USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume II > Part 32
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in every well dispersed mind, especially when we consider the present aspect of certain opinions towards not only civil order and polite litera- ture, but also towards morality and religion. We cannot help con- gratulating our own community upon its possession of so many liberal and enlightened characters who appear ready still to give their public testimony to a rational faith which stands unmoved at all possible dis- tance from the pretended philosophy of Gallic infidelity and atheism. We ardently wish them good luck in the name of the Lord."
Before the end of the year the committee of building announced that the church was "inclosed" and ask the purchasers of pews for the last payment. There seems to have been some hesitancy on the part of many of the parishioners to purchase pews, lest they thereby should be placed under obligation ever after to pay the rent thereon. The ves- try, for the purpose of explaining the conditions of purchase, and of surrender published a long address in May, 1801, to the Churches of "St. Peter's Parish" of which these are the opening sentences: Whereas it appears to the vestry of Saint Peter's Parish that the sales of the pews in the Easton and White Marsh Churches have been lately much re- tarded by the prevalence of an opinion that the present terms of the sale are unreasonable in this particular, that they enable the vestry to exact the per cent. after the pew holders shall have removed from the county and thereby cease to have any use of the pew; and also that the heirs of the deceased pew holders may be compelled to keep the pews and pay the rent, or be at the trouble of selling them, if they should not want them after the death of their ancestors. Now the vestry being desirous of doing away their prejudices, of convincing all rational and well disposed people that their wish is rather to see the church filled with devout Christians than to raise a revenue for the support of a clergyman by means deemed unreasonable, do hereby make known and declare and solemnly promise that they will, etc." The vestry engage to release any pew holder from the payment of rent who shall temporarily remove from the county during the time of his absence; to release all minors from payment of rent until they shall become of age, when they may resume their right to their pews. They also state the terms by which a right to a pew shall be forfeited to the vestry, etc. These details need not be here given, as they no longer possess any interest.
The church seems by the middle of the year 1803, to have been so far completed as to permit of its consecration, and so on the 10th of July this ceremony was performed by the Right Reverend Dr. Claggett, Bishop of the diocese of Maryland, as we find recorded on their record :
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On Sunday last in the morning the new church in this town was con- secrated by the Right Rev. Dr. Claggett and formally dedicated to Almighty God, by the name of Christ Church, in Easton, in the parish of St. Peter's, Talbot County, in the presence of a number of the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church and a crowded congregation. Also in the afternoon of the same day, the apostolic rite of confirmation, and the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper were both administered by the bishop to a considerable number of persons, who were mostly advanced in years, and every way greatly respectable.
There were present of the clergy upon this occasion, besides the rec- tor, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Price of St. Michael's parish, Mr. Barclay, prin- cipal of the Easton Academy, and Mr. Contee of Charles County. On Wednesday, the 20th of the same month the bishop consecrated the old parish church at White Marsh, and also the surrounding burial ground-a dedication which they had never before formally received. The same clergymen named above, were present and a large number of persons were confirmed.
The church building at Easton was not completed for some years after this date-it was incomplete at least as late as 1807-but it was used for service, and continued to be used until abandoned in or about the year 1845, when the stone church was occupied by the congregation. This old church is still standing. It is now substantially built of brick, plain in its style of architecture but having some pretensions to orna- mentation. The entrance is from Harrison street by two arched doors in the east end, on which is a large window. Each of the sides is pierced by three oval headed windows. The chancel, which is within the body of the church is between the doors. A gallery, before a floor had been constructed over the whole church, occupied the west end in which at one time was an organ. Since its abandonment as the place for the public religious services it has been used as a room for the Sunday School of Christ Church. It has also been used for private week day schools, an upper floor converting it into two apartments, one for boys and the other for girls. The sale of this old building is now contemplated, that the proceeds may be devoted to the erection of a Sunday School and lecture room in the rear of the parish church. It was later on sold to the Baptists.
