246 CONGREGATIONALISM ordained ; but once in America, there was, as Robinson had predicted, but slight difference between the nonconformists and the Plymouth pilgrims. The same thing is true of the set- tlers of the Connecticut and New Haven col- onies, who sought to be free, not from the Anglican church, but from its errors and cor- ruptions. Notwithstanding the hardships in- volved in the planting and training of Christian churches in this new land, the Congregational- ists who remained in England were even less favorably situated for extending their views of church polity. The civil commotions in the middle of the 17th century, and the persecu- tions and ridicule it encountered in the reign of Charles II., checked the growth of the sys- tem in its youth, while the distinctions of so- ciety and the disabilities resting on dissenters from the established religion have been a per- petual incubus upon it. The Congregational ministry has been filled by well educated men. The earliest of them were graduates of the English universities. Some of them were men of rare attainments and scholarship. Harvard college was established at an early day, with special reference to the wants of the churches. Before 1640, 77 clergymen had left the pastor- al office in England for the work of the minis- try in New England, and 14 more, pursuing a course of theological study, had come here to complete it, and to enter the ministry. In 1665 the commissioners of Charles II. reported of the people of Connecticut, " that they had a scholar to their minister in every town or village." The Congregational churches of Con- necticut down to the year 1832 had had 947 ministers, of whom all but 33 were regular graduates of some college. Among eminent men of this denomination it is sufficient to mention the names of John Milton, John Owen, Howe, Watts, Doddridge, J. Pye Smith, Harris, and Wardlaw ; and in this country, the Mathers, the Edwardses, Shepard, Bellamy, Hopkins, Emmons, Dwight, Stuart, and Taylor. The Congregationalists generally have carried their liberality so far as to neglect in great measure the extension of their polity in its pure form. Multitudes of them have gone into other eccle- siastical connections, by an easy transfer, in changing their residence, and particularly in emigrating westward. The Presbyterian fam- ily of churches has been greatly indebted to this largeness of spirit and lack of denomina- tional zeal. The present century has been dis- tinguished for large and efficient plans of be- nevolent action. In many of these the Con- gregationalists have taken the lead, furnishing men and means without grudging. The " Con- gregational Year Book," published by the Con- gregational union of England and Wales, con- tains lists of churches connected with county associations, and an alphabetical list of Inde- pendent ministers in Great Britain and the colonies. In the summary reported for 1872, it is stated that the number of county associa- tions and unions throughout the British empire, and in the foreign missions conducted by British missionaries in Madagascar, was 75 (40 in Eng- land, 16 in Wales, 8 in Scotland, 1 in Ireland, 9 in colonies, 1 in Madagascar) ; of pastors, 2,716; of ministers without pastoral charges, 603 ; of churches, 3,609. There were 29 col- leges and institutes, with 567 students. The number of periodicals conducted by Congrega- tionalists in the British empire was 4 annual, 2 quarterly, 21 monthly, and 3 weekly, in the English language, and 10 periodicals in Welsh. The British Congregationalists, like other evan- gelical dissenters in England, do much for the support of the London missionary society, which in the year 1871-'2 disbursed 113,213, of the British and foreign Bible society, of the religious tract society, and of other similar in- stitutions. The most important among the strictly Congregational societies, are the home missionary society, established in 1819, the re- ceipts of which in 1871-'2 were 6,591; the Irish evangelical society and Congregational home mission, established in 1814 (income, 2,902) ; and the Colonial missionary society, established in 1836 (income, 2,900). In France there is a " Union of Evangelical Churches," which embraces Congregational as well as Presbyterian societies (numbering 45 in 1872), but the former are in a large majority. There were also 9 Independent churches un- connected with the union, and 19 churches supplied by the evangelical society of France. In Switzerland there are evangelical free churches of the same order in the cantons of Geneva, Bern, Vaud, and Neufchatel ; and in Belgium there are 15 churches of this class. According to the " Congregational Quarterly " for January, 1873, there were in 1872 in the United States 2,487 Congregational churches, 318,916 church members, and 371,110 pupils in Sunday schools. Besides a large number of colleges in whose administration this denomina- tion takes an active part, it has theological seminaries at Andover, Bangor, New Haven, Hartford, Oberlin, Chicago, and Oakland, Cal. Congregationalists were formerly associated with the New School Presbyterians in the American board of commissioners for foreign missions ; but the union has of late been dis- solved, and the board is now under the exclu- sive control of the Congregational churches. Its receipts for the year ending October, 1872, were $428,693. It sustains 16 missions, with 77 stations, 445 out stations, 173 churches, and 9,019 church members. The American home missionary society had an income of $294,566, and the American missionary society of $330,- 146. The periodicals published in the inter- est of Congregationalism embrace 4 quarterlies and 7 weeklies, besides several Welsh publica- tions. The writers and authorities upon this subject are numerous. Among more recent ones, in whose volumes will be found abundant references to the older, we mention Davidson on the " Ecclesiastical Polity of the New Tes- tament;" Uhden on the "New England The-
