USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > Freehold > History of the "Old Scots" church of Freehold from the Scotch immigration of 1685 till the removal of the church under the ministry of the Rev. William Tennent, Jr > Part 4
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The Tennent Church. Built 1730, Enlarged 1753.
49
THE REMOVAL OF THE CHURCH.
the " Old Church ; " the newer Scotch element, coming over in the time of the Jacobite troubles of 1715, found the eastern portion of the county already pre-empted, and went where Proprietor's land could be obtained ; the Dutch had also entrenched themselves gregariously about the former site. Thirdly, the earlier building had evidently been of such a rude and temporary char- acter, that there was need of a new church, on the old site or elsewhere. A fortnight after the above-mentioned meeting of the representatives of the church, they agreed "that the Old or lower meeting-House To be repaired with all Haste that can be. "
Managers, or " undertakers," in building the new church were appointed in August, 1730, between the call and the ordination of John Tennent. The new church "is to be made Forty feet long and Thirty feet wide, and each of the Builders is to have one seat in it above their common Due."
The work which was to be pushed " with all the speed possible after this sowing time was over," was successful- ly advanced in the winter, and on " April 18th, 1731, was The first Time that there was servise in the new meet- ing-House on White Hill." On the same day Margaret, daughter of William Ker was baptized, " the first Bap- tized in the new Meeting House."
A tradition has been handed down that it was planned by the "undertakers " to locate the church upon a site lower than its present situation, and that old Janet Rhea,55 one of the Scotch Covenanters, seized the small corner-stone in her apron, and toiling to the top of the hill, set it upon the summit, saying to the astonished builders, " Wha ever heard o' ganging doon to the. Hoose o' the Lord, an no o' ganging oop to
50
THE "OLD SCOTS" CHURCH.
the Hoose o' the Lord ?" A fine mixture of aspiration and scripture literalness, characteristic of Covenanter stock. The agreement was made in 1730, "That the services be one Sabbath at the upper Meeting House, and so to continue successively," which apparently meant alternate services at the "Scots " church and the " Tennent " church. About the year 1733, under the ministry of Rev. William Tennent, jr., services were held for two Sabbaths in the new church, and one in the old church. In course of time, from the decay of the slight structure reared in the first days of the new settlement, and from the superior accommodations and more convenient situation of the newer church, the " Old Scots Meeting-House," on Free Hill, crumbled, fell and passed into oblivion so utterly, that no tradition remains of its size, appearance, or appurtenances.
Concerning the famed ministry of Rev. William Ten- nent, jr., in the church and community that bears his name and cherishes his memory, little may properly be said within the limits of the present subject. His en- ergy and apostolic zeal, his shrewdness, wit, and conse- crated sense, his prodigious labors, and the accounts, well-nigh miraculous, of supernatural acts and scenes, are treasured thoughts and household tales in the broad region where he toiled with such success.
His body was buried in the central aisle of the church whose walls rang so often with the ardor of his elo- quence. Before his year-old grave, Washington rallied the retreating Continental troops, upon that heated Sab- bath day, in June, 1778, when brazen cannon lips thun- dered from Tennent heights the stern message of Liberty ; and the dark menace of invasion rolled back from the little church front, where Strength and Con-
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THE REMOVAL OF THE CHURCH.
science, Valor and Religion joined to repel the foe from Monmouth field.
Rev. John Woodhull, D. D., followed with an illus- trious ministry of forty-five years, exerting a wide and benignant influence. Boyd, the Tennents, and Wood- hull, four of the first five ministers, died while in their service with the church of Freehold.
Some half a mile eastward of the Tennent church, upon a thickly wooded hill, o'ergrown with tangled briars, that clamber over fallen trunks, on a point that looks out toward the white church he loved and toiled for through long years, lies the body of that man of God, Walter Ker. His tombstone is of firm-grained sand- stone, with clear-cut inscription that reads as follows:
Here lies what's Mortal of Walter Ker e
Deceased June roth 1748 in y 92 year of his age Who long with Patience Bore life's heavy load Willing to spend and be spent for God the noble Portrait in a line to paint
he Breath'd, a Father liv'd, & Dy'd a saint
Here sleeps in peace the aged sire's dust
Till the glad Trump arouse the sleeping just.
