Professor GRAHAM TAYLOR, D.D., Chicago, Ill. Mr. ANTHONY COMSTOCK, New York, N. Y. The Church and Municipal Government, Rev. CHARLES H. PARKHURST, D.D., New York, N. Y. A Scientific Basis of Charity, . Rev. H. L. WAYLAND, D.D., Philadelphia, Pa. The Christian Basis of Social Reform, Prof. GEORGE D. HERRON, D.D., Grinnell, Iowa. CLOSING REMARKS. CHRISTIANITY PRACTICALLY APPLIED. THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE CONGRESS. CHICAGO, HALL OF COLUMBUS. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8, 3 P.M. GREETINGS AND RESPONSES. HON. CHARLES C. BONNEY, PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD'S CONGRESSES OF 1893. We live in a period of the most marvellous Christian activity -a period in which Christianity, assuming an attitude never heretofore held, essays in very truth the conquest of the entire world, including all departments of human activity. Is "Christianity declining" as we have sometimes heard suggested? The world never saw such a period of activity as that in the midst of which we now are. Within a given four years of the past decade more than one thousand communicants were added to the Protestant churches alone during every day of the entire period; more than ten church temples were erected on every day of that period of four years; and whereas at the beginning of the century there was scarcely a trace of professed Christianity in the colleges and highest institutions of learning, now about fifty per cent of the students in those institutions of learning are professed Christians. At the beginning of the century only one in a little less than fifteen of the population was a professed Christian. Now almost one in five of the population bears that sacred name. Then dogma and ritual and emotion absorbed, for the most part, the strength and vigor and power of the Christian organization. Now its power and activity reaches out in every direction and seeks, as I have already said, nothing less than the conquest of the entire earth. Science, industry, commerce, charity-every field in which man is active, now responds to the direct influence of the Christian Church. And last and most surprising, perhaps, of all, and yet a most fitting thing to be observed on this occasion, is that religion, advancing into the domain of science, finds in the supreme miracle of the Incarnation not an exception to or a violation of the laws of nature, but their culmination and crown, and the key which unlocks the entire mystery of creation, from the monad to the man; sees, in this crowning act of evolution, the fulfilment of all law, and not an exception to or a violation of any law. The Evangelical Alliance is a special agency raised up by the hand of divine Providence to promote the unity and peace of mankind. Its special province seems to be to destroy what the founder of the Brotherhood of Christian Unity has termed, and well termed, Hadesian Theology,-that kind of theology which sets the different sects and organizations of the Christian religion at war with each other about their points of difference, instead of uniting with each other against the common foes of infidelity and religion everywhere. I suppose the last part of the twentyfifth chapter of Matthew may be declared almost the divine Constitution of the Evangelical Alliance. It is to feed the hungry, spiritually and naturally, to give drink to the thirsty, to befriend the stranger, to clothe the naked, to heal the sick, to visit those who are in prison, to supply whatever the want may be, either of the body or the soul. The Evangelical Alliance, as I understand it, is a grand demonstration of applied Christianity. Leaving speculative and theoretical theology and Christianity where they may be treated with the least harm to the general public welfare, the churches now at last band themselves together to apply this religion to life in all its departments. If the Evangelical Alliance find one casting out devils in the Lord's name, it does not forbid him "because he followeth not with us," but remembers what the words of the Lord were-" Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is with us." If the Evangelical Alliance sees some one Christian denomination especially active in all or any of the good works of faith and charity, it rejoices and calls on others to emulate the example and engage in that just and generous rivalry which will bring all into the common service of God and man. To be evangelical, we are told, is to act according to the Gospel or what is contained therein. And so this Alliance comes before the world declaring that it seeks the furtherance of its opinions with the intent to manifest and strengthen Christian unity. The first great, all pervading and commanding object of the organization is Christian unity. That means the unity of all who breathe the name of Christ in reverence and who adore Him under any form of faith, whatever that may be; and further, its object is to promote religious liberty. What is religious liberty? Not merely liberty to attend the service one may select, but liberty of mind and conscience and heart to seek out God and find Him and worship Him without human restraint in that sacred relation which exists between the soul and its Creator. And finally and most appropriately, to promote and push any Christian work. And this last object of the Evangelical Alliance comprehends all the others, in such a way that where all are co-operating in Christian work they will not fail to exercise towards each other the privileges of religious liberty and seek and promote Christian unity. And this without interfering with the internal affairs of the different denominations. Thus the Quaker, the Episcopalian, the Baptist, and members of all the other denominations, may each worship God in his own way, may each have the forms and expressions and services which he may find best adapted to his circumstances. The history of this movement is certainly as noble and inspiring as that of any other in the present half-century. From the inception of the movement in London in 1846 down to the last general meeting in Florence in 1891, and down to this meeting which opens here to-day, it has been one long and glorious line of effort against the common enemies of mankind, one long and glorious line of advance in the best work of the Christian warfare. Thus the original spirit of the movement, as might be ex |