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VI. How may the co-operation of all our congregations be best secured to aid in the spread of the gospel?

VII. How can missionary intelligence be most extensively circulated among the churches?

The time for adjournment drawing near, on motion the sixth and seventh subjects were postponed for the time, and the eighth was proposed for consideration.

VIII. Is it expedient to hold such a meeting as this annually?

On motion of the Rev. Dr. Nicholas Murray, the once well-known "Kirwan " of Protestant anti-Roman Catholic polemics, it was unanimously resolved to call a convention similar to this in New York next year-that a committee consisting of gentlemen of this city, representing the various evangelical churches engaged in conducting foreign missions, be appointed to make the necessary arrangements-and that this committee be appointed by the chair. On the evening of the second day, May 5, a public meeting was held in the Broadway Tabernacle,* beginning at half past seven o'clock. Great crowds came; more, in fact, than could be accommodated. The honorable Luther Bradish, of revered memory, one of the most dignified of men, presided and made a graceful speech. The Rev. Dr. Nicholas Murray read the resolutions adopted by the Convention, and was followed by Alexander Duff, who spoke for two hours. He began by expressing his great pleasure in attending the Convention which had just closed, alluded to the fact that the missionaries in the Bengal Presidency, of all evangelical denominations, had for twenty years met every month to discuss all measures and plans relating to their work, and that in October, 1853, there had been held a great union religious gathering in London, which had given one entire day to missionary matters. He then proceeded to go over the first five of the resolutions which had just been read, and spoke out his mind respecting them with earnestness, eloquence, and at times with considerable humor. It was a speech of great power, and must have made a profound impression, especially that part in which he had the hardihood to contrast the fulsome praise and semi-worship given to a returned missionary, like himself, with the well-nigh unanimous refusal on the part of the adulators to go themselves upon the foreign field. The concluding part of Duff's speech was "a picture of the present ominous state of the world and the awful judgments which seemed to be impending over it," but, unfortunately, the reporter's notes of this part of the speech were lost, and so no record remains of what would now be curious reading.

The annual conference resolved upon was never held, but in London, in the autumn of that year, an attempt was made to collect a similar body, but it does not seem to have been much of a success. We have to come to Liverpool, and to March of 1860, for the next general conference. It convened on Monday evening, March 19, and was closed on Friday evening of the same week. During this time seven private meetings were held, in each of which a programme was carefully discussed by such of the 125 members representing the officers and missionaries of British missionary societies, to whom alone the private meetings were open, who cared to take part. The audience and the participants were professionals, the several topics were really discussed, and considerable difference of opinion was revealed, but the temper was always good. There were also public meetings; three were called "missionary soirées," and one general meeting which attracted a large audience. The report of the conference is well worthy the attention of the student of missions. All the speakers and readers of papers were British, and there was no attempt to give the conference an ecumenical character. The deliberations were purely consultative, but in the minutes the conclusions arrived at by the conference, respecting the principal plans of missionary labor and economy, are embodied."

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Eighteen years passed, during which time missionary work had spread over a far wider area and attracted very much increased contributions, so that it

The church was then at 320 Broadway, near Worth street. The present congregation wor ships at 6th ave. and 34th street, and there one of the sectional meetings of the late Conference was held.

+Conference on Missions held in 1860 in Liverpool; including the papers read, the conclusions reached, and a comprehensive index showing the various matters brought under review. Edited by the Secretaries to the Conference. London: James Nisbet & Co., 21. Berners street, MDCCCLX.

seemed time for another gathering, and that, too, of a more general nature, taking in, to some extent, societies outside of Great Britain. The conference was held in Conference Hall, Mildmay Park, a north suburb of London. The first session was on Monday, October 21, 1878, and there were eleven sessions in all. The last one was on Friday evening, October 26, in Exeter Hall, and, strangely enough, was very poorly attended. A feature of the conference was the discussion of missions geographically, exhibiting their number in special localities, their peculiar form and their prominent results. The immediate effect of this arrangement was to show the great extent and effectiveness of missionary work in the world at large.

