History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 128

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 > Part 128

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RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

Ill., he accepted the presidency of the Garrett Bibli- duties then required his entire time. In January, 1874, he went to Mexico to assist in planting missions. In 1875 he again attended several European Confer- ences. He made the prayer at the breaking of the ground for the Centennial Buildings, and again at the opening, May 10, 1876. In September, 1881, he preached the opening sermon at the Ecumenical Coun- cil held at the City Road Chapel, London, which was built by Mr. Wesley. In the same month, at a large meeting of Englishmen and Americans at Exeter Hall, held on account of President Garfield's death, and at the invitation of Minister Lowell, he delivered an address, closing with the sentiment, "God bless the queen for her womanly sympathy and queenly cour- tesy." At the end of the address the audience rose to their feet and cheered the sentiment and the speaker. cal Institute. The question of establishing theological schools as a part of Methodist polity was then before the church, and Bishop Simpson accepted the presi- dency of this institute to give force to his own opinions on the subject in favor of such establishment, which he expressed by speech and in writing, thus doing much to fix the permanent policy of the church, now settled in accordance with his views. Bishop Simpson was an intimate friend of Secretary Stanton, both having attended the same congregation at Pittsburgh where the latter went to practice law, and early in the late war, through him and President Lincoln, he gained an inside view of the mighty questions pressing upon the country. He was among the first to advise the emancipation of the slaves, though Mr. Lincoln then objected, and upon being asked if he would arm them, | He preached about this time in many localities

he replied that there was plenty of spading and haul- ing to do, and they were fully as able to work for those freeing them as for their masters. Early in 1862 he went to California and Oregon, by the way of the Isthmus of Panama, and upon his return by the overland route found that President Lincoln had already issued his preparatory emancipation procla- mation. In the fall of 1863 he delivered an address before the Christian Commission at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia. This afterward became his famous lecture, "The Future of Our Country," which was repeated in Boston, New York, Cincinnati, Pitts- burgh, and other cities. The first Sunday after the capture of Fort Sumter he preached in the Chicago " wigwam" upon the issues involved in the conflict and its settlement. He was intimately acquainted with President Lincoln, and the day after his second inauguration preached in the capitol, and rode from the building with Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln. He never again saw the President alive, but after his death, at Mrs. Lincoln's request, he made the prayer before the funeral procession started from the White House and also delivered the address at Springfield, Ill., as the body was laid in the tomb.

Early in President Johnson's administration he declined Secretary Stanton's invitation to go South and study the condition of the freedmen with a view to the establishment of a freedman's bureau, on the ground that his church allegiance was his first duty ; but he agreed to give the matter his attention for a few months, and recommended Gen. O. O. Howard to the Secretary. In May, 1868, he made the opening prayer at the Republican National Convention at Chicago, which nominated Grant and Colfax. In June, 1870, he went to Europe to complete the work suspended by the death of Bishop Kingsley, and while there attended the German, Swedish, Norwe- gian, and English Conferences. He was urged by President Grant, whose acquaintance he had made during the war at Nashville, whither he had gone to organize churches, to become one of the San Do- mingo commissioners. He declined, as his episcopal

throughout England and Scotland, and in some parts of Ireland. His time has been almost wholly devoted to the advancement of his church. Besides assisting in the building of numbers of churches, he helped establish the Pittsburgh Female College and Beaver Seminary and College in 1853 and 1854, and has aided a number of literary enterprises. He has also delivered a large number of addresses and lectures in this country and Europe, among which were a course of lectures in Yale College on preaching, and several sermons, in 1882 and 1883, before the students of Cornell College. As an author he has contributed to Methodist literature " A Hundred Years of Method- ism" and " Lectures on Preaching." He was also the editor of the "Cyclopedia of Methodism," published by L. H. Everts & Brother, of Philadelphia, which is the standard authority in the church. It was the first undertaking of the kind by any church in the United States, though other denominations have since issued similar publications.

Not only is the Methodist Church indebted to the ability and energy of Bishop Simpson for this most compact and complete record of the church, but those of different religious beliefs who have since under- taken in like manner to prepare compendiums of their own church history have paid, in so doing, a silent though willing tribute to the man who led the way. Bishop Simpson is probably more widely known in this country than any other prominent member of any church, and not alone because of his leadership as a Methodist. While always devoting his time and talents to that cause which in his youth he embraced with his whole heart, he has taken a sincere and practical interest in all that pertains to the temporal welfare of his country. During and since the late war his suggestions and advice, often sought though seldom offered, have always had just and great weight with those high in official position. Bishop Simpson chose a profession which he has honored, and which has honored him, and has at all times ex- erted an influence that has been far-reaching in its effects and benefits.

