One hundred years have passed since the organization of the first negro Baptist church in Georgia, and, so far as history relates, the first in the United States.

In October, 1884, in the city of Milledgeville, Rev. E. K. Love called the attention of the Executive Board of the Missionary Baptist State Convention to the fact that we were nearing our centennial, and offered a set of resolutions looking forward to the celebration of the happy event. (He was then missionary of the State of Georgia, and not pastor of the First African Baptist Church.) This fact, together with the resolutions, were reported to the Missionary Baptist Convention of the State of Georgia in its session at Cartersville, Ga., May, 1885. This was heartily endorsed, and a State Centennial Committee appointed, consisting of Revs. W. J. White, J. C. Bryan, E. K. Love, G. H. Dwelle, C. T. Walker, C. H. Lyons, E. R. Carter, T. M. Robinson, and Deacon J. H. Brown. At this session of the convention the name of Rev. S. A. McNeal was added to the Centennial Committee. These were appointed to raise means and to plan generally for the celebration. Rev. W. J. White was elected chairman; Rev. C. H. Lyons, treasurer, and Deacon J. H. Brown, secretary.

The committee employed Rev. J. C. Bryan as traveling financial agent. A better selection could not have been made. It was also determined to get out a book containing the history of the negro Baptists for the past one hundred years, of which Rev. E. K. Love, D. D., was appointed editor-in-chief; Rev. W. J. White compiler, and Rev. E. R. Carter and Deacon J. H. Brown appointed to gather historical data. This committee was composed of the ablest men of our denomination in Georgia, and notwithstanding they worked most assiduously they failed to get out the book. This was no fault of theirs. The undertaking was quite a great one and attended with much expense. It is still the determined resolution of the committee to get out the book, but this will require hard work, much money, time and patience.

We are assembled here to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the negro Baptists of Georgia. All grand institutions that have ever accomplished great and grand results have had to pass through many fiery ordeals and encounter many conflicts upon life's tempestuous sea, which have put to the severest test their strength and durability. If their make-up had not been genuine, they would have gone to wreck. So it has been with this old gospel ship, which has been sailing on the ocean of time for an hundred years, and has weathered many storms. But to-day she stands safe and sound, and a thousand times more glorious than ever, though she has been buffeted. She is sailing still heavenward, whose colors are floating freely and grandly, praised and admired the world round, and her power for good is known and felt even where her colors are not seen. Her moral, religious and financial condition to-day surpasses any church among the negroes of this country, and is ahead of many churches of that race whose advantages have been superior to ours.

But, coming to the subject, let us ask why is all of this? How came she so safely through the perils and dangers of the past? I answer because it was first founded right. Its foundation was right, and hence its success. We are here to-day to speak on this particular line, “Baptist Doctrine.” What other foundation could have given rise to this success but Baptist doctrine, or Baptist belief, or the doctrine as believed and practiced by the Baptists? Every grand and laudable institution has had at some time its grand days or great epoch, and so the church of Christ.

We are assembled as a great people to do Him honor who has safely led this grand church along through the past century. It is the grand doctrine of the Baptist church that has given rise to this grand church and great Baptist denomination of Georgia, whose churches are known by the hundreds, and whose communicants are numbered by the thousands. Her sons are now in the various parts of the known world, publishing the glad tidings of the blood-spattered cross—even Calvary. We speak of the doctrine of the church as its foundation, and greater foundation can no man lay than that which is already laid. We speak of the doctrine or principles of the church as the foundation, for it is the foundation that gives power and durability to the superstructure.

What the bones, sinews, nervous system and the blood are to the physical man, so are the doctrines to the church. What the roots of the tree are to the trunk, to the boughs and to all of its branches, so the doctrines are to the church. And as it is impossible for the building to stand the wreck and hardships. of time, etc., without its foundation, so it is with the church. As the tree cannot bear fruit without its roots, so it is with the church. Had not the church been founded upon the foundation of God's word, which is the true principle of the divine Architect of the church, its grand achievement would not have been. But all of these grand results have come to the church because it was founded upon the foundation of Christ and His apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.

We wish to speak in particular of the Baptist doctrine as being identical with the word of God, for there is no creed nor even shadow of a creed of this church but that of the word of God. It is the main doctrine of the Baptists to proclaim nothing but the Bible and that pure and simple. Upon this every one who has risen against it has had this accusation, that we stick too uncompromisingly to the scriptures, and will admit of no modification or even shadow of turning.

The doctrine of the Baptists is the doctrine of the Bible. Upon it all of our fathers stood, fought, conquered and died. Upon it we are standing to-day. The stand which the Baptists have taken for the leading doctrines of the Bible has been as a beacon through all ages in giving and preserving the truth in the world and of keeping a pure faith and church. Though they have not always been known to bear the name of Baptists, there have always been those who have believed and practiced what the Baptists do.

It is quite encouraging to know these two things about God and His people, Christ and His word. The first is God's word has always stood since He first spoke it. The second is since the days of Jesus Christ. His people have always been loyal to the truth as is believed and practiced by Baptists. Hence He has always had a church to worship Him on the earth and a people to believe His word just as He has given it to them.

Sir Isaac Newton says: “The Baptists are the only body of Christians that have not symbolized with the Church of Rome.” Jesus is the Son of God, hear ye Him. Christ is the head over the church and its law-giver. The New Testament contains his law which is our infallable guide and supreme standard by which all church doctrines and rites are to be tried. Those are Christian churches strictly speaking that correspond with the New Testament pattern, and Baptists have always appealed to the New Testament as furnishing the only true authority for the faith and practice of the churches. The great Erasmus says: “It is not from human reservoirs pregnant with stagnant waters that we should draw the doctrine of salvation but from the pure and abundant stream that flows from the word of God.” And since Christ is our law-giver whom shall we obey? Who is supreme, Christ or the church? Where did the church get the authority to substitute something else in the place of that which Christ has ordained? There we are to learn our duty in all things of faith, etc., that which He teaches is all-sufficient for all times and places. What He commands we are to do. From his decision there is no appeal. Apostles, ministers nor churches can not alter or amend, but must submit, and grace suggests that our submission be heartily and cheerfully. Since we have the law-giver and the law let us acquaint ourselves with that law of Christ, and say, in all things, “Oh God, Thy will be done.”

Our principles of obedience to Christ make us first Baptists ourselves, and immediately set us to making Baptists of others. We become Baptists, and we become propagandists of Baptist views by one and the same almighty, creative acts through all ages. The Baptists have adhered most strictly to the doctrines that are taught in God's word. So that obedience has been ever the leading idea with Baptists. They hold that obedience is better than sacrifice. And upon that fact they have ever stood contending, and to-day they are conquering the world upon that ground. For the world is asking every day, “What says the Bible?” and when told, they are saying “It is better to obey God rather than man.” And behold, many are coming into the grand army of the Lord every day. When you ask me why is this, I tell you it is because of that longing in the converted heart to obey God. So, to obey, the Baptists have always held to be a sacred duty. So very jealous are they of the obedience which they are disposed to render to their Lord and Master, should they find in their book one page, one chapter, one sentence, or even one word that did not in every way comply with the sacred word of God, they would cast it out and leave that space vacant. If asked about it, they would with great delight give their reason for its abstraction. Then they would even go beyond that. They would brand the writer as ignorant or a heretic. What Baptists mean, so far as in them lies, is to go to heaven through obedience to God and faith in His word. Our fathers did it in all of their ignorance. And what else can we, as their children, do? Our fathers had masters who were Episcopalians, Methodists, and even Catholics, but they turned their backs on their masters' religion and profession, even when it was more convenient for them to follow their masters, and have spiritual liberty to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. They have even been rejected from meeting with the church, because they would not join the church of their masters. But what did they do in that instance? Why, they suffered, prayed and waited until God opened the way for them. But obey God they would, must and did under all circumstances do, and so it has always been, and even more so must it continue to be, for obedience has been the pride of Baptists of all ages. The negro Baptists have preferred to be in fellowship with God rather than man.

It is strange how Baptists, even in their ignorance, have withstood all of the eloquence of learning and strength of science and of logic and stuck to the plain Bible and its doctrines. While they have had all of the polished scholars and preachers to contend with, they, in their ignorance, have stood alone with the Bible in their hands and whipped the world thus far. They had even the Church of England and the Church of Rome to withstand, and in defiance of all the pomp and splendor of these powers they have stood the test of time and to-day their colors are lifted to the breeze, and heaven hears the sound, and angels lend influence and glory to this occasion as we stand under this hallowed roof, made so by the grace of God and sanctified and made most holy to us by the prayers, tears, sweat and blood of Bryan, Marshall, Campbell and Gibbons, and now being honored by his reverence, the worthy Emanuel K. Love, D. D.

You ask me, how was it that though slavery raged in all of its horrors, destroying and debauching the moral character of every being that came within its reach, why, you ask, did they allow these negroes to have a church, make rules, and discipline members, etc., and from whence came all of these glorious things seen among negroes who came out of that cursed and damnable institution, slavery? My answer is that, first of all, their foundation was laid deep in the doctrine of God's book. Like Peter, they had learned obedience to their Lord and Master, who said, when faith had been tried and found sincere, “Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Who said again, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I have commanded you.”

Their legal privilege was granted them by the Constitution of the United States as the result of an application made to Congress to grant religious liberty to all men to worship God after the dictates of their own conscience, and not be molested or made afraid.

Baptists believe that the Bible is the only rule of faith, and should be practiced by all men. That it is the right of every man to interpret that book for himself, and in doing so he should be allowed to worship his God in his own quiet way. The supreme legislature of the country, nor the lowest officer in the community, nor any one else, should do the least thing to disturb him in doing this.

Baptists believe in a separation of church and state. They also believe in a democratic form of government, or a government by the people, for the people, and with the people—that is, a congregational government, or a majority rule, governed by the Bible.

The Baptists in all things hold that obedience to the law and testimony is supreme in conscience.

I have been appointed by your committee to deliver an address before this christian body, which has assembled here to celebrate the one hundredth year of our existence in this State. Who is able, who is adequate, who can know the history of the colored Baptists of Georgia? Where are their records kept? Who has been their recorder, writing the true history of the pioneer fathers who have passed on before? No one, and a full and true history can never be known on earth! Some parts may be gathered, but the full and complete history has passed away with those faithful heralds for Jesus into the spirit world. Here and there we have caught a faint glimmering of the greatness of those faithful pioneers of our denomination in Georgia, and of their labors.

We will say a word touching our history, which begins with Rev. Andrew Bryan, who organized the First African Baptist Church in this city one hundred years ago, and was its first pastor. In the early morn, before it was yet light, he came to this field with seeds from the granary of heaven, given him from the Master's own hands, to sow. “They were sown in weakness; they were raised in power.” They took root downward and sprung upward and brought forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold, to the honor and glory of God.

Soon after the Lord sent another into the field, Rev. Andrew Marshall, a strong man for God and his cause, who worked faithfully in this part of Georgia.

The work began spreading toward the interior, borne along by Revs. Robert McGee, Cæsar McGrady, Jesse Peter, (sometimes called Golplin), Kennard, Ghan, Jacob Walker, Henry Johnson, Joseph Walker, Henry Watts, Ephriam Rucker, Frank Quarles, Frank F. Beal, William J. Campbell, Tellinghast, Pope, Romulus Moore, John A. James, Henry Williams, Allen Clark, David Hill, Prince Williams, Thomas Hardwick, Joe McGrady, George Gibbons, Abraham Burk, Louis Barber, Jerry M. Jones, P. B. Borders, Jerry Freeman, George Jones, George Bull, and hundreds of others that I cannot now remember. They all labored faithfully in their Master's cause, and to-day are rejoicing in heaven with their Master, whom they served on earth even till called away by their Lord. Who can tell the sufferings, privations and hardships which these men of God endured during the early days of our church.

