1838-1867
The R. B. C. Howell Sermon Collection is located at the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. The collection consists primarily of four items, including two bound sermon books, a ministerial records book, and a book of poems and sayings. The ministerial record book covers the period 1849 to 1855, when Howell served as pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. It contains information on members and baptisms. The first sermon book contains 60 handwritten sermons, and the second volume includes 58 handwritten sermons. Most of the sermons are titled and dated with the original sermon date and a “transferred” date. Some sermons are numbered. The sermons follow no particular arrangement in the volume, either by date, number, or title. They are not full transcripts of his sermons, but mostly guides and notes to his sermons. Some are more complete than others. Howell often included notes about a sermon and how it was received by the congregation. They were preached to the Second Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, or the First Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennessee, during the 1840’s and 1850’s. The sermons cover a wide range of interest, with most related to theological matters such as salvation, Christian living, faith, the nature of Jesus and God, funerals, and eternal life. Also included are sermons on the loyalty to country, peace, female education, the ordination for William A. Whitsitt, and dedication sermons for several Virginia churches. Howell preached these sermons on several occasions and edited the copy based on the audience and the times. Some sermons have marginal notes and sections crossed out.
Robert Boyte Crawford Howell was born in Wayne County, North Carolina, March 10, 1801. He attended Columbian College in Washington, D.C., and, in 1827, he was ordained as a Baptist minister. He accepted appointments from the American Baptist Home Mission Society as missionary to the west, in 1834, and on January 1, 1835, as pastor of First Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee. He started The Baptist, a monthly paper, in 1835, and edited it until he gave it to the Tennessee Baptists in 1846. The Nashville church grew to a membership of about 500, whites and blacks, and constructed a new church building. In 1850, Howell became pastor of the Second Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia. The average addition to the church during his tenure was about fifty-seven members per year. Howell preached 2,000 sermons and assisted in the organization of five churches and the ordination of seven ministers of the gospel. He also served as a trustee of Richmond College and the Foreign Mission Board of the SBC. He also served four terms as President of the Southern Baptist Convention. The material is this collection is primarily from his pastorship at Second Baptist Church. His service as pastor to the Richmond church ended when he returned to Nashville in July, 1857. Howell served the Nashville church the rest of life. He died in Nashville April 5, 1868.
