olored members. The Presbyteries of
Mississippi and Central Mississippi, of Tuscaloosa and South Alabama, of
Georgia, of Concord, and Fayetteville, also show many churches with
large proportions of colored communicants, from one-third to one-seventh
of the whole. Our own Presbytery reports 276 out of 1737 members. In the
whole of the above mentioned bodies, there are 9,076 colored, out of
33,667 communicants. Among the churches of these Presbyteries, we find
twenty with an aggregate colored membership of 3,600, or an average of
130 to each. We find also, such large figures as these, 260, 333, 356,
525! These facts speak for themselves and forbid discouragement."

Speaking of the obligations to instruct this class, the letter says:

"But these people are _among_ us, at our doors, in our own fields, and
around our firesides! If they need instruction, then the command of our
Lord, and every obligation of benevolence, call us to the work of
teaching them, with all industry, the doctrines of Christ. The _first
and kindest_ outgoings of our Christian compassion should be toward
them. They are not only near us, but are also entirely _dependent_ upon
us. As to all means of securing religious privileges for themselves, and
as to energy and self-directing power, they are but children,--forced to
look to their masters for every supply. From this arises an obligation,
at once imperative, and of most solemn and momentous significance to us,
to make thorough provision for their religious instruction, to the full
extent that we are able to provide it for ourselves. This obligation
acquires great additional force when it is further considered, that
besides proximity and dependence, they are indeed _members of our_
'_households_.' As the three hundred and eighteen 'trained servants' of
Abraham were 'born in his own house;' i. e., were born and bred as
members of his _household_, so are our servants. Of course no argument
is needed, to show that every man is bound by high and sacred
obligations, for the discharge of which he must give account, to provide
his _family_ suitably, or to the extent of his ability, with the means
of grace and salvation.

After dwelling on the duties of the ministry, the letter goes on:

"But the work of Christianizing our colored population can never be
accomplished by the labors of the ministry alone, unaided by the hearty
co-operation of families, by carrying on a system of _home instruction_.
_We must be