The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-10

~ uo ulu not see 1t no plainly then
as he did, but time is making it plain
er. We have before us great future
for st. Mary's School, if we will see it
and do our duty by it. 1t needs no
violent revolution or extraordinary
| skill of management. 1t is a natural
growth and development, if we will
| only supply it with the means OF
growth. 1 hope it may always be st
| Mary's School, In the vast multipii-
cation of colleges and Institutes and
| universities. the time is coming when
| to be st. Marys School will be like a
| special distinction of honor. But st.
| Mary's School should stand as the
noble crown upon the rising structure
| of our Southern church schools for
girls.
II say therefore to you, brethren
and fathers of the diocese of North
| Carolina, that you, our own people,
who owe so much to this school, and
| to those noble men who founded it.
| ought to pay off that debt which still
remains-the balance of the purchase
Imoney. IF the rector and trustees Of
the school, while maintaining those
| modest charges which so widely ex-
tend the benefits of the school among
our people, can yet each year make
some few hundreds, or even a few
thousands, of dollars profit out of the
school, that profit ought to go to in
|creaSing the advantages and pcrfecting
the equipment of the school, and to
aiding poor and promising pupils I'M
able to pay all their expenses Our
church people ought to pay the debt
and free the school from the encum-
branCe.
and further than this, out of the
abundance with which God has blessed
US, to provide those additional accom-
modations and those buildings so
much needed in order to provide for
an increased number of pupils. There
is no reason why we might not double
the number of the pupils of the school
if we had proper accommodations for
them We have deliberately chosen to
become a general institution for {,
large section of the Southern country,
instead of a mere diocesan school.
Having chosen this sphere, 1t is our
duty to fill it worthily."
On the subject of church work
among the negroes, Bishop Cheshire
said:
Church Work Among Negroes.
"The older members Of the con-
vention remember we'll when slavery
existed in the South, and when every
congregation of white people had its
proportion of slaves, attending the
same church, baptized by the same
minister, confirmed by the Bishop
kneeling at the rail with their masters
and mistresses, receiving the Holy
Communion at the same altar. The
abolition of slavery did not at once
change this. But this was perhaps the
natural expression of the kindly rela-
ton existing between a Christian mas
h
ably could not have continued under
SO fundamental and absolute change
in the relation between the two races.
At any rate it did not continue. Eman.
| cipation and enfranchisement follow
| ing emancipation, soon separated the
races and made separate places OF
worship q practical necessity. And i'll
recognizing this necessity the church
was merely recognizing distinction in
nature, stamped by God upon His
work and not a human distinction OF
| fortune or of social condition. She
was ehdeavoring to provide worship
and instruction of a special character
| for q people whose moral and intel
| lectual development demanded some
| special recognition and provision.
But while special conditions may
| thus demand special arrangements for
worship and instruction, there is an
| important truth to be guarded and an
essential principle to be conserved.
| The church is one; and there must be
an outward anu visible expression of
| that oneness. This church, of which
we are members, has always maintain
| ed the obligation of outward and Wis
| ble Unity, expressed in the organiZa-
! tan and polity of the church, and has
repudiated the idea of different
churches for different classes or races
of people. And so, when the results
| of The war and of emancipation haG
| separated the whites and the negroes
into different congregations of wor-
shippers, the church in North Caro-
| lima preserved the idea of Unity, and
continued its testimony to that Catho-
| lie principle, by organizing the colored
| congregations into parishes and mis-
sions, where there seemed to be suffi-
cient strength and intelligence, and by
admitting the colored clergy and par
| iSheS into union with the Diocesan
| convention. This is the way in which
our fathers of the individual church
in North Carolina met the issues OF
| those trying times, and this heritage
| they left to us. For one, / think they
| did nobly, wisely and well. Their ac-
| ton was based upon a plain and dis
! tinct principle of Christianity and OF
| ecclesiastical tradition. There was nc
! shifty compromise about it. 1t pro
vided for that separation in the more
| intimate and social relation or worship
| and instruction which the difference
| in race justified; and in the purely
formal and official business of our an
nual legislative meetings it provided
for an open and visible expression Of
| the oneness into which Christ, our Di-
vine Redeemer. gathers together al
the children of God, of every race ano
condition, who in their natural es-
| arrangement are scattered abroad. i
| gives a point of sympathetic contac
| between the two races. 1t helps the
weaker race by keeping before then
| the ideals of the stronger; it helps the
| stronger race by teaching them no
| to despise or forget their weaker
| brethren. 1t has given 20 the State
and people of North Carolina an ex
| ample of one church at least. large
enough in spirit and in charity to con
| tain the highest and the lowest within
| it's fold 1t is not claimed for this ar
rangement that it has altogether pre-
vented the inconvenience and embar
easements likely to rise from time t.
| time in the multiplied and complicat
| ed points of contact and of divergence
/ between the two races; but | do hon
estly believe that there has been les
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