194 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



, I believe firmly in the correctness and wisdom of 

 each of the minutes adopted by the Prudential Com- 

 mittee in April and in June. I ought to, for I had 

 some hand in shaping each of those minutes. 1 be- 

 lieve that we desired I know we did to appoint Mr. 

 Noyes, as we stated in the first minute, and gave 

 grounds upon which we could make the appointment. 

 I believed, when certain declarations came from him 

 to us, that it was not within the province of the com- 

 mittee to complete the appointment, but that it must 

 be referred to the board. 1 reaffirm both the posi- 

 tions in those minutes, and nothing has been done 

 which is inconsistent witft them. The board has only 

 exercised its authority, which it had not delegated to 

 the committee, but which was perfectly within its 

 own power and hand. 



The Rev. E. K. Alden, D. D., the Rev. A. C. 

 Thompson, D. D., and Elbridge Torrey, having 

 declined re-election upon the Prudential Com- 

 mittee, a minute was adopted testifying to their 

 high character and to the value of their services. 

 Pledges were made to further the liquidation of 

 the debt of the board, and a special committee 

 was appointed to make an appeal to the churches 

 for its immediate relief. A petition was tele- 

 graphed to Congress that the " Geary " anti- 

 Chinese law be so amended that " its objection- 

 able features imperiling the interests of all 

 American subjects in China be eliminated." 



American Missionary Association. The 

 forty-seventh annual meeting of the American 

 Missionary Association was held at Elgin, 111., 

 Oct. 24 to 26. The Rev. Dr. Merrill E. Gates 

 presided. The receipts for the year had been 

 $340,728, and the expenditures $380,739. The 

 educational work in the South included 78 

 schools, of which 5 were chartered colleges, 29 

 normal schools, and 43 schools of lower grades, 

 with 389 instructors and 12,609 pupils. Among 

 the most important and promising of these 

 schools were the mountain schools specially pro- 

 vided for the people of the mountain districts of 

 Kentucky and Tennessee. Twenty new churches 

 had been formed, 14 of them in the mountain 

 region. Assistance in the support of their pas- 

 tor for the coming year had been pledged to a 

 colony of Waldensians from Italy settled in Burke 

 County, North Carolina. The whole number of 

 churches in the South under the care of the as- 

 sociation was 152, with 8,988 members, and 15,- 

 331 pupils in Sunday schools. Missionary work 

 among the Indians was carried on in 12 schools, 

 in which 858 pupils were enrolled, with 90 mis- 

 sionaries and teachers, and 1,300 pupils in Sun- 

 day schools, while 301 members had been added 

 during the year to the Indian churches. The 

 work among the Chinese included 21 schools, 

 with 40 teachers and 1,215 pupils. A new fea- 

 ture had been introduced into it in the shape of 

 an effort to reach the Chinese women in San 

 Francisco, Cal., by means of woman missionaries 

 and physicians. The following resolutions were 

 adopted concerning the Chinese exclusion law : 



Whereas, The law known as the Geary Act is in 

 contravention of sacred promises made by the United 

 States to China ; and 



Whereas, It distinguishes among immigrants to 

 our country in a way utterly inconsistent with the 

 vital principles of our nation and the inalienable 

 rights of man ; and 



Whereas, It has been justly characterized by mem- 

 bers of the highest tribunal of justice in our Govern- 

 ment as " inhuman and brutal " ; therefore be it 



Resolved, That the American Missionary Associa- 

 tion, the organ of the Congregational churches of the 

 United States, in one great department of their mis- 

 sionary operations, and representing undoubtedly the 

 sentiment of these churches, respectfully protests 

 against this law and asks for its repeal. 



Resolved, That the officers of this association are 

 instructed to bring this, its action, to the attention of 

 Congress as promptly and effectively as possible. 



Forty State organizations of the Woman's 

 Bureau were co-operating with the association, 

 and had sent contributions to the treasury of 

 $16,324, besides helping in other ways. 



Congregational Union of England and 

 Wales. The sixty-first annual assembly of the 

 Congregational Union of England and Wales 

 was held in London, May 7. The Rev. G. S. 

 Barrett, editor of the " Congregational Hymnal," 

 was chosen chairman for the year. The annual 

 report gave prominence to the question of the 

 amalgamation of the Congregational societies. 

 A tentative report had been submitted to the 

 General Committee setting forth certain con- 

 clusions and making important suggestions. The 

 committee recommended that it be laid before 

 the committees of the different societies, and 

 they be invited to communicate their views pre- 

 paratory to a final report to be laid before the 

 assembly in October. The committee had con- 

 ditionally expressed its readiness to take into 

 consideration a scheme for aiding ministers 

 in time of sickness. A report had been sub- 

 mitted by a subcommittee, appointed to consider 

 certain questions raised by the International 

 Council, suggesting that it was a matter for con- 

 sideration whether a joint permanent council, 

 representing the Congregational Union, the Colo- 

 nial Missionary Society, and the London Mission- 

 ary Society, might not be appointed by annual 

 vote to consider all questions arising in connec- 

 tion with the churches and populations, so as to 

 be able to present their claims and report actual 

 work done to the churches throughout the Con- 

 gregational Union. The secretary of the Union 

 had visited 90 churches and attended the ses- 

 sions of 8 county unions. The assembly, by reso- 

 lution, expressed its surprise and indignation 

 that an endeavor had been made by the School 

 Board of London to disturb the scheme of bibli- 

 cal and religious teaching, which was accepted 

 as a practical compromise by the first board, and 

 which had " worked successfully for twenty-two 

 years " ; declared that no attempt to enforce any 

 definition of the word "Christian" could be 

 made "without imposing a new religious test 

 and consequent professional disability upon 

 many excellent teachers " ; and deprecated the 

 introduction into any popular council of theo- 

 logical discussions and definitions. The Council 

 on Secondary Education reported that it had is- 

 sued a calendar of the public schools maintained 

 by Congregationalists, and a widerappreciation of 

 the inefficiency of these institutions was believed 

 to have been already called into existence. It 

 was hoped that, without injury to private estab- 

 lishments, something had been done to counter- 

 act the unjust and unintelligent impression that 

 a secondary education could not be had in Eng- 

 land apart from clerical and conformist influ- 

 ences. A report on the drift toward dogmatic 

 teaching in schools, reviewing certain discus- 

 sions and acts which had occurred, presented in 



