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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

CHRISTIANITY AND RACE
PREJUDICE

TWO DISCOURSES DELIVERED IN THE
FIFTEENTH STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WASHINGTON, D. C
MAY 29th, AND JUNE Sth, 1910.
BY THE PASTOR,
REV. TRANCIS J. GR1A\KC. D. D.

"And Peter opened his mouth, and said, of a
truth i perceive that god is no respecter of
PERSONS."— ^4ffe I a: ^4.

These two discourses are sent forth in the hope that they may
be used by the Holy Spirit in arousing the White Christians of
the United States to a sense of the evil of race prejudice, and
of their duty, as Christians iu regard to it.

Christianity and Race Prejudice.

I.
How is it that thoij, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samari- /
tan woman? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. —John!
4: 9. Some years ago a very interesting volume was published by
Dr. Francis G. Peabody of Harvard University, entitled " Jesus
Christ and the Social Question." This morning I want to talk
for a little while on the Subject— Christianity and Race
Prejudice. We have just had an exhibition of race prejudice
in connection with the Sixth World's Sunday School. Convention
that met in our city last week. The present is a good time
therefore to consider the subject upon which I desire to speak
this morning. It isn't of race prejudice, in general, that I am
to speak; but of Christianity and Race Prejudice.
I. What is Race Prejudice? Prejudice, as defined in Web- /
ster, "isa bias or leaning towards one side or the other of a
question from other considerations than those belonging to it;
an unreasonable predilection or prepossession for or against
anything; especially, an opinion or leaning adverse to anything,
formed without proper grounds, or before suitable knowledge.
Race prejudice is such a bias or leaning adverse to another be- '
cause of his race identity or affiliation. It is a prejudice against ,
another, not because of the possession of undesirable qualities,
of unworthy traits and characteristics, but purely and simply
because of race identity. That there is such a thing as race
prejudice in the world, no one will deny. It exists to-day, and
it has always existed. In the text, which we are considering,
the question is asked, ' ' How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest
drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria?" And this is fol
lowed by the statement, ' ' For the Jews have no dealings with
the Samaritans. ' ' The Jews had no dealings with the Samari
tans; the Jews were strongly prejudiced against the Samaritans;
and prejudiced against them because they were Samaritans.
And we who are Hving to-day, especially in this land— in
America, in these United States of America, know, to our sorrow
and regret, that there is such a thing as race prejudice. Every
where it confronts us— North, South, East, West; go where we '
(3)

will it meets us; go where you will we see it, we feel it; if we
would forget it, we can not.
What is the nature of this prejudice? When we attempt to
analyze it, to get at the heart of it, what is its character? How
does it manifest itself?
(1.) It is an adverse feeling; it is a feeling of antipathy, a
feeling that inclines us unfavorably towards the individual that
excites it. There is in it, to say the least, that which is akin to
hostility, that which is not friendly.
(2.) Where it exists it leads to uncharitableness of judgment;
the tendency is to judge with greater severity; to put the worse
construction upon the acts of those against whom this feeling is
excited; and to accept and welcome everything that tends to
put them in the worst possible light, and to suppress or minify
whatever may tend to make a favorable impression. We see
this clearly, in the treatment that is accorded to our race in this
country by the newspapers. Whatever tends to set the race in
a bad light, to discredit it in the public estimation, to make it
odious, is set forth in great headlines, and given the most
prominent place; while that which is creditable to it, which
tends to put it in a favorable light, is either suppressed entirely,
or is barely noticed, and even then shoved away in some obscure
part of the paper where it is most likely to be overlooked. This
tendency of race prejudice is one of its most despicable features.
It reveals not only its wickedness, but its exceeding wickedness.
(3. ) Where it exists, underlying it is the assumption of race
superiority on the one side, and race inferiority on the other,
and in connection with this assumption is the feeling that every
thing must be done to accentuate this difference. In other
words, the supposed inferior race must be made to feel, by every
possible device, its inferiority. And it is out of this feeling,
this tendency, that all the discriminations that we see taking
place about us— Jim-crow cars, Jim-crow schools, laws against
intermarriage, disfranchisement, segregation in theatres and
other places of amusement, grow. The whole aim and purpose
is to impress upon this Negro race that it is inferior to the white
race, and that there must be no mingling and intermingling on
terms of equality. Hence everywhere these lines of demarca
tion must be set up, and kept up. In other words, race preju
dice says to the colored man: You are down and you must stay
down; so far as we are concerned, it is our purpose to keep you
down. That, of course, is a very commendable spirit; nothing
could be more magnanimous, more generous. How our respect
for human nature goes up as we think of this noble spirit that
is working through race prejudice to destroy the self respect of
a race, to put into it the idea that it was made to go only so far
and no farther. Isn't it strange that any one should ever have
thought of finding fault with race prejudice with such a noble
task before it? It is a great thing; it is a praiseworthy thing
is it not to fetter a race, to limit its aspirations, to say to it'

Thus far and no. farther! And that is what race prejudice is
doing in America. What fools we be! Why don't we see that—
the beauty, the nobility of race prejudice; the exalted nature of
the spirit that is seen in the effort to tramole a race down, and
to keep it down!
(4. ) Where it exists, it has no regard for the feelings of those
against whom it is directed. It walks rough-shod over them;
it denies them even the common courtesies of life. And in
return exerts a reflex influence upon those who yield to it,
blunting their finer sensibilities, the nobler instincts of their
natures. I remember once coming from Philadelphia to this
city. Before the car left the depot, a child in the other end of
it from where I was sitting began crying, and seemed to be in
very great pain, almost in a kind of spasm. She was in charge
of two young girls. As the crying went on, one of two white
women^ sitting just in front of me, seemed greatly concerned,
and kept saying. What can be the matter with that child?
Finally unable to endure it longer, she got up and started
towards the child. When she reached the seat, greatly to her
surprise, she found that it was a colored child. Without saying
a word she wheeled around and came back and took her seat.
The thing that prompted her to go and see if there was not
something that she could do to relieve it, was her motherly in
stinct. But the fact that the child was colored was suflficient to
dry up at once the fountain of her sympathy, and led her to
withhold the help which she might have rendered, and which,
had it been a white child, she would have gladly rendered.
(5.) Where it exists, any attempt on the part of the supposed
inferior race to assert itself, to claim its rights, to stand up for
what it is entitled to, to repudiate the assuinption of its inferi
ority, is bitterly resented, intensifies the feeling of opposition
to it. Race prejudice not only acts on the assumption of infe
riority, but wants that inferiority perpetuated; it doesn't want
the race discriminated against ever to stand on the same plain
with it, or to enjoy the same advantages which it enjoys— the
same privileges, the same opportunities.
(6. ) Where it exists, there is the feeling that those against
whom it is directed have no rights which it is bound to respect,
that any treatment accorded to them is justifiable. You see
this feature of it clearly illustrated all through the South, where
a black man is absolutely at the mercy of any white ruffian who
may choose to insult him, or to assult him. Race prejudice has
no conscience, no sense of right or decency, either, it has no
mercy, no bowels of compassion; it is devoid, utterly devoid, of
all humanity. Its spirit is that of the lion, the tiger, the vul
ture, the venomous reptile. It growls, and hisses, and is always
in a menacing attitude. At heart it is cruel and murderous;
there is isn't anything that is wicked, abominable that it is not
capable of doing, as this poor race of ours has every reason to
know from bitter experience.

