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THE : 
 
 FIRST NEGRO PRIEST 
 ON SOUTHERN 
 
 ■ 
 
 SOIL, 
 
 — : BY THE '• — 
 
 Rev. George F. Bragg. D,B,, 
 
 Rector of St. James First African Church 
 
 Baltimore, Md., and Editor of the 
 
 Church Advocate, 
 
 1 
 
 THE CHURCH ADVOCATE PRINT, 
 
 BALTIMORE, 1909. 
 
 .0. 
 
COPYRIGHTED 1909 BY GEORGE F. BRAGG JR. 
 
 > 
 
 C ■ 
 
O 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS ^ 
 
 LOVINGLY DEDICATED 
 
 TO THE BELOVED 
 
 MOTHER AND WIFE OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 WHO, 
 
 MORE THAN ANY OTHER HUMAN AGENCY, 
 
 ARE RESPONSIBLE 
 
 FOR THE GOOD RESULTS 
 
 OF HIS MINISTRY. 
 
Rev. George F. Bragg, D. D., the present Pastor 
 of St. James' Church, Baltimore, Md. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Some of us believe that God's Church was 
 ordained and sent in order that it might build 
 up in men such a character as would enable 
 them to be good citizens. Every man holding 
 such opinion must be anxious that the colored 
 people in this country should have every pos- 
 sible help that the Church can give them in 
 their courageous efforts to learn how to meet 
 their obligations as American citizens. 
 
 That a very large proportion of this popu- 
 lation appreciates its responsibility, has a good 
 ambition to be found worthy and has wrought 
 mightily towards its performance is showed 
 to the satisfaction of the most sceptical by 
 the census reports without reference to any 
 other. That these have been handicapped in 
 a way that makes those reports tell a tale that 
 is simply heroic is equally patent to anyone 
 disposed to give honor where honor is due. 
 
 It were a truism to say that the chief diffi- 
 culty confronting the colored citizens of the 
 United States in their struggle to make good 
 their own standing and that of their children 
 is that, in spite of all, men continue to hold 
 them as a race responsible for the misdeeds 
 of individuals, and this not because of any ill 
 will against them in the community at large, 
 but because there is so large a proportion of 
 colored people who without regard to the 
 righteousness of causes make common cause 
 with their fellows, even to the point of shield- 
 ing the lawless and evil liver. This may be 
 readily understood and in a sense pitied, but 
 as long as it lasts will impose a heavy load 
 on those colored people who deserve the re- 
 spect of all men because they are self-respect- 
 insr. 
 
6 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 This alone would make a weight almost too 
 heavy to be borne, but it is increased many fold 
 for the colored man who is trying to make 
 good by the burden that must be carried by 
 the colored people because of the nation's 
 wickedness in the manner of their liberation. 
 When they were cast off to shift for them- 
 selves and to become a prey for any who were 
 despicable enough to avail of their helpless- 
 ness, those who were competent to assume and 
 hold their position as citizens were lost in the 
 multitude of those who had not been in Amer- 
 ica long enough to become civilized or to 
 comprehend the meaning of citizenship. Under 
 such circumstances the difficulty attending the 
 career of any colored man, however worthy 
 or competent, were all but insuperable, and 
 it is to their enduring honor that in spite of 
 all great numbers have won for themselves 
 and have kept the respect and confidence of 
 the communities in which they live. 
 
 The story of St. James' Church in Balti- 
 more, so graphically told now by the Reverend 
 Dr. Bragg, is a striking illustration of the odds 
 against which our colored fellow citizens have 
 had to contend in winning their way to a firm 
 standing place. On this account alone it 
 would be well worth the attention of any 
 American, but its interest is enhanced when 
 we remember that the struggle described here 
 has been, and even now is, being repeated in 
 many places with equally good hope of suc- 
 cess, to the lasting honor of the people who 
 can labor so bravely and wait so patiently for 
 their reward. 
 
 In view of a record like this, is it not possi- 
 ble that the American Church might do well 
 to leave off talking about "the problem of the 
 colored people," as though this were a ques- 
 tion outside the category of the work entrusted 
 to the- Church? Such a phrase is apt to mis- 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 7 
 
 lead and to cause men to forget that the only 
 problem here, as elsewhere, is how to make 
 God's people able to realize practically the high 
 privilege of helping their brethren up to a 
 safe standing ground. The difficulties to be 
 confronted here, as elsewhere, are simply those 
 to be expected if one would help another who 
 only dimly discerns the blessing sought for 
 him. 
 
 If men are tempted to be discouraged — nor 
 need any question that the way is long and 
 needs patience — it ought to be enough for 
 them to recall the truly notable things that have 
 been accomplished almost unaided by those 
 colored people whose fathers when freedom 
 was given them had been in contact with civ- 
 ilization long enough to make them able to 
 understand the responsibilities as well as the 
 privileges that liberty brings. 
 
 For many the way must be long before they 
 can learn what their citizenship means, and 
 they must learn not in conditions likely to 
 make their struggle easier, but while they con- 
 tend against every form of vice our civiliza- 
 tion has brought into being. Surely in such a 
 case God's Church at least may be patient and 
 ready tc help men fighting for more than life. 
 And when the odds seem enough to discourage 
 those trying to help, as well as those in the 
 struggle, stories like this of St. James', Balti- 
 more, will hearten both alike. 
 
 Dr. Bragg is to be thanked for his work. 
 
 A. S. hhOYD. 
 

 
 Old St. James' Church (1826).** 
 
A Negro Priest in the Land of Bondage. 
 
 As the years come and go, and as the Epis- 
 copal Church is more and more extended 
 among the descendants of the African race, 
 there will be an increasing desire to go back 
 and trace the origin of organized work among 
 the Colored People, in the United States of 
 America. While, from the very first, the re- 
 ligious interests of the Colored People were 
 cared for in the regular parochial administra- 
 tions, wherein the babes of Negro people were 
 duly baptized, and those who had come to a 
 competent age presented to the Bishop for 
 Confirmation, yet, it is with respect to the 
 organization of Colored People into parishes 
 and missions of their own with which we are 
 chiefly concerned. For reasons which are self- 
 evident to all acquainted with the political 
 history of the country,, up to the period of 
 the Civil War, it was hardly possible to or- 
 ganize Colored parishes in any of the territory 
 south of Mason and Dixon's line. As a mat- 
 ter of fact, there was only one Negro church*" 
 thus organized on Southern soil previous to 
 the Civil W^ar. Hence as the first of its kind 
 ever organized in connection with the Protest- 
 ant Episcopal Church, "the Mother Church'' 
 among Negroes, its history is so much the 
 more interesting and of peculiar value to Afro- 
 American Churchmen, everywhere. This 
 Church was St. James' First African Protest- 
 ant Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Md. It 
 is most interesting to note that the very first 
 African Episcopal Church, in America, was 
 organized in the City of Philadelphia, in 1793,. 
 by a company of Negroes who had hitherto 
 composed "The Free African Society," and 
 
10 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 the first Negro to become a priest in the Amer- 
 ican Church was Absalom Jones, the first pas- 
 tor of this same Church, who was ordained a 
 deacon in St. Thomas' Church, an edifice in 
 which he was largely instrumental in erect- 
 ing, by Bishop White, first Bishop of Penn- 
 sylvania, and likewise first presiding Bishop 
 of the American Church. In the providence 
 of God, in this very same Church building of 
 St. Thomas, the very next ordination which 
 took place, Bishop White officiating, was that 
 of William Levington, the founder and first 
 rector of St. James' Church, Baltimore, Md. 
 Thus, Mr. Levington was the first Negro 
 missionary who dared to cross over into slave- 
 holding territory, and, under the protection 
 of Almighty God, in the midst of the auction 
 block and the slave pen, open a free school for 
 Negro children, and establish St. James' First 
 African Church for the benefit of both slave 
 and free persons of color. Shortly after his or- 
 dination by Bishop White he came to the City 
 of Baltimore and surveyed the field. He re- 
 turned to Philadelphia, and after remaining 
 there for a few weeks he came back to Balti- 
 more to begin his labors. He came under his 
 own auspices. There was no Missionary So- 
 ciety at his back. He had no salary pledged 
 him ; he was content to receive only his board. 
 He was truly a pioneer missionary, minded 
 to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus 
 Christ. He at once procured an "upper room" 
 on the corner of Marion and Park streets, 
 where he conducted a day school, and held 
 religious worship on Sundays. This was in 
 June, 1824, and in this room the infant St. 
 James' Church remained until on the 31st day 
 of March, 1827, the congregation worshipped 
 under their own vine and fig tree at the cor- 
 ner of North and Saratoga streets. The cor- 
 ner stone of this first Negro Church erected 
 
St. James' Church, Baltimore, Md. 
 
12 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 on Southern soil was laid on the 10th of Oc- 
 tober, 1826. Its consecration took place by 
 Bishop Kemp, on Sunday, March 31, 1827. 
 It was a memorable day in the annals of the 
 Church in America, for it not only told of 
 the erection and occupancy of the first Negro 
 Church "in the land of bondage," but it pro- 
 claimed to all the world that this first victory 
 had been successfully achieved by a Negro 
 himself, in the midst of most formidable ob- 
 stacles. Thus, it was a Negro himself who 
 struck the first ecclesiastical blow for the ele- 
 vation in Christian nurture of his own breth- 
 ren. The Rev. Dr. Henshaw, then rector of 
 St. Peter's, Baltimore, but afterwards the first 
 Bishop of Rhode Island, preached the conse- 
 cration sermon. His text was Gen. xxiii, 17: 
 "This is none other but the House of God, 
 and this is the gate of Heaven."' In the year 
 1829 the Church was duly incorporated un- 
 der the laws of Maryland. The names of the 
 first vestrymen elected are as follows : Wil- 
 liam Levington, Thomas H. Rose, William 
 Warrick, Philip Myers, Levin Brown, Henry 
 Davis, Peter Dennis, Henry Johnson. One 
 article in the constitution adopted declares : 
 "This Church shall ever be numbered with 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
 States." Another article of the same con- 
 stitution also declares : "We ordain and de- 
 cree, that none among us, but men who are 
 Africans, or the descendants of the race, can 
 elect or be elected into any office among us." 
 For the most part the money to pay for the 
 erection of the Church was collected by Mr. 
 Levington himself. To this end, he made 
 some three or four visits to the North and 
 East. Dr. Wyatt, rector of St. Paul's Church ; 
 Dr. Henshaw, rector of St. Peter's Church, 
 and Dr. Johns, of Christ Congregation, as 
 well as many reputable white laymen of Bal- 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 13 
 
 timore, rendered warm and hearty assistance 
 to the work. The struggles and difficulties 
 were very great, in view of the general com- 
 ditions of that period, and the illiteracy of 
 the race. Bishop Kemp, in making record of 
 the consecration of the Church, says : "On the 
 31st of the same month (March, 1827) I con- 
 secrated to the service of Almighty God, a 
 very neat Church in the City of Baltimore, 
 for the use of the people of color under the 
 ministry of the Rev. Mr. L,evington. Morn- 
 ing Prayer was read by the Rev. Dr. Wyatt, 
 and the sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. 
 Henshaw. The congregation was large and de- 
 vout, the responses were well made and the 
 chanting and singing quite delightful." It 
 never fell to the lot of Bishop Kemp to con- 
 duct the first Confirmation in this Church. In 
 the fall of the same year (1827) Bishop Kemp 
 visited Philadelphia to take part in the con- 
 secration of Bishop Onderdonk, assistant 
 Bishop of that diocese. In those days, before 
 railroads, the trip to and from Philadelphia 
 was made by way of a stage coach, and on 
 his return from Philadelphia, from the con- 
 secration of Bishop Onderdonk, there was an 
 up-set of the stage and the Bishop received 
 injuries from which he died. During the year 
 following, Bishop Onderdonk made a number 
 of Episcopal visitations in Maryland ; and 
 thus it happened that the new assistant 
 Bishop of Pennsylvania held the first Con- 
 firmation service in the first Negro Church, 
 on Southern soil, the candidates being pre- 
 sented by a Negro priest. The date of this 
 service was December 12, 1828, and thirteen 
 persons received the holy rite. 
 
