The American Missionary — Volume 32, No. 12, December, 1878

by Various

THIRTY-SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

The American Missionary Association held its Thirty-second Anniversary in the Broadway Congregational Church, Taunton, Mass., commencing October 29, 1878.

President Edward S. Tobey called the Association to order at three P. M. Rev. Edward H. Merrill, D. D., of Ripon, Wis., conducted the devotional service, reading selections from the Scriptures, and leading in prayer. Rev. Leverett S. Woodworth, of Campello, Mass., was elected Secretary, and Rev. Samuel Harrison, of Pittsfield, Assistant Secretary.

The President appointed the following Nominating Committee: Rev. Lyman S. Rowland, Rev. George M. Boynton, Rev. Thomas K. Fessenden and J. E. Porter, Esq.

Rev. George M. Boynton presented the Annual Report of the Executive Committee. On motion, the report was accepted, and its various portions referred to appropriate committees.

The report of the Treasurer was presented by Henry W. Hubbard, Esq., Assistant Treasurer, and was referred to the Committee on Finance.

The Committee on Nominations reported the following list of committees:

1. Committee of Arrangements.—Rev. Mortimer Blake, D. D., Rev. Morton Dexter, Rev. E. S. Atwood, Chas. H. Atwood, Esq., Dea. E. H. Reed, H. B. Palmer, Esq., Rev. T. T. Richmond.

2. Committee on Business.—Rev. S. M. Newman, Rev. C. L. Woodworth, Eleazer Porter, Esq.

3. Committee, on Nominations.—Rev. Lyman S. Rowland, Rev. George M. Boynton, Rev. Thos. K. Fessenden, Dea. Edwin Talcott.

4. Committee on Finance.—Hon. E. H. Sawyer, A. S. Barnes, Esq., A. L. Williston, Esq., Geo. H. Corliss, Esq., S. D. Smith, Esq., Hon. Rufus Frost, Abiel Abbott, Esq.

5. Committee on Moral and Religious Education (especially among colored women of the South).—Rev. H. P. DeForrest, Rev. C. D. Barrows, Rev. Albert H. Heath, Rev. Henry Hopkins, Rev. I. C. Thatcher, Rev. E. W. Allen, Rev. Geo. A. Tewksbury.

6. Committee on Normal and Higher Education in the South.—Rev. Wm. W. Adams, D. D., Rev. J. W. Wellman, D. D., Rev. Frederick Alvord, Rev. E. H. Merrill, D. D., Rev. H. J. Patrick, Rev. R. K. Harlow, Rev. Calvin Cutler.

7. Committee on Church Extension in the South.—Rev. Edward Strong, D. D., Rev. Wm. L. Gaylord, Rev. A. H. Plumb, Rev. A. E. Winship, Rev. D. O. Mears, Rev. O. T. Lanphear, D. D., Rev. M. Burnham.

8. Committee on Chinese Missions in America.—Rev. E. S. Atwood, Rev. E. H. Byington, Rev. G. R. W. Scott, Rev. J. D. Kingsbury, Rev. Charles B. Sumner, Rev. Henry M. Grout, D. D., Rev. J. M. Bell.

9. Committee on Indian Missions in America.—Hon. A. C. Barstow, Rev. Geo. F. Wright, Rev. Cyrus Richardson, Col. Franklin Fairbanks, B. C. Hardwick, Esq., Rev. A. P. Marvin, Rev. Franklin P. Chapin.

10. Committee on African Missions.—Rev. Reuen Thomas, D. D., Rev. Geo. A. Oviatt, Rev. G. R. Leavitt, Rev. Franklin Ayer, Rev. W. S. Hubbell, Dea. Edward Kendall, Rev. John C. Labaree, Rev. G. D. Pike.

11. Committee on Religious Services and Prayer-Meeting.—Rev. Horace Winslow, Rev. R. B. Howard.

I. Paper by Rev. M. E. Strieby, D. D. Subject—“The Work of Half a Generation among the Freedmen.” Committee—Rev. Daniel T. Fiske, D. D., Rev. Geo. E. Street, Rev. James H. Lyon, Rev. E. P. Blodgett, Rev. Geo. E. Freeman, Rev. Henry A. Blake.

II. By Rev. Stacy Fowler. Subject—“The Element of Present Time all-important in what we do to save this Country.” Committee—Rev. Jacob Ide, Jr., Rev. W. W. Woodworth, Rev. Chester W. Hawley, Rev. Davis Foster, Rev. Henry E. Barnes.

III. By Rev. Geo. Leon Walker, D. D. Subject—“The Denominational Polity of the American Missionary Association.” Committee—Rev. Samuel P. Leeds, D. D., Rev. Ephraim Flint, D. D., Rev. Henry W. Jones, Rev. J. B. Clark, Rev. John V. Hilton.

IV. By Rev. Ebenezer Cutler, D. D. Subject—“A Revival of Righteousness in the Prosecution of Christian Work among the Despised Races of America.” Committee—Rev. B. F. Hamilton, Rev. Wm. V. W. Davis, Rev. H. D. Walker, Rev. Henry R. Craig, Rev. Wm. T. Briggs.

V. By Rev. C. L. Woodworth. Subject—“America’s Opportunity the World’s Salvation.” Committee—Rev. J. M. Green, Rev. Samuel Bell, Rev. G. F. Stanton, Rev. Chas. P. Nason, Rev. Franklin S. Hatch, Rev. J. K. Aldrich.

Rev. Stephen M. Newman reported the order of exercises for the ensuing sessions. Secretary Strieby urged upon the Association the need of prayer in the meetings. The President called upon the Rev. E. B. Hooker to lead in prayer. After singing, the Benediction was pronounced by Rev. E. H. Merrill, D. D. The Association then adjourned until 7.30 P. M.

