with possibly one exception, and that one is a young man of fine
promise, who said publicly last night that his supreme desire was to
be a Christian, and that a great burden had been upon him, night and
day, for many weeks. We think that his only difficulty is that he
desires the experience he has seen in others and does not see that
faith is the door by which he must enter that experience.
I know that you will rejoice with us in this great blessing.
* * * * *
SELF-SUPPORTING CHURCH.
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF ATLANTA, GA.
BY REV. H. H. PROCTOR.
The first Congregational Church of Atlanta was founded in 1867 by Rev.
Frederick Ayer and wife, of Wisconsin, the former of whom has entered
into his rest, but the latter is still living at a ripe old age in her
native State. The church grew out of the Storrs School, the pioneer
educational institution of Georgia for the colored race, and was a
response to the conscious need of a more enlightened Christianity.
The chapel of the Storrs School was its first place of worship, but
there was soon felt a need for a regular meeting house. By the aid of
the American Missionary Association and of the C. C. B. S., a handsome
and substantial structure was built at the corner of Courtland avenue
and Houston street. The $2,000 contributed by the people for this
building represented no little sacrifice. All of the work on the
building was done by colored men, and the neat, slate-covered brick
structure, most appropriate in architectural design, is an ornament to
that elegant portion of the city in which it is prominently located. A
well-appointed eight-room parsonage stands hard by the church, built
by students of Atlanta University. The funds for the erection of the
parsonage came in part from a benevolent Northern lady, but the
greater part was contributed in pennies and nickels and dimes by the
people themselves. The church building and parsonage are located in a
community settled chiefly by white people. Once they made vigorous
protest, but since they found it is not a "shouting" church, no
complaint is heard. They often listen to the services from their
verandas, and not a few worship with us from time to time, and express
themselves highly pleased.
The church has been blessed in having such an excellent line of
pastors from New England. The first was Rev. C. W. Francis, now a
pastor in Connecticut. Then came Revs. E. E. Rogers, C. W. Southgate,
S. S. Ashley, C. W. Hawley, Evarts Kent, and S. H. Robinson. All of
these brethren are remembered for their sterling character and their
faithful labors. The present pastor finds living monuments to the toil
of every one of them. They have written their names individually on
the hearts of the people.
This church has not had an easy road to travel. At first it was
despised by the whites and misunderstood by the blacks--despised
because of its doctrine of equality; misunderstood because of its
newness in these parts. But it was not to be kept back by hatred on
the one hand, nor by ignorance on the other. True and tried spirits
rallied to its standard, and to-day, in a large measure, it has
overcome these things. It bravely stood out for an enlightened
Christianity, and its Sunday-school supplied workers for every other
school in the city. It espoused the cause of temperance, and has been
always an uncompromising foe to strong drink. It held up the standard
of Christian citizenship and has stood for an upright Christian life
and has been rigid yet loving in its discipline.
Its members make themselves felt in the practical occupations of the
community. A sociological investigation reveals some interesting
facts. They are engaged in about fifty different occupations; 85 are
housewives, 85 are in the schools studying, 31 are household servants,
28 are teachers, 19 are porters, 9 are waiters, 4 are grocerymen, 5
are postmen, 7 are professional nurses, 4 are shoemakers, 2 are
blacksmiths, 2 are politicians, 3 are seamstresses, 4 are washerwomen,
4 are postal clerks, 3 are Government clerks at Washington, 12 are
tailors, 3 are janitors, 2 are draymen, 2 are carpenters, 3 are
barbers, 3 are carriage drivers, 3 are carriagemakers, 2 are cotton
samplers, 2 are professional cooks, while the following occupations
are represented by one each: upholster, elevator conductor,
stonemason, piano tuner, sleeping car porter, dairyman, dentist,
bricklayer, restaurant proprietor, photographer, ice cream maker,
insurance agent, coal dealer, baker, jewelry clerk, bridge builder,
packer, hackman, editor and postmaster (of South Atlanta). May they
not say, as Paul: "These hands ministered unto my necessities"?
This church has furnished not a few excellent men who are doing
conspicuous service. Among these are Prof. R. R. Wright, president
State College, Savannah, Ga.; Rev. J. E. Smith, pastor First
Congregational Church, Chattanooga, Tenn.; Rev. George V. Clark,
pastor Congregational Church, Charleston, S. C.; Rev. John W.
Whittaker, pastor Central Congregational Church, New Orleans, La.; Mr.
Butler R. Wilson, attorney at law, Boston, Mass.; Rev. E. J. Penny,
chaplain Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Ala., and
others.
The present pastor is the first of his race to be honored with the
pastorate of this church. He is a product of the American Missionary
Association, having received his college training at Fisk University.
