THOUGHTS

ON

THE RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION

OF

THE NEGROES OF THIS COUNTRY.

BY WM. S. PLUMER, D.D.

SAVANNAH:

EDWARD J. PURSE, PRINTER,

No. 102 Bryan-Street—Up Stairs.

1848.

Many centuries ago, a holy seer said, "Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hand unto God." In view of the fulfilment of this prophecy, the royal bard called for a song of universal praise. The words next succeeding this prediction are, "Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth: O sing praises unto the Lord." The writings of Jeremiah inform us who the Ethiopians were, when he speaks of them as contra-distinguished from the rest of the race by their colour, as the leopard is from the rest of the feline tribe by his spots.

The first step in the providence of God towards an amelioration of the spiritual condition of the negro race was their dispersion among other races of mankind. This work, both cruel and bloody, had not been completed, when Christian philanthropy, ever vigilant, sought them out in bondage, and bore to them the cup of divine consolation, which the gospel offers to all, and especially to the sons of sorrow. As early as the year 1732, the United Brethren commenced missions to the negroes in the Danish West Indies, viz., St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. Jan. In 1754 they began their labours in Jamaica: in 1756 in Antigua: in 1765 in Barbadoes: in 1775 in St. Kitts: in 1790 in Tobago. In 1735 they began their labours among the free negroes of Surinam, and in 1736 they commenced a mission in South Africa. The same zeal led the same people to labour amongst the slaves at and near Paramaribo. One mission was at Paramaribo and one at Sommelsdyke.

The difficulty of establishing the first missions among the negroes can scarcely now be conceived. This difficulty was neither blindly contemned, nor timidly feared. With a zeal which Christ knows how to reward, "two of the Brethren at Hernhutth offered to sell themselves as slaves, should they find no other way of obtaining an opportunity of instructing the negroes." In almost every instance some ignorant or viciously disposed persons chose to misunderstand and misrepresent the object and tendency of this missionary labour; and thus at first opposition was frequently violent. But in every case this hostility was found to be unreasonable and died away. Thus in St. Thomas through the bitterness of some, of whom better things might have been expected, the missionaries were at one time imprisoned for fifteen weeks; but soon after the governor and most of the planters on the island were convinced, by experience, that the instruction of the negroes in the principles of religion, instead of impairing, promoted the interests of their masters; and therefore they were pleased to see their slaves attend on the preaching of the gospel. Thus also in St. Croix, when a dangerous plot was discovered among the slaves, who had bound themselves to murder all the white people on the island in one night, certain malicious persons reported, that some of the negroes baptised by the missionaries were concerned in this conspiracy; but their ignorance was soon vindicated by the criminals themselves. As long as the disturbances lasted, the Brethren by the governor's advice, omitted the large meetings of the negroes; and when he authorized them to begin them again, he and some other gentlemen were present and encouraged the negroes in their attendance. On another occasion when an order was issued that no negro should be seen on the streets or roads after seven o'clock in the evening, he made a regulation that such negroes as had attended the meetings of the Brethren, and could produce a certificate to that effect, signed by their teacher, should pass unmolested by the watch. Such was the confidence the governor placed in the missionaries, and the slaves under their care.

Indeed it has invariably occurred in the missions to these people that the planters have perceived the good effects of their labours on the slaves, and found it in every respect best to have the gospel preached upon their estates. While on this general subject, it may be proper to assert what none will or can with truth deny, viz., that no class of negroes well instructed in Christianity, and connected with churches under the care of white pastors, have ever been engaged in any insurrectionary disturbances. Thus the poor, miserable fanatic, who a few years ago headed a band of drunken murderers in one of the counties of Virginia, was not himself a member of any Christian church; nor had he any follower who had ever received sound and systematic religious instruction; or was connected with any church having a white man for a pastor or teacher. So also in reference to the plot of 1822 in Charleston, S.C., the coloured members of the Methodist Episcopal Church were by report accused of some participation. But the Hon. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Lieutenant Governor of the State, and himself not a Methodist, in his address before the Agricultural Society of South Carolina, says; "On investigation it appeared that all concerned in that transaction, except one, had seceded from the regular Methodist Church in 1817, and formed a separate establishment, in connection with the African Methodist Society in Philadelphia; whose Bishop, a coloured man, named Allen, had assumed that office being himself a seceder from the Methodist Church of Pennsylvania. At this period, Mr. S. Bryan, the local minister of the regular Methodist Church of Charleston, was so apprehensive of sinister designs, that he addressed a letter to the City Council, on file in the Council Chamber, dated 8th November, 1817, stating at length the reasons of his suspicion."

In proof of the importance of Christianizing the negroes, even in a political point of view, it is not unworthy of notice, that soon after the commencement of the war between England and France during the last quarter of the last century, the governor of Tortola received information, that the French inhabitants of Guadaloupe meditated a descent on the island. He immediately sent for Mr. Turner, the superintendant of the Methodist Missions in Tortola and the other Virgin Islands, and having informed him of this report, added that there was no regular force in the colony to defend it against the enemy, and that they were afraid to arm the negroes unless he would put himself at the head of them. Mr. Turner was sensible that such a step was not properly within the line of the ministerial office; but considering that the Island was in imminent danger, that if it were conquered by the French, the religious privileges of the negroes would probably be lost, and that the war on their part was purely defensive, he consented to the governor's request, and was accordingly armed with the negroes. About a fortnight after, a French squadron made its appearance in the bay; but being informed, it is supposed by some emissaries, of the armed force on the Island, it abandoned its design and retired. Soon after this the Governor-general of the Leeward Islands sent an order to the Methodist Missionaries to make a return of all the negroes in their societies who were able to carry arms. The return was accordingly made; and a great part if not the whole of them were armed for the defence of the several Islands. Such was the confidence the Governor-general had in the loyalty of the missionaries and their flocks. Let these facts suffice, especially as there are none on the other side, respecting the safety of teaching the negroes to know and love God.

Another great difficulty, which the Brethren met in their missions among the negroes was the unhealthiness of the climate. Thus many of them