USA > Georgia > Georgia as a proprietary province; the execution of a trust > Part 22
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Having noticed briefly the other agencies or authorities that affected the religious history of the colony, we may now consider how the Trustees were prepared to deal with the subject and what were the results of their actions. The general Board was composed of men at first who were chosen on account of their religious or charitable proclivities. At later times, political influence came to be the prime factor in the choosing of Trustees ; but nevertheless most of them were earnest Christians and were concerned about the spiritual development of the colony. Members of the Established Church were in the majority on the Board, and they were able to control in large measure the religious policy of Georgia ;12 but the Dissenters were very numerous, and many of them were quite influential. In spite of the differ- ences in the faith of its members, the Board usually acted harmoniously on the various questions of religion that were
11 Cross 82.
" C. R. V: 116 et seq.
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Religious Development of Georgia
presented to it.
As in all other matters concerning the management of Georgia, the Trustees were vested with full power in religious affairs, and they guarded jealously their authority, as in the controversy with the Bishop of London for example. They did not, however, desire seriously to restrict religious liberty in the colony. They proclaimed freedom of con- science in worshipping God to all persons except Roman Catholics, provided they should be content with the quiet and peaceable enjoyment of their religion without offense or scandal to the government.13 While almost all forms of worship were thus declared permissible, the Trustees after some opposition decided that it was incumbent upon them to furnish to the inhabitants of the province the gospel ac- cording to the forms and usages of the Established Church of England.
The Trustees had not planned to make such a provision for the Episcopal service at the beginning of the coloniza- tion; but a little more than a week before the first settlers sailed for Georgia, Dr. Henry Herbert met with the Board of Trustees and offered to go to the new colony and perform the religious duties needful without salary. His offer was promptly accepted; and he sailed with the first colonizing expedition to Savannah.1+ It was understood that his ap- pointment was to last for a single year. His stay in Georgia was only a few weeks in length, for he was taken ill and died on his return voyage to England. His work made no last- ing impression on the settlement.
In the meantime, the Trustees were trying to arrange for a permanent missionary to Georgia. They appealed to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
13 C. R. 1: 21.
" Ibid., 84-85.
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Georgia as a Proprietary Province
Parts for assistance in the finding and in the supporting of a suitable minister ; but before the Society provided a man, Rev. Samuel Quincy applied to the Trustees for work and was accepted by them. 15 He had good recommendations and gave promise of being a thoroughly satisfactory worker. . The Society agreed to aid in his support if the Trustees would provide his expenses to Georgia and agree to furnish him with a glebe, looking to his permanent support as soon as the funds of the Trust would permit.
Quincy entered upon his duties early in May, 1733. De- tails as to his ministry are meager, but there is abundant evi- dence that he was not in harmony with the Georgia officials. He had serious quarrels with Thomas Causton, the first magistrate of the colony, and complained bitterly of the treatment received at his hands, speaking of him as an in- solent and tyrannical bailiff. Quincy did not correspond with the Trustees or keep them informed as to the progress of his work; and Oglethorpe felt that he was not sufficiently diligent in the performance of it.16 He continued his pas- torate for about two and a half years until the Trustees on October 10, 1735, revoked the license which had been granted him to serve as minister and appointed John Wesley to succeed him.17
It was not wholly Quincy's fault that he met with no bet- ter success in the colony. He was sick during a consider- able portion of his stay in Georgia and had to supply his place with ministers from South Carolina.18 He found it difficult also to adapt himself to the frontier conditions that had to be faced in the new work. That he was an able and
15 C. R. I: 87, 93.
18 Ibid., 195, 259.
17 Ibid., 234.
18 S. P. G. Correspondence, Mss., June 15, 1735.
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Religious Development of Georgia
successful minister in other fields is fully established; for after leaving Savannah he went to South Carolina where he served most successfully churches at Dorchester, Colleton, and Charleston.19
When Wesley volunteered as a missionary to Georgia, he did not intend to act as minister for an established con- gregation, but he rather expected to labor for the conver- sion of the Indians. His commission from the Trustees made no mention of the work among the natives, merely giving him general license to exercise in Georgia the office of a priest of the Church of England; but he hoped never- theless that he would be able to carry out his first cherished plans in the new colony. On reaching his chosen field of labor in February, 1736, he expressed to Oglethorpe a de- sire to proceed at once among the Indians, and a conference was held with some of them; but Wesley was told that the time was not ripe for the prosecution of such missionary en- terprise, and at Oglethorpe's request he assumed the care of the Savannah mission.
