A Sermon on the War. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.” Mark 12:17.

The Kingdom of Spain once extended her dominions over the larger part of this half of the world. But her possessions here have constantly dwindled until she lays claim to but two islands. Of these Cuba, only ninety miles from our southern coast, is the larger and more important. For nearly a century the people of this island have been trying to throw off the Spanish yoke. To accomplish this purpose three military attempts have been made, one in 1849, another in 1868, and the other in 1895. Just what attitude the United States should take toward these insurgents is the essence of what has been known as the Cuban question. This was a difficult question in view of the laws of neutrality that exist between nations. While our sympathies were with the struggling Cubans, we must not break faith with Spain. Just where our obligations to the Cubans superseded those to Spain—this was the point of the question.

The Cuban War.

But there exists no longer a Cuban question. It is the Cuban war. No longer is it a theory, but a condition, that confronts us. In the judgment of the President, 0005 the Congress and the American people, the time has come when our obligations to Spain have been superseded by our duties to the struggling people of Cuba. Accordingly war has been declared, and war actually exists between the Republic of the United States and the Kingdom of Spain. Already the fleets are lining up and the sounds of the guns of war are resounding in our ears. Our land is trembling under the feet of our soldiery rushing to the defense of our eastern coast. The conflict between democracy and aristocracy is on.

Not a War of Passion, But of Compassion.

Were this not a Christian war, it should find no defense from the Christian pulpit. War is a terrible thing, and yet there are worse things than war. If often requires war to bring peace. That is the case in hand. A state of unrest has existed for a century on the island of Cuba, and in the providence of God, it appears that the people deserve peace. We cannot justify this war on the basis of greed. It is contrary to our policy to increase our territory by conquest. We do not want to annex Cuba. We want to help her stand on her own feet. We cannot justify this war on the basis of vengeance. The blowing up of the Maine was a terrible deed. We are not sure that Spain was responsible for the murder of our sleeping soldiers. If we were, we should 0006 not be justified in going to war in the spirit of vengeance. “Vengeance is mine.” One thing in Spain's favor is that she offered to refer this matter to arbitration.

Not for reasons of greed or vengeance do we justify this war. It rather finds Christian justification on grounds of humanity. Christ said, “I have compassion on the multitude.” The state of things that exists in Cuba is terrible. The island is laid waste, homes are desolate, the people are starving, multitudes are dying. And this almost in sight of our shores. This state of things has become a stench in the nostrils of the American people. This destruction is intolerable and in the spirit of Christ they rise up in just indignation and declare their compassion for the multitudes of Cuba. “I have compassion on the multitude.” It is not a war of passion against the Spaniard, but of compassion for the Cuban. Are we not our brother's keeper?

What Attitude Should the Negro Take

But the main point I wish to bring before you tonight is what attitude should colored citizens sustain toward the government in this crisis? I am led to do this from two considerations. The first is the future bearing our present action will have upon our destiny as a people in this country; and the second is the conflict of opinion that prevails in regard to our duty in 0007 this war. I wish to discuss this in the light of Christian principle, with the hope of promoting clear thinking and right action.

My seed-thought will be found in the words of the Patriot of Judea. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.” Caesar's name stood for Roman government. Judea had been conquered by Rome, and the people to whom Christ was preaching were under political suppression. They had suffer many wrongs from Rome, and were inclined to disloyalty. The enemies of Christ tried to entrap him into a declaration of disloyalty to Caesar. They asked him if it was right to render to tribute to Caesar. His reply was, “Render to unto Caesar things that are Caesar's.” In a word he would say be loyal. We have here a principle and almost a parallel. It can hardly be said that we as a race enjoy full political rights. We are in partial political suppression. We suffer wrongs. Yet does not Jesus say to us as to his fellow citizen of Judea, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's?” Be loyal.

Let me state plainly the position I take. In answering the question, what attitude the Negro should take in this crisis, I say it should be that of loyalty to the Stars and Stripes. They should exercise the spirit of loyalty at all times and under all circumstances, and when their services are solicited on the same basis as others, 0008 they should go to the front and fight for the flag like men. The country could not ask more; they could not do less.

Not a White man's War

I hear no objections.

It is said that this is a white man's war, and, therefore, let the white fight it out. I reject the conclusion because I cannot accept the promise. this is not a white man's war; it is the nation's war. It was declared by the representatives, not of the white people, but of all the people. It is a national and not a racial war. If you say this is a white man's war, then you are bound to accept the doctrine that this is a white man's country. If it is a white man's country then the black man has no place in it, and consequently no rights that a white man is bound to respect. This is God's country, and it belongs to the people in it, be they black or white, red or yellow.

