USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Churches of the valley, or, An historical sketch of the old Presbyterian congregations of Cumberland and Franklin counties, in Pennsylvania > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > Franklin County > Churches of the valley, or, An historical sketch of the old Presbyterian congregations of Cumberland and Franklin counties, in Pennsylvania > Part 2
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"' In consequence of the persecutions of 1679,1682, and 1685, crowds of voluntary exiles sought an asylum in East New Jersey, Carolina, and Maryland. The North of Ireland shared in the general drain. The arbitrary measures pursued by James II., together with apprehensions of a general massacre by the Pa- pists, emboldened as they were by the undisguised partiality of the king, caused such multitudes de- spairing of safety, to fly to foreign climes, that trade declined, and the revenue languished. Successive emigrations from the North of Ireland continued to pour into Pennsylvania in such numbers that by the year 1705, there were sufficient Presbyterian churches in that province, in conjunction with those of the provinces contiguous, to constitute a presbytery, and a few years later (1717), a synod."
2*
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CHURCHES OF THE VALLEY.
Prominent among these "voluntary exiles," were the Huguenots, or French Protestants. The perse- cutions to which they were exposed during the reign of Louis XIV., consummated by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, drove hundreds of thousands of those unhappy people from their native country. Though the frontiers were vigilantly guarded, upwards of five hundred thousand of them made their escape. They fled to Switzerland, Germany, Holland, and England, and large numbers of them came to this country. It is true that their principal location here, was in the Southern States, yet scattered emigrants fixed themselves in greater or less numbers, in the provinces of Pennsylvania and Maryland.
" The Welsh, also, from their numbers, deserve particular notice. The principal settlement of them at an early period, was upon the left bank of the Schuylkill. They there occupied three townships, and in a few years their numbers so increased that they obtained three additional townships."
Nor must the German settlers in Pennsylvania, by any means be overlooked in this enumeration. Their emigration commenced as early as 1682 or 1683, and very rapidly increased. From 1730 to 1740, about sixty-five vessels, well filled with Germans, arrived at Philadelphia, bringing with them ministers of the Gospel and schoolmasters, to instruct their children. From 1740 to 1755, upwards of one hundred vessels arrived, which were filled with emigrants of the same nation, and in some of which, though small, there
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INTRODUCTION.
were between five and six hundred passengers. With regard to the Germans in Pennsylvania, Mr. Andrews, in a letter dated October 14, 1730, says, " There is, besides, in this province a vast number of Palatines, and they come in still every year. Those that have come of late are mostly Presbyterian, or as they call themselves, Reformed ; the Palatinate being about three-fifths of that sort of people." "There are many Lutherans and some Reformed, mixed among them. In other parts of the country, they are chiefly Reformed, so that I suppose the Presbyterian party are as numerous as the Quakers, or near it."
Such, then, were the materials, out of which the Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania was formed. The English Puritans, many of whom, with an adven- turous spirit, left their home in New England, and lo- cated in this province "were all Calvinists, and many of them Presbyterians. The Dutch were Calvinists and Presbyterians ; a moiety at least of the Germans were of the same class. All the French Protestants were Calvinists and Presbyterians ; and so, of course, were the Scotch and Irish. Of these several classes, the Dutch and Germans formed distinct ecclesiastical organizations, and subsist as such to the present time. In a multitude of cases, however, their descen- dants mingled with the descendants of other Presby- terians, and have entered largely into the materials of which our church is composed."
" As they merged their diversities of national cha- racter into that of American citizens," adds Dr.
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CHURCHES OF THE VALLEY.
Hodge,* "so the Scotch, Irish, French, English, Dutch, and German Presbyterians became united, in thousands of instances, in the American Presbyterian Church. Having the same views of civil government, our population, so diversified as to its origin, forms a harmonious civil society, and agreeing in opinion on the government of the church, the various classes above specified formed a religious society, in which the difference of their origin was as little regarded as it was in the state."
So far as is now known, the first Presbyterian Church that was organized and furnished with a place of worship in the American Colonies, was in the city of Philadelphia. This took place about the year 1703. The next year a Presbytery was formed, under the title of the Presbytery of Philadelphia.
As early as 1716, the Presbyterian body had so far increased, that a Synod was constituted, com- prising four Presbyteries. These Presbyteries bore the following titles :- 1. The Presbytery of Phila- delphia. 2. The Presbytery of New Castle. 3. The Presbytery of Snow-Hill. 4. The Presbytery of Long Island.
