USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I pt 1 > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
In Scotland, early in this period, 1710-1720, semi-Arminian doctrines began to be introduced by the younger clergy ; and the right of presentation by lay patrons of ministers to churches, which is a sad infringement of the independency of the church and the headship of Christ, was again enacted by Parliament, and received the sanction of the Queen. Arminian and Pelagian sentiments continued to spread, and Professor Simpson, who occupied the chair of theology in the University of Glasgow, was arraigned for his advocacy of these errors. But the Assembly of 1717, many of the members of which had been his pupils, treated him with great lenity, merely prohibiting him from using those inaccurate and incautious expressions which they acknowledged him to have uttered. Arminian notions continued to be imported both from Holland and England; the views of Baxter respecting the doctrines of grace, which bend towards the Arminian scheme, were fol- lowed by some. Others maintained that the gospel is a new law or constitution, promising salvation on a condition,-this condition being, in the view of some, faith; in the view of others, faith and repentance, or faith, repentance, and sincere though imperfect obedience. These were termed Neonomians, and their opponents Antinomians.
* Timpson's British Eccl. Hist., 371.
179
LAX DOCTRINES IN SCOTLAND.
1710-1720.]
In Ireland the Presbyterian clergy continued to suffer more or less from the tyranny of the Established Church. "The melancholy apprehension of these things has put several of us," say they, in an address to the Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, October, 1713, "upon thoughts of transplanting ourselves to America, that we may there in a wilderness enjoy, by the blessing of God, that ease and quiet to our consciences, persons, and families, which is denied us in our native country." * The Schism Bill, before alluded to, created disturbances in Ireland. On account of their resist- ance to it the Presbyterian churches in the towns of Antrim, Downpatrick, and Rathfriland were nailed up. These acts of violence ceased on the death of Anne and the accession of George I. The lax doctrines which were becoming current in Scotland passed over into Ireland and were advocated by a · number of the younger and most intelligent clergy. Similar opinions with those of Professor Simpson were entertained. It was held that every man's persuasion was the sole rule of faith and conduct, that there was no culpability in honest error, and that none had a right to exclude from Christian fellowship those who walk according to their own persuasions on non-essentials, and that all doctrines were non-essential on which " human reason and Christian sincerity permitted men to differ." These brethren also announced their opposition to subscribing confessions of faith as tests of orthodoxy. By their opponents they were called New Lights, and their views were the beginning of a controversy which reached far down in the eighteenth century, and traces of which may be found in our own history.
* Reid's Hist. Pres. Ch. in Ireland, iii., 173.
180
CHURCH IN CHARLESTON.
[1720-1730.
BOOK SIXTH.
1
A. D. 1720-1730.
CHAPTER I.
IN the period from 1720-1730, the ecclesiastical notices. of the " Dissenting " churches of South Carolina are few in number. The hurricane of 1713, which beat upon the house of Rev. Mr. Livingston, at the foot of East Bay, carried away or destroyed the records of the CHURCH IN CHARLESTON. None exist of any church, except the Episcopalian, which, being a state establishment, has its history in the early periods substantially preserved in the public archives. We learn from Dr. Ramsay, that Rev. William Livingston's labors were con- tinued in that church beyond the year 1720, some time after which he died. Of the birth, education, and other circum- stances of his early life little is known. He was a respectable and useful preacher. He left one daughter and three sons. From these descended families of the name of Tunno and Stewart, the latter of whom, in Dr. Ramsay's time, were living near Dorchester. By his and Mr. Stobo's efforts there seems to have arisen a more perfect appreciation of Presbyterian polity among a part at least of that congregation. In the year 1724, forty-three persons, probably heads of families, members of the church or congregation, subscribed a call inviting the Rev. Nathan Bassett to be their minister. They call themselves the members of the Presbyterian church in Charlestown, and others resorting to this public place of worship. They state that they had previously made application to the Rev. Messrs. Colman and Cooper, ministers of the gospel in Boston, to send them "a pious, able, ordained Presbyterian minister," and that they had prevailed on him, the Rev. Nathan Bassett, to come among them. Of the persons sent to, Drs. Colman and Cooper, Colman was not a Congregational, but a Presbyterian clergy- man, of the English model. * Benjamin Colman was born in Boston, October 19th, 1673, of parents who had emigrated
* Wodrow of Scotland, Correspondence, vol. ii., 284. Colman, in his letter to Wodrow, Dec. 9th, 1717, says, " Wc arc entirely upon the Presbyterian foot," p. 367.
