her protector from her childhood, was imprisoned also. Nero had promised a special feast-day for Rome, and everybody wondered what it should be. The people were collected up to the very top of the tiers of the Coliseum, looking down upon the arena. The thick-jawed Nero was sitting at the front; beside him was the philosophic Petronius, and beyond him Vinicius, anxious as to what should be the result. Then, as they waited in breathless silence the moment the gate was to open, the gate swung back, and Ursus walked in upon the arena, unarmed, but a very giant in his power, and looked about him to know what test of strength was to be his: He had not to wait long. He accustomed himself to the twilight of the arena, and then another gate opened and a monster bull rushed in. Bound between his horns was Lygia, the thongs holding her fast. Already she had fainted, and this animal, goaded by his tormentors, rushed in and saw Ursus yonder. Ursus knew now the test of strength. He saw Lygia, who had always been his care, and whose life he knew depended upon him, and he braced himself for the ordeal. The monster charged down upon him, and as he came Ursus grasped him by the horns. You know how he held him there, until the veins stood out upon himself like whip-cords and the perspiration oozed from every pore. Still he held, and still held, until at last, by one monster effort, he twisted the animal's neck and broke it, and felled the brute to the earth, then quickly unloosed the thongs which held Lygia, and with her in his arms, liberated, free, stood before the Emperor, triumphant in his power.

Now, I take it that in these great causes which are represented by Rev. Dr. Walsh and by the Chairman of this meeting, the great institutions and objects which concern the church to-day in the way of relieving oppression are something like that. The church must stand-stand heroically, stand firmly, and grapple with every danger and difficulty of our time, and manifest her interest to those who are belated, to those who are hindermost and undermost, and concern herself with those who for any cause are held in bondage, and see that they are liberated, freed, that this world of ours may be rich in the

suggestions of the redemptive life of Christ and rich in the suggestion also of the paradise of God.

Be sure of this - the church will stand; it is not a passing show, it is not here merely for the time, but rather like the "Arms of Man" which may be seen in the churchyard at St. Manghold in the Isle of Man-three bent legs with this brave inscription: "Whichever way thrown, it stands," which the Manxman repeats with delight. So I say for the church of God, she may be buffeted this way or that by foes within or without, whichever way thrown, she stands, and she will stand triumphantly and fulfill the mission that God has for her to fulfill, until we all of us, having had our part in the good fight of faith, shall receive our coronation at the invisible hand of the great Father. [Applause.]

THE PRESIDENT. Before we listen to Mr. Chen and Mr. Boynton, I shall ask for a collection from our friends towards the expenses of this day. I am glad to know that latterly a good many new members have joined this Association, as the result of our course of lectures in March and of other activities of the Association. With reference to those lectures, which many of you so much enjoyed, I wish to say that they were made as a sort of test of the Boston public, to see whether there was a demand here for lectures of that character. The result, as many of you know, was most gratifying. Lectures of a similar character, perhaps of a more ambitious character, will undoubtedly be arranged for next year.

I regret that Colonel Higginson will not be with us to-day. I received a letter from him yesterday, saying that his doctor had ordered him away, and he has gone to Ipswich, I think, for the summer. I hope that many of you read his characteristic article in the Transcript last night. It seemed this word of his upon "My Churchly Neighbors," with its sym

pathy toward the Roman Catholic and the Mohammedan and men of every kind - a very echo of his fine old word upon "The Sympathy of Religions," which was so noteworthy and representative a word from this Association in the early times.

Last year a tribute was paid from this platform to our good friend, Mr. George W. Stevens, who had been a member of the Association from the beginning, and who never failed to be present at its meetings. Mr. Stevens has died since we met last year to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Association. He has shown his warm remembrance of the Association by a generous bequest to us in his will; and the memory of his faithfulness is a benediction and one of the treasures of the Association. At our annual meeting yesterday, our Secretary, Mr. Hamlen, read a brief word concerning Mr. Stevens's life and service, and I will ask him to read that tribute here, since so many of you were close personal friends of Mr. Stevens, whose identification with us was so long.