In those dark days when the servants of God had been laboring hard and speaking for Jesus, they would sometimes receive, some fifty and others an hundred lashes or more for speaking for God. To say all were whipped for preaching would be untrue; but to say that none were whipped for preaching would be a lie. It is said that some white Baptists have been whipped for preaching; then think you the negro could escape? Nay, he had his share doubled; but our God saved them all. Those were hard times in Georgia; but the seed were good, right from the Master's hands, handed down to his faithful servants to be sown on the seacoast, swamps, mountains and valleys broad-cast—scattered all over the land. It must have been good seed to yield 166,429 living souls, to say nothing of those already gathered from the field, and that through the storms of adversity, the floods of affliction and the draughts of persecution. Surely God was with the sower and in the seed. Yes, the faithful men toiled on at great disadvantage, illiterate, fettered, deprived at times of food and clothing. Still, through the darkness and gloom they toiled on, singing:

They went on, but not alone; one was with them who said: “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee: lo, I am with thee to the end of the world. Amen.” And to-day in every valley and plain, on every hill and mountain you may traverse in Georgia, lo, the Baptists are there. Thus the kind hand of God has led us along and here are we to-day, with gratitude giving praise to our God, “from whom all blessings flow,” and we would shout and say,

We now stand at the cradle of the Baptists of Georgia. We have come from all parts of the land to lift high and throw to the breeze the Baptist banner that was borne aloft so faithfully in the darker days by those veterans, and has never been allowed to trail in the dust for one hundred years in this grand old Empire State of the South. That banner will ever stand, all stained with hallowed blood, marked, “Salvation's free to all the world through the blessed Son of God.” We would not forget our brothers of the white race, who kindly assisted us and cheered us on to greater efforts of success, helping us to organize and set up churches, and in prosecuting the work. They rendered much valuable help in the establishing and building of the 1500 churches, with 500 ordained ministers and 2,000 licensed preachers, presiding over the 166,429 members, all springing up from the little seed planted one hundred years ago.

As to culture and refinement, these can be found in large numbers in our ranks. For thrift and wealth, there are many with us. We have towering churches and fine seminaries, and school buildings as good as are found in the land. As to intellect, morals and spirituality, we have some second to none in this country, especially our young men and women coming out of our schools and seminaries. Of them we are truly proud, and will ever thank God for them. Our press is making rapid progress, and now ranks with the best in all the South. Able men are the editors, and they are a power for good to the denomination and our people. Yes, dear brethren, for nearly seventy-six years the colored Baptists of this State toiled and labored under many disadvantages; but when it pleased the “Supreme Ruler” of heaven and earth to blot out human slavery, the curse of this American land, the negro Baptists of Georgia came at once together as one man to prepare for the new order of things pertaining to our denomination. They had the interest of the race and the cause of Christ at heart. The education and moral training of the young men and old ones—the spiritual good of all was before them. These were thoroughly and minutely considered and discreetly prepared for by our leading brethren. A number of them met at Hilton Head, S. C., and organized the Zion Baptist Association, and then there was a move all along the line. The brethren met at Augusta, at the Springfield Baptist Church, to consult about forming the Ebenezer Baptist Association, which was formed after this meeting. Then followed the Shiloh Association, Mount Olive, and in all, to-day we have some fifty or sixty more associations, all prospering and doing much good. They are dotting every nook and corner of our State, and our work is advancing.

In 1870 there was a call made by the brethren of Atlanta and Augusta for brethren of the State to meet at Augusta, with the Central Baptist Church, for the purpose of organizing a State Baptist convention. Accordingly, a large number of brethren met, and on May 17, 1870, organized the Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia. Its object was to establish a normal and theological school, and to support missionaries in the State. At the meeting we enrolled eighty-four delegates, and their names are recorded as the founders of our State convention. Before this, however, our associations were sending out missionaries in the field. Especially do I remember Rev. J. C. Bryan, Henry Morgan and A. De Lamotta, who were sent by the Ebenezer Association to the upper part of the State, while I believe brethren in this part of the State were equally as active.

In 1874 the convention sent out Rev. W. H. Tilman. Soon we could hear of missionaries all over our State. As time rolled on, the American Baptist Home Mission Board, the Georgia Baptist Convention (white), the American Baptist Publication Society, all took hold to help us, and there was much good done by these faithful missionaries in our State.

Early we began to invite help in our educational work, and the American Baptist Home Mission Society heard our petition, learning through Rev. W. J. White our needs, and came to our relief. They gave us the Augusta Institute, which was moved to the city of Atlanta about 1879, and is now the Atlanta Baptist Seminary for young men.

This did well for our young men, but where, oh where, were our young women? To what place were they to be gathered for training? The brethren decided there must be provision made for them, and in answer to prayer to God from those christian hearts help came. While Rev. Quarles was on his knees praying, God, through the Home Mission Society, sent Misses S. B. Packard and H. E. Giles to our aid. They opened school in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church, in the city of Atlanta, and began work April 11, 1881. They began gathering our old and young women for training, and little by little they grew till what was a school of fifty, or a little more, can now call a roll of 600. Thus beginning lowly, God has raised our Spellman Seminary and made it a school second to none in all the South. Our different associations are building high schools in their bounds which can and will become good feeders to our two seminaries, meeting the needs of our people, and thus God is with us in our work.

Passing through the last twenty-four years we come to our centennial. Not that we entered this work one hundred years ago as our fathers (then the slaves of the State), but as free, twice made free, free from sin and death and American slavery. If the Son makes you free, ye shall be free indeed. What negro Baptist here to-day is not proud of the little record that can be gathered of our fathers, who, with heavenly weapons, fought so bravely the battle of our Lord, finished their course, kept the faith and now have the sure reward. I know, dear brethren, you do rejoice in your hearts. If this little history which we have be so grand, what must their true history have been. Where is there a people afflicted under like circumstances who can produce a record more rich with fruit for Jesus? Ah! the full and complete history is kept by the Judge who will do right, and to-day we should move with new impulse to achieve greater victories, and move on the Baptist chariot, conquering and to conquer, until we shall plant the Baptist church upon every mountain, hill-top and valley, from shore to shore, from pole to pole, until we can truly say Satan's power and his kingdom on earth are demolished, and all the world shall belong to Jesus. And when our next centennial comes, and the colored Baptists of Georgia are assembled, we that are here to-day to speak of those who sleep the long sleep of death, with no towering monuments, no shaft lifting its head to the skies, to mark the place or to speak of their deeds. Some of their graves are not known. But God, their Redeemer, lives and ever from the skies looks down and watches all their dust till He shall bid it rise. We who attend the meeting to-day, if our eyes were not holden, I imagine might see bending over the battlements of glory our beloved fathers, who, we imagine, are saying with their heavenly voices, be faithful unto death and come, we await your coming. We who meet here to-day in friendship and brotherly kindness shall be able to read without error our true history at home in our Father's house above, where there shall be no more parting, where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. They sowed the seed on earth, and the harvest has been great. Surely “God moves in a mysterious way,His wonders to perform;He plants his footsteps in the seaAnd rides upon the storm.Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,The clouds ye so much dreadAre big with mercies and will breakIn blessings on your head.”

My object in this discourse shall be to locate the church of Christ. Whatever church we shall find, founded by the great head of the church is the church of Christ. These questions are often asked by persons not acquainted with Baptist history: Where did the Baptists originate? How old are they? These might be considered as secondary questions, and of no importance at all to a Baptist. Their history is not more peculiar than the practice of that which they believe. Their faith is important, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world. Even our faith.”—I. John, v, 4.

God is the author and head of the church. He is the head of every family in heaven or on earth. What skeptic will deny God named the Baptist? Neither Zachariah nor Elizabeth named John; but God sent his name as John from heaven by an angel, and the Spirit has been pleased to leave on record John the Baptist. What skeptic will deny that Christ, the great head of the church, was baptized by John? Who will deny that this was John's special and only mission? Before Christ was baptized, John baptized multitudes, and many afterwards. John diminished, but Christ increased. His preaching was to awake the world from its sleep. Christ's baptism was to set the example of practice and give the world the needed light of his church and to quicken the elected stones for the Master's use.

2d. As to the Baptist Church History. It may be said, as God said to Abraham, “Can you count the stars of heaven or number the sands on the sea shore?” This is admitted to be an impossibility. So with the history of the Baptist church, the church of God, I ask you can you read the dust of the earth, the smoke of the past century? Or can you analyze the sands of the ocean's depths, or call from the graves, the mountains and deserts and eaves, the millions of charred and bleached bones that have gathered from the days of the elect Able down to the last martyrs?

Do you say this account reaches back too far? Not as far as we are authorized to go. Hear the word of Jesus: Matt., xxv, 34: “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Here is the demonstration of the truth that God's first designs are lastly carried into execution. He made a world, then made man to occupy it. He prepared a kingdom, a church for his own glory, then elected man to occupy it until he comes again. John, xvii., 5: “And now, oh, Father, glorify Thou me with Thine Own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.”

At what time and on what occasion was this prayer made?

After he had brought that needed light and the world had seen and owned it to be a light from God. Yea, devils had tested it and trembled, because it was that light which shone in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. Note the occasion when the broken link was mended and the capital of the broken column, which had so long lain moulding beneath the debris and rubbish of ages, was found, raised and stood upon its foundation, the rock of faith, and pointed heavenward. A watcher was placed on the pediment and ordered to turn his face to the four parts of the heaven and the earth and cry, saying, “God was in Christ from all eternity reconciling the world unto Himself.” In looking down the unknown ages the crier spied the church of Christ in its primitive glory. Filled with amazement and holy awe, he said, “Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?”—Song of Sol., 6-10.

3d. Christ says to His church, “Ye are in the world, but ye are not of the world, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, the water and the blood; and these three are one.”—I. John, v., 7-8. Was not Christ our witness in the world? Though the world was made by Him, did the world know Him? No, no. Has the world any better knowledge of him to-day than it had then? No. The world has a better conception of His will and purposes as it grows wiser, but not of Him. The world's wisdom is foolishness. Christ's church and Himself are one. If the world does not know Him, it cannot know His church, for what He saith of Himself is synonymous of His church.

4th. The Baptist church history, we claim, is written in blood. During all the world's dark ages they were preserved among all the nations and called by all manner of names—heretics in the first two centuries. They mingled with the Messalians, Euchites, Montanists; in the third, fourth and fifth centuries with the Novatians, and Donatists; in the seventh with the Paulicians; in the tenth, the Paterines; in the eleventh century, the Waldenses, Albigensis, Henicians and Christians. They have ever been in principle and spirit really the same people. These sects grew and flourished, though they suffered great persecutions.

The story of the slaughtering is enough to curdle the blood in the veins of a demon, yet they faltered not. They contended for the faith, and that faith was that the church founded by the great Baptist leader had not for its foundation, “gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble (I. Cor., iii. 12),” but that Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith; to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which, from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ. To this intent that now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. The church, then, is that source of light to the world, and the hope and joy of its members. The world is dependent upon the church for this light, each member of this mystic body being a small principality in himself. Each is accountable for his portion to be done. Do we know what we should do, and when we have done enough? The good book tells us, “What your hands find to do, do it with all thy might.” Much is yet to be done. One hundred years have passed since this Southland, this State of Georgia, learned to their astonishment that the negro had knowledge of his election, by God's grace, unto salvation through Christ, and courage to tell it.

Andrew Bryan lifted the light, unfolded the Baptist banner, with a handful of ignorant slaves to hear his words. No doubt, many times he knew not what he should say to the few. But 100 years have told a wonderful story. The ignorant hearers have passed away; their places are filled with bright, intelligent listeners. And while Father Bryan, the pioneer, patriot and hero of a hundred years ago, compelled by death to vacate his pulpit, what has been the result? Of what have we to boast to-day? A grand army, a full corps of students, well equipped, holding in their hands the gavel of the church and the sword of knowledge, they are clothed in beautiful regalia, 166,429 strong.

From the mountain to the seaboard the line is unbroken. No discord in our song, no uncertain sound in the written edict, one Lord, one faith and one baptism. Again, old and young have learned to chant the song that Father Bryan sang in his day:

In appearing before you on this auspicious occasion I feel deeply grateful for the honor conferred upon me in being invited to speak on this occasion.

1st. We will speak of the faithfulness of our fathers, who, being called of God to enter into their fields of labor, did it faithfully, believing that they built on the foundation which was laid by Jesus Christ. They were faithful in preaching the gospel of Christ as they understood it. They lived in the dark age of the world, yet they held fast and struggled for liberty. They, faithful to their principles as Baptists, did not let the banner of the Lord Jesus trail in the dust.

2d. Their Christian zeal. They were zealous in the cause of the Divine Master. Though their enemies were strong and active, they remembered the words of the Apostle Paul, “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

This is rather a comprehensive subject, and to some extent it is fraught with vagueness. Our wants are many and varied. Some are reasonable while others are unreasonable. One minister may want a house and lot; another a horse and buggy. One a new suit of clothes; another a few books. One may want popularity; another only a little rent-money, etc. Indeed it would be a difficult task to find any two men who want precisely the same thing.

