Chapter 5
BAPTISTS AND THE WORLD BEFORE THEM
The nineteenth century was generous to Baptists in ways previous centuries were sparing. Opportunities to spread the gospel were no longer limited by governmental restriction or denominational suspicion—only by the imaginations and efforts of those willing to brave the new frontiers of the American and Canadian wilderness. Whereas previous generations of Baptists led the struggle for religious liberty, key leaders at the turn of the century suddenly found themselves able to plant churches in virtually any place they could establish a gathering. A desire to spread the gospel abroad and at home led to the formation of mission organizations and state conventions, the success of which depended on the skill and sacrifices of Baptist men and women alike. Their ability to overcome obstacles, including doctrinal controversies and societal sins, proved Baptist tenacity was more than a passing fad. In short, the transition from English sect to global movement became a reality after Baptists secured religious liberty for themselves and focused on sharing the gospel with others.
Outreach and Expansion
The numbers are telling. A decade before the nineteenth century began, Baptists in America numbered just under 70,000; by midcentury they had increased to more than 700,000. Only the Methodists, who passed one million members around the same time, matched this incredible rate of growth. Baptists surpassed Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians as the second largest religious body in America. Disestablishment leveled the evangelistic playing field, and Baptists welcomed the opportunity to add to their numbers without governmental interference, even though it meant opening the door for religious pluralism. The previous chapter discussed how Baptists made common cause with politicians such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson in promoting religious liberty. In response to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut, Jefferson introduced his now famous phrase of “a wall of separation between church and state” to affirm his belief that religion needed to survive on its own merits apart from governmental support. Not only did this wall of separation allow Baptists to worship freely, but it also enabled Jefferson to practice his own deistic form of religion. Thus, the Baptist quest for religious liberty indirectly led to religious pluralism in America.
Thomas Jefferson’s “Wall of Separation”
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.
Gaining the freedom to worship removed an external obstacle for Baptists, but they still faced an internal impediment to growth. In contrast to Catholics, Methodists, and Presbyterians, Baptists did not baptize infants of Christian parents. Hence, membership in a Baptist church reflected more than christenings and confirmations. Ostensibly, every Baptist was a convert—one who had repented of his sins and trusted solely in the meritorious work of Christ for salvation—but conversion narratives of the early nineteenth century reveal that children rarely made professions of faith. Though they were instructed about God’s commandments in the law and God’s provision in Christ, typically they were not considered ready for conversion until their midteens or early twenties. When twelve-year-old Sarah Warren joined a Baptist church and related her conversion experience, the pastor and church members “expressed themselves much gratified at the relation of one so young.” Baptists were virtually unanimous in affirming a personal, though not individualistic, faith. Publicly testifying before a congregation provided an additional form of assurance that one’s conversion was genuine. Baptists often shared their stories of remaining under conviction of sin for years before experiencing saving faith. Such a struggle seemed to add credence to one’s profession, as conversion was not understood as a mere decision one made but rather as a gift one received.
In addition to being numerically handicapped by adding only regenerate members to their churches, Baptists had the added difficulty of starting the century with minimal organizational structures beyond the local churches. While Baptist associations dotted the American landscape, state conventions and a national organization were in embryonic stages throughout the first two decades of the nineteenth century. Baptists had to act locally before they could go global with the gospel. Nevertheless, Baptist associations proved remarkably adept in aiding the nascent missionary enterprise. Though they possessed no authority over Baptist churches, associational meetings provided a forum for pastors and lay leaders alike to dream aloud regarding their responsibility to make Christ known. In 1801, for example, the Georgia and Hephzibah Baptist Associations encouraged their pastors to conduct itinerate preaching and provided specific direction on reaching frontier families with the gospel. Their planning was rewarded the following year with upward of 1,700 persons coming to faith in Christ. In nearby South Carolina, the Bethel Association reported that more than 2,000 people had been converted. Such results likely would not have materialized if local churches relied solely on their individual resources and Baptists were encouraged to find further venues of cooperation.
The reasons for Baptist success are not easy to establish, but a number of factors likely contributed. The turn of the century brought significant changes for all Americans, including the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the War of 1812. The former event expanded the country’s westward borders, adding more than 800,000 square miles to the American landscape. The expeditions of Meriwether Lewis (1774–1809) and William Clark (1770–1838) prompted expectations of developing territory all the way to the Pacific. Indeed, the population living west of the Alleghenies more than doubled by the second decade of the nineteenth century. The War of 1812 secured American independence, established trade routes, and bestowed a contagious sense of national identity. Baptists took full advantage of westward expansion and transatlantic trade as they planted churches in America and sent missionaries abroad.
American Baptists were also spurred to action by the activity of other Christian groups, especially the Methodists. The reality of denominational competition was admitted on all sides of the denominational divide, promoted through sermons, songs, and sayings. Itinerant evangelists sought new converts but also focused on those who had recently come to faith by way of preachers from different denominations. They not only wanted people to come to faith, but they also wanted people to practice the faith appropriately. Peter Cartwright rejoiced when Methodist itinerants reported a significant number of converts, but he lamented the fact that Baptist proselytizers nearly always followed. Congregational singing reinforced attitudes of denominational superiority, as depicted in the line of a frontier hymn: “The world, the devil and Tom Paine, have tried their force, but all in vain; they can’t prevail, the reason is, the Lord defends the Methodists.” Baptists responded with quaint observations of their own. One Baptist preacher quipped, “God made the world one-fourth land and three-fourths water, no doubt having baptism in view when he made it.”
