USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. II pt 1 > Part 19
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He was witness to the solemn and ample acknowledgment of his error by an elder who had been, with many others, sus- pended by the sentence of Presbytery from church privileges for his adherence to these extravagances, and who had held out long and obstinately, and now had humbly yielded, and with expressions of gratitude and thankfulness had been fully restored to the Communion of the Church. He again presses the subject of an educated ministry as of prime importance to the Church. Such were the earnest efforts of these Presbyteries and this Synod of the Carolinas in the home missionary work, which have accrued in more good than we know of to our generation, and whose benefits will extend themselves into the distant future.
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH .- Very commendable efforts were made, both in the First and Second Presbyteries, to provide materials for the history of the Church. On the 14th of November, 1800, Rev. John Brown and John B. Davies were appointed by the First Presbytery to make out as correct a history of the First Presbytery as possible. to be transmitted to the General Assembly, March 27, 1801; the failure of the committee to perform this duty is excused, but Mr. Davies is directed to prepare the reports that have been sent in, and Mr. Brown to assist him, under pain of censure if they fail.
188
SCHOOLS.
[1800-1810.
On September 24th, 1801, the Second Presbytery directed the stated clerk to lay before that body the necessary mate- rials for the history of that Presbytery. Again, April I, 1806, the following minute is found : "In compliance with an order of the General Assembly, for the collection of ma- terial for forming a history of the Presbyterian Church in America, it was enjoined on every member to endeavor to collect the proper information in their respective churches, as to their origin, succession, pastors, present standing, &c., and render a statement of the same at the next stated session of Presbytery."
Agreeably to this order, the members of Presbytery were called on at the next sessions, August S, 1806. " The infor- mation laid before Presbytery was put into the hands of Mr. Kennedy, and he directed to form a general report on this subject, and lay the same before our next stated sessions for inspection, that, in the end, Presbytery may be enabled to forward to the General Assembly their quota of information forming a history of the Presbyterian Church in America."
The subject was brought forward at each successive meet- ing. October 3d, 1808, the matter was taken out of Mr. Kennedy's hands and placed in Dr. Waddel's, who, after some delays for want of materials, prepared the proposed history (of which we have frequently availed ourselves), and for- warded it to Dr. Green, at Philadelphia. The Synod did not cease to urge the attention of its Presbyteries to this matter.
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS .- The Synod had directed its Presby- teries to "establish within their respective bounds one or more grammar schools, except where such grammar schools are already established, and that each member of the several Presbyteries make it their business to select and encourage youths of promising piety and talents, and such as may be expected to turn their attention to the ministry of the gospel." It was therefore " ordered " by the First Presbytery " that each member pay particular attention to this business and endeavor to come to some conclusion in their own minds where it may be proper to encourage such institution or insti tutions.". At their next meeting they come to the conclusion that "inasmuch as there are a number of such institutions already established and vigorous exertions made for their encouragements, it is conceived to be inexpedient to pay any
189
1810-1820.] REARRANGEMENT OF PRESBYTERIES.
further attention to this business at present." Of the same import was the conclusion reached by the Second Presbytery.
INDIAN TRIBES .- The General Assembly had required the Presbyteries below to report respecting the Indian Tribes and frontier settlements. Messrs. James Gilliland, Andrew Brown and the elder, Gen. Andrew Pickens, were appointed by the Second Presbytery on this business. Than the last named gentleman there was none that had been more concerned with these people in peace and war, and none more feared as a foe or honored as a friend than he. The report was made at the next sessions and ordered to be sent on to the Assembly.
We have already spoken of the mission of the First Pres- bytery to the Catawbas set on foot by the Synod's Commis- sion.
BOOK SECOND.
1810-1820. CHAPTER I.
The arrangement as to Presbyteries hitherto existing began with this century, so far as Carolina is represented in them, and ended with its first decade. The whole seems to have been a matter of agreement and deliberation. The First Presbytery suggested to the Synod of the Carolinas its own dissolution and division. The upper division to include Rev. William C. Davis pastor of Bullock's Creek. the Rev. Robert B. Walker, pastor of Bethesda, Rev. John B. Davies, of Fishing Creek and Richardson, Rev. Thomas Neely, pastor of Purity and Edmonds, and the vacant congregations of Waxhaw, Unity, Hopewell, Ebenezer, Bethel, Beersheba, Shiloah, Yorkville and Salem to be united'with the Presby- tery of Concord, and the rest with the proposed Presbytery of Harmony. This is acceded to by the Synod of the Carolinas. At its meeting at Fairforest Church, October 6, 1810, they had declared the First Presbytery of South Carolina dissolved and that the Second Presbytery is hereafter to be known and distinguished by the name of THE PRESBYTERY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. They had previously at their session held at Poplar Tent, October 5, 1809, adopted an overture for a new Presbytery, to be known as the Presbytery of Harmony ; its bounds to begin on the seacoast where the division line
190
REORGANIZATION.
