Yours of the 14th instant has been received. In compliance with the request which it contains, I send you herewith a copy of the discourse preached last Sunday in the Ebenezer Chapel, Georgetown, D. C. It is identically the same in all its parts. I have amplified some of its thoughts, and added three or four notes, which I think valuable and useful.
That its teachings may be productive of good to those for whom it was prepared, and bring glory to Him, who is High over all and blessed for ever, is the fervent prayer of
Your humble servant, DANIEL A. PAYNE.
To REV. JAMES LYNCH and others.
WELCOME TO THE RANSOMED, ――OR,―― Duties of the Colored Inhabitants of the District of Columbia.
I. TIM. 2, 1–4.
St. Paul addressed the Epistles to Timothy, the young Bishop of Ephesus, for the purpose of giving him instructions touching the false doctrines inculcated by certain false teachers, as well as instructions respecting the qualifications of the Christian ministry, their duties to themselves, to God, and the flock committed by the Holy Spirit to their special guidance.
But foremost of all the duties which he enjoined upon the Ephesian ministry and laity were those of making “Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks for all men.” For men in general, embracing the whole family of Adam, in all their varieties as nations, tribes, communities, peoples.
This is God-like, because the Eternal loves all, and manifests the infinity of his nature, by his universal care for all mankind. In this, He also demonstrates His universal Fatherhood, and thereby establishes the brotherhood of man.
But guided by the benevolence of unerring wisdom, the Apostle descends from a general to a particular statement of the case, and commands us to single out from among the nations of the earth their chieftains――_Kings_ and _authorities_――for whom we are to make special “Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks.”
To the cheerful and fervent performance of this gracious work, he presses several motives upon us――“that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty”――because “it is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour”――because God “will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Let us briefly trace out this line of thought.
To supplicate, is to implore God submissively. To pray to God, is to adore Him for His glorious perfection, to confess our sins to Him, and to beseech Him for mercy and pardon. To intercede with God is to entreat Him by the fervent, effectual prayer of faith, to be reconciled to offending man. This we may do as well for our enemies as for our friends.
We are gathered to celebrate the emancipation, yea, rather, the Redemption of the enslaved people of the District of Columbia, the exact number of whom we have no means of ascertaining, because, since the benevolent intention of Congress became manifest, many have been removed by their owners beyond the reach of this beneficent act.
Our pleasing task then, is to welcome to the Churches, the homesteads, and circles of free colored Americans, those who remain to enjoy the boon of holy Freedom.
Brethren, sisters, friends, we say welcome to our Churches, welcome to our homesteads, welcome to our social circles.
Enter the great family of Holy Freedom; not to lounge in sinful indolence, not to degrade yourselves by vice, nor to corrupt society by licentiousness, neither to offend the laws by crime, but to the enjoyment of a well regulated liberty, the offspring of generous laws; of law as just as generous, as righteous as just――a liberty to be perpetuated by equitable law, and sanctioned by the divine; for law is never equitable, righteous, just, until it harmonizes with the will of Him, who is “_King_ of kings, and Lord of lords,” and who commanded Israel to have but one law for the home-born and the stranger.
We repeat ourselves, welcome then ye ransomed ones; welcome not to indolence, to vice, licentiousness, and crime, but to a well-regulated liberty, sanctioned by the Divine, maintained by the Human law.
Welcome to habits of industry and thrift――to duties of religion and piety――to obligations of law, order, government――of government divine, of government human: these two, though not one, are inseparable. The man who refuses to obey divine law, will never obey human laws. The divine first, the human next. The latter is the consequence of the former, and follows it as light does the rising sun.
We invite you to our Churches, because we desire you to be religious; to be more than religious; we urge you to be godly. We entreat you to never be content until you are emancipated from sin, from sin without, and from sin within you. But this kind of freedom is attained only through the faith of Jesus, love for Jesus, obedience to Jesus. As certain as the American Congress has ransomed you, so certain, yea, more certainly has Jesus redeemed you from the guilt and power of sin by his own precious blood.
As you are now free in body, so now seek to be free in soul and spirit, from sin and Satan. The noblest freeman is he whom Christ makes free.
