USA > South Carolina > Charleston County > Charleston > Two centuries of the First Baptist Church of South Carolina, 1683-1883. With supplement > Part 5
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* Hewit, I. 89. " Archdale's Description of South Carolina," p. 4. 6
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place of worship for themselves. In 1699, by the gift of one of the members, William Elliott, the church obtained the lot in Church Street, No. 62 in the plan of the town, the same on which the First Baptist Church now stands, and they began to build soon after .*
OTHER CHURCHES IN CHARLESTON.
The population of the town was now reckoned by some at five to six thousand; others give an estimate of about three thousand. There was one clergyman of the Church of England, and one of the Established Church of Scotland. There is no mention of an Episcopal clergyman before 1680; and Dalcho says it is uncertain whether any body of communicants had been collected in the capacity of a church [he means an Episcopal church] until after the first St. Philip's Church was
* The lot originally belonged to Josiah Willis, mariner, and was bought from his only daughter and heiress, Elizabeth Willis, for £20. The deed bears date July 18, 1699. The Trustees to whom it was conveyed for the church were, William Sadler, John Raven, Thomas Bullein, Thomas Graves and John Elliott. The church are styled in the deed-" The people of the Church of Christ, bap- tized on profession of their faith, meeting in Charlestown, distin- tinguished from all other churches by the name of Anti-pædo- Baptists." The lot was 100 feet wide and 250 deep, and was de- signed for a parsonage as well as a church.
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finished in 1681 or 1682 .* The Independent or Congregational Church was built about 1690, the Calvinistic Church of French Protestants before 1693, and the Quaker Meeting House about 1696, aided by Governor Archdale, who was himself a Quaker. In 1696, a Congregational church from Dorchester, Mass., with Rev. Joseph Lord as their Pastor, emigrated to the head of Ashley River, about twenty-two miles from Charleston, and called their settlement Dorchester.t Grahame records this as the first introduction into South Carolina of "a regular administration of the ordinances of religion," a claim which few will admit.
In the year 1698, John Cotton, a son of the celebrated minister of Boston, Mass., of the same name, removed from Plymouth to Charleston and enjoyed a short, but happy and successful ministry. And in the same year, as Grahame in- forms us, Governor Blake, "though himself a Dis- senter, yet from regard to the wishes and the spiritual interests of the Episcopalian portion of the inhabitants of Charleston, caused a bill to be introduced into the assembly for settling a per-
* Dalcho's "Church History," pp. 26, 32.
t Ramsay's " History of South Carolina," p. 9. Grahame, I., P. 387.
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petual provision of {150 a year with a house and other advantages on the Episcopal minister of that city. Marshall, who then enjoyed this pas- toral function, had gained universal esteem by his piety and prudence; and the Dissenters in the house of assembly, acquiescing in the measure from regard to this individual, the bill was passed into a law." * Grahame adds-" Those who may be disposed to think that the Dissenters acted amiss, and stretched their liberality beyond the proper limits of this virtue, in promoting the na- tional establishment of a church from which they had themselves conscientiously withdrawn, may regard the persecution they soon after sustained from the Episcopal party as a merited retribution for their practical negation of dissenting princi- ples."
CONFESSION OF FAITH.
Simultaneously with the erection of their build- ing, the Baptists sent to England for copies of the Confession of Faith, originally prepared in 1677, in close resemblance to the Westminster Confes- sion, but adopted and republished by "more than a hundred" congregations in London and its vi- cinity in 1689, and hence commonly called the
* Grahame's "Colonial History," I., p. 388.
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Century Confession. This they carefully exam- ined, and adopted it verbatim in the year 1700, as the confession of this church; and so it has re- mained to this day. The Philadelphia Baptist Association having also adopted it, it is generally known in this country as the Philadelphia Con- fession.
MISSIONARY LABORS.
