from the scholarly Greek of St. Luke, that the Apostolic Church was
distinctly marked by four observances or characteristics:
(a) Their steadfastness in the Apostles' doctrine.
(b) Their steadfastness in the Apostles' fellowship, dealings, doings,
ministry or form of government.
(c) Their steadfastness in the breaking of the bread, or the Holy
Communion; Holy Baptism being included in the Apostolic doctrine.
(d) Their steadfastness in the Apostles' manner of praying or in the
set forms of prayer, at first, for twenty-five years in the Temple and
the synagogues of the Jews.
These being the four marks of the church at that time, is there now in
existence any church having these selfsame marks? Without any doubt,
Christ was the founder of that visible body of Christians, the church
in Acts II. Does that church exist to-day? It must, because Christ
said: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it."--Matt. 16:18.
THEN WHICH IS IT, AND WHERE IS IT?
The church is certainly a visible body of Christians, not founded by a
man or men, but by Jesus Christ. Having a divine founder it is then a
divine society, seeking men to save them from the degrading power of
sin and everlasting punishment in hell. It is not then, as is so
commonly and popularly thought, a human society founded by Luther,
1530; Calvin, 1541; Knox, 1560; Robert Brown, 1582; Roger Williams,
1639; John Wesley, 1739; or Swedenborg, 1783. In brief, the church
founded by Jesus Christ is the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, as Christ
so often described it (Matthew 13:47, 5:19, 13:44); endowed with power
from on high transmitted through her unbroken line of the Apostolic
ministry, but obedient to her Divine Founder, who is at the right hand
of God in heaven.
This church of four distinct marks in the Acts existed before the
completion of the New Testament at least some sixty years, and it was
the church that by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit pronounced the
New Testament inspired, and rejected other books claiming to set forth
the life of Christ, three hundred years after it was founded. The Old
Testament is the document of the Jewish Church, that church having
been in existence for a thousand years before its document was
completed. Therefore, this church of the Acts cannot be set aside for
one claimed to be founded upon the Bible.
For three hundred years then, this Apostolic Church existed with
Apostolic doctrine, ministry, sacraments, and prayers before she gave
the New Testament to the world with her certificate that it was the
Inspired Word of God.
The Protestant Episcopal Church of America as the daughter of the
Church of England, has ever possessed, and does now possess and hold
more sacred, these four marks that identify her unmistakably with the
primitive and Apostolic Church, as a true branch of the same.
First, as to doctrine this church holds and defends the pure teaching
of the early church, without taking from or adding to the same. There
are few, indeed, who would question this.
The Holy Trinity (John 14:16, 26; Acts 2:33; Gal. 4:6).
The Incarnation of God's Son (Luke 1:35; John 1:14; Matt. 1:23).
The Redemption of Man by Christ Jesus (Matt. 1:21, 20:28; Gal. 1:4).
Regeneration and Holy Baptism (Titus 3:5; Rom. 6:4; Gal. 3:27).
The Holy Communion (Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20).
Confirmation (Acts 8; Heb. 6:2).
The Resurrection of the Dead (Luke 14:14; John 11:23).
The Judgment (Acts 17:31; Heb. 9:27).
Belief in these statements and other fundamental teaching of Holy
Scripture is in accord with the mind of the Apostolic Church.
Secondly, as to the unbroken line of bishops, priests and deacons, who
have succeeded for more than eighteen centuries other ministers
Apostolically ordained, that has been most jealously guarded and
maintained by the Episcopal Church.
There may be some who have never given any study to the Apostolic
succession of ministers in the church founded by Christ. No one could
well doubt the fact or deny the doctrine who had patiently
investigated the matter. The New Testament is itself witness to the
fact that the Apostles appointed others to do Apostolic work and to be
their successors; at least thirty Apostles are mentioned in the New
Testament. Among them were Paul, Matthew, Barnabas, Andronicus, Silas,
Luke, Titus, whom St. Paul appointed Bishop of Crete, and Timothy,
whom he appointed Bishop of Ephesus. There were also at least ten
others whose names are recorded, space does not permit us to mention.
Now, if the original twelve could have eighteen successors, certainly
they could, and have had a continual line of successors down the
centuries. The titles of the three orders of the ministry may, at
first, mislead the unlearned.
(1) In the New Testament the highest order was Apostles. The second,
"ordained in every city," were Presbyters (Presters or Priests), also
called Bishops and the lowest order Deacons.
