the neighborhood that the funeral was in progress. The women folk wailed loudly, and we formed the funeral procession."

After the burial, the Rev. Mr. Bentley, with prayer, addressed the people on the meaning of death, and the hope and way of life. "Every one must have felt that Nlemvo, with all these new strange Christian ideas and customs, at least gave his mother an honorable and worthy burial, and his white man came himself to show his respect. The funeral is a most important matter in a Kongo's mind; for this he trades and toils and sins. A great man will have a number of sheep and goats and pigs, not to eat at any near time, but for the feast at his funeral. The bundles of cloth wrapped in skins, and so carefully stored in his house, are for his shroud and towards the funeral expenses; if some part is used in trade, it is only that the pile may be increased, and that for the one great purpose. But for this, what incentive would there be to work and energy in this land where so little is needed? Nlemvo's presence and respect in this matter, and the proper fulfilment of the native customs, was very important, and would go far towards removing the prejudice against these too new customs and religious ideas which seem to them so subversive of all proprieties."

Mr. Grenfell, in a letter written from Stanley Pool, November 30, 1888, says: "The steamer Stanley is just down with news of Mr. Stanley having returned to a point within a few days of the Falls, and of his having communicated with Tippoo Tib. It is said no letters have come down from him. The loads left by the late Major Bartellot's expedition are now in Stanley's hands on their way to Emin, with whom Stanley had left his white men, while he himself came back for the second detachment. This is good news for Central Africa, and is full of promise for the future. The Congo is now more conclusively than ever the great water-way to the very heart of Africa, and I pray that Christ's messengers may speedily recognize it, and in no stinted measure take advantage of it."

The "Baptist Missionary Magazine" for February, 1888, speaking of various appearances of providential opportuneness in the establishment of the Congo Free State, says: "The Free State was formed at a time when, in equatorial Africa, there was one great race with one language. The Congo basin-indeed, all that vast territory which stretches (roughly speaking) from six degrees north latitude to Cape Colony is inhabited by the Bantus, who are the typical negroes and the greatest of African races. To be sure, there are among this people many tribes, with their various linguistic differences. But the dialects spoken are cognate, and belong to one great language or family of languages.' Mr. R. N. Cust, of the Royal Asiatic Society, is quoted as saying that 'The Bantu languages are soft, pliant, and flexible to an almost unlimited extent. Their grammatical principles are founded on the most systematic and philosophical basis, and the number of words may be multiplied to an almost indefinite extent. They are capable of expressing all the nicer shades of thought and feeling, and perhaps no other languages of the world are capable of more definiteness and precision of expression.' What a wonderful provision is this for the translation of God's Word, and for the easy acquisition of the vernacular by the Christian missionary! We are reminded forcibly of the providential preparation of the world for the coming of Christ, by the spread of the Greek language in its Hellenistic form."

The number of converts in the Congo Mission of the American Baptists is stated at 1,060, of whom about 200 have already been baptized. Three Christians have lately been put to death by the heathen. — The "Baptist Magazine" has a very good summary of Central African Protestant missions. "Looking at a map of equatorial Africa, and casting our eye down the West Coast, we see a number of older stations, each separated from the other by a distance of from two to four hundred miles, the Baptist Missionary Society at the Cameruns, the American Presbyterians at the Gabun, the American Baptist Missionary Union at the mouth of the Congo, the American Methodist Episcopal Mission at the Coanza, and near Benguela are missionaries of the American Board. From different points along the West Coast missions are being pushed into the interior. But at present the centre of attraction seems to be the Congo and its newly discovered fields, so full of rich promise. On the lower course of the river we find the Swedish Missionary Society with its station in the cataract region. Bishop Taylor of the Methodist Church is zealously prosecuting his work at Stanley Pool, and is reaching out into the regions beyond. The American and English Baptists have already eleven stations on the Congo, and are endeavoring to stretch their chain of missions from the Atlantic Ocean to Stanley Falls. Passing across the continent to the eastern coast, we find the Church Missionary Society, the London Missionary Society, the United Methodists, the Universities' Mission, and the Scotch Missions (of both the Free and the Established Church). These societies have been extending their labor westward, till some of them, by the heroism of such men as Bishop Hannington, have reached the Great Lakes; and already the London Missionary Society has established itself on the upper waters of the Congo." The comparison is made, and may well be made, with the workmen in the Mont Cenis Tunnel, and it might be made with those ancient workmen of Siloam, who, in the Hebrew of their recovered inscription, boast how, at the two ends of the sacred channel, "workmen lifted up tool against tool," till they met in the middle. "We may believe that in the very near future these laborers of Christ will meet and join hands in the centre of the Continent."

