USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I pt 2 > Part 24
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570
FRENCH CHURCH, CHARLESTON.
[1790-1800.
The FRENCH HUGUENOT CHURCH in Charleston had been in- corporated in 1783 as " The Calvinistic Church of French Prot- estants." The Rev. Bartholomew Henri Himeli, who had been absent for twelve years, returned again, as we have seen (page 469), in 1785, and was reinstated in his pastorate. This pastorship is thought to have terminated in 1789. The Rev. Jean Paul Coste was pastor, according to the authority there referred to, from 1791 to 1795, at which date the ministry of Rev. Peter Daniel Bourdillon commenced .- (Southern Lite- rary Gazette, June, 1852, p. 301.) Mr. Ravenel is of the opinion that there was an interval between the ministry of these two men. " Mr. Bourdillon was obtained through the agency of William Loughton Smith, at one time a representa- tive in Congress, and afterwards minister to Spain. Mr. Bour- dillon left Geneva in 1795, and entered upon his duties in April, 1796. He made a most favorable impression, and won a deep esteem both as a preacher and a man. But his career was a short one. On the 13th of June, 1796, the great fire of that year occurred, which, commencing in Lodge alley, near East Bay-street, extended to the market, then situate at the corner of Broad and Meeting streets, the site of the present City Hall. The French church was blown up, in the hope of arresting the fire, but in vain." It was again destroyed, as it had been with all its records, fifty-six years before, in 1740. " This destruction created a general sympathy with Mr. Bour- dillon and his congregation. By several of the churches this sympathy was strongly expressed. Some invited the congre- gation to worship with them until arrangements could be made for the resumption of their services. Others tendered the use of their churches for a portion of the Sabbath, for worship according to their own usages." Among others, the deacons of the Independent church, James Fisher, Josiah Smith, Hugh Swinton, and Thomas Jones, offered both their houses of worship to Messrs. Theodore Trezvandt, John Huger,
bridge, where we stopped to pay our fare-but, oh the scent of rum !- hoped for a quiet private entertainment at Red Hill; but the gentleman refused to receive us for love, money, or hospitality's sake. I there sent Bro. R. to see if we could get in at the next negro quarter ; in this he was unsuccessful. At length we providentially reached a Mr. C-s [Collins ?] a school-master and minister. We bought some corn for our horses, and had tea and bread and cheese for ourselves. I saw some beautiful boys at this house, and was pleased with two poor blacks who were much moved under prayer." This locality is well known in the neighborhood, and the bright boys became worthy men. It was believed by my informant, Archibald Campbell, Esq., now no longer living, that this Mr. Collins was either a Presbyterian or Con- gregational minister,
571
REV. MR. BOURDILLON.
1700-1800.]
and Basil Lanneau, elders of the French Protestant congre- gation, for their use. They write, June 26th, gratefully accept- ing the offer : " Mr. Bourdillon was requested by the congre- gation to preach a sermon, at an early day, on the calamity they had suffered ; and it was announced that he would con- duct the solemn service in the Archdale Congregational church on the next Sabbath .* But their calamity was not yet full. Before the day appointed, Mr. Bourdillon sickened. His personal exertions and fatigue during the fire had brought on a fever, which terminated fatally. He died on Sunday even- ing, July 17th, aged 41 years, leaving a widow and son. The authorities of the church took charge of the solemnities of the occasion. The cemetery of our church was covered by the fragments of the ruined edifice, and the remains of the lamented pastor were interred in the cemetery of St. Philip's church, in the part west of Church street.
" Thus deprived in a few days of church and pastor, their new hopes and expectations disappointed, with added relations and obligations, and with limited means, the spirit of the small and newly-gathered congregation was appalled by their calamities, but alive to the duties these circumstances had im- posed. Their meetings were frequent and their proceedings full of interest.
" The comfort of the widow and son received prompt atten- tion. Strangers to the climate, and comparative strangers to the people, Mrs. Bourdillon's views were consulted and met.