Beside him lies his wife, who had died fourteen years before. Above the little plot stands a massive oak with wide, strong branches which have resisted many a win- try shock, whose iron strength, deep rooted in the soil beneath, and lofty in its grand, uplifted limbs, seems as a type of that noble Covenanter's soul, who, after suffer- ing imprisonment for conscience sake, banished across the sea, prayed and toiled and sacrificed, through three score years, for the Church of the Eternal Covenant of God. Beside the oak stands a strong and graceful chestnut tree, and the two, with branches intertwined, are symbols of those true and upright lives, rooted in the certainty of the promises of God, and sublime in the
52
THE "OLD SCOTS" CHURCH.
aspirations for the heavenly life. Down below the emi- nence where the trees are shading the ancient graves, rolls a fertile field and on its grassy sward, under fruit- laden branches, graze flocks of sheep and herds of placid cattle.
From the rugged grandeur of those stern, strong, God-fearing lives of the troublous past, descend to our more peaceful days the inspiration of noble inheritance, and the treasured memories of the lineage of God's elect.
" Peace to the Church, her peace no foes invade ; Peace to each noble martyr's noble shade,
They with undaunted courage, truth, and zeal, Contended for the Church and Country's weal. We share the fruits, we drop the grateful tear, And peaceful altars o'er their ashes rear."
FINIS.
APPENDIX.
I. Margaret Wilson was but eighteen years of age. Her epitaph in the church yard at Wigton reads:
"Murdered for owning Christ supreme Head of his church, and no more crime, But her not owning Prelacy, And not abjuring Presbytery, Within the sea, tied to a stake, She suffered for Christ Jesus' sake." [See Macaulay, Hist. of England i. 379.]
2. The list is given in W. A. Whitehead's Contributions to the Early History of Perth Amboy, etc., p. 22. In this list we find the name of John Craige, probably he who in 1705 headed the number of those who applied to the Monmouth county court to have the Presbyterian meeting house on Freehill recorded; of Archibald Craige, who was his son, and who with two children lies buried in the "Old Scots" ground; of John Boyd perhaps some connection of the John Boyd, who 21 years later was minister of the church at Freeliold.
3. In 1684, Gawen Lawrie, Deputy Governor of East Jersey, wrote "The . Scots and William Dockwra's people coming now and settling advanced the Province more than it hath been advanced these ten years." Again he writes: "The Scots have taken a right course. They have sent over many servants and are likewise sending more. They have likewise sent over many poor families and given theni a small stock." William Dockwra was a London merchant, inventor of the Penny Post. He was said to be in 1688 "the best land stead in the Province." [See N. J. Archives II. 27. ] John Reid, who became Surveyor General of the Province, and of His Majesty's council, came in 1683 in charge of one of Barclay's expeditions. He was a Quaker, turning in 1702 to the English church under Keith's influence. He lies buried about two miles from the "Old Scots" ground, in Topanemus graveyard. [See Ellis' History of Monmouth County p. 79.]
4. The "Caledonia" has been the centre of much romance, and possibly some mythology, voiced in the expression of an old negro woman of Perth Amboy, "that Ham and Columbo came over in the old Caledonia. A ship of that name was one of the five of the unfortunate Scotch expedition to Darien in 1698, and one of the three that came after the disastrous termina- tion of the venture, to New York in the autumn of 1699.
Macaulay, [v:177] says: "The Caledonia, the healthiest ship of the three, threw overboard a hundred corpses." It is known that one of her sister ships from Darien, the "Unicorn," came to Amboy, under the com- mand of John Anderson, a "Scotcli Presbyterian," [See N. J. Archives, vol iv., pp. 156, 178] who lies buried at Topanemus, two miles from the "Old Scots" ground. Whitehead, [Contribution to History of Perth Amboy, etc. pp. 265, 266] says that the "Caledonia" brought over many Scotch families in 1715, and that the remains of the vessel could be seen in recent years in shoal water off Amboy. It is said that in the latter part of the last century the broken mast of the vessel was a familiar sight. Canes and other articles made from her timbers are still preserved.
ii
THE "OLD SCOTS" CHURCH.
5. Walter Ker came from the Parish of Dalsert, Lanarkshire, and was banished two days before Pitlochie's expedition sailed through the influence of the curate of the Parish, Joseph Clelland.
