USA > Georgia > Bibb County > Macon > Georgia Baptists: historical and biographical > Part 19
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the writings of the former a few sentences which were penned long after the subject of them had departed from time :
" The name of Maxcy is one greatly endeared to us, no less from considerations of personal attachment than from admira- tion of talent and excellence seldom equaled.' Could we furnish a faithful picture of his intellectual and moral worth, we should perform a service which refined genius and elevated piety might view with instruction and delight. We should, in such a case, set forth the accomplished scholar, the powerful advo- cate of gospel truth, the preacher of inimitable eloquence, the amiable and successful president, whose deep erudition and abundant resources in every liberal attainment imparted char- acter and respectability to three colleges, which continue to hold a high rank among the institutions of our country, But the original is gone, and the impressions which memory pre- serves are too faint and imperfect to furnish even an indistinct outline. We entertain, however, a few long cherished impres- sions, which our mind, tenacious of its theme, will always de- light to hold. To the writer of this sketch, he was peculiarly kind and accessible ; and it is probable that no one living heard so much from his lips on the all-important subject of experi- mental religion. He would say to him, 'Sir, I have found that there is peace in believing. This restless heart could never be steady until it found quietude in the Saviour of sinners. All true religion is seated in the heart, the source of action and vir- tue. Devotedness of heart implies a constant obedience of all the affections to the divine will, and an external practical ob- servance of all the duties, religious and moral.' *
" His preaching possessed a power and charm which we never have witnessed to the same extent in any other man. His voice, though not deep and heavy, was peculiarly clear and harmonious. Every syllable that he uttered was as distinct and audible as if struck with a hammer upon the best toned bell. His whole soul appeared to come up to his subject, and, heizing it with a mighty grasp, to raise it up in the glow of ight and beauty to the view of his admiring and delighted learers. Under the pressure of a weighty theme, his strength eemed to be augmented in proportion to the magnitude and ifficulty of the subject. In such a case, the richness of his
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mind would burst forth in a profusion of light and vigor. His fullness, on such occasions, was overflowing, and the very waste of power was more than common minds could bring into action. Whilst thus expanding into greatness and sublimity with the majesty of his subject, his whole countenance acquired peculiar expression. His piercing eye darted forth beams of light- every feature of his face caught the tinge of animated intelli- gence which his clear, emphatic voice was sounding forth for the instruction and admiration of those who heard him. At the same time, his language was select and most appropriate, and his whole style strictly terse and classical. It is easy to perceive that the subject, whatever it might be, which fell within his searching analysis, and stood forth in the light of his eloquence, would earn the favor of a whole audience. But when it is remembered that religion was the theme, we can readily appreciate the influence which Dr. Maxcy exerted over the minds of men."
Though compelled, whilst in college, to sustain himself mainly by his own exertions, Dr. Brantly took high rank as a scholar, and graduated with distinction in 1808.
It was his design, upon graduation, to enter upon a field where he might devote his undivided energies to the ministry. But at this period there were probably not half a dozen churches in all South Carolina and Georgia which sustained a regular ministry. To secure a support, therefore, he took the rector- ship of the Richmond Academy, in Augusta, Georgia, an insti- tution well endowed by the State. Here he remained for about two years, teaching during the week, and preaching every Sabbath to some of the destitute congregations in the city and vicinity. Whilst residing in this place, he was married to the sister of Governor McDonald. In the choice of his companion he was singularly fortunate. She was a help-meet indeed. A competent judge, who was well acquainted with her, has said that she was a lady of such "talents, piety and accomplish- ments as are rarely combined in one person." To her efficient and affectionate tutorship, the writer has frequently heard the husband ascribe much of that success which, under God, he was subsequently enabled to achieve as a scholar and as a min. ister.