The following are the names of the clergymen who as rectors officiated in this old Church: Joseph Jackson from - to 1811; Thomas Bayne, from 1813 to 1835; John Wiley, from 1836 to 1837; Henry M. Mason, from 1837 to -
METHODISM IN TALBOT
The man whose home is in the country, and who, in his struggle for life, is brought face to face with nature, both in her benignant and malefi- cent moods, is more apt to cherish a belief in a superintending power that controls the world, than the dweller in the towns, where the contest for existence is with man himself, or the laws which man has made. · The countryman, whose life is poor and barren as compared with the full rich life of his neighbor of the city, is prone to think that beyond the present there is another state of existence where some compensation will be rendered to him for his privations here, and where there shall be a realization of those pleasures which exist for him only in imagination. Our people of Talbot have always been a rural people. The towns of the county have always been small and few. As a consequence our people have always been a peculiarly religious people. Whatever may be the conception of the nature of religion-whether as a body of opin- ions, upon matters of the highest import, or as an inspiration of feeling or sentiment elevating man in his lowliness and cheering him in his despondency, or finally as a code of duty guiding and directing his steps amid a moral darkness, or through a wilderness of error-with us, it has been held as our highest philosophy, our most ennobling impulse, and our wisest rule of action. By it, more than by any other immaterial influence, has our life been fashioned and formed, and from it our society has derived its hue and impress. More completely segregated from the great world than most rural populations; our peninsular situation, hemmed in by two great bays and the wide ocean; more largely cut off from intercourse with each other than people occupying a compact country, by our water courses which permeate this county in every direction, and often widely divide even the nearest neighbors; the services of the church or meeting, calling those together from distant parts, who else would seldom or never have met, served to keep alive the feeling of sociability, which is the very foundation of all civility, but which, though instinctive, may actually perish through lack of opportunity for its due gratification. Thus it was that religion resisted the barbarizing influences of social isolation, and maintained the vitality, early as well as late in our history, of those seeds of civilization, which, brought from our old home, might else have been blighted in their growth under new and unfavorable environments. The clergy, apart from their office of interpreters of
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the mysteries, of enforcers of the requirements, and of ministers of the consolations of religion, have always been held in honor and veneration because they have been the repositories, as it were, of much of whatever culture has existed among us, and they have been the mediums of com- munication between the common intelligence and the highest and best thought of the time. The sphere that is so completely filled by the press, at the present, was once held by the pulpit; and it is no contradiction of this assertion that the pulpit chiefly exercised itself in enforcing ritual observances or the moral law. It was to be expected that at a time when and in places where eternal interests occupied men's minds more than now, the ministers of religion should dwell upon other than temporal themes. It had not yet been discovered how nearly correlated are the material and spiritual conditions of any people. Very early in our his- tory, too, religion connected itself with education, that second great instrument of moral influence upon society. Our very first teachers may not have been clergymen, but one of the first movements in this county towards supplying free instruction to the common people was inaugu- rated by a most enlightened priest of the established church, and seconded by those who were affected by his counsel or example. Finally, up to the time of our revolutionary war, religion made a part of our political system, and thereby it aroused an interest separate and distinct from that which sprang from the exercise of its spiritual offices. The union of church and state, which for a long time subsisted among us, was thought to be, and may have been, as necessary as the connection, at the present, between the schools and the state. How far the moral character of our people and their national prosperity was improved by this union, and how far legislative action or state politics was chastened and restrained by this connection, which now seems so unnatural, this is not the place to discuss; but of this there is certainty, the making the religion of the state a part of the political system of the state was calculated to arouse antagonism to the former, which in the end terminated in hostility. But notwithstanding this hostility the fact that the union of church and state was maintained for so many years is evidence that the people of the province regarded religion as of such moment, that it deserved the support of the government, and that it was the part of political wisdom to uphold that union. The historians of the state have not determined to what extent opposition to the method of appointing ministers to par- ishes, and to the levying money for their support, conduced to the great revolution of 1776. But the fact that ministers were appointed by the Governor and council, and that they received their stipends from the
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public purse, gave them a consequence with those who had no reverence for their sacred character, and placed little value upon their intellectual and moral worth.
