USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I pt 2 > Part 25
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580
DR. WITHERSPOON ON
[1790-1800.
admitted, that technically, or according to the letter of the deed by which the property was granted to the church, their opponents were the owners. Of this fact they became ap- prised only by the trial for a suit at law in relation to the sub- ject. The causes of these mistakes will be made to appear from a statement of the following facts. The church, before the Revolution, was connected with the presbytery of Charles- ton, under the care of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland ; and the glebe, as well as the ground upon which the church stood, was conveyed by a deed or charter to the con- gregation, to be held by them so long as they remained con- nected with the church of Scotland, and no longer. This deed or conveyance had not been seen or heard of for twenty years or more, for it had been concealed during that time by James Fleming, who, though a son of one of the original founders, had attached himself to the opposite party. Hence the terms of the grant were not recollected until the trial at law of the right of property, when it appeared that the minority had seceded from the church of Scotland and placed themselves under the presbytery of South Carolina, which was connected with the synod of Philadelphia. In the course of the year 1787, each of the parties erected a new church, seventy or seventy-five yards apart. That connected with the synod of Philadelphia was from that time called the Bethel Church, whilst the other retained its original name. In the Bethel congregation were found the families of the Witherspoons, Wilsons, and Frier- sons, &c., who were the immediate descendants of the origi- nal founders of this branch of Zion, and who were the ances- tors of those now found in various sections of the South and West."
The residuary party, which remained after the minority had drawn off and formed the Bethel church, and who were legally entitled to the name and rights of the Williamsburg church, remained unsupplied until 1792. At this time the Rev. James Malcomson, of the presbytery of Belfast, Ireland, became its pastor, having been especially called to this position by the congregation. He was born in the parish of Castlereagh, in the county of Down, but received the chief part of his educa- tion at the university of Glasgow. With his ministerial func- tions he combined the profession of medicine, which he prac- tised with no small degree of skill, and it is from this profession that his title Doctor [of medicine] proceeds. He had attended medical lectures at Edinburgh, and was a licensed physician In addition to his pastoral charge he taught a large grammar
581
REV. JAMES MALCOMSON, D.D.
1790-1300.]
school, at which many received their early education .* He was a man of talents, of thorough scholarship, and of pleasing address, and prepossessing person. He wrote his sermons, but was interesting and often eloquent in their delivery. Facetious and genial, he had many and warm friends, and was not with- out his enemies. In the divisions which rent the church asun- der, it was difficult to avoid all obloquy and prejudice, even for those who were the most perfect. He continued to min- ister to this congregation till 1804, when he removed to Charleston, where he taught a classical school and preached to a new congregation, increasing in numbers when he was called away, and which was the germ of the second Presby- terian church. He died of yellow fever during the summer of 1804, in the thirty-sixth year of his age. One of his daughters married Mr. Kane of Pineville, another, Mr. Bell of Charleston. The only ruling elders of the Williamsburg church of this period, whose names can now be recalled, were James McCon- nell, Thomas McConnell, and John McClary.
The BETHEL CHURCH, WILLIAMSBURG, were still depending on securing the services of Mr. Stephenson as their pastor, and the presbytery of South Carolina had appointed an inter- mediate session, to take place at Williamsburg, on the first Wednesday of December, 1790, for his ordination and instal- lation. No meeting took place at the time appointed, and the presbytery, sitting at Long Cane, on the 16th of April, 1791, ordained him, the Rev. Thomas McCaule preaching the ordination sermon from 2d Timothy, i. 8.
The church at INDIAN TOWN had participated in the call for Mr. Stephenson ; he accepted the call as from both, and both pertained to his pastoral charge.
"The parents of James White Stephenson were from Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania, and of the Scotch-Irisli stock, that emigrated southward and settled in Virginia and the Carolinas during the latter half of the last century. Leaving the scenes of their early associations, they halted and so- journed for a period of two or three years in Augusta county,
* The Rev. James Malcomson, Theodore Gourdin, Robert Witherspoon, James Davis, Jolin Nesmith, and John Frierson, were incorporated Decem- ber 19, 1795, as Trustees of the Williamsburg academy, and were empowered to raise by lotteries a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars to defray the necessary buildings for the same .- (Statutes at Large, viii., p. 188.)
+ The Rev. Thomas Reese had been appointed to preach the ordination sermon, and the Rev. James Edmonds to give the charge .- (Minutes, South Carolina presbytery, p. 42.)
