USA > New Jersey > Cumberland County > Bridgeton > An outline history of the Presbyterian Church in West or South Jersey, from 1700 to 1865 : a discourse delivered October 3, 1865, in the First Presbyterian Church, Bridgeton, N.J. > Part 2
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Dr. Alexander's testimony is: "We of the Presby- terian Church are more indebted to the men of the Log College for our evangelical views, and for our revivals of religion, than we are aware of. By their exertions, and the blessing of God on their preaching, a new spirit was infused into the Presbyterian body."+
SECOND PERIOD-1741 to 1775.
We now enter upon the Second Period, and notice the condition of the South Jersey Churches at the time of the division.
* Constitutional History, Part II. pp. 207.
+ Log College, pp. 36, 37, 40.
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At the time of the schism, Cohansey, i. e., Fairfield, had Daniel Elmer for its pastor, and adhered to the Old Side until his death, but was rent by the dissensions of the times.
Pilesgrove, with Quihawken, obtained David Evans and adhered to the Old Side until his death.
Greenwich and the infant Deerfield were destitute. Gloucester in vain looked to New England, and from isolated and forsaken Cape May, was heard a feeble cry for help.
The zealous Evangelists of the New Brunswick party seeing only two pastors over these extended wastes, may well have been excused for overstepping the ecclesi- astical boundaries and going to these vacancies and destitutions, and we may be indebted to them more than we are aware of.
At the meeting of the New Brunswick Presbytery on the second day after the schism, applications were made for supplies from eighteen places, almost all of which were out of the bounds of the Presbytery, and came for the most part from fragments of old congrega- tions .*
Both before and after the schism, Gilbert Tennent proceeded to evangelize in West Jersey.+ Campbell and Rowland were directed to visit Cape May and Green- wich. Finley labored with zeal and success in Deer- field and the adjoining congregations.
GREENWICH IN COHANSEY. Whitefield visited West Jersey in the spring of 1740. Gilbert Tennent followed him in the summer, and while Whitefield was preach- ing again, November 19th, the Holy Ghost came down
* Constitutional History, pp. 136, 162.
t Webster, pp. 159, 471, and 505.
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again like a rushing mighty wind at Cohansey .* Some thousands were present, the whole congregation was moved, and two cried out. New Brunswick Presbytery was constantly importuned for supplies, and their most promising candidates were sent to Cohansey, among them was William Dean in 1744.+
In 1742, Greenwich supplicated for Finley, and being ordained as an evangelist he spent much time in the vicinity, but did not settle. Greenwich was left va- cant by Gould's removal at the commencement of the revival. It was fully enlisted on the side of its pro- moters.
FAIRFIELD IN COHANSEY. This congregation divided during Elmer's ministry, even his own son went to Greenwich to hear Andrew Hunter. At Elmer's re- quest, Cowell, McHenry, and Kinkaid were sent by the Synod in 1754 to endeavor to remove the difficulties complained of, in his congregation; but all proceedings were stayed by his death.||
William Ramsey succeeded Elmer as pastor at Fair- field, when the two fragments of the church were re- united and adhered to the New Side. T He was received by Abington Presbytery, May 11, 1756, and was ordained and installed December 1st of the same year. Accord- ing to his record in 1759 the members were seventy- eight. In 1765 there was a powerful revival of reli-
# Greenwich is on the north side and Fairfield on the south side of the ' Cohansey river. Each place was often designated as Cohansey. It is not strange that consequently mistakes have been committed. Compare Webster pages 403, 505, with Elmer's History. Whitefield's labors appear to have been mainly at Greenwich in Cohansey, if at all at Fairfield in Cohansey. The people of Greenwich held to the New Lights ; those of Fairfield to the Old Side, during Elmer's life. The New England element prevailed at Fairfield. The Scotch and Irish at Greenwich.
+ Webster, pp. 403, 404, 526.
į Ibid. pp. 489, 505.
