BAPTISTS. 



49 



Northwest, and the Indians, and had organ- 

 ized 27 Sunday-schools during the year. 



The cash receipts of the Woman's Home Mis- 

 sion Society of the East for the year were $6,080 

 and its disbursements $5,441. It also received 

 and distributed clothing of the value of $3,413. 



The anniversary of the American Bap tist Pub- 

 lication Society was held at Saratoga Springs, 

 New York, May 27th. The receipts of the 

 Society for the year had been : in the Benevo- 

 lent Department, $68,293 ; in the Business De- 

 partment, $281,270; making in all, $349,563, 

 or $14,253 more than the receipts of the pre- 

 vious year. One hundred and thirty-three new 

 publications had been issued during the year, 

 of which 304,000 copies were printed, and 

 126,000 copies of former publications and 94,- 

 500 copies of tracts had been printed. The 

 whole number of publications on the catalogue 

 of the Society on April 1, 1880, was 1,238. 



The anniversary of the American Baptist 

 Missionary Union was held at Saratoga Springs, 

 New York, May 25th. The receipts of the So- 

 ciety for the year from all sources had been 

 $314,860, of which $24,509 had been contribut- 

 ed as additions to invested funds, leaving $290,- 

 815 applicable to the payment of the currant 

 expenses of the year. The appropriations, in- 

 cluding those for the payment of the debt of 

 the previous year, amounted to $297,474. The 

 Karen churches of Bassein had contributed 

 $30,470 toward the erection of a new build- 

 ing for their Normal and Industrial Institute, 

 and were, when the report was made, engaged 

 in raising an endowment fund of $25,000 for 

 the support of the school. The statistics of 

 the missions are: Burmah. 83 missionaries, 

 448 native preachers, 433 churches, 21,594 

 members; Assam, 17 missionaries, 49 native 

 preachers, 13 churches, 1,331 members; Telu- 

 gus, India, 21 missionaries, 77 native preach- 

 ers, 11 churches, 15,660 members; China, 24 

 missionaries, 37 native preachers, 16 churches, 

 1,426 members ; Japan, 12 missionaries, 5 na- 

 tive preachers, 2 churches, 76 members; total 

 in the Asiatic missions: 162 missionaries, 616 

 native preachers, 475 churches, 40,087 mem- 

 bers. The European missions (in Sweden, 

 Germany, France, Spain, and Greece) returned 

 436 native preachers, 433 churches, and 45,- 

 221 members. 



The Southern Baptist Convention met at Lex- 

 ington, Kentucky, May 6th. The Rev. P. H. 

 Mell, D. D.. of Georgia, was chosen President. 

 The Home Mission Board had received during 

 the year $20,624, and had expended $14,197. 

 The Foreign Mission Board had received $45,- 

 543, or about $10,000 above its average receipts, 

 and, besides meeting all of its expenses, had 

 reduced its debt by $2,179, the present amount 

 of indebtedness being $6,389. The missions ot 

 the Board were: in the Yoruba country, Africa; 

 China, where were reported at Tung Chow, 

 Shanghai, and Canton, 396 members, with 71 

 baptisms, and $528 of contributions by native 

 members; South America, which had two self- 

 YOL. xx. 4 A 



sustaining churches in Brazil and a Chinese 

 church in Demerara with 172 members ; and 

 Italy, where were stations at Rome, Bologna, 

 Milan, Venice, Torre Pellice, Modena, Carpi, 

 Bari, Naples, the island of Sardinia, and other 

 places. It was stated, in behalf of the South- 

 ern Baptist Theological Seminary, that the in- 

 stitution had received a gift of $50,000 from 

 ex-Governor Joseph E. Brown, of Georgia, and 

 that it would be necessary to increase the 

 amount of its endowment to $250,000, of which 

 $100,000 ought to be raised at once. 



The sixth Triennial Conference of the Ger- 

 man Baptist Bund of North America met in St. 

 Louis, Missouri, October 13th ; Professor H. M. 

 Schatfer was elected moderator. The affairs 

 of the German Department of the Theological 

 Seminary at Rochester, New York, of the Ger- 

 man Baptist Publication Society at Cleveland, 

 Ohio, of the Orphan Asylum in Louisville, 

 Kentucky, and of a proposed theological school 

 in Germany, were considered. Fifteen stu- 

 dents had been graduated from the Theolo- 

 gical Seminary during the previous three years. 

 An editor had been appointed for the sev- 

 eral periodicals of the Publication Society, and 

 an assistant editor was needed. A committee 

 was appointed to secure a new and suitable 

 hymn-book, and instructed to cooperate with 

 a similar committee in Germany and with the 

 Board of the American Baptist Publication So- 

 ciety. The orphan asylum had twenty-six chil- 

 dren as inmates. 



The Bund is composed of two annual confer- 

 ences, the Eastern and the Western Confer- 

 ences, separated by the western boundary of 

 the State of Pennsylvania. The Eastern Con- 

 ference, at its meeting, October 7th to llth, 

 considered the subject of a division into three 

 or more conventions or associations, and took 

 measures for the submission of plans for divis- 

 ion to the churches. The Western Conference 

 reported 4,470 members a gain of 305 during 

 the year $2,570 of contributions for home 

 missions, and $1,600 for foreign missions. It 

 decided upon a division into three conferences, 

 the Central, Northwestern, and Southwestern 

 Conferences. 



II. FREE- WILL BAPTISTS. The General Con- 

 ference of the Free- Will Baptist Church was 

 held at Weir's, New Hampshire, July 21st. 

 Representatives were present from all the 

 Northern and some of the Southern States. 

 The Rev. O. B. Cheney, D. D., was chosen 

 moderator. The year being the hundredth 

 year since the organization of the denomi- 

 nation, the proceedings took to a consider- 

 able degree the character of a centennial cele- 

 bration. Plistorical addresses were made, and 

 steps were taken for the preparation of a 

 ''Centennial Volume," to contain an histori- 

 cal account of the Church, and its publish- 

 ing and literary institutions, accounts of the 

 action of the General Conferences, the histori- 

 cal papers read at the present General Confer- 

 ence, and tables. Centenary offerings for va- 