1
181
THE REV. BENJAMIN COLMAN.
1720-1730.]
from London. He was graduated at Harvard, in 1692. Having taken his second degree at Harvard, he embarked on the 20th of July, 1695, for England, that he might prosecute his studies further. He was present at the conferences between Howe, Bates, Mead, Mather, and others, for the reconciliation of Congregationalists and Presbyterians. Invited by Sir Henry Ashurst, then agent for the New England colonies, to his country-seat near Oxford, he made the acquaintance of Dr. Hall, Bishop of Bristol ; Dr. Hough, Bishop of Oxford; and Dr. Gastrell, afterwards Bishop of Chester; who politely showed him the colleges, "with what was rare and curious in them." He was called from Oxford by the Presbyterian board at Lon- don, to take charge of a small church at Cambridge, where he preached for a short time; then at Ipswich. Then he was appointed by the board to succeed Mr. Taylor, at Bath, whichi some told him " was the best stirrup in England whereby to mount the best pulpits which might be vacant." Thence he was called to a new church [Brattle Street] in Boston. The persons calling him stipulated that the Holy Scriptures should be publicly read every Sabbath in the worship of God, "which was not practised in New England, and that they might lay aside the relation of experiences, which were imposed in other churches, in order to the admission of persons to the Lord's table." He arrived at London, August 1st, 1699, and on the 4th of that month was ordained by the Presbytery. He was a Presbyterian in church government, though not connected with any Presbytery in this country, and was a man of singular eloquence and influence. In 1731 he was honored with the degree of D. D. from the University of Glasgow. His correspondence with Mr. Hollis, whom he had known at Bath, resulted in the foundation of two pro- fessorships and ten scholarships at Cambridge, and. in the appointment of Rev. Edward Wigglesworth, a thorough Calvinist, as the first professor of theology. He received from Isaac Hollis, nephew of Thomas, £340 for the poor of the New England churches, and large sums for the Indian missions, and some £10,432 from Mr. Holden, his widow, and her daugh- ters, for various religious purposes .* Rev. William Cooper was graduated at Harvard, 1712, and ordained as colleague with Dr. Colman, May 23d, 1716. He also was a man eminent for piety, talents, and usefulness. These facts, which might be much more extended, serve to show the character of the men
* Colman's Letter to Wodrow, Correspondence, iii., 25.
182
GOVERNOR NICHOLSON.
[1720-1730.
by whom Mr. Bassett was sent to Charleston, and, by inference, his own views in theology. He seems to have been a member of the Presbytery, but was regarded by Dr. Ramsay as a Con- gregationalist in church government. He was a graduate of Harvard University, and received the degree of A. M. in 1719. He was ordained in Boston on the 14th of April, 1724, with a view to his becoming pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Charlestown .* Though coming with suitable introductions to the governor, General Francis Nicholson, he was rudely repulsed by him, and treated in a most ungenerous and un- gentlemanly manner. A scire facias had been taken out by the attorney-general against the proprietors, as having. forfeited their charter. In September, 1720, General Nicholson was appointed Governor, and much was expected from his ex- perience in provincial affairs, as he had been the governor of several colonies before.t He is represented as possessed of all the honorable principles of a good soldier : as generous, bold, and resolute; as a warm friend of the king and his country. As he was the first royal governor, he was received with enthusiasm by the people, who were grateful for their deliverance from proprietary blunders and misrule, who laid aside all their animosities, and addressed themselves heartily to those efforts which were needed for the public well-being. "Though he was bred a soldier," says Hewat, "and was profane, passionate, and headstrong himself, yet he was not insensible of the great advantage of religion to society, and contributed not a little to its interest in Carolina, both by his public influence and private generosity."# Hewat goes on to mention the measures taken by him for the promotion of religion, all of which were directed to the more perfect
* " On Tuesday, inst., the Rev. N. Bassett was ordained pastor of the Presbyterian Church, in Charles Town, South Carolina."-Boston News- Letter of Thursday, April 16th, 1724. Library of Mass. Hist. Soc., Boston.