¿ Some went over the river to worship with the New Lights.
| Webster, p. 404.
T Ibid, p. 670.
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gion, and about sixty new members were added to the church.
CAPE MAY. At Cape May the revival was felt, but the congregation was feeble in numbers and resources. This, one of the oldest congregations, was among the first that had a pastor, and then remained vacant nearly thirty years. Beatty visited the people and laid before the Synod their distressed state. In 1743 New Bruns- wick Presbytery sent William Dean to supply them. Davenport spent the winter of 1750-51 at Cape May with little or no success, except on the last day. Law- rence was called, but long delay occurred before his installation, which was not until June 20, 1754. Of his ministry little is known .*
DEERFIELD. Deerfield joined Greenwich, being united with the New Side in settling Andrew Hunter, who drew many from Fairfield to him.t
PILESGROVE. Pilesgrove with Quihawken obtained David Evans in 1741, as already mentioned, and adhered to the Old Side until his death in 1751, when it passed over to the New Side. Evans drew up a church cove- nant, which was signed by twenty-five males and twenty- four females, all communicants, on April 30, 1741. It has been a mystery, how could he find forty-nine new members in a thinly settled country ? Webster sug- gests, " Either the church had become extinct, or it was not to his mind."¿ Had there been a church of some other denomination now changing its ecclesiastical rela- tion ? or will the excitement of the revival times, and perhaps the division, account for this apparent reorgani- zation? (See above, page 13.)
The Presbytery of New Brunswick in 1751, learn-
* Webster, pp. 526, 542, 546.
t Ibid, p. 505. į Ibid. p. 349.
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ing from Elder Reeves that Mr. Hunter's congregation are very deficient in paying his salary, "do judge said people to be greatly in fault. ... In the meanwhile do judge that Mr. Hunter should preach at Greenwich one-half, at Deerfield one-fourth, and at Pilesgrove one- fourth of his time .*
QUIHAWKEN. Quihawken, or Penn's Neck, seems to have received a new impulse. In 1748 a deed of trust for one-fourth of an acre of land was executed for the building of a house of worship. We may reckon this as another of the fruits of the revival. Had there been a congregation previously ?;
WOODBURY and HEAD OF TIMBER CREEK. In 1750 a call was presented to New Brunswick Presbytery, from Woodbury and Head of Timber Creek, for Mr. Chest- nut, and a call from Penn's Neck at the same time, and as Mr. Chestnut requested time to consider, he was appointed till the next meeting of Presbytery to supply one-third of his time at Penn's Neck, and the other two-thirds at Woodbury, in case they shall provide him a house to live in. But in case they do not, and the congregation of Penn's Neck do, then he must give two-thirds at Penn's Neck, and one-third at Woodbury.#
BLACKWOODTOWN. The revival spirit carried church extension to Timber Creek, now Blackwoodtown. The deed for the ground was given by John Blackwood, a Scotchman, in 1751.§ The first settled minister was Benjamin Chestnut, who entered the College of New Jersey, and graduated in 1748, being a member of the first class connected with the institution. It is doubt- ful whether there was any church organization separate
* MS. Minutes, p. 7.
į MS. Minutes, p. 107.
t Presbyterian, April 26th, 1856.
¿ Everitt's MS. Sermon, pp. 9, 11, 14, 24.
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from Woodbury before 1769, at which time the mem- bers of Timber Creek are supposed to have been not much less than fifty.
ALOES CREEK. The church of Aloes Creek belongs to this revival period, though we have not a history of its organization. Webster says, there was a church at Log Town, on Aloes Creek, in 1750. It was afterwards supplied by Greenman .*
The church of LONGACOMING also belongs to this period. A more particular account of it will be given in connection with the labors of Rev. John Brainerd.