(7.) Wherever it exists it always engenders bitterness,
hatred, ill-will in those against whom it is exercised. This is its
natural, its inevitable tendency, this is the way it almost inva
riably works, human nature being what it is. The people who
are discriminated against, who are looked down upon, who are
treated as inferiors, are not likely to feel kindly towards those
who treat them in this way. I do not say it is right, that such
should be the case, that people are justified in allowing the
prejudice of others to engender bitterness in their hearts to
wards them. It is to the fact only, however, to which I am
directing attention. People who are discriminated against do
not feel kindly towards those who treat them in that way. The
effect of race prejudice always is to arouse ^bitter ^and unkind
feelings. » '. > ? ''^17 .. • »
Race prejudice when viewed, in its nature, in all its bearings
and ramifications, in its effects upon those who yield to. it, and
upon those who are its victims, I know of nothing that embodies
so much of evil, that is being so effectively used by the evil one
in undermining the kingdom of God, and in postponing the
realization of the great hope of brotherhood throughout the
world. It is Satan's supreme device for keeping men apart, for
setting up walls of separation, for encouraging animosities, for
engendering strife, bitterness, hatreds, for the encouragement
of everything that is evil, in this evil heart of man already too
much given over to evil.
This is only a partial analysis of race prejudice, only a partial
insight into its . character as an active, aggressive force in the
great struggle of life, as we see it among men as they mingle
and intermingle with each'other in society, in business, in poli
tics, in religion.
II. Let Us Now Look at Christianity. What is it? It
is the religion of Jesus Christ; the religion that embodies the
great principles for which he stands, and in accordance with
which character and conduct are to be regulated and tested.
(1. ) It is the religion of Jesus Christ. Who was Jesus Christ?
You have the record of his life in the four gospels; read them,
and you will find out who he was. He was the God-man. In
him dwelt all the fullness of the God-head bodily; he was the
brightness of the Father's glory and the expressed image of
his person." He was holy, harmless,' undefiled, and separate
from sinners. It is impossible to read that record and not to be
impressed with the singular beauty and nobility of his character
There was nothing small about him: he was big in every way—
big of soul; he lived on the loftiest plain; he saw things as God
saw them— from the high vantage ground of truth, of justice
righteousness. There was nothing narrow, provincial about
him; his sympathies were world wide; his great scheme of re
demption was all-embracing. When he came to send out his
disciples, after his plans were consumated, he said to them: "Go
ye, into all the world, and preach the gospel unto every crea-

ture." The whole world, every creature, were embraced in his
great scheme of redemption.
It is impossible to stand in the presence of Jesus Christ, to be
come fully conscious of what he was, in his singularly pure and
beautiful character, in the great sweep of his noble thoughts
and sympathies, without feeling ashamed of all that is little,
mean, contemptible, ignoble within us. No wonder Peter ex
claimed, "Depart from me, 0 Lord, for I am a sinful man." ,/
Christianity is the religion of Jesus Christ. It is the religion
that he practiced; it is the religion for which he stood while /
upon earth, and for which he stands to-day. It is the religion
that reflects his character and life.
(2. ) It is the religion that embodies the great principles for
which he stands and in accordance with which character and
. conduct are to be regulated and tested. What are some of the
great principles for which he stands?
(1. ) There is the great principle of the Fatherhood of God. n
Jesus Christ taught us to say, ' ' Our Father, who art in Heaven. "
We are all the children of God; we all came from God; He
created us; we were all made in his image. Jesus Christ
wanted men everywhere, irrespective of race or nationality, to
drink in that great thought; he wanted men everywhere to '<
know and to feel that they were the children of God; that in a
real true sense, God was their father. And that meant that
God felt a father's interest in them, and an equal interest in
them all. The connection began in Adam, and was continued
through Noah, and has remained ever since. In the genealogi
cal table of Jesus, as given in Luke, you remember Adam is
spoken of as " the son of God. ' ' And so we are all sons and
daughters of one common father. The Fatherhood of God !
That is a great thought. How it lifts the whole plain of
humanity! What dignity it gives to every human being, how
ever humble, however lowly ! It doesn't make any difference
how poor, how ignorant we may be, to what race we belong, ,,'
whether we were in bondage or not, the relationship exists all ,.
the same. Poverty, ignorance, race affiliation can not change, ^
in the least, the fact that God is our Father. All men are
children of God, Jesus taught. The time was when I used to
speak of the cracker element of the South, as poor white trash;
it is the manner in which many persons still speak of them, but
I never do it any more. We have no right to call any human
being, anyone who bears the image of God, however ignorant
and degraded, trash.
In this fact, of the Fatherhood of God, is found also the war
rant to every individual of whatever race or nationality, to move
onward and upward. A child of God may and is justified in
aspiring to anything. There are no limits to be set to his aspira
tions. It is not for anyone to say to him: Thus far, and no
farther. Before him lies the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ. There are no metes and bound to be set up

8
for him; no barriers to be erected against him. The stamp oi
divinity is upon him, and that gives him the right-of-way when
ever he chooses to claim it. This doctrine of the Fatherhood ol
God is not only valuable because of the dignity with which it
invests every human being, but also because it opens up to
every individual ?n indefinite sweep of great possibilities, and,
therefore, lays the basis for all noble aspiration. .
(2.) There is the principle of the brotherhood of man. This
grows nntvrrily out of the former principle. If God is our
Father, then, of course, we are all brothers. Jesus Christ
taught the brotherhood of man. Literally this is true— men are
brothers— the human race is one. It began with Adam; and,
although it was nearly wiped out by the flood, it survived in
Noah and his three sons and their wives, from whom the whole
earth was afterward peopled. Hence the. statement, ' ' Of one,
or of one blood God hath made all the families of the earth."
The doctrine of the brotherhood of man, as taught by Jesus, in
volves just two things : 1st. That all men, however widely they
may differ in appearance or circumstances, are members of the
same great family, have all come out of the same original parent
stock. And, 2d. That all men should feel toward each other as
brothers, and treat each other as brothers. Tho bond that
unites all men should be the bond of true brotherhness. We
are to recognize in every man a brother, and treat every man as
a brother. This is what Jesus taught.
(3.) Another one of his great principles was what is known
as the Golden Rule : ' 'As ye, would that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them." That is put yourself in the place of
others, invest yourself with their circumstances, and then what
ever it would be right, just, humane for you to expect from them,
render to them; treat them, as under similar circumstances,
you would have a right to exf)ect to be treated by them. Jesus
says, Put yourself in the place of the man that you have to deal
with, and treat him, not according to your likes and dislikes,
not according to the promptings of the evil within you; but
according to what you know to be right, and what it would be
the duty of the other man to accord to you, if he were in your
place, and you in his.
(4.') Another one of his great principles is set forth in what
he calls the second and great commandment, namely, "Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. ' '
What he meant by neighbor he explains in one of his most
notable parables. The question was directly put to him, "And
who is my neighbor?" Arid then he told, in answer to that
question, the story of how a Samaritan befriended a Jew— a
Samaritan v ho was despised by the Jews, with \vhom the Jews
had no cValings, for whom they had the utmost contempt. This
despised Samaritan found this Jew by the road side, where he
had been robbed, beaten, and left to die; this Samaritan had
compassion on him, bound up his wounds, put him upon his own

