USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky Baptists : From 1769 to 1885, including more than 800 biographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 22
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Mr. Peck that he was, at that period, pastor of four churches, and that during the year he made a preaching tour to Lexing- ton, Maysville and several other places.
In February, 1810, he was called to the oversight of David's Fork church in Fayette county, and in the same year resigned the care of, and took a letter of dismission from Crab Orchard church, and moved on a farm within the bounds of David's Fork. Under his ministry a revival soon visited his new charge, and "within six months one hundred and seventy souls were added to the church."* During another revival during his pastorate here in 1827-8 "upwards of two hundred precious souls were added to the church." He was pastor of this church twenty years and five months. He was three years pastor of Lulbegrud and Grassy Lick churches, both in Montgomery county. During this period he baptized for the fellowship of the former, one hundred and sixty-five, and for that of the latter, ninety. In 1811, he accepted a call to the pastorate of the Mis- sionary Baptist church at Bryant's Station, and occupied the position till 1830.
Besides his pastoral labors, Mr. Vardeman was a very ac- tive and wonderfully successful evangelist in Kentucky and sev- eral of the adjoining states, for a period of nearly thirty years, before he moved to the West. In 1815, he visited Bardstown, where "Priest Baden was unwise enough to enter the list against him and lost several of his members. Next year he held meet- ings in Lexington and Louisville. In 1820, he visited Nash- ville, Tennessee, and through his labors the first Baptist church in that city was constituted, and attained membership of one hundred and fifty by the first of the following October.
In June, 1828, Mr. Vardeman held a series of meetings in Cincinnati, Ohio, which resulted in the baptism of 118 souls, in three weeks. These are only specimens of his abundant labors.
In the fall of 1830, he resigned the charge of all his churches and moved to Ralls county, Missouri. Here also, though ad- vanced in years and grown corpulent, he did good service for the Master for a number of years. With the assistance of Elder Spencer Clack, who had recently moved from Bloomfield, Ken-
*His. David's Fork ch. p. 9.
a
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Jeremiah Vardeman.
tucky, he constituted a church in Palmyra. Several other churches grew up under his ministry.
In 1834, he presided in a meeting, convened for the pur- pose of organizing a system of domestic missions in the State. This organization grew into the General Association of Missouri Baptists.
But soon the infirmities of old age began to creep upon him. S.ill he labored on up to the measure of his strength. For two years before his death, he was unable to stand up to preach, but sat in a large arm-chair. Only two weeks before he was called from earth, in company with another preacher, he visited the Sulphur Springs, at Elk Lick, for the benefit of his health. Before they left they constituted a church. On this occasion, Mr. Vardeman baptized five candidates for that ordi- nance. This was the last service of the kind he ever performed. "He had then," says Mr. Peck, "baptized more Christian pro- fessors than any [other] man in the United States. As he kept no register of these and other labors, the accurate number can never be ascertained ; probably not less than eight thousand converts."
The last Sunday he spent on carth, he attended the ap- pointment of another preacher, not far from his residence. After the sermon he spoke a half hour from the words: "How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation." He was, at that time free from pain, but during the week he grew worse, though little alarm was felt by his family. But on Saturday morning, May 28, 1842, he called his family around him, gave them some directions, bade them farewell, and gently fell asleep in Jesus, all within fifteen minutes. He was in the sixtv-seventh year of his age.
In person Jeremiah Vardeman was handsome, command- ing and attractive. Mr. Peck says of him, in his latter years : "His usual weight was three hundred pounds, yet his muscular frame was well proportioned, and his personal appearance graceful and commanding. His voice was powerful, sonorous and clear, his enunciation distinct, and he could be heard in the open air for a great distance."
