USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > A discourse delivered in the Leacock Presbyterian Church, Lancaster County, Pa., on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1854 > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
A DISCOURSE:
6. -
DELIVERED IN THE
LEACOCK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA.,
ON THANKSGIVING DAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1854.
IN WHICH IS SKETCHED A HISTORY OF THAT CHURCH AND CONGREGATION FROM 1741 TO THE PRESENT TIME.
BY THE
REV. P. J. TIMLOW, PASTOR.
PHILADELPHIA : JOSEPH M. WILSON, SOUTHWEST CORNER OF NINTH AND ARCH STREETS. 1855.
THIS SKETCH IS DEDICATED TO THE
PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
CORRESPONDENCE.
December 4th, 1854.
REV. P. J. TIMLOW :-
DEAR SIR :- The undersigned, members of the "Leacock Presbyterian Con- gregation," having listened to the sermon preached by you at Leacock Church, on the 23d of November last (Thanksgiving Day), with deepfelt interest, and as it comprises the history of said congregation from its first organization to the present time, and being desirous to perpetuate said history in some sub- stantial form, for our own benefit and for future reference, we would most respectfully request from you a copy for publication.
For the interesting manner in which the sermon was presented to us, and being aware of the difficulties and inconvenience to which you have been sub- jected in collecting, in a connected form, said history, we avail ourselves of this opportunity to express to you our warmest thanks for your services.
N. W. SAMPLE, JOHN SLAYMAKER, SEN.,
THOS. S. WOODS, GEO. D. M'ILVAINE,
HENRY ECKERT,
GEO. L. ECKERT,
JAMES P. M'ILVAINE,
JOHN C. LEFEVRE,
JOSEPH S. LEFEVRE,
NATH'L E. SLAYMAKER,
JOHN G. OFFNER,
PHILIP FOSTER, HENRY LEAMAN,
WM. M. SLAYMAKER, PETER J. ECKERT,
BENJAMIN PHENEGER,
ROBERT S. M'ILVAINE, JON'N LEIDIGH, H. FREELAND.
BELLEVUE, December 14th, 1854.
GENTLEMEN :-
The Sermon you have requested for publication is submitted to your dis- posal. I prepared it with no thought of publication, and only yield to your kind solicitation, for the reasons assigned,-that it may assist in perpetuating the history of the Church, and for future reference.
Sincerely yours, , P. J. TIMLOW.
To Messrs. N. W. SAMPLE, JOHN SLAYMAKER, SEN., THOS. S. WOODS, and others.
DISCOURSE.
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy .- PSALM 137 : 5, 6.
THIS is the language of strong, deep, abiding attachment for a loved and never-to-be-forgotten land, and city, and home, and church, and privileges.
Judea was at this time desolate. Jerusalem was in ruins. The temple, the holy and beautiful house where the " fathers" had praised the Lord, was " burned up with fire ;" the inhabitants were exiles in a heathen land, and all their "pleasant things" were laid waste.
But long years of captivity and oppression and suffering could not quench the deep yearnings, the earnest longings of their hearts after their former home and worship.
They prayed with their faces toward Jerusalem. They wept when they " remembered Zion." Her ruins and dust were pre- cious in their eyes, and their countenances were sad whenever they thought of the city, "the place of their fathers' sepul- chres."
The pious Jew could never forget Jerusalem. " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." Jeru- salem, made over by solemn covenant to Israel, the place to which all the tribes repaired thrice a year for the worship of the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel-Jerusalem, with its glo- rious temple, and altar of sacrifices, and Shekinah, and cherubims, and mercy-seat, from off which God communed with men-Jeru- salem, with its sanctuary, out of which God sent help ; its Zion, out of which he sent strength, and from which went forth his
6
law-so beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth ;- Jerusalem, the place where prophets and holy men stood and prophesied and worshipped !- Forget thee! No, never ! If I cease to remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
And if God did great things for his chosen Israel, he has done greater things for us ; and if they, in the deep emotions of their hearts, when Jerusalem was a desolation, and God in judgment was frowning on the land, would not and could not forget her, with deeper emotions of love and gratitude should we exclaim, as we look over our American land and our American Jerusalem, especially, and view what God has done for her and is even now doing for her : "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."
