USA > Georgia > Liberty County > History of the Midway Congregational Church, Liberty County, Georgia > Part 14
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4. Another factor leading to these results was their hearty endorsement of the Abrahamic covenant and the high ap- preciation, in which the rite of Infant Baptism was held. The records show nearly as many baptisms of infants as births; the recorded births being 1,035, and the baptisms 945. These pious people fully believed and laid hold of the precious promise, "I will be a God to thee and thy seed after thee," and showed their belief by giving their children unto the Lord in the holy ordinance of baptism. Nor yet was this an idle and unmeaning ceremony, for they felt the force of the vows assumed ; and not only parents, but the church in its collective capacity felt the great responsibility resting upon them as the custodians of these lambs of the fold, these minors of the commonwealth of Israel, to guard their inter- ests and to do all in their power to train them for his glory. In the earlier history of the colony, they even asserted the right of exercising discipline over the parents of these bap- tized children, as well as the children themselves, when neg- lectful of duty. How different the modern idea that not even parents, much less the church, have any special authority in connection with the children of the church.
5. And coming upon the heel of this, and as the result of it, we find them noted for the thorough religious training and discipline of the children. They were religiously taught
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from childhood. Parents strove to impress upon the minds and hearts of their children that their first great concern was to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and that any other than a religious life was a failure. There was constantly held up before their youthful minds, by parents and others,1 the high dignity and honor of being called into the ministry, accompanied with earnest desire that they too should so see it. O, the anxious pleadings of many a moth- er's heart, like that of Hannah of old, that God would train her child for his service. Many a son had been given to the Lord and trained from infancy for the ministry, by loving, anxious parents. As a striking example of this, I mention the case of the mother of Dr. Edward Abiel Stevens, mis- sionary, who, it is said, consecrated her son in childhood to the very mission field to which he was afterwards sent in the providence of God.2 Is it astonishing then that so many were called into the ministry ?
6. Still another thing conspiring to bring about such grand results, was the strict observance of the Sabbath day. God has made the Sabbath the symbol of his authority, as well as a sign between himself and his people, and no nation or people can trample that insignia of his supremacy under foot and prosper. With the Midway people the Sabbath was emphatically the "Sabbath of the Lord," and not a part simply but the whole of it. The day was to be strictly ob- served not only by themselves, but even by strangers pas- sing through on the highways with their herds, requiring them to rest until Monday. The old puritan idea prevailed, of beginning the day with a Saturday night preparation, the children being required to set aside their playthings and get ready for the services next day. I repeat, therefore, with emphasis, that it is no wonder that a people so religious
1. It was said of Mr. T. Q. Cassels, deacon, that it was his invariable custom to sug- gest the ministry to every young man in the church as soon as converted.
2. This custom of formally consecrating their children unto the Lord, seems to have been rather common with the early Baptists of Liberty county, many of whom had gone out from the Midway church, and still showing its influence upon them. I mention two other instances at least. In Dr. Ripley's Memoirs of Rev. Thomas Sumner Winn (Bap- tist) he said : "Rev. Mr. Screven, of Sunbury, was present at Newport, and preachcd. Sumner administered the ordinance (Lord's Supper) and offered prayer for two children, who were publicly dedicated to the Lord by their parents." Page 46. So the Hon. A. (). Bacon, United States Senator, being presented by his grandmother, was thus publicly dedicated to the Lord at Walthourville, 1837; my informer being Rev. Thomas Sumner Winn (Presbyterian) who was present and witnessed the same.
cration was offered by Rev. Dr. Thomas Curtis.
