THE FREEDMEN.

REV. JOS. E. ROY, D. D.,

FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA.

VIRGINIA.

A large Ingathering.

MISS M. A. ANDRUS, CARRSVILLE.

Reading in the “Missionary” of the work done in the South, it came into my mind to tell you of a work of grace here. Nearly all of our Sabbath-school are converted. From sixty to seventy have been baptized and received into this church, and since the 1st of September the pastor has baptized 150. I have never before labored in a Sabbath-school where I have felt so manifestly the Spirit accompanying the word. It seemed to sink deep into the hearts and take root there, and a harvest of souls is the result. The pastor thinks the converts were more intelligent than usual, and he imputed it to the instruction they had received in the Sabbath-school. My method of instruction is, to expound the Scriptures verse by verse, as read by each scholar, making special application to each one individually, and so each one feels as if he had a portion.

Sabbath before last, I had the blest privilege of seeing forty-three of the converts all seated together in the front seats, and it was to me an affecting sight. All ages were represented there from the little child to the man of grey hairs.

I spoke to them of the joy it gave me to see them occupying such a position, and of the joy to the angels of God over them, for if there is joy in heaven among the angels over one sinner that repenteth, how much more joy over such a number as I saw before me.

I read to them, “A charge to those who have just joined the Church,” sent to me a few days before by Samuel B. Schieffelin of New York, which seemed providentially to have come at that time. They all listened with profound attention and seemed much interested, and I trust a good and lasting impression was made upon them.

After the reading, I presented each one with a copy of the Charge, as it was in little book form, with which they seemed to be much gratified.

NORTH CAROLINA.

Facts About the Taught and the Teachers.

MRS. ALFRED CONNET, M^cLEANSVILLE.

We have been here seventeen months. During this time I have refrained from expressing myself in regard to the negroes and our work among them. Every day we are more and more convinced of their deep degradation; in fact, it is entirely beyond anything we had imagined.

They seem to be guilty of the whole category of sins, but, perhaps, their untruthfulness is most prominent. We cannot have a self-reporting system in school, but there are some noble exceptions to the general rule.

The most pitiable objects are those women who have families, but never had husbands. One such woman last fall told me that she was going to gather “shoemake” (shumac) leaves that week, and get her a pair of shoes. Saturday afternoon, she stopped on her way home from the store. “Well, Aunty, did you get your shoes?” “No; Mr. F. showed me so much purty caliker that I bought me a dress.” She already had about a dozen calico dresses. “But what will you do for shoes?” “I don’t know; but I prays to the good Lord to keep me from getting sick when I get my feet wet.” I guess He heard her, for she is well. In contrast with this, the woman who washes for us saves up her wages and buys just what she and her child really need.

The women have not made as much advancement as the men; but there is good reason for this. They have gone to the field as regularly as the men, and have had their cooking and housework to do; and, in addition to this, they have borne a child every year or two. When they come to church they have these small children to care for. They were pleased when they learned that the “new minister” was glad to see them and their babies. It is hard to hold their attention, they are so tired, and have so much to think about what they shall eat and wear. We wish we could do them more good; but we must turn our energies principally to the young.

Sin and temptation beset the young girls on every side, and, alas! too many of them yield. One asked me in regard to that terrible, nameless crime. I told her that the life of the child was just as sacred before birth as after birth. She said that the crime was quite common here. Mr. C. has since preached against it.

Faith in God is very strong in some of them. One dear Aunty, who has a very large family, and much to do, said: “When I feels so tired, I just ask the Lord to give me strength to finish this washing, or whatever I am doing, and he does it.” Her husband is our Sunday-school Superintendent, and their children are the best educated of any in the neighborhood. This family belongs to three races—white, black and red—the latter predominating.

Some of the people seemed to get the idea that we were so anxious for their children to attend school that they could dictate to us, and they encouraged their children to rebel against necessary government. One girl who ran away from school wrote a note acknowledging her wrong and asking forgiveness; of course she was gladly received back. Seven young men and two girls are doing their own cooking so that they can remain longer. Five others are paying board.

We have some very dull scholars. We have some bright ones. One young man, fourteen months ago, did not know his letters. Now he reads in National Third Reader and United States history, has commenced grammar and geography, and is in fractions in arithmetic. One pupil, who is a minister, is over thirty years of age. Three other scholars are twenty-nine. Nearly all the larger ones are teachers, or are preparing to teach. I think they will do much good for their people.

