terian minister, who achieved splendidly for the Negro, allayed the fears of his opponents by assuring them that the gospel would do more for the obedience of slaves and the peace of the community than even weapons of war. Chancellor Harper, of South Carolina, assured those who would keep slaves ignorant of the Scriptures that those who knew the Scriptures were the best slaves of the State. In the West Indies a missionary informs us that, "It was missionary influence that moderated their passions, kept them in the steady course of duty and prevented them from sinning against God by offending the laws of man. Whatever outbreaks occurred, no Methodist slave," he adds proudly, "ever proved guilty of incendiarism or rebellion for more than seventy years, namely, from 1760 to 1833."91 Another political consideration was very effective in alleviating the slaves' condition. The Revolutionary period gave rise to a remarkable spirit of toleration. White men were suffering and sympathetic chords in them were easily touched. The old spirit of intolerance was greatly softened. The sects had been granted religious freedom and they were buoyant. Records of the Quakers from 1764 to 1797 show their very special work among the Negroes. In Catholic Maryland slaves were even sent to schools with white children and there was no objection. Throughout the North abolition societies were organized which not only worked for the liberation of the slaves but succored and educated them. Negroes reaped splendidly of the spirit of the times. If there were political arguments for enslaving the blacks, there was at least one material or economic consideration in teaching them religion-it made them the more servile. And some slave holders thought that perhaps an enlightened laboring class might arrest the decline of the South. Negroes demonstrated that they became more useful when trained as laborers and artisans. Later the intelligence shown by the trained slaves was responsible for a re-action against educating them. Urged on by these considerations it was inevitable that the church should do much to alleviate the conditions of the slaves. We shall see presently to what action they were led, but before looking at the results that followed we desire to consider some of the difficulties which they faced. There were first difficulties of a purely social nature. The bigoted Puritans, remarks Woodson, were not anxious to incorporate undesir 91 Woodson, "Negro Church,” p. 27. able persons in their churches. And while in some parts Negroes were at first accepted in congregations and accorded privileges similar to those of others, their presence in many instances gave great offense. At Goose Creek Parish, in the colony of South Carolina, a large num ber of the blacks were brought into the church, but when they approached the communion table they found their presence there seriously objected to.92 Some of the members are said to have wondered if slaves could go to heaven anyway. The Presbyterian Synod of South Carolina and Georgia let it be known in 1833 that there was not sufficient room in the white churches for their accommodation and in 1834 admitted that "the gospel, as things are now, can never be preached to the two classes (white and blacks) successfully in conjunction." But it did permit that the galleries and back seats be appropriated to the Negroes, "when it can be done without inconvenience to the whites."93 Pastorious, writing against slavery in 1688 hinted at the practice of the churches when he wrote that the time would come, "When, from the gallery to the farthest seat, This social prejudice therefore was one of the deterrents to missionary endeavor. In certain parts of the North a similar difficulty was met. When one Miss Crandall attempted to establish a boarding school in Canterbury, Connecticut for Negroes, the effort was objected to by Andrew T. Judson on the ground that the Negroes should not be encouraged to elevate themselves in Connecticut, that they were inferior servants and should not be treated as equals of the Caucasians.9 94 Objections of a political nature were of greatest effectiveness perhaps. The Puritans recognized that if Negroes became full-fledged members of the church they would be entitled to equal political privileges. This, of course, was not to be thought of. The greatest fear that haunted the entire country however, was that the Negroes, when educated, and by some comforts were made to feel like men, would be led to revolt physically against their lot. This fear was not decreased when during that period of toleration while the Negroes were receiving their best treatment, a number of insurrections occurred. In the thirties of the nineteenth century there was a decided reaction against 92 Woodson, "The Negro Church," p. 7. 93 DuBois, "The Negro Church," p. 26f. 94 Woodson, p. 173. the Negroes, and for some twenty years they were subjected to the severest treatment and closest surveillance. An example of the vigilance exercised shows to what extreme it was carried. A contemporary describes this scene: "Last night a slave passing the jail was ordered by Esquire Wilson to stop. 'Where are you going?' 'My master sent me after the doctor.' 'It is a d -d lie,' said Wilson, 'pull off your shirt.' 'I can't do that,' said the slave and took hold of Wilson. The guards came to his help and held the slave while Wilson gave him twenty lashes. 'Now go home,' said he. 