In doctrine he agreed with Andrew Fuller. In preaching, he was plain, simple and unaffected, yet wonderfully charming and attractive, pleasing alike the learned and illiterate. He
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History of Kentucky Baptists.
was not what is termed a doctrinal preacher, and still less a controversialist. His descriptive powers were unrivaled, and in the force and power of his exhortation, he was probably never surpassed. In the whole manner of his preaching, he probably resembled the famous George Whitfield more than any other known orator .*
MOSES FOLEY was the third pastor of Crab Orchard church. He was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost, and by him much people were added to the Lord. He possessed only moderate preaching gifts, but these were diligently used. He was the son of Moses Foley, a Baptist minister of Washington county, Va. The seignior MOSES FOLEY was pastor of North Fork of Holstein, and Rich Valley churches in Virginia, in 1794, and, in 1802, moved, with twenty-six of the members of the former, to Abrahams creek, where he constituted a new church. About the year 1815, he moved to Knox county, Ken- tucky, and settled on the Cumberland river, four miles below Barboursville. Here he was pastor of several churches till near the time of his death. He raised six daughters and seven sons. Of the latter, Elijah and Moses were Baptist preachers. ELIJAH FOLEY preached a short time in Virginia, then moved to Ken- tucky, where he labored several years in the Gospel. He fin- ally moved to Missouri, where he preached several years, be. fore his death.
Moses Foley, jr., was born in Washington county, Virginia, February 7, 1777. He professed religion in his native county, about the year 1802. He commenced exhorting sinners to re- pent, before he was baptized, and was regularly inducted into the ministry in 1803. After preaching a few years with much zeal, in his native county, he moved to Pulaski county, Ken- tucky, about 1808. Here he was called to the care of Union church. In August, 1810, he succeeded Jeremiah Vardeman in the pastoral care of Crab Orchard church. To this church he preached forty-eight years. He continued to preach month- ly to Union church, several years after he was settled at Crab Orchard, when he resigned on account of the distance.
After his removal to Lincoln county, in 1811, besides Crab
*For much of the matter of this sketch the author is indebted to J. M. Peck.
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Pitmans Creek Church.
Orchard, he preached, at different times, to Freedom and Ma- sons Fork (now Liberty), in Garrard county, Hays Fork in Madison county, and Mt. Salem, Logans Creek and Drakes Creek, in Lincoln county. He was a good singer and an ex- cellent exhorter, and was very prompt and energetic in his min- isterial labors. He died, after a brief illness, November 9, 1858, greatly beloved and much lamented.
During the period now under consideration (1791) the Baptists began to organize in the upper part of the Green riv- er country. Two churches were constituted on the north side of Green river this year, but which one was gathered first is not known.
PITMANS CREEK church was constituted of thirty members, on the tributary of Green river from which it derives its name, in 1791 .* It was probably gathered by that ever restless and migratory pioneer, Baldwin Clifton, who continued its pastor, till 1807, at which date he was Moderator of Russels Creek Association. The church failed to report the number of its members to the Association, till 1804, when it reported a membership of sixty-six.
Pitmans Creek church appears to have united first with South Kentucky Association of Separate Baptists, but acceded to the terms of general union, in 1801, and became a member of Green River Association. On the division of that body, in 1804, it fell into Russells Creek Association, with which it con- tinues in fellowship still ; but in 1850, or the year afterwards, it was moved a short distance to Campbellsville, the county seat of Taylor, and took the name of that village.
ISAAC HODGEN, the second pastor of Pitmans Creek church, was one of the most famous preachers of his generation. A writer in Allen's Baptist Register for 1833, says: "Isaac Hod- gen was in some respects, the most brilliant and successful minister of the gospel that ever lived and died t in Kentucky. I knew him well for about twenty years from the early part of his ministry to near its close. Few ministers in the West have met with equal success, and none have been more laborious."
*Horatio Chandler makes a mistake in supposing this church was con- stituted in 1803. We know it was a member of Green River Association previous to that date.
tVardeman and the Warders were living at that time.
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History of Kentucky Baptists.
ROBERT HODGEN, the father of Isaac Hodgen, came from Virginia to Kentucky, about the year 1780, and settled in what is now LaRue county. He remained for a time in a fort on Nolin river and was probably in the constitution of South Fork church in that fort, in 1782. As soon as he deemed it prudent to venture out of the fort, he settled on the land now occupied by Hodgenville, the county seat of LaRue, which town was named in his honor. In 1795, he represented Hardin county, in the Kentucky Legislature. After moving out of the fort, he united with Severns Valley church, now lo- cated in Elizabethtown, and became its clerk, in 1787. He was also an Elder in that church. He was much respected for his uprightness of character and sincere piety. Two of his sons were preachers.
