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 n 
 
 LUX GENTIS 
 NIGRAE. 
 
 DEDICATION : 
 
 To Bishop H. m. Turnkr, D. D., L. L. D., and others 
 
 who in the main forsee only darkness, 
 
 degradation and death, 
 
 for the race in 
 
 America. 
 
 INTRODUCTION- 
 BOOKER T. Washington 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 A. M. E. BOOK CONCERN 
 
 ^\j j 631 PINE STREET 
 
 lf*3 
 
E 
 
 
 Gilt 
 
 Author 
 (person) 
 
 /~ 
 
 *- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 i Race Infancy and What Implied 7 
 
 2 Opposed but not Friendless 9 
 
 3 Negro Suffrage Justified 11 
 
 4 Problem more National than Racial 13 
 
 5 Nation's Proper Theory and Mission 14 
 
 6 Why the Race Here 18 
 
 7 Problem Grasped only by a Few 2 1 
 
 8 Scope of Faith Under Ordeals 23 
 
 9 Suggestions of History 25 
 10 Reassuring Reflections 27 
 n Bareless Charges Answered 28 
 12 Truth and Time Effectual Healers 29 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Bright Side of the Race Picture! A 
 fitting subject, it seems to me, for this splen- 
 did little volume Dr. Johnson has so admira- 
 bly written. I beleive in optimism. During 
 the many long years in which the Negro has 
 been subject to oppression and injustice of 
 one kind and another, the one thing that has 
 helped him most in his struggle for a higher, 
 nobler and better manhood, has been the 
 hopeful, optimistic spirit with which he has 
 borne his troubles. Adversities many and 
 painful has he suffered in his onward struggle, 
 and by it all, he has been more helped than 
 the unthinking would suppose. During it all 
 the Negro has been hopeful; has looked ahead 
 for the brighter day. 
 
 To me the future seems full of hope and 
 promise for the race. True it is that many 
 trials and discouragements lie ahead, but we 
 are making indisputable, tangible progress — 
 progress that means success. Coming out of 
 serfdom penniless, uneducated and with no 
 property, the Negro has made more rapid 
 strides toward the higher civilization than has 
 been true of any other race under similar cir- 
 cumstances and conditions. He is acquiring 
 property, he is becoming educated in a way 
 
that makes him a useful law-abiding citizen — 
 attainments and tendencies that make his fu- 
 ture hopeful in the extreme. 
 
 Happy is Dr. Johnson in giving this refresh- 
 ing little volume, every page of which is red- 
 olent with words of encouragement and hope, 
 to the public at this time, when the Race 
 Question is demanding the thought and atten- 
 tion of thinking, earnest people in all walks of 
 life. These discussions at times cause many 
 to look to the future with despair, for too often 
 the tendency is to judge the race by its worst 
 element, by its shiftless class. And so it is 
 that The Bright Side of the Race Picture, 
 dealing with the promising phase of the ques- 
 tion, as it does, has an especial mission to 
 perform, and if, by its encouragement and 
 hope, it contributes toward the end of making 
 the race stand on its own feet and develope 
 its own resources, if it throws light upon the 
 solution of an all-important problem, its mis- 
 sion will be performed. 
 
 Booker T. Washington. 
 Tuskegee, Alabama. 
 
 Oct. 7th, 1903. 
 
LUX GENTIS NIGRAE 
 
 RACE INFANCY AND WHAT IMPLIED. 
 
 Every man is the architect of his own 
 fortune. This truism applies with equal 
 force to peoples of the same race-type no 
 less than to individuals. No greater harm 
 can be done the youth who has not tried 
 his own powers than to furnish him help 
 he does not need or pamper his hopes with 
 props that can yield no support in the try- 
 ing- days. Sympathy and instruction 
 should not be withheld, but help should 
 be withheld to the same wise extent it is 
 withdrawn from the child who may get 
 along without it. Aside from picking up 
 the little one at intervals and setting it to 
 rights again, the sensible mother spends 
 no idle time lamenting over the misfor- 
 tune of the child's falls and cries or in 
 bottling up its tears. Full well she knows 
 
