As this is the last report to come under the present arrangement, it is not inappropriate to add a few words as to the results of the system of co-operation between the States and the Society, which has been the chief feature in this district for about nine years. It was in the summer of 1878 that the Board of the Minnesota Convention proposed to our Board a plan on which substantially we have been working ever since. It went into operation October 1, 1878, and soon demonstrated its superiority over all methods used before, so that in 1879 it was taken up by Iowa, then Nebraska and Kansas, with such modifications as experience dictated, and was quickly adopted in other parts of the country. Before this the missionary work was done in each State partly by the Society and partly by the State Board, with no living unity, no orderly plan, no enthusiasm, and with meagre results. The new system wrought immediate change by bringing the States into living union with the Society, by making responsibility definite and supervision certain, by bringing to each State the experience of the rest, and by creating at once a missionary enthusiasm and courage which have brought most gratifying results. It has enabled us to employ with good effect a large number of Missionaries, and erect in suitable places many houses of worship, and has specially aided in developing the latent resources of the region. The receipts into the Society's treasury from this field for 1878 just before the adoption of the plan were $4,404.22. The receipts on the same field for the year 1886 were $33,238.77, of which about $10,000 were for the general work outside these States; and for the year just closed, $37,497.60, of which $14,046.86 were for the general work of the Society. Its very success has made a division imperative, and, under the competent leader who has been chosen, its further extension beyond the Missouri will doubtless bring rich blessings to that wonderful region.

UTAH.

There have been no marked changes in our missions in Utah. The church at Ogden is prosperous. The church at Salt Lake City, owing to removal of some of its mem bers and other causes, has not increased in numbers. At both places good Sundayschools are maintained. The Baptist Moun

by Rev. L. L. Wood, our missionary at Salt Lake City, has been very helpful in disseminating the truth among the people.

"The Golden Bible" is the title of a book

by Rev. M. T. Lamb, a former missionary of the Society in Utah, who has made a fresh and searching examination into the base imitations, the puerilities, the inconsistencies, and the anachronisms of the "Mormon Bible." The work has received very high commendation as the most effective blow yet delivered against the foundations of the Mormon faith. Mr. Lamb is under appointment to labor as an itinerant in Utah, to lecture and disseminate this book as means may be furnished for the purpose.

It is truly pitiful that American Baptists have but two or three men combating this gigantic and growing system, which has a large number of missionaries effectively laboring throughout the Union, as well as in other countries. A Scandinavian missionary is greatly needed for Utah. The lady missionaries appointed by the Women's Baptist Home Mission Society (Chicago), though encountering many difficulties, have been valued helpers in Ogden and Salt Lake City.

The stringent legislation by Congress, last winter, in respect to polygamy and other matters vital to the Mormon system, may produce a marked change in Utah.

THE GERMANS.

The German Baptist churches of the country, though continually losing members, who, as they become thoroughly American in speech and tastes, find their religious home in American churches, steadily increase in numbers and in general efficiency in their missionary and benevolent organizations. In co-operation with the German Baptist Convention the Society's field includes the province of Ontario, Canada, and extends from New England to the Pacific Coast. At Castle Garden Rev. John Schiek continues the acceptable missionary, not only among his countrymen but to others whom he is able to reach by his knowledge of other languages.

That our German Baptist pastors and churches are doing a work among the German speaking population that American churches are not doing and cannot do finds illustration in the fact that one such church in Brooklyn, N. Y., in ten years received. upon profession of faith in Christ 171 persons who were the direct descendants of Roman Catholic parents and sixty others who had been outspoken unbelievers in the Bible.

THE SCANDINAVIANS.

The steady influx of Scandinavians, and their active spirit of religious inquiry, make increased demands for more missionaries

among them. Numerous calls have been refused, however, for want of means. In some States, as in Minnesota, Scandinavians comprise a large proportion of the Baptist strength.

Of the 192 Baptist churches in Minnesota, 63, or nearly one-third, are Scandinavians, and of the 11,022 members, 3,402, or nearly one-third, are Scandinavians. The Swedish Church at St. Paul has become self-supporting the past year, and the Tabernacle Church of Minneapolis (Danish-Norwegian), under the charge of Rev. O. Weenolsen, has had remarkable prosperity. Of the forty-two missionaries in this State last year, thirteen, or nearly one-third, were Scandinavians. In the East, as well as in the West, results of missionary labor among these people have been very gratifying.

THE FRENCH.

Work among the French has been prosecuted in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Illinois.

The State Convention of Connecticut and Massachusetts have co-operated with the Society in supporting missionaries in their borders. Notwithstanding desperate efforts of the Romish priesthood to prevent the people from hearing the truth, good congregations are gathered and many copies of the French New Testament are sold and given away. One man has sold about 600 copies of the Scripture to French Canadians, in some instances exchanging the word of God for rosaries, images, and crucifixes, the

use of which these Catholics were persuaded to abandon for the use of the Scriptures. Rev. J. N. Williams is still General Missionary for New England.

