USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. II pt 2 > Part 18
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SANDY SPRING-CARMEL-NAZARETH.
30-1840.]
SANDY SPRING .- "A communication was received from a ighborhood in Anderson District, about six miles from endleton Old Court House, requesting to be taken under the re of Presbytery, and to be furnished with supplies ; said ace to be known by the name of Sandy Spring. The request as granted and Brother Anthony W. Ross was directed to pply them accordingly." [Minutes of October 5, 1832. le Rev. Mr. Ross continued as their supply till 1840, when : was succeeded by Rev. Benjamin D. Du Pree.
CARMEL (PICKENS) .- The Rev. A. W. Ross, who came to is church about 1823, continued to be its stated supply till $36. At this time, by mutual agreement, he took charge of e church at Pendleton, and the Rev. J. L. Kennedy took arge, as stated supply of the Carmel Church, preaching at is place half his time, or more. Under his ministry the embership continued much the same, varying between ghty-five and sixty-five.
NAZARETH (BEAVER DAM) .- Through the whole of this cade this church is set down in the statistical tables of the eneral Assembly as vacant, and no statement is made of its embership. In addition to some names before mentioned, illiam Carlisle, David Humphrey, William H. Harris, are membered to have supplied its pulpit. Occasional contri- itions to the cause of missions are acknowledged in the ssembly's statistics, which show its continued interest in that cred cause.
NEW HARMONY .- " An application was made by a newly ganized congregation in Abbeville District, to be known by e name of New Harmony, and as such to be taken under the re of Presbytery. The congregation was accordingly re- ived." [Minutes, March 27th, 1830.] In 1831 it was supplied Wm. Carlisle. and hada membership of thirty-five. He con- qued his Inbors as stated supply through this decade. Its tal membership was thirty-five. Its membership was forty 1836, then thirty seven, then forty-two in 1840.
BETHANY CHURCH, LAURENS DISTRICT OR COUNTY, was ganized in October, 1833, and was taken under the care of e Presbytery of South Carolina, October 3d, at its meeting Rocky Creek Church, Abbeville District, in that year. reported seventy-two members at that time, and was presented in Presbytery by the ruling elder, James Temple- n, Jr.
554
REHOBOTH -- BETHEL.
[1830-1840
The church was organized by Rev. S. B. Lewers, who began preaching in February, 1833, in a school house near the spot where the church now stands. During the last of this month be preached two sermons a day for five successive days. He held also special meetings, sometimes for profess- ing Christians, urging on them the obligation to labor in Christ's kingdom.' Sometimes he addressed the unconverted on the advantage and obligation of seeking, first, the kingdom of God. Inquiry meetings were also held and well attended. As many as fifty were present as enquirers. Two weeks after he returned and preached four days, and again in April, when twenty-six were admitted as members of the church. After this he preached regularly once or twice a month, sometimes in the school house, at one time in the open air. In June, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered, Rev. Messrs. Humphreys and Boggs assisting. During the meeting, which lasted four days, thirty-one persons were admitted as mem- bers of the church. It was determined to proceed immediately to the erection of a house of worship. This was accomplished by the October following. Dr. Samuel Farrow and James Tem- pleton, Jr., were elected ruling elders. Of the original members five were on the roll as active members in 1878, and one, Rev. Clarke B. Stewart, had long been in the ministry, in 1878. Between 1830 and 1840, Rev. S. B. Lewers served the church as stated supply. The elders were Samuel Farrow, Jas. Tem- pleton, Jr., Wm. Mills, and George Byrd. The last two were elected in 1835. In 1836, a temperance society was organized in connection with the church. [MS. of T. Craig.
