70 



BAPTISTS. 



corporate the Conference under the laws of 

 Wisconsin. Contributions of more than $2,100 

 were reported for missionary work among the 

 German population of the United States. Be- 

 sides this, the Conference had during the year 

 supported a missionary at Ramapetam, India, 

 and some of the churches had contributed to 

 the missions of the German Baptist Union in 

 Russia. 



The Scandinavian Baptist Churches in the 

 Northwestern States held their first General 

 Convention at Village Creek, Iowa, in August. 

 The Convention decided that the Scandinavian 

 department should be continued in the theo- 

 logical seminary at Morgan Park, near Chicago, 

 Illinois, and appointed a board to exercise 

 supervision over it. It also determined to form 

 a fund in aid of the publication and diffusion 

 of Scandinavian Baptist literature, and resolved 

 that the officers of the General Convention 

 should, in the interest of Scandinavian mis- 

 sions, communicate directly with the American 

 Baptist Home Mission Society, recommending 

 to it suitable missionaries for new fields and 

 asking aid for such missionaries. 



II. FKEE-WILI. BAPTIST CHURCH. The fol- 

 lowing is a summary of the statistics of the 

 Free- Will Baptist Church in 170 quarterly 

 meetings, as they are given in the "Free- Will 

 Baptist Register and Year-Book" for 1880: 



There are several associations of Baptists in 

 North America which in doctrine and polity 

 are, in general agreement with the Free-Will 

 Baptists. Among these are the associations 

 of General Baptists in Indiana, Illinois, Ken- 

 tucky, and some adjoining States, numbering 

 several thousand members. The General Con- 

 ference of the Original Free-Will Baptists of 

 North Carolina, which met in November, 1878, 

 has 96 churches and 6,000 members. The 

 Southern Baptist Association has 66 churches, 

 68 ministers, and 3,108 members ; it holds cor- 

 respondence with the Chattahoochee, South 

 Carolina, Tennessee River, and Butts County 

 Conferences, and is represented by the " Bap- 

 tist Review," La Grange, N. 0. The Mount 

 Moriah Free-Will Baptist Association, Ala- 

 bama, has 21 churches, 24 ministers, and about 

 1,000 members. The Union Association of 

 General Baptists, Kentucky, has 24 churches, 

 15 ordained ministers, 4 licensed ministers, and 

 1,000 members. The Free-Will Baptist Asso- 

 ciation in Texas numbers 33 ministers. The 

 Texas Free-Will Baptist Association reports 6 

 churches and 5 ministers. There are other 

 Free-Will Baptist Churches in Tennessee, Mis- 

 sissippi, Arkansas, and Missouri, numbering 

 some thousands of members, that have no or- 

 ganized connection, but are one in doctrine 

 with the Free-Will Baptist Church. The ag- 

 gregate of these and similar bodies will not fall 

 short of 25,000 members. The Free Baptists 

 of Nova Scotia have 52 churches and 3,368 

 members. The Free Baptists of New Bruns- 

 wick number 148 churches and 9,389 members. 

 The General Baptists of Great Britain are in 

 harmony with the Free-Will Baptist Church, 

 and a correspondence by epistles and delega- 

 tions has long been sustained between them. 



The contributions of the churches to the 

 missionary and educational societies of the de- 

 nomination for the year ending August 1, 1879, 

 were: to the Foreign Mission Society, $19,913 ; 

 to the Home Mission Society, $7,608; to the 

 Educational Society, $2,131; total, $29,653. 

 Of the contributions to foreign missions, $2,- 

 069, and of those to home missions, $1,039 

 were received through the Woman's Mission 

 Society. The Home Mission Society has a per- 

 manent fund of $4,745 and a centennial fund 

 of $4,895. Its most important work is among 

 the freedmen, for whom it sustains a school at 

 Harper's Ferry, W. Va. It has also stations 

 at Cairo and neighboring towns in southern 

 Illinois, in Nebraska, and near New Orleans, 

 La. The Educational Society has a general 

 fund of $43,826, and a library fund of $2,225. 

 The number of students reported in 1879 as 

 preparing for the ministry in all the schools of 

 the denomination was 88, nine more than the 

 largest number ever given in any former re- 

 port of the Society. The Foreign Missionary 

 Society supports a mission in Lower Bengal 

 and Orissa, India, which includes 8 mission- 

 aries, 4 assistants, 478 members, and 453 schol- 

 ars in the Sunday-schools. 



