THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
Vol. XXXIII.
JANUARY, 1879.
No. 1.
American Missionary Association.
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.
[2]
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.
[3]
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?
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.
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.
[4]
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[5] 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[6] 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[7] 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.
[8]
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.
[9]
(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?[10] 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.”
[11]
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[12] “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[13] 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.”
—Mr. Ha Shan Sin was baptized last Sabbath by Rev. E. D. Murphy
at the Immanuel Presbyterian Chapel of this city. The young man
is about twenty-two years old, was born in San Francisco, though
he has spent most of his life in China. This is the sixth of the
Chinamen that have been received into the churches of this city.
Three have been enrolled among the members of the Fourth Avenue
Presbyterian Church, Dr. Howard Crosby’s.
—The first Chinaman was admitted to citizenship in the United
States by naturalization, last week, and we count the event an
auspicious one just at this time. The man is Wong Ah Lee; by
trade he is a cigar-maker, and his wife is an Irish-woman. With
a view, mainly, to make a case which can be carried up to a
conclusive[14] decision from the highest court, the Judge here ruled
that a Chinaman is either white or black, and so must come in.
California’s ruling has been that a Mongolian is neither white or
black, and so cannot come in.—Congregationalist, December 4.
OUR QUERY COLUMN.
Query.—South of the Ohio River the work of caring for the
sick falls to the colored people. During the past weeks there
has been greater demand for skilled nurses than for competent
teachers. How can A. M. A. schools prepare their students for
this important profession? What is the best method of instructing
pupils in a knowledge of the simpler details concerning the
proper care of the sick?
Teacher.
We shall be glad to have full answers to this important inquiry
from those who have had experience. It calls attention to a most
important part of the teacher’s work. Meanwhile, we would suggest
that the Hampton Sanitary Tracts may be found very useful for
distribution, or to be read to older pupils and parents. The first
three can be obtained by addressing the “Hampton Tract Editing
Committee,” Hampton Institute, Va. The cost is five cents apiece,
or four dollars a hundred copies. They are entitled: No. 1, “The
Health Laws of Moses;” No. 2, “Preventable Diseases;” No. 3, “Duty
of Teachers.” This last seems to be exactly addressed to the case
in hand.
THE FREEDMEN.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
Revival in Howard University.
Rev. Wm. W. Patton, D.D., President.
You will be glad to hear that there is much religious interest in
our institution at the present time. It has been gradually coming
on all the autumn, but was greatly aided by the week of prayer
held by the Young Men’s Christian Association of the University in
concert with other Associations. Some ten or twelve of the students
think that they have begun the new life lately, and we look for
further good results. This is highly encouraging, as showing that
in addition to the educational advantages which gather around our
location, spiritual blessings may also be received. We desire the
prayers of all Christians that the work may be continued with
power. Our theological students have been deeply interested in the
meetings for prayer, and have rendered valuable aid.
VIRGINIA.
A Destitute County.
The following extract from a letter by an esteemed friend in a
central county in Virginia is suggestive of the many dark places
throughout the South yet unreached by the school or the church:
The field in this county alone is an ample one. The colored
population of the county largely exceeds the white, and the yearly
ratio of increase is in excess of the white. A half generation has
passed since the era of emancipation, and it is melancholy, indeed,
to any Christian mind and heart, to contemplate how rapidly this
portion of the population, in the very heart of one of the oldest
States in the Union, is crowding the broad road to perdition;
how, in the entire absence of all organized efforts for elemental
education and proper religious instruction, they are relapsing into
semi-heathenism. There is not to-day a single school of any kind
or character for[15] them within the limits of the county (which may
be safely estimated to contain five thousand souls of all ages and
sexes of the colored race), except the Sabbath-school which has
been taught by the writer.
ALABAMA.
New Church at Shelby Iron Works—Talladega a Missionary Centre.
Rev. G. W. Andrews, Talladega.
