i M 



CONGREGATION \ 



fat and Uvingstone: and that it had nowSW 

 in different part of i ho world. The 

 had nnder- 



rais in commemoration of this event, 

 plied to -lu.-v. ...,:,! and other special 

 C7.l6tt. Special t 

 the condition of the mis- 

 fans and tne people in Samoa, where, although 

 hfc * oil in many respects n ' runty 



with tho n>iuirero*nu of the Gospel, many so- 



lob* applied 



rm h*l bean enV. thi oonv 



*. * a wh<4e, had beon CMsttatttedt th 

 Btraj Islands, where there were 90 chur.-h-. 

 with acoompanyinf sohooU and homes for mi- 

 iiumea.lto members in fellowship, and U950 

 papiU; Sew Guinea, where the work of c,.nv,-r- 



*a adranein* gradually; Madagascar, 

 where, with Rnglish missionaries and 

 than 1.000 native pastors, there were 1 .!"; 

 churches or other buil lings in which services 

 wervheld connected with the society, in addi- 

 tion to numerous auxiliary agencies of a reli- 

 gions and educational nature, and adherents 

 numbered by hundreds of thousand - : India; 

 South Africa, and China. Papers were read n 

 -The hitv of the Missionary Society to the 

 Children ot Converts," " Schools as a Means of 

 preparing the Way of th 

 for Industrial Miwio- >, ings for Chris- 



lian Workaraon. - and Kdueated Men 



a." and - Medical Work in Connection 

 with Missionary Enterprise." A meeting was 



r the discussion of woman's work in tho 

 mission field at which papers were read on tho 

 home life and position or women in heathen 

 lands, the difficulties of missionary work in 

 heathen homes, and the position and opportu- 



f the European woman missionary. A 

 special committee reported, as the result of an 

 examination of the whole of the society's ex- 

 penses, home and foreign, that they had' found 

 no appreciable waste. Some criticisms of tho 

 Methods of the missionaries having been made 

 at the meeting of the British Association h> 

 Mr. W. M. Flinders Petrie and which 



it was intimated that they interfered to,, much 

 and unwisely with harmless nat... customs, th- 

 Rev. Dr. Brace said they were actuated by a 

 spirit of tenderness and gentleness toward any- 

 thing that was at all simple or moral union:: the 

 natives. There were, however, soin 

 that they were bound to speak again-t. and in 

 doing to they were only following th. f.-.tsteps 

 of the A|olle Paul, who did ate to 



disturb ancient customs wherever he found 

 them opposed to righteousness. The Rev. J. 

 Chalmers, from New Guinea, said he had ner- 

 onally baptUed naked people. The Rev. S. J. 

 Whitney, from Polynesia, had known onfy one 

 missionary who insisted on the people wearing 



Tim meetings were participate 1 in hv 

 Christian African chiefs, and were atten 

 visiting delegates by representatives of twenty 

 other missionary societies. 



The committee of the Knglish Congregational 

 Union proposes to follow up tho impression pro- 

 duced by the recent centenary of the London 

 Missionary Society with a course of lectures on 



miwtonary tbemes, and a series of conferences 

 and meetings for prayer. 



(olonial >li-jonan Socirt.y. Tl tiftv- 



ninth n-pnrt of tin- C..I.iiiial M 



in. !iti"ii- a new depart urc \\hidi had Ixm made 



in tho direction of L.MV in-j <-"inix<-l and aid to na- 



midcd liy the London .Mivion- 



. incuts had IM-CII made for 



\iMtati'ii-' to tin- chiirclu-s of .lnin!ii-a. I'.riti-h 

 (tuiiina. Natal, and the Cap.- Colony. Payments 

 and |ijins had hern made to a Dumber of OOlo* 

 nial churche- ami aid olTcrcd to the \\.-t Aus- 

 tralian churches and to chun-he- in ( 'anada and 

 Newfoundland. The year's JIM 

 an increa-c. and a balance of J.Y..". was left. 



Church Aid So,-i.-i\. ' tional 



Church Aid Society had ; >H chnrchi s, 



or li l.-ss than in 'the pr< r. (..nnected 



with which were 588 pastors and cvan-d 



.in increase 



income of the society had IM-.-II 



more than in the previous year, 



and the expenditure L increase of 087. 



The aided chill'. ' I IT.'.'IM 



le-- than in the previous \ear: and tin 

 l.eeii j.aid in Arrant- 28.487, an increase. 



Congregralional Cnion of South \liic.i. 

 At the nnnnal assembly of the OoDgTegatioiiaj 

 Union of South Africa, held at Cnihan. 

 the recent le^i-lation as alTcctinir thu native 

 churches was nnanimously condemned a*- unjust. 

 Instead of e-talil'shin^ a separate institution for 

 the training of R native ministry, it was decided 

 to send the students to Lovedale and make a 

 special contribution to the institution there, in 

 addition to the regular charp-s. Mca-ur. 

 taken concerning the life nranee i.f ministers, 

 and to iiroinotw tho "forward movement." 



The < on-rcirationail Churches in .Mmlajf 

 C*r. Madapiscar has been one of the most fruit- 

 ful fields of the operations of the London Mis- 

 sionary Society. After many years of arduous 

 labor, with twcnt\-H\ years of fierce persecution. 



a -tn-ii.i: Church had licen l)iiilt up in the Hova 

 kingdom, and Congregational Christianity had 

 siili>tantially licconie tlic religion of the nation. 

 Much interest ha- liei-n attached to the ipie-tion 

 of what woidd he the fate of this Church after 

 the French conquest. The Rev. \V. K. c,,u>ins, 

 missionary, wa- able to make a plea-ant f 

 at the meeting of tho London Mi ionary 

 ty for the future of the Madagascar Protestant*, 

 Through twenty-six years of |>crsecution there, 

 i. the native Christians kepi their churches 

 alive, and that fact might assure them as to their 

 Jut uro. Those people were not. to be lightly 

 turned away from the religion they possessed; 

 and ti. r still clung to the" belief that 



i ate they would ho. 



ahl> to continue th. ir Christian work. Full 

 ion and complete toleration were guaran- 

 teed by the Anirlo-French Convention, and they 

 had tl ce of th- highe-t French ofli'- 



ciaN to the same effect. He believed the French 

 would find it politic not to persecute the I' 

 tants, who formed the mo-t influential part of 

 the population; mid that the people of central 

 Madagascar, who were practically all Christians, 

 would carry the Gospel throughout the whole, 

 island. It would be l . however, to give 



more attention to the teaching of tho French 

 language. Nine tenths of the population of the 

 whole island arc still heathens. 



