“We stand to-day upon an eminence from which we may take a retrospective view of a one hundred years’ journey. This is a glorious day. We have come to celebrate the progress and triumphs of a century. We are here to speak of the vicissitudes through which we have passed, the conflicts we have encountered, the obstacles we have overcome, the success already attained, and the victories yet to be achieved. We are here to pass up and down the line of march from 1788 to 1888. Old fathers, worn and weary with burdens and cares of long and useful lives, their heads whitened by the frosts of many winters, infirm and superannuated, have come up to shake hands with the century, to bid God-speed to their brethren, and, like Simeon of old, to exclaim, ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.’ Young men have come to get inspiration from a review of the work of the fathers and to return to their various fields stimulated, electrified and encouraged.
“We shall discuss, first, what God has wrought in the permanent establishment of His church. The founder of the true church is Jesus Christ. He is the Son of Abraham, according to the flesh, and He is also the Son of God. Two natures and three offices mysteriously meet his person. He is the foundation of the true church, the chief corner stone, the law-giver in Zion. He has given us a kingdom which cannot be moved. He began in Asia to ride in the gospel chariot. He sent out twelve small boats at first. On the day of Pentecost, 3,000 were added to the number. In 1630, He sent Roger Williams to America. In the spirit of his Master, he planted churches in New England, and the stone continued to roll until it reached the sunny South. In 1788, the oppressed, rejected and enslaved brother in black, for the first time in Georgia, lifted the Baptist flag under the leadership of Andrew Bryan. The handful of corn was sown not on the high, wild and rocky mountains, but on the seaboard; but the wind carried the seed to every part of Georgia and the barren rocks and sandy deserts became gardens of the Lord. From that handful of corn have sprung more than 1,500 churches, 500 ordained preachers, and 166,429 communicants. The little one has become a thousand. In the entire United States there are to-day more than 1,250,000 colored Baptists. I make bold to say here and now that the progress of the Baptists in this country has been due to the earnest, faithful and simple preaching of Christ crucified. The fathers in their preaching did not preach philosophy, nor did they strive to reach the people with rhetorical strains of eloquence, but they strove to reach the people by preaching the plain, old-fashioned, simple truths of the gospel. The gospel declared in its truth and simplicity will make Baptists.
“Third, we shall discuss what God has wrought for our race during this century. For our race, this century was one of hardship, oppression, persecution and sore trial. We were slaves; we had no moral training; no intellectual advantages during the greater part of this century and the two preceding; we were run by bloodhounds; sometimes whipped to death; we were sold from the auction block, husbands and fathers being separated from wives and children at the behest of some white man; we had to get a ticket to go to church; we had to get permission from some white man before we could join the church; we were outcasts. But all that has been changed. God was against slavery, and in his own time and way He removed the foul blot from the national escutcheon. Emancipated without a dollar, without education, without friends and without competent leaders, like Hagar and Ishmael, we were turned out to die. But despite all obstacles, the Negro in Georgia has to-day $10,000,000 worth of property and has proven himself worthy of citizenship. We have thousands of children in our public schools. Our men will be found in the law, in the practice of medicine, in legislative halls, among teachers and professors, on the list of authors, skilled musicians, journalists, theologians and business men. God has wrought wonderfully among us. God is still opening the way for greater progress. The cry is loud and long all along the line for consecrated workers. The harvest truly is white but the laborers are few.
“A last thing, we would urge upon you by way of application. We need more earnestness and simplicity in proclaiming the gospel. Our fathers were men of one book. They received power from on high by constant prayerfulness, and proclaimed earnestly and plainly what they understood. They felt like Paul, ‘Though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is me if I preach not the gospel.’ The gospel is the intervention of Jesus Christ to save lost men. It is heaven’s appointed remedy for man’s malady; and the directions for taking the medicine must be so plain that the fool may take it assured of the fact that he will be healed. The gospel is a ship loaded with the bread of life, and must be brought so near the landing that the hungry can reach forth and take the bread of life. The gospel is the announcement of reconciliation between God and the sinner, a message of mercy, the history of the advent of Christ, His life, miracles, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and intercession. The gospel is the Messiah’s conquering, triumphal car. There is power and magnetism about it. It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. It must be preached in its purity, in its simplicity, and with blood-earnestness. Man has been honored of God in being chosen to carry this holy message. Beginning a new century in the history of our denomination, let us carry this message with the same earnestness as did our fathers. Discourage inactivity, coldness, indifference, formalism in our preaching, and denounce spasmodic religion among our hearers. Contend earnestly for those principles which have been the very life of Baptists. The gospel must go, like the sun shining in his strength, scattering all clouds from the face of the world, until the moon and the stars shall be lost in its effulgence.”
GO FORWARD.
The following extract is from a sermon preached by Dr. Walker before the Walker Baptist Association at Summerville, near Augusta, Ga., in September, 1899. Following the sermon, he raised a cash collection of $342.00 for the Walker Baptist Institute from poor country farmers.
DR. CHARLES T. WALKER AT THIRTY YEARS OF AGE.
“‘And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.’—Exodus 14:15.
“For more than 400 years the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt. God’s time for deliverance had come. Moses, his servant, is sent as ambassador to the court of Egypt with divine credentials to represent the court of heaven. Pharaoh refuses to obey the mandates of the mighty God, and ten or more plagues are sent upon the land. The cruel ruler decides to let Israel go. The mighty host, about three million strong, began their march. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night led them; they start out on the wilderness route, a distance of over four hundred miles. They rallied at Rameses, and marched out in wide columns.