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 " What hath God Wrought ? " 
 
 ^^ 
 
 SERMON 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. MARK HOPKINS, D.D. 
 
 at the UlEdicatiDn of the 
 
 MEMORIAL CHURCH. A 
 
 AT 
 
 HJLMIPTON, VA. 
 
 >-i3C-^ 
 
 HAMPTON, VA. 
 NORMAL SCriOOi. STEAM PRESS 
 
 -■3*^*^ 
 
 -b 
 
SERMON 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. MARK HOPKINS, D. D 
 
 DellvETEd May ZDth, IBBE, at the DEdlcatlon ci the 
 
 MEMORIAL CHURCH. 
 
 A Gift by Mr, Elbert B. MnnroE, frcm the Estate 
 
 of the Late FxEderlck Marquand, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 HAMPTON KOBMAL and AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 ies6. 
 
 NORMAL SCHOOL STEAM PRESS 
 HAMPTON, V/. 
 
v^.f..^" 
 
 v^ 
 
 -3 
 
 Fo7' purposes of comparison there is added to 
 Dr. Hopkiiis' sermon, the first report of this school 
 written by him in i86q, 
 
 A brief statement of the organization and con- 
 dition of the school is also added. 
 
 4 b'02 
 
SE^RMON. 
 
 " What hath God wrought ?"— Numbers xxiii., 23d. 
 
 When these words were uttered a great work had 
 been wrought. The Israelites had been in bondage in 
 Egypt. While there they had been the occasion of 
 the ten plagues to the Egyptians. They had been 
 brought forth with a mighty hand. The Red Sea had 
 opened before them. The smitten rock had poured 
 forth its waters. The manna had descended. The 
 law — that marvellous law which is for all times and for 
 all people — had been given from Sinai. The people 
 had once reached the borders of the promised land, 
 and because of unbelief had failed to enter in. They 
 had then wandered in the wilderness for forty years 
 till every faithless man had died, and now they had 
 come again to that border, and their tents were pitch- 
 ed on the plain of Moab, eastward of the Jordan. 
 
 Overlooking that plain was Mount Pisgah. On the 
 top of that were seen seven smoking altars, and on each 
 of these had been offered a bullock and a ram. Near 
 these altars stood the King of Moab surrounded by 
 his princes, and by his side stood Balaam, who had 
 been sent for from the mountains of the East to come 
 and curse Israel. Already had he once withdrawn Irom 
 
his burnt sacrifice to hdr the message from God, and 
 returning with a blessmg instead of a curse, had utter- 
 ed the strange prophecy, so strangely fulfilled, " Lo the 
 people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned 
 among the nations;" and had expressed the wish, sa 
 often expressed since, " Let me die the death of the 
 righteous, and let my last end be like his." With 
 this the king could not be content, but said unto 
 him, " Come, I pray thee, with me unto another 
 place from whence thou mayest see them ; thou 
 shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt 
 not see them all, and curse me them from thence." 
 "And he brought him unto the field of Zophim, to the 
 top of Pisgah." Thence he beheld them, the encamp- 
 ment of millions of men spread out before him, a. 
 nation brought out of bondage and of ignorance about 
 to .enter upon the promised land, and to take its 
 unique and solitary place among the nations. Well 
 might he then exclaim, '* What hath God wrought ?" 
 
 Yes, a great work had been wrought, and God had 
 wrought it. Not by aspirations for liberty, or heroic 
 strivings of the Israelites had this been done. It had 
 been done in opposition to their craving for the flesh 
 pots of Egypt ; in oppositon to that tendency to idola- 
 try which led them to worship the golden calf at the 
 very foot of Sinai, and despite the unbelief and cow- 
 ardice of a whole generation of men who perished in 
 the wilderness. As in all cases where men have been 
 raised from a low condition, it was by an interposition 
 
5 
 
 from without and above themselves. God had done it. 
 And as the prophet, standing on the heights of 
 Pisgah, and looking over the encampment of the Is- 
 raelites could but exclaim, " What hath God wrough;: ?" 
 so may we, standing on these heights of time, and 
 looking back over twenty-five years, and also looking 
 at what we n.ow sec around us, make the same exclama- 
 tion. Thus looking back, we see four millions of col- 
 ored people in bondage in these United States. In 
 large part they had come to be thus by inheritance. 
 The system of slavery had become organic. It was 
 recognized in the Constitution, was imbedded in our 
 institutions, and had become so intertwined with the 
 domestic and social relations of the South, and with 
 the trade and interests of the North, that its removal 
 seemed impossible. Still, it was in utter contradic- 
 tion to the sentiments of the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence, and to the spirit of our Institutions. Accord- 
 ingly it became a disturbing element in all our political 
 and social relations. Not more annoying was the pres- 
 ence of Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh than was the 
 constant intrusion of this subject to the politicians in 
 every political gathering, and to the religious and 
 charitable organizations in their counsels. It embroiled 
 everything, Church and State, politics and religion, 
 and scarcely were the ten plagues of Egypt more dis 
 astrous than were the disturbances and disagreements 
 throughout the whole country from this cause. Of 
 these disturbances and derangements the outcome was 
 
the greatest civil war the world has ever seen ; and 
 the emancipation of the colored people. Then the 
 nation took a new departure under new conditions. 
 In many respects there was deliverance to the master 
 as well as to the slave. The slave, whether wisely or 
 unwisely, was at once made a freeman with the right 
 to vote. The Constitution was made to conform to 
 the spirit of our institutions so that it could look the 
 Declaration of Independence in the face and not blush- 
 New adjustments began to be made, new duties, new 
 responsibilities, new possibilities, equivalent to the 
 prospect of a promised land, opened themselves up to 
 the colored people, and also to the nation as a whole, 
 and now, looking at what is around and before us, we 
 may well say, " What hath God wrought }" 
 
 Yes, this work too was wrought by God. The train 
 was lai:d by np human hand, and the result was not 
 designed. There was no formal declaration of war. It 
 only needed that Sumpter should be fired on, and the 
 country was aflame. The war was to be transient. It 
 was to last but ninety days. But there were forces in 
 the air beyond human control. Every one felt that. 
 Somebody delayed, and sombody blundered, and the 
 war went on. It would not stop, it could not stop till 
 the great crime of the nation had been atoned for by 
 its best blood, and emancipation was proclaimed. The 
 result was thus providentially from orod ; but morally, 
 and more immediately it was from Christianity. It 
 was from God as manifested in Christ. If Christ had 
 
not lived it could not have been done. Imbedded and 
 incorporated as slavery was in our whole system, it 
 could have been thrown off as alien under no other reli- 
 gion. Mohammedanism would have perpetuated it. So 
 would Brahmanism and Buddhism. Nothing but the 
 idea of manhood as established by Christ, of the idea 
 of man as in the image of God, as a person, as thus 
 having rights, and of his value and destiny as belong- 
 ing to a moral and an eternal kingdom could have 
 been the basis for the strong revulsion that was felt 
 against the system, that wrought for its overthrow, and 
 is still working for the removal of its effects. 
 