When the proprietaries of Carolina undertook the charge of the colony, they solemnly declared, and caused it to be recorded in their charters, that they were moved to embrace this great design by zeal for the Christian faith, and espe- cially for propagation among the Indian tribes of America. Yet, says Grahame, " they never made the slightest attempt to execute their pretended purpose of communicating instruction to the In- dians ; and this important field of Christian labor was quite unoccupied till the beginning of the eighteenth century when a few missionaries (six in 1707) were sent to Carolina by the English 'Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.' No cognizable fruits or vestiges of the labors of these missionaries have ever been mentioned. Prior to this enterprise, the only European instructions that the Indians re- ceived under the auspices of the proprietary gov-
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ernment were communicated by a French dancing master, who settled in Craven County and ac- quired a large estate by teaching the savages to dance and play on the flute."*
The little Baptist church, however, was not satisfied simply to keep up their own worship. Animated by the spirit and guided by the ex- ample of Mr. Screven, who, at the age of more than three-score years and ten, was still the laborious missionary, they procured ministers, and some among themselves, who had the gift of exhortation, aided in the work, to go into the sur- rounding settlements to preach the everlasting Gospel. So early and abundant were they in this species of labor that, with all the commend- able zeal of the Society in England for the Propa- gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, it is acknowledged by their historians that in most places which their missionaries visited, they found themselves preceded by the Baptists.t
The colony now (1700) numbered some 5500 persons, of whom 3000 were in Charleston. Out- side of the city there was as yet no temple of public worship or school for education. There was no printing press in Carolina till 1730. The
* Grahame's Colonial Hist. of U. S., I. p. 389.
t See Humphreys' Historical Account, p. 88, 95, 108, &c.
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provincial laws were promulgated by oral pro- clamation. The land, which in the beginning had sold at twenty shillings for every hundred acres, and was raised in price in 1694 to thirty shillings, was now becoming more valuable. In 1711 the proprietaries raised the price to forty shillings for a hundred acres, and one shilling of quit rent. The Governor's salary was a moderate one, {200 a year, but this was doubled in 1717. Other cotemporary officers had salaries ranging from £40 to £60 a year.
The staple commodities were rice, tar, and afterwards indigo. In 1707, seventeen ships were freighted to England from Charleston, in the Vir- ginia fleet, besides straggling ships .*
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION BY LAW.
After having for forty years disregarded en- tirely the religious interests of the Carolinas, pro- prietaries, in the beginning of the 18th century, made a first and last attempt to demonstrate their boasted zeal for Christianity by the adoption of measures most unchristian and tyrannical. Lord Granville received the dignity of palatine, and un- dertook to exert his power in regulating religion
* Oldmixon's British Empire in America. 1708.
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in Carolina. He had the utmost contempt and aversion for Dissenters of all descriptions, and had already shown his bigotry in the British par- liament by his zeal for the bill against occasional conformity, which imposed severe penalties on any person who conformed to the Church of England and ever after attended a dissenting place of wor- ship.
Under his influence a series of violent and ille- gal measures were pushed through the Carolina provincial assemblies, to advance the Church of England and depress every other form of religion. These culminated in 1704 in two laws, by one of which Dissenters were deprived of all civil rights ; and by the other an arbitrary court of High Commission, (a name of evil import to English- men) was erected for the trial of ecclesiastical causes, and the preservation of religious uniform- ity in Carolina. At the time when these laws were framed, not only the most worthy and repu- table inhabitants, but at least two-thirds of the whole population of the province were Dissenters.
It should be mentioned to the honor of the English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, that they resisted this last law, and they declared their purpose to send no more missionaries till it should be repealed. The proprietaries however
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ratified it. By the advice of the London mer- chants, the colonists appealed to the House of Lords, in an earnest petition which so impressed the noble Lords with surprise and indignation at the tyrannical insolence of the proprietaries and their provincial officers, that they voted an address to Queen Anne praying the repeal of the obnox- ious laws, and the punishment of the authors of them, affirming that "the law for enforcing con- formity to the Church of England in Carolina is an encouragement to atheism and irreligion, destructive to trade, and tends to the ruin and depopulation of the province." Whereupon the Queen issued an order declaring the acts null and void. From that period, (1706) however, the Dis- senters had not the equality they had been led to expect, but simple toleration. In 1707, an act was passed for the establishment of religious worship according to the forms of the Church of England, the province was divided into ten parishes, and provision was made for building a church in each parish and for the endowment of its minister .*
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MR. SCREVEN'S DECLINING HEALTH AND REMOVAL. Notwithstanding the vigor which had sustained Mr. Screven through a long and laborious life, *See Humphrey's, " Oldmixon," Hewit.