"After the formation of the Synod, in 1716, the body went on increasing, receiving additions, not only by emigrants from Scotland and Ireland, but also from natives of England and Wales, who came to the Middle Colonies, and were thrown by cir-
* History of the Presbyterian Church, Part I., p. 69.
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INTRODUCTION.
cumstances in the neighbourhood of Presbyterian churches, and also from natives, or their descendants, of France, Holland, and Switzerland, who preferred the Presbyterian form of worship or government. To these may be added a number from New England, who were 'induced by local considerations, or other circumstances, to connect themselves with the Pres- byterian body."*
Up to the year 1732, at which time there were about fifteen or sixteen Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania, the "Presbytery of New Castle" seems to have covered all the territory reaching to the Susquehanna. In September of that year the Pres- bytery of Donegal was organized, and to it the juris- diction over this portion of the State was committed.
As is generally known, the limits of Lancaster, one of the first three counties organized in the pro- vince, were then so comprehensive as to embrace all the territory west and north of Chester County, be- tween the Schuylkill, north of the boundary line of Chester, and the Susquehanna, and all west of the Susquehanna.
About a year or two before the erection of the Presbytery of Donegal, it was, that the first visits of the white man, with a view to residence, were made to the deep, dark forests which stretched be- yond the river just named, and which abounded with
* Dr. Miller's article on "Pres. Ch. in United States," Ency. Relig. Know.
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CHURCHES OF THE VALLEY.
beasts of prey, and, to some extent, as the sequel proved, with still more savage men.
In 1730-1, some Irish and Scotch adventurers crossed the Susquehanna at Peixtan, Peshtank, or Paxton, and commenced settlements in the "Kit- tochtinny Valley," or "North Valley," at Falling Springs, and other places, till they extended from the "Long, Crooked River" to the Maryland pro- vince ; about the year 1736.
As the lands west of the Susquehanna were not purchased by the Proprietary of Pennsylvania from the Indians before October, 1736, the Land Office was not open for the sale of them under existing laws, and the settlements, made on such lands before this purchase, were by special license to individuals from Samuel Blunston, or other proprietary agents, and were of limited number. After the office was open, however, for the unrestricted sale of lands on the waters of the Conodoguinett and Conococheague, at the close of 1736, the applications and grants for the district then multiplied; and the influx of settlers from Lancaster County, Ireland, and Scotland, was great, in the succeeding two or three years, nearly all of whom were Presbyterians.
Thus, by energy and intrepidity, which cannot be looked for except among men who have been schooled by difficulties and accustomed to perils, was posses- sion taken, by our pioneer ancestry, of the rich and beautiful valley which their descendants now inherit, and which is at present embraced within the limits of
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INTRODUCTION.
Cumberland and Franklin Counties, the former of which was established in 1750, and the latter in 1784. How changed the scene ! How different an aspect this universally-admired region now wears, from that which it presented a little more than a century ago, when it stood in its wildness and its gloom !
" Look now abroad,-another race has filled Those populous borders ; wide the wood recedes, And towns shoot up, and fertile realms are tilled ; The land is full of harvests and green meads."
One of the first arrangements made by the primi- tive settlers "west of the Susquehanna," was to have the Gospel preached in their midst. They had been, most of them, reared in the religious element. They had been taught to worship God. Nor was the sacred lesson of duty to the Father of Mercies, which they had received in their earlier years, forgotten by them, even amidst the hardships and perils of a life in the wilderness.
We find, accordingly, very early applications, or "supplications" (as the Records say), presented by them to the Presbytery, for ministers to be sent among them, to break unto them the Bread of Life ; and in the results which soon followed the labours of these servants of God, we have the beginnings or germs of the congregations whose history is now succinctly to be given.
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CHAPTER II.
MIDDLE SPRING CHURCH.
FOR some reason, probably from a regard to con- venience, nearly all the old Presbyterian churches of Cumberland Valley were erected near a spring or stream of water, and from their location they derived their name. It is difficult at this late day to deter- mine precisely why it was that Middle Spring re- ceived its distinctive appellation ; but it is to be ac- counted for, as we suppose, by the equidistance of its position from Big Spring on the east, and Rocky Spring on the west, with the congregations of both of which it was originally connected, in the constitu- tion of a pastoral charge.
