Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / Aug. 27, 1931, edition 1 / Page 1
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‘AND YE SHALL KNOW TBE TRUTJH. AND VOL. LIIL crarlotfe, m€n\ 9=SSSS99iaiBil m tjijT « • ' , s - y m&mu NO. S3. |S§f DIFFICULTIES IN THE. WiY OF IHE UNITED CHURCH ,jL By Dr. Carter G. Woodson A friend has just reporte< to me a Baptist minister whc is publicly denouncing me! af tl*e enemy of his dehominatior and the Christian faith be cause I believe that Negro ire lisrious bodies should be united I am reminded, too, of ah A. M E. Zion pastor who ran outl oJ his church a book agent trying to sell his jcommunicahts my “History of the Negro Church.’ “Get out of this church,” j h« snid. “I do not want that book mentioned here. Woodson! is nothing but an A. M. E., and when he wrote that book! he said all he could about the Al lenites and suppressed facts about the Zionites.” ' . ! Not long thereafter I expe rienced practically the saime thing elsewhere. A speech which I delivered at a Col ored Methodist Conferenfle evoked some inquiry as to my ... religion. A bishop, referring to the same book, said that I must be a Baptist because I said so much about them in this work. - These facts well illustrate the petty jealousies of our-so-called Christians and show how blind they are to the realHfcpth (be cause of their all butrblind sec tarian bias which - they have taken over from * ignorant whites. The one can not bear hearing the truth about the other; the one can not be (de pended upon to tell the truth about the other. Often these so-called Christians do merely that which helps their denom be right or wrongT ,_ which they might^> pey lect merely because they ao jnot see therein how their particu lar sect can profit thereby. The leaders of these reli gious factions, as a rule, know better* but they hold their following by keeping the peo ple divided, by emphasizing non-essentials, the insignifi cance of which the average man .may not appreciate. For example, not long ago some ministers of foresight in one of our largest cities brought together the outtand ing pastors to effect a closer union to cooperate for the com mon good. They presented as speaker to sound the keynote of the meeting an influential Presbyterian minister. In his address he emphasized the fo.ct that we should forget the non-essentials. At that point, however^ the meeting was broken up by a Baptist minis ter who propounded to him tnis question; “Ddeb the speaker consider baptifcm by immersion non-es sential?” The speaker could answer the question, and he could not. He did answer the question and he did not. The answer was not satisfactory. The Baptists of the city would not co-oper ate any further; and that was the end of the effort, for they represented the large majori ty. • ' I would have fearlessly con tended that baptism by immer sion is a non-essential'. The man 3yho believes that this is thf way that Christ was baptised is entitled to that opinion. He should be respect ed fV his honest convictions and protected by the commun ity in the exercise of his faith; but. any mam who goes so far as to-say that he who has not been baptized by immersion will be consumed by hell fire, ought to be consumed by something himself and removed from the path of human progress.: The fact is that if you con sider the various ways by wh&h the' Afferent sects as sign each other to hell, you will conclude that hell is goingr to be filled ^ with Christians ; and. if you happen ; to reach 1 heaven, you will find few there i to keep your company, i The thing about it all which vexes, me most is that Nfe | groes took over this nonsespse from their ignorant .oppressor. I inherited the Baptist fctfth from my father who leameq 4t from his cruel master. My olfi est sister inherited the Meth odist faith from her husband which he obtained indirectly from his father’s owner of ian te-bellum times. Thus practi cally all, Negroes embraced the reigion of those who drove them behind the, plow, lashed the blood from their backs when they would not willingly bear the yoke, and, if they sur vived the persecution, sold them to meet their doom in. a more benighted part of the land of cotton. That, the Negroes thus tpok •over the religion of their per secutors, & bishop said to Ime other day, shows the grip 6f the faith upon them, but it was not the faith itself. Cir cumstances usually deter mined this. Slaveholding, like any other crime, produces nar rowness. Masters would not grant missionaries access ; to their slaves unless they were of the faith which taught, “Servants,- obey your, piasters; for it is right in the tord.