New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1894-11-07

This theory is just as delusive as any
other specific for avoiding tho ills of
harsh conditions.
The simple truth is, and it is this no
doubt which Professor Washington real
ly means. that Christianity is not of any
sort of value in securing justice for the
weak believer at the hands of the rich
and strong ones, The colored man does
very we'll not to rely upon such senti-
ment to secure him from the white mans
rapacity and injustice, Christianity in
the abstract is an eternal unvarying truth ;
in the concrete it takes on the color of
the times and peoples among whom it
Aourishes. Yesterday it denied the col
ored mans right to life, liberty, or hap
piness. 1t took them all away and gave
them to the master and calmly and un-
doubtingly asked Gods blessing on the
act. Today American Christianity ad-
mits the colored mans abstract equality
of right, but says he must not enjoy it,
because to do so would offend his white
brother, who although no longer mas
ter has still the right to rule, direct, and
control, if not Individually at least col
lectively, his s'brother in black As in
the past the white Christian killed the
colored brother, whom he owned, with
out fear of the law, being himself judge,
jury, and witness, 50 today the white
man proclaims it to be his Christian du-
ty to prevent the colored man from en-
joying greater measure of liberty than
he himself is willing to accord. He is
ready to be kind,but not ready to be just.
He is willing that the colored man should
work for the lowest rate of wages, but
not willing that he should have the same
rights and opportunities as the white
man. Yesterday this fex1ng of Christi
an principle was justified on the ground
of divine ordainment-because God had
bestowed the right to rule on the white
man, and it was the duty of the colored
man to obey. Driven from this by the
bloody logic Of events, they now clam
that the immutable law of life, older
and more sacred than the gospel If Jesus
of Nazareth, is that the rich and strong
shall possess the earth, and that the poor
and weak must submit and serve. Yes
terday the irrefutable proof of the right
to rule was bill of sale; today it is the
control of the State. AS the Christiani-
ty of yesterday did not give up the con-
troll of the slave until compelled by dire
necessity, so the Christianity of today
will not yield the right to dominate, con-
troll, and kill until some unforeseen and
indefinable force shall COMPEL them to
acknowledge today's wrong to be just as
indefensible as they now admit yester-
days to have been.
Professor Washington is quite right in
his conclusion that the poor Christian
has very little chance for justice at the
hands of Christianity which has sub
stituted pity for justice and exalted eco
nomic theory above the golden rule; but
he is wrong in thinking that the posses
sion cf wealth will greatly change the
colored mans condition. The rich COL
ored man may avoid many of the dis
comforts arising from the injustice which
white Christianity refuses to cure; but
he is just as far from having a fair chance
for himself and children if worth hun
dreds of thousands as if lowered only
With days works. It is wise indeed for
the colored man to get knowledge and
cash, for they are the two great modern
elements of power. It is we'll forh to
cling to his Christianity, too, because it
is the sure foundation of equal right, and
some time or other American Christiani-
ty will rise high enough to be just. to a
colored Christian. But neither wealth
nor Christianity will bring justice unless
Joined with the steady, persistent, and
resolute demand for right. Pity may
spring from piety, but righteousness
comes only from the law. Gifts are the
evidence Of piety; statutes the fruit of
just impulse. The only hope of the col
ored man in the Republic is through the
law of the land and its enforcement.
Wealth and Christianity may strengthen
him in the great struggle for justice, but
neither nor beth will ever secure it for
him or yield it to him without a strug-
gle.
Two curious illustrations of this are at
hand:
A wealthy and refined colored. man,
II i. ! -