REHOBOTH .- "A few individuals in the lower part of Abbe- ville District, having put themselves into the form of a church, requested, as such, that they might be taken under the care of Presbytery, and be known by the name of Rehoboth Church." The request was granted. [Minutes South Caro- lina Presbytery, pp. 31, 32, October 4, 1832.] It is repre- sented as vacant, with fifteen communicants, in 1833, 1834, 1835, 1836, 1837. with sixteen communicants, vacant in 1838, 1840. In 1841, as contributing to the commissioner fund. In 1843 it does not appear, nor in 1845.
BETHEL CHURCH, in the Presbytery of South Carolina, was served by Rev. Benjamin D. DuPree in 1834, and had thirty- one members. It was vacant in 1836, and onward through this decade.
.
555
1840.] FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CH., AUGUSTA.
RST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, AUGUSTA, GA .- On the twelfth December, 1835, Rev. Mr. Talmage resigned the pastoral ge of the church, in order to become connected with the lethorpe University," to the Presidency of which he was wards elected.
uring the interval between the resignation of Mr. Mod- ell and the election of Mr. Talmage as pastor, ninety-four ons were added to the membership of the church, and hundred and thirteen during the connection of the latter the church in the pastoral office.
1 May, 1837, Rev. Alexander N. Cunningham was invited he Session, to supply the pulpit for one year. On the hty-fifth of February, 1338, he received a call to become pastor of the church, which he accepted, and was in- ed by Hopewell Presbytery, on the eighteenth of Novem- in the same year.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MACON, GA .- Rev. Edwin Holt now me the first pastor of the church, serving it from the be- ing of 1831 to the close of 1834, a period of four years. accessions during this time were seventy-eight, and Da- B. Butler and Hugh Craft were added to the eldership. . James R. Stratton then became the supply of the pulpit, ring from the beginning of 1835 to the close of 1836, rly two years, during which the accessions were forty-two, Thomas King was added to the eldership.
The second house of worship was begun under Mr. Strat- 's ministry, but was not finished and occupied until Mr. sels succeeded him. It is the brick building on Fourth bet, now occupied by the Papists.
The Rev. Samuel J. Cassels became the second pastor of church. He was called to the pastorate on the fifteenth November, 1836, and installed November fifth, 1837. E. Nisbet, R. H. Randolph, D. C. Campbell, Curtis Lewis I E. B. West were made elders.
556
REVIVALS.
[1830-1840.
CHAPTER VI.
There are several characteristics which have marked these last ten years of our history.
I. The earlier portion of it was largely sign ilized by revi- vals of religion. In these the Rev. Daniel Baker (afterwards D. 1).) was a favored instrument. After his own church in Savannah, where he had labored for some three years, had enjoyed one of these seasons, in which about one hundred persons were added to the Presbyterian Church. and still a larger number to the various churches of other denomina- tions, his services were in great demand, elsewhere, and he visited various places, no special regard being had to his own denomination. At Gillisonville, to which he had been invited, some sixty persons were hopefully con- verted. He preached at Grahamville with marked re- sults. At Beaufort there was a wonderful effect pro- duced on the large audiences by his thrilling appeals through the agency of the Holy Spirit which accompanied them. Religious services were held twice or thrice a day in the Episcopal and Baptist Churches, the only two places of worship then existing in the town. The number of conver- sions was, perhaps, somewhat vaguely stated at two or three hundred. The Episcopal and Baptist Churchies reaped the fruits of these labors. Not one became a Presbyterian. Among the converts were several who became ministers of the gospel. Among these were Bishop Boone, missionary Bishop to China, Rev. W. H. Barnwell, Rev. C. C. Pinckney, Rev. B. C. Webb, Rev. Stephen Elliott, afterwards D. D., and Bishop of Georgia, the Rev. W. Johnson and the Rev, R. Johnson, of Georgia, all of the Episcopal Church, the Rev. Richard Fuller, D. D., afterwards of Baltimore, the sixth of this list, and who exchanged the profession of the law for the ministry of the gospel in the Baptist Church. This was in the year 1831. He now took his farewell of his church in Savannah. Under these circumstances he became missionary evangelist of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia. Dur- ing the first two years he held protracted meetings at Mid- way, Darien, St. Mary's, Augusta, Athens and Macon in
557
FOREIGN MISSIONS.