On a more serious note, Baptist preachers often held open debates with ministers from other denominations. Debates covered the proper subject (who) and mode (how) of baptism, along with differences in polity (church structure) and theology (notably predestination and perseverance). The nature of these open debates tempers the notion that denominational competition was unfriendly or unnecessary. Instead it marks the reality of the “democratization of Christianity,” a phrase employed by historian Nathan Hatch to illustrate the manner in which Methodists and Baptists, as well as other groups, appealed to ordinary people in order to win their loyalty. Such appeals were necessary in a country where state-sponsored churches no longer existed, but this did not mean denominational leaders viewed their competitors as opponents or enemies. Baptists often opened their churches to other denominations as a courtesy on special occasions when their own buildings were too small. Some Baptists even pledged in their church covenants to allow “orderly ministers” of other denominations to preach in their pulpits.
Baptist polity played a key role in Baptists’ nationwide expansion. Their emphasis on local church autonomy facilitated the founding of congregations without delay or interference from denominational superiors. Congregational polity and local church autonomy also contributed to the rise of Baptist churches among the African-American population. Though still enslaved, they experienced moments of freedom in Baptist churches by selecting their own pastors, voting on membership matters, and structuring their own worship services. Such freedom was limited since most African-American Baptist churches operated with the oversight of white church leaders. The First Colored Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia, for example, was founded and led by slaves but remained accountable to white overseers. Slaves built the church but did not own the property, which belonged to Jonathan Bryan, the owner of slave-pastor Andrew Bryan. This church thrived nevertheless, consisting of 800 members by 1800.
Most African-American Baptists complied with their white masters in matters of church organization, although a few challenged the standing order. In Harlem, New York, for example, a group of Ethiopian visitors were so offended upon being told they were required to sit in the balcony apart from white congregants that they left the service and formed their own church. The Abyssinian (meaning, Ethiopian) Baptist Church, formed in 1804, became the first independent African-American church in the North. In 1810 nearly forty independent black Baptist churches existed in major cities, including Boston, Philadelphia, and Detroit, with hundreds of integrated churches throughout the South and West. By the end of the nineteenth century, more African-Americans belonged to Baptist churches than to any other denomination.
Another way congregational polity and local church autonomy contributed to rapid Baptist expansion was by fast-tracking the ordination of ministers. Young men who sensed a call to preach could be ordained to the ministry prior to, or even without, obtaining a theological education. The method of affirming a person’s call to preach was relatively simple. Leaders in the church sought out young men who demonstrated pastoral potential. They began serving as licentiates, or pastoral assistants, who shadowed the pastor and occasionally preached in his absence. The path to ordination involved meeting with a small group of pastors, a presbytery, who examined the doctrinal commitment and moral qualifications of a candidate for ministry. The local church confirmed or denied the person’s sense of calling by congregational vote. This process enabled Baptists to stock their churches with pastors much faster than other denominations that required their candidates to undergo formal theological training, a process that often took years to complete.
Another factor contributing to Baptist expansion in America was the influence of a revivalistic culture, as leaders encouraged individual conversions in large group settings. Though theologians differ on the merits of revival versus revivalism (the former being essentially spontaneous, while the latter was planned in advance), evangelicals in the nineteenth century clearly added a revivalistic twist to their practice of evangelism. Preachers and listeners alike could get swept up in the excitement of the crowd and at times exhibit behavior that seemed more emotionally driven than spiritually based. The most famous example of this approach is the 1801 Cane Ridge Revival. Sparked by the fiery preaching of James McGready and fueled by the passion of Barton Stone, the revival attracted thousands of participants to Bourbon County, Kentucky. They arrived in covered wagons to hear a word from the Lord and share in the Lord’s Supper. What they were accustomed to and what they encountered were two different things altogether. Instead of hearing learned sermons from educated Presbyterian pastors, the swelling crowds necessitated a large number of preachers, and the exhorters soon included Methodists and Baptists, males and females, at times preaching from tree stumps with little or no advance notice. Observers began to experience, apparently spontaneously, various spiritual “exercises” called “the jerks” (bodily agitations) or “the barks” (vocal animations). Bernard Weisberger aptly describes how the Cane Ridge Revival suited frontier residents: “The frontiersman . . . lived, worked and died hard. It was natural that he should convert hard; that he should cry aloud wrestling with his guilt; and that he should leap and twist and shout in rejoicing over his forgiveness.”
The revival continued for several days but had a longer-lasting impact on American evangelicalism, increasing the expectation of future revivals and highlighting the role of experience in conversion. Though originating in the South, frontier revivals spread throughout North America even to Upper Canada, with several hundred meetings annually reported a decade after the Cane Ridge revival. Some Baptists, including Henry Holcombe of Savannah, Georgia, were convinced the revivals signified that the millennial reign of Christ was near. But as the revivals passed and the millennium did not follow, many Baptists began looking wistfully to the past, comparing their uneventful state of existence to the exciting days of old. Other Baptists were more hesitant to embrace the revivals as a work of the Spirit, suggesting that fantastic outward displays were merely instances of emotional release. Even so, experience, not mere mental acquiescence, proved central to the Baptist understanding of conversion.