Therefore, in preparing the local annals of this county an account of religion, as it existed among us from the beginning, must occupy a con- spicuous prominence. The changes of religious opinion; the rise and decline of new sects or societies; their influence on current thought and conduct; the succession of the ministers; the lives of their influen- tial members; the formation of their vestries, visiting committees, boards of stewards and charitable associations; the building of their houses of worship and other ecclesiastical structures; their glebes and endowments; the territorial limits of their parishes, quarterly and yearly meetings, their circuits, dioceses and conferences; their con- troversies and contests; even their follies, extravagancies, vagaries and weaknesses; all are fit subjects for the pen of the humble annalist.
Although Maryland was settled under Roman Catholic patronage, it does not appear that at any time in Talbot, this communion was very strong in numbers. There are probably more members of that church now within the county than ever before. The prejudices which it had incurred in the old country were transmitted to this, and in the legal disabilities the provincial legislature imposed, it imitated the parent state. Hence the Roman Church was kept in a condition of suspended vitality, from which it has but recently aroused to new vigor in our midst.
There were Quakers in Maryland as early as 1660 or 1661, and prob- ably in Talbot, for here, at Betty's cove, was one of the earliest of the stated meetings of the society. In 1672 Fox preached at the meeting house at "the Cove," and found a large society already formed. This religious body continued to increase in number and influence up to about the time of the revolutionary war, when either from a subsidence of its earlier enthusiasm, or on account of its testimony against slavery, it began to decline. Its influence upon religious thought and feeling in the county has been out of all proportion to its numbers. It does not appear from any extant record that Puritanism, in any of its organized forms, ever acquired any foothold in Talbot; but the puritanical spirit, which has existed at all times and in all religions, found its satisfaction, first, in the holy fervor, the self denying simplicity and rigorous rule of the peaceful Friends, and afterwards, in the iconoclastic and conquering impulse of the more militant Methodists.
The ministers of the Reformed Church of England from the earliest
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dates of the country's history had cures within our limits; and this long before the Church of England became the established church of the province. It is positively certain that the first settlers in Talbot were under protestant influence, and employed protestant ministers as their spiritual directors. In the years 1692 and 1702 those Acts were passed that made the Church of England the established church of the province, which it continued to be until 1776. In 1785 the Protestant Episcopal church, as the successor to the Church of England, was established. In or about the year 1774 the Methodists of Talbot began to be distin- guished from the other members of the establishment by their earnest piety, and their fellowship in a separate society. They, as is well known, maintained a nominal connection with the old church until 1784, when the Methodist Episcopal church was formed. This was before the Protestant Episcopal church as a distinct ecclesiastical body had for- mally organized. There is an interesting minute in the Vestry Record of St. Michael's parish for the year 1780, which indicates the harmony and good feeling between those who were distinctively Methodists, and those who gave their entire allegiance to the church. This a copy of a subscription of money, tobacco and wheat, for the support of the min- ister, the Rev. Mr. John Gordon. Certain of the subscribers are named as the Society of Methodists, and the very first of these was that of Joseph Hartly who had previously been imprisoned in the Easton jail, as is mentioned in the sketch that is to follow. Another of these was Thomas Harrison, who before and after that date acted as vestryman of the parish.
