ml>'v OFFICIAL ORGAN Of THE AFRICAN HETHODIST EPISCOPAL Z ION CHURCH
- '. Kirf: /
NUMBER I
.. i ii]
./
THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 1920.
VOLUME FORTY-FOUR
ECHOES FROM rHE LAND JF THE SKY.
PARAGRAPHIC COMMENTS ON
MEN AND MEASURES ETC
The Ter-Centenary Drive.
By Rev. E. M. Argyle, B. I). *
The Ter Centenary Drive
With the Ter Centenary Drive on
throughout the Connection, and the
influences being brought to bear oh
those who are to compose the next
General Conference an favor of this
or that one for official preferment,
we are apt to lose sight of the long
stretch we are to go before we reach
the million dollar mark. We should
be very careful that this money is
appropriated for the purpose for
which it is raised. We are glad that
there is tangible evidence that
we have been at work that the pub.
knows of. It is dangerous ground
to tread upon when one speaks out
on matters of this kind without
knowing the facts. All mention of
it should be favorable. '
If we expect to succeed in this
drive, we must first win the confi-.
dence of those who contribute to the
eause by placing every dollar where
it belongs. Again there should be
no discrimination in the location of
the parties or churches aided, and a
thorough and open record should b‘
published of the conferences and
churches and even individuals wli|o
are the beneficiaries of this fund..
The people are not paying this mon
ey In solely to benefit the classes or
individuals. All must reap some
(benefits, or there will be an un
wholesome upheavel, and our ardor
will be dampened
Constructive Legislation Needed
There should and doubtless will
be such constructive legislation en
acted at,the next General Conference
that will put us in line with other
denominations and especially other
Episcopal churches. We do not see
the necessity of burdening our Bish.
ops with tlnl' care and supervision
of all the Connectional Boards. It
is well that the Bishops be advisory
members of these Boards, but to
make them the heads or chairmen
of all these Boards simply says to the
outside world that the rest of us can
not carry out the spirit of the laW
in the administration of the affairs o’
the Church. The custom of making
our Bishops custodians of the Finan.
cial affairs of our conferences haS
fallen into disrepute and has caused
some of our cities to duff our Bish'/
ops as “Episcopal Bankers.” It ha\
gone further than that the men can
not be trusted to duly account td
the different departments for the
monies that they have collected from
the people for the General Church
and lastly it puts our Bishops unde?
the eye of suspicion of the public,
and subjects them to adverse critD
bism. We ought to enact such legis
lation that the Bishops will be re
lieved of these embarrassments, and
we believe the Bishops themselves
would like to be relieved of the cus
todianship of the finances of the
General Church and Schools arising
out of their respective conferences.
At any rate it would be carrying out
the spirit of democracy for which
the grand Old A. M. E. Zion Church
stands, and would refute the charge
of Episcopal autocracy which ha?
been laid at our door.
Then there should he such con.
structive legislation enacted that will
put our Connectional Boards to
functioning, and our boards should
(be formed, and not one or two indi.
viduals vested with power to act and
report for the whole board. I am
a member of the “Legions of Fi
nance.” If that Board has been call
eti to meet, or make any kind of re
port for the Connectional Council or
Board of Bishops, I have never heard
of it. My place on that Board is no*
worth the ink that it would take to
write my name as a member and if
that board has ever functioned, it
was in the office of the chairman oi
that Board, and all to his little lone,
some self.
There is a deal of constructive leg.
islation needed, and those who really
want our church to measure arms
with others should have a, deeper
interest in the General Conference
than the election of their special
friends to office. z
Organic Union
This much mooted question will
come to the fore again in our forth,
coming General Conference, tout who
can, by this time believe that there
is any real sincerety in the Organi
Union propaganda. It has held thi
stage in all of our General Confer
ences for more than a quarter of a
century. And one little technical
thing and another has kept us apart.
If the A. M. E. Zion Church would
only sacrifice her sacred tradition^
and swap her well earned prestige
and play second fiddle while otherJ
basked in the sunlight of her well
is really any sincerity in the Organic
union-at once- The Ghurc^
was sincere in her last General Con-:
ference, and meant Organic Union
with a big O, but there are others
who want us to come to them, whi’o
they are not willing to make any sac
rifice in the union. There are thou?
ands and thousands of loyal Zionites
who will not stand hitched with
such a Union, and there nevei'
will be Organic Union with cer
tain Methodist bodies until men of
all the churches boosting this unios
can make reasonable and unbiased
concessions, which will convince a1!
that the best interests of Methodism
demands organic union. Until we can
arrive at this conclusion we are beat-'
ing the air, and wasting our oratory
to talk of such a. Union.
Bet Us Think Of The Church
The election of our best friends
to office in the next General Confer,
ence should be of secondary impor
tance.