-’ It was not the Negroes’ fault that at any time they accepted all of the foolish ideas of the Whites and split up into factions which have- impeded .the pro gress of-the race* in- this coun try. It is a., grave fault of .the ofjtdctey, however* if they e&iitiatteFf this .'insane course; > and if they*. do.note change, the generations to come will look back upon their dis order as a monument of their stupidity. As a friend said to me the other day. “the American Ne gro has no religion anyway. His so-called religion' ii bor rowed from the white man. The Negro himself has never* stopped to see what it is all about.” The Negro has been so busy doing what the white man wants him to do that he has not had time to realize that he is often promoting the inter ests of the segregationists, the slave-holder and the mute-, derer. Tom Heflin is a Chris-, tian. Ben Tillman triumphed fin. the faith, and King Leopold, the slayer of the innocent na tives of the Congo, is now daz zling around the throne, ac-; cording to what is now being taught Negroes it seems to me mat uic ne - groes of this country especially are missing a great opportune tv. They are not doing as well as those of old. Richard Allen, who believed in the united Ne gro church, so interpreted Christianity anew to his mas ter that he was converted, and so did Henry Evans and George Bentley for. other whites in North Carolina and Tennessee. Instead of accept ing and trying to carry out the “tommy-rot” which the ex ploiters of humanity have brought them for a religious program the Negroes should* forget their differences and in the strength of a united church bring out a new interpretation of Christ to this unwilling world. Following the religious teachings of their traducers, the Negroes do not show any more common sense than a people would in permitting criminals to enact the laws and, establish the procedure of the courts by which they are tried. The trouble with the world today is that when men be come hardened in crime they seek some doctrine. or theory to combat those who. do not be lieve in that crime. Some,of the promoted of religions which we now embrace were criminal* pf the wnrstiitype. Some good-but ignorant nian advanced .an, idea. , A vicious prince, seeing how he cojuid profit politically by giving sup port thereto/ took up-'the heir faith and forced it. upon a larg er group: and in the interpre tation of that faith it has often been made- the justification! of the crimes of its champion. - Following in the footsteps of such criminals, many preach ers say and do almost anything to get a, following to support them, although1’the people thus exploited are thereby wejat. ened to the extent that they cannot meet7‘ the demands of the age in • which they live/ The Negroes of this country hfcve been impoverished by unwise and criminal leaders, for it is almost impossible to bring bee fore the race any constructive program whieh such exploitejps, will not oppose. Each one thinks of the job wftieh I he does not care to giveTupron of -the prestige which he.may H&f. Everything is weighed; m the light of selfishness aod-rpersoji' al aggrandisement. The Negro race, at the preent time, there fore, is unable to battle against the forces opposing it. ^ Whist are you going to do about it?! CENTRAL CHURCH, PET-. ERSRURG, VA. The lingering scene of May 3d st at Central Presbyterian, chnrch; Petersburg, V*a., 8tHP greets my view. It was a full and busy day. After Rev. &M( Mr?. J. . E. Tice had gone, through with the Sunday.; school lesson, Mrs. '.'nek marched her band of childfren, in, the which pictured vivi<Rk, the scene around the throne of God in heaven, where thous Mft. H. E.. James were pres ent and worshipped with them after he had .made remark?, bearing, on the lesson, followed, by a few words .by the writer. Mrs. James assisted in the choir. Rev. Tice preached \ soul-stirring sermon ending up on an evangelistic order, and constraining souls. He would make a good evangelist but is needed here at this post-which they have striven to make good. After a sumptuous repast we went for the baptizing. Some wished to be immersed. Here, too, Rev. Tice showed himself fully equal to the task, while Mrs. Tice was very motherly in her attention. Then followed the afternoon seirvic es, in which the Lord’s Supper was celebrated, all so impres Such a contrast from a few years ago. A comfortable brick church and the cozy manse looked as if • ■ Rev., and Mrs. "Dice had been settled there for years 1 and are at home for life. They are realiz ing their dream. Early, too, •may they see ithe • enlargement of !their school work. Trust in the Lord anch He wi^r bring it to pass. After shaking hands with these good people the Deacon ess, Mbs. Lxxftrn, Mrs.j Jones, Mr and Mrs. Johnson and oth ers, whom space forbids the mention, and having been royally entertained by Rev. and Mrs. Tice, we left Monday morning to preside at the Alumnae Re-Union at Ingle-* side, the which andthe enter tainment by Mr. and Mrs. Ate* Rridgeforth, sweet mem ory will' cherish long. - They kindly conveyed'us in auto through the country to. Blacks stone. We found Mrs,- Bettie Bridget ©rth somewhat convfch escent owing to the careful at tention of Miss Lavinia and Mr. Wm. Btidgeforth; Heartiest wishes for her speedy recov ery. MRS. M. B. MARKS. Bracey, Va. A gospel without the print of the hails is not the sospel ’of ' Christ.