USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. II pt 1 > Part 12
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We are to look, therefore, to the influence of natural causes, working through that mysterious connection of the body with
116
EFFECTS OF STRONG EMOTION. [1800-1810.
the mind. Any powerful impression made upon the mind acts through it upon the body. Fear often paralyzes all our corporal energies, and an imagined calamity often produces as great agitation as one that has really occurred. Religious emotions, the sense of guilt, the dread of its punishment, the love of God, the power of faith, the vision of a world to come, may act powerfully upon the corporal frame. Edwards speaks of a young lady of remarkable personal beauty, of refined tastes, of wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevo- lence of mind, whose views of spiritual objects were often the most delightful and overpowering, nature often sinking under the weight of divine discoveries ; the strength of the body being taken away, so as to deprive her of all ability to stand or speak ; sometimes the hands clenched and the flesh cold, but the senses still remaining." This young lady, Sarah Pierrepont, became his own wife, and the knowledge of her experience under the impressions of true religion, made him more tolerant than he might otherwise have been to these bodily affections in seasons of revival. If there is now added to this the power of sympathy, and the tendency to imitation, the whole of these phenomena is accounted for from natural causes. Epilepsy is itself "catching." The children in a poor-house at Harlem were seized with fits from seeing one of their number attacked ; nor could any stop be put to this epidemic malady until Dr. Boerhave, with great sagacity, forbade the administering of medicine, and sought to produce an impression upon the mind. He introduced into the hall where the children were assembled, several portable furnaces, ordered that certain crooked irons should be heated and ap- plied to the arm of the first individual that was taken. The convulsions at once ceased. There was a family of six chil- dren in Chelmsford, Mass., one of whom was afflicted with St. Vitus' dance; the rest imitated his gestures for sport, until they participated in his disease. The father prepared a block and axe, and threatened to decapitate the first who ex- hibited these affections except the original sufferer, and the rest were affected no more. So the Romans, when in the excite- ment of the Comitia, their public meetings for elections, one was seized with epilepsy, adjourned the Comitia, lest others should be siezed, as experience showed they would be, by the same disorder, the Morbus Comitialis. So, in these meetings, these Anidemin monolutione ware propagated by e
117
1800-1810.] OPINION OF DR. ALEXANDER.
The conclusion to which Dr. Alexander, of Princeton, in his letter to the Watchman and Observer, was brought, is thus expressed :
PRINCETON, N. J .. September 5, 1846.
MR. EDITOR : The letter of the Rev. Dr. Baxter, giving an account of the great revival in Kentucky, in the year 1800 and 1801, recently published by you, was written before the results could be accurately known. Dr. Baxter himself changed his views respecting some appearances, of which he expresses a favorable opinion, in this letter. And many facts which occurred at the close of the revival were of such a nature that judicious men were fully persuaded that there was much that was wrong in the manner of conducting the work, and that an erratic and enthusiastic spirit prevailed to a lamentable extent. It is not doubted, however, that the Spirit of God was really poured out, and that many sincere converts were made, especially in the commencement of the revival, but too much indulgence was given to a heated imagination, and too much stress was laid on the bodily affec- tions, which accompanied the work, as though these were supernatural phenomena, intended to arouse the attention of a careless world. Even Dr. Baxter, in the narrative which he gives in this letter, seems to favor this opinion, and it is well known that many pious people in Virginia entertained similar sentiments.
Thus, what was really a bodily infirmity, was considered to be a supernatural means of awakening and convincing infidels and other irreligious persons. And the more these bodily affections were encouraged, the more they increased, until at length they assumed the appearance of a formidable nervous disease, which was manifestly contagious, as might be proved by many well attested facts.
Some of the disastrous results of this religious excitement were :
Ist. A spirit of error, which led many, among whom were some Presbyterian ministers, who had before maintained a good character, far astray.
2d. A spirit of schism, a considerable number of the sub- jects and friends of the revival separated from the Presby- terian Church, and formed a new body, which preached and published a very loose and erroneous system of theology ;
118
OPINION OF DR. ALEXANDER.
