USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: The Federal Period 1783-1860, Volume II > Part 16
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GREEN HILL HOUSE Meeting Place of Annual Conference, 1785
after the Revolution Sunday schools were introduced for the purpose of instruction in the elementary branches, and the Conference of 1790 declared : "Let us labor, as the heart and soul of one man, to establish Sunday schools in or near the place of public worship. Let persons be appointed by the bishops, elders, deacons or preachers to teach (gratis) all that will attend and have a capacity to learn; from six o'clock in the morning till ten, and from two o'clock in the afternoon till six; where it does not interfere with public worship. The Council shall compile a proper school book, to teach them learning and piety." Just when the Methodist Sunday School
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appeared in North Carolina and how extensively the institu- tion was used, is unknown. In Virginia the first Sunday school was organized in 1786, in South Carolina in 1787. The '. circuit riders had still another intellectual influence. When the Methodist publishing house was organized they scattered its books and tracts throughout North Carolina. It is a matter of record that the Discipline of 1786 and also the first number of the Arminian Magazine were prepared for the press in North Carolina, the former by John Dickins on the Bertie Circuit, the latter by Coke and Asbury in 1789. In 1783 there were in North Carolina eighteen circuit riders; by 1800 there were twenty-seven, and cooperating with them were a large number of local preachers.
Nor were the Presbyterians and Baptists inactive. In 1788 the Synod of the Carolinas was organized, and the Pres- byterian divines busied themselves in combating skepticism, restoring Sabbath observance, and holding short seasons of fasting and prayer in their churches twice a year. Long be- fore the camp meeting came into vogue, tents or stands for use of the minister in out-of-door preaching were common among the Presbyterian congregations. By the Baptists five new associations were organized; three in the west, the Yad- kin (1790), Mayo (1798), and Mountain (1799), and two in the east, the Neuse (1794) and Flat River (1794). Thus the period from 1783 to 1800 was one of preparation, characterized by a gradual extension of the churches into fields hitherto unoccupied, and by denominational reorganization. The result was a rich harvest, ushered in by a great revival which began in 1801 and lasted for a decade. Baptist traditions regard it as a reflex of the great revival contemporary in the west, while good Presbyterian authority claims that it began in Orange County as the result of prayer meetings conducted by the wife of Dr. David Caldwell. With the Methodists the genesis of the revival undoubtedly was the Conference of 1800, which met in Baltimore. It closed with a distinct manifesta- tion of grace and the preachers carried the flame of evangelism to the most distant circuits. In North Carolina the revival started in the western counties, thence spread to the Cape Fear, then to the coast and the Albemarle section, and culmi-
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nated in a meeting at Raleigh in 1811. Here was a movement of epochal importance in religious history. Let us notice some of its characteristics.
First of all there was co-operation on the part of the Meth- odists, the Presbyterians and the Baptists. The method of reaching the people was the camp meeting. Its origin dates from 1789 or 1790, when it was used in the western counties by John McGee and Daniel Asbury, and later was introduced by McGee into Tennessee and Kentucky. With the revival it became the most prominent means of carrying the gospel to the masses. The numbers attending were estimated by the thousands. From all accounts the results were greater in the piedmont than in the Cape Fear section. To a large degree this may be attributed to racial influences. In the western counties the population was largely Scotch-Irish. These people were exiles in a double sense. In the migration from Scotland to Ireland much of the discipline of the kirk was lost. The English Church was established in Ireland and the government opposed any other form of Protestantism. Hence under great difficulties did the Presbyterian church in Ireland maintain its existence. Moreover, the early years of the Scotch in Ireland were years of conflict with rugged nature. Cabins were built, fields were cleared in face of opposition by the native Irish and the beasts of the forest. Thus for a time physical wants stood first. These facts, the frontier life and the policy of the English government, were the background for a new kind of religious experience which came about 1625, a wave of revivals conducted by missionaries, not in churches, but in the cabins of the settlers, the first form of the prayer meeting. A century later the Scotch-Irish emigrated to America. Again the task of the first years was a conflict with nature, clearing the forest and establishing homes. The out- look for fruitful life was better than in Ireland; the hearts of the people were softened by the greater degree of liberty and old prejudices relaxed. The result was the revival of 1755 in the piedmont section, led by Shubal Stearns, the Baptist mis- sionary from New England, and the still greater revival in 1801.