 Again, if we look back over these same twenty-five 
 years, we may notice a marked change in the attitude 
 of the people and government of this country towards 
 the Indian tribes, and also of the Indian tribes towards 
 the people and government of the country. The his- 
 tory of th-xse tribes from the first is a sad one. From 
 the landing of our forefathers at Plymouth attempts 
 were made to Christianize and civilize the aborigines. 
 They were made by Eliot, and Sargeant, and Edwards, 
 and Brainerd, and others. The American Board sent 
 missionaries to the Cherokees and Choctaws with 
 marked success. But in general the effect upon the 
 Indian of his contact with civilization as it has pushed 
 him westward, has been deterioration rather than ele- 
 vation. The policy of the Government in recognizing 
 them as independent, or quasi independent nations,. 
 has been supposed by many to have been a mistaken one. 
 
8 
 
 Certainly, if treaties were made with them they should 
 have been carefully observed. They were not thus 
 observed ; and because of this the Indian writhed 
 constantly under a sense of wrong. If we take with 
 this the deceptions and abuses of unprincipled white 
 men, always numerous on the borders of civilization, 
 and for which the Indian had no adequate redress, it is 
 not surprising that there came to be in large bodies of the 
 Indians a settled antipathy to all white men, and a sul- 
 lenness bordering on desperation. Nor, if we add to 
 this the fatal proclivity of the Indian for intoxicating 
 drinks, is it surprising that there should have been 
 treacheries and the most fearful atrocities on the part 
 of the Indians, or that these again should have awak- 
 ened a prevalent feeling among the whites on our west- 
 ern border that the Indians must be exterminated. 
 But far different on both sides is the attitude now- 
 The Government is making inquiries and devising 
 means, and seeking to appropriate faithfully and in 
 the most judicious manner adequate funds for their 
 good. The whole nation is in a measure awakened to 
 their past wrongs, their present rights, and to what is 
 needed for their future well being. The Indians, too, on 
 their part, see the necessity that is upon them for a new 
 departure, and are ready and anxious to send their 
 children to schools provided for them. 
 
 What is to be the future of these tribes we know 
 not, but we rejoice to believe that a brighter day is 
 dawning for them, and in view of the changed attitude 
 
of which I have spoken, and of what has already been 
 done, we may well say again, *' What hath God 
 wrought ?" 
 
 Once more, standing on this ground, and looking 
 back over only seventeen years, and then looking 
 around us, do we say that a great work has been 
 wrought. 
 
 Seventeen years ago next July the first public ex- 
 amination of this school was held, and, but for the 
 part then taken by myself, and by Williams College, 
 through three men who were also its graduates, 1 
 should not be here to-day. Those men were General 
 Armstrong, General Garfield, then Member of Con- 
 gress, and Mr. Alexander Hyde, of the Massachusetts 
 Board of Agriculture. The school had then been 
 under the charge of General Armstrong for one year, 
 and he had invited us three, together with the Rev. 
 B. G. Northrup of the Connecticut Board of Education^ 
 to be present as a committee. There were also present 
 Dr. Strieby and the Rev. George Whipple, who repre- 
 sented the American Missionary Association which 
 then had an important interest in the school. There 
 was no Commencement. No general public was pres- 
 ent. We, seven men, listened to the examinations 
 consulted earnestly with reference to the future meth- 
 ods and prospects of the school, and then the Com- 
 mittee provided for and adopted a report. That report 
 gave an account of thf^ location of the school, of its 
 history, of its object and plan, of its condition and 
 
lO 
 
 prospects, and commended it to the favor and confi- 
 dence of the public. 
 
 The work wrought here since that day has been 
 threefold. 
 
 And rst. A great preliminary work in providing 
 build iiigs, and farms and implements, and apparatus 
 has been done. At that time there were upon this 
 ground but two dwelling houses, some soldiers' bar- 
 racks, an old mill fitted up for the purposes of the 
 school, and the Butler School-house in the distance- 
 Now, in addition to the two dwelling houses, there are 
 forty-five buildings ; twenty-nine for the Academic 
 and boarding departments, and sixteen for the Indus-, 
 trial department. To be appreciated these buildings 
 must be seen. Of those in the Academic department 
 Virginia Hall, giving only the thousands, cost $88,000. 
 Academic Hall, $37,000 ; Winona Lodge, $30,000 ; 
 Girls' Cottage. $15,000; Wigwam,' $r 1,000; and, omit- 
 ing the others, Memorial Chapel, now to be dedicated, 
 $55,000 ; the whole amounting to $329,000. Of these, 
 the Memorial Chapel completes the circle, and is the 
 last of buildings in this department that will be needed 
 for years to coTie. Of this it should be known that 
 the whole cost is from the estate of Mr. Frederic 
 Marquand. It should also be known that the will of 
 Mr. Marquand in relation to it was not mandatory, 
 and that Mr. Munroe, who would otherwise have 
 received the money, has generously and gladly carried 
 out the wish of Mr. Marquand. In the Industrial. 
 
II 
 
 department the Huntington Industrial Works cost 
 $34,000 ; the Stone building, $27,000 ; the Home farm 
 $25,000 ; and the Hemenway and Canebrake tarms, 
 $20 000 ; the whole in this department amounting to 
 $133,000, and the total of both, to $462,000. 
 
