USA > New York > Orange County > Montgomery > The Goodwill memorial, or, The first one hundred and fifty years of the Goodwill Presbyterian Church : Montgomery, Orange Co., N.Y. > Part 3
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t They obtained by purchase, at the price of one hundred and eighteen pounds, New York currency, or two hundred and ninety-five dollars, the parsonage farm; a good and profitable investment for this congregation, as it now produces a yearly income of considerably more than the whole original price. The land was deeded to the trustees of the congregation for their use July Ist, 1766 .- DR. MACLISK.
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season of activity and financial prosperity that is rarely equalled.
In his very brief notice of Mr. Moffat, Mr. Webster says, after refering to his settlement here: " Difficulties afterwards arose which led to his dismission and the formation of an Associate Church at Neelytown, which obtained, in 1765, the Rev. Robert Annan for its minister." And in his account of the Goodwill church in Eager's History of Orange County, the Rev. William Blain says of Mr. Moffat, that he "served them"-i.e. the Goodwill church-"for some years; but some difficulties arising, he was dismissed from his pastoral charge. After this a portion of the people withdrew and formed another congregation (probably Neelytown), under the ministry of the Rev. Robert Annan." In connection with the building of the meeting-house in 1765-Mr. Moffat being still pastor-some difficulties might naturally arise ; but there is a factor in difficulties belonging to this period and by no means peculiar to this field, which neither Mr. Webster nor Mr. Blain specifically notice in this connection.
Rightly to appreciate it we must again go back a little in history. When, in 1688, the revolution which ended the reign of the House of Stuart and placed William of Orange on the throne, had been effected in Great Britain ; a remnant of the " Covenanters," who had suffered such untold persecu- tions under the Stuarts, refused to acquiesce in the settlement
Adam Graham, who purchased the farm from James Smith the patentee and of whom but little more is known than the name, was thus connected with the Neelys and with John Young who came to America in the same ship with Charles Clinton. John Young's youngest daughter, Barbara, was married to Robert Neely, and their son Matthew married Isabella Graham, a sister of Adam.
Graham was manifestly a good friend of the church. As is indicated in the note on page 20, a church building was erected on his land in 1735. The deed for the land on which it stood was not executed to the trustees till six years later, November 9th, 1741. About this time Graham sold the farm to Jacobus Bruyn, who three years later sold it to John McIntosh. The farm then consisted of one hundred and fifty acres-an exact parallelogram of fifty-three by twenty-eight and a half chains-fifty acres of which is now embraced in the farm south of it. The deed of this sale carefully excepts and reserves "out of the said one hundred and fifty acres, the quantity of one acre and a half of land where the meeting-house stands on, as the same is now laid out for the said meeting-house and burying- yard by Cadwallader Colden, Jr." The farm, "or at least one hundred acres of it," had reverted to Graham, and by him was sold to the trustees of the church as above indicated.
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and stood aloof from the established church of Scotland. For sixteen years previous to 1707, during which they had no minister, "they worshipped socially in praying societies." In 1707 the Rev. John McMillan joined them from the estab- lished church, and for more than a third of a century he was their only minister till the accession of a Rev. Mr. Nairn, when, in 1743, the REFORMED PRESBYTERY was constituted.
