160 CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



CONGRESS OF FREE CHURCHES. 



Life," "The Relation of the Devotional to the 

 Practical Life," " The Church Meeting and the 

 Communion of Saints," "The Ministry," " Re- 

 cen! Scientific and Critical Developments affect- 

 ing our Conception of Prayer and Providence," 

 and "How to Substitute Co-operation for Com- 

 petition among the Free Churches." Meetings 

 were hfld for young people and in behalf of the 

 ( 'luiivli Aid Society. Social questions were con- 

 Mdered at a people's meeting. At a woman's 

 meeting the subjects were discussed of " What a 

 Woman may do in a Church, and whether Offi- 

 cially or Otherwise," and "The Position of 

 Woman in our Administrative System." 



London Missionary Society. The annual 

 meeting of the London Missionary Society was 

 held in London, May 5. The society's expendi- 

 tures for the past year had been 145,589, of 

 which sum 17,055 was the cost of the new 

 missionary steamer "John Williams," leaving 

 the actual expenditure on the current work of 

 t lie society 128,533, or about 8,500 less than 

 the expenditure of the previous year. With an 

 adverse balance at the beginning of the year, a 

 total liability had been incurred of 150,787, to 

 meet which 117,572 had been received from all 

 sources. Thus the year closed with an adverse 

 balance of 33,215. toward reducing which 

 about ] 8,000 additional had been contributed 

 in response to an appeal from the treasurer. 

 The report of the missionary work showed that 

 ten years previously the society had in connec- 

 tion 'with its missions 383 native ministers, 4,493 

 other preachers and workers, 89,359 members, 

 and 113,616 children in mission schools. Since 

 then they had practically withdrawn from the 

 West Indies, and had relinquished the missions 

 in the Society Islands, the Austral group, and on 

 Mare, yet to-day they had 1,476 native ministers, 

 6,758 other male workers, a great many female 

 workers, of whom no statistics had been given, 

 694,192 church members, and 125,984 scholars in 

 the day schools. Twenty-five missionaries had 

 been sent out, 2 of whom had been compelled to 

 return. 



The centenary celebrations of the London 

 Missionary Society began Nov. 3, with a meet- 

 ing at the Mansion House, London, presided 

 over by S. George Williams. Although the so- 

 ciety was not organized till September, 1795, the 

 first meeting preparatory to its formation was 

 held at Baker s chop house, November 4, 1794, 

 when 8 ministers 2 of the Church of Eng- 

 land, 2 Presbyterians, and 4 Congregationalists 

 determined to send out an address to ministers 

 and friends of Christianity, inviting them to a 

 meeting to be held in the following January. 

 I Miring the subsequent history of the society the 

 members of the Church of England and the 

 Presbyterians withdrew from it to support so- 

 cieties \\hich had been formed with their own 

 communion, leaving it ultimately chiefly to be 

 supported and controlled by Congregationalists. 

 Yet it has consistently maintained the catholicity 

 of its original basis. Its woik in the missionary 

 field has steadily enlarged, and, while the older 

 missions have been consolidated and extended, 

 new spheres of work have been from time to time 

 entered upon. The South African mission has 

 been extended to the very center of that conti- 

 nent. The wonderful results accomplished in 



Madagascar, where missionary work was begun 

 within twenty-five years of the society's founda- 

 tion, gave cause for great thankfulness. The first 

 medical mission was started in 1884, and the soci- 

 ety had now 17 fully qualified physicians on its 

 staff. It had .in the foreign fields 265 mission- 

 aries. 1,734 native ordained pastors and evangel- 

 ists, 6,446 native preachers, nearly 100,000 

 church members, 404,795 native adherents, 1,891 

 missionary schools with 125,984 pupils, and 250 

 men studying to become evangelists and preach- 

 ers. The raising of a centenary fund of 100,- 

 000 is contemplated as one of the features of the 

 celebration. 



Scottish Congregationalists. The joint 

 committee charged to consider the question of 

 the amalgamation of the Evangelical Union of 

 Scotland with the Scottish Congregational Union 

 has agreed to report to the assemblies of both 

 bodies that in its judgment " no inseparable 

 barrier" exists to their union, and that at least 

 several of the denominational institutions may 

 be at once united. There are difficulties in con- 

 nection with certain funds for sustentation and 

 other similar purposes, but it is hoped that 

 these, which are of a legal nature, will be over- 

 come, and that no minister will be allowed to 

 suffer so long as he remains in his present 

 charge. The theological halls at Glasgow and 

 Edinburgh also present difficulties, but it is 

 agreed that their management shall rest in the 

 hands of their present constituents, in the belief 

 that in process of time steps will be taken to in- 

 clude them in the united organization. 



CONGRESS OF FREE CHURCHES. A 

 second congress of the British free churches 

 met in Leeds, March 12. It was composed not 

 of representative delegates, but of members of 

 different denominations, acting on their own re- 

 sponsibility. Questions were discussed relating 

 to church work, the relations of the churches to 

 the working classes, " denominational overlap- 

 ping," and church federation and co-operation. 

 A conference composed of representatives of 8 

 denominations met in London, Nov. 15, on 

 the recommendation of the Free Church Con- 

 gress, to consider concerning the substitution of 

 co-operative for competitive action among the 

 evangelical free churches. The opinion was 

 prevalent that the feeling of unity among the 

 churches was so great that, though legislative 

 action within the denominations might be im- 

 possible, the habit of mutual consideration was 

 growing to such an extent that the objects of 

 the conference were not hopeless. Resolutions 

 were adopted recommending that the denomina- 

 tions represented in the movement should con- 

 sider some plan for overtaking the religious needs 

 of the country, and some plan for avoiding the 

 evils of overlapping of any churches or schools 

 in all future movements, and as far as possible 

 for reducing the evil wherever it is now proved 

 to exist ; and that special attention be given to 

 " some methods for insuring fuller fellowship 

 among people worshiping among other denomi- 

 nations than their own." A few days after this 

 meeting a plan was published, embodying the 

 spirit of its declarations, for organizations among 

 the free churches in counties and towns for 

 carrying into effect the principles embodied in 

 the resolutions. 



