USA > Virginia > Henrico County > Henrico County > The first century of the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia. 1780-1880 > Part 10
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The Church was ready for the visit of the re- turned missionary, Luther Rice, and the " For- eign Missionary Society of Virginia " was organized here in 1813-the year before the organization of the Triennial Convention. The testimony is indubitable that this Society was organized in 1813. At the Semi-Centennial "Jubilee " of the American Baptist Missionary Union, held in Philadelphia in 1864, Deacon William Crane, who was a member of this Church from 1812 to 1821, said that he assisted, to organize this Society "in November, 1813." He was one of its original managers. J. B. Taylor, in his "Virginia Baptist Ministers," states that Samuel L. Straughan was sent by
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this Society as their missionary to Maryland, in 1814. But the point is put beyond all question.
The Fortieth Annual Report of the Society, made in 1853, opens with these words : "Forty years have passed," that is from 1813, " since this Society came into existence. It was found- ed shortly after the return from India of our esteemed Brother Rice, and was among the first of those organizations which were represented in the Triennial Convention." Thus had this Church the honor of the organization, under its auspices, of the first Missionary Society of the South. William Crane said, " Perhaps south of Philadelphia."
The only remark I make on this first period of the Church's missionary history is that, being thus early called of God to the work of mis- sions, the Church should manifest its apprecia- tion of the honor, and its realization of its re- sponsibility, by its perseverance and progress to the end. "The path of the just is as the shi- ning light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
SECOND PERIOD: FROM 1813 TO 1846. LUTHER RICE.
It would be strange if the enthusiasm on For- eign Missions, which was kindled by the return
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to this country of Luther Rice, and which swept like a sea of fire from Maine to Georgia, had not inflamed the First Baptist Church of Richmond. This place Mr. Rice called one of his three " homes;" and a home indeed did he find here under the hospitable roof of Archibald Thomas, and in the heart of the whole Church, whose funds were sometimes represented in the General Convention by this most eloquent advocate for the world's evangelization that America has ever produced.
THE FEMALE MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
On the last Sunday in March, 1817, Luther Rice preached the Anniversary Sermon of this Society. It must have existed at least a year before. The probabilities of its formation not long subsequent to Mr. Rice's first visit to Rich- mond, in 1813, is suggested by the fact, that, between 1816 and 1817, the Society was so strong that it contributed to Foreign Missions some five hundred dollars-only eighty or ninety of which was given under the persuasive elo- quence of Mr. Rice's discourse.
Mrs. Archibald Thomas, lately fallen on sleep, was one of the early Treasurers of the Society.
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In 1834, it was commended to the Dover Asso- ciation by the Church as "increasing in efforts."
In 1836, it sent a delegate to the General Convention, having raised the year previous $314.83-of which $138.74 was for the outfit of the missionaries Shuck and Davenport. The next year, the Society gave $272.66; and in 1838, $418.89.
In 1846, the Society organized under the Southern Baptist Convention, and adopted as their missionary the Chinese convert, Yong Seen Sang, who was in this country with J. L. Shuck, and addressed the Society on the occasion. Since that day, this man of God, than whom there is no nobler Chinaman on our planet, has been sustained by this Society, as one greater than he was supported by honorable women of his day.
In thirty-eight years, the Society donated $6550. If the annual average, $172, be applied to the sixty-five years of its existence, the con- tributions of the Society to Foreign Missions will aggregate $11,180.
To avoid further reference to this Society, its officers, since its organization under the Southern Baptist Convention, may be here recorded :
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Presidents : Mrs. Josephine Ryland, Mrs. Edward Kingsford, Mrs. Matilda Walthall, Mrs. A. G. Wortham, Mrs. Martha A. Page, Mrs. H. A. Tupper.
Vice-Presidents : Mrs. J. L. Burrows, Mrs. James Thomas, Jr.
Treasurer: Mrs. Archibald Thomas, Miss S. Pearce, Mrs. Coleman Wortham.
Secretaries : Miss Jane Reins, Miss S. Ligon, Mrs. Callie T. Ryland, Mrs. C. T. Knight.
Three of these ladies died while in office- Mrs. Josephine Ryland, Mrs. Callie T. Ryland, and Mrs. J. L. Burrows. Their memory is embalmed by the Society in touching and beau- tiful tributes.
