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RELIGIOUS MEETINGS.

CHRISTIAN ENDEAVORERS AT BOSTON.

Three years ago, before the meeting of the Societies of Christian Endeavor in New York City, it was predicted in these columns that old New Yorkers would be surprised

DR. F. E. CLARK,

President of the Society of Christian Endeavor. and they were. The attendance from outside the city exceeded 25,000. But the organization has been growing during these three years; it now counts more than 2,000,000 members, and the officers will feel disappointed if they do not muster at Boston on July 10 next more than 50,000 delegates. For the opening of this truly mammoth convention fifteen or twenty of Boston's largest church buildings will be required. Indeed, the whole occasion will be rather a simultaneous holding of many conventions in one city than a compact gathering of all the delegates in any single meeting-place. At one stage in the proceedings, however, there will be an imposing massing of the forces on the historic Boston Common, where Governor Greenhalge will address as many thousands as can be grouped within the sound of his voice on the duties of good citizenship. In this rally of the cohorts of present-day Christianity, unparalleled as a spectacle in this day and generation, we imagine that there will be something to stir the blood of even conventional Boston.

The Young People's Union of the Baptist churches will hold its annual convention at Baltimore July 18. Workers throughout the United States and Canada will be represented, and the attendance is estimated at 10,000.

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION OF THE Y. M. C. A. The Young Men's Christian Associations of North America will hold their thirty-first convention in Springfield, Mass., May 8-12. The commodious new building of the Springfield Association will be fully utilized for convention purposes, one entire floor being given up to an exhibition of the result of educational work conducted by associations throughout the country, as well as by the various training schools for association work, one of which, by the way, is located at Springfield.

Among the speakers who have already consented to address the convention are: President J. M. Coulter, D.D., of Lake Forest University. Ill.; Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D., of Brooklyn; Mr. H. M. Moore, of Boston; Colonel John J. McCook, of New York; Mr. Thos. Cochran, of St. Paul; Rev. Jas. L. Barton, D.D., secretary A. B. C. F. M., Boston; Rev. W. H. P. Faunce, New York; Prof. Graham Taylor, Chicago; General O. O. Howard, and Mr. D. L.

Moody. Other representative and popular speakers will be secured. The singing will be led by Mr. George C. Stebbins, of Brooklyn.

THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE KINGDOM.

A conference under the auspices of the new association known as the Brotherhood of the Kingdom will be held at Marlborough, N. Y., August 5-9. The aims of this Brotherhood are thus expressed by one of its founders, the Rev. Walter Rauschenbusch, of New York City:

"We desire to see the Kingdom of God once more the great object of Christian preaching; the inspiration of Christian hymnology; the foundation of systematic theology; the enduring motive of evangelistic and missionary work; the religious inspiration of social work and the social outcome of religious inspiration; the object to which a Christian man surrenders his life, and in that surrender saves it to eternal life; the common object in which all religious bodies find their unity; the great synthesis in which the regeneration of the spirit, the enlightenment of the intellect, the development of the body, the reform of political life, the sanctification of industrial life, and all that concerns the redemption of humanity shall be embraced."

THE INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY UNION.

This unique organization holds its annual meeting June 12-19, at Clifton Springs, N. Y. Participation in the proceedings is restricted to foreign missionaries, whether in service or retired. The Union has no connection with any mission board or society, but draws its membership from individual missionaries as such. The attendance usually comprises more than one hundred foreign missionaries, representing all the Protestant denominations of the United States and Canada, and a large proportion of the mission fields of the world. It is expected that the Rev. Dr. Henry H. Jessup, of Beirut, Syria (Presbyterian), and the Rev. Dr. Jacob Chamberlain, of India (Reformed Dutch Church), will take part in this year's conference. The Rev. Dr. J. T. Gracey, of Rochester, N. Y., is presi dent of the Union; Rev. W. H. Belden, of Clifton Springs, is secretary.

THE PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church North will meet at Pittsburgh, Pa., May 16. The most important

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subject to be considered by this body will be the question of Assembly control of Presbyterian theological seminaries. President Patton, of Princeton, will deliver an address on

The Fundamental Doctrines of the Presbyterian Church;" Dr. Herrick Johnson, of Chicago, will speak on "The Influence of Presbyterianism in Other Churches," and Dr. W. H. Roberts, of Philadelphia, will discuss "The Growth and Future of the United Church."