[1800-1810.
and though a part of these schismatics, when the excitement had subsided, returned again to the bosom of the Church, others continued to depart further from the orthodox system, in which they had been educated, and which they had long professed and preached. Among these was the Rev. Mr. Stone, who became the leader of an Arian sect, which con- tinues unto this day.
3d. A spirit of wild enthusiasm was enkindled, under the influence of which, at least three pastors of Presbyterian churches in Kentucky, and some in Ohio, went off and joined the Shakers. Husbands and wives who had lived happily together were separated, and their children given up to be educated in this most enthusiastic society. I forbear to men- tion names for the sake of the friends of these deluded men and women. And the truth is-and it should not be con- cealed-that the general result of this great excitement was an almost total desolation of the Presbyterian Churches in Kentucky and part of Tennessee. For the religious body commonly denominated " Cumberlands," arose out of this revival. The awakening commenced in the south part of Kentucky, and,extended into the bordering counties of Ten- nessee. The Cumberland Presbytery, situated in that region, in utter disregard of the rules of the Presbyterian Church, which they had solemnly adopted at their ordination, went on to license a number of men, and to ordain some who had no pretensions to a liberal education ; and they no longer re- quired candidates for the ministry to subscribe the Presby- terian Confession, but openly rejected some of the cardinal doctrines of Calvinism. The Synod of Kentucky sent a large " Commission " to deal with the Presbytery, who in- sisted on examining the persons who had been licensed and ordained contrary to order; and when the Cumberland Pres- bytery refused to submit their newly licensed candidates to the examination of the Commission, they were suspended by this body. Thence arose a new body of Presbyterians, pro- fessing, for the most part, Arminian doctrines. Still, how- ever, adhering (though inconsistently) to the doctrine of the Saint's Perseverance, and to the Presbyterian Principles of Church Government.
A few years since, when nere measures were coming much into vogue, Dr. Baxter's letter was published, I think, in the New York Evangelist, to support those measures. Dr. Bax-
119
-
1800-1810.]
THE POWER OF SYMPATHY.
ter, on being informed of it, promised the writer that he would publish an explanation ; which, however, he did not live to perform. A. A.
"Among human beings," says a medical writer, "there exists such a power of sympathetic consent that a multitude may be apparently possessed by the same spirit ; the organism of each instaneously taking on the same action simply from the general attention being directed to the same objects. If we would learn the full extent of sympathy, we must study the records of the Dancing Mania, or see the Barkers, the Shak- ers, the Jumpers, the Dervises, and other Convulsionaires at their devotions. There are many facts which tend to con- vince us that a large company may be put into such relation to each other, under similar circumstances, as that the very same idea shall present itself to all at the same moment." The use of the body in relation to the mind." By George Moore, M.D., Member of the Royal College of Physicians, etc., etc., p. 66
Let us separate then this revival itself, as a re- ligious work upon the soul, from these corporeal phe- nomena, to which the religious element does not attach. As a revival it was a great and glorious work, but marred sadly, in more parts of the country than one, by its unnecessary accompaniments. The General Assembly in its pastoral let- ter of 1804 noticed these in language of disapprobation .*
In May, 1802, during the Great Revival, Mr. Brown intro- duced Dr. Watts Psalms and Hymns. This was deemed a sacrilege by that portion of the congregation whose ears were accustomed only to Rouse's Version. Nor did they approve of the proceedings in the revival. Dr. Brown, leav- ing the next year, and the Associate and Associate Reform- ed ministers finding willing ears, a rent was occasioned in the congregation which never has been healed. The elders that drew off were Robert Montgomery, Robert Dunlap, John Harris ; and the elders that remained were Alexander Carnes, Moses Stephenson, and Nathan Barr. The dissentients claimed the Black Jack church, and had supplies until Mr. Kitchen was called as their pastor. There are two large
*Davidson's Ilist. of Pres. Ch. Ky., Chap. V. vii. Princeton Rev. Vol. VI. Dr. Baxter's Fetters, Watchman and Observer, Sept. 5, 1846. Tracy's Great Awakening, Chap. XIII.
