reason to believe that your church will be preferred before all others
by the Negroes, that those of you who are in affluence will contribute
and send out a minister and support him," &c.

--_Baptist Annual Register_, 1790-1793, pages 542-543.



FROM THE REV. ABRAHAM MARSHALL, WHO FORMED THE NEGRO CHURCH AT SAVANNAH,
TO MR. RIPPON


Kioka, Georgia, May 1, 1793.

_Rev. and Dear Sir_,

Yours came safe to hand, and gave singular satisfaction. Neither
spreading plains, nor rolling oceans, can prevent us from weeping with
those that weep, and rejoicing with those that rejoice. I have had it
in contemplation for some time to open a correspondence with our dear
friend on the other side of the flood, but my constant travelling has
hitherto prevented; I am highly pleased that you have opened the way....

As to the Black Church in Savannah, of which you had a particular
account by Mr. Clarke, I baptized forty-five of them in one day,
assisted in the constitution of the church, and ordination of the
minister. They have given repeated proofs, by their sufferings, of their
zeal for the cause of God and religion; and, I believe, are found in the
faith, and strict in discipline.