THE ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH originated in a secession from the established church of Scotland in 1733. "The grounds of this secession," as stated by themselves, " were corruptions in the doctrines of the church and tyranny in the administration of her government." And just here it may be noted that an attempted union of the representations of these two bodies in America, resulted in the formation, in 1782, of a third body, called THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH .*
Members of both the Reformed Presbytery and the Asso- ciate Presbyterian Church were among the immigrants to the American colonies, and in many instances they maintained their separate fellowship among themselves, and wrote to their respective churches in Scotland to send them ministers. In response, the Rev. John Cuthbertson, representing the Reformed Presbytery, arrived " in the colony of Pennsylvania" in 1752, and the Rev. Messrs. Galletly and Arnot, represent- ing the Associate Presbyterian Church, in 1753. No one at all familiar with the genius of these separate and protesting churches in Scotland, will have any difficulty in understanding the attitude in which these men would place themselves toward the American Presbyterian Church, made up as it was of diverse elements as yet but partially assimilated. Among the Scotch and Scotch Irish, they could find adherents in almost every Presbyterian community ; nor did they fail to improve their opportunity. Their Presbyteries in Scotland could not furnish ministers for the numerous societies they formed. So great was the annoyance to the Presbyterian
* The Associate Presbyterian Church and the Associate Reformed Church have been merged in what is now called the UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
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churches that "early in September, 1753, Roan and Smith met in committee by appointment of New Castle Presbytery, and Finley and Davies, in conjunction with them, revised and corrected a draft of a warning or testimony, drawn up by John Blair, against several errors and evil practices of Cuth- bertson ; "* and the same Presbytery issued a warning against Galletly and Arnot, representing them as schismatics and errorists. Among "the people of Wallkill" these men, or others who joined them in a few years from Scotland, found a fruitful field for labor. Early in Mr. Moffat's ministry, or about 1753, Cuthbertson organized here one of his "praying societies." What the extent of it was we have no means of ascertaining. That it took with it some considerable strength may justly be inferred, for notwithstanding the great depletion that it suffered in 1782, in the attempted union of the Reformed Presbytery and the Associate church, it yet maintained its existence and formed the nucleus of the Reformed Presby- terian Church of Coldenham, in 1795. As to churches and pastors in other places, this must have been a trial to this church and its yet inexperienced pastor ; but the trial would be light compared with what transpired a few years later, to- wards the close of Mr. Moffat's ministry, through the agency of the Associate missionaries. There is nothing to mark the commencement of their labors here; but it was probably not earlier than 1761, when Mr. Robert Annan, a licentiate, who seems to have been a leading missionary to this region, arrived from Scotland. In that year the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania had but three ministerial members, including the Rev. John Mason of New York, who had just come. Before the expiration of ten years they had preaching stations at convenient distances throughout almost the entire territory that contributed to the membership of this church, from Little Britain on the east to Bloomingburgh on the west. In the fall of 1765, a little over an acre of land was purchased at Little Britain for a meeting-house and grave-yard. The deed recites that, "the said meeting-house or building hath been
* Mr. Webster.
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begun, and is to be erected and finished by the voluntary con- tributions of diverse well disposed persons," &c. The lan- guage clearly shows that there was yet no organized church -only a mission station-and it was some years before this building was completed.
Turning from this to Neelytown, we find that under date of January 10th, 1769, "William Eager, Jr." conveyed to " Thomas Beaty, James Wilkin, William Young, Thomas Eager and James McCob," " one half acre of land, be it more or less, upon which a meeting-house hath been begun, and is to be erected and finished by the voluntary contributions of diverse well disposed persons," &c. As in the case of Little Britain in 1765, there is here as yet no organized church- only a mission station .*
Passing by all that we have met with in print, in reference to this field and Mr. Annan's connection therewith, with its inaccurate and conflicting dates, there is aside from the deed of the land (for no early records of the Neelytown church
# The following extract from the deed of the Neelytown church property will perhaps give a better view of the position occupied by the early Associate church than can otherwise be obtained:
" Whereas, the tract of land hereinafter described hath been purchased with intention to erect a meeting-house thereupon, to be appropriated to divine service in the public worship of God, for the use of a Presbyterian minister and congre- gation in connection with the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, or with any other Presbytery in connection with the Associate Synod in Scotland to which that Presbytery is subordinate, adhering to the principles of the church of Scotland as they are exhibited in the Confession of Faith agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines, who met at Westminster, as a part of the covenant uniformity in religion betwixt the churches of Christ in the kingdom of Scotland, England and Ireland as approved by the General Assembly of the church of Scotland, in the year of our Lord 1647, and ratified and established by act of Parliament in the year 1649. and in the larger and shorter catechisms agreed upon by the said Assembly at Westminster, as a part of the said covenanted uniformity, and approved by the General Assembly of the church of Scotland in the year 1648, and in the directory for the public worship of God, agreed upon by the said Assembly at Westminster as a part of the said covenanted uniformity, and as approved by the General As- sembly of the church of Scotland, and ratified by act of Parliament in the year 1645, and in the form of Presbyterian church government and ordination of ministers, agreed upon by the said Assembly at Westminster as a part of the said covenanted uniformity and as approved by the General Assembly of the church of Scotland, in the year 1645. And, whereas, such purchase was made and the said building or meeting-house hath been begun, and is to be erected and finished by the voluntary contributions of diverse well-disposed persons, professing principles of religion and church government agreeable to the mode or system above men- tioned, and is intended for the use and purpose only of a minister and congrega- tion of that particular persuasion for ever. Now, therefore," &c.