120
WAXHAW CHURCH. . [1800-1810.
and flourishing churches now in that quarter, viz: Tirza and Shiloh, under the pastoral charge of the Rev. D. P. Robin- son.
In the beginning of this century, the Presbytery of South Carolina was divided into two Presbyteries, the First Presby- tery and the Second Presbytery of South Carolina, John Brown being at that time the pastor of Waxhaw and Unity churches. In 1803 he was released from the pastoral care of the Waxhaw congregation, by the First Presbytery, at his own request. His subsequent history is well known. He had charge of a High School at Wadesboro', N. C., for several years, and a flourishing academy at Salisbury. He became Professor of Logic and Moral Philosophy in South Carolina College in 1809; President of the University of Georgia in 1811, in which year the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by the College of New Jersey. He died at Gainesville, Ga., in his Soth year, December 11th, 1842; a man of great simplicity, modesty, and purity ; affec- tionate, discriminating in his conceptions, and wonderfully fluent as a speaker; indifferent to the world, and generous beyond his means, which were never ample; a good man. and full of the Holy Ghost.
After the removal of Mr. Brown, this church remained without a pastor for a period of ten years. A few years after his departure, the house of worship was burned down by accident, and the congregation erected "a stand" opposite the spot where the house of Mr. John Foster now is, the water being better there than at the site of the old church, and the services were held there for many years. Among their occasional supplies, the names of Dr. James Hall and Dr. Barr are recollected. At this spot they commenced the building of a new church. The old members were not satis- fied, however, to leave the graves of their fathers ; and it was finally agreed to go back to their original site. On the 23d of December, 1807, therefore, the congregation purchased an additional piece of land from Robt. Thompson, and taking down the frame that had been erected, built the present church edifice where it now stands. During this period of vacancy, they received occasional supplies by appointment of the First Presbytery of South Carolina, among which were the names of John B. Davies Wm. G. Rosborough, Robt. B. Walker, and George Reid, J. B. Davies' name occurring most fre- .
121
BETHANY-GRANBY.
1800-1810.]
quently. During this period, too, Mr. F. Porter, the father of four ministers of that name who have been successively educated at the Columbia Seminary, taught the grammar school in the bounds of the congregation, and as a licensed preacher, was able materially to assist them in maintaining divine worship. The elders of the church about this time were Robert Montgomery, John Cousar, William Dunlap, John Scott, Nathan Barr, George Dunlap, Robert Davis, and Dr. Samuel Dunlap. [j. H. Saye.]
Of the BETHANY in Lancaster District, received March 20th, 1798, and of FISHDAM, mentioned as another " vacancy," we read no more in the Presbyterial Minutes of these ten years, though reported to the Assembly, as are Witherspoon and Calvary in 1802. But LITTLE BETHEL CHURCH in Lancaster applied September 28th, ISO1, to be taken under Presbyterial care and to receive supplies, and a petition was presented by William Wherry in behalf of a people in the neighbor- hood of Benjamin Dunlap, in the Indian Land, praying for supplies from the Rev. Mr. Neely, which was granted them. [Minutes of First Presbytery met at Ebenezer October 3d, 1808.]
Of JOHN'S ISLAND AND WADMALAW, and its call for the pastoral services of Rev. James MeElhenny, of his ordination and his dismission from that church we have already spoken. [Vol. I. p. 573 ; vol. II, p. -. ]
GRANBY -- This was a preaching station of Rev. Daniel E. . Dunlap for a season. [Vo'. I, p. 595, 596.] It is stated in this passage that a call was presented by the people of Granby to the Presbytery of South Carolina in October, 1799, just before the dissolution of that body, for the pastoral services of George Reid, then a licentiate. It seems that they had not yet been fully organized as a church, and as Granby was in a state of decadence, its prospects less flattering on account of the establishment of the seat of government at Columbia, and the gradual removal thither of the population, the people had paid no attention to the advice of Presbytery touching the steps they ought to have taken to secure the object of their call, which had been accepted by Mr. Reid some eighteen months before. He was, therefore, released by the Second Presbytery from his implied obligation and was dis- missed at his own request as a licentiate in good standing, to join the First Presbytery.
