USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. II pt 2 > Part 23
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608
GLEBE STREET.
[ 1840-1850.
tellectual condition of this benighted race. The tendency of the colored people to mistake fervor for piety, passion for d -- votion, and zeal for faith, is so strong that too much care can hardly be exercised by the Church in selecting ministers to labor among them. Your committee rejoice to believe that this brother is, in many respects, admirably fitted to enter
upon this sphere of labor. * * * Should Brother Adger be induced to enter upon this field, your committee are clear that he should endeavor to collect a separate congregation of the blacks ; but they are not prepared to recommend any plan in reference to the organization of a church and the adminis- tration of discipline. Three schemes are conceivable, though all do not seem to be equally compatible with our distinctive principles as Presbyterians.
" One is to place the church entirely under the jurisdiction of Brother Adger, as an evangelist, until it should have at- tained sufficient maturity to elect its own officers, aud dis- charge the functions of a particular Church of Christ. From the state of society among us, it would probably require a length of time to reach the maturity supposed; and your committee cannot see but that it is perfectly consistent with our principles that an evangelist should sustain to an infant and feeble missionary church the relations, and discharge the duties, of a parochial Presbytery. He would be at liberty to consult discreet and judicious men, but the responsibility of all measures of government and discipline must fall finally upon himself.
" Another plan is to appoint a session, consisting of white elders, who should have the oversight of this flock ; and then the difficulty occurs : who is to choose these elders ? Ac- cording to our system, every church has a right to elect its own officers ; and these colored Presbyterians, if organized into a separate church, could not constitutionally be deprived of this right.
" A third plan might be to regard it as a branch of some existing church, and to have all its discipline administered by the session of that church. This, and the first proposed, seem to be the only schemes fully compatible with our circum- stances in the Southern States. In conclusion, your com- mittee would recommend to Presbytery the adoption of the following resolutions :
"I. That the Presbytery heartily approve of the efforts which
40-1850.]
GLEBE STREET. 609
le Rev. J. B. Adger, of Charleston, proposes to make for the irpose of imparting more effectual religious instruction to e colored population of that city.
" 2. That, while the Presbytery recommends the formation separate colored congregations, it is not prepared to advise at they be organized into separate churches. But, rather, at they be placed under the discipline and spiritual jurisdic- on of existing sessions, or treated as missionary churches der the care of an evangelist .*
" 3. That this Presbytery is persuaded, under all the cir- mstances of the case, that there is a call of Providence to other Adger to abandon his mission in the East, and enter on the field which is whitening to the harvest at his very bors.
" 4. That, in giving this opinion, the Presbytery would not understood to disparage the foreign missionary work, but mply to inculcate the imperative obligation of the Southern hurch to give the Gospel to the negro and the slave." Records of Presbytery of Charleston, 1847.]
On the 9th of May, 1847, a large and respectable meeting is held at the Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, after sermon by the Rev. J. B. Adger, and an address by the Rev. harles Colcock Jones, D. D. The Hon. R. B. Gilchrist pre- ded, and resolutions, introduced in an able speech by the on. Franklin H. Elmore, were adopted. contemplating the auguration of the enterprise and the raising of subscriptions erect a suitable church building.
A controversy then took place in the Charleston daily pers, conducted, mainly, on one side by a writer who signed nself " Many Citizens," known to have been A. G. Magrath, q., in opposition to the scheme, and on the other side by
Under the first of these forms the colored congregation existed from beginning until May, 1855, at which date it was, by Presbytery, con- iuted a missionary church, under the care of an evangelist-the sec- 1 of these forms. So it continued until 1858, when, upon the per- tent application of white persons to become members, Presbytery ganized it into a regular church, with its white elders and deacons. consequence of the war between the States, a practical separation s effected between the white and the colored membership; and in 4, in accordance with the action of the General Assembly, it was set into a separate colored church, with a view to its becoming an ment in an African Presbyterian Church.
39
610
JAMES' ISLAND.