 Of the Industrial department it may be said that 
 no one can go through it without surprise at the num- 
 ber and extent of its departments, and the perfection 
 of its work. The interior of this chapel has been fin- 
 ished chiefly by the students ; the same is true of the 
 Gymnasium and the Hospital ; and the work would do 
 credit to mechanics anywhere. If it cannot be fully said 
 of this department, as it can of the sawmill in the Hunt- 
 ington Industrial Works, that it furnishes the fuel that 
 keeps itself in motion, it does that very nearly, and in 
 addition sends out skilled rr.cciianics 
 
 Again, a great intellectual work has been done 
 here. 
 
 It was no small thing, when experience had as yet 
 0|)ened no pathway, nnd clamr-rous voices were heard 
 on every side, each advocating a difTerent method, to 
 devise a system of education having fnr its objective 
 point the elevation, up to the intelligence and industry 
 and thrift required for self-support and average citi- 
 zenship in a free republic, of a m issof people, ignorant, 
 improvident, and unused to the demands and restraints 
 of self-imposed work. This was to be done, and yet 
 the education was to be so limited as to be practicable 
 in point of expense, and so as not to disqualify by 
 
12 
 
 over education the teachers who were to leaven the 
 masses. Such a system, combining instruction in let- 
 ters with manual labor in agriculture and the mechanic 
 arts, has been devised, organized and persistently 
 maintained. It was not, perhaps, absolutely new in 
 any one of its features, but it was a new combination 
 devised with reference to a special work. This com- 
 bination has vindicated itself by its results, and has so far 
 commended itself to the public generally that it is now 
 beginning to be felt that the same method should be 
 carried into our common schools as the best means of 
 awakening interest, of training the perceptive faculties, 
 and of gaining practical power. 
 
 The third form of the work done here is moral. I 
 say moral, not as undervaluing the religious work, but be 
 cause of itsfar- reaching tendency to diminish the super- 
 stition that separates morality from religion, and which 
 is among the most serious obstacles to the progress 
 of the colored race. This superstition is not that of 
 signs and portents that are supposed to relate to events 
 in this world. It is what may be called a religious super- 
 stition, and the essence of it is to attribute efficacy to 
 outward acts, forms, ceremonies, penances, emotions, 
 that neither spring from love, nor improve the charac- 
 ter. The universal tendency to do this indicates a 
 wrong bias in our nature. True religion — the love of 
 God and of man — is simple, rational, universally and 
 necessarily beneficent. A child can understand and 
 practice it. The wayfaring man though a fool ne id, 
 
13 
 
 not err concerning it. But instead of this we see men 
 seeking immunity from the consequences of guilt by 
 outward acts and forms which they call religion, but 
 which can only sink them deeper in degradation. 
 The saddest part of history is that which shows us so 
 large a portion of our race kept down and crushed 
 by the reversed action of the very powers given to 
 man for his highest elevation. These powers are the 
 religious nature and the intellect acting in combina- 
 tion. Whatever heights man can reach he must reach 
 through these. But what we see is the intervention of 
 men claiming to be priests fostering and perpetuating 
 ignorance, and, with mingled fanaticism and cunning, 
 organizing, in the name of religion, vast systems of 
 superstition. Once established, these systems become 
 sacred. The associations which ought to connect 
 themselves with the worship of God in spirit and in 
 truth are transferred to useless, or cruel, or even licen- 
 tious rites and forms. Through superstitious fears 
 property is gained and service demanded, and human- 
 ity becomes a blind Sampson grinding in its prison 
 house. To uphold such a system there is no violence 
 or deceit to which men will not resort and think they 
 are doing God service. Hence, as not only prompted 
 by interest and passion, but as sanctioned by con- 
 science, religious persecutions have been more cruel 
 and unrelenting than any others— yes, persecutions 
 even in the name of that religion which was founded 
 by the Prince of Peace, and whose essence is love. 
 
H 
 
 This form of superstition, to some extent prevalent 
 everywhere, could not fail to be especially so among a 
 people who retained many of their heathen traditions 
 and customs, and whose religious teachers are often 
 unable to read the Scriptures. To enforce it upon 
 such a people that industry, honesty, temperance 
 purity, truth, are so essential a part of religion that 
 there is no true religion without them, is a great work, 
 and one that must be done. To this work constant 
 reference has been had in the instruction given here- 
 The underlying and uplifting power of Christian truth 
 as the only adequate support of a pure and all perva- 
 sive morality has been insisted upon, and thus the 
 influence of the Institution in this regard has been 
 widely extended. 
 
 As will be seen from the Report of General Arm- 
 strong, to which I ask special attention, there have 
 gone out from this school, thus equipped and taught, 
 five hundred and eighty-four who have taken the full 
 course, of whom five hundred and fifty-five are now liv- 
 ing. Of these over ninety per cent, have taught 
 school. Besides these a hundred and fifty who did 
 not complete their course have done good work as 
 teachers, and hundreds have been benefited by a few 
 months or a year or two at school. Of those who have 
 taught the past winter two hundred and forty-two 
 have been enrolled as public school teachers of Virginia- 
 That is nearly half the number of colored teachers 
 employed in the State, and an equal number have 
 
15 
 
 taught in other States. By the best estimate we can 
 make, graduates of Hampton taught the last 
 year twenty-five thousand Negro children, and yet the 
 school is still far from able to supply the demand for 
 teachers. Of those who have not taught in the com- 
 mon schools thirty have taught in higher institu- 
 tions, twenty-five have become ministers, ten lawyers, 
 five doctors, a hundred have become farmers, or gone 
 into business of various kinds, and forty have failed to 
 make agoo^ record. One-third of the graduates have 
 been young women, and among the best results of the 
 school has been their influence upon family life. Of 
 the whole number five-sixths are members of Christian 
 churches, and it is believed are living right and respect- 
 able lives. 
 
 Turning to the Indians, we find that one hundred 
 and eighty-nine who have been here from one to five 
 years are now at their homes. Of these twenty -five 
 have died, a hundred and six have done very well, 
 fifty-five fairly well, sixteen badly, and from twelve 
 there is no report. These are the facts, and facts are 
 what we need and desire on this whole subject — the 
 truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 
 *' By their fruits ye shall know them." The final test 
 of this school is the work of its graduates. 
 