8 Lux Gentis Nigrae 
 
 that the ups and downs of childhood are 
 necessary stages to sure-footed manhood. 
 Its ills may be somewhat humored with 
 outlays of sweetmeats and caresses at 
 times, but its falls and heartbreaking out- 
 cries are looked upon as lung-tests and 
 chest-protectors or aids to its bodily 
 growth and vigor. From the child's 
 standpoint, the estimate of these cross- 
 grained experiences is quite different as 
 a matter of course. But what it takes as 
 serious outside of cramps, colics and such 
 like ills, is disposed of as already sug- 
 gested. Little ones who are nursed as 
 hot-house plants rarely amount to much, 
 while those who make the port of credit 
 are usually the ones whom the combined 
 forces of adversity stormed against in 
 vain. Frederic Douglass in childhood 
 bereft of a name and shorne of a mother's 
 care, with Booker T. Washington, both 
 tried metal bearing the stamp of the same 
 mine and mint, are striking examples of 
 what their people must pass through in 
 
Lux Gentis Nigrae 9 
 
 their infancy ere the snn shall crown their 
 later life and service. Not to man- 
 hood nor success nor greatness is there 
 any royal road. The shining- outstretched 
 prize is visible only to the eye of faith, it 
 is open only to the heart of courage, and 
 can be plucked only by the aspiring, all- 
 endeavoring hand linked to and led by the 
 Hand unseen. 
 
 OPPOSED BUT NOT FRIENDLESS. 
 
 The complaint is often heard that the 
 Negro's friends are not as numerous as 
 formerly and that those disposed to help 
 him are becoming few and far between. 
 The murmur, though by no means 
 groundless, is not an impeachment of our 
 former friends, nor in the least indicative 
 that those interested in our welfare are 
 growing less numerous. True it is that 
 outward signs of sympathy are not favor- 
 able to the race as in times past. Time 
 there was when the hand of philanthrophy 
 was outstretched and the voice of friend- 
 ship cheered the new-born race from 
 
io Lux Gentis Nigrae 
 
 every direction. Christianity plead its 
 Macedonian cry and missionaries flocked 
 from their northern homes to cheer and 
 uplift the struggling millions in their 
 southern quarters. Christianity bore to 
 these needy millions the word of God and 
 tender instructors to expound the same. 
 It built churches and schools and fur- 
 nished books to the illiterate and teachers 
 without cost. This it did in the face of 
 ridicule and scorn from boastful superiors, 
 and without a sense of condescension 
 toward those it would upraise. 
 
 In this noble service of redeeming a 
 people long neglected and wronged, 
 Christianity found a noble ally in philan- 
 thropy and benevolence of the purest 
 type. Was the Negro's citizenship after 
 his enfranchisement imperilled? The 
 truest statesmanship of the day stood 
 ready with armoured shield and sharp- 
 ened lance to rush to his defense. On 
 the shining arena of knight errantry in the 
 halls of Congress in his behalf were such 
 
Lux Gentis Nigrae 1 1 
 
 heroes as Charles Sumner, Thaddeus 
 Stevens, General Butler, Roscoe Conkling 
 and others whose names will flourish in 
 undying- glory. They and men of kind- 
 red spirit and statesmanship made it pos- 
 sible for black men to wield the ballot 
 weapon in their own defense. Their in- 
 tercession and support gave the right of 
 way to every office seat from local Cor- 
 oner to Congressional honors. The 
 broad-guaged statesmanship of the times 
 welcomed colored men into the highest 
 political councils of the state and nation. 
 It greeted the advent of ex-slaves into the 
 Senate chamber and accorded the Speak- 
 er's gavel to B. K. Bruce, who 
 shed greater lustre on his country 
 than his predecessor, the far-famed Jeff. 
 Davis, the Confederate chieftain, who re- 
 signed its honors and sought its cleavage, 
 or his present day successor, Senator 
 Money. 
 
 XEGRO SUFFRAGE JUSTIFIED. 
 
 Those who raise the foolish outcry 
 
i2 Lux Gentis Nigrae 
 
 against the black man's use of the ballot 
 too soon forget the splendid service to 
 which he put this weapon when first he 
 plied it. But for his patriotism at the 
 ballot-box as on the battle-field the dis- 
 membered nation and seceeded States 
 never would have been restored. No bet- 
 ter use could he make of the ballot than 
 with it demonstrate his knowledge of and 
 love for what was best for his country's 
 welfare. His loyal ballot not only brought 
 back into the Union the disloyal States, 
 but laid the foundation for a bulwark and 
 temple that would tower and shine to the 
 credit and safety of generations untold. 
 The public school system of the South- 
 land to-day, whatever its shortcomings 
 with regard to the quality or quantity of 
 the mental ration it doles the children of 
 color throughout that section, was voted 
 into life by the ancestors of these chil- 
 dren. It was in their power to 
 abuse or tamper with this prerogative 
 by legislating mixed schools for the races, 
 
Lux Gentis Nigrae 13 
 
 as in the North, but this was not done. 
 The failure to do so is but another link 
 in the chain of evidence as to the con- 
 sideration of the race for its haughty, 
 domineering neighbor, even when power- 
 less to help itself. 
 
