A. H. Newton

“ The Gospel and the Word are preached to you because you dwell in His secret place; thus you are abiding under the shadow of the Almighty, stay with Him, fight on through the conflict, the battle may be fierce, but you shall win. You see the triumph from afar, your faith is your power. God the All-Glorious One is with you, for remember that when star will shine no more unto star, and planet cease to revolve around planet, when flowers fade to bloom no more, the Word of our God endureth forever. ”

“ As God’s children, we cannot mix with the children of this world. We cannot allow the amusements of this world and its allurements to lead us away from God and His Kingdom. We are in the world, but not of it. We are but pilgrims, passing through, on the way to the country of God, but all that we are and have are in this world; just as all the herbs were thrown into the pot, but there is also poison there. Is there any pleasure, without its tinge of pain? Is there any hope without the presence of a cloud? Is there any expectation without some kind of a disappointment? But Christ is our Elisha. ”

“ You have come from your asylum to this tabernacle that you may pay tribute to this ascension, the ascension day of the King of Kings. As Christ climbed the rugged hill of Calvary that He might set the captives free so we have climbed, as weary pilgrims, the holy mount of privilege that we might view the landscape o’er of our liberty on this and that side of Jordan. Let us raise our banners and wield our swords for the defense of our country, and our helpless women and children. Let us be valiant soldiers not only of our own teaching as knights, but also of the Cross of Jesus Christ. ”

“ The price of human liberty can never be estimated. This is especially true of those who knew what slavery meant. And the Colored Race has an endless debt to pay their White friends who bought their liberty with their own blood. While it is true that the White people brought our forefathers here and sold them into slavery, which of course they had no right to do, this does not diminish the price which this same race had to pay in order to buy us out of the slavery into which they had sold us. ”

“ His blood is all-availing with God and God is the ruler of the universe. It is for Christ’s sake that God hears and answers our prayers. It is for Christ’s sake that He saves our souls. It is for Christ’s sake that He will make us kings and priests to rule and reign with Him forever. It is for Christ’s sake that He has prepared for us the Canaan that lies beyond the Jordan of Death and it is for Christ’s sake that He is with us today. ”

“ Colonel Wooster came also and saw us off. We left many friends, some of them with tears in their eyes. They had become very dear to us. We had shared together the hardships of camp-life and of the battlefield. Human suffering makes men very near akin. As we glided swiftly down the James River, for a while we could hear their cheers and when sound was out of touch, we could see their salutes of hats and handkerchiefs. We enjoyed the day as soldiers on board the vessel. I was astonished at the behavior of the soldiers. ”

“ Newton has sought a much grander foundation, that of serving his fellowman. He is, therefore, ending his life career, not in sullen disappointment and poverty, not in the gloated greed of one dying rich, but with the conviction that he has done his work well and fought a good fight and that there remains for him an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away. The doctor has grown old gracefully. He is active in his labors, cheerful in his disposition, buoyant in his hopes, and confident in his faith. ”

“ He is still present, although not in the visible cloud, to shade us and give us light, but He is present in and through Jesus Christ who dwells in our midst. He will look after you, mothers and sisters, who with tenderness and care will lead our girls and young women away from the dens of vice and sin, from brothels of debauchery and licentiousness, into the paths of virtue and holiness. You will teach them those lessons of dignity and character, and teach them the spirit and works of our blessed religion, which will bring them unto God and make them wise unto salvation. ”

“ I was born under the regime of slavery, a free child, my mother being a free woman. My childhood was the ordinary child life, of the colored children of the South. As a mere child, I looked out upon the world as beautiful and felt that all men and women were good and kind. ”

“ I need not tell of the bawdy houses, the gambling dens and the saloons, thickly scattered through the sections of the city where the Colored people live. It is enough to damn them all. I need not tell of the growing criminal class among the Negroes in the cities and of the recruits that flow in from the South every year. I need not speak of the White and the Black Slave traffic among the young girls of both races. The cities are the death centers of the Negro race, unless there is something radically done to overtake these conditions. ”

“ These old veterans of glory are not here to shake our hands; they have risen from the bloody battlefield of earth to the sun lit hills of eternity and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Some that I met two years ago are not here tonight to shake our hands, to be with us in this farewell exercise, where are they? ”

“ I longed for the equipment that comes from a thorough education and realized that if in some way I did not educate myself, I could never amount to much. So it is hard for me at my time of life although a closer student than ever, to understand or to be in sympathy with any preacher who in his ignorance, is satisfied to remain so. There is something sadly lacking in such a man and I greatly fear those qualities without which no man is either acceptable to God or to the church, as a minister of the Gospel. ”

“ How true this is with us today. Even in our holiest exercises, such as prayer, praise, worship, sin is found lurking in our aspirations after God. Selfishness enters our prayers, selfishness frequently inspires our holiest hopes, selfishness poisons our love, doubt weakens our faith, and so we find in our religion and its life, the element of sin. This is the death in the pot.
So the whole Bible deals with the problem of sin. The plan of salvation is simply the plan for removing sin from within and from without us. The mission of Christ is to save the sinner from his sins. ”

