76 



BAPTISTS. 



BELGIUM. 



unsectarian school within the reach of every family 

 in the United Kingdom, and to abolish all theolog- 

 ical and kindred tests in every elementary school 

 and training college into which state grants of 

 money are paid. 



The annual report of the Baptist Missionary 

 Society furnishes the following approximate statis- 

 tics : " There are 148 missionaries and assistant 

 missionaries wholly supported by the society, 9 

 superannuated missionaries and 80 pastors of self- 

 supporting churches, of whom 11 are in India and 

 Ceylon and 69 in Jamaica, 843 evangelists and 13 

 evangelist pensioners. The number of stations is 

 1,035, and the number of members 53.365. The 

 day schools include 726 teachers and 37,026 pupils, 

 and the Sunday schools 3.428 teachers and 38,483 

 pupils. The total receipts of the society during the 

 year were 137.709. including 46,932 in hand on 

 account of the Centenary and other special funds, 

 and l'S.232 raised for missionary purposes at various 

 stations. 



The Zenana Mission had received 9,890 and ex- 

 pended 10,055. It had stations in India, in Ben- 

 gal, the Nortli western Provinces, Orissa, and the 

 city of Madras, and had maintained famine-relief 

 work in Benares and Agra, and supported mission- 

 aries in China, where the mission house at Chouping 

 and the board ing house and premises at Taing-Clm- 

 Fiu had been completed. Its present staff con- 

 sisted of 62 missionaries in India and 7 in China, 

 with more than 200 native Bible women and 

 teachers. 



The receipts for Baptist home missions had been 

 3.240 and the expenditure 3,699. The churches 

 helped returned 4,413 communicants, with 159 

 baptized in 1897, an average attendance in congre- 

 gations of from 5,719 at morning services to 9,728 

 in the evening, 7,581 young people in Sunday 

 schools and 914 in Bible classes, sitting accommo- 

 dation for 26,503 persons, and 7,550 raised by the 

 mission churches for various purposes. 



The income of the Tract and Book Society had 

 been 1,499 and the expenditure about 160 less. 

 An effort is to be made to obtain 2,000 as a cap- 

 ital fund. 



The report of the Baptist Building fund showed 

 that 41 churches had been assisted with loans 

 amounting in the aggregate to 13,052, an increase 

 of 1,042 of the previous year. The Capital fund 

 amounted to 51,692. Applications for assistance 

 amounting to 15,000 were waiting to be consid- 

 fivd. Nineteen churches had this year been placed 

 on the fund's " roll of honor," in which are entered 

 the names of those churches which repay the sums 

 granted them before the expiration of the time for 

 which the loans are allowed. 



Account was given at the meeting of the Bible 

 Translation Society of a large amount of biblical 

 revision which had been undertaken. It included 

 the completion of the Bengali Bible by Dr. House 

 after four years' labor; progress with the I'riya ver- 

 sion of the old Testament; revision of the Cinga- 

 lr~i- \i.\v Te.-iamcnt : and the printing of a new 

 edition of the Dwulla New Testament. 



Reports were made to the meeting of the Baptist 

 Total Abstinence Association that 1,627 Baptist 

 ministers were pledged abstainers, an increase of 

 12H for the year; that 47 of the foreign mission- 

 aries had enrolled themselves ; that ','<>!) of the 211 

 students in the denominational colleges were ab- 

 stainers; that 207 Bands of Mope had been formed, 

 making the whole number of such bands in connec- 

 tion with tin- I'.aptist churches 1,556, and that the 

 income had increased. 



liuptigtg in Germany. A yearbook called 

 "Statistics" fa published in (Jernmny by the Bap- 

 tist publishing house there. The volume for 1898 



represents that the number of baptisms had been 

 larger than during any previous year within the 

 last decade, except one, being 2.121. The actual 

 total increase was. however, relatively larger, and 

 the Baptists in Germany now numbered 27,991, 

 showing an increase of 8,982 in ten years. The 

 work among the young was carried on by societies 

 for young men and young women and in 397 Sun- 

 day schools. The Young Men's and Young Wom- 

 en's societies had each a monthly paper published 

 in their interest. The contributions had greatly 

 increased, amounting in 1897 to 18.55 marks, or 

 $4.50 per capita, against 16.29 marks, or $4 per 

 capita in 1892. 



BELGIUM, a constitutional monarchy in western 

 Europe. The legislative power is vested in a Senate 

 of half the number of members in the other Chamber 

 elected for eight years, partly by direct vote and 

 partly by provincial councils, o'ne half being re- 

 newed every four years, and a House of Deputies 

 the members of which are elected for four years, 

 one half being renewed every two years, by all 

 citizens over twenty-five years of age, under a 

 plural system of voting. An elector can cast a 

 supplementary vote if he possesses freehold proper- 

 ty, or if he is thirty-five years old, married, and a 

 taxpayer, and if he Has the diploma of an institution 

 of the higher education, or has filled a public office 

 requiring superior intelligence, he is entitled to two 

 supplementary votes, but none may cast more than 

 three votes in all. Failure to vote is a penal offense. 



The reigning King is Leopold II, born April 9, 

 1835, who succeeded his father, Leopold I, the first 

 King of the Belgians, on Dec. 10, 1865. The heir 

 presumptive is his nephew, Prince Albert, born 

 April 8, 1875, son of Philippe, Count of Flanders. 



The Cabinet, reconstituted on Feb. 25, 1896, was 

 composed in the beginning of 1898 of the following 

 members: President of the Council and Minister of 

 Finance, P. de Smet de Naeyer ; Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, P. de Favereau ; Minister of Justice, V. 

 Begerem ; Minister of Railroads, Posts, and Tele- 

 graphs and Minister of War ad interim, J. H. P. 

 van den Peereboom ; Minister of the Interior and of 

 Public Instruction, M. Schollaert ; Minister of Agri- 

 culture and of Public Works, L. dc Bruyn ; Minister 

 of Industry and Labor, M. Nyssens. 



Area and Population. The area of the king- 

 dom is 11.373 square miles, on which there was a 

 population on Dec. 31, 1896, of 6,495,886, averaging 

 571 persons to the square mile. There were 3,241.- 

 423 males and 3,254,463 females. This population, 

 almost the densest in Europe, is still increasing at 

 the rate of about 1 percent, per annum. The num- 

 ber of marriages in 1896 was 52,585 ; of births, 188.- 

 533; of deaths, 113,748; excess of births, 74.785. 

 There is of late years a steady excess of immigration 

 over emigration. In 1896 the net immigration was 

 4,739. The population of Brussels, the political 

 capital, on Jan. 1, 1896, was 531,011, including 

 suburbs ; of Antwerp, 267,902 ; of Liege, 165,404 ; 

 of Ghent, 159,218. 



Finances. The budget for 1898 makes the total 

 ordinary revenue 388,298,598 francs, of which 2r>,- 

 456,000 francs are derived from property taxes, 20,- 

 085,000 francs from personal taxes, 7,400,000 francs 

 from trade licenses, 600,000 francs from mines. 36,- 

 246,632 francs from customs, 52,420,297 francs from 

 excise, 19,940,000 francsfrom succession dutics,19.900 

 francs from registration fees, 6,500,000 francs from 

 stamps, 5,771,000 francs from various other indirect 

 taxes, 154,000,000 francs from railroads. 6.880.000 

 francs from telegraphs, 1,590,000 francs from canal 

 and river tolls, 13, 160,020 francs from the postoilice. 

 1,430,000 francs from navigation dues,2,718,000francs 

 from domains and forests, 10,051,900 francs from 

 funds and securities, and 4,149,749 francs from repay- 



