The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-25

heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations. baptizing them in tho name of the Father and of the Son, anu of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to ob- serve all things whatsoever I have con- manded you; and To, I am with you al- ways, even unto the end of the world.
 How well they have executed this con- mission will readily appear from the man. ifest results of their labors in foreign fields, and from the fact that in this country the Baptists, on an enumeration confined to persons baptized on a pro fession of faith in Christ, outnumber any other Evangelical denomination, though pressed closely in this respect (but with out jealousy) by the great Methodist brotherhood. These two denominations. in this southland of ours, have been the pioneers in Christian evangelism Hand in hand they have stormed and carried many citadels of ignorance and vice and planted upon their ramparts the flag of joy. peace and good will to men,
 Religious Liberty.
 Another principle unquestionably owes it's existence and establishment to the efforts of the Baptists. It is that of religious liberty-the right to wor- ship God according to the dictates of the conscience; the striking down of municipal authority to supervise or in- terfere with the full and free right to entertain any religious belief, to prac- tice any religious principle and to teach any religious doctrine, which does not violate the jaws of morality and property and which does not in fringe personal rights; and the cor relative principle that the law knows no heresy and is committed to the sup port of no dogma, the establishment of no sect;' thus establishing not merely religious toleration but religious equality.
 For more than a century previous to the recongnition of this principle by any municipal government the Baptist stood alone as it's advocate and suffered persecution. even unto death, for it's sake And indeed. after its full re- cognition by the colonial authorities Of Rhode Island, which colony was found ed by Baptists some of whom had been banish ed from Massachusetts Bay on account of their adherence to the deathless principle. for years the Bap- fists fought almost single e-handed and alone for it's conservation and perpet- nation Indeed, the contest for its su- premacy was urged by the Baptlsts' pra ctically unaided, until it was em- bodied in the first amendment to the federal constitution in the year lf9l. To the Baptists of those days In spite of towering difficulties, the world be- came indebted for the principle of sep aration between church and state, ana for the lodgment of that principle In American public law, which became uh- alterable not only by it's incorporation in the organic law of the nation put .bv it's being embodied in the organic law of the several states Of the union, and by being imbedded in the hearts of the American people.
 "Neither time nor the occasion Will admit of our speaking of the inesti- mab1e blessings to the people of Amer ica to the civilized world, and espec- iaIlv to all Christian churches, which have flowed from the establishment ana uaintenance of this principle. Suffice It +o say that it has become one Of the bulwarks of American liberty and IS puarded by jealous eye and that us Arrangement. directly or indirectly IS resented by a spirit of just condemna- tion as violative of a sacred right near est ana dearest to the hearts of all true Americans.
 "In view of the history of the Bap- +ist neople and of their church pol1ty, if is not at all surprising that they have consistently and uncompromising lv stood for this principle. From the first. the denomination has been of the neople and for the people It is the great democratic church of the civilized xrorld