The commonwealths and the kingdom; a study of the missionary work of state conventions

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Introduction

This book tells the story of State Missions, and tells it comprehensively and compactly within the compass of a single volume. The author knows his subject, and is in full sympathy with it, since he has given some of the best and most fruitful years of his life to this very work, in the State where our Baptist missionary activities began, and where to-day the need of State Mission work is greater than at any time in the past. Massachusetts is now typical of the new conditions in the older sections of our country, as Washington, or Nevada, is of the pioneer needs in the rapidly settling West. Emigration and immigration, as the author clearly shows, have radically changed the character and religious requirements of our populations. State Missions are vastly more important now than they were a quarter century ago, and more important at all points. East and West alike are missionary ground, challenging the faith and strength and

vii viii Introduction

wisdom and widest service of our churches as never before.

The task of setting forth in true perspective the varied and complex work of State Missions is not an easy one, especially in limited space. The worker in the expansive West, where the human currents are swift in their flow, may easily fail to appreciate the problems and needs of the East, depleted of Christian forces through the movement westward, and repleted with unevangelized newcomers from foreign lands. The worker in the East, in turn, under the pressure of these wide-spread and often distressing changes which are weakening once strong country churches, and which mean death to many of them unless State Missions can help sustain them — seeing also city churches uniting or disbanding — may as easily feel that here and not on the frontier is the greater crisis in our mission work. These workers must be made to see eye to eye. The author has succeeded in bringing State Missions before the reader as a whole, so that there is no sense of division or difference of relative importance. It is one work, it is all important, essential, vital. There is no East and West in this endeavor. Each State has its peculiar conditions and its indi-

Introduction ix

vidual organization, but all the States are bound together by mutual ties and interests, and must work in closest cooperation and fellowship if the cause is to be advanced and the country blessed. Every phase of State Missions is given due consideration; and beyond that, the relations of the State organizations to the national societies are set forth, with full recognition of the essential aid which the State Conventions have received, and but for which many of them would not have had existence.

Here are the facts which every Baptist ought to know, put in such wise as to draw the reader on. The human interest is never overlooked. This is a story of unselfish heroism and unflagging zeal, marked all the way along by that spirit of selfsacrifice and devotion which ranks the missionary enterprise so high in human annals. While the author is optimistic in his view of the later developments resulting largely from immigration, he has clear insight into the new obligations imposed upon our Christian communities to evangelize the inpouring millions.

The author's outlook is steadily forward. The past is drawn upon only so far as is necessary to a right understanding of the present. Condi-

X Introduction

tions are frankly stated, weaknesses are not minimized in city or country, but the temper is never that of discouragement before an impossible task and appalling need; it is always that of impulsion to greater effort and achievement, in the assurance of ultimate victory, because this is not man's work alone, but man's plus God. May the influence of this little book reach far, for it can work only good to our country and the world. It is a distinct and valuable contribution to our denominational literature.

Howard B. Grose.

Boston, Mass.

Contents

Page

Foreword i

L In the Beginning 5

Foreword

FOREWORD

We propose to tell the story of State Missions — a story replete with human interest. It takes us back to the early days of the American Colonies, carries us through the pioneer and frontier experiences in the developing West, and brings us to the thorough and extensive organization that embraces all the great interests of the Kingdom to-day. It is a story marked by heroism, intensity of patriotic devotion, and achievements that rank with any successes of statecraft or commerce.

The history of State Missions is as full of romance and action as any story that Cooper or Irving has told. The making of a nation is fascinating work; and we shall fail utterly if we do not make missions a living force, which will take alluring shape and tole you on through chapters which relate how men and women have built their lives into the new States In which they found a home and are remaking the older States into the Kingdom of God.

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4 Foreword

This book is written at the request of the Council of State Convention Secretaries. Few know the story of State Missions. It has never been told in print. Few realize the vast part our Baptist State Conventions and Missionary Associations are playing in the making of the Great West and the conservation of the American ideals in the older Commonwealths. It is to set forth this important work that the Council has provided that this book be written. To the members of the Council and to others the author is indebted for many of the facts that have been woven into the story. He is especially indebted to Dr. Howard B. Grose for most valuable suggestions and assistance, and for permission to reproduce illustrations which have appeared in '' Missions.''

