THINGS TO BE REMEMBERED—NO 3.
The Danger! Whatever of sentiment or of poetry may have appealed to the imagination in the work of foreign missions, has been pretty much dispelled by contact with foreign races at our own doors. We find that they are intensely human, and that the task of saving them is intensely real. The enchantment which comes of distance is simple commonplace and matter of fact when the object is near at hand. Hence the danger, now to be apprehended, is that of disgust, or of indifference. Indeed we are not sure that the feeling has not taken on a stronger form, and might not now be called hatred, or scorn. If it be not one of these, what name shall we give to the feeling towards the Chinese on the Pacific; towards the Indian, driven from his hunting grounds and chased to the death by our soldiery; towards the Negro, whipped and shot by midnight raiders, unprotected by the government he helped to save, and left in his ignorance, his poverty and his animalism by God’s people, on whom he is cast for enlightenment and elevation?
How shall we see the vastness and urgency of the work for these races with such repugnances and disgusts meeting us on the very threshold? Moral ideas are of slow growth, and churches and communities turn to new objects of sympathy and labor reluctantly and sluggishly. While we hesitate and wait, the probability is that things will take shape and pass beyond our control; or, at best, that we shall but partially secure results which are now fully within our reach. At this moment the churches of America hold the key to the conquest of this world for Jesus Christ! Will they hold it a generation hence? Not unless they take advantage of their position to win these races to God before they are absorbed into the world, and are thus lost as a regenerating force with which to elevate the unsaved millions of mankind. Suppose, in our supineness, we see the Chinese driven back into heathenism; the Indian turned over to the soldiery for extermination, or a deeper barbarism; the Negro wrested from his rights, and unlifted from his passions, weaknesses and enthralments of mental and spiritual darkness: is there any reason to believe that the opportunity will ever return when it will be possible for us so completely to control, guide and mould them as we now can?
We are in jeopardy, therefore, of making the most fearful mistake in Christian ethics and in Christian practice. If these races pass from our hands uneducated and unsaved, the world will charge us with the commission of a crime against humanity itself. Now we can throw upon these fields, if we will, men enough to take possession of them in the name of Christ. Now, we can raise up out of these races the laborers to carry our learning, our art, our faith, to all who speak the same tongue, and to all in whose veins bounds the same blood. To this work Providence manifestly calls us—to do it is to walk with God, we verily believe. But whether the churches see it, or wish to see it; whether they are more ready to walk in their own light than in the light which shines from heaven, I cannot answer. I can only say the sun shines, and we have the eyes to see. If we miss the Divine plan and method it will not be for lack of light, but the mistake will be none the less sad, and the misfortune to the world none the less direful, because the ages may not undo it. From such a peril may the good Lord save his people, and open their eyes that they may see!
OBITUARY.
Rev. Sidney Hamilton Dale, pastor at Florence, Ala., died June 18th, and was buried at Talladega, June 25th.
Mr. Dale was graduated from the Theological Department of Talladega College, June, 1886, and at Christmas was ordained at Florence, the sermon being preached by Prof. G. W. Andrews, who also conducted the funeral services at Talladega. Some seventeen years before, Mr. Dale, then a little boy, was converted in a revival of very remarkable reach and power, at Marion, under the pastorate of Mr. Andrews, who was then beginning his many years of service in Alabama. After some time at the Lincoln Normal Institute, in Marion, he came to Talladega, where, in addition to normal and college preparatory studies, he pursued theology under the same friend who had led him to Christ. He was diligent, growingly diligent; in his studies strong, active and persevering. He had a voice of remarkable compass and power, and he composed both the words and music of the Class Song sung at his graduation. He was devoted to the ministry, for which he had made years of laborious preparation, and which he had begun with large promise of usefulness. His illness continued but a few days, and death was not expected till the end had almost come. But his faith was strong. With exultant prayer and triumph he crossed the stream into the better land. But it seems as if the fields this side, so large and needy, could ill spare such a young and vigorous reaper; and a heavy sorrow falls upon the young wife and mother who mourns an unmeasured loss, yet not without the hope and comfort which God alone can give.
D.