USA > South Carolina > Charleston County > Charleston > Two centuries of the First Baptist Church of South Carolina, 1683-1883. With supplement > Part 8
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 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16
T
145
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
the Presidency of the University of Alabama, he had returned to South Carolina. He was deliv- ering a memorial discourse in Greenville, and in alluding to Dr. Furman, he said, "He was the wisest man I have ever known."
But we must return to an earlier period. With a church that had greatly grown in numbers and in true spiritual progress, and with congregations often too large to be accommodated in the house of worship, and with deeply reciprocated affection between pastor and people, he was called to Charleston to the church there, which had been left vacant by the providential withdrawal of their pastor, Rev. Oliver Hart, who had served them for thirty years, and who, at the fall of Charleston, had been compelled to flee the city. Mr. Hart had gone to New Jersey (Hopewell), where the success of his ministry and his increasing years induced him to think he ought to remain. Mr. Furman's ministry on occasional and protracted visits had been blest to the church, and they re- peatedly urged his acceptance of the pastorate, a plea in which their former pastor most earnestly joined. He yielded at last to a conviction, and tore himself away from a loved and loving flock. His solemn and pathetic farewell discourse was long remembered. On the day of his departure, .
...
10
-
146
TWO CENTURIES.
the following week, his house was filled with affec- tionate and weeping friends, of whom, after ex- hortation and prayer, he took tender adieu, accom- panied by his mother and two children. Some months previous he had lost his wife (June, 1787), and two years before that an infant son.
Of the thirty-seven years of pastoral labor in the city by the sea, and of occasional work in other places,-particularly Georgetown, Wassamasaw, Edisto Island, Savannah,-space does not allow us to speak but in the briefest manner. He took charge of a small flock a good deal weakened and discouraged; he left it a large, vigorous, united church, ready for every good work, and "adorn- ing the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things." The late Dr. Buist, of Greenville, once remarked, "In Dr. Furman's time the Baptists of Charleston were considered models of piety." The greatest care was exercised in guarding against premature professions of piety, and church discipline was ministered with conscientious faithfulness. He found the church worshipping in a very small edifice, and left them occupying a well-built and commodious structure, erected by means pro- cured principally by the pastor's personal ef- forts in collecting and by his own contribution. In the community no minister ever enjoyed
147
.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
so large a share of general confidence and reverence.
His personal appearance befitted his character. He was about six feet in height, and stout with- out obesity. His hair and eyes were dark, the latter full of expression. His voice was clear and strong, and his articulation very distinct. His dress, to the last like that of the older men of Charleston of that day, was the costume of the Revolutionary times,-coat with pockets in the skirts opening outwardly under a lapel, waist- coat reaching the hips, knee-breeches and long stockings, the latter protected in foul weather or on a journey by the high-topped boots. His manners were those of the gentleman of the old school. He everywhere exhibited great self-re- spect with no tinge of haughtiness and great re- spect for others, which showed itself in attention to minor courtesies, insomuch that the humblest person was gratified in meeting him, and the very boys and girls brightened at his coming, and lit- erally "plucked the good man's gown to catch his smile." In speaking to them he used the ap- pellative Master or Miss as a prefix to the proper name. In the conventionalities of the present day this might appear stiff and excessive; but it fostered a valuable element of character. " Mas-
148
TWO CENTURIES.
ter Thomas," "Master Richard," "Master Henry," left his presence with a more genuine and whole- some respect for themselves than if they had been addressed as Tom, Dick and Harry.
