in seeking to kill time, seemed to have got knocked into oblivion. It
is worth while to say that the white ministers were within the law in
attending occasions like those described above and felt the necessity
of care and discretion in managing the exercises, lest the hostilities
of irreligious people should be excited against the negroes. It is due
to the white people, and especially to that denomination to which John
Jasper was associated, to say that under their influence the negroes,
who were practically barbarians when they were brought into the South,
were civilized and Christianized. A large proportion of them were
well-mannered and nobly-behaved Christians at the time their slavery
ended. The church buildings were always constructed so that the white
people and the negroes could worship in the same house. They were
baptized by the same minister, they sat down together at the communion
table, they heard the same sermons, sang the same songs, were converted
at the same meetings, and were baptized at the same time. Ofttimes, and
in almost all places, they were allowed to have services to themselves.
In this, of course, they enjoyed a larger freedom than when they met in
the same house with the white people.
They know little of the facts who imagine that there was estrangement
and alienation between the negroes and the whites in the matter of
religion. Far from it. There was much of good fellowship between
the whites and negroes in the churches, and the white ministers
took notable interest in the religious welfare of the slaves. They
often visited them pastorally and gladly talked with them about
their salvation. These chapters are not intended either to defend or
to condemn slavery; but in picturing the condition of things which
encompassed Jasper during the days of slavery, it is worth while to
let it be understood that it was during their bondage and under the
Christian influence of Southern people, that the negroes of the South
were made a Christian people. It was the best piece of missionary work
ever yet done upon the face of the earth.
Another fact should be referred to here. Jasper was a pastor in the
City of Petersburg even before the breaking out of the Civil War. He
had charge of one of the less prominent negro churches and went over
from Richmond for two Sundays in each month. This, of course, showed
the enlargement of his liberty, that he could take the time to leave
the city so often in pursuance of his ministerial work.
It need hardly be mentioned that his presence in Petersburg brought
unusual agitation. He fairly depopulated the other negro churches and
drew crowds that could not be accommodated. When it was rumoured that
Jasper was to preach for the first time on Sunday afternoon, the Rev.
Dr. Keene, of the First Baptist Church, and many other white people
attended. They were much concerned lest his coming should produce
a disturbance, and they went with the idea of preventing any undue
excitement. Jasper, flaming with fervid zeal and exhilarated with
the freedom of the truth, carried everything before him. He had not
preached long before the critical white people were stirred to the
depths of their souls and their emotion showed in their weeping. They
beheld and felt the wonderful power of the man. It is said that Dr.
Keene was completely captivated, and recognized in Jasper a man whom
God had called.
V
“WHAR SIN KUM FRUM?”
My first sight of Jasper must always remain in the chapter of
unforgotten things. The occasion was Sunday afternoon, and the crowd
was overflowing. Let me add that it was one of his days of spiritual
intoxication, and he played on every key in the gamut of the human soul.
Two questions had been shot at him, and they both took effect. The
first had to do with creation. For a half hour he pounded away on the
creatorship of God. His address was very strong and had in it both
argument and eloquence. He marshalled the Scriptures with consummate
skill, and built an argument easily understood by the rudest of his
hearers; and yet so compact and tactful was he, that his most cultured
hearers bent beneath his force.
But the second question brought on the pyrotechnics. It had to do with
the origin of sin,--“Whar sin kum frum?”--as he cogently put it. It was
here that a riotous liberty possessed him, and he preached with every
faculty of his mind, with every passion and sentiment of his soul, with
every nerve, every muscle, and every feature of his body. For nearly
an hour the air cracked with excitement and the crowd melted beneath
his spell. It was my first experience of that unusual power of his to
move people in all possible ways by a single effort.
Jasper knew the fundamental doctrines of the Bible admirably, and
always lived in vital contact with their essence. There was a kinship
between the Bible and himself, and, untaught of the schools, he studied
himself in the light of the Bible and studied the Bible in the darkness
of himself. This kept him in contact with people and whenever he
preached he invaded their experience and made conscious their wants to
themselves. And so it came to pass that questions which perplexed them
they had the habit of bringing to him. This question as to the origin
of sin had been spurring and nagging some of his speculative hearers.
