The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1923-06-30
The Colored Church
BY William H. CASTOR.

Every human being should seek
the truth. Truth should be the pin
nacle on every dome, the keystone in
every arch, the foundation of every
human institution. Customs and
laws should harmonic with truth;
no efforts should be made to
direct truth from it's natural course
to harmonic with customs and laws.
Truth is the light that Eliminates
the world; it is the pillow of cloud
by day and the pillow of fire by
night. Every effort to suppress the
The truth is never old; it always
buds and blossoms and bears fruit.
There was a time in the history of
the world when kings were appointed
from on high. That time has passed.
Of course there are fanatical efforts
to hold royalty in the same high es-
TEEN today; but the spirit of democ-
racy says all governments derive
their power from the consent of the
governed. In the discussion of all
subjects honesty and fairness should
prevail. Christianity, it's ceremonies,
it's customs and it's laws, were copied
from the ancients, from those re-
ligions that had existed thousands of
years before the birth of Christ.
The sun, the moon and stars, all in
their turn have been prayed to, been
offered sacrifices and ceremonies, and
been worshiped. The ancient Baby
lonians, Chaldeans, Egyptians and
Persians, the Greeks and Romans all
have in their turn had their govern
ments and laws, their religions and
customs and their civilization. Upon
the banks of the Nile, the Euphrates,
the Tigris and the Tiber civilizations
and customs, laws and religions have
had their day. Each and all in their
turn could have boosted of their su-
periority of governments, laws and
religion.
Many precepts from these religions
are germs of pure morality. There
existed on the Western hemisphere
among Peruvians and Mexicans civil
izations, customs and laws admitted
by some historians to be superior to
the civilization of the Old World in
many respects. The. sacrifices to
Quetzalcotal, the god of the Aztecs
with the prayers and applications of
that deluded people received as much
answer as the ceremonies, supplica-
tions, prayers and sacrifices to Jeho-
yah of the Jews. All the gods of
every tribe and nation have been ap-
pealed to, to suspend the laws of ma
ture. In spite of all the prayers,
sacrifices and ceremonies, floods have
drowned, CONGREGATIONS have swept
the lands with vast destruction and
many thousand deaths; earthquakes
have devoured, lightning have killed
drouth and famine and pestilence
have destroyed the lives of millions
in this world. Through all the ages
past temples have been built from
priests and kings have lived upon
the credulity of the people. The as
trologers expounded their messages
from the stars; the knights, the
dukes and lords were messengers
from the kings, the priests and
prophets were messengers from the
gods. From these early customs
down through ages ours have come;
from the ancients the church of the
present world both black and white.
The church has always been the
institution through which submission
and humility were taught the poor
the weak and the oppressed. Happi-
ness in this world was not to be en-
joyed by the poor; they must hope
for happiness after death. "Spbmit
yourselves to the powers that be-
was never meant for rulers, but the
ruled. The toiling millions must
stake no thought Of tomorrow what
you shall eat or what you shall
wear" Through life the slaves, the