Unlike those of the Liverpool conference, the meetings were public throughout. Thirty-four missionary societies (II non-British), represented by 158 persons who are named, comprised the official body. The book gives a summary of the proceedings in very readable form.*

But all the missionary conferences hitherto mentioned were small affairs compared with that held in London from the 9th to the 19th of June, 1888. This was the first attempt at a world-wide missionary conference, for as it was in celebration of the centenary of modern Protestant missions on a broad scale, it was appropriate that representatives of societies laboring among all peoples should come together. So one found in it a far greater and far wider distribution of delegates than those of the previous conferences, and no longer composed of those whose vernacular was the English tongue. There were five open conferences held in the great auditorium of Exeter Hall, and twenty-two sectional meetings held in the lower hall and the annex. The attendance upon all these meetings was large and enthusiastic. On the roll of the conference are found the names of fifty-three missionary societies of Great Britain, fifty-eight of the United States of America, nine of Canada, eighteen of the Continent of Europe, and two from English colonies. The personal roll had upon it the names of 1,341 British delegates, 102 Americans, 30 Canadians, 41 Continental, and 3 Colonial. The social element in the conference was sedulously cultivated. There were several receptions by public bodies and by private individuals, and one very enjoyable feature was the daily luncheon in the gymnasium of the Young Men's Christian Association, which was free to all the foreign delegates. The greatest effort was made by means of these various meetings to give those interested in missions the best and latest information upon the subject, and those professionally interested the amplest opportunity to compare notes and receive inspiration. The report of the conference was carefully edited by the secretary, and covers nearly 1,200 pages, in two volumes, and includes a bibliography, lists of societies and delegates, and a separate index to each volume. This report was subsequently put on sale in the United States, and at least 12,000 copies sold.†

The connecting link between the Centenary Conference of 1888 and the Ecumenical Conference of 1900, is the fifth general council of the Alliance of the Reformed Churches holding the Presbyterian system, held in Toronto, Canada. September 21-30, 1892. On September 23 the western section of the standing committee on Co-operation in Foreign Missions made its report through its chairman, the Rev. Dr. F. F. Ellinwood. At the conclusion of the report, several recommendations were added, the last one of which is the following: "It is recommended that in the near future the executive officers of the various missionary boards represented in the western section of the Alliance hold a conference on the practical questions of missionary policy, with a view to greater union and efficiency in their common work; also, that during one day of their session they invite a broader conference with representatives of the missionary boards and societies of other Protestant churches.'

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The Rev. Dr. Ellinwood said in his address placing the report before the council: The last of the recommendations which close our report points to the holding of missionary conferences at home between the different Presby

* Proceedings of the General Conference on Foreign Missions, held at the Conference Hall, in Mildmay Park, London, in October, 1878. Edited by the Secretary to the Conference. London: John F. Shore & Co., Paternoster Row, 1879.

Report of the Centenary Conference on the Protestant Missions of the World, held in Exeter Hall (June 9-19), London, 1888. Edited by the Rev. James Johnston, F.S.S., Secretary of the Conference. Author of "A Century of Christian Progress"; "Our Educational Policy in India" "Abstract and Analysis of Vice-Regal Report on Education ", etc., etc., etc. James Nisbet & Co., 21 Berners street, London, England; Fleming H. Revell, New York and Chicago.

terian bodies, especially secretaries and members of boards, missionaries, and others, with a view to a more complete mutual correspondence and a more thorough unity of action along all lines of missionary policy. While waiting, therefore, for a full realization of the great principles which are set before us, the interval of time could be well spent, the best efficiency of our missions will be promoted, and the world will behold a spectacle of thorough unity of spirit in the one great conference." *

Accordingly, the Alliance committee, its plans having been seconded by a joint invitation from the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, in New York, sent forth invitations for two conferences, one between all Presbyterian and Reformed missionary boards in the United States and Canada, and the other between all Protestant boards and societies in the two countries, to be held at the Mission House, 53 Fifth avenue, New York, on the 11th and 12th of January, respectively, 1893.

At the general conference, held on the second day, twenty-one missionary boards and committees were represented, besides the committee which gave the invitation, and the American Bible Society and the Young Men's Christian Association." These interdenominational conferences have been held annually ever since.

Alliance of the Reformed Churches holding the Presbyterian system. Proceedings of the Fifth General Council (Toronto, 1892), Appendix 99; body of the Report, pp. 101, 102. In the Sixth General Council, held in Glasgow in 1896, a report was made upon these missionary conferences in New York, see pp. 231-239.

tInterdenominational Conference of Foreign Missionary Boards and Societies in the United States and Canada, held in the Presbyterian Mission House, 53 Fifth Avenue, New York, January 12, 1893. New York: Annual Report published by Foreign Missions Library. See Prefatory Note.

