MEETING OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
 
 OF EVANGELICAL CHURCH OF ITALY. 
 
 October, 1895. 
 
 The 21st General Assembly of the Evangelical Church 
 of Italy took place, from the 29th of October to, the 
 2nd of november, 1895, in Florence, in the old Roman 
 Catholic Church of San Jacopo, for more than twenty 
 years transformed into an Evangelical Church, with the 
 adjoining building occupied as Schools, Pastor’s dwelling 
 and other departments of the Mission. 
 
 The Assembly was opened on Tuesday, 29th October, 
 at 8 p. m. by the Rev. Santi Stagnitta, Pastor in Pisa, 
 with an eloquent sermon from Col. I, 16, insisting on 
 the true patriotism., which should never be unaccom¬ 
 panied by faith in true Christianity, as it was illustrated 
 in the lives of Gavazzi, Mazzarella, Desanctis, as well 
 as of the Italian Reformers and of the Precursors of 
 our own Reformation. 
 
 At the close of worship, the Commissions of the 
 Churches appointing their Deputies to the Assembly 
 were verified by the President. Rev. Lodovico Conti, 
 pastor in Rome, was elected President, and Rev. Giu¬ 
 seppe Silva, Pastor in Milan, Vice-President, and for 
 Secretaries, Messrs Lenzi of Palermo and Marini of 
 Turin were chosen. 
 
 As will be easily understood, there was this year a 
 huge mass of work to be got through, and thanks to 
 the excellent division of the labour among the members, 
 it was all brought to a happy end. 
 
 The Assembly of this year has a special importance, 
 both because the Church celebrates its first quarter of 
 a century of life, but also because enemies led by some 
 who were with us, but were not of us, have rushed 
 upon the young Evangelical Church of Italy, this very 
 
year, trying to destroy it, but in vain, for it has come 
 out of the trial, thank God, stronger than ever. New 
 Pastors and new Evangelists have taken the place of 
 those who are no longer with us. New localities in the 
 south of Italy have opened to the Gospel. At Marglie- 
 rita di Savoia we have lately had conferences attended 
 by above 300 persons. At JRiesi more than 100 persons 
 have invited us, and we have there flourishing schools 
 and a promising Church. The Lord has evidently given 
 us new blood and new life. Notwithstanding all our.^ 
 difficulties, he has given again occasion for pronouncing 
 that sweet word, Progress. 
 
 The report of the Committee of Evangelization was 
 full of encouraging facts, and finished with these words:' 
 rf As long as there is an Italian to convert to Christ 
 and to ITis Gospel, the Mission of the Evangelical Italian 
 Church has not yet been accomplished. Courage and 
 forwards always ! At the cost of dying of hunger, if 
 need be, forwards in the name of the Lord! ” 
 
 Pastor Silva, speaking of the sufferings of the Church 
 in Milan, applied to the brethren there the words 
 written by the Apostle Paul in II Corinthians, 4 chap¬ 
 ter ! The two lay representatives of that beloved Church 
 described to us how and how much the members had 
 suffered, on account of him who had deceived them, and 
 still further deprived them of their place of worship, 
 not belonging to him, nor to the denomination which 
 he had entered, but to Mr. W. C. Iones, who had de¬ 
 sired by a legal document, that it should only serve for 
 the worship of the Evangelical Church of Italy, formerly, 
 the Free Church of Italy. The work in Bologna, Bari 
 and Mottola is carried on amid encouragement. 
 
 The Treasurer, Dr. Mac Dougall, gave us good news 
 of the state of the funds. He assured the Assembly 
 that his sympathy for the Evangelical Church of Italy 
 had never diminished. He had never dreamed of forsak¬ 
 ing it, but only experienced the greatest difficulty with 
 the old Committee. " The Evangelical Church of Italy,” 
 he said, fr is a native Church. The problem of native 
 Churches is the great missionary question of the day — 
 how to evangelize by means of the evangelized. Why 
 should we not allow liberty of action in Italy, to the 
 converts from Roman Catholicism to evangelize their 
 native land? We who are Protestants born should 1 
 
help them with our sympathy, but we ought to leave 
 them free to work as they think best.” 
 
