USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. II pt 1 > Part 17
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Mr. WILLIAM G. ROSBOROUGHI Hopewell, P. D , and Hopewell.
JOIN COUSAR Beaver Creek, Hanging Rock and Miller's.
Candidates.
Mr. THOMAS NEELY
Shiloh, Fishdam, Concord, Horeb or Crooked Run, Ebenezer, Aimwell on Cedar Creek, Mount Zion, and Bethany.
Ideally, the SECOND PRESBYTERY OF SOUTH CAROLINA em- braced all that portion of the State which should lie to the southwest side of the Broad River on its way to the ocean. On the sea-coast, therefore, its line extended from the mouth of the Santee to the mouth of the Savannah River. Beyond the Savannnah was the Presbytery of Hopewell. In all the low-country, however, the Second Presbytery of South Caro- lina had no transactions with any church except that of John's Island and Wadmalaw. The ministers and churches were as follows :
Ministers.
Churches.
JOHN SIMPSON.
.Good Hope and Roberts.
JAMES TEMPLETON, S. S. Nazareth.
FRANCIS COMMINS Rocky River.
ROBERT WILSON
Long Cane.
WILLIAM WILLIAMSON
.Fairforest and S. S. Grass Spring.
JAMES GILLELAND
Beadaway.
JOHN B. KENNEDY Duncan's Creek and Little River.
ANDREW BROWN Bethlehem and Ebenezer, on Cane Creek.
Licentiates.
Vacancies.
Hopewell (Abbeville.)
JAMES MCELHENNY
Hopewell (Pendleton.)
GEORGE REID Carmel, Greenville, Roeky Creek.
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SECOND PRESBYTERY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. [1800-1810.
Candidates.
HUGH DICKSON
THOMAS NEELY
Beaver Dam, Cuffey Town. Fairview, Newton, Liberty Spring, Smyrna, Granby, John's Island and Wadmalaw.
At this first meeting at Fairforest Church, February 7th, 1800, they ordained James McElhenny, Rev. Andrew Brown, preaching the sermon, and Rev. William Williamson, deliv- ering the charge. The clerk was directed to write a letter to the church at John's Island and Wadmalaw, giving them official information of the ordination and suggesting the ex- pediency of having him installed among them. He remained however in that charge, as we have seen, but about a year. James Gilliland, Jr., also was taken under the care of Pres- bytery as a candidate for the Gospel Ministry, at the same meeting, and Hugh Dickson was licensed (February 12, 1806). At this second session at Fairview, September 23d, 1800, Robert Robbins was received as a candidate for the ministry. At their third session at Little River, April 9th, 1801, Benj. Montgomery was taken under the care of Presby- tery as a candidate. During their fifth session at Greenville Church, Jas. Gilliland, Jr., was licensed April 8, 1802, and at the same meeting Thomas Williamson, M. D., was received as a candidate for the ministry. During their sixth session at Bradaway, Daniel Gray was received as a candidate on the 16th of September, 1802, and Robert Dobbins was licensed to preach. During their seventh session at Fairview, Benj. Montgomery was licensed on the 8th of April, 1803. During their ninth sessions at Fairview the licentiate, Mr. Dobbins, was dismissed April 4. 1804, to join the Washington Presby- tery of Kentucky. At their tenth sessions at Fairforest, Thomas Williamson, M. D., and Daniel . Gray were licensed (October 2d, 1804 , to preach the everlasting gospel At the same meeting John O'Neal was received under their care as a candidate, but his trials were never continued to him here, and he fell at length under censure. Thus in the first few years of this decade seven young men were introduced into the ministry under the supervision of this Presbytery.
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THE CHARLESTON PRESBYTERY.
1800-1810.]
CHAPTER III.
1800-1810.
Having now finished what we have found connected with the history of individual churches and congregations, we proceed to those more general matters which are equally connected with the purposes before us. It is not only the history of individual nien in which we are interested, which is more strictly confined to the department of biography, nor that of individual churches, but it is the interaction of these churches among themselves, of Presbyteries upon Presby- teries, and the influence of the Synod and the General Assem- bly, which bind all together, and fill up that idea of Church unity which pervades the scriptures, and suggests to our minds the conception, not of a congeries of churches, but of one Church, cemented by the bonds of mutual charity, and outwardly and visibly one (under Christ our Head), that we have in view. And whether it be discipline, whether it be the great interests of religious and ministerial education, or the conduct of missions at home and abroad, mutual counsel and combined efforts, they can best be secured by that unity of action which flows from the central and controlling thought of the unity of the Church.
