The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1867-02-13

W ONu SOA'ANIlOu 10 IAde tAO Ohoh~A
pated blacks " feel more confidence in
their old masters, and in the class to
which they belong, than in any other
people of any other race on earth.
One illustration of this feeling, re-
Gently brought to my notice, | may be
permitted to mention. Conversing late
ly on this subject with banker in one
Of the chief cities of the South, l was
told by him that a number of freedmen
regularly placed their money with him
self and other Southern bankers, whilst
he had reason to believe that seldom, if
ever, were similar deposits made with
any Northern house. What better mark
of confidence in Southern men than this
If, then, the churches of the South
reeoSnizs the fall esuality of these pco
pie as church members, they will proba-
bly, be found as willing to connect them
selves with our ecclesiastical organiza.
tions as with any at the North.
Still it must be confessed that this
may not be the result. After We shall
have done all in our power to win them to
us, they may keep themselves obstinately
aloof But even in that case, it would
not follow that no good had been ac-
compished by the effort. 1t is some
thing to have it in our hearts to perform
a work for God and his Church, though
it happen that without any fault of ours
that work should never be accomplished.
And what service ought we to be more
willing to perform, at the cost of some
sacri6ce-nay, as men would say, at the
cost of some humiliation, than this of
giving the Gospel to the colored people
in our land? On two separate occasions
does our Lord announced it as distinguish
ing mark of the dispensation introduced
by himself, that in it the Gospel was
preached to the poor. And whom ought
we to look upon as eminently the poor
the poor for whom we are to provide-but
this landless, and homeless, and orphaned
race still in the midst of us? Now should
we not use every lawful effort to secure
for them the means of grace? Can we
say that our religion clearly exhibits this
mark of the religion of Christ?
l have already said that there are pc
cuGar reasons for our feeling the most
lively interest in the evangelization of
the negro. The very fact that for hun
dreds of years his race has been so near
ly connected with our own, forms such a
consideration. 1t is an instructive cir
cumstance that, while the children of
Moab aud Ammon were excluded till their
tenth generation from the congregation of
the Lord, the Egyptian, much farther re-
moved iu-hlGol-and certainly, as far. in
his OncestragIekAeiaps l.l ohS po odrnltte3
in the third generation to the full privi-
leges of the Hebrew worship; and this
is the reason given by Moses for the dis
tinction: "Thou shalt not abhor an
Egyptian, because thou vast stranger
in his land" That sojourn of Israel in
Egypt, then, which was marked by the
infichon, on the one hand, and the en-
durance, on the other, of so much op-
preston and cruelty, even that sojourn
was to constitute throughout the exis-
tence Of the Hebrew poEty, bond be-
tween the two peoples. How much
stronger the bond between ourselves and
the negro race? They have not been
set apart in some sequestered district,
but have been scattered over the whole
of our Southern land. They have lived
in the same districts, the same neighbor-
hoods, the same families as the whites.
Shall these races abhor each other !?
Shall they not regard one another with
peculiar interest? Especially does it not
become the man of the superior race
earnestly to seek the promotion of the
temporal and eternal well being of the
poor creature who has grown up under
his shadow, but is now threatened with
determination as well as moral ruin?
Again, taking into account the terrible
temptations to which they were exposed,
must hold that the conduct of this race
during the dreadful scenes of the war
through which we have lately passed, en-
titles them to a high place in our esteem
and regard. Every one knows that when
the war became imminent, it was conf
IDENTIFY expected at the North that these
people would rise in body and cut our
throats. But SO far from this, during
the whole progress of the conflict in
eleven different States, scarcely half
dozen cases were reported of masters
murdered by their servants, while in a
number of instances they were indebted
to their servants for the preservation of
their lives or property. And when the
the country was overrun, and many of
the negroes were induced to join the
Northern army, they generally showed
themselves less rapacious and less cruel
than their allies in this war. Since the
close Of the war, they have conducted
themselves at least as well as we had
reason to expect. Not but that they have
been chargeable with many and griev-
Gus faults; not but that they have suffer
ed dreadful deterioration of character.
But all this, and more than this might
we'll have been anticipated. When ut
terly unprepared for the responsibilities
of freemen, those responsibilities were
thrust upon them. Unused to provide
for their own wants single week, they
are required to assume the permanent
support of themselves and their families.
Brought up to submit to authority, and
to work under the direction of task
master, they are suddenly called to de-
termine the questions when, where, how,
they are to labor. Accustomed to the
s,,rva;lIoroa ond discinl;na of tba nlsp.