Rev. Silas Mead
IS the pastor of the Flinders-street Baptist Church. He came to this colony at the request of the late George Fife Angas and a committee, with a view to establish a Baptist Church in South Adelaide, upon the basis of church principles commonly held by the Baptist Churches of Great Britain. A small band of twenty-six were first formed into a society under the designation of a Baptist Church, in 1861, and Mi. Mead has continued as its pastor until the present time. More than 1,500 persons have entered into the fellowship of this church since its establishment, and the pastor has immersed in this colony one thousand persons at the date of this writing. As a prominent minister among his co-religionists, he has held the highest offices in the denomination, and has had the pleasure of seeing it multiply tenfold. He is now one of the Professors of the Union College, which embraces the four denominations—Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, and Bible Christian. Mr. Mead has taken an active part in the Bible-in-Schools movement, which aims to re-introduce Bible-reading in Public Schools, with explanatory observations by the teacher. Mr. Mead holds the degrees M.A. and LL.B. of the London University, and was also the recipient of honors from that institution, in being Prizeman in the Second Scriptural Examination. He received his college training in the Begent's Park Baptist College. His early life was spent in the West of England, where he was engaged in agriculture.