There is often a centrifugal force in the attempted union of ecclesiastical bodies, which overcomes the centripetal power of Christian love. For some reason the overture made by the Old Presbytery of South Carolina to the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, in 1770, never went into effect, al- though the terms were fair and honorable on the part of the Assembly. We have briefly alluded to these matters in Vol. I, pp. 673, 675. But they deserve a further treatment.
These overtures were renewed on the part of the Rev. Dr. Buist in behalf of the PRESBYTERY of CHARLESTON, which had been reorganized after the war of the Revolution, and was incorporated by the Legislature in 1790, the only example of an incorporated Presbytery, at that time, in our history. A letter from the Presbytery of Charleston was received by the First Presbytery of South Carolina, at its first meeting, Feb- ruary 7th, 1800, addressed to the Presbytery of South Caro- lina, which had recently been divided. It was signed by the
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THE CHARLESTON PRESBYTERY. [1800-1810.
Moderator and Clerk, in behalf of the Presbytery, and found to relate to matters which lie more immediately before the Second Presbytery, and was therefore remitted to them, their territorial limits, as ordered by the Synod of the Carolinas, including Charleston and its vicinity. The letter proposed a conference with the Presbytery of South Carolina. Messrs. Brown & Williamson, of the Second Presbytery, were ap- pointed to draught a letter to Dr. Buist on the subject, which was accordingly done, reported to Presbytery on the 11th of February, and ordered to be forwarded On the 16th of May, 1800, the matter was brought before the Assembly, sitting at Philadelphia :
" Dr. Green laid before the Assembly a petition from a body styling themselves 'The Presbytery of Charleston, in South Carolina,' requesting to be received into connection with this body, accompanied with other papers; which being read, on motion (Minutes, p. 188, Engles' Ed., Philad.),
" Resolved, That Drs. Rodgers, McWhorter and Green, and the Rev. Messrs. Cathcart, Wilson and Anderson, be a com- mittee to take the same into consideration, and report to the Assembly as soon as may be convenient.
" The committee to whom was referred by the General Assembly the consideration of an application from the Charles- ton Presbytery, in South Carolina, to be taken into connection with the Assembly, made their report, which, being corrected, was adopted, and is as follows, viz :
"After examining the papers and propositions brought for- ward by the Charleston Presbytery, the Committee think it expedient that the General Assembly refer this business to the consideration of the Synod of the Carolinas, with whom this Presbytery must be connected, if they become a constitu- ent part of our body. That the said Synod be in- formed that the Presbytery ought, in the event of a connection with us, to be allowed to enjoy and manage without hindrance or control, all funds and moneys that are now in their posses- sion; and that the congregations under the care of the Presby- tery be permitted freely to use the system of psalmody which they have already adopted. That, on the other hand, the Synod must be careful to ascertain that all the ministers and congregations belonging to the Presbytery do fully adopt, not only the doctrine, but the form of government and discipline
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1800-1810.] THE CHARLESTON PRESBYTERY.
of our Church. That the Synod of the Carolinas, under the guidance of these general principles, should be directed, if agreeable to them and to the Presbytery, to receive said Pres- bytery as a part of that Synod. But if the Synod or the Pres- bytery find difficulties in finally deciding on this subject, that they may refer such difficulties, and transmit all the informa- tion, they may collect relative to this business, to the next General Assembly : Ordered, That the Stated Clerk furnish the parties concerned with an attested copy of the above min- ute." (Minutes of Assy. p. 189.)
These negotiations were resumed in 1804. May 23d, “A letter from the Rev. Dr. Buist of the Presbyteries of Charles- ton, presented by the Committee of Bills and Overtures . was read, and made the order of the day for Monday, the 21st. After some consideration it was referred to a committee con- sisting of Dr. Samuel Smith and Randolph Clark of the Pres- bytery of New Brunswick, and Rev. Dr. Hall of the Presby- tery of Concord, to which was afterwards added the Rev. Robert Wilson of the Second Presbytery of South Carolina. Their report was presented, considered and adopted on the 23rd of May, and is as follows :
"A letter from the Rev. Dr. Buist was presented to the As- sembly by the Committee of Overtures, and read, requesting, in behalf of the Presbytery of Charleston, in South Carolina, that they may be received into connection with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, without connecting themselves with the Synod of the Carolinas.
Inasmuch as this subject has been regularly before the As- sembly in the year 1800, and certain resolutions adopted thereon, which appear not to have been complied with, and the application comes before the Assembly in an informai manner.
