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ON THE RISE OF THE FOREIGN MISSION CAUSE
AMONG THE AMERICAN BAPTISTS.
JUDSON AND RICE BECOME BAPTISTS. — THE TRIENNIAL CONVENTION. — THE MISSIONARY
UNION. — RICE BECOMES AN AGENT. — THE COLUMBIAN COLLEGE DIFFICULTIES ABOUT
MISSIONARY MONEY. — DEATH OF RICE.
ABOUT FORTY YEARS AGO the dormant energies of our
denomination in this country began to be aroused in favor of some systematic
efforts in favor of sending the gospel to the heathen. The cause of this
movement may be traced to the conversion of Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice to
the sentiments of the Baptists, while on their way to India as missionaries,
under the patronage of the Pedobaptists. This unexpected change in these two
young men, as a matter of course, made no small stir in the Pedobaptist ranks,
as might be naturally expected. Mr. Judson at the time of his baptism, in
Calcutta, preached a sermon on the baptismal controversy, which was republished
and widely circulated in this country. This became the subject of much comment
among his former associates, and laid the foundation of an extended controversy
between the advocates and the opponents of the Baptist cause. A copy of the
original Calcutta edition of this discourse is among my documents of this kind.
Mr. Rice soon returned to America to solicit pecuniary aid
for assisting in establishing a Baptist mission in the East, and to select
suitable persons for an undertaking to which the attention of the American
Baptists was now directed in a sudden and unexpected manner.
Up to this time, this large and increasing body seemed to
have had no idea that they had either the call or the ability to send out
missionaries to foreign lands. The maximum of their doings thus far in the
enterprise in which they have since so largely engaged at home and abroad,
consisted in the support of a few feeble societies for the promotion of domestic
missions.
It ought here to be mentioned, however, that amidst the
general apathy and neglect of our people thus referred to, something had been
done in a few locations in the early part of the foreign mission enterprise, in
the following manner the reports which frequently came to this country of the
successful operations of our British brethren in India, under Carey, Marshman,
Ward, and others, and particularly of their wonderful progress in the
translating department, had excited a generous sympathy among a portion of our
brethren in Boston, Salem, Philadelphia, and a few other places, which led them
to make liberal collections for that age, in favor of their distant
denominational friends. But still neither this portion of our community, nor any
other, then contemplated the undertaking of sending out missionaries on their
own account to the East, the West, or in any other direction. Nor as yet was it
considered possible to adopt any feasible plan for commencing missionary
operations amongst the numerous tribes of the American Indians. Dr. Carey, then
in India, wrote to Dr. Baldwin, of Boston, on the subject, at an early period,
and inquired why the American Baptists did not direct their attention towards
the bringing of the aborigines of our western wilds under the influence of
civilization and Christianity. Dr. Baldwin, in reply to his distant friend,
named, among other things, the want of a written language among the red men, as
one of the greatest impediments in the way of all attempts in their favor, and
little did he, or any of his co-workers in the cause of benevolence, expect that
in so short a time after this correspondence, this then insurmountable
difficulty would be surmounted. Very remote, in their view, was the period when
the untamed and wandering red men of our distant and uncultivated forests would
advance to the positions which they now occupy as an enlightened and Christian
people.
Mr. Rice becomes a successful Agent in the Foreign
Mission Cause.
Soon after his arrival from India, this zealous and laborious
young man commenced the most successful agency, the circumstances under which he
commenced it being considered, that was ever performed among the American
Baptists. His native eloquence, his unusual affability of manners, and his
untiring assiduity, made him at once a distinguished favorite with his new
denominational friends, and secured for him unusual attention and respect from
many who were out of the pale of the Baptist communion. Young people, old
people, and all people hailed his approach to their firesides and the pulpits of
their churches, as a young apostle in the foreign mission cause, which was
always on his lips, not only in his public addresses, but in public houses, in
public conveyances, in the family circle, and wherever he traveled or sojourned.
Being a man of a robust frame and of vigorous powers, both of body and mind, he
was enabled to perform an unusual amount of labor in his new vocation. At that
time, railroads were unknown, steamboats were comparatively few, and
stage-coaches were costly and uncomfortable; and as his business led him in all
directions through the country, to be present at associations and public
gatherings of all kinds, where he could tell his story and make known his wants,
he generally traveled in his own one-horse light conveyance, and he often
astonished his brethren with the rapidity of his movements and the suddenness of
his transitions from one place to another.
