We must defend them alike from the outward assaults of sacerdotal and dogmatic assertion and from the inward perils of anarchy on the one hand and reaction on the other. No complacent self-glorification will help. Boasting is a thoroughly provincial habit. Our loyalty to our religious ideals and the institutions that ment to be loudly advertised. It is like a family instinct,

embody them is not a senti

in the child an unreasoning devotion, in the man an intelligent love. Through a knowledge of a church's lineage, through love of its associations, through a subtle traditionary feeling in the blood, through a thousand influences that come to us out of the past, and are woven into all our moral fibres, there has grown in us and before us an ideal. When every man among us, beyond his home affections, beyond his every-day concerns, feels the illimitable attractiveness of that ideal, then the church to which such individuals belong will begin to have a great and progressive and beneficent life. Its influence will penetrate into everything that is done and capable of being done. Commerce, politics, education, — all will be more vigorously wrought. Poets and artists will again spring up in our company, a daring faith will inspire the efforts of our fellowship, all will rejoice in the same idealism and live the same endeavoring life.

REPORT OF REV. C. E. ST. JOHN

SECRETARY OF THE ASSOCIATION

To the President and Members of the American Unitarian Association:

So much of the work accomplished by your Association during the past year as can be stated in tabulated form is concisely reported in the form of an Appendix to this report. You will observe, by examining the statements in this Appendix, that your administrative officers have not been inattentive to the systematic details which their position throws upon them.

All of the matters referred to in the Appendix, and many more which have not yet taken such shape that they can be thus announced, have passed under the careful consideration, not only of the full Board of Directors, but of special committees. The Directors have been most faithful in their attendance upon the monthly meetings, and upon their careful decisions the actions of the administrative officers have mainly been based. So far as the detail work of administration has rested upon the President and Secretary, they believe that the statements in the Appendix and the financial returns from the contributing churches will demonstrate that they have given all due attention to this part of their duty. But they desire now to state that they do not consider the technical details of administration to be the most important part of their work. On the contrary, they hold quite another conception of the responsibilities and opportunities of the positions with which they have been

In proceeding to state our conception of what is really the important part of our work, I wish it could be distinctly understood that I do not suggest the slightest comparison or contrast between our work and that of our predecessors. I do not claim that there is a single new conception in what I am about to say. I have not searched for any definite statements of preceding secretaries as to their conceptions of their office. I suppose that each and every one of them has in the main aimed to do precisely what we are aiming to do, and what I give is simply our own statement of our present conception of the work we have in hand. If it should chance in any way to differ from the conceptions that others have held in regard to the offices of president and secretary, this is simply witness to the fact that "new occasions teach new duties."

It seems to your President and Secretary that the most important part of their work is carried on by their preaching to the churches and their speaking at conferences, clubs, alliances, and on other similar occasions. In their conception the preaching which they endeavor to do stands foremost. Neither of them has yet devoted a sermon to what would ordinarily be called asking for money with which to carry on the work. Neither of them has devoted the entire time of a sermon or address given at a service of worship to a statement of the specific nature of the administrative work of the denomination. We hold that the deepening sense of unity that is coming to our churches enables us to leave the work of giving this instruction as to details to the field secretaries and local ministers. We are content to trust for the income to the individual interest and loyalty of the workers in the churches; while we, occupying in some sense positions of leadership, devote ourselves

high be given us - tend to arouse and organize into unity the spiritual earnestness of our people. To this end we preach sermons. We do not primarily make financial appeals. We are convinced that even from a worldly wise point of view this is most helpful to our work; for we have found again and again that where religious earnestness is appealed to successfully the contributions can be depended upon to be generous. Without doubt our Association could find two men to do this work of preaching who would do it better than the present officers can. That is your responsibility, however. You have set us to the work, and this is the part of the work which we have felt to be the most important. Almost without exception we have, both of us, preached every Sunday in the year, more often than not preaching in two different churches on the Sunday. We have in no case thrust ourselves upon the churches, but have simply responded to invitations received from them or from their ministers. It will be noticed from the Appendix that we have between us visited a large number of churches. We have reason to believe that in almost every case this has resulted in a more direct interest on the part of the churches visited in the denomination as such and in its

religious endeavors. Our free Congregational churches have established a denomination in order to enter upon works that are more generous and far-reaching than those which merely carry forward local interests. That this whole country may enjoy the religious freedom and benefits which we have received in our already existing congregations, we band ourselves more and more closely together with a recognition that our missionary work is not so much one of salvation as of a brotherly sharing of the best things in life. Whatsoever good thing we have, we desire to impart to

and organize this outreaching spirit that your executive officers devote themselves to preaching in the several churches. Some churches naturally need this service from us more than others do; and those which affirm that they need it not at all are usually the ones that need it most of all.

We do not aim to develop theological conformity. We lay no stress upon one or another method of church administration. We seek not to interfere in the settling or unsettling of ministers. We simply throw what personal strength we have into the definite work of arousing the earnest interest of all our ministers and churches in the distinctively spiritual and missionary side of our work. Not content with merely organizing the power that already exists for these ends, we have devoted ourselves to the increase of that power. It is clear that success or failure in this endeavor cannot easily be reported. Without doubt we have upon occasion failed; but we have abundant reason to believe that to a very large extent we have succeeded. In carrying on our work as preachers at large, we have, so far as time has permitted, accepted every invitation that has been given to us, making no distinctions as to locality or the size of the church. Wheresoever fees have been offered, we have accepted them, and paid them over to the treasury of the Association; but not more than one-sixth of our preaching engagements have been for pay. We have made it a point, so far as possible, to accept all invitations to be present at conferences, and with hardly an exception have been able thus to represent the Association at the main conference gatherings in all parts of the country. In order to cover more ground and really to accept every invitation of this nature, we have followed the rule of never both being present at any given conference, the one being usually