The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-16
4HE COLORED EIHOR9ER
Old Style Negro Preachers Wan
ing in the North.
New Ideas of Theology Find Place In
Large Citics-Many Favor Com
munity of Worship Among People
of All Rnccs-COIored Membership
of the Episcopal Church.

Oplnl0n Is divided as to whether the
colored people of the United States as q
body are entirely in sympathy with The
| point of view which makes of them a
perennial source of low comedy fun fer
| their white fellow citizens. The idea that
every good negro is born lend man,
and that no man with African blood in
| his Veins has any moral right to be taken
seriously. still prevails among. perhaps.
majority of the white Americans who
think about the subject at all. The efforts
of Booker T. Washington. accepted as
worthy of the most respectful considera-
ton by all classes of Americans. and the
| recent appearance among American men
| of letters Of at least one writer whose
| skin is black, and who insists upon call
| ing himself a negro and nothing more,
| have done much to override what may be
called the 'Rastian" idea of the colored
man.
Among the colored clergymcn OF New
York City this change is beginning TO
show itself Enthusiastically. Ii is more evil
dent now than 1t will be in the near fu-
| ture, because the transition of the colored
| preacher in these parts from the old Time
| type to the modern promises to be soon
complete. and then there will be few of
eXhorters left to serve the instructive
pui poses of comparison. AS it is. you may
find representatives of both the past and
the present in the colored pulpits or on
street corners within a moderate Sunday
ramble through the boroughs of Manhat-
tan and Brooklyn.
In Manhattan the "darky" preacher of
humorous literature, whose amazing flow
of language has supplied the point Of so
Gfn nj 10
holding forth on Sunday afternoons, espe-
cially in the "Tenderloin" district Brook
lyn, however. as the City of Churches.
seems to boast a larger number Of regular
colored congregations and preachers OF the
waning type than can be found in any
equal area on this side Of the bridge, and
the general churchliness of Brooklyn does
not wholly account for this fact. A grey
haired. mahogany-skinned sexton, janitor.
or whatever may be his correc. official de-
scription. At the door of an old-fashioned
Brooklyn Zion" explained last night that
the colored people of New York
who have had the misfortune to be
born and raised" in this ungodly settle
ment are, as class. more given to "sit-
tin down drinkin' beer and actin foolish
than to religious exercises; that the true
piety OF his race must be looked for
among those who come from the South.
Brooklyn is full of colored Southerners
who have come to look for work. This de-
ponent himself was Of evident Southern
origin, and the proceedings within his
church were the counterpart Of those with
which the Southern school Of fiction
writer's have familiarized the reading pub
lie. The preacher, after whose name on
the church single squad of four hon.
orihc initials were paraded, showed only
half-hearted inclination to adopt the
modern quiet methods of discourse. His
hardly more than conversational pitch and
volume Of voice throughout two-thirds of
a sentence only intensified the deafening.
inarticulate effect Of his cfimaxes. There
was all the obvious straining for big
words, at the expense of logical yconsis-
tency. which chiefly characterized the
plantation preacher Of the past. and placed
a visit to 'darky camp meetings" among
the principal amusements of white Wis
itors to the South. And all this was evil
IDENTIFY to the taste Of the congregation,
for a chorus OF voices punctuated the dis
course with loud expressions Of approval.
II was all genuinely Southern. and repre-
sentative of the adherence to tradition
which Is even stronger in the Southern
negro than in the Southern white.
The academic degrees indicated in con-
nection with the name OF this preacher
and others like him are referable PARTLY |
to colleges of which fes. white people |
have ever heard, and partly to the Gus
tom of his Church. which rewards two or
three years of satisfactory pastorate with
e degree in divinity. The foil to this old |
fashioned congregation is another in the |
same section OF Brooklyn, that Of st. Au-
gustine. This is a moderately high |
Episcopal congregation which has existed |
on its present regular footing for about |
ten years. The Church of st. Augustine |
gratefully acknowledges itself under OBJ |
legations to famous Trinity Parish, but |
aspires to raise a fund sufficient to mi |
crate and rebuild on a site more desira- |
BILE than its present one, In the vicinity |
Of the navy yard. Its pastor. the Rev. |
G. f. Miller, was trained for ordination !
at the General Theological Seminary. in |
this city, in the company OF scores CT |
white fellow candidates for holy orders. |
Though native OF South Carolina. the |
effect of his training is shown plainly In
his language and manner. which are such |
as to leave nothing to ditferentiate him !
from white members of his profession, eX-
cept the color OF his skin. AS he himself
says. III could not have had the same
training as my white brethren, 1 wouldn't
have taken orders at ALL
II is hardly necessary to say that the
Anglican services and the more refined
pulpit methods of St. Augustine's have
little attraction for those colored wor-
shippers in whom the devotional tradi
lions and tastes of the plantation are
still potent. The congregation, though
not wealthy. is made up mostly Of the bet
ter educated and more progressive men,
bers OF the race and a large number Of
them are immigrants from the British
West Indies-negroes and mulattoes who.
as rule are better educated than those
born in this country. but who can find
here a more promising field for the ex-
A. irry nyrt. hos ut hrr I
The theological views most in favor in
the Protestant Episcopal Church are de-
,idedly opposed to the maintenance Of any
middle wall of partition" between the
races. and favorable to the community OF
worship among persons OF all colors. but
he social heritage of slave holding ideas
makes 1t expedient in modern conditions
% tolerate the establishment OF certain
churches specially for the colored brethren.
II this way the congregation Of st. Philips.
IL. David, and st. Augustine, OF which the
lrst mentioned has existed at least half a
century, came to be recognized by the
diocesan authorities Of New York and
.ong Island. One effect OF an increase Of
OF the Episcopal Church among
he colored population must necessarily be
o extinguish the older idea of two sets OF
moral and devotional needs. one for the
9hlte man and another for the black. and
his change Is powerfully assisted by the
variable rule of supplying colored con-
.resations with pastors trained in the
chcols of the white clergy. 1t Il said that !
he colored membership OF the Church is
teadily increasing, being recruited not
My by the addition of immigrants, but
Iso from among the younger and more en- I
ghtened OF native Afro-Americans. The
pactacle of eassocked and surpliced priests
18th negro or mulatto compilations serv-
lg at affairs furnished in the recognized