VOL. XXXIII. No. 1.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
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JANUARY, 1879.
_CONTENTS_:
EDITORIAL.
OUR OUTLOOK FOR 1879 1
OUR APPEAL FOR THE NEW YEAR 2
THE LORD’S WORK AND THE LORD’S COMING 3
THE LONDON UNION MISSIONARY CONFERENCE 3
POLITICAL PROGRESS OF THE FREEDMEN: Rev. M. E. Strieby 4
THESE MY BRETHREN 6
FIVE TESTS OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION: Prof. C. D.
Hartranft, D. D. 7
RETURN OF REV. FLOYD SNELSON 10
ITEMS FROM THE CHURCHES 10
GENERAL NOTES 11
OUR QUERY COLUMN 14
THE FREEDMEN.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—Revival in Howard University 14
VIRGINIA—A Destitute County 14
ALABAMA—New Church at Shelby Iron Works—Talladega a
Missionary Centre 15
FLORENCE—Thin End of the Wedge—First Thanksgiving Service 16
MISSOURI—Free Schools in the State 17
AFRICA.
THE MENDI MISSION—A Church Organized and Dedicated at Avery 18
THE INDIANS.
THE LATE INDIAN WAR AND CHRISTIANITY: Rev Myron Eells 20
THE CHINESE.
CONGREGATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN CHINESE: Rev.
W. C. Pond 21
RECEIPTS 24
WORK, STATISTICS, WANTS, ETC. 27
PLEASE READ, THINK, COPY AND MAIL 28
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NEW YORK:
Published by the American Missionary Association,
ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.
American Missionary Association,
56 READE STREET, N. Y.
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PRESIDENT.
HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio.
Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis.
Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass.
Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me.
Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct.
WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I.
Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, D. D., Mass.
Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I.
Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I.
Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill.
Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C.
Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La.
HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich.
Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H.
Rev. EDWARD HAWES, Ct.
DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio.
Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt.
SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Minn.
Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y.
Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon.
Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa.
Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill.
EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H.
DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J.
Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct.
Rev. W. L. GAGE, Ct.
A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio
Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn.
Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn.
Rev. GEORGE THACHER, LL. D., Iowa.
Rev. A. L. STONE, D. D., California.
Rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., Oregon.
Rev. J. E. RANKIN, D. D., D. C.
Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., Wis.
S. D. SMITH, Esq., Mass.
PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Dea. JOHN C. WHITIN, Mass.
Rev. WM. PATTON, D. D., Ct.
Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa.
Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct.
Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct.
Sir PETER COATS, Scotland.
Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng.
WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y.
J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ct.
DANIEL HAND, Esq., Ct.
A. L. WILLISTON, Esq., Mass.
Rev. A. F. BEARD, D. D., N. Y.
FREDERICK BILLINGS, Esq., Vt.
JOSEPH CARPENTER, Esq., R. I.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_.
REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago_.
EDGAR KETCHUM, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._
H. W. HUBBARD, ESQ., _Assistant Treasurer, N. Y._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
ALONZO S. BALL,
A. S. BARNES,
EDWARD BEECHER,
GEO. M. BOYNTON,
WM. B. BROWN,
CLINTON B. FISK,
A. P. FOSTER,
E. A. GRAVES,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
SAM’L HOLMES,
S. S. JOCELYN,
ANDREW LESTER,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
G. B. WILLCOX.
COMMUNICATIONS
relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to
either of the Secretaries as above; letters for the Editor of the
“American Missionary” to Rev. Geo. M. Boynton, at the New York
Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when
more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational
House, Boston, Mass., 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill.
Drafts or checks sent to Mr. Hubbard should be made payable to his
order as _Assistant Treasurer_.
A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.
Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each
letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in
which it is located.
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THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
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VOL. XXXIII. JANUARY, 1879. No. 1.
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American Missionary Association.
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OUR OUTLOOK FOR 1879.
The review of our last year’s work has been so recently and
so fully given in connection with the annual meeting of the
Association, that it is scarcely needful for us to ask our readers
to join us in another survey of what has already been accomplished.
It is more fitting, as we stand upon the threshold of the new year,
to ask what are the signs of the times, and what the demands of the
work before us.
There are still dark clouds in the Southern sky. A mere granting
of civil and political rights by formal enactment is of small
importance unless the rights themselves are honestly allowed and
faithfully accepted. The adjustment of alleged wrongs we must leave
to politicians if not to statesmen, and to courts of law if not
of justice. Our work, obscure and remote as it may seem, is more
fundamental and important than that of either Congresses or courts.
For by whatever defences the Freedman may or may not be surrounded,
the only safeguard of his rights must be in his fitness to exercise
and his ability to maintain them. It is for us, through all the
changes of the year, to keep steadily to our work. It is not
checked because the winter is upon us; nor will it be over when the
summer comes. It is not for this year’s harvesting alone that we
are working; we are sub-soiling and so laboring for the permanent
reclamation of these vast fields. We believe that more depends
upon the moral and intellectual elevation of the Freedmen of our
land, not only in regard to their welfare, but in regard to the
great questions of which they are only a factor, than upon anything
which can be done for them by legislative enactment or military
power. We purpose, then, to press on with the school and the
church. Intelligence and virtue are the Jachin and Boaz, the two
great pillars of the porch of the Temple of American citizenship
and liberty. While it rests on anything else, it is uncertain and
unsafe.
