176 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



19th. James B. Angell, President of the Uni- 

 versity of Michigan, was chosen president of the 

 present council. In his presidential address he 

 spoke of the qualities of the fathers, who made 

 the will of God the law of their lives, and ap- 

 pealed to the Church not to lose its interest in 

 the extension of the Gospel throughout the world. 

 The Rev. Dr. John Robson and the Rev. Dr. \\ il- 

 liam Blair, Presbyterian ministers from Scotland 

 on their way to attend the General Council of 

 the Presbyterian Alliance at Washington, D. C., 

 were invited to seats on the platform as honor- 

 arv members. Dr. Robson spoke, insisting upon 

 the close sympathy of Presbyterians and Con- 

 ereeationalists, who had been engaged together 

 in contending for religious liberty and freedom 

 from state interference. The first stated papers 

 read were on Fundamental Principles in Theol- 

 o^v, by President George Harris, D. D., of Am- 

 her^t College, and on the Message of the .New 

 Testament for To-day, by the Rev. F. C. Porter, 

 D 1) , of Yale University. The Relation of Evo- 

 lution and Theology was treated in a paper by 

 the Rev. Alexander Gosman, of the Congrega- 

 tional College of Victoria, Hawthorne, Australia; 

 The Historical Method in Theology, by Prof. 

 George P. Fisher, of Yale University; The Evan- 

 gelical Principle of Authority, by Peter T. For- 

 syth, D. D., of Cambridge, England. In a ses- 

 sion devoted to the messages of peace which 

 Christianity has for the world, the Rev. Lyman 

 Abbott, D. D., editor of the Outlook, New York, 

 spoke of the ideal international relations as being 

 those which will exist when the Lord's Prayer 

 is fully answered, and the Rev. Alexander Mac- 

 Kennal, D. D., of Bowton, England, of The Chris- 

 tian Attitude toward War in the Light of Re- 

 cent Events. The subject of The Distinctive Char- 

 acteristics of Christianity was discussed by the 

 Rev. Charles R. Brown, D. D., of California, and 

 the Rev. John D. Jones, of Bournemouth, Eng- 

 land. These speakers were followed by the Rev. 

 Andrew M. Fairbairn, D. D., of Mansfield College, 

 Oxford, England, in an address on The Influence 

 of the Study of Other Religions upon Christian 

 Theology. The duty of the Church in the matter 

 of social reform was considered in papers by Mr. 

 Albert Spicer, of England, and Prof. Graham 

 Taylor, of Chicago. Monday, Sept. 25, was de- 

 voted to subjects relating to education. The 

 addresses were on Tendencies of Modern Educa- 

 tion, by Prof. John Massie, of Mansfield College, 

 Oxford, England, and the Rev. James Hirst Hal- 

 lo well, of Rochdale, England, secretary of the 

 Northern Counties Education League; The In- 

 fluence of Our Public Schools on the Caste Spirit, 

 by the Rev. F. A. Noble, D. D., of Chicago; The 

 Democracy of Education, by the Rev. L. D. Bevan, 

 D. D., of Melbourne, Australia ; The Religious 

 Motive in Education as illustrated in the History 

 of American Colleges, by President William J. 

 Tucker, of Dartmouth College; and general ad- 

 dresses in the evening by President W. D. Hyde, 

 of Bowdoin College, President W. F. Slocum, of 

 Colorado College, the Rev. Henry Hopkins, D. D., 

 of Kansas City, Mo., and President C. W. Eliot, 

 of Harvard University. Presidents Hyde and 

 Slocum criticised the method of instruction in 

 the theological schools of the denomination as 

 unscientific and antiquated, and lacking in ele- 

 ments essential to the preparation of clergymen 

 of the kind the age demands, and called for a 

 consolidation of the seminaries. These addresses 

 were replied to at succeeding sessions of the coun- 

 cil by Principal Fairbairn, of Mansfield College, 

 and President G. F. Moore, of Andover Theo- 

 logical Seminary, who defended the seminaries. 



