USA > Delaware > Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 1 > Part 23
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There are at present 34 Annual Confer- ences, occupying nearly all the territory of the United States. . The Conferences are grouped in nine Episcopal Districts, each presided over by a Bishop, subject to change every four years, at the sitting of the General Conference.
There is one Publishing House at 631 Pine street, Philadelphia, where the Christian Re- corder, the weekly church organ, is regularly published. Rev. B. T. Tanner D. D., author of several important publications, has occupied the position of Editor in the chief for nearly sixteen years.
The Churches of this denomination in Dela- ware are included within the Philadelphia An- nual Conference, and are located in all the
There are fourteen appointments within the State,including Missions. The largest churches are in Wilmington and Smyrna.
The church in Wilmington, known as "Bethel Church," of this denomination is, per- haps, the handsomest church built by colored people in the country. It is nearly 50 ft. by 70 ft., constructed in the most modern style, costing over $20,000, including the value of the lot, and the old building torn down and used in building the new church.
Among the present bishops, bishops J. M. Brown and J. P. Campbell, are natives of this State; the former having been born near Odessa and the latter in Slaughter's Neck.
The church government, while indepen- dent as an organization, is regularly Meth- odist Episcopal, having bishops consecrated for life, to whom is given the power of stationing the ministers. Wilberforce Univer- sity,near Xenia, Ohio, B. F. Lee, D. D., Presi- dent, is the principal denominational school, with several minor schools in various parts of the South : The ministry numbers about 1200 regular itinerants, and the membership is reported at 400,000.
METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH.
HIS branch of Methodism obtained an organized form in the city of Baltimore, November 12th, 1828. A convention of Ministers and Laymen met in that city at this date, and seventeen Articles of Association were drawn up and agreed to, which were to form a Provisional Government for the new organization. This organization was known as "The Associated Methodist Churches," and was to subsist only until a Constitution and Book of Discipline could be provided by a subsequent Ecclesiastical Con- vention. But provision was made that in all things done toward completeness of denomin- ational organization, the lay element should have an equal voice with the ministers; and from the first, the equal rights of the laymen in
all church councils were to be secured, as well in framing as in carrying out her Constitu- tion and Discipline. On the 2d day of No- vember 1830, in the same city in St. John's church, Liberty street, such a convention met and was organized. Its President was Rev. Francis Waters, D. D., of Baltimore, its Sec- retary, Rev W. C. Lipscomb, of Georgetown, Va., and its Assistant Secretary, Mr. W. S. Stockton, of Philadelphia.
After a session of three weeks, there was adopted and published the Constitution, and Book of Discipline, of the Methodist Protest- ant Church. It is noticeable in the History of the Church of Wesley that all divisions since his death, whether occurring in Europe or Amer- ica, and they have been numerous, have in- variably retained the Doctrinal System of
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Methodism. This Doctrinal System is the | one of the most eloquent preachers in Amer- creed of 5,000,000 members ; and an aggregate ica, who for many years was an itinerant min- ister of the Methodist Protestant Church, and at one time Chaplain to Congress, was the son of the assistant secretary of this first Conven- tion held for the purpose of organizing the Methodist Protestant Church, in the City of Baltimore ; and the Annual Conferences have had, from their earliest History, men of such reputation and brilliant talents as would reflect credit on any church. of 23,000,000 of persons are under its teach- ings in the world. The Methodist Episcopal Church as organized in Baltimore, Md., in 1784, it was claimed, placed all the legis- lative, judicial and executive power in the hands of the ministry, to the exclusion of the laity. From 1820 some of the ministers and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, North and South, and especially in Pennsylva- nia, Maryland and Virginia, desired to reform Classes, Churches and Conferences were rapidly formed, and a great degree of success attended this form of Methodism up to 1858, which year saw it dismembered, as Slavery had dismembered almost every other church organization of prominenee in America, before this period. that church in some of the chief features of its Government. These ministers and laymen wished organic changes made, making the church more democratic or republican in its government, and sought to bring about such change by petition to the General Conference of 1824, and to that of 1828. Considerable bit- In this division they lost about one-half their membership. This church was re-united in 1877. After half a century its "Jubilee" or semi-centennial Conference, held in Cen- treville. Md., in 1879, recorded 44 Annual Con- ferences, 1300 itinerant, and 900 unstationed, ministers, and 120,000 in church membership, with a church property of $3,000,000 dollars. terness of spirit was engendered on both sides- there was really no principle at stake in the matter, as is shown in the fact that the Metho- dist Episcopal Church has, within 25 years past, admitted laymen to both her Annual and Gen- eral Conferences ; yet at this period many of those who then sought these and other re- forms in the Parent Church were expelled That portion of this church lying in the State of Delaware, belongs to the Maryland Annual Conference, and consists of the fol- lowing pastoral charges ; Wilmington, Clay- ton, Harrington, Laurel, Leipsic, Seaford, Mil- ton, Sussex, besides three others within the State of Maryland, but some of whose members are resident citizens of Delaware. from her communion, not for immoral acts, but, as it was technically called in "charges" upon which they were tried, "for inveighing against the Discipline :" (meaning form of gov- ernment of the Methodist Episcopal Church.) Many others withdrew, and of those thus ex- pelled, and withdrawn, the Methodist Protest- ant Church was organized. . Among them These charges represent seven traveling or itinerant ministers, fifteen churches, and one thousand one hundred members. There are seventeen Sunday Schools and eleven hun- dred and seventy-seven scholars, and church property valued at Thirty-five Thousand Three Hundred Dollars. were men distinguished for piety and talent. Revs. Nicholas Snethen and Asa Shinn, intel- lectually, had few superiors in any of the pul- pits in America, while such laymen as W. S. Stockton and his compeers were men of great intelligence and high social standing.
