The Women’s State Convention organized in 1886, marks a new era in the
history of our denomination. The present brick building on our school
grounds owes its existence chiefly to this organization. They came into
the field in a dark time, and at a time when the wheels of the school
dragged heavily. The circumstances which sent Miss S. A. Stone before
the people of the State seemed a providence. The time, the conditions,
needed the heart of a woman to control them. And the Women’s Convention
conquered the hardness of heart and the division of opinion, prevailing
among the people, by sending Miss Stone among them. Most grandly did
she conquer. Well, what is the lesson here? It is this: let the women
still be encouraged, let them continue to operate. We need all our
forces in line.
Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon Mesdames G. J. Brooks, R. T.
Pollard, C. J. Hardy, A. A. Bowie, W. R. Pettiford, A. J. Gray, M.
Tyler, S. H. Wright, E. W. Armstead, J. A. Craig and the other noble
women associated with them, for the services they have rendered the
state in the support they have given their Convention. The times demand
that this work shall still be faithfully continued. I am glad that we
are up in our ideas of woman, and the fact that we are argues progress
on our part.
It is a praiseworthy fact that we colored Baptists occupy advanced
ground with regard to the questions which involve the powers and rights
of women. I remember that upon one occasion just after the close of the
war, my mother returned from church rather disgusted because a woman
had been called upon to lead in public prayer. Now, too, the singing,
the reading and the praying in our congregations, are assuming forms
suited to our advanced or advancing state of mind. The song is suited
to the text and fewer stanzas are sung. The music is not so slow and
is rendered with more harmony and life. In the sermon, the preacher
aims to give his audience _thoughts_ rather than _feelings_, and
longs to make his hearers _wiser_ rather than _happier_. He who reads
the Bible to others, whether he reads in family or church, reads by
paragraphs--taking in a single thought or fact at the time--in place
of the old custom of reading a whole chapter in connection with which
no one idea was raised into prominence. In short our gospel reformers
seem now to realize that saving faith in the truth is that exercise
of soul regarding truth that satisfies the intellect, impresses the
sensibilities and bows the will beneath the gospel forms and gospel
spirit. Of course this is not true of all our teachers, but it is
true of many of them; and the tendency upon the part of the whole
people is in this direction. Individual human essence leavened with
the Divine essence, is the goal in the eye of the representative
leader of our people. Largely we have attained to the confidence of
our white brethren. In the union conference of the white and the
colored ministers of Birmingham, recently held, I plainly saw that the
white Baptist ministers were more at ease with the colored brethren
than the white ministers of other denominations, except perhaps, the
Presbyterian brethren. And I think they were not so much disturbed
about the social question. I call attention to this fact in order to
say that their joint work with us has enabled them to see our good
qualities and concede to us the claims which belong to intellectual and
moral culture. And as our Christian culture shall widen its radius and
deepen its impressions upon all who may be touched by us, the prejudice
and barriers incident to our color must retire behind the curtains of
the past.
“Were I so tall to reach the pole,
Could grasp creation in my span;
I’d still be measured by my soul--
The mind’s the standard of the man.”
I delight to record that we are attaining to humility as a Christian
grace. This is the crowning grace. Some years ago the writer called
at the home of Dr. J. M. Pendleton, in Upland, Pa. The doctor was
upstairs. A servant answered the door bell, and the visitor was
conducted to the parlor to await the famous man’s entrance. As the
visitor was in every way a very little man, and as he thought of Dr. P.
as being in every way a very large person, he feared the sound of every
footstep. He expected to be over-awed by the majesty and dignity of the
great man. As the door knob turned he was almost annihilated. But how
different the sight! There stood the noted writer in the spirit of a
child. How mighty, yet, how meek and lowly! How charming, how winning
was this child-like simplicity and hospitality! With the bewitching
smiles and musical tones of childish innocence, he repeated, “Brother
Boothe, from Alabama, I suppose.”
[Illustration: Rev. C. J. Hardy, Pastor First Baptist Church, Selma,
Ala.]
Toward this end we, too, are coming. The time has been when the best
man among us would air his big words, hang out his learning (?), strut
because of a fine suit, boast of his school advantages, laud his
superior graces, gloat in his empty titles. Not so now. To be meek and
lowly in heart, to be full of prayer and watchfulness, to be charitable
and self-abasing, to be pure and pious--these things are before us now.
The old plan of collecting money for church work regardless of system
and regardless of the duty associated with Christian giving, must also
soon retire to the past; for forces are now appearing which will work
as the leaven in the dough.