Evening Session.

At 7.30 P. M. the President called the Association to order. Scriptures were read and prayer offered by Rev. Daniel T. Fiske, D. D. Rev. Samuel E. Herrick, D. D. delivered a sermon from I Peter, ii. 9. Secretary Strieby offered the closing prayer. The Association then adjourned until nine A. M. of Wednesday.

Wednesday, October 30.

At 8.15 a prayer-meeting was conducted by Rev. Horace Winslow. At nine, the Association was called to order by Pres. Edward S. Tobey. Prayer was offered by Rev. John O. Means.

Rev. Stacy Fowler, of Cambridge, read a paper on “The Element of Present Time all-important in what we do to save this Country.”

Rev. George Leon Walker, D. D., read a paper on “The Denominational Polity of the American Missionary Association.”

District-Secretary Chas. L. Woodworth read a paper on “America’s Opportunity the World’s Salvation.”

After singing, the Association adjourned until two P. M.

Afternoon Session.

At two P. M. the Association was called to order by President Edward S. Tobey. The session was opened with singing “How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord,” and with prayer by Rev. Stephen H. Hayes.

Rev. Ebenezer Cutler, D. D., of Worcester, read a paper upon “The Revival of Righteousness in the Prosecution of Christian Work among the Despised Races of America,” which was referred to a committee.

Hon. Amos C. Barstow, of Providence, R. I., read the report of the committee on the Indians as follows:

The Committee to whom was referred so much of the Annual Report as relates to the work of the Association among the Indians, are glad to be able to approve the action of the Executive Committee for the past year, both with respect to its missions and its agencies. They beg also to indorse and emphasize the sentiment—twice repeated in the Report—that “the unsettled condition of the Indians, growing out of their frequent and enforced removal, sometimes for long distances, and at short notice, continues to rob the efforts put forth in their behalf of much of their rightful success.”

Like the dove sent out from the Ark, the Indian has found no rest for the sole of his foot. Of the 275,000 Indians in what is now our country, fifty years ago 130,000 were east of the Mississippi River, where now but 25,000 remain.

At first we were content to crowd them beyond the Mississippi, but our example at the East has proved contagious among the settlers of the new States west of the Mississippi, and now all these States, by their influence over the General Government, are emptying their Indians into the Territories. The Pawnees and Poncas, and the great bands of Sioux Indians, under those famous chiefs Red Cloud and Spotted Tail—in all 15,000—have been pushed out of Nebraska within two years. The great States of Iowa and Kansas have but 1,000 each remaining in their borders, and Missouri has none. At the present moment, Colorado is making an effort to push the 3,200 Ute Indians, who have always lived upon her soil, either beyond her borders or up into the mountains, 7,000 feet above the sea level, and far above the possibility of self-support.

The Stockbridge Indians, whose original home was amid the beautiful valleys of old Berkshire, in Massachusetts, and who, while there—130 years ago—enjoyed the stated ministry of David Brainard, and afterwards of Jonathan Edwards, were moved west as far as the State of New York, ninety years ago. Since then they have been moved five times, and now a remnant of the tribe occupy a little reservation in Northern Wisconsin. Why should they have been exposed to such perils as haunt a people, thus violently and repeatedly torn up by the roots, and compelled to make new homes far distant from the graves of their sires? Or, rather, civilized and Christianized as they are and were, why should they not long ago have come to individual homestead rights of portions of their land in fee, with citizenship, as do multitudes of foreigners, of far less education? Instead of girding the Indians about with bands of love, and holding them to their ancient homes, where they could be easily reached by Gospel influences, the nation has taken it for granted that the “wilderness and solitary place” was the only fit home for them; and therefore, in the expressive language of Red Cloud, has “kept them on wheels.” We have been crowding them before the ever-increasing column of our Western emigration, and even now, the hand of the nation does not spare, neither does its heart relent. The Santee and other bands of Indians, fully civilized, are now petitioners for the right to take up homesteads that shall cover the present allotments, already cultivated and improved by them. Their petition is indorsed by the Indian Bureau and Interior Department, and though urged upon Congress last winter by all the added influence of the Board of Indian Commissioners, nothing was done. Congress has always shown more willingness to feed the Indians than to locate them. To secure progress in civilization, we must locate them—give them permanent homes, with all the motives for industry which they will inspire. To herd and feed them from the public crib permanently, like cattle, is to degrade and pauperize them, rather than to civilize and bring them to self-support.

There is a feeling quite too common in the community, that Indians, after all, are only outlaws, Ishmaelites, savages, “having no rights which white men are bound to respect,” and no elements of character which encourage efforts for their improvement.

A popular encyclopædia affirms that, “as a race, the animal propensities in the Indian strongly preponderate over the intellectual, and render their civilization, even with the help of education and Christianity, an event hardly to be hoped for.” Neither the experience of Christian philanthropists, nor the facts of history, will justify this sweeping assertion.

We do not claim that they have taken on them the nature of angels. We only claim that they are men, and that our Divine Master made no mistake in giving His Gospel to enlighten them, His blood to redeem them, or His command to us to publish that Gospel to them. If Eliot and Brainard and Edwards found encouragement for Christian efforts in their behalf, why may not the Christians of this generation labor for them with hope? Are we wiser or better than they? Or are the Indians worse and their condition more hopeless, than in the days of our fathers?

It is safe to affirm, in spite of all the obstacles in their path, that, under the efforts put forth in their behalf, many of the Indian tribes are making commendable progress in civilization, and large numbers of them are bringing forth in their lives the peaceable fruits of righteousness.

We, therefore, recommend not only that the Association continue its work for the evangelization of the Indians, but that it enlarge and extend it, as fast as God in His providence may open the way.