The prayer of conse-
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should be so wonderfully blessed. "They that honor me will . I honor. If thou turn thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasurs on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."1
7. I mention but one thing more as worthy of special em- phasis, and that is the entire absence of everything like religious excitement, periodical protracted services, anxious seats, and all the modern methods of church machinery and mere human appliances. These things were all looked upon with extreme suspicion, and were entirely discarded. The writer remembers but two protracted meetings in his day, and these not of previous appointment, but demanded by the prevalence of deep religious feeling at the time. They looked upon home training, prayer at the family altar and in the closet, and the regular Sabbath ministration of the word, as the means of building up the church. They sowed every day with the expectation of reaping every day. They required of their pastors written sermons, even the colored members preferring the written discourses to extemporane- ous harangues. The result was that grace was constantly descending like dew, the power of the Lord ever present to heal, the church continually strengthened by regular addi- tions. They built firmly but securely, and with wonderful success as already seen.2
The things just enumerated, together with the peculiar en- vironments of this people, they being almost wholly isolated from the rest of the world; the entire absence of the saloon and all the temptations and frivolities of modern life, we believe under God, to be the agencies in bringing about the results so remarkable and glorious.
1. Isai lviii, 13 and 14. 2. The course pursued by this people might be one extreme, but infinitelv better than the opposite of periodical and annual excitement. There is such a thing as 'Reviving a church to death," as a Baptist brother once said of a cer- tain community in Georgia, in which he lived.
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Now, whether these explanations be regarded as satisfac- tory or not, we feel assured that if the past order of things . could be restored, and this deep and fervent piety{ this spirit of daily consecration : this regular attendance upon the ser- vices of the sanctuary; this establishment of the family altar in every household ; this careful training of the children ; this strict observance of the Sabbath, and this constant, every day faithful religion, could be reinstated, then we would again see the return of this marvelous spiritual power, and these churches of the land, so many of which are now dead and fruitless, would again exhibit signs of returning life, and if not like this old church, yielding an hundred, would cer- tainly yield thirty and sixty fold. It is simply the absence of spiritual life, and not the absence of church machinery, that stamps them with such spiritual dearth.
REMARKS.
In connection with the history of this old church I have still some further remarks to offer.
1. The history of this church will remain to the latest gen- eration a refutation of the old hackneved charge of Puritan- ism. We constantly nowadays hear the terms "Puritan" and "Puritanical," and often used by those who have no real conception of their import. It is customary now to term everything strict and deeply pious and religious "Pu- ritanical." Yes, these people were "Puritans." So were Jeremiah, and the prophets, and Paul, and the apostles, and Luther, and Zwingli, and Calvin, and Wesley, and Whit- field. Would that the whole world were Puritans, if such be the fruit. The world always accuses the zealous servants of God with madness. Tis true, in some instances, the old Pu- ritans did indulge in unwarranted excesses ; but are there no excesses with which the people of this voluptuous and sen- sualistic age may not likewise be charged? With all their excesses, the world would be a thousand times better off un- der Puritan rule than under the opposite extreme of uni- versal laxity and ruffian disregard for all law and or- der, as we so often see in these latter days. It is high time
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the world was calling a halt in its vituperation and abuse of the old Pilgrim fathers, many of whom, judging by their fruits, are, to say the least of it, the full peers of their as- sailants of the present day.
2. The history of this old church is also a complete refuta- tion of the charge of those who look with such holy horror upon the ordinance of Infant Baptism, and who assail it as the sum of all evils. In no community, perhaps, was this ordinance, in the time of its greatest prosperity, more uni- versally practiced. If it is the terrible thing that anti- pedobaptists would have us believe, why such rich blessings bestowed upon those into whose minds and hearts the ordi- nance was so thoroughly imbedded ? If the Scripture rule be admitted, to judge a tree by its fruits, the argument would be overwhelmingly in its favor.
Should it be said that the same course of argument would be equally fatal to Presbyterianism and in favor of Congre- gationalism, as this church was Congregational in form, I answer that with the exception of Messrs. Osgood and Holmes, the church, though Congregational in form, always had Presbyterian ministers. It supported the Presbyterian church, sending her contributions through that channel, and was generally known and in common parlance termed, the "Presbyterian church;" and all the ministers going out from it have become Presbyterians, not one having embraced the Congregational form of government.
