Or, A Colored Man's Reply to Bishop Foster. 65
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH.
TF there has ever been a time in the history of the Meth-
1 odist Episcopal Church since 1844, that it was necessa¬
ry for the Church to speak, it is now. The Church should not
only defend herself, but, all of her members. It is the inde-
spensable duty of the Church to set herself fairly and squarely
before the world as to the future possibilities of her colored
constituency. She has expressed herself repeatedly in her law
making body and else where "that color, previous condition etc,
were no bar against the promotion of any qualified member to
the highest office within the gift of the Church." Bishop Fos¬
ter denies any such possibility to the colored man and claims
that he expresses the deepest conviction of the Church.
We quote the following from his book, page 38, 39, 42, He
says of the colored members "They ask and claim it with per
sistence, that they shall not be discriminated against in the
high offices of the Church. It is attempted to pacify them
with the assurance that when they shall develop men who will
be qualified to fill these positions their claim will be recogniz¬
ed and they will be elected to the coveted place. Is this a wise
or fair putting of the case ? Tt is implied that want of the qual.
ified man is the only impediment in the way. Do we not know
that this is not true ? Why, then, shall we be insincere ? Who
among us believes that a colored man could be elected general
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