FEDERATION OP CHURCHES. 



237 



ing with the distribution of population, of 

 church settlements, and charitable institutions; 

 the high percentage of the foreign population ; and 

 frequent changes of nationality which some neigh- 

 borhoods undergo. For effective work, the city is 

 divided into assembly-district or ward sub-federa- 

 tions, and a parish system is instituted, under 

 which each block is assigned to a church or co- 

 operative organization. These cooperating agen- 

 cies report yearly through the central federation 

 all families with definite religious preference to 

 congregations of their creed, while families with- 

 out such preferences are given into the charge of 

 the church supervising the blocks in which they 

 live. Through the same agencies watch is kept 

 upon all vicious institutions in the several districts 

 and blocks in order that the power of the federa- 

 tion may be brought to bear against them through 

 the officers of the law. Through them also in- 

 terest is fostered in the improvements of schools 

 and the maintenance of playgrounds, parks, and 

 libraries. 



Federation in Great Britain. The Free 

 Church Year-Book for 1902 represents that, ac- 

 cording to the latest returns, the Free Churches of 

 England and Wales have an aggregate of 1,946,- 

 959 members, while the estimated membership of 

 the Anglican Church is 1,974,629. The figures for 

 the entire English-speaking world indicate that 

 the Free Church membership is more than 18,000,- 

 000, and the Anglican membership a little more 

 than 3,000,000. 



National Council of Evangelical Free 

 Churches. The seventh annual meeting of the 

 English National Council of the Evangelical Free 

 Churches was held in Bradford, beginning March 

 11. The Rev. Dr. W. J. Townsend, of the Meth- 

 odist New Connection, presided and delivered an 

 opening address on the subject of The Free 

 Church of England : Its Divine Call. In it he sug- 

 gested the thought as a gladdening and a sobering 

 one that this, the youngest of the great organiza- 

 tions of the land, was vet the greatest, and cov- 

 ered at least 8,000,000 of adherents. The annual 

 report showed that since the meetings of the previ- 

 ous year at Cardiff the number of councils had in- 

 creased from 720 to 796. There was likely to be a 

 diminishing proportion of new councils, owing to 

 the fact that the entire area of England and Wales 

 was nearly covered already. A few councils since 

 the movement started had dissolved, and others 

 had been merged in larger councils. The fears 

 formerly entertained that the movement would 

 become political had not been realized, and not 

 more than a dozen councils " had struck on this 

 rock." The councils were increasingly doing solid 

 spiritual work. The district federations were per- 

 fecting their organizations and readjusting their 

 areas. The three missioners of the National Coun- 

 cil had each held missions in all parts of the 

 country, with crowded services, many conversions, 

 and quickening of the spiritual life of the churches. 

 Cycling mission bands had been very active in the 

 villages during the summer. The Social Purity 

 Crusade carried on by the Central South London 

 Council had led to the closing of 300 disorderly 

 houses. The National Council had taken an active 

 part in defense of progressive and unsectarian edu- 

 cation against the attacks of a " clericalizing gov- 

 ernment." A feature of the year had been the 

 launching of the Free Church Girls' Guild, which 

 had been taken up by 80 councils, while about 40 

 workers in addition were engaged in the villages. 

 About 3,000 girls had been brought within the 

 shelter of the guilds. Resolutions were adopted 

 proposing that non-conformist churches should 

 be enabled to acquire land compulsorily for 



the erection of places of worship when they can 

 not get land by purchase, and to enfranchise on 

 equitable terms places of worship held on lease- 

 hold tenure; urging local councils to take action 

 against gambling, and calling for rigorous en- 

 forcement of the existing law, with increased 

 municipal and administrative powers for the sup- 

 pression of betting; welcoming the Government's 

 bill to amend the law relating to the sale of in- 

 toxicating liquors and to drunkenness and to pro- 

 vide for the registration of clubs, and appealing to 

 the Government to introduce at the next session 

 a bill dealing radically with the licensing system 

 on the line of the recommendations of the minority 

 report ; and reaffirming the resolutions of the pre- 

 vious year respecting secondary education. These 

 resolutions protested against the application of 

 local rates to the establishment or maintenance 

 of denominational schools privately managed, and 

 expressed the opinion that the only solution of the 

 education question was the creation of one local 

 and directly representative authority, in areas of 

 sufficient size, responsible for all grades of educa- 

 tion. Among the subjects treated in the addresses 

 and papers delivered and read to the meeting were 

 Housing (Rev. Dr. Clifford) : The Attitude of Free 

 Church Councils to- Social Problems; The Right 

 Use of Wealth; Free Church Twentieth-Century 

 Funds: the Opportunities they Give Us; How 

 Successfully to Work a Free Church Council; 

 Twentieth-Century Evangelism; The Federation 

 Movement: a Link between the Nations; and the 

 Free Church Boys' Camp Movement. 



A national conference of Free Church Councils 

 to consider the education bill pending in Parlia- 

 ment was held in London April 15. The Rev. Dr. 

 W. J. To.wnsend, president of the National Council 

 of Free Churches, presided. In his opening address 

 the chairman declared that what were said to be 

 concessions to non-conformists in the education 

 bill were found to be " aggravations of the injustice 

 under which they had lived. The bill aimed to 

 destroy the only education authority which had 

 worked well for thirty-two years, and it changed 

 the face of education in the country immeasurably 

 for the worse. The proposals involved a new en- 

 dowment of what was already the richest church 

 in the world. This would constitute a new church 

 rate which would become a flag of controversy 

 and bitterness throughout the entire land. The 

 bill was objectionable in almost every detail, and 

 they could do nothing less than demand its with- 

 drawal in the name of national righteousness." 

 Resolutions were adopted describing the bill as an 

 entire reversal of the leading principles of the 

 settlement of 1870, and a violation of public 

 justice, seeing that it destroyed the direct popular 

 management and unsectarian character of schools 

 wholly maintained bv the ratepayers; protesting 

 against it as compelling non-conformists to pay 

 rates and taxes to schools whose teaching is wholly 

 repugnant to their conscience: perpetuating the 

 subjection of a state-paid teaching profession to 

 sectarian tests, thus closing a large majority of 

 the possible appointments against non-conformist 

 teachers otherwise eligible, and as tending to the 

 multiplication of sectarian schools; protesting 

 against destroying popularly elected school boards, 

 and questioning the equal efficiency of the school 

 boards contemplated in the bill with those specially 

 elected and directly responsible to the ratepayers; 

 and calling upon non-conformists " to oppose the 

 bill at every stage by public meetings, petitions 

 to Parliament, deputations to members, and by 

 every form of legitimate action in their several 

 districts"; and declaring "that Free Churchmen 

 can never agree or submit to the conditions laid 



