USA > South Carolina > Berkeley County > Goose Creek > St. James church, Goose Creek, S. C. : a sketch of the parish from 1706 to 1909 > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
The walls of the Chancel, are painted to resemble green marble, and red drapery is represented on the upper part.
Just below the Royal Arms an open book is supported by two pink cheeked cherubs. On each side of the Chancel, are the marble tablets bearing the Decalogue, Apostles Creed, and Lord's Prayer, presented by William Middleton in 1758. Two quaint memorials made of stucco, and painted in bright colors are affixed to the walls. On one are emblazoned the arms of the Gibbes' family of South Carolina, and it bears this inscription.
Underneath this lyes the late Col. John Gibbes Who deceased on the 7th of August, 1711 Aged 40
The other is inseribed
Near this place Lyes the body of Jane Gibbes Late wife of Mr. Benjamin Gibbes Who departed this life ye 19th of August . 1717 Aged 35 years
Two marble slabs are built into the walls, one bearing the fol -
25
lowing inscription.
Under this window, on the outside of this wall lies the remains of the Honourable Ralph Izard of the Parish of St. James, Goose Creek.
He was born on the 23rd Jany 1742 and departed this life on the 30th of May 1804. He was eminently adorned by the virt- ues of public and private life.
The good of his country
which his accurate judgment enabled him to promptly discover He pursued with the most undeviating integrity and the most ardent zeal.
His private life was marked by a high spirit of honour and justice His dignified manners, his cultivated and polished mind, his ready wit,
Commanded respect and admiration from all;
While the sincerity of his friendship, his conjugal and parental virtues.
The melting tenderness of his manly and noble heart
Secured their esteem, their veneration, and their love
His whole life was a poetical lesson of active and
useful virtues
and his death of resignation and fortitude
Hoe Ago
This inscription was written by Rev Milward Pogson then Rec- tor of this Church.
The other slab is inscribed
To the Memory of Peter Taylor Esq. Who lies interred near this Place He adorned the several Relations And Stations of Life he passed through. With a Conduct Worthy the Christian and Gentleman He departed this Life Oct. Ist 1765. Aged 67 years. And by him lies his first wife Mrs. Amerentia Taylor and their Son Joseph.
In front of the gallery hangs a hatchment bearing the Arms of the Izard family, said to be one of the only two in America. According to the old English custom, this was borne in front of the coffin of the head of a family, and after the funeral, hung upon the walls of the Church.
26
Around the Church, is a cemetery wherein lie many of the old parishioners; Coachman, Smith, Mazyek, Withers, Glover, are some of the familiar names to be seen.
In 1859, there appeared in the Charleston Courier a series of letters written by Mr. Pelzer, giving a history of the Parish, most of which material like the contents of this volume, was taken from Dalcho's Church History. In a letter written Aug. 6th. 1859, he mentions having seen at the plantation of Mr. Philip J. Porcher, then a Vestryman of St. James, a very ancient, and beautiful Communion Service of silver. I quote from it in his own words:
"These pieces are of excellent silver, and were presented to the Church in Goose Creek while Dr. LeJau was Rector. The Plate is richly embossed, of very antique style, but chaste, and finely finished. It seems worn from use, and is probably much older than the inscription upon it would indicate, as the initials 'E S' appear in the centre and identify it as once the property of the Sehenekingh family. It is by several years the oldest piece, in the Communion Service, for on the under side, is engraved the following, 'The gift of Capt. Benj. Schenckingh to ye Parish Church of St James Goose Creek 1712.'
The Chalice or goblet, is plain and neat, but also much worn, and on the side are inscribed these words:
"To ye Parish of St James Goose Creek 1717'
The name of the donor is not given.
In the Will of Ralph Izard June 4th, 1706, is the following item : 'I give and bequeath £10 to buy a piece of plate for the use of the Congregation in Goose Creek when they celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.' This piece of silver is a large, heavy, Tankard of plain style, handsomely finished, and must have cost much more than the sum bequeathed. It is in- scribed:
'The gift of Mr Ralph Izard To ye Parish of St James Goose Creek South Carolina.'
No date is given. This silver was all lost during the Civil War, and no trace has ever been found of it."
