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BAPTISTS. 



ized into one body, constitute God's household or 

 family, and therefore should, according to the teach- 

 ings of the New Testament Scriptures, be known by 

 the name of " Church of God." 



That the Scriptures, without note or comment, con- 

 stitute a sufficient rule of faith and practice ; that 

 creeds and confessions of faith tend to divisions aid 

 sects among believers. 



That there are three ordinances of a representative 

 character, equally binding upon all believers, name- 

 ly : immersion in water in the name of the Father, 

 the Son, and the Holy Ghost; the washing of the 

 saints' feet (see Christ's example, precept, and prom- 

 ise) ; and the eating of bread and drinking of wine in 

 commemoration of the sufferings and death of Jesus. 



The " Year-Book " gives the statistics of 

 sixteen annual elderships, as follow: 



* Including 424 Indians. 



The total number of members, including 

 6,000 scattered, is estimated to be not less than 

 29,683. S. M. Smacker, LL. D., estimates it 

 at 30,000 



The educational institutions are Findlay Col- 

 lege, Findlay, Ohio, incorporated in 1882, 

 opened for students in 1886, and now return- 

 ing a faculty of 13 members and upward of 

 170 students ; and Barkleyville Academy, 

 Barkleyville, Venango County, Pa., chartered 

 in 1884, having property valued at $6,000, and 

 returning an average attendance of about fifty 

 pupils. The periodicals of the church include 

 a weekly general religious newspaper and 

 two Sunday-school journals. The Central Book 

 Store was established in 1885, and balanced 

 its accounts on the 30th of April, 1887, at $20,- 

 657. The General Missionary Society was 

 organized in 1845, and has conducted success- 

 ful missions in different parts of the United 

 States. The missions among the Cherokee 

 Indians in the Indian Territory return 424 

 members, 9 organized churches, 4 Sunday- 

 schools, 10 preachers, 12 preaching appoint- 

 ments, and 2 meeting-houses, with a third in 

 building. The subject of establishing a foreign 

 mission has been considered by the General 

 Eldership, but nothing definite has yet been 

 accomplished in the matter. A fund has been 

 accumulated by voluntary contributions from 

 the Annual Elderships, of more than $(00. 



The general and highest legislative and judi- 

 catory body of the Church is the General El- 



dership, which meets every three years. The 

 next meeting will be held at North Bend, Iowa, 

 in June, 1890. 



Baptist Congress. The seventh annual Baptist 

 Congress was held in Richmond, Va., Dec. 



4, 5, and 6. The Hon. J. L. M. Curry pre- 

 sided. The purpose of the meeting was exclu- 

 sively the discussion of the questions laid down 

 in the programme, with entire freedom in the 

 expression of opinion. The first topic to be 

 considered was "Education."' respecting which 

 papers were read on " How far shall the 

 State Educate ? " by Prof. B. Puryear, " Com- 

 mon vs. Parochial Schools," by the Rev. P. 



5. Moxom and by the Rev. Walter Rauschen- 

 busch ; and the discussion was continued by 

 the Rev. Norman Fox, D. D., Prof. W. C. Wil- 

 kinson, and Prof. E. H. Johnson. The subject 

 of "Temperance" was discussed in papers on 

 " High License," by the Rev. Wayland Hoyt, 



D. D., and "Prohibition," by the Rev. H. A. 

 Delano, who was supported by other speakers. 

 Other topics discussed were "A National Di- 

 vorce Law," by the lion. A. S. Bacon and the 

 Rev. Norman Fox, D. D. ; " The Limits of Im- 

 migration," by the Hon. J. G. Sawyer, Rev. 

 H. A. Delano, Rev. L. W. Crandall, Rev. 

 George E. Horr, Jr., Hon. E. N. Blake, F. M. 

 Ellis, I). D., H. McDonald, D. D., and other 

 speakers ; " Romanism : its Relation to Scien- 

 tific Thought," by A. J. Rowland, D. D. ; "Its 

 Political Aspects," H. McDonald, D. D., and 

 others; " Mohammedan Propagandism," by the 

 Rev. F. S. Dobbins, Norman Fox, D. D., and 

 other speakers; "Christian Science," Rev. G. 



E. Horr, Jr., W. E. Hatcher, D. D., and Dr. 

 T. T. Eaton; and "The Purity of the Church- 

 Terms of Admission," by E. T. Hiscox, D. D., 

 and "Nature and Discipline," by F. M. Ellis, 

 D. D., and W. W. Boyd, D. D. 



V. Baptists in Great Britain and Ireland. The 

 " Baptist Handbook " for 1888 gives the fol- 

 lowing statistics of the Baptist churches in the 

 United Kingdom : Number of churches, 2,764; 

 of chapels, 3,701, containing 1,198,027 sit- 

 tings ; of members, 304,385 ; of Sunday-school 

 teachers, 46,786 ; of Sunday - school pupils, 

 458,200; of local preachers, 4,118; of pastors 

 in charge, 1,860. It was estimated that the 

 churches from which no returns had been re- 

 ceived would add 10,000 to the list of members. 



Jtaptist Union of England and Wales. The 

 annual spring meeting of the Baptist Union of 

 England and Wales was opened April 23 with 

 an address by the Rev. Dr. Clifford on the gen- 

 eral subject of the condition of the faith. Par- 

 ticular interest was attached to the question of 

 the relations of the Union with the Rev. C. H. 

 Spurgeon, who had withdrawn from connec- 

 tion with it (see "Annual Cyclopedia" for 

 1887), because he regarded its practice as too 

 tolerant of persons holding and teaching doc- 

 trines of questionable orthodoxy. The Coun- 

 cil of the Union, a kind of executive com- 

 mittee, consisting of one hundred members, 

 had, in December, 1887, appointed a committee 