[For the tribute to Mr. Stevens, see Secretary's Report, page 1 of this pamphlet.]

I have referred to Colonel Higginson's pamphlet upon "The Sympathy of Religions." The Free Religious Association has had in its membership, and upon its platform, year by year, not simply men of the Christian churches, but men of all religions; and all have had a valid place here. In considering the work of religious organizations, and the efficient bearing of religious organizations upon society, we are happy in having with us to-day one who does not speak primarily from the Christian standpoint, but from the standpoint of one of the schools of Chinese thought and religion, Confucianism, though he has become well accustomed to our American ways of thought and feeling. Mr. Tung Chung Chen has been in America for six or eight years. He has been a student at Amherst College, and he is now a student at Harvard University. We welcome him to this platform. [Applause.]

ADDRESS BY MR. TUNG CHUNG CHEN,
OF CHINA.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: —

It is an especial pleasure for me to stand before you on this platform this morning, to say a few words from across the sea. You have been discussing "The Church of To-day." The first speaker, from Scotland, gave us a wonderful definition of the church that it is love organized. The second speaker gave us an addition to the love, making it progressive - love is dead unless progressive. Now, Dr. Conrad has shown us the way to make that love not only progressive, but popular and institutional; for combined love is greater than the love that is unorganized.

Your honored President has given me the opportunity of choosing my own subject. I might give you, without any preface, the point of view of a Chinese in regard to Christianity; but I first want to refer you to the underlying principle of our nation, before presenting to you the connecting link between Christianity and Confucianism. Remember, we are popularizing the church, institutionalizing the church, and, as Professor Zueblin has said, democratizing the church. I want to add this one more word: we need to-day not only to institutionalize, popularize, and democratize, but also to cosmopolitanize the church [Applause], — make it a cosmopolitan church. God is love, and we are the children of God; therefore all the children may lay claim to the love of God.

There has been much prejudice, until recent years, in regard to creeds and ritual. You are a Protestant, or you are a Catholic; you are a Mohammedan, or you are a Christian, or you are a Confucianist, and so on. But this is erroneous. We are not Protestants, neither are we Catholics, nor are we Confucianists; we are the children of God, if we bear in mind that fundamental love which flows from the throne of God.

In order to have religion vital, one has to see what is in it.

Religion is the basis of civil society, the source of all good and all comfort. When I stand before you this morning, a foreigner, so-called, from across the sea, what do I admire in your great America? its wealth, its machinery, its "skyscrapers"? You may blame me for not admiring them. I do give whatever is due to all the gigantic improvements which you have brought to humanity, but the first thing I admire is none of these things. They claim some sort of recognition, but what I admire most is your freedom of religion. Each man can worship God in his own way.

Religion is not so much a dogma as it is a service rendered. The vital principle of religion is, naturally, not what it claims to be, but what it does. The great saying of Jesus — whom I have acknowledged — is, “Judge a man by his fruits; as we judge a tree by its fruit and not by what it seems to be." So any religion is good that teaches man not only to be good but to do good. [Applause.] We have many creeds, many dogmas, many ritualistic organizations, but all these ought to be subordinated to the central idea of service to our fellowmen. Whatever our faith may be we ought to keep as our goal what we can do for humanity. Therefore I want to-day to emphasize the underlying principle of Confucianism. has done good and it will continue to do good.

It

I

What is Confucianism? Some people have conceived it to be a religion, and others differ, saying it is not a religion. take the latter view; it is not a religion in the strictest sense of the word. Confucius did not contend that he was divinely endowed with power to give to his people immortal life beyond this world. With his limited human capacity and ability for work, he solely put his mind to trying to ameliorate the conditions into which he found China had sunk.

What were the conditions in the time of Confucius? It was an age of feudalism; all the princes were fighting with one another, and there was no peace. Everywhere disorder and dissensions prevailed; and there, into the dark night, came the great glowing light of Confucius. He came to do the work of this world. He said that the work that he was to do was only of this world.