The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-12-08
Dr. billiard Speaks
 On 5,000,000 Campaign

What the s75,0o0,00O campaign mas demonstrated, was the theme of the ser mon preached ry Dr. J. E. billiard at the southside Baptist church before a large congregation yesterday morning. pr. Dil- lard said in part:
 There are some things about the Bap- lists that we have known all along They are an independent bunch, liberty loving and positive in convictions. They will brook no human authority recognize no order of ministers. subscribe to no man. made creeds and recognize no assess ments. They claim to be loyal to Christ as the only and supreme authority in all religious matters and to the New Testa- ment as the expression of His will They believe in the competency of the soul in religion and will let nothing or nobody priest, saint, angel, creed or ordinance come between the soul and it's Maker. They insist that every individual shall read and interpret the Bible for himself and follow it's teachings as the individual understands them.
 Every Baptist church is an independ- ent organization. self-governing and self directing. Each individual member has the same rights and powers in the church These churches unite in associations and conventions to more efficiently do their common work. but no organization has any power over the local churches, ex- cept the power of advice. The local church is the final court of earthly appeal; to 1t all members and pastors must answer majority always rules
 Gan such group of churches get to- gether on a great programme? Can mil- lions Of people holding such views unite in a truly grea. work? A man of great wealth and influence said to me recently in New York: You can never do it, you haven't the organization" I replied We shall see" The result of the campaign has showed us that Baptists can get to- gether and work together and maintain their individual freedom.
 '"The campaign has shown us that Bap- lists can get as enthusiastic over works as they have always been over doctrines No one ever heard of a Baptist that couldn't argue for his doctrines. but many of them have been very indiffcr- ent about turning loose their cash. It can no longer be said that Baptists are stingy. A member of my church who is good at figures. said to me that the sub scription on last Sunday of more than s20O O)O for missions and benevolences rep resents about 6 per cent of the tithe of the income of our membership.
 ''The campaign has shown who the workers are and who are the shirkers- though of course there are many good people who will subscribe yet, various reasons have kept some away and caused others to delay but when all the sub scriptions are in you will be able to tell who are taking their religion seriously and who are only nominally Christians.
 'The final thing that impresses me about the campaign is the value of great propaganda-getting all the peorle to work together at the same time on the same thing, thus bringing business methods into religious work. We are con fidently looking forward to a great spirit ual revival. We see now what Southside church can do when she tries. We arc ex- pecting 800 additions to our church tnis year, ard if we will work as hard to win the lost and indifferent as we have worked to raise our quota in the cam paign, we will get them. God is always ready"