30-1840.]
eorgia ; in St. Augustine, Tallahassee, Monticello, Quincy, id Mariana, in Florida.
He held a few protracted meetings in North Carolina, but buth Carolina was the principal scene of his labors as an evangelist." It was his custom to locate his family in some onvenient place, and go out on a missionary tour of two or ree months, and return to them and rest for a while. The ost remarkable tour embraced twelve protracted meetings twelve consecutive weeks. Some of the most important aces visited were Walterboro', Columbia, Camden, Cheraw, innsboro', Laurens C. H., Newberry, Pendleton, and sev- al churches in Abbeville and Union Districts. [Life and bors of the Rev. Daniel Baker, D. D., by his son William . Baker. chap. vii.]
The Presbytery of Harmony at its LIII Session, which as held at Columbia, Nov. 9, 1832, reported over four hun- ed additions to the church that year. Fifty-two, they say, ere added to the Columbia Church, fifty- five to Zion (Winns- bro') and Horeb, forty-nine to Jackson's Creek (Lebanon) d Wateree (Mt. Olivet), thirty were added to the church at heraw ; at Hopewell and Indiantown three and four days' eetings had been held, and there were many additions, two- irds of whom were males.
FOREIGN MISSIONS .- We have described in previous pages e efforts of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia to es- blish a mission among the aborigines on our own borders, d of its final surrender to the American Board of Commis- oners for Foreign Missions.
Its zeal in the cause of Missions had not in the least abat- In the year 1833, at its sessions in Columbia, the Synod as visited by Rev. W. S. Plumer, D. D., then of Petersburg. a., in the interest of Foreign Missions, expressing the high- t confidence in the American Board of Commissioners for reign Missions and the wisdom, ability and success with ich they had hitherto conducted this branch of Christian ort. He brought before the Synod the scheme of a South- n Board of Foreign Missions to be in connection with the merican Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, to con- t of Ist, delegated members, six clergymen, and six laymen. ho should have a right to vote, 2d, honorary members, viz : ergymen, who should pay fifty dollars, or laymen, who ould pay one hundred dollars, who might be present and .
558
FOREIGN MISSIONS.
[1830-1840.
assist in the deliberations of the Board, and, 3d, corresponding members, if the Board deemed it advisable to elect such. The officers, with an executive committee of five, the Pres- ident, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer were provided for, and their duties prescribed. Drs. Leland, Thomas Smyth, (afterwards Dr.), Mr., (afterwards Dr.). Benjamin Gildersleeve were appointed to draft a pastoral letter to the churches, setting forth the claims of foreign missions on them; and the first Monday of January, 1834, appointed by the General Assembly, was set apart as'a day of fasting, hu- miliation and prayer for the conversion of the world. These measures were adopted with the deepest emotions on the part of the Synod. " At this moment of trembling suspense." says the pastoral letter, "an influence from above evidently descended upon the whole assembly. Instantly there was such a gush of devout feeling, such a meeting of hearts, such an evident overpowering sense of the immediate presence of God, as we never before witnessed. Before this influence ob- jections vanished, the mountains flowed down. Then it was that all the members of the Synod knelt down in prayer, then rising upon their feet, as by one common impulse, and by one united voice, they adopted the constitution, and while stand- ing. thus, sang with pathos the 'Missionary Hymn,' while almost every face was bathed in tears, and almost every frame trembled with intense emotion : and thus closed a scene in an ecclesiastical assembly, the like of which our eyes never saw, our hearts never conceived." The Synod of Tennessee was a component part of this Southern Board of Missions. Some more effective organization had been a subject of desire and of correspondence with the officers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Dr. Plumer, too, had corresponded with brethren in Charleston on the subject, and conferred with them on his way to the Synod.