I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that the negro does not investigate or reason much, but acts according to his feelings. Even the babies do not tear up their playthings to see what is inside of them.

They are full of signs and superstitious notions. Our little girl, Addie, showed a very small hen’s egg to some little girls. One of them said: “My mother never allows us to take one into the house, it is bad luck; but it is good luck to throw it over the house, and we always do that.”

Mr. C. and I both teach six hours per day. Sometimes after school we take the carriage and go to see some sick person. Last week we went three miles to see one poor sick woman, who has lost the use of one eye and is nearly blind in the other. She is a great sufferer, but said, “My many afflictions and tribulations bring me near the Lord, and I am so proud to see you all.” Last Saturday we went four miles to see an old man who is probably on his death-bed. He was sixty-three years a slave, is a Christian, has united with the church since we came, and said that if he never met us here on earth again, he hoped to in heaven. We sent him some food suitable for him.

We see so much destitution that we can’t help giving until we feel it. We do almost entirely without butter, and frequently without sugar. We live very plainly, but contentedly. One man told in church how much good it did him, when Mr. C. visited him last summer, and assured him that his child was not past recovery. It was a long ride of fourteen miles on horseback under a burning Southern sun; but it greatly encouraged these humble Christians. They are so ignorant that when they get sick, they think somebody has poisoned them. They do not seem to have any confidence in each other. One young woman, who spent five years with Miss Douglass, assured me that she would not take medicine from a colored doctor, if he was ever so well educated—“Because I am afraid he might be mad at me and poison me.” It seems discouraging when years of good training fail to eradicate such silly notions.

We are in a Ku Klux neighborhood, twenty white families within a mile of us; but only three of these have ever made us a social call.

Our children have no associates. I am glad that there are six of them and not just one or two.

We are obliged to keep one of the older children out of school to take care of the babies, aged two and four years. I think it would be a sin to leave them in the care of any of these colored people, the greater part of each day. They are so ignorant and sinful and superstitious, that I am sure they would poison their young minds. Perhaps that is the reason the Southern people have given so much trouble, they have had such ignorant nurses.

Our Sunday-school is large and doing well. We have large classes because we have so few competent teachers; we are trying to train others. Church services are well attended. Our work is made up of lights and shades, but we like it, and thank the Lord that He permits us to be humble workers in this part of His vineyard.

GEORGIA.

A Struggling Church—A Growing Temperance Work—Hindrances.

REV. J. R. M^cLEAN, NO. 1 MILLER STATION.

The school is doing well. I have enrolled 67 now, and have larger scholars than at any time before. The Sunday-school is growing in numbers and also in interest, and its work has had great power over the people here for good.

The church has been pulling together quite well, and has raised towards the work here about $30. A number of the people are not able to do anything, for they need some one to help them to get bread. None have joined the church this year thus far; still I hope to have some come in before the year closes.

We have our house all ceiled inside, and now we are trying to get it painted. I do wish we could find some one to give us some singing books, both for Sunday-school and church. We have only three that we can use in worship. I like the “Songs of Devotion,” but then anything else will do if we can get that.

The Temperance Society is doing good, but there is room for it to do much more. At our meeting last Sabbath, five joined us. The band numbers now about 50. Some, as might be expected, have broken their pledges. I find it is those who are trained in our schools, and those only, that take hold of our principles.

O, if more could be done for the children, and for a larger number of them, there would be some hope for the race yet! What can be done for them?

The white people are doing nothing to help them, as I shall tell you when I get to it. But the old ones find it hard to leave off the habits of slavery, which have been going on so long that they have taken deep root, and how they are to be dug out I cannot tell. But will not our Heavenly Father overlook many of these wicked habits!

Our church grows slowly because we are trying all the time to get the people out of their old ways, which most of the people like best, and so they are held by the other churches.

The large rice planters are doing nothing for them, only to keep them on their farms and get all the work out of them they can, and pay them as little as possible for their work. How is this done?

By giving them great feasts on the Sabbath. At these feasts they have the colored people come into the big house (this means the white people’s house) and shout for them, as it is called here, but I call it dancing. They are given ginger snaps, rum and wine. This kind of a party, or feast, or shout, was given last Sunday (they are called by all these names). I am told that the colored people on a certain plantation ate two boxes of ginger snaps, and drank two gallons of wine and four gallons of rum. They have them on the Sabbath so as not to stop the work.

This is the way they hold them. I said in my haste last Sabbath, if the white man was to tell them that on the other side of Hell they could get as much rum and wine as they could get free, many of them would try to cross over. Many of them have given up all they have for it, and will go anywhere to get it. This is awful, but it is the truth. Our work will tell in the end in saving those that believe. Please excuse any rough expressions, but this is not half like it is. I am not able to tell just how the people do act here; still they are my people, and I must do all for them I can. Pray for me, that I may have courage to do my part of the work.

A Lady’s Sunday-School and Missionary Work.

MISS O. B. BABCOCK, MACON.

My infant class in Sunday-school has grown from five to forty-five since I came; and, as I visit all my scholars, it keeps me busy. Monday afternoons I give to practising music in the Sunday-school; Wednesday, we have our school prayer-meeting; Thursday, a mother’s meeting, for prayer and conversation. This last has always been an interesting feature in my labors among the poor, and I trust it will be so here. Friday evening, I have a meeting for Bible-reading and prayer in the cabins near by. The reading is greatly enjoyed by the people. Sunday evenings I usually spend in the same way. Saturday, at 2 P.M., I have the sewing-school, numbering seventy-five, and weekly increasing in numbers and interest. The mothers are delighted, and the children not less so. As the entire burden of the work rests on me, with no white help, you can see that my moments at home are all occupied with cutting and basting. I have finally succeeded in getting some colored teachers, and may, in time, have help in preparing work. I try to visit the homes of all the scholars, that I may know their condition and needs. This is one of the very best means of access to the people, and helps to fill up the Sunday-school with needy ones. I feel as much at home as if I had always lived here, and can go to any part of the city with perfect ease. I have visited Vineville, Unionville, East Macon, Tybee, Sandy Bottom, etc., the suburbs of the city.

There was one dear old colored aunty here who was sick for months, but always so tender and thoughtful of me that my visits were a comfort and even pleasure. She went home last week, after a blessed death, singing with her last breath: “I’se passed over Jordan! Hallelu! Hallelu!” I wouldn’t have believed that I should miss her as I do. I don’t find many like her.

I feel very grateful for the barrels that I have received; I have received one barrel from Boston, a cask and barrel from Newburyport, one from Wentworth, N. H., one from Chicago. I have written letters to nine different Sunday-schools, and keep up a constant correspondence with my own church and Sunday-school, also with the Ladies’ Society in it. This was at first a burden to me, but it becomes easier and more of a pleasure. I find I have made 150 calls during January, and though this is not a large number, still it implies a great many miles of walking. I often can make but one or two calls in half a day, the distances are so great and there is no way to ride. I have spent a great many hours in teaching children their A B C’s and reading to them. I carry primers with me and find plenty of teaching to do.

A Communion Season—District Meetings.

MISS E. W. DOUGLAS, M^cINTOSH, LIBERTY CO.

It was our Communion Sabbath and eleven united with the church, one by letter. Five were baptized, four by sprinkling, one by immersion. While a few went to the water to witness that ordinance, the many gathered in the church for a season of prayer, and I think that hour gave tone to the services of the day. I have seldom, if ever, seen so much quietness and seriousness in so large a gathering of this emotional people as there was that day. I refer to the greetings after the close of the service. There is usually much loud talking and laughing. The lesson of the morning hour was that they should not forget that the object of the Lord’s table was not to draw a crowd together to meet one another, but to meet the Lord and “remember” Him, and the chapter read and explained by the pastor when he returned from the water led our thoughts to the Crucified One. Three of those who united with the church professed conversion during the week of prayer.

As the members of this church are so widely scattered that it is difficult for the pastor to visit them often, they are arranged in seven districts, each having its “watchman,” whose duty it is to sustain district prayer-meetings and to report to the pastor any thing needing his attention. I have attended one of these district meetings, and hope to attend at least one every week.

Church and School must Work Together.

REV. S. E. LATHROP, MACON.

During the last session of the Georgia Conference at Savannah, a debate took place on the subject of the church and school work as of necessity going together in this Southern field, which impressed me deeply. It was mainly carried on by the young colored brethren, both ministers and laymen, and in matter and manner showed that they knew whereof they spoke, and were deeply impressed with its importance. Any person who may have doubted the vital necessity of the school to the church work here, would surely have been convinced by the earnest arguments of these brethren, most of whom came to the church through the educational department of the mission work.

Said one young preacher: “The school is the primary department of the church. It trains the children and youth to think, and hence to accept of a thoughtful religion like ours, instead of the mere shouting and emotional style to which the ignorant and untrained cling. The true religion is one which teaches us to love God and our neighbor supremely, and this can be done best by the intelligence which comes only through the school training.”

Another said: “Our people never had any mental training, or any encouragement to think for themselves, and did not know how, until the A. M. A. schools awakened these powers. We, as a race, are not naturally a reasoning people. We are too much governed by impulse, by emotion, by instinct, by passions, and too easily offended, with little self-control. Slavery was a very poor mental discipline, and when freedom came, there were many extravagant ideas and ignorant impulses that led the people to extremes. The utter lack of public schools for our race made us at first prize most highly the advantages offered so generously by the A. M. A. Afterward, as the slumbering intelligence slowly awoke, we saw not only the intrinsic value of education, but we were more able to appreciate the kindness which suggested the sending of these faithful teachers and missionaries. Gratitude prompted us, in many cases, to break away from the old superstitious churches, and growing enlightenment helps us to see more clearly the superior advantages of an intelligent religion. The consecrated teachers of the Association have many of them done grand missionary work, although very few of them are open to the charge of sectarianism. Congregationalism, by its broad, liberal, unsectarian policy of churches and schools, has done a vast amount of good to all the other denominations. They are being leavened more and more by true intelligence, and the ancient foundations of ignorance and hierarchy are slowly giving way. Upon their ruins shall arise more beautiful temples to God, more enlightened worship, more worthy conceptions of daily life and religious duty.”

Another speaker claimed that “The day-school brings about sympathy of the day scholars with the church and Sunday-school work. The religious exercises of the schools cause the impression that there is a soul as well as a brain to be trained. The knowledge that the teachers are universally engaged in Sunday-school work, by the very law of cause and effect, calls attention to that work also. The sympathy that always exists between the preacher and teachers, and the hearty interest in the children that is shown by the ministers, cause both parents and children to think that the work is all one, as it really is. New England ‘blossoms as the rose’ to-day, because the church and the school-house have always been built together, and in their mutual work are as inseparable as the Siamese twins. May the day hasten when it shall be so in the South.”

The young delegate from Atlanta said: “The first church of Atlanta is the outgrowth of the Storrs School, whose devoted teachers have always sought after the spiritual as well as the mental welfare of their scholars. They have been true missionaries and worthy co-laborers in the Gospel with the pastors of the church.”

A young preacher, who is also the successful teacher of the day-school in his parish, said that “The training of the school children to be punctual at the morning roll-call, teaches also the very necessary habit of punctuality at church, in which our people are so deficient. The promptness, the discipline of order, cleanliness, good behavior and attention, which is taught in school, has also a corresponding effect in the church services. If our people were educated and enlightened, perhaps the church could get on without the school; but in their ignorance they must be taught to think, before they can get a right idea of Bible religion. The intellect must go with the heart, preparing the way for the coming of the Lord. Superstition is still a formidable enemy in our church work, and nothing but sanctified intelligence will ever defeat that adversary.”

Said another delegate: “I came into the church through the night-school. I was working hard all day and could not attend day-school, but went at night and studied as well as I could. There I first heard of the Congregational church. I found by inquiry that it was a church which had been very active in the anti-slavery times, and believed in free speech, free schools, free churches and equal rights in church and state. That attracted me, and I inquired more, until finally God forgave my sins and I united with the church. I love more and more the freedom and fraternity I find, and I believe in the church, which makes so much of schools, and has educated so many of my people.”

Said another: “The church must go with the school, because education alone only sharpens the mind for greater mischief. In the very nature of things, every school teacher ought to be a true Christian, to exert a Christ-like influence in the school, to encourage pupils to attend church and Sunday-school. The teacher’s power is greater over scholars here than in the North.”

Dr. Roy spoke of the many mission Sunday-schools and churches which had sprung up around Talladega College, the result of labor by the Christian students. He also recalled the history of the mission schools in India, which, on account of some complaints, were at one time given up, to the great detriment of the missions.

This is but an outline of the remarks made upon this important subject, which would have cheered the hearts of all philanthropists to hear. The decorum and general manner of expression throughout would have done honor to the most dignified deliberative body.

ALABAMA.

Notes from Marion.

MRS. GEO. E. HILL.

Sundays are our grand working days. As we have services morning and night, the afternoon is left free to meet the people in other ways.

Sometimes the women come to the “Home” for a prayer-meeting, or the little children come in to hear Bible-stories told or read. Sometimes I have a Bible-reading for boys. They come, bringing their Bibles, and pencil and paper, and I read them some of the precious verses marked in my own Bible, or choose some story like that of the Shunamite, which they are not familiar with.

Many of them read imperfectly, and so lose the full meaning of the words, and we find that the “old, old story” becomes new and strangely sweet as we read it aloud to them, with fresh emphasis and expression.

An old man once said to me, “If I had a hundred dollar bill, I’d give it in a minute if I could read the Bible.”

Last Sunday, I invited several boys to come and see me. I seated them round a table, and gave them eight or ten copies of “Life and Light” and “Missionary Herald” to look over. Choosing for my text the pictures, I talked an hour with them, and selected an interesting fact or incident for each one to give that night at our monthly missionary meeting.

A fine, large missionary map has been donated to the church by the Sunday school in Weymouth, Mass., which is very useful in showing the people the great world, about which they know so little.

The girls’ sewing-class has sent $38 to the Mendi Mission.

Our Sunday-school numbers about eighty, and is the pleasantest and most orderly school I have seen at the South. The children come to their classes neatly dressed, after the Saturday’s washing and ironing, and give quiet attention during the hour. We find blackboard illustrations helpful in fixing the thoughts of the lesson. One Sunday, twenty maps of Palestine were handed in, in connection with the lesson.

The Sunday-school concerts are a special attraction, and are attended by many from other churches. At our last, several prominent white citizens were present.

We wish our friends at the North could see how well these colored children carry through the Bible Exercises and other recitations.

Every Monday at 4 P. M., the women meet at the “Home” for an hour of prayer. They have no clocks to tell the time by; but as most of them live in sight, I hang a white flag on the gatepost, fifteen minutes before the hour. We call this our “Gospel flag!”

The prayers of these women are marked by an unquestioning trust. They ask directly for what they want, without getting entangled in the formalities of more educated Christians, and they evidently feel that they speak into a listening ear.

Their faces often beam with pleasure as they hear the reading of the Bible. “What a glorious chapter this is!—it feels so holy!”—one of them said.

They need these hours of prayer, for life with them is hard, and pinched, and poor, and in their small houses of one or two rooms, full of little children, washing and ironing, and cooking, these mothers have no “closet” where they may shut themselves in for communion with Jesus, and get patience and strength for the day. But are not their prayers heard, as they stand by the tub, washing for the rich?—or bend over the cradle, in which, for some, there is always a baby—or cook the meal, which to us would seem so scanty? A woman once told me, that in slavery times, she went down in the garden, among the butter-beans, to pray—and there she had such a season of joy, that when she came in, and took her place at her master’s table, to brush away the flies, “’pear’d like glory was in de fly-brush!”

For the last five months, we have had an afternoon school for children under 14 years of age, here at the “Home.” A large room on the back gallery was fitted up for them, and here twenty-five children come every day and are taught from 1 to 4 o’clock.

Besides the ordinary book lessons, their young teacher instructs them in good manners, neatness and simple fancy-work, and gives each day a half-hour talk on birds, plants or animals, illustrated by pictures on the blackboard.

The children are quick to learn and eager for all kinds of information, which they take home and repeat to their parents, when the work of the day is done.

Some of these parents who cannot even read themselves, are “proud” to hear their children talk intelligently about Washington, or Napoleon, or Henry Bergh.

This is our third winter among the Freedmen, but we feel that we are just learning how to be missionaries, and how to get at the people, and meet them in their great needs. Are we happy in our work? Yes; happy and content. Even in our “small corner” we have the Master’s presence, and feel it a privilege to work among His lowly ones.

MISSISSIPPI.

A Brother’s Devotion.

MRS. G. STANLEY POPE, TOUGALOO.

When we first came to Tougaloo, two years ago last fall, we found a young man who had been here a few days, Frank H——. He had run away from his uncle, because of his cruelty to him. He was then about nineteen years old. He was anxious to get an education; and although he had not a cent of money, he proved to be such a faithful boy, both at his books and at work, that with but little help he managed to earn his board and pay his way in school. He had been a very wicked boy, but Christ wrought a great change in him, and before the year closed, he became a most conscientious Christian.