They had wrangled over it, and they unloaded their perplexity upon him.
So it was with this burden heavy upon him that he came to the pulpit on
this occasion.
It may have been a touch of his dramatic art, but at any rate he showed
an amiable irritation, in view of his being under constant fire from
his controversial church-members, and so he started in as if he had a
grievance. It gave pith and excitement to his bearing, as he faced the
issue thus thrust upon him. As a fact, he knew that many inquirers
sought to entangle him by their questions and this opened the way for
his saying, with cutting effect, that they would do better to inquire,
“whar sin wuz gwine ter kerry ’em, instid uv whar it kum frum.”
“An’ yer wants ter know whar sin kum frum, yer say. Why shud yer be
broozin’ eroun’ wid sich a questun as dat? Dar ain’ but wun place in
de univus uv Gord whar yer kin git any infermashun on dis pint, and
dar, I am free ter tel yer, yer kin git all dat yer wish ter know, an’
maybe a good deal mo’. De place whar de nollidge yer need kin be got
iz in de Word uv Gord. I knows wat sum dat hav’ bin talkin’ ’bout dis
thing iz arter. I know de side uv de questun dey iz struttin’ up on.
Dey say, or dey kinder hint, dat de Lord Gord iz de orthur uv sin.
Dat’s wat dey iz wispurrin’ roun’ dis town. Dey can’t fool Jasper; but
I tell you de debbul iz playin’ pranks on um an’ will drag um down ter
de pit uv hell, ef dey doan luk out mity quick. De Lord Gord know’d
frum de beginnin’ dat sum uv dese debbullish people wud bring up dis
very charge an’ say dat He had tendid dat dar shud be sin frum de
beginnin’. He done speak His mind ’bout dat thing, an’ ef yer luk in
de fust chaptur uv Jeems yer’ll find de solum uttrunce on dis subjik
an’ it kleers Gord furevur frum dis base slandur. ‘Let no man say,’
says de Lord, ‘wen he is temptid dat he is temptid uv Gord, fur Gord
kin not be temptid uv any man, an’ neethur tempts He any man.’ Did yer
hear dat? Dat’s de Lord’s own wurds. It spressly says dat people will
be temptid,--everybody is temptid; I bin havin’ my temptashuns all my
life, an’ I haz um yit, a heap uv um, an’ sum uv um awful bad, but yer
ain’ ketchin’ Jasper er sayin’ dat Gord is at de bottum uv um. Ef I
shud say it, it wud be a lie, an’ all iz liars wen dey say dat Gord
tempts um? De sinnur is gettin’ towurds de wust wen he iz willin’ ter
lay de blame uv hiz sins on de Lord. Do it ef yer will, but de cuss uv
Gord will be erpun yez wen yer try ter mek de Lord Gord sich es you iz;
an’ ter mek b’liev dat de Lord gits orf His throne an’ kums down in ter
mire an’ clay uv your wicked life an’ tries ter jog an’ ter fool yer
inter sin. I trimbul ter think uv sich a thing! I wonder dat de Lord
duzn’t forge new thunderbolts uv Hiz rath an’ crush de heds uv dem dat
charge ’im wid de folly uv human sin.
“Sum uv yer wud be mity glad ter git Gord mix’d up in yer sins an’ ter
feel dat He iz es bad es you iz. It jes’ shows how base, how lost, how
ded, you’se bekum. Wudn’t we hev a pritty Gord ef He wuz willin’ ter
git out in de nite an’ go plungin’ down inter de horribul an’ ruinus
transgresshuns in wich sum men indulg’. Let me kleer dis thing up befo’
I quit it. Bar in mine, dat Gord kin not be temptid uv any man. Try it
ef yer chuze, an’ He will fling yer in ter de lowes’ hell, an’ don’t
yer dar evur ter say, or ter think, or ter hope, dat de temtashun ter
du rong things kum ter yer from Gord. It do not kum frum erbuv, but it
kum out uv your foul an’ sinful hart. Dey iz born dar, born uv your
bad thoughts, born uv your hell-born lusts, an’ dey gits strong in yer
’caus’ yer don’t strangul um at de start.
