THE SECOND DAY'S PROCEEDINGS.
By Alonzo T. Jones
THURSDAY morning session was opened by Dr. R. S. MacArthur, Baptist, with the speech of welcome that he missed the night before. He declared that this conference means more to America and the world than any other that has ever been held. The next item was the reading of the report of the executive committee. Following this was the calling of the roll of the delegates; the number is about five hundred, and nearly all were present. Dr. Washington Gladden presented a paper of greeting to the "Christian Rulers and Christian People of Russia," asking them to stop massacring the Jews. Dr. Wm. Hayes Ward, editor of the Independent, presented a paper on "The General Movement of the Christian Churches towards Closer Fellowship." He began with the council at Jerusalem, of Acts 15. He said that the liberty recognized by that council in its discussion and its final action was "amazing." But after the apostles had passed away, episcopal domination began, and church history is the record of domination, division, exclusion, and persecution. Protestantism again asserted religious liberty, but soon turned to sectarian exclusiveness and division. We are now come again to the days of evangelism and union; the aim, to convert the world; and to come together, that we may convert the world. We propose union on the basis of universal liberty, as in the council at Jerusalem. The secretary of the executive committee of the federation presented a paper on "Preparatory Work of Recent Years in Advancing This Movement in the United States." The substance of this paper was given in the first number of this report. Bishop McVicker, of the Episcopal Church, spoke on "The Open Door before the Christian Churches." He agreed that this conference is the most important and momentous meeting in the history of the church. We are met to deliberate on a theme as old as Christianity. Fifty years ago such a meeting as this would have been impossible, if not inconceivable. But now there is a drawing together. We no longer feel it necessary to protect our views by discountenancing others. With all that the church has done, and she has done wonders, the world is even yet far from the kingdom. It must be granted that we have a Christian civilization; but the kingdoms of this world have not become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. In the days when they burnt here-7tics, the heretics were not burnt by those who were sure of their own faith; but by those who were not sure of their own faith, and burnt their own heresy in the burning of the one held to be heretic. A new day has dawned. Co-operation is in the air—in business, in politics, and among the churches. Hail, happy day! If we are not ready for organic unity yet, let us all welcome that unity of sentiment and wish for that grand unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Dr. O. W. Powers, Columbus, Ohio, of the Christian Convention: There has come a critical time for the kingdom of God. The whole world is now open to the kingdom of Christ. The last hermit kingdom has been pried open, even by the arms of the heathen, at the "roof of the world." This movement means not the control of the forces within, but the alliance of all these forces for the conquest of the world that is without. Dr. Black, of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church: The open door for this movement is so wide open as almost to convince that there is no door. Inviting the energies of such federations, he named: - Civic righteousness.
- Marriage and divorce.
- Temperance.
- Corporation honor, wielding the influence of capital in the fear of God.
- Prison reform.
- Public charities.
- To repel and repress social evils.
- To prevent Sabbath desecration.
- To prevent child labor.
- International conflicts.
- To correct the epidemic of gambling.
- To correct amusements so they shall be in harmony with righteousness.
- To correct the evils connected with immigration.
- To prevent the influences of Mormonism from having any place in the affairs or the recognition of the nation.
- To unite all forces of the church for the accomplishment of these ends.
- And, most of all, for the return of the Bible to the public schools. (Loud and continued applause.)
- That we may aid in the relief of the downtrodden and the persecuted wherever they may be.
Dr. Carson, Presbyterian: The signs of the open door are: (1) New emphasis men are putting on spirituality. Materialism is out of date to-day. This opens the door for conservative aggressiveness of the church. (2) New and wide ethical awakening. A great wave of reform has swept over our commercial, social, and political life. In Minneapolis this reform put into the office of mayor a man who was pledged to close the saloons on the sabbath, and the past three sabbaths every saloon in Minneapolis has been closed tight. This uprising of the common people of America finds its counterpart in the other nations, even in far-off Russia. This uprising of the people is an open door for the church to enter with the elements of order, to prevent the rule of mobocracy. This will be the introduction of that brotherhood that has been lost, and which shall culminate in the New Jerusalem let down from heaven. Dr. Washington Gladden: We have been able to see this morning that there are some things that we can do. I hope we shall select the things that we can do, and center our energies on these. One of these things that has not yet been mentioned, is that the poor of our cities can be cared for by the churches of those cities. This ought to be done for the church's sake, and for the sake of the poor. We can now and again say things. When nineteen million people send forth their utterance for justice and righteousness, that voice will be heard and listened to.