 In speaking of the threefold work wrought here I 
 have said nothing of the money expended for the sup- 
 port di teachers. If we add the amount given for this 
 to that given for the outfit of the school the whole 
 
i6 
 
 will not fall short of a million of dollars. And all this 
 without debt. The incubus of that dreadful word does 
 not rest here. Nor have I said anything of the teach- 
 ers themselves, who have not wrought chiefly for 
 money. Coming, for the most part, from, cultured and 
 refined homes, meeting for a longtime with scant sym- 
 pathy, and not seldom, in former times, with aversion 
 and scorn, they have laid upon the altar of this service 
 an amount of self-denying and heroic labor that can 
 find its reward only in a sphere where money is not 
 the standard of value. The whole country owes them 
 thanks. 
 
 Looking then at the whole work done on thi& 
 ground, we say that it is a great work. Whether we 
 regard the givers or the teachers, we say too, that if 
 Christ had not come this work could not have been 
 done. Outside of Christianity there is nothing like 
 it, and since that is kept alive in the world only by the 
 Spirit of the Living God, we say again, 'What hath 
 God wrought }" 
 
 But while a great work has thus been done on 
 this ground, a great work remains to be done not only 
 by the Institution, but for it. As we have seen, its 
 growth has been marvelous. It has already accom- 
 plished much, and, as at present organized and equip, 
 ped, may go on for some time and accomplish even 
 more. But an endowment is needed. The central 
 indomitable, wise energy, fertile in expedients, 'com- 
 prehensive in plans, that has had so much to do in 
 
17 
 
 bringing the Institution up to its present point can- 
 not continue always. If the Institution is to do its- 
 present work it is the hard lot of Gen. Armstrong, up- 
 on whose head there are more gray hairs than time 
 has put there, to raise, each year, from the gifti" of 
 Christian and philanthropic people the large sum of 
 fifty thousand dollars. This, probably, no other man 
 could do. The work of the Institution we would not 
 have diminished nor would we have it much increas- 
 ed. In my judgment, and in this Gen, Armstrong 
 agrees with me, the Institution has now reached the 
 limit of best supervision and most efficient work. But 
 with its buildings completed and its work systematiz- 
 ed, it can, with an adequate endowment, continue to 
 work more efficiently and beneficently as experience 
 shall be gained. Five hundred thousand dollars are 
 needed. Of this one hundred and six thousand have 
 already been given. Shall the rest be provided ? I 
 believe it will be. I do not believe that those who 
 have put their hand to this plow will look back. I da 
 not believe that God, who has wrought with them, 
 and done so much for the cause by them, will now 
 forsake that cause. In this day of enlarged benevo- 
 lence, and of fortunes that go up into the millions, it 
 can hardly be after so much has been done, that the 
 friends of humanity will see this Institution crippled,. 
 or will fail to furnish means by which the wheels of 
 its progress shall be kept, if possible, in steadier and 
 more rapid motion in all coming time. 
 
The work done here has had, and will continue to 
 have an intrinsic value worth all its cost, but we re- 
 gard it chiefly as it is related to a greater work which 
 is to be done, not by this Institution only, but by all 
 institutions, and all influences that can be brought to 
 bear upon it. As a nation it is still with us as it was 
 with the Israelites when they were encamped on the 
 plains of Moab. As they had yet to fight many a 
 battle before they could possess the promised land, 
 and had then to settle the claims of the different tribes 
 and to combine them into one nationality, so we have 
 yet before us a great, and in some respects, not dissimi- 
 lar work. 
 
 From the plains of Moab where the Israelites 
 looked forward to their promised land, they went up 
 and took possession of it, but only as God was with 
 them. When they were faithful to Him, and He 
 wrought with them they prospered. One chased a 
 thousand and two put ten thousand to flight. When 
 they forsook Him and He withdrew His aid they fell 
 into decline and were smitten before their enemies. 
 Their whole history is but an alternation of prosper- 
 ity and disaster as they did, or did not, serve God, 
 until at length they so far fell into idolatry and conse- 
 quent wickedness that He gave them over into cap- 
 tivity. "He sent to them His messengers, rising betimes 
 and sending them," "But they mocked the messen- 
 gers of God, and despised his words, and misused his 
 prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his 
 
19 
 
 people till there was no remedy." And so it was with 
 the Jews after their return from captivity. They did 
 not relapse into idolatry, but they did fall, partly, as 
 the Sadducees, into infidelity, and, partly, as the Phar- 
 isees, into a self-righteous formalism whereby they 
 made void the law of God, and crucified his Son, and 
 persecuted his followers till the wrath of the Lord 
 again arose against his people till there was no rem- 
 edy. The walls of Jerusalem and of the temple were 
 thrown down till not one stone was left upon another, 
 and the Jews, retaining as by a miracle their nation- 
 ality, have been a scattered and an oppressed people 
 till this day. Throughout their whole history they 
 stand before the nations as an object lesson to teach 
 them that there are retributions for nations in this 
 world, and that without God they cannot prosper. 
 
 This is the one lesson that we are to lay to heart 
 if we are to do the work that is set before us. That 
 work is to consolidate the nationalities and races thet 
 now inhabit these United States into a free and per- 
 manent government under which manhood, as in the 
 image of God shall be respected, and the right of every 
 man to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness shall 
 be conceded and maintained. Something more is pos- 
 sible, but at present such a government, with the 
 marvelous control now given by science over nature 
 and the decorations of an art, not yet developed, that 
 shall blossom over the breadth of a continent, is 
 the promised land to which we look forward. 
 
