54 



BAPTISTS. 



year. The sum of $33,160 had been added to 

 the trust and endowment funds, and $12,245 

 to funds on which annuities were paid. The 

 operations of the society had been enlarged, par- 

 ticularly in the West, and 392 missionaries had 

 been sustained, being 111 more than were em- 

 ployed in the previous year. Of these mission- 

 aries, 209 had labored among Americans, 40 

 among Germans, 30 among Scandinavians, 6 

 among French, 11 among Indians, 21 among 

 freedmen, and 8 among Chinese. Eleven 

 schools had been sustained, which employed 63 

 teachers and were attended by 1,649 scholars. 

 Twelve hundred and two churches and out- 

 stations, having 16,279 members, had been 

 supplied, 61 churches organized, and 554 Sun- 

 day-schools, with an attendance of 29,090, 

 cared for by the missionaries. The number 

 of schools among the freedmen had been in- 

 creased, by the addition of the schools at 

 Selma, Alabama, and Live Oak, Florida, to 

 ten. Among their students, 367 had the min- 

 istry in view. The students had paid a larger 

 sum for tuition than ever before ; and the 

 freed people had contributed for the purposes 

 of the schools $2,000 in Alabama, nearly 

 $1,000 in South Carolina, $400 in Florida, and 

 $2,000 in Texas and the Southwest ; and they 

 were raising funds in Georgia for the erection 

 of a building at Atlanta for the education of 

 young women. An institution was to be es- 

 tablished at Marshall, Texas, to be known as 

 " Bishop College." The " Indian University " 

 at Tahlequah, Indian Territory, which had 

 been opened about a year before, had been at- 

 tended by fifty-seven students, five of whom 

 were studying for the ministry. The estab- 

 lishment of a school at Ogden, Utah, as a 

 means for acquiring influence among the Mor- 

 mons, was recommended. Preparations had 

 been made to resume the work of the society 

 in Mexico, which, first begun in 1869, had been 

 suspended in 1876. 



The anniversary of the American Baptist 

 Missionary Union was held May 21st, the Kev. 

 George D. Boardman, D. D., presiding. The 

 total receipts of the society for the year had 

 been $313,774, of which $24,971 were for in- 

 vested funds, leaving $288,803 applicable to 

 its general purposes. The appropriations had 

 amounted to $300,653, so that the accounts 

 showed a deficit of $11,850. The condition of 

 the several missions is exhibited in the follow- 

 ing tablej 



Total number of persons baptized during the 

 year, 9,143. Reports were made concerning 

 editions of the Bible and the New Testament 

 in Buruian, Karen, Shan, Telinga, the Garos 

 language, Japanese, and the colloquial dialect 

 of Swatow, China. 



Recommendations were adopted that it 

 should be made an object to place the Bible 

 in the hands of every Christian family in the 

 missions any of whose members can read or 

 can be easily taught to read, and the New 

 Testament in the hands of children in the Sun- 

 day and day schools ; to encourage the circu- 

 lation of the Bible among nominal Christians 

 who can read, with special efforts to induce 

 them to read it, Avhile taking care at the same 

 time not to place the book in the hands of 

 those who will wantonly destroy it. 



The Southern Baptist Convention met at Co- 

 lumbus. Mississippi, May 5th. The Rev. P. H. 

 Hell, D. D., was chosen president. The For- 

 eign Mission Board reported that its receipts 

 had been $4fi,820, and that the debt of the 

 previous year had been paid. An application 

 had been made for the appointment of mis- 

 sionaries to Cuba,, and the Secretary of State 

 of the United States had been asked whether 

 such missionaries would be protected and tol- 

 erated. The Secretary had replied that they 

 would be protected as citizens, but that no as- 

 surance could be given in advance as to the 

 action of foreign authorities toward the mis- 

 sionaries themselves or in respect to their work. 

 The reports of the condition of the several mis- 

 sions may be summarized as follows: Mexico : 

 Thirteen churches had been organized, of which 

 five had been afterward disbanded, leaving 

 eight churches, with 200 members. The mis- 

 sionary, Rev. J. O. Westrup, had been mur- 

 dered in December, 1880, and a successor to 

 him was to be appointed. Brazil : Three mis- 

 sionaries, two churches, 44 members. Africa 

 (Lagos, Abbeokuta, and Ogbomosho) : five mis- 

 sionaries, 92 members. China (Tung Chow, 

 Shanghai, and Canton): 12 missionaries, 18 na- 

 tive assistants, 543 members, 190 pupils. Italy: 

 Four foreign missionaries, 10 native evangel- 

 ists, 11 stations, 175 members. Efforts had 

 been made to secure the co-operation of the 

 colored Baptists of all the States in prosecuting 

 African missions, but with only partial success. 

 The Home Mission Board had received and ex- 

 pended $27,869. A church with ten members 

 had been organized in San Francisco, Califor- 

 nia, in connection with the Chinese mission at 

 that place. Buildings had been erected for 

 the Levering Indian Institute in the Creek na- 

 tion, and the school would be opened in the 

 fall. The missionaries of the board had labored 

 in eight States, where their work was supple- 

 mented by that of the missionaries of the State 

 Conventions. They had themselves supplied 

 59 churches and 48 other stations. Three 

 hundred and fifty women's societies had col- 

 lected $6,000 for the purposes of the conven- 

 tion. 



