Justice Harlan and a Place for Dissent

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Yesterday, in the midst of a Senate confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who has been nominated to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, the question was posed: “What do you think is the purpose of a dissent?” In her response, Judge Jackson made reference to a famous dissenting opinion by a noted Presbyterian jurist whom we have written about previously on Log College Press. She said,

There are actually many justices in history who have used the dissent mechanism to discuss the law in ways that others find, over time, to be more persuasive,” Jackson said. “I’m thinking of the first Justice Harlan, who dissented famously in Plessy v. Ferguson [1896]. He dissented alone. All of the other justices agreed with the proposition of ‘separate but equal,’ and he said ‘no’ in a dissent. And his dissent generations later became … the blueprint for Justice Marshall to make arguments that led to Brown v. Board [of Education of Topeka, 1954].

When Justice Harlan dissented from the Plessy “separate but equal” doctrine, he wrote:

But in view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved. It is, therefore, to be regretted that this high tribunal, the final expositor of the fundamental law of the land, has reached the conclusion that it is competent for a State to regulate the enjoyment by citizens of their civil rights solely upon the basis of race. In my opinion, the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott case.

Fifty-eight years later, in Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court repudiated Plessy in favor of the principle that racial segregation, even regarding otherwise equal facilities, is unjust, and finally affirmed the dissenting opinion of Justice Harlan, giving encouragement to those who, taking the long view, and trusting in God, believe that justice and truth will ultimately prevail.

Log College Press and the Movies

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For those who enjoy the cinema, there are some interesting ties between American Presbyterians on Log College Press and the movies.

  • The 2003 film Gods and Generals, which tells the story of the War Between the States largely from the points of one military officer from the North and one from the South, features Stephen Lang who played Stonewall Jackson (Presbyterian deacon) and Martin Clark as Dr. George Junkin (Presbyterian minister, and Jackson’s father-in-law).

  • Francis J. Grimké and Matthew Anderson once had occasion to watch a film together - D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915). The movie is famous for its positive portrayal of the Klu Klux Klan, which Grimké noted in his review. He vehemently critiqued the film for its apparent effort to excite racial prejudice against African-Americans.

  • J.G. Machen was a Charlie Chaplin fan, according to D.G. Hart, who commented, writing in Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America, pp. 164, 207:

The final issue that split fundamentalist and traditionalist Presbyterians concerned personal morality. In [James Oliver] Buswell's estimation this was the proverbial straw that would break the camel's back. Those in the church who sided with him, Buswell wrote (in what turned out to be his last letter to Machen), were concerned about reports that Westminster students used liquor in their rooms "with the approval of some members of the faculty." The use of alcohol, even in the celebration of the sacrament, he added, was "far more likely" to divide the church than "any question of eschatology." Buswell and other fundamentalists in the church were also "shocked" by leaders of the new denomination who defended "the products of Hollywood," a "useless,...waste of energy." Machen never responded to Buswell but his opposition to Prohibition provides a clue to his views on alcohol. In addition to opposing the expanded powers of the federal government that the Eighteenth Amendment granted, Machen also thought the Bible allowed moderate use of alcohol. This was also the position of the majority of faculty at Westminster who came from ethnic churches were the idea of total abstinence with American evangelicalism was foreign. As for Buswell's reference to Hollywood, Machen did enjoy going to the movies and commented favorably on Charlie Chaplin but did not make any remarks about film in his published writings.10

10. Buswell to Machen, December 4, 1936, MA. On Machen's fondness for movies, see, for example, his letters to his mother, May 14, 1913, March 11 and August 23, 1914, MA.

These are a few of the curious and fascinating connections between Hollywood and American Presbyterianism to be found at Log College Press. As we say here, even in regards to culture:

THE PAST IS NOT DEAD. 
PRIMARY SOURCES ARE NOT INACCESSIBLE.
18TH-19TH CENTURY AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS ARE NOT IRRELEVANT.

Justice Harlan's Dissent: "Our Constitution is color-blind."

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On May 18, 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision in Plessy v. Ferguson which affirmed the doctrine of “separate but equal” in favor of the state of Louisiana’s right to maintain racially segregated public transportation systems. The vote was 7-1 and the lone dissenter was Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan.