THE COLORED PEOPLE.

It is just twenty-five years since the Society, at its annual meeting at Providence, R. I., May 29th, 1862, committed itself to the work of evangelization and Christian education. of the colored people of the South. The report of the Board contained a recommendation on the subject, which was referred to a special committee, two of whom, Rev. B.T. Welch and Rev. N. Colver, had been prominent in the great controversy at the meeting in Philadelphia, in 1844.

In the light of what has transpired since, the resolutions presented by that committee. and adopted by the Society have historic interest, and so are worthy of reproduction

here *

June 25th, 1862, the Executive Board decided: "That immediate measures be taken for the occupation by our missionaries of such Southern fields as in the Prov

"WHEREAS, We recognize in the recent abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and in the setting free of thousands of bondsmen by the advancement of our national armies into the insurgent States, a most impressive indication that Divine Providence is about to break the chains of the enslaved millions in our land, and thus furnish an unobstructed entrance for the Gospel among vast multitudes who have hitherto been shut out from its pure teachings; and

"WHEREAS, We see in the entire organization of the social and religious state of the South, which must inevitably follow the successful overthrow of the rebellion, the Divine Hand most distinctly and most imperatively beckoning us on to the occupancy of a field broader, more important, more promising than has ever yet invited our toils; therefore

"Resolved, That we recommend the Society to take immediate steps to supply with Christian instruction, by means of missionaries and teachers, the emancipated slaves-whether in the District of Columbia or in other places held by our forces-and also to inaugurate a system of operations for carrying the Gospel section of our country, so fast and so far as the proalike to free and bond throughout the whole Southern gress of our arms and the restoration of order and law shall open the way.”

idence of God may be opened to our operations." At the same meeting two missionaries were appointed to labor among the negroes on the island of St. Helena, S. C. Thus the work began. To review its growth, and consider fully the questions now pressing upon us in regard to it, are impracticable here. These alone demand the exclusive attention of a special meeting of the Society, lasting two or three days. The two annual reports of the Board preceding this have contained the suggestion that such a meeting will be most appropriate this year.

It seems on many accounts to be not only appropriate but necessary. It should be held in the South, where it will be accessible to the colored people themselves. Although by the sixth Article of the Constitution the Executive Board are invested with power, "if deemed necessary by two-thirds of the members, to convene special meetings of the Society," and have taken steps to hold such a meeting, still, it seems preferable that the Society itself direct the Board to arrange for a special meeting at such place and time in the fall of 1887 as may be deemed best.

During the year colored missionaries have been under appointment in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Indian Territory, Arkansas, Kansas, and some other States and Territories in the North. Rev. H. Woodsmall has rendered valuable service in holding ministers' institutes, organizing the benevolent, missionary, and educational work in Arkansas and portions of Tennessee and Mississippi.

THE INDIANS.

The principal work of the Society for the Indians is still in the Cherokee nation, Indian Territory. Among the Delawares, also among the Sacs and Foxes of the Territory, also at the Pyramid Lake and the Walker River reservations in Nevada, missionaries have labored. The number of missionaries to the

Indians the past year has been 12, of whom 5 were white and 7 natives. Mr. Nathaniel A. Potts (Wal-le-lu), who addressed the Society in 1882, and who was expecting to enter upon his labors in the Territory this year,

Rev. W. E. Roscoe and wife, missionaries to Alaska, reached their destination at Kadiak Island, about 1,500 miles northwesterly of San Francisco, and 500 miles westwardly from Sitka, September 22d, 1887. Mrs. Roscoe is supported by the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society (Boston). Communication between Kadiak and the United States is interrupted from November to May, so that but little intormation has been received from them. What has come to hand shows the need of the Gospel for that people, who have become incorporated with the population of our country. The terribly corrupting influences of adventurers and reckless whites have not yet been so powerfully experienced in the Kadiak district as in the Southeastern district of Alaska. Being somewhat isolated, this island and its surroundings seem to afford a more hopeful field of labor, eventually, than the regions along the line of pleasure and business traffic.

A noticeable event and one that is destined, probably, to work great changes in the condition of the Indians on reservations, is the passage of "The Land in Severalty Bill," by Congress, and which was approved by the President, February 2d, 1887.

It is mortifying to consider that American Baptists have missions at but three of the 169 Indian Reservations of the United States, and that for the conversion of these pagans Our own land it is exceedingly difficult for the Society to find suitable laborers.

THE CHINESE.

in

Rev. Dr. Hartwell continues as Superintendent of Chinese missions in California.

In San Francisco he has had an efficient native helper in the person of Tong Tsin Cheung. Street preaching to large and attentive Chinese congregations has been conducted to some extent. Regular services have been held in the rented premises, which consist simply of a room designed for business purposes, but now fitted up for the school and for public worship.

The time has come for the Baptists of America to put this Chinese mission on a better footing. It can be done for about $15,000. It must be done, somehow, speedily.

