CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



133 



BRITISH CONGREGATIONALISTS. The Congre- 

 gational Year-Book gives the following statis- 

 tics of the Congregational ministers in Great 

 Britain, the colonies, and the British Congre- 

 gational mission-fields: Ministers in England, 

 and English ministers in Wales, 2,074, of whom 

 481 were without pastoral charge ; Welsh min- 

 isters, 422, of whom 50 were without pastoral 

 charge; ministers in Scotland, 120, of whom 

 23 were without pastoral charge ; ministers in 

 Ireland, 26, of whom 2 were without pas- 

 toral charge ; ministers in the Channel Islands, 

 8 ; English ministers on the Continent of Eu- 

 rope, 8, of whom 2 were without pastoral 

 charge; ministers in the colonies, 301, of 

 whom 61 were without pastoral charge; mis- 

 sionaries of the London Missionary Society, 

 148; native ordained missionaries, 98: total, 

 3,205. The total number of churches was: In 

 England, 2,014 churches, 247 branch-churches, 

 844 preaching-stations, 209 evangelistic sta- 

 tions; in Wales, 731 Welsh chapels, 117 Eng- 

 lish chapels, 84 preaching-stations ; in Scotland, 

 109 churches ; in Ireland, 28 churches ; in the 

 islands of the British seas, 18 churches; in 

 Canada and Newfoundland, 118 churches; in 

 Australia, 157 churches, 104 preaching-sta- 

 tions; in New Zealand, 16 churches; in Natal, 

 4 churches, 7 preaching-stations ; also, in coun- 

 tries which are mission-fields, churches inde- 

 pendent of the London Missionary Society: in 

 the Cape Colony, 19; in Jamaica, 9; in India, 

 6; in China, 2. The number of churches part- 

 ly sustained by the London Missionary Society 

 was about 300. Total number of Congrega- 

 tional churches and branch-churches in Great 

 Britain and the colonies, 3,895 ; number of 

 preaching-stations, 1,039; of evangelistic sta- 

 tions, 209; of vacant churches, 332. The sta- 

 tistics of the Congregational colleges were: In 

 England, 10 colleges, with 32 professors and 

 280 students ; in Wales, 3 colleges, 8 professors, 

 112 students; in Scotland, 1 college, 8 profess- 

 ors, 9 students; in the colonies, 3 colleges, 9 

 professors, 29 students: total, 17 colleges, 52 

 professors, 430 students. There were also ten 

 institutions in heathen lands belonging to the 

 London Missionary Society, training about five 

 hundred native students. The Year-Book gives 

 a large list of local institutions and benevolent 

 societies of various kinds, connected with the 

 several associations, and of 3 annual, 1 quarter- 

 ly, 22 monthly, and 4 weekly periodicals in 

 England ; 1 monthly each in Ireland and Scot- 

 land ; 1 annual, 1 quarterly, 5 monthly, and 2 

 weekly periodicals in Welsh ; 1 annual and 2 

 monthly periodicals in Canada; 1 annual, 2 

 monthly, and 1 weekly periodicals in Austra- 

 lia all published by Congregationalists ; 5 

 French, 3 Italian, and 1 Spanish periodicals, 

 published by members of Continental societies 

 in communion with the Congregational Church. 



The Congregational Union of England and 

 Wales embodies in its constitution, as the fun- 

 damental principle of its organization, that 

 "the Union recognizes the right of every in- 



dividual church to administer its affairs free 

 from external control, and shall not, in any 

 case, assume authority, or become a court of 

 appeal." It lias connected with it 41 county 

 associations and unions. Afliliated with it 

 are the Union of the Welsh Independents, 

 with 15 associations; the Congregational 

 Union of Scotland, with 8 associations; the 

 Congregational Union of Ireland, the Unions 

 of the Colonies of Ontario and Quebec, Victo- 

 ria, New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Aus- 

 tralia, South Australia, Queensland, New Zea- 

 land, Natal, South Africa, and the Congrega- 

 tional Union of Madagascar. 



The 47th annual meeting of the Congrega- 

 tional Union of England and Wales was held 

 in London, May 8th. The Rev. J. Baldwin 

 Brown was unanimously elected chairman for 

 the year. The report of the committee pre- 

 eented an account of a number of subjects 

 which had been acted upon during the year, 

 among the most important of which was the 

 setting on foot of inquiries into the spiritual 

 condition of the country, and the provision 

 which existed for a pure and Scriptural min- 

 istry of the Gospel. A scheme of ques- 

 tions was in preparation relating to this sub- 

 ject, and ere long a plan of inquiry would be 

 submitted to the county unions. An annual 

 meeting of the secretaries of these associations 

 would form a part of the programme of the 

 autumnal sessions, at which the subject would 

 be considered in consultation. In regard to 

 the scheme of finance which had been before 

 the Union for several years, steps had been 

 taken to promote a thorough discussion of the 

 subject. Of 24 counties where conferences 

 had been held, 20 were, in the main, favor- 

 able to the proposal. A number of gentle- 

 men who held diverse views in regard to the 

 scheme had been added to the committee, 

 and it was proposed to reconsider the whole 

 question at a conference of delegates of the 

 county associations to be held in September, 

 in the hope of their formulating a plan which 

 would secure unity of feeling and action in 

 carrying it into effect. The requisite power 

 was given to the Special Finance Committee 

 to summon another representative conference 

 on the subject. The trustees of the Memorial 

 Hall reported that the income of the institution 

 for the year had been 1,623, which was in 

 excess of the estimate; the expenditure had 

 been 1,872, and the indebtedness was 4,000. 

 The total amount of outlay upon the Hall had 

 been 75,457. The library of the Hall had 

 been enriched by a gift of about 10,000 vol- 

 umes from the widow of the late Mr. Joshua 

 Wilson. A report was presented on the sub- 

 ject of temperance, which recommended an 

 annual temperance sermon in every church ; a 

 consideration of the results of recent scientific 

 researches as to the value of alcoholic bever- 

 ages; the removal of friendly societies from 

 public-houses to school-rooms ; petitions for in- 

 creased restrictions and limitations upon pub- 



