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I This is to certify that the dissertation entitled HERALDING SOUTH AFRICA’S REDEMPTION: EVANGELICALISM AND ETHIOPIANISM IN THE MISSIONARY PHILOSOPHY OF THE NATIONAL BAPTIST CONVENTION, USA, INC 1880-1930 presented by Eric Michael Washington has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctoral degree in History NW W Major ProfEssorG Signature MSU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer LIBRARY Michigan State University PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. MAY BE RECALLED with earlier due date if requested. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE 5/08 K:/Prolecc&Pres/ClRC/DateDue.indd HERALDING SOUTH AFRICA’S REDEMPTION: EVANGELICALISM AND ETHIOPIANISM IN THE MISSIONARY PHILOSOPHY OF THE NATIONAL BAPTIST CONVENTION, USA, INC. 1880-1930 Volume I By Eric Michael Washington A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILSOPHY History 2010 ABSTRACT HERALDING SOUTH AFRICA'S REDEMPTION: EVANGELICALISM AND ETHIOPIANISM IN THE MISSIONARY PHILOSOPHY OF THE NATIONAL BAPTIST CONVENTION, USA, INC 1880-1930 By Eric Michael Washington This dissertation analyzes the missionary philosophy of leaders within the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. from 1880-1930 encapsulating the first 50 years of its history. Special attention is focused upon African American and African missionaries in the South African field of operation of the Foreign Mission Board of the convention. This dissertation argues that African American Baptists envisioned its role in the redemption of South Africa in terms of an awareness of God’s Providential Design that determined that Christian African Americans must be the ones to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to Africans as well as American civilization. This work analyzes editorials, essays, and letters from the South African field that appear in the official newspaper of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention, the Mission Herald. Through this analysis it is found that both African American Baptists and Afiican Baptists in the mission field believed that God’s Providence dictated that African Americans must go to Africa to redeem Africans spiritually and materially. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The completion ofthis dissertation and the Ph.D. has been a long time coming. Owing to this I am grateful to a host of people. F irst, I give thanks to God Almighty for giving grace and strength throughout the entire process of graduate education. God has given the grace to persevere when the way seemed totally dark. Second, I thank my wife, Leslie, for all of her encouragement and tireless efforts to make sure I had everything needed to succeed in this endeavor. Leslie, you have been my right arm throughout the whole process, and you have my undying love and gratitude. Third, I acknowledge the support I have received from my colleagues in the History Department at Calvin College. Your cheers and well wishes I have been much appreciated. I would also like to extend a special thanks to Sarah Van Timmeren, one of our administrative assistants, who was always willing and able to assist me with nagging little formatting problems. More so, Sarah is a true colleague and friend. My gratitude is extended to the staff at the headquarters of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention in Philadelphia who opened that facility‘s library to me, and a special thanks to Joan Duffy at the Yale Divinity School Library for wonderful assistance. Finally, I thank my parents, C. E. and Annette Washington for your encouragement and prayers throughout, my in- laws, Brian and Mary Rollins for your time and help, my siblings, Yvette and Wallace, and my two daughters, Kai and Dinah who have given me intangible encouragement. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1 FROM LOTT CAREY TO WILLIAM COLLEY: PRECURSOR AFRICAN AMERICAN MISSIONARIES TO AFRICA AND MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS, CA. 1821-1879 ........................................................................................... 62 CHAPTER 2 THE SHAPING OF NATIONAL BAPTIST THEOLOGY IN THE 19” CENTURY AND IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY ....................................................... 88 CHAPTER 3 THE FORMALIZATION OF THE ETHIOPIAN REFRAIN .............................. 185 CHAPTER 4 VOICES FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN FIELD .......................................... 255 CHAPTER 5 EXPANDING ETHIOPIANISM AND SOUTH AFRICAN REDEMPTION ............ 309 CHAPTER 6 “I AM TRYING TO ESTABLISH A BIG SCHOOL HERE" .............................. 357 CONCLUSION HERALDING STILL, BUT THE VISION HAS CHANGED .............................. 44o BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................. 445 iv Introduction: Putting the Missionary into Missionary Baptist History Go into any American city with a significant African American population, and one will find a number of Missionary Baptist churches. Some of the names of these churches are a source of humor. African American comedians have drawn much laughter from jokes about the names of African American churches such as “Greater Second East St. Paul Regular Missionary Baptist Church.” Such humor exemplifies one of the historic methods of African American survival of terrible oppression in America as noted in Lawrence Levine’s important work, Black Culture and Black Consciousness. Levine Shares one story of an African American minister who rejected the biblical teaching on the existence of Hell. According to the joke the preacher substantiated this claim by saying: “‘Oh, no my fiiends! The Lord would not repeat himself by making a place called Hell when we already have a place called Georgia.”l Even in religious tones, African Americans have always been able to express serious oppression through humor. As a boy and teenager growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana, I was a member of one of those ubiquitous Missionary Baptist churches. I wondered what made my church a missionary Baptist church while others were just plain Baptist churches. Though my father was the pastor of my church, I was intent on figuring out this problem on my own. My tentative conclusion was that Missionary Baptist churches has Missionary Departments, or Missionary Societies that sought to evangelize lost souls in the neighborhood of the church, or made visits to prisons and nursing homes to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. My church, at least, began to do such in the late 19805 in the 1 Lawrence Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977), 299, 317. aftermath of my father's harangues about our church being “stationary missionaries.”2 My father taught us that all Christians are missionaries, and the mission field is wherever we were. After joining the Missionary Department, I thought I had a good working understanding of what a Missionary Baptist church was. After graduating from college, I began the study of history and commenced to read much on the African American Baptist movement. In my reading, I received a pleasant shock to realize that African American Baptists had a long tradition of overseas missionary work, especially mission work in Africa. At this time I served a Missionary Baptist church as a minister, and I learned that my own National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. formed as a result of concerns for the sustaining and expansion of Afiican missions work. So that was it. Though I had been a member of a small, Missionary Baptist church in New Orleans and continued to be a member of a Missionary Baptist church, I was part of an on-going, larger movement within the African American Baptist tradition. Baptists, in general, and African American Baptists particularly take seriously their covenant commitment to God and their fellow church members. Most Baptists have a formal, written covenant that gives expression to their holy obligations as Christians. The Church Covenant used by many church of the National Baptist Convention, USA makes this statement, which is of importance here: We engage therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this church, in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the 2 My father, Pastor C. E. Washington, was wont to state from the pulpit that he had never seen so many “stationary missionaries” in all of his life, and that we needed to take the “missionary” off of the name of the church’s sign. support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, and the reliefofthe poor, and the spread oft/1e gospel through all nations.3 The italicized statement exemplifies the major focus that missionary work has among African American Baptists. It is of such a serious nature that individual church members vow before God and each other to support mission work financially. In 2002, one contemporary African American Baptist pastor made an eloquent statement regarding the import of financial support for mission work. Commenting on this section of the Church Covenant, Pastor William C. Turner, Jr. has remarked: Blessing the world entails being faithful and evangelical. We are heralds of the good news that God has given salvation to the world. The power of sin has been broken, and God has inaugurated the first phase of the kingdom within the church. The church is the place where those seeking salvation from the raging storm of life are to be welcomed. It is an ark of safety, a tower of refuge, a land like Goshen that has been spared the plague that comes from the judgment of God. It is wonderful when those who already know the Lord come to cast their lot among us. But our first duty in ministry is to rescue the perishing who are around us.4 This statement helps to buttress the idea that African American Baptists are a missionary people historically and at present. These eloquent words by Turner also place the missionary squarely into Missionary Baptist. African American Baptists fit neatly within the Christian tradition of evangelism and missions work. As Baptists have held to a high View of the Scriptures historically, it is no wonder that former Corresponding Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., Dr. William J. Harvey stated that the Bible itself is a “missionary book."5 For African American Baptists, the Scriptures define and motivate missions. The writers of the New Testament gospels all include the words of 3 Articles of Faith and Church Covenant (Nashville, TN: National Baptist Publishing Board, 2000), 13. Italics mine. . 4 William C. Turner, Jr., A Journey Through the Church Covenant: Discipleship far African American Christians (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2002), 57-58. 5 William J. Harvey III, Dollye W. Cunningham, and Bruce N. Alick, The Missionary Worker '5 Manual (Philadelphia, PA: Foreign Mission Board National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., 2002), 9. 3 Jesus Christ to his disciples commanding them to preach the gospel to all nations. The most famous and most quoted passage is found in the Gospel According to Matthew. It reads: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”6 From its inception in first century Palestine, the Christian Church has carried this Great Commission to this very day as it is truly a universal church with members in every corner of the globe. In the workings of what Christians call Providence, slave captives from Africa who had never heard of Jesus Christ and the gospel heard of both in the grips of chattel slavery. Prior to 1619, only a few Africans who resided along the West African coast had contact with Christianity through the work of Roman Catholic missionaries from Portugal. There is no discussion of the beginnings of African American Christianity outside of the context of slavery. When Afiicans came to the English colonies in 1619, they posed a serious problem to European Christians and the Church then planted in America. The 17‘h century witnessed debates within Puritan New England, Anglican Virginia, and Maryland regarding the baptism of slaves and their subsequent freedom. Did African slaves receiving baptism deserve their immediate emancipation? Colonists decided against such a practice, and Christian Africans remained slaves. In such a condition Africans received Jesus Christ as their Savior through the preaching and teaching of the gospel by Anglicans and Puritans during this time. These are the beginnings of the development of African American churches during the Age of Revolution. These churches, primarily Methodist and Baptist, would obey the same 6 Matt. 28: 19-20 King James Version. commandment from Jesus Christ to "go ye therefore.” Baptists such as George Liele, Lott Carey, Nathaniel Paul, and William Colley all would go to preach the gospel to Africans and members of the African Diaspora.7 This dissertation places forth the argument that African American Baptists from the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. (NBC) were quite active in the African mission field beginning in 1883 (under the auspices of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention founded in 1880 and is the precursor to the NBC) and that by 1930 had an expansive and impressive work in South Africa more so than any other field of its African work. As Baptists the leadership and missionaries of the Foreign Mission Board of the NBC acted in accordance with the biblical mandate to make disciples of every nation indicating a high View of biblical authority consistent with historic Evangelicalism. AS African Americans the Board and the Parent Body of the convention framed its mission to all of Africa, South Africa included, within Ethiopianism, a uniquely constructed African American theology that held to a belief that God had ordained that West and West-Central Africans be captured and enslaved in America in order to hear and believe the gospel and carry it back to Africa with the attendant markers of American civilization. African South African missionaries employed and supported by the Board embraced the same civilizationist ideas embedded in African American Ethiopianism and viewed the gospel in terms of both spiritual redemption and social and 7 According to the London Baptist Confession of 1689, Providence is God’s “infinite power and wisdom” that upholds, directs, disposes, and governs “all creatures and things.” By this definition nothing occurs in the universe by chance, but by God’s determination and guidance. See The London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 5. Nathaniel Paul who was the first pastor of the African Baptist Church in Boston, and also filled the pulpit during the early days of Abyssinian Baptist Church of New York City became a missionary to Haiti during the late 1820s. On Thomas Paul’s missionary work in Haiti see Alfred Lane Pugh, Pioneer Preachers in Paradise: The Legacies of George Liele, Prince Williams, and Thomas Paul In Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Haiti (St. Cloud, MN: Paradise Publishing, 2003), 127ff. On the spelling of George Liele, various spellings appear in the historical literature, but in his published letters Liele used the spelling used here in this work. economic redemption, and they favored much financial and pastoral help from African Americans. The importance of this topic is that it highlights how African American Baptists applied Ethiopianism coupled with a firm commitment to historic Baptist belief to the Afiican mission field. This takes seriously African American Baptist leaders during the late 19th and early 20‘h centuries as deliberate thinkers regarding Christian mission and racial uplift. African American historians have noted that this period in African American history is one of the lowest. Radical Reconstruction had failed to create a true racially egalitarian society, lynching reached its height, and racial segregation became legal owing to the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. In this period, African American Protestants including Baptists espoused Ethiopianist sentiment that supported a renewed interest in emigration to Africa and African missions. Ethiopianism demanded that African American Baptists would become “evangelical” regarding uplifting their African brethren in the midst of European imperialism and colonialism. At the same time, this topic reveals that Afiican American Baptists had an optimistic (possibly overly optimistic) view of their own rise in American society believing they were well-equipped to transport their philosophy and method of racial uplift to Africa, especially South Africa. Part of the explanation of such a phenomenon must take into consideration African American Baptist reading of God’s Providence and their faith in God’s overall redemptive plan for humankind.8 8 See David Henry Anthony, III, Max Yergan: Race Man, Internationalist, and Cold War (New York: New York University Press, 2006), 7—8. In the first chapter of this biography of an African American Baptist who served as a missionary to India and South Africa for the YMCA, Anthony offers a good example of how grassroots such Ethiopian and uplift sentiments were. Anthony states that Yergan’s slave-bom grandfather during the early 20th century impressed upon his son the need for African American Christians to aid in Africa’s uplift. The rest of this introduction will serve to describe the dissertation chapter by chapter, to discuss the importance ofthis work, review the small body of historical literature on National Baptist African missions, and offer a sketch history of American Baptists and African American Baptists up to 1820. Descriptions of each chapter will serve to allow the reader to have a firm understanding of what follows in this work and how each chapter connects to the overall argument. Within the historiographical section a brief analysis of a couple of important works on African American Protestant missions to Afiica will appear to give further context to the impetus of this dissertation. Chapter One, “From Lott Carey to William Colley: Precursor African American Missionaries to Afiica and Missionary Movements, ca. 1821-1879,” serves as a sketch of Afiican American Baptist missionary activity from Lott Carey‘s mission to Liberia in 1821 to 1879 when African American Baptists in the US Southeast explored the possibility of forming a national convention of African Americans for the expressed purpose of sending and supporting missionaries to Africa. This chapter is the context to the period of 1880 to 1930 that this dissertation is interested in. It establishes important considerations. First, it emphasizes that African American Baptists believed that God had given them a special place in the redemption Of Africans. Providence had made it clear that the enslavement Of Africans in America, and their embracing of Protestant Christianity meant salvation for Africa. Second, it establishes that African missionary endeavor was at the heart of African American Baptist efforts toward unification and consolidation beginning in 1840 with the formation of the American Missionary Baptist Convention. Chapter Two, “The Shaping of National Baptist Theology in the 19th Century and in the Early 20‘h Century,” fonns the theological context of this work. It is a theological overview of the various streams that flowed into what was National Baptist theology and identity during the 19‘h and early 20th century. In this chapter, it argues that National Baptists had a clear Baptist identity that was consistent with other American Baptists. This chapter refers to this Baptist identity in terms of Evangelicalism. Baptists were (and are) Evangelicals in the sense that they trace back their core beliefs to Reformed Protestant teaching that emerged during the 16‘h century. Baptists held doctrines such as justification by faith alone that holds that sinners are justified (acquitted from the penalty of sin) by the grace of God alone through their faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ. In addition to this teaching, Evangelicals also hold to the belief that Holy Scripture is the sufficient, authoritative, and infallible rule of faith and practice. A number of Protestants groups hold to these teachings including Reformed churches, Lutheran churches, Anglicans, and Presbyterians; therefore African American Baptists historically have found themselves within this stream of Christianity. This chapter also argues that National Baptists understood their mission at home and abroad in racialist terms articulated within the framework of .Ethiopianism. In its 19th century African American context Ethiopianism is a theology that holds that it was God‘s Providential Design that Africans enslaves in America afier receiving Christ and their physical freedom would return to Africa to preach the gospel in the fulfillment of Psalm 68:31, which reads: “Princes shall come out Of Egypt: Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.” The ultimate goal for Ethiopians was the “redemption” of Africa through the means ofChristian civilization.g Anthony labels this belief"racial salvation,” which is quite an apt description of this enterprise”) African-American clergymen held to a philosophy/theology of uplift and were accommodationists, according to Wheeler.II Accommodation included the acceptance of American civilization as the norm. According to Wheeler, "They accepted prevailing American standards of moral and ethical behavior, adopted the American political and economic system.”'2 For Wheeler, this meant that they were also visionaries--they saw African American potential as living as "equals rather than subordinates" in American society.‘3 African American Baptist leaders fit well within this assessment by Wheeler. Owing to this, Afiican American Baptist leaders and missionaries generally Speaking believed in the backwardness of certain features of African cultures; this emerges through the letters from South African written by African American Baptist missionaries. Because of this, African American Baptists shared similar beliefs as their white counterparts in the African mission field. Though the sources of Ethiopianism are less varied (most the work and writings of Alexander Crummell and Edward Blyden), the sources the developed into a lucid Baptist identity among African American Baptist leadership run the gamut from catechisms used by slave masters and teachers during the Slave Era to the use and singing of Evangelical hymns by Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley. Though leaders also drew from the works of Calvinistic Southern Baptists such as James P. Boyce, they also readily accepted Landmark teaching prevalent in the South but made popular by James Pendleton 9 See George M. Frederickson, Black Liberation: A Comparative Histotjv of Black Ideologies in the United States and South Africa (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 61, 68. '0 Anthony, Max Yergan, 8. H Edward L. Wheeler, Uplifting the Race: The Black Minister in the New South 1865-1902 (Lanham, NY: University Press of America, 1986), 1. '2 Wheeler, Uplifting the Race, 1. '3 Wheeler, Uplifting the Race, 1. during the last halfof the 19‘h century. This teaching taught that the true and historical Church of Christ is a Baptist church, not by name but by doctrine and practice. Chapter Three, “The Forrnalization of the Ethiopian Refrain: The Birth of African American Baptist Foreign Mission Enterprise in Africa, 1880-1921,” develops the history of the early activities of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention (BF MC) founded in 1880 and the work of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention founded in 1895 under Lewis G. Jordan who served as Corresponding secretary from 1896 to 1921. Jordan is a luminary figure in the history the Foreign Mission Board and in the history of the NBC-USA overall. In this chapter, there will be the analysis of J ordan’s many articles and editorials in the Mission Herald, the organ of the Foreign Mission Board. The Herald is Jordan’s creation to serve as the medium to inform National Baptists of the activities of the Board. Jordan expanded this goal of the Herald as he crafted it to be his personal pulpit to exhort the readership into giving more money to support and send missionaries to all the fields where the Board had a presence, but the emphasis was on the development of its African fields. Because there are no extant documents and letters by Jordan, the Herald serves as the major primary source for this chapter and the following ones. In the key secondary sources on the Foreign Mission Board (as this introduction discusses below), the writers base their work on the contents of the Herald. What is different in this chapter (and in subsequent chapters) is that it analyzes Jordan’s writings revealing his staunch Baptist Evangelicalism and his Ethiopianism in motivating his readers to support the Board. These editorials on the pages of the Herald are nuggets of gold as they offer such a rare opportunity to read and interpret the writing of an African American Baptist leader during this period outside of 10 sermons or other printed media. Jordan is revealed as pastoral yet faithful to his calling. There will be more discussion of the significance ofthe Mission Herald as a primary source below in this introduction. Chapter Four “Voices from the South African Field: Echoes of Evangelicalism and Ethiopianism during the Jordan Era,” analyzes letters from the South African field in order to support the argument that Afiican and African American missionaries in the field believed that Afiican American Christian civilization was the remedy for African unbelief and what they perceived to be as African backwardness. This is a new utilization of the contents of Herald as well for the issues of this publication possess the letters from the South African field. AS context, the chapter highlights the beginning of the Missionary century in South Africa commencing in 1800 with a brief survey of the advent Of Christian missions throughout southern Africa with an emphasis on the mission work of the Baptist Union of South Africa, the Ethiopian movement in South Africa, and the advent of Afiican American missionaries with the presence of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the 18803. In 1800, missionaries from the London Missionary Society (LMS) arrived at the Cape. Missionaries from the LMS and other societies established stations throughout southern Africa among various African kingdoms and states. Most conversions among Africans during the 19th century came as a result of the ministries of Afiican evangelists. It was rather late in the century that Baptists in South Afiica began efforts to evangelize among Africans; in fact, these missionary endeavors began just before Afiican American Baptists began their work in South Africa. It was in 1894 that the very first African American Baptist arrived at the Cape to commence missionary work to Africans there. This Baptist was Rev. R. A. Jackson who hailed from Mississippi, and traveled to South Africa under the auspices of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention and he eventually received support from the Foreign Mission Board after the founding of the NBC-USA. In South Africa, Jackson founded Shiloh Baptist Church and had quite a following; Jackson reported a membership of over 400 persons. J ackson’s work spread outward from the Cape as a result of the conversion of migrant laborers, who carried the gospel back to their respective homes. Also an American Roman Catholic, who resided in South Africa, J. I. Buchanan believed the gospel as preached by Jackson. Buchanan received believer’s baptism, and would also serve as a Baptist missionary working for the Foreign Mission Board. He established a station at Middledrift in the Cape as well. This is a summary of the initial work performed by National Baptists in South Africa. Drawing from letters from the field, this chapter will analyze and highlight how missionaries perceived their work in South Africa, and even how African workers did the same. Chapter Five’s, “Expanding Ethiopianism and South African Redemption during the East Administration, 1921-1930,” central focus is on the James East era (that began in 1921) up to 1930. It assesses and evaluates how East built upon the Jordan foundation, and examines editorials and articles by leaders in the Foreign Mission Board motivating the convention to support mission work. This chapter is the first attempt to cast East’s theology and missionary philosophy, and it serves, in part, as an intellectual biography of East. During this period, East redoubled the effort of the Board to raise more money for missionary funding while maintaining the traditional framework of the work, which was to preserve Baptist principles and working toward developing African ecclesiastical self- sufficiency. As noted other leaders wrote articles during this period. Among the notables 12 are Walter Brooks who was the pastor of Nineteenth Street Baptist Church of Washington, D. C. who was a great supporter ofthe mission work in South Africa. Other than this, he is also one of the early historians of African American Baptists. The other notable writer is William F. Graham who was the Treasurer of the Foreign Mission Board for a time during East’s tenure, and he was the pastor of Holy Trinity Baptist Church in Philadelphia. Both men wrote articles encouraging the readership of the Herald based upon strident Ethiopian appeals and Evangelicalism. The final chapter, Chapter Six, “‘1 am trying to Establish a Big School Herez’ Expanding the Ethiopian Vision in South Africa During the East Era to 1930,” is an analysis of letters from the South African field revealing that African missionary workers and agents took on a larger role and share of the enduring work in South Africa from 1921 to 1930. It is evident from letters and reports coming from South Africa that mission churches and leaders readily embraced the opportunity to develop viable churches, schools, and an entire denomination to help “uplift” their own people. Part of the reason why Afiicans take on a larger share of the work is because the Union of South Afiica succeeded in flushing out African American missionaries from working directly with Africans during this period. There is no official reason why this was so, but East assumed that the government feared that African American presence would lead to greater Afiican political consciousness especially in light of South Ethiopianism and the Nyasaland Rising of 1915 led by a Baptist pastor, John Chilembwe. This chapter also manifests that the work in South Africa expanded as churches grew in membership and mission stations operated growing day schools, and the Board began to support more churches during East’s term in office. The Conclusion, “Heralding Still, But the Vision Has Changed," re-iterates the thesis of the work that leaders in the Foreign Mission Board and missionaries in the South African field perceived that their mission was both to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and mediate forms of racial uplift, particularly through building schools that would center on a curriculum of Industrial Education like Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. There is also a discussion on filling in more gaps in the history of African American Baptist missionary work in South Africa as well as urging scholars to take African American Baptist theology seriously in their studies. This conclusion also gives an honest assessment of the success of National Baptist missions work in South Afiica in response to J. M. Chirenje’s sweeping conclusion that African American Baptists missions work amounted to very little. M Why such a dissertation? There are a number of reasons that this work is viable. First, the study of African American religion has emphasized the cultural aspect rather than the theological aspect. Granted, the study of how African slave captives shaped American Christianity through adapting under the lash of slavery is an important phenomenon in American Religious history. One must remember, however, that the Christian gospel appeals to the mind and heart of all nations of people; it is universal in its appeal and application. Christianity is also a set of doctrines needing to be comprehended, trusted, and lived out in daily grind of life. All of this engages the human mind as well as the heart. Theology is arguably more important than how a group of people made their culture fit within the rubric of Christianity. Though culture is a key consideration in studying religion, it fails to identify a Christian as a Baptist. Baptist ’4 Chirenje makes such a statement in his Ethiopianism and Afro-Americans in Southern Africa, 1883-1916 (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1987). More discussion of Chirenje’s assertion follows in this introduction. 14 identity centers on adherence to a set of distinct doctrines. This work, in part, focuses upon the theology ofAfrican American Baptists specifically during the late 19th and early 20th century and how it influenced their missionary philosophy. This work focuses upon the intellectual history of National Baptists as it pertained to their theological bases for engaging in missionary work throughout Africa in the late 19lh and early 20‘h centuries. A second reason why this work is important is because most Afiican American Christians are Baptists, and they are members of one of the four National Baptist conventions (N BC-USA, National Baptist Convention of America, Progressive National Baptist Convention, and the National Missionary Baptist Convention). The NBC-USA boasts of a membership over between 8-8.5 million. This is a sizeable portion of the African American Christian community, and this convention has wielded much power historically and still functions as a strong institution pressing for a more just and equitable society especially for African Americans. Throughout the 20‘h century, National Baptists have been integral to the social and political concerns of African Americans. Joseph H. Jackson, who led the NBC-USA from 1953-1982, emphasized a more conservative yet vital social activism. More progressive men like Gardner C. Taylor, Martin Luther King, Sr., and Martin Luther King, Jr. broke away from the Older convention to form the Progressive National Baptist Convention in 1961 desiring a more engaged convention socially. Without question, National Baptists have been a significant part of African American life during the 20‘h century. Just by this factor alone, the study of National Baptist activity of any stripe is a noteworthy study as Baptists represent a significant portion of the African American population. 15 One particular feature of National Baptist contribution has been overlooked by American Christian and religious scholarship at large---its contribution to American foreign missions. David Killingray notes that “African Americans constituted a small but visually significant element in the modem Protestant missionary movement.”'5 In a recent work, Campbell asserts that “American churches played a central role in evangelizing” Afiica, and that “enthusiasm for African missions work was especially ”l6 pronounced in black churches. He makes special mention of the founding of the NBC stating that its founding was “to coordinate mission activity among black Baptists.”l7 This makes their work in Afiica during the 19th and 20th century that much more significant. Their contribution to foreign missions emerges within the context of African American nationalism and a renewed interest in African American emigration. In his description of African American nationalism, Edwin Redkey states that it “stressed a glorious past in Africa and a suffering past in America.”18 Accepting this partial description of African American nationalism, Ethiopianism can be considered nationalist. Redkey also mentions that the political and social difficulties African Americans faced during this period prompted a resurgence of African emigration in which missionary activity fits within. '9 Beyond the immediate context of the founding of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention and the National Baptist Convention, this work focusing on African '5 David Killingray, “The Black Atlantic Missionary Movement and Africa, 17803-1920s,” Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 33 (Feb 2003), 4, http:/lwww.jstor.orgx’stable/158I633. (accessed April 4, 2010). '6 James T. Campbell, Middle Passages: African American Journey's to Africa, 1787-2005 (New York: The Penguin Press, 2006), 142. '7 Campbell, Middle Passages, 142. '8 Edwin Redkey, Black Exodus: Black Nationalist and Back-to-Africa Movements, 1890-1910 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1969), 14. Killingray also states that the missionary movement must be seen within the context of Back-to-Africa movements. See Killingray, “The Black Atlantic,” 6. '9 Redkey, Black Exodus, 6- 12. l6 American Baptists and Foreign Missions is important because Joseph H. Jackson president of the NBC-USA from the 19503 to 1980 served as secretary of the Foreign Mission Board during the 19403. William H. Harvey who led the Board for most of the second half of the 20th century was quite successful in keeping National Baptist missionary presence throughout Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe. For this study, two men led the Board with successful results in South Africa. Lewis Jordan was a great churchman and denominational giant, and he was also a man with Pan-African consciousness and a race man. He established National Baptist missionary work in South Africa. Jordan’s successor, James East, served as a missionary in South Africa under Jordan, and made further strides to keep the Board’s work in South Africa on solid ground despite economic hardships in American and in South Africa and the racism of the South African government. A third aspect of the importance of this dissertation is that scholarship has been preoccupied with writing on the African Methodist Episcopal C hurch’s presence in South Africa. This preoccupation is a result of Bishop Henry M. Tumer’s tour of Southern Africa in 1898 and the record of that tour; this tour is inextricably linked with the dynamism and provocative nature of Tumer‘s personality and sentiment. There is no African American Baptist who matched Turner‘s bravado. In addition, the AME did expand its denomination into South Africa owing to South African Ethiopianism, which began as an independent movement in which African Christians, who were Wesleyan Methodists, severed their ties with the European-led mission church in the 18903. As good Methodists, these leaders desired to affiliate with an African American Methodist Church. There is no denying the great importance of this phenomenon. Without the fanfare, African American Baptists built a rather impressive missionary network that spread to every province in South Africa by the early 19203. National Baptist missionary effort also resulted in the founding of African Baptist associations that eventually grew into the National Baptist Convention of South Africa. They also built a critical social network that provided college education for African men and women. Some of those educated at National Baptist schools such as Benedict and Virginia Union retumed to South Africa to become leaders on the mission field such as Rev. E. B. P. Koti. Responses to two historical works in particular form the impetus of this dissertation. While attempting to find a suitable topic centered in South Africa and treating the relationship between Protestantism and Afiican nationalism, I re-read J. M. Chirenje’s Ethiopianism and A fro-Americans in Southern Africa, 1883-1916. Published in 1987, this volume Offers a rare look of church relations between Africans in Southern Afiica and Africa—Americans during this time frame. Chirenje‘s major goal and purpose in the text is to identify and analyze the interesting relationship between African churchmen involved in the Ethiopian movement, which in the South African context was a separatist church movement. African ministers and churches separated from European mission churches during the 18903 owing to racist practices on the part of European missionary superintendents. Though the title of the book reads as if the scope will be encompassing of all African American missionary groups operating in Southern Africa during this period, Chirenje highlights the relationship between the African Methodist Episcopal Church and African Methodists and Wesleyans. In introducing the book, Chirenje made a statement that I believed then as well as now was short-sighted and presumptive. In mentioning the initial African American Baptist missionary to South Africa, R. A. Jackson, who arrived in the Cape in 1894, he states: "Despite its earlier initiative to evangelize, the Baptist group does not seem to have been as effective as the AME church was.”20 This statement contradicted what I had read in histories on National Baptist history. It was time to investigate. The second work that gave me a thrust in venturing to write this dissertation is James Campbell’s Song of Zion.” This volume offered me a type of framework for understanding comparative history specifically about African American and African Christians during the late 19th century. Campbell gives his audience both a history of the AME Church and the Ethiopian movement in South Africa, and then he studies the confluence of these two histories on the soil of South Africa examining how each would inform the other’s future endeavors. Campbell labels this “a comparative exercise.”22 He also states that the “premise” of his work is that African Americans and Africans had a “reciprocal” affect on each other’s identity. This premise has some interest for this dissertation as it is interested in how both African American Baptists viewed both their mission to Africa and how Africans received this mission and African American missionaries in their midst at given times. The dissertation that follows is a modified application of this “comparative exercise” between African American and African Christians, but within the Baptist tradition of Christianity. This work is also less interested in the reciprocal shaping of identities and more concerned with understanding 20 Chirenje, Ethiopianism, 4. 2' James T. Campbell, Songs of Zion: The African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States and South Africa (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1998). 22 . .. Campbell, Songs of Zion, x11. 19 how both groups comprehended the workings of Providence at it pertained to African uplift and their involvement in these providential workings. In reading Campbell‘s volume, an interesting theme runs through the narrative: Providence. He understands (whether he is a Christian or non-Christian) that the historical actors he wrote about took God’s Providence seriously; therefore, as a historian he wrote of Providence seriously. In chapter one, Campbell addresses Daniel Coker’s attention to Providence. Coker’s observance of Providence informed his own Ethiopianism and motivated his decision to immigrate to West Africa as a missionary in February 1820. What one can draw from Campbell’s espousal of God’s Providence in shaping African American Methodist interest in Africa is that Providence is the key element in the development of African American Ethiopianism in the 19th century. This point contributes to the intellectual framework of this work.23 In one of the more popular general histories of Baptists written in the last twenty- five years, the history of National Baptists is tucked away neatly in the catch-all chapter entitled, “The Larger Baptist Family.” The history of the National Baptist Convention USA, representing some 8.5 million African Americans, lies next to the history of Asian Baptists, Latino Baptists, and Primitive Baptists all groups with relatively small numbers among Baptists. In introducing this section of the chapter, Leon McBeth, the writer, states: “Black believers make up a major part of the Baptist family in the United States, reporting about ten million members by 1982.”24 What follows is essentially a sketch 23 Campbell, Songs of Zion, 12, 69. Campbell (see 66) also makes the connection between Providence and Ethiopianism in referring to African American sentiment regarding Colonization. He indicates that Phyllis Wheatley’s endorsement of Colonization had a degree of Ethiopianism. Definitely, Absalom Jones’ “Thanksgiving Sermon” joined Providence and Ethiopianism as did Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative. 2" H. Leon McBeth, The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist History (Nashville, TN: Boardman Press, 1987), 776. history of thirteen pages. Though this treatment of National Baptist history is better than previous general histories of American Baptists, it still relegates African Americans to the sidelines of American history.25 Though African American Baptists have received little treatment in general American Baptist history, the case is different in the historiography of the Black Church. Going back to Carter G. Woodson’s landmark publication The History of the Negro Church African American Baptists and their churches have figured prominently in histories of the Black Church. 26 In every chapter, Woodson provides rich detail of the history of Afiican American Baptists within the history of the Black Church. What is surprising is that there is a relative few volumes on the history of African American Baptists and the National Baptist Convention, USA. This poses a major challenge to historians of this denomination since there is little to draw from regarding secondary sources, and few debates to enter into. While this is an understandable challenge, it is also a great opportunity for historians to interpret this history from varied angles and cast new light on this important topic in American Church history and African American history. By reading pertinent works on African American Baptists from slavery into the first half of the 20th century, there are clear themes and markers that are present in this body of scholarship and writing. Even though three of the four major National Baptist conventions date their beginnings in the year 1880, the historiography commences in earnest with the influx of African Americans joining Baptist churches in 25 See Robert Torbet, A History of the Baptists (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2000). The current printing in 2000 is the fifteenth; the original publication was in 1950. This volume remains a standard in Baptist historiography. Torbet connects African American Baptist history to the phenomena of Baptist missions during the late 18th and 19th centuries, 353-355. 26 See Carter G. Woodson, History of the Negro Church (Washington, DC: The Associated Publishers, 1921). 21 the South during the late stages ofthe First Great Awakening that begin in New England in the 17303, but drifted into the Upper and Lower Southern colonies after 1750. With New Light/Separate Baptist evangelists and church planters migrating from the North and preaching the simple gospel of grace and faith, African American slaves and free persons alike received this good news. Also Baptist slave owners began to house small plantation missions where New Light white ministers and African American ministers would preach. As a result converted African American slaves formed their own churches. This was the case in Silver Bluff, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. In Virginia, African American converts worshipped with whites, but very soon organized separate Baptist churches owing to their swelling numbers. For the writers and scholars of African American Baptist history, this phenomenon during the Age of Revolution is the starting point for National Baptist history. From plantation missions and small independent churches in the South, and then seceded congregations of African American Baptists in the North during the first decade ofthe 19th century, the National Baptist movement grinded on as Northemers founded district associations and regional and state conventions and Southerners did the same following the Civil War. With an emphasis on home and foreign mission work as well as racial uplift, African American Baptists achieved unity in 1895 with the founding of the National Baptist Convention of the United States of America. This is a brief summary of the chronology that emanates from the historiography. One niche to carve, or one lacuna to fill in the historiography is the history Afiican American missions to Afiica. At first glance, the historiography, both American Baptist and African American Baptist, seems to place great emphasis on this theme. 22 Torbet, for example, gives African American Baptist missions an entire section within his discussion of the early Baptist mission movement. He even states that George Liele, a former slave preacher in Georgia and South Carolina, was the first Baptist missionary as he left the colonies during the American Revolutionary War and established the first Baptist church in Jamaica. This was some fifteen years prior to William Carey’s mission to India. Torbet also notes that the mission of Lott Carey, who under the auspices of both the General Baptist Convention and the American Colonization Society, left for Liberia in January 1821. To his credit, Torbet asserts that “the missionary motive was strong in the development of denominational unity among the colored Baptists.”27 In this assertion, the evidence supports this statement. After commenting on the missionary work of Liele and Carey, Torbet ends with a brief discussion of William W. Colley’s efforts in organizing the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention in 1880; Colley had been a missionary working for the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention from which he resigned in 1879. At this point in this introductory chapter, attention will be granted to the very small body of work specifically on the history of National Baptist foreign mission, which is the focus Of this work. There are only three major works written all by ministers, but two of the three by ministers are legitimate scholars. The oldest of these works is by C. C. Adams and Marshall Talley entitled Negro Baptists and Foreign Missions published by the Foreign Mission Board of the NBC-USA, Inc. in 1944.28 This is a factual little volume on the history of the Foreign Mission Board. Adams served as foreign missions secretary during the 19403, and had access to all of the pertinent records and primary 27 . 28 Torbet, History, 354. _C .C. Adams and Marshall A. Talley, Negro Baptists and Foreign Missions (Philadelphia, PA: Foreign MISSIOnS Board of the NBC USA, Inc., 1944). 23 sources. The audience of this book, however, was the individual churches ofthe NBC and their missionary societies. The book, by no means, is academic. The writers begin with a discussion on the “meaning of missions," and then they present brief historical snapshots of National Baptist missionary forerunners such as George Liele and Lott Carey. The writers pinpoint W. W. Colley’s enterprise in 1879 as the immediate precipitating activity that prompted the founding of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention in 1880. As the writer progress to the National Baptist Convention period, they offer little of significance on the work done by Lewis Jordan and James East. In 1953, E. A. Freeman published his Epoch of Negro Baptists and the Foreign Mission Board.29 This work is a revision of Freeman’s doctoral dissertation undertaken at Central Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas. At the time of the publication, Freeman was the pastor of a National Baptist church in Kansas City, Kansas. This book is a thematic history of National Baptist foreign mission work emphasizing its beginnings under the auspices of the BFMC in 1880 and moving forward into the present (ca. 1950). The relative strength of this work is that it is the first true scholarly attempt at chronicling and analyzing this aspect of National Baptist history. One other strength of this book is the soundness of the general thesis, which is that foreign mission interest was part and parcel with the interest of the whole convention during its early stages.30 What is also helpful in this work is that Freeman pointed future historians and scholars of this particular segment of National Baptist work to the core primary sources, which are the annual reports given by the Foreign Mission secretary and. the Mission Herald. 32: E. A- Freeman, Epoch of Negro Baptists and the Foreign Mission Board (New York: Arno Press, 1980). Freternan, Epoch, 2. 24 After the publication of Freeman‘s work on the history of Foreign Missions within the NBC in the 19503. it was in 1989 that another work on this history appeared. Written by William J. Harvey who was the sitting Corresponding Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board, this is a comprehensive history ofboth the Foreign Mission Board and African American Baptist missions dating from the Age of Revolution.3 1 Harvey’s major thrust in this book is to identify to his audience that African missions have been a most important part of African American Baptist history as well as the motor energizing the African American Baptist cooperative movement during the 19th century. He states as such in his introduction: “The first major organized endeavor of Black Baptists in America was directed toward sending the Gospel to Africa.”32 In this statement is the implication that African American Baptists operated within a theological framework that believed in God’s Providential Design that caused their slavery for the purpose of spreading the gospel in Africa. A further assumption is that African American Christians uphold the major burden of preaching Jesus Christ to Africans. Harvey buttresses this point by quoting L. K. Williams, who served as president of the NBC during the 19203: “The work of saving Africa is largely the task of American Negroes. Others have gone there with gunpowder, rum, firearms and propaganda to exploit the Africans, but we must go there carrying the open Bible and the uplifted C hrist.”3 3 In summary, Harvey’s framework consists in the belief that Christianity is a missionary faith, and that African American Baptists have the responsibility to Christ to spread the 3‘ William J. Harvey, Bridges of Faith Across the Seas: The Story of the Foreign Mission Board National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. (Philadelphia, PA: Foreign Mission Board National Baptist Convention, 3[ZJSA, Inc., 1989). 33 Harvey, Bridges, 1. Harvey, Bridges, 2. 25 Gospel to their own kith and kin on the African continent owing to their unique history in America and in the African Diaspora. In terms ofthe structure of the work, Harvey follows the traditional thematic outline of National Baptist history. He begins with the founding of plantation churches in the Lower Colonies with an emphasis on George Liele’s ministry and his subsequent missionary work in Jamaica. From there, he focuses upon Lott Carey’s career as a missionary and colonist to West Africa. For Harvey and other writers of National Baptist history, Liele and Carey are pioneers of African American Christian missionary interest in Afiican peoples whether in the Caribbean or Africa. Finally, as part of the context of the founding of the BFMC in 1880, Harvey writes of the experiences of African American missionaries employed by the Southern Baptist Convention in the 18403 through the 18703 including William W. Colley who is considered the father ofthe BFMC.34 In agreement with the historiography also, Harvey pinpoints the link between the Cooperative Movement commencing in the 18303 and the national movement that flowered in the 18903 blossoming into the National Baptist Convention in 1895. Harvey’s argument is that the goal to evangelize on the continent of Africa energized the Cooperative Movement during this period. He writes: “The primary goal of the conventions of the Black Baptists was spreading the gospel in Africa because it was the land of their forebears and therefore excited a special interest among those of the Diaspora.”35 The organization of regional conventions beginning in 1840 with the 3" See Harvey, Bridges, Chapter 1. 35 Harvey, Bridges, 21. founding ofthe American Baptist Missionary Convention by African Americans Baptists along the Eastern seaboard led directly to the founding of the BFMC in 1880. Following this general historical context, Harvey‘s focus becomes narrowly on the work of the Foreign Mission Board following the inauguration of the NBC. To analyze and highlight key features of the Board's activities, Harvey organizes this history according to the tenure of each corresponding secretary beginning with Lewis Jordan’s twenty five years as secretary to his own tenure up to 1986. By organizing the majority of the work as such, the reader is able to gauge the success and expansion of the Board’s work as each succeeding secretary built upon his predecessor’s work. For the purposes of this present work, Harvey makes it clear that Lewis Jordan’s role as the first secretary was that of a foundation builder while his immediate successor, James East, helped to bring a more systematic giving scheme to the churches to ensure a good supply of money for the work of the Board. What Harvey’s work lacks, however, is the voice from the missionaries out in the field and Africans, who received the gospel from the mouths of National Baptist missionaries. The perspective of this work is quite limited to activities and pronouncements of the secretaries. The last work featured in this chapter is Sandy D. Martin’s Black Baptists and African Missions also published in 1989.36 Unlike Harvey’s work that is more for the consumption of lay people in the NBC-USA, Martin’s work is thoroughly academic as it is a revision of his dissertation completed in 1981 at Columbia University.37 The book also incorporates previous published work by Martin that appeared elsewhere prior to 36 Sandy D. Martin, Black Baptists and African Missions: The Origins ofa Movement 1880—1 915 (Macon, 39A: Mercer University Press, 1998). Sandy D. Martin, “The Growth of Christian Missionary Interest in West Africa among Southeastern Black Baptists, 1880-1915 (Unpublished Dissertation, Columbia University, 1981). 27 1989.33 A3 a work exclusively on African American Baptist foreign missions, it surpasses the two other works by far as it places Baptist motivation for African missions as well as Baptist sentiments towards Africa and Africans within the general conception ofAfriean American Protestants, namely African Methodists. Regarding his thesis, Martin’s is comprehensive yet clear: [T]hat black Christians in general and black Baptists in particular actively engaged in an effort to evangelize African during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; that they understood redemption or salvation of non-Christian Africans in material or temporal as well as spiritual terms; that this enterprise demonstrated their sense of racial identity with all peoples of African descent-—-a proto-pan-Afrieanism, if you will; and that this missionary quest on behalf of the ancestral homeland contributed to the development of and conflicts among black Baptist denominations.” In developing and supporting this thesis, Martin utilizes key primary sources such as minutes of the different state conventions and regional conventions as well as the national conventions that were in existence in the 18803. Even though Martin's thesis is rather large, he presents a sub-thesis that is more critical to his entire presentation regarding the African American Baptist movement toward organizing a national convention dedicated to African missions. He argues that African American Baptists in the Southeast, but particularly Virginia were the ones who pressed and prodded for an African American national convention. Martin brings this argument even further to argue that the BF MC was basically an extension of the foreign mission enterprise of the Virginia Baptist State Convention as the major leaders of the BFMC were the leaders of the Virginia convention. To support this argument, Martin states that William W. Colley of Virginia was the most influential person sparking 38 See Martin, “The Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, 1880-1894." Baptist History and Heritage 16:4 (October 1981): 13—25; “Black Baptists, foreign missions, and African colonization, 1814-1882,” in Black Americans and the Missionary Movement, ed. Sylvia Jacobs (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982). 39 Martin, Black Baptists, 1. 28 missionary interest in 1879. Also Ire notes that the Virginia Baptist State Convention sent out Solomon Cosby in 1878 as its missionary to Nigeria. What this point leads to is a questioning of African American Baptist national unity in 1880 at the time of the organization ofthe BFMC. Even with a slightly nuanced argument, Martin's work still falls into line with earlier work regarding African American Baptist missionary philosophy. The sources Martin utilizes reveal that African American Baptists held strongly to their understanding of their unique place within American Protestantism as the primary carriers of the gospel to Africa; God, in his Providence, directed them through the crucible of slavery to be later freed to carry out the Great Commission in Africa.” Martin comprehends that this formed the bedrock of African American Baptist missionary philosophy along with great concerns for the material well-being of Africans encountered on the mission field. With this small historiography, there is much room for expansion and clarification of the key themes of National Baptist history in general and the history of National Baptist foreign missions. First, there is a need to expand upon African American Baptist theology to help clarify African American Baptist missionary philosophy. Too often, what African American Baptists believed about their faith is overlooked by scholars; but the leadership of African American Baptists were clear concerning the content of the Christian faith and the Baptist expression Ofit. Second, there must be the incorporation of African responses to African American missionaries. Did they view them differently than European missionaries? Did they hold to similar beliefs regarding racial uplift? These are questions this dissertation is concerned with, and attempts to offer more well-rounded and extensive use of the primary source material used by previous scholars. 