Daniel Alexander Payne (1811-1893)

January 18, 1883
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

QUESTION AND ANSWER.
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VICKSBURGH, MISS., Sep.11, 1882
Rt. Rev. D.A. Payne, D.D., Senior Bishop of the A.M.E. Church, Evergreen Cottage, Xenia, Ohio.

REV. AND DEAR BISHOP &#150Will you please be kind enough to answer the following questions through the columns of THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER:
Is it lawful when a minister of the gospel is charged by the stewards with gross immorality &#150that is, drunkenness and seduction, and suspended by his Bishop and his work given to another minister, and the grand jury finds a true verdict against said minister for seduction, and he being under fifteen hundred dollars bonds for his appearance at court, and he, said minister, goes to another Bishop's district without a transfer, is it right for that Bishop to give him an appointment pending his trial? I refer to the Rev. J.L. Lowe, ex-pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church, Vicksburg, Miss., now stationed at St. Peters Church, St. Louis, Mo.
Yours for the cause of Christ and in defense of the A.M.E. Church.
C.W.H. NELSON
One of the stewards of A.M.E. Church.

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THE ANSWER.

To the first question I give an emphatic No. To the second question, I also give an emphatic No. I now go beyond the two questions submitted, and say, if it can be proven that any one of our Bishops has so acted, and knew that Rev. J.I. Lowe was guilty of drunkenness and seduction, or even under suspension, accusation and bonds for the last named crime, be (the Bishop) of convicted of such an offense against common decency, the spirit and letter of the Discipline of the A.M.E. Church, ought to be expelled from the Bishoprie.
<< DANIEL ALEXANDER PAYNE>> .
Portsmouth, Va.

January 22, 1885
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, PA

IN MEMORY OF BISHOP DICKERSON.

Bishops, Ministers and Members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
DEAR BRETHREN:- Whereas the sad intelligence of the demise of Bishop William Fisher Dickerson, D. D., has reached us, who departed this life at Columbia, S. C., December 20th, 1884, in the bright prospects of a blissful immortality, involving upon our beloved Zion a loss which will long be felt- stricken down by disease in the very prime of a useful life; when the Church was cherishing high hopes of a brilliant future for him. Born in 1844, not having attained to the maturity of intellectual vigor, yet having given evidence of great powers in the sphere of his sacred calling and high vocation.
Therefore, humbly surrendering to the dispensations of a merciful and an inscrutable Providence, and in keeping with a time-honored custom, you are hereby requested to drape our churches and places of worship in the emblems of mourning; to remain for at least sixty days. And, I also designate Sabbath, 1st of March, at 11 o'clock A. M., as the time for holding the funeral obsequies in memory of the life and services of the late Bishop. Believing the people will assemble at the time designated, and that the pastors will rigidly observe the instructions above given, we ray that the blessings of the Great Head of the Church may accompany your services and make it a time for the outpouring of his Holy Spirit.
Your fraternally,
<< DANIEL ALEXANDER PAYNE>> ,
Senior Bishop.
Uniontown, Ala.

NOTE: Inasmuch as it is not practical at the present midwinter hour to assemble the Bishops for consultation, I assume the responsibility of appointing Bishop H. M. Turner to overseer the Second Episcopal District till the annual meeting of the Bishops' Council.
Fraternally,

PAYNE.

NOTICE.
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EVERGREEN COTTAGE,
Wilberforce, Ohio, Aug. 24, '87.
The Bishops of the A.M.E. Church are hereby informed that a joint meeting of the Bishops of the A.M.E. Zion Church will be held at Montgomery, Ala., on the 15th of December 1887, to be opened at 10 AM.
The object of the joint meeting is for further consideration of the question of “organic union” according to the Articles of Agreement of the joint commission of the African M.E. Church and African M.E. Zion Connections, held in Washington, DC, July 15-17, 1885.
In view of the importance of such a meeting before the General Conferences of the two Connections, in May, 1888, we beg that the Bishops of both connections will arrange their official obligations and printed private affairs, as to have no excuse for absence from the Montgomery meeting in Alabama at the date fixed. Signed in behalf of both Boards of Bishops,

<< DANIEL ALEXANDER PAYNE>> ,
SINGLETON THOMAS JONES.

NOTICE.
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EVERGREEN COTTAGE,
Wilberforce, Ohio, Aug. 24, '87.
The Bishops of the A.M.E. Church are hereby informed that a joint meeting of the Bishops of the A.M.E. Zion Church will be held at Montgomery, Ala., on the 15th of December 1887, to be opened at 10 AM.
The object of the joint meeting is for further consideration of the question of “organic union” according to the Articles of Agreement of the joint commission of the African M.E. Church and African M.E. Zion Connections, held in Washington, DC, July 15-17, 1885.
In view of the importance of such a meeting before the General Conferences of the two Connections, in May, 1888, we beg that the Bishops of both connections will arrange their official obligations and printed private affairs, as to have no excuse for absence from the Montgomery meeting in Alabama at the date fixed. Signed in behalf of both Boards of Bishops,
<< DANIEL ALEXANDER PAYNE>> ,
SINGLETON THOMAS JONES.

In view of the importance of such a meeting before the General Conferences of the two Connections, in May 1888, we beg that the Bishops of both connections will arrange their official obligations and printed private affairs, as to have no excuse for absence from the Montgomery meeting in Alabama at the date fixed. Signed in behalf of both Boards of Bishops,
<< DANIEL ALEXANDER PAYNE>> ,
SINGLETON THOMAS JONES.

EVERGREEN COTTAGE,
Wilberforce, Ohio, Aug. 24, '87.

The Bishops of the A.M.E. Church are hereby informed that a joint meeting of the Bishops of the A.M.E. Zion Church will be held at Montgomery, Ala., on the 15th of December, 1887, to be opened at 10 A.M.
The object of the joint meeting is for further consideration of the question of “organic union” according to the Article of Agreement of the joint commission of the African M.E. Church and African M.E. Zion Connections, held in Washington, D.C., July 15-17, A.D. 1885.
In view of the importance of such a meeting before the General Conferences of the two Connections, in May, 1888, we beg that the Bishops of both connections will arrange their official obligations and printed private affairs, as to have no excuse for absence from the Montgomery meeting in Alabama at the date fixed.
Signed in behalf of both Boards of Bishops.

<< DANIEL ALEXANDER PAYNE>> ,
SINGLETON THOMAS JONES.

BISHOP PAYNE'S BIRTHDAY.

Bishop Payne is President of the Sunday School Union. His literary work consists of a book of poems, “Semi-centenary of African Methodism,” “Historical Sketch of Wilberforce University,” “A Treatise on Domestic Education,” “Memoirs of Men and Things,” and “The History of the African Methodist Church.” The last two are in manuscript, but will probably be published in the coming spring. Bishop Payne was one of the three Bishops made delegates from our Church to the Methodist Ecumenical Conference in 1881, and was president of said conference one day. Few men of the colored race are more widely - known than he. His life from very early manhood has been devoted entirely to the work of enlightening the are. No colored man now living will bear with him to heaven a broader love and gratitude from a greater number than << Daniel Alexander Payne>> . He will need no monument to perpetuate his memory; for the character of his work has been such, closely associating intellectual culture and religious growth with moral development, that it will perpetuate his precious memory through ages. Today he is seventy-six years old. His youth is renewed like the eagle's.