Reflections on Camp Meeting “Exercises”
It was not unusual to have a large proportion of a congregation prostrate on the floor; and in some instances they have lost the use of their limbs. No distinct articulation could be heard from those immediately by: Screams, cries, groans, songs, shouts and hosannas, notes of grief and notes of joy, all heard at the same time, made a heavenly confusion, a sort of indescribable concert. Even the wicked and unenlightened were astonished and said, the Lord hath done great things for his people. . . . At first many of the preachers did not approve of this kind of work. They thought it extravagant. Others found it fire from heaven. It is not unworthy of notice that in those congregations where the preachers encouraged these exercises to much extent the work was more extensive and greater numbers were added.
Canadian Baptist work proceeded at a much slower pace. Baptist missionary Asahel Morse described Upper Canada in the first decade of the nineteenth century as “a dismal region of moral darkness and the shadow of death” where most families possessed “no books, not even a Bible.” Ontario, for example, had only fifteen churches and ten pastors in 1820, despite a quarter century of Baptist efforts in that area. By mid-century, Baptists in Upper and Lower Canada numbered just over 20,000; yet there was no theological college, denominational structure, organized church planting effort, or denominational newspaper. Methodists were far more influential during this period, capturing over 30 percent of Upper Canada’s population by the first quarter of the nineteenth century.
Some of the same factors that spurred Baptist expansion in America limited it in Canada. The War of 1812 hindered Baptist migration into British-controlled Canada, as many preferred the separation of church and state in America. Baptist churches in Canada divided between their preferences for American or British customs. Canadian Baptists were also reluctant to embrace the associational principle, preferring to emphasize local church autonomy and guarding against any semblance of interdependence. Adding to their sense of isolation from one another was a controversy over open and closed communion. The majority of Canadian Baptists favored closed communion, but an influx of Scottish Baptist immigrants introduced an open communion perspective. While some historians have made more of this division than necessary, unity in missions and evangelism was muted, if not entirely prohibited, by differences over communion. Canadian Baptists were every bit as dedicated to planting churches as American Baptists but did not find their institutional strength until the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Farmer-Preachers and Foreign Missions
Historians have long pointed to the advantages frontier religion afforded the Baptist movement, in particular the work of “farmer-preachers.” Since Baptists at the turn of the century had few educational opportunities and Baptist churches required little beyond a sense of divine call for their preachers to be ordained, the majority of their pastors were bi-vocational. Farming was the vocation most Baptist preachers used to sustain themselves, as it was the vocation of nearly 90 percent of the nation. Baptist farmer-preachers could plant churches virtually anywhere on the frontier, supporting themselves by taming the land and teaching the Bible. Unlike those whom Brooks Holifield has dubbed the “Gentlemen Theologians,” city pastors who were more educated and sophisticated, Baptist farmer-preachers gained the respect of common rural Americans because they could take care of themselves while also taking care of their congregations. This ability to live off the land and not off the people fit well with the “rugged individualism” mentality of the Jacksonian era. As such, it was possible for a Baptist preacher to move with his entire congregation to a new frontier location, as William Screven did when relocating his church from Maine to South Carolina in 1696 (see chap. 2).
Baptist Itinerant Ministry on the American Frontier
Being obliged to ride in the night, on Friday night I got lost. The roads in this part of our country are none of them fenced, and are mostly through wood; I had to go in that night by roads, but little travelled—missed the way, got out of roads, at length into mere paths, and ultimately, lost the path—found myself alone in a dreary wilderness, unable to discover the point of compass; totally ignorant which way to direct my course, to find any road or habitation of men. I stopped and besought the Lord to lead me out—rose from my supplications and attempted to advance. In less perhaps, than two minutes, certainly in less than five, fell into the road which conducted me to the place that I calculated to reach that night, at which I arrived about 1 o’clock.
Technically the American frontier of the early nineteenth century refers to land west of the Alleghany Mountains, but practically speaking the frontier was any place where one had to plan days in advance to get produce from a market. Methodist preachers became famous as circuit riders, traveling throughout the frontier with little concern for distance or inclement weather. Methodist and Baptist church planters experienced remarkable challenges, especially in the Canadian landscape. John Winterbotham described one mission group as traversing parts of Canada “all the way from the Niagara River to Long Point, across swamps, over rivers and creeks, and through trackless woods, thus evincing their love for the souls of dying men.” Baptist itinerants frequently got lost since roads were few and the ones that did exist often included intersections with no directional markers. They also braved the danger of possible attack from Native Americans, who were understandably protective of their land. Still, an itinerant preacher often found himself welcome in the homes of strangers who were eager to hear news from the outside world and tales of daring adventures along the way. The Baptist farmer-preacher could multiply his influence by simultaneously serving as many as four congregations, each meeting one Sunday a month, and between harvest and seedtime traveling by horseback to plant additional churches on the frontier.
Baptists on the frontier were not the only ones who had to sustain themselves while searching for converts. William Carey committed himself to doing the same nearly a decade before the nineteenth century began, working as a shoe mender, the manager of an indigo factory, and a language instructor for the British government at Fort William College. Moreover, he reduced the need for additional income by establishing a general fund for missionaries to draw from and by sharing a home with his missionary colleagues.