RICHMOND AFRICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
In his Memoir of James C. Crane, Dr. Bur- rows says of this man of God: "He was es- pecially interested in the Mission to Africa. Mainly through the influence of his brother and himself, Lott Carey and Colin Teage, the first Baptist missionaries from America to Africa, were encouraged, equipped, and designated to that important field in 1821. To aid in the support of this mission, a Society had been or- ganized in 1815, among the colored members
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of the Richmond churches, of which Society J. C. Crane was, for many years, the Secretary, corresponding with the missionaries abroad, and communicating with their supporters at home. This humble Society he loved to repre- sent in public Anniversaries, Associations, and Conventions. He was their special delegate in the Triennial Convention of 1832, held in the city of New York. He continued the earn- est friend and liberal supporter of African Mis- sions and African Colonization, to the close of his life."
In a letter before me, dated " Richmond, February 22d, 1855," William Crane, senior brother of James C. Crane, writes: "In looking at the original Record Book of the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society I find in the hand-writing of Lott Cary * * that it was formed the 26th of April, 1815. On Easter Monday, 1817, officers were elected- Wm. Crane, President, Colin Teage, Vice- President.
I was, during the years 1815, '16, '17, and '18, engaged, for the benefit of the leading colored members of the Church, in a gratuitous school at the old Baptist Meet- ing House, * at first in connection with Brother David Roper, * and subsequently
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with Rev. John Bryce, Co-pastor of the Church. This African Missionary Society collected near one hundred dollars per annum, *
* and seven hundred dollars were expended on the outfit of Lott Cary and Colin Teage." William Crane states also, that for fifteen or twenty years he was President or Secretary of this Society.
This work of these Crane brothers was honor enough for any two men ; and no little honor was it to this Church, of which they were members.
THE SEWING CIRCLE.
This Society is classed in this period, as it appears to be the successor of a venerable Society, to which an aged and former member of this Church makes in writing the following reference : " I think it was about this time that Mr. Luther Rice made his advent in Richmond. The Church was stirred to its depths. The proceeds of the Sewing Society were de- voted to Foreign Missions, and the old ladies were constantly employed in knitting socks for the missionaries in Burmah." The ladies of the present Society will not object to link their history with that of the " Sewing Society " of these noble mothers in Israel, although the
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organization or re-organization of the "Sewing Circle" belongs strictly to a later period. Their official statement is as follows :
The Sewing Society was organized November 30, 1855. Its object, to provide means for supporting a city missionary.
Among its principal officers are the names of Mrs. J. L. Burrows, Mrs. James Thomas, Mrs. Edwin Wortham, Presi- dents ; Mrs. C. Walthall, Mrs. E. W. Warren, and Mrs. J. B. Hawthorne, Vice Presidents; Mrs. Wilson Thomas, Mrs. Henry Hudnall, and Mrs. Lewis Frayser, Treasurers; Miss Mary Ella Thomas, Mrs. Samuel Harvey, and Miss Sallie Brockenbrough, Secretaries.
Prior to the war we paid a city missionary from six to seven hundred dollars annually. For the past eight years we have assisted in the support of the Pastor of Venable-Street Church, paying now to that cause two hundred dollars annually. In addition to this we make contributions for the clothing of the Dorcas children.
Honorable mention must be made of Mrs. Martha A. Page, who is still with us, and of Mrs. M. E. Hillyard, who has crossed the river.
It should be added that the city missionary referred to above was I. T. Wallace, under whose valuable labors the " Fulton Section " was organized, which has grown into the Ful- ton Church of this city.
In the early part of the second period there was a " Judson Female Missionary Society," for the translation of the Scriptures into Burmese.
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In 1823, Mrs. Ann Haseltine Judson wrote to the Society and thanked them for a contribu- tion. Whether this was a distinct Society, or another form of the Sewing Society or of the Female Missionary Society, cannot be now ascertained. It is sufficient that the women of the Church, from these early dates, have been earnestly and variously engaged for the world's evangelization.
CHURCHES FOUNDED.
Reference has been made to the Fulton Church. Sidney was also " a section " of this Church. The Venable-Street Church sprang from a Sunday-school, under the conduct of our brother, Lewis Frayser. The Fourth Church was organized, in part, by members of this Church, and one of its pastors, Duncan R. Campbell, was of this Church. In 1820, mem- bers of this Church constituted the Second Church, which, for missionary discipline and energy, is second to none in the State. In 1854, the Leigh-Street Church was organized, mainly by members of the First Church, and now it is one of the largest white churches in the city.