As the Apostles began to die off, the title "Apostle" was limited to
them and to their successors who had probably seen Christ, at the same
time the title "Bishop" was set apart to denote the highest order
which succeeded the original Apostles. This is stated by Clement of
Alexandria in the second, and Jerome in the fourth century. While
Theodoret, writing in 440, says: "The same persons were in ancient
times called either presbyters or bishops, at which time, those who
are now called bishops were called Apostles. In process of time, the
name of Apostles was left to those who were sent directly by Christ,
and the name of Bishop was confined to those who were anciently called
'Apostles.'" From Palestine the church spread to Asia Minor, Greece,
Rome, Gaul, Spain and England, carrying with her the Apostles'
doctrine, ministry, sacraments and prayer.
In 597, when Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, sent Augustine to
England, he found there the church with the four marks. After awhile
the Bishop of Rome, by political methods, gained great influence over
the English Church in so much that he was receiving from England
greater revenues than the king. When the tremendous revolt against the
papacy came about in Europe in the sixteenth century the English
people simply ejected the pope's emissaries and with them, Italian
influence and corruption from England and the English Church, the
church remained essentially the same she had been for centuries.
The word "Reformation" signifies the footing of something into a new
shape. It is therefore not the destruction of the old and the
substituting of the new, but rather the reshaping, cleansing and
revivifying of the old. The melting down of the family silver and the
reshaping it on new models is not to acquire new silver. Perhaps it
was so distorted by abuse that it required new shaping. This was very
much the case with the Church of England.
The reformation in England was effected on very different lines from
that on the continent of Europe. Luther, Calvin, Melancthon, and
others were individuals attracting to themselves multitudes of other
individuals and together they establish societies of Christians. The
Apostolical churches on the continent did not, as such, participate in
the reformation movement. In England the reformation, i. e., the
reshaping, restoring and cleansing, was more wisely conducted. The
church there had existed since the days of the Apostles. For six
hundred years it remained independent of the Roman world power, and it
was only after the Norman Conquest that the papal authority became
well established in England. When a reformation seemed necessary, it
was conducted, not by individuals leaving the national church, but by
the whole Church of England. In A. D. 1532 the quarrel of Henry the
Eighth with the pope led to the overthrow of the Roman power in
England. Henry is not to be credited as a reformer, much less as the
founder of any church. He never made any attempt to found a church.
When he was born, in 1491, he found the church existing in England,
and when he died, in 1547, he left the same church, but cleansed and
independent. The ancient church was not changed, and the old religion
did not give place to the new. The papacy was opposed to the
independence of the national churches for which the Church of England
had always contended.
Accordingly, when the power of the pope was broken and thrust out of
England, the church was at liberty to restore Apostolic purity and
freedom to the nation and the individual.
Parliament prohibited the payment of money to the pope and appealing
from English to papal courts. In 1539 the Bible was given to the
people to read in their native tongue. The services were read in
English instead of Latin. The chalice was given to the laity. The
worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary was abolished and praying to
departed saints forbidden. These reforms were conducted by the
archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons and laity, i. e., by the
whole church. The pope was not without his adherents during this
period, who opposed these changes most vehemently. But these traitors
to the Church of England found they could not stem the tide for an
open Bible and pure religion. In 1569 Pope Pius Fifth created the
great sin of schism by commanding all in favor of papal power in
England to withdraw from the English Church and form an Italian
party. In 1685 the Italian Church supplied this party with a bishop.
To-day the Italian mission in England is doing all in its power to
make headway against the Church of England, but in vain.
We can now come briefly to the Episcopal Church in America. She was
established in the American Colonies under the oversight of the Bishop
of London. In 1609 the Church of England planted her first church on
American shores at Jamestown, Virginia. After the Revolution, the
church in this country became the American Episcopal Church, receiving
the Apostolic ministry from the ancient Apostolic Church of England.
Samuel Seabury of Connecticut, was consecrated at Aberdeen in 1784 and
William White of Philadelphia, and Samuel Provoost of New York were
consecrated at Lambeth Palace in 1787. These were the first three
bishops with jurisdiction, and thus was the Apostolic Succession
maintained in the Episcopal Church in unbroken line from the days of
the Apostles.
In conclusion, the Protestant Episcopal Church has ever continued
steadfast in the sacraments of prayers, and by these four undeniable
and unmistakable marks shows that she is a true branch of the same
church described in Acts 2.
The question for the Negro now becomes, not which church do I like or
prefer, not to which church did my parents belong, but which church
did Christ found for me to be trained in.
TOPIC XXV.
THE NEGRO AS A BUSINESS MAN.
An Address Before the National Negro Business League.
BY T. W. JONES.
[Illustration: T. W. Jones.]
HON. THEODORE W. JONES.
The Hon. Theodore W. Jones was born during the temporary
residence of his parents in the beautiful city of Hamilton,
Ontario, September 19, 1853. His parents soon returned to
New York, their native State, and there remained until he
was twelve years old. In 1865 this family decided to make
Illinois their home and settled in Chicago.
Mr. Jones was one of a very large family; his parents were
poor and unable to give him even a common school education.
