USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I pt 1 > Part 23
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* Their first call was made out for Rev. John Willison, of Scotland, author of the Mother's Catechism, a Practical Treatise on the Lord's Supper, and of the Discourses on the Atonement. The following anecdote is handed down by tradition of Mr. Gavin Witherspoon. Meeting his neighbors one day, this conversation is reported to have taken place. Witherspoon-" Wull, we must have a minister." "" Wull, Mister Wotherspoon, wha wull ye get to be your
215
THE WILLIAMSBURG COLONY.
1730-1740.]
In the fall of 1737 my grandfather took the rose in his leg (Erisipelas), which occasioned a fever of which he died. He was the first buried at Wil- liamsburg Meeting House. He was a man of middle stature, of firm, healthy constitution, well acquainted with the scriptures, and had a volubility of expression in prayer. A zealous adherent of the reformed protestant prin- ciples of the church of Scotland, he had a great aversion against Episcopacy. And whoever reads the history of the times of his younger years in Scotland, may see that these prejudices were not without cause, as it was his lot to be in a time of great distress to the poor persecuted church in the reign of James VII. of Scotland, and II. of England, as he was one of the sort that followed field-meetings ; some of his kindred and himself were much harassed by them. Yet notwithstanding, if his younger years were attended with some trouble, he enjoyed great peace and tranquillity in liis after life."
These private memoirs, though hardly entitled to a place in 'a formal history, are interesting, as showing the difficulties of new settlers in a strange country, and illustrate the religious earnestness of our Presbyterian ancestors, who took measures for the public worship of God as soon as they had obtained a shelter for their own households. On the 2d of July, 1736, they petitioned the lieutenant-governor and council for the tract of land which is now the parsonage, with a view of building the church and manse on the same plat of ground. William James was selected to present this petition. The petition was not granted till the 3d of July, 1741, five years afterwards. Meanwhile land was purchased, in 1738, from Roger Gordon, one of the earliest immigrants, on which the church was erected.
In reference to this Williamsburg colony, Hewat says :--
" The first colony of Irish people had lands granted them near the Santee river, and formed the settlement called Williamsburg Township. But not- withstanding the bounty of the Crown, these poor emigrants remained for several years in low and miserable circumstances. The rigors of the climate, joined to the want of precaution, so common to strangers, proved fatal to numbers of them. Having but scanty provisions in the first age of cultiva- tion, vast numbers, by their heavy labor, being both debilitated in body and dejected in spirit, sickened and died in the woods. But as this township received frequent supplies from the same quarter, the Irish settlement, amidst every hardship, increased in number; and at length they applied to the merchants for negroes, who intrusted them with a few, by which means they were relieved from the severest part of the labor. Then, by their great diligence and industry, spots of land were gradually cleared, which in the
minister ?" "Wull, wha but Mister Wulluson o' Dundee ?" "But the minister must have a muckle sight o' money for his living." " An' that we must gie him," says Mr. Witherspoon. " An' how much, Mr. Wotherspoon, wull ye gie?" "Ten poonds," was the ready reply. "But, Mr. Wother- spoon, whar 'Il ye git the ten poonds." " Why, if wus comes to wus, I e'en can sell my cou," says he. Mr. Willison of Dundee was accordingly sent for to preach the gospel in the wilds of Carolina. The Rev. Robert Heron, who came instead, commenced his labors with zeal, and pursued them with fidelity. The congregation was formally organized as a Presbyterian church under his ministry in August, 1736, and greatly prospered. He returned to Ireland in 1740 or 1741, where he remained, it is believed, till his death.
216
SETTLEMENT OF ORANGEBURG.
[1730-1740.
first place yielded them provisions, and in process of time became moderate and fruitful estates."-(Hewat, vol. ii., pp. 63, 64.)
In the journals of the council, January 26th, 1737-8, the petition of several poor Irish Protestants is mentioned, who petition for warrants for survey in either of the townships on the Pedee. A fund for the support of poor Protestants is pro- vided for by a revival of the duty on negroes. Charleston is represented as being filled with poor Protestants from Ireland and elsewhere, begging from door to door, (p. 53). The advice of the Upper House is, that they enter into service. The Lower House objects to driving freemen " into a state of ser- vitude," and proposes the borrowing of £4000 to be applied for the relief of such cases.
