USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I pt 2 > Part 32
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* Rocky Creek, Cuffey Town, Little River, Indian Creek, Duncan's Creek ; April, 1789, Cambridge with Rocky Creek called him, also Little River.
646
REV. JOHN SPRINGER.
[1790-1800.
his earliest days he had only the advantages of an English education, and was devoted to the pursuits of agriculture. His religious experience, and the dealings of God with him in his early life, will be best understood by the following letter, addressed by him to Mr. Thornton, a benevolent merchant of London, who had become acquainted with his character, and manifested a deep interest in his welfare.
"PRINCETON COLLEGE, 16th June, 1772.
"VERY DEAR AND WORTHY SIR,-As you desire me to give you a relation of my experience, I shall comply without any excuse or apology. I had from about the age of six years till two-and-twenty, been, from time to time, under some convictions of my miserable condition by nature. But the im- pressions which I had in my childhood, and for years afterwards, were neither deep .nor lasting. However, I believe I generally felt more anxiety about my soul than those around me did.
" At the time above mentioned (viz., my twenty-second year) it pleased God to lay before me in a very affecting light my wretched state by nature and practise. My convictions were much more thorough and rational than be- fore, and my distress more piercing and permanent; so that I resolved at once to forsake all known ways of external sin and wickedness. I was con- vinced of the sinfulness of my nature as well as of my outward conduct. I was willing to do everything short of yielding up my heart to God, that I miglit be saved from the wrath to come.
" The minister under whom I then lived being a man of bad morals, I had no opportunity of conversing with any: I would have given all the world for a skilful guide. After I had been under these exercises about four months, I heard a Swedish minister from Philadelphia preach, who, in a private interview I had with him after the sermon, gave me some very salu- tary advice. At parting, he invited me to pay him a visit. I also joined a religious society which was instituted by his means in the neighborhood of Wilmington. Shortly after this I heard him preach again; at which time I was very anxious to know what faith was. But, although it so happened that he preached on that subject, I did not understand anything he said; so little knowledge had I of the things of religion.
" After this sermou was ended, he conversed with a number of young per- sons at his own house; one of whom gave an account of the change which God had wrought in his soul; and upon hearing him I could scarcely forbear bursting into tears. Religion, at this time, appeared beautiful and excellent; I thought it was well worth spending my life for, even though I should never have in this world any comfortable assurance of my interest in the divine favor.
" On my return home in the evening, I was disconsolate under a view of my perishing condition : and my heart seemed to be somewhat tender and easily affected ; but presently after this I was in a sweet serene frame of mind. I was taken up in contemplating the works of God, in which there appeared an unspeakable beauty and glory. The same views and feelings next morning increased; all nature, in silent though powerful language, seemed to proclaim the being, perfections, and glory of God. I felt myself surrounded with deity.
"I went home under a deep sense of my being most righteously con- demned; wondering that God had suffered so vile a creature to breathe his air or tread upon his earth so long. I told my parents in a flood of tears, what a fearful thing it was to fall into the hands of the living God. The same day, as I was bathing myself, these words were, as it were, whispered
647
REV. JOHN SPRINGER.
1790-1800.]
to my soul, 'Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee.' I was greatly afraid lest Satan was transforming himself into an angel of light to deceive me, and at the same time prayed that God would not suffer me to be deluded. I continued all that day in a sweet and delightful frame of mind. In the evening of the same day, as I was returning from a visit to one of my relations who was under some religious impressions, I had such a view of my odious and vile nature, that I burst out into loud cries, and continued crying for near two hours. In this condition I came home, which occasioned my parents and the family to think I was disordered in my mind, little knowing what sweetness I felt in the midst of all this sorrow.
"I felt at this time a bleeding compassion for the souls of my fellow-men : I could not look upon my parents without tears, when I thought of their being in a state of nature. The glory of the mediatorial character of Christ appeared in an amazing light: I could have risked ten thousand souls upon his merits. The Bible appeared to me like a new book-every line and page seemed, as it were, to shine with glory. About this time I had such a view of the divine glory that my soul was ravished, and for the space of half an hour was, as it were, lost in the contemplation thereof. My heart glowed with an ardent flame of love to the ever-blessed, glorious, and compassionate Saviour, who had thus visited and redeemed one of the most unworthy of his creatures. Such compassion and benevolence did I now feel for my fellow-sinners, that I thought I could cheerfully have burnt at a stake to have saved only one of them from eternal ruin and misery.