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HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

Early in his ministry Bishop Simpson married Miss Ellen H. Verner (who is still living), daughter of one of the oldest citizens of Pittsburgh. They have had three sons and four daughters. Two of the former are dead, one living only five years. The survivor is Matthew Verner Simpson, assistant city solicitor of Philadelphia. Of the four daughters, two are at home, one is the wife of Col. James R. Weaver, consul-general at Vienna, and some time since consul at Antwerp, and the other married Rev. C. W. Buoy, now pastor of a church io Phila- delphia.

In 1884 there are the following Methodist organiza- tions in the city not connected with the regular church :

African Methodist Episcopal .- African Methodist Episcopal Book Concero and Publishing House, and office of The Christian Recorder, Child's Recorder, and the Monthly African Methodist Episcopal Magazine, 631

Pine Street. B. T. Tanner, D.D, editor; Theodore Gonld, publisher. Allen Chapel, Lombard Street, above Nineteenth. Rev. C. T. Shaffer. Bethel, Centre, Germantowo. Rev. L. C. Chambers.

Bethel, Sixth Street, ahove Lombard. Rev. C. C. Felts.

Campbell Chapel, Paul aod Oxford Streets, Frankford. Rev. Thomas A. Cuff.

Little Wesley (Mission), Hurst Street. Rev. George W. Gibbs.

Morris Browa Mission, Vineyard Street, near Poplar. Rev. R. H. Cole- man.

Monat Pisgah, Locust Street, above Fortieth. Rev. A. A. Robinson,

Union, Fairmount Avenne, below Fifth Street. Rev. T. G. Stewart, D.D. Zion Mission, Seventh Street, below Dickinson. Rev. J. E. Rawlin.

Methodist Episcopal (Zion African) .- Frankford Mission. Rev. T. H. Slater.

Trinity Chapel, St. Mark Chapel, Monat Olive Mission. Rev. T. H. Slater.

Wesley, Lombard Street, below Sixth. Rev. M. H. Ross.

Free Methodist .- First Church, Master Street, below Twenty-third. Rev. George Eakins.

Twelfth Street, corner Twelfth and Dickinson Streets.

West Philadelphia Mission, corner Market and Thirty-seventh Streets.

Methodist Protestant .- St. Luke, Broad Street and Germantown Avenue. Rev. W. R. Graham.

Independent Methodist -J. Baker Steward, President.

Ridge Avenne, Twenty-fifth Street and Ridge Avenue. Rev. J. Baker Steward.

Tabor, Eighteenth and Dickinson Streets. Rev. Joseph Duckworth. West Philadelphia Mission. Supplied by Rev. Chilton Dead.

THE CHRISTIANS.

The sect so well known in the West as Christians (the first "i," long accent), and now numbering over seventy-five Conferences in the United States and Canada, sprang from a union of three seceding bodies,-one from the Methodist Episcopal Church, Christmas, 1793, under Rev. James O'Kelly, of South Carolina, who refused to accept an episcopacy ; another from the Baptists, under Rev. Abner Jones, of Vermont, in September, 1800; and the third from the Presbyterians, under Rev. Barton W. Stone, of Kentucky, in 1801, and greatly enlarged and ex- tended after 1812 by the preaching of Rev. Alex- ander Campbell. The first schism mentioned began with the name Republican Methodists, but soon gave this up for the terms, Disciples of Christ, the Chris- tian Connection, and Christians. The common point of agreement was the adoption of the New Testament as their only code, and they have all now adopted

the Baptist doctrine of immersion. In many re- gards, however, the usages of the Methodist Church seem to prevail. This interesting departure may be studied in Baird's " Religion in America," in Mc- Clintock and Strong's " Encyclopædia," in the " Life of Bishops Coke and Asbury," and the reports of the Conference of 1793. The sect is strong in Tennessee and Kentucky, and in parts of the newer States and Territories, having, for instance, two colleges in California.

By the preaching of Rev. Elias Smith the congre- gation in Philadelphia was founded. He was born at Lyme, Conn., June 17, 1769, taught school in early life, and commenced preaching in 1790. He was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1792, and set- tled at Woburn, Mass., until September, 1801. He embraced the doctrine taught by Dr. Abner Jones about the beginning of 1803. In the course of sub- sequent evangelist labors he came to Philadelphia, and by his preaching there is reason to believe that the Christian Church was established there.

