THE NEED OF THE COLORED RACE.
By Editor
THE great need of the colored, or negro, race is Christian education. By this we do not mean much of what is called such at the present time, Christian only in name. That is not Christian education which arouses in one a tremendous ambition to excel his fellows. That is not Christian education which leads a person to seek an exalted position, to rule over others, to enter politics, to use political methods, to become political agitators, to grasp earthly power. Such did not Christ. This kind of education He gave not to His disciples. Christian education will not arouse within those who possess it the empty ambition of striving to excel or surpass some other race. It will not seek to avenge wrongs, either real or fancied. The very root of all Christian education is found in such Scriptures as these: "Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant." Phil. 2:5-7. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Matt. 16:24. "For even Christ pleased not Himself." Rom. 15:3. That education which fails to inculcate these principles as fundamental fails in everything Christian. Thus much for the negative side. The positive side of Christian education is service, loving, unselfish service for God and humanity. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength;" and "thy neighbor as thyself," is the norm, the rule, of Christian service. He who does not set that forth as his standard, his goal, his constant endeavor, through the graces of self-denial and faithful endeavor, by the power of the Spirit in unselfish service, fails. "If ye love Me," says Jesus, "keep My commandments." "Ye are My friends," again He says, "if ye do whatsoever I command you." Only so can strong, noble characters be builded. Only so can the colored race be rightly trained. They should be taught, as many of them are, that the worst slavery in all this world is sin; and he only is free from that slavery who is the servant of Christ,—the loving servant of Christ, and the servant of all men, because the servant of Christ. We do not believe that such an education will lead to race troubles, nor to rape or incest or murder, or to crime of any kind. We do not believe that it will cause trouble politically or socially. Let the negro who longs for the uplifting of his race accept the political and social situation as it is and ever will be in this world, and then serve in that situation for Christ's sake. He will find that Christ will exalt him. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted," but "he that exalteth himself shall be abased." These are not our words, but the words of God. If they are taught by the teachers of the colored people, if they are received and heeded by the people themselves, the negro will find himself a useful factor in the world, a minister of good, one needed and wanted. This kind of education the people represented by this paper are trying to give. For this they will solicit donations October 7. We need not say that the above principles apply to the one race as well as the other. But we do not wish to lessen the force of this truth, that whatever all the world may do, the colored race will only be truly lifted as it is lifted in Christ Jesus; and Christ must be true to the principles He has given, briefly outlined above. He has no other way.