BAPTISTS. 



The Home Mission Board reported that it 

 employed 95 laborers, who had supplied 276 

 churches and stations and baptized 245 persons, 

 had organized 55 Sunday-schools with 2,680 

 teachers and pupils, and bad collected $844 for 

 missions, and $2,000 for church-building pur- 

 poses. The board had received co-operation 

 in its work from the Baptist State organiza- 

 tions of Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkan- 

 sas, Florida, Texas, and Missouri. A favorable 

 report was made of the Indian Muscogee mis- 

 sion. During the thirty years that the late prin- 

 cipal missionary, the Rev. Dr. Buckner, labored 

 in it, an average of one church was organized and 

 one minister was ordained for every year, and 

 75 conversions took place annually. The num- 

 ber of members was now 2,600. The subscrip- 

 tions in behalf of the theological seminary 

 had been sufficient to pay its expenses during 

 the past three years, and the institution had 

 now a surplus. It had been attended by stu- 

 dents from every Southern State except Mary- 

 land, and from other States and from Mexico. 



German Baptist Conferences. In the German 

 Baptist conferences, six new churches were 

 organized in 1882, making 168 in all connected 

 with the conferences, with a membership of 

 30,442, against 28,956 in the previous year. 

 The number of baptisms during the year was 

 2,967. The number of Sunday-schools had 

 increased during four years from 178, with 691 

 teachers and 8,954 pupils, to 402, with 1,146 

 teachers and 8,954 pupils. 



Baptist Convention in the Indian Territory. A 

 Baptist Convention, composed of the associa- 

 tions and churches of nil the Indian nations 

 settled in the Indian Territory, was organized 

 in Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, in June. Rep- 

 resentatives were present of the Cherokees, 

 Creeks, and Seminoles, of the Plains Indians 

 at the Wichita agency, and of other bodies, 

 making in all seven Indian tribes, of three 

 races and five languages, whose delegates par- 

 ticipated in the proceedings. This organiza- 

 tion was recognized and approved by the Choc- 

 taw and Chickasaw Association at its annual 

 meeting in October. 



Baptist Autumnal Conference. The second Bap- 

 tist Autumnal Conference was held in Boston, 

 Mass., November 13th, 14th, and 15th. The 

 Rev. Alvah Hovey, D. D., presided. The fol- 

 lowing topics were considered in papers read 

 by appointed essayists and in general discus- 

 sions: "Church Architecture" (Rev. C. J. 

 Baldwin and Pvev. J. R. Thomas); "The So- 

 cial Element in Church Life and Church 

 Work " (Rev. W. E. Hatcher, D. D. ; Rev. J. 



B. Simmons, D. D. ; Hon. J. M. S. Williams; J. 



C. Hiden, D. D. ; and Rev. Mr. Rhoades) ; " The 

 Sanitary Provisions of the Mosaic Code " 

 (George H. Fox, M. D.) ; " Christianity and the 

 Body " (President S. L. Caldwell, of Vassnr Col- 

 lege) ; " Christianity in Politics " (Rev. E. P. 

 Gould, D. D.) ; " The Divorce Question " (Rev. 

 H. S. Barrage. D. D. ; Judcre Buchanan, of New 

 Jersey ; President A. Owen, of Denison Uni- 



versity) ; " Modern Biblical Criticism " (Rev. 

 T. J. Conant, D. D. ; Prof. Howard Osgood, 

 D. D. ; Prof. D. G. Lyon, Rev. J. A. Smith, 

 D. D., and Prof. D. J. Hill); "The Coming 

 Ministry" (President E. Dodge, of Madison Uni- 

 versity ; Rev. J. C. Hiden, D. D., and Rev. P. 

 S. Moxon); " Worldliness " (Rev. T. Edwin 

 Brown, D. D. ; Rev. H. M. King, D. D., and 

 Rev. A. C. Dixon). 



Convention of Liberal Baptists. A convention 

 of "Liberal" or "Open-Communion" Bap- 

 tists, the call for which was signed by repre- 

 sentative men of the Free- will Baptist Church, 

 the Free Baptists of New Brunswick and of 

 Nova Scotia, the Church of God, the General 

 Baptists, and the Separate Baptists, met in 

 Minneapolis, Minn., October 2d, with the de- 

 clared object of promoting a more intimate ac- 

 quaintance and a closer union among the dif- 

 ferent branches of the church in whose name 

 it was held. The Rev. O. B. Cheney, of Maine, 

 was chosen president of the convention. A 

 paper which was read on the subject of "The 

 Liberal Baptists of America," sketched the rise 

 of the General Conference of the Free-will 

 Baptists of New England, with which 78,000 

 members are now connected, and described 

 other Free Baptist organizations, as follows: 



In 1823 a movement, under Elder Stimson, began 

 in Indiana. The people took the name of " General 

 Baptists," and now have in the Western States not 

 less than ISjOOO members. About 1828 a few churches 

 separated from the United Baptists and took the 

 name of " Separate Baptists." Churches have been 

 planted by them, and we now know of ten associa- 

 tions, with a membership of not less than 7,000 com- 

 municants. We also have Free Christian Baptists 

 in Nova Scotia and the Free Baptists of New Bruns- 

 wick. The people known as the " Church of God," 

 organized in Pennsylvania in the year 1830j now em- 

 brace upward of 30',000 members, and sustain several 

 newspapers and institutions of learning. If we give 

 a summary, the showing is : Free Baptists, 78,000 ; 

 Church of God, 30,000 ; Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wick, 14000- General Baptists, 13,000; Free Bap- 

 tists in North Carolina.10,000 ; Separate Baptists, 

 7,000 ; Free Baptists in Western States, 5,000 : total, 

 157,000. 



A report from the business committee, 

 which was adopted, opened with a declaration 

 that "the several associations of churches of 

 Jesus Christ in America, who hold the evan- 

 gelical faith, practicing believers' baptism, and 

 excluding no recognized Christian from the 

 Lord's table, are one by the strongest ties., that 

 of a common faith and spirit, unity of purpose, 

 mutual respect, and paternal love, and hence 

 should be one in formal fellowship and meth- 

 ods of co-operation." The action of the con- 

 vention embodied recommendations that a 

 year-book be published, representing all bodies 

 of Liberal Baptists; that a quarterly publica- 

 tion, or magazine, be established; that there 

 be co-operation in the support of foreign mis- 

 sions; that Liberal Baptist literature be cir- 

 culated ; that the convention be perpetuated 

 by the election of an executive committee au- 

 thorized to represent the Liberal Baptist bodies 

 and to call another convention ; that the sev~ 