At his new station he had charge of a group of about seven hundred persons, comparatively few of whom were regular communicants of the Church of England. He en- tered upon the duties of his office with zeal and enthusiasm, and he made a good impression. Wesley was delighted with the prospect, writing in his Journal, "O blessed place, where having but one end in view, dissembling and fraud are not; but each of us can pour out his heart without fear into his brother's bosom." 20 He exhibited in this early work some- thing of the methodical tendencies that afterward distin- guished him; for he planned a systematic campaign of re- ligious instruction and Christian culture. Some of the more
2º Dalcho 167, 349, 361.
" Wesley's Journal 29, 34, 41.
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Georgia as a Proprietary Province
earnest parishioners were organized into a sort of society for the purpose of reproof, instruction, and exhortation in the Christian life. From this group, he selected a smaller number for still more intimate discussion and study in his own home. In his Savannah congregation, his energies seem to have been centered largely upon the development of per- sons already professing Christians ; but in his dealing with other persons he was distinctly evangelistic in his teach- ings.21
While all accounts agree that he was popular with the people and that his early efforts were appreciated, it was not long before he began to lose the esteem and confidence of many of them. There seem to have been several reasons why this was true. Strangely enough, in view of his later career, one of the principal charges against him was that he adhered too strictly to the literal requirements of the Established Church, without making due allowance for fron- tier conditions in the new province. Another source of dis- satisfaction was his meddling in affairs with which he seemed to have no business, especially taking sides with certain mal- contents in Savannah who were trying to overthrow the established rules of the Trustees.22 While these causes led to a certain amount of coolness toward him on the part of some of the leading members of his mission, they were not sufficient to drive him from the colony; and the immediate occasion of his leaving under very unpleasant circumstances was a quarrel with one of the leading families of the colony, grow- ing partly at least out of a love affair.
1
When Wesley arrived in Georgia, he was welcomed freely into the homes of the leading people. Among those whom he frequently visited in a friendly way was Thomas Caus-
" Wesley's Journal, 38, 48, etc.
"C. R. IV: 18-19.
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Religious Development of Georgia
ton, the chief magistrate of the colony under the Trustees. In this home he became rather intimately acquainted with Miss Sophia Hopkins, a niece of Causton. He became much attached to her, and there seems to be no doubt that he wished to marry her; but the happy relations between them were suddenly broken up. The reason for this is not alto- gether clear. Wesley's friends assert that he was advised by Delamotte and his Moravian friends not to prosecute the suit and that his showing coldness toward Miss Hopkins resulted in a breach between them. Other accounts indicate that the young lady without provocation from him chose another suitor. At all events, she was married rather sud- denly to William Williamson, a clerk in her uncle's store.23
However Wesley may have felt about the advisability of marrying Miss Hopkins himself, there can be no ques- tion that he was piqued at her sudden marriage to another. He soon had occasion to reprove her conduct in some small particulars, and hard feeling resulted on both sides. A few weeks later, he excluded her from the holy communion on rather technical grounds ; namely, that she had not previ- ously notified him of her intention to commune.24 While he was within his strict legal right in doing this, it was an ill advised act in the case of Mrs. Williamson, with whom his relations were already somewhat strained.
As a result of Wesley's refusal to allow her to partake of the Lord's Supper, suit was brought against him for damages to the amount of £1,000 by Mr. and Mrs. William- son. The whole community was also plunged into a bitter controversy over the matter. The action brought was a civil one; but it was also planned to prosecute him as a criminal. At the next meeting of the grand jury, Thomas
23 C. R. IV: 14.
" Wesley's Journal 50 et seq.
