Page:A short account of the rise and progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America.djvu/54

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and some of them complained of the want of money as a hindrance to their travelling; so that in consequence of their backwardness, some of these places were taken up by Richard Allen's Preachers, who were always on the alert to find out such places, and in some instances would not hesitate much to represent themselves to be the same as the Preachers of Zion Church, when they found it necessary to carry their point.

A small society at New-Haven sent to request a visit of one of our Preachers, in order to give them some information about our standing, and what we intended to do relative to forming connections with our coloured brethren, and Leven Smith, one of our ordained Deacons consented to go and see them on the subject; who, upon his return, reported them willing to join the connexion, and that they requested some of our Disciplines to be sent to them as soon as they were printed. Abraham Thompson received from Philadelphia, a letter, written by the President of a committee of twelve persons, who superintended the business of a church, which they were building in that city, separate from Richard Allen's connexion, (the contents of which was written in answer to a letter sent to Richard Howel of that place, requesting information about the said church, which our brethren in New-York had heard of verbally) and after stating how they stood as a separate church at that time, they requested that one or two of our Preachers would come to Philadelphia about five weeks from the date of the letter, at which time they expected the house would be ready to be consecrated, and