Resolved, That the Assembly cannot now act upon the representation of Dr. Buist, but
Resolved, Further, that Dr. Smith be appointed to write to Dr. Buist, informing him, and through him, the Presbytery of Charleston, that this Assembly are by no means indisposed to admit that Presbytery to a union with their body, upon a plan which may be hereafter agreed upon, provided, that the application for that purpose come before them in an orderly manner from the Presbytery of Charleston ; provided, further,
170
THE CHARLESTON PRESBYTERY. [1800-1810.
that it shall be made to appear to the Assembly that the dif- ficulties of their or other circumstances, render it inexpedient for that Presbytery to be connected immediately with the Synod of the Carolinas ; and provided that they give the requisite assurance to the Assembly, that the Presbytery and the churches under their care do fully adopt the standards of doctrine and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. (Minutes, p. 296.)
Against this action the Second Presbytery drew up their solemn remonstrance, as follows :
"A remonstrance against the admission of the Charleston Presbytery into the General Assembly on the terms proposed at their last meeting was prepared by the Presbytery, which was as follows :
" The Second Presbytery of South Carolina, having heard that the General Assembly which met in May, 1804, deter- mined to admit, on certain terms, the Presbytery of Charles- ton (South Carolina) into their body, and that the said Presbytery, within the bounds of the Synod of the Carolinas, and within the limits of our Presbytery, will not, when received, be in immediate connection of either, but with some distant Synod. Relying upon the correctness of the infor- mation the Presbytery have thought it their duty to remon- strate against receiving the Presbytery of Charleston in the manner proposed.
I. Because it interferes with the jurisdiction of the Synod of the Carolinas and particularly this Presbytery, by acknowl- edging as part of the Assembly a Presbytery within our bounds and not immediately connected with us.
2. Because the reason alleged against an immediate con- nection with the Synod of the Carolinas, (viz., the danger of travelling to the back country in the fall season) is nugatory. The circuit judges travel from Charleston to the different parts of the State at the same season of the year in which the Synod meets without any injury to their health, and but one member of the Charleston Presbytery resides in Charleston, and with regard to the others they are not more remote than some of our present members who usually attend Synod.
3. Because we believe that in a distant Synod certain reports usually thought to be reproachful to the character of a Gospel
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1800-1810.] THE CHARLESTON PRESBYTERY.
minister could not be investigated with the same conve- nience.
4. Because if in this case foreigners be allowed to form themselves into a Presbytery in order to their reception by the Assembly, it will be opening a door by which all such may evade the salutary regulations which have been adopted.
We are, with esteem, yours in the Lord."
Which remonstrance was ordered to be transcribed and for- warded by Mr. Waddel to the next General Assembly. This letter was forwarded to the General Assembly, which took no action in the premises except to resolve "that this letter be kept on the files of the Minutes," p. 341.
The Synod'of the Carolinas took action on this subject at their Sessions at Bethesda Church, Oct. 3d. 1805. "Synod being informed that certain persons within their bounds had petitioned the Assembly to receive them into connection by the name of the Presbytery of Charleston, without being in con- nection with the Synod of the Carolinas, proceeded to draw up a remonstrance to the Assembly against their being re- ceived in such circumstances as unconstitutional, and reflect- ing on the Synod."
The remonstrance of the Synod was communicated to the General Assembly by letter. A committee was appointed to report on the same, which report, having been received and considered, was adopted and is as follows :
"Your committee find that this letter contains a remon- strance against receiving into union with this Assembly a body of men styling themselves the Presbytery of Charles- ton ; that this subject was regularly before the Assembly in the year 1800; that certain resolutions affecting the case were then adopted, to which that body of men have not conformed on their part, and that no application has been made by them to this Assembly. Your committee, therefore, submit the following resolution, viz. :
Resolved, That this subject be dismissed."-Minutes, p. 363.
The subject came before the Assembly again in 1811,- Minutes, pp. 467, 475.
Another subject was brought to the attention of the Eccle- siastical judicatories, that of Emancipation. The following overture had been introduced to the Synod of the Carolinas
172
EMANCIPATION.
[1800-1810.
in 1799, viz. : "That Synod appoint a committee to correspond with the highest judicatories, conventions, associations and conferences of the Christian Church of other denominations within the bounds of Synod, to use their influence with the people under their respective jurisdictions when the subject shall be sufficiently matured in the several churches, that pe- titions might be brought forward to our several State legis- latures in favor of emancipation, in order to have it on the footing which it has obtained in some of the Northern States ; that is, that all children of slaves, born after the passing of such an act shall be free at such an age, which, being read and considered, was agreed to - whereupon the Rev. Messrs. David Caldwell, Francis Cummins, James Hall, Samuel Doake, Robert B. Walker, Gideon Blackburn, and Moses Waddell were appointed a committee for the purpose of car- rying the above overture into effect."
