The Voice of Thy Brother's Blood
By J. S. WASHBURN
RIGHTEOUS Abel had fallen in sudden and cruel death by the hand of his brother Cain. His eternal life and happiness in the restored garden of paradise, from which his parents had been so recently driven, were assured; yet God calls to a solemn and terrible account Cain, the elder brother, who had arisen in madness and slain his younger brother. The life-blood of Abel, trickling out upon the earth already groaning under the curse, appealed to God. Cain had taken from his brother his temporal life only. How much more does the loss of the life eternal of any of our brethren by our neglect cry out to God against us who have the light and fail to give it to those in darkness! We see our brother going down to death in sin, and knowing nothing of the message which God has sent us to bear to him. We are all messengers. We are not doing the work God has given us to do, whatever our occupation may be, unless we are by voice, or pen, or by our means proclaiming the word of life of which God has made us the bearers. We are debtors to all men. Not simply because we commit6aggressive and open sin, but because we neglect to do our work and to give our message, do we come under the curse; and the lost soul, yea, the fallen life wasted eternally, lost forever because of our neglect, cries to God with an exceedingly bitter cry against us. O my brother, my sister, to whom God has given means, are you sending with your means the light of truth to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death? In the early days of the history of this country, cruel white men brought by force from their African homes their colored brethren, and sold them in this country to be beasts of burden, to be bought, and sold, and whipped as cattle. In this land where it was boasted that all men were free, there was traffic in the bodies and souls of men, there was the sale of wife from the husband, of loved children from their parents, the violation of all that was sacred and holy. The strong oppressed the weak, and many were the habitations of cruelty, and, as Israel cried unto God in their sore bondage and oppression, so in unutterable pathos the cry of the oppressed in the “land of liberty” went up to the God of heaven, to the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. The seed of oppression had been sown, and there came a terrible harvest. In a civil war almost unequaled in history, the harvest was reaped. The bondmen, set free, were turned out of their old homes—away from the kind and provident master who had provided for his bondmen and women even as for his own family, as well as from the hard and cruel master who had driven them under the lash. Without education or experience in providing for themselves, they were expected to make bricks without straw, to sink or swim, survive or perish. With a few true friends, but generally under the gaze of the cold and indifferent or those absolutely unfriendly, they have struggled upward, and there have been many noble evidences of the God-given talent of those who have suffered so cruelly. Shall we as bearers of God’s last great message to the world, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, neglect at our very doors those who need the message and can be blessed by it? Surely, the eternal loss of their souls will appeal unto God against us with an infinitely greater and more terrible cry than that with which the life-blood of righteous Abel called to the God of love and of justice against his brother Cain. The moving to Washington of the headquarters of the third angel’s message was a move to the South. From this, the capital city of the United States, the light is to shine gloriously through all the Southern States, to the warm-hearted, hospitable white man, and to the colored people also, light-hearted and joyous even in poverty and distress, whose souls are vocal with wondrous music, who love religion, and who seek all that is beautiful, yea, to our colored brethren. One third of the population of Washington is colored. It has been stated, and I believe on good authority, that it has the largest population of colored people of any city in this country. Many of them here are in government employ. Some of the very brightest and most highly educated people of the African race are in Washington. That this was one of the reasons for the establishment of our headquarters here there can be no doubt. Already a most excellent class has been reached by Elder Sheafe and other laborers. Some of these in government employ have brought the truth before leading officers of the government. A short time ago in a brief personal talk with the United States Secretary of the Treasury, reference was made to one of our colored brethren who had stood nobly on the principle of the Sabbath, had fought a good fight, and had won a glorious victory. Who shall doubt that from this center a great work is to be done for the Southern colored people? A collection is to be taken up for the special work among the colored people on the first Sabbath in October. The tide of liberality, the flow of means, has been coming in a strong flood to Washington. It has now turned to the South. Shall there not be a generous donation for this purpose far beyond that of any previous time, that the work for the colored people may be placed on a strong basis? Our colored brethren everywhere show in the payment of tithes and the giving of offerings that they are willing, as far as their means will permit, to return into the treasury the means that has been given to bring the truth to them. From a Testimony published in the REVIEW of Dec. 3, 1895, I quote the following:— No one is to be looked upon with indifference, or to be regarded as unimportant; for every soul has been purchased with an infinite price. Therefore, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, let not the colored race be longer neglected by those who claim to believe in Christ as the Saviour of men. Let not one who claims to have heard the gracious words, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” hold himself aloof from those whose lives have been dark and shadowed. . . . They have been strangely neglected. Poverty and want are common among them, and very little has been done to relieve their distress. We can not be surprised that such neglect should result in hardness of heart and in the practise of vice, but God cares for this neglected class. The colored people have souls to save, and we must enter into the work, and become colaborers with Jesus Christ. We can not leave them as we have left them in the past. We can not be justified in expending money so lavishly in providing conveniences for ourselves, and in furnishing facilities for those who have been more fortunate, and are already abundantly supplied with every facility, and do nothing for those who know not God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. . . . Many of the colored people are among the lowly who will receive the Word of God, and shall not this long-neglected work of enlightening the colored people be entered into perseveringly, and be carried forward all the more diligently because it has been so long neglected? We must do a work for the colored race that has not yet been done. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life.” The Son of God, the Creator of the world, sacrificed his own life, in order that he might become the Redeemer of fallen humanity. He made an infinite sacrifice that he might become man’s surety and substitute, and shall we remain indifferent to a downtrodden, abused race? God cares for the colored people, and if we would co-operate with him for the salvation of their souls, we must care for them, too, and become laborers together with him. We need to repent before God, because we have neglected missionary work in the most abandoned part of God’s moral vineyard. . . . We can not heap advantages upon ourselves and upon those who are not in need, and pass by those who are in utter want, and be approved of God. This neglect is charged against those who have had great light, who have had marvelous opportunities, and who yet leave so large a portion of God’s moral vineyard unworked. For years Satan has been sowing his tares among the colored people, and the field can not be worked as easily now as it could have been worked years ago. But there should be no delay now. Reproach is brought upon Jesus Christ when those who profess to be carrying the last message of mercy to the world pass this field by. Christ did not pass by the needy and suffering. He united works of mercy with the message of salvation he came to bear to men. He engaged in a constant, untiring ministry, and worked for the perishing and sorrowful. He prefaced his message of love by deeds of ministry and beneficence, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps. J. S. WASHBURN.