The Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, GA.) 1906-1907, October 13, 1906, Image 11

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The Atlanta Georgian., October 13, 1906, Image 11

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Newspaper Page TextSATURDAY. SOUTHERN PROGRAM “And now O, man, what does tho Lord require of thee but to do justice, have mercy and walk humbly with thy God?" Micah vi:8. By REV. JOHN E. WHITE, PASTOR SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH W ITH the utterance of Senator Ben Tillman at Augusta on U October 6, 190G. the South Is niayed to a standstill on the race prob lem. He declared In such a way as to f lv# hl» words the significance of a proclamation, that lynoh law had ut terly failed. Of his right to speak with authority there Is no question. He represents and has represented as prophet and mouthpiece the moral and mental force of the great multitude of Southern people who have felt Justi fied In abandoning the orderly pro cesses of civilisation for the methods of raw and unorganised society. It Is the most significant word that has Lien spoken In recent years when the commander-ln-chtef of these forces marches candidly out and surrenders with the confession that we have to have a new deal; that lynch law has failed It Is not to any useful end now to say that lynching has worse than failed, as to enlarge upon the evils which remain from It. We arc at a point. The Southern white man now comes to pause and reflection. We front a situation. The ories are at a discount. The sobering fact Is that we are facing the possi bility of chaos and we have no pro gram The prudent are alarmed, the optimist all but silenced. There Is no concert, nor as yet the nucleus for a concert of policy. The air le full of clamor, but little light everywhere and no leading. ^ Xow, no maw can be sure that the Southern people or that any people under the conditions could bring about a perfect and peaceful adjustment of s race situation like ours. No man can be sure that the problem can be solved In such a way as to permit the two rices to remain together and both at tain unto the best that Is possible tor them. Every avenue we look Into has s barrier somewhere dawn the line. But we can be sure of one thing. We can do our best with it. We can say, like the Hebrew children, "Our God whom we serve Is able to deliver ua J"*? wl11 deliver us; but If not— . ^, n °t—we will not lower our standard nor bow our kneos to any course except the highest, u> can also be sure of another thing—that we have not done our best yet with the problem. Our best depends upon ouV getting together on something, and on something comprehensive and digni fied enough to become a Southern pro gram which will go at the fundamentals in the negro problem and at the same time command the respect and sym- pathy of the world. The drat step in that direction wll be to realise that we have to do something; that we can not S9 on aa we are without dlsaater. New Factors. The game of "Old Marster" and "My Nigger” Is played out and done. It is our literature, but Is not our life. We have a set of new factors In our problem. So long as the slave owner and his eldest sons on one hand and Ihe negro slave nnd his eldest children on the other were the controlling fac tors the South had a social element which softened the contact of the races. But these ore not now the controlling factors. A new generation of. white men and a new generation of negroes, who have never shaken hands. Tiro face to face; and In the lower ranks of both races, where they meet In their common vices or In their conflicting Interests, there is nothing to easo off the contact. Between the upper and older stratas of our population, white and black, there Is no immediate peril of conflict, but betwoenthe masses the etrata Is one of unconcealed antagon ism. On the part of the whites the at titude Is one of antipathy and con tempt; on the part of the negroes, one nf suspicion and resentment. For in stance, I have no consciousness of dis like for the negro, never did have, and never would have, and I was born since the war. But I have closely ob served that my feeling does not repre sent that of my son. The negro jan itor of my church loves and leans to ward the white people, but he confesses that this Is not the way his sons feel about It. The Atlanta riot presented the antithesis dramatically. The mob that raged and slew around -Henry W. Grady’s monument was made up of youths. Individually and collectively, tint nii.lt i. it.I lluir Him: y I li .fly had Just said before he died, speaking of a negro, "May God forget my peo ple when they forget these,” and yet be utterly unable to share the moral sentiment that overflowed Grady’s heart. We have gone