nd insists
that the nation should acknowledge these relations for itself, and not
through the medium of any church establishment."

Mr. F.E. Abbott, editor of the _Index_, Toledo, O., who was present at
the foregoing Convention, and presented a protest against its aims and
efforts, says of those who stand at the head of the movement:--

"We found them to be so thoroughly sincere and earnest in their
purpose that they did not fear the effect of a decided but
temperate protest. This fact speaks volumes in their praise, as men
of character and convictions. We saw no indication of the artful
management which characterizes most conventions. The leading
men--Rev. D. McAllister, Rev. A.M. Milligan, Prof. Sloane, Prof.
Stoddard, Prof. Wright, Rev. T.P. Stephenson--impressed us as able,
clear-headed, and thoroughly honest men; and we could not but
conceive a great respect for their motives and their intentions. It
is such qualities as these in the leaders of the movement that give
it its most formidable character. They have definite and consistent
ideas; they perceive the logical connection of these ideas, and
advocate them in a very cogent and powerful manner; and they
propose to push them with determination and zeal. Concede their
premises, and it is impossible to deny their conclusions; and since
these premises are axiomatic truths with the great majority of
Protestant Christians, the effect of the vigorous campaign on which
they are entering cannot be small or despicable. The very respect
with which we were compelled to regard them only increases our
sense of the evils which lie germinant in their doctrines; and we
came home with the conviction that religious liberty in America
must do battle for its very existence hereafter. The movement in
which these men are engaged has too many elements of strength to be
contemned by any far-seeing liberal. Blindness or sluggishness
to-day means slavery to-morrow. Radicalism must pass now from
thought to action, or it will deserve the oppression that lies in
wait to overwhelm it."

As to the probability of the success of this movement, there is at
present some difference of opinion. While a very few pass it by with a
slur as a mere temporary sensation of little or no consequence, it is
generally regarded as a work of growing strength and importance, bot