On the other hand, the experience of the Scotch Highland-
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ers had been different. In Scotland the kirk was established and the chief religious interest was to defend it from criticism by the Anglicans. Hence the Scotch divines excelled in the philosophy of religion, the defense of traditional thought and forms of worship. Consequently neither in Scotland nor among the Scotch in America were revivals very popular. Two Presbyterian clergymen in North Carolina may be taken in illustration. Dr. David Caldwell, Scotch-Irish minister, educator, and politician, welcomed the revival of 1801 as a special manifestation of God's power; likewise one of his congregations, the church at Alamance. Not so another of his congregations, the church at Buffalo. Alamance went so far as to adopt the evangelical hymns of Isaac Watts, but Buf- falo continued the old custom of singing the psalms. In strong contrast to Dr. Caldwell was Samuel MacCorkle, a Scotch minister. At first he was extremely doubtful of the value of the great wave of evangelism. At Caldwell's special invitation he attended a camp meeting in Randolph county. He was shocked by the scenes. "Is it possible, said I, that this scene of seeming confusion can come from the spirit of God? Can He who called light from darkness, and order from confusion, educe light and order from such a dark mental and moral chaos?" Toward the close of the meeting, while still in doubt as to the efficacy of the revival, he was called to his own son, who was under conviction of sin. While praying over him the good dominie's interest widened to the whole world of sinners, his doubts of the value of revivals were dispelled, and he himself became active in camp meetings.
Here was one of the strategical points in the religious his- tory of the state. The Calvinistic forces, both Presbyterian and Baptist, were divided as to the value and advisability of the revival; but the Methodists were not divided, their Armini- an doctrine made them unanimous, and hence in the end they reaped a greater harvest. By 1810 they had outstripped other denominations in point of numbers.
The phase of the revival that attracted most attention was the physical expression of emotion. Such religious exercises as falling or the jerks, dancing, barking, laughing, and singing were common. These phenomena had characterized the pre-
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vious revivals in Ireland and the piedmont section. They were most common among the Scotch-Irish. Most of our ac- counts are from Presbyterian sources. Typical were the scenes at a camp meeting held in the western counties in 1802 by Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists ;-
"There was a powerful work among the people, such as had never been witnessed before in this part of the country. Many were astonished beyond measure, and appeared to be frightened almost to death. They would fall sometimes, un- der preaching, their whole length on the ground, and with such suddenness and violence as seemed almost enough to kill them. Some of my neighbors fell at my feet like men shot in battle. This the people called being 'struck down,' and when they professed religion, they called that 'coming through.'
"One of the most mysterious exercises among the people was what was called the jerks. I saw numbers exercised in this way at a camp meeting held in Lincoln County. Sometimes their heads would be jerked backward and forward with such violence that it would cause them to utter involuntarily a sharp, quick sound similar to the yelp of a dog; and the hair of the women to crack like a whip. Sometimes their arms, with clenched fists, would be jerked in alternate directions with such force as seemed sufficient almost to separate them from the body. Sometimes all their limbs would be affected, and they would be thrown into almost every imaginable position, and it was as impossible to hold them still almost as to hold a wild horse. When a woman was exercised in this way, other women would join hands around her and keep her within the circle they formed; but the men were left without constraint to jerk at large through the congregation, over benches, over logs, and even over fences. I have seen persons exercised in such a way that they would go all over the floor with a quick, dancing motion, and with such rapidity that their feet would rattle upon the floor like drum-sticks.
