66 



BAPTISTS. 



Society for the year were returned at $10,530. 

 Its indebtedness was $2,600, against $1,950 in 

 the previous year. The society has a publishing 

 house at Alfred Center, N. Y.', where were pub- 

 lished a number of books and tracts, seven peri- 

 odicals, one of which was in Danish, one in 

 Hebrew, one was in aid of the work among the 

 Jews, and one was suspended at the beginning of 

 1890; and it aids in the publication of a journal 

 in the Dutch language in connection with the 

 mission in Holland. 



The Woman's Executive Board, which co- 

 operates with the General Conference, the Mis- 

 sionary Society, and the associations in domestic 

 and foreign missionary work, reported that it 

 had received during the conference year $3,216, 

 and expended $2,585 : and had received and 

 forwarded gifts valued at $1,128. It had sent a 

 missionary to Shanghai, China. 



III. Free-Will Baptist Church. The Free- 

 Will Baptist Register and Year-Book for 1890 

 gives statistics of the Free- Will Baptist churches 

 in the United States and Canada, with the mis- 

 sion in Orissa and Bengal, of which the follow- 

 ing is a summary: Number of quarterly meet- 

 ings, 199; of churches, 1,613; of ordained min- 

 isters, 1,386 ; of licensed preachers. 212 ; of 

 members, 86,297. The receipts of the Education 

 Society for the year ending Aug. 31, 1889. were 

 6,048. Besides the 4 colleges and 5 academical 

 schools already established, 2 new institutions 

 Keuka College and a college at Winnebago 

 City, Wis. were reported upon as under way. 

 The invested funds, including a permanent fund 

 of $1,343 and 3 special funds, amounted to 

 $10.189. The Home Mission Society had received 

 $13,662. The amount of its permanent fund 

 was $14,025. The receipts of the Foreign Mis- 

 sion Society had been $25,496. The invested 

 funds of this society are a permanent fund of 

 $15,098 and a Bible School fund of $19,218. 

 The mission, which is in India (Bengal and 

 Orissa yearly meeting), returned 10 churches, 

 with 646 communicant members, 28 additions 

 by baptism, 3,091 pupils in Sunday schools, a 

 native Christian community of 1,234 persons, 

 and 3,591 pupil? Christian, Mohammedan, and 

 Santal in the day schools. The native churches 

 had contributed 788 rupees. Dispensaries are 

 opened in connection with the missions at Ba- 

 lasore and Jellasore. Other general societies of 

 the Church are the Woman's Mission Society, 

 the Temperance Union, and the Sunday-school 

 Union. A general newspaper and 5 publications 

 for Sunday schools are issued from the Free- 

 Will Baptist printing establishment in Boston. 



IV. Mennonites. The statistics of the Men- 

 nonite churches are not officially collated. The 

 following estimate of the members of the several 

 branches in the United States is accepted by 

 their English journal, " The Herald of Truth,'" 

 as made by "a competent Mennonite." 



Mennonites, according to the " Herald of 

 Truth," baptize penitent believers by pouring, 

 practice close communion, observe feet washing, 

 refuse to take judicial oaths, are non-resistants, 

 and use the ban against unworthy members. 

 Their bishops, elders or ministers, and deacons 

 are chosen by lot. The number of ministers al- 

 ways exceeds the number of places of worship, 

 as 'there are frequently two ministers to each 

 church ; but many of the churches have two and 

 sometimes three places of worship. The literal 

 ban is not in general use among the Old ortho- 

 dox Mennonites, or among the New School. The 

 Amish branch and the Reformed branch, how- 

 ever, hold strictly to the ban. This was the 

 chief cause of separation between the Old Men- 

 nonites and the Amish, about the year 1700, A. D. 

 The New School separated in 1848 on questions 

 involving the doctrine of non-resistance, an edu- 

 cated ministry, and worldly conformity. The 

 Reformed Mennonite Church was formed in 

 Lancaster, Pa., in 1811, in consequence of agita- 

 tions over a case of discipline. 



V. Regular Baptist Convention of Ontario 

 and Quebec. The Baptist Convention of Onta- 

 rio and Quebec met in Woodstock, Ontario, Oct. 

 16. Mr. D. Bentley, of Montreal, presided. The 

 reports were presented and considered of the 

 Boards of Church Edifices, Superannuated Min- 

 isters, Publication, Home Missions, Education, 

 and Foreign Missions. The Board of Publica- 

 tion maintains a book room at Toronto, and pub- 

 lishes the journal " The Canadian Baptist." The 

 Board of Home Missions had received $17,500, 

 and had 115 missionaries under its care. It had 

 opened 5 chapels during the year, but still re- 

 ported 80 churches without pastors. The Board 

 of Education reported concerning the condi- 

 tion of Woodstock Boys' Academy, 151 pupils, 

 Moulton Ladies' College, Toronto, 144 pupils ; 

 and Toronto Baptist College, 32 pupils. The last 

 institution includes departments of theology and 

 arts, of which the department of arts had just 

 been opened. Twenty thousand dollars had been 

 raised for Foreign Mission work, and the board 

 had a balance of $1,600 in the treasury, The 

 missionary staff consisted of 9 missionaries, 8 

 wives of missionaries, 3 evangelists, 7 Bible 

 women, and 34 teachers; and 3 other missiona- 

 ries had been dispatched to India. These mis- 

 sionaries had the oversight of 18 churches, with 

 2,400 members, and of a seminary with 85 pupils. 

 A proposition was favorably considered for rais- 

 ing, in connection wih the approaching centena- 

 ry of foreign missions, a Carey Memorial fund, 

 to be applied to the furtherance of missions. 



VI. Regular Baptists in Great Britain. 

 The number of Baptist churches in Great Brit- 

 ain, Ireland, and the Channel Islands is shown 

 in the ' Baptist Handbook " for 1890 to be 2,786, 

 with 1,881 pastors or missionaries, and 329,126 

 members. The denominational colleges returned 

 232 students for the ministry. 



The annual meeting of the Baptist Missionary 

 Society was held in London, April 29. The re- 

 ceipts for the year had been 79,609, and the ex- 

 penditures 82,081. Among the more note- 

 worthy items in the history of the missions dur- 

 ing the year were the dispatch of five mission- 

 aries to India, who would lead an extremely 

 plain and simple life, in order to bring them into 