9
ass, carried him to "an inn, cared for him, and when he got ready
to leave gave orders to the proprietor to look after him, and give
him whatever he needed, and that he would be responsible for
it Jesus says: That Samaritan was neighbor to the Jew, and
that just as that Samaritan treated the Jew, so ought men
everywhere to treat each other, whatever may be their race or
nationality. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The love which /
a man feels for himself is a very genuine love, and a love that
makes one very sensitive as to one's rights and privileges, as to
how one is treated, as to the estimate in which one is held.
Self-love leads us to desire for ourselves whatever will advance
our interest, will increase our happiness, will give us a. larger
outlook, a brighter future. To love our neighbor as ourselves is
to wish for him the same good, and to do for him as the oppor
tunity presents itself, whatever we can to help to forward his
interest, to enlarge his opportunities, and to open up to him a
brighter future.
(5. ) Another great principle of the religion of Jesus Christ is /
that set forth by the apostle Paul in the statement, ' ' So then
let us follow after things which make for peace, and things
whereby we may edify one another." The things that make
for peace, and the things that tend to edify, are the things to
be followed. The things that have the opposite tendency— that
tend to produce strife, dissension, bickerings— that breedi ill-
will and hatred are to be avoided. I
(6. ) Another great principle of the religion of Jesus Christ is, f
that all Christians are one in him— together they constitute one
family. The record is: "There is one body, one Spirit, even as also ye /
were called, in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and
through all, and in all. " And again, it is wrtten— ' ' Lie not one
to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his
doings, and have put on the new man, that is being renewed
unto knowledge after the image of him who created him: where
there can not be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircum
cision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is
all, and in all."— Col. 3: 11. In I Cor. 12: 12-13 we also read,
' ' For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the
members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is
Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all
made to drink of one Spirit. ' '
As to the spirit that should bind the members of this body
together, as to the bond that should unite them, we have this
statement: "That there should be no schism in the body; but
that the members should have the same care for one another.
And whether one member suffereth, all the members suffer
with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice

10
with it." And then follows this statement, '"Now ye are the
body of Christ, and severally members thereof." Here is the
great doctrine of the unity of all beHevers, stated in the
strongest terms possible, leaving us in no doubt as to what this
unity means, and what is involved in it, in our relation one to
another. These are some of the great foundation principles of the reli
gion of Jesus Christ; these are some of the things for which it
stands— some of the things that it seeks to emphasize, and to
bring the world in subjection to. It stands for the Fatherhood
of God; for the brotherhood of man; for the Golden Rule; for
the Second great commandment which calls upon us to love our
neighbor as ourselves; for the things that make for peace, and
for the unity of all believers in Christ.
III. Having now clearly before us what race prejudice is, and
what Christianity is, we are now prepared to take up the ques
tion— What IS the Attitude of Christianity towards
Race Prejudice? How is race prejudice to be regarded?
How is it to be treated by Christian men and women?
In the light of what race prejudice is, in its nature, in all of
its manifestations and effects, and in the light of what Chris
tianity is, as seen in the character of Jesus, and in the great
principles which he enunciated and exemplified in his life, I do
not hesitate to say that race prejudice is contrary to every known
principle of Christianity; that there is not to be found anywhere
in the religion of Jesus Christ anything upon which it can stand,
anything by which it can be justified, or even extenuated.
There is absolutely nothing in the Christian religion iipon which
it can rest— nothing which even the bitterest Negro hater can
find in it, if he is truthful, if he is conscientious, upon which it
can rest.
Take the great principle of the Fatherhood of God. If God is
the Father of all; if he regards all as his children; if he, as
Father, does not discriminate against any of his numerous child
ren on account of race or color, how can the children themselves
be justified in doing it?
Take the great principle of the brotherhood of man. If all
men are brothers, and are all to be treated as brothers, how can
race prejudice, with all its meanness and offensiveness, be con
sistent with brotherliness? Is that the way brothers, members
of the same family, are to treat each other, to regard each other?
Take the great principle embodied in the Golden Rule. ' 'As
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
Is race prejudice consistent with this rule? Can it, in any way
be reconciled with it? Where race prejudice exists, where it
shows itself, where it tries to make things just as unpleasant as
possible for its victims, where it walks rough-shod over their
feelings, where it ignores their rights, is that doing by others as
we would be done by? Can that kind of treatment be brought
under the sheltering wings of the Golden Rule? Is there any

11
man, of any race anywhere, if he were treated in this way, who
vvould feel that he was being dealt with in the spirit of this rule,
that he was being treated, as those who were inflicting the
tr^tment would like to be treated under similar circumstances?
Take the great principle embodied in the Second command
ment as^ enunciated by Jesus,' "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself." How can race prejudice— race prejudice which at
heart is a feeling of aversion, of hostility, of contempt— a feel
mg that leads us to draw our skirts up and say. You are not
good enough to associate with me, not good enough to enjoy the
same rights, the same privileges, the same opportunities, how
can that kind of thing be reconciled with loving our neighbor as
ourselves? Is that the way we treat people that we love, to say
nothing of those that we love as ourselves? Is that the way the
love that we bear for ourselves shows itself? Is it the things
that vex us, that make us unhappy, that hamper us, that narrow
our opportunities and curtail our privileges that it prompts us to
seek? No, emphatically no, but just the opposite. How then
can it be reconciled with race prejudice? How can the two
things coexist?
Take the great principle, embodied in the statement, ' ' Follow
the things that make for peace, and things whereby we may
edify one another." Is race prejudice a thing that makes for
peace ? Is it a force that harmonizes discordent elements, that
heals differences, that brings people closer, together, that breaks
down walls of separation, that makes people feel kindly towards
each other? The answer to this question is to be found in the
history of race prejudice the world over; and that history shows
that everywhere, and necessarily so, it has had just the oppo
site effect. It has been a source of evil, and only evil, out of it
have come bitternesses, and hatreds, and animosities, dissen
sions, strifes, murders. There is no blacker record to be found
anywhere than the record of race prejudice. Look over our own
country and see what it has done, and is still doing to stir up
strife, to keep the white and black races apart, and to feed the
flames of bitterness and hatred between them. The things that
make for peace we are to follow; and the things which do not
make for peace we are to repudiate, Christian men and women
are to set their faces against, to resist in every possible way.
Christian men and women are to give no quarter to, are to
countenance in no shape or form.
Take the great principle of the unity of all beHevers in Christ.
If all believers are one in Christ, if together they constitute one
organism, the animating principle of Vi'hich is the Holy Spirit.
Or, to change the figure to the one used by Jesus himself,
where he says, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." If we
are all branches of the true vine, if the same life-force courses
through all, and binds all together in unity with Christ and in
unity with one another, how is it possible for race prejudice
which insists upon separate churches, and separate pews, and

12
separate presbyteries, and separate conferences, and separate
cemeteries, and separate every thing, to be reconciled with that
kind of unity, that oneness of life? It is true, the unity spoken
of here, is a spiritual one, but it is a unity in which are included
all races and colors and nationalities, and in which, therefore,
all these differences should be forgotten, should be lost sight of.
We are to follow not only the things that make for peace, but
also the things whereby we may edify one another: that is, that
tend to build each other up in Christian character, in the graces
of the Spirit. Is there anything in race prejudice— in the
preaching of it, or in the practice of it, or in the silent acquies
cence in it, that will enable the man who is under its influence
to edify the man against whom it is exercised; anything in it
that will raise Christianity, religion in the estimation of the man
against whom it is exercised? You know, and I know, and we
all— everybody knows that it has just the opposite tendency. It
doesn't build up; it doesn't edify, it doesn't enhance the attract
ive powei' of reHgion. It pulls down; it destroys; it undermines
confidence in religion, it drive men away from Christ. Again
and again I have heard people say: It is a wonder that colored
people have any faith in religion at all, in the presence of what
is going on all around them— in the ever recurring exhibition of
race prejudice on the part of so many so-called Christians.
Race prejudice in the heart, race prejudice on the part of one
race towards another, destroys absolutely that race's power to
help the other race Godward and Heavenward. People who are
despised, who are discriminated against, who are made to feel
that they are less than men, will not receive the message of the
grace of God from such messengers. The man who has race
prejudice in his heart, who allows himself to be influenced by
race hatred never can become a source of edification spiritually,
to the man that he hates, to the man that he discriminates
against. There is an indisposition, a positive aversion to receiv
ing the message from such a source. I speak from experience,
and from what I know from others, there is a very decided
feeling, in many colored congregations, against having their
pulpits occupied by white men, unless they know beforehand,
that they are all right on the Negro problem, that they are free
from race prejudice. And this feehng is growing; more^and
more the colored people are acting upon the assumption that the
average white professor of religion, both in the pulpit and out
of it, is a hypocrite— that he doesn't beheve what he preaches
and, therefore, they don't want to hear him; won't hear him if
they can avoid it.
Let no man, in this country or out of it, in the pulpit or outof
the pulpit, however strongly he may feel personally about the
matter, however he may wish to justify race prejudice, dare to
do so, on any principle in the Word of God, or anything in the
spirit or teaching of Jesus Christ. If he does, he lies; he tells
what is not true; he tells what he knows to be untrue. He