A. C. Barstow, Col. Franklin Fairbanks,

Rev. A. P. Marvin, Rev. Geo. F. Wright.

On motion, it was voted that the report be accepted, and taken up for discussion on Thursday forenoon.

The report of the committee on the paper of Rev. George L. Walker, D. D. was read by Rev. Samuel P. Leeds, D. D., who opened the discussion of the report, followed by Rev. Samuel Harrison, of Pittsfield, and Rev. Addison P. Foster, of Jersey City. Secretary Strieby was invited to speak upon the pending question. Rev. George Juchau and Rev. David O. Mears continued the discussion.

On motion of Secretary Strieby, it was voted “That the papers read before this body, together with the reports of the committees thereon, be accepted and referred to the Executive Committee for publication at its discretion.”

Rev. Benj. F. Hamilton, D. D., gave the report of the committee on the paper presented by Rev. Ebenezer Cutler, D. D. The report was discussed by Rev. Benj. F. Hamilton, Rev. Albert H. Plumb, Rev. Jesse Jones, Rev. G. B. Willcox, D. D., and Rev. George F. Wright.

Rev. Jeremiah K. Aldrich, of Nashua, reported in behalf of the committee upon the paper presented by Dist. Sec. Chas. L. Woodworth. The report was discussed by Secretary Strieby, and Rev. Geo. F. Stanton, of Weymouth. The report was accepted, and the following resolution, appended thereto, was adopted:

Resolved, That, as God raised up His ancient people, and made them the repository of the truth, to prepare the way for the advent of the Saviour, when the fullness of time should come, so He has raised up this nation to carry forward that truth to its final consummation, and that it becometh us to put forth every possible effort for accomplishing this work, in humble reliance upon the direct agency of the Holy Spirit, believing that God will bless well-directed, earnest Christian effort, energize and apply the truth by the personal presence and power of a living Christ; and that we regard the American Missionary Association as one of the most direct and efficient agencies for securing this end, and would press its claim upon our churches for an increase in benevolent contributions, that its work may be enlarged and prosecuted with increased vigor.

At 5.15 the Association adjourned to meet at 7.30 P. M. Benediction by Rev. Daniel T. Fiske, D. D.

Evening Session.

7.30.—President Edward S. Tobey in the chair. Rev. Thomas T. Richmond offered prayer. The evening session was occupied by those who were formerly in the employ of the Association.

Addresses were made by Rev. Charles M. Southgate, of Dedham., Rev. Sylvanus Heywood, of N. H., Rev. Martin L. Williston, of N. Y., and Rev. Walter S. Alexander, of New Orleans, President of Straight University.

During the evening the choir sang several Jubilee Songs.

Adjourned at 9.30 P. M. to meet Thursday morning at nine A. M.

Thursday Morning Session.

Rev. D. O. Mears conducted a prayer-meeting at 8.15 A. M. President Tobey called the Association to order at 9.15 A. M. Prayer was offered by Rev. William Mellen.

Rev. Davis Foster read the report of the committee on the paper presented by Rev. Stacy Fowler.

Rev. Daniel T. Fiske, D. D., read the report of the committee on the paper presented by Secretary Strieby.

Hon. Edmund D. Sawyer gave the report of the committee on Finance as follows:

The Committee appointed to consider and examine the Financial statement of the American Missionary Association, covering the receipts and expenditures for the year ending September 30th, 1878, respectfully submit the following Report:

The receipts from all sources have been $195,601.65, or about thirteen thousand dollars less than for the preceding year. The expenses, including amounts paid for church and educational work, publications, cost of collecting funds and cost of administration, have been $167,728.23. There is due the Tillotson Normal and Collegiate Institute $2,446.31, and there has been paid towards cancelling the debt $25,427.11. Of the amount paid upon the debt, the sum of $17,904.92 was contributed directly for the purpose, and $7,522.19 has been saved from the income of the year. Your Committee are happy to testify, that the administration of the affairs of the Association appears to have been conducted with wisdom, ability and faithfulness. While the work for the year has not been curtailed, the receipts have been less. Yet from them quite a sum has been saved towards cancelling the indebtedness. It is greatly to be regretted, that the receipts during the year have not been sufficient to pay in full the debt, as there still remains unpaid, and unprovided for, the sum of $30,439.79. Certainly it would seem that our churches could easily contribute this sum, which, if done, would give your Executive Committee new courage to plan for the extension of work now so well established and wisely conducted.

Your Committee would suggest that an effort be made to extend the paying circulation of the monthly publication, the “American Missionary,” which is now so attractive and desirable, communicating as it does, information relating to the operations and needs of the Association, and the progress made in the different fields of its occupation. The administrative expenses seem to us small, compared with the magnitude and importance of the work accomplished, giving evidence that this department is conducted with great economy, and most conscientious fidelity.

When we consider the nature and extent of the work committed to the care of this organization, and that the appeal comes to us as a Christian duty, to help educate and Christianize these millions of our own citizens, now living in a condition of ignorance and degradation, we are forced to the conclusion, that our churches do not realize sufficiently, either their obligation or privilege, to meet the call with liberal and glad contributions.

The annual receipts of this Association, engaged in Christian work second in importance of no other, ought to be greatly increased. May we not ask the Pastors of our churches, to bring to the attention of their congregations, the necessities of those for whom this Association is laboring; and we urge individual Christians to such faithful labor and consecration as will extend a knowledge of the needs and deepen the interest felt in this great and good work, so that contributions may be largely increased.

From an examination of the various statements submitted, showing in detail the operations of the Association, and the condition of the property interests it has in charge, your Committee are prepared to commend it most heartily to the continued confidence and sympathy of our churches, and to recommend that every effort be made to secure enlarged receipts, so that the debt shall speedily be paid and the increased work that so needs to be done can be undertaken.

