ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



17 



491 ; of European lay missionaries, 38 ; of Eu- 

 ropean female teachers, 20 ; of Eurasian teach- 

 ers, 25 ; of native Christian unordained teach- 

 ers of all classes, 3,289; whole number of 

 missionaries and teachers, 3,863 ; number of 

 native Christian adherents (including catechu- 

 mens, but the great majority baptized), 185,- 

 878; of communicants, 42,717; of schools, 

 1,868, with 69,256 pupils. A serious feature 

 in the history of the society's missions has 

 been the murder of Bishop Hannington, of the 

 Eastern Equatorial African mission, by order 

 of the King of Uganda, followed by the insti- 

 tution of persecution against the native Chris- 

 tians in that country, with many martyrdoms. 

 Liberation Society. The Triennial Conference 

 of the Society for the Liberation of Religion 

 from the Patronage and Control of the State was 

 held in London, beginning May 4. Mr. Alfred 

 Illingworth, M. P., presided. The treasurer's 

 report showed that the society had received, 

 during the past year, 7,957, and had paid out 

 7,438. The report of the Executive Commit- 

 tee represented that the question of disestab- 

 lishment was now in such a position as to 

 command the attention of Parliament. No- 

 where had the cause made more progress than 

 in Wales. The recent division on Mr. Dill- 

 wyn's motion for the disestablishment of the 

 Welsh Church showed the extent to which the 

 feeling prevailed, twenty-seven out of the thirty 

 Welsh members having voted for it. In Scot- 

 land, Mr. Gladstone's influence at the last elec- 

 tion had kept back the question, as was shown 

 at the recent division on Dr. Cameron's motion 

 for disestablishment. The committee had care- 

 fully prepared for the event of the recent elec- 

 tion, and the result was the return of an un- 

 precedented number of candidates in favor of 

 disestablishment. Events within the Estab- 

 lishment were all tending to show that the ex- 

 isting system was untenable. The result of 

 the general election had been to give a great 

 impetus to the movement for church reform. 

 But churchmen were greatly divided as to 

 what should be done, and there was a grow- 

 ing conviction that no really effective reform 

 could be had so long as the Church remained 

 established. Resolutions were passed recog- 

 nizing the results of the late general election 

 as a sure indication of the successful issue of 

 the present labors of the society ; in view of 

 the increased activity of the defenders of the 

 present established system, the possibility of 

 an appeal to the constituencies at an early 

 period, and the present state of political 

 parties, acknowledging the necessity for such 

 action as will be not only firm and vigorous, 

 but adapted to the advanced position of the 

 society's movement. " In particular," the 

 resolution continues, "this Conference urges 

 the importance of efforts to secure the inclu- 

 sion of the' principle of disestablishment in the 

 future policy of the Liberal party, and of any 

 future Liberal administration." Another reso- 

 lution favored the immediate amendment of 

 VOL. xxvi. 2 A 



the Burial Acts on the lines proposed by the 

 Government bill, which was at the time pend- 

 ing in Parliament which, it was assumed, if 

 carried, would render legal shorter notices of 

 funerals, or, the clergyman consenting, funer- 

 als without notice, would give to extra-parish- 

 ioners the same rights of burial by their own 

 ministers as parishioners enjoyed, and would 

 remove sectarian distinctions from cemeteries. 

 A resolution was also adopted declaring that 

 "the question of national education having 

 been raised anew by the appointment of a 

 Royal Commission, and also of a select Com- 

 mittee of the House of Commons in regard to 

 educational endowments, the Conference is of 

 opinion that it is of the highest importance 

 that strenuous efforts should be made to put 

 an end to the grave violations of religious 

 equality committed under the existing laws, 

 and to place the educational system' of the 

 country, in all its branches, on an equitable 

 and unsectarian basis. And the Conference is 

 further of opinion that, to secure such a result, 

 the funds of the-nation should not be appro- 

 priated to either schools or colleges of a secta- 

 rian character, and which are under the sole 

 control of denominational managers." A reso- 

 lution, adopted after the reading of a paper by 

 the Rev. J. Guinness Rogers on " National Re- 

 ligion without a State Church," expressed the 

 opinion of the Conference that " national re- 

 ligion can exist only to the extent to which 

 religion influences the minds and lives of the 

 individuals of whom the nation is composed, 

 while the establishment of churches by the 

 State necessarily involves more or less of in- 

 justice, and both fetters the action and secu- 

 larizes the character of the churches which are 

 established. Looking to the zeal and to the 

 liberality of the various religious communities 

 of this country, the Conference is firmly con- 

 vinced that a policy of disestablishment al- 

 ready successfully adopted in other parts of the 

 British Empire and in the United States of 

 America may be adopted in the mother- coun- 

 try also, not only without danger to its highest 

 interests, but to the promotion of the spiritual 

 welfare and the peace and unity of its people." 



The secretary of the society reported that 

 there were now 228 members of the House of 

 Commons who might be relied upon to sup- 

 port the cause of disestablishment; there were 

 63 doubtful members. Of the views of 13 

 they had no definite information; and there 

 were only 29 Liberals in the House of Com- 

 mons who had distinctly declared against 

 disestablishment. The Conference approved 

 the movements for disestablishment in Wales 

 and Scotland, and denied the practicability of 

 attempting by parliamentary legislation to ef- 

 fect a reform of the Church. 



The Church Union. The twenty-seventh an- 

 nual meeting of the English Church Union was 

 held in London, May 27. Viscount Halifax pre- 

 sided. The report of the Council showed that 

 the Union had received a net gain of 600 mem- 