40 See Martin, Black Baptists, 1-2, 45. Before moving to a short historical sketch ofAmerican and African American Baptist history to 1820, an explanation for the use ofa limited parcel Ofprimary sources is needed. The title of this work highlights the word “herald" because the major primary sources used to inform this work is the publication of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention, the Mission Herald. The Board first published this organ in 1897 to serve to as a medium of information about missions work. During the first decade of the 19003, the Herald included editorials by the Corresponding Secretary (at that time Lewis Jordan) that attempted to clarify the goals of the Board and also to motivate the actions of National Baptists pertinent to the flourishing of the Board’s work. Another important feature of this publication was the printing of letters from the mission field. The readers in America could read month by month the progress Of the overall mission work of the convention by missionaries in the various fields of operation. In reading the small body ofhistoriography on National Baptist African missions, the one constant primary source referred to by the writers was the Mission Herald. The writers used the Herald to gather information; they failed to use it in a critical sense. Since in the aim and purpose of this dissertation there is concern with the theology of National Baptist leaders in undergirding African missions the Herald has proven invaluable. In addition, no repository exists housing the original letters from the South African mission field, or any mission field of the Foreign Mission Board. Judging from the historiography, the original letters are no longer extant. Again, the Herald is the primary source to locate letters from the field. With this, this primary source has its limitations. First, the letters from the South African field fail to offer historians with a great deal of context. The missionaries, evangelists, pastors, and other workers who wrote 30 those letters sent them with the intention of reporting what occurred on their various stations. Second, the African missionaries also needed more support from the Foreign Mission Board; therefore, they focused on needs and also the number of baptisrns into church membership and the number of students enrolled in the schools. They had to demonstrate to their audience that their stations were viable, and would utilize funds wisely. With these two considerations regarding the limitation of this source, the focus on the South African field is narrow and it fails to engage much of the events taking place in South Africa during the early 20‘h century. All of this explains why the Herald has such use as the chief primary source of this work, and this is why it is prominent in the title of this work. Noted Baptist historian, William H. Brackney summarized the Baptist experience during the colonial period by stating that “the Baptists were a small, scattered, and persecuted group?“ A brief sketch of general Baptist history during this time period will reveal the accuracy of this statement. During this period, Africans and African Americans embraced this expression of Christianity. Unlike their white counterparts, these people of color had the added disadvantage ofbeing chattel, the movable property of other men and women. This phenomenon alone makes the story ofAfriean American Baptists a unique one and one that needs a higher profile in the history of the Christian Church in America. What is interesting about the history of African American Baptists during this period is that many African American converts to Christianity who found their places in Baptist churches also found their way to freedom. Men like George Liele, David George, Andrew Bryan, and Lott Carey began their lives in the shackles ofslavery both 4' William H. Brackney, ed., Baptist Life and Thought: A Source Book. Revised edition (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1998), 95. 31 physically and spiritually, but through the gospel ofJesus Christ they found full liberation. The following historical sketch reveals that African American slave captives and manumitted Slaves who embraced the Baptist expression of Christianity were truly Baptists. This overview also establishes the foundation of African American Baptist mission work since African American Baptist missionaries will emerge from independent African American Baptist churches founded during the late 18‘h century and early 19‘h century. Early African American Baptist history (from ca. 1650-1820), like Early African American history (from 1619-1820), is unique. The study of African American Baptist history can never divorce itself from a solid knowledge of American Baptist history; the study of the former is part of the latter. With that stated, African American Baptist history during this period has its own set of issues that makes it stand on its own. One cannot write of African American Baptist history without writing about slavery and its affect on slave conversion and the establishment of plantation churches. The entire context of slavery helps to explain the beginnings of African American Baptist churches in the North owing to the experience of racism and segregation in the Church of Jesus Christ. Also the historian must consider the degree of racial consciousness that motivated the first African American Baptists to found churches in the Caribbean, Canada, and in West Afiica during this period. All of these issues, to re-iterate, make African American Baptist history unique. What historians of the African American Baptist movement have sought to achieve in general has been a better understanding of the trends shaping what became a self-conscious movement of African Americans who organized and governed Baptist 32 churches. Owing to this, the story begins during the Age ofRevolution in America. This is certainly an irony OfAmeIican history: while British-Americans voiced their discontent with the lack of representation in the British Parliament and other concerns Of republicanism, African American slave captives and former slaves heard the liberating good news of Jesus Christ that set them free in an ultimate sense. Based upon their good confession and at the good graces of some white ministers and plantation owners, they began to organize independent churches in the Southern colonies and eventually in Northern states during this period. Before detailing African American Baptist history, its colonial, American Baptist context must be established. African American Baptist history during the colonial period into the antebellum period emerges directly from the colonial American Baptist movement. Because of such, African American Baptists inherited and embraced a robust “Evangelical” Calvinism, which was the dominant theology under girding Baptist doctrine during this time; African American Baptists, with a sense of race consciousness, also embraced the missionary spirit of Evangelical Calvinism. African American Baptists during this time frame were “Black Calvinists,” as they received the teaching of the Great Awakening and sought to spread the gospel to their African and African American brethren at home and abroad.42 42 By “Evangelical” Calvinism, I refer to Calvinism that has a missionary purpose and orientation unlike “Hyper-Calvinism,” which attempted to dissuade Christians from preaching the gospel generally. It held to the non-biblical doctrine that God will call his elect even without the free offer of the gospel to all. In reality, Calvinism proper is biblical and does hold to the preaching of the gospel to all with the understanding that God’s elect will heed the call. Regarding “Black Calvinism,” historian John Saillant notes that African American slaves and freernen such as Lemuel Haynes, Jupiter Hammon, John Marrant, and Phyllis Wheatley “accepted a Calvinist form of Christianity.” These people of African descent saw in Calvinism a theology that explained God’s purpose in the enslavement and the freedom of Africans and African Americans. Part of this providential design was clearly seen to bring Africans theretofore lost in traditional religions back in African into the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that they could return to Africa to preach the gospel. For a good overview of “Black Calvinism,” see John Saillant, Black Puritan, Black Republican: The Life and Thought of Lemuel Haynes 1 75 3- 183 3 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 4. For a fresh theological treatment of the history of African American Christian theology through the words of representative African American Christians, see Thabiti Anyabwile, The Decline of African 33 Baptists in America like their English counterparts emerged from within the ranks of the Puritans. The English Puritan movement dates from the middle of the 16‘h century as members within the newly founded Church of England (Anglican Church) began to press for Reforms along the same lines of reform in Switzerland and other places on the European continent. For instance, Puritans desired the Church of England to move from Episcopal polity to congregational polity, they urged for the removal of pictures, statues, and other types of adomments from church buildings, and they wanted a complete reformation of worship including the centrality of biblical preaching and congregational singing of psalms. At the time of the English colonization of the Eastern Atlantic seaboard, the Puritan movement was well established though Anglicans persecuted Puritans.43 The story is well integrated into American history regarding the courageous Roger Williams who founded the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1636 after standing against some of the teachings of the Congregational Church in Massachusetts Bay Colony. The significance of Williams in Baptist history is critical. African American Baptist pastor and historian LeRoy Fitts states, “The tremendous influence of Roger Williams in the birth of Baptists in America is a matter of great significance to the subsequent development of the sociopolitical thought among black Baptists.”44 Shortly after founding the colony, Williams became a Baptist and helped to American Theology: From Biblical Faith to Cultural Captivity (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2007). Anyabwile asserts that during Colonial America African American Christians emerged out of a Reformed (or Calvinistic) understanding of the Christian faith, and it was over time that African American Christians retreated from this context. See, 20. 43 Every secondary source on American Baptist history concurs on this point that Baptists emerged from Puritanism. See, for example, Winthrop Still Hudson, Baptist Convictions (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1963); Everett Goodwin, Down By the Riverside: A Brief History of Baptist Faith (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press), 13. 4“ Fitts, History, 22. 34 found the first Baptist church in America. Along with founding the first Baptist church in America, Williams also was the first political leader in the British North American colonies to offer religious freedom to colonists. This social and political tenet has also been part and parcel with Baptist social and political doctrine. Williams had company though in helping to establish Baptist churches in Colonial America. A sketch history Of Baptist beginnings in Colonial America is what follows. This history will trace Baptist beginnings from New England to the Middle Colonies and even to South Carolina in the seventeenth century.45 With the advent of the First Great Awakening Baptist preachers began to preach more fervently and attract large numbers. There is consensus among historians of the African American Church in general, and the African American Baptist tradition in particular that the First Great Awakening was “the dawn of a new day” for African-born and African American slave captives and free persons of colors regarding their entrance into Protestant churches. Raboteau and Campbell, for example, hold that the Great Awakening in the 17403 fostered the growth of African American converts to Christianity, especially in the South. Not discounting that this era was one that witnessed the first period of African American conversion, Gomez adds to this by stating that some slave masters freed their slaves owing to their adherence to Revolutionary principles. He concludes that both antislavery preaching and the revivals attracted African Americans to Christianity.46 Fry and Wood accurately describe that African Americans were active in their own religious transformations, and that the First Great Awakening was a period of transformation within European-American Protestantism. African Americans were ‘5 Fitts, History, 22. 46 Michael A. Gomez, Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1998), 251-252. 35 squarely in this pivotal moment in American Christian history.47 Gomez makes a similar point by stating that African converts could respond to preaching in their own way that meant that they responded according to their cultural personality.48 Out ofthis context, it is no surprise that African American converts during joined Methodist and Baptist churches in large numbers. Luther Jackson argues that Baptists and Methodist preached a type of equality of all in the face of God, and this spiritual egalitarianisrn drew African Americans into their ranks.” In New England, where the movement began, Jonathan Edwards reported that “many of the poor negrocs” have experienced a great change “wrought upon” them by the preaching of the gospel and the Holy Spirit. In 1740, when the movement launched, there was a discernible African American presence at revival meetings. Chief revival preachers like Whitefield and Tennent noted the presence of African Americans within the crowds that came to hear this preaching. Whitefield reported that on one occasion in Philadelphia, “'near fifty negrocs came to give me thanks for what God had done to their souls.” This was in 1740. Tennent, in a letter to Whitefield, stated that the preaching in Charlestown, Massachusetts greatly affected the Africans/African Americans present.” It was during the 18th century that African Americans began to join Baptist churches in fairly large numbers, especially in the South. Lawrence Neale Jones states "’7 Sylvia R. Frey and Betty Wood. C orne Shouting to Zion: African American Protestantism in the American South and British Caribbean to 1830 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1998), xii. 48 Gomez, Exchanging Our Country Marks, 252. 49 Luther P. Jackson, “The Religious Development of the Negro in Virginia From 1760-1860,” Journal of Negro History 16, no. 2 (April 1931), I72. 50 See Jonathan Edwards, Thoughts on the Revival of Religion in New England in The Ii’or‘ks of Jonathan Edwards. Volume 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2005), 375; Albert Raboteau, Slave Religion: The “Invisible Institution " in the Antebellum South (New York, 1978), 128-129; Campbell, Songs of Zion, 4. See also chapter 2, “The Dawning of the New Day,” in Woodson, Negro Church. Prior to the First Great Awakening in the South, the Anglican Church had made modest progress evangelizing among the slave population in Virginia and the Carolinas. According to Woodson, African Americans in the South joined the Methodists and Baptists owing to their simplicity of preaching and ritual. 36 that the "spontaneity and informality ofworship” in Baptist churches was a point of attraction to African Americans.5 I There is evidence of African Americans being members of Baptist churches in New England before the 18‘h century, however. According to former Baptist pastor, William Banks, a slave by the name of Jack is considered to be the first African Baptist. He received baptism into the Baptist church in Providence, Rhode Island in 1652. In 1685, an unknown African woman received baptism in a church in Connecticut. In the same year, an African American woman named Peggy Arnold was a member of the Newport Seventh-Day Baptist Church in Rhode Island. Into the 18‘” century, theologian and African American church historian, Henry Mitchell, in agreement with Banks, states that in 1743, a slave named Quassey was a member of the Baptist church in Newton, Rhode Island. Mitchell adds that in 1762 that First Baptist in Providence, Rhode Island baptized eighteen Africans into its membership. In 1771, First Baptist Church in Boston began to admit Africans into the church. In 1772, Robert Stevens and eighteen other African Americans held membership at First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island. In the same year, First Baptist Church of Boston began to receive African American members. Moving South to South Carolina by 1796, First Baptist Church of Charleston, South Carolina had 248 members with the majority African-American slaves. According to Me Beth, First Baptist of Charleston was the leading church in South Carolina. Under the ministry of Richard F urrnan, who began his long pastorate in 1787, First Baptist became the leading Baptist church in the entire South. There were African/African American Baptists dating from early in the Colonial history of the United States; this should be no surprise as people of African descent figure 5’ Lawrence Neale Jones, African Americans and the Christian Churches 161 91860 (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2007), 128. 37 within the entire fabric ofAmcrican history. What is a little more intriguing is that these African and African American Baptists received baptism in both New England Baptist churches and Baptist churches in the South based upon a clear testimony of their conversion to Christ. In addition. as mentioned above, all ofthese churches were Calvinistic; therefore, the first generation of African American Baptists was at least by association if not by true conviction, Calvinist also.52 As Baptists in general moved south, they encountered different attitudes regarding African American membership and slave evangelization. Late in the century, some Kentucky Baptists asked questions regarding the propriety ofAfriean Americans (slave or free) holding a seat in the Kentucky Baptist Association. The association responded in favor of African Americans holding a seat in associational business meetings provided they have been sent by their home churches. In 1795, the Lick Creek Church in Kentucky split over the issue of slavery, and the Rolling Fork Church also endured turmoil regarding slavery.53 Even though there was some ambivalence on the part of white Baptists in the South on the legitimacy of holding slaves as a Christian prerogative, Woodson argues that Baptists gained African American membership owing to their anti-slavery sentiments, but he states that they failed to have a great concerted effort owing to their decentralized church polity. Surprisingly, in slave-holding Virginia there arose a group of Calvinistic Baptists calling themselves “Emancipating Baptists,” or “Anti-Slavery 52 F itts, History, 24-25; Mc Beth, Heritage, 217, 220; Henry Mitchell, Black Church Beginings: The Long- Hidden Realities of the First Years (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 27; William L. Banks, A History of Black Baptists (West Conshohocken, PA: Infinity Publisingcom, 2005), 10. Regarding Calvinism, to re- iterate, this is a point that recent African American theologians have made. ‘3 Fitts, History, 2425. 38 Baptists,” who, like many of their Methodist counterparts. refused to admit slave-holders into their fellowships and sought to preach against slavery.54 By the late 18‘h century, African Americans began to organize and lead their own churches. According to Woodson, religious freedom in America is inextricably linked with the carving of space for and by African Americans in Evangelical churches. He also believes that the Revolutionary sentiment was conducive to the rise of African American independent churches. Woodson asserts that this type of spirit is readily noticed in the rise of African American Baptist churches in the South during this period. It is worthy to note that this particular phenomenon was the result of expediency and not of divisiveness. According to Fitts, the African AmeriCan independent church movement among Baptists began as a result of the plantation missions primarily. Before the advent of independent churches, African American men preached on their plantations with their masters’ permission. During this period, slave codes prohibited African American slaves from organizing their own churches. It was the practice of slaves to worship in the white churches at times designated by the plantation owners.55 These African American preachers were able to lead other African American Christians in informal gatherings. They and other worshipers would escape to wooded areas or secluded cabins for preaching and prayer services. Fitts states that these informal meetings were precursors to the formal establishment of independent churches late in the century. The number of Afiican American preachers who preached on plantations and who led informal meetings is lost to the historical record. According to providence, slave masters saw the gift these men possessed and ignored the slave codes that disallowed 5‘ Woodson, History, 29, 31-33. 55 Woodson, History, 40-41; F itts, History, 24, 31. 39 Slaves from preaching publicly. White Baptist churches allowed these men to exercise their gifts, and eventually these churches had to let their slave and free African American congregants form their own churches.” Discernible African American Baptist churches have been in existence since the end of the Revolutionary period in American history. In writing of the beginning of Afiican American Baptist congregations, the late pastor/historian Walter Brooks notes: “The freedom and local democracy of the Baptist Church enabled the Negroes to participate in the affairs thereof much earlier than they were so indulged in the other denominations.”57 This is an interesting statement that highlights polity. Church polity refers to how a church governs itself whether it is congregational, rule by bishops, or by a council of elders. This issue of polity is often overlooked by historians because it seems so bland and uninteresting. Studying polity differences is indispensable in understanding why African American Baptist churches emerge prior to African American Methodist churches. According to Carol George, Richard Allen first approached his presiding elder in Philadelphia about organizing a separate African American Methodist society in .1786, but the elder rejected this proposal. Such could never occur within Baptist circles owing to the Baptist belief in the autonomy and independence of a local church.58 Brooks points out the relatively good relations between whites and African Americans during the 18‘“ century, and even during the pre-Civil War era within Baptist church circles. Jordan, in concurrence, implies that there have been independent African American Baptist churches since this time. Brooks, Woodson, and Jordan date the 5" Fitts, History, 32. 57 Walter H. Brooks, “Evolution of the Negro Baptist Church.” Journal of Negro History 7. No.1 (January 1922) 11-22. 58 Carol V. R. George, Segregated Sabbaths: Richard Allen and the Rise of Independent Black Church, 1760-1840 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), 51. 40 beginning ofthe African American Baptist independent movement in the 1770s while Fitts dates the beginning of the independent church movement in the 17803. Regardless of the decade that African American Baptists began to organize their own churches, it must be emphasized that these were the first independent African American churches of any denomination. Though Richard Allen led a group of African American Methodists from St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1787, the African Methodist Episcopal Church organized formally in 1816.59 The historians agree that one man had his hand in pushing the African American Baptist movement forth. This man was George Liele. Historians have highlighted the life and ministry of George Liele, who is arguably the most significant African American Baptist minister of the Revolutionary Era. Owing to the great significance of George Liele, it iS important to offer a summary of Liele’s life and ministry. Woodson, Jordan and more recent writers have re-told Liele’s interesting and inspiring story. Liele, according to Jordan, was “the first American Baptist foreign missionary, preceding William Carey, the renowned European missionary, by at least fifteen years.”60 Former Baptist pastor Alfred Lane Pugh writes that Liele was the first African American to connect the “gospel thread of Christianity” to the West Indies. Liele is also recognized by Woodson and other writers as a “pioneer” preacher among African American Baptists.”l Liele was born ca. 1750 in Virginia, but moved with his master Henry Sharpe to Burke County, South Carolina just a few years before the outbreak of the Revolutionary 59 Brooks, “Evolution of the Negro Baptist Church,” 15-16; Jordan, Negro Baptist, 6; F itts, History, 33. 60 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 6. 6' Both Woodson and Jordan title their chapters on the early African American ministers, “Pioneer Preachers.” See Woodson, History, 40ff; Jordan, Negro Baptist, 6ff; Pugh, Preachers in Paradise, 3. 41 War possibly in 1772. According to Pugh, Sharpe taught some ofhis slaves to read and write, which was illegal. One ofthe slaves he taught to read and write was George Liele. Sharp was a deacon in the Baptist Church in Burke County, which Matthew Moore led. As Liele attended worship services with his master, the preaching of Matthew Moore struck him and he experienced conversion. Sobel dates Liele’s conversion sometime in 1773. Both Pugh and Sobel write that Moore was a revivalist preacher in the same vein as a Whitefield and a Wesley. Moore preached the necessity of the new birth, and he held to the Baptist distinctive of a regenerated church membership; therefore, if one desired to join the Buckhead Creek Baptist Church he/she needed to give testimony of his/her conversion. After his conversion and his testimony, Liele received membership in the church through believer’s baptism in 1774 according to Sobel. Soon after becoming a Christian, Liele showed that he had a gift for preaching the gospel; the church gave Liele allowance to preach on the plantations along the Savannah River and occasionally he preached to the members of his own church. Sharp demonstrated his own degree of Christian enlightenment by emancipating Liele in order to preach full-time. A few weeks following giving Liele his freedom, Sharp died; and Sharp’s children planned to re- enslave Liele and actually imprisoned him owing to his British sympathies or owing to their love of money. These are the two possible reasons Jordan places forward.”2 Upon learning of the plan, Liele hastened to borrow $700 form a British colonel named Kirkland in order to flee the country with his family. Realizing that he would have a better chance at living a life free of American prejudice and the possibility of re- 62 Walter Brooks, The Silver Bluff Church: A History ofNegro Baptist Churches in America (Washington DC: Press of R. L. Pendleton, 1910) , 10-1 1, Documenting the American South, mil/docsouth.unc.edu/church/brooks/brooks.html (accessed March 22, 2010) ; Woodson, History, 43-45; 101’ dan, Negro Baptist, 6-7; Pugh, Preachers in Paradise, 3-5, 7; Sobel, T raeblin ’ On, 104-105. 42 enslavement he decided to re-settle in the English colony ofJamaica. The ship on which Liele and his family would travel across the Caribbean was in harbor for a few weeks, and during this time Liele went to Savannah and baptized some African American converts he had preached to during his days as a plantation preacher in Georgia. Liele baptized these converts in the Savannah River among who were Andrew Bryan and others who would become the founding members of First African Baptist Church in Savannah.”3 When Liele left America, he went to Jamaica as the indentured servant of Colonel Kirkland. According to Jordan, when Liele arrived on the island the sad spiritual condition of blacks in Kingston deeply moved him. As a result, Liele began to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ at the race tracks. Later, he rented a room and organized a Baptist church of four people. The church grew enormously. In less than eight years, Liele baptized 500 people. In 1789, he built a chapel amid persecution. During this time, he spent time in prison and went on trial for preaching “sedition.” From 1805 to 1814, a law forbidding preaching to slaves was carried out. Finally, in 1814 English Baptists sent missionaries to Jamaica at the behest of Liele.64 Jordan includes a personal letter Liele wrote to Dr. Rippon, who was one Of the leaders of the Baptist Missionary Society in London. Liele wrote the letter in 1791; he organized the church in Kingston in 1784. The letter contains a brief description of Liele and the work of ministry he undertook in Jamaica. He is honest to state that his occupation is that Of farmer; therefore, he was a part-time pastor. He mentions that most of the church members are slaves, and have very little money to support the church. This (’3 Woodson, History, 43-45; Jordan, Negro Baptist, 7. 64 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 7. 43 is the main problem Liele relates to Dr. Rippon. The church needs funds to complete the “meeting house.” What all of this demonstrates is that African American Baptists even during the Revolutionary Era had a keen interest in spreading the gospel and the Baptist tradition outside of America to other persons ofAfriean descent.”5 With this emergent movement among African American Baptists joining churches and preaching the gospel, two important questions remain: what did these African American Baptists believe? Was their doctrine different from their white counterparts? During the middle and late 18th century, African American Baptist doctrine mirrored that of white Baptists. N. H. Pius, one of the leading National Baptists at the inception of the convention, writes this intriguing statement about African American Baptist beginnings: Interesting and strange appears the record of the rise and progress of Negro Baptists in America. Interesting, because it is a record of the struggles of a people who had their rise amidst fiery trials and afflictions as slaves, and strange because they have made their progress as a separate part of the general Baptist family, and yet believe and practice all that it believes and practices.“ This was nothing unique to Baptists as secedirrg Methodists during the late 18th century and early 19th century clung to Methodist doctrine wholeheartedly. The dominant theology of Baptists in Colonial and Revolutionary America was Calvinism. There exists no extant manuscripts ofslavc preaching at this time; but evidence rests on the fact that white Baptists nurtured slave preachers in their churches, licensed them to preach, and that white Baptist pastors ordained African American pastors. All of this strongly indicates that African American Baptist ministers learned and 65 . 66 Jerdan, Negro Baptist, 8-9. Plus, An Oultine of Baptist History (Nashville, TN: National Baptist Publishing Board, 191 1), 51, DOCUmenting the American South, http://www.docsouth.unc.edut'clrurch/pius/pius.html (accessed March 22, 2010). 44 preached the tenets OfCalvinist theology. The content ofAfriean American Baptist theology has been overlooked during this period by historians.”7 During the colonial period of American history, Calvinism predominated among the Baptists. The first Baptist church founded in North America was a Particular Baptist church. From 1639 to 1790, there were Six different Baptist groups in America: Particular, General, General Six Principle, Seventh Day, New Light, and Free Will. These groups together numbered 67, 475. From that number, 57, 306 were Particular Baptists. One reason for the large number of Particular Baptists is that by 1790 most General and New Light Baptists merged into Particular Baptist churches. This phenomenon occurred because of the evangelical and organizational skill of the Philadelphia Association, the leading Baptist association of the day. To a lesser extent, the Charleston Association also exerted influence over Baptist churches.”8 Both of these associations adopted the Second London Confession of 1677. By adopting this confession, these two associations committed themselves to Calvinist orthodoxy. During this time, many General Baptist churches were re-organized as a result of the influence of the Philadelphia Association. General Baptist and Particular Baptist distinction was barely noticeable at times. Since General Baptist theology (Arminianism) was weak on the local level, Particular Baptist preachers helped to convert Arminian pastors to Calvinism. This type of intra-sect proselytizing greatly helped the Baptist movement to gain momentum into the 18‘h century.”9 6:7 Pius, Outline, 52. W. Wiley Richards, Winds of Doctrine: The Origin and Development ofSouthern Baptist T heologv (New York, 1991), 9-11. Particular Baptists believed in “particular redemption.” which asserts that Christ’s death 6311 tIIe cross was for the elect of God only. Rlchards, Winds of Doctrine, 12. 45 It was during the 18‘h century revivals already mentioned above that Baptists began to plant new churches and these churches organized associations. Two men in particular emerged from this movement and began to preach and evangelize in the Lower colonies, namely Shubal Steams and. Daniel Marshall. Steams was a Congregationalist from Connecticut who believed the gospel and converted under the preaching of Whitefield. Daniel Marshall joined a Particular Baptist church after moving from Connecticut to North Carolina after a brief sojourn in Virginia. According to Abraham Marshall, the son of Daniel Marshall, the elder Marshall became a Baptist after careful examination of New Testament scripture. To attest that Daniel Marshall was an avowed Calvinist, the church he established near Augusta, Georgia in 1792, the Kiokee Baptist Church, became the “mother church of Calvinism in Georgia.” It was from this theological context that African American Baptists emerged and formed their own independent congregations. Baptist theology was synonymous with Calvinism especially in the South. As will be detailed below, Abraham Marshall, the son of Daniel Marshall, in particular, had a direct hand in helping to establish one of the first African American Baptist churches. 7” According to Jordan, the first African American Baptist church began in Aiken Country, South Carolina before 1776; this is the Silver BluffBaptist Church. There is a lack of consensus regarding the founding date of Silver Bluff Baptist Church. Former slave turned Baptist elder David George has left us a first-hand account of the founding of this church, but like many testimonies of the 18th century by former slaves there are some vague details. George’s account offers no dates; therefore, secondary sources are needed to corroborate some of the events mentioned such as the British attack on 7° Richards, Winds of Doctrine, 13, 17. 46 Savannah during the Revolutionary War. Drawing from George’s account, Silver Bluff Church began as a plantation mission ca. 1774. According to Harvey, church records indicate the year 1750 as the founding date. This is highly improbable since George was born ca. 1743 in Virginia and remained there as a slave until he was nineteen years old. George was one of the charter members. Though it is possible that a seven year could have been a member of a Baptist church then, it is highly unlikely and it contradicts George’s account of his own age in his narrative.7| The scholarly works, however, support that the church came into existence between 1773 and 1775; George’s account upholds this. He mentions further that Liele preached there on at least two occasions both subsequent to his own conversion experience. According to Sobel, it was through Wait Palmer’s preaching, a New Light Baptist preacher that George received saving knowledge. Pitts and Harvey, in contradiction, state that Liele‘s preaching produced George's conversion. This is a rather difficult problem, but judging from Liele's preaching ministry to various plantations along the Savannah River it seems likely that George would have heard Liele’s sermons previously to hearing Palmer. George clearly indicates that he heard Palmer after his conversion. Shortly after George’s conversion, he heard Liele preach and informed him of his conversion to Christ. The church began by Wait Palmer, who George calls “Brother Palmer” heard the testimony of eight slaves on the plantation of George Galphin, and baptized them on the 7‘ Jordan, Negro Baptist, 21-22; David George, An Account of the Life oer. David George, from Sierra Leone in Africa; Given by Himself in a Conversation with Brother Rippon of London, and Brother Pearce of Birmingham (1793), in “F ace Zion Forward " First Writers of the Black Atlantic, 1785-1 7 98 eds. Joanna Brooks and John Saillant (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2002), 180-189; Harvey, Bridges, 13-14; Jones, African Americans and the Christian Churches, 128-129. Jones holds to the primacy of the Silver Bluff Church. 47 profession oftheir faith. Though George credits Palmer with founding the Silver Bluff Church, Pugh states it was both Liele and Palmer who founded the church. In addition to this, Harvey asserts that Liele was the first pastor of the Silver Bluff Church. In order to clarify this, Liele was only a licensed preacher at this time and was unqualified to administer the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Palmer, according to George, was a pastor of a church and this is why he baptized George, his wife, Jesse Peters, and five other slaves. Since Liele had preached there before he would have been interested in the organization of persons he had preached to and probably helped to bring to the Christian faith. This would have made him the first pastor. Soon after George’s baptism and at the behest of the church and Palmer, George became the elder of the congregation. He remained as the pastor of the church until the time that the British captured the city of Savannah in 1778.72 Following spending a month in jail in Georgia and a short stay in Charleston, George and his family immigrated to Nova Scotia, Canada where he founded an African Baptist Church in the city of Shelbume and left there to become colonists in Sierra Leone, where he founded a Baptist Church in Freetown in 1792. Though George and his family fled America, Silver Bluff continued to meet in Georgia. According to Fitts, Jesse Peters (also known as Jesse Galphin) was the second pastor of the church when it was formally constituted in 1781.73 Another historic African American Baptist church founded during this period is the aforementioned First African Baptist Church of Savannah. According to Charles Elmore who has written the most recent history of this church, this church is now known 72 George, Account, 180-181; Pugh, Preachers in Paradise, 12 and Harvey, Bridges, I3. 73 Fitts, History, 33, 38; Sobel, Trabelin ' On, 105-106. 48 as First Bryan Baptist Church. or "Old Bryan,” even though there is a church in Savannah that still bears the name “First African Baptist.” This story of how this came to be is beyond the scope ofthis work. Elmore clearly links the founding of this church in 1788 with the Silver Bluff Baptist Church. Both of these churches began as plantation missions, and it was the ministry of George Liele that produced the first Christians who formed this church. According to Jordan and F itts the year 1778 is founding year of this venerable old church. Andrew Bryan formally organized and constituted on January 20, 1788. Bryan was the slave of Jonathan Bryan, who encouraged him to preach on the plantation. Later, Bryan allowed his slaves led by Andrew to build a meeting place on his prOperty in Yamacraw. Washington states that Jonathan Bryan was a New Light Presbyterian. Two white Baptists helped in constituting First African and in formally ordaining Andrew Bryan. These men were Rev. Thomas Burton and Rev. Abraham Marshall, and both of these men were Separate Baptists. Washington adds that Jesse Galphin helped Andrew Bryan and his fellow African Baptists form a connection with the Separate Baptists. After experiencing initial growth and success, the church disbanded owing to the British occupation of Savannah. The church re-organized with the help of Abraham Marshall. First African suffered from white interference in a negative after its founding. Its independence was limited and members of the church suffered Persecution such as imprisonment and floggings. Andrew Bryan and Sampson Bryan tWice received floggings, and about 50 members received whippings from whites as well. Fitts states, “With few exceptions, members of Bryan’s entire congregation were Pet‘secuted for their faith and practices.” Savannah officials charged the entire cotlgregation with plotting an insurrection and imprisoned. They lost their building ca. 49 1790, but the church received exoneration ofthese unfounded charges in the Inferior Court of Chatharn County. In the aftemrath ofthis trying incident, Jonathan Bryan allowed the church to have another meeting place in his home, or barn. Also in 1790 First African joined the Georgia Baptist Association becoming the first African American church to do so. It remained the only African American church in the association for years. Even when the Association divided into two districts, First African remained a member. By 1800, First African had 800 members, and it founded two other churches: Second Baptist in 1802, and Ogeechee Baptist in 1805.74 Though the first independent African Baptist churches began as plantation missions along the South C arolina-Georgia border, other independent African Baptist churches sprouted in Virginia. The independent church movement in Virginia occurred simultaneously with the movement further south in South Carolina and Georgia. Washington notes something special about the formation of the African Baptist churches in Virginia. He states that the free African American population had a greater influence on the formation of these churches than in Georgia. The simple reason for this, according to Washington, was that there were more free African Americans in Virginia than in Georgia during this period. The pattern of organization, however, was similar as African American converts began to meet together and then form themselves into congregations with the support of white Baptist associations. Like the lack of consensus regarding the founding date of Silver Bluff Church, there exists the same lack of consensus regarding the founding dates of these nascent African Baptist churches in Virginia. According to Woodson, the first African Baptist church founded in Virginia was the Harrison Street 74 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 22; Fitts, History, 33, 36-38; Washington, Frustrated Fellowship, 10-11;Sobel, T rabelin ’ On, 107; Charles Elmore, First Bryan 1788-2001: The Oldest Continuous Black Baptist Church in America (Savannah, GA: First Bryan Baptist Church, 2002), 1-2. 50 Church in Petersburg, Virginia in 1776. According to Washington, free African Americans and slaves founded the Harrison Street Church ca. 1788. Woodson also notes that the second African Baptist church founded in Virginia was in Williamsburg in 1785. Washington, however, states that Rev. Govan Pamphlet, a free African American minister, organized the African Baptist Church at Williamsburg in 1781, but the church had met informally since 1776. In 1791 (or by this year), the church became a member of the predominately white Dover Baptist Association. Fitts states that there were two churches founded in Petersburg; in addition to Harrison Street there was Gilfield Baptist Church. Washington offers more detail on the founding of Gilfield Baptist Church; he states that in 1788 Afiican Americans founded this church “as a racially mixed congregation.” When the congregation moved to Petersburg by 1809, the African American portion of the church separated and formed the Sandy Beach Baptist Church that became a member of the Portsmouth Association in 1810. Another church founded in the late 18‘h century in Virginia worth mentioning is the First Baptist Church of Richmond. At its founding, it was a bi-racial church consisting of African Americans (mostly slaves) and whites. The importance of this church, however, is that it would become an all African American church in 1841 with a membership of over 1,700. Another important feature of this church will be discussed below regarding the life and ministry of Lott Carey.75 75 Woodson, History, 85; Fitts, History, 45; Washington, Frustrated F ellowship, 14-15; Luther P. Jackson, “The Religious Development of the Negro,” 189-190; Jones, African Americans and the Christian Churches, 133-133. Jackson and Jones concur with Washington regarding the date of the first African Baptist church in Virginia founded by Govan Pamphlet. Pamphlet’s first name is also given as Gowan. Jackson also gives the church at Williamsburg priority as he states the Gilfield and Harrison Street organized after 1781. 51 An interesting side note regarding African American Baptists in Virginian during II . . . t . . . . . ‘ century 13 the ministry of African American men In bI-racral or the late 18 predominately white Baptist churches. Raboteau states that there is evidence from 1766 that African American men preached during New Light Baptist meetings. This evidence is from Brunswick, Virginia. In 1792, the bi-racial Baptist Church in Portsmouth, Virginia called an African American man named Josiah Bishop to preach for them after their pastor resigned. This is the same Josiah Bishop who would become the pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City in 1809. This same church at Portsmouth purchased the freedom of a slave named Simon in order for him to preach full-time. William Lemon, another African American man, served as the minister at a white Baptist church in Gloucester County, Virginia at the turn of the 19th century.76 Moving west from the vast state of Virginia, African Americans organized their first Baptist church in the state of Kentucky in 1790 according to Fitts. A slave named Old Captain, or Brother Captain began this work. Brother Captain was the slave of Lewis Craig, who was actually one of the Baptist pioneer preachers in Virginia and suffered persecution owing to his Baptist beliefs. Craig sent Brother Captain to Kentucky to grow a crop in 1780, but the crop suffered destruction and Captain had to return to Virginia. In 1790, Captain returned to Kentucky in Lexington and from his cabin began to preach the gospel to fellow African Americans for a period of seven years. The founding of this Church was similar to others founded in the slave South during this period. This church COuld possibly qualify as a plantation church, but it definitely began as a “cabin church” by a slave who loved Christ, the gospel of Christ, and his own people.77 \ 7 7: Raboteau, Slave Religion, 134, Fitts, History, 50-51 , 52 At the close Of the 18‘" century, there were a few independent African American Baptist churches. All of them came into being first by the great revival that began in earnest in the 17303 and that trickled southward by New Light Baptist preachers. These preachers held to the belief that God was no respecter of persons to a degree, and preached the gospel to Africans/African Americans both slave and free. Through the good graces of Christian slave masters, African American men preached to their own people and received help in founding churches. Men like George Liele and David George preached the gospel and organized churches in other countries, which established a pattern in African American Baptist history. When viewing the founding of these pioneer churches and the ministry of pioneer preachers, it is clear to see the moorings of National Baptists, who are also Missionary Baptists. The first independent African American churches began in the South where slavery had sunk its roots in its rich soil. What is interesting about that phenomenon is that white Baptists, all of whom had been affected positively by the First Great Awakening, helped these churches to establish themselves. The first decade of the 19lh century witnessed the first independent African American Baptist churches begun in the North. Unlike the churches of the South, these Northern African American Baptist churches started in similar fashion as their African Methodist counterparts that became quasi independent during the 17903. Woodson argues that after the Revolutionary War period whites and their prejudice against African Americans helped to cause the rise of the independent church movement.78 In 1805, free African American Baptists in Boston founded First African Baptist Church in the Beacon Hill section of the city. As this was the first African American 78 Woodson, History, 71. 53 church of any denomination founded in New England, the roots ofits founding are in the discrimination experienced in an overwhelmingly white region of the country. Historians James and Lois Horton substantiate this claim by stating: "The black church arose in Boston partly as a response to the discrimination faced by blacks in white churches and partly in response to the needs for self-expression which originated in the culture and experience of the black community.”79 In general, the white leadership of Baptist churches relegated their African American members to sitting in the galleries. According to Pugh, the leadership of these churches forbade African American members from singing, or even speaking during the worship services. Unwilling to undergo this type of treatment in the house of the Lord, African American Baptist Bostonians began to meet in private homes. Those who decided to release themselves from the white churches to worship privately were “a few,” or “a handful.”80 According to Horton and Horton, these private worship meetings were “nondenominational” representing a number of Protestant denominations.8| The future leader of the group of African American Baptists who would found African Baptist Church was Thomas Paul who arrived in Boston in 1789 at the tender age of 16 newly converted and baptized in his native New Hampshire. Upon his arrival, he joined the nondenominational private group. Owing to Paul’s giftedness as an exhorter, he emerged as the leader of this group. In 1798, the group now led by Paul began to meet in a schoolhouse on the West End ofBoston for their worship on the Lord’s Day. Finally 79 James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton, Black Bostonians: F amily Life and Community Struggle in the Antebellum North (New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1979), 39. 8° Horton and Horton, Black Bostonians, 40. 8' Jordan, Negro Baptist, 22; Horton and Horton, Black Bostonians, 40; Fitts, History, 46; Pugh, Preachers in Paradise, 127; Jane Lampman, “Pioneering Church Marches On,” October 19, 2005- http://wwwcsmonitor.com/2005/1019/p13301-1ire.html; http:h’www.pbcbostonorg/historv.htm (accessed July 20, 2007). 54 they organized First African with the blessing and approval ofFirst Baptist and Second Baptist. In December 1806, Paul received ordination to become the pastor of this church.82 In 1808, African American Baptists in New York City founded the Abyssinian Baptist Church. The main cause for the founding of this church was the prejudicial treatment received by African American members at First Baptist Church. According to Woodson, the African American members had approached the main body of the church as early as 1807 requesting to be dismissed in order to form an independent African church as the Methodists and Episcopalians had done. It was when Pastor Thomas Paul of First African in Boston came to New York in order to give a series of lectures that First Baptist was satisfied with the formation ofan independent African church under the condition that Paul would be the organizing pastor. Paul remained in New York City as an interim pastor of Abyssinian from June 1808 to September 1808, and he experienced a good and successful ministry. F itts adds more detail to the founding of the church. He asserts that Ethiopian traders actually helped to found the church, and this is why the founders named it “Abyssinian.” This assertion has no primary source evidence. F itts states, “According to tradition, these ‘Abyssinians' attended the First Baptist Church of New York where they were promptly ushered into the slave loft.” It is highly unlikely that this occurred for at least two reasons. First, it is only a tradition, which the present church upholds; there are no names of these Ethiopian traders, and there is no evidence that the Kingdom of Ethiopia at the time had a vast trading network into the Western hemisphere. Second, Ethiopians were (and still are predominately) Orthodox Christians 82 Horton and Horton, Black Bostonians, 40; Pugh, Preachers in Paradise, 127. African Baptist would become a charter church of the Boston Baptist Association founded in 1812. 55 not Protestants. It is hardly the case that Ethiopian traders would travel to New York City and worship at a predominately white Baptist church. After members of Abyssinian purchased a building and began to worship, the church became constituted formally on July 5, 1809 under the pastorate ofJosiah Bishop.83 Following Paul’s interim term as pastor Of Abyssinian Baptist Church, he returned to the African Baptist Church in Boston to experience a fruitful ministry. In March 1823, he became a missionary to the Republic of Haiti through the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society. Though he remained in Haiti for six months achieving very little success, he still represents the mind of many African American Baptists during this period who desired to carry the gospel to people of African descent.84 The founding of First African Baptist Church in Philadelphia occurred because some of the African American members of First Baptist Church “for some time felt that it would be more congenial for them to worship separately...” According to Woodson, these members received letters of dismission from First Baptist Church on May '14, 1809. There were thirteen members dismissed in this fashion. In the very next month, these thirteen African American Baptists founded First African Baptist Church. Woodson remarks on the probable trouble that prompted the African American members of First Baptist to leave. He states the once strongly anti-slavery First Baptist weakened on this issue after the Revolutionary War. He notes that the church had a succession Of Southern pastors that aided in this attenuation of the anti-slavery sentiment. Woodson also notes that there was an emergent tide of prejudice against African Americans in Philadelphia 83 Woodson, History, 88-90; Fitts, History, 46; Washington, Frustrated Fellowship, 20. 84 Woodson, History, 90-91; Pugh, Preachers in Paradise, 132-133, 149-150. Paul’s lack of success had much to do with his inability to speak either French or Haitian Creole; this hampered his communication seriously. Also Paul became ill during this stay and had to return to Massachusetts. 56 owing to the migration of free men from the South. According to Fitts, the problem was exacerbated because mixed with the migration of free men were fugitive slaves from Virginia; in fact, Fitts states that fugitives had joined First Baptist Church. In an interesting turn, it was a free African American man from the South, Georgia in particular that helped to organize First African. This man was Henry Cunningham who was once a preacher in First African ofSavannah, and was the pastor of Second African in Savannah. According to Washington, Cunningham was in Philadelphia to ask for financial help from the Philadelphia Baptist Association. Cunningham served as the pastor of African Baptist until his death in 181 I, and the church was without a full-time pastor until 1832. During this period, the church experienced little growth and endured a split that gave rise to Second African Baptist Church in 1816. From the outset of First African’s existence, it was a member of the Philadelphia Baptist Association; and Second African became a member along with two other African Baptist churches founded later.85 As mentioned above, Baptists were quite numerous in Philadelphia and its surrounding area even into New Jersey. It was in New Jersey that two more independent African Baptist churches formed beginning in 1812. Fitts offers a summary of the founding of these churches without the detail noticed in the organization of the churches in the larger East coast cities like Boston and New York. African Baptist churches began in Trenton and Salem, respectively. There can only be conjecture regarding the circumstances surrounding the founding of these two churches. It would be safe to 85 Woodson, History, 86-87; Fitts, History, 47-48; Washington, Frustrated Fellowship, 21. See also Gary B. Nash, Forging Freedom: The Formation of Philadelphia '3 Black Community 1720-1840 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988), 201. Nash notes that Blockely African Baptist and Union African Baptist founded in 1827 and 1832 respectively joined the Philadelphia Baptist Association. 57 assume that African Americans withdrew from their former predominately white churches owing to prejudice and other racist actionsm’ During the Early Republic period of American history, there were two other types of churches African Americans held membership in. One was the African American church with a white pastor. Such a church was First Colored in Richmond, Virginia. The other type was a Baptist church with a “Colored Branch.” Functionally and practically, the colored branch was independent with African Americans electing their own officers and received and disciplined their own members under the nominal oversight of the white branch. Such churches were First Baptist in Montgomery, Alabama, and churches in Natchez and Jackson, Mississippi and Charleston, South Carolina.87 Early in the 19th century, racially integrated Baptist churches in the South placed limitations on the activity ofslave members. This is evident from a report in 1802 from the Dover Baptist Association in Virginia. The report addressed a problem within the association regarding the practice of some churches that allowed slave men who were rightful members of the church to vote in church business meetings. The report reflected a conventional opinion regarding African American inferiority. Fitts asserts such thinking on the part of this association contradicted Baptist principles.88 In 1809, a majority African American Baptist church in Virginia experienced violence at the hands of whites. These belligerent whites displayed utter disrespect for African American Christians as they whipped an African American minister, a Reverend Moses, for preaching in a service. The church‘s association placed a ban in effect 8° Fitts, History, 49-50. F itts offers no documentation on the founding of the first two African Baptist churches in New Jersey. Other historians fail to include the founding of these churches in their histories. 87 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 22. 3“ Fitts, History, 25. 58 prohibiting any African America man, whether slave or free, from preaching. This prohibition carried the threat ofex-communieation from the association. According to F itts, such actions reveal that the institution ofslavery in the South placed whites under great stress. To clarify this statement, F itts intimates that during this period, Southern whites were fearful of African Americans both slave and free meeting in an independent churches.89 Though white Southerners feared African Americans in assembly at church during this period, there was a unique church founded in the French colony of Louisiana in 1805 by a free man of color named Joseph Willis originally from South Carolina, who migrated west to Mississippi and then to Louisiana. According to Fitts, Willis’ personal migration west from the East is owed to the Western growth of Protestantism in America during the first decades of the 19‘“ century. The best information existing on Willis and his pioneering work is found in William Hicks’ brief history of African American Baptists in Louisiana originally published in 1914. Hicks draws heavily from a history of Louisiana Baptists by Paxton. Hicks states, quoting from Paxton, that Willis was the first person to bring Baptist teaching into Louisiana. At the time, the colony of Louisiana was a Roman Catholic colony and had no toleration of Protestantism. Willis arrived in Louisiana in November 1804 at Vermillion, which is about 40 miles southwest of Baton Rouge; it was there he began to preach.()0 89 Fitts, History, 26. 90 William Hicks, History ofLouisiana Negro Baptists/ram 1804 to 1914 (Nashville, TN: National Baptist Publishing Board), Documenting the American South, http://www.dosouth.unc.edu/ehurch/hicks/hickshtml (accessed March 23, 2010). 17; See also Joseph H. Jackson, Story of Activism: The History of the National Baptist Convention, U. S. A. , Inc. (Nashville, TN: Townsend Press, 1980), 10; Fitts, History, 48-49. 59 Again from drawing from Paxton. Hicks writes that Willis' preaching placed him in a dangerous position for two reasons: first, he was African American; and second, he was a Baptist. Willis‘ preaching had good effect as many believed the gospel and became Christians. These were the first Baptists in Louisiana, and Willis formed the converts into a Baptist church, which, of course, was the first Baptist church in the colony. Though Willis was a licensed preacher, he was un-ordained. Because of his lack of ordination, he was unable to baptize the new Christians or serve them the Lord’s Supper. He returned to Mississippi to seek ordination from his home church, but there was no pastor there. He took a letter from his home church and went to affiliate with a church with a pastor to obtain ordination, but the other church refused because he was an African American. Finally, he had to appeal to the Mississippi Association for ordination in 181 l at the behest of his followers back in Louisiana. The Mississippi Association granted him ordination in 1812 possibly in November of that year, and the association formally recognized the Calvary Baptist Church of Bayou C hicot (St. Landry Parish) on November 13, 1812. Besides being the first Baptist church in Louisiana, Brooks indicates that this church was unique in that it was a bi-racial congregation. Willis would initiate other seminal Baptist work in Louisiana ministering in Rapides Parish helping to found other church, and by organizing the first Baptist association in the Pelican State in 1818, which he served as its first moderator. Again, the special quality of this association was that it consisted of white churches. In Louisiana, the father of Baptist work was an African American man from South Carolina known as “Father Willis?"l Stress associated with slavery seemingly lessened as Baptists spread west. There was a Baptist work among slaves in Missouri as early as 1818 in St. Louis. In 1822, a 9' Hicks, Louisiana Negro Baptists, 18- 19; Brooks, “The Evolution ofNegro Baptist C hurch," 13. 