USA > Maine > History of the Baptists in Maine > Part 29
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CHAPTER XXI.
MAINE BAPTIST MISSIONARY CONVENTION.
The reorganization of the missionary work of the Bap- tists of Maine was accomplished at Rockland June 18, 1867. The Maine Baptist Convention held a meeting in the First Baptist church at nine o'clock A. M. At this meeting the act of incorporation,1 granted by the Legisla- ture of Maine Feb. 6th, 1867, was read and accepted. It
1 An Act to unite the Maine Baptist Convention and the Maine Baptist Missionary Society.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in Legislature assembled, as follows :
SECTION 1. The members of the Maine Baptist Convention are hereby constituted members of the Maine Baptist Missionary Society, and the members of the Maine Bap- tist Missionary Society are hereby constituted members of the Maine Baptist Conven- tion ; and the said two corporations are hereby made one corporate body, by the name of the Maine Baptist Missionary Convention, and all property, powers, franchises, and privileges granted, or acquired, under authority of the respective acts incorporating said bodies corporate, shall be held and enjoyed by said Maine Baptist Missionary Conven- tion, in as full and ample a manner as the same were held and enjoyed by either, or both, of said original bodies.
SEC. 2. Said Maine Baptist Missionary Convention shall be subject to all the duties and liabilities of said original bodies corporate, and the general laws of this State, to the same extent that said original bodies corporate would have been if this act had not been passed.
SEC. 3. All acts of said united corporations, and of each of said corporations compos- ing the same, in whatever relates to the union thereof, are hereby confirmed, and ren- dered valid and effectual.
SEC. 4. All parts of the act incorporating said Maine Baptist Missionary Society, passed February 8th, 1823, and of the act incorporating said Maine Baptist Convention, approved March 16th, 1830, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.
SEC. 5. Both of the corporations to be united shall continue their present organiza- tions until this act shall have been accepted by each, at a legal meeting. If so accepted, the first meeting of the new corporation shall be held at the meeting-house of the First Baptist church in Rockland, on the third Tuesday of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, at which meeting the President and Secretary of the Maine Baptist Convention, or in the absence of either, the corresponding officers of the Maine Baptist Missionary Society, shall offici- ate as President and Secretary of the new corporation, until a President and Secretary shall be chosen in their stead; after which, the new corporation may choose all other proper officers, and exercise all the powers conferred upon it by law.
N. M. WOOD, D. D.
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
was also voted to transfer all books, papers, archives and reports belonging to the Convention, also all unfinished business, to the Maine Baptist Missionary Convention. The Convention then adjourned without day.
The Maine Baptist Missionary Society met at the same place as the Convention at ten o'clock A. M., June 18, 1867. The act of incorporation granted by the Legisla- ture of Maine Feb. 6, 1867, entitled "An Act to Unite the Maine Baptist Convention and the Maine Baptist Mis- sionary Society," was read and accepted. The Society also voted to transfer all its books, papers, archives and reports, together with all unfinished business, to the Maine Baptist Missionary Convention.
The Maine Baptist Missionary Convention then con- vened, Rev. William H. Shailer, D. D., late president of the Maine Baptist Convention, in the chair. The consti- tution, prepared the previous year, and accepted by the Convention and the Missionary Society, was read and adopted, and a committee of one from each association was appointed to nominate officers. Rev. W. H. Shailer, D. D., was elected president, Dea. J. C. White, vice presi- dent, Rev. N. M. Wood, corresponding secretary, Rev. N. J. Wheeler, recording secretary and Prof. John B. Foster, treasurer. A board of trustees was also elected.
Previous to this time the associations in the State had published their own Minutes. At this first meeting of the Maine Baptist Missionary Convention, it was recom- mended that the several associations dispense with pub- lishing their Minutes as heretofore, and that the most important items of interest to the amount of two pages or less, as furnished by the associations, should he published with the Convention Minutes. This recommendation was adopted by the several associations.