'I shan't; I shall go after the doctor,' replied the slave and ran, Wilson pursuing him."95 The further result of this attitude was the closing of schools, the prohibition of teaching slaves letters, orders and laws against the slaves assembling for religious worship-in short the crippling vitally of all missionary effort. The economic motive was present again. The arrival of new mechanical inventions enabled slave holders to dispense with much slave labor of the better sort, and on the other hand to increase the need of hands on the plantations. The plantation laborers were always the most difficult to be reached by missionaries, and the most difficult to Christianize and educate. Planters, too, saw but little need in having these beings elevated. Better, they thought, to let them live on the plane of beasts. To work them to death during a period of seven years and buy others was also regarded as cheaper than teaching and humanizing them. Not a few persons suspected that religion tended to draw the slaves' attention from their work and thus to decrease their efficiency. The opposite argument seems to have been the most influential, however. On the side of the Negroes there were certain difficulties that might be easily underestimated. Not all the Negroes desired to be converted. Bishop Gibson of London wrote to "Masters and Mistresses of Families in the English Plantations abroad," and acknowledged to certain difficulties. He said: "It may be pleaded that the Negroes are grown persons when they come over, and that having been accustomed to the Pagan Rites and Idolatries of their own country, they are prejudiced against all other Religions, and more particularly against the Christian, as forbidding all that Licentiousness which is usually practiced among the Heathens."96 There is some truth in 95 Thompson, “Prison Life,” p. 60. Quoted by Hart, "Slavery and Abolition," 111. 96 Woodson, p. 342. this, though it is possible that in the mind of an Englishman far from the scene it was given undue importance. It is also very possible that missionaries became discouraged often when they found their efforts yielding results only slowly. It may be that they misunderstood the nature of the slave, had a wrong approach, and it is possible that the slave's mind was slow to set working. In any event all persons of good intentions were not fitted thoroughly to civilize these Africans. This brings us to three other practical difficulties that were faced on the side of the missionaries. In the first place, there was a lack of workers. Remuneration was poor. The hardships were many, and it required very stout hearts to undertake the work. This limited number of workers naturally increased the distance that lay between them and their fields of operation. Another unfortunate circumstance was the poor class of ministers that often engaged in the work. While the pay was small, it was assured, and that was all that was asked by certain number of volunteers. Further they were paid whether they worked or not and slave holders often found it convenient to pay them not to work. It is reported that many spent their time at games, "that they tarried at the cup and looked upon the wine when it was red, in fact, became so interested in the enjoyment of the things inviting in this world that they had in some cases little time to devote to the elevation of the whites, to say nothing about the elevation of the Negroes.97 Thus it was that two great sets of forces were at war; on the one hand, those contributing to missionary zeal and on the other hand, those making successful effort difficult if not sometimes impossible. In concluding this chapter then, we shall see something of the net results to missionary effort, in face of the opposing forces. DuBois 98 speaks of three periods during which missionary efforts were being made among the slaves. That of the early eighteenth century, following the decision that baptism did not liberate, was of meagre results and spasmodic effort. The period of the revolution as we have seen, was productive of greater good. Jones 99 says of the conditions between 1790 and 1820 that: "It is not too much to say that both the religious and physical condition of the Negroes was improved during that period. Their increase was natural and regular, ranging over ten years, between 34 97 Woodson, "The Negro Church," 20f. 98 Op. cit., p. 26. 99 "Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United States," DuBois, op. cit., p. 26. and 36 per cent. As the old stock from Africa died out of the country the grosser customs, ignorance, and paganism of Africa died. with them. Their descendants, the country-born, were better looking, more intelligent, more civilized, more susceptible of religious impressions. "On the whole, however, but a minority of the Negroes, and that a small one, attended regularly the house of God, and taking them as a class, their religious instruction was extensively and most seriously neglected." The third period was that which followed the depression of the thirties. It will be remembered the dire effects of the period of reaction. The Presbyterian Synod of South Carolina and Georgia declared in 1833: "There are over two millions of human beings in the condition of heathen and some of them in a worse condition * *. The Negroes are destitute of the gospel, and ever will be under the present state of things * a ministry of their own color could neither be obtained nor tolerated. But do not Negroes have access to the gospel through the stated ministry of the whites? We answer, No. They have no regular and efficient ministry; as a matter of course, no churches; neither is there sufficient room in the white churches for their accommodation * * *. They have no Bibles to read by their own fireside. They have no family altars; and when in affliction, sickness or death, they have no minister to address to them the consolations of the gospel, nor to bury them with appropriate services." of The Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky in 1834 said: "Slavery deprives its subjects in a great measure the gospel * *. Very few of them enjoy the advantages of a regular gospel ministry."100 If this is taken as one side of the picture, there is another side which is much more comforting: Missionary enterprise was having results and when summed up will at least testify to the fine spirit and ability of many in the church. On the side of education there is first the considerable hunger for learning that was awakened in the Negroes. Benjamin Fawcett, a worker among the slaves in Virginia, tells how on Saturday and Sundays the Negroes crowded his house in search of reading materials. He writes, "My house is crowded with numbers of them, whose very countenance still carry the air of importunate Petitioners for the same Favors with those who came before them. But, 100 Jones, 167-8. DuBois, 27. |