 THE PROBLEM MORE NATIONAL THAN 
 RACIAL. 
 
 Ail countries have problems which rack 
 the brains of their wisest statesmen and 
 ablest philosophers. The history of mon- 
 archies and republics alike have ever 
 offered such problems to mankind and 
 will continue so to do until the light of 
 the millenium gilds and girdles our error- 
 smitten and sin-burdened earth. As na- 
 tions like individuals have missions and 
 a destiny to fulfill, it is possible to obscure 
 but not ignore the divine or ethical ele- 
 ment which demands more than their ac- 
 tivities. No man can repudiate the 
 claims of the moral code in his career 
 with impunity, and history with phil- 
 osophy establishes the same truth in con- 
 
14 Lux Gentis Nigrae 
 
 nection with governments. Whether 
 their operations be on the lowest plane of 
 despotism or in a limited monarchy or 
 in the sphere of democracy where the con- 
 sent of the governed is actually or theoret- 
 ically sought as in our own land, certain 
 standards and regulations are acknowl- 
 edged and applied in all administrations 
 of justice or manipulation of the machin- 
 ery of law and exercise of national policy. 
 As to whether a nation survive a thous- 
 and years or a decade depends largely 
 upon the display of wisdom on the part 
 of its founders in the adoption of certain 
 fundamental standards in its constitution, 
 wise or otherwise, and the consideration 
 with which their successors regard the 
 trust. 
 
 nation's correct theory and .mission. 
 The skeleton fingers of overthrown 
 governments lift their ghastly warning 
 against the danger of divorcing the Al- 
 mighty from a nation's organic life or 
 activities. Happily for the nation and 
 
Lux Gentis Nigrae 15 
 
 government of ours, their framers were 
 true to the teachings of the past and 
 responsive to the impulse of the truest 
 philosophy and the best religion. The 
 highest wisdom was displayed when the 
 Bible was adopted as the chart of the 
 ship of state for the newly united colonies 
 and belief in the God of the Universe pro- 
 fessed as the compass and sheet- 
 anchor of the infant nation's welfare. 
 Than our Declaration of Independence 
 no nobler instrument, barring the Deca- 
 logue, was ever drawn. Its inimitable 
 preamble in world-embracing scope aptly 
 answers to Paul's proclamation in evi- 
 dence of the common origin and oneness 
 of the human species. This prime plank 
 in the nation's platform affords a terra 
 firtna footing on which every comer to 
 our shores may securely trust his weight, 
 the enemy to American laws and institu- 
 tions alone excepted. While the red- 
 handed anarchist is excluded from the 
 hand of American fellowship by character 
 
1 6 Lux Gentis Nigrae 
 
 and creed, the same exclusion is also held 
 for the sable citizen by partisan skeptics 
 and sectional colorphobists whose title 
 to full-fledged citizenship has never been 
 half as clearly established as that of his 
 disputed Brother in Black. The denial of 
 application of the phrase "all men are 
 created free and equal" to the colored 
 man had its answer in the philosophy of 
 the situation as it obtained when the Con- 
 stitution was promulgated as well as in 
 the logic of succeeding events. The divin- 
 ity of bondage and racial inferiority were 
 dangerous dogmas to be held by a peo- 
 ple struggling for release from foreign 
 oppression and its assumption of royal 
 sovereignty. The effort to enjoy the sub- 
 stance of freedom for themselves and tor- 
 ment others with the notes and sound of 
 liberty after the Old Bell had "proclaimed 
 liberty throughout the land to all the in- 
 habitants thereof" was like "running with 
 
 the hare and holding with the hounds" 
 on the part of the American people and 
 
Lux Gentis Nigrae 17 
 
 it was inevitable that they soon tire of 
 the chase. The logic of events fulfilled 
 the philosophic statement of Mr. Lincoln 
 that a nation can not exist part slave and 
 part free, while k also suggests the truth 
 of the couplet — 
 
 "All men are equal in God's sight. 
 
