The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1867-05-28
NEGRO SERMONS.

Written ly G. Il. " !Scon qrMc class y,
1861, .HaHtjmY CoHye-nolo
member Of Senior C2hS
Aadorcr 1heoloyirM
,ScDHay.
1t was my privilege during the last
year of the civil war to live in the south.
western portion of the United States.
was brought in contact with the negroes
very frequently. 1t is not my purpose,
however, to give Il description Of the negro
character, or describe his present status,
but simply to give few extracts from
sermons which heard, or those which
were related to me by my companions.
The religion Of the negroes is emotional.
They must get into an intense state of eX-
citcment before they can enjoy their re.
ligious services. This is the necessary
result of ignorance. Their masters did
not permit them to learn; consequently
all the information they had was gained
from listening to conversations, and not
understanding everything which they
heard, the attempted reproduction was
sometimes extremely ludicrous.
During the war the negroes Were
brought frequently in contact with the
soldiers from the North, who taught them
much Schools also were cstubli.he
over the South, and self-dcnying men au
women went down to educate those res
cued from bondage; and even in the
rpi,l-t Of nnrenr,st,,,, n,,1 ,,,.,it ,l.
Christians pursued their work. What
has been the result? A nation has beer
born in day-a people has been brought
to light who will shortly be prepared tc
exercise the right of suffrage. The young
among this abused people desire to be
educated; and the old, striving earnestly,
are learning new lessons of truth, morals,
and Christianity That people which
was pronounced too deep in ignorance,
too deep in misery, too destitute Of the
qualities and faculties which 90 to make
up men, to ever rise-that people has
risen to a social rank which the most
sanguinc did not expect They are igno
rant still, but they are learning fast The
men who can talk the best, and seem to
be the most Jealous, become the preachers.
without being licensed or ordained The
people listen to them, never questioning
their right.
The negro preachers with whom |
have come in contact astOni-hed me by
their amount of general information, All
OF them had fine memories As very few
OF them know how to read or write, they
must depend on their memories entirely.
l have known these preachers to visit SOL
diers, and request them to read chapters
in the Bible. In the sermon on the Sab
bath | have heard them quote these chap
ters almost relbatim. Now and then "A
soldier, loving sport, would select passages
containing the word God from Shake
speare, Byron, &c, and read them to the
negro preacher as if out of the Bible.
One Sabbath an old preacher was speak
ing on tic lore Of country. lie exhorted
his hearers to stand fast, and in de Ian
guage of de prophet Isaiah, Let all de
eEds thou aimest at be dy country's, dy
Gods, and truths If you don't mind
dis command, you'll be in bad way il
you don't mind de Government, you'll
have to cut sticks mighty fast. Den,
when you are away in de swamps, sur
rounded by nothing but dc water and de
bushes, you'll cry out as did the prophet
Jeremiah-him dat did weep de most Of
all de prophets. Hes de one dat did
wall out de lamentations Farewell,
a long farewell to all my greatness dis
am de state of man."
Many soldiers who were present seemed
to enjoy the quotations better than the
other portions of the sermon.
A preacher, who was placed over a
comparatively intelligent church, preached
unique sermon on the text: A" Redeem.
ing the tune, because the days are erL'
From reading this extract you can form
but a poor idea of the impression which
1t would be likely TO make on the congre
CATION, He commenced; "My beloved
bredren, if had de whole earth ior my
meetin' house, 'all dc children of Adam
for my congregation, de heavens for my
pulpit, and eternity for my Sunday morn
IN de text / have chosen for dis mornin'
reflection would be de one would selec
on dat occasion"