CONGBEGATIONALISTS. 



]23 



The following table gives the list of Congre- 

 gational colleges in the British possessions, 

 with the date of foundation : 



Date. 



1. Western College, Plymouth 1752 



2. Rotherham Independent College 1756 



8. Cheshunt College 1768 



4. Airdale College 1800 



5. Hackney Theological Seminary 1803 



6. Lancashire Independent College 1806* 



7. Spring Hill College, Moseley, Birmingham. 1838 



8. New College, London 1850 



9. Theological Hall of Congregational Churches 



of Scotland 7 1811 



10. Brecon Independent College 1760 



11. Independent College, Bala 1842 



12. Congregational Institute, Bristol 1863 



13. Congregational Institute, Nottingham 1863 



14. Congregational College of British North 



America, Montreal _ 1863 



15. Congregational College of Victoria, Mel- 



bourne 1863 



16. Camden College, Sydney 1863 



17. Mission College, High Gate 1864 



18. Cotton End 1840 



The total number of colleges and institutes 

 in the British possessions was 30 ; number of 

 students in colleges, 69 ; number of native 

 students in heathen lands, about 170 ; total of 

 students, 553 ; number of deceased ministers, 60. 



The London, Missionary Society, which, al- 

 though originally undenominational, is now 

 chiefly supported by Oongregationalists, report- 

 ed in 1868 an income of 111,306 19s. 4d., and 

 an expenditure of 92,464 18s. It supported 

 159 English missionaries, 5,963 native ordained 

 pastors, 660 native preachers, 29,847 church- 

 members ; native population about 159,650,614 ; 

 schools, 30,960. 



The revenue and expenditures of the prin- 

 cipal Congregational societies, in 1868, was as 

 follows : 



III. CONTINENT OP EUROPE. Most of the 

 independent churches of France are united in 

 the " Union of Evangelical Churches of France " 

 (L> Union des Eglises Evangeliques de France\ 

 formed in August, 1849. The constitution of 

 the Union provides that " each church which 

 enters the Union preserves the liberty of de- 

 termining for itself its own constitution, ac- 

 cording to its convictions and necessities. It 

 regulates, accordingly, its own discipline and 

 the form of its internal government." " Every 

 church, in order to enter the Union, must be 

 constituted on the principle of individual pro- 

 fession of faith, with a guarantee of discipline 

 being exercised by the church itself no mere 

 Christian instruction, on arrival at a certain 

 age, of those so instructed, giving any right to 



church-membership." A general assembly of 

 the pastors and delegates of the associated 

 churches is held every two years. The last 

 meeting of the synod was held at Bergerac, in 

 September, 1868. The next will take place in 

 Mazamet, October, 1870. At the Synod of 

 Bergerac, 47 churches reported a membership 

 of 2,735, averaging upward of sixty to each 

 church. The largest church is that of Taif- 

 bouf, Paris, with 210 members. The churches 

 are distributed into seven associations, which 

 hold frequent meetings for fellowship and for 

 local business, namely: 1. Group of the West. 

 2. Southwest. 3. Tarn et Ariege. 4. South- 

 east. 5. East. 6. Centre. 7. Seine. Nu- 

 merous small congregations are scattered all 

 over France. In Algeria, the Union has six 

 stations. Seven independent churches are not 

 in connection with the Evangelical Union. The 

 "Evangelical Society of France," which was 

 established in 1833, for the diffusion of evan- 

 gelical truth without regard to the differences 

 of ecclesiastical polity, but has gradually be- 

 come identified with the independent churches, 

 supports 11 pastors, 8 evangelists, and 27 teach- 

 ers. The expenditures of the society during 

 the year ending May, 1868, were 5,240. The 

 "Evangelical Church of Lyons," which was 

 founded in 1832, is an entirely independent 

 church, which carries on missionary operations 

 in the surrounding districts, extending to the 

 Departments of IseTe, Ain, and Rhone. The 

 united church has more than 700 members, 

 and Sunday-schools containing about 250 chil- 

 dren. Altogether the independent (free) 

 churches of France number 132 temples or 

 chapels, occupied by 104 pastors. 



The "Free Evangelical Church," in the 

 Canton of Geneva, has seven pastors and min- 

 isters, and a theological school, with M. Merle 

 d'Aubigne" as president. The "free churches" 

 in Vaud, 45 in number, are united together on 

 a basis which, though Presbyterian in form, 

 secures the independence of each. They have 

 a theological faculty at Lausanne. There 

 are eight independent churches in the Can- 

 ton of Neufchatel, and five in the Canton of 

 Berne. 



An " Alliance of Free or Independent Evan- 

 gelical Churches" was founded in 1860. All 

 churches free of state control are admissible 

 which adopt the simple evangelical confession 

 of faith adopted by the Alliance, practise a 

 Scripture discipline, recognize the ministry as 

 a divine institution, and engage in the propa- 

 gation of the gospel. The question of baptism 

 is left unopened. The object of the Alliance is 

 sought to be obtained by the holding of con- 

 ferences for mutual edification and encourage- 

 ment, and by the establishment of institutions 

 likely to favor the true idea of a church. The 

 Alliance has been joined by the Free Evangelical 

 Churches of France, Geneva, Yaud, Neufchatel, 

 Berne, Belgium, Eberfeld (Prussia), Ermelo 

 and Middleburg (Holland), and . the Baptist 

 Church of the north of France. 



