ADDRESS OF REV. SYLVANUS HEYWOOD.
Mr. President and Christian Friends:
I do not feel that I can stand here to give any instruction, nor scarcely any stimulus, in the work you are engaged in. Your presence is enough for that. But there are four or five points which seem to need special emphasis at this time—points upon which there appears to be some doubt in the minds of the people of the North.
First, is there absolute necessity of a higher education for the Freedmen in the United States? I do not say of a common-school education, for all admit the necessity of that. But I apprehend that there are many people who doubt the policy of founding universities at the South. I have a suspicion that thousands of dollars have been withheld from this Association for that very reason. This seems to me a most important work. I think upon it depends the vital principle of equal rights for all. You may enact laws, and hedge them about with penalties for securing the rights of the blacks, but law alone will prove a failure. But give to them the highest Christian culture, and they will not only demand, but command, their rights. Give them a common-school education, and it will be a blessing to them; but with nothing more, they will remain but hewers of wood and drawers of water. They will be in society, but not of it. But give them the highest culture among cultured men, and the case will be far different. It is too late in the day to raise the question whether they are capable of this. This Association has demonstrated that, day by day. I have spent ten years as a teacher among the whites, and two among the blacks; and I must say that I accomplished more in those two years than in the ten—more in the way of giving instruction. I say it is too late to raise that question at all. It is already demonstrated. Let them be educated with broad culture. Let them have the training that will put them in possession of practical skill, such as shall win success. Let them have their own lawyers, well trained in legal lore, so that they shall be able—in that natural eloquence in which they excel—to carry conviction to dignified courts. Let them have clergymen, not only earnest and sanctified, but able to cope with the deep things of science and theology—men able to stand before the most learned bodies. Let them have statesmen, well grounded in philosophy, history and government, so that they will be able not only to win victories upon the stump, but in the halls of legislation. Let their homes become homes of Christian culture and social refinement Then, and not till then, will they cease to struggle for their rights, and will take them; and not a dog will dare wag his tongue against them.
I feel that this is a subject of the most vital importance. Whoever considers it, I think will say that this Association has been wise in planting these influences at the South. I believe that here lies the master-key to its social and political problems.
The next point to which I would call your attention is the necessity of planting new churches all over the South—Congregational churches. People ask if they need such churches down there now. Certainly; and it is practically impossible to work there without them. We must work there with them. We have heard to-day that the old churches in the shadow of our institutions have grown purer and better. It is absolutely necessary that there should be an influence from the outside upon these churches. Men ask after the Uncle Toms of the South—ask if it is all imagination. By no means. The Uncle Toms of the South are met just about as frequently as the Harlan Pages of the North.
Men say that the old churches largely stand in the way of their own people. People testify that one of the greatest obstacles in the way of this educational question is to be found in the pastors themselves of those churches. As a class, they do not want their flocks to know more than they do. This is one of the greatest difficulties to be contended with. We must have churches outside of the old ones. Does not the grace of God abound in them? Yes, I believe there are multitudes who have it. But when that question is asked, I am always reminded of that familiar anecdote of the old clergyman who had a fair daughter who was noted for her violent temper. A young man became enamored of her, and asked for her hand. The old man was not willing to palm off damaged goods. He said, “It is not wise to take her.” “Why not?” said the young man; “isn’t she a Christian; isn’t she converted?” “Yes,” said the old man, “but you must remember that the grace of God can live where you and I can’t.” So the grace of God can bring forth influences to serve Him down there, but these churches stand as an obstacle. It is absolutely necessary to form new churches, that we be not burdened by the old effete organizations. I believe in Congregationalism. It may be very well for those of a different polity to talk of the God of the hills and the valleys and the dry places and streams; but our God is the King of the whole earth. It may be well for those of a different polity to quote their different authorities, but the only authority we recognize is the authority of Him whose dominion stretches from sea to sea and from pole to pole. Such is Congregationalism. It is adapted to every human being God has made. It may indeed take on different forms. You have pure, limpid water. Pour it into different vessels, but it will be the same limpid water still. So, take Congregationalism in the tropics or wherever you please, and it will be Congregationalism still.
Brother Pike would not pardon me if I did not allude to Africa. The ways of God are mysterious. We must walk by faith, and not by sight. We hear His voice saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it.” In this darkness we see His hand. The providence of God towards this nation, for generations, was exceedingly mysterious. But during the last forty years it has been becoming exceedingly clear. In the raising of this Society and the doing away with slavery, we can see almost visibly the hand of God displayed upon the midnight sky, pointing to that dark continent, saying we should send these freemen forth as apostles of light, to purify and make glad their ancestral homes. And I believe the providence of God is leading us to still greater achievements.
This Association, born amid the throes of slavery, is almost the only organization that stands for that principle which underlies the oneness of humanity. It seems to have been raised up that through it the churches might bring their influence to bear upon the vital issue of the hour. What is it? The same as it has been from the beginning of this nation—the same as in India—caste is the barrier everywhere. The battle rages to-day from Maine to California between classes of men. It is for this Association to stand up and contend against the foes that arise against whatever is good and right. If this Association ever hesitates thus to stand, whether it be in South Carolina, Massachusetts, or the Black Hills, then will its prestige be lost. But, thank God, there is no such fate for this Society. When the wolves of Communism are barking about our doors; when the shrieks of degrading socialism come up into our ears, it is no time to hesitate. It is time to resist their filth and set up the banner of that pure Gospel, under whose folds can be no bondman—neither Chinaman nor black—but where all shall enjoy the equality of the sons of God. We can almost see the hand of God visibly pouring into this nation from all sides as into the extended hopper of a mighty mill, that here they may be amalgamated. Here He brought the red man of the forest; then the Anglo-Saxon race; then He reached out to Africa and plucked up the black diamond; then He sent the phlegmatic Teutons and the Scandinavians; and even now He is opening old Cathay and pouring upon us swarms of Asiatics. “He hath made of one blood all nations of men that dwell upon the face of the whole earth.” There is no proposition which so awakens the fiendish hate of mankind as this. States and nations are rising up in indignation against this purpose of God. It belongs to Christian people to stand up and denounce God’s curse on whoever shall deny His will. Accursed be he who dares to keep out any nation or tribe under the heavens! Accursed any political party that goes through the country trying to raise a quarrel between men! Yea, accursed will be the nation itself that dares to make enactments to separate or make distinctions between races of men! It belongs to Christian people to stand up, and, in the teeth of antagonism, in defiance of States, governments, legislatures, and Protestant Congresses in the United States—to declare, “What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
There are many insects from which we shrink with loathing. But here comes the naturalist who takes his lens and pours in upon the insect the solar ray, and we stand back in amazement at the beauty and perfection of the work of God. It is the duty of us all to act the part of the naturalist towards these despised races—these degraded classes. Let us put them under the lens of that wonderful utterance: “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these ye did it unto me.” Pour into that lens the light of the last day, and we shall see them endued with the majesty of the Most High God.
I believe this the pressing duty of the hour. If we shall take counsel of our fears—if we are afraid to let Christianity grapple with infidel Romanism, even with heathenism, God will remand us back to forty years in the wilderness, but will bring in our children to drive out these Anakim of our faithless terror.