JOHN HODGEN was born where Hodgenville now stands, about the year 1782. He was baptized into the fellowship of Severns Valley church, in 1802, and was in the constitution of Nolin church in LaRue county, the following year. Here, after several years, he was licensed to exercise his gift in speaking. He exhibited some sprightliness in exhortation, and, in 1820, on the resignation of Jonathan Paddox, was invited to preach once a month at South Fork church. To this church he moved his membership. When his ordination was called for, Nolin church refused her concurrence on account of his Arminian sentiments. He was, however, ordained, in March, 1822, by John Chandler, Horatio Chandler, Johnson Graham and Isaac Hodgen, and became pastor of South Fork church. Nolin church was expressly opposed to his ordination, and the affair caused an interruption between the two neighboring churches. Nolin refused to commune with South Fork. This state of affairs continued till 1729, when W. M. Brown succeeded Mr. Hodgen in the pastorate, and harmony was restored. Mean- while Mr. Hodgen moved to Illinois and joined the Campbellites. After a few years, he moved from there to Iowa, where he fin- ished his course on earth.
Isaac Hodgen was born in what is now LaRue county (probably in No.Lynn Fort), about the year 1780. His educa- tion was such as could be obtained in the common schools where he was raised. He was a daring, reckless youth, and a ring- leader of the young men of good families, in almost every spec-
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Isaac Hogden.
ies of bold wickedness. While he was deputy sheriff of Hardin county, he got into a drinking frolic at Bardstown in Nelson county, and handled the wares of the tavern-keeper so roughly, that it cost him sixty dollars. Quite a considerable sum at that day.
During the great revival of 1800-3, he professed conver- sion under the ministry of Joshua Morris, and was baptized into the fellowship of Severns Valley church. Shortly after his conversion, he, with most of his father's family, went into the constitution of Nolin church, located about three miles from Hodgenville, in 1803. His conversion was thorough, and he immediately engaged in the service of God with even more zeal and constancy than he had manifested in the service of the devil. He seemed to have been born (again) a missionary of the Cross. All the powers of his soul yearned for the salva- tion of sinners. His gift in prayer and exhortation was so marked that, in 1804, Nolin church licensed him to preach.
In March, 1805, he moved to Green county, and united with Mt. Gilead church, where he was ordained to the work of the ministry, the same year. He constantly insisted that his appropriate work was that of an evangelist. To point sinners to the Cross was his great gift, and in this work his whole soul seemed to be absorbed. On account of the scarcity of pastors in Russells Creek Association, he took the care of Pitmans Creek (now Campbellsville) church, on the resignation of Bald- win Clifton, in 1807, and that of Mt. Gilead, on the resignation of Elijah Summars, about the same time, or, rather, he preached monthly for these, and perhaps some other churches, at differ- ent periods, when he was in reach of them. In this work, he probably succeeded better than any of his cotemporary pastors, in his association. But his great life work was that of travel- ing evangelist. To this work he scemed called of God and wonderfully adapted. "He traveled many thousand miles as an itinerant preacher. He carried the gospel, with universal acceptance, to the most populous towns and cities [and] to the poorest cottages and most ignorant persons in all the land." He was a colaborer of Jeremiah Vardeman, William C. Warfield, and William and Walter Warder. God raised up these five men, and endowed them with extraordinary powers, not far from the same time. It was at a period when the young com-
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History of Kentucky Baptists.
monwealth of Kentucky was being rapidly peopled by emi- grants from the older states, and the broad field was white unto the harvest.
These men labored with intense, consuming zeal, and per- formed their tasks quickly. They all died in midlife, except Vardeman, and he lived not to his three score years and ten.
In 1817, Mr. Hodgen and William Warder traveled as far as Philadelphia, and thence through several counties in Vir- ginia, and back home, making the whole tour on horseback, and preaching almost every night. It was supposed that not less than six hundred persons were baptized in Virginia, who were awakened under the preaching of these two young minis- ters, during that tour. In this manner, Isaac Hodgen spent most of his ministerial life.
" In person," says the writer quoted above, "Elder Hod. gen was large and very commanding in appearance. He had a fine lofty forehead and an eye of love or cutting severity at will. His heart was warm and ardent. His zeal was like an overflow- ing fountain, issuing from such a depth that no season could affect its enlivening current.
