USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Luzerne > History of the Presbytery of Luzerne, state of Pennsylvania > Part 10
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*This man may have been one of the ancestors of the class of people our church is trying to elevate-"The White Mountaineers of the South."
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Governor Gooch, who, it is understood, was educated a Presbyterian, but had, for some reason, conformed to the recognized communion, said at once that the party were Presbyterians, and that under English law they were tolerated; but the Council were not disposed to put so liberal a construction on the provisions of the law operating at home, and were very bitter toward the culprits. In the midst of the exciting discussion which ensued, a terrific storm burst forth. The sharp and vivid lightning, with its instantaneous and appalling thunder in quick succession, subdued the noise of debate and the rancorous feeling of the Council, so that when the storm subsided the non-conformists were dismissed with the charge "not to make disturbances in his Majesty's colony."
This question of toleration remained an open one for a long time. The Rev. Samuel Davies, who was the first Presbyterian brought into Virginia regularly to minister to the congregation which originated from the men who were on trial at Williamsburg, first discussed it with the Hon. Peyton Randolph as his opponent, who was at that time the King's Counsellor, or Attorney General. Mr. Davies' able argument before the Court is said to have made a deep impression, and was even the admiration of his opponents. Still the question was not settled. For afterwards, when Dr. Davies was in England as the agent of Princeton College, before his election to its presidency, he had an opportunity to bring the question personally before the King, as to whether the act of toleration prevailing in England extended to the Virginia Colony, and received a favorable assurance from his Majesty .*
*See Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. III, p. 140.
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The four planters returned to their homes, confirmed rather than disturbed in their sentiments and practices. They continued to use diligently the means they had for their spiritual edification. Not fully satisfied, however, with these, they sought the aid of an authorized minister, which they seem to have been more encouraged to do by their interpretation of the Providences which had already conducted them. They subsequently obtained the presence and assistance of a Rev. Mr. Robinson, a Presbyterian minister of whom they had heard and to whom they had sent a delegation with instructions to urge him to visit Hanover and preach to them, if they found him a suitable man. Mr. Robinson, breaking away with difficulty from other engagements, spent some time among the awakened inhabitants of Hanover county, preaching to them the pure gospel, instructing them in proper methods of worship and general procedure, and checking tendencies which would lead astray and cause confusion and injury. The people seem to have been greatly cheered and aided, and when Mr. Robinson was about to leave them, urged him to accept remuneration for his services. This he declined, and when it was pressed upon him, he finally told the people that he would take their offering and use it to assist a worthy young man, then studying for the ministry, who needed help; and he promised to send the young minister to them when he had completed his course of study ; all of which he did in due time. The young man proved to be Samuel Davies, the founder of the Hanover Presbytery, subsequently President of Princeton College, a prince among preachers, a power for good in the colonies, a harbinger of the coming Republic of America. The
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foregoing sketch shows us how Presbyterianism obtained a foothold in Virginia.
The man who communicated these facts, which Dr. John Holt Rice published to the world and authenticated, was the grandfather of our Mr. Hunt who, to quote again from his autobiography, says: "My grandfather, the Rev. James Hunt, who died in 1793, was pastor of the Old Cabin John Church, Montgomery county, Maryland .* My father was William Pitt Hunt, who graduated from Princeton, and was a tutor there. He early made a profession of religion and intended to exchange the practice of law for the preaching of the gospel; but getting over-heated in assisting to extinguish a fire in Fredericksburg, Va., he caught cold which settled upon his lungs and consumption soon laid him in the tomb. My father died when I was three years old. My morning of life was one of the greatest suffering and debility. A violent attack of whooping cough, with severe fever, followed by spinal disease, with acute nervous pain, then hip disease and white swelling, left me deformed, and a cripple. My constitution was most powerful or I could not have endured these afflictions. Severe as they were, and mortifying as the result once was, I no longer look upon them in any other light than that of the richest blessing. They kept me chained, as it were, to my mother's side. Her watchful eye was ever over me, her tender hand always on me, and her angel influence always around me. My bouyant spirit, my nervous strength, my indomitable will would have hurried me to destruction, had I not been hampered, trammelled,
*Miss Susan C. Hunt informs the writer that she and her sister Mary visited the graves of their great grandfather and grandmother, Ruth Hunt, and read the inscription on their tomb stones in the "Burying Ground" attached to the Old Cabin John Church, in 1893.