Justice Harlan was also a ruling elder and a Sunday School teacher at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Wallace Radcliffe presided over the justice’s funeral when he passed away in 1911. Harlan’s dissent (recently added to Log College Press) contains some memorable words that reflect his conviction that disparate treatment of citizens by the government based on race was unjust.

But in view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved. It is, therefore, to be regretted that this high tribunal, the final expositor of the fundamental law of the land, has reached the conclusion that it is competent for a State to regulate the enjoyment by citizens of their civil rights solely upon the basis of race. In my opinion, the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott case.

Lady Justice and her blindfold.

Lady Justice and her blindfold.

Although he failed to persuade his colleagues in 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that “separate but equal” public education was unconstitutional, thus essentially rendering Plessy v. Ferguson a dead letter.

The principle that he stood for was an outworking of his religious beliefs. James W. Gordon wrote in “Religion and the First Justice Harlan: A Case Study in Late Nineteenth-Century Presbyterian Constitutionalism” Marquette Law Review Vol. 85, No. 2 (2001):

The first Justice John Marshall Harlan was a deeply religious man. As a devout and life-long "Old School" Presbyterian, Harlan's religious convictions shaped his style as a judge. They also provided him with a concrete standard against which to measure the "rightness" or "wrongness" of the world he saw around him, a standard he often consciously or unconsciously applied in his public life.

Justice Harlan also opposed tolerating polygamy in U.S. territories, siding with the majority in Reynolds v. United States (1879) and in Davis v. Beason (1890), and again opposed racial segregation as the lone dissenter in Berea College v. Kentucky (1908).

Certainly it is the case that the U.S. Constitution has deficiencies which not only include a failure to acknowledge God or Jesus Christ as the fountain of its authority, but also its original acceptance of slavery and the Three-Fifths Compromise in which slaves were reckoned as less than a person for census purposes. But Justice Harlan was a man of principle regarding Christian civil ethics, particularly with respect to the idea that race should not be a factor in how the government treats one citizen in contrast to another. “Our Constitution is color-blind,” said Justice Harlan.

Three African-American Covenanter Ministers: A Tribute

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Today we pay tribute to three African-American Presbyterian ministers associated with Selma, Alabama. Each of these was also a part of the Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) Church of North America (RPCNA); two of them later joined the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS). The information we have about their lives is limited, but intriguing. Yet they were ground-breaking pioneers who are worthy of remembrance.

Johnston, Lewis photo.jpg

  • Lewis Johnston, Jr. (1847-1903) - Johnston was the first African-American ordained to the ministry in the RPCNA, on October 14, 1874, as learn from his entry in William Melancthon Glasgow’s History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America (see also Glasgow’s The Geneva Book) and William J. Edgar, History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, 1871-1920, p. 57. His father also served as a ruling elder with him at the RPCNA congregation in Selma. He founded Geneva Academy (soon renamed Knox Academy) in Selma, Alabama on June 11, 1874. An educator, a court clerk, a newspaper editor and publisher and a published poet as well as a minister, his death was widely noticed in the newspapers, including John W. Pritchard’s The Christian Nation for June 3, 1903. The following was written by Edward P. Cowan, Secretary of the Board of Freedmen (PCUSA). Tragically, four of Johnston’s sons were later killed in the Elaine Massacre of 1919.

Rev. Lewis Johnston, a member of White River Presbytery and principal of Richard Allen Institute, of Pine Bluff, Ark., died on the morning of March 7th 1903.

Mr. Johnston was born in Allegheny City, Pa., December 12th, 1847. His parents were Presbyterians and they brought him up in the fear of God in that faith. He finished in the public schools at an early age and enlisted in the army. At the close of the war he received an honorable discharge, after which he returned home and entered Geneva College, near Bellefontaine, Ohio. After finishing his college education he entered the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Allegheny City and finished his course there in four years.

