they had been allowed to exist for almost a century. Either from original differences of doctrine and personal influence, or from later divisions and reorganization, grew up those bodies which, although often, as has been seen, grouped under the general head of Anabaptists, have become known in Europe and America as Mennonites, Amish, and Dunkers; and each of these bodies has experienced various divisions. The Schwenkfelders, Bohemists, and other mystics or pietists, are habitually grouped with these sects, rather because of their similar historical origin and attitude to the established churches than of any identity of religious belief."-E. P. Cheyney, European background of American history, PP. 172-175.

Beginnings in New England.-"Baptist principles are discoverable in New England from the very earliest colonial settlements. The Puritans of Plymouth had mingled with the Dutch Baptists during the ten years of their sojourn in Holland, and some of them seem to have brought over Baptist tendencies even in the Mayflower. Dutch Baptists had emigrated to England and extended their principies there; and from time to time a persecuted Baptist in England sought refuge in America, and, planted here, brought forth fruit after his kind. But as every offshoot of these principles here was so speedily and vigorously beaten down by persecution, and especially as, after the banishment of Roger Williams, there was an asylum a few miles distant, just over Narraganset Bay, where every persecuted man could find liberty of conscience, Baptist principles made little progress in the New England colonies, except Rhode Island, for the first hundred and twenty years. [On the banishment of Roger Williams from Massachusetts, the founding of Rhode Island, and the organization of the first Baptist Church in that colony, see RHODE ISLAND, 1631-1636 to 1639.] A little church of Welsh Baptists was founded in Rehoboth, near the Rhode Island line, in 1663, and shortly afterwards was compelled by civil force to remove to Swansea, where, as it was distant from the centres of settlement, it was suffered to live without very much molestation. It still exists, the oldest Baptist church in the State. In 1665, the First Baptist Church in Boston was organized, and, alone, for almost a century, withstood the fire of persecution, ever in the flames, yet never quite consumed. In 1693, a second church was constituted in Swansea, not as a Regular, but as a SixPrinciple, Baptist Church. In 1705, a Baptist church was formed in Groton, Connecticut. These four churches, three Regular and one Six-Principle, having in the aggregate probably less than two hundred members, were all the Baptist churches in New England outside of Rhode Island previous to the Great Awakening."-D. Weston, Early Baptists in Massachusetts (Baptists and the National Centenary, pp. 12-13).-"The leader in opposing [William] Coddington's [first governor of colony of Rhode Island] rule in Rhode Island was John Clarke, who had fled from Massachusetts at the time of the Antinomian controversy. At Newport he was the principal member and the minister of an Anabaptist church-to use the name then current-which after a few years was gathered there. The spread of this sect had led the Massachusetts people, in 1644, to promulgate a law making banishment the penalty of the wilful and continued propagating of its tenets. This law was not enforced on those who deported themselves quietly. The President of Harvard College [Henry Dunster, the first president of the college; he eventually left the presidency because of his belief] at the time when the law was

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framed was an avowed disbeliever in infant baptism. After keeping away from Massachusetts for fourteen years, Clarke, with two companions, prominent in his sect, came to Lynn to visit a blind man, a Baptist like themselves. On Sunday, as the matter is related in Clarke's own account of it, not being ready to manifest fellowship with the Puritan worshippers by uniting with them in divine service, and not feeling inwardly called to enter their church for the purpose of publicly testifying against them, he discoursed in the house where he was staying, to his companions and three or four others, who came in, he says, unexpectedly. He was interrupted by the appearance of two constables. The Rhode Islanders were arrested; but their fines were paid either by themselves or by others, with the exception of one of the party who received corporal punishment. What ulterior object, if any, Clarke had in paying this visit, and holding his meeting in defiance of the law, it is, perhaps, unsafe to say. But any candid reader of Ill News from New England, the publication that he put forth in England, in which the circumstances are recounted, will not fail to see that the opportunity to bear witness to his opinions in the heart of the enemy's country was highly prized, and that his failure to get up a debate with the ministers was a source of disappointment to him. His rival, Coddington, succeeded in setting up his government. Clarke was a man of talents and energy. went to England, and, with the aid of Roger Williams, who was also there, he procured, in September, 1652, the revocation of Coddington's commission."-G. P. Fisher, Colonial era, pp. 143144.-In Connecticut in 1792 Baptists as well as Quakers were exempted from taxation for the support of the established Congregational Church, provided that they maintained Church services of their own. See also UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES: 1762-1769.

