CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 



CLARK, DAVIS W. 



119 



ly suffered from inundations. More than 20,000 

 square miles of territory were inundated, and in 

 New Chiang alone 1,000 people were drowned. 

 CHRISTIAN CHURCH, OR CONNECTION. 

 The official organ of this body describes it as 

 a brotherhood of a purely unsectarian charac- 

 ter, organized on the platform : "1. The Bible 

 alone the rule of religious faith and practice ; 

 2. Christian the only name ; 3. Christian char- 

 acter the only test of Christian fellowship." It 

 has existed about seventy years. Its strength 

 has been variously estimated at from thirty to 

 one hundred thousand members. The most 

 complete and official exhibit of its statistics in 

 detail which has ever been made gives, for 

 1872, the following tables : 



The whole number of Conferences in the 

 Northern States and Canada is 65, of which 

 62 are represented in the statistical table. Be- 

 sides the ordained ministers, there are 201 re- 

 ported as unordained, or licentiates, making 

 the total number 1,198. The number of meet- 

 ing-houses is given at 552 ; 'of parsonages, 26 ; 

 total value of church property, $908,775. Tho 

 number of Sunday-schools reported is 453 ; of 

 officers and teachers, 3,837 ; funds raised for 

 Sunday-schools, $3,311. 



The following statistics are given of the Gen- 

 eral Convention of Christians of the South : 



The number of licentiates reported is 18. In 

 other particulars the' statistics are defective. 



Total, for the two Conventions : Ministers, 

 1,069; ministers and licentiates, 1,288; mem- 

 bers, 67,539 ; churches, 1,155. 



The next meeting of the American Christian 

 Convention North will be held in June, 1872 ; 

 the place is not named. The schools of the 

 Christian Connection are : The Union Chris- 

 tian College, Merom, Ind., 168 students; 

 Starkey Seminary, Eddytown, N. Y., 427 stu- 

 dents, 18 graduates; Biblical School, Eddy- 

 town, N. Y. ; Wolfborough Christian Institute, 

 Wolf borough, N". H. ; and the Le Grand Chris- 

 tian Institute, Le Grand, Iowa (suspended). 

 The General Societies are a Publishing Asso- 

 ciation and a Ministerial Life Assurance Asso- 

 ciation. There are also connected with the 

 New England Christian Convention an Educa- 

 tional Society, a Sunday-school Association, 

 and a Home and Foreign Missionary Society. 



CHRISTIAN UNION, THE. This Society 

 was organized, during the late civil war, by 

 members of various churches who disapproved 

 of the active interest which the bodies to 

 which they belonged took in political ques- 

 tions. They aimed to form a church in which 

 political matters should receive no considera- 

 tion. The Society has shown much activity, 

 and has made considerable progress, as appears 

 from the following summary of its statistics : 



Ministers 300 



Appointments 2,000 



Members 40,000 



Sunday-schools 900 



Meeting-houses 300 



Institutions of learning 



Value of church property $600,000 



CLARK, Right Rev. DAVIS WESGATT, D. D., 

 LL. D., bishop of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, born in the island of Mount Desert, 

 Hancock County, Me., February 25, 1812 ; died 

 in Cincinnati, O., May 23, 1871. His early ap- 

 portunities for education were but meagre, 



