History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 106

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992

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1 Eliae Keach was born in London in 1667; married a daughter of Chief Justice Nicholas Moore, of Pennsylvania ; died, in 2701, aged thirty-four

years. He often preached to n congregation of fifteen hundred persons and the church he founded in Pennepek was long tho nucleus of the Baptists in several colonies.

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HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

"To our dear and well-beloved friends and brethren, Mr. Jededinh ' to return to the Episcopalian fold. It runs as fol- Andrews, John Green, Joshua Story, and Samuel Richardson, aod the lows : rest of the Presbyterian judgment belonging to the meeting in Phila- delphia : The Church of Christ, baptized on confession of faith, over which Rev. John Watts ie pastor, send salutation of grace, mercy, sod peace, from God our Father and froro our Lord Jesus Christ. Dearly beloved : Ilaving eeriously, and in the fear of God, considered our duties of love to and bearing with one another, and receiving the weak in faith, aod knowing that love, peace, and unity tend much to the honor of Christ and Christianity, and to the conviction und conversion of sinners, and the comfort and establishment of believers, and being desirous of your company heavenward as far as may be, and as much as we can to heal the breach betwixt us, occasioned by our difference in judgment (none being yet perfect in knowledge), we have thought it necessary to make you this proposition following for peace (as being the necessary term upon which we may safely, comfortably, aod peaceably hold Chris- tian communion together in the things wherein we agree in the public worship of God and common duties of religion, as in prayer, preaching, praising God, reading and hearing the Word), viz. : we do freely confess aod promise for ourselves that we can and do own and allow of your approved ministers, who are fitly qualified and souod in the faith, and of holy lives, to pray and preach in our assemblies. If you can also freely coofess and promise for yourselves that you can aod will owo aod allow of our approved ministers, who are fitly qualified and sound in the faith, and of holy lives, to prench in your assemblies; that so each side may own, embrace, and accept of each other as fellow-brethren and ministers of Christ, and hold nod maintain Christiao communion and fellowship. Uato which proposition for peace (that further disputes and vain janglings may be prevented) we shall desire, if you please, your plein and direct answer, that it may be left for 18 nt Widow Elton's house, in Philadelphia. Subscribed in behalf of the rest of the congre- gation the 30th of 8th month [October], 1698.

" JOHN WATTS, " THOMAS BISB, "THOMES POTTS."

" SAMUEL JONES, " GEORGE EATON,

The Presbyterians sent, on November 3d, a reply signed by Rev. Andrews, John Green, Samuel Rich- ardson, David Giffing, Herbert Corry, John Vaulear, and Daniel Green, requesting a conference, which was afterward appointed for Saturday, November 19th, at the common meeting-house in the store on the Barbadoes lot. Messrs. Watts, Jones, and Morgan went there at the proper time, but found none of the Presbyterians, and none came, though sent for. Late in the afternoon, before leaving the house, the three Baptists wrote a letter, saying that they were disap- pointed, and added, "Considering what the desires of divers people are, and how they stand affected, and that we are not likely to receive answer to our reason- able proposition, necessity constrains us to meet apart from you until such time as we receive an answer, and we are assured that you can own us so as we can do you, though we still remain the same as before, and stand by what we have written."

The next day they met at Anthony Morris' brew- house, under the bank and near the dock. Rev. Morgan Edwards writes,-

"This was what the Presbyterians wanted in reality, as more plainly appeared soon after, particularly in a letter directed to one Thomas Re- vell, of Burlington, and signed 'Jedediah Andrews,' whereiu are these words: 'Though we have got the Anabaptists out of the house, yet our contitunoce there is uncertain, and therefore must think of building, notwithstanding our poverty.'"

