Welsh Journals

No. 10.] OCTOBER [Id. ON THE CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF OUR DENOMINATION IN THE COUNTY. 1. A GLANCE over the list of churches and ministers comprising the Monmouthshire Association, -will indicate to any one the fact that the present condition of our churches is not such as to give occasion to congratulation or hope. It will be instructive, we think, even if painful, to look carefully at our present position, that we may search for a remedy; and we have the materials for such a review at hand, in statistics which were collected at the beginning of the present year, and on which we base our remarks. The list of English Congregational Churches is not large. Twenty-three only are included, and of these many are very small. Several have only a handful of members, and, at least eleven have less than fifty members each. The total number^ of members in these eleven churches is about two hundred, which gives an average of only eighteen to each church. Nor does this fully indicate the condition of these smaller churches. "While the number of members belonging to these eleven churches is 200, the accommodation provided by the chapels in which _ they worship is for, at least, 1,600 persons. Now the proportion of accommodation to membership in the two or three most pros¬ perous chapels in the county, is about four to one, that is, four sittings to one member. Here, however, in these smaller churches the proportion is eight to one. This fact indicates, if we may judge from figures, either that at least one half of our chapels are very thinly attended, or else that Very little spiritual work is