Of the other Presbyterian bodies in the United States, two-the Presbyterian Church South and the Cumberland Presbyterians--meet in General Assemblies on the same date with the Pittsburgh meeting, May 16, the former at Dallas, Texas, and the latter at Meridian, Miss. The General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church is to convene at Pittsburgh, May 22.

The General Synod of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America, which holds the Presbyterian system, will meet at Grand Rapids, Mich., June 5.

THE BAPTIST ANNIVERSARIES,

representing the 800,000 white Baptists of the North, will be held at Saratoga Springs, beginning Monday, May 27, with a meeting of the Woman's American Baptist Home

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GEN. THOMAS J. MORGAN.

Mission Society, headquarters at Chicago, Miss Mary G. Burdette corresponding secretary.

The American Baptist Missionary Union, headquarters at Boston, Rev. Drs. H. C. Mabie and S. W. Duncan corresponding secretaries, to which society is committed the work of foreign missions, will hold its sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 28 and 29. The American Baptist Home Mission Society, headquarters in New York, Rev. Drs. T. J. Morgan and H. L. Morehouse secretaries, will meet on Thursday and Friday, May 30 and 31. The American Baptist Publication Society, headquarters at Philadelphia, the Rev. Dr. A. J. Rowland corresponding secretary, will hold its anniversary on Saturday and Monday, June 1 and 3. The annual sermons before the respective societies will be preached morning, afternoon and evening of Sunday, June 2.

The Southern Baptist Convention, representing the 1,200,000 white Baptists of the South, will hold its annual session in the city of Washington, beginning on Thursday,

GEN. O. O. HOWARD.

May 9, and closing on Sunday, May 12. Rev. Drs. I. T. Tichenor and D. C. Willingham are the secretaries of the Home and Foreign Boards.

The American Baptist Education Society, headquarters in New York, Rev. Dr. H. L. Morehouse acting secretary, will hold its annual session in Washington, D. C., on Wednesday, May 8.

The annual session of the Baptist Congress is to be held at Providence, R. I., November 12-14. Among the important topics to be considered at this meeting are "Monism,' ""The Relation of the State to Semi-public Corporations and Their Employees," "The Physiological Basis of Morality" and "The Books of the New Testament in the Light of Modern Research." The Rev. Dr. H. M. Sanders, of New York City, is chairman of the executive committee of the Congress. Rev. Walter Rauschenbusch is secretary.

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MEETINGS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS.

The annual meeting of the Congregational Home Missionary Society will be held at Saratoga, June 4-6. Gen. O. O. Howard will preside. The Rev. Wm. H. Davis, D.D., of Detroit, Mich., will preach the annual sermon. Among the speakers will be Dr. Lyman Abbott, the Hon. Wm. H. Alexander, of Nebraska; Dr. W. L. Phillips, of Connecticut; Dr. R. R. Meredith, and Field Secretaries Shellin, Puddefoot and Wiard. The woman's meeting will be under the direction of Mrs. H. S. Caswell. Secretaries Clark, Kincaid and Choate will present papers which will be the bases of discussion.

The National Council of the Congregational Churcnes of the United States will meet in Syracuse, N. Y., October 9. This Council was organized at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1871, but a Council had been held at Boston in 1865, of which the organization at Oberlin was the natural sequel. The main purpose of the Council is to consult upon the common interests of all the churches, their duties in the work of evangelization, the united development of their resources, and their relations to all other Christian bodies. The right of each church to self-government and administration is firmly maintained, and this National Council can never exercise legislative or judicial authority nor consent to act as council of reference. Each state body is entitled to one delegate, and to an additional delegate for each ten thousand church members or a major fraction of that number. The Council represents to-day 5,300 churches and 580,000 members. The possible size of the body would therefore be between five and six hundred. At least four hundred

delegates may be expected. The last Council met in Minneapolis, and the Moderator, the Rev. Dr. Alonzo H. Quint, holds office until his successor is elected. The Rev. Henry A. Hazen, of Massachusetts, is the secretary. Among the subjects likely to be considered may be named: "Our Relations with Other Denominations," in a report of a committee of which the Rev. Dr. William H. Ward, of the Independent, is chairman; "Doctrinal Preaching," by the Rev. Dr. James Brand; "The Education of Our Ministers," in papers by the Rev. Henry Hopkins and Rev. Arthur H. Wellman ; "City Evangelization," an important report by Rev. Judson Titsworth, of Milwaukee. A paper is expected by the Rev. B. Fay Mills on "The Evangelistic Church," and an address from Mr. Dwight L. Moody. Dr. Francis E. Clark will speak on the Christian Endeavor movement. The final and perhaps most important discussion of the session will be on the subject of "Capital and Labor," on which a report will be presented by Dr. Washington Gladden.

