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ST. PAUL A, M. E. CHURCH
sr. LOUIS, MISSOURI.
Quarto-Centennial
OF
H, M. TURNER AS BISHOP
IN THE
a. m. e:. church,
CELEBRATED IN
St. Paul A. M. E. Church,
SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI.
{p® ep®
NASHVIX/I/E, TENN:
A. M. E. SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION,
I9°5-
Explanation:—On account of some of the Addresses reaching us
too late, they do not appear in the order in which they were de¬
livered.
CONTENTS.
Proceedings 5-16
Bishop Turner, His Birth, Rearing and Education. By Rev. R.
H. Singleton, D. D 17-21
Bishop H. M. Turner From a Layman's Point of View. By H.
T. Kealing, Editor of the A. M. E. Review 22-28
Rev. H. M. Turner, D. D., as a Soldier. By Rev. R. French
Hurley, D. D 29-36
H. M. Turner as a Statesman .By A; J. Carey, A. M. D. D. 37-44
Bishop H. M. Turner, The Dollar Monarch. By E. W. Lamp-
ton, D. D., Financial Secretary 45-48
Bishop H. M. Turner as Missionary and Promoter of Missions.
By Rev. H. B. Parks, D. D., Secretary of Missions 49-55
Bishop H. M. Turner as a Race Leader. By Rev. J.S. Flipper,
D. D., President Morris Brown College, Atlanta, Ga 56-61
The Man and the Occasion. By D. F. Caliman, D. D 62-66
Bishop H. M.Turner as a Publisher. ByT. W. Henderson, D. D. 67-71
Bishop Turner as Related to Sunday School Union. W. D.
Chappelle, A. M. D. D., Secretary and Treasurer 72-74
Bishop H. M. Turner and Church Extension. By Rev. B. F.
Watson D. D., Secretary 75-79
The Literary and Historical Department. By Rev. William,
D. Johnson, D. D., President of Allen University Colum¬
bia, S. C 80-85
Bishop Turner in Literature. By Rev. H. T. Johnson, D. D.,
Editor of the Christian Recorder 86-91
The Southern Christian Recorder—Its Origin and Editors.
By Rev. G. W. Allen, D. D 92-99
Bishop Turner's Relation to the C. P. A. Dr. W. H. Heard. 100-103
Address by David S. Cincore 104-107
A Testimonial Read at Bishop Turner's, D. D., L. L. D.,
Twenty-fifth Anniversary of His Election to the Bishop¬
ric Connectional Preachers'Aid Association 108-110
Address by J. D. Barksdale 111-112
(3)
4
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
Bishop Turner Thirty-four years ago before the Georgia An¬
nual Conference, which was held in Savannah, Ga., com¬
mencing January 5,1871—Delivered the Following Re¬
marks 113-131
Letters of Congratulation: From Benj. Tucker Tanner; Evans
Tyree; Levi Jenkins Coppin; T. W. Henderson; J. T.
Jenifer; R. H. W. Leak; Wra. J. Laws; J. H. Welch; D. P.
Roberts; James Handy; J. W. Hood; E. C. Morris.
Resolutions: By G. W.Porter; H.T. Kealing; Jno. R. Hawkins;
Wm. H. Davis; A. M. Buckley; Faculty and Students of
Payne Theological Seminary 132-143
PROCEEDINGS.
SILVER JUBILEE.
FIRST DAY.
A large audience of bishops, general officers,
ministers and laymen met at St. Paul Chapel, A.
M. E. Church, St. Louis, Mo., on Thursday morn¬
ing, May 18, 1905, at 10 o'clock p. m., in honor of
the Twenty-fifth Episcopal Anniversary of Bish¬
op Henry McNeil Turner, senior bishop of the
A. M. E. Church. After a choral anthem, Dr. W.
D. Cook, pastor, lined hymn No. 31, "Arise and
bless the Lord," and offered the invocation. The
choir next rendered the anthem, "0 give thanks
unto the Lord." Dr. W. D. Chappelle read the
Scripture lesson, Ps. 91: "He that dwelleth in
the secret place," etc. Dr. B. F. Watson led the
hymn, "Before Jehovah's awful throne." Dr.
E. W. Lampton conducted the ritualistic exer¬
cises.
Bishop V/. J. Gaines, the presiding officer of
the occasion, delivered a brief address, calling at¬
tention to the fact that only a few of those pres¬
ent at the General Conference of 1880 were pres¬
ent. He spoke of the remarkable providence of
God in preserving the senior bishop and pros¬
pering the Church. Bishop B. W. Arnett, Secre¬
tary of the General Conference of 1880, called
5
6
BISHOP TURNER'S
the roll and read the minutes of that Conference.
A number of letters and telegrams were read from
various parties. The Conference ordered a tel¬
egraphic response to Bishops J. W. Hood and A.
Walters, and letters of acknowledgment to Bish¬
ops Handy, Tyree, Coppin, etc. Donations from
the Baltimore, Virginia and New Jersey Confer¬
ences were acknowledge.
After the foregoing preliminaries, the program
of the hour was entered upon and the following
papers were read by the following brethren, to
wit: "Bishop Turner: His Birth, Rearing and Ed¬
ucation," R. H. Singleton; "From a Layman's
View-point," H. F. Kealing, and "Rev. H. M. Tur¬
ner as a Soldier," Rev. R. F. Hurley.
Afternoon Session.
At 8 o'clock p. m. the exercises opened with
"Lead, Kindly Light," chanted by the choir of
St. Paul Chapel, A. M. E. Church. Prayer was
next offered by Rev. M. S. Bryant, Liberty, Mo.
Dr. H. B. Parks being absent, Dr. E. W. Lampton,
Financial Secretary, read a paper entitled "The
Dollar Monarch." "Bishop Turner as a States¬
man" was the subject of a paper read by Dr. A.
J. Carey, of Chicago. Prof. J. R. Hawkins, Sec¬
retary of Education, next read a paper on "Bish¬
op H. M. Turner as Related to the Educational
Department of the A. M. E. Church." Announce¬
ments. Benediction by Bishop Gaines.
quarto-centennial.
7
Night Session.
The night session was devoted to expressions
of welcome and a royal banquet to the senior bish¬
op, his colleagues and the visiting guests assem¬
bled to do him honor. The choir opened with
an appropriate anthem, and was followed by the
Rev. R. L. Burk, who extended words of welcome
in well chosen scholarly, and eloquent words on
behalf of the North Missouri Conference. He
was followed by the Dr. F. J. Peck, who extended
the welcome greetings on behalf of the Missouri
Conference. The Rev. J. D. Barksdale, Presiding
Elder, on behalf of the St. Louis District, de¬
livered a brief, florid and cordial message of wel¬
come, and was followed by Dr. W. D. Cook, pas¬
tor of St. Paul[s Chapel, A. M. E. Church, on
behalf of the pastors of the city. The choir ren¬
dered an inspiring anthem and was followed by
Dr. E. W. Lee, of Georgia, who responded to the
address of welcome.
By special request, Mrs. Micky rendered the
"Holy City," followed Dr. G. W. Porter, of Vicks-
burg. After the eloquent paper of Dr. Porter,
President Vernon was called for and delivered a
brief and masterly address. After benediction
the guests repaired to the banquet hall.
SECOND DAY.
Morning Session.
At 10 o'clock the session opened with Bishops
H. M. Turner, W. J. Gaines, B. W. Arnett, A.
Grant, and B. F. Lee on the platform. Rev. W.
H. Peck lined hymn, "Oh, for a thousand
tongues to sing," and led in supplication. The
choir then chanted an appropriate anthem, after
which Dr. J. S. Flipper read the Scriptures, fol¬
lowed by "My hope is built on nothing less" by
the choir. The program of the hour was an¬
nounced, and President J. S. Flipper, of Morris
Brown College, read a paper on "Bishop H. M.,
Turner as a Race Leader." The masterly paper
of President Flipper was followed with an an¬
them on Bishop Turner as "A Missionary and
Promoter of Missions."
After the splendid paper of the Secretary of
Missions, Bishop Turner made remarks to the
audience touching the "Voice of the People," and
offered to send his paper gratuitously to any del¬
egate. The Rev. D. F. Caliman, of Pittsburg Con¬
ference, was introduced, and read an interesting,
instructive and thoughtful paper. After the an¬
nouncement of notices, Chaplain Geo. W. Prioleau,
U. S. A., was introduced and made timely re¬
marks touching the senior bishop.
8
quarto-centennial.
9
Afternoon Session.
The afternoon program was introduced with
an anthem by the choir, prayer by Rev. D. F. Cali-
man and scripture reading by Chaplain G. W.
Prioleau.
Dr. B. F. Watson was introduced and read an
interesting paper on "Bishop Turner and Church
Extension." "Bishop Turner in Literature" was
next read by H. T. Johnson, Editor of the Chris¬
tian Recorder. The choir then rendered an ap¬
propriate selection and was followed by the Rev.
J. H. Collett, Business Manager, on "Bishop Tur¬
ner in Relation to the Book Concern."
After a musical rendition by Rev. W. H. Peck,
Dr. W. D. Chappelle, Secretary of Sunday-School
Union, read a characteristically strong and in¬
structive paper on "Bishop Turner and the Sun¬
day-School Union." Bishop B. F. Lee declared
that the life of Bishop Turner is the strongest
evidence of the fact that heredity cannot enslave
and environment cannot imprison a man.
Night Session.
The exercises were introduced with an anthem
by the choir, after which Dr. W. D. Johnson con¬
ducted the ritualistic services. Bishop A. Grant
presided. Bishop H. M. Turner was introduced
and spoke on the "Deceased Bishops." After
music by the choir, Bishop B. W. Arnett spoke on
the "Living Bishops." Dr. B. F. Watson led
10
BISHOP TURNER'S
in a pathetic song, after which Bishop Grant
called for gifts from various contributors, as fol¬
lows : A silver loving cup from the general of¬
ficers, tendered by Dr. H. T. Johnson; an anni¬
versary clock by Dr. A. J. Carey, Bethel A. M.
E. Church, Chicago; the First Episcopal District
announced through Bishop Arnett, $50; Dr. E.
W. Lee, on behalf of Georgia, tendered a beau¬
tiful silver purse, suit of clothes, and a silver cup;
the Seventh Episcopal District tendered $50
through Drs. W. D. Chappelle and G. W. Allen;
the Eighth Episcopal District, through Dr. G. W.
the Eleventh District, represented by Judge James
Dean, tendered $50; Dr. W. A. Lewis, of Ninth
Episcopal District, $20; Rev. B. F. Watson, on
behalf of general officers of 1880, presented a
Search Light; the Fifth Episcopal District,
through President Vernon, tendered $50 in sil¬
ver; Dr. B. F. Watson tendered a pound ster¬
ling from the Liberian Conference; Prof. J. R.
Hawkins read resolutions of thanks to Rev. W.
D. Cook, D.D., and his members, choir, organist,
also to Bishop Grant, Chairman, and H. T. John¬
son, Secretary, for contribution of service ren¬
dered t omake the jubilee a success. Bishop Tur¬
ner responded in eloquent strains to the sundry
gifts and testimonials tendered him.
The following visiting bishops, general officers
and ministers were present; Bishops H. M. Tur¬
ner, W. J. Gaines, B. W. Arnett and A. Grant;
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
ii
Drs. H. T. Johnson, J. R. Hawkins, G. W. Allen,
E. W. Lampton, J. H. Collett, W. D. Chap-
pelle, H. B. Parks, W. A. Lewis, Revs. C.
V. Page, Louisiana, Mo.; G. W. Tillman, Col¬
orado Springs, Colo.; R. T. Mathews, Atlanta,
Ga.; T. J. Linton, Presiding Elder, Atlanta,
Ga.; W. O. P. Sherman and Mrs. J. V. Sher¬
man, Savannah, Ga.; P. S. Cheatham, Kirkland,
Mo.; L. A. Townsley, Atlanta, Ga.; R. H. Sin¬
gleton, Presiding Elder, Valdosta, Ga.; J. R. Ran¬
som, Topeka, Kans.; M. Collins, Presiding Elder,
Kansas City,Kans.; F.G. Snelson,Springfield, Mo.;
G. W. Porter, Vicksburg, Miss.; C. C. Cargile,
Atlanta, Ga.; John Harmon, Presiding Elder,
Newman, Ga.; F. E. Clark, Festus, Mo.; E. W.
Lee, Americus, Ga.; Wm. A. Fountain, Atlanta,
Ga.; M. S. Bryant, Liberty, Mo.; W. T. Vernon,
President of Western University; J. S. Flipper,
Morris Brown, Atlanta, Ga.; W. D. Johnson, D.D.,
President of Allen University; J. H. McGehee,
Presiding Elder, Pensacola, Fla.; Tony Perry,
Belleville, 111.; G. W. Cross, St. Charles, Mo.; L.
E. Christy, East St. Louis, 111.; W. H. Speese,
Quincy, 111.; David S ., Philadelphia, Pa.;
Geo. T. Shaw, Aurora, 111.; J. W. Turner, Pre¬
siding Elder, Lexington, Ky.; A. W. Word,
Kansas City; A. A. Gilbert, Lexington, Mo.;
Green Price, Lovejoy, 111.; Horace S. Graves, Des
Moines, la.; J. Frank McDonald, Kansas City,
Mo.; Rev. Jas. W. Edwards, Tarrington, Mo.;
12
QUARTO-CENTBNNIAI,.
B. A.; C. W. Douglass, Poplar Bluff, Mo.; O.
W. Harris, St. Louis, Mo.; Jas. Dean, D.D., Jack¬
sonville, Fla.; J. W. Conner, D.D., Fort Smith,
Ark.; J. H. Allen, Independence, Mo.; W. B. Stew¬
art, St. Louis, Mo.; Wm. A. Moore, Carbondale,
111.; Mrs. B. W. Stewart, Kirkwood, Mo.; Mrs. P.
A. Harrison, St. Louis, Mo.; Mrs. E. G. Prioleau
and Chaplain G. W. Prioleau, D.D., Jefferson Bar¬
racks, Mo.; Rev. John L. Williams, Boonville, Mo.;
Kev. W. H. Peck, Hannibal, Mo.
THIRD DAY.
Morning Session.
The jubilee was opened at 10 o'clock, with
Rev. J. H. McGehee, Presiding Elder, conducting
the religious exercises and Bishop W. J. Gaines
in the chair. After singing, the Rev. G. W. Allen
read his paper on "Bishop Turner in Relation to
the Southern Christian Recorder." His interest¬
ing and instructive paper was followed by.a char¬
acteristically able paper from Dr. W. D. Johnson,
President of Allen University, on "The Literary
and Historical Department." He was followed
by Dr. W. H. Heard, who paid a glorious tribute
to Bishop Turner, and gave a graphic account of
the history and accomplishments of the C. P. A.
The Rev. Dr. F. G. Snelson read Dr. Hender¬
son's paper, after which H. J. Milton was intro¬
duced and delivered an eloquent address on "The
Success and the Prospects of the Race." It was
ordered that two thousand copies of the proceed¬
ings of the jubilee be printed, and that Bishop
Turner, Dr. Chappelle and the Secretary be the
Committee on Publication. It was requested that
the proceedings be gotten out by September.
The quarto-centennial celebration in honor of
Bishop Henry M. Turner, D.D., LL.D., at St.
Louis, Mo., last week will go down in history as
a red-letter event in African Methodism. The
13
14
Q U ARTO-CENTENNIAL.
day was no less historical in contents than auspi¬
cious in the beauty and magnificence of the day.
Nature smiled upon the occasion, and ministers
and laymen of his own and other churches vied
with each other in doing honor to the most noted
ISlegro churchman living.
SUNDAY SERMON.
Bishop Henry McNeil Turner, D. D. Ph. D., L,.L.
D., D. C. Iy., in whose honor a celebration was held
in St. Paul A. M. E. Church, St. I^ouis, Mo., preach¬
ed on Sunday morning at eleven o'clock from Psalms
20:14. "Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy
vows unto the Most High." The bishop on this oc¬
casion seemed to have been inspired, he unequalled
himself in depth of thought and Biblical research.
In the matter of thanksgiving he enlisted the suns
and systems of God's natural universe, he placed the
stars upon their posts of duty aud made the milky-
way a thoroughfare to the plannets, he summoned
the winds to carry the clouds, the lightning to drive
the darkness, while the thunders uttered their thanks¬
giving to the Most High. But this was not enough.
"The oceans, the seas, the gulfs, the bays, the lakes
and rivers with all their finned tribes, are engaged,"
said the bishop in giving thanks to the Most High.
Quadrupeds of all species and kinds in whose nostrils
is to be found the breath of life, are giving thanks to
the Most High. From the tiny mouse to the gigan¬
tic elephant, from the soaring eagle to the falling
sparrow, from the humming bird to the singing
swallow, all of these seem to understand and obey
the mandates of the Psalmist. Vegetation in its ver¬
dant glory joins in with the seasons to enrich the or-
(15)
i6
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
chestra which sings their praises to the God of the
Most High. But man, rebellious man stubborn man,
disobedient man refuses to enlist his energies in giv¬
ing thanks to the Most High.
"For forty years," said the bishop, ' I have been
trying to preach the Gospel and to give thanks to the
most High; but I have, in a measure failed. My
feeble voice is not adequate to so stupenduous a task;
for when I consider the heavens, the work of His
fingers, the sun,moon and stars which he has ordain¬
ed, what am I but an atom, whose feeble voice can¬
not swell the strains of the volume of music which
sings the praises of the ubiquitous God?
The Most High God, that is, he is highest of the
high, a stupenduous height to which human concep¬
tion cannot attain.
Therefore if we would contribute to the glory of
God in giving thanks to the Most High, we must
seek in all of our actions to be right, with conscience
void toward God and man;each making his contribu¬
tion with the passing days." Bishop Turner avows
that he has received into the Church a little over a
hundred and sixteen thousand souls, which he claims
will show how earnest he has been in paying his vows
to the Most High.
We apologize for the feeble way in which we have
reported the wonderful sermon which the bishop de¬
livered 011 the occasion of his twenty-fifth anniver¬
sary as bishop.—W. D. C., Reporter,
RT. REV. HENRY McNEIL TURNER, D. D., LL. D., D.C. L.,
(Senior Bishop African Methodist Episcopal Church.)
i8
BISHOP TURNER'S
niversary of his consecration to the bishopric in the
can Methodise Episcopal Church, the Church to which ^ e
has given forty-seven o£ the fifty-two years of his active
ministerial life.
'Bishop Turner was the grandson, on. the maternal side,
of a young African Prince, who was brought as a slave to
this country ?ate in the eighteenth century, but who was
liberated by the state of South Carolina, which was then
unidor British rule, on the ground that royal blood could
not be enslaved on English soil.
Being unable to return to his home, this young man,
Mr. David Greer, married a free young woman; and nat¬
urally all of his children were freeborn. In process of
time, Mr. Hardy Turner wooed and wedded Sarah, the
youngest daughter of this young prince and Henry Mc¬
Neil Turner was the firstborn of that union.
REARING.
Young Turner grew up amid the cruel environments of
human slavery and although free, he was bound out to a
slaveowner and compelled to work side by side with
slaves. Because of the absence of a father's care, he was
deprived of many of the advantages of freeborn Negroes
of his age. He was forced to labor in the cotton fields and
at the blacksmith forge during many years of his boyhood.
In spite of all these disadvantages, however, his giant
mind rose above his environments and like a caged eagle,
or a chained lion, he longed for and eagerly sought the op¬
portunity to burst the bonds, rise above his surroundings
and be free indeed.
One thing which early fixed his determination to be¬
come a great man was a dream which he had when about
nine years of age. In this vision he was standing on a high
mountain, and millions of people, white and colored, were
looking- up to him for instruction.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL,
19
This dream seemed prophetic and from tha+ time he
began to prepare himself for the work of instructing that
vast multitude. What difficulties he encountered and
overcame only those who have come through the gates of
that dark past can know and understand.
Education.
The first step in this great worK of preparation was
taken when young Turner procured an old Webster's spell¬
ing book and secured the assistance of an old white lady
and a white ooy, with whom he played, to teach him the
Alphabet and to spell as far as two syllables. But thesa
kind instructors were soon discovered by the enemies of
Negro mind-training and were compelled to cease their
instructions.
Nothing daunted, however, this young mind, having
tasted of the Pierian waters of knowledge, determined to
drink deeply and to the full. He succeeded, after some
search, in finding an old colored man who, though illiter¬
ate, was a wonder in Phonetics and could pronounce, more
or less correctly, any word spelled in his hearing. Him
young Turner enlisted to assist in the further prosecution
of his studies. This, however, was soon discovered by the
relentless oppressors, the old man was removed to an¬
other plantation and he was again left to his own re¬
sources.
A white lady, whom his mother had employed to give
him instruction every Sunday, was threatened with im¬
prisonment by the indignant neighbors for teaching a
Negro to read. These continued persecutions fixed the
heart of young Turner and he determined to seek more cen-
geuial surroundings. He, being about fifteen years of age, and
his mother haying moved to Abbeville, S. C., he sought and
obtained employment as janitor with a firm of young lawyers
of that city.
These young men, becoming greatly interested in him,
took pleasure in giving 'him instruction in defiance of the
20
BISHOP TURNER'S
law. By the time he had found these kind friends he had
read the Bible through five times, frequently reading from
seventy-five to a hundred pages in one night, thus laying
at an early age, t'he foundation of that knowledge of the
sacred Scriptures for which he is so famous.
In this office he applied himself assiduously to his hooks
and was very often all night at his studies. He learned
to read accurately and gained a respectable knowledge of
History, Arithmetic, Geography, Astronomy, and even
works on Law and Theology. He became a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1848, was licensed
to preach in 1853, at the age of 19, and traveled through
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and other
Southern states, preaching to white and colored people.
At the session of the Missouri Conference held in St.
Louis in 1858, he transferred his membership to the Afri¬
can Methodist Episcopal Church; from which Conference
he was sent by Bishop Payne to the pastorate of the Bal¬
timore Mission, Baltimore, Md. During his four years'
stay in that city he studied at Trinity College, where ae
pursued his studies in English grammar, Latin, Greek,
Hebrew and Crerman, and received special lessons in Ora¬
tory from Doctor, afterward Bishop Cummings, of the
Protestant Episcopal Church.
Thus through many hardships and struggles Bishop
Turner has become one of the most learned men of his
generation. In recognition of his erudition, the Univer¬
sity of Pennsylvania conferred upon him the degree of
LL. D. in 1872; Wilberforce University followed with the
degree of D. D., in 1873 and the Liberia College, in West
Africa conferred the degree of D. C. L in 1894.
Thus step by step we have followed the mental develop¬
ment of the Child of 1834, born amidst the darkness of
human slavery, with all of its discouragements, until, as
we stand today at the open door of a new century and look
back over the seventy-one intervening years that separate
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
21
past from the present .then look around at the silvery
ks, yet lion-like form of our noble Chieftain, Bishop
nry McNeil Turner the profound scholar, the original
nker, the Race-Representative of two Hemispheres, the
ancellor of Morris Brown College, one of the greatest
gro educational institutions in the world, and the Senior
shop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, we can
ily realize the wonderful fulfilment of the prophetic
3am of his early boyhood, and with the poet exclaim:
"The height by great men reached and kept,
Was not attained by sudden flight;
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night."
May this illustrious example be our heritage forever.
R. H. Singleton, the Representative from the Georgia
►nfcrence.
BISHOP H. IV). TURNER FROM A LAYMAN'S POINT
OF VIEW.
By H. T. Kealing, Editor of the A. M. E. Review.
There are no common men, for immortal souls can never
"be common; but there are certainly some wonderfully un¬
common men, which leads me to my subject at once.
It is no part of my task to give a biography of him whom
we meet to honor here; that will be adequately done by
others assigned to that duty. I am to assume that his his¬
tory is known, and from the ensemble as it is before the
world we are to tell what we see.
An incident occurred in a conference of the C. M. E.
Church recently held in Philadelphia, which has more
than an anecdotal value. At a reception given to the pre¬
siding bishop, among other things which the audience in¬
terpreted to be most complimentary to him was this re¬
mark by one of the speakers: "You, sir, are the Turner
of the C. M. E. Church, and you grow to look more like
him every day." This drew great applause from the au¬
dience, which did not have half a dozen African Metho¬
dists in it. Nothing could be more indicative of the extra-
denominational dimensions of our Senior Bishop. This
remark meant something; what was it? Simply that the
name Turner stands for more than a surname, like Smith
or Jones, used to distinguish one family line from an¬
other. It 'has come to mean what men mean when they
use the word Napoleonic, a group of heroic qualities in
such number, variety and combination as to constitute a
dominant individuality.
(22)
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
23
The fact is, there may be more philosophy in a name
thing designated. There must have been something ob-
each animal in the garden by suiting the sound to the
thing designated. There must 'have been something ob¬
served in each instance which suggested itself as the sa¬
lient feature of distinction; otherwise we must conclude
that God submitted to a piece of childish caprice on Adam's
part, which was without wit or reason. I, for one, do not
believe that the creation which ended in a tragedy began
in a joke. True, Shakespeare intimates that there is
nothing in a name, saying a rose by any other name would
smell as sweet; but if we will just reverse the proposition
and inquire if the rose's smell by any other name would
sound as sweet, we may see some abiding and philosophic
relation between them as they stand. Why, even a girl
ought not to be named Rose unless she is sweet with the
fragrance and bloom cf budding and bubbling youth.
Poets and writers in all ages have recognized the value
cf onomatopoeia in literary excellence, and it is the
suiting of the measure to the theme that makes much
of the pre-eminence of the master poems of the world.
