USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I pt 2 > Part 2
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"N. B .- Many of the places are not yet formed, and some others are capable of being formed. Please, Sir, to pardon the incorrections of your very hum- ble servant, ELAM POTTER.
" To Rev. Dr. Stiles.
" Not having my journal present, I labor under some disadvantages. E. P. " New Haven, Sept. 12, 1768."
We give the above as observant and shrewd estimates of what appears to have been a very inquisitive traveller, repeated from memory, and interesting to us, because we have no de- tails of churches and population belonging to this date. The synod of New York and Philadelphia, through all this period,
364
INDEPENDENT CHURCH, CHARLESTON. [1770-1780.
was not inattentive to the distant churches of South Carolina. Agreeably to a resolution to correspond with foreign churches, it addressed the churches in South Carolina, the letter being prepared by the Rev. Alexander McWhorter, of the presby- tery of New York .- (Minutes, p. 399.)
BOOK ELEVENTH.
1770-1780.
CHAPTER I.
THE decennium on which we now enter covers most of the stirring period of the American Revolution. And though the method we have pursued, of taking the several churches in detail, is liable to many objections, yet, for the purpose of exhibiting the progress of events in each church, we will endeavor to pursue it, though in many respects little satisfac- tory to ourselves and perhaps tedious to our readers.
We begin again with the oldest of the churches which were then called Dissenting, and, as we commenced, by giving the history of the Congregational churches, we will go through these before entering on the others.
The INDEPENDENT CHURCH in CHARLESTON was served still by the Rev. John Thomas. But early in the year 1771 his health began to fail, he had leave of absence, was instructed to look out for an assistant, and to request Rev. Mr. Simpson, Mr. Alison, Mr. Martin, and other suitable ministers to supply his pulpit. On the 13th of October, Rev. Mr. Zubly officiated, and the church hearing of Mr. Thomas's increasing indisposi- tion wrote to him, with Drs. Witherspoon and Rogers and Joseph Treat, to recommend a minister. Mr. Treat in reply informs them of Mr. Thomas's death, and that just before his exit he had partly engaged the Rev. William Tennent to under- take the pastoral office among them. The circumstances of Mr. Thomas's life, death, and his character, are thus set forth by Dr. Ramsay, in his History of the Independent church :-
" Rev. John Thomas was born in Wales, and educated at a dissenting academy there. In early life, he was sent from England, by the Rev. Drs. Conder and Gibbons, dissenting ministers of London, to whom the church had applied by letter to procure for them a suitable minister. The Rev. Josiah
365
DEATH OF REV. MR. THOMAS.
1770-1780.]
Smith preached a funeral sermon on the death of Mr. Thomas, in which he observes as follows :
"' He was a man of superior genius, and adorned with many excellent natu- ral gifts. His conceptions were clear, his judgment solid and piercing- he well knew how to distinguish, and had a good taste and relish for, the polite parts of learning. If we consider him as a minister, hie prayed as a seraph. His compositions were ingenious, methodical, and rational ; he was a man of fire and pungency, nor was he a stranger to the art of addressing the passions. His principles were sound and orthodox-a thorough Calvin- ist, though he was much on the side of liberty and moderation, and loved good men of all persuasions, yet would he contend for the primitive faith and purity. The guilt, pollution, and propagation of original sin-the divinity of Christ-the redeeming efficacy of his blood-his full and proper atonement- the influences of his spirit-the necessity of faith to a sinner's justification before God, and of good works to his salvation, were doctrines which he often insisted upon, and strongly defended against Arians, Socinians, and others.'
" Mr. Thomas left two daughters, one of whom married Samuel Beach, Esq., the other Adam Gilchrist, merchant; they are both now living (in 1815) and have eight living descendants ; his widow is still alive, at the age of sixty- nine years.