582
BETHEL CHURCH, AND DR. STEPHENSON.
[1790-1800.
Virginia, where, in 1756, the subject of this memoir was born. Soon after this event, they removed to Lancaster district, South Carolina, and settled near the old Waxhaw church, where they spent the remainder of their earthly pilgrimage. In this field their son began that career of usefulness which was destined to be, in no ordinary degree, signal and pro- tracted. Of his youthful days and early manhood, but little is now known ; but judging from his subsequent life, and the character of his parents, his early training was in strict accord- ance with the customs of the Presbyterians of those times."
Mr. Stephenson commenced the study of the Latin and Greek at the old Waxhaw church, under the tuition of Mr. Hum- phries, in a class of four, viz .: William Crawford, son of Major Crawford of Revolutionary memory, a Mr. Barnett, and Dr. John Douglas. The late Judge Smith, of this State, but more recently of Alabama, is also known to have been one of his fellow-students and associates in early life. At this early period, both he and Dr. Douglas were intending the ministry. After the war Mr. Crawford studied law ; Mr. Douglas studied medicine, and settled first in Charleston, and then permanently in Salem, Black River; Mr. Stephenson, during the war, was a part of his time in the army, and a part of the time engaged in teaching .- (MS. Letter of Dr. John Douglas, the son.)
" He entered the Mount Zion College at Winnsboro', at the same time with the Rev. Humphrey Hunter, D.D., in 1785, and after passing through the usual course, obtained his diploma there under the Rev. Thomas H. McCaule. Mr. Stephenson was one of its alumni, together with the Rev. Messrs. Robert McCulloch, Wm. C. Davis, James Wallis, Humphrey Hunter, Robert B. Walker, David Dunlap, John B. Kennedy, S. W. Yongue, John Robinson, Wm. G. Rose- boro, John Cousar, John B. Davies, William Dargan, and some others, who graduated there during the first eight years of the existence of the college.
" But Mount Zion College, with a perpetual charter and fully empowered to confer degrees, was, like Fag's Manor and the Log College at Neshaminy, merely an academy of high order. These were the kind of institutions that sprang up from the necessities of that early period, before the country was prepared to furnish the funds for the endowment of larger schools of learning, or literary men, apart from the ministerial profession, to fill their professorial chairs. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the men who obtained their whole literary and scientific knowledge from these sources, did not
583
J. W. STEPHENSON, D.D.
1790-1800.]
rank so far below the graduates of the present day as is gen- erally supposed. That many of them were learned, and pro- foundly so, admits not of a doubt. Though their course of studies was not so extended, they were decidedly more accu- rate in what they attempted; what they lacked in one respect they made up to a great extent in another.
"Such were the men, who, under God, were furnished to the church by Fag's Manor, Log College, Mount Zion, and kindred institutions. They were raised up for a specific pur- pose, and were great in spite of all the difficulties that lay before them. Like Richard Baxter, under the promptings of an unconquerable desire for knowledge, and this in order that they might consecrate it to the glory of God, they allowed no impediments nor discouragements to damp the ardor of their pursuits.
"Such a man was the subject of this memoir. Though destitute of the learned instructions and richly stored libraries of the seminaries of the present age, he nevertheless, by dint of persevering application, made himself an accomplished scholar and profound theologian. The first notice that we are able to obtain of him, at this remote period, after passing from the peaceful shades of the academy, is in the capacity of principal of a classical school, over which he presided for some years, in the vicinity of the old Waxhaw church. Here the future hero and President, Andrew Jackson, while a boy, was one of his pupils. This circumstance, as may reasonably be supposed, was not forgotten in after life, when teacher and scholar met in the West, whither both emigrated, and re- counted the trying scenes of earlier days; and where both lived, not far from each other, to an advanced age of more than ordinary usefulness, and alike died in the triumphs of a common faith.
