54: 



BAPTISTS. 



tory about 1,000 miles in length and 500 mile? 

 broad stretching through Indian and Oklahoma 

 Territories and Texas. The increase of the foreign 

 population in the larger cities made co-operation 

 with the State boards a matter of growing impor- 

 t since. Special attention was invited to the prob- 

 lem of work among the negroes. It was believed 

 that the feeling of these people toward the whites 

 was changing, so that they were becoming more 

 inclined to rely upon those of the South, and that 

 the conditions which had rendered it impossible 

 for Southern Baptists to help the negro in the 

 past were passing away. The need for schools in 

 the mountain region was another matter demand- 

 ing serious consideration. It had been the policy 

 of the board in the past to aid in the building of 

 churches at important points so far as the funds 

 contributed would allow, and it was of the opinion 

 that the time had now come for the establishment 

 of a permanent fund for that purpose. Offers of 

 considerable gifts had already been made toward 

 the constitution of such a fund. A gift of $4,000, 

 <m which an annuity of 3J per cent, was paid, 

 had been received through the agency of the 

 Woman's Missionary Union, and was available 

 for church extension purposes. The Sunday 

 School Board had received $71,602, the same being 

 its largest receipt in a single year. The reserve 

 fund had been advanced from $19,000 to $30,000, 

 and was kept loaned out under safe securities. 

 The board was free from debt, and had a cash 

 balance of $1,630. It had received through the 

 Woman's Missionary Union an annuity gift of 

 $1,000. The appropriations aggregated $19,479, 

 including gifts of $200 in cash to the Chinese 

 Baptist Publication Society, Canton, and of $100 

 in books to the library of the seminary. The 

 receipts of the Board of Foreign Missions had 

 been $140,102, a considerable increase over those 

 of the previous year. A balance of $8,459 re- 

 mained over the expenditures. Sixteen new mis- 

 sionaries had been sent out. From the mission 

 stations were returned 113 churches, 155 out- 

 stations, 41 men and 53 women American mis- 

 sionaries, 25 ordained and 104 unordaineu native 

 missionaries, 6,537 members, 2,408 pupils in Sun- 

 day schools, 57 houses of worship, 45 day schools 

 with 1,278 pupils, and 134 baptisms during the 

 year, while the contributions of the mission 

 churches amounted to $7,095. The missions were 

 in China, Japan, West Africa, Italy, Brazil, and 

 Mexico. A committee was appointed to confer 

 with a deputation of 100 members appointed by 

 the Arkansas convention of colored Baptists, with 

 reference to the framing of a plan of co-operation. 

 The committee on the celebration of the new cen- 

 tury presented a report, which was adopted, rec- 

 ommending that the convention devote itself for 

 the next few years to the special object of eliciting 

 and combining all the energies of the whole de- 

 nomination to the sacred effort for the propagation 

 of the Gospel. As the best method of accomplish- 

 ing the end sought, a joint committee of co-opera- 

 tion was, by the advice of the committee, consti- 

 tuted, to consist of three members appointed by 

 each of the three boards of the convention, the 

 >prcial work of which should be "to labor sys- 

 tematically and persistently to secure the active 

 co-operation of every church within our bounds in 

 the work of each of our boards, and, as far as 

 possible, personal contributions from every mem- 

 ber of every church; that in thus laboring this 

 committee of co-operation shall represent impar- 

 tially all the boards of the convention." The 

 recommendations of the committee further con- 

 templated the appointment of a committee of three 

 by each State convention to co-operate with the 



general committee within the State. Resolutions 

 were adopted on temperance declaring truceless 

 hostility to the liquor traffic in all its forms, 

 favoring prohibition for the nation and the State 

 and total abstinence for the individual, and con- 

 demning the permission by the Government of the 

 canteen in the army and the establishment of the 

 liquor traffic in certain places under military oc- 

 cupation. 



Colored Baptists. The colored Baptists in the 

 United States are represented in the National Bap- 

 tist Convention, which has affiliated with it a 

 Foreign Mission Board, a Home Mission Board, 

 an Educational Board, and a Young People's 

 Union. The twentieth annual meeting of this 

 body was held in Richmond, Va., beginning Sept. 

 12. Another colored Baptist organization of more 

 recent origin is the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign 

 Mission Convention, which was formed in 1897 in 

 response to a call from the colored Baptists of 

 North Carolina. At the general convention of 

 organization, held in Washington in December, 

 1897, delegates were present from North Carolina, 

 Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland, 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and New 

 England. The constitution adopted then sets forth 

 as the object of the society " the fostering of the 

 kingdom of God, especially in foreign lands," in 

 or3er to accomplish which object co-operation 

 would be sought with any and all existing Baptist 

 organizations, as occasion might require, from time 

 to time. At the second anniversary of this society, 

 held in Baltimore, Md., in August, 1899, receipts 

 of $401 and the appointment of missionaries at 

 Brewerville, Liberia, and Cape Tow r n, South Africa, 

 were reported. The next meeting was appointed 

 to be held at Alexandria, Va., in August, 1900. 

 The whole number of colored Baptists is estimated 

 at 1,576,792. 



Constitution and Rights of Baptist Con- 

 ventions. At the meeting of the Baptist State 

 Convention of Texas, in 1899, the Rev. Dr. S. A. 

 Hayden was excluded on grounds satisfactory to 

 the convention. For this he brought suit against 

 the Rev. Dr. J. B. Gambrell, the Rev. Dr. B. H. 

 Carrol, the Rev. J. B. Cranfill, and other Baptists 

 of Texas, charging a malicious conspiracy, with 

 attempts to ruin his character and business, and 

 laying claim for damages of $50,000. A verdict 

 for the plaintiff, awarding him $30,000, was found 

 in the lower court, and the case was carried on 

 appeal to the Supreme Court. This tribunal ren- 

 dered a decision in March reversing the rulings of 

 the lower court and in all points in favor of the 

 defendants in the original suit. It upheld the 

 authority of the State convention to decide upon 

 the qualifications of its members, declaring that 

 by accepting credentials and applying for admis- 

 sion as a member, Dr. Hayden, the original plain- 

 tiff, " must be held to have assented and submitted 

 himself to the exercise of all the lawful authority 

 which pertained to that body in relation to the 

 qualifications of its own membership." From an 

 examination of the portions of the constitution 

 of the State convention which provide for mes- 

 sengers from the churches and disclaim any power 

 or authority over any church, the court argued 

 that it did not appear that the convention was a 

 body exercising delegated powers. "While its 

 membership is made up of persons selected by 

 churches, associations of chuivhes, and missionary 

 societies, co-operating with the convention as an 

 institution, it nowhere appears that such messen- 

 gers are to perform delegated duties, are in any 

 way bound to conform to instructions of the 

 bodies naming them as messengers, or have any 

 right to bind such bodies. . . . We must, then, 



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