BAPTISTS. 



55 



and of three representatives from each of the 

 denominational societies. The Society ex- 

 pressed its sympathy with the efforts of South- 

 ern Baptists to erect a meeting-house in Koine. 

 The Executive Board were instructed to pre- 

 pare and publish a history of the denomina- 

 tion in the United States, including its work 

 in missionary education and in other forms of 

 benevolence, to be issued in 1876. 



In the volume of the ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA 

 for 1871 a mention was made of the negotia- 

 tions for a union between the American and 

 Foreign Bible Society and the late American 

 Baptist Publication Society, now the Bible and 

 Publication Society. The negotiations failed. 

 The causes of the failure are thus explained in 

 behalf of the American and Foreign Bible So- 

 ciety, by its secretary, the Rev. Dr. Gillette : 



The American and Foreign Bible Society has not 

 been united with the American, Baptist Publication 

 Society in Philadelphia ; they, the Publication So- 

 ciety, refusing to accept the enabling act passed by 

 the New York Legislature, and we failing, after ap- 

 plication, to obtain another. The Society is now re- 

 stored to its former position in the denomination that 

 originated it in 1836, and appeals to pastors, church- 

 es, and individuals, for support in its good work. 



The contributions to the American Baptist 

 Home Missionary Society for the year ending 

 in April, 1872, were $195,650.58. Four hun- 

 dred and twenty-five missionaries were em- 

 ployed, who organized 160 churches, and bap- 

 tized 5,850 members. The work among the 

 f reedmen in the South was carried on by 107 la- 

 borers, at an expense to the Society of $49,000. 

 Seven schools were conducted for the education 

 of preachers and pious teachers. The work in 

 Mexico had been interrupted by the civil war. 

 The assets of the Church-edifice Fund were val- 

 ued at more than $300,000. One hundred and 

 eleven churches in twenty-four States and Ter- 

 ritories had borrowed from it, and 53 churches 

 had been aided in building meeting-houses. 

 Many church-lots had been secured in new 

 villages and cities, and arrangements had been 

 made to secure lots in every rising town along 

 the line of the Union Pacific Eailroad. Not 

 one dollar of the funds of the Society, says its 

 annual report, has ever been lost by injudicious 

 loans or otherwise. At the anniversary meet- 

 ing a proposition was introduced for the re- 

 organization of the Society, and was referred 

 to the next annual meeting. It is similar in 

 character to those already noticed in connec- 

 tion with the Missionary Union and the Bible 

 and Publication Society, and has in view the 

 same general object. This object is to make 

 the annual meetings of the Societies assem- 

 blies of delegates rather than mass meetings, 

 as they have heretofore been. The attendance 

 of members at the annual meetings has become 

 inconveniently large, so as to tax severely the 

 hospitalities of the people with whom the so- 

 cieties meet. It is hoped, by the adoption of 

 the new plans of organization, to reduce the 

 size of the bodies so that they may be more 

 easily accommodated. 



A National Baptist Educational Convention, 

 called by the National Baptist Educational 

 Commission, met at Philadelphia on the 28th 

 of May. One hundred and twenty-one dele- 

 gates were in attendance from twenty-one 

 States, one Territory, and the District of Co- 

 lumbia, representing sixty different institu- 

 tions. The Hon. Francis Wayland, on being 

 elected president, announced the purpose of 

 the convention to be the consideration of 

 means by which the standard of denomina- 

 tional education in the United States might be 

 revised, and its methods improved. The sec- 

 retary of the National Commission communi- 

 cated the proposition of that body to surrender 

 its functions to the National Convention, and 

 made known the results of its operations, to 

 the time of this meeting. The commission was 

 at first limited in its scope, being intended for 

 New York -and New Jersey. It soon became 

 evident, however, that there was a demand for 

 a national organization. A convention nation- 

 al in character was accordingly held in Brook- 

 lyn, New York, in 1870, and was followed by 

 others in the following year at "Worcester, Mass., 

 Chicago, 111., Richmond, Va., and Marion, Ala., 

 These conventions have already been noticed in 

 the ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA. It was thought that 

 the cause of education had been perceptibly ad- 

 vanced by them. The three days of the session 

 of the convention were occupied in the discus- 

 sion and adoption of a constitution for a per- 

 manent body, and in the reading of papers on 

 topics pertinent to the interests of education. 

 These topics were as follows: u Institutions 

 of Learning, established by Christian Denomi- 

 nations, considered with reference to Present 

 and Probable Systems of Public Instruction;" 

 "How, and to what Extent, may Colleges 

 established for the Education of Young Men, 

 and adapted to that End, be made by the 

 Teaching which they offer, and by the Appa- 

 ratus of Instruction, to serve without Damage 

 to that Original Purpose, in the Education of 

 Young Men?" "Methods and Uses of Classi- 

 cal Studies;" "Organization in Educational 

 Work ; " " Education a Development in Chris- 

 tian Life, the Supplement and Support of all 

 Evangelization, and therefore due, in its high- 

 er Practical Forms, to the "Whole Body of the 

 Ministry and the Laity ; " " Causes which hin- 

 der the Increase of the Ministry ; " " What is 

 a Theological Education?" "The Moral Ele- 

 ments of the Teacher's Art;" "Methods and 

 Limits of Beneficiary Aid; " " Relative Claims 

 of our Educational Institutions and our Bene- 

 factions; " "The Place of Theological Science 

 in the Sciences comprised in a Liberal Educa- 

 tion;" "On limiting the Number of our In- 

 stitutions by our Power to make them strong." 



The following are the more important de- 

 tails of the constitution which was adopted 

 for the permanent organization : 



ARTICLE I. This association shall^ be styled the 

 American Baptist Educational Commission. 

 ART. II. This Commission shall have for its object 