Mr. Walker accordingly brought this matter before the notice of the First Presbytery of South Carolina at its first meeting in February, 1800, praying for their advice and direc- tion.
Presbytery then proceeded to take the above matter into consideration, and after the most serious and mature deliber- ation on this important subject resolved, "that notwithstanding Presbytery earnestly pray for and wish to see the day when the rod of the tyrant and the oppressor shall everywhere be broken, yet it appears to us, that any attempt at the present to bring about a legislative reform in this case, in this State, would not only be attended with want of success, but would be attended with evil consequences to the peace and happi- ness of our country, and probably be very injurious to those who are in a state of slavery. And as the overture of Synod only recommends the exercise of prudence in the case, it is therefore recommended to Mr. Walker not to proceed in this business until further advice be had from the Synod. And it is hereby recommended and enjoined on every member of this Presbytery to attend the next meeting of Synod to recon- sider this matter ; and with this further in view, that if such measures are not adopted as may correspond with what ap- pears to us to be duty, that those who think proper may en- ter their protest."
At the next meeting of the Synod of the Carolinas held at Sugar Creek, Oet. 2, 1800, the committee having made no
173
MISSIONS.
1800-1810.]
progress, a new committee consisting of Rev. David Caldwell James Hall and James W. Stephenson, was appointed to re- consider this whole matter and report.
Their report was as follows : "That though it is our ardent wish that the object contemplated in the overture should be obtained. Yet, as it appears to us that matters are not yet matured for carrying it forward, especially in the Southern parts of our States, your committee are of opinion that the overture should be now laid aside, and that it be enjoined upon every member of this Synod to use his influence to carry into effect the direction of the Synod of New York and Phil- adelphia, and those additionally made by the General Assem- blv, for the instruction of those who are in a state of slavery to prepare them the better for a state of freedom when such an object shall be contemplated by the legislatures of our Southern States.
The subject of MISSIONS engaged the attention of the Pres- byteries and the Synod of the Carolinas during this decade. There were two classes of missionaries sent forth by the Gen- eral Assembly-pastors temporarily withdrawn from their charges and sent on tours of from one to six months, and missionaries who were expected to find a settlement among the people to whom they were sent. Of this last class were several of the earliest ministers in Carolina. The Assembly had remitted to the Synod of the Carolinas the matter of sending missionaries into the destitutions of this portion of the South, and to the remote Southwest. And the minutes of the Presbyteries show that continual efforts were being made to raise funds from the churches, for this object, by the ministers and licentiates acting as collectors. The General Assembly, in ISoo appointed the Rev. James Hall, of the Presbytery of Concord, a missionary to the " Natchez " for several months, to commence about the first of October, in that year. The Synod of the Carolinas, meeting at Sugar Creek, expressed themselves as impressed with the im- portance of the mission, and that Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Hall " ought, if possible, to have company, determined to send with him two members, viz . the Rev. Messrs. James H. Bowman and William Montgomery, who are directed to spend eight months, if convenient, and they find it expedient, in that country and places adjacent-commencing their mis- sion about the 15th instant. And for the support of
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MISSIONS.
[1800-1810.
these missionaries, the Synod pledges itself to give them thirty-three and one-third dollars per month from the time they engage in the work ; they rendering a regular account of all moneys received by them during their mission."
