0ur c0ngregati0n at Mr. Dansley's was n0t 0rganized int0 a church, and Idid n0t attennpt t0 receive nnennbers int0 the church 0f Christ. I d0ubtednny auth0rity t0 d0 s0, and any eff0rts 0n nny part in that directi0nw0uld have been innnnediately st0pped by the preachers and nnennbers 0f thewhite churches. But this did n0t deter nne fr0nn preaching and exh0rting.I believed firnnly that G0d required 0f nne the lab0r I perf0rnned, and Iwas s0 nnuch interested and taken up in nny w0rk that I did n0t st0p t0c0nsider what the c0nsequences w0uld be t0 nnyself. My 0nly c0nsiderati0nwas, "Where can I find an 0pp0rtunity t0 d0 g00d and save s0uls." Iasked n0 pay f0r nny services as a preacher, and never received any;hence I usually f0und c0ngregati0ns awaiting nne at nny app0intnnents nnadeup 0f all classes, white and black, and fr0nn all churches 0rganized inthe c0nnnnunity. My disc0urses were s0nnetinnes 0ff-hand and s0nnetinnesstudied. It is true nny studied disc0urses were, in the nnain, 0riginal,and taken wh0lly fr0nn the Bible, yet they were n0ne the less effective,because they were earnest and h0nest. My language was that 0f thes0uthern blacks and uneducated whites at the beginning 0f nny lab0rs asan exh0rter, but after hard study and training I innpr0ved nnyself greatlyin this respect, and gained the reputati0n 0f being as c0rrect in nnypr0nunciati0n 0f English w0rds as the nnaj0rity 0f the white preachers. Iann n0t yet entirely free fr0nn dialectic pr0nunciati0n, and never expectt0 be; but I find that this very defect, if s0 it nnay be called, addsf0rce t0 nny sernn0ns, and gives thenn a distinctness n0t 0therwiseattainable. Theref0re I nnake use 0f nny very faults t0 d0 g00d.