BAPTISTS. 



73 



B 



BAPTISTS. Statistics of the regular Baptist 

 churches in the United States are published in the 

 American Baptist Yearbook for 1896, of which the 

 summary gives : Number of associations. 1.551; of 

 ordained ministers. 27.774: of churches, 40.064: of 

 members. 3.72U.235 : ,,f Sunday school-. 23.3n2. with 

 163.570 officers and teachers "and 1,779,886 pupils; 

 increase by baptism during the year. 176.058: value 

 of church" property, $81.64*.24(i. Amount of con- 

 tributions reported": For salaries and expense-. 

 202. 985: for missions. $1.172.909: for education. 

 141.719: miscellaneous contributions. $2.337.5' '4 ; 

 aggregate of contributions, as footed up in the 

 tables! $11.755.110. Seven theological seminaries 

 return 67 instructors and 1.002 pupils, of whom 990 

 are preparing for the ministry, with $2.665.091 of 

 endowments and $3,774.850 of property : 36 univer- 

 sities and coll>-_ -. - ? instructors. 11,523 pupils. 

 1.180 of whom are preparing for the ministry, $8,- 

 -12 of endowments and $22,722,168 of property ; 

 29 seminaries for female education exclusively. 370 

 instructors. 3.824 pupils. $1.248.S">5 of endowments, 

 and $4.063.297 of property: 64 seminaries and 

 academies for yoiinir men and "coeducational." 

 530 instructors. 14.341 pupils. 350 of whom are pre- 

 paring for the ministry. $1,344.700 of endowments, 

 and $4.H)7.73ii of property: and 33 institutions for 

 negroes and Indians. 293 instructors. 5.326 pupils. 

 381 of whom are preparing for the ministry. $117.- 

 500 of endowments, and $1.398.830 of property : in 

 all, 169 institutions. 2,067 instructors, 36.016 pupils. 

 2.910 of whom are preparing for the ministry. ) 

 614.695 of endowments, and $36,126,870 of property. 



The statistical table of Baptists in the world 

 gives: In Xorth America (Canada. Mexico, the 

 United States. Cuba. IJayti, Jamaica, and other 

 islands and Central America). 41.227 church. - 

 47o ordained ministeis. 184.539 baptisms reported, 

 and 3.856.584 members: South America (Argentine 

 Republic, Brazil, and Patagonia i. 18 churches. 14 

 ministers. 133 baptisms, and 729 members : Europe 

 (Austria-Hungary, Belgium. Denmark. Finland, 

 France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland. Hol- 

 land. Italy. Norway. Roumania and Bulgaria. Rus- 

 sia and Poland. Spain. Sweden, and Switzerland). 

 3.965 churches. 3.121 ministers. 24.317 baptisms, and 

 454.520 members: Asia (A-sam, Burmah. Ceylon. 

 China. India. Japan. Orissa. and Palestine). 1,017 

 churches. 593 ministers. 4.997 baptisms, and 111.177 

 members: Africa (Central and Congo. South, and 

 West, including Cameroon.*. St. Helena, and Cape 

 Verde). 63 churches. 91 ministers. 379 baptisms, and 

 5.975 members: Australasia. New Zealand, and Tas- 

 mania. 230 churches. 153 ministers, 1.107 baptisms, 

 and 18.089 members. Total for the world in 

 46.520 churches. 32.447 ministers. 215.472 baptisms, 

 and 4.447.074 members : showing an increase during 

 the year of 1.484 churches. 747 ministers, and 

 220 members, and a decrease of baptisms reported. 



American Baptist Publication Society. The 

 seventy-second annual meeting of the American 

 Baptist Publication Society was held at Asbury 

 Park. X. .1.. beginning May 20. The Hon. Samuel 

 A. Crozer presided. The receipts in the publishing 

 department from rents, interest, etc.. had been $13,- 

 in the missionary department. $121.455 : and 

 in the Bible department. $11.55*: making a total 

 of $146.796. The total amount of sales had been 

 -.190. asrainst $532.763 in the previous year. 

 The receipts in the missionary department were 

 $5.161 more than in the previous year. Seventy- 

 four new publications had been issued. The so- 



ciety had suffered a great loss by the burning of its 

 principal bu>ii in Philadelphia, Feb. 2, 



1896. by which an immense amount of stock, books, 

 plates, manuscripts, etc.. was destroyed, including 

 much that can never be replaced. The total of 

 work in the missionary department showed that 86 

 missionaries and workers had been employed, under 

 whose labors 50 churches had been constitute' 

 Sunday schools organized, and 442 persons ba|>- 

 tized. Four "chapel cars" were in operation, in 

 Minnesota. Texas, and Arkansas, and on the Pacific 

 coast : through the work connected with which 

 more than 4.000 conversions had taken place. A 

 system of co-operation of this work had been en- 

 tered upon with the State convention of Arkansas. 

 An overture made to the Southern Baptist Conven- 

 tion that it put the publication of all its Sunday- 

 school literature into the hands of the society had 

 been declined. The Bible department had sent out 

 a very large number of the Scriptures in various 

 languages. The revision of some of the books of 

 the Old Testament was completed. Others were 

 nearly completed, and the society was expecting to 

 print all these revisions as soon as they are finished. 

 Home Mission Society. The seventy-fourth 

 annual meeting of the American Baptist Home 

 Mission Society was held at Asbury Park. X. J., 

 May 25. The 'Hon. H. K. Porter presided. The 

 total receipts for the year had been $505.949 : the 

 expenditures had been $488.189. The society had 

 supported wholly or in part 1.147 missionaries and 

 teachers. 13 of whom were in the Dominion of Can- 

 ada. 26 in Mexico. 246 among the foreign popula- 

 tions. 43 among colored people. 23 among Indians, 

 20 among Mexicans, and the rest among Americans. 

 It had aided in the maintenance of 35 established 

 schools for the colored people, Indians, and Mexi- 

 cans, and 15 day schools lor the Chinese. The mis- 

 sionaries represented 17 nationalities or peoples, and 

 had supplied 2,015 churches and out stations, and 

 returned 54.509 church members. 6.258 received by 

 baptism. 187 churches organized, 1,195 Sunday 

 schools under their care, with 75.534 attendants, 

 and $92.719 of benevolent contributions. Special 

 attention had been given to the plan of co-opera- 

 tion with Southern Baptists, white and colored : to 

 work for the French Canadians in Xew England ; 

 and to the missions in Mexico. The plan of co- 

 operation provided for the united action of the 

 Home Mission Society, the Home Mission Board of 

 the Southern Baptist Convention, and the white and 

 colored conventions of every Southern State. The 

 State conventions not having been parties to the 

 original agreement had been treated with by cor- 

 respondence, and the attendance of the field sec- 

 retary upon meetings representing them. With the 

 conventions that had adopted the plan and those 

 which were preparing to do so. it was expected that 

 within a year from the adoption of the plan by the 

 society and the Southern Baptist Convention five 

 white State conventions and four colored conven- 

 tions would have entered into the arrangement ; 

 while several other State conventions, white and 

 colored, had formally or informally indicated their 

 desire for co-operation. The mission to the French 

 Canadians in Xew England (now in its twenty-sev- 

 enth year) had never before had so large and effi- 

 cient "corps of workers. This was due partly to the 

 facilities afforded for the training of missionaries 

 in the Xewton Theological Institution. The inter- 

 est of the Xew England Baptists in the evangeliza- 

 tion of these foreign populations had greatly in- 



