FREEDMEN. While all the boards of our Church are but parts of the organized effort of the Church for carrying out the great commission of our Lord, the Board of Missions for Freedmen has some peculiar claims that should not be overlooked. The cause that this Board represents is, at least for the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, in a peculiar sense the cause of patriotism, the cause of humanity and the cause of God. First, it is in a very peculiar sense the cause of Christian patriotism. The Christian Church owes to the civil government to do all that can be done righteously to make good citizens. We have in this land two great races so unlike that worldly-wise men declare they never have lived together and never can live together happily on terms of equality. They are living together now, and the indications certainly are that God has decreed that they shall live together in this country on terms of civil equality. All schemes for exporting the Negroes to Africa are not only inhuman, but impossible; while any attempt to establish the old relation of master and slave would not be considered for a moment. Our problem therefore is easily stated. Can Christianity enable men to live together happily on terms of civil equality? No other religion has succeeded in this, says the objector. Can Christianity do it? Is Christianity cosmopolitan? Does it give us a basis for civil government that is broad enough for all races-broad as humanity? If it does, it is superior to all other religions -a religion that is profitable for the life that now is as well as for that which is to come. I believe with Vinet that cosmopolitanism was born with Christianity; that the Lord Jesus Christ taught and lived a morality that, if applied here, would soon settle all these hard problems that we are called upon to solve. He has taught us to seek pre-eminence by seeking to serve our fellow men. If the Presbyterian Church can help the colored people in the South to act on this principle, and be able to do more for their white neighbors than their white neighbors can do for them as Christian men and women, Christianity will be honored and our land saved from a great peril. That there is a crisis in this matter no intelligent, thoughtful observer of events can doubt. Coming years will either be marked by bitter strife and bloodshed or they will show the blessed leaven of Christianity revealing the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. I sincerely believe that no other men and women in all this land are doing so much for the cause of Christian patriotism as the men and women who are devoting their lives to Christian work among the freedmen of the South. I believe also that the money expended in this work is doing more good for this nation than any money paid to any salaried officer of our civil government. Looking backward now, we can see that this nation could have afforded to pay ten times the price of every slave in order to set him free rather than go through the war of the rebellion. Should we not learn the lesson taught by past experience and give liberally to aid in a work that will prevent the evils of race conflict? Second, this is pre-eminently the cause of humanity. The religious condition of the freedmen, our share of the responsibility for their being in this condition, facility for reaching them, the danger of their relapsing into heathenism and barbarism, unite with many other considerations in emphasizing this call. The name freedmen as it comes to the Christians of this land is only another name for opportunity of doing good to our fellow men. These freedmen have claims upon us as neighbors as well as brothers, which we must not ignore. God has evidently given us this work. He has bidden us go into all the world, and 1889.] Earnest Words to Women-Word for the Freedmen. he certainly will hold us responsible if we fail to give the gospel to the colored race in our own country. The Church that fails to do what it can for the Christianization of the freedmen is deaf to the call of patriotism, the call of humanity and the command of God, given in his word and emphasized by his providences. The work is enlarging on every hand. The demand for more churches, more schools or more teachers and ministers comes to the office every day. Good men and women are offering their services if we will but bear their expenses. We need means for enlarging the work. No earnest Christian could read the letters that come to this office for a month without feeling that, for the present at least, this cause is second to no other in our Church. J. T. GIBSON. EARNEST WORDS TO WOMEN. In the rooms of the Board of Missions for Freedmen at Pittsburgh, Pa., a little company of intelligent, well-educated Christian girls were assembled a day or two since, six in number. They were on the eve of their departure for their different fields of labor among the freedmen of the South. It was an interesting sight. Here were six refined and educated girls, from refined Christian homes in the North, ready to go and dwell among these lowly and despised people, to suffer great self-denial, and to devote themselves to an arduous and difficult work-and on the small salary of $280 per school year-in order to help the Lord's lowly poor to a better and happier life. As we looked at these young Christian girls, so ready and willing to go to this work, we felt that moral heroism was not yet dead in the Church; and as we bade them farewell, we could not withhold our prayers and blessings for them. These are only six of the forty-five young ladies who have gone from the North under our Board to work among the freedmen; and we desire to commend them especially to the sympathy and prayers of the women of our Church. Forty others ought to join this band of noble Christian girls; and the forty could be sent within a month if the 547 women of the Church would do what they should for this work. We have no lack of applicants; we need only the money to send them. Why is it that the women of our Church can send only $22,000 to help three millions of freedwomen and girls in the South, while they can send $130,000 to aid less than half a million of exceptional population in the West? Do our women realize the importance of this work? do they realize the claims the freed women have on them? do they know how they yearn for womanly sympathy and help, and how eagerly they reach out their hands to those who would lead in a better way and to a better life? If you could witness the welcome they will extend to these teachers when they arrive, if you could see how they look up to them for help in their trouble, for strength in their weakness and for light in their darkness, we are sure you would feel a deeper interest in them. We do not wonder that one of our teachers who left with the six yesterday said the tears came to her eyes when "old Aunt Clara" in her school prayed the following strange but earnest prayer for her:-" God, bless our dear teacher; give to her the whitest robe in heaven, the brightest crown that can be given. Put golden slippers on her feet, and let her slip and slide straight through the pearly gates close up to the throne of Master Jesus." We earnestly hope that the good women of our Church will take into serious consideration the needs and claims of these THREE MILLIONS of freedwomen and girls, ninety per cent. of whom cannot read or write. A WORD FOR THE FREEDMEN. R. W. JOHNSON, BREVET MAJ.