" But as it was Mr. Stephenson's lot to be brought into the world amid 'wars and rumors of wars,' so he was destined to spend no small part of his early life in those fearful and bloody scenes which, under God, resulted in throwing off the British yoke and securing the liberties of the country. The Scotch-Irish of that day were mostly Presbyterians, and the Presbyterians were generally the friends of liberty, because their faith made them so. It would have been hardly a pos- sible thing, then, for an athletic young man of twenty-four years, of such a race of people, to escape his share of the dangers and duties, which fell to the lot of all, in this trying crisis. And accordingly, when the war of the Revolution
584
J. W. STEPHENSON, D.D.
[1790-1800.
invaded South Carolina, Mr. Stephenson broke up his school and joined the standard of liberty, which he followed until the return of peace. 'Of one circumstance I have a distinct recollection, as I have frequently heard my father and Dr. Stephenson talk and laugh the matter over. Mr. Stephenson had a wish to serve a while in the army. This was strongly resisted by his family, they naturally fearing the demoraliz- ing effects of camp life; in order to protect him from the contingency of a military draft, had a school made up for him, and thus armed him with the birch instead of the musket. Shortly after commencing his school, a draft was ordered in the Beat company in which he resided, and as his school did not number twelve or fifteen scholars (I forget which) he was not by law exempted, and greatly to his gratification he entered the service. The opposition of Mr. Stephenson's family was from pure motives, as they were all of the true Whig stamp. It is creditable to that whole community, then called ' the Pennsylvania Irish,' that they were all on the side of liberty.'-(MS. Letter of Dr. Douglas.) With one of his brothers, he joined the army under the command of General Sumter, and participated in the battles at Black- stock's, Hanging Rock, and some other engagements. In one of these fearful scenes, while the battle raged and the mes- sengers of death flew thick around, a ball from the enemy. struck the breech of his gun and broke it off, and then glan- cing, killed the man that stood next to him. On another occasion, it became his duty, in turn, to stand as sentinel at a certain place ; but being indisposed that night, a fellow-soldier kindly volunteered to take his place, who was shot dead at his post. Thus in two striking instances a watchful, overrul- ing providence saved him from the shafts of death and pre- served him for great and manifold usefulness in after life. A long and arduous warfare was before him, the weapons of which are not carnal, and there was no furlough nor discharge till that was accomplished.
"Mr. Stephenson being a man of peace as well as of singu- lar modesty, was seldom known in after life to speak of the part which he took in these bloody and dangerous scenes, contrary to a general characteristic of old soldiers, and especially of those who participated in the Revolutionary struggle. He even manifested a dislike to conversing about them, and but for the interest taken in them by some who were his companions and fellow-soldiers, the events would probably have sunk into oblivion.
585
J. W. STEPHENSON, D.D.
1.90-1800.]
" After the return of peace, he was induced, by a mandate which he dared not disregard, to direct his attention to that warfare, the reward of which is on high. The energies of his mind were then diverted from secular pursuits to a speedy and thorough preparation for the gospel ministry. Having passed the usual course at Mount Zion College, as has been already stated, he applied himself to the study of theology, but under what instructor we have not been able to ascertain. After completing his studies preparatory, and submitting the necessary parts of trial, he was licensed in 1790, by the pres- bytery of South Carolina, then embracing the entire territory of the State, and soon after accepted a call to the pastoral charge of the Bethel and Indian Town churches, in Williams- burg district.
" A few years previous to this time, the Williamsburg church had been greatly distracted on account of the alleged doc- trinal errors and unministerial conduct of the acting pastor, the Rev. Samuel Kennedy, a native of Ireland, as has been recorded p. 486, et seq.
" The statement there made will enable us to form a pretty correct idea of the delicacy of the position in which the young pastor was placed, and the difficulties he would be called to contend with. But it is a fact that reflects highly in his favor, as a prudent and pious man, that amid all the rancor of feel- ing which existed between the churches, no breath of slander was ever blown against him, and no controversy ever arose between him and the pastor and people of the other congre- gation. To avoid a collision of some sort with the two bodies, worshipping, as they did, only about fifty paces distant from each other, and separated only by a ditch, the trace of which is yet plainly visible, required a no ordinary degree of piety and circumspection. Mr. Stephenson was ordained on the 16th of April, 1791.
" On the 4th of August, 1791, he was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth James, a pious and excellent lady, and well qualified for the important station which, in the providence of God, she was called to fill; and her memory is still cherished by some who were personally acquainted with her. She was the daughter of Major John James, who was celebrated for the active part which he took in the Revolutionary struggle.
" This union was of short duration. Mrs. Stephenson died on the 29th of July, 1793, and her mortal remains repose beside those of her father, in the Indiantown graveyard. The mar- ble that marks her resting-place bears the following inscription :
586
J. W. STEPHENSON, D.D.
[1790-1800.
