The demand for an agency for the publication
and circulation of denominational and other
religious literature led to the organization of the
Baptist General Tract Society in 1824. Ita head-
quarters were at Washington and it was under the
general direction of’ Luther Rice. The complica~
tions that arose in connection with Columbian Col-
lege and the superior publishing and distributing
facilities offered by Philadelphia led to a change
of location in 1826. In 1840 a revised constitution
with the name American Baptist Publication
Society was adopted. The society has gone formed an important factor in the
Kherge. growth of the denomination and it has
clety. Kept abreast of its needs. The annual receipts of the publishing department at present amount to nearly $900,000 and in ite mis- sionary and Bible departments to about $200,000. Its net assets amount to about $1,600,000. The refusal of the American Bible Society to appro- priste funds for the publication of a Burmese version in which the words for “baptize” and “baptism ” were translated by words equivalent to “immerse” and “immersion ” (eee Bratz Soctx- res, IIT, $2) led to the organization of the Ameri- can and Foreign Bible Society (1836). ‘The refusal of this society to secure the publication of an Eng- lish version in which “ immersion ” should supplant “ baptism ” Ied to the formation of the American Bible Union (1850), which employed Thomas J. Conant, H. B. Hackett, and others to prepare a new version of the Bible with critical apparatus and notes. The New Testament and portions of the Old were completed. Hostility between the American and Foreign Bible Society and the American Bible Union was crippling to both and in 1883 both were compelled by a great denomi- national gathering to relinquish the field, the Missionary Union assuming responsibility for the pobeation and circulation of the Scriptures in oreign languages in its fields and the Publication ee undertaking to complete and circulate the Bible Union and the Angio-American Revised versions, as well as the King James version.
Before 1840 the elavery question was agitated in Baptist circles. Many Southern Baptista, in- cluding leading ministers, were slaveholders, and nearly all were very sensitive to Northern abolition- ist utterances. In 1843 the neutrality of the For- eign Mission Board was reaffirmed. With s view to making continued cooperation practicable, Rich- ard Fuller, an eminent Southern Baptist, offered @ resolution in the Triennial Convention for 1844 for the elimination from the consideration of the body of all matters foreign to the object designated in the constitution and declaring cooperation in the proper work of the body not to involve or imply concert or sympathy as regards other mattera, ‘This resolution was withdrawn in favor of one whereby the body disclaimed all sanction of slavery or of antislavery and left each individual free in a Christian manner and spirit to expresa and promote his own views on these subjects. Not- withstanding the adoption of this resolution the Foreign Mission Board was thought to have pro- cured the resignation of an Indian missionary who
was a claveholder. Southern Baptists were con- vineed that thenceforth slaveholders would be dis-
a. tne ‘Timinated against and that, future
sonar’, sessionsof the Convention would beren-
Baptists, dered tumultuous by attackson slavery
and rejoinders, A literary controversy between Francis Wayland, President of Brown Uni- versity, and Richard Fuller awakened much inter- est and demonstrated the impossibility of harmony between Northern and Southern Baptista. Con- ciliatory measures were attempted on both sides; but the conviction had become overmastering among Southern leaders that the Baptists of the South could work more successfully with separate Convention and . This policy was carried into effect in May, 1845, by 370 messengers from the various Southern States. Home and Foreign Mission Boards were at once constituted, and both these departments of work have been vigorously prosecuted. The Foreign Mission Board (Rich- mond) has for years conducted successful mission- ary work in Italy, Brasil, Argentina, Mexico, Africa, China, and Japan, and has attained to an annual income of about $300,000. The total membership of native churches under the Board is reported (1905) as 11,423, The Home Mission Board (At- lanta) expends nearly $200,000 s year within the bounds of the Convention, in Cuba, and in the insular possessions of the United States. Tho Sunday- school Board (Nashville), besides furnishing Sun- day-school papers and other requisites, publishes a number of books, and fosters Sunday-school work through = professorship in the Southem Baptist Theological Seminary and through district secre- taries who labor throughout ita constituency. Its annual receipts are about $125,000. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is cherished by the Convention, which nominates brethren from whom the members of its Board are chosen and receives its annual report.
After the formation of the Southern Baptist Con- vention, the Foreign Mission Board of the Trien- nial Convention became the American Baptist Missionary Union, which has since had annual meet- ings in connection with the American Baptist Pub- lication Society, the American Baptist Home Mirsion Society, ete. Women’s auxiliary societies cooperate with the Northern and Southern Boards.
‘The Baptist Congreas is not strictly a denomina- tional organisation; but is supported by subecribing
members and holds an annual meet-
9. The ing for the free discussion of current Baptist questiona of doctrine, polity, and life. Conares® Its annual reports furnish the public Young With the most advanced thought. The Peoples Baptist Young People's Union of ‘Gaion, America (1891 onward) seeks to pro-
mote Christian activity, intelligence, and denominational spirit among the Baptist young people of the United States and Canada. Baptist owners of slavea were by no means in- different to their spiritual welfare. It is estimated that there were 400,000 negro Baptists in the United States at the close of the Civil War. Most of these wore members of the churches of their masters; but in the towns and cities many negro churches had �
