308 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS. 



ceptance of the rule of faith, discipline, and doc- 

 trines of the Friends' Church; its desire to live 

 by its own efforts, its members promising to de- 

 fray the salaries of its pastors and the expenses 

 arising from its mission work; and asking for 

 religious literature in Spanish. An executive 

 body had been organized, with Francisco G. 

 Cala, a recorded minister, as presiding clerk, and 

 Angel Serrato as secretary. The Church had, at 

 the time of the writing of this letter, a pastor, 

 3 other ministers, 2 established meetings, 86 mem- 

 bers, 2 Sabbath schools with between 260 and 300 

 attendants, 2 day schools with about 300 pupils, 

 and 1 orphanage. 



The United Fruit Company having purchased 

 100,000 acres of land near Santiago, and having 

 witnessed the work of Friends in Jamaica, has 

 invited them to engage in a missionary enter- 

 prise in that district. The whole Spanish-Ameri- 

 can work has been taken in charge by the Ameri- 

 can Friends' Board of Missions, with Iowa, West- 

 ern, Wilmington, and Indiana Yearly Meetings 

 co-operating. 



British Friends. The statistics of member- 

 ship presented to the Meeting for Ministry and 

 Oversight of the London Yearly Meeting showed 

 a total in Great Britain of 17,031, an increase 

 during the year of 179, or a little more than 1 

 per cent. The " habitual attenders," or nonmem- 

 bers, attending the meetings numbered 7,904, an 

 increase of 428, while an aggregate of about 50,- 

 000 persons attended the adult schools and mis- 

 sion meetings. Two hundred and four persons 

 had joined the society " by convincement " or 

 from the outside. 



The Meeting for Ministry and Oversight of the 

 London Yearly Meeting considered the subject of 

 the state of the meetings as to vocal ministry 

 and earnest exercise of spirit on the part of the 

 congregations, and also that of the conditions 

 of right development and effective exercise of 

 the ministry. A large committee was appointed 

 to draw up a letter on the latter subject to the 

 various congregations throughout the country. 



The sessions of the London Yearly Meeting 

 opened May 24. A considerable part of the time 

 was spent in the discussion of the ministry, in 

 regard to which a w r ide desire prevails in the 

 society for improvement in quality; not so much 

 that more intellectual sermons were demanded, as 

 that " a more living message is sought and a 

 wider grasp of truth on the part of those who 

 feel themselves called upon to speak." Yet the 

 meeting was not ready for the institution of a 

 regular ministry or for the payment of ministers, 

 and was careful not to approve the steps in these 

 directions that have been taken by some of the 

 American yearly meetings. The Home Mission 

 Committee reported on its policy of inviting ap- 

 plications from men and women who feel it " laid 

 upon them " to devote themselves to missionary 

 work of this kind, and providing for the main- 

 tenance of those persons who were selected who 

 had such a purpose in view. Between 20 and 30 

 workers were now employed in different towns 

 and villages, at a total cost of a little more 



than 3,000 a year. The committee were, how- 

 ever, not a unit upon this policy, some thinking 

 they could see in it the beginning of a " hired " 

 ministry. 



The Home Mission Committee presented a re- 

 port upon means of bringing about a closer as- 

 sociation between the society and the " attend- 

 ers " at Friends' meetings, as well as with the 

 members of the adult and other First-Day schools 

 the number in the former category being esti- 

 mated at about 7,000, and those in the latter at 

 about 45,000 a subject which had been referred 

 to it two years previously. The report showed 

 that there had been an increase in the number of 

 " convincements," or of persons joining the soci- 

 ety from outside, from an average of 73 a year 

 in the period 1862-'66 to 275 in the period 1893- 

 '98, and a concomitant increase in the number 

 of habitual attenders at the ordinary meetings 

 from 3,000 to the present number. Various ar- 

 rangements had been adopted in different meet- 

 ings for drawing the attenders into closer fel- 

 lowship with one another and with the society. 

 In some places, as in London, the object was 

 accomplished by a kind of preliminary member- 

 ship, forming a stepping stone to full rights in 

 the society. In other places, among which was 

 Birmingham, " Christian societies " were formed 

 of those who regularly attended the Sunday- 

 evening mission meetings; but they seemed to 

 satisfy the need for church life, and did not lead 

 on to any fuller association with the Society of 

 Friends. In other meetings, as at Norwich, where 

 congregational life was exceptionally active, noth- 

 ing seemed needed between the adult school 

 membership and full membership in the society. 

 The committee recommended that congregational 

 life and initiative be strengthened by giving more 

 importance to the congregational church meeting, 

 or " preparative meeting," which has hitherto 

 been wholly subordinate to the monthly meet- 

 ing. Attenders might find a place in the work 

 of a congregation which they could not find in 

 the monthly meeting, to which members only were 

 admitted. It recommended further that locali- 

 ties be encouraged to find ways, either by pre- 

 liminary membership or by some scheme of affili- 

 ation, for forming links between the various local 

 mission societies and the main body; also that 

 wherever possible a regular Friends' meeting 

 should be established in each center of mission 

 work, and so held as to be attractive and edu- 

 cative to those who are brought under the influ- 

 ence of the mission. The report was approved 

 by the meeting. A minute was adopted express- 

 ing the sense of the meeting of the inconsistency 

 of war " with the precepts of Christ and the 

 w r hole spirit of his Gospel," and as to the enor- 

 mous evils attending the military system and 

 " the practices inseparably connected with war- 

 fare " ; commending the peace congress called by 

 the Czar of Russia to assemble at The Hague, 

 and hoping for the success of its deliberations; 

 and beseeching all Christian people to use their 

 influence in favor of the principles upheld by the 

 resolution. 



G 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS. While no 

 great discoveries have distinguished the geograph- 

 ical work of the year, explorers have been active, 

 especially in Africa and in the polar regions of 

 the north and south. Many of the expeditions 

 in Africa were primarily for political purposes, 



but they have added something to geographical 

 knowledge, corrected some errors, and filled some 

 gaps. Probably the greatest interest among geog- 

 raphers at present is in antarctic exploration, 

 which promises to be undertaken soon by the pro- 

 posed German and English expeditions. 