t "London, Nov. 23d, 1721. Genl. Nicholson, his Majesty's Captain Gen- eral and Governor-in-Chief of the Province of South Carolina, had the Honor to kiss his Majesty's hand for that Government. That gentleman is shortly to set out for that country, with an Independent Company of Soldiers, who are to embark on board the Caroline and Mary, at Portsmouth."-Boston News-Letter of April 25th, 1721. Lib. of Mass. Hist. Soc.
# " Francis Nicholson, now Sir Francis, busy, on the colonial stage for thirty years preceding, was sent to South Carolina as provisional Royal Governor. Always arbitrary in his principles and temper, Nicholson was now old and peevish ; but he was poor, and he had learned by experience the necessity of a certain accommodation to the wishes of the colonists. Having been ' falsely sworn out of Virginia, and lied out of Nova Scotia,'-at least so he represented-he resolved to make matters casy in Carolina."-Hildreth, Hist. of the U. S., ii., 289.
183
THE GOVERNOR AND MR. BASSETT.
1720-1730.]
establishment of the Episcopal church, showing that this was the only aspect of religion he could recognize. The follow- ing extract from a letter of Mr. Bassett, intimates that the governor had first treated him with respect, but saw fit to: heap upon him and those who had been instrumental in his coming, the vilest abuse. The letter is probably addressed to Drs. Colman and Cooper.
" REVD. SIRS :- The Governor *
* * * * regardless of his promises, has treated me with heat & outrage, and very liberally bestowed his curses upon our country in general ; at all which, I must confess his Ex -- cy has greater talent, than at better things. Upon a request from his Ex-cy, I waited upon him in his chamber, where & when I was accosted in boorish dialect, wth a 'how dare the ministers of Boston, be such impudent dogs as to ordain you for and send you to a particular place in my Government.' I replyd that 'I did not know that they had; that the testimonials of my or- dination were general and at large.' Upon which he answered in great heat, 'I can show you that they have done it,' and wth all produced ye Gazett or Newspaper in which is this paragraph-' On ye 14th Instant, &c., ordained ye Rd N. B. Pastor for ye Presbyterian Church in Charleston, So. Carolina,' which when I had read I told him yt 'not ye ministers, but scribblers of news had inserted that.' He replied, 'they have done it, & by so doing have encroached upon my prerogative, and broke in upon ye King's orders, for he alone had power to do it, inasmuch as he was the King's Governor here, and by him was appointed to take care of ye church. And that this was not the first time you had shewn yr selves rebellious and contrary to Government, & yt you were all a pack of impudent Dogs.' 'They have treated me bar- barously, and intimated that they had lately printed a pamphlet' (Refrs I suppose to that called 'Bermudas Justice'), 'in which were scurrilous reflections upon him and his proceedings.' I replyd I know nothing about it, and that I was not accountable for what they had done in N. England, but should take care while in his Excellency's government to behave myself in such a sort as to give him no just cause of offence. Then he returned to my ordination, and alleged that the ministers had ordained me for, and sent me to, this particular place in his government, and that he would send me back again. And that they had best take care how they sent any more of that country here. Then says he, 'I demand and require you in the King's name, to shew me by what authority you came here.' I replied, 'Your Ex-y knows by what authority I came and at whose request.' Then says he, 'I will have it under your hand-under your hand-and unless I did it he would by a warrant send me back again.' 'I know,' says he, 'no Presby- terians here, nor will I know any, the laws are not for them but against them. Indeed,' says he, 'the King has given indulgence to all but Papists, but that has nothing to do with the plantations, and if any one presumes to call himself Presbyter, but episcopally ordained, I will lay liim neck and heels;' with a large, &c., as little to the purpose, and as foreign to his power & commission. Then he re-demanded me, in the King's name, to produce him under my hand, my authority for coming here, under penalty of being sent back. 'And let your friends protect you how they can, and complain to the King if they please, I care not.' On which I took my leave, and am daily expecting a second rally."-Archives of General Assembly.