The late Rev. Thos. H. Stockton, D. D.,
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THE BAPTISTS OF DELAWARE.
BY REV. RICHARD B. COOK, D. D.
HE Baptists of Delaware, in common with all Regular Baptists in the United States, accord in their belief, so far as the doctrines of grace are concerned, with the Presbyterians, while their form of church government is Congregational. They hold, besides, that the Ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are exclusively for the regenerate, that Bible baptism is the immer- sion only of none but believers in water, and that the baptized believers only should be in- vited to the Lord's table. Judging no man, they would yet stand firmly for the truth as they understand it, asking for themselves no more than the liberty which they cheerfully accord to and maintain for all others.
The Baptists of Delaware may be divided into early and later, in respect to the date of the origin of their churches.
I. The Early Baptist Churches.
THE WELSH TRACT CHURCH.
Sixteen Baptists in Wales, about to mi- grate to America, formed themselves into a Baptist Church in 1701, with Rev. Thomas Griffith, one of their number, as pastor. They came to Pennypack, now in Philadelphia, Penna., where there was a Welsh Baptist Church. Leaving in this place some of their number, and receiving accessions in return, they removed, in 1703, to Iron Hill, in the Welsh Tract, New Castle County, Delaware, at that time and till 1776 a part of Pennsylva- nia. A small meeting-house was then erected upon the sight now occupied by the present one, built in 1746. Their principles soon spread in Delaware, and into Pennsylvania and Mary- land, and to Pedee river, South Carolina. "The number and influence of the denomi- nation in this State for many years was small, yet it was for a long time equal in proportion to the population, to any of the Middle States." Benedict's History of the Baptists,
p. 626 The following, while exhibiting their patriotism, shows also their strength and influ- ence : "John Adams, of Massachusetts," says Dr. Wm. Cathcart, (Centennial Vol., p. 62,) "was on some occasions the bitterest enemy of the Baptists in Revolutionary days, and yet he gives them considerable credit for bringing Delaware from the gulf of disloyalty, to the brink of which he declares 'The Missionaries of the London Society for the Propagation of the Faith in Foreign Parts' had brought her, to the platform of patriotism." "Life and works of John Adams by Charles Francis Adams, X., 812."
"The community at Welsh Tract, in early times, held a respectable stand among the American Baptists; it was one of the five churches which formed the Philadelphia Asso- ciation ; its ministers were among the most active in all Baptist operations, and the whole concern was not behind any of the members of that quintuple alliance." Benedict's Baptist His- tory, p. 626. In 1790 Morgan Edwards wrote: "The Delaware Baptists are Calvinistic in doc- trine, and differ little or nothing in discipline from their brethren in neighboring States." Materials for a Baptist History, Delaware, p. 224.
The following is a list of the pastors of Welsh Tract Church and the period of their service in the order of their succession. For seventy years the pastors were of Welsh ex- traction :- Rev Thos Griffith, from 17CI to 1725; Rev. Elisha Thomas, from 1725 to 1730; Rev. Enoch Morgan, from 1730 to 1740; * Rev. Owen Thomas, from 1740 to 1748; * Rev. David Davis, from 1734 to 1769; Rev. John Sutton, from 1770 to 1777; Rev. John Boggs, from 1781 to 1802; Rev. Gideon Ferrell, from 1802 to 1820; Rev. S. W. Woolford, from 1822 to 1830; Elder Samuel Trott, from 1831 to 1832; Elder Wm. K. Roberson, from 1833 to
*Associate pastors for a part of the time indicated.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.
