L
• \
^he Baptist Messenger
MISSIONS—EDUCATION—TEMPERANCE.
VOL. 2. NO. 10.
WINGATE, N. C.. DECEMBER, 1905.
25 Cents a Year.
Some Extracts from President Poteat’s
Inaugural Address at Wake Forest.
I. The responsibility which I
now formally accept I have not!
sought. I have loved my teach
ing, my microscope, and the invi
tation to be present at Nature’s
marvels under the open sky and j
in the deep woods hereabouts.
For these obscure delights I see
no compensation in the publicity
of strenuous days in administra
tion. And my poet friends who,
long winter nights, have taken
me up into their high fellowship
■—what an exchange would these
be for the personal and financial
problems of a large institution?
There have, in truth, been mo
ments of hesitation and recoil be
fore this new sphere of labor.
Even now these keys received
from my honored predecessor
grow bigger and heavier the lon
ger I look at them. Into what
halls of untried activities will
they admit me? What burdens
wait behind closed portals for my
untrained shoulders? What doors
of opportunity will they open be
fore me?
II. There is an old Spanish
maxim which warns us to beware
entering where there is a great
gap to be filled. But he whose
withdrawal has made this wide
gap has done the work of his
hands so wisely that the task of
his successor is greatly lightened.
Under his guidance the traditions
and ideals of the college have
been established in right direc
tions. He has led it out of the
wilderness and put the song of
progress in its mouth.
III. The Christian college is
pervaded by the Christian spirit
of mutual helpfulness. It will
show itself in the personal rela
tions of faculty and students.
The teacher is approachable, sym
pathetic, generous. He is the
student’s best friend, thoroughly
committed to his success all
round, partner with him in the
noble enterprise of culture. The
student, on his part, cannot but
be respectful and responsive.
And when the association is end
ed the lectures may grow dim in
memory and then drop out, but
the lecturer never. The lessons
go, but the impulse towards all
noble and beautiful things re
mains. The moulding, cultural
agency is not the teaching, but
the teacher, in whom the highest
demand is manhood and inspira
tional power. Titles count for
little against personality.
IV. The Christian college is the
safest place for a young man in
the formative period of his life.
In the first place, he has the
picked youth of the country as
his companions, choice men as re
gards both their social culture
and their religious life. For ex
ample, eighty-eight per cent, of
the students in this college are
church members, and allusion has
already been made to the mould
ing and inspiring influence of
reverent and capable teachers.
In the second place, while life
habits are forming and settling
into character, the student has the
advantage of regularly recurring
tasks in elevated pursuits.
V. But is not the tendency to
skepticism especially characteris
tic of young men in college? I,
think not. It is more exact to
say that it is characteristic of
that state of mental development
which young men have attained
when they attend college. It is
not wholly unlike the teething
stage in infancy. Whenever the
mind awakes into independent
activity, as it is apt to do under
the stimulus of new knowledge
or a widened experience, no mat
ter what or where the external
surroundings may be, that criti
cal period will announce and sig
nalize itself by putting a question
mark after everything in heaven
and in earth. Accordingly, we
observe outside of colleges, as
well as within them, this incipi
ent skepticism which in most
cases is only a stage to the trans
ition from a hereditary to a per-
personal, well grounded faith.
VI. When the fathers laid
brick to brick yonder in 1835,
they did it in the assurance that
they were building for the King
dom; and every brick laid here
since that great day is consecra
ted by the same worthy and noble
association. Cut these bonds and
leave Wake Forest unrelated to
the purpose of our Lord to recov
er unto himself the whole round
world, much and long as I have
loved it, I should say my fare
wells and seek attachment to the
divine purpose elsewhere.
VII. The Christian college
stands side by side with the
Christian ministry as an agency
for the realization of all social
good.
