BAPTISTS. 



Francis Wayland, LL. D.) ; " Race and Relig- 

 ion on the American Continent " (J. M. Hoyt, 

 LL. D. r President E. G. Robinson, and Hon. 

 George Williams) ; "Diversity of Opinion with- 

 in the Limits of Denominational Unity " (Rev. 

 W. C. Wilkinson, D. D., on diversity of opinion 

 on questions of Church polity, and Rev. C. B. 

 Crane, D. D., on diversities of doctrinal views) ; 

 "The Taxation of Church Property" (Hon. 

 George H. Andrews and others); "Modern 

 Evangelism " (Rev. A. J. Gordon, D. D.) ; and 

 " The Meditative Element in Christian Life " 

 (President H. G. Weston and others). It was 

 determined to hold another conference in the 

 autumn of 1883, at Boston. 



II. SEVENTH-DAT BAPTIST CHURCH. The 

 following is a summary of the statistics of this 

 Church as they were reported to the General 

 Conference of 1882 : 



Eastern Association (16 churches in Rhode 

 Island, Connecticut, New York city, and 

 New Jersey) 2,216 members. 



Central Association (15 churches in Central 

 New York) 1,661 " 



Western Association (20 churches in West- 

 ern New York and Pennsylvania) 1,981 " 



Northwestern Association (34 churches in 

 Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, 

 Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Nebraska, 

 and Dakota) 2,230 " 



Southeastern Association (6 churches in 

 West Virginia) 648 



Foreign (2 churches in England, 1 in Hol- 

 land, and 1 in China) 50 " 



Total. 



8,781 



Net increase of members during the year, 

 155. The whole number of Sabbath-schools 

 was 93, with 6,211 scholars, or 310 more schol- 

 ars than were reported in the previous year. 



The receipts of the American Sabbath Tract 

 Society for the year ending August 31, 1882, 

 were $8,294, and its expenditures were $8,085. 

 The society returned a balance of $2,379 of 

 assets over liabilities. It had employed agents 

 in Pennsylvania, Haarlem (Holland), where a 

 monthly journal was published on its account, 

 and in Norway and Hamburg, Germany, where 

 7,916 tracts had been distributed ; and it had 

 organized a system of work by tent-meetings, 

 to be held at different places in the United 

 States. It published a general religious news- 

 paper, a Sabbath-school journal, and a monthly 

 journal designed especially to present the views 

 of the denomination to the public, and which 

 has been sent to clergymen, Sunday-school 

 workers, and public reading-rooms throughout 

 the United States and Canada. 



The funds of the Seventh-Day Baptist Edu- 

 cation Society were reported at its annual 

 meeting, September 22d, to be in amount 

 $44,004. Reports were presented at the meet- 

 ing of the condition of Milton College, Milton, 

 Wis., and Alfred University, Alfred Center, 

 N. Y. The former institution returned an in- 

 come of $8,067, a faculty of nine members, 

 and 241 students. Ten thousand dollars had 

 been added during the year to the endowment 

 fund of the college. Alfred University re- 

 turned an income of $8,783, a general faculty 



of thirteen, with a theological faculty of five 

 members, and 378 students. 



The receipts of the Seventh-Day Baptist 

 Missionary Society, for the year ending Sep- 

 tember 21st, were $9,330. The society sus- 

 tained both home and foreign missions. Twen- 

 ty-three home missionaries were employed in 

 eleven States, and reported the organization of 

 three churches, fifty additions by baptism, and 

 a total of 858 church-members and 575 per- 

 sons in Bible-schools. The foreign mission at 

 Shanghai, China, was conducted by three 

 American missionaries, with two native preach- 

 ers, one Bible-woman, and three teachers of 

 day-schools, and returned 40 pupils in the Bi- 

 ble-school and 52 pupils in three day-schools. 

 A missionary was employed at Haarlem and 

 W^orkum, in Holland, where were returned 

 twenty-five church-members. 



The sixty-eighth annual session of the Sev- 

 enth- Day Baptist General Conference was held 

 at Hopkinton, R. I., beginning September 20th. 

 Professor A. R. Crandall presided. A new 

 church at Cartwright, Wis., was admitted to 

 the conference. The increase in the number 

 of members that had taken place during the 

 year was reported to have been greater than 

 the average annual increase of the previous 

 five years. Progress toward the preparation 

 of a denominational history was reported in 

 the collection of material and in securing the 

 preparation of original histories and memoirs. 

 Professor William A. Rogers was elected presi- 

 dent of the conference for the ensuing year. 



III. THE BEETHEEN, OK TUNKEES. The dif- 

 ferences of opinion which have prevailed and 

 have been widening for several years among 

 the Brethren, or Tunkers, have finally resulted 

 in a definite schism ; and the Church is now 

 divided, in effect, into three branches, which 

 are called the Old Order, the Conservatives, 

 and the Progressives. The Old Order Breth- 

 ren represent a local schism which occurred in 

 1881 in the Miami Valley, Ohio. They do not 

 differ in doctrinal points from the Conserva- 

 tives, but believe, as to points of practice, that 

 the Church has erred " in encouraging pro- 

 tracted meetings, high-schools, Sunday-schools, 

 and prayer-meetings, and in departing, to some 

 extent, from the ancient order in dress and 

 other matters, such as the use of musical in- 

 struments, etc." Their first meeting in 1882 

 was held in Brookville, O., and was attended 

 by about six thousand persons, most of whom, 

 it was remarked, were aged. The meeting 

 made rulings against " fashionable mustaches," 

 the parting of the hair on one side, the use of 

 more than one color in house-painting, the 

 wearing of silk and dress-trimmings by women, 

 the raising of tobacco, and the selling of grain 

 to be distilled. 



The regular Annual Meeting of the Brethren 

 was held near Milford Junction, Ind., in June, 

 and was attended by ten or twelve thousand 

 persons. The full privilege of voting was 

 granted to the sisters. The most important 