CHAPTER II.
THIS also was the period of the settlement of ORANGEBURG. A trader, Henry Sterling, had located himself, and obtained a grant of land on Lyon's Creek, in 1704. But it was not until 1735 that this portion of the province had any considerable number of whites. The arrival of the settlers who found their way thither is thus mentioned in the South Carolina Gazette, under date of July 26th :- " On Sunday last arrived two hun- dred Palatines ; most of them being poor, they were obliged to sell themselves and their children for their passage (which is six pistoles in gold per head) within a fortnight of the time of their arrival, or else to pay one pistole more to be carried to Philadelphia. The most of them are farmers, and some trades- men. About two hundred and twenty of the Switzers that have paid all their passages are now going up the Edisto to settle a township there: The government defrays them on their journey, provides them provisions for one year, and gives them fifty acres a head. The quantity of corn bought for them has made the price rise from fifteen shillings, as it was last week, to twenty shillings."
These persons became the first settlers in Orangeburg township, which had been laid out in a parallelogram of fif- teen miles by five on the North Edisto, and was called Orange burg in honor of the Prince of Orange. Germans of the [Lower] Palatinate settled in the township, but some portion of the settlers were from Switzerland, from the cantons of
217
THE FRENCH CHURCHES.
1730-1740.]
Berne, Zurich, and the Grisons, and were Calvinists we sup- pose of the Helvetic confession, and Presbyterian in their views of church government. Their minister, John Ulrich Giessendanner, came with them, and the register of marriages, baptisms, and burials, commenced by him in the German lan- guage, was continued by his nephew and successor, John Giessendanner, down to the year 1760. John Ulrich Giessen- danner died in the year 1738. His nephew John, by the request of the congregation, went to Charleston for the pur- pose of " obtaining orders" from Rev. Alexander Garden, the Bishop of London's commissary, but was persuaded by Major Christian Mote, whom he met, that he ought not to apply to him, but to other gentlemen to whom he would conduct him, who, if they found him qualified, would give him authority to preach. Major Mote made him acquainted with the Presby- tery of South Carolina, who in 1738 gave him authority to preach the gospel among liis German neighbors. This he continued to do, and thus kept up the church of their fathers unchanged for a season, though he afterwards went to London and took Episcopal ordination .- (Journal of Upper House of Assembly, vol. x., 1743-1744.) We find the arrival of other Palatines mentioned in December, 1732, who were to be set- tled at the head of Pon Pon, and of other Switzers settled in New Windsor, whose minister, Bartholomew Zauberbuhler, was allowed by the governor and council £250, as a present .* And in 1737-8 the population of this township, which com- menced on the Savannah above Hamburg, and extended along the river nearly to Silver Bluff, contained such a number of settlers, that the garrison of Fort Moore was reduced to a smaller number.
During this period the FRENCH CHURCHES seem to have settled quietly down, excepting the one in Charleston (and per- haps in some measure that of Orange Quarter), under Epis- copal rule. The Bishop of London very sagaciously supplied
* Journal of Governor and Council, December, 1736. Bartholomew Zauber- buhler emigrated from St. Gall in Switzerland (where his father was a Swiss minister) to the colony at Purysburg. He received a good English and classical education at Charleston. He was not at this time under Episcopal orders, but he afterwards went over to England, and at the recommenda- tion of Commissary Garden was ordained by the Bishop of London, and sent out by the trustees of Georgia as a missionary to Vernonsburg. He arrived at Frederica January 22d, 1746 .- Stevens' Hist. of Ga., i., 359. The colony was brought out under the agency of Rev. Sebastian Zauberbuhler, assisted by himself. An order of the king in council is on record granting them forty- eight thousand acres. These people have become commingled with our population, and few of them are found in the Presbyterian churchi.
218
THE REV. FRANCOIS GUICHARD.
[1730-1740.
them with a ministry of French extraction, who were proficients in the French language, and would be less likely to bring to their notice the change which they had made. The names of Le Jau, of Tustian, of Pouderous, of Varnod, of Tissot, of Coulet, of Du Plessis, were familiar to the French Huguenots, and with the influence these men exerted, may have done much to reconcile them to leaving the customs of their fathers.