He began his labors here immediately upon the completion of his
theological course at the Yale Divinity School, in 1894. With his
coming the church entered upon a distinct era of its life. Not without
some misgivings on the part of many, the church bravely launched out
to assume self-support. For some time it had been without a regular
pastor, and the flock was divided and scattered. After three years the
membership has been doubled and the contributions trebled. Last year
it contributed a share of the "Jubilee Fund" of the American
Missionary Association. The church is now united and progressive.
There is a growing Christian Endeavor Society, a Working Men's Club
for financial aid, a Woman's Aid Society for general church work, a
Young Men's League for increasing the attendance at the Sunday evening
services (printed bulletins of the services being distributed weekly).
The church issues the Parish Visitor, a monthly church paper which
forms a bond of interest by unifying the various forces of the church.
The prayer meetings are well attended and the Sunday-school is
thriving. New members are received at every communion. The week of
prayer is followed by a large number of conversions. The membership
now numbers 403, making this the largest Congregational Church in the
South. Great stress is laid on the quality of the membership, but
quantity is not despised, and within the next seven years it is the
aspiration of the church to enroll a thousand members. With a
continuance of the spirit of unity and work, why, under God, should
not this end be realized? The possibilities of a thoroughly organized
Congregational Church of a thousand members in a community like this
are untold.
* * * * *
COLORED MINISTERS OF THE BLACK BELT OF ALABAMA--EVIDENCE OF PROGRESS.
BY REV. GEORGE W. ANDREWS, D.D.
The so-called Black Belt of Alabama is a wide tract of land extending
across the central portion of the State, from east to west, embracing
twenty counties, more or less. In general it is level, differing
widely in this respect from the hilly and mountainous region lying
directly north of it. It is the great cotton producing section of the
State. The soil is either sandy or a black loam, and some of it is
exceedingly fertile. Here you will find the canebrakes and cypress
swamps, as well as the prairies and the vast fertile regions. Here
also are cities and towns of importance, such as Montgomery, Selma,
Marion, Greensboro, Demopolis, Tuskegee, Eufala and the like. In the
rural sections of the belt are the vast plantations and imposing
mansions of ante-bellum days. Here slavery was at its best and its
worst.
This part of Alabama came to be called the Black Belt because into it
were gathered so many people of African descent--about 400,000--to
till the soil and harvest the crops. Some say the name originated
from the character of the soil. At the present time the ratio of
colored people to white people varies in the different counties from
two to six of the former to one of the latter. Averaging the twenty
counties, the ratio is about three colored to one white, while the
ratio in the State, as a whole, is about one to one. It is thus seen
that the Black Belt has an interest and a character of its own, and
problems somewhat more pronounced than similar problems in other parts
of the State. This was far more the case thirty or even twenty years
ago than now. It is doubtful whether any other section of Alabama has
made more rapid progress along intellectual and moral lines the past
twenty-five years than the Black Belt. Here multiplied schools and
colleges and missionary efforts have been doing their utmost, and
great has been the result.
Just about twenty-seven years ago the writer came from New England
into this Black Belt, curious to see and to hear. One Sabbath
afternoon it was noised abroad that a famous colored preacher was to
speak in one of the large town churches. His text was, "And there was
war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and
the dragon fought and his angels." Rev. 12:7. A very difficult text.
The sermon, however, was almost wholly about John the "revelator," and
not on the text at all. The preacher began by informing his hearers
that John was a very wonderful man, and the Romans wanted to kill him,
so they put him into a kettle of oil and boiled him and boiled him,
but could not kill him. Hence they determined to banish him to Patmos,
so they put him on board a ship and sailed for three months over the
great ocean, and then they got out the telescope and looked for three
thousand miles further over the mighty waters, and there they saw the
tip of a great mountain coming up out of the sea, and the great
serpents were coiled around the top and were sliding down the sides
into the waters, and there was not a cracker there for John. And so,
with scarcely a grammatical sentence and with most unfitting words, he
went on for an hour with a discourse full of wildness and weirdness,
and full of untruth, while the people looked on with amazement at the
wonderful knowledge and power of the man. Twenty or thirty years ago
you might hear many similar sermons. But now, were you to go into the
churches in the cities and larger towns of the Black Belt, you would
find no place for the old-time preacher or the old-time sermon, but
instead you would find in the pulpit a man of considerable education
and refinement, preaching good gospel truth to an attentive audience.
Some of the causes and evidences of progress in the Black Belt, both
of preachers and people, may well pass in review at this point.
In the first place, at the close of the war there were no schools for
colored people; now you will find at least twelve hundred common
schools for them in the Black Belt alone, besides a goodly number of
select and higher schools of different denominations, while just up
out of the Belt, in a most beautiful and healthful region, is
Talladega College, well patronized by the people of the lower and less
healthful parts of the State. These many schools could not fail to set
in motion great changes affecting the homes, heads and hearts of the
people. The ministers have powerfully felt their influence and in
large numbers have been drawn into them or have been driven from the
public leadership which they once had. The American Missionary
Association schools and churches are at the foundation of all that has
been accomplished. Others have patterned after these.