Compelled to support himself, at the age of fifteen years he
was driving an express wagon. He was an industrious boy,
full of pluck and energy. Without money and by his own
unaided efforts, step by step, he pressed on and soon built
up a most successful express and moving business.
Discouraged by no difficulty, the ambitious young expressman
turned his attention toward acquiring an education. He was a
diligent student. Through the aid of private tutors and the
"midnight oil," he was able, when twenty-five years of age,
to enter Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill., where he remained
three years. Leaving college, he returned to his business in
Chicago and has been exceedingly prosperous.
Mr. Jones is the owner of a large brick storage warehouse,
Twenty-ninth Street and Shields Avenue, and other valuable
property in this city. In his employ are three lady clerks
and about fifty men, all colored.
In 1894, Theodore W. Jones was elected on the Republican
ticket to the responsible position of County Commissioner of
Cook County, Ill. He ably and well performed the duties of
this office.
That he labored earnestly and unselfishly to advance the
interests of the colored people we need relate only the
following fact: During Mr. Jones' term of office the colored
people of Cook County drew $50,000 yearly salary. This was
about seven times the amount paid into the county treasury
by our race.
He is a valued member of the National Negro Business League.
He was present in Boston at the organisation and has
organised a branch league in Chicago, known as the Business
Men's League of Cook County. This league entertained the
National League in Chicago, August 21, 22, 23, 1901.
There has been so much controversy concerning the Negro, so much said
and written about his alleged inferiority, such an attempt made to
establish relationship between him and the monkey, that even in this
new century there exists, in some quarters, grave doubts as to his
origin, and a general misapprehension as to his nature, capabilities
and purposes. But research into the primeval history of man evinces
the fact, beyond the possibility of skepticism, that mankind had only
one common origin. We are taught that in the beginning God created man
in His own image, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and that man became a living soul. The closest and most thorough
analysis of the blood of different races fails to detect the slightest
difference in the color, size, shape or quality of its corpuscles. The
fact that one people are white, another yellow, another red, another
brown, and yet another black has its cause in the workings of a law of
nature which we do not fully understand. Sacred history plainly
teaches that the Negro is a man like other men and that of one blood
God created all nations; hence there can be no racial barrier to a
successful business career, in the general constitution of a black
man.
What was the business of the Negro in the land of his nativity, or at
the time of his emancipation in this country, does not so much
interest us now, except as it may help us to appreciate his capacity
for business at present.
Life for our forefathers in Africa was very plain and very simple. The
multitude was engaged with problems little more difficult than the
acquirement of food and drink and rest, raiment not being a necessity;
hence their only business, aside from frequent wars with kindred
tribes, was to explore a way to the fruit tree, the water brook and
the shade, and so their years were principally filled up with the
business of merely satisfying those three physical wants--hunger,
thirst, and rest.
When human slavery was established in the colonies, those of our race,
either fortunate or unfortunate enough to be brought to these shores
were instructed mainly in the care of cotton, tobacco and rice crops;
and from these few Southern industries we could not turn aside.
Slavery deprived the Negro of the little responsibility devolving upon
him in his savage state--that of providing food and drink and finding
rest. No responsibility was allowed to devolve upon him, other than to
perform allotted work, not even the selection of his wife; and when
children were born to him, he was not confronted with the problem of
how he should provide food and shelter for them, nor wherewith they
should be clothed. He and his issue being the property of his master,
like swine or cattle, their issue were alike stalled and fed by the
owner. With but few exceptions, this was the condition of the Negro
when the Proclamation of Emancipation was issued, thirty-eight years
ago.
From that eventful day onward, the mighty aspiration of the ex-slave
for education and material development has written a new page in the
history of the world's progress. Let us now examine the record made,
and call to our assistance the statistics of the Government that we
may truthfully answer the question, can the Negro succeed as a
business man? We are indebted to ex-Congressman George H. White for
the information that since the dawn of our freedom the race has
reduced its illiteracy at least 45 per cent; that we have written and
published nearly 500 books; have edited fully 300 newspapers; have
2,000 lawyers at the bar, a corresponding number of practicing
physicians, and 32,000 school teachers. We own 140,000 homes and have
real and personal property valued at $920,000,000. The census of 1890
shows that 20,020 persons of African descent were engaged in business,
and there were more than 17,000 barbers not included in those figures;
and be it remembered that this showing was made more than ten years
ago.