[1810-1820.
between North and South Carolina commences, thence till the line strikes Lynches Creek, thence to Evan's Ferry, thence to Camden, thence to Columbia, thence to Augusta in Georgia, thence in a direction nearly South (including St. Mary's) to the seacoast. The coast line of Harmony Pres- bytery, according to this division, was co-extensive with that of South Carolina and Georgia, and the division between it and the Presbytery of South Carolina was probably then un- derstood to be the travelled road, which at that time crossed the Savannah river at Campbell's Town, a short distance above Augusta. Where there are no natural lines the travelled road will suggest the ideal division, although it should change somewhat from time to time.
The Presbytery of Harmony was constituted by order of the Synod of the Carolinas, at its meeting at Poplar Tent, on the 5th of October, 1809, " out of the territory of three others, to consist of the following members : Rev. George McWhor- ter, Andrew Flinn and John Cousar, of the First Presbytery of South Carolina; John R. Thompson, of Hopewell Pres- bytery ; who were appointed to meet for the first time in the City .of Charleston on the first Wednesday of March, 1810; the Rev. Andrew Flinn, or the senior member present, to preside and open the Presbytery."
In pursuance of this order, the Rev. Andrew Flinn, D. D., the Rev. John R. Thompson, of Augusta ; the Rev. John Cousar, and the Rev. George G. McWhorter, and Mr. Oswald Eve, an elder from St. Paul's Church, Augusta, met in the First Presbyterian Church in the City of Charleston. The Rev. Drs. William Hollingshead and Isaac Keith, and the Rev. Thomas Price, of the Congregational Association, and the Rev. Jedediah Morse, D. D., of Charlestown, Mass., at one time pastor of the Church in Liberty County, Ga., were present by courtesy as corresponding members. At the request of Dr. Flinn, the meeting had been opened with a sermon by Dr. Morse, from Malachi I : 2, and the Presby- tery instituted with prayer by Dr. Flinn. Dr. Flinn had been chosen as Moderator, and the Rev. John Cousar as Clerk, The way being opened, the Second Presbyterian Church in the city applied by their representative, Mr. Benj. Boyd, to be taken under the care of Presbytery, were received, and Mr. Boyd, an elder in the Second Church, took his seat as a member. No other business of importance was done. The installation of Dr. Flinn was postponed until the house
191
1810-1820.] CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CHARLESTON.
of public worship, then building for the Second Church, should be opened, of which the Moderator should give due notice. After appointing a commissioner to the General Assembly, and attending to other necessary business, the Presbytery then adjourned, to meet at St. Paul's Church, in Augusta, in September.
But immediately after the reception of the Second Church, a letter was received from the Rev. Donald McLeod, Stated Clerk of the (Old) Presbytery of Charleston, complaining of the conduct of the Synod of the Carolinas in laying off and constituting the Presbytery within their bounds, which com- plaint was principally bottomed on the opinion that the Pres- bytery of Charleston had been admitted as a constituent part of the General Assembly. It was resolved that the above memorial be referred to the Synod of the Carolinas.
CHAPTER II.
We resume our history of the individual churches, with those which were Congregational or Independent, and first,
The INDEPENDENT OR CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, in the City of Charleston. This church was in a very flourishing condi- tion at the commencement of this decade. From the reports given in the minutes of the Congregational Association from time to time, by Dr. Hollingshead, it would seem that the membership in 1806-was 246 whites, 286 blacks, total, 542, Subsequent reports would swell the number to 403 whites and 290 blacks, total 693 in 1813. In that year Dr. Hollings- head reported 109 whites added. But as nothing is said of diminutions by deaths, dismissions and removals, these num- bers may be exaggerated. Dr. Keith died suddenly on the 1.4th of December, 1813, in the 59th year of his age. Rev. Benjamin Morgan Palmer, who had lately removed to Charles- ton having resigned his charge at Beaufort, was chosen pas- tor in his stead as a colleague with Dr. Hollingshead, in the year 1814. Dr. Hollingshead did not long survive his former colleague Dr. Keith. He died on the 26th of January, 1817.