 Aggravating the many natural difficulties in 
 the way of the extension and growth of this 
 Negro congregation, there was a peculiar one 
 from within which gave much serious trouble, 
 
14 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 and which was destined to harass and vex 
 continually the peace and life of the little 
 band. And this same difficulty has existed 
 from the very beginning of the work until 
 comparatively recent years, and the past 
 struggles and hardships of the work should 
 be interpreted in the light of this disturbing 
 element. To state it nakedly and plainly, it 
 was a "caste feeling'' existing on the part of 
 the "free Negroes" towards their brethren in 
 bondage. Mr. Levington was resolutely and 
 firmly set against a tolerance of this "caste- 
 spirit." He, a free man of color, from the 
 North, and a priest, had come South to help 
 his brethren, both bond and free, and it was 
 entirely out of the question with him to com- 
 promise with • this wicked spirit. But this 
 spirit of exclusion of Negroes on the part of 
 Negroes was strong and vigorous, and there 
 can hardly be any doubt but that the pressure 
 laid upon him, in this direction, together with 
 his many other burdens, hastened his early 
 death. To the Diocesan Convention of Mary- 
 land, of 1834, he made the following report, in 
 which is a direct allusion to the above trouble. 
 He said : "The rector of St. James' First Afri- 
 can Protestant Episcopal Church in the City 
 of Baltimore reports that the Church was 
 happily reared at the expense of $2,300. The 
 rector has visited the Northern and Eastern 
 States the third time, and solicited aid for the 
 Church, to exonerate her of debt ; and his 
 last visit was made during the past summer, 
 and on his return, January 1, 1834, he paid 
 six hundred and ten dollars of the debt, and 
 also got the Church insured until Janaury 1, 
 1841. The debt now against the Church is 
 $673.37. The rector would say, that although 
 
 the constitution of the Church gives to those 
 
 of his brethren, who are in bondage, the right 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 15 
 
 of membership in the Church, much dissatis- 
 faction has prevailed among some of his free 
 brethren ; yet, with the blessing of the great 
 Head of the Church, it has been happily and 
 finally settled. He thanks God that he has 
 long since seen that a Gospel Christian bonds- 
 man will be a righteous servant, and, for this 
 and other reasons, he does not forget to in- 
 struct them in the exercises of the sanctuary ; 
 for he remembers them that are in bonds, as 
 bound with them." 
 
 "There is taught in this Church by the rec- 
 tor, a week-day and Sabbath school, which 
 are both well attended. The number of mar- 
 riages, baptisms, and burials, the rector has 
 not a correct account. The responses are 
 made audibly and with much apparent de- 
 votion." 
 
 This faithful and pioneer Missionary, two 
 years later, in May, 1836, fell on sleep. But 
 ere his departure he had begotten two Negro 
 Missionaries, one of whom we shall speak of at 
 present, the other, later on. We called atten- 
 tion to the fact that the "Mother Church of 
 St. Thomas," Philadelphia, had given her first 
 son to this work of "opening up" the work 
 in the South. When William Levington knelt 
 upon the same spot to be ordained where Ab- 
 salom Jones had knelt thirty years before. 
 Jones had been dead for about six years, and 
 the "Mother Church" was still without" a rec- 
 tor; and the only colored man in holy orders, 
 at that time, was the Rev. Peter Williams, 
 rector of St. Philip's, New York. Unknown 
 to Mr. Levington at the time of his ordina- 
 tion, yet it was a fact as subsequently re- 
 vealed, he was going on a mission not simply 
 to open up the work on slave territory, but 
 also to discover the successor to Absalom 
 Jones, as the second rector of the Church in 
 which he was now being onlained. During 
 
m 
 
 The late Rev. William Douglass. 
 
THE FIRST OX SOUTHERN SOIL 17 
 
 the early years of Mr. L,evington's ministry 
 in Baltimore, there was a colored man who 
 kept a blacksmith shop on Light street, by 
 the name of Douglass. This Air. Douglass 
 had a son by the name of William Douglass, 
 who was an itinerant Methodist preacher. 
 Through the influence of Air. Levington and 
 St. James' African Church, this young Mr. 
 Douglass found his w r ay into the Church. 
 His ordination, however, did not occur in St. 
 James' Church. He was at work in Cecil 
 county, Md., and it was at that place that 
 this most important event occurred. We 
 say important event, for, so far as we have 
 been able to discover, the ordination of Wil- 
 liam Douglass was the very first ordination 
 of a colored man in the Episcopal Church on 
 Southern soil ; and it is so much the more 
 noteworthy because the ordination took place 
 in a white congregation by Bishop Stone who, 
 himself, was a native of Maryland. Bishop 
 Stone makes the following entry in his jour- 
 nal with respect to this ordination. He says : 
 "On Sunday, 22 (June, 1834), I preached 
 in St. Stephen's parish, Cecil county (Sassa- 
 fras Xeck), and admitted to the order of Dea- 
 cons William Douglass (a colored man), and 
 in the afternoon of the same day I confirmed 
 three persons. * * * Many persons who were 
 present never before witnessed an ordination, 
 and I am sure that the impression made upon 
 their minds was favorable to the Church and 
 her institutions. In the afternoon, by pre- 
 vious arrangement, the Church was given up 
 to the Colored people, and the Rev. Mr. 
 Douglass preached to them an interesting 
 sermon." 
 
 Shortly after his ordination Mr. Douglass 
 removed to the City of Philadelphia, where 
 he took charge of St. Thomas' Church, his 
 first and only charge, covering a ministry of 
 
18 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 nearly thirty years. Mr. Douglass was ele- 
 vated to the priesthood on the 14th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1836, in St. Thomas' Church, Philadel- 
 phia. The record of this event by the Bishop 
 officiating, the Rt. Rev. H. U. Onderdonk, 
 is certainly interesting. Bishop Onderdonk 
 says : 
 
 "On Sunday, February 14th, in St. Thomas' 
 (African) Church, Philadelphia, I admitted 
 the Rev. William Douglass, deacon, to the 
 holy order of Priests. Mr. Douglass is a man 
 of colour ; and I take this opportunity of re- 
 cording my very favorable estimate of his 
 highly respectable intellect, and most amia- 
 ble qualities, which entirely relieved my mind, 
 in his case, from the anxieties I had long felt 
 in reference to this department of Episcopal 
 duty. He ministers to a congregation at 
 unity in itself, much attached to him, and im- 
 proving, under his pastoral care, in the prin- 
 ciples and duties of our common Christianity." 
 
 When that great Bishop and ever-loving 
 friend of the black race, Alonzo Potter, of 
 Pennsylvania, had called to order the Dio- 
 cesan Convention of 1862, Mr. Douglass had 
 been translated to the rest of Paradise ; and 
 Bishop Potter, in referring to him, said : "It 
 hath pleased the Lord to call away from the 
 Church Militant the Rev. William Douglass, 
 rector of St. Thomas' African Church, in this 
 city, where he has ministered for the last 
 twenty-seven years — a man of great mod- 
 esty, of ripe scholarship, and of much more 
 than ordinary talents and prudence. He is, 
 as far as I am informed, the only clergyman 
 of unmixed African descent who, in this coun- 
 try, has published works of considerable mag- 
 nitude. In two volumes, one of sermons, and 
 one a history of St. Thomas' Church, he has 
 vindicated his right to appear among our re- 
 spected divines. As a reader of the Liturgy 
 he was unsurpassed." 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 19 
 
 It is hardly necessary to dwell upon the 
 services of the late Rev. Mr. Douglass on be- 
 half of St. Thomas' Church. The one single 
 point we desire to emphasize is, that it "is 
 more blessed to give than to receive." Ob- 
 serve the stream of blessedness issuing from 
 the gift of Levington. As St. James' Church, 
 Baltimore, will forever enjoy the distinction 
 of being the "Mother Parish" of Afro-Ameri- 
 can Churchmen, in all the Southland, so will 
 it ever be known that William Douglass of 
 Maryland was the first Negro to enter the 
 ministry on Southern soil. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A Southern White Priest the Savior of the 
 Cross Uplifted. 
 
 The year 1836 witnessed the translation to 
 Paradise of William Ivevington, founder and 
 first rector of St. James'; pjaltimore. This 
 poor Negro priest who had given his life as 
 a willing sacrifice for his race, and although 
 he had enriched others^ when he died was so 
 utterly poor that he had not sufficient means 
 to lay away decently his mortal remains. But 
 Dr. Henshaw, rector of St. Peter's, always 
 the warm and loving friend of this work and 
 this people, not only procured a decent burial 
 of his remains, but himself officiated and com- 
 mitted to Mother Earth all that was mortal 
 of that noble pioneer Missionary of the black 
 race. The death of Mr. Levington, and the 
 great "flood" of the same year, almost wiped 
 out of existence St. James' Church. 
 
 Just about this time, over on the old Sem- 
 inary Hill, near Alexandria, Va., there was be- 
 ing manifested intense missionary fervor and 
 
20 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 enthusiasm with respect to the foreign mis- 
 sions of the Church. Numbers of the students 
 had given themselves for work in China, 
 Japan, Africa and elsewhere. And still the 
 fever had not abated. Among the number 
 of students there was one young, handsome 
 and earnest fellow of the very best family and 
 rearing. He wanted to go to Africa, but Dr. 
 Sparrow pointed out to him how well he 
 could serve the African race right at his 
 door, by saving from destruction the poor 
 little African congregation of St. James, in 
 Baltimore. And so Joshua Peterkin deter- 
 mined, by the help of God, that he would 
 be the "savior" of St. James- Church. The 
 author received this story from the sainted 
 lips of the venerable Dr. Peterkin years be- 
 fore he had learned of the existence of St. 
 James' Church, having not the remotest idea, 
 at that time, that he would become a succes- 
 sor of that godly and most loveable man. 
 And thus it happened that Dr. Joshua Peter- 
 kin, who should in after years have very 
 much to do with the Colored work in Vir- 
 ginia, and especially with the founding of an 
 institution for the preparation of Colored 
 men for the ministry, began his work in the 
 ministry by pastoring and saving the first or- 
 ganized effort among Negroes in the South. 
 The ordination of Dr. Peterkin was hastened 
 in order that he might take charge of this 
 "work at the earliest opportunity. How Dr. 
 Peterkin felt for and sympathized with the 
 members of his Negro congregation can read- 
 ily be inferred from the following extract 
 from his report to the diocesan convention of 
 1838. He says: 
 
 "The present pastor has had charge of this 
 congregation for about ten months, during 
 which time he has had much to encourage 
 him, and has been strengthened in his con- 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 21 
 
 victions that the class of population of which 
 it is composed has the highest claims upon 
 his sympathy, and affords a field for exertion 
 than which there can be none more important. 
 He found the Church in a very feeble state — 
 partly from the privation of regular services 
 for some months after the death of the former 
 pastor, the Rev. Air. Levington, but more 
 especially because "No man cared for the 
 souls of its members." Through much, effort 
 and the assistance of the rectors of St. Peter's 
 and Christ Church, of this city, he has suc- 
 ceeded in paying off more than $200 of the 
 debt under which the congregation has long 
 been languishing, and he trusts that by Di- 
 vine blessing, should he be privileged to make 
 another report, he will be enabled to state 
 that the remainder of about $350, has been 
 entirely liquidated. The rector could say 
 much in reference to this subject, but fears 
 that he might not speak or write with suffi- 
 cient composure — yet he may surely express 
 his surprise and regret, that this congregation 
 has been so long allowed to struggle, unaided, 
 for existence, when if properly sustained by 
 the Episcopalians of the diocese, its good in- 
 fluence might extend to one-fourth of the en- 
 tire population of this great city. Present 
 number of communicants, 27; marriages, 3; 
 funerals, 2. The Sunday School is in an in- 
 teresting condition, and affords encourage- 
 ment." 
 
 The next year Dr. Peterkin reported to the 
 Convention : ''The rector has the gratifica- 
 tion to report that the debt incurred by the 
 erection of St. James' Church is now entirely 
 liquidated. The congregation whose embar- 
 rassed affairs have, for a period of twelve 
 years, threatened its dissolution is at length 
 free, and we are privileged to call the temple 
 in which we worship our own. Our devout 
 
22 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 thanks are due Almighty God, and to our 
 friends in this city and elsewhere, for the 
 timely assistance afforded us, without which 
 the congregation could scarcely now be in 
 existence." During the next year Dr. Peter- 
 kin resigned the work to assume the charge 
 of St. Andrew's Church, which was just be- 
 ing formed. The Rev. Thomas Quinan had 
 charge of the Church for a short while, but 
 in 1841 Mr. J. N. Mcjilton, a layreader and 
 candidate for orders, took charge, and soon 
 afterwards he was ordained. With Mr. Mc- 
 jilton we enter upon the longest rectorship 
 of any during the history of the Church, save 
 the present rectorship. Just here we might 
 remark that the first recorded marriage on 
 the old parish register is that of Cornelius 
 Thompson and Catherine Braco, which was 
 solemnized by Dr. Peterkin in 1838. Mrs. 
 Thompson we have known quite intimately, 
 and, in recent years, have laid her remains to 
 rest. She was the first person whose funeral 
 took place from the present St. James' Church. 
 She was nearly ninety years of age when she 
 died, and was a remarkably intelligent old 
 woman. She knew Mr. Levington, as well 
 as Dr. Peterkin, and was full of interesting 
 reminiscences. The first babe baptized by us 
 on coming to Baltimore was one of her great- 
 grandsons. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Good Work of Another White Son of the 
 South Among His Black Brethren. 
 