Our Wrongs a Reason.

It is said that we are wrongly treated and therefore should sulk in our tents. I admit that we are wronged. God knows that. Call over the catalogue of wrongs and which of them are we not heir to? But in my mind this constitutes a reason why we should be loyal. If in this critical hour we should be disloyal, would that not serve as a justification in the eyes of our enemies for all the wrongs inflicted upon us? “We told you these people 0009 were unworthy of better treatment,” would be the cry. On the other hand, have we not fine opportunity to show the world that we deserve better than we receive? And would not such action tell on public sentiment in the future? Public sentiment, that invisible but potent ruler in our realm!

“Does No Good to Be Loyal.”

It is said we have fought for this country, and it treats us no better now let the white man fight it out themselves. It is true we have fought in every war; but has the motive of our action been beyond cavil? Is it not said that we fought in 1776 with the hope of freedom? In 1812 under the inspiration of the lash? In 1863 under the impulse of emancipation? do we not grant the imputations; but have we not opportunity now to exhibit a patriotism unselfish beyond dispute? For the first time in our American experience we should fight, not as slaves, not as freed men, but as freemen.

Then, I do not grant that we have not been helped by out participation in the wars of the past. The blood we have shed in our national wars has done much to enforce our claim to American citizenship. Our part in these wars has put argument in the mouths of our friends, and public sentiment has been turned in our favor.

The Negro's Blood.

It is well known that Benjamin Butler 0010 opposed the enlistment of Negro soldiers in the civil war. But when he saw the Negro soldier's blood he changed his mind, and on the floor of congress he registered this remarkable oath. He said:

“It become my painful duty, sir, to follow in the track of the charging column, and there is no space not wider than the clerk's desk, and three hundred yards long, lay the dead bodies of 535 of my colored comrades, slain in the defense of their country, who laid down their lives to uphold its flag and its honor as a willing sacrifice; and as I rode along among them guiding my horse this way and that way lest he should profane the sacred dead, and as I looked on their bronzed faces upturned in the shining sun as if in mute appeal against the wrongs of the country for which they have given their lives, and whose flag had only been to them a flag of stripes on which no star of glory had ever shone for them—feeling, I had wronged them in the past, and believing what was the future of my country to them—among my dead comrades there, I sore my self to solemn oath: 'may my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if ever I fail to defend the rights of those men who have given their blood for me and my country this day, and, for their race forever, and, God helping me, I will keep this oath.” Now suppose our fathers, who had more grievances than we, 0011 had sulked in that crisis, could this utterance with its mighty influence have been made?

Slightly in the Call.

I hear another objection. Our troops have been slightly in the call by the Southern States. We must bear in mind that this is not a war on the part of the states but of the government. The call for troops it occurred, came through the governors. This gave, with no intent on the part of congress, the Southern governors an opportunity to discriminate against colored citizen. This they all did, with one exception. Governor Carr, of North Carolina, is the noble exception. * I regret I cannot say much for the Governor of Georgia; his administration has been marked with unusual fairness to the Negro, but in this last instance he has disappointed not a few by failing to show himself stronger than a certain unreasonable sentiment by which he is surrounded. But the national government has shown no partiality. Indeed it will be historic that the first move in the Spanish-American war was to dispatch the Twenty-fifth was sent because the Negro soldiers were the best men for the place. *It is understood, since the delivery of this sermon that the Governor of Alabama has shown a similar spirit. May this kind increase.

They who slighted us in the State call have directed us to the regular army. We 0012 have had this privilege ever since the war. While some may properly enlist in the regular army, I congratulate you upon the position you have taken. You were right to offer your services to the governor and then to the President. Your soldierly bearing, your military tread, your fine discipline—these tell me you are not raw recruits. When the country needs you bad enough it will call for you like men. While it becomes you as men to hold yourself in dignified reserve until such a call comes, still you would not be good soldiers if at all times and under all circumstances, you did not exercise the spirit of loyalty.

Why Be Loyal.

I pass on to some positive considerations. Why we should be loyal in this crisis? I do not, however, take stock in some of the reasons advanced.

We do not need to fight at this time to show that we are brave; that has been demonstrated. That monument on Boston common erected in honor of the first martyrs in the Revolutionary war, the noble words of Andrew Jackson to the colored men who formed the breastworks at New Orleans, the record of the two hundred thousand black soldiers in the civil war—these tell the world of the black man's bravery. You remember the incident at Fort Wagner. Colonel Shaw made a brilliant charge against great odds. The color bearer fell, but another caught the flag 0013 and carried it to the top of the fort. Tho wounded as he stood before the rain of bullets he held to the flag until retreat, and when they brought Sergeant Carney to the hospital amid cheers of his wounded comrades he said: “Boys, the old flag never touched the ground.” Such men have established our claim to bravery.

