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The whole amount in contributions and legacies received within the year was $125,751.82; from New York, $114,597.38; and from Northern New Jersey, $11,154.14. In visiting churches, and attending associations and public meetings, I have traveled during the year about 10,000 miles, delivered fifty-two sermons and addresses, attended eighty-one other religious meetings, written 671 official letters, and distributed many thousand circulars and a large number of copies of the Home Mission Monthly. I have done more work through the mails than in any former year. My traveling expenses have been $277.70; postage, $59.49; stationery, $27.32; total, $364.51.

I still find that one of the great obstacles to systematic and regular contributions is the frequent changes of pastors. Churches without pastors, or making a change of pastors, are quite apt to omit missionary contributions. PENNSYLVANIA,

SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY,

DELAWARE, MARYLAND, AND DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA.

REV. E. B. PALMER, D.D., DISTRICT SECRETARY.

The apprehension was not unreasonable at the opening of the year that, the great debt having been provided for, there might be a want of urgency felt on the part of our church membership in the work of the Society. When, however, we consider the success of the special movement in behalf of Mexico, and the fact that all the subscriptions for the debt matured in this year, there is ground for hearty thanksgiving that the cause of Home Missions has been sustained so cordially.

The total receipts for this department are $27, 126.42. This includes $7,743.18 for the debt and $3,950.89 for Mexico. For the year ending March 31st, 1886, there were 355 contributing churches and 78 Sunday schools, making a total of 433; while for this year there are 370 churches and 73 Sunday schools, making a total of 443. The difference is very slight. Individual contributors last year were 103, while this year there are 188. The increase is due to special donors for debt and Mexico.

The Secretary has traveled nearly 7,000 miles at a cost of $229.52; has expended for postage $53.80, for stationery, including collection cards and envelopes, $30.44, and for printing $98.00, including circulars for special distribution on the field. We have sent out about 17,000 circulars and written a large number of personal letters.

There is still a wide demand for a deeper interest in the welfare of the country as a whole. Many Christians do not look beyond their own immediate surroundings; what religious concern they have is confined to the local community. The larger welfare of the nation is forgotten. What a glorious contrast would be presented if the mass of our church membership felt a practical solicitude in the religious welfare of the great and rapidly growing West, if, too, there was an intelligent and prayerful determination that the freedmen of the South should be lifted out of their ignorance, into the light of truth and virtue, and that our millions of foreigners should not remain without being leavened with the teaching of the New Testament!

It will require all the resources of pastors thoroughly imbued with the missionary spirit, combined with the power of the religious press and all existing special agencies, to awaken the great body of Christians to their missionary obligations and privileges.

It is gratifying that our religious papers are so thoroughly awake on this subject. The National Baptist has kept the great Mexican field continually before its readers with most happy results, both as to contributions and general interest. It stands among us as the exponent of the most humane principles, with a large and firm grasp upon all that pertains to the universal extension of the kingdom of Christ.

LAKE DISTRICT: OHIO, MICHIGAN, AND

INDIANA.

REV. EDW. ELLIS, DISTRICT SECRETARY. This report covers the current year, from April 1st, 1886, to March 31st, 1887. We are compelled to report a slight falling off in the aggregate receipts for the year. This is doubtless due largely to the loss sustained by the death of the late secretary, Rev. James Cooper, D.D., who died just at the opening of the year's work. During several of the most important months of the year the Society was without any official representative in the District. It is possible, also, that the natural disadvantages attendant upon the introduction of a new man into the secretaryship may have led to this. However, I am very happy to say that I have received at every point a most cordial reception. I am also assured of a hearty co-operation. The three Baptist journals in the district, the Christian Herald, the Journal and Messenger, and

the Indiana Baptist, are most cheerful and generous in their support of our cause. The outlook is hopeful. Contributions from churches, Sunday schools, and individuals have been as follows:

Ohio, 133 churches, 37 Sunday schools, $7,815.01; Michigan, 92 churches, 18 Sunday schools, $3,197.02; Indiana, 99 churches, 4 Sunday schools, $1,623.67. Total, $12,635.70, from 324 churches and 59 Sunday schools.

I have spent eight months in the Society's service, have preached forty-nine sermons, delivered forty-five addresses, attended thirteen associations and three State conventions.

I have paid for traveling expenses $246.60; postage, $38.14; printing and stationery, $51.48. Total, $336.22.

SOUTHWESTERN DISTRICT.

REV. S. W. MARSTON, D.D., DISTRICT SECRETARY.

NOTE. The serious illness of Dr. Marston for a few months past has somewhat interfered with the collections on his field, and has prevented him from making his annual report. There has been a gratifying advance in the number of contributing churches in his district, especially for our mission headquarters in the City of Mexico.

West Virginia, through the efficient labors. of Rev. W. E. Powell, who has represented the Society therein, has responded more liberally than ever before. The year's contributions are reported at $1,350.66.