THE UNION.

The twelve Bishops assembled on the 15th inst., and mentioned in our last issue, presented an interesting picture for study. Their dignity, thoughtfulness and courtesy gave them the appearance of men thoroughly alive to the importance of their office, while their words showed them intensity interested in the cause of the race. Bishop << Daniel Alexander Payne>> , D.D., known to nearly all our readers, is probably the senior of all who were present; we are not certain whether he is older than Bishop Moore, who was absent. Bishop H.M. Turner, D.D., is probably the youngest, though Bishops L.H. Lomax and J.W. Hood might contest the subject.
Bishop S.T. Jones, D.D., is a man of wisdom, a good presiding officer, a quick perceiver of the thought and bent of his associates, dignified and thoroughly anxious to do that which will tend to the greatest good of the race in the future. Bishops J.A. Shorter and J.M. Brown, D.D., the one noted for stanchness of character and correctness of judgment, and the other for sagacity and diplomacy, were evidently anxious that some points in our own Church polity and genus should not be overlooked, as were Bishops Hood and Jones with reference to some like points in their Church. It was not always clear to the observer what those points were, yet was the fact always plain that they were on the alert. Bishops J.P. Campbell, D.D., and H.M. Turner, D.D., were evidently well posted in history. Certainly Bishop Hood was master of his situation. He showed the mind of a man of business. Bishop A.W. Wayman, D.D., was a sort of regulator. Bishop T.M.D. Ward, D.D., paid close attention to all movements, but made no speech. In this, he was like Bishop R.R. Disney.
Following the procedure from end to end, we feel inclined to the opinion that a little better acquaintance with and a little more confidence in one another might secure the union yet, so far as Bishops are concerned, but this is not the half. The membership need several years' consideration of the subject before they will be wither competent or willing to accept the union. If the respective sides desire to come together, they will be most likely to see that desire gratified by studying how much they can afford to give for union's sake. It may be fairly inferred that there are concessions which Bishops and other ministers might make were it not that they are sure the laity would object. There may also be points that possess great interest to Bishops and other ministers, about which the laity are perfectly indifferent. If we want union we must work for it very hard, for the masses are thinking comparatively little about it.

BISHOP PAYNE.

As previously stated, this good and useful man reaches his seventy-fifth birthday this day. Bishop Daniel A. Payne is a man of rare character. Were he one of the more favored race he would occupy a very different place in this country from what he does, but in the kingdom of which he has long been a tried citizens he ranks without race reference. We have other men who may be superior theologians, as Bishop J.P. Campbell, who also takes his age in February, being 71 years old 6th inst., men as firm, true and earnest as Bishop Shorter, and better orators, as Bishops Wayman and Ward. Fe of our Bishops and leaders have had more trying positions to fill than Bishop Payne. He must forever be classified among the pioneers of education among the colored Americas. Of course in actual and direct scholastic work such men and women as Charles Hurd, John R. Blackburn, Peter H Clark, the late Jams Waring, Fannie M. Jackson-Coppin and Sarah J. Woodson Early would be reckoned among the foremost. It is not especially in this direction that bishop Payne will always be recorded as an educator, but in his connection with the people from his early manhood up to the present. He has been able to impress his own noble character upon the race as very few others have done. The office of Bishop is not the most conducive to this end. Bishop Payne has succeeded well in it, however. So decisive, uniform and conscientious is he in all he says and does, that every one who once learns him knows him and those how know him love him. His road has had some thorns in it. Often the words of the poem on our first page might have expressed his feelings:

“Keep not your kisses for my dead, cold brow;
The way is lonely, let me feel them worn,
My faltering feet are pierced with many a thorn.”

We have known Bishop Payne well and very intimately for over twenty years. We do not hesitate to say that the world has never accorded him his proper place. The A.M.E. church has had a respect for him, but none too high an appreciation of him. Only after he is gone will the colored Americans know what they have had in the person of << Daniel Alexander Payne>> .

July 16, 1885
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, PA

SPECIAL EPISCOPAL ADDRESS.

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TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCES, THE PASTORS AND LAITY OF THE A.M.E. CHURCH OF THE WORLD.

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DEAR BRETHREN: - We, the Bishops of the A.M.E. Church, in annual council assembled at Columbus, O., June 24th, 1885, send greeting: - We recognize with great satisfaction the important work that Wilberforce University is doing in the interests of the Church, North, South, East and West, and the increasing favor with which the institution is being received in all quarters. Its financial condition is encouraging in the fact that its indebtedness is less than it has been for many years and is annually decreasing. While this is true, the Executive Board found it expedient to negotiate a loan to meet obligations then due. This fact proves the credit of the University, but it also indicates the demand for immediate action. The amount must be raised by the 22nd of October.

The reputation of the whole connection is involved. The President has been sent out by the Board of Trustees. He bears our endorsement and the pledge of our co-operation. We ask for him your sympathy and aid. Be willing to make sacrifice this once to meet the pressing emergency.
Let each member give personal assistance, then let each conference make a liberal appropriation out of any available funds. You cannot do too much at this critical juncture. Strengthen the hands of the President of the Institution and enable him to return prepared to meet the pending obligation. Give aid to the cause by encouraging students everywhere to attend Wilberforce University; and do not forget, we urge you, to observe Endowment Day on the 20th of September, and make it a success worthy of our great connection.
We are not forgetful of the claims of our educational work elsewhere. No department of the Church needs greater encouragement. Yet wisdom indicates that we should hasten to secure the permanent success of this our oldest institution, by concentrating upon it such earnest effort and aid as will not jeopardize the interests of the work in other fields. The eyes of the people are upon Wilberforce as never before. A wise policy on the part of the Church at this important stage in her history will realize more than our highest expectations and greatly promote the general cause. To this end we subscribe our names and $25 each. Signed. << Daniel Alexander Payne>> , Alexander W. Cayman, J.P. Campbell, J.A. Shorter, T.M.D. Ward, John M. Brown, R.H. Cain, H.M. Turner, R.R. Disney. General Officers - J.M. Townsend, B.T. Tanner, Wm. D. Johnson, J.C. Embry.

