CONG REG ATIONAL1STS. 



155 



confluence of the Mbomu and the Welle, follows 

 the Thalweg of the Mbomu up to its source, and 

 then a straight line up to the watershed between 

 the Nile and the Congo basins, and from there 

 the frontier of the Congo State is formed by 

 the watershed to its intersection with longitude 

 30. France is allowed, under conditions to be 

 arranged, the right of police over the course of 

 the Mbomu and of pursuit on the left bank in case 

 of trespasses on French territory. Posts estab- 

 lished by the Free State north of the stipulated 

 boundary were to be handed over to accredited 

 agents of the French authorities. The Congo 

 State bound itself to renounce all occupation 

 and to exercise in future no political influence 

 in the territory leased from Great Britain west of 

 the thirtieth meridian or north of 5 30' of north 

 latitude, and then due .east to the Nile. This 

 permits the Congo State to occupy Lado, thus 

 giving it access to the Nile, but annuls the An- 

 glo-Belgian treaty with regard to the rest of the 

 left bank of the Nile, and sweeps away the neu- 

 tral state which England sought to interpose as 

 a buffer between the British sphere of influence 

 on the Nile and the French advancing from the 

 west and now secure in possessing the Mbomu 

 of a convenient avenue of approach. 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. The following 

 is a summary of the statistics of the Congre- 

 gational churches in the United States given 

 in the " Congregational Yearbook for 1894 " : 

 Number of churches. 5.236 ; of ministers, 5,138 ; 

 of church members, 561,631; of families, 385,- 

 602 ; of additions to the churches during the 

 year by confession, 34,444 ; of baptisms during 

 the year, 15,247 of adults and 11,475 of infants : 

 of members of Sunday schools, 646,994, with an 

 average attendance of 399,078. Amount of be- 

 nevolent contributions during the year, 4,465 

 churches reporting : For foreign missions, $410,- 

 070 : for education, $291,975 ; for church build- 

 ing, $102,069 ; for home missions. $578.824; for 

 the American Missionary Association, $157,989 ; 

 for Sunday schools, $63,890 ; for the New West 

 Education Commission, $22,556; for ministerial 

 -aid, $25,765 ; for other benevolences, $749,541 ; 

 total, $2,402,679. Contributions of 4,419 

 churches for home expenditures, $7,005,338; 

 amount of legacies reported, $947,311 J benevo- 

 lent contributions of Sunday schools, $129,970. 

 Of the churches, 3,902 are returned as supplied, 

 and 1.334 as vacant ; of the ministers, 3,359 as 

 in pastoral work and 1,779 as without charge. 

 The number of Young People's Societies of 

 Christian Endeavor is given as 3,392. and that 

 of members of the same as 167,077. Increase in 

 the number of churches during the year, 96 ; in 

 the number of members, 18,906 ; in the number 

 of members of Sunday schools, 16,629 ; decrease 

 in the amount of benevolent contributions, 

 $249,213 ; in amount of contributions for home 

 -expenditures, $140,754. The 7 theological semi- 

 naries return 52 .professors, 27 instructors or lec- 

 turers, 15 resident licentiates or fellows, 29 in 

 the advanced graduate class, and 520 under- 

 graduate students. The library of the Ameri- 

 can Congregational Association in Boston con- 

 tained, at the end of 1893, 32.758 volumes and 

 58,083 pamphlets, 963 volumes and 635 pam- 

 phlets having been added during the year. The 

 total income of the Congregational Sunday 



School and Publishing. Society for 1893 was 

 $68,878. It aided in the organization of 545 

 Sunday schools. During the previous nine 

 years 450 Congregational churches grew out of 

 the schools organized by its missionaries. The 

 National Council's Ministerial Relief fund, 

 started with a bequest of $10,000, has grown to 

 amount to more than $35,000. The American 

 Education Society received, in 1893, $116,538. 

 and expended $111,435. It aided 9 colleges, at- 

 tended by about 1,200 students, and 14 acad- 

 emies ; and it gave help to 392 students in the 

 regular course of study, 87 of whom were on its 

 list for the first time. It also assisted about 60 

 foreign (Slavic and German) students, represent- 

 ing in all 9 nationalities, in 3 theological semi- 

 naries. The work of the New West Education 

 Commission was assumed by the society in Sep- 

 tember, 1893, bringing under its care 5 additional 

 academies, 1 training school, and 12 mission 

 schools in Utah and New Mexico. 



Church Building Fund. The receipts of 

 the Congregational Church Building Society for 

 1893 were $182,462. Included in this sum is 

 a special gift of $35,410, given by one person as 

 an annuity trust. The society assisted in pay- 

 ing for 144 houses of worship and 54 parsonages ; 

 in which operation, by paying out $103,170, prop- 

 erty valued at $452,563 was brought into exist- 

 ence and use. The Parsonage Loan fund has 

 reached the sum of $170,135, of which $86,765 

 have come into the treasury donations and $83,- 

 370 in loans refunded. The Church Building 

 Loan fund amounts to $208,908. 



Home Missionary Society. The sixty- 

 eighth annual meeting of the Congregational 

 Home Missionary Society was held in Omaha, 

 Neb., June 6. Major-General 0. 0. Howard 

 presided. The total resources of the society for 

 the year had been $635,132, the expenditures 

 had been $701,441, and the liabilities were 

 $822,975. Two thousand and twenty-nine mis- 

 sionaries had been employed, of whom 1,004 

 had been pastors or stated supplies of single 

 congregations, 631 had ministered to two or 

 three congregations each, and 394 had extended 

 their labors over still wider fields. Deducting 

 19 missionaries reported in more than 1 State, 

 the whole number of persons employed was 

 2,010. The number of congregations and mis- 

 sionary districts supplied was 3,930. Six mis- 

 sionaries had been in commission as pastors or 

 stated supplies of congregations of colored peo- 

 ple, and 218 had preached in foreign languages 

 to Welsh, German, Scandinavian, Bohemian, Pol- 

 ish, French, Mexican, Italian, Spanish, Finnish, 

 Danish, Armenian, and Jewish congregations. 

 Two hundred and seventy-four new Sunday 

 schools had been organized, and 2,407 Sunday 

 schools, with 164,050 pupils, were under the 

 special care of the missionaries. The number 

 of members added to the churches on confes- 

 sion of faith was 8.508. One hundred and nine- 

 teen churches had been organized during the 

 year, and 36 churches had become self-support- 

 ing. Eighty-one houses of worship had been 

 completed, and 192 materially repaired or im- 

 proved. One hundred and fifteen men con- 

 nected with the missionary churches were pro- 

 paring for the ministry. The Woman's Depart- 

 ment, organized in 1883, comprised 41 State 