 The rectorship of the Rev. Mr. Mcjilton 
 continued until 1857, and it was characterized 
 with much vigorous and aggressive work. We 
 have already referred to the first ordination 
 in the State of Maryland, of a colored man ; 
 we are now about to refer to the first ordina- 
 tion to take place in St. James' Church. One 
 of the communicants coming over from the 
 time of Mr. Eevington, some of the fruit of 
 his labors, was Eli Worthington Stokes, who, 
 for some time, had been in training for the 
 ministry. Bishop Whittingham had then 
 come to the diocese. During the vacancy in 
 the Maryland Episcopate, before the election 
 of Dr. Whittingham, Bishop George Wash- 
 ington Doane, of New Jersey, being provis- 
 ional Bishop of Maryland, visited St. James' 
 Church on two different occasions ; on one 
 occasion confirming a class. 
 
 Two notable occurrences took place in the 
 little Church during the year 1843. One was 
 a unique Confirmation service by Bishop 
 Whittingham. Some half a dozen or more 
 Negro slaves from one of the counties were 
 brought by their "master," who himself was 
 a priest of the Church, and by him presented 
 to the Bishop for Confirmation ; and upon 
 their Confirmation they were set free, and, a 
 few days later, they sailed for Maryland in 
 Africa. 
 
 On October 1, 1843, Mr. Stokes was or- 
 dained. Says Bishop Whittingham : "On the 
 16th Sunday after Trinity, Oct. 1, at a spe- 
 cial ordination held in St. James' First Af- 
 
2* THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 rican Church, in Baltimore, I admitted to the 
 holy order of Deacons, Elie Worthington 
 Stokes, a colored man presented by the Rev. 
 J. N. Mcjilton. His case involving some pe- 
 culiarities, 1 consulted on it both the Stand- 
 ing Committee and a council of Presbyters 
 specially convened ; and acted finally under 
 the advice of both. Mr. Stokes renders oc- 
 casional services to the colored congregation 
 of St. James." During this same year Mr. 
 Harrison Holmes Webb was confirmed and 
 was licensed as a layreader assisting the Rev. 
 Mr. Mcjilton. 
 
 But we must turn aside and follow the 
 movements of the Rev. Mr. Stokes. Shortly 
 after his ordination, in October, 1843, Mr. 
 Stokes goes to New Haven, Conn., and with 
 the colored communicants secured from the 
 various white congregations the colored par- 
 ish of St. Luke's Church was organized in 
 June, 1844, and it was immediately received 
 into union with the Diocesan Convention of 
 Connecticut. During the next two years he 
 was elevated to the Priesthood by the Bishop 
 of Connecticut. In the meantime. Dr. Hen- 
 shaw, formerly of Baltimore, and a warm 
 friend of the Rev. Mr. Stokes, had been made 
 Bishop of Rhode Island. A few years before, 
 upon his ordination in Boston, Dr. Alexander 
 Crummell had proceeded to Providence, R. I., 
 where he initiated Christ Church, which 
 had also been received as a parish in union 
 with the convention of Rhode Island. Dr. 
 Crummell had given up this work, and so Mr. 
 Stokes was called to the rectorship of Christ 
 Church, Providence. Hence he leaves New 
 Haven and accepts the work in Providence. 
 The various references of Bishop Henshaw 
 to Christ Church, and the Rev. Mr. Stokes, 
 
 are exceedingly pleasant and interesting. In 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 25 
 
 his first report to the Diocesan Convention 
 of Rhode Island, in 1846, Mr. Stokes says: 
 
 "T commenced my labors in this parish the 
 29th of May last past, and have continued the 
 regular services of the Church three times on 
 every Lord's Day, and on every Friday even- 
 ing. I am encouraged by the prompt attend- 
 ance of the congregation, who are now very 
 anxious to liquidate the debt on their Church 
 edifice ; and are willing to do all that is within 
 their power to accomplish that laudable ob- 
 ject; and from their prompt response to a 
 call that I made on them, to contribute some- 
 thing towards the payment of the debt on 
 the Church edifice, before the sitting of the 
 Convention, which resulted in the sum of 
 $22.25, at only two collections, I feel so far 
 encouraged as to recommend them to the 
 sympathies of the diocese generally * * *" 
 Mr. Stokes reported thirty communicants, and 
 he also adds, "The congregation in regular 
 attendance is from eighty to one hundred and 
 fifty, especially in the afternoon and evening. 
 Being persuaded of the future prosperity of 
 the parish I cheerfully commend it to the 
 Godly consideration of the different parishes, 
 praying Almighty God to aid us, in blessing 
 the humble effort, by giving us favor in the 
 sight of the rich." The work continued to 
 progress under the heavy debt resting upon 
 it. But the members being few and poor, 
 and Mr. Stokes unable to sufficiently interest 
 the white churchmen of Rhode Island in con- 
 tributing the necessary money to free it from 
 debt, he undertook a mission to England to 
 raise the necessary money, with what success 
 shall be told in the words of Bishop Hen- 
 shaw. Bishop Henshaw, in his Episcopal ad- 
 dress to the Convention of 1849, referred to 
 the matter as follows : 
 
26 THE FIRST ON SOyTHERN SOIL 
 
 "At the time of the meeting of the last con- 
 vention the Rev. Eli W. Stokes, rector of 
 Christ Church, in this city, was absent in Eu- 
 rope for the purpose of soliciting" funds to 
 liquidate the debt by which that parish has 
 been embarrassed ever since their house of 
 worship was erected. In consequence of a 
 certificate, required by the laws of England, 
 furnished by me, he was received with great 
 kindness by the Archbishops, Bishops and 
 Clergy of our Mother Church ; and I am 
 happy to inform you that his mission was 
 crowned with entire success, and the liberal 
 contributions which he received in that dis- 
 tant land have enabled the gentlemen hold- 
 ing the property in trust to make a satis- 
 factory settlement with the mortgagees. The 
 congregation is now free from debt, and our 
 colored brethren have wisely made over their 
 corporate property to the 'Board of Commis- 
 sioners for Church Buildings' with a view of 
 security against embarrassment and incum- 
 brance for the time to come. The Christian 
 generosity with which our English brethren 
 answered the appeal made to them in behalf 
 of that feeble parish has been duly acknowl- 
 edged in a letter addressed by me to His 
 Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and, 
 through him, to the Church over which he 
 worthily presides." 
 
 A Missionary to Africa. 
 
 But alas, for our poor people : too few and 
 poor were they to provide a support for their 
 faithful minister, who had done such great 
 things for 'them; and unable to receive suffi- 
 cient assistance from the white communi- 
 cants of Rhode Island, the very next year 
 finds Air. Stokes accepting work in the Af- 
 rican field. He was a faithful and hard-work- 
 ing Missionary in that distant field. He re- 
 turned to America, at least once, and preached 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 27 
 
 in the old Church where he had been or- 
 dained to the diaconate by Bishop Whitting- 
 ham. He went back to Africa, where he re- 
 mained bravely at his post until the Good 
 Lord called him home to rest. His passing 
 into Paradise was communicated to the 
 "Spirit of Missions," under date of February 
 27, 1867, from which we extract the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 ''His death will be greatly felt just now in 
 our Mission. Mr. Stokes was a thorough- 
 going, energetic, working old man. He went 
 to Crozerville with his heart set to make and 
 leave the work of his Divine Master's hand 
 upon the place. He died in the faith of the 
 Gospel he had preached. Though Mr. Stokes 
 was not a strong and able-bodied man, he 
 was full of faith and abounded in charity to- 
 wards the poor. How often he has divided 
 his last crust of bread, God only knows. It 
 appears to us, that on these points, he never 
 calculated his own interests. He was reduced 
 more by the want of the real necessities of life 
 at last, than by sickness, is the opinion of the 
 doctors and all who saw and attended him. 
 Nourishment could not rally his exhausted 
 strength. The people of his own parish were 
 very poor, and EH W. Stokes was not the 
 man to look upon this and not act. The peo- 
 ple at Crozerville had already learned to love 
 and respect him. His work told that he was 
 on the ground. He had established day and 
 Sabbath Schools, and preached and held serv- 
 ices at Crozerville and Carysburg. He was 
 found in a hut, lying on a mat. and an old 
 blanket under his head. Air. David, senior 
 warden of St. John's, New York, heard of 
 his illness and visited him ; he was brought 
 in almost a dying state to his house. Dr. 
 McGill, of the firm of McGill Brothers, was 
 
28 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 soon on the ground (eighteen miles from 
 Monrovia) with such nourishments which 
 would, it was hoped, bring him upon his 
 feet again. The doctor repeated the visit, 
 and Mr. David, wife and friends, did all that 
 could be done, but he sank until the 26th of 
 February and died. Nearly all his talk, as 
 long as he could talk, and when he could not 
 be understood, seemed to be of the Mission- 
 ary work here, and the troubles that retarded 
 it. He was buried at Woodlawn, by a brook, 
 under a Palm tree." 
 
 Thus ended the mortal life of the first 
 clerical Missionary sent out from the first' 
 Negro parish on Southern soil. If St. James' 
 Church, Baltimore, during all its history, had 
 only given birth to this one grand pioneer in 
 the home and foreign fields, its existence 
 would have been more than justified. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Witnessing for Christ and Uplifting the Race. 
 
 Mr. Harrison H. Webb, who had been li- 
 censed as a layreader the same year Mr. 
 Stokes was ordained to the diaconate, in due 
 season was made deacon, becoming the as- 
 sistant of the Rev. Mr. Mcjilton, and the 
 teacher of the day school carried on in con- 
 nection with St. James' Church. In such ca- 
 pacity he remained until the year 1857, when, 
 at Mr. Mcjilton's request, he was elected by 
 the vestry his successor. During the assist- 
 antship of Mr. Webb a great deal of con- 
 strucive work on behalf of the colored com- 
 munity was realized. A monument of such 
 work is the present St. James' Protestant 
 Episcopal Male Beneficial Society which was 
 organized by Mr. Webb as a parish society. 
 
The late Rev. Harrison H. Webb. 
 
30 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 It was such a needed and helpful agency that 
 its benefits were extended to all respectable 
 colored men whether members of St. James' 
 Church or not. Thus, today, while it is nom- 
 inally a parish institution, it is practically an 
 outside agency. From time to time this so- 
 ciety has comprehended in its fold many of 
 the worthiest and most influential colored 
 men in the City of Baltimore. 
 
 About this same period an organ for the 
 first time was introduced in connection with 
 the worship of the Church, at St. James. This 
 was a real "novelty," and invited strong de- 
 nunciations from the colored churches of the 
 city. Reproachful and sneering terms were 
 applied to the Church because of this intro- 
 duction into the public services of the Church, 
 the "devil's music box." Thus., the Church 
 was an early witness for musical accessories 
 in divine service, as well as for order and 
 -decorum in public worship. The indirect in- 
 fluence of St. James has been very great in 
 this city, as the marvellous changes in the 
 conduct of services in colored churches wit- 
 nesseth. 
 
 In the year 1852, under the rectorship of 
 the Rev. Dr. Mcjilton, the second story was 
 added to the "old church" at North and Sara- 
 toga streets, but it was not until March, 1854, 
 that it was formally re-opened and dedicated. 
 During this same year Mr. Harrison H. AVebb 
 was ordained deacon by Bishop Whittingham. 
 The visit of Bishop Whittingham for the dedi- 
 cation of the enlarged Church was a memora- 
 ble one. 
 
 Bishop Whittingham was a sincere and 
 ever-devoted friend of the Colored People, 
 and a friend in particular of St. James' con- 
 gregation. His visit of Sunday morning, 
 March 19, 1854, made such a profound im- 
 pression upon him that he was immediately 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 31 
 
 moved to put forth serious effort towards se- 
 curing another church building for a colored 
 congregation, to be reared in the neighbor- 
 hood of Fell's Point. As a result of the 
 effort, St. Matthew's Church, later, came into 
 existence. Fresh from the services at St. 
 James' Church he went immediately home 
 and penned the following circular letter ad- 
 dressed to the various white parishes men- 
 tioned therein. This letter is certainly indica- 
 tive of the strong feeling and warm attach- 
 ment of the Bishop with respect to the work 
 among the Colored People : 
 
 BISHOP WHITTINGHAM'S LETTER. 
 
 Rev. and Dear Brother and Dear Brethren: 
 
 An extraordinary coincidence of duty and oppor- 
 tunity occasions this appeal to you in a somewhat 
 unusual mode. 
 
 In the course of official duty it was my privilege 
 this morning to comply with the request of the 
 rector and vestry of St. James' (First African) 
 Church in this cit}^ to dedicate with solemn serv- 
 ice the new story which they erected some two 
 years ago upon the substructure of their old and 
 formerly consecrated church edifice, and for which 
 they have at last completed payment. 
 
 I need not inform you how much credit the neat, 
 commodious and greatly enlarged and improved 
 place of worship which they now enjoy does to 
 the zeal, diligence and untiring perseverance of our 
 colored brethren, by which a work so great for 
 them at last has been brought to an issue so suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 You know, too, as well as I, with how many dif- 
 ficulties this congregation has had to struggle dur- 
 ing the twenty-seven years that have now elapsed 
 since the consecration of its little church. 
 