13
knows also, if he has had any real experience of the divine life
in his soul, that there is nothing in that experience that fur
nishes any ground or justification for it. Every principle of
Chritianity, every sentiment of true religion is opposed, utterly
and absolutely opposed, to race prejudice in every shape and
form. I have already spoken long enough, and yet there are some
important aspects of the subject that I have not touched. I
shall be obliged to defer it therefore until next Sabbath. In the
meantime let us think on the subject, calmly, dispassionately.
The time has come, it seems to me, when Christian men and
women all over the world, should begin to look this evil squarely
in the face, and to set themselves earnestly to work to combat
it, to deal with it as Christian men and women ought to deal with
it; as Jesus Christ would have it dealt with. We should con
sider it prayerfully, and with the fixed purpose and determina
tion of following the lead of Jesus Christ regardless of personal
consequences, whether it meets the approbation of the world or
not, whether men are pleased or not. The one dominant and all
determining factor should be, ' ' Lord what wilt thou have me to
do?" It is the will, the wish of Jesus Christ only, that we
should consider in regulating our own conduct in this matter,
and in seeking to influence the conduct of others.

Christianity and Race Prejudice.

II.
How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samari
tan woman? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. —John
4:9. In the sermon on last Sabbath I spoke of what race prejudice
is; of what Christianity is; and of the attitude of Christianity
towards race prejudice, as indicated in the character of. Jesus
Christ, and in the great principles of the Christian religion, such
as the Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the Golden
Rule, loving one's neighbor as one's self, following things that
make for peace and edification, and the unity of all believers in
Christ. The discussion brought out the fact, that every princi
ple of Christianity, every sentiment of true religion was totally,
absolutely opposed to race prejudice in every shape and form.
IV. Such being the case, I pass on in the next place to ask:
What is the Attitude of the Church towards Race
Prejudice? By the Church i; mean the religious denominations
that stand as the visible and organized representatives of Chris
tianity, of the great principles of which I have been speaking;
I mean the men and women who make up the membership of
our churches— the men and women who profess to be Chris
tians. There are, in this country, thirty millions of such pro
fessing Christians; and in connection with these churches, under
their care and supervision, g,re some fifteen millions of Sunday-
school scholars, who are being instructed in the knowledge of
the Word of God, who are being trained for membership in the
kingdom of Jesus Christ. The question that I am asking is
What is the attitude of this great body of Christians who have
pledged themselves to loyalty to Jesus Christ, who have pledged
themselves to embody, in their own personal character and lives
and to endeavor to get others to do the same, the great princi
ples of the Christian religion— who have pledged themselves to
follow Jesus Christ, through evil report, and through good re
port: what is their attitude in regard to this evil, to this ever'
growing evil in this great Republic of ours?
The information that I am seeking here is not, as to what
public declarations have been made, occasionally, in the form of
(14)

15
resolutions or otherwise, by denominations, or public gatherings,
touching this matter; but what is the practice of the congrega
tions that make up these denominations and of the men who
occupy their pulpits? Do they welcome people of all races to
their places of worship, to their Sabbath schools, to their En
deavor Societies, and to membership in their churches? Do
they treat people of all races, when they come into their assem
blies with the same courtesy, the same cordiality? What is the
practice as individuals, of the millions of professing Christians
in their contact with men of other races? Are they influenced,
in the treatment which they accord to them in the street, on
the cars, in places of pubHc resort, in all the relations of life,
by this feeling of race prejudice, or by the principles of the
reHgion which they profess to accept and to believe in? Are
these milHons of professing Christians in their homes, in their
places of business, in pubHc and in private, throwing the weight
of their individual personal influence for or against this evil of
race prejudice? Are they exemplifying in their individual per
sonal character and lives, in dealing with this question, the
spirit of the Master whom they profess to be serving, or the
spirit of the world, of the evil one, of the prince of the powers
of darkness ? In other words. Is the attitude of the average
white church in this country, and the average white professor
of religion, on this subject, consistent with the religion which
they profess?
In seeking an answer to these questions, it is the truth that
we want to know, and nothing but the truth, whether it makes
for us or against us, whether we like it or not; for it is the truth
alone that will make us free; what we want to know is, what
the facts are in the case. What are the facts?
(1.) So far as the practice of churches or congregations is
concerned, race prejudice is i» almost absolute control. In the
whole southern section of our country it dominates absolutely
the situation. In all that southern land there is scarcely a white
church, be it said to the shame of those churches, where a col
ored person would be accorded anything like decent treatment;
there is scarcely one in which a colored person would be received
as a brother beloved, however exemplary might be his conduct,
however saintly might be his character. In most of them he
would not be received at all; in a few he might be received,
provided he was willing to be thrust away into the gallery or
some obscure corner, set apart particularly for his kind. The
reception of colored children into Sabbath schools and Endeavor
societies in these churches would not, of course, be thought of
for a moment.
As to other sections of our country, things are not quite so
bad, but they are bad enough, and are getting steadily worse.
The white churches of the North, as a general thing, are no
more kindly- disposed towards the attendance of colored people
upon their services than the churches in the South. They may

16
not decline to seat a colored person if he goes, but they will
treat him in such a way as to make him know very distinctly
that he is not welcomed, that his absence would be preferable to
his presence. That is not true of all, but it is true of a very large
number, and a growing number. Even in a church Hke Trinity,
Boston— the church over which the sainted PhiUips Brooks
once presided, and where during his pastorate men of all races
were equally welcomed, the brother in black no longer feels at
home there, is no longer made welcome there. The simple fact
is, colored people are not wanted in white churches, in white
Sabbath schools, in white Endeavor societies, in white religious
societies of any kind. The simple fact is, when they venture,
occasionally, into these churches, they are not treated with the
same courtesy, with the same cordiality as white people are
treated. The feeling is. Why don't you colored people attend
your own churches. Jesus said, ' ' My house shall be called the
house of prayer for ah nations;" but that is not true of thp
average white church in this country. It is not a house of
prayer for all nations, but only for white men, and white wo
men, and white children, only for members of the white race.
That is the feeling that pervades them, that dominates them.
"For white people only," is what is inscribed over the portals
of most of them, as interpreted by the prevailing sentiment
within them. This may be denied, but no denial can alter the
fact. An honest expression of sentiment, on the part of the
members of these churches, however deplorable it might be,
however unfavorable may be the light in which it may place
them as professing Christians, will be found to be in accord
with what I have said. Most of these churches have built into
them the idea that they are for white people and not colored
people; most of these churches are pervaded by the sentiment
which does not look kindly upon the idea of the introduction of
colored people into their religious organizations and gatherings-
underlying most of them is the caste feeling, growing out of
race prejudice. If any one has any doubt on the matter, all that
is necessary to be done in order to get at the truth, is to let
some colored person apply for membership in most of them and
see what the result would be. I venture the assertion that
with here and there an exception, it may be, such an application
would not be received with favor, with any degree of cordiality
as would be the case had it come from a white person. The
application, if it were not out and out denied, action on it would
be deferred, and efforts would be made to dissuade the apnli
cant from pressing it— to induce him to change his mind and
seek admission elsewhere. I have in mind now such an apnli
cation that was made to one of the prominent churches in
this city. A letter of dismissal was requested, and was given
by the proper authority, and presented: everything was in due
form; but the application was not received; the party did not
succeed in getting in. One excuse and another was found, and

