The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-06-28
TRUE MISSION ANDL WORK
OF PREACHER AND TEA CHER
An Address DeiUered BY Mayor j. c. Palmer of Opehkc
to Negro Congregation at the Installation
of Their Pastor


of the Baptist Negro Church Of ope-
lika was made notable by an address
delivered by Mayor J. @. Palmer, OF
Opelika who with number OF other
prominent white citizens attended the
exercises. The preacher was installed
by Rev. A. r. owens of the Phelps
Bible Training School OF Tuskegee, but
the charge to the church was delivered
by Dr. Taliaferro, pastor of the white
Baptist Church Of Opelika.
DIR. Palmer, Mayor of Opelika adj
dressed the large crowd on the mission
OF the preacher and the teacher. In
response to requests the address Of the
Mayor to the negro congregation is
here printed in full.
DIR. Palmer said:
To preach or teach one must possess
something to impart to an other; must
have some conception of the needs or
reQuirments of those who are to be
taught. and should possess a superior
knowledge OF the subject to be taught.
Confidence In or an earnest interest or
belief In the subject or object to be
taught.
Again there must be upon the part
of those to be taughtNa confidence and
faith In the teacher and In his ability
to teach or ones efforts at impartins
knowledge upon any subject at once pc
comes futile. Hence teacher should
strive to have and to hold the con-
fidence and attention Of those he would
teach. How best to DO this Is q pro-
| blem each must solve for himself
! It is mental force mental vfgor mat
ched with infiexibIe determination that
does things In teaching. We must
| learn the A. b. G of the tremendous
power OF thought, the force of ahirma-
ton and a true estimate OF our range
and limitations and the latter can never
be known Of finite minds. One lacking
| the mental concept OF possessing no.
thing of the principles he would In
culcate In another will certainly meet
with defeat One cannot preach of the
| light or make radiant any subject who
| knows nothing of the light; for tbs
| by knowledge we learn to know Wnat
| to man and what to God we owe TO
be able to teach the Bible one must
have some conception OF Christ ana
must have had something of the divini-
| tv within him awakened in order to
| understand It's teaching. Must have
| nersonal knowledge of the Creator In
\ order that he may more fully UNDER
stand, the needs Of the created. Our
forces and range of thought ana ach-
levement will be undeveloped, our en-
deayors circumscribed, until we look TO
| a higher power than mere human con-
| ception to understand the possibilities
| and needs of the created. Our work
must have the touch Of Divine inspira-
| ton and IL we have no conception OF
divinity II our minds and hearts nave
no knowledge of him OF whom we
would teach how can we know OF the
message he brings or the import OF his
! coming. When II we bring to our AID
the beneficent influence Of righteous
| nass and faith and q personal knowl-
| edge Of the Greater. Then knowledge
becomes power translated into love.
| and our labor will be blessed, ana
others seeing our good works VIII De
constrained to glority COO. ous
i teaching Is to reveal any awakened
Bconception of Immortality II Is when
we become so close to him OF wnom
we would teach that the chastened
spirit. the softened heart, the consecrat-
ed life will reveal to others our faith
| in him of whom we teach. ne VINO
said II am the source of light and with
! out me you can do nothing Is no
mythical SAYING or statement; II puts
| US on notice and at once reveals the
! one thing needful in one who tries to
teach. We often might have cause 10
be ashamed of our best actions or er-
forts IL the world could see all the
motives which prompted them. man
| perchance il q critic of himself, other-
wise he could make no Improvement IN
| his own character: the critical faculty
| should be in constant exercise, Tor by
II we Judge both our selves and others.
| reaching must be knowledge trans
lated into love, reverence, Justice
hearts beating in unison with the nopi-
est ideals of humanity and II neeos.
turning the worlds night into day and
| whose oenedictions will create that
Inevitable dawn Of emancipated ration
| allied humanity. A teacher needs no
other Rosary whose threads of life are
strung with the beads of love and
thought for the redemption OF fallen
| humanity And the way to attain any
gift or faculty Is to bend ourselves 10
| ward IL, with all our strengthens we
appropriate Just in proportion to the
| intensity and persistence OF our enortsi
| 20 attain Think Of man who was M
tended to be absolute master OF all sne
created forces, stepping down and
admitting defeat. stepping down on OF
the throne of reason and confesslng his
inability to control his acts. he Is
| like a mariner without compass, ne 10
AT the mercy of every wind that blows;
they drive him out of his course ana
make II we'll nigh impossible to reach
the goal of his ambition; and no maH
can lay claim 70 mastership who IL
the slave Of any vice.
From scheme and creed the light goes
out.
The sanity thought survives
The holy teaching none can doubt
when revealed in holy lives"
Good nd Evil.
Good and evil q alike In every hu
man life, and .dch shall develop
and gain the ascendency or ultimately
become predominant depends largely
upon the way each child IL raised and
upon the domestic and social environ
ments. We should so teach them as to
keep them within the fold, rather than
go after them after they have wander
ed; don't let evangelism become neces-
sary make the fold inviting. rememb-
erinR that some must be guided
rather than driven. Keep them with
in, they belong to Christ and must be
kept from the devil. Teach them that
one can grow up in the house OF God
and never leave II; 1t is not necessary
to wander In order to come back. Stay
within for the fixed choice which we
make in the beginning OF life deter
mines largely our success or failure.
Man Is immoral when he works out
his own salvation, by his obedience to
the immutable laws OF progress up to
perfection and unity with God. A,
teacher must radiate a sunny self
confidence, and make what ever you
teach luminous, and remember that 1t
Is not only the vigor which we take
hold of our task, but also the deter
mination with which We hold on. The
law of compensation will always have
its way, and when he has once the
10Y the exhilaration, the infinite sat
isfaction which comes from the exer-
else Of the highest faculties, he can
not ever again be satisfied to grovel
~, The awarcIaa of his baSer faculties