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· In 1811, Dr. Brantly was invited to the pastorship of the Baptist church in Beaufort, South Carolina, since under the care of Dr. Fuller. In their call they said to him, "If you will come and minister to us in spirituals, we will minister to you temporals." This was the amount of salary tendered. Deeming it sufficient, and anxious to give his time entirely to the ministry of the word, he resigned his situation in Augusta, and removed to Beaufort. Here he remained for eight years, constantly growing in usefulness, and in the affectionate regard of his people. Sinners were converted, saints were edified, and thus Christ's kingdom was built up through his instrumen- tality. In addition to his pastoral labors in this place, he was also president of the Beaufort college for several years. Whilst in this vocation, he numbered among his pupils that distin guished minister, Rev. Dr. Fuller, and the Rev. Dr. Manly, his predecessor in Charleston. The latter gentleman, addressing his beloved preceptor and friend, during his last illness, says to him, " To you, more than to any other man, I owe, under God, whatever I am, or have done in the world."
During his residence in Beaufort, he was a frequent contrib- utor to the American Baptist Magazine, then published in Bos- ton. His earliest published effusions are found in this work. The surviving readers of the periodical at the time referred to, no doubt well remember the interest excited by the communi- cations of " Theophilus." An eminent divine, speaking of these articles since the death of their author, remarks, " that they were read and reread, and laid up among the most select treas- ures of memory. It will remain for the day that shall reveal hidden things, to show what multitudes of young persons in the United States received the tone of their intellectual and christian character from these inspiring productions."
After he had been settled for some time in Beaufort, it was thought that the preaching of Dr. Brantly had too much of the intellectual and not enough of the spiritual-too much of the philosophy of christianity and not enough of the marrow of the gospel. Though characterized by much power and origi- nality, it was not thought to possess that unction and tender- ness for which it was afterwads so remarkable. The zeal and ardor of the young exhorter had sobered off into the precise
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logician. He needed something to make him more effective in reaching the heart. This he received as the fruit of an afflic- tion, which overwhelmed him with unutterable sorrow. It was the death of his pious companion, which occurred in 1818. We cannot better describe the effect which this event produced upon him than by quoting the following extract from some of his private writings, never designed for the public eye, and never before given to the public. It is a striking illustration of the salutary effect which a chastening from the Lord pro- duces upon a christian heart. The extract which we make is a long one. But no one, we think, who reads it, will regret its length. He will rather regret that the limits of this article preclude the insertion of the whole. A more beautiful and touching piece of composition we have rarely seen.
"I have long contemplated the ravages of death, in the des- olation of those families to whose acquaintance divine Provi- dence has directed me in the course of my ministry. I have seen the weeping parent, trembling in anguish over the grave of the departed child, and children, have I seen, bewailing the loss of their parents. In scenes of diversified grief, it has been my lot to witness a large portion of those afflictions incident to my guilty species. But none of these things had come near to me ; only with my eyes had I seen them, and in the sympathies of my heart had I felt them. I had seen the tide of human woe rushing by me, and bearing others on its ruffled surface, whilst no torrents moved me along in the swelling course. Of- ten called to minister comfort to others under their distress, it had been my endeavor to identify my own case with theirs, and to raise into sanctified sorrow that which might have seemed nothing more than natural affection. At length the volume of grief is unrolled in my own house. I am called to read and moisten every page with my tears. 'I was at ease, and God hath broken me asunder.' On my eyelids he has caused to rest the shadow of death. He has applied the hand of death to the loveliest object that ever attracted my eyes, or warmed my heart. In a moment he has taken from me the charms of intellect and the counsels of prudence. He has stopped, by the coldness of a mortal chill, the sweet current of maternal affection, and O, my God has taken from me my im-
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mortal Anna. The tenderest earthly name I ever read is blot- ted with the blackness of dissolution, and my bleeding bosom is torn from lover and friend.
