able. In Astronomy, for instance, the stars always tell the truth. In Geology, the rocks, in Chemistry, the elements, in Botany, the plants, in Physiology the structure of organic bodies, these are the real authorities which must settle all questions that arise. The acquisition of scientific knowledge enables us to foresee and foretell the future: by its aid we are able to choose that which is good, and avoid that which is evil. The religious growth and development of man is a part of nature; takes place in accordance with natural law; and is a proper subject of scientific study and research. Religion has its history; its laws of growth and its great body of facts that may be known; and hence it is a legitimate branch of science. The study of this science is the study of an important element of the human mind, and will give prevision, like other sciences; will enable us to foresee the future greatness or downfall of peoples and civilizations. This kind of knowledge is just what is needed in America to-day. We are treading new paths, never tried before by mankind. We shall be exposed to new dangers and trials; and shall need a more orderly and systematic knowledge of the history and laws of religious evolution; otherwise we shall become a prey to anarchy on the one hand, or insane delusions on the other. III.-SPIRIT OF REFORM. WE discern, in the conditions and tendencies of our time and country, a need of more vital trust in the influence of personal character and effort, for the promotion of righteousness and the removal of the evils of society. We desire to remind each other of the changeless and everlasting obligation requiring every man and woman to bear direct and practical testimony, by word and deed, in favor of the principles of justice, purity and the brotherhood of man; so that personal power and responsibility shall not be overborne and swept away by our interest and work in the special reforms so imperatively required by the present state of society. Let us not forget that the best work for improving the world is not to be done through organized societies, or in noisy public ways; but in personal faithfulness to truth, in noble industries, in pure examples, in private life, in the wise bringing up of children, and the diligent use of all means of mental and moral culture. IV. CHURCH AND STATE. WHILE in theory there is happily in this country a divorce of the Church from the State, and religious institutions rest for their support upon the voluntary action of the people, there yet remain a few practices that need to be abolished, to make that divorce complete. In this State, for example, in palpable violation of the spirit if not the letter of that provision of the Constitution, which declares that "no man can of right be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or maintain any ministry against his consent," the Legislature employs clergymen to open its sessions with prayer, and taxes all classes of the people to pay them for this service. We hold that the payment of money from the public treasury, for such a purpose, is without Constitutional warrant and in violation of the principles of religious liberty. The custom, moreover, is a remnant of the old union between the Church and the State, and calculated by the formal and perfunctory method of its observance, to bring religion itself into contempt. If our legislators feel the need of prayer to qualify them for the discharge of their duties, they should certainly pray themselves, and not hire others to perform that service for them at the public expense. Another growth from the old ideas of the connection between Church and State, is found in the exemption, not only in this but in other States of the Union, of Church property from taxation. The property thus exempted in this country probably amounts to nearly if not quite $500,000,000. The amount exempted in this State is unknown to us, but it must be very large; and the increase of taxation upon other property thereby made necessary, operates as a great injustice upon the tax-payers of the State. We protest against this injustice, and call for its removal. The increased taxation referred to is, moreover, a contribution by the State for the support of the churches, and therefore a virtual violation of the Constitution. While we denounce the act of the North Carolina Legislature in expelling a duly chosen representative of the people, for no alleged cause except his religious opinions, as a high-handed outrage against justice, and an indication of the animus of bigotry everywhere, we yet rejoice that it has drawn out the almost unanimous condemnation of the political and religious press, and proved that the American heart is true to the Constitutional principle of impartial religious liberty. V.-OUR PUBLIC AFFAIRS. THE general depression of business throughout the country is not only a cause for much anxiety and suffering, but should serve as a school and a discipline for the whole people. We may well ask ourselves by what mistakes or wrong-doing these evil conditions have come upon us; how far they are traceable to the selfishness of capital and labor; the prevalent habits of extravagance; the fashionable contempt or aversion toward industry; the greed for sudden riches; the reckless spirit of speculation and gambling; the inattention of citizens to public affairs; the entrusting of legislation and administration to incompetent or unfaithful hands, and the low standard of integrity in business and politics, or other removable causes. The extraordinary inflation of all nominal values, caused by the war, and by the issue of hundreds of millions of paper money, was sure to be followed by corresponding collapse, attended with many fluctuations and irregularities; and for some time to come, we must feel the strong downward tendency of these subsiding waves. The standard of values and the relation between all values, expressed through exchange and through rates of interest, must undergo readjustment; and the time will come when everybody will pay less, and receive less, for all forms of service and articles of trade. But in this transition, nothing can save multitudes from wretchedness and demoralization, unless those who can best bear the pressure of declining values take the lead in accepting the situation. Landlords, capitalists and money-lenders must not try to keep up the rates of interest and rents, and throw the whole burden on those who live by wages; and who by the disadvantages of their position can only protect themselves by strikes, which throw business into disorder, and by combinations which gender explosive passions and confirm the selfish antagonism between labor and capital, to the injury of all classes and all interests. VI.