In 1905, the Vestry secured a very old copy of the Bible, once the property of Rev. Edward Ellington, and inscribed with his autograph. This volume was printed in 1637 by the Cambridge University Press.
"There are several traditions which have been handed down connected with the old Church, which whether authentic or not, add an interest to its history.
27
It was here that the marriage of Mad Archy Campbell took place, an account of which is to be found in Johnson's Traditions, from which this is taken. Campbell was an officer in the British army, noted for his eccentric and daring character.
Living in St. James Parish wasa young lady, Miss Paulina Phelp, noted for her beauty, but a great coquette, she amused herself alike with the British or American officers. Campbell met, and fell in love with her; she encouraged him, but never seriously ; he induced her one day to go horseback riding, and addressed her in such ardent and insistent terms that she was intimidated into accepting him. They rode up to the Parsonage, and meeting the Minister, Campbell demanded that he should marry them at once; he replied, "I will with the consent of the young lady, and her mother," whereupon Campbell drew his pistol, and presenting it to his head, gave him the choice of marrying him, or losing his life. It is needless to say he chose the first. (Johnson's 'Traditions)
During the Revolution, when Charleston was occupied by the British, the Parish was within the lines, and on one occasion, the Minister proceeded to use the Prayer in the Litany for the King of England; there was no response for a time, for the parish- ioners were almost entirely American in their sympathies. At length the silence was broken, by a deep voice murmuring "Good Lord deliver us." (Johnson's Traditions)
Another story of much the same kind is that one gentleman told the Minister if he used the prayer for the King, he would throw his Prayer Book at his head. The Minister used the prayer the next Sunday, and the worthy gentleman carried out his threat. After this the Minister refused to hold services.
A story of a tragic character is told in regard to the old brick vault situated in front of the Church. A young lady member of the family died as was supposed, and her body was placed in' the vault. It was the custom of the Minister to send daily to the Church for water, a fine well or spring being there. On this oc- .casion a negro woman was sent, but returned, asserting that she heard shricks in the vault; a boy was then sent, and came back with the same story, supposing it to be superstition on the part of the negroes, whom it was thought had not been to the Church, no notice was taken of the circumstance, Some months after this time, another member of the same family died, and was taken to the vault. Upon opening the tomb, the body of the young lady was found near the door; she had been in a trance, and had broken open the coffin. For many years after this, the vault was never closed for fear of a similar tragedy. Another story however of an amusing character is told of the Rev. Mr. Pogson, Rector from 1796 to 1806. The good Parson was a devoted disciple of Izaak Walton, and could not refrain from his favorite sport even on Sunday. At that time he occupied the house now known as "Otranto Club House" and on Sunday morning he walked to the
.
28
Church, carrying his sermon under his arm, and his fishing rod on his shoulder, stopping on the bridge to see how the fish were biting. On one occasion he hooked a fine trout, and in his anxiety to land his fish in true artistie style he forgot his sermon, which slipping from beneath his arm, fell into the water, and there being a strong ebb tide it floated away. The congregation that day probably had no sermon, but we hope the Parson caught his trout.
During the Revolution the bridge over the Creek having been destroyed, Rev. Mr. Ellington established a ferry, charging a moderate fee for transferring the farmers and their teams. On one occasion one of these farmers claimed that the amount charged was too much for the short time taken in making the passage. He paid the sum however, and departed. Coming that way again, Mr. Ellington recognized him, and after he had driven his team aboard the flat, ordered the negroes to row it up and down the Creek. The farmer becoming desperate at the loss of time, implored to be set ashore, whereupon Mr Ellington inquired if he was satisfied with the length of time consumed. He expressed himself quite so, and departed having learned a good lesson from the worthy Parson. (Johnson's Traditions).
-
29
Sermon of the Rev. H. C. Drayton,
ON THE OCCASION OF THE RE-OPENING AND THE 165TH ANNI- VERSARY OF THE VENERABLE EDIFICE SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 1876.