3. Still one other lesson, and that is what, within proper bounds and reasonable limits, might be termed the power and conservatism of the mixing process. Quite a number of individuals and even families came in after the settlement of the colony, but the first settlers, having already possession of the field impressed their ideas and methods upon all new comers, and like the woman with the meal, leavened the rest. See the importance, not only of starting, but keeping right, and resisting all outside influences, especially in connection with the possibilities of small fields. It was not until some of the earlier practices began to fall into disuse, by the intro- duction of a foreign element, that the old church began to show signs of weakness and decay. It is not the amount
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of material at hand, but what is used, that tells. Let all the pastors of small congregations and churches take the hint and be encouraged.
CHAPTER XI.
RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF THE NEGROES.
Any account of this church would be decidedly incomplete, without distinct mention of the religious instruction of the negroes. The Carolina emigrants brought their slaves with them, and they comprised a large part of the population. When first established, the colony numbered about three hundred and fifty whites and fifteen hundred slaves, the av- erage increase of population being in favor of the latter class. For several years, it seems, no special effort was made for their evangelization. No mention is made of any accommodation for them in the log meeting house, the first place of worship. In 1770, fourteen years after the erection of the first frame building, we find the society ordering "that the gallery be made commodious for the whites, and a shed be made for the negroes." Some seats were also provided for them in the building erected in Sunbury, after the war of the revolution, and also in the house on Jourdine's Hill. Hence we find, as appears from the record, that for the first forty years, up to 1792, only fifty of that people had been added to its mem- bership, though this was the only church anywhere within the county.
During the ministry of Mr. Holmes, (1785-1791) some stimulus appears to have been given to the religious inter- est among this people. It was during his pastorate that Mingo, a freed man, then residing on Mr. Peter Winn's plan-
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tation, a man of piety and zeal, commenced, with the ap- probation of the church, preaching to his own color, in the woods southeast of the meeting house and just across the Sunbury road. The place was fitted up with booths of bushes, with wide seats and a raised platform in the center, on which Mingo stood, called "the stand."1 Here it was, he preached on Sabbaths between the morning and afternoon services in the church. He also held meetings at some of the planta- tions, and notably among them, on that of Mr. John Lam- bert, who felt a lively interest in the race, and engaged him to hold meetings regularly and statedly during his life time, on account of which, his plantation became a place of meet- ing for the negroes for the neighborhood ; and even after his death in 1786, until 1838, when his estate, consisting of lands and slaves, left for charitable puposes, was sold and invested in something more productive.
With Mingo was associated Jack, belonging to Mr. Sal- turs, and who, on account of his piety and services, was af- terwards bought by the church that he might give himself wholly to the work. He lived on Mr. Lambert's place, and survived him several years. He was the father of Toney Stevens, who was afterwards colored minister under the su- pervision of the church.
On the death of Jack Salturs, Sharper, belonging to Mrs. Quarterman, succeeded him. He was a man of deep piety and zeal, and enjoyed the confidence of the whole community till his death, in the spring of 1833. He not only preached at "the stand," as his predecessors had done, but labored more abundantly than they all, holding meetings at the plant- ations of Mr. Lambert, Mr. James James, and others. He did much for the colored people. He died full of years and universally lamented. The following is the account of his funeral given by Dr. Jones :
"His funeral was held at night on the green in front of Midway church. Between two and three hundred negroes were present. At the close of the services we opened the coffin. The moon shone in his face. The people gazed upon
1. Dr. Jones' 10th Report.
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it and lifted up their voices and wept. His sons bore him to his grave. In silence we returned to our homes oppressed with grief at this heavy affliction of God."1
Mr. Gildersleeve was the first minister who attempted sys- tematic work on behalf of the negroes. His habit was, every Sabbath, on return from services, to assemble with his own, all the negroes who might come, in his own parlor. Mr. Rob- ert Quarterman, afterwards minister, at that time a mem- ber of the family, asserted that "the parlor was for the most part crowded to overflowing and great interest was mani- fested."
