BAPTISTS. 



tray the origins of America, nor the heroic and epic 

 element in her history, and it has appeared on no 

 other page. His style is both graphic and sa- 

 lient, his maxims sound, and his spirit elevated. 

 Finally, he has the truest mark of greatness he 

 is a man of his own time, neither a dreamer of 

 Utopias nor a laudator temporis acti. Full of 

 appreciation for the past and with infinite faith 

 in the future, he comprehends and uses the value 

 of the present age for the instruction and con- 

 solation of the ignorant and faltering and for 

 the strengthening of the wise. He has perfect 

 confidence in the common sense of our own day. 



When Bancroft left Berlin, where his house 

 had been a meeting place for the learned of the 

 whole empire, the Royal Academy gave him a 

 farewell dinner and the universities of Berlin, 

 Munich, and Heidelberg united in a farewell 

 greeting. " Your name," they said, " is the in- 

 tellectual possession of us all. You have con- 

 tributed to the more complete understanding of 

 the problems set for a free people in that, as one 

 of the foremost historians, you portrayed those 

 immortal deeds which led to the rise of a great 

 free state beyond the sea. . . . You combined the 

 spirit of true scientific procedure with the in- 

 sight of a statesman." 



In person Bancroft was slight and graceful, 

 but dignified and stately. From earliest life he 

 had enjoyed the best society of all countries, the 

 aristocracy of birth and letters in America, 

 England, Germany, and France. He had neither 

 the mask of the diplomat nor the instinctive 

 suavity of the politician nor the grand air of the 

 official. His spirit was mirrored in a manner 

 grave, simple, and sometimes formal. With the 

 certainty of experience was sometimes mingled a 

 timidity that was almost feminine. He accumu- 

 lated bv thrift and sobriety a considerable for- 

 tune. His hand was ever open in unceasing gen- 

 erosity to the poor, and in hospitality of a simple 

 but elegant kind to his friends. Rising early, 

 often at five, he studied until after two, taking 

 breakfast and luncheon from a tray on his work- 

 table. The afternoon was devoted to outdoor life, 

 two hours at least in all weathers, and to social 

 duties. Dinner was a function, and the evening 

 was sacred to sociability. 



His later years were spent at his hoine in 

 Washington during the winter, and at his cot- 

 tage near Newport in the midst of his great and 

 famous rose-garden during the summer. He 

 died in Washington on the evening of Saturday, 

 Jan. 17, 1891. His health had been perfect until 

 the preceding Thursday, although for some 

 months his mind had been failing. At the great 

 age of ninety he had as many friends as most 

 men at fifty ; to the end he enjoyed the distinc- 

 tion of being first everywhere, in all society. The 

 Senate made him free of its floor, for him the 

 Century Association created the dignity of honor- 

 ary member. Monarchs sent wreaths for his buri- 

 al. He made his own people conscious of their 

 high mission, and his name should long survive. 

 In his last years he revised his " History of the 

 United States," and re-issued it in six volumes. 



BAPTISTS. Statistics of the Regular 

 Baptists. The American Baptist Year-Book 

 for 1890 gives the following statistics of the 

 regular Baptist churches in the United States 

 and the world : In the United States : Number 



of associations. 1,353 ; of ordained ministers, 21,- 

 175: of churches, 33,588 ; of members, 3,070,047; 

 number of baptisms during the year. 144,575; 

 number of Sunday schools, 17,696, including 

 132,186 officers and teachers and 1,211,696 pu- 

 pils; value of church property, $58,162,367. 

 Amount of contributions reported : For salaries 

 and expenditure, $6,900,266: for missions, $1,- 

 092,571; for education, $228,470; miscellaneous 

 contributions, $1.977,952 ; total, 10,199,259. In 

 all North America, 34,761 churches, 21.948 min- 

 isters, 3,202,292 members, and 148,727 baptisms 

 during the year; in South America (Brazil), 6 

 churches, 8 ministers, 229 members, and 37 bap- 

 tisms; in Europe, 3,940 churches, 2,779 minis- 

 ters, 404,782 members, and 4,084 baptisms; in 

 Asia, 743 churches, 433 ministers, 75,844 mem- 

 bers, and 5,313 baptisms ; in Africa, 44 churches, 

 66 ministers, 3.039 members, and 109 baptisms; 

 in Australasia, 186 churches, 112 ministers, and 

 15,196 members. Total, 39,690 churches, 25,346 

 ministers. 3.701,382 members, and (so far as re- 

 ported) 158,270 baptisms. 



I. Regular Baptists in the United States. 

 American Baptist Publication Society. The 

 sixty-sixth annual meeting of the " American 

 Baptist Publication Society" was held in Chi- 

 cago, 111., May 21 and 22. The Rev. Thomas 

 Armitage, D. D., presided. The total receipts 

 of the society for the year had been $651,005, 

 or $24,145.27 more than the receipts of the pre- 

 vious year. Of this sum, $503,650 had been in 

 the book department, $125,115 in the missionary 

 department, and $22,240 in the Bible depart- 

 ment. Ninety-one new publications had been 

 issued, and upward of 33,000,000 copies of books, 

 tracts, pamphlets, and periodicals had been 

 printed. One hundred and thirty-two colpor- 

 teurs or missionaries had been employed; 820 

 grants, of 43,580 copies of the Scriptures or of 

 parts, had been made, in twelve languages ; 719 

 persons baptized, 53 churches constituted, 545 

 Sunday schools organized, and 252 aided with 

 gifts, 471 pastors arid ministerial students aided 

 with grants for their libraries, and 47,248 fam- 

 ilies visited. 



American Baptist Home Mission Society 

 The fifty-eighth annual meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Baptist Home Mission Society was held in 

 Chicago, 111., May 26 and 27. The Hon. C. W. 

 Kingsley presided. The society had received 

 during the year from all sources $449,445, of 

 which $15.139 had been contributed through the 

 women's societies. Eight hundred and thirty- 

 three missionary laborers had been employed in 

 47 States and Territories, Ontario, British Colum- 

 bia, Manitoba, Alaska, and 6 States in Mexico 

 viz., 400 among Americans, 190 among foreign 

 populations, and 243 among the colored peo- 

 ple, Indians, and Mexicans. They represented 

 13 nationalities or peoples. They had supplied 

 1,659 churches and out-stations, had 844 Sunday 

 schools under their care, and returned 7,371 mem- 

 bers received into the mission churches. Sixty- 

 three new mission stations had been taken up, 

 of which 19 were among foreign populations 

 and Mexicans. The number of Baptist church- 

 members among foreign populations was given 

 as follows: Germans, 14,500; Swedes, 15,500; 

 Danes and Norwegians. 4,500 ; and French, 500. 

 The increase was estimated at about 2,000 mem- 