Already had the Spirit wrought upon the mind of several young brethren, calling them to the work of foreign missions. George W. Boggs, who was born in the Bethesda congrega- tion in York County, had become a member of Carmel Church (then under the care of Rev. James Hillhouse), in his nine- teenth year ; had been educated partly at Hampden Sydney College, and partly at Amherst, Massachusetts, where he was graduated ; then at Princeton, was the first in this decade from this Synod who devoted himself as a missionary to the
559
SOUTHERN BOARD OF MISSIONS.
0-1840.]
then. He was accepted by the American Board of Com- ssioners for Foreign Missions, as a missionary for Bombay, I received license from the Middlesex 'Association in Mas- husetts. From August, 1831, to May, 1832, he was em- yed as an agent for the Board, chiefly in South Carolina. e Synod. meeting at Columbia, December, 1831, cordially nmended him and his cause to their churches, and pledged n support. He was ordained by Charleston Union Pres- tery, in the Circular Church, Charleston, on the 14th of arch, 1832, Dr. Leland preaching the sermon, and Dr. B. M. Imer (the first of that name) delivering the charge. He was ited in marriage to Mrs. Isabella W. Adger, relict of Wil- m Adger, and daughter of William Ellison, of Fairfield strict, and on the 28th of May, 1832, embarked at Salem, Ass., on board the " Black Warrior," John Endicott, captain,
Bombay. They were stationed at Ahmednuggar, one ndred and seventy miles in the interior, among the Mahrat- , where they arrived December 19, 1832.
In the first annual report of the Southern Board of Foreign ssions, which met during the sessions of the Synod of uth Carolina and Georgia, from December 6th to Decem- r Ioth, 1834, the Society had raised the sum of $5,215.3612 ; d appropriated $600 to the use of the mission at Ahmed- ggar, India, the station of Rev. Mr. Boggs; $600 to that of pe Palmas, the station of Rev. J. L. Wilson ; $500 to the ssion in China; $500 to the mission in Ceylon; $500 to e mission to Persia, the station of Rev. J. L. Merrick ; $500 the mission to Asia Minor, the station of Rev. J. B. Adger. hey had published also two thousand copies of Missionary iper, No. 1 ; "The Farewell Letter of Rev. J. B. Adger;" so, " The Missionary Spirit," by Rev. J. L. Merrick; also, r a premium tract, entitled "Prospect of the Heathen for ernity," $100. J. B. Adger had acted as agent for the board, and raised $2,404.94, J. L. Wilson, for a short time, ceiving a smaller sum. Of the missionaries who went abroad om this Synod, Jolin Fleetwood Lanneau, a native of Charles- n, was ordained by the Charleston Union Presbytery, as a reign missionary, in May, 1833. John Leighton Wilson as ordained by Harmony Presbytery on the 6th of Septem- er, in the same year, at Mount Zion Church, Sumter Dis- ict. John B. Adger, a native of Charleston, and James L. ferrick, a native of Amherst, Mass., were ordained as foreign
1
560
MISSIONS.
[1830-1840.
missionaries in the Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, on the 16th of April, 1834, by Charleston Union Presbytery, T. L. McBryde was also ordained as a foreign missionary in the Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, on the 8th of December, 1839.
Of these brethren, J. F. Lanncau was a graduate of Yale College, and a student of Princeton Theological Seminary ; J. L. Wilson was a graduate of Union College, and of the Semi- nary of Columbia ; J. L. Merrick, a graduate of Amherst Col- lege. and of the Seminary at Columbia ; J. B. Adger, a graduate of Union College, and of the Seminary at Princeton ; T. L. McBryde. a graduate of Franklin College, and of the Semi- nary at Columbia.
