USA > North Carolina > Rowan County > Salisbury > The history of St. Luke's Parish and the beginnings of the Episcopal Church in Rowan County : address, delivered in St. Luke's Church, Salisbury, N.C., on October 19, 1924, in commemoration of the centennial of the union of St. Luke's Parish > Part 2
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as to the current year as there is no probability of a vestry. No great reliance can be had on a free dona- tion of the people, as money is scarce, and it carries a subjection with it." In writing to the Secretary of the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, July 22, 1770, Governor Tryon says: "I conceive the firmness of Dr. Drage's conduct claims the protection and continuance of the Society." The late Dr. Mur- doch has stated in print that the strength for the case of the Established Church lay, as Mr. Drage stated, in the fact that the laws on this subject had been the law of the land long before the Dissenters moved here. But in a manuscript sketch of Governor Tryon, Dr. Murdoch unequivocally says in his downright way: "The policy he tried to carry out was then the policy of all the friends of the church, to maintain it as a state establishment. It failed and ought to have failed. He saw that the church needed a Bishop in North Carolina and if he had obtained one, the history of the church in the state might have been very different."
Dealt thus a deadly blow by the Dissenters, the church lanquished and almost died in Rowan County. Exactly half a century elapsed between the virtual expulsion of the devoted Drage from Rowan in 1773 and the establishment of the present St. Luke's Parish in 1823. During this period, indeed, the Episcopal Church was in a parlous and evanescent condition in the entire province and state. In the whole state of North Carolina there was only one
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more clergyman in 1822 than there was in 1768- a gain of one clergyman in 54 years. Despite the efforts to revive the spirit and cause of Episcopacy in North Carolina, through the conventions of 1790, 1793, and 1794, few beneficial effects resulted; and even the Rev. Charles Pettigrew, who was elected Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina in 1794, never made application for consecration. The history of the church in Rowan and western North Carolina during this period is told almost wholly in the career of the famous Parson Miller-a man who for brav- ery, energy, purity, and ability, has no rival in the entire religious history of the state, of all denomina- tions, with the single exception of Dr. James Hall, the distinguished Presbyterian divine. Miller's career has been so thoroughly traversed by G. D. Bernheim, by Bishop Cheshire, and by my father, that I shall not repeat it here. His life was a succession of ecclesi- astical transitions; but never, amid his many affilia- tions, did he waver from the Episcopal faith. Born at Baldovie, near Dundee, Scotland, July 11, 1758, he was reared in the Jacobite Episcopal Church under the venerable Bishop Rait of Brechin; and was de- signed for the Episcopal ministry. Coming to Amer- ica at the age of 16, he soon afterwards joined the army of Nathanael Greene; and fought bravely in various battles, being wounded in the Battle of Long Island; and endured the epic hardships of Valley Forge. First he became a Methodist preacher and rode the circuit in North Carolina with Dr. Coke.
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Later, he received ordination at the hands of the Lutherans in this state; but in his letter of orders he had it expressly stipulated that he was held to be "obliged to obey ye rules, ordinances, and customs of ye Christian Society called ye Protestant Episcopal Church in America." During his ministry in this sec- tion, he deserves credit for founding this church of St. Luke's, Christ Church, Rowan, and St. John's Church, in Iredell.