His first two year’s work as a missionary was at Selma, Ala. Leaving there, he went to Pine Bluff, Ark., where he spent twenty-five years in active and earnest service, teaching for several years in county and city schools. After that he commenced a missionary school, which grew so rapidly that with the good people of Pine Bluff a school building was erected. At that time his work was under the care of the Southern Presbyterian Church. The school continued to grow until friends of the work were compelled to provide a larger building for its accommodation. By this time his work had been transferred to the Board of Missions for Freedmen.

During the years of his ill health he only failed to preach one Sabbath. He did much for his race and worked for the Master even to the last day of his life. He leaves a wife and seven children to mourn his loss. The citizens of Pine Bluff of both races paid marked tribute to his memory. “He being dead, yet speaketh.” [The Assembly Herald, Vol. 8, No. 5 (May 1903), p. 201]

The Richard Allen Institute was founded in 1886 by Rev. Lewis Johnston and his wife, Mercy.

The Richard Allen Institute was founded in 1886 by Rev. Lewis Johnston and his wife, Mercy.

Elliot, George Milton photo.jpg

  • George Milton Elliot (1849-1918) - While Johnston was the founder and first principal of the Richard Allen Institute (named for Richard Allen, another secretary of the Board of Freedmen, PCUSA), Elliot served as its third principal. Born near Isle of Wight, Virginia, he later studied with Johnston at Geneva College and at RPTS. He also ministered in Beaufort, South Carolina; and founded the St. Augustine Industrial Institute in St. Augustine, Florida, serving as its first principal; among other travels and accomplishments. He was also one of the founders and a President of the Alabama State Teachers Association. Nathan R. Johnston considered Elliot to be a good friend and provides interesting anecdotal information about him, as well as his portrait, in Johnston’s autobiographical work Looking Back From the Sunset Land: Or People Worth Knowing. In one instance, N.R. Johnston speaks warmly of Elliot’s 1888 address to the ASTA where we know, from other sources, that Elliot told his audience: “Teachers, you are the shapers of thought and the molders of sentiment, not of this age and of this generation alone, but of ages and generations to come. You are making history by those you teach….You are the few that are moulding the masses.” biographical details are given to us in Glasgow’s History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America and The Geneva Book, and in Owen F. Thompson’s Sketches of the Ministers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America From 1888 to 1930, but Edgar sums up the story (p. 108) of Elliot, who began with the RPCNA, but later joined the PCUS.

The first pastor of the Selma RP Church was George Milton Elliot, a black man born in Virginia in 1849 and a graduate of Geneva College in 1873 and of Allegheny Seminary in 1877. Pittsburgh Presbytery ordained him in 1877, and he was installed as the pastor of the Selma RP Church that year. Elliot had already become Principal of Knox Academy in 1876, so he oversaw both the church and the school in their earliest days. In 1886, Elliot resigned both positions and became a missionary in different locations in the American South for the rest of his life, working with the Presbyterian Church.

Kingston, Solomon Ford photo.jpg

  • Solomon Ford Kingston (1860-1934) - In addition to tributes about Kingston from the pens of Rev. J.M. Johnston, Rev. R.J. McIsaac, and Rev. W.J. Sanderson which appeared in the May 23, 1934 issue of The Covenanter Witness, Kingston’s biography is told in Thompson’s Sketches and in Alvin W. Smith, Covenanter Ministers, 1930-1963. Further details are given in Glasgow’s The Geneva Book, and in David M. Carson, Pro Christo et Patria: A History of Geneva College, which includes pictures of Kingston and informs us that as a student there he was “a noted athlete and a talented entertainer” (p. 27). Thompson begins:

S.F. Kingston, son of [Benjamin] and Betty Kingston, was born in October, 1860, near Selma, Alabama. His parents were born in slavery and were uneducated. They were members of the Baptist Church. He united with the Reformed Presbyterian Church at Selma, Alabama, in 1877, under the pastorate of the Rev. Lewis Johnston. He attended Burell Academy, Knox Academy and Geneva College, graduating from the latter in 1885. He entered the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary in Allegheny (now North Side Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, in 1888 and completed the course in 1891. He was licensed to preach the Gospel by Pittsburgh Presbytery April 9, 1890, and was ordained to the Gospel Ministry by the same Presbytery at Wilkinsburg on March 27, 1891. He was appointed to work in Selma, and took up work in that Mission as Stated Supply. Later a regular Gospel call was made upon him by the congregation and on May 13, 1903, he was installed pastor over that congregation by a Commission of Illinois Presbytery. He resigned from that charge in 1927, and has been employed since by organizations engaged in social and charitable service. He was born a Baptist and united with the Reformed Presbyterian Church as a young man. He spent two years in Birmingham, Alabama, as City Missionary. He also taught two years at Greensboro, Alabama. In 1893 he was united in marriage with Miss Anna Rose Patterson of New Brighton, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Kingston died March 1, 1922, at Selma, Alabama, her home.

