\.. - J; irs • • I-' MISSION FOR U<3E in YOUriO-PEOPLES-SOGIETIES No. 12 ORIGIN OF THE AITERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION PREPARED ANt>PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE •' • ffllffl iPTBT HMIRY OM B05TON *1 / -- * '-PRICE' 3 2 As it was in 1814 when the Missionary Union was formed. Origin of the American Baptist Missionary Union. r>v rf.v. ]. W. A. .Stkwart, D. D. Q/u'S. I. Jl-7ur/ iJic first inipuhc to the organization of tJie American Baptist Missionary Union ? A ns. Tlic immediate occasion of the organization of American Baptists for tlie work of foreinn missions was the news tliat came to them from India to tlic o effect tliat Adoniram Judson liad, during his voyage from America to Asia, chaimed his convictions as to O the proper subjects and mode of Christian baptism and the constitution of a Cliristian church ; that he had l)een l)aptized in Calcutta, and was ready to engage in missionary work as the agent of Ameri¬ can Baptists. It is evident, liowever, that the Baptists in America must have been all ready for such an organization, and only awaited the occasion which should make manifest and throw into definite form the thoughts and the spirit which were moving amongst them. If no moisture were held in suspense in the atmos- jdiere, not even the setting of the sun and the sudden cool- iimof the earth’s surface could cause dew to fall. If the missionary spirit had not already been abroad, not even the news about Judson’s baptism and his offer of service could have so sud¬ denly brought American Baptists together in foreign missionary enterprise. 2. J 17/at is the primary source of the missionary movement ? A ns. The gospel of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit. No external influences or worldly considerations would ever, apart from the divine working on the souls of men, move them to missionary enterprise. Of missions, God Him¬ self is the primal source. Christianity, the gift to man of Christ and of the I Toly WILLIA.M CAREY. 3 4 ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION. Spirit, is God’s missionary enterprise. Christianity is saturated through and through with the missionary spirit. You cannot pierce the human l^ody with even the point of a pin without coming upon the hlood, neither can you touch Christianity at any point without finding the spirit of missions. If Christ is in men, inevitably their thoughts and longings will go forth to their fellow-men in all the world. Christianity knows no national boundaries. “ I am debtor both to Greeks and Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish,” is the voice of Christ, as lie finds Ilis home within a human personality, and brings it under Ilis sway. So the original source of this movement among American Baptists was the fact that they were Christians, and that in them the Master’s spirit was making itself felt. 3. N^cime a secondary source. Ans. On Oct. 2, 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society of England was organized at Kettering; in June, 1793, Mhlliam Carey sailed for India. Twenty years after this, on Feb. 19, 1812, Judson sailed from America. Whether we are to regard the thought of foreign missions as having sprung up spontaneously in America, or as having been transplanted from Eng¬ land, I cannot say, but we know that it is the same Holy Spirit who is everywhere in the church, and when He is working in a certain way in one part of the church. He is very likely to be working in the same way in other parts, so that in different minds, far removed from one another, the same thoughts and purposes may spring up as if spontaneously. If the movement was spontaneous in x^mer- ica, it was, at least, much influenced and encouraged by the English example. 4. IV/io was one of tJie principal founders of the Union ? Ans. The Rev. William Staughton, a Baptist minister, born at Coventry, England, and educated at Bristol, was present at the formation of the society at Kettering, in 1792. The following year he emigrated to America, and after laboring in several different places, he became, in 1805, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, and afterward of the Sanson Street Church in the same city. He was a man of marked ability and great influence. It was impossible, after having witnessed what he did at Kettering, for him to come to America without bringing with him, and scattering in his adopted country, some seeds of missionary thought and spirit. Moreover, after settling in America, he maintained a correspondence with Fuller, Ryland, and other members of the English society, and they kept him stirred up about foreign missions, and he, in turn, imparted the inspiration to his brethren on this side of the .\tlantic. ANDREW FULLER. ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION. 5 5. Give another source of the missionary inspiration. Ans. In the early years of English missions, the missionaries were prohibited from sailing on the East India Company’s vessels, and a number of them had first to sail for America, and then to embark on American ships for the East. W as it possible for them to land on the American shore and not scatter a little of the good seed before they sailed from it? The home of Dr. Staughton and % other Christian homes were always open to them during their sojourn here. Rev. William R. Williams, D. D., of New York City, then a boy, remembered that some of those missionaries stayed at the parsonage of the Oliver Street Baptist ADONIRAM AND ANN HASSELTINE JUDSON. Church, of which his father, the Rev. John Williams, was pastor. And, says Dr. Francis Wayland, “ I well remember, in my boyhood, the temporary resi¬ dence of such missionaries in New York, and the deep interest which their presence occasioned in all the churches in that city.” 6. What had American Baptists done for foreign missions before the form a- tion of the Union ? Ans. Baptists in America became interested in the work of Carey and his 6 ORIC.IX OF T}IF AMFKICAX HAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION. colal)orers in India, and became contributors to the support of that work. Robert Ralston, of Philadelphia, was made the almoner of these American contributions, and in the years i8o6 and 1807, he sent to India about $6,000. Dr. Johns, an English Baptist missionary, going by way of America, and who sailed on the same vessel with Luther Rice, in 1812, collected, during his stay here in Boston and Salem, $5,000 for the work. William Carey wrote to the Rev. John Williams, of New York: “The Lord has wonderfully stirred up the whole relig¬ ious world of every denomination to favor the work in which we are engaged, and to contribute pecuniary assistance to a large amount. Our American friends have a special claim upon our gratitude in this respect.” 7. What pi'eliminary societies had been formed ? .Ins. “As early as 1804, Female Mite Societies and Cent Societies began to be organized in the principal American towns. In many instances the incomes of these societies were devoted to foreign missions.” Further still, “ The Massachusetts Baptist Mis¬ sionary Society was organized in 1802.” It was chiefly for home mission purposes, but it regarded foreign mission work as a possible event. It published a missionary magazine, and in this magazine, which had a wide circulation, were letters from Carey, Fuller, and Ryland, along with general missionary intelligence from India. Here, then, was a condition of things all ready for missionary enterprise. Indeed, before Judson’s day, by way of helping their English brethren, the American Baptists, not as a body, but as individuals, were already engaged in foreign missions. The great thing which Judson’s course led to was suddenly to bring them together, to consolidate and organize them for this work, and to make them responsible for a mission of their own. 8. JVhat relation to the formation of the Union was borne by .idoniram yiidsond Ans. In the latter part of 1809, we find him a theological student at Andover, HAVSTACK MONUMENT, WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS. OKICIX OF THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION. 7 Mass., seriously pondering the subject of foreign missions. Soon after there came to Andover four young men of similar aspirations. They came from Williams College, where they had formed a missionary society, and where they were accustomed to meet at night beside a hay-stack near the college grounds. At Williamstown, on the spot where now stands the famous Hay-stack Monu¬ ment, these young men consecrated themselves to the work of foreign missions. “ This green nook among the Berkshire Hills may well be called the birthplace of American foreign missions.” On consultation with the Andover professors, among them Prof. Moses Stuart, they addressed a letter to the general associa¬ tion representing the Congregational churches of Massachusetts, which convened June 27, 1810. The immediate result of their letter was the formation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, which has had such a noble record. Passing over the intervening year and a half, during which time Judson visited England to consult with the officers of the London Missionary Society, we find him on Feb. 19, 1812, in company with his young wife and their fellow'-missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Newell, embarking at Salem, Mass., on the brig Caravan bound for Calcutta, as a missionary of the American Board. He was about to attempt the formation of Christian churches among the heathen ; how should these churches be constituted? “Again, Mr. Judson expected to meet in India the English Baptist missionaries, Carey, Marshman, and Ward. Controversy with them might possibly arise. He thought it best, while he was on the ocean, to arm himself beforehand for the encounter with these formidable champions in order, successfully, to maintain the Pedobaptist position. The result of his investigation was the conclusion, reluctantly formed, that he was wrong and that the Baptists were right.” It is not easy for us to realize what it cost him to yield to this conviction. But yield he did, and his wife yielded with him ; and after arriving in India they were baptized in Calcutta by Mr. Ward, Sept. 6, 1812. Judson wrote at once to the American Board, announcing his change of denominational convictions, and at the same time he wrote to Rev. Thomas Baldwin, D.D., a prominent Baptist minister of Boston, to whom he said: “Should there be formed a Baptist society for the support of a mission in these parts, I should be ready to consider myself their missionary.” 