156 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



had been instituted four years previously for 

 promoting a higher standard of theological at- 

 tainment by means of examinations. Eight 

 Congregational colleges and one Baptist college 

 had entered into the arrangement, and were 

 represented in the Senatus by their professors 

 and three other delegates each. Four annual 

 examinations had been held, at which 69 can- 

 didates had presented themselves, 57 of whom 

 had satisfied the examiners. 



Congregationalisms in Australia. The Congrega- 

 tional churches of Australia make returns of 

 members as follows: In New South Wales, 

 48 churches, 12,995 adherents, 6,229 Sunday- 

 school scholars; Victoria, 45 churches, 15,447 

 adherents, 7,370 Sunday - school scholars ; 

 South Australia, 45 churches, 9,860 adherents, 

 4,390 Sunday-school scholars; Queensland, 20 

 churches, 5,650 adherents, 2,784 Sunday-school 

 scholars; Tasmania, 29 churches, 4,835 adher- 

 ents, 2,246 Sunday-school scholars ; total, 187 

 churches, 48,747 adherents, and 23,019 Sunday- 

 school scholars. 



The Jubilee of Congregationalism in Aus- 

 tralia and Tasmania was celebrated by an in- 

 tercolonial conference of the churches, which 

 was held in Sydney. The establishment of a 

 Jubilee Fund was determined upon, of $100,- 

 000, to be applied to the payment of church 

 debts and the foundation of a Ministers' Relief 

 Fund. Ninety thousand dollars were sub- 

 scribed to this fund during the sessions of the 

 conference. 



Congregationalism in Canada. As early as 1753 

 a congregational church gathered in Halifax, 

 N. S. The name by which it was subsequently 

 known, Mather Church, indicates its New Eng- 

 land origin. A large Scotch Presbyterian ele- 

 ment eventually came into Nova Scotia, and 

 after the revolution settlement during which 

 many of the old New England settlers returned 

 to their Massachusetts home a Presbyterian 

 minister was called to the pastorate. Eventu- 

 ally, by act of Parliament, the property of 

 Mather Church was secured to ''St. Matthew's 

 Presbyterian Church," and Congregationalism 

 lost its identity in Halifax. 



The men who planted the British flag over 

 the French forts of Acadie were very largely 

 Massachusetts Puritans, and their chaplains 

 generally accompanied the troops, as the 

 French were Roman Catholics. 



At present, there are in the two provinces 

 of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with 

 their population of 750,000, twenty-one Con- 

 gregational churches, sixteen ministers, and an 

 acknowledged adherence of 5,000 souls. By 

 ft bequest from Mrs. Gorham, of Liverpool, 

 N. S., a Congregational College was estab- 

 lished in that town, but want of sufficient 

 means, with the burning of the college build- 

 ing, has caused that interest to be closed and 

 its funds to be appropriated, as the bequest 

 provided, for mission purposes. 



In 1775 a Mr. Jones, a Welshman and a 

 Whitefieldite, connected with the Royal Artil- 



lery, gathered a church at St. John's, N. F., 

 which continues to this day in active opera- 

 tion, and is the center of a missionary work in 

 that island. A mission on the Labrador coast is 

 worked from the church at St. John's. There 

 are now one settled pastor and three ordained 

 missionaries in Newfoundland connected with 

 Congregationalism. 



In what are known as the Eastern townships 

 of the present province of Quebec, settlers 

 from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Ver- 

 mont came in, forming the nucleus of Congre- 

 gationalism in that section. The first remem- 

 bered church gathered on Stanstead plain in a 

 log barn, 1798, near the site of the present 

 church-building. The churches in this locality, 

 though in working connection with the Cana- 

 dian churches, take much of their tone from 

 the New England brethren, representing the 

 Congregationalism of Massachusetts rather than 

 that of England. 



In 1801 Mr. Bentom, sent to the Canadas by 

 the London Missionary Society, established a 

 Congregational church in the city of Quebec. 

 No clergyman other than of the Anglican and 

 Papal communions could lawfully baptize, mar- 

 ry, or officiate in a public burying-ground with- 

 out license from the authorities, and the license 

 or register was renewed annually. After re- 

 ceiving his register two years, Mr. Bentom was 

 refused the third. For daring to print a pam- 

 phlet against this, he was arrested, fined 50, 

 and imprisoned for six months. It was not till 

 several years after that these disabilities were 

 removed by act of Parliament. The Quebec 

 church eventually, like that of Halifax, was 

 merged into* a Presbyterian church, though 

 another Congregational interest was imme- 

 diately started, which continued till the pres- 

 ent time, when the Protestant exodus from 

 Quebec has closed it for a season. 



Generally speaking, Congregationalism in the 

 present provinces of Ontario and Quebec dates 

 from the arrival, under the auspices of the Eng- 

 lish Colonial Missionary Society, of Mr. John 

 Roaf in Toronto, and of Dr. Henry Wilkes in 

 Montreal, about 1836. Around these gentle- 

 men gathered the Zion churches, which, for 

 life, liberality, influence, and social rank, were 

 second to none in the provinces. Zion Church, 

 Toronto, after having "hived off" four other 

 churches, has just erected a new building. 

 Emanuel Church, Montreal, is virtually the 

 old Zion of that city. ,In 1873, scattered 

 throughout the provinces of Ontario and Que- 

 bec, 85 churches were reported, 67 ministers, 

 and a membership of 4,500 : in 1883 the church- 

 es numbered 90, ministers 67, and members 

 6,000, with two churches established in the 

 new province of Manitoba. Most of the 

 churches and ministers of these provinces are 

 associated in a Union which meets annually for 

 conference only. 



^There is one theological college connected 

 with the denomination, of which the first tutor 

 or professor was Rev. A. Lillie, D. D., whose 



