When I went from Jersey City to this place. I was in poor health and
this made the work much more difficult. At last I was taken to the
hospital and was there three months. It was a fight between the
forces of life and the forces of death, but it was God’s will that I
should stay a while longer on the earth to do His work, so I won out in
the fight with death. But I am glad to recount this experience; after
a close examination of myself, I found that I was ready to die, that I
was really relying on the Lord Jesus Christ for my salvation and that
His will was indeed my will. This was a great consolation. In health
we are sometimes not able to diagnose our spiritual condition, but in
extreme sickness, when we are brought near to the valley of the shadow
of death, we are able to make note of our real spiritual state or
condition and we are able to do so, with the knowledge that we may soon
feel the pangs of death.
During my stay in the hospital my friends were exceedingly good to me
and my church at Bordentown continued my salary. Surely God has blessed
me with tried and true friends.
The best friend I had in all this affliction was my dear wife, Lulu.
She was with me constantly. She seemed to suffer with me all my
suffering. How often I have seen in her face the sympathy and love that
would have robbed me of every pain, but she could not. I cried out
within myself, “Glory and honor to such a wife!” The operation was a
successful one in the sense that in this case the patient did not die.
In three months to the day from the time that I left my pulpit I was
again in the pulpit ready to do valiant service for God and my people.
The next Conference met at Orange, N. J., April 25th, 1907. Bishop
Wesley J. Gaines, presided. I was sent to the charge at Haddonfield,
N. J. I was at this church two years. A good work was done. From this
church I was stationed at the church at Mt. Holly, N. J. (The Mt.
Moriah A. M. E. Church). We met a most pleasant and active band of
workers at this place and did a good work for the Lord.
At the Conference which met at Orange I had the pleasure of hearing
the Rev. Samuel G. Miller, D.D., President of the Bible Educational
Association, speak on the necessity of an educated ministry. I was
deeply impressed with his remarks and when he made it known that he
was at the head of an institution in Philadelphia where ministers
regardless of their intellectual condition would be received and aided
along educational lines, I determined that I would visit the school and
see what they were doing.
[Illustration: SAMUEL G. MILLER, D.D.
My Instructor in Hebrew, New Testament Greek, Theology, etc., Bible
College, Philadelphia, Pa.]
Not long afterward I went to the school and found Dr. Miller at his
post. I told him that I was about seventy years old, that I did not
feel that it was worth while for me to undertake any course of study
and that if I did I feared that I could not keep pace with the class.
He replied to me that age had nothing to do with a man’s ability to
study if he would apply himself--that the mind never grew old, that it
was immortal, and that the only thing for me to do was to enter the
school and get down to hard work. I was both amused and astonished
at his advice. But I entered the school and took up those difficult
studies. New Testament Greek, Hebrew, Psychology, and put in several
hours a day on them. I was astonished at my success. I found that my
memory came back to me and that I was really able to perform feats of
memory. I found that it became easier for me to acquire knowledge as I
went along. I remained in the college three years, and am now able to
read the Bible in its original tongues and have taken the Theological
course. And now in my seventy-third year, I have done what I would
loved to have done fifty years ago. I have educated myself. How strange
the Providence of God! The Southern people enslaved my people and
caused me a great deal of my suffering, but at the end or almost at the
end of my earthly journey, I met this godly Southern man, Dr. Miller,
who has made a new man out of me along educational lines. Thank God, He
has His own children among the Southern people as well as in the North.
And I believe that when the Southern people realize what the Negro is
to them as well as what he has been, that they will do wonders for
the Race. At this very writing, the white people of the State of South
Carolina are vying with the White people of North Carolina, as to which
state has the best and most progressive class of Colored people. I
thank God that I have gotten out of the briars.
I am greatly surprised that I have been able to fill the posts of duty
and honor which have been assigned me in my life. I have done what I
could and the best I could. On the battle field, as chaplain in the
state legislature, as pastor, as presiding elder, as a high official
in Fraternal Orders, as an officer in the Civil War, as son, husband,
father and friend. I have tried to be faithful, and I can truly repeat
the words of dying King Edward, “I tried to do my duty.”
[Illustration]
The Church; What It Is and What It Should Be.