The last report of the Maine Baptist Missionary Soci- ety showed appropriations to the churches amounting to $3,038.75, and invested funds amounting to $2,000; and $131.26 in the treasury. The Society had one general mis- sionary agent, Rev. S. G. Sargent. An effort had been
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
made during the year, in accordance with the instructions of the Society, to secure a financial secretary, but this was unsuccessful. "The general impression seems more lately to have prevailed in the board and among brethren con- sulted," says the annual report presented at Rockland, "that such an appointment would not be the most judi- cious step in advance, nor fully satisfactory to the friends of the Society. The division of the State into two, or four districts, and the appointment of a general missionary in each, who should do the same general work which our present missionary agent is attempting for the whole State, and adding thereto much direct missionary labor in the feeble churches and opening fields, has been suggested as a plan promising more good. Four men, including our present agent, could thus be employed without increasing our expenditures much over $2,000, and a large part of this could be collected on the fields where the missionaries would bestow their chief labor."
At the meeting of the board held at Auburn, in August, the general superintendence of missionary work and the collection of funds were committed to the corresponding secretary, assisted by an advisory committee of three. It was also decided to divide the State into three mission- ary districts, the territory west of the Kennebec river to be designated the Western District, the territory lying between the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers to be desig- nated the Central District, and the territory lying east of the Penobscot river to be designated the Eastern District. Rev. J. M. Follett was appointed missionary for the East- ern District, Rev. S. G. Sargent for the Central District, and Rev. M. J. Kelley for the Western District, each at a salary of $700 per annum, exclusive of incidental expenses. Messrs. Kelley and Follett declined to accept their appointments. Rev. N. M. Wood, D. D., the effi- cient corresponding secretary of the Society, resigned his office in consequence of his removal from the State, and the year failed to show the advance in missionary work that was anticipated.
STATE MISSIONARIES:
S. G. SARGENT.
C. E. HARDEN.
J. R. BOWLER. M. J. KELLEY.
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
In the following year, however, with Rev. I. Leland as corresponding secretary, the services of three general mis- sionaries, Rev. S. G. Sargent, Rev. J. R. Bowler, and Rev. M. J. Kelley, were secured, and the appropriations to these and the mission churches amounted to $5,971.32. The ordinary contributions were increased, and at the close of the year there was a larger cash balance in the treasury than at the close of the previous year.
At the meeting of the Convention at Oldtown, June 15 and 16, 1869, Rev. Joseph Ricker was elected correspond- ing secretary. He was at that time pastor of the church in Augusta, and was engaged in rebuilding its house of worship, an enterprise into which he had entered with characteristic devotion, and which he carried forward to successful completion. Dr. Ricker had served the Massa- chusetts Baptist Convention as its secretary from 1858 to 1865, and he was not only familiar with State mission work, but he had a large acquaintance with the churches in the State. The annual report of the board in 1870 was written by Dr. Ricker. Very forcibly were the claims of the needy country and city churches presented, also the claims of the more newly settled portions of the State. The work of the board in its many-sided activities was clearly stated, and the report closed with the remark that the sum of $10,000 per annum was none too large to meet the pressing needs that would come before the board dur- ing the coming year.
But the office of corresponding secretary carried with it no executive duties. At the annual meeting of the Con- vention held at West Waterville, June 20 and 21, 1871, resolutions adopted by the board were presented, suggest- ing that the time had come when a secretary should be employed to devote his whole time and energies to the great work and increasing demands of the Convention. These resolutions were fully discussed, and the matter was referred to the board with power to employ a secretary if such action was deemed expedient. At the meeting of the board, in August following, the proposed action was
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
taken, and Jan. 1, 1872, Dr. Ricker, as corresponding secretary, was placed in charge of the Convention's work.
