THE WORK AT AUGUSTA.
The Rev. Charles T. Walker was called to the pastorate of the Central
Baptist Church at Augusta, Ga., in 1883, and resigned the First Baptist
Church at LaGrange to enter upon the work at Augusta. Central Baptist
Church is one of the oldest churches in Augusta, and was the first
colored church in the city to erect a brick building. The edifice was
very large and was a credit to the city. But for nearly twelve months
before the Rev. Mr. Walker was elected pastor, the church had been
engaged in a very unfortunate wrangle. The Rev. Henry Jackson was the
predecessor of Rev. Walker, and he had been the pastor of the church
almost from its organization in 1858. A daughter of Rev. Jackson was
the organist of the church, and it seems that the pastor wanted her
salary increased. The majority of the deacons and trustees did not
agree with the pastor; but the pastor called a business meeting of the
church, and, by high-handed methods, so it was claimed, succeeded in
having a vote passed favoring the proposed increase in the organist’s
pay. From that day the wrangle started in good earnest. There were
charges and counter-charges. There were plots and counter-plots.
The faction favoring the pastor was called “Jacksonites,” and the
opposing faction was called “Ramrackers.” The deacons were divided; the
trustees were divided; the membership was divided. There was scarcely
a meeting held at the church for any purpose but that there were harsh
words passed on both sides, and sometimes there were fisticuffs. Many
police trials resulted from these disgraceful occurrences. Once the
lights were put out during a meeting. In the darkness, some miscreant
sent a pistol ball crashing through one of the windows. Pandemonium
reigned within. The church was locked up several times by injunctions
sued out before the courts--sometimes by one side, sometimes by the
other. Finally, the trouble became so acute that it was positively
unsafe for any one to attend the church. There came a temporary lull
in the warfare of the saints (?) when the Rev. Henry Jackson resigned
and left the city. For a time the factions seemed to have settled
their differences. The church came together and extended a unanimous
call to the Rev. C. T. Walker to take up the pastorate. After much
deliberation and prayer, the Rev. Mr. Walker accepted the call. He was
twenty-five years old at the time, but looked to be much younger. From
the beginning he made a favorable impression. His first sermon was
preached the fourth Sunday in August, 1883, from these words: “For I
am determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and
him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Those who were present on the occasion of
this introductory sermon remember vividly the preacher’s sermon and
his appearance. A youngish looking man of medium height and rather
slim, with frank, open features; face very dark; quiet of demeanor and
graceful in movement; with a sweet, clear, orotund voice, enunciating
every word distinctly. With the man and the sermon, the church and
congregation were alike delighted and encouraged; and never did they
seem to sing before with such thrilling effect and such depths of
meaning, “Blest be the tie that binds.”
[Illustration: FRANKLIN COVENANT BAPTIST CHURCH.
THE FIRST CHURCH PASTORED BY REV. C. T. WALKER. THE PRESENT EDIFICE WAS
ERECTED UNDER HIS ADMINISTRATION.]
But church wars never end. Whatever may have been the outward
appearances, those on the inside knew that, though all said that they
had buried the hatchet, some of them at least had left the hatchet’s
handle sticking a good way out of the ground. None knew this better
than the new young pastor, and none grieved more because of it. “The
Jacksonites” wanted to direct the policy of the new minister, and so
did the “Ramrackers.” Each side was jealous of the other, and, although
siding with neither, the new pastor found himself at every stem of his
journey between two fires. Consequently, though earnestly desiring
to do the Lord’s work and praying daily to learn God’s will, he was
an unhappy man. The troubles continued. By and by the church reached
the point where it felt that to discipline a few of the recalcitrant
officers might help matters some. The action of the church not suiting
the “Jacksonites,” the church was again closed by injunction, and
the whole affair was dragged again into the courts. By the advice
of lawyers on both sides, since it seemed impossible to harmonize
the differences, it was agreed that the church should be sold and
the proceeds equally divided between the representatives of the two
factions. Accordingly, the church was sold at public outcry. It was
bid in by the “Jacksonites.” The “Ramrackers,” so-called, received
something over $2,000 for the sale. The “Jacksonites” took charge
of the old church, reorganized and called the Rev. Henry Jackson as
pastor. The other side, under the leadership of the Rev. Mr. Walker,
worshipped temporarily in the hall of the Union Waiters’ Society on
Ellis Street, the hall being generously donated by the Society for
that purpose. Friday night, August 21st, 1885, this body was formally
organized at the Union Baptist Church, under the name of Beulah Baptist
Church. The enrolled membership at the time of organization was
310--115 males and 195 females. At a special business meeting at the
close of the service Sunday night, August 23, 1885, at the suggestion
of the pastor, the name of the church was changed from Beulah Baptist
Church to Tabernacle Baptist Church. Plans were at once set on foot for
the erection of a house of worship. Proper committees were appointed.