6O separate African American church organized under white pastoral supervision. J. M. Peck was the Baptist missionary who gave pastoral oversight to the fledgling church; Peck was a missionary of the Home Mission Board of Triennial Convention that organized in 1814. This church was in the habit of purchasing the freedom of slaves. The Reverend John Berry Meacham, a free man of color was the pastor of the African American Baptist church in St. Louis at this time. He was the son of a Baptist slave preacher back in Virginia, and the church purchased his freedomf’2 This sketch of the early history of African American Baptist churches serves as both the context and the foundation for African American Baptist mission work to Africa. At this period, African American Baptists both slave and free took seriously their call to spread the gospel as indicated in the growth of churches. This period also indicates that they were identifiably Baptist and willing to remain so. As the introduction to this work has been placed forward, what follows is the specific history of African American Baptist foreign mission work in Africa and South Africa demonstrating how an oppressed group of people endowed with the power of their faith endured slavery, segregation, and disfranchisement to build a viable ecclesiastical institution never forgetting their ancestral homeland. Critical in understanding this entire movement is African American Baptists peering and reading the movement of God‘s Providence in benchmarks of progress made by African Americans in American society. Without Afiican American Baptist reliance on reading Providential signs and markers there would be no Ethiopianism, and arguably no African missionary movement in the 19‘h and 20th centuries. 92 Fitts, History, 26. 61 Chapter One: From Lott Carey to William Colley: Precursor African American Missionaries to Africa and Missionary Movements, ca. 1821-1879 Though David George became the first Baptist of African descent to found a Baptist church in Africa, his remarkable story of escaping slavery as a Black Loyalist during the American Revolution, ministering and founding a Baptist church in Nova Scotia, and then becoming a missionary colonist in Sierra Leone has failed to be considered a true watershed moment in the history of National Baptist missionary work in Afiica. Lott Carey’s missionary endeavor to Liberia in 1821 is the benchmark and the contextual starting point for the history of National Baptist African missions. Support for this assertion is found in the late 1920 issues of the Mission Herald that announced the upcoming observance of the Centennial ofCarey's journey to Liberia. The Foreign Mission Board decided to dedicate the January 1921 Herald to Carey‘s mission by re- printing letters from Carey, and an excerpt from his "Farewell” sermon he delivered in Richmond before embarking aboard a ship headed to West Africa. Then Corresponding Secretary Lewis Jordan wrote an editorial entitled “One Hundred Years Ago---And Now.”lln it, Jordan compares the state ofBaptist missions to Africa in Carey’s day to what it was at the beginning of 1921; he also mentions the progress African Americans have made from 1821 when the vast majority of African Americans were slaves and now they own “twenty-five million acres of land” and run scores of colleges and schools. With this stated, Jordan peered back into the genesis of African American missions to ‘ “One Hundred Years Ago--And Now,” Mission Herald, January 1921. The article is technically anonymous, but Jordan wrote these various articles and editorials in the Herald during his tenure unless specifically noted by the listing of another writer. 62 Africa with the hope that National Baptists would continue to flourish and build upon the foundation laid by Carey.2 From C arey‘s missionary work in Liberia, African American Baptists continued to keep Africa missions in focus as the American Baptist Missionary Convention founded in 1840 sent missionaries to West Africa during its existence. As the century moved on, a few African American Baptist State Conventions founded immediately after the Civil War sent missionaries to West Africa as well. In 1879, African American Baptists in Virginia recognized the need to consolidate the effort to send missionaries to Afiica, and they sent out one oftheir own, William Colley, formerly a missionary working for the Southern Baptist Convention, to gauge the interest of African American Baptists regarding forming a national convention dedicated solely to African missions. The focus of this chapter is on these small movements that eventually led to the founding of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention in 1880. This history reveals that African American Baptists fighting against slavery and second class citizenship at home continued to realize the importance of their place in God's plan of the redemption of Africa. If Africa is to be saved, African Americans must be those forging ahead. The most renowned of African American Baptist missionaries during the Early Republic period was Lott Carey. As early as 1837, the pastor of Second Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia, James Braxton Taylor published a brief biography of Carey. The purpose for Taylor’s biography was to use Carey’s extraordinary story to encourage other African American men to enter the African mission field. Without a doubt, Carey is recognized as the father of American missions to Africa. Taylor, as did other Evangelicals during this time, believed that African Americans should be the primary 2 “One Hundred Years Ago—And Now.” 63 people traveling to Africa to spread the gospel and to aid in the uplift ofAfriea. For Taylor, the preaching ofthe gospel in Africa with the bringing ofWestem civilization were twin ways in which “civilized nations” could atone for the “degradation and misery” they have brought to Africa. Taylor saw the clear intent of providence in having African Americans as primary agents of this endeavor of evangelism and atonement. He writes: “Though white men may and ought to enter this field, yet the indication of Providence, thus far, have been in favor of making our colored brethren the chief instruments of this labor of love.”3 Into the 20‘h century, African American church historians began to write of C arey's life and career. Eminent African American Baptist pastor and professor, Miles Mark Fisher wrote an essay published in 1922 detailing Carey’s ministry, Jordan includes a brief chronology of Carey‘s life and ministry in his history of African American Baptists, which is taken from Taylor’s biography, and Leroy F itts wrote a short book on Carey during the l980s but republished in the 19903. What follows regarding Carey’s life and his motivation for missions draws from these sources and an article published in 1970 by William Poe.4 According to the historiography on Carey, Carey was born a slave in the county of Charles City in Virginia ca. 1780 on the estate of William A. Christian. His father was a Baptist, and his mother was seemingly a Christian though she was no member of a 3 James Braxton Taylor, Biography o/‘Elder Lott C ary. Late Missionary to Africa (Baltimore, MD: Armstrong and Berry, 1837). Reprinted in The African Preachers (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1998), 9-10 4 Taylor, Biography; Miles Mark Fisher, “Lott Cary, the Colonizing Missionary,” Journai of Negro History 7 (October 1922): 380-418; Jordan, Negro Baptist; William A. Poe. “Lott Carey: Man of Purchased Freedom.” Church History. Vol. 39. No. 1 (March 1970): 49-61, littpzx‘iwww.istor.orgf'stable/3163213. (Accessed June 19, 2009); Leroy Fitts, The Lott Carey Legacy of African American Missions (Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, 1994). Other African American Baptist writers have written on Lott Carey, but in summary fashion. See Harvey, Bridges, 15-17. 64 church. Jordan states that nothing much is known ofCarey's childhood. He does report that Carey moved to Richmond in 1804, and there he worked at a tobacco warehouse. It is fairly obvious that C arey‘s master, William Christian, hired him as this warehouse. At this time, he was still unconverted and was a drunkard and one who used profane language. This Carey’s life for three years, and then his life changed. Attending worship sometime in 1807 at First Baptist Church of Richmond, Carey heard a sermon by Rev. John Courtney from the gospel of John on Jesus and Nicodemus. Through this sermon on the necessity of the new birth, Carey knew now his terrible, sinful condition; this led to his spiritual conversion and he became a Christian. Carey received baptism in 1807 by Rev. Courtney, and he became a member of First Baptist Church.5 After receiving baptism and holding membership in the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Carey had an intense desire to learn how to read after hearing the sermon that led to his conviction of sin and conversion to Jesus Christ. Carey yearned to read the passage for himself; because of this, he purchased a Bible and commenced to learn to read by first reading John 3, and with the help of his fellow warehouse workers he later learned to write. Fitts states, “It is significant that Carey’s literary education began in his young adult life concomitant with his conversion experience.” Carey‘s quest for learning actually accords with other slave testimonies of their learning to read through the Church; the aforementioned George Liele and David George became literate through Christian teaching. Around this time as well, Carey began to preach gospel to other African Americans both slave and free in Richmond and its environs. After giving evidence of his spiritual gift, Carey was soon licensed to preach by First Baptist Church. In the aftermath 5 Taylor, Biography, 11-12; Fisher, “Lott Cary,” 381-382; Jordan, Negro Baptist, 12; Poe, “Lott Carey,” 49-50; Fitts, Lott Carey, 3-5. 65 of his licensure, Carey spent the Lord‘s Day (Sunday) preaching on plantations surrounding Richmond. Carey would preach as far South as Norfolk and in Lynchburg in the East as Lynchburg. As a licensed Baptist preacher, Carey increased his desire to improve his mind by reading; he continued to improve his mind even using his spare time at the warehouse readingb During this time as well, Carey became more useful at the warehouse and he began to accumulate money; he received promotions on the job and his boss gave him extra money and extra tobacco for him to sell. Owing to his thrift and industry, Carey purchased his freedom and that of his two children for $850 in 1813. As a freeman, Carey received a regular salary that increased from time to time. At the time of his manumission, Carey was undoubtedly a widower, but he married again in 1815 and became an able provider for his family.7 As Carey continued to be a devoted, Christian family man, he continued to be useful in the Church. Because ofCarey’s preaching and influence in the African American community in Richmond, he also was “instrumental in awakening among his Colored brethren in the city of Richmond a lively interest on behalf of the spiritual condition of Africa.” According to Fisher, William Crane, a deacon at First Baptist Church, was the major organizer of a night school for free African Americans housed in the meeting house of the African Baptist Church of Richmond. Through his night school, Crane engaged his students, including Carey and Colin Teague, about African missions. Teague, who was also a freeman, was a fellow preacher in First Baptist Church and was a 6 Taylor, Biography, 13-14; Fisher, “Lott Cary,” 382, 384; Jordan, Negro Baptist, 12; Fitts, Lott Carey, 13- 14. 7 Taylor, Biography,15; Fisher, “Lott Cary,” 383; Jordan, Negro Baptist, 13; Fitts, Lott Carey, 15. 66 close friend of Carey‘s who would also leave for West Africa in January 1821. Crane was successful in igniting a fire within Carey and Teague's bosoms.8 Deacon Crane‘s encouragement of his pupils Carey and Teague to take an interest in African missions occurred at a time that American Baptists began to organize to engage in foreign missions work. American Baptist interest in foreign missions came by the influence of English Baptists and the mission work of William Carey in India, who began his work there in 1795. According to Jacobs, the missionary zeal of English th Baptists owed itself to the Evangelical Revival of the 18 century.9 The English Particular Baptists had organized the Baptist Missionary Society three years prior in London. William Straughton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, was knowledgeable of the activities of the English Particular Baptists; he was English, and he had been present at the founding of the Baptist Missionary Society. Baptists in America were noticeably excited about C arey‘s mission; they gave their financial support to the endeavor as well as prayed for the success of the mission; and they read Carey’s letters from the mission field. English Baptist missionaries en route to India stayed in America, and spoke in Baptist churches. When American Congregationalists founded the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1810, Baptists gave their money again. '0 The impetus for American Baptists to organize for foreign missions resulted from a rather remarkable turn within Congregationalist ranks. American Board missionaries 8 Taylor, Biography, 15-16; Fisher, “Lott Cary,” 384—385; Jordan, Negro Baptist, 13; Poe, “Lott Carey,” 50; Fitts, Lott Carey, 8. 9 Sylvia M. Jacobs, “The Historical Role of Afro-Americans in American Missionary Efforts in Africa,” in Black Americans and the Missionary Movement ed. Sylvia Jacobs (Westwood, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982), 5. Jacobs also agrees that American Baptist mission movement emerged from the English effort, 7. ‘° Torbet, History, 248-249; Mc Beth, Heritage, 343, 345. 67 Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice became convinced ofbaptisrn by immersion during theirjourney to India in 1813. Judson and Rice decided to resign their posts with the American Board believing it would be disingenuous for them to receive support from a Congregationalist organization; they determined to seek support from American Baptists. Judson and his wife went off to Burma, and Rice returned to America to solicit funds from the Baptists. When Baptists in Boston caught wind of this surprising news, they founded a local missionary society before Rice even returned to the United States. H It was through the Boston Baptists and Luther Rice that American Baptists organized nationally. At the behest of the leaders of the Boston Baptist community, Rice traveled through the Mid-Atlantic and the South to gauge the level of interest Baptists had in supporting foreign missions. Rice and Boston Baptists found the interest great; and it was Rice’s idea that all of the Baptist Associations send delegates to a meeting to organize the interest in foreign missions. At a meeting in May 1814 in Philadelphia, American Baptists organized the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States for Foreign Missions, which was also known as the General Convention, or the Triennial Convention. The convention elected Richard F urman, pastor of First Baptist Church of Charleston, as the president. Imbued by this new missionary zeal among Baptists, Crane began to influence African Americans toward the prospect of African missions.12 Along with an awakening among Baptists to engage in foreign missions, the Colonization movement had organized formally at the end of 1816 after decades of interest and even endeavors. According to Franklin, colonization sentiments date back to ” Torbet, History, 249; Me Beth, Heritage, 345. '2 Torbet, History, 249-250; Mc Beth, Heritage, 346. 68 1714, but the idea oftransporting free Africans back to Africa failed to die as Samuel Hopkins and Ezra Stiles, two Protestant ministers. during the Age ofRevolution were interested in sending Christian Africans back to Africa to colonize and evangelize Africans. According to Poe, supporters of colonization believed that free African American Christians “would be a means of spreading Christianity and civilization” to Africa.13 Sanneh states that within the Colonization movement was an Evangelical and Civilizationist purpose that motivated the actions of former slaves throughout the British Atlantic World. For example, Great Britain “founded Sierra Leone as a Christian colony in 1787.” The plans that Stiles and Hopkins had for sending Christian Africans back to their homeland failed owing to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War according to Sanneh.l5 After the war, Hopkins made efforts to see his plan come to fruition. He had help from the English Quaker William Thornton, who had inherited slaves in the West Indies rather unexpectedly. He wanted to emancipate these slaves but in a way that he could gain some profit; therefore, he planned to form a colony where the slaves could work collectively to pay for their freedom. Hopkins‘ goal to found a Christian colony for Africans appealed to Thornton who could wed this with a colony that would encourage the virtues of thrift and industry in West Africa. 1" '3 John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, From Slavery to Freedom: A History o/‘A/rican Americans. Eighth Edition (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), 187-188. See also Peter Duignan and L. H. Gann, The United States and Africa: A History (London: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 81-82; and Lamin Sanneh, West African Christianity: The Religious Impact (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983), 90. Sanneh mentions Ezra Stiles specifically also as an American interested in colonization as well as the African American founded African Union of Newport, Rhode Island that was founded in 1780. 1‘ Lamin Sanneh, Abolitionists Abroad: American Blacks and the Making ofModern West A lrica (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), 6. '5 Sanneh, Abolitionists Abroad, 185. '6 Sanneh, Abolitionists Abroad, 185-186. 69 Though the Quaker Thornton was quite impressed with Hopkins‘ scheme. it aroused interest among some within the free African American community in New England. One free African American was Paul C uffee who was an entrepreneur who owned ships, and in 1815 thirty-eight free African Americans sailed to West Africa on one of his ships. He worked with interested white Americans who would be the founding members of the American Colonization Society including Bushrod Washington and Robert Finley. Finley from New Jersey believed that free African Americans could progress much better in Africa rather than in the United States as slavery and color prejudice had hampered the development of their virtues. According to Redkey, the American Colonization Society existed “to put free blacks where they could best use their civilized talents for the benefit of themselves and Africa."1 7 The increasing number of free African Americans at this time gave rise to such thoughts as there were 250,000 free African Americans in 1820; whereas there were only 60,000 in 1790.18 With the 1816 founding ofthe American Colonization Society to facilitate African American repatriation, it followed the fomial colonization of Sierra Leone by Great Britain in 1787. Just as Americans like Stiles and Hopkins viewed colonization as a means to spread the gospel to West Africans so did the British. According to Sanneh, the period from 1787 to 1893 was a period "that created a hospitable environment for the diffusion of Christianity” and it was an "era of promise."'9 Among the free African community in Britain, there were staunch supporters of colonization most renowned were ‘7 Redkey, Black Exodus, l8. '8 Franklin and Moss, From Slavery to Freedom, 188; Duignan and Gann, United States and A/rica, 82. There is a discrepancy in the year that C uffee transported the thirty-eight persons. Franklin lists 1815, but Duignan and Gann list 1816 that corresponds directly with the founding of the American Colonization Society. See Poe, “Lott Carey,” 49; Sanneh, Abolitionists Abroad, 190-191. '9 Sanneh, West African Christianity}, 53. 70 Cugoano and Oladuah Equiano. C ugoano, a vociferous opponent ofboth the African slave trade and slavery, desired to return to West Africa as a missionary; and his writings inspired African Americans to follow suit according to Sanneh.20 As mentioned in the introduction in the previous chapter David George and other Black Loyalists from Nova Scotia immigrated to Sierra Leone in 1792. It is within this context that American Baptist interest in foreign missions and the subsequent organization for foreign missions that Carey along with Crane and Teague founded the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society in 1815 emanates from.2| Crane in his night school informed his students of the spiritual condition of Africa; and this was enough to motivate Carey and others. Owing to the social situation in Virginia that precluded African Americans from outwardly leading organizations in civil society, Crane had to assume the offices of president and corresponding secretary of the new missionary society. What is remarkable is that these former slaves and current slaves sacrificed for the cause of sending the gospel to Africa. This society contributed $100 to $150 per year to African missions for several years after its founding. One other aspect of the founding of the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society is that it was the first one established by African Americans, and its organization was through a racially integrated church.22 As mentioned above, the Triennial Convention came into existence to support foreign missions, but the first missionary it supported was in Burma. It was through the Richmond Afiican Baptist Missionary Society that the Triennial Convention came to 20 Sanneh, West African Christianity, 55-56. 21 Poe makes this assertion as well. See Poe, “Lott Carey,” 51. 22 Taylor, Biography, 15-16; Fisher, “Lott Cary,” 384-385; Jordan, Negro Baptist, 13; Fitts, History, 45; Fitts, Lott Carey, 8. ' 71 have an interest in African missions. At its meeting in Philadelphia in 1817, the Triennial Convention heard a report from William Crane. the corresponding secretary of the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society, urging it to form a board for African missions. The leaders of the convention viewed the wishes of the Richmond society as a providential leading to interest itselfin African missions, and they believed that free African American Baptists should go back to Africa to preach the gospel. Because of these factors, the Triennial Convention established a board to facilitate missions work in Afiica, which made the convention the first American Christian denomination to sponsor foreign missions work in Africa. One more dynamic this decision produced: a vital connection between African American Baptists in Richmond and throughout Virginia and white, Northern Baptists. This connection will lend itself to controversy during the earlier years of the National Baptist Convention.23 The formation of the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society sparked more African American interest in African missions. African American Baptists in Philadelphia and in Petersburg, Virginia formed their own respective missionary societies. African American Baptists in North Carolina and Georgia contributed money to the cause of African missions in 1816 and in 1817. It is apparent that African American Baptists, whether they were slave or free, believed in the necessity of sending the gospel to Africa to shine its light among their African brethren.24 Now that African American Baptists in Richmond broke ground in founding a missionary society specifically to provide the gospel to Africans the next question was: who will go? White Baptists held that it would be much better for free African Americans 33 Fisher, “Lott Cary,” 385-386; Fitts, Lott Carey, 8-9. 2“ Fisher, “Lott Cary,” 386. to serve as missionaries in Africa. William Crane believed this as well. According to Fisher, it was C rane‘s idea to have Carey seek to become a missionary through the Triennial Convention and an agent through the American Colonization Society. Carey, too, had a strong desire to travel to Africa and preach and found a colony even though Carey had achieved material prosperity and a solid reputation in Richmond among African Americans and whites. According to Taylor, a man asked Carey how could he even consider leaving such a prosperous and comfortable life in Richmond to preach the gospel in Africa; Carey responded in this manner: “‘I am an African, and in this country, however meritorious my conduct, and respectable my character, I cannot receive the credit due to either. I wish to go to a country where I shall be estimated by my merits, and not by my complexion; and I feel bound to labor for my suffering race.‘” Judging from this statement, it appears that Carey was a race man, who wanted a better life for himself and his family. He sought to escape from the racism that pervaded Virginia, where a free man of color could never experience true civil and social equality. Fisher, however, relates that Crane embellished upon C arey’s sentiments; he argues that Carey may have never expressed such sentiments. Fisher bases this argument on a piece of evidence that reveals Carey speaking to C rane about going to African for himself and to preach the gospel. Jordan and Fitts include the above quote in their writings, and both view it as Carey making a vivid statement on being racially conscious as well as being a good Christian. The majority view from the historiography on Carey is that he did articulate a keen sense of his own African ethnicity, and he believed the gospel of Jesus Christ would be the only remedy to lift up his people on the African continent.25 25 Taylor, Biography, 17; Fisher, “Lott Cary,” 389; Jordan, Negro Baptist. 14; Fitts. Lott C arev, 9-10. 73 Other than C rane's encouragement and C arey‘s own compulsion, Taylor and Jordan state that the triggering effect for Carey with Collin Teague to immigrate to Africa in 1821 was their reading ofthejoumal of Mills and Burgess, who explored the West coast of Africa for the American Colonization Society. This joumal appeared in 1819; and in this journal there were published letters from repatriated Africans residing in Sierra Leone inviting African Americans to join them. Since this evidence exists, it does support the argument that Carey possessed a certain degree of race consciousness.26 A letter from William Crane to O. B. Brown, a member of the board of managers of the American Colonization Society and a board member of the Triennial Convention, was the means by which Carey and Teague became affiliated with both bodies. Jordan includes a letter from the letter. The letter is dated March 28, 1819. Basically, the letter informs Brown that Carey and Teague desire to know how to go about becoming missionaries to West Africa. From the letter, Crane mentions some things of interest especially about Carey. At this time, Carey owned a house just “below Richmond.” He was the chief manager of laborers at the tobacco warehouse. He was also in charge of “receiving, marking, and shipping tobacco,” and received a nice salary of $700 per year. Carey, according to Crane, was about forty years old. Crane also indicates in the letter that they wanted to be affiliated with the Colonization Society, and they wanted’to go to Sierra Leone. Crane also states that both of these men want to spread the gospel to their African brethren, and they want to live in a place “where their color will be no disparagement to their usefulness.” After receipt of this letter the Colonization Society received Carey and Teague as emigrants of the Colonization Society, and the Triennial 2” Taylor, Biography, 17-18; Jordan, Negro Baptist, 14. 74 Convention commissioned them as missionaries. They left for Africa in January of 1821.27 After being received by the Triennial Convention and the American Colonization Society, Carey and Teague spent all of 1820 studying in preparation for their ministries. Before leaving for the mission field, First Baptist Church ordained them into the gospel ministry. Fisher is keen to assert that though Carey and Teague had sponsorship from the former organizations, they were very much missionaries of the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society. The major reason he argues this is because the Richmond Society contributed the most money in support of these two men and their families. Fisher reports that the Richmond society gave $483.25 to the Triennial Convention toward the cause of African missions since 18 l 7. Fitts states that when Carey and his party left for Africa in January 1821 the Richmond society gave $700 for the mission while the Triennial Convention gave $200, and $100 worth of books. Before the party embarked upon their journey, Carey gave a stirring farewell sermon at First Baptist in Richmond, and the party organized themselves into a church as well. They left from Norfolk en route to Sierra Leone on January 23, 1821. The formal movement toward African missions by African Americans had begun.28 During the 18303, the Cooperative Movement commenced among African American Baptists in the East and Midwest. It is within this context that the American Baptist Missionary Convention came into existence. The Cooperative Movement denotes 27 Taylor, Biography, 18-21; Fisher, “Lott Cary,” 387-388; Jordan, N )gro Baptist, 14-16; Fitts, Lott Carey, 11-12. 28 Taylor, Biography, 23-24; Fisher, “Lott Cary,” 390-392; Jordan, Negro Baptist, 16-18; Poe, “Lott Carey,” 50-51; F itts, Lott Carey, 14. Though Carey was a commissioned colonist of the American Colonization Society, Sanneh sees Carey as a missionary, not a colonist. See Sanneh, Abolitionists Abroad, 212. 75 the activities and efforts ofAfriean American Baptist churches forging local and regional associations and conventions. This movement lasted until the founding ofthe National Baptist Convention in 1895. What characterizes this movement is African American Baptist initiative and social consciousness as associations in Ohio, Illinois, and in Michigan were all anti-slavery, but they also had missionary zeal as they focused on planting local churches in their respective areas. Only the American Baptist Missionary Convention (ABMC) sent missionaries to West Africa during the early period, and eventually state conventions in Virginia, North and South Carolina would send missionaries to West Africa. As the first African American Baptist associations grounded themselves throughout the Midwest, progressive-rninded African American Baptist leaders in the East organized for missions with an abolitionist bend. The churches in the East were members of predominately white Baptist Associations; therefore, their intent was to organize on a regional basis, and not a local one. This occurrence of 1840 is clearly the first clear link to the founding of the National Baptist Convention of 1895.29 African American Baptist churches from the eastern seaboard organized the ABMC in 1840. This convention was the first regional convention founded by African American Baptists, but its founding was rather humble. At its organization in New York City, only three churches were members: Abyssinian Baptist in New York, Zion Baptist also of New York, and Union Baptist in Philadelphia. Later there would be member churches from Washington, DC. to Boston, though Jackson states that there were churches in the Midwest that also became members of this convention. Washington 29 See Washington, Frustrated Fellowship, 38-39. Washington asserts that the founding of the ABMC along with other regional conventions founded in the 18608 led directly to the formation of the National Baptist Convention. Once African American Baptists organized themselves regionally, the momentum carried through the antebellum period and into subsequent periods of American history. 76 substantiates J ackson‘s statement commenting that the Western churches gave their consent to the organization of the convention at the behest of Rev. John Berry Meachum ofSt. Louis. Reverend Sampson White, then pastor ofAbyssinian Baptist Church was the first moderator of the convention. Later in the l850s. this convention would take a strong stand repudiating the practice of American slavery and it excluded slave-owning ministers from its membership. Also in the 18505, in 1858 specifically, Moderator Sampson White and other key leaders of the convention encouraged the member churches to withdraw from their white controlled associations owing to prejudice.30 According to Washington, the impetus for the formation of the ABMC was two- fold: the lack of attention on African missions by the Triennial Convention and the lack of strength toward abolitionisrn on the part of white Baptists. The convention committed itself to African missions primarily, but it was concerned with “domestic” concerns such as planting churches, caring for ministers' widows, and temperance. Reverend Jeremiah Asher though an abolitionist was also concerned about creating what Washington calls “a black Christian civilization in Africa.” He believed that the gospel preached in Africa to Africans would remedy the slave trade and slavery itself.3 I The constitution of the ABMC reveals a strong emphasis on missions work following in the footsteps ofthe American Baptist Home Missions Society ofthe Triennial Convention. According to Article 2 of the Constitution of the ABMC: 30 Fitts, History, 67; Washington, Frustrated Fellowship. 39, 41; Bobby J. Lovett, A Black Man '3' Dream: The Story of R. H. Boyd, the First One Hundred Years (Nashville, TN: Mega Corporation, 1993), 6. See also Jackson, A Story of Activism, 25, 27. It is interesting that an African American Baptist convention would have to make a statement barring slave-owning ministers from having membership. There are two intertwined reasons for this: first, the membership of the convention was open to whites from the South; and second, in the wake of the split among Baptists in 1845 owing to slavery the leaders of the ABMC believed it needed to make its position clear thereby siding with the Northern Baptists. 3' Washington, Frustrated Fellowship, 39-41. 77 It shall be the object ofthis convention to propagate the gospel ofChrist, and to advance the interests of his kingdom, by supplying vacant churches when requested; by sending ministers into destitute regions within our reach; and by planting and building up churches, whenever a favorable opportunity offers. This convention shall in no case interfere with the internal regulation of the churches or associations.32 Such a design on the part ofthe convention demonstrates at least two concems: first, it was unconvinced that the ABHMS had put forth enough energy to plant African American Baptist churches; and second, the object of the convention reveals the need for African American Baptists to organize their own work for their people. Though this became the case with the founding of the convention, the leaders still maintained fraternal relations with the leading men ofthe Triennial Convention. The ABMC was also concerned with foreign missions work as well, especially work in West Africa. Fitts offers this interesting statement regarding ABMC priorities: “To be sure, the foreign mission motif was the dominant reason for the organization of the American Baptist Missionary Convention.”33 With this interest, it can be understood that the ABMC attempted to enlarge the African missions work first begun with the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society in 1815 that the Triennial Convention helped to facilitate. It is obvious that Africa never became a priority for the Triennial Convention as these Northern African Americans believed that they needed to launch their own missions work there. According to the report from the secretary of the ABMC in 1859, the convention sponsored foreign mission work in West Africa, specifically in Sierra Leone. According to this report, the missionary in West Africa was busy preaching the gospel “to the untutored heathen, in order to prepare the way of civilization.” In this same report, the secretary recognizes the difficulties encountered in reaching the goal of 32 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 31. 3’ Fitts, History, 67. 78 the Convention, which was to build a chapel and establish a mission in Sierra Leone. Clearly, the major goal ofthe Convention was to preach the gospel and bring civilization to West Africans.34 The same report also gives a summary ofthe work of another missionary. The Convention sponsored a missionary at Waterloo, West Africa (there is no detail regarding where in West Afiica this was). This missionary returned to the United States for a respite, and he visited churches of the Convention. The secretary also states in the report that the missionary’s goal was to persuade the Convention’s board to defray the cost of building a chapel in Waterloo. The missionary reported that there were 35 African converts through his ministry, and he proposed to organize them into a church upon his return. The Board did raise $450. The Board also decided to ordain Brother Barnett (the returning missionary) owing to the poor health of Pastor J. J. Brown back in Sierra Leone. Brown was the only ordained Baptist minister in Sierra Leone according to this report.35 The report adds more information on Missionary Barnett as he returned to his mission post. When Barnett returned to Sierra Leone, he found Waterloo ravished by smallpox. He also found that the Southern Baptists had entered the very same field and began to pay one Bro. Weeks, another African American Baptist missionary. Barnett had left Weeks in charge of the work during the fonner's return to the United States. From . . . . 3( this same report, Brown seems also to be a Southern Baptrst missronary. ’ 34 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 53. Jordan re-prints detailed reports from this convention, and what follows is from his re-printing; Fitts, History, 67. 35 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 53-54. 36 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 45-55. 79 Undaunted, Barnett then went off to Bullom Shores to begin another mission station. According to the report. this place was across the river from the capital, Freetown into the hinterland. The Board decided to allow the Convention to decide on whether or not to build a station and to ask the churches of the Convention to find it.37 The report also summarizes a letter from Barnett dated 18 June. In the letter, Barnett stated that there may still be hope for a mission in the region near Waterloo. He visited Waterloo spending seven days there (Brown accompanied him). While there, Barnett baptized six converts. He also visited a small town near Waterloo, Benguma, and. preached the gospel there. Bamett noted that the people there are desirous for the gospel. It is also reported in Bamett‘s letter that the people in Benguma would like to have a chapel there, and they offered him a piece of suitable land. The report ends with a strong appeal to the Convention to aid Barnett in the building of a chapel in either Benguma or Bullam Shore.38 From this entire report, there is indication that this Convention had a strong desire to have a missionary presence in West Africa. There is a passage toward the end of the report that is worthy to reproduce here: Now dear Brethren, we submit this whole matter to your careful and prayerful consideration. We wish you to look at it in the light of eternity, and with reference to the judgment, when the assembled heathen of Africa, in the language of Sierra Leone, in a plea for the spread of the gospel among the heathen of Africa, said “Now if we refuse to tell them of a Savior’s love, they will then say to us, ‘Now you been seen us going to hell, and never told us.’” 30 37 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 55. 38 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 55. 39 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 58. 80 This passage exemplifies the attitude of some in the Convention regarding its primary mission to spread the gospel among Africans on the West Coast of Africa during the middle of the 19‘h century. As the Civil War ended and freedom came to approximately four million slaves, a new era of church planting and denomination-building emerged for African Americans especially in the South. During the 1860s, African American Baptists throughout the South founded independent churches and commenced to organize district associations and state conventions. Montgomery states, “Of all the ways the former slaves displayed their newly acquired freedom, leaving the white-controlled churches and forming their own religious organizations was perhaps the easiest and most gratifying.”40 This “exodus,” as described by E. L. Thomas, consisted of churches that had been separate branches of white churches, or under white supervision seizing their opportunity to achieve ecclesiastical freedom.4| Hine, Hine, and Harrrold write that “In the years after slavery, the church again became the most important institution among African Americans other than the family.”42 From the numerous district associations founded in the 18603 and 18703 came state conventions. It is within a few important state conventions that the missionary spirit of African American Baptists remained alive. The missionary endeavors of these few conventions are the link between Lott Carey’s enterprise in the 18208 and the founding of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention in 1880. 40 William E. Montgomery, Under Their Own Vine arid Fig Tree: Tlte African-American C lturch in the. South 1865-1900 (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1993), 55. 4' Thomas, National Baptist Convention, xiii. Hine, Hine, and Harrold also view the organization of independent churches as a keen example of African Americans exercising their freedoru. See Darlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine, and Stanley Harrold, The African-American Odyssey. Combined Volume (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000), 257. 42 Hine, Hine, and Harrold, The African-American Odvssey, 263. 81 According to Martin. the formation ofthe BFMC in 1880 has its foundation in the activity ofSouthem state conventions especially those in the Southeast such as South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. The organization of these state conventions was a result of the increased numbers of African American Baptists during Reconstruction. John Hope Franklin stated that there were 500,000 African American Baptist by 1870.43 In 1878, South Carolina African American Baptists decided to increase their interest in African missions through their new state convention, the Baptist Educational, Missionary, and Sunday-School Convention of South Carolina. According to Martin, the convention demonstrated great interest in Africa because of a lack of interest in African missions by their fellow white Baptists, especially the Southern Baptist Convention. Another reason for this strong interest centered on the perceived kinship between Afiican Americans and Africans. Owing to these factors and this interest, the convention sent its own missionary to West Africa in 1879, Harrison Bouey. In the same year, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina sent its own missionary to Africa---James O. Hayes, who ventured to Liberia. Martin fails to mention that Bouey’s mission coincided with a renewed interest in African emigration in South Carolina. According to Montgomery, Bouey was also a part of emigration scheme sponsored by African American South Carolinians. It is clear that Hayes was a missionary rather than an emigrant. With Bouey’s departure, there is the connection between emigration and African missions once more.44 Martin asserts that the Virginians were the most active and the most important African American Baptists who made African missions a priority. According to the constitutions of the Virginia Baptist State Convention the spread of Christianity in Africa ”3 Franklin and Moss, From Slavery to F reedom, 258. 4” Montgomery, Under Their Own Vine and Fig Tree, 197-198. 82 was second in importance in its overall aims. Armed with this conviction, the Virginia Convention sent Solomon Cosby to Nigeria as its missionary in 1878.45 Martin’s assertion finds indirect support from other African American Baptist historians and writers, who hold that William W. Colley, a Virginian, was the driving person toward the founding of both the BF MC and the National Baptist Convention. Thomas goes as far to state that Colley’s work “create[d] the nucleus for our beginning.”46 William W. C olley served as a missionary to West Africa representing the white Southern Baptist Convention.47 Colley was a Virginian born on February 12, 1847 in Prince Edward County. According to Jackson, there was some question regarding Colley’s racial classification. People concluded that he was African American because of his connection to the causes of African Americans and Africans, religiously speaking. Jackson further reports that Colley‘s wife stated her husband was of Scottish and American Indian descent, but for some reason he assumed for himself an African American identity. In 1875, Colley began his four year tenure as a missionary under the auspices of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Colley assisted a white missionary from Mississippi, named W. J. David; they worked together among the Yoruba in Nigeria. While there Colley became upset over the treatment of Africans by white missionaries. He became convinced that there needed to be more 45 Martin, Black Baptists, 45-46, 48-49; Thomas. National Baptist Convention. 2. 46 Thomas, National Baptist Convention, 1. 47 According to Eddie Stepp, the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention commissioned African American missions from its founding in the 18408. See Eddie Stepp, “Interpreting a Forgotten Mission: African American Missionaries of the Southern Baptist Convention in Liberia, West Africa 1846- 1860.” Unpublished Dissertation, Baylor University, 1999. 83 African American missionaries in the African field, and this would remedy racist treatment of Africans.48 Returning to Virginia with these sentiments, Colley met with the leaders ofthe Virginia state convention and with African American Baptist leaders from Washington, DC. Jackson places moderate significance to Colley‘s meeting the Virginians, and rightly recognizes that the Virginians had been the leaders of African American mission interest in Africa going back to the formation of the Richmond African Missionary Baptist Society in 1815, and the work and legacy of Lott Carey. Freeman states that the Virginia Baptists “employed” Colley to stir interest for foreign missions among African American Baptists. Martin, however, takes this argument further. According to Martin, it was collaboration between Colley and the Virginians that prompted Colley‘s tour of the Southem states primarily to survey the interest of forming a national missionary convention. Martin states that "it was quite obvious that the BFMC to a great extent represents an outgrowth of the Virginia Baptist State Convention.”49 Martin supports this argument by stating that since it was the Virginia‘s conventions goal to “evangelize and” uplift “their racial kin” it realized that great amounts of funds were necessary, which it was unable to raise itself.50 The need ofa convention of churches would solve the financial concern. Because of this, C olley embarked on his most momentous tour. In addition to what Martin asserts regarding the Virginians’ motivations, other historians have remarked on Colley”s personal motivations. Jordan states that the personal motivation of C olley was “a never failing faith in God and a desire to be of greater ”8 Freeman, Epoch, 69-70; Jackson, A Story ol'Activism. 33: Martin, Black Baptists, 49. See also Jordan, Negro Baptist, 99-100; Harvey, Bridges, 22-23; F itts, History, 1 14; Martin, Black Baptists, 49-50; Thomas, National Baptist Convention, 1-2. 49 Martin, Black Baptists, 53. See also Martin, “Black Foreign Mission Convention.” 13-16. 50 Martin, Black Baptists, 53. 84 service to the Master."5| He also explained that Colley had a great desire to revive “the Colored Baptists to a greater love for God and Africa." 53 It is clear that the major motivation for this campaign was two-fold: first, African Americans needed to direct their own course regarding sending their own missionaries to Africa; and second, African Americans were the only ones with a unique qualification (their blackness) to be missionaries in Africa in order to eradicate racism on the mission field. Secondarily in Martin’s estimation, African American Baptist leaders in Virginia believed that this was their opportunity to seize in order to lead in forging a new national convention to enlarge their own desires regarding African missions.53 One thing Martin ignores is that African American Baptists in their organization of the Baptist Foreign Mission Board fit within the African American nationalism of the times. Montgomery argues this, and offers strong support that there can be no solid understanding of African American Baptist organization without considering how it falls within nationalism. Regading 19‘h century African American nationalism, Montgomery states that it “typically manifested itself either in a break away from the control of external authority or in efforts to unify people who shared a common culture but were disunited politically and economically.”54 The organization of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention fits within this description of nationalism. Martin also ignored the coincidence between interest in African missions and emigration. A climate of disappointment also pervaded among Afiican American 5 1 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 99. 52Jackson, A Story of Activism, 32-33; Freeman, Epoch, 70; Martin, Black Baptist, 53-54. Even within the ranks of the Virginia Baptists, the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society was most influential in sending Colley on his tour. See also Jordan, Negro Baptist, 100. 53 Martin, Black Baptists, 49-50. 54 Montgomery, Under Their Own Vine and Fig Tree, 224. 85 following the end ofReconstruction in 1877. Many African Americans disappointed with the degree of African American progress turned their gaze to Africa as they did early in the century.55 Though this was the case. Williams asserts that the African missionary movement was more important than Back to Africa concerns. He supports this by detailing the mission organization by both Methodists and Baptists during the post- Reconstruction period to 1900.56 Colley’s tour and engagements with Southern African American Baptist leaders was successful, and there was strong interest in forming a new national missionary convention. According to Freeman, C olley impressed upon the brethren their Ethiopian responsibility to share the gospel with their African kin. These leaders heeded Colley’s appeals. In May 1880, Colley gave a positive report of his travels to the Virginia convention, and it gave support to C olley to initiate the formation of the new convention.57 Colley planned a meeting to be held in November of 1880 in Montgomery, Alabama for all African American Baptists interested in forming the new convention. As African American Baptists in the Southeast anticipated this meeting in Montgomery, their efforts at unity through African missions was of utmost importance historically. Freeman understood this in commenting that: “It must be clearly understood that the idea of foreign missions gave rise to the convention and that the Foreign Mission Board is the oldest organization of the Convention.”58 From the early period of antebellum days to post-Reconstruction America, African American Baptists maintained a vital interest in 55 Montgomery, Under Their Own Vine and Fig Tree, 194-196. 56 Walter L. Williams, Black Americans and the Evangelication of Africa 1877-1901) (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982), xiv, 65-72. 57 Martin, “Baptist Foreign Mission Convention,” 15. 58 Freeman, Epoch, 2. 86 carrying the gospel to Africa. West Africa solely. This indicates that generations of African Americans in slavery and in freedom never forgot their homeland. It also reveals that the Virginia Baptists who formed the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society continued its emphasis on African missions, and that informed C olley‘s mission. Was it merely notions of kinship that motivated African American Baptists and African American Protestants in general to have active missionary engagement in Africa? Were African American Baptists just as committed as their white counterparts to teach the gospel to all nations? The next chapter responds to these questions by examining the theological underpinnings of African American Baptists in the late 19th century and early 20th century. 87 Chapter Two: The Shaping of National Baptist Theology in the 19‘h century and in early 20‘h century “Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross ofJesus going on before. Christ the royal Master, leads against the foe; forward to the battle. See, His banners go.”1 This is the first line ofa popular Protestant hymn written by Sabine Baring-Gould, an Anglican curate and minister, in 1864. According to Baring-Gould, he wrote this hymn for a Sunday school procession for Pentecost in 1864; as of such, it was originally a children‘s hymn. This was a period of surging mission interest in Africa and Asia by Americans and Europeans, and it could easily be interpreted as a call to Christian missionaries to take the gospel to the far corners of the earth being assured of their success because ofChrist‘s promise that the "gates of hell” will never prevail against his Church. The tone of the hymn is obviously militaristic, but in a spiritual sense. In other lines of the hymn, there are clear references to the spiritual warfare Christians are to engage in found in the Apostle Paul‘s letter to the Ephesians. According to Bert Polrnan, the popularity of the hymn lies in part owing to the musical setting of the hymn, which is “St. Gertrude.” Arthur S. Sullivan composed the tune, and it dates from 1872; the tune causes one to begin marching almost involuntarily. All in all, it is a hymn that encourages the faithful to press on despite difficulties knowing Jesus Christ has assured that his Church will persevere. It would become a type oftheme hymn for missionaries as they progressed to extend the Kingdom of Christ throughout world. It would also become a ' See Faith Cook, Our Hymn Writers and Their Hymns (Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 2005). 378. This is hymn is also #423 in the National Baptist Hymn Book. 4th ed. (Nashville, TN: National Baptist Publishing Board, 1905), 306—307. 88 hymn that "echoed" the steady march ofBritish colonialism throughout the world, according to Christian biographer and writer Faith Cook.2 This particular hymn that could have multiple interpretations and could encourage missionary work and colonialism, and written by a “high church” Anglican during the middle of the Victorian Age typifies the interesting dynamic of African American Baptist identity during the mid-19th century into the early part of the 20th century. In 1905, the National Baptist Publishing Board published a pocket-sized hymnal that included “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” In 1915 a split occurred within the National Baptist Convention that centered on the ownership of the National Baptist Publishing Board, and in the wake of the split the newly founded National Baptist Convention of America established a partnership with the National Baptist Publishing Board owned by the Boyd family. Because of this, the NBC-USA, Inc. had to found a new publishing interest called the Sunday School Publishing Board (SSPB). In 1921, the SSPB published its first hymnal called Gospel Pearls. Included in this hymnal was the hymn “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” The SSPB eventually published a full hymnal entitled the Baptist Standard Hymnal; it also contains the hymn “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” As a hymn, “Onward, Christian Soldiers” has endured in print in three successive hymnals published by the National Baptist Convention of the United States of America, Inc. during the 20'h century. It is both a National Baptist standard hymn and a Baptist standard hymn. The endurance of this hymn points to the fact that African American Baptists viewed themselves as part of the Baptist family even in the hymns that they sung in worship. At 2 Cook, Our Hymn Writers, 381. According to Cook, this hymn was a favorite of Winston Churchill. For information on the writing of the hymn, see Emily R. Brink and Bert Polman, eds., Psalter Hymnal Handbook (Grand Rapids, MI: CRC Publications, 1998), 694-695. 89 the same time, African American Baptists embraced a unique vision for their work to carry the gospel to Africa in order to redeem the continent of their ancestry. They believed strongly that God‘s Providence dictated to them their role in Africa‘s redemption as a people redeemed from the shackles ofsin and chattel slavery.3 This chapter serves as the theological and doctrinal context for the analysis of the specific motivations articulated by National Baptist leaders in general and leaders of the Foreign Mission Board. As alluded to in the paragraph above, African American Baptists were Baptists. This means they expressed the Christian faith as Baptists, they upheld the Baptist distinctions, and they believed, in most cases, that the Baptist tradition carried forth New Testament principles since the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ. As African Americans, they also had a keen sense of what they believed was God’s plan for them and for Africa. Though orthodox Baptists, African American Baptists were watchers of Providence; they believed that God had placed them in a peculiar station to be special agents of his plan of redemption for the African continent. African American Baptists’ embracing of this unique theological nuance consolidated them with the broader African American Protestant ethos during this period. This chapter is broken into three distinct sections that highlight the differing sources that shaped National Baptist theology in the late 19‘h century as the Foreign Mission Board sent out its first generation of missionaries to Africa, and supported R. A. Jackson in South Africa. The first section specifies the influence of broader Baptist theology into the 19th century and how it affected African American Baptists who were slaves. Following this section, attention focuses on key leaders among African American 3 See hymn #35, Gospel Pearls (Nashville, TN: Sunday School Publishing Board, 1921); Brink and Polman, eds, Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 81. 90 Baptists and their expression ofChristianity and their Baptist faith. This section will reveal that African American Baptists were dyed in the wool Evangelicals. The last section will spotlight the development of Ethiopianism dating back to the late 18th century with the writings of Oladuah Equiano, and underscoring the intellectual contributions of the Episcopalian Alexander Crummell and the Presbyterian Edward Blyden. One major source of Baptist theology is the body of Baptist confessions adopted and written by Baptists in America during the 18‘” and 19h centuries. It is worth noting that there arose no African American Baptist pastor or theologian who was a prolific writer of theology during this period. During Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction, there did emerge a small class of well-educated African American Baptist pastors who did write, but the body of that literature is tiny compared to what their white Baptist counterparts produced. At the same time, African American Baptists taught and preached the distinctive Baptist doctrines along with Protestant orthodoxy. At the time that the National Baptist Convention came into existence in 1895, it adopted an already extant document as its “Articles of Faith.” This strongly indicates that African American Baptists were in line with the majority of Baptists in America.4 Rev. John Cobb, a contemporary African American Baptist expositor, writes this regarding National Baptists and their relationship to Calvinism: “Our peculiarities as Baptists stem from our belief in the Reformed doctrine of faith, or what is commonly referred to as Calvinism.” Commenting on the same relationship, W. Bishop Johnson, the first president of the National Baptist Education Convention during the 18808 and was a 4 The National Baptist Convention adopted the New Hampshire Declaration of Faith as its “Articles of Faith” in 1895; it suggested that these articles be adopted by every Baptist church upon its constituting. .91 leader within the early National Baptist Convention, stated that: ""Colored Baptists are Calvanistic [sic] in doctrine.” Wheeler labels African American Baptists during the late 19‘h century as Calvinists also with a bit ofmodification regarding the understanding of human will. Though in this day African American Baptists in general have lost sight of their Calvinistic foundations, the historical record clearly points to one.5 According to William Lumpkin, the first Calvinistic Baptists in America, residing in New England, refused to write confessions of faith. He calls this a “non-confessional tradition.” Lumpkin reasons that the lack of a confessional tradition in New England among Baptists was because Baptist churches consisted of both Arrninians and Calvinists. Those Baptists that settled in the Middle colonies, however, did write confessions. Lumpkin attributes this to their closer relationship with English Baptists. Owing to this, confessional writing became popular during the 18th century.6 It was during the late 17th century that Baptists began to proliferate in the Middle Colonies such as New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In 1688, the Pennepack Baptist Church organized in what is now Philadelphia, PA. Elias Keach, son of Benjamin Keach a prominent English Baptist pastor, was the first pastor of the Pennepack Church. Keach ministered to other Baptists in the immediate area in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, all of whom held membership at the Pennepack Church. As Baptists outside of Philadelphia and in New Jersey formed their own independent congregations, Keach encouraged “connectionalism” among the churches. Eventually, seven churches in this 5 See Rev. John Cobb, Baptist Training Union Series: Baptists and Christian Doctrine. Series Three (Nashville, TN: Sunday School Publishing Board, 2003), 51. W. Bishop Johnson’s quote appears in Pius, Outline, 80; Wheeler, Uplifting the Race, 9. Wheeler makes references that some African American Baptist pastors taught that the human will could choose Christ; thereby, their Calvinism was somewhat modified. This may be the case, but it an incorrect assumption that Calvinists believe that the human will has no fimction in salvation. Calvinists believe that through spiritual regeneration that human heart changed so that it does receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. 