BY REV. M.E. STRIEBY, D.D.

The presence of the Freedmen in America is an anomaly in the world's
history. European nations have gradually abolished serfdom, and the
master and the slave being of the same race, the line of separation
has soon broken down. In America, slavery is abolished, but the
master and ex-slave are as far apart as ever. America is a nation of
immigrants, mostly from Europe and Africa. The Europeans soon
assimilate, and only the tradition of the individual family tells of
the particular nation from which it came. But the African immigrants
are still, after nearly 300 years' residence in America, separated
from the white race by visible marks of color and features, and are
thus, at the same time, identified with the land of their fathers.

Are not these facts suggestive? Does not the persistent race-identity
of these people, linking them still with Africa, suggest a duty they
may owe to it; and do not their vigorous intellects and warm
religious characteristics indicate that duty to be a high and sacred
one?

On the other hand, Africa, the land of their fathers, is another
anomaly in the world's history. For a thousand years it was unknown
to the civilized world; its people are the most degraded upon earth,
and it is a shame and reproach to the church that it has done so
little to enlighten them,--yea, a double shame when, as is now well
known, Mohammedanism is spreading most rapidly over the whole
continent.

These added facts emphasize the question already asked, Are not these