AFRICAN MISSION
LETTER FROM BRO. HILARY TEAGE
The subjoined communication will be read with interest, by all
the friends of the African mission. It contains the most distinct
information we have been able to secure respecting the condition of the
Baptist churches in Monrovia county. We hope to receive equally
definite statements touching our churches in the other countries on the
coast.
The author of the letter before us, is, if we mistake not, the
only surviving member of the original constituency of Providence
church, or the first Baptist church of Monrovia. It consisted of
seven members, and was formed in the parlor of our esteemed
brother William Crane, then a resident of this city. Lot Cary and
Colin Teage, the father of Hilary Teage, were leaders in this
enterprise, and received an appointment as missionaries from the
Board of the Baptist General Convention. Our brother Hilary was
then a boy of about fifteen years old, and a member of the church.
His freedom, with that of his sister, had been secured by his father,
not long before this period. Upon the arrival of the family on the
coast, he was engaged as a clerk in some mercantile establishment,
at Siera Leone, and there devoted himself to the cultivation of his
mental powers. His attainments are highly creditable. He has been
for several years editor of the Liberia Herald, and all who have
been familiar with its columns with concur with us in saying, that
it has been conducted with no little ability. He writes with
discrimination and force.
By the letter before us, it will be seen that his labors as a
pastor and evangelist, are abundant and useful. We trust that by
eminent spirituality and persevering effort, he may become on the
coast, a burning and shining light.
MONROVIA, November 17, 1847
Rev. and Dear Sir: —
In presuming to obtrude myself upon your notice, I have
nothing to offer in apology, but the importance of the subject to
which I wish to call your attention.
The Southern Baptist Convention, of whose foreign
correspondence I perceive you are the organ, in the establishment