 During that time it has regularly furnished its 
 full quota of additions to the Church in the Sacra- 
 ment of Baptism, the Rite of Confirmation and the 
 admission to the Holy Communion, and has con- 
 tributed to the Holy Ministry two members, one 
 of whom is now laboring in Africa; the other, 
 while sustaining himself by teaching a school in 
 the lower story of the present building, is officiat- 
 ing with acceptance and success in the diaconate, 
 as assistant minister of the congregation. 
 
32 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 The rector, as you also know, is one of the 
 most laboriously faithful and efficient of our 
 clergy, whose living, mainly earned in hard serv- 
 ice in another office, -can hardly be said to be eked 
 out by the pittance (less than $100 per annum) 
 which he has received from one of our city con- 
 gregations, in consideration of his services to their 
 colored brethren. 
 
 These services, and the labors of his assistant, 
 have been so far blessed that the congregation 
 has now increased to the full extent of the capacity 
 of the house of worship. This day I had ocular 
 evidence of the insufficiency of accommodation for 
 those who would gladly attend, if there was room; 
 while I was gladdened (as I have always hereto- 
 fore been at every previous visit, official or other- 
 wise,) with the spectacle of as orderly, reverent, at- 
 tentive and seemingly devout a congregation as 
 ever I saw assembled on any occasion anywhere. 
 
 The Confirmation this morning administered is 
 the second within the year. At the last, Bishop 
 Whitehouse confirmed thirteen. This morning ten 
 received the rite. No class, in any congregation, 
 has ever given me more satisfaction in appearance 
 and demeanor than that which this day presented 
 itself for the solemnity. 
 
 These facts show that GOD has prospered the 
 congregation, and that affords fair promise of in- 
 creasing prosperity, if furnished with the means of 
 growth. It cannot grow with its present limited ac- 
 commodations. Another Church is needed, at once, 
 for the reception of additions which might be al- 
 most daily made. 
 
 Now, just at this juncture, an extraordinary op- 
 portunity occurs for obtaining a good building, well 
 situated with reference to the residence of a large 
 portion of our colored population, at a very low 
 price — much lower than equal accommodations must 
 cost under other circumstances. That building is 
 the edifice built for and now occupied by Trinity 
 Church, on Fell's Point. It is about to be vacated 
 by the congregation, on its removal to the new 
 and larger place of worship almost finished. The 
 congregation is unable to keep the old building to- 
 gether with the new, and must sell at once. Offers 
 have already been made by other denominations of 
 Christians, but the vestry would naturally prefer 
 that their old church should be retained for the 
 worship of our own Communion, if possible, and 
 
the first on southern soil S3 
 
 in order to do that, offer it on the most accom- 
 modating terms in their power. 
 
 It has cost nearly or quite $4,000 and will be 
 sold, for church purposes, for $2,500, payable in 
 three semi-annual instalments. 
 
 The Church is on a lot held on a redeemable 
 lease, at a ground rent of $45 per annum. 
 
 For this rent and Church expenses, experience at 
 St. James' proves that the collections at St. James' 
 would amply suffice. 
 
 For the interest accruing on the deferred pay- 
 ments, I can depend upon the present congregation 
 of St. James' Church. 
 
 For the Sunday services in the second church, 
 I can make arrangements with the city clergy, that 
 they shall be had gratuitously, by a routine ar- 
 ranged among us all, as I have known colored 
 churches in other cities to be supplied for years 
 together; and I pledge myself to do so. For the 
 necessary week-day services the rector and assist- 
 ant of St. James' are willing to be responsible. 
 
 It is only needful, then, that the several congre- 
 gations in the city should be willing to stretch out 
 a hand to help their poorer brethren in this emer- 
 gency, which may be made to them such a joyful 
 God-send by assuming the semi-annual payments 
 required as purchase money. 
 
 . Something like the following arrangement would 
 accomplish this object every way so desirable, and 
 surely, in view of the ability of those to whom it 
 is proposed, so feasible: 
 
 ^ If St. Paul's Church, Christ Church, St. Peter's; 
 Church will each give $150; Mt. Calvary Churchy 
 $100, and St. Andrew's and Ascension Church $50 at 
 each semi-annual payment, the work will be ef- 
 fected. 
 
 It cannot be possible, I think, that so small an 
 effort for so good an end will be deemed to sur- 
 pass the ability of the congregations in question; 
 and I cannot bring myself to believe that they 
 can think differently from me as to its expediency, 
 or, might even say, obligation, under the circum- 
 stances of the case. 
 
 Imploring you, dear brethren, to give a favorable 
 consideration to this appeal in behalf of a portion 
 of our population who need much increased atten- 
 tion, I am faithfully and affectionately, 
 
 Your servant in Christ, 
 
 R. WHITTINGHAM. 
 
 Baltimore, Third Sunday in Lent, 
 March 19, 1854. 
 
34 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 The Church above mentioned was ulti- 
 mately purchased, and St. Matthew's congre- 
 gation established. But after varying fortunes, 
 the Mission was disbanded some time after 
 the death of Bishop Whittingham, its com- 
 municants added to the list of St. James' 
 Church, and the greater portion of the funds, 
 proceeds from the sale of the property, utilized 
 in the purchase of the Church on High street 
 for St. James' congregation. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Historic Struggles of Pastor and People. 
 
 In 1857, upon the retirement of the Rev. 
 Mr. Mcjilton from the rectorship of the 
 Church, the Rev. Harrison H. Webb, his as- 
 sistant, was duly elected rector. This chroni- 
 cled a very important epoch in the life of the 
 parish. Mr. Levington, the founder and first 
 rector, received no salary, but what support 
 he could realize from teaching the day school. 
 Mr. Mcjilton, who had served the Church for 
 such a long period as its rector, was also 
 the rector of a white parish, from which he 
 received his support. Mr. Webb was a black 
 man, and there were no outside sources to 
 contribute to his support. St. James* was con- 
 fronted with a real live and practical prob- 
 lem — the supporting of its own rector from 
 within. It was undertaken with some degree 
 of resolution, but it proved not only woefully 
 disappointing, but the inadequate support re- 
 ceived was largely responsible for much of 
 the unpleasantness which existed for years, 
 and which, finally, issued in the alienation of 
 nearly half of the membership in the attempt 
 to establish a new work, in the newer section 
 of the city, known as St. Philip's Mission; 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 35 
 
 and, finally, in the resignation of Mr. Webb 
 as rector of the Church. Mr. Webb reported, 
 in part, to the Diocesan Convention of 1867: 
 "The small sum which is promised to the rec- 
 tor, from St. James' Church is not promptly 
 paid. If it were, it would amount only to 
 $150, and leave the minister compelled to ap- 
 ply to other sources to obtain his bread." 
 
 Mr. Webb resigned the rectorship in 1872. 
 For a few months, by appointment of the 
 Bishop, the Rev. John Rose took charge of 
 the congregation. But at the beginning of 
 the Advent season of 1873 the vestry of St. 
 James addressed a communication to the Rev. 
 Dr. Hodges, rector of St. Paul's Church, stat- 
 ing their inability to support a clergyman, 
 and requesting the rector of St. Paul's to take 
 charge of the spiritual affairs of the congre- 
 gation. A most generous and kindly response 
 was made by Dr. Hodges to this request, and 
 the Rev. Isaac Lea Nicholson, a curate of St. 
 Paul's, presented himself before the vestry of 
 St. James', by direction of the rector of St. 
 Paul's, to take charge of the Church. The 
 vestry enthusiastically accepted and wel- 
 comed most heartily the Rev. Mr. Nicholson 
 as their future pastor. With the advent of 
 the Rev. Mr. Nicholson (afterwards Bishop 
 of Milwaukee) a new chapter in the life of St. 
 James' is begun. Hitherto, the services were 
 of an extremely "low" church type. Mr. Nich- 
 olson at once set to work to conform them 
 to that represented by the Mother Parish of 
 St. Paul. A more reverent adornment of the 
 altar, and the use of Eucharistic lights con- 
 stituted the first step. This arrangement with 
 St. Paul's Parish continued to the end of 1888. 
 But we must digress at this point to notice 
 a movement from the "old church," in recent 
 years, which had considerably weakened it. 
 There was a young man of great earnest- 
 
36 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 ness and zeal, who, as an infant, had been 
 baptized and reared up in the old church, 
 serving the Church in nearly every way pos- 
 sible for a layman— a member of the vestry, 
 and its efficient clerk for a number of years — 
 Cassius M. C. Mason. 
 
 About '68 or '69, Mr. Mason, with a con- 
 siderable following of the younger people, had 
 ventured to start a new work, in the newer 
 section of the city, known as "St. Philip's 
 Mission." This work grew rapidly. There 
 were some forty communicants, and about 200 
 other persons connected with it. It grieved 
 Bishop Whittingham greatly, for it was his 
 most earnest desire to effect a reconciliation 
 between St. James' Church and St. Philip's 
 Mission, and reunite them. St. Philip's peo- 
 ple were not disposed to reunite. And, yet, 
 the Mission could hardly advance, under the 
 circumstances, with the displeasure of the 
 Bishop. A way out was soon discovered. On 
 one Sunday — May 11, 1873 — St. Philip's was 
 dissolved, and on the following Sunday — May 
 18th — the people who composed it began their 
 existence as a new work, "Mount Calvary 
 Chapel of S. Mary the Virgin." The Rev. 
 Joseph Richey was the rector of Mt. Cal- 
 vary, and the Rev. Calbraith B. Perry, his as- 
 sistant, became the immediate pastor of "St. 
 Mary's." 
 
 In the journal of the convention, the next 
 year (1874), Bishop Whittingham in his ad- 
 dress to Assistant Bishop Pinckney has this 
 to say of the good fortune of the new con- 
 gregation : 
 
 "* * * Besides these, a substantial stone 
 building has, in a noble, munificent spirit, 
 been bought for the colored congregation, for 
 some time known as St. Philip's Mission, and 
 now under the fostering care of the clergy of 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 37 
 
 Mount Calvary Church, crowding it in fre- 
 quent services." 
 
 Some idea of the immediate growth of St. 
 Mary's under the most excellent and zealous 
 administration of their pastor, Rev. C. B. 
 Perry, who positively refused to know any- 
 thing of a "color line," may be gleaned from 
 an extract of Mr. Perry's first Conventional 
 report (1874). He said in part: "We have 
 received during the year (besides the amount 
 reported above) for the purchase of the 
 Chapel, $17,585.00. With the accommodo- 
 tions thus furnished, a congregation of less 
 than one hundred persons has increased since 
 September 21st, when the Chapel was opened, 
 to between four and five hundred ; and after 
 the Bishop's intended visitation, the first Sun- 
 day after Trinity, there will be about one 
 hundred and forty communicants." 
 
 That St. James' was not completely wiped 
 out by this large secession of many of its 
 most substantial and useful members, and 
 the good fortune which came to the new ven- 
 ture, is almost a miracle of Divine Grace. Al- 
 though located in a section unfavorable to its 
 growth and expansion, and with many serious 
 disadvantages, under the new arrangement 
 with St. Paul's Parish it began to take on 
 new life, and to make substantial progress. 
 Standing for self-control from within, and 
 maintaining its own independence as a parish, 
 it had been sadly neglected by the white 
 churchmen of the city. Following the Rev. 
 Mr. Nicholson was a succession of priests 
 furnished by St. Paul's, ending with the close 
 of the year 1888, who were as follows : Rev. 
 Messrs. C. P. Jones, M. W. Wayne, F. Hal- 
 lam, G. B. Johnson and B. W. Timothy, the 
 last named a colored clergyman. All of these 
 were faithful and devoted priests. The Rev. 
 George B. Johnson continued in charge for a 
 
38 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 longer period than any of the rest (1880- 
 1887). Nor has there ever been a more faith- 
 ful and self-denying priest, who has served 
 the Church, than the Rev. Mr. Johnson, at 
 present Chaplain to the Bishop of Vermont. 
 Especially, under his administration was there 
 growth in the direction of self-support. The 
 highest point reached, at least for one year, 
 was the payment of $35.00 a month to the 
 rector of St. Paul's toward the stipend of the 
 priest-in-charge.. The last priest furnished by 
 St. Paul's was the Rev. B. W. Timothy. 
 
 With the beginning of the year 1889 an- 
 other new chapter in the affairs of the Church 
 was begun. 
 