"In preaching, he greatly excelled in the forcible sim- plicity of his sermons, thundering conviction to the heart, and charging on sinners the mighty guilt of the Savior's death. His weapons, though not satirical, cut, at almost every blow. His eloquence, flowing from an overwhelming compassion for perishing souls, rolled from his tongue in such a torrent that all were moved as by one impulse to cry for mercy. In con- versation he was particularly distinguished for a facility in reach- ing the judgment and the heart, so that opponents were first silenced, and then melted into tears."*
In 1826, the Lord of the vineyard was pleased to take this eminent and useful servant of Christ to himself.
JOHN HARDING, who immediately succeeded Isaac Hod- gen in the pastoral care of Old Pitman's Creek church, was of a family distinguished alike in church and state.
THOMAS HARDING, his father, was a native of Virginia, and married Sarah Payne, a native of Ireland. He came, among the early settlers, to Washington county, Kentucky, and was a
*Allen's Register for 1833, p. 189.
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Thomas Harding and Sons.
soldier in the Indian wars in the West, during the American Revolution, for which he received a pension in the latter years of his life. He was under Col. Crawford at the time of his disastrous defeat by the Wyandott Indians on the Sandusky river. Crawford was captured by the Indians, and burned, and his army was dispersed. Mr. Harding escaped, and swam the Ohio river on his horse.
After he came to Kentucky, he became a farmer. He and his wife were Baptists, and the wife was especially remarkable for her warm and constant piety. They first moved from Wash- ington to Green county, where they raised their family, con- sisting of four daughters and five sons, then, in their old age, moved to Indiana, where they finished their earthly course, near Brownsburg.
Two of the sons, Noah and Payne, moved to Indiana, where they were both justices of the peace. John and Samuel were preachers. AARON HARDING, the youngest son, was an eminent lawyer and statesman. He was twice elected to Con- gress, after which he retired from public life, and devoted him- self to his profession, at Danville. For purity of morals, prac- tical philanthropy, and devout christian piety, the Baptists of Kentucky could boast few men superior to Hon. Aaron Hard- ing. Chief Justice, M. R. Hardin, * was a grandson of the old patriotic pioneer, Thomas Harding.
SAMUEL HARDING, the second son of Thomas Harding, was born in Washington county, Kentucky, December 5, 1787. From his boyhood, he was of a sprightly, animated temper, and had fine social powers, during his life. He fin- ished a fair English education, with an old teacher of the name of Mahan. He was baptized into the fellowship of Pitmans Creek church, about the year 1810. He was ordained to the ministry at about the age of thirty, and, not far from the same time, was married to Annie Shipp, daughter of Richard Shipp of Green county, and sister of James Shipp, a brilliant Young Baptist preacher, who died soon after he commenced preaching.
Mr. Harding was pastor of some churches in Kentucky, a short time, after which he moved to Shelby county, Indiana,
*Judge Hardin was a son of the daughter of Thomas Harding.
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History of Kentucky Baptists.
where he lived on a farm, and preached to several churches. He was active in raising an endowment fund for Franklin Col- lege. He was zealous in his holy calling, and enjoyed a good degree of success. He was a good, sound preacher, an excel- lent singer, and a fair exhorter, and his fine social powers were consecrated to his work. He died of measles, which was said to be a second attack of that disease, about the year 1835.
John Harding was the oldest son of Thomas Harding, and was born in Washington county, Ky., Jan. 16, 1785. In his early childhood, his parents moved to Green county. Here he was brought up on a farm, and received a good English educa- tion under the tutorship of N. H. Hall, a Presbyterian clergy- man, While studying astronomy, he became seriously affected on the subject of religion. He was especially impressed with that familiar line :
" An undevout astronomer is mad."
He was a very quiet, retiring youth, remarkable for his love of truth and fondness for study. After laboring on his father's farm all day, he would gather brush, with which to make a light, and apply himself to reading till late at night. This habit of close application to study continued with him through life, and by this means he obtained a large and constantly increasing stock of useful knowledge.
Notwithstanding his deep impression on the subject of re- ligion, in his early life, he did not make a public profession of faith in Christ, till about his twenty-fifth year. At this time he, his brother Samuel, and James Shipp were baptized at the same time by Isaac Hodgen, and he was admitted into the fel- lowship of Pitman's Creek church. He commenced exercising in public soon after his baptism. He exhibited little genius, but his good practical sense, sound knowledge of the Scriptures, and consistent piety, procured for him the universal confidence of the people. A little incident of the times will illustrate the estimate in which he was held by the young people of his ac- quaintance. An unconverted young man in the neighborhood, addressing a gay, frolicsome young lady, said to her : "My love for you is as true as John Harding's religion."* The measure of his affection was considered satisfactory to the exacting
*The lady herself related this incident to the author.