very fast In the South In this direction. It Is almost ns If a people had lost a religion In a decade. So It Is clear to thofe who think that since the old preservative of peace be tween the races Is gone anti we are with respect to the main factors In the problem Without a restraining force we must and a new principle to take Its place. Thing* Fundamental. Some, one has said that the South, with reference to her future, la no ex ception to the laws of universal prog ress. The principles of social growth which have proven their Inevitable ness everywhere else cannot be neg lected. Nothing stable In human so- ,clety Is possible that Is not built on Justice. The Anally governing forces are the elemental forces of truth and righteousness. The perfect law Incor porated In the foundations of civilisa tion Is the basis of all permanent su perstructure. Bfneath civil and social legislation mpst. lie the granitic sub stratum of natural ethics and the al luvial deposits of human expedients are sure to shift and settle to fit the curvaturo of. the everlasting founda tions. One of the ablest and most distin guished sons of Georgia has written me a letter relating to this very matter In which occurs this sentence, “Can there he much religion without Jus tice?” No. It Is Impossible. Nor can there be srnuch civilisation without Justice. Southern men ought to be able to agree on a program of deal ing with the negro with justice as a bottom plank and a guiding star. I do not refer > to legal justice, or Jus- REV. JOHN E. WHITE. tics as demanded under constitutions nnd statutes, but justice with respect to elemental rights. There Is no geog raphy and no ethnology In this sort of justice. The plea for such a program Is not without Its self-regnrdlng mo tive. We have to remember that much more than nine million negroes urc Involved. Twenty-llvo million Anglo- Saxons. their present and their future are at stake. What would It profit us If we should securo the elimination of the negro If In doing so we lost our own soul, our own self-respect and the MMUM' of Almighty God?' If what the Southern people, by legislation or otherwise, are going to do. nnd they muK do something, shall mark a de parture toward permanent relations with the negro race. It will have to be laid down squarely and agreed upon that we are going to do the right in the sight of God nnd men. The Modus-Vivendi. May we not take another etep toward a program by agreeing that we wll! consider the negro as a child-race? If the white man's superiority and the negro's Inferiority are facts, and the white people of the South are not In disagreement about that, are we unable lo come together for a policy that will accept the Christian postulate of the superior bearing the burden of the In ferior? of the new program, If Justice be Its principle, may not mercy be Its temper? In a convention of represen tative Southern leaders to consider the Inauguration of a new policy, It would be perfectly safe to propose that we have a religion to vindicate as well as a problem of the negro to solve. That religion Is Christianity, and the South is Ite best evHngellxed and most orth odox stronghold In America if not In the world. Then It must be clear that the motives of a program Which disregard the vital Imperative of Chrlatlenlty In dealing with the negro would strike disastrously at the churches; through ttiem at the llre- sldee, and finally at the moral con science of the Individual. The feeling that cur Southern situation Is one to which Christianity can have no prac- |lcal message Is not Intelligent. It Is tho very set of conditions to which Christianity has avowedly addressed Itself, viz:—to the relations of * the rich to the poor, the wise to the un wise, the able to ths unable. I think there was never a section or a situa tion was readier for a triumphant test of the principles of the Christian re ligion than we have In the South at l ho present time. I am aware that the fifteenth amend ment to tho constitution has seemed to stand In the way of such a policy— because It disputed and denied the ex istence of the Christian obligation of a strong race to a weak race by making them equals in citizenship. But that amendment was a violation of ele mental righteousness. It Is therefore not at all strange that the fifteenth amendment has fallen Into an lnupers- tlon agreed to by the national con science. It Is no real barrier now. Let our program go back behind everything artlflctal and take cogni zance of the negro race as a people to be ntlnlatered to In mercy and com paaslon. Let It go back of the for tunate representatives of the race who have advanced almost out of sympathy with Ita masses and consider the race in It* composite character and legislate and labor for the tilings that