We shall not, however, on the present occasion, advert to what God has done for us as a nation and people. We shall not stop to enumerate the reasons for Thanksgiving and Praise which we as a state are called upon this day publicly to acknowledge, by the recommendation of its Chief Magistrate.
We purpose to narrow down the field of remark to the little enclosure where God, in his providence, has cast our lot ; to trace back, to the very commencement, the history of this church; to gather up the memorials of the past, so rapidly passing away, that we may see whether these do not furnish additional cause for grateful remembrance and grateful thanksgiving.
With this object in view, we shall, in the first place, present in a connected form all the materials that we have been able to col- lect, bearing upon the history of this church; and, in the second place, we shall glance at some of the reasons, suggested by this history, why we should not forget this our Jerusalem.
I. It is well known that this whole land was settled by emi- gration from different parts of Europe, composed mainly of those . who were driven from their homes by persecuting governments, and forced to seek an asylum and home in what was then a wil- derness, the abode of savage men and savage beasts.
They preferred exile, and a wilderness, and suffering, and the
7
loss of all things, to the subjection of their conscience to a faith not authorized, as they believed, by the word of God.
They were of different countries, and languages, and names, and creeds, but they all sought the same thing,-a place where they could worship God, in the way that they thought right and best, unmolested and without fear.
On the restoration of Charles II., 1660, the Presbyterians of Scotland and Ireland were persecuted with great violence, and multitudes fled to this land, and took refuge in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and some of the Southern States. The proprietors of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey, made ample provision for securing the rights of conscience, and the consequence was, that the first churches established in this country, under Presbyterian organization, were situated in these provinces.
In relation to Pennsylvania, religious liberty was secured by the following enactment: "That all persons living in this pro- vince, who confess and acknowledge one Almighty God to be the creator, upholder, and ruler of the world, and that hold them- selves obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall in no ways be molested or prejudiced for their religious persuasion or practice in matters of faith and worship, nor shall they be compelled at any time to frequent or maintain any religious worship, place, or ministry whatever."
In consequence of this liberal provision, settlements began early and rapidly to be formed in different parts of the state. The first Presbyterian church in this country was organized in Philadelphia, about 1698, 156 years ago. The first presbytery, called the Presbytery of Philadelphia, was organized in 1705, and consisted of seven members.
In 1717, this presbytery, numbering seventeen members, was divided into four, viz., Philadelphia, Newcastle, Long Island, and Snowhill, and these constituted the first synod, called the Synod of Philadelphia. The Presbytery of Snowhill never met, and most of its members became attached to Newcastle.
About this time the valley of the Pequa, including the terri- tory now covered by the congregations of Leacock and Pequa, began to be settled by emigrants from the north of Ireland,
8
and still earlier, in what is now the southern part of Leacock, by a colony of French Huguenots, who, on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in the year 1685, fled to the Palatinate, in Ger- many, and twenty years after, in consequence of the French ir- ruption into the Palatinate, fled to this country, and a part of the colony settled in Lancaster County, on a tract of land, most of which is still in possession of their descendants, some of whom now compose a part of Leacock church and congregation. The emigration from Germany commenced about the same time, and the descendants of these are to-day worshippers in this sanctuary.
The first Presbyterian preacher who visited this region of country, was Rev. David Evans, a native of Wales, ordained by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, 1714, and placed over a con- gregation on the Welsh Tract. By the division of the Presby- tery of Philadelphia, he became a member of Newcastle Pres- bytery ; and in the year 1720-134 years ago-he was sent by that presbytery to the region now called Octorara, Forks of Brandywine, and Conestoga, extending to Donegal and even be- yond.
The whole territory thus included, was doubtless missionary ground ; and Mr. Evans preached in various places, in the dif- ferent settlements then formed. Mr. Evans accepted a call to Green Valley, giving one-fourth of his time to Octorara. He died, 1751.
July, 1724, the Presbytery of Newcastle sent Mr. Adam Boyd to Newcastle, Upper Octorara, and Conestoga. At the same time he was commissioned to collect a congregation at Pequa, and take the preliminary steps towards its organization. After this, he performed the same duty at Leacock. Septem- ber 14th, 1724, he was called to Octorara and Pequa. The com- missioners to prosecute the call were Arthur Park and Corne- lius Rowan.
