OUR ROLL OF HONOR.
We publish this month the names of our missionaries and the stations at which they are located. These names constitute our Roll of Honor. We are proud of them. Some of them are the names of old and long-tried veterans, the story of whose experience is full of romance and thrilling interest. All of them are the names of men and women who have made themselves of no reputation because of the work in which they are engaged. And what is that work? The salvation of the lost. The enlightenment of the ignorant. The elevation of the degraded.
It is surely very strange that opposition should be encountered in such work. It would seem as if it ought to have the benedictions of the good and the well wishes even of the bad. And yet the fact is, the good names of these missionaries are evilly spoken of; many times their personal safety has been imperilled, and they have been, and still are, made social outlaws because of their work.
This is not as it ought to be. It is not as it will be. Truth is steadily pushing for the light. Right is constantly asserting its claim for recognition. Old prejudices and false customs die hard; but their doom is written, and die they must. Problems will demand solution, in whose clearing up will vanish many a cherished folly. Here is such a problem for our Southern friends to solve. That most excellent Christian scholar and divine, Rev. Atticus G. Haygood, D.D., of Georgia, states it thus: "If, on other grounds, the teacher is entitled to personal and social recognition, the fact of his teaching a negro school should be no bar. Think, for example, of people admiring David Livingstone, and then turning up their noses at a teacher, not because he is bad, or ignorant, or ill-bred, nor yet even because he is a negro, but, forsooth, because he teaches a negro school! There is a very large intimation of 'sham' in this distinction without a difference. It is utterly absurd. May it not also be sinful?" We commend this problem to the good Christian people among whom our missionaries dwell, for solution. They will be sure to come out where Dr. Haygood leads them. And when they see the absurdity of their attitude in regard to our missionaries, we believe they will soon see the farther conclusion, namely, that it is sinful.
Meanwhile, our missionaries will keep on faithfully doing what they believe to be right, accomplishing thus two things at once: Witnessing for the truth and helping the needy. All honor to this noble band of self-denying, principle-maintaining men and women. They are standard-bearers of our advancing Christianity. They are where, as standard-bearers, they ought to be, at the front, the post of sacrifice and danger, but they are leading in a cause that is sure to win.