BAPTISTS. 



P. Sayler was moderator of the Council, and 

 remarked, on taking the chair, that it had al- 

 ways been the custom of the Brethren to meet 

 annually in Council to decide disputes among 

 them, as was the manner of the apostles. A 

 query was presented from Southern Missouri, 

 whether evangelists or traveling ministers 

 ought not to be restrained unless they con- 

 formed to the order of the Brethren in the 

 matter of dress and of non-conformity to the 

 world, to which the answer " Yes " was unani- 

 mously returned. Another question discussed 

 was, whether the standing or the rolling coat- 

 collar conformed to the old order of the broth- 

 erhood. Several precedents were cited, all in 

 favor of the standing collar, and the decision 

 of the Council was given accordingly. The 

 keeping of musical instruments in the houses 

 of the brethren, which was considered at a pre- 

 vious meeting of the Council, again received 

 attention. It was decided to be against the 

 principles of the brotherhood. On the sub- 

 ject of the sisters wearing fashionable hats at 

 the Communion, it was decided without dis- 

 cussion that the sisters must " not wear hats 

 at all, at Communion or at any other time ; " 

 and that elders and overseers who encourage 

 or allow them to do so should be dealt with 

 as transgressors. The Brethren were advised 

 to abstain from voting, for fear that it would 

 lead to a surrender of the non-resistant prin- 

 ciples of the brotherhood ; for the same rea- 

 son, a brother was advised not to accept the 

 office of a school-director in Pennsylvania, be- 

 cause he might have to collect the school-tax, 

 and even imprison a citizen for non-payment 

 of the tax. It was decided that hymn-books 

 should be plainly bound, and without gilt. The 

 Council being requested to decide upon one of 

 the two methods of feet-washing the "sin- 

 gle mode," in which one person washes and 

 another wipes the feet, or the "double mode," 

 in which the same person both washes and 

 wipes passed an order giving full liberty to 

 any church to adopt the double as well as the 

 single mode. Baptism in a church-pool in- 

 stead of a stream was declared valid. It was 

 declared that applicants for membership should 

 not be admitted unless they wore the dress of 

 the Brethren, even though they might wear a 

 plainer one. The connection of Brethren with 

 lyceums or debating societies, in which theat- 

 rical performances or exercises for mere amuse- 

 ment were given, was prohibited. Petitions 

 were presented for changes in the Constitution 

 of the Council, asking that it be composed of 

 one delegate for every four hundred members, 

 and of the standing committee, also, for quad- 

 rennial instead of annual meetings. A com- 

 Jmittee was appointed to consider the matter, 

 who repotted recommending that no changes 

 be made. By a unanimous vote, the subject 

 was postponed till the next year. 



V. BAPTISTS" IN GREAT BRITAIN. The Bap- 

 tist Hand-Book for 1877 gives the following 

 summary of the statistics of the Baptist church- 

 VOL. xvn. 5 A 



es of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 

 Ireland for 1876 : 



Besides the churches, a column is given show- 

 ing the number of chapels, as follows: in Eng- 

 land, 2,731 ; in Wales, 601 ; in Scotland, 102 ; 

 in Ireland, 42 : total, 3,476. The total number 

 of lay members given is 3,524; number of 

 chapel seats, 935,015. A comparative table 

 of the statistics for ten years shows an increase 

 of 260 churches, 834 chapels, 44,273 members, 

 and 186,415 scholars. The greater number of 

 these churches are connected with the Baptist 

 Union of Great Britain and Ireland, an asso- 

 ciation which was formed in 1863. The Bap- 

 tist churches of Wales are associated in the 

 Baptist Union of Wales, which was formed in 

 1867, those of Scotland in the Baptist Union of 

 Scotland, and those of Ireland in the Irish As- 

 sociation. 



The missionary societies supported by the 

 Baptist churches of the United Kingdom are : 

 The Baptist Missionary Society, General Bap- 

 tist Missionary Society, British and Irish Bap- 

 tist Home Mission, Baptist Home Missionary 

 Society for Scotland, Young Men's Association 

 in Aid of the Baptist Missionary Society, Bible 

 Translation Society, Metropolitan Tabernacle 

 Colportage Association, German Mission in 

 London, Ladies' Association for the Support of 

 Zenana Work in India, Chinese Inland Mission, 

 Palestine Mission (established 1870, central 

 station Nablous, sub-station Eafedia, two na- 

 tive missionaries, seven baptized converts, one 

 hundred children in the schools). The Bible 

 Translation Society circulated editions of the 

 Bible in which the words relating to baptism 

 are translated by terms signifying immersion, 

 of which translations have been made for 

 India, Ceylon, the western coast of Africa, 

 Orissa, and Japan. Besides these, numerous 

 benevolent societies of various character, Pub- 

 lication and Tract Societies, are supported. 



The list of Baptist periodicals in Great Brit- 

 ain comprises the Hand-Boole and four Alma- 

 nacs, the Quarterly Reporter of the German 

 Baptist Mission, eleven monthly and two week- 

 ly periodicals in England, one monthly maga- 

 zine in Scotland, and five publications in Wales. 



The Hand-Boole gives the following statistics 

 of the churches in the missions and colonies : 

 Ceylon, 26 churches, 60 sub-stations, 22 pas- 

 tors, three of the churches self-supporting ; 

 India, 65 churches, 88 pastors, 9,748 members; 

 South Africa, 23 churches, 10 pastors, 373 mem- 

 bers, with 476 members in the King William's 

 Town missions; West Africa, 8 churches, 13 

 pastors, 1,210 members; St. Helena, 1 church, 



