BAPTISTS. The American Baptist Yearbook for 1900 gives returns of 1,655 associations in the United States, including 43,427 churches, 29,473 ordained ministers, 4,181,686 members, with 184,845 baptisms, so far as reported, during the year. The aggregate year's contributions of the churches for all purposes were $12,348,527. The value of the church property was estimated as $86,648,982. The educational institutions included 7 theological seminaries, with 68 teachers, 1,012 students, property having an estimated value of $2.444,051, and endowment funds aggregating $2,586,065; 104 universities and colleges, with 1,754 teachers, 26,126 students, $15,249,058 of property, and $14,442,807 of endowments; and 84 academies and institutes, with 634 teachers, 10,882 pupils, $3,497,938 of property, and $1,414,473 of endowments. The list of Baptist periodicals includes 124 publications. A list of 36 Baptist charitable institutions is given.

The Yearbook gives the number of Baptists in the world as follows: In North America, 44,603 churches, 30,244 ministers, and 4,323,317 members; in South America (Argentine Republic, Brazil, and Patagonia), 28 churches, 15 ministers, 1,639 members; in Europe (Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Norway, Roumania and Bulgaria, Russia and Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland), 3,802 churches, 3,065 ministers, 487,363 members; in Asia (Ceylon, China, India, Assam, Burmah, Japan, Palestine), 1,482 churches, 795 ministers, 116,508 members; in Africa (Central and Congo, South Africa, West Africa, St. Helena, and Cape Verde), 110 churches, 90 ministers, 7,271 members; in Australasia, 238 churches, 166 ministers, 18,682 members; making the aggregate numbers 50,263 churches, 34,375 ministers, and 4,954,780 members; while the whole number of baptisms during the year was 223,839.

The American Baptist Education Society meets alternately with the conventions of Northern Baptist societies and the Southern Baptist Convention. The meeting for 1900 was held at Hot Springs, Ark., May 10. President A. D. Montague, of Furman University, South Carolina, presided. The annual report represented that since its beginning this society had made 66 grants to 41 institutions in 29 States and the maritime provinces of Canada, to the total amount of $1,273,100. During the past year, 13 grants, to the amount of $134,000, had been made to 12 institutions, conditioned on their also raising certain amounts, the aggregate of which would be $520,000. Two of these grants, amounting to $165,000, were made after the report was prepared. Twenty-three institutions reported the addition of $425,000 to their endowment funds. The total receipts for all purposes during the year had been $1,071,000, besides the large contributions, amounting to $2,000,000, for the University of Chicago, made by Mr. J. D. Rockefeller to meet the offer of like sums, making the total of gifts to that institution for the year $4,000,000. Addresses were made at the meeting on Denominational Schools as Factors in Denominational Development during the Century, by Dr. J. W. Armstrong, editor of the Central Baptist, and on The Functions of the Intellect in Religion, by President D. B. Purinton, of Denison University, Ohio.

Publication Society.-The seventy-sixth annual meeting of the American Baptist Publication

Society was held in Detroit, Mich., May 25 and 26. The report showed that in the publication department the aggregate of sales for the year had been $672,617, an increase of $29,211 over the sales of the preceding year. In the missionary department, the receipts from invested funds, Children's Day, contributions from churches and individuals, bequests, etc., had been $103,418, or $8,343 more than in the previous year. The receipts in the Bible department had been $17,918. The total amount of receipts in all departments on special accounts, from rents, etc., had been $867,066. A deficit in the missionary department had increased from $3,114 at the beginning of the year to $11,910 at its close. Fifty-three publications had been issued, of which 546,350 copies had been printed, while the whole number of copies of new and old publications was 44,870,054. The missionary work had been vigorously pushed. In view of the complexity of the work of evangelization among the various populations of the United States, making desirable conference, counsel, and co-operation of all true disciples of Christ respecting the obligation which devolves upon them, a resolution was unanimously passed requesting the American Baptist Home Mission Society to unite with this society in the appointment of a joint committee (not to be composed wholly of members of their respective boards), whose duty it shall be to seek from similar boards of all the evangelical societies in the United States engaged in home mission work the appointment of like committees. The purpose of this step was to secure the calling of a national interdenominational conference of the representatives of all such bodies at the carliest practicable day for deliberation, discussion, and action as to the more intelligent, systematic, economical, and effective execution of their one great work-the speedy and complete evangelization of the United States.