E. H. Sawyer.
A. L. Williston.

The report was discussed by Secretary Strieby, District-Secretaries Woodworth, Pike, and Powell, Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. George F. Stanton, Rev. Addison P. Foster, Rev. Cyrus W. Wallace, D. D., Hon. Edward S. Tobey, Rev. Rowland B. Howard, Rev. Albert H. Plumb.

Rev. John S. Ewell led in prayer.

On motion, it was voted “that a committee of three be appointed to present to the churches the expression of the Association concerning its debt.” The Rev. George A. Oviatt, Rev. George F. Stanton and Rev. William L. Gaylord were appointed such committee.

Rev. Heman P. DeForrest read the report of the committee on “Moral and Religious Education,” as follows:

The Committee, to whom was assigned the topic of “Moral and Religious Education, especially among the colored women of the South,” offer their Report with a deep conviction of the central and commanding importance of the work thus indicated. The two faculties which, in the Freedman, need chief attention, are his intellect and his conscience. Of these, the moral faculty must take precedence in importance. By the effect of slavery, and its accompanying influences, acting through many generations, a blight amounting, in some directions, well-nigh to extinguishment, has fallen upon his moral sense. His education, under the old system, did not develop this faculty, for it was only the hard education of rough contact with life and with men, which, indeed, sharpened his intellect sometimes, but buried conscience yet deeper under the weight of false teaching and falser custom. His religion did not help him here, for it has been a sensuous and emotional experience, not deemed inconsistent with the grossest violations of moral law. It is the work of Associations like this to solemnize, in his behalf, the marriage, subject to no subsequent divorce, of religion and morality. And it is, we believe, a happy quality of the genius of Congregationalism, that it will not pour oil upon the flame of emotional piety, but will chiefly emphasize the spiritual truths and moral laws which forever underlie all true religion.

But now the question arises, whether, in all our planning and thinking for the Freedman, too little has not been said and thought by our churches in regard to the Freedwoman.

She, like her brother, has been debased by slavery; debased, moreover, in the very citadel of her sacred womanhood, until the very instinct on which the sanctity of the home must rest, if it exist at all, has become almost extirpated.

There can be no elevation of the Freedman that does not rest upon the moral restoration of the Freedwoman. The position of woman is everywhere the measure of moral attainment, and here, where she has become the sport and lawful prey of two races, she more than ever holds the key of the situation.

The feeling, gaining strength through all the experience of our missionaries and teachers and superintendents, that an effort needs to be made for her benefit distinctly, now demands expression in the councils of this body.

Your Committee has no new light upon this subject; it has no specific to offer for the evil which makes so great a demand upon our sympathy. We can only appeal to this body, and to the churches, whether now, in the spectacle of two and a half millions of Freedwomen, of whom only a mere fraction are yet under the influence of schools and pure churches, lifting up their cry, not “from Greenland’s icy mountains, nor India’s coral strand,” nor whence “Afric’s sunny fountains roll down their golden sand,” but from the sunny half of these United States of America, we have not a call of God, which the dullest ear cannot fail to hear. And we, brethren and sisters, are charged with the duty of responding to this cry, with no uncertain sound.

The Committee feel the responsibility which rests upon them in undertaking to propose new measures, and hesitate to offer too radical suggestions. Yet, they cannot be deaf to the appeal of this kind of work, or content themselves with vague and general exhortations. We hail as a good omen, and as an indication of Providence as to the course to be taken, the fact that already, through the influence of one Christian lady of the Northwest, a lady missionary, specially instructed to labor among the homes of the Freedmen, by personal contact, for the moral and religious education of the colored woman, is now actually at work. Our recommendation is that, following out this beginning, Christian women of mature experience and wise tact be appointed, to such an extent as funds will permit, who shall labor for the elevation of the Freedwomen, by those methods of personal influence which are, of all, most efficient. We believe that in no other way can we strike so nearly at the root of the ignorance and immorality which, in behalf of the Freedmen, we contend against.

But, obviously, it would not be right to take the funds appropriated for education or church extension for this purpose, and thereby curtail a work which needs, on the contrary, to be at once extended. Whence shall the support of these lady workers come, then?

We feel constrained, in reply, to appeal to that large and earnest body to whom we are not wont to appeal in vain—the Christian women of our Northern churches. Suppose that in each church an appeal should be made to the ladies, already doing much in missionary work, and sending generous supplies of clothing and other necessaries to the Freedmen, to assume the responsibility of supporting, either themselves or in conjunction with neighboring churches, these female workers among the Freedwomen. Could they, would they resist the appeal of this sister of theirs, upon whom iron despotism has set its mark of deep degradation, through no fault of hers, and who now lifts up appealing eyes, pleading to be restored to the sisterhood of the pure and the holy, to whom manhood owes all that is noblest and highest in its proudest development? We know them better than to imagine any such refusal. We believe the Christian women of the North, when once this channel is opened, will see in it their choice opportunity, and respond in a way that shall set forward our work by a great advance.

And we further offer the suggestion, following again a thought which has been born, and has already, to a degree, taken form, in the field of labor, that in the principal centres of the Southern field, local organizations of women may be constituted, which shall have special charge of this work, and through which the funds raised may be applied to their purpose.

By this three-fold chain of operations—the appointment of Christian women of mature character to special labor among the Freedwomen, the organization of local boards of women at the several centres of operation, and support by the Christian ladies of the North—it seems to the Committee that this important and too long neglected work may be simply and effectually accomplished. And, as rapidly as the developments will allow, we believe the work in the field should be passed into the hands of the elevated and Christianized Freedwoman herself, who, not only by visitation, but by the example of her own holy womanhood, and her own Christian home, shall disseminate the forces of light through all the darkness of the land where she lives.