A Congregational church of twenty-one members was organized
Oct. 10th, at Shelby Iron Works, Alabama. This is the fifteenth
Congregational church planted by the A. M. A. in this State. Eight
of them are in the vicinity of Talladega College, the most distant
being forty miles away. They are the out-growth of the mission work
carried on by the teachers and pupils of the college.
This new church at Shelby begins its existence under most favorable
circumstances, most of its members being present or former pupils
of the college. All are colored people; two are preparing for the
ministry; one has been a student at Oberlin, Ohio; one was for some
time a resident of Hartford, Ct., and more recently of Columbus,
Ohio, a graduate of the high school there and a former pupil here;
one is principal of an academy of ten years’ standing at Shelby and
a graduate from Talladega. With two or three exceptions, all of
them have for some years been trained in our Sunday-schools. The
Shelby Iron Company is in hearty sympathy with the movement; the
Superintendent, himself a Methodist, coming into the preliminary
meeting and saying publicly that the Iron Company would look with
peculiar favor on this church should it be organized, recognizing
as it did the necessity for more intelligent Christian instruction
for the colored people.
The sectarian walls, which in the South are built heaven-high,
have in this particular place been badly shattered. There is no
outspoken opposition on the part of the colored people, as in every
other place known to me. The different denominations worship in the
same building, the lower story being devoted to the school and the
upper one to the churches. The Iron Company own about two-thirds of
the building, the original cost being three thousand dollars.
I suppose there are a million of dollars invested by the Shelby
Iron Company at this place, mostly owned in the North. One owner
is an honored member of the Centre Church, Hartford, Ct.; another,
of the Park St. Church, Boston; another is a Massachusetts man
well known among “iron men” both in this country and abroad. The
Superintendent is a noble Christian man from Illinois, and was a
colonel in the recent war. Several of the local managers are from
the North, some are from the South. Most of the workmen, white
and colored, who stand all day side by side, are gathered from
the surrounding region. Here the North and South meet and learn
to know and love each other. The Iron Company is helping to solve
the great national problem no less truly than missionary schools
and churches. It seems to me sometimes that its entire business
is carried on as a kind of missionary enterprise on the broadest
basis. Owning thirty thousand acres of land immediately about the
“Iron Works,” it exercises wholesome restraint over all classes.
Nothing seems to be overlooked; the church, the school, the home,
the village morals, the town adornments and the State, are all
cared for.
Talladega College, a college only in name yet, is the rallying
point for our missionary work in this State. It is just such a
college as a missionary college should be, its whole work as a
school being subordinate to the church. It is a training school,
patterned after the missionary colleges of the American Board.
Its grand aim is to raise up a native ministry so as to plant
churches, and through them carry an intelligent[16] gospel to the
masses. We are not especially afraid that there will be any lack
of school-teachers. With our eye fixed steadily on our missionary
work, enough who cannot attain to the Christian ministry will
become teachers, and they, catching the spirit of the institution,
will become missionary teachers. It is surprising to see how this
spirit has taken possession of our pupils. There is scarcely one
who goes into the country to teach who does not organize his
Sabbath-school as promptly as his day-school, and pursue it with
even more interest. It is the first thing he reports on his return.
Hundreds are converted by this means; Bibles, tracts, religious
literature, and light are spread in all directions; thus are
constantly carried forward many Sabbath-schools, and through them a
glorious pioneer Christian work. Out of this work have grown eight
churches, so near to the college as to be its special care, and in
which a hundred conversions are reported for the summer just ended.
Of the twenty pupils in the Theological department, all have been
reaping in this missionary field during the summer vacation, about
one-half as preachers. The home church takes a lively interest in
them during their absence. Prayer is made to God without ceasing
in their behalf, and often interested members go out to aid them
in their revival meetings. Letters are constantly received from
them to be read at the monthly missionary concert, and public
thanksgiving is rendered for the good work they report. Thus is
maintained a lively interest in Christian missions and Christian
work.