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restrained as I was. Even with all these restraints and obstacles, my waywardness and desire to mingle with the wild, and out dare the most daring, my love for folly, frolic and sin, often led me astray.
"It is some comfort to know that she lived to see that her labor of love was not in vain, and that she died in the full belief that I was endeavoring to live the life of faith, and would remember and strive to practice all she taught me.
"My mother was the daughter of Col. Joel Watkins of Charlotte, Va. But few women excelled her in vigor of intellect and industry in its cultivation. Her piety was remarkable. After the death of my father, she married the Rev. Dr. Moses Hoge, perhaps the most humble, brave, pious, eloquent, generous, laborious preacher of his age. Dr. Hoge was a self-made man. He never graduated at any college, but he died President of Hampden-Sidney College, and Professor of Theology in the Union Theological Institute of Virginia and North Carolina. Some people condemn second marriages, but eternity will not be too long for me to thank God for such a second father as I found in Dr. Hoge. Besides his instruction and example, his position and reputation made his home the retreat of the most distinguished Divines of the day. There were Elijahs, Elishas, Joshuas, Pauls, Peters and Timothys in those days. They preached Christ as I never have heard Him preached since.
"I was educated at Hampden-Sidney College, and graduated in 1813. I taught school for some time, and then studied theology in the seminary, or what was then the seminary of the Hanover Presbytery, afterward of the Synod of Virginia, and finally became the Union Theo-
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logical Seminary of the Synods of Virginia and North Carolina. Dr. Hoge dying, Dr. John Holt Rice succeed- ed him. I was in the seminary under both these men. They were both pre-eminently great, in their own way.
"I once heard Mr. Lacey preach one of his powerful, tender sermons on the Sufferings of Christ. I remember that I was very thoughtless and trifling during the discourse. When the communion table was spread, a young and intimate friend of mine arose and took his seat with those who came to show forth the death of Jesus until He come. This act did more to impress my thoughtless heart than all the sermon.
"After I became a professor of religion, I had to determine on my future pursuit in life. One of my class- mates, who was preparing for the ministry, died. Dr. J. H. Rice published an obituary of him in the Evangelical Magazine. In it was asked the question, 'Who will take his place?' That simple question made a deep and more determinate impression on me, as to my future calling, than all the many wise writings and powerful appeals I had consulted. I was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Hanover, Synod of Virginia, at Charlottes- ville, Albemarle Co., 1824. After I was licensed I went to Petersburg to supply Mr. Rice's pulpit while he took a respite from labor that was wearing him out."
Mr. Hunt spent some time in Brunswick Co., Virginia, and while there was ordained to the full work of the ministry. From the beginning of his public ministry he showed an interest in the temperance cause, and he himself intimates that he was biased in that direction by the earnest instruction of his theological teacher, Dr. Rice, and while his influence as a preacher was great and
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ever increasing, (for he always secured the fixed attention of those who heard him and always gave solid and evan- gelical instruction, resulting in benefitting multitudes,) yet his influence in preaching the gospel of temperance was still greater. He was among the first to call the attention of the church especially to the giant evil of intemperance. He advocated total abstinence, and the duty of the Christian church to oppose the traffic in intoxicating drinks. It was not, however, until there seemed to be a divine call to devote the main energies of his life to the cause of temperance, indicated by the suffrage of his brethren and the marked providence presenting itself in his way, that he ceased to occupy the pastorate.