The causes of the rapid spread of Methodism throughout this penin- sula, and in Talbot, as an integral part of that peninsula, are very num- erous, but can hardly be called obscure. They may be thus summarized : First, A growing hostility to the establishment on account of the com- pulsory payment of church rates, and of the methods of appointment to parishes. Second, The increase of the democratic spirit, and its antagon- ism to royalty and aristocracy, which the church was thought to favor. Third, The opposition of many of the ministers of the church on the East- ern Shore, and of some of the members to the patriotic cause, by which the church was thought to be identified with toryism. Fourth, The ill repute in which certain of the clergy were properly held, but which was improperly transferred to many who were not deserving of any imputa- tion of bad morals. Fifth, The repression which the observance of religious forms in public service placed upon the expression of religious emotion. Sixth, The fervid oratory of the preachers as contrasted with
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the frigid and dignified sermonizing of the clergy. There is no doubt that the Quaker influence, which had very generally pervaded the county and given complexion to the piety of all those who were earnest in their religious profession, was highly conducive to the rapid success of Method- ism; for although the society of Friends, about the time of the appear- ance here of Wesleyism, had shown signs of decadence, the spirit which animated it in its earliest years, when it found an organization prepared, by a kind of metem-psychosis, migrated into this new ecclesiastical body.
But these are subjects that may not now be elaborated. Another opportunity for the performance of such a duty will not be wanting and shall not be neglected. The object of these prefatory paragraphs is to introduce an article written at the request of the compiler of these memoirs upon our local history. It was his intention to attempt the task himself, of giving an account of Methodism in Talbot, but he was fortunate enough to secure the invaluable assistance of the Rev. Dr. Phœbus, who had been appointed the historiographer of the Wilmington Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and who was and is actively engaged in accumulating materials for a full and accurate his- tory of his church upon the peninsula. Dr. Phœbus kindly consented to furnish a sketch of Methodism in our own county of Talbot in advance of that more complete account which we may expect in his greater work; and for the most interesting and able paper which follows, the thanks are due of all who take an interest in our county's annals, but more partic- ularly of all the members of his communion, of the best culture and of the earnest but chastened piety of which, he is a conspicuous example.
SAINTS AND SHRINES OF EARLY METHOD- ISM IN BAYSIDE
1879
A paragraph in a late number of The Comet indicates that during the current month, the Methodists of St. Michaels and its vicinity propose to celebrate with a religious fete the hundredth anniversary of the in- troduction of Methodism into that region. This is a purpose which even those may commend who are not of the same household of faith, for there are none now so bigoted in their opinions, or so swayed by their prejudices as not to be ready to acknowledge the salutary results of that religious movement in this community which had its beginning about one hundred years ago. Whatever may be thought of the truth of the doctrines then preached, or the propriety of many of the prac- tices which then arose, there can be no doubt that morality was strength- ened, and piety deepened; that men's lives were rendered purer, and their minds elevated and consoled by Methodism. It is not perfectly clear why this year of grace, 1879, has been selected as the centennial anniversary of the introduction of Methodism into Talbot, or more strictly the Bayside of this county. It is presumable, however, that those who have prompted this commemorative ceremonial, have suf- ficiently investigated the subject and can justify, from historic data, the selection of July, 1779, as the date of the appearance of Mr. Wesley's preachers in this section and neighborhood; but liberty is taken to say that there is very good ground for believing, if indeed there be not conclusive evidence, that several years before this time, the people of Talbot, and of Bayside had shared in the great awaken- ing by the preaching of Mr. Wesley's missionaries. It is even not improbable that the voice of that most eloquent of preachers, White- field, was heard within our bounds long before this time. In 1763 it is certainly known that there was a society of Calvanistic Meth- odists in the neighboring county of Queen Anne's, and if this soci- ety was formed by that great evangelist (of which there is no cer- tain evidence, however) it is not unlikely in his tour through this and the other provinces, he may have stepped over into Talbot. But if Whitefield did not visit this county, as one of the historiographers of Methodism has conjectured that he did, there is little or no doubt that
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some of Mr. Wesley's preachers were here and exercising their vocation successfully in 1777, and possibly in 1776. In 1774 the circuit called Kent was formed with very ill-defined limits. The preachers which were sent to the people of this circuit were largely endowed with the propagandist spirit, and were not likely to confine their labors strictly to those regions that had already been conquered to Methodism. They no doubt undertook incursions in partibus infidelium, as all regions were considered to be which had not heard the gospel as it was expounded by them. Of this Kent circuit the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson had charge in 1776. But he was relieved by one Daniel Ruff, when, as he says, "he went out to form a new one," and began preaching in Tuckahoe Neck, Caroline County. It is not likely that any Methodist preacher, and it is least likely that Freeborn Garrettson, would confine his labors to Caroline when richer fields, waving with more abundant harvests ready for the ecclesiastical sickle, lay under the very eye of this Joshua, just across the Jordan of Tuckahoe Creek. Yet, it is not absolutely certain that Freeborn Garrettson was here in Talbot earlier than 1778 -a fact which presently will be more fully noticed. In 1777 the preach- ers which were sent to the Kent circuit, which, as has been shown, was of indefinite extent, and embraced all the region that could be reached, were these:
MARTIN RODDA, WILLIAM GLENDENNING,
ROBERT WOOSTER, JOSEPH CROMWELL.