But as our subject is a comprehensive one, and as our time is limited, we will confine ourselves to one aspect of it, and so endeavor to suggest a few thoughts relative unto and deducible from it.

In order fully to appreciate and discuss this subject, therefore, let us consider a few things pertaining to the Present Age and the Christian ministry suitable for it.

We are living in an age which is unquestionably the ripest in the history of the world. It is an age laden with all the forms of good—civilization, freedom, religion, virtue and happiness, all of which have been growing and accumulating from the beginning. This is an age richer in knowledge, experience and all the means of enjoyment than all the former ages taken together. It is richer in hope and expectation, because it is nearer the millennial day than any other age. It abounds in schemes and agencies for realizing this epoch more than any other. Moreover, it is the age in which we live, which has made us what we are, on which we reflect the influence of our character and doings, whether for good or evil, and which we are bound to render mightily efficient in ameliorating and blessing the ages which are to come.

Many are the hearts at this moment beating and panting, and many are the minds which are eagerly contriving and resolutely determined to do something which shall not only benefit and adorn the present age but create for it a perpetual claim on the warmest gratitude and sublimest admiration of coming generations. Legislators and politicians, philosophers and men of science, moralists and religionists, are all intent on a new and better order of things and the best method of achieving it.

The elevation of the country and the world in intelligence, in justice, in liberty, in moral improvement, and in all the means of private and social happiness is a subject which is occupying a greater number of ardent and generous spirits to-day more so than at any former period. As a matter of course our sympathies are chiefly with the religionists, those who profess to have no hope of the true advancement of either the present or any future generation save on the basis of a genuine christianity.

In common with other Protestant denominations, as Baptists we believe, and do insist, that the true enlightenment, renovation and happiness of this or any future age is absolutely dependent upon the deep and wide diffusion of the religion of Jesus Christ, which calls for a ministry “worthy and well qualified” to preach its doctrines and precepts and administer its sacred ordinances. But to do this we must have a ministry much better reinforced in mental strength and vigor, as well as in more varied attainments and in more liberal temporal provision. Churches and communities are to-day calling for a ministry better able to meet all the requirements of the present age, and ministers are looking for churches better able to compensate them for their devotion and service, their capacities and gifts, so that they may live above penury and want. A hungry minister cannot preach. An untidy preacher cannot fitly represent the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the quintessence of purity.

A preacher may not necessarily be profoundly versed in all sciences and literature; he may not be a master of all languages, not even those which are called sacred; he may not have threaded all the labyrinths and mazes of history; he may not be able to discuss the principles and deductions of philosophy; he may not have slaked his thirst at all the fountains of poetry, whose pellucid streams flow from the verdant land of imagination, emptying themselves into the ocean of the soul, where the tranquil breeze of love regales its recipient into the ecstacies of devotion; he may not have thoroughly studied and mastered the dogmas and tenets of all religions, and he may not be equipped for encountering and successfully repelling every conceivable objection against christianity; but he wants, and should have, the grand prerequisites of natural capacity, good common sense, and, above all, genuine piety. He should know the word of God, and be respectably read in general literature. In a word, he should have a mind to understand, a heart to feel, a tongue to speak and a message meet to be delivered. This last is a stern necessity.

In one respect, therefore, and that a deeply vital one, there is a demand on the present ministry of all denominations to see to it that its mental and spiritual life be of the strength and energy commensurate with the progress and calls of this present age. There are certain characteristics of the period which can be successfully dealt with by no ministry of ordinary mental vigor and attainment. Spiritual life, in its proper and normal degree, consists of love to God for his adorable perfections and benignant acts, of grateful devotedness to Christ for his matchless condescension and self-sacrifice in the work of our salvation, of an insatiable hungering and thirsting after righteousness in all its forms for Christ's sake, of warmest benevolence, in imitation of Him, for all our brethren of the human race, and of readiness to do or suffer whatever may savingly befriend them. It starts at the touch and thought of sin, is smitten and captivated by the beauty of holiness, and longs to be pervaded and clothed with it. It is familiar with the glories of the invisible world, is not seduced into a false estimate of the specious shadows of terrene things, sees with instant and piercing glance the priceless worth of souls, and is persuaded that in heaven, as well as upon earth, there is no work so angelic or God-like as to labor for the salvation of mankind.

Now it may be doubted whether the piety of the ministry in any section of the christian church is at present of this divine order. Otherwise, how is it that their labors, so extended and multiplied, not only from week to week, but from day to day, and seconded by all the manifold auxiliaries and agencies which they have created, gain so little on the irreligion and worldliness of the multitudes whom they are endeavoring to quicken in the life of godliness? Is it not the universal feeling with themselves and all who are interested in their success that there is a mournful disproportion between the efforts made and the results obtained? that for one who is rejoicing because his labors are richly blessed, there are twenty discouraged and perplexed by the fact that, while they have prophesied to “the valley of dry bones,” there has been no divine breath to revive and animate them? And nothing would be more hopeful, whether for present or future progress, than for the whole ministry—of whatever rank, or race, or religion—to lay this matter to heart and to ask God, in deep humiliation and earnest prayer, that He would be pleased to shed light on their counsels and doings, and so replenish them and their labors with the grace of His holy spirit that in ardor of zeal and strength of faith, in personal sanctity and unsparing devotedness, and in quenchless sympathy with the utmost claims of their momentous vocation, they might resume their labors and find in them an unwonted refreshment, recompense and gratification. This would put them into harmony with the wants of the age, and give them power over whatever may have thus far resisted them, more so than the largest endowment of learning, knowledge and eloquence, by an increase and quickening of their spiritual life. They would have an instinctive perception of the truths most proper to be taught and enjoined; would deliver them with the divine and captivating unction which surpasses all the arts of rhetoric, and with the conscious presence of the Holy One granted only to lowly self-distrust and prayerful reliance on His aid. Nor would they have to lament that but few of superior capacity and gifts aspired to share the responsibility of their sacred office. Their improved and enlightened ministrations would infuse fresh life into their flocks, and thus yield a far greater number of pious young men, who, abandoning the mediæval rant and cant, would show themselves “worthy and well qualified ” for their high christian service by the intelligence of their utterances and the gravity of their demeanor, while their own commanding example, now attracting so much veneration and love, and adorned with the fruits of holy usefulness would fire those youthful aspirants with a hallowed and noble emulation to be admitted to their priestly ranks without any other lure or compensation than the smile of their Saviour and the opportunity of serving his divine cause of salvation and benevolence.

And such a ministry whose spiritual life had been raised to that vigor and energy worthy of the faithful service of Christ, and our obligations to him would be unquestionably equal to the necessities of this day and generation. Shall we not, therefore, arise and watch and pray? Mourning over our deficiencies, humbled on account of our past failures, surveying the urgent claims of the multitude around us, and knowing wherein our chief strength for answering them lies, shall we not betake ourselves to the throne of grace and plead mightily for such a baptism of the holy spirit as shall conquer self and make us instrumental in effecting the salvation of others? So shall we best serve our age and realize in its sublimest sense the double benediction of being “blest and made a blessing.”

The first thing necessary to prepare a man to preach the gospel of Christ is to receive the gospel himself. The apostle says, “First take heed to thyself, then to the doctrines.” The preaching of the gospel is the proclaiming the news of salvation through Christ. No man can recommend Christ well except he knows Him. It is the religion of Christ that gives to the minister that burning eloquence that no training can give. Religion makes the flash of the eyes, the enthusiastic gestures, which are great auxiliaries in producing the desired effect. True religion alone makes a man a true representative of Christ on the earth. A distinguished divine tells of a missionary who preached in a desolate country the glorious gospel of the kingdom, where the people could not understand the many doctrinal truths related, but the fiery zeal with which he spoke moved thousands to believe.

The next very important need is good morals. Even a christian with corrupt morals will fail to accomplish much good. Of the minister it ought to be said, “Behold an Israelite, indeed, in whom there is no guile.” These prerequisites in ministerial character are not more wanting in the negro's ministerial qualification than that of any other people. But there are two things necessary that are more wanting generally in the colored ministry than in many others.

Education.—The indispensable need of ministerial education can't be too much emphasized. Education, according to Webster, is the cultivation of the mind and the training of the manners. Education is not the learning of a few Greek sentences, or to solve a few mathematical problems, but it is the result of these investigations upon the mind. It causes the mind to expand, and enables it to grapple with thousands of mysteries. Had we continued perfect as God created the first man, perhaps the perfection of our nature could have supplied in itself a sufficient tutor. As sickness and disease have necessitated the use of medicines and physicians to restore nature to its normal state, so the only end of education is to restore our natural nature to its proper state. Education is reason borrowed, which goes as far as possible to supply original perfection. It has been said that as physic may justly be called the art of restoring health, so education should be called the art of recovering to man his rational perfection.

2d. The manners are very essential. To this end, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato and all of the ancient instructors labored. They endeavored to teach their pupils the nature of man, his true end, the right use of his faculties, the immortality of the soul, the agreeableness of virtue to the divine nature, the necessity of temperance, justice, mercy and truth. Education that does not refine the manners is not worth having. Education cultivates the mind, polishes the manners and opens up an avenue of new discoveries. It gives the possessor a keen-eyed, quick perception and a wonderful power of speech.

If education is so necessary for the lawyer who represents our interest at the bar of legal justice, how much more necessary is it for him who must grapple with the deep mysteries of God and who must be the counselor of our souls to be educated. No class of men appear before the public from two to three times a week as the clergy. No class of men appear before so large a number of persons at one time with original discourses as the preacher. Often the minister is called upon to speak upon the spur of the moment, hence the need of preparation. When disease makes an inroad upon the system and preys upon constitution, prostrating its victims, how we seek the skilled physician. How the physician trembles in dealing out the remedies, seeing it is a dangerous case. Since the physician for the body must thus be prepared, how much more should the prescriber for the soul be. A very distinguished divine once said: “I can meet the arguments of my opponent and look him in the face, but I can't walk up my pulpit stairs without my knees striking together in fear.”

Oh, how vast and important the work of saving souls. The scriptures say, “He that win souls is wise.” The gospel must be preached sublimely though simply, and simply though sublimely. We live in an age of progress, in an age of mental excitements, and he that doth not heed the mandate “get knowledge,” must take a back seat. The vast number of men and women coming from our schools each year sets forth most strikingly the urgent need of an educated ministry. Water will seek its level. Other denominations are educating their ministry, and if our pulpits remain unfilled by intelligence, our own children will leave us and be caught in other nets. The apostles were not ignorant men; they were in advance of the masses. Besides, the need of education could have been more easily dispensed with, since they walked in the immediate presence of Christ.

The fathers, whose names we revere and whose memory we cherish, have done well. They have accomplished much. We love them for it, and when they are gone and our kindness prompts us to look over the graves where their bodies shall lie, we will moisten their dust with our tears and exclaim, “Thank God the fathers lived.” We must recollect that the fathers lived in a time when there were only two successful denominations, Methodist and Baptist, and as the Baptists had the Bible on their side they easily predominated. But things are changing. Silver-tongued orators of other denominations are trespassing on Baptist ground, and stealing the hearts of our young people.

Catholicism is growing into popularity among the negroes. The fathers did not have this to contend with. The Catholic church is building schools, teaching our children, riveting their doctrine in them so strongly that it will not be easily removed. All they ask is to get the young, and they will have the future church. As our people become educated, they will seek the educated pulpit. Atheism, skepticism and Catholicism, all make it more important to have an educated minister.

Among others I have been appointed to address you at some hour upon the “Relation of the Colored and White Baptists of Georgia, As It Was in the Past, Is Now, and As It Should Be in the Future.” According to the assignment of my name, I find it my duty to speak mainly of the relation as it was in the past, or the days that preceded emancipation. The white Baptists embraced, believed and preached the same doctrine that they embrace, believe and preach to-day, contending most sternly for a converted membership and the solemn immersion in water of the professed believer in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost by a properly authorized administrator. The colored Baptists embraced, believed and preached the same, yea, the very same.

One might suppose from the non or faint association of the white and colored Baptists in ante bellum days, that there was no relation existing between them, but when we examine the basis of their hope in Christ and ferret out the principle of each, we find them the sons of the same Father, operated upon by the same Spirit, redeemed by the same Saviour, therefore they must have been brethren. The white Baptists believed and preached the very same doctrine that the apostles believed and preached, and the “brother in black” believed the same. Hence, before God they were brethren, and, as the apostle says, there was no difference. If the brother in white was drawn to God by the influence of the gospel, and by accepting Christ as the Redeemer, was adopted into His family, and thereby became sons of God, the brother in black was likewise drawn and adopted, placed in the same category, with the same identical relationship to God.