"Some of the Presbyterians got into some extremes and brought a reproach upon the good work. They got into what they called the dancing exercise, the marrying exercise, etc. Sometimes a whole set of them would get together and begin dancing about at a most extravagant rate. Sometimes they
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would be exercised about getting married, and one would tell another he or she had a particular revelation that they must be married, and if the one thus addressed did not consent, he or she must expect to be damned. Thus many got married, and it was said some old maids, who had nearly gotten antiquated, managed in this way to get husbands. But this was con- demned by the more sober part among Presbyterians and Methodists, and it has now nearly subsided." 1
In the light of such scenes it is not strange to hear that Methodist ministers were sometimes arrested or assaulted and that one husband applied a mustard plaster to his wife to cure her of Methodism. Experience with human souls in the camp meeting often brought with it an unusual knowledge of the mind and its operations. Sometimes the circuit riders utilized this knowledge for the cure of mental ailments. An example occurred in Wilmington in 1815. Joseph Travis was pastor of the Methodist Church. Among the residents of the town was an ex-governor of the state. One day he asked Travis to call on his wife who for some time had been treated by physicians for some mental disturbance. Hear Travis' ac- count of the interview and its results :
Calling on the lady he found that "her head had been shaved and blistered, and I know not what besides had been tried, to restore her mind to a proper balance. Yet withal, she apparently grew worse. I told her that at the request of her husband, I had called to see her. She immediately commenced relating to me her deplorable insanity, and the cause leading thereunto; namely, a confusion of mind which suddenly seized her one day; and withal that her greatest grief was that she was not prepared for death. I endeavored to convince her that she was not deranged, assuring her that a deranged per- son was not conscious of any abberation of mind. I pretty well convinced her of the fact and then proceeded to point her desponding and sin-smitten soul to the great atonement made for sinners by the death and resurrection of Christ. I conversed with her for a half hour or so, prayed with her, and left her. In a day or two afterwards, a carriage drove
1 David Gray, quoted from Shipp, Methodism in South Carolina, p. 273.
Vol. II-13
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up to the parsonage. I stepped out, and who should it be but Mrs. Smith. I helped her out of the carriage and with weeping eyes as she entered the parsonage, she exclaimed, 'O, Sir! you have done me more good than all the doctors put together. You directed me to Jesus. I went to him by faith, and humble confidence and prayer. He has healed me, soul and body; I feel quite happy.' " 2
In the eastern counties the outlook for converts was dif- ferent than in the western. There was a large negro popula- tion, and the whites were mainly of English rather than Scotch-Irish extraction. In those counties that had a large colored element in their population, Methodism seems to have made a stronger appeal to the negroes than the whites. The first white convert in Fayetteville was baptized in 1802, al- though for some time there had been a large negro congrega- tion, organized by Henry Evans, a free negro preacher. In Wilmington in 1802 the white membership was 48, the negro 231; in 1812 the figures were 94 white and 704 colored. In the Albemarle section the Methodist movement received the co- operation of the Anglicans. For this Reverend Charles Petti- grew was largely responsible. In vain he had labored to organize the surviving elements of the Church of England into a diocese. In fact he was elected Bishop of North Carolina in 1794 but was never consecrated. Realizing the futility of his efforts, he turned to Methodism as the best hope for religion. At his home he entertained the circuit riders, at the chapel on his plantation near Edenton they preached, and until 1839 Pet- tigrew's Chapel was a regular appointment on the Columbia Circuit.
The culmination of the evangelistic wave was reached in a meeting at Raleigh. There the Virginia Conference met in 1811. Its sessions were held in the State House because the small Methodist congregation had no building. Asbury was present, so were Mckendree, Jesse Lee and other pioneers of Methodism. Guided by their preaching about fifty professed Christ, among whom was William Hill, Secretary of State from 1811 to 1859. The immediate result was the construction
2 Autobiography of Joseph Travis, p. 80.
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of a church, the direct antecedent of Edenton Street. Among the witnesses of the revival was William Glendenning, one of the original Methodist preachers in America. In 1785 he left the new denomination, dissatisfied with its form of govern- ment, and joined O'Kelly's Republican Methodist Church. He welcomed his old associates and took a keen interest in the revival but frequently exclaimed, "I do not like the gov- ernment, I do not like the government."