ANDOVER.

Charles C. Starbuck.

CHURCH INCORPORATION.

ABOUT two years ago the legislature of Massachusetts passed an act authorizing the incorporation of ecclesiastical bodies, and allowing them. to assume the entire management of their temporal affairs. Many churches have taken advantage of this opportunity to dispense with the services of a "society"; and others undoubtedly would, were they aware of the simplicity of the necessary steps. The order of procedure is as follows: Some member of the church must post, in a conspicuous place near one of the main entrances of their place of worship, at least fifteen entire days before the appointed time, a notice to the members of the church that a meeting is to be held for the purpose of organizing a church corporation.

On assembling at the appointed hour and place, a temporary clerk should be elected by ballot; all resident members of the church, of twentyone years of age and over, without distinction of sex, and none others, having the privilege of voting and holding office.

After the oath has been administered to the clerk by a justice of the peace, or some other duly authorized official, the election by ballot of a moderator is in order. An affirmative majority vote, of those present and voting, in favor of incorporation is sufficient. This having been secured, some person or committee may present a series of by-laws for the proposed corporation, which, after discussion, should be voted upon article by article.

Then follows the election, by ballot, of the officers, including a "Standing Committee" of not less than three nor more than seven members, and any others required by the by-laws, the oath being administered to the permanent clerk.

The call for the meeting (with the sworn statement of the subscriber that the legal requirements had been fulfilled), the records of the meeting, including the by-laws adopted and the officers elected (with the sworn statements of the temporary clerk and of the permanent clerk as to their accuracy), and a formal application for incorporation, signed by a majority of the "Standing Committee" elected by the corporation, should be sent to the Commissioner of Corporations in Boston, with five dollars. In due time the papers of incorporation will be forwarded.

The church can become a corporation without any action on the part of the "society," even against the wish of the "society," but cannot possess itself of the property nor assume the society's privileges and obligations, until the latter by a three-fourths vote of those present and voting at a duly called meeting has sanctioned the transfer. One church was quietly incorporated, and in about a year the "society" voluntarily gave place to it; and another incorporated church now is waiting patiently and expectantly for the "society" to abdicate, that the church may become the temporal and spiritual sovereign in her own domain.

Unless by-laws specifically state restrictions and conditions of membership, all resident church-members of twenty-one years of age and upward are, in virtue of that membership, members of the corporation; and though not present at the meeting, share all the privileges and responsibilities of the corporation. The property of the corporation alone, and not that of its members, is liable for its financial obligations.

All papers, for some of which there are blank forms, should be drawn and all steps taken under the direction of legal counsel.

Most churches, thus far, under this act, have incorporated the ecclesiastical body, thereby making all its acts corporate. This method presents serious objections. A corporation should have certain technical restrictions which would embarrass a church. Every corporation meeting, for example, should be announced one week previous by a posted written notice. A church, however, should be free to transact business at any of its regular gatherings. How often invitations to councils and other such matters present themselves and demand immediate action! A corporation allowing the transaction of business on all such occasions, without previous notice, would be sadly defective; but a church, restricted as a corporation should be, often would be hampered.

But another more serious objection presents itself. If the church is thus incorporated, all church-members under twenty-one are excluded from voting in the calling of a pastor, the election of spiritual officers, and in the settlement of every ecclesiastical as well as financial question. If any limitation in church suffrage is necessary, spiritual qualifications rather than age should be made the test.

How many earnest consecrated Christians, some now efficient officers, some faithful teachers, would be excluded from active participation in deciding the action of the church! Such exclusion is inexpedient, unfair, and fortunately not necessary.

The Eastern Avenue Church of Springfield, being without a desired incorporation, but objected to such restrictions.

66 society,"

Counsel having been consulted, it was found that all the advantages of incorporation without these disadvantages could be secured by the following plan. The ecclesiastical organization is left intact, as in any church having a "society," with its customary privileges and responsibilities, and with its own officers, by-laws, and records.