 The vestry -transferred the spiritual charge 
 of the Church from the care of the rector of 
 St. Paul's to the Bishop of Maryland, and this 
 change lasted only for about four years. Dur- 
 ing the year 1889 the old church building at 
 North and Saratoga streets was thought to be 
 unsafe and unsuitable for longer continuance, 
 and St. James' congregation, for a while, 
 united with the congregation at How T ard 
 Chapel, Park avenue, near Dolphin street. 
 While here, at different times, the following 
 clergymen were in charge : Archdeacon F. J. 
 Clay Moran, Rev. William H. Wilson and the 
 Rev. Air. Tarrant. Here, the Church was 
 rapidly declining and going to pieces. Final- 
 ly, in the fall of 1890, the white Baptist 
 Church, on High street, East Baltimore, w T as 
 purchased for St. James' congregation, and 
 after being remodeled, was occupied by the 
 congregation in December of that year, the 
 Rev. John C. Anderson, an Englishman, be- 
 ing in charge. It was hoped that with a large 
 and beautiful church, in a new location, that 
 the work would take on new life and steadily 
 advance. But it proved just the other w r ay. 
 Mr. Anderson remained something over six 
 
St. James' Rectory, Baltimore, Md. 
 
40 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 months, and, being thoroughly discouraged, 
 did not wait until the Bishop's return from 
 abroad before giving up the work. 
 
 The present rector was called by Bishop 
 Paret to take charge of St. James' Church, 
 in October, 1891, and he entered upon the 
 work on the 17th of November of the same 
 year. The congregation had reached the 
 point that it was unable to contribute any- 
 thing to the support of the rector, and, there- 
 fore, the Bishop had to assume the entire 
 support of the priest-in-charge. In fact, the 
 congregation was unable to meet its current 
 expenses, and was then in arrears of $200 on 
 such expenses. By January, 1893, conditions 
 had so far improved as to warrant the Bishop 
 in convening the vestry of the Church at the 
 Episcopal Residence, and turning over to 
 them the charge of their own affairs which 
 they had asked him to assume. Whereupon, 
 the priest-in-charge, the present rector, was 
 duly called by the vestry to the rectorship of 
 the Church at a salary of two hundred dol- 
 lars a year. 
 
 Although used by us, the High Street 
 Church had not been accepted by the vestry, 
 the title to it being held by the Benevolent 
 Society of St. Paul's. During the present rec- 
 torship the money received from the sale of 
 the old church on North and Saratoga streets 
 was applied on the purchase of the High 
 street property and the title passed to the rec- 
 tor and vestry of the Church. 
 
 Because of the neighborhood being almost 
 wholly composed of Jews, it was soon discov- 
 ered that the congregation must, at some 
 time in the future, change to another loca- 
 tion. Hence, although paid for, the High 
 Street Church was never consecrated. For 
 awhile, by energetic and constant labors, the 
 congregation was greatly built up, large num- 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 41 
 
 bers of them coming from a distance. About 
 the year 1899 we began to approach a crisis. 
 Removal became an absolute and immediate 
 necessity. In the fall of 1900 negotiations 
 were begun looking towards a sale of the 
 property. The Church was sold, and on the 
 30th of April. 1901, we vacated the High 
 street property. From May 1st to October 
 10th of that year, we were without a habitat, 
 and through the courtesy of The Maryland 
 Home For Friendless Colored Children, then 
 located at 404 Courtland street, an institution 
 organized and founded by the present rector 
 of this Church (although not controlled by 
 the Church), services were held at that in- 
 stitution until we were privileged to enter 
 our new Church. Although the High street 
 propertv must have cost, originally, more than 
 $25,000,' it was sold to us for $10,000. After 
 paying the incidental expenses connected with 
 effecting its sale, we had only $6,000 with 
 which to obtain a site and erect a church 
 building. Only such persons who have been 
 concerned with a like enterprise in any large 
 city, the size of Baltimore, can have any ade- 
 quate conception of the great problem, and 
 the many and weighty responsibilities, which 
 rested upon the rector and vestry of St. James' 
 Church. That we successfully managed ou/ 
 affairs, placed our loan, and have promptly/ 
 and honorably met all demands upon us, is 
 due to the complete and absolute harmony of 
 the rector and vestry. The vestry selected the 
 rector and Mr. Solomon DeCoursey, of its 
 body, as the working executive committee to 
 supervise and direct matters generally; and 
 it is a genuine pleasure for the rector to bear 
 witness to the fidelity, zeal, good judgment, 
 approved business methods, and incorruptible 
 
 honesty of Mr. DeCoursey, who nobly sus- 
 tained the hardest and severest portion of the 
 
hum .iMiTitatitiiattM^i juiiiin •- "^ *m 
 
 The Maryland Heme For Friendless Colored 
 Children. 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 43 
 
 work. Ghequier & May were the architects. 
 
 and Mr. Thos. P. Johns was the builder. The 
 ground, buildings and furniture represented 
 an outlay of about $12,000 or $13,000— with 
 only $6,000 in cash to cover the same. At 
 the time we attempted building, we had about 
 150 communicants, only half of that number 
 being available as contributors. The whole 
 affair was a supreme act of faith. We had 
 thrust upon us this debt, with the interest to 
 provide, as well as our current expenses to 
 sustain. Added to this was a debt on the rec- 
 tory also to maintain. Ours was not only to 
 secure the necessary means, but at the same 
 time secure such an increase in our member- 
 ship as would materially help in carrying and 
 sustaining our great load. 
 
 About eight years have passed by, and by 
 the help of God we are able to report that the 
 work has gone steadily forward. We have 
 sustained our missionary and diocesan- assess- 
 ments, and we have met our current expenses. 
 We have a beautiful Church, and a comforta- 
 ble rectory, and we have reduced our total 
 indebtedness to $3,000. 
 
 In the meantime, the Church has gradually 
 grown in self-support, providing $800 a year 
 of the rector's stipend. From an inability to 
 pay the rector anything, to a support of $800 
 a year, in addition to its many and various 
 other obligations, is certainly indicative of life. 
 We want to liquidate our mortgage indebted- 
 ness, and then we need an enlargement of the 
 Church and the erection of a parish building. 
 
 Unlike the two older Negro parishes, in this 
 country — St. Thomas', Philadelphia, and St. 
 Philip's, New York, begun in communities 
 most favorable to the advance of' the Church 
 among Colored People — St. James' has had to 
 make its way through difficulties and disad- 
 
44 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 vantages sufficient to break the very heart of 
 hope. 
 
 St. Thomas' Church, Philadelphia, was orig- 
 inally located in a neighborhood where prop- 
 erty became exceedingly valuable, and when 
 that parish found it necessary to change its 
 location it was able to dispose of its property 
 and realize a good sum for the same — some 
 sixty thousand dollars or more. This Church, 
 from the start, was encouraged and helped by 
 the most representative people of Philadel- 
 phia. Then, it was in an atmosphere of free- 
 dom. 
 
 St. Philip's Church, New York, was, like- 
 wise, extremely fortunate in its early begin- 
 nings. Allied with the wealthiest and strong- 
 est ecclesiastical corporation in America, and 
 receiving from Trinity Church, help and as- 
 sistance, it is today, possibly, the wealthiest 
 individual Negro ecclesiastical corporation in 
 the world, with an estate valued at about a 
 half million dollars. 
 
 St. James', Baltimore, the youngest of the 
 trio, called into being by a Negro born in 
 New York, but sent into the ministry from 
 Pennsylvania, was situated in the midst of 
 both poverty and ignorance, among a people 
 in the land of darkness and the shadow of 
 death. Its only boast is that out of weakness 
 came its strength. St. James', weak and in- 
 signicant in material things, has nevertheless 
 been strong in spiritual things, and has given 
 freely of her sons to "bear the Message Glori- 
 ous." In addition to her Stokes and her 
 Webb, others of her sons, by their good works, 
 have adorned the holy ministry. James E. 
 Thompson, priest and rector and founder of 
 St. Thomas' Church, Chicago, was one of her 
 children ; and so was and is the Rev. C. M. 
 C. Mason, founder and rector of All Saint's 
 Church, St. Louis, Mo. Mr. Mason was, also, 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 45 
 
 with forty of the children of St. James' 
 Church, the chief founder of St. Mary's 
 Chapel, this city. 
 
 The first colored man to enter and graduate 
 from the General Theological Seminary, in 
 New York — Hutchens C. Bishop — when a 
 babe was taken into the arms of the late Rev. 
 Harrison H. Webb, in old St. James' Church, 
 and baptized into the body of Christ. Bishop 
 Nicholson, in his Milwaukee Cathedral, had 
 the extreme pleasure of ordaining deacon, and 
 then priest, a colored young man who, as a 
 boy, had been confirmed in St. James' Church, 
 Baltimore, where Bishop Nicholson first be- 
 gan his a'ctive ministry. That young man is 
 the Rev. E. Robert Bennett, B. D., rector of 
 St. Mark's Church, Wilmington, N. C. The 
 Rev. James N. Deaver, who is doing such suc- 
 cessful work at Atlantic City, N. J., was sent 
 from St. James', Baltimore, by the Bishop of 
 Maryland, to work as a catechist in the back 
 woods of Anne Arundel county, and while 
 there he became a candidate for Orders, and 
 being transferred as such to Southern Florida, 
 was there admitted to the ministry. 
 
 The life of the colored community has been 
 greatly helped by the powerful influence of 
 the strong characters, laymen, from time to 
 time, communicants of St. James' Church. 
 Such men as the late Richard Mason, Dr. A. 
 T. Augusta, Wesley Howard, William H. 
 Bishop, Charles H. Giles, among those de- 
 parted ; and William H. Waters, still surviv- 
 ing, .who first served as a vestryman of the 
 Church more than sixty-three years ago. 
 
 There are two memorials in the Church of 
 special interest. The first is a"window" erected 
 by the Sunday School in memory of Miss Julia 
 Mantley, a communicant of the Church, who 
 departed this life in 1890, and who left about 
 $1,200 to the Convention of Maryland to be 
 
Maryland Home Boys Returning frcm St. James' 
 
 Church. 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 47 
 
 held in trust, the interest from the same to be 
 paid each year to the rector of St. James' 
 Church, as her contribution towards his sal- 
 ary. The annual income from this fund 
 amounts to a little more than fifty dollars 
 each year. Miss Mantley was a poor woman, 
 who earned her living as a cook. 
 
 Ascension, 1909, there was placed in the 
 Church the beautiful east window, directly 
 over the altar, the central figure being a 
 representation of St. James the Great, with 
 beautiful panel work on each side, the whole 
 surmounted with a striking head of Our Lord. 
 This window is the joint offering of the late 
 Mr. William Washington, and his sister, Mrs. 
 John Henry Smith. The late John Henry 
 Smith was for a number of years a vestryman 
 of the Church, and, for a while, its faithful 
 treasurer. It is a joint memorial to Mr. Wash- 
 ington and Mr. Smith. 
 
 The rectory was procured, mainly, through 
 the kindness of Bishop Paret, about one thou- 
 sand dollars coming through him towards the 
 same from the church people of the diocese. 
 
 The Maryland Home for Friendless Colored 
 Children was organized in 1899 by the Rev. 
 George F. Bragg, rector of the Church. It 
 is a self-perpetuating corporation composed of 
 tw r elve colored men. The original twelve were 
 selected by Mr. Bragg. While this institution 
 is not, nominally, a Church Home, yet, prac- 
 tically, it is. The women in charge of the 
 Home are all members of St. James' Church; 
 the children all attend the Sunday School and 
 the services of the Church, are baptized, and, 
 in due season, are presented for Confirmation. 
 The rector of St. James' Church is the Presi- 
 dent and Chaplain of the institution. It re- 
 ceives and trains in virtue and industry such 
 neglected colored children between the ages 
 of two and ten as are committed to its cus- 
 
48 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 tody by the Juvenile Court or other compe- 
 tent authority. When the children reach 
 twelve or thirteen years of age they are 
 placed in proper families to remain until they 
 become of age. The institution is supported 
 by voluntary contributions, and by appro- 
 priations from the City of Baltimore and the 
 State of Maryland. 
 
 There are two very important aspects which 
 have characterized the life of the parish dur- 
 ing the present rectorship. We have raised 
 the necessary money to sustain our expenses 
 without the aid of fairs and entertainments. 
 We have sought to teach the people to give 
 out of their means, as little as it might be, 
 rather than to depend upon begging without, 
 or the employment of questionable means, by 
 all sorts of entertainments. We have been 
 much gratified at the result. The other aspect 
 is the spiritual life of the people. We have 
 kept this before us constantly, in every phase 
 of the work. The preaching in St. James' has 
 had but one end in view — the deepening of 
 the spiritual life of the people. It has been 
 our constant and untiring aim to bring the 
 people, day by day, in touch — vital touch — 
 with a Jesus Christ of the present, who really 
 saves and imparts happiness and joy. As one 
 result of all this, we have a united and har- 
 monious parish, free from factional disputes. 
 
 The rector of St. James' would do himself 
 a very great injustice if he did not here record 
 his profound appreciation of the kind, just, 
 and ever faithful support which his honored 
 and greatly beloved diocesan has ever ex- 
 hibited towards St. James', and its rector. 
 