Of the exact date of the origin of this congrega- tion no record has been preserved, neither can it be ascertained from any other source. Some light, however, is thrown upon this point by the following statement, which is found in the minutes of a meet- ing of the Presbytery of Donegal, held at "Pacque, 8ber 17th, 1738."
" Robert Henry, a Commissioner from Hopewell, complained that the people of Falling Spring are
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MIDDLE SPRING CHURCH.
about to encroach on Hopewell Congregation. Or- dered, that representatives from both attend our next, that Presbytery may judge of said complaint."
As Big Spring was, at that time, called Hopewell, it would appear from this record that the congrega- tion of Middle Spring, occupying an intermedial po- sition between it and the church at Falling Spring, could not then have been organized, otherwise it, also, would be found in the same attitude of com- plaint. The probability, then, is, from this circum- stance, and some others which need not be specified, that this congregation came into existence about the year 1740. Antecedently to this date, Middle Spring was a preaching-place, and was frequently favoured with ministerial service by neighbouring pastors, as well as by supplies under appointment of Presbytery ; but not until that time was a congregation regularly organized.
We have examined with care the earliest records of the congregation now to be found, and probably the first ever written, which go back to 1742; but they consist almost exclusively of sessional proceed- ings. The following is a literal transcript of the title-page :
"A Session-Book, for the use of the Session of the Congregation of Middle Spring. Bought for the above-mentioned use, men. Decembris, Anno Dom. 1745. 2 Chron. xix. 8, 9 : Moreover, in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chiefs of the fathers of Israel, for the
3
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CHURCHES OF THE VALLEY.
judgment of the Lord, and for controversies when they returned to Jerusalem. And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and with a perfect heart."
In these Records we find mention made of the fol- lowing names of elders of the congregation : Allen Killough, John M'Kee, David Herron, John Rey- nolds, ordained 1742. John Finley, William Ander- son, Robert M'Comb, ordained 1744. John Maclay, ordained 1747.
The subjoined extracts from this ancient book may be of interest. "1744. The Session condemn D. S.'s manner of expressing himself, as being very un- tender to his neighbour's character ; and appoint the Moderator to occasion to warn their people against speaking abroad slanderous reports upon neighbours, either privately, or more publicly in company, and more especially when they have no solid grounds for, or knowledge of them ;- as being very inconscien- tious, discovering a willingness or disposition to take up an ill report, a breach of the ninth commandment, in backbiting their neighbour, wounding to religion, having a tendency to fill the minds of people with jealousies, and thereby exposing Church judicatories, oftentimes, to reflections, as tho' they covered sin, when upon tryal they can't find guilt."
"J. R. table'd a complaint against Catherine P. his former servant, for some pieces of malconduct. The Session having examined S. R. and R. L. find from their Evidence that said P. has behaved herself
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MIDDLE SPRING CHURCH.
undutifully in resisting her Mistress, and imprecating vengeance upon her, and ly'd in reporting that she beg'd a little Respite of her Mistress. The Session Judge that C. P. shall acknowledge her Fault to her Master and Mistress in the offence she has given them, in the Respects aforesaid, and be rebuk'd in the Session, for the contradiction she has hereby given to her religious Profession."
"1746. J. P. was cited to the Session for taking venison from an Indian, and giving him Meal and Butter for it on the Sabbath Day.
"J. P. appeared, and acknowledged that being at home one Sabbath Day, he heard a gun go off twice quickly after each other, and said he would go out and see who it was ; his wife dissuading him, he said he would go and see if he could hear the Horse-bell : having gone a little way he saw an Indian, who had just killed a Fawn and dressed it: the Indian coming towards the house with him, to get some victuals, having, he said, eat nothing that morning, he saw a Deer, and shot it, and charg'd and shot again at another, which ran away ; said P. stood by the Indian until he skin'd the Deer ; when he had done, he told said P. he might take it in if he wou'd, for he would take no more with him, upon which, said P. and W. K., who then had come to them, took it up, and carry'd it in; when he had given the Indian his Breakfast, said Indian ask'd if he had any meal ; he said he had, and gave him some; then the Indian ask'd for But- ter, and asking his wife about it, he gave the Indian
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CHURCHES OF THE VALLEY.
some; but he denies that he gave these things as a Reward for the Venison, inasmuch as they had made no Bargain about it.
"The Session Judge that J. P. do acknowledge his Breach of Sabbath in this Matter, and be rebuk'd before the Session for his Sin."
