, 1865-07-01

complimentary terms than the other pspers,
''it May taely be assumed that an ecclesi1s-
teal body 50 numerous, and composed Of
men 80 able nEd lesrntd, has never before
bsen convened in The Christian Church"
WHAT 1uE corxc1L ukyE ACCOMPLISHED.
A correspondent Of the Springfield, {s1ass)
Republican says: >. );
Previous to this 'hese had been no general
Congregational council for almost tWo centu-
RES. There 1nay not be another for two CEN
tuties to come. What has this council been,
and what has It done? II was not dead
body by apy means. On the contrasy, 1t was
thoroughly and earnestly altre. There were
many msn, OF facknswledecd ability aud power
In the as: :embly. Not often IN century, in
any religious body, vii bc found together
Stufterapt, Thompson, Kirk, and the Beech
cEs, Who Tete actiye in the proceedings, and
many others, who were content TO express
themselves only By Voting, OF could find no
opportunity 10 speak. In this, as IN tnost
public bodies, a few men have imagined the
puIden Of b1sintss TO rest On their owl
lead of and too free with their talk, not al
ways relevant or useful.
In regard to doctrine and poltty nothing
vas "a: ned BY the council. The Yayue de-
cla,aiton adopted amounts to anything or
nothing. as the interpreter chooses. It was
Uulpu6E1S Ed CAubkluEtEA ny u EoFeE nA4tA-
tude of--What the strictly orthodox stigma
tfze as leresfes. But this tFas the best that
could be done. No definite creed could have
hetn dawn that would have secured the ap-
proyal Of q majority, and tho acceptance Of
any creed 81 for substance Of doctrine" 1s
cniy another way Of saying We accept as
used in that sense Us to tie Old symbols, and
came to be considered By the council as q
very good joke, 60 that when member want-
ed to intimate that he partly disagreed with
anolhes, he would tay lhat he agreed with
hm "a for substance Of doct' ine." So also in
the matter Of polity nothing WAS effected
beyond bringing out some Of the vide diifsr-
eli accepted and acted upon II, The unity Of
The denomination con5ts's ii It's common
spirit and aim. This Is the true Christian
unity. Unity In op'nicn Is impossible, and
cnfo:ecd unity is merely suppression Of
actual opinion. There are probably greater
difference Of belief among Of thodoI Consre.
gatfcnalfsts now than ever before, aud yek
there is greater unity than ever, and 1t will
Increase as the truth Is more generally admit
ted that in freedom is the only 'eafe.y, aud
that Individual conviction Ia sacred.
| . The action Of the convention tealty most
important Was that pertaining to the p'opa-
I:onalis1n Throughout tue cernstT. It was
te1t by the council that the time ID specially
favorable to the reception of the Cousrcxa-
ttonal system. md 1t WIS Determined to il1l-
prove the offered opportunities By extraordi'
nary 1ahors aud sacrifices. The unitarians
thpucht it an e1tiaofdluary thing to Ia1se
500 600 for prppsgandistn this year. Their
orthodox brethren have voted to ra'ss $750
900 for t1lrse obJecte-S$s3000 eco for home mis-
sirne. $3.50 Geo e r the education of the free
men, and soc, coo for bu!1dicg Congregational
meeting houses. And The money will be
raised. The members Of the council went
home with the ea-uest determination that It
shall ce doue. Every man felt that q dollar
this yeas for these purposes will be worth two
| next year, and the determination to s'6trtke
whtle the iron Is hot" will be assured In
all the churches. This will be as great q
year tor giving to religious and educational
objects as The years Of war have been Tor
llbe1a3ity in behalf of our scld1ers. The Con.
ctegatiora1ists are determined, moreover.
that their mcney thal1 20 to build up their
own denomination. Hesetofcre they hare
furnished men and money tor tho benefit OF
PYekbytefIanfsm in the West They have
done this long enough, aud have received
more kicks than thanks in return. Hence.
forth, with The largest charity for other de.
nominations, they mean to show decided
prcfert nee for their own, and will devote
their money and efforts to Its extension. OF
this nobody con complain. And III ali the
sound morality and sincere piety that shall
come from these new GenomtnatlOnal ac-
tiritics, all Christians must rejoice. So long
as the field Is the worl !, and that mostly nn-
cultivated, there should be none bnt fr1tcrnal
and kindly riyal,ies emoDg Christians.