300 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



interested in public questions affecting the wel- 

 fare of the community, such as those of religious 

 equality, temperance, education, peace, and social 

 reforms generally. The report was adopted, and 

 the Rev. Dr. Alexander Mackennal was chosen 

 Secretary. He subsequently declined to accept 

 the office. A resolution was adopted, to be for- 

 warded to representative bodies of other free 

 churches, inviting a congress of free churches, 

 with a view to the cultivation of closer relations 

 between them. It assumed that those churches 

 had not only common principles to maintain and 

 common interests to guard, but they had a com- 

 mon work to do, which was seriously hampered 

 by the want of a better understanding among 

 themselves. There was a wide-spread and grow- 

 ing conviction that sectarian competition was a 

 disaster to all parties engaged in it, and a griev- 

 ous dishonor to the Lord. Despite the differ- 

 ences in the extent and grounds of their non- 

 conformity, it was increasingly felt that tho 

 various free churches were united by spiritual 

 affinities and interests which were deeper and 

 stronger than any theological or ecclesiastical 

 diversities. The assembly was of the opinion 

 that it was desirable that opportunity should be 

 afforded for the development and manifestation 

 of this essential unity. 



International Congregational Council. The 

 International Congregational Council met in 

 London, July 13. This was the first time that 

 representatives of the Congregational or Inde- 

 pendent churches from all quarters of the earth 

 had met in a general conference since their 

 origin. The preliminary steps taken by the Con- 

 gregational bodies of Great Britain and America 

 to the assembling of the Council are related in 

 the volumes of the "Annual Cyclopedia " for 1889 

 and 1890. The Council was composed of 300 

 delegates, of whom 100 were from Great Britain, 

 10*0 from America, and 100 from Wales, Scot- 

 land, Ireland, the colonies, and other countries. 

 Previous to the opening of the meeting a break- 

 fast was given to the delegates by the committee 

 of the Liberation Society. The Rev. Robert VV. 

 Dale, D. D., of England, presided over the ses- 

 sions. The address of welcome to the delegates 

 was made by the Rev. John Brown, D. D., late 

 chairman of the Congregational Union of Eng- 

 land and Wales. The proceedings of the Coun- 

 cil consisted in the reading of papers and discus- 

 sions of subjects concerning the religious life 

 and the aspects and relations of Congregational- 

 ism. The opening sermon was preached by the 

 Rev. E. P. Goodwin, D. D., of Chicago. The 

 president's address was on " The Divine Life in 

 Man." The first subject to be discussed was 

 " Domestic Congregationalism ; the Importance 

 in the Churches of the Congregational Idea of 

 the Church ; Pastoral Oversight and Actual Guid- 

 ance by Church Officers of Members in their 

 Work "; under which the papers were on " The Ob- 

 ligation of Personal Service in Christian Work," by 

 the Rev. H. Arnold Thomas, of Bristol ; ' The 

 Service of the Young," by the Rev. Dr. Dunning,, 

 of Boston, Mass. ; " Guilds," by Robert F. Horton, 

 of Hampstead : and " The Society of Christian 

 Endeavor," by Mr. Nehemiah Boynton, of Boston, 

 Mass. The " Present Direction of Theological 

 Thought in Congregational Churches " was de- 

 scribed by President Sitnon, of Edinburgh, for 



Great Britain; Prof. L. F. Stearns, of Bangor, 

 Me., for America ; and the Rev. Evan Jenkins, 

 for Wales. On "The Economy of Congrega- 

 tionalism," the Rev. Dr. A. H. Quint spoke of 

 " The Place of American Congregational Coun- 

 cils "; the Rev. A. H. Bradford, of Montclair, N. J., 

 on "Doctrinal Conditions of Church Member- 

 ship " ; the Rev. A. H. Ross, D. D., of Michigan, 

 on the " Effective Organization of Congregation- 

 alism " ; the Rev. Thomas Greene, of Ashton- 

 under-Lyne, on " Doctrinal Schedules in Trust 

 Deeds "; and the Rev. William II. Moore, of Hart- 

 fofd, Conn., on " Church Statistics." " The Place 

 of Congregationalism in the Making of Great 

 Britain, of New England and the United States, 

 and of the British Colonies " was considered by 

 the Rev. J. Guinness Rogers, of London, the 

 Rev. B. M. Fullerton, of Wall ham, Mass., and 

 the Rev. Dr. Jefferis, of Australia. The subject 

 of the third day's discussions was " Congrega- 

 tionalism in its Relations to the Nation." The 

 papers were on " Home Missions," by the Rev. Dr. 

 J. H. McLean, of California ; " The Method of 

 meeting the Wants of Growing Towns, the Needs 

 of Scattered Populations, and Decaying Districts." 

 by the Rev. W. F. Clarkson, of London, and the 

 Rev. Hugh Pedley, of Manitoba; "The Attitude 

 of the Churches toward Aggressive Agencies Out- 

 side of and Independent of the Churches," by the 

 Rev. Alfred Rowland, of London ; " Congrega- 

 tionalism as affected by the Relations between 

 Church and State " in the United States, by Pres- 

 ident Cyrus Northrup ; in England, by the Rev. 

 Dr. Albert Goodrich ; in Wales, by the Rev. Dr. 

 Herber Evans; and in Australia, by the Rev. 

 Dr. LI. D. Bevan. In a conference on " The 

 Churches and Social Ethics," " The Attitude of 

 the Church to the Social Movements of the 

 Time " was presented by the Rev. George Glad- 

 stone, of Glasgow ; " The Relations of Labor and 

 Capital," by Dr. W. Gladden, of the United 

 States, and Mr. Ben. Tillett. of England ; " The 

 Land in its Relations to National Prosperity," 

 by Mr. Albert Spicer; and " Laws respecting the 

 Sale of Spirituous Liquors," by the Rev. Dr. 

 Richard Cordley, of Kansas. The question 

 " What have the Churches gained and lost in 

 Spiritual Influence?" was discussed in the divis- 

 ions : " Through Changes that have taken place 

 in Doctrinal Beliefs," by the Rev. Dr. E. R. Con- 

 der, of London ; " Through. Changes in the Type 

 of Social Piety," by the Rev. W. Hewgill,.of 

 Farnworth, England ; and " What is lost through 

 the Defective Realization of the Ideal of the 

 Church," by the Rev. G. S. Barrett, of Norwich. 

 An extemporaneous discussion followed the read- 

 ing of these papers. In a conference on " The 

 Training of Ministers," Prof. Fisk, of Chicago, 

 described the method of the American semina- 

 ries, and Prof. Vaughan Price, of New College, 

 the English system. The " Federation of Eng- 

 lish-speaking Peoples for International Arbitra- 

 tion, Universal Peace, and Furtherance of Na- 

 tional Righteousness " was discussed by the Rev. 

 F. Herbert Stead and the Rev. Dr. F. Newman 

 Hall, of England, and Ex-Senator J. W. Patter- 

 son, of New Hampshire. Concerning " Congrega- 

 tionalism and the Church Catholic," papers 

 were presented by the Rev. Drs. Allon, of Lon- 

 don, and W. M. Taylor, of New York, the Rev. 

 James Stark, of Aberdeen, the Rev. S. B. Hand- 