-GEN., U.S.A. The Indian question is now on the eve of solution, and we are confronted with another of even greater magnitude-that of the freed men and women of the South. For more than two hundred years the race was in bondage, and little attention was paid to their moral or intellectual culture, and like all people so circumstanced, they practiced many of the vices and few of the virtues of the human family. In this lament able social condition they were liberated, and in a short time the ballot was placed in their hands and they were expected to enter upon and discharge the duties of intelligent citizenship. When we recall the fact that as free human beings their history dates back only twenty-five years, we are amazed at the progress they have made in the acquisition of property and in the cultivation of their intellectual natures. Many suggestions have been made as to how the Negro question is to be solved. Some have urged colonization in some of the western territories, while others have urged the removal of these people to Africa. There are six hundred Negro children born every day in the South. Ships could not be constructed fast enough to carry off the annual increase. I was born in the South, and as a child I have played with these people, and as a boy have hunted and fished with them, and in fact entered into their sports and pastimes, and I feel that I know their character and disposition. They are human beings like ourselves, and their hearts are influenced by the same sentiments, the same emotions which move our own. They are warm-hearted and affectionate, love their country and are obedient to the laws so far as they comprehend them. Here they were born. Their ancestors have lived and died here, and the soil of our country holds the ashes of their loved ones. This is their country, and they have shown a willingness to bear arms in defence of its flag. More than 38,000 of them fell upon the battle-fields of the late war. Shall we deny them the right of suffrage? Shall we deny them that education so necessary to fit them for the exercise of it? I can remember that it was predicted that freedom would be the death-knell of the colored people in this country. It was said that they would dwindle away as the Indian had done. But what are the facts? Less than 4,000,000 were liberated; there are now about 8,000,000 of them. They are increasing much more rapidly than the whites, and within ten years they will outnumber the whites in all of the old slave states. For awhile they may be deprived of the privilege of voting, but [December, the time will come when their votes will be counted. Then the Negroes will exercise an influence in our national affairs for good or for evil just in proportion as they are educated or ignorant. It will not do to say that they cannot be educated. The children learn just as readily as white children. As the Negro will abide with us forever, it is our duty to qualify him for the duties he may be called upon to perform. The perpetuity of the American government depends upon the intelligence of the masses, and these must be enlightened if the government itself has to furnish the money to establish schools for them in localities where the people themselves are unable to maintain a free educational system. What better disposition can be made of the surplus in the treasury than to expend it in the education of our people? But education alone is not all that is required. We must take to the southern Negro "the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount and the spelling-book." Christian education is what is required in all of the dark places of our country, and if the government neglects to furnish the means, the patriotic people of the land must do so; and when placed in the hands of the "Board of Missions for Freedmen" of our Church it will be judiciously expended, and in due time we shall see the beneficial effects of our liberality. If the Board had the means, hundreds of schools could now be established in the southern states. Teachers are in readiness just as soon as the way is open, and if it is not opened God will hold us responsible for our failure to improve this grand, this golden opportunity. As a Christian duty it confronts us on every hand, and we can almost hear the command to go forward and establish schools for the education and religious training of these people who are destined to have a powerful influence in the management of our governmental affairs. We cannot all go to this field, but we can aid the Board in sending willing hearts and willing hands to labor in this inviting field. If all could see the importance of this subject as I see it, no Presbyterian church in the land 1889.] Negroism and Caucasianism. would fail to make frequent contributions to this noble work. The individual contributions may be small. It is the single raindrop, blending with others, that forms the gentle rivulet which singing its way along, gathering volume as it flows onward, forms the surging, mighty river. So these small contributions when united with others will form a fund large enough to enable the Board to push forward in this great work of educating and Christianizing a people who are destined to be with us as long as we exist as a nation. Let it be understood that the foundation stone upon which our government rests is an intelligent, educated, Christian citizenship. NEGROISM AND CAUCASIANISM. In an article entitled "The Negro Question," the Africo-American says some things in such excellent temper and with such wise discrimination that we desire to commend them to the consideration of our readers: Mere professional Negroism as the antithesis of mere professional Caucasianism is inimical to the highest good of all, tending to foster prejudice and to bring to swords points neighbors who cannot afford to live otherwise than upon friendly terms. By professional Negroism is intended that supersensitiveness which goes round hunting up all sorts of slights, puts the worst possible construction upon motives and actions, and abides in a state of suspicion and want of confidence in everything white. The man who does such things either in church or state is a "professional" Negro. And the "professional" Caucasian is he who "thanks his God that he is a white man and seeks every opportunity to let his joy be known. . . . He goes out of his way to put an indignity upon the Negro. If he is editing a newspaper he by indirection inculcates the sentiment that lynching Negroes is a harmless pastime. In the same relation he speaks of whites as “citizens" and Negroes as "negroes," in seeming ignorance of the fact that under the constitution and the laws all are citizens except unnaturalized persons [immigrants] and Indians not taxed. 