Home Mission Society.-The sixty-eighth annual meeting of the American Baptist Home Mission Society was held in Detroit, Mich., May 23 and 24. The annual report showed that the total receipts for the year had been $580,891, and the expenditures $458,710, besides which $184,663 had been added to the permanent funds. Eleven hundred and eighty missionaries had been employed in the United States, Mexico, Alaska, Cuba, and Porto Rico; French missionaries in 6 States; Scandinavian missionaries in 25 States; German missionaries in 21 States and Canada; and colored missionaries in 22 States and Territories; among foreign populations, 275 missionaries and 10 teachers; among the colored people, 63 missionaries and 201 teachers; among the Indians, 23 missionaries and 27 teachers; among Mexicans, 13 missionaries and 9 teachers; and 4 teachers among the Mormons. The society had aided in the maintenance of 31 schools established for colored people, Indians, and Mexicans, 3 day schools for the Chinese, 1 day school in Utah, and 1 in New Mexico. In the church edifice department, the principal of the Loan fund amounted to $156,373. From this fund loans are made in small amounts at a uniform rate of 6 per cent. interest, with the stipulation that the sum loaned shall constitute the last payment required to complete the house, and shall be secured by a first mortgage on the property. The Benevolent fund, the income of which is available for gifts to churches, amounted to $163,453. Seventy-two churches had been aided

during the year by loan or gift. The report contained a summary of financial facts for the past ten years, in which it was shown that the amount of educational endowments had grown from $132,258 in 1890 to $274,352 in 1900, and the permanent trust funds from $138,928 to $244,904. The whole amount received from legacies during this period had been $1,065,517, of which $109,120 had been received during the past year. A resolution was unanimously passed at the meeting of the society requesting the sister Baptist societies to join with it in appointing a commission to consider the relative amounts which the denomination should be asked to furnish for its different benevolent enterprises, and to make such other recommendations as they may deem wise; this commission to be composed of three representatives each from the Missionary Union, Home Mission Society, and Publication Society, and two representatives from each of the three women's societies; and to be requested to make its report at the anniversaries in 1901. A committee of seven persons was appointed to act with like committees from the other Baptist national societies as a joint committee to devise and formulate a method whereby the Baptist people of the United States may most suitably commemorate the beginning of the new century of the Christian era, with the understanding that it publish the conclusions that may be agreed upon not later than December, 1900. A resolution was passed approving the decision of the Government to withdraw support from denominational schools among the Indians, and to provide an unsectarian education for those people, and urging that there be no backward step in the matter and that the principle of separation of Church and state be the rule of American policy permanently and universally. Missionary Union. The eighty-sixth annual meeting of the American Baptist Missionary Union was held in Detroit, Mich., May 28 and 29. The Executive Committee reported that the receipts from living givers had increased during the year from $313,935 to $350,609. A large decrease in legacies was mentioned, the amount received therefrom being $36,398, and the debt had nearly doubled, being now $111,041. The total appropriations for the year had been $599,706. The permanent fund had been increased by $114,795. The report suggested that the form in which specific gifts to missions are made be modified, so that instead of a church or person supporting an individual missionary, it assume the responsibility for a station or some part of the work of one. Of the contributions to the treasury of the society, $111,169 had come through the four women's societies of the East, of the West, of California, and of Oregon. An amendment was proposed to the constitution, which has to lie over for a year before it can be finally acted upon, the purpose of which is to eliminate from the terms of membership in the union all qualifications based on the contribution of money, and to make eligible any Baptist in good and regular standing who at the last meeting of his State association has been duly elected as a delegate to the meetings of the Missionary Union. Among the resolutions adopted was one deprecating the diversion of gifts from the general fund to specific objects except such as may be approved by the board. Provision was made for suitable observance of the coming in of the twentieth century.

From the missions to the heathen (in Burmah, Assam, south India (Telugus), China, Japan, Africa, and the Philippine Islands) were returned 94 stations, 474 missionaries, 3,482 native helpers, 928 organized churches, 506 of which were self

supporting, 1,090 churches and chapels, 1,510 out stations where regular meetings were held, 105,216 church members, 843 Sunday schools with 34,867 members, 1,445 schools (including 8 theological and 71 boarding and high schools), 433 of which were self-supporting, 37,297 pupils of all grades, 722 accessions during the year, and $87,977 of native contributions. The European missions (in Sweden, Germany, Russia, Finland, Denmark, Norway, France, and Spain) returned 1,213 preachers, 985 churches, 101,534 church members, 77,801 pupils in Sunday schools, and $402,500 of contributions.

