THE BAPTISTS. WHO ARE THEY AND WHAT DO THEY BELIEVE? This little volume by our missionary at Secunderabad, India, Rev. W. B. Boggs, D.D., published by the American Baptist Publication Society, at 25 cents, gives in compact form the views of the Baptists with scriptural authority and quotations from various standard authors on the points of our Baptist belief. These numerous quotations from scholars whose opinion deserves and obtains the respect of the world, make it perhaps the most satisfactory of the brief statements of our Baptist position. MORE than beautiful, really elegant, is the "History of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia and the Account of the Bi-Centennial Celebration of its Foundation," just issued by the American Baptist Publication Society. It is a sumptuous volume, a delight to the eye and a stimulus to the mind. The editor, who is also the author of the historical address, is William W. Keen, M.D., LL.D., and Dr. Keen has shown us that he understands the art of book-making. His volume is not only a model, but is so complete, so full and yet condensed, and presented in so beautiful a form that it may be considered really an ideal of what a church history ought to be. Of the interest and importance of the volume we need not speak. It is enough to know that it is an ample and interesting history of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, and contains all any one would wish to know about that venerable and influential body, presented in a most attractive manner. Price, in cloth, $3.00; half morocco, $4.00; half turkey morocco, extra, $5.00. THE REDEMPTION OF AFRICA, by Frederic Perry Noble, published by the Fleming H. Revell Company, in two volumes of about four hundred and fifty pages each; price, $4.00. Since the opening of Central Africa there has been a demand for a volume giving a general account of the rise and progress of missionary work in that continent. There are many books treating of missions in different parts of Africa and biographies of individual missionaries, but until the present we believe there has been none even claiming to cover the whole ground. In treating of such a large subject as Christian missions in Africa, even though the treatment occupies nearly nine hundred pages, it has been, of course, impossible to give the details of particular missions. In fact Mr. Noble's volumes may perhaps be more properly called an encyclopædia of the development of Africa than a history. He has written it according to his sub-title, as "a story of civilization," and such it truly is. And while no one need expect to find in it a full and satisfactory history of any one mission, yet as an introduction to a detailed study of missions in Africa, and as a story of the transformation of Africa under the efforts of Christian missionaries and explorers, it is thoroughly full and satisfactory. It is by far the best book on the subject of Africa as a whole, and deserves, and will have, a wide circulation. THE AMERICAN BAPTIST YEAR BOOK, published by the American Baptist Publication Society, at 25 cents, is simply indispensable to every one who desires an intelligent view of all the varied activities and agencies of the Baptists of the United States. It contains a careful summary of the work of all our general denominational societies, with a list of the principal officers, and also of all the Baptist conventions of every state; lists and statistics of Baptist denominational institutions, charitable institutions, periodicals, ordained ministers in the United States and American missionaries in foreign lands, with the denominational Baptist statistics of this country, by states, with a summary and also the statistics of Baptists throughout the world, and a summary of the religious denominations of the United States. This information cannot be obtained in any other place without a vast amount of research. The small price charged for the YEAR BOOK does not repay the Society for the expense of the publication, and the denomination owes the Publication Society as well as the editor, J. G. Walker, D.D., of `Philadelphia, an annual vote of thanks for the care and enterprise shown in issuing this valuable publication. papers for Young People, and for all who are interested in Young People's Work among Baptists. Send 25 cents for a Three Months' Trial Trip of THE BAPTIST UNION beginning with the initial number of the Convention Series. April 22, and you will be convinced that among papers of its class it is Unrivalled, Unequalled, Unique. Address, THE BAPTIST UNION, 324 Dearborn Street, Chicago. "What is the price of Dobbins' Electric Soap?" "Five cents a bar full size, just reduced from ten. Hasn't been less than ten for 33 years." "Why that's the price of common brown soap. Send me a box. I can't afford to buy any other soap after this." When writing to advertisers, please mention this MAGAZINE. SOLICITORS WANTED EVERYACTIVE WHERE for "The Story of the Philippines," by Murat Halstead, commissioned by the Government as Official Historian to the War Department. The book was written in army camps at San Francisco, on the Pacific with General Merritt, in the hospitals at Honlulu, in Hong Kong, in the American trenches at Manila, in the insurgent camps with Aguinaldo, on the deck of the Olympia with Dewey, and in the roar of battle at the fall of Manila. Bonanza for agents. Brimful of original pictures taken by government photographers on the spot. Large book. Low prices. Big profits. Freight paid. Credit given. Drop all trashy unofficial war books. Outfit free. Address, H. L. Barber, General Manager, 356 Dearborn Street, Chicago. FOR BAPTIST CHURCHES THE BEST MISSIONARY MAP Is the New Map of the American Baptist Missionary Union Size 10 x 8 Feet, on Linen Cloth, Beautiful Colors. Price $3.50, Delivered Free ADDRESS BAPTIST MISSION ROOMS, TREMONT TEMPLE, BOSTON, MASS. The Eighty-fifth Annual Meeting of the American Baptist Missionary Union will be held in the First Baptist Church, San Francisco, Cal., on Monday, May 29, 1899, at 10 o'clock A.M. PORTLAND, ME., May 1, 1899. HENRY S. BURRAGE, Recording Secretary. The Eighty-fifth Annual Meeting of the Board of Managers of the American Baptist Missionary Union will be held in the First Baptist Church, San Francisco, Cal., on the evening of the first day of the meeting of the Union. MOSES H. BIXBY, Recording Secretary. PROVIDENCE, R. I., May 1, 1899. To the Church Missionary Society on the occasion of the celebration of the centenary of its organization we extend heartiest congratulations and the best wishes for its enlarged usefulness in the years to come. This society stands at the head of all the missionary societies of the world in the amount of its annual income and in the number of missionaries on its staff. In wisdom and in the happy union of a conservative spirit with judicious aggressive methods it is a leader in missions. Its large and widely representative committee beautifully exemplifies devout spirituality with plain and practical sagacity, and the operations of this great society are worthy of the careful study of all students of missions. S iam is falling into line in the onward march of all Asia, although pressed by France with great injustice. In fact, largely because of this, Chululalongkorn, the king of Siam, has realized that his country must be able to protect itself in these times of peril. He has reorganized his army under the direction of competent European officers, has adopted a financial system which has greatly increased the revenue, and adopted other measures to bring Siam into line with the progressive nations of the world. The king and the official class of Siam have never been opposed to civilization and Christianity, and many are educated after European ideas, but this civilization has never spread to the common people. The effort of the king is now to bring the nation as a whole to see the advantages of Western ideas and to adopt the strong features of Western national life. The Ideal Missionary.—Rev. John E. Clough, D.D., the head of the great Baptist missions at Ongole, India, writes: "Beloved Dr. Jewett, when I first came to India, often said to me, 'John, don't do anything in India yourself which, after teaching others, if patient, you can get them to do even fairly well.' It is not always the missionary who tries to do the most personal preaching who is the most efficient missionary. To teach others to work, to set them at it and to keep them at it is perhaps the most telling work of the ideal missionary." |