are to Ita real best Interests. We have had repressive legislation the South respecting the negro for thirty years. It has failed. Hut It did not fall because It was restrictive, but because It lacked the right motive. It was not dealgned to do the negro good, but aliped so far as I recall In every Inatance as a defense against him. Examine the statute books of every Southern state for the motive of legis lation concerning and alTectlng the. ne gro. What will you And? You will And that it was framed In. the counsel of Anglo-Saxon fear and not In the counsel of Anglo-Saxon strength. Ws have said that we were the mighty nnd superior race, hut our legislation would suggest to an Investigating so ciologist that we did not seem to be quite sure of It. The result has been consequently disappointing. The negro has been very much alienated and the white people hardened by It. Now. we are’ the superior race; In everything overwhelmingly superior. But the way to establish and perpet uate our supremacy le to reverse the motive of our statesmanship. 1 think restrictive legislation for the negro Is wise legislation, not because I dislike him or am afraid of hint, but because he need* the discipline and may not be softly to lilniHflf ell 11 listed with all privileges. I run my household on that principle. I love my child: I want to safeguard Ids progress. Therefore, I limit Ills rights and. privileges, I owe that debt !<■ tile child's weak ness. It Is my Christian duty to pay It faithfully nnd flrmly. In spite of his misguided objections. For u* to come to the calm and steadfast resolve that the negro rat e us a race ts n child race ami shape our program of -civic and social dealing with him by that resolution Is the voice of Christianity tn this hour. I ant sol emnly convinced. The whole world would honor mid applaud the Southern people If we would rise to a high, strong program like that. I bellow It would win nnd hold the co-operation ot the wise and unselfish among the negroes. We have not achieved the praise of Impartial history during the past thirty years, though we have surely not de served to be as much mtsundersi I iu< we have, snd chiefly because We iinve had no rationale of statesmanship that lifted us to high moral dignity In the eyes of Impartial Judges. In our earlier Southern history nur people were the main makers nf the kind ot power that wings Itself to the heart of humanity. Ir. Wlllldtn Travers Jerome said other day that Virginia had been of more moral worth to the human Jfiiee. than ever so many Pennsylvania!. The South was then engaged In the big business of doing the things that make the heart thrill, that stirred everybody in a noble way. Do I merely Imagine It? Is It a fancy? It Is the truth. It is the Tact. We hnve In the negro problem the opportunity to prove that the South can do better than her critics think. We have the obligation to do things that have not been done toward tho eolvlng of the problem. We have the necessity—the fast- drlvlng fateful necessity right on ua to do something. Oh, for a Southern program! iitHHomootioot TREATMENT OF RELIGION SCIENTIFICALLY By REV. JAMES W. LEE, PASTOR TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH T HERE are those among students of physical science who hold that It is Impossible to turn God'i thoughts expressed through the rellg. lous nature of man Into demonstrable knowledge. Of course. It could never be demonstrated before the eye of sense, or by means of the retort and the crucible, but man has other eensee than such as belong to the body before which to prove things. The Inner spirit has eyes by which It sees things that are not seeable by the natural eye. Moses turned away from a career and a fortune In Egypt to endure a life of trial and peril because he saw Him who Is Invisible. He could never have proven to the earth-bound, earth-filled Pharaohs that he was not a lunatic. He appealed from the flesh-enmekhed kings of Egypt, to the Intelligence of coming ages. We see now that what he turned from was death, and perhaps repose In a pyramid, to a life, trans muted before he died Into law to regu late the conduct ot civilised people forever. Saint Paul turned away from the traditions of the elders tp embrace living truths, the evidences of which were not seen or seeable, but were as certain and dpmonitrable aa tested by the practical lire, as Is a proposition of chemistry established by the test of the crucible. Particular saints, through different res of the past, have correctly Inter preted the thoughts of God expressed through tho religious nature, and turn ed them Into Individual knowledge •urc to them at chemistry Is to alT men now. But private Interpretation of divine thought Is not enough. It must be con verted Into science valid for