most embarrassing circumstances which we have to contend with in propagating the Gospel. I repeat it, the only sympathy which the heathen world has is in the heart of God and the heart of his Church, and the only influences which have been exerted for the recovery and salvation of the nations is God and his people-his people working with him in this work of evangelism, of sending his word and his grace to the ends of the earth.

In our missionary work we embrace the domestic as well as the foreign. We are looking to our own country as well as to distant lands; and my impression is that we are wise in doing so. I think in these United States is to be the seat both of civil and religious power; that our institutions must be preserved in order to the bringing in of those happy days which have been referred to by both the previous speakers. For this purpose we have been, as a Church, seeking to follow emigration as it has gone westward, and to give to the border populations of the country the institutions of religion, and God has aided us in doing it. We have also sought most earnestly to meet, with our religious institutions and agencies, the immigrant populations that have come from the Old World to this. As one result we have at this time some three hundred pastors, native Germans, preaching to their countrymen in their native language, and some twenty-seven thousand communicants in our Church who are natives of that foreign land. We have also several presiding elders' districts among the Scandinavian population that has come to this country,

I say here, in the presence of these eminent statesmen, that there is no power which can denationalize this immigrant population that is coming here, and assimilate it to our American character and make us a homogeneous people, but the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the truth and spirit of almighty God; and in this divine evangelism, this gospel power, is the hope of our country as well as the redemption of our world. And we must see to it that all the peoples of this country have these institutions, agencies, fellowship, and sympathy displayed to them as they come among us. When we do this.

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with God's blessing upon us, we shall succeed in the two purposes of blessing the nation and saving the people.

Again it was the lot of the Bishop to meet the South Carolina Conference, which held its session this year, Feb. 11-13, 1869, at Camden, S. C. Thence he writes to Mrs. Janes:

I had a prosperous journey, and reached Washington Tuesday A. M.; left immediately, and reached Wilmington, N. C., at five A. M. Wednesday. Now I think if my march was not as wonderful as Sherman's in some respects, it certainly was more rapid. I arrived at this city about six and a half o'clock, tired and dusty, not having washed or brushed since I left home. I slept well last night, and am quite naturalized today. By to-morrow I shall be thoroughly reconstructed. We had a very interesting session of Conference this morning. The work has prospered largely during the year. Our Church is rooted and grounded in South Carolina. God is with the people, and our cause cannot be overthrown.

In March he met the St. Louis, Missouri, and Kansas Conferences, and in April the Nebraska Conference. Writing home while on this tour, such expressions as those which follow fell from his pen. The reference to the completion of the twenty-fifth year of his episcopal service is very touching.

Conference commenced pleasantly yesterday. Some serious difficulties to be adjusted; anxieties, of course; they abide with me every-where and all the time-" the care of all the Churches."

Another busy week before me. All right! Working for God and his Church is the highest privilege in this world.

Conference times are seasons of hard work and great anx

iety. The Church is growing in this section. I am without anxiety about our temporal affairs. I have left them, for the present, in the hands of my heavenly Father.

This is

The telegraph reports the death of Brother James Harper. A sad termination to a long and useful life. I am very thankful the meetings in St. Paul's are so interesting and successful. I pray their power may increase and extend. the last Conference I expect to preside over in the first quarter of a century of my episcopal office. Next month will end that quarter. How soon it has passed away! What a history it has made! What events have occurred in Church and State in that period! Eventful times, indeed! I have in that time seen much of the goodness of God. What protection! What assistance! What encouragement! What manifestations of his love! I am thankful. A few years more must end my official career. I hope to finish my course with joy, and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

On the first Monday in June following the Bishop chanced to be at home, and attended the devotional exercises of the New York Preachers' Meeting. In response to an invitation he briefly addressed the meeting, saying substantially that he had always found pleasure in preaching the Gospel, and he preferred the pastoral relation to any position in the gift of the Church. He mentioned, also, very affectingly, that on this day he had reached the twenty-fifth year of the office he was then filling. At the close of his remarks a congratulatory resolution was offered by the Rev. Dr. (now Bishop) Foss, and unanimously passed by the meeting.

As far back as at their meeting at Erie, Pa., in 1865, the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal

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Church took initial steps looking to a closer union between all the Methodist bodies of the country, especially those whose separation had been caused by slavery. The General Conference of 1868 appointed a commission of eight members of that body and the Board of Bishops to promote this object. Accordingly the Bishops, at their spring meeting in 1869, addressed a letter to the Bishops. of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and appointed Bishops Morris, Janes, and Simpson to bear it. In May Bishops Janes and Simpson, Bishop Morris being unable to accompany them, went to St. Louis, where the Southern Bishops were in session, and presented the letter. Bishop Janes's letter to Bishop Clark, from St. Louis, May 8, will explain his connection with the matter:

We had an interview with the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, this morning; were courteously received. After a little social conversation we presented our letter accrediting us; then, Bishop Morris's letter of apology for not being present; then a communication stating the points in the text presented to the Board at Meadville. They were all read. Each of us then said a few words, stating they were not official, but personal. Bishop Paine replied that they appreciated the object contemplated in our communication; were glad to see us; they would consider the subject and forward a reply. We then had prayer together, and parted in a very friendly manner. The reply will be sent to Bishop Morris.

The Bishops of the South met the overtures of our Bishops by affirming that they must stand by the words of their rejected delegate, Dr. L. Pierce,

of 1848, and entered their objection to "slavery as the cause of the separation" between the two great Methodist bodies. Nothing was appreciably accomplished by the interview beyond a courteous, kindly interchange of personal good feeling; and yet it was a beginning, however slight, of a closer approach between the two Churches. In view of the asperities which grew out of the war, it is not surprising that more was not effected. There are some wounds which time alone can heal. As the events and controversies of the past recede, and the men who participated in them are gathered to their fathers, and new men and new issues arise, it can be confidently hoped that all that Bishop Janes so earnestly desired and sought will come of itself. His heart yearned for it, and he felt it to be one of the happiest acts of his life to be the first to go forth with the olive branch, even at the risk of finding no solid ground for his feet.

In the summer and autumn his Conferences were the Delaware, East Genesee, North Ohio, Central Ohio, and Ohio. From the sessions of these he returned wearied, but not to rest. Some claim for special service was ever at his door.

November 3 the venerable Dr. Heman Bangs died at New Haven, Conn.; and, according to his request, the Bishop delivered the address at his funeral, which was a beautiful tribute to the memory" of a strong and useful minister.

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