CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



153 



had been paid to 91 churches in 23 States and 

 Territories. The sum of $14,404 had been con- 

 tributed expressly to aid in the building of par- 

 sonages; and grants in aid of that object had 

 been made to 14 churches. 



American Home Missionary Society. The anni- 

 versary of the American Home Missionary So- 

 ciety was held at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., June 

 5th. The receipts for the year ending April 

 1st had been $370,981, which, with a balance 

 of $27,935 in the treasury at the beginning of 

 the year, made the society's entire available 

 resources $398,916. The expenditures in pay- 

 ment of missionaries had been $354,105. The 

 whole number of ministers in the service of 

 the society was 1,150, and by their aid 2,659 

 congregations and mission districts had been 

 supplied. Three missionaries had served con- 

 gregations of colored people, 16 had preached 

 in their own language to Welsh, nine to German, 

 and three to French congregations, while two 

 had served Indian congregations. Two thou- 

 sand and eight Sunday-schools, having 106,638 

 pupils, were under the special care of mission- 

 aries. Two hundred and thirty-three new 

 schools had been formed. One hundred and 

 one churches had been organized, and 43 

 churches had become self-supporting during 

 the year ; and 3,558 members had been re- 

 ceived on profession of faith. A woman's de- 

 partment auxiliary to the society had been 

 organized. 



American Board. The seventy -fourth annual 

 meeting of the American Board of Commis- 

 sioners for Foreign Missions was held at De- 

 troit. Mich., Oct. 2d. The total receipts of 

 the board for the year had been $523,426, or 

 $61,155 more than the receipts of the previous 

 year. From the fund bequeathed by Mr. Otis 

 had been received also, for evangelistic enlarge- 

 ment, $7,613 ; for educational enlargement, 

 $29,683 ; and for new missions in Africa, Chi- 

 na, and Mexico, $30,286 ; making in all, $67,- 

 568. Adding this sum, the whole amount at 

 the disposal of the Prudential Committee had 

 been $1,591,488. Four missionaries and twelve 

 assistant missionaries had been added during 

 the year to the force in the field, and fourteen 

 returned missionaries, after a period of rest in 

 the United States, had gone back to their work. 

 The following general summary of the condi- 

 tion of the missions is taken from the u Annual 

 Survey " of the board. Number of missions 

 (West Central Africa, Zulu, Umzila, European 

 Turkey, Western Turkey, Central Turkey, East- 

 ern Turkey, Maratha, Madura, Ceylon, Hong- 

 Kong, Foochow, North China, Shanse, Japan,. 

 Micronesia, Northern Mexico, Western Mexico, 

 Spain, and Austria), 20 ; of stations, 80 ; of out- 

 stations, 742. 



Laborers employed. Number of ordained 

 missionaries (6 being physicians), 154; of phy- 

 sicians not ordained, men and women, 9 ; of 

 other male assistants, 7 ; of other female assist- 

 ants, 263 ; whole number of laborers sent from 

 the United States, 433 ; number of native pas- 



tors, 144 ; of native preachers and catechists, 

 369 ; of native school-teachers, 1,014 ; of other 

 native helpers, 300 ; total of native laborers, 

 1,827; whole number of laborers connected 

 with the missions, 2,260. 



The Press. Papers printed, as far as re- 

 ported, 32,000,000. 



The Churches. Number of churches, 278 ; 

 of church-members, as nearly as can be learned, 

 19,364; added during the year, 1,737; whole 

 number from the tirst, as nearly as can be 

 learned, 89,323. 



Educational Department. Number of high 

 schools, theological seminaries, and station- 

 classes, 58, with 2,086 pupils; of boarding- 

 schools for girls, 40, with 1,538 pupils ; of 

 common schools, 832, with 31,016 pupils; 

 whole number of pupils, 35,625. 



The Missionaries and the Armenian Churches. The 

 matter of complaints which were made by the 

 members of the churches formed among the 

 Armenians, in the Eastern Turkey mission, 

 against the management and administration 

 of the affairs of the mission, received a full 

 discussion. The subject of the complaint had 

 been brought before the board at the meeting 

 of the previous year, and a committee had 

 been appointed then to inquire into it. This 

 committee had appointed a sub-committee to 

 visit the mission, and by conferences with the 

 Armenian members of the churches and the 

 missionaries to inform themselves at the origi- 

 nal sources concerning the nature and merits 

 of the complaints. From the various reports 

 and documents presented it appears that the 

 Armenians considered that their 'churches had 

 in fact passed out of the stage of mission 

 stations, and had become or were becoming 

 fully developed churches, and they felt that the 

 management of the mission ought to be modi- 

 fied in recognition of the changed conditions. 

 They asked that they be given a general civil 

 and secular organization to meet the requisi- 

 tions of Turkish law, and a representative ec- 

 clesiastical organization ; that the missionaries 

 become ecclesiastically connected with the na- 

 tive churches, so as to be in fellowship with 

 them and amenable to church discipline there ; 

 that all native institutions connected with the 

 churches should be encouraged by pecuniary 

 help and moral support; that a central theo- 

 logical seminary, equal to those in America, 

 be established, with natives among the teachers 

 and directors, and means be provided for the 

 higher education of young men, cheaper than 

 it can be obtained at Robert College ; that a 

 larger proportion of native laborers be enlisted 

 in the departments of evangelistical, literary, 

 and educational work, with a gradual with- 

 drawal of missionaries ; and that in the several 

 departments of work, natives should have an 

 equal voice with missionaries in representa- 

 tion on the committees and in the councils, 

 and in discussing and voting on all .questions, 

 including those of the appropriation and dis- 

 position of funds. After hearing a series of 



