by Jack Thorne
CHAPTER VIII.
Dr. Jose.
I will read for your consideration this evening Joshua, tenth chapter,eighth and tenth verses, which are as follows:
"And the Lord said unto Joshua, fear them not, for I have delivered theminto thine hand. There shall not a man of them stand before thee.
"And the Lord discomfited them before Israel and slew them with greatslaughter at Gibeon and chased them along the way that goeth up toBeth-horon and smote them to Azekah and unto Makkedah."
Thus read the pastor of one of Wilmington's Presbyterian churches at thebeginning of one of the weekly prayer meetings. "Brethren," said he, "Ihave chosen these two verses of Scripture this evening because my mindis as, I believe, yours are--weighted down by the situation thatconfronts the white people of this city. No doubt all of you would liketo see white man's government permanently restored, although you aremost of you averse to resorting to physical force to accomplish thatend. While most all Biblical students believe and teach that God toldJoshua to destroy these Amorites, Canaanites and Jebusites because oftheir wickedness, I go further and say that they were to be destroyedbecause they were the black descendants of Ham, the accursed son ofNoah. Joshua was commanded to utterly destroy them or put them undersubjection according to God's word--'Cursed be Canaan, servant ofservants shall he be.' The Jew in this instance represented Shem, theblessed son, who was to triumph over Ham and keep him forever insubjection. God has blackened with his curse the descendants of thiscursed son of Noah that Shem and Japheth may ever know who the cursed ofGod is. You who are hesitating in doubt as whether it is right to useforce to put this descendant of Ham in his rightful place--the placewhich God ordained that he should be--I counsel you to ponder over thepassages of Scripture just read. The education of the Negro is givinghim an advantage that justifies our apprehension. This, combined withaccumulated wealth, make him a subject for grave and carefulconsideration. We are in a condition of subjection under Negro rule anddomination that justifies the taking of the sword. We are God's chosenpeople, the banner carriers of civilization. We civilized the Negro andset him free, and it's our right to return him, if necessary, to hisformer condition of servitude.
"The meeting is now open for prayer, praise and exhortation." Sayingthis, Dr. Jose took his seat.
When the country was wrought up over the question of slavery it was thePresbyterian Church South that drafted resolutions declaring that"Slavery is a divine institution." If a divine institution, then thedestruction of that institution was wrong, and the champions of freedomand the brotherhood of man open violators of divine law. If it is thewill of God that the dusky children of Ham are to ever serve theirbrethren and ever to be reminded of their inferiority, then why not theprofessing Christian, the minister of the Gospel, join in the work ofcarrying out God's decree?
The victory of Union guns at Fort Fisher brought many carpet-baggers toWilmington, many of them thrifty men of enterprise, who willinglyassisted their brethren to restore life to that devastated town. Quite agoodly number of these good people worshipped God in Wilmington'sPresbyterian Church. Therefore, among these cool and thoughtfulNortherners the ministers' exhortation to retort to the shotgun was notvery favorably commented upon at that meeting. But this did not in theleast dampen the ardor of this hot-blooded Virginian. He went home, andinstead of kneeling, as usual, by his bedside to pray, he knelt in hisstudy. "Lord, we are sorely tried; the enemies of thy chosen people arewaxing stronger and stronger. Thou art a God of battle. Thou didst indays of old lead thy children to victory over the enemies. Shall we thisday rise in our might? Shall we smite with the sword?" There are manyinstances recorded where men strong in faith have heard the voice of Godassuring them of His divine approval, that He was ready to lead them tovictory. But Dr. Jose heard no voice, felt no divine presence near him.He arose, took his Bible and turned again to the wars of Joshua and theterrible triumphs of Jehovah. Mrs. Jose, seeing that her husbandlingered longer than usual in his study that night, glided softly in tosee what so absorbed his attention. "Why do you sit up so late to-night,my dear?" she asked, softly, laying a hand gently upon her husband'sshoulders. "I am exceedingly troubled to-night, Mary, darling," returnedthe minister. "This question of Negro Domination is troubling us. We areabout to the point of desperation. Negroes are becoming so bold that ourwhite angels are no longer safe on our streets. We have made up ourminds to arm ourselves and shake off the yoke." Mrs. Jose gently closedthe book and laid her hand caressingly upon her husband's head. "Ceaseto ponder over and keep before you the old Scripture, with its martialspirit. Remember Christ and the doctrine He came to teach. He came toteach the new commandment, to heal the broken hearted, to release thecaptives. 'Verily, brethren, avenge not yourselves, for it is writtenVengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.' What would Jesus dounder such circumstances? His was the spirit of love. He would not breakthe bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax. Come away, darling, andleave the regulation of everything to God." "But Mary," persisted theminister, "you don't understand the situation. We, the men ofWilmington, see utter ruin in store for us unless something is done tocheck the Negro. Our women can scarcely venture out alone after dark, sougly and bold has he become under our lenient treatment." "This is allimaginary, my dear," interrupted Mrs. Jose. "I am afraid that you haveallowed yourself to be influenced by these designing politicians, whosedesire to gain power has stifled their love for truth. Rev. Dr. Jose isa Christian. Dr. Jose is a minister of the Gospel, who should not beenticed by sinners into evil. It matters not how justifiable the deedmay seem, you, my darling, cannot afford to lend either hand or voice inthis contemplated work. He that taketh the sword shall perish by thesword.' Our homes, our firesides, our women are perfectly safe. The onlyuneasy ones among us are those who want offices. Come away, my darling;leave wickedness for the wicked to do; you cannot afford to take a handin it." Mrs. Jose took her husband by the hand and gently led him to hisbedchamber. How much happier man would be if in such trying periods oflife he'd heed the counsel of the angel of his bosom. But those who readthe account of the massacre of November, 1898, learned that among thatbody of men, who, armed to the teeth, marched to Dry Pond on that fatalmorning was a minister of the Gospel. Some papers published the textwhich that minister of the Gospel took to preach from the Sundayfollowing, "We have taken a city," etc.
But those hands which turned the leaves of the sacred word were crimsonwith the blood of the defenseless. "And Pilate took a basin of water andwashed his hands before the multitude." But would we suppose that Pilatewashed his hands only once? Doubtless far into the night, when the faintshouts of triumph from the enemies of God resounded through that ancientcity, Pilate arose from his bed and washed his hands again, but theblood stains were still there. The court scene appears. The cry of thePharisees rings in his ears, the humble Nazarene stands bound beforehim, then Calvary, with the three ghastly instruments of death upon itsbrow, looms up. "Out, damned spot! will these hands never be clean?" Theblood stains upon his hands have doubtless worried Dr. Jose somewhat,and all the others who joined with him in the work of carnage. But theblood stains are on their hands still, and the groans and wails ofinnocents must ever ring in their ears. "It was a knavish piece ofwork." "Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon,lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of theuncircumcised triumph."--II Samuel, i, 20.