the divinest Good News to our fellow-men. And that Authority is Jesus as we have Him and His teachings unfolded to us in the New Testament.

In this era of doubt and debate, we as Congregationalists would utter no uncertain sound. We would speak in distinct, affirmative terms regarding the things which we believe to be fundamental. We would express what we hold to be essentially evangelical Christianity, with no purpose, however, to fetter either ourselves or our churches to statements of past centuries, valuable though they may be as testimonies and as marks along the historic highways, nor yet to lay upon our children a yoke which our fathers felt themselves unable to bear.

Once more the center of theological discussion has shifted. Now again it is the New Testament. Whatever the averments may be, the point of attack is the personality of Jesus. This issue is not to be evaded. We shall have to continue to insist that culture is not salvation; that education is not the new birth; that Socrates cannot take the place of Jesus.

When men see and know what Jesus can do and does, for and in and with their fellow-men's hearts and lives, it does not appear to be a mark of too high credulity to believe that while He was here on earth, the Master wrought mightily in the realm of nature.

The platform of our principles, the statement of our belief, should, therefore, be affirmative, unequivocal, evangelical.

The preparation provided by our institutions of learning for our young men in training for our ministry should be thorough, evangelical, constructive.

The purpose for which the church and its preachers and its teachers are in the world should be understood to be, and be, not to furnish a forum in which to exploit negations, not to provide esthetic and literary and social circles, but as a means, an agency, to bring men to God.

THE WORLD'S MISSIONARY CONFERENCE IN EDINBURGH,

SCOTLAND.

In an emphatic sense, this is the missionary's year. We have had the Laymen's Missionary Congress in Chicago; we are about to have here the American Board's centennial celebration; and we have also had the World's Missionary Conference,

in Edinburgh, Scotland, two similar conferences having been held, one in London, in 1888, and the second in New York, in 1900.

Its central feature and subject was: How best to make Jesus and His message known to the non-Christian peoples.

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While it was a union of Protestants, those present were sured [by Rev. Wallace Williamson, in St. Giles, Edinburgh] of the prayers and sympathy of the Greek and Roman churches." It was in the broadest sense a conference. Designed to give representatives of all the parties in interest an opportunity to discuss missionary problems, it yet left the delegates, and those whom they represented, perfectly free regarding the adoption of policies.

The Chicago Congress had as its object the creation and enlarged continuance of missionary consciousness, so that contributors and non-contributors to foreign work might be made to feel and make more effective their opportunities and responsibilities.

The Edinburgh World's Conference was devoted to a study by Christians of the best means by which, and to a study of the best training of the men and women by whom, the gospel shall be conveyed to the non-Christian nations.

The watchword of the conference was Coöperation. It met the difficulties of the foreign fields frankly and courageously. Duplication of work was fearlessly and fraternally faced, and sincerely deplored, and by none more than by the missionaries themselves.

The most important measure proposed and adopted was that which provided for the formation of an International Missionary Commission "to extend and standardize the work on the mission fields."

The spirit of Christian brotherhood was pervasive and impressive. It was a mighty object lesson of the vitality of modern Christianity. It demonstrated in the large the unbroken success of Christian missions. It made clear that the Christian Church was and is an aggressive church. It brought strongly before all the necessity of the development of the independent native ministry and of the native church. As Prof. Harlan P. Beach so well said, it was remarkable socially, technically, ecclesiastically, prophetically, and dynamically.

FEDERAL COUNCIL OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN AMERICA.

At home and abroad, competitive Protestantism is giving place to coöperative Protestantism. This is no mere driftage, but a carefully calculated course; no mechanical ecclesiastical device, but an actual alliance; no elusive connectional mirage, but a veritable, vitalizing relationship; the expression of a profound principle, the beginning of a far-reaching policy.

As Congregationalists, we are deeply interested in this, one of the greatest of Protestant union movements of a century, already noted for its unions and reunions, because it is based upon the twin Congregational primal principles of freedom and fellowship.

The Federal Council was neither small in its ideals nor limited in its compass. At its first quadrennial in Philadelphia, December 2-8, 1908, there were present representatives of thirty-three bodies of Christians, having nearly twenty million communicants as their constituents, and with an adhering constituency equal to one half the population of the United States.