“But why shud dar be trubble ’bout dis subjic? Wat duz de Bibul say on
dis here mattur ’bout whar sin kum frum? We kin git de troof out uv dat
buk, fur it kuntains de Wurd uv Gord. Our Gord kin not lie; He nevur
hav’ lied frum de foundashun uv de wurl’. He iz de troof an’ de life
an’ He nevur lies.
“Now, wat do He say kunsarnin’ dis serus questun dat is plowin’ de
souls uv sum uv my brudderin. Ter de Bibul, ter de Bibul, we’ll go an’
wat do we git wen we git dar? De Bibul say dat Eve wuz obur dar in de
gardin uv Edun one day an’ dat she wuz dar by hersef. De Lord med Eve,
’caus’ it worn’t gud fer Adum ter be erloan, an’ it luks frum dis kase
dat it wuz not quite safe fer Eve ter be lef at home by hersef. But
Adum worn’t wid her; doan know whar he wuz,--gorn bogin’ orf sumwhars.
He better bin at home tendin’ ter his fambly. Dat ain’ de only time, by
a long shot, dat dar haz bin de debbul ter pay at home wen de man hev
gorn gaddin’ eroun’, instid uv stayin’ at home an’ lookin’ arter hiz
fambly.
“While Eve wuz sauntrin’ an’ roamin’ eroun’ in de buterful gardin, de
ole sarpint, dyked up ter kill, kum gallervantin’ down de road an’ he
kotch’d site uv Eve an’ luk lik he surpriz’d very much but not sorry
in de leas’. Now yer mus’ kno’ dat ole sarpint wuz de trickies’ an’
de arties’ uv all de beas’ uv de feil’,--de ole debbul, dat’s wat he
wuz. An’ wat he do but go struttin’ up ter Eve in a mity frien’ly way,
scrapin’ an’ bowin’ lik a fool ded in luv.
“‘How yer do?’ He tries ter be perlite, an’ puts on hiz sweetes’ airs.
Oh, dat wuz an orful momint in de life uv Eve an’ in de histurry uv dis
po’ los’ wurl uv ours. In dat momint de pizun eat thru her flesh, struk
in her blud, an’ went ter her hart. At fust she wuz kinder shame’; but
she wuz kinder loansum, an’ she wuz pleas’d an’ tickl’d ter git notic’d
in dat way an’ so she stay’d dar instid uv runnin’ fer her life.
“‘Ve’y wel, I thanks yer,’ she say ertremblin’, ‘how iz you dis
mornin’?’ De sarpint farly shouts wid joy. He dun got her tenshun an’
she lek ter hear ’im, an’ he feel he got hiz chanz an’ so goes on:
“‘Nice gardin yer got dar,’ he say in er admirin’ way. ‘Yer got heap uv
nice appuls obur dar.’
“‘Oh, yes, indeed,’ Eve replies. ‘We got lots uv um.’
“Eve spoke dese wurds lik she wuz proud ter deth ’caus’ de sarpint lik
de gardin. Dar stood de sarpint ve’y quiut tel, suddin lek, he juk
eroun’ an’ he says ter Eve:--
“‘Kin yer eat all de appuls yer got obur dar?’
“‘No, hindeed,’ says Eve, ‘we can’t eat um all. We got moar’n we kin
’stroy save our lives. Dey gittin’ ripe all de time; we hev jus’
hogshids uv um.’
“‘Oh, I didn’t mean dat,’ spoke de sarpint, es ef shock’d by not bein’
understud. ‘My p’int iz, iz yer ’low’d ter eat um all? Dat’s wat I want
ter know. As ter yer laws an’ rites in de gardin, duz dey all sute yer?’
“Fer a minnit de ’oman jump’d same es if sumbudy struk her a blow.