"A committee was appointed to report the means and condi- tion of the corporation; and, after providing for the present comfort of the widow and son, and their return to Europe, the church voted an annuity of sixty pounds to the widow for the use of herself and son during her widowhood ; and in case of her marriage or death, thirty pounds to her son during his minor- ity .. During this period Mr. John Huger was president of the corporation and chairman of the elders. His care for the comfort of Mrs. Bourdillon and son gave interest to his offi- cial acts and measures proper to the occasion, and he brought to them the high tone of a noble nature.
" Mrs. Bourdillon died in 1816. Her son being then of age, and in a counting-house in Bordeaux, the annuity ceased.
" The church was rebuilt in 1800."-(MS. of Daniel Ravenel.) The Presbyterian CHURCH OF CAINHOY was probably still in
* Archdale-street church had been saved, by the daring feat of three men who extinguished the fire on the roof, for which they were rewarded by a purse of 150 dollars .- (Rev. G. C. Faber's Letter of June 19th, 1796.)
572
JAMES ISLAND .- JOHN'S ISLAND.
[1790-1800.
existence. Dr. Ramsay says, in 1808, that the congregation of St. Thomas was formerly in connection with the presby- tery of Charleston, as well as those of James Island, Wiltown, and Pon Pon, but neither of these have connected themselves with it since its incorporation. We have known of no other Presbyterian church in St. Thomas than that at Cainhoy.
JAMES ISLAND appears to have been without a settled minis- try during this decade. In 1793 it attracted the attention of the presbytery of South Carolina, and Robert Wilson, Samuel W. Yongue, and David E. Dunlap in that year, Yongue and Dunlap in 1794, William Montgomery, Yongue, and James Gilleland in 1795, were appointed to supply it. The church made out a regular call for the services of Mr. Gilleland, March 20th, 1795, which was laid before presbytery, but was unsuc- cessful. Andrew Brown was appointed to supply them both, in this year and the next, 1796.
JOHN'S ISLAND AND WADMALAW petitioned the presbytery of South Carolina, then holding its sessions at Purity church, Chester district, on the 25th of September, 1792, which shows that it was then without a pastor ; and the Rev. James Tem- pleton was appointed to supply one Sabbath at John's Island and one at Wadmalaw. The Rev. Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Cum- mins was ordered to write to them and assure them of the in- tention of presbytery to meet their request; and this order was fulfilled. In April, 1793, John's Island renews its petition, and Robert Wilson, S. W. Yongue, and D. E. Dunlap, licentiates, were 'sent : in April, 1794, Mr. Yongue and Mr. Montgomery, and in September, Dunlap, Yongue, and Gilleland. Mr. Yongue and Andrew Brown were appointed as supplies in April, 1795. And a call from John's Island and Wadmalaw was sent to presbytery for Mr. Yongue, which was not accepted. In 1796 Andrew Brown was directed to supply them. Moses Waddell was a supply from presbytery in 1797, and after him James W. Stephenson. In November, 1799, leave was obtained by them from the presbytery to present a call to Mr. James Mc- Elhenny, a licentiate of the presbytery of Concord, it having been handed in already to that presbytery, and they having referred the question to the presbytery of South Carolina, as tc whether the presbytery of Concord should appoint him trials and ordain him, or dismiss him to them. The reply was, that it is most agreeable to good order and the discipline of our church, that he be ordained by the presbytery of which he ex. pects to be a member, and in the bounds of which he expects to reside. This answer was probably expected, and on the
573
1790-1800.]
THE PRESBYTERY OF CHARLESTON.
next day he presented a regular dismission from the presby- tery of Concord, and was received under the presbytery of South Carolina, which appointed him his trials. But before his ordination took place, the presbytery was divided by the synod of the Carolinas. Mr. McElhenny was ordained on the 12th of February, 1800, at the Fairforest church, by the second presbytery of South Carolina, and notice was given of the fact to the churches of John's Island and Wadmalaw, and the de- sirableness set forth of having him duly installed. It has been affirmed that this church was formerly known as the Presbyterian church of John's Island, but that in 1793 or 1794 a house of worship was built on Wadmalaw for the purpose of uniting that people with John's Island in the support of the gospel, since which the style of the church has been "The Presbyterian church of John's Island and Wadmalaw."-(An- swer of Kinsey Burden in the John's Island case, p. 11.)