Besides these, the Rev. Dyer Ball, who was an ordained minister of an Association in Massachusetts, and who was received as a member of the Charleston Union Presbytery on examination and adoption of the Confession of Faith, De- cember 9th, 1834, entered upon the same service. Mr. Ball and Mrs. L. H. Ball received their instructions as Missiona- ries to Singapore in the Circular Church, Charleston, Sabbath evening, April 9, 1837. Rev. Rufus Anderson, D. D., one of the Secretaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, presided at the meeting, Rev. Mr. (after- wards Dr.) Smythe, of the 3d. Presbyterian Church, Rev. Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Post, the Pastor of the Circular Church, Rev. Mr. Dana, (afterwards D. D.) of the 3rd Presbyterian Church. took part in the service. The account of these interesting services may be found in the Charleston Observer of April 15. 1837. The instructions to the Missionaries may be found in in the same paper, signed by Rufus Anderson, D. Green and W. J. Armstrong, Secretaries of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions.
The Rev. John A. Mitchell was also set apart as a Mission- ary to China, under the Presbyterian Foreign Missionary So- ciety. A public meeting was held in the Third Presbyterian Church on Sabbath evening, the 24th of June, 1837, at which he delivered a sermon from Rev. xxii, 17. In these services, Rev. Mr. (afterward Dr.) Post. Rev. W. C. Dana, and Rev. Thos. Smythe took part. Mr. Mitchell had resided several years in Charleston, and officiated as City Missionary, as Pas- tor of the Mariner's Church, and as an Agent of the South- ern Board of Missions.
562
CONGREGATIONAL AND PRESBYTERIAN [1830-1840.
to the Seminary Library and other objects falling within the . general purpose of the Society.
Their last printed report is dated March, 1827, more than twelve years ago.
At each successive semi-annual meeting. however, an accurate stato- ment of the receipts and disbursements has been presented by the Treasurer. From these they select the principal items of expenditure, that it may be seen in what manner the funds, with which they have been entrusted, have been employed.
In 1827, having no beneficiary, they invested $366 on account of the scholarship which they had agreed to endow in the Theological Semi- nary at Columbia.
In 1828, they invested $537 for the same object
In 1829, they also invested for the same object $480, and paid in addition $225 towards the support of two young gentlemen at said seminary.
In 1830, they paid $275 towards the support of two young gentlemen in the Seminary in Columbia, and invested $507 for endowing their scholarship in the same institution.
In 1831, they paid $275 towards supporting two young gentlemen in the Seminary, and $250 to the contingent fund of said Seminary.
In 1832, they paid $300 towards the support of two young gentlemen in the Seminary at Columbia, and $250 to the contingent fund of said institution.
In 1833, they paid towards supporting two young gentlemen at the Seminary $225, towards the contingent fund of the Seminary $350, and to the Rev. S S. Davis for educational purposes, $300
In 1834, they invested $410 on account of their scholarship. They also made a donation of $!50 to the Seminary, and paid the Rev. S. S. Davis $150 for education purposes.
In 1835. they paid to the Theological Seminary, at Columbia, $2,500 to endow a scholarship in the same. They also paid the Rev. S. S. Davis, for education purposes, $225, invested $198 and paid $225 towards sup- porting two young gentlemen while preparing for college, with a view to the Gospel Ministry.
In 1836, they paid towards supporting the same two young gentlemen $300, and made a donation to the Library of the Theological Seminary at Columbia of $200.
In 1837, they paid for supporting the same two young gentlemen $400, and invested $519.
In 1838, they paid for the support of one of the same young gentlemen in College $200, and of the other in part $100, and invested $100.
In 1889, they paid towards the support of a young gentleman in Col- lege $100, and invested $100.
They have now invested in profitable stock the sum of $1,170.
They are also engaged in supporting a young gentleman in College at an expense of $200 per annum, and have in their treasury the sum of $256 31 cents.
From the preceding statement it will be seen that the Association have carried mto effect the resolution which they passed in 1826, and have fully endowed a scholarship in the Theological Seminary at Co- lumbia, under the care of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia All the disbursements, indeed, since their last printed report, have been
563
EDUCATION SOCIETY.
