Among the postscripts to the report of St. Philip’s, Charleston, is this one: “In the amount of missionary contributions is included $150 from the colored members of St. Philip’s (and a few of St. Michael’s) for the support of an African teacher; also $75 from the Bible Class of the assistant Minister, for St. Philip’s Scholarship in the Cape Palmas Orphan Asylum.” This is not an isolated instance of the contributions of both slave and free for Missions.
The Rev. Dr. Taylor, missionary to the Negroes of Bluffton, about the same time, furnishes this testimony to the eagerness of the little Sunday School scholars, which is very characteristic: “In the discharge of my duties, I found much to interest me; the children were for the most part attentive and disposed to learn. I was recently quite gratified in meeting with a gentleman who owned one of the plantations under my care; he informed me that the children were very anxious, when he went among them, to repeat hymns, etc., which I had taught them, and for this purpose would often follow him.”
By 1860, Bishop Davis was practically blind, though he continued to discharge his duties almost until his death in 1871. His journal for 1860, read by his son, contains a succession of confirmations of White and Colored, more of the latter than the former. And then came frightful war and its aftermath, with results in church life much like those in the industrial life of the Negro.[10]
A typical picture of the religious work of this period is given in the words of Mrs. Essie Collins Mathews.
“High above the Waccamaw river, stands the Weston Chapel, beautifully located. Through the years, I see the picture. It is built of cypress, has fine stained-glass windows, and in every way is a house well suited to the worship of the Lord. Adjoining, are a thousand acres of rice, the rice-mill, and other buildings needed by the planter. Hundreds of slaves are at work in the fields. When the clock in the Chapel tower strikes the hour for Evening Prayer, the many slaves start for the Chapel, and it is soon well-filled. The master is a lay-reader, and appears in his snowy vestments, and begins the Service we all love so dearly—‘The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.’ Then comes the General Confession, and the people drop on their knees. Do you not see them? Many are devoutly kneeling, the women with bright-colored kerchiefs on their heads and the men with their heads bared. The soft sunlight shines through the stained-glass windows and fills the Chapel with beautiful colors. The mocking-birds are singing softly in the live-oak trees just outside. The air is filled with the fragrance of the yellow jasmine, while the master joins with his black people in the prayer, ‘Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep.’ At the close of the Service they sing, as only Negroes can sing, and with that quality of tone none others have:
‘Through the day Thy love has spared us;
Hear us ere the hour of rest;
Through the silent watches guard us,
Let no foe our peace molest.