"The Rev. Dr. Isaac Stockton Keith was born in Buck's county, Penn- sylvania, January 20th, A. D., 1755, and was educated in the grammar school and college of Princeton, New Jersey, when the Rev Dr. Wither- spoon was President. His diligence and progress in his studies were
192
DR. KEITH.
[1810-1820.
so great that at every examination of the school he was honored with a premium. In 1775 he was admitted to the degree of A. B. His pious parents, from carly youth, dedicated him to the ministry, and his own inclination concurred with their fond anticipations. Soon after he left, the college he commenced the study of divinity, under the direction of the Rev. Dr. Robert Smith, of Pequea, in Pennsylvania, and in 1778 was licensed, by the Presbytery of Philadelphia to preach the Gospel Af- ter itinerating for short time, he settled in Alexandria in Virginia, and continued there in the excercise of his ministerial functions till the year 1788, when he accepted an invitation from the Congregational Church in Charleston, to be co-pastor thereof, in connection with the Rev. Dr. Hollingshead. He there served. the church with ability and fidelity for twenty-five years, a period exceeding that of any one of his eleven deceased predecessors. In 1791, he was constituted D.D. by the University of Pennsylvania. He was thrice married ; first to Miss Hannah Sproat, daughter of the Rev. Dr Sproat, of Phila- delphia, who died on the 30thi Sept., 1796; second Miss Catharine Legare, daughter of Mr. Thomas Legare, Esq., of Charleston; who died of a lingering disease on the 15th of May, 1803; third, to Miss Jane Hux- ham, a native of Exeter, in England, and daughter to Mr. William Huxham, who had resided many years in South Carolina. As a man, as a Christian, and as a preacher of the Gospel, Dr. Keith was respected and beloved. On all the relations of life in which he was placed, he reflected honor-given to hospitality and abounding in char- ity, his heart and his house were open to the stranger, and his purse to the indigent ; the spirit of the Gospel marked his intercourse with men ; it influenced the whole of his deportment, and impressed a dis- tinctive character on all his transactions. "He rejoiced with those that did rejoice, and wept with those who wept." In pastoral visits to the sick and afflicted he was indefatigable; to their impressible minds he presented divine truths with such sympathy, affection and discretion, as with the blessing of God often terminated in the happiest result. He was fond of assembling children around him, and of conversing with them in a pleasant cheerful manner, mingled with instruction. Thongh not a parent, he had deeply imbibed the spirit of a judicious affectionate Christian parent. Many were the books which he gave in presents to adults, but more to children, under such circumstances of love and affection as could scarcely fail of ensuring an attentive perusal of their important contents. His heart overflowing with love to God and man disposed him to spend and he spent in promoting the glory of the one and the happiness of the other. In the work of the ministry he was diligent, laborious, and successful, and he was well furnished with gifts and graces for its faithful discharge. Sensible that souls were commit- ted to his care he shaped his instructions, admonitions and warnings according to this dread responsibility. Jesus Christ was the centre and
the sum of his sermons. These were distinguished for their manly sense, evangelical piety, and searching truth. The divinity of Christ, and atonement through his blood, were with him essential doctrines. He deemed that sermon of little value which had not in it something of Christ. The doctrines of grace were his nsual topics, and he stated and defended them with zeal and ability. The entire depravity of the human heart-the absolute necessity of divine influences to change the heart and to sanctify the soul, were, with him, articles of primary im- portance, and urged on the consciences of his hearers as indispensably necessary to a correct view of the Gospel. In his preaching he was particularly attentive to the dispensations of Providence. Epidemic
193
DR. KEITH.