De col’ chils run down her bak, an’ she luk lik she wan ter run, but
sumhow de eye uv de sarpint dun got a charm on her. Dar wuz a struggul,
er reglur Bull Run battul, gwine on in her soul at dat momint.
“‘Wat yer ax me dat questun fur?’ Eve axed, gaspin’ w’ile she spoke.
Den de debbul luk off. He tri ter be kam an’ ter speak lo an’ kine, but
dar wuz a glar’ in hiz eyes. ‘I begs many parduns,’ he says, ’skuse
me, I did not mean ter meddul wid yer privit buzniz. I’d bettur skuse
mysef, I reckin, and try an’ git erlong.’
“‘No; doan go,’ Eve sed. ‘Yer havn’t hurt my feelin’s. Wat yer say
jes’ put new thoughts in my min’ an’ kinder shuk me up at fust. But I
doan min’ talkin’.’
“‘Ef dat be de kase,’ speaks up de debbul, quite brave-lek, ‘begs you
skuse me ter ask agin ef de rules uv de gardin ’lows yer ter eat any uv
dem appuls yer got in de gardin? I haz my reasuns fer axin’ dis.’
“Eve stud dar shivurrin’ lik she freezin’ an’ pale es de marbul
toomstoan. But arter a gud wile she pint her han obur to er tree, on de
hill on de rite, an’ she tel ’im, es ef she wuz mity ’fraid, dat dar
wuz a tree obur dar uv de Nollidge an’ uv de Deestinxshun, an’ she say,
‘De Lord Gord He tel us we mus’ not eat dem appuls; dey pisun us, an’
de day we eat um we got to die.’
“Oh, my brudderin, worn’t times mity serus den? ’Twuz de hour wen de
powurs uv darknis wuz gittin’ in an’ de foundashuns uv human hopes wuz
givin’ way. Den it wuz he git up close ter Eve an’ wispur in her ear:--
“‘Did de Lord Gord tel yer dat? Doan tel nobody, but I wan’ ter tel yer
dat it ain’t so. Doan yer b’liev it. Doan let ’im fool yer! He know
dat’s de bes’ fruit in all de gardin,--de fruit uv de Nollidge an’ de
Deestinxshun, an’ dat wen yer eats it yer will know es much es He do.
Yer reckin He wants yer ter know es much es He do? Na-a-w; an’ dat’s
why He say wat He do say. You go git um. Dey’s de choysis’ fruit in de
gardin, an’ wen yer eats um yer will be equ’ul ter Gord.’
“Erlas, erlas! po’ deluded an’ foolish Eve! It wuz de momint uv her
evurlastin’ downfall. Clouds uv darknis shrouds her min’ an’ de ebul
sperrit leap inter her soul an’ locks de do’ behin’ him. Dat dedly day
she bruk ’way frum de Gord dat made her, Eve did, an’ purtuk uv de
fruit dat brought sin an’ ruin an’ hell inter de wurl’.
“Po’ foolish Eve! In dat momunt darknis fils her min’, evul leaps in
ter er heart, an’ she pluck de appul, bruk de kumman uv Gord, and ate
de fatul fruit wat brought death ter all our race.
“Artur er wile, Adum kum walkin’ up de gardin and Eve she runs out ter
meet ’im. Wen he kum near she hol’ up er appul in her han’ and tell him
it iz gud ter eat. Oh, blin’ and silly womun! First deceived herself,
she turn roun’ and deceives Adum. Dat’s de way; we gits wrong, an’ den
we pulls udder folks down wid us. We rarly goes down by oursefs.
“But whar wuz de rong? Whar, indeed? It wuz in Eve’s believin’ de
debbul and not believin’ Gord. It wuz doin’ wat de debbul sed an’ not
doin’ wat Gord sed. An’ yer kum here and ax me whar sin kum frum! Yer
see now, doan’ sher? It kum out uv de pit uv hell whar it wuz hatched
’mong de ainjuls dat wuz flung out uv heav’n ’caus dey disurbeyd Gord.
