USA > Pennsylvania > Franklin County > Chambersburg > History of the Rocky Spring Church : and addresses delivered at the centennial anniversary of the present church edifice, August 23, 1894 > Part 4
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approved of the Prediction Bem of church government. and regarded them as most favorable to the promotion of true religion and for the preservation of the peace and unity of the church. Mr. Biair married the daughter of Mr. John Durburrow, of Philadelphia. The Rev. John Durburrow Blair, of Richmond, Va., was his son. His daughter was married to the Rev. Dr. William Lin, who was born over here in Lurgan township, near to Roxborough, and became one of Dr. Blair's successors as pastor of Big Spring Church and was for twenty years one of the collegiate pastors of the Retormed Dutch Churches and one of the most eloquent preachers in the city of New York. The Rev. Dr. John Blair Linn, pastor for a short time of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, was his grandson, a very prodigy of talent, learning and poetic genius. Dr. John Blair Smith, presi- dent of Princeton College and Dr. Jolin Blair Hoge, of Vir- ginia, were descendents of his, Francis P. Blair, of the Globe at Washington, and father of the late Montgomery and General Frank P. Blair, were of this same family of Blairs. He was the author of a treatise on Regeneration; a treatise on the Nature and Use of the Means of (`race and of two or more controversial works on the ecclesiastical questions of his day, the title of one of which is, 'The Synods of New York and Philadelphia Vindicated. He was very prominent and influential in the synods of his time.
REV. JOHN CRAIGHEAD.
After an interim of from ten to thirteen years, during which time the church was dependent on supplies, Mr. John Craighead became the next pastor of Rocky Spring. Mr. Craighead was the son of Mr. John and Rachael B. Craig- head who settled four miles south of Carlisle. His father was a grandson of the Rev. Thomas Craighead. He, Rev. John Craighead, was born in 1742. He graduated at Princeton College in 1763, and was a class-mate of Dr.
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Corner, of Middle Spring; stalled theology with Dr. Robert Smith, of Pequea, Lancaster coanty, Pa., and was ordained and installed pastor of Rocky Spring Church, April 13th, 1768. Here he continued his ministry with great faithful- ness until 1789, when his health failed. He resumed his work after a year's rest and recuperation, and died .April 20, 1799, at the age of fifty-seven, and is buried in the Rocky Spring graveyard. The people erected a suitable memorial and inscribed upon it the date of his installation and death, and added, "He was a faithful and zealous servant of Jesus Christ." Mr. Craighead in addition to being an earnest and faithful preacher of Christ and His great salvation, was a zealous patriot in the war of independence. He is noted in history tor his earnest and patriotic appeals to his people during the Revolutionary struggle, and for his services as Captain and Chaplain of a company formed out of his own congregation, in response to his patriotic appeals at a sol- emi crisis in the war when the whole male portion of the congregation rose to their feet in token of their readiness to embark in the defense of their country. It is said again, that in the early days of the Revolution he assembled the people of a remote part of his congregation under the extended branches of a majestic oak tree, in front of the dwelling of one of his parishioners, a Mr. Sharpe, and there in thrilling tones addressed them in behalf of American Inde- pendence, beseeching them to stand up boldly in their coun- try's cause, and to let their slogan cry, for "God and liberty," ring from mountain to mountain. As a proof of the patriotic spirit thus infused, it is stated "that the list of the members of Rocky Spring Church at the time of the erection of the present church edifice, a century ago, eleven years after the close of the war, reveals the historic fact that nearly every male member of that date had served in the War of the Revolution." What a list of names is found in the roll of honor which has been preserved in the archives of the State, of those who served in the war of independence from this congregation.
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Their surviving descendants will have no dificulty in assert- ing their claim to be enrolled as sons or daughters of the American Revolution. A sermon is preserved in the Pres- byterian Historical Society preached before Col. Montgom- ery's battalion, August 31, 1775, by Mr. Craighead on Cour- age in a Good Cause, which was well adapted to inspire all to whom it was addressed with courage and resolution in the cause of Independence. There were stirring scenes on these grounds in those days. Here it was, after most earnest appeals from the pastor, that a full company of men assembled and were organized, and with their young and handsome pastor as their chosen Captain, marched away for the scene of conflict, at that time in New Jersey. Mr. Craighead was married to the daughter of the Rev. Adam Boyd, in Lancaster County, at whose house he stayed over night when on his way with his company to join the army in New Jersey, at which time he first made her acquaintance. They were married at the close of the campaign. His wife survived him and died in Carlisle in 1802, at the age of seventy-three, leaving no children. The Rev. Dr. Martin of Chanceford, York county, Pa., a man of good judgment and rare intelligence, said of Mr. Craighead, that he was a man of talent, a fine scholar, an excellent preacher, specially able in scripture illustration, and always emerging from his melan- cholly spells, spells of occasional deep gloominess, with increased light and power as a preacher.