 There is no black, there is no white." 
 In favor of the certain recognition of 
 the colored man's rights in common with 
 those of other citizens are the nation's 
 cosmopolitan dogma of universal equality 
 and the slow and gradual dissipation of 
 the clouds which have stubbornly en- 
 veloped this question. But had the na- 
 tion adopted no world-embracing creed, 
 or had its congenial shores offered no 
 inviting asylum for the refuge-seeking 
 pilgrims of other lands, the divine ele- 
 ment in the problem would yet have re- 
 mained to be reckoned with. While among 
 the early settlers were those in quest of 
 religious liberty there were those also 
 who sought the glory and spoils of states- 
 
1 8 Lux Gentis Nigrae 
 
 craft or who looked for the main chance 
 in slave traffic or in commercial adven- 
 ture. Whoever they were and from what- 
 ever clime, these emigrants came no hide- 
 bound iron-clad enactment decreed their 
 fate in the new western land of promise. 
 
 WHY THE RACE HERE. 
 
 All but one of the various branches of 
 the human family represented in the event- 
 ful hegira to the American paradise came 
 by invitation or journeyed hither of their 
 own accord. Far different was it the case 
 with the child of bondage and adversity 
 of sable hue ordained to cut such an 
 important figure in the life and destiny 
 strange and forbidding environments. 
 Abraham was called of the Almighty to 
 of the virgin nation. Others have been 
 called of Heaven to try their fortunes amid 
 divorce himself from the ties of country 
 and kinship. While not knowing whither 
 he was to go, the hardship of emigration 
 was greatly neutralized by the certainty 
 
 of the call of Heaven on the one hand and 
 
Lux Gentis Nigrae 19 
 
 the promise of an overwhelming- reward 
 on the other. Only the dark and penal 
 side of the picture seemed visible in 
 the black man's divorcement from his na- 
 tive land. A providence there was in the 
 cruel fate which tore him from tribe and 
 parental ties in Africa for the slave traffic 
 as it did his offsprings through centuries 
 of slavery in America, but this provi- 
 dence seemed at the time by far more per- 
 missive than directive. In proof of the 
 latter claim arguments were specious 
 and ample on the part of those who saw 
 only the humane side of the traffic in 
 human flesh and who held that the sys- 
 tem was anything but the "sum of vil- 
 lainy," as Mr. Wesley, the founder of 
 Methodism, charged. The silver lining 
 to the cloud drapery above his head, if 
 any there was, was left rather for his 
 distant descendant with the radiant torch 
 of history and faith to descern rather than 
 for himself with an environment, heredity 
 and adversity fettering his vision with 
 three-fold blindness, to discover. 
 
20 Lux Gentis Nigrae 
 
 The sale of Joseph by his brothers into 
 slavery furnishes a more striking- coun- 
 terpart of the Negro's case than any in- 
 stance covered by ancient or modern his- 
 tory. Think of the tender son of Jacob 
 kidnapped by his brothers, thrust into a 
 pit and left for dead ; then recall the tragic 
 story of the motley-colored coat soaked 
 in gore lending strength to the gruesome 
 tale of its wearer's doom from ravenous 
 beasts ; let the plot thicken as the child 
 of destiny is lifted from the pit and bar- 
 tered to a band of traders, who dispose 
 of their tender prize to an Egyptian 
 buyer, and the story can but suggest a pre- 
 face and prophecy to the history of Ham's 
 descendents in America. The sequel of 
 the Negro's history has not yet been writ- 
 ten, but the story of Jacob's son in Egypt 
 more than likely has its opening key of 
 analogy. In the land to which Joseph 
 was sold a '/.ranger he wrought out a 
 royal career step by step. The pathway 
 of his upward journey lay through the 
 
Lux Gentis Nigrae 2l 
 
 fires of adversity, but he came forth like 
 purified gold bearing the assayer's stamp. 
 It is useless to quarrel with Providence 
 for allowing our forefathers to be torn 
 from their native continent. The Al- 
 mighty hand that rescued them and theirs 
 from the horrible pit of slavery has an 
 equally royal goal in reservation for us 
 and ours if only we quit ourselves like 
 men, enter in and occupy the alloted 
 heritage. 
 
 PROBLEM GRASPED ONLY BY THE FEW. 
 