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the Eastern States, 18; in the Middle and Central States, 32; in the Southern States, 140; in the Western States and Territories, 459; in the Canadian Dominion, 6; in Mexico, 21; and in Alaska, 2. French missionaries have wrought in 6 States; Scandinavian missionaries in 15 States and Territories; German missionaries in 18 States and Territories, Ontario and Manitoba.

Among the foreign population there have been 153 laborers; among the colored people, the Indians, and Mexicans, including teachers, 199; and among Americans, 319.

The Society aids in the maintenance of 18 established schools for the colored people, the Indians, the Mexicans, also several schools for the Chinese, one in Utah and three in Mexico, the means for whose support come from the New England Woman's Home Mission Society.

The Missionaries have represented ten nationalities or peoples, viz. Americans, Germans, French, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Indians, Negroes, Chinese, Mexicans. The particular distribution of these laborers is as follows:

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the past year, particularly in Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana, Idaho, Washington 11,893 416,621 Territory, Oregon, California, and Arizona, 1,038,158 in exploring new fields, organizing churches 569,976 and Sunday-schools, arranging for occasional 2,577,478 services at places where it is impracticable to 3,545 appoint local missionaries, preaching wherever there is opportunity. Missionaries of the Society have been the first to explore scores of new settlements the past year as they have explored thousands of others in the past. For years yet this kind of service will

103,214

CLASSIFIED TABLE OF MISSIONARIES, ETC., OF THE
AMERICAN BAPTIST HOME MISSION SOCIETY.-
FROM 1871 TO 1887, INCLUSIVE.

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be required.

The call for missionaries to serve newlyorganized churches has been far beyond the Where it is ability of the Society to answer. practicable, two or more churches are supplied by one man. The missionary pastors last year preached at 1,385 stations and out-stations. All churches aided are pressed to do first all they can for themselves, and at the earliest possible moment to dispense with aid from the Society. About twenty churches have become self-supporting the past year. In portions of Dakota and Montana the drouth of last season and other adverse circumstances seriously crippled the financial ability of many small churches and retarded their progress toward self-support. Large ingatherings have been enjoyed by some of the churches, and revivals have been general. A few general missionaries, with special evangelistic gifts, would constitute a valuable addition to our forces in the newer States and Territories. The general or State missionaries are Rev. D. E. Halteman, D.D., for Wisconsin, Rev. J. Sunderland for Minnesota, Rev. G. W. Huntley for Northern Dakota, Rev. C. E. Higgins for Iowa, Rev. J. W. Osborn for Nebraska, Rev. D. D. Proper for Kansas, Rev. Dwight Spencer for Utah, Idaho, and Montana, Rev. A. B. Banks for the Puget Sound region, Rev. G. J. Burchett, D.D., for Oregon, Rev. W. H. Latourette for California and western Nevada. Without the constant, watchful care of these large fields by such capable general missionaries, it is next to impossible to maintain and carry on our work efficiently.

Rev. Dr. Haigh, of Chicago, has continued,

as heretofore, superintendent of missions for his extensive district, including sections which have had no benefit of the services of a general missionary. This work, with the increased attention which is required for the development of benevolence in the churches, has become too vast to be compassed by one man, however capable.

The financial work of training these new regions to take the larger national interests of the Society into their sympathies and efforts has also met with a good degree of success, and it is already seen that a healthier and more vigorous life comes to these States by this system than followed the old plan of expecting from a missionary State no practical interest in the work beyond their own borders.

In Minnesota steady and gratifying advance has been made. Forty-one missionaries were

eight outstations. They raised on their fields for all purposes $36,501.34, of which $2,545.82 was for benevolent objects. The total receipts for the year were $8,170.15 against $7,193.04 last year. The number of contributing churches contributions for the general work of the Society

It has been deemed wise, therefore, to make a division of the district, leaving for Dr. Haigh Northern Illinois, Iowa, Wiscon-employed, serving forty-six churches with fiftysin, Minnesota, and Northern Dakota, and constituting Southern Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, and Colorado as a separate district. Rev. H. C. Woods, D.D., of St. Paul, Minn., has accepted the appointment as Superintendent of Missions for this territory. This appointment has been received with much favor. It is believed that Dr. Woods, who has been so long and prominently identified with the effective missionary management in Minnesota, has exceptional fitness for this responsible position.

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REV. WILLIAM M. HAIGH, D.D., SUPERINTENDENT
OF MISSIONS, AND DISTRICT SECRETARY,

The work in this district, in its three-fold character-missionary, constructive, and financial, has been prosecuted through the year on substantially the same principles as heretofore, and with similar results. The missionary work though hampered, especially in the newer regions, by the limitations of the treasury, has been markedly successful. The constructive work of organizing the State forces for missionary supervision and self-support has gone forward with noticeable steps, and the growing power of these organizations is manifest to all.

increased from 119 to 136.

