A SOUND BAPTIST DISCOURSE.
By W. N. G.
On the 15th inst. Rev. C. H. Hobart, pastor of the First Baptist Church of this city, delivered a discourse on the live subject of “Persecution in the Nineteenth Century.” His remarks gave no uncertain sound as to his position on the “unholy,” the “unrighteous,” the “infamous,” laws under which men are to-day persecuted for their faith. He reminded his people that religious liberty was a Baptist heritage; that they had fought this battle for themselves one and two hundred years ago, and that now they had the privilege of fighting it for others. We had thought that the contest for freedom of conscience was settled a hundred years ago, but to-day we find in these United States, under the flag of liberty—“Old Glory”—in this boasted “land of the free,” men are working in the chain-gang because they differ from some other people in their religious faith. He held up a copy of the American Sentinel containing a picture of several Adventists in the chain-gang in Rhea County, Tenn., and said he wished he could throw it upon a canvas so large that the whole congregation and the world could see it. Then he added that it is time for the indignation of every true and intelligent Baptist in the land to be aroused. Moreover, the worst of it is, these persecutions are mainly at the instigation of men professing to be Christians. The speaker deplored the fact that even a Baptist paper and a Methodist bishop had indorsed such unchristian proceedings. He emphasized the fact that such things were done not only in the south, but even in Massachusetts, Illinois, Colorado, and California. In a town in Massachusetts, in the midst of busy railroads and factories, and various phases of prominent business activity on Sunday, a poor Adventist dealer was singled for prosecution, and fined $50 for selling a half pound of candy. In Illinois Seventh-day Adventists had been arrested and fined for Sunday labor, although the law expressly exempted them. In Colorado and California members of the Salvation Army had been imprisoned for the “crime” of preaching Christ on the street corner. The speaker said he did not know to what extent this spirit of persecution would be carried; it had commenced about ten years ago, and it was a significant fact that in this year, 1895, it had increased about one hundred fold beyond what it was in the beginning. It is thought, he continued, that the Catholics will yet control this country, and if they do, true Baptists will also come to the chain-gang. In conclusion he announced the hymn “America,” saying that he was almost ashamed to sing it under the present conditions in this country. The discourse throughout was a manly, Christian utterance, such as would naturally be expected from a loyal Baptist, and seemed to inspire a sentiment of hearty approval in the audience. Yet it is doubtful if one Baptist minister in one hundred throughout the United States would have spoken the same sentiments in language so frank and earnest.