But

He

Principles of faith.-"The representative Baptists of London and vicinity, who in 1689 put forth the Confession of Faith which was afterward adopted by the Philadelphia Association, and is therefore known in this country as the Philadelphia Confession, copied the Westminister Confession word for word, wherever their convictions would permit, and declared that they would thus show wherein they were at one with their brethren, and what convictions of truth made impossible a complete union. And wherever Baptists appeared, however or by whomsoever they were opposed, the ground of complaint against them was their principles. Some of these principles were sharply antagonistic to those of existing churches, and also to those on which the civil governments were administered. They were widely disseminated, especially in Holland, England, and Wales, and there were separate churches formed. From purely doctrinal causes also came divisions among 'the Baptized churches' themselves. The most notable one was that in England between the General or Arminian Baptists, and the Particular or Calvinistic Baptists. With the latter division do the Regular Baptists of America hold lineal connection. . . . The churches of Philadelphia and vicinity kept the closest connection with the mother country, and were most affected by it. In New England, in 'the Great Reformation' under the lead of Jonathan Edwards, there was made from within the Congregational churches a most vigorous assault against their own 'half-way Covenant' in the interest of a pure church. Along his lines of thought he started multitudes who could not stop where he himself remained and would fain

have detained them. They separated from the Congregational churches, and were hence called Separates. A large proportion of them became Baptists, and formed themselves into Baptist churches. Through the labors of earnest men who went from them to Carolina and Virginia, their principles were widely disseminated in those and the neighboring colonies, and, in consequence, many churches came into existence."-G. D. B. Pepper, Doctrinal history and position (Baptists and the National Centenary, pp. 51-52).-"Some few of [the Baptist] . . . Churches have never made a formal declaration of their faith aside from the Bible; while in the main, each separate Church expresses what it thinks the Scriptures require of it as a Church, in a 'Declaration of Faith.' There is substantial agreement in the entire fraternity of our Churches, which it is not difficult to set forth. In common with other orthodox Christians, so-called, we believe the doctrines of the Divine Unity and Trinity; of Christ's incarnation and proper Deity; of man's fall and helplessness, and his redemption by the vicarious sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ; of the Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit, and his plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures; of free justification by Christ's mediatorial work; of sanctification by the inwrought agency of the Holy Spirit; of holy living on earth after God's commandments; of a future resurrection of the body, and the day of judgment; and of a state of eternal rewards and punishments in another world. Of course, as in all other bodies of Christians, controversies exist amongst ourselves touching the various modifications of these doctrines; enough, at least, to show that there is and must be diversity of view, where the divine right of interpretation is exercised amongst thoughtful men."-T. Armitage, History of the Baptists, pp. 150-151.

