BAPTISTS. 



51 



pie, or in cases where there is a tie, or the 

 majority for the person receiving the highest 

 number of votes is only one, by lot ; and they 

 receive no salaries. The Lord's Supper is ad- 

 ministered twice a year. Besides this, bap- 

 tism, feet-washing, and the holy kiss are re- 

 garded as ordinances of equal importance. 

 They take but little part in civil affairs, only 

 occasionally voting at elections for school offi- 

 cers, are conscientiously opposed to military 

 service, and have no denominational schools 

 or church paper, depending upon the public 

 schools for the education of their children and 

 upon the Mennonites for their literature. The 

 Church pays the debts of those who are un- 

 fortunate and become insolvent, and excludes 

 those who can pay their debts and will not ; 

 and members are advised to consult the Church 

 before embarking in any new enterprise. The 

 older members are distinguished by certain 

 peculiarities of costume, such as wearing hooks 

 and eyes instead of buttons, whence the sect 

 has been called " the Hookers " ; but the 

 younger members are beginning to conform 

 to the customs of the world. 



VI. THE BBETHBEN, OE TUNKEBS. The an- 

 nual Council of The Brethren, commonly 

 called German Baptists, or Tankers, met at 

 North Manchester, Ind., during Whitsun-week. 

 Enoch Ebeg was chosen Moderator. An or- 

 ganization for the promotion of home missions, 

 called the Church Extension Union, had been 

 formed in the previous year, the plan and 

 management of which, in that it contemplated 

 salaried officers, were a deviation from the 

 established usages of the brotherhood. Sev- 

 eral petitions were presented, asking the Coun- 

 cil to account for the departure. As the 

 Union was an acknowledged innovation, and 

 could not be shown to be consistent with any 

 precedents in the Society, there seemed no 

 way of answering the petitions except by dis- 

 solving it. It was accordingly dissolved, but 

 a new organization was immediately formed, 

 under another name, with the same objects. 

 It was claimed in justification of this course, 

 that the Brethren, professing to have the 

 primitive and apostolic form of Christianity, 

 were under obligation to spread it ; and it 

 was stated that more than one hundred calls 

 for teachers had been received from all parts 

 of the United States, and even from England 

 and Switzerland, and there was no other effec- 

 tive way of answering them. The question of 

 the validity of " tub baptism," or baptism in 

 the house in exceptional cases of extreme sick- 

 ness, instead of taking the candidate to the 

 stream, was brought up ; but the Council, al- 

 though a general sentiment of disapproval was 

 expressed against it, declined to condemn it as 

 without authority of the Scriptures. The use 

 of " fine and fancy carpets " was condemned 

 as tending to pride and elevation. Condem- 

 nation was voted against the practices of min- 

 isters going about persuading people to join 

 the Church, and telling them that they need 



not observe the order of the Brethren in re- 

 gard to apparel ; against administrators of 

 communion who fail to conform to the order 

 in respect to dress and the hair ; and against 

 expensive feasting at funerals. 



VII. BAPTISTS IN THE BEITISH MAEITIME 

 PEOVINOES. The Baptist Convention of Nova 

 Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward 's 

 Island met at Frederic-ton, N. B., August 

 17th. The Eev. S. W. De Blois was chosen 

 President. The statistical report gave the 

 number of churches as 352, with 34,450 mem- 

 bers. Three new churches had been consti- 

 tuted, three ministers ordained, six houses of 

 worship opened, and 1,735 persons baptized 

 during the year. The endowment fund of 

 Acadia College amounted to $83,863, of which 

 $31,500 consisted of notes of hand and pledges. 

 The most important business transacted was 

 the adoption of the report of a committee 

 which had been appointed in the previous 

 year concerning the subject of placing the 

 home mission work in the three provinces 

 under the control of the Convention. The 

 committee presented a plan for the appoint- 

 ment of a committee of thirteen persons to 

 take charge of this work as soon as the legal 

 obstacles to the making of the change can be 

 removed. The Home Mission Board of Nova 

 Scotia had already approved the principle of 

 the new arrangement, but it still awaited the 

 ratification of the Convention of New Bruns- 

 wick. A foreign mission is maintained by the 

 Convention among the Telugus of India. 



VIII. REGULAB BAPTISTS IN GEEAT BEITAIN. 

 The "Baptist Hand Book" of the Baptist 

 Union of Great Britain and Ireland for 1878 

 gives statistics of the Baptist churches of Great 

 Britain and other foreign countries, of which 

 the following are summaries : 



Number of Sunday scholars in the United 

 Kingdom, 370,320; in France, 866; in Ger- 