He accepted the call, October 6th, and was ordained at Octo- rara, October 13th. The members of presbytery present on the occasion, were Thomas Craighead, of Whiteclay Creek; George Gillespie, of Head of Christiana ; Henry Hook, of Draw- yers ; Thomas Evans, of Poncader, and Alexander Hutcheson, of Bohemia, with his elder, Dr. Peter Bouchelle. His territory
9
covered Forks of Brandywine, Middle Octorara, Leacock, and Pequa ; and he devoted one-sixth of his time to Donegal. Do- negal he gave up in 1727; and Middle Octorara, in 1729. In 1731, Pequa obtained one-sixth of his time.
The territory now included in the congregation of Leacock, was at that time a part of Pequa, and called the West End. The regular place of preaching was at Pequa, with occasional preaching at the West End. There was at that time no public highway between the West End and Pequa, and that portion of the congregation residing at the West End performed the jour- ney to Pequa each Sabbath on horseback, and by what were called bridle-paths, and through an almost unbroken forest.
The Rev. Adam Boyd came from Ballymena, County of Antrim, Ireland ; first to New England, where he became ac- quainted with Rev. Cotton Mather, from whom he brought a commendatory letter, as well as credentials from Ireland, to the Newcastle Presbytery, into which he was received, as before stated, 1724. He was an indefatigable and faithful,pastor of Oc- torara, Pequa, and Forks of Brandywine. Rev. Andrew Boyd Cross, of Baltimore, is one of his descendants. He died, 1768.
Up to this time, Pequa and Leacock were within the bounds of Newcastle Presbytery. At a meeting of the Synod of Philadel- phia, 1732, a new presbytery was erected in the County of Lan- caster, and called the Presbytery of Donegal. Lancaster County, at that time, embraced a much larger extent of territory than at present. The members composing the presbytery, as first erected by synod, were Rev. Robert Orr; Rev. James Anderson, of Do- negal; Rev. John Thompson, of Chestnut Level; Rev. Adam Boyd, of Octorara and Pequa; and Rev. Wm. Bertram, of Derry and Paxton.
In the year 1729, near six thousand emigrants, from the north of Ireland, arrived in this state, and for many years after, the annual arrivals were near twelve thousand. A large number of these settled in Lancaster and Chester Counties, and in coun- ties still farther west. Pequa, and the immediate vicinity of this church, were settled mainly by this class of persons.
Sept. 5th, 1733, Rev. Thomas Craighead was called to Pequa. Patrick Moor was the commissioner from the church. He ac-
10
cepted the call September 19th, and he was installed January 5th, 1734. Rev. James Anderson, of Donegal, preached on the occasion. The pastoral relation was dissolved, September 14th, 1736.
Rev. Mr. Craighead was originally from Scotland. He was educated for a physician, but subsequently studied divinity, and went to Ireland; where Rev. Adam Boyd married his daughter. He afterwards removed with his family to this country, and resided for a time in New England, where he stood high in the esteem of Cotton Mather, and all who knew him.
He is represented as a man of singular piety and a very faith- ful preacher. " He collected, organized, and built up seven of the Presbyterian churches of Lancaster County, besides securing the building of their houses of worship. He used, whenever a new preacher from Ireland or Scotland came over through his influence, or one who seemed qualified for his work, to give him the congregation he had collected, and go to some other part and collect another." He had two sons ministers, one of whom was settled at Whiteclay Creek, and the other, the Rev. Alexan- der Craighead, settled at Middle Octorara, and afterwards in Virginia and North Carolina.
November 10th, 1736, 118 years ago, Mr. David Alexander, a probationer of Newcastle Presbytery, was sent to Pequa; that church, through its commissioner, Mr. Alexander Davidson, having petitioned for him. June 29th, 1737, he was again asked for by the congregation of Pequa. At that meeting of presbytery, the West End of Leacock presented a petition, asking leave to build a house of worship for themselves.
Nothing, however, was done at that meeting ; but, August 31st, Mr. Boyd was directed to convene the people on a work- day, in order to have a call made for Mr. Alexander. It was made out in October, but Leacock persisting in having a sepa- rate organization, it was laid over. Mr. Alexander accepted the call, April 11th, 1738, having been promised his " lodgings for a year."
