Plantation Pictures: Ii. The Ordination of Charlie

I

ALTHOUGH the negro’s revival service is often a scene of wildest excitement and frenzy, of dire and awful communion with occult powers, of dreadful fear and ecstatic joy, we should not assume that all his religious services are of this nature. Like his funerals and weddings, the revival service is of the nature of a boisterous picnic. Indeed, it is more than that; for it adds scenes of hilarious comedy. What the theoretical purpose may be, matters little; in practice it is distinctly a farce, where the spectators and participants gather to have a jolly, frolicsome time. They eat and get drunk; the old people gossip with their neighbors, and the young ones find sweethearts and exchange soft words.

In the negro ordination services of these parts, twelve ordained preachers sit. on the platform, their victim — there is no truer name for him — standing before them. As Uncle Charlie says, ‘dey t ries ter make do candidate go wollgathering.’ That is, they try to flustrate him, entangle him, and ‘worry him down,’ by all manner of what appear to us to be idiotic questions. Once the victim begins wool-gathering, talking nonsense, raving like a lunatic, and uttering cries and words with no possible semblance of continuity, the service is at its height; the twelve divines have outwitted their victim. Should the candidate succeed in keeping a cool head and in answering all their fantastic questions, he will have outdone the divines. In this case, the preachers keep up the cross-questioning all day and all night , in their determined efforts to ‘down’ their victim.

Now, the one great accomplishment that a negro preacher must acquire is that of sophistry. He must always have an answer ready for any question under heaven, and he must roll it off in thunderous tones as dogmat ically as a mediaeval bishop. It. matters not that the answer has not the faintest possible connection with the question. But to falter, to hesitate for one tenth of a second, to qualify or condition an answer — this is ruination complete and unconditional.

II

For the questions and answers of Charlie’s ordination service I went directly to him, just as I have done for all other facts in these sketches of his life. But just, as anyone, even a candidate for a Ph.D., will be able to give but very few definit e answers to quest ions concerning that which happened after the ups and downs of forty years of life, so I suspect that Uncle Charlie has forgotten many of the questions and answers he gave at his ordination. But this thing is sure: there is a great sameness in all the ordination services of my negro neighbors. And in this, as in all their religious customs, so far as I am able to ascertain, fort y years have brought about the least possible change. Uncle Charlie himself has sat on many boards of ‘catechizers’ in the past forty years, and all Ins questions, and the answers he has demanded, have been as much alike as the eggs in a basket; for once a negro learns a thing in a given way, he will hang to that with great tenacity and will vary it never an iota. So, whatever material Charlie has given me concerning bis ordination, it is quite sure that it is just what anyone may hear if he attends an ordination service to-day.

And now, to get down to the actual questioning: somewhere between ten o’clock and noon, twelve preachers, the ‘catechizers,’ in long-tailed black coats and white shirts and collars, took their seats on the platform. Their ‘singin’ leader,’Peter Nichols, a young man of about twenty-five, began to sing,and the other preachers soon joined in. Slowly the women and girls ceased from their gossip, discussions, and laughter, and fell in with the singing of the preachers; and still more slowly did the men from the outside leave off their argumentation and join the song-service within. After half-a-dozen songs, all was comparatively quiet, and the first question was in order.

Charlie was called upon to stand before his tormentors. Peter Nichols fired the first shot, and the report fairly rumbled as it reverberated from wall to wall.

‘Brother Robinson, what is de soul?’

And Brother Robinson, in equally pompous and thunderous tones, roared out, —

‘De soul is de breath uf God. God fust breathed hit inter of Adam un Eve, un from dem hit. com’ down ter us.’

‘Un what is de mind?’

‘What de handle is ta de plough, what de edge is ta tie axe, what de point is ta de sword, what de steam is ta de engine, dat de mind is ta man. Mind is what makes us* go.’

‘Brother Robinson, ya kin sharpen de axe un’ de sword, un’ ya can make steam; now how can ya sharpen de mind un’ make more uf hit?’

‘Ed-ducation is de grindstone dat sharpens de mind un’ makes more uf hit. As de ploughshare is drowed out by de blacksmith, so is de mind drewed out by ed-ducation.’

‘Now, Brother Robinson, ya is here ta pass ’zamination in de eighteen holy art-tickles uf faith giben us by de great head uf de church. De fust art-tickle ’splains de foundin’ uf de Scriptures. Who is de founder?’

‘l)e Scriptures hab God fo’ hits author, salvation fo’ hits end, un’ truth without fault fo’ hits matter. Hit is un’ shall remain fo’ eber, ebon unto de end uf de work, de cent re uf de church, de consume [supreme] standard by which all creeds, doctrines, un’ orthodoxies shall be tried fo’ eber un’ eber, amen.’

