One of our missionaries, some time since, was applied to by a colored woman for admission to the church. At her examination before the committee, she had a wonderful dream to tell as proof of her conversion. The committee, not deeming it sufficient evidence, refused her application. She went immediately to one of the old ministers, and the day of her immersion was duly celebrated by a great gathering, of which she was the heroine. As she clambered up the bank of the river, shouting aloud, she suddenly encountered one of the deacons whose church had refused her admission. Giving a sudden pause to her religious fervor, she thrust her clenched hand into his face, exclaiming: “There, I am baptized,” and followed up with imprecations upon himself, pastor, and church, which were, to say the least, not saintly, and then resumed her shout of glory!
To one who has seen the negro often under religious excitement, it is evident that he seeks it as many men do intoxication, for the mere pleasurable excitement; he neither feels nor hears, nor does he know of reasons for being a better man morally because of his religion; if it only makes him happier, it meets his need, and the only demand he has to make of it.
This is a just idea of what conversion was under the old-style minister among the negroes. Of course, there were many among them who preached a purer Gospel, and sought renewed spiritual lives among their people, especially before emancipation, but with freedom came the hope of political or other power, which could be gained most easily by the preacher, and many sought and secured such positions who were utterly unscrupulous as well as ignorant. It is such a ministry as this which, more than anything else, opposes to-day our work among the Freedmen.
Dr. Sears stated last spring, in his address at the School Superintendents’ Convention, that he knew of the presence of one trained normal teacher in a village to necessitate the dismissal of seven old-fashioned teachers. Contrast and comparison revealed sad deficiencies before unknown, and the committee was forced to get rid of the poor teachers. And so it is chiefly by what we compel others to do, that we are to estimate the value of our intelligent and largely undenominational work in the South. The Freedmen are beginning to see that religion is something different from dreaming dreams or seeing visions, or shouting, or anything of the kind; that it means honest, pure, industrious lives, inspired and controlled by the spirit of Jesus Christ. Education is securing something better than such conversions, in fact is making them impossible with the new generation.
INCONSIDERATE GIVING.
We deem it inaccurate to say “inconsiderate charity,” for such giving is not charitable giving. “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” The obligation is as imperative that we shall give intelligently as that we shall give at all. The intolerable tramp nuisance with which we have been so grievously afflicted, was nourished and built up by the illy considered sentiment which found expression in the declaration of a well-known minister, who said he would refuse to give anything to the cause of missions before he would refuse a gift to the poor fellow who asked at his door for help, and in the custom of a good woman of wealth, who bought a set of crockery for tramps, and always kept a large coffee-pot full of that delightful beverage on the stove ready for the use of her frequent guests, a dozen of whom she has been known to feed in one day. There can be no doubt that a ready and full supply of this kind will develop an almost infinite demand.
A lady, prominent and well-known in New York city, whose habit was never to give to any one asking at the door, but to take the address of the applicant and investigate the case, said that in seventeen years’ experience she had never found a single deserving one among the many who had so applied; in every case a fictitious address had been given.
We can do no safe and really charitable work until such work is intelligently organized, so that deserving cases are supplied with just the kind of aid needed, and fictitious and unworthy ones are exposed and punished. We must know, either by ourselves or accredited and trusted agents, what we are doing if we are to benefit rather than curse our fellows by our so-called charities.
The friends of the negro are in danger constantly of being imposed upon by impostors, who rob the cause they desire to promote of much-needed funds. It is very easy for one who comes soliciting aid for a prospective college or church to secure testimonials that said institution is greatly needed, and that the solicitor is seeking money for a most important purpose.