BAPTISTS. 



65 



The anniversary of the American Baptist 

 Missionary Union was held at Philadelphia 

 May 25th. The total receipts of the Society 

 for the year were reported to have been $241,- 

 970.64. The total amount of liabilities accruing 

 during the year was estimated at $267,148.56, 

 showing a deficiency in the receipts to meet 

 the current expenses of the year, of $25,177.92. 

 Adding the balance of the old debt not paid 

 the previous year, $27,778.80, the balance 

 against the treasury on the 1st day of April, 

 1875, was found to be $52,856.72. In sixteen 

 States, the average of contributions for foreign 

 missionary purposes was found to have been 

 thirty-nine cents for each member of the 

 church. 



The following is a summary of the report of 

 the number and condition of the missions' 



ASIATIC MISSIONS. 



OTHER MISSIONS. 



It was resolved to attempt to raise $275,000 

 for the prosecution of the work during the 

 coming year. Rigid economy was counseled 

 in all departments of management. 



The triennial meeting of the American Bap- 

 tist Educational Commission was held at Phil- 

 adelphia, May 25th. The report of the ex- 

 ecutive committee recommended that the col- 

 leges or other institutions to be aided should 

 be selected with a view to building up strong 

 institutions for large districts ; especially should 

 schemes contemplating two or more colleges 

 in one State be discouraged. It advised that 

 appeals for help should be made literally to the 

 denomination and not to a few rich men, and 

 that all help should be supplemental, given 

 only to the enterprises of those States or sec- 

 tions which had first helped themselves to the 

 utmost. The committee had determined to 

 postpone further indorsements of applications 

 for help for local institutions till after January 

 1, 1877. The proposition to celebrate the cen- 

 tennial anniversary of American Independence 

 by efforts to strengthen and endow the denom- 

 inational institutions of learning had met with 



* Carried on entirely by native agencies. 

 VOL. xv. 6 A 



increasing favor in all parts of the country. 

 The committee had adopted a plan for raising 

 funds which contemplated the subscription 

 of one dollar by each person connected with 

 the Baptist congregations, and of larger sums 

 by persons of means according to their ability. 

 Two additional advisory committees were ap- 

 pointed, one with its centre at Galveston, Texas, 

 the other with it centre at San Francisco. 



The anniversary of the American Baptist 

 Some Mission Society was held in Philadelphia, 

 May 27th; messengers, officially appointed, 

 were in attendance from the Southern Baptist 

 Convention. The treasurer reported the re- 

 ceipts for the year to have been $236,204.10, 

 and the expenditures $213,542.69. The debt 

 of the society had been reduced during the 

 year from $45,237.40 to $10,341.20. Twenty- 

 four churches had been helped with loans from 

 the church-edifice fund, and applications had 

 been received from eighty churches, asking for 

 $90,000. The Board had assisted in the sup- 

 port of 338 missionaries, who had organized 92 

 churches. Seven schools were in operation 

 among the freedmen, w r hich reported an in- 

 creased attendance of students. The present 

 number was 800. The Rev. J. B. Jones had 

 entered upon his labors as a missionary in 

 the Indian Territory, aided by five native la- 

 borers. 



The fifty-first anniversary of the American 

 Baptist Publication Society was held in Phila- 

 delphia, May 28th. The receipts for the year 

 were reported to have been : in the missionary 

 department, $66,832.91 ; in the' business de- 

 partment, $310,343.84; on account of the 

 new building, $44,805.04 ; making in all, 

 $421,981.79. Since 1867 the society had been 

 giving its attention largely to the Sunday- 

 school cause. It had now on its list 435 

 volumes of books for Sunday-school libraries, 

 and was publishing large editions of "Aids to 

 Scholars " and " Helps to Teachers." Its Sun- 

 day-school missionaries had during the year dis- 

 tributed 29,703 Bibles, Testaments, and books, 

 and 182,483 pages of tracts. The enterprise 

 of organizing Sunday-schools among the freed- 

 men of the South had been begun. A Bible 

 and Sunday-school mission had been established 

 at Rome under the oversight of the society. 

 The number of publications on the society's 

 catalogue March 1, 1875, was 1,156. The cor- 

 ner-stone of a new building for the publishing- 

 house was laid, with the usual ceremonies, in 

 connection with the anniversary. 



The anniversary of the American Baptist 

 Historical Society was held in Philadelphia, 

 May 28th. The library, it was reported, con- 

 tained 7,185 volumes, which were represented 

 to be all of real value, many of them costly 

 and very rare. Among them were 2,165 books 

 written by Baptists in the Latin, German, 

 Swedish, French, and English languages. The 

 list of works by Baptists and others included 

 1,250 names. A very interesting collection 

 was being made of the likenesses arid autograph 