Rev. H. P. DeForrest.

Rev. G. S. Pope, of Tougaloo, Miss., spoke upon the topic.

The report of the committee on the “Normal Work of the Association” was presented by Rev. W. W. Adams, D. D., as follows:

Your Committee congratulate the Association on the work of the year, as represented in the Report. It is but seventeen years since the first school for Freedmen was opened, and but twelve years since the first Normal school was started. Last year 7,229 pupils were under instruction in the schools of this Association, of whom 1,459 were in Normal schools. The increase in the number of pupils of all grades last year, over the number of the year before, was 1,789; in Normal schools the increase was 126; in college and professional schools, 50. The eagerness of the colored people to obtain at least a rudimentary education has ever been a most encouraging sign. The young man who last year walked fifty miles with his trunk upon his back that he might enter school, recalls the zeal of the late Dr. Goodell, of Constantinople, who, in his youth, also walked sixty miles, with a trunk strapped upon his back, that he might enter the Phillips Academy at Andover. The demand for teachers from the Normal schools—quite beyond the ability to supply them—is one of the surest indications that the schools are meeting an urgent need. But the tendency of some pupils to consider themselves qualified to become teachers, after obtaining the merest rudiments of knowledge, is earnestly to be deprecated and discouraged. It needs to be dealt with as an easily besetting sin. The replacing of the burned buildings by new ones, at a cost within the amounts of insurance recovered, the better location of some of them, the increasing, and increasingly expressed sympathy of the better classes of Southern whites with the educational work of the Association, are also occasions of congratulation. The devotion of a portion of the time of pupils to manual labor is to be commended on grounds of economy, of industrial training, of the best and most diversified moral culture.

We very earnestly commend to the friends of the Association the appeal of its officers for permanent endowments of the higher institutions. The elevation of the colored race must be in large measure the work of colored men and women. But they must first be trained for their work in institutions established among them. Without endowment there is no assurance of permanence in the institutions we have already given them; without endowment they are not established; the labor of the past is not secured from total loss in the future. It needs to be distinctly emphasized, also, that the permanent establishment of educational institutions of a high order is the great work of this Association among the colored men, and the foundation for all uplifting work beside. The continuous training of our schools—intellectual, industrial, social and moral training, all in one—is needed for the development of higher ideals and nobler types of character, and, we are happy to add, has already resulted in such development in not a few of the pupils. This training is needed as a counterpoise to the operation, otherwise mischievous because unbalanced, of some prominent forces of the African temperament; needed to hold the imagination within the limits of reason and righteousness, to curb emotional excess, to save life from becoming the sport of changeful impulses. Experience has proved that the training given changes the type of piety greatly for the better. It is not less fervent, but it is less exclusively and wildly emotional. It becomes more rational, more consistent; it has more of principle and character in it; it is more truly a service of righteousness, more reputable, more effective for good. In order that church membership may be helpful rather than harmful to righteousness, and that church life among the Africans may be genuinely Christian, there is urgent need of a worthier Christian education of the African ministry. It is peculiarly our work to give that education. The general education provided for through our Normal schools is indispensable, that the colored people may deserve and command the respect of their white fellow-citizens at the South; that they may clearly understand their rights as citizens; may know how to secure them and make wise use of them.

It has been truly said that the work of uplifting the colored race is, from beginning to end, a long, slow process of education. In that process the Normal schools and higher institutions of the American Missionary Association have a place second in importance to no other. We have begun a good work; the question now is, whether we shall do it or leave it undone through lack of establishing the institutions we have founded.

Rev. Wm. W. Adams, D. D.
Rev. J. W. Wellman, D. D.
Rev. E. H. Merrill, D. D.

Remarks were made upon the report by Rev. Edward H. Merrill, D. D.

After singing, the Association adjourned to meet at two p. m.

Afternoon Session.

At two p. m., the Lord’s Supper was celebrated; Rev. Joshua W. Wellman, D. D., and Rev. Cyrus W. Wallace, D. D., officiating.

The Association was called to order at 2.45 p. m., President E. S. Tobey in the chair.

The committee on the debt of the Association, to which Secretary Strieby was added, presented the following statement and suggestions:

The American Missionary Association at its meeting in Taunton, Mass., adopted the following statement and suggestions respecting its debt:

The debt of this Association has been, and still is, a great hindrance to its progress, preventing that advance which is so much needed along the whole line of endeavors. The Association welcomes, with hearty thanks to God, the report of its treasurer, announcing the still further reduction of the debt, bringing the amount down, if all pledges are paid, to $25,000. An effort having been made at this meeting to secure pledges of $25 each, encouraging responses were made, amounting to over $3,000.

In view of these facts it was resolved that an effort be made for the total extinction of the debt, and the following suggestions are offered as to the methods in which our friends may aid us:

1. Individuals and households, who are interested in our work, may send pledges of one or more shares (of $25 each), as their ability and benevolence may suggest, the more wealthy being asked to remember that if the debt is paid, some of the contributions must be large and liberal.

2. Pastors may invite their congregations to make such pledges.

3. Pastors may (as some have volunteered at this meeting to do) bring the subject before the local conferences, and awaken an interest in securing such pledges.

4. The Day of Thanksgiving is near at hand, and a glad offering for this purpose may be an acceptable gift to the God of all mercies, as well as helpful to the Association.

5. The holiday season, not far distant, may be made the occasion of like offerings. The Association intrusts to its Executive officers the duty of selecting and carrying out the best methods for laying these suggestions before the friends of the despised races of America.

The report was accepted and adopted.

