UNITARIANS. 



added to the contributions. In the publication 

 department, activity of the post office mission 

 \va.s mentioned ; the free tract list contained 195 

 tracts, of which nearly 300,000 copies had been 

 circulated during the year; a new, tenth series, 

 to comprise sermons of earlier leaders of the Uni- 

 tarian movement, had been inaugurated with the 

 aid of the income of the Edward Wigglesworth 

 fund ; free copies of various publications had been 

 furnished to ministers, divinity students, colleges, 

 libraries, and reading rooms; the issuing of books 

 and tracts in foreign languages was contemplated, 

 and other means of extending the work of the 

 publication department were considered. The 

 Japanese mission had drawn to its allegiance a 

 number of native leaders of power and repute, 

 and was regarded as> one of the most prophetic 

 forces in Japanese life. Its cost had been largely 

 reduced during the past six years from $10,021 

 in 1894 to $4,300 in 1899; and during the present 

 year it had been transferred to native control. 

 A steady advance in activity and efficiency had 

 marked the work of the home mission department. 

 The restoration of the system of -superintendents 

 had been made possible by increased income, and 

 four field officers were engaged in service. The 

 foundation of the Hackley School, at Tarrytown, 

 N". Y., was mentioned as one of the most important 

 new enterprises of the year. It started with 

 $150,000 of real estate and funds, given by Mrs. 

 C. B. Hackley, to which Mrs. Goodhue, of Xew 

 York, had added $40,000 for the Goodhue Memo- 

 rial Building. 



A joint meeting of committees of the association 

 and of the Universalist General Convention had 

 been held Jan. 22, to consider the subject of closer 

 co-operation. Premising, as it declared, that no 

 disturbance of the separate organic autonomy of 

 the two denominations was desired or expected, 

 and that co-operation, not consolidation; unity, 

 not union, were sought, the meeting decided upon 

 the constitution of a permanent conference com- 

 mittee of five representatives from each body, the 

 members of the committee to be appointed for two 

 years. It was made the duty of this committee 

 to consider cases in which the two denominations 

 are jointly interested, such as opportunities of in- 

 stituting churches or missions in new fields, circu- 

 lation of tracts (literature), or other endeavors to 

 promote matters of common agreement; and to 

 consider all cases of conflict of interest, duplica- 

 tion of missionary efforts, or other occasions of 

 friction between the representatives of the two 

 bodies, and recommend appropriate action to the 

 church, conference, or missionary board having 

 jurisdiction in the case. The conference recom- 

 mended that whenever local conditions permit, the 

 ministers and the churches of the two denomina- 

 tions hold occasional joint meetings for the purpose 

 of aggressively and positively urging upon the 

 people the principles of Christian faith arcl life. 

 In order to put this plan into immediate operation, 

 the directors of the American Unitarian Associa- 

 tion and the trustees of the Universalist General 

 Convention were requested to authorize the mem- 

 bers of the Conference committee to discharge the 

 functions described in the plan of co-operation 

 until such time as their successors should be ap- 

 pointed. On the presentation of this report of the 

 conference committee in its meeting the association 

 approved and adopted the recommendations con- 

 tained in it, voted a message of greeting to the 

 Universalist General Convention, and requested 

 the Unitarian representatives on the committee to 

 discharge the duties imposed in it for the term 

 of one year. The resolutions on church member- 

 ship adopted by the last national conference were 

 VOL. XL. 44 A 



recommended to the churches and the people, and 

 a committee was appointed to collect and codify 

 the church covenants and statements of faith now 

 in use, " to the end, first, that any church may 

 be assisted in forming some basis of membership 

 for its followers; and, second, that some wise sys- 

 tem of presenting and teaching our faith to the 

 young may be devised." Representatives of Hun- 

 garian, English, German, French, Indian, Japanese, 

 and Icelandic Unitarians addressed the meeting. 



Sunday-school Society. The seventy-third 

 anniversary meeting of the Unitarian Sunday- 

 school Society was held in Boston, Mass., .May 24. 



The report of the Unitarian Temperance Society, 

 made to the annual meeting in Boston, May 21, 

 dealt largely with the circulation of tracts. The 

 accounts of the society showed a balance on hand 

 of $660, besides the Richard Clap Weis fund of 

 $1,000 with accrued interest. 



British, Triennial Conferences. The seventh 

 Triennial Conference of members of " Unitarian, 

 Liberal Christian, Free Christian, Presbyterian, 

 and other nonsubscribing or kindred congrega- 

 tions " of England was opened at Leicester, March 

 29. Mr. W. Blake Odgers, Q. C., of Winchester, 

 presided, and spoke in his opening address in mem- 

 ory of the Rev. Dr. James Martineau, deceased. 

 A resolution commemorative of Dr. Martineau was 

 also unanimously carried at the business meeting 

 of the Conference, and an address concerning him 

 was made by the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke. The 

 meetings were chiefly devoted to the discussion of 

 various topics bearing upon the objects of the 

 Conference, presented in papers on How Best to 

 Organize the Religious Life of our Young People, 

 by Mr. H. P. Greg; The Future Supply of our 

 Ministers, by Mr. A. H. Worthington; The Fear 

 of God and the Sense of Sin, by the Rev. P. H. 

 Wicksteed; and Gospel Interpretation, by Mrs. 

 Humphry Ward. The reading of these papers 

 was followed by voluntary addresses. 



British and Foreign Unitarian Association. 

 The seventy-sixth annual meeting of the British 

 and Foreign Unitarian Association was held in 

 London, June 5 and 6. Mr. C. W. Jones presided. 

 The income for the year had been 4.825 from 

 subscriptions, interest, and sales of books and 

 pamphlets, and 934 in dividends from the Mc- 

 Quaker fund, of which 2,494 had been granted 

 for home and 292 for foreign missions, and about 

 one fifth of the amount had been spent upon pub- 

 lications, about 20,000 copies of which had been 

 granted. Some large bequests had been received, 

 including one of 3,000 (less duty) from the late 

 Mr. Charles Cochrane. The year was represented 

 to have been one of increased activity. The work 

 of the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke as special preacher 

 for the association had quickened religious thought 

 and life in every town visited by him. Among 

 the new features of the propagandist work, move- 

 ments in New Zealand and Copenhagen, Denmark, 

 were mentioned. The usual grants had been made 

 for work in parts of India, and support of the 

 Brahmo Somaj movement was recommended as the 

 best method of aiding the spread of liberal reli- 

 gion among the populations of that country. The 

 McQuaker trustees had offered a scholarship of 

 100 a year at Manchester College. Oxford, for 

 Scottish graduates willing to take up the Unita- 

 rian ministry in Scotland. Meetings of the Sun- 

 day-school Association and conferences of Sunday- 

 school delegates and of Postal Mission workers 

 were held in connection with the anniversaries. 



Reports to the British Unitarian Association 

 from 285 Sunday schools gave the number of teach- 

 ers as 3,747, and of pupils as 33,799, of whom 

 8,321 were upward of sixteen years of age. 



