140 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



sessions with business, reports, and presentation 

 of conditions, needs, and possibilities. The young 

 people of the churches received thoughtful consid- 

 eration, a whole session being devoted to Young 

 People's Societies. Other denominational inter- 

 ests were remembered in addresses, resolutions, 

 and plans of work. 



Congregational Union of England and 

 Wales. The sixty-ninth annual meeting of the 

 Congregational Union of England and Wales was 

 held in London, beginning April 22. The Rev. Dr. 

 Joseph Parker, chairman, in his annual address, 

 spoke in memory of the Rev. James Chalmers, 

 missionary in New Guinea, news of whose mur- 

 der, with those of his associate, the Rev. Oliver 

 Tomkins, and a number of their helpers, by sav- 

 ages had just been received; in favor of a modi- 

 fication of the coronation oath to rid it of expres- 

 sions offensive to a large number of the people of 

 the kingdom; in honor of the Christian men who 

 had lifted up their voices in condemnation of the 

 South African War although he did not agree 

 with them; and bringing forward some objections 

 to the proposed closer union of the country Con- 

 gregational unions with the national union. The 

 annual report gave an outline of the reports of 

 the special subcommittees upon ministerial set- 

 tlements and removals, sustentation, the mode of 

 electing the chairman of the union, and the prob- 

 lem of churches in large villages and towns. The 

 Young People's Union had had a year of quiet de* 

 velopment. Additions to the Congregational li- 

 brary had been less numerous than in some recent 

 years ; progress was making in the examination of 

 manuscripts, and the library was being increas- 

 ingly used for the purposes of political research. 

 It was set forth in a brief survey of the history of 

 the union that it had seen and helped to promote 

 a degree of cohesion among the Congregational 

 churches at home and a solidarity among men 

 of the same faith and order in other parts of the 

 world which far exceeded the brightest hopes of 

 its earlier days. The union was asked to con- 

 done the breach of one of its rules involved by 

 the joint assemblies with the Baptist Union. 

 The business of the publication department had 

 attained a better average than in the previous 

 year. An important change in the method 

 of electing the chairman was made, by which 

 a system of formal nominations is established. 

 A nomination by any twenty-five representa- 

 tive members, acting jointly, is provided for, to 

 be sent in by March 15 of each year. If no 

 nominations are sent in by that date, the com- 

 mittee of the union is empowered to nominate 

 not more than three nor less than two candidates 

 for the chairmanship. A resolution was adopted 

 declaring that " the assembly, deeply deploring 

 the long continuance of the disastrous warfare in 

 South Africa, is most earnestly desirous that no 

 effort may be wanting on the part of his Ma- 

 jesty's Government, not only to bring about a 

 termination of hostilities, but to secure complete 

 and lasting peace. In the opinion of the assem- 

 bly that object will be most surely realized by the 

 adoption of a magnanimous and conciliatory pol- 

 icy." The report of the Church Aid and Home 

 Missionary Society represented that the contribu- 

 tions from the churches were increasing, the num- 

 ber of contributing churches having been 44 per 

 cent, more than in the previous year, while the 

 gifts from the county unions to the central fund 

 showed a serious decline. The grants for the past 

 year amounted to 4,075 141 less than were 

 asked for constituting an amount of pledges con- 

 siderably larger than the anticipated income. In 

 a review of the five years' work of the society since 



its reconstruction, it was shown that while the 

 results of its efforts had been comparatively 

 meager and unsatisfactory, a sum of 5,923 more 

 than in the previous five years had been raised 

 and disbursed; the minimum of pastors' stipends 

 in aided counties had been raised from 60 and 

 even less, per annum, to 90, and in some in- 

 stances 100; and the sum of 2,152 had been 

 added to the reserve fund, so that the expenses of 

 management were met without touching the ordi- 

 nary contributions. The amount promised to the 

 Twentieth Century fund of 525,000 amounted 

 at the time of the meeting of the union to 565,- 

 704, while 25,416 had been paid to the central 

 fund. The vast preponderance of the subscrip- 

 tions had been for local objects, and the central 

 fund, for which a large amount was desired, had 

 received comparatively little. Of the 500,000' 

 guineas asked for, and which had been already 

 promised, about half was to be used for distinct or 

 local schemes of church extension, and 150,000' 

 more for the reduction of church debts, leaving not 

 more than 100,000 definitely for home, colonial, 

 and foreign missions, provision for aged pastors,, 

 etc. Special effort was urged to increase largely 

 the amount available for those purposes. The re- 

 port on the subject of ministerial settlements and 

 removals, which had been under the consideration 

 of a special committee, began with the declaration 

 that united action by the denomination as a 

 whole is an indispensable condition to the secur- 

 ing of practical reform. Its recommendations in- 

 cluded a provision making the county responsible 

 for admissions to the ministry within their sepa- 

 rate areas under rules substantially the same and 

 similarly administered, and an appeal to the gov- 

 erning bodies of the colleges to consider whether 

 some scheme of amalgamation which would not 

 impair efficiency but would effect economy, could 

 not be adopted. It advised that ministers en- 

 tering the Congregational ministry from other 

 denominations should be required to give satis- 

 factory reports from their colleges and official tes- 

 timonials as to character, ministerial status, and 

 efficiency; and suggested that no application 

 should be considered until the applicant is in com- 

 munion with a Congregational church. A course 

 of three years' reading, with annual examina- 

 ,tions, was suggested as the test that county 

 unions should apply to ministers without college 

 training seeking recognition. In the case of va- 

 cant pastorates, the desirability of inviting a. 

 neighboring minister or layman to confer with the 

 officers and to preside at the church and business- 

 meetings was emphasized; and it was suggested 

 that no one should be asked to preach "with a 

 view " except after most careful inquiry. For 

 facilitating removals, the committee recommended 

 the appointment of consultative committees by 

 the county unions, to which churches seeking pas- 

 tors and ministers seeking pastorates should ap- 

 ply; that a central committee, elected by the, 

 county unions, should meet at Memorial Hall 

 and help the consultative committees; and that 

 these committees, pledged to secrecy, should keep 

 careful records as to churches and ministers. The 

 assembly expressed its general approval of the 

 recommendations contained in the report, and re- 

 quested that the county unions be asked to sig- 

 nify their acceptance of the paper and of the rules 

 recommended in an appendix to it ; and instructed 

 the General Committee to appoint a special sub- 

 committee, authorized to collect, collate, and re- 

 port upon such information and suggestions on 

 sustentation as it can obtain. The committee's re- 

 port further contained a note on the subject of 

 sustentation. While the committee were agreed 



