On Thursday morning there will be the business session, and at this session the Annual Survey of Moral and Religious progress, always a strong feature of the program, is to be given.

The last session will be devoted to the consideration of Materials of Religious Education in the Life of the Nation, with topics here noted:

"Religion in the Founding of the Republic." "What is a Christian Nation?"

"The Quickening of the Public Conscience."

"The Responsibility of a Christian Nation for the Religious Education of the World.”

The departmental programs for the afternoon sessions are being constructed. Several departments will, as a result of the year's work, be able to make contributions of no little value. It is expected that some of the special commissions appointed at the Boston convention will report with the results of their work.

It is too early to announce the speakers; the complete list is not yet ready, but many names have been secured, enough to warrant the statement that the coming convention will in no wise fall behind any of the others.

Rochester has long been famous as a center and source of religious and educational interest and power. It is easily accessible for nearly all the members of the Association; and such a program is being prepared, as future announcements will give evidence, that a very large number should plan to be present.

Rochester, New York

February 5-7, 1907

An Exhibit and Reference Library of

One of the most attractive features of the Boston convention and also of the International Sunday-school convention, at Toronto, was the Sunday-school Exhibit, the materials for which were gathered and arranged by the Rev. Richard Morse Hodge, D.D., of Union Theological Seminary.

Many persons expressed the hope that such an Exhibit might become a permanent and easily available institution. Their suggestion has been adopted, and with the Exhibit has been combined the plan of the publishers' room as conducted at Toronto, where all the literature on this subject has been grouped together. This Exhibit and reference library is now open free for the use of any persons who are interested in this subject.

This Exhibit is installed in the offices at Headquarters and will be maintained there permanently. Ample space is provided for the proper care, classification and display of all the material. The Exhibit is open at all times for inspection and it is hoped that all who are interested in the work of any of the departments will avail themselves of its resources.

The Exhibit has been recently enriched by a set of the Tissot "Old Testament" pictures in colors, and sets of the Perry pictures of biblical and religious subjects.

The Association is daily in receipt of books, pamphlets and other material contributed by publishers, institutions and individuals; but in order that the Exhibit may be as complete as possible, it is very desirable that all those members and friends who are able to do so should contribute such material as could properly be used therein. This would consist of outlines of all curricula touching on morals or religion, text-books or any other material used in instruction, charts, maps, programs, catalogs, publications of the agencies of religious or of moral instruction, papers, special articles, photographs, bibliographies, or any other matter which will in any way serve to show what is being thought and what is being accomplished in religious and moral education.

In order to complete the section relating to the curricula of Moral and Religious Instrucion in the Permanent Exhibit the Executive Office would be glad to receive the Catalogs or the outlines of the curricula of all Academies, Colleges, Universities and Theological Seminaries. These will be carefully preserved and filed for reference.

The Home

The Department of the Home held a meeting of its Executive Committee in August. The program for the Rochester convention was outlined. The special subject of investigation on which this Department will work preparatory to its session at the convention, will be the "Significance of the Period of Infancy to Religious Education." The following are the officers of this department: President, Charles Richmond Henderson, Ph. D., D. D., Chicago. Recording Secretary, Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller, New Haven, Conn. Executive Secretary, Mrs. Andrew MacLeish, Glencoe, Ill.

Christian Associations

At a meeting of the officers of the Department of Christian Associations, held at Springfield, Mass., and attended by the Secretary of the Association, the program for the sessions of this Department at the Rochester convention was outlined.

According to the new year book of the Y. M. C. Association their total membership in North America has increased more than twelve-fold in the last forty years, numbering now over 400,000. The year's history records noteworthy advances in religious work in Bible classes and in Teacher-training. The following are the officers of this department: President, L. L. Doggett, Ph. D., Springfield, Mass. Recording Secretary, Henry E. Rosevear, Louisville, Ky. Executive Secretary, William K. Cooper, Springfield, Mass.

Universities and Colleges

The Department of Universities and Colleges is sending out a Questionaire, seeking to ascertain the general conditions and the progress being made in religious and moral education in the universities and colleges of the United States. This is preparatory to the contribution which it will make to the Rochester convention. The following are the officers of this department: President, Joseph Swain, LL. D., Swarthmore, Pa. Recording Secretary, Caroline M. Hazard, Litt. D., Wellesley, Mass. Executive Secretary, William O. Thompson, D. D., LL. D., Columbus, Ohio.

Churches and Pastors

This department, having made special preparation for its contribution to the Rochester convention, will have, in addition to its regular departmental session, a general session on Wednesday evening, Feb. 6th, under the topic: "Education through Church Activity." The following are the officers of this department: President, Lemuel Call Barnes, D. D., Worcester, Mass. Recording Secretary, George Frank Nason, M. A., New Rochelle, N. Y. Executive Secretary, R. W. McLaughlin, D. D., Grand Rapids, Mich.

The Educational Union of Chicago publishes a quarterly under the title, "The Nation's Book in the Nation's Schools," devoted to the promotion of moral instruction by the use of the Bible in the schools.

The question is often asked, where can I find a book on Bible study that would serve to introduce a young student to the historical methods? There are many such books and certainly one of the best is "The Origin and Permanent Value of the Old Testament," by Prof. Charles Foster Kent, of Yale. Attention, however, is called to this more particularly on account of the last two chapters: "Practical Methods of Studying the Old Testament" and "Religious Education-The Fundamental Problem of Today."

Elementary Pedagogy, a new text book by Levi Seeley, Ph.D., of the New Jersey State Normal School, contains a chapter on religious education.

One section of the Exhibit at the Executive Office is now devoted to text-books and other material for the study of missions.

The Sunday-school Editorial Association has agreed on an Advanced Course of Study which has been worked out in detail by Prof. Irving F. Wood, and Rev. Newton M. Hall. It covers "The Early Days of Israel" and is now published by several of the denominational houses.

The vacation season has offered many excellent opportunities for promoting the work of the Religious Education Association. Members of the Executive Board, leading workers together with the Secretary have been able to reach a number of summer assemblies and general conventions.

Several guilds are busy planning their work for the coming season. Hartford, Meriden, and Winsted, Conn., with Hyde Park, Chicago, seem to be making the most careful preparation.

The Baraca Bible class organization has now 100,000 members in the United States. The Men's Bible class movement has, in all probability, many more than 100,000 classes, for recently a certain publisher, seeking to reach the teachers of these classes was able to secure a list of over one hundred thousand teachers of men's Bible classes. This included only those classes being taught in Sunday schools, not taking into account the number in the Y. M. C. A. and other organizations.

A special conference of Teacher-training workers was held in the middle of August at Winona Lake, under the auspices of the International Sunday school Association.

The last "Atlantic Monthly" contains an interesting article by Prof. Gardiner on "The Power of Bible Poetry."

The September number of the "Biblical World" has an article by Cecil C. North on "The Influence of the Young Men's Christian Association Upon the Religious Life of College Students. In the same issue Prof. Isaac B. Burgess writes to the question "Are Courses in the Bible Suited to the Curriculum of a Preparatory School?"

Rochester, New York

February 5-7, 1907