all men! Popernleus saw the real order of the heavens, and reproduced It In his mind. But he was not satisfied to merely en- Jey within his own consciousness a S rivals monopoly of the thought em ailed In the constellation. He expressed It In a form that has forced the world Into surrender to It. "here may be salkjs on the sea who do not practice all the Implications of It, but there Is not an Intelligent man under the sun who would Imperil his sanity by the contention that the world ■* tint and stands still, while the heavenly bodies revolve around It. <ount Rutnford saw the real nature of heat. He saw that It was not caloric, or phlogiston or an Igneous fluid, hut a mode of- motion. This was science to him, but It was not, perhaps, |° any other man on earth. He might have luxuriated In this private Insight and taken unction to himself as being [he only human being In possession of this wonderful Item of truth. But he put his knowledge Into form before which all human Intelligence has ca pitulated. That heat Is a mode of mo tion Is a conception that circulates wherever men use steam engines and ride on electric cars and steamships. Heat was here since the world was made, and so were the atoms and the stars. Men'warmed themselves by the Are and used It to cook their food and light their houses before any science of Are was over dreamed of. But no one will deny that a science that settles the question of heat's nature, origin, methods of action and uses has been of unspeakable benefit to mankind. It relieved human muscle from the ne cessity of turning the countless wheels of toll. It has revolutionized the domes tic, social and political conditions cf existence. As long as It was thought to be phlogiston or caloric It wai the endless theme of. dispute. Now It Is never discussed, knowing exactly what It Is, nothing Is left for sensible people to do but to utilise Its power and keep It at work. It Priestly, Dalton and oth ers hgd not organised the thought ex- ireaaed through atoms Into a body of knowledge that has compelled univer sal consent, men would still he hotly engaged In a war of words over the elements as In the middle ages. What we do In modern tlmea la not to dla pute about chemistry, but apply Its experimentally ascertained truths to the myriad uses of civilized life. The demand of Ihe present age is to Or ganise the thought contained In facts of the spiritual life Into a science as Imperious and authoritative In the re ligious realm as It chemistry In the domestic and commercial. As It Is, the infinite reality that comes to the rea son through the religious nature, Is Interpreted privately or denomi nationally. The Roman Catholic In terprets It one way and the Protest ant another. The Brahman has his In terpretation, the Mahommedan his, the Confuclanlst his, the free thinker his, the agnostic his, and the atheist his. I. There Is no Roman Catholic chemis try, or Protestant astronomy, or Budd histic botany or Confuclan geology. There Is but one science of mathemat ics, or of astronomy, or of chemistry', which all alike are not at liberty to either receive or reject, but which all alike are compelled to nccept, as com pletely as General Stoessel was com pelled to accept the terms of surrender offered by General Nogl at Port Ar thur. Without any question spiritual truth expressed through the religious nature of humanity ts infinitely more Important than any other. In the phy sical sciences, truth Is classified that touches us for time, but In the science to be made out of religious truth, we will have knowledge that concerns us for time and eternity. Physical science Is to educate us and help us on our earthly pilgrimage. Religious truth Is to be our very food, forever. Along with science In the lower ranges of being has come unity of thought. Chem ically, the human race Is a brother hood. We are all astronomical broth ers, and we will all be religious broth ers when we organize Into science valid for all men the thought our Father has expressed through the religious nature, as we have organized Into science the thought He has expressed through the atoms and the stars. It does not follow that certain knowledge of what God has expressed through the religious nature of man wilt of Itself make aalnta of all men. Salvation does not consist In merely knowing the truth, but In doing tho truth. There are chemists who violate, by eating and drinking, the laws of health, but they would never think of denying the doctrines of chemistry as an excuse for It. The science of religion, based upon tho divine thought expressed through the facts of the spiritual nature, will give us a recognised and universally valid standard of truth for the guidance of the Inner life. It will eliminate Indi vidual theorlss Insofar as they