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Georgia as a Proprietary Province
Causton as chief magistrate charged that body to investi- gate the complaints against the minister. It certainly was not a proper thing for Causton to press the case in per- son, for his close relation to Mrs. Williamson made it evi- dent that he was not acting impartially. The friends of Wesley claimed that the jury was packed with his adver- saries.25 Whatever the truth may be as to that, it con- sidered the matter and reported adversely to him. Two re- ports were presented by the grand jury; the majority, consisting of thirty-two members, found a true bill against Wesley on ten counts as follows :
1. Speaking and writing to Mrs. Williamson against her husband's consent.
2. Repelling her from the holy communion.
3. Not declaring his adherence to the Church of Eng- land.
4. Dividing the morning service on Sundays.
5. Refusing to baptize Mr. Parker's child, otherwise than by dipping, except the parents would certify it was weak and not able to bear it.
6. Repelling William Gough from the holy communion.
7. Refusing to read the burial service over the body of Nathaniel Polhill.
8. Calling himself Ordinary of Savannah.
9. Refusing to receive William Aglionby as a godfather only because he was not a communicant.
10. Refusing Jacob Matthews for the same reason; and baptizing an Indian trader's child with only two sponsors.26
The minority report, made by twelve members, was not presented to the court, but it was forwarded to the Trus- tees as a protest against the injustice that was being done Wesley. It took up the counts in order and expressed the " Wesley's Journal 55. " Ibid., 56.
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Religious Development of Georgia
opinion that none of them were sufficient for the prosecution of the accused.27
Wesley himself demurred .to all the counts except the first on the ground that they were strictly ecclesiastical and that the town court of Savannah had no authority to try such matters. He asked for immediate trial on the only civil charge; namely, speaking and writing to Mrs. William- son against her husband's consent. The court refused to give trial at that time, and it postponed the matter five or six times more at later meetings. In the meantime, the charges against him had been widely published in the papers of America. When Wesley found it impossible to vindicate himself in the colonial courts for lack of getting his case tried, there seemed to him no alternative but to try to clear himself before the Trustees.
On October 7, 1737, he consulted his friends about the advisability of leaving. He showed them that there was no possibility of instructing the Indians, the purpose for which he had come; that he had never engaged himself to the Savannah church, and that he was no longer acceptable to many of his parishioners there; and that he might do the colony real service by reporting to the Trustees the true state of affairs.28 His friends advised against immediate departure ; but after he appeared at court twice more with- out securing trial, they agreed with him that it was time to leave the colony. He gave public notice of his intention and sent a special written notice to the magistrates. They refused to allow him to leave, but they were not very zealous in their efforts to prevent his departure; and he went by boat to South Carolina on the night of December 2, 1737,29
" Wesley's Journal 57-58.
" Ibid., 59.
>C. R. IV: 36-37; Wesley's Journal 60-61.
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Georgia as a Proprietary Province
While many of the people of Georgia felt that Wesley was justified in leaving, other good men such as Secretary Wil- liam Stephens regarded him as a fugitive from justice and thought that the manner of his departure was. unworthy of him.30
On February 22, 1738, Wesley appeared before the Trus- tees and gave them an account of his troubles in Georgia, presenting also various certificates from his friends in the colony to substantiate his report. The Trustees were some- what inclined to sympathize with him, and both Williamson and Causton felt compelled to excuse the parts they had played in the transaction.31 The records do not show that any formal action either of condemnation or of approval was taken; but on April 26, 1738, Wesley was allowed to resign the appointment that he had received to do work in Georgia. 32
The career of Charles Wesley at Frederica was too brief to need extended comment. He reached St. Simons Island about the middle of February, 1736, and left in a little less than three months. He was acting in a double capacity, as Secretary for Indian Affairs, and as chaplain for the military settlement at Frederica. The combination of civil and ecclesiastical functions made his work difficult even if there had been no other handicaps; but within the first week of his labors he incurred the dislike of some of his parishioners. These made life miserable for him by tattling, and then succeeded in making even Oglethorpe suspicious of Wesley.33 He later regained in large measure the con- fidence and esteem of the General and of his other people
*C. R. IV: 40-41.
" B. T., Ga., IX: Verelst to Williamson, Dec. 14, 1737; C. R. V: 52, 60.