REV. FRANCIS HERRON, D. D.
The Rev. Francis Herron, who became a very conspicuous minister in his later years, succeeded Mr. Craighead. He was born, educated, licensed, ordained, and installed pastor all within the bounds of the Presbytery of Carlisle. He was the son of John Herron, a ruling elder in the church of Middle Spring. He was born June 28, 1774. His parents were of the Scotch-Irish race, and like all that people, were ·
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noted for their devotion to the Presbyterian faith and wor- ship, and ardent friends of civil and religious liberty. Francis was early consecrated to God, trained up in a Chris- tian household and under the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Cooper. He entered Dickinson College, pursued a regular classical and scientific course under the presidency of Dr. Nisbet, with a view to entering the ministry, and graduated May 5, 1794. He at once entered upon the study of theol- ogy under the direction of his pastor, Rev. Dr. Cooper at Middle Spring, and was licensed to preach October 4, 1797. Soon after his licensure, accompanied by the Rev. Matthew Brown, a class-mate and subsequently a brother-in-law, Mr. Herron, set out upon a missionary tour to the west on horse- back by way of Pittsburg. Mr. Herron went as far as Chil- licothe, Ohio, traveling for days through unbroken forests, the course to be pursued being indicated at times only by a foot path or by blazes upon the trees. For days he journeyed without finding any human habitation or shelter, and for two nights he encamped near what is now the town of Mari- etta, Ohio, with the Indians. On his return Mr. Herron stopped at Pittsburg, then a village of less than two thous- and inhabitants, and with but one church building, a rude log structure, which stood upon the lot where the first Pres- byterian Church now stands. In the keeper of the hotel where Mr. Herron lodged, he found an acquaintance whom he had known east of the mountains, at whose solicitation he preached to a congregation of less than twenty people. This was Mr. Herron's first introduction to the people of Pittsburg, with whom his after life became so fully identified. This was the period of the great revival which prevailed so extensively among the churches of Western Pennsylvania at the beginning of the present century and which had a great influence in moulding and giving type to the piety and religious activity of the churches in all that region of the country. Mr. Herron was induced to visit a number of the churches in which a deep religious interest at the time
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existed. He entered into the work most hearting and was greatly blessed and strengthened spiritually himself, while his labors proved eminently acceptable and useful to the churches visited. Among the congregations visited were those of Dr. John McMillan, of Chartiers, near to Canous- burg, the patriarch of Presbyterianism in Western Pennsyl- vania, Drs. Ralston and Smith, the Rev. Mr. McCurdy and others, which were all in the midst of a protracted season of gracious revival. One of the congregations in which he preached at this time was that of Buffalo, in Washington county, the people of which were so much pleased and edi- fied with his preaching that they extended to him a unani- mous call to become their pastor. This call he was strongly urged by Dr. Ralston and others to accept, but he concluded to hold it under consideration until his return home, where he found a similar call awaiting him from the congregation of Rocky Spring, the one adjoining that in which he had been raised. This latter call he accepted and respectfully declined the former. He was accordingly ordained and installed here by the Presbytery of Carlisle, April 9th, in the year 1800. Here, in what was then a large congregation, be- gan the life work of Dr. Francis Herron. Greatly quickened and renewedly consecrated by the revival scenes in which he had participated, and deeply impressed by the ordination services through which he had just passed, he girded him- self for his work and began his ministry in such a way as soon told upon the congregation. His preaching was with such unction and power that the impenitent were awakened and professing Christians were quickened into new life and energy. Prayer meetings were instituted, a thing previously unknown in the congregation, and carried on with encour- aging success. A Bible Class was formed and meetings for catechetical examination were appointed and conducted with persevering energy to the great and lasting advantage of all concerned. The first decade of Dr. Herron's ministry was thus passed in this congregation in labors such as these. It
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was a period of healthful growth to the congregation and a time when the young pastor grew in ministerial strength and usefulness. In the year 1810, however, Mr. Herron made another visit to Pittsburg, to his sister, Mrs. Peebles, then a resident of that city, and to Dr. Matthew Brown, his brother-in-law, then President of Washington College, at Washington, Pa. During this visit he was invited to preach in the First Presbyterian Church then left vacant by the death of Rev. Robert Steele. The result was a unanimous call to become their pastor. This call he accepted and accordingly his pastoral relation to Rocky Spring was dis- solved April 9th, 1811, and he was installed pastor .of the First Church, Pittsburg, Pa., June 1811, by the Presbytery of Red Stone. Here he accomplished the great work of lis life and became one of the most prominent and useful min- isters of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Herron, as a man, was tall and commanding in person, fully six feet in height and large in proportion, of very regular features, one