fall to conform to the scientifically Interpreted facts of religion. The religious charm er and Innovator will be claseed along with the Indian rain-maker and the negro root doctor. A science of religion Is as possible as a science of the outside world or a science of the Inside self. Professor Clifford declared that our inferences of physical science were of something ac tually or potentially In consciousness, and not of anything outside of It. Hume held that our perceptions of an Inside self were nothing more than Impres sions which passed In a continual flow and really came from no self, because he denied there was any for them to come from. So the materialists would deny that religious perceptions are true reports of any Infinite spiritual being seeking to get Into communication with us. No one with the history of the rare before his mind can deny that re ligious Intuitions are as common as cognitions of Ihe outside world, or of tho Inside self. Th equeatlon of the significance and value of the different perceptions Is the one we have to set tle. We get nur religious science ex actly as we get our adehce of the ma terial world, and of the Individual self. Knowledge never reaches the degree of certainty necessary to make It science until It Is tested by the will and the action of the practical life. Impres sions might continue to come up before the reason forever, from the world dr self or God, and these might be con verted Into conceptions, but they would REV. JAMES W. LEE. never amount to science until they were tested through practice. Sensa tions come In from the tangible world, and reason reacts upon them and builds up an Ideal world that seems to correspond to the world from which the sensations come, but there Is no possible way of determining this ex cept by action. Watt perceived the steam in the tea-kettle lifting the lid. Ills reason reacted upon the Intuition. He conceived the Idea of an engine ? rlth n furnace sand a boiler, so ar- anged as to utilize the power for driv ing the machine along rails laid on a roadbed for purposes of transportation. This whole contrivance was completed In Ills mind. Not a person, we will suppose, knew anything of the marvel ous device he had Ideally worked out for transporting freight and passen gers . He might have given wings to his Imagination nnd belted In thought the planet with his railway tracks and sent flying along them great flre- churged six-drivers. He might have called together a vast audience of in- telllgerit people and proclaimed In mag nificent language the world he saw transformed and revolutionized by the Iron chariots he had built In the shops of his Imagery. The would have doubtless been Interesting, but not science. It lacked the practical test. It was all Intellectual and theoretical. But when the powers of the will and the practical life were called Into co operation with the conceptions of the reason nnd when the Ideal tracks were actually turned Into Iron ones and the Ideal engine was transmuted Into a tangible one, and when the actual en gine moved over the actual tracks, then everybody was ready to admit that the whole mental movement preceding the results Into which It was worked was scientific. . It was scientific because It stood the test to which It was subject ed by the will ami the practical life. It was scientific because It conformed to tho laws ot the universe. It was scien tific because it was not only true to Watt as he saw It In his Imagination, but was true to all men as they saw It expressed and doing work. It was scientific because It not only answered to thought, It answered to act. It was scientific because while coming down from the mental clouds made up of fancy and emotion, it was capable nf making Its way through the outside world of earth. It was scientific be cause something assumed to be true by the Inventor, proved In fact to be true In practice. III. The teals which knowledge built out of sense-perceptions must meet In nr. der to be called science, are exactly the same knowledge formed from re ligious perceptions must meet to be called science. No knowledge la science unless It can stand the teat of the practical life. And all knowledge la science, whether made from sense- perceptions, self-perceptions or relig ious perceptions, that can measure up to the tests of the practical life. In saying this It is meant that knowledge formed of perceptions from any level of existence that can meet the wear and tear of the stress of the hard work-a- day world of storm and change and death shows Itself thereby to be univer sally valid. Such knowledge vindicates Itself ns being In conformity with the real nature of thlnga and perfectly adapted, like a well-built ahip, to aall any aea and weather any atornt. St. Augustine, up