South District Baptist Association
LETTER OF CORRESPONDENCE, 1854To the Associations and Other Bodies With which we Correspond.
BELOVED BRETHREN: -- We have been permitted, through the rich mercy of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, to enjoy another associational meeting. It has been to us a feast of love, for every thing has been harmonious and delightful. The churches of our body have been stirred up to greater exertion; and, as will be seen from our Minutes, a very marked improvement has been made during the past year in the liberality of the Churches for religious purposes. It was a good beginning in the right direction, and it is as much needed. We trust our last report will show an equally decided improvement upon our present.
One new Church has been added to our number. We have, as will be seen from our Minutes, eleven Ordained Ministers and five Licentiates; but more than half of the Ordained Ministers reported are greatly incapacitated, from age and other infirmities, for active service: their day of labor is near its close. One, Elder James Pulliam, was called home last year, and several more are only waiting for the summons. We feel much the want of qualified men to take their places. May the Lord, in his goodness, raise them up and send them to this important field. Two hundred and nine baptisms are reported by the Churches. Our whole number is now 1,048. Connected with our Churches are generally attached, active Sunday-schools; but, for want of regularity in the returns, they cannot this year be presented in a statistical form in our Minutes.
Co-workers in the Vineyard of the Lord, pray for us.
JOHN PETERS, MODERATOR.
JAMES H. LEMEN, Clerk============= [From South District Association, Illinois. Scanned and Formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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