 Perhaps it is only with the more ser- 
 ious and reflecting minds among our peo- 
 ple that the race question takes on dark 
 and difficult phases. It is not likely that 
 the masses are much disturbed about the 
 things that perplex the minds and depress 
 the spirit of the more intelligent members 
 of the race. To be sure, the rank and file 
 of the masses cannot be indifferent to the 
 wrongs and outrageous treatment they are 
 called upon to endure day by day. Their 
 sense of justice must naturally move them 
 
22 Lux Gentis Nigrae 
 
 at least to silently and perhaps sullenly 
 protest against the countless unkind and 
 outlandish things they suffer. To assume 
 that any one of the multitudinous number 
 referred to in the South or elsewhere ac- 
 cepts the grinding situation of servile sub- 
 jection to the domineering race without 
 'in inner resentment to say the least, is 
 to assume such an individual to be de- 
 void of the instinct common to the animal 
 world. Not less sensible are the masses 
 of the type in question to the monstrous 
 wrongs they bear than were their pro- 
 genitors insensible to the grievous out- 
 rage of slavery. The latter was endured 
 not so much because of the abject in- 
 ability or indisposition of the victims to 
 rid themselves of the oppressor's yoke, as 
 because of their instinctive trust in the 
 Providence that shapes all things right in 
 the end and because of the exercise of 
 that wisdom which cometh from above, 
 which is peaceful and gentle and leads to 
 hope always for the best. 
 
Lux Gentis Nigrae 23 
 
 THE SCOPE OF FAITH UNDER ORDEALS. 
 
 It is to this ever-active inner-working 
 providence that the leaders and thought- 
 ful clement of the race must now and 
 henceforth look if we will escape the 
 meshes of the wilderness and enter the 
 promised land of Canaan. The murmur- 
 ings of those who quarrel with Provi- 
 dence for leading us into the desert out 
 of Egypt must be stopped. The plenti- 
 ful onions and leeks supplied by Pharaoh 
 were good, also quite refreshing were the 
 Egyptian streams which bubbled in 
 copious fullness, but these provisions of 
 their bondage state were as far- 
 surpassed by the delectable diet of 
 Heaven's orderings as a Delmonico bill- 
 of-fare puts to blush the contents of an 
 ordinary lunch counter. The hue and 
 cry so often heard that it has never been 
 so hopeless with the race as now and that 
 our salvation as a people hinges more 
 apon going to Africa than upon making 
 the most of where we are and of the 
 
24 Lux Gentis Nigrae 
 
 situations about us, is but a repetition of 
 the rebellious behaviour of ungrateful 
 Israel of old and must be cured if it takes 
 biting serpents and fiery judgments to do 
 so. There is no serious danger of the 
 masses provoking the Almighty to anger 
 from the sin of rebellion half so much as 
 from the sin of forgetfulness and down- 
 right spiritual blindness. It is they who 
 should be eves to the sightless multitude 
 who delay if not imperil their highest wel- 
 fare at the hands of an unerring and 
 ever-gracious Providence. 
 
 Two more thoughts of vital bearing 
 upon the subject and the conclusion of 
 these pertinent reflections is reached. 
 The pilgrimage traversed and obstacles 
 by the wayside have been disposed of in 
 a referential if not exhaustive way. It is 
 good for the race to glance backwards 
 and mark the milestones of its progress. 
 It is also stimulating to its future strides 
 to be able to review the difficulties al- 
 ready dispersed. The race can do both of 
 
Lux Gentis Nigrae 25 
 
 the suggested duties with alacrity and 
 wholesome returns. What of the future 
 and what of the foe, are the thoughts 
 which remain to be reckoned with. 
 
 As to the adversaries of the race, the 
 habit of capitalizing them is too often in- 
 dulged. It is to be feared that more time 
 is lost in exercising concern over this bar- 
 rier to our advancement than the royal 
 end to be attained doth warrant. Why 
 should one's foe be made so important as 
 to become formidable and retard rather 
 than aid in the onward march of the 
 struggle upward ? 
 
 SUGGESTIONS OF HISTORY. 
 
 Moses and Pharaoh should serve as 
 perpetual studies to all race leaders of 
 doubtful courage and waning faith. One 
 had but a pitiable rod, the other was 
 armed with a monarch's sceptre. But in 
 the eye of God's chosen one the sceptre 
 was no more than a fragile stick, while 
 the shepherd's rod objectified a wonder- 
 working wand. So was David's sling in 
 
26 Lux Gentis Nigrae 
 
 contrast with Goliath's spear, and Gid- 
 eon's pitchers with armies of the Am- 
 alekites. The fearful spies were unfit to 
 conduct the march to Canaan for they 
 feared the sons of Anak. God's present 
 day leaders are not to be trusted with a 
 following- if they can not muster courage 
 to urge their people to go forward in spite 
 of wicked men and bristling demons. 
 