tu the age of twenty- eight years, tells us he was utterly god less and wicked. His good mother. Monaco, had prayed for him constantly, and had given her aon careful rellgloua training. Auguatlna had rellgloua per- ceptlona, both of hla own wickedness nnd of the willingness of God to forgive him. These cante up before his reason and were converted Into conceptions, but they were not acted upon. They were like the pictures of a kaleidoscope, appearing but to fade away. In utter dlaguat with himself he felt at length that ha could proceed In a life of wilful sin no longer. Opening the Bible at random to read the first verse that met hla eye he saw the words of St. Paul tn the thirteenth verse and thirteenth chapter of Ro mans. “Not In a chambering nnd wan tonness,” etc., and then he made up his mind to act on his knowledge. The very moment he did this the windows ot heaven were opened and a flood of light and Inspiration and Joy came Into his soul which revolutionised his life. He was lifted from-the very depths of despair and guilt to the heights of self- mastery nnd thrilling hope. By action, by the exercise of the will In surrender to a higher i>ower, Ills theoretical knowledge.of God reached the degree of certainty that made It science. As surely as Watt turned his theoretical knowledge Into science by the action which started hla engine, so certainly did A - ' knowli _ ... which made him a new man. But some will contend that the science reached by Augustine through action Is not like that reached by Watt through ac tion. valid tor all wan, Put It la. Au gustine by hla work and writing altar conversion determined the direction of rellgloua history for a thousand yean. He changed the ecclesiastical and doc trinal conditions of hla age. He ar rested and destroyed the teachings of the Donatllsts and thePelaglana. Watt’s englnt affected the surface conditions of modern life, while Augustine's work affected the Interior conditions of the soul. It Is harder to change and dlract the emotions of the human spirits, than to cut down mountains for a railroad track, or to forge the molecules of Iron Into u steam engine. The practical ef fect of Augustine's work In lha history of the human race la greater and pro- are we to rssoive iiiuugni uaca i founder than that wrought by the|brain molecules before we can treat steam engine. He made his theoretical, scientifically? Is thought nothing mo knowledge science by the use of the than the exhalation of brain atoms, i only method any knowledge ran be vapor la the exhalation of river ntomi made Into science—that Is, by the test! This cannot be, for the cxhalatl of action. He sssumsd<that the lessons Ills mother had taught him, affirmed hv He faced a new future. All things pre sented to him a different aspect. Other reasons for existence than he had ever felt liefore wore recognized. A new sun shone In tho heavens. The sword of Orion and all the heavenly hosts seemed to have a look or kindly Inter est and a welcome for hint. Through the coming years he saw the outlines of a growing career. The Inflnlto trans formation had been brought about by the exercise of the will acting In line with the Intimations of his spiritual intuitions. His entire Intellectual om it was sent Into universal circulation. Down through fifteen hundred chang ing, destructive years. It has come to us. "The Confessions" through all time will leach that action It the secret of making religious science out of the oretical knowledge. "The City of God” will forever bear witness tn tho truth that a city built on the intuitions of God with which the will co-operates, outlasts a city like Imperial Rome, built on the' Intuitions or sense. If answering to act on the part of mate rial things assumed lo be true as though they were true constitutes phy sical science, why does It not follow that answering to act on the part of spiritual things aeaumed to he true aa though they.were truo constitutes re ligious science? Are we to be driven to accept the doctrine that there Is nothing but mud and such animated existence as can make tracks In It? Are we to conlude that there Is nothing except matter anil motion forever rlelng and falling In space? Can we not observe nnd tic- i scribe the uniform sequences nnd co existences of thoughts. Ideas, concep tions* sensations, feelings, emotions, out of which civilisation has grown, as well os we can observe and describe the movements of matter nnd force out of which the material world has grown! Are we to resolve thought back Into Ihe religious percaptlona of his inlnd. were true, nnd acted on them and found as the result his whole life come up from a degraded level of Im potence snd contradiction Into har mony with his surroundings and Into consonance with the laws of the uni