17
among them that she would feel more at home among her own
people. In other words, she was given io understand, if not in
so many words, just as clearly, that that church was for white
people and not for colored people.
The spirit that this incident brings out in connection with
that particular church, is true of most of the white churches.
It IS clearly understood by their officers, by their members, by
the men who fill their pulpits, that they are for white people
^"d not for colored people. And the reason why we have white
churches and colored churches, white Sunday schools and col
ored Sunday schools, white Endeavor societies and colored En
deavor societies, is because of race prejudice. This line of
cleavage has been drawn, this difference has been made, out of
deference to race prejudice, this aspect of the churches policy
has been dictated by race antipathy. Everywhere this hydra-
headed monster has not only intruded itself, but is in control.
Why should there be churches made up of white Christians, and
churches made up of colored Christians in the same community,
and, where all speak the same language; why should white
Christians and colored Christians not feel perfectly at home
with each other in the same religious gatherings, if they are all
Christians, if they all believe in the Fatherhood of God, and
the brotherhood of man, in doing by others as they would be
done by, in loving each other as they love themselves, in their
oneness in Christ Jesus, and if the same Holy Spirit dwells alike
in all their hearts? With these great principles guiding, direct
ing, influencing them, it would be just what you would naturally
expect to find, just as in all churches you find all classes and
conditions brought together— rich and poor, high and low, edu
cated and uneducated. Any attempt to build the Christian
church on any of these Hnes exclusively would be recognized at
once as wrong, as contrary to the spirit of Jesus Christ. You
can't say this church is for rich people only, or for educated
people only, or for people of position, of high social station only,
and call it Christian. A church run in any such spirit would be
obviously against every principle of Christianity. And yet, all
over this country are churches, calling themselves Christian, in
spirit and practice, for white people only; are churches where
colored people are not desired.
The fact that such is the case and it is a fact, calls for an
explanation. What is the explanation of this unnatural condi
tion of things that we find all over our land, in so-called Chris
tian churches? Why are all on the inside of some of them,
white, and all on the inside of others, black ? Why this indisposi
tion of one" group of persons to mingle- with another group, in
churches in religious gatherings, in the worship of God? I'he
great reason— there may be others— is to be found in race preju
dice. The underlying fact out of which it grows, is this differ
ence of race; and this difference has been one of the great de
termining factors in the organized church life of the nation, one

18
of its most conspicuous characteristics. The lines have been set
up, not where Jesus Christ directs them to be set up, but where
race prejudice dictates that they should be set up; the princi
ples of the world have controlled, have been allowed to deter
mine what shall be, and what shall not be, instead of the prin
ciples of the great Head of the Church.
2. As to the practice of the individuals who make up this
great body of professing Christians, in their contact, in their
relation with men of other races, the same is true, race. preju
dice is in almost absolute control, its influence almost everywhere
dominates. (1.) People who are content to be identified with churches,
such as I have been describing— churches that don't want colored
people in them, that would rather have them stay away from
their services, are not likely to treat them with any more con
sideration when they maet them elsewhere. If they are not
good enough to worship with them in the same sanctuary, they
are not likely to think any better of them when they meet them
on the outside. People who want separate churches, are Hkely
also to want separate schools, and separate hotels, and separate
restaurants, and separate cars, and separate every thing. If
churches, which are supposed to be the center of the religious
life of the community, and therefore to represent the highest
standard of what is right in their very structure, in the lines
upon which they are organized, teach that men are to be shun
ned, are to be excluded, are to be discriminated against because
of race, color, the individual members are not likely to have any
higher standard, are not likely to act on any higher principle.
People who in their church Hfe, get the idea of race superiority,
of race exclusiveness, will be likely to carry it with them in the
wider relations outside of the church.
(2. ) This, as a matter of fact, is what we find to be actually
true. Race prejudice is not the monoply of the infidel, of the
atheist, of the man of the world. It is shared equally by so-
called professing Christians. The men who have been most
active in promoting Jim-crow car legislation, in bringing about
all forms of discrimination, in holding the race up to contempt,
in saying the bitterest things against it, have not all been outside
of the church: no, many of them have not only been in the
church, but have held high places in it. The simple fact is,
there is no appreciable difference, in the great majority of cases[
in the exhibition of race prejudice, in the treatment that is
accorded to people of color, between those who profess to be
Christians, and those who make no profession. The fact that
they are members of Christian churches, that they are profess
ing Christians, exerts no appreciable influence over them. It is
a thing entirely apart from their religion, a thing which does
not involve, in the least, to them any religious principle. They
do not seem to see any inconsistency between the two things
All the high, "and holy principles of the Christian religion, they

19
^^^"^ to think, have reference only to, or are in force only when
they have dealings with members of their own race. It is sur
prising how little influence the religion of Jesus Christ has had
in controlling the prejudice of men, in lifting them above the
low plain upon which race prejudice places them.
In the block where I am living, which is one of the longest
blocks in the city, a few years ago every house in it, on both
sides, was occupied by white people; to-day there is only one
white family to be found in it. There has been an almost com
plete exodus. Just as soon as one colored family got in, the
excitement began; and when a second got in it created almost a
panic. One by one these white people,
" Folded their tents like the Arabs,
And silently stole away."
Many of them were members of Christian churches; one of them
was the family of a retired minister of the gospel. These
church members, these professing Christians, were unwilling to
even live in the same block with colored people, though they had
no personal contact with them, and though among those colored
neighbors were three colored ministers pastors of three of the
leading colored churches of the city. This indisposition to live
even in the same block with colored people, is just as prevalent
among professing Christians as among non-professors; and it
doesn't make any difference as to the grade of colored persons,
as to how intelligent, how refined, how well-to-do, how unob
jectionable in point of character, they may be, the indisposition
is just as strong.
These are all facts indisputable facts. And these facts of
experience and observation— facts that lie all about us, within
easy reach of anybody, prove conclusively that the Christian
church in this land, in its organized capacity, and in the life of
the individuals that go to make up its membership, is very
largely under the power of this degrading and un-Christian sen
timent of race prejudice. It is a humiHating confession to
make, but it is true, the church to-day is the great bulwark of
race prejudice in this country. It is doing more than any other
single agency to uphold it, to make it respectable, to encourage
people to continue in it. It not only upholds it within its own
peculiar institutions, but furnishes an example to the non-believ
ing world, to do the same. So that both within, and without,
its influence, its example tells mightily in favor of these discrimi
nations, these invidious distinctions, based upon race, upon color.
V. In the light of these facts, in view of the actual condition
of things as we find it in this land, I raise the question, and it is a
question which the church itself ought to consider, Is it occupy
ing the position which it ought to occupy in this matter? Is it
standing where it ought to stand? Is it standing where Jesus
Christ would have it stand? In other words. Is its present atti
tude on the race question, right or wrong? To this question, in
the light of what Christianity is, in the light of what Jesus