Triennial Convention established.-Schism of American Baptists.-Southern Convention organized. "In response to a call, the churches generally sent delegates to a convention held at Philadelphia, in May, 1814, by which the General Baptist Convention of the Baptist denomination in the United States for Foreign Missions was organized. This title was too cumbrous for ordinary use, and as meetings of the convention were held only once in three years, it became generally known as the Triennial Convention. It was the first terprise in which practically all the churches were united, and as a bond of union was of inestimable worth to Baptists. The constitution declared its object to be to direct 'the energies of the whole denomination in one sacred effort for sending the glad tidings of salvation to the heathen, and to nations destitute of pure gospel light.' From the first this was given a liberal construction, and home missions were undertaken as well as foreign. . . . When the Triennial Convention was organized [in 1814], there was no little difference of sentiment regarding slavery. It still existed in many of the Northern States, though a date had been fixed after which all children born of slave parents should be free, so that the ultimate extinction of the system was sure. Many of the leading men of the South opposed the system, and hoped for its extinction. But about that time, mainly owing to the invention of the cotton gin, slave labor began to be profitable to individuals in the South, though it was never economically profitable to the region as a whole; and that fact strengthened the proslavery sentiment immensely, so that soon all desire for its abolition died out. The South then became the ardent defender of the system and did all in its power for its propagation. In 1832 Wil

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liam Lloyd Garrison established The Liberator, a newspaper devoted to immediate and unconditional emancipation of slaves, on the simple moral issue that slavery was a great wrong. In time he gained a great following. With each decade there was an increase of the number of members of Baptist churches in the North who believed that slavery was morally indefensible, and its continued maintenance a sin. This made coöperation difficult with churches at the South, whose members held exactly the opposite opinion. After some years of increasing bitterness of controversy, matters were brought to a crisis by the declaration of the Executive Board of the Triennial Convention that they could not under any circumstances appoint as a missionary one who held slaves. This was, of course, a technical violation of the equal rights of the Southern churches, but a contrary decision would have offended the moral sense of the Northern churches. It was evident that an estrangement had come about that made co-operation on the original terms no longer possible. The Southern churches, therefore, called a convention, which met at Augusta, Ga., in May, 1845, and organized the Southern Baptist Convention, adopting the original articles of the Convention as its statement of object. Instead of establishing also a society for home missions, and another for publication, the Convention appointed a number of Boards for its various enterprises, which it has increased, and can increase indefinitely as circumstances in future may make necessary and wise. The American Baptist Home Mission Society and the Publication Society were not affected by this withdrawal, except in the loss of contributions and co-operation from the Southern States. The Triennial Convention, having been for many years a purely foreign missionary society, was now reincorporated under the laws of Massachusetts as the American Baptist Missionary Union."-H. C. Vedder, Baptist history (Church history handbooks: Book IV, pp. 72, 80-82).—Since the Civil War there has been no successful effort to unite the northern and southern churches. The Northern and Southern Baptist Conventions meet and act separately. The Baptists' government has always been Congregational. The individual Congregation is a selfgoverning unity with no control from a superior authority.

Development in Europe, Canada and Australasia. "The movement for Baptist principles upon the continent of Europe, embracing the German, Scandinavian, Dutch, Hungarian, Slavic, Esthonian and Finnish peoples, had its beginning in Germany in 1834. The leader in this enterprise was Johann Gerhard Oncken, a courageous and devoted man of God, who through study of the Scriptures came to embrace believers' baptism and the New Testament idea of a Christian church. The high qualities of his personality soon drew others to him, who came to share his convictions. The effect of Oncken's work rapidly became international, so that to-day [1919] there are 213 churches with 47,580 members. The influence of these German pioneers spread to AustriaHungary, where work was begun in 1846, to Roumania, where a church was formed in 1869. In Poland and Russia Baptist work has gone forward amid many difficulties. The Scandinavian countries have witnessed a rapid growth of Baptist principles; this is especially true in Sweden where a beginning was made in 1848 and where now there are 645 churches and 55,219 members. In continental Europe there are upwards of 208,000 members, gathered within the century. The work of the Baptists in Canada began in the Maritime

Provinces in 1752, where they has been steady progress, so that there are 579 churches and 61,198 members; in Ontario and Quebec 517 churches and 59,517 members; in the Western Provinces 241 churches and 17,576 members. The work of the Canadian Baptists has been characterized by an earnest evangelism, organization and co-ordinating of denominational agencies, the development of Christian education, and work in home and foreign missions. In Australasia the work of our denomination has developed wholly during the period we have under review [1819-1919]. The first missionary work began in Tasmania in 1834. In religious relations the population is closely allied to Great Britain, whence the larger number of its ministers have been drawn. This however is changing as the churches become stronger, and as educational facilities have developed. There are now [1919] in this continental island, and including New Zealand, 344 churches and 30,168 members."-A. T. Fowler, Century of Baptist progress in Great Britain and beyond (Watchman-Examiner, May 8, 1919, p. 647).