verse. His mental machinery, which had been at work before conversion pouring oqt reflections on on* side from intuitions coming In from th* other without any aim. now with the help of the will began’!o work with s purpose. His life became significant river atoms are but s more sublimated form of the river. But thought un- not therefor* be any refined form of brain particle*. Material things produc e sensations, which are particular feel ings. These particular feelings through the powers of the mind become uni versal Ideas. An animal before the eyes produce* it countless number of particular sensations. These would re main separate and atomic feelings if the reason did not take them nnd uni versalize them and put them under one to act on the part of Hpltltual things assumed to be true as though they were true. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CHURCH j By REV. EVERETT DEAN ELLENWOOD, PASTOR UNIVERSALIST CHURCH T He "problem" which looms dark and foreboding as' a national menses Is very naturally at this time receiving an unusual amount of attention from thoughtful men In every »«lk and station In life. A discussion , ‘he popular, though unpleasant, top- tn a recent forceful editorial In The ;institution, reveals certain encourag- Jtur symptoms. In this editorial the writer arrives at the conclusion that tn» solution of this constantly growing perplexity rests with the Christian raurches. the pastors nnd the Christian P*°Pte of this community, and bases his [onciueion on the hypothesis that It Is •* moral snd ethical problem and that i. , on **• therefore, its only solvent. I* encouraging Indeed to observe this theory taking shape In the columns Ik, the Public press, and the people of ‘"Is community are Indeed fortunate mnt they are dally reached by newspa- P” r " edited and managed by men of "53* catholicity of spirit that they are wtfling to become, through much vatu- flme space in-their columns, the mouth piece of ibe avowed leaden ot rellgloua thought, regardless of credal distinc- This Is a genuine blessing, for which the people of Atlanta should J!™' ® practical appreciation. Certain ,i he papers of this city surely deserve the hearty support snd loyalty of all ho stand for those things which make tor, an enduring civilisation. ' "rtalnly this great problem Is a moral and ethical one, and therefore Its solution must come to us through the medium of religion. If religion be in deed “the life of God In the soul of man,” then we may not look with hope to any attempt at politic* which does not find the very source of Its being In religion. While gratefully Indorsing the pre dominant Idea of the editorial above re ferred lo, and eagerly accepting the challenge which It extends to the cause which I endeavor to represent, I desire at this time to stress a different appli cation of the responsibility of the church from the one emphasised by the writer. A* I read the editorial, the suggestion was that the white preach ers of this community, and Indeed of the entire Southland, should come to the rescue of their colored brethren so often Inadequately equipped for their mighty task, snd by frequent personal ministration, assist them In preaching the powerful gospel of personal rlght- eousnsss to their own constituents. It Is a bold, clear-cut suggestion, and doubtless a good one, and aa for myself. I should be eager lo attempt to follow It. The commlselon under which I have promised to "preach the gospel to every creature" was Issued by one who knew no distinctions of race or station. But. Is it not quite possible, nfter nil, that the average white minister can do more effective work In finding the solvent for this vexing problem, by as siduously applying all nis powers to tbt tremendous task of humanizing and evangelising th# particular group of hla own people committed by circum stance to hit care? Is it likely that the average minister will have anytime or strength to spare If he does hi* full duty by his own people? I would contend, however, that very much of the effort now so earnestly directed toward the evangelisation of the so-called heathen In distant lands might be much more consistently em ployed In the actual civilization of the savages of two races here at our very firesides. Shall we not merit the Just censure of our loved leader and teach er who drew the searching lesson of the "mote and the beam." when we presume to reprove our brethren of other tongues and climes for their modes of life and thought, while our own hearts-are ravaged and tom by passions which know no God of Love or Prince of Peace? What shall It profit, either to them or to us, If we shall go with all the earnestness and power that Ood may give u*. and-preach Christ to the ne groes If the members of our churches continue, with