 With respect to our Father in Heaven, 
 words fail us in expressing our gratitude to 
 Him for the Loyalty and Love of their rec- 
 tor which have ever characterized the people 
 cf St. James'. It is a record of which any 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 49 
 
 priest may humbly feel proud, that amidst 
 all the work and strivings of seventeen years 
 of labor, we have been able to attend to all 
 our parochial affairs without necessitating 
 factions and parties. By the Grace of God, 
 we have been as a loving family, and never 
 at any time have we found it necessary to 
 call in as arbitrator our Rt. Rev. Father in 
 God, or any other person beyond our own 
 family circle. God grant that this record may 
 never be reversed. 
 
 > An Important Summary. 
 
 In spite of earnest effort we have not been 
 able to ascertain but little concerning the per- 
 sonal history of the Rev. Mr. Levington. From 
 such data as we have, and natural inferences, 
 we are of the opinion that he was baptized in 
 Trinity parish, New York. On the testimony 
 of Mr.. Webb, a contemporary of his times, 
 also a former rector of St. James', we know 
 that Mr. Levington was born in New York. 
 He was born in the year 1793, the very year in 
 which St. Thomas' Church, Philadelphia, was 
 established. For 25 years St. Thomas' was 
 the only Negro Church in the United States. 
 St. Philip's Church, New York, was the next 
 one in the order of time ; the cornerstone of 
 said church edifice was laid on the 6th of 
 August, 1818, the 23rd anniversary of the ordi- 
 nation of Absalom Jones to the diaconate. 
 Thus, Mr. Levington having been born in New 
 York 25 years before the founding of St. Philip's 
 Church, it is most highly probable that he was 
 baptized in Trinity parish, since, previous to 
 the birth of St. Philip's, nearly all the colored 
 Churchmen of New York were connected with 
 Trinity parish. If such a presumption be true, 
 the Missionary results of the life of William 
 
50 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 Levington are highly creditable to the parish 
 of his Baptism, and it would be most fitting 
 for that wealthy and venerable corporation, at 
 this late day, to adequately equip its "Negro 
 offspring" for 'the great work to be done of 
 uplifting the people of the black race. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Levington's ordination to the 
 diaconate, took place in St. Thomas' Church, 
 Philadelphia, on the 14th of March, 1824. Very 
 soon thereafter, he visited Baltimore, remain- 
 ing a few weeks, and then returning to Phila- 
 delphia. On the 26th of May of the same year 
 he returned to Baltimore to take up the work. 
 The first regular service was held, in the "up- 
 per room," on the 23rd of June, of the same 
 year. 
 
 The lot on which the Church was erected, 
 corner of Saratoga and North streets, was do- 
 nated by James Bosley, Esq., on April 19th, 
 1825. The "cornerstone" was laid on the 10th 
 of October, 1826. The Church was consecrated 
 on March 31, 1827. The First Confirmation 
 service held in the Church took place on De- 
 cember 12th, 1828. The Church was incor- 
 porated, under the laws of the State of Mary- 
 land in 1829. The death of the Rev. Mr. Lev- 
 ington occurred on the 23rd of May, 1836. 
 
 The cornerstone of the present edifice was 
 laid on Sunday the 23rd of June, 1901, that 
 being the 77th anniversary of the "first" serv- 
 ice held by Mr. Levington. The choir of St. 
 Mary's Chapel united with the choir of St. 
 James' in furnishing the music for the occa- 
 sion. The Bishop being out of the country, 
 the Rev. Dr. J. S. B. Hodges, rector of St. 
 Paul's parish laid the stone. The rector of 
 the parish, the Rev. Mr. Bragg, was master 
 of ceremonies, and the Rev. Thomas Atkinson, 
 rector of St. Barnabas' Church, a grandson of 
 the late Bishop Atkinson, of North Carolina, 
 delivered the address. Besides those already 
 mentioned, the following clergy vested, and in 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 51 
 
 the procession, were present: Rev. J. H. Ec- 
 cleston, D. D., rector of Emmanuel Church; 
 Rev. Arthur C. Powell, D. D., rector of Grace 
 Church; Rev. E. B. Niver, rector of Christ 
 Church; Rev. Geo. C. Stokes, rector of the 
 Church of the Redeemer, and the Rev. J. G. 
 Sadtler, rector of the Church of Our Savior. 
 
 The first service held in the new church was 
 on the 10th of October, 1901, the anniversary 
 of the laying of the first cornerstone, being a 
 celebration of the Holy Communion, the rector 
 being celebrant, and Mrs. Nellie G. Bragg, the 
 wife of the rector, being the first lay person to 
 communicate. 
 
 The first baptism, in the new church took 
 place on Sunday, October 20th, the infant be- 
 ing, "Albert Anderson" Burgess. His mother 
 having been married by the present rector, and 
 his grandmother having been married by the 
 late Rev. Harrison H. Webb. 
 
 The first person to receive holy Confirma- 
 tion was "Arthur Milton" Bragg, a "birthday"" 
 present, son of the rector of the parish. The 
 Confirmation occurred on the Feast of the Pre- 
 sentation of Christ in the Temple, February 2, 
 1902. Bishop Paret officiating; there were 
 twenty confirmed at that time. 
 
 The location of the present edifice is at the 
 corner of Park avenue and Preston street. 
 The following are the Wardens and Vestry- 
 men: Heber G. Outerbridge, Geo. A. L. An- 
 derson, D. W. Queen, Solomon DeCoursey, 
 Walter S. Emerson, Robert H. Pennington, 
 Harry Butler, Daniel Peck and William Emer- 
 son Young. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Although not a part of the history of St. 
 James' Church, Baltimore, yet, the author 
 deems it both interesting and helpful to chroni- 
 cle one or two matte 5, of historical importance, 
 
52 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 connected with the general work of the church 
 among the colored race. 
 
 In October, 1894, the centennial celebration 
 of the "Mother Church," St. Thomas, Phila- 
 delphia, occurred, and it is a great pleasure to 
 herewith present the admirable address de- 
 livered on that occasion, by the Bishop of 
 Pennsylvania, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Whitaker. 
 
 On the 9th of December, 1894, the late Rev. 
 Dr. Crummell, celebrated, in St. Luke's 
 Church, Washington, D. C, of which he was 
 the founder, the 50th anniversary of his ordi- 
 nation to the Christian Priesthood. Among 
 the letters and testimonials read in connection 
 with that occasion was a greeting from the 
 Rt. Rev. Dr. Holly, the Bishop of Haiti, which 
 we also present. Practically the whole of Dr. 
 Crummell's clerical life in America was spent 
 in the old Diocese of Maryland, and within 
 the bounds of this same old Diocese was born 
 and baptised, in the Roman Church, James 
 Theodore Holly, the First Negro consecrated 
 a Bishop in the Church of God on American 
 soil. 
 
 In the year 1889, the Council of Virginia ex- 
 cluded the Negro from membership in that 
 body ; whereupon the Bishop of Haiti wrote 
 a memorable epistle to his colored brethren 
 who protested against the action of the Coun- 
 cil. That communication we also give. Some 
 years ago, while attending the Lambeth Con- 
 ference of Bishops, Bishop Holly, on the Feast 
 of St. James', in Westminster Abbey, lifted up 
 his heart and voice to the Throne of Grace, on 
 behalf of the Sons of Ham throughout the 
 world. This prayer we also give. 
 
 Bishop Whitaker at the Centennial of St. 
 Thomas' Church. 
 
 At the centennial services of St. Thomas' 
 Church, Philadelphia, on Sunday, October 
 14th, the Rt. Rev. Ozi W. Whitaker, D. D., 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 53 
 
 LU.D., Bishop of Pennsylvania, delivered the 
 address. He said : 
 
 "My dear brethren, and brethren of the ves- 
 try and congregation. There must be today 
 an emotion in your hearts of thankfulness to 
 Almighty God for His blessings. It is well 
 that you have assembled to witness this com- 
 memoration. The history of this parish is 
 connected with the history of the nation. The 
 conditons under which we assemble are very 
 different from those at the commencement of 
 the parish. The United States were then but 
 fifteen in number, and General Washington 
 was serving his first term as President. The 
 country now extends from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific. The population was then a little over 
 3,000,000; now it is 65,000,000. Of the colored 
 race there were 750,000, only 60,000 were free; 
 now it has increased ten fold, and there is not 
 one who is not a free man. The Rev. William 
 White was then Bishop. Yours was the fifth 
 congregation to be organized in Philadelphia, 
 and there were not at that time more than 
 nine or ten in the entire State. You were 
 the first congregaton of colored people to be 
 organized, and the minister of this parish was 
 the first colored man to be ordained in the 
 United States. The city of Phladelphia had 
 then a population of less than 50,000, along 
 the Delaware river, from Vine to South streets, 
 and the streets around the old church at Fifth 
 and Adelphi streets were not paved. We have 
 now a population of 1,100,000. Well may we 
 look back on what has been wrought- We may 
 well find much to admire and emulate in the 
 founders of this parish. They were men who 
 believed in God — men who trusted not in their 
 own righteousness, but only in the mercy of 
 God ; who trusted not in their own strength, 
 but in that imparted by the Holy Ghost; men 
 who reverenced God, and did not measure their 
 piety by religious show. They lived as men 
 
54 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 who were to give an account of the deeds done 
 in the body. They were men of wonderful 
 patience. They did not have a smooth, easy, 
 gliding passage, but influence from without 
 hindered their advance. How patiently they 
 endured when they asked for equal rights and 
 equal representation on the floor of the Dio- 
 cea"san Convention. Year after year it was 
 denied them ; not out of ill will or hatred, but 
 through a mistaken sense of right and justice. 
 The hearts of the people were Anally opened, 
 and to the everlasting glory of Bishop Alonzo 
 Potter their recognition was accorded. It was 
 only 31 years ago they were granted equal 
 rights in the Convention. They were not dis- 
 couraged, however, and had no thought of 
 abandoning their organization. They believed 
 in God, went steadily on their way, and, in 
 His own good time, God brought it about. 
 
 ''Absalom Jones, a man born a slave, won 
 his was into the ministry of the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church ; for 22 years he served this 
 parish, and went to his grave honored. You 
 have shared in all this advancement that has 
 been going on ; great have been your privileges, 
 and great is your responsibility. You occupy 
 a prominent position, and the whole Church 
 is looking to see that you fulfill the pledge you 
 made. 
 
 The Jubilee of the Late Rev. Alexander Crum- 
 mell, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 From an excellent account of the services 
 given by the Washington Post, of December 
 10, 1894, we quote from the discourse delivered 
 by Dr. Crummell on the day before: 
 
 "Notwithstanding the countless ills that be- 
 fall us during our material life the conviction 
 is almost universal that life is a great gift to 
 man, and of exceeding value. It is true that 
 we hear now and then the mooted question, "Is 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 55 
 
 life worth living?" but only one man in a mil- 
 lion makes this doleful utterance. For men 
 love life, because, with all its adversities, it 
 guarantees a substance and affords a measure 
 of reality. Hence, we find among men, anni- 
 versary commemmorations, red letter days, an- 
 nual festivals, of persons, families, nations. 
 These testify to man's belief in the excellence 
 of the life God has given us. 
 
 I have fallen in with the common sentiment, 
 and this day stand here to celebrate this anni- 
 versary with conflicting feelings and memories 
 surging upon me that suggest the title for my 
 discourse, "The shades and the lights of a fifty 
 years' ministry." 
 
 Dr. Crummell briefly recited the circum- 
 stances of his birth in New York, in 1819. His 
 father, Boston Crummell, was the son of the 
 King of Timanee and his mother a free woman. 
 He first attended a Quaker school, he said, in 
 Mulberry street, and in 1831 took up the study 
 of Greek and Latin in the high school, under 
 Rev. Peter Williams. Later, he went to a free 
 institution in Canaan, N. H., but that was torn 
 down by men with whom race prejudice was a 
 dominant sentiment. "At this early period of 
 my boyhood," said Dr. Crummell, "stimulated 
 by the catechisings of Mr. Williams, then rec- 
 tor of St. Philip's, New York, and kindled by 
 the sermon of Dr. (afterwards Rt. Reverend 
 Bishop W. R.) Whittingham, I determined to 
 prepare for holy orders. But I was to under- 
 go an experience that well nigh drove me to 
 desperation and brought starvation and physi- 
 cal ruin close upon me. Those were days of 
 deep, dark tribulations for my race. The pro- 
 slavery and caste spirit dominated the country, 
 and it was as strong in the Church as in the 
 State. Three other colored candidates had 
 been admitted to seminaries, but with limita- 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 5, 
 
 tions and indignities to which it was impos- 
 sible for me to submit. 
 
 Denied Admission. 
 
