The Board of Managers of the American Baptist Missionary Union met in the Oliver Street church, New York city, on Tuesday, May 13, 1856, at 10 o'clock, A. M. In the absence of the Chairman the meeting was called to order by the Foreign Secretary, and on motion Hon. Anthony Colby, of N. H., was chosen Chairman pro tempore; who took the Chair with appropriate remarks. Prayer was offered by Rev. F. Wayland, D. D., of R. I. The Recording Secretary of the Board not being present, Rev. H. C. Fish, of N. J., was chosen Recording Secretary pro tempore. The roll was called, the following brethren responding to their Laymen. Letters of apology for absence were read from Hon. Ira Harris, Rev. Prof. S. S. Cutting, and Rev. William F. Hansell. A season of devotional exercises was then enjoyed, the Rev. B. T. Welch, D. D., leading in prayer. A Committee of Arrangements was appointed, consisting of Messrs. E. L. Magoon, E. Lathrop, E. T. Hiscox, S. Peck, and J. G. Warren. The Treasurer of the A. B. M. Union, Nehemiah Boynton, Esq., read his annual report of receipts and expenditures; also a statement of the several items of property held in possession of the Board, on the respective mission fields. The report and statement were accepted, and referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. S. W. Adams, of Ohio, L. Hayden, of Vt., Thomas Wattson, of Pa., Smith Sheldon, of N. Y., and D. Sanderson, of Mass. The annual report of the Executive Committee was read by the Foreign and Home Secretaries, and was referred, as usual, to appropriate committees, as follows: On Obituaries. Messrs. William Hague, N. Y., D. F. Carnahan, Pa., H. V. Dexter, Me., S. Fish, Vt., S. W. Field, R. I., John Jennings, Mass., W. Reed, Con. On Finances. Messrs. C. D. Gould, Mass., J. D. Gilbert, Con., J. P. Crozer, Pa., D. F. Randolph, N. J., M. Giddings, Me., H. Edwards, N. Y., P. Balen, N. Y. On Agencies. - Messrs. Edward Bright, N. Y., T. F. Caldicott, Mass., M. G. Clarke, Pa., A. Perkins, N. J., A. H. Stowell, R. I., A. M. Torbett, Min., A. Ten Brook, N. Y. On Publications.-Messrs. R. C. Mills, Mass., G. C. Baldwin, N. Y., L. A. Dunn, Vt., C. Tibbetts, Me., L. Morse, N. J., T. Griffith, Pa., W. H. Eaton, N. H. On the Maulmain, Tavoy, Shwaygyeen and Toungoo Missions. Messrs. E. Lathrop, N. Y., F. Mason, Burmah, E. Hutchinson, Vt., L. Porter, Mass., A. G. Palmer, Con., J. F. Wilcox, N. J., R. Jeffery, N. Y. On the Rangoon, Bassein, Henthada, Prome, Ava, and Arracan Missions.Messrs: S. B. Swaim, Mass., J. L. Hodge, N. J., E. E. L. Taylor, N. Y., H. Day, Pa., A. P. Mason, Mass., S. Dyer, Ind., A. Watrous, Con., E. A. Stevens, Burmah. On the Kemmendine land, &c.-Messrs. W. R. Williams, N. Y., A. S. Train, Mass., D. Ives, Con., George Kempton, N. J., William Shadrach, Pa., S. L. .Caldwell, Me., E. Dodge, William Colgate, J. M. Bruce, Jr., and A. Hubbell, N. Y. On the Siam, Hongkong, and Ningpo Missions. - Messrs. S. J. Drake, N. J., D. C. Eddy, Mass., J. P. Seeley, N. Y., H. Miller, Con., A. H. Granger, R. I., W. H. Parmly, N. J., George W. Chipman, Mass. On the Assam and Teloogoo Missions. - Messrs. F. Wayland, R. I., N. Brown, Assam, T. D. Anderson, Mass., L. Hayden, Vt., L. B. Allen, Me., A. D. Gillette, N. Y., G. P. Nice, N. J. On the French and German Missions. - Messrs. S. D. Phelps, Con., J. C. Foster, Vt., J. R. Stone, R. I., E. T. Hiscox, N. Y., J. G. Collom, N. J., W. H. Wines, Mass., C. P. Sheldon, N. Y. On the Bassa and Greek Missions. Messrs. R. Turnbull, Con., P. Church, N. Y., E. E. Cummings, N. H., D. B. Cheney, Pa., C. Pasco, Mass., D. G. Corey, N. Y., C. G. Porter, Me. On Indian Missions. Messrs. J. H. Kennard, Pa., B. T. Welch, N. Y., D. M. Crane, Mass., W. Clark, N. Y., J. M. Challis, N. J., Daniel Eldridge, Wis., E. Gunn, Iowa. The Committee of Arrangements reported, in part, recommending that a prayer meeting be held each morning, at 9 o'clock, A. M.; the sessions of the Board to begin at 10 A. M., and 2 1-2 P. M., and adjourn at 1 P. M., and 5 P. M.; the session in the evening to commence at 7 1-2 o'clock. They also recommended that the report of the Committee of Reference be made the order of the day this afternoon at 3 o'clock, and that a prayer and conference meeting be held this evening. The