of the · handsomest men in the State. He was a man of great nerve and will power, moulding rather than being moulded, breast- ing the current rather than floating with the stream. As a Christian he was distinguished by a vigorous growth and a uniform development of all the Christian graces. As a preacher his discourses were doctrinal, experimental, awak- ening, tender and affectionate. As a Presbyter he was regu- lar, attentive, thoroughly acquainted with the rules of order, making a good presiding officer, calm and judicial in discus- sion, and of great weight and influence in the deliberations of . ecclesiastical bodies. He was moderator ot the General As- sembly in 1827. In February, IS02, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Blain, daughter of Alexander Blain, Esq., of Carlisle, Pa., and sister to the first wife of the Rev. Dr. Matthew Brown, President of Washington and afterwards of Jefferson College, in Washington county, Pa. Mrs. Herron died in the year 1855. Dr. Herron's happy, serene life camne to a peaceful end December 6, 1860. They had several children.
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REV. JOHN MCKNIGHT. D. D.,
Another distinguished minister of the Presbyterian Church was stated supply of Rocky Spring Church from ISHI to 1815. He was also a son of the Cumberland Valley. John McKnight was born near Carlisle, October 1, 1754. His father who was a Major during the French and Indian War, died during his childhood. John, in his youth, was noted for special amiability and buoyancy of temper and was . a general favorite with his young associates. He graduated at Princeton College under the presidency of Dr. Wither- spoon in 1773, studied theology under Dr. Cooper at Middle Spring, was licensed by the Presbytery of Donegal in 1775, and ordained by the same Presbytery in 1776. In 1775 he went to Virginia and preached and organized a church on Elk branch between Shepherdstown and Charleston. In 1783 he accepted calls to Lower Marsh Creek, now in Adams county, Pa., and Tom's Creek, Maryland. Here he spent what he afterwards regarded as the six happiest years of his life. At the end of six years in Marsh Creek Mr. M'Knight was called to be collegiate pastor to Dr. John Rodgers, pas- tor of the Presbyterian Collegiate Churches in the city of New York, and Moderator of the Second General Assembly. After the most careful deliberation, and with the advice of his Presbytery, he accepted this call and was installed there December, 1789. There he continued in the most earnest and laborious discharge of his ministerial duties for twenty years, preaching, for the first four years, three sermons each Sabbatlı, until the call of the Rev. Samuel Miller as a col- league in 1793. In 1792 he received from Yale College the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1809 the col- legiate relation, which he never liked, was dissolved, but in a manner which he disapproved. On this account, and on account of enfeebled health, with the consent of Presbytery, he resigned his charge in April, 1809, and returned to Penn- sylvania and settled on a small farm with modern improve-
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ments near Chambersburg, which he purchased for a home. Soon after this, Rocky Spring Church being vacant, the people desired to call him as pastor. Declining a call he consented to serve them as a stated supply as his strength would admit. For five years he performed for them all the duties of a pas- tor as well as preacher with as much fidelity and regularity. as if he had been installed. In 1815 he was constrained .to accept the presidency of Dickinson College, but finding it as it seemed to him, hopelessly embarrassed financially and in other ways, he resigned that position at the end of one year. Returning again to his home near Chambersburg, he there spent the remainder of his life, preaching as opportu- nity occurred and his health allowed, and on the 23d of October, 1823, in the seventieth year of his age, from the effects of a billious epidemic disease, he passed away in the full exercise of liis mental powers and in the enjoyment of a blessed assurance of eternal life. In 1795 Dr. McKnight was chosen Moderator of the General Assembly in Carlisle, Pa. Dr. McKnight was described by Dr. Duffield, latterly of Detroit, Michigan, and formerly of Carlisle, Pa., "as a man of slender person, above medium height, and of a considerate and reflective countenance indicative of deep and protracted thought. His bearing and address were graceful and digni- fied, without any manifestation of overbearing pride. He was at liis ease in all society. As a preacher he was calin, dispassionate, witli little of variation in tone or gesture, with no prancing about and little gesticulation, yet not monoto- nous or unimpressive, but with a manner well adapted to his matter, which was generally a lucid and logical exposi- tion of some important Scripture truth. He was a zealous expounder and defender of the Calvanistic faith, which he was careful always to enforce with a due citation of Scripture passages. The bearing of Christian doctrine on Christian experience he was want clearly to set forth." This is high testimony from an intelligent source. Dr. Mcknight took an active part in the discussion of the question in relation
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to the location of a thelogical seminary in the Assembly of 1812, earnestly advocating Chambersburg, Pa., as the place for its location rather than Princeton, N. J. He published six discourses on faith, which were highly commended by Drs. Rodgers and Witherspoon, besides a number of others preached on different occasions. Dr. Mcknight was married to Susan, daughter of George Brown, of Franklin county, Pa., by whom he had ten children, two of whom entered the ministry.
