Great is the Miracle of Human Speech: An Address Delivered in Washington, D.C., on August 31, 1891
GREAT IS THE MIRACLE OF HUMAN SPEECH: AN ADDRESS DELIVERED IN WASHINGTON, DC, ON 31 AUGUST 1891
Washington Bee, 5 September 1891. Other texts in Washington Evening Star, 1 September 1891; Washington Post, 1 September 1891.
The return of the Reverend John W. E. Bowen from a summer vacation furnished the occasion for a testimonial to him by the members of his Washington congregation, the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church. The evening service began at 8 P.M. with several musical selections. In attendance was “a large and distinguished gathering of white and colored citizens,” according to the Washington Bee. The Reverend William P. Ryder delivered the invocation and the Reverend Mr. Chesnut introduced Douglass who welcomed Bowen on his return to the city. Bowen responded to Douglass’s address. Ex-congressman Thomas H. Miller of South Carolina next spoke on affairs in his state. The Reverend Charles Henry Phillips, minister of the Metropolitan A. M. E. Church of Washington, presented a gold medal to church organist Charles E. Jackson and the services concluded with a banquet in the basement of the church.
Mr. Bowen:1Son of Louisiana slave parents who had purchased the family's freedom, John Wesley Edward Bowen (1855-1933) was a member of the New Orleans University's first graduating class in 1878. He taught ancient languages at the Central Tennessee University before attending Boston University’s School of Theology from which he received a Ph.D. degree in 1887. Bowen joined the Methodist Episcopal Church ministry and supplied a series of pulpits in Boston, Newark, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. While living in the latter two cities, he also served as professor of church history at Morgan College and professor of Hebrew at Howard University. Brown taught historical theology at Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta from 1892 to 1932 as well as occupying that school’s presidency from 1906 to 1910. A gifted preacher and lecturer, Bowen also co-edited two widely circulated periodicals, the Voice of the Negro and The Negro, during his years at Gammon. J. R. Van Pelt, "John Wesley Edward Bowen," JNH, 19: 217-21 (April 1934); DANB, 52-53; NCAB, 14: 361.—The honor has been conferred upon me, and I feel it to be a
very high honor, to express to you as best I may, the grateful sentiment of
welcome implied in this large reception. I need not assure you that this
sentiment has in it a soul, and that it is noble, warm and sincere. This is not
a formal and mechanical demonstration, a mere theatrical display. It means
that we are really very glad to see you, that we feel stronger, better and
happier for your presence. In your return to Washington we recognize the
fact that our big brother, clear of head and strong of heart, has come home.
We feel this to be true, not merely in a temporal sense, but in an intellec-
tual, moral and spiritual sense. It is no new truth that the presence of a
strong man anywhere in the world diffuses and imparts strength, and the
presence of a good man, goodness. There is an atmosphere about every
man, and he is either a blessing or a curse, a help or a hindrance to those
about him.
Sir:—You have been fortunate in your labors in Washington.2From 1890 to 1892, Bowen was the minister of the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church on K Street in Washington, DC. NCAB, 14: 361. You
have not merely received the welcome approval of your own congregation,
but you have won the respect and admiration of congregations outside of
your own. Your influence is bounded by no sectarian limitations. The
colored citizens of Washington love you for your devotion to their highest
and best interests, and the white people respect you for your talents,
learning and ability, and above all for your high character.
Sir:—In view of the low estimation in which the intelligence and worth
of the colored people are held, I deem it fortunate that we can point to
yourself, in this the Capital of this great Republic, who not only contradict
but utterly refute this low estimate. But here as elsewhere there must be line
upon line and precept upon precept, for prejudice is a stubborn enemy.
Sir:—There was a time in my life when l dreaded to hear a man of color
rise to speak in the presence of white people. I feared that he would supply
added proof of our ignorance and inferiority. That day is past. Men like
yourself, Doctor Grimke,3Francis James Grimké. Brooks,4Walter Henderson Brooks (1851-1945) served as pastor of the 19th Street Baptist Church in Washington. D.C., from 1882 until his death. Born a slave in Richmond, Virginia, he attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, receiving a B.A. degree in 1872 and a B.D. degree in 1873. Brooks worked as a clerk in the Richmond post office before his ordination as a Baptist minister in 1876. He filled the pulpit of the Second African Baptist Church in Richmond until 1880 and then worked two years as a Sunday school missionary in Louisiana for the American Baptist Publication Society. While pastor of the 19th Street Baptist Church, Brooks actively engaged in the temperance campaign and served as chaplain of the Anti-Saloon League of the District of Columbia. Brooks was one of the leaders of the secession of black churchmen in the late 1880s from the regular Baptist missionary and publication societies to protest racial discrimination by those bodies. Carter G. Woodson, The History of the Negro Church, 2d ed. (Washington. D.C., 1945) 196, 237-38; "Walter Henderson Brooks," JNH, 30: 459-61 (October 1945); DANB, 62-64. Crummell5Alexander Crummell. and others, may be trusted
before the most learned and enlightened audience in the world. In such
hands our cause suffers no defeat or detriment. Whenever and wherever
such men speak a burden of reproach is rolled from the breasts of our
people and we breathe freer. More than fifty years ago when I lived in New
Bedford, Massachusetts, I went to hear a lecture by Rev. Henry Highland
Garnet.6Douglass perhaps recalls his attendance at a meeting of New Bedford blacks held on the evening of 7 June 1841 at the city’s First Christian Church. The Reverend Henry Highland Garnet addressed the meeting on the subjects of slavery and racial prejudice. Lib., 11 June 1841. He was in every respect a typical negro. Before hearing him I
thought I was a man, but after hearing him I knew I was a man and a man
among men.
It is often asked, by ignorance what have such men as Garnet, Ward,
Remond7Samuel Ringgold Ward and Charles Remond. and others done for the colored race? and ignorance has an-
swered its own question: They have only talked; but talk is itself a power.
We hold in grateful memory Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips,
Charles Sumner and many others. What did they do for the colored people?
They talked and talked the chains off the limbs of millions. He is low down
in the scale of intelligence who measures the service and greatness of men
only by physical force and physical achievements. The sword is great, but
the pen is greater.8The best-known version of this popular maxim appears in Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's 1839 play Richelieu; or, the Conspiracy, act 2, sc. 2. Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Bart., 5 vols. (London. 1852-54), 4: 308. The one deals with the body but the other with the soul.
Great is the miracle of human speech—by it nations are enlightened
and reformed; by it the cause of justice and liberty is defended, by it evils
are exposed, ignorance dispelled, the path of duty made plain, and by it
those that live to-day are put into the possession of the wisdom of ages gone
by. The words of Paul still rock the world, though spoken two thousand
years ago, for his words were mighty and powerful. The Savior of the
Christian world spake as never man spake and his words are repeated by
millions to millions, generation after generation undimmed by time, untar-
nished by repetition, and will continue till rolling years shall cease to
move.
Sir:—Your vocation is to speak the word; there is none higher. We welcome you to this vast vantage ground, your chosen post. You touch the main spring of the moral universe. Truth is the saving power of the world, preach it and you bless yourself, your race and the world.
In the name of this vast audience I bid you welcome, thrice welcome home! with the best wishes for your health, happiness and continued usefulness.