The Northern Baptist Convention, the general organization of the Baptists of the North, includes within its territory thirty-four States, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The Baptists within each one of these States also have organizations of their own, known as State Conventions or Missionary Societies. This volume tells the story of the development of their work. Beginning with the first of these organizations in Massachusetts, which dates back to the opening of the last century, the work has steadily developed as the States have come into existence and passed through the periods of settlement and growth. In order to understand the present place and work of the State Conventions, it is necessary to know something of the conditions that gave them birth. The story is one of deepest interest, but it can only be suggested here, as the purpose of this book is to present the State Conventions of to-day, the work they are doing, the problems they are facing, and the opportunities that await them.

The Forerunners

The first American missionary was the first American Baptist. Roger Williams is famous in history as the founder of the first state in the world based upon the principle of absolute soul liberty, and as the organizer of the first Baptist church in America. But long before he founded Rhode Island or announced himself a Baptist, he was a missionary to the Indians, the first in that line made immortal by the names of David Brainerd and John Eliot. The spirit which characterized the founder became contagious and permeated the early churches of the Baptist order. They were missionary in spirit and in effort.

This spirit manifested itself in many ways. Distressed by the reports of religious destitution, the little churches frequently sent their ministers on long, lonely journeys to preach in the new settlements on the frontier. By means of this heroic service the bounds of the Kingdom were pushed farther and farther outward. Often a church would colonize and send part of its members out into the wilderness to found new towns and churches. The famous church at Swansea, for example, the oldest in Massachusetts, transplanted bodily from Wales in 1663, whose pastor was arraigned in court for breach of order " in setting up a public meeting without the knowledge and approbation of the court to the disturbance of the peace of the place," sent a colony to the Berkshire Hills, in western Massachusetts, with the result that several churches were organized and took rank among the largest in New England.

The First Associations

Many years prior to the organization of the first State Convention, many of the Baptist churches, overcoming somewhat their jealous fear lest by coming together for mutual counsel and inspiration their independence should be infringed upon, had banded themselves together in several Associations. The most noted of these were the Philadelphia, the Warren, including churches in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and the Shaftesbury, composed of churches in Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont. The Philadelphia Association, formed in 1707, was the oldest, and exerted a strong influence upon the denomination. It caught the spirit of the Great Awakening, and sent some of its ablest men into other sections to inspire and lead the churches. The Shaftesbury Association too, for ten years previous to the organization of the first missionary society, acted as a missionary organization itself, and sent out its missionaries into New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Canada. The representatives of the churches went everywhere, preaching the Word, and there is no mission story more thrilling than that of these early preachers. By the self-sacrificing ministry of these men of God the Baptist lo The Commonwealths and the Kingdom

cause was rapidly extended through all the Colonies. We shall never estimate fully our debt of gratitude to those men of faith and vision, who, in those trying times, laid the foundations of the Baptist denomination in America.

The First Missionary Society

But the burden of the Great Commission was resting more heavily upon the hearts of some of the great men of that day, and these spasmodic efforts of churches and associations were not sufficient to meet their convictions of duty, nor the demands of the rapidly expanding nation. Organized and united efforts must be made to reach the thousands of people who were rapidly scattering over a constantly enlarging territory. Members of the churches in Boston were convinced that the time had come for aggressive action. They accordingly united in sending out a letter missive to the churches of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. This letter is such an important document in missionary history that it is quoted at length.

To the Christian Brethren united with us in the Faith and Order of the Gospel, we send greeting.

Dearly beloved : Wishing grace, mercy, and peace to abound through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Being deeply impressed with the important obligations we are under as professing Christians, not only to pray for the prosperity of Zion, but to use our best endeavors

In the Beginning ii

to promote and spread far and wide the knowledge of our divine Immanuel : and reflecting seriously upon the affecting situation of many of our dear fellow men, who, from local and other circumstances, are deprived of the means of Christian knowledge and consolation, which we enjoy from a preached gospel, we feel our hearts go out toward them in ardent desires for their salvation.

Under such impressions, and dominated by the laudable exertions which many of our Christian friends of different denominations on both sides of the Atlantic are making to extend the empire of truth and promote the salvation of dying men, we propose the forming of a missionary society for the purpose hereafter mentioned. And, in order to make our intention more explicit, we submit to your consideration the following constitution :

Constitution

Article I, This Society shall be distinguished and known by the name of the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society.

Article II, This Society shall be composed of such members only as shall subscribe and pay at least one dollar annually to its funds/

Article III. The members, at their first meeting, and at their annual meeting ever after, shall by ballot appoint twelve Trustees, eight whereof shall be ministers or professing brethren of the Baptist denomination; the other four may be chosen from the members at large; who shall conduct the business of the Society in the manner hereafter described.

