Silas Xavier Floyd

“ McKinley is not dead to this American nation. He is still joined to us by the past, and by the still more glorious anticipations of the future. Heaven has discussed the sins of America as Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, our martyred Presidents, have walked the golden streets, arm in arm. Too long have we winked at crime, lawlessness and anarchy. And we must yet learn that the highest citizen is not safe so long as the life of the lowest citizen is not protected. ”

“ The gospel is the announcement of reconciliation between God and the sinner, a message of mercy, the history of the advent of Christ, His life, miracles, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and intercession. The gospel is the Messiah’s conquering, triumphal car. There is power and magnetism about it. It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. It must be preached in its purity, in its simplicity, and with blood-earnestness. Man has been honored of God in being chosen to carry this holy message. ”

“ We should adopt the Golden Rule as an individual motto, for it will produce an era of peace and good-will among men; it will become the prophetic music of the ages. The Golden Rule will cause us to see humanity not only as it is, but humanity as it shall be. Not Lazarus, the beggar at the rich man’s gate, full of sores—a mass of corruption and putrifying sores; but Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom; humanity redeemed; humanity regenerated, reorganized, reanimated, reconstructed and relighted with heavenly glory. This motto will prepare us for the grand reunion of the human family in the last day. ”

“ John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, who got his knowledge of slavery while sojourning in the colony of Georgia, did not err when he denounced slavery as “the sum of all villainies.”
In such a school as this, Charles Thomas Walker received his early training. How different from the early training of such men as Henry Wilson, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, James A. Garfield, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and other white men who were born to poverty. Though these men were born in humble circumstances, yet they were born to freedom. ”

“ So sure as we live, America is fast getting a Jumbo on her hands. She is nestling a Vesuvius in her bosom that may remain dormant for a long period; but when the volcanic eruption breaks forth, seventy times seven streams of lava will be shot out at one time, and the main pillars that support and uphold the whole fabric of our American institutions will be undermined, uprooted, and partially, if not wholly destroyed. Chicago and New Orleans should be held in remembrance by our whole people, East, West, North and South. ”

“ Walker was one of the leading figures of the National Baptist Convention, and he is such to-day. For three years he was its Treasurer, and for many years was Vice President for Georgia. He is now Vice President for New York. He has attended every annual meeting since the beginning, without missing a single one. Not a partisan, not a factionist, not a stirrer up of strife among the brethren, not a division-maker, a man of peace, probably no man has a larger and more loyal following among the Negro Baptists of America than he has. ”

“ Old fathers, worn and weary with burdens and cares of long and useful lives, their heads whitened by the frosts of many winters, infirm and superannuated, have come up to shake hands with the century, to bid God-speed to their brethren, and, like Simeon of old, to exclaim, ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.’ Young men have come to get inspiration from a review of the work of the fathers and to return to their various fields stimulated, electrified and encouraged. ”

“ Such courage is of a higher order than an animal instinct, more difficult to maintain, and more trying to a sensitive soul. The bravery that bears misunderstanding is more radical than the bravery that returns blows or fights battles. He has repeatedly said that he has tried to make these words the motto of his life: “I am determined never to be guilty of ingratitude; never to desert a friend; never to strike back at an enemy.” I have known Dr. Walker intimately for more than twenty years. ”

“ We miss the pulpit ministration and the Christian greeting that come from the gentle throbbing of loving and affectionate hearts. We miss the Sunday school, where the little folks are singing their many beautiful songs, expressive of our dear Saviour’s life and love. In place of all this, we observe men drinking and carousing and engaged in all kinds of frivolity; we see many women and girls reading novels, but not one perusing the Bible. Give me no more Sabbaths in mid-ocean.”
The first Sunday in London, Dr. Walker visited Spurgeon’s church. ”

“ He attacked the main guard of the ministerial army and went down in his own blood before the terrible fire, the first man to give his life for American independence. He is known in history as a soldier, patriot and martyr. And from that day down to the records of yesterday, the Negro has fought, bled and died for this country, and his bones have been left to bleach on a thousand battlefields. What has the Negro done to be maligned, maliciously assailed and inhumanly persecuted as he is? ”

“ His success is not the success that makes fools admired and villains honest. It is not the success of accident, which bursts forth like a meteor and as suddenly disappears; it is not that acquired by selfishness, that is tinctured with envy, jealousy, hypocrisy, or refuses to lend a helping hand, but it has been a success that was established upon morals, worth, courage, justice and honor. ”

“ He then opens the service with a short, earnest, eloquent prayer that moves many to tears. No organ is used; the chorister stands near the pastor, and the multitude rises and sings a soul-inspiring hymn. The pastor then reads, with exposition, the Scripture lesson. He announces this morning that he will preach the annual missionary sermon. When he begins preaching, seven thousand pairs of eyes are looking steadfastly upon him. He leads the vast audience step by step as he unfolds to them the word of God. Every hearer’s heart burns within him. ”

