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FRIENDS. 



To the second question, " What is the mission 

 of the Society of Friends, and what is its mes- 

 sage to the world? " the answers were given 

 in substance : That the mission of the Society is 

 to declare salvation to lost men ; to promulgate 

 a pure, sound, full gospel; to hold theology in 

 a living experience, so that the doctrines 

 preached shall be ever fresh and vital; to labor 

 to get men saved and sanctified ; to go with 

 Christ into every reform, especially peace, 

 temperance, and purity ; to maintain the priest- 

 hood of believers and simple worship without 

 priestly intervention ; to preach the only sav- 

 ing baptism which is Christ's with the Holy 

 Ghost, and the one Supper of the Lord, which 

 is the spiritual partaking of his flesh and blood. 

 That mission can be best fulfilled and that mes- 

 sage declared by Friends being pure, baptized 

 with the Holy Ghost, filled with Christ's love, 

 called to the work,,united, and well organized ; 

 by preaching, teaching, writing; going to the 

 poor, rich, honored, and unlearned; and by 

 being zealous as missionaries, evangelists, and 

 pastors, according as God bestows gifts. The 

 Conference declared it desirable that there 

 should be a union in missionary work of the 

 yearly meetings, which have now, severally, 

 their own separate missions. The following 

 paper was adopted on the questions of baptism 

 and the Lord's Supper : " A number of sug- 

 gestions having been made by members of the 

 Conference to the business committee, in refer- 

 ence to the teaching of water baptism and the 

 Supper by those in official position in the Soci- 

 ety of Friends, the committee have given care- 

 ful attention thereto, but believe that the re- 

 cent official utterances and reaifirmations of 

 eight yearly meetings on this continent have 

 definitely settled that question. They present 

 with the report the minute of the Indiana Year- 

 ly Meeting, which is in substantial agreement 

 with the minutes of other yearly meetings, 

 and advise that the subject be not entered upon 

 or debated at this time." The minute referred 

 to declares that: "We believe it to be incon- 

 sistent for any one to be acknowledged or re- 

 tained in the position of a minister or elder 

 among us who continues to participate in or 

 to teach the necessity of the outward rites of 

 baptism and the supper." Concerning the 

 manner of conducting public worship, a general 

 consensus was expressed in favor of preserving 

 the long-established form of silent meetings, 

 having Jesus as the only head, and no minister 

 necessary but much to be desired. The discus- 

 sion of the question of " The proper relation- 

 ship of the ministry to the Church, and the 

 duty of the Church toward the ministry, in 

 connection with the liberty of prophesying, and 

 the necessity of maintaining it inviolate in all 

 our meetings," which involved the propriety 

 of recognizing the innovations of revival meet- 

 ings, with acknowledged leaders, and formal 

 supplies of regular ministers to certain meet- 

 ings, disclosed a predominance of sentiment in 

 favor of these movements. A declaration of 



doctrines was adopted which was compiled 

 from the expressions made at various times by 

 the different yearly meetings. It includes the 

 headings of " God, our Father, Son, and Holy 

 Ghost"; "The Lord Jesus Christ"; "The 

 Holy Spirit"; "The Holy Scriptures"; 

 ' Man's Creation and Fall " ; " Justification " ; 

 ' Sanctification " ; " Regeneration" ; " Bap- 

 ism "; "The Lord's Supper"; "Worship"; 

 ' Ministry, and the Exercise of Spiritual Gifts " ; 

 ' Prayer and Praise " ; " Civil Government " ; 

 4 Peace " ; " Oaths " ; " Marriage " ; and " The 

 First Day of the Week," upon which, except 

 that the outward rites of baptism and the 

 Lord's Supper, war, fighting, and oaths are 

 specially declared against, the expressions are 

 in general harmony with the doctrines held by 

 the Protestant churches of the Arminian school. 

 A paper was read by Dr. William Nicholson at 

 the Indiana Yearly Meeting, whose session was 

 held after the close of the Conference, advo- 

 cating the institution of triennial conferences, 

 and of a court of final appeal uniting and bind- 

 ing all the yearly meetings. 



London Yearly Meeting. The statistical reports 

 to the London Yearly Meeting gave the whole 

 number of members of the Society of Friends 

 in England as 15,453, and in Ireland as 2,774. 

 These returns show an increase during the 

 year of 73 members in England, and a decrease 

 of 61 in Ireland. The number of attendants 

 upon meetings not members was 5,803 in Eng- 

 land, and 660 in Ireland. The London Yearly 

 Meeting assembled May 18. Though having no 

 official supremacy in the Society, it, being the 

 parent body of all, is recognized by the denomi- 

 nation at large as the leading meeting, and 

 general respect is accorded to its determinations 

 on matters affecting the interests of the Soci- 

 ety ; and they have usually been influential in 

 pointing out the course to be followed by the 

 other meetings. A question which had already 

 given considerable difficulty came up before the 

 meeting concerning correspondence with the 

 American meetings. Divisions have occurred 

 in several of the yearly meetings of the United 

 States and Canada on questions of divergent 

 practices in meetings. While conservative 

 members still hold to the old order of quiet 

 meetings, and look disparagingly on active 

 movements for spreading the Word, other par- 

 ties favor active methods, with diversified serv- 

 ices, somewhat resembling those employed by 

 other Protestant denominations ; and several 

 meetings have been split in two on these diver- 

 gences. To maintain the even balance, and 

 recognize by correspondence the party repre- 

 senting the English society as it is, has not 

 been an easy task. A conference had been 

 held in London on the subject in the autumn 

 of 1886, but no real change had been made, and 

 the discussion at the present yearly meeting 

 was without result. The Meeting for Suffer- 

 ings was commissioned to prepare a scheme for 

 simplifying and amending the marriage usages 

 of the society. The committee on education 