VIII. Culture is no safeguard
against anarchy, for it does not
touch the moral root out of which
anarchy springs. It is a common
place of history that some of the
most intellectual periods in the
career of a people have been
marked by the disintegration of
personality and the decay of na
tional life. As has been remark
ed by one of the ablest of writers
on the fundamental conceptions
of the State, the intellect divest
ed of moral spirit is not a work
ing force in the institution of
righteousness, which is the con
dition of national life. Here
emerge the opportunity and mis
sion of the Christian college.
IX. The Christian college needs
to be pervaded by an elevated
patriotism. The social, economic,
and political sciences must come
more to the front. It must mul
tiply points of contact with the
public life of the time. The ob
ligations .of citizenship must be
enforced, and the political career
shown to be worthy of the noblest
character and the brightest in
tellect.
Ralph: The Old Negro Preacher.
To The Baptist Messenger:
In both the letters written for
the November issue of The Mes
senger about old Gourdvine
church, something was said
about “Ralph,” the old negro
preacher. Since he has been
brought before us, it is a good
time for us to exchange informa
tion about him further.
We younger people are inclined
to think that before the civil war
the negroes had no preachers,
and that their religious interests
were neglected by their masters,
and even they themselves
thought religion belonged exclu
sively to the whites. It is a fact
that the negro’s ideas were very
low, and that after they had
churches of their own, they had
to have the assistance of the
white people. We are told, for
example, that Rev. John Davis,
with Rev. E. L. Davis to assist
him, was appointed to help or
ganize the negro churches in
parts of Union and Anson coun
ties. But there were some ne-'
groes, even in the early part of
the last century, who were capa
ble leaders and strong preachers
in their time. Such was the one
spoken of above.
The name by which this negro
preacher seems to be known most
generally is just the single name,
Ralph. Mr. Austin, in his letter,
calls him Ralph Threadgill, while
another writer refers to him as
Ralph Freeman. Whatever may
be the right name, we know that
he lived in the first part of the
last century and was preaching
before and at the tinjse of the di
vision, about 1831 to 1833. He
was a slave in Anson county, and
according to one writer, ‘ ‘in the
neighborhood of Rock River
church. ” He felt called to preach
soon after his conversion and was
licensed by his church for that
purpose. He did not have any
regular churches, but he kept a
pony and travelled from Fayette
ville to the western part of the
State, and even into Tennessee.
In a pamphlet by John Spencer
Bassett, he says Rev. Purefoy
spoke of Ralph as follows: “He
became a good, reader and was
well versed in the Scripture. He
was considered an able preacher
and was frequently called upon
to preach on funeral occasions,
and was appointed to preach on
Sabbath at association, and fre
quently administered the ordi
nance of baptism and the Lord’s
supper. He was of common size,
was perfectly black, with a smil
ing countenance, especially in the
pulpit while speaking. He was
very humble in his appearance at
all times, and especially when
I conducting religious services.
I Great personal respect was also
' shown him by the brethren
whom he visited in his preaching
'excursions.” It is said that he
' would have no money for preach
ing; he only wanted food and
clothing.
Mr. A. Lowery, of Anson coun
ty, says that at an association at
Elizabeth church, they were dis
cussing as to who should preach
the sermon on Sunday. A preach
er from Charleston, S. C., rose
' and requested that Ralph preach
it. He said he had often heard
of him and had come to hear him.
He preached on ‘ ‘The temptation
of Christ.” The one expression
that Mr. Lowery remembers from
the sermon was when Ralph, in
the middle of his sermon, read
the passage, ‘ ‘All these things
will I give thee, ’ ’ and then, with
a greasy smile that evoked laugh
ter in response from his congre
gation, he said, “Poor devil, he
didn’t have a foot of land in the
world.”
Ralph seems to have had the
respect of all the white preachers
of that time, and especially was
Rev. Joseph Magee attached to
him. They travelled and preach
ed together, and Ralph went to
Tennessee to preach Rev. Ma
gee’s funeral. He sided with the
anti-mission party when the di
vision came, and very much to
his regret, he lost the favor of the
other party. There seems to have
been some trouble with the ne
groes in some of the States about
this time, and by a statute they
were stopped from preaching.
