134 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



the different modes of theological thought in 

 the Congregational body, and willing to co- 

 operate with each other in the production of 

 an acceptable symbol of faith a creed or cate- 

 chism, or both who should, without specific 

 instructions and with full liberty of time, re- 

 port the result of their labors to the churches, 

 to be judged by them. A resolution was adopt- 

 ed approving the erection of a memorial tablet 

 to John Robinson, pastor of the Leydcn Pil- 

 grims, in the Cathedral of St. Peter's, at Ley- 

 den, where he is buried. A report was pre- 

 sented by a Committee on Pastorless Churches 

 and Churchless Pastors, which declared that 

 the principal cause of the evil of vacancies was 

 the smallness, weakness, and poverty of a large 

 number of the churches, 1,272 of them not hav- 

 ing more than fifty members each. The Coun- 

 cil resolved to address a memorial to the Presi- 

 dent and Congress asking for the enforcement 

 of the law against polygamy, and to endeavor 

 to procure from the Government a modification 

 of rulings which have led to the restriction 

 and curtailment of missionary work among the 

 Indians. The continued existence of the Coun- 

 cil on its present plan was objected to in reso- 

 lutions sent up by several State Congregational 

 bodies. Answer was returned to these objec- 

 tions that the Council as it is was generally 

 approved by the churches as a safe and useful 

 bond between them, but that suggestions look- 

 ing toward improvement would be welcomed. 

 Statements were made concerning the work 

 of the American Missionary Association among 

 the freedmen, of the American Board of Com- 

 missioners for Foreign Missions, of the Con- 

 gregational Publishing Society, of the Ameri- 

 can Home Missionary Society, of the American 

 Congregational Union, of the College and Edu- 

 cational Society, and of the measures that had 

 been taken in different States for the relief of 

 disabled ministers and their families. A dele- 

 gation of twenty-five representatives was ap- 

 pointed to attend the Jubilee Meeting of the 

 Congregational Union of England and Wales 

 in 1881. 



II. BRITISH DOMINIONS. The following is a 

 summary of the statistics of the Congregational 

 Churches in Great Britain and the colonies, 

 as given in the "Congregational Year-Book" 

 for 1880 : 



ASSOCIATIONS AND UNIONS. England, 36; 

 Wales, 16; colonies, 13; total, 65. 



CHURCHES. England. Churches, 2,013 ; 

 branch churches, 119; preaching - stations, 

 1,004 ; evangelists' stations, 78. Of these 

 churches eight are returned as having lay pas- 

 tors, 136 are variously supplied, and 231 are 

 vacant. 



Wales. Welsh churches, 814; branch church- 

 es, 36 ; preaching-stations, 17 ; English church- 

 es, 82 ; preaching-stations, 3 ; vacant churches, 



Scotland. Churches, 106 ; vacant churches, 



Islands of the British Seas. Churches, 17; 

 vacant churches, 2. 



Canada and Newfoundland. Churches, 121 ; 

 vacant churches, 30. 



Australia. Churches, 172; preaching - sta- 

 tions, 115; vacant stations, 15. 



New Zealand. Churches, 19 ; vacant church. 

 es, 7. 



Natal. Churches, 2 ; preaching-stations, 10. 



Congregational Union in South Africa. 

 Churches, 27. 



Jamaica. Churches, 14. 



British Guiana. Churches, 16; churches 

 aided by the London Missionary Society, 



India. Churches, 14 ; churches aided by 

 the London Missionary Society, 9 ; native 

 churches, 17. 



China. Churches independent of the Lon- 

 don Missionary Society, 2. 



MINISTERS. English ministers in England 

 and Wales, 2,119; Welsh ministers, 453; Scot- 

 land, 121; Ireland, 20; Channel Islands, 5; 

 English ministers on the Continent, 7 ; minis- 

 ters in colonies, 333 ; missionaries of London 

 Missionary Society, 137; native ordained mis- 

 sionaries, 357 ; total, 3,552, of whom 672 were 

 without pastorates. 



The number of Congregational colleges and 

 institutes for ministerial training were as fol- 

 lows : 



12. 



Ireland. Churches, 30 ; vacant churches, 5. 



There are also ten institutions in heathen 

 lands belonging to the London Missionary So- 

 ciety, containing about 300 native students. 



The annual meeting of the Congregational 

 Union of England and Wales was held May 10th. 

 The Rev. Dr. Newth presided. The Executive 

 Committee reported that much time and atten- 

 tion had been occupied with the question of 

 raising the standard of education of ministers; 

 that two conferences, representative of the col- 

 leges connected with the denomination, had 

 been held in the south and north of England ; 

 that steps had been taken with a view to the 

 formation of Boards of Education ; and that it 

 was anticipated that in a few years at most ad- 

 vantage would be taken of the opening of the 

 colleges and universities to Nonconformists, so 

 as to give to as many of the students of the Con- 

 gregational body as possible the benefits of a 

 university education. The political action of 

 the committee had been chiefly directed against 

 the proposed Census Bill in so far as it sought 

 to inquire into the religious views and profes- 

 sions of the community. The Memorial Hall 

 had been constructed at a cost of 75,520, of 

 which not more than 2,500 was owing. With- 

 in it was a library of 8,000 volumes and 2,000 

 manuscripts and pamphlets, some of them oi 