1840-1850.]
the Rev. j. B. Adger and Richard Yeadon, Esq. The result of this discussion was the postponement, for a time, of the effort to build. Subsequently, a public meeting was held in reference to the subject. Able speeches were made, in favor of the religious instruction of the colored people, by James L. Petigru, Esq., and Franklin H Elmore, Esq., and a committee of fifty was appointed to collect information in regard to the subject. This committee made a full and thorough-going report, which allaved agitation and prepared the way for the prosecution of this enterprise and others of similar nature.
On the 30th of April, 1848, separate services for the colored people were begun by Mr. Adger in the basement of the lec- ture-room of the Second Presbyterian church, a building situated in Society street, near Meeting street. In this house the services continued to be conducted until the completion of a church building for the purpose, in Anson street, between George and Calhoun streets. This house, a neat and com- modious one of brick, was dedicated May 26, 1850, the ser- mon on the occasion having been preached by the Rev. J. H. Thornwell, D. D. Subsequently. the number of the congre- gation became so great as to necessitate the erection of another edifice. That building, situated in Calhoun street, So by 100 feet in dimensions, was, until the breaking out of the war, filled by an immense congregation, both of blacks and whites ; and the colored membership of the church was rapidly increasing until that critical event arrested further progress.
JAMES ISLAND .- The Rev. Edward Tonge Buist (afterwards D. D.) had served in this church from January 10, 1833, when he was ordained and installed by Charleston Union Presbytery as pastor of this church, Rev. Dr. Buist preaching the sermon, Dr. McDowell giving the charge to the minis- ter, Mr. White, the right hand of fellowship, and Mr. E. Palmer the address to the people. On the 2d of Nov., 1837, he had already been dismissed to the Presbytery of South Carolina. Rev. T. H. Legare was pastor in 1839. The Rev. Julius I. Fleming in 1844 for a season. Other names are recollected, as Rev. Mr. Osborne, and a Rev. Mr. Taylor, from the North, who supplied the pulpit as occasion required. In the absence of records, tradition is our only reliance. The Rev. Mr. Osborne is remembered for his eminent piety, and his success in interesting children and youth.
£
611
0-1850.]
JOHN'S ISLAND AND WADMALAW.
On the 13th of Nov., 1846, the Rev. John Douglas was re- ved by the Presbytery of Charleston from the Presbytery Bethel, and became the accepted pastor of this church, ich, at this time, and for many years after, held itself, by a at mistake, independent of Presbytery. Here he spent fif- n years more of his life, " quietly pursuing the duties of high calling, when this cruel war commenced ; during all s time dividing his labors equally between the whites and cks-the latter forming much the larger part of his charge. The first gun fired in this war was within one hundred and ly yards of his door. He claims the credit of preaching to diers the first sermon of the war. In 1861 nearly all the hilies of his island home and charge were, under military ndate, broken up, dispossessed, and driven away as refu- es into strange lands. Mr. Douglas, however, continued to ach on the island to the remnant of his flock that was per- tted to remain, and to the different military forces sta- ned on the island. For the last year and a half of the war was appointed Commissioner by the General Assembly's miittee, to labor in the army from Charleston to Savannah. was permitted to remain at his post on the island till he I performed the sad duty of committing to the dust the re- ins of his last ruling elder, and had brought home to him m different battlefields the lifeless bodies of nearly all the ing men of his congregation, to be buried with their iers ; he saw his own house dismantled, and its founda- s dug into riflepits, the church in which he had so long istered, burned to ashes, and the very sepulchres of the ted dead broken up and scattered to the winds ; and the surviving members of his flock scattered as refugees, as ingers and pilgrims over the land. And now (1865), after hardships and ravages of a four years war, he finds him- solitary and almost alone, like the last tree of a wasted est, stripped of every thing, a pastor without a flock, driven seek a new home and to commence life afresh.
OHN'S ISLAND AND WADMALAW .- We have in our former es given an account of the unhappy litigation entailed on this church by the ecclesiastical differences arising out he divisions of 1837, '33 and '39, and hive alluded to the of its reaching a legal settlement in 1846 through the irt of Appeals. The record of this case we will now give utline, leaving out, however, nothing important tothe issue :
-
612
JAMES' ISLAND AND WADMALAW. [!840-1850.