In a subsequent communication from Mr. Bassett, February 12th, 1724-5, he states that he had been free from threats and assaults-that the governor has prejudices against the
.
184
"THE WHITE MEETING." -- DORCHESTER.
[1720-1730.
Dissenters, as of "factious and republican principles not worthy to be tolerated in his Majesty's dominions,"-that he, in instructions to a subordinate, "wished to recall privileges granted to Dissenters, as they aimed at independency of the State, as in New England, and it must be largely talked of, &c." These extracts reveal an unfriendly spirit towards Dis- senters, which seems to have largely prevailed among the royal governors in South Carolina.
The original building used by the church in Charleston was but forty feet square and slightly built. It was much out of repair, and in 1729 they commenced the undertaking of providing themselves with a new house of worship. The Act of the Congregation begins with a formal preamble, bearing date Dec. 18th, 1729, as follows :
" SOUTH CAROLINA.
Whereas the present Publick Meeting House in Charlestown, which in the early times, or beginning of the settlement thereof, was erected for the publick worship of God, after the Presbyterial form and discipline, is now by long time gone to decay, and become very old and out of repair:
And whereas, by God's blessing, not only the inhabitants of the said Town are increased, but by means of the vast growth of our trade, a great number of sea-faring and transient persons come to, and frequent this port, so that the said Meeting House is also found to be too small and inconvenient to receive and contain the whole number of people which resort to it for wor- ship," &c.
The subscription list was signed by one hundred and four persons, the subscriptions varying from one pound ten shil- lings to one hundred pounds each. This church was finished and the pews assigned to the subscribers in 1732. Being a wooden building and painted white, it was the occasion of a new designation, "The White Meeting," by which the church was vulgarly known. In this document the true style of the church is given as Presbyterian, and it is called "The Presby- terian Church" in. its records throughout the earlier period of its existence, so far as any records remain.
The Congregational church at DORCHESTER lost the ser- vices of their first pastor, Rev. Joseph Lord, in 1720. He returned to Massachusetts, and on the 15th of June, 1720, he was installed over the church in Chatham. He was its first pastor, and at the organization the number of its male mem- bers was but seven. The church was organized on the plan of the half-way covenant, but Mr. Lord was a rigid disciplin- arian, extending the watch and censure of the church to the baptized children, and this he had probably done in his min- istry in Carolina. He died June 6th, 1748, after a ministry in
185
CAINHOY .- WAPPETAW.
1720-1730.]
Chatham of twenty-eight years, during which one hundred and forty-three were admitted to full communion, thirteen to the half-way covenant, and four hundred and ninety-two were baptized. He was succeeded in the Dorchester church by the Rev. Hugh Fisher.
