The Portland daily press., 1889-12-05
CHRISTIANITY and SOCIAL SCIENCE.
Subjects Discussed BY the EvangelI-
cal Alliance Yesterday.
Evils Which Reset the Path Of DWELL
ers in Great Cities,
And the Means Recommended For
Combating Them.

BOSTON, December A general Chris
tian Conference under the auspices Of tn g
Evangelical Allience of the United States,
Dec. 4, 8, and 6. was begun in fremont Tenn
pie this morning. Hon. VIM. E. Dodge, of
New York, president of the Alliance, made
the opening address. Rev. DR.. Gordon, for
the Boston Alliance, made an address Of
welcome. Rev. DR.. Josiah Strong, general
secretary of the Alliance, spoke on the prog
ress Of Christian cooperation since the
Washington conference. Other addresses
were made by r. Fulton Cutting and Rev.
DIR. Russell Field.
At the afternoon session Il. T. Ely
Phi. ID. of John Hopkins University,
Baltimore, spoke on the needs OF the
city. he Enumerated as among these a
profound and general revival Of religion
and a revival of nationalism and zeal for bet
ter municipal laws and administration look
ing to the prevention and cure of poverty.
Industrial training should be furnished in
the public schools and begin in the kinder
gartens. Then free libraries and lectures
should follow the pupil after, leaving
school. The public baths should be i'm
proved In quality and cheapened In cost.
Medical service and medicine for the poor
should not be furnished gratis as rule.
EmplOyeS OF all SOItS Suouil Dc nelpcu
to secure positions. Saloons should not only
be suppressed but replaced with something
better.
Secretary Strong continuing the discussion
Of the needs of the city, classified the city's
needs as physical, political, social, intellect
ual and moral and said there never will come
a time better than now for Christians to ex-
ert themselves.
Rev. DR.. Fairbanks Of St. Johnsbury, VT,
spoke Of the needs of the rural districts.
Rev. Frank E. Jenkins of New Decatur.
Ala, told of the condition of the mountain
churched and uneducated. Family feuds,
Illicit distilling and disregard OF marriage
ties have wofully corrupted them. Their
ministers are illiterate and often immoral and
more readily to missionary effort and 1t will
be our shame IL it Is not put forth.
Deacon Camp of New Britain. Conn.,, told
of the successful cooperative canvass which
had been prosecuted for the last 30 years in
chat city.
At the evening meeting, Frank Russell, D.
D., financial secretary, discussed the needs
of the times and the Alliance methods. He
said that in the Inauguration of every local
alliance there are number OF preliminary
meetings for so organizing all the available
force Of workers so that every one snail
have definite work assigned and shall have
suitable instruction and help in doing 1t.
This leads to exact and systematic knowl-
edge of the number and disposition OF the
unchurched.
j. NJ. Buckley, ID. D., of New York, editor
of the Christian Advocate, dividing his
theme into the needs inside and outside of
churches, said the first of those inside is to
get rid of extravaganza and ostentation in
church and private expenditure which often
makes a minister master of cere-
monies in an exclusive club. The
next need is improvement in our
methods of attracting the young, and
lastly we need to depend less upon ex-
traneous evangelistc efforts on the hippo
drome plan. We ought to make more of
ordinary church work done by all hands.
Outside the churches we find the proportion
of church neglect has steadily decreased for
the last 26 years. Then, too. the sceptics of
the present are far more hard to deal with
than were the deists Of generation since.
Then there is the development of secret vice
among the sins of the rich and the growing
federation of the habit of moderate drinking
among church members. Rev. DR.. j. l..
Phillips, secretary of the Philadelphia
Alliance, continued the discussion and the
convention adjourned until tomorrow.