POWER OF RIGHT PRINCIPLES.
From the beginning this Association was wedded to right principles. It recognized their latent power. It took it for granted that right was expedient—that right would triumph. It did not ask if right thinking and right doing was the way of the multitude, even of the multitude of professing Christians. Its inquiry was simply for the way of righteousness. That way it strove to tread. It was called narrow—captious. Its leaders were sometimes stigmatized as men of one idea—disturbers of the people—fanatics. They were not time-servers, however. They had the martyr spirit and toiled on, waiting for the morning; and the morning came. What was once questioned if not ridiculed, is now accepted and honored.
The elements that entered into their early labors are needful still. They had courage. They dared to do right in the face of opposition. If mobbed and mobbed again, the oppression only served to fill the country with the fragrance of their good deeds. It was but the torch that kindled the incense. They were never drawn from a righteous purpose. God was present in the shadows, keeping watch above his own. They had the spirit of sacrifice. They were ready to go to the lost sheep—to the despised. They passed not by him who fell among thieves. They achieved distinction by their readiness to endure hardness—to submit to insult—to be counted among the few—to toil with but little appreciation and for meagre rewards. They also bore about with them a rich and beautiful charity, first pure, then peaceable, full of mercy and good fruits. It was the combination of these elements in active operation for a score of years that served largely to revolutionize public sentiment, and especially the sentiment in our churches, until the principles of this Association are accepted and acceptable. The change was wrought by the power of pure motives applied to aggressive religious work in behalf of a needy and wronged people.
This change is sure to come in every quarter of our land, by sufficient application of the power of right principles. Every mission station of this Association is a centre from which a pure light radiates. Every graduate from our schools is a torch-bearer flaming this light over the land. It is a question of time—of a score of years perhaps—and there will be no ostracism experienced by our teachers South. If they can be sustained in the field, toiling in righteousness; if their numbers can be multiplied to meet the demand; if the churches will make it possible to continue the work; the victory of right principles South will be as certain and speedy as it was at the North, and much more may be hoped for. North and South will clap their hands together in hearty co-operation, shouting their choruses in one grand anthem, and entering in company upon the enlarged work of carrying right principles to the domain of final victory—the Freedmen’s fatherland. To gird ourselves for that to-day is the duty which calls the servants of the Master, East, West, North and South.
THE CALL FOR ENLARGEMENT—SHALL IT BE HEEDED?
At no time has the call for enlargement been more urgent. It is strikingly providential also. The political, moral and religious atmosphere is charged with forces, prophetic of unparalleled progress in our Southern work. Questions relative to the policy of government are measurably settled for four years. We can lay our plans with encouraging assurances. Sound and practical views on all that pertains to permanent prosperity are dominant. It is not likely they will be materially modified, save for the better. Our statesmen and philanthropists are coming to prize more and more those forces in man which are developed by a Christian education. The want that is looming up before them, is good schools for the masses in every section of the country. They voice this want in their public utterances, and the sound thereof is echoing and re-echoing over the land. It has in it the promise of expansion and universal application. Its adoption and elaboration mean increase of every laudable industry, the development of commerce, art, science, literature, wealth, beauty, happiness. They mean the leveling up of humanity heavenward. The tone and temper of our best men was never more auspicious than now—never more favorable to the work of this Association.
There never was so strong conviction in the South as now of the wisdom of Christian education for the Freedmen. The worth of it cannot be hidden. It is as evident as the sheen of an electric light. There is a capacity in the heart of man, by which he is able to recognize it. He comes to do so gradually, inevitably, as the flower unfolds from the bud, and as the fruit matures from the blossom. Many of the best in the world started wrong, but turned about and out-stripped their fellows in well doing. The South has been wrong, but pour in sufficient light and it will turn about. We have a right to hope and pray for such consummation. The aim of our work is to hasten it. When the South turns, it will not be by halves,—that is not her method. She is already rising for the emergency. The signs of it are apparent. It is but a question of time, and the time is at hand.
Legislatures have appropriated money for our work, and are doing so heartily still. They act as statesmen, with a view to the best interests of the State. In Texas, there is a tidal wave setting strongly in favor of popular education, impelled by the far-sightedness which discerns that the flow of emigration of the best sort trends away from territory, however rich and inviting, where free schools for all classes are not abundant. The value of inaugurating school work through the agency of Christian teachers, need not be argued. The call for these teachers is sure to be more urgent than ever. Shall we provide for the immediate and coming want? God seems to have said so. We have received $150,000 for new buildings, in which to train teachers. New buildings mean enlargement—enlargement means more missionaries, more prayer, more money. Will not the friends of Christ heed this call prayerfully, promptly, efficiently?