134 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



The proposals of Dr. Parker, as they had 

 been summarized in the circular sent out by the 

 committee to the churches and county unions, 

 embodied the following features: 



I. The name. The United Congregational 

 Church. 



II. Constitution. To be the Confederation of 

 the Congregational Churches of England and 

 Wales. 



III. Administration. The churches thus con- 

 federated shall appoint a general council, in whom 

 shall be vested full powers of administration. 

 This council might consist of representatives 

 nominated by the churches and elected either an- 

 nually or triennially by the county unions in such 

 propoVtions as may hereafter be determined. The 

 general council may consist of not less than 600 

 members. 



IV. This general council shall meet at least 

 once in each year, and the business entrusted to 

 it by the United Congregational Church shall be 

 transacted. 



While it was conceded that there are certain 

 prerogatives, responsibilities, and privileges which 

 belong to the individual churches, it was main- 

 tained that there are other great questions, such 

 as the introduction of proper men into the min- 

 istry, the administration and management of the 

 Congregational societies and institutions, the con- 

 duct of missions at home and abroad, etc., which 

 concern all the churches of the Congregational 

 faith and order. It was with the latter questions 

 that the general council would have to do. 



The churches were asked to answer certain 

 questions: 1, If they approved the federation; 2, 

 if they did not like it, what plan they had to 

 suggest; 3, if they approved the name. 



Upon hearing the report of the answers to the 

 circular of the committee, the assembly resolved 

 *' that the General Committee of the union, having 

 already carefully considered various branches of 

 Congregational reform, and having consulted the 

 churches on Dr. Parker's proposal, is hereby re- 

 quested to prepare a scheme which may serve to 

 unite Congregational churches more closely for 

 common purposes. And to this end, the General 

 Committee is authorized to appoint a special 

 committee of 24, not more than 16 of whom 

 shall be members of its own body, to draft pro- 

 posals for its consideration. The General Commit- 

 tee shall report its recommendations to the as- 

 sembly as early as practicable." Resolutions 

 were adopted unreservedly condemning the edu- 

 cation bill and recording the sense of the as- 

 sembly " not only of the public damage to re- 

 ligion in the bill proposed, but far more of the 

 wound to Christ's body and the grief to the Holy 

 Spirit. We see in it one section of his true flock 

 using an accidental political advantage to compel 

 from the other's conscience the support of teach- 

 ing which we think (rightly or wrongly) that he 

 has led us to regard as unscriptural and not 

 merely as inadequate. And not only so, but we 

 are forced to support teaching which unchurches 

 us; and yet worse, which invades our hearths by 

 instructing our children to deny their fathers' 

 faith and despise the religion of their homes. The 

 safeguards proposed are, have been, and must be, 

 illusory in practise." Copies of these resolutions 

 were ordered sent to the Archbishops of Canter- 

 bury and York and the I'.ishops of London, Dur- 

 ham, and Hereford. The final statement of the 

 Twentieth Century fund showed that the total 

 amount contributed had been 710,123; of which 

 8:5.121 had been for the central fund. 407.811 

 for supplemental funds, and 210.701 (incom" 

 plete) for affiliated funds. The sum of 82,- 



492 had been disbursed on account of the central 

 fund, while the supplemental and affiliated funds 

 were shown as having been disbursed by the re- 

 porting churches and unions. Some churches 

 having made promises, which at present they 

 were unable to fulfil, arrangements had been made 

 to keep the fund open so as to receive their con- 

 tributions. Of whatever came in half would be 

 forwarded to the London Missionary Society, and 

 the remainder would be divided equally between 

 the Church Aid Society and the Colonial Mission- 

 ary Society. The Special Committee on a Uni- 

 form Code of Rules regarding Ministerial Re- 

 movals reported concerning the answers of the 

 unions to the propositions sent them, showing a 

 variety of views and action on the subject. The 

 General Committee was instructed to summon a 

 conference of representatives of the county unions 

 to promote the adoption by all of them of the 

 same code of rules. A Sunday-school conference 

 and the annual meeting of the Young People's 

 Union were held in connection with the assembly. 

 The Rev. Dr. R. F. Horton was elected chairman 

 of the union for the ensuing year. 



The autumnal meetings of the Union were held 

 at Glasgow' jointly with the Congregational 

 Unions of Scotland and Ireland, beginning Sept. 

 23. The most prominent subject of the discus- 

 sions was the education bill, against which the 

 assembly protested most strongly, because, as its 

 resolution reads: " 1. It sacrifices educational ef- 

 ficiency to sectarian and priestly ends. 2. By the 

 summary abolition of the school boards of Eng- 

 land and Wales, which have powerfully promoted 

 the education of the people, while they have en- 

 larged religious liberty for parents, teachers, and 

 scholars, it has seriously impaired the direct con- 

 trol of the people over schools supported by public 

 funds, while it also tends to withdraw the schools 

 out of the range of their immediate interests. 3. 

 It has not only been introduced without mandate 

 from the constituents, but it is also being forced 

 through Parliament in the face of direct indica- 

 tions that the opinion of the country is opposed 

 to its main provisions. 4. It violates the prin- 

 ciple of civil and religious liberty (a) by placing 

 the entire support of denominational schools on 

 public funds without providing for public control 

 in all respects of such schools, and (6) by con- 

 fining the appointment of teachers in denomina- 

 tional schools to members of tlje denomination. 

 This assembly therefore calls upon his Maj- 

 esty's Government to withdraw the bill or 

 forthwith to appeal to the country upon it. 

 And if the act is forced upon the nation, the as- 

 sembly is prepared to advise its members to re- 

 fuse to pay the rates." Only six votes were 

 cast against the resolution as a whole, but about 

 20 dissentients were recorded against the final 

 clause ad vising refusal to pay the rates in the 

 event of the enactment of the bill. The officers of 

 the London Missionary Society represented that 

 14,000 were still required to clear off the de- 

 ficiency of the past three years, amounting to 

 63,000; and that an increase of from 20 to -j: 

 per cent, on the present income was needed to 

 meet the annual expenditure of !;>!. 000. which 

 the board was pledged not to exceed for the 7n\t 

 five years. Eighty now missionaries had been >riit 

 into the field, hut the income had not been pro- 

 portionately increased. At a meeting of the Con- 

 gregational' Historical Society mention was made 

 of the ma>s of unedited manuscripts in certain 

 libraries which might afford valuable informal ion 

 upon the subjects with which tin- society \va< 

 concerned, and a paper was read on Historical 

 Points of Contact of English and Scottish Con- 