6 William Lumpkin, Baptist Confessions of Faith (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1959), 347. 92 region formed the Philadelphia Baptist Association in 1707. This was the first Baptist association in America. According to Lumpkin, the Philadelphia Association “became the pattern for numerous other C alvinistic Baptist associations."7 The significance here ofthe Philadelphia Baptist Association is its adoption ofthe Philadelphia Baptist Confession ofFaith in 1742. This confession is partially the product of Benjamin and Elias Keach. After serving the Pennepack Church in Philadelphia, Elias Keach returned to London in 1692, and in 1697 with his father published a confession of faith that was the same as the London Baptist Confession of 1689 with the addition of two articles. These two articles are: “On the Singing of Psalms,” and “On the Laying on of Hands.” Benjamin Keach was a pioneer in both of these practices among English Baptists. The Philadelphia Association used this confession as early as 1712 to resolve a doctrinal dispute in the church at Middletown, New Jersey. In 1724, the Philadelphia Association proposed to adopt the London Confessions chapter on the Sabbath. Finally, the Association adopted Keach's confession in 1742 at its annual meeting in September.8 Like their non-confessional writing brethren in New England, Baptists in the Middle Colonies were Calvinists. During this period in colonial history, the vast majority of Baptists were unashamedly Puritan Calvinists. The Philadelphia Confession of Faith falls within the great Puritan-Presbytcriarr-Congregationalist English and American tradition. The London Baptist Confession of 1689, which the Philadelphia Confession is based upon comes from the Savoy Declaration that English Independents wrote. The Savoy Declaration is based upon the Westminster Confession of Faith written by English 7 Lumpkin, Baptist Confessions, 348. 8 Lumpkin, Baptist Confession, 349. See Philadelphia Baptist C omission. The confession has been republished in various publications including Edward Hiscox and Everett Goodwin, New Hiscox Guide to Baptist Churches (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1995). 93. Puritan Presbyterians after the English Civil War in the 16408. After the Philadelphia Association adopted its confession, other associations adopted it: the Ketockton Association of Virginia (1766): Warren Association of Rhode Island (1767); Charleston Association (1767); Elkhorn Association ofKentucky (1785); and the Holston Association ofTennessee (1788). At the end of the 18th century, American Baptists from the Middle States to the Southern States and to the Western States held to the tenets of Calvinism.9 From these associations, the Charleston Baptist Association became instrumental in Colonial America and into Antebellum America. The Charleston Association was the first Baptist association in the Southern colonies. When the churches of this association desired to adopt a confession of faith. it looked north to Philadelphia. It adopted the Philadelphia Confession ofFaith; thereby, making this confession the most prominent among colonial Baptists. In 1813, the association added the Baptist Catechism to its confession. '0 The Kehukee Association that consisted of churches from Virginia and North Carolina was one of the earliest Regular Baptist associations; it formed in 1769 as a result of churches planted by the Philadelphia Association and the Charleston Association.ll Some churches that formed the Kehukee Association had been Arminian Baptist churches, but fell in line with Calvinism through Calvinist preachers like Joseph Gano, Vanhom, and Miller. Rather than adopting the Philadelphia Confession, the Kehukee 9 To compare these three English Calvinistic confessions, see ll’estmirtster Confession ofFaith. Historical Documents of Congregationalism, and London Baptist Confession of 1689. For the chronoIOgy of associations adopting the Philadelphia Confession, see Lumpkin, Baptist Confessions, 352. '0 Lumpkin, Baptist Confessions, 352. H The term Regular Baptist referred to churches and associations that adhered to the Philadelphia Baptist Confession and who were non-revivalistic. 94 Association drafted its own confession. which is arguably the first confession written by an American Baptist association. Leading ministers ofthe association wrote the confession in 1777, and the confession reflects clearly the Calvinism that the majority of Baptists clung to during this period.'2 The Sandy Creek Association was another Baptist association formed in the South. It was a Separate Baptist association that had roots in New England during the Great Awakening. The two major figures that helped to found this association were Shubal Steams and Daniel Marshall. Both men were from New England and moved to the South in 1754. During the Great Awakening, New Light Congregationalists split from the Old Light Con gregationalists. The New Lights emphasized. conversion before baptism, and they eventually became Baptists owing to the Baptist teaching that held the same position. Stearns and Marshall began ministering in Northern Virginia, where some Baptists had affiliation with the Philadelphia Association. The men then moved to North Carolina in Sandy Creek, and there they established the Sandy Creek Baptist Church. This church became the center of tremendous Baptist growth as it planted 42 churches in the next seventeen years. In 1758, Steams founded the Sandy Creek Baptist Association; in 1816 it drafted a confession of faith that has distinct Calvinistic articles.” Though Baptists in the South continued to uphold orthodox Calvinist doctrine, others in the North and West began to subscribe to a more moderately Calvinist confession, namely the New Hampshire Declaration of Faith. Edward Hiscox has given a good historical overview of the production of this declaration of faith. According to Hiscox, this declaration had its genesis in the New Hampshire Baptist State Convention '2 Lumpkin, Baptist Confessions, 353-3 54. 13 Lumpkin, Baptist Confessions, 357-358. Articles three and four are distinctly Calvinistic, see 358. 95 in 1830. It was the pleasure ofthe convention to draft a confession that all churches in the state could agree with. The convention approved a draft ofthe confession in 1833. The reason why this declaration has had such wide appeal is because one ofthe writers, Rev. J. N. Brown, published a revised version of the declaration in 1853 in his the Baptist Church Manual. In concluding his overview of the history of the writing and publication of this declaration, Hiscox remarks: “No other creed form has attained to anything like its general circulation among American Baptists.”l4 According to Hiscox, Baptists were orthodox, evangelical, and Calvinistic. In his Principles and Practices, Hiscox includes a revision of the New Hampshire Declaration. The dcclaration’s orthodoxy is found in its article, “The True God,” which affirms the doctrine of the Trinity. The other articles are Evangelical, C alvinistic, and uniquely Baptist. Detail about these articles will be discussed later in this chapter.'5 Related to confessions are the works of prominent Baptist theologians. There were no writing Baptist theologians in America during the 18th century, but a few came to the fore during the l9lh century. Among them were noted Southern Baptists James P. Boyce and John L. Dagg. Northern Baptists like A. H. Strong were also influential theologians. All of these men would have influenced educated African American Baptists, especially during the late 19‘h century. Boyce was born in Charleston, South Carolina on January 1 l, 1827 into a wealthy family. Boyce received a good education attending Charleston College, Brown University in Rhode Island, and Princeton Seminary in New Jersey. Boyce’s conversion occurred during a spring break from Brown while he sat under the ministry of Richard Furman, '4 Edward T. Hiscox, Principles and Practices for Baptist Churches (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1980), 538, 541-542. '5 Hiscox, Principles and Practices, 19. 96 pastor of First Baptist Church of Charleston. Previously, Boyce‘s mother underwent conversion through the preaching of Basil Manly, Sr., a prominent Baptist minister. Owing to this, Boyce‘s mother became a Baptist.“’ After graduating from Princeton in 1851, Boyce accepted the call to pastor the First Baptist Church of Columbia, South Carolina. He labored there until 1855, and then received an appointment of professor of Systematic Theology at Furman College. While at Furman, Boyce laid out three principles in a speech that formed the outline for Southem Seminary that he helped to found in 1859. The third principle was to have an “Abstract of Principles” to guide professors in their teaching and to guard against error.l7 Boyce founded Southern Seminary in 1859 along with John A. Broadus, Basil Manly, Jr., and William Williams. Boyce was a committed and an unashamed Calvinist being “reared in a Calvinistic atmosphere.” He received further grounding in Calvinism at Princeton. In 1858, in anticipation of the founding of the seminary, Boyce authored the Abstract of Principles. These articles of faith are orthodox, evangelical, and strongly Calvinistic.l8 Another major means of shaping Baptist identity and theology during the 19‘” century were various catechisms. The use of catechisms dates from the period of the Early Church, where church leaders had a concern about apostasy leaking into the Church causing heresy. These church leaders used catechisms to ensure that a catechumen had a good knowledge of the faith, and that he/she was a genuine convert to Christianity. This period of catechizing took place prior to receiving baptism. Later, after the '6 See Ernest Resinger and Fred Malone, “Introduction to the 1977 Edition,” in James P. Boyce, Abstract of Systematic Theology (Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2006), iv. According to Ernest Resinger and Fred Malone, the writers of the introduction, Boyce’s mother had been a Presbyterian. '7 E. Resinger and F. Malone, “Introduction”, v-vii. '8 E. Resinger and F. Malone, “Introduction,” xii. See also Appendix 2-The Abstract ofPrinciples (1858). 97 Christianization ofthe Roman Empire and, according to Nettles, the progress of infant baptism, catechetical instruction shifted from a pre-baptisrnal instruction to preparation for confirmation. Charlemagne decreed that all baptized children should know the Apostles Creed and the Lord’s Prayer in the least. Nettles calls the Reformation “the Golden Age” of catechisms because both Luther and Calvin insisted on the need of catechisms to instruct the faithful and their children. Of the Reformed Protestant catechisms the most popular and enduring are the Heidelberg Catechism written in 1562 and the Westminster Shorter Catechism written in 1645-1647.“) According to Nettles, Hercules Collins used the Heidelberg as the basis of his catechism written in 1680. Collins was a Particular Baptist pastor in London during the 17th century; he succeeded John Spilbury. Collins’ work is entitled the Orthodox Catechism, and according to Nettles, he used the Heidelberg as the basis of his catechism to show, in part, the agreement between Particular Baptist theology in England and the theology of Continental Reformed churches. Interestingly enough, this would be the same reason why Particular Baptists would choose to use the Westminster Confession of Faith as the basis for the London Baptist Confession of l 689.20 The Shorter Catechism has also had influence on the writing of Baptist catechisms. The Shorter Catechism influenced Keach’s catechism and Spurgeon’s catechism. Keach’s catechism, in tum, influenced the writing of catechisms by leaders in the Philadelphia Baptist Association and the Charleston Baptist Association, which were '9 Tom J. Nettles, Teaching Truth, Training Hearts: the study o/catechism in Baptist Life (Amityville, NY: Calvary Press Publishing, 1998), 16-17. 20 Nettles, Teaching Truth, 18. 98 two of the leading Baptist Associations in both Colonial America and post-Revolutionary America.2| The writing of catechisms by the Philadelphia and Charleston Associations notwithstanding, Baptists began to write catechisms since their inception during the 17”1 century. Both General and Particular Baptists produced them. Particular Baptists used confessions of faith and catechisms as guards against apostasy. American Baptists, whether in the North or the South, perpetuated the tradition of using catechisms to instruct the children of the faithful and others such as slaves. It is interesting that slave- holding Baptists in the South employed catechisms to instruct their slaves owing to other principles of catechetical instruction outlined by Nettles. Nettles writes that there are at least four general principles regarding the use of catechisms: l. The use of multiple catechisms for different age levels; 2. The importance of memorization; 3. The acquisition of“hca1t knowledge” was the aim of catechetical instruction; 4. The necessity of “cognitive understanding.” For much of the ante-bellum period, Southern states enacted strict laws forbidding slave education. It is a paradox that in Southern Baptist slave-holding circles there was a movement to catechize slaves in the Christian faith, which meant that slaves would receive a modicum of education.22 From the Revolutionary period onward, Southern slave-holders began to defend their practice of holding Africans in slavery. Christian slave-holders, Baptists, 2' Nettles, Teaching Truth, 19. 22 Nettles, Teaching Truth, 19-23. 99 Methodists, and Presbyterians alike, argued that slavery offered a great opportunity for them to teach their slaves the faith. Southerners linked this aspect ofthe slavery apologetic to their attempt to introduce the “benighted” Africans to Western civilization. Southern Baptists such as John L. Dagg embraced the Providential Design argument that held that it was God's will that Africans be brought to America and enslaved, and that it was God’s will for free Africans to return to Africa to preach the gospel to Africans on the continent.23 In thinking through this argument, Southern Baptists in general failed to note that it was God’s will to free African American slaves as well. This is the logical conclusion of the Providential Design argument. Before the Civil War, Southern Baptist ministers put forward good efforts to catechize slaves. One such minister was the aforementioned James Petigru Boyce, who catechized slaves during his tenure as pastor at First Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina. Robert Ryland who served as pastor of First African Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia was another minster who toiled catechizing slaves during the ante- bellum period. In fact, Ryland wrote a catechism in 1848 entitled, “A Scripture Catechism for the Instruction of Children and Servants.” This catechism was Calvinistic, comprehensive, and fully treating Christian doctrine and practice; this catechism was by no means watered-down in its doctrinal content?”1 Nettles includes excerpts from one catechism written by a Southern Baptist minister for the instruction of slaves. In 1857, the Southern Baptist Publication Society approached E. T. Winkler, then the 31-year old pastor of First Baptist Church in Charleston, South Carolina, to write a catechism for the instruction of the vast slave 23 Nettles, Teaching Truth, 127. 2‘ Nettles, Teaching Truth, 131-132. 100 population of the South. According to Nettles. Winkler's catechism was no defense ofthe slave system, and it failed to over-emphasize the duty ofslaves to masters. For example, Winkler’s teaching on the Fifth Commandment focused primarily on the relationship between parents and children. Regarding slaves and masters, Winkler simply instructed slaves to honor their masters and for masters to care for their slaves.25 The excerpt from Winkler’s catechism is topical and systematic. For example, Lesson 1 is on God, Lesson 10 is on the Trinity, Lesson 12 is on the Fall of Man, and Lesson 23 is on the doctrine of justification. These lessons among the others signify that Winkler desired to teach slaves the content of the faith without focusing on their oppressed condition as chattel slaves. Each lesson includes a bible verse, which may have been for memorization; and Winkler wrote the catechism questions and answers succinctly and concisely that made for easy memorization and retention. Before the questions and answers, Winkler gave brief expositions of the topic to introduce and frame the catechism questions and answers. After each series of questions and answers, Winkler attached a hymn to reinforce the lesson through singing. The content of the catechism is wholly evangelical; it teaches slaves the way of salvation, which is by repenting from one’s sins and placing faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Winkler’s catechism, which was the official Southern Baptist catechism specifically for slaves (though the title of the catechism makes it known that it was for “colored” people, possibly for free African Americans too), is quite comparable to other Baptist catechisms used to instruct children.26 2? Nettles, Teaching Truth, 132-133. 2" Nettles, Teaching Truth, 140. 101 Though Southern Protestant ministers often upheld the slavery status quo, the catechisms included in Nettles‘ work demonstrates that some Baptist ministers took seriously their understanding that slavery could serve as a type of school of evangelization for African Americans. Contemporary scholars can criticize these men for failing to take the next logical step in pronouncing slavery as antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ. These scholars would be correct in their criticism. The point here is that some Southern Baptists taught slaves sound Baptist doctrine that carried into the next period of African American history. As African Americans emerged from slavery and independent Baptist churches began to flourish, the educated (even if informally educated) among African American Baptist leaders commenced to preach and write from a clear theological framework. For the most part, these Baptist leaders during Reconstruction operated from the Calvinistic framework they learned and had been taught during slavery. Placed alongside Evangelical Calvinism was Landmarkism; this doctrinal nuance helped to define National Baptist theology well into the 20‘h century. Paul Harvey labels Landmarkism a “more theologically developed form of Protestant primitivism.”27 Landmarkism developed among Baptists mainly in the South during the 19‘h century, and it maintains that the only New Testament church is the local church. It also maintains that Baptists are true New Testament Christians tracing their beliefs all the way back to John the Baptist, who initiated believer’s baptism. Harvey notes firrther that this theology developed more as an anti-denominational theology and response to the establishment of a strong Southern 27 Paul Harvey, Redeeming the South: Religious Cultures and Racial Identities Among Southern Baptists [865-1925 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 8. 102 Baptist C onvention.28 Though this may have been the case among whites, it fails to account for its popularity among African Americans. According to Wilson Fallin, Landmarkism deals with “the nature ofthe true church.” Fallin also mentions that Landmarkism’s spread to African American Baptists is owed to James M. Pendleton, who helped to found Crozer Seminary in PA though he was a Southerner who was also pro-Union. Northern African American Baptist ministers who studied at Crozer and other Northern Baptist schools received this doctrine gladly.29 Those African American Baptist pastors who were unable to study in the North had access to Landmarkism through Southern Baptist pastors and the writings of Pendleton. Pendleton wrote and published two major works that have endured, the Baptist Church Manual and Christian Doctrines. In the Baptist Church Manual, Pendleton devotes the first chapter to the subject of the church. In it, Pendleton makes the point that the major use of the word “church” in the New Testament refers to local churches. Based upon this observation, Pendleton offers this definition of a church: A church is a congregation of Christ's baptized disciples, acknowledging him as their Head, relying on his atoning sacrifice for justification before God, and depending on the Holy Spirit for sanctification, united in the belief of the gospel, agreeing to maintain its ordinances and obey its precepts, meeting together for worship, and cooperating for the extension of Christ’s kingdom in the world.30 This is one of the more comprehensive definitions of the church one will find in a Baptist manual. Probably recognizing this, Pendleton offers an abridgment of the above definition: “A church is a congregation of Christ’s baptized disciples, united in the belief of what he has said, and covenanting to do what he has commanded.”3 ' This is a pithy 28 Harvey, Redeeming the South, 7-8. 2" Fallin, Uplifting the People, 100-101. 30 James M. Pendleton, Baptist Church Manual (Nashville, TN: Boardman, 1966), 7. 3‘ Pendleton, Manual, 7. 103 definition conducive for his readers to memorize. Other than writing a nice, short definition of a church. it is important to note that Pendleton unashamedly takes a Baptist perspective of what a church is even thought he never states his position is uniquely Baptist. This is part and parcel of Landmarkism; Landmarkist Baptists believe that their position is the only biblical position, and all other views of the nature of the church are deficient. Though Pendleton upheld Landmarkism, he maintained a Calvinistic belief on the doctrines of grace, especially regarding divine election. He makes this evident in his chapter VII, “The Purposes of God” in Christian Doctrines. Quoting from an unnamed source, Pendleton asserts that election is God’s choice of certain persons out of the masses of people to be his own people. From the general definition of election, Pendleton points out that election is personal and not based on the foreseen faith of the one who believes in Jesus Christ and his gospel. Regarding the extent of the atonement of Christ, Pendleton agrees with Andrew Fuller, an English Baptist of the late 18‘h century and early 19‘h century, who argued that Christ‘s death was for all sinners without distinction. This means that Christ’s death was for all classes of sinners, but not for all sinners indiscriminately. Again, on these all important doctrines Pendleton was solidly Evangelical and Calvinist.32 Because a few prominent African American Baptists received their education at Northern Baptist seminaries, Landmarkism became a mark of National Baptist theology. The most prominent of National Baptists was an ardent Landmarkist; this was the first president of the NBC-USA, Rev. Elias Camp Morris. According R. M. C aver’s 32 See Pendleton, Christian Doctrines: A Compendium of Theology (Philadelphia: Judson Press. 1957), 105-108; 241-245. Judson Press originally published this work in 1878. 104 “Biographical Sketch" of Morris that originally appeared in Preachers ' Magazine, he writes that Morris was born in Murray County, Georgia on May 7, 1855; he and his parents were slaves until after the Union Army defeated the Confederates in Georgia in May 1864. Morris and his family then moved to Dalton, Georgia after he and his people receive their freedom from slavery, and he received “a common school education.” After his conversion to the Christian faith, Morris entered the gospel ministry in 1874, and moved to Helena, Arkansas. Caver describes him as an organizer who “has organized educational, missionary, and literary publishing interests.” Testament to Caver’s description of Morris’ organization prowess is the founding of Arkansas Baptist College in 1884. Beginning in 1879, Morris served as pastor of Centennial Baptist Church in Helena.33 As the first president ofthe NBC-USA, Morris had the greatest of all platforms to influence the NBC -USA vision and policy, but he also used this platform to affect National Baptist theology. From his addresses and sermons, it is clear that Morris was a Landmark Baptist. In 1898, Monis delivered a sermon entitled, “Infallible Proofs of the Perpetuity of Baptist Principles” before the convention. This is a sermon arguing for the Landmarkist position without reservation. Since this is an official convention sermon, it is representative of the stand of National Baptists in general. Morris clearly lays out the Landmarkist thesis at the beginning of the sermon: “I do not fear the criticism that may follow after I tell you that the history of the Baptists covers all the time from the days of ”34 John the Baptist until now... Not to give a statement that may be misconstrued, Morris clarifies that John the Baptist was a prophet in the church of Jesus Christ, not its founder. 3’3 R. M. Caver, “Biographical Sketch,” in E. C. Morris, Sermons, Addresses, and Reminiscences and Important Correspondence (New York: Arno Press, 1980), 174-175. 34 Morris, “Infallible Proofs for the Perpetuity of Baptist Principles,” 24. 105 According to the Scriptures, God is the founder of his church and he wields the authority over the Church.35 Anticipating objections to this bold thesis, Morris emphasizes the importance he gives to John the Baptist‘s ministry. For Morris, John‘s significance rests upon his ministry of the word and sacrament; in J ohn‘s case the word is the preaching of repentance, and the sacrament is, of course, baptism. This clarification brought to the attention of an audience of Baptists would cause everyone to take a sigh of relief as well as draw its attention. Once again, after making this point Morris states that Christ has authority in the Church, not John. Just earlier, he makes the point that the Church is under God the Father’s authority; but this is no double-talk. Morris is comfortable in claiming that Christ has authority in the Church because Christ and the Father are one according to the Scriptures.36 Moving away from establishing the biblical support for Landmarkism, Morris shifts his attention to the historical support. Consistent with orthodox Landmarkism, Morris held that Baptist history can be traced straight to New Testament times. He alludes to the “baptism of blood,” which refers to the persecution suffered by Baptists from the times of Jesus and the apostles to others of the present day. Suffering is the key theme in Morris’ historical discussion. He states that Baptists throughout history have suffered owing to the lack of religious fieedom exercised in both State and Church. Though Morris is clear to remark that everyone who suffered for the faith in history never 3'5 Morris, “Infallible Proofs,” 24. 3" Morris, “Infallible Proofs,” 25-26. 106 called themselves "Baptists.” he states that they were Baptists by conviction. This is the classic Landmark argument ofthe "trail ofblood.”37 Two years later Morris delivered a sermon at the 1900 Annual Session of the NBC-USA titled, “Ori gins of the Baptists.” This sermon is much more forceful than the previous one, and is longer. Morris argues for the succession of Baptists and Baptist principles from the times of Christ based on John 1:2, which reads: “The same was in the beginning with God.” In the argument, Morris posits: “that Baptists have their origin in Christ, who himself antedates the formation of the world, and that the beginning of their work in the world was made manifest with the advent of Christ and the choosing of the first disciples.”38 To support this bold claim, Morris must provide evidence for a succession of Baptist principles. Morris’ first line of defense is to prove that Baptists represent the coming kingdom prophesied by the prophet Daniel recorded in the book of Daniel 2:44, which reads: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” Taken together with his previous point, Morris holds that Baptists are the representatives of the true or pure Church of Christ. What makes Baptist churches pure in this context? Since Baptists are part of the prophesied kingdom, they must be under the authority of the King, Jesus Christ. Morris holds that Baptists take the Great Commission seriously, and this indicates that they operate subject to the commands of the King. What is operative here for Morris is that Baptists are the only group of Christians that makes no additions to 37 Morris, “Infallible Proofs,” 26-28. 38 Morris, “Origins of the Baptists,” in Sermons, 49. 107 this commandment; they teach and preach only what Christ commanded his church to teach and preach, and that is to make disciples and baptize them after they become disciples.39 As this argument progressed on the point that Baptists abide by the strict commands of Christ neither adding, nor taking away from them, there is a hint of anti- creedalism evident. Morris argues that since Christ is the founder of the Church any creed that has a human founder lacks divine approval and appointment. This point is implicitly critical of just about every other Christian tradition including Protestant ones such as [11 those that emerged during the period of the Reformation in the 16 century such as Lutheranism and Presbyterianism since Luther stands behind Lutheranism, and Calvin stands behind Presbyterianism. Morris’ point supports one Landmark principle, or credo: “No creed but the Bible.”40 Just as Pendleton was both a Landmark Baptist and a Calvinist, Morris demonstrates the same connection in this particular sermon. Morris quotes a Calvinist theologian, who asserted the existence of the covenant of grace in which Christ serves as the representative of the elect of God whom God has elected according to his foreknowledge. This is clear Calvinist language for only Calvinists understand God’s decree to save elect sinners as executed through the covenant of grace. The Calvinist understanding here is that the Triune God planned from all etemity to save a people from sin, and Christ would come into the world with the mission to save them and them only. 39 Morris, “Origins,” 49. In this particular section of the semion, Morris quotes a portion of Matthew’s account of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:20). ‘0 Morris, “Origins,” 50. 108 In this section of the sermon, Morris indicates that he is a historic Calvinist as well as a Landmark Baptist.4| Following this excursion into Calvinism, Mon‘is begins to investigate the beginning of the kingdom of God, which for him embraced Baptist principles. In traditional Landmark fashion, Morris argues that John the Baptist is the beginning of this kingdom that exclaims Baptist principles. This is the same position he placed forward in the earlier sermon; for Morris, John the Baptist’s ministry is the beginning because of his preaching of the word of God and the sacrament of Baptism. While stating this, Morris, again, emphasized that Christ is the head of the Church and he has given the Church its doctrines; these doctrines are the ones held by Baptists such as salvation by grace alone, justification by faith alone, believer’s baptism, the perseverance of the saints, and only two church ordinances--baptism and Lord‘s Supper. These doctrines have been explained by the apostles of Christ, according to Morris. By stating this, Morris implies the Baptist principle of Scripture alone for these doctrines are found only on the pages of the Holy Scriptures. In ending this section of the sermon, Morris claims that Christ and the apostles were Baptists based on the definition of a Baptist, which, according to Morris, is one who believes in baptism by immersion.42 Moving away from the connection between Christ and the apostles and Baptist doctrine, Morris addresses church govemment and polity. Quoting from another unknown writer/theologian, Morris unearths the assertion that early churches were independent churches and only consulted with other churches. This assertion has the point to quiet the arguments coming from Roman Catholics and Anglicans who hold to 4' Morris, “Origins,” 50. 42 Morris, “Origins,” 50-52. 109 the Episcopal system ofchurch government where bishops rule the church (in the case of the Roman Catholic Church. the Pope is the supreme head ofthe Church on earth as bishops rule under him). It also seeks to counter arguments from Presbyterian and Reformed churches that claim that biblical church govemment consists in the plurality of elders in the local church that connect with other churches through presbyteries or classes and a General Assembly or Synod. The major point Morris makes in this portion of this sermon is that New Testament churches were independent, and related to other independent churches voluntarily when difficulties regarding doctrine and practice would arise. Connected with church independence is also church polity, or government. Morris quotes from the same writer to argue against the Episcopal form of church government specifically. The unnamed writer states that the bishop was the leader of only one congregation according to New Testament, and by implication this discredits the argument for Episcopal government claiming that the latter has no biblical warrant.43 As Morris ends this sermon, he emerges more as a sectarian. By arguing that the “Baptist” principles survived through history even amidst persecution by Roman Catholics, he strongly intimates that Baptists are the one true Church countering the Roman Catholic argument. Since he has already argued that Baptists trace their history back to the beginning of the New Testament period, he has implied that Baptists pre-date Roman Catholics. He quotes from a source, the History of Religious Denominations of the World that insists that the Waldensians and Anabaptists held to Baptist principles and ”3 Morris, “Origins,” 52. To offer a bit more clarification on this point, Roman Catholics and Anglicans in particular hold that the Episcopal system of church govemment is biblical being of apostolic origin. Catholics, for example, hold that Peter was the first Bishop of Rome thereby making this the most important of all bishoprics. This is why the Pope is simultaneously the Bishop of Rome. Anglo-Catholics reject this argument, but do hold that the apostles instituted Episcopal government holding that the NT office of bishop designated the oversight of the office holder over a group of churches in a given region, or diocese. 110 were victims ofperseeution. As he ends this sermon, Morris indirectly conveys the idea that Baptists are the elect ofGod as he quotes fi'om Ephesians l in connection with the origin of Baptists.44 Though Morris would be seen as the leader of the NBC-USA during this period of its infancy, another key leader helped to shape its early theology. This would be Lewis G. Jordan, who would become the second Corresponding Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board as well as the first historian of the convention (as noted in the introduction). In his Negro Baptist History, Jordan presents Baptists within Church history within a Landmark framework. This is evident as he begins this chapter by plainly remarking that each Christian denomination is distinct. He states, “A Baptist Christian is quite different from a Methodist Christian; and the Methodist Christian is different from the Presbyterian; a Disciple Christian differs from either of them, and again a real Christian in the Episcopal or Lutheran Church differs from them all.”45 Though Jordan recognizes that Methodists, Presbyterians, and other Protestant Evangelicals are part of the Body of Christ, he notes marks of distinction. At the same time, he fails to uphold the teaching that all denominations are created equal. Jordan firmly believes that the principles of Baptist churches are correct, and that Baptists must defend and teach these truths.46 From this strong beginning, Jordan writes of the growth of Baptist churches in America. Jordan offers platitudes to Baptist churches for their strictness regarding membership requirements, and be attributed this to the growth of Baptist churches in America. According to Jordan the primary attribute of the growth of Baptist churches is: 4” Morris, “Origins,” 52-54. Ephesians 1 is one of the major passages of Scripture that teaches that the Church, as the people of God, is an elect people predestined to be so by the eternal plan of God. 45 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 1. ”6 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 1. 111 “The absolute supremacy ofChrist in His Church."47 This is a provocative statement. Obviously, other denominations argue the same regarding their churches; but this statement draws attention to what Jordan perceives as the dominant attitude of Baptists during his day and the century before. Baptists were a people strictly and wholly under the Lordship of Christ, e. g. in the government of the church, the ordinances of the church, and the terms of church membership.48 It is interesting that Jordan claims that since Baptist churches are different from any other church Baptist historians must employ a different methodology. Baptist history, according to Jordan, must depart from a different point. Though he acknowledges that the name Baptist is a relatively modern term, the principles held by Baptists are ancient. With that, Jordan asserts that Baptist historians must trace the history of Baptist churches through those groups that held to Baptist principles. The principles, according to Jordan, are standing for the word of God and for the ways of God found in the word. The proper starting point for the Baptists, then, is the history of Christ’s ministry on earth. This differs slightly from Morris’ argument, but it is the same in essence. Jordan concludes this particular point by stating that the principles of the Church since Christ are Baptist principles.49 Jordan, then, answers the question: what is a Baptist in history? For Jordan, a Baptist in history is one “Who held to the supreme authority of the Bible and discarded the idea of infant baptism; who contended for a spiritual church membership and for the baptism of believer’s only, for the absolute freedom of conscience, and therefore for 47 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 2. 48 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 2. 49 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 2-3. 112 entire freedom from the control ofthe civil government in religious matters.”‘”’ This answer enables Jordan, and other Baptist historians to search for true Baptists throughout history; but it poses nearly an impossible task for the Baptist historian in search of such true Baptists because from the second century onward there was no group of Christians who held to every of the above quoted points. Nevertheless, Jordan manages to trace the sufferings of so called Baptist groups from the Middle Ages to the Reformation period. Like Morris, Jordan focuses upon the legendary “trail of blood.”5 1 During the post-Reconstruction period into the 20th century, African American Baptists readily accepted the Landmark teaching. Why? Such a teaching offered African American Baptists a sense of credibility that they may have lacked a8 a group owing to the times in which America still deemed them as an underclass. Coming out of slavery, African Americans needed to grasp onto any semblance of respectability; and accepting a theology and a view of Christian history that placed them in the true Church among the very elect of God afforded such respectability and dignity even. Another reason why African Americans received Landmark principles is that it gave them another connection with the broader American Baptist movement as both Northern and Southern Baptists accepted this teaching. One more reason that African Americans had for accepting Landmark teaching is that it served as further motivation to engage in mission activity. Knowing that they were members of the pure Church instituted by Christ, gave African American Baptists confidence as their conventions and associations sent men and women to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in Africa. By planting the true Church of Christ on 50 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 3. 51 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 4. 113 the “dark continent” was nothing insignificant for a people struggling under Jim Crow segregation and institutional racism. As African American Baptists began to form their own churches, associations, and state conventions in the South after the Civil War, there was also a push for publishing their own Sunday school literature. Though leading men such as Reverend William J. Simmons of Kentucky pressed for African American Baptists to publish their own literature, the most prominent leader who endeavored to found an African American Baptist publishing house was Reverend Richard Henry (R. H.) Boyd. Boyd is described by his biographer as a “race man,” which meant that he worked for the uplift and good for African Americans. Boyd typified African American Baptist ministers and leaders who sought a place of their own within Baptist denominationalism during the 18908. Boyd and others tired of the patemalism of white Northern Baptist and the segregation of their Southern homeland. With the founding of the National Baptist Convention in 1895, Boyd and others took the initiative to urge for an independent African American Baptist publishing house to serve the unique needs of their own churches. Though Clearly one to advance African Americans, this initiative also highlights how race failed to encroach upon Baptist doctrine. The National Baptist Publishing Board began in 1896 through the efforts of R. H. Boyd who was the new corresponding secretary of the Home Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention. The material published by the National Baptist Publishing Board in the early twentieth century maintained those historic Baptist . . . 52 drstrnctrons. 5'2 Bobby Lovett, Boyd’s main biographer and the unofficial historian of the Boyd family publishing enterprise called R. H. Boyd a “race man” in the sense that Boyd worked for African American Baptists to stand on their own without succumbing to white paternalism. See Lovett, A Black Man '8 Dream, 1. 114 Like other men who would become key leaders in the National Baptist Convention, Boyd was bom into slavery and rose from its depths. Boyd was born in Noxubee County, Mississippi in March 1843. He and his family lived and worked on the Gray family’s plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana before remaining in Texas beginning in 1859. Boyd (known as Dick Gray) accompanied his master and his master’s sons onto the battlefields of the South during the Civil War. Master Gray obviously impressed Boyd into this accompaniment as there were many men who were slaves that followed their masters to the war involuntarily.53 Before leaving with his master and sons, Boyd‘s mother, Indiana Gray, professed faith in Christ sometime shortly before 1860 and joined a Baptist church. Lovett implies that through his mother’s conversion and membership in a local Baptist church, the young Boyd became influenced toward the Baptist tradition. Interestingly enough, in 1861 Boyd‘s mother would marry one Sam Dickson, a Baptist deacon.S4 After Emancipation, a few watershed events occurred in Boyd‘s life. After Emancipation, Boyd remained in Texas living in east-central Texas in the area known as the “black belt” and then he settled around San Antonio near Mexico. Around the age of twenty-two, Boyd began to teach himself to read with the aid of the Blue Back Speller and a white girl. In December 1869, Boyd professed faith in Christ and received baptism at Hopewell Baptist Church in Navasota, Texas. During this time of new beginnings for Boyd, he changed his name to Richard Henry Boyd and he accepted his calling into the 53 Lovett, Black Man '8 Dream, 17-18. 54 Lovett, Black Man ’8 Dream, 16-18. 115 gospel ministry. These changes in Boyd during this time would shape his life and the life ofthe National Baptist Convention as well as National Baptist identity and thought.55 Recognizing the need for a good education to be an effective gospel minister, Boyd determined at the age of 45 to acquire a degree from Bishop College in Dallas, Texas. Bishop was an American Baptist Home Mission Society college, and it served as a training ground for Afiican American Baptist ministers and those men who aspired to enter the ministry. Owing to financial hardship, Boyd was unable to finish the required courses to obtain his degree from Bishop.56 Though such a stumbling block threatened to derail Boyd’s success in the gospel ministry, Boyd managed to emerge as a leading figure among African American Baptists in Texas during the 18708 through the 18908. Boyd became a church planter and a denominational organizer during this time period. He along with a white minister founded the Texas Negro Baptist Convention. Boyd also served as pastor of three of the churches he planted during this time. Again, with the aid of white Baptist ministers, Boyd organized Lincoln District Baptist Association at Navasota in 1875.57 During 1892-1893, a controversy brewed among African American Baptists in Texas regarding white, Northern Baptist control of the African American colleges in the state. Boyd was part of a faction against ABPS domination of Sunday school literature distributed to African American Baptist churches. At this time, Boyd was educational secretary of the Texas Negro Baptist Convention. According to Lovett, “Boyd continued to resent the paternalistic attitude that the northern white Baptist officials had displayed 55 Lovett, Black Man '8 Dream, 20. 56 Lovett, Black Man’s Dream, 20-21. 57 Lovett, Black Man ’5 Dream, 21-22. The churches Boyd served as pastor during this period are Ninevah Baptist Church, Union Street Baptist Church, and Mount Zion Baptist Church. 116 toward the black Baptist officials."58 Because of this contention and resentment, Boyd and his group formed another convention of African American Baptist churches in Texas in 1893; this was the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Texas. After the founding of the new convention, Boyd became superintendent ofmissions (he tendered his resignation from the pastorate of Mount Zion in order to assume this position). This split between members of the “old convention” and Boyd would last until 1915 when the National Baptist Convention split over control of the National Baptist Publishing Board operated by Boyd.59 The root of the split in Texas, according to Lovett, was Boyd’s perception that the Northern white Baptists treated African American ministers poorly. The ABPS failed to publish literature written by African American ministers. The new convention Boyd and his fellows founded set out to carve a niche for “black independence.” At this time, such an endeavor and attitude on the part ofAfrican American leaders was part of the greater thrust of African American leaders to engage in projects and concerns meant to lift up the race.60 During Boyd’s time as education secretary of the Texas Negro Baptist Convention, he established a working relationship with the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sunday School Publishing Board located in Nashville. In the aftermath of the founding of the new convention, Boyd succeeded in procuring Southern Baptist Sunday school literature in order to distribute to African American Baptist churches that were members of the new convention in 1895. The Sunday School Publishing Board of the Southern Baptist Convention donated $120 of literature for distribution. This was an 58 Lovette, Black Man’s Dream, 22. 59 Lovett, Black Man ’8 Dream, 22-23. 60 Lovett, Black Man ’s Dream, 23. 117 interesting and shrewd move. On the surface. it would seem that such a move by Boyd was counterproductive. Why would Boyd and the new convention use Southern Baptist material rather than material published by the more liberal Northern Baptists. As mentioned above, Boyd perceived that the Northern Baptists were paternalistic and were against African American Baptists “going it alone" in attempting to publish their own literature. On the other hand, Boyd had the assurance that the SBC were supportive of the long-term goals of African American Baptists in creating an independent publishing venture.“ In September 1895, Boyd and other Texans traveled to Atlanta to attend the first annual session of the NBC-USA. According to Lovett, Boyd’s contingent represented “separatists,” which refers to African American Baptists who favored the publication of their own Sunday school literature and who desired independence from the ABPS. There was another faction within the fledgling convention that desired to maintain a good relationship with white Northern Baptists and the ABPSf’2 In the wake of attending the NBC-USA’s first annual session, Boyd’s group met in November 1895 and decided to press for a publishing house with the NBC-USA. They agreed that they would urge for this at next year’s annual session. At the time of the second annual session in September 1896 held at First Colored Baptist in St. Louis, Missouri, Boyd presented his resolution to begin a publishing board in the convention. He argued “that a people without a literature of their own can never have the respect of 6' Lovett, Black Man ’5 Dream, 23-24. According to Lovett, the Sunday School Publishing Board of the Southern Baptist Convention was reluctant to establish a formal relationship with Boyd and the new convention in Texas. The reason for this was that the SBC had decided to allow the ABPS to continue its distribution of literature to African American Baptists in Texas. This would quell any type ofcompetition between the two conventions. Also this was part of an agreement between the two conventions made at Fortress Monroe, Virginia in 1894. In addition, the SBC supported NBC-USA independence in the spirit of the times that demanded social segregation. 62 Lovett, Black Man '5 Dream, 25. 118 their contemporaries or achieve the recognition commensurate with their ability and capabilities."63 The publishing venture eventually came under the aegis of the fledgling Home Mission Board after the parent body of the convention failed to agree with this proposal. Interestingly, Boyd had been elected recently to the office of corresponding secretary. At the first meeting of the Home Mission Board, Boyd suggested a “printing committee to prepare and publish a black series of Sunday school literature.”64 The board concurred, and the process of establishing a publishing board began. Boyd’s great dream was now taking shape and coming into fruition.“S Boyd arrived in Nashville in November 1896, and there he immediately received help from Southern Baptists. He received help from Reverend James Frost, the director of the Baptist Sunday School Publishing Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in the form of free use of printing plates. Frost offered more support to Boyd by introducing him to printers in town. The donation of printing plate usage and Frost’s joining Boyd to help him establish relationships with Nashville printers all signified the type of support the SBC was eager to give to Boyd and African American Baptists regarding this publishing enterprise. According to Lovett, Frost was ready to help Boyd “because he earnestly supported the ideas of progress and success for the former slaves.”6 This is what Boyd perceived back in the early days of the new Texas convention about Southern Baptists. 63 Lovett, Black Man’s Dream, 28. (’4 Lovett, Black Man ’3 Dream, 29. 65 Lovett, Black Man’s Dream, 29. 6° Lovett, Black Man ’3 Dream, 32-33. 119 With this new venture, came a new name. In a meeting ofthe printing committee of the Home Mission Board. the members agreed that the publishing house should be called the “National Baptist Publishing Board.” This meeting occurred in November 1896. Following this small. but landmark meeting, Boyd agreed with his printer to print “ten thousand intermediate quarterlies, ten thousand primary quarterlies, and eighty thousand primary and intermediate leaflets?”7 In December 1896, Boyd and his tiny staff at the NBPB sent form letters to churches and Sunday schools introducing them to the NBPB. Lovett reproduced the letter. The letter appeals to “Negro” Baptists who want to do “something for themselves.” Boyd lays out the issue: independent African American Baptist churches, Sunday schools, etc. should have an independent Publishing House serving their publishing needs. Boyd makes a strong appeal to the spirit of African American self-progress: “Do you think the Negro capable of doing something for himself? Will you try to help? Will you help the young Negro to be a self-respecting man by putting the Periodicals of his father’s organization in his hands?" Not only was Boyd corresponding secretary of the Home Mission Board, but he was secretary-treasurer of the NBPB."8 Such a direct appeal by Boyd militated for his success in garnering support from African American Baptists. According to Lovett, Boyd proved able to gain African American Baptist support of his publishing effort because he emphasized the publication of “Baptist material for black by blacks.” This put Boyd at odds with the ABPS that had no confidence in African Americans publishing their own literature specifically for their own consumption. Even though Boyd’s emphasis produced disfavor with the powerful (’7 Lovett, Black Man ’3 Dream, 35, 38. (’8 Lovett, Black Man ’5 Dream, 4142, 44. 120 ABPS, it continued to win over the SBC. Boyd became a favorite among Southern Baptists, and he even attended the SBC's annual sessions“) One of Boyd‘s most urgent necessities was Sunday school material written by African American Baptists for African American Baptists. He accomplished this beginning in the third quarter of 1897. All of the materials sent out in the name of the NBPB had its stamp upon it: lesson cards and an African American editorial board contributed to the lesson quarterlies. Also the NBPB published both catechisms and song books. The NBPB'began to publish books starting in 1899. It published a song book in 1901, and the National Baptist Hymnal (3rd edition) in 1903. The NBPB published books by African American authors. According to Lovett, “The early books represented a virtual storehouse of history about early twentieth century black Baptists. At least the publications brought pride to a once depressed people.”70 Why did Boyd believe it was of paramount importance for African American Baptists to write and publish their own Sunday school literature? Boyd realized that African Americans needed to publish their own religious literature because of white racism; he believed he had to meet a real need within the African American Baptist community. Boyd was quite distrustful of any material produced by whites because of the atmosphere of the day, which was rife with virulent forms of racism. Any material written by whites for African Americans had the potential of offending African American sensibilities. Because of this, the mission of the NBPB was to teach Baptist doctrine to (’9 Lovett, Black Man ’5 Dream, 48-49. 7° Lovett, Black Man’s Dream, 50-51, 53. 121 (”‘1' FL! ‘1 African Americans. and to help children defend it. With this, Boyd published picture cards that depicted African Americans in a positive light with dignity.“ At the 1900 annual convention of the NBC -USA, the convention gave Boyd and the NBPB clearance to publish a hymnal; the NBPB published it in 1901. This was the first convention-sanctioned hymnal published by the NBC-USa. By 1902, the NBPB published 58 titles. These titles included works on African American history and race relations. These topics were of great importance to Boyd. He believed that whites needed education regarding African Americans; this would help to alleviate the race problem. Sutton E. Griggs, a prominent National Baptist pastor, became a favorite of Boyd’s. Griggs radically opposed American racism. He began printing his work with the NBPB around this time.72 At the turn of the century during the first decade of the new century, Boyd began to publish small works that highlighted Baptist doctrine and practice. The most popular and extant of these works is What Baptists Believe & Practice. This little work is in the spirit of older and popular Baptist guides and manuals written by Hiscox and Pendleton. Boyd served as the editor of this work, and he wrote the introduction. In this introduction, Boyd cites the purpose of the booklet. The scriptural headings bring attention to the purpose of the booklet: to clarify what Baptists believe; and to exhort African American Baptists to practice Baptist doctrine.73 7‘ Lovett, Black Man ’5 Dream, 54. One of my earliest memories of Sunday school at Historic Second Baptist Church in New Orleans was the depiction of African Americans in the Sunday school quarterlies and on the picture rolls. Second Baptist’s Sunday School purchased its material from the National Baptist Publishing Board. The purpose during the early days of the NBPB was to give African American children positive images of African Americans. That was the same purpose during the 1970s as I was a Sunday school student using NBPB material. 72 Lovett, Black Man 's Dream, 61 , 65-66. 73 R. H. Boyd, What Baptists Believe &. Practice (Nashville, TN: National Baptist Publishing Board, n.d.), 3. Boyd cites two scriptural passages that serve to frame his introduction, namely Jude 3 and John 14:15. 122 Also in the introduction Boyd identities National Baptists as part ofthe Protestant family, and within the confines of"r'cgular" Baptists. He writes that there is "danger” that the core of Protestant beliefs will be lost on the coming generation owing to the onslaught ofmodemity. According to Boyd, the doctrines of Baptist churches are mostly common to Protestant orthodoxy. Within the larger stream of Protestants, churches that are part of the National Baptist Convention are what Boyd calls “regular Baptist churches.” More so than with other Protestants, National Baptist churches stand with their regular Baptist brethren regardless of race. Boyd assumes here that whether African Americans or other Baptists will largely believe the same things and practice the same things. He assumes that there is a Baptist consensus.74 Boyd also states that Baptists show precision and comprehensiveness regarding obedience to Christ. He writes that “Baptists draw no lines between essential and non- essential when they come to obey the commands of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” This book is especially for young converts so that they would be well-acquainted with Baptist doctrine and practice.75 Judging from Boyd’s simple chronology, the NBPB published this booklet in 1902. His work as corresponding secretary of the NBPB motivated him to publish a short and concise book on Baptist doctrine and practice. Boyd implies that there should be The Jude passage reads: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” The John passage reads: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Both passages inform Christians to defend the historic faith given to them by Christ. the prophets, and the apostles found only in the Holy Scriptures, and to obey the faith. 7 Boyd, What Baptists Believe, 5. 75 Boyd, What Baptists Believe, 5-6. 123 unity in both doctrine and practice among African American Baptists, especially those affiliated with the National Baptist C onvention.76 There are two articles that detail what Baptists believe and practice regarding the two sacraments (ordinances) of the C hurch--baptism and Lord‘s Supper. Rev. J. T. Brown wrote the article on baptism, and Rev. E. M. Brawley wrote the article on the Lord’s Supper. Nothing is known regarding Brown, but E. M. Brawley was a leading African American Baptist of his day. According to William Simmons, Brawley was born in March 1851 in Charleston, SC, and he received his education at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and graduated in 1875. Brawley was the first African American student at this Baptist school. As will be discussed below, Brawley believed that educated African American Baptist pastors needed to write on doctrinal issues. In this his article, he practices what he preaches.77 Boyd includes the New Hampshire Declaration of 1853 as the “Articles of Faith” of National Baptist churches. He states that these articles “should be adopted by Baptist churches at the time of organization.” There is absolutely no change to these articles. This indicates that National Baptists had no problems with Baptist doctrine as articulated by other American Baptists. It is obvious that Boyd and other National Baptists believed in doctrinal purity and unity. Their problem, however, was with societal practices white Baptists brought into the church such as racism and paternalism.78 The covenant Boyd includes is similar to the one included in Brown’s Baptist Church Manual and Pendleton’s book of the same title. It also differs from Hiscox’s 7° Boyd, What Baptists Believe, 6. 77 Boyd, What Baptists Believe, 6. Boyd lists the writers of the articles. William J. Simmons, Men ofMark: Eminent, Progress and Rising (Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company Inc., 1970), 645-646. 