48 



BAPTISTS. 



that ministers' institutes be organized among 

 these people, and the ministers of the Conven- 

 tion give their special attention to the same, 

 and advised that the circulation of religious 

 literature among them and their instruction m 

 denominational doctrines be looked after. The 

 Convention commended the organization of 

 woman's missionary societies, and advised 

 that they be made auxiliary to the regular 

 boards for home and foreign missions. Prog- 

 ress was reported on the effort to raise 

 funds for the Southern Baptist Theological 

 Seminary, formerly at Greenville, S. C., now 

 at Louisville, Ky. The churches of Kentucky 

 had undertaken to raise the sum of $300,000 

 for the endowment of the seminary, provided 

 the other Southern States would raise $200,000. 

 The sum of $284,000 had been raised in Ken- 

 tucky, and between $65,000 and $70,000 in the 

 other States. The seminary had been attended 

 during the year by about ninety students, and 

 had graduated five in the full course and four 

 in the English courses. 



A National Colored Baptist Convention met 

 at Nashville, Tenn., June 6th, for the purpose 

 of discussing measures for the advancement of 

 education among the members of the colored 

 churches in the South. Delegates were in at- 

 tendance from Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, 

 Virginia, and Indiana. The Rev. N. G. Merry, 

 of Nashville, Tenn., presided. A constitution 

 was adopted for a " National Colored Bap- 

 tist Missionary and Educational Convention," 

 which shall hold annual meetings, and the ob- 

 jects of which were declared to be : " 1st, the 

 establishment of a book depository and reli- 

 gious publishing house; 2d, cooperation with 

 the American Baptist Home Mission Society 

 in its work of educating the f reedmen ; and 

 3d, the establishment and support of a religious 

 newspaper in the interest of truth and the col- 

 ored Baptist churches." Arrangements were 

 made to publish an address to the white Bap- 

 tists of the North and South, setting forth the 

 appreciation entertained by the Convention of 

 the assistance which they had given to the col- 

 ored people, and requesting a continuance of 

 their liberality ; and an address to the colored 

 Baptist churches, North andSouth, urging them 

 to encourage a higher standard of religious 

 worship, and to recognize the importance and 

 necessity of education and morality among their 

 people. The organization of a firm to be known 

 as the Colored Baptist Repository and Publish- 

 ing Company of the United States, for the pub- 

 lication of religious literature, was determined 

 upon. The " Baptist Herald," Paducah, Ky., 

 was designated as the organ of the Conven- 

 tion. 



II. FREEWILL BAPTIST CHURCH. The statis- 

 tics of the Freewill Baptist Church in the 

 United States, as they are given in the "Free- 

 will Baptist Register" for 1879, show an in- 

 crease of 106 churches, with a small apparent 

 decrease in ministers and communicants. The 

 following is a summary of them : 



The Kentucky Yearly Meeting, having 18 

 churches, 15 ordained preachers, and 725 com- 

 municants, has been formed out of yearly meet- 

 ings whose statistics are included in the forego- 

 ing table, since their returns were made up. 

 The number of yearly meetings is 39 ; of quar- 

 terly meetings, 167; number of licensed preach- 

 ers, 152. 



Besides the societies included in the Freewill 

 Baptist Church, there are a number of asso- 

 ciations of Baptists in America which in doc- 

 trine and polity are in general agreement with 

 the Freewill Baptists. Among them are sev- 

 eral associations of General Baptists in Indi- 

 ana, Illinois, Kentucky, and some adjoining 

 States, numbering several thousand members, 

 in support of whose doctrines and polity a 

 weekly paper is published at Oakland, Ind. ^ A 

 body called the Southern Baptist Association 

 held its first session at Friendship Church, 

 Wayne County, N. C., in September, 1877, and 

 represented 66 churches, 68 ministers, and 

 3,108 members. Corresponding bodies in Geor- 

 gia, South Carolina, and Tennessee, with more 

 than 50 ministers and churches and 2,000 mem- 

 bers, are mentioned in its report. The " Baptist 

 Eeview," La Grange, N. C., is the periodical 

 organ of these people. The Freewill Baptist 



