Newspapers / The Star of Zion … / Sept. 22, 1898, edition 1 / Page 1
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ORGAN OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH IN AMERICA. Charlotte, N. C., Thursday, September 22,1898. Number 40, FREDERICK DOUGLASS The Hon. John C. Dancy Pays a Glowing Tribute To Him. THE DEAD STATESMAN. In the person of I'on. John C. Dandy, Collector of Ports at Wil mington, N. C., who was next in troduced, the audience at once re cognized in his eloquence, chaste diction and harmonious rhetoric, the orator of the day. Possessing splendid powers of delivery, true emphasis of gesture and voice of dramatice tone and elfect, the gift ed son of the South electrified and held spellbound h i s audience. Glowing, indeed, was the tribute he paid the great abolition leader and generous were the eulogisms paid his memory. In brief the speaker said: “Any eulogy I may make of Frederick Douglass ban only em phasize those already made by oth ers who have preceded me on oth er occasions. The best tribute to his memory is tame in compari son with the actual ichievements of his life, considering its early environments. He M as indeed the architect of his own fortune, ‘the builder of the ladder by which he climbed.’ His birth, his race, his condition as a chattel, were all against him, and his first and greatest obstacle was to conquer these, and minimize their influ ence as recognized insurmountable barriers. His boyhood did not prophecy one of the most remark able careers this nation has seen, nor did anything in his early life indicate that he was born to a no ble destiny. His mot ler was prob a greater woman than his fa was a man, and! he no doubt inherited from her tt e qualities of soul which were in him the inspir ing, overmastering power which moved and electrified vast audi ences, and made him the wonder and.admiration of the world. “Mr. Douglass always insisted that we must not be measured by the heights to which we have at tained, but rather by the depths from which we have come. These depths ivere lower than those from which Garfield came—and he drove a canal boat; or front which Grant came—and he was a tanner; or Lincolh—and he was a rail split ablv ther cer. “Douglass came fiom depths far beneath any of these, for he was a slave and had to go further to reach their starting; point- than either of them went in the entire journey of their triumphs. Wise ly and philosophically did he re mark, immediately if ter the war closed, at a great meeting held in Dr. Sunderland’s church: Tt’s a long way from the corn fields of Maryland to Dr. Sunderland’s church in Washington.’ The ac tual distance was on y about twen ty miles, but it took Mr. Doug lass’1 forty years to go the journey —like Moses, forty years in the wilderness. He has lold me that he walked the decks of steamers that .i--- - plied between the ports of New York and Boston, because ha was denied accommodation elsewhere. And yet even this affront to his sensitive nature did not curb his ambition, relax his efforts to up lift himself and race, or smoulder the burning fires of his manhood. Obstacles which would have abso lutely sapped the vitality and the hopes of almost any other man seemed to be to him an inspira tion, which nerved him to more superhuman efforts, in order to more transcendent triumphs. ‘‘But Douglass laid well his foundation; a fugitive slave he be gan his life of liberty, as it were,' under the shadow of Plymouth Rock, at New Bedford, Mass. He early identified himself with an unpretentious little A. M. E. Zion church, where he became sexton, steward, Sunday-schoojj superin tendent, exhorter and finally local preacher. It was in these capac ities that he was introduced to the ‘Whaling City,’ as his splendid physique and magnificent pres ence, as well as speech filled with soul, attracted^!© him the atten tion of all who saw and heard him.” The speaker described Douglass’ entrance into prominence as a plat form orator in the abolition cause. “It was at New Bedford where Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison held a meeting. Douglass in response to an invita tion for any representative of the colored race to speak, went for ward and made such a speech that the audience went mad with wild est expressions of sympathy and indignation. He was engaged at once. The next morning he awoke a great man. His fame was se cure and he went forth to light the battles of liberty. In New England, the West and Canada, he faced riotous elements of oppo sition, and by the magnificence of his eloquence transformed antag onistic mobs into enthusiastic sup porters. In him the cause and the man met, and the Cause became a part of the man. “With Senator Charles Sumner, Douglass jointly urged President Lincoln to issue a call'for volun ) teer colored troops. To that call 200,000 ebony-hued sops of Ham responded. His sons were among the first to enlist. He proved his faith by his works. At Fort Wag ner, Fort Pillow and Petersburg these troops proved themselves as much the flower of the army as the 9th and 10th Cavalry and 24th and25th Infantry, did in saving the Rough Riders and capturing El Caney and San Juan hill from the Spaniards. The glory of the Black Regiments will go down the ages in song and story with the ride of the Six Hundred. Douglass paved the way for this new-found glory, and thereby on this path-finding alone gave immortality to his name and fame. [continued on fifth page.] — GOOD SUGGESTIONS. By the Evangelist D. L. Moody On “How to Fill Churches.” W. E. WILLIAMS, E VANG El AST. Sitting in the auditorium at Northfield, Mai£.,I listened to an instructive aqtress by D. L. Moody, the gifcat evangelist, on “How to Fill Churches,” and as it was not reported I give what I noted in my book, hoping it may prove helpful some one. Mr. Moody'said: “To begin with, the minister must be one called of God to the work of the ministry, with a love in his heart for the souls of his fellowmen; to any other I ha\e no advice to give save that he leave the ministry at once and seek God’s forgiveness for his sin. To the minister called of God I would say,. I. Break up any formalism that may exist iii the church. To do this the members should be put to work. In tjie church as else where the devi lfinds mischief for idle hands. E^ch man should be made to feel tha^he is a factor in the success of his church, and in proportion as he is made to feel this, will he do to bring success. “It is an easy thing for the pas tor to drift into the habit of tak ing all the work to himself; to do all the praying; lead all'the sing ing; look after all the committees; and otherwise do all. Such a working minister will fail