The last mentioned of these apostles of Eastern Shore Methodism, is certainly known to have preached in Talbot, and all of them possibly preached. It is upon record that Joseph Cromwell in this year preached at Wye, Saint Michaels and Bayside. He therefore may with propriety be called the founder of Wesleyan Methodism in this county, and es- pecially in Bayside: for although there may have been preachers here before him, he was the first of whom there is positive indubitable, and recorded evidence, to preach "religion in earnest" as Methodism has been appropriately called, to the people of Talbot and particularly of St. Michaels and its vicinity-to the people, whose descendants are about to celebrate this important event, the consequences of which have been so marked in their habits, their thoughts, and indeed in their social structure.
Of Joseph Cromwell, it is fortunate that we know something. It is said that he was reared in the neighborhood of Baltimore. There are people of his name there to this day. He was "so illiterate as to be
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unable to write his own name, and yet he preached in the demonstration of the Spirit, and with an authority few could withstand. By his labors thousands of all classes and conditions in society had been brought into the fold and were walking worthy of their profession." Bishop Asbury said of him: "He is an original, indecd-no man's copy. He is the only man I have heard in America with whose speaking I am never tired. I always admire his unaffected simplicity. He is a prodigy-a man that cannot write or read well; and yet his words go through me every time I hear him. The power of God attends him more or less in every place. He seldom opens his mouth but some are cut to the heart." This capable and devoted man may therefore be regarded as the founder of Methodism in Talbot. For this reason, and because he embodied its spirit as well as illustrated in his life and character its distinguishing virtues, he should hold the first place in the local hagiog- raphy of the people of this denomination, and, receiving the canoniza- tion of the church, should be reverenced as the patron saint of the Methodists of Bayside. The followers of Wesley, Northern and South- ern, Old-Side and Radical, would honor themselves, as well as be pay- ing a just tribute to the adventurous devotion, and the holy zeal of this founder of their several churches, to this father of the whole family of Methodists in this county, by erecting to him during this year a me- morial tablet in the church at St. Michaels. Besides, such a memento, being ever before them, would be a silent but continual exhortation to emulate his virtues, better than the sermons of the most eloquent of his successors in the ministry.
If Cromwell may be regarded as the pioneer of the Methodist Church in Talbot, and especially of Bayside, one who came soon after him, and who may have preceded him, may be called the organizer; and to him justly belongs the second place among the saints of this region. If Cromwell went into the wild forest, and with his rude and sturdy strength cleared away the brush and felled the timber, Garrettson soon followed, and with his constructive power, built the sacred edi- fice. It is not necessary in this article to say much of this very able, pious and zealous minister. He is really an historic character, and of such eminence that few persons in his church are uninformed of his great worth, and his successful labors. Besides being a man of deep piety, he was cultivated in his mind, refined in his manners and enjoy- ing good social position. He was therefore fitted to commend Meth- odism to a class who were not attracted to it by the ruder and plainer Joseph Cromwell. It was his special duty to secure to the "society"
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