BAPTISTS. 



of Tung Chan, China, who read a letter which 

 was written by a native deacon and clerk, 

 without aid or suggestion from the missionary. 

 The theological seminary was represented as 

 in improved condition and prospects, having 

 had during the year forty-six students the 

 highest number in any Baptist seminary on the 

 continent. The means of obtaining more funds 

 and a greater number of laborers to carry out 

 the enterprises of the Church received a prom- 

 inent share of attention. 



The number of Regular Baptists in the 

 British Provinces of America is as follows : 



The number of baptisms in the British 

 Provinces was 2,435. 



II. FBEE-WILL BAPTISTS. The following are 

 the statistics of this denomination as given in 

 the Free-Will Baptist Register for 1870 : 



The number of " licensed " preachers is 133. 

 The increase is 97 churches, 26 ministers, and 

 5,447 members. 



The literary institutions of the Free-Will 

 Baptists are Bates College, at Lewistown, 



Me.; Hillsdale College, at Hillsdale, Mich.; 

 West Virginia College, at Flemington, W. Va., 

 and Kidgeville College, at Eidgeville, Ind. 

 There are thirteen seminaries, academies, etc., 

 and a Society for the Promotion of Education 

 in the South. 



III. OTHER BAPTIST DENOMINATIONS INAMEE- 

 ICA. The fifty-fifth session of the Seventh-day 

 Baptist General Conference met in Shiloh, 

 Cumberland County, N. C., on the 29th of 

 September. The new constitution, proposed 

 at the previous General Conference, was de- 

 clared not adopted, two-thirds of the churches 

 not having voted in favor of it. The vote was 

 28 for it, 18 against it, 8 not voting. The 

 reports exhibited a condition of solid growth, 

 both in the churches and in the Sunday- 

 schools. A communication of a fraternal 

 character was received from the Second Ad- 

 ventists, and responded to in a like spirit, 

 though with a qualification against committing 

 the Conference to the importance in which the 

 doctrine of the immediate second coming of 

 Christ is held by that denomination. 



The twenty-seventh anniversary of the 

 Seventh-day Baptist Missionary Society was 

 held during the session of the General Confer- 

 ence. It has missions in the home field, and 

 at Shanghae, China. It 'has a special fund of 

 six thousand, dollars, of which the annual 

 interest is applied to current expenses, and 

 the principal is reserved for a " future emer- 

 gency," like the reenforcement of the China 

 mission, or the establishment of some other 

 mission. 



The Seventh-day Baptists have 75 churches 

 in the United States, with a total membership 

 of 7,129. The oldest church is that at New- 

 port, K. I., founded in 1671. They have a 

 flourishing university at Alfred, N". Y. 



The number of Mennonite churches in the 

 United States is said to be about 400, with 250 

 ministers and a membership of about 60,000. 

 This estimate does not include the Mennonites 

 of Canada, where the denomination is quite 

 numerous. The estimate of ministers is no 

 doubt far below the actual number, as there 

 are few churches that are not supplied with 

 at least one minister, and a large number of 

 churches have more. 



The Menonnites publish an English paper at 

 Elkhart, Ind., and two German at the same 

 place, and at Milford Square, Pa. ; two Mennon- 

 nite almanacs, one in the English and one in 

 the German language, are published likewise 

 at Elkhart. 



IV. BAPTISTS IN GEE AT BEITAIN. The Bap- 

 tists in England have been classified into four 

 divisions on the question of communion. The 

 union churches are composed of Baptists and 

 Pedo-Baptists. They employ a Baptist pas- 

 tor when the Baptists are in the majority, and 

 v ice versa. Another class are the Open-member- 

 ship ^ Baptist Churches, in which persons are 

 admitted to membership on a simple basis of 

 personal piety, and are afterward baptized if 



