The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-03-02
DR.. BROWN TO THE CHURCHES.
Pastor Of the First Baptist Church Has
Something to Say Of the Formation
of the New Baptist Association-ln-
teresti1g Reading it is.


TO THE CHURCHES OF THE SASTEE
BAPTIST ASSOCIATION.
BRETHRES:-It is said that on my
account, four churches, some or theih
quite widely separated from others is
TO location. have been induced by lead
ers unfriendlr to me, to take their let
ters aud leave the Santee Association
The churches referred to are the Man
ming church. the Bartlette Streee
church. the Pisgah church anu the
salem church. II is due TO those who
know nothing of the facts in the case to
state them.
Two Years ago, Mr. Cough, the pas.
tor at Manning, took 1t upon hlmse!l
without any sort of premonitlon given
10 me bv any one. to go about among
some of the churches, seeking to induce
them TO vote against me at the sum
merton meeting, which was then near
AT hand. For some reason. he failed to
find sufficient number OF voters, aud
the project failed ofrealization. There
upon The larger part Of the Manning
delecation returned home, and took no
further part in the business OF that
session of the Association. The next
year, at Sumter, Mr.. Gresham was
nominated for the office OF the body:
but again there were not enough votes
to elect him. Last year, in November,
when the Association met IN Manning,
I received SO votes out of the So that
were cast; and that afternoon, the
Sumter delegation. eXceptl:r myself,
not desiring to remain IN attendance
upon what was Tot much more Tor less
than a row, and at my advice and sug,
gestion, returned to Sumter. This
aroused bad feelings in certain breth-
ren. some of whom on a former occa'
sion, had acted just as the Sumter del
eeation acted: and therefore, on Satur'
day, the whole business OF the Assocla'
ton was sidetracked, in order that we
might hear the reading OF the paper
which is published on page ! OF the
| Minutes of the Association. In dis
cussing that remarkable paper, various
explanations were made. I myself
sought to make few: but it was mani
! fest that explanations were not what
| was demand, and all that was SAID,
though a bad spirit was shown by nc
one. was unavailing. The Association
granted to the offended brethren the
privilege of publishing the paper, and
| I myself voted that it be spread on the
Minutes. felt then as do now, that
the paper itself is its own best answer
The minority seemed to feel much hurt
because the majority did not yield: Mr.
Cough felt called upon to say that was
! the only man in the State who would
continue in office in the face OF such a
minority" The truth was had more
respect for the man than | had for their
methods.
The charge against me was that !
was playing boss" and this bosslsm
was obnoxious to some OF the brethren.
No other charge, however, was pre-.
ferred., In fact, Mr.. Cough. who was 4
leader in this enterprise, has said to
me in letters which have, and also on
the floor OF the Association, that against
me personally he had no ill-feellng.
Thenit could be only my official self
that was odious to him. At any rate.
nothing but general ''boSsism' was
ever made use of as an argument to
show that | shoGld be elected from the
Office of Clerk OF the Association.
When | began to review the situa-
rion. came to see how they might nave
a shadow OF foundation for the charge.
have been in Sumter long time. |
organized the Suntee Association, and
sought the office OF Clerk. which IS the
place of a servant, and avowed that |
would never consent to serve as Mod-
orator. which Office have refused on
three occasions. The Office of Clerk |
have held throughout the history Of the
body, and Iii venture that ours Is one
Of the few bodies in the State, twenty
five wears old. whose archives are IN
tact. This has arisen from the fact
that one man has kept them through
all the years of the life Of the body. a
frequent change of Clerks generally
results in the loss eventually OF all pa
pers and records II possible, it is best
for one man to retain this office for q
long time. unless he develops a mani
fest unftness. For this reason. and be-
cause | honestly believed | could Ill!
the Office. I have gladly held 1t, re-
garding it all the time as a place OF ser
vice more than of honor. LaJterIy.
when ten or twenty brethren: out o.
nearly three thousand, wanted TO eject
me, refused to resign because they
had not sought to accomplish their OBJ
! iect in a righteous and Christian way.
I have always felt profound inter-
est in the welfare of the Sautee
churches. 1t came to pass that the
brethren wrote to me about almost
everything: l have been directly or
indirectly Instrumental in getting pas
tors. at one time o. another, for almost
all the churches in the Association.
during my twenty-nine years soJourn
at Sumter. Then. besides, Sumter be.
inc so central, the Executive Board
was located here, and one or another oi
the Sumter brethren has been made
Moderator for years: so it was a true
charge that in me my church large
part of the executive authority OF the
Association was vested. But it was
also true that we did not seek these
honors. They were thrust upon US be-
cause OF our local habitation. and we
did not know thatany church or brother
was suffering because of our long occu-
pancv of Office. How we should con.
gratulate ourselves that never once did
we abuse the power committed to us.
In order to crafty the malcontent:
and get out of their way, l freel ~ sur
rendered all official connection with the
Association, except the Office of Clerk
which did nothing more than give me
the privilege of writing the Minute:
once a year, and keeping file OF them
But when nothing was left to me bul
this one position. was still like Morde
cal sitting at the palace gate. and tn:
same dissatisfied few were dlspleaseC
at my presence. Because my Church
naturally upheld me and voted for me
in this matter. the whole body spirit
ual, as we may justly infer from thai
paper published on page OF the Min
utes, became an object OF odium to the
few brethren in question, and my peo
pie were called upon to bear the abuse
along with me, which same thing the,
have done with some marked degree O
patience and forbearance.
For three sessions, the meetingof the
Association was but little better than {
lpolitical row. Itseemed to be merely {