conservatives and one half Progres- 

 sives, be appointed to prepare a plan for " a 

 general reconciliation between the Annual 

 Meeting and all the Brethren called Progres- 

 sives," but the standing committee declared it 

 could not entertain the proposition. The meet- 

 ing ordered that all the decisions of the Annual 

 Meeting should be mandatory instead of ad- 

 visory ; that any one who should " speak or 

 write anything reproachfully against the An- 

 nual Meeting, or the practice, order, and usages 

 of the Brethren," should be dealt with as an 

 offender; that the Church papers should be 

 consolidated, in order that the Brotherhood 

 might hereafter have control of the press ; and 

 forbidding fellowship with the Progressives, 

 recognition of them, or preaching in their 

 churches. 



This action was followed by a conference of 

 the Progressive party, which adopted a pre- 

 amble reciting that, "inasmuch as Christ gave 

 his people a complete plan of salvation, con- 

 taining neither too much nor too little ; and 

 inasmuch as no church, during all the history 

 of the past, has successfully made additions to 

 or subtractions from it through mandatory legis- 

 lation without discord and trouble ; and, inas- 

 much as reformations have universally tended 

 to reaffirm the primitive doctrines of Christ, by 

 divesting them of accumulated decrees, enact- 

 ments, and laws made by church-leaders, which 

 always tended toward abridging God-given 

 liberty ; and that church legislation has had a 

 tendency in all ages to run into power, and the 

 history of Christendom is full of examples of 

 suffering and ostracism, as its legitimate off- 

 spring ; " alleging that the spirit of intolerance 

 had frequently been manifested in the Church 

 in the expulsion of brethren and sisters " for no 

 violation of gospel or moral principle," and had 

 just been freshly illustrated by " what appears 

 to us an act of injustice " ; pointing to the fact 

 that the Annual Conference was "almost wholly 



taken up with legislation tending to abridge our 

 liberties in the Gospel, enforcing customs and 

 usages, and elevating them to an equality with 

 the Gospel, and defending them with even more 

 rigor than the commandments of God," and that 

 the conscientious opposition of the Progressives 

 to these proceedings had caused them to be 

 styled "troublers" and "railers," and exposed 

 them to reprobation ; expressing sympathy and 

 fellowship with all who had been expelled 

 " without a violation of the gospel," and oppo- 

 sition to all tendencies toward intolerance and 

 corruption of doctrines, and reaffirming the 

 doctrines of the gospel as the only rule of faith 

 and practice, and the doctrine of the Church 

 " as it existed in its earlier and purer age, be- 

 fore it was corrupted by the additions made 

 by elders and their abuse of power." A con- 

 vention of all Brethren sharing in these views 

 was called, to meet at Ashland, O., June 29th. 



The convention was attended by between 

 two and three hundred persons representing 

 the progressive element in their several locali- 

 ties, and continued through two days. J. W. 

 Beer was elected president. A preamble was 

 adopted, in which were stated the grounds of 

 complaint against the Annual Meeting, togeth- 

 er with a declaration of principles reaffirming 

 the doctrines of Alexander Mack, asserting that 

 this convention represented the true, original 

 Church of the Brethren, and setting forth pro- 

 visions for the organization of conferences. 

 Committees were appointed to publish the dec- 

 laration ; to confer with other branches of the 

 Brotherhood ; and to take the care of Sunday- 

 school, educational, and missionary work. A 

 subscription was taken up for Ashland College. 

 Delegates were present at the conference rep- 

 resenting a small body of a few hundred mem- 

 bers, an offshoot from the Brotherhood, called 

 the " Congregational Brethren," and another 

 body, called the " Thurmanites," of Virginia, 

 both of which proposed union with the Pro- 

 gressives. No definite action was taken on 

 these propositions. 



The position of the Progressives is thus de- 

 fined by one of their journals, " The Gospel 

 Preacher " : 



The Progressive believes in non-conformity, liu- 

 milityj and all the other attributes taught by the Con- 

 servative or Old Order Brother ; but he renounces the 

 decisions of men where there is doubtful gospel au- i 

 thority, he pleads for liberty of Bpeecli and of the s 

 press, advocates high-schools, Sunday-schools, prayer- 

 meetings, and encourages the missionary work. 

 Claiming that uniformity is not taught in the gospel, 

 he opposes its being made a test of fellowship or offi- 

 cial standing. He maintains that the world is ad- / 

 vancing, and that, to keep pace with it, the Christian x 

 must choose all the good from the improvements and 

 utilize them. 



IV. MENNONITES. The first General Con- 

 ference of the Evangelical Mennonites, a branch 

 formed within a few years by the union of two 

 small bodies, was held in Indiana in September. 

 Three conferences were represented by dele- 

 gates. A course of reading for young minis- 

 ters was prescribed. Resolutions were adopt- 