Our lesser work at home among the Indians and Chinese will demand
the same moderate but constant share of our attention as before.
Our connection with the six Indian Agencies, through the Interior
Department, is not a matter of expense, but mainly of time and
care. If we shall be relieved from that, our missionary work will
still remain and may be enlarged. And though the immigration of
Chinamen has been checked to some degree, and their interest in
learning English has been abated by the abuse they have received,
the work has been, and is yet, too fruitful of good to be given up.
Our African mission has passed through one year under its new
organization, with apparent prosperity and success. We shall need
to strengthen its forces before long. We shall want both the men
and the means.
There is work enough in our outlook and encouragement to do it. We
would remind our readers as well as ourselves, that the year which
is most full of sacrifice and service for the Master, is most sure
of all to be _A Happy New Year_.
* * * * *
OUR APPEAL FOR 1879.
Our friends are thoroughly informed of the fact that our debt of
late has been rapidly diminishing. We are sorry to say that _the
same thing is true of our income_. That, too, has been growing
less. We learn that this is true, also, of our sister societies.
They, also, have noticed a falling off in their revenues. We do
not like to make much ado over our troubles; but we have been very
frank in acknowledging our mercies, and we owe it to the work, and
to those who sustain it, to tell them our perplexities as well.
Our receipts for the last two months have been very inadequate
for the work we have in hand. What does this mean to us with this
outlook for 1879? Does it signify withdrawal from fields already
under cultivation? Already the Executive Committee have had under
serious advisement two cases, in which it was necessary either
to stop fruitful work at important points or spend a little more
money. Retrenchment is easier to talk of than to accomplish. It
costs as much sometimes to stop as to go on. A temporary suspension
is sometimes more expensive than continuous work. Our teachers are
engaged and our buildings are prepared for the year. Shall we stop
the whole machinery of a great factory to save the price of the gas
which lights it? That would be ruinous economy indeed.
But we do not seriously believe that the friends of the three most
needy races on our continent have lost heart, or hope, or means, to
carry out the generous plans they have devised. These last months
of 1878 have been trying alike to them and to us. Our plea is only
this, that, with the new year (if the debt be not by that time
altogether a thing of the past), there may be a fresh and final
attack upon that enemy of our peace; and more even than this, that
there may be a fuller and a steadier flow of the Lord’s money into
our treasury for the wants of the work of 1879.
* * * * *
We are happy to say that a goodly number of ladies whom we have
asked to assume the responsibility of raising a share of $25,
towards the payment of our debt, have replied favorably. The
following extract from a letter sent us by one who has been
abundant in her efforts for the Freedmen, indicates the enthusiasm
and thankfulness with which some of the ladies respond:
Your kind letter of November 26th found me watching in the sick
room of my brother; but my heart went right up to God in gratitude
that I was not forgotten by the officers of the A. M. A., and that
they still think I can do something to help on this great work. I
have never ceased to be interested in the work in all its length
and breadth, and to do what little I can for it. The debt has
occupied much of my thought. I have wanted to do something to help
pay it beyond the little I could give myself. Now that I can go out
under your guardianship, I will be one of two hundred to raise one
share ($25), and as much more as I can. I am sure the debt will
soon be paid. There should be no lack of funds to carry on this
work. It is very strange our _nation_ cannot see it and feel it
too.
An old and faithful friend from Sag Harbor, N. Y., sends us thirty
dollars to make a life member. At the same time he asks us to star
the names of his two oldest children, who were among the first of
the twenty whom he has thus added to our list. They have gone up
higher. He concludes thus:
I was much interested in reading the article in December number,
page 387, “Students Want to ‘Batch’—Who will Help?” I would like
for my $30 to go to assist in building one of those $100 houses.
Can’t you get some one to add the other $70, and put up one of
those dwellings for those scholars who are so anxious to get an
education to teach and to preach?
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THE LORD’S WORK AND THE LORD’S COMING.
One of our friends, (Rev. T. S. Robie, North Carver, Mass.,) who
was at our annual meeting at Taunton, remembering doubtless that
the Prophetic Conference was in session during the same days in New
York City, puts the two things together thus:
One comes from a meeting like that, through which glimpses are
caught of opportunities for work, of openings by the Unseen Hand
into spheres of service which stretch out into the future beyond
the range of our human vision, with the overwhelming conviction
that the Lord isn’t just at present to stop the wheels of this
world. It is not _like_ the Lord to give such problems to His
people, which are pressing upon this Christian nation today with
such power, and which demand time for their solution, and then
to cut the Gordian knot by the sword of His “coming,” as if He
had met with a tangled question which He himself could not untie.