SPECIAL EPISCOPAL ADDRESS.
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TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCES, THE PASTORS AND LAITY OF THE A.M.E. CHURCH OF THE WORLD.
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DEAR BRETHREN: - We, the Bishops of the A.M.E. Church, in annual Council assembled at Columbus, O., June 24th, 1885, send greeting; - We recognize with great satisfaction the important work that Wilberforce University is doing in the interests of the Church, North, South, East and West, and the increasing favor with which the institution is being received in all quarters. Its financial condition is encouraging in the fact that its indebtedness is less than it has been for many years and is annually decreasing While this is true, the Executive Board found it expedient to negotiate a loan to meet obligations then due. This fact proves the credit of the University, but it also indicates the demand for immediate action. The amount must be raised by the 22nd of October.
The reputation of the whole connection is involved. The President has been sent out by the Board of Trustees. He bears our endorsement and the pledge of our co-operation. We ask for him your sympathy and aid. Be willing to make sacrifice this once to meet the pressing emergency.
Let each member give personal assistance, then let each conference make a liberal appropriation out of any available funds. You cannot do too much at this critical juncture. Strengthen the hands of the President of the Institution and enable him to return prepared to meet the pending obligation. Give aid to the cause by encouraging students everywhere to attend Wilberforce University; and do nor forget, we urge you, to observe Endowment Day on the 20th of September, and make it a success worthy of our great connection.
We are not forgetful of the claims of our educational work elsewhere. No department of the Church needs greater encouragement. Yet wisdom indicates that we should hasten to secure the permanent success of this our oldest institution, by concentrating upon it such earnest effort and aid as will not jeopardize the interests of the work in other fields. The eyes of the people are upon Wilberforce as never before. A wise policy on the part of the Church at this important stage in her history will realize more than our highest expectations and greatly promote the general cause. To this end we subscribe our names and $25 each. Signed. << Daniel Alexander Payne>> , Alexander W. Cayman, J.P. Campbell, J.A. Shorter. T.M.D. Ward, John M. Brown, R.H. Cain, H.M. Turner, R.R. Disney. General Officers - J.M. Townsend, B.T. Tanner, Wm. D. Johnson, J.C. Embry.

BISHOP PAYNE'S PROTEST.

AGAINST THE ORGANIC UNION OF THE A.M.E. AND B.M.E. CHURCHES.

MR. EDITOR: - As I like to see a man consistent with himself, especially a public man, who fills a high office in the State or in the Church, because you can always repose confidence in him and depend upon his statements, whether they be moral principals or historic facts, so I dislike to see a self-contradictory man, because you can neither depend upon him for morals nor for history.

Therefore I beg to be permitted to say that the announcement of Bishop Campbell concerning “the completion or organized union between the African Methodist Episcopal Church,” which appears in your issue of October 30th, places me in an inconsistent and self-contradictory light, because it represents me as fully endorsing the so-called union, when all the readers of the RECORDER know that from the beginning of the movement towards organic union of the A.M.E. church with the B.M.E. Church, I have always opposed and protested against it, for what I believe to be justifiable reasons. This I did before all my Annual Conferences since 1881 up to the General Conference of 1884, and in the face of that General Conference. This I did also in the committee room in the basement of Old Bethel, in Baltimore, where the Bishops met during the General Conference, at which meeting Bishop Disney was interviewed.

Then and there I told the Bishops I would sign “The Proclamation” under protest. Now, therefore, as my protest does not appear along with the proclamation, I send, not my lengthy “Appeal to the Common Sense of the Ministry and Laity of the African M.E. church in the United States of America,” because that covers about ten pages; but I do send for publication in our next issue my protest, entitled, “Some of the Many Reason for Opposing the Organic Union of the A.M.E. and the B.M.E. Churches.”
Fraternally,
<< DANIEL ALEXANDER PAYNE>> .

WILBERFORCE, O., June 29, 1886.

To the President and Members of the Financial Board:
REV. AND DEAR BRETHREN:
I beg your attention to a few words and questions which concern the connection in general, but your Board in particular. They are addressed to you as custodians of the Church Treasury:
1, As to its historic origin, I have to say, a.) That from the times of Bishop Allen and Bishop Morris Brown, Allen's immediate successor, the Bishops received their support partly from Old Bethel, in Philadelphia, and partly from the profits of the Book Concern; partly and chiefly from Old Bethel, because at the same time that they were Bishops, they were pastors of that church, and partly on account of the general poverty of the connection. Twenty-five dollars from every annual conference were allowed them for traveling expenses. Their letter bills were also paid by the annual conference. The General Conference of 1844 ordained that every member of the connection should be required to pay twelve cents per month for the support of the Bishops. This method of raising Episcopal support was carried out with more or less efficiency by one or two of the annual conferences up to 1872, when the Church Treasury was considered and adopted. The Bishops had nothing to do with the original idea of the Church Treasury. That was formulated in the minds and by the hands of leading and thoughtful elders. Its announcement by these elders called forth a formidable resistance from some of the Bishops, but the majority adopted it and from that day up to the present time it has obtained.
b.) The Church Treasury has been the source from which the Bishops and general officers have derived their support.
c.) Originally, the elements composing this Church Treasury were all the Bishops, Financial Secretary and one traveling preacher from each Episcopal District.
d.) But the Bishops, or a majority of them, had the power to appoint the Financial Secretary. The Bishops alone had power to fill all vacancies occurring in the Board. This Board in this form and wielding this power worked up to 1880; at which date the General Conference reviewed the system and modified the composition of the Board of Managers of the Church Treasury. How did they do it?
e.) By excluding the Bishops and making it to consist of the number nine, five itinerant preachers, i.e., elders, Financial Secretary and three laymen.
f.) Why this change in the structural elements of the Financial Board? The committee that revised the Discipline gave no reasons for this change. The inference is, first, that they thought that they, the Bishops, had too much control over the finances; and, secondly, they preferred to fill the office of Financial Secretary by a man of their own selection and election.
The Church Treasury under this new Board was operated till 1884, at which date the General Conference thought it was to place a Bishop at the head of the Board financial, but with shorn powers, for his name is not even mentioned in the section of the law constructing the Board Financial. Virtually he is not an element of the Board Financial but merely a watchman over it.
2. We now come to inquire how is the so-called Dollar Money to be gathered into the Church Treasury? This question is answered by Section 8th, page 330, which says, “All monies collected in the interval of the annual conference shall be sent immediately to the Financial Secretary; and all monies collected at, or brought to the annual conference for the Church Treasury shall, in the absence of the Financial Secretary, be paid to the secretary of the conference, who will transmit the same to the Financial Secretary and take his written acknowledgement of it.”

a.
Thus the collection of the so-called Dollar Money are the pastors.

b. The Depositor or Purser who is to place the so-called Dollar Money into the Church Treasury is the Financial Secretary.

c.
And the disburser of the money is also the Financial Secretary. According to the grammatical, consequently the logical, sense of Section 8, he, and he alone, has the power and the right to disburse this money and pay each claimant, whether the claimant be a Bishop or one of the general officers. No one else has the power, no one else can exercise this right. But he may deputize the conference finance committee to pay an intalment of the presiding Bishop's salary, or any installment on the salary of a general officer. This he frequently does. To meet the wants of a financial dilemma of the presiding Bishop or one of the general officers, he may equitably deputize his power to the conference financial committee. But we repeat with emphasis, he must always deputize this power with just and equitable regard to the wants of the other claimants on the Church Treasury. But he must deputize this power with just and equitable regard to the wants of the other claimants on the Church Treasury. But he must deputize this exercise of his power by a written order, addressed to the finance committee. He may send this order to the Bishops to collect from that committee; but let us never forget this is not a right, it is only a privilege granted the Bishop or other claimant.