Smith concludes Kingston’s biographical sketch:

S.F. Kingston, whose biographical sketch appears in Thompson's Sketches of the Ministers up to the year 1930, when that volume was published, was in that year living in Selma, Alabama, and was employed by organizations engaged in social and charitable service. He had resigned his charge as pastor of the Selma congregation in 1927, after having served the Lord and the church in the Southern Mission about thirty-six years. During the years which followed his resignation, there was no letting up of his interest in the advance of Christ's kingdom. He departed this life on March 28, 1934.

Edgar adds the following concerning Kingston (p. 108):

The second pastor of the Selma RPC was Solomon Kingston. The son of illiterate slaves, Kingston joined the Selma congregation in 1877 at age seventeen, attended Knox Academy, finished Geneva College in 1885, and graduated from the Allegheny RP Seminary in 1891. His wife, Anna Rose Patterson from New Brighton, Pennsylvania, conducted Sabbath school at Valley Creek, and their daughter was principal of the East Selma School for a time. Kingston was stated supply in the Selma RPC from 1891-1903 and then its officially installed pastor from 1903-1927, for a total of thirty-six years in Selma.

These three men did much to teach and preach the gospel, and advance the kingdom of God in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their names are not widely known, but they should be. It is wished that more was known about them, but taking what we have, we give God the glory for their place and part in church history. Let us remember and appreciate their labors for God’s glory. Their legacy in Selma endures.

Reflections by Francis J. Grimké on the 1918 "Spanish Flu"

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Between October 1, 1918 and February 1, 1919, over 33,000 residents of Washington, D.C. contracted what was known as the “Spanish Flu” — 2,895 citizens of the city passed away during that time period. It was a devastating time for the city as well as the rest of the world, leading officials to ban, among other things, all church services in Washington, D.C. for the month of October 1918.

When the ban on such public gatherings was lifted, Francis J. Grimké, pastor of the Fifteenth Presbyterian Church, delivered a discourse on November 3, 1918 in which he offered his thoughts about the situation, which was published soon after under the title Some Reflections, Growing Out of the Recent Epidemic of Influenza That Afflicted Our City: A Discourse.

There were several takeaways for Grimké that may well serve Christians a century later to consider as well. To begin with, it is good to be reminded of the power of God.

I have been impressed with the ease with which large portions of the population may be wiped out in spite of the skill of man, of all the resources of science. Suddenly this epidemic came upon our city and country, and though every physician has been employed and every available nurse has been at work day and night, thousands have died, the awful death toll continued. Through all history we find populations thinned out in this way, not in ordinary, but in extraordinary ways. One night in Egypt death found its way into every Egyptian home. In Numbers 16:49, we read of a plague that broke out among the people in which 14,700 perished. In 2 Samuel 24:15, we also read of another plague that broke out in the reign of David in which, during three days, 70,000 perished. Thousands also have perished suddenly as the result of volcanic eruptions or earthquake shocks. How easy it would be for God to wipe out the whole human race, in this way, if he wanted to; for these terrible epidemics, plagues, the mighty forces of nature, all are at His command, are all His agents. At any moment, if He willed it, in this way, vast populations or portions of populations could be destroyed.

Grimké also wondered to himself, Why is it that the pestilence was fatal for some while others recovered?

The reason may be found, in one sense, in purely natural causes— some were physically better prepared to resist the disease, were stronger in vital power, and so pulled through. Others, not having sufficient vitality, went down under the strain; but I believe there is also another reason, and is to be found in the will of God. For some, the time of their departure had come, the limit of their earthly existence had been reached, and this was God's way of removing them out of this world into the next. Some day we have all got to go, but how, or when, or where, we do not know; that is with God alone.

