BAPTISTS. 



77 



152 teachers, and 3,609 pupils; that there were 

 19.375 volumes in the libraries of 17 of these 

 institutions, and that the total value of 23 of 

 the institutions was $1.072. 140. The religious 

 statistics of these people were as follow: num- 

 ber of district associations, 300; of churches, 

 10,068; of ordained ministers, 6,605; of tnem- 

 I'.-rs. 1.155.486; of Sunday-schools, 3,304; 

 with 10.718 officers and teachers, and 194,492 

 pupils ; number of baptisms last reported, 48,- 

 212: value of contributions for salaries and 

 expenses, $230,445 ; for missions, $23.253 ; for 

 education and other objects, $47,900. Forty 

 journals are edited and controlled by colored 

 Baptist-. 



The meetings of all of these societies for 

 1888 were held in succession at Nashville, 

 Tenn., beginning on the 18th of September. 

 They were followed by a special meeting of 

 the American Baptist Home Mission Society 

 to consider its work among the colored peo- 

 ple. At a united session of the African Mis- 

 sionary Convention of the Western States 

 and Territories and the Foreign Mission- 

 ary Convention, a plan was reported for the 

 unification of the foreign missionary work 

 of the two bodies, and for co-operation with 

 the Missionary Union. It provided for the 

 formation of a new society, to be known as 

 the American Baptist Foreign Mission Conven- 

 tion, into which the existing foreign mission- 

 ary societies should be merged ; and for co- 

 operation with the Missionary Union on a plan 

 which should allow the independence of each 

 society while securing mutual consultation 

 and assistance. The plan received favorable 

 consideration, and was referred to the Execu- 

 tive Board of the societies and churches for 

 discussion during the year. At the meetings 

 of the National Convention and the Home 

 Mission Society, papers and addresses were 

 presented respecting the common objects in 

 which the two bodies were interested. A res- 

 olution was adopted by the former body pledg- 

 ing co-operation with the American Baptist 

 Home Mission Society in its work for the col- 

 ored people. 



II. Free-Will Baptist fhnrdi. The statistics of 

 this church, as tabulated in the "Free-Will 

 Baptist Register and Year-Book" for 1888, 

 give the footings: Number of yearly meetings, 

 4^: of quarterly meetings, 188- of churches, 

 1,531 ; of ordained ministers, 1,314; of li- 

 censed preachers, 167; of members, 82.686. 

 The latest general statistics of other liberal 

 Baptist bodies, similar in faith and practice to 

 the Free- Will Baptists, are those given in the 

 "Liberal Baptist Year-Book 1 ' for 1884, and 

 are summarized as follows: Original Free-Will 

 Baptists of North Carolina. 8,232; other Free- 

 Will Baptist Associations in the United States 

 (besides those affiliated with the Free-Will 

 Baptist Church), 4,958; General Baptists, 13,- 

 225 : Separate Baptists, 6,329 ; United Bap- 

 tists. 1.400 ; Church of God, 40,000 (see 

 " Church of God " in another part of this 



article) ; Free Christian Baptists of New 

 Brunswick, 10,777 ; Free Baptists of Nova 

 Scotia, 3,415; making, with the members of 

 the Free-Will Baptist Church, 171,022 of simi- 

 lar faith. 



The educational institutions of the Free- 

 Will Baptist Church include Hillsdale (Mich.), 

 Bates (Lewiston, Maine), Rio Grande (Gallia 

 County, Ohio), Storer (Harper's Ferry. W. Va.); 

 Ridgeville (Ind.), and West Virginia (Fleming- 

 ton, Taylor County) colleges, and six preparato- 

 ry seminaries. The reports of the benevolent 

 societies are for 1887. The receipts of the 

 Education Society were $3,600 ; and the total 

 amount of its three invested funds was $9,908. 

 The receipts of the Home Mission Society were 

 $8,108 ; its permanent fund amounted to $11,- 

 125. The sum of $5,667 had been raised and 

 expended for home missionary work by five 

 yearly meetings and the Central Association. 

 The society sustained missions at Cairo. 111., 

 Lincoln, Neb., Oakland, Cal., Worcester, Mass.. 

 Harper's Ferry. W. Va. (with Storer College), 

 and in the Western States. The church at 

 Hampton, Va., had become self-supporting. 

 The receipts of the Foreign Missionary Society 

 were $15.244; the amount of its Permanent 

 fund was $10,103 ; of its Bible- school fund, $18,- 

 360 ; and of the Bible-school hall fund, $63. 

 Its missions, which are in Bengal and Orissa, 

 India, returned 24 missionaries; 578 commu- 

 nicants, with 37 additions by baptism ; 2.672 

 Sunday-school pupils ; and a native Christian 

 community of 1,229 persons. In the day and 

 other schools were 3,628 pupils, of whom 407 

 were classed as " Christian," 1,481 as "Hindu," 

 118 as "Mohammedan," and 1,622 as "San- 

 tal.'' 



III. The Brethren, or Tankers. The annual 

 meeting of the Brethren, or Tunkers, was held 

 in North Manchester, Ind.. in May. The con- 

 vention declared against the wearing of mus- 

 taches and the trimming of hair by barbers; 

 cautioned members in respect to taking oaths ; 

 and warned members living in Western States 

 against writing flattering reports concerning 

 their crops and financial success unless they 

 were sustained by facts. It also reaffirmed its 

 previous declarations against the use of tobac- 

 co ; decided that applicants for membership 

 should promise to refrain from the habit ; and 

 directed that ministers who chew or smoke 

 should not be allowed to assist in church ad- 

 judications. An arrangement was made for 

 giving help to poor congregations in Denmark 

 and Sweden. 



IV. Church of God. The distinctive doctrines 

 of the Church of God, as given in brief in its 

 "Year-Book" for 1888, are: 



That the believers in any Driven locality, according 

 to the divine order, are to constitute one body ; that 

 the division of believers into sects and parties, under 

 human names and creeds, is contrary to the spirit and 

 letter of the .New Testament Scriptures, ana consti- 

 tutes the most powerful barrier to the success of 

 Christianity. 



That the believers of any given community, organ- 