20
Christ is, in spirit, in temper, in all that he said and did, there
can be but one answer, a negative one. Its attitude is not what
it ought to be; it is not standing where it ought to stand, -ft is
recreant to its great trust, as the light of the world; the light
within it, on this point, is darkness, is misleading.
One of two things therefore the church ought to do: (1. ) It
ought to disavow any connection whatever with Christianity;
to repudiate it; to give it up entirely; to break a,bsolutely with
it, to I "   '
nations,want    ,
are entitled to the same treatment as white people are entitled
to; I am not wilHng to receive them as brothers religiously or
otherwise. At the same time I know that Christianity teaches
the Fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man, teaches
that we should love our neighbor as ourselves, that we should
do by others as we would be done by; I know that race preju
dice is not in accordance with the spirit of Jesus Christ. I am
not going to give up race prejudice, however; I am not going to
treat these people differently. If I can't hold on to race preju
dice, and also to Christianity at the same time, I will give up
Christianity; I will not live a lie; I will not misrepresent it by
continuing my connection with it. White American Christianity
is in honor bound to take that position, to cease to call itself
Christian. Or
(2.) It ought to repent; it ought to do differently; it ought to
strive to bring its actual life in harmony with the great princi
ples which it professes to accept, to believe in. There is need to
day for some John the Baptist to go out all over this land, in all
of the white churches, among the millions of professing Chris
tians in them, and cry aloud— Repent, repent, cease to be ruled
by race prejudice, to make race, color, the condition of entrance
into your religious activities, your organizations and gatherings,
cease this anti-Christian race feeling, and let brotherly love pre
vail. ' ' Let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unright
eous man his thoughts," is what God says; and that has refer
ence to the man within the church as wejl as the man without
it. If race prejudice is wrong, then the church must forsake it,
must give it up. There is no option left to it. It must repent,
it must do differently; it must change its course, if it is to re
main Curistian.
VL Assuming now that it is willing to do this, that it recog
nizes the un-Christian character of race prejudice; that it sees
that it is wrong; the practical question remains tobe considered:
How, in what way may it set itself to work to overcome it'
What can it do? What ought it to do?
(1. ) It ought to wake up to the fact that it can do something,
and that it ought to do something. Race prejudice is an evil
that the church of God ought to grapple with. It ought not to
sit quietly down in the midst of it, and do nothing. Its very

21
?'lence, its lack of effort, its non-interference with, to put it in
Its mildest form, would be misinterpreted, would be construed
^t ^PP^o^i"^ of it, or, at least, as not disapproving of it. The
church of God can do something. There are thrity-two millions
ol professing Christians in this country, and there are over two
hundred thousand men of education, many of them of the high
est culture, in the pulpits of the land. These millions of pro
fessing Christians wield a tremendous influence; there isn't
anything that they set their minds upon that they cannot bring
about, that they cannot accomplish. The fact that it has done
httle or nothing towards fighting this evil, has been not from
lack of power, but from lack of disposition. And this lack of
disposition has arisen from two reasons: 1st. Because of the
presence of race prejudice in the church itself, in the hearts of
those who make up the church; and 2d. Because of cowardice,
because to have done so would have run counter to an adverse
public sentiment, outside of the church.
That the church, the membership of the church, collectively
and individually, have done little or nothing towards fighting
this evil, is evident from the great damning fact, that while the
rnembership of these churches has gone on steadily increasing,
side by side with that fact, of an increasing membership in the
churches, is also the fact that race prejudice has gone on steadily
increasing. The church has grown, and with its growth, this
diabolical spirit of race prejudice has also grown. The very
opposite of this is what we would naturally have expected to
find— that with the growth of the Christian church, not an in
crease, but a decrease of race antipathy. This strange fact, for
it is a strange fact, there is nothing in the nature of Christianity
that would lead us to expect any such result, ought to be an eye-
opener to Christian men and women all over this country, ought
to give them pause, ought to lead them to ask themselves the
question. What must be the quality of the Christianity which is
represented in their character and lives if such be the case. Of
this strange fact there are only three possible explanations:
Either Christianity is no match for race prejudice, is powerless
before it; or, the.,Cl;iri^sJ;ianity represented in the white churches
of America, is a'stfperi©.r Christianity, is not genuine, is not what
it purports to be; or, else the church has not been doing its
duty, has been putting its light under a bushel, has not been
faithful to its divine commission.
That real genuine Christianity is powerless in the presence of
race prejudice, is not true; back of it is the mighty power of
God. The gates of hell can not prevail against it. That the
Christianity represented in white America is spurious, I am not
prepared to say. That the church has failed to do its duty, in
this matter, I am prepared, however, to say. Had it been true to
its great commission; had it lived up to its opportunities; had it
stood squarely and uncompromisingly for Christian principles,
the sad, the humiliating, the disgraceful fact of which we are

22
speaking, never would have been possible. The fact that in
Christian America, in this land that is rolling up its church mem
bers by the millions, race prejudice has gone on steadily increas
ing, is a standing indictment of the white Christianity of this
land— an indictment that ought to bring the blush of shame to
the faces of the men and women, who are responsible for it,
whose silence, whose quiet acquiescence, whose cowardice, or
worse, whose active cooperation, have made it possible. The
first thing for the church to do, I say, is to wake up to the fact
that it can do something. Its present attitude is a disgrace to
it, is utterly unworthy of the name which it bears.
(2. ) The church ought to begin to do something. What can it
do; in what way or ways may it help to overthrow this giant evil?
It can help to do it in the same way as Jesus sought to meet
race antipathy, and an adverse and unrighteous public sentiment,
in his day. Race hatred was just as ' strong in his day as it is
to-day; the Jews had the same contempt for the Samaritan, felt
the same aversion to him, as the white man feels for the Negro
in this country. If possible the feeling of antipathy was even
stronger. In the midst of the society in which Jesus lived and
moved there was the strongest possible feeling of aversion to
certain classes known as Publicans and sinners. When he said
Zaccheus, "Come down for I must abide in thy house to-day,"
they threw their hands up in holy horror, saying, " He is gone
to be guest with a man who is a sinner. ' ' When he permitted
the woman to an^oint his feet, as he sat at meat in the Phari
see's house, the Pharisee expressed his astonishment in the
words, "This man, if he were a prophet, would have known
what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, that she is a
sinner." In the midst of such conditions Jesus began his great
Hfe's work. Did. he faU in with the prejudices of his time?
Did he allow himself to be controlled by the unrighteous public
sentiment about him? No; he did the very opposite of that; he
showed clearly, unmistakably i where he stood, what his princi
ples were. And this he did in two ways— by what he taught,
and by the Hfe he lived. ^;' i • < .
(1.) By what he taugfe,t. The great principles which he de
clared, which he everywhere promulgated, were directly, funda
mentally opposed to the evils about him. These principles could
not be accepted, could,' not be followed without changing condi
tions for the better, without bringing men closer together
without breaking down walls of separation, without infusing
into all a more kindly; spirit. Jesus gave a great deal of time to
teaching. The rubbish of tradition— men-made opinions— had
covered up the truth of God: and Jesus gave a good deal of time
to clearing away this rubbish, and letting the truth shine forth
In the Sermon on the Mount we have a specimen of the kind of
work he did. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old
thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enerhy; but I say
unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good

