REMARKS OF REV. B. W. ARNETT, D.D.
MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
There are
times in the history and in the life of
individuals when
language fails to express the throbbings
and longings as well
as the aspirations of the heart; and I
find myself, sir, this
evening without words to express my
sentiments to you and
to this intelligent audience, the
representatives of this great
Commonwealth of ours.
But your call to me to say a word1 was
a command which
I could not disobey, without feeling
that which a man
feels when he fails to do the duty he
owes to himself, to his
wife, to his children, to his race, to
his church, to his country,
to his God.
For while you have been discussing the
blessings, the
joy that the Ordinance of 1787 brought
to you, and when
the distance traveled by the speakers to
be present with
you on this occasion was referred to-I
looked back at the
distance traveled the first century by
myself and by my
race, to reach you on this platform. And
I concluded that
I have traveled further than my
distinguished friend, the
eloquent Senator from Massachusetts; I
feel that I have come
further than the distinguished gentleman
from the Old
Dominion. I feel that I have traveled
further than a gentle-
man I met on the corner who had traveled
from San
Francisco here.
But, one hundred years ago where was my
father, where
was my mother, in relation to their
condition when this
President Eaton introduced Dr. Arnett as
follows: "My friends,
we have had a wonderful feast; we have
heard much about liberty; we
have heard much about the good things
that have come out of the
Ordinance of '87; we have had one with
us representing a different race
from the Anglo-Saxon, who has been
listening with peculiar feelings
to these developments of this country
and the providence which it has
brought to us, and he has been asked to
say a word this evening. I
refer to Rev. Dr. Arnett, who has earned
for himself by his faithful
scholarly service a distinguished place
in Wilberforce University."
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142 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
Ordinance of 1787 by Virginia and the
thirteen States was
hung out, like a bow of hope, over the
darkened pathway
of the coming years? Where were they as
that was hung out
o'er Ohio?
Then, my friends, there was no star of
hope to guide
them in the darkness of the night. 0,
sir, that "love of
liberty,"-the expression of that
great and noble son of Vir-
ginia when he declared that "all
men are created equal, and
endowed by their creator with certain
inalienable rights,
among which are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness"-
all this we saw in the Ordinance
of 1787.
Thank God we have lived to see the day,
to enjoy the
blessings of that empire that your
fathers founded; that
was to bring to mankind, and to be to
mankind, an em-
pire of freedom of thought and of
action, an empire of
morality, an empire of knowledge, an
empire where men
and women should live together, having
no masters, save
God in Heaven, and their own free will.
That govern-
ment we have lived to see; and to-day I
rejoice with you that
the coming century is not as the past,
as I look on the dark-
ness of the past, and then to-day look
on the prospect of
the future. In the past no schools;
to-day, friends and
citizens, we have in our midst, as your
chairman, the man
who collected the broken fragments of
the moral and religious
forces of my race, and brought them
together and started
them on a grander career. A power that
shall elevate man-
kind, and bless the nation, has
sustained its grand depart-
ments of education.
A half century ago there were no schools
East or West,
North or South, for my race; but to-day
even in South
Carolina, in Georgia, and at Richmond
the citizens of Vir-
ginia have contributed of their means,
and they have
established an institution of learning
whose spires, point-
ing to the sky, and whose bells,
pealing, bid my son and
my daughter come and drink of the living
water of life and
knowledge, and fit themselves to be
citizens, to bring the
light to mankind. Oh! it is wonderful!
With, sir, in this
Remarks of Rev. B. W. Arnett. 143
new century thousands of children in
schools spread all
over this land; with 11,500 of our
teachers that have
passed examinations to teach our own
children; with 6,500
of our sons who have graduated in
colleges and who now are
prepared to go forth, to lift up the
race and to teach them
their duty to themselves, to their
government, and to their
God.
And, sir, I congratulate the citizens of
Ohio, for it was
in Ohio, on Ohio soil, that the first
experiment of race
education began. Oberlin, standing in
the pathway, threw a
beacon light into the darkness of the
night, bidding our sons
to come and walk in the way of life; and
to-day, thank God,
Oberlin is all over the land! Oberlin is
established in Florida!
Oberlin is everywhere; and men of this
race are bid to drink
of the life waters.
Is it wonderful that I feel full of
rejoicing? that I have no
language to tell you what I feel? And,
sir, in conclusion,
I say to you, Mr. Chairman, and to these
others, that in the
future, as in the past, we will ever try
to be true to the
best interest of our country. We, sir,
will strive, by the
grace of the God that bore us out of the
darkness of the
night, to stand and sustain our
Constitution, and the institu-
tions of learning.
And, while you were hearing of the
honorable men and
women of Massachusetts, I thought how in
Washington,
the other day, I went out to Lincoln
Park to see the great
monument to Abraham Lincoln, in bronze,
standing, point-
ing his finger to the sky; at his foot
the freedman with
broken shackles; on one side of the
monument the freed-
man's memorial to Abraham Lincoln; and
on the other side
the inscription that the first money
contributed for this monu-
ment was $5, by Charlotte Scott, of
Marietta, Ohio. Lincoln
and Charlotte Scott, of Marietta, will
go down through the
centuries side by side.
And then sir, we will not forget
Charlotte Scott. And
the Methodists must not forget John
Stewart the pioneer
missionary to the Indians of this
land. Down at the
144 Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
church here in Marietta where Marcus
Lindsay was preach-
ing in 1814, John Stewart stood outside
and heard the
gospel. It found way to his soul and he
was converted;
and in the night he heard a voice which
said to him,
"Preach my word to the
unknown." He paid his debts
and started, going to the Delaware
Indians and from there
to the Wyandottes. There a colored boy,
whom the In-
dians had brought from Virginia, heard
him, and was
converted under the preaching of John
Stewart of Marietta.
He preached the first sermon to the
Wyandotte Indians,
and many were converted. He returned to
Marietta, and
J. B. Finley the great missionary to the
Wyandotte village
came after.
So, while you are celebrating this great
event, and while
distinguished men have come to represent
their States, I have
come commissioned by no State; but I am
here to represent
Charlotte Scott and John Stewart.
May God bless you in the future, my
friends, and may we
continue in this grand work until our
Nation from ocean
to ocean and sea to sea shall unite in
the full intent of the
Ordinance of 1787.