9. What was the condition of American Baptists at that time ? .Ins. The missionary spirit was abroad amongst them. But let us not ex- aggerate their preparedness or their strength. “ In 1812, the Baptists of America were a scattered and feeble folk and lacked solidarity. There was little or no denominational spirit. The summons to the foreign field shook them together. Mr. Judson’s words, ‘ Should there be formed a Baptist society for the support of amission in these parts, I should be ready to consider myself their missionary,’ proved to be the crystallizing touch.” It was their entrance upon the work of foreign missions which really made the denomination here in America. Such 8 ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION. were the sources from which has grown the American Baptist Missionary Union as we have it to-day. lo. What was the relation of Luther Rice to the organization of the Union ? A ns. One of the young men who formed that little missionary society at Williams College, which used to meet under a hay-stack, and who went thence to Andover, and was there associated with Judson, was Luther Rice. He set sail for India, by appointment of the American Board, from Philadelphia, the day before Judson sailed for Salem. Strange to tell, without knowing what was going on in Judson’s mind, he too experienced a change in his convictions during the voyage, and not long after the baptism of the Judsons he also was baptized by Mr. Ward. We can well believe that when the tidings reached America that Mr. and Mrs. Judson and Mr. Rice had been immersed at Calcutta, the Baptists of the whole land were filled with a glad surprise. God had suddenly placed at their disposal three fully equipped missionaries. They were already on the field, and action must be prompt. 11. IVhat was the first American Baptist fore ig n m issionary society ? Ans. As soon as Dr. Baldwin heard from Mr, Judson, he invited a number of leading Baptist ministers o f Massachusetts to meet at his house for delib¬ eration. These formed a society, and at once wrote to Judson, as¬ suring him that the American churches would assume his support as their mis¬ sionary. The society formed was not national, but local. Meanwhile Mr. Rice was on his way back to America to preach a missionary crusade. He arrived in September, 1814, and after conference with the newly organized society, in REV. WILLIAM STAUGHTON, D.D., First Corresponding Secretary of the Missionary Union. ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION. 9 Boston, he was requested to go through the land, to visit associations, to or¬ ganize local societies, and in every way to rouse the Baptists to a sense of their opportunity. He traveled north and south on this mission, and everywhere evoked great enthusiasm. 12. IVhen and where tvas the Missionary Union formed? Ans. It was soon resolved to form a national society. May i8, 1814, was fixed upon as the date for meeting, and Philadelphia as the place. Delegates were appointed in eleven States, and in the District of Columbia. Thirty-three of them came together. Strong men were there,— Baldwin, Bolles, Gano, Wil¬ liams, Staughton, Jones, Brown, Rice, Semple, Furman, Tallmage, Johnson, and others. The meeting was like that meeting at Antioch, at which Paul and Barnabas were set apart for missionary work. The American Baptist Missionary Union was born and cradled amid preaching and prayer and solemn consecration. On the fourth day of the meeting. May 21, 1814, a constitution was adopted. The second article provided that the convention should meet once in three years, and thence it came to be known as “ The Triennial Convention.” 13. JVhat toork was jointed tvith foreign missions at first? Ans. It was attempted for a time to combine the work of ministerial educa¬ tion in America with the work of foreign missions. At the first triennial session of the convention the constitution was amended, so as to allow the undertak¬ ing of this work. As a result of this, what is now Columbian University, in the city of Washington, was established. But it soon became manifest that the work of education at home and the work of missions abroad could not well be con¬ ducted under one management, and at the fourth triennial meeting the connec¬ tion with Columbian College was dissolved, and the exertions of the convention were limited to missionary enterprise. It is interesting, however, to notice how closely the cause of education and the cause of missions were connected in the minds of those good and earnest men, and how they realized that men going to the foreign field should be well equipped for the work. 14. What other change took place later ? A)is. At first the North and the South were united in this work. But this could not last. The great slavery question, which did so much to separate the two sections of the republic, and which at last arrayed them against each other in that awful war, ere long began to make itself felt in this missionary organiza¬ tion. At length, in 1845, the Baptists of the South withdrew from their Northern brethren and organized the Southern Baptist convention, through which they still carry on their work. In the same year the Northern Baptists held a special meeting and took steps to organize under the new conditions, and in 1846, they commenced operations under the name of the American Baptist Missionary Union. 