50 



BAPTISTS. 



that, by the influence of its publications, a 

 church of thirty-one members had been formed 

 in Scotland within a year and a half, having 

 an efficient pastor, and publishing a weekly 



Pft 'he Treasurer of the Education Society made 

 a final report of the financial transactions of 

 the Society from its organization in 1855 to 

 September, 1878. The accounts of the endow- 

 ment fund amounted to a total of $44,683, and 

 those of the general fund to $41,172, the lat- 

 ter sum being made up chiefly of interest on 

 endowment notes and on mortgages and bonds. 

 The property of Milton College, Milton, Wis., 

 was estimated to be worth $35,379 ; its receipts 

 for the year had been $3,949, and its expendi- 

 tures $3,946, and its indebtedness was $7,716.- 

 65. The school has divided into preparatory 

 and collegiate departments, and has three 

 courses of study, classical, scientific, and teach- 

 ers'. The number of students in both depart- 

 ments during the past collegiate year had been 

 225. The endowment fund of Alfred Univer- 

 sity, Alfred Center, N. Y., was $95,401 ; the 

 grounds, buildings, library, cabinets, and ap- 

 paratus fund of the institution were valued at 

 $130,003 ; the receipts and expenditures of the 

 institution from its foundation in 1836 to the 

 present time had been $228,236 each ; and the 

 revenue and expenditure for the year ending 

 July 3, 1878, had been $9,515 each. Nineteen 

 teachers were employed in the university ; the 

 whole number of students enrolled during the 

 collegiate year was 415 ; and the whole num- 

 ber of students who had pursued for four 

 months or more during the year classical stud- 

 ies or the higher branches of English educa- 

 tion, or both, was 113. 



IV. CHURCH OF GOD. The number of mem- 

 bers of this Church in the United States is es- 

 timated by the Secretary of its Board of Mis- 

 sions to be about 30,000. The twelfth trien- 

 nial meeting of the General Eldership of the 

 Church of God in North America was held at 

 Syracuse, Ind., beginning May 29th. Elder 

 0. H. Forney was chosen Speaker. The Board 

 of Missions reported that eight missionaries had 

 been employed during the past three years, 

 whose assignments, modified at the several 

 meetings of the Board, had been principally 

 in the States of Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, 

 and Michigan. The organization of the Church 

 had also been introduced into England, at Al- 

 vingham, through the agency of Elder John 

 P. Coulan. The General Book Agent reported 

 that his receipts during the three years had 

 been $9,160, and his expenditures $4,452. The 

 publications issued during his term included, 

 besides the "Journal" of the General Elder 

 ship, tracts on the subjects of feet-washing, 

 baptism, and the Church of God, the Consti- 

 tution of the General Eldership, and a sermon 

 by the late Elder Winebrenner on baptism, 

 which was preached in 1842. A reprint of 

 Elder Winebrenner's " Treatise on Regenera- 

 tion" was in course of publication. The Com- 



mittee on the State of Religion reported that 

 revivals of religion among the churches of the 

 different elderships had been very general, and 

 that numerous additions to the Church had 

 been made, particularly in West Ohio. . The 

 Board of Missions was urged to use every 

 effort to establish missions in the Western and 

 Southern States, as well as in the Territories. 

 A resolution was passed advising the estab- 

 lishment of missions in foreign lands as soon 

 as possible, and approving steps which had 

 been taken by the East Pennsylvania Eldership 

 toward beginning a mission in India. A Board 

 of Foreign Missions was organized, with which 

 the several annual elderships were directed to 

 cooperate, with a view of establishing a mis- 

 sion in that country. The Eldership declared 

 by resolution that a school was required for 

 the education of the ministers and people, to 

 be under the control of the Church ; and propo- 

 sitions from Ridgeville College, Indiana, and 

 Mount Pleasant Institute, Pennsylvania, were 

 considered favorably. A resolution was adopted 

 affirming the belief that the washing of the 

 saints 1 feet is an ordinance instituted by Christ, 

 and advising all the ministers to teach and all 

 the churches to practice it. The practice of feet- 

 washing before the celebration of the Lord's 

 Supper was especially insisted upon. Measures 

 were taken for the preparation of a ** Teacher's 

 Manual" and "Lesson Leaves" for Sunday 

 schools. The introduction of temperance or- 

 ganizations into Sunday schools was recom- 

 mended. It was resolved to celebrate the year 

 1880 as the serai-centennial of the existence of 

 the Church as an organized body ; and a com- 

 mittee was appointed to make all the necessary 

 arrangements for carrying the resolution into 

 effect. 



V. MENNOXITES. The sixteenth annual Con- 

 ference of the Amish Mennonites was held at 

 Eureka, 111., in June. Forty-two delegates 

 were present, of whom four were from Ohio, 

 two from Indiana, two from Iowa, thirty-two 

 from Illinois, and one each from Pennsylvania 

 and Nebraska. There was also an attendance 

 of several hundred members of the churches 

 as visitors. Elder J. K. Yoder, of Ohio, was 

 chosen chairman of the Conference. The pro- 

 ceedings consisted chiefly of devotional exer- 

 cises and addresses. The principal business 

 considered was the adoption of measures to 

 prevent the Conference from being disturbed 

 by the intrusion of petty cases of discipline 

 and difference which ought to be settled else- 

 where. The Conference decided that no cases 

 should be admitted before it till after efforts 

 had been made to settle them in the local 

 church, or by special tribunals constituted 

 from the neighboring churches, and failed. 

 The Amish originated in Germany in the 

 seventeenth century, and, adhering to the 

 Mennonite Confession of Faith, differ but little 

 from the regular Mennonites. Their preachers 

 are not men of learning, but are chosen from 

 among the membership by a vote of the peo- 