The influence of the great revival on the life of the people was of lasting importance. The reality of religion was brought home to all. Now the latter half of the eighteenth century had been preeminently an age of free thinking. Skepticism was then aggressive, scoffing, irreligious and irrev- erent, and such it remained until the scientific movement of the nineteenth century gave it new thought, sound facts, a method and a task. Now the skepticism of the older type existed among the intellectual class in North Carolina, and the uncultivated copied their betters and swaggered about un- belief. Churches had not been too numerous either in country or towns, and the cause of religion had not been very exten- sively or very thoroughly presented prior to the Revolution. The great revival, therefore, marks healthy reaction, an awak- ening of the people to the reality of the religious element in life. The conversion of the infidel was a common event. Typical is the following account by James Jenkins. Writing in 1802 of a meeting in the Waxhaws he says: "One among many remarkable cases I will relate of a professed atheist who fell to the earth and sent for brother Gassaway to pray for him. After laboring in the pangs of the new birth for some: time, the Lord gave him deliverance. He then confessed be- fore hundreds that for some years he had not believed there was a God but now found him gracious to his soul." The reac- tion from infidelity probably explains in some measure the re- ligous exercises and visions, phenomena which sudden changes of conviction might easily produce.
Out of the religious movement came a demand for moral reform. Illustrative was a new attitude toward alcohol. Ev- ery gentleman had his private distillery, the leading politician of North Carolina is said to have kept a bucket of corn whiskey
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at his front door, and the manufacture and peddling of liquors was an industry as common as raising cotton or tobacco. Yet in the Methodist Conference minutes of 1783 we find the fol- lowing question and answer :
Q .- "Should our friends be permitted to make spirituous liquors, sell, and drink them in drams?"
A .- "By no means; in that it is wrong in its nature and consequences, and desire all our preachers to teach the people by precept and example to put away the evil."
Here was the first step toward a prohibition movement in the South. Later, local preachers were prohibited under pen- alty to distill or retail spirituous liquors. However, the issue was injected into politics by the Baptists when, in 1817, the following resolutions were adopted by the Sandy Creek Asso- ciation :
"Whereas, this association views with concern and regret the custom existing among candidates for public posts of honor and profit, of distributing spirituous liquors among the peo- ple, in order to enhance their own popularity, and influence the suffrages of their fellow citizens at elections; and whereas such a custom is both runinous to the morals and happiness of the people, and dangerous to their civil rights and liberties.
"1. Resolved unanimously, That a person be appointed to prepare a memorial to be presented to the next meeting of the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, praying them to enact a law against this degrading evil.
"2. Resolved, That it be recommended to the churches of this association to refuse their support to any candidate who shall, either himself or by another person distribute spirituous liquors with a view to conciliate the affections of the people.
"3. Resolved, That this association concur with their brethren of the Flat River Association, in inviting all profess- ing Christians, and lovers of good order and morality, to lend their decided cooperation to avert the evils which this custom entails upon us.
"4. Agreed that Brother George Dismukes wait upon the legislature with the memorial of this body."
The revival also had considerable educational influence. In 1813 the North Carolina Bible Society was organized for
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the purpose of distributing the scripture among the people. Sunday schools became more numerous and had for their pur- poses elementary instruction. The various denominations were also strengthened. Increase of membership made possi- ble more compact church organization. In 1803 the Lutheran Synod of North Carolina was formed. In 1813 the Presby- terian churches withdrew from the Synod of the Carolinas and organized the Synod of North Carolina. In 1817 the Episcopalians organized the Diocese of North Carolina, with three clergymen and less than 200 laity. John Stark Ravens- croft was elected Bishop and at the end of his episcopate in 1830 there were eleven clergymen and 650 lay members.
However the Baptists were more profoundly affected by the revival than any other denomination. Two issues con- vulsed the associations.