This little congregation met contentedly in the brew-house for several years, and while there penned a lengthy reply to a letter from Rev. Thomas Clayton, the minister of the Church of England, asking them

"Sir,-Wherens we received a letter invitatory from you to return to your Church of England dated Sept. 26, 1698), wherein you desire us to send you in humility and without prejudice the objections why we may not be united io ooe community, and witbel that you doubt not but by the blessiog and assistance of God you will be able to show them to be stumbling blocke made by our wills aod not by our reason ; and some of u8, in behalf of the rest, having, on the reception thereof, given you a visit and had discourse with you concerning some of the ceremonies of your church (about which you gave no satisfaction), we kaew not that you expected any other answer from us; but in your lete letter to Jobn Watts you signify that you have received to answer to your former letter. We, therefore, taking this into consideration, do siguify io answer to your foresaid invitation and proposal that to read from a rightly con- stituted church of Christ is that which our souls abhor, and that love, peace, and unity with all Christians, aod concord and agreement in the true faith and worship of God are that which we greatly desire, and we should be glad if yourself or othors would inform us whenever we err from the truth and ways of ('hrist. Nor are we averse to a reconcilia- tion with the Church of England, provided it can be proved by the Holy Scriptures that her constitution, orders, officere, worship, and service ars of divine appointment, and oot of human invention. And since you, yourself, are the person that has given ue the invitation, and hath prom- ised to show us that our objections are stumbling blocks made by our wille and oot by our reason ; and wo, understanding that our Lord Jesus Clnist is the only Head, King, Lord, and lawgiver of his Church, whom all are bound to hear and obey under the severe penalty of an utter ex- termination from among the people of God; and that his laws and will are only to be found in and known by sacred Scriptures, which are the only supreme, sufficient, aod standing rule of all faith and worship; and not understanding the constitution of your church (with all the orders, officers, worship, and service at this day in nse and maintained therain) to be agreeable to and warranted thereby, hath been the cause of our separation from her, and is the objection we have to make, or the stumbling block which lies in our way to such a onion and com- munion as you desire. We therefore hope and expect, according to yonr promise, that you will endeavor ite removal by showing us from Holy Scripture these two things, as absolutely necessary in order thereunto :

" I. That the formation of your church, with all the ordere, officers, rites, and ceremonies now in nse and practice therein are of divine institution

" Particularly that the Church of Christ under the New Testament may consist or may be made up of a mixed multitude aud their seed, even all that are members of a nation who are willing to go nuder the denomination of Christians, whether they are godly or ungodly, holy or profane.

" That lords archbishops and diocesan lords bishops, such as are now in England, are of divine institution and appointment.

" That the government of the Church of Christ, under the gospel, is to be prelatical, necording as it is practiced this day in your church, and that your ecclesiastical courte are of divine appointment.

" That particular churches or congregations, whether ministers or elders, who have power and authority to receive persons with member- chips have not likewise authority (by Matthew xviii. 15-18; 1 Corinth- ians v.) to execute church censures and excommunication upon miscre- auts, swenrers, linrs, drunkards, adulterers, Jews, Atheists, etc .; but that it is by divine appointment that they must be presented to their ordi- Darias, and only proceeded against in your ecclesiastical courts.

" That the several offices of deans, subdeans, chapters, archdeacons, prebendaries, chancellors, commissaries, officials, registers, cauone, petty canons, vicars, chorals, apparitors, organists, vergers, singing men aud boys, septins, epistlers, gospelors, and such like offices and officers of your church and ecclesiastical courts, are of divine institution or have eny Scripture warmnut to justify them and to bear theru harmless on the last dny.

" That uppreaching ministers may celebrate the sacraments by Scrip- ture warrant.

" That their different apparel, lo time of divina service, such as hoods, tippets, surplices, etc., are of divine institution or have any Scripture warrant in the New Testament.

"That the manner of the public service and liturgy of the Church of England, with the visitation of the sick, burial of the dead, churchiog of women, matrimony, etc , as now in use, are of divine appointment.

" That the people ought by the rule of God's Word, and only with the minister, to say the confession, Lord's prayer, and the creed, and make

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such aoswere to the public prayers as are appointed in the book of com- moo prayer.

