FEDERATION OP FKF.F. OHUBCHEa 



ti fie development of the lat quarter of a century. 

 not ttnuigv that we should sec the combin 

 .pital ami the formation of trusts They are 

 i ho logical outgrowth of a most wonderful orogresj. 

 During the pant twenty-live yearn we hare been cn- 

 gagedln settling the great quwtii.ii> Involvto 

 right to control theae vast corporations. As : 

 law is concerned, we h> K the 



rapackmt freed of aggregated caj-.'.*:. Thi 

 .nn.-tni.-iit* Jin.l thi'-'u-h thecourti 



content has been long and Litter. l.ui the principle 

 has been established and >* now r. 



jreat contend in? fojves. I am not an ulanni>t ; 

 I take no pride in making war mi any orpim. 

 or institution that has f'r it- ol.j.-ct the greatest 

 good to the tfrvairM niinilier of people. I bid them 

 OodspaoJ and a magnificent success in all i 

 mate enterprises ; but I hope and u-li.-ve iti.-r.- will 

 i. ,.ur when the Congress of the rnit- 

 ed States will pur|H>sely give their . ..n- nt to the 

 building up f trusts and oombinationj for th. 

 trol of the prices of the necessaries of human <-\>t- 

 lemeii. hailing from all parts of the 

 oountrv know nun-h better than I can tell you tin* 



bjBportanoeofaningnroapl action regarding* 



obstacle preventing tne success of tin- fanner. The 

 Congress of the Inited States, when placed in pos- 

 session of ' I ..... n oiiick to eradicate existing 



Wr should seek to uo no damage to other le- 

 gitimate enterprises, but we should insist upon the 

 recognition of ur interests, and we should be satis- 

 fied with nothing less." 



Hon. Henjamin R Clayton, after serving 



years as secretary and four years as president 



'congress, was voted a life member. The fol- 



lowing-named officers were elected for the rustling 



term of two vears: President, ex-Oov. William I). 



Hord. Of Wisconsin; Firs, Vice-President. 1'. I.. 



MaXWell. -:a; Second Yice-PresJdent, C. 



A. Wit-ting, of New Jersc >. .1. M. stahl. 



of Illinois; Assistatr rjr, 1'. 0. Lively, of 



T- EM, 



Many valuable addresses were delivered, among 

 which 'was that of Jam .1. Hill. President of the 

 Great Northern Railway, his subject being " Farm- 

 ing from a Business Standpoint.*' 



Worth. Texas, was selected as the place of 



'-!'s. Aflat an eo -ui--ioM through the 



.a!l.-y ami the wheat fields of Minnesota 

 and North Dakota for three days, the congress ad- 

 journed. 



- a eopr of the constitution, see the "Annual 



edia '* for 1886. 



M MM: \ I M\ n| MM I ( HI IM IIKS. Na- 

 tional Council. The National Council of tin 

 Federation of the Evangelical Free rhurdie- m 

 England met in London, March !. A reception had 



_-iv-n the delegates the tireviotis eveniti 

 the ! ml mayor at the Man-ion House. The in- 

 wasofiened with a sermon liv the K<-\. Hu-h i 

 Iltiches,Wesleyan,ex-preident of the eouncil. The 

 df&vesof the president of the present meet in u r . the 



Ir. Monro Gibson, was begun with an aflirma- 

 tfemof theperfed loyalty of the mUiisten and mean 

 hers of the free churches as subjects of tin- nu.-.-n. 

 The president laid down as the great doctrines for 

 whirh th- frw- ehnrehes stood: spirituality the 

 spiritualitr of the New TenUment teaching as dis- 

 tinjniih^| from the formality of sacerdotalism " ; 

 the ascription of the function of the presbyter rath- 

 er than that of the priest in the sar-crdnt 

 the office of minister: and the ministry of the Spirit. 

 The object of the association of the 'free churches 

 was not, however, to attack sacerdotalism, l.tr 

 show the truth in full operation." In a ;...; 

 -The Old and the Present Nonconformity." th. 