122
MOUNT BETHEL ACADEMY.
[1800-181
MOUNT BETHEL ACADEMY, in Newberry District, was one of the earlier classical schools in the upper part of the State. It was founded by the Methodists, by the influence mainly of Rev. Mr. Dougherty ; Elisha Hammond, the father of Gov- ernor Hammond, and Josiah P. Smith, being its principal teachers. "It gave to the country," says Judge O'Neal. (Annals of Newberry, p. 62) such men as Judge Crenshaw, his brothers, Dr. Crenshaw and Walter Crenshaw, Chancellor Harper, John Caldwell, Esq., Dr. George W. Glen, John R. Golding, Governor Richard J. Manning, John G. Brown, Dr. Thomas Smith, of Society Hill, N. R. Eaves, of Chester, and Thomas W. Glover, of Orangeburg. It furnished the first students and graduates of the South Carolina College." (See also Ramsay, vol. II., p. 205, Duffie's Edition.) This school was in the neighborhood of Indian Creek and Gilder's Creek, affluents of the Enoree, where there had always been a considerable Presbyterian population since the first settle- ment. It was, perhaps, partly to accommodate those people or to win their influence that Josiah P. Smith from Bethel Academy applied to the Second Presbytery on the 8th of August, 1806, for supplies for that place. The application was granted ; and we find that Rev. John B. Kennedy, Hugh Diekson and James Gilliland, were appointed to preach there, but whether this arrangement was at all permanent we are not able to say. The presumption is that it was not.
The Church of INDIAN CREEK was still the scene of Robt. McClintock's labors. The church does not appear on the minutes of the Second Presbytery. Nor was Mr. McClintock a member of that body. If connected with any Presbytery it was with the Old Presbytery of Charleston. We have already said that his baptismal register contains the names of 2,080 per- sons baptised by him. One hundred and fifty-nine of these were of persons baptized between the Ist of Jan. 1800, and June 5, 1803. The name of the parents are given and a large share of these were persons living in this portion of Newberry district. He died after a life of active service, soon after this date. The last baptism but two which he administered, were those of John and Robert, his own children, baptized on the 23rd of April, 1803. (See Vol. I. p. 617.) We are not able to trace this church further in this decade, nor to indicate on whom it depended. Morrison and McCosh frequently exchanged pul- pits with Mr. Clintock during his lifetime ; one, at least, of
123
1800-1810.7 INDIAN CREEK-GRASSY SPRING.
whom survived him, and the names of several others, as Warnoch, Scott, Thomson, Meneely, Martin and Lindsay, we have met with, whose locations and employments we have never ascertained. It is just as probable as otherwise that this flock here and elsewhere were absorbedby other congre- gations.
GRASSY SPRING, in the neighborhood, where Maybinton now is, was under the charge of the Rev. William William- son until 1802, who had preached to it one-fourth of his time, but now withdrew from it as its pastor. From this time, fre- quent supplies were afforded it by Rev. Messrs. Wm. Wil- liamson, Montgomery, and Rev. John B. Kennedy, and now especially the latter, until August 8, 1806, when Daniel Gray* was ordained and became its pastor, Mr. Davis by request of Presbytery preaching the ordination sermon from 2 Tim. iv. 6, in place of Mr. Dickson, who was indisposed, the charge to the pastor and exhortation to the people being delivered by the Rev. Moses Waddel. This ordination took place at Union Church during the 14th regular sessions of the Second Pres- bytery of South Carolina, 'in pursuance of a united call pre- sented to Presbytery, Sept. 28, 1805, from the Churches of Fairforest for one-half; of Union for one-fourth, and of Grassy Spring for one fourth of the ministerial laborers of Daniel Gray, and the pastoral relation thus constituted, continued through the remainder of this decade.