There has been an evident increase of interest in our mission
churches about the college this summer; all but one report revivals
of greater or less power; one reports thirty-two additions by
confession; four report the completion of their houses of worship,
free of debt—houses hitherto unplastered and otherwise much
exposed, but now neat and comfortable, and everybody is happy
over it. One is building a new house of worship unlike any of
the others; it is built of logs, large and commodious. One poor
fellow was so intent on pushing forward to completion his house
of worship, that he expended all his salary for the summer, and
then pawned his Sunday clothes. On his return to school he reports
twenty-three conversions, his house of worship completed, but no
money in his pocket. If ever there was a man worthy of aid, he is.
He is now in my back-yard sawing wood. You will hear from him some
day. These young prophets of the Lord are making rapid progress in
the knowledge of the Bible and the system of theology, and wherever
they go, are beginning to be recognized by all classes as well
qualified to break the Bread of Life to their people.
I am glad to report that the white people, seeing the character
and efficiency of these young men, are coming to understand and
appreciate our work. I believe they heartily approve what we are
doing. I have repeatedly experienced their hospitality this summer,
and had many conversations with them relating to our mission here.
From the president of a well-known college, down to the poor man
who did not know his letters, I have found nothing but approval.
The time is not far distant when this approval will be more
outspoken and pronounced. When the Christian men of the South and
your missionary workers from the North understand each other, from
that day they are one in Christian work. We bless God for this new
feast of love. Pray that no political excitement may interrupt the
growing good feeling.
The Thin End of the Wedge—A First Thanksgiving Service.
REV. WILLIAM H. ASH, FLORENCE.
Our work here in Florence is the “thin end of the wedge,” and with
sufficient facilities, the smiles of the[17] Master, and patience
in its workers, great good will result. The services are well
attended, and sometimes the house is disagreeably filled, and we
are without the proper means of ventilation. The members of the
church begged me to express for them to the Association their
sincere and heartfelt gratitude for the new organ sent them; it
has increased the interest of our services greatly. Last Thursday,
Nov. 28, the first Thanksgiving service ever held in this place
among the colored people was observed in our church; therefore it
has a history in connection with our work here. I made it a union
service, inviting the Baptists and Methodists to worship with us.
This congregation of Baptists, Methodists, and Congregationalists
worshipped as though Christ was the Head of the Church, instead of
any one of the denominations present. The service was solemn and
intelligent. It truly seemed that the Lord was in His holy temple.
After service a gentleman of about sixty or seventy years of age
said, “I have been here forty years, but I never heard of such a
thing as a Thanksgiving service among the colored people.” This is
the “dawn of a new age.” Pray for us.
MISSOURI.
Free Schools in the State.
REV. J. E. Roy, D. D., Field Superintendent.
This noble Western State, plowed by war and sowed to freedom, is
now coming on with harvests of temporal and moral prosperity.
As I have been going over its territory, looking after the five
school-houses of the Association, I have been delighted with the
evidences of progress in the free school system. It is a great joy
to see in these cities and towns the new, large, two-story brick
school-houses of modern style and furnishing. The system works
more slowly into the back settlements. But in a Kansas City paper
I see it stated that in the country places of Jackson County there
are one hundred and fifty of these schools. At Warrensburg I saw
the imposing three-story stone edifice of the State Normal School,
built by that town and its county of Johnson, and now occupied by
four hundred pupils from every part of the State.
Special provision is made in the law for its enforcement in behalf
of free schools for the colored children. These are managed by
the same school board and are supported from the same tax fund.
These officers are compelled to provide schools wherever there are
fifteen of such scholars in the district. If they fail to do it,
it is the duty of the Superintendent to require it to be done. I
met one case where the out-districts declined to co-operate with
the Board in this matter, when only a threatened appeal to the
Superintendent brought them to terms. I have been gratified to
see the heartiness with which the five boards I have dealt with
are pushing the free school system in behalf of blacks as well as
whites. Nor have I been deceived, as some may imagine.