"Our God hath not forsaken us, but hath extended mercy unto us; to give us a reviving; to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof." -- EZRA, LX., 9
I need scarcely remind you that these words refer immedi- ately to the restoration of the Jews after the Babylonish cap- tivity and the building of the second temple. Jehovah having, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, brought his peo- ple from the house of bondage and led them through the great and howling wilderness, had at length, according to his word of promise, planted them in the land of Canaan. There, as with our progenitors in Eden, He set before them in glowing colors, and confirmed them with an oath, life and death, a blessing and a curse. Faith and obedience under the national covenant were to be followed by His providential care and protection, which would be as a wall of fire round about Jerusalem, and a well-spring of happiness and prosperity to Israel; while disohe- dience and unbelief were to draw after them His frown and His rod, the ruin and desolation of their country, and their captivity amid multiplied miseries. And the result was the same as in the Garden Atheistic hands sowed the fatal seed and reaped its dreadful fruits. Man forsook his own mercies, turned away from his friend and counsellor and benefactor, God the only wise, and gave his ear to the father of lies, who quickly darkened the eyes of his understanding, perverted his judgment, seared his conscience, and driving him forward in the course of mad and reckless rebellion, finally consummated his destruction.
Scarcely had the nation ceased to bleed from its chastise- ment in the wilderness; scarcely had it been planted in the lot of its inheritance; scarcely had it tasted the rich earnests of that richer harvest, pledged to fealty to Jehovah, than symp- toms of deelension began to manifest themselves. The great Giver was soon lost sight of in His gifts. The ardor of a whole-souled obedience began to pale before a growing Inkewarmness, maxims of policy to supplant the plain dictates of duty, and the mists of the flesh to cover up and conceal the teachings of the Spirit.
With steady step, unawed by judgments, unaffected by mer- cies, sweeping aside the laws of God and seorning His messages by His Prophets, and overleaping every providential barrier, the nation pressed forward in its headlong career of guilt, and
30
neared the precipice of ruin. In vain now were all remaining instrumentalities for safety; in vain were all the thickening signs of the impending catastrophe; in vain did the sweeping seer raise his streaming eyes to heaven and hurl forth his awful denunci- ations of the coming woe. There could be no escape. God in judgment, had sent His people strong delusion to believe a lie; and, while the jaws of destruction were opening to receive them, they were piping to themselves of peace.
Like some noble craft, manned by bacchanalian crew, which amid their maddening revelry, has slipped her moorings and wandered on with stealth, yet accelerated speed, till at length she is grasped by the full power of some Niagara's flood, and driven forward with resistless vehemence, while, all unconscious of their peril, and deaf to the shouts and shrieks of the multi- tudes who crowd the shores, her inebriates fill their cup and speed their songs till at length the cataract's roar breaks the spell and summons them staggering to the deck to look upon the leap of death! So Judah's ship of state drove along and plunged wildly over the Babylonian rocks into the horrors of the captivity.
And now, peeled and scattered, enslaved and oppressed, her temple in ruins, her eities burnt and her land a desolation, her star seemed to have set and her national existence to have closed forever. But God remembered his mercy and truth, Ilis word unto Abraham and His promise unto Israel, and when to the eye of flesh hope had perished, "gave" His people "a reviving." "The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord; as the rivers of water, He turneth it whithersoever He will."
And thus Jehovah who had raised up Cyrus as his instrument of grace, now "stirred up his spirit to accomplish His purposes of mercy. " So that in the first year of his reign he made a proc- lamation throughout all his kingdom, saying: Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, the Lord God of Heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him. and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel.
Strengthened and animated by this decree, a remnant of the people under the condnet of Zerubbabel and Joshua, the son of Jesedech, returned to the land of their fathers; and, after many delays and disappointments, and much opposition on the part of their enemies, succeeded in rebuilding their city and temple, and re-establishing the worship of God.
About seventy-nine years after, Ezra, with a fresh commis- sion and large powers and grant, left the Persian capital and reached Jerusalem. But to his great astonishment and grief found his people sliding into the sin of their forefathers, and contracting alliances with the heathen around them. Where-
31
upon he rent his garments and his mantle, and, with the live- liest tokens of sorrow, poured forth that beautiful prayer, of which the text forms a portion. Jehovah harkened and heard, and from His throne in the heavens poured out upon the people the spirit of grace and true repentance, so that they returned every one from his evil way and amended their doings; and thus the lowering cloud was dispelled.