The red, blue and white and black marble, which Divine Providence
has brought into this land, tell of a building of God grander
than any Persian palace, the foundations of which seem to be just
being laid, rather than the completion thereof to be nigh at
hand. The vastness of the preparation points to the magnificence
of the Lord’s dominion in the hearts and over the lives of men.
The Book of God’s Providence is as much inspired as the Bible
itself. And whoever studies the former as prayerfully as the
latter, must labor hard to stifle the feeling that the clock of
earth, instead of getting ready to stop, is being wound up to
keep good time for a thousand years, as a prelude to that perfect
righteousness which shall dwell forever on the new earth and
beneath the new heavens.
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THE LONDON UNION MISSIONARY CONFERENCE.
The London Union Missionary Conference was held in November. The
Congregational churches of America were represented by Dr. Clark
of the American Board, and Dr. O. H. White of the Freedmen’s Aid
Society, of London, who also represented the American Missionary
Association, to which the F. A. Society is auxiliary. The last
gathering of the kind in England was in 1860, at which one
hundred and twenty-six delegates assembled. The sessions were
mainly private, the societies represented were chiefly British,
and plans were discussed rather than achievements reported. This
later meeting was somewhat different in its character. Six hundred
delegates were in attendance from various lands and denominations
of Christians. It was not so much a conference on methods as a
comparison of results. The sessions of the week were apportioned
to the work in the various lands. A great mass of information was
collected, which will doubtless be more impressive and complete in
the volume of proceedings to be published, than it could have been
in the hearing.
The character of the meetings may be inferred from the following
sketch of the time devoted to the “Dark Continent,” in which we
are especially interested. We copy from the correspondent of
the _Christian Union_: “Two sessions on Tuesday were devoted to
Africa and its many tribes. An Irish peer, the Earl of Cavan,
presided, and the attendance of delegates and friends was large.
Dr. Underhill, of the Baptist Missionary Society, discoursed on
the benefits of emancipation, and showed what an important bearing
the evangelizing of the negro race must have on the conversion of
all West Africa. Sir Fowell Buxton, the son of the great advocate
of emancipation forty years ago, described the three schemes now
being carried out for planting new missions on the three great
lakes of Central Africa. Dr. Stewart, of the Free Church Mission
at Livingstonia, on Lake Nyassa, described the principle and
the plan of the missionary institution at Lovedale, in the Cape
Colony, which he has managed for several years. This is a model
institution, with industrial as well as educational and theological
departments; and is just the thing which the native tribes of South
Africa need for their enlightenment. Dr. Lowe, the Secretary of the
Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, also read an admirable paper
on the work, methods and usefulness of medical missions generally.
Several of the medical missionaries who have recently gone out to
Africa were Dr. Lowe’s pupils.
“Among the effective speakers on these African missions were
Dr. Waugemann, of Berlin, who described the work of the Berlin
Society, especially in the Transvaal; Dr. White, of the Freedmen’s
Aid Mission; the Rev. E. Schrenck, of Basle, who spoke of work
in Ashantee; and the Rev. Dr. Moffat, who told the Conference
about his Bechuanas, and of course with his strong gray hair and
his eighty-three years of age and sixty-two years of service for
Christ, received an ovation at its hands. The noble presence and
the stirring words of the grand old man on the African day were a
striking feature in the meetings of the Conference.”
Such gatherings must help on the cause of Christian comity in
missions, as well as broaden the views of all who are engaged
in working the field under their hands. It is well to look up
sometimes from our own furrow, even if we have to stop ploughing
for a little, that we may realize that the field is the world, and
that the harvest belongs to one Master.
* * * * *
THE POLITICAL PROGRESS OF THE FREEDMEN.
BY REV. M. E. STRIEBY.
Was it wise to give the ballot to the ex-slaves? The answer that
came in the hour it was given, from the Congress that gave it,
from the Northern people that sustained it, and from the colored
people that enjoyed it, was an emphatic and enthusiastic “Yes!”
The answer that came at that hour from the Southern white man was
in a suppressed voice, and was an execration hissed out between
grinding teeth. Since that hour the voice of the Southern white
man has grown firmer, and, as it came up from misgoverned South
Carolina and Louisiana, has rounded out into a full-toned “No!”
Nay, more, it has been re-echoed from the North, and recently with
special emphasis from the lips of one of the purest Christian
scholars on the heights of Christian learning in New England. What
answer do I give? Unhesitatingly, “Yes!” I say nothing about the
mere party reason given either then or since, for I do not write
as a partisan. I put the wisdom of the ballot on more substantial
grounds.
1. It saved the Freedmen from being again reduced to slavery.
Vagrant laws were passed, which confined them to the plantations
on which they had engaged to work, the end of which would have been
a serfdom attaching them to the soil. The ballot saved them from
this.
2. It gave the Freedmen and the South a free school system—a
greater boon than Southern legislation ever gave them before—a
boon without which all else would have been well-nigh in vain.
That system was modeled after the best patterns at the North, and
although it has been somewhat modified and enfeebled in practical
operation, is yet a solid corner-stone in the foundation of the new
superstructure which the South is rearing.
