men and women who planned and carried into effect this successful convention. The old criticism, old as the Association itself, and charged against it many times in the course of its history, namely, that it fails in duty because it neither undertakes any practical work nor lends its voice to any special social movement, has been heard again during the past year. In refuting this charge no new argument is advanced. We simply repeat what on our platform and in our publications has been said a hundred times before that the Association, having so far as possible pursued the objects named in its Constitution, should not be censured because it has not pursued other objects not named therein. Herein lies the scope of the Association's endeavors: 1) "To encourage the scientific study of religion and ethics." 2) "To advocate freedom in religion." 3) "To increase fellowship in spirit." 4) "To emphasize the supremacy of practical morality in all the relations of life." 5) "To encourage the organization of local societies or free churches. on the basis of free, spiritual, and universal religion.” Are these objects worth encouraging, or are they not? Has this Association pursued any of them, or has it not? It is hardly possible for the critics of the Association to review its history and not admit that it has labored steadily for the second, third, and fourth of its objects, and that in these departments of its work its influence has been widespread and important. They must admit, also, that the Association has endeavored to compass its fifth object, the formation of local societies, etc., etc. On this branch of effort it expended, in the years between 1880 and 1890, considerable labor, time, and money. The men and women who undertook that work possessed the requisite ability and enthusiasm, yet the results were such that a renewal of it has never been deemed expedient. There remains therefore only one of the Association's objects toward which it has made no systematic effort. It has never attempted the scientific study of religion. Under the Association's auspices many discourses have been delivered which have been scientific studies of the subject, but many others that have been given from its platform have merited a reverse designation. For having omitted a larger expression of this part of its expected work, censure is seen to be unjust when the case is fairly stated. Hitherto among our membership, comprising as it has men and women of varying religions, "scientific method" has been somewhat of a bugbear. Rather than to have interest in the Association slacken and its numbers diminish, that vexed phrase has been kept in abeyance, and emphasis has been laid on freedom in religion, fellowship in spirit, and the supremacy of morality in all the relations of life. That is what has been. At the present time the scientific method is accepted more widely, and within the circle of this Association the old mistrust of the phrase has wellnigh disappeared. It may therefore be expected that in a future not very far ahead this hitherto almost unattempted part of the Association's rightful work will be undertaken. But why should an Association which has compassed its chief objects talk of entering upon new work? Ought it not rather to acknowledge that it is becoming a superfluous organization, and adopt measures for its dissolution? These questions have been lately advanced by some of the Association's strongest friends and supporters; but to those who for many years have been within its executive circle they have a familiar sound. Probably during the past decade there has been no member of our Board of Directors who has not at times argued along the same lines. Even as far back as 1892 it began to be hinted that the work of the Association was nearly completed. In that year, in observance of its twentyfifth anniversary, President William J. Potter delivered an address in which he reviewed its past and commented on its probable future. The World's First Parliament of Religions was then organizing. To Mr. Potter it was a sign of the times most remarkable and auspicious. Its bright forecast caused him to exclaim: "Surely, the religious world is moving; and it would almost seem as if our occupation as an Association were gone!" Many parliaments of religion have been held since then, not only in the United States, but in Europe also. Other influences have likewise been working for the freedom of religious thought and expression; so that to-day, with a stronger emphasis than Mr. Potter employed, we say, "Surely the religious world is moving, and it would almost seem as if our occupation as an Association were gone." Still, the hour of its dissolution does not arrive. The margin of usefulness between "almost " and "quite" gone continues broad enough to justify its further existence. Subjects still present themselves which on the platform of the Free Religious Association are sure to receive fuller and freer consideration than would be accorded elsewhere. When this ceases to be true the Association will gladly retire from the field; but the end is not yet. Those who observe the signs of the times cannot fail to notice how frequently in these latter days the subject of religion