How our Catholic brethren view this movement may be gathered from the following, quoted from a leading church journal concerning the New York Conference:

"It is the most important and impressive religious gathering ever held among non-Catholics. If ever church unity is to be visibly attained, even in a moderate degree, it will be brought about under some such form as the great conference in New York has assumed."

State and district and local federations will come as matters of course. Several such have been in successful operation for some time. The Maine Inter-Denominational Commission, organized in 1891, was the first in the field with this large plan; and Vermont has furnished another striking illustration of the practicability, the efficiency, and the economy of the principle of federation.

THE LAYMEN'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT AND MISSIONARY

CONGRESS.

A recent notable event in church history in America is the Laymen's Missionary Movement and Missionary Congress, for they were really one. Never before have we known deeper

interest among the men of our churches concerning missionary endeavor at home and abroad.

During the past year, seventy-five laymen's missionary conferences were held in as many different metropolitan centers from New England to the Pacific Coast, and from the Gulf States to the commonwealths bordering upon the Lakes of the north. These brought together in close companionship, and directly influenced, upwards of a hundred thousand laymen, representing practically every Protestant communion in the United States. The inspiration due to this widespread awakening soon sought, and found definite national coöperative expression in the Missionary Congress held in Chicago in the beginning of May last.

The purpose of the congress was to enlist Christian men in a movement to reach every nation and tongue; and, in the high optimism of those who arranged it, "to do this in our own generation."

It was at once a new vision, a stirring battle-cry, an interdenominational union, a nation-wide awakening, a world-broad inspiration. In the oneness of its spirit and aim, it was marvelous. Its sustained intensity was remarkable. Its dominant aggressive note never quavered. Almost overpowering in the array of missionary information at first hand, it seemed to make possible, in our own time, the dream of a united Christendom, and, therefore, of an obeyed Christ. Its appeal to the heroic in Christian men was matchless. The vastness of the unfolding opportunity was only equal to the comprehension had of the tremendous present responsibility. No such call for lay leadership has ever before been heard on this continent.

It was a confession and a consecration. It was a promise of a continued coming together in the years to come of Christian men, irrespective of denominational affiliations. It was an acknowledgment of the power of the followers of the Christ. when in cordial coöperation, and of the simplicity of the scheme of such an endeavor. It was the answer of the ordinary man required to do the extraordinary thing.

It was a mighty spiritual uplift. It knew neither narrow sectarianism nor sectional lines. It was a proclamation to the entire Christian world that the non-Christian world is ready for the gospel.

It placed at every Christian layman's door the privilege of this noble service. It led the willing heart to the limit of its effort. It struck home the lesson that lay-money and lay-men both were needed, and needed now, in the foreign field, as well as in the homeland.

In view of the splendid enthusiasm, and of the deep conviction generated by, and emanating from, this inspiring missionary congress, an imperative duty is laid upon our Congregational churches. It becomes the privilege of this National Council to conserve, to the fullest extent possible, the faith and zeal of which the congress was so conspicuous a manifestation. To do our part in providing for the maintenance of this. coöperative movement, I recommend the appointment of a committee to consider this important subject, and to provide, in the name of our Congregationalism, for a continuance of our denominational representation in future missionary congresses..

OUR CONGREGATIONAL BROTHERHOOD.

The days we live in are great days. If they are big with problems, they are also big with possibilities. While some of us may have been dreaming vague dreams, there are not wanting those of our number who have had very vivid visions.

In our immediate companionship, we have seen developed in recent times, in a marked manner, a distinct denominational consciousness, and this in no narrowing sense. It has taken one of its noticeable and practicable forms among our men.

The Council of 1907, at Cleveland, expressed its candid and cordial approval of the proposal then and there made to found. a Congregational men's organization along broad national lines. Personal obligation and associated opportunity were the principles laid down.

This movement was at once a call and an answer. The response to the voiced need was the first Brotherhood Convention, held in Detroit in April, 1908. The fundamental objects of the organization, as set forth in its first constitution, were: The enlistment of men in the service of Christ, increased efficiency in the local church, the furtherance of social righteousness, and fellowship with all other Christian bodies for the promotion of the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth.