The American Missionary — Volume 33, No. 12, December 1879Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 33, No. 12, December 1879
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
The Methodist movement, under Whitefield and the Wesleys, was
still another uprising and following of the human mind after the
simple truths of the Gospel. Though educated men themselves,
they had almost a contempt for human learning and the wordly
appliances on which other churches so much relied. The preaching
of the word accompanied by the power of the Holy Ghost was their
_sole_ reliance. On that principle they organized their churches,
literally preaching the Gospel to the poor, and, at the end of a
century, had a membership outnumbering any Protestant church in
Christendom. It would be easy to show that modern missions, at
home and abroad, have been most successful as they have relied
most fully on the simple preaching of the word, and that the
building up of churches has been the saving power of communities
_intellectually_, _morally_ and even _materially_.
(4.) Applying now the facts and principles barely glanced at
in this review to the subject in hand, we shall find that, so
far as the South is concerned, pure and intelligent churches
are at this moment more a necessity even than schools are. The
education of the intellect is vitally important; but for its own
security it should rest on the broader education of the moral
nature. The former will make keen, sharp men, shrewd in business
and other transactions, but only the latter can be trusted to
make honest, faithful, conscientious men. While we insist that
_Christian schools_ are the true handmaid of religion, we must
not be tempted to substitute science and culture for piety, nor
to make schools stand for more than churches. The church alone
is fundamental, but for the best results they belong together
and should go together. Schools _can_ be made and _should_ be
made helps to religion; but we mistake their nature entirely
when we imagine that there is anything in the ordinary studies
of the class-room—the classics, the mathematics, or the natural
sciences—to sanctify the heart or subdue the will to God.
The colored race is vastly more run down on its moral side
than on its intellectual side. This is true of all degraded,
barbarous races. The direct effects of slavery on the colored
race were its moral effects. To be sure, it left the race poor
and uncultivated; but _that_ might have been borne and easily
repaired had it left the moral integrity of the race intact and
pure. The school of slavery perverted the moral nature, and until
_that_ is rectified, no process of intellectual education can
lift the race on to the high level of a true manhood and a great
future.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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