The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-07-24
ENTHUSIASM MARKS
BAPTIST'S MEETING
Birmingham Minister Hon.
ored by Convention
TWO GREAT FORCES
Rev. J. d. Ray of Birmingham De-
clares the Baptist and Catholic
Churches Have to Be
Reckoned With

i
night session was given over to the
discussion of the political movement of
the Catholic church. DIR. w. J e. Cox
was on the programme to discuss THE
Entertainments of Romanism" in the
United States When introduced he said
the press of other duties had pre-
vented him preparing an address on the
SUBJECT.
DIR. j. NJ. Thomas of Talladega was
introduced and outlined briefly the pol
Icy of the Catholic church with ref
erence to the state and then spoke of
some of the ways by which the Bap-
fist church could meet their political
entertainments.
The address by DIR. w. J. Phillips on
zone Hundred Years of Mission Read
ing" featured the entire programme of
the day The convention thought 1t so
praiseworthy they ordered 1t pub
lished for general distribution and
preservation.
The Baptist convention has opened with
great enthusiasm. A great number has
already arrived and they continue to in
crease with each incoming train. Last
nights session was given to outlining
the general discussions that will be
taken up during the convention. Rev. ].
G. Lowery was the main speaker and
named as the great problems the church
had to cope with at present were COM
mercialism, Millennial dawnism, Mormon
ism and Catholicism. Following his lee
ture. H. L. Strickland gave an illustrated
lecture, using stereopticon slides, to show
the work accomplished by the mission
board of the Southern Baptist church.
This morning at o'clock. the conven-
tion was organized with DR.. w. b. Crump-
ton, the president in the chair Discus
sions of high relative Importance were
handled by some of the leading ministers
of the church. E. II. Jennings of Dothan
spoke at length on the dark problems &C
the church and named some of them as
commercialism and socialism affirming
that the gospel of Jesus was the only
panacea for these evils. lie termed the
new theological unrest as the truth
searching spirit of the times and said the
Baptist church had less to feG< than any
other church on this score, and that there
was need of new system of religious
truth consistent with itself based on OBJ
servation, religious experience and bib
heal knowledge. He also advocated what
he called better prepared church, mean
ing better prepared ministry.
The labor problems were then
threshed out by Drs. Phillips and Ray,
the latter pointing out that many rem
edies were suggested, but they would
not work. Then Dr. Phillips said the
real issue was the triumph of Christian
1ty versus the triumph of infidelity, al
leging the Christ preached from the
pulpit was in conflict with the Christ
preached by the socialists, and that in
his opinion there should be a kind of
compromise between the two views. But
there is nothing to fear, he said, as
long as the ministry keep socialism
throbbing with the Christian spirit.
The ministry in politics was then de-
bated by H. r. Arnold who criticised
the ministers reticent to enter the po-
litical field. in defence of purity, imply
ing that they lacked manhood. He
stated further that in his opinion the
past political history of the world had
been marked more by paganism than by
Christianity, and advocated strongly the
minister taking more active part In the
political government, and cited as his
authority Jesus overturning the tables
in the temple and driving the money
changers from it.
j. d. Ray spoke on the problem of the
city, disparaging the influx of the rural
population to the congested centers and
alleged that many of the great cities were
incapable of efficient ef-government He
said the two great forces to be reckoned
with IN America were the Baptist church
and the Catholic church, that the Metho-
dist church was losing ground, the Bap-
fist merely holding hen ground, while the
Catholics were making rapid progress. He
did not name the other religious forces
DR.. Thomas of Talladega took issue with
several of the speakers who had ignored
the rich and the well to do to present the
cause of the poor alone. He said every
poor man was not saint nor every
rich man rascal. His speech was heart
fly approved by the convention. DIR. Phil :
lips then told of the progress of the
church through an hundred years of mis-
sionary activity.
The following programme was car
ried out at the afternoon session: The
Call" by Rev. A. p Moore of Hunts
Vile: The Preparation" by J. Allen
Smith, Ashland THE Ordination" by
G. n. Morris of Cuba; Value of a
Plan Well Worked" by A. X. Wright
of Ensley: "A House Going Preacher
Makes a Church Going People-Is 1t
True?" by Rev. Clay l. Hudson of
Decatur. Rev. A. j. Johnson opened
a five-minute talk on THE Topics of
the Programme" followed by num-
Der of volunteers
Rev. S. o. Y. Ray of Birmingham was
chosen chairman of the minister's con-
ference and Rev. j. H. Chapman of
Montgomery elected secretary.