Upon the death of the pastors of Fairfield and Piles- grove, all the Presbyterian churches in South Jersey came under the ecclesiastical supervision of the Presby- tery of New Brunswick, and when the Presbytery of New York cast its weight with New Brunswick, and the Synod of New York was organized in 1745, then, or soon afterwards, all these churches looked to the Synod of New York as the highest ecclesiastical tribunal.+
PRESBYTERY OF ABINGTON.
The inconvenience of great distance from the Central Presbytery was felt and doubtless led to the formation of a more compact body. In 1751 a number of the Presbytery of New Brunswick petitioned to be erected into a distinct Presbytery.# Accordingly the Synod of New York did erect that part of the said Presbytery that live in Pennsylvania, together with those who live in New Jersey to the southward of Philadelphia, bordering upon Delaware, into a distinct Presbytery, by
* Webster, p. 656.
See the name of Andrew Hunter on its roll in 1746, absentee. He and Elder Francis Brewster were present in 1747, at Maidenhead.
į Records of the Presbyterian Church, p. 246.
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the name of the Presbytery of Abington. This Presby- tery was organized at the time appointed, May 20, 1752, and consisted of Gilbert Tennent, Richard Treat, Charles Beatty, Andrew Hunter, Daniel Lawrence, John Campbell, and Benjamin Chestnut, ministers. Mr. John Todd absent on a mission in Virginia. Five elders were present, but from what churches is not stated, viz: David Chambers, William Adams, John Wigton, Thomas Armstrong, and Hugh Hamilton.
The churches of South Jersey seem to have flourished under the fostering care of this Presbytery, so long as it existed, from 1752 to 1758. During these six years Presbytery diligently appointed supplies for vacancies at Cape May, Pilesgrove, Penn's Neck, Woodbury, and Timber Creek. In 1755 we find the first mention of supplies for Egg Harbour, and for each succeeding year they were appointed, probably as often as once a month. Among these were Greenman, Lawrence, Chestnut, Ramsey, and Martin. The last act of Presbytery was to appoint Mr. Lawrence to supply two Sabbaths at Egg Harbour. The frequent record of days of fasting and prayer by the Presbytery of Abington, especially at every ordination, is worthy of serious attention.
Among the important ecclesiastical acts were two ordinations and three installations.
Nehemiah Greenman, a licentiate of New York Presbytery, educated at the expense of David Brainerd, was, after careful trials, ordained with fasting and prayer, and installed pastor of Pilesgrove Church, Dec. 5th, 1754. He gave one-fourth of his time to Penn's Neck. Messrs. Treat, Hunter, and Beatty officiated at his ordination .*
* Webster, p. 656.
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In the same year a committee consisting of Messrs. Hunter, Chestnut, and Beatty, installed the Rev. Daniel Lawrence over Cape May, aud in 1756 Presbytery received William Ramsey, as above stated, and installed him pastor over Fairfield. The manuscript minutes mention difficulties at Deerfield, also at Timber Creek, where Presbytery thought that Mr. Chestnut was not wholly free from blame. Yet, in comparison with previous turbulent times and great destitutions, may we not accommodate the words, "Then had the churches rest throughout this region, and were edified ?"
REUNION OF SYNODS.
In 1758, after seventeen years of separation, the two Synods were united under the title of The Synod of New York and Philadelphia.
As a consequence of the reunion, it become necces- sary to remodel the Presbyteries. The Presbytery of Abington was therefore merged in that of Philadel- phia, which was reconstructed with thirteen ministers, of whom five labored (it is supposed) among the nine churches of West Jersey. We can readily suppose that joy and gratitude at the happy result- the long desired reunion of the two Synods-would stimulate to new efforts.
MISSIONS TO INDIANS.
We soon find the attention of the Synod occupied with the care of Indian missions in New Jersey. David Brainerd had already accomplished his work among the Indians, and entered into his rest, 1747.
