or both elected by his people and confirmed by his fellows—­such things all men can understand and maintain, each the form suited to their own stage.  But constitutional episcopacy when the people are at the patriarchal stage of development, or republicanism when the people are at the monarchical stage, they cannot understand, until they have learnt to understand it by long and slow experience.  But many of the systems introduced by us are the latest and most advanced systems.  How then can we discover to what extent the Christians have mastered them?  We can find no question which solves this problem.  We can only suggest the bare questions, what proportion of the people take a proper and active part in the system of Church government under which they live; and what proportion of the congregations take an active part as congregations in that system of Church government.

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Number of Christians who take any part in Church         |     |
Government by Vote or Voice.                             |     |
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Proportion of Total Christian Constituency               |     |
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Number of Congregations who take a share as              |     |
Congregations in Church Government.                      |     |
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Proportion of Christian Congregations.                   |     |
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Remarks and Conclusions.                                 |     |
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By the first question we understand the number of Christians who vote or speak or act in any way, either personally or by electing representatives, in the direction of the common action of the whole Christian community viewed as a unity; by the second question we understand the number of congregations which are represented at any council higher than the council of their own congregation.

We think these questions most unsatisfactory, but we can devise no others.  We have no doubt that, if all the foreigners disappeared suddenly, the native Christians would either perish or would speedily adopt a form of Church government which they understood.  The whole necessity for these questions arises from the fact that we have foisted upon them foreign systems and are uncertain to what extent they have really grasped them.  The consequence is that when we think of a Church capable of standing alone we are in doubt.  We do not feel certain that the converts could carry on their government; and some of us think a change in the form of Church government as serious a matter as the change from Paganism to Christianity:  it is an excommunicating matter.  Inevitably then in an inquiry such as ours we must try to discover how far the people are advanced in the understanding