The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1903-02-26

said he would, by urgent request, "preacl
q funeral that morning. Then l learned
that where the slaves could not have the
services of preacher regularly, they
were glad to have now and then q
sermon preached as il in memory of those
| who had died since the last occasion OF
the sort. This they called preaching q
| funeral" and it, was such a discourse to
which I listened at that time.
1t was evident that the preacher could
not read the Bible, and that he had mis-.
understood some of it's words by the
sound; but he had manifestly imbibed the
spirit of its teachings in spite of all his
disadvantages. He announced his text
for the morning, as in the fifth verse of
Mark" Low l come"
"Hear dat, bred'ren! Low Gomez not
high l come De Lord Jesus comes to
de poor and de lowly. OATS a comfort. ~
This was bad exegesis, but it was good
gospel; and SO in other parts of his dis
course.
1t treated of life, death, and the here
after, and of Jesus as sufficient for help,
hope, and salvation, in ALL Practical and
timely truths were put in homely and
forceful phrases, SO that all could cOmpre-
bend them. Although intended as SER
mon of comfort to mourners, and of cheer
] to the oppressed, it made no suggestion
that mere suffering in this life secured
happiness and glory in the next. Jesus
had taken to himself every follower of his,
'brudder or sister, as de case might be-
who had showed loving trust in him by
doing as he commanded. And so it would
be with all who were still here. Their
future would surely conform to the service
of their well-used present.
DE Lord will put yer in JUS de place
! yer be done fit for" lie said. He wants
to give yer a good place, an he will if
yer done fit for it. Yer know how t is
yerself. Some OBJ yer make shoes. When
yer gifts piece O. leather, yer wants to
use it all if yer can. Yer looks it ober.
Yer say, 'Dat'll 40 for de quarters. Dat'll
do for de vamps. Dat'll do for de film.
When yer Famine it ober, and pick out
what yer can use, den yer say OBJ de
| rest, Oar amt no more good dere; dat
goes to de trash pile
"Bred'ren, de Lord'll look yer all ober,
| and he'll put yer whar' yer b'long. If yer
b'long in good place, he'll put yer dar.
But if yer amt done fit for no good place,
yer got to 80 to de trash pile. Yer hab,
shur!"
That was as explicit as to the need of
works as evidencing faith as the teaching
| of St. James or st. Paul. And such
preaching l heard many times repeated,
by negro preachers, in various places along
the coast.
With his imaginative and religious ma
| ture as it was, and with his peculiar train
ing and experiences in bondage as they
had been, necessitated TO conceal his feel
ings and his knowledge, for his own safe
ty, the negro freedman was inevitably "a
| bundle of contradictions" sure to be mis-
| understood by many. In one aspect he
seemed the veriest coward, afraid of his
shadow; in another he seemed almost in
different to danger, and at times truly
courageous, Drawing punishment or death
fearlessly. To some he seemed simple
and unsuspecting as child; to others he
showed himself cautious, suspicious,
shrewd; to yet others he appeared merely
stupid, devoid of intelligent purpose,
thought, or feeling. There was reason,
however, for all this, and the seeming in
consistencies were not SO great as they
seemed.
To the negro mind the unseen world was
more real than the seen. The negro feared
God reyerently, and he was afraid of the
devil and his minions almost abjectly. In
his ignorance he knew no more about the
precise limits of the spiritual realm than
his more intelligent white fellows knew:
but he had far more abiding sense than
many, who ought to be better Informed. of
the sure nearness to this life of the
spiritual sphere beyond it; and he was,
80 SohoeiucHSc,. hioic open, even InOuSn
superstitiously SO, to every influence or
suggestion. actual or fancied, from the
unseen realm about him.
| In accordance with the universal primi-
tive belief that to utter the name of a be.
ing in the spiritual world is to summon
that being to manifest himself, the negroes
deemed it wicked to speak the name of
the devil, as such an utterance indicated
either league with the devil or a desire
for him. My first negro army servant
spoke at one time of one OF the excellent
Captains of our regiment, saying:
THAT Cap'n's dredful wick'd man, Mis-
ser Chaplin"
wicked MANI" I replied. "What
makes you think that, Dick?"
Il heer'd him, sab, say right out dat
| anuder man acted like de debbil-I did.
sab, shuah."
He seemed to feel that this was proof
that the disappearing, and seemingly
wedl-disposed, young officer was given
over to the arch-enemy of mankind, and I
tried In vain to convince him that. the
good Captain was not totally depraved,