Dr. Keith, the prime mover, and Dr. Furman were the chief agents in forming the Charleston Bible Society, of which he remained vice-presi- dent till his death, among other important ser- vices visiting the forts and distributing Bibles to the soldiers. He was president of the Religious Tract Society. He took deep interest in the first efforts made in England to convey the gospel to India. In 1805 and 1806 he was active in raising funds for aiding the translations of the Scriptures by Drs. Carey and Marshman. Through this channel a large proportion of the sum raised in America was contributed. When Luther Rice was making exertions to form associations for the maintenance of the mission eventually located in Burmah, Dr. Furman gave the design his heartiest support. The contemplated convention in Philadelphia in May, 1814 he most earnestly approved; but as, owing to the state of war, the distance could not be traversed by sea, he felt that he could not attend it. But his church over- ruled his objection, made a liberal appropriation for his use and gave him leave of absence until
-
149
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
the winter. With his beloved friend, Hon. Mat- · thias B. Tallmadge, Judge of the Federal Court for New York (whose delicate health had caused his seeking a winter home in Charleston), he went as a delegation from the General Committee of the Charleston Baptist Association. By the representative men brought together on this oc- casion, Dr. Furman was selected as a leader, and so became, by a unanimous vote, the first presi- dent of the Baptist Triennial Convention of the United States, and on the first evening of the session addressed them by request in a sermon on the latter clause of the last verse of Matthew : "And, lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." He had an ample share in the varied details of business, in drafting a con- stitution, serving on committees and preparing an address and other articles for publication. This latter service detained him in Philadelphia beyond the middle of June.
The second and third meetings he also at- tended. At the former, held in 1807, he used his utmost efforts to impress on the minds of the members, and through them on the churches, the sacred importance of an able ministry and the obligation to make provision for securing it; he also submitted a general plan for forming con-
.
150
TWO CENTURIES.
tributions and arrangements to provide for the education of pious young men who appeared to . be called to the ministry and for the establish- ment of a Theological Seminary. His own view contemplated a central institution at Washing- ton, with institutions preparatory to it founded in separate States, or between two or three States, where lower grades of culture might be obtained. In the Fourth Annual Report of the Board of the Convention, these efforts of Dr. Furman are thus noticed : "The manner in which it was pressed upon the Convention by the ven- erated president at its last annual session will not soon be forgotten. All that zeal for the honor of God and the prosperity of the church, all that correct conception, impressive eloquence and decision of feeling could suggest, were em- ployed to arouse the minds of the brethren to this necessary measure." An effort was at once made to gather a class of young men under the care of Dr. Staughton in Philadelphia, in antici- pation of removal to Washington. Dr. Staugh- ton and Professor Chase were appointed to make a beginning. Unfortunately, the unique and beau- tiful design of the author of the plan was not car- ried out. Luther Rice, a man of noble impulses, but exceedingly sanguine and sometimes unprac-
151
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
tical, became enamored with the thought of estab- lishing a grand Baptist University, suffered him- self to be diverted from his own appropriate work (as a foreign missionary), and undertook the management of the fiscal affairs of the young establishment in such manner as to produce wide- spread dissatisfaction and distrust. The effect of this was to throw a burden of debt upon Colum- bian College, to meet which demanded the re- maining life-service of Mr. Rice himself and the toilsome begging, through long years, of such men as Clopton, Sherwood, Ball and others. Waterville and Hamilton were probably the di- rect outgrowths of the original plan. So were Furman Institution in South Carolina and the in- stitution at Penfield, Ga., which afterward became Mercer University. Furman Institution became Furman University, and then gave up its theolo- gical department, that it might become the South- ern Baptist Theological Seminary. Newton in Massachusetts, it is believed, originated from the dissatisfaction with the bad management at Washington. Professor Chase certainly gave up one place to occupy the other. Indeed, the whole later denominational movement in favor of education (as noticed in Dr. Cutting's address before the Education Commission at
. 1
152
TWO CENTURIES.
its meeting in Philadelphia) originated from this impulse.
In 1819 the subject of a more efficient and ex- tensive union among the Baptists of the State was brought before the Charleston Association, simultaneously, by the church in Charleston and that on the High Hills. An address by the Asso- ciation, prepared by Dr. Furman, recommending such a measure, was adopted and forwarded to the other Associations in manuscript. The next year it was revised, printed and extensively dis- tributed, producing in some degree the desired effect. In 1821 the State Convention of the Bap- tist denomination in South Carolina, being the first planned, if not the first organized, in the United States, assembled at Columbia, representing the Charleston, the Edgefield and the Savannah River Associations.
In August, 1825, Dr. Furman died, humbly trusting in the Redeemer whom he had so long served. He left thirteen children,-two by his first wife: a son, Mr. Wood Furman, a teacher and author of the "History of the Charleston Association," and a daughter, Mrs. Thomas Baker, of Sumter ; eleven by his second wife: Richard, a physician and planter; Samuel, a preacher and professor of theology; Josiah, trained to mercan-
i
!
