190 



CONGKEGATIONALISTS. 



The whole number of families connected with 

 the churches was 165,842. Thebaptisms for the 

 year included 10,686 of adults and 5,556 of in- 

 fants. Of the churches, 2,716 were returned 

 as with pastors and 904 were "vacant," or 

 without regularly installed pastors ; of the min- 

 isters, 2,360 were in pastoral work, and 1,136 

 were not in pastoral work. Besides, there 

 were 209 licentiates. Of the members, 48,615 

 were marked " absent," or thus designated as 

 " persons who live at a place other than that 

 of their church relations, and do not worship 

 with their church." Contributions were re- 

 ported by 2,760 churches to the amount ot 

 $951,890 for benevolent purposes, and of $2,- 

 313,796 for home expenditures. Of the minis- 

 ters marked as "not in pastoral service," 134 

 were connected with educational work in col- 

 leges, seminaries, and academies, or as super- 

 intendents of schools ; 60 were connected with 

 the national or other benevolent societies as 

 secretaries, superintendents, etc. ; 34 were in 

 missionary or similar work ; 22 were editors ; 

 67 were in secular work; and 152 were re- 

 tired by age or infirmities. The receipts of 

 the* American Home Missionary Society for the 

 year ending May 1, 1879, were $273,691, and 

 the expenditures were $260,330. The indebt- 

 edness of the Society was $50,399, against which 

 it had a balance in the treasury of $13,401. 

 Nine hundred and forty-six ministers were 

 employed during the year in 34 States and Ter- 

 ritories, 29 of whom had preached in foreign 

 languages. 



The thirty-third annual meeting of the Amer- 

 ican Missionary Association was held at Chi- 

 cago, Illinois, beginning October 28th. The 

 Hon. E. S. Tobey of Boston, Massachusetts, 

 presided. The Treasurer reported that his re- 

 ceipts for the year had been $314,450, of which 

 $99,019 had been contributed for special insti- 

 tutions. His expenditures had been $213,955, 

 of which $122,665 had been applied to the 

 Southern work (among the freedmen), $6,595 

 to the work among the Chinese, $347 to that 

 among the Indians, $10,226 to the foreign mis- 

 sions, and $37,390 to the payment of the debt 

 of the Society. The largest work of the Soci- 

 ety was among the freedmen in the Southern 

 States, where it had under its care 67 churches, 

 with 4,600 members, and 44 schools, with 190 

 teachers and 7,207 pupils, classified as follows : 

 primary, 2,739 ; intermediate, 1,465 ; grammar, 

 633; normal, 2,022; collegiate preparatory, 

 169 ; collegiate, 63 ; law, 28 ; theological, 86. 

 A gift of $150,000 which had been received 

 would be used for the erection of new build- 

 ings for the schools at Nashville, Tennessee, 

 Atlanta, Georgia, New Orleans, Louisiana, and 

 Talladega, Alabama. It was estimated that 

 150,000 pupils had been taught during the year 

 by present and former students of the higher 

 schools of the Association. The Association 

 had now under its care the Indians of four 

 agencies, numbering 13,000 souls. Nine mis- 

 sionaries, teachers, and assistants were employed 



among the Indians. The station at Skoko- 

 mish included a church of 23 members, with 

 three other preaching stations, 128 families, 

 200 attendants on worship, and 110 children in 

 the Sunday-schools. Seventy-seven Indian boys 

 and nine Indian girls had spent the year at the 

 Hampton Institute, Virginia, where, it was rep- 

 resented, they had been contented and studi- 

 ous, and had made "marked and steady prog- 

 ress." Eesolutions were adopted, declaring 

 that the aim of the Association with reference 

 to the Indians should be, " as far as possible, 

 and as rapidly as possible, to secure for them : 

 a, a legalized standing in the courts of the 

 United States ; Z>, ownership of land in sev- 

 eralty ; e, the full rights of American citizen- 

 ship. These three things, we believe, are essen- 

 tial if the Indian is to be, not Christianized or 

 civilized, but saved from extermination." The 

 Association most heartily approved "the plan 

 of the Indian Bureau to secure to as many In- 

 dians as possible the advantages of education 

 offered at such distant schools as that at Hamp- 

 ton and Carlisle, at the same time believing that 

 the system of boarding-schools on the reserva- 

 tions, which for many years have been main- 

 tained by the Government and the missiona- 

 ries, is the chief educational agency that must 

 be relied upon for bettering the condition of 

 the Indian." A resolution was also adopted 

 declaring that the Association, " believing that 

 the treaties existing between the United States 

 and China, so far as they relate to the rights 

 of emigration from one country to the other, 

 and the treatment such immigrants should re- 

 ceive from the people and nation among whom 

 and in which they live, are right, just, wise, and 

 Christian, does heartily record its appreciation 

 of the high services which President Hayes, un- 

 der God, has by his timely veto of the anti-Chi- 

 nese bill been enabled to render the republic 

 in preserving inviolate its treaty obligations, 

 and also the cause of Christianity, in removing 

 a threatened formidable barrier to the evangel- 

 ization of the Chinese, not only in America, 

 but also in their native land ; and the Associa- 

 tion hereby tenders him its profound thanks 

 for the same." The Secretaries were authorized 

 to notify President Hayes of this resolution. 

 Twelve schools were taught among the Chinese 

 of the Pacific coast, which employed 21 teach- 

 ers, including five Chinese helpers, and returned 

 a total enrollment of 1,489 pupils, with an 

 average attendance of 252 pupils. Eighty-four 

 Chinese had given evidence f conversion, and 

 137 had renounced idolatry. The Congrega- 

 tional Association of Christian Chinese had 

 198 members, of whom 44 had been received 

 during the year. The African mission, hi the 

 Mendi country, included six missionaries, with 

 the wives of two, snd five other assistants, two 

 churches, with 85 members and 190 Sunday- 

 school scholars, and three day-schools, the 

 largest of which, at Good-Hope station, had 

 an enrollment of 245 and an average attend- 

 ance of 156 scholars. Mr. Eobert Arthington 