We find that four of the congregations which were con- nected with the old presbytery, existing in and about Charles- ton previous to the Revolution, being the only ones, according to Ramsay, then provided with ordained ministers, addressed a petition to the legislature to be constituted a body cor- porate, chiefly with the view of raising a fund for the relief of widows and orphans of deceased clergymen belonging to their society. They were incorporated under the name of "The Presbytery of Charleston," on the 20th of January, 1790, and this is the only presbytery ever incorporated in this State. The minister of each of the churches of which the presbytery is composed, is always to be ex officio a member of the corpora- tion. An annual meeting was to be held in the city of Charleston, on the third Wednesday in May in each year, previous to which, each church should choose an elder or other fit person to sit along with their minister in this cor- poration as their representative. Each minister was to be- come a member of the corporation so soon as ordained according to Presbyterian rules, and installed as the officiat- ing minister of any one of the churches included in the presbytery. The widows or children of deceased ministers were to receive annuities from the funds of this presbytery, according to the apparently wise regulations of the charter. It was believed that it would encourage pious and able men to devote themselves to the ministry of the gospel, if some certain provision were made for the widows and children of deceased ministers. The object is a good one, and is attract- ing the attention of our churches at the time these words are
574
EDISTO .- REV. DONALD M'LEOD.
[1790-1800.
penned, though it is nearly eighty years since this act of incorporation was passed .- (Statutes at Large, viii., page 158.)
One of these churches is the INDEPENDENT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF PRINCE WILLIAM'S, or of STONEY CREEK, of which we have written, page 569. Another is "THE PRESBY- TERIAN CHURCH ON EDISTO ISLAND," whose minister, Rev. Thomas Cooley, must have left them soon after. On the 16th of June, 1790, at a meeting of the congregation, a majority of seven to one were found to be against him, and it was agreed that he should be informed by letter of their dissatisfaction and its cause, and Norman McLeod and Duncan Littlejohn were appointed a committee to wait on him. The five con- stitutional articles and the by-laws, fourteen in number, of the church, were adopted August 30, 1790. In the second of the by-laws, the words, "Presbytery shall upon no pretence or occasion intermeddle with the secular affairs of the church, nor shall they have any cognizance of the ecclesiastical, ex- cept in cases of reference or appeal, and the ordaining and installing of the minister," are an unfortunate denial of that right of supervision which is involved in the idea of the unity of the church. They called a Mr. William Speer to be their pastor, May 1, 1792, with a salary of £200 sterling of South Carolina, a parsonage, and forty acres of land ; but as he did not return, according to the appointment of presbytery, by the 1st of November, 1792, the corporation on the 2d of January, 1793, voted their action, and that of the presbytery respecting him, to be null and void, and applied to presbytery for advice respecting a pastor. August 26, 1793, they adopted a seal with the motto, " Nec tamen consumeratur." On the 4th of April, 1793, the Rev. Donald McLeod, a native of North Britain, began to preach to them, and was called to be their pastor, and continued so till his death in 1821.
Another of the four churches which were named in the in- corporation of the presbytery of Charleston, in 1790, is the FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH of that city, its pastor at that time being the Rev. James Wilson. His origin and ante- cedent history we have given briefly on page 475. He con- tinued in the pastorship of this church only for a short time after 1790. In 1793, Mr. (shortly afterwards Dr.) George Buist became its minister.