Note, in confirmation of this, if you please, the galloping-
measure of Virgil's "Arma virumque cano Trojae," in the
Aeneid; the swish and swirl in "How the Water Comes
Down at Lodoire;" the simple monotony of Longfellow's
"Hiawatha," and the tintinnabulations of Poe's great
poem, "The Bells."
So it strikes me as more than chance that this man
should be named Turner. No less a man than John Rus-
kin has told us of the superiority of Turner, the great Eng¬
lish painter, over the ancient masters; the unconquerable
manhood of Nat Turner, the slave, is a matter of American
history; we know the place of Turner, the English histo¬
rian, among the writers of his day; and of Turner, the
eminent physician and botanist of the sixteenth century,
in his: and to this illustrious galaxly we have but to add the
24
BISHOP TURNER'S
name of Henry McNeal Turner, the fearless Negro Na
varre, whose white plume is his gloiry shock of crinkled
fleece surmounting a head that has never bowed In servile
submission to any outrage. Surely here is intimation, at
least, if not proof, that Turner, like the word Napoleonic,
has become a qualitative adjective, standing for what
the men who bore it stood for in their lives.
Let us now consider what our Turner stands for, and
how he appears to the great lay world that looks on 'him as
a social, civic and political force outside of his ecclesiasti¬
cal place and denominational preference. It is no dis¬
paragement to any one to say that, though there may be
or may have been several within the pale of the Church
who have been as potent as churchmen as he whom we
discuss, none, so far as we know, have had so much power
outside of the Church as Bishop Turner. Indeed, to those
who know the cosmopolitan sweep of his sympathies and
the pugnacious vitality of his temperament,, it is little less
than surprising that he could persuade himself to remain
in any one church; but, cn the other hand, it is easy to
soe that, having decided to confine himself to some one,
that one would be the church that was born in a storm,
like the Afirican Methodist Church. If the observer knew
his man, he would also be prepared to hear that the
church was every now and then in turmoil because our
subject argued that where there was no law against a
thing, he was liber homo, free to become a law unto him¬
self.
Physically, Bishop Turner is a replica of what he is spir¬
itually. If a stranger should find his way into an assembly
hall whose platform was filled with noted characters, and
be told to pick out the one who had damned the nation
and made God black, he would have pointed out the ro¬
bust, restless, granite-skinned, line-lipped, silver-fleeced,
full-veined, eagle-eyed and lion-ported man whom we call
H. M. Turner.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
25
It was a favorite idea with Emerson that all the outward
forms in nature, such as trees, stones, birds and beasts,
are but symbols of some spiritual counterpart or quality
intended to teach man a moral lesson. David seemed to
have had the same idea, for he uses the flowers to set
forth the beauties of the Creator; the mountains to il¬
lustrate His strength; the sea to show His power; and the
small creatures of wood, field and cave, to teach His care.
And, in like manner, it will usually be found that a man's
face and form set the pattern for the cut of his soul.
Webcter looked like a lion, and he was a lion; Clay looked
like an eagle, and he was an eagle; G-rant looked like a
bulldog, and he was a bulldog; Talleyrand looked like a
fox, and he was a fox; Gladstone looked like a mastiff,
strong and benevolent, and that he was.
In painting the picture of Judas Iscariot, all artists give
him the hatchet face, the weasel eye, the hooked nose and
the tilted chin of the conscienceless money shark. In all
these instances, the inner man shapes the outer and is
represented by it. That is why our stranger, in looking
for a man to thunder when others purr, to smite when
others smile, to strike when others stroke, to mash when
others mince, to whcop when others whisper, and to con¬
demn when others commend, would point out Henry Mc¬
Neil Turner among ten thousand and say Nathan-like
"Thou art the man!" for the look is on him, betokening the
thing that is in him.
Just one other thought before we leave the physical
man: it is a cause for congratulation that Bishop Turner
has the short, crinkled hair characteristic of his race, for
he could not have done the woirk 'he has done without it.
Like Samson, whose strength lay in his hair, so racially
has -Bishop Turner's. Of a hue so light as to equal that
of many a white man, and sharing, too the Caucasian
blood, had his hair been straight, no power on earth
could have made the native African have the faith and
26
BISHOP TURNER'S
confidence in him that they do have today; but they
lookad and saw that the right hair was there, and then
they knew the right man was underneath. "Whatever
other criterion may be used, a man is bound to fall on the
side to which his hair belongs, especially if it be old Cush s
crinkled crown.
In manner, Bishop Turner is sudden, abrupt, and usually
unexpected; but he is never weak or aimless. He is un¬
conventional, and has no soft words for the man with
nerves. He gives and takes, but you must take whether
you can give or not. If a man will stand up and strike back
blow for blow, when the Bishop strikes most fiercely, that
man will never want for a friend in any future time; but
if he whines when Turner whacks, his place is fixed
among the scullions.
No one enjoys a fight quite so well as our Senior. He likes
to be in it, if possible; but if that cannot be, then he
likes to be in the neighborhood where it is going on. That
may explain why with all his denunciation of America, he
likes to stay here—the fighting is better. No man of our
race has ever said so many harsh, unvarnished and biting
things about the white American and livod to repeat it—
no man but Bishop Turner. There have been times when
it seemed that his radicalism meant death to him and
disaster to his followers, but when the storm had blown
over good results were to be seen. In more than one in¬
stance the guilty people of this land have been struck with
shame as they saw this hoary-haaded Elijah standing sin¬
gle and alone among their false prophets, and calling
down the fire of a just God upon them. Sublime picture!
A lion heart, an imprecatory lip, an accusing finger and a
righteous cause—who can stand before them?
At one time, as is well known, he was a chaplain in the
United States Army. His cloth would not allow (him to
shoulder a musket, but it could not prevent him from enter¬
ing the ranks where he might wield the sword of the
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
27
Spirit at short range against the enemy; for, while none of
his prayers are on aecord, I doubt not they were like Da¬
vid's prayers in calling for the destruction of those against
him as much as for the success of those on 'his side.
He is a devout man, having the utmost reverence for
the things of God. He has no fonder pleasure than to
look back to the time of his more youthful days when, in
church and camp-meeting, side by side with the God-taught
spiritual giants of that day, the times of spiritual refresh¬
ing came and God poured out blessings more thp.n they
were able to contain. Most of these men have gone over
the riveir to rest under the shade of the twelve-mannered
trees, and, like Job's messengers, he who receives our love
and honor today can almost say, "I only am left alone to
tell you." For these fathers, Bishop Turner has always
had the utmost respect and admiration. Possibly none
cf them were men of the learning of Bishop Turner him¬
self; but I have heard him say that in eloquence, earnest¬
ness, and power with God and man they had no superiors
in their own day and but few equals in our own. And
among these, as the record comes down to us, against his
protest, we must pronounce him chief.
Intellectually he has, against all odds, made his place.
There are few subjects that can be broached with which he
has not successfully grappled. Astronomy, geology, physi¬
ology, zoology, ethics and theology find him plucking their
precious fruits even now, to the shame of many of us who
have been led by easy paths almost to their very roots,
and yet refuse to put forth our hands.
All hail to thee, warrior, preacher, chaplain, statesman,
race-lover, bishop, man! Rigged and keeled for stormy
seas, licked at by lightning, hurtled by tempests and
foamed at by the demons of the deep, you have stood
manfully on the captain's bridge and are bringing your
vessel into port amid smoother waters and brighter skies.
We, your loving friends, wait on the wharf, to ship for the
28
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
next voyage, while you take rest and eternal comfort
the Christian sailor's Home.
Read May 15, i.905, at the 25th anniversary of Bishop
Turner's ordination to the bishopric, St. Louis, Mo.
REV. H. M. TURNER, D. D., AS A SOLDIER.
By Rev. R. French Hurley, D. D.
The indifference of the ordinary youth touching -the
things that enter into the make-up of life, the inability to
grasp the real significance and responsibility of life itself,
tend to make the earlier years of human existence well-
nigh a blank. Hence, when the developed mind of riper
years would return to the dim past in quest of a renewal
of the associations of the long ago and far away, it finds
hut little more than a few fragments scattered here and
there along the track over which we so carelessly trod.
How we would like to look again upon those with whom
we were permitted to come in contact, but as it regards
the real story of that contact, it is too late. Only the
mountain peak, or possibly here and there the aged oak,
or some granite cliff stand before the mind as reminders
of the forgotten story. As we gaze upon these, memory—
that wonderful faculty with which the All-wise Creator
has endowed the mind, comes to the rescue and reveals the
links that bind us to the forgotten.
Following these links, we are brought face to face with
those who were closest to us. The association may not
have been fully appreciated at the time; the deeds of the
noble and the true may have been undervalued, but time,
age and experience will enable us to see them more cleariy
and understand theiir relation to the trend of events
more fully. And yet when we attempt to discourse or
write upon any particular service rendered by an individ¬
ual, (however prominent that individual may be, with noth¬
ing but memory to draw upon, we undertake a task to
(29)
3°
BISHOP TURNER'S
which but few are equal. The more prominent the indi¬
vidual, the more embarrassing the task, and yet however
embarrassing, it is a great pleasure to recall the noble
deeds of those who performed well their part at the critical
periods of the history of a race or nation.
Standing here in this great city to-day, my thought looks
back through twenty-five years to 1880. It was then I saw
for the first time the great city of St. Louis. It was then,
also, I saw the first General Conference I ever attended.
My thought again turns backward, and I add seventeen
years, making forty-two years July 1st, 1905. Busy mem¬
ory breaks the sealed pages of the book of the past, while
recollection throws upon the mental camera scenes that
overwhelm the soul.
On the first day of July, 1863, when a boy a little over
sixteen years of age, I enlisted in the First TJ. S. Colored
Infantry, otherwise known as the first District of Colum¬
bia. This was a remarkable day. Every incident, every
order and every person with whom I' came in contact,
touched the most sensitive side of my nature and attracted
my utmost attention. Among the officers of the regiment,
none seemed to fill so conspicuous a place in my thought
as the chaplain. At that time I did not attempt to account
for this, but it is all perfectly clear to me now. When I
remember that he was not only the first pastor I ever had,
but the first recognized preacher of the race I hajd ever
seen, it is not to be wondered at, that I should think him
greater than the Colonel oir any other officer of the regi¬
ment. I would naturally want to know his name and
where he came from. It was not long till I learned that
his name was H. M. Turner and that he was from Wash¬
ington, D. C.
My first contact with him was brought about in rather
a singular way. When il enlisted I was quite small even
for my years. I had purchased a fife a short time before,
and the drum corps not being yet complete, I was assigned
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
3i
to it as filer without having been assigned to any com¬
pany. Hence I could not draw any rations or even a
uniform. Just about the time I began to feel the glory of
being a soldier departing, the chaplain, who seemed to be
in almost all places at the same time, happened along.
My 'dilemma was explained to him, and after asking me
a sufficient number of questions to satisfy me that the im¬
pression I had already received as to him being the most
important man in the regiment was correct, he left me
rather abruptly, saying, "I will look after the matter." It
was net long till the Sergeant Major came and ordered me
to report to the captain of Company B. This incident had
the effect of drawing our attention especially to each other.
At least he seemed to keep his eye on me, and I know I
watched him.
After laying on Mason's Island for some time, we were
ordered to Washington to guard contrabands. Here the
energy and devotion of the chaplain were taxed to their
utmost. 'But he was found to be equal to every test. Oc¬
tober 22nd, '63, we moved from Washington to the de¬
fenses of Norfolk, where we did duty till January 28th, '64.
During this time the true character of the chaplain as a
soldier and officer was fully developed. The other offi¬
cers and members of the regiment had become not only
devoted to him, but proud of him. It was while laying at
Portsmouth, Va., he as the result of his faithfulness to
the men, contracted the smallpox in its most violent type.
For many days we thought we had lost him, he having
been reported several times as dead. But God raised him
up, and he came back to the regiment and entered upon his
duties with greater zeal and earnestness than ever. There
was no condition in which the men could be placed that
he did not follow them, nor was there any danger to which
the regiment was exposed that he did not share. In our
expeditions through North Carolina and our many hazardous
campaigns in Virginia he was with us; not lagging in cho
32
BISHOP TURNER'S
rear, but with the regimental staff. Many times, when ac¬
cording to the duties of his office he could have been in the
rear, I have seen him far up front, where shot and shell
whistled and screamed about us as if the air were full of
angry demons.
Four times was our regiment cut up; four times was it
recruited; but I never knew him to evade the threatened
danger. At Wilson's Wharf, Petersburg, Chaffins Farm,
D^ep Bottom, Fair Oaks, Fort Harrison, Fort Fisher No.
1 and 2; Wilmington, N. C.; Cox's Briage, Warsaw and
Sugar Loaf; indeed, in most of the eighteen general en¬
gagements in which the regiment participated, H. M.
Turner was present and acting. In a severe storm on the
Atlantic from December 21st to 24th, 1864, he was with us.
While it looked as if we would go to the bottom of the
Atlantic every second, and hundreds of men were frantic,
he was cool and deliberate, exhorting the men to pray
and trust God.
But finally the surrender came and we had the oppor¬
tunity to study him more carefully in camp. As the ter¬
rible struggle neared its close, thoughtful men began to
think of the tremendous responsibilities that were be¬
ginning to face the country, growing out of the new con¬
ditions that had been produced by the war. Four mil¬
lions of newly emancipated human beings had been thrust
upon their own resources. What to do with them was the
question. The first act of H. M. Turner after the sur¬
render was to secure two teachers for the regiment. Miss
Lydia Warrick and Miss Sarah Carr of Pennsylvania were
brought to Roanoke Island to teach the men of the regi¬
ment. These were my first teachers, and H. M. Turner
was my first principal. In September 1864, in a series
of meetings held by him in camp at Harrison's Landing,
I was overwhelmingly convinced of my need of Salvation.
From this time on I was the object of his special atten¬
tion, counsel and prayer. At Roanoke Island in 1865, I
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
33
was detailed as clerk under him in the post office. This
brought me into his family—eating at his table with his
wife, who was there on a visit—sleeping in his apart¬
ments, and discharging my duties under his immediate
direction. Hence we were not only comrades in the same
regiment, but he was my pastor, my comforter when seek¬
ing Christ, the supervisor of my first educational interests,
my director in the business in the post, office of which he
had charge, and my father in his house. These facts one
might consider, would render me incapable of writing a
true, honest, impartial account of this comrade's career
as n, soldier and I freely grant that the review of these
delightful memories from the remote viewpoint of forty
years would naturally exert a powerful influence on my
mind; but I tell you to-day that he was not only the ob¬
ject of my highest admiration, but he was the idol of the
officers and men of that gallant regiment. As evidences
of this fact, I wish to state two or three incidents that are
still fresh in my mind to-day. No officer was more fre¬
quently consulted by the colonel of the regiment touching
matters of discipline and such like than Chaplain Turner.
1 remember on one occasion the regimont assembled on
Sabbath morning for divine service. Two men were tied
up by their thumbs at the guard house. These men were
brought down to the service and tied up to the limb of a
tree to listen to the sermon. The chaplain refused to
proceed with the sermon until they were let down, and al¬
lowed to take their seats. They were let down, and he
proceeded to deliver one of the most remarkable sermons
on military discipline and the duty of officers and men, it
has ever been my privilege to hear on any subject. Offi¬
cers and men wept like children.
I remember these incidents as evidences of his power
as a preacher and of his standing and influence in the reg¬
iment. I recall another incident that I have o"ft?n thought
of as of considerable importance, and ^hich, in my opin-
b
34
BISHOP TURNER'S
ion, shows more than any other one act the real character
of the man. The time to preach his final sermon to the
regiment came. President Johnson had issued an order
that the colored troops be mustered out of the service.
The chaplain in his last sermon called attention to the
President's order as an indication of the dark future for
the four millions of newly emancipated people in this
country. I remember some of the things he said on that
occasion. "This is a suspicious move. There is a dark
cloud behind it. I advise every man of you to buy your
rifle and take it home with you, and if you have no home,
bring it to my house in "Washington and I will put it in my
garret, where you can come and get it when you need it.
For just as sure as I am standing here, you will need it.
God save my poor people from the terrible storm of which
this ungodly order is a prophecy."
The history of forty years attests the wisdom of the warn¬
ing he then gave. For while it is a fact that we have not as
a race taken up arms against our oppressors, I believe
it to be also a tact that no other race in history would have
submitted to what we have without armed resistance. He
was then a man of between thirty-two and thirty-three
years of age. I was a boy of nineteen; and when I inter¬
pret the words of that last sermon in the light of the
events of forty years, they bring the true character of
H. M. Turner, the soldier, before us in no uncertain light
as a thinker. Yea, more. They show that as a thinker,
agitator and leader, there is very little difference between
H. M. Turner, the soldier, and H. M. Turner, ithe bishop.
I have seen him at the front with a musket, when ac¬
cording to the duties of his commission, his place was in
the rear. I have seen him moving among the men in
camp, counselling and instructing, when he could have been
resting in his tent. I have seen him conducting revivals
in camp with hundreds of men crying for mercy, when he
could have been taking his ease, and to the efforts and in-
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
35
fluence of no one man was the splendid standing to which,
the old first attained, more attributable than to the ef¬
forts and influence of Chaplain H. M. Turner.
Permit me to say our regiment was a splendid one. It
was twice favorably mentioned in general orders, once
by Major-General Wm. H. Smith, and once by Major-Gen¬
eral Benjamin F. Butler. A splendid regiment with a
splendid record. The first Negro regiment recognized by
the United States government. A splendid regiment with
a splendid chaplain. The first Negro chaplain commis¬
sioned by President Lincoln. Therefore, it not only af¬
fords me inexpressible pleasure, but I esteem it among the
highest honors that could be done me to be called upon to
present this imperfect index to the noble deeds that charac¬
terized the life of a true man at the most critical period
of this nation's history, and by all odds at the most dan¬
gerous and most uncertain epoch in the history of the
American Negro.
The Emancipation Proclamation was less' than three
years old when we were discharged. The condition of the
country as seen by the wisest men was chaotic, but as
seen by the Negro, it was chaos itself. How necessary it
was that bold but wise leaders should throw themselves at
the front of the untaught and inexperienced millions of the
race, and how providential that a man of H. M. Turner's
courage had been commissioned chaplain of the first Ne¬
gro regiment recognized by the government, thus af¬
fording him the military training and experience so necessary
as a Qualification for the leadership required by the con¬
dition of his people while passing through the awful ordeal
of reconstruction times. I am thankful to the beneficent
Providence that has preserved my life to bring this report
of the conduct, rvf the soldier and chaplain, H. M. Turner,
in the camp and on the field to the Church and to the Race
and to the Country.
36
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
I never felt more keenly my inability to do justice to a
subject than to the present, and yet I can assure you that
no attempt has afforded me greater pleasure. The signifi¬
cance of the service rendered by this distinguished sub¬
ject oif our discussion is not to be measured by what we
may be able to say about it; but rather by the conditions
existing at the time he volunteered said service on the
one hand, and in the light of the remarkable career he
has led during his subsequent life on the other. I need
not say to you that at the time he enlisted, the government
was refusing to enlist Negroes in its army. The Negro
had been declared free, but he was not a citizen of this
republic. The Southern Confederacy had declared that she
would show the Negro soldiers of the Federal army no
quarters. And yet he offered his services to the country.
Several companies' of the regiment of which he was chap¬
lain drilled in Washington with wooden guns, the gov¬
ernment refusing to furnish them arms. The government
having refused to enlist black men in her army, there was
no pay in sight, and yet H. M. Turner, true to his race,
was willing to be chaplain of the regiment composed of
men who, without arms, no promise of pay and with
threatened slaughter by the Confederacy, insisted that
±hey be allowed to fight for the preservation of the
Union. I need not state that the Confederacy on several
occasions made good its threat to show the Negro troops
no quarters, as the barbarity of Forts Pillow and Wagner
will attest.
I therefore bring him to you to-day, not only with his
acknowledged personal bravery, but a true type of the
brave men with whom he served so gallantly, and as a
humble comrade I twine this deserved laurel about his
venerable brow.
Representative New Jersey Annual Conference.
H. M. TURNER AS A STATESMAN.
By A. J. Carey, A. M., D. D.
During the first half of the nineteenth century, not one
of all the states in the Union held a more conspicuous or
prominent place in the public eye than the state of South
Carolina. Its "Nullification Act," its "Doctrine of State's
Rights," the brutality of its Preston Brooks, the eloquence
of its John C. Calhoun, the fiery spirit of sedition that
burned in the breast of almost every South 'Carolinian,
attracted the attention of the world to that particular sec¬
tion of the Young Republic of the Western Hemisphere.
In such a state as this, amid such turbulent times as these,
was born on the first day of February, A. D. 1834, a man
child, who was subsequently christened Henry McNeil
Turner.
Men have always taken the keenest interest in the
childhood and youth of those who in after years have be¬
come great. We inquire with interest into the parentage,
the environments and the education of the child that
grows from helpless babyhood to wisdom, power and
greatness. And we are especially interested in any cir¬
cumstances that seem to have had a marked bearing
upon the development of the qualities of greatness.
Ftom this standpoint, the childhood, youth and early
training of the illustrious subject of this brief sketch is
of abiding interest.
Unto others have been assigned the pleasurable tasks
of tracing the course of those inflences, parental and
otherwise, the harmonious blending of which has given
the world the distinguished prelate, the profound philos¬
opher, the mighty orator, the painstaking scientist, and
(37)
38
BISHOP TURNER'S
the venerable, erudite and well beloved Senior Bishop
of the A. M. E. Church, in whose honor WE have come,
and to do homage to One whom Millions of the Sons and
Daughters of Allen would gladly have gathered with us
to-day in this magnificent temple; in this great city beside
the Father of Waters if only it were possible for them
to be present here.
Unto me has been assigned the duty of presenting
Henry McNeil 'Turner, not as the matchless pulpiteer
whose burning eloquence has electrified a thousand con¬
gregations, nor as a stern Episcopate presiding with
firm yet gentle hand over the destinies of conferences
and the future of men, but as the rugged old oak, the
fearless hero, the loyal patriot, the brilliant statesman.
Born, as I have intimated, at a time when the Southern
mind and heart were being stirred to their profoundest
depths by the appeal of South Carolina's most eloquent
son, reared amidst the solons of the Palmetto State, at
the early age of fifteen being employed in a law office at
Abbeyville Court House, where daily, questions of state,
and the slavery and oppression of his race were dis¬
cussed, what else was to be expected than that the holy
fires of an undying patriotism would be kindled in his
youthful breast, that the light of prophetic vision shouid
burn brightly within his soul, and he should become seer,
sayer and sage?
The teacher of men must himself perceive the truth,
and then convey to others what has become his own. H3
must be both a seer and a sayer, whether he sees with the
material or spiritual eye. The power and permanency
of his work depend upon the accuracy of his seeing on
the one hand, and the sincerity, sympathy and felicity of
his saying on the other. The function of saying, also In¬
cludes a farther act of seeing; for the prophet, poet or
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
39
artist must know not only his own theme, as it ap¬
pears to himself, but also the nature and use of his In¬
strument of expression, and the minds of those whom ha
seeks to lead to his own standpoint, that they may re¬
ceive his vision.
In this double equipment, Henry McNeil Turner is su¬
premely great;not merely because of the richness and
variety of his gifts, but because of that Gladstonian fac¬
ulty of perceiving the aspects of many-sided human life
and character, and of presenting their relations in images
which remain, when the steps of argument and the the¬
ories of philosophy have faded away. It is this double
equipment, which he possesses in so marked a degree,
that makes him a Statesman, in the largest, broadest and
highest acceptation of that term.
It was during his pastorate of Israel Church, Washing¬
ton, D. C., in the year 1862, that he first heard and heeded
that louder, larger call which made hiim a preacher not
only of righteousness, for the emancipation of the souls
of men from the slavery of sin, but of universal liberty
and the emancipation of the bodies of all men from the thrall-
dom of an accursed system of human slavery. In re¬
sponse to this call he took the platform as well as the
pulpit, the stump as well as the sacred rostrum, and be¬
gan to lift his voice in clarion tones, pleading a while
for his oppressed and enslaved people; turning again with
fiery invective upon the sins of the nation trafficking in
human flesh. So earnest was his plea, so searching was
his invective, and so great the enthusiasm aroused wher¬
ever he spoke that he soon came to be in constant demand.
The "Washington Republican, a daily newspaper published
in the capital city, and many other prominent journals of
the day, gave much space to his speeches and devoted
many columns to editorial comment upon the earnest, elo-
4°
BISHOP TURNER'S
quent and profound discourses of the young pastor of
Israel Church.
And now again the young seer ascended the mount of
vision; again he scans the sky for the "Signs of the
Times;" again he bends low his ear to listen to the voice
of prophecy, the voice of history; and now he sees rising
in the fires that burn Moscow; he hears in the thunders
from Thermopylae's Pass, in the bugle blast from York-
town, and in the dreadful slaughter at Bull Run and
Antietam, that "He who would be (free must himself strike
the blow." Immediately he begins to advocate the en¬
listment of colored men as soldiers in tho United States
army. Israel Cihurch is turned into a recruiting station;
its pastor becomes a recruiting officer; the homes of its
members become the commissary from which recruits are
fed. Two companies of a hundred men each were raised,
sworn in by the United States recruiting officer, carried
to Mason's Island, and there quickly increased to full reg¬
iment strength, with ten companies and a thousand men.