Arrangements were made for the supply of Dr. Hall's and Mr. Bowman's churches in North Carolina, and Mr. Mont- gomery's, in Georgia, by detailed appointments made by Synod from the several Presbyteries. The modern facilities of travel were at that time unknown. The only mode then was on horseback. The route was, first to Nashville, Tenn., and thence to Natchez, through the nations of the Shawnee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Indians, over the road known as the " Natchez Trail "-the road from Nashville to Natchez, and the only road in the country. It was infested by a band of robbers under the celebrated Mason, the Robin Hood of that day, whose marvelous exploits, talents and, sometimes, high- toned chivalry are handed down in the tra- ditions of the country. To see a human body, covered with blood, by the road side, the pockets and saddle-bags rifled gave no surprise. Travelers set out heavily armed, and pre- pared to meet the most desperate contingencies. James Hall had been a soldier of the Revolution. When South Carolina was overrun by the forces of Cornwallis, he had assembled his flock, and called them to take up arms in defense of their neighbors. A company of cavalry was organized, and they demanded him for their leader. To this demand he vielded and led them in 1779 on an expedition into South Carolina, in the double office of Commander and Chaplain When at a subsequent period the American forces marched into the Cherokee country in Georgia, he accompanied them as Chap- lain. He had but one opportunity of preaching during the expedition, and his lips pronounced the first gospel sermon ever heard in that Indian Territory. In the skirmish at Cow- ansford, on the Catawba, when General Davidson fell, he was selected by General Green to succeed him as Brigadier-Gen- eral, and a commission was offered him, which he declined. He was now leader of a different, smaller, but nobler expe- dition, under the invisible banner and guardianship of the Prince of Peace. They were unarmed now, for the weapons of their warfare were not carnal. They led an extra horse as a pack-horse, the bearer of their provisions and camp fixtures. They swam or forded streams, and pitching their tent at night,
175
1800-1810.]
MISSION TO MISSISSIPPI.
tethering their horses, they cooked their evening meal, and " the wild woods rang with their hymns of lofty cheer." Near Pontotoc, in the State of Mississippi, they called and spent the night at the mission station which had been established three years before by Rev. Joseph Butler,* who resided there with an assistant, Mr. Ebenezer Rice. They had fallen in with men after leaving Nashville who were driving horses South for families who had gone down the river in boats, who were ill-provided, expecting to buy from the Indians what they might need. But the Indians had gone west of the Mis- sissippi on their fall hunt, and the missionaries to whom these men were both company and protection furnished them until their stock gave out, except a little meal, of which they made " water gruel " and partcok of with thankful hearts .. At one time they captured a raccoon, which they roasted and ate without salt or other condiments. Pressing forward night and day as fast as their horses could carry them, for their circumstances were becoming desperate, on the morning of December 4th, 1800, about two o'clock, they drew near to a dwelling on Big Black River, the first intimation of which was the crowing of a rooster, which was music to their ears. They hastened to the house, aroused the inmates, pleading starvation as their apology. They were kindly received, and a meal was speedily prepared of corn bread, bacon and coffee. "A night," said Mr. Montgomery, forty years afterwards, " never to be forgotten by any of us."
At Big Black they established a preaching station, another a few miles further south, at Grindstone Fort, another still further south, on Clark's Creek. The first town they reached was " Gibson's Port," now Port Gibson. They found Mrs. Gibson, the wite of the original settler, dead, and at the request of Mr. Gibson, her funeral sermon was preached by William Montgomery, the first sermon ever preached in the place. There were none professing religion there of any church, but they were treated with great kindness by an in- telligent and hospitable people. A few miles further south they found a few Presbyterian families anxious for religious
*Rev. Joseph Butler was graduated at Yale in - --; was settled in Windham County, Vt .. as pastor of a Congregational Church for twenty years. In 1797, he established, under the Missionary Society of New York, a mission among the Chickasaws, near the modern town of Pon- totoc, in Mississippi.
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MISSION TO MISSISSIPPI.
[1800-1810.
privileges, who united and built a loghouse for worship ; a congregation was collected, and the name of Bayou Pierce was given to it. Further south they were attracted to a small village, not now existing, called Union Town, where their road crossed Cole's Creek, by the name of The Mont- gomeries, who lived there, and who had migrated from Georgia to Kentucky, and thence to that locality. They were Pres- byterians, and by their aid they found seven families of Con- gregationalists who had migrated to that neighborhood with Rev. Samuel Swazey from New Jersey, whose church had been broken up by the Spanish authorities ; the wife of Felix Hughes, an Irishman, who had been member of a church in North Carolina; John Bolls, a native of Ireland, who had been a ruling elder of Hopewell Church, in North Carolina, before the Revolution, was in the Convention which adopted the Mecklenburg Declaration, served in the army through the war, and was present in the closing scene at Yorktown. Three years afterwards, in 1804, these families were organ- ized into the first Presbyterian Church of the Southwest,* Alexander Montgomery, John Bolls, Alexander Callender, and John Griffen being the elders. On land belonging to Alexander Callendar they built a log meeting house, which was popularly called "Callender's Church." The house is no more, but the graveyard is sacredly preserved .; The next point was Washington, the capital of the territory, in whose vicinity were several Presbyterian families, and where they established a preaching station. The next point was Natchez, where they found only one Presbyterian family, that of John Henderson, a min identified with the subsequent history of the Presbyterian Church in that region. Of their reception at Natchez we will soon speak.
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