" The circumstances of Mr. Thomas's death are worthy of notice, both in a moral and medical view. Six months before he died, he was in good health ; but in two or three hours of philanthropic exertion, contracted a chronic disease which brought him to his grave. In the first three months of 1771 he paid particular attention to instruct and prepare for death a man who was condemned to suffer the highest penalty of the law. In the course of his conversations with this unfortunate man, Mr. Thomas had abundant reason to believe that he was a true penitent, and the subject of a saving change. This naturally produced a strong attachment and a disposition to serve him ; every kind office was rendered to him while living, and measures were adopted to save him from dissection after he was dead. His body was kept private till the shades of night afforded a screen to carry it over Ashley river to James' Island for interment. Mr Thomas, with a few religious friends, attended the corpse, and at ten o'clock, p. m., in a cold, blowing March night, consigned it to a grave. Mr. Thomas performed in the open air the religious services usual at funerals. On this solemn but unseasonable occasion he was instantly seized with a violent cold, which speedily produced a spitting of blood, and other symptoms so alarming, that, in the summer following, he obtained leave from his church to go to the northern provinces for the recov- ery of his health ; all was in vain. The adventures of this single night laid the foundation of a consumption, which eventuated in his death at New York, September 29th, 1771, in the twenty-sixth year of his age."
On the 17th of November the congregation made out a call, expressed in beautiful language, for the ministerial services of the Rev. William Tennent, then settled as pastor of the Con- gregational church of Norwalk, Conn. This zealous and influential clergyman, the third of the name, was the son of the Rev. William Tennent, of Freehold, New Jersey, who was eminent for his piety, talents, and usefulness, and was the subject of the remarkable trance which is so familiar to all who are acquainted with the biography of the American pul- pit. His grandfather was William Tennent of " the Log Col- lege" at Neshaminy, the friend of Whitefield. The father and
366
REV. WILLIAM TENNENT
[1770-1780.
grandfather were both born in Ireland. He was born in Free- hold, N. J., in the year 1740; was graduated at the college of New Jersey in 1758, under the presidency of Rev. Aaron Burr ; was admitted to the degree of A. M. at Harvard in 1763. He was licensed to preach by the presbytery of New Brunswick between 1761 and 1762, and was ordained by the same pres- bytery in 1762-3. He preached in the bounds of Hanover presbytery, Va., some six months. In 1764 he was invited to settle as the colleague of Rev. Moses Dickinson, then advanced in years, at Norwalk, Conn. To this he consented on condi- tion of his retaining his connection with the presbytery. The presbytery of New Brunswick took measures for his install- ment over the church in Norwalk, to which the congregation objected, believing it to be an attempt to draw them under the power of presbytery. Mutual explanations being made, Mr. Tennent was in due time installed, still retaining his con- nection with presbytery. After an acceptable ministry of six and a half years, he was invited to the Independent church in Charleston, having previously been invited to Boston as a col- league to Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton-(Webster, p. 402) ; and though his transfer was strenuously resisted by his people, he was at length released from his charge and repaired to the city of Charleston. Job Palmer, afterwards a deacon in this church, and the father of Rev. Dr. B. M. Palmer, sen., came out with him. His address to the congregation, April 12th, 1772, on accepting the call, shows his ability and energy of char- acter. He was received with great favor, and wielded a com- manding influence both in the pulpit and out of it. October 25th, of the same year, Mr. Tennent suggested to his congre- gation to build an additional house of worship. In a written speech, drawn up with his characteristic ability, he showed, 1st. That the exigencies of Charleston required it, there not being room in the church edifices then existing for more than two-thirds of the white population. The price of pews was enormous, some in the Church of England having been sold for £1900. 2d. The exigencies of the congregation demanded it. It had grown to its utmost extent of church accommoda- tions, and their children would be compelled to resort to other churches. 3d. The dissenting interest required it. Numbers challenge respect and are secure from oppression. A new church opened commands its assembly. 4th. Two ministers were needed in such a place, and under such a climate. The dan- ger of division would be small. Moreover, a sum of money was already subscribed for the object amounting to £9,000. The
367
ARCHDALE STREET CHURCH.
1770-1780.]
congregation acceded to the proposition, and appointed a building committee, who estimated the cost of the new church at £13,000, recommended that both houses should be com- mon property of the society, the ministers serving each alike. The morning sermon in one church should be the afternoon sermon in the other. All these measures were adopted, and a new house, sixty-five feet by fifty in the clear, the walls twenty-eight feet in height, was built in Archdale-street, covered in and the pews put in before the war of the Revolu- tion. Various unsuccessful attempts were made to obtain a colleague to Mr. Tennent. In 1773 Rev. Daniel Jones, of Philadelphia, was invited, and though he discouraged it, they made out a formal call, promising him a salary of £200 ster- ling, or £1400 currency, which call was enforced by letters both from Rev. Josiah Smith and Mr. Tennent. This call Mr. Jones declined. February 27th, 1775, they wrote to Robert Stewart to visit them as a candidate. He promised to do so when licensed. The same year Mary Lamboll and Josiah Smith, junior, made over property adjoining the new church, which, under no pretence whatever was to be withdrawn from the use of the congregation, worshipping at "the White Meeting-house" in Meeting-street. The number entitled to vote at this time was sixty-eight, of whom twenty were mem- bers in full communion.