Dr. Pettiford has recently brought out a book titled, “God’s Revenue
System,” wherein the author labors to bring before the people the Bible
methods of giving. Arguments are presented and proof texts are given in
their support. This work is being widely circulated among the churches
and ministers. And the writer served a church where the following plan
prevailed: At the end of each year the church appointed a committee to
figure on the expenses of the ensuing year, and to help the members
and friends apportion the burden among themselves according to their
several abilities. Each person took upon himself what he thought he
might be able to pay, and dividing his share as the church might have
need, he paid it in installments. Usually the money was collected in
the conference meetings. Another church came under my notice that had
in it “the tithe band,” which gave a tenth of their income to the house
of God. In a session of the Sea Coast Association I witnessed the
following, it was what they called “Women’s Day:”
One woman, holding her money in her hand, said: “I am president of a
mission band which meets once a month to learn of our duty to missions.
We tax ourselves one nickle a month, and this is our donation to the
work.”
Another said: “I raise chickens. One hen in my yard I’ve given to God.
This money is from her eggs and chickens.”
Still another: “In my orange orchard there are some trees which I have
dedicated to God. The money which comes of the sale of the fruit grown
on these trees goes to the cause of Christ.” And she laid her donation
on the table.
In a Christian home I saw on the mantelpiece a little box marked,
“God’s bank.” Into this money was dropped at stated seasons in order
that there might never be any want of consecrated money in the house.
In a certain home sickness had cut off income. The missionary secretary
sent to this home for money. In order that a donation might be sent
in, the family agreed to leave the sugar off the table for a certain
length of time. Thus a small amount was saved for the cause of Christ.
Thank God, that truth on all lines is finding an echo in our souls! We
are not only learning the value of money and enterprise, but we are
also learning that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the
things which he possesses.”
Wedlock is becoming more sacred. More and more the people are growing
into a responsiveness to the sacredness of the marriage relation. The
husband has increased in knowledge regarding his duty to his wife; the
wife sees better her relation to her husband; the parents more clearly
perceive what is possible and proper with reference to their children;
and, therefore, we can claim thousands of homes which are sources of
refinement, of love, and of purest pleasure. Music is brought in,
and in many homes the family choir contributes to the enjoyment of
children and parents, whose hearts feast upon mutual, sweet affection.
Not long ago the writer had the pleasure of receiving the hospitality
of a family in which such a choir existed. Each member had his place
somewhere on the staff; either he was in the tenor, or in the alto,
or in the soprano, or in the bass. Mother, father and children
delightfully partook of the feast of song. Their Scripture lesson was
not a long, disjointed chapter, but a single thought, namely: “The
wisdom that is from above.” Its qualities were considered--they were:
(1) Pure; (2) peaceable; (3) gentle; (4) approachable; (5) merciful;
(6) fruitful of good works; (7) impartial; and (8) honest. This lesson
was in a scheme on the blackboard, kept in the home for such purposes,
thus:
{ 1. Purity.
{ 2. Peaceableness.
{ 3. Gentleness.
Heavenly Wisdom, { 4. Approachableness.
Its Qualities. { 5. Mercy.
{ 6. Fruitfulness in good works.
{ 7. Impartiality.
{ 8. Honesty.
This plan gave opportunity to discuss in a few words each designated
quality. Each person large enough to take part was encouraged to do so.
One part of the evening hour was spent in amusing literary games, like
the following:
A word was suggested, and so many minutes were allowed to elapse,
during which time each member of the family sought to make the greatest
number of words out of the letters composing the word suggested. At the
close of this allotted time, spelling was compared, and the difference
as to the number of words made by each was noted. The exercise was
pleasant, exciting and profitable. The writer mused: “This is so much
better than gossip, unsociableness, sullen silence, and quarreling.”
From the word _abatement_, for example, came the words: At, mat, bat,
bet, tab, mate, am, an, ant, tent, beat, abate, Abe. At other times
problems in mathematics furnished the wrestling point; then points in
geography and history were entertained. “Name as many cities as you can
containing so many thousand inhabitants, and tell where they are,” was
proposed. Thus an hour or so of the early evening was profitably passed
away in shunning evil and gathering knowledge for good.
We dare hope that every home will seek to improve on this line. Evil
cannot be kept out of the home except in proportion as we fill it with
what is good. And the quality of the home life must determine the
quality of the social life, of the church life, and of the political
life, as well as of the business life, of any people.
As a further illustration of the influences and plans operating among
us--as a fitting conclusion--we present the following from Miss Knapp,
one of the faithful missionaries of the Women’s Baptist Home Mission
Society: