USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. II pt 1 > Part 24
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238
DR. KOLLOCK.
[1810-1820.
sistency in his walk. But new instances were alleged as having publicly occurred, and charges were reluctantly tabled, and witnesses summoned, and testimony at a distance taken and he cited to appcar to answer to these charges, but while they were on the threshold of this painful duty, they were furnished with a document from him prepared with care, in which he informed them that he felt it his duty to withdraw, and says, " I do hereby withdraw from the Presbyterian Government."
There follows this withdrawal an argument stated with (no inconsiderable) ability and extended to some length, designed to prove that there is no other than the parochial or congre- tional Presbytery known to scripture or discoverable in what is known of the first ages of the Church. To this the Presby- tery replied, expressing the opinion that no human councils profess the right of controlling the consciences of men, or of restraining or preventing them from exercising such forms of church discipline as is most agreeable to themselves, yet that the time and circumstances under which this declaration is presented, the Presbytery having been making efforts for the recovery of an offending brother and having been frustrated by the alleged repetition of the crime, and being now called upon in the most solemn manner to take further steps of dealing with him, were peculiarly unfortunate, inasmuch as it will be judged that the fear of conviction is the real cause of this declinature, and not any conscientious scruples which are alleged to have lately arisen with respect to the scripture au- thority of the Presbyterian form of Church Government. The Presbytery proceeded to pronounce its judgment that the declinature of Dr. Kollock was, under the circumstances, an act of contumacy, to express its abiding conviction that the standard of doctrine and discipline of the Presbyterian Church is agreeable to the Word of God, and suited to secure the peace, purity and prosperity of the Church ; and to de- clare Dr. Kollock as suspended from the duties of the minis- try on account of his contumacy in refusing obedience to the orders and authority of Presbytery. He was served with a record of its proceedings, and cited to appear at the next stated sessions, to show reason why a sentence of deposition should not be passed against him. These sessions were held by invitation in the Scotch Church, in Charleston, April 14-16, 1814, and after rehearing the several steps of process which had been taken, from the private admonition, to the public
239
DR. KOLLOCK.
1810-1820.]
suspension, they proceeded to depose him from the office of the holy ministry, Dr. Kollock having failed to appear. Thus matters remained until a pro re nata meeting was held at White Bluff, below Savannah, on the 25th and 26th of January, 1816. This meeting was held for the ordination and installa- tion of Thomas Goulding as pastor of that church, for the receiving of any candidates who might present themselves, and for the relief of the vacant churches in that part of the coun- try. At this meeting Rev. William McWhir, John Cousar, John R. Thompson. D. D., and Murdoch Murphy, ministers, were present, and in the course of their proceedings they dis- annulled the sentence of deposition passed against him, and recommended that he be regarded and treated as a minister of the gospel in good standing in the Independent Presbyterian Church, to which he is now attached. And it was ordered that a copy of this minute be transmitted to each member of Presbytery, and to the Moderator of each Presbytery under the General Assembly. The Presbytery, however, at its regu- lar stated sessions, did not ratify this action of the meeting pro re nata, on the ground that those present had transcended their powers, and had in other respects not acted in a way authorized by the rules of discipline, nor had any direct con- munication from Dr. K., as a Presbytery, nor any clear ex- pression of his repentance. The communications were in- formal, and could not in themselves be a ground for Presby- terial action. These transactions were painful in the extreme to Dr. Kollock. In reference to their first action he says : " I do not then attend the Presbytery ; and I cannot recognize your authority over me. It is to me of little consequence what you do. Life has lost its charms to me; and confiding in the cross to which I have fled, relying on that infinite grace, which is all my plea, hoping as a pardoned sinner to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, I wait for the liberating stroke of death. I have received a wound in my heart which will cause me to groan all my days." He had committed a great mistake. At the moment that he was to be brought to trial he had, in a spirit of resistance, disowned the authority of that body he had sworn to obey. If his opinion as to the lawfulness of Presbyterial government had undergone a change, that was not the time to avow it. If he had appeared before Presbytery he would have found that those who had been faithful to him, and wept and prayed with him in pri-
240
DR. KOLLOCK.
[1810-1820.
vate, would have been ready to accept any manifestations of repentance, to have made the sentence as light as possible, and to remove it on the evidence of reformation. The pro re nata meeting again had committed an error, led into it by their own kindness of heart, and the representations infor- mally made to them by a near relative of the accused. But his congregation still remained enthusiastically devoted to him, and although the Presbytery of Harmony had been in- formed that if they did not take action in the case, a neigh- boring Presbytery was resolved to do it, they could not see that they could have done otherwise. It was much blamed by those who did not understand the Constitution and Gov- ernment of the Church, and had loose views of it besides, as arbitrary, unwise and tyrannical. Under these circumstances they addressed the General Assembly of 1816 directly by letter, rehearsing their whole proceedings, and earnestly re- questing. to use their own words: "That our proceedings may either be rectified by your wisdom, or decisively sanc- tioned by your approbation. The state of public feeling in this vicinity, the abused cause of discipline and of truth, and the few and persecuted advocates of ecclesiastical law and order, all implore and demand the effectual interference of the General Assembly." " The General Assembly will easliy perceive the most unpleasant situation in which these trans- actions involve us. A circular is out declaring that we have restored Dr. Kollock. He declares that he never expressed penitence nor asked for restoration. Surrounded by the ene mies of Presbyterianism, and the friends of Dr. Kollock, our situation is peculiarly embarrassing. We have acted, as we believe, cautiously, conscientiously and firmly. We beseech you to examine our conduct. If you find us wrong, censure us ; if right, give us the support of your public approbation." The Assembly replied by letter, and the Presbytery laid all its proceedings in the case before the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, at their Sessions at Willington, in November, 1816, which decided that the act of the Presbytery at White Bluff was irregular, and that the Presbytery, meeting at Charleston, acted rightly in its repeal.
All these unpleasant things-unpleasant and painful to both parties-did not cause the piety of Dr. K. to be questioned by those who knew him. Even if they admitted much of what had been alleged, they remembered that none are per-
1
241
DR. KOLLOCK.
1810-1820.]
fect ; that Noah, Abraham, David and Peter had grievously erred, and were yet owned by God as his chosen servants. To Dr. K., it seemed that his case was greatly exaggerated. " Is not your address," said he, in an unpublished reply to the authors of the Letter to the Assembly, " calculated and designed to represent me as perfectly abandoned to intem- perance ? And yet you well know that, on this point, I had long abstained from the very appearance of evil, and was not only temperate, but rigidly abstemious." It was, then, a fault which had been corrected, and, perhaps, by the painful discipline to which he had been subjected.
He continued to attend assiduously to the duties which his large and increasing flock imposed upon him, remaining now during the sickly season when sometimes he was the only minister in the city, " the care of all the churches," as it were upon him, the pastor, in some sense, of them all, visiting the sick and dying, and following them to their graves. Under these circumstances, his health gave way, and, at the advice of physicians and the urgent solicitations of friends, leaving his brother in charge of his pulpit, he sailed for England in March, 1817, visiting the chief cities of England, Scotland, Ireland and France. He was received with marks of great respect, and in Great Britain he preached to overflowing and admiring congregations. One object he had in view was to procure materials for the life of the great reformer, John Cal- vin, which he had projected and had commenced. In this he was disappointed. Returning in the month of November, on the evening of the monthly meeting for prayer, he delivered, to a crowded congregation, a deeply interesting discourse from I Sam., vii. 17: "And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house; and there he judged Israel ; and there he built an altar unto the Lord."
In 1819, on the 9th of May, he dedicated the new, spacious and noble house of worship, his congregation, now greatly in- creased, had erected. But during the summer and autumn of that year, the pestilence raged in Savannah with unusual violence, and under his severe labors he became again en- feebled; but in proportion as his health declined did he become the more earnest to accomplish the work it was given him to do. He had appointed the 13th of December as the day when he would preach a charity sermon in behalf of the orphans. Against the remonstrance of his friends he entered
16
242
DR. KOLLOCK.
[1810-1820.
the pulpit, and delivered an impressive and touching discourse on the parable of the Good Samaritan, the last he ever preached. While listening in the afternoon to a sermon on the subject of Death, preached for him by a stranger, he ex- perienced a slight paralysis of the arm, which soon passed. off, but on returning home he fell prostrate under a new shock at his own door. On the next Sabbath the disease returned with new violence, depriving him of reason and conscious- ness, and, on the 29th, he died at the comparatively early age of forty-one. On the Wednesday before, his reason was restored to him, and as Dr. Capers, who was called to his bedside has written, "He lay with his countenance looking as if bathed in the light of the third heavens, serene and tri- umphant. Mrs. K. was in great agony, and his attention was most tenderly directed to her. He asked for Bunyan's Pil- grim's Progress, and caused one of the family to read the pilgrim's passage through the swellings of Jordan, and begged her to be comforted. He called for the singing of the hymn of Watts' :
' Why should we start, or fear to die !'
and when it could not at once be found, he repeated the hymn, . There is a land of pure delight,' his face lighted with holy joy.
