The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1867-02-20

Christians. might be listened to by intelligent
people with atleast some respect As it is, let
them make up their minds to meet the finger
of merited scorn, as they hear the well applied
words" Ph,wician, heal hyself"
THE CONFESSION.
"That our own Church has incurred guilt,
and is suffering penalty, by our neglect to care
for the spiritual interests of the colored people
among ourselves, is to us quite obvious; and,
for anything we can see, there is still very lit
tie conviction among us of our sin, and OF
course no amendment There is, indeed,
good degree of zeal for the religious welfare OF
such of the colored people as lie some han
dreas Of miles array from as. Our Church
sends them missionaries, and appropriates
money for their benefit, of which we highly
approve; Jm for the colored people Of Neao
York or Brooklyn, or PHILADELPHIA and Al
Jany or any other part Of orr northern coun-
t,y, zoe do nothing at ALL
"Withn the bounds of the States in which
slavery was prohibited before the rebellion
there are about half million of colored people.
In most cities and large towns they are found
in considerable numbers, constituting an appre-
cable clement in society, and also in some
smaller towns and rural districts For these
hundreds of thousands of souls, our Church,
with only very inconsiderable local exception,
has done nothing, and does not propose to do
anythiag The exception referred to is in
Southern New Jersey, where there are few
colored societies connected with our Church,
perhaps in some way by virtue of the contigui-
ty of the late slave territory on the other side
of Delaware Bay. TO our view that fact is one
of the saddest in all our annals. We have
been discussing. methods for the conversion
of the few Jews among US, though they seem
to be wholly inaccessible to our efforts. Our
German missions were begun when that popu-
lation was comparatively small. Our Swe-
dish work was inaugurated when the whole
number of that nationality in the country was
estimated at less than five hundred. We have
pursued the Welsh and the French, wherever
little company Of them could be found, and
we have chased up vagrant tribes of Indians,
sparing neither labor nor expense, that we
might give them the Gespel-0 Of all this We
cordially approve. Bat lchy hare ace ere'y
,ohere and peysistentb neglected oar free colored
people?
eve sometimes, half boastingly, claim that
the colored people are not only eminently re-
ligiously inclined, but also particularly well af
fected toward Methodism; and yet we are
compelled to confess that By scarcely any other
denomination hare they been so remorselessl
repelled and practically disregorded as By The
Methodist Episcopal Church. \
To our own body pertains the popularity OF SC
managing its affairs, that at the outbreak Of
the rebellion there was not colored minister
named in It's records, and, so far as we have
learned, not a single colored local preacher had
been ordained for many years.
"To all this the reply is perhaps ready
They have their own Church organizations,
and choose to be by themselves But is that
sufficient apology for our neglect of them
Doubtless our people have all along wished
well to these people; we have said: "Be ye
warmed and be We fed" But what have we
done for them? They were once part and par.
eel of our Church. How came they to leave
us? The blame, if it be recognized as cause
for blame, is usually thrown upon themselves
But is it not very evident that any other class
or nationality among us, treated as they were,
would leave us also? We have found it neces.
sary to conciliate the German and the Swedish
elements in our Church, by granting them full
equality with those Of the central stock, and
then to bind them to us with golden bands in
the form Of missionary appropriations. Does
anybody presume that with the same kind of
treatment the colored people would have sep
arated from us? Is it not true rather that
though not directly excluded from us they
we're virtually driven out by the course of treat
ment adopted toward them? Is it not true,
also, that we have felt ourselves relieved by
their setting up their separate organization ?
To our personal observation 1t has dl,cayS
seemed that there ,cas no place for colored
people an tie Methodist Episcopal Church aoith-
IN the free States.
1t is very doubtful whether in all our land
there can be found any other half million of
people more needing our Christian beneficence
than these same free colored citizens of the
Northern States. They have so long been
outcasts and pariahs among us, that we have
ceased to think of them as of other people.
Incapable, through poverty and lack of cult
walton, of caring for themselves as communi-
ties, and rcmorselessly excluded from all social
privileges among the whites, it is truly won
derful that they have not in still greater pro-
portion found their way to the almshouse, the
prison, and the gallows. The separate Church
organization of colored Methodists, though in
view of all its disadvantages it has done Won
ders, considered as to the work devolved upon
it, has been perpetual failure. Probably in
the same condition scarcely any other people
would have done better; but, because of their
helplessness, that which was needed has re.
manned undone, and to-day the religious des-
titution of the colored Methodsts of the North
is greater than that of any other defined class