The Lincoln Institute at the Capitol, as a Normal School for
colored teachers, receives an annual appropriation from the State
of $5,000. A democratic editor told me that that was considered as
a matter of honor, and that so there was no danger of its being
discontinued. This institution of sacred name had also a sacred
origin. For its founding, the 62d and 65th Regiments of U. S.
colored infantry, when discharged from service in January, 1866,
contributed a fund of $6,379. The Freedmen’s Bureau furnished
$8,000; the Western Sanitary Commission, $2,000; and agents Beal
and Lane raised $2,000. The building is of brick, 60×70 feet,
three stories high, a comely structure crowning a hill just out
of Jefferson City. Its current catalogue enrolls 123 students. It
is controlled by a local board, of which the Governor and State
Superintendent are ex-officio members. Revs. R. D. Foster and M.
Henry Smith have served[18] as principals the most of the time since
it was opened in 1871.
The Association has its five school houses at Troy, Fulton,
Westport, Warrensburg and Lebanon. These were procured in part by
aid from the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1867–9. They were at first run by
teachers sent from the North, but were gradually taken up by the
local school boards. I find them all in such use now. Three will
probably be sold to those boards at their present low valuation.
Two will be sold to local colored Methodist churches, as the
schools require larger and better houses, which the authorities
intend to build. These houses have also been used all the time as
places of worship by the colored people. The seven or eight colored
teachers in these schools were educated in Lincoln, Fisk, and
kindred institutions. I have found them young people of character,
and of tact in handling their schools. They have to be examined.
They receive from $35 to $45 a month, about the same as white
common-school teachers.
The A. M. A. has done the work of initiation. By this tour of
inspection I am deeply convinced of the wisdom of the A. M. A. in
putting its strength upon Normal and Collegiate institutions, and
so doing a wholesale business. Raise up teachers and send them back
into the country. Raise up the men and women for the professions
and for the higher walks of social life. That is the work.
AFRICA.
A CHURCH ORGANIZED AND DEDICATED AT AVERY
A meeting of Counsel and Advice was convened September 29th at
Avery Station, by order of Rev. Floyd Snelson, and, on solicitation
of the minister in charge, Rev. A. E. Jackson, to organize and
dedicate a church to God. Owing to our inability to reach Avery
on Saturday in time to hold preliminary exercises, examination
of candidates for admission, etc., this part of our duty was
deferred till Sunday morning. This, with our other duties, made our
programme for the day quite full.
Early Sunday morning the Board met in the church to begin the
labors of the day. The sun shone brightly, yet we could but feel
that many round us were groping in darkness, without any clear idea
of Him in whose image they are made. Brother Snelson was elected
moderator, and A. P. Miller secretary. Brother Gomer, General Agent
of Shengay Mission, who favored us with his presence, offered
prayer. “Guide me, oh! Thou great Jehovah!” was sung.
In absence of letter missive, the minister in charge gave his
reasons why a church should be established or organized at Avery.
He spoke of the willingness of the people to receive the story
of the Cross; said that some came far to hear “God palaver,” and
express their joy in being permitted so to do. Brother Hallock,
the interpreter (native), and Brother Wise, were asked several
questions. Their reasons were clear and very satisfactory. It seems
evident that the industrial work at this station, which gives
employment to many, is a means of good both to mission and people.
It was deemed fit to organize a church at Avery, to be known as the
Second Congregational Church of the Mendi Mission.
By 11 o’clock, at the ringing of the second bell, the chapel was
crowded with natives, for the most part in native costume. Brother
Snelson spoke to them through an interpreter, telling them the
object of our coming together. The candidates for admission to the[19]
Church were then called forward. “A charge to keep I have” was
sung by the congregation. Prayer was offered by Brother Snelson,
after which the missionary hymn, “From Greenland’s icy mountains,”
was sung; and as it was being sung, each missionary, as he looked
upon the sable congregation, could but feel that the “harvest is
plenteous, but the laborers are few.”
The roll was then called by Brother Jackson; after which the
candidates were examined, and by vote of the Council eighteen were
received into full membership. Some of the candidates were not
received because of not being legally married. They were instructed
to attend to this matter, and then they might be received into the
church. They are to remain under watch-care until this obligation
is met. After examination of candidates, Brother Snelson spoke to
them about things peculiar to their country—slavery, polygamy, etc.
