THE FREE CHURCHES 319 



article. In the mission field, in theological study, and in social service there is al- 

 ready manifest a degree of co-operation and fellowship which are of the highest promise 

 for the consummation of a unity that is not to be confounded with uniformity. 



Sustentation Funds. One. of the signs of the times is the attempt made by the three 

 churches of the independent order in England to raise central funds for increasing the 

 stipends of the more poorly paid ministry. Congregationalists and Baptists are each 

 aiming at 250,000 for this purpose; the former after three years have raised 205,000; 

 the latter in one year 70,000. The Unitarians aim at 50,000, of which nearly 40,000 

 has been promised. The proposals vary, but what is intended is roughly speaking that 

 every fully-recognised minister may receive not less than i 50 per annum in town churches 

 or 120 in rural districts. The Presbyterians of course have long had their Susten- 

 tation Fund and the various Methodist churches, where the organisation is akin to the 

 Presbyterian order though the terminology is different, are able to secure greater 

 equality of income among their ministers than is possible in communions where the pas- 

 tor is chosen by the local church without reference to synodal or presbyteral authority. 

 Some of the much cherished traditional independency will perforce disappear as these 

 augmentation funds come into practice, for behind the question of grants-in-aid lies 

 that of an efficient ministry, and no help is likely to be given in the case of men whose 

 ability does not commend itself to the central authority, however well satisfied the local 

 church may be with its choice. In this way there seems to be the beginning of an 

 approximation to the Presbyterian system of church government. Many Unitarian 

 churches still bear the name Presbyterian, and not a few now called Congregational 

 used to bear it. 



Other Denominational Activities. Two great ecumenical conferences were held in 

 1911, both in America. The Baptists met at Philadelphia in June; one of the most 

 striking features of the gathering was the presence of a group of ministers from Russia 

 and South-East Europe where the Baptist cause is making phenomenal headway. The 

 Methodists of all shades met in Toronto in October. Another noteworthy Methodist 

 event is the opening of the new Wesleyan Church House in Westminster (October 1912), 

 a remarkable addition to ecclesiastical architecture and already taking its place as the 

 headquarters and focus of the multiple organisation of the Connection. It is an outcome 

 of the Million Guinea Fund raised at the beginning of the century and is a monument of 

 the unwearying care and ability of Sir Robert Perks. 



The Congregationalists, and to a less extent the Baptists, Presbyterians and Uni- 

 tarians, have been celebrating the 25oth anniversary of the Act of. Uniformity and the 

 consequent ejection of 2,000 ministers in 1662. Here and there the occasion was used 

 somewhat aggressively against the Anglican Church, but on the whole attention was 

 drawn to the positive lessons of the ejectment, fidelity to conscience and the dawn of 

 the modern idea of a free church in a free state. In this connection may be mentioned 

 a notable crop of sound historical research in which most of the Free Churches have 

 taken part and which contrasts favourably with the comparatively uninformed produc- 

 tions of past generations. For Elizabethan Puritanism and Separatism we have the 

 work of Mr. Champlin Burrage, while Rev. W. Pierce has done much to clear up the 

 Marprelate mystery, Rev. Ives Cater that attaching to Robert Browne, and Rev. W. 

 H. Burgess has investigated anew the story of John Smith, ' the Se-Baptist.' As re- 

 gards the i yth century the Rev. B. Nightingale has pointed the way to a very necessary 

 revision of Calamy's story of the ejected ministers and brought to light many facts 

 respecting Cumberland and Westmorland, and Prof. Lyon Turner has made a special 

 study of the indulgences granted in 1672. Mr. W. C. Braithwaite has written a stand- 

 ard history of early Quakerism in England, and Dr. Rufus Jones has performed a similar 

 service for America. Rev. H. W. Clark is engaged on a comprehensive history of 

 Nonconformity, of which, the first volume has appeared. 



Statistics of Membership. The Free Churches in the United Kingdom are not having 

 a happy time with their figures, and for some years most of them, especially Baptists 

 and Wesleyan Methodists, have had to lament a decline of numerical strength. The 