As Leacock failed to get the permission of presbytery for a separate organization, they petitioned synod for relief in the matter. By referring to the records of synod, May 26th, 1738, we find the following minute :-
11
"A supplication from a part of the congregation of Pequa was read, desiring either to have some part of the labors of Mr. David Alexander, till they be judged by the Presbytery of Donegal to have sufficient ability to support the gospel themselves, or to be erected into a congregation and having supplies granted them. Their affair was deferred till another year ; which we hope will have a happy tendency to bring things to a good issue, and till then they are to acquiesce in the determination of their presby- tery, which was approved by a great majority."
The next year Leacock again brought the matter before synod. In the records of synod, May 24th, 1739, there is the following minute: " A supplication of the people of Leacock was brought in, and after much discourse upon the affair, the synod appointed a committee, to meet upon the place, and to view the circum- stances of the two contending congregations, and finally deter- mine the controversy : the committee of six to meet in Pequa, the second Wednesday of October next." The committee to visit the ground failed, only two of the number being present.
In the meantime, the congregation took the matter in their own hands, and without the consent of presbytery, or wait- ing for the final action of synod, erected a church building, on the site of the present one, which remained until the erection of this house of worship. The building was constructed of logs.
The next year the matter was again before synod. "May 28th, 1740, the affair of Leacock was resumed: Whereas a matter of controversy between the people of Leacock and Pequa was appointed last synod to be determined by a committee, which by order of synod were to meet upon the place, and all the members, except two that were appointed, for reasons now given and sustained, failed of attending on said affair, so that nothing was done in it, and the people of Leacock, yet thinking themselves aggrieved by the judgment of the Presbytery of Donegal, they now moved the synod to judge in that affair ; and after reading some papers and hearing all that was offered in the matter, the synod unanimously judge as follows : That inasmuch as Leacock is a congregation, by allowance of their own pres- bytery, and the meeting-house erected and complained of is at as great a distance from those of Pequa as can conveniently accom-
12
modate them of Leacock ; that, therefore, the new erection of Lea- cock shall stand, and said congregation be entitled to supplies to said meeting-house, from Donegal Presbytery equal to other va- cancies within their bounds." And thus was settled this vexed question, and the next year, 1741, the church was regularly or- ganized.
The ground of opposition on the part of Pequa to the erection of Leacock into a separate congregation, is adverted to in the report of presbytery, after a full hearing of the commissioners from Leacock in favor of, and those from Pequa in opposition to the new erection ; when "presbytery entered on consideration of the matter, and came to the unanimous conclusion, that all within the bounds of five miles, in a straight line from the pre- sent meeting-house, shall be obliged to adhere to it ; and, conse- quently, that we cannot allow another meeting-house within less than ten miles of said meeting-house, lest it should prove detri- mental to that congregation."
The " supplication from the West End of Pequa congregation," was "for liberty to erect a meeting-house at seven miles distance from the old one." By the recommendation of presbytery, the two congregations made choice of "two indifferent men to be chain- carriers in measuring said distance of ten miles." "The con- gregations of Pequa and Leacock have surveyed the ten miles, according to the appointment of the presbytery before last, and have agreed that said ten miles is about a mile beyond the Smith's, where they have consentably marked trees as the end of said ten miles." Pequa complained to presbytery, that the peo- ple of Leacock permitted their supplics to preach within the pre- scribed limits. The presbytery, having heard some complaints against the people of Leacock having their supplies within the bounds of the aforesaid ten miles, after much discourse and rea- soning about it, it was carried by a majority of votes, that con- sidering the meeting of synod is now near, before whom the determination of that affair lies, they shall be allowed to meet as formerly till then. The synod took up the subject and dis- posed of it in the manner already considered, and Leacock, without waiting for its final action, built their meeting-house within seven miles of Pequa. The land on which this "meet-
13
ing-house" was built was purchased from Mr. John Verner. The deed of conveyance was "made the ninth day of Feb- ruary, 1741, between John Verner, of the township of Lea- cock, county of Lancaster, and Martha his wife, to George Brown, John Cooper, Wm. M'Causland, and John Rees, of the same place, trustees nominated and chose by and for the congre- gation of the Presbyterians of Leacock."
The lot of ground thus conveyed contained "one acre and fifty-seven perches, besides the allowance for the provincial road, if the same be laid open," to be held by said trustees, "provided they continued in community and membership, and joined with the society of the Presbyterians that hold to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Directory." The sum paid for the land, was " five shillings, current money of said province of Penn- sylvania.”
