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Interest of the Baptists in the Education of
the Negro in Alabama Is Reported, 1847
The State if Alabama, contains upon an estimate fifty
thousand Baptists and it may be considered the leading State in
the instruction of the negroes.
The REV. B. MANLY, D.D., President of the
State College in Tuscaloosa, chairmen of a committee on the
religious instruction of the coloured people, brought into the
Alabama Baptist State Convention a report, from which we give
the following extract, as indicative of the feeling and action
of the brethren of that church in the State.
"We rejoice in the abundant evidence that
the subject is receiving continually deeper and wider attention.
One most cheering fact is, that such has been the success every
where met with, that no effort, once begun, has been abandoned;
but there has been a continual progress. In every Association
from which we have heard, some action more or less vigorous has
been taken, and it is hoped the influence of their
recommendations will be felt all over the State. A large
majority it is believed, of all the ministers connected with
this body, have separate exercises for the coloured people, in
addition to the regular services of the churches, which, as
usual, they also attend in considerable numbers."
The report considers the negroes the most
neglected class of our population, calling loudest for Christian
sympathies and labours, and it offers very many reasons to
excite to more zeal and activity in the work.-
Thirteen Annual Report of the Association
for the Religious Instruction of the Negroes in Liberty County,
Georgia, p.24.
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Religious Instruction of Negroes in South
Carolina, 1847
A large and respectable
meeting was held at the Second Presbyterian Church, on Sabbath
morning, May 9th, alter a discourse by Rev. J. B. Adger and an
address by Rev. C. C. Jones, D.D. on the best mode of securing,
in an efficient and proper manner, the religious instruction of
the colored people. After the reading of the resolutions adopted
by the Session of the Church.
On motion of W. C. Dukes, Esq.
the Hon. R. B. Gilchrist took the Chair, and introduced the
subject with some most appropriate remarks, expressive of the
importance and interest of the occasion. Mr. William Miller was
requested to act as Secretary.
The following resolutions were
then introduced in a very full and able speech by Hon. F. H.
Elmore, and seconded, with some additional remarks, by Alexander
Black, Esq.:
Resolved, That, in the opinion
of this meeting, the proper religious instruction of the colored
population is a duty pressed upon us by considerations of sound
policy, as well as Christian obligation.
Resolved, That we concur
entirely in the opinions expressed by the Session of this Church
and by the Presbytery of Charleston, that, in order that such
instruction should be given efficiently, and, at the same time,
with proper safe-guards, it must be afforded by thoroughly
educated ministers, of sound principles, who are devoted to the
welfare of that people, and who understand our institutions.
Resolved, That the offer of
the Rev. John B. Adger, to devote himself gratuitously to this
work of piety and usefulness, embodying, as he does, in himself,
all the qualifications desirable for this delicate and
responsible office, should be accepted, and the funds be
immediately subscribed for the erection of a Church for a
colored congregation under his ministry.
Resolved, That a subscription
for this object be now opened to raise the funds necessary, to
be received by the committee appointed by the Session, and
expended under their management.
The Charleston Courier, May 13, 1847.
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