On account of condition or circumstances one may ignore a brother by actions, and refuse to accord to him a brother's recognition, but it does not destroy the relationship. In the by-gone days the Baptist church was entered by white people by repentance, regeneration and baptism by a properly authorized administrator. The colored people did the same, or entered the church the same way. I assure you, that with your humble servant there is nothing pleasant in recalling the past, fraught with such indifference as may appear in discussing this subject, but history says that we are now 100 years old, and the world presumes that when one has lived so long, when he talks the truth should be told. So, if in this discussion you should get a glimpse of anything dark and unworthy of a Baptist, you will pardon your servant, as this is the first hundred years he has seen.

In most of the white churches there was a colored element attached, who had sought the same Saviour under trying circumstances. They came with fear and trembling and related their experience, and if it met the approbation of their owners, who sometimes were Baptists and sometimes strangers to my God, they were given a pass and allowed to unite with the church, and thank God, sometimes indorsing him or her as a good, obedient “nigger.” Before the church they professed Christ; in the sight of the people they were buried in baptism, which made us brethren, and the white Baptists knew it, and they also knew that we as a mass didn't know it. So the time of our ignorance God may have winked at, but it left us brethren still, and sons of the same God.

If I may speak of individual treatment of this fraternity, the negro Baptists were quite as kind and polite as the white brother, for in the week the white Baptists called him Pete, Hamp and Bill, but sometimes on Sunday they would say Peter, Hampton and William, while this negro Baptist, in his presence, would invariably use the same title, “Master,” (behind his back something else, of course). Neither was perfect.

Where the colored people existed, their converts were baptized by the pastor in charge, who was (of course) the white Baptist. When he had gotten through dipping the white converts, in walked the colored proselyte and was buried in the same water; yea, sometimes in the same spot.

They worshipped in the same church edifice, occupying the seats in the rear. They sang the same songs the white Baptist sung, listened to the same sermon, joining in the service of song; but, I tell you, in this capacity they were not near so noisy as in these latter days.

After the white Baptist had been served with bread and wine, it was taken to the brother in color. Though a little late, it was the same supper prayed over by the same pastor.

DEAR BRETHREN.—What does all this mean? From whence cometh this people that compose this choir, which renders the sweet music which fills our hearts with praises and gratitude to God? Is it possible that this despised race has come to this? Is the oppressed just freed, and have made this wonderful progress? My thoughts have taken a retrospective view of the past, and have traversed Bethlehem's plain, where God's Son was born, and when that angelic choir sang in the air the sweetest music earth ever heard—“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will toward men.” We are but out upon the plains; we have just caught the ball that our fathers started to rolling an hundred years ago. Though they were illiterate, they preached the gospel of the Son of God as best they could. They understood clearly this truth: “One Lord, one faith, and one baptism;” and, bless God, in one hundred years we have caught the sweet old story.

All nationalities have days to celebrate in honor of some historical event. The negro Baptists of Georgia were organized into a church in this grand old Forest City one hundred years ago, and we have come from the mountains and from the valleys to celebrate it with thanksgiving to God for keeping an oppressed people, and enabling them to “contend so earnestly for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.” I feel highly honored to be thought worthy to take part in such a grand affair, though I feel my inability to perform the task that was assigned me. While I attempt to discuss this topic—the relationship that now exists between the white and negro Baptists—I am here with prejudice toward none, but brotherly love for all.

Israel of old was persecuted and ostracized, but the God who has always fought the battles of His chosen, and caused them to be victorious over all their oppositions, was with them. Our God fought our battles through the darkest days of slavery. We are not the only people who have undergone religious persecution. As far back as 1535, when the Roman church attempted to persecute the Huguenots, the priests obtained the “royal edict” from the King to totally suppress the printing of the Bible. Their effort to turn the world back failed then, and will fail now. Furthermore, I would not attempt to discuss the subject of social equality. No, not I. I am only here to speak for an oppressed people, and of our religious affiliation. We are brethren of the same family.

There is one thing you'll not find among the negro Baptists that is found among the white Baptists. Among the negroes there are very few Free Will Baptists and open communionists. They believe that the Lord Jesus instituted the supper for none but converted and legally baptized disciples, that is, by immersion, and this baptism must be performed by the proper administrator—one who has been legally baptized according to the faith of the gospel. Have you not seen, in all of your life, in a family, two brothers, one blessed with this world's goods, and the other seemed as if fate was against him? And on account of popular sentiment that brother who was blessed with this world's goods scorned the brother who was not blessed with the same, but through whose veins ran the same blood, for he was the son of the same father and mother. Yet he could not resist popular sentiment, and had to treat him as though be were not. And when he had company, instead of his unfortunate brother feeling welcome to come in at the front gate was forced to go in at the back gate. Instead of being permitted to enter the house to engage with the guests upon the subjects under consideration, was debarred from these privileges.

Our white Baptist brethren do not deny our relation through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, but popular sentiment is so much against social equality that our brethren are afraid to allow us religious affiliation for fear that it might be termed social equality. Yet they do recognize us as brethren, for we are one in doctrine and church ordinances. Not that I don't believe that our white Baptist brethren are interested in us; far be that from me; for they have shown their interest by the appointment of Rev. Dr. McIntosh to labor among the ministers and deacons of our churches, and his work has redounded to the glory of God and to the uplifting of our people, for which I say, “Bless God.”

In their coöperation with our Conventional Board at the last session of the Southern Baptist Convention held in Baltimore, Md., a resolution was passed looking to the establishment of a better feeling between the white and negro Baptists of the South, for which we are grateful. But take us in our religious assemblies, such as our conventions and associations, where fraternal delegates or corresponding messengers are sent. When they send them to our bodies we receive them gladly and accord them brotherly affiliation; but when we visit their bodies in like capacity, instead of being treated as brethren our names are received and we are given back seats as usual. Dear brethren, I say this not in a harsh mood, but my authority for entertaining this as a breach of our relation as the great Baptist family of this grand old Empire State of the South is from the great head of this family.

St. John, xv., 12-17: “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: and whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.”

This is my authority. I am sure that the Lord Jesus Christ hath given this world into the hands of his recognized church. I believe He hath divided it off geographically, and commissioned his church, irrespective of color, to take the part allotted them—the north her part, the east her part, the south her part and the west her part; and this Baptist banner must wave over this world, as the star-spangled banner waveth over these United States. But we cannot conquer, and carry this world to the Lord Jesus Christ, while we allow these little petty differences to separate us. “In union there is strength.” In armies the generals should be in union, and should meet and consult with each other as to the best way of attacking their enemies. The Lord Jesus has committed His church into the hands of the ministry, and they must watch for souls, as to the Master they must give account.

Now as to the white and colored pastors: Do we meet in council, and advise one another relative to the work of the Master, or do we stand aloof from each other? Do we grasp each other by the hands as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, or do we pass each other as mere strangers? In large cities, to some extent they meet their brethren in council, when called on, and if not in company, on the streets they will speak; but in most of the smaller towns, where prejudice runs higher, they pass you by as a mere stranger. I have lived in towns in this State where a white pastor who had negro members in his church passed them by as mere strangers. But I must speak of a model pastor, Rev. J. H. Kilpatrick, D. D., pastor of White Plains Baptist Church, who would not pass his brethren by without a word of advice and brotherly greeting. Rev. Mr. Eden and a few others have the same christian spirit.

The success of our cause depends largely upon the generals; therefore there should be perfect love in our ranks, as we are commanders-in-chief, for love among the generals will create love among the soldiers. I now close by reading you the following poem, composed by Mr. P. R. Butler, of Augusta, Ga.:

There have arisen in the North many societies looking to the amelioration of the condition of the negroes in the South, the abolitionists and other kindred associations. They have done a good work, for which we are profoundly grateful; but that society which endeavored to give us the word of God and thereby educate our morals, sweeten our character, and lift up our people to heaven and God must be greater than them all.

Among the institutions that have done most for us in this line is the American Baptist Publication Society. He who protects my manhood commands my respect and admiration; he who ameliorates my condition should have my support; he who refines my manners and trains my thinking faculties makes me a better citizen; he who educates me arms me for future usefulness to mankind, adds new charms to civilization, and lends science a welcome student and advocate; he who gives me money adds to my comforts; he who gives me water slakes my thirst; he who gives me a home shelters my body; he who gives me raiment protects my body, but he who gives me the Bible puts eternal life in my reach. He brings God nearer to me, he draws me nearer to God. He protects and defends my soul. He gives me the bread of life, of which if a man eats he shall never hunger. He gives me the water of life, which shall be in me a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. He gives me that which shall build me up and which forms the basis of true character and manhood. Any structure which is not built upon the word of God will crumble and fall and be forgotten.

The American Baptist Publication Society has been for many years scattering broadcast over this land the word of God. Just what we would have done but for the American Baptist Publication Society we do not know, except that God would have in some way provided Himself a way of communicating His truth to fallen mankind. But since He has seen fit to use the American Baptist Publication Society as a mighty instrument in flooding the country with a knowledge of Jesus in many tracts and the Bible, pure and simple, let us support the society by patronizing it in the purchase of all of our religious literature and bless God for its existence. It is our society. We have never been ashamed to beg it, and the society has never been above helping us.

Many of our preachers have received libraries from this society, and hence the society has preached the gospel very effectually in Georgia through them. The more we support this society the stronger it will grow, and therefore be the better prepared to preach the gospel in Georgia, and doubtless will preach more effectually the glorious gospel of the Son of God in Georgia. The society has been scattering seeds of kindness for many years, and we must leave the grand story for eternity to tell of its pleasing, munificent and glorious harvest. Thank God, that this society did not forget the negroes while it was scattering blessings all around. The work of the society has been of incalculable good to the negroes, and should, as it does, form a very important part in our history.

I look forward with pleasing anticipation to the day when, in our Southland, the Publication Society will have a branch house in all of the large Southern cities, managed by competent, honest and faithful negroes. This state of things will not come in the natural order of things. It is too pure a gem to be found lying promiscuously around on the ground. It must be dug up, for it is deep down, locked in the womb of the future. I confess that we have not deserved this recognition yet, but as we are the children of the future, it is not, in my opinion, raising the standard too high to aim at it. I oppose unmerited recognition in church or state. I think it is injurious to the recipients and unwise in the bestower. We can merit it, and whatever we merit we can demand. We need a wiser organization and concentration of our forces. We need more system in giving. We must urge a constant giving. The work of the Lord is a life-time business, and however much a person may do to-day there is something for him to do to-morrow, except he dies. We must cure our people of a spasmodic giving. The christian's work is no more spasmodic than his life is. No people have gone to success in a day. No person can enjoy what is given as he can that which is earned.

We ought to set apart a day, at least once a year, to take a collection in all of our churches for the Publication Society. When our patronage to the society and our wisdom to manage affairs shall be fully attested, I doubt not the inevitable conclusion that the recognition about which I have spoken will follow, as the irresistible fruit of well-doing. The churches should be very careful about the character of literature that is used in their Sunday schools. The society is endeavoring to put the gospel in reach of the children, to do which it has employed missionaries in almost every State to do Sunday school work. The work done among children in the Sunday school promises to yield the richest harvest. Those who reach the children with the gospel reach and bless the nation at home. The society is doing this, and hence is reaching the children at home early in the morning before they go out to play, and to prepare them for bruises, temptations and duties of the day. This is almost saving the nation in the cradle. The man who is leading this great society is the Rev. Dr. Griffith, whom I now, with unfeigned pleasure, present you as the speaker of this hour. May God bless you, my brother, and the great society he has called you to lead. May your fruit abound unto holiness, and the end an everlasting life, and when on earth our work is done, may we be gathered home to the saints' rest, where the sower and the reaper shall rejoice together. Then shall you and the faithful host you have and are leading never regret your labors in the vineyard of the Lord. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” God bless your labor, for Jesus' sake.