Concerning the policy of thus placing the work of the Convention under the control of a single man and making him responsible for its faithful and efficient oversight, Dr. Ricker, in his Personal Recollections, says : "The advantages of such a policy had long been apparent to not a few, but the difficulties in the way of its adoption were many, -some of them real and some imaginary. Among the former was the fact that an experiment of the kind had once been tried for a few months with the result of failure, which, of course, caused the shadow to move backward upon the dial by many degrees. Among the latter was the question of expense. To support such an official, it was plausibly argued, would take just so much out of the treasury, and hence nearly deprive the needy churches of the little aid they were already receiving, besides making it impossible to keep even one general missionary in the field. That these apprehensions were quite groundless was shown by the event."1
The funded property of the Convention at that time amounted to $4,400, having been increased during the year by a bequest of Thomas Hammond of Portland, amounting to $2,000. Manifestly added funds must be secured. The ordinary contributions of the churches, as given in the treasurer's report in 1871, amounted to $5,325.77, while there was expended in aid of mission- aries $3,475.08, and for salaries and expenses of mission- ary agents $2,431.99. Dr. Ricker at once devoted himself to the work of increasing the current income of the Con- vention. "There must be ten or twelve brethren in the State," he said, "who would cheerfully consent to pledge one hundred dollars each, annually for five years, and thus provide for the extra expense of the secretaryship." In a short time Dr. Ricker had upon his subscription book the names of Moses Giddings, Arad Thompson, Chapin
1 Personal Recollections, p. 111.
BYRON GREENOUGH.
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
Humphrey and J. C. White of Bangor, Abner Coburn of Skowhegan, David Scribner of Topsham, B. D. Metcalf and Austin Hall of Damariscotta, S. Kelley, of Calais, T. B. Robinson of Hartland, and H. M. Hart of Portland. The latter said characteristically, "I like to train in such a company." In this company Dr. Ricker himself took a place.
It was during this year, also, that by the bequest of Byron Greenough, of Portland, property in that city, of the estimated value of $20,000, came into the possession of the Convention. This property yielded an annual income even larger than the united special contributions which Dr. Ricker had secured. "So noble a charity," wrote Dr. Ricker in the annual report of the board for 1872, "calls for devout thanksgiving to God." Such devout thanks- giving there was, and the summons to increased activity, with larger financial resources, went forth to all the churches in the State. "We are just beginning," wrote Dr. Ricker, "to catch a glimpse, as it were, of the nature and importance of the work we have in hand." He him- self had that glimpse, and as he went here and there, talk- ing with individuals and speaking in churches, he made others see what he saw. In the year that followed over eight thousand dollars found their way into the treasury of the Convention through the ordinary channels, that is, in the form of rents, interest and contributions by churches and individuals, the latter alone amounting to $6,389.74, while the funded property of the Convention now amounted to $6,100.
The semi-centennial of the Convention was held June 16, 17 and 18, 1874, at East Winthrop, the birthplace of the Convention. An historical discourse was delivered by Rev. W. H. Shailer, D. D., of Portland, and a paper in memory of the fathers in the Baptist ministry in Maine was read by Rev. C. G. Porter of Bangor. Not only was the half century's work of the Convention reviewed, but Mr. Porter's paper recalled the pioneers in Baptist mis-
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
sionary work in Maine, -Case, Potter, Tripp, Kendall, Snow, Boardman, and many others, who laid the founda- tions of so many of our Maine Baptist churches.
But the time was not wholly spent in a review of the past. In the annual report of the board, after a reference to the work accomplished by the fathers, Dr. Ricker said : "We are to fill up the measure of their service, and if need be, of their sufferings also. The seed scattered so widely by them should be scattered still more widely by us. The sickle that fell from their hands at the summons of death, we should eagerly grasp and wield early and late, in God's great harvest field. As a Convention of churches we should henceforth address ourselves to this work as never before. We look back to-day only that we may find more impelling motives for looking forward. It is in the prospect and not in the retrospect that our chief interests should center."
At this jubilee meeting it was suggested that the mem- bers of the churches, besides their annual contributions for Convention work, should make a thank-offering in the form of one-dollar gifts to the Convention treasury. By vote of the Convention a call for such an offering was made, and for many months, nearly every mail brought these offerings to the secretary, until they amounted to about seven hundred dollars. These offerings, says Dr. Ricker, "called attention as rarely before, to the great and comprehensive work which the Convention had in hand. They quickened the denominational pulse, infused courage and hope into the rank and file of the membership, and gave life, and motion, and effectiveness, to much of the power that had hitherto been lying dormant and appar- ently dead." 1
At this session of the Convention, at the suggestion of Rev. F. T. Hazlewood of Bangor, it was made a consti- tutional provision that suitable time should be given at each annual meeting of the Convention for the recognition of brethren in the ministry who had in the interim of the
1 Personal Recollections, p. 114.
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
meetings come into the State to labor. Since that time, the president of the Convention, or some one designated by him, has extended to such brethren the hand of fellow- ship as a token of cordial welcome.