Meetings of the American Baptist Historical Society and of the Commission on Systematic Benevolence were held in connection with the anniversary meetings of the missionary societies. At the former meeting progress was reported in the effort to replace the collection of books which had been destroyed by the burning of the building of the American Baptist Publication Society a few years before. The Commission on Systematic Benevolence presented an account of what it had done to promote the organization of members and churches for regularity and method in contribution.

Women's Societies.-The Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society (Boston) returned its receipts for the year as having been $33,369, and its expenditures $32,274. At its annual meeting in Boston, May 2, the “ Paper Mission" requested a supply of " Anti-Mormon" and " AntiChristian Scientist" literature, and a number of State workers described features of their labors in various fields in the United States, etc.

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The twenty-third annual meeting of the Women's Baptist Home Mission Society was held at Detroit, Mich., May 21. The total cash receipts of the society for the year had been $74,040, and the disbursements $73,036, besides which goods having an estimated value of $9,583 had been sent to missionaries. A debt of $5,000 had been extinguished. One hundred and forty-nine missionaries, 24 of whom were colored, had been employed at 101 stations in 57 States and Territories, who recorded among their labors the organization of 21 Sunday schools, besides visitations, conducting and attending meetings, and holding conversations. Missionary training schools were sustained at Chicago, Ill., Raleigh, N. C., and Dallas, Texas, from the former two of which 19 students had been graduated.

Southern Baptist Convention. The fortyfifth meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention was held at Hot Springs, Ark., beginning May 11. The Hon. W. J. Northen, ex-Governor of Georgia, was chosen president. The Home Mission Board reported that its total receipts for the year, including a special annuity gift of $4,000, had been $79,366. All the States except one had shown an

increase in cash contributions. Six hundred and seventy-one missionaries had been employed, serving 2,168 churches and stations, who returned 5,696 baptisms, 11,951 additions in all, 195 churches constituted, 71 houses of worship built and 63 improved, with an expenditure of $68,223, and 639 Sunday schools organized, with 24,675 teachers and pupils. The State boards of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indian Territory, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma Territory, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia were in co-operation with the board in part or the whole of their work. The report designated as frontier work to which it was giving much attention the effort to provide churches and preaching for the population which was pouring rapidly into a strip of terri

tory about 1,000 miles in length and 500 miles broad stretching through Indian and Oklahoma Territories and Texas. The increase of the foreign population in the larger cities made co-operation with the State boards a matter of growing importance. Special attention was invited to the problem of work among the negroes. It was believed that the feeling of these people toward the whites was changing, so that they were becoming more inclined to rely upon those of the South, and that the conditions which had rendered it impossible for Southern Baptists to help the negro in the past were passing away. The need for schools in the mountain region was another matter demanding serious consideration. It had been the policy of the board in the past to aid in the building of churches at important points so far as the funds contributed would allow, and it was of the opinion that the time had now come for the establishment of a permanent fund for that purpose. Offers of considerable gifts had already been made toward the constitution of such a fund. A gift of $4,000, on which an annuity of 3 per cent. was paid, had been received through the agency of the Woman's Missionary Union, and was available for church extension purposes. The Sunday School Board had received $71,602, the same being its largest receipt in a single year. The reserve fund had been advanced from $19,000 to $30,000, and was kept loaned out under safe securities. The board was free from debt, and had a cash balance of $1,630. It had received through the Woman's Missionary Union an annuity gift of $1,000. The appropriations aggregated $19,479, including gifts of $200 in cash to the Chinese Baptist Publication Society, Canton, and of $100 in books to the library of the seminary. The receipts of the Board of Foreign Missions had been $140,102, a considerable increase over those of the previous year. A balance of $8,459 remained over the expenditures. Sixteen new missionaries had been sent out. From the mission stations were returned 113 churches, 155 outstations, 41 men and 53 women American missionaries, 25 ordained and 104 unordained native missionaries, 6,537 members, 2,408 pupils in Sunday schools, 57 houses of worship, 45 day schools with 1,278 pupils, and 134 baptisms during the year, while the contributions of the mission churches amounted to $7,095. The missions were in China, Japan, West Africa, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico. A committee was appointed to confer with a deputation of 100 members appointed by the Arkansas convention of colored Baptists, with reference to the framing of a plan of co-operation. The committee on the celebration of the new century presented a report, which was adopted, recommending that the convention devote itself for the next few years to the special object of eliciting and combining all the energies of the whole denomination to the sacred effort for the propagation of the Gospel. As the best method of accomplishing the end sought, a joint committee of co-operation was, by the advice of the committee, constituted, to consist of three members appointed by each of the three boards of the convention, the special work of which should be "to labor systematically and persistently to secure the active co-operation of every church within our bounds in the work of each of our boards, and, as far as possible, personal contributions from every member of every church; that in thus laboring this committee of co-operation shall represent impartially all the boards of the convention." The recommendations of the committee further contemplated the appointment of a committee of three by each State convention to co-operate with the