It becomes my duty this morning to address you upon the subject, “The American Baptist Publication Society and its Work for the Colored People.” This institution is the offspring, or grew out of the Tract Society, established in 1824, as the result of the mature consideration of earnest and faithful-hearted men and women, of what was then regarded as the great need of the Baptists. For the establishment of the Tract Society a meeting was called. Only eighteen men and seven women responded; and there, in that meeting, after prayerful deliberation, the Baptist General Tract Society, now the American Baptist Publication Society, was formed. Perhaps those noble-hearted pioneers had no greater object in view than the issuing of tracts for the special benefit of the unsaved, and to unify the Baptist family the land over. But God, in whose name the work was begun, granted His benediction upon the feeble undertaking, so that this and still other objects have been successfully prosecuted by it. That the formation of this institution is the work of God through human agencies we cannot have the least hesitation, if its history is to be considered. Its existence, seemingly, is proof of its continuance, though in the beginning it had very severe trials. At times its dissolution seemed sure and sudden, because of financial embarrassments. While those christian brethren, then in front of the institution, saw the almost inevitable catastrophe that hung just over this well-begun work, they were about to abandon hope. Doubtless they prayed to God for help, and in answer to their prayers, from some unexpected and perhaps unknown sources money was sent them for the prosecution of their work. Then there began to beam a ray of hope, that nerved them to more determined efforts. The work was God's, and He raised up friends everywhere to come to its rescue, till, in 1840, when was felt the need of increasing its labors, the name of the “Baptist General Tract Society” was dropped, and the society began to exist under the name of the “American Baptist Publication Society,” assuming, at the same time, the great work of caring for the Sunday schools and the publication of books. Under that name it still exists, being under the skillful management of wise and faithful men, led, as was Israel of old, by a pillar of cloud by day and by a pillar of fire by night, until it has become the pride of the Baptist denomination in America.

The organization of the society was as the seed sown in good ground: it sprung up; though surrounded by thorns and thistles, it grew; the winds blew upon it and shook it, but its roots clung downwards firmer and firmer to the ground, taking hold on rocks, and its branches reared toward heaven. The thorns, thistles and tempest served to strengthen it, till at last we have an institution—in respect of its growth, its success in furthering its object, and the good accomplished by it—that stands peer to any institution of its kind anywhere. It unmistakably meets the great exigencies of the Baptist denomination. Its books, tracts, periodicals and papers ought to be found in every home, Sunday school and church of the Baptist family.

Books are to man as company. How many characters trained in the right direction have been switched off the track by associating with bad company? And how many weak Baptist parents and children have been led away from the faith of the Baptists by studying at their homes and Sunday schools literature other than Baptist? To check this tide of floating annoyance we must place into the hands and homes of our great denomination literature that breathes the very doctrines and sentiments of the Baptists. This emergency the American Baptist Publication Society meets. Its publications are strictly Baptistic, and tend to unify the Baptist family in doctrine and sentiment. Its accomplishment in this direction cannot be reckoned. Who can realize the good that results from the distribution of religious tracts and the thousands of Bibles given away by this institution to poor individuals and schools annually. By these means thousands of souls have been converted, and have become faithful and conscientious members of the Baptist church. An exceeding great multitude of immortal souls snatched from eternal ruin, stands to evince the incalculable worth to the denomination. Ministers of the gospel and Sabbath school workers have received from the society gratuitously many very valuable books, which have been of great worth to them in the prosecution of their work. The Sunday school literature published by the society, such as the international series, have been and are of inestimable worth to the denomination, not only in leading the young to Christ, but in establishing them in the doctrines of the Bible and instructing the old, so that they are not to be moved by every wind of doctrine.

The society has not manifested prejudice in its methods of work. Its labors are not confined to the American soil, nor to white Baptists, nor to negro Baptists. Its motto has been “Onward to Conquest.” It has pushed its work across the ocean into Sweden, France, Italy, Turkey, Switzerland, Africa and other countries, so that on every hand they are constantly cheered with the news of the glorious results of their labors. The society's work among the negro Baptists of these United States, according to their ability, has been cheering. They have given our Sunday schools thousands of dollars' worth of Bibles and other reading matter. They have now in nearly every State and Territory missionaries and colporteurs traveling in every direction, and everywhere preaching the gospel and organizing Sunday schools and churches, giving to those not able to buy the Bible the Word of God. Who can estimate the good done by this institution for our people? Only God. Here we were when emancipated with but a small percentage of general culture. Though we were Baptists, we were unintelligent. A compromising, a sort of anything-will-do-Baptists. With such to contend with, there is no telling where we would have landed. Perhaps we would have lost our substance, having nothing left us but the mere hull or name Baptist. Doubtless we would have been a little of every denomination. We can but thank God for the successful work of the society among us as negro Baptists in assisting us to do our work intelligently. It has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. When we laid by the wayside, torn, bleeding and powerless, gripped in the poisonous talons of ignorance and superstition, the society, Good Samaritanlike, took us up, and is still strengthening us in our weakness to go forward in the great work assigned us. It is everywhere dispensing its liberalities, leading a host to Christ and the doctrines which he has taught.

Never should we allow ourselves to think that this noble institution belongs to the white Baptists of America alone, but to us as well, though managed by white brethren. Its books, periodicals and other literature are as accessible to us at the same charges as to them. Its charities are as freely extended to us as to them. It can and has already done more for us than it can ever hope to be remunerated, and is still making greater efforts to build up our people.

This presumes that Baptists believe the Bible in a peculiar manner, or in an altogether emphatic sense, and this is true. This is the very matter of my contention.

All christians profess to believe the Bible, especially the Protestant christians.

Chillingworth's immortal words have been accepted as the motto of nearly all denominations—“The Bible! The Bible!” the religion of Protestants, and yet the motto belongs to Baptists with a propriety which other bodies of christians can not claim justly.

Baptists found their pretensions on the Bible, derive from the Bible their tenets, and appeal to the Bible as the justification of their practices.

To go into particulars, Baptists believe

1. That the Bible is truly inspired, that it is God's own book—God breathed. They believe that holy men of old wrote it as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. They do not hold it simply the best of books, the greatest of books, but as a divine book. They maintain not simply that it contains a revelation of God's will, but that it is such a revelation. I do not mean to enter upon theories of inspiration, whether oral or dynamic, whether sacred writers were simply the penmen and amanuenses of the Holy Spirit, or wrote freely under a simple divine illumination and impulse. All that I insist on now is that the Bible is truly the Word of God, and as such, is distinguished from all other books.

No work of human genius approaches it or is like it. Some parts of the Bible no doubt are more valuable than other parts, but this is no disparagement of it as being inspired throughout.

The Baptists believe that the Bible is a finished book—that the sacred canon is completed. They do not believe in a progressive revelation or a progressive orthodoxy. They grant, indeed that the Bible may be more truly interpreted, but they deny that additions have been made or will be made to the substance of its teachings.

Not a few so-called christians in our day hold that the Bible is inspired only as all works of high genius are inspired, such as those of Shakspeare and Milton. Far away from this opinion is the Baptist estimate of the Bible.

2. Baptists believe that the Bible is the sole and sufficient directory in religious faith and practice.

Roman Catholics believe in the Bible, but they put the church and Pope above it. Many exalt what they call the “Christian consciousness” above the Bible, or to a level with it, and practically say that we are to believe the Bible only so far as it harmonizes with our own judgment and feelings. We cannot help thinking and saying that it is through an imperfect faith in the Bible with some denominations that sprinkling has taken the place of immersion in the act of baptism, and that infants' baptism has been introduced into the church, and that aristocratic forms of church government has been allowed to supplant the simple democracy of the New Testament.

Baptists reject all human authority on the formation, creeds and rules and conduct, and claim that the Bible is the first and last appeal in religious matters.

3d. Baptists believe that the Bible is a simple book, easily understood by persons of the right spirit. The Bible is its own interpreter. Hence, Baptists believe in the right of private judgment, the sacred and inviolable rights which they have been the defenders of unto death.

Let us beware of making the Bible an idol or of thinking that its mere presence in the house is enough. Baptists believe, as to the Bible, that it will be of no avail unless it pass into practice, etc. We thank God for the Bible and for salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, and for the gift of the holy spirit to enlighten our minds. May our centennial celebration be one of success and great joy, and redound to the glory of God, and to the advancement of our Redeemer's kingdom on earth.

I feel myself somewhat flattered in having been called on to speak on so grand and momentous a subject as the gospel ministry.

Permit me to say the called minister of God stands paramount to all men in Christendom.

The Governor of State, the President of States, Kings of their domains, and the Queen, with her crown, must adhere to the humble minister of Christ. For it is by him that the word of God must be preached. This being a fact, he ought to be a man of character. When I use the word character, I mean as referred to men. Character is what the man is, and stands far above reputation, which men will give and seek to take away. Character is a God-given property, and every person once in life has it. In speaking of character, I mean all the adjuncts that go to form it—virtue, sobriety and integrity. These must need be in every preacher who would succeed.

1. I now call your attention to an example found in the Bible. Barnabas, who is worthy of emulation, is called the son of consolation. During the terrible persecutions in the days of the Martyrs, Stephen and the brethren were scattered abroad. The church at Jerusalem sent their son of consolation, for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith, and much people was added to the Lord.

If the standard of the ministry was lifted higher, by having good men, full of the Holy Ghost and faith, thus with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost on our side, we cannot but succeed to wage war against sin and the devil.

2. I mean to say that he was not only a christian, but good in the common sense of the word. He was eminently good. This epithet is often given as a sneer. But not so with Barnabas. He was good in principle. He, like the Apostle Paul, did not value himself upon those things wherein he differed from other men, but gloried in those principles which he possessed that were common to every good man. The inspired apostle says that he gloried in those things which he had that were common to all men—charity, (that is, love), as used in the new version. “Wherever there is love, goodness is her eldest daughter.” Barnabas loved God; hence he was willing to do good for the cause of Christ. The people heard him, because he was a good man, working for a good cause. Let us, like Barnabas, be ready for every good work, and then churches will look for us, and save us the embarrassing trouble of looking for them.

Brother ministers, the chief thing we should value is character. All men should keep a circumspect eye over it. We live in a busy age, in which the snare of the great arch fiend of hell may take us unawares. A nail driven through a plank knocks out nature's grain, and all the putty and paint the most skilled chemist may make cannot put nature's mark back. Nor can a fallen minister fully reach the place from whence he has fallen. One ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Stay up, and you will not have to get up.

Character must be valued at home in your own family circle. If you walk not close with God there you will not be able to work for him elsewhere. It is at home and around your own fireside that true judgment is set.

I. Goodness is one of the strongest attributes that goes to make character, and beyond a doubt every minister ought to have this epithet attached to his name. Shakspeare says there is nothing in a name, but Solomon says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.

II. Barnabas was full of the Holy Spirit, and so must he be who heralds this glorious gospel of the Most High God. The Holy Spirit sometimes denote His extraordinary gifts, as in Acts, xix, where the Apostle Paul puts the question to some believers in Christ whether they had received the Holy Ghost. But here it signifies His indwelling and ordinary operation, or what is elsewhere called an unction from the Holy One. It is very needful, my brethren, that he who preaches the word of God should be filled with the Holy Ghost from on high. God is a spirit and seeketh such to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Unless the man of God is spiritually minded he can not communicate with God, Who is all spirit. He who metes out the word of life must live nearer to God, that he may be well qualified to teach his fellow-man the deep things of God, which are only discerned by spiritually minded men. This is a fact that can not be eradicated. The man who bears this heavenly news to lost sinners must be richly imbued with the vital spirit from heaven. He will guide the subservient minister in the way of truth.

III. The minister of Christ who wills to succeed must be full of faith. The word “faith” is difficult to understand, though it has been used ever since the fall of man. It is hard to ascertain with precision the real meaning and extent of this term. We have it “ trust,” “confide,” and, in Hebrew, “to lean on.” Therefore he who teaches the gospel of the Son of God must lean on Him for succor, for He is a present help in the time of need. We must pray to God and read the Bible with faith that we may be well-gospeled ourselves.

IV. The ministers of to-day must be educated, or they will be forced from their pulpits by the rising pews. The negro ministers of this period fill a peculiar office. One part of their congregation is not educated. The other wants to hold to old custom. The third part has some education, or are educated. They all must be reached. The old fathers and mothers who have gone before us have laid well the foundation for us to build upon; therefore they must be kept alive. The young must be trained, for they are our future hope of the negro race. The old saying, “Open your mouth and God will fill it,” will not do for this progressive age. He who preaches the gospel must know how by ardent study. The inspired apostle, moved upon by the divine inspiration, said to Timothy in his last writing: “Study to show thyself a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

The minister should be well informed before he enters the pastorate. The word of God must be a living power in the minister, that he may be elected, and thereby elect his fallen brothers, who are sailing over life's ocean amid the breakers that may cause an eternal wreck. Long-winded tales, false zeal and stamping of feet will not preach the gospel, my brethren. Thus saith the word of holy writ: “If a man, therefore, purge himself from these, he is a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the Master's use, and purified unto every good work.”