The meeting was then dismissed to meet at 7 P. M. Brother
Gomer, who has for years known our work, expressed his astonishment
at seeing so large a congregation assembled in the house of God at
this place, and at the good order kept throughout the exercises.
Some of those received were old members, while others were new
converts, among whom were three chiefs, Peah Carle, Carray Phemah,
and Sei Lōtō. These men exercise a vast influence over their
people, and their being reached makes the reaching of their people
easier.
The people assembled at the ringing of the second bell. “Praise
God from Whom all blessings flow” was sung. Brother Snelson then
led the congregation in the Lord’s Prayer. A hymn was sung, after
which the Rev. J. Gomer offered prayer. “Alas! and did my Saviour
bleed?” was sung. Portions of Scripture were read by A. P. Miller.
The services of organization and dedication were combined, owing to
want of time. Brother Snelson spoke through the interpreter, and
told the candidates what their step meant—turning from death unto
life. The church, too, he said, we had come together to dedicate to
God and His service. Brother Snelson preached, choosing Luke xii.
32, as his text—“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s
good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” A comparison was made
between the people to whom these words were spoken and these our
benighted brethren. The promises of God were dwelt upon. We must
trust in Him for salvation. The dedicatory prayer was then offered
by Rev. A. P. Miller. A hymn was sung. The right hand of fellowship
was given by Bro. A. E. White. The address was delivered by Rev. J.
Gomer. The Lord’s supper was then celebrated; Brothers Gomer and
Jackson presided. It was a solemn scene. The Doxology was sung,
and the benediction pronounced by A. P. Miller. The meeting was
one long to be remembered. One more stronghold is now erected in
this land of night to tear down the powers of darkness. We have all
reason to thank God for His blessings thus far. A better day is
dawning for these benighted, long-neglected sons of Africa.
Brother Gomer says that more laborers (colored) are wanted in his
mission. We, too, in a work so vast, can but ask God to prepare
such as are needed for a work so difficult.
We ask the prayers of all lovers of mankind that the work
begun here may not only succeed, but that its influence may be
far-reaching.
Rev. Floyd Snelson, Moderator.
Rev. A. P. Miller, Secretary.
[20]
THE INDIANS.
THE LATE INDIAN WAR AND CHRISTIANITY.
REV. MYRON EELLS, S’KOKOMISH, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
We have had another Indian war, and, as usual, there has been a
cry in favor of turning the Indians over to the War Department.
There are some, however, of us who will persist in seeing something
favorable to Christianity and the present policy even in this war,
and we think we have our reasons for it.
I do not propose, at present, to thoroughly discuss the causes
of the war, for I am not well enough acquainted with them to do
so intelligently. Some will lay the blame on Government, some
on a Christian policy, and some on the Indians. Perhaps all may
have to bear a part. Although I believe that the Government
has often treated the Indians wrongfully, yet a long course of
observation has convinced me that the Indians are not all saints,
and when the Government is often crooked, either intentionally or
unintentionally, and two crooked sticks come together, there is
almost always sure to be trouble.
The published statements of General Crook, who is not supposed to
be very sentimental in his feelings toward the Indians, and who was
at the Fort Hall Agency at the beginning of the war, implicates the
Government severely.
A residence of nearly three years in Idaho, 1871–1874, in the
very region of the war, led me to believe that very little was
energetically done for Christianizing those Indians. This has
been true at some Agencies. Their annual reports show that while
the Government opened wide the doors for Christian work, when
the present policy was adopted, and said, “We will give you
opportunity, encouragement and aid, if you will only send the
Indians missionaries,” yet that Christians have failed to take hold
of the work as they ought to have done. If this was true of the
Indians engaged in the late war, Christians may have to bear a part
of the blame.