78 Boyd, What Baptists Believes, 10. 124 covenant. The covenant and articles of faith demonstrate that National Baptists were regular Baptist churches that held to the same doctrines as Northern Baptists and Southern Baptists. Even though the "Articles of F aith” are less comprehensive, and more summary statements than the chapters and articles contained in the London and Philadelphia Confessions, the former articles profess essentially the same doctrines. With this stated, National Baptists, as W. Bishop Johnson states, held to a Calvinistic set of doctrines; yet these doctrines are historically Evangelical Protestant. This buttresses Boyd’s assertion in the introduction of this booklet that National Baptists held to Protestant beliefs.” Boyd includes two insightful articles in this booklet as mentioned above. The first is by Rev. J. Brown and it is called “Christian Baptism.” Brown, in this essay, strongly asserts that baptism of believers by immersion is Christian baptism and the only baptism found in the Scriptures. Brown writes first of the continuance of Baptists in defending believer’s baptism and baptism by immersion. Brown states that they do so for two reasons: to teach the youth; and to convert paedobaptists. He calls baptism “the . . . ”80 fundamental doctrine of our denomination. Brown further claims that Baptists teach this doctrine out of obedience to the commandment of Christ who authorized baptism. He believes that correctness regarding this doctrine is essential; this is no insignificant issue of the Christian faith.8| 79 For the text of the covenant, see Boyd, What Baptists Believe, 8-10. Before 1925, Southern Baptist churches held to the New Hampshire Declaration primarily though some did hold to the Abstract of Principles. In 1925, the SBC published its own confession of faith, The Baptist Faith and Message, which is based on the New Hampshire Declaration ofFaith and compatible with it. 80 J. Brown, “Christian Baptism,” in Boyd, What Baptists Believe, 18. 8' J. Brown, “Christian Baptism,” 18-19. The term “paedobaptists” refer to Christian churches that practice infant baptism such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, and Presbyterian, Methodists, and Congregationalists. 125 From this general introduction. Brown writes of the proper definition of the word “baptize." He holds to the doctrine of the plenary inspiration ofthe Scriptures, which argues that the Holy Spirit ofGod inspired every word that the biblical writers penned. Armed with this position, Brown seeks to use Scripture itself and Scripture alone to define the word “baptize” authoritatively. Brown claims that the Bible defines baptize 999 (according to the Greek) as “‘to dip, to immerse, to immerse in water. He also refers to Biblical scholars and past theologians to support this definition. After beginning with the biblical definition of “baptize,” Brown stands on history as well by asserting that for the first 250 years of the New Testament Church immersion was the only form of baptism practiced.82 Following giving his readers a sound biblical definition with historical support, Brown writes of the design ofbaptism. He maintains that baptism’s design is “to teach, pictorially, the death, burial and resurrection of the Savior and the believers relation thereto.”83 Because of this design, Brown claims that immersion is the only mode suited to portray such. Brown continues his discussion of the design of baptism stating that “[b]aptism is a public inaugural act by which the candidate openly declares his allegiance to his new found King and Master.”84 A candidate must do this in the same fashion as Jesus did, according to Brown. Here he makes an emotional appeal regarding a person‘s refusal to receive baptism. Brown passionately asserts: “If he refuses, then he is found recreant in the first public duty imposed upon him by his king. What does a king think of a subject 82 Brown, “Christian Baptism,” 19-23. 83 Brown, “Christian Baptism,” 23-24. 84 Brown, “Christian Baptism,” 24. 126 who comes to him personally professing the greatest love and loyalty, but upon being ordered to perform his first public act ofallegiance refuses to do it?"85 Following his treatment on the design of baptism complete with a passionate and emotional appeal to his readers, Brown discusses the topic of the subjects of baptism. He admits that the answer to the question of who are the proper subjects of baptism is the one that separates Baptists from the rest of Christians. Brown states with a high degree of certainty: “The New Testament teaches that only intelligent and penitent believers are the subjects of baptism.” For Brown, this belief connects with the propositions of the gospel, which demand adherence by “intelligent, sentient creatures of the earth.” This categorically excludes infants, according to Brown.86 Brown then returned to the mode of baptism. In this new section on the mode, Brown casts blame on the Roman Catholic Church for changing the mode from immersion to sprinkling and/or pouring. He keenly mentions that Rome believes it has the power to change the ordinances of Christ clearly stated in the Scriptures. Brown states further that all Paedobaptist churches have accepted Rome’s change in the mode of baptism without question. He lays out an important Baptist principle: Baptists believe that they have no authority to change laws established by Christ in his word. This principle is often referred to as the “regulative principle,” or the scriptural law of worship. In brief, this principle teaches that God alone has the right to regulate how he is to be worshipped, and how to order his church in terms of its government and its 85 Brown, “Christian Baptism,” 24. 86 Brown, “Christian Baptism,” 24-25. This is arguably the Baptist’s strongest argument against infant baptism. He/she assumes no one can be a Christian without faith in the gospel, and that admittance into the Christian Church is through baptism, then only conscious believers can be baptized and members of the Church. 127 ordinances. Human innovations regardless of how ingenious or clever are unnecessary intrusions upon God's sovereign right to rule and govcm his church.87 One final aspect of Brown‘s articulation of the National Baptist understanding of baptism is the issue of “alien baptism." In Baptist parlance, “alien baptism,” or “alien immersion,” refers to baptisms that occur outside of a Baptist church. There were differences among Baptists at the time of this writing on whether or not Baptist churches should admit professing Christians into their churches who received baptism in a Methodist church, a Lutheran church, etc. Brown believes that professing Christians coming from outside of Baptist circles must be re-baptized. For Brown, this practice ensures that Baptist churches remain as pure as possible. His understanding is that since Baptists have very clear and distinct notions regarding baptism no one should be a member of a Baptist church without such understanding. For a Baptist, one must be already “born again” before baptism. Other churches reject this practice and belief. Such a conviction by National Baptists placed its identity regarding baptism more on the sectarian side rather than within the larger Protestant doctrine of baptism.88 As mentioned above, the imminent Edward McKnight Brawley wrote the article on the Lord’s Supper. In this article, Brawley offers the basic teaching on the ordinance; he draws from the Scriptures, but he also utilizes contemporary theological works from Baptist theologians such as Augustus Strong who was the president of Crozer Seminary, which was the preeminent Baptist seminary in the North. This indicates that Brawley was quite familiar with outstanding work by Baptists, and he interacts with these works as a Baptist pastor and theologian. The article is quite scholarly reflecting the sharpness and 87 Brown, “Christian Baptism,” 26. 88 Brown, “Christian Baptism,” 27. clarity ofBrawley‘s mind; it contains no ethnic flavor, or bias as it is simply a Baptist essay.” 1n the first section ofthe article, Brawley frames his work within a definition of the Lord’s Supper offered by A. A. Strong in his Systematic Theology and the Holy Scriptures. Brawley analyzes the definition, and gives three summarizing points. From there, he analyzes the representative biblical texts on the Lord’s Supper to inform Baptist belief and practice on this ordinance as well as to support Strong’s definition.9O In section two, Brawley discusses the proper name of the ordinance. He analyzes the various names used to describe this ordinance such as the Eucharist, Communion, and the Lord’s Supper. In his analysis of these different terms, Brawley uses the Scriptures to discount the use of “Eucharist” primarily because the term is unbiblical. Brawley settles on the use of the “Lord’s Supper” because of its biblical use and accuracy. He writes, “Baptists have nothing to lose and everything to gain by standing close to the Scriptures, and avoiding everything that savors of tradition?”1 Such a statement stands upon the Baptist view of sola scriptura, and it exhibits a bit of anti-Roman Catholicism from Brawley.92 In section three, Brawley investigates the then current views ofthe Lord’s Supper lamenting the mixing of views held by different Christian traditions. He writes, “The duties and amenities of social life, whereby people belonging to denominations ofwidely different views are daily thrown together in pleasant intercourse, cause a general mixing 89 E. M. Brawley, “The Doctrine of the Lord‘s Supper,“ in Boyd, J'Vhat Baptists Believe and Practice. 90 Brawley, “Lord’s Supper,” 30ff. 9' Brawley, “Lord’s Supper,” 38. 92 Brawley, “Lord’s Supper,” 38. of religious views.”93 Within the context of this criticism, Brawley indirectly claims that Baptists are C alvinistic in reference to the doctrines of grace. Again, he writes, “And so, many Baptists who associate with Methodists are practically Armenian [sic] on the great doctrines of grace”)4 Though Brawley never states that Baptists, even National Baptists are Calvinistic, the immediate previous statement assumes that National Baptists are Calvinistic regarding those doctrines of grace. This assumption is revealed owing to Brawley’s contrastive statement regarding Methodists and Arminians, and Baptists. The opposite of Arminianism regarding the doctrines of grace is Calvinism.”5 Brawley offers a summary of the four prominent views on the Lord’s Supper, which are Transubstantiation held by Roman Catholics, Consubstantiation taught by Lutherans, Spiritualisrn adhered to by Reformed Christians and Anglicans, and the Memorialism maintained by Baptists. In summarizing these different positions and arguing for the correctness of the Baptist view, Brawley’s tone is quite Anti-Sacramental. He claims that since Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Reformed Protestants believe that in the Lord’s Supper the partakers receive grace by eating the bread and drinking the wine they have turned the Supper into a sacrament. According to Brawley, the Baptist view, which he traces back to Ulrich Zwingli the Swiss Reformer of the 16‘” century, fails to be a sacrament because the partaking of the elements are merely reminders of the death of Christ. On this position, Brawley states, “The emblems though mere bread and wine, while not at all vehicles of grace, are nevertheless powerful reminders of what Jesus did to deliver us from the bondage and penalty of sin.”6 Besides a commemorative meal that 93 Brawley, “Lord’s Supper,” 38. 94 Brawley, “Lord’s Supper,” 39. 95 Brawley, “Lord’s Supper,” 39. 9” Brawley, “Lord’s Supper,” 46. 130 Brawley holds the Lord‘s Supper to be, he also states that it reflects the union between the partaker and Christ, and the future rctum ofChrist and “future blessedness of believers in the presence ofChrist at the marriage supper of the Lamb.”7 The position that Brawley argues for in this article, which he claims is the Baptist position is in agreement with influential contemporary Baptists of that day. Both Pendleton and Hiscox argue for the Memorial position in their widely read (and still extant) Baptist church manuals. Though this position became the majority opinion among Baptists by the late 19th century and into the 20th century, it is at variance with the position held by the writers of the Philadelphia Baptist Confession of 1742. The confession upholds the Spiritualist position in Chapter 32, article 7. The fact that the New Hampshire Declaration of Faith, which Brawley, Pendleton, and Hiscox all confessed uses the phrase “commemorate” in describing the bread and wine used in the Lord’s Supper held sway in the new position by Baptists.98 In this little booklet, Boyd managed to publish a Baptist manual for National Baptists that is both didactic and pastoral. Both Brown and Brawley wrote their respective articles from a pastoral position; they desired that those who would read their 97 Brawley, “Lord’s Supper,” 48. 98 See Pendleton, Baptist Church Manual, 88; Hiscox. Principles and Practices, 135-136. In both of these manuals, the writers include the New Hampshire Declaration ofFaith as the articles of faith believed by Baptists. Hiscox slightly modifies the articles as they appeared in 1833. The article in question with the word “commemorate” is article 14, and the operative portion reads, “and to the Lord’s Supper, in which the members of the church by the sacred use of bread and wine are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ.” Compare this statement with Chapter 32, article 7 of the Philadelphia Confession of Faith: “Worthy receivers outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this ordinance do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not camally and corporally, but spiritually receive, and feed upon Christ crucified and all the benefits of His death: the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally, or camally, but spiritually present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.” The original writers ofthis statement in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) sought to hold the middle ground between the Lutherans, who believed in the real physical presence of Jesus Christ with the elements of the Supper and the Zwinglians who believed in the mere commemorative purpose of the bread and wine. The Spiritualist view is the view held by John Calvin during the 16‘h century, and Reformed Christians elsewhere throughout history. 131 essays confess and practice the contents therein. What this booklet does as well is that it demonstrates that National Baptists were in lock step with other American Baptists in faith and practice. In addition, National Baptist scholars/theologians maintained a loose or moderate Calvinism. It also evinces that African American Baptist pastors had the intellectual acumen to write on important Christian doctrines on par with their white counterparts and interacting with significant theological works. As mentioned above, Southern Baptists wrote a plethora of catechisms during the 19‘h century, especially during the ante-bellum period in order to bring African American slaves to a true faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. National Baptists viewed that writing catechisms was an important means of teaching the faith, and R. H. Boyd wrote and published a Sunday school catechism for children. Though the catechism has no original date for its publication, it had to be written and published prior to Boyd‘s death in 1922. More than likely, the National Baptist Publishing Board published this catechism prior to the 1915 split as the board published the vast amounts of historical and doctrinal literature before the split. Though the catechism has sketches of African American children and African American biblical characters, the doctrine is plainly Evangelical, Baptist, and moderately Calvinistic”9 In typical Regular Baptist fashion, Boyd grounds all of the teaching provided in this catechism in the sufficiency of the Scriptures, which he holds to being inspired by the Holy Spirit. All of Boyd’s teaching on the nature of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, creation, salvation, and the church is firmly rooted in biblical teaching. Nothing in the catechism is based on human tradition or invention. Its purpose was to educate Sunday school children 99 R. H. Boyd, Baptist Sunday School Catechism (Nashville, TN: R. H. Boyd Publishing Corporation, Reprinted 2000). 132 in the fundamentals of the Christian faith from a decidedly Baptist perspective, which, as mentioned above, was something of great interest to Boyd. According to Lovett, “Boyd. . .wanted to teach children the true Baptist doctrine as well as to instruct them to defend their faith.”'00 By reading the catechism, Boyd‘s purpose shines forth clearly. The catechism is rather extensive covering every pertinent aspect of the Christian faith. Boyd demonstrates how committed he was in teaching children (and others) Protestant orthodoxy as well as Baptist doctrine. The catechism’s teaching on the Bible, God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Trinity is all orthodox in the Protestant sense of Christian orthodoxy. For example, Boyd tackles the issue of theological epistemology: “How then do we know that God exists?” The answer is: “We know that God exists by seeing the things that He created, and from our own senses of right and wrong and by what the Bible tell us of Him.”'”l In simple language conducive for memorization, Boyd manages to teach the knowledge of God through what theologians call natural revelation and special revelation. Natural revelation refers to knowledge gained through God’s creation, and special revelation is knowledge of God acquired through the Scriptures. According to Protestant theologians, it is only by special revelation that human beings realize that they are sinners in need ofGod’s grace through the giving of his son, Jesus Christ. Though Boyd clearly teaches the biblical and orthodox doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ regarding his deity, virgin birth, death, resurrection, and ascension, his teaching on the atonement of Jesus is inconsistent and reveals a lack of commitment to traditional Calvinism. Boyd devotes an entire chapter in the catechism to the atonement '00 Bobby L. Lovett, How it Came to Be: The Boyd Family 's Contribution to African American Religious Publishing From the 19” to the 21" Century (Nashville, TN: Mega Publishing Corporation, 2007), 42. 10' Boyd, Catechism, 7. 133 signifying its importance to the Christian faith. On the atonement, Boyd teaches “that Christ died and rose again to save His people." and that Christ "came to give His life as a ransom for many."”” Both ofthese statements reflect lucid biblical statements on the extent of Christ‘s death, which indicates that Christ died for a specific people. These statements also identify that Christ’s work was for his people, which is the doctrine of substitutionary atonement (as well as the doctrine of particular redemption). As Boyd develops this theme further, he holds to a different teaching. Boyd believes that Christ‘s death was for all people indiscriminately; this is a universalistic teaching on Christ’s atonement. This doctrine goes against Calvinism, and it is counter to the doctrine of the atonement expressed in the Philadelphia Confession. Leaving a more in depth analysis of this inconsistency to another discussion, Boyd‘s teaching here reflected General Baptist views rather than Regular Baptist views. “’3 Regarding the doctrines of grace, with the exception ofelection that Boyd fails to address, Boyd is solidly Evangelical. He teaches that sinners are justified only by placing faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. Boyd teaches the necessity of regeneration, repentance, the living ofa holy and sanctified life, and the perseverance of all saints. All of these occur, according to Boyd, by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the chapter on the Holy Spirit, Boyd teaches on the work of the Holy Spirit at present. He '03 Boyd, Catechism, 20. '03 Boyd, Catechism, 20. As discussed previously, the Philadeljrrhia Confession is wholly C alvinistic and it provides a clear statement on the nature and extent of the atonement. In Chapter VIII, “Of Christ the Mediator,” article 5 states: “The Lord Jesus. by His perfect obedience and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God. hath fully satisfied the justice of God, procured reconciliation, and purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto Him.” What this statement teaches is that Christ offered himself though death to the Father to satisfy his justice and to save only those chosen by him and given to Christ. In other words, Christ died only for the elect of God. Boyd’s confusion rests upon the fact that he uses biblical language pointing to Christ’s death for the elect while at the same time teaching that Christ died for all people regardless if they would come to faith. 134 raises the question: “Does the Holy Spirit assist men in becoming Christians?” The answer is: "Yes: the Holy Spirit gives them new hearts. helps them to turn from sin and to - - «104 trust rn Christ. This answer upholds standard Evangelical teaching that salvation is wholly of God; it is a Trinitarian work as God elected to save a people, Christ died for those people, and the Spirit applies the work of Christ to those elected. It also assumes the utter helplessness of human beings as they are totally unable to save themselves; they need the Spirit of God to give them “new hearts.”105 The final chapters of the catechism are on the church, and it is firmly Baptist. Boyd asks: “What is a Christian Church?” The answer is: “A congregation of baptized believers in Christ associated together by special covenant.”I06 Judging from the definition provided in the “Articles of Faith" on what is a gospel church, Boyd draws heavily from it. In this definition, Boyd leaves no room for a dual definition of the church as many Protestants defined it at that time. Protestants argued that the Church is Catholic or universal in that it included all true believers throughout the world; these true believers can be found in visible or local churches governed by the laws of Christ. Calvinistic Baptists held to this view as well, but by the time of Boyd’s writing Landmark views held sway over the majority of Baptists, especially African American Baptists. According to Landmark teaching, the church is primarily local. Other aspects of Baptist views on the church emerge such as the headship of Christ over local churches, the autonomy of local ‘04 Boyd, Catechism, 18. '05 Boyd, Catechism, 18, 21-24. It is interesting that Boyd neglects to teach on the doctrine ofelection since he follows in general the Articles of Faith. Article IX, “God’s Purpose of Grace,” is the teaching on divine election. '0" Boyd, Catechism, 24. 135 churches, only two offices of leadership (pastor and deacon) in local churches. the observance of only two ordinances including baptism by immersion ofbelievers only“)7 Inconsistency on the atonement of Christ notwithstanding, Boyd produced a solid catechism for National Baptist Sunday schools that would inculcate sound doctrine reflective of a Regular Baptist and Evangelical perspective. To re-iterate, this was part of Boyd’s purpose for publishing Christian literature; he had a great concern for the education of young people. He not only desired that they receive an elementary education through the Sunday school, but he wanted to rear a generation of youth who would know what they believed as National Baptists. Throughout the history of African American Christianity the unique style of singing has captured the imagination of scholars. It is part of the cultural heritage of African American Christians. Numerous slave songs and spirituals have been popularized by various singing groups including the Fisk Jubilee Singers that began performing in America and EurOpe during the 1870s to raise money for their financially beleaguered university. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, R. H. Boyd and the NBPB published a hymnal during the first decade ofthe 20m century. What is surprising about this hymnal is that there are no slave songs or spirituals included. Surprising it may be; but when considered within the context it can be comprehended why this is the case. There are at least two reasons why there were no African American songs found in the National '07 Boyd, Catechism, 24-26. The New Hampshire Declaration professes only the existence of local churches: “We believe the Scriptures teach that a visible church ofChrist is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel...” As noted in the text, this definition is quite similar to the one written by Boyd in the catechism. In slight contrast to this teaching the Philadelphia Confession in its teaching on the nature ofthe Church begins with its catlrolicity: “The catholic or universal Church, which, with respect to the internal work of the Spirit and truth of grace, may be called invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ, the head thereof: and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of Him of that filleth all in all.” The writers of the confession go on to write of independence of local churches consisting of two classes of office-bearers (pastors and deacons) and the need to associate with other like-minded churches. 136 Baptist Hymn Book initially published in 1905. First. National Baptists desired to be viewed as part ofthe broader American Baptist family; and second, the hymns included would have been those sung by African American Baptists while still part of bi-racial Baptist churches in the South. To expand upon the first point, the National Baptist Hymn Book is very similar in fonnat and in content to the Baptist Hymnal that the American Baptist Publication Society published in 1883, which African American Baptist churches in the North probably used. As discussed in a previous chapter, many African American Baptist pastors had affiliation with the American Baptist Publication Society and the American Baptist Home Mission Board. A summary of some key features of this hymnal reveals that the theological and doctrinal commitments by National Baptists during this period were the same as their white Baptist counterpartsmx In the “Preface” of the National Baptist Hymn Book, Boyd, the editor, states the purpose of this hymnal, which is “to aid the song service of the Lord‘s house, and thereby make his praise more glorious.”m In what ways does a hymn book fulfill this aim? Drawing from what Boyd writes, there are at least three ways in which this aim is fulfilled: first, the songs are directly before the congregants; second, the songs can be learned more readily; and third, all of the worshippers can participate in the singing. All of this presupposes that probably the majority of National Baptist churches practiced congregational singing rather than employed choirs. Boyd also remarks that the hymns chosen were from a pool of thousands of hymns sung by past generations. This is interesting because it implies that the NBC-USA believed in the continued usefulness of '08 On the Fisk Jubilee Singers, see Franklin and Moss, F rom Slavery to Freedom, 297. Also see Baptist Hymnal (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2004). The American Baptist Publication Society, the forerunner to the Judson Press, published this hymnal originally in 1883. '09 Boyd, “Preface,” in National Baptist Hymn-Book, 3. 137 these old hymns: there was no need to write new ones. The editor also states that this collection orjust a collection of hymns has been the desire of many National Baptists. Possibly, people had grown up singing these hymns without possessing them on paper. All ofthis explains why the NBC—USA called for the publication ofits own hymnal besides the fact that the leadership wanted to publish material that their white counterparts had long since published. The publication of a hymnal would give the NBC- USA a degree of viability and prestige within the greater American Baptist family.l '0 In addition to a “Preface,” there is also a “Publisher’s Note” that gives insight into the context of this publication. The publisher, which is Boyd as well, notes that the NBPB began publishing hymns and music in 1897. In the wake of this phenomenon, pastors and churches within the NBC-USA called for a collection of hymns to use in their churches; he reports that this matter came to the convention in 1900. At the 1900 annual session, the Parent Body ofthe NBC-USA charged the NBPB with the task of publishing a hymnal “that would keep before the congregation in song the sound scriptural doctrine as taught and practiced by regular Baptist churches.”1 H Herein lies a partial, but important answer to the question why spirituals are absent from the hymnal. Spirituals are quite situational; they came about owing to the experience of African Americans under the lash of slavery. There is little if any “sound scriptural doctrine” from a Baptist perspective in the spirituals. It would be a wrong conclusion, however, to state that NBC pastors and leaders were ashamed of these spirituals; these men were proud of their heritage, but they reasoned that hymns that taught Baptist doctrine were appropriate for use in corporate ”0 See “Preface,” National Baptl'St Hymn 300/“ 3' '” “Publisher’s Note,” National Baptist Hymn Book, 4. 138 worship.I '3 This statement by the NBC leadership also indicates how seriously it took the biblical command found in Colossians 3:16: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom: teaching and adrnonishing one another in psalms and. hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Obedience to this command helps to buttresses the NBC .3 desire for a hymnal inclusive of hymns that taught sound doctrine. Since the hymns included in the hymn book were from the 18‘h and 19h centuries, Boyd took it upon himself to respond to questions regarding the exclusion of new hymns. He writes, “The Publishing Board has not attempted to publish or send forth this book as a new collection of songs, but felt that in attempting to respond to this call precludes the attempt of offering any new songs whatever, but to select from among the old the ones dear to the people’s heart.”l '3 This remark indicates that African American Baptists even ones that had been Baptists in slavery grew up singing these older hymns. Those African American Baptists in the North would have sung these as well as. This hymnal was truly representative of the major experience of all National Baptists in worship song. Since during the 18th and 19th centuries there were no African American Baptist hymn writers of any note, the National Baptist Hymn Book consists of hymns written solely by white Americans and Europeans. The hymnal includes standard hymns written by Charles Wesley, the 18th century English Methodist, such as “Oh, for a Thousand ”114 Tongues to Sing” and “A Charge to Keep I Have. There are standard hymns written by John Newton such as “Amazing Grace,” and “Come, my soul thy suit prepare.”l '5 The ”2 See “Publisher’s Note,” 4. ”3 See “Publisher’s Note,” 4. ”4 For these two hymns see hymn # 192 and hymn ii 89. ”5 These two of Newton’s hymns are it 364 and # 400. 139 significance ofthe inclusion of hymns by these two great English hymn writers is that they were part ofthe great Evangelical Revival ofthe 18‘h century, which was the time that thousands ofAfriean Americans came to Christ through the gospel as noted earlier. Out of the hundreds of hymn writers and the 622 hymns that comprise this hyrrmal there is one hymn writer that has special prominence--Isaac Watts (1674-1748). Out of the 622 hymns in the hymnal there are 1. 36 hymns and psalm paraphrases by Watts. Watts was the son of a dissenting minister in Southampton, London within the Church of England, who rejected England’s law that demanded all ministers to use the Book of Common Prayer and the established liturgy of the Church. Watts, 3 dissenter himself, received his higher education at the Stoke Newington Academy founded by dissenting ministers. When Isaac Watts burst onto the scene during the late l7lh and early 181h centuries, metrical psalm-singing was the mode of congregational singing in England. Owing to Watts, the psalm-singing tradition began to wane and hymnody began to blossom. Watts’ innovation is owed to his disappointment with the quality of the psalms in the Stemhold-Hopkins version of the psalms. According to Emily Brink, Watts’ “father challenged him to provide better texts.”1 I” At the time of this challenge, Watts was a teenager; he then commenced to write new versifications of psalms and his own hymns before his twentieth birthday. Rev. Isaac Watts, Sr. allowed the use of these hymns and psalms in his church, the Above Bar Independent Church. Brink also states, “The quality of his poetry ensured a place for hymnody in England, and Watts later «.9117 became known as the father of English hymnody. The two most significant books of hymns published by Watts were his Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707) and The Psalms of “6 Emily Brink, “English Metrical Psalmody,” in Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 46. ”7 Emily Brink, “English Metrical Psalmody,” 46. 140 David lmitatccl ( l 719). Though many in England and America responded negatively to the publication ofthese hymns. Watts became the foremost "pioneer” of English hymnody, and the continued use ofthese hymns testifies to their high quality. Judging from the large amount of Watts‘ psalms and hymns in the first National Baptist hymnal indicates that his impact on American hymnody and hymn-singing was considerable and enduring. In fact, well into the 20‘h century African American Baptists still “lined-out” what they call “Dr. Watts’” hymns.l '8 More than any other set ofhymrrs in the National Baptist Hymn Book, Watts’ psalms and hymns met the purpose of the NBC leaders in calling for a hymnal. As mentioned above, NBC pastors wanted hymns that taught sound doctrine. Watts’ work is full ofthe Holy Scriptures. especially the book of Psalms. For example Hymn #2, “From all that Dwell below the skies,” is Watts' sparkling versification ofPsalm 1 17. Also Hymn #9, “Before Jehovah‘s awful throne,” is Watts’ version of Psalm 100. There are other psalm versifications and paraphrases by Watts included in the hymnal. Watts also wrote hymns based on other biblical texts comprising this hymnal such as Hymn #140, “Not to condemn the sons ofmen” based on John 3:17 and Hymn #166, “Like sheep we went astray” based on Isaiah 53:6. When National Baptists sung these hymns they truly sung the Bible, and obeyed the Apostle Paul‘s command in Colossians 3:16. In keeping with the theme of African American Baptists holding firmly to Baptist doctrine and practice, a landmark publication appeared in 1890 published by the American Baptist Publication Society, namely The Negro Baptist Pulpit. This groundbreaking publication was an effort by the Northern Baptists to demonstrate their “8 Other information regarding Watts is from Cook, Our Hymn Writers and their Hymns, 40, 43-45, 56. 58, 65. 141 support of the cadre ofAfriean American Baptist leaders who desired to maintain fratemal and cooperative ties with the Northern Baptists. The ABPS knew that many African American Baptist pastors during the 1880s were eager to write Sunday school literature and other doctrinal work. Even though African American Baptists at this time began to build their own associations and conventions, many remained complacent regarding the production of their own literature. The ABPS had provided literature since Reconstruction, and the ABHMB had employed African American Baptists as missionaries and colporteurs; for those African American Baptists who desired to keep the ties between their white Baptist brethren it was a matter of gratitude and loyalty. For the purposes of this chapter, the focus will be on the overall aim of the book articulated in the preface and articles concerning the doctrine of the Scriptures, the doctrines of grace, and distinct Baptist tenets. I w In the “Preface” E. M. Brawley explained the impetus of this book. He makes a general statement regarding African American Christians and denominationalism stating that African Americans are loyal to their denominations. For this work, he refers to African American Baptists. At the same time, Brawley reveals his belief in the sufficiency of Baptist doctrine. He states if there is any ignorance of the doctrines on the part of African American Baptists, it is because of ignorance and nothing regarding deficiency with the doctrines themselves. '20 Implied by Brawley this book served to motivate broad based doctrinal familiarity among African American Baptist pastors. Brawley identifies the great need of the Afiican ”9 E. M. Brawley, ed. The Negro Baptist Pulpit: A Collection of Sermons and Papers by Colored Baptist Ministers (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971). 120 E. M. Brawley, “Preface,” in The Negro Baptist Pulpit ed. E. M. Brawley (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971), 7. 142 American ministry as instruction in Baptist doctrine. African American Baptists need to know why they are Baptists; they need to know more than the Baptist doctrine of baptism. In a sense, this stem assertion is in accord with much of the mission of the ABHMS; but it also reflects what leaders like Brawley desired through the NBC. He contends that “our trained leaders must write.”'2' Of course, it is through writing that those ministers who lack training can be built up and be of better service to their churches. The contributors to this volume received their training and education, according to Brawley, at noble Baptist schools such as Bucknell, Kalamazoo College, and Denison. These were (and still are predominately) white schools and all in the North; therefore, he assumed that these men had top—notched educations. Other than those who attended Ivy League schools these men were more of the better educated men among African Americans in general. In one sense, these men assumed leadership among African American Baptists owing to their education.‘22 As mentioned in the paragraphs above, this is an American Baptist work that features the doctrinal writings of African American ministers. With that stated, Brawley identifies the two purposes of the work: to offer brief expositions on different articles of the Confession of Faith held to by the majority of American Baptists, which was the New Hampshire Declaration of Faith; and to highlight the work of denominational societies Operating among African American Baptists. The volume also highlights the work of the American Baptist Publication Society and the American Baptist Home Mission Society that Brawley exclaims had done great work on behalf of the denomination. The work by '21 Brawley, “Preface,” 7. '22 Brawley, “Preface,” 8. 143 these various African American Baptists demonstrates their deep knowledge of Baptist faith and practice on par with any other oftheir American Baptist counterparts.l33 Noted in the discussion of Boyd's l’l""ht1t Baptists Believe and Practice was that there would be more stated on those “Articles of Faith” printed in that booklet. This is the primary task in analyzing the Negro Baptist Pulpit. One thing to note: two articles are absent--Article IX-“God’s Purpose of Grace” and Article XVI-“Civil Government.” These are curious omissions for at least two reasons. First, the former article deals with the eternal purpose of God as it pertains to the salvation of sinners; this is a critical portion of Baptist doctrine as well as Evangelical teaching. The reason this article is missing is arguably because it centers on the doctrine of election. The beginning of the article reads: “We believe that election is the eternal purpose of God, according to which ”'24 This statement confesses that he graciously regenerates, sanctifies, and saves sinners. the salvation of any sinner depends upon God‘s election of that particular sinner. This was a standard Baptist doctrine--why did the editors elect (no pun intended) to omit it? Possibly, it is because the editor and publisher believed the doctrine of election too complicated for the readership; or there may have been disagreement among the Baptists of the day regarding the entire thrust of the doctrine of election. To maintain harmony, the editor and publisher may have decided to omit exposition on this article. Second, regarding the neglect of the latter article the editor may have felt it too congenial to govermnent and rejected by African Americans because of government sanctioned racial segregation and disfranchisement. This article reads: “We believe that civil government is of divine appointment, for the interests and good order of human society; and that 123 u ” Brawley, Preface, 8. '2‘ See Brown, “Declaration of Faith,” in A Baptist Church Manual, 16. 144 magistrates are to he prayed for. conscientiously honored and obeyed; except in things opposed to the will ofour Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord ofthe conscience, and the Prince of the kings of the earth.”25 There would some aspects ofthis article that could lead to some discomfort among the readership, but it does include the outlet for conscientious objection to unjust laws such as Jim Crow laws in the South. Brawley frames this volume with an essay entitled, “Contending for the Faith.” This article captures the tone of the entire publication; it is an apologetic and it possesses a didactic tone. Quoting from Jude 3, which reads in part: “that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” Brawley exclaimed that contending for the faith “had been the inspiring battle-cry of Baptists all along the centuries, and with it they have conquered.”I26 In this provocative statement, Brawley reveals a Landmark understanding of Baptist faith; but he makes this position clear when he writes: “Our Baptist predecessors.”I27 Brawley implies that the apostles of Jesus Christ were Baptist predecessors. What are the things that define “the faith” as Brawley articulates? He states: “On open Bible, with the right of private interpretation, immersion alone as baptism, freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience, separation of church and state, baptism of believers only, the spirituality of Christ’s kingdom, and the equality of believers.”'28 According to Brawley, contending means bringing what Baptists believe about the ordinance of baptism to Paedobaptists . In holding and asserting this point, 125 See “Declaration of Faith,” in A Baptist Church iii/antral. 26. '26 E. M. Brawley, “Contending for the Faith,” in The Negro Baptist Pulpit ed. E. M. Brawley (F reeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971), ll. r27 Brawley, “Contending for the Faith,” 1 1, l3. '28 Brawley, “Contending for the Faith,” 13-14. 145 Brawley clarifies that Baptists were to be evangelists of sort within Christian circles seeking to correct what they perceived to be the error ofbaptizing infants. 1:9 Brawley further defines “the faith” by claiming that it is “New Testament truth.” To clarify this point, Brawley lists some particular aspects of what he labels “New Testament truth:” I. The integrity and sufficiency of God’s word (which he links with the doctrine of plenary and verbal inspiration). 2. A converted church membership. 3. Baptism by immersion alone. 4. Believer’s baptism 5. The Lord’s Supper for orderly baptized believers. '30 Brawley concludes this brief introductory chapter by focusing on missions and evangelism. He states that contending for the faith includes missionary work both at home and abroad. It also means that Baptists should engage in personal evangelism informally through personal relationships. Brawley writes: “Mission work is the truest exponent of Christianity’s charter.”l3 ' This publication offers a Reformed Protestant view of the doctrine of the Scriptures. Rufus L. Perry wrote this chapter on this critical doctrine, which serves to anchor all else doctrinal in this volume. As mentioned, Perry’s chapter is completely in line with Reformed Protestant orthodoxy regarding the Scriptures as Ire emphasizes their inspiration and their supreme authority. Perry uses the Scriptures themselves to argue for their divine inspiration; he defines inspiration as “the inbreathing of a divine and 129 Brawley, “Contending for the Faith,” 16-17. '30 See Brawley, “Contending for the Faith,” 18-23 for the list along with his exposition of each item. '3' Brawley, “Contending for the Faith,” 24. I46 controlling irrfluerrce.”"32 One major point in this chapter is squarely Reformed Protestant: “No ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ no positive command found in the Holy Scriptures, can be set aside by earthly potentates, or ecclesiastical councils. No bishop, no priest, no pope, may annul or alter a single word.”'33 This is a clear proclamation ofthe doctrine of sola scriptura with a tone of protest against the Roman Catholic Church and its position of holding church tradition and Holy Scriptures as co-equal authorities in the Church. Another statement that amplifies the Protestant character of this essay describes the Scriptures as: “the only infallible rule of life in faith and practice; being ‘profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.’”'34 With this belief, Perry asserts that Baptists base their doctrines and practices only on the Scriptures. Again, this assumes a profession in the Reformed Protestant doctrine of the scriptural law of worship, or the regulative principle of worship. Perry writes: “What are called distinctive tenets of Baptist churches do but attest the strict obedience of these churches to the commandments of God.”'35 With this statement, Perry implies that Baptist churches were pure churches since they only abided by the word of God; herein lay a hint of Landmark teaching as well. This belief regarding biblical infallibility finds itself rooted in the Reformation itself as Martin Luther claimed only the word of God can never fail, but the word of Popes, and church councils can fail being only the words of men. Here Perry was in lock-step with Protestant Refomrers like Luther and Calvin. '32 Rufus L. Perry, “The Scriptures,” in The Negro Baptist Pulpit ed. E. M. Brawley (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971), 29. '33 Perry, “The Scriptures,” 37. '34 Perry, “The Scriptures,” 38. 135 Perry, “The Scriptures,” 37. 147 R. B. Vandavel. pastor of First Baptist Church ofNashville, Tennessee and described by Simmons as a "self-made man" emphasizes the simplicity ofthe gospel and the simplicity of gospel preaching in the article "The Way of Salvation.”"“” Vandavel's argument regarding the “proper view” ofsalvation and how sinners are saved is by showing God’s sovereignty over human beings salvation, and the means of the atonement wrought by Jesus Christ. In supporting this thesis, Vandevel offers two main points: I. The gospel is founded on the depravity of human nature 11. God’s plan of saving men is according to his eternal purposes.'37 In addition to these two main headings, he offers one point of application that encouraged African American preachers to keep their gospel preaching simple and plain. To this end, Vandavel writes: “. . .so many of our ministers so frequently present Jesus in such a way as to lead to the belief that somehow the sinner lras to earn his salvation by a process of mourning and prayers and tears.”138 Though the gospel is a gospel of grace, Vandavel begins this article by focusing on the depravity of man. Such an emphasis highlights the grace of God in salvation. Under this point, Vandavel offers two sub-points. According to the first sub-point, man is unable to save himself; and owing to his sinful condition he is incapable of rendering God perfect obedience. According to this statement, humanity is in a hopeless spiritual condition. Because of this, if any person is to receive salvation from his sins it must be by the sheer grace and mercy of God. This is the next sub-point of this heading. For ¥ l3( . . . . . ’ Srmmons, Men of Mark, 387. Simmons also notes that Vandavel was born into slavery in 1832 1n l1;<73r1nessee. Vandavel, “The Way of Salvation,” in The Negro Baptist Pulpit ed. E. M. Brawley (Freeport, NY: Egoks for Libraries Press, 1971), 56, 58. ‘ Vandavel, “The Way of Salvation,” 56. 148 Vandavel, God decided to save people by grace to display his glory ultimately and primarily. Following this point, Vandavel rehearses the simple gospel imperatives: repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ. He also emphasizes the necessity of demonstrating one’s possession ofsaving grace by doing good works. To illustrate this particular, Vandavel writes: “The care of poor saints, the support of the church, Christian education, missions at home and abroad, Bible work, and all such activities, should engage the hearts and hands of all who profess to have found Jesus Christ.”139 With this statement, Vandavel connects the essential relationship between faith and good works.'40 After providing his readers with a clear and terse explanation of humanity’s depravity and the grace of God, Vandavel’s second point on God’s eternal purposes in salvation is vague. Though Ire hints at God’s sovereignty in the extending of saving grace, Vandavel fails to state clearly that humanity’s salvation (the people who are actually saved) depends on God‘s gracious election of them from all eternity. Vandavel’s lack of clarity on this subject is evident in this passage: The purposes of God can never be discovered; they can be known only as revealed. Men are sometimes disturbed because they cannot know just why God does certain things; but a loving, child-like trust should lead us all to believe that God does all things well, and secures, as the result of his acts, his own greatest glory, and the salvation of all such as will believe.l4l In the above quote, there is an implication that in the salvation of individual sinners God exhibits his sovereign grace and mercy. The specific statement that even implies this is in Vandavel’s claim that God “secures” salvation for believing sinners. This statement also intimates that a sinner’s salvation has nothing to do with his/her free will since it is God who “secures” salvation. Such an important point needs extra clarity. Nevertheless, '39 Vandavel, “The Way of Salvation,” 58. '40 Vandavel, “The Way of Salvation,” 56—58. '4' Vandavel, “The Way of Salvation,” 58. 149 Vandavel‘s emphasis in this article is solid in that he focuses attention on humanity's inability and God‘s sovereign grace in salvation.”' Another of those great doctrines of grace highlighted in the volume is the doctrine of regeneration; and this doctrine is found in the New Hampshire Declaration of Faith or “Articles of Faith” as Article VII titled, "OfGrace in Regeneration.” Rev. E.K. Love, prominent pastor of the historic First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia, wrote the article on this critical doctrine.I43 This article is more of a sermon, and probably was a sermon. In it, Love argues from the gospel of John 3:7, which reads: “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again,” the new birth is absolutely necessary if one is to enter the kingdom of heaven. He also argues “that the new birth, spiritual generation, must precede citizenship in the kingdom of our Lord."I44 To buttress his argument, Love presents three major points with a general point of application. The three points are: first, “The necessity of the new birth;" second, “The character of the new birth required;” and third, “By whom is this new birth effected?” His point of application is: “The effects of the change.”I45 In his first point, Love analyzes and discusses what lies at the root of the great need of regeneration. Love asserts that the total depravity of humanity is the cause of the absolute necessity of the new birth. By making this assertion, Love connects logically two of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith as understood by Protestants regarding salvation. The implication here is that without proper knowledge of humanity’s '42 Vandavel, “The Way of Salvation," 58. '43 For a nice, mini-biography of Love, see Simmons, Men of Mark, 321-322. ”4 E. K. Love, “Regeneration,” in The Negro Baptist Pulpit ed. E. M. Brawley (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971), 66. ”5 Love, “Regeneration,” 66ff. 150 sinful condition there will lack understanding of what humanity‘s greatest need is; and spiritual life is its greatest need. "” In discussing human sin and its most salient need, Love speaks with his Baptist accent in the midst ofhis concurrence with Protestant orthodoxy on this doctrine. Love states, “Only regenerated persons should compose the church of Christ, for only such are called ‘saints.’”'47 With this statement, Love Clasps hands with the vast body of Baptist belief in its insistence that the Scriptures teach that only persons who have been regenerated can become members of the Church. This statement simultaneously lends itself to other Baptist tenets such as believer’s baptism because only those regenerated are illegible to become a member of a Baptist church and only those regenerated are proper candidates for baptism. To support this implication, Love equates the Old Testament practice of circumcision that ushered a Hebrew boy into the covenant people of God with the New Testament ordinance of baptism that essentially marks one as a member of the New Covenant people of God. Again, this understanding of a regenerated church membership spills over into the Baptist teaching that only those who profess their faith in Jesus Christ are proper candidates for baptism. Love also contends that faith is the product of the new birth; therefore, with just one statement regarding the new birth’s necessity Love links the doctrines of total depravity, the church, baptism, and faith, which demonstrates the logical connection among these biblical teachings. ”8 In the second point of this sermon, Love offers his definition of the new birth and basically tendered various descriptions of the new birth. Love’s definition is: “The new birth is a change of heart, a change of disposition, a change of affection, a renewing of I” Love, “Regeneration,” 66. 147 Love, “Regeneration,” 69. 4 . I 8 Love, “Regeneration,” 69-70. 151 . . . . . . --l-W . . g . the mrnd, and a beginning of a new lrfc. Tlrrs 1s a rather marnstrearn Protestant definition reflective ofthe definition found in the Net-1' Hampshire Declaration, which ...1:1) ‘ Such a states that “regeneration consists in giving a holy disposition to the mind. definition argues that the experience of the new birth stands as the ground of the entire Christian life. Following up on this definition of the new birth, Love gives multiple descriptions of the new birth offering more clarity. He states that one who is born again is born of the Spirit of God; it is alone the work of the Holy Spirit affecting the spirit of a person. The new birth is also the renewal of a person’s mind, spirit, etc; it causes a general re- orientation in a person “to operate in another direction more pleasing, more righteous, more blessed, more lovely, and more divine.”l5 I Regeneration changes the heart and causes the sinner to live righteously.'52 All of what Love writes in this sermon is in agreement with both Evangelical Protestantism and Baptist doctrine. He exhibits his solid understanding of this doctrine with clarity and precision. It is a testament to the type of sound biblical preaching the people at First African Baptist in Savannah received each Lord’s Day. Another great doctrine of grace included in this volume is repentance and faith commented on by Rev. G. W. Raiford, pastor of Bethseda Baptist Church, Georgetown, South Carolina. This article is more than likely another sermon and demonstrates that educated African American Baptist pastors tended to preach expository sermons on the fundamentals of the faith. In this sermon, Raiford holds that the importance of these two 49 g ' I Love, ‘Regeneration,” 70. '50 See New Hampshire Declaration of Faith, Article VII. '5' Love, “Regeneration,” 71. '52 Love, “Regeneration,” 72-83. 152 doctrines is “second to none among the doctrines of (."hristianity."153 He believes this because of humanity‘s sin and its great need of forgiveness ofsin and reconciliation with God as well as the good effects these occurrences have on human life. The biblical basis ofthe sermon is a portion of Mark 1 :15: “repent ye. and believe the gospel.” The content and claims of this sermon are in concert with Article VIII of the New Hampshire Declaration, “Repentance and Faith.”154 At the outset, Raiford offers a general overview of the importance ofthe preaching of repentance by highlighting key passages from the New Testament. In particular, he cites three passages: Acts 20:21; Acts 2:38; and 2 Corinthians 7:10. These three passages teach the necessity of preaching repentance to non-Christians and the absolute need for persons to be repentant in order to receive salvation from Christ.155 The heart of the sermon deals with what repentance is; how does one know if he/she is repentant or experiencing true repentance? Raiford gives four responses: 1. A deep and genuine sense both of sin and God’s infinite love and righteousness; 2. Repentance must be attended both with sorrow and shame; 3. There must be a hatred of sin; 4. In true repentance there must be a fixed purpose to forsake our sin.I56 Raiford is careful never to divorce repentance from faith, or vice versa. Faith with repentance is the means to receive salvation. In this emphasis, Raiford includes a Calvinistic bend: “If I should be asked why I am saved, the answer would be, because the Lord chose to save me; but if I should be asked why I know that I am save, it would be '53 G. W. Raiford, “Repentance and Faith,” in The Negro Baptist Pulpit, ed. E. M. Brawley (F reeport, NY: Books for Libraries, 1971), 81. ‘54 Raiford, “Repentance and Faith,” 81. '55 Raiford, “Repentance and Faith,” 81 -82. '56 Raiford, “Repentance and Faith,” 82 ff. because I believe on the Lord Jesus Clrrist.”'57 In this statement, Raiford connects Christ‘s electing grace with faith. He claims that he is a Christian as a result ofChrist‘s choosing him particularly, and that faith is the fruit of election. Raiford implies that only the elect of God will believe the gospel. This is a definitive Calvinistic or Reformed Evangelical tenet. In keeping with the doctrine of saving faith, Raiford argues that faith is a gift of God, something sinfiJl human beings can never possess inrrately. Basing this assertion on the doctrine of total depravity, if anyone is to place faith in the gospel this faith must come from without because all human beings are dead in their sins rendering them totally incapable of exercising a spiritual grace such as faith. Faith that is a gift of God reaches out only to Christ; it trusts in the person and work of Jesus Christ on behalf of sinners. This is also a Reformed doctrine. Raiford writes, “Faith must unconditionally and unreservedly look to the Lord Jesus Christ; must trust him for his promises.”158 The next doctrine explained is the critical doctrine of justification. The great German Reformer Martin Luther exclaimed that the Church stands or falls on this doctrine. The Reformation slogan of sola fide (faith alone) arose from Luther’s stance on this doctrine. In this work, Rev. Andrew Stokes, pastor of First Colored Baptist Church, Clarksville, Tennessee proffers a sermon on this subject. In this rather short sermon, Stokes forwards only two points: first, what is justification; and second, the means of justification. This is a very easy and simple sermon to understand, but it deals with a '57 Raiford, “Repentance and Faith,” 85. ’58 Raiford, “Repentance and Faith,” 85. 154 W? profound biblical doctrine. It. too, is basically an exposition ofone ofthe Articles of Faith, namely Article V, "Justification.”w In the first point ofthe sermon, Stokes offers his definition ofjustification. He definesjustification as God's declaration ofa sinner as righteous as a result ofhis imputation of Christ’s righteousness to him/her. Supporting this definition, Stokes gives a negative sub-point that no one can be justified by performing works of the law; the grounds for justification is Christ’s work on the cross. The imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the sinner results in “peace between God and the sinner.”'60 In the second point of the sermon, Stokes refers to the means by which sinners are justified. Stokes proclaims that it is by faith; faith in Christ alone. Stokes equates saving faith with trust, wholehearted trust in Jesus Christ that clings to him as the one who satisfied the sinner’s debt to God by dying on his/her behalf. A sinful human being lacks the desire and ability to believe in Christ alone for his/her salvation. In this doctrine of Christianity, Stokes and his fellow Baptists marched with other Reformed Protestants.”l The doctrine of justification has another side to it, sanctification. This is the next doctrine dealt with in this volume. This article on sarrctification written by Rev. C. H. Parrish, professor of Greek at State University in Louisville, Kentucky is a treatment of Article X in the Articles of Faith. Basing his article on a portion ofJesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane recorded in John 17:17, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth,” Parrish argues for the doctrine of progressive sanctification, which is the Reformed Protestant position. While arguing for this position, Parrish argues against the '59 Andrew J. Stokes, “Justification,” in The Negro Baptist Pulpit ed. E. M. Brawley (Freeport, NY: Books 11800!- Libraries, 1971), 87ff. I61 Stokes, “Justification,” 88. Stokes, “Justification,” 88-89. 