Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / July 18, 1935, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
VOL. LTL CHAftLOTTE, N. C, iHUtisDA F, JULY 18, 1935, AN APPEAL TO REINSTATE THE EMGUSU HBIE AS A CODE Of IH8ALS FOR CHURCH, SCHOOL, STATE AND NATION (Repmited from a booklet by the Rev.. Robert. Elliott Flickkir ?er, D# D., Rockwell City, Iowa.) ! Article VI ADranam mu command Mis • Children ‘‘The Lord said, Seeing that Abraham will become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." "x Know Abraham that he will command his children and his housenoid after him, and they shad keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; tnat the Lord may bring upon Abraham that wmch he hutn spoKen of him.” Gen. 18 :19. Abraham was the head or public official of a clan or com munity, that at the call of ,Goo he nad developed and organized in Canaan. He was co&mander in chief of its military forces, and, pursuing a victorious army, rescued Lot and his family from the victors, m rendering these puoiic services it is worthy of note he manifested the charac ter of one who was the friend of G$l. He is a good example of what is expected of every pub lic official. Rulers, God Ministers Paul in hist letter to the Ro mans ^states, rulers tare God’s ministers. "Rulers are the ministers of God to thee for good. They are not a terror to good works; but to evil. For this cause pay ye tribute, for they are (*od's min isters, attending continually upon this very thing.* Romans 13:2-4. - ia§aT Rulers C Abraham, father of the faith ful; Joseph, the food distribut ing ruler in Egypt; Daniel, the youthful captive at Jerusalem, serving as chief of the gover nors among the idolaters in Babylonia; Moses, the lawgiv er and governor of the children of Israel in the Wilderness; and David, their wtarrior king, all realized or had a consciousness .that they were the servants and ministers of God in their various admiifistratiens. These God-fearing rulers give the Bible reader a correct ideal of the character that God, the sovereign ruler of nations, expects to be maintained by all whom he calls to service as pub lic officials in Christian Amer ica; to whom he has graciously given his Holy Word, containing the Divine Standard of good moralS The) Bible dpefp not (contain two standards of morals, as many seem to believe: one for the minister of the gospel, and people in the church; and anoth-, er for those who are God’s min isters in the State. If any of the people in Noah’s day helped him to build the Ark, which is quite probable, there is no record of thorn being included in the Ark, when its doors were closed and the flood came. When Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by a rod of pun ishment for their disregard of good morals the innocent chil dren suffered with the guilty. This always has happened when ambitious men have waged wars against the defenseless. It was Daniel who revealed the scales of the Almighty for weighing dissipated, immoral rulers, when he read the mys terious handwriting On the wall of the king’s palace in Babylon. “Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin, Thou art weighed in the bal ances and found wanting.” Dan. 6:25. This judgment fell upon Bel shazzar, the king, that night. Ruins of the Fourth Kingdom Babylon, B. C. 603; Persia, B. C. 538; Greece B. C. 333; Rome, B. C. 66—A. D. 1463, the fall of Constantinople—1934. It is believed the nations of Southern Europe and Asia, now represent tne ruins 01 ine 4in and last kingdom in tne prophe cies of Daniel that would contra) the destinies of the Jews after the time of the captivity, 588 B.jC. With the exception of Cyrus, King of Persia, the heads oi fopr successive monarchies or world powers in the prophecies of| Darnel—Babylon, Medo-Per sia, Greece and Koine—were /ambitious worldly conquerors, wHo were used by their Creator as rods of punishment to ad minister discipline to Israel, Judah and Ephraim for their idolatry, dissipation and drunk enness. 4 The woeful narrative of these ambitious, wararige Dr cmf& is broken by thef avorable men tion of Cyrus, King of Media, who sent Ezra and Nehemiah fvith colonies of helpers from their captivity in Babylon to re build the temple and wall at Je rusalem. Appeal to the Readers of the Bible Statesmen and learned spe cialists are racking their brains to devise political or economic schemes to effect relief from the present depression and the curse of prevalent evils. . All agree on the fact of the depression and wave of crahe and moral corruption, but have S agreed on the caused or the posed remedies. Something tns to b$ lacking. Many are searching fo£.