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have been preserved), but one other source of authentic intor- mation, viz. : the records of "the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania." From these we glean the following :
August 31, 1762, Mr. Robert Annan was called to the exercise of the pastoral office in the congregation of Marsh Creek and Cunawago in Pennsylvania, and on the 8th of June, 1763, he was ordained and installed. April 15th, 1767, he was called to " the congregations of Little Britain and Wallkill." April 21st, 1768, the pastoral relation between him and the congregations of Marsh Creek and Cunawago was dissolved, and on the 2d of October, 1772, he was installed pastor " of the United Associate congregations of Little Britain and Wallkill."
This probably throws upon the field all the light we can have. We may justly conclude that from the spring of 1768, Mr. Annan labored here statedly ; that the Associate mission stations among " the people of the Wallkill" were styled the congregation of Wallkill, in 1767, and again in 1772, unless, in the latter instance, Wallkill and Neelytown are synony- mous, rather in anticipation of results than from what had yet been actually accomplished; that the difficulties in the Goodwill church, which led to the formation of the Neely- town church, culminated in connection with calling a successor to Mr. Moffat ; and finally, that this secession from the Good- will church actually occurred in 1769-the year of the build- ing of the Neelytown church and of the installation of Mr. Blair over Goodwill. This last finds confirmation in the fact that a revised list of the membership of the Goodwill church in 1770, shows the absence of the names of William Eager and others who had before belonged to its communion.
When Mr. Moffat's pastorate ceased we cannot tell. It was somewhere between 1765 and '69. Mr. Webster says that he " resided in the bounds of the New Castle Presbytery in 1773, without charge and without employment in the ministry. He lived at the close of his days at Little Britain, in Orange County, and engaged in teaching. DeWitt Clinton was one of his pupils. He died April 22d, 1788." From our own records we can only say, that on the Ioth of December, 1771, two days after the death of his successor in the pastoral office
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here, he was present among this people and administered the right of baptism. He also performed ministerial service here during parts of 1772.
It may not be amiss to notice in this connection, that the Neelytown church was removed to Campbell Hall in 1831 and '32, and that the Presbyterian church of Hamptonburgh is its legal successor, and that both it and the Little Britain church became Associate Reformed in 1782, and that both, through change of church connection again, are to-day in the same Presbyterian Synod with the Goodwill church. How far this reflects on the founders of these churches, or to what extent these clingings to and anchorages in the great refor- mation work in Scotland, have been a part of the divine plan in the development of his kingdom here, no one may dare to say. But the strifes engendered in culling from the Presby- terian churches the elements that went to form or strengthen the Reformed Presbyterian and the Associate churches, in their earlier days, must have been far from pleasant or profit- able. . And while Mr. Moffat had a good measure of success in his work, he had his full share of trials with it .*
On the 19th of May, 1769, the Rev. John Blair wasinstalled as Mr. Moffat's successor. His pastorate was not a lengthy one, but it was no doubt a season of noble pulpit ministrations and earnest parochial care and effort on the one hand, and of great spiritual refreshing and growth on the other. And then his early death-when he might have anticipated for himself, and his people for him, years of his best service-must have led their minds to the " sweet fields beyond the swelling tide."
* Mr. Webster says Mr. Moffat was probably from Scotland. I am of the opinion that he was probably from Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parents, and for the following reasons: Dr. Moffat, of Moffat's Pills celebrity, was a grandson of the Rev. John Moffat. In the summer of 1858, he called on me for the purpose of obtaining whatever information the church records might afford regarding his ancestor. Among other things, I submitted to his inspection Mr. Webster's account of him. He demurred to the probability that he came to this country from Scotland, and stated that he had always understood him to have come from the North of Ireland. Family traditions are usually correct in matters of this kind .- DR. MACLISE.