In addition the

An

are steadily growing, reaching this year about
$1,446.83. The year will always remain a
marked one for denominational progress in the
State. More work on church edifices is being
done and projected than for many years.
almost general revival of religion has been en-
joyed by the churches, and the total additions
were 2,218, the net gain being a little more
than 11 per cent. The total contributions for
all purposes are $193,331.70, a gain of $49,672.-

75, or 33 per cent. The missionary contribu-
tions for the State average $4.50 per member,
and the entire contributions $18.67 per member.

In Iowa we had 41 missionaries serving 82 churches and outstations. These churches raised on their fields for all purposes $30, 148.76, of which $3,221.42 was for benevolent objects. The receipts were not equal to last year, being $4,049.23. Indeed, the whole year has been one of more than usual difficulty, owing to the constant drain which is being made on the churches by emigration further west, and to the fact that for some months the State was without a financial secretary. The contribution for the general work of the Society, introduced by themselves, continues to grow. Rev. Dwight Spencer has spent five months this winter in the State, and by his forceful presentations has interested the people both in his special work in Utah and the general work of the Society.

He reports visiting 86 churches, delivering 98 sermons and lectures, distributing 15,445 pages of literature, travelling 8,360 miles.

The receipts for the year were $2,562.95. In Kansas 43 missionaries were under appointment in 47 churches and 45 outstations. These

raised for all purposes $22, 160.06, of which
$1,752.38 was for benevolent objects. The con-
tributions from the State were $3,392.63, besides
a good beginning of $581 on collection for
the general work of the Society, which henceforth
is to have a permanent place in the State. The
year has been one of great progress. Many ex-
tensive revivals have been enjoyed. Forty-four
new white churches, and 20 colored, have been
organized, with 1,131 members, and signs of
material advance are on every hand. A vast
population is coming into the State, and calls
for Missionary and Church Edifice aid are heard
on every hand.
The State, though suffering
the consequences of previous retrenchment, is
moving forward to her great task with hope and

courage.

In Nebraska we had 28 missionaries laboring with 39 churches and many outstations. Quite a number of houses of worship have been dedicated or are nearing completion. A missionary for the Northwest has been employed, supported in part by the women's societies in the State. The total receipts were $2,248.62, besides a small amount contributed for the debt and other general work. A large amount of aggressive work is being done and planned, especially in the chief cities and in the new regions, and no State promises richer results for the labor of our people, if only we can take advantage of the many inviting fields which open up before us.

The

Our work in Wisconsin is more encouraging than it has ever been. We had 40 laborers with 47 churches and 44 outstations. These churches raised for all purposes $20,982.05, of which $2,008.64 was for benevolent objects. total receipts were $5,793.11, being $500 over last year, which was the Convention's high-water mark. In addition some $1,257.81 has been contributed for the general and Church Edifice work of the Society. Many points of interest are opening up in this State, and the spirit | of enterprise to occupy them is general and growing. Our work in this State is entering on a most hopeful stage.

moving to erect houses of worship, and some have already made a beginning. The demand for further enlargement is very urgent. Eighty towns, all of them with Baptists in them, 14 of which are county seats, are without a Baptist church. A work of special interest in a colony of Roumanians, recently settled in Wells and Foster counties, is going on. A German student from Rochester has labored among them with marked success through the winter, and has just been ordained as their pastor.

In Southern Dakota we have had 33 missionaries under appointment but no general missionary, in consequence of which the general interests of the region have suffered for want of adequate oversight, though the work in local churches has been prosecuted with great fidelity. Some marked revivals have been enjoyed, and the prospects for the coming season are brightening and hopeful.

Illinois, no longer a missionary State, has contributed directly to our treasury for five years, and in the northern half, which alone belongs to this district, has given the past year $9,643. 10, a sum more than equal to what was contributed by the whole State for State and Home Missions together five years ago.

Our work among the foreign population of Illinois is still prosecuted by us, and we have had 11 Germans, 7 Scandinavians, and 1 French laborer. The work, especially in the city of Chicago and vicinity, has been attended with marked success, and demonstrates with new force the necessity for attempting much greater things. The events of the past year have shown to the whole American people the danger of allowing a giant city to grow up in the very heart of the nation with the powers of ignorance, superstition, and vice gathering with cancerous fury. The noble bands of our foreign-speaking disciples, who with truly apostolic zeal and sacrifice are ranged to beat back the powers of evil, have a task all too great for their strength. The whole country has a stake in the future character of this young city, and if the Society should decide that broader and more effective measures must be used to strengthen our work within its bounds it would only be doing what the brethren of other names are planning to do on a most liberal and comprehensive scale.

In Dakota, since retrenchment began, our work has been done under great difficulties, but not without cheer. In North Dakota we have now 25 missionaries as against 18 last year, and the winter's work has been quite encouraging, notwithstanding the severity of the season. One hundred and twenty conversions are re- The work of supervising this vast district has ported, and on a recent Sabbath 30 were bap-grown enormously, calling for a travel the past tized at several points. Numerous churches are year of 24,000 miles. The division of the dis

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