I am aware of the fact that in writing my views of the Church as it
is and as it should be, that I may and doubtlessly will, run counter
to the views of some of my brethren, but I do not find that this is
a valid reason for my not expressing my views on such an important
subject. I have served the Church quite a number of years, over forty
years, having given her the best part of my life, and now that I am
about to conclude my labors for her, I feel that it is my duty to say
those things which in my judgment will be for her highest welfare and
the glory of her Head, Jesus Christ.
I. The Church as it is. The study of present church life is a most
intricate one. We find that the Church is hopelessly divided, that is,
it seems hopelessly divided. “A house divided against itself cannot
stand.” Let it be understood that I am not talking or writing about
any of these divisions, or denominations. I am speaking of that body
of believers of every denomination or sect, who belong to our Christ.
They may be Protestants or Roman Catholics; they may be Methodists,
Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians or Quakers. No one denomination
can lay any claim to a monopoly of religion or of Christianity, and
therefore cannot be considered alone.
1. The Church today is shorn of much of its power by so many divisions.
There would be no objection to these myriad divisions if it were not
for the fact that these divisions are more or less arrayed against one
another. If these divisions were articulated and harmonious like the
divisions of a great army, it would be a good thing, but this is not
so; we are the Church Militant in a bad sense as well as in a good
sense, and alas the bad too often predominates.
We have frequently found one denomination fighting another denomination
on doctrinal grounds; we have found them proselyting; we have found
them trying to occupy the same territory, and thereby wasting their
strength; we have seen them grow into bigotry and sectarianism and live
the life of strife. The evils which have followed such a condition have
been an impoverished and struggling, yes, dying church; a poorly paid
and inefficient ministry; a life largely robbed of its spirituality; an
organization which has become the laughing stock of the world.
We have found individual congregations following the example of their
denominations. All this is to be greatly deplored, for it is contrary
to the teachings and spirit of Jesus Christ.
2. The Church today has become poisoned with politics. Political tricks
and schemes, political life and its power, have gotten into the church
and have wrought havoc. We cannot reconcile this manner of directing
the life and work of the Church with the over ruling of the Holy
Spirit. Some of the great meetings of our churches, in their annual
business sessions, have become real worldly political gatherings having
met in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have turned the House
of God into a den of politicians. Men high up in the authority and
influence of the Church, have subverted this rank and power to their
own selfish purposes. They have sought to make the Church a stepping
stone to something better for themselves instead of making themselves
a stepping stone for the betterment of the Zion of God. They have
forgotten that they came not to be ministered unto, but to minister;
not to be served with easy and lucrative positions, but to serve in
any sphere however humble. Money has been spent in vast sums for the
procuring of high positions; life has been wasted in a selfish attempt
to save it; the Church has become corrupted and made sinful, thereby
driving the Holy Spirit away from its work and presence. The Church
today is more or less disgraced by such political methods. It stands
depleted of much of its power. It is following men instead of God,
instead of the Holy Spirit. The Church cannot serve two masters.
3. The Church today is largely under the power of the god of Mammon.
It has forgotten the poor which it always has with it. It has gone off
after the well-to-do and rich classes. It has greater respect for the
man that comes into its doors dressed in goodly apparel than for the
poor man in his rags.
In our cities the Church is following the rich uptown. Great and grand
buildings are standing idle, and posted on their front is the sign,
“For Sale.” Whereas the multitudes are living and surging all about
these empty houses of God.
The great burden of the Church today is not getting in souls, but
getting in dollars. Magnificent buildings are erected costing hundreds,
yes millions of dollars. The members are compelled to pay for the
costly structures. We forget that the groves were God’s first temples.
We forget that He was pleased to live in a tent with His people. The
Church has gone money-mad. The struggle of the pastor is to get his
salary after the great and increasing expenses of the Church have been
met. If he fails to accomplish this herculean task, he must go. By this
course the masses of the people are driven away from the Church. Only
fifty per cent of the people of the United States attend the Church,
and only thirty per cent are members of the Church, and one of the
reasons, if not the greatest, is that they cannot afford to be members
of the Church. The call on the Sabbath Day is money, money, money.
People sicken at the cry, and turn away in utter disgust.
4. There is a growing formality in the Church. This formality is seen
in the lives as well as the worship of the members of the Church. Alas,
too many love the form of religion, but they deny the power of it.
Revivals are gotten up, whereas they always come down. We have never
been able to get up a rain, because it is nature that brings it down.