Rev. Edward Strong, D. D., read the report of the Committee on Church Extension, as follows:

The Committee to whom was referred the portion of the Annual Report which relates to Church Extension at the South, submit the following:

We notice that the church work, like the educational, is growing on our hands. Five new churches—especially if each prove a metropolitan or mother church—is a gain for which to give thanks and from which to take courage. Sixty-five churches in all, though most of them are connected with our educational institutions, or near them, is certainly not a bad showing for thirteen years of labor.

We notice also, with pleasure, a cheering growth the last year by conversions from the world. In fifteen only of the churches, this growth gives a total of 358 additions, an average of twenty-four. Have our Northern churches done so well? It is equally gratifying to learn what kind of Christians our churches South are making, or seeking to make; to know our students are pledged to work; what these converts think of the standard of morality enjoined by the Gospel; the honesty, purity and truth—in short, the practical righteousness which God ordains. We rejoice to know that this Association has planted, and is training, these Southern churches to be the salt of that part of the earth—cities on a hill, lights in dark places—so recognized, having the reputation of being Bible Christians—industrious, virtuous, zealous of good works—thus already having obtained a good report.

It is cheering to learn that some of the best of the pastors of these sixty-five churches have been raised not only from bondage, but from all the degradation of slavery—boys picked up in the street, and polished like diamonds, for the Master’s use.

We have certainly made a beginning in the matter of church extension, as in that of education. Not the least gratifying feature is seen in the character, the growing influence, and reputation, even among the whites, which these churches enjoy, though some of them are numerically small. By your instrumentality and the grace of God, they have learned what a Christian character is, and that Christ’s friends are not those who can sing loud and pray loud, whether they are honest or thievish, tell the truth or lies, are virtuous or licentious; not those who, with these immoralities, crowd sanctuaries and make them echo; but, rather, those who keep the commandments of God.

This Association crowded the years before the war fighting against the extension of slavery; then crowded the years during the war, and those immediately following it, with efforts to teach the colored people to read the Bible; and later, devoted itself to the work of planting higher institutions—as at Hampton and Nashville and New Orleans—in order to make of the blacks men of a higher, nobler type, teaching and preaching men, worthy to lead their host. Shall it now set them to no grand work of evangelization among their fellows?

The question is, whether you, who have always been identified with Congregationalism, and still love it, after long trial and large observation, will give it a fair trial South? We rejoice in your plan to move slowly in this, and wisely. We warmly approve your selection of Dr. J. E. Roy to reconnoitre the whole field, and report.

Palfrey says, “Faith in God, faith in man, and in work,” was the brief formula taught by the founders of New England. May we not, the children of the Pilgrims, have faith enough in God and in these men to give them the church polity of these founders?

We are encouraged to recommend the planting of Congregational churches among the blacks, because we have great advantages in so doing. The eager aspiration of the blacks to be men, will help. Congregationalism has a clean record South. Has any other of our leading denominations? There is no prejudice to be overcome by it, as a polity. In the competitions of the denominations on the ground, will not there be an advantage for us? Then, again, the colored people look upon this Association as a tried friend, and trust it. Is not this an advantage? And, further, has not Providence opened the South to our polity, as well as piety, in a marked manner? The work already accomplished has shown the tree to be good, and given it favor widely, even among the old masters. Hence the aid given to our institutions by several of the States. Hence the high hope of many whites, that our work will do much to tone up the blacks in all that belongs to good citizenship, good morality, and proper church discipline. As Mohammedan Turkey, and Pagan Hawaii and India, have welcomed the Christian homes planted among them by the missionaries, and as the mission churches have been a leaven of light in their social and political life, so it has been, and will more and more be, as you establish your church centres over the South.

In conclusion, then, we approve what seems to be the thought of the Executive Committee—to “advance its activities in the direction of saving souls at the South, and organize churches of our polity, as really missionary centres of leavening influence. Let the trial of our polity at the South be a fair and full one, carrying out our ideas of Christian doctrine and morality. Thus, as we pray and believe, will that wilderness the sooner bud and blossom like the rose.” We recommend, therefore, the adoption of the following resolution:

Resolved, That this Association approves the plan of its Executive Committee—to make a careful examination of the field at the South, and infuse new activity into its church work, organizing churches, where the way is open, on the principles of the Congregational order.

Rev. Edward Strong, D. D. Rev. Wm. L. Gaylord.	Rev. A. H. Plumb. Rev. D. O. Mears.
Rev. O. T. Lanphear, D. D.

The resolution was adopted.

Rev. Edward S. Atwood, of Salem, presented the report of the committee upon the “Chinese in America,” as follows:

The Committee, to whom was referred that portion of the Annual Report which relates to mission work among the Chinese in America, would respectfully submit the following:

We recognize with satisfaction the positive and demonstrable success of the Association in this department of labor—a success emphatically evidenced by the 1,500 gathered into the day-schools; the increased usefulness of the Bethany Home; the seventy-five conversions during the year, and the ardent desire of these newly-born souls for the Gospel light to shine on their native and beloved land. Were we to stop here and content ourselves with the mere statistics of progress, we should have no hesitation in saying to the officers and the missionaries of the Association, “Servants of God, well done!”