"In Memory of Mrs. ELIZABETH STEPHENSON, Consort of the Rev. James W. Stephenson, who departed this life July 29th, 1793, aged 24 years.
"After this bereavement, Mr. Stephenson devoted the un- tiring energies of his life, individually, to the service of his Divine Master. In the duties of preaching the word, pastoral visitation, and catechising both old and young, he was faithful and. assiduous. And his labors were not in vain in the Lord. Ever living near the mercy-seat himself, it was his blessed privilege to see his people following his example. The pray- ing minister was blessed with a praying people. At one time, according to his own testimony, there were forty-five families in which the morning and evening sacrifice was regularly of- fered up, in the Bethel congregation alone.
" In the reproval of vice, as well as its removal, Mr. Stephen- son was not less successful than in the more welcome functions of his office. A number of pernicious practices were found prevalent in the congregations when he entered upon his duties in them, which he felt conscientiously bound to correct, trusting to God for the consequences. The principal of these were dancing, horse-racing, and treating at funerals. In the last century, the practice of drinking at the burial of the dead, prevailed to a melancholy extent ; and not a few instances are given of ministers being disciplined for indulging too freely on such occasions. And too frequently the living were not sufficiently sober to follow with becoming decorum their de- parted friends to the grave. The people, convinced by the warning voice of their pastor, put an end to the practice. Another monster evil which he was successful in opposing was horse-racing, usually followed by music and dancing, and kindred amusements. Regarding these as wholly inconsistent with Christian character, he ceased not to denounce them as such until they were mostly discontinued. And it is but jus- tice to state, that to Mr. Stephenson belongs the honor, so far as it is known, of commencing, in this part of the country, the benevolent work of evangelizing the negroes, and preventing them from laboring on the Sabbath for themselves, as they had too generally been permitted to do.
" As Mr. Stephenson was a man of eminent piety, and deeply imbued with the spirit of his Divine Master, it is not wonder- ful that he partook eagerly of the revival spirit. And in the remarkable outpourings of the Spirit, with which the churches
.
587
J. W. STEPHENSON, D.D.
1790-1800.]
throughout the land were blessed in the early part of the nine- teenth century, the congregations of his charge shared most bountifully. Many still living remember the scenes of that eventful period-a period when, from the general prevalence of infidel sentiments, both in Europe and America, the hearts of the stoutest 'trembled for the ark of God;' but when the Almighty, in a most signal manner, overthrew the power of his enemies, and made his own name glorious.
"Thus the Word of God prospered more and more under the ministry of Mr. Stephenson, until the congregations under his care became large and abundantly able to support the gospel. In 1802, Bethel church was reported to the general assembly as having one hundred and four communicants, and Indiantown ninety-six. In this prosperous condition of the churches, the pastor and a number of his people began to turn their attention to the favorable openings in the West, and forthwith determined on carrying the light of gospel truth into that wilderness region. With their minister in company, about twenty families emigrated to Maury county, Tennessee, and jointly purchased a large tract of land, belonging to the heirs of General Greene, of Revolutionary fame. There they erected the tabernacle of the Lord in the wilderness, and or- ganized the Zion church, about five miles from Columbia.
"Mr. Stephenson preached his valedictory discourse in In- diantown church on the 28th of February, 1808, and on the 3d of March following, set out on his journey to the West. On the 20th of May, of the same year, he was again united in marriage, to Mrs. Mary Fleming, a member of his own church, and one of the emigration from Williamsburg. In this new field of labor, he exercised his ministry with zeal and fidelity, and his popular talents as a preacher of the gospel, combined with the intelligence and piety of the people of his charge, soon attracted the favorable notice and secured the friendship of some of the most prominent men of the State, among whom were the Hon. Felix Grundy and Andrew Jackson.
"But Mr. Stephenson still lived in the affections of an exten- sive acquaintance, which he had left behind him. He was not forgotten by the friends of former years, though his voice was heard by them no more. And in 1815, the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina College, rightly appreciating his worth, on motion of Chancellor James, conferred upon him the well- merited degree of Doctor of Divinity. Nor was he less es- teemed, nor less useful, in the State of his more recent adop- tion. He was, during life. President of the Maury County
588
BLACK MINGO.
[1790-1800.