As in the other plan of securing incorporation, a meeting is called of resident church-members of twenty-one years of age and upward. They vote however not that the church shall be incorporated; but that a corporation shall be formed with its own by-laws, officers, and records; that its membership shall consist of all resident members, of twenty-one years of age and upward, of that particular church; that its object shall be to hold the property and manage the temporal affairs of that church; and that it shall have only such powers as the church intrusts to it. The result is, an ecclesiastical church and a corporate church, which really are identical the former transacting all ecclesiastical business according to customary methods and allowing all church-members full privileges, the latter managing the financial affairs according to legal requirements and withholding the ballot from minors.

No confusion need arise, even in daily conversation, the one being termed the church and the other the corporation. Nor is this plan, whereby the same individuals act both as an unincorporated ecclesiastical body and as an incorporated financial company, without precedent. In one case in Springfield it has worked satisfactorily several years without

friction or confusion.

Thus all the advantages of church incorporation can be secured without these disadvantages, and the law proves to be eminently satisfactory. Edwin H. Byington.

SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

NOTE. Since writing the above I came across the following, which shows that the plan under consideration is not new, but falls in the line of the development of Congregational polity. Rev. H. M. Dexter in the "Congregational Quarterly" of October, 1864, in an article on the Church and Parish, says: "There are three methods under which the ordinary work of an ecclesiastical organization in any given locality may be performed, its offices sustained, and its labors upon the world around managed.

I. The Church, simple and alone. This is the New Testament plan. II. The Church, for all secular purposes acting as a parish. This would involve the existence of a legally formed " society or parish, whose constitution should identify its membership with that of the church. The result would be that the same individuals would constitute both the Church and Society, and when acting in one form and under one set of by-laws would be the church, and when acting in another form and another set of by-laws would be the parish.

...

III. The Church and Parish, the common method of the present time." E. H. B.

NOTES FROM ENGLAND.

THE religious element affects two great questions in British politics, our national education, and the Church of England as a political institution established by law. Both of these questions have been prominent lately. The position of the national education question is in brief this: that the schools and colleges under the control of Anglican clergymen demand additional money grants from the Government, which the House of Commons is unwilling to allow unless the education given is more efficient, or unless popular control takes the place of the management of the clergy. The Government some months ago introduced for the approval of Parliament a new Education Code, regulating afresh the requirements expected of schools entitled to state aid: this code was generally admitted to be a great advance from an educational point of view; but it was unsatisfactory to the clergy, because it demanded better instruction, better schools, and wider range of subjects, without giving what they considered an adequate increase of grant. The result is that this new code has been withdrawn, and educationalists must be still content with a lower standard of instruction till the quarrel between the parties of clerical and popular control can be settled, or the government of the day is strong and determined enough to displease one or both of them. In like manner, a bill introduced into Parliament to promote technical education has failed to become law, chiefly owing to this same rivalry between the clerical and popular parties. It is certainly a deplorable fact that national ends of admitted utility and value are sacrificed to ecclesiastical jealousy of the people or popular jealousy of the church.

The constitutional aspect of the religious problem, the question of retaining a state church, was prominent at the general election of 1885, since which it has retreated into the background. But it is now beginning again to excite attention. This is partly due to a motion in favor of the disestablishment of the church in Wales having been brought forward in the House of Commons: the motion, though lost by fifty-three votes, was supported by the official members of the Liberal party, which is now pledged to carry out this reform when it again attains to power. It is true that Mr. Gladstone, the great Liberal leader, took no part in the debate nor in the voting, but he has since explained his action, and his adhesion to disestablishment for Wales has been given. At the same time Mr. Gladstone spoke of the claim of the Scotch to the disestablishment of their Kirk, which he considers an easier, if not a more desirable, object. He even referred to the disestablishment of the church in England with qualified approval, but viewing this as an event which would not be in his lifetime.

Though the disestablishment of the Church of England may not be at present within the range of practical politics, it is not far outside that range, and it might easily be brought within it. The trial of the Bishop of Lincoln for ritualistic practices, to which reference has been made in previous "Notes from England," continues to progress very slowly; but the progress made during the last three months gives encouragement to those whose sympathies are with the prosecution: the Court of the Archbishop decided that it had jurisdiction to try him, and decided against the plea that a bishop is not included in the word "minister," a plea