Article IV, The object of this Society shall be to furnish occasional preaching, and to promote the knowledge of evangelistic truth in the new settlements within these United States; or further, if circumstances should render it proper.

Article V, The Trustees shall have power to apply the funds of the Society, according to their discretion, in all cases in which they shall not be limited by special direction of the Society.

Article VI. They shall have power to appoint and dismiss missionaries, to pay them, and generally to transact all the business necessary for the accomplishment of the important object of the Society.

Article X. The Trustees shall annually exhibit to the Society a particular account of the missionaries employed by them ; the place to which they are or have been sent ; the state of the funds; the receipts and expenditures; and whatever else relates to the institution.

Article XII. The Society shall hold their first annual meeting for the choice of officers at the First Baptist Meeting-house in Boston on the last Wednesday of May next, at nine o'clock a. m., and in every year thereafter at the same time and place, unless otherwise ordered by the Society or Trustees.

^ The small sum which by this article is made necessary in order to become a member, is not designed to restrict such as have it in their power to subscribe more liberally.

The twenty-sixth day of May, 1802, is a memorable day in Baptist history. On that date, pursuant to this call, there gathered in the meeting-house of the First Baptist Church in Boston a notable assembly. It included many men whose names are foremost in our annals. The Society was organized according to the constitution suggested, and

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During the first thirty years of its history, and until the formation of the American Baptist Home Mission Society in 1832, this was more than a State organization. It was virtually a home mission society. Its missionaries were sent to all settled parts of the United States and Canada. They pressed westward into New York State, passed on to the Holland Purchase, followed the emigrants to the Western Reserve in Ohio, visited the new outposts in Illinois, crossed the Mississippi into Missouri, sailed south to the West Indian Islands, and penetrated into the cold regions of Canada. The story of the achievements of those Massachusetts missionaries has never been written, can never be written, but many a thrilling incident has been recorded of their self-sacrificing efforts to plant the gospel of Christ in that rapidly developing country.

After the organization of the American Baptist Home Mission Society in 1832, which was accomplished at the instance and in accordance with the plans and efforts of the leading men in this original Society, the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society restricted its work to the State limits and became the State Convention of Massachusetts.

In the Empire State

The story of the organization of this first Baptist missionary society in America is recorded at length because it became the type of similar organizations which followed rapidly in many other States, though their fields of activity were restricted, for the most part, to their boundaries. In 1807 representatives from the churches of two Associations in central New York organized the Lake Baptist Missionary Society. The name was chosen because they expected to direct their efforts to " the lake country/' Meeting in Hamilton the next year, they changed the name to the Hamilton Baptist Missionary Society. This Society annually drew to itself a wider constituency in New York, and for several years was the missionary organization of the State. In response to a growing demand for an organization that should be more closely related to the churches, the Baptist ^Missionary Convention of the State of New York was formed in 1821. With it was united the Hamilton Baptist Missionary Society in 1825. This New York Convention was the first convention to be organized as such. In nearly every case among the States where Baptist forces were early organized, a missionary society preceded a State Convention. In 1799 the Bowdoinham Association of Maine was known as the '' Gospel Mission.'^ This developed into a Maine Baptist Missionary Society in 1804, which was merged into the Maine Baptist Missionary Convention in 1824. In Connecticut a missionary society was formed in 181 1, which became the State Convention in 1823. The Ohio Convention, formed in 1826, was the outgrowth of the Cincinnati Baptist Missionary Society, formed in 1824. Likewise, also, the Conventions in New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

In other States in the central and western parts of the country, where organizations were not effected until later, the State Conventions were organized from Associations which had been earlier in existence. This was the case in Indiana (1832), Michigan (1835), and Wisconsin (1844). In still other States the Conventions have been organized directly upon the initiative of the churches themselves.

Minnesota as a Type

An illustration of the formation of western Conventions may be found in the history of the Minnesota Baptist State Convention. On March 3, 1849, the United States Congress passed the bill forming Minnesota Territory. In all that vast country, extending as far as the Missouri River, the census of that year discovered less than five thousand people. There were a few settlements along the valleys of the St. Croix, the Mississippi, and the Red River. There was an occasional fort, trading-post, hunter's cabin, and missionary station. St. Paul, the capital of the Territory, consisted of a dozen frame houses not all completed, and some eight or ten log buildings with bark roofs ; amid its two or three hundred people, the Indian, the French voyageur, and the halfbreed were far in the majority.