"Observing me approaching his bed, he gently extended his hand, and as I pressed it in mine, he uttered, with some effort, 'Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the com- fort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.' And shortly after he had spoken these words, he fell asleep in Jesus."
The portrait of Dr. Kollock prefixed to his works, which were printed in four octavo volumes in 1822, exhibits a coun- tenance of manly beauty, and of great expression; his presence was commanding, his gestures appropriate and graceful, his voice, if not of the highest melody and of the greatest com - pass, was clear and distinct. His style was simple, yet suffi- ciently ornate, full of pathos and characterized by great energy and vigor. His eloquence was a strong, uniform and noble stream, acquiring velocity, beauty and power as it
243
DR. KOLLOCK.
1810-1820.]
advanced. There was a glowing earnestness and emotion which touched the soul. His descriptive powers were great and when his own feelings and those of his audience were wrought up to the highest pitch, he would sometimes burst forth in a short prayer or an apostrophe, which gave utter ance to his own emotions and those of the hearers, that hung on his lips. "His eloquence", says Dr Capers, "was the unique, the living expression of what he believed, approved and felt. Its primary elements were light and love, and its instruments, I think, were chiefly exquisite sensibility and a refined taste." He wrote his sermons out in full and placed the manuscript in the Bible before him. A glance of the eye on a page enabled him to repeat the whole, and he rarely recalled a word or hesitated in uttering a syllable. "In .the latter part of his life, his brightest efforts of eloquence were purely extempore. Then liis understanding seemed all light. his heart a fountain gushing with sensibility, every feature of his face beamed with glowing thought, and his whole person looked as if animated with a new life. I have not heard," says Dr. Capers, " more than one speaker in my life whom I have thought fairly on a par with him, and that was Dr. Jonathan Maxy, the first President of South Carolina Col- lege." He was fond of society and his frank, cordial and unassuming manner made him always a welcome visitor.
He introduced no metaphysical or philosophic specula- tions into his sermons, and seldom displayed the stores of Biblical learning he unquestionably possessed. The truths he brought forward were the plain doctrines of the Bible presented in a form which the people would feel and under- stand.
He was married in 1804 to. Mrs. Mehetabel Campbell, widow of Alexander Campbell, of Richmond, Va., and daughter of William Hylton, of the Island of Jamaica. She survived her husband a number of years. He had no children. He was a man of large benevolence, and was generously sustained by a generous people, his salary being $3,000, in- Creased afterwards, in ISIS, to $4,000.
244
EZRA FISK AND RICHARD S. STORRS.
[1810-1820.
CHAPTER III.
The Presbytery of Harmony in the earliest period of its history gave great attention to the subject of Domestic Mis- sions. At its second session in Augusta, January 11th, 13th, 1811, Mr. Ezra Fisk, a licentiate of the Hampshire Associa- tion, Mass., and Mr. Richard S. Storrs, licentiate of the Pres- bytery of Long Island, expressed to Presbytery their willing- ness to itinerate as missionaries within their bounds and on the frontiers of Georgia, and produced letters recommenda- tory from these bodies as suitable persons for this service. They were received under the care of Presbytery and em- ployed for four months. Without applying to the Synod, Presbytery proceeded to ordain Mr. Fisk after the ordinary examination, which was in the Presbyterian Church (St. Paul's) in Augusta. On the 13th the ordination took place in the Methodist Church, Dr. Brown presiding, and Dr. Kollock preaching the sermon from Acts xx., 28. They travelled and preached in the counties of Green, Hancock, Putnam, Morgan, Randolph, Clark, Oglethorpe, Wilkes and Burke; in Liberty, McIntosh, Screven, Washington and Baldwin, arriving in Savannah December 1, 1810, having travelled 1,100 miles, having preached eighty sermons be- sides attending private societies and exhorting, as opportunity offered, visiting many families and inculcating religious truth at the fireside.