The CHURCH in CHARLESTON remained faithful. Its services were continued, though with serious interruptions. We have seen that it was vacant in 1725. From a list of the ministers made by Colonel George W. Cross, now in the possession of Daniel Ravenel, Esq., and in the handwriting of Colonel Cross (whose list may have been taken from minutes now lost, or who may have been aided by the recollections of his mother, a sister of Judge Trezevant, and a worshipper in the church in her early life), Rev. Mr. Lescot is set down as the pastor, beginning at some time after the preceding date, till the year 1734, at which date the pastorship of the Rev. François Guichard commences. The congregation was however vacant in 1731, for in that year they made application to the London Walloon church, requesting a pastor to be sent to them, who would receive £80 per annum, and £25 or more for his pas- sage ; the letter was signed Peter Fillen, Etienne Mounier, Mathurin Boigard, Jean le Breton, Andre de Veaux, Anthoine Bonneau, Jacob Satur, Joel Poinset, Jean Garnier, Jaque le Chantre, C. Birot .* Ramsay (vol. ii., p. 39) dates the beginning of Mr. Guichard's pastorship in 1722. His register of bap- tisms, however, does not begin till 1733, and 1733 or 1734 seems to be the date at which his ministry in that church com- mences.+
The Baptist church in Charleston, founded, as we have before mentioned, in 1698, after William Screven, who died October 10th, 1713, had for its minister, Rev. Mr. Peart, and Rev. Thomas Simmons, who died January 31st, 1749, and
* Burns, Hist. of the French, Walloon, Dutch, and other Foreign Churches in England. London, 1846, p. 19, note.
+ It begins thus :- " Registre de Baptemes, Marriages, et Entremens. J'ai baptisé Marie Anne née Septembre, 1732, fille de Isaac et de Marie Mazick, qui a en Parran Jacques de Saint Julien et pour Maraine Marie Anne Godin. A Charlestown, ce 6th Avril, 1733, François Guichard. J'ai baptisé l'enfant de Monsieur George Mille et de Susanne Mille. Je lui ai donné le nom de Perside Charlotte. Le Parran, se nomme Jonas Bonhoste et la Maraine s'apelle Perside Mongin. A Charlestown, ce 21st Mai, 1733 .-- Signed, Jonas Bonlioste, Perside Mongin, François Guichard, Ministre."
219
EPISCOPACY.
1730-1740.]
whose ministry in Charleston commenced in 1729. During the period of which we now speak, a Baptist church was gathered on Ashley river, May 24th, 1736, the pastor of which was Rev. Isaac Chanler, a native of Bristol, England. While pastor on Ashley river he published a volume in small quarto on "The Doctrines of Glorious Grace, unfolded, defended, and practically improved," which probably is the earliest theological treatise written in Carolina. He also published a " Treatise on Original Sin." The church on Ashley river became extinct during the Revolution. The Baptist church of Welch Neck was founded January, 1738. Rev. Mr. Tilly was the Baptist minister on Edisto Island, and died there April 14th, 1744 .- (History of Charleston Association, by Wood Furman, A. M., Charleston, 1811.)
The Episcopal church still received ministers from Eng- land, through the labors of the Society for Propagating the Gospel, and under the fostering care of government many of a different faith, especially of the foreign churches, continued to unite with them. Dr. Hewat, in his history, has the follow- ing paragraphs, which occur in connection with the events of this period, but have a retrospective view extending over the whole preceding years of this century:
"By this time," says he, " the Episcopalian form of divine worship had gained ground in Carolina, and was more countenanced by the people than any other. That zeal for the right of private judgment had much abated, and those prejudices against the hierarchy, which the first emigrants carried from England with them, were now almost entirely worn off from the succeeding generation. To bring about this change, no doubt the well-timed zcal and extensive bounty of the society, incorporated for the propagation of the gospel, had greatly contributed. At this time the corporation had no less than twelve missionaries in Carolina, cach of whom shared of their bounty. Indeed, a mild church-government, together with able, virtuous, and prudent teachers, in time commonly give the establishment in every country a superiority over all sectaries. Spacious churches had been erected in the province, which were pretty well supplied with clergymen, who were paid from the public treasury, and countenanced by the civil authority, all which favored the established church. The dissenters of Carolina were not only obliged to erect and uphold their churches, and maintain their clergy by private contributions, but also to contribute their sharc in the way of taxes, in proportion to their ability, equally with their neighbors, towards the maintenance of the poor, and the support of the establishment. This indecd many of them considered as a grievance, but having but few friends in the provincial assembly, no redress could be obtained for tlicm. Besides, the establishment gave its adherents many advantageous privileges in point of power and authority over persons of other denominations. It gave them the best chance for being elected members of the legislature, and of course of being appointed to offices, both civil and military, in their respective districts. Over youthful minds, fond of power, pomp, and military parade, such advantages have great weight. Dissenters indeed had the frec choice of their ministers, but cven this is often the cause of division. When differ-
.