In Grimké’s words, “We speak of accidental deaths, at times, but there are no accidents with God. All things are within the scope of His providence.” He continued to wonder, though, “Why are some taken with the disease and others not?” In meditating on the promise of preservation from illness in Psalm 91, Grimké acknowledged with humility that he didn’t know the secret will of God, but he did trust in the sovereign will of God.

He went on to address the problem of restricted civil liberties during the ban.

Another thing that has impressed me, in connection with this epidemic, is the fact that conditions may arise in a community which justify the extraordinary exercise of powers that would not be tolerated under ordinary circumstances. This extraordinary exercise of power was resorted to by the Commissioners in closing up the theaters, schools, churches, in forbidding all gatherings of any considerable number of people indoors and outdoors, and in restricting the numbers who should be present even at funerals. The ground of the exercise of this extraordinary power was found in the imperative duty of the officials to safeguard, as far as possible, the health of the community by preventing the spread of the disease from which we were suffering. There has been considerable grumbling, I know, on the part of some, particularly in regard to the closing of the churches. It seems to me, however, in a matter like this it is always wise to submit to such restrictions for the time being. If, as a matter of fact, it was dangerous to meet in theaters and in the schools, it certainly was no less dangerous to meet in churches. The fact that the churches were places of religious gathering, and the others not, would not affect in the least the health question involved. If avoiding crowds lessens the danger of being infected, it was wise to take the precaution and not needlessly run in danger, and expect God to protect us. And so, anxious as I have been to resume work, I have waited patiently until the order was lifted. I started to worry at first, as it seemed to upset all of our plans for the fall work; but I soon recovered my composure. I said to myself, Why worry? God knows what He is doing. His work isn’t going to suffer. It will rather be a help to it in the end. Out of it, I believe, great good is coming. All the churches, as well as the community at large, are going to be the stronger and better for this season of distress through which we have been passing.

Grimké was also led to reflect on the color-blind nature of the illness which swept his city and the world. It made no difference to the “Spanish Flu” whether those afflicted were white, black or brown; rich or poor; or in what class of society or locale they resided. All residents of Washington, indeed all human beings, were equally at risk of this disease - a fact which Grimké hoped would help those in power to see the foolishness of racial prejudice, or “colorphobia.”

Under such circumstances of what avail is the color of a man's skin, or his race identity? What does the lightning, the thunderbolt, the burning lava, the sea, care about color or race? White and black alike are dealt with indiscriminately; the one is smitten as readily as the other; the one is swallowed up as readily as the other. And that is the lesson which God is teaching everywhere through the operation of natural laws. And it is the great lesson which He also teaches in His inspired word; and which Jesus Christ, who said, "I am the light of the world. He that followeth after Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life," sought constantly to emphasize both by [precept] and example.

Grimké reminds us that we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves, no matter what may be a person’s skin color or background. Are we not all made in the image of God? This is the commandment of Christ, and we are to follow Christ’s own example.

Further, Grimké reflected on the importance of the church to the community at large. It was indeed a hardship for churches to be closed for a season.

The fact that for several weeks we have been shut out from the privileges of the sanctuary has brought home to us as never before what the church has really meant to us. We hadn't thought, perhaps, very much of the privilege while it lasted, but the moment it was taken away we saw at once how much it meant to us. One of the gratifying things to me, during this scourge, has been the sincere regrets that I have heard expressed all over the city by numbers of people at the closing of the churches. The theater goers, of course, have regretted the closing of the theaters. I do not know whether the children or the teachers have regretted the closing of the schools or not; I have heard no regrets expressed, but I do know that large numbers of people have regretted the closing of the churches. I hope that now that they are opened again, that we will all show our appreciation of their value by attending regularly upon their services. It would be a great calamity to any community to be without the public ministrations of the sanctuary. There is no single influence in a community that counts for more than the Christian church. It is one of the institutions, particularly, that ought to be strongly supported; that ought to be largely attended, and that ought to have the hearty endorsement and well-wishes of every right thinking man and woman within it. It is a great mistake for any one to stand aloof from the Christian church. Everybody in the community ought to have a church home, and ought to be found in that church home Sabbath after Sabbath.

