IM 



CONQRBQATIONAI 



cml 



in Florida, was adopted by a 





 The Mate of Florida in a 



teal piuasaxiua in east they live in the Mine l.uil.l- 

 Is* irtth iMr popib or teach white and colored 



alltajal 



v .... i nafsouaj 

 n all lawful ways, and 

 a to defend theae guaran- 

 and to carry if neceaiary 



teed fiffcte sod nrivilefss. and to car 



this * to the |3e Court of the United State*, 



IbradJadieatkm.andwepUdfetothea^ocut 



p email n of thia our hearty co-operation. 



A rule laid down by the Council nine years 

 before for the preservation of a high standard of 

 character and education in the ministry was reaf- 

 firmed. Resolutions in reference to the Ar- 

 menian atrocities " and outrages on missionaries 

 in China, besides expressions of condemnation, 

 contained a mil on the United States Govern- 

 ment more thoroughly to protect the lives and 



HritMi <inirrriru1i<iiiiilIK The returns 

 -h Congregational churches. oflieiallv 

 furnished to the "Yearbook" for 1895, show 

 that there were in England and Wales in 1894 

 4jm Congregational place* of worship, with ac- 

 commodation for 1,618.722 persons, an increase 

 for theyrar of 48,701 sittings. In Scot land there 



churchw.and in Ireland 27. with M 

 stations. In the British colonies 

 there were 818 churches, an increase of 1 1. In 

 the district covered by the London < . ngrega- 

 Uonal Union there were 875 churches, with ac- 

 commodations for 218.467 persons. No returns 

 as to church membership are furnished by the 

 associations, but there were 2.804 minis: 

 Kiiffland and Wales, 112 in Scotland. 27 in Ire- 

 land, and 480 in the colonies. Twenty-six new 

 churches were formed during the vear, including 

 10 in the colonies, and 44 neW chapels were 

 and 10 closed. 

 I i. ion of Knirland and 

 sixty-third Annual Assembly of 



. ' f !. L ...,,.d 'a:,,! 



WaJ was held in London beginning Mav 6. 

 The Rev. U. R. Thomas, of Bristol, presided. 

 The report of the committ , containe<l a re- 

 vision (the fourth) of theconstitut,..,,. in whi.-h 

 provision was made for the enlargement of th- 

 privilrjp* of membership, giving the oommit- 



' ' .--:-,. -M.^ a 



division of England into 8 representative dis- 

 tricts for the present division into 4 : and pro- 

 posing the institution of 2 or more au- 

 tumnal nwtmg* of the Tnion. The revision 

 was submitted, with the snoestion that consid- 

 eration of it be deferred. This was d . The 

 U-liof van oxprwpd in the reoort on secondary 

 education that the report of the roval com- 



mission woitlil Irnil to a great e\t<nvj,.n 

 oiiilan .-lii' all. 'ii. \\hich \v..uld <1. niucli tu fn 

 it froi'n th<> (Iriioininal inal liiti> and taint. A 

 resolution concerning ttu- "atrH-itirs" in .\r 

 incnia rall<-<l n tin- (' >\ rrnuiriit (<> rnnt iniu- ils 

 -trailers with the Sul>liim> 1'ortc until t he 

 alininistrati<.n >f the Annmian |T<-vinee- ha- 

 :h.n- uglily n-f.-nnnl. A rex.lul i..n \\MV 

 unaniiiKMisly adopted in favor of the IIM.I! -| 

 tu in I'ill (relative to the sale of int..\iea!in- 

 liquors). A -p.-.-ial emiunittee was appoiiiicd in 

 view of the recent letter of the I 'ope. to prepare 

 an tuldress to the Congregational <-hun ! 



the Milijrets (if .saerailielitaliMli. erelesia>tieilli. 



and reunion. The subject of the duty of the 

 Congregational churches to pro: 

 work. i-fiH-Hally in large towns, hav in- In .-n m- 

 trlucr({ and disx-ussed, the coinini: 

 thori/ed to prepare a scheme for church exten- 

 sion in such towns. A resolution of sympathy 

 with Mndagiiscar stated that "the SJSembf] oaa 

 only contemplate with pain the course by u hieh 

 n..t" onlv the peace hut the national independ- 



f Madagascar have Ix-en put in imminent 

 peril. The assembly desired t.. express its ,,f. 

 fecti<.iiate s\ mpat hy with the Malagasy churches 

 in the trial through which they were t>;i 

 and earnestly prayed that the lives and lil>erti< . 

 of the people might yet be spared." ('< ; 

 the resolution were ordered sent to the Minister 

 for Foreign Affairs and to the writers of tin re- 

 cent appeal from Madagascar addressed to the 

 secretary of the London Missionary S. ( -jety. 

 The subjects, relating to missions, were dis 

 during the meetings of * 4 Modern Then! 

 Relation to Christian Missions," "Change of 

 Methods in Missionary Work," and "Tin- De- 

 velopment of the Resources of Our ( 'hun i 

 Missionary Purposes." A course of led ir 

 various aspects of missions was announced for 

 the next winter. 



The autumnal assembly of the Tnion was held 

 at Mrighton, beginning Sept, 30. Tin- 1.' . \ . r. 

 K. Thomas presided, and delivered an opening 

 address on "Catholicity and ' aonal- 



ism." He said catholicity \\ U s indigenous t,, 

 true Congregationalism. There was little dan- 

 ger of any earnest effort for the reunion of 

 Christendom being ever disparaged from the 

 chair of that I'nion. But when the pious opin- 

 ions of the Pope of Rome, the tentative pro- 

 posals of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the 

 renewed and reiterated discussions ,,[ the oofr 

 fen-nee- at (irindelwald had pretty well sue. 

 in beating the word " reunion " on the drum of 

 the Church's ear. lie might IM> pardoned f : 



_' that catholicity HUM pn-i-ede reunion. 

 It would be unspeakably better to have catholic- 



!iout reunion than reunion without cat ho- 

 licit v. Catholicity was not Catholicism that 

 mold inono|Mili/e the title Catholic, arid the 

 great party in another Church that appropri- 

 ated t lie name were.and always had been, t he chief 



hinderers, and the m-.si formidable antagonisti 

 Of catholicity. Resolutions were passed by the 



asseml)ly. di-claring i^- strenuous opposition t'. 

 th proposals of the archliishops and the Roman 

 Catholic committees to -e.-k increased grant- of 

 public fund- f<,r schools under denominational 

 management and for teachers whose appoint- 

 ment or dismissal would be vested in unrcpre- 



