COXGREGATIOXALIST3, 



205 



Hcnt. Massachusetts, Ohio, and a number of 

 members of Xe\v York, Wisconsin, and Xe- 

 braska, in order to discuss the best method, 

 time and place of assembling the various State 

 Committees for a preliminary or preparatory 

 meeting on the subject of a Xational American 

 Congregational Convention. It was unani- 

 mously agreed that the trustees of the Ameri- 

 can Congregational Union should be requested 

 to call that meeting together at such time and 

 place, after consultation and inquiry, as to them 

 should seem best. The trustees of the Congre- 

 gational Union issued a letter convening the 

 Conference at the Broadway Tabernacle, in 

 the city of Xew York, and urging the attend- 

 ance of delegates from all the States. They 

 say in their letter : 



The time and place of holding the Convention, the 

 basis of representation in the body, the subjects pro- 

 per to be mentioned in the call as a guide to its de- 

 liberations, are topics that demand careful thought 

 and mature counsel. In this view, the preliminary 

 Conference has been appointed at a time remote from 

 any general ecclesiastical preoccupation, and at a 

 place where ready communication can be had with 

 the officers of such benevole.nt societies as are direct- 

 ly interested in the Convention and its objects. In 

 the present condition of the country this movement 

 is so important to the future of Congregationalism, 

 that we earnestly hope every member of each State 

 Committee will come to the Conference in Novem- 

 ber, even at great personal inconvenience. 



In answer to this call, upwards of forty 

 delegates, representing fifteen States, appeared 

 punctually at the place of meeting. The name 

 agreed upon for the proposed convocation is "A 

 Xational Council of Congregational Churches." 

 The basis of representation in the council was 

 a point of a good deal of embarrassment. All 

 felt that a mass meeting would impose too great 

 a burden upon the hospitalities of the place 

 selected, and would impair the national char- 

 acter and weight of the council by subjecting 

 it to a local or sectional majority. At last it 

 was decided to make ten churches, acting in 

 Conference, the unit of a representation by 

 two delegates, one of whom should be a pas- 

 tor. "Where district Conferences exist, it will 

 be easy to secure a delegation. In other lo- 

 calities the State committees, or a provisional 

 committee for this purpose, will address a cir- 

 cular letter to the churches, inviting them to 

 convene by tens at some designated time and 

 place, and to choose their delegates. Thus 

 the council will emanate directly from the 

 churches, whose independence of action has 

 been zealously guarded in all these preliminary 

 proceedings. 



The deliberations of the Xational Council 

 will embrace the following topics : 



1. The work of Home Evangelization in the 

 "West and in the South. This will include the 

 condition and wants of the freedmen. 



2. Parochial evangelization. 



3. Education for the ministry, witX special 

 reference to colleges and theological semina- 

 ries. 



4. Ministerial support. 



5. A statement of their polity. 



C. A declaration of Christian faith as held in 

 common by the Congregational churches. 



7. The systematization of the agencies of 

 Christian benevolence. 



Rev. Dr. Sturtevant, of Illinois College, was 

 appointed to preach the opening sermon, and 

 Rev. Dr. Post, of St. Louis, his alternate. Ar- 

 rangements were made also for a special ser- 

 vice of devotion with reference to the country, 

 at an early stage in the session of the council. 



The first council will be held in Boston on 

 the 14th of June, 1865. 



According to the English Congregational 

 year-book for 1865, the statistics of Congrega- 

 tionalism in Europe are as follows : 



Congregational Churches. 



In Great Britain, Ireland, and the islands of the Brit- 

 ish Seas 2,763 



In the American colonies. 117 



In the Australian colonies 124 



In foreign lands. 217 



3,226 



Free Churches (Independent) in the French Empire. . 103 

 In Belgium 20 



123 

 In Switzerland and Italy the numbers are unknown. 



Congregational 2fi.ti-i(ers. 



In England 1,730 



In Wales . 409 



In Scotland. 97 



In Ireland 26 



In the colonies 215 



In foreign lands I7t> 



2,053 



Students in theological colleges 425 



" under private instruction 30 



455 



In London there are 207 Congregational 

 chapels, 166 pastors, and 98 ministers without 

 charges. The number of students at Hackney, 

 Cheshunt, and Xew Colleges, is 118. 



Fifty-seven new Congregational chapels have 

 been opened, 11 enlarged or improved, and 20 

 new schools built, during the past year. 



The number of Xonconformist chapels regis- 

 tered, of all kinds, according to the census, is 

 14,662 ; of Congregational chapels, to end of 

 December, 1861, 1,824; Xonconformist chap- 

 els registered for marriage down to the end of 

 1864, 4,564 ; Congregational ditto, 1,493. 



The independent churches of France ( ;t Union 

 of Free Evangelical Churches ") held their 9th 

 synod at Paris on the 24th of Xovember, and 

 the following days. The President was Dr. 

 Fish, and Vice-Presidents, Pastor Pozzi and 

 Mr. V. de Pressense. Three new churches 

 Ximes, Saint Hippolite and Codognan were 

 admitted into the Union, raising the whole 

 number to thirty-five. The Synod decided that 

 in each church should be a body of collectors 

 to promote regular contributions, and that the 

 Synod should name a commission of Finance, 

 composed of five members, to stimulate and 

 systematize the contributions of the churches, 

 to see that the central funds are sufficiently 