**nmte^s»-unr: known quantity, force or powf er. Prevention Better Than Cure Believing the . daily use of the Bible ruled out of our public schools has caused a serious but unconscious loss of a uniiorm and national standard of good morals, and of a grateful, wor; shipful observance of the Safe bath, as the Lord’s Day on the part of many in the last two or three generations of our American citizens and public of ficials, an earnest appeal is made herewith to every reader, high or low, to co-operate with oth ers in prudent and possible ef forts to reinstate the daily use of the Bible in all public ahd private elementary schools in every State and dependency of America, as was done by our loyal and patriotic forefathers who signed the Declaration of Independence. The American Bible Society TBuy the truth and sell it not.” “Ye shall know the truth* and the truth shall make you free.” The American Bible Society, by its national and district agencies and traveling - colpor teurs recognizes the Bible as the basis of the Ghristian home, and the Bible read in the home as the basis of our Christian civilization and national pros perity. Disastrous influences are now undermining the purity and mo rality of the home, and 1 the sanctity ojf the jSaJbba&h as a day for worship, and spiritual instruction. These . prevalent evils are imperiling the foun dation of our civil and religious institutions. No phase of our social life presents to public of ficials and educators a more ur gent call for their persistent ef forts than that of the morally neglected home life of the young and rising generation. The American Bible Society, Bible House, New York City, established in 1816, has since been printing, selling, and dis tributing the Authorized Ver sion of the Bible in many lan guages in this and other lands for more than a century. A re cent anniversary led to the pub lication of the following account of its provisions to supply the needs of the Negroes in the United v States. All of its Work is entirely undenominational. Home Agencies The Bible. Society has home agencies in the principal cities ofj America—New York,. Phila delphia, , Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, San Francisco and many others—making it eajsy to obtain supplies. Agency far Colored People . iThe American Bible Society is; now rendering a world-wide service in many lands, and in their own languages to many na tionalities. The world-wide spread of their organization is very aptly il lustrated by their special na tional agencies to Bupply the needs of Negroes in the United nates with biL-es and colpor teurs. These national agencies managed by Negroes are located at Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Houston, Tex as; and Cleveland, Ohio. This special branch of the American Bible Society was or ganised in 1901, thirty-three years, ago, largely at the sug gestion of Rev. John P. Wragg, a colored Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, who served as its secretary at Atlanta, 1901-1904. It is called, Hie Haven Me morial Agency among the Col ored People in the United States. Products of the Bible in the Public Schools The Bible with its divine standard of good morals, tends to produce men and women who have the moral courage to ex press their convictions of truth, justice and right, like Washings ton, Lincoln, John and Charles Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ben jamin Franklin, Horace Greely, Neal Dow, Julia Ward Howe, Frandes * Willard, John Wax** -maker, BdbE&rTr Waeftiri£ton, Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate and hosts of others.. Authorized Bible Not Sectarian The authorized version of the Scriptures is no more a sectari an book than the ordinary text boPks. on Agriculture, Astrono my, Geology, Geography, Arith metic or Grammar. No one has any inherent right that is infringed by its use; or a right to exclude it froftn use in the public schools of America as the divine stand ard and uniform code of good morals. As the one authoritative and approved Book of God, the Cre ator of ell, it; ought to be in every educational institution. Its proclamation of liberty every Jubilee (50th year) in the Com monwealth of Israel, has been the charter of American liberty. iProclamation of Liberty “Proclaim liberty through out the land tp all the inhabi tants thereof." Lev. 25:10. When Jesus began his minis try, he referred to this procla mation of liberty, when he said: “The Spirit of the Lord is iipoh me, because he bath an ointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; f o'heal the broken hearted; to preach deliverance to the captives (dissipated ser vants of the devil); and to set at liberty them that are bound." Lake 4:18. The Scriptures were intended oi '3od to be the unchanging 'standard of in) ■•ality and purity lor all the human race, old'and ycung, Jew and Gentile; and to be as free for all as the air we breathe and the water we drink. A knowledge of the Bible in childhobd and youth tends to develop the conservative prin ciples of virtue and knowledge, which serve as the world’s best protectors against ignorance and superstition, vice and crime. •* The government has recently -established a great prison on a small island a