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he now felt the infirmities of age pressing upon him. Feeling that the church needed and was able to sustain a minister capable of active service, he determined, in 1706, to retire from the pastoral office, and prepared a treatise containing his fare- well counsels entitled " An Ornament for Church Members," which he left with them in manuscript, and which the church published after his death. Unfortunately no copy of this is now known to be extant. It is concluded by urging them to sup- ply themselves as speedily as possible " with an able and faithful minister. Be sure you take care that the person be orthodox in the faith, and of blameless life, and does own the Confession of Faith put forth by our brethren in London, in 1689."
He had no longing for indolence and ease. Though possessed of a competency, he removed from the social advantages and numerous friends he had gathered round him in Charleston, pur- chased and settled the lands at the head of Win- yaw Bay, on which Georgetown is now built, and commenced proclaiming to the destitute around him, as far as his health would permit, the mes- sage of salvation.
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MR. WHITE AS PASTOR.
Meanwhile the church had obtained a minister named White, from England, who stood high it appears in Mr Screven's esteem, but of whom we know little else. He soon died, and the church was thrown again upon his care, in such labors as he could afford them. At the same time, the First Baptist Church in Boston, who had been some time destitute, since the death of Elder John Emblem, besought him to come to their relief, and he was at first inclined to go; but the death of Mr. White decided him to remain, as he could " by no means be spared."
MR. SCREVEN'S LABORS.
He resumed his care of the church, though he probably did not remove his family to Charles- ton. A flourishing church of about ninety mem- bers waited to be enlightened by the last rays of his setting sun. But his race was now nearly over. On the Ioth of October, 1713, at George- town, having completed his eighty-fourth year he was called to rest from his labors, honored and revered by all who knew him. Thus died Wil- liam Screven, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, pure in morals, sound in doctrine, abundant in
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labors, tender and affectionate to all, but especially to the church of Christ.
His letter of fraternal condolence with the church in Boston is preserved, in which he declines their call, and adds : "I do not see how I can be helpful to you, otherwise than my prayers to God for you, or in writing to you. The Lord help us to pity one another in our afflictions as the Gos- pel counseleth; if our members be afflicted, all mourn."
The sympathy of these two ancient mother churches with each other nearly two centuries ago, when they were the Dan and Beersheba of Ameri- can civilization, the Northernmost and the South- ernmost points where the light of the Gospel had been kindled in the wilderness,-has something in it that is touching and memorable.
From the death of Mr. Screven (1713) until the coming of Oliver Hart in December, 1749, the history of the church in Charleston is involved in some obscurity, owing to the destruction of the records in 1752 by an inundation ; and its course was mainly amid conflicts and trials, sometimes almost reducing it to extinction.
The early part of this period was marked by a political revolution occurring in 1719, so bravely and yet so peacefully accomplished as to merit a
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minute sketch, if our time and object permitted. The spirit of determined resistance to illegal exac- tions, combined with honest and steadfast loyalty to what they recognized as constituted authority, marked the character of Carolinians then as now. The result of the movement was that Carolina ceased to be a Proprietary Government, and be- came a Royal Province. From that time forward it was most kindly regarded and most profoundly treated by the supreme authority in Great Britain. Carolina had no reason to complain, on her own behalf, of British tyranny in 1776, but went into the war for independence simply on principle for the right of self-government and in sympathy with her sister colonies.
MR. SCREVEN'S SUCCESSORS.
The first pastor after the death of Mr. Screven was a Mr. SANFORD, of whom we know nothing, except that he died about 1718.
On his death Mr. WILLIAM PEARTT, who had come to Charleston in 1718, became Pastor. He seems to have been a man of standing in society. After the death of Paul Grimball, who had been Secretary to the Prince and a member of Governor Archdale's council, Mr. Peartt married his widow, who survived him also, and married a Mr. Smith,
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and under that name gave a legacy of £1540 to the Baptist church of Philadelphia. Mr. Peartt died about 1728.
During the ministry of Mr. Peartt, active and successful efforts were made in church extension; meeting-houses were erected on Edisto Island, on Ashley River, above the city, and on Stono, sixteen miles from the city.
