Various

“ He loves us all the time, gives us our daily bread, our clothes, and all we have. He gave His only begotten Son to the world to die for us. If we hate Him, He does not hate us, but loves us still. There was once a father in China who loved his son like the precious diamond. His son did all things to dishonor his father, but his father loved him still, and would not change his love. ”

“ We cannot live near Jesus without much prayer; but we must watch as well as pray. We have many enemies that we must watch. Our own hearts lead us away from Jesus. Jesus says: “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee, or if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out.” This means that we should part with anything, no matter how dear, if it makes us sin. We must watch our thoughts; if we know they do not please Jesus, we must put them from us. We must love only good things, and delight only in what we can have with our heart full of love to Jesus. ”

“ If we are true Christians, we desire more than anything else to follow Jesus. We mean to love Him always, to work for Him always, and to turn from everything that is wrong. But how many times we do not do things we mean to do, and how many times we do things that make us sorry: and we go to Jesus and we ask Him to forgive us. Our spirit is willing. In our heart, our very soul, we love Jesus, but the flesh is weak. The flesh is our sinful self, the old wicked heart, anything in this life that makes us do wrong. Sometimes we want to speak good words for Jesus. ”

“ Is it not time for the good common sense—we say nothing of the humanity—of the American people to declare that this shall be done now; that the rights of these people shall be wisely and righteously adjusted to both our and their highest interests? ”

“ As to religion, everything is most encouraging. We attended a revival meeting in a neighboring church, which was conducted with great decorum and genuine feeling, entirely different from the wild hurly-burly of war times. The students of the Institute are carefully trained in religious truths, and it is seldom that a graduate goes out who is not a sincere Christian. The spirit of the anniversary exercises was that of a deep, but unostentatious piety. The same influence is exerted among the Indians. ”

“ I believe the time has come when we should make every necessary preparation to carry out the original purpose of the Congo Mission to place a steamer on the Congo River, where we can sail north-eastward into the heart of Africa for many hundred miles uninterruptedly, and bring the glad tidings of the everlasting Gospel to thousands of human beings who are ignorant of the way of life and immortality. ”

“ Man is so far a chameleon that he takes his color largely from his habitat, and the observant traveler through the South is slow to believe that much has been, or can be, done for the culture of the negro so long as he vegetates, rather than lives, in the miserable shanties, devoid alike of beauty and comfort, about which flocks of children like so many crows, or scarecrows, are roosting. From such homes our pupils come, and back to such they return. ”

“ This going back and forth makes one realize that this is all one country, with one language, with one history, with one Christian religion, with one interblended destiny; that the comfort of the whole body must depend upon the welfare of every member; and that so our common patriotism requires the uplifting of these lowly poor. ”

“ All savages strut in paint, feathers, and skins, intended to set off their charms of person, long before either decency or comfort suggests clothing; and among the colored girls of the South, pains should be taken to develop a womanly pride which will be ashamed of a bare and squalid hut, a pride which, without care, will prove to be mere vanity, delighting in gaudy dress and brilliant pinchbeck. ”

“ The wise, Christian culture of our schools is intended to reduce this evil, to which the negro is specially inclined, to the least possible dimensions. We aim to make earnest, practical men and women, who shall value all they can acquire either of knowledge or of money, not in its relation to personal aggrandizement, but for its power to lift their homes, families and people out of their present degradation. ”

“ Aside from the discouragements to a civilized life furnished by the amount of land occupied by the Indian, and by the kind of title he has to it, it should be remembered that much of this land is valuable and presents a strong temptation to the white man’s greed, and that it lies, often, in the direct line of advancing civilization, an almost insurmountable barrier to its progress. ”

“ I have trouble in getting the people to church, but, when visiting them in their fackies, I have a chance to bring the truth home to them, and have made it my special duty to visit the fackies twice a week. While I cannot speak the language myself, I endeavor to avail myself of every opportunity of doing all the good I can. ”

“ We must rely upon Jesus Christ as long as we live. Most of all must we beg of Him to blot out our sins and give us a new heart. If we live a life of prayer, God will love us in this life and when we die we shall have joy, and after death our souls shall be full of joy for ever and ever. ”

“ Another thing that all who are engaged in the educational work in the State, ought to regard as a hopeful sign, is the fact that the last Legislature, in all its zeal for retrenchment, made no effort to reduce the income of the free school system. This, and the fact, that much complaint was uttered by the people all over the State, because of the suspension of schools consequent upon the postponement of the collection of taxes by the Legislature, show how deeply the system of the State has taken hold upon the affections of the masses. ”

“ During these two centuries she has ripened much fruit which the world knows is good; she has developed much power of which the world feels its need, and it should not go to the nations and tribes of the earth empty handed, only to utter, as at first, the glad tidings which she was commissioned to proclaim. She should march forth in the greatness of her strength and magnificence of her beauty, panoplied in power and garlanded with her victories, commending herself to man by what she has gained for him. ”

“ When Christ saw the people love outwardly, not with the heart, He said: “Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” We may learn from this, unless we love one another truly and honestly, we cannot get the blessing of God. ”

“ It brings up those Christian congregations so hungry for the word of God, so anxious for the best things in church-life. It brings up, too, those masses, beset with ignorance and superstition and unthrift, who need to be rallied by some worthy aspiration. ”

“ Here are Christian and patriotic people from all parts of our country and from all branches of the Church of Christ. A single address before them in the chapel, in behalf of Christian education among the Freedmen, elicits a gratifying expression of sympathy, and imparts an impulse to the cause through several denominational lines.
In the review, this seems yet the exigent work of the time. It is not the caring for one, two or three new Territories or States at a time, but for five millions of people scattered over fifteen States, who are needing, all at once, the helping hand. ”