We invite you to our homesteads, in order that we may aid you as well by the power of good examples as by the beauty of holy precept, in raising up intelligent, virtuous, pious, happy families. We invite you to our social circles, in order that you may have none of those inducements which grow out of a mere love of society, to frequent the gambling hells, and groggeries, which gradually lead their votaries to infamy and the pit that is bottomless.
Permit us, also, to advise you to seek every opportunity for the cultivation of your minds. To the adults we say, enter the Sunday Schools and the Night Schools, so opportunely opened by Dr. Pierson, in behalf of the American Tract Society. In these latter you can very soon learn to read the precious word of God, even before you shall have a familiar knowledge of the letters which constitute the alphabet.
Rest not till you have learned to read the Bible. ’Tis the greatest, the best of books. In it is contained the Divine law. O! meditate therein by day and by night, for “the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;――more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” “_In keeping of them there is great reward._” Yield uniform, implicit obedience to their teachings. They will purify your hearts and make them the abodes of the Ever-Blessed Trinity.
When you shall have reached this point, you will be morally prepared to recognize and respond to all the relations of civilized and christianized life.
But of the children take special care. Heaven has entrusted them to you for a special purpose. What is that purpose? Not merely to eat and to drink, still less to gormandize. Not merely to dress finely in broadcloths, silks, satins, jewelry, nor to dance to the sound of the tambourine and fiddle; but to learn them how to live and how to die――to train them for great usefulness on earth――to prepare them for greater glory in heaven.
Keep your children in the schools, even if you have to eat less, drink less and wear coarser raiments; though you eat but two meals a day, purchase but one change of garment during the year, and relinquish all the luxuries of which we are so fond, but which are as injurious to health and long life as they are pleasing to the taste.
Let the education of your children penetrate the heart.――That education which forgets, or purposely omits, the culture of the heart, is better adapted to devilism than manhood. But the education which reaches the heart, moulds it, humbles it before the Cross, is rather the work of the homestead than the common school or the college. It is given by the parents rather than the schoolmaster――by the mother rather than the father.
How important, then, that the mothers be right-minded; that our young women, of whom our mothers come, be brought up with a high sense of personal character――be taught to prefer virtue to gold, and death itself rather than a violated chastity. The women make the men; therefore the women should be greater than the men, in order that they be the mothers of great men. I mean good men, for none are great who are not good.
But this requires the transforming grace of God; requires that our mothers be women of strong faith and fervent daily prayers; requires that they live beneath the wings of the Cherubim――at the foot of the Cross――loving the God-man “whose favor is life, and whose loving kindness is better than life.”
Such mothers will care for the heart education of their children, and will consequently lay continuous siege to the Throne of God in behalf of their sons and daughters, even as the Syrophœnician mother importuned the compassionate Jesus in behalf of her afflicted daughter, or as Queen Esther did Ahasuerus in behalf of her menaced kinsmen.
Such mothers will carefully train their children, as Moses was trained by his mother, preserving him pure from the vices of a Court and the baneful examples of lordly superiors: or, like Susanna Wesley, will educate their sons, as she did John and Charles, in the atmosphere of such spiritual excellence, and with such a moral power, as will make them ministering angels of good to man and glory to God Most High.
Lastly――Let us advise you respecting money. Some people value it too much, others too little. Of these extremes take the medium; for money has its proper value. That value lies in its adaptedness to promote the ends of Christian enlightenment; to purchase the best medical aid and other comforts in the days of affliction; to administer to the wants of old age, and to enable us to assist in making mankind wiser and better.
But how are we to get money? Get it by diligent labor. Work, work, work! Shun no work that will bring you an honest penny. ’Tis honorable to labor with our own hands. God works, and shall man be greater than God? Fools only think labor dishonorable. Wise men feel themselves honored in following the example of God, whose works adorn and bless both heaven and earth.
But when you get the pennies save them. Then you will soon have dollars. The dollars will enable you to buy comfortable homes for yourselves and your children.
You can save your pennies――yea, dollars――if you will run away from whiskey, rum and tobacco. A few years ago an intelligent minister said that the colored people of the District of Columbia spent ten thousand dollars a year for tobacco.――What a sum for poison! Better take that money to build churches and school houses; better take it to obtain and pay thoroughly educated teachers for your pulpits and your school houses――_the schoolmasters_ as well as the preachers.
Work for money; work every day, work diligently, and save your money when you get it.
