The American Missionary — Volume 42, No. 08, August, 1888Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 42, No. 08, August, 1888
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
Speaking of prayer among the colored people, calls to mind a petition
offered for myself, when Field Superintendent, soon after my
appointment. An old black woman in New Orleans was called upon to
pray, after I had spoken to the people. She chanted her words in
soft, melodious tones, keeping time with her body swaying back and
forth, as she prayed. She prayed for the former superintendent, Dr.
Roy. She thanked God for his patient, loving care of the people. She
told the Lord how he went as a prophet of Israel, back and forth
among them, bringing the bread of Heaven to their hungry souls. She
sought Divine blessing, rich, full, free, upon him and all his loved
ones. Then she chanted in the liquid accent of the Creole, "And now,
O Father, bless our young brother the new superintender. Let him down
deep into the treasury of thy word and hide him 'hind de cross of
Jesus." And the heart of the "New Superintender" said "Amen and
Amen." That experience was what he needed.
How close to the great throbbing heart of God these simple children
of cotton-field and cabin come! In gaining intimate acquaintance with
them one is reminded of Heinrich Heine's confession in his notes on
Uncle Tom's Cabin:
"Astonishing! That after I have whirled about all my life over all
the dance floors of philosophy, and yielded myself to all the orgies
of the intellect * * * without satisfaction, like Massolina after a
licentious night, I now find myself on the same standpoint where poor
Uncle Tom stands--on that Bible. I kneel down by my black brother in
the same prayer! What humiliation! * * * Tom, perhaps, understands
these spiritual things better than I. * * * But a poor negro slave
reads with his back and understands better than we do. But I, who
used to make citations from Homer, now begin to quote the Bible as
Uncle Tom does. Poor Tom, indeed, seems to have seen deeper things
in the Holy Book than I."
* * * * *
The letter quoted at the opening of these "Notes" hints another
thing. The A.M.A. teacher must frequently be a doctor, too. One lady
teacher in Alabama opened her chest of medicine and showed me a small
drug store curtained off from the sitting-room of her home. She had
made _materia medica_, a special study, and was a competent physician
in common diseases. Her house was a public dispensary, visited
frequently by her afflicted colored neighbors. What cannot these
teachers accomplish going out into these dark, diseased and
sin-smitten places of our own land, if only they go out in "His Name"
as they so often do!
* * * * *
How all loyal hearts will rejoice in the good news that comes from
brave Lawrence's sick room! He is slowly improving, and there is
strong hope of his recovery. Thank God!!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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