•‘age 4
Ihv Portland Observer July 4, 1990
R eligion
Scripture o f the
Week:
J E R E M IA H 31:3
MATTIE ANN CALI IKR-
SPEARS
Center Gets New
Board Members
You Can See It As If It Were Happening Right Now...
A great drama took place in 1781.
“ A t length our master said he was
It is so real, side by side with today’s
convinced that religion made slaves
happenings, that you an see it as i f it
better and not worse, and often boasted
were happening now.
o f his slaves for their industry and
L ivin g history can be seen on the
honesty. Some time after, I asked him i f
screen o f your own mind. Invite your
I m ight ask the preacher to come and
imagination to play it out on your per
preach at the house. He being older and
sonal giant Telethink machine!
infirm , my master and mistress cheer-
It is even more m w r m m h m m b
fu lly agreed for me
exciting and won
to ask some o f the
derful as you allow
Methodist preachers
yourself to travel
to come and preach
through time to the
days follow ing the
American Revolu
’ ’ ...and after that he
tion.
could not be satis
In Philadelphia,
fied to hold slaves,
-Richard Allen, 1784 believing it to be
the cradle o f the Lib
erty Bell, there was
wrong. After that, he
freedom from oppressors, but not for
proposed to me and my brother buying
every one.
our time, to pay him sixty pounds in
The shadows o f slavery still hung
gold and silver or two thousand dollars
over the land.
Continental money...
For ex-slave richard A llen, one o f
“ We left our master’ s house, and I
the few who paid for his own freedom,
may truly say it was like leaving our fa
the light o f the gospel showed the way.
ther’s house; fo r he was a kind, affec
We are privileged to recall Richard
tionate, and tender-hearted master, and
Allen through his own words.
told us to make his house our home
Picture him, a slave to Benjamin
when we were out o f a place or sick.
Chew o f Philadelphia, sold to Stockely
W hile liv in g w ith him he had fam ily
o f Delaware State, near Dover. W ith
prayers in the kitchen, to which he
his mother, father, and four children,
would frequently come out him self at
Richard Allen was enslaved, later, his
the lime o f prayer, and my mistress
mother bore other babies.
w ith him .A t length he invited us from
Picture him, in his twenties, after
the kitchen to the parlor to hold fam ily
his mother and three o f her children
prayers, which we attended too. We
were sold elsewhere, seeking the Lord
had our stated times to hold our prayer
with his oldest brother and sister who
meetings, and give exhortations in the
had been left behind.
neighborhood.
"There Were but few
people in the neighbor-
hood - the most of my at thc house
congregation
were
white...”
In A lle n ’ s words, after he had gone
through a tormented period o f doubt
ing, ‘ 'One night 1 thought hell would be
my position. I cried unto H im who
delighteth to hear the prayers o f a poor
sinner; and all o f a sudden my chains
flew o f f . .
“ G LO R Y T O G O D , I C R IE D !”
Richard A llen looks at us gently
from heav > -1 idded eyes beneath his broad
forehead. His chestnut skin speaks o f
m ixed blood, his father pure African,
his mother mulatto.
“ It had often been impressed upon
my m ind that I should one day enjoy
freedom, fo r slavery is a bitter p ill, not
withstanding we had a good master; but
when we would think our day’s work
was never done, we often thought that
after our master’s death we were liable
to be sold to the highest bidder, as he
was much in debt, and thus my troubles
increased, and I was often brought to
weep between the porch and the altar.
“ But I have reason to bless my
dear Lord that a door was opened unex-
pectcdly for me to buy my time and
enjoy my liberty. When I left my mas
ter’ s house I knew not what to do, not
being used to hard work-what business
I should fo llo w to pay my master and
get my living.
“ I went to cutting cord-wood. The
first day my hands were so blistered and
sore that it was w ith d iffic u lty I could
open or shut them.
“ I kneeled down upon my knees
and prayed that the Lord would open
some way to me to ge a living.
” In a few days my hands recov
ered, and became accustomed to cut
ting wood and other hardships. So I
soon became able to cut my cord and a-
h a lf and two cords a day. A fter I was
done cutting I was employed in a brick
yard by one Robert Register at fifty
dollars a month, Continental money.
A fte r I was done w ith the brickyard I
went to day’s work, but did not forget to
serve my dear Lord.
“ I used often to pray sitting or
standing or lying; and while my hands
were employed to earn my bread, my
heart was devoted to my dear Redeemer.
“ Sometimes I would awaken from
my sleep preaching and praying. “ I
was after this employed in driving a
wagon in time o f the Continental W ar
drawing salt from Rhobar, Sussex
County, in Delaware.
“ I had my regular stops and preach
ing places on the road. I enjoyed many
a happy season in prayer and medita
tion w hile in this employment.”
After the Revolutionary War ended
and peace was declared A llen writes
that he traveled extensively “ striving
to preach the gospel.” Although stricken
w ith “ fa ll fever and then the pleurisy,”
he left on September 3, 1783, from
W ilm ington, Delaware, to Jersey. He
meta “ friend father” in Benjamin Abbott
“ one o f the greatest men that ever I was
acquainted with...He seldom preached
but what there were souls added to his
labor.”
R egretfully, A llen left West Jersey
and Abbott behind him to get work
cutting wood. A llen preached nights
and Sundays, moved on to East Jersey
and moved in w ith Joseph Budd “ near
the new m ills.” A llen, despite his se
vere inflammatory rheumatism, labored
and preached, leaving in 1784. He walked
form East Jersey, labored in Pennsylva
nia and again walked “ until my feet be
came so sore and blistered the first day
that I scarcely could bear them to the
ground.”
Caesar Waters and his w ife took
him into their home and offered him
tea, but his feet were so sore and painful
that he could not come to the table.
“ They brought the table to me.
Never was I more kind ly received by
strangers that I had never seen than by
them. They bathed m y feet w ith warm
water and bran; the next morning my
feet were better, and free from pain.
They asked me i f I w ould preach for
them the next evening. We had a g lo ri
ous meeting.”
A llen accepted their invitation to
stay and preach again on Sabbath day.
And, oh, the wonder o f A lle n ’ s
m ission opens up to us in his own words,
again...THERE W ERE B U T FEW
PEOPLE IN TH E NEIG HBO R H O O D -
TH E M O ST OF M Y C O N G R EG A
T IO N W ERE W H ITE ...
Richard Allen, 1784, Radnor
Township, twelve miles from
Philadelphia.
“ ...I preached on sabbath day to a
large congregation o f different persua
sions, and my dear Lord was with me,
and I believed there were many souls
cut to the heart and were added to the
m inistry. They insisted on me to stay
longer w ith them.
“ I was frequently called upon by
many inquiring what they should do to
be saved. I pointed them to prayer and
supplication at the throne o f grace, and
to make use o f all manner o f prayer, and
pointed them to the invitation o f our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has
said, ‘Come unto me all ye that are
weary and heavy laden, and I w ill give
you rest. G lory be to God!
11 III*
Members o f Morrison Center’s M ulti-cultural Competency Committee (I
to r): Elaine Tan, board member; Louise Coon, personnel manager;
Dennis Payne, board member; and Denise Stuntzner-Gibson, M.S.W.
social service administration student. Committee members not pictured:
Deborah Oester, board member and committee chair; and staff members
Orin Bolstad, Suzie Kuerschner, Mona Ozaki, Nancy Atkinson and
Eileen Lipkin.
(Í?
Prison Ministries
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M s "mJ..
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