3. The ballot gave the Freedman a sense of self-respect, and
commanded for him the respect of others. To him it was an education
and an inspiration. It gave him the standing of a man among men,
and prompted him to become worthy of his position. It was a power
to him in the early days of his freedom, when he needed every help
to sustain him in that freedom; and to-day, though it is held in
check and almost useless, yet it is a slumbering giant, and is
watched with respectful caution by the whites. For who can tell
what such a slumbering power might do if aroused?
At present the black voter is politically conquered. The “white
man’s government” is established, and it is the purpose of the
white man that it shall remain so. This has been easily attained in
the States where the white majority is undoubted. In the few States
where the blacks are in the majority, the white man is determined
to rule, peaceably if he can, forcibly if he must. The Chisholm
murder and the Hamburg massacre are but samples of the methods
that will be resorted to if the effort is pushed persistently
to restore the supremacy of the black man in politics. When we
remember how that supremacy in those States was abused, how can we
ask the restoration if the abuse must again follow? The problem
is difficult. It can be solved only by one formula. The black
man must be protected in his political rights, and he must be so
enlightened as to use and not abuse those rights. There will be no
permanent advantage from a mere partisan triumph of the black man.
If achieved, as matters now stand, bayonets will again be needed to
sustain it, and will become once more a source of angry discussion
at the North and of concentrated bitterness at the South. The
experiment may again be necessary; but a far better thing should be
speedily, steadily and efficiently pushed forward—the training of
the colored voter for an intelligent and responsible manhood and
citizenship.
If every colored voter could be accompanied to the polls by a file
of soldiers armed with muskets, his ballot would represent the
musket and not the man. But if he becomes a property owner, with
all the interest in the welfare of the community which property
gives; if he is educated and can take an _intelligent_ interest
in the welfare of the community; and if he acquires a weight of
character that challenges respect, he will need no soldiers to
guard him to the polls, and his vote will represent the man and not
the musket.
When the black man shall reach such a position he conquers
caste-prejudice and wipes out the color-line in politics. Color is
significant only as it represents condition. Change the condition
and the color is of no consequence. With that change the white and
black men at the South will divide on politics as white men do at
the North, from differing views as to the best measures to promote
public weal.
Look on this picture: An armed and organized mob is breaking up a
political gathering of the blacks and their friends, and in the
background are the overawed Freedmen retiring from the polls.
Look, also, on this picture: A company of United States soldiers
are keeping guard over a body of legislators, mostly black, who,
with reckless rascality, are squandering the public funds, to
the ruin of the State and the disgrace of the nation. Turn not
from these pictures with indifference, for they are no fancy
sketches; nay, face them, for the history of at least two States
of this Union is liable to be a perpetual oscillation between the
two. But now look on this picture: A colored man is tilling his
land, adorning his home, and gathering around him the refinements
of life. Near by is the school-house, where his children, with
hundreds of others, are receiving the instruction of skilful
teachers, and not far off is the church edifice where that man and
his neighbors worship God under the ministration of a well educated
and pious minister.
Which picture do we choose, not as a matter of artistic preference,
but as the practical model for patriotic work? The only safety is
to extend that last picture till it shall cover the whole canvas
and blot out the other two. In that way only can a life and death
struggle between two irreconcilable forces be avoided.
* * * * *
“THESE MY BRETHREN.”
In the Saviour’s great “Inasmuch” there is the power of
personality. “I was an hungered; I was thirsty; I was naked; I was
a stranger; I was sick; I was in prison.” It was Christ in the
person of these suffering and lowly ones; and service done to them
was done to Him. He might well have stopped there. But the marvel
of His personal identification with them is in the relationship
which He claims between Himself and them—“_these my brethren_.”
Oh, the touching condescension to name them by this title! What
we do for these humble and desolate ones we are not only doing
for our Lord, but for the brethren of our Lord. He takes it as a
special favor to Himself. And this service is graduated to the
lowest capacity—it is service done to only _one_ of the _least_ of
these. The standard is not that we should serve the mass of these
His brethren, but any one of them, according to the measure of our
ability, even down to a single act done to one of them in the right
spirit and as a revelation of a character in which we delight. Then
the obligation runs up to as great a number as our opportunity and
our ability may reach.
The intervention of organic efficiency greatly multiplies the
duty and the privilege of the individual. The American Missionary
Association, as has been potently said, is set for the care of the
three despised races in our country. Though the Indian and the
Negro and the Chinaman are the objects of prejudice and violence
and injustice and hatred on the part of our people, nevertheless
Christ speaks of them as among “these my brethren;” and the prayers
and the sympathy, and the service and the giving of substance
in their behalf He counts as rendered to Him. This organization
cannot discharge any one’s personal duty, but its instrumentality
is offered to all who would use it in the discharge of individual
obligation to Christ and to His brethren. Its opportunities belong
to all who would use them, and by these a single Christian may
reach not only “unto one of the least of these,” but unto many.