This is correct. The Moffats were from Ballehag, County Antrim, Ireland. "
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He taught them how to live and how to die. The record of his decease suggests the somewhat familiar stanzas :
" Go to the grave in all thy glorious prime, In full activity of zeal and power; Thou art not called away before thy time- The Lord's appointment is the servant's hour.
" Go to thy grave; at noon from labor cease; Rest on thy sheaves, thy harvest task is done; Come from the heat of battle, and in peace, Soldier, go home ; with thee the fight is won."
" John Blair was born in Ireland, in the year 1720. He was a younger brother of Rev. Samuel Blair, " one of the greatest ights of his day," and, like him, was an alumnus of the Log College at Neshaminy, and a pupil of the elder William Ten- nent. He was licensed to preach by the New Side Presby- tery of New Castle, and was ordained December 21st, 1742, pastor of Middle Spring, Rocky Spring, and Big Spring, in Cumberland county, Pa. During his ministry there he made two visits to Virginia, the last in 1746, preaching with great power in various places, organizing several new congrega- tions, and leaving an enduring impression of his piety and elo- quence." The Presbyterian ministers who preceded him had excited the alarm of the Episcopal authorities; and this " alarm was greatly increased by the preaching of Mr. Blair, whose amiable deportment, genteel manners, and classical language, united with gravity of manners, forbade the idea of attaching either vulgarity or disorder to the religion he pro- fessed and taught." On this account "no violence or insult was offered him during his short stay." "His preaching was imposing, and the effects encouraging." " His hearers, agi- tated beyond control, poured forth tears and sighs, and often broke out into loud crying." A Mr. Morris told Samuel Davies, " truly he came to us in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. Former impressions were ripened and new ones made in many hearts. One night in particular, a whole house full of people was quite overcome by the power of the Word, particularly of one pungent sentence ; and they
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could hardly sit or stand, or keep their passions under any proper restraint." "Exposed as he was, in the frontier settle- ments, where he was located, to the hostile incursions of the Indians, he found it necessary to resign his charge and retreat to a more populous and civilized part of the colony. From the time of his resignation, on the 28th of December, 1748, he seems to have remained without a settlement till 1757, when he accepted a call from the church of Fagg's Manor, Pa., rendered vacant by the death of his eminent brother Samuel. At Fagg's Manor he continued for nearly ten years, and suc- ceeded his brother, not only as pastor of the church, but as principal of the school which his brother had established ; and in the latter capacity he assisted in the preparation of many young men for the ministry. As the College of New Jersey was originally founded for the special purpose of training young men for the ministry, the classical and theological schools of both Neshaminy and Nottingham were discon- tinued after the College at Princeton went into operation. In 1767, shortly after the death of the President of the Col- lege, Rev. Dr. Finlay, a sum of money having been bequeathed for the support of the Professor of Theology in Nassau Hall, Mr. Blair was elected to that professorship. He accepted the appointment and removed to Princeton. He was also appointed Vice-President of the College, and was its acting President until Rev. John Witherspoon, D.D., who had been previously appointed, arrived from Scotland, and entered on the duties of the office.
As the fund left for the purpose was found inadequate for the support of a Theological Professor, and as Dr. Wither- spoon was both able and willing to perform its duties, in con- nection with those of the Presidency, it was deemed inexpedient that a distinct professorship of Theology should be continued. Mr. Blair therefore resigned his office as Professor and Vice- President in 1769, and at once accepted a call from this church, and was installed on the 19th of May of that year ; and here he continued until his death.
