Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-10-24
TEE H.ESSsoN FIELD az THE
SOUTH.
EEev. Dr. EaOge's Address Before the
Evangelical AllianCe-The Obsta-
Gees and Facilities To the Progress
O.: the S&OSpel.

Evangelical AllIanCe-The Obsta-
Sees nnes Facilities 10 thc Progress
es the S&Ospel.
During Fridays session of the Evan
gelical Alliance, in New York, Rev.
DIR. IToge. Of Richmond, read, by
special appointment, paper on the
Mission Field Of the South, which was
listened to- according to the Tri-
bune, with great Interest"
From the full and excellent report
published by the Tribune, and which
is too long for publication in our col
Emns, We Gull some highly interesting
passages. No ADLER Or ,irer defence |
of the Christian civilization of the |
South has ever come under our notice. |
DIR. Hoge said:
In Virginia we have the advantage !
of an institution which is in effect a |
normal school to all other educational |
institutions. The University of Vir-
ginia was the first in tie land Crgan- |
lied On 81 system which made 1t the
true elimination of theprimary srhoo-,
the academy, and the college, above
them all in it's standards, yet drawing
them all upward by degrees to an alp
Proclamation with itself by furn ishing
them with Il proper ideal, and by sup
plying them with teachers and rrcte.-
soIs competent to apply the true prll-
cipies OF instruction. Lest 1 should
seem to speak too warmly of our Uni
versity with its elective system and in
dependent schOols-sOme OF them
of applied science-and professors
| better known, perhaps, in Europe
than nearer home, l may say
that a distinguished scholar of Great
Britain who recently visited this
country to study its educational sys-
TENS, in his published estimate of our
University, gives it rank higher than
I have done, and says some of its
methods of instruction, long familiar
| there, are Just beginning to be intro
duced into the best institutions
abroad. DR.. Porter, author of "Giant
Cities of Bashan,' y etc. And now that
| Virginia, too long content with foster
ing her higher schools, has taken up IN
| earnest the education of the masses, 1t
/ is ca y 10 see what an impulse will be
/ given to the cause by such teachers as
the University is sending out, and by
, the elevated standard which IL presents
to all institutions OF inferior grade.
But more important than the reno
val of ignorance is the removal of
>
Christian as with heather countries
that, though the teacher and the
preacher may go together, it is the
Gospel after all which is the power of
God to the salvation of men.
Having spoken of obstacles, [ may
now enumerate some facilities to the
progress Of the Gospel in the southern
field.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE.
One is, that the people of the South
are the most homogeneous on the con-
tinent. AS yet the foreign element is
comparatively small, and the continen-
tai forms Of unbelief do not prevail
among them. Speaking the same Ian
guagc, with common traditions and
course the religious teacher obtains
reader access to them than where diff
fcrent laces, tongues, and creeds are
clements of disintegration in society.
Again: Our native population i; not
restless. 1t clings to the old ancestral
home: it also cleayes to ancestral re-
igious faith. It not only ablues by
the soil in which the dust of noble
fOrefathers is mingled, ii is loyal to
the creeds associated with the memo
ries of pious parents. The novel and
spcciOus forms of error, which else
where have obliterated the old land
= marks, find no welcome among them.
The irreligion of the South is rather
the irreligion of rechlessness, of igno-
rance, of passion, than OF intidelity or
of crystGliZed forms Of unbelief. There
; are many communities in this land
where the truth can scarcely penetrate.
/ 50 crusted over are they, and incased
> by formulated systems of impiety.
But 10 neiglIEorhool III tie South is
inaccessible because Of cntrenched in
fidelity. Scepticalisns, which spread
like epidcmics i'll some quarters, were
never popular there. And least of all
, arc or p4ople infected by thescientitic
sceptical philosophy of the day, which
asserts such an unyarying uniformity
il the operations Of physical law as to
leave 40 place II the universe of God
for the supernatural, and therefore
denies miracle, liscredits prophecy,
amt ailenccs prayer. 1t follows, there
fore, that when tie Christian teacher
comes among lis he does not have the
double task of first storming some out
work Of intiQelity before he attacks the
. central citadel of natural aversion to
evangelical truth, and this greatly IA
cliltateS his laDOrS among our people.
.HE!STIAE CIVILIZATION OF THE SOUTH
[ am tempted to enter into these de-
tails about Southern characteristics
because there is pethaps no part of the
world so little understanding people
about whom SO many erroneous i'm
pressions prevail. We have few oppor-
tunitiaS for correcting them. Our
large cities are few and far apart. Our
newspapers are for the most part pro-
vincial. Distinguished foreigners Wis
ting tbs United States find more to
interest them north OF the Potomac,
and seldom derive their information of
tie South from personal observation.
II we soug lit for vind;cation, however,
we would find it in an impartial and
official source, bearing & testimony to
the Christian civilization so emphatic
as to be worth reproducing.
One Of the tables of the United
States Census Report gives the stats
tics Of pauper;sm and crime in all the
States Of the Union. Freedom from
both Of these evils unquestionably in
dicates a healthful and elevated civil
zatiOn. The Southern States stand
highest in the list in these respects. [
contrast the statements made in the
census report in regard to parperism
and crime in the New England States
aud in the Southern States, not for the
purpose of making an invidious COM
parison, which [ havo 10 desire to do,
but because the New England States
are generally spoken of as distin-
guished for thrifty industry and high
moral character.
1. Pauperism prevails in the New
England States in the proportion of
forty-four to every 10000 of the entire
! population. 2. In the native New
! England population the ratio is forty
/ seven to every 10000. In the entire
white population of the South, native
and foreign, the ratio is only fourteen
to 10000. 2. In the foreign popula-
ton OF the New England States the
ratio of rauperism is thirty-fve to
every 10000. Among the colored peo-
/ pie Of the Southern States the ratio is
/ I, -