Mr. Tennent, though devoted to his clerical duties, could not be indifferent to the great issues of the American Revolu- tion. It early took firm hold of all his powers, and to it he devoted no small share of his energies, putting forth in its cause some of his most eloquent efforts. He rarely intro- duced its topics into the pulpit, but elsewhere he was its ear- nest and enthusiastic advocate. A favorite of the people, they elected him a member of the provincial congress, and afterwards of the commons house of assembly. "In the different hours of the same day his voice was occasionally heard both in his church and the state house, addressing different audiences with equal animation, on their spiritual and temporal interests." He was appointed with others as a com- mittee of intelligence to communicate to the back country every kind of necessary information, with power to hire horses and send expresses for this purpose. In the same year, 23d July, 1775, with the Hon. W. H. Drayton he was commissioned by the committee of safety to make a progress through the back country to explain the causes of present disputes between Britain and the colonies, to secure a general
368
BATTLE OF LEXINGTON.
[1770-1780.
union; and they were authorized by Henry Laurens, presi- dent, "to call upon officers of the militia and rangers for assistance, support, and protection."
On the 19th of April the battle of Lexington was fought, and the news of this engagement was forwarded by express from one committee of safety to another, or, where they did not exist, to prominent individuals in the different localities. The communications of each committee were enclosed in the one next in the order of progress, till in twenty-one days the origi- nal news, enveloped in the missive of the first committee, reached its destination, the city of Charleston. The origi- nals of these were preserved until the burning of Columbia, February 17th, 1865, and the evidences of interest they dis- close are very exciting. "Disperse the material passages through all your parts.". "If you should be at a loss for a man and horse the bearer will proceed to the next station." " For God's sake send the man on without the least delay, and write to Mr. Marion to forward it by night and by day." The country was roused as by the sound of a trumpet. The night after the arrival of these despatches in Charleston, the royal arsenal was seized and the arms removed. The general committee summoned the Provincial Congress, and they set on foot an "association" in which those who subscribed to it bound themselves by "every tie of religion and honor" to stand up in defence of South Carolina and their country. They resolved to raise troops, and appointed a committee of safety, to whom they delegated some portion of their author- ity, and a general committee with legislative and advisory powers to act in the present emergency. They recommended to this general committee to have "the association" signed throughout the province and to demand their reasons of the recusants ; of non-subscribers an oath of neutrality was de- manded, and, at least in the town of Charleston and its vi- cinity, those who refused were disarmed and confined to their houses and plantations. Committees of gentlemen were ap- pointed in the several districts and parislies of the province to consult for the public safety, and the committee of intel- ligence addressed them all in a circular letter rehearsing the events that had occurred, and calling upon the inhabitants everywhere to associate and pledge their lives and fortunes in defence of their rights as freemen against the tyranny which oppressed them.
It was under these circumstances that Wm. Henry Dray- ton and Rev. William Tennent, accompanied by Col. Richard
369
1770-1780.] TOUR OF TENNENT AND DRAYTON.