While Mr. Gilbert Tennent was in Great Britain on account of the College of New Jersey, a friend to the conversion of the Indians put into his hands two hun-
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dred pounds sterling to be used by the Synod of New York in sending missionaries to these heathen tribes. This seems to have excited for a time a considerable missionary spirit among the ministers in connection with the Synod. Several pastors, who had charges, went on temporary missions, and Mr. John Brainerd devoted himself wholly to the work among the tribes who resided in New Jersey .*
The reflex or reciprocal influence between foreign and domestic missions at this period, is worthy of more careful study. This may be more fully seen in the Life of Rev. John Brainerd,t by the late Rev. Thomas Brainerd, D. D. In 1760 the Synod appointed John Brainerd to succeed his brother David, and ordered collections to be made for his support. This was after the annuity from the Society in Scotland had been sus- pended .¿
CONTEMPORANEOUS CIVIL AFFAIRS .?
This time of peace in the Church was a period of war in the country. The prospect of the British Colonies was at one time gloomy. At the first meeting of the reunited Synod, a day of fasting and humiliation for sin was appointed. It was in 1755 that General Braddock was defeated by the French and Indians in ambush, and the name of GEORGE WASHINGTON began to be resplen- dent. In 1762, after hostilities had raged eight years, a general peace was concluded. Thus was an end put to the desolating wars with the Indians. During these wars, four hundred colonial privateers had cruised with successful vigilance, and twenty-four thousand provin-
* Log College, p. 55.
+ Published by the Presbyterian Publication Committee, Philadelphia, 1865.
į Records, pp. 299, 300.
¿ Grimshaw's History. Historical Collections, New Jersey.
.
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cial soldiers cooperated with the English regulars in North America.
When called upon by Mr. Pitt, the celebrated British minister, the Assembly of New Jersey instead of raising reluctantly five hundred men, doubled that number, and to fill the ranks in season, offered a bounty of twelve pounds per man, increased the pay of the officers, and voted a sum of fifty thousand pounds for their mainte- nance. They, at the same time, directed barracks to be built at Burlington, Trenton, New Brunswick, Amboy, and Elizabethtown, competent each for the accommo- dation of three hundred men. . .. This complement of one thousand men, New Jersey kept up during the years 1758, 1759, and 1760, and in the years 1761 and 1762, furnished six hundred men, besides in the latter year a company of sixty-four men and officers, especially for garrison duty, for which she incurred an average expense of forty thousand pounds per annum.
The deleterious influences of these wars upon the state of religion, and the happy effects of peace, we can now appreciate in part. Soon, other public excite- ments agitated the colonies and-the Mother Country demanding remuneration for the expenses of the war, without the right of representation-then began the encroachments and resistance, which in ten or fifteen years culminated in rebellion, revolution, and deso- lating wars, and finally resulted in victory and inde- pendence.
PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH.
Before the storm-cloud of war burst in its fury, the ministers of our Church seem to have labored diligently and faithfully over a large missionary field. One, con- versant with the relative position of localities, will re-
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cognize them as itinerants, supplying churches at remote distances. Thus, in Old Monmouth county, Elihu Spencer, who spent the winter of 1746 with John Brainerd at Bethel, New Jersey, in 1761 joined New Brunswick Presbytery, and supplied Shrewsbury, Mid- dletown Point, and Amboy, a route twenty miles in length, and in 1764 was directed to visit the sea-coast towards Egg Harbor .*
Charles McKnight, having removed from Cranberry and Allentown, accepted a call in 1767 to Middletown Point, Shark River, and Shrewsbury, a route of twenty or thirty miles.t
John Brainerd's testimony as to the state of religion at this period is important. He wrote from Brotherton, August 24, 1761, to Mrs. Smith, thus: "I spend some- thing more than half my Sabbaths here at Brotherton,¿ the rest are divided. At this place I have but few white people. The reason is, because this is near central between Delaware [River] and the sea, and the English settlements are chiefly on them. The other places are in the midst of the inhabitants, and whenever I preach there, I have a large number of white people that meet to attend divine service. But besides these, I have preached at eight different places on Lord's days, and near twenty on other days of the week, and never fail of a considerable congregation-so large and extensive is this vacancy. Two large counties, and a considerable part of two more, almost wholly destitute of a preached gospel, except what the Quakers do in their way, and many of the people but one remove from a state of heathenism."§
* Webster, pp. 587, 589. t Ibid. p. 486.