The "Moderator" referred to in the first of these extracts, was the Rev. Mr. Blair, who, it appears, was the minister of the Rocky Spring, Middle Spring, and Big Spring Congregations, and divided his time equally between them. How long Mr. Blair sus- tained this relation we are not able to say, but when it was dissolved, we have been informed, he went to the city of New York. This gentleman was highly esteemed by the Congregation for his piety and his learning. As a proof of their affection for him, they conveyed to him by deed, a farm belonging to them, which lay near to the church, and contained about two hundred and fifty acres. Two years after this, however, for some reason not now known, he resigned his charge, and the farm was sold. Mr. Blair was preceded in his labours at Middle Spring, by the Rev. Mr. Calls, of Ireland, and the Rev. Mr. Clarke, of Scotland, each of whom, with the sanction of Presbytery, served the Congregation about six months or a year.
At a sessional meeting, Sept. 3, 1744 we find mention made of the "Rev. Mr. Robinson" as being present. After this, notwithstanding the minutes of Session continue until 1748, there is no reference in
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MIDDLE SPRING CHURCH.
them at all, either to preaching or a Pastor. By reason of this fact, consequently, as well as the chasm in the Minutes of Presbytery, which, as already stated, reaches from 1750 to 1759, that por- tion of the history of Middle Spring is a blank. Nothing can be learned of the supply of the pulpit, or of any arrangements in regard to it, until in 1760, a commissioner from the congregation lays a call before the Presbytery "requesting their concurrence to said call's being presented to the Rev. Mr. Car- michael of New Brunswick Presbytery." This call, if it was ever prosecuted, was not accepted.
We now reach the time when Dr. Cooper was called to the pastorate of Middle Spring. Of this there is the following record on the Minutes of Pres- bytery, May 23d, 1765. "A call was brought in from the congregation of Middle Spring to Mr. Robert Cooper, Probationer, and a supplication to the Presbytery, praying them to present said call, and to allow Mr. Cooper as their constant supply till next Presbytery, if his way be not now clear to accept their call. Said call was accordingly pre- sented, and Mr. Cooper desir'd time to consider of it, as he cannot see his way at present clear either to accept or refuse it." "Messrs. Campble, Esq., and Benjamin Blythe, commissioners from Middle Spring Congregation, inform the Presbytery that the con- gregation will make good to him the sum of one hun- dred pounds currency per annum." Mr. Cooper ac- cepted the call in October of the same year, and at
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CHURCHES OF THE VALLEY.
the same time declined a call from "Tuscarora in Virginia."
The following letter concerning Dr. Cooper is from the pen of his venerable successor.
" Shippensburg, May 20th, 1852. "REV. AND RESPECTED BROTHER,-
"In reply to your request I have to say, that my acquaintance with Dr. Robert Cooper, was not until a late period of his life. Our places of residence were fully fifty miles apart. I do not recollect that I ever had the pleasure of seeing him, until October, 1799,-two years and a half after his pastoral re- lation to the church at Middle Spring was dissolved, and some months after I had commenced my theo- logical studies. This meeting was at a Presbytery convened at Derry Church, for the ordination and in- stallation of Dr. Joshua Williams. My acquaintance with him then, was limited to what I saw and heard in the transaction of presbyterial business.
"On the following April I presented myself, and was received on trial by the Presbytery of Carlisle, nor had I any intercourse with Dr. Cooper, except at presbyterial meetings, until I was licensed to preach, October 9th, 1801. From that time I al- ways spent at his house a portion of my time, when appointed to preach at Middle Spring, and frequently called and spent a day and night on my way to preach at other places.
"I always found him very hospitable,-a kind,
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MIDDLE SPRING CHURCH.
friendly, and instructive companion ; and I have no doubt that he was truly pious. That he stood high in the opinion of his brethren of the Synods of New York and Philadelphia, then the supreme judicatory of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, would appear from the fact, that he was appointed on a committee, with others, among the most cele- brated divines of the day, 'to take into considera- tion the constitution of the Church of Scotland and other Protestant churches, and, agreeably to the ge- neral principles of Presbyterian government, com- plete a system of general rules for the government of the Synod and the several Presbyteries under their inspection, and the people in their communion.'
"I have not heard Dr. Cooper preach very often, only a few times at Middle Spring, after my settle- ment there, and on a few occasions elsewhere. As to his preaching, in the latter part of his life, he ap- peared not to aim at display of talents and oratory, but to be instructive and practical. Before his set- tlement at Middle Spring, it appears, from the Pres- byterial Records, that, for some reason, he was highly prized, and his preaching much sought after by the churches.
