The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-03-18

and Church Covenant of this Congre-
CATION; Copies of the minutes of Liu
coin Baptist Association and the
New Mexico Baptist Convention; A
copy of the Baptist Workman con-
tanning a picture of this building
when completed and of the pastor; A
list of the membership of our Con-
gregatio1, of the Ladies Aid Socie-
ty and of the Contributors to the
building fund; A copy of the Consti-
tuition and bylaws of the Masonic
Grand Lodge of New Mexico, and a
list of the names of the members of
the local lodge; A copy of the pro-
gram of this hour; A copy of the or
dinances OF the City of Roswell; :;
Coins of the United States, dated
1906 and 1907; Copies of the Roswell
Daily and Weekly Records and of the
Register-Tribune.
l desire on behalf of our Baptist
people to thank the Masonic Lodge,
the Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ar
chitect, the contractor and the work
men for kindly assisting us in the
exercises of this hour.
| 1 wish also in this connection TO
thank the local newspapers for the
valuable services in giving pulicity
to our aims and plans. If they had
hot spoken kindly and often of the
work which we doing our progress
would not have been as rapid as it
has been.
This beautiful building the foun-
dation and material of which you
here behold, has long been the hope
of many members of our congrega-
ton and its completion will be to
us day of joy and thanksgiving.
| the building of it represents sacri-
l tiRia1 of nnSf
of the members of our church. Its
dedication to the worship of Almigh-
| ty God will mark an epoch in the
history of our congregation and will
we trust, give a new impulse to the
moral and religious life of this COM
munity.
Outside the membership ,of our
congregation and upon the ground
| that this building will be a distinct
benefit to the whole community many
| individuals and firms in the city nave
contributed money to its erection and
others are considering whether it will
not be well for them to do so. We
are duly thankful to those outside
our communion who have assisted
u.s. We trust that in all their future
lives not one of them will have any
just cause to regret the part he took
in this noble work.
There are several reasons why we
considered it our duty now to erect
SO costly a house as this:
In the first place, we believe that
we should have in Roswell, the most
beautiful town in the Southwest, a
house of worship that would measur
ably represent the great life and
spirit of our Baptist people.
For many centuries during the
times of dark and bloody persecu-
ton the BaptiSts were not permitted
to publicly proclaim their doctrines
except upon peril of their liberties
and often their lives. They were
driven out of most countries and
were forced to hold in secret sucn
meetings as they mad.
When at length they gained relig
ious freedom and were a few in num-
Der and most of them poor in earthly
goods. But in a century and a half
of absolute freedom without any cen
trail government, with no law among
themselves but the will of God and
no authoritative creed except the
Bible, they have increased from a
few thousand to several millions.
Our net increase in the United States
last wear was nearly twice as great
as that of any other one evangelical
denomination. We have now invest
ed in institutions for Christian edu-
cation more money than any other
evangelical denomination. We have
the largest orphanage in the United
States and we are building the larg-
est and best Christian Sanitarium
in the Country while our institutions
of charity are found in almost every
State and country in the world.
We make no vain boast of our
greatness or of our work. 1t has been
wrought through the mercy and ia
vor of God alone. But we desire to
represent in this building the liberal
spirit aid noble work with which God
has honored our Baptist people 1t
would not be in keeping with the
greatness of our Baptist people aid
the magnitude of their work for us
to build here an inferior house.
In the second place, we wish to ex-
press to God, our Father, by the
gifts which we bring to His House |
the gratitude of our hearts for His |
great blessing to us and to our peo- |
Dle. We and all our substance are
his by right of creation and doubly |
His by reason of redemption He |
has expressed His interest in us by |
the unspeakable gift of His Son.
No sacrifice that we can make for |
the Glory of His name and no gift
that we are able to offer upol the |
Altar of His service can even meas |
urably recompense Him for His mer-
cies to u.s. But we can and do bring |
to Him in the erection of this house |
a token of our gratitude for His |
blessings to us personally and for the |
great grace and prosperity which He
has vouchsafed to the Baptist Demo
minatiOl.
We must have better equipment.
Roswell's future and our faith, needs
Preaching place
Teaching place.
Place of Worship, prayer and Com
fort.
Finally we are building this COM
modious house because 1t is impera-
tive that we have more room and bet
ter equipment for the work which. as
a church, we ought to do.
The first duty enjoined by the Sa-
vior upon His followers is that by |
public proclamation of His Gospel