At the Great Day, when the Master shall surprise you, humble
Christian, with a benediction for service rendered to His brethren
among these despised ones, and you deprecatingly answer, _when_
and _where_, His revealing response may be—_when_ you reached them
with your prayers and your substance through that Association which
offered you its means of operation. And surely all its workers
among these outcast peoples, in the ostracism and opposition
and hatred which confront them, may even in this life have their
abundant recompense in this, that they are serving those whom the
Master owns as “these my brethren.”
* * * * *
FIVE TESTS OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION.
Notes of an Address at the Annual Meeting.
BY PROF. C. D. HARTRANFT, D. D. HARTFORD, CONN.
(1.) The Indians, the Negroes and the Chinese I regard as the
divinely appointed agents by which the principles that underlie
American civilization are to be finally tested. Every utterance
on the Fourth of July, from the Declaration of Independence till
this hour, has made the _right of asylum_ a pre-eminent feature
of American civilization. So whenever a man has been impelled by
the dictates of his conscience to leave his native land and seek
a foreign shore, that he might not be compelled to live in false
alliance with the Church and worship God in a way he did not elect;
whenever a man, full of noble impulses, has felt the hopelessness
of his life, so far as any ambitious scheme was concerned; or the
education of his children—a man feeling the tyranny of continuous
labor, without the possibility of accumulation—this man has ever
been gladly welcomed to America. So the Puritan, so the Huguenot,
so the Dutchman, so the Lutheran—whatever a man’s religious
training, America has given him hearty greeting. Even the atheist
and the infidel have found a refuge under the folds of this flag.
America has welcomed them to the shadow of her pines and palmettoes
and to her golden Pacific. But what a niggardly right of asylum
does she give to the poor Negro, as he is emancipated from his
bonds; and to the wretched Indian, whom she shuts up in Western
territories; and, most of all, to the poor Chinaman, as he comes
from his joss-house, with the instincts of a higher civilization
impelling him from the stagnation of centuries to the shores of the
Pacific!
It behooves us to inquire whether this precious right of asylum is
to be denied to the weaker races; whether we are going to lose this
peculiar feature of our nation, that throws its broad land open to
the world. Is it not true now, as in the past, that this is a vast
sanctuary, and that if a man lays hold of the horns of its altar,
there shall be nothing to drag him from his possession of freedom?
He stands on holy ground. In the British islands, the races that
have appeared in its history have been amalgamated—welded by the
mace and the battle-axe. In France, the various tribes and races
that, one after another, possessed that land, were woven together,
in warp and woof, by fire and blood. In Germany, the Prussians
have brought together that great mass of people as one, through
bitter and tremendous wars, the echoes of which have scarce died
away. America proposes a far different solution. She recognizes the
nobility of the characteristics developed by the various races. She
wants the African, the Chinaman, the Teuton—all races—to labor side
by side; to develop not only her wealth and prosperity, but, most
of all, the typical American humanity.
American civilization can better endure the savagery of the
Indian, the ignorance and brutality of the Negro, and the
semi-civilization of the Chinese, than it can afford to fraternize
with a civilization that is impregnated with a spirit of
ecclesiasticism, or endure the philosophies of St. Louis or the
Internationals. Rather is it for us to overcome these forces that
are the outcroppings of centuries of Roman development, as well as
those of Indian or Chinese or Negro semi-civilization.
This right of asylum involves another thing—the right of a man
to say, “I will leave this land and go to another”—_the right to
migrate_ if he does not find things subservient to him. We once
hailed the Irishman to come and build our railroads. We welcome
the German now, as he comes and terraces our mountains and teaches
us how to garden. We welcome the Frenchman—we welcome all. But we
say, “Lo! poor Indian, go West. East of the Appalachian is too good
for you; we want it. Go West; go West. We will give no rest to the
soles of your feet.” Do we want the Black Hills? Migrate! We will
surround you with a cordon of soldiers and a cordon of Government
agents, who will eat the life out of you. Keep on, poor ignorant,
keep on!
As to the African, there are not a few Americans, even in this
day, who think a righteous solution of the African question is to
ship them all off to the dark continent. So far as the American
Colonization Society keeps in view education and other Christian
instrumentalities, I bid them God-speed; but if they desire to send
the Negro out of the country, I say, No!—a thousand times, No! Let
us solve the problem right here where God has placed them.
And we say to the Chinese, as he comes upon his ship, “Turn your
prow back towards the Flowery Kingdom; don’t touch our golden
West.” Is that the spirit that welcomes the Irishman, the German,
the Italian, the Frenchman? Why not give as broad an opening to the
Chinaman as to the Irishman?
(2.) In the next place, God is testing that principle which is
set forth in the preamble of our Constitution—_the right of a man
to pursue happiness in such a way as he may elect_, provided he
does no wrong to his neighbor. And I opine that although happiness
involves the pursuit of higher aims, it begins on the basis of
labor. Labor is the essential element of American civilization.
