commanding
influence in the pulpit and on the platform.

Dr. Brooks married Miss Eva Holmes, of the family of Rev.
James H. Holmes, of Richmond, Va., and this union resulted
in the birth of ten children--eight of whom are living, four
boys and four girls--the oldest born being 27 years of age,
the youngest four years.

The Christian religion is eminently adapted to the wants of humanity.
It has always had a charm for lowly and oppressed peoples. It was,
therefore, the one thing, above all others, which gave comfort and
hope to the American Negro during the night of his long bondage.

The story of the enslavement and marvelous deliverance of God's
ancient people; of Daniel, the prophet, and the Hebrew youths, whom
God protected and honored in the house of their bondage; the psalms of
David, the sweet singer of Israel; the inspired narratives of Jesus of
Nazareth, the Christ of God; the Biblical account of the faith,
sufferings and triumphs of the apostles; and the manifold promises of
God, made to all who served Him in truth, and patiently wait for their
fulfillment, could not fail in influencing the conduct and life of
America's Negro slaves. It was in circumstances like these the
Christian Negro, many years ago, sang out his hopes, his sorrows, and
his soul-yearnings in melodies peculiarly his own, whose plaintive
strains have been echoing around the globe for a generation and more.

The balm of Gilead was never so soothing to the wounds of an Israelite
as the Gospel of Jesus Christ was, in the dark days of slavery, to the
oppressed and sorrowing soul of the unfortunate Negro. It is not
surprising, therefore, that at least one-fourth of the entire Negro
population of the country was devout Christians forty years ago, while
the entire Negro population was nominally believers in the living and
true God, and in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

Whether the Negro Christian has lost some of his old-time love for
Christ, and his zeal for the sanctuary, is, in the minds of some, an
open question. We, however, believe that the Savior and the sanctuary
are dearer to the Negro than ever. Indeed, so far as the census, which
was taken by the United States in 1890, proves anything as to the
matter of religion, the Negro is the most religious citizen of the
country. Here is an extract from that report: "The Negro population of
the country, exclusive of Indian territory and Alaska, according