"That it is God's holy will aod pleasure that saints' days or holy daye should be kept and observed hy Christians, according to the use of ths Church of England.

" That instruments of music are to be used in God's worship by the New Testament.

"That infant baptism is a duty.

" That pouring or epriukliog water is the proper way of baptizing.

" That your manner of administering the sacraments and sigoing with the sign of the cross io baptism are of divine appointment.

" These are some of the things we desire you to prove and make plain to us by the Holy Scriptures. But if the case is such that some or all of them caunot be, then the

" IT. Thing necessary to our reconciliation with your church is that you will give us clear and infallible proof from God's holy Word, such as will bear us barmless io the last day, that our Lord Jesus Christ has given power and authority to any mao, men, Convocation, or Synod, to make, constitute, and set np any other laws, orders, officers, rites, and ceremonies in his church, besides those which he hath appointed in bis holy Word, or to alter or change those which he hath therein appointed, according as may from time to time to them seem convenient, and that we are bound in conscience toward God by the authority of His Word to yield obedience thereunto, or whether it will not rather be a eure re- flection upon the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures and a high defama- tion of the kingly and prophetical offices of Jesus Christ to suppose such a thing.

" Thue we have in humility and without prejudice sent you our ob- jectious, and if you can, according to your letter, show them to be stumbling blocks, made by our wills and not by our reason, we shall be very thankful, and you shall not find us obstinate, but ready to accept your invitation. But until you do so, and prove the constitution, orders, rites aud ceremonies of your church to be of God, it is but reason, that you should suspend all charge of schism against us, and desist from blaming us for our peaceable separation. Which is all at present from your loving friende, who desire information and unity among saints, and the churches' peace, that God may be glorified through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

"Subscribed by us, members of the general meeting, in behalf of the rest, March 11, 1699.

"JOHN WATTS, " JOSEPH WOOD, " GEORGE EAOLESFIELD, "SAMUEL JONES. "GEORGE EATON, " THOMAS BIBE."

George Keith, an impetuous Scotchman, left the Orthodox Quakers in 1691, with his friends, and after holding together for a few years as Keithian Qua- kers, and publishing a "Confession of Faith," some were reconciled. Keith himself turned Episcopalian, and many became Baptists, and were called Quaker Baptists, because they retained the garb and language of their earlier associations. At Upper Providence, in Chester County, in 1697, several Keithians were baptized, and the same year Rev. Thomas Killing- worth baptized two men, formerly Quaker preachers, one of whom, Thomas Rutter, soon preached in Philadelphia, and baptized Henry Koster, Thomas Peart, and seven others. These nine organized a church of Keithian Baptists, June 12, 1698, choosing Thomas Rutter as their minister, and held services in the meeting-house on Second Street below Mulberry. Another society of Keithians met in Lower Dublin township, at the house of Abraham Pratt. John Wells left them Sept. 27, 1697, joining the Baptists. William Davis, expelled from Pennepek, joined them in 1698. Abraham Pratt and wife, David Price and wife, Richard Wansell, Margaret Davis, Martha Deal,

Peter Deal, Richard Wells, Richard Sparks, Nicholas Ashmead, Alexander Babcock, and others also joined this society. In 1701 the changeable Keithians be- came exercised over the proper day for observance as the Sabbath. The dispute shattered the congrega- tions, and most of the members became Seventh-Day Baptists forthwith, though many joined the regular Baptists. They had three Seventh-Day Churches in Chester County, but only one in Philadelphia County, that at Pennepek, established in 1701. The next year this last built a church, but in 1711 their pastor, Rev. William Davis, deserted them, but the Wells, Wansells, Pratts, and Ashmeads clung to the cause, and in 1770 they still had nine members. In 1716, Richard Sparks, a carpenter, left a plot of ground as a cemetery for Seventh-Day Baptists, the piece being "one hundred feet of the back end of a lot on the south side of High Street, Philadelphia." There yet remains a small portion of this lot, walled in, on Fifth Street, and there may be seen a marble tablet inscribed to the memory of Sparks.