report was adopted. The Chairman here introduced to the meeting brethren Mason, Stevens, Beecher and Brown, returned missionaries, who have lately arrived in this country. Brn. Mason and Stevens occupied a few moments in interesting remarks as to the progress of missions. The hour of adjournment having arrived, the meeting was adjourned with prayer by Rev. L. Porter, D. D. TUESDAY AFTERNOON. The meeting was called to order at 2 1-2 P. M., and Rev. J. N. Brown, D. D., led in prayer. The Committee appointed last year on Returned Missionaries, reported through the Rev. E. Lathrop, D. D., chairman, as follows: REPORT. The Committee appointed by the Board, at its last annual meeting, to report on "the expenses of returning and returned missionaries," would respectfully submit, that they have given to the subject assigned to them long and anxious thought; and that a report embodying the conclusions to which, with the imperfect data at hand, they have been enabled to arrive, is now in a state of forwardness. Your Committee, however, are unanimously of opinion that the magnitude and difficulties of the subject, together with the fact that there are points involved in the questions submitted to them upon which they need more light, will justify them in asking of the Board more time. They, therefore, recommend that the consideration of the whole subject be deferred for one year. The report was adopted, and the Committee continued. Upon the call of the Chairman, Rev. J. C. Harrison, of Pa., and Rev. H. V. Dexter, of Me., offered prayer. The Committee of Reference as to existing difficulties in our missionary operations, appointed last year, made the following report through the Rev. S. Bailey, D. D. REPORT. The Committee appointed by the Board of Managers at Chicago, and to which were referred existing "differences and difficulties," has had two ses sions, one in August last, and the other in December. Eleven of the number elected were present, and letters were read from others apologizing for their absence. The one from the physician of the late venerable pastor of the First Baptist Church of this city, announcing his sudden and dangerous illness, and quickly followed by a telegraphic despatch announcing his death, was received by the Committee with the deepest sorrow. From his long and intimate acquaintance with the affairs of the Union at home and abroad, from the confidence reposed in his candor and wisdom by all the parties concerned, and from the readiness with which he was wont to take up burdens and assume responsibilities in Zion, he was expected to fill a large place in the deliberations of the Committee, and to exert an influence which no other member could exert, in restoring harmony to our counsels and hope to our enterprise. It was with sadness, therefore, and with spirits chastened and subdued by this great and unexpected bereavement, that the other members entered upon their work. Your Committee spent, in all, two weeks at the Rooms in Boston, in a patient and thorough investigation of the entire subject entrusted to them. So long a time was absolutely necessary to a right understanding of all the points involved. They also studiously avoided any comparison of impressions, or expression of opinions, until they came to the close of their labors, and were in possession of the requisite facts. The Executive Committee and Secretaries were prompt in furnishing the Special Committee with any information which they themselves were in possession of. And during part of the time, by special request of the Commitce of Reference, the Executive Committee, the Secretaries, members of the Deputation, and three returned missionaries, were present. It is but justice to say, that none of the parties manifested any desire to participate in the deliberations of your Committee, or to influence in any way their final decisions. They only, when requested, furnished documents, answered inquiries, or made explanations. However widely they may have differed in their opinions, or in their statement of facts, there was manifested, throughout, a mutual respect for each other as Christian men and brethren. saying that they Your Committee also take pleasure, on this occasion, found all papers, necessary