If I labor, then I have the right of choice to enter into
whatever labor I please. No matter whether I am an adept or not,
circumstances will give the verdict. With the right of choice of
a man’s calling comes the right of competition. Carry it to its
extreme, if you please. If there are fifty-two thousand clerks,
I have a right to become the fifty-two thousand and first, and
starve. Then, after the inherent right of labor follows the right
to such property as I may accumulate. What I may produce, that
is mine absolutely, and no man can touch it. Here we are brought
face to face with this tremendous question between Irish and
German labor, and the low-priced labor of either the Negro or the
Chinaman. But, American citizens and Christians, if we respect
the right of a man to exercise such functions as God has given
him in such way as his conscience may dictate, and to choose his
own occupation, shall we not defend this right of labor, and the
right to pursue happiness as each may elect, and in the face of
Communism, defend the right of the Chinese to enter the market and
compete with all labor of whatever nationality?
(3.) There is a _third right_ or principle put to the test—_that
every man is equal before the law_. Whether he be Jew or Gentile,
Irishman or German, Negro or Chinaman, he is the equal of all men
before God. But what justice can a Chinaman get out of a Hoodlum
court? What justice has the Negro got out of a Southern court? To
the establishment of that justice we must bend our energies, for
it is vital to our institutions that a man before the law is equal
with his neighbor. If you have broken the shackles of the Negro,
break those of the Indian. If he outrages the law, try him by
process of the law and make him amenable, but deal with him as a
citizen. I opine that we shall arrive at this, sooner or later. Of
course this includes with it the privilege of every one to enter
public life, provided he proves his capacity.
(4.) But there is another principle being tested, and that is _the
right of education_. It is a settled point in the development of
American civilization, that education is essential to the proper
discipline of the citizen—some degree, at least, of elementary
education. Now when, according to the census of 1870, in the States
of Mississippi and Texas, 96 per cent. of the colored people were
thoroughly ignorant; and when in another State, 95 per cent. were
completely ignorant; in another, 93 per cent.; in two others, 91
per cent.; and in a last one, 90 per cent.; 88 per cent. of the
entire colored people of the South being in perfect ignorance;—does
it not behoove us to have a law for compulsory education if we
hope to have true culture and citizenship? Was our late President
far from right when he brought forward this idea? What salvation
is there for the Southern States unless universal education shall
be carried into effect? As the right to enter into competition is
inherent as much as the right of choice in labor, so we regard
the right of choice of one’s religion. The whole way should be
made open for the highest acquisition of intellectual and moral
knowledge.
(5.) So, too, our Protestant Christianity is under test. And
here we are encountered at once by the fact that Christians
still cultivate the caste spirit. If the Jew drew such a subtle
line between himself and the Gentile, the white Christian draws
a similar line between himself and the black Christian. If the
Greek considered himself to be of such high intelligence that he
classed all others as barbarians, Christians allow their prejudices
to make the same broad distinctions between different classes
of humanity, which it was the office of Jesus Christ—blessed be
His name!—to obliterate and utterly extinguish. That prejudice,
that caste spirit which Christians cultivate in the North to an
extent that amounts to social ostracism, must be broken down, if
we would maintain Protestant Christianity. Further, this question
connects itself with the true _missionary spirit_. The best way to
evangelize China is to evangelize the Chinese as they come to the
Pacific Coast. The best way to evangelize Africa is to evangelize
the African Negro of the South. Over against Protestant Christians
in the South and the Chinese on the Pacific is that dark power
which has involved the world in hopeless contentions. There stands
the Jesuit with his deep, treacherous features, his characterless
casuistry, and his sacrifice of all things else to glorify the
Church of Rome, no matter what may be the result on his country.
That subtle power which permeates our political institutions
with such great magnitude and force, stands face to face with
Protestantism in the South—with the Negro question, the Chinese
question, and the Indian question. If we are to serve Protestant
Christianity, we must free ourselves of caste, and learn to love
the African and the Chinaman at our doors. It is easy to speak well
of the Chinaman away off in China—to have an overflow of sympathy
for the poor African away in the dark continent; but it is a very
different thing to have sympathy for them in this country. The
spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ must actuate us and lead us to
this.
These, then, are _the five great principles_ that underlie American
civilization—principles that are being tested by these three races
or nationalities. Our professions are large. Let us live up to them
in these five great principles. It is Lord Bacon who says that
“When hempe is spun, England is done”—meaning that when Henry,
Elizabeth, Mary, Philip and Edward had passed away, England would
be done. We may say that _if these five principles_—the right of
asylum, the right of labor, of political freedom, of education, and
free play to Protestant Christianity be done—America is done. God
save the State!
And what is the agency—or one agency—by which that may be
accomplished? The American Missionary Association, because it
gives us Christian education. Because it brings together the
college, the church and the home. And will not your devotion to a
pure Christianity, free from the spirit of caste, and filled with
the spirit of genuine love, manifest itself by your support of such
an Association? May we not gauge your feelings in regard to these
five principles by the support you give to such a society? May we
not implore you that as you value the rights of property and free
government you array yourself solidly against Communism and its
ally—Romanism; because these are craftily working together.