Immediately following the Triennial Council meeting at Syracuse, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, under whose auspices the work of the American Congregational churches in foreign lands is conducted, will meet in Brooklyn, N. Y., in the Church of the Pilgrims (Dr. Storrs). The annual sermon will be preached October 15 by Dr. G A. Gordon, of Boston. Dr. Storrs has for some years been president of the Board.

The following week, October 22-24, at Detroit, Mich., will occur the annual meeting of the American Missionary Association, which carries on the work of the Congregational churches of the country among the colored people of the South and the Indians. The president of the Association is President Merrill E. Gates, of Amherst College.

THE UNITARIAN BODIES.

The American Unitarian Association celebrates the seventieth anniversary of its organization at its annual meeting in Boston, May 28.

It has been decided to hold a meeting of the National Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches in Washington, D. C., October 21-24. The programmes of these meetings have not yet been arranged.

UNIVERSALIST GENERAL CONVENTION.

The next biennial session of the Universalist General Convention will be held in Meriden, Conn., October 23. This body is the ecclesiastical and legislative council of the Universalist churches of the United States and Canada, and is made up of delegates, clerical and lay, from the various state conventions. Hon. Henry B. Metcalf, of Rhode Island, is president, and Rev. G. L. Demarest, of New Hampshire, secretary.

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The Triennial General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church will meet at Minneapolis on the first Wednesday of October. This is the great gathering of the year for Episcopalians, and is in every sense a national convention.

SOCIETIES AND FRATERNAL ORDERS.

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.

The twenty-ninth national encampment of the G. A. R. will be held at Louisville, Ky., September 11-13. This will be the first encampment to be held south of Mason and Dixon's line. Gen. Thomas G. Lawler, of Rockford, Ill., is the Commander-in-Chief, and C. C. Jones, Adjutant-General. It is estimated that the coming encampment will bring 300,000 people to Louisville. About 1,200 delegates

with voting rights will be present. The citizens of Louisville are raising $100,000 to defray the expenses of the encampment. The cities of Jeffersonville and New Albany, Ind., just across the Ohio River from Louisville, will aid in caring for the crowds.

UNITED CONFEDERATE VETERANS.

The veterans of the Confederate army of the war between the States maintain an organization very similar to that of the G. A. R. In the society known as the United Confederate Veterans the General Commanding, the present year, is U. S. Senator J. B. Gordon, of Georgia. The Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff is Gen. George Moorman, of New Orleans. There are now in the order 580 camps, corresponding to posts in the G. A. R. A great reunion will be held at Houston, Texas, May 22-24, inclusive. Among the important topics for discussion at that gathering will be the best methods of securing impartial history and the enlisting of each State in the compilation and preservation of the history of her citizen soldiery; the care of disabled, destitute or aged veterans and their widows and orphans; the care of the graves of both known and unknown dead buried at Gettysburg, Fort Warren, and Camps Morton, Chase and Douglas, and at other points; the annual decoration of graves, and other like objects dear to the Southern veteran.

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among the vice-presidents are such journalistic veterans as Murat Halstead, Col. John A. Cockerill and Hon. John A. Hennessy. Women press writers are represented by Mrs. Loulie M. Gordon, of Georgia. Mr. Harry D. Vought, of the Buffalo Courier, acts as secretary of the organization.

SCOTCH-IRISH SOCIETY OF AMERICA.