unremitting zeal, to practice among them the unmistakable works of the devil? We believe thst the gospel of Jesus Christ Is indeed the power of clod unto salvation, but we must never forget thst this power was first mod* effec tive by Its Incarnation In a human life. The gospel of Jeans received Its first REV. E. D. ELLENWOOD. practice. The negro may be pleased J and even convinced by our platitudes ImpetusTnot from preaching, but from but he will only be moved to Incorpor ate them Into his life by what we do. And, for our rncoumgement. let us not forget that this wenksr race which It I* our solemn obligation to endeavor to uplift, has an Increasing number of truly worthy leaders. If we are sble to put aside whatever of deep rooted ■prejudice may still hedge In our hon esty, and confer with these leaders as men to men, we shall discover lo our comfort nnd relief that they have re ceived Intelligently the commission of their Master, and that they have equipped themselves to affectively exe. cute It. And, a* the salvation of the Individual can never com* from with out, but must 'be generated from with in. so the pages of history constantly remind us that the saving leaders of nations have been evolved and nqt bor rowed. Muses not not nn Egyptian, even though he was so loltitimle as In receive his training iu Ih* home -cf Pharaoh. But. while we continue to demand that this Inferior race shall persistently "work out Its own salvation’’ with all of the encouragement and co-operation that lies In our power, let us not for get that, because of the close associa tion, its rise or fall In true ethics and moral* must be largely dependent upon our own corresponding progress. And let our own proud race be not too com placent ami sanguine of its salvation. The clock of opportunity has struck high noon for the churches ami th* re ligious leaders ot Atlanta. Scores of earnest, thinking men, far too mauy of whose shadows have not fallen across the doors of the sanctuary for many eventful months, and whose evident estimate of the church has been that of a good place for children and aged people, are. now turning to the church and to Its clergy with the despulring cry, "save us or we perish." Religion has suddenly been discov ered to occupy a prominent place In the plan of civilisation. The encour aging roar of the wheels of commerce, the cheery whiff of the spindles of In dustry, and the merry clink of the dol lars of barter, are revealed to be but the surface Indications, and not the dependable basis of an enduring civili sation. By the chastening rod of many a humiliating experience are we learn ing that unless God be the architect, we do but build a monument to our folly for the reproach of untold genera tions. How shall we use this splendid op- nortunlty? How shall we discharge this tremendous 'responsibility? By forgetting theology and preaching re ligion; by forsaking dogma and preach ing Christ and Him risen from the dead. By being no longer content to please or to Interest our respective con gregations. but by wrestling earnestly with Ood In prayer that we may be able to move their hearts to righteous ness. By being completely willing to he used of God In upbuilding His king dom. The opportunity is a ijjtusl one; the responsibility is divided. Let every one fearlessly search his heart as he enters the church of Ills choice or habit. Let him pray that he may ariu.iiii enter ns hallowed portal to worship Uoil. mid to be taught of Ilfs law. Let him de mand of himself that the object of Ids attendance be worship and service, nnd not amusement and entertainment. Let him forget to be critical of the false notes of the soprano or the gentle mon otone of the preacher's voice. Let him lie grateful rather than Indignant. If it shall chance to be that his preacher, strongly moved by the righteous Indig nation of God, shall utter scathing re buke of selfish prejudice and blind big otry. protecting. Itself from correction under the clonk of religion. Let him be willing to listen to snd to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as they fell from the lips of the Master, In stead nf demanding of his preacher that these teachings be so "halved" and modified and so carefully and tactfully” presented that they shall cause no lacerations In a coucler.ee rendered by tong habit of th ee|S* ternaturally sensitive. If the rhuroh-golng people of Hits community will thus earnestly and lov ingly co-operate with their respective ministers, and if the ministers shall he brave enough to preach with directness and with power the unqualified gospel of Jesus Christ, Ihe gospel of personal righteousness, the next generation shall receive from our hnnds this old, old problem much nearer a solution Mian now seems possible tu veil many of ua.