HUGH WILSON, ET. AL., VS. THOMAS LEGARE, ET. AL.
COURT OF APPEALS.
February, 1846. JOHNSON, CH.
For the facts ofthe case, I refer to the decree of the Cir .. cuit Court, and shall procced directly to the consideration of the questions raised by the grounds of appeal, under certain propositions, which I propose to state in my own way. I pro- pose, in the first place, to consider them in reference to the bequest of Robert Ure alone.
The bequest of Robert Ure is " to the sole use and behoof, and for the maintenance of a minister of the gospel, according to the Presbyterian profession, who is or shall be thereafter, from time to time regularly called, and subscribe the West- minster Confession of Faith as the confession of his faith, and shall firmly believe and preach the same to the people there com- mitted, or which shall be hereafter committed to his care and pas- toral inspection."
It has not been questioned that Mr. White was regularly called and ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of John's Island and Wadmalaw, and that the church was d component part of Presbytery up to the 24th December, 1838, when, by a resolution, which was carried by a majority of twelve to three, it declared itself an " Independent Presbyte- rian Church, absolved from all connection with the Charles- ton Union Presbytery, and every other ecclesiastical body."
The defendants, being in the majority, are in possession of the property and funds of the church, and have retained Mr. White as their pastor. The complainants, being a minority. have also organized themselves as a church, by the election of officers, and have been recognized by the Presbytery, by the Synod and General Assembly of the United States, as the Presbyterian Church of John's Island and Wadmalaw. The causes which led to these proceedings are found in the me- morable schism in the Presbyterian Church in the United States, which took place at the meeting of the General As- sembly, held at Philadelphia, in 1838. The defendants were disinclined to enter into that controversy, and set up for themselves. The complainants, on the contrary, adhered to what is familiarly called the Old School Presbyterian Party, and insist that they constitute the true church, and as such are entitled to the funds and property of the church.
613
)-1850,]
JOHN'S ISLAND AND WADMALAW.
There is no controversy between these parties as to mat- ; of faith. The faith of both is professedly based on the stminster Confession of Faith. They differ only in the n of government, and it is that alone which characterizes I distinguishes them from each other, and that is the only tinction. They cannot both have the fund, and therefore becomes necessary to look into their forms of government. . ascertain which the testator intended should have it, and leading question is, whether he intended this charity for support of a minister of an Independent Church, profess - to believe in the Westminster Confession of Faith, or the hister of a Presbyterian Church organized according to the m of government adopted by that church.
The terms used by the testator to designate the person for ose benefit this charity was intended, require Ist. That shall be a " minister of the gospel, according to the Pres- erian profession." 2d. That he shall " subscribe the West- ister Confession of Faith, as the confession of his own h." 3d. That he shall " preach the same to the people nmitted to his care and pastoral inspection."
A church is defined in the form of government of the sbyterian Church, to be a " number of professing Chris- as, with their offspring voluntarily associated together for ine worship," &c., "and submitting to a certain form of vernment." These have the power of appointing deacons, whom the secular affairs of the church, and the care of the or are committed, and ruling elders, who, with the pastor, istitute a judicatory, called the " Church Session." If the irch is satisfied with the ministration of any licentiate, they sent him with a call. This is presented to the Presbytery which he belongs. And it is expressly declared that no hdidate or minister shall receive a call but through the ids of the Presbytery. His installation follows upon his ofessing his approbation of the form of government and dis- line of the Presbyterian Church, and promising to subject nself to his brethren in the Lord, and the organization of : church is complete. They have, in the language of the ill. a minister of the gospel according to the Presbyterian pro- sion, regularly called, and a people committed to his care and storal inspection.
A Presbyterian congregation, with its officers, pastor, elders d deacons, is said to be a complete organization in itself,
614
JOHN'S ISLAND AND WADMALAW. [IS40-1850.
but the Church authorities all agree that it is not independent. " It is a part of an extended whole, living under the same ec- clesiastical constitution, and therefore subject to the inspec- tion and control of the Presbytery, whose business it is to see that the standards of doctrines and rules of discipline are ad- hered to by all the separate churches under its care." To the Presbytery is superadded the higher judicatories of Sy- nods and General Assemblies, as the means of preserving the standards of doctrine and discipline on a more extended ter- ritorial scale.
Such has been the organization of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, from the time of John Knox to this day, and has been substantially followed by the Presbyterian Church in England and the United States.
Synods and General Assemblies are necessary when the number and territorial extent of the churches are too great to be under the control of the Presbyteries, and are calculated to preserve greater uniformity in doctrine and discipline than a wider extent of territory. According to the form of govern- ment, no congregation can regularly call a minister, nor can a minister be ordained to a particular church, but through the Presbytery.
The defendants have assumed the name and character of an Independent Church, by which they are distinguished from the Presbyterian Church, as clearly as the Roman Catholic Church is from the Protestant Episcopal Church-and it would be a perversion to suppose that by the terms " Minister of the Gospel, according to the Presbyterian profession," the testa- tor meant a minister of an Independent Church.
Upon referring to the clause of the will before cited, it will be seen that the donation was for the support of a minister " hereinafter " to be called, and if it was an independent church, I should conclude that the donation was intended as an in- ducement to the church, to submit to the authority of Pres- bytery, and thus to preserve the great landmarks of faith and discipline.
I do not apprehend that it is in the power of individuals, having the management of that institution, at any time, to alter the purpose for which it was founded, or say to the re- maining members, "we have changed our opinions, and you who assemble in this place for the purpose of hearing the doc- trines prescribed by the founder, shall no longer enjoy the
615
JOHN'S ISLAND AND WADMALAW.
0-1850.]
icfits he intended for you, unless you conform to the alter- ons in our opinions." The Court have nothing to do with merits of the original system, as it is the right of those o founded the institution, and who gave their money for its ablishment, to have the trust continued as it was intended." Meriv. 400, IS.
The donation in Ure's will is not to the John's Island . urch, but for the use of a minister of the gospel, according the Presbyterian profession, who must have a congrega- n regularly committed to his care ; and Turner's deed ex- ssly superadds, a Presbyterian form of government, as a t of the description.
The facts that Mr. White was regularly ordained minister this church, and is himself a member of the Presbytery, is ied on as establishing his claim to be supported out of s charity, although the congregation has repudiated its au- brity. But a minister alone is not enough ; there must be people under his care and pastoral inspection, to whom he ist preach the doctrines of the Westminster Confession of ith. In the act of ordination, as before shown, the con- gation promises obedience to the pastor, and the pastor to : Presbytery ; and the defendants having violated this un- taking in the act of seceding from the Presbytery, they no longer be regarded under his care and inspection. He 'ived his authority, and they the right to a minister, from Presbytery upon the pledge of subordination to it; and ving thrown off that authority, and assumed the right of f-government, they no longer remain the same people-no iger the flock committed to his care. The people described the will are wanting, and there is no necessity for a min- er.
The question arising under the deed of Robert Turner is e from all difficulty. The trust there is for the " minister pastor of the Protestant Presbyterian Church or congrega- n of Christians, who do, or shall usually meet or assemble jether for divine worship, at or in their public meeting- use on John's Island, during the time he should be minister pastor of the said congregation, according to the rules and cipline of Presbyterian Church government."
The donation of Thomas Hunscome, of the land, was to the ustees for the use of the church ; and of the money 000), directly to the corporation. Nor is there any evi-
616
THE JOHN'S ISLAND CASE.
[1840-1850.
dence that there was any direct trust declared as to the dona- tion from the John's Island Society, or the contributions for rebuilding the church; but the necessary inference is, that they were intended for the use of the corporation, and the de- fendants insist, that being the majority, they have the right to control the application of them. I agree that the majority of a corporation have the right to direct the application of its funds, and that the Court cannot control them in the legiti- mate exercise of that power ; but the question is, whether the complainants or the defendants now constitute the corpora- tion. 'By the Act of 1785, 8 Stat. at Large, 128, it was, the members of the church, and their successors, members of the church, who were incorporated, and the defendants having se- ceded from it, are no longer corporators, and the disposition of these funds belongs to the complainants, who remain mem- bers of the church. These, as well as all the other funds are said to be in the hands of the Treasurer of the corporation, and are rightly so, as regards those arising from the bequest of Ure, the grant of Turner, and the lands devised by Huns- come, (all of which are vested in the Trustees by name) if the Treasurer has been regularly substituted Trustee, and for the purposes of this case it may be assumed that he was, nor is it material in whose hands the funds are-neither the corpora- tien, the church, or any other body of men, or an individual, has the right to apply them to any other objects than those prescribed by the donors.
It will be found necessary to obtain orders for carrying this judgment into effect, and the case is ordered back to the Cir- cuit Court for that purpose.
(Signed), DAVID JOHNSON. We concur ..
J. JOHNSTON, B. F. DUNKIN.
The expenses of this suit on the part of the defendants were defrayed out of the very funds in controversy, as will appear from a resolution found on page 25. [Minutes of Corporation.]
" Resolved, That the Treasurer of this Church be author- ized to pay the legal gentlemen employed to defend the rights of this Church in the case of Hugh Wilson et al. vs.
617
340-1850.] THE CHURCH RESCINDS ITS RESOLUTION.
phn's Island and Wadmalaw Church, et al., whenever any emands be made on him, and any time he may think proper do so, out of the funds of the Church."
On the other hand the long and expensive suit was borne y the complainants out of their own funds, for which there no evidence of their ever having been reimbursed.
The final decision of the above case was reached February, 846 ; on the 20th of May, 1846, the following preamble and esolution was adopted :
" Whereas we, the members of the corporate body of the resbyterian Church of James Island, have always held and ithfully adhered to the doctrines of the Presbyterian enomination, and never questioned the rules of discipline or overnment maintained by the authorities of the Presbyte- an Church as being good in themselves and plainly prov- ble out of Holy Scripture. But in view of the dissensions y which the members of that church were torn and divided 2 1838, a majority of the members of this corporate body nwilling to side with either of the two judicatories, equally aiming their obedience, on the 24th of December, 1838, eclared the Presbyterian Church of John's Island and Vadmalaw to be an Independent Presbyterian Church, ab- olved from all connection with the Charleston Union Pres- ytery or any other ecclesiastical authority ; and whereas dvantage may be taken of the said resolution to impugn the haracter of the members of said corporate body as departing om the rules and discipline of the Presbyterian faith. Therefore be it
Resolved, That the said resolution of the 24th of Decem- er, 1838, be and the same is hereby rescinded, and that the uthority of the Charleston Union Presbytery over the Pres- yterian Church of John's Island and Wadmalaw is acknowl- dged and obeyed."
The amount of property owned by the church at the time f this suit was
Ioney in bonds, about . $12,000
Ioney in stocks . 2,000
One Plantation, twenty Negroes.
A summer and winter Parsonage.
wo summer Churches, one at Legareville and one at Rockville. One winter Church in the middle of the Island.
618
EDISTO ISLAND.
[1840-1850.
On the 20th of November, 1849, Mr. White died. His death was caused by a fall from his horse. He was born in. East Randolph, Mass., October 8th, 1794. He was, there- fore, in the 55th year of his age. The Church of James Island was his first and only charge. For thirty years he labored among this people and sustained to them the relation of pastor for twenty-nine years.
EDISTO ISLAND .- In consequence of the independence of external relations maintained by this church, its statistics are not exhibited in the tables appended to the minutes of the General Assembly. The Rev. William States Lee continued to be its pastor. Writing in the year 1858, near the end of the next decade, he says :
" There are thirty white members on the list" (of the church). "It is difficult to state correctly the number of colored members, in consequence of the number who have been removed from the island at different times, but it is probable there are over one hundred and sixty now in com- munion with the church." " The constant emigration from the island and other causes have had an injurious influence on the religious condition of the church and community, and have kept the congregation in a low state. Dividing the period of time between 1821 and 1858 into periods of ten years, the additions to the membership of the church have been as follows, viz :
Between 1831 and 1841, white members, 46; colored mem- bers, 108.
Between 1841 and 1851, white members, 19 ; colored mem- bers, 121.
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