CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



131 



alisra in the United States and the British 

 Colonies, for the year 1871, as follows : 



The English Congregational Year-Book for 

 1872 reports the following statistics of Con- 

 gregationalists in Great Britain and the Brit- 

 ish dependencies : 



County Associations and Unions. England, 

 42; Wales, 16; Scotland, 8; Ireland, 1; col- 

 onies, 8. Total, 75. 



Churches at Home and Abroad. England, 

 2,235; Wales, 897; Scotland, 105; Ireland, 27; 

 islands of the British seas, 17; Canada and 

 British North America, 105 ; Australia and 

 New Zealand, 177; South Africa and Deme- 

 rara, etc., 12 ; mission churches, about 300. 

 Total of vacant churches, 305. Number of 

 home missions, out-stations, and evangelistic 

 stations, 3,000. 



Ministers and Missionaries. England, 1,989 ; 

 Wales, 400; Scotland, 114; Ireland, 24; Con- 

 tinent, 7; colonies, 245; foreign countries, 

 156 ; natives, ordained in heathen lands, 109 ; 

 ministers with pastoral charges, 2,450; with- 

 out pastoral charges, 594. 



Colleges. England, 8 ; Wales, 3 ; Scotland, 

 1; colonies, 3. Institutes. England, 4; for- 

 eign, 10. Students in colleges, 315. Students 

 in institutes, 242. 



Among the principal Congregational Soci- 

 eties of Great Britain belong the English Con- 



gregational Chapel- Building Society, which 

 extends its operations throughout England, the 

 English districts of Wales, the Channel Islands, 

 and Ireland; expenditures for the year 1870-'7l, 

 9,877; the Home Missionary Society, income 

 7,013 ; the Colonial Missionary Society, in- 

 come, 4,068; expenditures, 3,735. The 

 London Missionary Society, which is not an 

 exclusively Congregational society, but is sup- 

 ported by the Congregationalists as a body, 

 had an income of 107,245, and its expendi- 

 tures were 107,351. 



In France the Union of Evangelical Churches 

 comprises forty-five churches, divided into 

 seven groups, which hold frequent meetings 

 for fellowship and local business. Altogether 

 the Free Churches of France number 104 pas- 

 tors, 132 temples, and a total population of 

 about 30,000. 



The Free Churches of the Canton of Vaud, 

 in Switzerland, are united on a basis which, 

 though Presbyterian in form, secures the in- 

 dependence of each. There are also free 

 churches in the Cantons of Geneva, Neufcha- 

 tel, and Bern. 



The Thirty-second Assembly of the Con- 

 gregational churches of England and Wales 

 met at Swansea, Wales, on the 9th of October. 

 Between six and seven hundred delegates from 

 all parts of the United Kingdom, and from 

 foreign countries, were in attendance. A re- 

 vised draft of the constitution was adopted, 

 in which it is provided that the Union shall 

 not in any case assume legislative authority, 

 or become a court of appeal. The objects of 

 the Union are declared to be to uphold and 

 extend evangelical religion in connection with 

 churches of the Congregational order; to 

 promote scriptural views of church-fellowship 

 and organization ; to strengthen the fraternal 

 relations of the Congregational churches, and 

 facilitate their cooperation; to maintain cor- 

 respondence with Congregational and other 

 Christian churches throughout the world ; to 

 obtain Congregational statistics ; to work for 

 perfect religious equality and the promotion 

 of reforms. The Union took decided action 

 upon the elementary education act, opposing 

 those provisions by which the funds raised by 

 the imposition of rates is used for the pay- 

 ment of the fees of indigent children attend- 

 ing denominational schools. 



The Synod of the French Evangelical 

 Churches was held at Mazamet, on the 19th of 

 October. Forty -five churches were represent- 

 ed. Very little progress is shown in the re- 

 ports of the churches since the Synod met be- 

 fore, three years ago. The Evangelists re- 

 ported the public mind favorable to the recep- 

 tion of their preaching; but the war with 

 Germany was a great drawback upon their 

 work, and prevented their making visible 

 gains. Among the speakers at the opening 

 of the session was M. de Pressens6, who in- 

 sisted that the time had come for French Prot- 

 estantism to manifest its existence. 