Richardson, of the Camden regiment, Joseph Kershaw, and the Rev. Mr. Hart of the Baptist church, set out from Charles- ton the 2d of August, 1775, on a tour through the upper coun- try, to strengthen the friends of resistance and to win over the wavering. On the 5th they reached " the Congaree Store," in the vicinity of Granby, where after sermon the people were addressed on public affairs. Mr. Tennent then crossed the Con- garee and addressed a crowd assembled for a public election. He visited the churches of Jackson's Creek, Fairfield, and of Rocky Creek, Chester; he accompanied the Rev. Mr. Alex- ander to his preaching places-to Beersheba on the head waters of Bullock's Creek, in York, to another meeting-house on Thicketty, thence to Goudelock's, and to the general mus- ter at Ford's on the Enoree ; thence to James Williams's, elder in the church of Little river, and the Col. Williams who fell at King's Mountain, where he preached for Mr. Creswell at Little river, and then at his other church at Ninety-six. On the 31st he preached at " one of Mr. Harris's preaching sheds," at Boonsborough on Long Cane Creek, Abbeville, and on the 2d of September at Bull Town meeting-house, fifteen miles from the Indian line, to one of the most crowded assemblies he ever saw. On all these occasions, after the religious ser- vices were over, he harangued the people on the state of the country, gave them a " touch of the times," was led often into ample discussions, and obtained subscriptions to the asso- ciation. Sometimes Drayton, Richardson, or Hart was with him, but often he was alone. In this tour he encountered Fletchall, the Cunninghams, and Brown, leaders of the Tories, and. many of their followers. On one occasion he employed himself in raising a company of mounted rangers and tliree companies of volunteers. At Fort Charlotte, below Vienna on the Savannah, he gave orders for the erection of platforms, mounting the cannon, and preparing everything for defence, reviewed the troops, addressed them, prayed with them, and so took his departure. Similar vigilance, activity, and quick observation were exhibited on his return home. He visited Capt. Hammond at his "forted house," describes the fortified houses of Augusta, strives to obtain a meeting at New Savan- nah, in the neighborhood of Beach Island, crosses Briar Creek in Georgia, and returns home, crossing from the Georgia side at the ferry of the " Two Sisters."-(Drayton's Hist. of South Carolina, 1; Gibbes' Documentary Hist.)
Had our space permitted, we would have given extended extracts from the interesting and exciting journal of this tour,
24
370
SPEECH ON CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT.
[1770-1780.
because it illustrates so much the character of the man, as persevering, public spirited, energetic, and fearless; eloquent and convincing when he opened his mouth to speak ; because it shows the trusts confided to him and the influence he ex- erted ; and above all because it reveals so much concerning the condition of the upper country at the opening of the Revolu- tion, and shows the conflict of opinion and the views hield as to public duty in the region over which he passed. It is very evident that this journey of Messrs. Tenhent, Drayton, and their companions was of eminent service to the interests of civil liberty ; that it brought many over to the cause of the colonies who would otherwise have taken up arms for the king; that it assisted honest but wavering minds to reach opinions which they afterwards steadfastly maintained, and for which they periled their lives. The country they traversed was the most disaffected portion. Dr. Ramsay says the non- subscribers to the association in Charleston amounted to about forty, who in great part were officers living on salaries paid by the king, and that the great body of non-subscribers were found between the Broad and Saluda rivers.
We find Mr. Tennent after this engaged in the duties of his vocation as a minister of Christ amid the events of the Revo- lution, which were becoming every day more stirring. He em- ployed his pen from time to time in the public prints in the cause of civil freedom, and on 11th of January, 1777, he de- livered an eloquent speech in the House of Assembly, Charles- ton, advocating a petition penned by himself, to which had been attached the signatures of many thousands, against the church establishment which the Church of England had al- ways enjoyed under the colonial government. In this speech he contended that ecclesiastical establishments were an in- fringement on civil liberty.
" That the rights of conscience were unalienable, and all laws binding it are, ipso facto, null and void; that neither those laws which lay heavy penal- ties on men for their religious opinions, nor those which make odious distinc- tions between subjects equally good, ought to be tolerated. Of this last, he contended, were the laws prevailing in Carolina. The laws acknowledge the society of the one as a Christian church-it does not know the others at all. Under a reputedly free government, licenses for marriage were refused by the ordinary to any but the established clergy. The law builds superb churches for the one-it leaves the others to build their own. The law chables the onc church to hold estates, and to suc for rights; but no dissenting church can suc at common law. They are obliged to deposit their property with trustccs. The law vests in the Church of England power to tax their own people and all other denominations for the support of the poor. The sums advanced by the public treasury for the support of the Church of England for the ten years preceding the 31st of December, 1775, amount to £164,027 163. 3d. The cx-
371
CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT.