When he stood up here in Salisbury, in the Dio- cesan Convention in 1817, representing his little congregations, they were, says Bishop Cheshire, "the only congregations in North Carolina, outside the three towns of Edenton, Newbern, and Wilmington, which had preserved any kind of being from the time of the Tarborough Conventions until the successful organization of the Diocese in 1817." I think St. Luke's and Rowan have just cause for pride in the labors of Parson Miller and in the fact that the suc- cessful reorganization of the Diocese of North Caro- lina took place here in this historic old town of Salisbury. When Bishop Richard Channing Moore was shown Miller's Lutheran orders as an Episcopal clergyman at the convention of 1821, he is said to have exclaimed: "Why, you belong to us." After three decades of arduous labors in the cause of Christ as an Episcopal minister preaching alternately and simultaneously to Lutherans and Episcopalians, Mil- ler was ordered deacon in the forenoon and ordained priest in the afternoon of May 1, 1821, by Bishop
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Moore-port after stormy seas. He now resumed his labors with all the energy of youth-labors conse- crated with the names of Smyrna and Whitehaven; Christ Church, the story of which has been so well told by the Rev. R. B. Owen; St. Peter's, Lincoln, St. Peter's, Lexington, and St. Andrew's, Burke. Yet he never ceased to regret what he called his "fatal error" in consenting to receive Lutheran ordination- even though he was actuated by the noblest principles of Christian fellowship: to carry the word of God to his fellowmen of all creeds and denominations. The story of his missionary labors is a story of stren- úous physical exertion and great personal self-sacri- fice. One of my greatest treasures is a copy of his diary telling of his long missionary journeys-in one of which, made during four months in 1811, he traversed South Carolina, the present state of West Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and the eastern part of Tennessee, travelling 3,000 miles, baptizing 62 persons, preaching 67 times, and receiv- ing $70.44 for his support without asking for a cent.
In his famous historical letter, Parson Miller categorically attributed the virtual dissolution of the Church in North Carolina to the great wave of infi- delity set in motion by the French Revolution, which inundated this country for several decades, and affected the people of all denominations. In his diary of 1813, dealing with a missionary tour in Virginia, he thus visits his condemnation upon Thomas Jeffer- son and James Madison: "I could not but observe the
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ARCHIBALD HENDERSON, Historian For years a member of St. Luke's Parish.
general neglect, or rather total disregard, of all religious institutions, in passing through this quarter: I mean the counties of Orange, Albemarle, and Nel- son. In the first resides the present President of the United States, and in the second the late President. Near to the former is a large brick church in ruin. It may be supposed by some that these observations proceed from a malignant disposition of mind; but the supposition is either weak or wicked; for in my view an enemy of the religion of Jesus Christ is the worst enemy of his country, whatever his profes- sions to the contrary may be; and the higher he is in station the more fatal his influence."
Dying on May 13, 1834, Parson Miller is thus remembered by Bernheim, the Lutheran historian: "Our church owes a debt of gratitude to his memory which cannot be cancelled or forgotten"; by Bishop Ives of North Carolina, who described Parson Miller as "a clergyman of whom we may emphatically say, for him to live was Christ; and to die is gain."
On Monday evening, September 8, 1823, St. Luke's Parish was organized by Bishop John Stark Ravenscroft, during the eighth annual convention of the Diocese held in Salisbury. At the next annual convention, held at Williamsboro, in 1824, this Parish was admitted into the union with the Diocese. I have before me now a copy of the advertisement for bids, in the Western Carolinian, March 13, 1827, for 80,000 brick and a large quantity of pine and oak
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lumber, planks and shingles-signed by Stephen Lee Ferrand, John McClellan, John Beard, Jr., Edward Cress, and Thomas Chambers. The brick were burned by the widow of General John Steele, and the ground for the church was given by Major John Beard-the deed being of date, September 15, 1827. The church was erected in 1828, the architect being the Rev. Francis L. Hawks.
The history of this parish, down to the incumb- ency of the late Dr. Murdoch, has been so fully told by my father in the chapter in Dr. Rumple's History of Rowan County, entitled "Episcopacy in Rowan," thus I shall not resume it here. I can but give brief mention of the various devoted men who have faith- fully labored here. The Rev. Thomas Wright of New York, who was drawn to the ministry after almost losing his life at sea, took charge of St. Luke's in 1826, serving until 1832, when he re- moved to Tennessee, where he did a splendid work as missionary and in the founding of churches. He was succeeded by the Rev. John Morgan, a native of London, England, serving until 1834. He was eccen- tric, as is often the case of profound scholars who happen to be ministers as well; and on inheriting $30,000, he expended $24,000 of it in the purchase of 4500 works on theology, amounting to more than 8000 volumes. He was an amiable man, an instruc- tive teacher, delighted to do kindnesses, and was Christ-like-or as we say, quixotic !- in his generos- ity-even to giving to a shivering beggar the over-
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coat off his back and riding home without one in the cold.