William Tennent, Jr., in 1744, wrote concerning Freehold: "The settling of that place with a gospel ministry, was owing, under God, to the agency of some Scotch people, that came to it, among whom there was none so pains- taking in this blessed work as one Walter Ker, who, in 1685, for his faithful and conscientious adherence to God and his truth as professed by the church of Scotland, was there apprehended and sent to this country, under a sen- tence of perpetual banishment. By which it appears that the devil and his instruments lost their aim in sending him from home, where it is unlikely he could ever have been so serviceable to Christ's kingdom as he has been here He is yet [1744] alive; and, blessed be God, flourishing in his old age, being in his 88th year." [See Hodge's History, part ii., p. 20. ]
Salter's History of Monmouth and Ocean counties, [Appendix, page 1 xxvii, ] states he was banished Sept. 3, 1685, was probably on the "Henry and Fran- cis;" he had sons, Joseph and James, (perhaps William and Samuel also, who were deacons in the church in 1746). Walter Ker, with his wife, Margaret, and his son Joseph's wife, Margaret, lies buried about half a mile east of the present "Old Tennent" church.
Concerning one Walter Ker, the "sweet singer" of 1681, who can hardly have been the same, [see Wodrow, iii., pp. 348,353, and Whitehead, Contri- butions, etc. pp. 38, 40.]
6. [See Ellis' History of Monmouth County, p. 830] :- On a farni near Matawan is a broken and defaced stone partly illegible, bearing the words "Here lies interred the Body,""William Robertson,""Great Britian" and the date 1682. Tradition says "he came from Scotland in the famous prison ship and that it was he who named the place New Aberdeen."
7. Lewis Morris' letter to the Bishop of London in 1700 says: "Freehold was settled from Scotland [Mr. Keith began the first settlement there, and owned a fine plantation, which he afterwards sold, and went into Pennsyl- vania. ] About one half of the inhabitants there are Scotch Presbyterians, and a sober people. The other part was settled by people [some from New England, some from New York, and some from the formentioned towns, ] who are, generally speaking, of no religion. There is in this town a Quak- er Meeting House."" By this Morris means Topanemus which was afterwards moved to Freehold village, constituting part of the present edifice of St. Peter's church. It is to be noted that Morris does not mention the existence in 1700 of a Scotch Meeting House at Freehold. This is no proof of its non- existence at that date, however, as Morris also ignores the Baptist Meeting house at Middletown, which had undoubtedly been built some twelve years before. [See "Old Times in Old Monmouth," p. 264.]
8. The ground lies seven-eighths of a mile west of the track of the Free- hold and Atlantic Highlands Branch of the C. R. R. of N. J., about equi- distant from Bradevelt and Wickatunk stations, on a straight road from the latter. It lies on the "John VanKirk farm," opposite the home of Mr. Gide- on McDowell, and is about five miles northeast of the "Old Tennent" Church, its successor.
9 These dimensions would make the building larger than the famous "Log College," built over thirty years afterwards, where two of the preachers of the Freehold Church, John and William Tennent were trained by their father. [See Whitefield's Life, by Gillies, p. 61. ]
IO. The eighteen century stones in the grave yard are as follows: Rev. John Boyd, died August 30th, 1708, aet. 28.
Michael Henderson, and Jane, his wife, died 1722. William Redford, born 1642, died March 1725-6.
iii
APPENDIX.
Willianı Craig, son of Archibald, died Aug. 8, 1726, aet I.
Margaret Redford, wife of William, born 1645, died 1729.
Rev. John Tennent, born Nov. 12 1707, died April 23, 1732.
Richard Clark, born in Scotland Feb. 10th, 1663, died May 16, 1733.
Elinor, wife of Abraham VanDorn, daug. of Jonathan and Margaret For- man, died May 22, 1733, aet. 20.
William, son of Jonathan and Margaret Forman, born Feb. 20, 1729, died 1735.
Elizabeth, wife of Jeremiah Reeder, died 1735, aet. 79.
Stevens Nicholas Henderson, grandson of Michael Henderson, died Nov. 27 1737, 9 month old
Walter Wall, died Feb. 2, 1737-8, aet 47.
William, son of Samuel Craig, died Aug. 23, 1743, aet. 2.
Catharine, wife of John Vanderhiden, daug. of Anthony and Elizabeth Ward, died Jan. 10, 1746, aet. 33.
Samuel, son of Archibald Craig, died Nov. 17, 1746, aet. 38.
Anthony Ward, born Great Britain, died Dec. 6, 1746, aet. 76.
Euphemia Freeiser, died Mar. I, 1747-8 aet. 21.
Anne Henderson, born Dec. 27, 1734, died June 18, 1748.
