164 



BAPTISTS. 



BATES, JOSHUA 



prominence, and a man of great influence with and 

 in his Church, was shot and killed near his residence 

 about 11 o'clock, on Wednesday morning of last 

 week (15th June.) He had gone to a neighbor's in 

 the direction of Tusleytown, we learn, to clean a 

 clock, and was on his return when the tragedy oc- 

 curred. He was shot in the groin and breast with 

 four balls, and is supposed to have been instantly 

 killed. He had some money and his watch on his 



Eerson when he was killed these were not disturbed 

 y the party by whom he was slain. 

 He was known as an uncompromising Union 

 man, and during the early part of the war had been 

 arrested by order of Gen. Jackson for disloyalty. 

 He had, however, been honorably acquitted, and 

 was pursuing "the even tenor of his way," passing 

 frequently, by permission of the authorities, within 

 the Yankee lines to preach and hold other religious 

 services. He was a man of the strictest integrity in 

 his business transactions, and was highly esteemed 

 in his Church, whose membership will mourn his 

 death as the removal of one of the pillars of the 

 Church. The motives which induced some assassins 

 to waylay and kill him will probably be never fully 

 known and understood ; but the cause of his death 

 doubtless had some connection with the troubles 

 that now afflict the country, occupying, as he was 

 believed to do, a position of antagonism in feeling to 

 the Confederacy. While the people differed with 

 Mr. Kline in the erroneous views which he enter- 

 tained, yet all good citizens must deplore such a law- 

 less wreaking of vengeance upon the person of an 

 unarmed and feeble old man. Such things show 

 how rapidly we are drifting into scenes which must 

 be full of terror to us all. 



Sweden has now seven Baptist associations, 

 with the following memberships on Jan. 1, 

 1864: Norland, 1,821; Dala, 226; Stockholm, 

 1,124; Nerike, 1,395 ; Smaland, 242 ; Gotland, 

 366; Skane, 1,017; total, 6,191. Eight hundred 

 and forty persons were baptized during the 

 year, and nine new churches constituted. 



The "Baptist Handbook" for 1865 con- 

 tains the following general summary of Baptist 

 churches in Great Britain : 



England 1,813 



Wales 455 



Scotland 96 



Ireland 36 



Total, 2,400 



It would appear that of this number of 

 churches the compilers of the "Handbook," 

 or the Secretary to the Union, have obtained 

 returns from 1,893 a very large proportion 

 as to the number of members belonging to 

 each. The total is 198,295. Having this broad 

 basis, an approximate estimate has been made 

 for the remainder, which gives a total of 

 249,809 members of Baptist Churches in the 

 United Kingdom, or an average of 102 mem- 

 bers for each church. 



The anniversary of the Baptist Union was 

 held on the 25th of April, when it was stated 

 that the increase of tho reported churches for 

 the year was only 1 5-8 per church, the lowest 

 average for eight years. In the matter of 

 chapel building it was found that the total 

 amount of debt owed by Baptist churches for 

 their chapels was $567,500, of which $27,500 

 had been paid the last year, and it was resolved 

 to ask the denomination for $500,000 as a 

 building fund. The total receipts of the Mis- 



sionary Society were $176,096 (about $40,000 

 more than the receipts of the American Mis- 

 sionary Union). 



At the annual meeting of the Baptist As- 

 sociation of Victoria in 1864, it was reported 

 that 22 churches had increased their member- 

 ships from 1,326 in 1863 to 1,585 in 1864. The 

 number of Sunday school scholars advanced 

 from 1,793 to 2,231 in 1864 ; and that of teach- 

 ers from 197 in 1863 to 258 in 1864. 



The Baptist missions in Burmah have now 

 taken so deep root, that the missionaries 

 called a General Convention, which was to 

 meet at Rangoon, in November, 1864, and 

 to take the initiatory steps for an independent 

 organization of these churches. The views of 

 the Executive Mission of the American Bap- 

 tist Missionary Union, which has thus far 

 supported the missionaries of the Burmah 

 churches, are expressed in a circular to the 

 missionaries, in which they desire information 

 on the following points : 



1. To what extent may the supervision of tha 

 Press and the Theological Seminary be committed to 

 the proposed convention ? 



2. Would it be advisable at once to place all funds 

 for missionary operations, beyond the salaries of the 

 missionaries, in around sum, "in the treasury of your 

 convention, to be disbursed by you? Have not such 

 funds long enough been appropriated, to the last 

 rupee, by a committee sitting in Boston ? Is it not 

 time the responsibility was assumed and carried by 

 men on the banks of the Irriwadi? 



3. A native agency, its importance, and how it 

 may be called out, developed, and made most ef- 

 fective. Compensation of such when it should 

 come, how large it should be, and in what manner 

 bestowed that is, whether as a fixed salary, or made 

 contingent on time spent and value of service ? 



4. How many missionaries, speaking one and the 

 same language, may be properly stationed in the 

 same city or vicinity ? 



5. Jungle and village lahor have we had enough 

 of it, as compared with local and town agency, es- 

 pecially among the Burmans ? 



6. Is it not time for the missionaries to be mem- 

 bers of the churches in Burmah, and hence subject 

 to the care and discipline of those churches ? 



BATES, JOSHUA, an eminent English banker 

 and financier of American origin, born in Wey- 

 mouth, Mass., in 1788, died in London, Sept. 

 24th, 1864. Mr. Bates came of a good and 

 honorable family, who had borne a fair share 

 in the doings of Plymouth Colony and Massa- 

 chusetts, prior to the Revolution, and his 

 father had been a colonel in the Revolu- 

 tionary army. His early education was con- 

 ducted by Rev. Jacob Norton, the clergyman 

 of Weymouth, and at the age of fifteen he 

 entered the counting-house of William Gray 

 & Son, of Boston, at that time the leading 

 merchants of New England. Here he display- 

 ed so rare an aptitude for acquiring commercial 

 knowledge, and such sound judgment in con- 

 ducting business, that even before he attained 

 his majority, both father and son trusted him 

 with their most complicated and difficult af- 

 fairs. The Embargo Act, and the Berlin and 

 Milan Decrees, caused great trouble to the 

 Grays, who were largely engaged in commerce 