Characteristics of development in the United States. "In the year 1819 the Baptists were one hundred and eighty years old in America. Until the Revolution their increase had been very slow. Religious freedom, affording them an equal chance with others, existed only in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. Elsewhere they suffered under many disabilities and hardships that were always galling and hurtful to their progress. There are no reliable statistics, but it seems that they did not number more than fifty or sixty thousand at the outbreak of the Revolution. During this struggle they were unanimously and heartily on the side of freedom and the Colonies. This loyal service, together with the greater freedom assured by the national life after the adoption of the Constitution, afforded them a more favorable atmosphere, so that a period of rapid growth began and has continued without serious interruption to the present time. By 1800 there were in the neighborhood of 100,000 Baptists within the present territory of the United States. Extensive revivals during the early years of the new century in Kentucky and various other parts of the country swept multitudes into the churches, so that by 1819 the Baptists probably numbered more than 200,000. This revival was accompanied by extraordinary physical 'exercises,' such as the 'jerks' and 'barks,' but the moral improvement in the communities where these bodily contortions occurred was no less remarkable than the physical manifestations. Baptists were less affected than others by these excrescences, and seem to have profited equally as much as others in moral uplift and in additions to their churches. The year 1819 thus falls within the first period of marked Baptist growth. . .

"The Baptist preachers, especially in the South and West, were pre-eminently evangelistic. Residing on their farms and earning a living for themselves and their families in the sweat of their brows, like other men they had little time for study or sermon preparation. Indeed many of them believed that sermon preparation was a reflection upon the work of the Holy Spirit who had been promised for the very purpose of teaching preachers what to say in the hour of need. They were men of one book, and kept their minds filled with its verbiage, though they often misinterpreted or misused individual passages. They were apt to fall into one line of thinking and preaching, failing to modify their peculiar views by thorough and sympathetic study of the

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whole of the Scriptures. Most of them were Calvinists of a rather high type, and as Methodism with its Arminian theology spread over the country they were prone to spend much time in enforcing their Calvinistic convictions, especially the 'perseverance of the saints.' Not infrequently they employed 'the holy tone' in their preaching with great satisfaction to their rustic hearers. The rhythm of action and utterance, gradually rising into a flood of sound, often concealed the poverty of thought and made a really profound and lasting impression upon the emotional country people who heard them. At places foot washing was practised as an ordinance of God's house with great solemnity and conscientiousness. Few if any churches had organs or other musical instruments or stained glass windows, these things being regarded as 'rags of popery.' Most of the Baptists stood on the platform of the Philadelphia Confession of Faith, but not a few, descendants of the great revival of Whitefield and formerly known as Separate Baptists, rejected all creeds and stood on their interpretation of the Word of God. These were generally moderate Calvinists (q. v.), intensely evangelistic in their preaching. The Arminianism of the earlier General Baptists had largely disappeared and the modern Freewill Baptists had as yet made little impression on the body. In the South the 'camp-meeting' and the 'meeting of days' were the recognized means of evangelism and increase of the membership of the churches. In the New England and Middle Atlantic States the Baptists were generally more cultured, living in the villages and towns and provided with abler and more cultured preachers. Their revivalism was less boisterous and emotional, their ordinary services quieter and more dignified, but on the other hand their preaching was often lacking in the energy and fire shown in the less cultivated parts of the country. Many of the preachers in these older regions were able and cultivated men with college training and great influence in the community. In the South there were fewer men of commanding ability and advanced culture, but some like Furman, Johnson and Mercer were no whit behind their Northern brethren in those qualities of grace, manhood and culture which make great preaching."-W. J. McGlothlin, Baptists of one hundred years ago (Watchman-Examiner, May 8, 1919, pp. 596-597).