" Though it has pleased a merciful God thus to crush me with the pressure of tribulation, yet I would not repine at his dis- pensation, nor vainly fret because he has trodden me down un- der his awful sovereignty. The time had arrived when it was necessary that my divided heart should be formed to greater singleness for God, and the dross of my affections purged from a worldly mixture which had grown alarming. A dis- eased soul required the salutary hand of the great Physician ; and it was reasonable to expect that he would form the neces- sary prescription. Had its selection been given up to me, my foolish and fond heart would have inclined me to say, 'Lord, spare me in that part where, of all others, I am most vulnerable. Let me not be cut to the heart by viewing the dying conflict of my ever endeared wife. Spare to me the guide and compan- ion of my youth, the cheerer of my solitudes, the solace of my perplexities and doubts, and the centre of my domestic joy. Cut me not off from the sweet counsel I have taken in going with her to the house of God.'
" But I should have chosen thus to prolong her abode in the distractions of a world uncongenial with her heavenly tenden- cies. Through the whole period of nine years in which we were united, I had seen her leaning towards heaven, bending for- ward towards her incorruptible reversion, often soaring, on the pinions of a glowing faith, above this region of clouds, and resting in the realizing support of a spiritual home. Why, then, do I wonder that she has at last attained the wished for summit, that her spirit has reached its native skies, and will no more return to soothe my bleeding heart ? Why should I think it strange that the dove should seek its window, and the wan- derer, a home?
"By this stroke of his hand, the Lord has set the world be- fore me in the naked vanity of all its offers and enjoyments. He has refuted, by one tremendous argument, all my extrava- gant calculation, and revealed the only object of a sinner's consolation and hope. Much of my anguish may be only the result of natural feeling and worldly attachment; yet I am
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constrained to bless God that he has made my heart soft, though I am greatly troubled by the overwhelming calamity which has been the means of subduing my unrelenting nature. Hence, though my grief is a gloomy burden, I would not have it re- moved. I am made a mourner all my days, and shall carry the impress of woe deeply formed on the tablet of my heart. I can believe, without the shadow of a doubt, that the spirit of that loved one who has gone, now with the rapt seraph adores and burns around the throne of God. The certainty of her high felicity must reconcile my lacerated feelings to the idea of a short separation."
In 1819, the Trustees of the Academy in Augusta invited Dr. Brantly to resume the rectorship. Augusta having in- creased considerably in size, and promising to become one of the most important towns of the State, he acceded to their re- quest to return there, in the hope that he might also be able to establish a Baptist interest in that growing community. Upon his removal to Augusta, scarcely half a dozen Baptists could be found in the whole city. The few, however, were collected, and he preached to them in the chapel of the Academy on every Lord's day. The congregation increased rapidly, and in the course of a few years he was permitted to see, mainly through his efforts, a substantial house of worship, which had cost twenty-two thousand dollars, and a flourishing church where the Baptist name had recently been comparatively un- known. For seven years he ministered to this flock "without money and without price," depending upon his daily labor for support.
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At the dedication of the church just referred to, he preached and published a discourse on the " Beauty and Stability of Gos- pel Institutions." It may be interesting to repeat the opinion expressed of this earliest effort of Dr. Brantly by a judicious critic. Speaking of this sermon, the "American Baptist Maga- zine " for March, 1822, a copy of which is now before us, says : " This sermon is evidently the production of a man of learning and genius. It is everywhere forcibly, and in many places elo- quently written. Although the subject is trite, yet the author displays in the discussion of it a vigor and originality of mind which cannot fail to interest and instruct. We have seldom
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seen the progress of christianity more eloquently sketched than in the following paragraph :
""' In forming a scheme for the conversion of mankind, what mind could ever have devised one so improbable as the cross of Christ ? To human wisdom, it would have appeared an idle phrenzy to think of reducing a rebellious people to allegiance by the unmixed scandal of an ignominious crucifixion. Of all improbable plans, this might have seemed the most unpromis- ing. Yet, behold what wonders are accomplished by the un- varnished majesty of this simple fact. Without any of the aids of learning, of authority, or of eloquence ; with none of the in- genious sophistries of the schools ; without any elaborate dis- cussions, or studied appeals to the passions, we see humble, un- assuming men carrying in triumph a religion obnoxious to the repulsive spirit of pride and ambition. They had the approving tokens of divine regard. Their gospel became the power of God and the wisdom of God to them that believed; and their work, which in itself would have been the derision of every idler, when confirmed by the hand of the Lord supplied to thousands the elements of a new life, struck terror into the op- posing ranks of sin, subverted the rites which antiquity had consecrated, and organized communities for the worship of one God and one Mediator. Nor has their case been one of uncom- mon occurrence. The effects of that preaching, in which Christ crucified is the leading theme, are still stupendous. It contains the power of a mysterious attraction. The solemn echo from groaning Calvary is the eloquence which persuades men. Here shines the true morality ; here virtue is improved into devo- tion ; here the soul catches the fire of a holy inspiration, and rises to assert its kindred with the spirits of the just.'"
