Various

“ Many of you know how honestly and earnestly I contend that in many respects this serf population that is sweeping in upon our Western border is a most undesirable element, morally, socially and politically. But by as much as they are, in the mass, vile and degraded, the worst sort of stuff out of which to make American citizens, by so much the more are we bound not to outdo them in violence that would dishonor a savage, and in intolerance and prejudice that is worse than heathenish. ”

“ Whatever the shading of their creed, we do care that they should be sincere in their love to God, close in their following of Christ, and honest in all their dealings with their fellow-men. We do care that their moral training shall be such that their religion shall mean not emotion merely, but character; not noise and bodily exercise, which profiteth little, but practical godliness, which leads one to earn an honest living for himself and his household, and suffers the neighbor’s chickens unmolested to roost low ”

“ Admit, now, all that may be said of the utter unfitness of the great majority of them to exercise this privilege of freemen. Yet since, beyond recall, they have the right, and in some way must be counted as a very important factor in the forces that are to shape our destiny, we can no more afford to let them remain in ignorance, than we can afford to let the same class grow up in ignorance and vice among us, with so little sense of their responsibilities, and with so little self-respect as citizens, that they can be bought like cattle by the highest bidder. ”

“ For the transmuting of character the mission of Christ was a witness to the universe that the last might be first, and that the lowest might be lifted to the highest position of honor and glory, as the result of the Divine condescension, the deep down-reaching love of the Son of God. ”

“ And let us never forget that a great, civilized and Christian State is made and measured, not by its physical resources merely, not by its accumulated material wealth, but chiefly by the mental and moral stature of its inhabitants. The best products and the richest resources of any State are in its crop of men. ”

“ When I returned to the church, after an absence of more than five months, the people greeted me with enthusiasm, and said to me, “You find us a united people. God has kept us together during this sad summer. We are ready for work. When will the revival begin?” I told them we should begin special meetings with the “Week of Prayer;” but the time for earnest labor was already at hand to prepare the people for the work of grace, which I felt sure God had in store for us. Our prayer meetings were largely attended, and I could see that the Church were longing and praying for a glorious revival. ”

“ The cross worn upon the neck, or perched upon the steeple-tops, or set up at every crossing, is at best a mocking reminder of our impiety; if ever so loudly we profess to be saints, and yet live as though our religion were a polite theory with which to compliment our Maker, and to befool our fellow men, and not a thing of practical worth, to help one stand fire in the conflicts of temptation and in the furnace of affliction. Such a genuine religion, warranted to keep in any climate, is wanted everywhere alike; in the East and the West, the North and the South country. ”

“ Our great aim will be to show how this glorious gospel and this blessed Jesus will help every needy heart to bear all its burdens; how every soul may be freed from the bondage of sin, and filled with love, meekness, temperance, patience, purity, righteousness, and joy, ‘which the world knows not, neither can give nor take away.’ ”

“ The unevangelized region of Africa to which I would call your earnest attention, and invite you to accept as a field for missionary labors (to be conducted with all energy in the Spirit—very judiciously fixing your positions for holding forth the word of Life so as to command the whole area, and diffuse throughout it the light of the Gospel—you and a great multitude of true believers continually standing on the watch-tower of the church and fervently praying, “Thy kingdom come!”) ”

“ It was my good fortune on Sunday, January 12th, to participate in the exercises of a concert, conducted in accordance with this exceedingly well arranged programme, in the Sunday-school of the Congregational church at Stamford, Conn., Rev. G. B. Willcox, D. D., pastor. It was a glad day in that, to me, the most attractive of all New England villages. If any other town in the East can furnish a roll of better men, women and children than those who adorn the beautiful Christian homes of Stamford, then I want to go there and attend a Jubilee Concert exercise. ”

“ This is a great curse to Africa. No evil could be perpetrated among these people more injurious to them than the selling of rum. Really, many of them seem to think that rum is the staff of life, and in order to exist they must have it. This idea has been brought to them through the medium of a civilized people, whose highest aim should be to wipe this evil practice out of existence. Mr. Jackson endeavored to impress upon their minds as clearly as possible the great sin of drinking rum, and I am sure that many were convinced of it.
The church is progressing both in interest and in strength. ”

“ Nowhere is a mere profession of godliness of much account, if virtues tried and true are not the proofs of an intelligent love and a sincere devotion. No creed can be accepted as a substitute for character. ”

“ A few extra meetings have been held; but, for the most part, affairs have gone on as usual, with no interruption of school work; and but for the greater quiet and improved order and discipline of the school, and increasing fidelity to duty, an observer would not know how thorough a work was going forward. Our reliance has been mainly upon the truth, earnestly and plainly presented, rather than upon any unusual measures, and our aim to reach the conscience, and thus secure an intelligent and thorough submission to the claims of God. ”

“ Who doubts that such a population might be sustained on the fat valleys of the interior and the plantations of the south country, even though the waste places of the wilderness were left out of the account as utterly unfit for the dwelling-places of men? And, as though this vast heritage of ours were not enough for a free and industrious people, God has over many portions of the land practically doubled its area ”

“ But its highest aim and ours is such a spiritual elevation of the colored people as shall carry all the most salutary influences into their social, political and domestic life. Our honest and intelligent aim is to lift them out of their degradation by bringing them to Christ. Our work among them is with no sectarian, as it is with no partisan political purpose. We propose to help make them intelligent and worthy Christian people. There our responsibility ceases. As to parties and sects, they must learn wisely to choose for themselves. ”