549 Now, these professionals all round are a worthless set, contributing as they do to the fires of prejudice and hate which seek to solve the great problem of the hour by repression. If by any means both races can rid themselves of the mere "professionals " a long stride will have been made toward settling the vexed question. Evidently the providence of God is rapidly shaping events for an equitable and just settlement of this great question. All attempts to treat it lightly either in church or state have signally failed, and to-day there is no one subject of thought in this country that is so universal, absorbing, serious. It will not down. Every attempt at repression serves to make it tower higher with dark and foreboding proportions. We are of that number who do not believe that God will permit the Negro question in this country to be settled wrong. The great majority of the Christian and right-thinking people will soon see clearly what is now beginning to dawn upon many minds, namely, that anything short of Christian education in the broadest and best sense of the term, and the doing of justice and loving of mercy, only tends to increase the evils which it would destroy. Let this policy be substituted for that of repression now so generally resorted to and the era of brighter days will have begun, and the race question now so universally annoying will be shorn of many of its harassing features and its final solution will soon be reached. In copying the foregoing strong and temperate paragraphs, we have italicized some sentences to which we desire to call special attention. That calm confidence in the righteous and kind providence of God, that refusal to distrust God so far as to believe that he will permit the Negro question to be settled wrong, is characteristic of the devout Negro mind. Even in the unlettered condition in which slavery held them, large numbers of them had learned orally and had simply accepted enough Bible truth to sustain them in patient expectation of divine deliverance. In the trying years preceding the war and through all the strange excitements of war itself they waited on the Lord with wonderful patience. "He that believeth doth not make haste." Those devout Negroes were the Lord's elect. Is it presumptuous to think that for their sakes those awful days were shortened? No less devout and trustful now, when so much more intelligent, the Christian Negroes of this generation refuse to "believe that God will permit the Negro question to be settled wrong." They also at least the leading minds among them-clearly see that "Christian education, in the broadest and best sense of the term," is the only hopeful method of deliverance from the disabilities and discouragements and wrongs which still remain to try them-the debris of their old prison house, which rapid war could shatter and scatter, but which patient peace must have longer time to clear away. Observe that the calm and thoughtful writer of the article from which we have quoted does not talk of “higher education,” but of “Christian education in the broadest and best sense." He does not exclude the higher nor the highest education for all who can reach it, but we assume that he emphasizes breadth more than height. He would have, as soon as possible, the spelling-book and the Bible. for all the Bible and the classics for so many as can have them and make use of them. But he has no faith in spelling-book, classics or science without the Bible. Only Christian education in the broadest and besi sense can complete the enfranchisement of the Negroes or make it a real blessing to them and their country. This is the conviction of the Presbyterian Church. This is what Lincoln and Biddle and Brainerd and Scotia and Mary Allen mean. This is what the Board of Missions for Freedmen means. It is most encouraging to see this so well understood, so clearly affirmed and so [December, strongly emphasized by so intelligent Negroes as the editor of the Africo-American. AFRICA'S BRIGHT FUTURE. In the Spirit of Missions we find part of an address delivered by Bishop Ferguson "at the laying of the corner-stone of Epiphany Hall, Cuttington, Cape Palmas, February 22, 1889." Some of its sentiments and suggestions are well worthy of the consideration of thoughtful Negroes on both continents, and of all who would encourage and help them to find and fulfill their destiny. We give some extracts: As with Israel of old, so with the race with which we, my dear friends and fellowcitizens, are identified. The hand of Providence is unmistakably guiding this race, and causing all events to conspire to develop his purposes concerning it. There is evidently a great future before us. . . . The great work which demands all our energies, talents and sacrifices is the redemption of the race from its present condition of degradation and sin. . . . Important events are occurring which are unmistakable evidences that God is directing a train of circumstances which are to develop his purposes concerning the race. See how the eyes of the civilized world are now turned to Africa; the "grab" for territorial possessions, as an English writer terms it; the exploring expeditions that are penetrating its vast interior; the railroad projects, trading companies and, above all, the missionary adventures, penetrating to the very heart of the continent, and planting the standard of our holy religion in the strongholds of the prince of darkness. We are watching these events with special reference to God's plans concerning the race. Even those occurrences which seem to our shortsightedness to be most adverse are often best calculated to promote the desired end. "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform." It seemed a sad misfortune for Africa, when her sons and daughters were ruthlessly |