" The Reverend George Buist, D.D., was born in the year 1770, in Fife- shire, in Scotland. He entered the college of Edinburgh in 1787, where the early indications of superior genius acquired him the applause and friendship of some of the first literary characters of the age; among others, were the celebrated names of Dr. Robertson, the historian, Dr. Hugh Blair, and Pro-
575
1790-1800.] FIRST CHURCH, CHARLESTON .- DR. BUIST.
tessor Dalziel. They regarded him as one of the chief ornaments of the col- lege, and as destined to exalt the reputation of his country.
." Being intended for the clerical profession, Mr. Buist pursued the study of theology with unremitted assiduity ; but, being of a liberal and comprehensive mind, he did not confine himself to liis profession exclusively. He knew that the sciences and arts are mutual aids to each other, and that an acquaintance with all, is the way to perfect a knowledge of any one particular branch of hu- man learning. In classical learning he was, at an early age, profoundly versed. For Grecian literature he had an especial predilection ; and it is a fact well known to many of his friends, that lie was an assistant to Professor Dalziel in preparing a part of his Collectanea for the press. With the Hebrew he was familiar, and he was critically skilled in the French and Italian lan- guages. His knowledge embraced all those departments of learning that make up the liberal scholar, and there was no branch of philosophy, criticism, his- tory, or various literature, in which he was not either profoundly or com- petently skilled.
"In the year 1792, Mr. Buist was admitted an honorary member of the Edin- burgh Philological Society, and about that time, he published an abridgment of Hume's History of England, for the use of schools, which was extremely well received, and passed through two editions. He also furnished some im- portant articles for the Encyclopedia Britannica.
"While the fame of Mr. Buist was thus extending itself in the literary world, the elders of the Presbyterian church of Charleston, South Carolina, who had lately been deprived of their pastor, addressed the Rev. Mr. Hewat, who had formerly been their minister, the Rev. Dr. Robertson, principal of the uni- versity of Edinburgh, and the Rev. Dr. Hugh Blair, soliciting their agency and assistance in procuring a supply for their church. Mr. Hewat being absent, Doctors Robertson and Blair willingly complied with this request, and made choice of Mr. Buist, whom they introduced to the church in a letter of the 8th March, 1793, from which the following is an extract :
"'After much inquiry and several consultations, we have pitched upon Mr. George Buist, preacher of the gospel. We are both acquainted with him, and know him to be a good scholar, an instructive preacher, well bred, and of a good natural temper. We have no doubt but he will prove an acceptable minister to the congregation, as well as an agreeable member of society.'
" Mr. Buist arrived in Charleston in June, 1793, and immediately entered upon the duties of his ministry. On the 27th of March in the following year, he was honored by the college of Edinburgh with the degree of doctor of divinity, being then in the 24th year of his age.
"Dr. Buist exercised his ministerial functions with honor to himself and with satisfaction and delight to his congregation. The impressive manner of his delivery, and the salutary advice of his discourses, powerfully interested and affected his hearers."-(Memoir prefixed to his sermons, vol. i.)
The Hon. Mitchell King, than whom no one could have fuller or better opportunities of knowing liim, thus describes his friend and pastor :-
"Dr. Buist was a large man, about six feet high, with strongly marked fea- tures, expressive of what he actually possessed, much determination and strength of character. His shoulders were very broad, and his whole frame muscular and active. His appearance was well calculated to command re- spect. His manners werc kind and conciliating, and, without being in the slightest degree obtrusive or dogmatical, he had none of the bashfulness or awkwardness of the mere scholar. Indeed, he was eminently a man for society, fond of conversation, and able and willing to take liis full share in it, without engrossing it."
576
WILTON .- REV. ANDREW STEELE.
[1790-1800.
" His style of preaching was impressive. By great diligence and attention he had almost overcome the Scottish peculiarities of pronunciation, and only a praetised and aeute ear could have discovered that he was a native of Scotland. He read admirably. He rarely ventured on an extemporaneous discourse; and the graces of his delivery won the attention and eoneiliated the favor of his hearers. In his sermons he belonged more to the school of Blair than to that of Witherspoon and Chalmers; more to what, for want of a more appro- priate appellation, has been called the "Moderate" than to the "Evan- gelieal" portion of the church. He loved to explain and enforce the morality of the gospel, more than to preach its sublime mysteries, or to awaken and awe by the terrors of the law."-(Sprague's Annals, vol. iv.)
