PRESIDENTIAr- ADDRESS— SECTION E. 97 



accepted the offer and <(ave him a receipt for the money. A day 

 or two later the hlacksmith came to me in a great state of ex- 

 citement, as he said he had an offer of over twenty pounds for 

 the \vai;on. and he was evidently very disai>pointed when I 

 explained that, as ithe wagon had heen paid for. it was too late 

 to do anything. He was not content with this, however, but 

 went to the man who had bought the wagon and spoke to him 

 in such a way that the latter came to me the following day and 

 brought me ( 1 think it was) hve pounds, the dift'erence between 

 the price he had already ])aid and the i)rice which had after- 

 v,'ards been offered for the wagon. He exjylained that he knew 

 the original owner of the wagon was a poor man, and as a Chris- 

 tian he felt he could not allow him to lose by the transaction. I 

 explained that the deal was strirtl}' in accordance with business 

 principles, and that there could I)e no legal claim whatever upon 

 liim ; but he insisted tliat the moral claim existed, and paid the 

 extra money ho felt he owed. Surely tliis showed a higher sense 

 of moral obligation than most of us licre present to-day would 

 have shown, and 1 am absolutely convinced that it was the direct 

 result of Chri.stian teaching on that man's life! 



I have tried to examine the whole pro1)lem of the uplifting 

 and development of the Bantu from as impartial a i)oint of view 

 as I can, and the conclusions to which I have come are in close 

 accord with those of Dr. Kelly Miller, who refers to the enor- 

 mous value of the Churcli in Iniildino' up the character of un- 

 developed races in the following terms: — 



The Negro Church is not merely a religious institution, hut com- 

 prises all the complex features of the life of the pco])le. Tt furnishes the 

 only field in which tlie ncoro has shown initiative and executive energy on 

 a large scale. There is no other way to reach the masses of the race with 

 any heneficent ministrations except through the organisation th.'it these 

 Churches Iiavc estalilislied. Indeed, it is seriouslv to I)e questioned if any 

 hefated peo|)le in the present state of the southern negro can lie wisely 

 governed without the element of priest-craft .... Tf it were not 

 for the Church the great mass of the negro race would he wholly shut 

 off from any org.mised influence touching them with any sympathetic 

 intent. . Eliminate the Church and the m.isses of the jieople 



would speedily lapse into a state of moral and social degeneration worse 

 than that from which they are slowly evohinir. Tlie ureal prolijem in the 

 uplift of the race must he approached through the jnilpit.''' 



The relation of Christian Missions to the developiuent and 

 uplifting Oif the Rantti may be summarized as follows: — 



1. Christianit\- undoubtedly exercises an enormous influence 



for good uijon the character of the Natives. 



2. In order to ensure eff'ective and permanent results from 



Christianity — 



(a) European luissionaries should be si)ecially 

 trained for the work. In addition to the usual 

 course, this training should include the study 

 of comparative ethnology, and the candidate 



* Kelly Miller LL.D.. " Professional and Skilled Occupation " : .A.me- 

 rican Academy of Political and Social Science, .-Imuils. 49, T4-15. 