The next incumbent was William W. Spear, who went to school in Salisbury to the able teacher and Presbyterian preacher, Rev. Jonathan Otis Freeman. Both of my grandmothers attended the admirable school conducted by Miss Maria Spear, the Rev. Mr. Spear's sister. After the resignation of Mr. Spear, who seems to have been discouraged by the separa- tion of St. Luke's from Christ Church, the Rowan congregation were ministered to by the Rev. M. A. Curtis, then missionary deacon. In his original diary, which I have examined, he describes his constant tours through western North Carolina in 1835 from headquarters at Charlotte to Lincolnton, Beattie's Ford, St. Andrew's in Burke, Yadkin Valley in Wilkes, Christ Church, Rowan, and St. Luke's, Salis- bury. He records preaching at times in Methodist Meeting Houses; and having in his congregation Jews, Unitarians, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Episcopalians. Later, for a period of upwards of thirty years he was rector of St. Matthew's Church, Hillsboro. I cannot refrain from quoting the fol- lowing remarkable entry from Mr. Curtis' diary, when he was in Boston (November 5, 1833): "At- tended the first of the fourth course of lectures before the Boston Society of Natural History. Price of admission to the course with the privilege of visiting the Society's Cabinet is one dollar. The lec- ture this evening by Rev. Ralph W. Emerson was
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on the advantages of the study of Natural History. Several hundred were present and seemed highly gratified with the address. There was indeed much elegance in it, but on a retrospect there seems to be very little of it that is tangible. His last topic of consideration seemed to be a kind of occult sympathy between the spirit of man and the material world, in which there was so much of a metaphysical dreami- ness that I was unable to catch his meaning-neither do I suppose that himself knew what web he was weaving." I need scarcely add that this young minis- ter was none other than one who afterwards became one of America's greatest writers and thinkers but was then unknown to fame: Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The Rev. Thomas Frederick Davis, a native of Wilmington, N. C., whose brother was. the Hon. George Davis, member of the Confederate Cabinet, labored devotedly here for the decade 1836-1846. During his stay at the University of North Carolina, where he was graduated in 1822, he numbered among his friends and class-mates James K. Polk, after- wards President of the United States, and Otey, Green, and Polk, afterwards Bishops of the Episco- pal Church, and Francis L. Hawks, afterwards fam- ous as historian and divine. He was instrumental in building Calvary Church, Wadesboro, St. Bartholo- mew's Church, Pittsboro, and St. Andrew's Church, Rowan, which was consecrated August 30, 1840. After his removal to South Carolina, he was elected Bishop of that state, being consecrated at the same
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time as Bishop Atkinson (Oct. 17, 1853). In his latter years, his sight failed him completely; but he bore his affliction with resignation and labored bravely on as Bishop, until strength as well as sight failed him. We revere his memory and treasure his example.
The Rev John Haywood Parker, named for his maternal uncle, John Haywood, treasurer of North Carolina (1789-1829), was born in Tarborough, January 21, 1813. In 1832 he was valedictorian of the graduating class of which the distinguished ora- tor, Thomas L. Clingman, was the salutatorian. It is worthy of record that his valedictory was an argu- ment in behalf of the gradual emancipation of the negroes, in the State of North Carolina. He was twice married: to Maria Toole Lawrence, and eigh- teen years after her death, to a daughter of Dr. Stephen Lee Ferrand. His whole ministry was spent in St. Luke's Church, Salisbury, to which, for a time, was joined the charge of two country parishes in Rowan county. A marble shaft in this churchyard bears the beautiful tribute which many of you have read. Dr. Murdoch said of him: "He was a singu- larly pure, amiable, and tender spirit, yet strong and manly in character. He was truly consecrated to the service of God and of his church. .. In his parish of St. Luke's, Salisbury, he was a devoted, sympathetic and diligent pastor and priest, whose life confirmed and illustrated the gracious words that came from the
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pulpit ... His faith and love left a light upon the path which he trod."
