Читать книгу The Journal of Negro History, Volume 1, January 1916 - Various - Страница 14

Kioka, Georgia, May 1, 1793.

Rev. and Dear Sir,

Yours came safe to hand, and gave singular satisfaction. Neither spreading plains, nor rolling oceans, can prevent us from weeping with those that weep, and rejoicing with those that rejoice. I have had it in contemplation for some time to open a correspondence with our dear friend on the other side of the flood, but my constant travelling has hitherto prevented; I am highly pleased that you have opened the way....

As to the Black Church in Savannah, of which you had a particular account by Mr. Clarke, I baptized forty-five of them in one day, assisted in the constitution of the church, and ordination of the minister. They have given repeated proofs, by their sufferings, of their zeal for the cause of God and religion; and, I believe, are found in the faith, and strict in discipline.

I am also intimately acquainted with Jessy Golfin; he lives thirty miles below me, in South Carolina, and twelve miles below Augusta; he is a negro servant to Mr. Golfin, who, to his praise be it spoken, treats him with respect. His countenance is grave, his voice charming, his delivery good, nor is he a novice in the mysteries of the kingdom.

From less than the least,

Abraham Marshall.

–-Baptist Annual Register, 1790-1793, page 545.

A Letter from the Negro Baptist Church in Savannah, Addressed to the Reverend Doctor Rippon

Savannah-Georgia, U.S.A., Dec. 23, 1800.

My Dear and Reverend Brother,

After a long silence occasioned by various hindrances, I sit down to answer your inestimable favour by the late dear Mr. White, who I hope is rejoicing, far above the troubles and trials of this frail sinful state. All the books mentioned in your truly condescending and affectionate letter, came safe, and were distributed according to your humane directions. You can scarcely conceive, much less than I describe, the gratitude excited by so seasonably and precious a supply of the means of knowledge and grace, accompanied with benevolent proposals of further assistance. Deign, dear sir, to accept our united and sincere thanks for your great kindness to us, who have been so little accustomed to such attentions. Be assured that our prayers have ascended, and I trust will continue to ascend to God, for your health and happiness, and that you may be rendered a lasting ornament to our holy Religion, and a successful Minister of the Gospel.

With much pleasure, I inform you, dear sir, that I enjoy good health, and am strong in body, tho' sixty-three years old, and am blessed with a pious wife, whose freedom I have obtained, and an only daughter and child who is married to a free man, tho' she, and consequently, under our laws, her seven children, five sons and two daughters, are slaves. By a kind Providence I am well provided for, as to worldly comforts, (tho' I have had very little given me as a minister) having a house and lot in this city, besides the land on which several buildings stand, for which I receive a small rent, and a fifty-six acre tract of land, with all necessary buildings, four miles in the country, and eight slaves; for whose education and happiness, I am enabled thro' mercy to provide.

But what will be infinitely more interesting to my friend, and is so much more prized by myself, we enjoy the rights of conscience to a valuable extent, worshiping in our families and preaching three times every Lord's-day, baptizing frequently from ten to thirty at a time in the Savannah, and administering the sacred supper, not only without molestation, but in the presence, and with the approbation and encouragement of many of the white people. We are now about seven hundred in number, and the work of the Lord goes on prosperously.

An event which has had a happy influence on our affairs was the coming of Mr. Holcombe, late pastor of Euhaw Church, to this place at the call of the heads of the city, of all denominations, who have remained for the thirteen months he has been here among his constant hearers and his liberal supporters. His salary is 2000 a year. He has just had a baptistery, with convenient appendages, built in his place of worship, and has commenced baptizing.

Another dispensation of Providence has much strengthened our hands, and increased our means of information; Henry Francis, lately a slave to the widow of the late Colonel Leroy Hammond, of Augusta, has been purchased by a few humane gentlemen of this place, and liberated to exercise the handsome ministerial gifts he possesses amongst us, and teach our youth to read and write. He is a strong man about forty-nine years of age, whose mother was white and whose father was an Indian. His wife and only son are slaves.

Brother Francis has been in the ministry fifteen years, and will soon receive ordination, and will probably become the pastor of a branch of my large church, which is getting too unwieldy for one body. Should this event take place, and his charge receive constitution, it will take the rank and title of the 3rd Baptist Church in Savannah.

With the most sincere and ardent prayers to God for your temporal and eternal welfare, and with the most unfeigned gratitude, I remain, reverend and dear sir, your obliged servant in the gospel.

(Signed) Andrew Bryan.

P.S. I should be glad that my African friends could hear the above account of my affairs.

–-The Baptist Annual Register, 1798-1801, page 366.