Samuel Crawford, died July 8, 1748, aet. 35 years, 3 months.
Jane Henderson, born Oct. 8, 1730, died Jan. 4, 1748-9.
Archibald Craig, Esq., died Mar. 6, 1751, aet. 73.
Mary, wife of Archibald Craig, died Nov. 1, 1752, aet. 69.
Anna, wife of Walter Wall, died Jan. 19, 1758, aet. 62 and about 4 months.
Jonathan, son of Jonathan and Margaret Forman, born Nov, 13, 1722, died May 20, 1758
William Crawford, died Mar. 22, 1760, aet. 49.
Margaret, daug. of John and Sarah O'Harrah, died Sep. 3, 1760, aet. 5. John O'Harrah, died Sep. 16, 1760, aet. 34.
Hannah, wife of John Amy, died Mar. 23, 1762, aet. about 53.
Jonathan Forman, died Dec. 28, 1762, aet. 74.
Margaret, widow of Jonathan Forman, born 1693, died Dec. 21, 1765. John Henderson, died Jan. I, 1771, aet. 73.
Catharine, wife of John Patten, died Feb. 9, 1774, aet. 52.
Anne, wife of John Henderson, died Oct. 4, 1776, aet. 64.
David Pease, died Oct. 15, 1778, aet. 58.
In several cases the husband and wife, or the parent and child or grand- child lie beneath the same stone.
II. The earliest date in the existing records of the Freehold Church is
1730. Many of the old records were lost in the burning of the parsonage of Rev. Archibald Cobb, pastor of the Tennent church. The accounts extant assume a regular organization already existing. With their orderly Scotch habits, the appointment of elders, or "Assistants" was an early act. In the neighboring church of Woodbridge, in 1707, 1708 "the foundation of the church was laid first upon three persons who had been communicants, etc." [Whitehead's Contributions, p. 386. ]
In "a sermon preached at Freehold Nov. 25, 1824, on the death of the Rev. John Woodhull, D. D., late pastor of the Presbyterian church of Freehold, New Jersey, by the Rev. Isaac N. Brown" (p. 25, note) it is stated. "This congregation was regularly organized June 3, 1730. Before this it had nomi- nally existed a short time and enjoyed the pastoral labors of the Rev. Joseph Morgan." An account ignoring John Boyd may not be considered conclu- sive.
12. In Scot's "Model, etc." Peter Watson's letter from E. Jersey, of Aug. 20, 1684, says "We have great need of good and faithful ministers, and I wish to God, that there would some come over here, they can live as well
iv
THE "OLD SCOTS" CHURCH.
and have as much as in Scotland, and more than many get; we have none within all the province of East Jersey except one who is preacher in Newark; there were one or two preachers more in the Province, but they are dead, and now the people they meet together every Sabbath day, and read and pray, and sing Psalms in their meeting-houses."
13. In the Monmouth Patent of 1665, religious toleration was provided for: "They shall have free liberty of conscience without any molestation or dis- turbance whatsoever in their way of worship." But the force and authority of the Patent was an uncertain quantity. Cornbury's Instructions from the Crown (1702) provided for "Liberty of conscience to all persons except Papists." [N. J. Archives, ii. 522. ]
Scot in his "Model" 1684, says: "Liberty in matters of religion is estab- lished in the fullest manner. To be a planter or inhabitant, nothing is re- quired but the acknowledging of one Almighty God; and to have a share in the government, a simple profession of faith of Jesus Christ without descend- ing into any other of the differences among Christians, only that religion may not be a cloak for disturbance, whoever comes into the magistrature, must declare they hold not themselves in conscience obliged for religion's sake to make an alteration or to endeavor to turn out their partners to tlie government because they differ in opinion with them; and this is no more than to follow the great rule, to do as they would be done by."
14. See reply of Assembly of 1707 to Cornbury, [N. J. Archives, iii. 264. ] "One minister of the church of England, dragg'd by a sheriff from Burling- ton to Amboy, and there kept in custody, without assigning any reason for it, and at last haul'd by force into a boat by your excellency, and transport- ed like a malefactor into another government, and there kept in garrison a prisoner; and no reason assigned for these violent procedures, but your excellency's pleasure. Another minister of the Church of England, laid under a necessity of leaving the province from the reasonable apprehensions of meeting the same treatment, etc."