23
to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use
and entreat you." Jesus was a teacher; he was a teacher sent
irom God. What he taught were the truths of God; his aim
was to bring men in contact with the mind of God, with the
great thoughts, feelings, sentiments which tended to lift men
Godward and Heavenward, instead of encouraging them in their
evil inclinations and desires, in their petty prejudices and mean
nesses. What he taught tended ever to make men broader,
more liberal, more humane, more sympathetic, more kind, more
loving. Jesus was a great teacher— great in the manner in
w^hich he taught; and in what he taught— in the character of
the truths which he declared. In what he said, in the words
that fell from his lip?, men knew where he stood on all the great
moral issues of his day, knew what his sentiments were, where
his sympathies were.
(2. ) Jesus revealed his attitude and thus sought to improve
conditions, not only by what he taught, but also, and particu
larly, by the life which he lived, by his personal character and
conduct. In no way did he ever give countenance, by anything
he did, by the manner in which he conducted himself, to the
unjust sentiments, the unholy prejudices about him. His Hfe,
as he lived it day by day, as he came in contact with men of all
classes, was always, and everywhere a living protest against all
thie evils about him. He never allowed himself to be infiuenced
by the prejudices of those about him, by their likes and dislikes.
Jesus was all the time doing unpopular things, things that pub
lic sentiment did not endorse; and he did them in order that
people might know where he stood, that he was not in accord
with public sentiment, that he did not approve of popular preju
dices. Hence he went to dine with Zaccheus; hence when he
came to select his twelve disciples, he chose Matthew, the Pub
lican, to be one of them;, hence when he was on his way to
Jerusalem, instead of going around Samaria, he went through
it; and, when he met the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well,
instead of shunning her, although the Jews had no dealings
with the Samaritans, he talked to her, he asked her to give him
a drink of water; and when the Samaritans, in large numbers,
came out to meet him, :instead of running away frorn them,
received them gladly, and permitted himself to be entertained
by them in their village for a day or two.
After all, the most effective way of working in the interest
of reform, in seeking to change conditions for the better is the .
one set forth here. It is well enough to preach, to make pubHc
declarations, to issue manifestoes bearing upon the evils to be
removed; but after all, these public declarations, these general
ized statements, are soon forgotten; but where the individual
life is all right, where it meets- the issue squarely by consistently
and persistently living out the principle which it wishes to
triumph, you have a force that is ever active— silently, it may
be, but ever and always working towp.rds the end. It is the

24
individual life, set right in regard to this or any other matter,
that counts most. And no one understood this better than the
Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, in his individual personal character
and life, he was always true to principle; his life always pointed
in the direction of the principles which he advocated; he was
always a living embodiment of what he taught; and hence he
became a force, in the regeneration of society, which no mere
words, however wise or eloquent, ever could have made him. _
In dealing with this matter of race prejudice, if the church in
America, I mean our white fellow Christians, really want to get
rid of it, really want to begin in earnest a crusade in the inter
est of true Christian brotherhood, regardless of race, color or
previous condition of servitude, the way to do it is clearly indi
cated in the course pursued by Jesus Christ, in dealing with
similar conditions in his day:
(1. ) There must be careful instruction. The great principles
of Christianity that are opposed to race prejudice, everything in
the Word of God that runs counter to it, that tends to set it
forth in its true light, as a thing hateful to God, and injurious
to man, should be carefully set forth, line upon line, precept upon
precept, here a little and there a little. Some teaching must be
done, careful, painstaking instruction as to the mind of God on
this matter, as revealed in his character, and in the teachings
of his Word, must be given. If race prejudice is wrong, if it is
un-Christian, unbrotherly, then that fact ought to be declared.
There ought to be no blinking of the matter, no dodging of the
issue. It ought to be properly characterized; it ought to be set
forth in its true character. And it ought to be done, noi with
ba|ted breath, not behind closed doors, not in secret where no
one will hear; but openly, publicly; it ought to be proclaimed
from the house tops. God directed the prophet to "cry aloud,
and spare not, to lift up his voice like a trumpet." And race
prejudice, as an evil, as an evil hateful to God, and injurious to
man, ought to be proclaimed in trumpet-tones all over the land,
inevery city, and village, and hamlet.
This work of education, of instruction, in regard to this evil,
should be from the pulpit, should be in the Sabbath schools, in
Christian Endeavor societies, in all Christian homes. What an
opportunity is here presented to Christian ministers, to Sunday-
school teachers, to leaders of Endeavor societies, to Christian
fathers and mothers, to pour in the light of Divine truth, to
begin the work of regeneration, by implanting in the hearts and
minds of those who are entrusted to their care, who come under
their influence, correct ideas on this matter.
The opportunity along these several lines, of helping in this
matter, is great. To what extent is it being utilized? How
many of the more than 200,000 ministers in the pulpits of this
land have sought to instruct the members of their congrega
tions, to set them right on this matter? How many are doing
it now? In how many of these pulpits has there been any

25
serious attempt made to stem this tide of race prejudice by
patient, painstaking instruction out of God's Word? How many
9* the thousands upon thousands of Sabbath-school teachers in
the Sunday schools connected with these churches have done
anything, directly, or indirectly, to help their scholars to see the
evil of race prejudice, to lead them to think more kindly of peo
ple of color? How many of the leaders, in the thousands of
Endeavor societies in all these churches, have done anything to
set the millions of young people over whom they preside, right
on this matter? "Onward, Christian soldiers,
Marching as to war.
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before,"
we hear them often singing, as their battle cry. How far, to
what extent is this great army of young endeavorers, being
trained to wage war against this ever active, ever present foe
of God and man— race prejudice? How far are they being
trained by the leaders, to look upon race prejudice as an enemy
against which the forces of religion ought to be directed? How
far are Christian parents, in their homes, with their children
about them, seeking to put into their hearts and minds such
principles as will lift them above race prejudice, as will set them
right on this matter?
_ There is every reason to believe, that in none of these direc
tions, that neither ministers, nor Sabbath-school teachers, nor
Endeavor leaders, nor Christian parents, have done very much in
this direction. The children, the boys and girls, the young men
and women who are coming up, are just as full of prejudice as
the older ones. And yet these children, these young people are
members of these churches, of these Sabbath schools, of these
Endeavor societies, of these Christian homes. If any instruc
tion is going on in them at all, with this end in view, there is no
visible evidence of it. Those who are doing the teaching must
be very poor teachers, or else these young people must be very
inapt scholars, must be very dull of apprehension. The simple
fact is they are not learning to look upon race prejudice as an
evil in these churches, in these Sabbath schools, in these En
deavor societies, in these Christian homes; they are learning the
very opposite. The older white Christians are dying out, but race
prejudice is not dying out; it survives in their children, and it
survives in their children because it lived in them, and it will con
tinue to survive in the children as long as it Hves in the parents.
I am fully persuaded that if there is ever to be a change for
the better, this process of education, of careful instruction has
got to be begun— in the pulpit, in the Sabbath schools, in the
Endeavor societies, in the home; in all these centers of influ
ence the good work has got to be begun, and ought to be begun
at once. Definite, specific instruction as to the un-Christian
character of race prejudice ought to be given, and given by the

26
Christian church, by the men and women who profess to be
Christians, and given to their childen, and to the young people
who are growing up.
(2. ) Jesus Christ not only taught the truth, by word of mouth,
but lived it— his Hfe, his personal character witnessed to the
truth which he proclaimed. He wasn't afraid of public senti
ment, he wasn't afraid to do the unpopular thing when duty
required it, when loyalty to principle made it necessary. _ And
this is the kind of testimony that our white fellow Christians
must bear to the evil of race prejudice, if their influence is to
count for anything, if this evil is. tobe overcome. It isn't what
they say, but what they do, how they act, that will tell most.
It is the testimony of the individual life, free from race preju
dice, that is the important thing in this warfare that is to be
waged in the interest of true brotherhood, of a larger charity.
It is only as the individual Christian separates himself or her
self from the accursed thing, that any real progress will be
made. It is the protest of the individual personal life that is
needed in all these churches, and Sabbath schools, and Endeavor
societies, and Christian homes.
Let me now, in closing, revert for a moment to the text of
Scripture with which I began this discourse. ' ' How is it that
thou being a Jew, askest drink of me who am a Samaritan wo
man." This woman recognized at once, that there was some
thing here quite out of the ordinary; that here was a Jew that
was entirely unlike the Jews that she was in the habit of meeting.
Here was a Jew that not only talked with her, but asked of her
a drink of water, a personal favor. The Jews had no dealings
with the Samaritans, the Jews despised the Samaritans. She
finds nothing Hke this, however, in this man; she finds in him an
entirely different spirit. It puzzles her, she doesn't know what
to make of it; and so she says frankly to him: How is it, explain
yourself, that you, a Jew, treat me in the manner in which you
do? So unlike your fellow countrymen? And the question is
an interesting one, and has in it an important lesson for our
white American Christians. What was it that made the differ
ence between Jesus and the ordinary Jew? The answer comes
out in what follows. In answer to her question Jesus began to
reveal himself to her. (1.) In his wonderful knowledge, in the
insight which he had into her past life and history. ' ' Come see
a man that told me all things that ever I did ' ' is what she said.
She saw that he was no ordinary individual.
(2. ) Impressed with his wonderful insight, she said, ' ' I per
ceive that art a prophet," a man of God; and then naturally she
glided on to the great thought of the Messiah, the hope of all
the ages, the long promised deliverer. And then it was that
Jesus said to her ' ' I that speak to thee, am he. " She was talk
ing with the Messiah, though she knew it not.
(3. ) And then as the conversation went on he spoke of a won
derful water which he had to give— the water of life, which, if