 Dr. J. Guinness Rogers, Congregational ist, described 



the.i etween the objects sought iiy 



conformist> at the U-u'innin.ir of the l^ueen'> 

 and their attitude then and iio\\. The feelii. 

 t\vei-n the nonconformists, then one of -.,|, ;l 

 and rendering' united act in impossilile. had changed 

 f>r the lieitt-r. ainl now permitted harinoni'i. 



kUoa TI. HilTonl. Ha|.ti>t. defined 



as lieinu' amoiii: the |ii.v,.|it aims of tl,, 

 t-lllin . i/e 111 the Church the ideal 



which .levii> ( 'hri-t Iiims4-lf has ifiveii us a > h: 

 SOClet pc! !min--> and maturity 



the iiiilividual "ami colic. -n\e spiritual lift-: the 

 churches u i( ii a mi ion to the mil- 



lions at their gates and to the r.-^i..n>. i.. 



IK.IJI tin -s.- eiiiN tin- church, -x aim at the full. 

 and | -eeraliou of all their memlicr- 



and opportunities : and the mis-inn of t lie dn, 

 was to savr men." The report ,,f the IXe.-utive 

 Committee showed that while the nuinlier of 

 churches represented at the Birmingham Congresll 



i- Kid and had increased at ti, 

 ham Congress - JK'.I. it was no\\ 



toaa 800 conferences and meetings had i-em held 



during I he year. and. almost without exception, t he 



-t hall' in the place was crowded with 1. . 

 and workers of all the evangelical denomina- 

 tion had hecn ev|alili>hed in Hamp- 

 shire. aiid the idea, not a year old. was hein^ taken 

 up in all parts of the count r udon 



councils were united in the metropolitan J. 

 tioii. Councils already formed included ll.ii" 

 BOCiated ciiurcli.-x \Mlli a nn-n.l'e|->|iip of aimiit 



l.liKin.Mt. sitting accommodation for at ; 

 000. and not l.-^than 1300,000 Sunday-school schol- 

 ars. A circulating: library estalilished durii 



incliid.d :!.o(i() volumes, sent out in ln.\ 

 iiliont ")() each. Four thousand more volume- 

 re(|tiired to meet applical imis. i, 



Me expression of the feeling of the free churches 



in respect to Armenia and the education hill had 

 lieen L r ivcn. The local work had included house-to- 

 house vi-itation. waiting upon newcomers to the 

 town in respect to their attendance upon some 

 church; promotion of the adoption of the noncon- 

 formist parochial scheme : united iiii--ic>n- ; forma- 

 tion of unions of lay preacher- : -oeial. philant hrop- 

 ic. ami civil- work.' and work in behalf of public 

 morals; and lectures on frce-diurdi history and 

 principles. Hampshire Federation had 

 movement for luiildin^ federation mission d 

 in neglected or jrrowiiii: districts. If the m, 

 should l.ecome self-supporting, the men 

 ii\---i\iii> vote, may iv-oi\c \\hat denomination it 

 shall belon.u r l". and then purchase the chajiel from 

 the federation. Sermons were preached to the 

 council liv the Kev. .Joseph Parker, the I. 



A. Berry, and the Kev. IM-. (.. s. Uam-tt. Amon^ 



il.'ject< discussed \\rre -Women a- Mi 

 :->ravian Mis-ion^." Mi->ions and 

 Preaehing,* 1 " The Slate of London." " The Claims 

 of London."" Wicki-d West London." "Povertl 

 Church (Join-." " What i- to he Done?" -Chi! 

 F.ndeavor." "Serondary Kducation." "The Puritan 



-i.iritual Life'." -The Methodist T\ : 

 Spiritual Life." "Sunday-School Reform." an-;. 



I mectini: for youn^' men and women. "Our 



Yonng People and the FreeChnn-hes." -(ur ^ 

 People and Christian Citixenshij,;- and -(,ir Y 

 People and Home M; lution express- 



in- sympathy with the Cretan people was passed. 



The following comparative view of the growth of 

 the nonconformist churches and of the Church of 

 F.nirland lui- I..-. n prepan-d \>y the \i>-\. Jf.hn Clif- 

 ford, of I/uidon : In ls(M there we* 8 sit- 

 tings in the houses of worship of the Church of 

 England, ami ssi/,>.|o *jn intr- in tho-e of the free 

 churches. In 1851 the figures stood Church of Kntf- 