—J. R. Miller. I® j **resl^yterian Advance Hagood is reported *P :h^i said; “Race prejudice is harder than quartz ;wh© Can JMItilSfcyltdiB colder than the aoi -the Arctics; i itr Tha^rpod bishop, i friend to every race, ye used a stronger contributing cause, Hike my other r evils, race pr4iu be cured by r turning JSp “thatartbat^nmn,” i§|%g?ee*t literary character, •o you know him wew^ tyd a friend. he ! re eA nhat is wh# |:hate Mm. frfcnew him, I cooidn’thate IS . suaro iTUCtmi mg in every individual/ every race has. state/ trait Let us con ud “ race, which has/ . cause of .so much race prejudice in our country. What are some of the charac teristics a of -the African - race ?' .Bishop Walter. Lambuth, who. planted a mission in the fcsl ' t Congo, and knew the Ne in both America and Ajfri-; tea don e S fur the Unatufed, MM when religious.” Qt course, every Negro does not possess al! .these traits—nor does every/ white man—but they , are some of the worthy characteristics* cf this. ra<ce which has hid such a tragical, history. Folk -lore, will often reveal the. background of a race. When we study Negro folk lore -we are impressed with the fact that .nearly every story told around their camp fire® ends with a moral. This is en couraging, for these simple stories, with their moral les sons* are an index of character. Henry M.. Stanley, in his book, “My Dark Companions/’ P«** lished nearly fifty years ago* gives us a volume of interest*; ing-stories Which he heard around the African.camp fires. He. too, was impressed with the fact that most of the sto* ries carried sotne moral. Our “Bre’r Babbit” stories and oth er animal tales were brought here from Africa. Let us note some of the moral lessons drawn from these storied told around, the African camp fires., Whilo tint eivmcr the exact I words, Stanley has endeavored to produce the exact thought as nearly as possible. v The story of the creation of; man by the toad and the moon ends with this moral: “You see Jiowvroy friends, what mis chief the toad dkhttat© Jall man kind. ijadrhif conceit been less, and had he #aited W attle, the good moon vnuSM B have con ceived us of a nobler kind than we now arej And the taint of the toad had not earned mam Wherefore abandon headstrong ways, and - give way hot to rashness, but pay good heed to the wise and old, Pest ye taint in like manner the people, and eaese the innocent, the young, and-the weak to snifter*” Weatherford, in his splendid book, “The Negro Fitom Africa to Ainerid*,* quotes several Nlegrp folklore stories from Weeks' Life,” • which teach; patience, honesty,; truth fulness, and other Virtues. WO quote one on truthfulness: “One day a) Gazelle, being veryhungry, weutinsearch of foodsJ dno sawi>a ine bunch of palm-nuts hanging from a palm he. coukfnot*iimb the tfcfee^ ‘He therefore ;wrat in search' at hfeiftienrf-^e P*hn-rat, and said to -Mm: ‘-1 kqow wb«e the** is ft>'«fie biach of pabn-nuts _-4«| - If promise to give me some f wilfcshow you where it is^The Palnwat readily promised | ttr share the nuts.' So together* they wehfrtd the forest, slid* the gazelle pointed out the huts to. his friend. With his strong, ahhrp chrws the Pidmirat quickly mounted the palm-tree, and • found * there three' hunch es of palm-nuts ; but instead of cutting • titem Sdowiy he sat on a- palm-frond sand begaato |eat ffehena. After a 4ime the Gazelle «hoiited Tout: ‘Priemk Palm-rat, throw mie down some of the ithenutg according to your pro mise/- ‘Oh,’ crtedthe Paim-rdfr ‘when I am eatings I am deafr«nd ean-not hear what is An he contiriued to maunch. aW*yiatthe hurts. i s! “T&e Gazelle waited a little and again called out: ‘Plejafee throw -me some of • the nuts, -for I have hoofs and can not climb a tree like you/ But* the PaJm rat ate greedily on and took; no; notice ;of his friend's request, except-to-say that he was deaf when eating. The Gazelle ' there upon gathered sOnie y leaves, grass, twigs and ^gtupble; and made a large- Are at the bottom, of the palm-tree, in a short * time the Palm-raf Cried out; ‘Uncle Gazelle, put out your fire, dhe heat and smoke are. choking me.’ K)h/ replied the Gazelle, ‘whenl am wanning myself-by-the fire -: I tan nor hear what is said to me.’:And he heaped more firewood and dried grass on the fire. ' The PaksMrat, chokihg with the smoke, lost; his grip oft ’the tree, and fell to the grpUiid dead. The GazeUevreturhed tc iiown. end took'ipdasda Hr arefumte imiwrti the Palm-rat. If you mhke s 'promise, keep it; and if you want a kindness shown to you you must do kind things tc ■„ others.” These stories are indeed an index to Negro character. They show-'that he isjscapeble of responding to the moral and spiritual i appeal. Did not Liv ingstone find among the i na rjfcivefe, rblP '“the African jungles some of the most loyal friends he ever had ? Did not Bishop, Lambuth find in John Wesley Gilbert;who tramped with him’ hundreds of smiles through Af rican forests, a true and devot-, ed yoke-fellow of the gospel?; Did not Bishop Crowther wit ness two of his African con verts take a stand -in the face of, persecution that almost equaled that of the intrepid Lu ther7 And have we not all among our Negro friends as genuine Christian character as can be found sgiywhere? Dr. Weatherford, who has made a thorough studyofthe, Negro, in bis hook mentioned above, says the Negro is grow ing, morally. He says: “It lean not be made out that the Ne gro is qforse now than during, slavery. We may hear more of bis misdeeds, but a closer stu dy 1 revealp. a growth of char-, acter which is a real achieve ment- In this progress :the 'Ne gro church has had a very large ©art The problem* of the Southern white man is to fact facts squarely. We know we live side by side' With tfen TOifc Ifon, Negroes. We know their churches are poorly organised —but for that tnatter, so4are ours. We know their tfrehchers are poorly trailed—out who would claim perfdctidh for our white ministers? We know that better training and a more sympathetic attitude 1 toward their reg&ious life is ihe great* e<?t need of the Ndpro tojday. As statesmen of a new* day we should see to it that ihe Nq gro church fulffflr its high function in transforming the moral; life of the Negro face. There is ever?' hope for th^ fq4 tore—there fa no-basis for de spair.” . Ashland, Ya The thirty-third < Of th e deavor Fear 3‘ i sea Sun - -——t- En Cottvention of Cape Presbytery opened its Service at 8 urdbtir P. M. Au gust f$th, iir Dhfehan Presby terian -church,' Maxfcm, N* C., and continued ^through ^August 16. . The amiuat amnQn ^aa de livered by the> Rev;r H.S; Da vis, of Fayetteville^ N. C.» who took a* a fteacti “Where there is no vision the people-per ish.” (Prov. 29:18.) The ser mon was one of thought and interest and was enjoyed by all. With Rev.' H. S. Davis pre ?iaing-We had the ifcgtotitftion f f Pastors, superintendents and delegates We were planed to greet a large delegation. The followingnamed persona were; elected to- serve ap offi cers b# -the' Convention: President,; Rev. J. B. Fran cis, of’Wh Seville. Vice-President, Miss L. E. B*1nkteyr ofQverftBls. " > Secretory; -Mfcs .'3i* rF. fWil tiajn&:-of MatohaMe* Assistant Secretary,-Miss Ad die. Jones, Lomberton. . Treasurer, Mbs. P. P,- John son, Maxton. Welcome.-At Mr. David A.' Leateh emend ed us a very eordialVteleome on behalf of the ebanehy and Mrs. Hays -im a‘ *4re*y -pleasing manner welcomedu^on behalf &PfcheSundey cehOokAfter lis tening to these addresses we felt at home. Rev> Pi'* F.7 Johnson, in n-wery for tho beaotifoV#«<ii tof; wel come. v> was* talsen by. the first E., .Brinkley. The ‘beh£dfc?tion ** closed evening’s-session of the day. Friday! morning atr9i8& the Convention - era# catted to order Ly the iFr&iftient,; Rev. J. B. Francis. After song service c a Bible Study—I>eason8 from the Life of Moses*—was igiveoi byr Rev. T. T; Branch, D5a©„ of ‘ Fay etteville. HO'told of thO trou bles and trials: that Moses had to undergo. His discourse was enjoyed by all. 1 f The Advantages-of the de partmental Lessons aver the International LfessonsWa* dis cussed byRev. - H. Sv-Bsvis, of Fayetteville; 'Revo Davis- told the dffference between the de partmenfcaiteasona andrthe In ternational lessons. The De k>aiftnionetal»< le^’* hre^er ecting, teaehdble, can be re membered and -follow the trend of modem education; They al so help>tbet c«W to make the proper adjustments athome. m school, ehurcli 1 and - -the* com munity. ‘ . ^ “The Hfetory of t&e sunoay School,” by HfeV; J. H. Hays PwftodifiBf D., Idin*bert«PM was very jably ^^md afdrciMy rdeliv ePed Snndtty wheel history, ttke aHothephtetory, ts-divid ed into1 three i parts, ancient, mediaeval andmodern. Aftfer^thii dweoursewe were Uteasedtb g#eet »r.v Savage, of FrankKht<yn.'He waa-intoPduced and accorded aseat ns iwre fpondfng^toswber of Con ventftyh. T>^ SOT*Ke ******^ ils, usingas hi* Subject, We Wanf a Lhnr«r OhiWCih. His meSS&e ^ was wy forcibly ««d pfeasIWgfly »wen- W« »re al' ways jgtedtto tevsfBirSavage with us in thiCtoeVentieu. Remarks were made by Elder fiMHum'. also' frdm 'FPaiddlnton, affirm wHftH #e<|tftied^ sing tog, “He Leadeth Me.” " lonstratftm in teaching cfes** waaogpeen by $ f. imm**, Man A demonstration in teaching an ^»Hilt HitWPiEewwi 4Hd. 6: itod^veit by Bee. J. B. — ; (Continued on page 4)
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
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Aug. 27, 1931, edition 1
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