It kum from dat land whar de name uv our Gord is hated. It wuz brought
by dat ole sarpint, de fathur uv lies, and he brung it dat he mite fool
de woman, an’ in dat way sot up on de urth de wurks uv de debbul. Sin
iz de black chile uv de pit, it is. It kum frum de ole sarpint at fust,
but it’s here now, rite in po’ Jasper’s hart and in your hart; wharevur
dar iz a man or a woman in dis dark wurl’ in tears dar iz sin,--sin dat
insults Gord, tars down His law, and brings woes ter evrybody.
“An’ you, stung by de sarpint, wid Gord’s rath on yer and yer feet in
de paf uv deth, axin’ whar sin kum frum? Yer bettur fly de rath uv de
judgmint day.
“But dis iz ernuff. I jes’ tuk time ter tell whar sin kum frum. But my
tong carnt refuse ter stop ter tel yer dat de blud uv de Lam’ slain
frum de foundashun uv de wurl’ is grettur dan sin and mitier dan hell.
It kin wash erway our sins, mek us whitur dan de drivin snow, dress us
in redemshun robes, bring us wid shouts and allerluejurs bak ter dat
fellership wid our Fathur, dat kin nevur be brokin long ez ’ternity
rolls.”
This outbreak of fiery eloquence was not the event of the afternoon,
but simply an incident. It came towards the end of the service, and
its delivery took not much more time than is required to read this
record of it. His language was perhaps never more broken; but what he
said flamed with terrific light. While there were touches of humour
in his description of the scene in the Garden, his message gathered a
seriousness and solemnity which became simply overpowering. No words
can describe the crushing and alarming effect which his weird story of
the entrance of sin into the world had upon his audience. Men sobbed
and fell to the floor in abject shame, and frightened cries for mercy
rang wild through the church. Possibly never a sweeter gospel note
sounded than that closing reference which he made to the cleansing
power of the blood shed from the foundation of the world.
There were many white persons present, and they went away filled with a
sense of the greatness and power of the Gospel.
VI
JASPER SET FREE
Jasper came to the verge of his greatness after he had passed the
half century line. Freedom had come and to him brought nothing except
the opportunity to carve out his own fortune. His ministry had been
migratory, restricted and chiefly of ungathered fruit. He found himself
in Richmond without money and without a home. By daily toil he was
picking up his bread. He was dead set on doing something in the way he
wanted to do it. He was of the constructive sort, and never had done
well when building on another man’s foundation.
His ambition was to build a church. Down on the James River, where the
big furnaces were run, there was a little island, and on the island a
little house, and scattered along the canal and river were many of the
newly liberated and uncared for people of his race.
[Illustration: THE SIXTH MOUNT ZION CHURCH]
He began to hold religious services on the island,--said by some to
have been held in a private house, and by others in a deserted stable,
which was fitted up to accommodate the increasing crowds. Things went
well with him. The joy of building flamed his soul, and beneath the
tide of the river he baptized many converts. Happy days they were! The
people were wild with enthusiasm, and the shouts of his congregation
mingled with the noise of the James River Falls. It was to Jasper as
the gate of heaven, and he walked as the King’s ambassador among his
admiring flock.
But it could not be that way long. There was not room enough to contain
the people, and yet the church was poverty itself, and what could
they do? Happily they found a deserted building beyond the canal and
accessible to the growing company of his lovers in the city. There
things went with a snap and a roar. From every quarter the people came
to hear this African Boanerges. The crowds and songs and riotous shouts
of his young church filled the neighbourhood. Constant processions,
with Jasper at the head, visited the river or canal, to give baptism to
the multiplying converts.
Meanwhile, however, the northern part of the city was fast becoming
the Africa of Richmond. Into its meaner outskirts at first the tide
began to roll, but in a little while the white people began to retreat,
street after street, until a vast area was given up to the coloured
people. Jasper’s people, also, as they prospered, began to settle in
this new Africa, and Jasper found once more that he was simply dwelling
in tents, when the time was coming for the building of the temple.
Jasper was on the outlook for a new location. Finally he hit upon an
old brick church building, at the corner of Duval and St. John Streets.