The Regular Baptist Church at Pennepek, on the death of Mr. Watts, in 1702, elected Rev. Evan Mor- gan as their pastor. Mr. Morgan left the Quakers with the Keithians in 1691, was baptized in 1697, and ordained in 1706. He died Feb. 16, 1709. Rev. Samuel Jones was ordained with Mr. Morgan, with whom he was co-pastor in 1706. He was born in Wales in 1657, and baptized in his native country in 1683, and died Feb. 3, 1722. Rev. Joseph Wood was born in England in 1659, and baptized in Burlington, N. J., in June, 1691, and was ordained at Pennepek, in September, 1708, where "he took part of the min- istry with Mr. Evan Morgan and Mr. Samuel Jones." He died in September, 1747. Abel Morgan was born at Altgoch, Cardiganshire, Wales, in 1673, began preaching at nineteen, arrived in this country in February, 1711, and took charge of the Pennepek Church, officiating regularly in Philadelphia and in the mother community. He compiled a folio con- cordance in Welsh, into which he translated the "Cen- tury Confession." He took a prominent part in the meetings of the Philadelphia Association, and earn- estly advocated a thorough education for the minis- try. Mr. Morgan was distinguished for his ability and piety. He died in December, 1722. The grave- stone originally marking the resting-place of his re- mains in Philadelphia now occupies a place in the vestibule of the First Baptist Church, Philadelphia, with other monuments of venerated pastors of that honored mother of churches. Rev. Jenkin Jones was born about 1686, in Llandydoch, Wales, arrived in America in 1710, and became pastor of the Penne- pek Church in June, 1726. He had William Kin- nersley as one of his assistants, the father of Pro- fessor Ebenezer Kinnersley. He held this position until May, 1746, preaching in Philadelphia, where he resided, as well as in Pennepek. The church build- ing at Pennepek, erected in 1707, on an acre lot, the

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ift of Rev. Samuel Jones, was twenty-five feet square. Some years after the house was completed three aeres were added to the church lot.

The Philadelphia Church during this period, and indeed until 1746, was considered as a part of Penne- pek, and the same pastors supplied both. After March 15, 1707, meetings were held with the Keith- ians on Second Street, below Mulberry. In 1711, Rev. Thomas Selby and Rev. John Burrows quarrel- ing, the former caused a disturbance in the congre- gation, and a number left, but the labors of Rev. Abel Morgan checked the disorder, and Selby two years later left the city. The wooden building was too small, and in 1731 it was taken down, and a brick house, forty-two feet by thirty feet, erected. The long controversy with Christ Church as to the owner- ship of the lot had been settled by a compromise, which left the Baptists in possession. Rev. Ebenezer Kinnersley was a licentiate of this church before being ordained, and on July 6, 1740, he denounced the sensationalism of some of Whitefield's imitators, as shown by a sermon that day in the Baptist pulpit preached by Rev. John Rowland, a Presbyterian, and he " entered a solemn protest" against Whitefield's methods. The excitement which followed was so intense that Kinnersley, according to Sprague's " Annals of the Baptist Pulpit," was "actually for- bidden the communion." In 1743, however, he was ordained, and preached at times in Philadelphia until 1746, when Rev. Jenkin Jones took permanent charge of that church.1 The question was raised in 1746 as to whether legacies conferred on the Phila- delphia Church did not partly belong to Pennepek, the pareut and superior. There was no claim made, but it was thought best for the Philadelphia Church to incorporate, which they did, May 15th, with the following members: Jenkin Jones, Ebenezer Kin- nersley, William Branson, Andrew Edge, Thomas Pearse, Stephen Anthony, Augustin Stillman, Samuel Ashmead, Matthew Ingles, John Perkins, John Stan- deland, Robert Shewell, John Biddle, Joseph Crean, Henry Hartley, John Lewis, Joseph Ingles, Samuel Burkilo, John Catla, Thomas Byles, John Bazeley, Samuel Morgan, Lewis Rees, Mary Sandeland, Han- nah Farmer, Mary Catla, Ann Yerkes, Mary Burkilo, Mary Prig, Hannah Crean, Aun Davis, Hannah Bazeley, Jane Giffin, Edith Bazeley, Alice Clark, Lavinia Greenman, Mary Ball, Uslaw Lewis, Jane Loxley, Esther Ashmead, Hannah Jones, Sarah Bran- son, Catherine Anthony, Jane Pearse, Mary Edge, Mary Valeeot, Elizabeth Shewell, Mary Middleton, Francis IIolwell, Elizabeth Sallows, Mary Morgan, Ann Hall, Phebe Hartley, Ann White.

