56 



BAPTISTS. 



gain in the contributions to denominational ob- 

 jects, including a few large individual contribu- 

 tions. The income for home missions in the North- 

 west had been $5,356, and for Nova Scotia and 

 Prince Edward Island $8,117. Work had been 

 done in 75 churches in the latter section. The 

 Foreign Mission Board had received $20,844 and 

 had expended $19,875. Of the receipts, $1,000 

 more hat} come from the women's societies than 

 from the ordinary gifts of churches and individ- 

 uals. The 7 churches in the foreign field had 

 346 members, and returned 41 baptisms during 

 the year. Acadia University had $200,000 of trust 

 funds, encumbered with $66,000 of debts. In- 

 cluding the proportion conditionally contributed 

 by Mr. J. D. Rockefeller, $41,788 had been ob- 

 tained on endowment pledges. A plan was con- 

 sidered for raising $50,000 as a Century fund. 



Baptists in Great Britain. The Baptist 

 Union of Great Britain and Ireland met in its 

 spring session in London, April 23. The report 

 of the council showed an increase of about 25,000 

 chapel seats during the year. The membership 

 had apparently fallen from 355,218 to 353,258, but 

 46 churches, whose membership was included in 

 the figures of the previous year had made no re- 

 turn. Estimating the number thus omitted, the 

 membership would really be 360,475. The num- 

 ber of baptisms had increased from 16,805 to 

 16.899. During the year 66,743 had been spent 

 on new chapels, 36,785 on improvements, new 

 schools, etc., and 77,024 in payment of debts. 

 The receipts of the union had been 39,083, in- 

 cluding 22,226 for the Twentieth Century fund. 

 The capital of the Annuity fund amounted to 

 167,364, but the number of ministers who had 

 enrolled themselves under it had so largely in- 

 creased that the free contributions of the churches 

 had been insufficient to maintain. the annuities at 

 their full amount, and it had been necessary to 

 make small reductions in them. The Committee 

 of the Home Mission reported that there were now 

 107 churches in 20 associations on the list, 55 of 

 which churches were formed into 25 groups of 

 2 or 3 each. There were in addition 27 mission 

 stations, and over the total number of preaching 

 places 134 72 mission pastors. These churches 

 returned 5,054 communicants and average attend- 

 ances of 6,411 in the morning and 10,733 in the 

 evening, and had raised for various purposes 

 10,067. The campaign for the Twentieth Cen- 

 tury fund was being pursued with great vigor 

 and success. Eight hundred and ten out of the 

 1,180 churches connected with the union had 

 adopted the scheme. The Irish Baptists were try- 

 ing to raise 7,000 for it, the Welsh Baptist 

 Union 50,000, and the Scotch Baptist Union 

 20,000. The whole amount received to date was 

 133,861. The Board of Introduction, which had 

 been recently constituted for such purposes, had 

 made recommendations of pastors to churches or 

 of churches to pastors in more than 60 cases, and 

 some settlements had resulted. The ministerial 

 recognition committee reported upon the exam- 

 ination of ministers who sought recognition by 

 the Baptist Union. Considerable progress had 

 been made in the negotiations for the erection of 

 a Baptist church house, with a chapel or hall, 

 to serve as a headquarters for the denomination. 

 A resolution of sympathy with the scheme of the 

 Evangelical Free Church Council for a " simulta- 

 neous mission " was adopted, with a pledge of the 

 co-operation of the Baptist churches for its suc- 

 cess. The Rev. Alexander McLaren, 1). 1)., was 

 elected vice president of the union and president 

 for 1901. The resolution adopted on temperance 

 approved the proposal for the association of the 



Free churches in a temperance crusade at the close 

 of the nineteenth and the opening of the twentieth 

 century, and advised the co-operation of the Bap- 

 tist churches with it. Other resolutions protested 

 against the scheme for a state-endowed Roman 

 Catholic University in Ireland, and against certain 

 provisions in the new educational code. The 

 union also denounced certain incidents in the 

 ritualistic controversy in the Established Church 

 as constituting a grave public scandal, and ex- 

 pressed the belief that the true and only remedy 

 for such conditions lay in disestablishment and 

 disendowment. The Baptist Building fund had 

 granted the applications of 42 churches for sums 

 varying from 750 to 30, extending over periods 

 of from five to ten years, amounting in all to 

 12,880. Practically the whole of the capital of 

 about 53,000 was in use. The receipts from sub- 

 scriptions and collections had decreased. 



The autumnal session of the union was held 

 at Leicester, beginning Oct. 2. The president, the 

 Rev. William Cuff, in his opening address pre- 

 sented the Federation of Free Churches, the Twen- 

 tieth Century Fund, and the Simultaneous Mis- 

 sion as the " three great movements " occupying 

 the attention of evangelical Christians. A pro- 

 posal for a union of the ministers and missionaries 

 of all evangelical churches in a concert of prayer 

 and special intercession in view of better service 

 in the new century was commended to the earnest 

 consideration of ministers. Pastors, superintend- 

 ents, and teachers in Sunday schools were ad- 

 vised to warn the youth under their charge against 

 the dangers of cigarette smoking. Resolutions 

 were passed urging the importance of securing as 

 representatives in Parliament men of pure lives, 

 unselfish patriotism, and earnest and noble char- 

 acter; condemning resort to war; welcoming the 

 definite constitution of the tribunal of arbitration 

 at The Hague; warning the people against the 

 growth of militarism, the revival of racial ani- 

 mosity, " the moral, not less than the physical, 

 evils of war," and advising the cultivation in 

 every possible way of the spirit of international 

 brotherhood; mentioning the questions of licens- 

 ing reform, the housing of the poor, the proper care 

 for the aged poor, the increase of efficiency in 

 state education for the children of the nation, 

 the reform of the land laws, and the establish- 

 ment of complete religious equality as lying at 

 the root of the stability, prosperity, and useful- 

 ness of the nation ; and renewing protests against 

 support of sectarian schools from public funds, and 

 demands for government by the people of all ele- 

 mentary schools supported by the people. The 

 Annuity fund having reported an excess in ex- 

 penditures of 2,921 over income, the subject of 

 remedial measures was referred to the council of 

 the union for consideration. The report of the 

 Twentieth Century fund showed that 158,000 

 of the 250,000 which it was proposed to raise 

 had been subscribed. 



Baptist Missionary Society. The financial 

 statement of the Baptist Missionary Society, made 

 at the annual meeting, April 19, showed that the 

 year's receipts for the general work of the mis- 

 sions, exclusive of special funds, had been 66,593 

 and the expenditures 73,716. An increased ex- 

 penditure of 1.210 was wholly accounted for by 

 the large addition (40) to the staff of mission- 

 aries which had taken place since the centenary 

 celebration. Including special funds and special 

 gifts to the Indian Famine fund, the total re- 

 ceipts had been 77.(>42, an increase of 2,310 

 over the previous year. The reports from the mis- 

 sion fields indicated prosperous work. New sta- 

 tions had been opened in India, with a large in- 