In Cornbury's Instructions from the Crown he was directed not "to prefer any minister to an ecclesiastical benefice without a certificate from the Right Reverend Father in God, the Bishop of London, of his being conformable to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England." He was also direct- ed to remove such as give scandals by their doctrine or morals, a dangerous power to place in the hands of a governor with the doctrines and morals of Cornbury. [See N. J. Archives, ii. p. 528.]
I5. "Court of Quarter Sessions, held at Shrewsbury, May 28th, 1706.
Whereas, Mr. John Boyd, Minister of ye Presbyterians of Freehold, made application to ye Court of Sessions, held last December, that he might be admitted to qualifie himself, as ye law directs in that behalf and ye Court ordered that further consideration thereof should be referred. And now ve said John Boyd appeared in open session, and was hy the court permitted to qualifie himself, and accordingly the said John Boyd hath qualified himself as ye law in that case directs, viz: did take ye oath made, in a statute, made in the first year of their Ma- jesties Reign, entitled, "An act for removing and preventing all questions and disputes concerning ye assembling of ye Parliament; and did make and subscribe ye declaration mentioned in ve statute made in ye 30th year of ye reign of King Charles ye 211d, intitled, 'An act to prevent Papists front sit- ting in either house of Parliament,' and did also declare his approbation of, and did subscribe ye articles of religion mentioned in ye statute made in ye 30th year of the Reign of ye late Queen Elizabeth except ye 34, 35 and 36, and these words of ye 20th article, viz: "The Church hath power to decree rites or ceremonys and authority in controversies of faith and, etc.'
All which are entered here of record, according to ye directions of an-
V
APPENDIX.
other Act of Parliament, entitled, "An act exempting his Majesties Protestant subjects, desenting from ye Church of England, from the penalties of cer- tain laws."
" The Five Mile Act had banished him from his dwelling, from his relations, from his friends, from almost all places of public resort. Under the Conventicle Act his goods had been distrained, and he had been flung into one noisome goal after another among highwaymen and house breakers." Macaulay, Hist. II. 163.
See "Proceedings of Deputation to Protect civil rights of Dissenters." London, 1813, p. 172.
Nap of the vicinity of The Old Scots and Tennent Churches. Scale_2milesto linch.
WICKATUNH
Oid Scuts Ground
and
First Ite formed Ch. of Flchold.
Rev. John Boyd'
grave.
BRADAVELT ...
N
MARLBOR
3
Central R. R of N. J.
Penna. R.R.
Tennent Church
TENNERY
. Grave of Walter Ker.
Battle of Monmouth,
28,1778
Site ofs Parsonage. 1734.
FREEHOLD
Monmouth County,
Presbyterian Church Freehold.
Penna RR
New Jersey.
16. Rev. Mr. Talbot, of the S. P. G., wrote to its secretary in 1703, from Philadelphia [?]. "The Presbyterians here come a great way to lay hands on one another, but after all I think they had as good stay at home for all the good they do." See Gillett's History of Presb. Church, i, 20. In
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THE "OLD SCOTS" CHURCH.
"The Presh. Church in Philadelphia." [Introd., p. xiv. ] it is said that Andrews was ordained and installed in 1701.
17. See Hodge's History, i. 78.
18. See Briggs' Amer. Presbyterianism, pp. 139 note, 140 note, and xliv. Ten years later twelve of the seventeen in the Presbytery of Philadelphia were believed to liave been educated at Glasgow. See "Americsn Presby- terianism," App. p. 1xxi.
19. See "Records of the Presbyterian Church," pp. II, 12.
20. See History of Presb. Church of Trenton, by John Hall, D. D., p. 35. The Newark church was not connected with Presbytery till 1716-20. See J. F. Stearns' Hist. First Church of Newark," pp. 127, 128.
21. A John Boyd, in Ayrshire, Scotland, was schoolmaster at Cowend [Wodrow, iii. 385.] His house was thrice robbed of all its furniture by the soldiers, and he forced to pay 40 pounds to Ardmillan for failing to attend the curate's services. He was carried prisoner to Edinburgh in 1682 where he lay three months in close confinement, and before he was liberated, paid upwards of 100 pounds, Scots, whereby he was reduced to great wants.
The Rev. William Boyd, pastor of Lamington Presb. Church, 1784-1807, was "the son of Jo in Boyd, a Scotch-Irisliman, was born in Franklin county, Penn., where his father settled on removing to America." Manual of Lam- ington Church, p. 12. Mr. John Boyd VanDoren, of Princeton, considers Rev. Wm. Boyd "the son or direct descendant of the Rev. John Boyd of Monmouth."