1 Ebenezer Kinnersley became one of the most eminent scientific men of his time, a friend and a co-worker with Franklin, a member of the American Philosophical Society, and professor in the University of Penn- sylvania, where a memorial window commemorates his worth. Born in Gloucester, England, he spent his childhood aud youth at Pennepek. He died July 4, 1778.

One of the great steps forward made during this period was the formation of the Philadelphia Associ- ation in 1707, composed of the churches at Pennepek, Middletown, Piscataway, Cohansey, and Welsh Tract. In 1712 the difficulty between Rev. Thomas Selby and the Philadelphia Church was referred to the Association, and both sides were censured. The members were required to pay Selby what they had agreed, and he was discharged "as an unfit person." In 1724 the Association answered in the negative the question, " Whether a believer may marry an unbe- liever without coming under church censure for it ?"

Rev. Peter Peterson Vanhorne, the eighth pastor of the Pennepek Church, was born in August, 1719, , at Middletown, Bucks Co. He was baptized in Sep- tember, 1741, and ordained in June, 1747, as pastor of Pennepek, where he labored successfully until February, 1762, when he resigned.

Rev. Samuel Jones became the ninth pastor of that church in 1763, preaching also at Southampton until 1770, when he devoted himself entirely to the former until his death, Feb. 7, 1814. He established a theo- logical school near Pennepek, and published some sermons and other religious works. The deacons during this period were Crispin Collet, 1747-58; Thomas Webster, 1758-75; James Dungan and Joseph Ingles were chosen in March, 1775. John Vansandt was made ruling elder June 18, 1747. In 1763, William Marshall held the office (not used after 1770). In 1770 a new church of stone was built, thirty-three feet long and thirty feet wide, with pul- pit in one corner, and galleries in the other corners. The church members in 1761 numbered fifty, the congregation and members three hundred; in 1763 the members were fifty-eight; in 1770, fifty ; and in 1774, sixty-three. George Eaton in 1764 bequeathed five pounds and an acre of land to the Pennepek Church.

The church in Philadelphia lost its pastor, Rev. Jenkin Jones, by death, July 16, 1760. He served long and faithfully, and did much to build up the church. No regular pastor was secured till Rev. Morgan Edwards arrived from England, May 23, 1761, and immediately was called to the First Church, remaining there until 1771, when he resigned, and was elected "evangelist" by the Baptist Association. Morgan Edwards was one of the remarkable men of that time, highly educated, original, and earnest in all he did or said. He was born in May, 1772, in Wales, began to preach at the age of sixteen, and studied at the Baptist Seminary, Bristol. He pub- lished a number of sermons and treatises, but his great work was his " Materials toward a History of the American Baptists," of which two volumes re- ferring to Pennsylvania and New Jersey were pub- lished, one in 1770, another in 1792. He also left many manuscripts, some of them of much historical value. Jan. 1, 1770, he preached the sermon that will always be quoted against him. It was from the text, "This