į In Burlington County, at the Indian Mill, or Shamong, four miles from Atsion. Not the Shamong station on the Delaware and Raritan Railroad. See Brainerd's Life, chapter xli.
¿ Sprague's Annals, vol. iii. p. 152.
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The two large counties, of which he speaks as almost wholly destitute, were probably Burlington and Glou- cester, including the present Atlantic, and the two others, of which a considerable part were destitute, were probably Monmouth and -?
Most diligent, commendable and encouraging were the efforts of John Brainerd and his contemporaries, to supply these destitutions and meet the calls of the peo- ple on the sea-coast for the gospel. Brainerd's* letter to Enoch Green is an invaluable link in the chain of evidence. He writes to him from Trenton, June 21, 1761, like a veteran itinerant, giving advice to his younger brother, who girds on the harness for a six weeks' tour on horseback along the shore. The field is from Tom's River to Tuckahoe. He mentions only one meeting-house, but gives the names of seventeen heads of families, at whose houses meetings are usually held, viz., at Tom's River, Goodluck, Barnegat, Manahock- ing, Wading River, Great Egg Harbour, and Tuckahoe, and advises him to make appointments for Mr. Smith and Mr. McKnight, who will succeed him. To go from one extreme of this field to the other would demand a ride of between 100 and 150 miles by the shortest route, and in his entire journey Mr. Green probably rode three or four hundred miles.
From the second volume of the Minutes of the Pres- bytery of Philadelphia it appears that frequent supplica- tions for supplies were presented, and that appoint- ments were made for Great Egg Harbour and Little Egg Harbour, and in 1762 supplies were requested for Bar- negat Shore. Webster, (page 568) says: "There was in 1767 a new Presbyterian meeting-house at Barnegat, and probably as early there was one at Manahawken."
* See Van Rensselaer's Presbyterian Magazine, 1852, p. 471.
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We have no other testimony, not even tradition, to con- firm this statement, but we have read in a book im- ported from Scotland, that "among the whites eight houses for public worship have been erected since Mr. Brainerd's settlement, and more will be."
The next important witness is the Rev. P. V. Fithian .* In 1775 he journeyed from Cohansey to Egg Harbour and the Forks of Little Egg Harbour. His jour- nal proves that in the interval, since Mr. Green's visit, (1761) fourteen years previously, several houses of wor- ship had been erected. Besides preaching at private houses, he preached at Mr. Clark's Little Log meeting- house near Pleasant Mills and Batsto, where he met Mr. Brainerd, and observed a fast-day. Next preached at Brotherton to Mr. Brainerd's Indians. Also at Clark's Mill meeting-house, two miles from the present Port Republic. Here was a frame house and an organ- ized church, and here, he adds, they gave me a dollar. Then he preached at Cedar Bridge, or Blackman's meet- ing-house, at Bargaintown, where a house was built of planks placed perpendicularly. The deed for Black- man's meeting-house was given by Andrew Blackman in 1764.7 Documentary evidence is also found of two other Brainerd churches, which Mr. Fithian does not mention. One was at Wading River, in Burlington County, for which the land was conveyed by the will of John Leake, bearing date 1777. Probably it had been occupied previously. The other was at Longa- coming, proof of which is found in the minutes of the Presbytery of Philadelphia in 1767, and confirmed by the words of Mr. Safford, who was employed by the West Jersey Missionary Society in 1821.
* Original journal in possession of Dr. Enoch Fithian, Greenwich, N. J. See Woodbury Constitution, 1850.
t See Letters in Woodbury Constitution, 1850.
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The following extract proves that there was a Presby- terian congregation at Longacoming, and that in all probability it was at that time not inferior to the congre- gations of Timber Creek and Woodbury.