20 
 
 Can this land be possessed ? Can the work in- 
 volved in its possession be done ? Can it be done de- 
 spite the antagonism of races, the traditional hostility 
 of nations, the diversity of language, the prejudice of 
 color, the apparent conflict between the interests of 
 capital and of labor? Can it be done despite the under- 
 mining and disintegrating effects of intemperance, 
 and licentiousness, and fraud, and of the ambitious 
 and sensuous and debasing tendencies hitherto reg- 
 nant ? These are the Canaanites that are to be fought 
 and exterminated, root and branch. The question has 
 no relation to that of amalgamation or whether the 
 races and nationalities shall be mingled in schools, in 
 churches, iv social relations, in trade even, or shall 
 move on in parallel lines as the Rhone and the Arve 
 flow on without mingling, towards the same ocean 
 where all differences are lost. It refers solely to the 
 maintainance of those rights of our common manhood 
 which the Declaration of Independence declares to us 
 inalienable. Before our own, no great government has 
 ever conceded and maintained these rights, our own 
 has done it but imperfectly and is yet on trial, and if 
 this work is to be done the capacity and possibilities 
 of the race are to be tested as never before. Never 
 before did the idea of the right of every man to take 
 part in the government enter as a factor into politics. 
 The ancient republics were really aristocracies with 
 restricted citizenship. Never was there such capacity 
 for the production and distribution of wealth, or for 
 
21 
 
 simultaneous and organized action, never such an 
 oceanic breadth of a free people, in their sectional in- 
 terests and local governments, many as the waves, in 
 their central government, one as the sea. 
 
 Can then this work be done ? Yes. The capacity 
 for it is in man. He readily conceives of it, and what- 
 ever he can conceive of morally that he can become 
 and do. The obstacles are wholly in him. Look at 
 those I have mentioned. Every one of them is wholly 
 in him. We need then, only to know the requisite 
 changes in him, and how those changes can be wrought. 
 
 And here it may be remarked, that if a change in 
 men be the thing needed, it is obvious that not much 
 can be expected from mere organization, men re- 
 maining the same. On this point there is no little 
 delusion. Organization is essential. Government 
 itself is organization. But organizations differ as they 
 do or do not pre-suppose and involve changes in men. 
 Church organizations both presuppose and involve 
 such changes. Literary and social organizations in- 
 volve them. But under a free government, organiza- 
 tions neither presupposing nor involving any such 
 change, but having for their object to promote the 
 interests or protect the rights of special classes, are 
 generally mischievous. They are narrowing in their 
 effect upon those who enter into them, and provoke 
 antagonism in others. They involve expense for meet- 
 ings, and the support of officers and organs, and gen- 
 erally so become the centres of intrigue and corrup- 
 
22 
 
 tion, if not of socialism and anarchy, that their total 
 effect upon society is disastrous rather than bene- 
 ficial. Especially is it undesirable that there should 
 be among us any organization that tends toward a 
 division into permanent classes or that would prevent 
 a free movement from the lowest stratum of society 
 upward, or from its highest stratum downward, ac- 
 cording to industry and merit. 
 
 Passing then to the changes needed in man, I 
 observe that where there is ignorance that would 
 disqualify a man from seeking intelligently the politi- 
 cal and social state specified, there should be a change 
 from ignorance to knowledge. This opens a vast work 
 before us in this whole country, and particularly for 
 this and similar schools. There must be knowledge. 
 Men must be so far educated as to unow their rights 
 and the value of liberty, and its dependence upon law, 
 and to be capable of being, not a dead weight to be 
 carried, but a vital force in the progress of society. 
 But a man may be thus educated and capable, and be 
 an obstruction. Knowledge is simply instrumental. 
 The burglar, the gambler, the counterfeiter, have 
 knowledge, and the more they know the more dan- 
 gerous they are. The thief and liar know they do 
 wrong, but they do it. The theory that knowledge, 
 trained intellect, what is commonly called education, 
 is sufficient, breaks down at once and wholly under 
 the fact that men are so far from doing as well as they 
 
23 
 
 know. It is a prevalent theory, but till knowledge and 
 conduct correspond it will be delusive. 
 
 But if a change from ignorance to knowledge be 
 not sufficient, what more is needed ? A change is 
 needed in the directive rather than in the instrumen- 
 tal powers. We need, back of knowledge, that choice 
 which shall guide in its use to the best ends, and in 
 seeking those ends shall subordinate all that is lower 
 in man to that which is highest. We need a change 
 of character, of that which is the deepest love, so that 
 men shall love God with all their hearts and their 
 neighbors as themselves. If such a change can be 
 wrought it is self-evident that the needed work will 
 be done. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor." If 
 those of different races and nationalities were to love 
 each other as themselves, if the employer were to love 
 the employed as himself, and the employed were to 
 love the employer as himself, it is plain that every 
 man over this broad continent would be secure in his 
 right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This 
 is the indispensable condition. As this is approxi- 
 mated society will approximate perfection. Till this 
 is aimed at, and, in some measure reached, men will 
 only roll the stone of Sysiphus up the hill to have it 
 return upon them. 
 
 Knowing then the change that is needed in man, 
 we only need to inquire further how that change can 
 be wrought. 
 
 And here we say that Christianity can do it, and 
 
24 
 
 nothing else can. As we have seen, knowledge can 
 not do it and no other religion can. There is not in 
 one of them anything that tends to awaken in man an 
 aspiration towards such a promised land as we seek. 
 If such aspiration exist, it is in spite of the religion, 
 and because the germs of it are in man himself. There 
 is not one of them that tends to form in man a char- 
 acter that would fit him to enter such a promised land. 
 There is not one of them in connection with which 
 society is not either station iry or in a process of de- 
 velopment downwards. The supposition that there is 
 in man, apart from Christianity, a tendency to any 
 permanent progress sufficient to remove the obstacles 
 from man himself, is baseless. Christianit}'- alone can 
 do it. Comparing Christianity with other religions 
 the difficulty is that its fruits are constantly judged of 
 by the doings of those who are not Christians. Chris- 
 tendom is not Christian, and there is no wickedness 
 like that of nominal Christians. If their atrocities and 
 <:rimes of greed are not greater than those of heathen- 
 dom, which may be doubted, their light is greater, 
 and so they are more wicked. Rightly applied "By 
 
 their fruits ye shall know them," is a correct rule of 
 judgment, but if arsenic were to be labelled flour it 
 would be hardly fair to impute to flour the effects of 
 arsenic, and yet this is the logic, either wicked or stu- 
 pid, which exultant infidels apply to Christianity when 
 they charge upon that the wickedness of nominal 
 Christians. 
 
