urg, S. C.
He served in this capacity two years and after re-election
for a third year he resigned to re-enter upon his life-work
in the gospel ministry. He served a few months after this in
the office of General Missionary and Corresponding Secretary
of the Baptist State Convention of South Carolina, but this
work militating against his health he gave up to enter upon
the pastorate of the Central Baptist Church at Charleston,
S. C., where he now is. Mr. Gilbert received three years ago
the degree of D. D. from Guadalupe College of Seguin, Tex.
In 1883 Dr. Gilbert was married in Columbia, S. C., to Miss
Agnes Boozer. Seven children have been born to them, five of
whom are still living. Dr. Gilbert is much in demand as a
public speaker on great occasions and his services are
frequently sought by some of the best churches of his
denomination.

The necessity for asserting and maintaining the affirmative of the
above question is due to the deep-seated prejudice against the Negro,
which prejudice is the unfortunate fruit of the Negro's past
enslavement. It is not surprising that those who for centuries held
the Negro as a chattel should regard him as a being essentially
inferior to themselves, and time is required, in the changed condition
of affairs, to completely eradicate this idea. Even now, despite the
remarkable development of the Negro since his emancipation,
occasionally some Rip Van Winkle, awaking from a long sleep, essays to
deny the complete humanity of the Negro race. A true believer in the
Scriptures must be equally a believer in the fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood of all men. For the divine record declares that God "hath
made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of
the earth." Language, physiology and psychology confirm the
truthfulness of Scripture on this issue. The mission of Christianity
to preach the gospel over the inhabited world is based upon this great
idea. Science and Holy Writ assert the intellectual equality of all
men of whatever race or color, so far as real capacity and
possibilities are concerned.

The position and relative importance of a race or nation in the
world's history are determined more by its antecedents and
environments than by the original endowments of each individual that
constitutes it. Two different races, having the same antecedents and
subject to the same environments