V. Dignity.—This means “above,” and as the ministry is a high calling, it behooves the minister to be dignified. God has called him out of darkness into light; therefore, He Who is Light, has called the minister to walk in the effulgence of the Son of God. Dignity is not fine apparel nor flippant speech, but it means a rounded man, filled with all the principles that constitute a minister. The servant of God should do right at all times. “Be sure you are right, and then go ahead,” ever holding to your integrity. Christ has committed to his preachers his church. They stand next their Master, Who is pure and holy, and calls upon us to be holy, as He is holy. God has opened the way for his preachers. They tell the people how to come, that they may receive them.

Among the many things which call forward the men of this generation upon the stage there is nothing more important than the temperance movement. And as the sacred duty of speaking to you upon so important a subject is imposed upon me, I purpose to speak to you of the evils of intemperance.

Intemperance is one of the most formidable agents the devil has ever commissioned; the principal outcome of the pandemonium council of hell.

In 1865 the proclamation of peace and freedom was published throughout the land. The tolling bells pealed forth the glad news in almost human tones. Nor scarcely has the foot of man trodden upon the battle grounds of that eventful crisis that he has not thought of the precious blood that was shed for the purchase, of peace and the stability of the Union. It was a hot struggle, and all but exhausted the fount of American tears. All this, remember, was but for the adjustment of the government of the nation.

But even when this was done, there still remained a rotten beam in the fabric of the nation's fame—Intemperance; for the untamed flames of this infernal fiend still burns in our famous cities, humble hamlets, and prosperous communities, and by which judges, lawyers, doctors, statesmen and clergymen are being consumed.

We may boast of our halls of science, art, and literature, and of the ten thousand temples which rise and point to heaven, silently proclaiming man's fellowship with angels in the skies. We may boast of civilization, and of such triumphs and trophies as the earth has never seen amid the countless number of thrones and empires of glorious birth. But, sir, until this blighting curse is removed, our social and national greatness is at stake.

Considering the present state of society, where shall we go to find peace and freedom? The tippler and rum-seller may cry, “Here is peace,” or “There is peace;” but there is no peace where men live within the “iron grasp” of this diabolical foe. They plead the rights of personal liberty. I am on the side of every man who pleads the rights of personal liberty, provided he agrees to abide the divine law of personal liberty. That law prohibits an infringement either directly or indirectly upon the rights of other men. And, if I could speak of personal liberty as the boundary of the United States, I would say personal liberty is bounded on the north by the rights of others, on the east by the rights of others, on the south by the rights of others, and on the west by the rights of others. Cross this boundary line, and you affect the moral and social progress of humanity. Sir, if this is not the condition of America, I beg leave to be silent.

There need be no display of hygienic knowledge to prove the evils of intemperance. Go where dwell the victims of intemperance, and there you will see “houses without windows, gardens without fences, fields without tillage, children without clothing, schooling, morals or manners; and could the ghosts of many a lost son and daughter come back to earth to-day, they would never rest until they clenched their fiery fingers into the souls of their drunkard fathers and mothers, and drag them down among the damned and doomed. Look at the dynasties it has overthrown, the nations of which it has been the downfall, and by which the church has lost many of her brightest sons and daughters. Dionysius, King of Syracuse, went to the expense of his throne and lived a slave to the disgraceful habit of drinking. Alexander, when he had conquered the world, and prayed for more worlds to conquer, at last, conquered by intemperance, went from the imperial throne down to a drunkard's grave. Shakspeare, Byron, Burns, Lamb, Goldsmith, and many others of like ability, died slaves to the cup. These are a few examples of the past, but let us return to the occurrences of our own time.

The expense of making and selling intoxicating liquors in this country is enormous. In 1880, the expense of manufacturing and selling intoxicating liquors, the cost of time and money lost by the drinker, and the accidents it caused, was estimated at the sum of $1,200,000,000 per year. Do you ask, “Who were they who expended their time and this vast sum?” I answer, that class of people who constitute the staff of this country— the laborers. But who can tell the number of the infinite millions lost? Of “years, fortunes, talents, honors, positions, characters, homes, comforts and lives lost?” Heaven alone knows the awful record.

Intemperance is nine-tenths the cause of murder, criminality and pauperism, the insanity of powerful minds—minds which might have moulded and shaped the opinions of nations—and could we but redeem the financial results of this black demon, and call the slumbering drunkards from their graves, we might repeople an empty world, make states, build kingdoms, erect religious and social institutions, and dedicate them to the honor and glory of God. But alas, they are forever beyond the confines of time.

It was the rum traffic which deprived us of our freedom in our fatherland—the dearest pledge of our existence. It has been the price of the negroes' influence in the government of this great republic, the perversion of legislation, and a bar to the administration of justice. Shall we undervalue these God-given powers and exchange them for the “fool's pence?” Can we afford to sell our “birthrights for a mess of vile, blood-red pottage?” God forbid! The voice of mothers, widows and orphans now pleads for freedom at the bar of civilization; they bend the knee at the feet of statesmen on the very threshold of the Senate chamber. Can we hold our peace? Exterminate this hydra-headed monster, and society will be renovated, public school houses, colleges, universities and churches will rise upon its ruins, more means and men will be raised for the redemption of fallen humanity.

This is the individual, public, national and religious battle of the nineteenth century, and we must stem the current, however rapid, and under the white banner of prohibition lift men and women above the billows of drink, and with dauntless courage of duty make the world ring with our repeated strokes until this worst of foes lies vanquished at our feet. Then may we sing to the Author of Liberty sweet freedom's song from pole to pole.

I am, by the appointment of your committee, to address you at this hour on “The Duty of the Pastor to The Church,” but in order to define that duty, we must define the true relation between the pastor and the church. This can be done only by first clearly understanding the terms of the contract between the church and the pastor.

Therefore, if the church has the right to make a contract with the pastor, that right must depend upon the legal and lawful existence of the church itself as God's agent. This position must be defined in accordance with God's word. Dr. J. N. Brown says: “A gospel church is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His law, and exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His word.”

It is clear that the only scriptural head or leader of the church is a trained bishop, elder or pastor, whose qualifications, claims and duties, are defined in the epistle of Timothy and Titus, (I. Tim., iii, 1-8): “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, less being lifted up with pride he fall 5 into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”

Titus, i, 5-8: “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre.”

These two passages, with many others that might be quoted, are conclusive evidence that the office of the ministry is of divine appointment; the great duty of the pastor is to pasture or feed the flock of God—the church.

Having shown that the office of pastor is one of divine appointment, we will now endeavor to define the word “Church,” employing the language of some of the best writers.

The Greek word for “church” signifies generally an assembly, either common or religious, and it is sometimes so translated, as in Acts, xix, 32, 39. In the New Testament it means a congregation of baptized believers in Christ, as in Matthew, xvi, 18: “And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” This reference must be to the christian church of baptized believers, regularly and orderly constituted after the divine pattern. Heb, xxii, 23: “To the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all.”

It seems to me useless to quote other passages to prove that the church and ministry are of divine appointment. This fact is accepted by the christian world.

The christian minister, with his divine commission in his hand, and the church, as God's only instrumentality in the conversion of the world, are to be married to each other in divine and christian wedlock, in accordance with the divine plan, which was ordained of God from the foundation of the world, as the best and only way of converting the world from sin unto salvation. The divine order, then, is church and pastor.

This relation should always be formed in the most prayerful and deliberate manner. Out of the union thus entered into arise the responsibilities and duties of the pastor to the church. He in no sense holds the relation of a mere hireling, who is to perform a certain amount of work for so many dollars and cents, and if he happens not to please the deacons in everything is to be discharged at their will. While the pastor should always be well paid, the relation goes beyond dollars and cents. It is a moral and spiritual relation of the deepest and most sacred character, which is sanctioned and approved by the great Head of the Church.

The minister is the under-shepherd, overseer, leader and bishop of the flock of God. Acts, xx., 28: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock of God, over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He has purchased with His own blood.” Now, out of this most beautiful and tender relation above stated, grows the duty and responsibility of the pastor to the church.

1. It is the pastor's first duty to the church to feed the flock with spiritual food, by the constant and faithful administration of the word of Christ, without regard to favors or frowns.

2. He is bound to discharge his duty as pastor to every family in the church, rich or poor, by keeping a zealous watch over their spiritual welfare, in their homes and also in the church, and assisting in the settlement of all difficulties in the spirit of Christ, as far as it is possible for him to do.

3. The pastor has a special duty to the poor and sick, whom he should never overlook in his most tender spiritual administration.

4. It is the duty of the pastor to overlook all of the affairs of the church, and keep himself informed as to the condition of every department of church work, and, from time to time, make such recommendation as will, in his judgment, improve the condition of the church, either spiritually or financially.

5. It is the duty of the pastor, under the authority of the word of God, to take the entire leadership and oversight of the church, and, if by any rule of the church, he is deprived of his gospel rights, he is not in the truest sense pastor, but merely a “supply.”

6. It is the duty of the pastor to give to the church, on each Lord's day, carefully prepared sermons; he should never go before his people without thorough preparation.

7. It is the duty of the pastor to cultivate a spirit of love and kindness toward all the members of his church, with a view of making his administration as pastor a blessing to the cause of Christ.

8. It is the duty of the pastor to so conduct himself in all of his dealings with the church as to hold the confidence and respect of the whole church, if it be possible; but it is not his duty to relinquish the high responsibility of his office to please a few church “cranks” and constitutional grumblers, which may be found in all churches.

Without argument to prove it, were that argument necessary, let us agree that the church is a divine organization; that it is a body of organized christian believers; that it is more than a mere society, more than a simple lodge, or order of whatever character. It is not only after the divine pattern, but it is that pattern. Regenerate believers in Christ, “those that gladly received His word,” compose the church. It is not complete in its organization without a pastor. No body of christians, calling themselves a church, has the right to dispense with the services of a minister. Not any more could a church do so than it could dispense with religious worship, or the other officers of a church.

In life, men sustain relationships. We all are debtors, one to another. Men are mutually dependent. Man is only partially an independent being; for most of his life he is dependent on his fellow-men. But there is no relationship more important and sacred than that which exists between a church and its pastor. A true pastor is a friend, and a true friend is a rare possession. The relationship between friends is essentially close.

The relationship of husband and wife is sacred. They are one, and yet they are two. Both the same, and yet both different. But these relationships between friend and friend, husband and wife, suffer somewhat in comparison with that relation subsisting between the pastor and the church. The marriage estate is for this life alone. The relationship between pastor and church is spiritual; hence it has to do with the future state—eternity—and in this is superior.

What is the duty of the church to the pastor?

First, let us see the relation between the church and pastor.

It is said that the pastor's duty to the church is parallel to that of the shepherd in the eastern country, whose duty it is to feed the sheep, lift up the fainting, care for the sick and infirm, take up the tender lambs and fold them in his arms. It is the duty of the pastor to care for the sick and bereaved, and, best of all, should bring them a fresh supply for every day's want.

Therefore, the church being the recipient of his labors of love, it is her duty to reciprocate the same.

The question which your committee has assigned me for treatment at this hour is one which so impresses me with its profundity that all of my powers are invoked to impress you with its importance. In the midst of this nineteenth century, an age of religious tolerance and denominational activity; an age when christendom is at rest, and not convulsed by the throes and horrors of a French revolution, or the ascendency of Catholicism over Protestantism; an age when all denominations are energetic, and seeking by conquest to make proselytes 2 of the Gentiles by planting every corner of the globe with their emissaries; an age when a desire to open up commercial intercourse with the unexplored heathen lands is screened behind the efforts of the various denominations to plant missionaries; yea, at a time when pious, well informed christian young men and women are in demand—it is in the midst of such circumstances and under such influences that I find it impossible to suppress the interrogation, “What is our duty toward the Baptist institutions of our country?” In this centennial year of the colored Baptists of Georgia, and at this very moment, I hail this occasion as one for veneration and congratulation, to stand in the presence of these old fathers and time-honored Baptist veterans, to whom the solution of this question is an issue of most vital concern.