REV. JOHN M'KNIGHT, JR.
The next minister in the Rocky Spring Church was the Rev. John McKnight, Jr., son of Dr. John McKnight. A call was presented and accepted by him at a meeting of Pres- bytery April 9th, 1816, as a licentiate. He was ordained on the same day with George Duffield at Carlisle, Pa., Septem- ber 25, 1816, and was installed pastor of Rocky Spring Church the second Wednesday in November, 1816, Dr. Joshua Williams of Big Spring, preaching the sermon and the Rev. Mr. Denny of Chambersburg, charging the congre- gation. Mr. McKnight is represented as a minister whose labors were abundant and successful during his pastorate here of twenty years. . He inherited many of the amiable and excellent qualities of his distinguished father which rendered him not only an earnest and faithful preacher of the essential truths of the Gospel, but also a most affection- ate and agreeable minister in his pastoral and social inter- course with the people. But while inheriting his father's amiable and social qualities he does not seem to have had his firm and uncompromising adherence to the standards of the church. The minutes of Presbytery show that he was a strong sympathizer with Dr. Duffield all through his trial on account of the serious errors contained in his book on Regeneration, and was foremost among the small minority of the Presbytery in protesting against the decisions of the
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Moderator and of the large majority of the Presbytery dur- ing the trial. Whether this sympathy with Dr. Duffield was chiefly due to personal friendship for him, as was the case with some others, and not from doctrinal affinity with him, we have not the means of determining. At all events when his pastoral relation with Rocky Spring was dissolved in 1836 he removed to Philadelphia and identified himself with the New School branch of the church in which con- nection he spent the remainder of his ministry. In 1839 Mr. McKnight was dismissed to the Presbytery of Lewes, Delaware. In 1840 he was stated supply of the Rehoboth Church, Maryland. In 1846 he was pastor of the New School Church, Hamontonville, Pa. He is marked in the . New School Minutes of 1857, as without charge. He died July 29, 1857, at the age of sixty-eight years and was buried at Montours, Susquehanna county, Pa. Mr. Mc- Knight was married to the daughter of Joseph Chambers, of Chambersburg, and owned and lived upon the farm recently sold by John Schlichter to the Land and Improve- ment Company of Chambersburg.
ROBERT KENNEDY.
From 1836 to 1840 Rocky Spring Church had as a stated supply the Rev. Robert Kennedy, a sketch of whose life is given in the late history of the Presbytery of Carlisle ;- and to whom, by reason of the grateful appreciation of Mr. Elias Kennedy, of Philadelphia, a descendant of his, the Robert Kennedy Memorial Church at Welsh Run, was erected as a .tribute to his memory.
REV. ALEXANDER K. NELSON.