The Rev. Thomas G. Haughton, of a disting- uished family of eastern North Carolina, who was married to the widow of the Rev. Mr. Parker, was rector of St. Luke's from 1858 to 1866; a brilliant preacher and a lovable, though faulty, man; and he was succeeded by the Rev. John Huske Tillinghast, who served from 1867 to 1872-being remembered by his parishioners, my father says, with great regard and affection. And now a new and brighter day for St. Luke's is ushered in with the coming of the late Dr. Francis J. Murdoch, whom so many of us knew, admired and revered. He was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina, March 17, 1846, fourth son and tenth child of William and Margaret Murdoch, natives of Ireland, but of Scotch blood. As a lad of fifteen he enlisted in the famous First North Caro- lina Volunteers, known as the "Bethel Regiment," and served until the end of 1861. He won distinction in the S. C. Military Academy, Charleston, where he was raised to the rank of Lieutenant in the Cadet Corps. After teaching in Dr. Buxton's school in Asheville, he continued his studies for the ministry under the Rev. Dr. Buxton, and was ordained to the Diaconate in this Church in 1868, to the Priesthood in 1870 in St. Paul's Church, Edenton, by Bishop Atkinson. After serving at High Shoals, Gaston County, and as missionary in Buncombe, Haywood, and Rutherford counties, he entered upon his duties
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as rector of St. Luke's on June 7, 1872-continuing here for thirty-seven years-a glorious career of Christian service severed only when he was called to rest, June 21, 1909.
Despite the devoted labors of his predecessors, the "growth both of the town and of the parish," says Bishop Cheshire in a memorable memorial ser- mon he delivered here in 1910 which I am privi- leged to quote, "seemed to have been slow and languid, and little progress had marked the decades immediately preceding" Dr. Murdoch's rectorship. New life was imparted to St. Luke's by Dr. Mur- doch's energetic efforts. Besides upwards of a hun- dred baptisms and a hundred confirmations each, the number of communicants doubled in the first five years. Under his vigorous policy of expansion, there were organized or vitalized: St. Mary's, China Grove; All Saints, Concord; church services held at Mocksville; St. Jude's, Locke township; St. Paul's, Chestnut Hill; and St. Peter's Chapel. In 1892 St. John's Chapel was built upon a lot given by Mrs. Mary Steele Henderson. In 1893 St. George's Chapel, Woodleaf, was built to accommodate the congregation of old St. Andrew's; and a few years later, the little Chapel of St. Mark's. Due to Dr. Murdoch also was the erection of St. Cuthbert's Chapel, Proximity, near Greensboro; and the Church of the Good Shepherd at Cooleemee, in which he co-operated with that large-hearted philanthropist and devoted churchman, Mr. W. A. Erwin. Says
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Bishop Cheshire: "Dr. Murdoch was the pioneer of 'Parochial Missions' in this section of the country- and organized 'The Evangelist Brotherhood,' con- sisting of the Rev. Wm. S. Bynum, the Rev. Chas. J. Curtis, and himself, for the purpose of promoting and carrying on this kind of aggressive work by which much good has been accomplished. These missions have become one of our regular methods of church work; and the extraordinary quality of his own preaching and that of the Rev. Mr. Bynum, his associate, had much to do in securing the ready acceptance" of this type of "direct, didactic, and hortatory preaching."
Dr. Murdoch was a great teacher of young men; and it is generally considered that the most striking aspect of his own life was the discovery and training and developing ministers of the Gospel. I am told that upwards of twenty men, both young and old, were brought into the ministry through his efforts. Of this great service, he was modestly loath to speak and being asked on one occasion how many men he had brought into the ministry, he replied with ready wit: "Have you forgotten that God was displeased with David for counting the children of Israel- and therefore smote Israel?"