Mr. Blair was not only a preacher of great eloquence and
3
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power, but an author of no mean ability. During the excite- ment arising out of the question concerning the examination of candidates on their experiences of saving grace, one of the old side published " Thoughts on the Examination and Trials of Candidates." On this pamphlet Mr. Blair published "Ani- madversions," dated at Fagg's Manor, August 27th, 1766. He also published a reply to Rev. Samuel Harker's "Appeal to the Christian World," entitled " The Synod of New York and Philadelphia Vindicated." He left behind him a treatise on Regeneration, which is both orthodox and ably written; it was published soon after his death, with the title, " A Treatise on the Nature, Use, and Subjects of the Sacraments; on Re- generation ; and on the Nature and Use of the Means of Grace." The preface is dated " Goodwill, alias Walkill, De- cember 21st, 1770." It was reprinted by Dr. James P. Wilson, in his collection of Sacramental Treatises. One of his posi- tions in that work we cannot, however, indorse. It is that officers of the church have no more right or authority to de. bar those who desire to partake of the sacraments from doing so, than they nave to exclude them from any other part of the worship of God. In addition to the above works mentioned by Mr. Webster, I may state that I find in an old session-book, in Mr. Blair's handwriting, a series of questions on the Shorter Catechism, which, it is stated, were read to the congregation, to be answered by them in writing, and which have appended to them, in another hand, this note: "December 8th, 1771. Departed our worthy pastor, the Rev. Mr. John Blair, which has put a stop at present to the above work." Those ques- tions are eminently suggestive and judicious, and had he lived to complete the series, it would have been a valuable aid to pastors in training their people in the truths of our most holy religion. But, unfortunately, he had advanced only to the 22d question of that most admirable compend of Christian doctrine, when the work was arrested by the hand of death.
The following testimony, regarding the character and ability of Mr. Blair, is by an anonymous writer in the Assembly's Magazine : " Mr. Blair was a judicious and persuasive preacher,
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and through his exertions sinners were converted and the children of God edified. Fully convinced of the truth of the doctrines of grace, he addressed immortal souls with that warmth and power which left a witness in every bosom."
Though he sometimes wrote his sermons in full, yet his common mode of preaching was by short notes, comprising the general outlines. His labors were too abundant to admit of more ; and no more was necessary to a mind so richly stored with the great truths of religion. For his large family he amassed no fortune, but he left them what was infinitely bet- ter, a religious education, a holy example, and prayers which have been remarkably answered. His disposition was un- commonly patient, placid, benevolent, disinterested and cheer- ful. He was too mild to indulge bitterness or severity ; and he thought that the truth required little but to be fairly stated and properly understood.
Those who could not relish the savor of his piety loved him as an amiable, and revered him as a great man. Though no bigot he firmly believed that the Presbyterian form of govern- ment is most scriptural and the most favorable to religion and happiness. In his last sickness, he imparted his advice to the congregation, and represented to his family the necessity of an interest in Christ. A few hours before he died, he said, --- " Directly I am going to glory ; my Master calls me, I must be gone."
Dr. Alexander expresses the opinion that Mr. Blair, " as a theologian, was not inferior to any man in the Presbyterian church in his day."
President Samuel Davis said of him in his elegy on his brother, Samuel Blair :
" When all-attentive, eager to admit The flowing knowledge, at his reverend feet
Raptured we sat, O thou above the rest, Brother and image of the dear deceased, Surviving Blair ! oh ! let spontaneous flow
The floods of tributary grief you owe."
He married the daughter of John Darborrow, Esq., of Phil-
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adelphia. Rev. John Darborrow Blair, of Richmond, Va., was his son; another son, William, who graduated at Prince- ton, became a lawyer and settled in Kentucky. I have heard it stated on what appeared good authority, that the noted Blair family, of which Postmaster-General was a member, are his descendants, but I do not vouch for the accuracy of the statement .* His daughter Rebecca became the wife of the Rev. Dr. William Lynn, of the Reformed Dutch Church, in the city of New York.
The following is the inscription on the tombstone placed over his remains by the congregation, in the grave-yard be- hind this building, close by his predecessor, the first pastor of this church :
" Here lie interred the remains of the Rev. Mr. John Blair, A. M., Who departed this life December 8th, 1771, In the 52d year of his Age. He was a Gentleman of a masterly Genius, A good Scholar, an excellent Divine, A very judicious, instructive and Solemn Preacher, A laborious and successful Minister of Christ, An eminent Christian,
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