LITTLE RIVER .- A portion of this congregation resided in Newberry District and a part in Laurens. The Rev. John B. Kennedy was then pastor, dividing his labors between this Church and that of Duncan's Creek. The elders from the time of Mr. Kennedy's settlement were Col. John Simpson, James Caldwell, Samuel Henderson and James Burnsides. Later, but still during his ministry, Washington Williams, Maj. John Griffin, Maj. John Black, Dr. A. T. Golding, John Burnside and Samuel Caldwell held this office.
DUNCAN'S CEEEK in the eastern corner of Laurens, was unit- ed with Little River in the same pastorate, sharing equally with it the ministerial labors of Mr. Kennedy. This congregation and those in Newberry were of the same Presbyterian stock. Of several of those in Newberry, Judge O'Ncal in his An-
* "He was probably educated by Dr. Dook, of East Tennessee." Let- ter of his nephew, D. L. Gray, to Rev. J. H. Saye. Feb. 28, 1850.
124
DUNCAN'S CREEK. [1800-1810.
nals of Newberry District speaks. The father of the Hon. Ker Boyce, the distinguished millionaire of our own day, he characterizes as "an industrious, thriving Presbyterian Irish- man." "Col. David Glenn and his wife was among the last of the emigrants that were permitted to leave Ireland before the American Revolution. They landed in Savannah, Ga., and thence came to South Carolina and settled on Enoree, at a place once known as Glenn's Mills, now Braselman's." He first served in the mounted troops as a private, and was with Sumter at Wemyss' defeat at Trighdam, and Tarleton's at Blackstock's in 1780. He was adjutant and commissary un- der Col's. Giles and Lindsay. Col. Glenn accompanied
Morgan at the battle of the Cowpens, and was at the seige of Ninety Six, and the battle of Eutaw. His life was sought by the "Bloody Cunningham." and his party, who surrounded his house and put to death Mr. Chesky, who was asleep in the upper part of the house, while he escaped by a violent effort out of their hands, undressed as he was. They came upon him at his mill, but a friend of whom they inquir- ed the way, divested them by a roundabout road, threw a bag of corn on his own horse to conceal his purpose, rode quickly to the mill and gave the Colonel timely warning, who plunged .
into the CANE BRAKE on the Enoree and escaped. He was
Representative of Newberry in the first Legislature of South Carolina after the Revolutionary war, and was the father of Dr. George W. Glenn, elder of the Aveleigh Church: There were John, William, and James Caldwell and their sisters Mrs. Richie, Mrs. Patrick Calhoun, (the mother of John C. Calhoun.) Mrs. Moore. Mrs. Gillham, Mrs. East, and Mrs. Dr. Martin. This family were sharers in the hardships of the Revolutionary struggle. John Caldwell was a member of the first provincial Congress of South Carolina which met at Charleston, Jan. II, 1775. He was appointed a captain and raised a company in which William Cunningham, (afterward the Bloody Bill,) but then a highly influential young man, and other respectable young men of Saluda, Little River, and Mudlick Creek, were members. They were concerned in the capture of Fort Charlotte on the Savannah, and were ordered to Charleston in the Spring of '75. Whatever was the cause of grievance, of which there are several different versions. Cunningham returned after the fall of Charleston at the head of a band of bloody scouts, to wreak his vengeance upon his
1800-1810.]