 But what of the end and will it be 
 morning or noonday? are questions which 
 will not down at reason's fiat or retre in 
 silence at the decree of faith. We want 
 to know will the Negro race ultimately 
 survive and gain ascendancy. His is the 
 only race that has looked the daring, dom- 
 inant brother of ashen hue in the face and 
 lived. The Red man contested strength 
 with him and soon read his doom in the 
 setting" sun. The Yellow man reared 
 towering walls of civilization that mocked 
 his dreams for countless centuries, but 
 those Chinese walls have bowed to the 
 white man's masterly tread and to-day he 
 
Lux Gentis Nigrae 27 
 
 is virtually monarch of the Flowery 
 Realm. The Brown man has turned from 
 the gauntlet thrown down and contents 
 himself with what he is allowed to have, 
 ever suing for peace in the reminder to 
 Japhet, "We are brethren." 
 
 REASSURING REFLECTIONS. 
 
 How comes it, and with what assump- 
 tion does the black man. the youngest 
 child of the human family, dare aspire to 
 a place by his imperious white brother 
 and former master? Intolerable gall they 
 say that black necks once under the heels 
 of white mastery should seek the orna- 
 mentation of official trusts and govern- 
 mental authority. Alas that the claims of 
 humanity and the teachings of history 
 should be forgotten or ignored. The 
 black man (represented by the aspiring 
 type) has never reached the ignoble depth 
 in which the ancestral white man reveled 
 for ages. It was never said of him, at 
 least as was said of the white man of the 
 past, that he is too inferior to measure up 
 
28 Lux Gentis Nigrae 
 
 to the dignity of slavery. Suppose that 
 great Caesar's reproach of the white man 
 had been accepted as a standard by him 
 or his descendants. The most resplend- 
 ent eras of the world's history would 
 than have been substituted by eons of bar- 
 barism or the gray dawn of centuries of 
 semi-enlightenment for the race. 
 
 BASELESS CHARGES ANSWERED. 
 
 The cheap talk of "Negro inferiority," 
 "Negro place" and "white man's country" 
 so current in certain parts of the land is 
 veriest bosh and rot of the driest kind. 
 
 Negro inferior ! Shades of Epictetus, 
 the philosopher; Aesop, the moralist; 
 Hannibal and L' Overture, the world's 
 generals; Attucks, the patriot; Allen, re- 
 ligious revolutionist and organizer ; 
 Euclid and Banneker, mathematician and 
 astronomer; Wheatley and Dunbar, race 
 poets— all of whom were Negroes devoid 
 of the taint of blood admixture with the 
 much boasted superior white man. 
 
 The Almighty Ruler gave the white 
 
 1 3. 
 
Lux Gentis Nigrae 29 
 
 man temporary sway, but never perpetual 
 right of empire over the realms of mind 
 and mother earth. Hence all talk of em- 
 igration, separation or • deportation as 
 solvents of the so-called race unharmony 
 is the rankest sort of balderdash. The 
 "white man's country" forsooth ! To his 
 rapacious, omnivorous, ungodly grasp- 
 ings that means a ruthless stampede 
 across the divinely staked-off regions set 
 apart for cycles to the dark or red or 
 olive colored race-varieties. If he has 
 gained the ascendancy by might he will re- 
 tain it only by righteousness. The earth 
 is the Lord's and the meek shall inherit it 
 rather than proud and haughty nations. 
 
 TIME AND TRUTH FINAL HEALERS. 
 
 Old Father Time, aided by the sover- 
 eign element of Almighty grace, has 
 wrought wonders in the human family 
 and will prove an irresistable leveller of 
 barriers against this Negro branch, the 
 youngest member. Let us recall the past 
 and the accounts must even now be bal- 
 
Lux Gentis Nisrrae 
 
 !->' 
 
 anced mightily in our favor. Our achieve- 
 ments have been marvellous and our 
 status as decreed by God and fixed by the 
 sovereign powers ordained by Him is ir- 
 revocable and lofty. The surgings of the 
 sea of human passion may threaten to 
 engulf or strand the bark on which we 
 journey, but all faithful reckonings by 
 sun or chart or by stars or compass will 
 show that our course is onward, for the 
 ocean's Master, who mapped out our 
 trackless voyage knows how to conduct 
 the craft amid unseen rock and treacher- 
 ous elements and bring us all in the end to 
 the glorious port of victory. Ever and 
 anon the sun may mantle His visage, but 
 He shines on behind the clouds. "At 
 evening there shall be light" is the sure 
 word of prophecy and always fulfilled in 
 the darkest hours of those who trust in 
 Heaven's guidance. 
 
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