Brethren, this history is fraught with instruction. All its lessons have been "given by inspiration of God, " and are there- fore profitable for instruction at all times; but some of them are especially applicable and important to us in our present circum- stances.
We are assembled to-day to hold our first services in this renewed and beautified house of our forefathers. And while we look down the long vista of its existence, more than three half centuries, we discover abundant material for solemn, sad and also cheering reflection.
That Providence which led our ancestors from their European homes to this then inhospitable wild, which gave into their hands the inheritance of others, which enabled them to subdue the forest, to cultivate these lands, to draw from their teeming bo- som rich harvests of wealth, and to lay the foundation of that enlightened civil and political liberty which their children so long enjoyed, and of that religious freedom which still remains, sent them not across the wilderness of waters without the ark of His covenant and His accompanying presence; but gave them His statute and His ordinances, "which, if a man do, he shall even live in them." He suffered them not to go forth unprotected among the heathen to learn their ways and to walk after their superstitions, to sell their birth-right and to cast away their lofty privileges, to lose sight, amid the difficulties and distrac- tions of their new position and in the absorbing pursuit of riches. of the only source of wisdom and strength and of all lasting prosperity, and to forget amid the engrossments of an earthly Canaan that we are but pilgrims and sojourners here, that this is not our home, that there is a better country, even an heavenly, towards which the grace and goodness of God is leading us; that the rest of His people is above. No, He gave into their hands the precious fruit of the blessed Reformation -an open Bible, snatched from the flames of Smithfield, and moistened with the tears and blood of His saints, and sent unto them the ministry of the glorious Gospel to proclaim unto all its tidings of life and pardon and peace.
These foundations were laid and these walls were reared among the earliest tributes of our forefathers' homage to God, . and among the earliest evidences of their recognition of His claims upon their love and gratitude and service; and here lived and labored and sickened and died some of the earliest missionaries
32
of that noble society of our mother church, which, through so many generations, has urged on her work of mercy in distant lands.
Here wrought Thomas and Millechampe and Stone and Har- rison. Here fell, rich in the work of labor and love, the devoted and indefatigable Ludlam, and there lie the remains of that noble, untiring soldier of the Cross, the Rev. Francis LeJau.
Educated probably at the great universities, nurtured upon the lap of refinement, with a culture which would have enabled them to shine in any circle, at their Master's call they turned their backs upon the beautiful shores and the merry homes of old England, and came to toil here upon the border of a wildler- ness. Penetrated with that love of Christ which passeth knowl- edge, and following in the footsteps of His peerless humility, while preaching from this pulpit to the high-born and the intel- lectual they disdained not to gather at the parsonage, and amid these groves the poor Indian and the negro, and to imbue their dark minds with the knowledge and their souls with the love of Christ. From week to week and from year to year they struggled on, often worn, often weary, often stretched upon the bed of languishing, with their loved ones across the broad ocean, under the heats of summer and chills of autumn, till one, and another, and another fell, like Jackson, at the post of duty, and laid down the sword to receive the crown.
Nor were they alone in their work of high benevolence, Many of the most honoured names in our history were their encourage- ment and support, and, as in the sister Parish of St. Andrew's, whose charter dates from the same month, November, 1706, more than one "beloved Persis labored much in the Lord."' (), that it had been always so! O, that all had risen to the full meas- ure of their duty and responsibility, and that their example had been followed by their children! Then, perchance, fanaticism had ne'er been born, and civilization and law and order had not been imperilled as they are to-day.
How changed is all! This Parish, now so stript, so denuded of inhabitants, once swarmed with a thickly-settled and increas- ing population. Here, at this chancel, onee knelt more communi- cants than could be found at old St. Philip's on Easter day. These fields and swamps, which Nature has long since reclaimed, and where solitude now reigns, save when broken by the shriek of the waterfowl or the hunter's horn, once resounded with the hum of busy industry, and bear upon their faces even now the marks of old-time enterprise and energy and skill. Those lawns and pleasure grounds; these elaborate terraces and artificial lakelets; those walks, once beautiful with imported gravel brought from the shores of Holland, but now thickly matted with the pine and the oak and the myrtle, were once the resorts of refinement and elegance and beauty. Those moss-enerusted piles, those fallen
-
REV. FRANCIS LEJAU, D. D. First Rector St. James Church, Goose Creek. 1706-1717.
