The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-12-08
THE BAPTIST STATE CONVENTION

| The Baptist State Convention began
its annual session at Elizabeth City last
night and will continue through the
Sabbath. 1t meets in a strong church
| in a section where Baptlsts are num-
erous, militant. powerful in every
| good cause for the uplift OF mankind.
Every foot of ground ia that section
| has seen religious conflict III which
Baptists have stood for Right and
Light The delegates from other por-
tons of the State will find warm well
come in the hopes of their friends.
| The Baptist State Convention was
organized at Greenville in 1880 and
| a handsome brick church was erect
| ed in Greenville to commemorate that
important event in the history of thai
great denomination. The men who or
ganized the Baptist Convention wrote
their names large in the religious his
| tory of North Carolina. Few, Patrick
Dowd, of Wake county, big of bra n
and masterful man, then thirty-one
wears old. was the first president;
genius. was vice-president, and TIE
other officers were young men who
had proved their capa city to lead
During all these years the State Con-
vention has been the iaspi.at Z for
the great movements that have given
the Baptist church its large place in
the affairs of North Carolina. Wake
Forest College, the Baptist Orphanage.
the Baptist University and all the edu-
cational enterprises of the church were
born in these conventions or ad-
vanced by reason of their delibera-
lions. They are always largely attend
ed. the laymen are given an important
place in the work of the convention,
and the most eloquent men discuss
the progress and the outlook and in-
augurate or outline the progressive
movements that mark the Baptist
church in North Carolina.
The Baptists of North Carolina have
not only stood for the moral regen-
GRAFTON of man. but they have been
leaders for religious freedom and GIVE
righteousness. Their early ministers
and leaders took active part in the
War of the Revolution and agitated
for religious liberty when the curse
of church establishment hung like a
milestone around the neck of the
young colony. They led in the or
ganization of the party of Jefferson
which saved the early Republic from
the threatened Federalism that wished
but sugar-coated monarchy. They
have ever stood against caste and
privilege and for the equal rights
of all men-the right of men to think
in religion and in politics without die
tation from any quarter. They stand
today under the leadership of that
grand old preacher, DR.. Huffman, and
that noble apostle among laymen,
John c. Scarborough, for the same
sort Of religion and politics that were
espoused by Martin Ross and Ma
thaniel Macon in 1.-The good old times"
when plain living and high thinking
were at premium in North Caro-
lima.
The convention meets this year in
the best humor and mood. The clos
ing year has been marked by pros
perity in every field. There have been
many accessions to the churches, new
church edifices and parsonages have
been erected, the people have been
liberal in their contributions, the edu-
cational Institutions are sharing the
blessing of the renaissance of educa-
tional interest. and the Baptist Or
phanage, the most popular institution
in the church, though Scourged by
typhoid fever epidemic, has felt the
outstretched hand of the churches as
never before.
The two events of the year that
particularly mark the material prog
ress of the year are the payment of
the debt on the Baptist Female Uni
versity and the raising of large
sum to complete the Alumni Building
at Wake Forest The last achieve
ment has been performed by Prof.
J. +. Carlyle, who combines business,
judgment and "horse sense" with elo-
quence and earnestness in such degree
as have given first place in the hearts
of his church in every county in North
Carolina
Day by day The News and Observer
will tell the story of the convention.
The readers of this papcr-(over $500
people now subscribe to 1.-The Old Re-
liable") will be glad to know that
Rev. H. H. Mashburne, the gifted
Baptist pastor at Louisburg, will re-
port the proceedings for The News
and Observer.
A GOOD EXAMPLE,.