The next regular pastor was the Rev. Alexander K. Nel- son, who was in charge of this congregation for thirty-three years, one-third of a century. Alexander Kirkpatrick Nel-
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son, son of William and Margareta Turner Nelson, was born October 1st, 1793, in Tyrone county, Ireland, and was brought the next year by his parents to this country. They settled in York county, Pa., within the bounds of the Chance- ford Presbyterian Church, of which the Rev. Samuel Mar- tin, D. D., was the able and successful pastor. He had the advantages only of an academical education prior to his entrance upon the study of divinity. He was a student for some time of West Nottingham Academy, Md., under Rev. James Magraw, D. D., and studied Hebrew and theology under Dr. Samuel Martin. He entered the second or mid- dle class of Princeton Theological Seminary with the approval of his Presbytery in 1832, and graduated from the same in the Class .of 1834. He was licensed by the New Castle Presbytery October 8th, 1834, and was stated supply of the church at Coleraine 1835-6, was ordained by Presby- tery of Carlisle May 3d, 1837, and installed pastor of the congregations of Center and Upper, Perry county, Pa. On May 29th, 1840, he was installed pastor of Rocky Spring and St. Thomas churches, in which relation he continued until May, 1873, having reached the eightieth year of his age. His residence was in Chambersburg, Pa., where, September 3d, 1886, in the ninety-third year of his age he died. Mr. Nelson was married March 15, 1842, to Mrs. Mary H. Humphreys, daughter of Thomas McDowell, Esq., of Par- nell's Knob, Franklin county, Pa. She died October 20th, 1874. They had two children, the elder, Margaretta, died April, 1872, at about the age of twenty-six. The other, Thomas M. Nelson, is three years younger, and with his family, is here with us to-day. A pastorate of thirty-three years to the same congregation involves an untold amount of labor and self-sacrifice for the sake of the Master and the spiritual interests of the people to whom one ministers. Mr. Nelson served this people through all this period, during all of which time he had to keep a horse and buggy, support a family and entertain as ministers are obliged to do, on a sal-
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ary of $1oo a year. This indicates the self-lenying and unas- suming character of the man, and a lack of liberality among the people, especially when there was an endowment which rendered an annuity of about $250 a year. Mr. Nelson made frequent and earnest appeals in behalf of the benevo- lent work of the church and the records of the church show that the contributions for these objects were above the aver- age, but he was too modest and unassuming to make any corresponding appeals in behalf of his own support. Mrs. Nelson has been heard to remark, and that not altogether playfully, that she paid more for the support of the Gospel in St. Thomas and Rocky Spring Churches during her hus- band's pastorate, year by year, than both congregations combined. On account of deafness Mr. Nelson mingled but little in society during the last twenty-five or thirty years of his life, not even attending the meetings of Presbytery because of his inability to engage in ordinary conversation with confort to himself and others, and to hear and under- stand the business of Presbytery. When however, he was thrown among people, and especially in his earlier years, he was sociable and entertaining and greatly enjoyed the society of his friends. His natural disposition was gentle and yield- ing, but his convictions on the subjects of religion and poli- tics are said to have been very firm and pronounced. In regard to his religious views he was of the strictly orthodox type believing fully in the inspiration of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and in the Westminster Con- fession of Faith and Catechism as the Church'e accepted and authorized interpretation of the same. His deep humility in view of conscious sinfulness and unworthiness in the sight of God, begat in him a fear of death, and he often quoted the words of the Apostle, "Lest by any means after having preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." . But, several months before he died, he was graciously relieved of this bondage through fear of death, and his departure at the end was calm and peaceful, like the fading
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of the twilight at the close of a clear summer's day. His end was prace. His remains lie buried in Chambersburg.
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The remaining two pastors of Rocky Spring Church, Rev. Samuel C. George and the Rev. Henry G. Finney still survive.
PRESBYTERIANISM AND CIVIL LIBERTY.
BY . HON. JOHN STEWART.
The fact that two representative Scotch-Irish divines have already addressed you and there still remains a fragment of the morning for further exercises, is not to be taken as evi- dence of any decline in the ability or endurance of the Pres- byterian pulpit. Had either of these worthy gentlemen been allowed to choose his own thieme and set his own limit to the discussion of it, we would doubtless still be listening to a learned discussion of some one of the five points of Calvanism which would have required the whole morning for its unfolding, and a large section of the afternoon for its application, leaving to the other brother but sufficient time for the orthodox benediction. It was otherwise arranged, not because of any distrust in the ability of these gentlemen to handle these high themes in a manner quite as exhaust- ive, and for that matter quite as exhausting, too, as would have been expected of the preachers of an earlier age; but rather because of distrust in the endurance, submission and resignation of the people who were to do the listening. If the circumstances warrant any inference of decline, let us be honest enough to admit that it is in ourselves. We of the laity cannot afford to expose our clergy to any unjust suspi- cion. On the contrary it is as little as we can do to guard
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