This was the first Regiment of United States Colored
troops, and H. M. Turner was commissioned chaplain,
being the first colored man ever commissioned in the
history of the nation. His regiment passed through
thirteen bloody battles, twenty-four skirmishes and many
perilous positions. But an all-wise God was preserving
the life of this great soul for greater victories in peace
than he should ever achieve in war: and though his coat
was pierced by Southern balls and his hat itself shot
through, not a hair of his head was singed. And we hail
thee to-day, oh. mighty chieftain and rejoice in the prov¬
idence that has spared you to us and to the race till this
hour.
The war over, President Lincoln, having been assassi¬
nated, President Johnson re-commissioned Chaplain Turn¬
er, and gave him an appointment for life in the regular
army, ordering him to report to Gen. Branham in Au-
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
41
gusta, Ga. But no sooner did he reach his post in Georgia
than the deplorable condition of his people there appealed
so earnestly, so forcibly to his patriotic spirit and his love
of race, that he threw up his commission in the army and
began afresh his work among the lowly.
In 1867 the Reconstruction Laws were enacted by Con¬
gress. It was during this bloody, perilous period, these
times that tried men's souls, that the sagacity, the diplo¬
macy and the wisdom of Henry McNeil Turner, as well
as his courage, his bravery and absolute fearlessness
sihone forth as the sun in Meridian splendor.
He was requested from Washington to gather the peo¬
ple together, to organize, to instruct "and to address them
in public places. Six thousand dollars were placed in
his hands, and he was requested to leave no stone un¬
turned to the end that the recently emancipated Negroes
should possess and enjoy every right that belongs to an
American citizen, regardless of race, color or previous
condition of servitude.
Who has read aright the story of those dreadful days,
of Kuklux Klans, of midnight murders, of how the advo¬
cates of right and justice were hounded by day and hunted
by night, and does not appreciate the stupendous task
of one upon whom fell so great a responsibility? But
the worthy subject of this sketch proved himself mora
than a match for all that came against him, and gather¬
ing about him as counsellors, advisers and associate
speakers such cautious and capable men as J. M. Simms,
TJ. L. Houston, of Savannah; J. F. Long, of Macon; Edwin
Belcher and W. J. White, of Augusta; Madison Davis, of
Athens, and others, he stumped the state of Georgia from
the mountains to the everglades, and from ithe Chattahoo¬
chee to the sea.
A Constitutional Convention was held in Atlanta a few
months later and he was one of its most active members.
Here again his wisdom, judgment, learning and foresight
42
BISHOP TURNER'S
were brought into play, to the end that that convention
gave the Empire State of the South the best constitution
she ever had. In fact, so thoroughly sufficient and com¬
prehensive was that constitution that every attempt on
the part of the state of Georgia from that day until this to
frame a similar or better one has appeared like a miserable
abortion when compared to that splendid instrument pre¬
sented to and for the state by that (Constitutional Conven¬
tion of which Henry McNeil Turner was the moving and
predominating spirit.
In 1868, he was elected a member of ithe Georgia leg¬
islature, along with Tunis Campbell, A. A. Bradley and
Madison Davis. Afteir two years of most faithful and ef¬
ficient service, he was in 1870, re-elected. And it is a mat¬
ter of record that on one occasion he spoke more than
six hours on "The Eligibility of Colored Men to Hold Of¬
fice." He was easily regarded the ablest orator, the
most erudite scholar, and the most successful legislator of
the entire body.
But I might go on ad infinitum speaking of the in¬
estimable services that have been rendered his country by
this historic character; I might speak of his services as
Inspector of Customs, as Postmaster at Macon, Ga., as
United States Inspector of Internal Revenues, but I would
be telling you nothing new. I might speak of that larger
and far more important service that he has rendered his
race and nation as an earnest conservator of all that is
best in the body politic, as a fearless denouncer of human
wrongs, as one whose brain is ever active, whose pen is
ever in motion, and whose voice is ever uplifted to advise,
admonish, reprove ol rebuke. But why should I consume
your time in telling that which you already know. The
world knows Henry McNeil Turner. A man whose heart
is so large, whose life has been so transparent, and whose
illustrious services have been so conspicuous, needs no
eulogy from my feeble lips.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
43
Permit me to congratulate you, esteemed and honored
Sir, that after all your years of sacrifice and toil, you
have lived to see the dawn of a brighter day, a day in
which the principles for which you have so earnestly con¬
tended are slowly but surely giving evidence of a coming
ascendency. A day when at last the American Nation
has as its chief executive, that sterling character, that
splendid man, that heroic soul, Theodore Roosevelt, who
has been lifted by the power of the Gospel of Christ out
of the miasmic lowlands of race prejudice and color
hatred, who dares to declare that the door of opportunity
shall not be shut in the face of any man because of race
or color or previous condition of servitude, who said to the
mobs beating black men in Chicago but a (few days ago,
"Mob rule in this country must cease—if the city cannot
stop it, then back of the city stands the State, and back of
the State stands the Nation.
It is only by abortions, premature births, and unnatural
growths that the twentieth, century is still afflicted with
such undeveloped, ungodly, unholy caricatures on human
nature, as Tillman of South Carolina; Vardaman of Miss¬
issippi, Hearst of New York, and Patterson of Chicago.
The faith of the American people is developing a sturdy,
robust type of Christian manhood, liberal in scope and de¬
sign, aggressive and intensely practical. Its products
are those Godly men and noble women, North and South
alike who put character above color and right above race.
People rarely it ever, rise in the scale of social and in¬
tellectual being beyond the sentiments of their faith. The
religion of a people is, therefore, the index to the mind
and character of that people. The loss to any people,
then, of its faith, must be an irreparable loss. Regulus
said to the Romans, "The stability of the Republic is
due to the faith of the people in the people's gods," and
another added, "And when this faith fails, then the Re-
44
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
public will fall." And it did fall, but not until then.
The. hope of our civilization for the future will depend
upon the faith of the people in the people's God. Our
Navies may be composed of squadrons of powerful and
well-nigh invisible battleships, our Armies may be equal
in discipline, courage and martial prowess to the "Mace¬
donian Phalanx" or the "Roman Legions," but neither
Navies or Armies can repair the ruin wrought upon our
civilization and the dire destruction that will befall our
nation if we lose our faith in the i1 atherhcod of God, or
forget or ignore the universal Brotherhood of Man.
But, my friends, the future is bright with Christian hope
such as never before dawned upon humanity. This is
a Republic of providential birth and growth. This age
oclongs to God—the child of an inspired faith and instinct
with the authority of eternal truth. Not to see and rec¬
ognize tlhe spirit of the living Christ and the authority of
the roigning Jesus in the active, aggressive forces of this
wondrous age would be a reproach to the Church and
high treason against the Son of God.
The Spirit of Christ is hastening the day when the
Briton, the German, the French, tlhe Italian and the Negro
shall meet in the same society and commune at the same
altar. Then, and not until then, will the character and
the service of Henry McNeil Turner, orator, churchman,
philosopher, statesman, be appreciated at their real
worth. Then, and not until then,will Christian statesmanship
have accomplished its mission, then will Christianity, clad
in garments of eternal glory, shine forth, "clear as the sun,
fair as the moon and terrible as an army with banners."
Then will American civilization, purified and redeemed,
march forth and press the chaplet of eternal praise upon
the worthy brow of Henry McNeil Turner, while posterity
shall proclaim, "Well done, thou good and faithful serv¬
ant."
BISHOP H. M. TURNER, THE DOLLAR MONARCH.
By E. W. Lampton, D. D., Financial Secretary.
We live in an age largely marked by what is accom¬
plished as the measure of every given effort. "What is the
result? This is the great crucial question which now charac¬
terizes every achievement. Not so much) what did you do,
as what is the result of your doing. Upon the response to
this query depends the estimate which shall be placed
upon every exertion, having in view the accomplishment
of good. This is the spirit of the age in which we live,
which dominates 'Church, State, and every other form of
human endeavor. The work of those engaged in the serv¬
ice of the Church must be measured by the same rule.
From the subordinate officers of a local church, to the en¬
tire corps of general officers, without exception of tha
whole Church throughout the Connection, with bishops as
chief pastors.
Admitting these facts, let us note the evidences of well¬
doing as presented in the record of the bishops of the
Church. Recalling the statistics from 1872, when the
Dollar Money law was. enacted, the record of the Finan¬
cial department shows a grand total of $2,159,573.40
(two million, one hundred and fifty-nine thousand, five
hundred and seventy-three dollars and forty cents) Dollar
Money collected in the eight quadrenniums—from 1872 to
1904—by all the bishops in active service during that
time, which embraces the heroic labors1 of Bishops T>. A.
Payne, A. W. Wayman, J. P. Campbell, J. A. Shorter, T.
M. D. Ward, John M. Brown, H. M. Turner, W. F. Dicker-
son, R. H. Cain, R. R. Disney, W. J. Gaines, B. W. Arnett,
B. T. Tanner, Abram Grant, B. F. Lee, M. B. Salter
James A. Handy and W. B. Derrick, together with Arm-
45
46
BISHOP TURNER'S
strong, Embry, Tyree, Moore, Smith, Shaffer and Coppin.
Out of the total amount of Dollar Money collected in the
several annual conferences, presided over by these twenty-
five bishops—Bishop Turner turned into the coffers of the
Church, including the collection for 1904: $240,732.05 (two
hundred and forty thousand, seven hundred and thirty-
two dollars and five cents), making an average of $9,629.29
(nine thousand six hundred twenty-nine dollars and twen¬
ty-nine cents) per year; $802.45 (eight hundred two dol¬
lars and forty-five cents) per month; $201.11 (two hundred
one dollars and eleven cents) per week; $28.45 (twenty-
eight dollars and forty-five cents) per day; $1.19 (one dol¬
lar and nineteen cents) per hour; $.19 (19 cents) per min¬
ute, and $.03 (three cents) per second.
That much of this result is due to the energetic magnet¬
ism of this intrepid leader, inspiring his men, will be con¬
ceded. The outlook for the current quadrennium gives
promise that this Monarch of the Dollar will surpass his
previous record in the amount which the conferences in
his district will report at its close.
The aim of the originators of the Dollar Money System
was to provide a revenue sufficient to meet the demands
of the whole Church, and to abolish the incessant demands
upon the membership. We have now only three legal general
church collection days: Easter, Children's and Endow¬
ment Day. The fond hope of the lamented Henry J.
Young, the father of the Dollar Money law, has not yet
been realized, of securing for, or from every one of our
church members, one dollar per annum by which the sum
of $800,000 (eight hundred thousand dollars) would be
coffered into the Financial Secretary's custody every year,
aggregating each quadrennium the enormous sum of $3,-
200,000 (three million, two hundred thousand dollars).
The total amount of Dollar Money collected for the past
four years was $533,994.28 (five hundred and thirty-three
thousand, nine hundred and ninety-four dollars and twen-
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
47
ty-eight cents) a fraction more than sixteen cents a year,
per member. The steady increase of the Dollar Money
both as to per capita as well as in the aggregate, together
with, the growing popularity of the system among the mem¬
bers generally, warrants the indulgence of the fond hope
that in the not distant future the Church will collect the
remaining eighty-four per cent, when the finances of
the Church will be placed upon a solid basis, which by
judicious expenditure will give to the veteran indigent
ministers of the Church, the widows and orphans, the
Church Extension, educational, together with the Financial
Department ample means to sustain each of them, and
supply funds for the rapid extension and full development
of all varied interests of our great Church, and thus make
Allen's Church a great fountain-head whence shall flow
streams of living water to every part of our land and
country, thereby contributing our share to the betterment
of the world.
The A. M. E. Church has already, under God, accom¬
plished a great work for humanity, and by the labors of
its armies of missionaries scattered in Africa (of which
Bishop Henry McNeil Turner is our pioneer) and the
Islands of the Sea, is destined to earn for itself a prom¬
inent part in the grand Coronation Scene when the Lord
Jesus shall be crowned Lord of all, amid the glories of the
Last Day!
On mainland, in valley, on plain and mountain summit,
our faithful ministry (supported by our loyal members
and friends) is laboring to spread the tidings of salva¬
tion, till from the highest hill to the lowest vale, from
city, town and hamlet, to the sea, the story of the As¬
cended Saviour shall be told to all mankind.
"Hail! 'Dollar Monarch,' hail!
Let friendship long prevail,
And bind us fast.
48
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
May harmony and peace
Your happiness increase,
And friendship never cease,
While life doth last.
We on the level meet,
And every brother greet,
Skilled in your art;
And when your labor's past,
From the 'Church at last,
Friendly we part.
May wisdom be your care,
And virtue form the square
By which you live,
That you at last may join
The Heavenly Church sublime,
Where we will perfect shine,
With God above."
BISHOP H. M. TURNER AS MISSIONARY AND
PROMOTER OF MISSIONS.
By Rev. H. B. Parks, D. D., Secretary of Missions.
Mr. Chairman:
There ihas never been a great and conspicuous leader in
the Christian Church from its beginning to the present
time, who was not, in fact, or in spirit a missionary. Tt
could not be otherwise. The Church in all lands, and in
all ages, is the body of Christ, built up by the <Spirit of
God, working through human instrumentality. The in¬
dwelling spirit shapes the body. However great there¬
fore, may be the intellectual abilities of any man who
strives for leadership in the Kingdom of G-od, however
rare his opportunities, however conspicuous may be
his temporary fame, and influence in the Church,
he is absolutely sure to fall short of real and per¬
manent eminence, unless he obtains the assistance,
the co-operation, of the Spirit of God. Now this assist¬
ance and co-operation are not to be had for the mere ask¬
ing, noir even because they are really wished for, nor yet
because they are needed, but they are the gift of obedi¬
ence,—obedience to the last command of Jesus, that trum¬
pet call to missions: "Go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every living creature." To all such Jesus
has given his promise, "Lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world." Therefore it has ever been
that the man pre-eminent in missions, is pre-eminent in the
leadership of the Church.
There has never been a better illustration of all this
than in the life, character and achievements of that great
man, not only the greatest in our Connection, but the
c (49)
5°
BISHOP TURNER'S
greatest living representative of his race, in whose honor
this great assembly has met. He has been faithful ":o the
uttermost in this one thing so dear to the heart of Christ,
and God has pout ed out His blessings upon him and has made
him great in all things. But however great he may be as
an orator, as a scholar, as a statesman; however eminent
his services may have been as Bishop of the African Meth¬
odist Episcopal Church; the brightest jewel in the crown
of Henry McNeil Turner, that particular, brilliant and
ever-striking feature of his life, which shall serve to keep
his name forever conspicuous in the history, not only of
our Connection, but of the Church universal, is the fact
that he is the first, and greatest Negro missionary, to
the Negro race! Think what that means. The pioneer
of a movement that means the ultimate elevation, Chris-
tianization, civilization of a whole race of people; the
conquest of a vast continent for Christ, the Church and
humanity.
When in the future generations, the culture, the re¬
finement, the peculiar type of civilization which shall be
wrought out in Africa by the native, inborn, God-given
spirit of the Negro race shall react upon the rest of man¬
kind, removing prejudice, exciting mutual sympathy, add¬
ing a rich stock of the fruits of the heart, and intellect, to
the common stock of the world, and above all, exhibiting
the divine love and Fatherhood of God, in the real and uni¬
versal brotherhood of man, how brightly shall shine in the
galaxy of the world's heroes the name of that great man,
who was the real pioneer of all this magnificent achieve¬
ment, as the first Negro missionary to the Negro race?
His place in this great movement can never be obscured.
He has not only been a pre-eminent missionary in his own
person, but he is the spiritual father from whom has
sprung a prolific progeny of missionary children. He has
kindled the fires of missionary enthusiasm in unnum¬
bered souls. Gifted with an abiding faith in the capacity
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
51
of our race; gifted with a profound insight into the im¬
mediate duties of the Church; gifted with a far-seeing
■vision of the future opportunities for advancing the Church
and the race, Bishop Turner has ever been a mighty lead¬
er, a Moses, conducting a sometimes reluctant people to¬
ward the promised land.
Moses, the Scriptures tell us, sent spies into the land to
discover its real character, and they came hack with terror
in their hearts. Our great Bishop went in his own person
and came back the brave lion that he went. And wher¬
ever he went in Africa as at home, there was not only
planted the seed of a church, hut there was reaped the
harvest of a whole conference;—a conference whose work
and influence has continued to rise, overthrowing, and
driving out the power and despotic reign of tyrants, until
the light of the twentieth century shines upon it, and, be¬
hold! from the ranks of the descendants of those who
over three hundred years ago came to our shores in irons,
has evolved an army of qualified volunteers, ready and
willing to enter the new cycle of Africa's evangelization,
and in the power of God to lay hold upon the work and
sacrifice it brings, pushing it step by step up from Cape
Colony into the Transvaal, through the Orange Free
States, Mashonoland, Zambesi, Natal, the Soudan, and on
and on until it reaches the fertile spots in the great Sahara.
Oh! fellow-laborers, lift up your eyes and behold this
man of God, this Missionary hero! Indeed,, I see in the
glimmer of the distant future the civilization that has
stood the test of time advancing to the Negro Belt, the
great barrier between the white man and the Negro worn
away; I see the Christianity that has made man gieat, ex¬
tended, the slave-trade done away with, the enmity, preju¬
dice, tribal strife forgotten, the flow of commercial peace
established, the world acknowledging the majesty of that
grand and beautiful "Dark Continent"—dark no longer.
Yea, beneath the skies of the tropical sun and amid the
52
BISHOP TURNER'S
grandeur of her lofty mountains, I can see the great fam¬
ilies of the Bantu, Bushman, Dutch, Fingo, Hottentot,
Pygmy, Scotch and Portuguese and, indeed, all men of
that giant domain with joined hands doing reverence to
the memory of this thrice-blessed hero, this Missionary
of the Cross.
The life of this great man reminds me of a beautiful and
fruitful valley. If we are a stranger to the region we
'hread our way along through it, casting admiring
glances a/t the rich fields of waving grain, the broad mead¬
ows of green grass; we see in the distance the outlines
of vast forests whose mighty trees rear their heads so
high toward t,he blue sky that their roots must first have
thrust themselves into the rich soil centuries before; we
observe the fat cattle, and the comfortable homes of the
people, and we say to ourselves: "Ah, here is indeed a
happy and prosperous and rich, community dwelling in a
fertile valley. From whence did this soil get all this
richness?" And then as the road rises gradually from
the valley and we find ourselves upon the mountain side,
we turn and the secret is revealed to us. In the distance
there gleams upon our vision what seems at first like a
silver thread winding its way amidst the darker colors of
the valley, and from either side other silver threads wind
into it, and finally it develops before our eyes into a
mighty river. Then we understand that it is the life-
giving waters of this stream that has made this fertile
valley to blossom like a rose. And now to-night, standing
at this elevated point in the career of our great BishDp
and gazing back over his life, so varied in its activities,
so rich in its achievements, so characterized by burning
zeal, and so full of real success, we ask ourselves the
same question: "What is the source of this fertility and
of this rich fruitage?" and there flashes on our vision the
>ame silver thread gleaming brightly in the first years of
his ministry and gathering ever in size and ramifying into
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
53
every comer and feature of his work, the silver thread of
missionary enthusiasm—missionary enthusiasm., the living
source of this wonderful, interesting and most successful
life.
Time will not permit me to recount that career. It
known to you all. Others have told the story better
than I can do. It will be the theme for the future histo¬
rian. But wherever you may choose to look into it you
will catch the gleam of that silver thread, for wherever
he may have been, or whatever he may have been doing,
he was always a missionary and a promoter of missions.
Missionary zeal made him a preacher of Jesus Christ
while still but a boy; missionary enthusiasm carried him
preaching the same glorious gospel through most of th9
Southern States in the decade before the Civil War; you
well know what sublime courage and deep faith and con¬
suming zeal were required in the man who would carry the
Gospel to our people in that memorable decade seething
with human passion; missionary enthuisasm and love for
his people made him the first Chaplain of the first Negro
Regiment in the mighty war that brought them their lib¬
erty; gifted with a mighty intellect, a heart that never
quails, a power of speech that moves and convinces his
hearers, the prophetic vision and constructive talents of
the real statesman, there was no political honor to which
he might not have attained, but he refused to surrender
the religious leadership to which the had been called of
God for a political leadership which could be but the gift
of men. Missionary zeal led him from the camps of the
soldiers to the plantations and cabins of his people; from
the capital and the halls of legislation to the churches
anid assemblies of his race that he might plant in their*
souls not merely the love of political liberty, but that bet¬
ter and truer liberty which is of Christ Jesus. How well
he wrought and how fully the blessings of God were
poured out upon his efforts in Georgia in those early days,
54
BISHOP TURNER'S
is clear to us all, for it is the banner stato in our Con¬
nection in numbers and strength. Missionary zeal and a
profound insight into the needs and capacities of our
race early turned his thoughts to the great continent from
which our ancestors came. For the past thirty year?
his zeal for Africa's redemption has burned with a con¬
suming flame. In the face of an opposition that would have
chilled the enthusiasm and dampened the courage of any
other man, he has continued to drive home the unanswer¬
able truth, to burn it into the heart and brain, that it is the
duty, the God-given privilege of the American Negro to
Christianize and civilize the Negro of Africa.
In the days of our servitude the white people who de¬
fended slavery were wont to argue that it was ordained of
God that we should be torn from Africa that we might be
converted to Christianity in America. The argument was
born of cant and hypocrisy and meant to salve their own
troubled consciences. But behold it has come true to this
extent that God has made it possible in his divine Provi¬
dence that the blood and tears of our people should not
have been shed in vain,, but that out of them should be
born the redemption of that vast continent from which our
forefathers were so cruelly torn. That such will be the
result, who can doubt? Standing upon the heights of an
intellectual and moral and spiritual greatness to which
he attained by conforming his will and mind and heart
and life to that last great command of Jesus Christ, his
vision is enabled to penetrate deep into the future, and
when these things shall have come to pass and the fu¬
ture historian shall record them, the name of Bishop
Turner will remain a household word among the people
of two continents. The same zeal which led him to talk
about Africa and plead for Africa led him to go to Africa.
When for eight years he was President of our Board of
Missions, he kindled the fire of missionary zeal in so many
hearts that we seemed then for the first time to have
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
55
really become a missionary church. Fired by the same
(holy zeal, he founded the paper which is recognized as
the missionary organ of our Church today. A single copy
of that paper finding its way to Africa was instrumental
in adding a whole denomination to our Connection. And
so I might continue to tell you of Bishop Turner as a
Missionary and a Promoter of Missions, and to show how
his whole life has been but the manifestation in one form
or another of his consuming missionary enthusiasm. But
it is enough.
In meeting together thus in this great assembly, I do
not consider that we are so much honoring this great man
as that we are being honored. To be permitted to speak
here in eulogy of his character, his life and his work, is to
guarantee something of immortality to our names by at¬
taching them to his. As time shall pass the greatness of
the man, the clearness of his vision and the permanence
and importance of his work will become clearer and clear¬
er and be more and more appreciated. It is a matter of
extreme gratification that in 'his own lifetime he is> recog¬
nized as the greatest living representative of his race.
But when in the distant future history shall record the
story of the Negro race in America during the first three
hundred years, I can see three great characters standing
out in its pages towering above all the rest: Toussaint,
Douglass, Turner (Soldier, statesman, preacher, embody¬
ing courage, wisdom and spirituality, typical of the army,
the civil government, the Church) three names to conjure
with; three ideals to inspire a people to achievement; three
pillars upon which to found a nation.-
BISHIOP H. M. TURNER AS A RACE LEADER.
By Rev. J. S. Flipper, D. D., President Morris Brown
College, Atlanta, Ga.
Mr. Chairman:
A quarter of a century! Twenty-five years! Easy to
utter, brief in words, but momentous in thought, when we
reflect and consider the work, the struggles, the tears, the
responsibilities, one's own personal interests and those of
all sentient beings to whom he sustains 2 relation, and the
principles or motives that actuate one in the discharge
of duty, or conformity to obligation.
Could one's work be solitary and individual throughout
life or any stated portion of life, he would have but a
small world in Which to play his part, but when we con¬
sider the universe of sentient beings and not only the at¬
titude of mind which should be ours, but the obligation
that arises to carry into execution our good purposes, the
efforts to do good to all mankind, we find that life can
only be truly measured in the light of the divine injur1 c-
tion, "Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
It is not a partial interest for a part of mankind, but a
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and per¬
secute you.'Herein is found the basis of all virtuous action,
benevolence.
broad, universal wellwishing for all beings, and in propor¬
tion as such a principle predominates in the very nature
of an individual, in the same proportion does he rise above
the selfish and narrow, and seek the best interest of all.
The man who embodies in himself this chief character¬
istic and there radiates from this center those actions
which turn in every direction to a universal humanity, is
best fitted to be styled a Race Leader: on the other hand.
(56)
quarto-centennial.
57
the one who is narrowed down to race itself is selfish,
and wherever universality of interests is curtailed, benev¬
olence ceases to exist, and the individual at his very foun¬
dation is morally wrong.
A Race Leader should be morally right, and this he
cannot be unless benevolence, the wishing of well being to
all, lies at the basis of all his actions.
a Race Leader must stand on no less a platform than
that of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of
man; his slogan must be that of Paul on Mars' Hill:
"God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to
dwell on all the face of the earth."
A Race Leader who fully realizes that "a fountain,
cannot at the same time send forth sweet and bitter wa¬
ter," or that one cannot at the same time be morally
right and morally wrong, places himself squarely on be¬
neficence as the true basis of character. He is then in
the proper attitude for work, and being thus prepared,
other qualifications must make known his fitness as a
Race Leader.
