BAPTISTS. 



BELGIUM. 



included 3 principal stations on the lower 

 Congo and 6 on the upper Congo, with 30 

 missionaries. By virtue of their larger experi- 

 ence, the missionaries understood far better than 

 they had ever done before how to guard them- 

 selves from the trying effects of the climate. A 

 marked advance was reported in the independ- 

 ence of the native churches. There were now 

 10 self-supporting churches in India, and some 

 even on the Congo. 



The expenditures of the Zenana Missionary 

 Society had been 8,700, while the income had 

 been 8,400. The society was at work in 22 

 centers, with 58 zenana visitors, 176 Bible wom- 

 en and native teachers, and 72 schools; and 

 Bible reading was conducted in 1,600 houses. 

 Three new workers were to go out to India. 



After sixty years of working on separate lines, 

 an agreement had been reached between the 

 Bible Translation Society and the Bible Society 

 for the publication of the Congo version of the 

 Bible, under which the Bible Society agreed to 

 print the version with Congo equivalents for the 

 words immerse and immersion in the text, on 

 condition that the Greek term baptize or its cog- 

 nates should follow them in brackets. A similar 

 agreement was anticipated respecting the Oriya 

 version. The Congo version, it was explained, 

 would be of service in a territory covering some 

 58,000 or 60,000 square miles, or an area about 

 as large as that of England and Wales. 



The capital of the Baptist Building fund 

 amounted to 51.368. During the past year 

 loans free of interest and repayable by install- 

 ments had been granted in the amount of 11,- 

 000 to 46 churches. Since the institution of 

 the fund more than a thousand cases had been 

 helped by grants amounting in the aggregate to 

 217,456. 



The autumnal sessions of the Union were held 

 at Reading, beginning with the missionary meet- 

 ings, Oct. 2 and 3. The addresses at the latter 

 meetings related to the necessity of missions, the 

 claims of rural churches, mission work in Lon- 

 don, the problem of Christian work in the cities, 

 and the privilege of the young in relation to for- 

 eign missions. At the meeting of the Union 

 proper, the president, Rev. T. M. Morris, spoke 

 on the duty of Baptists to act as Christ's repre- 

 sentatives, agents, and witnesses : and addresses 

 were made on the equipment of Sunday-school 

 teachers, socialism which, it was maintained, 

 should be a handmaid to Christianity, not a 

 substitute for it theosophy, and " the falsehoods 

 of secularism." Resolutions were adopted sym- 

 pathizing with the Stundists, or Russian Baptists, 

 in their trials (from persecution) ; and demanding, 

 in view of recent proposals to introduce denomina- 

 tional teaching into board schools, and to secure 

 rate aid for schools under denominational man- 

 agement, that, in accordance with the provisions 

 of the Education act, " no religious catechism or 

 religious formulary which is distinctive of a par- 

 ticular denomination" shall be taught in board 

 schools; that no rate aid shall be given to a 

 school in which such catechism or formulary is 

 taught, or to any school which is not under the 

 control of a school board ; expressing the opin- 

 ion that in the event of the proposals referred to 

 being pressed, " the time has come for the ex- 

 clusion of denominational teaching from every 



public elementary school which receives a grant 

 from Government or from the local authorities ; 

 and for the placing of all such elementary 

 schools under the management of boards elected 

 by householders who pay rates and taxes." The 

 Church extension scheme was commended, and 

 the holding of meetings in behalf of it in the 

 large towns was advised. A conference was held 

 in the interest of " village churches." 



German Baptist Union. The German Bap- 

 tist Union includes the Baptist churches in Ger- 

 many and other countries of Europe. It returns, 

 for 1892, 112 churches in Germany and 31 out- 

 side of Germany, with 302 pastors, 84 ministers 

 and 'colporteurs, and 460 helpers; and these 

 churches are owners of 158 chapels or places of 

 worship. The whole number of members at the 

 end of 1892 was 28,254, of whom 22,958 were in 

 Germany ; number of Sunday schools, 122, with 

 1,760 teachers and 20,732 pupils ; of members of 

 young men's societies, 2,040; of members of 

 young women's societies, 2,425. Amount of 

 contributions, 358,939 marks for the German 

 churches, and 70,589 marks for the others. 



BELGIUM, a constitutional monarchy in 

 western Europe. The reigning sovereign is 

 King Leopold II, born April 9, 1835, son of 

 Leopold I, who, as Prince of Saxe-Coburg and 

 Gotha, was elected the first King of the Belgians 

 by the National Belgian Congress on June 4, 

 1831. His mother was Louise, daughter of Louis 

 Philippe, King of the French. He ascended 

 the throne on the death of his father, Dec. 10, 

 1835. The heir presumptive is Prince Albert, 

 born April 8, 1875, only surviving son of Phi- 

 lippe, Count of Flanders, the King's brother. 

 The succession is restricted to male descendants 

 of the royal line in the order of primogeniture. 



The ministry, constituted on Oct. 26, 1884, is 

 composed of the following members : President 

 of the Council and Minister of Finance, A. 

 Beernaert ; Minister of Justice, J. Lejeune ; 

 Minister of the Interior and of Instruction, J. 

 de Burlet, who succeeded J. Devolder in 1892 ; 

 Minister of Agriculture and Public Works, L. 

 Debruyn ; Minister of Railways, Posts, and Tele- 

 graphs, J. H. P. van den Peereboom ; Minister 

 of War, Lieut.-Gen. C. Pontus ; Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs, Count de Merode, who succeeded 

 Prince de Chimay in 1892. 



Area and Population. The area in square 

 kilometres, and the population of the various 

 provinces and of the total kingdom on Dec. 

 31, 1891, were as follow : 



The population of the principal cities were as 

 follows: Antwerp, 232.723; Brussels, 180,147 ; 

 Liege, 153,324; Ghent, 150,223; Schaerbeek, 53,- 

 127; Malines, 51.558. 



Commerce. The general commerce for 1891 

 amounted to 3,119,623.667 francs of imports, 