1770-1780.]
pense of the year 1772 was £18,031 118. 1d. The religious estate, drawn more or less from the purses of all denominations by law, would probably sell for £330,000. If the dissenters have always made more than half of this govern- ment, the sum taken out of their pockets, for the support of a church with which they did not worship, must amount to more than £82,013 within the ten years aforesaid; and a very large sum of their property, in glebes, parson- ages, and churches, lies in the possession and improvement of the Church of England. Meanwhile the established churches are but twenty in number, many of them very small, while the number of dissenting congregations are seventy-nine, and much larger, and would pay £40,000 annually could they be furnished with a clergy. But the deficiency of gospel ministers diminishies the sum very considerably. To the objection that dissenters are tolerated, Mr. Tennent asks if it would content our brethren of the Church of England to be barely tolerated, that is, not punished for presuming to think for them- selves. To the declaration of those who would keep up the establishment merely as a matter of superiority, he answers that this operates to the abridg- inent of civil liberty. It was not, the three pence on the pound of tea that roused all the virtue of America. It is our birthright that we prize. To the proposal to establish all the denominations by law and pay them equally, he objects that the establishment of all religions would in effect be no establish- inent at all. Religious establishments discourage the opulence and cramp the growth of a free state. That state in America which adopts the freest and most liberal plan will be the most opulent and powerful, and will well deserve it. With the new constitution let the day of justice dawn upon every rank and order of men in this state. Let us bury what is past forever. We even consent that the estate which she has for a century past been drawing more or less from the purses of all denominations-an estate of no less value than three hundred and eighty thousand pounds-remain in her quiet possession and be fixed there. Let her only for the future cease to demand pre-eminence. We seek no restitution. Let her be contented with her superb churches, her spacious burying-grounds, her costly parsonages, her numerous glebes, and other church estates, and let her not now insist upon such glaring partiality any longer. It is demanded that this be delayed till a proper time. I think if the time is left to them, it will prove as it did to the man the time of whose execution was left to himself: it so happened that all the persuasions of the executioner could never make him believe that the time present was proper. Is it not a fact that we are now reviewing the constitution; that what was designed only as a pro tempore affair may become so perfected as to be fit to stand ? If this matter is not now attended to, will not the Church of England be established by law under the new constitution and become the constitu- tional church ? Must we sit still out of mere compliment? By some it is said to be dangerous to grant this request at the present time. But are we reduced to that situation that it is dangerous to do common justice? Will the danger arise from the dissenting denominations ? No: it answers the prayer of their petitions. Will the danger arise from the Church of England ? I have the pleasure of knowing too many of them to think so. Many of them have signed the petition. Many more have declared their sentiments in the most liberal terms. They do not desire any longer to oppress their brethren. Grant them the prayer of this petition ; grant it in substance if not in the very expression. Let it be a foundation article in your constitution, 'That there shall be no establishment of one religious denomination of Christians in pref- erence to another. That none shall be obliged to pay to the support of a worship in which they do not freely join.' Yield to the mighty current of American freedom and glory, and let our state be inferior to none on this wide continent in the liberality of its laws and in the happiness of its people."
Such is an outline of the noble and effective speech de- livered by Mr. Tennent in the House of Assembly while the
372
DEATH OF MR. TENNENT.
[1770-1780.
new constitution was under consideration. The civil revolution of which he was so earnest an advocate, brought with it this revolution in the government of the church and its entire sever- ance from the control of the State, which the rights of conscience and the principles of popular government so clearly demand.
Mr. Tennent did not long survive these efforts in favor of ecclesiastical and civil freedom. His father, William Ten- nent, senior, of Freeliold, New Jersey, a minister of singular piety and usefulness, whose name is widely known for the trance in which he lay for a long time, apparently dead, but from which he recovered, in which he seemed to himself to be caught up to the third heaven and to behold things which it was not lawful to utter-this venerable man died on the 8th of March, 1777. In the course of the following summer, he went to Freehold to bring to his own home his widowed and aged mother. He had reached the high hills of Santee, about ninety miles from Charleston, on his way home, when he was attacked with a nervous fever which terminated his life. He died on the 11th of August, 1777, in the thirty-seventh year of his age, prematurely cut off, as we are wont to say, in the very noontide of his usefulness. "I was with him," says the Rev. (afterwards Dr.) Richard Furman, in a letter to Mrs. Tennent, " in his last moments-his life went gently from him, almost without a struggle or a groan. He told me al- most in the last words he spoke, that his mind was calm and easy, and he was willing to be gone."
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