to hold the people and-fill his church. Let the people work. “II. Have a successful } rayer meeting. Thje minister should not think it enough to announce from the pulpii the weekly prayer meeting, but should work it up all the week; privately invite peo ple to the meeting and urge upon them to speak. I had a prayer meeting that was cold and the peo ple wer§ too timid to take part in the service. I spoke to one man telling him I wanted him to be out that week and tell some of his Christian experience, urging as a reason that others would thus be benefited. He said, Oh no, he could not do that, he was too back ward to speak in public; but I urged till he consented to come and be the first to speak. I then got a dozen others to promise the same thing, and on the same night they rose up all at once to speak, and as a result interest was awak ened and we had soon a live, well attended praycr^meeting. “III. Preaich every Sunday night from soipae gospel theme an nounced beforehand, nothing sen sational or political, but the gos-. pel. Then go and send out and invite the people; if convenient, put a black-board up outside the church on which is stated the time and theme of discourse, with an invitation to all. I do npt believe God wants any man to preach to empty pews, but some ministers $re too dignified to do as I have said, and I witnt to say jthat digni ty and empty pews go together. “Some ministers have a fairly good congregation Sunday room ing and :!ew at night. Such a one is a dead failure, no matter how many people he has in the morn ings. Right is the time to reach the non-church-goers, and so every Sunday night the minister should aim at conversions, and an after meeting should be held each night. “IV. Then there should be plenty of good singing; not “fine” singing; “fine” music reaches no one, but plenty of gospel hymns sung by all. Where “tine” music is sung the choir does all the sing ing and death is the ..result. I once went to a church to hold a meeting. The ; choir sang one “fine” hymn after another, and the people could not join. Well, I thought I would get the better of the choir and have all sing, so I asked for Rock of Ages, when, bless your soul! they started it in a tune I had never heard before and none save the the choir sang again. I repeat, sing plenty of good old gospel hymns. Sermors die, hymns never. Look at the Wesleys: the sermons of the one are forgotten; the hymns of the other will live forever. “If yc u must have a choir see to it that each member of the choir is also a member of the church. A choir with an ungodly singer is a curse to :he progress of any church. It is no more inconsistent to have an ungodly minister than to have ungodly people singing in the church choir. “V. In conclusion, never give up your Sunday night service. A great many ministers will close the doors of their church on Sab bath night to allow their people to go to other places. God calls you to preach the gospel, and of all other times Sunday night is your best time to win souls. Why I would not give up my service Sun day night, not if Gabriel was to preach around the corner. Stick to your pulpit Sunday night, for he who does not, fails to do the work for which he declares he is called of God.—Africo-Ameri can Presbyterian. NEWBERN (N. C.) DISTRICT. BY REV. JOHN HOOPER, P. E. Elder William Badger, of the Lenton circuit, after long suffering died at his home in Pamlico county, August 14th in full faith in Christ. He was faithful and loved his Church and always did his duty in building churches and raising gen eral tax. He wTas licensed as a local preacher from Clinton chapel in Newbern, in 1885 and joined the traveling Connection in 1886, and ha3 been an honor to Zion. His church and family sustain a gtfeat loss, but heaven gains a grand- soul. Peace to his ashes. Elder. H. C. Phillips is very sick at his home in Wilson, N. C. The Newbern district confer ence will convene at Rock Run, September 27-29. Come, Editor, if you can and enjoy a good time. Yours for success. GREAT . EMANCIPATOR Of the Negro Race—Monument In Honor of Douglass. ELOQUENT TRIBUTES. Rochester and the nation yester day did honor to the memory of Frederick Douglass, the greatest representative of the Negro race. The audience was by no means confined to members of the race of which Frederick -Douglass was the most shining light. It is true that the race was well represented, the most prominent Afro-Ameri cans in the country being present. But there were also present many people, by the grace of God of fairer skin, who were representa tives of the culture and intellect of the city which was for years the home of Douglass. ' There were in the audience many people who had been co-workers with Douglass in the struggle for the emancipation of the Negro race. There were at least a. dozen people present who forty years ago were famed abolitionists and had given of their best days to induce the Western empire -to stamp out slavery. Seated on the platform were the members of the Douglass family. There were Mrs. Fred Douglass, widow of the great emancipator; Lewis Douglass, Charles Douglass, Mrs. Rose W. Sprague, children of Douglass; Joseph Douglass, Haley Douglass and Miss Fred ericka Sprague, grandchildren. Among the other distinguished guests on the platform were Hon. John H. Smythe, T. Thomas For tune, Hon. John C. Dancy, C. J. Perry and others. There were also a number of people prominent in the business and professional life of Rochester, together with a number of city of ficials, including Mayor Warner, and President Moore of the Park Commission. lhe exercises were scheduled to begin at 2 o’clock, but it was al most an hour later when Chairman Thompson ascended the platform and requested any city officials or old residents who had known Douglass to take seats on the plat form. Susan B. Anthony supple mented this by inviting any abo litionists or their descendants to also come to the platform. Extracts from speeches made by Douglass wTere recited in a clear, strong voice by his granddaughter, Miss Fredericka Douglass Sprague. She was listened to attentively and did justice to the fire and spirit meaning of the passages quoted. With charming delivery and a sweet, musical voice Mrs. Ida Wells Barnett of Chicago paid a fervent eulogium to the memory of the dead statesman. Ex-Minister to L iberia, JohnH. Smythe paid a sincere tribute to Frederick Douglass. While the parentage of Frederick Douglass had ever been shrouded in mystery he was sure his mot her was a great and noble woman. 1
The Star of Zion (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Sept. 22, 1898, edition 1
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