3. Moreover, Section 22d, requires the Financial Secretary “to pay the salaries or the installment monthly or as nearly possible,” and in Section 26 it is ordered that the general officers shall receive their salaries from the Financial Secretary; and including both the Bishops and the general officers. Section 17th orders that, at their annual meeting, the Financial Board shall consider all the claims upon the treasury provided by law, and shall make appropriations for the same. The appropriations shall be made upon the pro rata basis. This section was evidently made to prevent any monopoly on the part of the Bishops or on the part of the general officers as classes or as individuals.
1st, Now, Rev. and dear brethren, in view of the law creating and governing the Church Treasury and of the analysis I have given, I respectfully beg of you to tell me what right has anyone or more of the pastors under his jurisdiction and with it pay himself any part of his salary in the interval of the annual conference?
2d, What has a Bishop in the annual conference over which he presides, or outside of that annual conference, after his salary of $2000 has been paid in this irregular way, by the Financial Secretary &#150we demand, what right has he to collect in his annual conference from the finance committee one, two three and four months' pay in advance of any one of his colleagues either has the right or he has the privilege. The right is not granted by any provision of the law. The privilege cannot be granted by the Financial Secretary, because he is not authorized to grant it, and because the granting such a privilege would render it impossible for him to give to the other Bishops and other officers “on the pro rata basis.”
3d, Having neither the right nor the privilege to exercise such a power, what shall we say of it?
4th, Is it fair, is it honorable, is it equitable, is it just, is it right?
5th, If such an exercise of power on the part of a Bishop be permitted, what is the use of a Church Treasury?
6th, What the use of a Financial Secretary? What the use of any law to govern the Financial Secretary or Church Treasury.
7th, When a Bishop puts his foot on the law, or, to use a softer term, desire gards the law to meet his own selfish purposes, is it not time to call a halt?
8th, As Custodians of the Church Treasury, is it not your duty to call a halt?
I am, dear brethren, yours fraternally,
<< DANIEL ALEXANDER PAYNE>> .

WILBERFORCE COMMENCEMENT.

This important annual day of pleasure to thousand and profit to millions is just one week off, Thursday, June 17th. There will probably be gathered on that sacred green campus that day between 5,000 and 7,000 persons from all extremes and all means of American social life; scholarly gentleman and ladies from thousands of miles distant, there because of their appreciation of literary and intellectual exercise, there because for many year they have found their taste well satisfied and their hopes fully realized. There will be hundreds there because they have been told of Wilberforce Commencement by others who have seen; there will be pleasure-seekers there because they find charms in the soft shade, the balmy air, the nooks, the dells, the gurgling springs, the limped streams and vine-trellaced ravines of Wilberforce that rarely met where

“Wit and wisdom both abound,
Where sound is sense and sense is sound.”

But there will be a small number of intensely interested persons there, whose feelings can be appreciated by only those of like experiences; this class is composed of the friends and parents, who have born the vast responsibilities incident to a poor man educating his son under all the adversities to which colored men under colored men's school management are subjected in the grinding competitions of our times. What courage is evinced by many of our race, who, without education themselves, embark upon this unknown sea with their children in their arms, on their hearts, on a vessel conducted by men without the heritage of learning, with only its acquisition. But observation leads us to say, if courage is great here, realization is greater.
There has probably been no other work done in our Church of equal magnitude to that accomplished through Wilberforce University that has suffered more from an indifference that has resulted from lack of information concerning the character of the work on the one hand, and from petty jealousies on the other hands; but the noble men and women who have had the patience, through all the sneers of the uninformed and malicious, to help their children and wards on to the end of their course, have learned how to value Wilberforce. There is a class of men and women who will meet next Thursday, at Wilberforce, perfectly unique in American life; the “boys” and “girls,” whose fortunes and interests, whose principals and notions have been in a high sense unified at Wilberforce. Some of them are of nearly a half century's standing on this stage of action, bald and gray, parents of large families, but with the newly fledged alumni of '86, they will be cheery on “Commencement” day, they will, in some cases, be sportive, their hairless crowns will have the relief of as sparkling eyes as those of boys of today. To see them meet, to see them greet will provoke the criticisms,

“See those old buffers (bald) and gray,
They look like fellows in their teens
Mad; poor old boys &#150 that's what it means.”

But on the greetings will go:

“Your hand, old fellows; off they go,

How are you, Ann? How are you, Joe?”

The greetings over the comparison of notes, the exchange of thoughts, the recounting of recollections and the observation of changes at the old school homes will bring the alumni of Wilberforce University to the consideration of subjects of the grandest character and most far reaching tendencies. While the colored alumni of every other educational institution can at most exercise but a secondary influence upon their schools, the alumni of Wilberforce the course and measures the destiny of their alma mater. They will in the future exercise a very different influence upon the school from hat they have done in the past; - the graduates of sixteen years &#150 a number of years that no other colleges in the world owned and governed by colored men &#150 can count its graduates.
These men and women, nearly one-half of whom obtained their education at the price of their own hard labor, being chargeable to no man have required several years after graduating in a state of several poverty, to gain a standing; now their school debts are paid, many of them are possessed of homes; they must come to the relief of Wilberforce financially. Their experience, at first limited, is enlarged and their powers from usefulness increased; they should be much more largely incorporated in the Trustee Board, besides having the requisites influence through their own organization.

Wilberforce future is to be what her alumni make it. Bishops Payne, Shorter and Campbell will not much longer be able to give it the direction and support that they have done in the past. Bishop Payne in its founding and wise direction, teaching and government, as well as pecuniary aid; Bishop Shorter in an unfaltering aid to direction of its affairs and large, constant support of its treasury, and Bishop Campbell as the first colored man probably in the world to give one thousand dollars at one time to an institution controlled by colored men, and as the chairman of its Board of Trustees for many years. Bishop Shorter has also contributed a like sum more recently and many fifties and hundreds before; while Bishop Payne's actual gifts to Wilberforce in service and cash will probably outweigh them all. But their days for these noble deeds will soon have passed, then the alumni must act. They must ac now! Commencement day will be the occasions of the meeting of the Board of Trustees, representing all the States. Among them are many whose loyalty to education and justness of conception relative to the subject have entitled them to a place far above that which the world accords them, far above that which their grade of learning, in many cases, would give them. These are our race's noblemen. Their acts will outlive the eloquence of the rostrum and the statues of the sculptors. They will wear, with the ages, increased light. Those Trustees will review the statues of the school, measure the capabilities of the Faculty and the opportunities of the University, adjust its finances, provide for its growth and strengthen its powers. They will confer degrees upon a worthy class of graduates and authorize them to go out on the mental and moral battlefields and wield nobly the weapons with which God has armed them and the college has helped to sharpen.
The session of that Trustee Board will cost the individual members a thousand dollars or more traveling expenses, and has so coat them year by year for the past twenty-two years &#150 for what? For feelings and conscience approbation's equal to the most enjoyable. They leave there with almost as high appreciation of the boon of American citizenship as can be acquired anywhere. In the past twenty-three years they have thoroughly established a college, sent one thousand young men and women out into the world with better notions of life than they would otherwise have had, graduated upwards of eighty, setting a majority of them to work in the South and some in foreign mission fields. Forty-two (42) of their graduates have labored in the Southern States. In 1885 there were thirty-two of them in those States at one time; there are thirty-one there now. Others are scatted over the North and two in the West Indies. These Trustees, representing nearly all our religious sects, have the satisfaction of having thus wrought an unparalleled work among colored people by colored people.