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year thou shalt die," and he applied it to himself, having had a " presentiment," but he did not die, living for twenty-five years afterward. A little later he sided with England in the great struggle, having a son in the British service, and was, it is said, the only Tory Baptist minister in America. He lived quietly in Delaware, supplying vacancies and gather- ing materials for his history. His death occurred Jan. 28, 1795. Dr. Cathcart has called attention to Morgan Edwards' services to the cause of Baptist education. He was the prime mover in establishing Brown Uni- versity (then Rhode Island College). It was singu- lar that the first student of this college, William Rogers, born in Newport in 1751, ordained in 1771, should be Morgan Edwards' successor in the Phila- delphia Church, taking charge in 1772. He preached the funeral sermon of his predecessor, in which, speaking of the famous Tory principles, he said, "For any person to have been so marked out in those days was enough to bring ou political opposition and destruction of property, all of which took place with respect to Mr. Edwards, though he never harbored the thought of doing the least injury to the United States or of abetting the cause of our enemies."

The First Baptist Church in 1762 tore down their building and erected a larger one, also of brick, sixty- one feet long and forty-two feet wide, with pews and galleries. It cost two thousand two hundred pounds, and was on Ledger Place, Second Street south of Arch, on a lot forty-four by three hundred and three feet. In 1770 the families in the congregation num- bered one hundred and twenty, and the members were the following persons: Morgan Edwards, min- Dr. Mitchell, writing in the Christian Observer, in 1854, says,- ister ; Isaac Jones, Esq., George Westcott, and Samuel Davis, elders; Joshua Moore, Samuel Miles, and "I remember when it was a moet delightful country-spot, with fine large chade-trees around it. A small bouse served the purpose of changing dress, and the whole seemed to be in far better keeping with the Apostolical style than the practice of ancient times. There were no wharves there, and the din of business had not found its way to the consecrated place. and hundreds went thither to witness & scene that could not have attracted them under different circumstances." Joseph Moulder, deacons; Samuel Ashmead, Esq., Rev. Ebenezer Kinnersley, John Perkins, John Stan- deland, Joseph Ingles, Samuel Burkilo, Thomas Byles, John Bazeley, Catherine Standeland, Mary Burkilo, Edith Priestly, Esther Ashmead, Elizabeth Byles, Sarah Bazeley, Elizabeth Shewell, Mary Mor- The building referred to was afterwards changed to two small dwelling-houses. gan, Isaac Bellangee, Rebecca Williams, Mary Mor- ris, Jennett Church, Esther Tommins, John Linning- The Seventh-Day Baptists at Pennepek kept up their organization, though there is little on record about their pastors. In 1770, as Morgan Edwards tells us, they met on alternate Sabbaths at the house of Benjamin Tomlinson. There were eleven families in the society, including Samuel Wells, Richard Tom- linson and wife, Job Noble and wife, Elizabeth West, Mary Keen, Rebecca Dungan, and Enoch David. The last-named, their principal exhorter, was born in Kent County, Del., in 1718, and was ordained in 1769. Besides preaching at Pennepek, he supplied the congregations at Nottingham, Newtown, and French Creek, all in Chester County. ton, Sarah North, Mary Harris, William Powell, Mary Rush, Susanna Woodrow, Eleanor Kesler, Abraham Levering, Ann Levering, Catherine Mor- gan, Edward Middleton, Martha Coffin, Mary Thomas, Rachel Davis, Septimus Levering, Mary Levering, Elizabeth Church, Catharine Coughlin, Ann Barns, Joseph Watkins, Joanna Anthony, Frances Jones, Elizabeth Byles, Mary Bartholomew, Catherine Bartholomew, Benjamin Davis, Barnaby Barns, Jemima Timmerman, Susanna Morris, John Dickson, Samuel Jones, Mary Powell, Sarah Hel- lings, William Perkins, Esther Davis, Hannah Stakes, Andrew Edge, Joseph Williams, Mary Iden, The Baptist Church in the Northern Liberties was formed in 1769. In 1770 appointments to supply the pulpit were made by the Association. There were Sarah Shewell, Sarah Gardner, Mary Wood, Sarah Edge, Francis Maglone, Susanna McLaneghan, Han- nah Swanson, Samuel Miles, John Mason, Nehemiah | then sixteen members in the church. In 1773,

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 106

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 992

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992