An Adam Boyd appears in Synod in 1725. A John Boyd, at Upper Octo- rara, Penn., in 1736. A William Boyd came from Ireland to America on an inquiry about Scotch-Irish emigration in 1718.
22 See Note 18.
23. See Hodge's History, i. 78.
24. In an address on Rev. John Boyd before the Presbyterian Historical Society, delivered by Rev. D. V. McLean, D. D., it is said that Mr. Boyd "devoted some portion of his time to Middletown, preaching there at least as early as 1706." Dr. McLean holds that before the Scotch Immigration of 1682-5, Presbyterians from Connecticut and Long Island, settling in Mon- mouth county, "were active in establishing Presbyterian Congregations in Shrewsbury and Middletown where at least occasional services were held before they were in any other part of the county."
"The Presbyterian Church of Middletown had its commencement before 1706 and a church edifice was soon after erected on the old Presbyterian burying-ground lot." Ellis' Hist. Mon. Co., p. 532.
In Scot's "Model," 1684, speaking of the Independent churches of Mid- dletowu and Shrewsbury he says they "are most like Presbyterian."
25. See C. W. Baird's History of the Church in Bedford, N. Y.
26. See Mather's Magnalia, I. p. 88.
27. See Letter of Mr. Bartow's in Briggs Amer. Presbyterianism, p. 149. Mr. Bartow married Helen, daughter of John Reid of Monmouth county.
Their granddaughter, Theodosia, married Aaron Burr. Ellis' Hist. Mon. Co., p. 575.
28. Lecture before Presb. Hist. Soc. by D. V. McLean, D. D., on "Joseph Morgan." Other authorities hold the same.
29. See Hist. of Presb. Church of Trenton, p 46.
In a letter received from the Registrar of Yale College, F. B. Dexter, in 1889, it is stated of Joseph Morgan that "He was not a student here
-
vii
APPENDIX.
at any time, but received the honorary degree of Master of Arts about the year 1719; the exact date is not known.
30. See "Brick Church Memorial," by Rev. T. W. Wells, p. 22.
31. See "Brick Church Memorial," by Rev. T. W. Wells, p. 23.
32. Close connections existed in those early days between the Scotch and Dutch settlers. Two early graves in the "Old Scots" ground indicate by the "van," the marriages of Scotch daughters to the sons of Dutch immi- grants. In 1714 Jonathan Forman united with the Dutch Church, a suffici- ent explanation of the fact being seen in his wife's maiden name of Wikof. This Forman was the fourth generation from Robert Forman, b. ab. 1610, in England, coming to Long Island in 1645, a connection, probably of the John Foreman, of the "Henry and Francis," who with John Frazer and five others, were seized in London, while hearing Rev. Alex Shields preach, cast into Newgate Prison, marched through London, manacled, two by two, sent to Scotland [indicating probably Scotch connection] examined by the Council, and sent to Dunnottar Castle. Webster's History Presbyterian Church, p. 70.
33. In the Library of the Conn. Hist. Society.
34. This, and his "Remedy for Mortal Errors," a sermon preached in 1723 on the death of his son Joseph, in which he "entertained" his audience with an account of "The duty and marks of Zion's children," and his. last publication, a sermon on "Love to our neighbour commended," printed in Boston in 1749, inay be found, (according to Dr. D. V. McLean) in the An- tiquarian Society Library at Worcester, Mass Also his remarkable letter to Cotton Mather, quoted before. In this letter, written in Latin (of the day), he says "I spent only three years in the study of languages and the arts, and for twenty-five years I have labored almost constantly with my hands. A Latin, Greek, or Hebrew book I have sometimes not had in my hands for a whole year. I have scarcely any books: possess no dictionary but an imper- fect Rider. I have no commentaries, nor theological systems nor histories." It is pleasant to learn that Mr. Mather furnished him soon with a library of useful books. D. V. McLean's Lecture on Joseph Morgan.
35. For this letter, full of quaintness, pedantry, garrulity, and noble sin- cerity, see Briggs' Amer. Presbyterianism, App. p. 1xi.