“ Walker is a poor man. In his case, I believe that the secret lies in active Christian charity, or what might be called the magnetism of simple goodness. I need not say that Dr. Walker’s heart is as large as his brain—that love for humanity is an inwrought element of his nature. It is manifested in a kindness and regard that keep a silent record in many hearts; in a hand ever open and ready to help; in one of the kindest faces ever worn by man, the expression of which is
“A meeting of gentle lights without a name.” ”

“ The little one has become a thousand. In the entire United States there are to-day more than 1,250,000 colored Baptists. I make bold to say here and now that the progress of the Baptists in this country has been due to the earnest, faithful and simple preaching of Christ crucified. The fathers in their preaching did not preach philosophy, nor did they strive to reach the people with rhetorical strains of eloquence, but they strove to reach the people by preaching the plain, old-fashioned, simple truths of the gospel. The gospel declared in its truth and simplicity will make Baptists. ”

“ If any pious soul will accurately ascertain what it is in the character of the Man Christ Jesus, the contemplation of which fills his heart with rapture and his eyes with tears, that pious soul will know what is here meant by the expression “supreme interest in human welfare.” Most of us, alarmed at the dangers which beset our lives, distracted with cares, blinded with desires to secure our own safety, are absorbed in schemes of personal advantage. ”

“ But for such, it never would have been discovered that no individual can be safe in welfare while any other individual is not.
In summing up the life story of Dr. Walker, I ask myself what it is that has given this man of God such a place in the affection, regard and sincere esteem of those who know and love and honor him. Is it mere intellectual ability? Great as is his intellectual strength, there are many men in his same calling of greater intellect but they are not known and loved as he is. Is it official station? He holds no office except that of an humble minister of the gospel. ”

“ The preacher concluded with a strong invocation, and declared that after all his journeyings over oceans and seas, there was no sailing like sailing with Jesus, and he had come back home with sevenfold more of the spirit of the Saviour to stir up the people of the city with the truth of the Gospel. We all need more power and less form; more of the power of Charles Spurgeon, whose power and influence and magnetism come from communing with God. ”

“ Spurgeon’s Tabernacle is the greatest church on earth, and its pastor is undoubtedly the grandest preacher in the universe. Eternity alone can tell the good this man of God is doing. Seven thousand people hear him twice on each Lord’s Day. He has a Baptist College, perfect in its every appointment, a missionary society, a tract society, a place for the poor, an orphan home, a mission station conducted by the young men of his congregation, a printing press, and everything else in the line of an active, live and progressive church. Here the ‘rich and the poor meet together ”

“ I appear in behalf of a people born in tribulation and disciplined in the hard school of slavery; opposed and persecuted, as it has been, by some of the brightest minds that ever spoke or wielded a pen, and yet defended by some of the ablest, purest and noblest men and women the earth has ever known ”

“ Emancipated without a dollar, without education, without friends and without competent leaders, like Hagar and Ishmael, we were turned out to die. But despite all obstacles, the Negro in Georgia has to-day $10,000,000 worth of property and has proven himself worthy of citizenship. We have thousands of children in our public schools. Our men will be found in the law, in the practice of medicine, in legislative halls, among teachers and professors, on the list of authors, skilled musicians, journalists, theologians and business men. God has wrought wonderfully among us. ”

“ They are to be neither babied nor bullied; neither petted nor pampered; they ought only to expect and demand simple justice; on their behalf these great leaders demand nothing more, and they will be satisfied with nothing less. To deny them simple justice would be an unspeakable reproach to the dominant race in America. Dr. Walker’s greatest days as preacher and pastor are still in the future. That he and his race may worthily perform their whole duty, and grandly attain their high destiny is the sincere desire of every true man, earnest patriot, and devout Christian. ”

“ It is when he begins to speak that the latent powers of the man are at once apparent to the close student of human nature and the practiced observer of men. When seated, he is like a sea at rest, calm and undisturbed; when on his feet, he is like the sea in action, or like some dictator suddenly sent from another world to correct the faults and foibles of this world. ”

“ The 15th amendment to the Constitution of the United States, under which the colored man acquired the right to vote, was placed there after the nation had been baptized in blood, and it will require a second baptism of blood to remove it. Third, the colored man’s right to citizenship cannot be denied on any ground—human or divine. Citizenship is due the Negro as a reward for his meritorious service on the battlefield. As early as 1770, Crispus Attucks, during the Boston massacre, led in the bloody drama which opened up a new and thrilling chapter in American history. ”