EDITORIAL                      261

honor their maker and bless mankind-this is the star that
America set before the eager gaze of all the world.
    Since Mr. Lincoln wrote, slavery has been outlawed by
every civilized nation on the globe. That all men, in justice
and equity, should have the right to freely participate in
the government under which they live, is no longer an
American question; it is a world question. It has shaken
every government in Europe until the sound of its advance
has awakened China from her sleep of more than 3000
years.
    During this period of celebration the achievements of
the Negro in fifty years of freedom have been told a thou-
sand times. Indeed, it is marvellous, unprecedented in the
history of civilization. But with these matters it is not our
purpose here to deal.
    Mr. Lincoln's place in history is secure for the next
thousand years to come. It took high courage for him to
do what he did on January first, 1863. But when God's
clock struck the hour at the call of country and the com-
mand of God, he stood forth, that he might forever stand
among the immortals.
    It is not ours, either in jubilation or self-praise, to be
counting the milestones of our progress or enumerating our
material wealth or intellectual gains. It is rather ours to
do in our day and time, as Lincoln, Garrison, Douglass,
Phillips and Sumner did in theirs-to be not beguiled by the
gross, the ephemeral, the sensual, but with a stern counte-
nance and a stout heart, courageously face and challenge all
the great and mighty questions which have to do with
peace, justice, righteousness and brotherhood among men.
    We believe that the landing of the Negro on these
shores was as much a providence of God as the landing of
Columbus or that of the Pilgrim Fathers. But of all who
have voyaged hither, the Negro came from such distance,
not only of land and sea, but of the things of the mind and
spirit, that God is leading him not only through many
rough paths, but by many circuitous routes, to the place
where He will establish him in power, and from which no
man will be able to dislodge him. Elsewhere in this num-




			

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 29, Num. 3

Editorials

Volume:  29
Issue Number:  03
Page Number:  260
Date:  01/1913