grieved over
their punishment and interceded for them. George Walton said "that
such treatment would be condemned even among barbarians."

They were brought before chief justices Henry Osborne, James Habersham
and David Montague, who released them. Chief Justice Osborne then gave
them liberty to continue their worship "between sunrising and sun
set."[200] Their master told the magistrate that he would give them
the liberty of his own house or barn, at a place called Brampton,
about three miles from town, and that they should not be interrupted
in their worship. They accepted the offer of Jonathan Bryan and
worshipped with little or no interruption at Brampton for about two
years. Many slaves thereafter attended the services held in the barn
at Brampton.

White preachers often visited his congregation. Lorenzo Dow, perhaps
the foremost white itinerant preacher of his time, on one occasion
preached to Bryan's congregation, while he was imprisoned, feeling
that in their hour of trial these Negroes especially needed his
encouragement. The whites to whom Dow preached offered him money, but
he did not take it as he did not wish the wrong construction put upon
his efforts nor to be deemed an impostor. As he was once leaving
Savannah, however, after he had been entertained largely by Negroes,
Andrew Bryan met him and, on shaking hands, gave him eleven and a half
dollars which the Negroes presented him as a donation. By these visits
of Dow and other preachers, Bryan and his followers were greatly
helped.[201] Among others who visited Bryan's church were Abraham
Marshall and Thomas Burton who examined and baptized about sixty in
this connection.

Reverend Mr. Marshall gave this congregation over his signature two
important certificates which follow:

This is to certify that upon examination into the experiences and
characters of a number of Ethiopians, and adjacent to Savannah,
it appears that God has brought them out of darkness into the
light of the Gospel, and given them fellowship one with the
other; believing it is the will of Christ, we have constituted
them a church of Jesus Christ.

On January 19, 1788, he sent Bryan the following:

This is to certify, that the Ethiopian church of Jesus Christ at
Savannah, have-called their beloved Andrew to the work of the
ministry. We have examined into his qualifications, and believing
it to be the will of the great head of the