The first duty we owe, therefore, to our Baptist institutions is to see that they are officered by a faculty of christian men and women thoroughly indoctrinated in Baptist principles and possessing a high order of intellectual ability, and that general fitness for the profession of which allows no embarrassment when they are thrown into competition with the other denominational and educational institutions of our country. Such an institution, so officered, and so planted upon the hill top of Georgia, will be like the handful of corn upon the top of the mountain, yea, it will serve as a sentinel at the doors of ignorance, and the matured fruits thereof shall shake like Lebanon dispensing their heavenly benedictions throughout the land.

All institutions must grow or they will retrograde into obsolete insignificance. A grain of corn must be brought in contact with the elements of the fertile soil, receive the farmer's cultivation and care, receive the fruitful seasons and the early dews from heaven before we are permitted to behold the appearance of the shoot, the stalk, the blade and the full fruitage of golden corn. The benefactions accruing from our Baptist institutions are not unlike the grain of corn in the needs and dependence for parental care as they move from the stage of incipiency into that of efficient manhood.

That we may be the better instructed as to our duty toward our Baptist institutions, let us ask ourselves the questions, “How stand our schools, and what influence are they exercising throughout the United States?”

According to the educational report of Dr. Henry L. Moorhouse, we have denominational schools planted at Washington, D. C.: at Richmond, Va.; at Raleigh, N. C.; Columbia, S. C.; Atlanta, in Georgia; at Live Oak, in Florida; Selma, in Alabama; at Nashville, in Tennesse; at Louisville, in Kentucky; Natchez, in Mississippi; New Orleans, in Louisiana; Marshall, in Texas, and at Tahlequah, in the Indian Territory. All of these schools are doing much to materialize that portion of the Master's vineyard in which they are most fortunately planted. But noticeable among them in efficiency and utility, we can point with pride to the Wayland Seminary, at Washington, the Shaw University, at Raleigh; the Roger Williams University; the Spellman and Atlanta Baptist Seminaries, both of which are situated at Atlanta. These institutions are sending hundreds of trained young men and women into all the avenues of life, and, as teachers, ministers, mechanics and master-hands in the different professions, they take very enviable rank, and the presence of this august, venerable and grave assemblage of Baptists, with the men and women trained at our schools prominent among its leaders, claim this to be ample attestation of the fact that our schools are doing a work that shall yet tell in ages—tell for God.

Again, we must congratulate ourselves upon the fact that all these institutions are located in the South, where colored Baptists propagate, promulgate and multiply in a ten-fold ratio. They are placed, as it were, at our doors in easy access to all of our Baptist families. Such is the advantage of the present age over the past. But with all of these advantages, we must yet ask the question, have these institutions done all they could, and if not, what is still our duty toward the Baptist institutions of our country?

One of the primal duties of the Baptists of Georgia is to supply our well-equipped institutions with a larger amount of raw material, in the shape of untutored boys and girls hailing from Baptist families.

The newest statistical reports give to our State above 166,000 Baptists. Let us suppose one-tenth of this mighty army is composed of Baptist children, and we shall have above 16,000 Baptist children to fill our universities and seminaries.

Again, according to this census, the school population of the State of Georgia alone was 520,416. It is reasonable and fair to suppose that the children from Baptist families constitute at least one-tenth of the school population, and we should have for our institutions above 52,000 Baptist children. Suffer me to advance still another supposition. Suppose circumstances rendered it possible and practicable for but half of this 16,000 children to attend our seminaries, we should then have 8,000 children growing up at the feet of Baptist Gamaliels, learning wisdom.

But the facts show in regard to the education of our boys and girls that at the Baptist Seminary this scholastic year, about 150 pupils were enrolled. At the Spellman the enrollment reached 600 girls; in all about 750 pupils at our two schools. Not 1,000 boys and girls in our Georgia institutions. Where are the Baptist children of our State? Is it not possible that more can be done to fill our seminaries? Fathers, mothers, and lovers of this glorious cause, we are in a large measure responsible for the attendance at our schools.

In the United States there are 18,000,000 children of school age. As Baptists, let us see to it that a fair and substantial number of this throng is captured by our denominational schools. But, venerable sirs, our institutions will not stand alone, if they are not fostered by the maternal care of that people by whom and for whom they were created. And in order that their years may be crowned with goodness, and that their paths may flourish and drop fatness, so that they may be potentialities, energizing the communities in which they are planted, the chief articles of sustenance which they need to strengthen their vitality are dollars and prayers. Dollars, in order that the temporal prerequisites and the wants of the physical may be fully met; prayers, in order that divine unction from heaven may be distilled, like early dews, to bless the efforts which our schools and seminaries are putting forth, to garner in a large harvest for the Baptist church and for God. And may we not conjecture that when the great day of reckoning shall come, when the quick and the dead shall stand before the Great Judge, to have their records reviewed, may we not indulge the conjecture that denominations, as well as individuals, shall be held accountable for the work they have done?

Let it not be said of us: “You wicked and slothful Baptists, depart from me.” Many of our churches are calling for trained ministers, deeply steeped in all scriptural knowledge, and with an appointment from above. For such a class of workers the demand is far greater than the supply. As Baptists, let us train up a greater supply of ministerial timber. The hour is at hand when many of our churches are calling for a better-informed ministry. Yea, the things and empty customs of the past have passed away. And the present, with all its modern demands, is upon us. These recruits to our ministerial ranks must file in from our schools. Each Sunday school, each church, each benevolent society should be interested in some worthy and promising member, or members, of their organization, and shoulder the responsibility of sending them to our seminaries, and furnishing them with a liberal supply of dollars and prayers. It is only in this way that the latent elements are to be drawn out.

In discussing the subject that has been assigned me by your committee on programme, I ask your attention to James, ii, 22: “Seest thou how faith wrought with His works, and by works was faith made perfect.”

Here the purity of the church and its works are indicated. The church must first be pure in its faith. If the faith of the church is not pure its works can not be, since faith actuates to works. If the church would be pure in its faith its doctrines around which faith must twine must be pure. The center of the doctrines of the church must be Christ crucified. If the church would be pure in its faith it must cling eternally to this. The church can not be pure in its faith if it countenances affinities. The church should not tolerate members who believe in and work for societies.

The great subject of the gospel is the history of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this wonderful personage we have a character which stands alone in all history the most spotless, the sublimest, the brightest and best. The life which He led was the most wonderful and blameless. The morality, which He taught was the purest and most elevated. The death which crowned His wonderfully useful life was the most shameful, agonizing, and yet most sublime the world has ever witnessed. So He laid the pattern for all the faithful who would in all ages follow Him. He has not led the way into affinities, and how dare His followers to go into them and covenant with unbelievers without His example. By the power of the example of Christ, the triumph of His death, He has laid the foundation of a kingdom the working and purity of which embraces the strength and commands the homage of every civilized nation upon the globe, and against which the powers of hell can never prevail.

All the acts and purity of Jesus are wonderful, indeed, and hardly less wonderful are the purity and works of the true gospel church. Anti-Christs may rise to annoy and destroy the church, but it shall stand upon its pure foundation, upon Christ, the solid rock. The Baptist Church is the best prepared to give the world the pure gospel, as it is in Jesus. The church is to fight against impurity, and, therefore, should itself be pure. The church cannot be pure and have fellowship with the lodge. The ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ should not be members of the lodge, if they want a pure church. That the lodges are sapping the very life of the church, is a stubborn fact, and that ministers are taking part in them cannot be denied. What can be the object of these societies? Are they intended to glorify God? Are they of divine origin? Are they auxiliaries to the church? If so, who made them thus? Is not the church adapted to the wants of mankind, and is all that God wanted it to be? Has He required help at our hands by organizing secret societies? These societies and the church conflict, which is the surest proof that the societies are not divine, for there is no conflict in divine institutions. Government, both civil and ecclesiastic, are of divine origin, and these work together and accomplish different ends, but all to the good of man and the glory of God.

To claim that the lodge is of divine origin is simply preposterous, and wholly without foundation, as all authentic history will attest. Since the lodge is of human origin, it may go beyond the aims and purposes of its originators, and be productive of great evil; for man is a creature of mistakes. God alone makes no mistakes. Is the lodge the handmaid to the church? Is it the friend of the church, or is it antagonistic to the church? Does the lodge promote the morals of the people? Does it advance the spiritual interests of men? Does it work in line with the church in promoting man's truest and highest interest, or does it antagonize it? I assume, as is universally admitted, that the purposes of the church are right. I do not design to arraign the Almighty by so much as a question of its right and adaptation to an end worthy of its infinite Author. To antagonize the church is war upon the throne of God, and rebellion against His most righteous government.

Masonry claims to be a religious institution. It even claims universal adaptation to the wants of man—not as the christian religion and the church, suited to all classes, climes and countries—but adapted to all religions—open to receive Jew, Gentile, Greek, barbarian and Turk, and mass them in one conglomeration, without leavening them with the leaven of righteousness. It makes no claim to christianize. It rejects the cornerstone, elect and precious, upon which the church of God rests. It claims to be religious; that is all. As the play of Hamlet, with Hamlet left out, so is the lodge christian, with Christ left out. Rejecting the only foundation of the church, the antagonism is appallingly serious. The oaths required for persons to take in the lodges upon being initiated into the different degrees in Masonry is contrary to the spirit and genius of christianity. While I have referred to Masonry particularly, as the great parent of all secret associations, my remarks are applicable to all such secret, oath-bound associations. They all impose an oath of secresy to obey a code of unknown laws.

Let us consider the object which the church is seeking to accomplish. What does God mean by gathering His people and organizing the church? Manifestly to bring man back to his pristine allegiance to Him, that His throne might be established in the earth, and the rebellious subjects made to bow to His loving scepter. He would have prominently among these the elevation of men, the refining of their minds, giving them very exalted views. To magnify the Lord, and to worship Him in the beauty of holiness is the work of the church. The church is to exalt the glorious name of God in the world, by teaching the people of God to reverence His name, obey His word and observe the ordinances of His house.

But what says Masonry? (See Mackey's Manual of the lodge, page 57). “Speculative Masonry, now known as Free Masonry, is therefore, the scientific application, and the religious consecration of the rules and principles, the technical language and the implements and materials of operative masonry to the worship of God as the grand architect of the universe.”

Israel in the plains before Mt. Sinai's rugged, cloud-capped summit did no more idolatrous and rebellious work in making the golden calf than is this deed of Masonry. It exalts its rules above the Word of God and appoints its implements, its square and compass, as symbols in the worship of God, or, in other words, it sets at naught the teaching of God for the commandment of men. This is high-handed wickedness and unwarranted by God or the want of man., Masonry claims that it is an institution of God whose duty it is to transmit the miraculous works of God, that is, practically to assume the place of the Old Testament church, and yet with such arrogant claim it rejects the name of Jesus Christ and exalts nature to a supreme place.

The end sought by the pure church is more than the mere literary or scientific or moral elevation of man. It seeks to change his heart and make him a new creature in Christ Jesus. The church teaches perfect obedience to God. This requires more than an intellectual or formal politeness. The church aims to give back to man that he lost in the fall by pointing him to the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. This the lodge can not do or help to do. It is not befitting for members of the church to declare in the church that salvation is in none other but Jesus and then go into the lodge in the presence of Jews and pagans and dare not open their mouths of Jesus or breathe His holy name.

The work of the church comprehends much nowadays. It consists of bazars, grab-bags, neck-tie festivals, church suppers, fairs, cake-walks, broom drills, ice cream festivals, and I don't know how many other things. The more attention that is given to the purity of the church the less use we will have for these things, and money for church work will be raised from a principle. Then shall the church become the glory of all the earth. Let us guard the purity of the church, and the Lord grant us understanding in all things.

Looking from the preëminence of christianity, which it has attained in eighteen hundred years, our eyes naturally turn, with marked eagerness, in search of those things which have contributed to so noted a growth. But a few centuries ago the world looked upon christianity in its infancy. The little group of twelve disciples, almost penniless, were faithful adherents to their Lord and Master, who had not where to lay His head.

If a Romanist, Episcopalian, Methodist, or a member of any other prelatical church, were asked to give a brief statement of the rule and government of his church, he would at once refer to the decisions the several general councils and conferences, as well as to the rulings of the various ecclesiastical dignitaries of his respective church.

Likewise, if a Lutheran or Presbyterian be asked for a statement of the principles governing his church he would at once turn to the laws and regulations established by the several assemblies and synods of his church. But when a member of a Baptist or Independent church has to unfold the principles and laws which govern his church he must immediately turn to that sure word of prophecy, for the New Testament is the rule both of the faith and practice of his church.