Dr. Buist occupied a very prominent position in the literary circles of Charleston, but attained his highest position in the land of his adoption in the next century ; in the early part of which, on the 31st of August, 1808, he died in the midst of his usefulness, and in the prime of life, in the 39th year of his age.
The fourth of the churches which were included in the presbytery of Charleston was the PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BLACK MINGO, of which the Rev. William Knox was pastor.
WILTON CHURCH .- We have seen, page 473, that a Rev. Mr. Taylor was employed as the minister of this church for the years 1789 and 1790. There is no record from which can be gleaned a single fact in relation to its history from this time till 1799, when Rev. Andrew Steele was employed to preach at the rate of £100 per annum, with pew-rents. It appears that he ministered to the church during the years 1799 and
1800. He removed subsequently to Mississippi. Among the old documents is a letter from Rev. Andrew Steele to Mr. Paul Hamilton, in which he gives Mr. Hamilton some account of himself after leaving Wilton Church. The letter is dated "Pinckneyville, Mississippi Territory, Nov. 10th, 1807." In reply to Mr. Hamilton's inquiries concerning him, he says :- "To give you a minute detail of the occurrences of my life, would be tedious and uninteresting ; it will be sufficient to assure you that my sentiments and conduct have been such as when you knew me ; although I have been since that time almost literally a stranger and a pilgrim, having no certain habita- tion, and sometimes not many of the comforts of life. I have been compelled to engage in the practice of medicine to pro- cure a subsistence, for I consider it a first duty to society and myself, to live as an honest man." The following "List of Donors to the Wilton Congregation, with the amounts given by them respectively in the old currency of specie," is pre- served :
1790-1800.]
BETHEL .- PON PON.
577
" William Sheriff, Feb. 13, 1753 .. £278 1 53
William McEchen
298 16 3
Elizabeth Stobo
234 16 8
William Stobo.
320 5
9%
Paul Hamilton.
989 2
103
William Ferguson
79 7
6
Purchase Hendrick.
30 0
0
Dr. George Mitchell
500 0
0
Henry Sheriff.
200
0
0
£2930 10 6"
There is also a paper without date, containing a list of sub- scriptions for the rebuilding of the church. Its being with- out date makes it doubtful to what building it alludes, for the church edifice was several times destroyed by fire or otherwise. The document is as follows: "We the subscri- bers do promise to pay the sums respectively opposite our names, for the purpose of rebuilding the Wilton Church, situ- ate at Wilton Bluff:
James McElhenny
$80
Charles Freer
100
John Ashe. 100
Paul Hamilton
100
William Hayne
100"
BETHEL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH and Congregation of PON PON, St. Bartholomew's parish, Colleton district. We are not able to name the ministers who preached to this church for the first five or six years of this decade. In 1796 the Rev. Andrew Steele became the pastor, who served the church till 1802. So far as can be gathered from the records, the several successive ministers of the church were zealous, faithful, per- severing men of God, and some of them in the early history of the church were called to encounter many difficulties, hard- ships, and trials, in building up and extending the cause of Christ. Particular mention is made of Rev. Mr. Gourlay, who left them to take charge of the church of Stoney Creek. The earlier members and supporters too, seem to have manifested a very deep interest in the cause of religion, and very deep regret is expressed in relation to the death of an elder Isaac Hayne the father, and of Isaac Hayne the son, whose melancholy end we have recorded in preceding pages and whose name is dear to every Carolinian and every true patriot. The church was subject to presbytery in all matters, even those relating
37
578
PURYSBURG .- SALTCATCHER .- WILLIAMSBURG. [1790-1800.
to the management of the funds, before the Revolution, but did not renew its connection with it after its reorganization and incorporation in 1790.
