First Baptist Church of Baltimore
A Historic Church Celebrates
By B. D. GrayTHE First Baptist church of Baltimore celebrated the 125th anniversary of its founding with a week of services during the latter part of November and the first of December, 1910. It was a great occasion, full of significance.
It was my pleasure to accept an Invitation to take part in the celebration. The services continued for a full week with special phases of the church and denominational work presented night after night Dr. R. S. McArthur, of New York, Dr. Samuel H. Greene, Washington City, former pastor. Dr. C. L. Laws, brought great and helpful messages. Dr. Laws’ address was historical, and he spoke on church night. Dr. Greene brought a message to the church in Its teaching and Sunday-school capacity. Dr. McArthur brought a world-wide message for Baptists. Denominational night and two sermons fell to my lot. Greetings from the daughters and grand-daughters of the church were presented by H. A. Griesemer, Mr. Eugene Levering and others.
Many messages of congratulation were received from absent members and friends of the great church. Dr. O. C. S. Wallace, the beloved and able pastor, presided throughout the week of festivities and lent dignity, vigor and winsomeness to all the services.
One hundred and twenty-five years marks with us a long period. With the Orientals 2,000 years Is no great era; 500 years with Methuselah found him at his meridian glory, but 125 years of American life Is equal almost to millenniums of Oriental sluggishness.
The First Baptist church was organized four years before the United States had any president; four years before the adoption of the Federal constitution; less than three years after Cornwallis surrendered to Washington at Yorktown. Baltimore herself had only 7,000 people and now she claims nearly 600,000. There were only 30,000 Baptists in all the country then. Now we have more than 5,000,000. Then, there was one Baptist to every ninety-four of the population; now one to every eighteen, which means Baptists have grown five times as fast as the population of the country.
Our institutions of learning have gone up to 188 with ten great theological seminaries, the equal in culture, power and Influence of similar schooIs of other denominations. We have endowment colleges and academies equal to $60,000,000. Our people are growing marvelously in wealth, in social, political and commercial power. We have entered upon the greatest era of prosperity ever known to our people and the prospects before us, if we are but true to our trusts, are glorious beyond conception.
The First Baptist church, with her splendid history, has a fine prospect for the future. The pastorate of Dr. J. W. M. Williams extended through a period of forty-three years, being approached most nearly by that of Dr. C. L. Laws. During this time Dr. Williams had a number of assistant pastors. Rev. Geo. B. Taylor, D.D., Rev. C. L. Laws, D.D., and Rev. J. F. Love, D.D., our Assistant Corresponding Secretary.
The church turns to the future with great encouragement. In speaking with my host, Mr. Richard H. Edmonds, (the gracious hospitality of whose home was enjoyed by Mrs. Gray and myself), who is a devout and godly deacon of the church, he was enthusiastic over the prospects for the church in the future. Such an occasion as the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the First church of Baltimore, with Its varied and splendid history, indicates that age and experience are coming to us. May the record of the great church for the next century and a quarter surpass the record of the last 125 years.
========== [From Victor I Masters, editor, The Home Field Magazine, January, 1911, p. 25; via Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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