The foundation of the Mount Zion Christian Church in Philadelphia dates back at least as far as the year 1807. The congregation must have been formed before the 5th of August, 1807, at which time we find that a piece of ground on Sixth Street had been taken up. Robert Ferguson was the owner, and by a declaration of trust made to Jacob Stintz- man, Thomas Wallace, and Robert Punchan, the trustees, he declared that he would hold the lots for such nses as they would appoint. There were four of them on the east side of Sixth Street, together making a width of eighty-three feet on that street, south of Christian Street, and one hundred and thirty-six feet six inches on Christian Street. On the 29th of June, 1809, Ferguson gave a deed to the Mount Zion Christian Church. This purchase was supplemented by others a few years afterward, so that the property of the church embraced a consid- erable piece of ground. James Enue, by deed of Nov. 15, 1809, conveyed to the trustees two lots on Christian Street, east of the ground purchased of Ferguson, each twenty feet front, running southward one hundred and one feet six inches, and a lot on Marriott's Lane, east of Sixth, twenty feet front, run- ning north one hundred and two feet six inches, and adjoining the other lot. On the same day Joseph Marble conveyed to the trustees a lot at the corner of Sixth Street and Marriott's Lane, running along the latter one hundred feet four inches. Andrew McCalla, on the 20th of February, 1812, conveyed to Thomas Wallace, Israel Boake, John Hunter, Solo- mon Morgan, and John Newman, deacons or trustees of Christian Church, Mount Zion, a lot on the east side of Sixth Street, north of Marriott's Lane; and Mary Hering, of Bath, England, by deed of April 24th, conveyed another lot on the east side of Sixth Street, north of Marriott's Lane. By these convey- I ances the congregation became owner of the lot run-

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RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

ning one hundred and fifty-six feet on Christian Street, and extending through to Marriott's Lane west of Sixth Street.

The congregation built a frame meeting-house of one story at the southeast corner of Sixth and Chris- tian Streets. In 1809 it was incorporated under the title, Christian Church, Mount Zion, of Southwark. The trustees then were Thomas Wallace, chairman ; Andrew McCalla, secretary ; Israel Boake, treasurer ; John Newman and Solomon Morgan, deacons; and John Hunter, Jacob Lawrence, Sr., Joshua Raybold, Robert Fanshaw, Michael Cooper, William Beament, and Edward McCrea. These gentlemen were of the following occupations : Thomas Wallace was a tailor, living at No. 373 South Second Street. Andrew Mc- Calla, shoemaker, lived at No. 263 South Fourth Street. Israel Boake was a nailer, whose shop was in Beck's Alley, and who lived at No. 494 South Second Street. John Newman was keeper of a china-shop and cheap store at No. 387 South Front Street. Sol- omon Morgan was a grocer at No. 235 South Fourth Street. John Hunter, well known in Southwark and Moyamensing as "Squire" Hunter, was justice of the peace at No. 186 South Sixth Street. Joshua Ray- bold was constable for the district of Moyamensing. He afterward became a justice, succeeding Hunter. He was also clerk of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania from 1824 to 1829. He was father of Frederick A. Raybold, an eminent member of the Philadelphia bar. Jacob Lawrence, Sr., was a carter and resided at No. 494 South Second Street. Michael Cooper was at this time a tax-collector, and afterward a constable.

In April, 1810, " Elder Frederick Plummer, of the Christian Church, preached in the meeting-house at Christian Street, on Sunday, the 21st, and in the afternoon preached and baptized at the navy-yard, on the Delaware River."

It is believed that Rev. Mr. Smith, after various missionary visits, first came to Philadelphia as per- manent pastor of the Christian Church in 1811, and returned to Portsmouth, N. H., in 1815. He was a busy man, and was active, during a long life, in moral and religious enterprises. He was the author of sev- eral books, religious essays, etc., and did a great deal of work in the periodical and newspaper which he projected and conducted. His works are as follows : "Clergyman's Looking-Glass," 1803; "History of Anti-Christ," 1803; Christian's Magazine, published quarterly from 1805 to 1807; "Sermons on the Prophecies," Exeter, 1808; Herald of Gospel Liberty, published weekly, from September, 1808, to Septem- ber, 1817, at Portsmouth, N. H., Portland, Me., and Philadelphia (this paper, it is claimed, was the first religious paper published in the United States); "New Testament Dictionary," Philadelphia, 1812; "The Fall of Angels and Men," Philadelphia, 1812; " Life, Conversion, Preaching, Travels, and Suffer- ings of Elias Smith," Portsmouth, 1816; The Herald