Whilst a resident of Georgia, Dr. Brantly exerted an excel- lent influence upon the denomination throughout the State. He was active in organizing the Baptist Convention of the State, was zealous in advocating the cause of missions and of ministerial education, and in every good work he was the effi- cient coadjutor of the Mercers and Armstrongs of the times. At the distance of a quarter of a century, the salutary impres- sion of his labors is distinctly felt and gratefully acknowledged by large numbers.
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In 1824, the pastorship of the First Baptist church in Phila- delphia became vacant by the death of the much lamented Henry Holcombe. We have understood that in his last mo- ments Dr. Holcombe warmly recommended Dr. Brantly as one under whose ministrations he would be happy to leave the church. In accordance with this suggestion, Dr. Brantly was invited to visit them. The result of this visit was a unanimous ·call to be their pastor. A large sphere of usefulness, as he deemed it, being thus presented, he removed to Philadelphia in the spring of 1826. That success which had crowned his la- bors at the South, attended them at the North. He soon be- came known as one of the most eloquent preachers in the city. Under his ministry the congregation increased ; there was a number of powerful revivals, and many who are now known as among the most efficient and liberal members of the denomi- nation, were brought into the church.
In 1827, the publication entitled "The Columbian Star," which, we believe, had previously been the property of the Baptist Triennial Convention, was removed to Philadelphia, and the editorial department was confided to his care. How this trust was discharged is well known, since several thousand copies of the paper were circulated in different parts of the Union. He continued to edit this paper for about eight years. In its columns, during this period, may be found, we think, some of his ablest writings. Valuable articles on church disci- pline, important points of christian doctrine and practice, and essays on a great variety of subjects everywhere abound. Could they be collected and published, they would make a very useful, and, we doubt not, acceptable volume.
Shortly after taking charge of the "Star," Dr. Brantly be- came acquainted with a young man, then unknown to fame, with whom he was so much pleased that he associated him with himself in the conduct of the paper. This young man was afterwards well known as Willis Gaylord Clark, who has written some of the sweetest of American poetry. In the lit- erary writings of this gentleman, which have been published since his decease, his biographer, the Hon. Judge Conrad, of Philadelphia, thus alludes to Mr. Clark's intercourse with Dr. Brantly :
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" From his connection with Dr. Brantly, a clergyman of great eminence, Mr. Clark derived many advantages. To an intel- lect of the very highest order, a copious supply of various and rare learning, an eloquence which illuminated whatever it was applied to, a remarkable purity and clearness of style, and the most rigorous habits of thought, Dr. Brantly united a spirit touched with the finest impulses of humanity and an affability of demeanor which, while it imparted grace to his manner, made him, in all circumstances, easy and accessible. Upon his young friend and associate, these qualities, acting with sympa- thetic influence, produced a lasting and most salutary impres- sion. The counsels of the divine pointed him to the path in which he ought to travel; the example of the scholar inspired him with a generous emulation ; and the mild benevolence of the christian gentleman taught him the importance of culti- vating benignity of temper and of subduing all untoward pas- sions."