Again, previous to the time when the Christian missionary work began
in the South, I cannot learn that there was more than one regularly
ordained colored minister in the region under consideration, or that
there were any regularly organized churches among them. At the present
time there are at least sixteen hundred such churches in the twenty
counties, and probably nearly as many ordained ministers--not to
mention the five thousand licensed preachers, many of whom are hoping
for ordination. These ministers and churches are working out a great
problem. It is true that much of the work is of a low grade, but it is
equally true that much of it is intelligent, earnest and effective.
There are only a few college and theological graduates among
them--perhaps not more than half a dozen. There are many more who have
had normal and theological training, and a still larger number who
have had a partial course of Bible study and who can manage a church
fairly well. Of the more than six thousand ministers and preachers of
the Black Belt, perhaps it would be a generous estimate to say that
one hundred are in a measure educated. These are the leaders of the
unschooled thousands counted among the preachers of the gospel.
Other evidences of progress in learning and piety are such as these:
All over the State, as well as in the Black Belt, the churches are
calling loudly for a more intelligent ministry. Not a few churches
have been rent asunder by this issue, the more progressive part going
out to organize a new church and secure a more acceptable minister.
Scarcely an important church can be found where the subject of a
competent ministry has not been agitated. There have also been erected
within the past ten years a surprising number of new and greatly
improved church edifices. Those whose "care of all the churches" has
led them up and down through the Black Belt declare with emphasis that
the quality of the preaching has greatly improved; that more books are
bought and read; that the churches are better organized; that the
conferences, associations and conventions of the ministers and
churches are immeasurably in advance of what they were even ten years
ago; that the subjects discussed in these gatherings are of a higher
order and more intelligently and spiritually handled, and that there
is a growing sense of responsibility and an earnest desire to meet it.
I have been in many of these gatherings, especially among our American
Missionary Association people, where the sermons and papers were
excellent.
Also, it should be noted as a hopeful sign that the preachers and many
of the pastors are greatly desirous of a more complete literary and
theological education. Those who seek such an education are numerous.
We sometimes have at Talladega applications from fifty such in a
single year. It is often pitiful to hear their appeals to be admitted
to school, when denial is forced upon them, since there is neither
room nor money. Still, there are many who secure books, seek help, and
blindly plod on.
Let no one suppose the work in the Black Belt or the State is
finished. It is only gloriously begun. The Black Belt is probably
better provided with schools, churches and ministers than any other
part of the State. The mining regions about Birmingham and in North
Alabama are more destitute and the condition of the people quite as
deplorable. There are hundreds of preachers and not a few ordained
ministers who cannot read or write, and many more who know very little
of God's Word. One such recently sought ordination, and when asked to
find the book of Jude, he replied, after a fruitless search, "That
book is torn out of my Bible and I can't find it." He was ordained
just the same. Our friends may be sure, however, that the leaven has
been cast into the meal, and in due time will leaven the mass. But,
oh, the darkness, the moral corruption, the sorrow and ruin that comes
from the long delay. Where we can put one good minister into the field
we need a score, and where one boy or girl is in school there should
be a dozen. May the dear Father open our eyes to see His work and to
know the joy of self-denying service for Him!
* * * * *
Obituary.
* * * * *
DEACON SAMUEL HOLMES.
The death of Deacon Samuel Holmes takes from active career in life one
who has been prominent and useful in many forms of Christian work in
the local church and in broader efforts for the extension of the
Redeemer's kingdom. He was for many years a member and officer in the
Broadway Tabernacle, New York city, and on his removal thirty years
ago to Montclair, N. J., he was one of the charter members of the
growing Congregational Church organized there. He was the first man
elected as its deacon, and to the day of his death was its senior
deacon. At the time of his death, Dec. 9, 1897, he was a member of the
Executive Committee of the American Missionary Association and the
oldest in age and in date of appointment, having held that position
for the third of a century. He was a corporate member of the American
Board and a vice-president of the Congregational Education Society. He
was an officer in the National Congregational Council held in Boston
in 1865, and was one of the committee which convened the National
Congregational Council in Oberlin in 1871. He was also a delegate to
the International Congregational Council held in London in 1891. His
memory will be warmly cherished in the many circles of Christian
service in which he was actively engaged.
* * * * *
MISS MARY E. McLANE.
The painful intelligence of the death of a most useful and highly
esteemed teacher, Miss Mary E. McLane, of New Haven, Conn., which is
received by us, will be seriously felt in our missionary work.