The day will also be of peculiar interest to the Faculty of the University, who have borne serious responsibilities and numerous unpleasantness, but also more pleasures, in training the class which that day they will give to the world. The Wilberforce Faculty may well be congratulated on next Thursday on the good work God has called them to do. Recognizing the worth of all the host of men and women who have joined hands and hearts to make this enterprise successful, remembering the faithfulness of officers, and we think especially of John A. Clark, the kindness of our Bishops and of our ministers, the wisdom of our teachers, the benevolence of men of our own and men of the Caucasian race, this whole affair must be considered as a monument erected a the instigation and under the supervision of the Rt. Rev. << Daniel Alexander Payne>> , D.D., L.L.D. We must never say, “Thank God for Wilberforce,” without saying, “Thank God for Bishop Payne.” May Thursday, June 17th, be a glorious day at Wilberforce University; may the class of promising young ladies and gentlemen be eminently useful, and may God, as we have heard Bishop Payne pray often: “Increase the usefulness of the University unto a thousand generations.”

BISHOP << DANIEL ALEXANDER PAYNE'S>> REPLY TO THE “SEARCHING INQUIRIES” OF JUDGE TUCKER.

To the Editor of the Florida Daily Times:
MY DEAR SIR: - A clip from your valuable paper has been sent to me by a friend, which seems to have been addressed to you, but intended for me. It bears the signature of Judge J. Wolford Tucker, and is dated Sanford, Fla., April 27th, 1882. The chief heading is “Bishop Payne's Case,” the subordinate is “Judge Tucker Submits Some Searching inquires to the Bishop.” These inquires I shall undertake to answer D.V.; not as in the presence of a Federal Court, controlled by race prejudices, or local prejudices, or Railroad bonds, but as in the presence of that court whose presiding Judge can not be induced to condemn an innocent man because he is black, nor acquit a guilty man because he is white.
The Judge declares that his object now is in the interest of peace and truth. If he knows himself to be truthful, let him also believe that my statuettes shall be the truth and nothing but the truth, written for peace and nothing but peace. The Judge says, “The Bishop must have known that the action of the conductor was not arbitrary, that he was acting under the orders and carrying out in practice the ordinary and established rules of the company.” To this positive impeachment of the Judge, I give a positive denial. I did not know that he was acting under orders; how could I know? It was the first time I was on that railroad; the first time I was ever in that car, I saw no hand bills announcing the “rules and orders” of the company. I had my baggage in hand and was in the act of leaving the cars, when I heard a man from the opposite side of the car saying in bad English, which I will not attempt to imitate. “The conductor is acting under orders, bishop or no bishop, he must execute them.” This was the first announcement made of the conductor's authority, and even the, I knew not that the foreigner's statement was the truth. The fact that he was acting under orders from any officer above and behind him was never revealed until the East Florida Conference of the A.M.E. Church with Bishop Wayman at its head, appeared at the Superintendent's office in Fernandina to demand the reason of the ejectment, when the Superintendent told them that the conductor was acting under his orders. This piece of intelligence was made known to me Saturday evening by a committee of two, dispatched by the East Florida Conference to urge my attendance under a special order from the Superintendent. Secondly, the Judge says, “He must have observed that the deportment of the conductor was civil and respectful; that he was disinclined to enforce the rule with any harshness, and did not intend to inflict any inconvenience that could be avoided.” In reply to this statement I have this to say: If a man be bound with silken cords and then sold as a slave, he is none the less a slave then if he wore bound with chains of iron; he would still be treated as an article of merchandise &#150 half man, half brute. SO, also, an insult offered in a civil and respectful manner, is no lees an insult than if it was offered in a rude style. It was the orders behind the manner that offended the image of God in me. “He that oppresseth the poor repreoacheth his Maker.” To oppress a man on account of his color is no less a reproach on his Creator than to oppress him on account of his poverty. This insult, I felt like the cold steal piercing my heart, and therefore I resented it; not by any at of violence, nor by any harsh words; but by removing my person beyond the operation of such orders. Therefore, when conductor Livingstone ordered me into the front car, I said, “Rather than dishonor my manhood by going into that car, stop the train and put me off.” He replied, “I will stop the train at the next station and put you off.” He made no objection to my ticket, he made no objection to my deportment. His only objection was to my color. The Judge affirms that “the Bishop must have known- he did know that another car was appropriated to colored men and that people of color were occupying seats in it.” TO this statement of the Judge I say:

(a.) I did not know that another car was appropriated to colored me. If it be a fact, I knew nothing of it as it was not published in any of the Jacksonville journals that I had seen, neither was the fact labeled on the car saying, “This Car for Colored People,” as report says is the case in Georgia. Doe the Judge predicate of me a species of omniscience that I should know what was not made known until the moment when conductor Livingstone had finished the examination of my ticket? The, and not till then, had I heard that the front car was appropriated to colored people.

(b.) On the contrary, when I entered the door of the car in question, I saw three colored persons quietly seated in it. They are well know citizens to many of the white population of Jacksonville, especially to the business en of that city; two of them were lady teachers in the Station Graded School, the other a well known educated physician; all of them well dressed Christian, deporting themselves as Christian. I was moving towards them to take my seta beside them (for reasons which I shall make known before I finish my reply), but I was intercepted by a prominent white minister of the M.E. Church, who invited me to take a seat by him. I accepted his invitation. I had in my hand a copy of the New York Christian Advocate, and a copy of the New York Independent. I the former was an article entitled, “Locating Traveling Preachers Without Trial.” Which formed the topic our . . .
Custom and habit are species of law, they influence all men alike. Like the Unerring Judge, they have no respect for persons. As I travel in the highly civilized portion of the United States, I find cigar smokers and tobacco chewers, white and black, seeking the front car. That they should not do so in the less civilized portions of the South I can see no reason why Moreover, the Judge says, “The Bishop was passing in his character as a messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ proclaiming a gospel of peace and good will among men. He was not, it must be assumed a political emissary, nor an agent commissioned to test the legality of color regulation. His was a missions of higher and more solemn import, to call men to a holy life; to inculcate sentiments of forbearance and kindness.” On these six statements the Judge is correct.

