The Journal of Negro History, Volume 7, 1922Various
History
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 7, 1922
Various
African Americans -- Periodicals
As to what measure of prosperity attended the work of the Negro
Baptist church at Savannah, Georgia, during the years 1779-1782, we
are not informed. It was well that at a time when churches in some
parts were going to pieces because of the ravages of war, this little
flock remained intact. We infer, however, that it did a most blessed
work. George Liele speaks in one of his letters of one "Brother
Amos,"[51] who appears to have been a product of the Negro church at
Savannah, or the older church at Silver Bluff, South Carolina. Amid
the changes wrought in the closing days of the Revolutionary War, this
Negro preacher had his lot cast in New Providence, Bahama Islands,
British West Indies. According to George Liele, Amos had a membership
of three hundred in 1791. Benedict informs us that Amos was in
correspondence with his brethren in Savannah, Georgia, in 1812, and at
that time the church at New Providence numbered eight hundred and
fifty.
A REMNANT OF LIELE'S CHURCH IN SAVANNAH AFTER THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
What portion of the Savannah Church remained in America, after the
evacuation of the city of Savannah by the British, in 1782, we are not
able to state. But blessings and trials attended both that portion of
the flock which went abroad and that which remained. Andrew Bryan,
Hannah Bryan, Kate Hogg, and Hagar Simpson,[52] were among the last
converts received into the fellowship of the Negro Baptist church at
Savannah before the pastor, the Rev. George Liele, sailed for the West
Indies in 1782. These and probably others, like Jesse Peter, remained
in America after the restoration of peace between the United States
and the "mother-country," and labored under Andrew Bryan, their new
spiritual leader, for the continuation of the work which had been so
blessed of God under the labors of George Liele.
From Liele's departure, in 1782, to the time of Andrew Bryan's
ordination, in 1788, the little flock at Savannah, Georgia, was
bitterly persecuted, but its work for resuscitation, and progress, was
wonderful--wonderful because of the moral heroism which characterized
it. It is reasonable to suppose, however, that much of the opposition
to the church at Savannah from 1782 to 1787 was due to the
circumstances in which it had come into being, and not to any real
antipathy to the cause of Christ. For it must be borne in mind that it
was a creature of the Revolutionary War, and of British origin, having
been planted when the rightful people of Savannah were languishing in
exile, or heroically struggling with the enemy in other parts of the
country. Bryan and his associates were beaten unmercifully for their
persistency in holding on to the work, but they were prepared to yield
their lives in martyrdom[53] sooner than relinquish what George Liele
had instituted. So it lived--lived amid the fires of persecution.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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