" Under these views and exercises, I was stirred up to converse with my rela- tions and neighbors. For some time I could not speak to them without tears. Soon after this I felt a strong desire to become a preacher of the gospel, and intimated my desire to my parents, requesting their approbation and assist- ance. They readily consented, and accordingly I began my studies under the direction of Mr. Smith* of Pequea, a pious dissenting minister, about thirty miles from my father's. About seven months after I had begun my education, the Lord poured out his spirit upon the whole of the students in that seminary, and many in the adjacent neighborhood. Many of those who were the subjects of this blessed work, told me that God had made use of me as the instrument of it.
" Shortly after this I went to Princeton, and put myself under the direction of Dr. Witherspoon. Everything was agreeable here. I found some pious companions-strict order and diligent application generally prevailed among the students, indolent and vicious persons were discountenanced and de- spised. A revival of religion began here also the next spring after I came to this place. It began with two of my classmates with whom I had con- versed warmly and frequently on the nature and necessity of true religion. My soul was much engaged with God for some time before this blessed visit- ation, in praying that he would pour out his spirit upon us. A general seriousness took place in a few days, not only in the grammar-school, of which I was then a member, but also through college. There were a good number of those who hoped they experienced a saving change of heart. This was a blessed season of God's love to my soul. After the decay of this blessed season of grace, I began to apply myself more closely to study in order to enter college, upon which I perceived an abatement of the life of religion in my soul, and I enjoyed little comfort for a year and a half, till God was graciously pleased this spring to visit us again with an effusion of his Holy Spirit. A solemn seriousness and an anxious solicitude about eternal
* " The Rev. Dr. Robert Smith, who died a few years since, and was the father of Dr. Samuel S. Smith, the present president of Princeton college, and of the Rev. Dr. John B Smith, who died in Philadelphia in 1745."
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REV. JOHN SPRINGER.
[1790-1800.
things prevailed. This was likewise a blessed season of God's love to unworthy me. My soul does truly magnify the Lord, and my spirit does rejoice in God my Saviour, in God my exceeding great reward. The ever blessed and never enough adored Lord Jesus, has given me such views of his divine glory, and such a sense of his redeeming love and pardoning mercy, that my mind is in one continued rapture. It is now five days and nights since I have closed my eyes. God's comforts fill my soul with such ineffable sweetness and joy, that they are infinitely more refreshing than all the rest or sleep that I could possibly have enjoyed in the same space of time. How beautifully hath Dr. Watts described the language of the soul in this situation ? Lord, how divine thy comforts are ! How heavenly is the place where Jesus spreads the sacred feast of his redeeming grace !
" This blessed revival has begun to decline, though a regular behavior, and a diligent improvement of time, prevails among the greater part of the students. By the prudent care and watchfulness of the governors of the college, a happy order and harmony in general is preserved. There is a spirit of inquiry into the truths of religion, among the serious students. In this merciful day of visitation, there are a good number who I hope have experienced the saving influence of the divine spirit upon their souls. This house was solemnly dedicated to God by its original founders, some of whom are still living. They were the lights of the age in which they lived. These holy men spent whole days and nights in prayer to God for his blessing upon it; he has graciously regarded their prayers by blessing the house with that choieest of all blessings, his own divine presence. There have been three or four remarkable revivals of religion in it sinee its first institution. It has been blessed with a succession of the most eminently pious and learned pres- idents, as Mr. Dickinson, Mr. Burr, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Davies, and Dr. Finley, who died in a quick succession. Dr. Witherspoon is the sixth and last pres- ident, and for his abilities and learning, as well as piety, is highly respected. May the same hand that has reared and supported this institution, continue to bless it to the latest ages and to make it a continual fountain from whence streams may issue to make glad the city of God. Thus, dear sir. I have given you a faithful account both of my experience and the state of the col- lege. May I never forget how much I am indebted to the divine goodness for his infinite mercy to me, one of the most unworthy of all that he has thus visited.
"I am, dear sir, your sincere friend,
"JOHN SPRINGER."
From a sense of his own unworthiness, he did not enter the ministry till a later period than many of his friends wished and expected .. During the war of the Revolution he was in- vited to the station of assistant tutor in the infant college of Hampden Sidney. When Virginia became the seat of war he retired to North Carolina, where he opened an academy. He then removed to South Carolina, where he taught with dis- tinguished success at Whitehall and Cambridge, before and after his licensure.