In 1845, the First African Church, which is one of the three largest churches of the world,
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came out of ours. What centers of missionary influence have these churches become ! What abundant fruit has been borne by these children of the old missionary Mother Church !
BAPTIST GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF VIRGINIA.
George B. Taylor, in his " Virginia Baptists," says : "In 1862, at the First Baptist Church, Richmond, the Constitution of the General Association was reported, and in 1823 it was adopted, and the body was organized under it." Henry K. Ellyson, Corresponding Secretary of the Association, writes, May 21, 1880: "In read- ing just now the address of Rev. James Fife at our semi-centennial, I notice that he refers to Rev. John Bryce as Pastor of the First Church in 1823. If he was, he must be put down as one of the founders of the General Association from your Church, being one of the delegates of 1823." From the file of the Richmond Enquirer of 1822, we find that the ministers in Richmond at that time were: John Buchanan, Richard Channing Moore, John Courtney, John H. Rice, David Roper, John Bryce, Wm. H. Hart, Peyton Anderson, and Jesse H. Turner. Mr. Bryce became Co-pastor of the Church in 1810, and resigned finally in 1822. Mr. Ellyson
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also writes : " It is within my personal know- ledge that during the past thirty-three years the First Church has been the largest contributor to the treasuries of the Boards of the General Association and of the societies which were merged into the Association in 1855." Thus identified with the missionary work of the Gene- ral Association, the First Church claims the privilege of recording the following statistics of the Association, from 1847 to 1880, furnished by the courtesy of its Corresponding Secretary: "In the past thirty-three years, we have had from fifteen to seventy-two missionaries in the field each year, averaging forty a year during all that time, not counting the four years of the war, when our work was suspended. During that time, 35,383 persons professed faith in Christ under their ministry; 223 churches and 487 Sunday-schools were organized by them; and they built 132 houses of worship."
In 1832, the First Church reported to the Association a "Male Missionary Society," and at the same time the addition of six hundred members, suggesting again that missionary labors return in blessings on the laborers, which is strikingly exemplified in the history of this Church and of the General Association.
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In 1839, the Church reported : "We continue to patronize liberally our benevolent institu- tions."
In 1841, the membership of the Church, white and colored, was 2670 souls.
In 1823, when the General Association began its missionary career, there were 40,000 Baptists in this State.
Since 1845, the State has dispensed for mis- sions outside of itself $276,027.37, and now there are 202,735 Baptists in the Common- wealth.
The President of the Association, when this paper was written, June 1, 1880, was J. L. M. Curry, of this Church.
BAPTIST CONVENTION OF VIRGINIA.
On Saturday evening, the 25th of December, 1824, Rice, Staughton, Dagg, and other distin- guished gentlemen, met at the house of D. Roper, of this city, to confer with regard to the organization of the above Convention, as an auxiliary of the "General Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States." An invitation to "all friendly to missions " was issued to meet on the following Monday at the "First Church," where the Constitution was pre-
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sented and the Convention organized. The following officers were elected :
President-Robert B. Semple. Vice-President-Henry Keeling.
Corresponding Secretary-David Roper.
Recording Secretary-George Roper. Treasurer-Anthony R. Thornton.
Other Managers-Madison Walthall, Peter Nelson, George Woodfin, Luther Rice, John L. Dagg, J. B. Jeter, John B. Valentine.
A strong address, by R. B. Semple, was pub- lished to arouse interest specially in the objects of the Triennial Convention. It is worthy of note that the Societies to be ancillary to this Convention were called "Primary or Mite Societies."
VIRGINIA FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
As has been stated, this Society was organ- ized here in 1813. It was an enlargement, as to objects, upon the General Association of 1771, and the General Meeting of Correspond- ence of 1800. For many years it was an earn- est auxiliary of the Triennial Convention.
