BAPTISTS. 



79 



8,228. The net increase of members during 

 the year had been 118. The amounts of funds 

 raised were: For pastors' salaries, $19,482; 

 for Sabbath-schools, $1,243; for the Tract So- 

 ciety, $6,512 ; for the Missionary Society, 

 $4,690; for other work, $10,382; total, $42,260. 

 The number of members of Sabbath-schools 

 was returned at 4,753, with 321 teachers. 



The accounts of the Seventh-Day Baptist 

 Education Society, including invested funds, 

 were balanced at $46,441. Alfred University 

 returned an average attendance during the col- 

 legiate year of 286 students, with a total of 

 412 individual registries; Milton College had 

 259 students, and Albion Academy an average 

 attendance of 73 students. 



The receipts of the year of the American 

 Sabbath Tract Society were $15,350. The 

 printing-house had done a business of $16,406 

 in the publication of the periodicals of the de- 

 nomination, the book entitled u Sabbath and 

 Sunday," and tracts. Of the six periodicals, 

 one was in the Swedish language and one in 

 the Dutch. Besides the main depository at 

 Alfred Centre, N. Y., sub-depositories have 

 been established at Texarkana, Ark., and Min- 

 neapolis, Minn. The society at its annual 

 meeting, September 26, recommended the pub- 

 lication of a Seventh-Day Baptist Hand-book, 

 to contain an outline of the denominational 

 history, statements of the views of Christian 

 doctrine, practices, and church polity recog- 

 nized by the denomination, and an account of 

 the present condition and work of the General 

 Conference' and the societies. 



The receipts of the Seventh-Day Baptist Mis- 

 sionary Society for the year had been $13,572, 

 or $3,685 more than the receipts of the previ- 

 ous year, and the expenditures had been $1 0,447. 

 In the Home Missions 82 members had been 

 added by baptism. From the mission in China 

 (at Shanghai) were returned 3 American mis- 

 sionaries, 3 native preachers, 4 teachers, and 4 

 regular and 2 occasional helpers in the medical 

 mission. The mission-schools had. been at- 

 tended by 26 boys and 9 girls. The mission 

 in Holland returned 2 stations (Haarlem and 

 Frieschlo), with 1 minister at each, and an in- 

 crease of 13 in the number of Sabbath-keepers. 



The Seventh-Day Baptist General Confer- 

 ence met in its seventy-second session at Mil- 

 ton, Wis., September 12. Mr. George H. Bab- 

 cock presided. The amount of the memorial 

 fund was reported by its treasurer to be $80,212. 

 Its income for the year had been $3,640. The 

 Woman's Executive Board reported that it had 

 received $3,062, that it had endeavored un- 

 successfully to pay the salary of one missionary 

 and an equal amount to the Tract Society, and 

 that it had kept up a regular correspondence 

 with the missionaries in the foreign field. The 

 Committee on Denominational History pre- 

 sented a report urging the pastors of churches 

 to gather such materials as could be used in 

 preparing histories of those churches, which 

 should describe not only the leading events in 



their careers, but also the effect of salient prin- 

 ciples or doctrines as felt in their growth. 

 Upon the advice of the Executive Committee, 

 the Conference decided to appoint a committee 

 to open correspondence with persons of whom 

 they might learn, who are interested in the Sab- 

 bath cause, with power to recommend the or- 

 ganization of groups of Sabbath-keepers, where 

 such exist, if they see fit, into churches. The 

 three topics, "Is Denominational Growth de- 

 sirable, and, if so, why? " " What are the Ele- 

 ments of Denominational Growth ? " and " By 

 what Methods can Denominational Growth be 

 promoted? " were discussed by the Conference. 

 A declaration was adopted expressing it as the 

 general belief of the denomination, with a "few 

 dissentients, that the Lord Jesus Christ, ac- 

 cording to the Scriptures, will certainly and 

 personally come again " without sin unto sal- 

 vation " ; that there will be a resurrection of 

 the dead, both of the just and the unjust; and 

 that while the day and the hour when either 

 of these events will happen is not known, 

 " God has appointed a time for each of them, 

 and they will certainly occur in his own ap- 

 pointed time." A declaration was adopted ap- 

 proving the principle of the prohibition of the 

 manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors; 

 declaring the license system, high or low, as 

 applied to the liquor -traffic, wrong ; and ap- 

 proving laws of States that require instruc- 

 tion in public schools regarding the effects of 

 alcohol and narcotics on the human system. 



Baptists in England and Ireland. -The, spring 

 meetings of the Baptist Union of England and 

 Ireland, and of the societies affiliated with it, 

 were held in London, beginning May 10. The 

 Rev. Charles Williams presided and delivered 

 the opening address. The report of the Coun- 

 cil showed that the total sum raised by the 

 members of the Baptist churches for all pur- 

 poses had been 610,000, and that the ratio of 

 their contributions was equivalent to 2 per 

 cent, of their income. 



The report of the Council showed that at 

 the end of 1885 accommodation was provided 

 in 3,654 chapels in Great Britain and Ireland 

 for 1,181,000 persons. The reported member- 

 ship in 2,713 churches was 315,940, or 3,470 

 in excess of the registry of 1884. The number 

 of Sunday-school teachers was 49,440, and of 

 pupils in Sunday-schools, 472,000, showing an 

 increase of 700 teachers and 4,000 pupils. The 

 sum of 40,000 had been expended upon new 

 chapels, securing a provision of 11,400 sittings; 

 56,000 had been spent in chapel improve- 

 ments, new school-rooms, class-rooms, etc. ; 

 and 90,000 had been paid toward the removal 

 or diminution of debts. 



The Baptist Building Fund returned an in- 

 come from subscriptions, gifts, and returns of 

 loans, of 8,109, of which 7,675 had been 

 disbursed in thirty fresh loans. The total 

 amount granted from the fund to 750 churches 

 exceeded 148,000, and the officers held in cus- 

 tody 141 trust and title deeds. 