25 
 
 Christianity then is our only hope. That it is the 
 object of that to produce in man love to God and love 
 to man, cannot be denied, since those two comprise 
 the sum of the law, and of the commandments of 
 Christ, Paul, too, said that without love he was 
 "nothing" — no Christian. This love is so of the es- 
 sence of Christianity that without it there is no Christ- 
 ianity. 
 
 Are there then in Christianity, motive forces and 
 a power such that we may hope that men in increasing 
 numbers, and finally, all men on the face of the earth 
 will be brought to exercise this love ? We say Yes- 
 We say it because, in demanding this love Christianity 
 is coincident with the deepest philosophy of our na- 
 ture, as finding its perfection and highest good, both 
 individual and social, only in this. It is the only con- 
 dition of a perfect social state here, and a chief ele- 
 ment in that heaven to which we look forward in 
 the great future. We say yes, too, because Christ- 
 ianity reveals to us and in the relation of a Father, a 
 God who is love, and love begets love. "Everyone,' 
 says the Apostle John, "that loveth, is born of God." 
 We say yes, again, because there was, in the coming 
 and life, and death of the founder of Christianity the 
 most stupendous example of the love of God and of 
 man of which we can conceive. "Greater love hath 
 no man than this that a man lay down his life for his 
 friends;" but "God commendeth his love to us in that 
 while we were vet enemies Christ died for us." Love 
 
26 
 
 begets love. "And I, if I be lifted up will draw all 
 men unto me," Once more, there are in Christianity 
 not only motives consonant with our nature, but there, 
 is in connection with it, an ever present personal 
 agent working through these motives in accordance , 
 with human freedom and the purposes of God. I have 
 spoken of Christianity as having m itself, as a system, 
 the requisite power, and so we speak. But it is not 
 Christianity that does the work. It is Christ. Christ 
 has come, and lived, and died, and risen from the dead, 
 and ascended to the right hand of God. He reigns^ 
 To him all power is given. He is the Savior of men 
 not only by what He has done, but by what He is do- 
 ing now, and it is only as He shall give more copious- 
 ly the spirit that He shed down at Pentecost, that 
 there will be raised up an army before whose shout 
 every wall of opposition shall fall down. Let such an 
 army go on, as did Israel of old, not carrying with it 
 destruction, but adding to its ranks as it goes till every 
 man from ocean to ocean shall be a Christian, and» 
 since the least that a Christian can do is to give every 
 man his rights, we should have at once a social order 
 and a government, in, and under, which every man 
 would be secure in his right to life, liberty, and the 
 pursuit of happiness. He would be free to work out 
 his own best good in his own way. We should then 
 have the promised land of which I have spoken. It 
 would be the promised land of the statesman, all that 
 statesmanship can give with the best material. It 
 
27 
 
 would be a good land, far better than the present, but 
 would not give us the milk and the honey. 
 
 As I have intimated, Christianity would do for us 
 something more. It is one thing for every man to 
 have all his rights, and to pursue his own good in his 
 own way, and quite another for every man to be actu- 
 ated by a spirit of love and good will that would lead 
 him to minister in every possible way to the good of 
 those around him. This, statesmanship knows noth- 
 ing of, but this, Christianity lays upon every man the 
 obligation to do. Our present state isone of much ad- 
 vancement, if every man had always his rights it 
 would be far more advanced, but the coming in of this 
 active love would be as another morning risen upon 
 high noon. The radiance of the morning purplingthe 
 mountain tops and then flooding the valleys is but 
 a faint symbol of the light and warmth that would per- 
 meate every stratum of our social life if the heart of 
 every human being were a radiating center of love to 
 God and love to man. That would be Christianity: 
 Nothing short of that is, and if this land, from the At- 
 lantic to the Pacific, and from the lakes to the gulf 
 were inhabited by such Christians there would go up 
 as never before the exclamation, ''What hath God 
 wrought?" Whether this is to be, I know not; I only 
 know that such is Christianity and such would be its 
 result. 
 
 It is from this bearing of Christianity on the so- 
 cial and political well-being of our country together 
 
28 
 
 with the peculiar relations of this Institution to that 
 well-being, that we rejoice as patriots in the gift to it 
 of this beautiful and commodious Chapel which is now 
 to be dedicated fo the worship and service of Almighty 
 God. It is patriotic Christianity that has built these 
 buildings, and brought hither these teachers, and that 
 rojoices to-day in a completed instrumentality which 
 tends with no little power to avert the danger from ignor- 
 ance and vice in the Negro race that was so strong- 
 ly set forth by Pres. Garfield in his inaugural address. 
 It is this tendency which gives its chief interest to this 
 day and to the work done here. Let us see large num- 
 bers of young men and women going out from this In- 
 stitution as teachers, and carrying with them not on- 
 ly the light of letters, but the uplifting and purifying 
 power of a Christian example, and it will add to the 
 strength of our hope for the country in the fierce con- 
 flict that is now going on. It will turn a source of 
 danger into a source of strength. 
 
 It is not, however, the chief object of Christianity 
 to promote the political or social well-being of 
 man in this life. It will do that incidentally, but its 
 chief object is to provide for the forgiveness of sins 
 and to prepare men for a kingdom of righteousness, 
 and peace, and holy activity, and joyful service, in a 
 kingdom where Christ shall be King; and shall reign 
 forever and ever. It is because we trust that this work 
 will be here promoted that we rejoice as Christians in 
 the gift of the Chapel that is now to be dedicated. 
 
29 
 
 We trust that here will be taught and promoted a 
 Christianity as narrow in its creed as revealed truths 
 and as broad in its love as humanity. We trust that 
 here, where three races and nearly every denomination 
 are united in work, sectarian divisive feeling may be 
 merged in loyalty to Christ, and that the Babel of 
 names may give place to that "only Name under heaven 
 whereby we can be saved." We might then have here 
 not a Baptist, or Methodist, or Congregational, or 
 Episcopal, or Presbyterian church, but one whose 
 designation should be "The Church of Christ" in the 
 Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute. Such a 
 church would be a branch of the one universal church 
 of which Christ is the head. But be this as it may,we trust 
 that here many shall be prepared to join that one great 
 army ot the redeemed who shall sing the song of Mo- 
 ses and the Lamb, and who, looking back with thank- 
 ful and adoring wonder upon the way in which they 
 have been led. — shall say, "What hath God wrought.''" 
 