15. Who was the first home representative of foreign missions ? .-Ins. Rev. Luther Rice never returned to India, though he had fully expected lO ORIGIN OF TIIK AMKRICAN 15APTIST MISSIONARY UNION. to do SO. lie was at first retained in America to travel from place to place to excite the public mind more generally to engage in missionary exertions. In this work he was eminently successful, and his relation to the beginnings of missions by the American Baptists was similar to that sustained by Andrew Fuller to the work of the English Baptists. Later on his brethren appointed him to collect funds for the projected seminary. He was deeply convinced of the necessity of raising the standard of education in the ministry, and to this cause he devoted himself with untiring energy until his death. 16. ]Vhai Jias been the p 7 ‘ogress of foreignmissions since the founding of the Missionaiy Union ? Ans. Eighty years ago the Baptists of this country joined hand in hand for this work. I wish there were time to tell some of the things which these eighty years have seen. In 1792, that first little society was formed in England through the indomitable earnestness of William Carey. Now there are 296 Protestant .societies engaged in this work, and they occupy 22,631 stations and out-stations, and employ 11,827 missionaries, and 55,118 native laborers. There are about 1,017,100 communicants on the foreign field, and there is raised for this work about $14,500,000 a year. In the first year of organization the receipts of our American society were $2,100. The second year they were more than $26,000. Now they are $500,000 a year. And in these eighty years $12,526,790 have been raised and expended. This does not include what the Southern Baptists have done since their separation from the North in 1845. 17. In xohat countries is the Union working ? Ans. Burma was the first field occupied by the American Baptist missionaries. You recall the thrilling story of Adoniram Judson’s sufferings and toils and triumphs in Burma. To-day the Missionary Union has its agents in Burma, on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal ; in Assam, the northeastern province of India ; in the Telugu country in the southeastern portion of India, along the west of the Bay of Bengal ; in Siam ; in China ; in Japan ; on the Congo in Africa ; and also assists the work of Baptist missionaries in France, in Germany and Central Europe, in Sweden, Norway and Finland, Russia, and in Spain. The Union employs 482 missionaries from America and 2,766 native workers. On its field there are 1,653 churches and 190,998 communicants. 18. IVhat is the rank of the Missionary Utiion aino 7 ig missionary societies? .Ins. It is a fact, that our American Baptist missionaries are wonderfully blessed in their work. Put together these four leading denominations. Congre¬ gational, Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, Protestant Episcopal, in America. Altogether they have nearly four times as many missionaries and three times as many native helpers as the Baptists, and yet our union has more churches and more communicants than all four of them together. 19. Name its schools for higher educatio 7 i. A71S. Besides all this, the Missionary Union has eight institutions for higher ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION. I \ k V. 11 education under its care. The Theological Seminary, Insein, near Rangoon, Burmah the Rangoon Baptist College; the Brownson Telugu Theological Seminary, Ramapatam ; the American Baptist Missionary College, Ongole ; the Biblical School, Shaohing, China ; the Baptist Theological Seminary, Yoko¬ hama, Japan ; Bethel Theological Seminary, Stockholm, Sweden ; the Baptist Theological School, Hamburg, Germany. Surely it is a wonderful and far- reaching work which is being carried on. 20. Whal of the Union in this country ? A ns. As to the work here in America, it has enlisted the sympathy and sup¬ port of our strongest and best people all over this land. Our leaders in the pul¬ pit, in education, in the ranks of business, have deemed it a privilege to be servants and helpers of the Missionary Union. Perhaps Dr. Francis Wayland never rendered a greater service to the cause of Christ than when he preached that annual sermon before the Union on “The Moral Dignity of the Missionary Enterprise.” In its officers and managers have been and are the very cream of our denomination. To be president of the Missionary Union is the highest honor in the gift of the denomination. Men like Spencer H. Cone, and Francis Way- land, and Martin B. Anderson deemed it amongst the greatest honors of their lives to be its president. There has been handed down to us, as American Baptists, this great inheri¬ tance. Shall we prove ourselves worthy of it? I believe we shall. There seems to me to be stirring amongst us a new spirit of consecration. I believe that, as a body, we mean to go forward at the mighty inspiring call of God. What a host of witnesses encompass us ! Above all these is the Lord Himself, who said, “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel.” THE NEW TREMONT TEMPLE. The Missionary Union occupies the fifth floor, represented by the third row of windows front the top.