First of these was the question of missions. In 1803 Mar- tin Ross, a leading member of the Kehukee Association, sub- mitted to that body the following query : "Is not the Kehukee Association, with all her numerous and respectable friends, called on in Providence, in some way, to step forward in sup- port of that missionary spirit which the great God is so won- derfully reviving amongst the different denominations of good men in various parts of the world?" There was no immediate response, but the next year a committee was ap- pointed to meet delegates from the Portsmouth and Neuse Associations to consider the cause of foreign missions. As a result, in 1805 the Philanthropic Baptist Missionary Society was founded. This was seven years before Judson became a missionary and eleven years before the Baptist General Con- vention was organized; in fact the Philanthropic Society was the first missionary organization among American Baptists. Its purpose was to stimulate the formation of local missionary societies and to keep the cause of missions before the various associations. In 1814 a number of individual Baptists launched the North Carolina Baptist Society for Foreign Missions, its scope being widened in 1817 to include domestic missions. The strength of the organization lay in the piedmont section, that of the Philanthropic Society in the east. In 1817 the con- tribution of the North Carolina Baptists to missions was
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greater than that of the Baptists of any other state except Massachusetts.
The second movement among the Baptists was for co- operation on the part of the various associations. The only relation between them was purely formal, consisting in the exchange of letters or of visits of traveling delegates. From 1800 to 1816 the increase of membership was great; eight new associations were formed. In the interest of uniformity as well as the further extension of the Gospel some closer rela- tionship among the associations seemed desirable. Again the leadership was taken by Martin Ross, now a member of the newly formed Chowan Association. In 1809 he secured the appointment of a committee to plan a general meeting, to con- sist of the Kehukee and the associations which sprang from it. In 1810 the scope of the proposed organization was widened to include all the Baptist associations in the state. Response was received from six associations and in 1811 at the Falls of Tar River preliminary steps were taken for the organization at Raleigh in 1812 of the Baptist General Meeting of Corres- pondence. Its purpose was to extend religious acquaintance, to encourage the preaching of the Gospel, and to diffuse use- ful knowledge. However, even the semblance of a central au- thority was so contrary to Baptist traditions that only six associations sent delegates.
Of the two movements outlined, that for missions was the stronger. In 1821 the Philanthropic Society and the General Meeting of Correspondence were merged into the North Caro- lina Baptist Missionary Society. Heretofore support of mis- sions had been entirely individualistic and voluntary. There had been no business-like organization of the work. The dis- tinctive feature of the new organization was the appointment of an agent, R. T. Daniel, at a salary of forty dollars per month and an assistant at thirty dollars. Their duties were to organize local missionary societies and to apply system and business-like methods to the cause.
The movement for closer inter-associational relations and missions met opposition, the centre of which was the Kehukee Association. The faith of this organization was strongly Calvinistic, the doctrine of predestination having been incor-
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porated into its declaration of principles in 1777. After 1815 the Association sent no delegates to the General Meeting of Correspondence and its contributions to missions declined. The climax of the opposing views was reached after the organi- zation of the Baptist Missionary Society in 1821. Much crit- icism was expressed of salaried officers, the departure from the individualistic method of missionary work being denounced as "man made. " The leader of the opposition was Joshua Law- rence. In 1826 he laid before the Kehukee Association a Declaration of Reformed Baptists, a protest against the new tendencies. It was referred to the churches of the Association for action. The minutes of 1827 declare that "it was agreed that we discard all Missionary Societies, Bible Societies, and Theological Seminaries, and the practices heretofore resorted to for their support, in begging money from the public, and if any persons should be among us, as agents of such societies, we hereafter discountenance them in those practices, and if under a character of minister of the gospel we will not invite them into our pulpits; believing that these societies and insti- tutions to be inventions of men, and not warranted from the word of God." When these minutes were published some members claimed that this pronouncement had never been sub- mitted to a vote; others that it was unanimously adopted. Among the former were Philemon Bennett, the Moderator in 1827. However, the proposition was sustained at the two suc- ceeding sessions of the Association. Nine churches thereupon withdrew and in 1831 organized the Tar River Association which committed itself to the new order of things.
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