Bible Society, and a life-member of most of the National Be- nevolent Associations of the day. At an early period, he ar- dently espoused the cause of Foreign Missions, and made the Chickasaw schools, under the Rev. T. C. Stuart, the particular objects of his fostering influence and support. Being blest with a strong physical constitution, he enjoyed almost unin- terrupted health, and is believed never to have been prevented attending upon the services of the sanctuary until near the close of his life. He continued to discharge his pastoral duties until old age and debility admonished him that the time of his departure was near ; and for about a year before his death, he was assisted by the Rev. James M. Arnell, who was unanimously chosen as his successor, and who has since followed him to his reward on high. At length, having ' served his generation by the will of God, he fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers.' On the 6th of January, 1832, he rested from his labors, at the advanced age of seventy-six, having been the pastor of a portion of his congregation for more than forty-two years.
"Dr. Stephenson, in personal appearance, was tall and of commanding proportions, and from a uniform solemnity and dignity of manners, always secured the profound respect of his people. His style of preaching was instructive, plain and pointed, always earnest and often eloquent. It might with truth be said of him, as it was of Baxter :
" He preached as though he ne'er would preach again, Preached as a dying man to dying men."
He studied and wrote much, leaving behind him several hun- dred sermons in manuscript, only two or three of which were ever published. He sleeps near the centre of the Zion church burying-ground, Maury county, Tennessee, and around him on every side lie the remains of the patriarchs that removed from Williamsburg. Of that band of pilgrims who more than half a century ago crossed the Alleghanies, and boldly plunged into a savage wilderness, not one that was the head of a family, now remains."-(MS. Hist., by Rev. J. A. Wallace.)
The church of BLACK MINGO still had the Rev. William Knox as its minister. It was frequented long after this, though now for many years extinct. It was built of brick, and its ruins may be seen on the road from Lenud's to Britton's Ferry, on the north side of the Williamsburg line, near a small creek which empties into the Black Mingo. Some of its members lived at a considerable distance from it, and we have heard of one within the present century, but long since
589
HOPEWELL AND AIMWELL (P. D.)
1790-1800.]
dead, who walked from his residence, twenty-five miles above, to attend its communions.
The congregation spoken of in some old documents as the congregation of WINYEAU (respecting which, see our inquiries in the note to p. 282), was probably the Episcopal one of Prince Frederick's, in Georgetown district, within whose bounds our ministers sometimes preached, and where a Presbyterian church was organized in 1805.
CHAPTER II.
The HOPEWELL CHURCH (Pedee), and AIMWELL CHURCH (Pedee), petitioned the South Carolina presbytery on the 14th of April, 1790, for a candidate on trial, mentioning par- ticularly Humphrey Hunter, one of their licentiates. He had been called by Little River and Duncan's Creek, but declined the call. A call was presented to him from Fairforest and Brown's Creek (afterwards Union). In September, 1791, the presbytery having heard of the intention of Hopewell and Aimwell to offer him a call, appointed his trials conditionally. Rev. Thomas Reese to preach the ordination sermon, and Rev. James W. Stephenson his alternate, and Rev. James Tem- pleton to preside and give the charge. Mr. Hunter returned the calls from Fairforest, Duncan's Creek, and Little River. On April the 10th, 1792, the expected calls from Hopewell and Aimwell were presented and accepted, and an intermediate session was ordered to be held at Hopewell, on the 25th of May, for his ordination. Rev. Thomas H. McCaule, or Rev. Robert McCulloch as alternate, to preach the sermon, and Rev. Thomas Reese to preside and give the charge. This session was held as appointed, Mr. McCulloch preached, Mr. Reese gave the charge to the minister, and James W. Ste- phenson the charge to the people. John McFadden, John Wilson, and John James being present as elders .- (Minutes of the South Carolina presbytery, pp. 38, 40, 47, 48, 51, 53.) The call for the services of Mr. Hunter, made out in the usual form of the Confession of Faith, was signed on the 1st of October, 1791, by Thomas Wickham, Gavin Witherspoon, John Ervin, L. Derkins, Hugh Ervin, Thomas Cann, Jeremiah Gurley, Aaron Gasque, William Stone, John Gregg, Joseph Burch, Horace Davis, Joseph Jelly, James Thompson, James Hudson, Joseph Gregg, Thomas Hudson, John Cooper, David Bigem, John Orr, James Orr, J. Baxter, William
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