Newspapers / The Star of Zion … / Jan. 19, 1922, edition 1 / Page 1
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THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OETHE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH NUMBER THREE. CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1922. VOLUME FORTY-SEX. The Charge of Jesus Versos The Charge of the"Bishops By Rev. J. H. McMullen. ©ur Lord Jesus in sending out his diseiples, specifically charged them to “go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” He emphasized the importance of the gospel as the means of salvation ^to every one that believeth. He would have them feel that theij special mission is soul-saving. He really discouraged the idea of com pensation or support on their part as of importance, that they might not depend or make that the object c J their ministry. There is nowhere in' our Lord’s charge to the Apostles the slightest reference to the mate rial side of their work. He would have them “seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness,” as suring them that when this has been done, and without the thought, or divided effort of their life’s work of preaching the gospel, “’all other things will be added unto you.” He .does not emphasize but this one thing, preaching the gospel, and con vincing men to turn from their sins and believe on Jesus Christ. He knew as they later found out, that when the people became converted, and accepted the truth as it is in Christ, their support and that of the eause would be amply cared for as a sure result. The work of caring for the church, so far as its material support was concerned, was secon dary, and was. never made the bur den of, or special charge to them. His charge to them was spiritual and that carried everything else with it. Tj^ey could, therefore, go out burden ed with the souls of men and work with all their might to ^save the people* from their s ns. The.-a disc i ples went forth and in their first united effort five thousand souls were saved from their sins. When later on they organized the church into separate societies they turned over the work of material support to godly men, deacons of the church who exacted from its converts what they could give of their means to carry on the work. The apostles were in this way relieved of material bur dens, that they might do the work of evangelists. Jesus made them wishers of men, and the men caught by the gospel net furnished the “all other things” to carry on the church. The charge to preach the gospel was all. The appointments of the Ibishops to the ministers are very different In the things emphasized and speci fied for them to do. In a general way mention is made of the functions of his credentials, that is, his ordination certificate given when ordained an elder in the church, possibly twen ty-five years ago. This heads the ap pointments but does not emphasize what those functions are, but calls attention to the law requiring him to raise fifteen different, stipulated amounts of money> and this is writ ten from the top to the very bottom of his certificate of appointment. And some of the bishops add to this list the presiding elder’s salary. There is not the slightest objection on our part to the raising of these various items. They must be raised in order to carry on God’s church. But they are so emphasized and stressed that the poor preacher can see nothing but figures, and can hear nothing but the words, you are required to raise the following col lections, no, not collections, but the itemized sums thereon. Some narrow minded person may try to see in our argument a fight against assess ments, hut that Is not our purpose at all. Could not the official certificate 'of appointments be so worded that each minister’s 'attention would be called to his mission of preaching / the gospel and saving "the souls of men as his first real duty? Do we believe in the gospel as a panacea for all ills? If we do then emphasize that and believe Jesus, “that all oth er things will be added.” We are not seeking a discussion, Ibut rather of fering a suggestion that in some way our bishops may in their certificate of appointments place more emphasis upon the preaching of the gospel. Sewickly, Pa. BISHOP SMITH WANTS A MINIS TER’S INSURANCE COMPANY. To the Tri-Council of Bishops of the A. M. E., the A. M. E. Zion and the C, M. E. Churches. Dear Colleagues: — In view of the near approach of our meeting at Montgomery, Ala., I beg to call your attention to what to me is a pressing need, namely, an un denominational Relief and insurance Company specifically for the benefit of colored ministers. Three such companies are in existence among the white people, two Methodist and one Presbyterian; the latter being one of the oldest Life Insurance com panies in the country. The headquar ters of one of the Methodist oompa niesMs Boston, Mass., and that of the other, Nashville, Tenn. It will be a long time before the economic condition of our people will enable them to pay a living salary to the majority of our ministers. By a living salary I mean one sufficient to enable them to lay by an adequate reserve fund to provide against a “rainy day.” Annual conference aid societies cannot be depended on to yield a stipend commensurate with the needs of aged ministers and their dependents when the shadow of death falls athwart their pathway. Ministerial Relief Associations are primarily based on two funda mentals—absolute security and the minimum of overhead expenses. There are no agents or agencies—the bus iness Ibeing entirely conducted by mail. Ministers are regarded as a preferred risk by all life insurance companies, their vocation conducing to longevity. A straight life policy is of the simplest form and the most desira ble. The