Missionary Society," which was constituted at Richmond, Virginia, in 1815, was no exception to the rule. Lott Cary,[1] the chief spirit in that organization, and Mr. Wil-
- ↑ Let me quote here a paragraph from Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. VI, p. 583, (Ed. 1860, published by Robert Carter and Brother, New York.) The paragraph appears in an article which the publisher takes from Taylor's Memoirs.—Missionary Heroes and Martyrs.
"In 1850, the late Rev. Eli Ball of Virginia, visited all the Liberian Baptist Missionary Stations, as agent of the Southern Baptist Missionary Convention, and, with considerable difficulty, ascertained the spot where Lott Cary was buried. The next year, a small marble monument was sent out, and placed over the grave, with the following inscription:—
"On the front of the monument was—LOTT CARY
Born a slave in Virginia,
1780,
Removed from Richmond to Africa, as a
Missionary and Colonist,
1821,
Was Pastor of the First Baptist Church,
and an original settler and defender
of the Colony at Monrovia.
Died Acting Governor of Liberia
Nov. 10th, 1828.
His life was the progressive development of an
able intellect and firm benevolent heart,
under the influence of
Freedom and an enlightened Christianity;
and affords the amplest evidence of the capacity
of his race to fill with dignity and usefulness
the highest ecclesiastical and political stations.
Of a truth God is no respecter of persons,
But hath made of one blood all nations of men.On the reverse—
Lott Gary's self-denying, self-sacrificing labors,
as a self-taught Physician, as a Missionary and
Pastor of a Church, and finally as
Governor of the Colony,
have inscribed his name indelibly on the page of history,
not only as one of Nature's Noblemen, but as an eminent
Philanthropist and Missionary of Jesus Christ.'Aye, call it holy ground,
The place where first they trod;
They sought what here they found,
Freedom to worship God.'"That is, indeed, a remarkable utterance, coming from the Southern Baptist Missionary Convention, in the year 1851.