CHAPTER II

SPECIAL MEETINGS

The Scenic Effect-Personnel-Opening Session-National Welcome-Bible Translation and Missionary Addresses-Woman in Missions-Business Men and Missions-Students and Young People-Famine Relief.

The scenic effect of the meetings in Carnegie Hall was simple and impressive.

Over the back of the platform was a large colored map of the world, to keep the world as a whole constantly before the assembly. Over the center of the map was the following:

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The field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom."

Over the Western Hemisphere was:

"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation."

Over the Eastern Hemisphere was:

"And they went forth and preached everywhere."

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In the foreground were the veteran missionaries standing for what had actually been done as represented on the map-John G. Paton, with his wonderful head of silken white hair, representing the islands of the sea; Cyrus Hamlin and George W. Wood, who went to Constantinople in 1837 and 1838; Jacob Chamberlain and Bishop Thoburn, of India; William Ashmore and J. Hudson Taylor, of China; Dr. and Mrs. James C. Hepburn, who sailed for China in 1840, before missionaries were allowed in the empire, and afterward, when Japan was opened, gave thirty-three years of service in that country; the patriarchal Bishop Ridley, of Caledonia, from his labors among the Indians of the North; Robert Laws, of Africa, and Dr. Borchgrevink and Dr. Cousins, of Madagascar. Behind the veteran missionaries were the delegates from Great Britain and the Continent, representing seventeen nationalities, and the General Committee, composed of two members from each of the American and Canadian societies.

Of the foreign delegates the greater number were from Great The Board of German Evangelical Missionary Societies, composed of sixteen societies, united in sending two delegates. Using their existing organization as a basis of union they selected the two able inspectors of missions, Rev. Drs. Merensky and Schreiber, as their representatives. The societies of Switzerland and France also united in appointing the Rev. Henri Grandlienard, French pastor in New York, to represent them. The Netherlands Conference, comprising thirteen societies, appointed the Rev. Dr. Y. R. Callenbach, of Doorn, as their representative, and the societies. in Finland, Sweden, and Norway were represented by separate delegates and missionaries.

Personnel

The personnel of the Conference was broadly representative. It consisted (1) of delegates appointed by organizations conducting foreign missions outside of Europe and America; (2) the missionaries of such organizations, and (3) members elected by the Executive Committee.

The British and Continental and other foreign societies were invited to send as many delegates as possible. The American and Canadian societies were limited in the number of their delegates; the total from both countries, being fixed at 1,666, was apportioned among the societies on the basis of their expenditures in foreign missions. All foreign missionaries in active service or retired were received as full members. Some of the honorary members and vice-presidents who were unable to attend desired to have their names connected with so historic a gathering. Members of committees and speakers, who were not already delegates, were, by a general act of the Executive Committee, constituted "special members."

In addition to the members of the Conference a large number of persons came from far and near to attend the meetings. Over fifty thousand tickets to the Carnegie Hall and alternate meetings were distributed among this class of visitors. Many thousands more attended the sectional and overflow meetings where no tickets were required.

A large number of professors and students in colleges and seminaries were invited by the Committee on Students and Young People, which had some two hundred tickets to each meeting to distribute among this special class.

The first floor of the Hall was reserved for delegates and missionaries during the entire Conference till the opening hour, when it was thrown open to the public. Others who had entrance tickets filled the galleries, or remained standing about the doors to the parquet and boxes, while those without tickets thronged the vestibule and steps waiting the hour when the doors were thrown open. The fact that there were usually several hundred people waiting to get into the hall indicated how thoroughly the people of New York were aroused. Those who stood in these crowds were of all classes, by far the larger number being people of education and refinement. It was a strange sight to see ladies and gentlemen, accustomed to occupy boxes in the opera season, waiting their turn in the crush and hastening to get a seat in the gallery at a missionary meeting. Those having extra tickets or reserved box-seats freely gave them to others. Then those who failed to find entrance to Carnegie Hall were drawn away to the overflow meetings in Calvary Baptist Church, nearly opposite, while the alternate meetings in the Central Presbyterian Church on the block west were generally as crowded as those in Carnegie Hall.

Opening Session

In some respects the opening sessions, upon Saturday, April 21, were the most remarkable of the series. The first gathering, the coming together for the first time of over 2,500 able, intelligent, devoted men and women, all deeply interested in the evangelization of

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