Notwithstanding all this, some laurels have been added by the
late war to the Christian work which has been done among the
Indians. One “who wishes to be understood” has written a letter
in which he speaks very harshly against the Christian workers on
the Yakama Reservation, where Father Wilbur, of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, has been successfully laboring for sixteen
years. He says: “The present reservation system is a failure in
every respect. We, who daily come in contact with the Indians,
cannot be made to believe that prayer-books, praying generals,
and Methodist preachers, (or any other preachers,) are a good
safeguard against the tomahawk and the scalping-knife; and the
pseudo-philanthropists, the Christian-mongers of the East, who
are paying thousands to send missionaries among these barbarians,
would do us a favor if they would keep them away; and if the U.
S. Government would be less influenced in its conduct toward the
Indians by the advocates of Christianity, our wives and children
might be annually spared the sight of murdered husbands and
fathers. So far we have been loyal, while Indians, with passes
from Wilbur and other Agents, have been on the war-path. We have
reliable information that some of the dead Indians found after the
battles near Pendleton had on their persons passes from Wilbur.”
Now it is probably a fact that some of the Umatilla Indians, and
perhaps a few of the Yakamas, were engaged in aiding the enemy.
There are always some renegade Indians connected with each tribe,
as well as white renegades and tramps. As tribes, however, they did
not engage in the war, and comparatively few individuals did.
In the Indian war of 1855–6, before[21] Father Wilbur went among these
same Yakamas, they were the leading spirits, and it was the most
wide-spread war which has ever devastated this coast. If they and
the Umatillas had joined in this war, it would have been far more
terrible than it has been. Inducements were not wanting to lead
them into it. It is said on good authority that two thousand horses
were offered them by the hostiles if they would join them, and yet
they refused. An army officer in command of one of the battles said
that some of those Indians did nobly in aiding our soldiers to gain
the victory.
It may be said that they had too much permanent property in homes
and farms, to allow them to engage in the war; for they knew that
if they should do so, they would certainly in the end lose it all.
This is undoubtedly so; and yet when Father Wilbur went among them
they had none of this kind of property, but only movable property
which they could carry with them even in war, as the Bannocks have
done. It is a fact that Christianity gave them this property.
It may again be said that they were thoroughly whipped in 1855–6
and were afraid to engage in war again. They were thus whipped, and
the remembrance of it may, even now, do them good. But in 1862–3
Gen. Crook, the noted Indian fighter, just as thoroughly thrashed
the Indians in Idaho, in precisely the same region where the late
war was carried on, and the praise of his effectual work is still
in the mouths of the old citizens. This was seven years later than
the Yakama war, and so much fresher in the minds of the Indians.
No, it was evidently Christianity which prevented their joining in
the war.
Gen. Howard, too, has added new laurels to his reputation. It must
be remembered that he is the principal one of our generals who
has not been in favor of the transfer of the Indians to the War
Department. This praying general has prosecuted the war with such
vigor that the strong papers with strong arguments have sustained
him, and almost invariably those who went with him in his rough
marches have defended him, such as newspaper correspondents,
scouts and the like, and the “stay at homes” have been about the
only ones who have found fault. His recent conference with the
Umatilla Indians since the war has shown such firmness, justice and
Christianity as to win for him very many friends among those who
previously opposed him, thus showing again that Christianity is
the way of dealing with the Indians. So Christianity has won its
laurels even in this war.
THE CHINESE.
“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”
Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.
President: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D.
Vice-Presidents: Rev. A. L. Stone, D. D., Thomas C.
Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon. F. F. Low, Rev. I. E.
Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S. H. Willey, D. D.,
Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D., Jacob S. Taber,
Esq.
Directors: Rev. George Mooar, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer,
Rev. E. P. Baker, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, Rev.
John Kimball, E. P. Sanford, Esq.
Secretary: Rev. W. C. Pond. Treasurer: E.
Palache, Esq.
Ditto marks in tables were replaced with the text they represent in
order to facilitate alignment.
Punctuation and spelling were changed only where the error appears
to be a printing error. Inconsistent hyphenation was retained
as there are numerous authors. The punctuation changes are too
numerous to list; the others are as follows:
Illustrated Catalogues sent free.