Measures were at once taken to form a Missionary Society and the Rev. John Brown, Drs. Hollingshead and Keith, Rev. Andrew Flinn and Dr. Kollock and the elders Zebulon Rudolph, of Columbia, and Dr. Harral, of Savannah, were appointed a Committee to draft a plan and Constitution for the same. The Presbytery addressed a letter to the church of Braintree, Mass., requesting them to release Mr. Storrs from his obligation to them and permit him to remain longer in the missionary work, but without suc- cess. Mr. Fisk was engaged in missionary labor also from the 10th of April to the 25th of December, 1811, during which time he itinerated for three months through the Counties of Burke, Jefferson and Warren ; Wash- ington, Hancock, Baldwin, Jones, Putnam, Randolph, Mor-
245
1810-1820.] THE UNION MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
gan, Clarke, Oglethorpe, Green and Wilkes, traveling about one thousand miles, preaching sixty-five times, lecturing also and exhorting where opportunity offered. Congregations were larger, listened with more candor and interest, and were more favorable than before towards the Presbyterian Church and its missions. In Morgan County, he had the happiness of seeing the Church called Pergamos organized ; elders ordained, and about thirty seal their faith in the Lord Jesus at the communion table in the midst of the wilderness. In July he took his station at Washington, Wilkes County, where he spent most of the Sabbaths. He performed missionary labor in the neighborhood of Washington, and visited again most of the counties mentioned before. (Min., pp. 58-51.) On the 30th of December the Presbytery adopted the Con- stitution of " The Union Missionary Society,"* to meet alter- nately on the second Thursday of January, in Charleston and Savannah, and appointed Messrs. John Bolton, of Savannah, and Stephen Thomas, of Charleston, its Treasurers. (Ibid, 73.) The missionaries thus alluded to were Rev. Richard S. Storrs (afterwards D. D.), of Braintree, Mass., father of Rev. Rich- ard S. Storrs, Jr., D. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Rev. Ezra Fisk, who afterwards married the daughter of Rev. Dr. Francis Cummins, of Georgia, was for twenty years pastor of the Church in Goshen, N. Y., and received the degree of D. D. from Hamilton College in 1825.
In 1812 the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia returned to the hands of the Assembly the conduct of Domestic Mis- sions, before entrusted to them, and the direct action of the Presbytery in the control of this matter does not again appear during this decade.
On October 28, 1814, the Presbytery received an applica- tion from a number of subscribers in the Counties of Tatnall and Montgomery, Ga., praying to be taken under the care of Presbytery and to be furnished with supplies. Messrs. Mur- phy and Goulding were directed to visit them as often as practicable, and at the next meeting it was reported that it had been done; that they were a duly organized congrega- tion, and both able and willing to support a pastor. And at
*So called because it was to be supported by the Presbyteries of South Carolina and Georgia, and those Associations which receive the Westminster Commission. Its missionaries to be ministers or proba- tioners in regular standing in the Presbyterian or Independent Church, and were to be stationary or itinerant as the Managers should direct.
246
WILLIAMSBURG.
[1810-1820,
the meeting at White Bluff, to which allusion has before been made, a delegation from McIntosh County appeared in Pres- bytery, representing several Societies in McIntosh, described the destitute situation of the inhabitants, and prayed for relief. A similar application was made by the inhabitants of Louis- ville, Ga., and supplies were appointed at the two next stated meetings for each of these places. Among the ministers named were Murdock Murphy, Thomas Goulding, Dr. Mc. Whir, A. G. Forster, John Cousar, A. G. Fraser and Anthony W. Ross.