36. See "Brick Church Memorial," p. 23.
37. See Ellis' Hist. of Mon. Co., p. 680.
38. See "Brick Church Memorial," p. 24.
39. See "Historical Discourse on Presb. Church of Allentown," by Geo. Swain, D. D., pp. 11, 12.
40. See Ellis' Hist. Mon. Co. p. 532 .
41. See Ellis' Hist. Mon Co. p. 584.
42. In his "Reply to an Anonymous Railer against the Doctrine of Election," repelling the slur on Presbyterian ministers for receiving a main- tenance while preaching the Gospel.
43. See "Brick Church Memorial." p. 23.
44. See Webster's History, p. 364.
45. See C. W Baird's Hist Bedford Church, pp. 45, seq.
46. See Hodge's Hist. Presb Church, i. 88, note.
47. In Prince's Christian History, No. 91.
48. In 1721, Increase Mather wrote "There is a grievous decay of piety in the land, and a leaving of her first love ; a fruitful Christian grown too rare a spectacle."
In England, in 1736, Bishop Butler, wrote Christianity itself seemed to be regarded as a fable "among all persons of discernment."
V111
THE "OLD SCOTS" CHURCH.
49. For this incident, and many other facts concerning John Tennent, including the quoted paragraph at the close of the chapter, a debt of acknow- ledgment is owed to the Mss. Lectures of Dr. D. V. McLean.
The Lecture on William Tennent, Jr., which passes beyond the scope of this work, is especially full and interesting.
50. These extracts from the earliest history recorded of the Church. are published in Ellis' Hist. of Mon. Co. pp. 680, 681.
51. Hodge's Hist. Presb. Church, ii., 20.
52. This "Perm't" was in existence some years ago, but seems to have disappeared, along with other valuable historical matter.
53. John Hutton had represented the Church at the Synods of 1727 and . 1728, in the time of Morgan's troubles.
54. John Henderson's daughter Jane was "the first child ever the Rev. Mr John Tennent baptised." On her stone in the "Old Scots" ground is the inscription "Her Grace, Obedience, Good conduct and Grave sense caused Parents tears and neighbors observance. "
55. Janet Rhea lies buried in a private plot of the Rhea family, on the D. D. Denise farm, one miile west of Freehold. The names and dates on the stones in the plot are as follows:
Janet Rhea. Died Jan. 15, 1761, aet. ab. 93.
Robert Rhe. Died Jan. 18, 1720.
David Rhea. Died May 15, 1761, aet. 64, and 2 months.
Jonathen Rhea, Died May 23, 1767, aet. 31 [or 9[, ] 9 months, and I day [This stone is broken into six fragments, making the age uncertain. ]
Anna, daughter of Jonethan and Lydia Rhea, aet. 5 months.
Margreat, daughter of Robert and Mary Rhe. Died Nov. 10, 1747, aet. I year, 3 mos., 17 days.
David, son of Robert and Mary Rhe. Died Aug. II, 1752, aet 3 years II mos., 25 days
Margret, daughter of Robert & Mary Rhe. Died Aug. 16, 1752, aet. I year, 6 mos., 7 days.
In a family plot two miles east of Freehold, on " Wikoff's Hill" are the following headstones :-
Ursilla, wife of Aaron Forman Died Ap. 4, 1768, aet. 63
Aaron Forman, son of Sam'l. & Mary, Died Jan. 13, 1741-2, aet 42.
Samuel Forman, Died Oct. 13, 1740, aet 77.
Samuel Stelle, son of Ambrose and Rebekah Stelle. Died Oct. 16, 1721, aet. 2 years, 4 mos , 18 days.
Denise, son of John and Elinor Forman. Died Nov. 18, 1761, aet. I. year 8 mos., 9 days
Mary, wife of Samuel Forman, died Mar. 18, 1728, aet. 61.
Eleanor Forman, daughter of John and Jane, died Oct. 18, 1730, aet. 3 years, and 7 mos.
Hannah Forman, daughter of John and Jane, died Sep. 30, 1730, aet. 15 mos.
Rebekah van Kleif, daughter of Samuel and Mary Forman, died Sep. 19, 1748, aet. 52.
Capt. John Forman, died Nov. 25, 1740, aet. 47 years, 2 mos., 2 days.
William Maddock, died Sep. 1, 1750, aet 59 years, 5 nios., 19 days.
Hannah, wife of William Maddock, died Jan. II, 1755, aet. 65 years, 18 days.
There are some other old plots about Freehold, but the stones in them have either no inscriptions or are mostly undecipherable
The oldest stone in the Tennent yard is of Aaron Mattison, son of John and Elizabeth, 1744.
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