In the month of August, 1798, he was called to attend the funeral of a venerable friend, John Talbot, Esq. The excessive heat of the weather, and the length of time Mr. Springer spoke at the grave, were thought to have brought on the fever which proved fatal to him. His disease assumed an alarming type.
1790-1800.]
REV. ROBT. M. CUNNINGHAM, D.D. 649
What few expressions dropped from his lips in his lucid mo- ments were either evidences of his own believing hope, or of his earnest desire that his surviving friends should secure an interest in the divine favor. In the evening of September 3d, 1798, he was released from the pains and cares of this world, and "this mortal put on immortality." His ministry was short, but fruitful in good, and his memory is not yet forgotten. He died at the age of fifty-three, greatly lamented.
In October, 1789, Robert M. Cunningham was taken under the care of the presbytery of South Carolina. He was born in York county, Pennsylvania, September 10th, 1760. When he was in his fifteenth year, his father removed to North Carolina. In 1782, he entered a Latin school taught by Robert Finley, (afterwards pastor at Waxhaw,)near Rocky river, North Carolina. He afterwards entered the school taught by Robert McCulloch, at Bethel, York, South Carolina, where he remained two years. He completed his preparation for college under Dr. Joseph Alexander, at Bullock's Creek. He was graduated at Dickin- son college, in 1789, was licensed by South Carolina pres- bytery, September 29th, 1791, " and received a competent number of appointments." Those mentioned in 1792 are one at Purity, two at Bethesda, one at Lebanon, and two at Eben- ezer, Georgia. In September, 1792, calls for his services from Ebenezer and Bethany, Georgia, were put into his hands, the first of which he accepted. He was ordained the pastor of both churches (having reconsidered the call from Bethany), at an intermediate session held at Ebenezer, July 31, 1793, at which only Daniel Thatcher and John Springer were present. He continued to preach to these churches, says Dr. J. S. Wil- son, till 1808, when he removed to Lexington, Kentucky, and be- came colleague pastor with Rev. Dr. Blythe. Here heremained till the autumn of 1822, when he removed to Alabama, and set- tled at a place called Moulton, thence removed to Black War- rior river in the neighborhood of Tuscaloosa. He was instru- mental in forming the church of Tuscaloosa, and another in Carthage. He occupied the pulpit of Tuscaloosa church about eight years. He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity, by Franklin college in 1827, and died July 11th, 1839, in the eightieth year of his age .- (Sprague, iv., 58; Dr. J. S. Wilson, " The Dead of the Synod of Georgia," p. 16.)
September 29th, 1791, William Montgomery, who had been educated at Mt. Zion college, Winnsboro, was received upon trials. At Bullock's Creek, on the 16th of April, 1793, he received license to preach, and in April, 1794, was appointed to sup-
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650
REV. MOSES WADDEL, D.D.
[1790-1800.
ply at Orangeburg, Turkey Hill, and James and John's Island. In September of the same year a call was presented to him from Sharon and Fergus Creek in Georgia. In April, 1795, a call was preferred to him from Siloam and Little Britain, which he accepted, returning the first; and at an intermediate session at Greensboro, Georgia, at which John Newton, John Springer, Robert M. Cunningham, and Moses Waddel were present, he was ordained. - Rev. John Newton preaching the ordination sermon from 2 Cor. v., 20, and Rev. John Springer delivering the charge to the newly ordained pastor. He became pastor of the New Hope church, and went to the West about 1812, and is supposed to have died in the State of Mississippi. -(Minutes of Presbytery, and Dr. J. S. Wilson, " Dead of the Synod of Georgia.")
CHAPTER VI.
Meanwhile, Moses Waddel had been received on the 11th of April, 1793, as a licentiate bearing letters of dismission from the presbytery of Hanover, in Virginia. And as he was des- tined to act a prominent part as a minister of Christ, and an educator of youth, in this part of the United States, we deem it not inappropriate to introduce here some passages from an autobiographic sketch of his extraction, and the struggles of his early life, which he commenced doubtless for the instruction of his own family, and never contemplated its publication. There are revelations as to the struggles of the earlier settlers of this country, as to the temptations of the young man, as to the dealings of God with his own soul, and as to what integrity, self-denial, and a resolute will can accomplish, which would well repay the labor of perusal.