Origin and development of missionary work. "In 1819 the Baptists were just beginning to feel the pull and uplift of three great tasks that were to transform them from a weak and scattered people without any unified life into an organized denomination responding to all the currents of emotion, aspiration and effort which were moving other religious bodies. These were 'Foreign Missions,' 'Home Missions' and 'Education.' Foreign missions were the earliest, constituting the main impulse to the awakening and unifying of the denomination and its enlargement in all directions. Only twenty-seven years before The Watchman-Examiner saw the light William Carey had succeeded in leading a few English Baptists to organize a society to undertake Christian work among the people of India. This society sent him out as their first missionary, thus inaugurating the modern missionary movement among Englishspeaking people. Other denominations in England had quickly followed the example of the Baptists by organizing other societies and sending out other missionaries. This effort had soon attracted attention in New England where various small societies had been organized among Congregationalists and Baptists to assist in the work

of the English. But in 1810 several young Congregational ministers succeeded in inducing their leaders to organize a board for the sending out of missionaries from this country-the 'American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.' The first group of missionaries went out in 1812. On the way out and soon after landing, three of them-Adoniram Judson and his young and accomplished wife, Anne Hasseltine, and Luther Rice -were converted by their own studies to Baptist views and were baptized before the end of the year. This event touched the Baptists of America like an electric shock. Rice returned to assist in the work of awakening and unifying the denomination in the support of the Judsons who now asked to be accepted as missionaries of the Baptists. . . . The Baptists of the North and East responded at once and heartily. Dr. Thomas Baldwin, of Boston, and Dr. Bolles, of Salem, informed the denomination of the great event and took steps to organize at Boston a society for the support of the important additions. . . . Similar societies sprang up in various parts of the country, notably in the Savannah Association, where Dr. W. B. Johnson and Dr. W. T. Brantly were the leading spirits. But these local societies had no means of communication and were inadequate to the task before the denomination. It was determined, therefore, to unite the entire Baptist people, as far as they were interested, in one general missionary organization for the prosecution of the foreign mission enterprise. Accordingly delegates from local societies in eleven States met in Philadelphia, May 18, 1814, and proceeded to organize the 'General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions.' Dr. Richard Furman, of South Carolina, was elected president, Dr. Baldwin, of Boston, secretary. It was not based upon the churches or the associations, but upon the societies composed of people who were really and vitally interested in the cause. Dr. William Staughton, of Philadelphia, was elected secretary of the board which was constituted to carry on the work between the conventions, and which was located 'in Philadelphia. ... The work was only five years old when The Watchman was founded, but already there were rumblings of that antimission sentiment which was soon to split the denomination in the South and constitute one of the most painful chapters of our history."-W. J. McGlothlin, Baptists of one hundred years ago (Watchman-Examiner, May 8, 1919, p. 597).—"Directly after its organization the convention sent missionaries to Southern China, and Central and Northern China was entered later. A mission was at once begun in Liberia also, and in 1856 the Missionary Union turned over to the convention its mission there. Work in the Yoruba country was begun in 1872. A Japanese mission was begun in 1860, and missions have been established since 1879 in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, while Cuba has been entered yet more recently. In 1800 there were one thousand three hundred and thirty-eight members reported from all the mission stations, which increased in a single decade to five thousand three hundred and forty-seven.

In 1900 there were over one hundred thousand members in the missionary churches, and as many more in European Baptist churches that have been more or less aided by Americans. The income of the Missionary Union has, in the same period, doubled three times, while the number of supporters has doubled barely twice."-H. C. Vedder, Baptist history (Church history handbooks: Book IV, pp. 91, 93).-See also INTERCHURCH

WORLD MOVEMENT.