1836; Elder Thomas Barton, from 1839 to | with the date of organization : Welsh Tract, 1869; Elder G. W. Staton, from 1871 to 1872 ; Elder Wm. Grafton, in 1877; no pastor in 1879.
In 1778 Rev. Elijah Baker, and in 1779, Rev. Philip Hughes, both of Virginia, came to Delaware, and preached for about a year. Many were converted and baptized, and sev- eral churches were organized. They received, in their work, the hearty co-operation of the Baptist ministers and churches.
THE FIRST WILMINGTON CHURCH.
The first Baptist church organized in Wil- mington was formed mainly through the efforts of Thomas Ainger, (a Presbyterian from Phila- delphia, whose wife was a Baptist. He main- tained worship regularly in his family, which his apprentices attended, and a religious interest was awakened.) Messrs. Fleeson and Boggs, Baptist ministers, preached by invita- tion at his house, and Mr. Ainger and others were baptized upon profession of their faith in Christ. Rev. Phillip Hughes preached in the town school-house, and at Mr. McKennan's (Presbyterian) church, and baptized several belonging to Mr. Ainger's household. Finally sixteen were constituted a church, October 8, 1785. Their meeting house, then built, still stands on King street, opposite the new Court House. One of the constituent members was Mrs. Elizabeth Way, a woman of superior mental and moral worth, and well known in her day. The pastors of the church have been : Rev. Thomas Fleeson, from 1785 to 1788 ; Rev. Thomas Ainger, from 1788 to 1797 ; Rev. Joseph Flood, for a short time ; Rev. Daniel Dodge, from 1802 to 1819, Rev. Saml. R. Green, from 1819 to 1824 ; Rev. D. D. Lewis, from 1824 to 1826; Rev. J. D. Strumpfer, from' 1826 to 1827; Rev. John P. Peckworth, from 1827 to 1838, including an intermission ; and between the years 1838 and 1862, Revds. John Miller, Alfred Earle, Joseph Smart, Wilson Housel, William Matthews, Samuel Earle, and Elder E. Rittenhouse who came in 1858.
From 1862 to 1878 this church alternated between the Philadelphia and the Delaware Associations, belonging first to the one and then to the other. It is now connected with the latter,
New Castle Co. 1701 ; Sounds, Sussex Co. 1779 ; Broadcreek, Sussex Co. 1781 ; Mount Moriah, Kent Co. 1781 ; Bryn Zion, Kent Co. 1781 ; Mispillion, Kent Co. 1783 ; Gravelley- branch, Sussex, Co. 1785 ; First Wilmington, 1785, and Bethel, New Castle Co. a mission of Welsh Tract established in 1786, but not constituted a church until 1839. Besides, there were formed, in the early part of this century, three other churches, the Bethel, in Sussex Co .; Little Creek and Millsborough. ,The three latter, with the Sound and Broad Creek churches belonged to the Salisbury Associa- tion, which was formed in 1782, and composed mostly of churches in Maryland.
THE DELAWARE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION.
"The Delaware Baptist Association" was formed in 1795, of 5 churches in Delaware and one in Maryland. Three of the churches with- drew from the Philadelphia Association for the purpose, and one Delaware Church from the Salisbury Association, with which three Delaware Churches continued their connec- tion. The new Association was soon joined by several churches in Pennsylvania. Only since 1856 has it borne the name of The Dela- ware Old School Baptist Association."
It was composed-In 1801 of 5 churches with 293 members. In 1825 of 9 churches with 596 members. In 1879 of 7 churches with 197 members. Of the early churches in the State belonging to the Delaware and Salisbury As- sociation, six remained in 1879 with a total membership of 200.
The cause of their decline is thus stated by the Rev. Morgan J. Rhees then in Delaware, and himself a Welshman, in Benedict's History of the Baptists, page 630 : "They withhold from the Lord's cause that which he demands. "These churches oppose all Missionary, Bible, Sunday School, Tract and Temperance or- ganizations."
This was written about 1845, and is true of them to-day.
A MISSIONARY BODY.
The minutes of the Delaware Association show that formerly they regarded favorably both Missions and Missionary Societies, and that they had undergone a change.