short Hfafance •from the coast of California. Dangerous criminals found guil ty of high crimes and sentenced for life are now sent there to spend the rest of tHeir days in retirement, * How much pleas (Continued on page 4) DO WE WANT MORE NEGROES? By Dr. Kelly Miller I heard Andrew Carnegie in an address at Howard Universi ty some twenty years ago say, speaking of the Negro, “We want more of them.” He did not explain or elaborate upon this remark, but left the listener to draw his own conclusion as to his meaning. I have turned this iremark over in my mind from that date to this. It is the only utterance coming from such an exalted and influential source which compliments the Negro race to the extent of wishing an augmentation of their num bers. After twenty years of re flection on the remark of this canny ^Scotch philanthropist I cah only conclude that he must have meant that the masters ef industry desired more Negroes to do the rough, unskilled work At a lower rate of wage and with easier satisfaction than white competitors would do. Mr. Car negie was the “iron king” of his day and generation. The Negro is deemed best adapted to the rougher and hotter work of the steel industry. Therefore, it is easy to see why the “iron king” might want more of them. The* Southern slave owner wanted all the Negroes he could get for he made a handsome profit oh the surplus advantage of their labor. The employer wants as many laborers as he cah exploit at a profit. He' looks uppn the workman as a part o the productive machinery. In th^ South the employer used to advertise for so many “hands,” foi| tht hand was the only part that he had use for in his oper tiohs. HHe valued the working man and not for his personality as a man. But in these latter days, the laborer is. insisting upon his full manhood prerogative and recognition. It is no longer the working man, but the man work ing. The laborer does not exist for the sake of his work, but works merely as a means of de veloping and exercising his high er human capacities and sus ceptibilities. The white man, in the average, has not yet learned to recognize the Negro's one hundred per cent manhood. In some ways he regards him as existing for the sake of adding to the glory, honor and digni ty of his white lordship. This philosophy is well expressed in the current song: “That’s Why Darkies Were Born.” The Negro as a human being with inalienable rights and privileges and endowed with the full jprerogaltive of American citizenship, is hardly wanted in increasing numbers by the white race except for exploita tion. Now that exploitation of the poor by the rich, labor by capital and black by white seems to be heading for its last roundup, there is probably not a man in the nation today of the eminence of Andrew Carnegie who would say or could say re garding the Negro that “we want more of them.” In the midst of the present depression in which we are now groping, the Negro bears the heaviest brunt of it all. According to the old saying, he is the last to be hired and the first to be fired. He is the least wanted man in the industrial and social life of the nation. Instead of wanting more of him, the demand is growing less and less. What is to be the outcome of this tendency none njay now foresee. We can only fall back upon the never failing solace of optimism and hope that somehow good will be the ultimate goal of things. But the Negro race is afflicted with such a blighting inferiori ty complex that he himself does not want more of his kind. In deed, the individual Negro is apt to .think more of himself the less there is of his racial identi ty in him. The only Negro who wants more of his race in a giv en jurisdiction is the politician at election time. I am thus portraying the act uality of the situation, not with •pessimistic purpose or intent, hut to bring the thought of the race to a realizing sense of the situation as it is. To depict con ditions as they really are may sometimes depress the spirit and M the faint-hearted with pessi mism and despair. This is far thest from my purpose. 1 would inspire the strongrhearted ana strong-willed leadership ofjjhe race to make correct &ppng| ment of conditions which front them and to devise a phil osophy and a program which is adequate to grapple with the sit uation. This will require pro founder thinking and more forthright courage than race leiuiership has hitherto exhibit ed. Every self-respecting race, nation, religion or organization or group of any kind or charac ter has within it the desire to increase, multiply and expand. Every nation on earth wants to become larger; every city’s am bition is to show numerical growth at each census taking. But there is no State in the Union today that desires to in crease its Negro population, nor is there any city that craves an increased colored contingent. THE YADKIN CENTRAL I DISTRICT PRESBYTERIAL By Mrs. Cora T. Russell, Recording Secretary The Yadkin Central