We are not able, by any sources of information within our reach, to trace out the succession of the PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN PURYSBURG, which, as we have seen, was incorporated in 1789, and which, probably, continued through this century. It probably had but a feeble existence. The first minister of the settlement, in 1732, Mr. Bignion, was a Swiss, who re- ceived Episcopal ordination from the bishop of London. Yet the trumpet of the gospel was sometimes blown there with no uncertain sound. Thompson says, October 18th, 1741, " A Calvinist, from Purysburg, preached [in Savannah] to the French and Swiss ; and Barber, from Bethesda, the same doc- trine, to a number of Britons."-(Vol. iii., p. 378.)
The SALTCATCHER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH was still in exist- ence. In December, 1808, it obtained a charter under the name of "The Saltcatcher Independent Presbyterian Church." Its founder, the Rev. Archibald Simpson, from whose diary we have quoted so largely, was a devoted minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, and left to this church a fund to be employed for the religious interests of the colored people of this church and congregation, which was still available down to the close of the late war.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF WILLIAMSBURG .- We saw, p. 486, et seq., how this church became divided. A clearer view, perhaps, of those transactions is contained in the MS. History of Dr. J. R. Witherspoon, M.D., of Brookland, Alabama, a descendant of John Witherspoon, the emigrant, and whose memory reached back to these times. As this manuscript was prepared with the expectation that it would be incorporated in this volume, it is due to the memory of its author that he should be allowed to explain the motives of the party with which he sympathized, although it will involve some repeti- tion :-
" During a part of Mr. Kennedy's trial-preaching he seemed to be pious and strictly orthodox; but in a short time after his engagement, his sermons appeared, to many of the congrega- tion, to savor strongly of Arminianism, or even something worse. Eventually, it was evident that he denied the essential Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with it, every essential feature of true Christianity. He at last threw off the mask alto- gether, and avowed the whole doctrine of Socinianism. In this state of things, the descendants of the original founders
579
THE SCHISM.
1790-1800.]
of the church, who were all orthodox Presbyterians, became openly dissatisfied, and urged that the preacher should be re- moved, so as to leave the pulpit to some one who was really a Presbyterian, and orthodox. They, however, formed but a minority of the congregation, while the majority expressed great satisfaction with Mr. Kennedy, and treated the com- plaints and proceedings of the minority as both unreasonable and savoring strongly of persecution. The question soon, therefore, became the subject for party spirit, and the ma- jority determined to sustain the preacher at all events. The minority finding themselves overruled, concluded to wait until the expiration of the time for which he had been engaged, and then to endeavor to procure one of piety and correct princi- ples when this period had arrived. Mr. Kennedy chose to re- main two years longer, and accordingly received the votes of the majority to that effect. The minority claimed that the church and 'the glebe belonged of right to them,' because the former was erected, and the latter purchased, at the ex- pense of their ancestors, towards which, those persons who now controlled the whole, had never contributed a dollar. The majority insisted upon their right as being the legal proprie- tors ; but which party was legally so, could not be easily de- termined, as the grants of the land for both the church and the glebe could not be found or consulted. To the minority, the labors and generous benefactions of their ancestors seemed likely to be perverted from the important objects for which they were originally made, to others of an opposite and irreli- gious character. Seeing no other method by which to avert a catastrophe so much to be deprecated, they resolved, as a last resort, to demolish and remove the venerable house of worship. Rather than see it desecrated to heretical and pro- fane purposes, the pious men destroyed an edifice erected by the zeal and piety of their ancestors, and endeared to them by the most sacred and tender associations, the destruction of which under any other circumstances would have wrung the hearts and called forth the tears of even the firmest of them all. As it was, they conceived that they had achieved an en- terprise demanded by conscience and absolutely necessary to prevent sacred things from being perverted to unholy and profane purposes. If they erred, it was from no malevolent disposition or purpose to violate the rights of their fellow-men, but from a firm belief that their rights and title to property as derived from their ancestors were more just and equitable than those of the opposite party. It is now, however, freely
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