The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-02-26
THE NEGRO REVTVALISTS
CAN BEAT JONES OR SMALL
EVERY TIME.
COntrast-The Work of Located Min
listers Diseredited by Spas
mOdio HOWling.
To the Editors of the Appeal.

10 the hdltOrs OF the Appeal:
The many and very different an
swers which would be given TO this
question by different persons would
be abundant food for wonder. Forty
thousand people were in the Music
Hall, the Odeon and the adjoining
streets in Cincinnati to hear Sam
Jones lately, while the churches We're
empty; and the staid APPEAL asks,
Why empty? Is it mystery? Not
at all. IL was only curiosity. The
Roman Circus could seat LOG, 900 peo-
pie, and il was always full when glad
iators performed What motive took
these thousands to witness such re-
voting scenes as were generally pre-
sented there? What but blind Gu
riosity2 No pay, good seats and
armed officials preserving strict order.
The temples of the gods were always
open, but never crowded. Grand
circus displays did not occur very
often. Why should not the latter be
patronized3 Was religion moving
the multitude? No more than relig-
ion moves nine out of ten to hear
Sam Jones. Last summer, Sam, the
Willpus Wallopus of the gospel of
peace, was on the grand rounds" in
Kentucky, and among others who
heard and sketched him was "Fal-
con" the widely-known correspond
ent of a leading Kentucky paper.
Hear what Falcon" says OF this cir
Gus representative of a peripatetic
christionity. 4 is graphic, and par
ties who have heard the Rev.
Wallopus, tell me the garment
exactly fits Willipus. "As Sam
stands now, he is combination
of steel springs and chicken hawk;
and, from a Presbyterian standpoint,
he seems full of original sin in a con-
densed form, and needs vast amount
of saving grace for himself. He lacks
the deep reverence for holy things
which IL the cornerstone of true piety;
and had he been Moses at the burning
bush, he would probably have chucked
his boots in free and easy way, and
skirmished around to get coal of fire
to light his pipe with, while he sat by
and passed the time of day with the
angel" He is against shouting, and
says the negroes have twice as much
religion Of that sort as the whites, and
can do ten times the shouting; "yet
the negroes never raise any chickens
until they are large enough to fry"
This last idea soto voce.) Can such
caricature of a Christian minister
such an apology for everence-have
any real piety? Could any Memphian
think such creature is as well calcu-
lated TO teach Christian virtues as the
Rev. Drs. Daniel, Boggs, Moore, Ven
able, Mahop? Could you possibly |
these ministers, whose Sab |
bath sermons and daily work of reliev- |
ing and comforting the needy and the |
Borrowing have endeared them to our
people, say could you possibly fancy
such truly good and pious divines
leaving their churches and taking
the grand rounds" with such a pre- |
missionary as Sam Jones?
And in this mornings APPEAL is a
communication from correspondent.
LOCKER On" who says: at was not
scientists or infdels, but Christian
that, after the sacking of
Rome, returned with the barbarians
nnder Atlla and Alaric and settled |
with them at and around what are
now great cities of Europe from the
Mediterranean to the frozen ocean,
and taught our ancestors agriculture
and how to raise the necessaries of
ife."
Does LOCKER On" really believe that
Dur ancestors in Europe would not
not have known how to raise food if
Christ had not been born? Surely he
IOrgets India and China. Surely he
Iorgets Egypt, that was hoary with
antiquity and full of wisdom, wealth
and power thousands of years before
'ur Christian era began Can he name
lne single art, save that OF music, that
Christianity has improved? When
md where has the architecture of the
christian era equaled that OF Greece
'r Rome2 What sculptors and paint
RS have equaled Phidias, Apelles,
'raxiteles? What poet, Homer?
What orators, Demosthenes and Cice-
OF All these lived and died before
he Christian age. The modern idea
Gems to be that Christianity has i'm
proved these arts. Not so. Christ
las not dealt with them. His mission
: in a lar broader, higher and nobler
ield. It is to improve mans moral
Iature. II is to make him better. Its
lrst disciples were ignorant fishermen.
hey taught no arts : only the lessons
aught them by the Master the love
nd alteration due to their Creator i'd
he duty man owes to his fellow-msa: :
DO unto others as you would have
hem do to you" These are the grand ]
essons taught by Christ, and not the !
rts or sciences. He never taught
for His life was mostly :
pent on the seashore, among humble J
shermen, and in q land of figs and i
lives, mans simplest diet. /
RAMBLER. !