T. G. Steward

“ In one she said: "I never close my eyes at night, without looking over you all, and committing you all to God's care; and I do pray God to keep you all; so that when we are all done with the cares of this life, we shall be a family united around the throne—children, grandchildren, and all; and we will make the heavens ring with one eternal song of praise."
"Follow after the meek and lowly Jesus; and if you can't make anything of the old people, try the children; sow the seeds of Divine Truth among them as much as you can; leave no measure untried, no place neglected, as far as in you lies. ”

“ At no time did human nature at Montauk appear to better advantage than in its silent, sympathetic reception of the Twenty-fourth Infantry.
Of these shattered heroes General Miles had but recently spoken in words well worthy his lofty position and noble manhood as "a regiment of colored troops, who, having shared equally in the heroism, as well as the sacrifices, is now voluntarily engaged in nursing yellow fever patients and burying the dead." These men came up to Montauk from great tribulations which should have washed their robes to a resplendent whiteness in the eyes of the whole people. ”

“ It will introduce us to its halls of pleasure and its walks of recreation, but with an eye fixed on the glory of the eternal world, the glories of this must fade and become as nothing. Its gold becomes as dross and its pleasures less than the morning dew.
We have another dreaded foe, the Arch Fiend himself; who comes to us with all his power and all his rage. We have not only to contend with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers, who will employ every means at their command to retard our progress. ”

“ Finally, in the Spanish War, just closed, the Negro soldier made the nation again bear witness not alone to his undaunted bravery, but also to his conspicuous capacity to command. Out of this abundant and conclusive array of incontestable facts, frankly, is there anything left to the arbitrary formula that Negroes cannot command, but a string of ipse dixits hung on a very old, but still decidedly robust prejudice? There is no escape from the conclusion that as a matter of fact, with opportunity, Negroes differ in no wise from other men in capacity to exercise military command. ”

“ Then repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, are the very groundwork of religion; and are more than all burnt offerings. For He taketh no delight in sacrifices and offerings, but a contrite heart is always acceptable with Him.
What is repentance but a sorrow for sin, and the forsaking of sin for our love to God. Love to God, because He first loved us. God loves us. He wills our salvation; and draws us to Him by the cords of love. We feel a sorrow in our hearts; a weariness of sin, a dread of coming vengeance ”

“ The nation, which had received them into the service half-heartedly, and out of necessity, was that day made to witness a monotony of gallantry and heroism that compelled everywhere awe and admiration. Black soldiers, and led by black officers as well as white, assigned a task hopeless and impossible at the start, had plunged into that withering storm of shot and shell, poured fourth by artillery and infantry, charging over a field strewn with obstacles, and in madness of bravery had more than once thrown the thin head of their column to the very edge of the guns. ”

“ His limbs, hands and feet are perfect; of his body there is no part lacking; and under the fostering care, and tender nursing of his mother, the rigid but wholesome discipline of the father, he must grow to perfect manhood,—and who can fix the time when the child ceases and when the man begins. Or, see the branch in the vine; as soon as it shoots its buds out of the vine, it is a branch in the vine, and never ceases to be such until cut off. The grain of mustard seed cast into the ground becomes a tree; but who can tell when it ceases to be a plant. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. ”

“ The nation was, however, led into war simply to liberate Cuba from the iniquitous and cruel yoke of Spain, and to save thousands of impoverished Cubans from death by starvation. Great care was taken not to recognize the Cuban government in any form, and it seemed to be understood that we were to do the fighting both with our navy and our army, the Cubans being invited to co-operate with us, rather than that we should co-operate with them. We were to be the liberators and saviors of a people crushed to the very gates of death. ”

“ Lord, thou preservest man and beast; how excellent is thy loving kindness, O God; therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wing; they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures." I felt filled with that sweet peace that flows as a river, and enters in and fills the soul with glory and with God. ”

“ For their distinguished service both in the field and in the hospital, the colored ladies of New York honored themselves in presenting the regiment the beautiful stand of colors already mentioned. As these fever-worn veterans arrived at Montauk they presented a spectacle well fitted to move strong men to tears. In solemn silence they marched from on board the transport Nueces, which had brought them from Cuba, and noiselessly they dragged their weary forms over the sandy roads and up the hill to the distant "detention camp." ”

“ It is a mistaken idea that we can be Christians and not sanctified Christians; and, as God has use for us in the world, it is very plain that He is not only able to keep us, but He will keep us, until He has finished all His righteous will concerning us; until everything is done that we can do; until we have withstood temptation at every point even as our Saviour did; until the last battle is fought and the victory won! Oh! I wish that every Christian would feel that he is a sanctified Christian, and go to work as such. ”