The mark that distinguishes the Baptist denomination from any and all other evangelical churches is its tenacious hold of the plain and simple teachings of the New Testament touching all matters of faith and practice. The Baptists regard the scriptures as being preëminently their chart and compass, and they profess to be strictly a Bible-obeying denomination. Their churches, are governed by no popes, cardinals or bishops; their churches are regulated by no ecclesiastical councils, assemblies, presbyteries or human traditions; but the creed and constitution of their churches are found in the New Testament. With the Baptists the question always is: “What saith the scriptures?” “How readest thou?”

In speaking of this complete dependence of the Baptist denomination on the teachings of the New Testament in matters of faith and practice, Dr. Francis Wayland says: “The fundamental principle on which our difference from other evangelical denominations depend is this: We profess to take for our guide, in all matters of religious belief and practice, the New Testament, the whole New Testament, and nothing but the New Testament. Whatever we find there we esteem binding upon the conscience. What is not there commanded is not binding. No matter by what reverence for antiquity, by what tradition, by what councils, by what consent of any branches of the church, or of the whole church, at any particular period, an opinion or practice may be sustained; if it be not sustained by the command or the example of Christ, or of His apostles, we value it only as an opinion or precept of man, and we treat it accordingly. We disavow the authority of man to add to or take from the teachings of inspiration as they are found in the New Testament. Hence, to a Baptist, all appeals to the fathers, or to antiquity, or general practice in the early centuries, or in later times, are irrelevant and frivolous. He asks for divine authority as his guide in all matters of religion, and if this be not produced, his answer is, ‘In vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”—Principles and Practices, p. 85.

It is the aim of this paper to show that the independent form of church government, as held by the Baptist denomination, is more in accordance with scriptural teaching, and comes nearer to the practice of the early christian churches than any other form of church polity.

In considering the subject of Baptist church government, we shall be greatly aided in the discussion by deciding first the question, what is the pattern of a church, as laid down in the New Testament? How was an apostolic church constituted and governed? For, according to this divine and inspired pattern, all christian churches should be remodeled. The examination of the Greek word, ekklesia, which is translated “church” in the New Testament, throws much light on this matter of New Testament church polity. This word is derived from a Greek verb, meaning “to call out or forth,” and the gathering of those called out from their places of abode may be either for a political or religious purpose. A careful study of this word will lead one to the following conclusions:

First, that this word is used to denote an assembly of the people, convened at their public place of council. In Acts, xix, 39, we are told that the Greeks were accustomed to determine an important matter of state in a lawful assembly (ekklesia).

Second, that in all the uses of this word, excepting two, made by New Testament writers, and where it is rendered in the English version by the word “church,” it signifies a company of christians, or, as Grimm says, “An assembly of christians gathered for worship, observing their own religions rites, holding their own religious meetings, and managing their own affairs according to regulations prescribed for the body for order's sake.” As the final step in dealing with an incorrigible brother, Christ says, “Tell it to the assembly.” When Paul and Barnabas had ordained elders in every assembly (ekklesia), they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

Third, that in two passages (Acts xix, 37, and I. Cor., xi, 22), the word refers to the house in which the worshippers assembled.

Fourth, that the word in the singular is never employed in the New Testament to denote several churches or assemblies in a large city or district, but, on the contrary, when the number of christians in a community is so large as to render their assembling in one place impossible, the word is used in the plural, indicating separate local assemblies. We read of “the churches throughout Judea,” “the churches of Galatia,” “the churches of Macedonia.”

Fifth, that, as a consequence of what we have said respecting the New Testament use of this word, the use of the English word “church” in such forms, “The church of England,” “The church of Rome,” “The Presbyterian church,” “The Methodist church,” is altogether foreign to the signification of the original Greek word, ekklesia; since these organizations, having their members widely dispersed over large extent of territories, can never literally, but only representatively, assemble in one place.

It is evident, from our investigation of this important word (ekklesia) and from a consideration of several passages of scripture, some of which have already been referred to, that an apostolic and primitive church was an independent body of believers in Christ, maintaining his doctrines, administering the ordinances of baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper, governing itself, having two orders of officers (elders and deacons), and full and final powers of discipline.

But some one may object to this doctrine of the independence of the apostolic and early churches by referring to the meeting of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, mentioned in the fifteenth chapter of Acts. The three main things taught in this passage are: (1) That the Gentile christians in Antioch were perplexed and divided by the teaching of Judaizing parties from Jerusalem. (2) That Paul and Barnabas were sent by the church at Antioch, and by divine command, to confer with the apostles and the elders and brethren of the church at Jerusalem. (3) That the decision of the assembly was arrived at first by James, the same having been proposed merely as his opinion, and not as any authoritative dictation on his part, and moreover, this opinion was concurred in by the apostles, and elders and “the whole church at Jerusalem.”*

Since there were only two churches represented on this occasion, this assembly was simply an advisory and informal council, such as are held in these days by our churches. It was not the first christian and ecclesiastical council as it is sometimes called. We do not find that the apostolic and early christian churches were accustomed to hold general ecclesiastical councils, nor that these churches were organically united in one ecclesiastical body, superintended by several orders of officers subject to one supreme human head. Church history clearly shows that the prelatical form of church government, which gave rise to many corruptions, was introduced by men into the church in later years. Dr. Dagg makes the following quotation from Gieseler's Ecclesiastical History to show the gradual progress of infringement on the original church order, with respect to the independence of the early churches, the equality of the bishops, and the right of the people to elect their church officers. The historian considers it a progress and improvement rendering the churches “better organized and united,” but we think it a progress toward popery:

“The influence of the bishops increased naturally with the increasing frequency of synods at which they represented their churches. Country churches, which had grown up around some city, seem, with their bishops to have been usually, in a certain degree, under the authority of the mother church. With this exception, all the churches were alike independent, though some were especially held in honor, on such grounds as their apostolic origin, or the importance of the city in which they were situated. We have seen that the sphere of individual influence amongst the bishops was gradually enlarging, many churches in the city and its vicinity being united under one bishop, a presbyter, or a country bishop presiding over them. But we have now to speak of a new institution, at first found chiefly in the East, which had the effect of uniting the bishops more intimately amongst themselves. This was the provincial synod, which had been growing more frequent ever since the end of the second century, and in some provinces was held once or twice a year. By these associations of large ecclesiastical bodies, the whole church became better organized and united.”

Rome was made the center of this ecclesiastical organization, because of the political and commercial advantages of that city, and of Peter's supposed labors there.

Both scripture and early church history teach us that a warm, fraternal, and christian fellowship existed among the separate local churches, manifesting itself in the frequent exchange of epistles, borne by friendly messengers, and enabling one church to receive into its fellowship a duly accredited member of another.

But if it be objected to what we have said concerning the independence of the early apostolic churches, that since in other cases God unfolded His plans of operation gradually it is highly probable that in planting the church the principles of church polity were incorporated in the organization to be developed and applied afterwards in the progress of christianity, we reply that while it is conceded that the New Testament contains very little in the form of direct teaching respecting the government of churches, it must be borne in mind that some important instruction in duty was given to the churches by the inspired example and conduct of the apostles no less than by direct command. Christ and the apostles gave us much valuable instruction by their examples and actions on 3 the subject of church government, the formation of churches, the election of officers, the equality and privilege of members, the manner of dealing with the erring.

All writers on this subject of church polity readily admit that a scriptural church practice cannot be arrived at without a careful study of the inspired examples found in the New Testament, which were designed by the Great Head of the church to be in all succeeding ages for the guidance and instruction of the churches.

“If, instead of leaving dry precepts to serve for our guidance,” says Dr. Dagg, “the apostles have taught us, by example, how to organize and govern churches, we have no right to reject their instruction, and captiously insist that positive commands shall bind us. The apostles designed that their modes of procedure should be adopted and continued. We arrive, therefore, at the conclusion that, whatever the apostles taught, whether by precept or example, had the authority not only of the Holy Spirit, by which they were guided into all truth, but also of their Lord, Who had commissioned them.”

When the apostle commended the church at Corinth for having kept the ordinances (or the traditions, as the revised version has it), as he had delivered them; when we see Timothy left in Crete to ordain elders in every city, and to set in order the things that were wanting—when we hear Timothy exhorted, “The things which thou hast heard of me, the same commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also,”—we understand that the apostle intended that his faithful disciples and their successors should follow his teachings and example in the essential particulars, and not the minor features, in governing the churches. The development in church order, which is claimed by some, has not been a natural and logical thing; it has been rather retrogression than progress, rather a marring than a mending of the divine plan and work; for what development is there in calling a man master, and bowing to a pope as father, when Christ said, “Call no man master” or father, and “Ye are all brethren?” What development is there in appealing to ecclesiastical tribunals, when our Divine Master said to the local church, “Let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican?” What development is there in having two classes of church members, a converted and an unconverted, when our Lord ordered a regenerated church membership by saving, “Ye must be born again?” Surely, if this is progress, it is in the wrong direction.

This independent and democratic form of church government, which is derived from the scriptures and practiced by the Baptist denomination, has some important advantages, chief among them its being a check put upon the ungodly ambition of the clergy, which, in the early days of christianity, gave rise to the Roman hierarchy.

This independence of the churches leaves no provision for combinations of churches, except as in an associative and voluntary capacity, and which are had mainly to sustain the unhallowed ambition of the clergy, and in which, at times, have been practiced and witnessed the most shameful political methods to secure power and position, such as “wire pulling,” “ballot-box stuffing” and the “most bare-faced proceedings,” as the New York Herald said in reporting the proceedings and the election of bishops at the Northern Methodist Church Conference in New York, in May last. This principle of the independence of christian churches establishes equality among the ministers of Christ; it fixes the equality and emphasizes the individual responsibility of the members of the churches, and therefore it tends greatly to promote holiness in their lives.

If it be said that this principle of independence has its disadvantages and works some evil as well as good, we would say in reply that this doctrine is not adapted to a self-seeking, ambitious and hireling ministry nor to an unregenerate church membership. Most of us can testify that independence and popular suffrage given to churches whose members and officers are wanting in intelligence, brotherly love, and are without the spirit of Christ, have been abused and made to work the most shameful and fearful results in those bodies. Why are there so many disagreements and clashes between pastors and deacons in our Baptist churches? Why are so many selfish and disgraceful splits so often witnessed in our ranks? These evils are all due to a misconception and perversion of this grand scriptural doctrine of the independence and self-government of the individual church. We take it that it is the solemn duty of every true Baptist to discourage and oppose all crooked proceedings wrought in the name of liberty, especially when these things lead up to church splits. “Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” This doctrine, which we regard as forming the very foundation of Baptist church government and being the key to the superstructure built thereon, grows out of such plain and well established Bible principles as these:

1. Religion is a personal matter between the individual soul and God.

2. Every man is free to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience.

DEAR BRETHREN—I have had the honor of being invited by your committee of arrangements to attend your meeting and to deliver an address before you. To my great regret, circumstances have prevented my acceptance of your invitation; but I beg to submit these lines as an acknowledgment of your courtesy, and also as an expression of my fraternal regard and sympathy.

Some months ago I had the pleasure of furnishing to one of your number, the Rev. E. K. Love, some information of interest in regard to the early history of the Negro Baptists of Savannah. This information was embodied in some historic documents written by my grandfather, the Rev. Dr. Henry Holcombe, who in the latter part of the last century and in the beginning of the present, and while pastor in Savannah, gave much of his attention to the religious interests of his negro brethren, who I doubt not were the ancestors of many of those whom I now address. I am glad I had it in my power, even in this small way, to contribute to the interest of your meeting.

While thus addressing you, I beg that you will pardon me for expressing a few thoughts in regard to the relation sustained to each other by the two great races of men who compose our Baptist Zion in the United States.

On such an occasion as this, where so many parents are present, I should not judge it out of place to speak to you something concerning your relation to the Sunday school. There is no greater institution in modern times than the Sunday school, and more hearts are being educated within its consecrated walls than anywhere else. It is the most God-like institution we have and is the very embodiment of law, having a profound respect for morality and religion without which freedom would have no lasting foundation and no certain protection.

The Sabbath should be a day of rest from worldly cares and pleasures; a day for the study of God's Word; for the discussion of the highest themes that concern immortal souls. On every side we observe disaster, discomfort, sorrow and death, in many cases properly attributable to the botching of life by not having sufficient truth instilled into the tender ones' minds to guide them along the path of rectitude.