"C. R. I: 308, 315-316.
# Whitehead 72-80.
-
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Religious Development of Georgia
at Frederica; but he was never able to be a really useful minister at that mission. In May, 1736, he left the town to attend to some civil business in Savannah, and he never returned. He wished to resign from his duties, but Ogle- thorpe requested that he continue for at least a while to hold the offices. In July, 1736, he was sent to England to carry dispatches. Sickness prevented his immediate return, and he finally surrendered his commissions both for civil and for ecclesiastical work.3+
The failure of Charles Wesley was due to practically the same causes as that of his brother John. They were both young and inexperienced when they came to Georgia. They were so intent on religious matters that they gave little thought to practical affairs, while the communities in which they labored were so engrossed with the daily problems of life that they did not want as many religious demands as the Wesleys made. Both ministers were prone to censure small defects, and Georgia was not a place suitable for en- forcing the strict letter of either the civil or the religious code. Each of them lacked tact and ability to deal with the varied types of human nature that he encountered in the colony. While they were failures in Georgia as min- isters, their characters were pure and sincere. They were earnest Christians: and their later careers of usefulness and of greatness fully justify the claims of their friends that they did not have in Georgia a fair opportunity of showing their true worth.
Before John Wesley left Georgia, he had succeeded in getting George Whitefield interested in becoming a mis- sionary in the colony. As early as June, 1737, special con- tributions were taken in England to enable Whitefield to go to his field of labor ; and on December 21, 1737, he was
" Whitehead 82-83.
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Georgia as a Proprietary Province
formally accepted by the Trustees to serve at Frederica as a deacon of the Church of England.35 He left the Downs for Georgia the day before John Wesley landed there on his return to England; but the transport on which White- field sailed was delayed and he learned of his friend's leav- ing Savannah. He immediately wrote from the ship asking the Trustees' advice as to the scope of his labors in Georgia in view of Wesley's absence; and they gave him authority to officiate both at Savannah and at Frederica or at either place. 36
Whitefield reached Savannah May 7, 1738. He at once began work in two departments. With the aid of Haber- sham he prosecuted educational interests, especially those of orphans ; and at the same time he began active work in the Savannah mission field. His achievements in education have already been related. As minister in Savannah, he made a strong impression from the first. He conducted as many services as Wesley did, but the people did not complain of them. He held four on Sundays and three formal ones dur- ing the week, besides daily readings and expoundings in small groups or from home to home. Even those who like Secretary Stephens did not approve the doctrines taught by Whitefield received him cordially and were regular at- tendants on his services.37
During his first stay in Georgia, he confined his work very largely to Savannah, making only one brief missionary ex- pedition to Frederica ; but he was in the colony only a short while, leaving on August 28, 1738. He was criticised for his haste in returning so soon to England; but, as we have seen, his object was to prepare for better work in the colony
"C. R. I: 304-305.
"Ibid., 318.
"C. R. IV: 150, 157, 165, 191.
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Religious Development of Georgia
by being ordained to the full priesthood in the Church of England and by preparing to carry on the orphanage work. He was cordially received by the Trustees, and they agreed to most of the proposals which he made. They had ap- pointed a minister, William Norris, to succeed John Wes- ley as regular missionary at Savannah ; but this station was assigned to Whitefield after he became a full priest, and Norris was sent to Frederica. 38
It was more than a year after his appointment as pastor before Whitefield went to Georgia; and he was then too much occupied with orphanage affairs to give very serious attention to his duties as minister. During the period of his service on this occasion, he greatly shocked some of the more conservative members of the Established Church by extempore prayers, strong pleas for justification of faith only, and anathemas against those who did not accept the new doctrines.39
Whitefield was serving the Savannah people without pay, having offered of his own accord to do so; and he did not feel so much the responsibility of being regular in his min- istry as he would otherwise probably have done. The ir- regularity of preaching soon had a bad effect on the con- gregation, for the attendance on divine services decreased rapidly. Whitefield suggested that he be allowed to supply a minister of his own choice to help him in the work, but the Trustees were afraid to risk that, especially as White- field was showing so many signs of being not fully ortho- dox.40 As we shall presently notice, he suggested to Rev. William Norris the plan of helping in the Savannah region in addition to the Frederica district, but the suggestion was
*C. R. II: 259-260.