1767-" A call was brought into the Presbytery signed by the principal members of the congregations of Timber Creek and Longacoming, for Mr. Chestnut to take the pastoral charge of them, but as there are none from Woodbury attending the Presbytery, or that have their names affixed to that call, although it is ex- pected that they will unite with those congregations in being a part of Mr. Chestnut's charge, the Presbytery do not think that the way is yet clear to proceed in that matter, and in the meantime do appoint him to preach and perform pastoral duties to that people in such pro- portion as shall be agreed by them."
Mr. Safford's words in 1821 are : " I visited Longa- coming at the request of Dr. Janeway. It is fourteen miles in a north-eastern direction from Philadelphia, and contains twelve or thirteen houses. Here was formerly a church under the care of Mr. John Brainerd. It is now extinct. There are, however, four persons residing in the place who belong to the Second Presby- terian Church of Philadelphia. I was told by aged persons that I was the only Presbyterian clergyman who had preached among them for thirty or forty years. They greatly desire missionary labor. Their cry is, 'Come over and help us.'" The indenture, whereby Samuel Scull conveyed three acres of land in Longa- coming to five individuals, was made in the sixth year of our Sovereign Lord, George the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, &c., in the year 1766.
Mr. Fithian was surprised to find how fastidious were the people in Egg Harbour, and especially at
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the Forks, respecting preachers and preaching, and remarks :
" I have said that the people here are nice in their taste concerning preaching. It is not without reason. They have had subjects for comparison. Mr. Brainerd and Mr. Clark enumerated the following gentlemen, who have occasionally, and some of them very often, preached here as supplies. Messrs. Brainerd, Tennent, Smith, Benj. Chestnut, Hunter, Spencer, Dr. James Sproat, Charles Beatty, Wm. Ramsey, Nehemiah Green- man, Green, J. Clark, S. Clark, McKnight, McCracken, Mitchell, Watt, Boyd, Gravis, Brockway, Van Arts- dalen, Hollinshead, McClure, Frisby, Keith, and Andrew Hunter, Jr."
Here are the names of twenty-six Presbyterian ministers, besides Mr. Fithian, who left their flocks in Cape May, Philadelphia, and other places, and travelled long distances on horseback, that they might seek and feed the few scattered sheep. in the wilderness. Mr. Greenman at one time left his congregation at Piles- grove, and spent six months on the shore, and almost made an engagement to settle there.
How true are the words of Dr. Archibald Alexander respecting itinerant labors to lay the foundation of churches in the new settlements: "Much more of this kind of labor was done by the fathers of the Presby- terian Church in this country than by their sons in our age."
Thus, onward-onward-and upward, against all opposing currents, the Presbyterian Church steadily made headway, planting her colonies and erecting her standard in the name of the Lord, even to the com- mencement of the Revolutionary War.
* See Home and Foreign Record, 1850, pp. 4-6, on the magnitude and im- portance of Domestic Missions.
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THIRD PERIOD .- FROM 1775 TO 1820-FORTY-FIVE YEARS.
We here quote from the last page of the Constitu- tional History :
" The effects of the Revolutionary War on the state of our Church were extensively and variously disastrous. The young men were called from the seclusion of their homes to the demoralizing atmosphere of a camp; congregations were broken up; churches were burnt, and in more than one instance pastors were murdered ; the usual ministerial intercourse and efforts for the dissemination of the gospel were in a great measure suspended, and public morals in various respects deteri- orated. From these effects it took the Church a con- siderable time to recover ; but she shared, through the blessing of God, in the returning health and prosperity of the country, and has since grown with the growth and strengthened with the strength of our highly favored nation." In estimating the effect of the war upon the churches of New Jersey, it is to be remem- bered also that this State was the battle-ground of many a hard fought contest. British soldiery destroyed the church of John Brainerd at Mount Holly, and probably his dwelling.
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