“ The history made by the American Negro has been so filled with suffering that we have overlooked the active side. The world has heard so much of the horrors of the "Middle Passage"; the awful sufferings of the slave; the barbarous outrages that have been perpetrated upon ex-slaves; the inhuman and senseless prejudices that meet colored Americans almost everywhere on their native soil; that it has come to look upon this recital as the whole of the story. ”

“ He has let me live to see all my children converted and in the church! My prayers are answered. Thank God! The whole family is in the ark; what a happy woman I am!" It was my privilege to visit her during several severe spells of sickness. I have the first time yet to hear her murmur or complain; but I have often heard her say: "These light afflictions which are but for a moment, are working for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." "My work is patience" was a familiar word with her in affliction. ”

“ The world seemed suddenly to have expanded its wings from East to West, only to bear the fortunate Spanish Empire to the most dizzy heights of wealth and power. The most accomplished generals, the most disciplined and daring infantry the world has ever known, the best equipped and most extensive navy, royal and mercantile, of the age, were at the absolute command of the sovereign. Such was Spain. ”

“ This formula had of course to ignore an entire epoch of history. It could take no account of that lurid program wrought in the Antilles a century ago—a rising mob of rebel slaves, transformed into an invincible army of tumultuous blacks, under the guidance of the immortal Toussaint, overcoming the trained armies of three Continental powers, Spain, England and France, and audaciously projecting a black republic into the family of nations, a program at once a marvel and a terror to the civilized world. ”

“ At the head of the domestic circle, with my uncle, she appeared to have a clear and high notion of home economy. Her house was a house of order, pleasure, books, the Bible, religion, and prayer. Every member of her family was taught that noble and divine idea of liberty in love. The erring were made to feel the weight of guilt keenly, and the force of love [63] deeply. The well disposed were not flattered to ruin, but urged to grace. She reared her children for heaven and God. If any of them should fail to enjoy the end of her life in their behalf, she will still have her reward. ”

“ The whole continent of South America has thrown off her yoke, though still retaining her language, and our troops now embarked from Port Tampa are destined to wrest from her the two only remaining colonies subject to her sway in the Western World,—Cuba and Porto Rico. With all her losses hitherto, Spain has not learned wisdom. Antagonistic to truth and liberty, she seems to sit in the shadow of death, hugging the delusions that have betrayed her, while all other people of earth are pressing onward toward light and liberty. ”

“ This God, O Christian, is thy God. He that spreadeth out the heavens as a curtain; who keepeth the stars in their courses; who causes the sun to show forth his light at morning, and the moon at evening. He that keeps all nature in its proper course year after year for so many ages, will He not keep thee through thy life's short day and bring thee to heaven at last? ”

“ Do you think I will make a soldier? It is one thing to "make a soldier," another thing to have men think so. The question of fact was settled a century ago; the question of opinion is still unsettled. The Negro soldier, hero of five hundred battlefields, with medals and honors resting upon his breast, with the endorsement of the highest military authority of the nation, with Port Hudson, El Caney and San Juan behind him, is still expected by too many to stand and await the verdict of thought, from persons who never did "think" he would make a soldier, and who never will think so. ”

“ Then again my soul replied, I will fear no evil; in God alone will I put my trust. When I found I had to wait awhile longer, I thought I would look around on this side of Jordan, for I had been so anxious to get home to my Father's House, and so busy looking beyond, that I had not noticed anything on this side so much; and in the glory of light that beamed across the river, I had not noticed the poisonous flowers that spread their baneful influence over all the land, or the muddy, filthy pools, sending up their miasmatic odors, poisoning the air ”

“ To write the history of the Negro race within that part of the western world known as the United States of America would be a task to which one might devote a life time and still fail in its satisfactory accomplishment. The difficulties lying in the way of collecting and unifying the material are very great; and that of detecting the inner life of the people much greater. Facts and dates are to history what color and proportion are to the painting. Employed by genius, color and form combine in a language that speaks to the soul, giving pleasure and instruction to the beholder ”

“ I think I shall see Moses and Elijah, from the fact that they were seen with my Saviour on the Mount of Transfiguration; and God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And I think I shall see Abraham, because Christ himself says the rich man saw him with Lazarus in his bosom. And I shall see Israel, for the Revelator tells me that he saw one hundred and forty and four thousand of the children there. I shall see Solomon and David, and Samuel and Paul, and Peter, and so many others that I cannot now name, all of the one hundred and forty and four thousand of the tribes of Israel. ”