First, lie must have an apprehension of what to do.
Aimless intellectual wandering to strike the proper chord
of action weakens the confidence of the followers, having
apprehended what to do, he must have the power or
ability to do, or in other words, there must be harmony
between the apprehension and executive acts, and these
qualifications must have associated with them, courage
to birave dangers, difficulties, opposition, persecution, and
at times, even deatih itself for the interests of those whose
needs demand a wise and aggressive leadership. The
right must be vindicated, ithe wrong condemned.
A Race Leadership demands keen insight, unbiased men¬
tality, unswerving aggression, magnanimity, stupendous
and lofty aims, and he who would dare to assume or have
thrust upon him such claims by his friends, must have
stood out in the broad glare of ithe searchlight of public
58
BISHOP TURNER'S
opinion and met its approving as well as criticising eye.
We do not claim too much, nor do we arrogate too
much for the A.. M. E. Church or race when we point to
the distinguished and honored Prelate in the person of
Henry McNeil Turner, the Pioneer, Soul-gatherer, Ex¬
pansionist, Apostle of Education, College Builder and
Race Defender.
Let us look at him in the days of reconstruction in the
state of Georgia, when it tried men's souls to stand up
for the race, amid the march of Kuklux and midnight
marauders, anri see, if not like Henry of Navarre, he was
not in the thickest of the battle, and wherever his voice
was heard, as the white plume of Henry of Navarre waved,
the people rallied to the cause of right and justice, he took
life in his own hands, hid in the swamps, under mail sacks
on the train, guarded by night, yet he thundered in the
ears of the opposite party, their injustice and oppression
of his race, and since the political days of Henry McNeil
Turner in Georgia, there has risen no leader to call con¬
ventions, to set before the world the wrongs perpetrated
upon the Negro race.
If you would judge of a Leader's worth take the just ac¬
knowledgment of his enemies and you have as a rule the
true measure of the man and his greatness.
When the Negro members of the Georgia legislature
were expelled in 1868, no Negro dared to lift his voice in
condemnation of the act but Henry McNeil Turner. He
it was who called a convention at Macon, Ga., and 136
delegates from 82 counties were present. Of tihis con¬
vention Avery, in his history of Georgia, said: "This col¬
ored convention was an important and a very melodra¬
matic body. It held closed meetings, excluding white men.
In nothing was it more remarkable than its bitter charac¬
terization of the white Radicals, who had voted for their
expulsion from the General Assembly. There were some
venomous and incendiary speeches, but these unlettered
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
59
men went to work to do their business of retribution and
recovery of their privileges in an extraordinary practical
way. Turner made a strong speech, declaring he would
break up the legislature. He wielded his sable hearers in
a solid purpose," and Henry M. Turner, with Foster Blod-
gett, P. M. Sheibly, H. P. Farrow, J. W. Clift, J. M. Simms,
J. T. Costin, was appointed a committee to go to Washing¬
ton anid urge Congress to carry out the desire of this
convention.
This shows the courage, the fortitude, the daring of the
man we meet to-day to honor as a Race Leader. Not shel¬
tered in lordly palace or mansion, but headquarters in the
field, he faced his enemies, hurled his thunderbolts with
such force and masterful effect that they feared the very
sound of his voice and trembled when they read his scath¬
ing philippics against the wrongs and oppressions of his
race. He wielded an intellectual spear that made its way
through the thickest coat of prejudice, he sounded a toc¬
sin that called thousands to action, and marshalled his
forces with a precision that ultimately ended in the
triumph of the right.
The Georgia State and Industrial College for Negroes is
but the shadow of what Henry McNeil Turner contended
for in the legislative halls of Georgia in the days of the
sixties, and had it not been for the intervention of some
northern people the old State Capitol at Milledgeville
would be to-day a school of higher education for the Negro,
and in all the history of Georgia for forty years can be
seen the work, genius and leadership of Henry McNeil
Turner.
'His leadership since his elevation and consecration to
the bishopric has strengthened the stakes and length¬
ened the cords of our Zion in this country and given it a
name never before enjoyed at the four cardinal points of
the earth. His fortitude and faith braved the waters
of tho deep for West and South Africa that has made his
6o
BISHOP TURNER'S
leadership for his race know no limits save the boundary
lines of our world.
He planted in Africa principles that will live when Brit¬
ish power will be but a statement of history and his name
will be emblazoned in the gathered glory of the march
of all ages.
As a Race Leader for mental development and educa¬
tional facilities, he has written his name in the annals of
the Church to be praised as long as the sons of Allen gath¬
er around the altars of God and African Methodism.
Morris Brown, in its finished condition, is the result cf
his fearless, untiring and self-sacrificing leadership for his
race. He planned and worked when others labored to
thwart his plans; he toiled while others slept; he sacri¬
ficed while others grumbled; he marched when the fol¬
lowers were few; he pledged property when the clouds
were dark and lowering; he moved forward when others
stood still; he lifted his voice like a trumpet, when others
cried against his utterances, but burdened with the inter¬
ests of his race, he swept men out of his pathway, took
the educational interests of Georgia and planted them on
the heights where the world beholds them as never be¬
fore, and marches with a steady tread to the head of the
column of the thousands of Sons and Daughters of Allen.
But you say, if your description of tue facts be true,
was he not despotic? Yes. Then if this be true, how
can benevolence underlie his actions, because despotism
smacks of tyranny, but I give a new meaning to despot¬
ism, or rather present it in a new light. It is a keener
foresight into the interests of a people than their own,
which arms and nerves one, despite opposition and mur¬
muring, to march like a plumed knight through the ranks
and plant success where it belongs, loose the scales from
the eyes of hid followers, while they swell the chorus ft
plaudits that send his praise around the world.
You may place other men in comparison with him, but
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
61
none ahead of him. You may single out men his equal in
partial characteristics, but in the full rounded man you
must beat a retreat before his numerical greatness.
Some may surpass him in polish and politeness, but
in richness of sympathy and abundance of mercy he is the
image of the lowly Nazarene.
Some may be his equal or superior in latter day train¬
ing, but none surpass him in pantological research and
knowledge.
If you would form a conception of him as a Race Lead¬
er, write the name of Bruce on Mercury, 35,000,000 miles
from the sun; Langston on Venus, 66,000,000 miles; Elliot
on Mars, 139,000,000 miles; Toussaint L'Ouverture on Ju¬
piter, 476,600,000 miles; Councill on Saturn, 871,000,000
miles; Washington on Uranus, 1,754,000,000; Douglass on
Neptune, 2,746,000,000 miles then ask for wings of eternal
flight and go beyond all known worlds and somewhere in
ether itself emblazon with a pen dipped in million-hued
rainbow the name of Henry McNeil Turner.
THE MAN AND THE OCCASION.
By D. F. Caliman, D. D.
Mr. Chairman and Brethren:
This occasion is one of distinct importance. It compre¬
hends the life-work and growth of a church; not only of
a quarter century during which time a man of special
distinction and worth has filled the highest place in the
gift of its constituency; hut which embraces the whole
career of the life struggles and accomplishments of a
unique character, the Rt. Rev. H. M. Turner, D. D., LL. D.
This would take us back seventy-two years, a period al¬
most equal to that of three-quairters of a century, since the
man whom we have met to honor first began life in this
world. Therefore, to celebrate his Episcopal career of
twenty-five years is the province of this occasion and
more, because mare years than twenty-five are necessarily
connected with the meaning and potency of this occasion.
Let us consider our contemplation. (1) By a glance at
our history and growth.
The life and times of Bishop Turner are inevitably in¬
terwoven with the history and progress of the A. M. E.
Church. Seventy-one years from the first day of last
February Bishop Turner was born at Newberry S. C.
The organic life of the A. M. E. Church was at this tima
but seventeen years old.
The Rt. Rev. Richard Allen of revered memory, the
founder of the Church, who adorned the Christian profes¬
sion by his life, and who was not a whit behind the chief
of Protestant Reformers, except in the matters of literary
attainments, had been dead only two years. There were
only four annual Conferences, viz.: t!he Philadelphia, Bal¬
timore, New York, and the Ohio or Western Conference;
62
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
63
the latter having been organized three years previous by
Rt. Rev. Bishop Morris Brown. The territory of this new
conference comprised all of Pennsylvania, west of the
Alleghany Mountains and all of Ohio. This marked the
bounds of the Church westward. It consisted of twenty-
four points and five circuits, namely, Pittsburg, Colum¬
bus, Chillicothe, Hillsborough and Zanesville. The to¬
tal membership "of the Ohio District was 1,194, seven
itinerant preachers and as many more local.
This year, 1833, conference opened in the city of Pitts¬
burg, Bishop Morris Brown presided and Rev. iLewis Wood¬
son was its secretary, and William Paul Quinn was sta¬
tioned over the Pittsburg Circuit. This man was des¬
tined under God to push the conquest of the Church far¬
ther west. The General Conference, 1840, appointed him
missionary to the state of Indiana and Illinois. In four
years' time he reported at the General Conference forty-
seven churches, two thousand members and twenty-
seven traveling preachers. This mission had been extend¬
ed also into the states of Kentucky and Missouri, the
church at St. Louis being reported as enjoying a very
prosperous-state with a membership of one hundred fifty,
This General Conference was held in the city of Pitts¬
burg, 1844, at which time Elder Quinn was elected the
fourth Bishop of the A. M. E. Church, just eleven years
from the time and at the same place he received his first,
appointment. Indeed, a "New Era" had dawned upon
the Church of Allen. The light of renewed progress in
various churches beamed' along the career of such il¬
lustrious characters as Payne, Campbell, Wayman, Short¬
er, Brown and Ward. When in 1868 the three latter were
ordained Bishops, Paul Quinn, the great missionary and
pioneer of the Church, was present and officiated in the
same as the senior Bishop. Now, when the General
Conference met in St. Louis, in 1880, this bishop of special
missionary fame had passed to the region of the blesse L.
64
BISHOP TURNER'S
At this conference Elder Henry McNeil Turner, D. D..
was elected Bishop.
From the character of these men of God, the work ac¬
complished, their positive hardihood relative to conquest,
as to conviction and duty, it would seem that Bishop
Turner, under God, was and is the immediate and divinely
appointed successor of Bishop Quinn.
We are aware that besides many of his praiseworthy
accomplishments, "The state of Georgia owes more to Rev.
H. M. Turner than to any other man for great connectional
strength, for it was he who organized this state for Af¬
rican Methodism." His great interest in the education
and general elevation of his race, his unflagging courage
and resistless aggressiveness mark him as a most unique
character.
The whole Church accords him the highest place so
far, as a missionary Bishop, having gone to "West Africa
several times, and also to South Africa, and there estab¬
lished the A. M. E. Church for the first time in the history
of tlhe world, which to-day has a membership of several
thousand. Bishop Turner has lived till the Church of his
choice has grown from four conferences to sixty-one; not
only so, but he has been a potential agency in assimilating
tihis growth and development. (2) Some forecasting as to
the subsequent Church relative to this occasion.
The Church is our richest heritage, our choicest pos
session. It opens to us the avenues to all that is purest,
best and good, and on its foundation, Jesus Christ, we
may safely rely. It places us in contact with the wisest,
the tenderest, the saintliest and the bravest characters
that have adorned humanity. It endeavors to instruct her
youth in purity, gentleness, truth, virtue, and knowledge.
No field in all the realms of noble endeavor affords so
nearly such an opportunity to develop tlhe best that is
within us, and to be an incentive for light, courage, power,
loftier thinking and living, and blessing to humanity.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
65
Where in all the lines of usefulness could a life be devoted
and spent to such unperishable affluence as that which is
given by the Church of God? To earnestly aspire to ittf
best and loftiest place is a holy strife, when ijnbued with
the spirit to be the greatest good to the greatest numbers.
Considering the times and circumstances which the
A. M. E. Church has had to confront during the last
twenty-five years, it would seem that a more befitting
character could hardly be found as that of our own Bishop
Turneir. His personality, worth and labors in the Con¬
nection have reared for himself a living monument more
enduring than marble or granite.
The Church needs such great souls whose influence is
far-reaching, and leaving in their wake golden sentiments
of strong faith. The foundation principles of our holy
religion must be maintained. There is much want of
room for the safe and positive anchorage of the Church rel¬
ative to divine revelation, the necessity of regeneration,
sanctification, and the witnessing of the spirit to our ac¬
ceptance with God, through faith in ouir Lord Jesus
Christ. The Church must be held and maintained in
purest light. Business should not ihave the first call on
young men, and last the Church. The Church needs the best
young men, and the young men in return need the Church.
It needs the best minds and the best equipped men. ' A
man to be a man must have a well-developed intellect,
a well-developed body and a well-developed sense of mor¬
al and religious principles." Unless these obtained th®
noble work of the fathers will not go successfully on. The
Church will receive an impetus by reason of this occasion.
Should we not pray, may we not anticipate that our own
humble and feeble expressions of esteem for this our
senior Shepherd and all the rest shall inspire him and
them as much as in them lies to be the alchemy of the
whole church anid race. Have they not many times ex
65
66
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
emplified this spirit, and shall we not still expect of them,
believe in them to pilot our grand old Church safely
through the breakers under the mighty God? We will, by
the help of God we will.
Representative from the Pittsburg Conference.
BISHOP H. M. TURNER AS A PUBLISHER.
By T. W. Henderson, D. D.
In the 118th year of her onward march, the AFRICAN
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (halts a moment that
her sons and daughters in America and beyond the seas
may look with reverent and grateful eyes upon the modest
milestone which marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the
episcopal ordination of the venerable SENIOR BISHOP,
HENRY M'NEIL TURNER, and that from the humble
stone that stands at the end of a quarter of a century of
service in the high and sacred office of Bishop, the earnest
eyes may be turned backward over the long pathway of
seventy-two years, and view with thanksgiving to Al¬
mighty God for the wondrous grace with which he has led
onward from his humble cabin home at Newberry Court¬
house, South Carolina, the child who has become the man
Ti hom the nation knows and respects, and whom the race
and Church delight to honor.
To me has been given the pleasant task of briefly tell¬
ing of four important years in the official life of our Senior
Bishop, and of concisely speaking in a general way of one
among the many activities of his strenuous career.
While it is true that the monumental achievements of
Bishop H. M. Turner, which will tower high above the
plain of ordinary deeds, and which will command the at¬
tention anid challenge the admiration of the historians of
the Church, even in the most distant periods of the fu¬
ture, will be those which mark his life as a Bishop, yet it is
also true that the lofty monument will owe the strength
with which it withstands the ravages of the passing cen¬
turies to the solid pedestal of humble and inconspicuous,
but noble and true-hearted hours, and days and years of
d
68
BISHOP TURNER'S
life, that rest, like the mountain's base, upon the rock of
faith, upon which he began to build, when in his thir¬
teenth year he sought the help of God in sincere prayer.
The topmost stones of this time-defying pedestal are
those that were laid during the years between 1876 and
1880, when Henry M, Turner was Business Manager of the
Book Concern.
In the month of May, 1876, in old Bethel Church, Wheat
St., Atlanta, Ga., the largest General Conference ever
assembled, up to that date by our Connection, opened its
session. Many and grave were the problems before the
Church, mighty and threatening were the difficulties to be
confronted, but a host of the strongest, most unselfish,
most daring men of the Church were there. Shoulder to
shoulder stood the stalwart bishops of that day; in the
front the lion-hearted Quinn, and around him the conscien¬
tious and scholarly Payne, the soul-winning Wayman, the
nighty preacher and "going Bishop," Campbell, the tactful
leader and great theologian, Brown, the eloquent and philo¬
sophical Ward, and that wonderful judge of men, the prac¬
tical-minded Shorter. In bodily piresence they are with us no
more, but they live in our hearts, in our characters, in the
motives which urge our Church onward, and they speak
to us from a thousand activities, which their great souls
initiated, and their powerful hands sent forth.
The report of Dr. W. H. Hunter, Business Manager, told
of four years of earnest toil, of sacrifices and endeavor,
all of which had been unavailing in the* seemingly impos¬
sible task of lifting the Book Concern from the depths of
debt and despair.
The great and absorbing question of the hour became
that of finding the man who could rescue and save this
legacy of the Fathers. Before such a one there were no
glowing inducements which could be held out—the difficult
and hazardous task stood forth with frowning front and
defiantly challenged any young minister to risk his fame
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
69
and future in the unequal conflict with: angry creditors,
in a war that thus far had received little encouragement,
and scant support from an unappreciative church.
Tho eyes of the men and of the bishops at this trying
hour turned frequently upon a stalwart young man whore
odd and brusque manners and strange and rugged career
marked him out and distinguished him f"om his fellows.
He had preached with wonderful power in the woods and
fields, he had won glory as Chaplain in the army, upon
many a battle-ground; he had become famous in the leg¬
islature; he was modest and as straightforward as a
boy, but firm and decisive as a general; he was quick to
enter into the mirthful jokes of the young, and- yet wel¬
come and earnest in the grave councils of the old and se¬
rious. His every movement spoke of reserves of energy
that seemed exhaustless, while his eyes flashed with hope
that scattered from the pathway of the future every dark
cloud.
Led by the Holy Spirit, the minds of the General Confer-
ference, Delegates and the Bishops turned with confidence
upon the dauntless Turner, and he was elected to the office
of Business Manager.
June 26th, 1876, he walked into the dingy little build¬
ing then at 631 Pine St., Philadelphia, Pa. In his report'
he says that he found no money and that the Concern
had not one dollar of credit. Upon finding that he had
brought no cash, the printers walked out of the building,
and only returned as a result of his tearful pleading,
which 'had been more powerful with them than even their
interest in the Concern. He had no stock, and could not
secure a sheet of paper until, endorsed by Bishops Ward
and Tanner, he had filed an affidavit, showing himself to be
the owner of over six thousand dollars' worth of property
This was during a great panic in which many strong Pub¬
lishing Houses had failed. It is enough for the purpose of
this paper to say that H. M. Turner did not fail. Under his
7°
BISHOP TURNER'S
administration the weekly output of Recorders increased
from 1,309 copies to nine thousand. He compiled and
published the fullest edition of hymns which we have ever
had, he complied and published the Turner Catechism,
he published The Child's Recorder, and so extensive was
his travel, and so able his management, that the produc¬
tions of the Concern were sought after eagerly and more
than fifty thousand dollars' worth of business was done
during the four years of his term. The Book Concern
demonstrated its possibilities and vindicated the wisdom
of the Fathers who had founded it. Dr. H. M. Tuirner was
successful because he produced what the people needed
and because he was able to teach them to realize their
needs. As a business man he was practical and yet bold
and daring enough, to take advantage of opportunities.
He sought after and obtained the help of the Financial
Board; he won the favor, and obtained the aid of the
scholar, Miss Fannie M. Jackson, who enlisted the coopera¬
tion of many women of the race, and church in an enter¬
tainment which gave to the Concern about six hundred
dollars. He obtained the help of the genial Dr. C. L.
Bradwell as a traveling agent and sought and secured
the advice and financial assistance of Dr. Theodore Gould,
whose timely aid saved the Concern, from threatened cal-
lamity.
Henry M. Turner left his mark at 631 Pine St., and also
left the mark of the Book Concern in every part of the
Connection. Not a day of the four years of his term was
an easy one. There was not a week that did not present
many and great difficulties. An illustration of the dis¬
couragements which constantly hung over him with
threatenings which often were executed is afforded in
the act of the creditors, w*hen the Concern was closed and
sold by the Sheriff in 1878, while Dr. Turner was absent
from Philadelphia and attending the conferences in South
Carolina. This unfortunate happening not only added to
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL*.
71
the burdens of expense and debt, but also destroyed fo<r
the time, the credit which had been built up at the cost of
hard endeavor. It was at this important crisis that Rev.
Theodore Gould proved the friend in need and rendered
the aid which again opened the doors and started the
presses.
I lhave pointed out some of the difficulties and hardships
which attended the service of Dr. Turner as Business
Manager, not only so as to show the true measure of his
success, but also so as to show the qualities of the man
which were displayed by his faithful, patient, sacrificing,
aggressive and efficient work.
The office of Business Manager was not then and has
never yet become to be an easy or an attractive one. It
demands sacrifice, patience, toil, tact, energy and such
constant labor as are demanded by no other task in the
Connection, and yet the office is viewed with less of car¬
dial sympathy than most of the other offices.
The four years which he spent in the service of the
Church as Business Manager not only gave ito Dr. Turner
a wide acquaintance with the Church, but also brought him to
the close and intimate knowledge of the men of the Church.
When the General Conference of 1880 sought among
the ministry for men of tested and proven worth and fit¬
ness for the nigh and sacred office of Bishop, the selec¬
tion of H. M. Turner as one of the number was the logical
and natural outcome.
The mental habits of a publisher were so firmly estab¬
lished in H. M. Turner that he has never ceased to not
only write, but also publish pamphlets, papers and books.
Turner's Polity is a publication that is used throughout
the Connection, The Voice of Missions was founded by
him, as was also what is now the Southern Christian Re¬
corder. He is at present the Editor and publisher of The
Voice of the People, a paper which is widely circulated.
But he will be known longest and best as a PUBLISHER
of the glad tidings of the Gospel.
BISHOP TURNER AS RELATED TO SUNDAV SCHOOL
UNION.
W. D. Chappelle, A. M., D. D., Secretary and Treasurer.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
We stop upon this eminence to do honor to that
raged sire, Henry McNeil Turner, whose work will shine
forth from the archives of circular and religious his¬
tory to the end of human existence.
Few, if any, have had the courage to stand with you,
sir, in the perils of conflict which you have had to meet,
as a leader of the race. Out from beneath the murky
clouds of ignorance, you have forced your way to the first
place among your people.
The young men of the Church revere you, sir, because of
your fearless and brilliant record in the Church which
stands as a beacon light to the Negro boys and girls who
are to follow your footprints, for they are to be seen
from the Great Lakes of the North on the Western Conti¬
nent, to the burning sands of Africa on the Eastern Con¬
tinent. South Carolina claims the first place in the
Church, because she gave to it Payne, the educator, and
Turner, the philosopher, the erudite, the thinker, the ed¬
itor, the orator, the statesman, the author and the "none
such;" I place him above that intellectual giant, Payne,
because under him the Sunday School Union succeeded and
under Payne it existed. We honor him today, because un¬
der his leadership the Sunday ScLool Union with a mil¬
lion or more of children is leading the African Methodist
Episcopal Church into the business walks of the com¬
mercial world.
Mr. President, we have scores of great men, but Bishop
Turner is peculiarly great, born great, and the pattern
72
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
73
thrown away, hence theire are none to follow ihim. Sui
Generis he stands and refuses to bow to any man who is
unable to give him fight on the high plains of reason.
Henry McNeil Turner is a bundle of entities, each one
of which is great within itself and bears upon it the stamp
of incompatibility. The occasion which brings us together
is rare indeed, and unique in mankind. Twenty-five years
as Bishop in the Negro church on earth, great not because
of its numbers, but great because of its volume of
thought power and the manhood principle for which it stands.
It was conceived in the brain of Richard Allen whom
God plucked from the bullrushes of a mighty catastrophe
in the religious world to lead the Negro race to the sun¬
lit hill of intellectual power and zeal from whose heights
Brown and Waters, Quinn and Payne, Wayman and Camp¬
bell, Ward and Brown, Turner and Dickerson, Cain and
Gaines, Arnett and Tanner, Grant and Lee, Handy and
Salter, Derrick and Armstrong, Embry and Tyree, Moore
and Smith, Shaffer and Coppin, caught the electric spark,
and to-day the strongest Negro government on earth is
formed, and will die only with the extinction of man. But,
Mr. 'President, when the dial-plate of time shall register
twenty-five years more, and the secretary of this meeting
shall call the roll of this assembly and assign them their
places for the achievements wrought, I would have the name
of Henry McNeil Turner placed at the head of tho list, be¬
cause under him the children of the Church have been led
from the quagmire of deception in business to the market
of commerce and from an empty shell, and it not paid for
to thirty-five thousand dollars' worth of machinery and
real estate, and a credit at par value the world over.
Under the constitution of the Sunday School Union the
Senior Bishop of the Church is its president. This consti¬
tution was adopted by the General Conference in 1882,
when the lamented scholar and educator, Bishop D. A.
Payne, became its president; at the death of Bishop
74
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
Payne in 1893, Bishop Wayman, the bard in Israel, became
its president, whose labors in this capacity were brief,
and in 1895 that champion of human rights, Henry Mc¬
Neil Turner, took charge; five years later another sec¬
retary was elected and placed there by the General Con¬
ference of 1900. It is seen that South Carolina breathed
into the dead corpse, and n o w on the Public 'Square in
Nashville, Tennessee, can be heard every day the hum of
presses and the shouts of boys and girls to the tune cf
fifity or more earning a living.
The African Methodist Church, through the Sunday
School Union, is paying out monthly nearly a thousand
dollars in salary to our people, doing more in this direction
than all of the other departments of the Church together.
I have but one request to make of this aged sire, when you
will have lashed the waters of the Jordan and made your
crossing possible, let your mantle fall on me, and in the
presence of my God and before this body, I promise to
bear the old Standard of South Carolina, plucked from the
dust of ignorance and shame by Morris Brown, borne
aloft and held by Bishop Payne, until you by ycur gi¬
gantic work, intellect and matchless work, made it pos¬
sible for me to stand here, in this presence, pledging my¬
self to keep the old standard afloat.
