In the jubilee meeting, Rev. H. Stevens, said: “When I resolved in
1868 to meet the call of the Montgomery Church for a Convention of
delegates, I didn’t see what we could do. I went only out of some sort
of curiosity to meet other brethren and to look on. I got a little
light before I reached Montgomery, as I listened to some things Brother
McAlpine had to say along the way. And I was not much better off when
the Convention closed. I did not know what they were talking about
one-half the time.” But few saw one inch ahead. The horizon increased
only as we advanced. We grew up with the growth of the work.
2. _The power of faith to give form and fixedness to ponderous
enterprises._
We vacillated till Brother Woodsmall appeared, so far at least as our
school project was concerned. As the queen bee draws together her
wandering swarm and fixes them in settled habitation and orderly toil,
so did this saintly man do for the colored Baptists of Alabama. And his
spirit is still among us.