"I think I never saw but one sermon of his fully written out, and some two or three skeletons, though I have reason to believe he had, in his time, written a number in full. I do not remember ever to have seen him use any notes in the pulpit, and I believe he seldom, if ever, did. I heard him on one occa-
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CHURCHES OF THE VALLEY.
sion, in a sermon, declaiming with severity against reading sermons.
" His literary attainments were very respectable, though his education was not commenced in early life. He must, I suppose, have been upwards of thirty years of age when he entered the ministry. Being gifted with a strong and sound mind, he was judicious, well-informed in Theology, a sound Calvin- ist, and always ready to give his views on any subject proposed. A number of young men of very respec- table standing in the ministry, studied Theology under his direction ; among whom were Dr. Joshua Williams, of Newville, and Dr. Herron, of Pittsburg. Except a few articles in the newspapers of the day, he never, so far as I know, published anything but a small pamphlet on Prophecy, entitled 'The Signs of the Times.'
tl
J y
"I may add that I am Dr. Cooper's successor in the church at Middle Spring,-the first and only pastor of it since his time. After a vacancy of six years, during which the congregation was well sup- plied, by members of the Presbytery and a number of very respectable licentiates, with the preaching of the gospel and the administration of Divine ordi- nances, a call was given to me, April 12th, 1803, which was accepted. On the 5th October, 1803, I was ordained, and installed Pastor of that church, and here I am until this day.
"The following dates I take from the Records of Presbytery :
Esq
m Co of th da de rel
ra
of
1
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MIDDLE SPRING CHURCH.
"'Dr. Cooper graduated at Princeton, 1763 ; was licensed to preach, Feb. 22d, 1765; was ordained and installed at Middle Spring, Nov. 21st, 1765; resigned his pastoral relation, Ap. 12th, 1797; de- parted this life, April 5th, 1805.'
"Very sincerely,
" Your friend and brother in the Gospel, "JOHN MOODEY."
Dr. Cooper's remains are buried in the "Lower Graveyard" of the church, and on his tombstone is this inscription :-
"In memory of Rev. Robert Cooper, D.D., Pastor of the Congregation of Middle Spring nearly forty years, who departed this life A.D. 1805, aged 73 years. Also, his surviving partner, Elizabeth Cooper, who deceased A.D. 1829, aged nearly 86 years.
" De quibus qui nunc vivunt et audiverunt vene- rantur, qui contemporales noverunt, plerique mortui sunt."
As there is some discrepancy between the state- ment of Dr. Moodey, as to the length of time Dr. Cooper was pastor of Middle Spring, and the record of this that is made on his tombstone, it is probable that in the latter case the time is estimated from the date of Dr. Cooper's acceptance of the call, to his death, instead of to the dissolution of his pastoral relation, as it should have been .*
* The following extract from a letter from Jonathan K. Cooper, Esq., of Peoria, Ill. (a grandson of Dr. Cooper), is here in place.
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CHURCHES OF THE VALLEY.
As we have already had occasion to notice, the Rev. John Moodey, a native of Dauphin County, in this State,-who, after he graduated in Princeton College in 1796, studied Theology under the direc- tion of the Rev. James Snodgrass,-succeeded Dr. Cooper as pastor of Middle Spring. Mr. Moodey was called, and ordained, and installed, in 1803, and there he has ever since remained, notwithstanding the frequent sundering of pastoral relations that has taken place around him.
Dr. Moodey, who was born July 4th, 1776, is now, of course, far advanced in life. To him have been allotted, by a kind Providence, more than threescore years and ten. He stands as the repre- sentative of a generation which will soon have en- tirely disappeared. But one now lives in connexion with the Presbytery, that belonged to it at his recep- tion ; and most of the oldest members of his congre- gation are either those whom he baptized in their
" The cause of my grandfather's retiring from the active duties of his charge was, as perhaps you are aware, a strange, brooding melancholy (occasioned, as it was found, by a dropsical habit of body), which, for a season, whelmed his mind in gloom, and made him doubt, not merely his fitness for the station he filled, but the sufficiency of the hope in which he had himself trusted. With returning health, his confidence and hope were restored, and he experienced again a bright sunshine of the soul, during which he travelled extensively, and preached in the newly- settled and mountainous parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia, as a sort of missionary, still residing, however, on his farm in the bounds of Middle Spring, and, I presume, occasionally offici- ating."
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