Mr. Peartt was succeeded by REV. THOMAS SIMMONS, a native of England, who had landed in Pennsylvania, been ordained there, and arrived in Charleston in 1728.
A secession occurred in 1733 of a number of members, under the lead of William Elliott, Jr., a man of influence and intelligence who had adopted Arian sentiments. They assumed the name of General Baptists (the mother church being known thereafter as Particular Baptists), sent to England for a minister, Rev. Mr. Ingram, and were consti- tuted into a church with thirteen male and eight female members, worshipping at Stono, at the meeting-house before mentioned. Mr. Henry Hey- wood succeeded Mr. Ingram, and afterwards a Mr. Wheeler had charge. But after about fifty years of no marked events, that party became extinct.
About the time of that secession, 1733, Mr. Isaac Chanler (born in Bristol, England, May 10,
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1700), came to Carolina, and began laboring among the members worshipping on Ashley River, with such blessing and success that it was soon judged expedient to constitute a separate church. This was done May 24, 1736, with twenty-eight members. The church continued under the minis- try of Mr. Chanler, Mr. John Stephens and others, until the Revolution, when it became extinct, and all its temporalities, and even the communion ser- vice, were seized upon by an individual and made private property.
The death of Mr. Tilly, their wise and useful minister on Edisto, April 14, 1744, in the forty- sixth year of his age, was a sore bereavement. A more serious trial grew out of the defection of Mr. Simmons, their pastor, who inclined towards the Arian party that had seceded, and who was consequently suspended from his ministry by the majority of the church. The minority, however, under the lead of Mr. Francis Gracia, one of the deacons, forcibly took possession of the meeting- house, and introduced him to the pulpit. This was in 1744, and as the result of the difficulties that followed, which need not now be detailed, the church found itself in 1745 legally compelled to share their house of worship with others whose faith they could not recognize as scriptural.
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They appointed June 24, 1745, as a day of fast- ing and prayer, and after deliberation, entered into a new solemn covenant with each other, and pro- ceeded immediately to arrange for a separate place of worship. Messrs. William Screven, Wil- liam Brisbane, James Screven, Thomas Dixon, William Screven, Jr., Nathaniel Bullein, James Brisbane, David Stoll and Samuel Stillman, were appointed Trustees, being "all members of the congregation of Antipædo-baptists, meeting in Charleston, holding the doctrine of particular elec- tion and final perseverance, and denying Arian, Arminian and Socinian doctrines." A lot was pur- chased of Mrs. Martha Fowler for {500, on which, in 1746, a brick house was built fifty-nine feet by forty-two, the same that, with some enlargement, has been long used for the Mariners' church.
In 1746, the members at Euhaw were constituted into a distinct church, May 5, under the direction of Rev. Isaac Chanler. This, with the other with- drawals which have been mentioned, greatly weak- ened the church. They were without a pastor. It is probably to this period that Morgan Edwards referred, when he said, "the number of communi- cants was reduced to three. Only one man (Mr. Sheppard) and two women remained that might be called a church." This was, he says, "in some
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part of Mr. Simmons' ministry, but Mr. Whit- field's coming caused a revival, and many joined them that year." Mr. Chanler, of the Ashley River church was the only neighboring minister to whom they could look for help, and his engagements were such that he could only serve them once a fortnight. Mr. Simmons, their former pastor, was still living, but not in fellowship with them; and, at the age of seventy years, January 31, 1747, he died. Notwithstanding his connection with the church resulted unhappily, he was generally es- teemed a good man.
THE LABORS OF GEORGE WHITFIELD.
It is necessary for the understanding of the times we have now passed over to take notice here of the general awakening which began with the labors of the celebrated and laborious George Whitfield, about 1740, and extended through New England, Virginia and the Carolinas. In the fruits of his ministry the Baptists largely shared. They cordially esteemed him, opened their houses of worship freely to him when he was excluded from many other places, and sustained him by their attendance and sympathy.