1810-1820.]
diseases, destructive fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes. and un- usual convulsions of the elements, were never suffered to escape his public notice. They were always the subjects of appropriate prayers and serions, and made tributary to the instruction of his hearers. He was among the first in the United States in aiding, with pecuniary sup- port, the interest of evangelical missions and translations of the Holy Scriptures in the East Of the Charleston Bible Society he may in some respects be called the father. On Monday, the 13th of December, 1813, he zealously and successfully advocated a motion, the object of which was to send the Scriptures, in their native language to the French inhabitants of Louisiana, and in the course of the next thirty hours he was called to the bosom of his Father and his God, after he had served his generation fifty-eight years and eleven months. He died childless, with an estate of about thirty thousand dollars at his disposal. Of this he bequeathed a considerable part for the most important and benficent
usues Besides a large legacy left to the Church of which he was pastor to be hereafter particularized, Dr. Keith bequeathed about five thou- sand dollars to the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. To each child named after himself or either of his three wives (about twenty in number, ) he bequeathed a copy of Woodward's edition of Dr. Scott's Commentary on the Bible. The Church directed a monument to be erected to his memory in the Circu- lar Church, with the following inscription :
Sacred to the memory of The Revd. ISAAC S. KEITH, D. D., for 25 years a beloved co-pastor of this Church, from which he was suddenly removed, by death, on the fourteenth of December, 1813, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. He was a learned, amiable, and successful minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ : In prayer, copious and fervent ; in doctrine, clear and evangelical ; in exhortation, warm, affectionate, and persuasive In his pastoral intercourse, and in his private and public deportment, he adorned the doctrine of his Lord and Saviour. His charity to the poor, his hospitality to the stranger, his patronage to the meritorious, his munificence to the Church, his suavity of manners and unwearied activity in the cause of humanity and religion, conspired to render him dear to his people and society at large.
His mourning congregation, in testimony of his merit and their affection, erect this monument.
[This monument was on the eastern wall of the Church, to the right of the pulpit as one would approach it, while the Church was still standing.]
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194
DR. KEITH.
[1810-1820.
Dr. Keith published several sermons and addresses deliver- ed on special occasions during his life, which, with a few others and the sermon occasioned by his death, which was preached by the Rev. Andrew Flinn, D. D., a brief biograph- ical notice of him, and a selection from his correspondence were published in 1816, making an 8vo volume of 448 pages. " The personal appearance of Dr. Keith," says the Rev. Edward Palmer, who was one of the congregation to the day of the Dr's lamented death, "was imposing. Large in stat- ure, dignified in manner, grave in aspect and speech, it was impossible not to feel that you were in the presence of a much more than ordinary man. But, notwithstanding his appear- ance and manner were such as to repel everything like frivolity, he was so courteous and affable as to invite the confidence of the most timid child. Indeed, the affectionate freedom with which the young of his numerous flock actually approached him, showed how easy of access he really was. His example was in beautiful keeping with his religious profession-it was an epistle of Christ known and read of all men." "As a man, as a Christian and as minister of the Lord Jesus," says Dr. Flinn, he was deservidly revered, respected and beloved. Ven- erable and grave in his aspect, his presence forbade the rude approach of impertinence. To a stranger, his first appearance seemed rather distant and severe; but he soon found that in the presence of dignity, it was dignity softened and em- bellished with every benign and generous affection. An affectionate husband, a humane master, an obliging neighbor, and a distinguished philanthrophist. His heart and his house were open to the stranger and his purse to the indigent. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, this amiable man was humble, watchful and devout. But it was from the walls of Zion that he shed the brightest glory of the gospel. Of his sermons, Jesus was the centre and the sum. They were distinguished for their manly sense, and simplicity of style, evangelical piety and searching truth."*
" On the 22d of August, 1814, the Rev Benjamin Morgan Palmer, A. M., was elected co-pastor with Dr. Hollingshead, in the place of the Rev. Dr. Keith. He had served the Church the preceding seven months, in the capacity of a temporary supply, and for ten years anterior to that temporary appointment, had been settled in Beaufort, S. C., as pastor
*The Charleston Bible Society is said to have been set on foot, at the suggestion and by the efforts of Dr. Keith.
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195
DR. B. M. PALMER.