LIST OF THE EARLY CHURCHES. In 1804 a Missionary Sermon and a collec- The following is a list of the early churches,, tion for Missions was provided for in each of
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.
the churches. In 1812 a plan for a Baptist Edu- | Regular Baptists throughout the United cation Society was adopted. In 1814 Foreign States, and with which the present Missionary Baptist Churches of Delaware are in fellowship and in connection. And in the same year (1830) of this action on the part of the Dela- ware Association, that body was in fellowship with the New York, Hudson River, New Jer- sey, Central New Jersey, and Philadelphia Associations, all Regular Baptist Associations. Before the change of views and practice mentioned took place, the Baptist Churches of Delaware formed a centre of Christian ac- tivity and progress from which radiated into other States a great influence for good. Their pastors, beside their 'work at home, traveled extensively, preaching in destitute places, gath- ering converts and establishing churches, while a host of ministers was raised up among them to preach the gospel at home and abroad. Missions, and a State Missionary Society were endorsed. In 1815 they rejoiced over the report of the Board for Foreign Missions, and re- commended that a Missionary Sermon be preached annually in each of the churches, "and a collection raised and forwarded to the Branch Society of Delaware." In 1817 the constitution of " The ? Delaware Society for Domestic Missions" was ; adopted. In the Corresponding Letter of 1820, Rev. Jethro Johnson writes for the association : " It appears by the information we received during the session, from different parts of the conti- nent, that a union in sentiment and practice generally prevails among our churches ; and that although additions are not numerous, yet peace almost universally prevails, and most of the meeting-houses among us are commonly crowded with attentive hearers." "The grad- DISTINGUISHED MEN. ual increase of the gospel together with the missionary spirit, that in almost every place appears to prevail, leads us to believe that prophesies are actually fulfilling, 'Thy kingdom come." In the Corresponding Letter of 1822 they say : "The accounts we have from different sources, and especially from the Mission Board, are truly refreshing." "May we feel ourselves deeply interested in this, and esteem it not only our duty to put up our prayers, but to use all the means God has placed in our power, believing at the same time, that he who hath said He must increase, hath also declared, Be workers together with God." In 1825 the design of the Baptist General Tract Society, now the American Baptist Publication Society, was highly commended. In 1830 the Association, by the unanimous approval of the churches, ordered to be printed the Constitution and Rules previously adopted in 1795, which contains a summary of doctrines, the final article of which reads : " Finally, we approve of the Confession of Faith adopted by the Philadelphia Association, September 25th, 1742, as generally expressing our opinion of the Holy Scriptures which we hold above all as the only certain rule of faith 'and practice."
So then, the views of the Delaware Baptists were unchanged from 1742 to 1830,throughout which period they were in accord with the Philadelphia Association, which has ever been regarded as the exponent of the views of the
Among the many distinguished men who during this period labored in the State or went from it to other fields of usefulness, may be mentioned the following : Rev. John Davis, who became pastor of the 2nd church, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1770, was the son of a pastor at Welsh Tract, and was born in the State. He was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Rev. Jenkin Jones, for years pastor of the Ist Church, Philadelphia, was "called to the ministry" at Welsh Tract in 1724. He was Moderator of the Philadelphia Association in 1756. Rev. David Jones, A M., was one of the most distinguished sons of Delaware. He was born in New Castle County in 1736, and was united by baptism upon profession of faith and repentance, with the Welsh Tract Church in 1758. After a liberal education he entered the Baptist ministry and became pastor, first at Frechold, N. J., and afterward at Great Valley, Pa. He was father of Horatio Gates Jones, D. D., and grand-father of Hon. H. G. Jones, of Philadelphia, Penna, State senator and vice president of the Pennsylvania His- torical Society. David Jones "has been styled the "Famous Old Warrior Chaplain" of the Revolution. Espousing the cause of the col- onists he became chaplain of a Pennsylvania regiment, followed Gates through two cam- paigns, and served under Wayne as brigade chaplain. He was as frequently at the post of
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.
danger as in the hospital with the sick and wounded. He was in the battle of Brandy- wine, was present, but escaped the massacre of Paoli, and in every action with his brigade until the surrender at Yorktown. General Howe, learning that he was a tower of strength to the Revolution both in and out of the army, offered a reward for his capture. He was witty, eloquent, patriotic and fearless. He died in 1824 at the ripe age of 84, and was buried at Great Valley, Penna. Sprague's Annals, vol. 6, p. 85.
