PROPHETIC CONFERENCE. 



PROTESTANT EPIS. CHURCH. 705 



documents have been published. There are in 

 the United States and Canada fourteen prison 

 associations or prisoners' aid associations, and 

 in the whole world the number exceeds two 

 hundred. 



PROPHETIC CONFERENCE. A Bible and Pro- 

 phetic Conference was held in Chicago, 111., 

 from November 16 to 21, 1886. It was the sec- 

 ond meeting of the kind that has been held, the 

 first one having met in New York city in 1878. 

 The call for the present conference was signed 

 by more than two hundred ministers, and va- 

 rious denominations were represented among 

 those who participated in its proceedings. The 

 conference was devoted to the reading of pa- 

 pers and discussions upon topics connected 

 with the prophecies and the doctrine of the 

 second coming of Christ. Papers were read 

 on " The Return of the Lord, Literal, Personal, 

 Visible," by the Rev. Dr. Goodwin; "The 

 Second Coming to be premillennial," by Prof 

 E. F. Stroeter; " Promillenuial Motives to 

 Evangelism," by the Rev. Dr. A. T. Pearson ; 

 '' Objections to the Doctine of Christ's Premil- 

 lennial Coming answered," by Elder J. M. 

 Orrock; ''The Times of the Gentiles," by Dr. 

 George S. Bishop ; ''Christ's Prophecies." by 

 Prof. Lumtnis; ''The Fullness of the Gen- 

 tiles," by the Rev. W. J. Erdman ; "Spiritu- 

 alism, Ritualism, and Theosophy,'' by the Rev. 

 Dr. A. J. Gordon ; " The Practical Influence 

 and Power of " Christ's Second Coming," by 

 the Rev. Dr. J. C. Kennedy ; " Judgments and 

 Rewards," by the Rev. Henry M. Parsons; 

 " Eschatology, as taught by our Lord," by 

 Prof. D. C. Marquis ; " Contending earnestly for 

 the Faith," by the Rev. Dr. Albert Erdman ; 

 " The Antichrist," by Prof. W. G. Moorhead ; 

 "The Judgment." by the Rev. Dr. J. F. Ken- 

 dall ; " The Priesthood of Christ," by the Rev. 

 Dr. William Dinwiddie; "Prophecy and Is- 

 rael," by the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel West ; and 

 " Messiah's Kingly Glory," by Bishop W. R. 

 Nicholson. Letters of sympathy with the 

 objects of the Conference were read from Mr. 

 Dwight L. Moody, the Rev. Dr. Andrew Bo- 

 nar, Canon Faussett, Prof. Godet, Prof. Volck, 

 of Dorpat, Russia ; and Dr. F. Delitzsch, of 

 Leipsic. Prof. Delitzsch avowed himself a 

 chiliast, but not in the sense that the glorified 

 Christ will come to the unglorified earth to 

 dwell a thousand years in flesh and blood ; but 

 rather in the sense that the saints will rule 

 with him a thousand years from heaven. 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE 

 INITED STATES. This Church has continued 

 its steady course during the year 18,87. It 

 adheres to its usual methods, avoiding ex- 

 citements and spasmodic efforts, and is at the 

 same time fully alive to all the great ques- 

 tions that are stirring the heart of Protestant 

 Christendom in this latter part of the nine- 

 teenth century. The proposed enrichment of 

 the Lituriry, by enlarging and improving for 

 congregational use the public services of the 

 Church, has met with more or less favor, while 

 TOL. xxvii. 45 A 



final settlement of debated and doubtful points 

 has been postponed to the meeting of the Gen- 

 eral Convention in 1889. The sources of in- 

 formation in preparing this article are the 

 published journals of conventions, reports and 

 documents of church societies and corpora- 

 tions, Pott's "Church Almanac," and Whita- 

 ker's " Protestant Episcopal Alumnae." The 

 following table presents a summary of statis- 

 tics of the Church during 1887 : 



DIOCESES AND MISSIONS. 