We said that we would place the name of Hes^y Mc¬
Neil Turner above that of Daniel Alexander Payne; we
do not mean by this expression to say that the life of that
apostle of Christian education was imperfect in the sphere
in which he spent his energies, but we mean to say that
the life and work of Henry McNeil Turner touched all
shores and spheres of human existence, and will shine
forth forever in the characters who are to follow him.
The contribution to this occasion will serve as inspiration
to the young men of the Church, and with it they will
rise to the sunlit hills of human greatness, whereupon the
matchless Turner stands unequalled and without a peer.
BISHOP H. M. "i URNER AND CHURCH EXTENSION.
By Rev. B. F. Watson, D. D., Secretary.
The Church is defined by Webster as "the collective
body of Christians who have made a public profession of
the Christian religion and who are united under the
same pastor." He also defines EXTENSION 'as the state
of being extended; enlargement in breadth or the continu¬
ation in length."
The extension of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church, under Dr. H. M. Turner and his compeers during
the Reconstruction period was greater by far in men-
bars and territory than all the previous years of its his¬
tory.
In 1864, there were less than a dozen churches south of
the Mason and i>ixon line, with no opportunity to enter
that territory, until an invading army had laid waste
their fields and broken the manacles from the enslaved
laborers. In the wake of the smoke and carnage, imbued
with apostolic fervor, the African Methodist preacher
lengthened the cords and strengthened the stakes of his
beloved Zion.
Many left home and comforts to enter jails for the
preaching of the Gospel. "They went forth and preached
everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming
the word with signs following." (Mark 16:20.)
To H. M. Turner was given the superintendency of the
State of Georgia, with no Church Fund to aid him in the
support of his family. The people to whom he was sent
were homeless and many of them nameless, yet they were
eager to hear the word of life from one of their own racj.
Night and day, Sunday and week days, the heroes went
forth to their task.
75
76
BISHOP TURNER'S
While thus handicapped on account of the poverty of
their people, they were confronted by many adversaries.
Among the more desperate was the Kuklux Klans, an after¬
math of the war. Preachers were sent to appointments
without a single member within a hundred miles; thoy
were compelled to secure a meeting place at their own ex¬
pense and support themselves and family at the same
time. Many were unable to read and but few could read
correctly, but what they lacked in mental acquirements,
was more than counterbalanced by their piety, zeal and
Holy Ghost preaching.
There were but few books in their course of study;
the Bible, Hymn Book and Discipline, were prerequisites
indispensable. No manuscript could be used in that day
—the people in the woods hungered for the Word of God.
There were no robed choirs to keep the congregation wait¬
ing for the processional, but old "Uncle Dan," over in the
Amen corner (a place unknown in many of our churches
to-day) would lift his voice with powerful earnestness in
old Ortonville, "Am I a soldier of the cross," while every
heart and tongue joined in unison with him. Following
this would be another soul-warming hymn, "Oh how happy
are they who tne Saviour obey." Next the preacher en¬
ters the pulpit, unrobed, save with the special apparel de¬
scribed in the 132nd Psalm. *1 will clotha her priest with
salvation and her saints shall shout for joy."
The Fathers did not deem it necessary to squander the
precious time allotted them to preach the gospel, by dig¬
ging up the relics of Sinai in liturgic form, but declared,
"we preach Christ crucified,unto the Jews a stumbling-
block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but to them that
are called, both Jew and Greek, Christ the power of God
and the wisdom of God."
Their Methods of Church Extension.
As we have already stated, we had no organized Society
or Department at that time; in fact, our Missionary Society
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
77
existed in name only, but every A. M. E. preacher was a
missionary in the most active sense. Our conferences
were all mission conferences. This, too, in the face of
other denominations with their treasuries open and their
missionaries in the field.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, with its Freedman's
Aid Society, with other denominations well equipped for
the work, contested every part of the field. Yet Turner's
extension Army, much less than Gideon's select force, in
less than ten years, more than doubled the work of their
competitors.
The American Missionary Society, with its hold on the
Freedman's Bureau, attended alone to the Educational
work. But to the methods. We can better illustrate this
by some scraps of history from the minutes of the Missouri
Conference.
The Tenth Session of the Missouri Conference was held
in Quinn Chapel, Louisville, Kentucky, August, 1864. Bish¬
op William Paul Quinn, presiding. There were present at
roll call eleven elders, one deacon and two traveling
preachers. There are but two members of that conference
living ito-day, namely, John Turner and John M. Wilker-
son.
Hear the report of the missionaries. A. Woodfork from.
Memphis and Columbus Mission (you will bear in mind
that Brother Woodfork was sent out the year before
without a member on his whole work) reported:
Columbus, Kentucky 68 mem. and 50 prob.
Memphis, Tenn 141 mem. and 15 prob.
Holly Springs 125 mem. and 45 prob.
Total
Page Tyier,' missionary from Mississippi, reported the
following societies:
Helena
Yicksburg (ji{
Natchez
Total 948
BISHOP TURNER'S
John M. Wilkerson reported a society at Topeka, Kans.,
with 18 members. John W. Malone reported societies,
Prince Wright reported a society at Peach Grove, Mo,
with 26 members.
John Turner reported:
C. C. Doughty, of JSTew Orleans Mission, reported socie¬
ties organized at Thibadeauxville with 87 members, and
Schuddy settlement, 38 members.
W. A. Dove, of New Orleans, reported Jefferson with 90
members, and Carrolton with 46.
B. L. Brooks reported Cape Girardeau, Mo., With 72
members, and Jackson with 25.
J. W. Early reported, Washington, Mo., with 48 mem¬
bers.
Besides these, the following churches- came through
their representatives in a body to us: St. John, Nashville,
Tenn., with 549 members; St. Paul, Nashville, Tenn., with
406 members; Edgefield, Tenn., with 40 members; Galla¬
tin, Tenn., with 83 members; Lebanon, Tenn., with 90
members; Murfreesboro, Tenn., with 204 members; Green
Hill, Tenn., with 37 members. These were all on mo¬
tion received into the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
We have used the foregoing simply as sidelights to
show the work of H. M. Turner for two years later. For
at the time of this conference, Brother Turner was a
chaplain in the service of the "Volunteer Army, clearing
the way for the church's future action. Georgia has
reaped the benefit of his extension work. Five confer¬
ences in that state attest his work. Now, therefore, in
Kinderhook, Illinois
Lebanon
Carlisle
19 mem.
13 mem.
6 mem.
Ft. Scott, Kans
Quinda.ro, Kans.
Ridge Prairie .
St. Joseph, Mo.
120 members
.80 members
. 8 members
.17 members
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
79
view of the wonderful progress made in the extension of
the Church, unaided by organized efforts, is it any wonder
that in these latter days, in the full light of a higher civil¬
ization, with the abundance of means within reach, that
Bishop Turner should become impatient with the so-called
up-to-date preacher, who is unable to rebuild a church or
repair a parsonage without calling for aid from the Ex¬
tension Department. Yet the blame is not in the use,
but in the abuse of this great Department, which has
since its organization in 1892, aided nearly twelve hun¬
dred churches, and has to its credit to-day money invented
in our church property to the amount of $119,171.23, be¬
sides ireal estate in the name of the Department, amount¬
ing to $72,500.00
The investments are distributed in all parts of the
Connection as follows:
First Episcopal District $ 14,829 72
Second Episcopal District 13,488 24
Third Episcopal District 6,131 51
Fourth Episcopal District 8,592 20
Fifth Episcopal District 12,247 26
Sixth Episcopal District 13,349 09
Seventh Episcopal District 14,898 92
Eighth Episcopal District 7,212 52
Ninth Episcopal District 5,075 69
Tenth Episcopal District 10,331 61
Eleventh Episcopal District 4,255 18
Twelfth Episcopal District 2,312 23
Irregular loans outstanding, for which we hold notes:
Colleges and Seminaries $2,946 99
Departments 3,495 23
Aside from this, we have donated to struggling churches
since our organization, nearly $30,000.00. In all the work
abovo mentioned, Bishop H. M. Turner has taken an active
part.
THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL DEPARTMENT.
By Rev. William,D. Johnson, D. D., President of Allen Uni¬
versity, Columbia, S. C.
Venerable Senior Bishop, Associate Bishops, Brother Min¬
isters, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Like yourselves, I rejoice to be present and to have a
part in this memoirable occasion.
"Some men are born great; some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrust upon them." Bishop H.
M. Turner was born grealt, he achieved experiences for
greatness, and he had greatness thrust upon him. There¬
fore, he is great, because it was impossible that Ihe should
be otherwise. He saw the holy vision, he heard the di-
vino voice, and when but a youth, he placed his life upon
the altar as a sacrifice to God and his race.
History is a record of what has been said or done; and
writing of every description is comprehended under the
term literature,
(Some affirm that the reason why animals do not im¬
prove their condition is because they cannot record their
experiences for the benefit of future generations.
W© say that Plato is philosophy and philosophy is
Plato; that history is Herodotus and Herodotus is history;
that Homer is poetry and poetry is Homer; yet there were
philosophers before Plato, historians before Herodotus and
poets before Homer. But these men, giving up their lives
to the living forces that move the world, died to them¬
selves, that others might live; and, as a consequence they
are still living in the hearts and minds of humanity; and
of that same class of men is the venerable Senior Bishop,
H. M. Turner, whom we honor today as tha Pontifiex Max-
imus of the Negro race.
80
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
81
A people without history are like mountains standing
in the dark; and of those without a literature it may
be said: "They have eyes, but they see not; they have ears
but they hear not;" and finally, being without desire and
without a purpose, they are dead and inactive, until the
prophetic voice is heard and the inspired leader appears.
Through him speaks the Comforter, saying, "Arise, shine;
for thy light ?s come, and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon thee." He says to them, "Seek ye first the kingdom
of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall
be added unto you."
Such, forty years ago, was the condition of our people,
when Bishop H. M. Turner began to speak, write and work
for our rehabilitation.
In nature things are not valued for their exterior cov¬
ering, but for what they contain within. "For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which
are not seen are eternal." In all the world today, no man,
no matter, no form is valuable only in proportion as it
contains a part of the good, the beautiful ani the true.
These heavenly qualities give power to history and litera¬
ture, they make the charm of painting and architecture;
they constitute the rapture of song and the constellated
grandeur of terrestrial and celestial glory. 'But to speak
definitely, goodness, truth and beauty, as guides and co*
workers with men are transforming the earth through art,
science and literature. "These three; but the greatest of
these is literature." It makes known the fact that truth
is mighty and must prevail; that nothing can harm you,
if you are a follower of that which is good; and that
beauty is irresistible. Literature makes it certain to us
that this world is governed by law; that combination and
expansion are conditions of life; that action and reaction,
everywhere, must be equal, and will operate in opposite
directions,
d
82
BISHOP TURNER'S
When I started from home to come to the great city of
St. Louis, I wound up my eight day clock, and said: After
traveling more than 2,000 miles, after several days of sac¬
rificing to Go! and honoring our great Senior Bishop H.
M. Turner, 1 said—After all this intervening time and
work, when 1 return that clock will still be running and
keeping time until the thimble full of power I pumped
into it is exhausted. We had last night a clock presented
by the people of Bethel Church, Chicago, to our beloved
Senior Bishop, which was wound up to run a whole yt
without stopping. In a sense, I am still at home, turning
the wheels of the clock in my parlor, and that man will
live one year to turn the wheels of the clock presented to
the bishop. The man who lays a rock or drives a nail still
lives and works while the wall is standing, or, in the other
case till the wood has rotted away, or by rust the nail
has been broken asunder. Just so it may be said of the mighty
workers in history and literature, "They were not born to die."
Moses, Job, David and St. Paul are doing infinitely more
work upon earth to-day than when they walked here
among men, and the same can be said of the itinerant fa¬
thers of the African M. E. Church—of Allen and Brown, oif
Waters and Quinn, of Wayman, Ward, Campbell, Shorter,
Dickerson, Cain, and the unnumbered hosts who were the
founders and pioneers of our mighty organization. This
fact becomes more apparent in Jesus Christ, our great
Captain of Salvation, and Ascended Lord, who says: "Lo,
I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
The hope of the final elevation of the Negro race lies in
the field of literature. Not necessarily a literature of our
own, for literature, like the light of heaven, is one in its
fullness, and works for the benefit of all nations. Yet, as
one drop of water interprets the ocean, as one spark of
fire speaks for the conflagration of burning worlds, so one
thought added "to the world of thought makes a demand
upon the whole power of literature, and must receive the
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
33
fullest recognition. The literature of the African M. E.
Church is now small and undeveloped; yet we are wel¬
comed into the Republic of letters. We have made but
a beginning. We are but starting in t^ie new grounds of
literature, felling the trees, grubbing the stumps, tearing
away hurtful briers, and planting here and there a seed of
thought that, in the future years, will flourish like the
palm tree and shake like Lebanon.
So:ne of our books are: The Life of Bishop Richard
Allen, written by himself; History of the A. M. E. Church,
by Bishop Daniel A. Payne; Bishop Wayman on the Dis¬
cipline; Tanner's Apology for the A. M. E. Church and
Outlines of History; The Budget and Statistics, by Bishop
B. W. Arnett; African Methodism in the South and The
White man a?id the Negro, by Bishop W. J. Gaines; Af¬
rican M. E. Church History, by Bishop James A. Handy;
The Logos and Essays, by Rev. H. T. Johnson, D. D.;
Rev. A. A. Whitman's Poetical Works; Heredity, by Dr.
J. P. Sampson; Theology, by Rev. J. M. Connor; The Holy
Land, by Rev. D. P. Seaton; Baptized Children and His¬
tory of South Africa, by Bishop L. J. Coppin; the Seven
Kingdoms, by Bishop M. B. Salter; History of the Episco¬
pacy, by Rev. James A. Davis; Digesc of Theology, by
Bishop J. C. Embry; History, Fiction and Theological
Works, by Chaplain T. G. Steward; History of the Cuban
War, by Dr. W. T. Anderson; Travels in West Africa, by
Bishop A. Grant and the Monumental Works of Bishop
H. M. Turner, who is the Father of us all; the Negro in
All Ages, The Turner Catechism, The African M. E. Hymn
Book and the Methodist Polity, which is quoted as high
authority in ecclesiastical jurisprudence.
This says nothing of the books and authors of merit
whom I do not now remember: nor of the thousands of
pamphlets that like healing leaves, have brought life to
our people. Neither does it take into account the large
number of our denominational newspapers.
84
BISHOP TURNER'S
Napoleon Bonaparte said that one newspaper exerts a
force equal to an army of a hundred thousand men. In
fact, the newspapers are now taking the place of books.
The book is too slow; it is too costly; it is too heavy.
The newspaper is light and carries the best of everything;
it is cheaper than the sands upon the seashore. It trav¬
els faster than the sunrise and greets you at every turn.
What the Negro lacks is unity. Emerson says: "If there
were but two men in the world, one would be the leader,
and the other would follow him."
United States Commissioner W. T. Harris has pointed
out the great fact that men working together will exert
a force equal to the square of the number of men. He ex¬
plains that ton men working singly will do the work of
ten men only; but working together, ten men will do the
work of ten times ten men, that is of one hundred men;
and the same rule applies to any number of persons.
This secret was long ago expressed by the Psalmist,
who said: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like ifc^e precious
ointment upo;i the head that ran down upon the beard,
even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his
garments. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that
descended upon the mountains of Zion, ifor therj the Lord
commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."
To Jesus Christ we are indebted for this principle, of
unity. He has transformed humanity, and allotted to
every nation, kindred and tongue, a portion of his all-
conquering grace. For us as a church and. race, Bishop
H. M. Turner was chosen for our leader; and now, after
twenty-five years from the date of his episcopal ordination,
we have with him ascended to one of the heavenly places.
Here we may look back upon our trials. Here we may
mark the progress that has been made by the Church and
the race. Here, inspired by the vision of thaJt
"One far off evant
To which the whole creation moves."
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL,
85
We say, "Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he
shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him
as he is."
BISHOP TURNER IN LITERATURE.
By Rev. H. T. Johnson, D. D., Editor The Christian Re¬
corder.
Posthumous fame does not fall to the lot of many, but
the observation is no cheerless reflection to those who
have made their mark in the world of thought or contri¬
buted to the literature of the times in which they lived
or the people, party or institution with which they were
identified. Judged by this standard the distinguished sub¬
ject whom we meet to honor is a unique fixture in the
history of his times, and must be reckoned with by the
historian of the future who would give anything like a
faithful account of the characters who have stirred their
contemporaries by the daring theories launched on ab¬
stract or concrete subjects or who with their trenchant
pens carved their names on the golden side of fame's im¬
mortal jewel. Of America's greatest pulpit orator it was
said that had he died sooner he would have lived longer,
but in no sense could this assertion be true of the man
who has attained eminence by his burning eloquence, soar¬
ing thoughts and daring deeds, and whose popularity
gains volume and momentum among his followers as the
frost of years whitens his locks, as with slackened gait he
descends the hill of life. The greatness of our hero is
many sided and like the coruscations of a prism of spark¬
ling stone, affords ample luminosity from whatever angle
viewed. His claim to renown would be long-lived were
he measured by his activities and achievements along any
of the diversified posts or pursuits as race champion,
Christian soldier, African colonizationist and emigration-
ist, ecclesiastical pioneer, reformer, agitator, lecturer,
86
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
87
theorist, author, publisher and writer. Had he fathered
no startling theories nor launched any publications of mer¬
it, Bishop Turner's rating would still be above par as a
great man, but since he towers in evidence in these salient
respects above the horizon of race, church and nation, we
proudly hail him as an orb of the first magnitude and note
cursorily the outlines of his radiance in the realm of liter¬
ary activities.
Reversing our telescope and peering backward, our dis¬
tinguished subject looms up in journalistic circles and
rivets attention as a sweeping, peerless writer. During
the civil war his striking letters to the Christian Record¬
er, did much to boom this organ to an unsurpassed circula¬
tion and win for it a standing of national scope. Many of
the older readers may recall among the numerous contri¬
butions of Chaplain Turner the one on "God and space"
and "It Came to Pass." His post bellum contributions
have been no less remarkable for strength and originality.
In this list two suggest themselves to the writer as of rare
intrinsic value, one writing up a Georgia Camp-meeting,
the other, an open letter to his son on reaching his ma¬
jority. For play of imagination, wealth of humor, use of
metaphor, display of research, versatality of genius and
adaptability of resources, we recall nothing like them from
Peter Parley to the present time. The Quadrennial series
under caption "Wayside Jots and Dots,." during Dr. Tur¬
ner's incumbency of the Managership of the A. M. E(. Book
Concern, will long refresh the minds of readers of the past
generation.
To this period of his general official career is the church
indebted for the popular juvenile publication known as
Turner's Catechism. The strength of his title to author¬
ship however, does not rest upon this unpretentious treat¬
ise for children, but upon the voluminous and authorative
treatise for ministers and laymen known as Turner's Pol¬
ity. This book is a standard on orthodox methodism,
whose success and popularity is indicated by its wide cir¬
culation and numerous editions.
88
BISHOP TURNER'S
To surmise that the sowing genius of our subject should
content confining its wings to the limits of his own de¬
nominational home is to surmise without regard to fact or
philosophy and to go behind the returns abundant to the
contrary. With a heart ever aglow with devotion and love
for his race and with an intellect no less restricted than
his emotional powers, it is but natural to find him explor¬
ing the visible and invisible realms from zenith to nadir,
with the hope his excursions should be rewarded with
profit to his people and the discomfiture of their adver¬
saries in any way. A partisan and patriot of the staunch-
est type, yet these he never accorded an inferior place as
compared to the allegiance due his people. Whatever the
hydra of caste is seen to lift its unsightly head, or the
Jim Crow fiend and mob law demon exposed their hideous
shape, this indomitable knight of the quill, this untiring
crusader for the rights of his people, with poised and ever
pointed weapon, is always on the alert to smite them
down. Who so daring and presumptuous as he to im¬
peach the South, arraign the nation and denounce the
highest tribunal in the land? What pamphlet or paper
has ever published such scathing phillipies against presi¬
dents, supreme court functionaries and governors as are
found in his booklet entitled "That Barbarous Decision of
the Supreme Court," and his papers, The Southern Chris¬
tian Recordeer, Jhe Voice of Missions, and the Voice of
the People.
Next to the tangible productions of our gifted church¬
man, we turn to consider the activities of his genius in the
speculative realm. For with the concession to him of gi¬
gantic mental endowment or eminence in independent in¬
vestigations, we are not to look in vain for fruits and il¬
lustrations in support of such concessions.
With most great thinkers, objective facts and subjec¬
tive ideas move along parallel grooves, the latter often
giving rise to the former in the relation of cause and ef¬
fect or of seed and succeeding plants. To characterize
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
89
our hero as a visionary dreamer does not necessarily un¬
derrate his excellence or invalidate his greatness in the
least, since leading minds through time immemorial have
been open to the same cynical asperations. Gigantic in¬
tellects of the caste of our hero are not to be gaged by the
metes and bounds of ordinary standards. Such independ¬
ent spirits are not bound to earth and sensuous things,
and can pull in harness with equal freedom whether ex¬
ploring the wonders of the upper world or unravelling
the mysteries of the Milky Way. It is not given for minds
of this Titantic type to be understood or interpreted by
the pigmy critics who often would pass adversely upon their
deeds and findings. The writer vividly recalls an inci¬
dent illustrative of this truth in connection with the sub¬
ject of our sketch. The great ecclesiastic (for he was not
then the subject of episcopal honors) had delivered a lec¬
ture on temperance which had the effect of stirring the
nests of disagreeing hearers to the exasperation of tan-
tilized hornets. So vigorously did the critics ply their
lances that the physical safety of the lecturer seemed
threatened for a season. Being alarmed at the fucilade
of devouring tongues, with fear and trembling we inter¬
rogated the great doctor as to his apprehension of danger
under the circumstances. The cold comfort conveyed by
his philosophical rejoinder is as chilling as that of the
latest cold wave. ".Let them criticise and curse me all
they please," said he, "God bless you while they are sling¬
ing mud, I am reveling among the stars and soaring
through moving worlds."
The attitude and deliverances of the great churchman
on prohibition and temperance issues, were often so rad¬
ical as to both arouse his adversaries on these subjects
and put his friends to their wit's end to defend him. Re¬
turning from one of his triumphal campaign tours in the
southwest, one of his friends informed him of the stinging
newspaper roasting by a certain formidable lady quill
driver, hoping thereby to precipitate the old Roman into
9°
BISHOP TURNER'S
a newspaper conflict. "I can wait," said the chivalric
and far-sighted tactician, and he did not wait, not very
long but long enough to bow gracefully in return for that
lady's smiles, and decline a proffered seat in the hymeneal
car as it slowed down for the celebrated and available
passenger.
The friends of Bishop Turner need not claim a place for
him as a licensed thinker or privileged character who
has won his spurs by easy mounts. But what has he cared
about the thoughts of other thinkers pro or con since he
is endowed with the eminent capacity to think for him¬
self. Rather than the dove that coos for peace, he is an
eagle that courts the storm. Not the timid sheep that
shrinks from danger, but the courageous lion that charges
full length to meet the approaching foe. This virtue in
our hero is strikingly articulated not alone in his ability
to stand pat amid the fires kindled by the unpopular stand
for which he has been noted on divers public questions
in church and state, but in the independent and often
defiant theories promulgated by him on questions of
scientific or speculative moment. In fine, the true worth
of the man is inestimable until he is viewed and passed
upon as an unfettered child of genius, a psychological
curio, a veritgable human lex 11011 scripta, uuinterpretable
by normal standards.
Were we to cull from the diverse and sundry writings
of our church-crowned primate the parts which to our
way of thinking will foster his fame as an original thinker
and add chief!}' to his literary status among thinkers, |we
would hazard his postulate on electricity as a form of
supersensuous entity and the Plutonian shade the Genesis
of Creative Phenomena. The simple and final analysis
of these postulates may indeed strike the philosophical
tyro as weird, heterodoxical and outlandish, provided his
cranium can assimilate the contents of the abstract and
occult propositions in question. The claim that Diety and
the subtle universal force known as electricity are identi-
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
9i
cal, or that creation started black to use the pet phrase¬
ology of our primate, may strain the credulity of the
more elect number who neither trains with the common
herd to indulge a favorite solecism of Schopen Rauer, nor
regard with less than disdain scientific fledgelings too
weak to venture beyond the water's edge of independent
thought. To be sure our hero suffers the disadvantage
of too close proximity to those who would do him the full¬
est measure of honor or accord him the fullest credit
for robust and original mental activities. By and by
when viewed from a more distant range and through the
perspective of a dispensation less materialistic and super¬
ficial than the present, other eyes will gaze upon him, per¬
haps then as now as the aggressive Jove with poised tri¬
dent smiting right and left, casting up a highway and lift¬
ing up a standard for his people. Yet undoubtedly from
the arena of a loftier plain, he will look down and admir¬
ing posterity will survey him resting in the shadow of the
crucifix pointing to a redeemed continent, the intrepid
tireless knight of the quill whose pen ever stimulated by
the. in hie signo motto of Constantine has ever proven
mightier than the sword.
THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN RECORDER-ITS ORIGIN
AND EDITORS.
By Rev. G. W. Allen, D. D.
To the Bishops, Members of the Committee, General Of¬
ficers and other participants in the Celebration of the
Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Sacred Consecration to
the Bishopric of one of the grandest Heroes of the
Twentieth Century, Rt. Rev. Henry McNeil Turner, D.
