Morning journal and courier., 1890-06-19
uonaRKaATIoNALIsTa

C0NGREGATIONALIsTs' COUNCIL. The General Association Held Its |
 CIosIng session Yesterday mOrning- |
 An Interesting Paper by Rev. MT. l
 snyder - The General Conference |
 Meets in she Afternoon for . Several
 Days Scsslon-Some Interesting Re-
 ports and Topics Dlscussed.The
 Evening Session.
 There was the largest attendance of any at the closing session of thes general association yesterday morning. The preliminary exer- cises were of routine nature, and consisted of devotions and vote to hold the next annual meeting at the First Congregational church, New London, the first Tuesday in June, 1891. The feature of the meeting was paper read by Rev. P. M. Snyder of Middle- town on 'The Pastor in Social Life"
 His argument was based principally on the duties and responsibilities of a pastor in social way, and in his address he dwelt at some length on the position heretofore main- tained by the church in relation to the thea. ter and other amusemsnts. He said;
 "The relation of the oity pastor to the popular amusements of city life Is matter about which there is by no means so great unanimity of opinion. Along this line be- lieve we have grievously failed both in pre- cept and in practice. Indeed. one of the great needs of the amusement-loving Chris- tian community is some reasonable ground in these matters consistently held and hon. estly lived up to; and in this fear that the Christian young men and women of the present time receive very little help or guid- anoe from their pastors. There was 8 time when the attitude of the clergy was sutf- ciently definite and consistent, but 1t was not reasonable, and because 1t was not reasonable it was largely inefficient, if not positively harmful.
 "Now far be it from me to attempt to dic- | tate to my brethren in matters lawful or un- | lawful. expedient or inexpedient, but this I | do not hesitate to say, that our people have 1 right to expect of us helpful leadership in 1 these matters, and that this they are not re.
 ceiving. The days of pastoral dictation are gone by, never, trust, to return, but the days of pastoral leadership and counsel are
 not gone by, or If they are 1t is because of our neglect, and it becomes us.to give all diligence to resume our true place; and in | this important and yet greatly involved matter of amusements c great need of our city churches is of some consistent and yet discriminating leadership on the part of
 their pastors. If thing is wrong we are
 bound to show why and to what extent
 it is wrong, and if 1t is right we are bound | to cease even tacit or implied condemnation. We have no more right by our silence and
 our example to condemn things which we believe to be innocent than we have by our silence and acquiescence to give counten- ance to things which we believe to be evil. l At present we do both. I do not believe | that the young people or the older people of our churches will indulge in pleasures of l which we can show them the evil, and they
 are making it abundantly manifest that they will not be held back from things which they feel to be innocent, by any mere indis. criminating denomination"
 The paper was commented on by several of the delegates, and all agreed that more 1 liberal policy towards innocent amusements should be adopted than that heretofore pur- sued. Rev. Graham Taylor of Hartford dis
 cussed the pastor in evangelistic service and made an eloquent address, in which he held | up Thomas Chalmers as model. In the absence Of Rev. Lewellyn Pratt of New Lon- don, Rev. W. w. McLane of this city ad. dressed the delegates on "The Pastor in the Pulpit.n President Dwight of Yale made short address, and shortly after 12 o'clock the convention adjourned.
 Opening of the session or the General Conference of she Congregational
 Churches of she State.
 Yesterday afternoon at 3 o'clock about 100 representatives from various parts of the state assembled in the United church for the beginning of the twenty-third annual session of the General Congregational conference. The work of organization was accom- plished with only a little delay and Judge Woodruff of Litchfeld was chosen moderator. Rev. Frank Ferguson of Milford scribe, and Rev. J. A. Freeman of Woodbury assistant scribe. Rev. Dr. McLane of the College street church delivered cordial address of welcome.
 RAILROADS AND SABBATH GRIEVANCES.
 on railroads and the Sabbath and on temperance. The former report, read by A. J. Cheseborough, chairman, was to the effect that the law in general had been hon. orably complied with on the part of the con- panies, and that the results have been satis. factory to the Christian public as we'll as the railroad corporations. The outlook for less Sunday travel all over the world Is very fs- vorable, inasmuch as labor organizations are demanding that Sunday be made a day of rest. At the conclusion some interesting re- marks were made by the moderator, who is chairman of the railroad commissioners for the state. He said that the commissioners only granted permission for the running of . Sunday train when they were convinced that public necessity demanded 1t; that there has been some in- crease in the travel of late Is due to the fact of more trains carrying the United States mail. The pressure and danger of increase Is due to the general public rather than to the railroad managers. There has also been some talk of au attempt to run trains through the different states on Sunday, based on the interstate commerce law, but 1t has not yet been put into practice.
 THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC AND STATE LAWS.
 A resolution was offered at the ending of the reading of the report on temperance, which brought about long parliamentary discussion concerning what committee to re- fer it to. The resolution was to the effect that the conference should memorialike the house of representatives to pass the senate bill which gives the state power to regulate its own liquor traffic. It was finally referred to the nominating committee for consideration and report whether it would be best for the con. ference to adopt the resolption. This com- Woodruff and Rev. J. s. Ives of Stratford es subcommittee to discuss the matter. They will make their report to the conference at the session this morning.
 DECEASED MEMBERS SPOKEN OF.
 The report of annalist by Rev. Burdette Hart was an interesting statement of the present condition and the changes that have occurred sinoe tho last meeting of the con- ference in New Britain. Re spoke in memo riam of Ave of their members who have died since the last meeting. They are Rev. Chester s. Lyman, Sheffield professor of astronomy in Yale university; Rev. Elijah o. Baldwin of Cheshire, Rev. Frank R. Kahler of Southington. Rev. Wil- liam Whittlesey of this place and Professor Henry Noble Day, also of this place. ..
 VISITING REPRESENTATIVES,.
 Rev. George A. Hcod of Boston, Rev.