We do not need to fight to show our loyalty. We have not only showed our loyalty in time of war, but at a time when it is more difficult to do so. I refer to times of peace. What portion of our complex citizenry today is more loyal than the black? At the belated call of their country they came two hundred thousand strong, and in the days of subsequent peace they showed the genuineness of their loyalty by settling down to hard work. If our loyalty has not been demonstrated in the past, we must despair of doing so now.

The Real Reason.

The real reason why the duty of the hour demands our loyalty is in this. Our country is engaged in a righteous war. It is war for larger liberty. The freedom of manhood, the purity of womanhood, the future of childhood—these are in the womb of this struggle. It is an appeal to the highest sentiments. Our country is responding to the call. We are a real part of this country, and nothing that concerns her is without interest to us. We are not 0014 Afro-Americans, but Americans to the manor born. There should be no hyphen in American citizenship.

If we do not co-operate with our country in this humanitarian movement will it not indicate that we have not caught the American spirit? Will it not show that those finer feelings and nobler instincts that move others, that are moving this whole nation, do not appeal to us? I know there are no people richer in feeling and finer in instincts than the cultured of the race I speak to tonight. The remembrance of our sad past and the Mighty Hand that delivered us but adds to our natural fitness to sympathize with the people of Cuba in their struggle to throw off the yoke that galls and dash in pieces the cup that is bitter.

Our Splendid Opportunities.

We must not overlook our splendid opportunities in this crisis. Do we not feel the sweeping currents of that “tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads on to fortune?” Shall we nurse our wrongs, treasure our resentments, exercise our vengeance, and thus lose our venture? I cannot believe that we shall permit our grievance to overshadow our opportunities.

We have an opportunity to show the world how large of heart we can be. It is nothing unusual that the white man who receives every privilege the country can 0015 confer should be loyal? He would be doubly culpable if he were not. But for the Negro, who is deeply wronged, to be loyal could but challenge the world's admiration. Our magnanimity in the late war has touched the Southern heart. Nothing nobler than this has the world; seen: when the American slave held up his hands that Lincoln might remove his bonds the great emancipator found the black man's hands scarred with unrequited toil but free from the blood of man save that shed in open, honorable battle.

Suffer and Be Loyal.

Let us again show the world that we can suffer and be loyal. I am not blind to the fact that in the presence of American law and under the shadow of the Cross we suffer wrongs that contradict the spirit of Christian civilization. I see them plainly, I feel them keenly. These things cannot always be and the very best way we can hasten the day of better things is by noble action in such a time as this. To be disloyal at this hour would retard the day for whose coming we pray.

We have an opportunity to remove prejudice. On every side we are hampered by prejudices. These prejudices have not been reasoned up, and they cannot be reasoned down. We must live them down, and we have never had a better opportunity than now. Before noble action 0016 prejudice will vanish as the mist before the rising sun. If this war could produce an American Maceo the estimation in which the Negro is held would be heightened fifty per cent. If, when the history of this war is written and her epics sung, the Negro hero shall share in the glory, you will see a revolution in public sentiment. The time of which Burns sang will begin to dawn upon us, “when a man's a man for a' that.”

Closing of the Breach.

We have an opportunity to fuse with the nation. Practically we are a nation within a nation. Like an island in a great sea the current of the nation's life sweeps around us. This nation has been greatly divided. Sectional and racial lines make serious divisions. God moves in a mysterious way. Perhaps Providence has brought us to this hour that He might fuse this nation in one. The North and the South so regard it for them. The sectional breach is closing. Sons of Grant and Lee are enlisting together. The Mason and Dixon line, once a barrier, in becoming a bond. These two estranged sections are coming together. Indeed what lack they of being together? Commercial, political and social influences aid the consummation.

Woe to him left out! Will it be the black man? Will he be pushed aside? Or will he fuse with the nation? Certainly 0017 his disloyalty at this time could not help the fusion. Would it not serve as an additional reason why he should be left out?

When Peace Returns

I regard it as a serious calamity should the fading of the color line not keep pace with that of the sectional line. I would that when cruel Spain is driven from the western world, when the American navy has cast anchor, when the volunteer soldier returns to private life, when fraternal relations are resumed between Washington and Madrid, and when the white-winged messenger of peace spans the seas, I would then that there should not only be no North and no South, but also no black and no white.

To this end I pray you let your loyalty be like the honor of Caesar's wife—above suspicion! I the nation's call comes to us let us go to the front and fight for the flag like men, and, God helping us, bring back the grand old flag with her honor unsullied and her glory undimmed.