In the Negro Press Association the Negro pulpit is largely and ably represented and the preacher editors are doing their work well. The above brief and partial (but partial only for lack of broader information and of more space) is but a feeble testimony to what the Negro pulpit is doing toward uplifting the race. In the religious sphere the Negro pulpit stands out in bold prominence as the chief agency in the work of uplifting the race. In organizing and perpetuating existing organizations the Negro pulpit now, as before, leads all other agencies. In the work of education the progressive pulpit is always a patron and supporter, as well as a workman which needeth not to be ashamed. In the endeavor to constrain the people to a settled condition, instill the principles of Christianity in all the affairs of life, and promote peace and harmony between man and man, regardless of race, the Negro pulpit is doing a work which is ever adding new stones to the grand building of race progress and influence. I know no single agency which is accomplishing so much in the task of uplifting the race as the Negro pulpit. What the great Negro religious and social organizations are doing, especially in such establishments as the A. M. E. Zion, A. M. E. and Baptist Publication establishments at Charlotte, North Carolina; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Nashville, Tennessee, and Jackson, Tennessee, is due largely to the management and business skill of the Negro pulpit. Now as in the past the Negro pulpit constitutes the true leadership of the race. Having been the pioneer in almost every race uplifting enterprise it will ever heartily co-operate with those who have come along in the paths blazed out by the Negro pulpit until the race shall take its place among the foremost peoples of the earth in every good work for the advancement of man and for the glory of God. SECOND PAPER. TO WHAT EXTENT IS THE NEGRO PULPIT UPLIFTING THE RACE? BY REV. J. B. L. WILLIAMS, D. D. [Illustration: J. B. L. Williams, D. D.] REV. JOHN B. L. WILLIAMS, D. D. Rev. John B. L. Williams, D. D., was born in Baltimore, Md., November 22, 1853. His parents, John W. Williams and Elizabeth Williams, were examples of piety, and were of prominent family connections in Baltimore. At an early age he was placed in a Roman Catholic School. Later in life he attended the city public schools and Douglass Institute. At 17 he was converted and joined the Methodist Episcopal church. At 18 he was divinely impressed with a call to the ministry. At 19 he became an apprentice at cabinet work and undertaking and completing his apprenticeship engaged in business for three years in Baltimore. In his 22d year he was licensed to preach by the Quarterly conference of John Wesley M. E. Church in Baltimore.