The addresses of Tuesday, Sept. 26, were on The 

 Pastoral Function: Congregational and Civic, by 

 the Rev. W. B. Selbie, of London, and Reuen 

 Thomas, of Brookline, Mass.; The Spiritual Life 

 in Our Churches, by the Rev. Joseph Robertson, 

 of Adelaide, Australia; Woman's Work, by Mrs. 

 Elkanah Armitage, of Leeds, England, and Prof. 

 Miss Margaret J. Evans, of Carleton College, 

 Northfield, Minn.; Woman's Work in Foreign 

 Missions, by Grace N. Kimball, of Vassar Col- 

 lege, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; and The Young People, 

 by the Rev. Dr. C. H. Patton, of St. Louis, Mo., 

 the Rev. Dr. C. E. Jefferson, of New York, and 

 the Rev. Dr. C. S. Home, of London. The subject 

 of The Obligations and Opportunities of Congre- 

 gationalism in Great Britain, America, and Other 

 Countries was treated by representative speakers 

 of the several countries; after which, on Wednes- 

 day, Sept. 27, the subject of Independence and 

 Fellowship was presented by the Rev. Dr. A. 

 J. Lyman, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and the Rev. John 

 Brown, D. D., of Bedford, England, and that of 

 Duty of the Stronger to the Weaker Churches, 

 by the Rev. H. A. Thomas, chairman of the Con- 

 gregational Union of England and Wales. A 

 reception and dinner, given in the evening by the 

 Congregational Club to the council, was marked 

 by addresses of greeting from other denomina- 

 tions, made by Bishop William Lawrence (Protes- 

 tant Episcopal) ; President A. H. Strong, of 

 Rochester Theological Seminary (Baptist) ; Presi- 

 dent C. C. Hall, of Union Theological Seminary 

 (Presbyterian) ; and Prof. F. G. Peabody, of Har- 

 vard University (Unitarian). The last day's ses- 

 sions were given to the consideration of the civic 

 relations of Christians and to aspects of foreign- 

 mission work. The addresses were on The Chris- 

 tian Ideal of the State, by J. C. Rickett, M. P. ; 

 Municipal Government as a Sphere for Christian 

 Men, by William Crosfield, of Liverpool, Eng- 

 land, and S. B. Capen, of Boston; Adaptation of 

 Methods to New Conditions in Foreign Missions, 

 by the Rev. R. Wardlaw Thompson, senior for- 

 eign secretary of the London Missionary Society; 

 and The Permanent Motive in Missionary Work, 

 by the Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs, ex-President of the 

 American Board; with addresses in the evening 

 on The Living Christ, by the Rev. Alfred Cave, 

 D. D., of Hackney College, London, and The Holy 

 Spirit in the Churches, by the Rev. Dr. F. W. 

 Gunsaulus, President of Armour Institute, Chi- 

 cago, 111. The council unanimously passed a reso- 

 lution recognizing and seconding the desire re- 

 peatedly expressed and recorded of the five great 

 brotherhoods of men employed on railroads in 

 the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and the 

 re-enforcement of the declarations of these men 

 by the four great organizations representing their 

 wives, daughters, and women, and " affection- 

 ately urging " members and ministers of Congre- 

 gational churches, " by word and act, to create 

 such a public sentiment as will secure for the 

 railway operatives the minimum of labor on the 

 Lord's Day." A report on the future of the coun- 

 cil, unanimously approved by a committee ap- 

 pointed to consider the subject, and likewise so 

 approved by the council, recommended that such 

 meetings as had been held in London and Boston 

 continue to be held periodically at intervals of 

 from five to ten years, as may from time to time 

 appear to be desirable; that each council before 

 rising appoint a provisional committee of fifteen, 

 having power to fill vacancies, to carry out the 

 directions of the council, and make preparations 

 for the next meeting, fixing the time and place 

 of its meeting in case other provision has not 

 been made. 