In July, 1847, i^ response to a most urgent appeal, Miss Harriet E. Bishop went from the green hills of Vermont to be the first teacher in St. Paul. The appeal had said:

I suppose a good female teacher can do more to promote the cause of education and true religion than a man. A teacher for this place should love the Saviour, and for his sake should be willing to forego not only many of the religious privileges and elegances of New England towns, but some of the neatness also. She should be entirely free from prejudice on account of color.

Teaching throughout the week, she immediately began a Sunday-school with seven scholars. Nearly a year later two other Baptists arrived, and these three formed the Baptist nucleus of Minnesota.

The formation of the Territory brought the pioneer Baptist missionary, appointed by the Home Mission Society, and a great influx of immigrants. That year the First Baptist Church was organized in St. Paul. The next year two more churches were organized, and in 1852 the first Association was formed with three churches and sixty members. With the coming of settlers, missionaries began their work of visitation and organization, and the number of churches steadily increased. At the meeting of the Minnesota Association in 1857, ^^ the motion of Rev. Amory Gale, pastor at Minneapolis, the following resolution was adopted: " Resolved. That in our opinion the time has come for the

Baptists of Minnesota to have a chartered organization similar in its objects and operations to the Baptist Conventions or General Associations of other States." A committee was appointed to confer with the other Associations, and two years later, on August 29, 1859, in the Baptist Church of Winona, the Minnesota Convention was organized. It is interesting to read that Mr. Gale was appointed as the first General Missionary in cooperation with the Home Mission Society, and remained in their service for sixteen years. What the Baptists of Minnesota owe to his devotion and sacrifice, to his energetic and wise leadership, can never be estimated.

Michigan Another Type

Another interesting illustration of the way in which State Conventions came into existence may be found in the case of Michigan. Missionary work in the Beaver State began in 1822 in two difi^erent ways. In that year the Triennial Convention, which was the national organization of the Baptists and devoted primarily to foreign missions, turned its attention to the Indians of America, and sent Rev. Isaac McCoy into the Territory of Michigan. He established a mission for the Potawatomie Indians, near the site of the present city of Niles. Four years later the Convention sent other missionaries to open a station among the Ottawa Indians at Thomas, and after two years more missionaries were sent to labor among the Ojibway Indians at Sault Ste. Marie. The church estabHshed here was wonderfully prospered, for in five years it reported, including some soldiers, fifty members. Thus the missionary work in Michigan began among the native Indians.

Immigration to Michigan had been delayed because of unfavorable reports which had gone forth. The State had been handed back and forth between France, Great Britain, and the United States. It had been the scene of many troubles with the Indians, and in 1815 the United States Surveyor-General, after a study of the shore line, declared that '' the country is very low and swampy, with intermediate spaces of poor, barren, sandy land, on which scarcely any vegetation grows except very small, scraggy oaks. It is so bad that not more than one acre out of a hundred, possibly not more than one out of a thousand, will admit of cultivation." But even such discouraging reports could not keep out hardy pioneers determined to learn the facts for themselves, and as they discovered the real situation and found the resources of this State, immigration began to set in.

Now strangely enough in the very year, 1822, when the Triennial Convention sent the first missionary to Michigan to labor among the Indians, the New York State Convention sent one of its missionaries. Rev. Elon Galusha, to minister among the pioneers in the Michigan Territory. He began his work at Pontiac, where he organized the first church in 1822. His commission was that of an itinerant missionary, but the New York Convention sent another man to be the pastor of this church. He organized two other churches, and a third missionary of this Convention organized the First Baptist Church of Detroit in 1827. Thus we have another illustration of how, previous to the formation of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, these first State Conventions were in reality home mission societies reaching far beyond their own border in their efforts to extend the kingdom.

The new settlers came in rapidly, and the missionary work was pushed with vigor, so that within fourteen years fifty-four churches had been organized within the Territory. On August 31, 1836, representatives from twenty-six of these churches met in Detroit and organized the Michigan Baptist Convention.