 "I applied for admission first to the General 
 Theological Seminary of New York. Bishop 
 Whittingham was my staunch friend, but could 
 do nothing with the trustees, who, with the 
 exception of Right Rev. George Washington 
 Doane, of New Jersey, were fiercely against 
 my admission, and my petition was rejected. 
 Bishop B. T. Onderdonk then sent for me and 
 grossly insulted me. The immediate cause of 
 this difficulty was the fact that South Carolina 
 had but recently endowed the Seminary with 
 a $15,000 professor's chair, and Bishop Onder- 
 donk was determined the people of that State 
 should not be offended by the presence of a 
 Negro in the institution. 
 
 Crummell was now regarded as a disturber 
 of the peace. Hardly any among the clergy 
 would do aught but shun him. He had a few 
 friends, however, among them Hon. William 
 Jay and John Jay, son and grandson, respec- 
 tively, of Chief Justice John Jay, Charles King, 
 editor of the New York American; Rufus 
 King, and Rev. Manton Eastburn, rector of 
 Ascension. At their instance he went to Bos- 
 ton, and finally secured admission as a student 
 in the Yale Theological Seminary, and even 
 there would not let his name be put upon the 
 list of students. Later he made the friendship' 
 of Dr. Alexander H. Vinton, Rev. Thomas M. 
 Clark (afterwards Bishop of Rhode Island), 
 and others, who encouraged him in his efforts 
 to preach in Providence, R. I., after his ordi- 
 nation as deacon in the Diocese of Massachu- 
 setts. But neither there nor in Philadelphia, 
 where in 1844 he was ordained by Bishop Lee, 
 could he gain support. His New York and 
 Boston friends then urged, in view of his en- 
 feebled condition resulting from his troubles, 
 that he go to England. 
 
The late Rev. Alexander Crummell, D. D., LL. D. 
 
58 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 Welcomed to England. 
 
 "I now pass from the shades of my ministry 
 to the lights. I turn to a brighter page in my 
 history." He was received in England with a 
 generosity that almost bewildered him, after 
 his sufferings in his native land. He preached 
 in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manches- 
 ter, and other cities of Great Britian, was given 
 a curacy and entered Queen's College, Cam- 
 bridge, graduating in 1852. This was a period 
 of grand opportunities, richest experiments, 
 almost unlimited privileges and cherished re- 
 membrances. He was admitted into the best 
 society of England, and made friends among 
 the Thorntons, the Froudes, the Thackerays, 
 with Macaulay ; and others of literary note. 
 His health was still poor, however, and he went 
 to Africa, where for twenty years he ministered 
 among the natives and the colonists from 
 America;, was pastor at the High School, and 
 professor in Liberia college. In 1873 he re- 
 turned to America, and established St. Luke's 
 Church, Washington, D. C. "Notwithstand- 
 ing my troubles," said Dr. Crummell. "I am 
 thoroughly an optimist. The Lord has chas- 
 tened me, and I am content." 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 59 
 BISHOP HOLLY TO DR. CRUMMELL. 
 
 Evangelical Truth. Apostolic Order. Catho- 
 lic Charity. 
 
 Bishop Holly, the Senior Negro Bishop of 
 the Anglican Communion now living, sends 
 his hearty Christian greetings to the Rev. Dr. 
 Crummell, the senior Negro presbyter of the 
 same Communion, now living; on the occasion 
 of the Jubilee of his ordination to the Priest- 
 hood of the Christian Church. 
 
 The Bishop begs to be permitted to add to 
 his greetings, the following reflections sug- 
 gested by that important event. 
 
 A century ago, at a time of general doubt 
 and misgivings about the capacity of the 
 Negro race ; and when the men of that race 
 were, as a matter of fact, still in the unde- 
 veloped state, where slavery and oppression 
 had kept them, during a period of about a 
 century, and three-fourths of another century, 
 in the United States; there was even then 
 found a Catholic-hearted Prelate, in the per- 
 son of the first Bishop of Pennsylvania, who 
 had the Christian courage to ordain the Rev. 
 Absalom Jones, a man of the Negro race, to 
 the Sacred Ministry of the Church of Christ. 
 
 When the jubilee of that first ordination of a 
 Negro clergyman in the United States came 
 around, the Christian spirit manifested by that 
 Bishop fifty years before, had unfortunately- 
 grown narrower and meaner; instead of be- 
 coming larger and generous, towards the 
 Negro race. Strange to say, this retrograde 
 feeling had thus come about, in spite of the 
 marked advancement in various resoects. that 
 
 had been made by that race during the preced- 
 ing half century. 
 
The Rt. Rev. James Thecdore Holly, D. D., LL. D., 
 Bishop of Haiti. 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL. 61* 
 
 To rebuke this unchristian spirit in the high 
 places of the Church, God, in His wonderful 
 Providence, was pleased to raise up and bring 
 into notice, at or about that year of the jubilee 
 anniversary of the Rev. Absalom Jones' ordi- 
 nation, a young Negro Levite, a candidate for 
 Holy Orders, to vindicate the manhood of the 
 race, in the very teeth and face of such ec- 
 clessiastical time-serving; and to claim the full 
 acknowledgment by the Church of Christ, in 
 his person of the equal Gospel privileges of 
 men of every race around her altars. 
 
 That heroic Christian Levite is the Presby- 
 ter, who now at the end of another fifty years 
 celebrates the jubilee of his ordination to the 
 Gospel Priesthood. This venerable priest of 
 the Church of God, is the Rev. Dr. Alexander 
 Crummell. 
 
 The Afro-American clergy and laymen who 
 met in October last in Philadelphia to celebrate 
 the centennial of the organization of the parish 
 of St. Thomas Church, in that city, perhaps did 
 not fully realize at the time of their festal gath- 
 ering, how much the increased brotherly con- 
 sideration for them, now manifested in the 
 whole American Church comes under God as 
 a direct result of the manly stand assumed fifty 
 years ago by the Rev. Dr. Crummell — a stand 
 which produced its echo on the shores of the 
 mother Church of England — and its re-echo 
 from thence on the American shores again. God 
 be praised that this His venerable servant, has 
 been spared to see and enjoy this happy result 
 of the faithful testimony he was privileged to 
 render at the critical turning point of Ameri- 
 can Church history. And let God also be 
 thanked that this priestly jubilee of His servant 
 comes soon after the centennial of St. Thomas' 
 Church, to give the needed emphasis to the 
 same; and to call our particular attention to 
 
62 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 what God has wrought through His now aged 
 servant in the days of his youth. 
 
 The Bishop of Haiti, who heartily greets the 
 Rev. Dr. Crummell on this jubilee occasion is 
 also happy to seize this occasion to publicly 
 acknowledge his debt of gratitude to the vener- 
 able Doctor for the uplifting inspiration, which 
 under God, the Bishop has received from the 
 Doctor's noble example, inspiration by which 
 the Bishop has been enabled to work with 
 courageous patience and preseverance during 
 the last forty years nearly, in the ministry of 
 the Church of Christ as Deacon, Priest and 
 Bishop. 
 
 The Bishop of Haiti further prays that God 
 will preserve for some time longer amongst 
 us, in life, health, usefulness and happiness this 
 venerable patriarch of the Afro-American 
 Priesthood and that when his duties in the 
 Church Militant shall have been accomplished 
 God will be pleased to let the body of His aged 
 servant fall asleep calmly and sweetly in Jesus, 
 and to admit his purified soul to the life, peace 
 and rest of the Church reposing ; there to await 
 his joyful resurrection and summons to glory, 
 when the chief Bishop and Shepherd of our 
 souls shall descend with a shout, and the sound 
 of the last trumpet, and the voice of the arch- 
 angel, from the Church triumphant above, to 
 give unto him in company with all those, who 
 like hi mlive and long for the future appear- 
 ing from Heaven of the Great God, our Lord 
 and Savior Jesus Christ. 
 
 The Bishop of Haiti, in concluding his re- 
 flectons, invokes the blessings of the Lord God 
 Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, upon 
 all those who shall be present in body or in 
 spirit, at the commemorative festivities of the 
 Sacerdotal Jubilee of the Rev. Dr. Crummell. 
 
 Given under the hand of the Bishop of Haiti, 
 on the Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle and 
 Martyr, in the year of Our Lord, one thousand 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 63 
 
 eight hundred and ninety-four ; and of the Bish- 
 op's consecration, the 21st. 
 
 JAMES THEODORE HOLLY, 
 
 Bishop of the Haytian Orthodox 
 Apostolic Church. 
 
 Bishop Holly to the Virginia "Protestants." 
 
 Port au Prince, Haiti, 
 
 June 1, 1889. 
 Rev. and Dear Brother: 
 
 I see by a recent number of the "Southern 
 Churchman" that the agitation over the col- 
 ored question has reached a temporary solution 
 in the dioceses of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church in Virginia and South Carolina. I 
 have also taken note of the protest made by 
 you in common with eight of your colored col- 
 leagues against the solution given to that agi- 
 tated question by the Council of that Church in 
 Virginia I recognize the fact that you thereby 
 performed an act, as a matter of duty, of which 
 you, under God, had the sole responsibility of 
 being Judges, under the circumstances, and on 
 that occasion, when you were called to act. 
 No other man or set of men otherwise placed 
 could or should dictate to you your course of 
 action in the premises. 
 
 The Temperate Tone of the Protest. 
 
 I simply write to say first how much I am 
 pleased with the temperate tone of your protest 
 and the solemn appeal therein made from the 
 decision of that council to the final judgment 
 seat of the Great Head of the Church. In this 
 appeal you acted according to Divine inspira- 
 tion, and be assured that it has not been made 
 in vain. In the second place I wish to refer 
 to the human fear also expressed in that pro- 
 test, to the effect that the amendment made to 
 the Diocesan Constitution may "put an end to 
 the growth of the work of the Church among 
 
64 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 our people." I wish to exhort you to implore 
 the succor of Divine grace to cast out that fear, 
 and to inspire you all with renewed courage to 
 labor to counteract the evil results you seem to 
 dread. I send you this exhortation, because I 
 sincerely believe that the African race must 
 find in the Churches of 'the Anglican Com- 
 munion the powerful lever, which under God, 
 will elevate them to the full stature of their 
 Christian manhood. That race is under a dark 
 and heavy cloud of spiritual ignorance. It is 
 only the entrance of God's word that giveth 
 light. That saving word of inspiration (leav- 
 ing aside the explanations of the human 
 preacher) can be heard in its purity in those 
 Churches in the Scriptural order of the liturgi- 
 cal services, in greater abundance, and by a 
 clearer and more systematic presentation of 
 the whole mystery of Godliness, than in any 
 other or all other churches under the sun. 
 Hence, in a somewhat lower sense than the oc- 
 casion on which the Apostle Peter spoke, we 
 may say before thinking of turning away from 
 the Church of our love : "Whither can we go ; 
 for thou our spiritual Mother, hast the words 
 of Eternal Life !" Therefore the impalatable 
 decision arrived at should be accepted as a 
 Providential fact, permitted by Almighty God 
 for your trial in the furnace of affliction, to 
 bring; about your spiritual perfection. 
 
 A Temporary 'compromise. 
 
 It is a temporary compromise, enacted by 
 time serving men, acting no doubt conscienti- 
 ously, according to the best light they have ; 
 and which in the ecclesiastical order is of the 
 same nature as the Missouri compromise of 
 1818, the compromise of 1850, and the Dred 
 Scott decision of 1857, were in the political and 
 judicial order of things. And as these latter 
 compromises, that might well be characterized 
 in the terms of an ancient prophet (Isa. xxviii : 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 65 
 
 14-22) were scattered to the four winds of 
 heaven by th.e political earthquake in the 
 States, which followed four years after the 
 Dred Scott decision, by the Higher Decision 
 of Almighty God, to whom alone vengeance 
 belongeth ; so those ecclesiastical compromises 
 made (as you say in your protest) "as God 
 would not have settled them," will also be 
 brought to nought by the supreme Decision 
 emanating from the judgment seat of Christ, 
 to which you have so wisely appealed. No ; 
 we must not abandon the Churches of the 
 Anglican Communion. There is still virtue in 
 them by the Sovereign election of the Al- 
 mighty, and with no thanks to those tempor- 
 arily invested with their administration. It is 
 not moral character, nor knowledge, nor per- 
 sonal control, nor the dignity of those ad- 
 ministrators that preserve this Divine grace 
 in those Churches, any more than 'similar 
 qualities in the Jew can add to the virtue of 
 Divine Revelation, of which he is the organ 
 and the guardian ; but it is the Sovereign will 
 and power of Almighty God that preserve this 
 grace in the Church, in spite of the unworthy 
 administrators ; and maintain this virtue in the 
 Holy Scriptures in spite of the despicable 
 character of the Jew. The Jews were a horde 
 of runaway slaves from Egypt ; and the word 
 of God's power seized hold on them and raised 
 them to the dignity of a free and independent 
 nation. In the time of Julius Caesar when the 
 ancient Britons were naked and painted sav- 
 ages the word of Grace took hold of them, and 
 raised them to the dignity of the first and most 
 powerful empire of Modern times. 
 
