Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-09-06

Laying the Corner Stone. !
The colored Baptist congregation
of this city. of which Brother Jones
Is pastor, are building a new church
on Main street in the place where
their old church, which was rather
an unsightly structure, has stood for
years past. The new church will be
quite handsome building and will
add greatly to the appearances of
the locality where ii is situated.
The work ON the church has now
progressed to the first floor, the walls
of the basement being completed.
At this stage of the building it was
proper to "lay the cornerstone"
and Thursday afternoon was set
apart for that purpose. The color
ed Masonic Lodge assisted in the
ceremony and added to the interest
of the occasion by the solemn per-
Torrance of their cabalistic rites.
The stone was supplied with such
things as will suggest the temper Of
these times to the future arch@olo-
gist who searches among the decay
ing walls for relics of the past.
Among other things the stone con-
tains is a copy OF the CHRONICLE
trade issue Of last May.
The most interesting feature of
the occasion was the address deliv-
cred by Rev. A. D. Sears, D. D., of
this city. The doctor is very
graceful and pleasing speaker and
his valuable store of knowledge in
regard to such matters as this pc
culiarly fitted him for the occasion.
He begun by explaining that the
custom of laying corner stones orig
mated with the Masonic fraternity,
to whom it had an especial mean
ing. With them, cornerstone and
foundation stone meant the same
thing. This portion of the address
was quite instructive, and contain
ed some information not easily
found elsewhere.
The doctor then spoke of the fact
that the largest number OF colored
people who belong to any church
are either Baptist or Methodist.
He attributed this to- the fact that
these denominations display more
feeling than others and. the colored
people are naturally demonstrative
and enthusiastic. Another cause
was that the colored people like
EMERSON. The colored Methodists
were generally .emersed though
their church does not make it i'm
perative that they should be. When
he heard of an EMERSON to take
place among the colored people he
couldn't tell whether they were
Baptist or Methodist. asfA
The Baptist church among the
colored people was flourishing and
aiding in the elevation of the race.
There were in the South Is colleges
where colored Baptist preachers
were educated and trained for the
ministry that had been endowed by
philanthroplc people at the North.
In these there were 412 young men
being thoroughly preparedtto go
out and preach to the people. There
were some men of learning and dis
tinguished ability at the head of
these institutions. Among them
might be mentioned DIR. Corning OF
Richmond. A great change was
coming for the colored people and
they must prepare themselves to
meet it,. He thought it would be
their mission to evangelize and civ
ilize Africa. 1t was work God
had reserved for them. White men
couldn't accomplish it on account
of climatic impediments.
The doctor referred to three color
ed preachers of the Baptist church
he had known who were men of
high character anu greatly respect
ed. Henry Adams, of Louisville,
London Terrell, of Lexington, KY,
and Nelson Merry, recently deceas-
ed, of Nashville. Colored people
should emulate the example of
these men, and there was no reason
why they should not all attain as
high places in public life as. these
divines had done.
The doctors address was very at
tentively listened to, and we hope
the seed fell on good ground.