His meager lifestyle was also reflected in the early returns on his missionary efforts. During the time Baptists in Kentucky were reflecting on the great revival, Carey had just assumed responsibility for discipling his first convert in Serampore. In 1801, Carey published the first edition of the Bengali New Testament. Another eight years passed before he completed the Bengali Old Testament (1809). As discussed in chapter 4, Carey did not complete this work on his own as he belonged to the “Serampore Trio,” which included Joshua Marshman and William Ward. Together they adopted a form of agreement, which detailed their own sense of mission, and together they endured difficulties, such as the destruction of their print shop by fire in 1812. Due to Carey’s efforts and the remarkable perseverance of those on his team, portions of the Bible were made available in over forty languages before the first forty years of the nineteenth century had expired.
The Serampore Form of Agreement (1805)
1. To set an infinite value upon men’s souls.
2. To acquaint ourselves with the snares which hold the minds of the people.
3. To abstain from whatever deepens India’s prejudice against the gospel.
4. To watch for every chance of doing the people good.
5. To preach “Christ crucified” as the grand means of conversion.
6. To esteem and treat Indians always as our equals.
7. To guard and build up “the hosts that may be gathered.”
8. To cultivate their spiritual gifts, ever pressing upon them their missionary obligation, since Indians only can win India for Christ.
9. To labor unceasingly in biblical translation.
10. To be instant in the nurture of personal religion.
11. To give ourselves without reserve to the Cause, “not counting even the clothes we wear our own.”
Carey’s commitment to self-sustenance mirrored that of frontier Baptists in America, but his dedication to cooperative mission efforts had a more pronounced impact on the denomination. His position on believer’s baptism helped lead a husband and wife missionary team, Adoniram and Ann Judson, along with their missionary colleague Luther Rice, to abandon their belief in the validity of infant baptism. Their transition from Congregationalist to Baptist principles transformed their newly adopted denomination into a mission-sending organization of global proportions.
Adoniram Judson first met Ann Hasseltine while dining at her father’s home in 1810 during a meeting of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the first organization in the United States dedicated to foreign missions. Adoniram was struck by Ann’s beauty, but she did not respond immediately to his admiration. Eventually he won her over with his desire to share the gospel with people who had never heard it before. Ann decided to marry Adoniram not based on “attachment to an earthly object,” she wrote, “but with a sense of obligation to God, and with a full conviction of [the marriage’s] being a call in providence, and consequently, my duty.”
Adoniram and Ann Judson set sail for India as Congregationalist missionaries on February 19, 1812, just two weeks after their wedding. In anticipation of meeting William Carey, Adoniram began studying his Greek New Testament in order to adduce proof that Baptists were incorrect in their insistence on believer’s baptism. Ironically (or providentially according to the Judsons), Adoniram concluded instead that infant baptism was erroneous and believer’s baptism was biblical. Adoniram adopted the Baptist position sooner than Ann, but her change of mind was no less deliberate. She had been entirely willing to sail across the world to share the gospel, but she was adamantly opposed to denying infant baptism even as her husband began to do so: “I have tried to have him give it up, and rest satisfied in his old sentiments, and frequently told him, that if he became a Baptist, I would not.”
Adoniram Judson Asks Permission to Propose to Ann Hasseltine and Take Her Overseas
I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Savior from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?
Her change of mind came about through reading Scripture. Ann embraced believer’s baptism, knowing that doing so involved great personal cost. An avid letter writer, she pleaded with a friend, “Can you, my dear Nancy, still love me, still desire to hear from me, when I tell you I have become a Baptist?” Her concern about people cutting ties with her and Adoniram was legitimate as the mission organization that funded their trip was a Congregationalist enterprise that adhered to infant baptism. In just over six months Ann Judson had left her family, her home, and her denomination without any guarantee of support while living in a strange country.
The Judsons were not left completely by themselves, however. They were well received by William Carey, baptized by his associate William Ward, and helped immensely by their missionary colleague Luther Rice, who returned to America to raise financial support for them from Baptist churches. Like the Judsons, he too had changed his view of infant baptism upon arriving in India, and each of the missionaries wrote letters of resignation to the Board of Commissioners. Unlike the Judsons, however, Rice never returned to the foreign mission field. This decision was not one of preference but necessity, as Rice soon discovered his effectiveness in marshaling Baptist support for missions. He had the advantage of being able to recount firsthand the need for missionaries in a foreign land, and he had the initiative to unite Baptists on a national level. Instead of appealing for support on a local level or merely stitching together interest from Baptist associations, Rice envisioned delegates from every state participating as a national body. The result was the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions.
Triennial Convention and Organizational Conflict
On May 18, 1814, the General Missionary Convention gathered for the first time at the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia. Richard Furman, a denominational statesman from South Carolina, was elected president of the convention, and Thomas Baldwin of Massachusetts was the first corresponding secretary. The confluence of leaders from the South and North working together for missions underscored the uniqueness of this gathering as the first national organization of Baptists in the United States. Thirty years later the convention mirrored the country’s divide between the North and South when it split over the issue of slavery. Furman’s proslavery arguments became an important part of the Southern Baptist rationale for leaving the convention.
The convention’s delegates assembled every three years, leading to its shortened title of the “Triennial Convention.” The choice of the term convention was significant as the original delegates differed sharply on the overall purpose of the organization. A convention implied that churches would participate through delegates who would decide on the best way to fund multiple ministries, including international and home missions, as well as publishing and educational endeavors. The alternative, a triennial society, would be comprised of individuals who subscribed to and supported one specific cause—in this case, international missions. Either approach would have served the Judsons well.