Another clergyman came on the stage of action at this time, who occupied a conspicuous place in Charleston after- wards. This was Josiah Smith, who was grandson of the Landgrave Thomas Smith, who was governor of the colony in 1693. He was born in Charleston in 1704, and was gradu- ated at Harvard College, in Massachusetts, in 1725. He was ordained the next year, July 11th, 1726, as minister for Ber- muda. The brother of the first Landgrave Smith had removed to Boston, and one branch of the family was settled there, which may have been one inducement with Mr. Smith to seek his education in that vicinity. Dr. Ramsay says, "he was the first native of Carolina who obtained a degree from a college." In this he was mistaken, for Dr. George Smith, second son of the first landgrave, born in Charleston in 1672, took a degree at Edinburgh in 1700. How long Mr. Smith remained on the island of Bermuda we do not know ; but he became pastor of the church at CAINHOY, probably as early as 1728. Cainhoy is on the Wando river, about twelve miles from Charleston. According to the statement of Dr. Ramsay, the church was gathered by Archibald Stobo, and was a Presbyterian church, while that on Wando Neck, the WAPPETAW church, was Congregational. The date of the origin of these churches we have not been able to ascertain. Whether that at Wappetaw can in any sense, even as imper- fectly organized, go back to the original settlements of the New Englanders, in Governor Archdale's time, 1695, 1696, we cannot determine. In a note to his "Description of Car- olina," published in London, 1707, he says: " It is remark- able that the French landed at Sewee, where many of the New England Men were planted, and beat off the French, and killed many of them, and this was Ten Years after this Let- ter" (one addressed to him from Ipswich, Mass., 26th of June, 1696-see p. 119), which would seem to imply that the emi- grants from Ipswich, referred to in that letter, really came into the province and settled on Sewee Bay, where there are still the remains of a frequent settlement, embraced now within the limits of certain large plantations. A religious people who were attracted to Carolina because there were "discreet men, ministers in it, who now design the spreading
186
WILTON CHURCH.
[1720-1730.
of the gospel," would have some form of religious worship ; private, certainly, at all times, and public as soon as their cir- cumstances would admit. Wappetaw church is about four miles from Sewee Bay and about fourteen miles from Charleston, on the road to Georgetown. The Rev. Wm. Porter may have been their minister during this decade.
WILTON CHURCH .- The church takes its name from the fact that the first house of worship was erected at Wilton (com- monly called Wiltown) Bluff, a beautiful and picturesque spot in St. Paul's Parish, Colleton District, on the east bank of the Edisto river, about four miles from the present house of worship. Standing on the Bluff, one is surrounded by wide- spreading live-oaks, and looks over the beautiful stream below him on an extensive reach of country covered by rice- fields, which in spring-time or at harvest is one of the love- liest prospects in the low country of the State. On the site formerly occupied by the church now stands an Episcopal church, built among the graves in which sleep the ashes of those who died in the Presbyterian faith. The reason for the removal of the church to another spot was, that Wilton Bluff, being situated at one extremity of the parish, was not central enough to accommodate those of the congregation who lived at a distance .*
It is to be regretted that there are no materials from which a history of Wilton church can be collected. There are no sessional records in existence, and the "Minutes of the Board of Trustees" reach back only a few years. All the information that can be obtained consists of a few detached facts, found in some old fragments of the moneyed accounts of the church.
[1728.] The earliest notice of the church is found in a paper, containing a mutilated copy of some " articles of agree- ment," drawn up by the Presbyterian worshippers at Wilton Bluff. To this document the name of Archibald Stobo is signed in his own handwriting ; and together with his are the signatures of four elders and six deacons. This paper was drafted early in the year 1728, and proves that at that time a church, regularly organized, fully officered, and considerable in numbers, existed at Wilton Bluff. This document, as well
* The town of Wilton, first known as New London, was settled very carly. Elections were ordered to be held in it in 1683. William Livingston held a town lot in it in 1714, described as being on King's Square, and bounded westward by Westminster street. But its prosperity was inter- rupted by the Indian insurrection in 1715, though it afterwards revived.
187
1720-1730.] JAMES ISLAND .- JOHN'S ISLAND .- PON PON.
as others, seems to suppose the existence of the congregation previously to that date; but unfortunately there are no records pertaining to it before that time.
