rshall.

--_Baptist Annual Register_, 1790-1793, page 545.

A LETTER FROM THE NEGRO BAPTIST CHURCH IN SAVANNAH, ADDRESSED TO THE
REVEREND DOCTOR RIPPON

Savannah-Georgia, U.S.A., Dec. 23, 1800.

_My Dear and Reverend Brother_,

After a long silence occasioned by various hindrances, I sit down to
answer your inestimable favour by the late dear Mr. White, who I hope is
rejoicing, far above the troubles and trials of this frail sinful state.
All the books mentioned in your truly condescending and affectionate
letter, came safe, and were distributed according to your humane
directions. You can scarcely conceive, much less than I describe, the
gratitude excited by so seasonably and precious a supply of the means of
knowledge and grace, accompanied with benevolent proposals of further
assistance. Deign, dear sir, to accept our united and sincere thanks for
your great kindness to us, who have been so little accustomed to such
attentions. Be assured that our prayers have ascended, and I trust will
continue to ascend to God, for your health and happiness, and that you
may be rendered a lasting ornament to our holy Religion, and a
successful Minister of the Gospel.

With much pleasure, I inform you, dear sir, that I enjoy good health,
and am strong in body, tho' sixty-three years old, and am blessed with
a pious wife, whose freedom I have obtained, and an only daughter and
child who is married to a free man, tho' she, and consequently, under
our laws, her seven children, five sons and two daughters, are slaves.
By a kind Providence I am well provided for, as to worldly comforts,
(tho' I have had very little given me as a minister) having a house and
lot in this city, besides the land on which several buildings stand, for
which I receive a small rent, and a fifty-six acre tract of land, with
all necessary buildings, four miles in the country, and eight slaves;
for whose education and happiness, I am enabled thro' mercy to provide.

But what will be infinitely more interesting to my friend, and is so
much more prized by myself, we enjoy the rights of conscience to a
valuable extent, worshiping in our families and preaching three times
every Lord's-day, baptizing frequently from ten to thirty at a time in
the Savannah, and administering the sacred supper, not only without
molestation, but in the presence, and with the approbation and
encouragement of many of the white people. We are now about seven
hundred in number, a