llars, arch and dome,
and roof, and wall, steeple and tower, though like Samson I buried
myself under the ruins of that temple which profaned the worship of
the God most high, of God most loved. I would do this in the name of
men; in the name of Christ I would do it; yes, in the dear and blessed
name of God." And I would do it, too.

But, in spite of the shallowness and emptiness and glaring hypocrisy
of this thing which calls itself the church; this thing which is so
timid, so cowardly that it dares not touch any sin that is unpopular,
I still believe that Christianity is in this land. To-day it is like a
little grain of mustard seed, but it has entered the soil, has
germinated, and is springing up. It is like the little lump of leaven
which the woman hid in three measures of meal; but it has begun to
work, and will go on working, diffusing itself, until the whole is
leavened. God has promised to give to his Son the heathen for his
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession;
and in that promise this land is included. Christianity shall one day
have sway even in Negro-hating America; the spirit which it
inculcates, and which it is capable of producing, is sure, sooner or
later, to prevail. I have, myself, here and there, seen its mighty
transforming power. I have seen white men and women under its
regenerating influence lose entirely the caste feeling, to whom the
brother in black was as truly a brother as the brother in white. If
Christianity were a mere world influence, I should have no such hope;
but it is something more than a mere world influence; it is from
above; back of it is the mighty power of God. The record is, "To as
many as received him to them gave he power to become children of God,
even to them that believed on his name, which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." It can
do what no mere human power can do. Jesus Christ is yet to reign in
this land. I will not see it, you will not see it, but it is coming
all the same. In the growth of Christianity, true, real, genuine
Christianity in this land, I see the promise of better things for us
as a race.

TOPIC XXXI.

NEGRO CRIMINALITY.

BY JOHN HENRY SMYTH.

[Illustration: Prof. John H. Smyth]

JOHN HENRY SMYTH, LL. D.

John Henry Smyth, LL. D., ex-U. S. Minister Resident and
Consul-General to Liberia, was born in the city of Richmond.