BAPTISTS. 



71 



III. SEVENTH-DAY BAPTIST CHUBOH. The 

 Cuinmituv mi Statistics of the General Oon- 

 ferenco of this Church reported in September, 

 1878, that two churches had been added dur- 

 ing the year, making the whole present num- 

 I..T !' ohurohefl 90. Of these churches, 69, or 

 one less than two thirds of the whole, had re- 

 ported 7,446 members. Presuming the remain- 

 ing : >l churches to have a proportionate num- 

 bor of members, the total membership of the 

 denomination would be about 11,000. The 

 reports of the contributions of the churches, so 

 far us they were sent to the committee, showed 

 an average of $2.40 per member in the total con- 

 tributions, and an average of 25 cents per mem- 

 ber for denominational work, this head includ- 

 ing the tract and missionary enterprises. The 

 Committee on Sabbath-Schools reported that 

 the number of such schools was 88, being larger 

 than ever before, but the number of scholars 

 had decreased three per cent. 



The Seventh-Day Baptist General Confer- 

 ence met for its sixty-fifth annual session at 

 Brooktield, New York, September 24th. A. B. 

 Prentice was President. A committee which 

 had been appointed by a previous General 

 Conference i;o present for consideration a de- 

 nominational exposition of faith made a re- 

 port embracing eleven articles of belief, viz. : in 

 God ; Christ ; the Holy Spirit ; the Holy Scrip- 

 tures; Man (affirming his twofold nature, his 

 fall, and the necessity of regeneration) ; Heir- 

 ship and Eternal Life ; Repentance, Faith, and 

 Baptism; the Lord's Supper; the Sabbath (the 

 seventh day); the Resurrection of the Dead 

 and the Eternal Judgment ; and the Resurrec- 

 tion body of the Saints. The report was or- 

 dered to be printed and to lie on the table for 

 one year, and the committee was continued. 

 An order of procedure at the sessions of the 

 Conference was adopted, which provides for 

 the previous selection of a list of subjects for 

 discussion, and the appointment for each sub- 

 ject of some person to introduce the discussion 

 in an address or essay, after the reading of 

 which a limited time shall be allowed for gen- 

 eral discussion in five-minute speeches. The 

 Conference recommended to young men who 

 contemplate entering the ministry that they 

 endeavor to prepare themselves for that work 

 by a classical education and a full course of 

 theological training ; and advised them to study 

 in the schools of the denomination. A policy 

 of engaging the pastors of such churches " as 

 could serve the cause advantageously " to labor 

 in the mission-fields for a month or more at a 

 time, was recommended. The Hon. Horatio 

 Gates Jones, of the State Senate of Pennsyl- 

 vania, communicated to the Conference the 

 latest results of his efforts to obtain a relaxa- 

 tion of the Sunday laws of that State in favor 

 of those who keep the seventh day as the Sab- 

 bath. The bill introduced by him for that 

 purpose had on the 18th of May, 1879, secured 

 a majority of the votes of the members of the 

 Senate present and voting, but hud failed to 



pass for the want of a majority of the whole 

 Senate as required by the Constitution. " From 

 this statement," he said, "yon may well sup- 

 pose that I am not disheartened, for each year 

 has brought fresh accessions to the ranks of 

 those who believe in the great principle of the 

 rights of conscience." 



The anniversary meetings of the Education- 

 al, Missionary, and Tract Societies were held 

 in connection with the meeting of the General 

 Conference. The Missionary Society sustained 

 home missions at different points in the United 

 States, and a mission at Shanghai, China, which 

 was at present without a missionary superin- 

 tendent. At Shanghai the Society owned a 

 city chapel to which dwellings were attached, 

 a cottage in the country, and a lot in the mis- 

 sionary burial-ground. The missionary work 

 was in the hands of two or three native preach- 

 ers or Bible-readers ; the Church had eighteen 

 or twenty members, while about the same num- 

 ber of members had died. 



IV. THE BKETUREN, OB TUSKERS. The An- 

 nual Council of the Tunkers, or Brethren, met 

 at Broadney, Virginia, June 3d. The sum of 

 $800 being needed for the mission in Denmark 

 during the coming year, a contribution of two 

 dollars was requested from each church. The 

 Council of 1877 had decided that the double 

 mode, viz., that in which one person washes and 

 another wipes the feet of the brother or sister 

 participating in the ceremony, was the proper 

 method of administering the ordinance of feet- 

 washing. A petition was presented asking for 

 a grant of liberty to use the single mode, or that 

 in which the same person washes and wipes. 

 The question was deferred till the next year. 

 The question whether a member who has with- 

 drawn from the Masonic order may or may not 

 answer recognitions from members of the order, 

 was answered in the negative. On the ques- 

 tion whether a minority ought to be permitted 

 to prevent a church from establishing a Sunday- 

 school the customary way of deciding matters 

 in the Brotherhood being by unanimous con- 

 sent the Council agreed to ask minorities to 

 yield. Newspapers had been established within 

 the denomination which had indulged in free 

 criticism of some of its peculiar nsages. The 

 Council determined that the editors of the 

 papers should be called upon to make ac- 

 knowledgments of their offenses ; that certain 

 elders who were named should be required to 

 give satisfaction for publishing schismatic arti- 

 cles ; and that a committee should be appoint- 

 ed to see that the editors of church papers 

 admit no articles assailing the doctrines or 

 principles or practices of the Brotherhood. A 

 request that the wearing of hats by the sis- 

 ters should not be made a bar to membership 

 was denied. An order was adopted that each 

 brother attending the meetings of the Council 

 should pay one dollar, while payment was 

 left optional with the sisters; and that free 

 board should be given only to brethren and 

 sisters and their special friends. 