 The public gathering called " Festival ” was a beau¬ 
 tiful one. It was a real festival of gratitude to God 
 and to the Benefactors of the Church, who have aided 
 it during twenty-five years of ecclesiastical life. The 
 Assembly presented a lovely, framed pergamena with a 
 suitable inscription and a Medal in gold to Rev. Dr. 
 Mac Dougall, as a souvenir of a quarter of a century’s 
 loving help, and our Congregation in Rome also gave 
 to this generous Friend a commemorative Medal in 
 silver. Dr. Mac Dougall was greatly moved and had 
 scarcely words to express his grateful feelings, and said 
 that really they had already given him so many proofs 
 of affection that this appeared to him too much. 
 
 The Rev. George A. Giddins, Secretary of the Evan¬ 
 gelical Continental Society of London spoke, and said 
 that lie had taken part in their Meetings with the live¬ 
 liest interest and was glad to see their real " esprit 
 de corps.” He added that he had come among them, 
 expecting to find himself in the presence of death, so 
 widespread were the evil tidings in England, but instead 
 he had found vigour and life. He continued to observe 
 that if the Evangelical Italian Church had been called 
 an infant, it must have been a healthy and robust 
 infant, to have known how to pass through its ordeal 
 of suffering so victoriously. He ended by exclaiming 
 in excellent Italian: Cf Long live the Evangelical Church 
 of Italy! ” 
 
 Mrs. John Hopkins, the President of the American 
 Society, in aid of the Evangelical Church of Italy, 
 expressed her great joy in being with us, she, who on 
 account of her love for Italy was called by her friends 
 Madame Italy! She too had believed in the reports 
 of the breakdown of the Evangelical Church of Italy, 
 when instead the cause was more flourishing than ever. 
 cf America is far away, and it is difficult at that distance 
 to hear and see what is doing here. ” Her first good 
 impression of the work was received at Turin, where 
 she found our school so prosperous, and now she was 
 greatly touched by the brotherly and united spirit in 
 which all the work of the Assembly was conducted. 
 
 Unforgettable are the words of the German Pastor 
 in Florence, Rev. Gustavus Fischer. " The trial has 
 
humbled you, and made you more united than before. 
 Continue humble and you will conquer.” He declared 
 himself wholly with us, and had come to our aid, moved 
 by sympathy for us, in the day of our great sorrow. 
 
 A telegram which gave great joy to the Assembly 
 was read from a Synod in Germany, over which our 
 great Friend, Rev. Dr. Cav. Iv. Roenneke was presiding, 
 and this was followed by another from the King of 
 Italy, in reply to our loyal salutations the previous day. 
 
 The public meeting of Thursday Evening, 31st of^ 
 October, presided over by the Rev. Lodovico Conti, pastor 
 in Rome, was a heartmoving sight. On that occasion 
 dear old Parodi of Savona was consecrated as pastor, 
 by the laying on of hands, and three young men, Col- 
 losi of Riesi, Petroni of Mottola and Pantaleo of Rome, 
 were set apart solemnly to the office of Evangelist. The 
 Lord’s Supper was also dispensed to all the Members 
 of the Assembly and of the Florentine Church, after a 
 stirring sermon by the Rev. L. Conti from 1 Corin¬ 
 thians II, 28. Oh, how impressive were these moments, 
 when, under the influence of the Spirit of God, we felt 
 the need on the one hand of humbling ourselves on 
 account of our shortcomings and imperfections, as in¬ 
 dividuals and as a Church, and on the other the need 
 as well of receiving greater grace, greater spiritual 
 energy. 
 
 In conclusion, the Lord has been with us. Never 
 has there been so interesting, so edifying an Assembly. 
 
 You could see in every member the strong resolve to 
 go forward in the name of the Lord. You could feel 
 that our atmosphere had been purified by the tempest. ^ 
 For one who was present for the first time, the deepest 
 impression of all was made by seeing so many Mini¬ 
 sters, so many Evangelists, all come out of the Church 
 of Rome, all determined and united in wishing to know 
 nothing but Christ and Him crucified. May the Lord 
 bless our Assembly and grant it the gracious results, 
 for the obtaining of which it was called. 
 
 Florence, Printed by G. Barbera.