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The

Saratoga Convention, 1883.-Agreement on Bible publication.-"As the years passed it became evident that the denomination was seriously divided by . . . controversies . . . and at times it seemed that the division was hopeless. Some Baptists had continued to co-operate with the American Bible Society; others were warm partisans of the American and Foreign Bible Society; a smaller number, but very conscientious and persistent, were supporters of the American Bible Union. newspapers were filled with controversial articles, editorial and contributed; the annual meetings of the societies often became scenes of debate in which feeling was roused that reminded the older members of the anti-slavery contest. Various attempts were made for the union of the various societies, but for one reason or another all failed. It was evident that the denominational interest in Bible work was not adequate to the support of a separate Bible society, to say nothing of supporting two. The peace of the denomination required that some solution should be found. Finally a convention was called and held at Saratoga, in May, 1883, a remarkable body in many ways, fairly representing the Baptist churches of the whole country and containing its ablest men. It was unanimously decided to recommend both Bible societies practically to disband; and that the work of the denomination in translating and circulating the Scriptures should be committed to the American Baptist Publication Society, for the home field, and to the Missionary Union for the foreign field. This was felt to be an honorable and happy disposition of the matter; the controversies disappeared and peace has since been maintained."-H. C. Vedder, Baptist history (Church history handbooks: Book IV, pp. 90-91).

Northern Baptist Convention.-"The Northern Baptist Convention was provisionally organized in Washington, District of Columbia, in accordance with action taken on the evening of May 16, 1907. Next morning provisional bylaws were adopted. The permanent organization occurred in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, May 21, 1908. For many years previously there had been agitation for the promotion of denominational unity. The denominational societies met annually at anniversaries, each busy with its own concerns, composed largely of the same persons, but with little relation to one another in these meetings. Baptists as a group of Christians had no way of expressing denominational consciousness, or opinions, or of doing work other than that for which the Societies were organized. The organization of the Convention opened the way for the expression and development of denominational consciousness, for the promotion of Baptist unity, for action by the churches in many realms not covered by the Societies. and for the quickening and concentration of denominational energies of all kinds. In the twelve years of its history the Convention has amply justified its existence. The Societies, which were originally organizations of individuals, have become actual denominational agencies, with the same constituency. Their work has been brought before our churches as never before. Some overlapping and infelicities have been straightened out. There is complete feeling of harmony between all these agencies. Our educational institutions have begun to receive expert attention. Their needs have been studied. Appeals have been successfully made for the increase of the endowment and facilities of some of them. Student pastors have been at work in some of the State universities to care for the religious interests of Baptist students. An

efficient board has been organized and incorporated for the care of ministers and missionaries, their widows and dependent children. Through the agency of this Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board a large sum of money has been raised. The work of similar agencies in various States is more or less perfectly co-ordinated with that of the board. Religious education has been greatly stimulated. Ideals for the normal unfolding of the moral lives of growing persons have been brought to the notice of those who are active in this essential service, and Sunday School work and Young People's activities have been greatly advanced. The interest of Baptist Christians in social conditions has been increased. Brotherhoods

have been organized in churches. Thousands of men have been induced to become active in the affairs of their communities. It is impossible to measure the results of this Christian interest in community welfare.

