The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-27

Tuskegee. May '6-(speciaL )-The
thiry- second commencement sermon al
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Insti-
tute for Negroes, Booker T. Washing
ton, principal and founder, was
preached in the spacious chapel Sunday
afternoon before an audience number
ing 25oo by the Rev. John e. White.
d. D., pastor of the Second Baptist
church, Atlanta Dr. White used for his
theme, The Coming People" and Sc
lected for his text the fifth chapter of
Matthew, fifth verse: "The meek shall
inherit the earth'
DIR. White arrived at Cheehaw from
Atlanta Saturday evening and was met
at the depot by w. w. Campbell, vice
president of the board of trustees of
Tuskegee institute: C. w. Hare and the
Rev j. Renfro Curry, pastor of the
Baptist church, Tuskegee, and was
driven by automobile to the town of
Tuskegee where he preached a strong
sermon Sunday morning at DIR. Curry S
church Sunday afternoon he preached
the commencement sermon at the insti-
tute. He was accompanied by white
citizens of Tuskegee. Following is a
part of his powerful sermon which was
heard with deep interest and which
produced profound impresslon:
In these words, Blessed are the
meek for they shall inherit the earth,
Christ deals with one of the great
fundamental issues over which Chris
tianfty and the world are utterly un-
reconciled. 1t deals with question
MO i~ s,,t. =
and In which Christianity IL 1t is faith
ful to Christ must become greatly in
terested. 1t touches the problem of
human ascendency. Who are the COM
ing peop1e?s What race and nation is
chosen of destiny for survival and pre-
dominance? or what type are the people
to be who inherit the earth and con-
trol the destinities of mankind? At this
moment four great races--Teutonic.
Celtic. Slavonic, Mongolian-are lined
In battle array on tho map of the
world. Statesman and scientists are
analyzing the variant types seeking to
forecast the outcome of the dramatic
competition on a world scale.
I'm the smaller area of industry and
commerce, in the professions and prI-
vate walks of life, In the university
and in the home. the question of sue
cess and the achievement of influence
and power Is constantly compelling a
study of character and quality of man
hood to discover what sort of human
being and what principles of action are
ordained to possess the earth This is
the question Jesus dealt with 1900 years
ago. He declared that the coming peo-
pie are the meek, that the character
istic quality of the ultimate man shall
be meekness The meek shall inherit
the earth 1t is impossible to suppose
that He did not mean what He said
1t is an evasion to reckon that the
earth and its promised Inheritance re-
fers to heaven or the hereafter. We
cannot avoid the plain import of the
words that He is announcing the oracle
of God that meekness contains the
quality of final triumph in this present
absolute reputation of this as a phil
osophy of success. Nothing that Jesus
said while He was on earth is more
utterly despised and rejected among
men. We are willing to allow that
meekness is a commendable and even
a POLITICALLY beautiful trait of charac-
ter. But the meek inherit the earth,
Never. 1t appears contrary to reason,
to history, to experience and contrary
1t is scientifically asserted to great ma
ture itself.
What then did Christ mean by meek
ness? The true answer is suggested If
We would translate the text in these
words Blessed are the tame for they
shall inherit the earth This means
that the meek are those who are thor