But simple justice compels a larger view of the matter. There is something to be taken into account besides these nominal assets. The chief worth of the work done lies in the fact that, in the doing of it, the Association has been loyal to its old and fixed theory, that a man is a man everywhere and always, with a soul to be saved, and a Saviour sufficient for its needs. Questions of nationality are irrelevant. The simple fact of humanity is all that needs to be known in order to institute a legitimate claim for the giving of the Gospel, by those who have it in trust. In this department of work, loyalty has not been an easy matter. The rough, unreasoning passions of the mob have glanced fiercely against it. Iniquity, baptised with the name of legislation, has endeavored to thwart it. The conciliatory conservatism of timid, good men, has been eager to dispense its soporific platitudes, and generous in prescribing its universal panacea for all difficulties—“Let us have peace!” The unwarrantable enmity to the Mongolian on the Pacific Coast has been supplemented and reinforced by the unaccountable apathy on the Atlantic shore of the continent. Yet, undaunted by these accumulated obstacles, the Association has said, like the great Missionary Apostle; “None of these things move me.” “The waves of the Yellow Sea,” it has said, “break on a land peopled by men for whom Christ died. If we can reach them without crossing thousands of intervening leagues of ocean, so much the better.” In spite of hostility, often white-hot; in spite of statute books, whose leaves were blistered with iniquitous provisions; in spite of the furious rage of lawless crowds, the Association has passed through the thick and peril of opposition of every sort, and taken by the hand the despised Mongolian, against whom so many scowling faces were set, and so many angry hands raised, and called him “Brother,” claiming kinship, and tendering the richest offices of help. For this, especially, the constituency of this Association should say to its management: “Vastly well done.” The old banner under which the Society was organized is still “full high advanced.” It is no small honor in these degenerate times to find men who are faithful to their trust at any cost.

But more than this, it is believed that in this department the Association is doing germinal work. The few early ears that have ripened for our encouragement are types and prophecies of a greater coming harvest. In any other view of the matter the religion of the Gospel is spiritual class legislation. It is suited to the needs of the few and not the many. The Cross loses its power under the shadow of the Great Wall; and men scorn, as well they may, such a deduction as that; they are shut up to the only other possible conclusion, that the school, the mission work, the unfolded Word, will effect in the Pacific Coast, and among the Chinese immigrants, just what it effects here and among us. And, therefore, we say to the Association that its high mission in this hour is to push its work. Let it turn a deaf ear to all pleadings to stay its hand, however plausible those pleadings may be, and from whatever quarter they may come. Let it distrust the shallow expedients of so-called statesmen, who are even shallower than their expedients. Let it give no heed to the unreasoning taunts and empty rage of Communism, but push its work; secure in the fact that back of its efforts is the intelligent Christian public sentiment of the land; and still more encouraged by the greater fact, that the God who has made of one blood all nations, and provided one Gospel for all men, is saying with an emphasis that cannot be mistaken, “Go forward!”

Rev. E. S. Atwood.
Rev. G. R. W. Scott.

The report was discussed by Rev. E. S. Atwood, Rev. Jesse H. Jones, of North Abington, Rev. Geo. E. Freeman, of Abington, Rev. A. P. Marvin, of Lancaster, Rev. S. H. Emery, of Taunton, and Col. Amos Tappan, of Ipswich. The report was accepted, and the resolution adopted.

Rev. Geo. A. Oviatt gave the report in behalf of the committee on the “Work of the Association in Africa” as follows:

Your Committee on so much of the report of the Executive Committee as relates to the Mendi Mission in Africa, beg leave to submit the following:

At the time of the last Annual Meeting of this body, the first company of colored missionaries was on its way to the Mendi Mission. The plan of sending out to Africa men and women of African descent redeemed from American slavery, converted and educated at the South, was long and thoroughly considered before it was adopted for action. Great care was exercised in selecting this first band of colored missionaries, and it is evident that the right workers were sent forth to test the experiment—persons of deep, earnest piety, of more than ordinary common sense, and of sound education, as their communications to the Executive Committee show. In February two other missionaries, and their wives, were sent out to help the too small number of those who set sail for Africa in September.

This year’s trial has proved two things: (1) That persons of African descent can endure the sickly climate of the country of which their ancestors were natives, better than white missionaries: and (2) That converted and educated Freedmen and women are equal to the work of wise, thorough missionary labor in the land of their fathers. Everything at the stations to which these brethren and sisters were sent, seems to have been improved under their management. Converts have been multiplied and pupils gathered into the schools in augmented numbers.

The call is for an enlarged number of missionaries to occupy this promising field, and for more ample provisions to enable them to take a larger number of native children into their homes, “to be under their care, as well as removed from the debasing influences of their heathen surroundings.”

The Executive Committee express the hope that, with the strengthening of these mission stations, “they may be made the point of departure for a mission into the interior of Africa.”

It is a grand, inspiriting idea, that the men and women the best adapted to civilize and Christianize the millions of Africa, are to be found among those who, at the South, were so lately in bondage, and fitted for their work as foreign missionaries in Normal schools, Colleges, and Theological Seminaries, planted and sustained by Northern philanthropists and Christians, not on Northern but Southern soil.

The Executive Committee can only delay to enlarge these missionary operations in Africa on account of the too limited amount of means in the Treasury of the Association.

Your Committee present the following Resolutions:

1. That we recognize with heartfelt gratitude to God, His evident approval of the plan of attempting to evangelize Africa by the sons and daughters of Africans born in this country, brought out of slavery under the Proclamation of Emancipation of President Lincoln, and here converted and educated for this glorious work in their fatherland.

2. That we cannot do otherwise than lay on the churches the responsibility of increasing their contributions in aid of this Association, so as to enable it, at once, to enlarge its operations connected with the Mendi Mission, in the hope of sending from this, as a centre, bands of laborers into the interior of the continent.

Rev. Geo. A. Oviatt. Rev. Franklin Ayer.

Rev. John C. Labaree. Rev. G. D. Pike.

The resolutions were adopted.

The report was discussed by Rev. G. D. Pike, and was then accepted, and the resolution adopted.

Rev. George M. Boynton presented, as the report of the Nominating Committee, the following nominations:

PRESIDENT.

