Attempt > Volume 10

196 The Attempt.
crowd there were any of doubtful mind, who, without
weapons of defence at their own command, are perplexed
and troubled by the voices of unbelief around them, to
which none can be wholly deaf, who cannot see how the
attacks from which they shrink can be turned aside, or
faith in the Living God, His word, His work, or even
His being, preserved from loss, they must have been
encouraged. There may have been such, rich or poor,
young or of ripe years, man or woman, Avho must have
felt gladdened and strengthened by the manly undaunted
tone of every one of the speakers, who, with no timid
concealment of difficulties, and with the utmost readiness
to accept all the ascertained facts of science, showed
how intellectual progress is perfectly compatible with
Christian faith.
We must hasten to a conclusion. Although, as we have
said before, we are not concerned to defend Congresses, in
general or particular, from their detractors, we may
suggest some answers to several of the questions which
have lately been asked. What is the use, say some, of
any euch meetings, and especially of a Church Congress ?
Lord Cockburn, in his recently published journal, tells us
that he was contemptuously inclined towards the first
meeting of the British Association held here some forty
years ago, but, like a sensible man, he was not ashamed to
own himself mistaken when experience had shown him to
be so. His sagacious mind discovered in that gathering
three uses which, with slight alteration, we think Church
Congresses may also claim:—\st, the promotion of inter¬
course by the mere assembling of men, sharing a common
interest in one class of subjects, and the convenience of
opportunities for conference; 2J, the real progress towards
useful results, more readily attained by an hour's conversa¬
tion, than by weeks of study or volumes of explanation; and
?>d, the diffusion of a growing taste for the subjects treated
of by tlie gathering of an evening crowd which, if not
instructed, was at least interested by what was said. Let
us hope that the aff'ectation of science which he detected,
calling it the sting in the tail, is avoided by Church
Congresses in matters concerning religion. A Congress
claims and possesses no legislative j^owers whatever; it
simply aims at the promotion of brotherly intercourse
and free discussion among those who have mutual
interests, and individual experience, which may be useful
to their neighbours, and who are likely to be all the wiser