contrariwise, blessing; not blow for blow, but to go on upbuilding
themselves, deserving their rights, and remembering that a great element
in the solution of this problem must be an intelligent faith in God.
With this missionary view we stand firm. We have learned that the
Southerners of our own race, even when they hold their prejudices
against our principles, respect those who stand in a Christian way for
their principles; and that these principles will never be accepted in
the South by our holding them loosely, or in suspense, or in any sort of
abeyance. They respect us when we teach our people that they have all
the rights of manhood and womanhood; that they are to respect themselves
and to be worthy of self-respect; that they are not to consent in their
own minds to any assertion of superiority based upon the tint of the
skin, and that they are never to feel guilty for being black. We are
teaching the colored people to hold honor with themselves.

What this Association and other missionary forces have done and are
doing--this Association more than others--will be the balance of power
to prevent the dreaded conflict of races; _the balance of power_ to
settle the question; How can the two races live in the same section with
mutual respect for each other's civil and Christian rights? This may
take time. Christianity takes time. It is ours to take Christianity to
teach that the beginning of Christianity was the death blow to wrong
principles and evil practices of men, however well intrenched and
fortified these forces may be.

It is this which gives us courage to grapple with centuries of wrong and
to undertake the slow reduction of these evils. When Christianity came,
the era of conscience came, and in His gospel is the power of
intelligence and moral determination that shall not be overcome of evil,
but shall overcome evil with good.