BAPTISTS. 



161 



suits so unexpected and glorious, onr gratitude and 

 adoration are due to that wonder-working God, who 

 still " maketh the wrath of man to praise him, while 

 the remainder of that wrath he restrains." (Pt*ilm 

 Ixxvi. 10.) 



Resolved, That in the recent acts of Congress, abol- 

 ishing slavery forever in the District of Columbia and 

 in the Territories, and in the noble proclamation of the 

 President of the United States, declaring freedom to 

 the slave in States in rebellion, we see cause for con- 

 gratulation and joy, and we think we behold the dawn 

 of that glorious day, when, as in Israel's ancient ju- 

 bilee, " fiberty shall be proclaimed throughout all the 

 land, unto all the inhabitants thereof." (Leviticus xxv. 

 10.) 



The Publication Society issued, in the course 

 of the year, twenty-one Sunday-school books, 

 and eighteen children's tracts. Of these, with 

 the Baptist Almanac, Report, and Catalogues, 

 there were printed 81,300 copies. Including 

 the new editions of former publications, the 

 total number of books and tracts issued during 

 the year amounted to 343,850 copies. The So- 

 ciety employed 35 missionary colporteurs, 14 

 of whom labored in Sweden, the rest in the 

 United States. The receipts were $65,044 

 (against $56,306 in 1862). 



The Home Mission Society employed 87 mis- 

 sionaries, 9 of whom preached in foreign lan- 

 guages. Its receipts amounted to $39,647 

 (against $37,894 in 1862). 



The American and Foreign Bible Society 

 held its twenty-sixth annual meeting on May 

 14th, in New York city. Keceipts for the 

 year $19,247 (against $16,688 during the pre- 

 ceding year). 



The American Baptist Free Mission Society 

 eld its twentieth anniversary on May 27th, at 

 Mount Holly, New Jersey. Its receipts for the 

 year were $19,538. A series of resolutions 

 pledging strong support to the Union of the 

 States, and demanding the abolition of slavery, 

 were unanimously passed. A report express- 

 ing fraternal sympathy with the anti-slavery 

 masses of Great Britain, 'was also unanimously 

 adopted. 



Through the agency of the secretary of the 

 Home Mission Society, and Mr. Harris, U. S. 

 senator from New York and a prominent 

 ember of the Baptist communion, the Sec- 

 tary of War gave full and formal author- 

 ity to the Home Mission Society to take pos- 

 session of every abandoned Baptist meeting 

 house within the insurrectionary districts, and 

 of every other Baptist church edifice in the 

 hands of the Confederates. The Government 

 promised the Society every practicable protec- 

 tion in their new fields of labor, and corre- 

 sponding facilities for reaching them. 



The General Convention, as well as the Mis- 

 sionary, Educational, and Publishing Societies 

 of the Seventh-Day Baptists, was held at Adams 

 Centre, Jefferson county, New York, on Sep- 

 tember 9th. The receipts of the Missionary 

 Society during the year were $2,634. The fol- 

 lowing resolutions were unanimously adopted : 



Resolved, That the General Conference reaffirms ita 

 interest and confidence in the General Government, 

 VOL. in. 11 A 



and desires to see the war prosecuted, on its part, un- 

 til the rebellion is entirely crushed, and the authority 

 of the Government fully restored ; and that it will ren- 

 der, to this end, all the support at its command. 



Retolved, That we approve the incipient steps taken 

 by the Executive Board to establish a mission among 

 the freedmeu, and would recommend its prosecution as 

 soon as possible. 



At the meeting of the Baptist Missionary 

 Convention of Canada West, which was held 

 at Hamilton, an attempt to introduce two Con- 

 federate chaplains who had escaped from Fort 

 McHenry, and wished to get funds to run the 

 blockade, was met with a storm of hisses, and 

 was utterly fruitless, and a resolution was sub- 

 sequently passed condemning slavery, and sym- 

 pathizing with the North. 



The Baptist churches in the Confederate 

 States continued to suffer greatly from the ef- 

 fects of the war. Their foreign missions in 

 China and Africa were entirely cut off from 

 communication with the churches and the 

 Missionary Society from which they derived 

 their support. The Board of Foreign Missions 

 appointed, therefore, a committee at Baltimore, 

 to secure and transmit funds for the use of the 

 Southern Baptist missionaries, and otherwise 

 to promote the interests of their missions in 

 foreign lands. The Government of the United 

 States gave permission to Kev. Dr. Fuller, one 

 of the Baltimore committee, to go to Richmond, 

 'to receive $2,000, which had ' accumulated 

 there. The Baltimore committee made an ur- 

 gent appeal to the Border State Baptists to 

 maintain the Southern Baptist Mission. The 

 General Convention of Kentucky resolved to 

 do all in its power for this purpose. 



The London " Freeman," the leading organ 

 of the English Baptists, gives the following 

 statement of the strength and other statistics 

 of the Baptists of the three kingdoms as fol- 

 lows: England contains 1,782 churches, with 

 188,374 members; Wales 455 churches, and 

 53,783 members ; Scotland 97 churches, 7,940 

 members; Ireland 36 churches, 1,348 mem- 

 bers. Total number of churches, 2,370 ; mem- 

 bership, 251,445. It . is to be remarked that 

 these totals are estimated, the average mem- 

 bership of all the churches known being taken 

 for those whose membership is not ascertained. 

 England has 478 churches without pastors ; 

 Wales 116; Scotland 19, and Ireland 8. Cer- 

 tain of the churches included in these estimates 

 are claimed as well by the Congregationalists. 



The Baptist Societies of England had, for the 

 year 1863, the following income : Baptist Mis- 

 sionary Society, 27,189 ; Baptist Home Mis- 

 sion, 1,700 ; Bible Translation Society, 1,809. 



An interesting legal decision was obtained 

 on the question of open communion. The court 

 had been called upon to restrain a Baptist min- 

 ister, by injunction, from permitting the chapel 

 to be used by any other persons than Partic- 

 ular Baptists, and for a declaration that on 

 the true construction of the trust deeds none 

 but Particular Baptists were entitled to par- 

 ticipation in the Lord's Supper. Th Vice- 



