BAPTISTS. 



Tin- National I'.aptist Convention met in St. Louis 

 in September. Among its most important acts was 

 tin- adoption of a measure for establishing a pub- 

 lishing liou.-e. which was put in charge of I lie, Home 

 Mission Hoard, with power to perfect and curry out 

 plans for raising the necessary funds for building. 

 An appeal was addressed to Christians of all de- 

 nominations to unite in efforts to have the, Bible 

 used in every public school. The convention de- 

 cided that iio minister should be recognized who 

 divorced his wife for any other than a scriptural 

 cause. A position of decided opposition to the 

 liquor trallic was assumed ; ministers were requested 

 to preach against it persistently; and delegates 

 were appointed to a convention of the Antisaloon 

 League to meet in Washington in December. 



Hapt isl Congress. The fourteenth annual meet- 

 ing of the Baptist Congress was held at Nashville, 

 Tenn., Nov. 10-12. Prof. J. T. Henderson, of Ten- 

 nessee, presided. The subjects were discussed of 

 "How far has New Testament Precedent the Au- 

 thority of Divine Command?" in papers by the 

 Rev C. I;. Frost, 1). D., Prof. II. II. Harris, D. D., 

 Kev. T. D. Anderson, D. D., Rev. W. T. Stott, D. D., 

 K'ev. G. A. Lofton, 'D. D., and Rev. Norman Fox, 

 I). I).: "Christianity and War," in which papers were 

 read on " The Dangers of Militarism," by the Hon. 

 J. L. M. Curry ; " Is War ever Justifiable ? " by 

 Gen. T. J. Morgan (read in his absence) ; " Interna- 

 tional Arbitration," by the Hon. Morton B. Howell, 

 T. A. K. Gessler, D. D., and Prof. H. II. Harris ; 

 li The Country Church," with papers and discussions 

 by the Rev. W. L. Munger (" Pastoral Leadership "), 

 Rev. J. II. Baldridge, Dr. J. T. Christian, Rev. 

 J. 0. Rust, Rev. A. J. Holt, Capt. M. B. Pilcher, and 

 Dr. G. A. Lofton ; 4i Is God the Father of all Men ? " 

 discussed by F. H. Rowley, D. D., Rev. George C. 

 Baldwin, Jr., Dr. W. P. Leaman, George E. Ilorr, 

 Jr., D. I)., Dr. C. S. Gardner, and Rev. T. D. Ander- 

 son, D. D. ; " The Relation of Baptists to other 

 Denominations," by the Rev. L. A. Crandall, D. D., 

 Rev. J. 0. Rust, and the Rev. Norman Fox, D. D. ; 

 and "The Pastor as a Soul Winner," by the Rev. 

 P. T. Hale. I). D., and the Rev. S. II. Greene, D. D. 



Baptists in Canada. The Baptist Convention of 

 Ontario and Quebec met in its eighth annual session 

 in Montreal, May 26. The Rev. T. S. Johnson was 

 chosen president The Church Edifice fund, with 

 a capital of $8,000, had received $1,069 during the 

 year, and had expended $1,007. Several churches 

 had reduced their loans, and others had paid off 

 their indebtedness. The report on home missions 

 showed that while in 1889 the convention, with 32,- 

 1*9 members, rai-ed $18,103 for this object, it now, 

 with 40,965 members, raised $25,158. The Church 

 had grown at the rate of 1,500 members a year, and 

 had added to its contributions at the rate of $1,200 

 a year. Since 1889 41 churches had been organized, 

 while 30churches had become self-supporting. Dur- 

 ing the past year 95 missionaries and 50 students 

 had been at work, 11 chapels had been built, 3 

 churches organized, 7 churches attained self-sup- 

 port, and 875 persons were baptized. The year's re- 

 ceipts for foreign missions had been $30,252, and the 

 expenditures $35.159. Four hundred and fifty-five 

 candidates had been baptized in the mission 'field. 

 Self-support among the native Christ ians was raft- 

 idly inerea-ing, ami the aim was to make it miver- 

 sal. The income for the colleges had been Si 5,504. 



