52 



BAPTISTS. 



B 



BAPTISTS. The American Baptist Yearbook 

 for 1900 gives returns of 1,655 associations in the 

 United States, including 43,427 churches, 29,473 

 ordained ministers, 4,181,686 members, with 184,- 

 845 baptisms, so far as reported, during the year. 

 The aggregate year's contributions of the churches 

 for all purposes were $12,348,527. The value of 

 the church property was estimated as $86,648,982. 



The educational institutions included 7 theolog- 

 ical seminaries, with 68 teachers, 1,012 students, 

 property having an estimated value of $2,444,051, 

 and endowment funds aggregating $2,586,065; 

 104 universities and colleges, with 1,754 teachers, 

 26,126 students, $15,249,058 of property, and $14,- 

 442,807 of endowments; and 84 academies and in- 

 stitutes, with 634 teachers, 10,882 pupils, $3,497,- 

 938 of property, and $1,414,473 of endowments. 



The list of Baptist periodicals includes 124 pub- 

 lications. A list of 36 Baptist charitable institu- 

 tions is given. 



The Yearbook gives the number of Baptists in 

 the world as follows: In North America, 44,603 

 churches, 30,244 ministers, and 4,323,317 members; 

 in South America (Argentine Republic, Brazil, 

 and Patagonia), 28 churches, 15 ministers, 1,639 

 members; in Europe (Austria-Hungary, Denmark, 

 Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, 

 Italy, Norway, Roumania and Bulgaria, Russia 

 and Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland), 3,802 

 churches, 3,065 ministers, 487,363 members; in 

 Asia (Ceylon, China, India, Assam, Burmah, Japan, 

 Palestine), 1,482 churches, 795 ministers, 116,508 

 members; in Africa (Central and Congo, South 

 Africa, West Africa, St. Helena, and Cape Verde), 

 110 churches, 90 ministers, 7,271 members; in Aus- 

 tralasia, 238 churches, 166 ministers, 18,682 mem- 

 bers; making the aggregate numbers 50,263 

 churches, 34,375 ministers, and 4,954,780 members; 

 while the whole number of baptisms during the 

 year was 223,839. 



The American Baptist Education Society meets 

 alternately with the conventions of Northern Bap- 

 tist societies and the Southern Baptist Conven- 

 tion. The meeting for 1900 was held at Hot 

 Springs, Ark., May 10. President A. D. Montague, 

 of Furman University, South Carolina, presided. 

 The annual report represented that since its begin- 

 ning this society had made 66 grants to 41 insti- 

 tutions in 29 States and the maritime provinces 

 of Canada, to the total amount of $1,273,100. 

 During the past year, 13 grants, to the amount 

 of $134,000, had been made to 12 institutions, con- 

 ditioned on their also raising certain amounts, 

 the aggregate of which would bo $520,000. Two 

 of these grants, amounting to $165.000, were made 

 after the report was prepared. Twenty-three in- 

 stitutions reported the addition of $425,000 to 

 their endowment funds. The total receipts for all 

 purposes during the year had been $1,071,000, be- 

 sides the large contributions, amounting to $2,- 

 000,000, for the University of Chicago, made by 

 Mr. J. D. Rockefeller to meet the offer of like 

 sums, making the total of gifts to that institution 

 for the year $4,000,000. Addresses were made at 

 the meeting on Denominational Schools as Factors 

 in Denominational Development during the Cen- 

 tury, by Dr. J. W. Armstrong, editor of the Cen- 

 tral Baptist, and on The Functions of the Intellect 

 in Religion, by President D. B. Purinton, of Deni- 

 son University, Ohio. 



Publication Society. The seventy-sixth an- 

 nual meeting of the American Baptist Publication 



Society was held in Detroit, Mich., May 25 and 26. 

 The report showed that in the publication depart- 

 ment the aggregate of sales for the year had been 

 $672,617, an increase of $29,211 over the sales of 

 the preceding year. In the missionary depart- 

 ment, the receipts from invested funds, Children's 

 Day, contributions from churches and individuals, 

 bequests, etc., had been $103,418, or $8,343 more 

 than in the previous year. The receipts in the 

 Bible department had been $17,918. The total 

 amount of receipts in all departments on special 

 accounts, from rents, etc., had been $867,066. A 

 deficit in the missionary department had increased 

 from $3,114 at the beginning of the year to $11,910 

 at its close. Fifty-three publications had been is- 

 sued, of which 546,350 copies had been printed, 

 while the whole number of copies of new and old 

 publications was 44,870,054. The missionary work 

 had been vigorously pushed. In view of the com- 

 plexity of the work of evangelization among the 

 various populations Qf the United States, making 

 desirable conference, counsel, and co-operation of 

 all true disciples of Christ respecting the obliga- 

 tion which devolves upon them, a resolution was 

 unanimously passed requesting the American Bap- 

 tist Home Mission Society to unite with this so- 

 ciety in the appointment of a joint committee 

 (not to be composed wholly of members of their 

 respective boards), whose duty it shall be to seek 

 from similar boards of all the evangelical soci- 

 eties in the United States engaged in home mission 

 work the appointment of like committees. The 

 purpose of this step was to secure the calling of 

 a national interdenominational conference of the 

 representatives of all such bodies at the earliest 

 practicable day for deliberation, discussion, and 

 action as to the more intelligent, systematic, eco- 

 nomical, and effective execution of their one great 

 work the speedy and complete evangelization of 

 the United States. 



Home Mission Society. The sixty-eighth an- 

 nual meeting of the American Baptist Home Mis- 

 sion Society was held in Detroit, Mich., May 23 

 and 24. The annual report showed that the total 

 receipts for the year had been $580,891, and the 

 expenditures $458,710, besides which $184,663 had 

 been added to the permanent funds. Eleven hun- 

 dred and eighty missionaries had been employed 

 in the United States, Mexico, Alaska, Cuba, and 

 Porto Rico; French missionaries in 6 States; Scan- 

 dinavian missionaries in 25 States; German mis- 

 sionaries in 21 States and Canada; and colored 

 missionaries in 22 States and Territories; among 

 foreign populations, 275 missionaries and 10 teach 

 ers; among the colored people, 63 missionaries and, 

 201 teachers; among the Indians, 23 missionaries 

 and 27 teachers; among Mexicans, 13 missionaries 

 and 9 teachers; and 4 teachers among the Mor- 

 mons. The society had aided in the maintenance 

 of 31 schools established for colored people, In- 

 dians, and Mexicans, 3 day schools for the Chinese, 

 1 day school in Utah, and 1 in New Mexico. In 

 the church edifice department, the principal of 

 the Loan fund amounted to $156,373. From this 

 fund loans are made in small amounts at a uni- 

 form rate of 6 per cent, interest, with the stipiila- 

 tion that the sum loaned shall constitute the last 



Eayment required to complete the house, and shall 

 e secured by a first mortgage on the property. 

 The Benevolent fund, the income of which is 

 available for gifts to churches, amounted to 

 $163,453. Seventy-two churches had been aided 