The lot was taken from a tract of land of 310 acres, pur- chased, about the same time, from Mr. Thomas Penn, Esq., son of Wm. Penn, by John Verner. Mr. Verner, who came from the north of Ireland, resided on this land until the year 1754, when he died, leaving seven children,-four sons and three daugh- ters. The land was left to two of the sons, Benjamin and John. John, the grandfather of Rev. C. D. Cooper, rector of St. Philip's (Episcopal) Church, Philadelphia, died in Albany, 1828. Ben- jamin resided on the paternal estate until the time of his death. He died November 22, 1831, aged ninety-two years, and lies in the graveyard connected with this church.
The homestead and part of the land owned by Benjamin Ver- ner, is now in possession of Mr. Eli Fisher, lying to the north of the church, and bounded on the south by the highway, which separates it from the church grounds. The eldest daughter of Mr. John Verner, Elizabeth, married Mr. Robert Henry, of Al- bany, in 1760; the father of John Verner Henry, Attorney- General of New York, and an eminent lawyer, who died in 1829 ; and of Robert R. Henry, a merchant, in Albany, and for many years collector of the port of St. Mary's, Georgia. Rev. James V. Henry, formerly of Bedford, New York, is a grandson of Mr. R. Henry.
The second daughter, Mary, married Mr. Douglass, and the youngest daughter, Harriet, married Mr. Robert Clinch, of
14
Schenectady. For many of the facts thus adverted to, I am in- debted to the kindness of Rev. Richard Webster, of Mauch Chunk.
In the same year that this church was organized (1741), oc- curred the great schism or division in the Presbyterian Church, which lasted until 1758, seventeen years. This division was not the result of any difference in doctrine, but of opinion as to cer- tain measures connected with the great revival of 1740, which extended from Massachusetts to Georgia, and in which Whitfield, Gilbert Tennent, and others, were prominent actors. On the subject of this great revival, the ministers of the Synod of Phi- ladelphia were divided. The friends of Mr. Whitfield and the revival regarded all who opposed it as setting themselves in op- position to the glorious work of grace, and as enemies of God, and uncharitably condemned them as unconverted men. The opposers of the revival, on the other hand, censured the kind of preaching adopted by its friends, and the measures employed for promoting it. They were also offended at the harsh and un- charitable spirit with which they were denounced and misre- presented by the preachers on the other side.
The Synod of Philadelphia passed two acts, the one relating to itinerant preaching, and the other, to the examination of can- didates, by a committee of synod ; which were, perhaps, the im- mediate cause of the division. The Presbytery of New Bruns- wick, composed of the Tennents and their friends, the friends of Whitfield and the revival, openly set at defiance these two acts of synod. They refused to consent that their candidates should be examined by the committee of synod; and they persisted in sending their members to preach within the bounds of other con- gregations connected with the synod, without the consent of the pastors. The result was, that when the synod met in 1741, the Presbytery of New Brunswick was excluded from it, without form or trial.
The Presbytery of New York labored for some years to effect a reunion, but failing in that, that Presbytery withdrew from the synod, and, in 1745, united with the Presbytery of New Brunswick. The division was then complete. The Presbyteries of Donegal and Newcastle remained with the Synod of Phila- delphia, which was called the Old Side synod. But there were
15
some ministers and churches connected with the Presbyteries of Donegal and Newcastle, that sympathized with the Presbytery of New Brunswick, and these were formed into a new presby- tery, called the Presbytery of Newcastle; so that there were two Presbyteries of Newcastle, during the division. These three presbyteries, New York, New Brunswick, and Newcastle 2d, were constituted into a new synod, called the Synod of New York, and known as the New Side synod, which first met Septem- ber 19th, 1745. Pequa and Leacock joined the New Side, and separated from the Presbytery of Donegal, and joined New- castle 2d, as did also their pastor, Rev. Mr. Alexander, "who warmly espoused the New Side, protested against the synod's deci- sion in relation to candidates, set at naught their rule about in- trusion, and finally, December 29th, 1740, he was suspended, for despising the authority lodged by Christ in his judicatories. He, however, sat in synod, in May, 1741, and withdrew on the exclusion of the Brunswick brethren ; and in August, 1742, was sent to the Great Valley, on account of the great necessity there. Subsequently he is not mentioned."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.