REPORT MADE IN 1869 
 By a Visiting Committee 
 
 COMPOSED OK 
 
 Rev. Mark Hopkins, D. D.. the late President 
 Garfield, and others. 
 
 The undersigned, having been desired to visit the Hampton 
 Normal and Agricultural Institute, under the auspices of the 
 American Missionary Association, and under the superintend- 
 ence of General Samuel C. Armstrong, submit the following 
 statements in regard to its location, its history, its object and 
 plan, and its present condition and prospects :— 
 I. Location. 
 
 In this there is an historical fitness. It is within the Capes, 
 and not far from the spot where the first slaves brought to this 
 country was landed. It is where General Butler first refused to 
 deliver up the fugitives, calling them " contraband of war," and 
 where a city of refuge was provided, to which they thronged by 
 boat-loads, and wagon loads, and in caravans, and were housed 
 and fed by the government. It was here, too, that the first school 
 for Freedmen was established. It was the site of the Hospital 
 Barracks of McClellan's and Grant's armies, where many thou- 
 sand sick and wounded were under 'treatment at one time ; and 
 the farm connected with the Institute includes the United States 
 cemetery, containing the bodies of nearly six thousand United 
 States soldiers, together with the granite monument to these 
 martyrs in the cause of freedom, which is in full view from the 
 Institute. Not far distant is seen the flag of Fortress Monroe, 
 and it is within sight of the spot where the battle was fought be- 
 tween the Monitor and Merrimac. 
 
 The location has alto advantages as regards convenience, econ- 
 omy, and the coast. It is accessible by water, and so by the 
 cheapest possible transportotion, from the whole region of the 
 Chesapeake Bay, of the Potomac, York and James Rivers, and 
 of the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, a region including a col- 
 
32 
 
 ored population which has been, if it be not now, of greater rela- 
 tive density than any other. With a steamboat-landing on the 
 farm, it has ready access to the principal seaboard cities of the 
 North, both as markets and as sources of supply. It is also re- 
 markably beautiful, having the advantages of sea-breeze, and 
 opportunities for sea-bathing. The place was, indeed, formerly 
 the seat of a large female seminary, and was a summer resort 
 for health and recreation, 
 
 II. Its History. 
 As has been said, this was the site of the first school for Freed- 
 men, and here the Butler school is still kept in the large build- 
 ing originally built for it on the premises, and is taught by pupils 
 from the Institute. This, however, did not involve the idea of 
 the Institute as a Normal School and a seminary of a high order. 
 That was originated by General Armstrong, who had charge of 
 the Freedmen's Bureau at this point, and who first comprehend- 
 ed the facilities afforded by the place, and the greatness of the 
 work that might be done here. At his suggestion, and chiefly 
 through his efforts, the American Missionary Association heart- 
 ily co-operating, the estate now called the Whipple Farm, in- 
 cluding a hundred and twenty-five acres of excellent land, to- 
 gether with the mansion used by the United States officers for 
 their headquarters, the Butler school-house and the hospital bar- 
 racks were purchased. The whole cost, including improvements, 
 has been about forty-five thousand dollars. 
 
 III. Its Object and Plan. 
 
 The object of the Institute, as stated in the act of incorpora- 
 tion, is " to prepare youth of the South, without distinction of 
 color, for the work of organizing and instructing schools in the 
 Southern States." Its object is the diffusion throughout the 
 South, where Normal and Agricultural schools have not been 
 established as yet, of the best methods and advantages of edu- 
 cation ; and if the benefit of the colored people be more imme- 
 diately anticipated, it is only from the apprehended unwilling- 
 ness of others to avail themselves of the advantages of the In- 
 stitute. Whatever provision may or may not be made, for the 
 general education of the South, it is clearly among the most im- 
 perative duties, both of the North and of the South, to provide 
 
33 
 
 in the best manner practicable for the enlightenment, the more 
 perfect Chnstianization, and the full manhood of (he Freedmen 
 This IS now the point of trial for this nation before Him who has 
 begun to vmdicate the rights of a long-suftering people- and 
 scarcely more for their sakes than for our own, and for the'sakes 
 of the whole African race, should this duty be accepted by us 
 
 But if the duty be accepted it is not seen how it can be per- 
 formed without some institution which shall combine as this In 
 stitute proposes to do, education and training, with opportunity 
 for self-help. In these two, education and self-help, we have the 
 object and plan of the Institute. It would provide a body of 
 colored teacheis, the best and only available agency for the 
 work, thoroughly trained, not only in the requisite knowledge 
 and in the best methods of teaching, but also in all that pertains 
 to right living, including habits of intelligent labor. Emotional 
 in their nature, unaccustomed to self-control, and improvident 
 by hab.t, the Freedmen need discipline and training even more 
 than teaching; and the Institute would avoid the mistake some- 
 times made oi^ missionary grounds, of so training teachers as to 
 put them out of sympathy with the people in their present con- 
 dition, and in the struggle that is before them if they are to rise 
 It would, therefore, make much of the feature of self-help not 
 only as relieving the benevolent from a burthen, but as inspiring 
 S€if-respect and self-reliance, and as tending to a consistency and 
 solidity of character that are especially needed. It would aim 
 at reaching, and to be effectual it must reach, those who cannot 
 pay their way except by their own labor. 
 
 With these views a large agricultural interest has been organ- 
 ized both for instruction and profit. So far this has succeeded 
 well in both respects, and, with suitable management, it cannot 
 fail to do so in future. The soil is rich and varied, adapted both 
 to fruits and vegetables. On the farm are large quantities of 
 muck and sea-mud, and fish-guano from the neighboring fishe- 
 ries. It is intended to make the culture varied, and to introduce 
 improved methods, to be put in practice wherever the pupils 
 may go. The farm, thus furnishing wood for the school, in con- 
 nection with adjacent fisheries, which make living cheap, will 
 enable the poorest youth to meet all his necessary expenses, and 
 at the same time receive good educational advantages. This 
 department is under the superintendence of Mr. F. Richardson, 
 
v\'to IS admirably qualified for the position, and for details of" its 
 condition and prospects we refer to a statement by him, append- 
 ed to this paper. 
 