Hon. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

Hon. F. D. Parish, Ohio. Hon. E. D. Holton, Wis. Hon. Wm. Claflin, Mass. Rev. Stephen Thurston, D.D., Me. Rev. Samuel Harris, D. D., Ct. William C. Chapin, Esq., R. I. Rev. W. T. Eustis, D. D., Mass. Hon. A. C. Barstow, R. I. Rev. Thatcher Thayer, D. D., R. I. Rev. Ray Palmer, D. D., N. Y. Rev. J. M. Sturtevant, D. D., Ill. Rev. W. W. Patton, D. D., D. C. Hon. Seymour Straight, La. Horace Hallock, Esq., Mich. Rev. Cyrus W. Wallace, D.D., N.H. Rev. Edward Hawes, Ct. Douglas Putnam, Esq., Ohio. Hon. Thaddeus Fairbanks, Vt. Samuel D. Porter, Esq., N. Y. Rev. M. M. G. Dana, D. D., Minn. Rev. H. W. Beecher, N. Y. Gen. O. O. Howard, Oregon. Rev. G. F. Magoun, D. D., Iowa. Col. C. G. Hammond, Ill. Edward Spaulding, M. D., N. H. David Ripley, Esq., N. J. Rev. W. M. Barbour, D. D., Ct.

Rev. W. L. Gage, Ct. A. S. Hatch, Esq., N. Y. Rev. J. H. Fairchild, D. D., Ohio Rev. H. A. Stimson, Minn. Rev. J. W. Strong, D. D., Minn. Rev. Geo. Thatcher, LL. D., Iowa. Rev. A. L. Stoke, D. D., Cal. Rev. G. H. Atkinson, D. D., Oregon. Rev. J. E. Rankin, D. D., D. C. Rev. A. L. Chapin, D. D., Wis. S. D. Smith, Esq., Mass. Peter Smith, Esq., Mass. Dea. John Whitin, Mass. Rev. Wm. Patton, D. D., Ct. Hon. J. B. Grinnell, Iowa. Rev. Wm. T. Carr, Ct. Rev. Horace Winslow, Ct. Sir Peter Coats, Scotland. Rev. Henry Allon, D. D., London, Eng. Wm. E. Whiting, Esq., N. Y. J. M. Pinkerton, Esq., Mass. Rev. F. A. Noble, D. D., Daniel Hand, Esq., Ct. A. L. Williston, Esq., Mass Rev. A. F. Beard, D. D., N. Y. Frederick Billings, Esq., Vt. Joseph Carpenter, Esq., R. I.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

Rev. M. E. Strieby, D. D., N. Y.

DISTRICT SECRETARIES.

Rev. CHARLES L. WOODWORTH, Boston.
Rev. G. D. PIKE, New York.
Rev. JAMES POWELL, Chicago.
EDGAR KETCHUM, Esq., Treasurer, N. Y.
H. W. HUBBARD, Esq., Assistant Treasurer, N. Y.
Rev. M. E. STRIEBY, Recording Secretary, N. Y.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

Alonzo S. Ball. A. S. Barnes. Edward Beecher. Geo. M. Boynton. Wm. B. Brown. Clinton B. Fisk. A. P. Foster.	E. A. Graves. S. B. Halliday. Samuel Holmes. S. S. Jocelyn. Andrew Lester. Chas. L. Mead. John H. Washburn.
G. B. Willcox.

By vote of the Association, the officers named by the committee were elected. President Tobey made remarks appropriate to his election as President.

By vote of the Association, the report of the committee on the Indians was taken from the table, and discussed by President Tobey.

By invitation, Rev. Dr. Rust, Corresponding Secretary of the Freedmen’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, addressed the Association.

District-Secretary Powell extended an invitation from the Congregational Churches of Chicago to the Association, to hold the next Annual Meeting in Chicago. The Association voted to recommend to the Executive Committee that, if deemed expedient by them, the invitation be accepted.

The Secretary then read the minutes, which were adopted.

After the Benediction by Rev. Stephen M. Newman, the Association adjourned to meet at 7.30 P. M.

Thursday Evening.

An audience filling the church assembled at 7.30 o’clock. The services opened with a voluntary by the choir. Prayer was offered by Rev. Jonathan Edwards, of Grantville, Mass. The hymn “Great God of nations” was then sung by the choir and congregation. Secretary Strieby, then read a paper on “The Work of Half a Generation among the Freedmen.” The hymn, “The morning light is breaking” was sung. An address by Rev. Dr. Hartranft, of Hartford, followed. The hymn “My country, ’tis of thee” was sung. An address was then made by Rev. Albert H. Plumb, of Boston. The following vote of thanks to the churches of Taunton, for their reception of the Association, as proposed by Secretary Woodworth, was unanimously passed:

The American Missionary Association renders hearty thanks to the Congregational churches of this city, for the invitation to hold its Thirty-second Anniversary in Taunton. Especially to the Broadway church, for the use of its house of worship for the different sessions of the meeting, and of its chapel and parlors for the Committees and friends in attendance; to the Winslow church, for the use of its chapel and parlors for the entertainment of their numerous guests from abroad; to the families of the Congregational churches, for abounding and pleasant hospitality; to the Committee of Arrangements, for wise and generous plans to meet all demands of the meeting and the wants of the guests; to the chorister and choir of this church, for most delightful aid in the service of song, and to all who have contributed to render the meeting a pleasure and a profit to those who have been in attendance.

Also, it renders sincere thanks to the writers of the different papers, and to the Committees and speakers who have given time and thought, and so greatly aided in the power and success of the meeting.

A response was made by Rev. Dr. Blake, of the Committee of Arrangements. The closing prayer was offered by Rev. A. H. Plumb, of Boston. The Doxology was sung, and, with the Benediction by Rev. Dr. Hartranft, the Association adjourned.

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