This decision did not come easily, nor did it remain permanent. The 1814 meeting in Philadelphia was a Baptist version of the Constitutional Convention where extremely bright but opinionated men entered with a sense of omniscience but left with an agreement borne from compromise. Thirty-three delegates attended, half of which were from Philadelphia. At the heart of the discussion was the balance of power. William Staughton and Thomas Baldwin had in mind a societal approach, in part to protect the autonomy of local churches. If individuals could participate on their own recognizance, then churches need not fear losing their decision-making capacity, Staughton and Baldwin believed. Luther Rice and Richard Furman preferred a more centralized approach that would generate support in broader fashion. Building around churches instead of individuals promised wider interest through a shared identity, thereby increasing denominational loyalty. Francis Wayland, who later served as president of Brown University (1827–55), further illustrates the difficulty of choosing between these options as he initially supported the convention plan but later argued for the societal plan.
The initial agreement favored the societal model in terms of individuals participating, but the group incorporated the convention element of sponsoring multiple ministries through a general fund at the 1817 meeting, when home missions and theological education were added to the constitutional tasks of the Triennial Convention. The removal of these two ministries in 1826 and their subsequent placement under separate societies reveals the continued disagreement over which method of organization worked best for Baptists.
Triennial Convention delegates agreed to support the Judsons, sending them $1,000 as a first installment. Nevertheless, Adoniram and Ann had a difficult decade. They buried their firstborn son in 1816, the same year Adoniram began losing his eyesight due to extended periods of study. He regained his sight but lost his freedom in 1824 when the Burmese government imprisoned all white males under suspicion of being spies for the British. Though Ann regularly visited Adoniram, their time together was cut short when she died in July 1826, less than a year after his release. Their youngest daughter, Maria, died the following year. In the midst of imprisonment and death, Adoniram had at this time fewer than two dozen converts on account of his missionary efforts.
Luther Rice was still a missionary of sorts, though one approved by the convention to elicit support for missions as he traveled across America. His impact on Baptists was immediate. Within a year’s time he garnered the support of more than 100 associations in connection with the Triennial Convention. That same year, 1815, Rice met John Mason Peck, a pastor from New York who had an interest in missions but was uncertain about his ability to serve on the international field. Together, Rice and Peck determined to use the Triennial Convention to conduct missions on the American frontier. At the second meeting of the Triennial Convention (1817), John and Sarah “Sally” Peck were appointed as home missionaries to the Missouri Territory, along with James Welch. Their four-month journey to Saint Louis, which would have been trying for any individual or family, was all the more impressive as Sally was in her final trimester of pregnancy when they arrived.
From a financial standpoint the addition of home missions meant appropriating part of the convention’s missionary funds for domestic purposes; from a practical standpoint it meant attention to missions was now split between Burma and Saint Louis. Although the Pecks proved themselves to be as dedicated to the mission field as Carey and the Judsons, the strain of adding additional ministries proved to be more than the convention, still in its infancy, could withstand. Support for home mission work was officially discontinued in 1820. Peck continued his missionary labors though, drawing support from local organizations until 1832, when he and Jonathan Going secured enough Baptist interest to form the American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS). As a society its purpose was singular: “The great object of this Society shall be to promote the preaching of the gospel in North America.” In less than ten years, the ABHMS appointed nearly 100 missionaries and established more than 500 new churches. The Triennial Convention also decided to focus on one ministry at a time, once members came to terms with the failure of its first educational endeavor, Columbian College.
The Need for Ministerial Education
Is not this apparent to persons of common discernment; and are not the defects in language and knowledge, lamented by their friends, while they become the matter of scoff and derision to their enemies? Do not even children, who have obtained a tolerable portion of regular education, see these defects in them; and when they have made a little advance in knowledge and experience, do they not begin to discover them themselves, and feel embarrassed, especially when they have to speak before an enlightened audience? . . . When entrance into the ministry is made so easy that any person with warm passions, apparent piety, and little fluency of speech, can easily get into the ministerial character and work just as he is . . . the consequences of these sentiments and their influence in practice is that in a very large portion of our churches our ministers have but little of the improvement which is to be obtained by rational means.
Columbian College and the Great Reversal
As previously mentioned, Baptists were well aware of their educational deficiencies. At the turn of the century, a standard ministerial education consisted of time spent under the watchful care of a senior minister who opened his home to study with one or two pastoral prospects. Many farmer-preachers studied as they worked, committing Scripture to memory with Bibles attached to their plows. Knowledge of Hebrew and Greek was rare among frontier preachers, though some such as William Calmes Buck taught themselves. (He was baptized at the age of eighteen and began preaching that same year, but he did not learn Hebrew and Greek until after turning fifty.) Educational pursuits were more than personal ambitions; they became means of evangelism as well. The ability to engage in polemical theology with educated pastors of other denominations was needed all the more as public debates became more popular, taking on an aura of theological entertainment. The religious free market beckoned Baptists to enhance their intellectual reputation by founding and supporting their own schools. However, their intentions often outpaced their experience, leading to a combination of success and failure.
As recounted in chapter 3, Baptist hopes for an educated ministry emerged in 1764 with the founding of the College of Rhode Island, now Brown University. It had strong support from the Philadelphia Association, was capably led by James Manning, and was financially sound due to a generous gift from the family of Nicholas Brown. Columbian College, begun by the Triennial Convention, became deficient in all three areas despite initial signs of success. Rice’s vision for a national Baptist college was translated into action almost as quickly as the thought crossed his mind. As he began raising money for missions, he determined that an educated ministry was essential if missionaries were to be successful. At the 1817 Triennial Convention, Rice led delegates to adopt a plan for the school, ostensibly as a separate enterprise from the ongoing mission work at home and abroad. Nearly fifty acres of land were purchased in Washington, DC, and by 1820 the first building was completed. William Staughton was a natural choice for principal, having been educated in England and having already founded a theological institute in Philadelphia.
