BAPTISTS. 



81 



recognition of the exalted Christian character, 

 rare ability, and scholastic attainments of Dr. 

 Whitsitt, and in our appreciation of the extended 

 and multiform services he has rendered our de- 

 nomination and the cause of common Christian- 

 ity during hia connection with the seminary. We 

 .accord to him the utmost purity of motives and 

 loyalty to truth, as God has given it to him to 

 see the truth in prosecuting and publishing his 

 researches. In parting with him, therefore, we 

 would give him renewed assurance of our tender 

 love for him personally, and our earnest prayer 

 for his ever-increasing usefulness, and commend 

 him to the confidence and fellowship of Christian 

 people everywhere. Second, we would also have 

 it go on record that, as we have twice before af- 

 firmed, we have not felt called upon in any way 

 to pass upon the historical question or questions 

 raised by Dr. Whitsitt, and that we do not, by 

 accepting his resignation, purpose or desire to 

 neutralize in the least the influence of those im- 

 mortal principles of freedom of research and free- 

 dom of speech for which Baptists have so long 

 and so constantly stood." 



The Rev. J. P. Greene, President of William 

 Jewell College, Liberty, Mo., was elected presi- 

 dent of the seminary. He declining to leave the 

 institution already under his charge, the Rev. E. 

 Y. Mullins, D. D., of Newton Center, Mass., was 

 chosen to the office and accepted it. 



German Baptist Conferences. These include 

 seven conferences and a General Conference meet- 

 ing every three years. At the twelfth triennial 

 session of the General Conference, held at St. 

 Louis, Mo., in September, 1898, reports were made 

 concerning publication, educational work, and 

 the care of orphans. The publication house at 

 Cleveland, Ohio, issued one weekly and five 

 monthly periodicals, and many books, tracts, and 

 pamphlets. The establishment was estimated to 

 represent a value of more than $70,000. The 

 academy and seminary at Rochester, N. Y., re- 

 turned 5 professors, several tutors, and 53 stu- 

 dents. Sixty-five thousand dollars one half of 

 the sum subscribed by German Baptists had 

 l)een secured toward a proposed endowment fund 

 of $100,000. The German Baptist Orphanage, 

 which was practically owned by a single person, 

 was surrendered to individual management, and 

 a committee was appointed to make provision for 

 the care of German Baptist orphans in private 

 iamilies. 



The Baptist Congress. The seventeenth Bap- 

 tist Congress met in Pittsburg, Pa., Nov. 14 to 

 16. The Rev. D. Purinton, D. D., President of 

 Denison University, presided. In his address on 

 the occasion of the opening of the sessions he 

 spoke of the Baptists as standing for individual- 

 ism as against sacerdotalism. They were op- 

 posed to all forms of proxy religion. They stood 

 for dominance of truth in religion, and did not 

 ask for any ecclesiastical authority for what they 

 should believe as truth. The subjects on the 

 programme of discussions were, as a rule, each 

 treated by two writers and two speakers. The 

 first topic, The Resurrection of the Body, was 

 considered by Prof. James Ten Broeke, Prof. 

 Norman Fox, the Rev. Walter Galley, and the 

 Rev. Dr. H. C. Applegarth, from the various 

 points of view of the speculative aspects of the 

 question, the exposition of the Scripture teaching, 

 the identity of the raised body, and the connec- 

 tion of the resurrection of the body with the re- 

 demptive work of Christ. The subject of The 

 Improvement of Theological Education was dis- 

 cussed by the Rev. Dr. O. P. Eaches, the Rev. 

 Robert McDonald, the Rev. F. G. Woods, and 

 VOL. xxxix. 6 A 



Prof. E. P. Pollard; on the subject of What Con- 

 stitutes Denominational Loyalty V a variety of 

 views were expressed as to details, while an agree- 

 ment appeared to exist respecting the funda- 

 mental principal of loyalty. The Rev. Dr. J. T. 

 Christian, the Rev. Dr. A. S. Hobart, the Rev. E. 

 W. Hunt, and Prof. S. C. Mitchell were the read- 

 ers and speakers. On the subject of What is the 

 Duty of the Church in improving the Condition 

 of the Laboring Men? the Rev. George R. Rob- 

 bins, Prof. Lee D. Dodge, and the Rev. Riley A. 

 Vose emphasized the spiritual aspects of the 

 question, and the Rev. Dr. T. Edwin Brown pre- 

 sented a view of the essential principles of the 

 relation of the Church to social concerns. To 

 the question, Is there a Place for Authoritative 

 Creeds in Religion? the Rev. S. B. Batten, the 

 Rev. Dr. H. M. Sanders, the Rev. Howard L. 

 Jones, the Rev. J. R. Brown, and the speakers in 

 the general discussion all offered negative an- 

 swers. The last subject was The Priesthood of 

 Believers, and was treated of by the Rev. C. H. 

 Pendleton and the Rev. Dr. George E. Rees. The 

 closing addresses, summarizing the results of the 

 congress, were made by the Hon. Francis J. 

 Torrance, the Rev. Dr. George E. Horr, and the 

 Rev. Charles H. Dodd. 



Baptists in Canada. Chancellor O. C. Wal- 

 lace gives the number of Baptist members in Can- 

 ada as less than 100,000, about 50,000 of whom 

 are in the maritime provinces, while the rest 

 are scattered from New Brunswick to the Pacific 

 Ocean, with about 40,000 in Ontario and 5,000 

 or 6,000 in Quebec, Manitoba, the Northwest Ter- 

 ritories, and British Columbia. They have but 

 few men of very large fortunes, and the average 

 pay of their ministers is small. The largest sal- 

 ary is $3,500; one pastor receives $2,500, three or 

 four $2,000 each, about half a dozen from $1,500 

 to $2,000, a large number from $600 to $800, and 

 many less. Yet competent and suitable men to 

 fill the pulpits are not lacking. The educational 

 institutions include Acadia University, at Wolf- 

 ville, Nova Scotia, with three departments and a 

 theological department contemplated, and about 

 300 students enrolled; the Feller Institute, at 

 Grande Ligne, for the French; and MacMaster 

 Universitv, at Toronto, with four departments, 

 and between 400 and 500 students ; and prepara- 

 tions are making to establish a school in Mani- 

 toba as soon as the money can be secured. A 

 similar purpose is entertained in British Colum- 

 bia. A closer intercourse than has heretofore pre- 

 vailed is developing between the Baptists of the 

 maritime provinces and those farther west, large- 

 ly through the influence of common interests in 

 the Grande Ligne Mission and in Manitoba. 



Baptists in Great Britain. While it has been 

 usual in compiling the numerical tables in the 

 Baptist Handbook to supply gaps in the reported 

 statistics of the churches in Great Britain and 

 Ireland with estimates, based on reports from 

 previous years or upon other information, these 

 were dropped in the edition of 1899, and only 

 members actually reported for the year were 

 given, while the nonreporting churches were as- 

 signed to a separate list. From 2,697 churches 

 were returned 355,218 members, 51,430 teachers, 

 and 525,533 pupils in Sunday schools, 1,951 pas- 

 tors in charge, and 5,111 local preachers, with 

 16,805 baptisms during the year. New chapels 

 had been erected during the year in England, Ire- 

 land, and Wales, affording 14,532 sittings, at a 

 cost of 70,059, and 47,680 additional had been 

 expended on chapel improvements, new school- 

 rooms, classrooms, etc. At the same time chapel 

 debts had been paid off to the amount of 77,113. 