155 Wesleyan-Holiness teaching of entire sanctitication. Wesleyarrs contend that a Christian can reach a point in his/her Christian life in which Ire/she becomes wholly sanctified with the ability to love God wholly or perfectly. Here in this essay Parrish argues for a particular tenet of Baptists (along with other Reformed Protestants) against a teaching of another Evangelical group, the Wesleyan Methodists.I62 Parrish defines sanctification as “a setting apart to a holy service, a progressive conformity to the image of Christ, a carrying on of what regeneration begins.”I63 This definition is nearly synonymous with that presented in Article X in the Articles of Faith, which states that sanctification “is a progressive work” and “that it is begun in regeneration.” From the Holy Scriptures and this definition, Parrish exposits according to three points: I. [D]evotedness of the believer to holy service; 11. Progressive holiness in the believers character III. The means which the Spirit uses for our sanctification is the truth of cod.164 Parrish views J csus‘ request in his prayer in the Garden as evidence of progressive sanctification, and the need of more consecration. According to Parrish, Jesus~ prayer has continual ramifications; Jesus initially directed this prayer to his disciples who were already believers. For Parrish, this begs the question: ifthese disciples were already believers why did Jesus pray for their sanctification if . . . . . . , 16f sanctrficatron could be perfected in this life? ‘ —; 162 C. H. Parrish, “Sanctification,” in The Negro Baptist Pulpit ed. E. M. Brawley (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries, 1971), 91-92. On the Wesleyan teaching on entire sanctification, see Ted A. Campbell, Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. 1999). 61—62. 124 Parrish, “Sanctification,” 92. 65 Parrish, “Sanctification,” 93ff. Parrish, “Sanctification,” 93. 156 Another important point made by Parrish is that regeneration is the cause of sanctification. Again, this point is found in Article X ofthe Declaration; but Parrish ventured fiirther in amplifying this point. Though regenerate the Christian still has sin remaining within him/her, one must realize his sanctification through the process of mortifying sin. Because of remaining sin, sanctification is a constant battle against sin. Parrish writes: “There must be holy, spiritual emotions and affections permeating the heart, influencing the mind, and reaching the body, controlling all its appetites and powers.”'66 In coming to this conclusion regarding the progressive nature of sanctification, Parrish draws from Dr. Boyce who also asserted that sanctification is progressive. This action suggests that Parrish drew from other Baptist scholars such as Boyce to build his argument. The significance of quoting Boyce centered on the knowledge that Boyce was both a Baptist and a Calvinist.I67 Discussing the means of sanctification, Parrish draws directly from the biblical text. His claim is simply that the means of sanctification is the word of God, the word of truth. Parrish states, “The whole work both of consecration and cleansing, says Christ, must be accomplished by the word of truth.””’8 This statement and argument is an application of the doctrine of the sufficiency of the Scriptures; no other source, but the word of God aids in the on-going work of sanctification. A related doctrine to the doctrine of sanctification is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, or as it is called in this collection, “Final Perseverance of the Saints.” As Parrish and other Regular Baptists argued that sanctification is progressive, it stands to reason that Christians must persevere in saving faith and holy living. This is the ”’6 Parrish, “Sanctification,” 96. ‘67 Parrish, “Sanctification,” 97-98. ”’8 Parrish, “Sanctification,” 99. 157 concern ofthe doctrine ofthe perseverance ofthe saints. Regular Baptists share this doctrine with the rest ofthe Protestant and Reformed churches among Evangelicals while Methodists and some other Holiness groups reject this particular doctrine. In this volume, Rev. A. W. Puller, president ofCurtis Memorial Seminary in Staunton, Virginia treats this doctrine and basically offers a commentary on Article X of the New Hampshire Declaration. '69 Both Puller and the writer of the article of faith argue that in order for Christians to reach their goal of attaining of eternal life they must “strive.” The other part of the argument is that they are assured of reaching this goal even if they at times lack assurance. The overall thrust of this essay is on God’s preservation of his saints in addition to the saints’ perseverance. Puller contends that Christians persevere and possess ”170 - He bases thrs security “because of God’s purpose and pledged power to keep them. also on God’s power to keep his saints as he pointed to historical examples of the perseveration of the Church amidst persecution; but most importantly Puller draws from the Holy Scriptures and reason to support this pointm Puller bases his exposition on some individual clauses within the article of faith itself. Using Scripture to analyze and support the points, he offers the following as his exegetical headings: 1) only real believers persevere; 2) God‘s “special Providence” is over them; and 3) God keeps them through faith. All three of these points represent an orthodox Protestant treatment of this doctrine.'72 "’9 A. W. Puller, “Final Perseverance of the Saints,” in The Negro Baptist Pulpit ed. E. M. Brawley (F reeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971). '70 Puller, “Final Perseverance of the Saints,” 105. '7' Puller, “Final Perseverance of the Saints,” 105-107. ‘72 Puller, “Final Perseverance of the Saints,” 107ff. 158 The last essay ofthis important and historic volume under consideration represents a distinct Baptist doctrine. Written by Richard De Baptiste, the essay on “A Gospel Church” captures the Baptist understanding of everything connected with the church: its founding, its polity, and its worship. There are separate essays/sermons on the ordinances of the baptism and Lord’s Supper, but since these doctrines have already been discussed in this chapter there is no need for redundancy. Like the other doctrinal essays and sermons, De Baptiste, pastor of Second Baptist Church of Galesburg, Illinois, uses an article from the Articles of Faith as part of his basis. In the New Hampshire Declaration, Article XIII is on “A Gospel Church.”I73 In this essay, De Baptiste makes no comments regarding what he is asserting is a Baptist understanding of ecclesiology; rather, he presents what he believes the Scriptures teach on the Church and held that what they teach is the biblical doctrine. In Regular Baptist fashion of this day, De Baptiste argues that the churches founded in the New Testament by the apostles were local churches; these were visible churches with organization. He recognizes that in the New Testament the word translated into English as church sometimes refers to a group of believers in cities and regions as well as universally. Again, De Baptiste's emphasis is in agreement with fellow Baptists like Pendleton and Hiscox on the primacy of the local church.'74 As the essay progresses, all of the contentions are traditionally Baptist. Such points include that the visible church is composed of only those baptized upon their profession of faith in Jesus Christ; members of a visible church agree to uphold a ”3 R. De Baptiste, “A Gospel Church,” in The Negro Baptist Pulpit ed. E. M. Brawley (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971). For a short biography on De Baptiste, see William J. Simmons, Men of Mark, 229-233. 174 De Baptiste, “A Gospel Church,” 1 17-1 19. 159 covenant voluntarily; and that there are only two ordinances to be observed by a local church. which are baptism and the Lord's Supper. All of these points, of course, De Baptiste base upon his study of the Scriptures while claiming the sufficiency and authority of the same representing the authority of Jesus Christ over his church.175 Among the other points, De Baptiste discusses the theme of worship in the church. He states that worship is commanded by God, and the implication is that worship is a mark of the church. Though he claims that there is no set ritual or liturgy in the New Testament for church worship, there are specific elements of worship such as “singing, praying, reading the Scriptures, exhortation, preaching, and the administration of the - .1 7e ordmances...’ Though the church is free to order its services according to the circumstances ofa given local congregation, the intimation here is that for there to be true worship these elements must be performed. The final point to discuss in this essay is on the government of the church. Again, in typical Regular Baptist fashion De Baptiste posits that the local church is a democracy regarding the election of its officers. Unlike in churches with an Episcopal polity, Baptist churches are free to elect their own leaders based upon their understanding of the biblical qualifications of church officers. In a Baptist church, there are only two recognized offices: pastor and deacon. The term bishop, though read in the New Testament, is synonymous with the term pastor according to De Baptiste. This assertion highlights the independence ofa local church since bishops in the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions have oversight of numerous churches and have the power to ordain and place '75 De Baptiste, “A Gospel Church,” 1 19'1 24- '7” De Baptiste, “A Gospel Church,” 124- I60 ministers in parishes. De Baptiste indicates that democracy in the local church is limited; Christ rules the church through his word found in the New Testament.177 The importance ofthis volume is significant in order to comprehend African American and National Baptist theological commitments during the last decade of the 19'h century. Though many of the contributors believed that African American Baptists should continue having good working relationship with Northern Baptists, all of them worked in the formation and development of the National Baptist Convention during this early stage of its history. The theology was the same as any other Baptist group, but the sociology dictated that these African American leaders work for the theological and ecclesiastical uplift of their own people. African American Baptist leaders saw no disconnection between Protestant orthodoxy and applying this orthodoxy to the societal, political, and economic struggles of African Americans during this period in history. The final aspect of the shaping ofNationaI Baptist theology during this period is Ethiopianism, which various African American Baptist leaders articulated. In one sense, this was the overarching theology that gave impetus to the mission movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries among African American Baptists. As African Americans converted to Christianity and learned to read and interpret the Scriptures, they read Psalm 68:31: “Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.” African American Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, etc. read these words and believed that God would fulfill this clear prophecy regarding African peoples. In biblical language, “Ethiopia” represented more than the kingdom of Abyssinia, but it referred to all Africans according to African American theological understanding. It is Simple to deduce that Afiicans in the Diaspora who received the light of the gospel of 177 De Baptiste, “A Gospel Church,” 127-128. 161 Jesus Christ reading this passage viewed themselves particularly as playing a vital role in the fulfillment ofthis prophecy. Though they endured the lash ofslavery and still buckled under its residual effects, they maintained a strong beliefin God‘s Providence that they would be helpers in the phenomenon of Africa “stretching forth” its hands to God. It is arguable that there are elements of Ethiopianism in the missions of Lott Carey and early missionaries sponsored by the American Missionary Baptist Convention. As embracing a robust Evangelicalism with a distinct Baptist flavor, the African American Baptist expression of Ethiopianism reflects the unique theological perspective of a people who longed for hope in a hopeless situation; they clung to hope by believing strongly in the Providence of God, who had included them in his gracious plan of the redemption of all nations, especially African nations. The late Pan-Africanist scholar St. Clair Drake adequately sums up the meaning of Ethiopianism among African Americans: Black people under slavery turned to the Bible to “prove” that a black people, Ethiopians, were powerful and respected when white men in Europe were barbarians; Ethiopia came to symbolize all of Africa; and, throughout the 19th century, the “redemption of Africa” became one important focus of meaningful activity for leaders among New World Negroes.178 The major Ethiopianist that had influence on African Americans was the African American Episcopalian Alexander C rumrnell whose clear ideas in his speeches and writings would find application in African American Baptist mission motivation and work. Other than Crummell, the West Indian Christian missionary Edward Blyden was also influential as he implored African Americans to join in this great move of God to bring the gospel to Africa during the 19‘h century. The Ethiopianist thought of these men filtered among African American Baptist leaders during this time as through missionary work they endeavored to “redeem” Africa. According to Fallin, African American Baptist ”8 St. Clair Drake, The Redemption of Africa and Black Religion (Chicago: Third World Press, 1991), 1 l. 162 leaders in Alabama held to Ethiopianism. For these leaders it was both liberationist and rnillenarian based on Revelation 20:17 in which the Apostle John writes ofthe vision of the damnation ofthe wicked ones. According to Fallin, “Millenial Ethiopianism, which flourished among many African American Christians around the turn of the 19‘h century, predicted a future golden age in which black people around the world would rise to a significant role in history.”179 Ethiopianism also focused on God’s judgment on whites, which was a segment of this theology that carried out of slavery into the post- Reconstruction African American Christian community. Ethiopianism as articulated by African American Baptists and others was essentially optimistic, and this belief received veracity in witnessing the emergence of men like Booker T. Washington and R. H. Boyd as well as the creation of African American schools by and for themselves. With this stated, Ethiopianism contained elements of racial upliftn”) According to Black Atlantic historian David Northrup, the concept of Ethiopianism can be seen in the writings of Olaudah Equiano. If this is true, then it must be inherent within his abolitionisrn. Scholars of the African Diaspora, the Black Atlantic, and African and African American history all agree that Equiano‘s narrative is essentially an abolitionist work. The context of Equiano’s writing points to such as he was involved in the overall Evangelical Social reform movement in Great Britain during this period that is commonly associated with the Evangelical movement within the Anglican Church and among Non-Conformists such as Baptists. In chapter 10 of his narrative, Equiano chronicles the events that led to his conversion to Evangelical Christianity. The place of this conversion within the narrative and Equiano’s life denotes that his conversion was '79 Fallin, Uplifting the People, 99. ‘80 Fallin, Uplifting the People, 99. 163 his springboard into the abolitionist movement. According to Equiano, his conversion experience follows an especially difficult time in his life as he failed to help one John Annis, who was quasi-free owing to the new law (the Somerset Case) in England that proclaimed that enslaved African living in England had the legal right to refuse to return to the West Indies. Annis’ master forced his return to the West Indies where he died.l8l Backing away from his own failure to help Annis, Equiano placed his conversion experience within the context of his voyage to the North Pole, where he nearly drowned. He also survived a harrowing experience being on the ship that got stuck in the ice off of Greenland, and he along with the rest of the crew had to pull the ship through broken ice.182 Upon his return to London in September 1773, Equiano’s mind turned toward God and his own eternal destiny. He states that his last voyage “caused” him “to reflect deeply on” his “eternal state, and to seek the Lord with full purpose of heart ere it was too late?”83 Owing to a near death experience, Equiano felt the urgency of securing a place in heaven by any means. He further explains that he “was determined to work out” his “own salvation, and in so doing procure a title to heaven.”184 Equiano became what is called in contemporary parlance a “seeker.” During his immediate retum to London, he began to attend various Anglican churches, Quaker meetings, he studied Roman Catholicism, and even discussed Judaism all in an attempt to gain a heavenly home. His searching at this time, however, was futile since he found no satisfaction for his soul. He then determined to read just the four gospels “and whatever '81 See David Northrup, ed., C rosscurrents in the Black Atlantic 1 770—1965: A Brief History with Documents (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008); Oladuah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative ofthe Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself. Edited by Robert J. Allison (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007) 18 . . . : Equrano, Interesting Narrative, 165. Equiano, Interesting Narrative, I66. 13 . . . 4 Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 166. 164 sect or party” he “found adhering thereto such” he “would join.” ”"5 Even with such a determination, Equiano admits to being a self-1i ghteous man: he believed he could go to heaven by keeping the commandments, which Ire let his readers know that he kept eight out of the ten.I86 After Equiano’s involvement and failure in the Annis affair, he admits that he was in a miserable condition owing to the conviction that weighed heavily upon him owing to sin. He states: Suffering much by villains in the late cause [this would be the Annis affair], and being much concemed about the state of my soul, these things (but particularly the latter) brought me very low; so that I became a burden to myself and viewed all things around me as emptiness and vanity which could give no satisfaction to a troubled conscience. ' 87 Such a testimony would resonate with his English and American audiences that consisted of Evangelicals favoring the suppression ofthe slave trade and the ultimate abolition of slavery. In masterful yet sincere fashion, Equiano establishes a dual connection to his misery: first, his native sinfulness, which all persons would be cognizant of; second, the tragedy and wickedness of slavery that rendered him powerless to help even one poor soul, namely John Annis, and the ability of one man, William Kirkpatrick, to circumvent the law. Broken and in misery, Equiano details lrow he perceived the Lord God began to deal with his soul. Equiano writes in stark language how he longed to repent from his sinful ways, and how he prayed for such. In answer to his prayers, God led him to meet . . ,, 88 . . . whom Equiano calls “an old sea-faring man. ' This old man was a Chrrstran, and he ‘35 Equiano, Interesting Narrative, I67. ‘86 Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 167. 137 Equiano, Interesting Narrative, I69. '88 Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 170. 165 engaged Equiano in spiritual conversation. While in com-'ersation with the old man, Equiano states that he met the acquaintance ofa minister (a "dissenting minister,” according to Equiano), who came calling upon the old man. Learning that Equiano was a member ofthe Anglican Church (through baptism), the minister invited the former to a “love feast” at his chapel that evening. Through this “love feast” in which the primary feasting was on the goodness of God through Christ, the vibrant singing of hymns, and the heart-stirring testimonies of the saints, gladness pervaded Equiano’s heart. He also learned something valuable in that setting as well: he lacked the assurance of his own salvation!” From this point in the narrative, Equiano took a short journey that led to his salvation. Following the love feast and having a fundamental misunderstanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Equiano learned that his own righteousness by keeping eight of Ten Commandments could never deliver him from his sins. A minister at Westminster Chapel explained to him that he needed to be “born again” and receive forgiveness of sin by placing his faith in Christ Jesus alone. This same minister explained to Equiano the purpose of the Law of God, and the need of grace in order to be saved. What Equiano heard and leamcd from this minister was the gospel understood in Evangelical C alvinistic termsm It was on 6 October 1774 that Equiano received his salvation. At this time, Equiano had left London on a voyage to Cadiz, Spain. Equiano’s testimony agreed with the Evangelical Calvinism of the day. This testimony states that God had chosen even Africans to eternal life in particular. Equiano states: '39 Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 170-171. '90 Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 172-173. 166 Now every leading providential circumstance that happened to me. from the day l was taken from my parents to that hour. was then in my view, as ifit had but just then occurred. 1 was sensible ofthe invisible hand ofGod, which guided and protected me when in truth I knew it not: still the Lord pursued me although 1 slighted and disregarded it; this mercy melted me down. When I considered my poor wretched state 1 wept. seeing what a great debtor I was to sovereign free grace. Now the Ethiopian was willing to be saved by Jesus Christ, the sinner‘s only surety, and also to rely on none other person or thing for salvation.“” This section of Equiano’s testimony highlights a few important aspects of the development of Ethiopianism. First, Ethiopianism emerged within Evangelical Calvinism, which emphasized the sovereign grace of God in the election of sinners, which relates to the biblical doctrine of election that states (according to Calvinists) that God has chosen a people from every tribe, nation, and tongue to be his own. Equiano‘s testimony marks clear evidence that God lras chosen Africans (Ethiopians) to be included in his wonderful covenant of grace. Second, because it is certain that God had chosen Africans the gospel must be preached in Africa to Africans. Third. it was part of God’s Providential Design to have Africans taken from their native lands, enslaved, and saved to demonstrate his election ofthcrn. This final aspect has bearing on Equiano’s career as an abolitionist and colonizationist. As Ethiopianism definitely has its roots among the free African Christian community in England, the concept would take shape among African American Christians during the early half ofthe 19”1 century. The most prominent articulator of Ethiopian ideals is Alexander Crummell. Crummell was born in New York City on 3 March 1819; his parents were free African Americans. Boston Crummell was a Christian convert before his capture in Africa and his subsequent enslavement. Charity Crummell was a free African American woman from her birth on Long Island; she was an '9' Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 177. 167 Episcopalian. Because of his mother’s membership in the Episcopal Church. young Alexander Crummell was a member also ofthe Episcopal Church. Eventually, Crummell would become a clergyman in the Episcopal Church despite having been refused entry in the church‘s seminary in New York owing to his race. After receiving private instruction in divinity studies, C rummell received ordination in 1844 by Bishop Lee of Delaware. Crummell then studied overseas in England at Cambridge graduating from there in 1853. From 1853-1872, Crummell served in Liberia as a missionary and an educator; during his sojourn there in West Africa he maintained his ties to American abolitionists as he made a few trips back to America. In 1879, he founded St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, and remained the pastor there until 1894. Throughout his long ministerial career, Crummell gave many sermons and address and wrote pieces concentrating on African American Christian mission to Africa. '92 In 1853, Crummell gave an address entitled, “Hope for Africa,” that highlighted the optimism inherent in Ethiopianism connected with an ardent Evangelicalism. In this address/sermon, Crummell argues: “in the merciful providence of God, the Negro race is fast approaching the day of complete evangelization...”193 To support this argument, Crummell first analyzes what he terms “temporal providenccs.” First, C rummell gives a brief overview ofthe condition of Africans/African-Americans at the beginning ofthe 19th century. According to C rumrnell, there was “universal slavery, and the slave trade.” '92 Wilson J. Moses, “Introduction,” in Alexander C rumrnell, Destiny and Race: Selected I'I'ritings, 1840- 1898. Edited by Wilson J. Moses (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992), 3-4; see also Wilson Jeremiah Moses, Alexander C rummell: A Study of Civilization and Discontent (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), l lff, 34ff., and Wilson Jeremiah Moses, The Golden Age ofBlack Nationalism, 1850-1925 (New York: Oxford University Press. 1978), 62-64. '93 Crummell, “Hope for Africa,” 56. According to Moses, this was originally a sermon delivered before the Ladies’ Negro Educational Society in Cambridge, England. See Moses. Alexander C rummell, 78. 168 This was the phenomenon in the Americas. He states that Africa itselfsuffered because of the ravages of the slave trade. He states: If we turned to Africa herself, we would have seen the whole extent of that vast continent given to the spoiler, robbed ofher children-«the vast interior converted into a hunting-ground for capturing miserable and wretched human beings;--- drenched on every side with fraternal blood;---and the long line of the coast, for thousands of miles, evidencing, at every point, how prolific was the slave trade, in woes and agonies and murders, by the bleached bones, or the bloody tracks of its countless victims! '9’ The kind, temporal Providence at the middle of the century, according to Crummell, was that Europeans and Americans had passed bills suppressing the Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade. Also the British, the French, and the Danes had emancipated African/Afro-Wcst Indian slaves. Regarding the slavery in the US, Crummell saw “some few signs of advancement,” which he believed was a portend that signaled the soon ending of slavery. According to Moses, C rummell viewed Providence in terms of progress; therefore, such a conception makes sense of the above statementm In Africa, C rurnrncll lauded the existence of what was then called “legitimate trade” along the Atlantic Coast ofAfrica where slave trading once occurred. Crummell states: Along this region [West Coast ofAfrica] ---including some of the richest and most productive portions of the African continent---legitimate trade has sprung up; and instead of a revolting commerce in the bodies and souls of men, and women, and even babes, we see industrious communities springing up, civilization introduced, and a trade commenced which already has swelled up, in exports along to Europe and America, to more than two million of pounds per 1 annum. 19” Crummell, “Hope for Africa," 56. ‘95 Crummell, “Hope for Africa,” 57; Moses, Golden Age, 60. Moses states that the French historian Francois Guizot influenced Crummell’s conception of Providence. '96 Crummell, “Hope for Africa,” 57-58. 169 Another note ofprogrcss C rummcll points to was the existence of Sierra Leone, the Republic of Haiti. and Liberia. Sierra Leone, notes Crummell. was “the cradle of missions?”7 For him. the existence ofthese places noted the extension of civilization to Africa and among African Americans. C rurnrnell offers his plaudits to a movement on the island of Barbados of Christians seeking to colonize in West Africa under the aegis of the governor, the bishop, and other clergy on the island. The Archbishop of Canterbury also established a society for that purpose, according to Crummell.198 Crummell then contrasts missions work at the beginning of the 19‘h century to the mid-century. He states that at the beginning of the century there was no Christian presence among Africans on the West Coast, and in the Americas African Americans (in both the United States and in the West Indies) “were in a state of heathenisrn.” White Americans and officials in the West Indies prevented the instruction of African Americans, and were unsure whether or not Africans/African-Americans were even capable of receiving spiritual instruction. At this time, there were numerous missions operating in West Africa, and the missionaries who preached the gospel among the nations in West Africa. With this had come “civilized and Christian institutions.” Crummell also notes that there were young African men who were prepared to receive “holy orders,” or ordination in the Anglican Church, or Episcopal Church. This implied that Crummell believed that a goal of Ethiopianism was to plant an indigenous Afiican church within the overall Anglican Communion. '99 In 1877, Crummell delivered a sermon on Thanksgiving at St. Luke’s Church in Washington, DC. titled “The Destined Superiority of the Negro” that re-iterated the point '97 Crummell, “Hope for Africa,” 58. '98 Crummell, “Hope for Africa,” 58. '99 Crummell, “Hope for Africa,” 58-59. 170 that at the heart of Ethiopianism is the hope that God will liberate Africa spiritually and economically through the civilizing effects ofthe gospel ofJesus Christ. Crummell also reveals his more radical application of Ethiopianism by believing that God would raise Africa from the doldrurns and set it on the pinnacle among the continents and nations of people. The Scriptural passage is from Isaiah 61:7 (the text is incorrect; it reads Isaiah 41 :7, though it has the right words from Isaiah 61 :7), and this is, according to the subscript, “A Thanksgiving Discourse, 1877.” It is uncertain if this is a sermon from Thanksgiving Day, or merely on an occasion of Thanksgiving.200 Following a brief synopsis of the passage with its immediate meaning pertaining to God’s grace and mercy to his chosen people of the Old Covenant, Israel, Crummell wants to use this passage to reveal how God deals with nations (races) of people, and glean important lessons from the text as well. Drawing from what C rummell views as a principle of “divine government,” there are different ways that God deals with nations. First, according to Crummell, God corrects and destroys some. With keen insight Crummell states assertively that in one perspective of history, world history is “a history ofnational destructions.” Here he considers the fall ofmany nations and peoples both ancient and contemporary from Pompeii to American Indian nations. All of this. according to Crummell, was “a certain fact of Providence.” C rurnmell also fails to hesitate that it was God who caused these national destructions. He states “that when the sins of a people reach a state of hateful maturity, then God sends upon them sudden destruction.”2m Crummell sees this through both sacred and secular history. These national destructions found their root in the fall of man, and the corresponding doctrine of 200 Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 194. 20' Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 195. 171 total depravity. For Crummell. the Aztecs were in a state of moral decay when Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492. This is the course that depravity takes among a people. Further, C rumrnell found clear examples from the word of God such as God’s judgments on Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, etc. to support his ideas at this point in his discourse.202 Two things are clear from this section in this discourse: first, Crummell held to an orthodox Protestant view of the authority of the Scriptures. As an Episcopalian, he upheld the teaching of the sufficiency of Scripture as it pertained to matters of salvation as articulated in Article VI of the Thirty—Nine Articles of Religion of the Anglican Church.203 Crummell, however, went beyond the moderatencss of this article to hold a more robust position on biblical authority; second, he held to the Protestant position of man’s total depravity, or original sin. This doctrine. too, is stated in the Thirty-Nine Articles (Article IX). All of this reveals that Crummell was a conservative Protestant Episcopalian while maintaining specific racialist applications ofScripture. In his second point, Crummell underscored God’s correction of some peoples while preserving them simultaneously. He cited Israel as an example of this during their “servile sojourn. . .in Egypt” for 400 hundred years.204 For Crummell, the mercy that God shows to some people and the destruction he caused for others rests upon the principle revealed in Psalm 18:25-26: “With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright; with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the forward thy will show thyself forward.” Does Crummell here hint at (or to that matter the psalmist David) a principle 202 Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 194-196. 203 For the T hrity-Nine Articles of Religion, see Creeds of the Churches: A Reader in Christian Doctrine from the Bible to the Present. 3rd ed. Edited by John H. Leith (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1982), 267, 269-270. 20" Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 196-197. 172 teaching that God rewards those. or blesses those who prove themselves worthy? To clarify, and even to anticipate this rejoinder. Crummell states. He does not see merit; and it is not because of desert that He bestows His blessings. But when the Almighty sees in a nation or people latent germs of virtues, he seizes upon and schools them by trial and discipline; so that by the processes ofdivcrs correctivcs. these virtues may bud and blossom into beautiful . '7 ' and healthful maturrty.””" What is conspicuously missing from these remarks and what follows is an attribution to the grace of God for these virtues in individuals and in peoples. Crummell states that “obedience and faith, were without doubt, original though simple elements of Abraham’s character.” 2”” Such a statement belies belief in original sin, which he articulates in the above sermon. From this statement centering on a biblical personality, Crummell speaks of the native virtues of nations of peoples such as the Greeks, Romans, Germans, and Saxons. Even though these peoples were pagan, they had virtues.207 This discourse turns more racialist, or even Social Darwinist, as he speaks of “characteristics common. . .to all strong races.” He also states that there were (historically and at present) some peoples more fit to receive the “purposes of grace and civilization.” This was his basic premise to explain why certain groups failed to receive Christianity in the early Church. The weak people, he argues, frittcred away the gifts of God and thereby disqualified themselves from receiving mercy and grace?” From here, Crummell turns to apply these principles to African Americansm The question to insert at this point in the discourse is: do African Americans possess those seeds of virtues pleasing to the Almighty God? Or are African Americans destined to 305 Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro.” 197. 20” Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 198. 207 Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 198. 208 Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 198-199. 209 See Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 199-205. 173 travel down the road of perdition and degradation? C rurnrnell holds that no African people are "doomed.” He bases this on an interesting Social Darwinist reading ofhistory. The argument is: many different people groups had been destroyed as a result of European conquest on the American continent and elsewhere, but people ofAfriean descent actually thrived in some cases. Basically, Crummell asserts that the trials that Africans and African Americans endured caused them to flourish. He was in some places ”2'0 Crummell states all “a superior man, to-day, to what he was three hundred years ago. of this before European imperialism and colonization would ravish and begin a process of African underdevelopment. It is sorrowfully correct that he states, “And while in other lands, as in cultivated India, the native has been subjected to a foreign yoke, the negro races of African still retain. for the most part, their original birthright.”2 H Crummell notes that civilization had come along the West African coast through Christianity. He states, For civilization, at numerous places, as well in the interior as on the coast, has displaced ancestral heathenism; and the standard of the Cross, uplifted on the banks of its great rivers. at large and important cities, and in the great seats of commercial activity, shows that the Heralds ofthe Cross have begun the conquest . . . 7 7 of the conquest for their glorrous ngf” In this statement, Crummell connects the overall goal of Ethiopianism with what he perceives to be civilization. Bound up in the proclamation of the gospel by African Americans, West Africans would gladly receive civilization as they assume their rightful place with other peoples of the world. Crummell next asserts that Africans had those common virtues that compose “strong races.” Even amidst the hard trials of the past--slavery and the slave trade-- 2'0 Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 200. i” Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 200. “'2 Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 200-201. 174 Africans had been preserved, according to C rummell. The seeds of the virtues pleasing to God had been watered through these trials and hardships. C rurnrnell states, “This history, then, does not signify retribution; does not forecast extinction. It is most plainly disciplinary and preparative. It is the education which comes from trial and endurance; for with it has been allied, more or less, the grand moral training of the religious tendencies of the race.”2'3 These, according to Crummell, were providential markers.”4 The overall assessment of this piece is that Crummell attempts to Christianize Social Darwinism and to place it within the overall fabric of Ethiopianism. Though he states that Providence would cause future greatness and superiority of Africans, this same Providence would take into consideration native human virtue. Crummell basically misapplies Scripture to forward his own view of Ethiopianism. The venerable Episcopalian priest read into the Scriptures in order to advance his own sentiments of African uplift. As mentioned above, African Americans believed that racial uplift was part of the entire Ethiopian theology. Race leaders like Booker T. Washington and his belief in racial dignity and civility were evidence that peoples of African descent were making strides toward. redemption according to the Providence of God. Ethiopians were more than theorists; they were also practical, especially Crummell. This is witnessed in his address to the United States Congress in 1880 titled, “Industrial Education: How to Apply the Unclaimed Beauty.” In this address, Crummell notes how African Americans were divorced from the intricate labor and professional classes of the nation. He states, “It is a 2'3 Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro,” 203. 2'4 Crummell, “The Destined Superiority of the Negro.” 204-205. 175 state of divorcerncnt from the mercantile life ofthe country; from the scientific life of the land; from its literary life: and from its social life.”BIS Though African Americans at the time of this speech (1880) were in a low social “caste,” C rummell was optimistic that they stay there no longer owing to the institutions of the country. For him, the institutions almost guaranteed a group such as African Americans the boost it needed. to rise from the doldrums of society. One point of Crummell’s optimism was that the country is democratic. He believes that every group in the country would latch on to the principles inherit in democracy, namely freedom and equality. The second is interesting. Crummell asserts that there is no way African Americans will leave the country. His perception on the issue of African repatriation at this point in African American history was correct.”6 To solve the problem ofAfriean Americans on the bottom, Crummell believes that mere education and voting rights would never solve this predicament. There must be more since African Americans occupied the position of servants throughout the urban sectors of American society. Crummell believes that the solution to this problem lay in industrial education. He stated with much conviction that “It is evident then that the great problem of industrial life of the black race in this country is yet to be solved in some new way that has not yet been reached. It is to be solved by raising the whole plane of their life to a higher elevation. It is to be solved by stimulating the mechanical and industrial e~217 capacities of the race in this land. This he knew in the face of witnessing a young man reading Greek and Latin, but working as a waiter in New York City in I872.2l8 21’ Crummell, “Industrial Education,” 206. 2‘6 Crummell, “Industrial Education,” 206-207. 2'7 Crummell, “Industrial Education,” 208. 213 Crummell, “Industrial Education,” 207-208. 176 Crummell argues that it was time that African Americans needed to learn trades in order to acquire wealth, and then that would suit them to “send their sons to Yale or Harvard, and indulge in the luxury ofclassical lcaming...”zw In this address, Crummell asks for the government to fund scholarship or opportunities for African Americans to learn a skilled trade; he in no way favored more money going to institutions of higher education for this purpose.220 It takes no great leap to state that Crummell’s thoughts and activities had a significant influence on African American Protestants during the 19’h century, African American Baptist notwithstanding. As will be discussed and analyzed in the next few chapters below, African American Baptists in the late 19th century and in the early 20‘h century would frame their understanding of their African missionary enterprise in “Crummellian” tenns---African American Christians had been ordained by God to raise Africa through the gospel and modes of American/Westem civilization. Other than Crummell, another Christian of African descent cast his shadow on African American Christian thought regarding their overall place in God‘s plan to redeem Africa. The other major Ethiopianist that had an effect on African American Christians was Edward Blyden. Blyden was born on August 3, 1832 on the island of St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies. He and his family were members of the Dutch Reformed Church in St. Thomas. To pursue his divinity studies, Blyden moved to the United States in 1850 and witnessed the racial discrimination and the suffering of African Americans. He came into contact with Presbyterians involved in the American Colonization Society, and by 219 Crummell, “Industrial Education,” 208. “0 Crummell, “Industrial Education.” 208-209- 177 221 the end ofthe year 1850 Blyden was en route to Liberia. A little less radical than Crummell, Blyden's Ethiopianism wasjust as optimistic and biblical. He definitely believed that the time was ripe during the middle of the 19’h century for African American Christians to engage in missionary work in Africa. One speech published in Blyden’s Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race exemplifies this point. In the speech entitled “Ethiopia stretching out her hands unto God; or Afiica’s Service to the World,” Blyden holds that the term Ethiopia presumably as it is in Holy Scripture means the whole continent of Africa. This, again, presumably he gathers from consensus bible scholarship in the late 19‘h century. Blyden writes, “It is pretty well established now, however, that by Ethiopia, is meant the continent of Africa, and by Ethiopians, the great - - , 222 race who lnhablt the country. ’ Blyden quoting from Smith 's Bible Dictionary and Herodotus asserts that Ethiopians as referred to in the Bible are black peoples. He further asserts that these Africans, whether from West Africa, or East Africa, had communication and contact with Asia. This contact went back to the days of Abraham and Moses even.223 Blyden also states that bible writers knew of Ethiopians as being black people. Blyden writes: “And when they spoke of the Ethiopians, they meant the ancestors of the black-skinned and wooly-haired people who, for two hundred and fifty years, have been known as labourers on the plantations of the South.”224 By making this connection, Blyden purposefully engenders a sense of holy pride in the hearts of his audience, which 22' Hollis R. Lynch, Edward Wilmot Blyden: Pan—Negro Patriot, [832—1 912 (London: Oxford University Press, 1967), 3-6. 222 Edward Blyden, “Ethiopia strecting out her hands to God; or Africa’s Service to the World.” in Edward Blyden, Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race (Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press. 1994). 130. This is a collection of essays and speeches by Blyden originally published in 1888. 223 Blyden, “Ethiopia,” 130-131. 22“ Blyden, “Ethiopia,”l32. 178 was an African American audience. Blyden asserts that every ethnic group on the continent o'fAfrica was "stretching out” its hands to God. From this, he states that all Africans even in their traditional and local religions recognize the existence ofa “Supreme Being.” This is part of Blyden‘s application ofPsalm 68:31. He went on to identify the task of the Christian missionary: it was “to declare to them that Being whom they ignorantly worship.”225 This is reminiscent of Paul‘s words to the philosophers in Athens recorded in Acts 17. Blyden also argues that Africans manifested their knowledge of God (what he calls “their belief in the common Fatherhood of a personal God”) through their treating of others with general kindness and with extending hospitality. What Blyden has in view here is that Africans were ready to hear the gospel since they already had faith in a High God and they expressed a type of love toward their neighbors. This was indicative of Ethiopia stretching forth its hand to God.226 From here Blyden focuses on the service Africa had rendered to the world as evidence that it had begun to stretch out its hand to God. Blyden holds that Africa was the “cradle of civilization,” and that it had contributed great things such as the Pyramids. More importantly, Blyden recites the history that Africa was a place of refuge for God’s people such as Abraham, Joseph, and the sons of Jacob. Also he refers to the Flight of the Holy Family recorded in the gospel of Matthew (2:13-15); in addition, he mentions Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus to bear his cross also recorded in Matthew’s gospel (27:32). These references point to Africa’s place within redemptive history, and Blyden 225 Blyden, “Ethiopia,” 132. 226 Blyden, “Ethiopia,” 134-135. 179 means to encourage his audience regarding Africa‘s place in the Providence ofGod and the history of the faith.“7 Blyden then jumps to African slavery as a “service” to the world. African slave labor, according to Blyden, helped to build “modem civilization.” In connection with what transpired in America as a result of Africa slave labor and the continued presence of people of African descent, Blyden writes: “The political history of the Unites States is the history of the Negro. The commercial and agricultural history of nearly the whole of ”228 America is the history of the Negro. For Blyden, he believes that in God’s Providence Africa was a servant; this was in accordance with the ethic of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Blyden notes, “The lot of Africa resembles also His who made Himself of no reputation, but took upon Himself the form of a servant...” Christian hearers and readers of this would notice that Blyden compares Africa with the Lord Jesus Christ as described by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:7: “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. . .” Also Blyden reminds his audience of Jesus’ teaching regarding servanthood. If one wants to be great, he must be servant of all (see Matthew 20:24-28). Blyden uses the life and ministry of Christ to highlight Africa’s providential greatness, and another aspect of how he envisioned Africa fulfilling the prophecy in Psalm 68:31. Blyden expects a literal fulfillment of the prophecy. He notes the new learning of Africa, and the end of slavery. These were markers of the fulfillment of the prophecy. For him, the fulfillment was sudden, according to his reading of the verse and the word “soon.” He actually connects the growing knowledge of Africa with the abolition ofslavery. He states that more has 227 Blyden, “Ethiopia,” 135. ”8 Blyden, “Ethiopia,” 137. 180 been known ofAfrica in the seventeen years after slavery than had ever been known in . Wt) modern tlmes.“ A second indicator that Africa was in the process of fulfilling the Psalm 68 prophecy is what Blyden terms “the restlessness” of African Americans. He writes, There are thousands of Negroes, in comfortable circumstances here, who are yet yearning after the land of their fathers; who are anxious, not so much to be relived from present pressure, as to obtain an expansive field for their energies; who feel the need not only of horizontal openings---free movement on the plane which they occupy---but a chance to rise above it---a vertical outlet.230 Blyden ties this “restlessness” and anxiety felt by African Americans with the spirit of ethnic nationalism of the 19Ih century. He envisions, basically, as the fulfillment of this prophecy a type of vibrant African nationalism unifying all of Africa similar to the building of nation-states in Europe. Blyden spoke to a white audience and he informed it of the importance of both the African field as a place of missions, but also the key place of African Americans as missionaries in the African field; he also pressed the need for African Americans to colonize in Africa. Blyden states, “In the Providence of God, it seems that this great and glorious work is reserved for the Negro.”23 I Judging from these representative writings by Crummell and Blyden, it is clear that Ethiopianism was a purely African American theology. Within it there are elements of African American nationalism, civilizationism, and millennialism. This is a theology of hope as well as African American Christians viewed themselves within an optimistic providential plan of God to help lift up themselves from the dregs of American society, but also to lift up Africans on the continent of Africa. This is what Crummell believed 229 Blyden, “Ethiopia,” 139-140. 230 Blyden, “Ethiopia,” 140. 23 I Blyden, “Ethiopia,” 141-142. 144. The quote is found on p. 147. It is evident from this quote that Blyden was a firm believer in God’s Providential Design. See also Lynch, Edward Wilmot Blyden, 29. 181 regarding missionary work. An Afiicarr American missionary had the primary duty to preach the gospel to Africans, but his/her secondary goal was to civilize African.232 Within all of these positives is a hint ofAfiican American exceptionalism. African American Christians (Baptists among them) perceived that they were givers of something that Africans needed, and felt no desire to receive anything from Africans. Granted, sharing the gospel is noble; but Ethiopianism would lead to a modicum of African American paternalism toward Africans. All of these elements drove African American Baptists to engage in missionary activity in Africa during the l9III century and into the 20th century. As the National Baptist Convention formed in 1895 in Atlanta, Georgia, its theological identity was already firm and solid. In slavery and in freedom, several sources coalesced to shape National Baptist theological identity that exemplified W. E. B. Du Bois’ idea of “double consciousness.” African American slaves received catechetical instruction that was historically and traditional Calvinistic Baptist, and they held to these beliefs, more or less into freedom. The fact that African American Baptist leaders who wrote on doctrinal themes did so with so much conviction and eloquence testifies to the high degree in which they embraced the faith of their masters, but also of their own fathers like George Liele and Andrew Bryan. Though slaves sung songs that have become well-beloved by African Americans and other groups of people, the first hymnals produced by African American Baptists was strictly Evangelical dipping into the deep reservoir of English and American hymnody. More popular than the slave songs became the “Dr. Watts” hymns in which African American worshippers would “line out” and appropriate to make them uniquely there’s. 232 Moses, Golden Age, 61. I82 Regardless ofthe style by which African American Baptists sung Evangelical hymns, the practice connected them with their Northern and Southern Baptist brethren. It was as self-conscious Baptists and self—conscious persons of African descent that the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention sent missionaries to the African field. In the years to come, African American Baptists would retain this “double consciousness” and missionaries would attempt to apply concerns of racial uplift on the ground in Africa and even attempt to replicate uplift efforts such as building educational institutions mirrored after Tuskegee and others like it. All of these details in this chapter support the argument that African American Baptists successfully amalgamated traditional Baptist belief with an ardent race consciousness without contradiction. In 1879, Walter Brooks, an African American Baptist pastor, assured white Baptists in Virginia that the new independent churches in the South were teaching Baptist orthodoxy. This was true as it pertained to those churches led by educated ministers.233 This amalgamation demonstrates itself on the pages of the Mission Herald from the extant issues of the early 19005 to 1930. Men like Lewis Jordan, James East, Walter Brooks, and William Graham show how Baptist they were, but also that were unashamed Ethiopians. The influence of thinkers such as Crummell and Blyden are clearly evident in the writings of the National Baptist leaders in the Herald. Since both Crummell and Blyden were missionaries, their writings are even more important for the purposes of this dissertation. Unlike Moses who frames Crummell’s thought within a civilizationist sentiment, the emphasis in this chapter frames Crummell within his fundamental Christian thought that necessarily caused him to engage in issues of civilization once he arrived in Liberia; therefore, it focuses more 2” Paul Harvey, Redeeming the South, 48. 183 narrowly on his missionary philosophy rather than Moses' broad concerns in writing a biography and his chapter in T he Golden Age o/"li’lac/r Nationalism. In addition, the focus in this chapter on C rummcll's thought views no disconnection between his biblical understanding and his understanding of national/ethnic progress; it is inclusive of his overall theology.234 Such an inclusion characterizes African American Baptist theology: it was truly orthodox Baptist and truly African American and Ethiopian. The educated leadership of the National Baptist Convention was generally Cru'mmellian. It possessed a keen sense of God’s Providenital Design regarding the redemption of Africa. This belief informed their optimism concerning Afiican American progress spiritually and materially, and their confidence that God had chosen them for the mission to redeem Africa. In addition, National Baptist writers and missionaries shared a similar position on African culture as Crummell, but without the Social Darwinistic view of cultural progressivism. Nevertheless, National Baptists did view themselves as agents of the gospel and civilization to “benighted” Africans. 334 According to Saillant, quoting from Crummell, Crummell became interested in civilizing Africans shortly after his arrival to Liberia in 1853. See John Saillant, “Missions in Liberia and Race Relations in the United States, 1822- 1860,” in The Foreign Missionary Enterprise at Home, eds. Daniel H. Bays and Grant Wacker (Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2003), 13. See also Moses, Chapter Three, in Golden Age, which he devotes to writing a brief intellectual biography of Crummell. 184 Chapter Three: The F ormalization of the Ethiopian Refrain: The Birth ofAfriean American Baptist Foreign Mission Enterprise in Africa, 1880-1921 Fifteen years after the figurative trumpet that set the African American slave captives free another landmark event occurred. African American Baptists who were numerically dominant among all African American Christians established an authentic national organization that focused on sending their own missionaries back to their F atherland--Africa. All historians of African American Baptists date 1880 as the beginning of the National Baptist Convention USA; even the National Baptist Convention of America and the National Missionary Baptist Convention date their founding as the same year and the same event. Though 1865 is the African American Year of Jubilee, 1880 is a watershed year for African American Baptists. This chapter operates on two levels. First, it is a chronicling of the history of Baptist Foreign Mission Convention of America from 1880 to 1895. Within this, the story is told from the perspective of the surviving minutes of the organization that Jordan published in his Negro Baptist History. The organization of two other National Baptist groups form part of this history as all three groups would unite in 1895 to form the National Baptist Convention of the United States ofAmerica with the old BFMC forming one board within the new convention (the Foreign Mission Board). After the founding of the NBC-USA, the focus of the chapter narrows to concentrate on intellectual moorings of the Foreign Mission Board found on the pages of the Mission Herald. The greater part of this chapter will detail the Jordan Era of the Foreign Mission Board’s history by focusing on J ordan’s significant contribution to the board as well as 185 the entire convention. The chapter will also highlight his constant and consistent push for the Foreign Mission Board to remain a vital segment of the convention through his writings, especially those that appear as editorials in the Mission Herald. This chapter seeks to demonstrate that J ordan’s theology of mission rested squarely on his commitment to his Baptist faith, but with a strong Ethiopian fervor. J ordan’s editorials reveal a man who had a deep love for Africa, and believed unswervingly that God had willed for African American Protestants to take up the challenge in redeeming Africa by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Though Jordan never mentions any influences upon his theology, it is evident that his theology is consistent with Crummell’s and Blyden’s. Jordan emerged as an Evangelical in the early 20‘h century sense of the term as well as an Ethiopian. Jordan employed this theology to drive National Baptists for 25 years to support African missions. Historians and writers View the formation of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention in 1880 as the beginning of the National Baptist Convention, USA. Freeman, for instance, asserts that it was because of foreign missions that the Convention came into being. He states: “It must be clearly understood that the idea of foreign missions gave rise to the convention and that the Foreign Mission Board is the oldest organization of the Convention.”1 Jordan states unequivocally that the birth of the National Baptist Convention was in Montgomery, Alabama; this is where the BF MC organized. Following Jordan, other writers of Afiican American Baptist history concur. When Jordan began to research his history of the convention, he wrote to people present in Montgomery in 1880 l Freeman, Epoch, 2. 186 at the meeting. He received correspondence from two people present; therefore, Jordan established a direct relationship with the events ofthe founding of this convention.2 Jordan provides the minutes ofthe first meeting of the BFMC including its constitution. The preamble reads: Whereas it becomes necessary and is our duty to extend our Christian influence to advance the kingdom of Christ, and as African Missions claims our most profound attention and feeling that we are most sacredly called to do work in this field and elsewhere abroad, therefore, we the representatives from the various churches, Sunday schools, and societies of the Baptist denomination in the United States, do solemnly organize ourselves in a Convention for the above named objects; we agree to the following Constitution.3 Article II of the Constitution stipulates the purpose of the convention: “The principal object ofthis CONVENTION shall be the diffusion of the GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST, on the Continent of AFRICA, and elsewhere abroad, that the Providence of God may direct.”4 Article XII is interesting and reveals something regarding what these African American Baptists believed and held about Baptist identity: “All officers, boards, missionaries, and agents appointed by the Convention or Executive Board shall be members of some regular Baptist church in union with the churches composing this Convention."5 In a welcome statement, the Alabama delegation to the convention heralded the meeting as signaling the “dawn of a brighter day upon the great question of giving Africa the gospel of Christ.“ According to Jackson, the purpose of the BFMC “was to support with money and personnel the mission work in Africa without begging 2 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 99. Jordan wrote to the following people: Dr's. C. O. Booth, T. L. Jordan, H. W. Bowen, A. F. Owens, R. Spiller, J. M. Annstead, and Mrs. Sheppard. Dr. Booth passed away before he could respond. Two did respond as noted above in the text; they were Jordan and Bowen. According to Jordan, their responses were rather bland. See Freeman, Epoch, 2. 3 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 154-155. 4 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 155. 5 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 157. 187 6 white Baptists---North or South---to do for them what they could do for themselves.