Mr. Rice, in his public performances, dwelt but little on
sectarian matters, but the deplorable condition of the perishing heathen was his
principal theme; and although he had resided but a short time in a heathen land,
yet he had seen and heard enough while there, to impart a vividness to his
descriptions of the darkness, wretchedness and cruelty of that land, far
superior to those which are made from mere reports. It was expected at first, by
himself and friends, that he would return to India after he had made
arrangements for a regular and adequate support of a mission there, under the
patronage of the Baptists in this country. This plan was always uppermost in all
his public addresses and private conversations, and added greatly to their
interest among the people wherever he went. He soon traversed the whole of the
United States, and formed an acquaintance of great extent, and at an early day,
by means of printed circulars, which were scattered broadcast over the land, and
letters of his own writing, this industrious man opened a correspondence with
all who had shown any sympathy for the cause in which he was engaged. Soon
societies of various kinds arose in all directions, for the promotion of this
new undertaking, and thus a foundation was laid for the formation of
The Old Triennial Convention.
This body was organized in Philadelphia, in May, 1814, and
under its direction all Baptist affairs pertaining to foreign missions, for
about thirty years, were managed, when the name of the body was exchanged for
that of the
American Baptist Missionary Union.
This change was made in New York, in May, 1845. This was a
time of great trial and difficulty with the old Convention, which was seriously
threatened with dissolution, on account of questions which for a number of years
had been agitated in a very unpleasant manner. The perplexing discrepancies
which arose between the northern and southern wings, of a body which was spread
over all the States, was the principal cause of the troubles here alluded to.
The Missionary Union came into being in a very amicable
manner at first, but soon objections, from some quarters, were started against
some parts of its constitution, as not conformable to Baptist principles and
usages, and these objections still exist in the minds of many; and added to
these, complaints from various quarters against the management of the men at the
missionary rooms have become loud and widespread, and now, March, 1857, very
serious difficulties are apprehended at the approaching anniversary of this
important Baptist institution.
Mr. Rice connected other Objects with his Missionary
Agency.
These were two periodicals, and a college at Washington for
Baptist use, with reference, in the first place, I believe, to fitting men for
the missionary service.
In this place it may be proper to give a brief account of
these three undertakings of Mr. Rice.
The Latter Day Luminary was in
pamphlet form, and was continued six years. It was under the patronage of the
General Convention, as the organ of that body, and for the first two years of
its existence it was published in Philadelphia, when it was removed to
Washington. Staughton, Allison, H.G. Jones and Rice constituted its publishing
committee at first, but Rice was the life and soul of the concern. He
calculated, when he undertook the work, that it would require about one fourth
of his time.
The Columbian Star was in the
newspaper form, and it is still alive in Georgia, under the name of the
Christian Index. It was transferred to this State many years since by the
late Dr. J. Mercer, the liberal and untiring helper of the foreign mission
cause. While this paper was published in Washington, the place of its origin,
among its editors in succession were J. D. Knowles, late of Newton, and Dr.
Stow, now of Boston.
But the Columbian College, now in a flourishing
condition at Washington, D.C., was the greatest labor of Mr. Rice's life, and
one which for many years involved him and his friends in much embarrassment and
perplexity. "This institution," says Mr. Taylor in his memoir of its founder,
"was never completed according to its original plan. All the buildings, in the
language of the superintending committee, were intended to range with the
cardinal points of the compass, and to exhibit the best possible view from every
direction, combining economy, utility, convenience and magnificence."
Thus we see that Mr. Rice in a few years after he commenced
his agency for the foreign cause, had his hands full of appendages to his main
employment. All admitted that his projects were praiseworthy and promising, but
many complained that they absorbed too large an amount of the funds which had
been contributed for mission purposes only. As pecuniary embarrassments came on,
much of the attention of the managers of one wing of the Convention was engaged
in examining and setting right the alleged stretches of power in the diversion
of funds by the other. Every new project had its advocates and opponents, and in
some of the meetings, which I attended, it was about as much as those who had no
cause, or other interests at stake could do to calm the troubled waters, in
which they found themselves most disagreeably involved. A number of the meetings
now had in view were scenes of trial rather than enjoyment. The sacredness of
missionary funds was always most strenuously insisted on by men on one side; and
this doctrine was fully conceded by those on the other; and if at any time the
treasury had been drawn upon for secondary objects, the explanation was, that it
was in loans from the main department, in aid of those of minor importance,
which were soon to be repaid by the commanding eloquence and herculean efforts
of a hitherto most successful solicitor, in favor of his various undertakings,
all of which promised well for the missionary cause and the Baptist community at
large. New periodicals might be useful in their way, if they would support
themselves, which was the doctrine of their friends; and a new institution for
literary and theological training was greatly needed for a vast range of our
country; and its being located at the capital of the nation was considered a
most auspicious arrangement, and all parts of Mr. Rice's complicated machinery
seemed to work well and to general satisfaction, until an empty treasury and
unsatisfied demands upon it to an alarming amount stared the whole denomination
in the face. Most of these demands were for the collegiate institution, and poor
Rice, on account of his position and agency, had to bear the blame of his
coadjutors and confederates. "It can not be concealed," says Taylor in his
memoir, "that others who had the management of the institution greatly erred in
allowing him to sustain so much of the burden incident to the erection of the
buildings, the support of the faculty, and the payment of the debts. And at the
time when a system of retrenchment had just been commenced; when vigorous
efforts were about to be made by him especially to raise funds in the South for
the entire extinguishment of the debt, such was the strong feeling against him
that he was called home and detained there for a series of months in the
investigation of his accounts."
