THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY.
By U. Smith
THE BEGINNING OF THE END—CONTINUED. INSTEAD of a large national convention in 1875, four conventions, more local in their nature, were held in different parts of the country as follows:— One at Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass., Dec. 16, 1874; one in St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 27 and 28, 1875; one for Kansas and adjacent States, Feb. 10 and 11, and one for Ohio and adjoining States, early in March. Of the meeting in St. Louis, the Christian Statesman, of Feb., 1875, said:— "The Convention of citizens of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and neighboring States, in the city of St. Louis, on the 27th and 28th of last month, was a triumphant success. In a city where there was but a small constituency committed in advance to the support of the proposed amendment, public attention has been earnestly drawn to the movement, a large audience was called out at all the sessions of the Convention, and full reports of the able addresses delivered have been published in the city papers. By special arrangement, the St. Louis Globe gave a full report, like that of the Pittsburgh Commercial, or the Globe of Boston, but the other papers also contained full and respectful accounts of the proceedings. Fully one thousand people were present at the opening session, and at least three hundred at the day sessions on Thursday. Three hundred and ninety-four names were enrolled as members of the Convention. The address of J. C. Wells, Esq., a lawyer from Chillicothe, Illinois, was marked by the same vigor of argument and fervent Christian spirit which lend so much power and attractiveness to his able little book, entitled, 'Our National Obligation.' Mr. Wells was also chosen President of the Convention. The friends in St. Louis and vicinity are heartily to be congratulated on this result. "The closing resolution adopted at the Convention reads:— "'Resolved, That, recognizing the importance of this subject, we pledge ourselves to present and advocate it until the nation shall declare its Christian character, as it has, with one consent, already asserted its freedom in the charter of our rights and liberties.'" Nov. 9, 1875, a special meeting of the National Association was held in Philadelphia, Pa., at which meeting the Association took steps, which have since been carried out, to become incorporated in law, under the name of the "National Reform Association." The Christian Statesman of Nov. 20, 1875, contained the following notice of this meeting:— "The evening session was well attended, and was altogether the most encouraging meeting in behalf of the cause held in this city for many years." The subsequent action of the Executive Committee is reported as follows:— "The Executive Committee has since taken steps to obtain a charter of incorporation for the Society, and to secure an office which shall be a recognized head-quarters for its operations, and depository of its publications, especially during the centennial year." The officers of this Association selected that year were as follows:— President: The HON. FELIX R. BRUNOT. His Excellency, James M. Harvey, U. S. Senate. His Exe., Robert W. Furnas, Governor of Nebraska. The Hon. Lorenzo Sawyer, U. S. Circuit Court, San Francisco, Cal. The Hon. G. W. Brooks, U. S. Dist. Court of N. C. The Hon. E. W. Hillyer, U. S. Dist. Court of Nevada. The Hon. B. F. Saffold, Supreme Court of Alabama. The Hon. C. C. Cole, LL. D., Supreme Court of Iowa. The Hon. James Phelps, Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut. The Hon. M. B. Hagans, Superior Court of Cincinnati. The Hon. J. Rockwell, Superior Court of Mass. The Hon. Geo. W. French, Chief Justice Supreme Court of Dakota. The Hon. David Noggles, Chief Justice Supreme Court of Idaho. The Hon. M. E. Hollister, Supreme Court of Idaho. The Hon. R. S. Greene, Supreme Court of Wash. Ter. The Hon. H. S. Johnson, Supreme Court of New Mexico. The Hon. J. W. Kingman, Supreme Court of Wyoming Territory. The Hon. C. M. Hawley, Late Justice Supreme Court of Utah. The Hon. J. W. McClurg, Ex-Governor of Missouri. The Hon. W. A. Cumback, Ex-Lieut. Gov. of Indiana. The Right Rev. Wm. Ingraham Kip, D. D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Diocese of California. Pres. David H. Cochran, Ph. D., LL. D., Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. The Rev. Charles Elliott, D. D., Presb. Sem. of Northwest, Chicago, Ill. Prof. E. Kirby Smith, University of Nashville, Tenn. The Rev. Geo. B. Cheever, D. D., Englewood, N. J. Prof. W. Henry Greene, D. D., Princeton, Theo. Sem., N. J. The Rev. Wm. R. Nicholson, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa. Prof. Taylor Lewis, LL. D., Union College, New York. The Right Rev. John B. Kerfoot, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Diocese of Pittsburgh. The Rev. T. L. Cuyler, D. D., Brooklyn. The