The First Colored Baptist Church in North America

p. 13"And the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

" And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou raayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

"And he commanded the chai'iot to stand still : and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch ; and he baptized him.

" And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more." — Acts vai. 3G-39.

It is truly said by Dr. Benedict that a mysterious Providence has permitted a large portion of the sons of Africa to be transported from their native country to America, and here to have been reduced to a state p. 14of absolute aud (so fa^' a« human intent could control) perpetual slavery ; but He who can bring good out of evil has overruled this calamity for their spiritual advantage.

In the good providence of God a colored man named George Liele,* born in Virginia about the year 1750, removed to Georgia with his master, Mr. Henry Sharpe, some time before the Revolutionary war. They settled in Burke County, and his owner being a Baptist and deacon of a church of which Rev. Matthew Moore was pastor, Brother George became converted under his preaching about 1774, and was brought to rejoice in the Lord Jesus through faith ; and not long after was baptized by Mr. Moore and received into his church. Soon discovering that he was endowed with ministerial gifts, the church approbated the exercising of them, and he began to preach upon the neighboring plantations along the Savannah River with much success, and sometimes he preached in the evenings of Lord's Day to the church (white) to which he belonged. For about three years he occasionally came down the river as far as Brampton, a plantation belonging to Jonathan Bryan, Esq., and preached to his slaves; he, being a liberal master, encouraged these visits. He frequently extended these visits to the city p. 15of Savannah, and preaclied at Yamacraw, in the western suburbs.

p. 15What converts he made, if any, during this time we have no information of, but his master and brother in Christ thought so well of him that he gave him his freedom. The war coming on of course stopped his preaching, and he remained in the family until the death of Mr. Sharpe, who was killed in the war. Brother George then went free, though some of the heirs, not being satisfied, threw him into prison ; but on showing his free papers he was released. Colonel Kirkland, of the British army, who befriended him in this trouble, then advised him to leave the country with him when they evacuated ; and, being an indentured servant to him for money which he owed, he departed the country for the island of Jamaica, in the West Indies, some time in July, 1783.

The vessel in which Brother George embarked for Kingston, on that island, was detained at the mouth of the Savannah River, near Tybee Island, for some weeks, the wind and weather not permitting her to sail. While detained there he came up to the city, by the providence of God, and baptized Andrew Bryan and his wife Hannah, Kate Hogg, and Hagar Simpson, — all colored persons and slaves, — thus closing his labors in this part of the Lord's vineyard. He soon after left, and was seen no more in these parts.

p. 16About nine months after his baptism Brother Andrew Bryan began to exhort his brethren, friends, and a few white persons who would assemble to hear him. Previous to his public exhortations, prayer-meetings were held on the master's plantation at Brampton, three miles west of the city; and under the influence of these meetings the man's faith grew and prepared the minister. The power and spirit of these exhortations were of such a character that his master and some few others saw it was a matter to be encouraged, as the seeming influence upon the servants for good was apparent. Therefore Mr. Edward Davis permitted him and his hearers to erect a rough wooden building on his land in Yamacraw, and for about three years they enjoyed the inestimable blessing of worshipping God freely, — the one single liberty for his good then allowed to a negro.

p. 16We must now go back and review the earlier religious condition of this part of the State briefly. The Wesley s had come and preached, under the auspices of the Episcopalian Church of England, in 1735, and after they returned to England Mr. George Whitefield came to Savannah, arriving on the 7th of May, 1738. He preached but four months, then returned to England to solicit aid in establishing an Orphan House, which, on his return, he commenced to erect on the 25th of March, 1740, calling the same p. 17Bethesda (" house of mercy"). There had also been some attempts to fmiiul a Lutheran church — and some missionary work had been done between Savannah and Ebenezer,* in P^ilingham County, on the Savannah l^iver — by Eev. John Martin Bolzius and Rev. Israel Christian Gronau as early as 1775. The Enhaw Baptist Clmrch existed over in Beaufort district, South Carolina, some thirty miles off, but seemingly there was but little influence felt from that source. In the year 1757 one of Mr. Whitefield's assistants at the Orphan House, named Nicholas Bedgegood, embraced the faith of the Baptists, and was baptized by a Mr. Oliver Hart, of Charleston, soon after ; and in 1763, six years later, he in turn baptized Mr. Benjamin Stirk and wife, Thomas Dixon, and one Dupree, — all white persons. These, with a few other Baptists (emigrants from the old country, no doubt), had the Lord's Supper administered to them at the Orphan House, nine miles south of the city, by Mr. Bedgegood ; but this little society, it seems, soon scattered and no permanent organization of the Baptists came of them, much to the relief of Mr. Whitefield, it is said, who was much opposed to this Baptist interest growing up in the midst of his work.