A lot was secured on Ellis Street, above 10th Street, and work was
commenced on the new building September 1st, 1885. September 10th, the
corner stone was laid with appropriate ceremonies, the address being
delivered by the late Rev. E. K. Love, D. D., of Savannah, Ga. The
building was opened for worship and formally dedicated to the Lord the
second Sunday in December, being the 13th day, 1885. The dedicatory
sermon was preached at the morning service by the Rev. E. R. Carter, D.
D., of Atlanta, Ga., from this text: “But will God indeed dwell on the
earth? Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how
much less this house that I have builded?” (1 Kings 8:27.) The afternoon
sermon was delivered by the Rev. Lansing Burrows, D. D., the well known
Secretary of the Southern (white) Baptist Convention and for a long
time editor of the American Baptist Year Book. The sermon at night was
delivered by the late Rev. Dr. E. K. Love.
The Tabernacle Baptist Church edifice is built of brick, two stories
high. The basement is used for the prayer meetings, the Sunday School,
the pastor’s study, and closets. The auditorium upstairs is used for
the preaching services and for lectures. It will seat comfortably about
800 persons. It cost (for ground and building) $13,500. Dedicated
within three months after it was commenced and paid for within less
than two years after it was completed, including a new pipe organ
costing $1,500, is a record which has probably not been surpassed by
any colored congregation in the South, and speaks well for the ability
and zeal of the leader. With a new church building and with a sterling
and brilliant young pastor, Tabernacle Baptist Church soon became
the leading colored church in Augusta, a city noted for its splendid
churches and its able pastors. It was while he was with this church
that the Rev. C. T. Walker made his reputation as a pulpit orator, a
sound theologian, a soul-winning evangelist, and a resourceful pastor.
At the close of fourteen years of hard labor, Oct. 1st, 1899, it was
found from the records of the church clerk that more than 2,000 souls
had been converted during his ministry, and that more than 1,400 had
been baptized by him into the fellowship of the Tabernacle Baptist
Church.
It was in connection with the work at Tabernacle Church that the
pastor made his first extended tour throughout New York and New
England. The members of the church had by their own efforts paid nearly
$10,000 of the $13,500, which was the total cost of their ground and
building. In the autumn of 1886, the pastor, armed with numerous
testimonials and letters of introduction, went North to solicit funds
to assist in completing the payments on the church property. He found
ready acceptance and willing ears everywhere he went. It was at this
time that he preached for the first time in Mt. Olivet Baptist Church,
161 W. 53rd Street, New York city, of which years afterwards he became
pastor. Of his visit to the Centennial Baptist Church, Brooklyn, the
pastor, the late Rev. Dr. Justin Dewey Fulton, wrote: “My people who
heard him pronounce him a preacher of more than ordinary ability.
His voice is good, his bearing modest and impressive, his language
excellent, and the aim of his preaching is to glorify Christ.” In
other churches and in other cities, the Rev. Mr. Walker found similar
warm friends, who listened eagerly to his exposition of God’s word or
to his appeals for aid in his work at the South. He returned to his
work in Georgia, satisfied with the financial results of his trip, but
more gratified with the moral support and encouragement he received.
In reporting his labors to his members on his return, the Rev. Mr.
Walker said, among other things: “The Lord went with me, and opened
up for me many places which were considered very hard, and enabled
me to approach some persons who were at first apparently not at all
friendly toward the colored people. When I got on the grounds and
learned the true situation, I was not at all disposed to criticise the
people of the North for being cautious about distributing their money
to irresponsible persons. I found out that numbers of colored people
go up North every year begging for money for churches and schools and
orphan homes and the like, which have no existence at all, except in
the imaginations of their impostors or on paper. When members of my
own race will do such things they make it hard for a worthy person
soliciting for a worthy and legitimate enterprise and you cannot blame
people for being careful about giving their money when they know that
there are many little schemes being worked by colored men to rob
them. ‘A burnt child dreads the fire,’ and the good have to suffer on
account of the conduct of those who are dishonest and speculative.
But God was with me and directed me, and I secured a hearing and
received contributions in some places where others were denied. We
should all be thankful for this, as much as any thing else. It pays to
be honest, sincere and straightforward, and I have no patience with
those hypocrites who are systematically robbing the good people of the
North, who are very willing to give of their means for the uplift of my
downtrodden race.”
[Illustration: REV. CHARLES T. WALKER AT TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE.]