of Life and Immortality, a periodical -- ten numbers, serial, from January, 1819, to October, 1820; "The Age of Inquiry," Exeter, 1825; " American Physi- cian and Family Assistant," 1832; "People's Book," Boston, 1836; "The Christian's Pocket-Companion." Mr. Smith died at Lyun, Mass., on the 29th of June, 1846.

In the course of time the Christian congregation built a better church building than that which they originally occupied. It was of brick, plain in ap- pearance, and not extensive in size, being forty feet front and forty-seven feet deep. It was finished and opened for worship Sept. 5, 1819. Elder Robert Ferguson was pastor at this time, and remained until he was succeeded by Elder Frederick Plummer, who had charge of the church for a number of years, and was officiating in 1825. Mr. Ferguson accepted a call from a church in the South.

The history of this congregation is uneventful. Much industry was shown, but proselytism was not rapid. Their baptisms in the Delaware were objects of particular attention. Elder Plummer secured for those ministrations a piece of ground in New Jersey, on the bend of the river between Kaighn's Point and Gloucester Point, which in the course of time became very valuable, and was disposed of to great advantage.

The Christians have at the present time (1884) two churches in the city, as follows : First, Marlborough, above Belgrade, Rev. John G. Wilson ; Mount Zion, Christian, below Sixth, Rev. E. E. Mitchell.

BIBLE CHRISTIANS.

The Bible Christians, or Bryanites, are one of the branches of Methodism, and they are spoken of by Bishop Simpson in his " Encyclopædia of Methodism." They dress plainly, and affect a great simplicity in speech and manners. "They have elass-meetings, love-feasts, circuits, districts, and an annual Confer- ence, to which they adınit lay delegates. The strength of the church lay in the laboring classes in England, where it originated. The Bryanite form originated with William O'Bryan, a Cornwall preacher, in 1815, but it is thought that he gained his doctrines in large measure from Rev. William Cowherd, rector of Christ Church, Salford, about 1800. The latter is properly entitled to be called the founder of the Bible Chris- tian sect. He was educated for the ministry, held the church-living of Beverly, in Yorkshire, and was classical teacher and professor of Philology in Bev- erly College. Afterward he was rector of St. John's, Manchester; and becoming, while holding that posi- tion, a believer in the doctrines of the New (Sweden- borgian) Church, he left the Church of England and hecame pastor of the New Jerusalem Church in Peter Street, Manchester. Eventually he emancipated him- self from the creed of Swedenborg, and determined to be unshackled by human crceds. He obtained means to erect a meeting-house at Salford, which was completed in 1800. He preached without salary or

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HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

support from the congregation, maintaining himself by the practice of medicine. He was determined to free himself from the slavery of sects. He declared that his principles were taken directly from the Bible, and that his congregation should proclaim themselves simply Bible Christians.

In the year 1807 he began to inculcate the doctrine of abstention from the flesh of animals as food, and total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, as re- ligious duties.

One of the men who listened to Mr. Cowherd's preaching was William Metcalfe, a native of Shroad- zil, in Orton parish, Westmoreland. He also had been connected with a Swedenborgian Church, and went to Salford to study theology, but became a con- vert to Mr. Cowherd's views, and was ordained in 1811. Both he and his wife were strong vegetarians. In 1817 forty-one members of the Bible Christian Church - principally those who worshiped under Dr. Cowherd-determined to emigrate to America. Among them were two ministers, Rev. James Clarke and Rev. William Metcalfe. There were twenty other adults, and nineteen children. They sailed from Liverpool in the Liverpool packet "Captain Single- ton." Their intention was to better their position, to propagate their religious views, and to establish a Bible Christian Church in the United States. Tradi- tion reports that eleven adults and seven children be- came backsliders on the food question, and when they reached Philadelphia others apostatized. Rev. James Clarke and his family and two other families located as farmers in Lycoming County, where they formed a church and Sabbath-school. They taught strange doctrines to their neighbors, who could not under- stand what Christianity had to do with eating meat. Mr. Clarke was disappointed, and resolved to try his chances elsewhere. He went to Baltimore, and was not successful. He then settled in Indiana as a farmer. Rev. Mr. Metcalfe resolved to remain in Philadelphia ; and first, in order to find means of support, he opened a day school and academy. No- tice was soon given that-