Would you behold free Protestant Christianity established in this
country? Then give your support to this Association, that these
three races may prove us to be a people who love liberty in its
deepest significance as liberty in Christ.
* * * * *
RETURN OF REV. FLOYD SNELSON.
Just after the annual meeting we learned that the health of
Mrs. Snelson was in such condition as to make her speedy return
from the Mendi Mission, West Africa, a probable necessity. Her
husband has arrived with herself, their children, and those of
Dr. James, whose wife had died abroad. The change of climate and
of occupation has already proved of great benefit to her. It is
a great disappointment to us all to lose so soon the earnest and
discreet service of the head of our Mendi Mission. Whether he will
be able to return or not is still an unsettled question. But these
experiences are teaching us some valuable lessons. First of them is
this,—that we must send no men or women to the West Coast of Africa
without submitting them to a severe physical examination, such as
is required for enlistment into the army or as a prerequisite to a
life insurance policy. For we find that upon those who went from
this country in thoroughly sound health, with no weakness from
previous disease or tendency to special complaints, the climate
has had little or no bad effect; but where there was any such
predisposition or impairment of physical vigor, the malarial heats
of the West coast have hastened its rapid development. We send no
more recruits, then, without medical attestation to their soundness
of body, in addition to the testimony we have heretofore required
as to their intellectual and spiritual health.
Mr. Snelson brings much valuable information from the field, which
we hope to lay before our readers at an early day.
* * * * *
NEWS AND ITEMS FROM THE CHURCHES.
MACON, GA.—Rev. Stanley E. Lathrop, who was graduated eight years
ago from the Chicago Theological Seminary, commenced pastoral work
at Macon, December 1st. He writes: “I am quite agreeably surprised
with everything thus far. I shall do the best I can for this
people, with God’s help.”
MARIETTA, GA.—The school prospers, and, with two other schools, is
exerting a marked influence on the people. The Sunday-school and
literary society are both doing good work.
MARION, ALA.—Rev. Geo. E. Hill writes: “Our church has received
from the Sunday-school at Weymouth, Mass., Colton’s large
missionary map, and I have had the pleasure of introducing my
people to a view of the world—the field of missions. They propose
to contribute monthly to the cause. Our Sunday-school is filling
up.”
MONTGOMERY, ALA.—Rev. Flavel Bascom, D.D., who commenced work for
the winter December 1st, writes: “My first impressions are very
favorable. My heart is drawn out toward the people, and I expect to
enjoy my work for them very much.”
SELMA, ALA.—Rev. C. B. Curtis has gone from Burlington, Wis., to
the charge of the church here.
SHELBY, ALA.—A Congregational church was organized October 10th,
by Rev. G. W. Andrews, of the Theological Department of Talladega
College, consisting of twenty-one members (twelve men and nine
women). Rev. J. D. Smith, a graduate of Talladega Theological
Department, is pastor.
* * * * *
GENERAL NOTES.
The Freedmen.
—Over 3,000 people attended the Agricultural Fair for colored
people held at Talladega, Ala., in November, under the auspices of
the college. Stock, farm products, cookery, needle and fancy work,
flowers and pictures, were brought in for exhibition. Contests were
held in athletic sports, and in spelling, declaiming, etc., between
students of the different schools. Several hundred white people
attended, and showed their interest by acting as judges on the
committees with the colored people. The fair was kept entirely free
from all the objectionable features which so often mar our State
fairs, and indeed was opened with prayer, and, after the addresses
and award of premiums, closed with the Doxology.
—Dr. Rust, the Corresponding Secretary of the Freedmen’s Aid
Society of the M. E. Church, reports that its work during this
year “has never been exceeded in any year of its history. It has
erected more school edifices, more commodious and commanding;
educated more teachers, prepared more ministers, led more souls to
Christ, and set in operation more streams of elevating influence,
done more and better work for Christ and humanity, than in any like
period before.” The financial statement for the year ending July
1, 1878, gives its total receipts for the year as $63,403, and
its expenditures, mainly for salaries and board of teachers and
educational expenses, including $3,000 paid on its debt, at the
same. The society has aided in the establishment of five chartered
institutions having full collegiate powers, three theological and
two medical schools, also chartered, and ten other educational
institutions.
—Dr. Ruffner, Superintendent of Public Instruction in Virginia,
claims that $850,000 was collected from the people and set apart
by law for the support of the common schools, and charges that
this, with the interest, has been diverted from its proper use and
applied to the ordinary expenses of the State Government.
—A national colored Baptist educational convention was held last
summer at Nashville, Tenn. In an address published by them they
offer heartfelt thanks to Northern Baptists, who alone have
helped them to what educational facilities they have enjoyed.
To the Southern white Baptists they are grateful for the “good
resolutions” they have passed in favor of the black man. They
urge the colored Baptists to support their own publishing house,
newspaper, and the educational enterprises of the American Baptist
Home Mission Society.