District Presbyterial met in St. James ehurehr-Greenaboro, Ju^r 1985. The meeting was opened with a period of worship led by Mrs. \ Susie Malone and Mrs. E. j F. Malone, of Mebane. The songs, “My Faith Looks Up to Thee,” “Just As I Am Without One Plea,” and “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” were sung. The theme, “Faith,” was discussed by Mesdames G. E. Sullivan, Claudia Baynes and J. E. Avant. We were all inspired and re vived through this service. Mrs. G. E. Sullivan, the President, took pharge of the meeting and opened it by set ting forth the object and scope of this meeting. Mrs. Taylor brought greet ings from the Missionary Soci ety of St. James. The response was given by Mrs. A. W. Wad dell. The roll-call of the churches showed that all the churches except three were represented and all reports were complete, which showed great improve ment over last year’s report. The President sent out a uni form report blank this 1 year which proved to be the means of reaching some societies that heretofore were not interested. The President recommended last year that each Society in the District dp sewing, sell ar ticles to aid the local work, send some to our schools, and bring sonie to the District meeting to be put on exhibit. Mrs. E. B. Meares, Mrs. R. E. McNair and Mrs. H. C. Miller were appointed to ar range the exhibit. The delegates had. brought many well made, useful articles and when they were arranged a beautiful scene was. presented. Most of the articles were sold and the money went into the District treasury. Our district is highly favored by having Mrs. E. B. Meares, President of Yitfkin Presbyte rial, and Mrs. R. E. McNair, President of the Catawba Syn odical. Mrs. Meares brought greet ings from the Presbyterial and gave some of the high lights oi $e Presbyterial: 1. That the district meetings are the foundations of the Pres byterial, 2. Ail Presbyterial officers present at the Spring meeting. 3. A majority of the church es were represented. 4. Twenty societies paid in full. T 5. Nine societies- piad almost in full. 6. That a greater number of young pepole were reported. 7. That each society is re quested to send one pillow case 18x36 to Brainerd Institute, Chester, S. C. V Mrs. Meares also spoke of the loss to the Presbyterial In the death of Mrs. B. F. Murray, founder of Yadkin Presbyterial, and. a life long worker^jn the * le. sitors were introduced as Lops: Mr. C. W. Robinson, . C. R. Robinson, Mrs. Clement, High Point; Mrs. r] B. Jones and Miss Ruselle Black, Greensboro. The meeting recessed for Lunch. Afternoon Session—3:10. The meeting opened with a ten minutes song service. Visitors introduced were Mrs. W. G. Pearson, Mrs. S. L. War ren, Durham, and Rev. C. H. White, High Point. Mrs. R. E. MeNair, President of: the Catawba Synodical, brought greetings from the Syn odical, and other valuable infor mation. The apportionment was $1,246. Amount received, $1,266. More than asked for, $11. Amount for the National Board.: Cape Fear, $386.16 ; Catawba, $339.50; Yadkin, $275.20; Southern Virginia,. $275.20. Mrs. McNair gave the chart of growth of Presbyterian wor mto. 1. Spiritual me ana prayer groups of whatever L name in every society. . ; 2/ The Worship- Service— vital part of the program — shall include prayer, the definite use of the Bible and the intelli gent use of the Year Book of Prayer for Missions. ' 3. Missionary Education — Developed by an intensive pro gram using both National and Foreign topics. 4. Literature — Increasingly a. Year Book of Prayer for Missions. b. Women and Missions. c. Leaflets, dramatization, ete. d. Five Continents and Mis sionary Mail. 5. Stewardship of: 1. Service— a. Annual Increase in mem bership and attendance. b. Participation in Overseas, Hospital and National Missions Sewing. 2; Substance— a. Meeting assigned appor tionments. b. Regular payments month ly or quarterly. c. At least one Praise Service with Thank Offering for Mission Boards. d. “Making the Budget Life.” “See that ye increase in ttiis grace also.” (II Cor. 8:7.) 3. Self. ‘That in all things he might have the pre-eminence.” (Col. At thi§ point a paper, “Life From Death/' was read by Mrs. J. E. Avant, Durham, N. C. This paper was well composed, con vincingly rendered and provoked thought. Each Society in the District is requested to donate each year |2.65 to the Efland Home. As a stimulus of interest Mrs. W. G. Pearson, the President of Ef land Home, was invited to give the history of the Home. She gave a detailed history of the organization, the scope and upr keep, and; a report covering every phase-of all activities. All were convinced that it is a worthwhile project. The President named the goals for 1935-1936. 1. That each Society in the District give at least |2.65 to the Efland Home. 2. Get in more members. (Continued: on page 4)
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 18, 1935, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75