Various

“ It is the peculiar glory of this Association that it deals more directly than any other agency with the gravest and most urgent of these problems, the education of the colored race, so that while the Government gives the Negro citizenship, and permits him to own land, this society undertakes the work of fitting him for the ownership of land and for the responsibility of citizenship. ”

“ Is there not room to hope that many of these men, returning to their own country, may be able to present Christianity to their fellow-countrymen in a shape in which it has never yet been presented,—in which it would be very difficult for Europeans or Americans ever to succeed in presenting it—to them, and may so develop a type of Christianity and civilization combined which shall be neither American nor European, but African, redolent alike of the people and of the soil? ”

“ The English race, which still represents the heart and brain of the nation, confronts these four problems. The problem on the North and South we brought on ourselves, as results on the one hand of our neglect and injustice, and on the other of our cupidity and cruelty. The troubles that come to us through our Eastern and Western ports, are drawn to us by the attractive influence of our free institutions and our material prosperity. ”

“ But we are more than these, we are Christians, and so there is one other thing we must do besides these I have mentioned, something which includes all these and so is greater than they all—and that thing is to make them Christian. Education is a part of the means to be used, and not the total end and aim.
For what is education? Not the mere accumulation of knowledge, nor the mere training of the powers of the mind, but the building of manhood. ”

“ How will you influence the future of China, or of Japan, or of Africa, or of Europe, in more direct, sympathetic, permanent ways, than by giving the gospel, and the education that goes with the gospel, to those at our very doors from all these lands, who shall carry back, and send back, to their own native countries the same gospel they have learned in this? ”

“ The gospel must go with the school, so that we may train not only the hand and the brain, but also the conscience and the heart. When I think of the future of the Negro race in America, of the possibilities of that race already being revealed, of the immense political [pg 69] significance of its position to-day, of the certain increase of its numbers, of the inevitable collision of races by and by, unless there be a change in the spirit of the whites, I feel that no education is to be trusted but Christian education, an education based on the gospel of Christ. ”

“ If God sends our workers out he will send supplies. There is no limit to the measure in which God can work on Christian hearts, to move his children to give for those who have gone forth to "seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness."
While God is abundantly blessing our work in our great and wide fields among four races, we may safely ask our Christian friends to appeal to him that we shall have not only the needful funds to carry on the work without debt, but also enough to enable us to enter the doors which he opens. ”

“ An intelligent negro, a graduate of one of our institutions, writes to us these words: "The A.M.A. is doing more to quicken the hopes and aspirations of the Southern Negro, and more toward arousing the Southern white man to just ideas of education, and more toward bringing the two races to an acknowledgment of each other's rights and duties, than all other institutions or influences in the country." ”

“ So are we to conquer every element of darkness and attach it to the kingdom of light, making it an element of strength in our American civilization and [pg 67] our American Christianity. The difference in the method is the difference between paganism and Christianity, for while Rome conquered with a sword of steel, we conquer with the sword of the Spirit. We conquer by giving gifts unto men, the four gifts of law, land, letters and religion. We have given law to the African and the European with citizenship and the ballot ”

“ The report of the Executive Committee on educational work in the South, confirms the conviction which must have impressed itself on many minds, that the Association is a divinely-appointed agency for carrying forward a work delegated to us as a nation. God calls nations as he calls men, and consecrates them to a special work. Rome had a call, and fulfilled it, under the Divine Providence, and that call was to work out the idea, and demonstrate the necessity, of government, and to cultivate in the minds of men everywhere regard for the authority of law ”

“ If the friends of the American Missionary Association, upon receiving appeals from colored pastors or people in the South, or from independent schools, would remember that their own ordained agency can open and supervise as many schools and churches as they will make possible with their contributions, no doubt less money would be diverted and far greater efficiency secured. Schools in the North without supervision or superintendence, are usually inferior. ”

“ Resolved further, That never, until we are in the fullest enjoyment of our rights at the ballot-box, will we cease to agitate and work for what justly belongs to us in the shape of suffrage.
Further resolved, That it shall be the policy of the colored race to vote so as to bring the greatest division to the white voters of this country, for in this we believe lies the boon of our desire. ”

“ I heard it said that I was a tool to assist in civilization, and I soon found myself aiding men in commercial transactions. I had manifold experiences and, like most useful people, found that while age increased my usefulness it subdued my glitter. At last, after many, many years, I fell into the hands of a Sabbath-school Superintendent with a missionary spirit, and by him was distributed with many of my companions to the children of his Sabbath-school, with the injunction to multiply. ”

“ Thus many in the North from time to time, are contributing to schools or perhaps to churches there, under the impression that they are thus taking the shortest path to the work which appeals to them.
There are many schools, of one kind and another, which have been started at the South by private parties on a purely independent basis. Many of these are carried on for a little time and then are permitted to die out for one reason and another; and many of them are working not only with a great lack of efficiency in comparison with the A.M.A. schools, but without supervision and without scrutiny. ”

