130 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



missions showed that the work of the year had 

 been prosperous. 



The thirty-seventh autumnal meeting of the 

 Congregational Union of England and Wales 

 was held in Bradford, beginning October 9th. 

 The Rev. Dr. Aveling presided. The most im- 

 portant work of the meeting was the consid- 

 eration and adoption of the financial scheme 

 which had been discussed at the meetings of the 

 Union and of the local associations for several 

 years. The object of this scheme was to pro- 

 vide a means by which the congregations and 

 associations of the country could concentrate 

 their efforts to aid and strengthen the weaker 

 churches in the rural districts. Its most essen- 

 tial feature consisted in the institution of a 

 representative council of finance, composed of 

 delegates sent from the county associations 

 and unions accepting the scheme, who should 

 receive and appropriate the moneys which 

 might be raised. The scheme, having been 

 approved by the Union, was remitted to the 

 county associations and unions for further 

 consideration. 



The eighty-second anniversary of the Lon- 

 don Missionary Society was held in London, 

 May llth. Henry Lee, Esq., of Manchester, 

 presided. The treasurer's report stated that 

 the contributions to the society for general 

 purposes had been 99,024 5s. lid., and the 

 contributions and dividends for special objects 

 15,829 13s., making a total of 114,853 18s. 

 11<Z., or, with the balance of the preceding 

 year added, 118,183 13s. 6d. The report of 

 the directors reviewed the work of the socie- 

 ty as well as the work of Protestant missions 

 in general, in India, Madagascar, China, the 

 South Sea Islands, and Africa. The rear- 

 rangements and extended plans adopted by 

 the board for the improvement of the Mada- 

 gascar mission had nearly all been carried into 

 effect during the year. A wider work had 

 been taken up in the education of the young, 

 and more systematic efforts had been adopted 

 to supply suitable preachers to distant country 

 congregations. The missionaries had gone to 

 reside in the new centres of effort to which 

 they had been appointed. Visits had been 

 paid to new localities. A mission had been 

 started in New Guinea and among the islands 

 at the eastern end of that country. Mr. R. 

 Arthington, of Leeds, had offered the society 

 5,000 for the purchase of a steamer and the 

 establishment of a mission on one of the shores 

 of Lake Tanganyika. The directors had ac- 

 cepted the offer, and had dispatched an agent 

 to Zanzibar to make preliminary inquiries. 

 They thought it desirable to raise an addi- 

 tional 5,000 before the work should be be- 

 gun. 



The fortieth annual meeting of the Colonial 

 Missionary Society was held in London, May 

 llth. The Right Hon. W. E. Baxter, M. P., 

 presided. The report of the Executive Com- 

 mittee stated that the total income of the 

 society from its beginning had amounted to 



152,000, being an average of less than 

 4,006 per annum. It had now 813 church- 

 es, 250 preaching-stations, 132 pastors and 

 evangelists, and three colleges within the 

 British colonies. The receipts for the year 

 had been 4,596 18s. 2d., and the expenses 

 4,022 13s. od. In the amount of receipts 

 were included legacies to the amount of 

 1,300. Three hundred pounds sterling had 

 been granted to the Canadian Congregational 

 Missionary Society, 264 10s. to the Congre- 

 gational College of British North America, 

 and 205 to the Congregational Union and 

 Mission in Victoria, Australia. 



In Australasia the Congregationalists have 

 organized " Congregational Unions " for each 

 of the colonies of Victoria, New South Wales, 

 Queensland, South Australia, Western Aus- 

 tralia, Tasmania, and New Zealand ; and they 

 have two colleges, the Congregational College 

 at Melbourne, Victoria, and Camden College, 

 Sydney; and, conjointly with Presbyterians 

 and Baptists, they support the Union College 

 of South Australia. 



In Africa there are Congregational Unions 

 in Natal and Madagascar. 



There are also a number of independent 

 churches, not formally associated in unions, 

 in the Cape Colony, in the West Indies, in Brit- 

 ish Guiana, in China, and in India. 



The " Congregational Year-Book " enumer- 

 ates the following churches and societies on 

 the Continent of Europe as " partly Congrega- 

 tional: " I. In France. 1. The Union of Evan- 

 gelical Churches, formed in 1849: It has 7 

 chapels in Paris, 41 churches in the provinces, 

 and 8 stations; a general synod of the pastors 

 and delegates of the churches is held every 

 two years. 2. Independent churches, not 

 in connection with the Evangelical Union : 

 There were 9 churches of this class in 1876. 

 3. The Evangelical Society of France, which 

 was established in 1833 for the diffusion of 

 evangelical truth, without regard to differences 

 of ecclesiastical polity: It supported in 1876 

 20 independent churches. II. In Belgium. 

 The Evangelical Society, or Belgian Christian 

 Missionary Church, established in 1838 : It had, 

 in 1876, 15 churches and 6 schools. There is 

 an institution for training evangelists at Nice, 

 established in 1874. III. In Switzerland. 1. 

 Geneva a, the Evangelical Church ; J, the 

 Evangelical Society : The latter supports a 

 faculty of theology at Geneva. 2. Vaud the 

 Free Churches (45 in 1876): They are united 

 on a basis which, though Presbyterian in form, 

 secures the independence of each. There is a 

 faculty of theology at Lausanne. 3. Neufcha- 

 tel the "Evangelical Church, independent of 

 the state : " It was founded in 1873, has a facul- 

 ty of theology at Neufchatel, and was in 1875 

 composed of 21 churches, with 41 pastors, and 

 3,001 male members. 4. Bern has 7 inde- 

 pendent churches. IV. In Spain. Nineteen 

 churches had been formed up to 1876, of which 

 5 were in Madrid. 