Another profound consideration that Grimké raised is the importance of keeping eternal matters before our minds.

There is another thing connected with this epidemic that is also worthy of note. While it lasted, it kept the thought of death and of eternity constantly before the people. As the papers came out, day after day, among the first things that every one looked for, or asked about, was as to the number of deaths. And so the thought of death was never allowed to stay very long out of the consciousness of the living. And with the thought of death, the great thought also of eternity, for it is through death that the gates of eternity swing open. We don't as a general thing think very much about either death or eternity. They are not pleasant things to think about, and so we avoid thinking of them as much as possible. It is only when we are forced to that we give them any consideration, and even then only for the moment. They are both subjects of vital importance, however, involving the most momentous consequences. For after death is always the judgment. The grim messenger is God's summons to us to render up our account. That there is an account to be rendered up we are inclined to lose sight of, to forget; but it is to be rendered all the same. The books are to be opened, and we are to be judged out of the books. During the weeks of this epidemic — in the long list of deaths, in the large number of new-made graves, in the unusual number of funeral processions along our streets, God has been reminding us of this account which we must soon render up; He has been projecting before us in away to startle us, the thought of eternity.

Thus, Grimké implored all, especially those outside the household of faith, to weigh carefully the question of eternal life, and to seek the Lord while He may yet be found. In the midst of death, there is true and eternal life in Jesus Christ. And this true life gives great peace.

There is only one other thought that has come tome in connection with this epidemic; it is of the blessedness of religion, of the sense of security which a true, living, working faith in the Lord Jesus Christ gives one in the midst of life's perils. I felt, as doubtless you all felt, who are Christians, the blessedness of a firm grip upon Jesus Christ — the blessedness of a realizing sense of being anchored in God and in His precious promises. While the plague was raging, while thousands were dying, what a comfort it was to feel that we were in the hands of a loving Father who was looking out for us, who had given us the great assurance that all things should work together for our good. And, therefore, that come what would — whether we were smitten with the epidemic or not, or whether being smitten, we survived or perished, we knew it would be well with us, that there was no reason to be alarmed. Even if death came, we knew it was all right. The apostle says, "It is gain for me to die." Death had no terrors for him. He says, The hour of my departure is at hand: I .have fought the good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of glory which the Lord the righteous judge shall give at that day. And not to me only but to all them that love His appearing. And it was this same apostle who flung in the face of death the defiance, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

In the presence of such a faith, in the realization of God's love, as revealed in Jesus Christ, in the consciousness of fellowship with him, what are epidemics, what are scourges, what are all of life's trials, sufferings, disappointments? They only tend to work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. But, of course, if faith is to help us; if it is to put its great strong arms under us; if we are to feel its sustaining power under such distressing circumstances, it must be a real, living faith in God — it must be the genuine article — a faith that works, that works by love, and that purifies the heart. Any other faith is of absolutely no value to us in the midst of the great crises of life. And I said to myself while the epidemic was on, and while I was examining my own heart to see how far my religion was helping me to be calm, self-possessed. It is a good time for those of us who are Christians to examine ourselves to see exactly how it is with us, whether the foundation upon which we are building is a rock foundation — whether our faith is really resting upon Christ, the solid Rock, or not. And I still feel that one important function of this epidemic will be lost if it fails to have that effect upon us, if it does not lead to careful heart-searching on our part.

These reflections by Francis J. Grimké may well speak to our hearts a century after they were delivered. Pestilence is not new, and every generation must confront challenges to their faith, as well as their very lives and well-being. But our God changes not, and the lessons shared by Grimké in the midst of one epidemic are lessons that we who are in the midst of another do well to prayerfully consider.

The poignant cry of a 19th century African American minister: J.W.C. Pennington

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James William Charles Pennington (1807-1870) was perhaps the first African American minister to receive a doctorate of divinity - by the University of Heidelberg, Germany (1849). And he was so honored while still legally a fugitive slave. He also attempted to desegregate streetcars in New York City (1855), one hundred years before Martin Luther King, Jr. attempted the same with public transportation in Montgomery, Alabama (1955-1956). His sermon on Covenants Involving Moral Wrong Are Not Obligatory Upon Man (1842) in which he affirmed that unjust laws have no moral force at all predates King’s same argument (citing Augustine) in the Letter From a Birmingham Jail by over 120 years.