In the year 1792 the present house of worship was erected with increased gallery accommodations for the colored peo- ple.
In 1806 a meeting house was put up in the fork between North and South Newport rivers, called "Pleasant Grove." Reading services were held here regularly every Sabbath, conducted by Messrs. Brad well, John Ashmore, Col. Joseph Law, and others. It was afterwards made a station by the Methodist circuit riders, from which the colored people de- rived some benefit.
In the same year the Baptists commenced operations in the county. They organized a church in Sunbury under the ministry of Rev. Charles O. Screven. Their meeting house was built in 1810, with a gallery for the negroes. Mr. Screven was assisted by Mr. Samuel S. Law, first as a dea- con, but afterwards, when ordained, held services every Sab- bath afternoon for them.
Mr. Murphy succeeded Mr. Gildersleeve in 1811. Mr. Quarterman, not a professor of religion when in Mr. Gilder- sleeve's house, but now received into the communion of the church, commenced weekly meetings for them, on Mr. Jones' plantation, and continued for four years, till 1814. He was succeeded by Mr. John O. Baker till 1823. Mr. Oliver Ste- vens and Mr. John Osgood held services every Sabbath af- ternoon at Lambert's plantation, beginning in 1811, and continuing for seventeen years, till Mr. Osgood's death. Mr.
1. Dr. Jones' 10th Report.
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John Dunwody and others also entered into active service in this field.
About this time the appointment was made by the church of some of the most intelligent and pious men among the ne- groes to be "watchmen," or kind of superintendents of the rest. Their charge embraced one or two plantations. Their duty was to look after the conduct of the rest, to report ca- ses requiring discipline, and to give instructions to inquirers. The necessity for this appointment grew out of the increas- ing numbers of additions to the church from this class, and also, the continued disposition'of the whites to spend more of their time away at the retreats, from their plantations, and the negroes being deprived more and more of the re- straining influence of their presence.
In the year 1818 a second Baptist church was formed at North Newport and a house of worship erected, with galler- ies for the use of the colored people of this church. Rev. Thomas Sumner Winn was for a short while pastor, who gave considerable attention to the spiritual improve- ment of the negroes, as he had some time before his licensure. This field was afterwards filled by Rev. Henry J. Ripley, who afterwards became professor in Newton Theological Semi- nary, Mass. Rev. Jacob Dunham, also for ten years mis- sionary of Sunbury Association, frequently preached to this people. Following the example of the Midway people, they also had their "watchmen," many of whom were to some extent exhorters.
Still one other advance in the work. Rev. Robert Quar- terman succeeded Mr. Murphy as pastor of Midway church in 1823. The church, perceiving the necessity for a more careful and thorough instruction of this people, appointed, in addition to the "watchmen," a committee of white men, located in different parts of the county, as "Instructors," whose duty was to receive and instruct all persons under serious impressions, and to recommend to the church Ses- sion those whom they thought worthy of membership, the Session in the meantime having resolved not to consider the application for membership of any of this class unless they brought a recommendation from some one of the committee.
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HISTORY OF MIDWAY CHURCH.
Thus we perceive that up to 1830, though considerable advance had been made in the religious instruction of the colored people, still there was nothing that amounted to anything like a regular systematic training and instruction. With the next year begins the era of a special work, so suc- cessfully carried on and with such abundant fruits, under the management of that devoted servant of God, Rev. Charles Colcock Jones.
ORGANIZATION OF THE ASSOCIATION.
On the 10th of March, 1831, a number of persons interest- ed in the religious instruction of the negroes met in Riceboro, and upon consultation determined to form an association. A committee was appointed to prepare a report and a con- stitution, and Rev. C. C. Jones to deliver an address, at an- other meeting to be held in the same place March 28th. The meeting was held according to agreement, the address was delivered, the committee reported, and a constitution adop- ted, which was, in the course of a few weeks, signed by twenty-nine persons and the association formed.