The whole church needs the san.
est and most conservative ^consid
eration. We can not drift along in
the old grooves and keep pace with
other churches that have laid asicl)
their pre.war policies and procedJ
ures; and adopted new policies and
are even now proceeding to put intd
effect new ideas. We must keep
abreast with the tide of progress oi
drop lower in our rating as a church
Our , old fossilized ideas of church
government and obsolete laws should
be repealed, and to perpetuate the
true ideals of democracy new laws
should he enacted based upon the
fundamental principles suggested hy
the fathers.
The imperative necessities of the
church demands the wisest and besj
thought, and those wrhose only inter" '
est in the election of their friend!
to office show little interest in thd
General Church.
Some good laws in our Book of
Dasciipline should be greafiy
strengthened. That a penalty should
be attached for violation of some of
the weaker paragraphs goes with
out saying. "We should begin now to
think of the Church and in the ex.
citement leading to the election of
our friends to office, we should not
forget the Church as a whole.
iGod holds us responsible if we do
not do our whole duty in thinking
of the Church in these perilous
times,
Maryville, Tenn.
iJ iuISTIAN ENDEAVOR 'CHRIST.
MAS GREETINGS. NEW YEAR’S
MESSAGE.
Gy Prof. Aaron Brown, Secretary
Our message and greetings are not
confined to the young people, and
yet their training is the abject of
our activities. We; are speaking to
everybody in the Church or out of
t, who have in any way encouraged
>ur work.
Merry Christmas to all and a
r-iappy New Year, hoping that youi
Christmas celebration and New Year
Toast will be observed in the proper
manner, characterized by the real
Christian Endeavor Spirit.
Year after year your loyalty and
support have increased, making it
possible ror ns to achieve the pro
gress that we have recorded. As te
new societies, pastors’ activities and
young people’s interest in the work,
reports from the field and onr per
sonal observations, we have never
made a better showing.
I wish we could make these words
warmly personal >by calling the naml
of each individual who co-operated
with us in the work, including Bish
ops, Presiding Elders, pastors and
laymen, with a deserved tribute td
our district Presidents, Local Presi.
dents, Secretaries and other leaders
hut since I can not-do this, I am surd
you will take the will for the deedv
We can make a attemptyhere to
review our year’sJwbvk CxcC’pir^tr
attention to our record and reports
made to the Bishop’s meeting at
Washington, the World’s Christian
Endeavor Council at Buffalo, and
the Council at Paterson, which meet,
ing we attended in person. Conven.
tion reporters to The Star have made
ample reference to our work at the
Christian endeavor conventions anu
Conferences.
We touch a few high spots in the
work of our local societies. Many
of ?fiem are signally blessed in be
ing led by consecrated young men
and women from high schools and
colleges. They have raised seven
teen thousand dollars for Christiait
work, including local schools, min
isters’ support, local church and be
nevolent purposes.
In our program for 1920 we have
included the Ter Centenary, better
pay for preachers, encouragemen
to young men to enter the ministry
and Life Work .Recruits for Chris,
tian service. Printed matter help*
to tell what the Christian Endeavor
is doing but a better way would be
for you to connect yourself to iii
and observe its work in the commun
ity. )
Christian Endeavor is purely an
unselfish movement, and wre can tru
V subscribe to the motto: “Not for
ourselves but for others/’ We train
and encourage the young people to
foster the Christian work cJP theirf
prospective communities be loyal t
and support their church and in
make their services count in every,
effort put forth for the advancement
of the Kingdom of Christ in thil
world
Again we wish you a merry Christ,
mas and a Happy New Year.
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT SAYS
“White and colored leaders should
take measures to stop hysteria and
arrest agitators.”
LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM
RIOTS
By William Howard Taft
(The -Constitution— Philadelphia'!
Public Ledger Service, Copy1
right 1919.)
DOES YOUR RELIGION GET ACROSS TO
YOUR NEIGHBORS?
By Tha Ilev. Charles Steizie
“I had rather speak five words
with my understanding, that by my j
voice I might teach others also, than
ten thousand words tin an unknown
tongue.”
Paul had just finished writing to
the Corinthians that wonderful 13th
chapter of the first epistle to that'
church tin which he pointed out th^
supremacy of love, closing with the
declaration:
“And now a/bideth, faith, hope, love
these three, but the greatest of these
is love. ’’
The whole point of this chaptei
was the importance of the spirit
>vhich must be back of service of any
kind.
“Though I give my body to be
burned, and have not love, it profit,
eth me nothing he had written.
“Tinkling cymbals’’ —“ sounding
brass—a big vase, that is all—if.
there was not love in service. That
is what he meant.