He remained right here, working on the farm during the summer, and studying when school was in session, until about two months ago, when he left and went to work. He had often spoken of a sister who was still with his uncle, and he was anxious to get her away, and have her in school. A little over a week ago, he received his pay for his work, and went to get his sister. He tried to persuade his uncle to let her go, but he would not listen to it, and said she should never leave him. Frank found out from her that she was greatly abused, and that she wanted to leave and come with him. She is not more than fourteen years old, and small for her age, but when Frank found her she was burning brush and helping to clear up new land. Her whole work has been in the field, plowing and hoeing, picking cotton and “pulling fodder.”

Frank finally made up his mind to “kidnap” her; so a little after dark, when she was feeding the mules, he told her his plan, and they left at once for the swamp, as it would be less easy to track them there. After going through that, they walked till nearly midnight to get to a railroad station farther away than the one they usually went to, as Frank knew his uncle would be down there in the morning to find them. The girl, whose name by the way is Leah, had no clothing on except a cotton dress and a bit of an old shawl over her head; so, early in the morning, Frank went to a store and got calico for two dresses, and hired them made, both being finished (after a fashion) by night, he paying a dollar apiece for the work. He also bought her some shoes and a few other things, and a little after dark they took the cars for this place, arriving here about midnight. Frank stayed over the Sabbath, and then went back to his work to earn money to keep her in school. He said to me, “she’s all the sister I’ve got, and I want her to do well.” She did not know a letter, but she is quick and bright, and during the few days she has been in school she has done well; she knows nothing about housework, but is willing and tries to learn. I asked her yesterday if she knew about God. “Not much.” “Have you ever been to Sabbath-school?” “No.” “Ever been to church?” “Twice.” “Do you know about Jesus?” “Never heard of him.”

Oh, Christian women of the North! do you need to go to India or Turkey to find heathen? I assure you, Leah is not an isolated case; she is a fair sample of thousands in the South.

Your “Woman’s Board of Missions” is doing a good work for God and humanity. I would not underestimate its value; but while you are responding so liberally to the calls for help from afar, are you not forgetting this work of no less importance which lies nearer to you, the work of giving Christian education to the despised and degraded colored women of the South?

We are very sorry to have Frank out of school. He can not afford it, neither can you afford it, for if he could be in school for one or two years longer, he would make a very fair teacher for the country schools.

He hopes to be here next year; but if he has to clothe himself and his sister, and pay seven dollars apiece a month for their board, I don’t see much chance for him. Does any one feel called upon to take the responsibility of her board bill?

Report

Of the State Superintendent of Public Education to His Excellency Governor J. M. Stone, and the Honorable Legislature of the State of Mississippi.

TOUGALOO UNIVERSITY.

This institution, under the direction and control of the American Missionary Association, is doing a most excellent work in the education of the colored youth of the State. For a number of years after its establishment an annual appropriation was made by the State, supplementary to the funds contributed by the Society, and a Board of Trustees was appointed on the part of the State. This Board still exists; but inasmuch as the last Legislature failed to make appropriation for the University, and as the property belongs to the Missionary Society, it would appear to be useless. The Principal, writing on the 20th of December, 1879, says: “The improvement in the school is very marked. This is seen in the general training of students, in the greater number who are desiring to complete the regular course of study, the increased number in attendance in the higher grades, in more frequent visits from patrons, and by the friends it is making among the whites where our students have been at work.

The management of the institution is admirable, its teachers are superior, and everything connected with it is in excellent condition, as I have had occasion to learn from personal observation. As a recognition of the good work being done by the American Missionary Association in the education and elevation of the colored people of the State, it is recommended that a liberal appropriation be made, that it may be rendered still more useful.”

J. A. Smith,

State Supt. of Public Education.

LOUISIANA.

Revival in the Central Church—Theological Department—Church Dedication.

REV. W. S. ALEXANDER.

