CONGUEGATIONALI8T& 



175 



ported concerning the steps which it had taken 

 ure a suitable person for the oflice of sec- 

 retary, in the place of the Kev. Dr. Mammy, 

 -eil, and nominated the Kev. W. .1. Woods, 

 of Clapton, who was elected. A resolution was 

 adopted, declaring 



That, in view of the approach of a general elec- 

 tion, the assembly expresses the earnest hope that 



the members of the Union will everywhere exert 

 thcii inllucncoto secure the return to Parliament of 

 representatives u ho will faithfully support measures 

 calculated to promote peace, temperance, and social 

 purity, as well as to improve the condition ot the 

 great masses of the i>coplc. It is also impressed with 

 the imjxirtance of efforts to strengthen the conviction, 

 already largely prevailing in the constituencies, that 

 the machinery of civil irovernment should cease to be 

 employed for ecclesiastical purposes in any part of 

 the kingdom, and that u policy of disestablish incut 

 should be adopted for Wales and for Scotland at the 

 earliest possible period. And the assembly is fur- 

 ther ot opinion that, while necessarily employing po- 

 litical means tor attaining that object, the members of 

 tin- I'nion should more generally and systematically 

 than heretofore endeavor to advance the principles 

 ot 1'rotcstant nonconformity, and particularly among 

 the younger members of the nonconformist commu- 



The third anniversary of the Congregational 

 (luild was held during the meeting of the 

 I'moii. The autumnal assembly of the Union 

 met in Bradford, Oct. 11. The Rev. Herbert 

 Kvans presided, and delivered an opening ad- 

 dress on "The Living Church." During the 

 course of the discussion of the topic of "The 

 church and the Labor Problem," the Rev. Dr. 

 Charles Leach said that on the previous Sunday 

 he had gone for the first time into a Labor 

 church, in Bradford. He had heard a member 

 of Parliament tell a crowded audience that 

 " ( 'In istianity is dead, and 1 am glad of it " ; also, 

 that a hundred years ago the streets of Paris 

 ran with blood, and it might come to the same 

 in this country. Mr. Leach declared that the 

 man who sets the man against his master, the 

 poor against the rich, was the enemy of both, 

 and deserved the confidence of neither. Mr. 

 Keit Hardie, the member of Parliament and 

 speaker whose remarks were thus condemned, 

 was in the hall, and desired the privilege of re- 

 plying to Mr. Leach and setting himself right. 

 He was permitted to speak, and said that what 

 he had said on Sunday was that " the Christian- 

 ity of the schools is dead, and the Christianity of 

 Christ is coining to the front, and I am glad of 

 it " : and that, having described the condition of 

 affairs at I he time of the French Revolution, 

 and the similarity of the problems existing then 

 and now, he had said that he did not want the 

 labor movement in England to be solved as it 

 had been by the revolution in France, because 

 he desired evolution a peaceful, gradual solu- 

 tion of the question; because bloodshed and rev- 

 olution would not settle it. He then charged 

 the churches with neglect of the laborers and 

 the poor, and averred that "the reason why the 

 laboring classes turn their backs on the churches 

 is because th churches have turned their backs 

 on Christ." Many protests were uttered against 

 Mr. Mardie's remarks, as unjust to the churches 

 and their ministers. One speaker said that 

 many ministers had been working for years for 



and among the classes spoken of by Mr. Ilardie. 



The chairman said that many men out-ide the 

 churches did not really know what the churches 

 were doing, and yet denounced the church 

 doing nothing. Another speaker said that Mr. 

 Ilardie had made a strong statement, and an 

 exaggerated statement, but it contained enough 

 truth to give it a sting, and he fancied they 

 were stunii. '-Are your churches," said another 

 speaker, "free to the workingmen to go in when 

 they like? and do you let them sit where they' 

 like, at least one service in th-j day! . . . Tf 

 they are, then there has been a great change 

 within the last two years." Mr. Leach admit- 

 ted that he had found, by reference to the ste- 

 nographer's notes, that Mr. llardie's representa- 

 tion of what he had said was correct. By res- 

 olution the assembly invited the churches of 

 the Congregational order in England and Wales 

 to commemorate the martyrdoms of Henry Bar- 

 rows. John Greenwood, and John Penry, who 

 were pnt to death in 1593. There were 

 cially mentioned in the call as reasons for hon- 

 oring the memory of these men, "the clear- 

 ness with which they saw that the will of the 

 Lord Jesus Christ, as revealed in the New Tes- 

 tament, is the supreme law for the government 

 of his Church, and that the interpretation of 

 that will is ever to be sought in the conscience 

 and judgment of his faithful disciples in their 

 gatherings; the boldness with which they testi- 

 fied that a Christian church is an assemblage 

 of Christian persons and no others ; their un- 

 shaken loyalty to the Crown and civil govern- 

 ment in all civil causes; their meek endurance 

 of the penalties imposed on them for their fidel- 

 ity to the truths revealed to them.; and their 

 strong abiding confidence that these truths 

 would one day be commonly recognized." The 

 assembly, avowing its conviction that the free- 

 dom of worship and self-government now en- 

 joyed is largely the result of the fidelity of the 

 sixteenth-century confessors and their fellow- 

 separatists, recommended a careful study of 

 their history. A discussion on college reform 

 covered several points in which it was thought 

 the colleges could be made stronger, but a unity 

 of views not prevailing, further debate was post- 

 poned till the May meeting of the Union, 1893. 

 Resolutions were adopted insisting on the intro- 

 duction, at the earliest period practicable, of 

 measures for the disestablishment of the Church 

 of Kngland in Wales; renewing protests against 

 the state patronage and control of the Church 

 of Scotland: and inviting the support by the 

 Liberal administration of measures that are ur- 

 gently required to remove disabilities from 

 which nonconformists are still suffering: the 

 assembly Ix'lieving that "the legislation which 

 it desires would inflict no injury on either 

 churches or religion, while it would prove con- 

 ducive to Christian union, and would otherwise 

 promote the welfare of the community at large." 

 Besides topics already mentioned, the subject- 

 were discussed of "Free Church Principles." 

 " Biblical Criticism." " Dangerous Tendencies of 

 Modern Life," and, at a special women's con- 

 ference. "Parental Responsibility" and "Wom- 

 en's Work among the liasM*" A resolution 

 was passed relative to the death of Ixird Ten- 

 nyson, recording the assembly's ^ense of the 