—Public sentiment has almost effaced the color line in Virginia;
given political freedom and safety in North Carolina; and created
a powerful party of “Independents” in Georgia; and it will bring
South Carolina to her senses in time. Moral forces require more
time and patience than physical force.—_Christian Union_.
—Two colored students of Mr. Spurgeon’s Pastor’s College, Rev.
Messrs. Richardson and Johnson, with their wives, have left England
as missionaries to Central Africa. They were all freed slaves from
this country.
—The Rev. Alfred Saher, English Baptist Missionary at the
Cameroons, West Africa, has translated the Bible into the language
of the people, and now reports upwards of 2,000 converts.
* * * * *
The Indians.
—Mr. Wheeler writes from Keshena Agency, Wisconsin, of the second
successful Agricultural Fair among the Menomonees. About 200
entries of corn and potatoes were made, with other vegetables,
grains and grasses in abundance. The displays of woman’s work and
of live stock were very fine. A ploughing match was held. About
$200 was expended in premiums, voted from the tribal funds for
that purpose. Advantage was taken of the opportunity for giving
instruction in the arts of agriculture, and for exhorting them to
keep their children faithfully in the schools. Such gatherings both
prove and promote progress.
—Brig. Gen. Pope reports that the late outbreak of the Cheyennes
was caused by starvation. He says of the Indians in general: “If
they are left with the means to go to war, as is the custom, we
simply sleep on a volcano. Unless, therefore, ample, and above all,
regular supplies of food can be guaranteed to the Indians, I am
compelled, in justice to the Government and the frontier settlers,
to ask that more troops be sent to the agencies in the Indian
Territory, and that at least two of the posts in Western Kansas be
largely reinforced by cavalry. I have also to ask that any Indians
sent from the North into this department be disarmed and dismounted
before being sent here, so that they can be placed in the same
condition as the Indians with whom they are to live.”
—Major Mizener reports more in detail:—The causes which led to the
leaving of the Northern Cheyennes may be summed up as follows:
They were disappointed in the country. Their rations were poor
and entirely insufficient. They were home-sick, despondent and
disappointed, and were anxious to get back to a country better
known to them, and where game was to be had, while here they did
not have enough to eat.
—General Sheridan attributes our Indian wars to two classes of
causes; the first being the constant encroachment upon the lands
of the Indians, sacredly guaranteed to them by treaty, and the
constant removal of the tribes to distant reservations, in which
they are again troubled by the tide of immigration. He says no
other nation in the world would have attempted the reduction of
these wild tribes, and occupation of their country, with less than
60,000 or 70,000 men.
—Secretary Schurz affirms that the real cause of Indian wars has
been the breaking of treaties. He recites an exhaustive history of
Indian wars to show that this has been the case, and that very few
of the wars have arisen from the maladministration of agents.
—Gen. Sherman, in his annual report, declares that many of the
Indians prefer death to agricultural toil; that to convert them
from a nomadic into a pastoral race is the first and fundamental
problem; that each tribe must be dealt with according to its own
nature; that whatever department of the Government is charged with
this work, must be intrusted with large discretion to adapt its
measures to emergencies. He traces the Indian wars generally to
broken promises, insufficient rations and impending starvation.
—Of the joint committee to which the transfer of the Indians to
the War Department is referred, the three members of the Senate
are from Nebraska, Kentucky and Illinois; of the five members of
the House, but one comes from as far East as this. The committee,
therefore, represents communities that favor the army. It is
understood that the Indians themselves do not desire the change;
that the army does not want the responsibility; yet that it will
probably be done, unless the President interferes, because the
Indian ring desires it, and because the army makes it a point of
honor.
* * * * *
The Chinese.
—The First Church in San Francisco, Dr. Stone’s, has just opened
a new and well-appointed room in the basement for its mission and
Chinese Sunday-school. The Petaluma Church has also enlarged its
lecture-room for the use of its Chinese school.
—As the Chinese children are not permitted to enter the San
Francisco public schools, those who have embraced Christianity are
taught in the Union Mission in the old Globe Hotel. The school has
two sessions, one of which is conducted by an American lady, the
other by Hung Mung Chung, who is a fine Chinese scholar and a man
of much dignity and scholarly attainments, said to be a lineal
descendant of Confucius. During the past year Hung Mung Chung was
baptized and became a member of the Protestant Church for Chinese.
He teaches the children the Chinese classics and the maxims and
precepts of Confucius. Each session of the school is closed by
singing and repeating the Lord’s Prayer—in the morning in English,
in the afternoon in Chinese.
—The San Francisco Chinamen contributed $1,200 to the yellow fever
sufferers of the South. The sand-lot meetings have not yet reported
the amount of their collections.
—The Chinese Sunday-school in Chicago has been in existence nearly
six months, with an average attendance of fourteen scholars. It is
said that the number can be largely increased if teachers can be
procured.
—Rev. W. P. Paxson, Superintendent of the missionary work of the
American S. S. Union in their Southwestern Department, says: “One
striking event in my missionary work has been the organization of a
Chinese Sunday-school in St. Louis.”