The document thus signed consists of a series of articles, eight in number, which bind the church to create by free-will offerings, made at the spring sacrament, " yearly forever," or by donations and legacies, a pious fund, the principal of which is to be intrusted to the management of the minister and church session, and the interest to be expended for the sup- port of the minister of that church, or the building and re- pairing of Presbyterian churches, or the relief of the poor of that church and persuasion, or of others in need. The paper is expressed in terms of much force and solemity. "All this we do," say the parties, "in the sight of God, as witness our hands."
Archd. Stobo, Minr., X. Wilkinson, Joseph Rusell, Samuel Lowle, Z. M. Edings,
Elders.
Paul Hamilton, Timothy Hendrix, Richard Ashe, Wm. O'Neill, George Farleye, Wm. McMechen,
Deacons.
The JAMES ISLAND church, as we have reason to believe, had the Rev. John Witherspoon (or Wotherspoon) as its pastor during these ten years, and perhaps before, while the JOHN'S ISLAND church enjoyed the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Turnbull.
The BETHEL Presbyterian church and congregation of PON PON, St. Bartholomew's parish, Colleton (now Walterborough church), was founded and organized in 1728, when the first. church edifice was built. The first minister was the Rev. Archibald Stobo, who, says Dr. Ramsay, was its founder. The survivors of the early trustees in the earliest records of the congregation now extant, speak of transactions had by their predecessors of which no record had been preserved. That Mr. Joseph Didcott and Mr. George Farley collected money and built " the old meeting house, which cost near £400 cur- rency, where the Rev. Mr. Archibald Stobo used to preachi once a month, and after that once in three weeks:" That "Mr. John Andrew, sen., Mr. John Mitchell, and Mr. Thomas Buer, with Mr. George Farley, collected money and bought land for a parsonage, which cost £300."
The Presbyterian element seems to have been gaining strength in CHARLESTON during the ministry of Mr. Stobo and Mr. Livingston, and the controversies which now arose, and
- -
188
CONTROVERSY ABOUT SUBSCRIPTION.
[1720-1730.
which pervaded the Presbyterian church in the old world and the new, make us first cognizant of the existence of a Presby- tery. These had reference to subscription to the Westminster Confession. The propriety and expediency of this was warmly debated among the English Dissenters. John Howe, of the English Presbyterian church, maintained in respect to "schemes or collections of doctrines, reduced into an order (as gold formed into a vessel, whereas truth, as it lies in the holy Scriptures, is as gold in the mass), may be of use (as they have been in use in the church in all ages), provided they be al- lowed to be looked upon but as a mensuora mensurata, reserv- ing unto the Scriptures the honor of being the only mensura mensurans, and so that we only own them as agreeable to the Scriptures : and again, that we declare we take them to be agreeable thereunto in the main, or for substance." . Others insisted on a strict and literal adherence to the words of the Confession as being agreeble to the Scriptures. Others still, were opposed to requiring these tests of orthodoxy. A similar controversy arose in Ireland, and was waged between those who were zealous for the truth, and those who either them- selves held latitudinarian opinions, or were the apologists of those who did so. It began to be understood in Ireland that certain ministers of the Belfast society acknowledged doubts · concerning the deity of Christ, and were disposed to follow the views of Whiston, Clarke, and Hoadly, of England, and Prof. Simpson, of Scotland, and to hold, as the Presbyterian churches in Switzerland had done, that sincerity is the only thing to be regarded in religious fellowship. Under these cir- cumstances the General Synod of the Irish church proposed the expedient, for the purpose of allaying the fears of the people, of allowing all who chose, the privilege of anew sub- scribing the Confession of Faith. This was opposed by the Belfast society with all their new-born arguments against sub- scribing any human formula. The measure was carried, and the Irish Presbyterian clergy were divided into two parties, the Subscribers and the Non-subscribers. These parties were in conflict with each other continually, until, in 1726, the non- subscribers were excluded from the synod, though not from Christian fellowship, ministerial communion, nor from the "royal bounty." The non-subscribers withdrew and formed the Antrim Presbytery .- (Reid, iii., 240, 237.)
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.