BAPTISTS. 



sionary Union : the Woman's Baptist Mission- 

 ary Society, whose chief support comes from 

 New England and New York, and the Wom- 

 an's Missionary Society of the West. The re- 

 ceipts of the Eastern society for the year were 

 $26,061, and those of the Western society were 

 $8,154. The Eastern society had supported 

 eleven woman missionaries, thirteen Bible- 

 women, and one native preacher, had paid 

 the expenses of four other missionaries, and 

 had aided in the support of twenty -two 

 schools, with 1,151 pupils. 



The last session of the Burmah Baptist Mis- 

 sionary Convention was attended by fourteen 

 male missionaries, five female missionaries, thir- 

 teen ordained native ministers, twenty-five un- 

 ordained ministers, and eighty other persons. 

 The sessions occupied five days, including Sun- 

 day. The proceedings were conducted in three 

 languages the Burmese, the Karen, and the 

 English. Favorable reports were received from 

 nearly all the stations. The work had been 

 pushed with vigor at most of them, and encour- 

 aging progress had been made. The summary 

 of the returns gave a total of 375 churches, 88 

 ordained and 338 unordained preachers, 19,307 

 members, with 1,044 baptisms during the year, 

 and 144 schools with 6,179 pupils. The con- 

 tributions of the churches had amounted to 

 52,639 rupees, or about $25,000. 



The thirty-seventh anniversary of the Amer- 

 ican and Foreign Bible Society was held in the 

 city of New York, May 14th. The report of 

 the treasurer showed the receipts for the year 

 to have been $8,282, and the expenditures 

 $8,194.77. The society had received about 

 $1,500,000 since its beginning, and had sent 

 out nearly 5,000,000 copies of the Scriptures, 

 most of them entire, in many languages. Dur- 

 ing the past year it had given to the destitute 

 in the United States 2,665 Bibles and Testa- 

 ments, and had sold 872 Bibles and Testaments. 

 A committee, appointed to confer with a simi- 

 lar committee of the American Bible Union 

 with a view to the consolidation of the two so- 

 cieties, reported that a plan of union had been 

 approved by the boards of both societies. The 

 society voted to authorize the plan to be car- 

 ried out. The new society is to be called the 

 "American and Foreign Bible Union." 



The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Amer- 

 ican Bible Union was held in New York City, 

 October 14th. The Eev. Thomas Armitage, 

 D. D., presided. The report of the treasurer 

 showed the receipts of the Union for the year 

 to have been $64,217, and its expenditures 

 $69,509. The entire receipts since the society 

 was organized were shown to have "been 

 $872,928. The proposition and plan of the 

 board for a consolidation with the American 

 and Foreign Bible Society were accepted,- and 

 committees were appointed to cooperate with 

 similar committees from the other body to 

 complete the union. It was expected that 

 the consolidation would be perfected in May, 

 1875. 



The Southern Baptist Convention met at 

 Jefferson, Texas, May 7th. The Eev. James 

 P. Boyce, D. D., of South Carolina, was re- 

 elected president. The Foreign Mission Board 

 reported that, in all, the sura of $32,770.13 had 

 been received into the treasury for general 

 missionary purposes, or about $4,000 more 

 than had been received during the previous 

 year, and $10,000 more than the average an- 

 nual receipts of the preceding six years. Prac- 

 tically, the board was free from debt. Appli- 

 cations for appointment to missionary work 

 had been received from eight States. Lack 

 of means, however, had made the board un- 

 able to employ all those who offered them- 

 selves. The work on the African missions 

 had been temporarily suspended. The con- 

 vention favored its resumption, and decided 

 that an effort should be made to raise for it 

 during the year the sum of $5,000. The ap- 

 pointment of colored missionaries in prefer- 

 ence to white, but with a white superintend- 

 ent, was recommended. Thirty missionaries 

 and three native assistants had been em- 

 ployed in China. The need of suitable resi- 

 dences for the missionaries was set forth. The 

 prospects of the mission in Italy were regarded 

 as hopeful. One American missionary, the 

 Kev. George B. Taylor, D. D M and five Italian 

 evangelists, were at work in this field. A plan 

 was adopted for the future support of the For- 

 eign Mission Board. It contemplates the sub- 

 mission of careful annual estimates by the 

 board; the apportionment of the amount to 

 be raised among the States ; the appointment 

 of an executive committee in each State ; the 

 distribution of "mite-boxes" to every Baptist 

 family ; the presentation of the mission- work 

 by the pastors to the attention of the churches ; 

 the payment of the missionaries quarterly in 

 advance, the money to be borrowed on the 

 credit of the board if it is not on hand. The 

 estimates for carrying on the Foreign Mission 

 work during the ensuing year were fixed at 

 $50,602. 



The receipts of the Domestic and Indian 

 Mission and Sunday-school Board during the 

 year had been $32,465, but had been exceeded 

 by the expenses $11,400. Fifty -five mission- 

 aries had been employed, twenty -five of whom, 

 however, had been dismissed before the end of 

 the year for the lack of funds. Nineteen other 

 missionaries had been in service among the 

 Indians. The Sunday-school department was 

 $8,374 in debt. One hundred and sixty-six new 

 Sunday-schools had been organized, in which 

 were 5,001 scholars and teachers. Two col- 

 ored students had been aided. The debt of 

 the Domestic and Indian Mission department 

 remained the same as it was the year before, 

 viz., $11,411.24. The name of the board was 

 changed to the Home Mission Board, and it 

 was relieved from all Sunday-school work as a 

 specialty, and directed henceforth to limit its 

 operations to the support of ministers of the 

 gospel. The convention ordered all receipts 



