Fifty Years of Freedom: with matters of vital importance to both the white and colored people of the United States — John Shaqi
Fifty Years of Freedom: with matters of vital importance to both the white and colored people of the United StatesGrimké, Francis J. (Francis James)
History
Fifty Years of Freedom: with matters of vital importance to both the white and colored people of the United States
Grimké, Francis J. (Francis James)
African Americans
"The Lord hath triumphed gloriously.
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and song,
And he is become my salvation."
And if we trust him, if we make him our hope, we will be able in the end
to sing the same song; we, too, will triumph gloriously.
In the voyage of the apostle Paul to Rome the ship was caught in a
terrible storm. For fourteen days and nights it raged. The wind blew
furiously; heavy, dark clouds shut out the light of the sun by day and
of the stars by night. There seemed no hope of escape. Of the nearly
three hundred souls on board, all except one man were filled with the
most appalling apprehension. That man was the apostle Paul. During all
those awful days and nights he alone was calm, self-possessed; he alone
showed no fear, no apprehension. And why? It was because the angel of
the Lord had stood by him and had said to him, "Fear not, Paul; thou
must be brought before Caesar: and lo, God hath given thee all them that
sail with thee." And it was because he believed what the angel had said
to him. The fierceness of the storm, the raging of the elements, the
appalling darkness that enveloped them, had no disquieting effect upon
him. It was the triumph of faith—faith that saw safety, and rested in
sweet content in the face of the raging storm. And faith in God is what
we need if we are not to become discouraged in face of the gathering
hosts of darkness, in face of the constant accessions to the ranks of
the enemy. David once exclaimed,
"Jehovah, how are mine enemies increased!
Many are they that rise up against me."
But he comforted himself with the thought,
"But thou, O Jehovah, art a shield about me;
My glory and the lifter up of my head."
And we may find comfort in the same thought. Let this new half century
be one of abounding trust in God; let us more and more accustom
ourselves to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, under the
shadow of the Almighty.
II. In leaving this first half century of freedom and in entering upon
the second half, a word also ought to be said to the white people of the
country. There are four things that I want to say to them:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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