During his residence in Philadelphia, Dr. Brantly published a volume of sermons, being principally those which had been delivered to his people in the regular course of pastoral labor. The interest with which this volume was received is evinced by the fact that the whole edition was soon disposed of and followed by still further demands. Though lucid and forcible discourses, we do not think, as a whole, that they sustained the expectation which his oral performances had created. They were prepared for the press with much haste, at the urgent so- licitation of his people. Others of his sermons, which were taken down by a stenographer as he delivered them extempore, and subsequently published just as they were preached, we think decidedly better illustrations of his preaching power than many of the discourses in this volume.
During his residence in this city, the degree of Doctor of Di- vinity was conferred upon him by Brown University. We presume that it was bestowed through the influence of the president of that institution, of whose talents he was a sincere admirer.
After having been settled in Philadelphia for nearly twelve years, Dr. Brantley's health began to fail. Apprehensive lest the severity of a northern climate might entirely prostrate his
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already shattered constitution, at the same time what he be- lieved to be a promising field opening in Charleston, he re- signed the charge of the church in Philadelphia and entered upon that of the First Baptist church in the former city. For two or three years after his removal to Charleston, he did not enjoy that success which attended his labors in all other places. Several members of the church, to whom he had particularly looked for countenance and aid, taking exception to some of his views and practices, declined cordial co-operation with their pastor. The consequence was, that he was for a time thrown into much discouragement and distress. In such a state of things, there were but few conversions and many dissensions. The malcontents were finally dismissed to form a new church. Soon after their withdrawal a better state of things began to appear. The church and congregation then became warmly united and ardently attached to their spiritual guide. Their affection was reciprocated by the most indefatigable labors for their welfare. He had the happiness of rejoicing with many new-born souls, and of burying them with Christ in baptism. At the time that an inscrutible providence smote him with fatal disease, the church was enjoying a deep and extensive work of grace.
Dr. Brantley's labors, after his return to the South, were too arduous. Shortly after his removal to Charleston, he was elected President of the College of Charleston. Believing that he could perform the duties of both offices, and thus extend his usefulness, he accepted the appointment. Under his adminis- tration the College was more prosperous than at any former period of its history. The number of students largely in- creased, and the institution constantly grew in popularity. In the meantime, unremitting labor had seriously undermined his constitution. Whilst about to hear the recitation of the senior class, on the 13th of July, 1844, he was attacked with a paraly- sis, which, after keeping him for some months in the most af- fecting prostration and helplessness, terminated fatally.
The malady which prostrated his body, also afflicted him with mental imbecility. Although there were lucid intervals during his illness, in which he signified to his friends as well as he was able, that he was perfectly aware of his situation, and
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fully resigned to the divine will, yet his intellect was evidently sympathizing with his body. Though his prostration was sud- den, it was not altogether unexpected. For two years prior to his death, he supposed himself to be affected with a disease of the heart, which, although it did not disqualify him for his pub- lic duties, might terminate fatally at any moment. On one occasion, he remarked to a friend, " I have had death constant- ly before me for the last two years. I have been looking for it every day." Writing to a member of his family a few weeks before his attack, he said, " Were I to be seized with a paralysis of the arm or leg, I should at once become an object of wretch- edness and pity."- At another time he said, "I shall break off suddenly, and I think I had rather die in the harness."
It is evident from these expressions, that Providence afforded him a presentiment of what awaited him. The summons did not reach him unprepared. It found him with his armor on, doing with his might what his hands found to do in his Master's service. He had " oil in his vessel ;" and with his lamp trimm- ed and burning, he promptly and cheerfully responded to the cry, "Go ye out to meet him." He departed this life in Au- gusta, Georgia, in March, 1845, in the city which had been the scene of his early labors, and among the attached friends of his youthful years.
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