“ Thousands went to Hayti and to Canada, but the bulk preferred to remain here. They liked America, and had become so thoroughly in love with the doctrines of the Republic, so imbued with the pride of the nation's history, so inspired with hope in the nation's future, that they resolved to live and die on her soil. When the troublous times of 1860 came and white men were fleeing to Canada, colored men remained at their posts. They were ready to stand by the old flag and to take up arms for the Union, trusting that before the close of the strife the flag might have to them a new meaning. ”

“ We must conquer them all through the blood of Christ and the sign of the Cross! In this alone can we conquer all our foes, this alone can help us to walk pleasantly in the valley of humiliation. It is only with the Cross of Christ on our shoulders and the love of God shed abroad in our hearts that we can walk the heavenly road.
But with this love we can say always: "Father, Thy will be done." In sickness or health, adversity or prosperity, in afflictions and all trials we can possess [124] our souls in patience. ”

“ This short war has done so much for America at home and abroad that we must take every soldier to our warmest affection and send him back to peaceful pursuits on the conviction that there is nothing higher in our American life than to have the privilege to cheer and gladden the marine and the soldier that have left to America her brightest and best page of a great history. ”

“ Then it surely follows, we cannot believe without being justified; and we cannot be justified without being sanctified. "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ," and this peace we can only have by being one in Christ and abiding in Him. It is a peace the world cannot give nor take away; a peace that subdues all evil passions, a peace that keeps us patient and cheerful under difficulties; that keeps us humble and truthful under trials and temptations. This is the grace that must prevail in a distressing hour ”

“ To secure such discipline, and at the same time supply the people with the steady enthusiasm necessary to support a war from century to century, all the terrors and all the glories that could be derived from religion were employed. The church and the state, the prince and the priest, became as one, and loyalty and religion, devotion to the standard and to the cross, were but different names for the same principles and actions. Hence Spain emerged to greatness without the least dream of liberty of either person, conscience or thought. ”

“ In the church she was for the last twenty-five years of her life an abiding and faithful Christian. I have never met with any one who had clearer views of the life and work of faith. Some of the most comfortable, consoling, and impressive conversations I have ever had with Christians, ministers not excepted, have been with her. Her experience was rich, because she had cherished it as from God. The latter part of her life was attended with great suffering, yet she would not complain, but was made perfect through suffering and allowing patience to have its perfect work. ”

“ Beautiful broad roads wind their way to all parts of the ground, along which are placed large tablets recording the events of those dreadful days in the autumn of 1863, when Americans faced Americans in bloody, determined strife. Monuments, judiciously placed, speak with a mute eloquence to the passer-by and tell of the valor displayed by some regiment or battery, or point to the spot where some lofty hero gave up his life. ”

“ When the Revolutionary War had closed the brave black soldier who had fought to give to the world a new flag whose every star should be a star of hope to the oppressed, and whose trinity of colors should symbolize Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, found his race, and in some instances himself personally, encased in a cruel and stubborn slavery. For the soldier himself special provision had been made in both Northern and Southern colonies, but it was not always hearty or effective. ”

“ Headquarters, band and the remainder of the First and Tenth U.S. Cavalry were off at 6 A.M. The road was alive with troops (C, D, F, G,) colonels and privates alike lugging their rations and bedding beneath that ever watchful tropical sun, feeling as though they would wilt at every step, the undergrowth being so thick and tall that scarcely any breeze could get to you.
On emerging from this thicket, through which we had been marching for several hours, the Sampson fleet could be heard firing on the Spanish batteries on shore. ”

“ Are we destined to see the African element of America's population blend with the Euro-American element and be lost in a common people? Will the colored American leave this home in which as a race he has been born and reared to manhood, and find his stage of action somewhere else on God's earth? Will he remain here as a separate and subordinate people perpetuating the conditions of to-day only that they may become [pg 15] more humiliating and exasperating? Or is there to arise a war of races in which the blacks are to be exterminated? ”

“ But it was in Hayti that the unmixed Negro rose to the full dignity of a modern soldier, creating and leading armies, conducting and carrying on war, treating with enemies and receiving surrenders, complying fully with the rules of civilized warfare, and evolving finally a Toussaint, whose military genius his most bitter enemies were compelled to recognize—Toussaint, who to the high qualities of the soldier added also the higher qualities of statesmanship. ”