Larger additions to the churches were reported in this jubilee year than in any previous year since the great revival of 1858, the number being 774.
Rev. S. G. Sargent, after sixteen years' continuous ser- vice as a general missionary, had now resigned, greatly to the regret of the members of the board, but of necessity as his bodily strength, he found, was no longer equal to the hardships of the position. Rev. J. R. Bowler, how- ever, still continued in the service, and Rev. M. Dunbar took Mr. Sargent's place. In 1875, Mr. Bowler, after six years of faithful service, resigned, and was succeeded by Rev. C. M. Herring. In 1876, even larger additions to the churches were reported than in 1874, namely 903. But as the work increased larger and larger outlay was required, an ever-growing demand creating an ever-growing sup- ply of funds. "What then?" asked Dr. Ricker in the report of the board in 1876; "Shall we go in debt? If any are bold enough to think this, let them speak. Sure we are that none of any considerable age, or any consider- able knowledge of the past, will be of the number. Debt was once the bane and well-nigh the grave of this Con- vention. Let that suffice. One other expedient remains, and in its presence the problem forthwith becomes very simple. More money !- this would at once set the whole question at rest."
But already the health of Dr. Ricker had become impaired in his unremitting efforts to procure needed funds. At the meeting of the Convention at Hallowell, June 20-26, 1876, he said he had hoped to be able to go on with his work, but he had come to the conviction that after another month of labor, in all probability, he would be obliged to take a prolonged rest. The Convention expressed its deep sympathy for the secretary in his pres- ent condition of feeble health, and requested him to make
#
336
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
such use of his time as he should consider best calculated to restore him to sound health and active labor. Accord- ingly, August 1, 1876, Dr. Ricker laid aside the duties of his office, and at his request, and by a vote of the board, Rev. Henry S. Burrage, the recording secretary of the Convention, became assistant corresponding secretary. It was thought that after a few months Dr. Ricker would be able to resume his labors, but added relief from all official care, it was seen, was a necessity, and the assist- ant corresponding secretary supplied his place during the remainder of the Convention year, attending to the cleri- cal work of the position and preparing the annual report. But Dr. Ricker's enforced absence during the year was easily discoverable in the lessening income of the Conven- tion. The assistant corresponding secretary could not visit the churches, and thus personally stimulate the gifts of their members. The contributions and appropriations for the ten years since the union of the Convention and Mis- sionary Society had been as follows :
Contributions of Churches and Individuals.
Total Receipts.
Amount of Appropriations.
1866,
$2,874.78
$3,108.01
$3,860.37
1867,
3,719.01
3,876.72
3,829.15
1868,
4,053.73
4,232.14
3,720.84
1869,
4,664.20
5,848.98
5,277.17
1870,
5,394.22
5,701.72
5,577.10
1871,
5,325.77
17,589.31
6,023.02
1872,
5,970.10
7,510.65
6,692.66
1873,
6,389.74
29,271.41
8,267.58
1874,
6,537.71
7,961.67
7,795.51
1875,
6,044.06
39,308.85
8,007.21
1876,
5,123.16
410,520.41
7,840.69
1877,
4,020.64
57,918.74
8,764.14
While the appropriations in 1876-1877, therefore, had been larger than in any previous year, the contributions had fallen far short of the Convention's needs.
1 Including T. Hammond's legacy of $2,000.
2 Including Dea. B. Greenough's legacy of $1,000.
3 Including jubilee offerings and legacies amounting to about $2,000.
"Including Mrs. Eliza Marshall's legacy of $2,000 and $1,000 in trust.
" Including $1,115.19 of refunded taxes.
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
But Dr. Ricker's health was at length in a measure restored, and July 1, 1877, he again took up the task which he had reluctantly been compelled to relinquish. The one-hundred-dollar subscriptions, which had been so helpful in the preceding five years, had with one or two exceptions been fully paid, but owing to the darkening clouds in the financial sky could not be renewed. More- over, there were no bequests in near prospect to relieve the painful pressure. "It was a time to try men's souls, and the furnace was very hot," wrote Dr. Ricker. Yet when the year had closed, it was found that the contribu- tions of churches and individuals exceeded those of the previous year by about $800, amounting to $4,912.22.