For fifty-two years as an educator, forty-five as a preacher and pastor, thirty as a Christian Bishop, I can testify that I have said and done nothing contrary to these statements and advised nothing contrary to them. Says the judge, “In the course he chose to purses, did he exert an influence to make men better? To cement the bond of civil society? To make white men and colored men better friends than they were before? Or did he sow the seeds of dissention, distrust, hate and vindictiveness?” There are four questions which the Judge submits for my reply:
(a.) when a man performs a moral or a civil action with the design of production certain effects, he does not know whether he will realize them. (b.) But when the perform as moral or a civil action from the impulse of the moment he does it by instinct just as a worm writhes when the foot of man or beast trends upon it; just as a child screams when bitten by a dog; just as a woman cries out when she sees a thief in her parlor. So also when the insult was committed on me by conductor Livingstone, I spoke under its sting, and left the car and the rain to place myself beyond further outrage. That I had no such mischievous designs as Jude Tucker imitate I known and the teacher of hearts knows. I go further and add that my own oppressed race and the God that made us all knows, that both in private circles and in the public assemblies, I have always counseled peace and good will towards all mankind.
Again the Judge asks, if, upon reflection, I am “prepared to meet the moral consequences” of my action “at the bar of that court where humane motives are weighted and analyzed?” This is a strange question for a Christina judge to ask a Christian Bishop. Does the Judge remember that once in the history of Jesus, his enemies sought to take him, but he escaped out of their hands? Has he forgotten that on another occasion the enemies of Jesus took up stones to cast at him, “but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by?” Would the Judge hold Him responsible for all the moral consequences of his actions? Will anyone dare to change him with sowing “seeds of dissention, distrust, hate and vindictiveness” among his Jewish enemies because he would not allow them to stone him, and because he hid himself from them and went of out the temple? What terrible events followed in the wake of his non-submission to Jewish insult and outrage are known to every reader of the fourth Gospel. But according to Judge Tucker's mode of reasoning. Jesus must be held responsible at the bar of that court where human motives are weighed and analyzed.”
Now, looking the interrogation of the Judge squarely in the face, I thank God that there is a Court above the Federal courts and a Bar above theirs, where human motives are weighed and analyzed, not in accordance with race considerations, nor social considerations, nor railroad considerations, but according to the character and deeds of every one who shall appear before it. Once more, the Judge asks me if I can “honestly regard what I have done as tending to promote the good of men and the glory of God?” This question I answer in the affirmative, (a.) because upon reflection, I consider my conduct a good and emphatic protest against the nullifying authorities behind and above the conductor. (c.) Because it is always right to protest against a violation of written law, civil or divine, leaving consequences to Him who commands us to “rise up against evil doers,” and to “stand up against the workers of iniquity.” Finally the Judge inquires, “Has the Bishop honestly sought since that occurrence to furnish the public journals and political meetings in the great cities the very truth of the matter? Or has he permitted distorted and garbled statements to be published and to be believed by the good people of the North and the West?” to these two questions I reply by saving, first, to furnish public journals and political meetings with the “very truth” concerning insults and outrages offered to me on railroads, steamboats, hotels, &c., &c., is an employment for which I have neither taste no tie; no, not even to communicate them to our own Church organ. Second, the secular papers I seldom have time to read, hence, I now very little about what they say only as news comes to me through my friends and acquaintances. Third, once or twice in a month I find time to sit down to red The Independent, The Christian Advocate and THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER. In the two former, I have not as much as seen an allusion to that occurrence; in the latter I have seen only “the very truth of the matter.” two or three clippings from journals evidently in sympathy with the color regulation have been sent to me by several friends. In these I have found distorted and garbled and misleading statements putting me in a false light. One of them represents me as being ordered out of the ladies' car, when there was no such thing as a ladies' car on the train. There were only two cars on the train; the rear car in which I was sitting had three or four times more men than women. There was in that our three or four white women and two colored ones. There was no lack of seats because the car was scarcely half full. . . .

HOW I CAME TO BE IN THAT CAR.

There are two ways of passing from Jacksonville to Fernandina; one is by steamer, the other by railroad. I could have gone to the conference by the steamer St. John, on which I always found desirable accommodations. This I could have done on Friday and on Friday only, because that steamer goes only on Tuesday and Fridays, stopping at Fernandina en route to Charleston, S.C., and returning from that city to Jacksonville. But a friend who had to accompany two ladies &#150 who being teachers in the Stanton Grammar school could go only on Saturdays &#150 requested me to wait till Saturday in order that he and they might accompany me. To his urgent request I consented only on condition that I should find no such trouble as I had to encounter on the Florida Central in February 1881. He twice assured me I should find none. The first time by myself, the last time in the presence of two friends. He being a powerful young man, was prepared to fight his way through in the car or die in the efforts, I was prepared for neither of these alternatives; he defiled the conductor and went from Jacksonville to Fernandina with the two colored lady teachers in that very car; he was prepared for contention, I desired none; be gloried in the strife, I fled from it. In the face of these facts, I ask to the Federal courts, but Christendom to decide whether the surmising of the Judge are well founded? In this connection it is proper for me to add that one year before this occurrence I purchased a ticket to go to the same East Florida Conference, then holding its sessions at Lake City, which is reached by the Florida Central. I had been sitting in the rear car for about ten or fifteen minutes unmolested, but within five minutes of the startling of the train. I perceived sign of trouble. To avoid it I took my handbag returned to the ticket agent, told him my fears and requested him to take the ticket and refund my money. He replied that he had reported it to the superintendent and therefore could not take it back, whereupon I laid the ticket on his shelf and returned to my boarding house. Were it necessary, I could multiply instances of the same kind which I have not allowed even our Church organ to know in order that neither church nor State might be annoyed with my personal wrongs and sorrows.

I conclude my reply by remarking, first, that I believe if Judge Tucker had known me as the searcher of hearts knows me, he would not have written the letter of April 27th, but would have stood courageously by that of March the 6th. Secondly, standing upon the summit of Calvary, and beneath the shadow of the cross, I have learned to regard all the races as one common brotherhood through whose veins runs the same blood which flowed through the veins of Adam and eve, and therefore, as having one common Father the unchanging, unerring, infinite God, who is also the father of the Lord Jesus Christ, that incorruptible “judge of all the earth,” before whose bar Judge Ticker and I shall soon appear, not as a white American and a colored American, but as men made in the image of God and fashioned after his likeness. There he, I and all other men shall be adjudged not according to our color, but according to our character and our deeds. Thirdly, believing all these truths, I conscientiously avoid not only all railroad and all other republic carriers, but also all assemblies of men, political and social, scientific and literary, philosophical and religious, where I know that the heathenish and barbarisms color regulation prevails. Fourthly, thanking the Judge for his letter of the 6th of March. I forgive him for his letter of the 27th. Thankful to editors Yost and son for their strong, sympathetic editorial in the Valley Virginian published at Staunton, Va., on the 6th of April last, I hope and pray that God may stand by them as long as they stand by the right.
Grateful to all other editors, South and North, east and West, together with all public assemblies who have given utterance to their sympathies, I also gratefully acknowledge the service rendered by the New England Southern conference of the M.E. Church, and sincerely thank them for their fraternal sympathies so universalistic in its scope and so fervently expressed.