3º C. R. IV: 504, 538.
"C. R. V: 331, 538.
....
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not accepted. After his trial in South Carolina in the Court of Commissary Garden, Whitefield was supposed to be ineligible to preach in houses of worship of the Estab- lished Church; but we have already pointed out that he did not regard in the least the sentence of suspension against him, and there was no effort in Georgia to enforce it against him. He had been relieved by the Trustees of his duties as minister in Savannah before the sentence of Garden was passed, but they would probably not have been influenced by it even if it had already been passed.+1
Mention has already been made of the appointment of Rev. William Norris as a minister for Georgia. He was in- formally selected at a meeting of the Trustees on June 28, 1738, and was finally appointed on July 12. He reached Savannah the following October just at the time when Causton was being displaced as a storekeeper and when the prospects of the colony were darkest. His reception was not cordial. Oglethorpe intimated to him that he was not needed, as Whitefield was already the minister at Savannah and Habersham had been appointed to read the service while the pastor was away.+2 Habersham and other friends of Whitefield were open in their criticisms of Norris, possibly because they regarded him as trying to displace the former as minister. Secretary William Stephens seems to have been almost his only friend among the influential men.43 Norris himself was quick to take offense at criticisms, and his letters are full of complaints. He felt that Whitefield had resorted to unfair means to secure the Savannah ap- pointment from the Trustees after it had been given to him, though there is no evidence to support him in this belief.
"C. R. I: 373.
" B. T., Ga., XXI: Norris to Verelst, Nov. 6, 1738.
"C. R. V: 73-74; C. R. IV: 215-219.
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Religious Development of Georgia
When Whitefield reached Georgia, he was at first very cordial to Norris, inviting him to his house and asking him to assist him in the Savannah work, as orphanage mat- ters would require his own absence very frequently.44 Nor- ris declined the offer on the ground that the Trustees had removed him from work in the northern part of the colony, assigning him to Frederica, and he felt that he ought to devote himself exclusively as they directed; but he did re- main in Savannah for more than two months and rendered some assistance in religious affairs. However, the friendly relations between him and Whitefield did not long continue. The latter accused him of preaching false doctrine and de- clared that he would never permit him to officiate in his church again. He also accused him of playing cards when he ought to be engaged in ministerial work, and on that ground refused to let him partake of the sacrament.45
At Frederica Norris was cordially received by the in- habitants and was asked by Oglethorpe to serve as chaplain for the soldiers encamped there ;46 but his popularity was of short duration. He was soon accused of idleness and neglect of duty, and in a short while he was charged with gross immorality. These charges were never thoroughly established, but they were not satisfactorily disproved, and they ruined the prospects of Norris' usefulness in the com- munity.47 In addition he alienated many of the officers of the regiment by lack of tact in dealing with them. About June 1, 1741, after a service in the town of little more than a year, he left for England. On his return to London, he made himself very obnoxious to the Trustees by giving the colony
"C. R. IV: 489-490.
4 C. R. V: 377; C. R. IV: 528-530.
" C. R. V: 345.
47 Ibid., 420, 459, 461, 469.
T
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an evil report whenever he had an opportunity and by claim- ing that his salary had not been paid. For years he con- tinued to be a source of expense and trouble to the Trust.48
When the Trustees revoked the commission of White- field on July 7, 1740, they thought that his place would be at once filled by Rev. William Metcalf, who had been highly recommended to them. He was duly commissioned for the Savannah work and he was long expected in the colony, but he died before he could enter upon his new duties.49
Rev. Christopher Orton was appointed to the Savannah field on September 14, 1741. He was a "good natured, harmless young man," who was not of age when first chosen by the Trustees.50 He did a valuable work in the colony for a few months. Conditions were very much disturbed on account of the Spanish invasion, and there was not much heart for religion on the part of many people; but he looked after the outlying districts, revived the school work, and served Savannah faithfully. His work was cut short by a severe fever from which he never recovered, dying on August 12, 1742.51
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