Nevertheless, the demise of Columbian College was in the making by the fourth meeting of the Triennial Convention (1823). A nationwide financial crisis hindered Rice’s ability to raise funds for both missions and education. Rice also lost the trust of board members when he failed to report his financial activities to the convention, due, in his words, to his “incessant labors” on their behalf. Though he was eventually exonerated of financial wrongdoing, the accumulation of debt and distrust opened the door for key leaders to leave the college. Staughton departed in order to assume the presidency of Georgetown College, though he died before serving in that capacity.
The Triennial Convention’s decision to discontinue educational endeavors was dubbed the “Great Reversal” after delegates voted in 1826 to return to a society method wherein they exclusively supported overseas missions. Rice continued raising funds for Columbian College independently of the convention, but it took an act of Congress to save the school with a grant of $25,000 provided in 1832. Baptists later succeeded in other educational endeavors, but the school begun by Luther Rice was not part of their future. By 1904, Columbian College had become George Washington University and was formally discontinued as a Baptist institution.
The General Union and Communion Controversies
Baptists in Great Britain faced similar difficulties when they attempted to unite local interests with larger cooperative purposes. The formation of the General Union in 1813 (renamed the Baptist Union in 1832) was the brainchild of Joseph Ivimey, whose 1811 essay “Union Essential to Prosperity” provided a foundation for Baptist cooperation. Though Particular Baptists in England were historically reluctant to support organizational efforts that might challenge the independence of the local church, notable Baptist leaders such as John Rippon and James Hinton offered their support. The first meeting of the General Union took place at Ivimey’s church in London, where the sixty delegates in attendance agreed that the organization should exist for “the promotion of the cause of Christ in general; and the interests of the denomination in particular; with a primary view to the encouragement and support of the Baptist Mission.” Like the aims of the Triennial Convention, the goals of the General Union were almost too broad to be realistic. In addition to promoting Sunday schools, itinerant preaching, and fund-raising for church buildings, the annual meetings were designed to address “whatever relates to the real interests of the denomination at home and abroad.”
The union’s ambitions exceeded the interests of Particular Baptists, and support waned for the first fifty years of its existence. In addition to the independent spirit of Particular Baptists and broadly defined focus of the General union, theological issues hindered immediate connectionalism. Though Ivimey promoted the General Union as a way to unite Baptists, he was opposed to open communion, which at the time was being promoted by Robert Hall Jr. In a treatise entitled On Terms of Communion with a Particular View to the Case of Baptists and Paedobaptists (1816), Hall argued that a Christian in good standing with his or her church should not be barred from sharing in the Lord’s Supper with other Baptists, even if the person had been baptized as an infant. He contended that baptism and the Lord’s Supper were not so inherently connected as to demand a perfect understanding of the former before participating in the latter and that the only scriptural reason for barring a Christian from communion was a moral lapse unaccompanied by genuine repentance. Though Hall held to believer’s baptism, he contended that believers holding other views should be admitted to the Lord’s Supper.
Defending Open Communion
The right of rejecting those whom Christ has received; of refusing the communion of eminently holy men, on account of unessential differences of opinion, is not the avowed tenant of any sect or community in Christendom, with the exception of the majority of the Baptists, who, while they are at variance with the whole world on a point of such magnitude, are loud in accusing their brethren of singularity. If we have presumed to resist the current of opinion, it is on a subject of no practical moment; it respects an obscure and neglected corner of theology; while their singularity is replete with most alarming consequences, destroys at once the unity of the church, and pronounces a sentence of excommunication on the whole Christian world.
Hall’s detractors took issue with his assertion that believer’s baptism and communion were not closely related, nor did they concur with his belief that unity in the church was damaged by Baptists who held to their convictions. Joseph Kinghorn published a response to Hall titled Baptism a Term of Communion at the Lord’s Supper (1820). Kinghorn acknowledged his admiration and respect for Hall, noting that he would “readily bow to him with the greatest deference” given his influence among Baptists in England. However, Kinghorn would not defer to him in the matter of who should be admitted to the Lord’s Table. If infant baptism prevented a person from joining a Baptist church, then the same person should not be allowed to take communion in a Baptist setting where membership ties were being strengthened.
Particular Baptists did not readily embrace the practice of open communion. In 1829, the Suffolk and Norfolk Strict Association was formed, consisting of area churches that stood opposed not only to open communion but also to innovative evangelistic techniques, which they associated with Fullerism (see chap. 4). In 1841, the Strict Communion Society was formed in London, another sign that some Baptists were concerned about losing their distinctive Baptist beliefs in the name of unity. Yet a change of opinion was underway. Though fewer than 10 percent of the Particular Baptist churches practiced open communion in 1824, by 1857 even Kinghorn’s former church removed baptism as a prerequisite to communion and before the end of the century closed communionists were squarely on the defensive.