It is true that we have produced no skilled master mechanics or great
speculators; no commercial princes or merchant kings. These are beyond
our immediate reach and reserved for later growth. But we have today,
on the floor of this convention, colored men who represent nearly
every business enumerated in the census reports--wagon-makers,
watch-makers, grocers, druggists, bankers, brokers, bakers, barbers,
hotel keepers, caterers, undertakers, builders, contractors, printers,
publishers, decorators, manufacturers, tailors, insurance agents, coal
dealers, real estate agents, collectors, the proprietor of a brick
yard, the owners of a cotton factory, and the president of a coal
mine. The number engaged, and the capital invested, may not reach very
pretentious figures, but the beginning has been made. Aside from the
above, we have produced soldiers whose valor has reached world-wide
reputation, poets, artists, teachers and professional men and women of
recognized ability. There are hordes of others pursuing the humbler
walks of life eager to acquire by education a higher ideal of
manliness and womanliness, and to learn the ways of advanced
civilization and approved citizenship. These achievements have been
wrought by us under the most adverse conditions. We have wearily
toiled by day and by night; have made bricks without straw; helped
ourselves and taken advantage of small opportunities; though these are
days of increasing combinations of capital, growing corporations and
gigantic trusts, which greatly lessen the possibilities of individual
success. Surely there is in the black man the same capacity for
business, the self-same spirit, purpose and aspiration that there is
to be found in the white man, and he is as much entitled to the
blessings of life, and to share its honors and rewards, as the
descendants of other races, notwithstanding Senator Tillman's recent
plea for lynching Negroes, and the plaudits and acclaim of a Wisconsin
audience.
Despite the fact that the door of nearly every large factory, shop and
department store is closed against us, despite the fact that prejudice
stalks our business streets with unblushing tread and dominates in all
the commercial centers of our common country--yet we are not here
today pleading for special legislation in our behalf; we are not here
whining to be given a chance; we are not here, even to complain of our
hard lot, or to find fault with conditions which we cannot change.
This, we conceive, would be a very poor programme to attract the
attention of the business world, but we are here, representing
hundreds of thousands of dollars, thus demonstrating that we have
achieved, at least in a small measure, one of the things which, by
common consent, is taken as evidence of progress, ability and worth.
We have made money, have saved money, and are succeeding in many
profitable business enterprises which require the possession of skill
and executive ability to direct and control.
The Jew traces the industrial strides of his people from the first
footsore peddler to their present position of affluence in the
financial world, and so without reciting further the early struggles
and hindrances experienced by our pioneers in business, sufficient is
it to say that we have men who should be placed in the class with
Nelson Morris, A. M. Rothschild and Mandel Bros. Not that they can
compare with these men in the sum total of their wealth; no one
expects this. But that they began life without a dollar, have
accumulated property and acquired influence, and are today men of
public affairs, able to stand, persevere and prevail in the fierce
struggles and competitions of business life. These mercantile strides
the members of our race are taking in the face of proscription and
oppression, in the face of the administration of unjust laws and in
the face of disfranchisement and barbarous lynchings, such as no other
men ever had to face. In fact we are prospering under conditions which
would not only fill other business men with hopelessness and despair,
but would surely drive them into bankruptcy.
It is not true that the business patronage of the Negro is confined to
his own race, nor is it true that he is a cringer, and solicits
patronage among the whites because of the fact that he is a colored
man. We have long since learned that we are entitled to no more
consideration because we are black than other men are who chance to
have red hair, big mouths, or mis-shapen feet. If you will pardon
personal mention, I would say that in my business as a furniture
mover, few customers, indeed, have I among my own people; nor do I ask
to remove any man's goods because of the color of my complexion or the
texture of my hair; but because I have put brains into my humble
calling and made the business of moving furniture a science. What is
true in this instance is true in all others, where progress is made.
We are grasping opportunities and compelling adverse circumstances and
forces to work together for our profit. Under the wise leadership of
Booker T. Washington, we are finding our bearings and casting anchor
in the dark and muddy waters of industrial conditions in which we were
sent adrift without rudder, compass or means of existence less than
thirty-eight years ago.
It is not strange that, as business men, we have made some failures.
It is a long way from the depth of the valley to the summit of the
mountain; from a barbarian to a master mechanic; from the jungles of
Africa to a successful business career, and from the slave cabin to
the professor's chair. We have not all outgrown the feeling of
dependence instilled in us by more than 250 years of chattel bondage;
many of us yet shrink from responsibility, and lack the requisite
amount of ambition. We recognize our shortcomings, our peculiar
environments and the limitations of our experience and powers. We are
beginning to learn that if the Negro is to become more and more a
factor in the business world he must take a more active part in all of
the trades, competitions, industries and occupations of life. Again,
he is learning, slowly perhaps, but surely, that he must outgrow the
weakness and confusion resulting from distracted purposes; that he
must have one aim, and be one thing all the time. He must stop doing
things in a slipshod and half-way manner and become more thorough. He
must put the force of a strong character and a determined will power
into whatever he undertakes, and he must stop stumbling and falling
over impediments, especially of his own placing.