D., LL. D., D. C. L., Senior Bishop of the African Metho¬
dist Church—Greeting:
Dear Fathers and Brethren:
In treating briefly the subject assigned me, I rejoice in
the fact, that to obey the orders of the committee, I must
speak of this indomitable leader, a leader, not alone for the
A. M. EE. Church, but for his entire Race, in connection
with the Southern Christian Recorder, its Origin, and Ed¬
itors. We rejoice also in the fact, that our Subject af¬
fords us the pleasure of naming, as the first Editor, this
great man, whose ministerial career furnishes the center
of attraction to-day for this august body. So very many
good things have been said, and appropriately so too, that
we are at a loss for words to do justice to this, our sub¬
ject, as connected with the first editor.
From time immemorial the unfaltering custom has been
to praise greatly the founders of great things and great
institutions. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin discovered the
idenity of Electricity with lightning. Great things have
been done both with electricity and lightning since the
founder gave the world the plan, but to Franklin belongs
the never-dying honor of planting the basis upon which
great structures now stand.
Frederick Douglass believed that God created all men
equal, and that one brother had no right to the service of
92
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
93
another, without just compensation, and laboring under
this belief, he though a slave, proceeded to sustain his
opinion by first freeing himself. After many bitter ex¬
periences and some sad disappointments he succeeded in
gaining his own freedom. His next object was to prepare
himself to help his race, and by the time he became fully
prepared, Our Eternal Father of Heaven had placed the
Negro in an attitude to receive inspiration. Then Mr.
Douglass proceeded to establish among his people, love
for equal rights; manhood and intelligence. Thus the
world will honor his name, for his works done in interest
of his race, as one of the founders of that energy that re¬
sulted in the advancement of the Negro.
Toussaint L'Overture, though exiled, cruelly punished,
and finally died, will ever be given the undying honor of
being the founder of the absolute freedom of Hayti. Many
other striking examples which we have not the time to re¬
fer to here and which are not necessary to prove that the
founders of all good things should be honored. Then the
founder of the Southern Recorder is not an exception. If
Bishop Turner had done nothing else, but to start this
paper the eulogy might be short: but his works for his
race stands so very prominently before the world, that all
the children can refer to his greatness readily. As a leader
in every sense of the word he has no equal. He added to
his distinction, when he left his home, interviewed the Gov¬
ernor of Georgia, and succeded in convincing the Governor
that certain measures, then enthusiastically pending be¬
fore the Georgia legislature, were detrimental and unjust
to his race: then the Bishop led the A. M. E. ministers
in a systematic and prayerful fight against the measure—
which measure was defeated and the promoter made to
blushingly apologize for its introduction. Consequently
we feel justifiable in our contention that the founders of all
and any good thing are entitled to more honor than those
who build upon the foundation planted, regardless of the
progress that may have been made later. Sometime dur-
94
BISHOP TURNER'S
ing the year of our Lord 1886, that natural born leader,
Bishop Turner, looked over the situation and decided that
the A. M. E. Church had grown sufficiently strong to sus¬
tain another Chrisfcain paper, and feeling that some leader
should take the initiatory steps, without waiting for help
from any particular source, saving that of Heaven, which
gave him spiritual and financial inspiration. He made up
his mind to inaugurate and publish another Christian
journal, and that it should be called the Southern Record¬
er. These conclusions were put into practice, and on the
18th day of September, A. D. 1886, the first issue was
printed. Some thought the adventure was premature and
that failure would be the ultimatum. This great prelate
who was and is yet, indomitable in all of his endeavors for
good, would at times, sit up all night, after working all
the day before, and write; study, and pray, until the matter
for the Southern Recorder was prepared.
Then his attention was directed to the necessary fi¬
nances with which to keep his paper going. All news¬
papers must be published without the aid of subscribers,
when in their incipiency. But he, whose ambition has
ever been to put forth every possible effort for the good of
his church and race, had said, that the African M.E. Church
must have another paper, even if at his individual ex¬
pense. Like John Wesley who decided to open a door
for the true believers in Christ to have an opportunity to
worship God as duty required, left the European oppres¬
sors, and established the Methodist Church; and like the
sainted Richard Allen, who when he noted the oppression
by his white brethren forced upon his race, with but few
to support his plan, shut his eyes as it were, when dark¬
ness enveloped him and his little flock. He disregarded
the darkness which enveloped him and his little flock,
gazed upon the object, stretched forth his hands to God,
planted his banner in Philadelphia, wrote thereon his
motto: "God our Father, Christ our Redeemer and Man
our Brother." These men wrote their names upon the
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
95
pages of history so indelibly, that their fame will only
cease to blaze, when time on earth is ended. Bishop Tur¬
ner their peer, experienced many things that they suffered,
while establishing the Southern Recorder: but seeing the
indispensible necessity, he persisted and succeeded in
getting out his Recorder every week, from the time of its
first issue, until the meeting of the General Conference in
May, 1888.
Regardless of what other people thought, the Bishop de¬
cided that this paper was a necessity and must be pub¬
lished, and after having succeeded in convincing the other
people of the Connection that this project should be made
a fixture, the good bishop consented to allow the Connec¬
tion to handle and own, the then Southern Recorder. Con¬
sequently, sometime in the latter part of April, A. D., 1888,
Dr. J. C. Embry, then Book Manager, arranged to purchase
this book from him for the Church; but Bishop Turner
continued to publish it until May 24, 1888. The General
Conference confirmed the contract between Dr. Embry
and Bishop Turner, and elected Rev. M. E. Bryant, D. D.,
Editor, who issued the paper under the name of the South¬
ern Christian Recorder, instead of the Southern Recorder.
We are not posted as to the exact interregum between the
time that Bishop Turner turned it to the Church and the
first issue by Dr. Bryant, which was printed on his press in
part, in Selma, Ala., sometime in June, 1888. He experi¬
enced many difficulties while publishing this paper. At
times he would be compelled to hide out in order to save
his life. His career as editor and manager was short, but
very memorable. He published this paper successfully
until February 28, 1891. While en route to meet the Bish¬
ops' Council, then assembled at Jacksonville, Fla., death
made its unexpected claim for the separation of his soul
and body. He yielded and was no more upon earth. Dr.
Bryant's service as editor and manager lasted a fraction
over two years and nine months. Afterwhich time the
Bishops' Council at Jacksonville, Fla., elected Rev. Chas.
BISHOP TURNER'S
L. Bradwell, D. D., editor and manager, wlio published it
from February, 1891, to the assembling of the General
Conference at Philadelphia, Pa., May 18, 1892, a fraction
over one year and two months, and he raised from sub¬
scriptions, sales of papers, advertisements, $1,018.36, from
donation by the Financial Board $500.00. Cash left by
Dr. Bryant, $105.00. Total $1,623.36. Expenditures dur¬
ing this time was $2,376.37, leaving an indebtedness of
$753.00 when reported at the General Conference at Phil¬
adelphia.
Rev. A. M. Green, D. D., was elected editor and mana¬
ger at Philadelphia, May, 1892. This department seemed
to have suffered during this entire Quadrennial, from a
view point of circulation and frequency of issuance. Dr.
Green reported having published fifty-six editions during
the four years of his incumba.ncy, at a cost of $1,960.00,
and reported $180.25 subscriptions for the four years, and
from public meetings, cash sale of paper, etc., $193.40.
Total receipts from all sources, $373.65; total expense
$2,209.64, leaving an excess of expenditures $1,835.89. In
May 1896.. the General Conference elected Rev. R. M..
Cheeks, D. D., editor and manager. Dr. Cheeks redeemed
this paper to a £ood extent. He published it in Atlanta,
Ga., and never failed to publish one issue in every week,
from the time be commenced until he reported in Colum¬
bus, Ohio, in 1900. Notwithstanding his extended illness,
he, with the assistance of his great wife, furnished a paper,
of which the Church had no need to be ashamed, and his
financial management was expeditious and exemplary.
He was unanimously reelected to the editorial chair by the
General Conference in 1900, at Columbus, Ohio, but be¬
fore the rise of 'that session, Dr Cheeks was called from
labor to reward, however not before his Quadrennial re¬
port was read which showed that he had collected from all
sources during the four years $5,448.30, and judiciously ex¬
pended $5,502.56, leaving a dificit of only $54.26. The col¬
lection included $500.00, donated by the General Conference.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL-.
97
Rev. G. E. Taylor, D. D., was elected editor and mana¬
ger at Columbus, Ohio, after the death of Dr. Cheeks. Dr.
Taylor resumed the paper in Atlanta, Ga., and moved it
to Dallas, Texas, in September 1903, from which city he
published it until May, 1904. When the General Confer¬
ence met in Chicago, 111., Dr. Taylor collected from all
sources during the Quadrennial, $5,973.05. This amount
of collections included $800.00 from the Financial Depart¬
ment. The total expenditure was $7866.13, leaving a di-
ficit of $1,893.08. Dr. Taylor reported many personal sac¬
rifices made to keep the paper going.
The General Conference held at Chicago, 111., 1904,
elected your humble servant editor and manager, who de¬
cided to get out an original paper, as all the other editors
had been publishing a "patented sheet" in part, and be¬
lieving that the A. M. E. people would support it, we began
to publish an out and out original journal, and published
our first issue June 9,1904, and by the help of an Omnipo¬
tent God, we have not missed one issue up to the 18th of
May, instant, and by the help of him who has hitherto
guided us, we will not miss an issue during our tenture of
office.
Owing to the fact that we have been compelled to tide
over two big obstacles, we were necessitated to make a
small borrow of $300.00 from our home bank, in order to
enable us to pull over the dull summer months. Our first
obstacle was "lost confidence" caused by irregularities in
sending out the Southern Christian Recorder during the
last quadrennial. Many declared they would never again
subscribe to the paper, others said they could not get an
article published in its columns and would not subscribe
for that cause. We have endeavored to remove these
troubles by getting out the paper regularly and allowing
any minister to write to this paper, providing, personalities
are discarded and nothing is written that will work in¬
juriously to our connection.
98
BISHOP TURNER'S
By these remedies and persistent work we have over¬
come much of the trouble, yet feel that we are in proba¬
tion and must serve out our time, before the people will
be willing to admit us into Full Membership in Christian
Journalism and extend us the "right hand" of financial
fellowship, which will enable us to carry out the purposes,
for which we think, we were elected. Our next big ob¬
stacle is, in having to tide over two spring and two sum¬
mer seasons, which are always dull for newspapers, with
only one fall season in which to make collections.
Dr. Taylor turned over to us as property of this
department one book only, and that was a book con¬
taining about two thousand names and addresses,
with no reference to the date of subscriptions or
the amount paid. After waiting and writing in
vain for information concerning these subscribers, we
concluded to carry them all until the Annual Conferences
convened in the states where each subscriber resides.
This we have done. Thus we furnished papers to about
2,000 persons, an average of seven months, costing at the
rate of oney dollar per year, $1,160.00 for which we did not
collect one cent. We have collected to the first of May,
inst., $2,032.60 from all sources. Expenditures including
cuts, desk, heater, mailing machine, printing, other office
fixtures, traveling expenses, agent's hire, clerk hire, mail¬
ing, rent and all incidentals, $2,330.55, leaving a dificit of
$297.95 to be supplied with the amount borrowed, with
which we feel sure of reaching the fall conferences with
the amount of debts small enough, to be fully balanced
by or before January next. We feel that these figures are due,
in order that we may show that Bishop Turner's founda¬
tion laid for and in the Southern Christian Recorder, is
keeping pace with other laudable introductions which he
has put forth for the perpetuation of the Church and race.
Bishop's usefulness and greatness is not confined to Amer¬
ica or to the A. M. E. Church. When he thought over the
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
99
conditions of affairs in Africa, and decided that the pur¬
pose for which God allowed slavery in America had been
served, he decided to forge a chain, which should serve
as a connecting medium, by which the American Negro
shall know again his African brother; and while Bishop
Turner was forging away, in the broadness of his great
heart, he put in his chain, a link for the Negro of the A.
M. E. Church; one for the A. M. E. Zion Church; one for
the C. M. E. Church; one for the Missionary Baptist
Church; and one for all other denominations in which the
Negro is represented. And with this great chain, Bishop
Turner has caused the earth to be belted with the doctrine
of the A. M. E. Church, to that extent, that her light shines
in every Negro Denomination, and is the acknowledged
leader for all Negro churches. Bishop Turner heads that
galaxy of Bishops, whose ability is second to none, and
whose leadership for the race is indispensable; whose
counsel is safe. Whose past leadership has made for
the race, a record, unparalleled by any other, recorded in
history. Whose decisions are at all times productive of
the best results.
These thirteen beacon lights are stationed at thirteen
different points on the globe, and if the race will but look
up when darkness appears, these God-sent leaders will
guide the Racial Ship safely into the Haven of happiness,
security, recognition, and a perpetual place along with
other great nations of the world.
BISHOP TURNER'S RELATION TO THE C. P A.
Dr. W. H. Heard.
Bishop Grant, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
As long as the names of Florence Nightingale and th?
Red Cross Society are known, they will be revered by
suffering and sympathizing humanity; as long as the name
of Rt. Rev. H. M. Turner is known it will be sung and
lisped by the members of our race on two continents.
We come to do honor to this man because he has never
found us too low or too poor for him to recognize as breth¬
ren. We have come to this presence full of years and
deeds, and honor you, sir, as the leader in these deeds.
When Africa cried, "Come over and help us," you did
not as the senior appoint a younger, but from your own
purse took the money and carried missionaries and went
to the Fatherland and planted the flag that now waves
over every county in the Republic of Liberia and in the
British possessions, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and
then went to the South Coast, and in the very capital of
the Boer Republic you planted the church that believes in
Christian manhood.
The C. P. A. honors the Rt. Rev. H. M. Turner for
what he has done, what he is, and what the race and
A. M. E. Churcfi is destined to be from his teachings.
Others admire you. We love you. Others listen to your
words. We obey and have no hesitancy m so doing.
It is your spirit of expansion that has increased our de¬
partments from twenty-five years ago to twelve to-day;
it is your love of race that has given us such departments
that do not allow any widow to weep without hope of re¬
lief, nor any orphan to cry for want of bread.
(100)
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
IOI
The C. P. A. honors you because she has of your spirit
the elements that make her permanent and fixed, a bul¬
wark of strength to help the helpless. One hundred dol¬
lars, two hundred dollars and three hundred dollars is
forthcoming at every call.
As the ages grow and civilization reaches out her hands
to the uncivilized, humanitarians are multiplied and in¬
stitutions like the C. P. A. find a welcome not only among
the social elements of society, but in the Church and
among the best of our ministry. This department, com¬
ing as it does to help the helpless and make smooth the
rough paths of the distressed as well as to soften the
beds of the worn-out heroes, honor your hoary locks, as
one who has in the city of Atlanta not "only contributed
to the suffering and distressed of your race, but all races;
and the city feels it has a claim on your charity. Your
home and that of our other resident bishop of Georgia,
Bishop W. J. Gaines, are ever resorts to those who are
objects of charity, white and black alike.
Tho C. P. A. further honors you because its secretary
feels that all he is in the A. M. E. Church is the result of
contact and association with the hero of this honest cel¬
ebration.
My love for my race, my contention for manhood rights,
and devotion to my church have been increased as I have
sat by your fireside and you by mine, and have conversed
of the work of Andrew Brown, Peter McClain, and others
who stood with you in your pioneer days in our beloved
state.
One hundred and twenty thousand African Methodists,
1,037 itinerant preachers, 43 presiding elders in Georgia,
the Empire State of African Methodism, join the C. P. A.
secretary, one of her sons, m the placing of this
chaplet upon thy honored brow.
102
BISHOP TURNER'S
The C. P. A. assures you that having successfully met
every obligation, and having funds in bank, it will go on
with your spirit of expansion, and meet every obligation.
Like the intrepid Roosevelt, no man has ever found you
a party to closing the door of opportunity in his face, and
I can say that none will ever find you among those who
would hinder. But you may always be classed among
those who help and cheer and encourage the spirit of ex¬
pansion, which is the spirit of the age, and a field of
larger usefulness opens up for the race and the Church.
The C. P. A. has entered this door, is making good every
moment; no day so hot, no night so dark, no mountain so
high, nor valley so deep, but we will be found at port and
doing duty.
The Trinity of great men that knelt with us at this al¬
tar twenty-five years ago were humanitarians—we knew
them but to love them. No historian can write the history
of the race without speaking of the battles fought in the
political aj*ena by Bishop Cain, nor can he close his chap¬
ter on orators and not speak of Wi F. Dickerson, and yet
he will fail to give man a true record without speaking of
you who on the husking, in the forum, in Legislative Hall
or in the sacred rostrum, ever plead the cause of a race—
yea, more, the cause of humanity.
Then with the unborn in Africa, in America, in the
world, we rise to bless you.
What We are Doing.—Our Destiny. (See printed pages.)
We would compare you to Gladstone, the great man of
the people, but he only found opportunity to succor those
on the British Isle.
We would call you, our hero, Bismarck; but his great¬
ness was in dealing with a people who had never been
slaves.
We woulu delight to speak of you as they did of Tous-
saint L'Ouverture, but his highest ambition was physical
liberty.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
103
Wo cannot call you a Washington, for he freed only a
part of the people.
We would call you our Lincoln; but his acts were to
save the State.
We would call you the youngest giant of them all,
Theodore Roosevelt, the fearless champion of open door
opportunity; but he is only a statesman.
Our hero embodies all the qualities of Gladstone, in his
love for the people; more than those of Bismarck, for his
diplomacy is that of a heart overflowing with love for man
and his race. He does not, like the French ruler, only love
Hayti, but Africa's bleeding, sable sons find his heart
beating warm for them.
■Lincoln was v great, Washington heroic, but Turner great
in his goodness and heroic deeds, is the man. He is a man,
We have searched Europe, Asia, Africa and America.
Here in St. Louis we find our Hero.
In the Words of Mrs. Heard.
He saw at last his native land engaged
In civil strife, and seas of human blood
Poured out on soil where wild the conflict raged,
And slavery sink beneath the gory flood.
Scarce had been cleared the field of death and smoke,
Ere rang his eloquence both loud and clear;
The shattered manacle and cruel yoke
Aside were cast for liberty so dear.
So to the lofty apex of renown,
In foreign land or native land of birth,
He wore with dignity the hero crown,
Deserved emblem of a hero worth.
ADDRESS BY DAVID S.CINCORE-
Venerable Fathers, Eminent (Sires, Prelates and Cardinals
of our Bench of Bishops, and Associate Clergymen of
our Historic Church Connection, Baptized in African
Methodism in the Eighteenth Century and Founded by
the Immortal Allen of Blessed Memory:
In yon Quaker City, the cradle of the American Repub¬
lic, as personal delegate of the Preachers' Association of
that Historic Metropolis, I ask and beseech the Executive
indulgence of the chair, His Episcopal and Executive
Highness, the Right Reverend Abraham Grant, D. D., LL.
D., presiding Bishop of this grand occasion, leave to speak
and say a word or two here in the celebration of our Sen¬
ior Bishop, Right Rev. Henry McNeil Turner, D. D., LL.
D., Bishop of Georgia, presiding Bishop of the Sixth Epis¬
copal District. I was present in Chicago last year when
the General Conference decreed it a connectional law to
celebrate the Twenty-fifty Anniversary of Bishop Turner
to the Bishopric, and also present here in St. Louis, Mis¬
souri, a quarter of a century ago when he was elevated to
the Bench.
In my humble opinion this Church and people do them¬
selves an honor in celebrating the Twenty-fifth Episcopal
Anniversary of the Senior Bishop, this venerable com¬
rade of the tented field, distinguished Negro churchman
and statesman, Henry M. Turner.
This peerless and fearless Race champion and leader
has a long, remarkable and useful career worthy of emu¬
lation.
Although born in the Ricey swamps of the Carolinas, yet
God and nature smiled upon him in conferring the degree
of manhood. He has as much manhood to a square inch
as the proudest Anglo-saxon of this Western World or
(104)
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
any of the European World who may be able to trace his
ancestry back to forty centuries older than the Egyptian
pyramids. A stalwart giant of intellect, far beyond the
ordinary. A genius of the Southern clime with natural
talents and natural gifts and abilities although somewhat
unique, nevertheless, an example of the intellectual type,
who takes nothing for granted, but stands upon the solid
rock of Fact and Truth—a historian familiar with both an¬
cient and modern history, but a good reader of men as
well as of books. His Horoscopic views upon men and
things has ofttimes brought down upon him the criticism
of press and people, but like a bold lion, the King beast of
the forest, he has stood the test of time.
Absolutely master of the situation his distinguished
ability has been demonstrated in camp, field, church and
state; as chaplain in the army, he lectured his Veteran
Comrades, the pride of the Negro soldiery. "When a repre¬
sentative in the Legislature of Georgia, he convinced his
Anglo-saxon collegues of the wisdom of a Negro Legis¬
lator and graced the Senatorial toga far more honorable
than old Bob Toumb—Ben Hill, Alexander H. Stephen and
others who always voted the infamous sentiment of old
Judge Roger B. Tanney, that the Negro had no right which
the white man was bound to respect. As an itinerate
preacher he brought honor, respect and fame to the Church
of his choice and won for himself, the Episcopal Honors
here in St. Louis twenty-five years ago. Sitting as a bish¬
op for these twenty-five years has been well said by others
far more able than I.
Here amid this storm of flowery oratory and conspicu¬
ous orators assembled, I feel more like listening to the
eloquent diction than speaking myself at all. All, all, sav¬
ing myself, have graced this grand occasion with words
and diction far more appropriate than I can ever hope to
do.
The eloquent young pulpit orator, Dr. Singleton of Geor¬
gia, made the effort of his life in opening the door for the
BISHOP TURNER'S
orators. I need not quote the words of Dr. Flipper, Heard,
Johnson, Collett, Allen, Grego ry, Chappelle, Parker and
Lee, Hasley, Porter, Prof. Kealing, Hawkins and others,
but it would almost seem selfish upon my part to omit the
name of our young coeceian orator, of the West, Prof.
Vernon, of Kansas, who is undoubtedly one of the smooth¬
est Negro orators in polish diction. His methods of ora¬
tory will always command recognition and fame as well.
His answer to the Governor of Indiana at our last General
Conference in Chicago will live in the minds of the peo¬
ple.
I have little or nothing more to add in the way of eulogy
or eulogizing our Senior Bishop, but I will say of him as
Mark Anthony said of Marcius Brutus when he found his
mortal suicidal remains after the Battle of Phillippi: "This
was the greatest Roman of them all."
I would call him Cardinal Richeleu but the great French
Cardinal, although one of the greatest statesmen and
churchmen of his day and times, he was too willing to
sacrifice his church and all combined for France. This
Negro churchman and statesman has practiced what he
has been preaching for one half of a century. I would
call him Cardinal Woseley, but the great Englishman
played the part of a hypocritical knave in aiding King
Henry VIII. in divorcing his innocent Queen Catharine, but
this grand old Christian sire firmly believes in the Home
and fireside; the family altar and the sacred tie of wed¬
lock. I have been his guest and enjoyed his hospitalities
away down in Georgia. I would call him Martin Luther,
but the great Reformer was only a churchman and knew
little or nothing of State craft. But this Negro cardinal
has been a Senator.
I would call him John Wesley, but he was only a Metho¬
dist, but this Negro prelate belongs to the Universal
Church as well as the African Methodist Episcopal
Church.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
107
An orator like Demosthenes who was always vindicative
and on the defensive like Maribeau of France who never
stooped to conquer; like Daniel O'Connell whose eloquent
tongue was always ready to defend his race and people;
like the immortal sage of Annicostia, Frederick Douglass,
who was the greatest champion of his race; like old Ben
Wade, Joshua R. Giddings, Elijah P. Lovejoy, Wendell
Phillips, William Llyod Garrison, William Wilberforce and
heroic John Brown who never compromised with the en¬
emies of freedom, but publicly hostile and uncompromis¬
ing; like the grand old Commoner Thaddeus Stevens, who
never did indulge in mock modesty but his commonplace
utterances elevated him higher in the gallery of states¬
manship. Like Henry Ward Beecher, a profound pulpit
orator of his race; like the immortal Sumner and Robert
Brown Elliott, the foremost champions of the Civil Right
Bill; like Patrick Henry who preferred death rather than
to be robbed of his liberty. Like Abraham Lincoln of
martyrdom who could not be purchased with all of the
jewels of Asia, India and tropical Africa combined. Last
but not least, like the famous Bob Ingersoll who towered
high above all denominational lines, party distinctions,
party ties, race, color and creeds of every tongue and every
clime.
1425 Bainbridge Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
A TESTIMONIAL.
Read at Bishop H. M. Turner's, D. D,, LL. Twenty-,
fifth Anniversary of His Election to the Bishopric Con¬
nections! Preachers' Aid Association.
This Association, which is doing so much to relieve the
widows of deceased ministers, is the result of a thought
formed in the mind of Rev. John M. Palmer, D. D., of
Germantown, Pa., January 6, 1897. No thought, per¬
haps, has been so productive of relieving the suffering
of the widows of our deceased preachers, and yet the as¬
sociation has not reached its highest destiny. For six
years, under the management of Dr. John T. Jenifer, hun
dreds have been blessed by its influence.
Even though all this time it was under the Assessment
Plan, which, because of its fluctuating condition, he did
not get out of it what the future promises, yet no man in
the Church is better prepared, because of learning, person¬
al dignity and Christian bearing, to do a great work for
the needy preachers and their families than he.
