REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ARMY AND NAVY.1 As American citizens we have many thousand men in our service as soldiers and seamen in the army and navy of the United States. By express resolutions, three years ago, this Council affirmed our obligation to secure for all these men, if possible, adequate moral and religious care. The Council then also appointed a committee to promote this end. In reporting to-day, that committee respectfully advise that you again appoint a similar committee. If you will consider this recommendation you will be interested in a few simple facts like the following: 1. It is believed that in certain important ways more has been accomplished for the moral and intellectual welfare of our soldiers during the last three years than during many years previous. 2. As a result of an increasing sense of Christian obligation in this matter, the efforts of many most active army chaplains and other Christian friends of the army and navy have been united in a new organization known as the United Christian Commission. The meeting of this committee was presided over in 1890, by Mr. Proctor of Vermont, then Secretary of War, and in 1891 by Gen. Grant, Assistant Secretary of War. Our brother, the Rev. S. M. Newman of Washington, is Vice-President, and other of our honored brethren are very active in it. 3. Your committee, if you appoint one, will be members ex-officio of this commission. 4. In maintaining a committee of the army and navy as you have done, you are working side by side with other honored Christian denominations. 5. The prospect of gain in the immediate future is very good in such important directions as these: (a) More chaplains. (b) More care in the selection of chaplains. (c) Better appreciation of the work of chaplains. (d) Better social and moral conditions in the soldiers' barracks. (e) Reading rooms and similar agencies for the intellectual welfare of the men. 'Page 41. We therefore recommend that this Council again appoint a committee upon the Army and Navy to serve until another meeting and then report, and that this committee be instructed to be among the foremost in promoting any and all measures that may be reasonable and necessary in order, if possible, to bring every soldier in the American army, and every seaman in our navy under the influence of Christian sympathy and adequate Christian care. WILLIAM J. BATT, for Committee. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EXPENSES OF DELEGATES TO NATIONAL COUNCIL.1 RECOGNIZING the importance of a full and even representation of all sections and interests of the denomination, in our National Council, the lesser and remote as well as the stronger and central portions, and finding that, in fact, distant and worthy delegates who need the Council, and whom the Council needs for its highest efficiency and widest usefulness, are often prevented from attending by the great cost of transportation, therefore, Resolved, That, in the judgment of your committee, the travelling expenses of delegates should be met by the churches, and that the necessary funds should be secured by an increase of the annual assessment. Also, Resolved, That in order to test the sense of the churches, through the conferences and associations, and to obtain full data for wise action in the premises, this body appoint a committee of three to consider all questions involved and prepare a definite plan to be reported at the next session of the National Council. Adopted unanimously and signed by the Committee, THEODORE C. PEASE, Massachusetts. F. W. LYMAN, Florida. CHAS. M. LAMSON, Vermont. GRIFFITH GRIFFITHS, California. LEAVITT H. HALLOCK, Maine. J. G. FRASER, Ohio. ' Page 31. ON OUR RELATIONS WITH THE SCANDINAVIAN CHURCHES.1 THE Committee appointed by the National Council at Worcester in 1889 for the purpose of assisting the Congregational free churches in Norway to establish a missionary training school, beg leave to report as follows: The brethren in Norway estimated that $5,000 would be needed annually to maintain such a school. It was also their judgment that it would not be best to begin the school unless there should be reasonable assurance that the help would be continued for at least three years. In response to appeals from the committee, the treasurer, Rev. A. H. Clapp, received $1,178.04; some pledges also were received. As these funds and pledges were entirely inadequate to accomplish the object sought, and as there was no missionary society behind the committee to give assurances for the future, it was the opinion of the committee and of other friends of the work in Norway that it was not best to open the proposed school with the limited means provided. The funds were then placed at the disposal of the original donors. Most of these turned their contributions over to the American Home Missionary Society for the Scandinavian work in this country. In behalf of the committee, M. W. MONTGOMERY, Chairman. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON UNION WITH FREE BAPTISTS AND OTHER DENOMINATIONS.2 THIS Committee has no definite results to report at this session. It is thought best, however, that such a committee be continued, and this is hereby recommended in the confident hope of ultimate good. Some brethren are earnest in their belief that much may be accomplished in certain directions, and are ready to undertake active work to this effect. We recommend the adoption of these resolutions [which may be found on page 40]. ' Page 41. A. H. QUINT, Chairman. SMITH BAKER. GEORGE E. HALL. 2 Page 40. SWEDISH MISSION COVENANT SALUTATIONS. THE Swedish Mission Covenant has received with joy the brotherly greeting, sent by the National Council to Sweden by Dr. P. Waldenström and published by him in the newspaper The Homeland's Friend. The Conference of the Mission Covenant, now in session in Stockholm, returns, in the love of Christ, its greeting to the American brethren. As our principle is the union of the believers on the basis of life in the faith which is in the Son of God, even though differences of views exist, we rejoice at every step in this direction. Therefore, with all our heart, we wish both to ourselves and to you the grace of God in rich measure to the increase of the faith, the love, the heavenly mind and strength to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts in order to walk holy in the light before the eyes of the Lord. Many national differences lie between us and you, differences that hinder an external, formal union, but we rejoice in spirit to know that your labor has the same fundamental Christian principles as ours, so that we and you go the same way, and that you aim to be among the Americans what we aim to be among the Swedes. May God give us grace more and more to be transformed to the likeness of his Son, so that all our work may be more and more consecrated, to the glory of His name. We feel thankful for your readiness to help our Swedish brethren in America in their work. As to their and your external relation one to another, we do not think it belongs to us to give any judgment, partly because it is beyond our power to become entirely familiar with the situation, and partly it is not proper for us to exercise any pressure neither in one, nor in another direction upon our Swedish brethren. We send this greeting to you with our brother, Prof. S. I. Curtiss, of Chicago, whom we have the joy to see among us. STOCKHOLM, June 30, 1890. In behalf of the Swedish Mission Covenant. E. J. EKMAN, President. NEW HAVEN WEST CONFERENCE.1 RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED OCT. 5, 1892, PRESENTED TO THE COUNCIL AND REFERRED TO THE COMMITTEE ON THE RELATIONS OF THE BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES TO THE CHURCHES. Resolved, That in the judgment of this conference all the missionary societies representing the Congregational churches should work in cordial sympathy, and so far as practicable, in hearty cooperation with each other for the good of the common cause. Resolved, That the time has come when the practicability of uniting two or more of these societies under one general management should be seriously considered. Resolved, That we rejoice in the close connection of some of our national societies with the churches and that in our judgment the churches should be heard in the constitution and administration of all these boards and that their members and officers should be so chosen as directly to represent the churches. Resolved, That when men apply for appointment to missionary service their theological views should be judged by the consensus of the Congregational creeds and by the decisions of Councils throughout the denomination. Resolved, That the Committee be instructed to communicate these resolutions to the American Board and to the National Council. |