to
the census of 1890, is 7,470,040. As the churches report 2,673,197
Negro communicants, exclusive of Indian territory and Alaska, it
follows that _one_ person in every 2.79 of the Negro population is a
communicant. Excluding Indian Territory and Alaska, the total
population is 62,622,250, and the total of communicants 20,568,679.
The proportion here is 1 communicant in every 3.04 of the population.
In other words, while all denominations have 328.46 communicants in
every 1,000 of the total population, the colored organizations
reported have 357.86 communicants in every 1,000 of the Negro
population." According to this showing, _more than a third_ of the
entire Negro population of the country was enrolled as active members
of the churches, ten years ago. At the same time, _less than a third_
of the white population was connected with the churches of the land.

It remains to be seen whether the census of the United States, which
is now in process of completion, will show any change in the relative
strength of the Negro and white churches of the country.

It is certain that the Negro Christian is displaying commendable zeal
in erecting spacious houses of worship; in acquiring school property;
in giving the Gospel to the heathen in Africa, and in other parts of
the world; in raising funds for the cause of education, and in
providing himself with a religious literature of his own making.

In the quality of his religion, we dare say, there is room for
improvement. But the changes mostly needed for his highest good are
intellectual, material, social, commercial and political in nature,
rather than religious.

The Negro Christian is as a rule as good as he knows how to be. He
often errs, _not knowing the Scriptures_. He sometimes plunges
headlong into the ditch of shame, because his spiritual adviser and
instructor is a "blind leader of the blind."

Christian schools, however, are giving us better leaders every
year, and the time is hastening when the Negro Christian of America
shall be respected and loved because of his intelligence, his
Christian piety, his zeal for God's cause, his manly bearing, his
general worth as a moral and material contributor to the well being,
both of the state and of the country which claim him as a citizen, and
because of his excellent spirit and gentlemanly deportment.

FOURTH PAPER.

THE NEGRO AS A CHRISTIAN.

BY REV. H. H. PROCTOR.

[Illustration: Rev. Henry H. Proctor]