The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-03-03
WHAT CAN BE DONE for the NEGROES


In former times there was no question
which went so directly to the heart of the
Southern Church as this. 1t was discussed
in our ecclesiastical courts, in our newspa-
pers, and wherever good men had the oppOr-
tunity of cOmmuning together in relation to
the interests of the kingdom of Christ.
But now there is, comparatively, silence.
Now there is to q great extent the abandon
ment of effort in behalf of the colored race,
because it is regarded as impracticable to do
anything, nay impossible to exert any salu-
tary and saving influence on them while their
spirit is one of hostility to their former re-
ligious instructors, and while they are under
the spiritual control of demagogues and
fanatics in the disguise of ministers of the
Gospel Here and there indeed we find one
faithful and favored pastor who has been
able to retain his influence over his former
congregation of colored people; and among
their own chosen preachers one is occasion
ally to be found who is possessed only of
sincere desire for the salvation of their souls
and for the glory of Christ; but we are now
referring, not to exceptional cases, but to
what is known to be the condition of the
great mass of the colored people in their
spiritual relations.
1t is true the responsibility of Southern
Christians Is not what it was when the ne
groes formed part of their households, and
when they had no other instructors in divine
truth beyond the masters family and the pas
tor of the church where all attended together.
The sword severed the tie which had SO long
united the two races, and the North assumed
the responsibility of providing both temporal
and spiritual food for ''the wards of the ma
ton" But this does not absolve Southern
Christians from their duty to attempt all
that is possible for the religious instruction
Of this people. Their claim upon US arises
from their awful spiritual restitution, and
from the fact tina: they are nearer to US than
any other heather population. The more
benighted these poor creatures are, the more
sinful are we if we deny the lamp of life to
them. The more erroneous the teachings of
their false guides are, the moro imperative it
is on us to make known to them the truth as
| IL is in Jesus.
1t is now well ascertained fact that there
are causes at work among them which if not
arrested will certainly ensure the gradual ex-
tinction of the race, and the same process of
deterioration and decline which is diminish.
ing the population of some of the Sandwich
islands will produce the same result with
them. But while we cannot arrest this fatal
current, we can retard its rapidity. Men
cannot dam the waters of the Mississippi so
as to stop their flow, but they can erect
levees along the banks, and thus prevent
dangerous and damaging OyerAows. This
illustration has a painfully wide as well as
true application. While the negroes are re-
trograding in civilization and in morals, they
are daily becoming more and more hurtful to
the comfort and prosperity Of the white race.
While in many parts of the country the ma
jority of them are willing to work, in every
neighborhood there are those who subsist
wholly by pillage. There are communities
in many counties in Virginia and elsewhere
in the South, where the farmers have ceased
to attempt to raise lambs, or pigs, or poultry,
and where the very vegetables in their gar
deus are not safe from the nightly depreda
tions of idle and profigate negroes. Moth
ing on the premises, which is movable, is
safe. Smoke-houses, and corn,cribs are
broken into and robbed, and agricultural
implements are carried away.
The demeanor of the negroes toward the
whites is generally deferental and respect
full, so far as those who were trained in good
families are concerned, but this is true only
of those who are grown as class the rising
generation is lawless, turbulent, and rude in
behavior. The old negroes themselves COM
plain of this, and deploro the insolent man.
ners and INSTRUMENTATION of those who are
growing up. The courtesy and civility which
characterised their bearing under the old
regime, will well nigh disappear in another
generation.
The revival of ancient African supersti
tious among them is an ominous fact. In
carnations, dancing around one supposed to
be possessed with the devil, attended by Ger
tain rites of exorcism; the increasing dread
they exhibit of the spell Familiarity known
among them as "tricking;" the exciting ap-
peals that are made to their imagnations
and passions by preachers of their own color,
incapable with few exceptions of giving
them any instruction in the cardinal truths
of Christianity-the erroneous and mis-
chievous ideas which are instilled in their
minds by cunning agitators-these are some
of the things which fill the hearts of thought
full men with concern and apprehension.
What the negroes especially need is care
full obstruction, the inculcation of the simple
elementary truths of the Bible, and this is
Al o6o 49,,