" the members of the Bible Christian Church assembled every Sabbath- day in the school back of No. 10 North Front Street, at half-past ten o'clock in the morning and at three o'clock in the afternoon; they do not form a sectarian church, deriving their doctrines from hinman creeds, but they hold all the doctrines, though not all the ideus, of the various sects, so far as they are respectively fonuderl on the moral expressions of the sacred Scriptures; that they humbly seek, through the institu- tions of the Word of God, to become more efficiently edified in Bible truths; and that they respectfully invite their fellow-mortals of any and every profession to come and hear for themselves, and, if disposed, to join with them in church-membership, and nnite in the all-impor- tant service of worshiping God according to the teachings of His word."

The yellow fever visitation of 1818 broke up the school, and caused Mr. Metcalfe to remove his resi- dence to the Germantown road, West Kensington. In 1821 the services of the Bible Christian Church were resumed at No. 7 Pear Street. Several further changes were made.

Meetings were held for a time in a school-house in Coates Street, then upon Germantown road, and after- ward upon Little Green Street. On the 31st of May, 1823, Turner Camac and wife conveyed to James Royle, David Nuttall, George Richards, Jeremiah Horrocks, John Walker, Jonathan Wright, and Moses Kay, trustees of the Bible Christian Society, and to William Metcalfe a lot of ground on the west side of Third Street, West Kensington, sixty feet front and two hundred feet deep to a twenty-feet wide alley, subject to a ground-rent. This piece of ground was north of the present Girard Avenne, and upon it was placed a frame school-house which had been built on Coates Street for a Lancasterian school. It was removed, put in order for use as a meeting- house, and was opened and dedicated as a place of worship on the 21st of December, 1823. Mr. Met- calfe was pastor at that time, and for many years afterward.

During this period he was engaged in a number of public discussions, and wrote a series of papers on the principles of his sect for the Freeman's Journal. He also edited the Rural Magazine and Literary Even- ing Friend, devoted to literature and agriculture, pub- lished by R. & C. Johnson, No. 33 Market Street, during the year 1820. In that year a series of tracts entitled " Letters on Religious Subjects," explanatory of Bible Christian doctrines, most of which were written by Rev. Dr. Cowherd, were republished under " the editing of Mr. Metcalfe. He also published a tract about this time entitled "The Duty of Absti- Dence from all Intoxicating Drinks." It is believed to have been the first total-abstinence tract published in the United States. In 1821 he published a tract entitled " Abstinence from the Flesh of Animals;" and he wrote articles in the Philadelphia Gazette, the United States Gazette, and other papers.

The Bible Christians carried out the principle of opposition to the employment of liquors so thoroughly "that the wine used for sacramental purposes was expressly made in such manner as to remain unfer- mented, and consequently unintoxicating. Hence it has been claimed that the Bible Christian Church was the first temperance society, based upon the total-abstinence principle, in modern time."

Christ Church, on Third Street, above Girard Ave- nne, Rev. Henry S. Clubb, pastor, belongs to the Bible Christians.

THE UNITARIANS.

Unitarianism made no beginning in Philadelphia till near the close of the last century, though there were doubtless many who sympathized with the well- known liberalism of Dr. Franklin.1

1 A short-lived deistic society had been started in 1790, under the lead of John Fitch, the inventor of steamboats, and the membership ran up to forty. Its meetings in Church Alley were usually occupied with essays and debates, in which "the God of Nature" was the central theme, and a rigid code of morals was urged. The Rev. Elihu Palmer,

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RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

The famous Joseph Priestley, LL.D., a powerful opponent of Trinitarianism,-a man eminent alike in science, philosophy, and theology,-being persecuted in England for his sympathy with the French Revo- lution, came to America in 1794, and pursued his many-sided labors till he died in 1804. In 1796 he gave a course of lectures in Lombard Street Univer- salist Church, vindicating the "Evidences of Chris- tianity," and exposing its corruptions, having among his bearers many members of Congress and others of distinction. Under his impulse, a constituency was soon found for a Unitarian society, which was organ- ized June 12, 1796. There were fourteen original members, nearly all sturdy and free-minded English- 1 men, who probably brought their opinions across the water.

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 128

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