In 1829, the Church happens to record that it took a public collection for the Society, but this was a common thing; and in 1847 it sent
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twenty delegates to the Society. In 1842, the Society urges the churches to observe "the Monthly Concert of prayer," at which our Church used to collect monthly some thirty or forty dollars for missions; and expresses the hope that Virginia would some day give ten thousand dollars a year to Foreign Missions, and the country one hundred and fifty thousand. In 1876, Virginia gave about that sum, and the country gives annually more than twice the one hundred and fifty thousand. But let it be said to the special honor of this Society that it reit- erated the sentiment which I hope this Church will never forget, that no amount of money, or any other means, would suffice without the gift of the Holy Ghost. "Not by might, nor power; but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." From 1835 to 1855, the proceedings of the Society were published with those of the General Associa- tion, which, in the latter year, incorporated Missionary Boards in its Constitution, and the Virginia Foreign Missionary Society passed out of existence. Here it may be recorded that since the extinction of this Society, viz .: from 1856 to 1880, the contributions of our Church through the Missionary Boards of the Associa- tion, have been as follows: Home Missions,
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$2,359.27; State Missions, $7,333.62; Foreign Missions, $8,901.74; total, $18,594.63. This venerable Society did not expire, however, until it had given birth to an institution greater than itself. In 1844, after the Board of the Triennial Convention had formally announced that it could not send any slave-holder into a missionary field, this Society issued an address, prepared by the then Pastor of this Church, J. B. Jeter, calling upon the churches of the South to meet in Convention to consider their duty under the circumstances. This was the origin of the Southern Baptist Convention, which was organ- ized in Augusta, Ga., in May, 1845.
It should be added that members of this Church, as Archibald Thomas, James Sizer, and Christopher Walthall, were prominent officers of the Virginia Foreign Missionary Society, through many years of its honorable career. This Society should be "marked with a white stone."
TRIENNIAL CONVENTION AND SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION.
From 1813 to 1845, the missionary contribu- tions of the Church and its societies went more or less directly to the Triennial Convention.
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These contributions aggregated some $24,- 680.82, which was about one-ninth of the sum, viz. : $215,856.26, given by the South for mis- sions. But this Church gave also to the Con- vention the wise counsels of such gifted and godly men as James C. Crane and Jeremiah B. Jeter, who were ever enthusiastic advocates of missions. Yet, further, the Church contributed several of her noble sons, as Eli Ball and Robert Davenport and Samuel C. Clopton, to the foreign fields. Other missionaries were set apart here, and went forth with the prayerful blessing of this Church upon them, which blessing returned to the Church in the deep- ening and widening of its own missionary character.
After 1845, the missionary energy and con- tributions of the Church found a medium of communication with the fields of missions in the Southern Baptist Convention. Among the organizers of this Convention were these mem- bers of this Church: J. B. Jeter, E. Ball, H. Keeling, A. Thomas, J. C. Crane. Dr. Jeter was made President of the Board of Foreign Missions, which position he held for more than twenty years, and E. Ball, Vice President for Virginia. Archibald Thomas held the office of
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Treasurer from the origin of the Convention until his death, and was succeeded by Edwin Wortham and John C. Williams. Charles T. Wortham was Auditor from 1845 to 1874. Of the original members of the Board, in addition to those mentioned, the following were from this Church: A. B. Smith, R. Ryland, A. G. Wortham, H. Keeling, J. Thomas, Jr., W. H. Gwathmey, and J. Talman, Sr. Thus was started in existence, by the pen of a Pastor of this Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, which has raised more than a million and a half of dollars for missions ; has preached the gos- pel in dark places of the South and Southwest, and to the Indians and Chinamen of our coun- try ; while it has maintained missions in every continent of our globe, and been the instru- ment in God's hand of inducting thousands, if not tens of thousands, into the kingdom of heaven.
In reviewing this second period, " we thank God and take courage."
THIRD PERIOD: 1846 TO 1880.
The relation of the Church to missions, in this period, may be briefly stated :
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I. ITS RELATION TO CITY, STATE, AND HOME MISSIONS.
Young Men's Missionary Society.
This Society was organized May 1, 1870. Its benevolence has extended to indigent children and college students; to State and Foreign Missions ; and specially to a German Mission in the city. The amount contributed to these objects in ten years is $4.141.93. In 1878, J. B. Walthall, Chairman of the Prayer Meeting Committee of the Society, started a prayer meeting in connection with the "Shockoe Mission " on Fourth Street, between Jackson and Duval Streets. Ashton Starke and J. B. Walthall have successively superintended the mission since that time. A chapel was erected for the mission by J. H. Sands, of our Church. The mission is now divided-one part worship- ping in the chapel, and the other in a hired room. The officers have been :
Presidents : C. McCarthy, J. B. Hill, F. Tup- per, R. B. Lee.