This was a great trial for Ralph,
but we never hear of his preach
ing afterwards, for he died soon
after the division among the Bap
tists.
T. B. Ashcraft.
Wake Forest College,
Dec. 9, 1905.
The Baptist State Convention.
The seventy-fifth annual session
of the North Carolina Baptist
State Convention passed into the
history of the denomination when
President Jones allowed the gavel
to fall Sunday night, December
10th.
It was in many respects a very
notable gathering. Assembled in
the Capital City, the delegations
represented the best type of our
Baptist citizenship from the
mountains to the sea.
In the absence of the appointee.
Dr. J. M. Frost, of our Sunday
School Board, Nashville, Tenn.,
preached the annual sermon, tak
ing for his theme, “Your Bap
tism.” It was a unique and mas
terful effort and 'calculated to
build our people up in the Baptist
faith.
W. N. Jones, a prominent Bap
tist layman, was elected presi
dent of the convention. Dr. R. H.
Marsh, who, for fourteen consec
utive years, has presided over the
deliberations of the body, declin
ing re-election; and N. B. Brough
ton and H. C. Moore were re
elected secretaries.
Our State Mission secretary,
Livingston Johnson, made the re
port in the history of his board,
and $30,002.20 was the amount
contributed for State missions
during the year.
Dr. Willingham, full of holy
zeal for missions, was present and
presented the subject of Missions
in an engaging and most inter
esting way. He begged for men,
and the next morning. Rev. C.
M. Rock, the Warsaw pastor, of
fered himself to the board for
Japan, and Bro. L. L. Jenkins, of
Gastonia, a former deacon of the
writer’s, offered to pay the sal
ary of Bro. Rock.
Dr. Gray, of the Home board.
was at his best, and laid the im
portant work of his board on the
hearts and consciences of the peo
ple in his own stirring and elo
quent manner.
One of the most pleasant events
of the convention was the inaug
uration of W. L. Poteat, as pres
ident of Wake Forest College.
The convention, about one thou
sand strong, attended in a body.
There were several noted educa
tors of the State from other insti
tutions present and participating
in the exercises. Dr. Poteat de
livered a masterful address on the
place of the Christian college in
the world.
The convention had quite a
number of distinguished visitors
present: Dr. Seymore, of the Bap
tist Publication Society; Dr. Dar-
gan, of the Seminary at Louis
ville; Dr. Prestage, of the Bap
tist Argus; Dr. Graham, of the-
Index; Dr. Pitt, of the Herald,
and others not now recalled.
The Orphanage, ministerial ed
ucation, and all the usual objects
of the convention, came in for
their share of time and discus
sion. All the pulpits of Raleigh,
save the Catholic, Primitive Bap
tist and Episcopal, were filled by
Baptist preachers on Sunday, and
it was the general concensus of
opinion that the seventy-fifth was
the very best convention ever
held by the Baptists of-the State.
W. F. Watson.
Profanity.
Exchange.
There was a man and woman
who married, and the mother
taught their little son his prayer,
“Now I lay me down to sleep,”
etc., while the father would alarm
the neighborhood every morning
swearing at his stock in the barn
yard. What was the result? Ah!
It is the old story. The boy’s
natural tendency, assisted by his
father’s example, caused him to
turn a deaf ear to the teachings
of his mother and take up the
practices of his father, thus add
ing another to the long list of
God-defying profanity users.
Another case: Some men were
teasing a small boy, when the
youngster ripped out an oath that
made my blood run cold, yet old
gray-headed men stood by and
laughed their approval, as much
as to say, “Isn’t he smart?”
Oh, the depravity of the human
heart!
We see women every day—
good, pure Christian women—giv
ing themselves in marriage to
men of this class, obligating them
selves to go through life with an
ungrateful wretch, who will not
only render their life miserable,
but will blight the moral training-
of their children.
To reform him you say! Ah,
who was it said, “What fools
these mortals be!”
If you have any respect for
yourself or your children, shun
the profanity user as you would
the smallpox or the sot.
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