“ Nor are political institutions, however desirable, of much practical worth, except as they are worked by men of moral principle, not for the selfish advantage of the few, but for the protection and enriching of all.
In considering the claims of the American Missionary Association to our prayerful interest and our liberal benefactions, these preliminary thoughts have practical force as applied to moral science; for it is distinctively the aim of this Association to lift society as a whole by lifting at the lower stratum. ”

“ As we sung, I, like the heathen, could but exclaim praise to God in the highest. Surely Africa will be redeemed from the curse of ignorance and sin, and her sons and daughters learn to bow in reverence to the true and living God. ”

“ I honor by following a Divine example when I use this passage from Hebrew [71] history as marvellously suggestive of our broader heritage and of our responsibilities as a people coming into fuller possession of a goodly land; in the mountains and valleys of the Atlantic and Pacific seaboard; in the vast plains of the interior; in the springs and great river sources of the lake region; in the wide reaches of wilderness, comparatively worthless but for their exhaustless resources of mineral wealth; and last, but not least, in the sunny south country. ”

“ The lofty and the lowly, the honored and the despised, the respectable and the degraded, we and everybody, need it. It is the only kind worth propagating. For it, and it alone, of all the world’s religions, has vital force and saving power enfolded in every root-fibre of doctrine, and in every seed-germ of truth. ”

“ The proposed mission lies in tropical Africa, and is desolated by the slave trade. It thus appeals to our deepest sympathies as the life-long opponents of slavery, and to the millions from whom we shall select the missionaries who were themselves its victims.
In view of these facts, we press our appeal on the hearts of our friends. Let us go forward in the work so well begun, and let us enter the new fields opened to us in the providence of God. ”

“ The more debased, indolent and ignorant they are, the greater the danger to our free institutions, and the stronger the motive for seeking to elevate, educate and save them. They constitute more than one-tenth of our population. If directly or [74] indirectly we were accessory to the placing of so dangerous a weapon in their hands—a weapon, as respects their own interests, liable to kick back—we are bound to help fit them so to exercise the right that they shall not be the ignorant tools of corrupt and crafty men in either party as ignorant and unprincipled as themselves. ”

“ Let us be intelligent enough to know, and candid enough to confess, that in estimating their possibilities of social, industrial and moral development, we have taken too much account of the exceptional cases in which they have made trouble, and not enough of the many tribes that, for long years, have lived in peace, grown thrifty, maintained self-control, cared for the education of their children, and honored their profession of religion. ”

“ Mexico, with its mountains streaked with silver, has but few attractions as the family residence of a man who cares to live out more than half his days, or who esteems it no luxury to live among an ignorant, bigoted and revengeful people. California to-day, with all its discovered treasures, could not be so safe or so attractive a [72] place of residence as it was before those discoveries, but for the better class of enterprising, intelligent, honest, law-abiding citizens, who have come into possession of that land. ”

“ If everywhere, for a single generation, such a populace could have and hold possession of this planet, the old alien orb would shine so that the shortest-sighted angel could see it without a telescope, and the inhabitants of other worlds might intelligently covet it as a dwelling-place for the society which it would afford. But wealth without good society is worthless. ”

“ But the work of the Association among the Aborigines of the wilderness is as nothing to their more important mission, and their more signal success among the colored people of the south country. Here is a population vastly more numerous and more dangerous if left in ignorance; for, wisely or unwisely, they have been invested with the right, and in some places they freely exercise the power to vote. ”

“ We had our interpreter to dine with them, so that we might be able to converse with them on the meaning of Christmas day and how they should celebrate it.
We are greatly encouraged to go forward in the work. It is true that it is a hard and tedious one, but when we lean on Jesus it is made light. You would, perhaps, be pleased to know of some of our encouragements. There is an unusual amount of interest manifested on the part of the natives in religion. They take hold of the truths imparted to them as if their souls were thirsty for the living bread of heaven. ”

“ The pastor of the leading Methodist church here gave me the names of several members of his church who would be glad to have me hold mothers’ meetings in their houses, which was a great help in my work, as it did much to remove the suspicion with which they have regarded me. Some who are not professed Christians have invited me to their houses, saying they hope by so doing they may see the way more clearly. Many colored people look upon the epidemic of the past season as a judgment from God on account of their sins, and try to be more religious lest a worse evil befall them. ”

“ It is absurd to suppose that ignorant and brutal savages should be so much better than civilized men that there should not be found in every tribe, as there are with us in every community, a dangerous class, selfish enough to plunder and murder those who have never wronged them, and desperate enough to take any risk and to commit any crime. ”

“ He seems to us admirably adapted to the place as our “man of affairs,” competent at the same time to fill a gap in school as teacher when needed, and while not a preacher in any sense of the word, yet of such honest purpose to do good that he will be no less a missionary for that. ”

“ Our industrial schools suffer for want of funds. The colored students are so poor that unless aid can in small amounts be furnished them, either by facilities for work or by help in money, many of them must abandon the effort for an education. These items as to school and church work are but samples of what come to us from all parts of the field. But there are other calls of special importance. No State in the South is growing more rapidly than Texas. ”