In some places his influence had outrun his own rapid movements, and had preceded his 7
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personal presence. Thus he mentions : * "When I came to Virginia, I found that the word of the Lord had already run and was glorified. During my preaching at Glasgow some persons wrote some of my extempore sermons and printed them almost as fast as I preached them. Some of these were carried to Virginia, and one of them fell into the hands of Samuel Morris. He read and found benefit. He then read them to others. They were awakened and convinced. A fire was kindled, opposition was made, other laborers were sent for, and many, both white people and negroes, were converted to the Lord." After recounting this interesting incident as to his use- fulness in Virginia, when he himself was not there, and some facts as to North Carolina and Georgia, he adds : "The generous Charleston people raised a subscription of {300, with which I bought land cheap during the war." This refers to the In- dian war.
In 1748, he went to the Bermudas for the re- covery of his health, and he mentions that he had letters to "one Mrs. Smith, of St. George, from my dear old friend Mr. Smith, of Charleston." This must have been Rev. Josiah Smith, pastor of the Congregational church, Charleston. It is men-
* Memoirs of George Whitfield, p. 106.
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tioned that the " first collection he made in Amer- ica " for the Orphan House, near Savannah, founded March 25, 1740, was "at the Rev. Mr. Smith's meeting-house in Charleston, about the middle of March, 1740. It was at the desire of some of the inhabitants, who requested him to speak in behalf of the poor orphans, and the col- lection amounted to £70 sterling. This was no small encouragement to him at that time, espe- cially as he had reason to think it came from those who had received spiritual benefit from his minis- trations." *
In Charleston, the Independent or Congrega- tional Church, the French Huguenot Church, the Baptist Church were always open to him, even when his own, the Episcopal, was closed to him because of the odium awakened by his field- preaching, and his rousing proclamation of the truths of the Gospel. For instance, it is stated that in the summer of 1740, though he was weak in body, yet the cry from various quarters for more preaching and the necessity of supplying a large family [meaning the needy orphans whom he had gathered] made him go again to Charleston, where, as well as at many other towns, the people thronged. Charleston was the place of his great-
* Whitfield's Memoirs, p. 46.
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est success, and of the greatest opposition. The Commissary [the official superintendent of the Episcopal churches in the province, there being no Bishop] thundered anathemas and wrote against him, but all in vain ; for his followers and his success still more and more increased. He preached twice every day to great crowds in the Independent and Baptist meeting-houses, besides expounding in the evening in merchants' houses. Thus he went on successfully, though often ready to die with excessive heat .*
There can be no question that to the evan- gelical labors of Whitfield, and the revivals con- nected with them, from his first coming to America in 1738 to his death in Newburyport, Mass., Sep- tember 30, 1770, the progress of vital godliness in all denominations, and especially the growth of Baptist churches all along the Atlantic coast, are largely due. At this distance of time it is impos- sible to trace in detail the results in Charleston, but it is necessary to notice George Whitfield, though not a Baptist, as one of the frequent preachers at our church, and one whose preach- ing sowed seeds from which subsequent laborers doubtless reaped valuable harvests. We now re-
* Whitfield's Memoirs, p. 4.
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turn to the more direct detail of the events that occurred in the church.
After Mr. Simmons' death, Mr. Gracia, and others of his adherents who had been excluded with him, obtained restoration to the church; and with adequate ministerial aid, they might have hoped . for prosperity. But though they wrote both to Europe and to the Northern States for a minister, they found none, and were dependent on their neighbor, Mr. Chanler, for service once a fortnight. Before long he sickened, and on No- vember 30, 1749, in the forty-eighth year of his age, he died. -
During the sixteen years of his residence in the Province, he had been intimate with their trials. From his near residence, he had been with them in weal and in wo, the firm, enlightened and un- deviating friend of truth and of the cause of Christ, a good scholar, "a worthy man, and abundant in labors."
That was indeed a dark day. He had been for some time the only regular Baptist minister in all this part of the Province, and on his melancholy removal the church had no visible prospect before them, but of a "famine of hearing the word of the Lord."
But great straits are also great opportunities,
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and the Lord often chooses such occasions for his interposition, that we may better appreciate and improve the blessings he bestows. God had been preparing a man for great usefulness in this Pro- vince, the Rev. Oliver Hart. And on the very day when devout men carried Mr. Chanler to his burial and made great lamentation over him, Mr. Hart arrived in the city.
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