And now, what is it that makes these races weaker, less prosperous, less independent than our own? It is the lack of education; it is the lack of developed intelligence, not of native ability. And what are the claims which ignorance may make upon intelligence? It may not claim a right to power; it may not claim a share in property; it may not claim an equal social position with intelligence; but it may claim an opportunity to fit itself for all these things. Suppose a man had been born and had lived his life at the bottom of a pit; and he cries out, as you listen to him at the brink, “Give me a voice in the control of your affairs up there. I am in the United States as truly as you are, if I am at the bottom of this hole. I want to vote and have a voice in the affairs of the nation.” You may properly suggest to him that until he has seen the lay of the land he can hardly decide which way the roads had better run, that until he has lived in the upper air he can hardly know what institutions for the general control of society are best and wisest. He cries out to you again from the bottom of the pit, “Give me some money; I have had no chance to earn any down here. Throw down some greenbacks.” And you remind him that greenbacks as a circulating medium from one pocket to another are not a particularly profitable investment, and that if deposited in the clay bank, in which his hole is dug, they would yield him no great return. He says to you, “At any rate, throw down a broadcloth suit; I want to dress as well as you.” You intimate again that even goodly raiment would not add greatly to his comfort in his present state. But if that much-to-be-pitied man is wise, he will cry out for one thing only: “Reach me down a ladder, by which I may climb up to where you are.” If he is wise, the one thing he will ask of you is not a share in the control you have, not a share in the possessions you have acquired, not a share in the social position you may have attained, but it is an opportunity to fit himself for the acquirement and use of all these things. It is our business, brethren and friends, and it is the work of this Association, to reach that ladder down. If you will but let our brother get his hands upon the lowest round, he will come up and stand with us in God’s sunshine, as we have already seen him do. If we forbear, if we refuse, we are more guilty than the priest and the Pharisee who went by on the other side; we are as guilty as were Joseph’s brethren who lowered their brother into the pit and left him there and went their way.
We are not here to-day to plead rival claims and rival causes; but amid the whole circle of Christian graces and Christian charities, the last in all the world to leave unfilled is that which, when all the other miracles and glorious works of Christ had been catalogued, was added as the crowning gem of all—“The poor have the gospel preached unto them.” God help us ever to have sympathy with this grand work; and in this era which is coming, an era which will call for greater sacrifices and greater gifts than any that have gone before—for it must be an era of endowment for these institutions—let its claims be heard among all the rest in fair and true proportion.
MISPLACED BENEVOLENCE.
“The sympathies of Christian people are always deeply stirred when they come into personal contact with individuals who, in foreign lands, have come out of the superstitions and darkness in which they were reared and are seeking help for themselves or their people in this country. The touching stories that can be truthfully told of struggles in the past, and of difficulties under which they now labor, appeal strongly to all who hear them, and it is quite natural that gifts should be made in response to these pleas with little thought of certain nearly inevitable results which, were they aware of them, the donors would deeply deplore. The matter is a delicate one to treat. On the one hand, we would have earnest sympathy expressed for those who are seeking to elevate themselves and their people, whether educationally or religiously, and would have them wisely aided. It seems ungracious to do or say anything to check the outpouring of money in response to these appeals. But, on the other hand, when we see how, by reason of the reception given to these special appeals, the work of our missionaries is hindered, and their plans for the education and elevation of the people to whom they are sent are imperiled, we are constrained to utter again a word of caution.”
The above is quoted from a thoughtful article in the August number of the Missionary Herald. It presents in a very careful manner a warning that is at once delicate and needful. We find the same difficulties in our work at the South, and take this opportunity of adding our word of caution to our friends in regard to special appeals from that quarter. Money intended for our mission work in the South, or for student aid, can be more judiciously dispensed by us, knowing the whole field and its wants, than if sent by the donor directly in response to an appeal that may be overdrawn, or relatively less important than some others, and in some cases entirely unworthy of confidence. We have no reference in these words of caution to the professors and representatives of our Institutions, who visit the North duly accredited by us.