The American Missionary — Volume 41, No. 4, April, 1887Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 41, No. 4, April, 1887
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
We were mistaken. The colored brother has no recognition. White men and
Indians are to have a monopoly in the vast hallelujah! How the wings
of our poet drooped as he essayed this loftiest of flights. We are
thankful, however, that he did let the Indian come in for a part in the
hallelujah. The war-whoop would not at all be out of harmony in his
_kind_ of a hallelujah chorus! That this “sweet singer in Israel” D.D.
should make some of his songs take on the form of Scripture exposition
is what we might expect, as witness:
There was a man in ancient times,
The Scriptures doth inform us,
Whose pomp and grandeur and whose crimes
Were great and very numerous.
The man fared sumptuously each day
In purple and fine linen;
He ate and drank, but seemed to pray––
Spent all his time in sinning.
Poor Lazarus lying at his gate,
To help himself unable,
Did for the fragments humbly wait
That fell from his rich table,
But not one mite would he bestow,
Would the rich worldling give him;
The dogs took pity––licked his sores––
More ready to relieve him.
At length death came, the poor man died,
By angel hands attended;
Away to Abra’ms bosom hied,
Where his sorrows all are ended.
The rich man died––was buried, too––
But, O! his dreadful station;
With heaven and Lazarus in view,
He landed in damnation.
The above are samples of versification that we have selected from this
_Sweet Songster_, that our readers may see for themselves the kind of
Christian instruction some _white_ people in certain portions of our
country receive. These selections are certainly ludicrous, yet they
have also a serious aspect––they point to duty. It would be useless to
denounce such incompetent leadership as is here revealed. It would be
folly to argue either with the leaders or the people whom they lead. We
must plant schools and educate the children. Preach the Gospel in its
simplicity, and let the people hear the truth. The light will destroy
the darkness. It will reveal the deformity and ugliness of error. It
will rebuke the assumptions of ignorance. It will lead the people in
their soul-hunger to turn away from husks and to demand that in song
and sermon their poets and preachers shall give them the bread of life
or else keep silent. There is a wide field here to be cultivated. It
lies open before us. We have entered it. Rich has been our harvesting
so far as we have gone. Earnest and numerous are the invitations that
come to us for more workers and enlarged efforts. These invitations are
an appeal to the churches more liberally to supply us with means, that
we may be able to respond and go in to possess the land.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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