Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1861-03-14

o b others shall meet you?
o sisters shall greet you?
o sinners shall | see you
Among the best in Heaven?
Caonus-When this poor bo'ly. dc.
-
Correspondence of the Wheeling Intelliscncer
A Visit to the African Church, Richmond.
In the afternoon l went to the African
Church-the great resort OF all strangers,
once at least, during their stay in Rich
mond. could not, in the bounds of a
letter. do justice to what is to be seen in
this famous resort Of negroiom on Sun
day afternoons. Tn. Church. itself. is a
low building. curiouSly shaped. end in its
galleries and on its floor. seats upwards Of
TIVE thousani persons. The Rev. Dr.. Reil-
~. Of the Baptist College. breaches here
to the negroes Of the city. every Sund.y
afternoon. at half-past three o'clock
You can have 70 conception of what a
scene the service presents. | went in al
te- the sermon was partly through. Many
negroes were clustered around the door.
AMI I expected TO 6ni within listless
crowd and plenty of spare space. But in
both things | was disappointed. There
was scarcely standing room in the aiSles.
much less sit,ing-room. except just in front
OF the pulpit. where at last | succeeded in
getting q good seat. from which | could
sweep the entire audience. And it was a
sight TO look on and think on. There Le
fore me was one packed jam of colored
faces. and relieved only here and there by
the presence of some benevolent white
man or laly. who seemed to be there as
promoters of the labors of the good pas
tor. You could hear a pin drop all over
the house--not whisper was stirring. not
a cough even but everything was propric.
tv itself. The negroes were dressed. many
ofthsm in fine clothes. all ofthem in good
ciutnes. aud looked clean and tidy and
thrifty. The white rundown collars Of
the real jet blacks. among the men. con-
trasted strongly with their sable faces; and
SO of the white handkerchiefs which many
of the more elderly among the negro wo-
men wore around their necks. and which
were ever so neatly pinned over their
breasts Many of the ncgroes-especial-
ly the young men portion. and of them
particularly the light colcred and mulatto
kind-had kid gloves on. and canes in their
hands, and gold shirt studs. Indeed
Young Africa, both male and female. we're
hashingly bsdecked. Yet. as said. they
were all attention. The most perfect or
der reigned. II they were not interested
IN the sermon they were certainly real
adopts in the are & make believe. =
eould readily imagine that they were in
terested. for the sermon was plain. prac-
tical and telling one-one that they could
easily understand. All the Illustrations
were drawn from common occurrences In
every day life. A<
The sermon being over the Rev. Doctor
called on some negro. whom he called
4Brother Cephas." to pray. Brother Co.
phas stepped forward from his scat into
the aisle, near BY where was sitting. and
turning to The negroes all. said. Let us
pray" They bowed their heads most
reverently, ana Cephas commenced III SLOW.
solemn and resonant tones. By and BY
he got'wsrner and more fluent. and more
eloquent. 1--WE turn dc our thanks for de
privileges Of this here day; we turn de
our thanks for dc great privileges of de
morning; we turn de our thanks for de
privileges Of this evening; 0 Lord. said
ha. After little while he said. ; Lord.
desc are times of troubles-dese are cold
times; dere is a great deal Of confusion a
goin On. Lord, do away with de confu-
SION" After little he commenced qno-
ting Scripture in his prayes,. and such
wholesale quotations never h ard. He
would appropriate whole lines Of verses,
especially from Paul's Epistle to the Ro-
mans Mostlyit would be appropriately
done. although oftentimes jumblsd and in
correct. The length and fervency of the
prayer were really curious. He got into
the sing-song in about ten minutes, and
then commenced the responses and groans
and suppressed ejaculation of the negroes
generally, and they beat all ever heard.
Il was eomical Jet serious scene-all in
dead earnest. yet. despite all. indierous in
the extreme. Presently. however, Broth
or Cephas'' got through. and then con-
menced the singing by the choir in one Of
the galleries especially set apart. And
such singing. When tell you that it
was excellent and inspiring. / do not
convey half the idea to you 1t was real
II perfect. never heard more perfect
time. more simultaneous and musical into
nation. There was not jar-not one
although the choir must have numbered
twenty-five. The voices were the very
finest, the drill was mechanically exact,
and the melody Of the perfect attune was
really moving -
The members had their note books, their
leader, their division and range of voices,
Just as If they were picked selection of the
eIite Of Grace Church. New York. Moth