policies should range from $500.00 to $2,500.00, and should be of the participating form—so as to les sen the annual premiums. Such a policy for $1,000.00 could be maintain ed annually for $21.94; at 30 years of age; at 35 the premium would be $25.30; .at 40 it would be $29.70; at 45 it would be $35.40. Premiums could ed, annually for $21.94 at 30 years of ally. The policy could be so framed as to include all the desirable feat ures contained in the policies issued by the United States Government to the world war veterans. The cost of premiums quoted above is the same as that charged by the Methodist Minister’s Relief and In surance Trust Company of Boston. Government insurance is about 20 per cent less. It' is possible that a plan might be formulated so as to furnish insurance to ministers at government rates. At all events,, the heed justifies the experimentation. Shall we experiment? Shall we ap point a committee—say of three •bishops, two ministers and two lay men from each of the participating bodies t® take the matter under ad visement with the view of formulat ing a workable plan? Fraternally yours, C. S. Smith. Detreit Michigan, January 5, 1922. 1.1 l ii*— -■ ■■ ^*.1 REPRESENTATIVE DYER SPEAKS ON ANTI-LYNCHING j BILL.— QUOTES N. A. A. C. P. STATIS TICS AND GIVES ASSOCIATION CREDIT. |-’ . The Nationa| Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 70 Fifth Avenue, I^ew York, today made public extracts from a speech*in be half of the Dy$r Anti-Lynching Bill, H. R. 13, mad^ on the floor of the House of Representatives by Repre sentative Leonidas C. Dyer, of Mis souri( who introduced the bill. Representative Dyer called the charge that lynchings were caused by rape “as fair from the truth as many of the ot^er extravagant state ments that hav^ been made,” and re ferred to the Statistics prepared by the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People, show ing that front 1889 to December^ 1921, there weii6 3,434 known lynch ings in the Uhited States of which only 570 were even attributed to rape. Mr. Dyer also read into the Con gressional Reqordp clippings from Southern newspapers urging tha. the Anti-Lynching bill be enacted into law. Amojig these hewspapers are the San Antonio Express, the i Chattanooga Tifnes; The Greensboro,-. N. C-, Daily Neiws, The Dallas Jour j nal, the Dallas; Morning News, and i among the Northern papers strongly ! supporting the hill are the New York Times, Tribune* Evening Post, St. Louis Star. f| Among the lawyers of national re pute, who hav^ expressed their be lie# that the B|ll is constitu tional, quoted in Mr. Dyer’s speech are Moorfield Storey, president of the N. A. A. C. P., Albert Pillsbury, form er Attorney General of the State of Massachusetts, and Attorney General Daugherty of the United States. Of the constitutionality of the Dyer Bill, Moorfield Storey was quoted by Mr. Dyer as writing: “I think that it should be supported under the fifth amendment to the Constitution of the United States as well as under the fourteenth. The fifth amendment provides that no person shall be deprived of life, lib erty or property without due process of law, and this applies to everyone within the ‘ jurisdiction of the United States. It is a shield which tjie Con stitution throws over eyery person, citizen or not, within our jurisdiction, and I cannot doubt that Congress has the power to enforce this provision like every other provision of the Constitution. Nothing can be more fundamental than the rights thus protected which are declared by the Declaration of Independence to be inalienable, and which in great part our government 'was formed to main tain.” Mr. Dyer in the course of his speed praised the service which colored soldiers, had rendered their country in war time, and asserted that he had “statements here from the War Department showing what these Negro soldiers did in France individually and in regiments, giving citations, the names of places where the heroic deeds took place for which they were cited and given the distinguished medal for bravery and for Ibeing good, true soldiers of this country.” \ The speech was concluded with a ringing appeal that justice be done: “The provisions of this bill are sim ple. One is to punish officials who fail to do their duty. Another is' to punish those who participate in these mobs and kill people, and the third is to punish communities in wh’ch this takes place. We have precedents for every one of these provisions in State laws already, not only in Southern States but in Northern States. ..Mr. Chairman, in the name of justice, in the name, of GojI and right, I trust we will do the thing that we ought to jlo and make lynching a crime against the United States of America.” / MISS ELIZA GARDNER, SAINTLY MOTHER IN ZION, DEVOTED FRIEND AND COUNSELLOR IS NO MORE—HER FUNERAL SER VICES FROM THE COLUMBUS AVENUE A. M. E. ZION CHURCH, OF BOSTON, MASS. By Rev. B. W. S.vaic, D. D. It becomes my sad duty to inform the church of the departure of the oldest and most beloved member of the Columbus Avenue A. M. E. Zion church, of Boston, . Mass., and possi bly the oldest in point of - service, member in the A. M. E. Zion Connec tion, Miss Eliza Gardner. On January 4th, at five minutes be fore seven o’clock she passed from this earth and its sorrows to her heavenly home. She is mourned and wept for as only a saint of God and a mother in Israel would be mourned and wept for. The funeral obsequies were from the Columbus Aveune A. M. E. Zion church Sunday afternoon, January 8th at two o’clock. At that hour the vested choir" under the di rection of Dr. Walter 10. Taylor, led the processional, entering the audi torium of the church singing the hymn beginning: “Jerusalem the golden.” The choir was followed by Dr. Swain and