There is no disposition to find fault, but to lay bare the
truths, and in doing this we merely show tlhat the plan
and not the man, was at fault. The Assessment Plan has
always been a failure, and there is no exception in this
case. With five hundred members, the assessment ran
as high as $150, and with eight hundred members on the
roll, ft rail as low as $20, which are truly conditions represent¬
ing the word '.'fluctuate."
Under the new law much more satisfaction is given, as
a stipulated sum is paid quarterly, and the amount prom¬
ised, is promptly paid, but we need more law on the sub¬
ject.
(108)
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
109
There should be a fund coming from the ministers them¬
selves, or from the funds that they collect, called the
Mortuary Fund, and from this not less than $50 should be
appropriated for the funeral expenses of every itinerant
minister who may die.
The classes could exist as now, and no special legislation
would be necessary on this line, but those who felt to
leave something for their families would join the classes
as they now do. It is argued by some that ministers need
make no provisions for themselves nor families after
death. This argument would be all right if ministers and
their families lived exclusive hermit lives, but as they are
a part of society, they are responsible to the community
and to the State, not to leave paupers at the mercy of the
State or city, to exist upon public charity, and to do it is
a crime of which no godly man has a right to be guilty.
Frugality, thrift and economy are virtues to be taught
by example as well as precept, and each itinerant and lo¬
cal preacher in the A. M. E. Church should teach these les¬
sons. This association is the place to teach them.
The C. P. A. having been made connectional, is as much
a part of the A. M. E. (Church as the other business de¬
partment, yet the leading charges as represented by many
of our pastors in the North, East and West, have given
little support to this department, but there are honorable
exceptions, which we will not mention in this paper. Only
a part of our Bishops are giving us the support looked for,
while the General Officers are no exception to this rule.
The income and the growth has been marvelous for the
last eight months, and if continued, as we believe, it will
be, then the future has much in store for our worn-out
itinerants, and the families of deceased preachers in the
A. M. E. Church. I know this is a step forward and
must meet resistance, and thus be retarded, which is dis¬
couraging, but those who have experience, will not let
these discouragements make them fail.
no
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
This department is a fixture, it is here to stay and to do
its work as everything else will do which has the A. M. E.
Church behind it. Therefore standing here at the twenty-
fifth mile post of the consecration of the man
who has done most to make possible these de¬
partments in the South, I reverently present these
ideas to encourage the younger men, and to assure
him and the fathers that we need to make no step back¬
ward, but every department of the church is marching to
the music of progress, and this progress is in keeping with
the age in which we live. The C. P. A. greets our senior
and promises him that the age for which he has given
his best days shall never trail in the dust. Those of us
who are in charge of the departments to-day will hand
them back to the Church untarnished and in the light of
events as far ahead as it is possible for us to go. This is
a happy occasion for the Preachers' Aid. She stands here
to-day, having met every obligation and fully prepared to
meet any that may come upon her in the future, if her
members will only be as loyal as they have been in the
past.
May it be ours to meet beyond the clouded hills of mor¬
tality and in the Elysian fields of immortality, where Go I
and angels dwell.
ADDRESS BY J. D. BARKSDALE.
Twenty-five years ago the clans of African Methodism
n tt i-i Li o b.iii e city, and, from among the many great
and noble men of the Church, selected three of her most
iLk'.ctiicus sons upon whom to place the episcopal mantle:
Turner, Dickerson and Cain. Dickerson, of short-lived
glory, blazed out like a star of inordinate brilliancy; but in
a single night as it were he passed on and with the
dawning of the morning, this light of the firmament set to
rise no more. But as the rays of the evening's sun guild
the heavens with a lingering glory that slowly fades with
the onward march of the night cloud batallions, so lingers
in the memory of those who hear him, the matchless elo¬
quence of Dickerson. Cain, the statesman and philoso¬
pher, longer remained. But one morning we missed
him from the galaxy of bright stars of the church and race,
and the news went out that he was not, for God took him.
Then left alone, like some giant tree upon the mountain's
brow, which had battled with the storms of summer and
winds of winter. Each sweeping storm has made it strong¬
er in every fibre, while every root has taken a deeper and
firmer hold in the ground. Noble and majestic stands this
grand old hero, overtopping the forest of great men around
him. And of him it might be said, as of Napoleon, that
"Alone he stands, wrapped in the solitudes of his own
grandeur." Far in advance of his age and generation, in
subtility of thought, and insight of the things yet hid in
the womb of the future—a Jeremiah in tears for his peo¬
ple, with the silvery and poetic eloquence of Isaiah. Al¬
though matchless were the three, God, in seeming mercy,
has spared to us, and to the world, the most conspicuous
one, as if in verification of His inexorable law of the sur¬
vival of the fittest. A life that has been as restless as
the pulsing beats of the ocean's waves that have lashed
(in)
112
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
forever the icy bastians of the North, and sung their mur¬
muring songs to the sandy beach of the South, and leaped
the coral bulwarks of the West. But it is not for me to
speak of the greatness of this old hero, but rather to wel¬
come you from distant states and cities, with tongues more
eloquent, and pens more facile. But how inadequate is
the word welcome to express the deep sentiment and emo¬
tion that swell the bosom of the ministers and people of
the St. Louis District in bidding you to-night to enter her
gates while we shall listen to you, distinguished sons of
the Church, that shall tell of the noble deeds of this con¬
quering hero. I confess to you how inadequate I feel to
do this lofty and honorable duty: yet, in behalf, and upon
the part of the St. Louis District, of the Missouri Confer¬
ence of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, as pre¬
siding Elder, I bid you many times welcome to her pre¬
cincts and to the sacred shrines of this great and grand St.
Paul, at whose altar our hero knelt just twenty-five years
ago, while holy hands placed upon his rugged brow the epis¬
copal mitre.
Presiding Elder St. Louis District.
BISHOP TURNER.
Thirty-four Years Ago Before the Georgia Annual Confer-
ence,, Which Was Held in Savannah, Ga., commencing
January 5, 1871—Delivered the Following
Remarks:
ADDRESS OF REV. H. M. TURNER.
Presiding Elder H. M. Turner, on retiring from his Dis¬
trict, spoke as follows:
Dear Brethren: I Have the honor to ask that I no
longer be retained in the arduous duties of Presiding Elder.
I am aware that since I have signified a desire to retire
from the responsible duties the office involves, grave ob¬
jections have been made by the brethren to my taking
such a step. I hope, however, that these objections will
be reconsidered and that I may be allowed to assume a re¬
lation to our Conference less arduous and responsible.
Nine years ago, when our country was in th whirl of
revolution and battle strife, and the immortal principles of
freedom were in doubtful suspense, I left the pulpit and
went to the scene of carnage to throw the weight of my
influence and physical power on the side of God and a
free country. In this capacity I served both my church
and my government to the best of my ability, with what
success I will leave to other tongues to tell. I will say, how¬
ever, I endeavored at all times to discharge my whole duty.'
At the end of the rebellion it was thought by the Chief
Executive of the nation, that my services were further
needed in the South, in assisting to elevate ir/ recently
delivered race; and being mustered out of service, as a
f ("3)
H4
BISHOP TURNER'S
United States Chaplain, with my brave and gallant regi¬
ment, 1 was again reappointed a Chaplain in the .regular
army, and sent by Secretary Stanton to Georgia, to labor
in the Freedman's Bureau. Here I landed in the fall of
1865; but shortly after my arrival, I resigned this lucrative
position, in consequence of some disrespect shown me on
account of my color, on the one hand, and the better to
serve my church on the other.
I immediately entered upon the general organization of
the A. M. E. Church in this State. At that time we had
only one Church and congregation in Georgia, which was
under the pastoral charge of Rev. A. L. Standford, St.
Philip's, Savannah, Ga. And this is the congregation to
which I have reference. Brother Standford was neces¬
sarily confined to this special locality, in view of the dis¬
cordant elements which had to be watched with a vigilant
eye—thus leaving almost the entire Empire State of the
South to my care and supervision. But the field was ripe
for the harvest, though it was large and cumbersome,
and without a dollar to start with, I shouldered the re¬
sponsibilities and trusting in God for t.elp, went willingly
to work.
To recount my labors would necessitate the writing of a
volume, which I may do at some future day; but for the
presont it must suffice to say that I have had to pass
through blood and fire. No man can imagine what I have
had to endure but one who has gone through it. And no
man could have passed through it unless he had, as I have,
an iron constitution. I started out with the determination
of raising up the grandest Negro Conference in America,
but I think we have the largest in the world—certainly
America cannot boast of an equal, for we have 189 ap¬
pointments and 226 members. And as for Church Gov¬
ernment, we have no superiors for our time and chance.
I made it a rule to teach and instill the highest system
of Church Government known to our Connection, from the
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
ii5
commencement of our organization in the state. This
rigid training, as many of you here well remember, caused
me often to keep you up all night, till day would drive us
out of Church next morning; you know it was nothing un¬
usual for me to have you studying, praying and sighing
for whole nights in Quarterly Conferences, tryinj to teach
both preachers and their officiary, what the law of our
Church required, even to the minutest point. And you
need not be reminded of my pulpit labors, you certainly
lhavo not forgotten how I had to preach three times every
Sabbath and every night in the week, for month after
month, and then come out of the pulpit and explain the
history, character, purpose and object of our Church, for
hours to satisfy the colored and whites, who would often
look at me as if I was a bear or a lion—sometimes just
commencing the organization of the Church about twelve
or one at night. But why attempt to enter upon a detailed
review, why, in one year alone I traveled over 15,000 miles
in this state, organizing and planting churches and super¬
intending the work together, and preached and spoke over
500 times. I have also been accused of (recklessly licens¬
ing preachers by the cargo, etc., because I had to license
such a number. I admit that I did on several occasions
exercise rather extraordinary powers in this respect, but
in no instance where the emergency of the case would
not justify such action. I was for a long time Elder,
Superintendent and everything else and sometimes
had to make preachers of raw material at a mo¬
ment's notice. I have licensed preachers while riding on
the cars, but I always put you through an examination
sometimes would examine you for three or four hours.
And while it is not only gratifying to mo to know that
sbme of these arbitrarily licensed preachers are now
among our most useful and intelligent Presiding Elders,
but what is more gratifying is .that not one of them has
ever been expelled or silenced for any crime whatever.
n6
BISHOP TURNER'S
Indeed, my hastily made preachers have been among the
most useful.
And my labors have not stopped in the religious sphere,
but it is well known to every one thait I have done more
work in the political field than any five men in the state,
if you will take out Col. Bryant. I first organized the
Republican party in this State, and have worked for its
maintenance and perpetuity as no other man in the State
has. I have put more men in the field, made more
speeches, organized more Union Leagues, Political Asso¬
ciations, Clubs, and have written more campaign docu¬
ments that received larger circulation than any other man
in the state. Why, one campaign document I wrote alone
was so acceptable that it took 4,000,000 copies to satisfy the
public. And as you are well aware, these labors have
not been performed amid sunshine and prosperity. I have
been the constant target of Democratic abuse a*id venom,
and white Republican jealousy. The newspapers have
teemed with all kinds of slander, accusing me of every
crime in the catalogue of villainy; I have even been ar¬
rested and tried on some of the wildest charges, and most
groundless accusations ever distilled from the laboratory
of hell. Witnesses have been paid as high as four thou¬
sand dollars to swear me in the penitentiary; white
preachers have sworn that I tried to get up insurrection,
etc., a crime punishable with death; and all suci deviltry
has been resorted to for the purpose of breaking mc down
—and with it all they have not hurt a hair of my head,
nor even bothered my brain longer than we were going
through the farce of an adjudication. I neither replied to
their slanders nor sought revenge when it hung upon my
option; nor did I even bandy words with the most invet¬
erate and calumnious enemies I had; I invariably let
them say their say, and do their do; while they were
studying against me I was studying for the interest of
the Church, and working for the success of my party, and
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
117
they would expose their own treachery and lies and leave
me to attend to my business as usual. So that up to this
time my trials have been a succession of triumphs, I have
enemies, as is natural, but at this time their tongues are
silent, and their missiles are as chaff, while my friends
can be counted by hundreds of thousands. And, I can
boast of being one of the fathers of the Mammoth Conference—
an honor I would not exchange for a royal diadem. Thus,
having reached die goal of my ambition, I only ask now
to be retired from the weighty duties of the past, and
given the more humble and more circumscribed sphere of
preacher in charge. I am perfectly willing, if the Bishop
will consent, to let some of my sons in the Gospel be my
Presiding Elder, and I trust I shall be able to honor them
as highly as tihey have honored me, for I can say with
pleasure, that with all the orders and even changes I have
sought fit to make I have yet to be resisted or questioned
by a single preacher. And while I shall try (to rest more
regularly and comfortably ih my retired relation, and en¬
joy life more pleasantly than I have in the last nine years,
I shall nevertheless endeavor to be equally as useful to
the Church in the literary department; for I purpose to
give my future days to the literary work of our grand
and growing Connection. Since I have been trying to
preach the Gospel I have had the inestimable pleasure of
receiving into the Church on probation, fourteer thousand
three hundred and eighteen persons which I can account
for, besides some three or four thousand I cannot give any
definite account of. And I would guess, for I am not cer¬
tain that I have received during and since the war, about
sixteen or seventeen thousand full members in thj A. M| E.
Church by change of Chuirch relation—making in all near¬
ly forty thousand souls that I have in some manner been
instrumental in bringing to religious liberty. And yet I
am not quite thirty-nine years old. Hundreds of these
persons have in all probability fainted by the way, and
n8
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
gone back to the world; but I am, on the other hand, happy
to inform you that hundreds have since died in triumph
and gone to heaven, while thousands are today pressing
their way to a better land, scores among whom are preach¬
ing the Gospel. I make no reference to these statistics to
have you suppose that I am better than other men, who
have not been thus successful, for I am only a poor, worth¬
less creature, and may yet be a castaway. I only mention
these facts to express my profound gratitude to God, for
His abundant favors which have been bestowed upcn one
so undeserving. If Bishops Payne and Wayman were
here, I would take great pleasure in laymg my gratitude
at their feet for the support they gave me in the early es¬
tablishment of this Conference; but, as they are not, a
trust Bishop Brown will allow me to tender him my heart¬
felt thanks for the continued manifestations of respect
shown me under his administracion, he who sn ably pre¬
sided over our Conference for the last four years, and
done so much to advance and elevate the members of this
Conference.
I would say aiso to the brethren of the Conference:
You are now Deacons, Elders, Presiding Elders, and many
of you are pulpit orators, as now you must bear your own
responsibilities, and look, in addition to your Bible, Disci¬
pline, and Bishop, to our Father who art in Heaven, for
direction and counsel; you are welcome to the benefits of
my experience at any time you may wish them; but I
trust it will not be in my province to exercise any further
control over a single member of the Conference. With
these remarks, Bishop and Conference, I again pray to be
relieved of my heavy, taxing responsibilities. May the
God of grace kep you, is my prayer.
Elder Gaines moved that Mr. Turner's request be granted,
and that his remarks be printed with the Minutes and in
■^he Christian Recorder. Passed unanimously.
THE CELEBRATION OF BISHOP TURNER'S EPISCO¬
PAL ANNIVERSARY IN THE WEST INDIES.
The celebration of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of Bish¬
op H. M. Turner's elevation to the Episcopacy was held
in the Collymore Rock A. M. E. Church, Bridgetown, Bar¬
bados, W. I., on the evening of the 12th of June, under the
auspices of the Allen Christian Endeavor League.
Acting under the instructions of the pastor, Rev. Reuben
A. Sealy, the Social Committee prepared an elaborate
and attractive programme—all the talent of the church
having been called into requisition.
At 7 o'clock the chairman entered the rostrum and brief
devotional exercises were engaged in, after which the pro¬
gramme was entered upon. At the end of the first part,
which was excellently rendered and which consisted of
papers, recitations, and music—instrumental and vocal—
Ilev. Sealy delivered an eloquent oration on the life of
Bishop Turner. He traced, with the ability of a master in
the art of delineation, the leading events in the history
of the bishop—from his boyhood days to the present time.
He took his audience from their little island home to the
bishop's South Carolina home of the old regime and held
them entranced the while he told of the struggles of the
poor but ambitious lad who was destined in after life to be
an international figure. To his amazed listeners he nar¬
rated the incident of the angel teacher, who instructed the
lad when he was denied the acquisition of an education in
his native state. He dwelt lovingly on his personal knowl¬
edge of the good bishop to whose devotion to Missions, he
said, Collymore Rock was indebted for what had been done
for her by way of emancipation from the thraldom of
Satan. At the end of an address that will not soon pass
19)
120
BISHOP TURNER'S
away from the memory of those who were fortunate
enough to hear it, the following resolutions were adopted:
Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God in His great good¬
ness, wisdom and mercy to permit our beloved and respect¬
ed Father in God, Bishop H. M. Turner, D. D., LL. D., Pri¬
mate of the A. M. E. Church, to give twenty-five years of
untiring and beneficient service to our Church in the office
of a bishop, and
Whereas, Among the many memorable things done by
him during that period—to wit, in the ear 1892—was the
sending of our Pastor Rev. Reuben A. Sealy from Bermuda
to the West Indies and South America as Presiding Elder,
Superintendent and Evangelist, and
Whereas, The said Rev. Reuben A. Sealy has succeeded
in firmly establishing the A. M. E. Church in the Island of
Barbados and in British Guiana and has labored for many
years in the Collymore Rock district of Barbados, convert¬
ing it from being the worst district in the Island to a god¬
fearing and peaceable community and has been the in¬
strument by which many souls have been saved; and has
erected for us a beautiful stone wall building, and for our
children a school house, and
Whereas, All these and other blessings have come to us
through the selection of Rev. Reuben A. Sealy for the work
in the West Indies;
Therefore, We, the officers, Members and friends of the
said Collymore Rock A. DVL. E. Church in the Island of
Barbados, West Indies, do greatly rejoice in the many and
signal blessings which God has bestowed upon the labors
of Bishop Turner in Church and State during his nearly
threescore years of activity; and especially during the last
twenty-five years of his very strenuous life spent in the
bishopric, and
Whereas, The good bishop's work while in the best in¬
terest of his native land generally, has been in the main
aimed at the advancement and betterment of the condition
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
121
of his people in Church and State in America, Africa and
the West Indies; therefore, he it
Resolved, That we do hereby give hearty thanks to Al¬
mighty God for having given to the people of color in all
the world so great and illustrious a champion in affairs of
State and to the Church so devout and zealous a worker
and leader, and be it further
Resolved, That we heartily congratulate the Venerable
Prelate upon the many years of usefulness vouchsafed to
him by our Father in Heaven, and be it further
Resolved, That we felicitate the A. M. E. Church general¬
ly upon the noble work which he has performed in her best
interest and we pray the Almighty Father that his life
may be spared for many more years and his health pre¬
served in order that he might be enabled to carry on the
important duties in the Church committed to his care and
upon which the Divine blessings have so richly and sig¬
nally rested, and the continuation of which we are sure
will ever attest to all that his labors in the Lord are not
in vain.
W. A. CRAWFORD.
C. B. C. PHILLIPS.
The second part of the programme was then executed.
At 9:30 the last item was rendered, and after the pro¬
nouncing of the doxology the large assembly separated.
Thus ended the celebration—in this far off land, where
the banner of Allen waves—of one of the most unique
events in the history of African Methodism, and what it is
fondly believed is the beginning of a new era in the annals
of the church and race.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL ADDRESS OF WELCOME TO
BISHOP H. M. TURNER.
By R. L. Beal.
Welcome, hoary head veteran, battle scarred hero from
the red field of war! Sire, we delight to do you honor, not
only as a distinguished prelate and pulpiteer, but as a man
and advocate of human rights; whose voice and pen have
been heard and felt through the length and breadth of
the land in defence of a patient and undying race. Your
work cannot be hedged in by national boundary lines, but
is as far reaching as the air we breathe. As you have
gone hither and yon in the plain path of duty, before and
since the days of your consecration in this international
city, to the higher priesthood, Jehovah has been your,
shield and buckler, to preserve and bless you in the work
assigned to your hands. We deem it necessary to give a
brief recital of our doings in this western branch of our
Methodism, in the quarter of a century of your incumbency
as one of the chief pastors, for the general information
of those beyond our pale. The General Conference of '80,
sitting in this city in the former temple on Eleventh
Street and Christy Avenue, at its rise left by geographical
division on this side of the Mississippi, to this episcopal
district, all the territory embraced within the following
area:. Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Cali¬
fornia, and the entire northwest, the largest missionary
field in the church; assigned the late Bishop Ward to its
superintendency. He took up the work left by the exact
and painstaking Bishop Shorter, of precious memory.
Bishop Ward, by his earnestness and zeal, began to attract
notice, and by his towering manhood, sterling genius,
(122)
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
123
natural eloquence, which he applied with terrible direct¬
ness and irresistible enthusiasm, the Savanarola of his
times, inspiring and giving additional energy to the stal¬
wart clergy who carried out his orders. Among the min¬
istry who deserved special mention were, Dove, Wilker-
son, Gaines, Turner, Owsley, the Elder Sexton, Madison,
Henderson, Bryant, I. N. Triplett, the Hubbards, Beck-
ley, Steward and scores of others. They brought hundreds
into the fold, extended our borders, enlarged our influence,
and membership. Following the heterogeneous masses
who in wake of the rising star of empire came to better
their conditions; moulded societies of them into a homo-
genity of order and discipline. Where we were barely
known, now we form a part of the body religions. In
every city of note, they built churches which favorably
compare with the best. Some have fallen asleep, while
others remain with us to this day.
At the end of Bishop Ward's quadrennium, came the late
Bishop Brown, the Chesterfield of the Bench, of iron and
heroic casting, the church and ministry advanced, taking
no backward step; after which Bishop Ward, for a second
time, moved forward to greater heights and a more extend¬
ed horizon. He was followed by the sturdy Bishop Handy,
this being his initial appointment, and, as it was necessary
to execute discipline in some special cases, the results were
looked upon with great solicitude; but he remained firm,
resolute, unflinching, the right prevailed, his ministrations
were blessed with success. He was succeeded by the schol¬
arly Bishop Tanner and as we look back upon those stir¬
ring times, it would be a dereliction upon our part not to
accord him praise for what he has deservedly won in his
faithfulness and unswerving fidelity to the church.
Next came the gentlemanly Bishop Shaffer, who proved
himself equal to the task, urbane methodical, looking to
correctness in detail, he has passed to his present district
with the universal esteem of his brethren. Last of this
124
BISHOP TURNER'S
royal line of noblemen is the present incumbent, Bishop
Grant, the evangel of song and gospel gladness, our Barna¬
bas, the man mighty in word and doctrine, like his illus¬
trious namesake , the hero of Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and
Appomattox. As in the days agone, he is still winning vic¬
tories over the Satanic forces of the King's enemies. In
the past conference year, from the Pacific slope to the
father of waters, he has brought scores of recruits as
trophies within the shadow of the Cross. We move for¬
ward by day and as we bivouac by night our watch fires
are seen on mountain and in plain.
We have not disregarded the education of our youth.
Western University, at Quindaro, Kansas, on the banks
of the Kaw, furnishes the higher learning to hundreds, un¬
der the guidance of its president, the eloquent Professor
Vernon. Its industrial departments are fostered by the
state of Kansas, which in the last eight years has appropri¬
ated over $60,00.0 for their sustenance. To the giver of
every good and perfect gift be all the honor and glory for
His goodness. We are here in behalf of the Fifth Episco¬
pal District, Sires, to greet you; you have the right of
way; to bid welcome to the general officers, our peerless
Dr. Johnson, whose weekly heralds are the winged mes¬
sengers of Truth, which lay bare to the mighty in the em¬
pire our sufferings and the efforts he puts forth for their
amelioration. Dr. Parks, a worthy son of the Church, as
missionary secretary and editor in chief of that official or¬
gan, you well deserve a place among us, for we have
weighed you in the scales of public opinion and you have
not been found wanting. Make room for our own Chap-
pelle, Secretary of the Sunday School Union, fearless
mouthpiece of the Church and spiritual teacher of our
children. Throw wide the doors to the sweet singer of
Zion, the son of our strength, Dr. Watson, Church Exten¬
sion Secretary. Grant us a place of honor for Profs.
Kealing and Hawkins—the former for his rich repasts as
QUARTO-CENTENMIAL.
125
editor of the "Review," our quarterly magazine; the latter
for his special fitness that so ably sustains our general
educational interests. Welcome tireless Drs. Collett, Busi¬
ness Manager; Lamp ton, faithful guardian of our gen¬
eral funds; Heard, solace of our widows and orphans;
Lewis succorer of the sick and enfeebled brotherhood;
Allen, able and associate ally of our official organs. Give
room to Secretary of Endeavores, scholars, churchmen,
one and all.
Venerable Sire, we again bid you welcome as the valiant
defender, in pulpit or on forum, before select committees
of the first statesmen of the nation, governors. You are
the same champion of our common liberty, your great per¬
sonality is a reminder that we are not plastic clay, but—
"Iron dug from central gloom,
And heated hot with burning fears,"
"And dip't in baths of hissing tears,
And battered by the shocks of doom."
But not discouraged, go forward, leader, brother; may
the benediction of the patriarch upon the beloved son of
his old age be thine. "But his bow abode in strength, and
the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of
the mighty God of Jacob; even by the God of thy Father,
who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless
thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the
deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the
womb.
A RESPONSE TO THE WELCOME ADDRESSES
By Rev. G. W. Porter, D. D.