general committee within the State. Resolutions were adopted on temperance declaring truceless hostility to the liquor traffic in all its forms, favoring prohibition for the nation and the State and total abstinence for the individual, and condemning the permission by the Government of the canteen in the army and the establishment of the liquor traffic in certain places under military occupation.

Colored Baptists.-The colored Baptists in the United States are represented in the National Baptist Convention, which has affiliated with it a Foreign Mission Board, a Home Mission Board, an Educational Board, and a Young People's Union. The twentieth annual meeting of this body was held in Richmond, Va., beginning Sept. 12. Another colored Baptist organization of more recent origin is the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, which was formed in 1897 in response to a call from the colored Baptists of North Carolina. At the general convention of organization, held in Washington in December, 1897, delegates were present from North Carolina, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and New England. The constitution adopted then sets forth as the object of the society "the fostering of the kingdom of God, especially in foreign lands," in order to accomplish which object co-operation would be sought with any and all existing Baptist organizations, as occasion might require, from time to time. At the second anniversary of this society, held in Baltimore, Md., in August, 1899, receipts of $401 and the appointment of missionaries at Brewerville, Liberia, and Cape Town, South Africa, were reported. The next meeting was appointed to be held at Alexandria, Va., in August, 1900. The whole number of colored Baptists is estimated at 1,576,792.

Constitution and Rights of Baptist Conventions. At the meeting of the Baptist State Convention of Texas, in 1899, the Rev. Dr. S. A. Hayden was excluded on grounds satisfactory to the convention. For this he brought suit against the Rev. Dr. J. B. Gambrell, the Rev. Dr. B. H. Carrol, the Rev. J. B. Cranfill, and other Baptists of Texas, charging a malicious conspiracy, with attempts to ruin his character and business, and laying claim for damages of $50,000. A verdict for the plaintiff, awarding him $30,000, was found in the lower court, and the case was carried on appeal to the Supreme Court. This tribunal rendered a decision in March reversing the rulings of the lower court and in all points in favor of the defendants in the original suit. It upheld the authority of the State convention to decide upon the qualifications of its members, declaring that by accepting credentials and applying for admission as a member, Dr. Hayden, the original plaintiff, "must be held to have assented and submitted himself to the exercise of all the lawful authority which pertained to that body in relation to the qualifications of its own membership." From an examination of the portions of the constitution of the State convention which provide for messengers from the churches and disclaim any power or authority over any church, the court argued that it did not appear that the convention was a body exercising delegated powers. "While its membership is made up of persons selected by churches, associations of churches, and missionary societies, co-operating with the convention as an institution, it nowhere appears that such messengers are to perform delegated duties, are in any way bound to conform to instructions of the bodies naming them as messengers, or have any right to bind such bodies. . . . We must, then,