We can never get up a revival because the Holy Spirit brings it down,
so that there has crept into the Church, times, and seasons and plans
of man’s making for revival purposes, simply because the time has come
for a revival and for no other purpose, the revival is had. What good
can come out of such attempts? Revivals come through the operation of
great spiritual laws, and these laws must be obeyed by God’s people, or
there can be no revival.
The modern evangelist has done much to bring about a stereotyped
condition of the Church. He has his set methods of rousing the people;
he arranges for a revival in a certain church because it suits his
convenience, not looking to the special need of the church for such a
service. He is often inclined to depreciate the work of the pastor by
his own methods and mannerism; he sets in to do a certain amount of
work; so many souls must be converted; so much money must be raised,
and he is on hand to have this work done, and in this manner, the whole
work of revivals has been almost entirely discounted. The work of the
modern evangelist is unscriptural in that he is not doing it in the
right place. The pastorate is not the place for the evangelist. He
should go to those waste places where there is no pastor. He belongs on
the frontier, and the pastor who is wise will not permit an evangelist
to come into his church, and do the work which he himself ought to do,
or some other pastor.
The Church must get away from these man-made methods and plans; these
man-set times and occasions, and must look to the Holy Spirit for
direction in all these matters.
I wish it understood that I am pointing out some of the great
weaknesses of the Church to-day. I have not forgotten that the Church
in every age has had its struggles; I have not forgotten that the
Church is founded on the Rock, Jesus Christ, and the walls of hell
cannot prevail against her. I have not forgotten that it is through
the Church that this lost world will be redeemed. I have not forgotten
that the Church is the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the
bride of Christ.
In considering what the Church should be we have but to go back to the
Bible in order to determine this question.
1. The Church should be a body of believers in Christ. I mean by
believers, men and women who are practicing the teachings of Christ. If
the life is not the result of the teachings of Christ there is no faith
behind it. If a man says that he believes in Christ, and is not living
the teachings of the Master, he is not a believer. That there are many
in the Church who are not believers is therefore true, because there
are many who are not practicing the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The Church should return to its great mission of preaching the
Gospel. Almost everything else but the Gospel is preached. Science,
literature, biography, philosophy, mortality, etc., are the burden of
the pulpit today. As a consequence of this men and women are starving
to death for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The doctrines of great fundamental principles of Christianity should be
preached. If a man is not rooted and grounded in the principles of his
faith, how can he be strong, how can he be useful?
A cry has gone out for a new religion. We have too much now of the
new religion. It is a failure; we must get more of the old religion,
or give up the Gospelship to those who will be faithful to their
trust. God will make the change Himself if we do not make it. He took
the light away from the Jews because they were not faithful to their
charge, and He will take it away from us for the same reason. What the
world today needs is the Bible, and in order that it may receive the
Bible it must be preached in the pulpit and in the pew. The pulpit is
very weak today in this respect, and hence the pew is weak. We have a
weak religion, and unless we return to God’s way, it will grow weaker
still. This requires a thorough Bible training on the part of the
preacher. The minister should know his Bible, and then he should preach
it. It demands great faith in the Word of God, and great courage to
proclaim its saving truth. A preacher is sent out into the world to
tell it of sin, Satan, self and hell. He is commissioned to proclaim
salvation from these things, and to set before the people an upright,
godly life. He is authorized to command that men everywhere shall
repent of their sins and turn to God. He must know the truth that he
may preach it. He must know the plan of salvation. He must be one with
God in knowledge and work. The pulpit must control the pew, and not
the pew the pulpit.
3. The Church must look after the poor. This is not being done today.
In the Church during the days of the Hebrew nation there were no poor.
During the Church in the early days of Christianity, the poor were
well cared for. There were not any that lacked. The Church should be
going out after the poor instead of running away from them. Christ was
constantly serving the poor. He was with them all the time. He shared
their sufferings and bore their burdens. The Church to be true to Him
and true to itself must do the same thing. Our very judgment test
will be found in the manner in which we treat the poor, which are the
representatives of Christ on the earth. “I was hungry and ye gave me no
meat.” Read the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew and see what this test
is. Suppose that the Church today would be judged by this test, where
would it stand?
These are some of my views which I gladly put into this book hoping and
praying that they will become an inspiration to many to get back to the
Bible; back to the old time religion of our fathers; back to the cross
of Jesus Christ. They are written in the greatest kindness but with the
greatest earnestness. They are written in no fault finding spirit, but
with the spirit of love and sympathy, for I love the Church more than
my own life.