Unlike most ministers, Dr. Murdoch was a busi- ness man of great ability and acumen. His secular interests and activities were largely prompted by an unselfish desire for the good of others and a lofty ideal of public service. He was classed by an eminent
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lawyer as one of the three most remarkable men of North Carolina in his day. He was a great scholar and a great preacher, who spoke positively at all times with the assurance of deep learning and as it were with the authority of Divine sanction. "So far as I know and believe," says Bishop Cheshire, "there has been no man in this part of the country, who at all approached him in familiar acquaintance with patristic and scholastic theology"-with the ancient, mediaeval, and modern commentators of Holy Scrip- ture. "I always felt," continues Bishop Cheshire, "that he was the most original, suggestive, and help- ful expositor of Scripture whom I had ever heard." Habitually meditative, his reserve of manner hid a tender and loving heart, a deep emotional nature. In the Memorial Resolutions of St. Luke's Vestry, drafted by my father, occur these words: "We doubt whether the Diocese ever produced a man more gifted or more intellectual. If he had desired prefer- ment, he might have attained the highest honors the church could give. He had many of the characteristics which would have made him a great Bishop." It is of historic interest that when the present Bishop of North Carolina was elected, Mr. Murdoch nomi- nated Mr. Cheshire, and Mr. Cheshire nominated Mr. Murdoch.
The consecrated and faithful work of the women of this parish, the Sunday School teachers, and in particular St. Luke's and St. Frances' Guilds, shall not pass without a tribute of reverential admiration
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-for their labors in building the cloister, beautifying the church, and raising considerable sums of money for church and parish house and many religious and charitable organizations. Nor would the history of St. Luke's Parish be complete without mention of one aspect of church work associated with my father's memory-in the form of a quotation from an article by Francis J. Murdoch, Jr., and Alma Tuttle Milne: "It was during Mr. Murdoch's rectorship that there was formed in St. Luke's Parish the first organized Bible class for men in Salisbury-the Bible class of the late John S. Henderson-to which its members look back as the ideal of what a Bible class and a Bible class teacher may be and should be."
And now, in conclusion, I can permit myself but a word. Vital to us all are memories, affectionate and grateful: of Sidney Bost, for a time assistant rector to Dr. Murdoch, who also had charge of Christ Church, Cleveland; of St. Andrew's, Woodleaf; and of St. Matthew's and St. Jude's, all in Rowan Coun- ty-able preacher and spiritual leader, who by single- ness of devotion greatly endeared himself to the people of St. Luke's Parish and of Rowan County, now rector of St. Philip's Parish, Durham; and of Bruce Owen, who had never thought of entering the ministry until Dr. Murdoch claimed him for the church, rector of St. Paul's Church, Salisbury, in 1898, now rector of the Church of the Holy Com- forter in Charlotte-a scholar in temperament and
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a leader of men, who has been called one of the ablest and most useful men in the Diocese.
Since Dr. Murdoch's rectorship, St. Luke's has been blessed with the pious ministrations of:
The Rev. T. A. Cheatham, who served here most acceptably and energetically as inspiring preacher and efficient organizer of parochial work, ever ready to sacrifice himself for any church cause-now dividing his time between Calvary Church, Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania, and Pinehurst, North Carolina.
The Rev. F. J. Mallett, Ph.D., born in Lynn, Norfolk County, England, genial gentleman and able preacher who filled the enlarged St. Luke's every Sunday for four years of his rectorship-tal- ented as author and popular as public lecturer-of whom St. Luke's Vestry recorded: "Our Rector is a preacher of great force and ability and as a speaker in the pulpit and on the platform he has not many superiors in the American Church"-now rector of St. Paul's New Albany, Indiana.
The Rev. Warren W. Way, a native of Illinois, who succeeded Dr. Mallet and served as rector here until 1918, when he was called to take charge of St. Mary's School, Raleigh, which has made notable progress under his vitalizing guidance-rarely be- loved pastor, widely popular man, a strong and elevating influence in the town of Salisbury; and
The present rector, the Rev. Mark H. Milne, born in Corning, New York, of Scottish parentage, ordained deacon in St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, in
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1899, priest at Cornell, N. Y., in 1900-under whose strong and vigorous direction St. Luke's has exhibited a remarkable growth during the past five years-in number of confirmations, in parochial activities, in efforts, soon to be crowned with success, for the erection of a beautiful parish house, designed by the famous ecclesiastical architect, Mr. Hobart M. Upjohn, of New York. Now fortunately restored to health and strength, may this wise, forthright, high- hearted Christian spirit carry on here, with continu- ing success, the noble work of Christianizing and uplifting humanity in the historic Parish of St. Luke's.
Archibald Henderson
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