 "Vox populi" is not necessarily "Vox Dei." 
 The purity of Christ's Church does not depend 
 alone upon human knowledge or human ex- 
 perience. A Council which is not presided by 
 the Holy Ghost is not a proper legislative body 
 
66 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 for the Church, no matter how great may be 
 the human qualifications of its members. 
 Whereas a council, thus presided and guided 
 by the Holy Spirit no matter how humble the 
 human qualifications of its members, will pos- 
 sess the first and most indispensable requisite 
 of a true legislative body of the Church. To 
 know to what assembly of men the Holy Ghost 
 will be given as Leader and Guide, we have 
 only to reflect on these words of inspiration : 
 "God resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto 
 the humble." "Though the Lord be high, yet 
 hath he respect unto the lowly : but the proud 
 be knoweth afar off." "For thus saith the 
 high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, 
 whose name is Holy : 'I dwell in the high and 
 holy place, with him also that is of a contrite 
 and humle spirit, and to revive the heart of the 
 contrite ones." Ah ! this boast of Vox Populi, 
 and this demand for mere human qualifications 
 show that the human rulers in the Church 
 have descended to the Laodicean stage of the 
 Christian apostacy. The name of this seventh 
 Apocalyptic Church may be freely translated : 
 "popular opinion," or the "whims of the multi- 
 tude." When this stage is reached we know 
 that the Great Head of the Church is ready to 
 spue such an ecclesiastical organization out of 
 his mouth. This is also the Babylonian state 
 of the Church, as we may gather from what 
 occurred at the building of the tower of Babel. 
 It was the voice of the people, the whim of 
 the multitude who said : "Go to let us build us 
 a city and a tower." By this subtle thread of 
 connection between the name of the seventh 
 Apocalyptic Church and this popular occur- 
 rence on the plains of Shinar, we can see that 
 the Harlot of Babylon and the Church of 
 Laodicea are identical. Hence everything in- 
 dicates that Christendom has fully entered 
 upon this last stage of its downward career. 
 
 Race Knowledge and Experience. 
 Vox Populi assumes the place of Vox Dei. 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 67 
 
 Let me say here by way of parenthesis, that 
 the hereditary idiosyncracies of race knowl- 
 edge, race experience and race sentiment might 
 be invoked with some show of reason when it 
 is a question of appointing a judge on the 
 bench of the supreme court of the United 
 States ; where the spirit of Anglo-Saxon juris- 
 prudence which has been developing for more 
 than a thousand years in the common law and 
 statutory enactments, has to be interpreted and 
 applied, even to the annulling of laws enacted 
 by Congress and approved by the President 
 of the Nation. Each people are more or less 
 justified in its civil administration in thus 
 jealousy guarding its peculiar ancestral tradi- 
 tions. But to carry such an exclusive policy 
 into the legislation of the Church, the spirit of 
 whose Canon laws is the amalgam of Greek 
 and Latin, Asiatic and African conciliar legis- 
 lation for the past eighteen hundred years, is a 
 proposition that is pointless ; for it has not the 
 same show of reason even from a merely hu- 
 man point of view. TJie Historic glory of our 
 Church, impersonated and summed up in the 
 Episcopate is derived from the amalgated 
 testimony of Christians of every race through- 
 out all the Gospel centuries. But to return 
 from this digression. I have exhorted you to 
 hold fast to the Church as it is for there is 
 still virtue in it. The voice has not yet been 
 uttered from Heaven to call God's people out 
 of Babylon. Let every man therefore stand to 
 his post, just where the Providence of God has 
 placed him, in obedience to the Command of 
 our Great Head who told us to occupy until 
 He comes. As an additional reason thus to 
 stand by our guns, I wish to refer to the pe- 
 culiar connection that the African race holds 
 to this residue of virtue in the Anglican 
 Churches. 
 
 The Divine parity of Bishops, which is a 
 
68 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 distinctive point in their discipline, is derived 
 from the declaration voiced by an African 
 P'ather of the. Church, Cyprian, Bishop of 
 Carthage : "Episcopatus unus est, cujus pars 
 singulis in soldidum tenetur." It was by this 
 principle announced by that African Father 
 that the ancient British Bishops resisted the 
 beginning of papal usurpations in their Island, 
 in response to the pretensions of the same, 
 made by Augustine, the first Archbishop of 
 Canterbury. And when this usurpation had 
 more or less prevailed, in spite of this original 
 protest of the British Bishops, it was by the 
 re-affirmation of this same principle in the Six- 
 teenth century, by the English Church, that 
 she freed herself from the detestable tyrrany 
 of the Bishop of Rome. So much then for this 
 principle to prove what interest the African 
 race has in the virtue still latent in the Angli- 
 can Churches. Let me now cite another fact 
 which will go to prove how this same race may 
 extract this virtue from this same spiritual 
 Mother for their own godly nourishment. The 
 first colored man ordained in the Uniter States 
 was the Reverend Absalom Jones, as minister 
 of St. Thomas' Church, Philadelphia. He was 
 made Deacon by Bishop White. I think there 
 is no record of his ever having been ordained 
 presbyter. It was in the days when ignorance, 
 as black as night, enveloped our poor, op- 
 pressed and down-trodden race. This Deacon 
 was not much above the mass of his brethren 
 in intelligence. He had no definite idea of the 
 range of his ministerial powers. 
 
 Circumstantial Episcopate. 
 Hence in his simplicity, with a heart full of 
 brotherly love, at the call of the African 
 Methodists he assumed to lay hands on and set 
 apart the first Bishop of that Connection ; 
 forming thus what one of the present succes- 
 sors of that first Bishop has called a Provi- 
 dential or Circumstantial Episcopate, in dis- 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 69 
 
 tinction from the Historic Episcopate derived 
 from the first Apostles. From this beginning, 
 in 1816, we have seen two large and flourish- 
 ing bodies of African Methodists springing up 
 in the Northern States which are now rapidly 
 extending in the Southern States ; and jointly 
 numbering more than twenty of those Circum- 
 stantial or emergency Bishops, with Confer- 
 ences and General Conferences, Book-Con- 
 cerns, Missionary societies, weekly journals, 
 and a quarterly Review ; and by the Spirit of 
 God vouchsafed to them, governing themselves 
 and administering their affairs as creditably as 
 the white Methodists under their Circum- 
 stancial Episcopate, derived from a presbyter 
 of the Church of England. This they have 
 done now for more than seventy years, with- 
 out any active co-operation from their white 
 co-religionists. Now, my point is this : if all 
 this virtue has come from an ignorant, black 
 deacon of our Church acting in such an irregu- 
 lar manner ; how much more virtue may we 
 not expect to derive from this spiritual Mother 
 for the future elevation of our race by acting 
 in a regular manner under the full plenitude of 
 her Ministerial powers? We can only enjoy 
 the plenitude of this benediction by firmly re- 
 solving to remain within her fold until the 
 Great Master at His Advent calls us to come 
 out from thence. And it is well for us to bear 
 in mind that the day for the full and final 
 deliverance of our race, from political and ec- 
 clesiastical thraldom will not dawn for us until 
 that Great Event takes place. The Mosaic dis- 
 pensation was Semitic. The Gospel dispen- 
 sation is principally Japhetic. But the Mil- 
 lenial dispensation will be Hamitic. In the 
 words of the Prayer Book-version of the 
 Psalms : "When God shall scatter the nations 
 that delight in war, then shall Princes come 
 out of Egypt, and the Morians land (Ethiopia) 
 shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." 
 
70 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 This will be the moment for the political and 
 ecclesiastical deliverance of the African race. 
 It will take place when the King of kings and 
 Lord of lords shall have scattered the nations 
 which delight in war. These are emphatically 
 the Japhetic nations, nominally Christians, but 
 armed at this moment to the teeth to destroy 
 one another in defiance of the Gospel which 
 they profess to believe whose first sentence is 
 "Glory to God in the highest and on Earth 
 peace and good will towards men. 7 ' Then that 
 race whose son carried the Savior's cross, while 
 the Semitic and Japhetic races united to crucify 
 Him, will wear the Dispensational Crown ; be- 
 ing also the race, which in the person of the 
 Ethiopian eunuch, furnished the first convert 
 of pure Gentile blood (though a Jewish prose- 
 lyte) and who hastened to stretch out his hand 
 to God, when Philip drew near to him ; and 
 even to ask himself for Christian Baptism ! The 
 Lord is at hand ! He is now knocking at the 
 door of the Laodicean Church. Let us stand 
 in our places and heed the exhortation which 
 He addresses to all therein. Thus we shall be 
 prepared to fulfil our mission in His Kingdom 
 soon to be established on this earth. He was 
 buffeted and spit upon in the presence of the 
 Chief Ecclesiastics at His First Advent. He 
 supported all patiently. If we would be like 
 Him and have part with Him in His Kingdom, 
 we must show the like patience under injuries. 
 I am speaking of our spiritual relations, I have 
 no mission to give advice in political matters, 
 further than due submission to the powers that 
 be. The condition of servitude meted out to 
 our race for four thousand years, since the 
 days of Noah, has been our training for great- 
 ness in the Kingdom of God. 
 
 Greatness In the Kingdom of God. 
 It has indeed been our reproach during this 
 domineering period ofthe Semitic and Japhetic 
 Gentiles. But it will be no longer so in Christ's 
 
THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 71 
 
 Kingdom. For he that has fully imbibed the 
 spirit of being the servant of all shall be the 
 greatest of all therein. The Master has given 
 us that assurance. And He illustrated what 
 kind of service He meant at the Last Supper, 
 by serving at Table Himself, and by washing 
 His disciples feet after Supper. This is the 
 kind of service in which we have been trained 
 and so far as it has been followed in the right 
 spirit, we cannot doubt what will be our great 
 reward when the war-like Japhetic nations 
 shall be dashed in pieces at His coming! 
 Hence, I would exhort you against anything 
 like a schismatic spirit. 
 
 The Semitic and Japhetic nations are es- 
 sentially schismatical. They divide all their 
 religions up into sects, and schools of thought 
 and ecclesiastical parties.* Our contact with 
 them has produced similar divisions amongst 
 us. But it is not a religious peculiarity innate 
 in the African mind. There is a unity in the 
 dead level of African fetichism. The unity in 
 the truth for which the Savior prayed so earn- 
 estly after Supper and before He went forth to 
 His Agony in the Garden, will come forth 
 from beneath this dead level of error as the 
 glad response at last, to His earnest prayer, 
 when the Spirit of God shall sweep over the 
 valley of African dry bones around the Congo, 
 on the Niger and on the banks of the St. Paul ; 
 when He shall come in His glory ! I take the 
 liberty of sending you this exhortation to 
 steadfastness, as your simple fellow servant in 
 the tribulations of the same race. 
 
 *We have now a sad example of this schismatic 
 spirit in the Church of England by the persistent 
 obstinacy of two parties who have set in motion 
 the dusty and creaking machinery of an Ecclesiastical 
 Judiciary which had lain unused, exposed to the 
 mildew for two centuries, to the great scandal of 
 Christianity thereby made a laughing stock for out- 
 lying heathendom! The bone of this angry conten- 
 tion being a couple of lighted candles. 
 
72 THE FIRST ON SOUTHERN SOIL 
 
 I have no title to address you any otherwise. 
 And I beg you to communicate it in the same 
 sense to your colleagues who signed that pro- 
 test with you. I pray God to bless what I 
 have said to confirm and fortify each one of 
 you to do your duty in the place where He in 
 His Providence, has been pleased to call you. 
 Meanwhile, 
 
 I am, Rev. and Dear Mr. Bragg, 
 Your Fellow Servant in Christ, 
 JAMES THEODORE HOLEY. 
 
 Bishop Holly was in error with respect to Absa- 
 lom j ones not having been ordained to the Priest- 
 hood. Bishop White reported him as having been 
 elevated to Priesthood in 1804. — The Author. 
 
 The Prayer of Bishop Holly in Westminster 
 
 Abbey. 
 
 "O, Thou Savior Christ, Son of the Living 
 God, who when Thou was spurned by the Jews 
 of the race of Shem, and who, when delivered 
 up without cause by the Romans of the race of 
 Japheth, on the day of thy ignominious cruci- 
 fixion, hadst Thy ponderous cross borne to 
 Golgotha's summit on the stalwart shoulders of 
 Simon the Cyrenian, of the race of Ham, I 
 pray Thee, O precious Savior, remember that 
 forlorn, despised, and rejected race, whose son 
 thus bore Thy cross, when Thou shalt come in 
 the power and majesty of thy eternal Kingdom 
 to distribute Thy crowns of everlasting glory. 
 
 "And give to me then, not a place at Thy 
 right hand or at Thy left, but only the place 
 of a gatekeeper at the entrance of the Holy 
 City, the' new Jerusalem, that I may behold 
 my redeemed brethren, the saved of the Lord, 
 entering therein to be partakers with Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob of all the joys of Thy glorious 
 and everlasting Kingdom !"