The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-04-05
GREAT DIVINES COUNCIL.
GATHERING AT FIoRENCE OF
CHR S IANS OF ALL NAH Ms.

SSOS1 ACIlI- a
to be Among tie Wis tors-sk etch Ct
the history and Work CT tie Ali
ance-Its Aims and Scope ct Forth
by Prominent American Delegate -
Programme and Forecast of the Pro-
ceedings.
(Copyrioh.l
NEW YORK, April 4-After a PRAYER
that breathed the simple faith of Paul, of
Augustine and Of Pascal-a prayer borne
heavenwerd on the earliest breath Of the
soft, Italian summer-on the morning of
May q, 1898, the most illustrIous Of Floren-
tine preachers whose fame has become the
possession Of mankind. partook, we are
told, OF the communion. and then descended
to the public square and with meek courage
met the silent gaze of the awe-stricken
multitude who had come to see him die. he
and two companions were conducted
to the first tribunal, where
ne was disrobed Of his
eccles iastical dress. "They were then led to
announcer tribunal and delivered to the secular
arm; thence to another where sentence of
death was read, and then to the place of
execution-not burning funeral pyre but
q scaffOld. which, mouuting-composed
calm, aosorbed-the great preacher submit
ted his neck to the bangman, in the 45th
year of his life." So pershed Savonarola,
and men burned his body and flung his
ashes into the Arno. To-day in the
precise spot where he suffered death in
the city Of Florence. Italy, are in session
representatives of Christians Of all nations
under the designation Of the Evangelical
Alliance. The assembly convened yester-
day. and will continue its meetings daily
until and including Sunday, April ~. It
embraces delega es from all European
branches Of the alliance and from various
parts Of Asia, from Canada and the United
States. The American delegates held a pre-
liminary meeting in the "Grand Hotel New
York, Florence, yesterday afternoon.
The proceedings of this gathering will b g
followed with deep interest by tens of thou-
sands in this country and elsewhere. Espe-
cial Importance attaches to it as being the
first that has been held in Free Italy, and
hopes are enterta ned In many gu ,rters that
it may result in q Renaissance still more re-
markable than Fiorelcs witnessed under
the reign Of Lorenzo de Medici. Among
the delegates are men who are eminent in
the worlds politics; many who are distin-
guished in the domain of religion; names
some whose phIlanthropies have become
their thrones in that vastest of empires
the human heart. Apart from the stin-
guished personnel of its delegates, it is fur
Their expected that the assembly will be
made historically memorable by the pres
ence, during some Of its sessions, Of Her
Majesty Queen Victoria.
In issui 6 their invitation to the confer.
ence the Italian branch of the alliance said
to their brethren throughout the world
You will come into free Italy, and in he
sight of people clear.sig indeed, but
ill-instructed. You will man fest under
many varieties Of aspect and name the unity
of faith which freely reasons, proving all
things aud holding st that which is e )od,
and which places above all the churches the
kingdom of God and his righteousness. In
terest In the conference will be further en-
HANGED by the fact that it was in Florence
the alliance itself won some of its earliest
successes in behalf of religious liberty.
The prestige of the assembly and the ex-
pectations regarding it will make welcome
a ,ty glance at its principles and history.
For the accomplishments OF its results it
relies. solely, on the power of truth and
love. 1t had its origin in the widespread
desire of evangelical Christians for closer
union, for its own sake, and the better &c
resist and overcome superstition on the one
hand and indefinitely on the other. The
union it contemplates is spiritual and prac.
tical but not organic. 1t has no official and
legisl tive province and does not inter
die Ia the affairs Of denominations, nor
seek to modify their politics save as its uni
flying Influences indirectly contribute to
that result. Tbs alliance held in Freena-
sons hail, in London, Aug. 1928, 1916.
About 800 persons were present, among
nh EniSnDnaIio~o
BapGists, Meth dists, Lutherans, Reformed,
Moravians and Others. Distinguished di-
vines, preachers and philanthropists from
England Scotland, Germany, France,
Switze land and the United States took
part in the deliberations. They adopted
nine doctrinal articles, not as a binding
creed or confession, but "as an expression
of the essential consensus of evangelical
Christians whom it seemed desirable to en-
brace in the alliance" These articles are
broad enough to comprehend nearly all va
rieties of Protest ntism. necessarily exclud-
ing, il would appear, only Quekers and
Universalists, the former Of whom do not
accept the doctrine of the divine institution
of the ministry, while the latter deny that
there shall be an eternal punishment Of the
wicked.
The American branch Of the organization
was founded in 1867. 1t adopted the nine
London articles with an explanatory and
qualifying preamble. the most important
feature of which is its emphatic affirma-
ton of "the dlvIne-human person and atom
ing work of our Lord Jesus Christ"
The alliance thus organized has extended
its branches throughout the Protestant
world. They are to be found in all conti~
mental countries, and in the East Indies,
Turkey, Australia. Brazil and Japan. No
where, however, does does the alliance
flourish more vigcrously tina in the United
States, where, from the equality of all re-
liglons before the law, results the widest
appreciation of religious freedom and the
grandest opportunity in the history of the
race to realize the idea Of universal Christ
ian brotherhood.
The services of the alliance to the cause
of religious liberty have been many and
continuous. 1t early aided in securing in
the countries of Southern Europe the re-
Taxation of pc al laws against disSenters.
Early, also, in its history, it secured the re-
lease of the Madiai family in Tuscany, and
of Matamoros, Carrasco and their friends,
who, during the reign os Queen Isabella, in
Spain, were condemned to the galleys for
reading the Bible aud holdi & private de-
votional meetings. 1t succeeded in Undue
ing the Sultan of Turkey to abolish the
death penalty for the crime of apostacy
from Mohammedanism. To its intercessi0 On
is also due the abrogation Of the penal laws
of Sweden against Methodlsts, Baptists and
all other non-confOrmis,s to the Lutheran
confession. 1t sent deputatlon to Russia,
Of which leading citfzsns of the United
States formed an inf rental contingent,
and so conciliated the car toward the OPP
pressed Lutherans in the Baltic provinces