is discussed by men and women outside the clerical profession, notably by the class termed educators. Equally noticeable and vastly significant are the new definitions in accordance with which most of these discussions proceed. In an address lately delivered in Boston by an educator of international reputation, Religion is defined as "good will to man stimulated by some lofty conception as to human destiny." And this definition does not stand alone. Others as broad and humanistic greet us day by day from the platform and from the printed page. Many of them are simply synonymous with truth, love, and righteousness. That these new definitions are becoming so widely accepted indicates the changed attitude in which mankind is beginning to study the problem of life. The Association has lost by death since its last annual meeting seven members, each of whom has been prominent in its work and councils. Never before in a single year has the “fatal asterisk" so frequently marked our calendar. October 17, 1910, died Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. The date of her birth, the number of her years, her natural endowments, her achievements in literature, her labors for social betterment, nor any other part of the story of her well rounded life, need here be told. In her "Reminiscences," and in the biographies of her that are sure to be written, may be found the full portrayal of her brilliant career. Mrs. Howe was not elected a Vice-President of this Association until 1900, although her interest in it dates back consideraby further, possibly to the time of its founding in 1867; but from 1898 onward she seldom failed to attend its yearly festivals. In 1899, besides making an address, she contributed at the request of Mrs. Cheney the hymn entitled "Raphael's Saint Cecilia at Bologna," the first stanza of which reads: "A challenge of celestial art Doth through the æther fall, And like a well-tuned harp, my heart At our festivals of 1900, 1901, 1902, and 1905, she came to us, and on each of these occasions she made a brief address. The festival of 1906 she was unable to attend, but sent a letter of regret. The 1907 and 1908 festivals were graced by her presence and her greetings. In March of the latter year (Sunday, the 22d) she delivered, under the auspices of this Association, in the audience-hall of the Twentieth Century Club, the closing lecture in our special course of that year. The subject for that day, "Religious Progress in the Last Two Generations," received double presentation, Colonel Higginson speaking through the first half of the meeting, and Mrs. Howe speaking through the latter half. It was a notable occasion, and it dates almost the last set address that Mrs. Howe ever delivered. At our Theodore Parker Commemoration, held May 27, 1910, Mrs. Howe was unable to be present owing to the celebration of her birthday, which, in her home circle, was being observed at the same time. Her greeting to the Association on that occasion was printed in full in our Annual Report for last year. A few lines of it are repeated here: "The great services rendered by Theodore Parker to the religious thought of Christendom are now too widely recognized to need any indorsement of mine. Yet I love to remember that in my youth I placed the joy of hearing him at the head of all my delights." It is a memory that will linger long in this Associationthat of Mrs. Howe as she appeared before it from time to time during the years just sketched. Her garb, her smile, her voice, her weight of years, the reverence paid to her by all these combine to form a treasured picture, a lasting remembrance. Upon the organization of this Association in 1867 there came to it from Lynn a number of men and women whose service through the subsequent years has been terminated only by death. Among this group was Miss Helen M. Ireson, who died in February last. As a member of our Board of Directors Miss Ireson had served two terms of four years each, her first election to that office being in 1874, the last in 1887. During the civil war, in answer to the call from the Freedmen's Aid Society, Miss Ireson volunteered her services as a teacher of Negro youth. The school which she taught was on the historic Old Fort Plantation, six miles from Beaufort, South Carolina. Here she remained until sickness obliged her to discontinue her labors. Miss Ireson was one of the Association's Patron Members. She was a regular attendant at its meetings, and she never ceased to render in its behalf whatever service she could. Died January 18, 1911, Mrs. Sara C. Bull. Mrs. Bull through two terms of four years each was a member of our Board of Directors. Her first election to that office was in 1897; the second in 1906, the latter term expiring at our last annual meeting. Besides the work assigned her as a member of our Executive Committee, Mrs. Bull frequently invited members of this Association who came from a distance, and who desired to remain hereabout during our Convention days, to accept the hospitality of her home in Cambridge. Also to her generosity, in part, must be credited the success of the notable series of Cambridge Conferences which were planned and conducted by Dr. Lewis G. Janes, 1896 to |