Periodicals and Publicity
Baptist controversies, as well as the stories of missionaries like the Careys and the Judsons, were made public through the advent of religious periodicals. Letters written by missionaries reached a large audience when published through Baptist periodicals and played a significant role in raising money for missions. In keeping with revivalism’s emphasis on experiential religion, such letters enabled Baptists at home to feel the need of missions abroad. Baptists in England began publishing The Baptist Annual Register in 1790, with Baptists in America not far behind with the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine in 1803. The Triennial Convention incorporated the latter as its own periodical in 1817, dispensing with its local title and renaming it the American Baptist Magazine. Luther Rice purchased The Columbian Star, a weekly periodical emanating from Washington, DC, later picked up by Jesse Mercer and rebranded as The Christian Index. Mercer donated The Christian Index to the Georgia Baptist Convention, and it is still in publication to this day.
Religious newspapers connected Baptists in an early version of the information highway. In addition to missionary letters, Baptist periodicals published sermons, doctrinal instruction, financial appeals, and news of revivals. Editors were thus able to set the tone for conversation among Baptists. However, they soon discovered that readers of their periodicals had their own opinions as they received letters to the editor seeking to supplement or correct what had appeared in print. Baptists found that they were able to shape public opinion and even governmental policy through the print medium. For example, Andrew Fuller used the Baptist Magazine to generate a petition for Parliament, which garnered more than 50,000 signatures, calling for protection of Baptist missionary interests.
Connectionalism and State Conventions
Women’s “Mites” for Foreign Missions
We have no doubt, our sisters feel with us, that it is our duty on these occasions, particularly to bear on our hearts the ministers of the gospel; especially our Missionary brethren. When we consider how much wisdom, prudence, faith, patience and grace they need, to qualify them for the office; how much they need the supports and comforts of religion in their own souls, in order to render them faithful to the souls of others; and how necessary the influences of the Holy Spirit, to accompany their labors, we must feel culpable if we are not engaged in “holding up their hands.” . . . Should every Christian in the United States contribute the inconsiderable sum of 25 cents per year to this purpose [of Bible translation in India], some thousands of dollars would be annually devoted to aid a work of the greatest magnitude in which it is possible for mortals to be engaged. And whoever bestows a mite to that object, will no doubt be instrumental of conveying a blessing to the latest posterity.
As Baptists connected through missions and media, they also reinforced their ties locally. Itinerant societies continued to develop, and participants often reported great success. English Particular Baptists formed The Society for the Encouragement and Support of Itinerant Preaching (1797) for Londoners, and a Northern Itinerant Society was formed in 1809 to reach areas around Lincolnshire. Baptists in America and Canada developed their own itinerant ministries, led by Isaac Backus in New England and continuing with the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Missionary Society in 1802. The lines between domestic and international missions blurred as work that began in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania expanded into Upper Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick by 1804.
Cooperation extended beyond the Baptist camp as societal participants included members of other denominations. The Boston Female Society for Missionary Purposes was open to both Baptist and Congregationalist women who pledged their “mites” (so named after the widow’s offering in Mark 12:42 KJV) to support missionaries. Not only was this the first women’s missionary society formed in America; it demonstrated that physical limitations did not preclude one from having a global impact. Mary Webb had been paralyzed since age five but served as secretary-treasurer of the BFMS for half a century. From her home, sitting in her wheelchair, Webb wrote thousands of letters raising awareness and financial support for missions. She noted that members of the society were not trying to render themselves important but useful, alluding to the concern of some that these women had overstepped their proper boundaries. “We have no wish to go out of our province,” she wrote, “nor do we undertake to become teachers in Israel.” Instead, she and her colaborers felt obligated to share the gospel they had received with those who had not yet heard the good news. Men on the mission field were deeply indebted to her and other females who sacrificially gave their time, resources, and leadership skills.
Baptists also crossed denominational lines through their support of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions before they began to support the Judsons. Moreover, Baptists joined believers of other denominations to support the American Bible Society (ABS), formed in 1816 with the purpose of publishing and distributing Bibles throughout the world. Baptists were also a sizable constituency in the American Tract Society (ATS), formed in 1825. The impact of these multidenominational efforts was phenomenal. The ABS and the ATS printed more religious literature in the middle of the nineteenth century than all other American publishing companies combined.
State conventions provided yet another means of Baptist connectionalism. The first Baptist state convention was formed in South Carolina (1821), followed by Georgia (1822), Virginia (1823), Alabama (1823), and North Carolina (1830). The idea of state conventions was a natural outgrowth of associational work, but the prospects for success were not immediately apparent. Distance between churches hindered attempts at cooperation, and interest in state conventions easily waned apart from the prodding of leading pastors in each state. The potential of a state convention was seldom recognized until it became operational. Richard Furman’s role in the formation of the State Convention of Baptists in South Carolina illustrates this point well.
The Charleston Association made the first proposal for a South Carolina state convention in 1819, but two years passed before the convention assembled, and even then a mere nine delegates attended. Furman had previously served as president of the Triennial Convention and was president of the Charleston Association. His experience at the national and local levels provided him with a platform for exerting his influence regionally. Consequently, Furman was invited to serve on two committees, one that was appointed to prepare a constitution and another to deliver an address explaining the purpose of a state convention to churches and associations throughout the state. When detractors raised the perennial concerns of losing local church autonomy, Furman reassured them that the convention was not designed, nor did it desire, to assert authority over churches. When objections were raised about the potential mismanagement of funds under a convention system, Furman reassured his constituents that their gifts would be directed appropriately through a constitutional provision. Most importantly, he succeeded in securing the twin emphases of missions and education as central to the purpose of the state convention, while including subsidiary emphases such as promoting Sunday schools, providing ministerial support, and disseminating information to the churches. By incorporating education and missions together, Furman enabled his state convention to do what associations were not capable of doing on their own and what the Triennial Convention was no longer willing to do. His organizational plan of connecting local churches to associations and state conventions without sacrificing their autonomy provided a template for Baptist cooperation on the state and national levels. These connections enabled Baptists to embrace national, and ultimately global, purposes.