Two principles were embodied in their constitution which marked it as distinctive. The Michigan Baptists followed the principle of the first missionary societies rather than of the Conventions, and made their Convention to consist, not of representatives of the churches, but of individuals who paid one dollar a year into the treasury. Any one who paid ten dollars at a time became a life-member. It was not until 1887 that this principle was changed, by permission of the Legislature, and the Michigan Convention became a delegated body, representing the churches. This makes the history of this Conc

20 The Commonwealths aiid the Kingdom

vention unique. The second distinctive principle is enunciated in Article II of the constitution:

The design of this Convention shall be to carry out the commission of Christ, in giving the gospel to every creature by multiplying and circulating copies of the Holy Scriptures; aiding Home and Foreign Missions; encouraging Sabbath-school instruction ; promoting the circulation of religious tracts and the cause of education, especially that of the rising ministry.

In this way they provided for all the activities of the denomination under the direction of one body. This was a step many years in advance of the times. It had the distinct advantage of preventing the multiplication of many societies for many purposes, as soon proved to be the case in other States. But it also had the serious disadvantage that it failed to focus attention upon the work of domestic missions, which was the all-important thing for Michigan at that time. For over thirty years missionary work within the State was seriously handicapped by this situation, and not until after 1865 did the representatives of the churches come to see that the essential thing for this Convention was to emphasize missionary work within their own borders. The State Conventions must be interested in all phases of the work of the Kingdom, but it is fatal for them to forget that their great task is the development of the Kingdom within their own States.

In one State there are two Conventions. The California Baptist Convention was organized in

1 88 1, but the State covers such an immense territory (158,360 square miles) and the churches were so widely separated that in 1889 the State was divided and the churches of the south withdrew and formed the Southern California Baptist Convention. The State of Idaho is also divided between two Conventions.

The General Character of the vState Conventions

Baptist State Conventions have now been organized in every State in the North, the last being formed in Nevada in 191 1. The names of these organizations are not uniform, though the usual name is simply " State Convention," as the '' Ohio Baptist Convention " or the " Minnesota Baptist State Convention/' In some States the qualifying term '' missionary " is added, as the '' Maine Baptist Missionary Convention." In West Virginia an unusual title is preserved, " The Baptist General Association of West Virginia." The title of the original State organization was " The Baptist Missionary Society in Massachusetts." When two State organizations were combined in 1835, the name was changed to '' The Massachusetts Baptist Convention." But at the centennial anniversary of the organization of this first Baptist missionary society in 1902, the name was fittingly changed back to the original popular title, " The Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society."

The form of organization in most of the States is very simple. The Convention is composed of delegates from the churches, each church being entitled to send its pastor and one or more other representatives, according to its membership. Thus every church is assured full rights and privileges. In many Conventions provision is also made for representatives from the different Associations in the State. In nearly every Convention there are also annual members and life members. Annual members become such by the yearly payment of a stipulated contribution ranging from one dollar to twenty-five, according to the different constitutions. Life members become such by the payment at one time of a specified sum ranging from twenty-five to fifty dollars.

These Conventions in no way interfere with the independence of any church, though they seek constantly to foster the interdependence of all the churches. In many of the constitutions it is distinctly stated : " This Convention shall never possess a single attribute of power or authority over any church or association whatever." This declaration very clearly reflects the jealousy with which the fathers guarded the independence of the local church. When State Conventions were first proposed, there was fear in many quarters that the new organization might jeopardize that independence. When the call was sent out in 182 1 for the organization of the New York State Convention, only five of the seventeen Associations sent their accredited delegates to take part. When the New Jersey Convention was organized in 1829, only twenty-six of the fifty-five churches in the State could be depended upon for any real cooperation. It was necessary for the founders of these Conventions to declare plainly that the new organization should in no way infringe upon the independence of the churches. Representing, however, the consensus of the churches, the influence of the Convention, in an advisory way, often becomes very strong and helpful in determining the policies of the churches and of the denomination. When the Convention makes a contribution to the expenses of a church, it thereby becomes a partner in the work of the church, and, as such, is entitled to advise and counsel the church in its plans and policies, so long as the partnership continues. Representing the churches of the State, the Convention speaks for them on great moral and religious questions, and represents them in denominational and interdenominational fellowship.

Missionary Purpose Primary

The primary purpose of the State Convention is the development of missionary work within the State, but of late years the Conventions have been enlarging the scope of their work and extending their energies to many varied interests of the churches. In many constitutions the object is stated in the simplest manner possible, as in Southern California :

The object of this Convention shall be to advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and to promote the general interests of the Baptist denomination, as provided in these By-laws and its Articles of Incorporation, in that portion of the State of California lying south of the northern boundary-line of the counties of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and San Bernardino,

In some States the purpose is outlined much more fully, as in the new constitution of the Wisconsin Baptist State Convention :