30-1840.]
ther directly or indirectly to that institution, or for the support of bung gentlemen at the South, while pursuing their classical studies, eparatory to a Theological course in it.
Before the establishment of said Seminary their funds were, for the fost part, appropriated to the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J., which they have also endowed a scholarship. But since the estab- shment of a similar institution in their own State, they have felt it in- mbent on them to devote their funds mainly to its support.
The sources from which the Association have derived their funds, ve been, with the exception of dividends on stock, till their last ho'arship was endowed. the annual subscription of its members, and few donations. Both of these sources, however, they regret to say, ve for some years been constantly diminishing. That of donations, deed, now appears to be wholly dried up. During the first year of eir existence as a Society, their income from this source was $735. iring the next four years it was only $93.25 cents. For the last twelve ars, it has been $50.50 cents; $6 only of which have been received thin the last four years,
Formerly they had the pleasure of frequently receiving life-member- ip subscriptions of $30 cach. Latterly, however, this pleasure has en denied them.
The number of their annual subscribers has also been greatly dimin- hed by death and removals Their list now exhibits but few of the mes that adorned it at the organization of the Society. Some others, is true, have taken their places, though by no means in sufficient mbers to fill up the chasm. During the first four years of their exis- ce as a Society, the annual amount of their subscriptions was always ore than $600. During the last four years the amount from the same urce has averaged not quite $330 annually. And for the present year has amounted only to $239 25 cents.
But in this decade, so signalized in the Synod of South trolina and Georgia by the spirit of missions, a controversy ose which agitated the entire Presbyterian Church North d South:, and, in the latter part of the period before us, rent asunder. We cannot so graphically and so succinctly de- ribe the series of events as by inserting here the history of e " Old and New School controversy," which constitutes e xivth chapter of Dr. B. M. Palmer's " Life and Letters of r. James H. Thornwell." It may not be proper for us to eak of the ability and felicity of this admirable piece of bi- graphy, but of its independence of all early biases we may eak. For Dr. B. M. Palmer, the younger, was born and ptized in the Congregational Church, in Charleston, com- only known, since 1806, as " the Circular Church," from the rm of the building in which it worshipped. Of this church, s uncle, Dr. B. M. Palmer, the elder, after whom he was med, was for long years the much loved pastor.
Speaking of Dr. Thornwell, Dr. Palmer his biographer,
564
OLD AND NEW SCHOOL. [1830-1840.
says, " He was introduced into the ministry just as the great controversy was culminating into the schism, which rent the Presbyterian Church into two large rival communions.
We had expected to quote the entire chapter on this sub- ject, but find ourselves reluctantly compelled, for want of space, to present most of it in outline. " The cardinal issue," he says, " was that of a strict or lax construction of the ac- knowledged standards of the church. and this he proceeds to show, Ist, from the language of the Adopting Act passed in 1728-29; 2d, from the fact that the clauses in the 20th and 23d chapters of the Westminster Confession, respecting the jurisdiction of the civil magistrate in ecclesiastical matters alone, were excepted. Exclusio unius est expressio alterius. There was not one article in the formula to which these men did not assent ;" 3d. That in the year 1730, "all intrants into the ministry were required to adopt the conf. ssion and cate- chism as fully as the members of the Synod themselves had done," and that enquiries were made of Presbyteries if this were done. In 1729, and 1756, the same strictness is ob- served, with this difference, that they did not unchurch others who may differ from them in minutia of government and dis- cipline. The Westminster Assembly itself embraced Episco- palians and Independents, but harmonized perfectly in their strictly doctrinal creed. 5th. In the division at the memo- rable schism, in 1741, the difference was not in doctrine, but on measures. When they came together, in 1758, it was on the basis of the same doctrinal creed. 6th. From 1758 -- 1810 the Confession is strictly adhered to in the repression of error.
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