Rev. Levi Scott, D. D., Bishop of the M. E. Church, Del. Prof. Julius H. Seelye, D. D., U. S. House of Rep. The Right Rev. F. D. Huntington, D. D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Diocese of Central N. Y. The Rev. A. A. Miner, D. D., Pres. Tuft's College, Mass. The Rev. Jonathan Edwards, D. D., Peoria, Ill. The Rev. Edmund R. Janes, D. D., Bishop of the M. E. Church, N. Y. The Rev. Henry J. Fox, D. D., Charleston, S. C. The Right Rev. W. N. Green, D. D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Diocese of Mississippi. Vice-Chancellor J. Gorgas, University of the South, Tennessee. The Right Rev. G. T. Bodell, D. D., Assistant Bishop of Prot. Epis. Church, Ohio. The Hon. Ellis A. Apgar, State Supt. of Public Instruction, N. J. The Hon. A. N. Fisher, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Nevada. The Hon. J. H. Drummond, LL. D., Portland, Maine. John Alexander, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa. Charles G. Nazro, Esq., Boston, Mass. The Hon. Thomas W. Bicknell, Commissioner of Public Schools, R. I. James W. Taylor, Esq., Newburg, N. Y. Wm. Getty, Esq., Philadelphia. The Right Rev. G. D. Cummins, D. D., Bishop of Reformed Episcopal Church. The Rev. C. G. Finney, D. D., President of Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. The Rev. T. A. Morris, D. D., Bishop of the M. E. Church, Springfield, Ohio. The Rev. J. H. McIlvaine, D. D., Newark, N. J. The Rev. M. Simpson, D. D., Bishop of the M. E. Church, Philadelphia. The Rev. J. Blanchard, D. D., President of Wheaton College, Illinois. Prof. O. N. Stoddard, LL. D., Wooster University, O. Prof. J. R. W. Sloane, D. D., Ref. Pres. Theo. Seminary, Allegheny, Pa. The Rev. E. R. Craven, D. D., Newark, N. J. The Rev. Joseph Cummins, D. D., LL. D., President of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. The Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D. D., N. Y. The Rev. F. Merrick, D. D., LL. D., Pres. of the Ohio University, Delaware, O. The Rev. John B. Dales, D. D., Philadelphia. The Rev. Joseph T. Cooper, D. D., Pittsburgh, Pa. The Rev. Dr. J, Banvard, Paterson, N. J. The Rev. C. H. Edgar, D. D., Easton, Pa. General Secretary: The Rev. D. McAllister, 127 North Seventh Street, Phila. Corresponding Secretary: The Rev. T. P. Stevenson, 127 North Seventh Street, Phila. Recording Secretary: The Rev. W. W. Barr, Phila. Treasurer: Samuel Agnew, Esq., 1126 Arch St., Phila. Executive Committee: The Secretaries and Treasurer of the Association, Es-officio. R. B. Sterling, Joshua Cowpland, John Alexander, James S. Martin, The Rev. S. O. Wylie, D. D., Robert Taylor, Wm. McKnight, Thomas Walker, M. McConnel, Thomas Brown, Philadelphia, Pa. Henry Harrison, Robert B. Maxwell, Wm. Neely, Walter T. Miller, James Wiggins, Henry O'Neill, Geo. Silver, Jas. Spence, Hugh Carlisle, David Houston, New York. The Rev. M. S. Owen, Indiana, Pa. D. Chestnut, Pittsburgh, Pa. Henry Martin, Cincinnati. Whatever influence great names can impart to any cause is certainly secured in favor of this. Mr. F. E. Abbott, editor of the Index, Boston, Mass., who was present at the Cincinnati Convention, and presented a protest against its aims and efforts, thus speaks of those who stand at the head of this movement:— "We found them to be so thoroughly sincere and earnest in their purpose that they did not fear the effect of a decided but temperate protest. This fact speaks volumes in their praise, as men of character and convictions. We saw no indication of the artful management which characterizes most conventions. The leading men—Rev. D. McAllister, Rev. A. M. Milligan, Prof. Sloane, Prof. Stoddard, Prof. Wright, Rev. T. P. Stevenson—impressed us as able, clear-headed, and thoroughly honest men; and we could not but conceive a great respect for their motives and their intentions. It is such qualities as these in the leaders of the movement that give it its most formidable character. They have definite and consistent ideas; they perceive the logical connection of these ideas, and advocate them in a very cogent and powerful manner; and they propose to push them with determination and zeal. Concede their premises, and it is impossible to deny their conclusions; and since these premises are axiomatic truths with the great majority of Protestant Christians, the effect of the vigorous campaign on which they are entering cannot be small or despicable. The very respect with which we were compelled to regard them only increases our sense of the evils which lie germinant in their doctrines; and we came home with the conviction that religious liberty in America must do battle for its very existence hereafter. The movement in which these men are engaged has too many elements of strength to be contemned by any far-seeing liberal. Blindness or sluggishness to-day means slavery to-morrow. Radicalism must pass now from thought to action, or it will deserve the oppression that lies in wait to overwhelm it."