“ We care not to enter at all into the question of the value of the two religions nor of the good they may respectively do for poor Africa. We wish simply to deal with the methods and means, and with the peoples who may best employ them. We again summarize the language of Dean Smith: The very fact that there are millions of Negroes in America and the West India Islands, many of whom are men of cultivation and lead more or less Christian lives, is proof positive that Christianity is welcomed by them. ”

“ And it is doing this in the genuine way, through the gospel of Christ, and education as the handmaid and helper of the gospel—that helper without which Christianity would be falsely conceived, and erroneously applied, and without which a failure would result in the ethical training of the colored race. ”

“ They were driven out of Paradise and had to work hard for a livelihood, but God was so merciful that he promised that the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent; that is, he would provide a Saviour, by which death could be conquered. God told them that when they sinned again, they must offer sacrifice and confess their sins, then God would forgive them. From that time on, the people offer sacrifice. This sacrifice is a type of Jesus, who gave his life and died on the cross for all who are willing to believe in him. ”

“ The churches feel that it is a duty they owe to God and to those Indians who [pg 63] cannot understand English to teach them in the language in which they were born, and they believe, too, as the result of long experience, that Christian schools in the vernacular are among the most important means to that end, especially as pioneer movements. American Christians believe, too, that they have the right as American citizens to use their own methods—tested by experience—without the interference of the Government ”

“ In less than twenty-five years from this date, the colored race in the South will outnumber the whites in nearly all the States, and then the world will witness a conflict of races, the aspiration of the negro against the caste-prejudice of the white, the end and result of which no man can foresee.
These facts all point to the greatness of the work undertaken by this Association. Christian education is the only education for a race having before it such a future. The illiteracy which we deplore must be overcome, but something more than that ”

“ You have your educated man with his printing press, but what is he going to print—the Police Gazette or the Gospel of St. John? You have built your college and found your young man, and trained him up to the very highest point of mental excellence and power, but what is he going to do with his mind? ”

“ So Jesus paid it all, and after his crucifixion there is no more offering required. That is the reason why the Christians do not offer sacrifice, and why I do not worship in this manner. For no one deserves our worship but God alone. I only honor the ancestors with my heart. ”

“ Then they spoke among themselves by saying, "His doctrine is good; this is all news to us; our Confucius books never tell us about the origin of sacrifice." This seemed to break down their pride a great deal, and after this they shew great willingness to listen to the Word of Life. Oh! how I long to have them learn of Jesus and become His followers. I not only pray for them, but every one in our village. May the Lord bless the seed sown in their hearts. ”

“ The last resolution is not entirely plain to us, and we refrain from comment upon it, but the convention itself, the fact of leadership taking shape among the Negroes, and the forth-putting of their purposes, are very significant.
When the Glenn Bill was born, and when the Georgia House of Representatives stood sponsor for its baptism, we believed that the enemy of righteousness had made a mistake, and that this particular piece of artillery would kick. They who think to thwart the providences of God usually help them forward. Christianity has had many a help from its opposers. ”

“ I have never seen a worse day in the Territory than to-day. The snow was about two feet deep and light. Last night the wind began to blow, and to-day it is blowing a gale and the snow flies like powdered glass. Neither man nor beast can endure it. ”

“ Upon the incidental question of temperance, the sentiments of the convention were voiced by one of the speakers in these words: "The best thing for the Negro is industry, temperance, virtue, economy, union and courage. Get land, get money, get education; be sober and be virtuous. We have drunk enough whiskey since the war to build a railroad from Atlanta to Savannah. The Negro race cannot be great except as individuals rise towards greatness." They are rising. ”

“ No person other than a native Indian teacher will be permitted to teach in any Indian vernacular, and these native teachers will only be allowed in schools not supported in whole or in part by the Government, at remote points, where there are no Government or contract schools where the English language is taught. ”

“ I present the outline of a report made in January, 1885, based on reports of Albion Tourgee, and on articles in the North American Review. According to that report, seventy-three per cent. of the colored population of the South cannot read and write. In the eight Gulf and Atlantic States, seventy-eight per cent. are in the same condition. Over two millions of colored people in these eight States cannot read and write. But this is not all. We must take into account the rapid increase of the negroes. ”

“ No text books in the vernacular will be allowed in any school where children are placed under contract, or where the Government contributes, in any manner whatever, to the support of the school; no oral instruction in the vernacular will be allowed at such schools. The entire curriculum must be in the English language. ”

“ Little Eagle cannot speak an English word. His son Harry who died could read English a little. He learned at Santee. But his knowledge of the Bible, and his Bible-reading to the people and his work for Christ, were in his own tongue. It was the truth in his own tongue that saved Little Eagle. Shall we not, then, teach the children Christian truths in their own language?
THE CHINESE. A CHINESE CHRISTIAN IN CHINA.
Chin Toy was a shoemaker until he accepted my invitation to become a Missionary Helper. His education, in English and as a Christian, has been wholly in our humble mission work. ”