The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-10-22


dence OF God and by the act Of man.
Their enforced transportation across
the Atlantic in the years gone by was
an act of avarice. Any attempt to re-
ship them thither against their will
would be an act of antipathy. They
are here to stay. They, are inseparably
bound up in the life Of this country.
They have helped to make America
what 1t is. They have watered her soil
with their tears, with their blood. They
feel themselves to he as truly Ameri-
can as any other people in the land,
and can sing with as much truthful
ness, with as great sincerity and en-
thusiasm-
My county! it's of thee,
Sweet land of liberty"
as any other people who enjoy the
blessings Of this great republic of ours.
|. Brought here against their will, for,
25O years these people rendered serv-
Ice to those who were foremost and
uppermost in the land. Then, in the
broken and they were set fee, so far
as their limbs were concerned And
yet they are ina bondage of ignor-
ance, superstition, degradation and
sin. and it is the desire of the lovers
of humanity that these people shall be
free from physical bondage. -,
The doctor went on to say that the
work most needful among the Afro
Americans is to educate them for pres
ent work and to fit them for doing.
their own educational work in the time
to come. Their eyes are open to the
value Of learning. They are eager for
They want to become good and useful
men and women. Afro american teach
ers (when properly trained) are the
most, suitable to- work among Afro
Americans. There is nothing so helpful
to an Afro-American community as
the living in it of highly educated,
truly Christian Afro-American.
The tAfro-Americans are helping the
white men to determine the political
and financial policies of the country.
They must, therefore, be $50 trained
that they will exercise their rights and
privileges ais american citizens, not to
the nations woe, but to the nations
veal. And they must be taught to be
good Christians, ais well as intelligent
citizens.
He spoke i'm glowing terms of what
the Presbyterian church had done for
| the Afro Americans. For more than
| thirty three years the Presbyterian
church in the United States has been
seeking to reach these people with the
power of the Gospel, the benefits of a
practical Christian education. And I
want to say just here, in this connec-
| ton, that these people are not only re-,
sponsive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
but they are anxious for Christian ed
ucation and are willing to make almost
| any sacrifice in order to obtain it. And
| they are especially in need of Presby-
| terianism- Presby terianism with it's BIZ
| BILE doctrine and it's Christian morality.
| They are in need of Calvinism, that
Calvinism may develop and strength
en- manhood in them as it did in the
! Scotch, and make them a people sturdy
J and strong in all that is noble and
pure. But some people say to me, as
I go from place to place: "The Afro
! Americans do not take to Presbyterian
! ISM" say, mo; neither do the white
! people take to it, They say: 1.-THE
Afro-Americans are more naturally
Methodists or Baptists" / say, mo;
! they are just as the white people are
/ sinners; sinners in need Of the grace OF
| God; sinners to be saved by the preci,
Gus blood Of Jesus Christ" We need
to take Presbyterianism to them.
| Wherever Presbyterianism has gone in
this land among the Afro Americans, it
! has elevated them, not only in their
spiritual and intellectual life, but in
their entire social life as we'll.
We present the claims of the Afro
American to the Christian church of
this country not because as a race he
has any peculiar or superior claims, but
because he is a man, because he is a
sinner because he is degraded, because
he has been oppressed and deprived OF
the advantages of the truest and high
est development of his powers and ca
liabilities; and we ask that the Afro
American be given in America what the
old man down in Georgia prayed for:
| o, Lord, give us all fair chance in the
| race Of life and let the devil catch the
hindernrost nan-and he won't catch
"nigger' all the time" He only
wants white nna!n's chance; not social
equality, but equality of opportunity.