220
".THE GREAT AWAKENING."
[1730-1740.
ences happen in a parish, the minority must yield, and therefore through private pique, discontent, or resentment, they often conform to the establish- ment. It is always difficult, and often impossible, for a minister to please all parties, especially where all claim an equal right to judge and choose for themselves, and divisions and subdivisions seldom fail to ruin the power and influence of all sectaries. This was evidently the case in Carolina : for many of the posterity of rigid dissenters were now found firm adherents to the Church of England, which had grown numerous on the ruins of the dissent- ing interest. .
However, the emigrants from Scotland and Ireland, most of whom were Presbyterians, still composed a considerable party of the province, and kept up the Presbyterian form of worship in it. Archibald Stobo, of whom I have formerly taken notice, by great diligence and ability still preserved a number of followers. An association had been formed in favor of this mode of religious worship, by Messrs. Stobo, Fisher, and Witherspoon, three ministers of the Church of Scotland, together with Joseph Stanyarn, and Joseph Blake, men of respectable characters and considerable fortunes. The Presbyterians had already erected churches at Charlestown, Wiltown, and in three of the maritime islands, for the use of the people adhering to that form of religious worship. As the inhabitants multiplied, several more in different parts of the province afterward joined them, and built churches, particularly at Jacksonburgh, Indian Town, Port-Royal, and Williamsburgh. The first clergymen having received their ordination in the Church of Scotland, the fundamental rules of the association were framed according to the forms, doctrines, and discipline of that establishment, to which they agreed to conform as closely as their local circumstances would admit. These ministers adopted this mode of religious worship, not only from a persuasion of its conformity to the primitive apostolic form, but also from a conviction of its being, of all others, the most favorable to civil liberty, equality, and independence. Sensible that not only natural endowments, but also a competent measure of learning and acquired knowledge were necessary to qualify men for the sacred function, and enable them to discharge the duties of it with honor and success, they associated on purposc to prevent deluded mechanics, and illiterate novices, from creeping into the pulpit, to the disgrace of the character, and the injury of religion. In different parts of the province, persons of this stamp had appeared, who cried down all establishments, both civil and religious, and seduced weak minds from the duties of allegiance, and all that the presbytery could do was to prevent them from teaching under the sanction of their authority. But this association of Presbyterians having little countenance from government, and no name or authority in law, their success depended wholly on the superior knowledge, popular talents, and exemplary life of their ministers. From time to time clergymen were afterward sent out at the request of the people from Scotland and Ireland; and the colonists contributed to maintain them, till at length funds were established in trust by private legacies and donations, to be appropriated for the support of Presbyterian ministers, and the encouragement of that mode of religious worship and government."
In the last half of the period of which we have been speak- ing, 1730-1740, began that series of events which led to the remarkable revival of pure religion which has been called " The Great Awakening." The state of religion in England was confessedly low. Piety was called fanaticism, and formal- ism among those who professed religion was in the ascendant. The same condition of things which Bishop Burnet so bewails in the beginning of this century was still prevailing. "The
221
FIRST MINISTER IN GEORGIA.
