Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-13
HoNoR1NG DOUGLASS MEMORY.
Some Interesting Remarks mt n Balti
more Meeting Last Night.


more Meeting Last Night.
Like a voice from the dead came let
ter from Frederick Douglass, which was
read by Rev. John w. Beckett at the me-
mortal meeting held last night by the
colored people of Baltimore in Bethel
Church, says the Baltimore Sun today.
1t was written three years ago to Mr..
Beckett, when he was pastor of Metro
politan Church. in Washington, and was in
reply to a letter from the clergyman ask
ing Mr.. Douglass to ally himself more
closely to his church. The reply sets for
ward in a clear, straightforward way Mr..
Douglass opinion of Christianity and re-
ligion Hero are some of the things he
said:
II do not feel 1t my duty to join any of
the many sects now arrogating to them
selves the title of the Church of Christ
and considering all outside of them
ashamed of Jesus
1.-THE Christianity of this country, as ex-
hibited in the churches, is not the Chris
tianity of Christ. 1t is a man-degrading
and negotiating Christianity. In the
south it lived and flourished side by side
with slavery for two hundred years, and
never had any quarrel with it, and in it's
presence today the negro is robbed, lynched
and murdered without remonstrance from
the Christian pulpits.
The eulogies of the various speakers at
the memorial meeting were exceedingly
fervid in their praise of the dead negro
champion, and compared him to many of
the greatest Of the worlds thinkers and
statesmen.
1T seems to me that there is something
significant in the name which Frederick
Douglass mother gave him. said Bishop
Wayman, who presided at the meeting. 4
don't know why she gave 1t to him,
neither do any of you, nor would she very
likely know If she were here now. But
she happened to name him Frederick
Augustus Washington, and if you will read
up in your books at home the lives of these
three great men-Frederick the Great,
Augustus Caesar and George Washington
you will see that Frederick Douglass
possessed in a great measure the char
acteristics of all three of them"
1.-The greatest man of the nineteenth CEN
fury, white or colored," was the sentiment
which was expressed by Rev. George F.
Bragg of st. James Protestant Episcopal
Church. Men call Gladstone and Bismarck
great men of our day, but, compare the OPP
portunities and the environment of these
two with the humble, enslaved beginnings
which Frederick Douglass had in Talbot
county and in this city in his early DAYS.
He made himself great by creating his own
environment, and there is a lesson in his
life for everybody"
This comparison with Gladstone and Bis
marck was also made by DIR. Henry J.,
Brown in his address. But the doctor was
not content with this eulogy, for, after say
ing that Douglass intellectually was the
equal of Emerson's, of Victor Hugo's, of
Schillers or of Goethe's, he added that
this century ought to be called the Doug
lassian age" and the dead man compared
to the heroic statue of Liberty enlighten-
ing the world" Each age seems to have
some man whose Intellectual attachments
and characteristics are SO powerful that
his name is stamped upon the age for
ever" said DR.. Brown. 1T was so with
the Shakespearean age and the age of
Goethe, and three thousand years hence.
v hen you and are all dead and probably
forgotten, men will recognize he greatness
of Frederick Douglass by calling this cen
fury the Douglass age"
Addresses were also made by Warner T.
McGuinn and others, and a series of reso-
lutions of sympathy to Douglass family
were adopted. They had been prepared by
the committee of arrangements, of which
Dr. ]. Marcus Cargill was chairman.