‘What is God, Brother Charlie?'

‘God is de consume ruler uf heaven un’ earth.’

‘ What’s God’s name?’

‘God hab one hundred un twenty-one flatterin’ titles: Je-hos-a-fat, Halloweth be thy Name, un Emanuel is his most flatterin’ titles.’

‘How many heads hab God?’

‘God hab three heads.'

‘What is de three heads?’

‘De three heads uf de Trinity.’

‘ What’s de name uf de three heads? ’

‘Father, Son, un’ Holy GhosY

‘Brother Charlie, whan ya fell out un’ talked wid God, which ul his three heads talked wid ya?’

‘De Father.’

‘Un’ what did ya learn from dat talk wid God?’

‘Dat I war regenerated.’

‘Un’ what’s ta be regenerated?’

‘Dat’s ter be broke up root un’ branch, ter be set aside fo’ God.’

And Peter went on and on, asking many questions of this nature; and during all the questioning there was much general confusion among the spectators. It is well-nigh impossible to keep a negro’s mouth shut, especially if he is inclined to laugh and praise the good works of his fellows. As Charlie answered particularly promptly and in a little louder and more sanctimonious manner than that in which the question was put to him, his friends poured out a stream of ‘Amen,’ ‘Praise de Lawd,’ and so forth.

Brother Reuben Clay, an old grayhaired parson, long since dead, was Charlie’s next questioner.

‘Brother Robinson, do ya believe in hell ? ’

Tze believes in hell.’

‘What is hell?’

‘Hell is punishment atter death.’

‘Who goes ta hell?’

‘Good mens tin’ bad mens.’

‘How so, Brother Robinson, do good mens go ta hell?’

‘Good mens kin go ta hell, fo’ ter be good hea on earth ain’t ter be good in God’s eyes.’

‘Who is good in God’s eyes?’

‘He what hab faith.’

‘What is faith?’

‘Faith is de per-say-va-gance in things unseen, de heartily reception uf our Lord un’ Saviour.’

‘How do we git faith?’

‘Faith is de gift uf God.’

‘Kin lettle chillens hab faith?’

‘Dey sho kin whan dey reach de age uf understandin’. ’

‘ Whan do dey reach dis age?’

‘At twelve years of age. Chillens can’t, sin befo’ dis age.’

‘How so, Brother Charlie: ain’t chillens de sons un’ daughters uf mens un’ womens ? ’

‘Dey sho is.’

‘Un’ ain’t mens un’ womens de offsprings uf Adam un’ Eve?’

‘Dat sho is right.’

‘Un’ did n’t ol’ Adam bring sin inter de work?’

‘He sho did do dat nasty thing.’

‘Den how did ya say dat chillens ain’t sinners?’

Charlie, apparently trapped, began to hum and haw and fumble for words. His mind began to wander, and he soon found himself in a chaos of silly images. At this his friends broke into song ‘to moun’ him up.’ They began soft and low, then rose higher and higher; with every verse more and more joined in, and soon the whole house sang, rich and full. They carried everything before them. Charlie was saved. When he spoke again, one picture followed another in rapid succession.

‘God made him ter sin, un’ He teaches us dat de son shall not bear de iniquity uf de father, nor de father de iniquity uf de son, un’ dat’s why lettle chillens can’t sin.’

‘Be hit so, brother. Now, Brother Charlie, whan kin ya git red uf yar sins?’

‘At de ’vival service.’

‘What do a ’vival mean?’

‘A ’vival mean a school. Let me gib ya hu ’lustration: de nestry [nursery] man take up lettle sings [scions] un’ set dem out in de nestry ter grow; dat’s just what us uns should do at de ’vivals, take up lettle chillens un’ set dem out in de nestry uf de Lawd ter grow.’

‘Brother Charlie, how many Gods hab we dat kin forgin er sins? ’

‘One un’ only one God; his name is Halloweth be thy name, Jay-ha t-abell, God uf Isreal un’ God of Si-ball.’

‘But de Bible say de people worshiped Bail un’ de golden calf.’

‘Dese air false Gods; der is but one true God, one man wid different names.’

‘How kin we know a true God from a false God?’

‘De Bible say Daniel un’ his capters were threwed inter de fire; Daniel came out unscorched, un’ his capters burned. Daniel worshnipcd a true God, dey a false God.’