The Presbyterians, who had started this mission years before, had
despaired of success under the changed conditions and they offered
the house for sale, the price being $2,025. The sense of growth and
progress fairly maddened this unique and fascinating preacher with
enthusiasm. He had found a home for his people at last, and yet, in
point of fact, he had not. The house was a magnificent gain on their
old quarters, and yet every Sunday afternoon found most of his crowd
on the outside. Quite soon his people had to enlarge and remodel
the house, and this they did at a cost of $6,000. By that time the
membership was well on towards 2,000. There they dwelt for a number
of years until the church became the centre of the religious life in
that part of the town. “John Jasper,” as he was universally called,
had easily become the most attractive and popular minister of his
race in the city. By this time he was over sixty years of age, and it
would have taken much to have quenched the yet unwasted buoyancy and
vitality of his ministry. Necessity demanded another building, and in
the later prime of his kingly manhood, and very largely by his personal
forcefulness and intrepid leadership, he led a movement for a house of
worship that would be respectable in almost any part of Richmond. What
was more to his purpose, it was very capacious, wisely adapted to the
wants of his people and a fitting monument to his constructive resource
and enthusiasm. It is said that he, out of his own slender resources,
gave $3,000 to the building fund, and this was probably in addition
to great sums of money given him by white people who went to hear him
preach and who delighted to honour and cheer the old man. I suppose
that thousands of dollars were given him from no motive save that of
kindness towards him, and the donours would just as soon have given
the money directly to him and for his own use. They helped to build
the church simply to please the old man whose eloquence and honesty
had won their hearts. His love for his church amounted to devotion. He
had seen it grow from the most insignificant beginning, had watched
the tottering steps of its childhood, and with pride natural and
affectionate had gloried in its prosperity.
But be it said to the old man’s honour that he was too great to be
conceited. He had no sense of boastfulness or self-glorification about
the church. He had the frankness to tell the truth about things when it
was necessary, but he had too much manly modesty to claim distinction
for the part he had borne in the building up of the church. Indeed,
he was strangely silent about his relations with the church, and his
dominant feeling was one of affectionate solicitude for the future of
the church rather than of self-satisfaction on account of its history.
There was a strain of severity in Jasper. He had some of the temper of
the reformer. He was quick,--often too quick--in condemning those who
criticised him. The fact is, he was so unfeignedly honest that he could
not be patient towards those whose sincerity or honesty he doubted.
For those who plotted against the church or gave trouble in other ways
he had little charity. Those that would not work in harness, and help
to move things along, he was quite willing to show to the church door.
For his part, he could not love those very warmly who did not love the
“Sixth Mount Zion.”
This may be the right place to say a word or two as to Jasper’s
enemies. He was a man of war, and it may be that his prejudices
sometimes got in the saddle. But not very often. Possibly, his most
striking characteristic was his bottom sense of justice. He told the
truth by instinct, and it never occurred to him to take an undue
advantage. If, however, a man wronged him, he was simply terrible in
bringing the fellow to book. There was a case, in which it is better
not to mention names, in which an insidious and grievous accusation was
brought against this sturdy old friend of the faith. The charge sought
to fasten falsehood upon Jasper. That was enough for him,--it amounted
to a declaration of war, and at once he entered upon the conflict.
Never did he cease the strife until the charge was unsaid. Nothing, in
short, could terrify him.
It must not be inferred that those who assailed him with questions and
arguments were put into the category of personal enemies. Controversy
was exactly to his taste. All he asked of the other man was to state
his proposition, and he was ready for the contest. Not that he went
into it pell-mell. By no means; he took time for preparation, and when
he spoke it was hard to answer him. This, of course, applies when the
questions were theological and Scriptural, and not scientific. His
knowledge of the Scriptures was remarkable, and his spiritual insight
into the doctrines of the Bible was extraordinary. When he preached, he
supported every point with Scriptural quotations, invariably giving the
chapter and verse, and often adding, “Ef yer don’ find it jes’ ezackly
ez I tells yer, yer kin meet me on de street nex’ week an’ say ter me:
‘John Jasper, you ar er lier,’ an’ I won’ say er wurd.”