From the southern part of Virginia, where his earlier labors were put forth, he was, without solicitation on his part, or previous knowledge of any movement in that direction, invited to the Presbyterian Church of Raleigh, N. C. Before this invitation had been received, Mr. Hunt had been led to consider his relation to what in the past was known as "the peculiar institution of the South". He himself inherited considerable property in slaves which, if conscience and the tremendous responsibilities that such possessions entail had not called for a canvass of the questions connected with slavery, might have afforded him the means of easy and comfortable subsis- tence. He dreaded the responsibilities of maintaining the relation of master to slaves, and as the result of these reflections, made arrangement for his negroes to be liberated and to be colonized to the young Republic of Liberia, in Africa. He then needed other means of subsistence for himself. He had been ordained to preach
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the gospel, and possessed the "right to live of the gospel". Of this right, however, he seldom through life boasted, but the Lord cared for him and his. And all who knew Mr. Hunt were made heartily to believe that he loved rather to do good, to help his fellow men, and advance the cause of Christ than to accumulate money.
While at Raleigh, N. C., Mr. Hunt became famous as an advocate of temperance. In the public prints, his work was uniformly described "as the most brilliant and romantic on record. No Knight errant was ever braver or more chivalrous than this bold and gifted advocate of a cause that was running athwart all prejudices and customs of the community".
He was appointed agent and lecturer of the first State Temperance Society formed in North Carolina, which appointment at the cost of much sacrifice of personal and social comfort and ease, he accepted, and : successfully stemmed the tide of prejudice from the world, and many in the church as well.
After a time he made Fayetteville his headquarters, and while working from that centre began the work of gathering the children into his cold water army. Having composed a very expressive poetical pledge, beginning, "I do not think I'll ever drink, &c.", and enrolled multitudes-the writer among the rest a few years later, and then a child in eastern Pennsylvania. The pledge then ran :
"We little children think That we will never drink Whiskey, brandy, gin or rum, Or anything that will make drunk come."
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The Sabbath School children of that day generally signed the declaration of their purpose wherever Mr. Hunt appeared among them ; and he, in those days, was almost ubiquitous. No arithmetic will ever determine the influence of that movement among the children, nor Mr. Hunt's influence in shaping popular sentiment on the drink question. Wherever he was heard he did not fail to carry every audience he addreesed with him, by a public vote which he generally called for, and it was cordially given. He made the business of rum selling "odious" wherever he lectured. Taking Mr. Hunt's whole career as a temperance lecturer and preacher of temperance, it is doubtful whether any other one man in this country has exerted a more potent influence on the temperance question.
The year 1832 seems to have been an eventful one in the life of Mr. Hunt. We find he was installed pastor of the Presbyterian church of Wilmington, N. C. The same year he is commissioned to the General Assembly, which met in Philadelphia, which was the standing place of meeting from 1800 to 1835. He also attended, by appointment, the first National Temperance Convention which met in the same city and about the same time. Mr. Hunt was booked for an address which he de- livered, and which established his reputation, as a temperance advocate, north of Mason & Dixon's line. It is probable that this speech made him ultimately a member of the Presbytery of Luzerne, and prepared the way for much temperance work in the North. But this was not formally entered upon till some time after this date, as Mr. Hunt then had special engagements in the South, and not alone with his church in Wilmington.
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Another important event of 1842 was a temperance wedding, which we will allow him to describe. He says : "In Oct., 1832, I attended the first wedding I was ever at in which no intoxicating liquors of any kind were used. It was the happiest and most pleasant wedding I ever saw. It was my own. Ann Meade Feild, daughter of Dr. Richard Feild, of Hobson's, Bruns- wick Co., Virginia, consented that the Rev. W. S. Plumer, then of Petersburg, Va., should unite us in the bonds of matrimony. He did so. I returned with my bride to Wilmington, visiting my old friends at Raleigh. The kindness of the people of Wilmington to my wife, and the strong attachments and friendships she formed there, endeared my people to me more and more."
This extract seems to show that Mr. Hunt's wife was one of the kind the Lord sends, and that the bonds of which he speaks were never galling. The friendships that Mrs. Hunt elicited were not all in Wilmington, nor all in the South, nor in her youth ; nobody knew her but to love her pure and uplifting life,-her intelligence and uniform testimony to the power of the gospel to enhance the value of every domestic relationship in this world. It is not wonderful that the children of such a woman " rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her."