Rev. Abel Morgan, A. M., was born, educa- ted and ordained at Welsh Tract, and became pastor at Middletown, N. J. He, too, was mod- erator of the Philadelphia Association, was one of the most noted men of his day, and is said by Benedict (Bpt. Hist'y., p. 582) to be "the boldest writer * **
* among American Baptists in defense of their sentiments. Be- tween this learned writer and Rev. Samuel Finley, a Presbyterian minister, and after- ward President of Princeton College, N. J., a controversy was held, which was carried on with much spirit on both sides for years. One of Mr. Morgan's works, produced on this occasion, of 174 pages, was published in Phila- delphia in 1747 by the famous Benjamin Franklin, and is valued now at $15 00 per copy.
Rev. Morgan Edwards, A. M., the well- known "pioneer " Baptist historian, after ably serving the First Church, Philadelphia, as pas- tor for over ten years, removed to his farm at Newark, Delaware, in 1772, where he resided 23 years, until his death. Most of his celebra- ted historical works were written here. He was a learned man, and a great student of the Scriptures in the original Hebrew and Greek. He continued to preach, and gave lectures on divinity in the principal cities of the country, after coming to this State. In 1762 he was moderator of the Philadelphia Association. He is justly regarded as the founder of Brown University, Rhode Island. Rev. Thomas J. Kitts, for fourteen years pastor of the Second Church, Philadelphia, moderator of the Philadelphia Association in 1828, and in character and preaching ability second to none, was ordained at the First Church, Wilmington, in 1817. Rev. Joseph H. Kennard, D. D., for nearly thirty years pastor of the Tenth Church, Philadelphia,
[and a leader among Baptists in Philadel- phia, was converted and baptized and licensed to preach in 1818, in Wilmington, by the First Church. His first labors were performed as a missionary in the Peninsula. The name of Captain Calvin Tubbs will be im- mortalized in connection with that of the justly famous J. G. Oncken, D. D., of Hamburg, Germany. Capt. Tubbs was a member of the Welsh Tract Baptist Church, having been con . verted and baptized in 1815. He married the daughter of Rev. Gideon Farrell, pastor of the church, and husband and wife with their children lie buried in the rear of the meeting house. In the winter of 1830 and 1831, Capt. Tubbs was ice bound with his vessel, and boarded in the family of J. G. Oncken, then a colporteur. With true missionary spirit, Capt. Tubbs talked and prayed with his host, and became under God, the means of his conversion to Baptist views. The world knows the rest.
Baptists of the American. type have sprung up all over Germany, Holland, Austria, Den- mark, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, and even Turkey. And Oncken the originator of this work has been its impulse and moving spirit, until now, in his old age he but awaits the call of God to his final reward and rest.
Of the later Baptist Churches.
The early Baptist Churches, in their origin and up to a comparatively recent date, appear to have been missionary in principle and in practice. It was after 1830 that a change took place in the Delaware Association and in all the Baptist Churches of this State, and they became anti-mission and non-effort, or Anti- nomian.
SECOND CHURCH, WILMINGTON.
Some did not approve of this change, and division of sentiment led to separation, and to the formation, in 1835, of the Second Church, Wilmington, the first of the later Missionary Baptist Churches of this State. It was formed September 7th, of thirteen (13) members dis- missed, by request, from the First Church, for the purpose ; and was recognized by a council composed of Rev. J. H Kennard, Rev. J. J. Woolsey. Rev. L. Fletcher and Rev. G. I. Miles, all of Penna. The new church was re- ceived into the Philadelphia Association in 1836.
The pastors have been : Rev. C. W. Denni- son, from 1836 to 1839 ; Rev. George Carleton,
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.
from 1839 to 1841 ; Rev. Sandford Leach, from | April 11, 1875, who is the present pastor, and 1841 to 1842; Rev. Morgan J. Rhees, from under whose administration the membership has increased to over 1000. 1843 to 1850 ; Rev. Jonathan G. Collom, from 1850 to 1853 ; Rev. Frederick Charlton, from 1853 to 1857 ; Rev. George M. Condron, from 1858 to 1859 : Rev. James S. Dickerson, D. D., from 1861 to 1865 ; Rev. W. H. H. Marsh, from 1865 to 1871 ; Rev. James Waters, from 1872 to 1873; Rev. Alexander Mc Arthur, from 1874 to 1875; Rev. Richard B. Cook, D. D., the present pastor, who came in 1875.
Their present house of worship, corner of Fourth and French streets, was dedicated in 1855. Prior to the organization of this church, sixteen members withdrew from the First Church and formed what was known, on the minutes of the Delaware Association, as the Second Wilmington, but its existence was of short duration.
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