1810-1820.]
of the Congregational Church in that place. He was the fourth.of the sixteen children of Mr. Job Palmer, who had been a worthy member of the Independent Church in Charleston, for the preceding forty-two years. He was also the grandson of the Rev Samuel Palmer, who for forty years immediately prior to the year 1775, in which he died, had been only minister, and for the greater part of the period the only physician of Falmouth in Barnstable county, Massachusetts, where he was much beloved and respected. The Revd. Mr. B. M. Palmer spent the summer of 1810, in the Northern States, for the benefit of his health, and part of it at Falmouth. This unexpected visit, from the distance of a thousand miles, of a clerical grandson of their former beloved pastor, was highly gratifying to the Congretional Church of that place. They, particularly the gray-headed veterans in that county of longevity, received him with transports of joy. Their then minister, the Rev. Mr. Lincoln, after closing the religious services of the evening, invited his clerical brother Palmer, just arrived, and then attending as a hearer, to address the congregation. Mr. Pahner accepted this invitation, in- tending to speak only for a few minutes ; but, animated from the con- sideration of his being in the vicinity of the bones of his ancestors, and of his standing in the place of his grandfather, and speaking to a con- gregation among whom his father had been born, and his father's father laboured as a gospel minister for forty years, he was insensibly urged by his feelings to continue his extemporaneous address for nearly an hour, to the great satisfaction of his hearers, who rejoiced that their pastor, though he had ceased from his labours, for thirty-five years, still lived in the person of his grandson, devoted to the same profession, in the exercise of which his venerable ancestor had been so useful to them. Mr. Benjamin M Palmer was born in Philadelphia, in about two weeks after his parents had arrived there, in the character of exiles, driven from Charleston, in the year 1781, by the then British paramount power in South Carolina. On the termination of the revolutionary war the whole family returned to Charleston. Mr. B. M. Palmer's classical education commenced in Charleston college, when it was under the superintendence of the Rt. Revd. Bishop Smith. In the year 1797, he was removed to Princeton college, when the Rev. Dr. Samuel S. Smith presided over the institution There, in 1800, he was admitted to the degree of A. B. This extensive course of education was not entered upon without serious and deliberate consultation. The buddings of Mr Palmer's genius inspired hopes that he might easily be made a scholar. His correct, orderly habits, and early religious impressions, pointed him out as a suitable person to be educated with a view to the ministry ; but there were difficulties in the way. The times were hard-money scarce -education dear -his father's family large In this crisis the Revd. Dr. Keith interposed with his usual ardour in doing good, and urged with all his energies of persuasion that the promising youth should be put forward in a collegiate course of studies, and he seconded his arguments with more than advice. A generous friend- ship between the parties was thus commenced. It was excited on one side by gratitude, and fanned into flame on the other by frequently repeated acts of disinterested benevolence. The attention of the Church on their late bereavement, by the the much lamented death of Dr. Keith, was naturally turned towards Mr. Palmer, as being known to them, from his infancy, to be distinguished for correct conduct, respec- table for his genius and literary attainments, for his fervent piety, and in his adult years for the distinguished excellence of his compositions
196
DR. HOLLINGSHEAD.
[1810-1820.
for the pulpit. With the exception of the Rev. Josiah Smith, he was the only Carolinian that had ever been offeret as a pastor for their Church, though it had been constituted above one hundred and twenty years. In addition to these strong recommendations, he was known to have possessed the fullest confidence of their arely deceased beloved pastor, and also his highest esteem and applaus as an able, faithful, . and accomplished preacher. The circumstances of the case were par- ticular, and seemed to point out that the hand of God was in the matter. Mr. Palmer's congregation in Beaufort. was so small as to be unequal to his comfortable support. His friend, Dr. Keith. sad long urged him to leave that place and come to Charleston, and open school there for his immediate support (which he did for a time) l Providence opened another door for the regular exercise of his n.histerial functions ; in the meantime, having it in view to supply : vacant Presbyterian Church, on Jolin's Island, with preaching ever! Sabbath during the winter months. On the 15th of November, 18 .:. exactly twenty-nine days before his death, Dr. Keith wrote to Mr. Filmer, just recovering from distressing sickness, as follows: "Be assired, my friend, that I have felt much for you, not only on account of four bodily sufferings, but also of your difficult situation and discorrarng prospects in Beau- fort. It seems as if a variety of circumstances were combining to indi- cate that your residence cannot be much longer outinued in Beaufort, as without a considerate change, not perhaps to & soon expected in the present state of our country, the means of supporting your family are likely to fail you. But what shall you do ? O: vhither shall you go ? I wish I could tell. Perhaps the finger of Providence will point out to you when and how you are to be next employed ; and per aps a visit to Charles- ton, and you spending some time here, as soon as you can conviently come, may be the means of placing you on a grond a little higher than that on which you now stand, so that you may be able to see a little further and more clearly around you."
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