“ It requires more than the strength of one or two men or women to lift up a whole tribe, and except for an evident and wide-spread desire among the Indians to better their condition and change their modes of life, but little could be hoped for from the experiments now being made at Hampton and Carlisle; neither can we doubt that much of the culture received in our schools for the negroes will be lost, or serve only to quicken a sense of degradation, unless special efforts are made to counteract the inevitable tendencies of surroundings when these pupils return to their homes. ”

“ When we first become Christians then our own hearts are evil. It often seems much easier to do wrong than to do right; without Jesus we can do nothing. We must pray without ceasing. Jesus says, “If a man love Me he will keep My words, and My Father will love him and make Our abode with him.” ”

“ The arrival on our Western coast, and the presence in our land, of less than a hundred thousand Chinamen is gravely spoken of as a fearful inundation which in some way must be arrested; but the tide that flows steadily in upon our Eastern coast from Ireland and other countries, is regarded as a blessing rather than a danger. ”

“ It brings up the hundreds upon hundreds of primary schools, in which, during the last year, the native teachers of our own training were instructing their one hundred and fifty thousand pupils. It brings up the seventy churches of the primitive faith, which are the outgrowth of that educational scheme, and which as to their influence for good, by their character are multiplying their number many times. It brings up the multitudes of youth in those higher schools, who are ambitiously taking on a Christian cultivation that they may use it for the good of their people. ”

“ Undoubtedly, as skillful farmers and successful merchants, no less than as teachers, they can elevate their people. But at Hampton, a stalwart black man, in a post-graduate address, gave the students a ringing exhortation not to desert, because of its hardships, the vocation of a teacher, “which,” said he, turning to President Hayes, who sat before him, “is a nobler position than even that of President of the United States.” The responsibilities of the negro for village improvements in the South and for the evangelization of Africa were points dwelt upon by other speakers. ”

“ We urge, most earnestly, upon the Christian scholars of the North this opportunity, without cost of money, and with but little expenditure of time, for doing a most valuable work for the colored people. If men of acknowledged authority in their several departments of science and art would furnish such articles as are asked for, the result must prove highly beneficial to these people who so much need, and are so eagerly seeking, knowledge in regard to practical matters on which depends largely their welfare. ”

“ Hear what He says: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.” If we know of Jesus and His love we shall be willing to give our life that we may bring others to love Him and to accept Him as their Saviour. We must pray to Jesus to help us love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and love one another and keep His commandments ”

“ If so, we must love all who love God, and are trying to serve and please Him, whatever their place in life.
The body has many organs. The head is upward, feet downward, hands at the sides; they must work in harmony with each other—they must love one another. ”

“ After a time the son left his father and came to California, where he grew worse and worse; never wrote any letters to his father. At last, a friend came to California whom the father knew, and sent word by him to his son. He said: “When you meet my son please tell him for me, I love him continually. I never forget my love.” A few months after, this friend met the son. He said to him, “You are doing all things vain. The precious time is almost gone. Soon you will feel gloomy and sad. When I left home your father sent a short message to you. He said he loves you continually.” ”

“ By evangelical sentiments, we understand, among others, a belief in the guilty and lost condition of all men without a Saviour; the Supreme Deity, Incarnation and Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world; the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, repentance, faith and holy obedience in order to salvation; the immortality of the soul; and the retributions of the judgment in the eternal punishment of the wicked, and salvation of the righteous. ”

“ That the subject of village improvement was discussed in some of the essays presented at the closing exercises of the Hampton School last May is due, doubtless, to the fact that some of the teachers came from Stockbridge, Mass., and belong to the Laurel Hill Association, rather than to any spontaneous ideas on the part of the students themselves. The idea of village improvement comes as a development and outgrowth of such a degree of home improvement as is yet unknown, not alone to the negroes, but to the vast majority of the Southern whites. ”

“ That the necessaries and comforts of life are to be bought, by those who need them, more cheaply in a market supplied with Chinese labor, is not deemed worthy of consideration; the great fact which demands attention is that Patrick must forego his numerous holidays, his whiskey, and his devotion to politics; must settle down to, and accomplish, a vast amount of honest and skillful labor, if he shall successfully compete with the Chinese, which is an evil the two political parties must promise to abate as the condition of having his support at the polls. ”

“ The training school for nursing, at Le Moyne Institute, is doing good work, not simply in giving instruction that will fit the pupils to become intelligent and efficient nurses when they have gone to their homes, but in visiting and caring for the sick now. Under instruction from their teachers, they have done much for the sick among the poor of the city. ”

“ It has taken centuries to build a Christian home, the mightiest ally of the Church; let the Church take it with her along with the school, and not suffer the filth, and discomfort, and degrading influences of the old hut to hang as a millstone about the neck of those she would save. Of man’s home here, no less than of the heavenly, “the Lamb should be the light;” ”

“ In more northerly latitudes, climate compels the erection of houses that are at least well made, and excellence in one particular suggests and gradually secures it in others; but where a hut, floorless and windowless, proves sufficient, nothing better is suggested, and life sustained on that level rises to no higher plane except under special, extraneous provocatives. ”

“ The Freedmen and the Indians are not the worst classes among us, but they have been the most ignorant, and every patriot is desirous of knowing their present mental condition. A recent visit to the Normal Institute at Hampton, Va., on the occasion of its graduating exercises, gave your correspondent, as he listened to the addresses of the students and conversed with different colored people, an opportunity to collect facts which, though not decisive, are at least suggestive on this point. ”