BAPTISTS. 



67 



easier access to the natives ; the distribution of 

 more than 40,000, most of which had come 

 from the Mansion House fund, for the relief of 

 sufferers from famine in China; the foundation 

 of a station on the Congo four hundred miles 

 beyond any station previously established ; and 

 the application to Africa of the policy of not 

 paying a native agency, but of teaching converts 

 that it is their duty voluntarily to spread the news 

 of salvation a plan which had already been 

 successfully applied in Jamaica. The proposed 

 amalgamation of the General Baptist and the 

 Particular Baptist Missionary Societies was ap- 

 proved, on condition that satisfactory arrange- 

 ments are made. A resolution was adopted con- 

 demning the traffic in intoxicating liquors and 

 firearms with uncivilized races. 



The contributions to the zenana missions 

 amounted to 7,543. The mission staff consisted 

 of 48 zenana missionaries, 37 assistants, 49 na- 

 tive Bible women, and 77 native school teachers. 

 There were 51 girls' schools, with 1,850 pupils ; 

 more than 670 zenanas were regularly visited, 

 and instruction was given in them to 1,400 

 women and children ; and more than 2,000 

 houses were visited only for Scripture reading. 



The annual meeting of the Baptist Union of 

 Great Britain and Ireland was held in London 

 beginning April 28. The Rev. James Owen, of 

 Swansea, presided. The report of the council 

 mentioned an increase of 4,628 members and 

 1,629 pupils in Sunday schools during the year, 

 with the accession to the union of 2 associations, 

 17 churches, and 38 personal members. Of the 

 27,078 which had passed through the hands of 

 the council, 4,533 had been received for the 

 British and Irish Mission fund, 13,436 for the 

 Annuity fund, 7,393 for the Augmentation 

 fund, and 160 for the Education fund. Be- 

 tween 12,000 and 13,000 had been distributed 

 from these various funds to pastors and widows, 

 annuitants, and aided pastors and churches. Sev- 

 enteen settlements had been effected directly, 

 and more indirectly, through the agency of 

 the Board of Introduction, which was formed 

 for the purpose of bringing vacant churches and 

 pastors without churches into communication 

 with one another. It had been determined, for 

 the purpose of carrying out a resolution passed 

 by the previous autumnal session of the Union 

 held in Birmingham in October, 1889, in favor 

 of a union of General and Particular Baptists, 

 to hold a meeting of the officers of the associ- 

 ations specially interested to consider plans for 

 the rearrangement of associational boundaries. 

 Resolutions were passed declaring that a public 

 unsectarian school should be placed within the 

 reach of every family in England and Wales; 

 pronouncing in favor of the abolition of scholars' 

 fees in schools under the control of the rate 

 payers ; condemning as likely to prolong the ex- 

 istence of weak and inefficient schools a bill be- 

 fore Parliament by which it was proposed to ex- 

 empt elementary schools in the receipt of state 

 aid from the payment of rates ; condemning in- 

 quiry in connection with the decennial census 

 into the religious professions of the people as 

 unwarrantable, useless, and mischievous; and 

 protesting against compensation out of the taxes 

 for any liquor licenses that may be suppressed 

 by county councils. 



The autumnal session of the Union was held 

 at Cardiff, beginning Oct. 6. The address of 

 the chairman, Rev. James Owen, was on the 

 " Character and the Testimony of the Churches ; 

 or, the Free Churches and the People.'' Papers 

 were read respecting "The Culture of Devout 

 Life," " The Mission and Principles of the Free 

 Churches," " The Christian Priesthood," " The 

 Organization 1 of Local Preachers," " Young 

 Men and Home Mission Work," " The Claim of 

 the Churches on the Services of the Best Men," 

 and " The Instruction of Young People in Non- 

 conformist Principles." Meetings were held in 

 the interest of the Total Abstinence Association, 

 the missionary societies, and the working men. 

 A report was made concerning the condition and 

 operations of the Annuity fund. Allowances 

 were continued of 45 to pastors, 30 to widows, 

 and proportionally to orphans. The secretary 

 of the Augmentation fund reported that 156 ap- 

 plications had been made for assistance, of which 

 153 had been accepted, requiring the appropria- 

 tion of 1,530. A report was made concerning the 

 pending negotiations for amalgamation of the 

 General and Particular Baptists. The question 

 had been discussed in a conference at Notting- 

 ham, with an almost unanimous conclusion in 

 favor of the measure, which would probably be 

 accomplished in due course. This would mean 

 that the General Baptist home missions would 

 come under the control of the Baptist Union, 

 which, as a matter of fact, was already the coun- 

 cil of the whole body, fn anticipation of the 

 abolition of fees in public elementary schools, 

 the officers of the Union were instructed "to 

 take what action might be necessary, in connec- 

 tion with the friends of unsectarian, popular, 

 and free education, to secure that grants from 

 the public funds in lieu of fees shall be made 

 only to schools which are under the manage- 

 ment of boards selected by the rate payers, m 

 which neither creed nor catechism is taught." 

 A resolution was adopted declaring 



That the Baptist Union hereby renews its earnest 

 protest against the establishment and patronage by 

 the civil power of any form of worship or set of arti- 

 cles of belief, as alike contrary to the word of God, in- 

 .lurious to spiritual religion, and unfair to thore who 

 dissent from the established faith and worship j and 

 furthermore strongly urges that the constituencies of 

 the United Kingdom at the forthcoming general 

 election should give a mandate to their representa- 

 tives to put an end to the establishment of the 

 Church of England in Wales, and of the Kirk which 

 is not free in Scotland, and to take prompt and effect- 

 ive measures for devoting tithes and similar charjes 

 to the support of public elementary schools or other 

 good works in which all members ot the community 

 are equally interested. 



VII. General Baptists (New Connection). 



The annual meetings of the General Baptist As- 

 sociation (New Connection) were held in Notting- 

 ham in June. The Rev. William Hill presided, 

 and in his address advocated the union of Baptists 

 as one comprehensive denomination. The sta- 

 tistical returns showed that the number of mem- 

 bers was 26,782. The principal business trans- 

 acted was with reference to the proposed union 

 with the larger section of the Baptist denomina- 

 tion. The result of a conference of secretaries, 

 held to consider in what practical way the county 

 associations of the Particular Baptists and the 



