The Denver star., 1914-07-18

President w. Bishop johnson In Mas
tsrly Annual Address Says Great
Missionary Organization 10 In the
Midst Of Edueative Proeessss-Prs-
diets Great Future.
The annual address Of the Rev. DR.
w. Bishop johnson, president of the
New England Baptist missionary con-
vention recently held in Bridgeport
Conn. was In part as follows:
For thirty nine years the churches
of New England and the north have
sent their delegates to the annual
meeting of this convention to report
the progress of the denomination and
to get new inspiration to do and dare
for the Master. We come now to the
fortieth session. The mighty achieve
ments Of the past. the hosts of the
faithful warriors who crowd celestial
seats and from their high and exalted
stations look down upon those of us
with whom they once held sweet con-
verse and stood in the smoke of con.
hict wave their giorified hands across
the stretches Of thirty-nine years, now
rolled into the deathless past, anu
beckon US to higher and nobler efforts,
while this old world. torn and bleeding
with sin, shall be healed Of all Its dis
eases and presented to God without
spot or blemish, clothed in the ineffa.
BILE splendors Of New Jerusalem glory.
'The year just closed has been large
ly constructive. Two years ago We
enlarged our methods and widened our
vision for future efforts along all lines.
We are now in the midst Of educativs
processes in order that the churches
shall really see and understand the
heavy responsibilities and the mighty
fruitage the future holds for them.
THE New Egland missionary con.
vention is no longer an annual gather
ing where the representatives of
churches assemble to felicitate one an
other upon good health, fne appear
ance and general prosperity. 1t IL a
mighty assemblage Of the churches Of
the north. the religious forces that
must meet control and discipline, the
great innux Of Baptists from the south
that sweep in upon northern Baptists
like a mighty army and add their
weight to the responsibility OF the race
and denomination in America.
Are we still adding the polished
shafts to the giver Of an educated min
istry and the racial growth in morals
and religion to an intelligent pew?
Are we all with united voice-churches.
Sunday schools, b. Y. p. us and other
misunderstanding for the faith
once delivered to the saints and hurl-
ing into the teeth Of our enemies the
defiant declaration, In the name of our
God, we will set up our bannersy We
come to report progress. not retro
gression; advancement, not stagnation;
conquest. not defeat, for we sing with
the poet
Hammer away. ye hostile bands:
The hammer breaks. Gods anvil stands-
''The progress of our churches the
improvement in our ministry, the un-
mistakable signs of the times 80 far
as they point to this convention, spell
in large golden letters one word, OPP
pOrtunity.'
opportunity has no schedule time.
you must be waiting at the station
when 1t arrives. The hour, full of
meaning and heavy with responsibility,
has arrived for the New England mis-
siOnary convention to awake. Arise or
be forever fallen!
"Ten thousand blessings are held in
the jeweled hand of the present and Of
fered to the Negro Baptist family Of
the north. Shall we be ready at the
station for the train with the priceless
burden when 1t arrives? Let us see.
Under the enlargement plan adopted
by this convention in 1912 ten boards
were created, the home mission, locat-
ed in New Haven; the educational, at
New York; the foreign mission, AZ
Montclair, N. j.; the Sunday school, at
Philadelphia; the B. Y. p. o., at Provi-
dence. II. L.; the church edifice, at Bos-
ton; the ministers relief, at Brooklyn.
the widows relief. at Jersey City, N
j.: the publication, at Philadelphia, and
the historical, at Washington.
"a word about our constitutions.
rights: Eternal vigilance must be the
watchword of the Negro in securing his
constitutional rights. He will have to
make large sacrifices of time, talent
and money before he can wipe out dis
eliminating laws and twentieth cen.
tury barbarism, which are blot upon
the escntcheon Of American institu-
lions and which sustains and supports
a system Of slavery more wicked and
destructive than ever existed among
the nations Of the earth.
"NThe solution Of our problems lies In
the Negro's hands alone; the panacea
for our racial ills must be applied not
once. but often. until every evidence Of
disease has disappeared and every scar
has been healed. The race must pre-
pare itself for long, vigorous and de-
termined battle. We must transmit to
our sons the lighting spirit, not With