-CLAIMS OF WOMAN. We It may well be a source of congratulation to this body that it has from its organization proclaimed its sense that the right of political representation should know no limit of color, race, or sex. know how bitter was the contest which freed at once the black man from an enforced subordination and the white master from the moral and spiritual degradation which were inseparable from the unnatural relation in which he stood. It is with especial joy that while we find ourselves still in the old contest for Freedom vs. Slavery, we are battling only with moral and spiritual weapons-weapons which alone befit the grandeur of our aim. As we are working for a principle, we know that victory is secure, so that courage need never fail us. Our discouragements are temporary, as they come from a spirit which, being opposed to justice, has in it the seeds of decay; our successes are permanent, for they are in the line of eternal law. We are impatient for success in securing to woman the exercise of lawful rights, because we know that this is the key to those opportunities which lead to her largest development, which the world needs, and for which it will wait, though almost unconsciously, in sin and suffering, till it is universally recognized that the law under which she lives is the same as that for her brother-that for her, as for him, in the words of the poet Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, VII. PEACE. WE rejoice in a growing faith, among the public men of America and Europe, that a code of international law is possible, under which, by the consent of nations, all differences may be adjusted without resort to bloodshed; so that the great standing armies may be disbanded. We believe that a steady testimony in favor of peace principles and practices-in favor of reason instead of violencewill go far to create a strong and healthy public sentiment, which will compel the statesmen of the future to abide by such a code of law, when once it shall be matured. VIII.-TEMPERANCE. PROMINENT among the sources of human misery we recognize the vice of intemperance; and we believe there is a need of a more general diffusion of accurate scientific knowledge of the effects of alcoholic and other stimulants upon body and mind, and that parents and teachers should qualify themselves to impart such instruction to the young. While we regard persuasive means as the most potent agency in all reform and as the legitimate forerunner of all law, still we believe the traffic in intoxicating beverages so subversive of the general good, that, so far from being authorized by the State, it should be accounted criminal and be subject as other crime to legal prohibition. IX. THE DUTY OF HEALTH. THE welfare of man's higher nature is conditioned on the welfare of his lower nature. Herbert Spencer truly says, "The first condition of a successful life is to be a good animal." The great advances of human knowledge on subjects affecting our physical completeness ought to bear fruit in a gradual decrease of disease, a higher standard of bodily vigor, a healthier manhood and womanhood, therefore a nobler parentage, and consequently a sounder basis for intellectual and moral culture. That practice may keep pace with theory-that hygienic knowledge may be accepted as a part of the moral law-we regard as vitally important to personal and public safety, and to the dignity of the human race. We call attention therefore to the practical bearings of this subject on the physical care of children, the methods of education, the hours of study; and also on the correction of the evils arising from sensual indulgence, and from the exhausting excesses and excitements of American life. X.-IN MEMORIAM. BENJAMIN C. BACON, who died in Philadelphia, Eleventh month, 9th, 1874, aged 71 years, and whose remains were brought to Longwood Cemetery for interment, was one of the earliest friends of this Society, and cherished until his death a warm interest in the movement for religious progress, attending the Yearly Meeting as often as his health and other circumstances permitted. He was one of the twelve men who organized the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1832, the first association ever formed in this country on the principle of Immediate Emancipation. He served the Anti-Slavery cause with unswerving fidelity from early manhood to old age; and won the respect and affection of all who knew him by his rare devotion to principle, as well as by his great modesty and by the sweetness and gentleness of his disposition. ISAAC MEREDITH, who was also one of the signers of the call of 1853, died Ninth month, 28th, 1874, aged nearly 73. He was a man of the strictest integrity, of sound judgment, a good neighbor, an enlightened and faithful citizen, a devoted husband, a wise father, and an earnest friend of humanity. Born a member of the Society of Friends, reared under its influence, and feeling for it the strongest attachment, he yet had the courage to leave it when he thought it unfaithful to its principles and professions, and to assist in organizing another religious body, which he thought better adapted to the wants of his time. Of this Society he was a faithful and beloved member to the day of his death, while every movement for the reform of society found in him a warm friend. ELIZA AGNEW died Eighth, month 5th, 1874, aged 74. She also was one of the earliest to connect herself with this Society. From her youth up, she was a friend of the slave, and a devoted worker in his cause. She was also a friend of temperance, and of every movement for the elevation of humanity. She was one of the earliest to perceive the injustice of taxing women while denying them the right of representation, and to bear her testimony against this form of injustice. No good cause ever appealed to her in vain. Her sense of justice was keen and incisive, her sympathy for the poor and the unfortunate unfailing; and, in her devotion to the principles by which alone society can be purified and ennobled, she has left us a bright example. SARAH L. CHILD, wife of Samuel T. Child, of Philadelphia, died suddenly on the 20th day of the Eleventh month, 1874. She was a member of this Society from the beginning, and never failed to attend its meetings when it was in her power to be present. She was one of those who find in the principles of the Society of Friends a constant incitement to free inquiry and progress, a stimulus to new growths of thought and new applications of old truths, and who could not therefore be confined within the walls of any sect. In |