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Spiritual equality of the races in antebellum Mississippi Baptist churches
Copyright by Robert C. Rogers and the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board
It may be surprising to modern readers to know that church minutes from Mississippi Baptist churches in the years before the Civil War gave every indication that while Black members were treated as unequal socially, they were treated as equal spiritually. That is, both Black and White members were received for baptism and by letter with the “right hand of Christian fellowship” and called “brother and sister,” and both Black and White members received church discipline.
In 1846, Hephzibah Church in Clarke County heard a report that a “colored sister Aggy” had “married a man who had a wife living.” They sent a committee to talk to her privately, and reported she confessed it was true but refused to change, so she was excluded from membership. However, in 1853 the same sister Aggy was repentant, forgiven, and restored to the fellowship of the church.
Bethesda Church in Hinds County had a special committee of five called, “the committee to wait on the blacks.” It was their duty to recommend any church discipline among Black members, as well as to recommend any Blacks who joined by experience of faith or church letter. This committee also invited “the widow Jones Peter to exhort the blacks when present.” In 1859, Bethesda Church charged a “Bro. J. T. Martin for striking with a stick and whipping a Negro boy of Bro. John H. Collins and against Bro. J. H. Collins prosecuting at law Bro. J.T. Martin and cultivating an unchristian spirit toward him.” A committee was sent to get the two men to reconcile, but when they refused, both men were excluded from membership. Apparently, the “committee to wait on the blacks” was made up of White members, and thus was patronizing and socially inequal; yet the very existence of the committee was a recognition of the spiritual value of all races, and their actions showed some genuine desire to protect Blacks such as the slave mentioned above.
In April of 1858, Ebenezer Church in Amite County investigated rumors that a member had killed a enslaved girl, but accepted testimony of two witnesses that her death was an accident. However, in December 1858, Ebenezer Church excluded a Peter A. Green because Green killed one of his escaped slaves when he apprehended him. This was an interesting case in which a White person was disciplined by an antebellum Mississippi Baptist church for killing a Black person. While the social inequalities allowed Green to escape murder charges, he did not escape the spiritual discipline of his church.
In no way am I implying that Blacks were treated as fully equal to Whites in Mississippi Baptist churches in the early 1800s. They were not given places of leadership and they were usually required to sit in a separate location from Whites. However, the evidence is strong that when it came to their spiritual value as brothers and sisters in Christ, Blacks were valued far more spiritually in the church than most modern readers would imagine.
SOURCES:
Minutes, Ebenezer Church, Amite County, April 17, 1858, December 18, 1858; Minutes, Bethesda Church, Hinds County, July 1849, October 1849, March 19, 1859, April 16, 1859; Minutes, Hephzibah Church, Clarke County, March 14, 1846, April 18, 1846; November 12, 1853.
Mississippi Baptist church discipline in the 19th century
During the 19th century, Baptist churches in Mississippi maintained strict discipline over their members. Henry Nichols was excluded from Sarepta Church in Union Association “for drawing his knife and offering to stab his brother and for spitting in his face.” Benjamin Brown was excluded from Ebenezer Church in Amite County for “attending a horse race and wagering thereon.” James Dermaid was excluded from Providence Church in what is now Forrest County “for “disputing, quarreling, and using profane language, and absenting himself from the church.” Providence Church also excluded “brother Alexander Williams and sister Leuizer Maclimore upon a charge of their attempting to go off and cohabit together as man and wife.” In 1828, the African Church at Bayou Pierre had a query for Union Association: “Is it gospel order for a Baptist church to hold members in fellowship who have married relations nearer than cousins?” The association answered that it was not. Jane Scarborough, wife of Rev. Lawrence Scarborough of Sarepta Church accused “Sister Harris” of being drunk at a wedding and for hosting “Negro balls” (debutante balls for blacks). Instead, the church charged Mrs. Scarborough of gossip without evidence, and excluded her for making the accusations!1
Mississippi Baptists moved gradually from a policy of tolerating mild use of alcohol, toward a policy of complete abstinence from alcohol. A Committee on Temperance made an enthusiastic report to the Mississippi Baptist Convention in 1838 of “the steady progress of the Temperance Reformation in different parts of Mississippi and Louisiana; prejudices and opposition are fasting melting away.” In 1839, D. B. Crawford gave a report to the Convention on temperance which stated, “That notwithstanding, a few years since, the greater portion of our beloved and fast growing state, was under the influence of the habitual use of that liquid fire, which in its nature is so well calculated to ruin the fortunes, the lives and the souls of men, and spread devastation and ruin over the whole of our land; yet we rejoice to learn, that the cause of temperance is steadily advancing in the different parts of our State.” Local churches consistently disciplined members for drunkenness, but they were slower to oppose the sale or use of alcohol. For example, in May 1844, “a query was proposed” at Providence Church in Pearl River Association on the issue of distributing alcohol. After discussion, the church took a vote on its opposition to “members of this church retailing or trafficking in Spirituous Liquors.” It is significant that in the handwritten church minutes, the clerk wrote that the motion “unanimously carried in opposition,” but then crossed out the word “unanimously.” In January 1845, Providence Church voted that “the voice of the church be taken to reconsider” the matter of liquor. The motion passed, but then tabled the issue, and did not come back up. In March of that year, a member acknowledged his “excessive use of arden[t] spirits” and his acknowledgement was accepted, and he was “exonerated.”2
The Mississippi Baptist Convention heard frequent reports on how to defend against desecrations of the Sabbath. In 1840, M. W. Chrestman reported, “The Sabbath, or Lord’s Day, is an institution of Divine Origin, and is therefore of universal obligation… On the Lord’s Day all manner of servile labor is positively prohibited, with the exception of works of necessity and mercy… Every necessary arrangement and sacrifice should be made; every carnal pleasure and sensual gratification should be denied… Resolved, That we recommend that our ministering brethren with greater zeal and diligence explain and enforce the proper observance of the Lord’s Day.” Local Mississippi Baptist churches considered violation of the Sabbath a serious matter. In March 1837, William Dossett, a member of Providence Church in what is now Forrest County, confessed to the church “that he had been hunting a deer on the Sabbath, which he had wounded on the preceding evening.” After “considerable discussion of the subject,” the church was satisfied with his explanation.3
SOURCES (All available at the Mississippi Baptist Historical Commission Archives, Leland Speed Library, Mississippi College, Clinton, Mississippi):
1 Minutes, Sarepta Baptist Church, Jefferson County, Mississippi, August 1815, June 1828, July 1828; Minutes, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Amite County, Mississippi, February 6, 1813; March 6, 1813; Minutes, Providence Baptist Church, Forrest County, Mississippi, December 10, 1842, September 2, 1843; Minutes, Union Baptist Association, 1828.
2 Minutes, Mississippi Baptist Convention, 1838, 1839; Minutes, Providence Baptist Church, Forrest County, Mississippi, May 11, 1844, January 11, 1845, March 8, 1845.
3 Minutes, Mississippi Baptist Convention, 1840; Minutes, Providence Baptist Church, Forrest County, Mississippi, March 4, 1837.
Bob Rogers 