1
153
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
tile life, but afterwards a preacher; Charles M., a lawyer, then treasurer of the State, master in Equity and president of the bank of the State ; John Gano, who died in the United States Army soon after his graduation at West Point; Henry Hart, a factor in New Orleans, who died at Clin- ton when representing the First Baptist Church at an Associational meeting; Thomas Fuller, a physician and planter; and James E., who still survives ; and three daughters, Maria, Susan and Ann, the last only surviving.
.
1
一
BIOGRAPHICAL
AND 1
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
FROM 1826 TO 1883. .
BY H. A. TUPPER.
1
1
-
-
157
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 1826-1883.
-
.
'T HE Platonists used to say that there is some- thing in man which neither the gods nor the brutes have any trace of, and that is egotism and opinion.
If this element of human nature may ever dis- cover itself as a venial offence, is it not on an oc- casion like the present, when a man is called upon to speak of his spiritual Alma Mater, and that in celebration of her Two Hundredth Anniversary? If his speech be genuine, it must be personal and tinged with self, because a "Love-Address" it must be, as an old divine styled his most devo- tional writings : Kapdia-pwvar-voices of the heart.
In speaking freely of the period assigned me- from the close of Dr. Furman's pastorate to the close of the war-I shall speak particularly of the pastors themselves, as history is but the combina- tion and interweaving of biography; and, as mere narrative history, according to a great historian, is of no value except so far as it illustrates impor-
158
TWO CENTURIES.
tant principles, and as all history is necessarily eclectic in its character, I shall group around each pastor such facts as may represent the chief char- acteristic of his pastorate, and name the several pastorates according to their respective character- istics. This accords with Macaulay's definition of perfect history, which is, the selection of such parts of the truth as will make a right impression with regard to the whole. I shall omit many names, and dates, and authorities, and details which I hope to give at some future time in a more complete contribution to the annals of this church-my ven- erable and venerated Mother in the Lord.
I. And first, the pastorate of Dr. Basil Manly, Sr., from 1826 to 1837, which I shall call "The Spiritual Pastorate " of this period of the church's history.
I thank God that I was born under the ministry of one whom I always regarded the holiest man I ever knew. At my mother's knee I was taught to believe that Dr. Furman was a saint, and that his mantle had fallen fairly on the shoulders of Dr. Manly. And these two men of God stood before my youthful imagination much like Moses and Elias, in their sacred communion on the Mount of Transfiguration.
And was there not a vital connection between
1
1
·
-
159
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
the pastorates of these holy men ? The eloquent young preacher of Edgefield had been recom- mended to the church by their dying pastor. And could the church, reared and edified under the spiritual ministry of Dr. Furman, have knowingly put in his place any one not imbued, at least in some degree, with his earnest, wise and evangel- ical spirit? And that they were not mistaken as to Mr. Manly's pious character, is evident from the tenacity with which he was held to their bosom, their bitter pangs when he was torn away from them, and the enthusiasm with which his return to the city, many years after, was hailed. It was a clear case of spiritual succession and of "like people, like priest."
And this union of spiritual affinity was con- firmed by the smiles of Heaven and the gracious fruit it bore. Year after year revivals blessed the church; the children were carefully catechised ; candidates for baptism were required to relate, before the church, an experience of grace; the membership were regularly reminded of their sol- emn covenant; the measures adopted for benevo- lent and denominational enterprises were substan- tially those most approved in our day, and the statistical result of the pastorate was $4387.61 for benevolence and 1065 united to the church-giv-
1
160
TWO CENTURIES.
ing a net gain of 617 members, and making the membership 1397-a majority colored; but with God, as with this pious pastor, the value of souls is not according to the complexion of the skin. During this pastorate a number of young men were baptized who became strong pillars of the truth, and among those licensed and ordained were one or two who have ranked among the most distinguished men of our denomination.