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John Harding.
lass, and the young people were soon afterward married.
Mr. Harding was ordained after a short probation, prob- ably by John Chandler and Isaac Hodgen. He succeeded Mr. Hodgen in the pastorate of Pitman's Creek church, and con- tinued to occupy the position about twenty years. In 1848, Taylor county was formed, and Campbellsville, the county seat, was located near old Pitman's Creek church, which was soon afterwards moved to that town, and has since borne its name.
Mr. Harding was also pastor of the churches at Mt. Gilead, Columbia, Greensburg, Friendship and of others, at different periods. He was a strong, clear, logical preacher, and an ex- cellent pastor. The churches of his charge were generally prosperous, and Russells Creek Association, of which he was Moderator twelve years in succession, after the death of Isaac Hodgen, owed much of its prosperity to his wisdom and pru- dence.
At the age of thirty, Mr. Harding married Rachel Carlisle, the daughter of a respectable farmer of Green county. This union was blessed with one child, a son, who died at about the age of twenty years. About 1843, Mrs. Harding, who was a most exemplary Christian woman, died at the home of her hus- band, in Campbellsville. After her decease, Mr. Harding lived with his brother, Hon. Aaron Harding, in Greensburg, till the Lord took him to himself, November 11, 1854.
Mr. Harding was a strong, logical writer, but published nothing. He had several treatises on different religious subjects, which he intended to have published, but was called away be- fore his purpose was carried out. An essay on the Abrahamic Covenant was published after his death .*
BRUSH CREEK church is claimed to be one of the two old- est fraternities of the kind, south of LaRue and Hardin coun- ties. It was constituted on the creek from which it takes its name in Green county. Its early records were destroyed by fire, and upon what authority the date of its constitution is fixed at 1791, does not appear. It is certain, however, that it is one of the old churches of the Green river country, for it was a member of Green River Association, in 1802, and was then the largest church within the present limits of Russells Creek Asso-"
*The principal facts in these sketches were taken from the lips of Hon. Aaron Harding.
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History of Kentucky Baptists.
ciation, unless Pitman's Creek, the number of whose members is not given, was larger. Brush Creek reported that year, an aggregate membership of one hundred. Its messengers were Edward Lewis, James Goldby and Johnson Graham. It is probable that the church was gathered by Benjamin Lynn, as he was the nearest preacher, of the Separate Baptists, to that point. The suggestion that William Graham was its first pastor is not probable, since there appears to have been no preacher in Kentucky of the name of Graham, near that period.
Brush Creek church contained one hundred members at the close of the great revival, but two years afterward, it reported only thirty-seven. Its growth was slow, but during the revival of 1829, it obtained a membership of one hundred and fifty-two. Since that time it has generally been prosperous, and has been a leading member of Russells Creek Association, from the be- ginning.
Benjamin Lynn, according to a communication received some years ago from Dr. Hodgen Graham, was an early pastor of this church. He probably continued to serve in this capacity till after the year 1800. A sketch of the life of this famous old pioneer has been given in the first chapter of this work.
WILLIAM MATHEWS appears to have succeeded Lynn. He was an elderly man when he came to Kentucky. He possessed very small gifts, but his piety was so pure and constant, and he was so affectionately diligent in the work of his Master, that he exerted an excellent influence over all classes of people, and was greatly beloved by the children of God.
William Mathews was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, in 1733, and was among the early converts to the Baptist faith in that region. Like the Craigs, Wallers and others, who were converted near the same time and place, he began to exhort his neighbors to repent and turn to Christ, soon after he was con- verted. It was a time of violent persecution, and Mr. Matthews came in for his share of rude treatment. Elder Joel Gordon, who was intimately acquainted with him in his old age, heard him relate the following incident: "On a Sunday morning, soon after I commenced exercising in exhortation," said Mr. Matthews, "I dressed myself in a suit of speckless white cotton clothes, and started to walk to meeting alone. I was just pass- ing an exceedingly filthy pond when I was overtaken and seized
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