During Mr. Hunt's early ministry, the Synod of North Carolina requested him to publish his little book, " Bible Baptist," which was received with great favor, and proved helpful to many who were anxious to know just what the Bible does teach on the subject of baptism. It called forth many reviews from all quarters. The book still lives, and has been adopted by our Board of Publica-
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tion as one of its standard tracts. Mr. H. did not write much for the press, but enough to show his ability in that direction.
In 1834, he went North in the interest of Donald- son's Academy, near Fayetteville. As a result of this visit, which extended as far north as the city of New York, he received, soon after his return to Wilmington, from that city such an invitation to return thither as he did not feel at liberty to decline. He was wanted to enter upon the work of temperance lecturing and to devote all his time and energies to that cause.
After obtaining a release from his church in Wil- mington, N. C., he removed to New York, in the course of a few weeks, where he resided till 1836, when he took up his abode in Philadelphia, from which city he answered the constant calls to lecture in widely scattered places. This period of Mr. Hunt's life was one of incessant toil. Of it he says, " I had not one day's rest for eleven years, and during that time my speaking averaged one and a half a day. If I could get a few hours sleep in the stage, steamboat, or cars, I felt re- freshed and strong."
Between 1826 and 1850, he writes that "he had visited twenty states, and delivered upwards of ten thousand lectures and sermons."
In the course of his lectures, Mr. Hunt was called into the Wyoming Valley. He was charmed, and realized that there was a wonderful future for that part of Penn- sylvania. He therefore bought a farm and moved his family thither in 1838. Thus he became significantly identified with the development of every beneficial enter- prise, especially such as aimed to advance the moral,
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intellectual, and spiritual interests of that locality, and of our common country.
While he was in Luzerne and adjoining counties- a power second to none other in the temperance reform- his ministerial brethren, especially those of his own church, found in him a most valuable coadjutor in pro- moting church life and growth. Fully comprehending and prophesying the speedy increase of population and business in the general region in which he had settled, Mr. Hunt was fired with zeal for making the region Christian and temperate ; no labor was regarded as too hard or too expensive when demanded in order to attain these ends. And many a community within the bound- aries of the late Luzerne Presbytery became debtors to him to an amount not easily computed. As will appear in the sequel of this history, few of the organized congregations attained church life without his help, and the number was still fewer of those which were not stimulated in their infancy by his earnest, eloquent in- structions and admonitions given, in season and out of season, cheerfully and without ostentation.
A patriot of no uncommon ardor, when the late unhappy war came, menacing the integrity of the most favored country the sun ever shone upon, he was found with the union army, standing for the stars and stripes. He followed them to the very place of his birth, where a rival flag had been and still was borne aloft by those who had been very near and dear to him, and with whom, in many things, he was in deepest sym- pathy. Nor is it bitterness now, but the loftiest patriot- ism that determines his attitude and enhances the value of his patriotic services, as he so faithfully and gallantly
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ministers to the spiritual and physical wants of the defenders of the old flag and our common country. Although more than sixty years old, and crippled, no chaplain did better service or was more the idol of his regiment than Thomas P. Hunt. Nor were his bravery and devotion to the men of his regiment only observed in his army corps ; they were noted by many others in and outside the army. One writer says: "His army ex- periences are thrilling, and I am told by those who knew him, that he was as brave as a lion in the discharge of his duty. He was seen in one of the most dreadful battles, when our army was forced to retreat, kneeling by a wounded soldier and ministering to him, despite the perils that were pressing upon him. He won the unbounded admiration of officers and soldiers alike."
The fruits of Mr. Hunt's early ministry in North Carolina are even yet pointed out in one case, not to speak of others. An established, self-sustaining church is declared by an honored citizen to be due to the Sabbath School which he started more than forty years ago. Eternity only can unfold the results of such an active, earnest life.
It is impossible properly to characterize Mr. Hunt's temperance work. The methods he employed were his own. Nor was it necessary for him to take out a patent for them, since nobody else could use them. They were effective and versatile. He seemed to be ready for any emergency that he encountered. He maintained perfect self-control. He could still the most turbulent audience, and never failed to turn the laugh on any one who contradicted or criticised him while speaking. A man, displeased at something he said, once called him "an old
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dog." He responded, "Yes, I am an old dog. If you live long enough, you will be an old dog, but now you are only a puppy." He was a genius, with lofty principles, backed up by an energy seldom equalled.
His useful life terminated October, 1876, our national centennial year, and six years after the Luzerne Presbytery ceased to be. It had been dear to him, as to all its founders and friends. With characteristic fidelity, he had gone to Philadelphia to attend a meeting of the Synod to which he then belonged, though less at home in Philadelphia Synod than in the Synod of New Jersey. He and his brethren of the Luzerne Presbytery dearly loved the old irenic Synod of New Jersey, but they no doubt easily coalesced with the solid, faithful and agressive Synod into which the re-union of 1870 had brought them, at the time their Presbytery was dropped from the roll.
Mr. Hunt was only able to be present at the opening of Synod. He, however attended, on the day following, the unveiling of the Witherspoon statue. He was generally an active member of ecclesiastical meetings, was always heard with interest and deference, sometimes with dread by such as were wanting in zeal in the cause of temperance which was so dear to him.
Notwithstanding Mr. Hunt's sickness, he preached a temperance sermon in the Tabor church, on Sabbath. It was his last. His public services which had been so numerous, so widely rendered, so effective, and so well received, ended in that Philadelphia church. None who ever heard him forgot him, or forgot all they heard him say. With those to whom Mr. Hunt preached that was scarcely possible. A wonderfully active, unique and
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effective career ended with that last sermon, on the text found in I Tim. 4:4. After preaching, he returned to the house of his married daughter, Mrs. Edward B. Twaddell, whom he was visiting in Philadelphia. After this his health failed gradually. The hopes of his physician, founded on his patient's strong constitution and cheerful disposition, were not realized. On the 5th of December, 1876, he was not, for God had taken him. A little more than a year before, September II, 1875, his cherished and beloved wife had preceded him to the better land. Not long separated, their mortal remains rest in the Wilkes-Barre cemetery. The Rev. Robert Adair and Drs. W. P. Breed and McCook conducted private services in Philadelphia, and in Wilkes-Barre a more formal funeral service was held in the First Presbyterian church, under the direction of the Rev. H. H. Swift, the pastor of the family. There were present and participating in the services, the Rev. C. R. Lane, who preached the sermon, Revs. H. H. Welles, F. B. Hodge, N. G. Parke, and S. C. Logan. Some of these brethren knew Mr. Hunt better than others, but all loved him and mourned his loss. Devout men carried his unconscious body to its burial, and lamented the termination of a life that has been so full of activity and usefulness to the very last.
The immediate family left at his departure consisted of four daughters, earnest, active, accomplished Christian ladies. The eldest, Miss Susan C. Hunt, has unsurpassed missionary zeal. She is especially interested in and helpful to Home missionaries in the great west, and has been very influential in interesting others in like agencies.
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The writer has, in the course of a long Home missionary career, often been cheered by the timely co-operation afforded him in emergencies, in forwarding important missionary enterprises through her personal acts or agency. More than once failure would have been incurred in important undertakings but for her efficient aid at the critical time. Miss Susan and her sister Anna, the widow of Andrew J. Welles, who died many years ago, and Mrs. Caspar R. Gregory, the widow of the Rev. Caspar R. Gregory, the lamented pastor of the Memorial Presbyterian church of Wilkes-Barre, live in Wilkes- Barre. Mr. Hunt had purchased a home for his family in that city some four years before his death, and they continue to occupy that house, and are efficient members of the Memorial church.
Ruth Hall, the third daughter, married Mr. S. H. Hibler, of Wilkes-Barre, but died in 1866. Lucy Jane married Mr. Edward B. Twaddell ; they live in West Philadelphia. Mary Elizabeth Watkins married Mr. George C. Rippard of Wilkes-Barre ; they now live in Baltimore, Md.
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