The people of the Philippines, their religious progress and preparation for spiritual leadership in the Far East,

THE IGLESIA FILIPINA INDEPENDIENTE 151
and building up a church without funds, trained workers, or
constituency, other than a crowd of ignorant people prompted
by the spirit of revolt against any established authority. It is
not strange that he was compelled to put into places of prominence mere boys, who have been carried away by their positions and have become entangled in social and political scandals
which have worked for the detriment of the movement. While
there has been a sifting in some places, other places have grown
and already strong churches are pushing ahead." 14
A year later Mr. McLaughlin finds the church coming back
strong. It has "gone ahead and erected buildings of its own,
and has struggled with the tremendous problem of preparing
and directing a ministry and attending to the care of its membership in a way that, when we consider the immensity of
the task, we can but marvel that they have done as well as
they have. There has been a gain, and on the whole, the
church seems to be gaining ground these latter days.... Not
a few of those who entered the ranks of the Evangelical
churches have since drifted into the Independent Filipino
Church, as they have been moved by the spirit of independence and protest against too much intervention in their church
life."
The only index to the numerical strength of the Independent
church is found in the I918 census which gave it 1,417,466
members or I3.7 per cent of the entire population of the
Islands. The impression one gains at the present time is that
nearly everywhere the church is stagnating. Its financial
weakness is almost incredible. The money invested in church
buildings, according to the census report of 1918, is only 36
centavos per member, or only 1/20 as much as is invested per
member by Protestants or Roman Catholics. (The amount
invested in church buildings by the Roman Catholic Church
is 6.80 per member, and 6.oo per member is invested in church
buildings by Protestant organizations.) In several of the
provinces where the Aglipay membership is most numerous
the amount invested in church buildings is not ten centavos
per member. The province of Lepanto, 4878 Aglipay mem"American Bible Society Report 1922, p. 369.