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1920.-Recommendations of Convention at Buffalo. At its meeting in Buffalo, N. Y., January 15, 1920, the Northern Baptist Convention adopted the following recommendations, after the final one had been amended: "(1) That as a denomination we record our acceptance of the conception that the mission of the Christian Church is to establish a civilization, Christian in spirit and in passion, throughout the world. (2) That we announce our purpose to establish independent, selfsupporting churches in the non-Christian world, under the direction of native leadership, and to that end we plan to enlarge our educational work in all fields. (3) That we record our belief in all those missionary agencies which will help to make intelligent men and women, and which in the spirit of the Great Physician will help to relieve human suffering. (4) That we declare our intention to increase greatly our missionary staff to the end that we may relieve over-burdened missionaries, and may adequately man our fields. (5) That we send a commission to study the situation in Eastern Europe as soon as possible, and advise us as to the work which should be undertaken there. (6) That we record our readiness to enter some of the great unoccupied fields as soon as we can adequately provide for the fields under our care. (7) That we declare our conviction that the Baptists of the North should not withdraw from the work for the Indians and for the Negroes of the South, but that we should strengthen our schools and make them as efficient as possible. (8) That we declare our determination to lay new emphasis upon our work for the new Americans in all sections, and to make a special effort to redeem our cities. (9) That we approve the plans to increase the work on the frontier, and especially to provide churches for the proposed soldier settlements. (10) That we endeavor to increase our work in Latin America on a large scale, that we may help prepare those Republics for the new day in their land. (11) That we take steps at once, in coöperation with other churches, to study the social situation in America, to the end that we may be in a position to speak with authority and helpfulness in the crisis which now faces the nation. (12) That we make a determined effort to raise sufficient funds so that we may grant pensions to all our ministers and missionaries, and that we request the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board to conduct a vigorous campaign this fall to induce the churches to increase their salaries. (13) That we record our conviction of the supreme importance of general and religious education, and approve plans for the extension of education of both types throughout our stituency. (14) That we appoint a committee to continue the survey and bring it to completion. (15) That we establish a denominational weekly paper which shall be of a high grade, and under the ownership and control of the Northern Baptist Convention. (16) That we approve the budgets proposed by the Committee on Survey and declare our determination to raise before April 1, 1924, the sum of $54,006,833 for the permanent equipment of our institutions and work, and that we accept as the operating budget for the year

"The Convention is thoroughly democratic. Any church in the United States can send a delegate, and any delegate is entitled to the floor of the Convention. The committee that nominates Convention officers, and the committees that control its sessions, are selected by the State delegations. The executive committee has charge of the affairs of the Convention between its sessions. From the beginning it has been a policy of this committee not to originate business, but to be faithful in attending to matters referred to it by the Convention and to the discharge of its duties as prescribed in the by-laws. During these twelve years the Convention has met in the East four times-in Washington, District of Columbia, 1907, Philadelphia 1911, Boston 1914, Atlantic City 1918; on the Pacific Coast twice-Portland, Oregon, 1909, and Los Angeles 1915; and in the Middle West six times-Oklahoma City 1908, Chicago 1910, Des Moines 1913, Minneapolis 1916, Cleveland 1917. . . . [The next convention met in Denver, Colorado, May 21-27, 1919, and one was held in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1920.] Omitting the Washington meeting, the Convention has had eight presidents, of whom six have been laymen, and two ministers. Of the eleven Convention preachers since organization, seven have been pastors, two have been connected with institutions of learning and two-Drs. Morehouse and Mabie-were conspicuous, and honored and successful as missionary secretaries. The statistical tables in the Manual of the Northern Baptist Convention covering the period 1908-1917, inclusive, show gradual growth in financial receipts. The adoption of a unified budget including items for all organizations of the Convention, and the apportionment of these to the States, has not realized all that was hoped for, but has been an advance upon previous methods. We shall not reach our ideal until every member of every church is contributing regularly and according to his ability for every enterprise we undertake. To work toward this ideal is the present plan. . The organization of the Convention [is responsible for] the growing interest of Baptist laymen. . . . Women . . delegates to the Convention, serve on its committees, and are participants in all its affairs."-W. C. Bitting, Northern Baptist convention (WatchmanExaminer, May 8, 1919, p. 621).

are

Conference on fundamentals.-Just before the meeting of the Northern Baptist Convention in Buffalo in 1920 a notable group of the more conservative northern leaders held a preliminary conference on the fundamentals of the Baptist faith. They took a firm stand against the teaching of some of the Baptist clergy who are very

con