Evidently these Corinthians had
been carried away by the pomp and
show of the barbarians by whon<
they were surrounded
Then Paul took another phase ol
their common life in the Church and
showed them the value of a healthy
normal experience in religious mat'1
ters.
Apparently these Corinthians were
given to speaking in unknown
tongues when they came together in
a religions meeting. \
Probably the ability^ to speak tin
an ‘'unknown tongue”
*s a sign of superior spirituality.
And the chances are that there
was a good deal of hypocrisy about
it, because if there was no one in
the meeting who could interpret
what was said, the speaker coula
freely pose as an “oracle of Gcd.’’
'Now Paul was not discouraging
spirituality, but he was pointing out
the worthlessness of a spirituality
that nobody could understand.
“ I’d rather speak five words
that people could understand than H)
thousand words in an unknown
tongue,” is about what he wrote the
Corinthians.
The practice condemned by Paul
is not as common today as it was
when he wrote these words, but
there is danger that a group of con
verts and those who worked with
them in a revival meeting, for exam,
pie, may be so carried away by a
sense of spiritual superiority, using
peculiar words and phrases whicli
have no meaning whatever to J*n *
outsider, so that their religion be.
comes absolutely worthless to th i
community. " ,
And this is what Paul very strong,
ly condemned. He did not want any
freiakishness in religion.
The tes't of religion is its useful?
ness to outsiders, and to the com.
munity as a whole.
Any kind of exclusive religious or
ganization that .is conducted merely
for the benefit of the people who
assume an “I am holier than thou’’
attitude towards the rest of us doer,
am>~ ,
is it in accord w<uh his teaching.
Negro leaders are divided into
two classes_there are those whc.
feel as deeply as they can the injus
tices and heart misery arising froid
race prejudice, and they would re.
strain as far as possible by legisla
ion and executive action such in
justice
But they believe that the real way.
to ameliorate conditions is to edu^
cate the negro for life by vocational
nd character training, and by thus
increasing his value to his commun.
ity and himself to moderate and neu
tralize such prejudice
They preach and cultivate self,
restraint by the Negro and self-bet
terment
On the other hand we have those,
who look with suspicion on any
source from which the laboi
supply can be increased. The lowei
in the scale of intelligence the
stronger their feeling against a race
they glory in calling inferior.
Then the minute there is an out.
oreak, the lawless and the criminals
coming out in the open like cock
roaches in the night, join in the
quarrel with avidity and divide by
color. Thus the riot, beginning in
a sing’s quarrel, develops formida
ble proportions. Innocent people of
both races; frightened by reports
arm themselves for protection and
we have a situation deplorable in.
deed.
The evidence seems to show that
in Chicago the whites were the ag
gressors and displayed man’s inhu
manity to man in stonihg a negro
lad into a watery grave because hn
had passed a supposed line of seg.
regation between whites and negro
bathers on the city beach. Soon,
however, both sides were guilty of •
lawless assault and murder. But, o’
c^^se, the negroes suffered the
morft as they always do.
T&e appaling number of the dead .
and wounded in Chicago should laed
the authorities of every city with
congested negro quarters and pop.
ulation to call together leaders of
both races, who acting jointly should
take appropriate measures to -stop
hysteria to allay alarm and to ar
rest loud.mouthed agitators amj
criminals before the trouble begins*
The editors of the colored pres.V
should be reasoned with to _ cease,
publishing articles, however true
having inciting effect,
The educated extremists among
the Negro leaders must certainly see
that, however great the injustice
done to their race due to blind prej
udice, “direct action” is the worst
possible remedy. The more white
victims the greater the colored vic
tims will be, and in the end, the feel,
ing out of which this evil has comd
will be increased and the slow and
steady improcements in the agricul
tural and industrial status of the ne
gro as shown by statistics will be
obstructed. Such leaders should use
every argument to quiet their fol.
lowers and to condemn further law
lessness. Those who suffer from
such riots are often, one might say.
usually not participants in the fight
ing but are bystanders who happen
to be, in the line of fire either
through unwise curiosity or because
they can not help it. Meantitme.
peabable, lawabiding negroes are
besieged in their homes, where thev
with difficulty Secure needied (food
and supplies, or they go to their dai.
ly occupations t the risk of their
lives Negro house owners are
threatened with arson.
Quick Action Necessary
These ljots have a lesson tkat tho
whites should take to their souls
rt is that each one of us has a rc^
sponsibility to the community irf
dealing with'"our colored citizens.
No race responds so quckly to
sympathetic aid las thfaj hlegri No
race can he made to forget or for
give past wrongs as eaisily ,by sin.
cere co-operation and protection.
If this trouble spreads to all thr
ar,ge cities, the authorities and the
Prominent and leading trusted citi
:ens of those cities must have fore.
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