AMERICAN BAPTISTS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 574, 31 July 1909, Page 9

AMERICAN BAPTISTS.

A .MEMBERSHIP OF' FIVIS MILLIONS. While Baptists in England aro lamenting "arrested; progress',' .and. decreasing meriibersliip, tJio dciioininatioiii is making rcmarkablo progress m : the United' States. From tho' I'ear Book recently published, it appears that there aro now in the United States 48j302 Baptist churcbes, with a total membership of 5,115,177, a Jict increase of 145,653::- Every item in the summary of

statistics shows a corresponding , increase including unfortunately the' exclusions ana orastires, -which reached the astonishing to,tal of 90,677' for- the year. This is always ,a. sinister feature of denominational. statistics in , the States, probably owing (says the "Christian World") to the large alien and ' element.. . The' Vast majority of the orasures were in.,the Southerii churches.' ' Though figures . quoted are veryimpos•ingi tlicy lose something of their glamour. on careful analysis.' An increaso of 145,653 is, after all, only "about tlireo per church on'an average, and' with a; membership of moro than five millions it only represents, ail : increase 0f'2.8 per cent. ' That can hardly bo regarded a»s an adequate result of. t'welvo months' hard -work by all' tlio agoiicies of modern church life. '' / .' ' ijinothor'' fact wliioli will striko' tlio ..reader' as ciu'ious is, the smallness of the amount: raised for. foreign missions. This is all;tlio moro remarkable' in view of tho movement originated and so warmly, taken up by tho laymen of America for the evangelisation of tlie world, within tho next generation. With this gigantic membership, tlio American Baptist churches only raised £173,117 for foreign missions'last year, or about twico' as much as - tho_ English ■ Baptist churches with a membership of only 424,008. • A partial explanation is, r.o doubt, that with so great a negro population, and with emigrants pouring into the States from almost every part of the world,; the churches have to do much of their 'foreign mission work at home. 11l their enthusiasm for . education, however! the American Baptists leave those of alt the rest of the'world far behind. Thoy havo' no fewer than 188 educational institutions, including great universities lite ChiJSUB& tajduflty Mr» Bflnkflfflllw- haa._.givfli^

such princely gifts; world-famous theological seminaries like those Of Rochester, Colgate, and Newton, and various kinds' of collcgo, acadciny, and training school. Thoso institutions aro manned b,v a staff, of 180 professors, ami liavo on their rolls upwards of 50,000 students. , Last year their total income was • close upon- £1,000,000, and sufficed to cover tbooxpenditure. Tho estimated value of tho property and the endowments of ' tho colleges and schools, is moro than £i 3,000,000, ' - ' \ ; ■ Methodists are, of course, the'largest, of . the! Evangelical Free Churches in the. United SfcitoV, ; .with :a.. total' .membership .of nearly, seven millions. Baptists, coino second. No • other Protestant Church,, comes within measurable distance of either of' them in point ' of numbers.' '-Nor" arc' the Baptists'.so far : behind tho Methodists, as tho'figures seem to indicate 1 . The given. include only . tho regular Baptists. 'In addition; there aro . tho Disciples- of Christ, tho Primitive, tho.. General,' the Dunkard, tlib Seventh Day, tho : Freowill, and seven, other kinds of Baptists, . having a total', membership, of nearly 'olio . and three-quarter millions. \ These < bodies' i are all baptists with regard to the ordinance, (l.ii'eiing only on minor points of doctrine. Counting adherents as well as members, a ■ conservative estimate reckons the Baptists of tho United States at not less than . twenty,' : millions. .