Finally, I thank Mr. George T. Downing for calling the attention of that conference to my exciting case. Yet thanks to him are intensified by the fact that his action in the case was perfectly voluntary and absolutely unknown to me. Respectfully,
<< DANIEL ALEXANDER PAYNE>> .
“Evergreen Cottage,” Wilberforce, O.

RT. REV. D.A. PAYNE, D.D.,

ONE OF THE BISHOPS OF THE A.M.E. CHURCH.
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<< Daniel Alexander Payne>> was born in Charleston, S.C., February 24th, 1811, hence is 76 years old this day. His parents were London Payne and Martha Payne, both of whom were persons of forcible and Christian character, possessing strong native intellect and wise notions respecting life and its varied responsibilities. As many other men who have become leaders of the masses in all its movements of human advancement, Bishop Payne acknowledges a great debt to his blessed mother and father for early training and direction. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The following is said of our subject
by T. McCants Stewart, A.M., LL B., a distinguished scholar and lawyer of New York:

CHILDHOOD AND EARLY TRAINING.

The influence exerted on the boy Daniel by such parents as we have described were good. Like Enoch, Daniel was early instructed in the things of God - initiated in the worship of his Maker, and dedicated to his service. By these means, under the influence of the Divine Spirit - which will ever attend pious parental instructions - his mind got that sacred bias which has led him to act a part so distinguished through the course of a long life. The only books which were within his reach, outside of his school books, were the Bile and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. As early as 1810, certain free colored men of Charleston, South Carolina, organized an association, which they called the “Minor's Moralist Society.” The object of this association was to assist in the education of orphan children. This society sent Daniel to school when he was about nine years of age and paid for his tuition and books for two years, which was the time limited for giving such aid. He then, for one year, attended the school of Mr. Thomas S. Bonneau, who was the most popular schoolmaster in the city of Charleston. Daniel's instruction was gratuitous. He made good use of his time. He evidenced great proficiency in reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, and in the study of Grecian, Roman and English history.

AT THE CARPENTER'S TRADE

At twelve years of age he was put to the carpenter's trade, in which he spent four years and a half. His work master was the eldest son of Mr. Richard Holloway, Sr. His name was James Holloway and he was brother in-law to Daniel Alexander. While at the trade Daniel came in possession of the first number of Rev. John Brown's “Self-Interpreting Bible.” He read it with avidity and earnestness, and it was the turning point in his life, for while studying this work he resolved to try to be what Rev. John Brown was. Said Daniel, “If Brown could learn Latin, Greek and Hebrew without a living teacher, why can't I?” He became very much interested in that exciting and yet useful book called the “Scotish Chiefs.” Wallace and Bruce became his ideal great men; and such was the influence that these characters exerted over Daniel that his ambition was to become a soldier. Having heard of Hayti and the Haytians, he desired, as soon as he became of age, to go to Hayti and enter the army. His resolution became fixed, until one night he dreamed that he was on a battle field. His regiment, had to encounter a tremendous foe, and, therefore, the slaughter was great. The blood and the carnage, the groans and the cries of the wounded and dying, the mangled corpses presentings hideous appearance, the prancing, leaping and neighing of wounded horses - all conspired to make upon him such a terrible impression of the horrors of war that Daniel resolved to have noting to do with a soldier's life. So the ideal man of his soul became once more the Rev. John Brown, of Haddington, Scotland. Truly may it be said:

“God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform.”

ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH AND CONVERSION.

When quite young Daniel was seriously impressed by the sermon of a Methodist preacher. While at his trade, when about fifteen years of age, these early impressions were revived. He went to Mr. Richard Holloway, Sr., and in spirit asked, “What shall I do to be saved?” Mr. Holloway advised young Payne to attend the Leader's meeting, where he was examined by Elder James O. Andrews, who was then preacher in charge of the Methodist church of Charleston, S.C. Elder Andrews received young Payne into the society on probation and assigned him to Mr. Samuel Weston's class, who, from that hour, became the chief religious guide of his youth.
He was not converted until three years after he joined the church on probation; he was eighteen years of age. It was Sunday afternoon, between two and three o'clock. He was seated in Mr. Bonneau's schoolroom with his leader and class. God poured out his spirit; Daniel was converted. That room is standing today. It is precious to Bishop Payne. There he laid the foundation of his education; there his father led his classes; there, on that Sunday afternoon fifty-four years ago, God spoke peace to his soul. Oh, happy day! Oh, happy place!

THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY AND THE WORK OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION.

Soon after this glorious event, one day between twelve and one o'clock, while in his bed chamber pouring his prayers into the listening ears of the Saviour of sinners, << Daniel Alexander Payne>> felt as if the hands of a man were pressing his shoulders; and in the chamber of his soul there was, as it were, a still small voice whispering, “I have set thee apart to educate thyself in order that thou mayest be an educator of thy people.” The impression was irresistible and divine. It gave a new direction to his thoughts and efforts. Then, again, did the illustrious example of Rev. John Brown, author of “The Self-Interpreting Bible,” set itself before the youthful Payne.

A SCHOOL TEACHER

Soon after this circumstance he forsook the carpenter's trade for the work and life of an educator. Mr. Payne immediately opened school in the house of one Caesar Wright. It consisted of three of Mr. Wright's children, for instructing each of whom the teacher received fifty cents per month. This was in the year 1829. His monthly income from teaching seen one year thereafter, in 1830, was only three dollars a month. But he gradually acquired a reputation as an earnest, conscientious, competent and successful teacher. As a result his school grew in numbers and popularity, so that in time Mr. Wright's house became too small to accommodate his pupils. He taught school in Charleston for about six years, and his influence was constantly increasing. His became the most popular school in the city.

EXPATRIATION.

In the meantime the white slaveholders, hearing of Mr. Payne's school and fearing its influence on the colored people, determined, as the Bishop some years ago told the writer of this sketch, to break up the school and to drive away the school teacher. “Payne,” they said, “is playing h-ll in Charleston.” So they passed in the legislature a special act, which made it impossible for Mr. Payne to remain longer in the home of his birth as an educator of his people. Before this time, however, Mr. Payne's life was embittered by what he saw of slavery. He himself had suffered. While never whipped under that system which Garrison rightly called “a league with death and a covenant with hell,” yet he had suffered bonds and imprisonment.
Standing on the streets of Charleston, S.C., about fifty-six years ago with a small walking cane in his hand, a white man snatched it from him and struck him, indignant at the idea of “a nigger carrying a cane.” Young Payne, full of fire and manhood, retaliated and was imprisoned. His soul was full of bitterness against oppression and the oppressor, because he saw husbands sold away from wives; he saw children - even the nursing infant - torn rudely away from their parents; he saw the victims of the driver's lash and the auction block; he saw his people compelled to make bricks without mortar or straw; he heard their cries - “How long, O Lord, how long?” When, therefore, an unjust and oppressive law forced him out of his native city, he resolved never to return again until slavery was destroyed. In 1835 Mr. Payne sailed out of Charleston harbor with this determination. Strange to relate, he returned on the very day and date thirty years thereafter, a Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, to plant the banner of the connection on the soil of South Carolina and in the very city where, thirty years before, he had suffered imprisonment and oppression.