Dr. T. A. Auten, pre siding elder of the New England con ference, Dr. E. George ' Biddle and the Dr. J. W. Powell. Then came the officers of the church in the following order: trustees, class leaders, stew ardesses, the Butler club, Sunday School, Endeavor societies, Wom an’s Home and Foreign Missionary societies, auxiliaries of the church and a society of which Miss Gardner was a meifiber. The pastor, acting as master of ceremonies, announced the hymn, “Servant of God, well done,” which 1 was heartily sung by the choir and congregation. Dr. Swain then read the first scripture lesson. The second scripture lesson was read by Dr. E. George Biddle and the third by Dr T. A. Auten. Prayer was offered by Dr. Powell. The choir then sang the hymn, “I would not live alway,” and as they did so the whole congrega tion, consisting of both white and colored people, wept as children for their parent. Kev. B. w. Swam, D. D., then pre sented Dr. Auten as the first speaker. Dr. Auten spoke eloquently' of the life and character of Miss Gardner. He said that she was one of the greatest women that the race had produced and that her influence^ in New England and in the Connection would long be felt. He then paid a glowing tribute to the. pastor and officers of the church *for the care they had given the deceased in her declining days. The church had re cently given her a reception at which a donation in cash amounting to over $100.00 had been given her and now that she has passed on the church whs giving her a burial at a cost of about $250.00. Dr. Biddle was then presented and » (Continued to page 4) second Annual meeting second CON VOCATIONAL DIS TRICT.—DATE OF MEETING CHANGED TO FEBRUARY 1416. In order to have the presence of all the Bishops and General Officers at the .Missionary Convocation, the date of the .meeting .has been changed from January 26-29 to February 14 16, 1922, at Little Rock A. M. E. Zion church, Charlotte, N. C., corner 7th and Myers Streets^ Rev. H. P. Lank ford, D. D„ pastor. / Done by request of Bishops and concurrence of members of Executive Board Foreign Missions. Yours for a fine meeting, Annie W. Blackwell, Cor. Sec'y W. H. and F. M. Society, Phila., Pa. W. W. MStthews, Cor. 8ec’y Gen* ; oral Departing*. Emancipation Day * - * At Hampton Institute.—“New Day l» Dawning in Race Relations” De clares Dr. J. E. Shepard.—Negroes Make Progress. Dr. James E. Gregg Say3 "Hampton Belongs to the Colored People.’^ Hampton, Va., Jan.-Two thous and colored men, women and children! of the lower Peninsula of Virginia celebrated the fifty-ninth anniversary of Emancipation Day by holding nub lie exercises in Ogden Hall, Hampton Institute, under the auspices of the Elizabeth City -County Emancipation Association, of which C. H. Hender son is president. Dr. James E. Gregg, in his address of welcome, declared that it was ap propriate to link the thought of free dom, with the thought of education. “A school,” he said, “is a peculiarly appropriate place for the commem oration of the end of slavery and the beginning of full legal freedom—in tellectual freedom, deliverance from the bondage of superstition and ig norance; moral freedom, deliverance from all the habits which enchain and enslave a man and keep him from being his truest and /best self.” Dr. Gregg added: “Hampton Institute belongs to the " colored people. It is devoted to serv ing them and to serving the young people of the Indian race. All tf Hampton has is given freely for enrichment and the upbuilding young men and womfen and them to the blessing of the races which they represent. Community Center Will Be Bought* Major Allen Washington, comman dant of cadets at Hampton Institute* in introducing the speaker of the day, Dr. James E. Shepard, president of the National Training School at Dur ham, N C.( urged the colored people to purchase and support the local community center, so that their boys and girls may have a place for whole some recreation. Major Washington impressed upon his hearers the im portance of present action. He de clared that procrastination would be a great calamity to the community as it would mean the loss of % com munity center three times as valua ble as the price which the colored people are called on to pay. J. M. Pollard of the National Head quarters of Community Service, Inc., made an appeal to the people to' contribute to the fund for the purchase of the local Hampton Community house. He referred to the work of Ohio colored people; in Dayton a population of 9,800 recently gave $15,000 for a community center;^ in Cleveland, 35,000 gave $40,060; and in Columbus, colored people gave $.18,000. Worth-While Program. The Emancipation Day program in cluded singing of “America”, by the audience; invocation by Rev. J. T. Johnson of Hampton; “Q, Freedom,” sung by the audience; reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by Miss Lucy C. Barrow of Phoebus; address, “The Essentials of a Democracy/’ by Arthur P. Davis, a Hampton Institute student, * emphasizing "respect for law, education and intelligence, physical and moral courage, deep spiritual life and high Christian ideals, which are possessed by Ne-~ groes;” “Soldiers of i Freedom,” Hampton Glee Club; “Negro National Hymn,” words by James Weldon Johnson and music by Rosamond Johnson, sung by Phoebus Glee Club; and benediction, Rev. John H. Gray, of Hampton: .Tribute to Hampton Institutew * Doctor Shepard, in his address pn the,, “Possibilities and Responsibili ties of American Citizenship,” - paid a tribute to Gen. S. C. Armstrong, who founded Hampton Institute, to Dr. H. B. Frissell, his successor, and (Continued to page 4) ,"
The Star of Zion (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Jan. 19, 1922, edition 1
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