In the southeastern part of South Carolina, east of the Santee, was the ancient Church of WILLIAMSBURG, which con- tinuing in connection with the old Scotch Presbytery, remained vacant, so far as we know, through this decade. The Rev Mr. Birch, spoken of on a preceding page, in a letter written to Dr. William Dollard, in 1811, and which breathes a lieav- enly spirit, recommended to them a Rev. Robert Reid, also a native of Ireland, and resident in Pennsylvania; but it is not known that he was ever invited to visit the church. Mr. Birch seems to have been acquainted with Mr. Malcomson in Ireland, and makes affectionate inquiry after him, as his old friend. [Wallace, p. 89, and MS. Memoranda of the Church. ]
On the first of January, 1819, after Mr. Covert had served the neighboring congregations of Bethel and Indian Town, with great acceptance, " the original congregation of Wil- liamsburg " addressed the Rev. Dr. Palmer, Moderator of the Congregational Association of South Carolina, through their committee, who expressed their desire that Mr. Covert should be ordained by them " in the Independent order," "that he may be qualified to discharge all the functions of the minis- terial office, and to advance (under the divine blessing) the spiritual interest of the congregation." This request was joined in by Mr. Covert, who presented a dismission from the Presbytery of New York, by which he was licensed, and read a confession of his faith, which was approved by the Association. His ordination took place in the Circular Church, Charleston, on the 11th of February, 1819, the Rev. Dr. Palmer presiding. The ordination sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. Parks, the Rev. Mr. Floyd having preached an introductory sermon the evening before, the Rev. Mr. Lee offer- ed the ordaining prayer, and the Rev. Dr. Palmer delivered the charge. [MS. Minutes of Association, pp. 86-88.] The old
247
BETHEL CHURCH.
1810-1920.]
Presbytery of Charleston had not yet ceased to exist, for on the 15th of April, " at a meeting of the incorporated Presby - tery of Charleston, Mr. James Murray, of Edisto Island, was licensed by them to preach the gospel wherever God in his providence may call him."
The settlement of Mr. Covert over this congregation was a propitious event, as will afterwards be disclosed. The only elders of that church, whose names are recollected, are John McClary and Thomas and James McConnell. Thomas Mc- Connell died in 1801. All were men of piety and worth.
BETHEL CHURCH, WILLIAMSBURG. We have seen that at the beginning of this decade, this Church was enjoying the useful ministry of Rev. Daniel Brown. He was received as a member of the Presbytery of Harmony on the 14th of Jan- uary, iS11, but probably had already been preaching for some- time to this congregation. On a visit to his native place, in the summer of 18:5. he was seized with a sudden illness and died ; and there sleeps with his fathers. [Wallace, p. 90.] During the vacancy which existed for nearly two years, divine service was regularly kept up by the elders. On the 25th of March, 1817, this Church, in connection with that of Indian Town, made arrangements with the Rev. John Covert as a supply for one year. John Covert was a native of New York and a student of the Theological Seminary at Princeton. A manuscript letter of Rev. Dr. Miller, dated May 29th, 1816, addressed to Dr. Flinn, speaks of him as having been appoint- ed by the Assembly's Committee of Missions, upon the ap- plication of Dr. Thompson of Augusta for missionary services in a large and important district of country between Augusta and St. Mary's. He was to go into that country as early in the fall as may be deemed expedient and safe, and to spend a number of months in a missionary tour. He was directed to receive advice and orders as to his route from Dr. Flinn as the member of the Assembly's Committee of Missions for South Carolina and Georgia. Dr. Flinn was probably the means, after Mr. Covert had served a few months on an itinerant ser- vice in the field for which he was originally designed, of di- recting him to his own former field in Williamsburg. On the 23rd of March, 1818 the Rev. Robert Wilson James, a native of that District, a graduate of South Carolina College, and of Princeton Seminary, and a grandson of Major John James, of whom we have written, Vol. I, p. 407, 409. 480, was chosen
248
REV. R. W. JAMES-INDIAN TOWN. [1810-1820.
as joint Pastor of the two Churches of Bethel and Indian Town. Mr. James was received by Harmony as a licentiate under its care from the Presbytery of Concord, and at the same time a call for his services was laid before Presbytery, and put into his hands and by him accepted. He was ordained and in- stalled at Bethel Church on the 11th of February, 1819, con- currently with the ordination and installation of Rev. Thomas Alexander, as pastor of Salem and Mount Zion Churches, the representatives of these congregations being also present. The Rev. Geo. Reid preached the ordination sermon from Mark 16: 15, and the Rev. Dr. Flinn presided and delivered the charge to the pastors and congregations.
There were in the Bethel Church as elders prior to the ministry of Mr James, Robert Frierson, Samuel Frierson, Dr. John Graham, Samuel Wilson, John Wilson, William Wilson, James Bradley, and Thomas Witherspoon. At the com- mencement of Mr. James' ministry there were of these living. Samuel Wilson, William Wilson, Robert Frierson, and Thomas Witherspoon .* In 1818 there were added to the ses- sion by ordination, David McClary, Robert I. Wilson, Samuel E. Fu'ton, R. S. Witherspoon and I. B.Witherspoon. [Wallace p. 91.]
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