BAPTISTS. 



57 



214 pastors and ministerial students had been 

 aided with grants for their libraries. Grants 

 had been made in the Bible department of 

 Scriptures in 13 languages and 21 versions, to 

 the number of 50,000 copies. Special reports 

 were made respecting the mission to the Arme- 

 nians in Turkey, which was begun at the re- 

 quest of converted Armenians to be appointed 

 to work among their countrymen, after the 

 American Baptist Missionary Union had de- 

 clined to act in the matter, in 1883. The Mis- 

 sionary Union had been invited several times 

 to take charge of the work, but had declined 

 on each occasion. Other missionaries had 

 been appointed, and the society had now four 

 missionaries or colporteurs at Constantinople, 

 Arabkir, Erzeroum, and some field to be se- 

 lected; with 32 members at Constantinople, 

 and two schools for girls with 40 pupils, a 

 church attendance of 1,810, and a Sunday- 

 school attendance of 1,612 at Erzeroum. 

 Another report concerned the relations of the 

 mission with the American Board, with whose 

 Armenian missions the Baptist work appeared 

 to many parsons to be in rivalry. It main- 

 tained the right and duty of the society to con- 

 tinue and sustain the mission. Resolutions 

 were adopted making this report the expres- 

 sion of the society, and again inviting the 

 American Baptist Missionary Union to assume 

 charge of the work among Armenians, appoint- 

 ing the present missionaries and accepting the 

 money and pledges which had been gathered 

 for their support. The Board of Managers was 

 urged by resolution to publish tracts and trea- 

 tises bearing upon the subject of temperance 

 aud in opposition to the traffic in intoxicating 

 liquors for the purpose of use as beverages. 



American Baptist Missionary Union. The seventy- 

 third anniversary of the American Baptist Mis- 

 sionary Union was held in Minneapolis, Minn., 

 beginning May 27. The Eev. Edward Jud- 

 son, D. D., presided. The receipts of the so- 

 ciety for the year had been $406,639. The 

 missions of the society to the heathen include 

 the Burman, Karen, Shan, Kachin, Chin, As- 

 samese, Garo, Naga, and Telugu missions in 

 Burmah and India; the Chinese missions in 

 Bangkok, Siam, and in China ; the mission in 

 Japan ; and the African missions, on the west 

 coast, in the Congo, and " at home." These 

 returned altogether 54 stations, and 974 out- 

 stations, 248 European missionaries, 780 native 

 preachers, 92 Bible-women, and 244 other na- 

 tive helpers -making a total missionary force 

 of 1,359 persons; 624 churches, with 58,108 

 members, and 3,290 baptisms during the year, 

 216 Sunday-schools, with 11.341 pupils, and 

 778 day-schools, with 874 native teachers and 

 16,560 pupils. The missionary property at 

 all these stations was valued at $492,077. The 

 contributions of the mission stations were re- 

 turned at $38,040. The European missions in 

 Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, and Greece, 

 returned 950 preachers, 641 churches, and 65,- 

 422 members, with 6,052 baptisms during the 



year. The Board of Managers had been ap- 

 plied to by the Bishop of Rangoon and the 

 British and Foreign Bible Society, for permis- 

 sion to publish the Missionionary Union's trans- 

 lations of the Bible into the language of Bur- 

 mah, substituting ordinary terms or the Greek 

 words untranslated for the more specific terms 

 relating to baptism used in these versions. 

 The request had been declined. The Board of 

 Managers was authorized to accept the direc- 

 tion of the missionary work in Armenia now 

 carried on by the American Baptist Publication 

 Society, such acceptance to be conditioned upon 

 the favorable report of a specially-appointed 

 committee of investigation. A resolution of 

 protest was adopted against permitting the im- 

 portation of strong drink into the newly-opened 

 Congo Valley in Africa, and a committee was 

 appointed to invoke such help as it might be 

 possible to secure from the Government of the 

 United States to prevent such importation. 



Other Baptist Societies. The American Baptist 

 Historical Society, Philadelphia, has a perma- 

 nent fund of $3,600. 



The Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary 

 Society, having its office at Boston, returned 

 its receipts, according to the " American Bap- 

 tist Year-Book " for 1887, at $59,709. It sus- 

 tained in Asia, Europe, Japan, and Africa 27 

 missionaries and 109 schools, with 4,049 pu- 

 pils. 



The Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary 

 Society of the West, having its central office at 

 Chicago, reported an income of $31,595, 25 

 missionaries, 147 schools, 46 native teachers, 

 and 1,656 pupils. 



The receipts of the Woman's Baptist Home 

 Mission Society, Chicago, were $43,240. It 

 sustained 63 missionaries. 



The Woman's American Baptist Home Mis- 

 sion Society of Boston, reported the receipt of 

 $24,017, and employed 28 teachers. 



German Baptists. The triennial German Bap- 

 tist General Conference includes five annual 

 conferences, with which are connected, in all, 

 12,676 members. 



Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern 

 Baptist Convention met in Louisville, Ivy., May 

 6. The Rev. P. H. Mell, D. D., was "chosen 

 president. The Board of Home Missions pre- 

 sented a summary of its work during the year 

 as follows: Number of missionaries, 251; of 

 churches and stations, 822 ; of baptisms, 3,923 ; 

 received by letter, 2,319 ; total additions, 6,242 ; 

 Sunday-schools reported, 318; teachers and 

 pupils, 13,031; churches constituted, 119; 

 houses of worship built, 62 ; cost of houses and 

 lots, $60,000. 



The Choctaw Indians, under the direction of 

 an agent of the Board, were endeavoring to 

 establish a Baptist school within the nation, 

 and had nearly completed a building for it at 

 Atoka. Three churches had been constituted 

 in Cuba, the oldest of which, at Havana, had 

 101 members. These churches also returned 6 

 candidates for the ministry, 4 Sunday-schools, 