27
a man drink he would never thirst, but would be in him a well
01 water springing up into everlasting life. And then he went
on to declare to her the great truth " God is a spirit: and they
that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The
hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall wor
ship the Father in spirit and in truth: for such doth the Father
seek to be his _ worshippers. " Not at Jerusalem, nor yet in
Samaria would it be necessary for men to meet in order to ren
der acceptable worship to God, but that everywhere, among all
races and nations, the sincere worshipper was acceptable unto
him. The conception which he gives us here of God, and of
what constitutes acceptable worship, transcends the thought of
race or nationality, lifts us at once out of the narrow racial
groove in which both Jew and Samaritan were in the habit of
moving, into the higher conception of fitness, of character, in
which all men must stand in order to be acceptable to God. It
was not as to whether a man was a Jew or Gentile about which
God cared, and which counted with him, but as to the character
of the worship which he rendered, as to the state of his heart.
This was the way God felt, and this was the way Jesus felt as
his representative on earth. The reason why his treatment of
the Samaritan woman was different from the treatment which
an ordinary Jew would have accorded her is manifest therefore:
(1.) It was because he was the Messiah; and, as such stood in
relation to all the races of mankind. He was the light of the
world— the light to Hghten the Gentiles and the glory of Israel:
and therefore Jew and Gentile alike appealed to him. (2. ) It
was because he was what he was in point of character, because
his principles were what they were, because of the great pur
pose which dominated his life.
He came to redeem the world; to bring men back to God— to
a recognition of him and of the great standard of character and
conduct which he had set up for the government of all; he came
to break down walls of separation and to make all men breth
ren. Being what he was, his principles being what they were,
his treatment of the Samaritan woman was perfectly natural,
was just what was to have been expected.
The latter part of the text is, "The Jews have no deaHngs
with the Samaritans." And this represents substantially the
condition which exists between whites and blacks in this coun
try. So far as their religious and social relations are concerned,
the white people have no dealings with the colored people. This
is true of the whites within the church as well as those without
it. Just as the Jews felt towards the Samaritans, in these re
spects the whites feel towards the colored people in this country.
If, however, the church was all right, if these white professors
of religion were all right, if they were true to the principles of
the Christian religion, they would stand apart in their treatment
of the colored people, from the other white people of the coun
try, just as Jesus stood apart from the rest of the Jews about

28
him, in his treatment of this Samaritan woman. But they do
not stand apart, they are indistinguishable from them, they are
in rio respect different from them. To how many of the white
Christians in this country could it be truthfully said by any
number of colored people: How is it, that you, being white,
treat us as brethren, as children of one common Father? How
is it that you, being white, do not discriminate against us because
of race, of color? To how many white Christians could this be
said? Not a great many. And yet if these white professors of
religion were really, truly Christian, if the same mind that was
in Jesus was in them, not one, or two, or a dozen, but the whole
Negro race would be able to say it; these white professors of
religion would stand apart from the rest of the white people of
the country, would stand on a higher plain, would exhibit a
nobler spirit, a more Christ-like spirit.
It is important, it seems to me, not only in dealing with race
prejudice, but in deaHng with every other evil, that Christian
men and women should understand, that Christianity is not clay
in the hands of the world-spirit to be moulded by it; but is itself
to be the moulder of public sentiment and everything else. It
isn't the meal, but is the leaven put into the meal that is to
leaven the whole lump. It is salt— not salt that has lost its savor,
but the salt of the earth that is intended to arrest corruption, to
put an end to the forces that mean moral decay, that tend to
break down the tissues of the spiritual life, and to degenerate
into festering sores of race prejudice and all the other brood of
evils that grow out of it. The mission of the church, of Chris
tian men and women is to mould, not to be moulded by encirc
ling influences of evil. To the shame of the milHons of white
Christians in this land, the brother in black is still a social and
religious outcast.
As I look over this land of ours everywhere I see churches,
and these churches in full operation, on week days and on the
Sabbath. There seems to be no end to religious activities of
one kind and another— meetings by day, and meetings by night,
preaching services, prayer-meetings, revival meetings, religious
conventions, men's gatherings, great missionary meetings for
the conversion of the world, for carrying the gospel to the ends of
the earth, and yet right here in America, in the midst of all this
missionary activity, this religious zeal, this seeming devotion to
Jesus Christ, race prejudice stalks on unhindered; race preju
dice flaunts itself everywhere, and unrebuked, as if the king
dom of Jesus Christ had nothing whatever to do with it, as if it
were a thing entirely apart from it. Anxious to bring the world
to Christ, overflowing with enthusiasm for the conversion of the
heathen, and yet indifferent to this giant evil right here in
Christian America!
On the top of the Central Union Mission Building in this city,
¦near Seventh street and Pennsylvania avenue, is a great sign!
It consists of a star, and under the star in large letters are the

29
vvords "Jesus the light of the world." It is illuminated by
electricity, and night after night flashes out its message to the
passers-by. It may be all right to put up such signs; but that
IS not the way to teach men that Jesus is the Light of the
world. The way to do it is not through colored electric lights,
but through the life— by living the religion which we profess,
by showing in our daily walks that he is our light, that we are
walking in the light, are being transformed, through his influ
ence, into likeness to him. Thousands of such electric signs
scattered everywhere, piled up to Heaven, isn't worth as much
as one life that is being saved by Christ, in commending him to
a sinful world.
And so if our white Christian brethren would give a little less
attention to the type of Christianity represented by these reli
gious electric displays, the type of Christianity that is concerned
about putting up such signs, but not concerned about this ulcer
of race prejudice that is eating out the very vitals of the church;
if they would give a Httle less attention to the evils that are
away off, and address themselves a little more to some of the
evils that are right about them; if they would shake off their
indifference, and show a little interest, just a little, in having
the kingdom of God come in their own hearts, and in the hearts
of their race-hating brethren at home, we would .have a little
more confidence in their sincerity, and the outlook for the real
coming of the kingdom of God in this land, would not be so
discouraging. "What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith
Jehovah: I have had enough of the burnt-offerings of rams, and
the fat of fed beasts ; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks,
or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before
rae, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts ?
Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto
me; new moons and Sabbaths, the calHng of assemblies, I can
not away with antiquity and the solemn meeting. Your new
moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a
trouble unto me. I am weary of bearing them. And when ye
spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea,
when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are
full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of
your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn todo
well, seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless,
plead for the widow."
This is God's message to white Christian America to-day, I
believe, oh this matter of race prejudice. .Let us hope that it
will heed the message, and bring forth fruits meet for repent
ance. A change in the present attitude of the church would be
to the interest of both races; would lay the basis for a truer
Christian civilization in this land; and would free it from the
just imputation which now rests upon it, as an abettor, an
encourager of race prejudice.

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