It is disgraceful to us that the work should be carried on under present disadvantages. Chinese paganism, with its fourteen Joss houses continually open and elaborately fitted up in the city of San Francisco, puts to blush American Christianity as represented by Baptists, with only a plainly furnished rented store-room as a place of worship. Mission headquarters for our Chinese work in San Francisco must be the specialty the coming year.

At Oakland, Fresno, Chico, and Sacramento, in California, missions are established. The Portland mission, under the auspices of the First Baptist Church, has been unable to secure an acceptable native preacher, for whose support the Society stands pledged.

The Women's Home Mission Societies of Boston and Chicago co-operate in the work in California.

brethren who have visited Mexico and perceived the need of the Gospel for that people have returned to advocate enlargement of operations there. The interest has extended to some of our theological seminaries. Two students have offered themselves as missionaries to Mexico, and others are considering the question.

Three new appointments of American missionaries have been made. Rev. S. Gorman, formerly, as again recently, missionary to New Mexico, where he acquired such knowledge of the Spanish language as to use it readily in public discourse, was appointed to Aguas Calientes, 338 miles north of the City of Mexico, where he arrived Feb. 16th, 1887. He has a native assistant, and reports favorable indications. Rev. Robert Whitaker, of the graduating class at Newton Theological Seminary, is under appointment to Central Mexico, expecting to begin his labors July 1st. Rev. A. J. Steelman, of Roselle, N. J., is also under appointment to the same field.

Central Mexico, the district of which Rev. W. H. Sloan is the Society's Superintendent of Missions, embraces the States of Mexico, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Oajaca, Morelos, Guerrero, Michoachan, Hidalgo, Queretaro, Guanajuato, Aguas Calientes, San Luis Potosi, Vera Cruz. This district adjoins that of Brother Westrup in Northeastern Mexico, which includes much of the States of New Leon and Tamaulipas.

In the States of New Leon and Tamaulipas, in Northeastern Mexico, our interests are in

MEXICO.

There has been a decided advance in the interest of the denomination in the evangelization of Mexico. This is due not a little to the visit of Rev. W. H. Sloan at the last annual meeting, and for about three months afterward among the churches. Observing

M. Westrup now gives his entire time to general missionary service, the church at Monterey having as its pastor Rev. F. T. Treviño. Rev. Merced Flores is transferred to Lampazas and Laredo. Two native missionaries, in addition to those previously under appointment, have been put into the field this year. Nearly every month baptisms have been reported.

The consolidation of the three Baptist papers heretofore published in Mexico is an event worthy of note. Three papers, El Mexicano Bautista, published by Rev. T.

M. Westrup at Monterey; El Heraldo Mexicano, published by Rev. T. W. Powell at Saltillo; and La Luz, published by Rev. W. H. Sloan, of the City of Mexico, have been consolidated under the name of La Luz, which will be published at the latter city under the immediate direction of Mr. Sloan, with whom Messrs. Westrup and Powell are associated as editors. This assures to all the Baptists in the Republic a much better paper than would have been possible under the previous arrangement. Such a paper is indispensable as a means of communication for all the churches and missionaries, as well as for the promulgation of the truth.

The other noteworthy occurrence, viz., the securing of mission property for headquarters in the City of Mexico, is referred to particularly under the department of Church Edifice work.

III. CHURCH EDIFICE DEPART

MENT.

GRANTS TO CHURCHES.

The number of churches aided to erect houses of worship is the same as the year previous, viz., 62-by gifts, 29; by loans, 29; by gifts and loans, 4. The churches aided are in 22 States and Territories. Those having gifts are as follows: In Colorado, 1; Dakota, 7; Idaho, 1; Illinois, 1; Iowa, 2; Kansas, 5; Mexico, 2; Minnesota, 2; Mississippi, 2; Montana, 2; Nebraska, 3; New Mexico, 1; North Carolina, 1; Oregon, 3; Texas, 5; Washington, 1; Wisconsin, 2.

The receipts for the Loan Fund have been $7,051.04, of which $1,000 was from legacies, $6,051.04 interest on loans.

This Fund amounts to $122,047.18, and is sufficiently large for all demands that arelikely to be made upon it.

The receipts for the Benevolent Fund have been $78,645.64; from contributions, $35,361.53; from legacies, $41,379.17; from investments, $1,604.94, and a gift repaid, $300. Of this sum $22,390.58 was designated for mission headquarters in the City of Mexico, the gift of $6,450 by John D. Rockefeller, Esq., for the purchase of a site being included. A friend of the colored people in the South has given $2,000, designated for church edifice work among them. There have been but two or three contributions from churches.

The loss entailed upon the permanent gift fund, as stated one year ago, has been partially repaired by the appropriation thereto of $35,000 from the Gardner Chilson leg

The following table shows the number of churches actually assisted during the last six years:

to in this report, it is hoped additional sums will ere long be received for this purpose.

More numerous and larger offerings for immediate use are greatly needed.