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gain in the contributions to denominational objects, including a few large individual contributions. The income for home missions in the Northwest had been $5,356, and for Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island $8,117. Work had been done in 75 churches in the latter section. The Foreign Mission Board had received $20,844 and had expended $19,875. Of the receipts, $1,000 more had come from the women's societies than from the ordinary gifts of churches and individuals. The 7 churches in the foreign field had 346 members, and returned 41 baptisms during the year. Acadia University had $200,000 of trust funds, encumbered with $66,000 of debts. cluding the proportion conditionally contributed by Mr. J. D. Rockefeller, $41,788 had been obtained on endowment pledges. A plan was considered for raising $50,000 as a Century fund. Baptists in Great Britain.-The Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland met in its spring session in London, April 23. The report of the council showed an increase of about 25,000 chapel seats during the year. The membership had apparently fallen from 355,218 to 353,258, but 46 churches, whose membership was included in the figures of the previous year had made no return. Estimating the number thus omitted, the membership would really be 360,475. The number of baptisms had increased from 16,805 to 16,899. During the year £66,743 had been spent on new chapels, £36,785 on improvements, new schools, etc., and £77,024 in payment of debts. The receipts of the union had been £39,083, including £22,226 for the Twentieth Century fund. The capital of the Annuity fund amounted to £167,364, but the number of ministers who had enrolled themselves under it had so largely increased that the free contributions of the churches had been insufficient to maintain the annuities at their full amount, and it had been necessary to make small reductions in them. The Committee of the Home Mission reported that there were now 107 churches in 20 associations on the list, 55 of which churches were formed into 25 groups of 2 or 3 each. There were in addition 27 mission stations, and over the total number of preaching places-134-72 mission pastors. These churches returned 5,054 communicants and average attendances of 6,411 in the morning and 10,733 in the evening, and had raised for various purposes £10,067. The campaign for the Twentieth Century fund was being pursued with great vigor and success. Eight hundred and ten out of the 1,180 churches connected with the union had adopted the scheme. The Irish Baptists were trying to raise £7,000 for it, the Welsh Baptist Union £50,000, and the Scotch Baptist Union £20,000. The whole amount received to date was £133,861. The Board of Introduction, which had been recently constituted for such purposes, had made recommendations of pastors to churches or of churches to pastors in more than 60 cases, and some settlements had resulted. The ministerial recognition committee reported upon the examination of ministers who sought recognition by the Baptist Union. Considerable progress had been made in the negotiations for the erection of a Baptist church house, with a chapel or hall, to serve as a headquarters for the denomination. A resolution of sympathy with the scheme of the Evangelical Free Church Council for a "simultaneous mission" was adopted, with a pledge of the co-operation of the Baptist churches for its success. The Rev. Alexander McLaren, D. D., was elected vice president of the union and president for 1901. The resolution adopted on temperance approved the proposal for the association of the

Free churches in a temperance crusade at the close of the nineteenth and the opening of the twentieth century, and advised the co-operation of the Baptist churches with it. Other resolutions protested against the scheme for a state-endowed Roman Catholic University in Ireland, and against certain provisions in the new educational code. The union also denounced certain incidents in the ritualistic controversy in the Established Church as constituting a grave public scandal, and expressed the belief that the true and only remedy for such conditions lay in disestablishment and disendowment. The Baptist Building fund had granted the applications of 42 churches for sums varying from £750 to £30, extending over periods of from five to ten years, amounting in all to £12,880. Practically the whole of the capital of about £53,000 was in use. The receipts from subscriptions and collections had decreased.

The autumnal session of the union was held at Leicester, beginning Oct. 2. The president, the Rev. William Cuff, in his opening address presented the Federation of Free Churches, the Twentieth Century Fund, and the Simultaneous Mission as the "three great movements occupying the attention of evangelical Christians. A proposal for a union of the ministers and missionaries of all evangelical churches in a concert of prayer and special intercession in view of better service in the new century was commended to the earnest consideration of ministers. Pastors, superintendents, and teachers in Sunday schools were advised to warn the youth under their charge against the dangers of cigarette smoking. Resolutions were passed urging the importance of securing as representatives in Parliament men of pure lives, unselfish patriotism, and earnest and noble character; condemning resort to war; welcoming the definite constitution of the tribunal of arbitration at The Hague; warning the people against the growth of militarism, the revival of racial animosity, "the moral, not less than the physical, evils of war," and advising the cultivation in every possible way of the spirit of international brotherhood; mentioning the questions of licensing reform, the housing of the poor, the proper care for the aged poor, the increase of efficiency in state education for the children of the nation, the reform of the land laws, and the establishment of complete religious equality as lying at the root of the stability, prosperity, and usefulness of the nation; and renewing protests against support of sectarian schools from public funds, and demands for government by the people of all elementary schools supported by the people. The Annuity fund having reported an excess in expenditures of £2,921 over income, the subject of remedial measures was referred to the council of the union for consideration. The report of the Twentieth Century fund showed that £158,000 of the £250,000 which it was proposed to raise had been subscribed.

Baptist Missionary Society.-The financial statement of the Baptist Missionary Society, made at the annual meeting, April 19, showed that the year's receipts for the general work of the missions, exclusive of special funds, had been £66,593 and the expenditures £73,716. An increased expenditure of £1,210 was wholly accounted for by the large addition (40) to the staff of missionaries which had taken place since the centenary celebration. Including special funds and special gifts to the Indian Famine fund, the total receipts had been £77,642, an increase of £2,310 over the previous year. The reports from the mission fields indicated prosperous work. New stations had been opened in India, with a large in