As the result of these investigations, which were made by a
committee appointed for the purpose, a long report was drawn up, which is among
my historical documents, which exhibits a heavy balance against Mr. Rice.
To this report is appended a certificate that it was
unanimously accepted. Signed,
B. S., Secretary.
Directly under this is the following:
I certify that the foregoing report was not unanimously
accepted. O. B. B., President.
Too much of the feeling and cross firing here indicated, had
at an early period unhappily become somewhat common among some of the managers
of this then embarrassed concern.
Mr. Rice's heavy indebtedness to the Convention resulted from
his assuming personal responsibility in all his doings in behalf of that body.
No one to my knowledge suspected him of appropriating any of the moneys he
collected to his own use.
The following extracts from a letter of Dr. Baldwin, of
Boston, to Mr. Rice, exhibit his views relative to the diversion of missionary
funds from their original design:
"BOSTON, November 22, 1819.
"* * * You mention the unfavorable impression which the
result of the late meeting of the Board in New York had on the minds of our
friends, at the South and West. I do not perceive in what way it should
affect them. I have been apprised of Dr. Furman's dissatisfaction with the
proceedings relative to the institution generally. * * * It must be evident
to Dr. F. and to every other person, upon the slightest observation, that
the institution was not set in motion in conformity to the principle
established by the Convention, viz., 'when competent and distinct funds
shall have been raised for that purpose, the Board shall proceed to
institute a classical and theological seminary, etc.' It will not be
pretended that competent funds distinctly assigned for that object
have been raised, either before, at the time, or even since the
establishment of the seminary. This hasty, unauthorized procedure is
probably the ground of Dr. Furman's objections. For my own part, though I
would not adopt the principle that the end sanctifies the means, yet if the
institution can be supported without resorting at all to the funds of the
society, I shall wish it success with all my heart. But there is an extreme
tenderness with respect to these funds manifested from all parts of the
country. Indeed, they ought and must be held sacred for the object for which
they were given.
"I suggested to Dr. Staughton, some little time since, and
I will now take the liberty to mention the same thing to you respecting the
Luminary. The blending of this with the missionary concern, you
probably know, has given much uneasiness to many of the friends of the
mission. It was so different from what we had reason to expect that we
hardly knew how to account for it. * * *
"I am, dear sir, very respectfully your fellow laborer in
the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
THOMAS BALDWIN."
About this time a long letter was addressed to Mr. Rice
by the late Judge Tallmadge, of New York, then in Charleston, S.C., relative
to the grounds of Dr. Furman's dissatisfaction, etc., which were much the
same as those expressed by Dr. Baldwin and others.
But notwithstanding the objections alluded to above, such
was the demand for the institution in question, that its prosperity was
earnestly desired by the denomination at large, and very liberal
contributions were made for its support, and for the liquidation of its
debts, which was finally accomplished. *
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* Among these debts was a loan of $10,000 from the late J.
Q. Adams. For the payment of this sum, at my insistence, while I was a
member of the Board, a mortgage was given on the college premises. My
argument was, that as Mr. Adams loaned this large sum in good faith, to a
denomination with which he had no connection, in the crippled state of the
institution, he ought to have as good security as could be given him. This
fact I had the pleasure of stating to the President in his own house in
Washington. This business was finally settled to the satisfaction of this
distinguished benefactor.
In process of time the college was entirely separated
from the Convention, both as to its government and its pecuniary concerns,
and a large number of agents entered the field, which was then the whole
United States, to collect funds for the one, while Mr. Rice devoted all his
time and energies in favor of his favorite literary institution. And as he
was never married, to this object of his kindest affections, in his own
familiar language, he was wedded for life; for it he lived and labored
mostly in the southern States, and in its service he finished his laborious,
peculiar, and earthly career, in South Carolina, in 1836, at the age of
fifty-three.
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Fifty Years
Among The Baptist