The seventh annual congress of the Scotch-Irish and their descendants in America will be held at Lexington, Va., June next, from the 20th to the 23d, inclusive. All members of the race, as well as the general public, are invited to be present, but the exercises will be under the direction of the Scotch-Irish Society of America. Mr. Robert Bonner, of New York, is president of the Society, and will occupy the chair. The congress will be entertained by Washington and Lee University and by the citizens of Lexington. The population of the Valley of Virginia is almost exclusively of Scotch-Irish stock and Lexington is about its centre. The University is perhaps more distinctively Scotch-Irish than any other institution of learning in the United States. From its foundation, nearly 150 years ago, to the present time, its faculty and students have been largely of the Ulster blood. Lexington is rich in historic associations, not only of the Scotch-Irish race, but of all that has made Virginia famous. It is expected that the welcome address of the occasion will be delivered by the Governor of Virginia, after the example followed by all the other states in which the Society has met. Virginia will be given the preference in the selection of the speakers, the purpose of meeting in different states being to bring out the history of all sections of the country. Hon. John Randolph Tucker will be one of the orators of the occasion. Dr. John Hall, of New York, will be invited to deliver the sermon at the old-time Covenanter service,

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SONS OF TEMPERANCE

The fifty-first annual session of the National Division Sons of Temperance will be held at Cleveland, July 10. The most important business will be the consideration of the report of the committee on revision of the constitution.

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF PRESS CLUBS.

The fifth annual convention of the International League of Press Clubs will be held at Philadelphia, June 11-14 There are now thirty-one clubs in the League, and the probability is that this number will be considerably increased before the date of the convention. All the officers of the League are well-known newspaper men. Mr. Clark Howell, of the Atlanta Constitution, is president, and

MR. CLARK HOWELL.

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which is always held under the auspices of the local committees. Vice-President Stevenson, Gov. McKinley, of Ohio, and many other leading public men of the day are members of the Society, and are expected to be present. Perhaps no other organization of the kind in the country has so large a list of noted people in proportion to its numbers. The objects of the Society, as briefly stated in its constitution, are:

The preservation of Scotch-Irish history and associations, the increase and diffusion of knowledge regarding ScotchIrish people, the keeping alive of the characteristic qualities of the race, the promotion of intelligent patriotism, and the development of social intercourse and fraternal feeling.

A volume is issued annually by the Society. Six of the publications have already been printed. The series is entitled "The Scotch-Irish in America." It is the only distinctive history of the race and is the standard authority on which current historical writers are drawing for all that pertains to the Scotch-Irish people. The secretary is A. C. Floyd, Chattanooga, Tenn.

MUNICIPAL REFORM CONVENTION.

The annual meeting of the National Municipal League and the third national conference for good city government will be held in Cleveland, O., on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, May 29, 30 and 31. Papers on the municipal condition of nearly all the larger cities of the country will be read by delegates, and among those who have been invited to address the meetings are Theodore Roosevelt, Carl Schurz, Charles J. Bonaparte and James C. Carter. All associations of men or women having for an object the improvement of municipal government or the promotion of good citizenship are urged to send delegates to the conference, and individuals interested in these objects are invited to attend.

AMERICAN SUMMER SCHOOLS.

THE CHAUTAUQUA SYSTEM.

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The plans for the coming season of the department of instruction of what is now known as the Chautauqua System of Popular Education have been made known through various agencies to the hosts of students who compose the constituency of that great institution. Even larger attention than usual is to be given to American topics. The schedule includes courses of lectures on "American History," by John Fiske and Edward Everett Hale, a "Comparison of the American and English Constitutions," by Prof. W. H. Mace, of Syracuse; a course on Municipal Problems in the United States," by Prof. E. R. L. Gould, of Johns Hopkins; three lectures on "Practical American Politics," by Prof. J. W. Jenks, of Cornell; four lectures on "The Food of the American People," by F. O. Atwater, of Wesleyan University. There will also be lectures on American literature, scenery, social life, and the like. The Department of English in the School of Arts and Sciences will be made especially strong. There will be eleven courses offered in this department by Prof. A. S. Cook, of Yale, Prof. C. T. Winchester, of Wesleyan, Prof. L. A. Sherman, of the University of Nebraska, and E. H. Lewis, of the University of Chicago. Two distinguished foreign visitors, Principal A. M. Fairbairn, of Mansfield College, Oxford, England, and Prof. Alexander B. Bruce, of the Free College, Glasgow, will give lectures during the season.

The whole educational system made up of the Chautauqua Summer Schools has been reorganized, and the different departments have been related to each other more intimately, as the first step in a proposed plan of a curriculum of studies. It is hoped to make the six weeks' session at Chautauqua the working model of what may be accomplished in the way of organizing instruction so that

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