The first sermon that Dr. Manly preached was from the text: " Continue in prayer, and watch in the same, with thanksgiving." And was not this the keynote of his pastorate here, and of his life ? Just fifty years after, when dying, he asked : "What shall we do? Shall we give ourselves up to be the creatures of circumstance entirely, or shall we form a general aim of life, which it shall be our purpose to strike, with God's aid?" Mani- festly his aim was personal holiness, which, by prayer and watching, with thankfulness, he ob- tained to a high degree. His wisdom was to har- monize himself to the Divine purpose contained in the statement: "The will of God is our sancti- fication." And was not this his power? Dr. Manly was a man of rare intellectual powers. But his great power was spiritual power-power that flowed through his gushing tears, and melo-
-
161
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
dious voice, and tender sympathies, and loving affections-power that went forth of him, as heat radiates from the body, as magnetism from the fervid mind, and that imprinted his spirit upon his people, as the light prints the face upon the pho- tographer's plate, as the intervening air paints the luminaries of the arched skies upon the subtend- ing waters beneath. Dr. Manly was a sublime commentary on the truth: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts."
The students of the University of Alabama called him "The discerner of spirits." Dr. Boyce said at his funeral that Dr. Manly "spoke with eminent spirituality, from the depths of his inner nature." Pardon me for saying it: Never shall I forget the words he whispered in my ear, as I went once tremblingly into his Wentworth Street Church pulpit to preach for him : " Allen, less de- pends on what is said than on the spirit with which it is said." With admirable discrimination his biographer says of him : "Dr. Manly was one of the most distinguished ministers that the Spirit of God ever gave to the Baptist denomination." Dr. Henderson's memorial discourse, in which this sainted father is commemorated as a burning and shining exemplification of Christianity, concludes
II
7
162
TWO CENTURIES.
thus: "To the companionship of the heavenly hosts we resign a cherished brother, the odor of whose piety will linger among us like precious ointment. And, when the annals of our Southern Zion shall be written by competent hands, no character among us will be more resplendent with all those gifts and graces which are at once the strength and beauty of Christianity than that of Basil Manly."
Dr. Manly was the John of this period, and his anointing was shared by his people, as the oint- ment poured on Aaron's head ran down to the skirts of his garment. And, let it be noted, that such was the influence of this spiritual pastorate on the church that no following pastor was ever suspected of lack of piety; of holding any un- evangelical view; of exalting any learning above the doctrine of Christ-of Christ and Him cruci- fied, the power of God and the wisdom of God, embodying every germ of vital truth contained in the great religious systems of the world, expound- ing the dark problems of the nature and history and destiny of man and of the world. I believe that every pastor of this period could say from his heart: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
II. Dr. Manly was succeeded by Dr. William
163
-
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
Theophilus * Brantly, Sr., whose pastorate from 1837 to 1844 may be called " The Innovation Pas- torate " of this period.
Dr. Brantly succeeded Dr. Manly as naturally as Dr. Manly succeeded Dr. Furman. Dr. Manly had been the pupil of Dr. Brantly when he was president of Beaufort College, and he wrote to his honored preceptor on his dying bed : " Under God I owe to you all that I am and have done in the world." Dr. Brantly had preached here the funeral sermon of Dr. Furman, which, as a masterpiece of spiritual analysis, Gospel expo- sition and Ciceronian eloquence, must have made a deep impression on the church. Dr. Richard Fuller, always the counselor of this church, had been also a pupil of Dr. Brantly, whom he held in the greatest reverence as a man of gigantic intel- lect and a Christian of profound spiritual experi- ence. Domestic circumstances favoring his quit- ting Philadelphia and coming South, Dr. Brantly naturally and providentially succeeded Dr. Manly.
The first innovation of this pastorate was the church dividing the time of their pastor with the Charleston College. When the notice of his elec- tion to the presidency of the College was served
*" His middle name was originally Tomlinson, but he changed it to Theophilus."-W. T. Brantly.
7
164
TWO CENTURIES. .
on Dr. Brantly, it was accompanied with a reso- lution of the Board of Trustees to the effect that the duties of any other profession would be in- consistent with the office of president. But Dr. Brantly replied promptly that he had accepted the pastorship of the church with the distinct un- derstanding that he might teach also; and on this reply the implied condition of the resolution was waived by the trustees. This dividing the time of their pastor was a new thing; but it put him in a position for a wider range of influence, and gave him the honor of re-organizing a cherished institution of learning, of sending out, as gradu- ates, several of the most brilliant and useful men of the State, and of heading a new line of illus- trious presidents of this College. The church had also before their eyes the precedent of their late and almost idolized pastor, who left them to take the presidency of the University of Ala- bama.
