worth the value of the copies of Channing and Dewey which we have circulated at home and abroad. We are apt too much to rely on the providence of God! "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," says the true Son of the Highest. Our true position is to be fellow-laborers together with God. It is while we sleep that the enemy sows tares. We are in the habit of showing, at our gatherings, how the whole world practically works with us, - literature, commerce, the sciences, the arts, all the means and agencies of human progress, how all these co-operate with us and with our liberal Christian theology. God is indeed very kind to those who will work together with him; but it will not do for us to say that we will sleep a little longer, and God will do the whole. If we sow the good seed, and do not watch our fields; if we merely scatter our seed, and take no further care or thought concerning it, - the tares will grow as fast as the wheat will grow, and the heads will be as high, and our crops will be worthless; for God will not work a miracle to cut down the tares. God did not send his Son into the world to train a generation of drowsy sleepers for the kingdom that is to come! The experience of the children of this world ought to have settled this question for us, and put an end for ever to this drowsy and impious waiting on God.

The speaker closed with a vivid dramatic sketch of the rise and progress of sedition and rebellion in a certain country, whose chief could not be roused from his indolence and inactivity to arrest, in good time, the spread of the political contagion. Messenger after messenger arrives to inform him of the commencement of the treason in a distant part of his territories, its spread from village to village, and from city to city, and from State to State, until it approaches and invades even the national capital

itself. But the chief magistrate cannot be aroused from his foolish sense of security, and vain hope that the raging sedition will, in some providential way, be arrested. At last he appoints a "day of public fasting, humiliation, and prayer." Meanwhile, arsenals are taken, forts occupied, and ships seized, by the rebels, and the authority of the government utterly defied, and brought to nought. But now he folds his hands in despair, and sorrowfully exclaims, "I gave them warning, and they would not hear: what could I do more?" In this great crisis, "the children of this world" show how much wiser they are in their day and generation than "the children of light." The people rise in all their might, — men, women, and children uniting in one sublime and wonderful rally to the succor and preservation of the national honor. Every man girds himself for the fight; every young man puts himself in training for the war; every woman prays God to show her how she may help on the great endeavor; every child catches the sacred watchwords of Liberty and Truth, and enters into the spirit of the noble movement. All cry out that the land shall, now and for ever, be one and indivisible; and all are ready to sacrifice treasure, ease, and life itself, to this great end. It is from such a sleep, into such a tremendous and effective activity, that every Christian body must be aroused. We are to sweep away the spirit of secession, with all its narrowness and littleness, from the church; and we are to bring the social body of Christ into that great Union which he meant it to be. No hybrid Confederacy can satisfy the great idea and demand of Christian Unity. It is to help to create this Union, in the city of our God, that our society is formed. We shall never advance the cross of Christ by proving from history that the cross of Christ ought to be advanced. Nor can our sacred

charge and duty be discharged by one, two, or three bishops, or by a dozen or a hundred presbyters. It can only be perfectly accomplished in that great order, wherein every man, woman, and child is a sacred priest, and when the word of God shall at last speak out the majestic command, "Forward, the whole line!"

The congregation then joined in singing the Doxology,

"From all that dwell below the skies; "

and the benediction was pronounced by Rev. Dr. HILL, of Worcester.

ADJOURNED BUSINESS MEETING.

The adjourned business meeting of the Association was held in the Freeman-place Chapel, on the afternoon of Tuesday, at three, P.M.

In the absence of the Secretary, Rev. EDMUND B. WILLSON, of Salem, was chosen Secretary pro tem.

The Committee appointed to nominate officers for the ensuing year made a Report; which was afterward withdrawn in order to admit of a full and free discussion of the contemplated changes in the organization of the Association.

The fourth and fifth resolutions, respecting the plan for raising funds for the Association by concerted and united action, was then taken up for discussion, after the adoption of an amendment proposed by Rev. GEORGE E. ELLIS, of Charlestown.

Pending this discussion, Rev. E. G. ADAMS, of Templeton, called for the Treasurer's Report; which was read by the President. After which the resolution was adopted, with but one vote in the negative.

Rev. E. G. ADAMS then, by permission of the meeting, made a statement of his reasons for his vote in the negative. He wished that the whole matter of the finances of

the Association were more distinctly understood and stated by those who had the charge of it. He spoke of the extent of the proposed action, including every society in the denomination. The resolution proceeds upon the ground, that there is no other mode of obtaining contributions than that of passing round the box on a certain fixed day. A contribution was made every year by his own society, but never on a certain day. A committee was appointed to go round and collect subscriptions at some convenient period of the year. He had misgivings whether a society like his own, certainly not wealthy, should continue to send fifty or sixty dollars a year to the Association, unless the societies who have a vastly greater wealth will give more than they do now. He scarcely had the conscience to ask his society to do so much, unless the large metropolitan churches would do more. He alluded to the societies in Boston and vicinity who pay either nothing, or next to nothing. The Association should either raise more money or less! He thought the total annual amount of contributions, exclusive of receipts for the "Monthly Journal," would prove to be only some five or six thousand dollars. He would like to know exactly what he ought to recommend to his society to do.

Rev. A. P. PUTNAM, of Roxbury, considered the resolution as simply a recommendation to the societies to adopt a certain course in concert. It did not propose

to supersede whatever method any society had hitherto thought best to adopt.

Rev. SOLON W. BUSH, of Medfield, thought that each society should do its own duty, whether others did or not. If it is a worthy object, each society should contribute to the full amount of its ability.