Rev. M. Dunbar, who for several years had served the Convention as a general missionary, resigned in December, 1876, but Missionary Bowler continued his efficient labors, and Aug. 29, 1876, Rev. C. E. Harden was appointed a general missionary, entering upon his duties October 1st. With these efficient helpers the missionary work of the Convention was faithfully prosecuted, and when in 1878-9 Missionary Bowler was compelled to withdraw from the service for several months on account of ill health, Rev. N. D. Curtis was made a general missionary. But the contributions of the churches had fallen to $3,832.75 in 1878-9 against $4,912.22 in 1877-8. This was largely due undoubtedly to the financial distress of the time. It became necessary during the year to reduce the salaries of the general missionaries one hundred dollars per annum, and at the request of the secretary his salary was reduced by a like amount. The work of retrenchment was carried further, and the appropriations to the mission churches were diminished thirty per cent. in the aggregate. But the heart of the secretary did not fail in the presence of discouragements. He believed that the skies would brighten. "There must be no staying of hands, no fal- tering of feet, no cooling of ardor," wrote Dr. Ricker. "It is a task of towering magnitude that challenges our endeavors. No nobler or more honorable work was ever 23
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
assigned to any people," and with hearty, courageous words he summoned his brethren to a stronger faith and a more united endeavor in the effort to fill the Lord's treasury, making it equal in its resources to every worthy demand made upon it.
In the succeeding year, however, the contributions from the churches were only slightly increased, while two of the general missionaries, Messrs. Curtis and Harden, entered upon the work of the pastorate. But the work was still pressed, especially through the mission churches. New houses of worship were built, and others were remodeled. An era of parsonage building and of debt raising opened. A few generous bequests were reported. "God be thanked that our churches are every year rising to higher and yet higher planes of Christian benevolence and activity," wrote Dr. Ricker in the report of the board presented in 1882.
In 1884, the Convention for the first time held its annual meeting in Aroostook County. This afforded a favorable opportunity for a review of the work of the Convention in that region, commencing with the labors of Rev. R. C. Spaulding and wife, who with faith and courage, laboring for a score of years and more, laid the foundations of our earliest churches there. Prior to 1862, there were only two Baptist churches in Aroostook County. In 1884, there were sixteen churches, with an aggregate membership of 668. Nine houses of worship and five parsonages had been erected. Six of the churches had settled pastors, and most of the others were favored with such temporary supplies as were possible to them.
Manifestly only added means were necessary in order to a more successful prosecution of this work. But in the Convention year 1883-4, the ordinary contributions from the churches were only $2,944.18, and in the year 1884-5, $2,986.75. But larger resources were at hand. The event. of this last year was the munificent gift of ex-Gov. Abner Coburn, who died Jan. 4, 1885, and who, "out of his great love for our churches," as Dr. Ricker said, "and in token. of his sense of their value to the State and the world,"
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
set apart in his will the sum of $100,000 for the work of the Maine Baptist Missionary Convention. Other denomi- national items in his will were these : American Baptist Home Mission Society, $200,000 ; American Baptist Mis- sionary Union, $100,000; Baptist church and society in Skowhegan, $18,000. Dr. Ricker, who was consulted by Governor Coburn when he was considering the provisions of his will, tells us that at first the Governor proposed giv- ing $50,000 to the Convention, but that upon reflection he perceived that the annual income of that sum would not be equal to his annual donations, and so he doubled the amount. "A gift of such extraordinary magnitude," wrote Dr. Ricker, in the annual report of the board for 1885, "and under such circumstances, calls for devout and ardent gratitude to him who moved the heart of this man of wealth to an act so noble and princely. A Baptist by conviction as well as early training, a Christian also, but without membership in a Christian church, it is plain that he pondered long and anxiously as to how his great wealth could be made to tell the most effectually upon the good of his fellow men. To him the question was one of supreme moment. With a wise and discriminating fore- cast he balanced and adjusted the many differing though not antagonistic claims, and embodied the net result in his last will and testament, an instrument of characteristic brevity and simplicity."
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