1. Whatever other danger threatens this republic, or calls for the labors of its Christian people, that arising from the three colored races is, I do not say the greatest, but the most obvious. The vast influx of European peoples does indeed, awaken serious apprehension, for they bring with them infidelity or Romanism; yet thus far no overt peril has arisen from this source, for they have so spread themselves among the masses that their influence has gathered to no focal point. But the Indian has been an irritant throughout the whole history of our occupancy of the land, and in all parts of it. Blood has flowed freely in the track of our wrongs against him, and will do so until we act like Christians and he becomes one. The Chinamen on our Western coast are few, and yet how their coming has shaken the nerves of the nation! What other set of immigrants, so few in number, has excited so much irritation—not on their part, but among ourselves about them? But the great disturber—yet the utterly unintentional disturber—of the peace of this nation, is the negro. For nearly half a century the storm has raged around him, as around Elijah in Horeb—the wind of tempestuous discussion in pulpit, press and Congress; the earthquake, rending asunder trade-interests, religious denominations, dividing even the nation itself into two hostile sections; the lurid and awful fire of war, with its blood, carnage and desolation. Last of all came “the still, small voice,” and God was in it. But how little has it been heeded. The wind is scarcely lulled; the earthquake is quiet but the dreadful chasms remain; the fires are smouldering, but now and then a darting flame of Ku Klux outrage or a Chisholm murder reveals the pent-up heat below! Then as to the anointing! Elijah anointed the kings and the prophet—giving thereby the grace to do the Divine behests, whether of vengeance or mercy. We have enacted the Freedman into a king where all are sovereigns, and a prophet where all the Lord’s people are priests, but we have not given him the knowledge or the spiritual grace that alone can anoint him as a king or priest.
The source of the special irritation in regard to these races is not far to seek. If a man moves into your neighborhood who is of your own race and color, though you may differ from him in theories of trade, politics or religion, yet assimilation and esteem may arise. But if he has a tawny skin, delights in the promiscuous use of the tomahawk and scalping knife, and withal claims an ancient title to the very land you occupy; or if he has a yellow face, wears a cue, eats with chop-sticks and is willing to work fifty per cent. cheaper than you can; or if he has a black face, with the stigma of slavery and caste-prejudice upon him, then the case is altered; assimilation and friendship are not so easy. But these people are here and they must stay; they are so numerous that you cannot ignore them; you must choose between leaving them as they are, a perpetual source of annoyance and danger, or training them to become useful citizens. Moreover, they are your neighbors, fallen among thieves, which stripped them of their raiment and wounded them, and you must choose between the part of the priest and Levite or of the good Samaritan. The meanest of them all is your brother, and you are your brother’s keeper.
But if you mean to act the part of a neighbor and a brother to these great multitudes, you have no small job on hand—which brings me to my next point.
2. The dangers and the duties of emancipation.
The nation that emancipates a large number of slaves assumes a grave responsibility. This is increased if the emancipation is immediate and the ex-slaves remain on the soil, and especially if they differ widely in race from the master-class. All these difficulties attach to our Act of Emancipation; but they are not an argument against emancipation. The old abolitionists were right—immediate emancipation was the nation’s duty. No preparation could be made for the change before it took place—slavery must be supreme or nothing. The safety lies alone in the wise after-treatment. Then or never, and soon if ever, must the Freedman be prepared for his new position. We have striking illustrations at hand. We begin with the nearest in point of time:
In 1861 Russia emancipated nearly fifty millions of serfs. This was the result of a ground-swell of popular sentiment demanding some break in the iron-clad despotism of an absolute monarchy. The next year the empire completed a thousand years of national existence. In the joyful enthusiasm over these two great events, there arose a strong hope of the advent of constitutional liberty. The changes, however, were few and utterly disappointing; and the issue of emancipation scarcely less so, involving the ruin of most of the landed aristocracy, and the ignorance, idleness and intemperance of a large share of the serfs. And now, after twenty years of unrelaxed despotism and the continued deterioration of the masses, the educated people in Russia see no better remedy than Nihilism!
In 1834 Great Britain emancipated 800,000 slaves in the West Indies, giving £20,000 as compensation to the masters, but making almost no provision for the education and religious instruction of the negroes. The hour of emancipation presented a touching scene in many places. Slavery ended on the midnight that ushered in the first of August, and the negro population, engaged in devotional exercises till that hour, were then on their knees and awaiting in silence the gift of the great boon of freedom coming from the hand of God! That was the auspicious era for beginning the work of elevating this inoffensive and willing people. But the golden moment was lost, for with inadequate provision for schools and churches, they gradually sunk in ignorance and superstition, back almost to African fetishism. So hopeless was the field that this Association withdrew its missionaries, and at length the British Government, aroused to its mistake, and after the loss of one third of a century of most precious time, established a thorough system of common schools. The tide begins slowly to turn.
In remoter years God himself became the emancipator of about two millions of slaves. Even He did not attempt the task of leaving them on the soil to meet the scorn or the power of the masters. But He showed His appreciation of their need of education and religious training by halting almost immediately after setting out on their long journey and opening a church-school on Mount Sinai. That most wonderful of all schools was kept there for a whole year—God himself the teacher. And when their journey was resumed, He directed in the construction of a portable church-school edifice in which instruction was continued till their journey’s end. God’s appreciation of the need of homes for the ex-slaves is seen in the fact that He had employed gangs,—not of men, but of nations—for centuries in clearing the land, building houses, and planting olive-yards and vine-yards for them.
This act of emancipation must be the model for Christian nations, so far as the circumstances are the same. There must be no preliminary apprenticeship, but immediate emancipation, followed by prompt, thorough, and persistent training of the people in knowledge, piety, and in acquiring homes.
I call attention lastly to