Miss McLane died at Mobile, Ala., on the 2d of February. Appointed in
the year 1887 to St. Augustine, Fla., Miss McLane had taught in Fisk
University, Tennessee, had been principal of a school at Anniston,
Ala., for four years; was then transferred at her own request to
Athens, Ala., where she was principal, and after three years service
there was appointed as matron in the Teachers' Home of Emerson
Institute, at Mobile, Ala. In a missionary service of more than ten
years Miss McLane obtained a good report as a most faithful and
earnest teacher, thoroughly imbued with the missionary spirit and
always actuated by a missionary purpose.
* * * * *
MISS ANNA COFFIN.
The death of Miss Anna Coffin occurred at her home in Haverhill, Mass.
At the age of 18 she was graduated from the Salem Normal School.
Having a desire to serve the needy colored people, she accepted a
commission from the American Missionary Association to teach in
Burrell School, at Selma, Ala. She threw herself into the work with
all the ardor and enthusiasm so natural to her, and for the two years
of her stay proved a devoted teacher and faithful servant of Christ.
Later, for four years, she was connected with Tougaloo University, at
Tougaloo, Miss., where her unselfish, consecrated life was powerful
for good. With grief softened by joy, we count her among the "happy
saints that dwell in light, and walk with Jesus in white."
* * * * *
RECEIPTS FOR NOVEMBER, 1897.
* * * * *
THE DANIEL HAND FUND
For the Education of Colored People.
Income for November $15,000.00
Previously acknowledged 2,350.00
----------
$17,350.00
==========
NOTE.--Where no name follows that of the town, the contribution is
from the church and society of that place. Where a name follows, it is
that of the contributing church or individual. S. means Sunday-school;
C. means Church; C. E., the Young People's Society of Christian
Endeavor; S. A. means Student Aid.
CURRENT RECEIPTS.
MAINE, $233.49.
Brownville, 13. Castine, C., 8.77; Misses Richardson and Russell, 4;
Mrs. D. W. Webster, 4; W. G. Sargent, New Goods, val. 100. _for S. A.,
Dorchester Acad., McIntosh, Ga._ Eastport, Miss Bibber's S. Class,
_for S. A., Dorchester Acad., McIntosh, Ga._ 4. Ellsworth, 33.66.
Ellsworth Falls, Miss C. A. Whitaker, _for S. A., Dorchester Acad.,
McIntosh, Ga._, 5. Gilead, Mrs. H. A. Southworth, _for Indian M._, 50.
Gray. 6.65. Houlton, 2. Little Deer Island, Lander's Mem., _for
Tougaloo U._, 1.39. Machias, Centre St., 10.02. Norridgewock, 22.
North Yarmouth, "A Friend," 10. Portland, Second Parish, 10: "A Thank
Offering," 10.
Portland, High St., Clothing, _for Andersonville, Ga._ Searsport, C.
Ladies, _for Freight to McIntosh, Ga._, 3. South Gardiner, 9.50.
Wells, First, 8.20. York, First, 3.30. Friends in Maine, _for S. A.,
Dorchester Acad., McIntosh, Ga._ 10. "A Friend," _for Sch. Moorhead,
Miss._, 5
NEW HAMPSHIRE, $153.37--of which from Estate, $5.60.
Boscawen, 7.71. Colebrook, E. C. Wilder, Clothing, val. 31, _for
Talledega C._ East Concord, "A Friend," 5. Epsom, 14.28. Goffstown, C.
E., _for Meridian, Miss._, 13.50. Hollis, C. E., _for Santee Indian
Sch._, 3.44. Jaffrey, 4. Lancaster, Ladies' Soc., Clothing, etc., _for
Greenwood, S. C._ Lebanon, Mrs. Brown's Class, _for Knoxville, Tenn._,
2. Lyme Center, Mrs. Amos Bailey, 1. Manchester, First, to const.
MRS. FRANK PRESTON and M. IVAN DOW L. M's, 64.27; S., _for S. A., Lincoln
Acad., All Healing, N. C._, 16.89. West Concord, West, 14.18. West
Lebanon, "Friends," _for Knoxville, Tenn._, 1.50. Wilton, Mrs.
Willson, Papers, _for Meridian, Miss._
ESTATE. Exeter, Estate of Mrs. Anna W. Chadwick, 5.60.
VERMONT, $149.87.
Brattleboro, Mrs. Mary L. Hadley, 25. Franklin, Ladies, Clothing,
val., 24. Rev. Levi Wild, _for Freight_, 1.65, _for McIntosh, Ga._
Hardwick, "C. E. C. Ch.," 2.50. Middletown Springs, 16. Orwell, 30.90.
Shoreham, 11.27. Springfield, 26.09. Stowe, Ladies, _for Freight to
McIntosh, Ga._, 2. Thetford, First, 7.80. Westminster West, 15.50.
West Rutland, 5.16. Windham, S., 6.
MASSACHUSETTS, $3,837.24--of which from Estate, $30.