The whole number of students was 105. The French 



mi ion school of the Grande Ligne Mission, 33 

 miles east <,f Montreal, had 120 boarders and 12 day 

 pupils, and the graduating class numbered 5 boys 

 and 2 girls. The convention visited the institute, 

 which now occupies a five-stoiy building, while the 

 old hut in which Madame Feller lived for many 

 year.- while d .'ng the work of evangelization is still 



standing. A collection was taken to help pay for 

 the moving of this building to the grounds of the 

 institute, where it will be preserved. Fifty Bap- 

 tist churches were scattered over Manitoba, some of 

 which were 180 miles apart, The working staff con- 

 sisted of 33 pastors and 8 students, and services were 

 held in 100 neighborhoods for 3,500 people. The 

 income for the year had been $8,400. A special 

 mission had bee'n established among the Indians 

 near Portage la Prairie. Two strong churches had 

 been established among the Germans in Manitoba, 

 among whom the Baptists were the only evangelical 

 body working. A Scandinavian Baptist Church 

 had been formed in Winnipeg. The Sunday schools 

 connected with the convention returned 4,086 

 teachers and officers, an enrollment of 37,256, and 

 an average attendance of 25,398 pupils, and had 

 raised $17,891 including $4,412 for missions. 



The Baptists of the maritime provinces returned 

 for 1895-'96, 404 churches with 236 ordained minis- 

 ters and 47,180 communicants. In 1895 the num- 

 ber of Sunday schools was 600, with 30,000 mem- 

 bers. In the same year were reported 2,511 baptisms 

 and $140,000 of contributions from the churches for 

 home work and $22,000 for missionary purposes. 

 Seventy-one churches, in which 456 persons were 

 baptized, were served by home missionaries. Ten 

 missionaries and 17 native helpers were employed 

 in the foreign mission in India, where 17 converts 

 were baptized in 1895. The convention met at Ber- 

 wick, Nova Scotia, Aug. 26, with the Rev. G. 

 Gates as president. The meetings of the Ministers' 

 Institute, the Baptist Young People's Union, and 

 the Women's Missionary Aid Society were held in 

 connection with it. The latter society raises $10,- 

 000 a year, which is appropriated to foreign and 

 home missions. The affairs of Acadia College, 

 which had 300 students, and of missions were con- 

 sidered. A special appeal was made in behalf of 

 the missions among the Indians in the northwestern 

 part of the Dominion, where, it was said, Henry 

 Prince, a converted Indian, had during the past 

 year baptized 112 persons of his race. 



British Baptists. The Baptist Union of Great 

 Britain and Ireland met in London, April 27. The 

 Rev. T. Vincent Tymms, President of Rawdon Col- 

 lege, presided. The annual report of the council 

 showed that 18,117 had been received during the 

 year, including 8,415 for the Annuity fund (the 

 capital of which was now 134.718), 2*699 for the 

 Augmentation fund, 3,071 for home missions, and 

 2,190 for Church extension. The 87 mission 

 churches themselves had raised 8,559 for their 

 own denominational funds. Altogether 59,604 

 had been spent during the year on new chapels, 

 25,658 on improvements and school improvements, 

 and 57,392 on the reduction of building debts. 

 The number of members had risen from 349,688 to 

 353,967; of pastors in charge, from 1,913 to 1.935; 

 of chapels, from 3,793 to 3.809 ; of pupils in Sun- 

 day schools, from 506,094 to 513.638 ; and of local 

 preachers, from 4,643 to 4.645, while the number of 

 baptisms had fallen from 17,626 to 15,795. 



The report on home missions showed a deficit of 

 311, the subscriptions, collections, and donations 

 of the year amounting to only 1,261. The expen- 

 diture on general account had been 3,382, includ- 

 ing what associations and churches had contributed 

 toward the payment of mission pastors' stipends. 

 There were now 87 mission churches on the coun- 

 cil's list, of which 48 were formed into 22 groups of 

 2 or 3 churches each ; and 30 mission stations, with 

 54 mission pastors over the whole work. In the 

 aided churches and missions were 4,532 communi- 

 cants, 8,012 young people in the Sunday schools, 

 and 793 in Bible classes. The mission" churches 

 had contributed 3,559 for various purposes. The 