to a full understanding of any transaction connected with the progress of our missions, properly classified and carefully preserved. This, though requiring much care and labor on the part of the Executive officers, is, nevertheless, a work of very great value. Subjected, as the acts of the Executive Committee often are, to a most rigid scrutiny, and liable as they sometimes are to a misrepresentation, this constitutes, at all times, their ready protection and defence. In this way alone can confidence, for any length of time, be maintained between the contributors and their agents at the Rooms, and the work of missions go steadily on without any serious interruptions or unnecessary embarrassments. There are several considerations, though not directly connected with existing difficulties, yet important to be kept before the mind in adjusting them, to which your Committee beg leave to call the attention of the Board. They present them here, not for the purpose of pronouncing censure upon either the Executive Committee or missionaries, but that it may be seen that the circumstances of each and their relations to each other are such that occasional misunderstandings are almost inevitable. If, therefore, during more than forty years some alienation of feeling has now and then, here and there, been apparent, and if some dissatisfaction has, from time to time, been whispered among the churches, or spoken in louder and more earnest tones in the ears of the brethren, it should not be to any one a matter of wonder. Remembering that our brethren at the Rooms, and in the foreign field, partake of the frailties of our common nature, and that our ecclesiastical polity guarantees to each individual member of the church the largest degree of freedom consistent with any form of church organization, we should rather wonder that there has been so much harmony and hearty co-operation in furthering this great enterprise. Two or three Christian families take up their abode among a people unlike themselves in language, in domestic and social habits, in moral and mental culture, and even in the entire train of their thoughts. Now it is evident at a glance, that some time must elapse, and a great change be effected, before there can be any social sympathy between the missionary and the immense multitude of idolaters around him. Until considerable numbers are converted and have been subjected to a protracted course of education, the missionary will be confined within narrow limits, perhaps within his own domestic circle, for his social enjoyments; and yet few are so constituted as not to suf fer from an exile so prolonged and absolute. Cut off from frequent intercourse with men of congenial minds, vigor of intellect is impaired, animation of feeling declines, and the mind, sometimes, turns all its forces inward, and wastes its remaining energies in acts of violence committed upon itself. Then among the heathen, as here at home, the ways of God are not our ways. Over the entire field of Christian effort, and throughout the whole history of redemption, his prerogatives as a sovereign are most carefully guarded. "He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." Yet it is not always easy for even the best of men, practically to submit to this great truth. To labor on with cheerfulness and with an unfaltering hope in an unproductive field, is a great trial of the missionary's faith. To strive to gather that "which withereth afore it groweth up, wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves, his bosom, neither do they which go by say, 'The blessing of the Lord be upon you,' is no easy task. Want of success, if long continued, will necessarily prompt an inquiry into the cause or causes. While the missionary examines himself, and reviews again and again his own mode of labor, he cannot always avoid asking whether he has been remembered in the prayers of the churches, and also, whether the result would have been the same, if his station had been adequately supplied with men and means. Nor can he always banish from his mind the suspicion, that those wh In charge the distribution of men and means are inclined to distribute them most freely where the grace of God is most distinctly seen. |