MRS. GILLAM. 125
former neighbors. In November, 1781, at Easley's shop he or his party killed Oliver Towles and two others. Mrs. Gillam (Elizabeth Caldwell,) alone visited the shop soon after they left and found the three lifeless bodies, one of them regu- larly laid out, as in mockery on the vice bench. She saw the party before they reached the house of Maj. John Caldwell, Cun- ningham's former commander. The party halted at the gate and hailed, Caldwell walked out, and, according to one ac- count, Cunningham drew a pistol and shot him ; according to another, two of his men who were in the advance perform- ed the deed, and when Cunningham arrived he affected to de- plore the bloody act. Yet in the next instant, his house, by his orders, was in flames, and his widow left with no other covering but the heavens, seated by the side of her murder- ed husband. Mrs. Gillam was the first of the family at the smoking ruins, her brother on his face in the yard. In the year '81 or '82, (probably the latter,) a lad, James Creswell, afterward Col. Creswell, remarkable for his active hostility to the Tories, was at Mrs. Caldwell's, (Mrs. Gillam's mother.) A negro gave the alarm. In an instant the old lady directed her daughter Betsey, (Mrs. Gillam) to hide herself, and Cres- well to dress himself in clothes of her daughter which she furnished. As the Tories approached her house, she ordered her own horse and that of her daughter Betsey to be saddled, as she was compelled to visit Mrs. Neely. Sambo had the horses at the door. The old lady called Betsey, "Come along," said she, "I am in a hurry." Out walked Creswell in Betsey's toggery, her bonnet slouched over his face covered his features ; he and the old lady mounted in the presence of the Tories, and away they went to visit Mrs. Neely, while the Tories set about searching for Jemmy Creswell. They found the true Betsey, became aware that Creswell had escaped, and soothed themselves by sweeping pretty much all of Mrs. Caldwell's household goods. One of them declared that lie thought Betsey took mighty long steps, as she went to her horse. "Gen. James Gilham" now, in 1871, and elder in the Rock Church, Abbeville, is the son of this Mrs. Gillam, and of her he has most justly remarked, that "she and all the other members of the Caldwell family were Presbyterians, and hence she was strict in the instruction of her children." She was baptized in infancy by the Rev. Patrick Henry, uncle of Virginia's celebrated orator. She was long a member of Lit-
126
JOIIN BOYCE.
[1800-1810.
tle River Church, near Belfast, Laurens, but when Aveleigh Church near Newberry was organized, she became a meni- ber of it.
John Boyce, the father of Ker Boyce, was of the Scotch- Irish stock. Alexander, his brother, was a captain, and fell at the siege of Savannah, at the head of his company. John Boyce was in the battles of Blackstock's, King's Mountain, Cowpens and Eutaw. On his return to his family, after one of these battles, he had scarcely saluted his wife and children when he was startled by the sound of approaching horses. He sprang to the cabin door and saw a party of Tories, headed by William Cunningham and a man of less note, McCombs, immediately before him. Four of the horses were already abreast of his door. He threw his hat in the face of the horses, which made them open right and left. He sprang through the opening and ran for the woods about seventy-five yards before him. Cunningham was alongside, and, striking a furious blow, it took effect on his raised hand as he avoided the charge, nearly sundering three of his fingers. Before the blow could be repeated he was in the thick brush of a wood impenetrable to the cavalry. He watched the retreat, hurried to his house, had his wounded hand bound up, was in the saddle on the way to his com- mander, Casey, and before night Casey, with a party of fifteen, was in pursuit, and on the Enoree, near the mouth of Dun- can's Creck, captured eleven or twelve of the party, among whom was McCombs. These were conveyed to a place where the Charleston road crosses the old Ninety-Six road, (now Whitmire's) and there "a short shrift," a strong rope and a stooping hickory applied speedy justice to them all. A common grave at the root of the tree. is their resting place for all time. On another occasion Mr. Boyce was captured and tied in his own barn, while a bed cord was sought for to hang him; his negro man (long afterward known as old Sandy) being hid in the straw, and knowing the necessity of speedy relief while his captors were absent on their fell purpose, came to his rescue and untying him, both made good their escape. John Boyce lived long after the war. He died in April, 1806. He was a Presby- terian and an elder in Mcclintock's church, Gilder's Creek. (Then Indian Creek, to which Gilder's Creek has succeeded.) In the graveyard there rest his remains. He was a mer-
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