“ How grand is the truth of God, when we find it such a rock of refuge in times of trouble; I was thus greatly consoled and went to bed looking up at the shining stars, as if they were so many angels, sent by God, to guard me.
There was quite an excitement on board when it was whispered about that the officers had covenanted together to take the soldiers on board, to Cuba, and sell them as slaves. ”

“ The dead and the dying were strewn over the battlefield for five miles. Drum Major John D. Cowes, of New Haven, with his corps, were busy carrying the wounded off the battlefield. I said to myself, war is a terrible way to adjust differences, when it might be done by the implements of peace. But I remembered that it is much easier to wield the sword than to use the pen; much easier to give a command which will send hundreds to their death, than to be a master of assemblies and speak the word which gives peace and happiness to millions. ”

“ Like David, we have cried from the bottom of our hearts, How long, O Lord, How long shall the wicked reign? Save thy people, bless thine inheritance, feed and lift them up for ever. You have proven your loyalty to the church at large, your efficiency in the church here, I commend your integrity, your faithfulness. ”

“ So I would have you understand that the Bible itself in its entirety, is the Word of Christ, in the text, Christ is the light and the glory of every page of its history, prophecy, precept, promise, poetry, philosophy and practice. Human reason, effort and energy are too weak to have reached Heaven and brought down to us the riches of the Word of God. No man hath come down from Heaven to tell us of the wonders of the spiritual life, but the man, Christ Jesus. ”

“ The doings of God are frequently through nature, sometimes above nature, as in the case of turning the water of the river into blood, but we are to be able to see that it is God’s hand that moves and God’s voice that speaks. If a man knows not God he will always attribute the doings of God in his life to some other cause or causes; but if he know God, he thus becomes better acquainted with God. So in the case of Moses, God’s promise was sufficient to allow him and the Jewish people to accomplish results which were replete with honor and glory. ”

“ His word is strength, because Christ dwells in His word, and if His word dwells in you, you will have the strength of Christ in you. See what Christ is, He is life and immortality, He gives repentance and remission of sins, He is the bread that cometh down from Heaven, His blood cleanseth from all sin, He saves, and He does all these things in and through His word. ”

“ Christ opened the gate of righteousness and the way that leads to life. This cost Him his own life, the price of it was not only the suffering and labors of life, but the pangs of the physical, and the eternal pains of the spiritual, death; for you must know that Christ tasted the death for every man. We can have no conception of what death meant to Him and yet He went down to death willingly for you and for me. What are we doing that we may become human saviours of men, that we too may suffer and labor for others, that we may die that through our death others may live? ”

“ I was deeply impressed with the importance of making my life a means of serving God in the uplifting of my people. I was convinced even then that it does not follow that because our skins are dark and that we are identified with the Negro race that there is no chance for us to become potent factors in the uplifting of humanity and especially my own people; that a man should decide to do right and go ahead and God would certainly care for him all his days and give him the reward of all his labors. ”

“ They are real Christians as I was, having all the ordinary experience of the Christian, but not having made any outward profession. We are therefore unable to know who are the children of God, for certainly there are believers outside of the church. Our judgment therefore must always be a charitable one. Yet I do not want the impression to be made that I, in any sense, approve of believers remaining outside of the church. An outward profession of faith in our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, is an open badge of our religion which men can see. ”

“ They have forgotten that they came not to be ministered unto, but to minister; not to be served with easy and lucrative positions, but to serve in any sphere however humble. Money has been spent in vast sums for the procuring of high positions; life has been wasted in a selfish attempt to save it; the Church has become corrupted and made sinful, thereby driving the Holy Spirit away from its work and presence. The Church today is more or less disgraced [Pg 152] by such political methods. It stands depleted of much of its power. It is following men instead of God, instead of the Holy Spirit. ”

“ The rebel lines were fortified, but under our noble leaders, we marched on to certain victory and the old Twenty-ninth was ready for any fray. The rising sun would seem to say to us, after he had broken through the darkness and the clouds, “Cheer up boys, don’t be despondent, but vigilant, strong, courageous, protecting the flag, the country, women and children, rights and liberty, and all things will come out right.” Thus it will be seen, how often God speaks to us through nature, how often we are cheered and helped by a bright day. How dependent we are upon our surroundings, for support. ”

“ A temptation is a trial. All temptations are not evil. There are also temptations that lead us to noble action. God is not tempted of evil, neither does He tempt to evil, but He does tempt us to the good, and indeed, He permits Satan to ply us with temptations, and we by overcoming these temptations may grow strong and pure.
Christ, the sinless man, was in the world, full of temptations, but He overcame them. His temptations were genuine, they were sinful, they would have proven destructive, but He overcame them and He overcame them without sin. ”

“ My people must live. They must have money to live. They should get this money honestly, and this means by work. But suppose that the Colored people of the cities, both North and South, fail in getting their portion of the work that is to be done, how are they going to live? That is the question. And we are sure of this conclusion, that if a man does not earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, which is the Divinely appointed way to earn it, that he will be forced to earn it in some dishonorable manner. ”