IN THE NORTH - TEACHER AND THEOLOGICAL STUDENT.

For several years Mr. Payne taught school in Philadelphia, Pa. He had entered the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa., intending to take the full course of three years; but he applied himself so closely to study that his eyesight failed him. He had to give up. He entered the ministry in 1837, and was ordained an elder by the Lutheran in 1838. While teaching school in Philadelphia he acted in the capacity of local preacher. For example, in April, 1841, the old Bethel of Bishop Allen's day was pulled down and the corner-stone of a new edifice was laid. Elder Payne was among the officiating clergymen; and in the autumn of the same year, when the basement was finished and opened, Elder Payne was among the officiating clergymen; and in the autumn of the name year, when the basement was finished and opened, Elder Payne preached at night. In 1842 he was admitted as a local minister of the Philadelphia Conference.

ENTRANCE INTO THE ITINERANCY.

In May, 1843, he was admitted as a traveling preacher into the Philadelphia Annual Conference. He was stationed by Bishop Morris Brown over Israel Bethel Church, Washington, D.C. After a pastorate of five years in the National Capital Elder Payne was sent to serve Bethel Church, Baltimore, Md. He labored hard and successfully at this point, building during his pastorate the present mammoth Church, which stands as a monument of the industry, earnestness and consecration of Elder Payne. From this charge he was appointed to Ebenezer Church, Baltimore, Md. But we have not space to follow the elder through all the stages of his ministry. As a pastor he was ever faithful to that still small voice which bade him “Go, educate thy people.” Elder Payne always taught a parochial school in connection with is pastoral work. He always tried to lift his people in their worship out of ignorance into intelligence - teaching that God must be worshipped and served with the understanding as well as with the spirit. He never sought popularity. He did his duty, following the teachings of God's word, the leadings of the spirit, and the law of his conscience. He very often came into collision with the ignorance and prejudices of his people. At one time in standing up for the right in Philadelphia, he had to leave his boarding place; he had to do his cooking and washing; but he never faltered, and in God's time the right triumphed. In Baltimore, because Elder Payne opposed, what may be called “heel of fist religion,” he was for a time very unpopular. One woman, whose religion was mostly on her tongue, came into a meeting with a great club, struck at her pastor, who dodged. The blow descended upon a chair and split it from top to bottom. Had it struck the pastor, the history of The African Methodist Episcopal Church would have been slain outright, and there would have been no Bishop Payne to mold and fashion and direct the intellectual sentiment of the Church.

ELECTION TO THE EPISCOPACY.

The writer of this sketch takes this account of Elder Payne's election to the Bishopric from “Wayman's Recollections,” p. 49. General Conference met in Bethel Church, then on Second street, New York City, in May, 1830. Near the close of the morning session, Bishop Quinn asked me (the present Bishop Wayman) if there was not a special sermon to be preached to this conference. “Yes,” said Bishop Quinn, “Dr. Payne would be a good one to preach it, would he not?” “Certainly.” “Then,” said the Bishop, “put him down for 4 o'clock this afternoon, and put Nazarey down for night.” The delegates had already commenced to take up candidates for the Episcopal office. The most intellectual men had fixed upon Payne as one of their candidates, he being regarded as a scholar and an educator. The older men did not have Payne among their candidates. At 4 o'clock, Dr. Payne preached from 2 Cor., 2, 16: “Who is sufficient for these things?” It is spoken of as a remarkable sermon. In the course of his remarks he said, “I wish I were the most ignorant man on the floor of the General Conference, still knowing what I do.” When he closed, some of the young men who believed in educational advancement said, “That sermon settles the matter; they cannot defeat Payne; he will be elected Bishop.” Such was the effect of that sermon that Elder Nazarey, one of the candidates of the old men, declined to follow Dr. Payne at night. The day was finally fixed for the election of Bishops. It was May 7, 1852. Dr. Payne was elected. When the result announced Bishop Payne wept. The sacred office came to him unsought, aye, it was undesired. He trembled in the presence of the solemn obligations, duties and responsibilities to which that election called him. He was ordained May 13, 1852.

BISHOP

With space limited, we cannot narrate the Episcopal labors and achievements of Bishop Payne. His voice has been heard and his influence has been felt in the North, in the South, in the East and in the West. But Bishop Payne's life work has been in the direction of Christian education. True, he has organized conferences; presided over annual sessions; visited churches even in the South, and that, too, irrespective of denominational lines - Lutherans, Episcopalians, Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians - one and all have laid their tribute of respect at his feet. Bishop Payne, whether in England, in Scotland, in France or in America, has compelled all who have come in contact with him, in consequence of is spotless character and great intellect, to acknowledge the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. But Bishop Payne's name will stand in the history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church as the founder of a system of education just as Aristotle and Bacon were founders of a system of logic. Emerson says, “Plato is philosophy and philosophy Plato.” The African Methodist Episcopal Church can truly say, “Bishop Payne is to us education, and the spirit of our education is embodied in Bishop Payne.” Years ago Wilberforce University was offered the Bishop as a school for our Church. Certain parties stood ready to purchase the property for a summer hotel at a much higher figure than we could pay. The matter had to be decided on a certain duty. Bishop Payne could not consult his colleagues. Time would not permit. The hour came, the Bishop was without a dollar, and he remembered the fact that the connection was not enthusiastic over Christian education. But with a firm faith in the omnipotent arm of Jehovah and inspired by that courage that has signalized his whole life, he stood in the presence of the person who was to sell - alone with Jesus, and with uplifted hands Bishop Payne cried out: “In the name of God I purchase this property for the African Methodist Episcopal Church, to be consecrated forever to the sacred cause of Christian education.” He lived to pay every dollar of the debt which he that day incurred for the Church. Glory to God and all honor to the connection. That institution is a legacy from the labor and devotion of Bishop Payne which the Church is bound to maintain and bound to transmit even to generations yet unborn.
It would require volumes to recount even the thirty years' labors of Bishop Payne. It would require several columns of a newspaper to present even a summary of his doings from his election to the Bishopric to the day when he presided over the Ecumenical Conference of Methodism in London. When the history of the Bishop's life shall be written and read in the shadow of a great bereavement - may God defer it for many years, if it be his will - then shall we get an idea of what Bishop Payne has done for the Church and for the race, and he will live forever in the memory and gratitude of generations yet unborn, whom his name will delight and whom his character will inspire.