In 1854 the report of the General Assembly on the instruction of the Negroes in the slave States said that instead of abating, the interest in the religious welfare of the Negroes was increasing. In their houses of worship provision at once special and liberal was made for the accommodation of the people of color so that they might enjoy the privileges of the sanctuary in common with the whites. "Besides this, nearly all of our ministers hold a service in the afternoon of the Sabbath, in which all exercises are particularly adapted to their capacities and wants. In some instances ministers are engaged in their exclusive service ... not ministers of inferior ability, but such as would be an ornament and a blessing to the intelligent, cultivated congregations of the land. In a still larger number of instances the pastor of a church composed of the two classes, inasmuch as the blacks formed the more numerous portion, devotes to them the greater share of his labors, and finds among them the most pleasing tokens of God's smiles upon his work. Besides the preaching of the word to which they have free access, in many cases a regular system of catechetical instruction for their benefit is pursued, either on the Sabbath at the house of worship or during the week on the plantations where they reside.... The position taken by our Church with reference to the much agitated subject of slavery secures to us the unlimited opportunities of access to master and slave, and lays us under heavy responsibilities before God and the world not to neglect our duty to either."