1730-1740.]
outward state of things," said he, "is black enough, God knows ; but that which heightens my fears rises chiefly from the inward state into which we are unhappily fallen." "The much greater part of those who come to be ordained are igno- rant to a degree not to be apprehended by those who are not obliged to know it. Those who have read some few books, yet never seem to have read the Scriptures." "The case is not much better in many who have got into orders." Arch- bishop Secker, Butler in the preface to his Analogy, Watts, and others, testify to the general decay in vital godliness. The right of presentation to a "living" was owned in many in- stances by noblemen, whose ancestors had endowed the parish churches in ancient times, or who had purchased this right as a provision for a younger son ; and these young men were edu- cated for the church irrespective of their spiritual state, as others were educated for the army or for public life. The same power of patronage existed in Scotland, and though repeatedly abolished, was as often renewed, and was attended with the same evil effects. It was under these circumstances that God was pleased in a remarkable manner to pour out the influences of his Spirit. In 1734 occurred a great revival of religion at Northampton, Mass., which extended to many other towns. The same results followed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, a little later, under the preaching of Samuel Blair and the Tennents. Contemporaneously with these events, and for some time previous, "Methodism" was receiving its earliest beginnings in the University of Oxford. Its founder, John Wesley, was the grandson of one of the two thousand Non- conformist divines of England who were ejected from their livings in the days of Charles the Second. His mother, a woman of great energy and eminent piety and intelligence, was the daughter of Dr. Annesley, a Puritan divine of great influence and worth. He and his brother Charles, with Messrs. Morgan and Kirkham, bound themselves to pursue a methodi- cal life of study, religious and ascetic observance, and ob- tained among their companions in the University, for this reason, the name of "Methodists." In 1732 they were joined by Ingham and Broughton, Clayton, and Hervey, the author of "Theron and Aspasio." In 1734 the celebrated George Whitefield, then a servitor in Pembroke College of the same University, became a member of this brotherhood, and shared with them the ridicule they encountered among their fellow- students. They took orders in the Church of England, and had no other intention, till they were compelled by the perse-
222
THE WESLEYS.
[1730-1740.
cution they met with, than to labor within its bounds. The prin- cipal members of this fraternity became connected with the Georgia colony in its earliest period. The first clergyman we read of in the infant colony of Georgia was the Rev. Henry Herbert, D. D., who offered to accompany the first colonists without fee or reward, and to assist them in their settlement. He returned after spending three months in Georgia, and died on his passage to England. General Oglethorpe remained with the colony some fifteen months. The Rev. Samuel Quincy, a kinsman of the Quincys of Massachusetts, succeeded the Rev. Dr. Herbert as missionary to Georgia. He left England in March, 1733, and continued at his post till October, 1735, when he left, disgusted at the conduct of "the insolent and tyrannical magistrate to whom the government of the colony was committed." On Oglethorpe's return to Georgia, in 1735, he was accompanied by John and Charles Wesley, who lived with him at his table, and were treated by him with deference and kindness. These men had been drawn to this new colony by the prospect it held out to them of a missionary life among the Indians of the American wilderness. There accompanied them also two of their friends, Ingham and Delamotte. In the same vessel sailed twenty-five Moravians, under their bishop, David Nitschman, and a company of Salzburgers, under the charge of Philip George Frederick de Reck. This mission was fruitful in greater good to Wesley than of service to the colony itself. His life had been one of religious formalism and severe asceticism. He now learned the nature of true religion. On their passage across the Atlantic they encoun- tered a dreadful storm, their mainsail was rent in pieces, and the sea broke violently over their frail vessel. The English on board were filled with terror, and screamed out with fear. They were in the midst of their Sabbath worship, engaged in a psalm of praise. The Germans calmly sang on as if nothing had occurred. "Were you not afraid?" said Wesley to one of them. He answered, "I thank God, no." "But were not your women and children ?" "No; our women and children are not afraid to die." The beautiful simplicity of this con- fiding faith moved the heart of Wesley. He could but feel in his inmost soul that it was a faith he had not yet attained. When he met Spangenberg, one of their pastors, after his arrival in America, and inquired of him as to the best plans of ministerial labor-" My brother," said he, "I must first ask you one or two questions. Have you the witness within your- self? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit
223
WHITEFIELD.
1730-1740.]
that you are a child of God?" Perceiving Wesley's embar- rassment, he again asked, "Do you know Jesus Christ?" " I know he is the Saviour of the world," replied Wesley. " True," rejoined the Moravian, " but do you know that he has saved you?" "I hope he has died to save me," said he. Spangenberg added, " Do you know yourself ?" " I do," an- swered Wesley ; " but," added he, "I fear they were mere words." After he had again returned to England he writes in allusion to these times, " This then have I learned in the ends of the earth-that I am fallen short of the glory of God." "I have no hope but that of being justified freely, through the redemption of Jesus Christ."
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