Cooperation Among African-American Baptists
The ability to organize for cooperative purposes was not the sole property of affluent or majority Baptists. African-American Baptists were also aware that their discipleship involved taking the gospel beyond their communities. Chapter 4 discussed the life of George Leile, who relocated to Jamaica ten years before William Carey set sail from England, becoming the first Baptist foreign missionary. In large part due to Leile’s missionary successes, the British Baptist Missionary Society sent twenty-five missionaries to Jamaica between 1814 and 1831. The Jamaica Baptist Association was formed in 1814 and reported more than 7,000 Baptists in the nation by 1829. Leile became the first of many African-American Baptists who served as foreign missionaries.
Lott Carey was another former slave whose impact on the Baptist movement defied the obstacles he had to overcome. He worked for the tobacco industry in Richmond, Virginia, and purchased his freedom with money he earned by selling leftover bits of tobacco he gathered from the warehouse floor. In 1807, he converted to Christianity upon hearing a sermon on John 3:16, and his heart was immediately set on reaching Africans and African-Americans with the gospel. A white Baptist deacon, William Crane, taught him to read, and Carey later became an assistant pastor for black members of the First Baptist Church of Richmond. Deacon Crane also sponsored the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society, founded in 1815 and led by Carey and another former slave, Collin Teague.
A movement to repatriate former slaves to their native countries in order to alleviate racial tension coalesced in 1816 with the formation of the American Colonization Society. Carey believed that moving to Africa presented an unparalleled opportunity to spread the gospel where there was little Christian impact. He was also aware that white missionaries did not typically survive the tropical African climate as many died from disease. Carey and Teague left America for Africa on January 16, 1821, and settled in the newly founded country of Liberia, so named in honor of the liberty its citizens possessed. Carey founded the First Baptist Church of Monrovia and throughout his lifetime continued to establish churches, build schools, provide administrative leadership, and even practice medicine. His legacy was later honored with the formation of the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention (1897) and the Lott Carey Mission School (1908).
In addition to participating in mission societies, African-American Baptists began forming associations, beginning with the Providence Baptist Association in 1834 and the Association of Regular Baptist Churches of Color in Ohio in 1836. By this time African-Americans had found their collective voice in protesting the evils of slavery, which understandably provoked their associations to promote social reform alongside the cause of missions. Denominational organization among white Baptists, however, was hampered by significant tension in subsequent years as questions relating to slavery and missions ended much of the official cooperation between northern and southern Baptists.
For Further Study
Anderson, Courtney. To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson. Reprint ed. Valley Forge: Judson, 1987.
Benedict, David. Fifty Years Among the Baptists. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1860.
Boles, John. The Great Revival: 1787–1805. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1972.
Conkin, Paul K. Cane Ridge: America’s Pentecost. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990.
Duesing, Jason G., ed. Adoniram Judson: A Bicentennial Appreciation of the Pioneer American Missionary. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2012.
Halbrooks, G. Thomas. “Francis Wayland and ‘The Great Reversal.’” Foundations 20.4 (July–September, 1977): 196–214.
Hatch, Nathan. The Democratization of American Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
Holifield, E. Brooks. The Gentlemen Theologians: American Theology in Southern Culture, 1795–1860. Durham: Duke University Press, 1978.
Rogers, James. Richard Furman: Life and Legacy. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2001.
Shannon, David T., Sr., with Julia Frazier White and Deborah Van Broekhoven. George Liele’s Life and Legacy: An Unsung Hero. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2013.
1. Why did disestablishment necessitate an increase in evangelistic efforts among Baptists? How did the implementation of religious liberty open the door for religious pluralism? In what ways do you find religious liberty helping or hindering Baptists to spread and practice their faith today?
2. What factors contributed to numerical growth among American Baptists during this period? Do you find the debates between Baptists and other denominations appealing or appalling as it relates to “denominational competition”?
3. Describe the lives and contributions of Adoniram and Ann Judson. Have you ever changed your mind on a theological issue that changed the course of your life? If so, explain.
4. How did local Baptist churches relate to one another prior to the Triennial Convention? In what areas can Baptist churches cooperate together today without losing their local church autonomy?
5. How did the decision to include home missions and education affect the outcome of the Triennial Convention? In what ways does this period in Baptist history underscore the experimental phase of Baptist cooperation?
6. Discuss the level of pastoral training and educational opportunities of Baptists in the early nineteenth century. In what ways did Baptists like Richard Furman express a sense of shame in this regard?
7. Describe cooperative efforts in Britain during the early nineteenth century. What factors hindered the early progress of the General Union?
8. What issues were at stake between British Baptists and their understanding of communion? Do you find Robert Hall’s or Joseph Kinghorn’s arguments more persuasive in this matter? Explain.
9. What factors contributed to Baptist connectionalism during this period? Discuss the obstacles overcome and accomplishments made with relation to cooperative efforts among African-American Baptists.