Treasurer : H. M. Walthall.
Corresponding Secretaries : R. B. Lee, H. H. Watkins, R. S. Bosher, R. F. Patterson.
Recording Secretaries : C. E. Lacy, H. Bode-
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ker, R. B. Lee, R. L. Woodward, P. Y. Tupper, F. W. Reins.
In 1833, a "Youth's Missionary Society" is reported to the Dover Association. In 1834, it was said to be making " increasing efforts." In 1836, it was represented in the General As- sociation by our no longer youthful brethren, J. L. Apperson and Christopher Walthall. It is not held that this Society and the Young Men's Missionary Society are connected, except in respect to the class of persons, and to the similarity of the names and objects of the two societies.
Dorcas Society.
This Society was organized in 1868. One who is deeply interested in the organization furnishes the following statement of the object and results of the Society :
The object of the Dorcas Society is to reach poor, ignorant, and outcast children ; to clothe them, and bring them into the Sunday-school, and thus to put them under the influence of the gospel. As to the results of our work, God has allowed us to see the fruit of our labor. We have seen the idle and the vicious reclaimed ; houses dark with poverty and intemperance lighted up with the beauty and the joy of the gospel; and the minds of children so moulded and guided as to give promise of abundant usefulness.
The officers of this Society are the same as
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those of the "Sewing Circle;" but the manage- ment of the Society is committed to Mrs. Laura Rutherford, whom the writer of the above calls "our efficient officer." Associated with Mrs. Rutherford in this Christly work, are Mrs. Josiah Ryland, Miss N. L. Hill, and Miss Jane Stanard.
The Girls' Aid Society.
I cannot afford to add to, or take from, the following report from the President of this Society, a single word :
The Girls' Aid Society was organized January 30, 1880, in the side chapel of the First Baptist Church. The meeting was called to order and the officers elected. Miss America A. Johnson was chosen President ; Miss Katie Jude, First Vice- President ; Miss Willie Callaham, Second Vice-President ; Miss Georgia Burress, Secretary; Miss Mary Sweeney, Treasurer. The Society has raised $17.35; of which ten dollars has been given to aid the Dorcas children. So far, the expenses have been only one dollar and a half, ninety cents of which was spent to buy a basket to put the fancy work in, and the remain- ing sixty cents was spent for Record and Account Books. Dues are paid to the amount of five cents a month. The So- ciety was organized with thirteen members, and now has a membership of forty-one.
May the Society live a hundred years!
2. THE CHURCH'S RELATION TO FOREIGN MISSIONS.
The Sunday-school.
Mrs. M. F. Dabney says, that in the earliest
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days of the school, there was a "Cent Society," and each scholar was required to give a penny a week to the heathen. I may venture on high authority to say, that in the past ten or fifteen years the school has averaged some one hun- dred dollars per annum for missions. The Infant Class has contributed in ten years at least five hundred dollars. With such seed-corn what a harvest of missionary beneficence. may be hoped for in the future of the Church !
Missionary Society of Richmond Female Insti- tute.
In 1856, a Deacon of this Church, full of the spirit of Missions, gave, with his sister, $1,000 to found a Missionary Society for the young ladies of this Institution. A letter to this So- ciety from our Missionary, Mrs. T. P. Crawford, was probably the means, under God, of leading Miss Edmonia Moon to China. Thence, per- haps, Miss Lottie Moon; and thence, what end- less consequences of good ! May the Society revive, and long live, and send other distin- guished representatives to their perishing sisters of pagan lands !
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Central Committee of Southern Baptist Conven- tion, and Mite Box Committee of Woman's Missionary Society of Richmond.
This Central Committee was appointed by the Board of Foreign Missions, agreeably to an action of the Southern Baptist Convention, in 1878. Mrs. Edwin Wortham, of this Church, is the Corresponding Secretary. Some thirty or forty societies have been organized in the State, under the auspices of the Committee. This Committee is identified with the Woman's Missionary Society of Richmond, of which Mrs. J. B. Jeter has been the only President. This Society was organized, April 4th, 1872, for the support of Miss Edmonia Moon. "Com- mittees on Mite Boxes " were appointed for the
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