136 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



II. CONGREGATIOXALISTS OF ENGLAND AND 



WALES. The forty-ninth annual meeting of 

 the Congregational Union of England and 

 Wales \vas held in London, May 9th. The 

 Rev. Dr. Allon presided, and delivered an in- 

 augural address on the subject of " Congrega- 

 tionalism," treating the subject with especial 

 reference to the approaching jubilee of the 

 Union. He showed that of the eighty-two 

 million persons constituting the religious de- 

 nominations of the English-speaking world, 

 twenty-five millions, including the Baptist 

 churches, held to the Congregational, thirty- 

 two million Anglicans and Roman Catholics 

 to the Episcopal, and twenty-five million Pres- 

 byterians and Methodists to the Presbyterian 

 form of government. He believed that the 

 New Testament laid down no principle, in- 

 junction, or precedent concerning church gov- 

 ernment, but that the validity of the congre- 

 gational church life could be justified by an 

 appeal to the Congregationalism of the earliest 

 Christian communities. Referring to the his- 

 tory of the Union, the speaker remarked that 

 it had given birth to evangelizing agencies of 

 various kinds which had nearly doubled the 

 forces of English Congregationalism during the 

 last fifty years. Since 1838, the number of 

 chapels had increased from 1,879 to 3,102, 

 with 1,081 preaching-stations; of hearers, from 

 563,200 to 962,100 ; and of communicants from 

 169,110 to 313,807. The committee on the 

 special jubilee fund reported that it had de- 

 cided to recommend two objects, viz., the 

 Church Aid Society, and the project for liqui- 

 dating church debts, which were stated to 

 amount, in the aggregate, to half a million 

 pounds sterling. These propositions were unan- 

 imously approved. A resolution was passed 

 recommending " a godly, scriptural discipline, 

 both in the admission of members and in the 

 rebuke or exclusion of the unworthy." The 

 Rev. J. A. Macfadyen, of Manchester, was 

 elected president of the Union for the next year. 

 The fiftieth anniversary of the organization 

 of the Union was celebrated at the autumnal 

 meeting, which was held in Manchester, be- 

 ginning October 4th. A large deputation was 

 in attendance from the United States, and dele- 

 gates were also present from Canada, Ireland, 

 Scotland, Africa, and Australia. The opening 

 address of the president, Dr. Allon, was on 

 " The Church of the Future," and embodied 

 an argument to show that the " future will be 

 with the church that has in it the greatest 

 moral forces," those being declared the great- 

 est moral forces which most powerfully affect 

 the "conscience and the religious heart of 

 man." The Rev. Dr. Stoughton read a paper 

 also at the opening meeting on "Reminiscences 

 of Congregationalism Fifty Years ago." A 

 committee which had been appointed to raise 

 a jubilee fund reported that it had obtained 

 subscriptions to the amount of 50,179. Lect- 

 ures on the history and condition of Congre- 

 gationalism" were contemplated in aid of the 



enterprise. The fund was intended to remove 

 the load of debt under which many of the 

 churches were suffering, and to supplement 

 the pay of ministers, but the institution of a 

 system of permanent endowment was not con- 

 templated. The subscriptions would be spread 

 over three or five years, at the end of which 

 time it was expected that the income of the 

 churches would be permanently and volun- 

 tarily increased. 



The eighty-seventh annual meeting of the 

 London Missionary Society was held in Lon- 

 don, May 12th. The Earl of Aberdeen pre- 

 sided. The receipts of the society during the 

 year from all sources had amounted to 108,- 

 247, and the expenditures to 111,659. The 

 report of the foreign secretary contained a 

 general comparative review of the operations 

 of the society during the last ten years. The 

 number of European missionaries had been re- 

 duced from 175 in 18G7and 160 in 1871 to 139, 

 but the reduction had not been attended with 

 a corresponding contraction in the sphere of 

 labor of the society, for the principle of self- 

 support had been extended. Ten churches in 

 South Africa and eleven churches in the West 

 Indies had become independent during the last 

 ten years. The number of native laborers had 

 also largely increased to a degree represented 

 by the return of 371 native ordained pastors 

 in 1880 to 106 in 1870, of 4,529 native preachers 

 in 1880 to 1,644 in 1870, besides a considerable 

 increase among the independent churches of 

 the "West Indies and the Cape Colony. New 

 missions had been begun in Central Africa and 

 New Guinea, which employed twelve mission- 

 aries. Training institutes were in successful 

 operation in the South-Sea Islands, Madagas- 

 car (Antananarivo College), and in South Africa 

 (Moffat Institute). Fourteen women missiona- 

 ries additional to wives of missionaries had been 

 sent out since 1876, of whom eleven were still 

 engaged in work. The most successful work 

 had been accomplished in Madagascar and the 

 South-Sea Islands, and substantial progress had 

 been made in India and China. The Rev. 

 Ralph Wardlaw Thompson entered upon the 

 office of foreign secretary of the society in Jan- 

 uary, 1881, in place of the Rev. Dr. Mullens, 

 deceased. 



III. FREE CHURCHES OF FRANCE. The Synod 

 of the Union of Free Evangelical Churches of 

 France met in Paris, November 10th. Dr. E. 

 de Pressens6 was chosen president. The Syno- 

 dal Commission reported the present number 

 of members to be 3,139, or 88 less than were 

 returned at the previous synod. Three pastors 

 had left the synod for the Reformed Church, 

 while the synod had received three pastors from 

 abroad and had ordained six new ones. The 

 total contributions of the churches had been 

 55,389 francs, besides which the synod had re- 

 ceived 30,180 francs from abroad. The Com- 

 mission for Evangelization had received 96,606 

 francs, and maintained thirteen stations, which 

 were supplied by fourteen agents. 