He was born on the 27th of July, 1770, in Iredell, then Rowan county, North Carolina. His father, William Wad- del, emigrated from the neighborhood of Belfast, Ireland, after a season of affliction in which they lost a daughter and an only son, which broke up, in a measure, the attractions of their old home, and led them to seek a new one in the West. Their intention was to have settled in Georgia, but baffling storms drove their vessel to Charleston, where the parents, with their five female children, landed on the 25th of January, 1767. Meeting soon after with a man from North Carolina, who represented that portion of the country in glowing colors,
651
REV. MOSES WADDEL, D.D.
1790-1800.]
and proffered liis assistance in their removal, he concluded to seek his fortunes in that region, and settled on the waters of the South Yadkin river. Fifty guineas and a few shillings were all that were left them on their arrival in Charleston. But frugality, industry, and trust in Providence carried them forward. Here Moses Waddel, the tenth child and fourth son, was born, whose tenure on life was so feeble that, having received him, as it were, from anticipated death, they called him Moses, after the ancient prophet.
In May, 1777, he was entered as a half-scholar in the school of Mr. James McEwen, who taught some three miles from his father's, where he received about six months' tuition, and exhibited remarkable proficiency for one of such tender age.
In the summer of 1778, the Rev. (afterwards Dr.) James Hall, who had been settled over the congregations of Concord, Fourth Creek, and Bethany, conceived the design of establish- ing a grammar-school for the youth under his charge, which he carried into effect; opening it on the 28th of October, 1778, under the name of " Clio's Nursery," on the north side of the South Yadkin, under the tuition of James McEwen. This was six or seven miles from the residence of Mr. Hall ; but though not himself the teacher, he was its originator and responsible head. Here, under the persuasion of his neighbors, and especially of Robert King, Esq., old Mr. Waddel, with many misgivings, yet at last trusting in Providence, placed his son Moses under the tuition of Mr. James McEwen, then a student of divinity. This was during the stirring period of the Revo- lution. In about a year Mr. McEwen was licensed, and com- menced his ministry with pleasing prospects, but after a twelve- month fell a victim to the small-pox. In November, 1779, the school fell under the care of Rev. Francis Cummins, then a student of theology under Dr. Hall, the distinguished divine of whom we have spoken in the preceding pages, many of whose grandchildren were afterwards the pupils of Dr. Wad- del. The school was suspended after the fall of Charleston, but was recommenced under the instructions of John Newton, afterwards a preacher of the gospel, in April, 1782, and then passed under the care of Samuel W. Yongue, afterwards of Winnsborough. He then attended for a season an English school, to perfect himself in branches overlooked in his higher studies. At this time he was recommended as an assistant tutor in the academy at Camden, but his father objected on account of his extreme youth. Yet at the urgency of gentle- men some fifteen miles from his father's, he commenced his
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REV. MOSES WADDEL, D.D.
[1790-1800.
career as a teacher on Hunting creek, on the 15th of October, 1784, being then but fourteen years of age, and was wonder- fully successful. He had twenty pupils in English, and six or seven in Latin, his salary being seventy dollars per annum, for services for which he afterwards received thousands.
In the latter part of 1786, he removed to the newly settled Greene county, in Georgia, where, on that frontier neighbor- hood, near the North Ogeechee river, he opened a school, which was broken up by an invasion of the Creek Indians, in the succeeding summer. His parents now contemplated a removal to Georgia. In his impatience he preceded them ; but he found that the Indians had crossed the Oconee, had burned Greensboro, and committed several murders still nearer. He now went to Augusta, hoping to obtain a position in the Richmond academy, in which he was disappointed, a punishment, he thought, for the filial disobedience which had led him to act contrary to parental advice, of which he re- solved never again to be guilty. In 1788, he opened another school, nearly in the same neighborhood, where, at Bethany, the Rev. Daniel Thatcher, then a missionary of the Orange presbytery, had organized a Presbyterian church. Here young Waddel, as yet but fifteen years of age, though saluted by the name of Dominie, was exposed to the snare of certain amusements so attractive to the young, but which his con- science, under the influence of early education, disapproved. And now the things of this world, and those of the world to come, came into conflict. By frequent personal interviews with Mr. Thatcher, and by attendance upon his preaching, and that of ministers of other denominations, he became deeply impressed with a sense of religious duty, resorted to religious reading and secret prayer, was led to "embrace, receive, and rest up- on the Saviour for the whole of his salvation," and was re- ceived into the membership of the Presbyterian church. At this communion, at Bethany, he had sweet and instructive Christian intercourse with Mr. Robert Creswell, of Wilkes, who had come twenty-five or thirty miles to this meeting, and again at a communion at Smyrna church, Wilkes county, near Mr. Creswell's, with him and a Mr. George Calhoun, an elder who lived a few miles northwest of Washington, a poor man, but mighty in the Scriptures. After this he conducted a social worship, by singing, prayer, and the reading of sermons of approved divines, at the request of Mr. Thatcher and the session, on vacant Sabbaths.