The association met on April 4th, of the same year, and proceeded to divide the district into divisions or neighbor- hoods, and appointed places of instruction and teachers in each of these districts. The teachers were to visit the plan- tations assigned them, in rotation every week: and these teachers were to meet the executive committee of the associ- ation every three months for prayer and conference. There were eight of these districts or neighborhoods, and each of these under the superintendence of one of the executive com- mittee. The plan promised well, but for want of execution, soon fell through. As the teachers were not ministers, they failed to interest the negroes and secure their attendance.
There was at this time a society called the "Midway Church Missionary Society," of which the executive com- mittee of the association were members. They offered Rev. C. C. Jones a commission to preach two Sabbaths in the month to the whites in the destitute portions of the county, and the other two Sabbaths and intervening days of the
C. C. Somes
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week to the negroes. Mr. Jones accepted the position and commenced his work, and preached at Fraser's plantation, Mt. Olivet, Pleasant Grove, and several plantations, during the week. After one month's trial, feeling not fully prepared for this work, he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian church of Savannah, where he remained eighteen months. At the end of this time he relinquished his charge in Savan- nah and returned to Liberty county, and at the solicitation of the association, entered regularly upon his labors Decem- ber 2, 1832.
HIS FIELD.
His field embraced the fifteenth district, covering an area of about twenty miles square, with some one hundred planta- tions of all sizes, and with about four thousand negroes of all ages. The most of these plantations were left by the white people and owners in summer, during the sickly sea- son. Owing to the vastness of the field, the newness and delicacy of the work, and difficulties of the undertaking, it was not without many misgivings that Mr. Jones undertook the work. Let him tell his own feelings in the matter :
"I commenced my labors on the 2nd of December, 1832. The Lord had opened the door. A great work was to be done, but to me it was almost entirely new. There were no precedents in our country to which I could look for encour- agement and instruction. The work was one of exceeding delicacy. A slight impropriety might ruin it, while on its success the spiritual welfare of multitudes might depend. The public mind was sensitive and tender. There were fears and there were objections. Some of them I had heard ex- pressed in no measured terms. It was urged that large as- semblages on the Sabbath, with no white person present but the missionary, would be seized upon as fit occasions for riot and insubordination. Soon there would be a call for the interference of the police of the county, and the meetings would be suppressed. Night meetings on plantations would be followed by the breaking open of houses, by thefts, by lewdness and carousals. So much notice of the people would
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make them presumptuous, unruly and unprofitable. They would be running to the missionary with tales about their work and treatment. Our operation was something of an abolition movement and something new, foreign, and un- necessary. It would open the door for improper teachers. We were commencing a work which ultimately would tend to the ruin of the county. No good would come of it. The negroes were doing well enough. These may serve as speci- mens of objections."1
Under the prudent and proper management however, of Dr. Jones, these and all other fears and objections were dis- armed, as the sequel will show. And instead of these, the gospel produced just the opposite effect, and with the most gratifying results.
Dr. Jones commenced his work in a regular systematic way. He divided the district into six stations, viz .: Sunbu- ry, Pleasant Grove, Newport, Midway, Fraser's plantation, and Sand Hills or Walthourville. He preached regularly, and in rotation every Sabbath at these places, except Sun- bury, where the Baptists had a church, and Walthourville, where the work was greatly retarded in not having a house of their own. His plan was also to hold plantation meet- ings at night during the week. Near fifty of these were re- turned to him, by members of the committee as open for re- ligious instruction. Among others, one of the rules adopted by him at the beginning of his work was not to visit any of the plantations without the permission of the owner, and to confine the meeting to the servants of the place, not even giving out these notices on Sunday or in any of the public assemblies. When the notice of a proposed meeting was sent to any planter, the matter was left entirely in his hands, to provide the place, and to say whether the meeting should be confined to his own servants or not. If he chose to in- vite the negroes of the surrounding plantations, well enough. In this way all friction was avoided, and the fears of the planters were allayed.
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