Mr. Chairman, Visiting Delgates, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I come to accept this welcome, not only on behalf of
him who is the honored guest of this great occasion, but
on behalf also of the toiling thousands, who make up
the rank and file of African Methodism, from the broad
acres of Mississippi, and the south, whose fields are over¬
spread with mimic snow (cotton) and from whose tumble
homes come annually the revenue to run the material side
of our great Zion; and on behalf of still other thousands
in the rock-ribbed Virginias, Tennessee, Kentuckv and
throughout the North, and yet others sweeping across the
western plains and over the great Rockies toward the
golden sunset; and indeed on behalf cf all that go to
make up our great connection, throughout the world.
We feel that in extending this welcome, to the repre¬
sentatives here assembled, that you are welcoming the
whole connection to your hospitalities, and it is on the
behalf of the whole connection that I attempt to respond
to this generous welcome in the following words:
It was Mr. Carlyle who said: "A man's religion is the
chief fact with regard to him." That is to say, the thing
he really believes and sets to heart, and acts upon, wheth¬
er intuitive or otherwise, is the fact that stands preemi¬
nent to all things else in his life.
The fathers and founders of African Methodism,
whether conscious or unconscious of the truthfulness of
this statement, seem to have acted upon the logic con¬
tained in it, in their work of shaping a polity for the
Church that is so wonderfully adapted to the people for
126
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
127
whom it was intended, and which, has so rapidly become
the chief fact with regard to them.
The dark race has always occupied a peculiar position
in this country socially, politically and religiously, and
hence it has required and still requires organizations
suited to his position to bring forth all that is best in the
black man, and cause the world to see him not as an in¬
ferior, but as a man possessed of all the latent force,
mental capacity and inherent ability of any other man
of any race.
While he has largely imbibed the white man's notions
and imitated his examples in most things social, political
and religious, he has never allowed those traits of charac¬
ter peculiar to himself to be seduced or driven out by
other influences, and hence there remains in him a spirit
of independence, that under certain circumstances is
sure to crop out in some organic form and serve as a lever
to his own elevation.
The greatest outcropping of this kind connected with
the history of the race in this country is the organization
of the A. M. E. Church. This organization, thougfh. ef¬
fected at a time when a majority of the race had appar¬
ently little to hope for, yet the wisdom of this independ¬
ent uprising has been verified in more than a thousand
ways in the last one hundred years.
The black man of the South came from tlhe treadmill
of slavery only a few decades ago, with only a spattering
of civilization clinging to his outer nature as a result of
his hard experience in the school of his bitter adversity;
while his brother in the North at the same time was de¬
livered from a thralldom which, save the personal physical
sufferings was almost equally as bad. It was at this
critical period in his history that the helping hand of
some civilizing influence was needed to steer his little bark
aright, over the untried seas of liberty and responsibility.
Many there were who were willing, even anxious to
128
BTSHOP TURNER'S
extend a helping hand, and all kinds of leadership were
offered to bring this wandering people to their Canaan;
but none seemed so well adapted to this work as the lead¬
ers of African Methodism, possibly for the reason that it
was the largest and most influential organization among
the (race, and hence they took the lead in all things that
made for race elevation during these trying times, and
so far as actual race enterprise is concerned have main¬
tained it ever since.
It is making no empty boast, but rather stating an ac¬
tual fact, when we say that the impress of African Method¬
ism is stamped upon every well-establisfied race enterprise
in this country. This is not claiming that we have done
everything, but it is claiming that we have had a hand in
everything that has been done for the advancement of
the race. The scope of this civilizing of African Method¬
ism has by no means been confined to the denominational
boundaries of the connection, but lhas extended far be¬
yond into other fields, and furnished the stimulance for
better organization and more independent work in other
church organizations of the race.
Our pioneer work in the publishing house business, cre¬
ated the impetus which gave rise to the Baptist Publi¬
cation Board at Nashville, Tennessee, wihich has grown
to be one of tflie best plants of the kind owned by the
race, and which is destined to live long and do much
toward the evangelization and civilization of the race for
which it is operated.
What is true in this regard is also true with regard
to other church organizations throughout the country. All
fair-minded men of whatever religious persuasion, have
long since conceded to us this pioneer position and lead¬
ership on this great line of civilizing work and uplifting
influence, and the writers of modern church history have
usually been fair enough to give us this honored and mer¬
ited place.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
129
It was also left for African Methodism to pave the way
to independent Negro education, and Wilberforce stands
to-day as an everlasting monument to this truth. The
historian of the future must always trace the fountainhead
of independent Negro education, whether industrial or
otherwise to its true Alma Mater in Green County, Ohio.
Other great institutions of learning that ha,ve sprung
up all over the country, and some of them even extending
so far in their operation as to apparently eclipse Mother
Wilberforce, in their proud but short history; can never
publish the true narrative of their lives without weaving
into their honored story the golden thread which the" have
gathered from the valuable skein of knowledge that has
hung so long as a charming frontlet on the brow of Mother
Wilberforce.
Tuskegee is perhaps the widest known Negro Institu¬
tion of learning in the world to-day; but did not the
master of Tuskegee, whose work alone has made Tuske¬
gee great, find his first stepping stone to greatness upon
Wilberforce influence furnished by Rt. Rev. Daniel Alexan¬
der Payne?
The master of that great institution and his noble work
might have remained unnoticed much longer than they
did, had not this strong influence been brought to bear in
their favor at a time when public recognition meant so
much to both.
This is only one of the many logical offshoots which
followed the cry of the little refugee from Charleston
who made the country ring with his eloquent plea for
Negro education.
But perhaps the place where the greatest work has been and
is still being done for the civilizing uplift of the race, is the
spiritual work of the ministry among the commonalty of
mankind. The circuit rider, tlhe mission walker, the busy-
going presiding elder and the energetic, godly bishop are
sll influences for civil, moral, and spiritual elevation which
13°
BISHOP TURNER'S
the whole nation have felt and must continue to feel for
many ages to come! Wherever these dispensers of the
gospel of truth and righteousness gets a foothold, the
signs of a better civilization are soon seen and a moral
standard is set up.
There are many communities where others outnumber
us, but there is no community wthere we are established
at ail where any other outweigh us in moral influence and
common intelligence. This is due to two facts, one of
which is referred to above, the influence of our ministry:
and the other is the fact that the A. M. E. Church is not
like those church organizations that are administered by
others for the race, but it is administered by the race and
for the race, and thus the humblest member knows that if
he has the qualification he may with hope aspire to the
most exalted position of the Connection.
It is not impossible for the sexton of the A. M. E.
Church to reach tlhe bishopric. This latter fact is per¬
haps responsible for the drawing into the Connection of
so many strong v minds who could never be contented with
proscribed bounds which they know they have capacity to
pass and which are continually being passed by others of
feebler training and ability than themselves.
The preaching of the A. M. E. pulpit is equal to the
very best the race can furnish. The whooper who simply
makes a noise but says nothing in particular is fast be¬
coming extinct in our Connection. The average A. M. E.
minister, north and south, goes before the people with a
message to deliver, and he is generally successful in deliv¬
ering it. Noisy preaching has never been objected to in
the A. M. E. Church, provided the noise is accompanied
by the everlasting gospel of truth. The average Methodist
preacher hollows loud and says something. The more
genuine enthusiasm the preacher gets into his sermon, the
more like a Methodist preacher he becomes.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
Enthusiasm, however, is not the end sought, but is
consequent to it, the true end being to enlighten the minds
of the hearers and to put into their hearts thoughts that
will be productive of good fruits. Along this line the
A. M. E. ministry has labored during the century just
closed, and we nave but to cast our eyes to either point of
the compass to behold the fruits of its toil.
I suppose that a list miles in length could be made of the
names of great men and women produced by the Church,
and among that list none would stand more prominent
than of him whom this occasion is intended to honor and on
whose behalf I especially accept this generous welcome.
Were I possessed of the skill of the greatest sculptor
of all ages, and were it required of me to chisel out of the
rougihest and hardest stone of all the earth a human form
representing all the elements of true greatness, I would
select a stone of the granite family from beneath some
mountain base where it had been icng held down by the
ponderous weight above it, and from this well-selected
stone I would cut the form of a robust man. I would
place the expression of the deepest intelligence in his
eyes, the outlines of the most stern and rugged character
in his face, and I would chisel the frov/n indicative of an
indomitable will on his broad forehead, and I would drape
him from his shoulders down with the silken gown of ec¬
clesiastical dignity, and I would place in his right hand the
scepter of Episcopal authority, and in his left hand the
eternal Word of the Living God. This form I would place
upon a monument more beautiful than that of Sherman at
the National Capitol, and higher than that of Washington,
and 1 would write in golden letters of blazing fire beneath
his feet:
Greatest Among the Great.
Representative of Mississippi.
LETTERS.
Jacksonville, Fla., May 9, 1905.
To Bishop A. Grant, D. D., Chairman of the Twenty-fifth
Anniversary Celebration of the Episcopal Ordination of
Bishop H. M. Turner, D. D., D. C. L., LL. D., May 18 to
21, 1905.
Dear Bishop:
I write to acknowledge receipt of your invitation to be
present at - the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of Bishop Tur¬
ner's ordination, and to preside over the deliberation of
the assembly on Friday, May 19, at 10 a. m.
It is not at all necessary for me to say that I most heart¬
ily subscribe to the New Testament requirement (Romans
13:7): "Render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute
is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; hon¬
our to whom honour."
What an old Englishman says on these words is exceed¬
ingly pertinent to our own present condition; for not a
few among the people are heard to say: "Preachers are no
more than any other people;" and among the preachers
some are heard to say: "Bishops are no more than any
other preachers."
Says the old divine: "The apostle is thus particular and
express in asserting the rights of princes and assigning
the proper duties of subjects towards them, because the
Jews held opinions which were destructive of all civil gov¬
ernment; as, namely, that they being the only people of
God, God alone was to be owned as their Lord and Gover¬
nor, and under him but such as should be immediately
chosen by him; and, as a consequent of this, they refused
to pay tribute to Caesar, looking upon that as a token of
subjection to him. Therefore the apostle here presses
the Christians at Rome to show their freedom from, and
opposition to, all such pernicious principles, and to give the
132
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
133
"world a convincing proof that Christianity makes the best
men, the best magistrates, the best subjects, of any re¬
ligion in the world."
To say that I cannot be present with you occasions me
no little regret. But it is impossible. I have just returned
home, after an absence in Florida, of 8 months. Much
the larger portion of all this time, I was on the go; and now
I am home to rest. I beg, however, to be remembered to
the Senior, and to express the hope that he may yet more
grow in praise to God and in usefulness to man.
Fraternally,
Benj. Tucker Tanner.
Elpaso, Texas, May 14, 1905.
Rt. Rev. 'H. M. Turner, Venerable Colleague, Brothers and
Friends:
This comes bearing greetings, and the same time, to ex¬
press my regrets of not being able to be present at your
Q. C. Celebration.
Business of urgent nature, calls me here, and I cannot
leave for several days. It would afford me unbounded
pleasure to be there, and to take some humble part in doing
honor to our Senior Bishop, who has for twenty-five years
performed so faithfully the duties committed to him as
one of the Bishops of our great Connection. I for one do
not believe, that too much honor can come to a man, who
has done so much for the Connection, both before and after
the election to bishopric as Bishop Turner.
I therefore feel, not being present to honor him I failed to
honor myself. My prayer is that, a glorious time will be
witnessed, and that many of the hardships which he has
witnessed may be forgotten in the face of the ovation,
which may be tendered him upon this occasion. May this
be a "Oasis" in the desert of hard labor, and hard trials,
where you may slake your thirst, and be refreshed from a
134
BISHOP TURNER'S
long journey already past over, and take new courage for
the remainder, and be brought finally to the inheritance
of the saints of life. Although I am on guard at a distance-
where our Zion is in much need of Episcopal oversight, in
spirit I join in every song, prayer, sermon, speech, and
lecture, which will be put forward to encourage, inspire
.our worthy Senior Bishop. Praying the divine blessings
-upon the exercises, and upon him whom honor is to be
rendered, and indeed upon you all. I am
Yours in his name,
Evans Tyree.
Dear Bishop Grant, and Members of the Committee having
in charge the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Elevation
of Bishop H. M. Turner to the Episcopal Office:
I regret that I am unable to be with you upon this auspic¬
ious occasion. My field and its exacting labors hold me
fast. But all the same, 1 am with you in spirit.
The occasion has its interest, first of all, in the fact that
the Great Head of the Church has permitted one of its
chief pastors to do continuous service for a period of
twenty-five years: and that during that period, has blessed
the labors of his hands, and those associated with him,
both as ministers and laymen; so that, the church has
grown into a great power for good in the world.
But secondly, the occasion has its interest in the fact,
that the subject himself has been untiring in his efforts
to bring about the results so gloriously achieved.
Whether in the Districts assigned to him from time to
time, or in any other portion of the Church; whether in
America, the birthplace of the Church, or in Africa, the
Fatherland of its firstborn members, Bishop Henry Mc
Neil Turner has ever, and always, and at all places, been
the same undaunted, untiring, uncompromising advocate
of that zeal and energy, which alone, under God can ac¬
complish great things.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
135
Himself an untiring worker, he has inspired others to
labor on, and on. Himself a constant student he has in¬
duced others to study. Himself possessed of a faith in
the boundless possibilities of the race, he has strengthened
the faith of others, so that multitudes cheered on by his
zeal, courage and faith, have undertaken and actually ac¬
complished what might have otherwise by them been
thought impossible.
How fitting it is that we should pause a moment at this
twenty-fifth mile post, this quarter of a century way mark,
and reverently thank God for the opportunity and for the
man to lead; and also place upon the brow of our brother,
colleague and co-worker, a wreath of praise and honor
while • he yet lives and works.
May He who established the church, and who, by a
mighty hand, has led it forth all these years, grant still to
us as a Church, the blessing of His presence with us, and
to His faithful servant the consciousness of duty well and
faithfully performed. What more? except the crown of
life that awaits him just beyond.
I have the honor to be your brother in His service,
Levi Jenkins Coppin.
New York, May 16, 1905.
Bishop A. Grant, D. D.:
Dear Bishop:—I don't know when I have ever regretted
anything more than I do my inability to be with you at St.
Louis this week to help do honor to our grand old hero,
Bishop H. M. Turner; but it is really out of my power to
be there. A number of circumstances over which I have
no control stand in the way—I shall however be with you
in spirit. May the presence of the Great Head of the
Church make manifest his presence and may you, as the
presiding officer be directed by Him in all you do. I have
sent in the name of Bethel Church a small token to Bishop
Turner and send to you a brief paper, the best I was able
136
BISHOP TURNER'S
to prepare and beg you to select some one to read it for
me. I am sure you will select some brother who will do
full justice to the occasion. Will you kindly express to the
meeting my sincere regrets at not being able to be present.
After my highest regards, I remain, dear Bishop,
Faithfully yours,
T. W. Henderson.
Baltimore, Md., May 13, 1905.
To the President, Bishop A. Grant, D. D., and Members of
the Committee of Management of Bishop H. M. Turner's
Anniversary Celebration, St. Louis, Mo.:
Gentlemen and Brethren:
Being one among the few remaining members who com¬
posed the General Conference of 1880, and who aided in
the event which you so wisely and appropriately commemo¬
rate, I beg permission to make this humble contribution
to what marks another auspicious epoch in the useful and
eventful life and services of our Senior Bishop, Henry Mc¬
Neil Turner, D. D., LL. D.
The matchless and heroic services rendered in and to
every department of the A. M. E. Connection, emphasizes the
wisdom and godly judgment of the General Conference of
1880, that elected and ordained Rev. H. M. Turner a bishop.
I am of the opinion that it would not be extravagant to
say that African Methodism owes forty per cent of its
present status to the life and labors of Henry M. Turner
as an itinerant preacher, organizer, thinker, writer and
Bishop.
May he live long to enjoy his well won trophies, and to
bless the Church and humanity; and may your efforts at
St. Louis be crowned with large success so as to add an¬
other imperishable chapter to the illustrious history of
African Methodism, are the prayers of
Yours brotherly,
J. T. Jenifer.
1327 N. Carey Street.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
137
Raleigh, N. C., May 15, 1905.
Rt. Rev. A. Grant, D. D.:
Dear Bishop, Chairman of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary
Celebration of the Episcopal Ordination of Bishop H.
M. Turner, D. D., D. C. L., LL. D.:—Having been one of
those who voted for H. M. Turner in 188X), desired much to
be present at the anniversary, but circumstances over
which I have no control prevents.
The Raleigh District Conference, April 26th, remembered
the celebration and made a donation to aid the expenses.
We wish you all much success and trust that Bishop Turner
may be spared to do much more good for his church and
race, and had we another vote that would help elect H. M.
Turner to the bishopric, we would gladly cast it.
With best wishes for one and all, I subscribe myself,
Your humble servant,
R. H. W. Leak.
Paul Quinn College, Waco, Texas, May 15, 1905.
Rt. Rev. Bishop H. M. Turner, D. D., LL. D.:
Dear Bishop:—Your grace will allow me to present my
congratulations of your twenty-fifth year of consecration to
the bishopric in the A. M. E. Church, whose growth has
been phenomenon. It has become so great that the sun
never sets on its field, the highest and most sacred oflice
in the gift of the Church of which your holiness has the
honor to be its head.
The third ordination carries with it a significance which
is found only in the trinity of strength Divine; "The Fa¬
ther, Son and Holy Ghost!' its synonym of power. And
to-day will remind you of its Trinity in the election of the
beloved, earnest, progressive young blood in the person of
Rt. Rev. Bishop Wm. Fisher Dickerson, D. D., who reached
his majority in the beginning of his work. He was—no,
for God took him—coupled with him in the Trinity, Rt.
Rev. Bishop Richard Harvey Cain, D. D., the intrepid, elo-
i38
BISHOP TURNER'S
quent and pioneer of South Carolina, who ran to meet the
charioteers from the celestial orbs of a bright day, and
passed upward like Elijah to meet his God. But your
grace has been preserved, and I personally congratulate
you in the perpetuity of the office in long life, busy days,
and a successful administration. And may the peace of
God and the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit
be and remain with you always. Amen.
Respectfully,
Wm. J. Laws.
P. S.—The faculty and students of Paul Quinn College
join with me in sending their congratulation for supreme
happiness in this your golden age, the Senior Bishop in the
A. M. E. Church, of the world.
Charleston, S. C., May 12th, 1905.
Rt. Rev. A. Grant, D. D.:
My Dear Bishop:—I received a letter some days since
informing me that I was appointed to preach at St. Paul
A. M. E. Church, May 21st, it being the closing day of
Bishop Turner's twenty-fifth anniversary. I have been
trying to arrange matters to the end that I might come
and take the part assigned me on the programme, but
to my great regret I can't be there; matters that
I can't conveniently control prevent me. My own disap¬
pointment is great. I hope, however, that the celebration
will be a success and that its literary phase may come up
to your expectation. It is my hope also that you are in
your usual good health. I send you a mite to help on in
the good work. Find check for five dollars.
Yours most truly,
J. H. Welch.
Chicago, May 17, 1905.
Rt. Rev. A. Grant, D. D.,
St. Louis, Mo.
Dear Father and Bishop:—Quinn Chapel A. M. E.
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
139
Church joins her pastor in sending greetings and extending
congratulations to the Rt. Rev. Henry McNeil Turner, D. D.,
LL. D., on the occasion of the Quarto-Centennial Celebra¬
tion of his election and consecration to the Episcopacy of
the great A. M. El Church. We are grateful to Almighty
God for having given to the Church, the race and the world
this great and good man, just at the time when, seemingly,
they needed him most.
We honor him for what he has done; for his great sei'V-
ice to his church, and his devotion to the highest and best
interest of his race. But we honor him more, and love
him, because of what he is—"a man," a churchman, a
scholarly man, and a fearless and uncompromising race
man.
Our prayer to God is, that he may yet live long; that he
may continue to exert that influence so needful at this time
of the church's and race's history; and that, at the end of
his eventful career, the sun of his day may set in peace,
and his labors crowned with that, "Well done, thou good
and faithful servant."
Sincerely and faithfully yours,
D. P. Roberts.
Baltimore, Md., May 16, 1905.
Bishop Abram Grant, D. D.
St. Louis, Mo.
My Dear Bishop Grant:—On the rare occasion of the
Quarto-Century of Episcopal labors, so well and faithfully
performed by Henry McNeil Turner, I desire, as a col¬
league, to extend through you my congratulations. The
punctuation of such a period by the Church is very fitting.
As I do not wish to appear as in any way trespassing
upon the program, hence only extend this fraternal word,
Hail! Yours very truly,
James A. Handy.
1341 N. Carey St.
140
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
New York, May 16, 1905".
Bishop H. M. Turner, D. D., LiL. D.
Dear Bishop:—I have only time to send a word of good
cheer to the greatest living Negro, a man who has graced
the Episcopal office for twenty-five years and has stood
as a bulwark of strength to his church; a man with strong
convictions, but liberal sentiments. The enclosed is only
a small token of my very high regard.
Yours in Gospel bonds,
J. W. Hood.
Bishop Gaines.
My Dear Sir and Brother:
I regret to have to leave so early, but the hour for an¬
other engagement is at hand. I would like to have you
and your associates know that the representatives of the
Negro Baptist denomination in the city joins you in doing
honor to the venerable Bishop, H. M. Turner. We regard
him as one of the foremost men of the race.
Respectfully,
E. C. Morris.
RESOLUTIONS.
Whereas, The Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Episco¬
pacy of Rt. Rev. H. M. Turner, D. D., D. C. L., LL. D., has
been celebrated so successfully, evidencing the spirit of
recognition and appreciation of race leadership, and
Whereas, The citizens of St. Louis and especially the pas¬
tor, members and friends of St. Paul' Church, have given
us such a warm welcome and the most royal and hospitable
treatment while in their midst thereby adding comfort,
pleasure and happiness to our feast of reasoning and flow
of soul; —
Resolved, fifth, That a vote of thanks be extended to the
tor of St. Paul for his untiring zeal and the painstaking
care exercised in providing for the entertainment of this
assembly, and to the members and friends of the church
for their unbounded generosity and unselfish devotion in
placing at our disposal the best of all to be found in their
city and around the firesides of their homes.
Resolved, second, That a vote of thanks be extended to
the choir of this (St. Paul) church for the soul-stirring
music which has come to us as the harmonious expressions
from the depths of human souls, pouring forth their melody
and sweetness with such trained accents, careful intona¬
tions and fervid expression as to enrapt our souls and draw
us nearer heaven while singing the praises of Jehovah.
Resolved, third, That a vote of thanks be extended to the
organist, who, by her skillful touch and technique and the
masterly way in which she has handled the instrument, has
shown how the feeling and expressions of a trained soul
when transmitted to the key-board can make even a mass
of wood and brass and ivory speak out in praises to God.
Resolved, fourth, That a vote of thanks be extended to
Bishop Grant, Chairman of this Commission, and Dr. H. T.
Johnson, as Secretary, who has spared no pains and left
141
142
BISHOP TURNER'S
no stone unturned in making this celebration a crowning
success and an occasion worthy to be considered of great
credit to the Church and the race.
Resolved, fifth, That a vote of thanks be extended to the
Bishop who has presided at the sessions of this Anniver¬
sary, and to all who have participated in the program of
our entertainment.
Resolved, sixth, That a vote of thanks be extended to
all who have as members of certain District Conferences
and as individuals contributed so generously towards
meeting the financial obligations of this movement and
making it a success.
And lastly let us lift our hearts to God and resolve that
going forth to our fields of labor we will take up the bur¬
dens of life with fresh courage with renewed hopes and in¬
spired zeal and march to higher ground and broader fields.
Respectfully submitted,
Committee—G. W. Porter, H. T. Kealing, J. R. Hawkins.
Philadelphia, Pa., May 15, 1905.
Whereas, The General Conference of the A. M. E. Church,
at Chicago, Illinois, last year decreed a connectional law to
celebrate the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of our Senior Bish¬
op, Rt. Rev. Henry M. Turner, D. D., LL. D., at St. Louis,
Mo., May 18, 19, 20 and 21,
Resolved, That the Preachers' Association of Philadel¬
phia and vicinity of the A. M. E. Church, send its greet¬
ings to Bishop Turner; also a message by a personal legate,
Rev. D. S. Cincore.
Signed on behalf of the Association,
Wm. H. Davis, President.
A. M. Buckley, Secretary.
Wilberforce, Ohio, May 17, 1905.
"Whereas, The A. M. E. Church assembled at St. Louis,
Mo., through her representatives, will celebrate on May 18-
QUARTO-CENTENNIAL.
143
21, 1905, the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the consecration
of Bishop Henry McNeil Turner, D. D., LL. D., D. C. L., to
the office of Bishop in the said church; and
Whereas, We, the faculty and students of Payne Theo¬
logical Seminary, of Wilberforce, Ohio, recognize the ster¬
ling, Christian manhood in our Senior Bishop; and,
Whereas, His labors have been given unselfishly to the
Church and race; and
Whereas, We realize that we are the happy recipients of
the benefits of his life's work and noble influence; there¬
fore, be it
Resolved, That we express to the Rt. Rev. H. M. Turner,
D. D., LL. D., D. C. L., our humble, heartfelt godspeed,
praying that many more useful and happy years may be
added to his life, to bless the Church, race and generation;
and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded
to the Bishop and copies be sent to our Church periodicals
and a copy be placed in the records of the Seminary.
Respectfully,
On behalf of the Faculty—Geo. F. Woodson.
On behalf of the Senior Class—L. W. Stanford.
On behalf of the Middle Class—Geo. W. Slater.
On behalf of the Junior Class—J. D. White.
On behalf of the Preparatory Class—E. J. Jackson.