Thus Charlie and his tormentors continued; but to give all the questions that he says he answered on that golden Christmas day would lead me far beyond the limits of this paper. As the sun began to hide its face in the west, the meeting adjourned for lunch. Fires were rekindled both inside and outside the church, baskets were opened, coffee was made in big iron pots, and bottles were uncorked. And thus they ate and drank and were merry.

After two hours of feasting, t he twelve preachers again took their seats on the platform, and the questioning went on uninterrupted throughout the night and until the break of day. And this was nothing unusual then, nor is it now. Time and time again have I been awakened at daybreak by the noise and hubbub of dismissal down under the hill at ‘Magdalene Church.’

III

In Charlie’s answers, the first thing that strikes one is the utter absence of critical thought. For hours together, and on many occasions, I have questioned him, and always he answers me by rolling off a long reel of incoherent motion-pictures, or just words, words, words.

As there is no critical thought in his religion, we might expect the Bible to be a universal combination tool to him. And this is just what it is. He can justify any act: under heaven, however sinful, and he can condemn any act under heaven, however righteous, by referring to the Bible for authoritative utterances. This is true, not only of Uncle Charlie, but of all the negroes I know. For example, Uncle Albert, an old man who has lived hero nearly as long as Charlie, and whose relations with the plantation girls merit very serious criticism, justifies himself by referring to the Bible. He says, ‘De Lawd say a man shall take unto himself a woman, un’ dis is just what Ize does.’ On the other hand, he will condemn immoral relations in other men by referring them to the ten commandments.

And further, there being little critical thought, we need not expect to find the sin of intolerance. Any religion will do. We have a negro Catholic Church a few miles south of me, and we have Methodists and Baptists and Ilollinests. And then we have a steady supply of new sects springing up almost yearly. Not long ago we had a new upshoot that called itself the ‘Tongues.’ When I say new, I mean new for the negroes of these parts. The phenomenon is as old as man’s religious instinct. The founders tried to invent a sacred language and preach in it. In Lexington, the county seat of Homes County, Mississippi, which joins the county in which I live, we had a short time ago the ‘Dancing Methodists.’ If one will travel a bit through the rural South, he will come upon many new sects. They spring up like mushrooms, then die out almost as quickly.

Next I would call the attention of my readers to a very common trait of the negro mind, a trait seen very distinctly in Charlie’s ordination. I refer to his love of authoritative utterances. If a statement comes from ‘de great head uf de church,’ — the Bible, — or from any other book, for that matter, it is all that my plantation negroes require; it is then and there swallowed whole. It surely is not digested; but this matters little to them, for their religion is a religion of faith and not of works. It has but the faintest connection with their moral life. At the present hour, if I remember correctly, every negro on my place over twenty years of age is a church member, and yet, only one, — Uncle Charlie — has the faintest hint of what honesty means. And in the relation of the sexes, the majority of them, both men and women, are grossly immoral.

IV

To witness an ordination service carries one’s thoughts back over the centuries to the time of the Reformation, when men’s minds were occupied by such momentous questions as the Last Judgment, the Resurrection of the Dead, the Communion of Saints, and other weighty matters of a holy and divine nature. For example, in Charlie’s ordination he was asked to give the doctrine he had been taught concerning t he end of the world. This is the last, of the articles of faith. It reads as follows: —

‘We believe that the Scriptures teach that the end of the world is approaching; that at the Last Day, Christ will descend from heaven, and raise the dead from the graves for final retribution; that a solemn separation will then take place; that the wicked will be adjudged to endless punishment, and the righteous to endless joy; and that the judgment will fix forever the final state of men in heaven or hell, on principles of righteousness.’

Where can one find a more mediaeval flavor than in the following from another of the articles of faith: ‘We believe that the scriptures teach that civil government is of divine appointment, for the interest and good order of human society ’ ?

Or than in another, which teaches that a ‘special Providence watches over the welfare of the believer who endures to the end ’?

And what can we say of the article concerning the fall of man? Charlie was duly asked to explain this most sacred truth.

‘We believe that the scriptures teach that man was created in holiness, under the laws of his Maker, but by voluntary transgression fell from that holy and happy state; in consequence of which, ail mankind arc now sinners, not by constraint but by choice; being by nature utterly void of that holiness required by the laws of God, positively inclined to evil, and t herefore under just condemnation to eternal ruin, without defence or excuse. Amen.’

That such doct rines as these are alive to-day and are freely discussed will be quite evident to anyone who will take the trouble to listen for an hour at any of the many religious gatherings of the negro. At the funerals, at the baptizings, at the revivals, at the experience meetings, at a thousand and one odd times and places where men or women may happen to be gathered, one can drink to satiety of mediæval religion. There is not a negro man or woman on my place who will hesitate to discuss each and all of their articles of faith.