The fact that this escaped slave became a Presbyterian minister is remarkable. But in 1843 he gave a speech in which he shared his experience of racism within the church. It is painful to read, but reading it serves as a reminder that the church is not immune to prejudice. And there are many different types of prejudice - the Apostle James spoke of one kind involving favoritism to the rich to the detriment of the poor, James 2:3. But those who are so judged based on the color of their skin or other factors can be deeply hurt, as Pennington here testifies.

For the last ten years, since I have been a Christian − seven or eight years of which I have been a minister, I have thought much on this subject, and have come to the conclusion that I am an excommunicated man. I have tried to avoid the conclusion, to think it was not so, but, like other people, find I cannot believe without evidence. I have tried to command my mind from this subject, but could not. To say that our condition is not an enviable one − that it is not a pleasant one, does not express the whole truth. I have labored hard to inform myself − I have tried to make myself useful and agreeable as a Christian − have tried to avoid everything wrong. A great question of orthodoxy is concerned here. Though we have felt ourselves abused, we have not dared to indulge unkind feelings toward our brethren. You have helped us to build small school-houses and churches, or rather helped us to shoulder a debt, many times − but I forbear − and yet I may as well speak out my convictions − it is done in the spirit of colonization, to get us out of the way. How often, in coming into a congregation like this, have I been treated with indignity. A man accidentally takes his seat by my side − he discovers that I have a dark face − he rises in contempt and leaves the slip. It is said colored people are fond of sitting together. It is such treatment as this which drives them together. They take the Jim Crow seat to escape ill treatment and abuse. And here let me say, the necessity for separate schools and churches has not grown out of the wishes of the colored people, but from the spirit of caste in the church. We do not desire separate churches. They have not bettered our condition, but only made it WORSE. Many of our churches have not competent religious teachers − they have had to hasten through their course so fast, in order to supply the destitute fields, that they have come into the ministry illy prepared. The treatment of the colored people has put back Africa’s redemption fifty years.

This testimony is nearly 200 years old, but it is to be feared that today’s church also is not color blind or free from all forms of prejudice, Elsewhere (in an 1844 letter appended to his autobiography), Pennington explains what is needed to combat this prejudice - something that is, it should be noted, to be found within the church.

Let me urge upon you the fundamental truths of the Gospel of the Son of God. Let repentance to- wards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ have their perfect work in you, I beseech you. Do not be prejudiced against the gospel because it may be seemingly twisted into a support of slavery. The gospel rightly understood, taught, received, felt and practised, is anti-slavery as it is anti-sin. Just so far and so fast as the true spirit of the gospel obtains in the land, and especially in the lives of the oppressed, will the spirit of slavery sicken and become powerless like the serpent with his head pressed beneath the fresh leaves of the prickly ash of the forest.

The troubles and sorrows of those who have been hurt are real, but Pennington urged his hearers to bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ. In another speech given in England in 1843 he reminded his hearers that the whole human race is laboring under sin, but redemption is found only in Jesus Christ, in whom all are one:

Though I have a country that has never done me justice, yet I must return to it, and I shall not therefore recriminate. It has pleased God to make me black and you white, but let us remember, that whatever be our complexion, we are all by nature labouring under the degradation of sin, and without the grace of God are black at heart. I know of no difference between the depraved heart of a Briton, an American, or an African. There is no difference between its colour, its disposition, and its self-will. There is only one mode of emancipation from the slavery of sin, from the blackness of heart, and that is by the blood of the Son of God. Whatever be our complexion, whatever our kindred and people, we need to be emancipated from sin, and to be cleansed from our pollution by the all-prevailing grace of God. I bless his name, that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, but all are one.

The sermons, speeches and writings of James W.C. Pennington reflect the heart of a man who was deeply wounded and hurt by prejudice but who found redemption in Jesus Christ and preached the healing and uniting gospel of grace to others. And that is a message that is timeless.