“ Jackson also states that the formation ofthe BFMC came as a result ofAfriean Americans’ faith in God and Christ. He adds that they believed in God‘s kind disposal of Providence toward them. Such was the spirit of the day for African American leaders in general, and Baptists in particular. This was a key plank in the platform of racial uplift.7 Though prominent African American Baptists from Virginia were key leaders of the BFMC, there were other “giants among Negro Baptists” among the leaders. One such was the first president, William McAlpine, described by F allin as a “self-made” man. Among African American Baptists in Alabama, McAlpine was one of the two most influential, and arguably the most highly respected. Like his contemporary Colley, McAlpine was a Virginian by birth born in 1847 in Buckingham County near Farmersville; but unlike Colley, McAlpine was a slave by birth. According to a kind Providence, the McAlpine‘s slave master sold him along with his mother and brother to Robert McAlpine, a Presbyterian minister in Coosa County, Alabama. Reverend McAlpine died in 1855, and in the division ofslave property William McAlpine became the property of Reverend MeAlpine‘s son, a doctor, who resided in Talladega, Alabama. According to another kind Providence, the doctor’s wife, a Northerner, taught McAlpine as she taught her own children. William McAlpine came under the influence of Reverend John Jefferson Renfroe, a Baptist minister, who visited the McAlpine’s often. Renfroe was the pastor of both white and African American congregations. In 1864, McAlpine believed the gospel of Christ through Renfroe, and received believer’s baptism and 6 J. H. Jackson, Story of Activism, 34. 7 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 154-158; J. H. Jackson, Story ofActir'ism, 51. 188 becanrc a member ofthe white Baptist church in Talledega where Renfroe was the pastor.8 Following the Civil War, McAlpine went to school at Talladega College, and he aspired to go into the ministry. From there, he became an organizer of African American Baptists in Alabama; he organized district associations and helped to organize the state convention in 1868. He was also instrumental in African American Baptists organizing Selma University. At the time of the BFMC’s founding, McAlpine was hard at work raising funds for Selma making himself one of the foremost leaders of Afiican American Baptists in Alabama. About McAlpine, Jackson remarks: “He had been among white people long enough not to have any fear of them. He knew that if Negroes were to gain anything in this country, they would have to rely upon their own resources.” It would be the privilege of this “self-made” Baptist pastor and administrator to lead the first national organization among African American Baptists. During the period 1880 to 1883, the BFMC experienced slow but sure progress. As the BF MC began its operations, it established a board for the direction of foreign missions with Reverend Anthony Binga, J r., chairman, and W. W. Colley, the Corresponding Secretary. It also wanted to expand its membership and financial base; because of this the convention expanded to the North and Mid-Atlantic, which also gave it more of a national scope. Even with this expansion, the Virginians were still the leaders of the convention. Each state convention organized foreign mission boards, and ministers in Louisiana and Mississippi had interest in missionary work. It was the board’s intention to sponsor Solomon Cosby in West Africa, already a missionary of the Virginia State 3 J. H. Jackson, Story ofActivism, 48-49; Fallin, Uplifting the People. 104, 109—1 10. 9 J. H. Jackson, Story ofActivism, 49-50. 189 Baptist Convention; but Cosby died in 1881. During this early period of 1880-1883, the board ofthe BFMC co-sponsorcd James O. Hayes of North Carolina in the mission field. Hayes along with Lula Fleming had ventured to the African mission field following their graduation from Shaw University in Raleigh. Hayes was a missionary serving in Liberia, and Fleming was in the Congo Free State. To support these missionaries financially, African American Baptists in North Carolina founded the Hayes & Fleming Foreign Mission Society sometime during 1881-1882. It disbanded when the BFMC decided to sponsor Hayes. Sponsoring missionaries already in the African field failed to satisfy the desires of the convention. Martin states “it was an enterprise in which they felt that God had especially prepared them to be first-class leaders.”'0 The convention was ready to send out its own missionaries. H Jordan provides minutes from the annual sessions of 1881-1883 of the BFMC. The annual reports from the corresponding secretary William Colley allow insight into the struggles of this convention, but also its hopes and its commitment to redeeming Africa and Ethiopianism. At the annual session of 1881, Colley reports of the convention’s activities from the previous year 1880, which was the first of its existence. Colley reminds the convention that they formed to preach the gospel to the world, but “especially” to Africa. There is an urgent tone in this section of the report. Colley states that 300,000,000 Africans “are today stretching forth their hands for the gospel.”l2 '0 Martin, Black Baptists, 73. H For a memorial of Solomon Crosby, see the minutes of the BFMC annual convention 1881 in Jordan, Negro Baptist, 177; Martin, Black Baptists, 67, 73-75. On Hayes and Fleming and the founding of the Hayes & Fleming Foreign Mission Society see .l. A. Whitted, A Historjrr oft/re Negro Baptists of North Carolina (Raleigh, NC: Presses of Edwards & Broughton Printing C o., 1908), Documenting the American South, http://www.docsouth.unc.edu/ehurclr’wlritted»"whitted.htrnl (accessed March 23, 2010), Chapter IV- “Foreign Missions-«The Hayes & Fleming Foreign Mission Society," 53 ff. Whitted fails to give the date for the founding of this society. '2 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 184. 190 In light of what Colley determined was Africa stretching forth its hand to God in fulfillment ofPsalm 68:31 he calls for swift action to carry the gospel to Africa. He requests that at least two missionaries be appointed to Africa in 1881. The BFMC already had responsibility for supporting J. O. Hayes with help from the North Carolina convention. Regardless, C olley urges the convention to appoint two more missionaries and they should receive training from him in Liberia. These potential missionaries had to be stalwart Christian men who had studied for the post. This section of Colley’s report sets the tone for the immediate future, which is one of immediacy; Colley strongly desires the convention to move quickly in appointing missionaries so that the BFMC presence could be felt in West Africa.'3 In addition to C olley‘s report, there is also a circular letter sent to various African American Baptist churches by the convention leadership. The purpose of the letter was to engender financial support nationally among “all regular Baptists.” The letter has an Ethiopian tone. After it proclaims its primary purpose to spread the gospel in Africa, it states: “Because of peculiar relations existing between the Afro-Americans and the Africans in our Fatherland, we regard this work preeminently the work of the American Negro."l4 The letter also has a clear Evangelical tone. It notes the gospel is for all, and that Christ has died for all nations. The writers explain further that God uses people to save the lost, and the churches must provide missionaries.l5 The next year, Colley gave his report and it focused more on the organization of missionary societies among African American Baptists. C olley reports that “[m]ore than '3 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 184. 186. M Jordan, Negro Baptist, 196, 200. '5 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 200. 191 154 missionary societies have been organized in the different states."'6 For Colley. if each society would give only $7 per year then there would be over $1,000 raised for foreign mission. It is obvious that no new missionary had been appointed by the convention yet, but C olley was hopeful that the formation of all of these missionary societies would raise plenty ofmoney to support potential missionaries.l7 At the 1883 annual Colley gave his fourth annual address to the BFMC. The majority of the report focuses on Home Mission, but he indicates that the convention is near in sending some missionaries to Africa. This should have been received with great joy by the convention as after three years in existence the first missionaries appointed directly by the convention were ready to venture onto the West African mission field. Under his report on the work in Africa, Colley mentions that J. J. Coles and H. McKenney [sic] have been recommended by the Foreign Mission Board to leave for Liberia to study “as prospectus missionaries." Also the Board recommended the appointment of J. H. Presley and his wife as missionaries to West Africa leaving December 1883.I8 In addition to the Presley‘s and Coles” and McKinney‘s traveling to Liberia, Colley informs the convention of the recent situation with its missionary J. O. Hayes. Colley states the Board had withdrawn its support of Hayes January 1882 because Hayes indicated that he was about to work under another missionary agency. Hayes reconsidered his choice, and asked the Board for re-instatement, which the Board granted. With Hayes still a supported missionary by the BFMC and the Presley’s 1" Jordan, Negro Baptist, 215. '7 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 215-216. '8 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 243. 192 commissioned with Coles and McKinney future missionaries, the convention would have five persons in the African field.” After initial sputtering, the period from 1883 to 1886 witnessed modest success with the convention. With only one missionary in the field, the convention did decide to send its own missionaries in 1883. In 1883 and 1884, the BFMC sent six missionaries to West Africa: J. H. Presley, Hattie Presley, W. W. Colley and his wife, J. J. Coles, and Henderson Mc Kinney. To give the high significance of the sending out of its first missionaries, Martin writes: “For the first time in American history, a separate and ‘national,’ black, Southern-based Christian organization had sponsored the placement of missionaries in African fields solely as missionaries, rather than as missionary- emigrants.”20 These missionaries established a mission station in West Africa at Grand Cape Mount shortly after their arrival on the shores of Africa. In 1886, the board commissioned four more missionaries to Africa, namely J. J. Diggs and wife, E. B. and Mattie Topp all from Mississippi. J. J. and Lucy Coles went to West Africa with them, but as returning missionaries. They left on 3 January 1887 from New York City and arrived in West Africa in early February.2| With the formation of a national African American Baptist convention focused on foreign mission work, other conventions desirous to be national in scope would organize. The leaders of these two conventions, the American National Baptist Convention and the American National Education Convention along with the leaders of the BF MC would form the core leadership of the National Baptist Convention of 1895. The new conventions would speed the pace toward union of all African American Baptists owing '9 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 245. 20 Martin, Black Baptists, 76. 2' Martin, Black Baptists, 76-77; Freeman, Epoch, 73-74. 193 to the overlap in leadership among the conventions and the overlap in the work already done by state conventions. The formation ofthe new national conventions also signified more of the spirit of the times among African American elites; they were intent on forging their own path without white paternalism even though African American Baptists welcomed financial help from whites. Six years after the founding of the BFMC, prominent Louisville, Kentucky pastor W. J. Simmons helped to found the American National Baptist Convention in St. Louis, Missouri at First Baptist Church in August 1886. African American Baptist elites were the founders of this movement, and had the design to cooperate with white, Northern Baptists. Simmons, who won the initial presidential election of the convention, embodied the movement‘s impetus. Born into slavery in 1849 in South Carolina, the young Simmons escaped his bondage and settled in Philadelphia. In 1864, Simmonsjoined the Union Army, the Forty-First Division of the Colored Troops. Following the war, Simmons returned to the East and lived in Bordentown, New Jersey; there, he joined the white Baptist church and aspired to enter the gospel ministry. The church supported him by defraying the cost of education at Madison University and Howard University graduating in 1871 and 1873, respectively. In 1878, the church ordained Simmons into the gospel ministry, and he received a call to pastor the First Baptist Church of Lexington, Kentucky the following year. In 1880, Simmons became the president of the Normal and Theological Institute of Louisville. In Simmons, African American Baptists had a leader who was cognizant of the unique place of African Americans but he also knew the help African Americans needed still from kind hearted whites.22 22 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 102; J. H. Jackson, Story ofActivism, 53, 56-57: F itts, History. 76; "Lovett, Black Man ’5 Dream, 8. 194 Simmons made his call to African American Baptist pastors that included six guiding principles. Jackson has reproduced these principles: 1. To promote personal piety, sociability, and a better knowledge of each other; 2. To be able to have an understanding as the great ends to be reached by the denomination; 3. To encourage our literary men and women, and promote the interest of Baptist literature; 4. To discuss questions pertaining especially to the religious, educational, industrial, and social interests of our people; To give an opportunity for the best thinkers and writers to be heard; 6. That, united, we may be more powerful for good and strengthen our pride in our denomination. kit The leaders heeded this urgent and eloquent call, and met on August 26, 1886 in St. Louis coming from twenty-six states and the District of Columbia to found the ANBC. Henry Morehouse, secretary of the ABHMS, helped Simmons with the founding of the convention. According to Jackson, the leaders who ventured to St. Louis were politicized African Americans and former politicians from the South who were then basically disenfranchised. Simmons and other founders of the ANBC wrote Sunday school literature for the American Baptist Publishing Board (ABPB); because of this he had a great desire to find an outlet for African American Baptist writers, and he dreamed of African American Baptists having their own publishing house. This was also a reason for the founding of ANBC.23 As the ANBC embarked upon its mission, Simmons became interested in sponsoring foreign missions work. His stance regarding foreign missions, however, caused a bit of a strain between the ANBC and the BFMC. The source of the strain centered on Simmons” belief that his convention should cooperate with white Northern Baptists regarding foreign missions. More precisely, Simmons wanted to send foreign 23 J. H. Jackson, Story of Activism, 54-58. 195 missionaries to the field through the American Baptist Missionary Union; this was the same decision the South Carolinians made in the 1870s. This was in disaecord with what the BFMC desired. Simmons‘ position was seemingly short—lived. According to Jordan, at its second annual meeting, the ANBC sent word to the BFMC through a committee to meet with it. The BF MC did decide to meet with ANBC. From this meeting, the BF MC decided to facilitate missions work for the ANBC. All in all, however, Fitts argues that the lack of unity among the different African American Baptist conventions “hampered” missions.24 The year 1893 witnessed the formation of another national Baptist convention along with a plan for further union among various groups. In 1893, the National Baptist Education Convention organized in Washington DC. This convention endeavored to train ministers for African American Baptist churches. W. Bishop Johnson was the leading man of this new convention. Jackson surmises that members of the BFMC founded this convention since, of course, the BFMC committed itself to African missions and neglected the training ofministers believing that it was beyond the scope of its operations. Another reason why it is most probable that members of the BF MC founded the Education Convention is because the former was in session in DC. at the time of the formation of the latter. As of the founding of the new convention, there was evident overlap in the leadership of all three national conventions. For example, Rev. E. C. Moms and Rev. E. M. Brawley were officers in the BFMC and the ANBC. Because of the sheer sense of the matter, which Pius called “convenience and economy,” the conventions agreed to hold their annual sessions in the same city. Also in the same year the BFMC proposed to form a “Tripartite Union” consisting of the New England 24 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 102-103; Fitts, Historjv, 76-77; Lovett, Black Man 's Dream, 8. 196 Convention and the African Foreign Mission Convention. This union never really amounted to much. Though the Education Convention began to train ministers, it did little to nothing during the next two years.25 During the 18903, national unity among African American Baptists was an issue again. Some suggested that the Tripartite Union consolidate, but the effort fizzled. Leading ministers Sutton E. Griggs, A. W. Peques, and L. M. Luke proposed union in 1894 at the meeting of the Tripartite Union in Montgomery, Alabama. These are the men who “developed” the framework of the union that would birth the National Baptist Convention. The next year in Atlanta, Georgia on September 28, 1895 the committee met and reported. The Tripartite Union accepted the report, and the BF MC, ANBC, and the Education Convention formed the National Baptist Convention of the United States of America. At the time of the formation ofthe NBC, the BF MC was the “most outstanding of the lot,” according to Thomas. Thomas definitely makes this observation with a bit of sarcasm as the BFMC had only one missionary in Africa, Rev. R. A. Jackson who labored in South Africa. J. H. Jackson, however, differs with Thomas’ assessment. He states that the BFMC “had a strong program of missions.” Its success lay in the establishing of mission communities in Africa and it reported 300 plus African converts. Jackson asserts that the mission effort was primary in the merger of 1895: “The goals and the programs of the Convention remained unchanged as the Foreign Mission Convention became the basic organization upon which the merger of '1 895 was based.”26 Jackson’s assertions notwithstanding all three national conventions came to this meeting as struggling bodies. Judging from this state of affairs, African American Baptists faced a 25 Pius, Outline, 69; Jordan, Negro Baptist, 103; J. H. Jackson, Story of Activism. 58-60, 63; Fitts. History, 77. 26 J. H. Jackson, Story of Activism, 61. 197 daunting challenge to make this national unity viable. Elias Camp Morris ofArkansas, pastor ofCentennial Baptist Church in Helena, Arkansas. assumed the presidency ofthis fledgling convention. It would be his lot to steer this ship into more tranquil waters.27 Following the acceptance ofthe report, the National Baptist Convention took shape. Flowing from the three fonner conventions, the National Baptist Convention consisted of three boards: the Foreign Mission Board, the Home Mission Board, and the Educational Board. Commenting on the early history of the NBC, Thomas identifies that this was a period of great burden. According to Thomas, the burden for the convention consisted of educating African American Baptists, helping churches and planting churches, and to keep a strong missionary presence in Africa. The preservation ofa strong missionary presence was primary, according to Thomas. To substantiate Thomas” claim, the Foreign Mission Board is the oldest ofthe boards of the convention demonstrating the view ofthe NBC '5 leadership of the most important aspect of this union and also in deference to the leaders of the BF MC who ventured out first in 1880 to start this movement toward unity.28 What began as local churches forging associations to spread the gospel and plant churches and to fight against slavery during the 18303 became a viable national union of foreign missions interests, home mission interests, and educational concerns. State conventions since the 18605 had embarked upon all of these interests and concerns. but the great concern was financial support. The formation of the National Baptist Convention was the solution to financial strain as it had a large yet shallow pool of 27 J. H. Jackson, Story of Activism, 61; Fitts, History, 78-79; Harvey, Bridges, 29; Thomas, History oft/re National Baptist Convention, 5—6. 28 Harvey, Bridges, 29-30; Thomas, History of the National Baptist Convention, 19. See also Pius. Chapter VIII, “The National Baptist Convention: Its Purpose and Work“ in Outline. 198 money to draw from. What makes the existence ofthe National Baptist Convention so remarkable is that a people a generation removed from the virulence of chattel slavery and under the whip of Jim Crow managed to unite to do the bidding of their professed Lord and God, Jesus Christ. Standing at the center ofthis fledgling union in 1895 is the African American Baptist obligation to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to their African brethren. The 18905 was a challenging decade for African Americans. At the end of the 19th century lynching was on the rise. It was a time that witnessed the worsening of race relations rather than opening better relations even on the eve of the Age of Progressivism. Over 1, 200 African Americans died as a result of lynching in 1898 and 1899. The formation of the NBC signified African American Christians’ enduring hope with the expansion of African missions at the centerpiece. 39 With the formation of the loosely centralized National Baptist Convention in September 1895, African American Baptists perched themselves on the precipice of achieving great things for God. Among these great things National Baptists desired to do was greater work in African missions. Fitts states that the beginning of the National Baptist Convention energized African American Baptists regarding missions to Africa. He writes that “More money and personnel were utilized in the development of the ”30 This would take time to African missions, more in tune with the African ethos. develop, however. The dream had now come into fruition, but the real work was yet before them. How would three semi-independent boards function to forward the mission of one convention? What work among the three would be given higher priority? To re- ” Albert J. Raboteau, A Fire in the Bones: Reflections on Afi‘iean—Ameriean Religious History (Boston: Beacon Press, 1995), 37. 3° Fitts, History, 116. 199 iterate, National Baptists understood that foreign missions would have top priority since it was the need for the crirnsolidation of resources for the cause of African missions and the necessity of African American Baptists sending out their own missionaries to Africa that sparked the creation ofthe Baptist Foreign Mission Convention in 1880. As the early years of the convention passed by, the place of foreign missions received moderate to very little attention. To say the least, the Foreign Missions Board suffered during the first couple of years of the convention’s existence. An unfortunate turn of events allowed for a reversal of this inauspicious beginning for the Foreign Mission Board. In 1897, Rev. L. M. Luke, the first corresponding secretary, died; and in his place Rev. Lewis G. Jordan received the appointment to hold this post. For the next 23 years, the Foreign Mission Board went from a moribund state to one of vitality serving the needs of thousands in Africa. As the fortunes of the Foreign Mission Board improved during Jordan’s tenure, the motivations for missionary activity in Africa remained steadfast. Jordan and other leaders believed that it was the providential duty and obligation of African American Baptists to be missionaries in Africa to help offer the light of the gospel to dispel the darkness ofAfriea. Often Jordan and other leaders tied future success and relevance to the convention’s mission work in Africa with ardent involvement in carrying out this important aspect of God‘s Providential will. Involved in this notion, National Baptist missions concerned itself with African uplift in terms of providing industrial educational opportunities especially in South Africa. National Baptist motivation remained entrenched in 19‘h century Ethiopianism. Also National Baptists still believed that their mission was to carry out a clear and unambiguous commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the new century dawned. National Baptists held steady to their unique missionary philosophy. After the euphoria waned after the landmark meeting ofAfriean American Baptists in Atlanta in September 1895, leaders of the infant National Baptist Convention had to begin working quickly on electing board members of the three boards of the convention. The leadership of the Foreign Mission Board consisted of Rev. John H. Franks, chairman of the Board, and Rev. L. M. Luke, corresponding secretary. Luke had been a leading officer with the BF MC in previous years serving as its field agent beginning in January 1892. Before the year 1895 came to a close, Secretary Luke passed away. Luke suffered a fatal illness while preaching on December 30, 1895 after holding this important position on the Board for only three months. This was quite a blow for the Board that the convention understood to be its most prominent since the roots of this board run deep to 1880 and the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention. Though the convention reeled in the wake of Luke‘s death, his successor proved to be more than adequate to fill his shoes and push the Foreign Mission Board to good success for the next 25 years. Luke’s successor was Dr. Lewis Gamett Jordan, then pastor of Union Baptist Church of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania elected on February 13, 1896.3 l The words from one of J ordan’s successors as corresponding secretary of the Foreign Mission Board capture the significance of Jordan’s leadership. William Harvey stated, “With the election of Rev. L. G. Jordan as the Corresponding Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board, a new day dawned for Black Baptists and the missionary enterprise.”32 In viewing this time of the Foreign Mission Board‘s history, Harvey also 3' Jordan, Negro Baptist, 256; Harvey, Bridges, 30. 3'2 Harvey, Bridges, 32. 201 remarks on the motivation of National Baptist missions as "sending the Christian message of spiritual, social and physical uplift to Africa."33 In this statement, Harvey calls attention to the dynamism of the Board‘s intentions; and it clearly denotes that uplift is the key in every area of its endeavor though he gives spiritual uplift the prominence. F itts also has glowing words for the Jordan legacy: “He proved to be the right leader to . . . . . . . . ,, 4 establish a more aggressrve and effective mrssronary program in Africa. 3 F itts points to the initiative and energy Jordan brought to this post by stating that in the first sixteen years of J ordan’s tenure the Foreign Mission Board commissioned 26 missionaries overseas to Africa and South America.35 In 1895 African American Baptists still had a good interest in overseas missions work as Harvey notes. The problem, however, was that the convention had little money to support missionaries. Financial lack notwithstanding National Baptist leaders continued to persevere in the hope that God would provide the necessary money to support missionaries in the African field. With initial (and enduring) financial woes, the Foreign Mission Board at this time was unable to offer support to Rev. R. A. Jackson who with his family had traveled to South Africa in 1894; however, Jackson was able to support his family without the aid from the Board. This was a very inauspicious beginning for such a movement saturated with hope. Was Secretary Luke’s death a portent of things to come for the Board?36 With the election of Jordan as the new corresponding secretary new life flowed through the lifeless Board. According to Harvey, J ordan’s pastoral experience was his 3‘3 Harvey, Bridges, 31. 3“ Fitts, History, 117. 35 Fitts, History, 1 17. 3° Harvey, Bridges, 35. 202 strong suit; this is what attracted the Board to him. As mentioned above, Jordan was the pastor of Union Baptist Church in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania at the time of his election. Jordan was originally from an area near Meridian, Mississippi where slavery would be his lot during his childhood. After slavery ended, Jordan managed to obtain an elementary education, and he would attend Roger Williams University in Nashville eventually to help in his preparation for the gospel ministry. Before serving as pastor of Union Baptist in Philadelphia, he served as pastor in churches in Mississippi and Texas. Upon assuming the secretarial office in October 1896, Jordan had to resign his pastorate in order to move to Louisville, where the Board’s headquarters of the Board were.37 The challenges facing Jordan were great and would test the mettle of any person. Writing about his initial task as the new corresponding secretary of the Board, Jordan states: “The new secretary entered upon the work burdened with many handicaps.”38 He had the enormous task of re-energizing African American Baptists on the need for foreign missions even though they had still conveyed a general interest in it. What was apparent at this time was that African American Baptists focused much of their attention on strengthening local churches. When Jordan arrived in Louisville, he found that the thirteen dollars left in the treasury by Luke had been spent by the Board in purchasing flyers announcing the election of the new secretary. There was a spark of hope financially though; Union Baptist Church sent with Jordan the grand total of eleven dollars to put toward the work of foreign missions. So Jordan had a near empty treasury with no visible prospects of sending out missionaries to Africa. Jordan also found that there were no records of the Board’s immediate past as members of the former board of the BFMC 37 Harvey, Bridges, 35, 36. 38 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 256. never attended the last two meetings ofthe BF MC: therefore, they submitted no official recordings ofthe convention‘s activities. In addition. Jordan had to do this work in an atmosphere in America that was in no way hospitable and caring for the plight of African Americans. In 1896, the landmark case of Plessv r'. Ferguson decided that “separate but equal” was the law of the land. The day was dark and dreary, but Jordan remained hopeful basing his hope on an Ethiopian-driven view of Providence and the fulfillment of prophecy. In a speech given in 1902 to African American Christian youth, Jordan articulated a very Ethiopian belief that African American missions would inaugurate a great new epoch in African history in which African nations would be Christianized and rule in the world.” The first order ofbusiness for Jordan in order to re-invigorate African American Baptist interest in foreign missions was to begin a medium, or an organ to publish information on foreign missions. In March 1896, the inaugural issue ofthe Afro- Ameriean Mission Herald appeared. The first issue of this monthly newspaper called for African American Baptist churches, at least those that were members of the National Baptist Convention, to observe “African Missions Day" on March 29, 1896. This came by order of the Parent Body of the Convention to hold such a day. Eventually, this new publication would become the Mission Herald.” Though the Mission Herald was in existence, Jordan realized that he needed to expose the churches and members of the convention more and more to foreign missions. By 1901, the Herald had a circulation of 8,000, and this helped to galvanize churches, associations, and state conventions to renew support for foreign missions. Jordan knew 39 Jordan, Negro Baptist, 256; Freeman, Epoch, l 18; Harvey, Bridges, 36-37; Fitts, History, I 16. 4o . Harvey, Bridges, 37-38. 204 that more needed to occur in order to renew the foreign mission spirit among African American Baptists that was so high during the 18803. First, Jordan made personal appeals to churches, associations, etc. Second. with the help of convention president, E. C. Morris, Jordan forged a partnership with the Missionary Union in 1900 in order to send missionaries out in the field potentially. Third, Jordan aided in the launching of the Women’s Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention. This auxiliary began in 1901 at the annual session of the convention held in Cincinnati with part of its purpose to raise funds for foreign missions. From 1901 onward, the Women’s Auxiliary would play a pivotal role in keeping foreign missions before African American Baptists nationally. Very soon after its founding, the Women’s Auxiliary raised money to build a Missions House in Malawi, where Emma Delaney was a missionary. This was located on the grounds of the Providence Industrial Mission at C hiradzulu, where John Chilembwe served as a minister.4| Beginning a board publication was quite important as news on foreign missions did serve to fill a well-needed hole in the knowledge of the rank-and-file in the convention, and helping to start the Women‘s Auxiliary was an incredible boon to the missions program. All of this, however, paled in comparison to having missionaries out in the African field. In addition to all ofthese beginnings, early in his term Jordan sent the first five missionaries into the field since the days of the old Baptist Foreign Mission Convention. Jordan also made sure to resume supporting R. A. Jackson and his wife laboring in South Africa.42 4' Harvey, Bridges, 39-41. ‘2 Fitts, History, 1 17. 205 Rev. R. A. Jackson. according to F itts, is known as “the father of missions in South Africa among black Baptists."43 In the May 1930 edition of the Mission Herald, the editors re-published J ackson‘s autobiography that originally appeared in 1913.44 These are the only extant copies ofJackson’s autobiography, and the autobiography offers nice detail into the man and his work. Jackson was born on September 25, 1859 in Holly Springs, Mississippi; whether he was born into slavery, he fails to mention. He does write, however, that “an old African slave” at his birth proclaimed that Jackson would grow up and preach the gospel in Africa. J ackson’s mother, Henrietta Dancy, kept this “prophecy” in her heart; she never revealed this statement until after Jackson returned from his second missionary trip to South Africa. With this reported Jackson writes that he was thankful that his mother’s decision proved wise because he would have believed his work in Africa as missionary was of man, not of God.45 If Jackson was a slave-child, he yearned for something slave children yearned for: an education. This is what Jackson writes. Though he fails to indicate what time period, it is obvious that he recognized this desire after Emancipation. By this time, his mother married a man whom Jackson refers to as Mr. Boykin. Rather than allowing the young Jackson to go to school and receive an elementary education, Mr. Boykin demanded that the youngster work with him in the cotton fields.46 It is obvious that Jackson received an elementary education over time since he writes that he began his matriculation at Mississippi State Normal College at Holly 4‘3 At this point in F itts’ narrative history, he begins to write ofone African American Baptist missionary named “J. C. Jackson.” This is clear reference to the R. A. Jackson, who is also referred to as “J. A. Jackson.” See F itts, History, 1 17. 44 R. A. Jackson, “Autobiography,” Mission Herald, May 1930. 45 Jackson, “Autobiography.” 4" Jackson, “Autobiography.” Springs in 1879 at the age ofninetcen, or twenty. During his four year tenure at the college, Jackson began to teach as did so many African American college students at this time. First, he taught during the summer in Mississippi, and then upon graduating he left for neighboring Arkansas accepting a teaching position at Hot Springs. He remained a teacher for fourteen years in Arkansas in a number of counties. After his first year of teaching in Arkansas, Jackson married the former Emma H. Ratcliffe in September 1884.47 Following this sketch ofhis education and teaching career, Jackson informs his readers about his Christian testimony and his entrance into the gospel ministry. Jackson states that he knew he received a call from God to be a missionary to Africa at the age of fifteen; this was fifteen years before his actual conversion. He writes that he received this call into the mission field after hearing a sermon from Matthew 6:33, which reads: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you.” Jackson then states that he had to list the things that he wanted, and then give those things to the Lord. After he did this, he testifies that the Holy Spirit spoke to him in heart saying, “Go to Africa.” At the time, the young man knew nothing of Africa, but he believed in the legitimacy of the calling.48 As mentioned previously, J ackson‘s conversion to the Christian faith occurred when he was 30 years of age a full fifteen years following his calling into the African mission field. Jackson states that after his conversion to Christ the renewal of his call to Africa happened as well. He received believer’s baptism on September 25, 1890, and embarked upon a missionary career forsaking his career as a school teacher. Before 47 Jackson, “Autobiography.” 48 Jackson, “Autobiography.” becoming a missionary, Jackson became a licensed Baptist preacher through the Mt. Canaan Baptist Church in Gurdon, Arkansas, and he received ordination into the gospel ministry in 1892 through the Southwestern District Baptist Association in Arkansas. The next year, 1893, Jackson writes that he went to Washington, DC and received a commission to become an African missionary through the BF MC after an examination by leading BF MC men such as Richard DeBaptiste, L. M. Luke, and E. K. Love.” This particular account is missing from the secondary sources that feature Jackson. As mentioned above, Jackson and his family ventured to Cape Town, South Africa in 1894. According to Jackson’s autobiography, he and his family left in April of that year. At this point, there is a large inconsistency between J ackson’s own account and the secondary sources. According to Harvey and Fitts, the J ackson’s traveled totally independent of any missionary society or convention, and had no support. J ackson’s autobiography calls into question the former point, but the latter point may have some validity. It may have been that the BF MC was unable to offer substantial financial support for the J ackson's. The J ackson's arrived in Cape Town in June 1894 after a long and arduous journey. Upon arrival, Jackson received permission to preach in the Cape Colony, and he states that he “began to preach from house to house.” He had eight candidates for baptism rather quickly, and organized First Baptist Church in Cape Town on September 20, 1894. In November, he received a letter from the BF MC that it would support him as a missionary. This statement clears up some of the inconsistency found in the secondary literature regarding J ackson’s support. It is apparent that the BF MC never supplied financial support from the start, but within a few months after Jackson settled in 49 Jackson, “Autobiography.” 208 Cape Town the support began and First Baptist ofCape Town was a mission church of the BFMC. After the start of the church in Cape Town, many other mission stations sprang throughout South Africa begun by African American Baptists. According to J ackson, mission stations began in Port Elizabeth, King Williamstown, Queenstown, Middledrift, etc. Stations were in the Cape and spread eventually into the colony of Natal, and the two Afrikaner republics of the Orange Free State and Transvaal (South African Republic). Also according to Jackson, Rev. J. I. Buchannan, his prote'gé, organized 25 mission stations before his death. Jackson left South African in 1887, and returned for a second stint as a missionary in January 1898. Nothing more is stated about the activities of his second trip.50 Fitts offers some more detail regarding J ackson’s ministry in Cape Town and the extent of his original mission. Drawing from F itts, Jackson did seminal missionary work by an African American minister among migrant workers who worked on the docks in Cape Town. Those converted under his preaching brought the good news of Jesus Christ back to their home areas in the interior of Cape Colony. Fitts states that this was J ackson’s “methodology” of planting churches; obviously, he desired that indigenous converts to begin their own churches. This is what occurred in a place called Middledrift in the Cape. One of J ackson‘s converts was a Roman Catholic, the aforementioned J. I. Buchannan. Following his conversion, Buchannan felt the call into the gospel ministry as a missionary right there in the Cape. He started a mission station at Middledrift, and had 50 Jackson, “Autobiography.” great plans ofbeginning a school but he died in 1907 before those plans came into fruition. Those who succeeded him did attempt to begin the school.Sl This story ofR. A. Jackson's ministry in Cape Town and the subsequent sprouting ofrnission stations under the aegis ofthe BFMC and then the FMB of the NBC is the beginning of the African American Baptist presence among Africans in South Africa. In his autobiography, Jackson left us no explanation why he chose to travel to Cape Town to begin a church. Left to conjecture, it can be surmised that the leadership of the BFMC informed Jackson of the need of African American Baptist missionary work in South Africa since African American Baptists had concentrated on West Africa thus far. The only missionaries to this point commissioned and/or supported by the BFMC worked in West Africa. Regardless if Jackson or the BFMC leadership determined that South Africa would be the new field of mission work, it proved to be a quick success. In his work on the history of the F MB, Freeman includes early reports from the F MB to the parent body of the convention. These reports are detailed in that they offer information on the financial health of the Board, and give summaries of the work in the field. For the purposes of this work, concern is for the work in the South African field. In 1897, the second year of his tenure, Secretary Jordan reported that the Board supported Jackson at Cape Town at the Belehorian Baptist Church there in the city. According to J ackson’s autobiography, he founded First Baptist Church; possibly the church changed its name. According to the report, the church had 105 members of which eighteen had been baptized during the year; and there was a school. The report indicates that the church began in June 1894.52 5' Fitts, History, 1 17-1 18. 52 Freeman, Epoch, l 19. 210 In the same report, Jordan stated that the Flora Bella Mission at Queenstown in the Cape Colony had been founded in January 1897, and boasted a membership of twenty-four all baptized in that year. Rev. G. H. Thomas was the pastor.53 The report also indicates that 1897 was the founding year of the Quanda Mission at Middledrift, Cape Colony. It had thirty members all baptized during the year, and the mission had a school.54 From this report, 1897 was a banner year for the FMB in South Africa. The establishment of the stations in Middledrift by Buchannan and in Queenstown would serve to have lasting effects for the entire work in the country. For these would be key stations to spark further growth throughout the soon-to-be Union of South Africa. The next report Freeman re-publishes is the 1901 report. In this report, Jordan indicates that the church at Cape Town was still vacant after Jackson resigned from the pastorate and missionary field in 1898. At Queenstown there was a glimmer of hope with the return of E. B. P. Koti to assume leadership. At Middledrift, all was “going forward” under the leadership of J. I. Buchannan.55 In the 1905 report, the secretary reported that there was trouble in South Africa regarding Ethiopianism. The South African government believed that African American missionaries were involved in Ethiopianism. The convention sent Rev. C. S. Morris to travel to South Africa and investigate the allegations. Morris found no such involvement.56 This would begin an uneasy relationship between the South Afiican government and African American missionaries as the level of paranoia among the Afrikaner leadership would only go higher in the years to come. 53 Freeman, Epoch, 120. 5” Freeman, Epoch, 120. 55 Freeman, Epoch, 121. 5° Freeman, Epoch, 124. From August 1910 through September 1921 there is a wealth of editorials and reports from the pen of Lewis Jordan published in the rl/Iission Herald that enables historians of the Foreign Mission Board to comprehend and interpret the main motivations of the secretary and the Board toward African mission work in general. These editorials reveal that Secretary Jordan was both a committed Evangelical Baptist and an Ethiopian, who can be labeled a Christian “race man” interested in the “redemption” and “uplift” of Africans. Also learned by exploiting this source is the continual lack of funds to support what had the potential of becoming a vibrant missionary enterprise in Africa as well as in other fields such as the West Indies and South America. Even without a great deal of financial support, National Baptists still had a more expansive missionary work in Africa than African Methodists. At the time of Dr. Jordan’s resignation in late 1921, the Board was on firm ground. In the August-September issue of the Mission Herald, Jordan offers clear evidence of his Evangelicalism and Ethiopianism. In an editorial piece entitled, “Will Their Work Live?” Jordan, the editor, editorial offered an historical expose on the formation of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention of 1880. Jordan writes: “One bright day in November, in 1880, just thirty years ago, three hundred of the Fathers, some of the noblest men who ever filled Baptist pulpits, assembled to pray for the lost in other lands and to devise plans for sending missionaries to preach the gospel to their benighted brethren in Africa.”57 Jordan went on to state that what drove these leaders were the words of Jesus recorded in Mark 16:15-16, which is one of the Great Commission 57 “Will Their Work Live?” Mission Herald, August-September 1910. For documentation precision, these editorials list no writer, but since Jordan was the editor it is assumed that Ire wrote all of these editorials. 212 passages. This indicates that these leaders had both a biblical. Christian motive for missions and a racial one. Secretary Jordan wrote about the significance ofAfrica throughout Christian and Church history. He notes that “Africa shielded the infant Christ from the murderous hand of Herod.”58 This incident is recorded in Matthew 2: 13-14. Interestingly enough, Blyden made a similar point as mentioned in the previous chapter. Then he cited Simon of Cyrene, who helped to carry J esus‘ cross. This is recorded in Matthew 27:32. In summarizing these incidents during the life of Christ, the writer states, “For these favors, God blessed Africa.”59 It is interesting to note how his audience received such a history lesson and application. For good Baptists would believe the biblical passage that God is no respecter of persons, but good African American Baptists would Irave some sense of pride welling up in his/her breast upon learning how God used Africa and Africans in executing his great plan of redemption. Such remarks strongly intimate that God still has a place for Africa and people of African descent in his redemptive plan. How did God bless Africa? According to Jordan, God blessed the continent with numerous churches led by imminent men like Ori gen, Clement, Tertullian, Augustine, etc. over the 225 years after the resurrection of Christ. Based on this glorious history, Jordan stated that many people in 1910 believed that the “time was now ripe” for the evangelization of Africa. What Jordan implies is that African American Baptists needed to continue the work of evangelization of the continent left off centuries ago. By doing this, they would also help to secure a place of stability for their institution, and it would 5" “war Their Work Live?” 59 “Will Their Work Live?” also serve their beliefthat God has placed them in the prime spot for redeeming the continent“) Jordan offers a history lesson on the African Church and Africans in order to impress upon his readers the urgency ofthis matter. Jordan indicated that the African Church waned as a judgment from God brought on by the Church’s neglect of evangelization, and its selfishness; by 1025 AD the once thriving African Church had been reduced to nothing. Jordan picks up the story in 1620 with the first Afiicans arriving in the British American colonies (according to his reckoning), and then he catapulted to 1865 and the end of slavery without detail. There is an evident belief in Providential Design here as the writer notes: “He led us out with thousands of us Christians---a few ready for service at home, and here and there one ready for service in regions beyond.”I All of this illustrates that Jordan possessed a strident race-consciousness, and a type Ethiopianism that viewed the interconnectedness between Africa and Africans and African Americans. This editorial is a call to African American Baptists (National Baptists) to engage more and more in missionary work, especially in Africa. The obligation is both race loyalty and loyalty to Jesus Christ and his word. It is also a call for National Baptists to join with other missionary movements such as the Laymen’s movement and the Word Missionary Conference. Since this piece came thirty years after the founding of the BFMC, the call indicates the lack of zeal for missions on the part of National Baptists. 6" “war Their Work Live?” 6' “Will Their Work Live?” Sadly. this would be a recurrent theme in the tllfSSfO" Hera/d during Jordan‘s term of office.“2 Also included in this issue is an open letter written by the Foreign Mission Board. arguably penned by Jordan entitled. “To the Pastors and Officers of Baptist Churches comprising the National Baptist C onvention." It is an appeal to the above to support the foreign missions work of the convention by giving money. He appealed to them by making known the work ofthe missionaries; he reproduced a letter from the West African field indicating the progress made there. Jordan states, “We are sending this appeal to you in behalf ofour work across the seas. Our missionaries are looking to the National Convention for relief. If they are sick, hungry and discouraged, they cheer up as they remember the National Convention meets in September and help will be sent them.”63 Judging from this pointed appeal, the dollars for mission work flowed little to the Board. This would be disconcerting for Jordan since he knew that it was for the work of Foreign Missions that the National Baptist Convention was in existence. He dated the beginning of the convention in November 1880, which is the month and year of the founding ofthe BFMC. In the November 1910 issue, again Jordan, the editor, strongly urged his readers to give money for the cause of African mission. In the main editorial of this issue, Jordan argues that African American Baptist pastors had “distorted” the commands of Jesus Christ recorded in the Gospel of Mark. In the editorial titled “Distorted! Distortedl,” Jordan appealed to African American Baptists to remain true to the whole Great Commission found in Mark 16:15-16. He states that Baptist pastors and evangelists “2 “Will Their Work Live?” (’3“To the Pastors and Officers of Baptist Churches comprising the National Baptist C onvention.“ Mission Herald, August-September 1910. 215 proclaim part of verse 16. which reads "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” He states that African American Baptists can never forget what he called the “root” ofthe above command. which is in verse 15 “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”4 Jordan then states that “The going is an essential to obedience as being baptized?”5 Following this, Jordan observes that the 1.5 million African American Baptists fail to give to missions. He then states, “If they must believe in the ‘Go ye’ and be baptized before they can join a Baptist Church, why should they be allowed to retain membership Without obeying the first part of the verse?”66 For Jordan, obeying what he called the “whole gospel” meant for Christians, in the case of African American Baptists, to give money in order to send missionaries to the field. This editorial is filled with strong biblical and Evangelical appeals to support African mission work.“7 In the January 191 l publication of the Herald, appears Rev. G. D. Griffin’s, “My Plan to Aid in World-wide Missions.” This article is one that served to motivate all Christians to be missionaries, and obey the command of Christ in the Great Commission (he quoted from Mark‘s record). Writing of the importance of disobeying this commandment, Griffin, a member of the Foreign Mission Board, writes, “To neglect this duty is the gravest and most vital omission of which it is possible for one to be guilty?”8 Following this stringent comment, Griffin strikes the chord that every Christian was a missionary and it was the duty of every Christian to “help Him (Jesus Christ) to save (’4 “Distorted! Distorted!” t'llt'.s'.sr'()rr Herald, November 1910. (’5 “Distorted! Distorted!” ”6 “Distorted! Distorted!” 67 “Distorted! Distorted!” 68 Rev. G. D. Griffin, “My Plan to Aid in World-wide Missions,” Mission Herald, January 191 1. 216 others.‘”N This is an interesting statement. According to Evangelical belief. Christ saves according to his sovereign will. Individual Christians make Christ known through the gospel, but they in no wise "help" Christ to save people. Giving Griffin the benefit ofthe doubt. he emphasized, possibly over-emphasized, the necessity ofChristians to share the gospel in order for people to believe. What did Griffin plan to do? First, pray. He suggests that Christians (Afiican American Baptists) should pray “in order that he (Jesus Christ) may keep afresh in our hearts and minds the great duty we owe to our destitute brother at home and abroad, and make us able thru his grace to discharge that duty willingly and automatically.”70 Second, fOHOW the “pmmptings of thc Holy Spirit.”“ By this he called upon National Baptists to work to further the program of missions that the convention has committed to. Basically, he called for National Baptists to heed the appeals and calls emanating from the Foreign Mission Board. Third, keep in touch with the Home Mission Board. Fourth, read the National Baptist Review, the Union, the Mission Herald, and other National Baptist publications. Fifth, he called for the education of National Baptists encouraging them to read denominational literature so that they would know about missions. Sixth, preach some sermons on occasion on missionary work and the Christian’s part in it. Seventh, organize a missions study class. This is what Griffin planned to do in his own church. Eight, collect money every time a missions sermon is preached. Ninth, create a Home Mission Society. Tenth, plan to organize a young people’s missionary prayer meeting "9 Griffin, “My Plan.” 70 Griffin, “My Plan.” 7' Griffin, “My Plan.” once per month.72 This whole plan signifies Griffin‘s commitment to the denomination and the use of Evangelical means toward the end proposed in this article. Secretary Jordan wrote a little article called, “Is Thirteen a Bad Luck Number?”ln it he states that on 13 February 1896 he assumed the position (or office) of secretary of the Foreign Mission Board. He states that he had no experience in the work, and had no resources. The condition was so bleak that “without a pencil, book or missionary” he began his duties.73 From those meager beginnings, Jordan writes that at this time there were 130 missionaries and “native workers” working in Africa, the West Indies, and South America. He reported that 11,000 new Christians have been baptized. The success, according to Jordan, was his faith in God and confidence in the gospel, and that National Baptists would ensure that the gospel would spread throughout the world.74 February 191 1 marked the fifteenth anniversary of Secretary J ordan‘s tenure as the secretary of the Foreign Mission Board. Jordan used this occasion to press and prod his readers and the entire African American Baptist “Zion” to redouble their efforts to support the cause of African mission work. In an article entitled, “A Mistake, And it is Not Mine,” Jordan rehearses some of the history of the Foreign Mission Board. He also shows a bit of remorse over the lack of support National Baptists had given to the missions work, especially for the support of the work in Africa. He writes, For nearly an hour I have sat here and sobbed, so blinded by the flood of tears that roll down in spite ofmy efforts to keep them back, as I think of the needs of our workers over the seas, and my inability to supply them, all because a large majority of our Baptist Brotherhood is untouched by the last loving command of 72 Griffin, “My Plan.” 73 “Is Thirteen a Bad Luck Number?” Mission Herald, January 191 1. 74 “Is Thirteen a Bad Luck Number?” 218 their Lord and Master. or any care for the brethren for whom they voted as missionaries to foreign fields.” From this particular passage from the article, it is evident that Jordan was unafraid to appeal directly to the emotions of his readers in order for them to give sacrificially along with attempting to shame folk into giving. In the next issue of the Herald, Jordan published an open letter to the entire convention. He published it under the heading “Resolutions” and it is an appeal to the early principles of the Foreign Mission Board during the BFMC days. In this short piece, Secretary Jordan reminds the readership, even the entire National Baptist Convention of a resolution decided upon by the BFMC back in 1892. Why did Jordan unearth this old set of resolutions? By doing so, Jordan reminds the whole convention of the continuity of principles from the old BFMC to the relatively new NBC-USA Foreign Mission Board. The key policies the previous generation of leaders forged were still relevant for a new generation.76 There is one particular resolution that Jordan stresses in this letter, and it deals with raising funds. In the first part of the resolution, Jordan reminds his readers that the Board of Managers had the authority to appoint a person who works at a Baptist school, academy, or seminary to help raise money twice per year at those venues for African missions. The second part of the resolution established a day for children to contribute, which was the fifth Sunday in August annually designated as African Mission Day. Jordan noted that in 1896 that the Parent Body of the Convention changed the day of African Mission Day from the fifth Sunday in August to Easter Sunday. He laments that the schools, universities, etc. have failed to uphold the resolution. Only some Texas 75 “A Mistake, and It is Not Mine,” Mission Herald, February 191 l. 76 “Resolutions,” Mission Herald, March 1911. Baptists and all Missouri Baptists had adhered to the resolution. Jordan states, "We are sorry to know some Texas and it seems all Missouri Baptist [sic], have taken the day for Africa.”77 Jordan also remarks regarding the founding of the day, “It will be seen that the resolutions adopted in 1891 show the splendid interest the Fathers had in Africa’s redemption.”78 This particular statement is important in at least two significant ways: first, it signifies to the present generation the zeal and fervor that the so called Fathers of the Foreign Mission Board had toward establishing an on-going presence in Africa; second, it also denotes that the goal of missionary work in Africa is still current, which is to redeem Africa both spiritually and in terms of civilization. One other aspect of this letter is that Jordan felt no need to be innovative. Regardless of different ways to raise money, the motivation remained constant: African American Baptists had a God-given mandate to redeem Africa. In the same issue, the secretary wrote another appeal addressed to pastors; it is an open letter also. The tone of the letter is urgent as he states, “If there ever was a time when the Last Command of our Lord rang louder and clearer in the ears of His believers than now, we have no account of it.”79 Here is a direct and clear Evangelical appeal to men who made it their business (in a holy sense) to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Again, in the letter, Jordan states that all of the Church undertook to spread the gospel throughout the world so that every person will hear the gospel in the present generation. This was to motivate churches and Sunday schools that were part of the National Baptist Convention to take part in the Easter rally. Even though the primary tool of motivation is an exhortation to these pastors to obey Jesus Christ’s commandment to preach the gospel 77 “Resolutions.” 78 “Resolutions.” 79 “Open Letter,” Mission Herald, March 191 1. 220 throughout the world, this is still a letter appealing for money to support the foreign fields so that people will be saved. Jordan states, "All materialistic things--houses and lands, clothes and books, will be consumed by the fire of the judgment, but the word of the Lord will abide forever.”“” It is difficult to understand if Jordan refers to materialistic things as what his immediate audience was pursuant of, or to material things needed on the African mission field. Judging from the general tone of the letter, this is a statement directed at the pastors. Basically, Jordan called for them to sacrifice things that they were wont to crave in order to obey a clear commandment from Christ. As Jordan closes this letter, the tone is more urgent and more frank. He makes an all-out personal appeal to the ministers. Jordan writes, “It is you and yours Jesus Christ would have saved. It is you and yours that must account to Him for not doing more for the conversion of this world.”81 From this open letter, it appears that Jordan and the convention believed that conversion of the whole world was possible. This was a bit different of what Baptists had believed historically. Baptists had been active in evangelizing in different parts of the world since the late 18th century as noted in a previous chapter, but it was under the belief that God had chosen a people for himself from every nation on the earth. The majority of Baptists being C alvinistic never held to the doctrine of the possibility of universal salvation. It appears that at this point National Baptists veered from Baptist orthodoxy. Possibly, Jordan and others in the leadership believed that it was their duty that every person would hear the gospel, not that everyone would believe the gospel. Such a belief was in line with millennialism that taught that Christ's Second Coming would occur only 80 “Open Letter.” 