33
arches, and solitary chimney tops scattered through these woods, tell of many an abode of the humble peasant, and of more than one residence of wealth. Here along these roads once galloped those gay parties of which family tradition tells us. And here, before these doors, with its richly liveried attendants, drew up in no stinted numbers the wonder of my childhood as I saw it in my ancestral home across the Ashley, the old English coach with its massive panels of unbroken gilt. The sepulchres around this house of God, that moth-eaten register of the sister Parish a mute but eloquent witness, with its almost fabulous files of the multitudes who once from year to year were received into the congregations of Christ's flock, and pledged affection's vows, and received the last offices of the dead, speak of palmy days of prosperity when Zion's worshippers thronged these aisles and found not room, and cried, "The place is too strait for us, " and lengthened her cords and strengthened her stakes, when a Chapel of Ease was needed and built, when children were brought to this font from distances of eighty and two hundred miles; when, within these walls were taken up on a single occasion in aid of the sufferers from a ruinous fire in Charleston £140, and in aid of a parochial school was raised an annual subscription for three years of £2,163.
But the picture had its shadows. This Parish lay in a fallen world, where change is stamped upon all, and here, too, was found the serpent's trail. When we read the sketches of our Church in Virginia before the Revolution, and learn that her pastors were often more at home in the chase than in tending the flock of Christ; that one was a professed pugilist, and that a Christian Vestry did not blush to leave upon their records as the governing reason for selecting another minister, that he was a man of known veracity, so low had the standard sunk-well may we be thank- ful that, save in the solitary instance of one, who was speedily removed, this Parish was visited with no such calamity. And when we look into the state of society in the days of Fox and Pitt and throughout the preceding half century (and society here re- ceived much of its tone from that of the mother country), we are not surprised to learn that here, too, were found men with loose, or positively atheistic principles and views, with whom, " "gain"' alone was "godliness," and who, careless as to their own souls neglected or utterly disregarded the highest interests of those committed to their care.
Then appeared one and another of those agencies which finally sapped the prosperity of this Parish. The Indian War of 1715 drove most of its inhabitants into the city for safety, while fevers now assumed a deadlier type and extended their periods of ac- tivity. Then came the withdrawal of the bounty upon indigo and the consequent changes in agriculture. Then the river swamp culture supplanted the inland and emigration's ebb began. The
34
horrors of the Revolutionary struggle, too, though this Church was spared, left here their impress. Fortunes were wrecked. The old homesteads gradually passed into strangers' bands, and growing causes of decline manifested themselves on every side. As years rolled on the services of this sanctuary ceased to be continuous. From June until the advent of frost these doors were closed.
And this was followed by long periods, when no shepherd came hither to gather and feed the few scattered sheep. The still- ness of death reigned save when cattle strayed down these aisles, or a visitor from curiosity strolled in. At last came the terrible struggle from which we have just emerged-which left so many of these old English parishes churchless and homeless-which seemed to remand them, a desolation, to a condition of semi-savagism, and to have stamped out the last embers of hope.
O seaboard of South Carolina! land of brilliant skies and balmy zephyrs-whose dreamy winter days steal upon us and hold us as with magician's spell-whose spring time rich in the min- strelsy of birds and the garniture of beauteous flowers, comes wafted, as from Eden's bowers, and whose glorious islands by the ocean stand like sentinels along thy coast and like diamonded diadem flash back the rays of the risen sun- land of the imperial live oak, gray with the moss and the years of centuries-of the magnolia grand, gemmed with her giant pearls and of that mar- vellous undergrowth, a wilderness of Flora's charms, where thine own sweet jessamine, as from open box of precious spikenard, breathes forth its rich perfume-land of noble deeds and of lovely memories, who holdest thy children's hearts with a fas- cination all thine own-the storm has swept over thee, thy beauty has been marred and thy glory may depart, but our love never, never!
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.