Read Ebook: The American Missionary — Volume 43 No. 02 February 1889 by Various

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Soon after the war the Roman Catholics seemed to have made a strong effort to win the Freedmen to their faith, and many Protestants felt a good degree of apprehension that the splendors of the ceremonial and the absence of race distinction might captivate the Negro. But the effort was unsuccessful and appeared for a time to have been abandoned. It has often been said, however, that the Church of Rome never surrenders an undertaking; it may delay and wait for more auspicious times, but in the end it perseveres. There are some indications of the renewal of the zeal of the Papacy for the Negro. The article in another part of the magazine, entitled "The Colored Catholic Congress," is an evidence.

One thing is certain. The Roman Catholic Church deserves praise for its disregard of the color-line. The rich and the poor, the white and the black, bow at the same altar, and one of the highest dignitaries of the church is not ashamed to stand side by side with the black man on a great public occasion. Protestants at the North and the South must not allow the Romanists to surpass them in this Christ-like position.

NOTES FROM NEW ENGLAND.

I have swapped horses--exchanged a Georgia mule for a New England thoroughbred--and hereafter the "Notes in the Saddle" will be written from this dignified seat. And what a change it is from the South to New England!

Take a map and look it over. Put down in each State the illiteracy, and make the comparison. In this good Commonwealth of Massachusetts only seven-tenths of one per cent. of the native born white population are illiterate, while in Georgia twenty-three per cent. of the native whites, and in North Carolina thirty-two per cent. of the native whites, are illiterate.

The South is pre-eminently the great missionary ground for our Congregational Churches; for Congregationalism means the school-house as truly as the church--and here in New England there is most enthusiastic sympathy with, and support of, the American Missionary Association in its great work in that section of our country committed to its care by the churches.

They want the A.M.A. to take Congregationalism into the South, and whether it organize churches mostly of whites or mostly of blacks, New England demands that a Christian of any color be admitted into any church because he is a Christian. The feeling is intense here and growing more so.

Congregationalism could have planted its churches all over the South before the war, but it would not strike hands with slavery; so, to-day the children of the Pilgrims demand that the A.M.A., in its growing work, shall stand true to the historic principles of the fathers, and not compromise Christian truth for any seeming temporary advantage.

There is great interest in the work among the American Highlanders which the A.M.A. is pushing with such vigor. I spoke in a church near Boston recently, and, after the service, a young man, his eyes bright, his face flushed, hurried down the aisle and exclaimed, "I am a Kentuckian!" I had been telling some plain and rather painful truths concerning the people of Kentucky--the murders committed there; their lack of school privileges, etc. I thought this friend might question some of my statements, but I was delighted when he said: "I thank God that some one is ready to call attention to the terrible needs of my own State. I can't get people to believe me when I tell them of those needs. I was brought up on the edge of the mountains and know them well, and I do not believe there is any spot on earth more needy than that region of my own State." He accentuated his words by a generous gift to the Mountain Work of our Association.

A good friend of the A.M.A. in Gorham, Me., put into my hands the letter of Edward Payson, in which he accepted the call of the Second Parish Church of Portland, requesting that it be sold and the proceeds go to the A.M.A. work. It is a most interesting historical document, of value to some one collecting historical literature. It was a generous gift, for this kind woman valued it highly.

The President, S.D. Smith, of the "Smith Organ Company," of Boston is filling our schools with music, gladness and praise. He has sent three organs to as many schools, within a few months, at no cost whatever to the Association, giving these grand instruments and paying freight on them to the field!

One message that comes from the work in North Carolina is of so much interest that it ought to have a place here. A teacher had been visiting her former field of labor, and she writes of this visit as follows:

"One young man, who was but a small lad when I left there, came to shake hands with me and said, 'Do you remember how you talked to me right out there under that tree? I tried at first to get away from you, but you would not let me go till I promised you I would give myself to the Lord. I thought, "Now I must not lie to that woman," and I did what I promised right there, and I have kept serving him ever since.'"

Such evidences of souls renewed is worth a life of even such self-sacrifice as this brave woman lives. Like testimony could be gathered of many of these A.M.A. missionaries.

DEATH OF PROF. A. HATCH.

We are called with sadness to chronicle the death of another of our noble Christian workers at the South. Prof. Azel Hatch, the Principal of our Normal School in Lexington, Ky., closed his earthly labors and entered his heavenly rest on the 31st of December, 1888. His illness began with a severe cold, but it was soon discovered that congestion of the brain had set in, and the end rapidly came.

Prof. Hatch was born January 16, 1852, was educated at Oberlin College and at the Union Theological Seminary in New York. He entered the service of this Association in 1876, and has occupied honorable positions in the schools at Montgomery, Ala., Tougaloo, Miss., and in Lexington, Ky. In every post of duty, Mr. Hatch has shown himself to be a faithful, conscientious and Christian worker, shrinking from no duty, winning the confidence of the teachers and pupils, and showing adequate results from his efficient labors. Mr. Hatch was reserved in manner, but courteous and affable, and a man of spotless integrity and of entire consecration to the work of the Master. It is a grief to record the death of such faithful men, but it is a consolation to know that their work was done and well done. The Christian life is not measured by its length, but by the discharge of the duties allotted by the Heavenly Father.

THE FIELD.

The following list presents the names and post-office addresses of those who are employed in the Churches, Institutions and Schools aided by the American Missionary Association.

THE SOUTH.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT, HOWARD UNIVERSITY.

Rev. W.W. Patton, D.D., Washington, D.C. " J.G. Craighead, D.D., " " " A.W. Pitzer, D.D., " " " S.M. Newman, D.D., " " " John G. Butler, D.D., " " " G.W. Moore, " "

LINCOLN MEMORIAL CHURCH.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH.

HAMPTON, VA.

NORTH CAROLINA.

WILMINGTON.

GREGORY INSTITUTE.

RALEIGH.

OAKS AND CEDAR CLIFF.

McLEANSVILLE AND CHAPEL HILL.

STRIEBY AND SALEM.

NALLS.

HILLSBORO.

MELVILLE.

BEAUFORT.

DUDLEY.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

CHARLESTON.

AVERY INSTITUTE.

GREENWOOD.

BREWER NORMAL SCHOOL.

GEORGIA.

ATLANTA.

STORRS SCHOOL

MACON AND BYRON.

MACON.

LEWIS HIGH SCHOOL.

SAVANNAH.

BEACH INSTITUTE.

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