 The farm is for the men. But as at the North, so at the South, 
 and more and more, the teaching is to be done by the women, 
 and for their education and training too ample provision cannot 
 be made. Young women at the Institute are on equal footing, 
 in all respects, with the young men, except that their opportuni- 
 ties for supporting themselves by their own labor are not as good; 
 Something, much indeed, has been done. Art industry has been 
 organized, by which the pupils are paid for making up garments 
 which are sold at a small profit. This is beneficial in every way. 
 About twenty cati also be employed the greater part of the yeaf 
 in teaching. This, hotvever, is a department t\'hich needs, and 
 should receive, efficient aid. 
 
 IV. Its present Condition and Prospects. 
 
 Of these we do not hesitate to speak with satisfaction and 
 high hope. The school M'^as opelied in April, 1868, and there 
 have since been sixty-six pupils in attendance, of whom fifty-two 
 were boarders. Of these eight have been employed as teachers 
 in Freedmen's day schools, doing, under careful superintend^ 
 ence, the work done in previous years by Northern teachers, and 
 giving good satisfaction in it ; and thus, while keeping up with 
 their classes in the Normal School, paying their necessary ex- 
 penses. Three hundred children have been thus taught during 
 the past y6ar by undergraduates of the Institute, and it is ex- 
 pected that twice that numbet will be so taught during the year 
 to come. In the present vacation, including July and Septem-^ 
 ber, twelve ptipils have gone out to teach, and will have not less 
 than five hundred children in their schools. 
 
 The closing examination and exercises of the school indicated 
 a thoroughness and faithfulness on the part of the teachers that 
 nothing but missionary zeal could have inspired. Hitherto the 
 teachers of the Institute have all been ladies ; and here, as in 
 many places throughout the South, Northern ladies of high cha- 
 racter have done, and are doing, a most Christian and heroic 
 work, looking for their richest reward in the thanks of the low- 
 ly and the smile of Him who came that the Gospel might be 
 preached to the poor. On the part of the scholars there was in- 
 dicated a diligence and proficieftsy quite remarkable, and that 
 
35 
 
 would have clone crcdil to students similarly, situated of .my 
 race or color. Not only has the teaching been diligent, l)ut of 
 the highest order, and the results correspond. There was great 
 correctness in reading and spelling. Nearly all wrote a good 
 hand, and the blackboard exercises in map drawing, with tlic 
 new method of triangulation, would have been creditable to the 
 pupils in any Normal School at the North. The whole results 
 furnish the fullest encouragement to future effort. 
 
 We are thus doing for the Freedmen, through this Institute, 
 with such modifications as their condition demands, jtist what 
 we are doing for ourselves in those States that are further ad- 
 vanced in education ; and if the Southern people could but wise- 
 ly co-operate, the experiment with the Freedmen could at once 
 be fairly made. Fortunate in its position, and comprehensive in 
 its aims, the Institute is adapted to do a great work for the Afri- 
 can race both in this and theii' fatherland. It is just the agency 
 needed, through which benevolent individuals, and the fund of 
 Mr. Pcabody, now so magnificently enlarged, may work. Tn 
 the plan of it nothing is w^anting. To carry it out executive 
 ability and business talent of a high order will be needed, espe- 
 cially at first. These we think it now has in those at the head of 
 each of its departments, and we heartily commend the enter- 
 prise to the confidence, to the prayers, and to the benefactions of 
 the good people of the whole country. 
 
 (Signed) Mark Hopkins, CJuunnan, 
 James A. Garfield, 
 Alexander Hyde, 
 Hampton, Va., July, i86q. B. G. Northrup. 
 
GENERAL STATEMENT. 
 
 TPIE HAMPTON NORMAL AND AGRICULTURAL 
 INSTITUTE, 
 
 Opened April, 1868, is a private corporation, composed of 
 seventeen Trustees, representing six States, withpo^^erto choose 
 their successors, who hold and control the property of the 
 Institute under a charter granted in 1870 by a special Act of the 
 General Assembly of Virginia. 
 
 It is exempt from taxation. 
 
 There is a majority of no religious denomination on the Board 
 of Trustees. The school is earnestly and actively Christian in 
 its work and spirit ; it has a class in Bible study for the neighbor- 
 ing pastors and others, 26 in number. 
 
 The State of Virginia has entrusted to this corporation the use 
 of the interest on that part of the Agricultural Land Fund of the 
 State devoted to the colored people, amounting to ten thousand 
 dollars annually. 
 
 The United States Government sends one hundred and twen- 
 ty Indians here to be educated, paying $167 per annum for each 
 one, which provides for their personal expenses, board and cloth- 
 ing, but not for the cost of their teaching. Fifteen to twenty In- 
 dians besides are taken at private expense. 
 
 Average attendance for the current school year 596, of whom 
 13 are day pupils, the rest boarders from abroad, including 135 
 Indians, representing 13 States and Territories; Average age 
 18 years. Two-fifths are young women. 
 
 There are seventy officers and teachers, teachers being about 
 equally divided between the academic and industrial depart- 
 ments. 
 
37 
 
 The sum to be annually raised from charity to meet the needs 
 of the school is//// ihousand {^0,006) dollars, about one-half of 
 which is usually given in the form of annual scholarships oUev- 
 enty dollars each (the cost of instruction, each student paying 
 personal expenses, chiefly in labor). The rest has come from 
 general contributions and from legacies. J«tudents earned last 
 year ,844,085. 31 on the farm and in the thirteen trades taught 
 here, which paid for their board, clothing and books. 
 
 The object of the school is to furnish teachers for the black 
 and red races of this country, and the results so far are encour- 
 aging. 
 
 The last report of the Principal will be sent to any one desir- 
 ing it. 
 
 An Endoxument Fund of $^00,000.00 to secttre perina nenl and 
 reliable means of support is a great and pressing need. 
 
 S. C. Armstrong, Principal. 
 Hampton. Va., June, 1886. 
 
 Form of Bequest. * 
 
 I give and devise to the Trustees of the Hampton Normal 
 and Agricultural Institute, at Hampton, Va., the sum of 
 dollars, payable, etc., etc.