In the midst of this, he fell into the deepest spiritual
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REV. MOSES WADDEL, D.D.
1790-1800.]
despondency and gloom, which weighed upon his spirits, bowed him deep in the dust, and preyed upon his health. His description of this is truly affecting. He was obliged at last to dismiss his school, to go and seek of Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Creswell that spiritual advice his heart longed for. These experienced servants of God were able to give him muchi ex- cellent counsel, Mr. Creswell especially cautioning him against excessive attention to reading and intense thought. "Com- mit thy way," says le, " unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established; trust in him, and he shall bring it to pass." At last, under a communion sermon of Mr. Thatcher's, at Bethany, from Romans v. 6, he obtained so clear and com- fortable a view of the plan of salvation and of the Saviour's love, that he was filled with peace and joy. He now deter- mined to study for the ministry, and, acting under the advice of Rev. Mr. Springer, then teaching at old Cambridge, in Ab- beville district, lie set out for Hampden Sidney college, in the fall of 1790 ; lie entered the senior class on the 3d of January, 1791, in September of which year he graduated, after a col- lege course of eight months and twenty-six days. On the first of August he had been received under the care of Hanover presbytery, and on the 12th of May, 1792, after the usual examinations and trials, he was licensed to preach the gospel. After remaining for some time in Virginia, he re- turned to the South, and resided for a season in the family of Mr. Thomas Legare, of South Carolina.
About this time, September, 1793, he was appointed by pres- bytery to preach as a supply at James Island, John's Island and Wadmalaw, and Dorchester, once each, and the rest of his time in Georgia. We next find a people on Coldwater pe- titioning presbytery to be received under its care, and to be known as New Hope, and at the same meeting, April, 1794, a call for half his labors by Carmel church, Georgia, was for- warded to presbytery and by him accepted. At a special meeting at this church, held on the 5th and 6th of June in that year, he was formally set apart and received into the order of gospel ministers, the ordination sermon being preached by Dr. Cummins, from Ezekiel xxxiii., last clause of the seventh verse. In 1793 or 1794 he opened a school in Columbia county, Georgia, about two miles eastward from the village of Appling. After teaching here for several years he removed to the village, where he continued his labors for a short time previous to his removal to South Carolina. The circumstances of his first marriage and his general appearance at this period
654
REV. MOSES WADDEL, D.D.
[1790-1800.
of his life, are thus described by a lady who was familiarly acquainted with his history and to whom we are indebted for many reminiscences and traditions of the churches of Abbe- ville :
" In 1794 an appointment had been made for a new preacher at a school-house called Brewer's, a few miles from Hopewell church, and just midway between the waters of Little river and Calhoun's creek. It was on a week day, but a considerable audience had assembled ; for some indistinct and flying ru- mors had excited the curiosity of the Scotch-Irish colony.' There were some blank countenances, however, when a very young man, of somewhat low stature, and rather boyish face, arrived and mounted the stand. His dress was plain and well suited to the times, his step manly and positive; but the calm gray eye and heavy brow, when in repose, gave no indication of confirming the story which the ' trumpet tongue' of fame had sent before him. He arose and stated his text in a voice which arrested the attention of his hearers; * it was deep, harmonious, and decided ; and as it rolled on in earnest and pointed declamation, like some smooth stream, rapid yet clear, the interest of the audience was manifested in a surprise, which, at the close of the service had reached its climax of delighted admiration. Then the people crowded round him, and a contest which bid fair to be scarcely amicable, arose as to the privilege of entertaining this wonderful young stranger. This point was at length conceded out of sheer respect, and he went with Mr. Patrick Calhoun, the patriarch of the flock.
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