The hope expressed in my last letter that I might have glad tidings to send you, has been fully realized, and it is my happiness to record one of the most precious revivals in the history of the Central Church. I do not forget the history of the past four years, and the seasons of spiritual awakening through which the church has passed. The present movement differs from the preceding, if at all, in a more intelligent grasp of the truth, and in a deeper spiritual tone. The past summer was a time of preparation for the scenes that were to follow. The Revival was the constant theme of conversation and prayer. It was the one burden upon their hearts. Sunday, January 4, the first day of the week of prayer, was marked by evident signs of deepening interest. On that day, eight were received to the church, of whom three came on profession of their faith. For twenty-seven consecutive evenings, we met in our lecture room. The Gospel was preached with directness and earnestness. A “church in earnest” took hold of the work and pressed it forward. Beginning with an audience of 75, the numbers in constant attendance rapidly increased to 200. The interest suffered no diminution to the last night, when six came forward to the “mourners’ seats” with the cry, “Pray for us.” Some continued in an anxious state for two, three or four weeks, while others, coming in from motives of curiosity merely, were stricken down by God’s Spirit, and as quickly brought into the light and liberty of believers.

An old man of 70 years was brought into the Kingdom, and is as happy as the youngest convert. Another, much in political life, and who publicly said, “I have been an awful sinner,” seems now to be a reformed and converted man.

Four of our University students have joyfully professed Christ.

While incidents occurred daily which touched our hearts, and added to the tenderness and deep solemnity of our meetings, they cannot of course be faithfully recorded, and I do not attempt it.

Let me say that there was no undue excitement, and not the slightest approach to merely physical and emotional demonstrations. The work was too intelligent, too spiritual for that. In prayer, in song, and in appeal, human agency was forgotten, and the converting power of the Divine Spirit was reverently recognized.

Sunday, Feb. 1st, was our “Feast of Ingathering.” Of the thirty converted in the meetings, twenty-four were received to the fellowship of the church, with two who came to us by letter. The people brought flowers for the pulpit and communion-table. Of the 250 present in the audience, 150 received the sacrament. “The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad.”

The Theological Department is larger than in any previous year. It numbers twenty members, young men of zeal and promise, not only willing but eager to be instructed in the truths and doctrines of God’s word. Four of the class are ordained ministers, of whom two are pastors of churches in New Orleans. Not all of them have the ministry in view. Those who have not, are hoping through this instruction to become more useful and efficient in the church. Three theological lectures are given each week, and there are besides sermons given by the students before the class for criticism, and discussions on religious topics. Our great lack is books of reference. We have no systems of theology, and no commentaries to which the young men can have access. In the “good time coming,” these we trust will be supplied, and so the efficiency of the department be increased.

Church Dedication.—In response to an earnest invitation from the Congregational Church in New Iberia, I went down on Saturday, the 14th inst., to assist in the dedication of their new church. The terrific windstorm of last September laid their tasteful and really beautiful house of worship in ruins. The building was a total wreck. The storm, as it swept up the bayou, left only desolation in its track. The people, with commendable energy and self-denial, bating not one jot of heart or hope, set themselves to the work of rebuilding. They purchased more ground, put up a larger and better building, and the machinery of the church is again in working order. They have expended something like $450, and urgently need $200 more for painting and furnishing. The people feel that they have exhausted their resources. It is a noble enterprise, and should be encouraged. Loyalty to our Congregational polity in Louisiana should call forth a hearty response to their appeal. At the service of dedication, the house was crowded to its utmost capacity. Both morning and night the word was received with all readiness and gladness of heart. Southern Louisiana is a beautiful country, unsurpassed for productiveness, and should be dotted all over with churches where the Gospel in its simplicity, clearness and power may be preached. God speed the day!

TENNESSEE.

Revival in Fisk University.

PROF. H. S. BENNETT.

A quiet but deep work of grace has been in progress since the week of prayer in our institution. The week of prayer was observed as usual with us, but without any special increase of interest. The question then came up, “Shall we pass through the year without our usual work of grace?” This led to earnest prayer and consecration on the part of teachers and Christian students. The result was soon perceptible in greater earnestness among Christians, and a wide-spread spirit of inquiry among the impenitent. At this point the attendance on the half-hour prayer meetings was largely increased. From six to ten inquirers presented themselves for prayers from night to night, and from this time the work went forward. Four students were converted on one Sabbath, and others were brought out into the light. Thus the work went forward hopefully but quietly, until, up to this time, fourteen students have expressed a hope in Christ. This is the second season of interest during the present scholastic year. Before Christmas, a brief season of spiritual awakening brought seven students out upon the Lord’s side, so that the results of the year have been twenty-one conversions. Several others are still inquiring, and the work goes on, though with less manifest power than a few weeks ago.

The results of the revival have been seen in the deepening of the earnestness of Christians, so that much of the power of the good work does not appear.