8' “Open Letter.” 221 after the gospel had been preached world-wide. Regardless, ofsuch a modification of historic Baptist beliefJordan and other leaders in the Foreign Mission Board believed that their primary mission was to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to African peoples. Jordan continued to make urgent appeals to the convention as he wrote another editorial that calls for more financial support. In the May 191 1 issue of the Herald, Dr. Jordan urges strongly based upon Ethiopian and Evangelical sentiments. At one point, he writes the following to motivate his readership: We ask all of the faithful ones to pray the Lord that the spirit of Christ may consume the selfishness in the hearts of all believers among us and there ere long we will love our neighbors across the sea as we love ourselves. Let us remember that what Religion has done for us in lifting us from the position of chattels and slaves to the plain of respectable citizenship and Christianity, it will do the same for the millions of blind, naked, superstitious heathen peoples in all lands.82 Here Jordan links Christianity with citizenship and uplift; the gospel can lift a people from the bottom and raise them. This is a potent appeal since Jordan called to his readers” attention their condition just a couple of generations ago. If God through the gospel raised them fi'om the dregs ofsociety, certainly he would do the same for their African brethren. It is evident that Jordan was a student of history for he used it as a tool to drive African American Baptist to action. He returned to this use ofAfriean Church history in June 191 1 in an editorial. In a piece entitled, “Information in Reach of All,” Jordan laments that African American Baptist papers give so little attention to the missionary movement. He also has some scathing remarks for African American pastors comparing them to the leadership of the North African Church from 225 AD to 1200 AD. The point Jordan makes is that these leaders have no place for missionary activity, and it may spell 82 Editorial, Mission Herald, May 191 1. [‘0 k) h) the demise of National Baptists as a distinct denominational group. It was obvious that in Church history local churches in Asia had become extinct for various reasons, but Jordan chose to highlight the extinction of the ancient North African church to appeal directly to racial sentiments.X3 In the same issue Jordan used a biblical prod to call pastors and churches to give. In an editorial called “We Can Do it if We Will,” Jordan asserts that Afiican American Baptists can raise money for different causes, but there had been a lack of commitment to the missions cause. He writes, “It is nothing to read of churches holding rallies and raising from $800.00 to $1800.00 on a given day. When our churches and pastors become New Testament, Missionary Baptists, they will hold similar rallies for the spreading of the Gospel everywhere."84 The above comment by Jordan implies that National Baptists had their priorities confused. For Jordan, the commandment of Christ is clear: preach the gospel to all nations. This means either send those to preach, or support those sent financially. Jordan had noticed obviously that National Baptists had allowed other concerns to overtake the major concern of the Church and of the convention--- evangelism. Though these churches were in existence and active according to Jordan they failed to be the quality of churches reflective of New Testament commandments. Jordan continued to implore his readers by pointing to biblical actions, and pointed them to the actions of their Savior Jesus. In another brief editorial (this one is untitled), Jordan impresses upon his readers two occasions in which Jesus commended unselfish acts: one with the woman who poured the contents of the alabaster box on his feet, and the widow who gave all that she had into the Temple coffer. From here he 83 “Information in Reach of All,” Mission Herald, June 191 1. 84 “We Can Do it if We Will,” Mission Herald, June 191 l. 223 relates how he spoke to an unnamed pastor who in conversation stated that he would be able to receive a higher salary next year after the church pays off its debt. In reply, Jordan told him "about the salary ofa pastor was not the chief thing to be figured on. The churches should be indoctrinated and instructed in not how well they can treat the pastor or how much they can give him as salary, but what they can do to advance the kingdom of God in the whole world.”85 He reports that the pastor received the admonition in Christian love and pledged to do better regarding raising money for missions.86 Jordan exhorted his readers to give ‘unselfishly. He connects giving to the cause of mission as a Christian good work that would be rewarded by the Lord Jesus. He states, “What would be more pleasing to him to receive us in the land of bliss after having made among the last acts of our lives, the possibility of everybody knowing about the same Saviour with Whom we would live, beyond the interfacing waters of death.”87 Here is a clear gospel inducement indicative of J ordan‘s own personal piety, and his earnest expectations for more National Baptist pastors and church members. In the same issue Jordan included an open letter “To the Churches, Pastors, Associations and Conventions Comprising the Constituency of the National Baptist Convention.” In this letter, Jordan mentions the importance of the upcoming meeting of the Convention in September (13 September to be exact) in Pittsburg. His emphasis is on the convention to seize the opportunity to better its efforts at increasing the work of African missions. He appeals to the emotions of his readers with an Ethiopian appeal. He states, “OUT yonder lies Africa ‘bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh’ with all of her 85 Editorial, Mission Herald, August 191 1. 8" Editorial. 87 Editorial. 224 shame and degradation. left to die from the sin of heathenism and the sharpened knife of Mahomctism. She cries to us to do the Good Samaritan act and now will do it?” From here, Jordan appeals to the delegation to bring money for the cause because he believed this was the time that God was in the process of fulfilling his prophecy regarding Christ drawing the “heathen” out of their “heathenism.” This letter by Jordan appeals both to an Ethiopian sentiment and a type of millennial sentiment as well. It draws attention to the spiritual condition of his readers’ homeland, and kinfolk even. It typifies how African American Baptists viewed Africa even during this time period; Africa still maintained a large spot in the overall African American imagination even if African American Baptists lacked the commitment to African missions work to give more money. In the September 191 1 issue of the Herald, Jordan wrote a small article called “Home Churches, Base of Supply-Your Pledge Helps Form it.” In this brief writing, Jordan implores churches to make good on whatever they had pledged in support of foreign missions and missionaries. He argues that local churches form what he calls the “home base of supply.” Jordan writes that there were 1,000 churches that should give $600 per year as did Ebenezer Baptist Church in Pittsburg. This is a bold statement, but it should be noted that part of J ordan’s duties as secretary of the Board was to travel around the country to visit churches. He was well acquainted with the churches of the convention, and had knowledge of their financial wherewithal. He further states that there 88 “To the Churches, Pastors, Associations and Conventions Comprising the Constituency of the National Baptist Convention,” Mission Herald, August 191 1. 225 were 5,000 churches that had the ability to give $100 per year. He laments that “at present only eighteen churches give as much as one hundred dollars a year”) Jordan culminates this short piece with an evangelical appeal regarding the aim of missions. He states that Christ wills to save all men through the Church, which also includes individual Christians. From this supposition, Jordan seems to believe that salvation is a partnership between God and Christ and the Church. He fails to believe in the total sovereignty of God in the realm of the salvation of humans. The perceived sentiment is that God has revealed his general desire to save every human being, but it is incumbent upon the Church to heed the call of the Great Commission. As been written thus far in these issues of the Herald, Jordan viewed financial support by churches and individuals as part of the obedience required regarding the commission. In the October issue of the Herald, Jordan published a great portion of the Thirty- First Annual Report of the Foreign Mission Board. Dr. C. H. Parrish, chairman of Board; and Jordan gave the report in September 191 l. The chairman mentions that the board is making the report through Secretary Jordan. Besides the need for money to pay the missionaries three months in advance and the criticism of those who fail to pay their pledges, the chairman reserved high accolades for Secretary Jordan. He states, Dr. Jordan our intrepid secretary, has done better work this year than ever. His worth to the denomination increases as the years go by. ...Full of zeal and full of good work he life has so widely influenced and inspired the brethren until the whole denomination is about to see Africa as he sees it and to love the souls of her sons and daughters as he loves them. )0 Then Dr. Parrish gave way to Dr. Jordan, who gave the report. Regarding South Africa, the letters from East, Murff, Koti, etc. comprise the report. He does state that the 89 “Home Churches, Base of Supply-Your Pledge Helps Fornr it.” Mission Herald, September 191 1. 90 “Thirty-First Annual Report of the Foreign Mission Board,” Mission Herald, October 1911. 226 Foreign Mission Board came to an agreement with the board ofthe South African Baptist Union not to overlap each others work and not ordaining “unworthy" men into the ministry. This demonstrates the Board’s willingness to cooperate With other groups, especially a Baptist group. Not only this, it is a recognition of the Board’s commitment to working with white Baptists even on foreign terrain.°l The report also indicates the meager condition of contributions from African American Baptist Associations and State Conventions, which were members of the Convention. (This particular section of the report appears in the November issue of the Herald). The problem Jordan discussed regarding District Associations centered on financial and personal integrity. The problem was that Associations would raise money, but the leaders of the Associations re-directed the money without the consent of the churches; the money never went to the Foreign Mission Board. He indicates that there was an association that had been giving $70 to $100 for Foreign Missions per year, but one year the leaders used the money to pay their way to the convention. The Foreign Mission Board found out, and called the association to answer; this resulted in the association no longer giving any money. Regarding State Conventions, only nine made sure that the organizations associated with them report money going to Foreign missions. There were 40 state conventions that were part of the national convention at this time; therefore, 34 made no contribution to Foreign Missions.92 What is clear from this report was that Secretary Jordan witnessed a lack of commitment and love for the cause of missions. He also saw a degree of disobedience and love to the Savior. He states, Until we are gripped by that spirit which prompted the loving heart of the blessed Saviour to say, “It is my meat and drink to do the will of Him that sent me,” and 9' “Thirty-First Annual Report.” 92 “Thirty-First Annual Report of the Foreign Mission Board.” Mission Herald, November 191 1. 227 until we are filled with love for the lost in non-Christian lands can we truthfully say, “I'll go where you want me to go and I‘ll do what you want me to do, dear Lord;” then and not until then will the men, women and means so needful to the enlargement ofour work commensurate with our members, he thrust forth by Him who called us to the work.93 This is a strong appeal based on Christian and biblical precepts to motivate all of the convention, especially those on the local and state levels to give commensurate with their commitment to Christ and the world of lost sinners. At the end of the report, Jordan makes some recommendations for the Convention including having field missionaries paid in advance quarterly; that three missionary conferences be held in this year; the power to create a commission made up of pastors and laymen to carry out these recommendations, for every organization to give money annually, and that the offering before the preaching in churches known as the Vann plan be reported on a monthly basis; to have a printing plant for the dissemination of information; to obtain money for a reasonable headquarters; pastors to support the Easter Rally held by Sunday Schools; that money be collected during the Watch Night services and every fifth Lord‘s Dayf’4 In addition to the publication of the Board’s annual report, Jordan also includes an overview of the convention for his readership. In it, he states that the “features” on missions were above average, but he also admits that those who proved committed to foreign missions “fear that that cause is sorely neglected.”5 To substantiate this sentiment, Jordan reminds his audience that the national convention had its foundations in foreign missions. In reminding the people, Jordan writes: “The National Convention 93 “Thirty-First Annual Report.” 94 “Thirty-First Annual Report.” The Vann Plan is named after former president of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, S. N. Vann. 95 “Untitled.” Mission Herald, October 191 1. k) ix) 00 was born out ofthe prayers 0 four denominational fathers. These men heard the pleadings of millions in regions beyond, and organized to answer the plea.”6 In a sense, this brief article is a call to remembrance; Jordan desires that the convention remembers the reasons for its founding and re-commits to the cause of African missions. In light of this, Jordan reports that the Parent Body of the convention received all of the recommendations placed forward by the Board, and that it received $1,800 in contributions from those who attended the convention. All in all 191 1’5 convention was a good one for the Board. As an addendum to a rather successful convention, Jordan added a short statement on the Missionary Mass Meeting held on the Sunday afternoon of the convention. He states that it was a success in which 6,000 people attended, and many felt, according to Jordan, that “they owed the African the gospel.”97 Judging from this short report, the aim ofthe meeting was on drumming support for mission work in Africa. It is surmised that heart-felt appeals for the great need of Africa and Africans had to have been sounded along with remarks on African American Baptists mission regarding Africa’s redemption. In another important note of the 191 1 convention, Secretary Jordan wrote an editorial announcing that the Parent Body voted to move the headquarters of the Foreign Mission Board to Philadelphia. In reminiscing on the past sixteen years, Jordan comments that there were 60 churches in Africa. For this, he is grateful for this blessing from the Lord. At that moment, the presence of this number of churches in Africa pointed to a rather vibrant activity even in the midst of meager resources. This move was important for a couple of reasons: first, it enabled the secretary to have greater access to 9" “Untitled.” ”7 “Editorial,” Mission Herald, October 191 r. l\) l\) \O travel overseas as New York City was the point of departure for overseas passenger ships; and second. it also allowed the larger Eastern churches to give greater support to the Board. Even at the time ofthis writing in 2010, the Foreign Mission Board ofthe National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. is still housed in Philadelphia."8 In early 1912 as the annual Easter Rally approached, Jordan struck a sour note regarding the lack of financial support given to foreign missions by Sunday schools. In his editorial entitled, “Why Some of Our Baptist Sunday Schools Cannot Help in Our Easter Rally Effort,” Jordan printed notices from Sunday schools in different states that notified the secretary of their inability to give to the Easter Rally in 1912. After every one of the notices printed, Jordan has a terse and even threatening reply. Folks in Louisiana, states one notice, were in the process of building a high school; the secretary replies, “Neglect the Great Commission and you will need no school. The business of every Baptist Church is to preach the Gospel to every creature.”99 A church in Georgia excused itself from giving because its building was lost in a flood. Even in light of such a catastrophe, Jordan replies, “Look out you don't lose your souls. A church of Jesus Christ is not a house, but baptized believers who believe the Gospel is good for the whole 19 l OI) world. It is evident from this section the great importance Jordan placed on preaching the gospel as the primary purpose of a local Baptist church. He perceived this as a non- negotiable commandment, and that other concerns pale in significance. If anything was to be slighted, it must never be giving money for the cause of spreading the gospel to the nations. 0” “Editorial,” Mission Herald, October 191 I. 99 “Why Some of Our Baptist Sunday Schools Cannot Help in Our Easter Rally Effort,” rlIission Herald. March 1912. '00 “Why Some of Our Baptist Sunday Schools.” To buttress all of what Jordan has exhorted month after month, W. A. Credit, the president ofthe New England Baptist Convention, an African American regional convention, states that, "Foreign Missions should be the leading interest of our convention. . ."W In publishing this brief article, Jordan as the editor ofthe Herald aimed at two results: first, he re-emphasized the raison d 'etre of state conventions and the National Baptist Convention, which was the facilitation of the spread of the gospel to all nations, especially to African nations; and second, he re-asserted indirectly that the great purpose of the Church of Jesus Christ is to preach the gospel to all nations. The implication of both of these points is that Jordan perceives the convention as an extension of the Church, which primarily must preach the gospel. In the August 1912 edition of the Herald, there is another strong editorial that attempted to stir the members ofthe National Baptist Convention to giving more money for the foreign mission enterprise. In the article, “Human Need: The Beckoning Finger of God to Service," Jordan makes an urgent appeal for “One Million Souls” to serve Christ. The editor uses the scripture 1 John 3: 17 as his biblical exhortation: “But whoso hath this world’s goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteh up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” In this appeal, Jordan makes a racialist appeal for young people to get involved in the missionary enterprise, possibly by entering into the African mission field. He states that if Africa is to be redeemed it will be as a result of African Americans, “through her own.”'02 There is a fervent Ethiopian element and appeal present in this editorial. In one section of the piece, Jordan exclaims, “When we realize how few of our young people are '0' W. A. Credit, Untitled, Mission Herald, June 1912. “)2 “Human Need: The Beckoning Finger of God to Service.” Mission Herald, August 1912. 231 interested in their own blood. their brothers and sisters. who are sitting in darkness with no chance of gaining light unless their own ofAmcrica bring the light of the Gospel to 103 .. ., . - . ,, lhrs statement assumes a couple ofthrngs at least: first, it assumes that African them.” Americans had a special duty to bring the gospel to Africans: second, it assumes that no other group of Americans had the right spirit to undertake such. These assumptions were at the heart of African American Ethiopianism. Jordan equates love for God with Christian service, especially for young Christians to enter the mission field. He elicits military imagery: “Wanted to enlist in the army of the Lord, to carry the story of the Redeemer and His Saving grace to all parts of the earth.”'04 The tone of this statement is grave befitting the urgency of spreading the gospel to Africa during this time. It is almost a desperate call for a fresh crop of missionaries take up the mantle left by the older generation. Also in this editorial appeal is the notion that all Christians are fit for this type of service; and that all Christians are missionaries. Jordan states, “You are under Marching Orders. You must not let the other races beat you to the goal and report their victory with Africa in darkness.”'”5 He states also that millions of young people of other races entered the mission field to give the gospel to their people. Here is an inducement that Jordan believed would be a sure motivation for more young people to involve themselves in missionary work. It points to a general motivation African Americans used during this day: older African Americans implored the younger generation that it had to be better than its white counterpart in order to succeed in this world. This emerged from the 103 . . ‘Human Need.’ 104 . ‘Human Need” 105 , “Human Need. ’ constant struggle ofAfriean Americans in a segregated society that relegated them to second class status. In a very short editorial called, “Where is the Money?" Jordan asks a pointed question regarding money for foreign missions. The tone ofthe editorial is angry as it pertains to the meetings of 89 Baptist associations and conventions during the Spring and Summer and no money for foreign missions sent with the exception of nearly $40 from Arkansas, where E. C. Morris led the association. The editor here appeals to Baptist identity. He writes: “Surely as Baptists they sang ‘Go preach my gospel saith the Lord,’ did and quoted often the last commandment of Jesus, in whose name they met: and did they not take money for Missions? Could Baptists meet and not give to preach the Gospel to all the world, as much as they pay stationary and ice water?”06 Here Jordan emphasizes how Baptists believed traditionally that they should take the Great Commission seriously. He intimates that being Baptist was part and parcel with being missions-minded and missions-oriented. It is interesting that he quotes from an Isaac Watts hymn. As discussed in the previous chapter, African American Baptists loved the old “Dr. Watts" hyrnns;” therefore, this line from one of Watts’ hymns would have been quite familiar to them. Obviously, Jordan believed that it would.I07 To further motivate his readership, Jordan included a letter from E. C. Morris, president of the convention and moderator of the P. L. & M. Association in Arkansas stating that amidst hardships the members of the association raised over $39 for foreign missions. This letter communicated to the entire convention that its leader and the district association Ire served made giving to foreign missions a priority no matter how difficult “’6 “Where is the Money?” Mission Herald, August 1912. '07 This particular hymn is # 259 in the National Baptist Hymn Book. 233 the times were. There was no excuse for churches, Sunday schools, associations, and State Convention to do their part in contributing to the treasury of the Foreign Mission Board. “'8 As per usual, the October issue ofthe Herald includes the beginning and middle rrd portions of the Annual Report of the Board to the national convention. In the 32 annual report given in Houston, Texas, Jordan remarks clearly that Christian mission work was “the highest form of Christian benevolence.”m9 With this statement, Jordan reiterates that foreign missions stood as the convention’s primary concern because it was the Church’s primary concern. For Jordan, all other work the convention engaged itself in must be secondary, even though important, to the mission to spread the gospel to the comers of the globe with special emphasis to Africa. In addition to this statement, Jordan gives a broad survey history ofmissions work in Africa with an overview of the work within the past decade. This period had witnessed, according to Jordan, the “greatest progress of ””0 Christianity in Africa. Without any type of browbeating, Jordan gave a positive report to the convention while he encouraged greater participation by appealing to Christian ethics.I H Returning to an important issue in the life of the Foreign Mission Board, Jordan wrote about the move of the Board‘s headquarters from Louisville to Philadelphia. In a brief article, Jordan offers the official explanation on why the move. Jordan states that he had to travel to New York to see off missionaries during the year; therefore, it would be better for the headquarters to be on the East coast. Though he made friends during his “)8 E. C. Morris, Letter, Mission Herald, August 1912. '00 “Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Foreign Mission Board,” Mission Herald, October 1912. ”0 “Thirty-Second Annual Report.” ”' “Thirty-Second Annual Report.” sixteen years in Louisville. he has good pastors waiting in Philadelphia to assist in the work. Jordan announced that the dedication ofthe new building will be on December 12, 1912. The story on the dedication appeared in the January 1913 issue; it took place at Holy Trinity Baptist Church in Philadelphia, and many leading pastors in Philadelphia took part in the service.l '2 Published in the January 1913 issue of the Herald is a guest editorial by Florence Burnett of Nashville, Tennessee titled, “The Value of ‘Self-Denial’ Work as Shown by the Establishment of Schools in South Africa.” This particular work is both a testimony of her self-sacrificial giving and the good affects it has had, and a motivation to others to perform the same type of work. She states that her work of self-denial began in September 1899 after hearing J. I. Buchannan, who was on leave from South Africa. He stated that the best way to reach Africans was through education, the establishment of schools. Burnett and others began to give their money for the effort to establish the “Sunshine” school that opened in January 1900. More money came in to begin another school, which was the “Have faith in God” school commencing its operations in July 1906. Burnett hoped that all of this information would urge other African American Baptists to help in the redemption of South Africa. This is quite compelling evidence that points to the fact that African American Baptists equated Afiican redemption with education. This education was Christian-based and independent from either the United States government or the South Afiican government. Also this would be an opportunity ”2 “Thirty-Second Annual Report;” Untitled, Mission Hera/d, January 1913. 235 for African American Baptists to spread the ideals ofself-help and uplift to South Africa so that their African brethren could do the same.l '3 Part of the success of the missionary endeavor was the leadership and interest on the local church level. Although this was something that different denominations needed, it was a phenomenon integral for Baptist churches owing to their congregational polity. In the May 1913 issue of the Herald, Jordan wrote “Great Educational Campaign through the Organization of Mission Study Classes and Missionary Institutes.” This article is a general call for local churches to develop mission study classes in order to train missionary leaders, and it was a speech given by Jordan at Union Baptist Church the previous month (April). Jordan states, “The greatest hindrance to the speedy evangelization of the world is the lack ofintelligent, permanent, and vital Missionary interest in the home church.”I H He believes that the sparking of interest among young and old would go a long way in order to help start a revival of “missionary enthusiasm” among National Baptists, and possibly all Baptists.l '5 In the summer of 1913, Jordan retreated a bit from emphasizing the great need of local churches organizing educational institutes to return to the familiar refi'ain of urging National Baptists to give more money to mission work. In the piece, “Repeating Ourselves,” Jordan states that it was the responsibility of every Baptist to contribute financially to the spread of the gospel. According to Jordan, this was the theme of the Board when Jordan came on as corresponding secretary back in 1896. Reminding his readership of the present condition of giving to the Board, Jordan admits that the m Florence Burnett, “The Value of ‘Self—Denial‘ Work As Shown By the Establishment ofSchools in South Africa,” Mission Herald, January 1913. ”4 “Great Educational Campaign through the Organization of Mission Study Classes and Missionary Institutes,” Mission Herald, May 1913. ”5 “Great Educational Campaign.” Virginians were zealous for foreign missions and a few other churches, but the majority of the convention was indifferent on this enterprise. Things were far from what Jordan would have liked but the Board had been able to support missionaries despite underfunding ofthe entire work. The work in South Africa was a case in point. In 1896 there were only fourteen people employed in mission work there; when he published this article there were over 10,000. All in all that was good progress in seventeen years, but Jordan knew the great potential of the convention. This was why he continued to keep its feet to the fire on the issue of monetary support.l 1” In “The Sin of Neglecting to Evangelize the World,” published in November 1913 Jordan wrote a scathing editorial highly critical to the convention’s lack of financing the Board’s missions. The assumptions in this article are his biblical understanding of the Great Commission; it is a command given to the whole Church along with individual Christians, according to Jordan. Once again, there is also a hint of millenarianism in it as well; to spread the gospel throughout the world will hasten Christ’s return. In these types of articles, Jordan‘s theology has remained consistent.I '7 Regarding the sin committed by the National Convention Jordan lists eight points. First, it was open disobedience to C hrist’s command. Second, it was “a terrible breach of or 18 trust. Third, it was disloyalty. Fourth, it was “cruel.” Fifth, it was “selfish.” Sixth, it was “ungrateful.” Seventh, it was avaricious. Eight, it was “to have the blood of souls upon us at last.”I '0 Jordan combines a call for more financial help with a call to be faithful to the biblical commandment of Christ Jesus. In an interesting explanation of Ho “Repeating Ourselves,” Alission Herald, July 1913. ”7 “The Sin of Neglecting to Evangelize the World,” Mission Hera/d, August 1913. ”8 “The Sin of Neglecting.” ”0 “The Sin of Neglecting.” cruelty, Jordan writes: "Every Christian knows that the Gospel is [the] only thing that drives out the awful practices and overcomes the terrible conditions ofheathenism, and to r 20 - - Even wrth the varrous neglect sending them the Gospel is to be guilty of cruelty. appeals through Ethiopian language here in this article Jordan‘s plea is solidly Evangelical. In one sense, Jordan was unable to deal with what he labeled sin by using Ethiopianism as a tool. Jordan’s pastoral experience emerged here like never before as he employed the straightforward entreaty of the urgency of the gospel and obedience to Christ to make his point. Though in the previous article Jordan implored his readers through a pastoral message, he was still an Ethiopian as evinced in his article called, “A Race’s Gratitude in Thank Offering” published in the August 1913 of the Herald. In this short piece, Jordan exhorts National Baptists to give one cent a year per year of freedom to Foreign Missions. This is in light ofthe Jubilee year since Emancipation, and in light of white Baptists pledging millions of dollars for missions. Jordan desired National Baptists to think of their own freedom that they all credit to the grace and mercy of God to buttress giving to mission work that would help in doing the same in African] Through this time, Dr. Jordan had done a remarkable job in building the Foreign Mission Board fi‘om the ground up. Such was known among people in the National Baptist Convention. Evidence of this appears in the November 1913 Herald as G. D. Griffin of Hertfort, North Carolina wrote “A Tribute to Rev. L. G. Jordan, D.D.” When Griffin wrote the article, he had known Dr. Jordan for twelve years, and saw him as a persuasive and bold advocate for missions as well as a Christian man foremost. This '20 “The Sin of Neglecting.” '2' “A Race’s Gratitude in Thank Offering,” Mission Herald, August 1913. 238 article is also an appeal to heed Jordan‘s exhortations. In one section, Griffin makes an especially strong call: Now in view of his past accomplishments under God, in view of his unqualified interest in missions, in view of our duty to the great cause he advocates, should we not stand by and support him? Should we not respond to the appeals which he sends out from time to time? Should we not say with full intentions: Brother Jordan, you tell us what you need and we will furnish it, or report to God the reason why?‘22 Judging from this article, readers of the Herald such as Griffin felt the heartache of the secretary as issue after issue he poured himself out in pleas, prayers, and petitions for more money to come to support the cause of foreign missions. This article also indicates that readers knew of the relative lack of support given by the rank-and-file members of the convention. Not only is this a personal appeal as Griffin pointed to Jordan as a man and leader. but was also a challenge to National Baptists to give heed to Jordan‘s imploring to give money. Another article by a member of the national convention appears in this issue that attempts to solicit interest and money for the Board. “Are You a Jonah,” written by Florence Burnett uses the biblical story of the prophet Jonah to move people to action. Burnett reminded the readership that Jonah refused to preach repentance to the people of Ninevah. One could argue that J onah’s ethnic prejudice resulted in his reluctance to obey the Lord God and preach to the Ninevites. This particular article is a call to action, to rise from sleep and obey the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ to heed the call of billions of the unsaved in Africa needing redemption. She states, “Africa’s millions are crying out to those who have been unfaithful to duty in the Master’s service.”I23 Here Burnett appeals with a clear biblical incentive, but also with an Ethiopian as she applies a biblical 32 G. o. Griffin, “A Tribute to Rev. L. G. Jordan, D. 1).," Mission Herald, November 1913. 23 l ' lorence Burnett, “Are you a Jonah,” Mission Herald, November 1913. 239 narrative and prophecy to the National Baptists' endeavor to preach the gospel in Africam The year 1914 brought about more of a sense of boldness from the Foreign Mission Board. In the February issue of the Herald, the Board publicized its “Foreign Mission Rally,” which was Sunday, April 12, 1914. For this rally in 1914, the Board asked for $15,000 from the entire convention. As noted above, the intent of the rally was to receive money from the affiliate Sunday schools of the convention. To excite interest among the Sunday schools, the Foreign Mission Board issued a prize of a round-trip ticket to the convention in September to the two Sunday schools giving the largest offering. To the third largest, that school would receive a set of missionary books. '25 In two editorials written by Jordan in this issue he focuses upon both the Evangelical impetus for giving to the Board and the Board’s unique position as sending African Americans out into the African mission field. In the first editorial, Jordan addresses the restrictions the Board placed on missionaries in the field responding to letters and receiving gifts and articles directly fi‘om individuals. At the end of the piece, the Jordan states: The Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention calls upon our Pastors everywhere to urge their forces of Missionary workers to build their work upon the love of God more than they do upon the love of any of its workers. Conventions, Boards, Secretaries and Missionaries may live or die, but the charge to preach the Gospel to every creature must stand so long as there are lost men to be reconciled to God.126 In the other editorial, Jordan makes it known that no other Foreign Mission Board among the denominations allows African Americans the privilege to serve as missionaries. He '25 Untitled, Mission Herald, February 1914. “6 Editorial, Mission Herald, February 1914. related a story ofa young African American man who graduated from an NBC-USA school. who applied by letter to another denominations mission board. The secretary saw him and informed him of the policy of his denomination. What is the reason for reporting this? Again, Jordan states, “We have cited these facts so that the Baptist Pastors, Churches and Associations may see where this disloyalty by some well-meaning friends at home and short sighted workers over the sea will carry us.”'27 In an untitled and anonymous article in this issue, the writer emphasizes one of the aims of the Foreign Mission Board. Besides planting churches and building mission stations, the writer indicates that one of the goals of the Board was to educate Afiicans. The primary reason for this was to prepare Africans for mission work so that they would return to their homelands to lead the work begun by the Board. This particular aim had a variety ofsupport historically. First, this was part of the overall mission to civilize Africans; second, the redemption ofAfrica necessitated such; and third, it was part of Baptist tradition to allow churches to run themselves once qualified leadership was in place. '38 As noted previously each February Jordan published a retrospective piece marking his anniversary as secretary of the Board. In 1914, Jordan celebrated eighteen years in his position. He gave his readers a brief history of his time as secretary; a summary follows: 0 On Friday, February 13, 1896, he was called from Union Baptist Church in Philadelphia to become secretary. 0 The convention had just come into being in September of 1895 0 Late Secretary Luke had no time to plan, or do anything before he died on 31 December, 1895 127 Editorial, Mission Herald, February 1914. '38 Editorial, Mission Herald, February 1914. 241 . Jordan‘s first meeting was at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, DC. 0 He told the people the purpose of their work and Africa‘s needs, and what they needed to do “for Africa’s uplift.” 0 Since has gone from state to state attending state conventions, and horn city to city rallying support for the Board. 0 Among the “firstfruits” was John Tule (deceased) of South Africa. 0 In the first eighteen years, the Board has sent out 47 missionaries. 0 There have been $200,000 contributed to the Board 0 At the time there were 88 churches in the field, 100 preachers and teachers, and a membership of 22,000.'29 Judging from this brief outline history of J ordan‘s activities it is clear that he was a staunch believer that African American Baptists could redeem all of Africa through the gospel and through other efforts. When reading a retrospective such as this, it is interesting to note the optimism that swelled in Jordan and the Board even amidst the lack of strong financial support from convention in general. Such optimism, nevertheless, did bring forth fruit in relative vibrant African mission fields of work. In the same issue appears “A Letter from the National Baptist Convention” probably written by President E. C. Morris. As it is from the Parent Body of the convention, it addresses pastors, Sunday school superintendents, and other leaders of auxiliaries and societies affiliated with the convention. The letter states that in 1895 the Foreign Mission Board supported two independent missionaries in the African field, one was Rev. R. A. Jackson. This occurred judging from the chronology before the merger of the three conventions in September. So the writer means the BFMC‘s board. In this letter, it states that since that time the Board has sent 43 missionaries to the field and trained fifteen nationals to return to their homelands. This letter is to excite interest among the members of the convention to give toward the goal of $ 1 5,000 for the Foreign Mission 129 Untitled, Mission Herald, February 1914- Rally. The convention offered the following suggestions: first, let the week of5 April be devoted to prayer; second, let the midweek service ofthat week be devoted to a talk about Adoniram Judson, or some of the missionaries of the Board; three, use the programs sent to the churches by the Board; four, the 1 1:00 am sermon should be on the Great Commission; and five, every department of churches should rally behind this effort. This letter attempts to add greater support to all of the calls and cries from the secretary over the years. Finally, there appears a detailed and rather forceful letter from President Morris to urge monetary support for the Board’s work in Africa.130 The year 1915 began with more Evangelical motivations to support the work of the Foreign Mission Board from its secretary, Dr. Jordan. In his article entitled “The Gift of Lives in Missionary Service,” Jordan argues that missionary work was “the highest, the truest, and the most enduring service men can render to their fellow men.”l3 ' Clearly Secretary Jordan based this on firm biblical precepts and convictions. He then writes of sin and the need of the gospel, which offers life and hope to all those who would receive Christ. This article is really about the sacrifice of missionaries in the field, and the more than a century of missions throughout the world. This is a softer approach than used by the secretary in previous years; possibly he believed at this juncture that it was better to speak softly and carry a big stick in order to receive more money from individual National Baptists and affiliate groups. In another article written by Dr. Jordan called “The Light of the World,” Jordan repeats Jesus’ word that he is the Light of the world from J ohn’s gospel. This article is to encourage the faithful to help make Christ known in nations that have yet to receive '30 “A Letter from the National Baptist Convention,” Mission Herald, February 1914. '3 I “The Gift of Lives in Missionary Service,” Mission Herald, January 1915. 243 Christ in general. He states, "To Christ we owe all we have above the most benighted heathen. All that Christian lands possess in knowledge, civilization. and progress; they owe to the influence ofChristianity. Christ had been the light ofnations in proportion as the people oftlrose nations receive him as the Son of God."'32 Here Jordan links spreading the gospel with destroying civil "heathenism" as well as spiritual “heathenism.” The emphasis is on, however, saving souls. In an editorial entitled “A Gentle Reminder,” Jordan reminds his audience of something they hold to as Baptists--the Word of God is the supreme rule of faith and practice (this is the Reformation doctrine of sola scriptura). Though National Baptists had held to biblical teachings, Jordan states that they have neglected some. He states that they called themselves “Missionary Baptists,” but the majority of National Baptist churches did nothing for foreign missions. In light of this broad failure on the part of National Baptists, Jordan laments that the teaching to preach the gospel to all nations is clear; he implies that it was a poor state of things to ignore this command. He also writes that the lack of giving was also a clear abrogation of NT teaching, and Jordan believes this was lamentable also. Jordan gives this inducement: “A new and blessed day will dawn upon our people and their missionary efforts if we realize our unscriptural attitude in this matter of missions and systematic contributions.”I33 Though Jordan made his points gently, this was a clarion call for biblical obedience as well an indictment on the millions of National Baptists during this day of failing to uphold one of the more fundamental commandments of Jesus Christ their savior. 132 “The Light of the World," Mission Herald, January 1915. 133 “A Gentle Reminder,” Mission Herald, January 1915. 244 Also in this issue appears an open letter from the Rev. A. R. Robinson, the chairman of the Foreign Mission Board and Secretary Jordan. In “On Open Letter to Missionary Baptists," the chairman and the secretary began with a statement on the movement of “world-wide evangelism.” They assert that this world-wide evangelism was unprecedented at that moment in time. According to the letter, Christians believe that by spreading the gospel throughout the world it will hasten the Second Coming of Christ. As pointed out before, this belief had gained currency among Evangelicals during this time, but this position deviates from what Evangelicals had believed historically. The point of this letter is to exhort Missionary Baptists to train themselves and educate themselves in their churches and societies, and to use The Call of the World as a textbook in mission study classes.I34 There is one more statement that appears in this issue that attempts to encourage both giving to missions and establishing mission classes in local churches. Possibly written by Jordan “A Good Church Policy Adopt It” consists of four key points lending themselves for adoption by local churches; here is a summary of these points: 0 The entire church is to be involved in spreading the gospel throughout the whole world. 0 The entire church is a “Missionary Society;” therefore, every individual Christian is responsible for spreading the gospel. 0 Everyone is to either go or give money to support work abroad. . . . . 5 0 Grvrng rs an act of worshrp.l3 Thought separate from the four key points, the writer called for people to pray at 1:00 pm every day during the week, which was the standard time that the leaders of the Foreign Mission Board gathered to pray,‘36 '34 A. R. Robinson and L. G. Jordan, “An Open Letter to Missionary Baptists,” Mission Herald, January 1915. 135 .. A Good Church Policy Adopt It,” Mission Herald, January 1915. 245 In the May edition ofthe I [era/d, Secretary Jordan pressed the theme ofthe importance oflocal level participation in the foreign mission program once again. In this issue, he highlighted what can be done within District Associations. Jordan wrote an article entitled “The District Association an Opportunity to Further the Cause of Foreign Missions,” and he emphasizes that associations came into existence owing to the “call for missions.” In these well-attended gatherings, Jordan encourages that the associations bring foreign missions to the attention of the people. Regarding the district association Jordan states: “Its highest service to the Kingdom of God is to make itself an effective agency for getting the gospel propagated throughout the earth.”137 Jordan further asserts that the program of the meeting should have a place for foreign missions; it should have a prominent place in the meetings. He also states that “foreign missions ought to be prayerfully discussed?!” In the short article “All Hail the Power ofJesus' Name!” the editor continued to strike the note of Evangelical promotion of African missions. Jordan states that the next time a church sings the hymn “All Hail the Power of J esus’ Name” the following story about the hymn should be told. Jordan re-tells the story: George Grenfall was a missionary in the Congo from 1875 to 1906. He witnessed the horrors of the Arab slave trade in Central Africa, but one day he heard students singing this hymn. This marked a “great contrast” to the ravages of the slave trade and the old way of traditional worship. This singing came as a result of the gospel being preached in this section of the Congo. 13" “A Good Church Policy Adopt It.” '37 “The District Association an Opportunity to Further the Cause of Foreign Missions,” Mission Herald, May 1915. '38 “The District Association.” By using this familiar hymn as a bridge, Jordan exhorted and encouraged his National Baptist audience to support foreign missions.'39 As Jordan had written in more irenic tones during 1915, this changed when he gave his annual report to the National Baptist Convention in September in Chicago. In J ordan’s portion of the report, he offers scathing criticisms of the membership of the convention regarding its lack of financial support of foreign missions work. Jordan believed that the lack of devotion to this work could “thwart” God’s purpose regarding the redemption of the world. He reiterates that the task of evangelization belongs to the “whole church.”HO Without mincing any words, this section of the report is a gospel call and a gospel appeal even through a general rebuke. In one telling statement, Jordan remarks that “We are the worst fooled lot that ever lived if we think God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to save all in it who would own and follow him and exempt us, who have charge of the flocks over which the Holy Ghost has made us overseers.””’l In this particular rebuke, Jordan blasts pastors. Overall, Jordan asserts that pastors had been derelict in their duty to encourage their members to support the cause of foreign missions. By 1919, Jordan as editor of the Herald decided to publish the Missionary Lessons for the month. In February 1919, the missionary lesson placed some emphasis on African American Christian missionary history in order to educate Missionary Baptists in the history of certain African American Christians as missionaries. In a section of the '39 “All Hail the Power ofJesus’ Name.” Mission Herald, May 1915. This hymn is #176 in the National Baptist Hymn Book. '40 “Thirty-Fifth Annual Report of the Foreign Mission Board,” Mission Herald, October 1915. '4' “Thirty-Fifth Annual Report.” 247 lesson called "The Gospel of Doing Things." the writer begins by re-telling some ofthe story ofGeorgc Liele, who the writer reveals was the first American Baptist missionary ten years before William Carey and thirty-one years before Judson. He also mentions the African American Methodist missionary, John Stewart, who was a missionary to the Wyandotte Indians during the 19‘h century. He credits the work of Liele and Stewart as sparking the missionary movement in the 19th century as their work motivated whites. The writer also mentions Lott Carey’s missionary campaign, and he notes the founding of the BFMC only fifteen years after emancipation in order to obey the Great Commission. This section of the study had the intent to foster a sense of pride among Missionary Baptists that throughout their history they have maintained a missionary emphasis. This was an attempt also to encourage current Missionary Baptists to continue this traditionm In the August 1919 issue of the Herald Jordan continued the historical importance of African Christians in order to motivate contemporary African American Baptists. In the article “Did You Know?” there is an Ethiopian element within it as it relates some of the major Africans who contributed to the Christian Church--the Early Church. Jordan cites Tertullian, Origen, Augustine, and Cyprian as major theologians from Africa during this period. Then he forwards an argument on why the churches ofNorth Africa died; he states there were 900 churches, but they died because they neglected the Great Commission. Here is a link with the historical church from an African perspective and Evangelical truth. It also serves as a warning to Missionary Baptists to remain obedient to their Christ and his commandments.143 142 "The Gospel of Doing Things,” Mission Herald, February 1919. ”3 “Did You Know?” Mission Herald, August 1919- 248 The history lessons continued into 1920 as the Foreign Mission Board anticipated the celebration ofthe centennial of Lott Carey's mission to West Africa. In the August issue of the Herald, the Board announced its plan to commemorate and celebrate Lott C arey's sailing in January 1921. The Foreign Mission Board submitted these plans to the Executive Committee of the convention and received approval in June. The plans were underway. The observance would be on the third Sunday, January 1921. The money raised beyond the expenses of the event would go toward planting a seminary in Liberia. ‘44 The January 1921 issue of the Herald is dedicated to the observance of Lott Carey’s journey to West Africa. Jordan wrote an editorial that accounts for where African Americans were socially and economically since C arey’s trip. Jordan believes that “the church has entered a great era of development.”'45 He believes this byjudging the economic progress in the US. One sign of this was the increased attraction toward cooperation assurningly with white Christians. Though it is great mark of African American Baptist history, this celebration was meant to encourage more African American Baptists to give money to African missions.I46 “Will you be one?” is an article published in the February issue. In this article, Jordan attempts to get to the root of the overall indifference National Baptists had shown toward supporting missions work. It seemed as though Jordan had inaugurated a pledge system of giving. In a subtle way Jordan exhorts churches with good sized memberships to give to Foreign Missions. He cites that there were some churches that gave an appreciable amount of money per year: one in Pennsylvania gave $1500 per year, one '44 Untitled, Mission Herald, AuguSI 1920- '45 Editorial, Mission Herald, January 1921. 14" Editorial. 249 Washington. DC. gave $750, one in Chicago gave 8600, one in New York gave $800.00, and one in Atlanta gave $300. The secretary went on to state that these churches gave sacrificiall y as all but one was in debt and they all gave their pastors handsome salaries. Then he states that “[t]here are more than 1000 other churches which could do just as well.”‘47 As Jordan brings this article to a conclusion, he issues a most ambitious goal for the churches. The goal was to have 100 churches to pledge $250 per year for three years; 200 churches to pledge $150 for a year, and 700 churches to pledge $100 per year. This was a reasonable plan. At the time the publication of this article, there were 18,000 churches that were members of the convention, and Jordan called only for 1,000 churches to PafiiCipate in this giving scheme.148 In this February edition of the Herald, Secretary Jordan celebrated his 25‘h anniversary as the corresponding secretary; it will also be the final anniversary celebrated in this position. In “The Quarto-Centennial of Our Secretary” Jordan reflects upon the last twenty-five years ofhis service to the National Baptist Convention and to Afiica. Jordan states, For the first few years I hoped to return to the pastorate, but the thought of Afiica and Africa‘s needs and then the big non-Christian world grew on me until, in glad surrender, I finally decided to stick to it and prayed to be spared to travel many years, up and down our favored country and plead for men, women and money to be used in the uplift of the neglected. ”9 Jordan gives a brief overview of the current work. He states that there were 60 American and International ordained missionaries along with three women who were workers, and 105 African workers; this was the grand total of workers in the African field. He admits ”7 “Will you be one?” Mission Herald, February 19:21. '48 “Will you be one?” ”9 “The Quarto-Centennial of Our Secretary,” Mission Herald. February 1921. 250 that his physical self was tired and the Board needed to find a younger man to assume this work that he had given the last 25 years of life. Regarding his plans for the future, Jordan states that “I have no plans for the future further than to be allowed to work with a yoke-fellow for the good of Africa."'”’ Among what he wanted to see complete that began under his watch were the completion of a church building in Cape Town and for the completion of payment on the 800 acre farm at Middledrift in South Afiica. J ordan’s career as editor of the Mission Herald concluded with the September 1921 issue. As he ended his grand tenure, he offered “Only a Few Suggestions” for the Board in its work with the incoming corresponding secretary, Dr. James East. In this little article, Jordan bluntly suggests that Dr. East “avoid the ‘Jim Crow’ [railcar] with its health-ruining discornforts and hardships.”m It is obvious that for over 25 years Secretary Jordan had endured the supposedly equal accommodations of the Jim Crow car for African Americans traveling in the South. As he traversed the nation attempting to gain support for the redemption of Africa, Jordan knew the bleak present day conditions for African Americans as he had to succumb to the inhumanity of riding in segregated railcars in the land ofhis birth. It is a testimony of Jordan’s dignity that he desired something much better for his successor. Also in this issue Jordan left a letter for all of the Board‘s missionaries and workers. In the letter, Jordan encouraged the missionaries and workers that: “The gospel is just as powerful now as ever, and if you, by your lives and efforts, lift up the Christ, all will be well?”52 This is an appropriate farewell as Jordan sought to keep before the people of the National Baptist Convention that its main purpose was to obey the Great ( 6‘ ' '5 ) Quarto-Centennral.” ‘5 I “Only a Few Suggestions,” Mission Herald, September 1921. ‘52 Letter, Mission Herald, September 1921. 251 Commission, and the presence of missionaries in the field representing the Foreign Mission Board ofthe convention is a testimony that it did, in part, obey the commission. As stated by others previously, Jordan was above all a committed Christian man who loved Africa. There is a re-print of Secretary J ordan‘s letter of resignation. It is dated July 30, 1921. He addressed it to the chairman of the Foreign Mission Board. The letter indicates that J ordan‘s resignation would take effect on “F ounder’s Day” 24 Nov 1921. He recites his history a bit. When he took over as secretary, there were no “recorded members.” At the time of his resignation, there were 40,000 members in the mission field. Beginning with Rev. John Tule in 1897, 87 men and women have gone into the mission field sent by the Board.153 One final item in this issue must be summarized. Chairman A. R. Robinson gave a report to the convention, and it is under the title of “The Going of Dr. Jordan” in the Herald. He writes of the resignation of Dr. Jordan, and states that he would have the title “Secretary Emeritus” with, hopefully, a “Rainy Day Purse” of$1,200. He also would receive a pension of$ 1.200 per year until he dies. Robinson and the Board applauded Jordan as one who gave up much for “the redemption of Africa.”I54 This ended the Jordan Era. Drawing from the various articles and editorials published in the Herald, J ordan‘s task was enormous. Judging from the invectives from the pen of Jordan chastening the members of the National Baptist Convention for its monetary neglect of African missions it would seem as though the Foreign Mission Board’s activities floundered during this quarter century. Maybe things failed to 153 L. G. Jordan, “Letter of Resignation,” Mission Herald. September 1921. ‘54 A. R. Robinson, “The Going of Dr. Jordan,” Mission Herald, September 1921. 252 materialize how Jordan envisioned and prayed for. As it comes now to piece together a history of the Board‘s work 111 South Afi'ica during Jordan's era, it will be evident that the Board did have a considerable presence in South Africa. As the Foreign Mission Board elected Lewis Jordan as its secretary in February 1896 and R. A. Jackson prepared to travel to Cape Town, South Africa, the entire continent of Afiica was at the tail end of its Missionary Century. From the turn of the 19'h century, Protestant missionaries from all over Europe and some from America converged upon the so-called “Dark C ontinent” to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to Africans in all comers of the continent. African American Baptists had a presence in Africa beginning in 1821 with the arrival of Lott Carey. The American Missionary Baptist Convention sent at least two missionaries to West Africa during the 18403, and African American Baptists had served as missionaries under the auspices of the Southern Baptist Convention. Of course, with the founding ofthe BFMC in 1880 African American Baptists retained a slight presence in West Africa. Even though African historiography has focused primarily on European missionary activity in Africa during the 19th century, African American presence was there and should be examined more thoroughly. It has been shown that Lewis Jordan as the secretary of the Foreign Mission Board for over 25 years understood African missions work in terms of obeying the Great Commission of Jesus Christ and fulfilling a type of Providential Design that stipulated that African American Christians should be the primary people group to carry the gospel to Africa. This was no different in substance from what William Colley articulated in his reports as the first corresponding secretary of the Foreign Mission Board. Did Africans in South Africa have this same sense of Providence as it pertained to their destiny? Judging 253 from letters from African South Afiicarr missionary workers and even African Americans ofthe National Baptist Convention in the South African field, there is ample evidence that they understood this African American Baptist mission more in terms of uplift through Industrial Education. For Africans in South Africa and African American missionaries who served there, the gospel was the vehicle to improvement and dignity through Western education. This will be the focus of the next chapter. k) Ur J;