This innovation broadened the mind of the church with respect to liberal culture and higher education, so important for the maintenance and propagation of the truth in our scientific and skeptical age, and some of its subsequent pastors were among the most literary and learned men of the country, and the church, by their prayers
:
165
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
and donations and scholarly pastors, have con- tributed their quota to Baptist enlightenment, which, imperfect as it is, has given to the world three thousand volumes in support of evangelical religion, and has wrought great changes in Chris- tendom with regard to spiritual church member- ship, ministerial qualification, ecclesiastical polity and religious liberty.
Another innovation, incident to the former, was the limitation of strictly pastoral duties. If Dr. Brantly had had the time, it would have been impossible for him to have done the pastoral work that Dr. Manly did; for Dr. Manly was endowed with a matchless genius for impressing himself and the gospel on the social circle. Dr. Brantly was a tender-hearted man. Only a day or two ago a lady told me how he wept like a child when she informed him that she wished to be baptized, and both Drs. Fuller and Manly tell of seeing him bathed in tears, and even sobbing aloud in church. But he was formed in a mould of such physical and intellectual and spiritual grandeur that he inevitably towered above many of the amenities and conventionalities of society, and appeared to some to be invested with an atmosphere of inapproachable majesty. In col- lege he always seemed to me like Jupiter giving
1
166
TWO CENTURIES.
brain-birth to full-armed Minerva, and in the pul- pit like the incomparable Paul magnified into three-fold physical greatness. Dr. Brantly graced the cottage less than he would have done a throne. God made him so, and the church learned so thoroughly the lesson that a Brantly could be a Manly no more than a Manly could be a Brantly, that one of the churches that came out of this body limited the obligation of pastoral visitation by the people's obligation to request such visitation. Was not this apostolic? And the old church was quite content to require of its pastors only the same spirit of consecration, recognizing among them the greatest diversity of gifts.
There are other innovations. The gown and bands were laid aside; the sounding board over the pulpit, regarded a sacred thing, was taken down; the south gallery was fitted up for white attendants, and the cross aisles leading to side doors were built up with pews, while the Sunday- school was removed from the church to the newly-built lecture-room, and during a vacation of the pastor the pulpit was supplied by Rev. William Wightman, afterwards the Methodist Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina. But the greatest innovation was the colonization of the
167
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
Second or Wentworth Street Church, which was promoted, if not originated, by Dr. Brantly, and accomplished by a formal action of the church. In laying the corner-stone Dr. Thomas Curtis said: "As a second church of the same faith and order, we come forth to fulfil the resolution of the first. We were sent out with solemn pledges of its countenance and support, and are of them
in our principles and our history." And hallowed in my memory is that church where, though I was always connected with this, I happened to be buried with Christ in baptism beneath those sol- emn words emblazoned above the baptistery : "Thou God seest me."
In reference to these last innovations let me remark :
I. That the changes in the externals of the church only prepared for greater material modi- fications, which suggest the truth that neither this mountain nor Jerusalem is essential to the wor- ship of the Father.
2. Again : Though the church had always been liberal in its views, three out of the five ministers officiating at the installing of Dr. Manly being of other denominations, it became now still more liberal. When the church was without a pastor, the services of the lecture-room were regularly
1
168
TWO CENTURIES.
conducted by a pastor of the Huguenot Church ; the Huguenot Church was for a long time sup- plied by a Baptist minister of the city, and the late pastor of this church became the pastor of the Mariners' (Congregational) Church. Never was a church more firm in Baptist principles. From the time that the keen scimetar of Dr. Manly was drawn in the defence of our doctrines and stirred the city from centre to circumference, to the time when the battle-axe of that grand hero of the faith who has just fallen asleep sounded thunder-like upon the shields and broke lightning-like through the vizors of opposing ec- clesiasticism, and until this day the Baptists of Charleston have stood shoulder to shoulder in contention for the faith once delivered to the saints. But they have stood under a banner broad enough to cover in Christian fellowship all who hold the truth as it is in Jesus. And this fellowship, during the whole period of which I treat, has been beautiful to behold. It has been like the dews on Hermon and on the mountains of Zion, on which the Lord commanded his bless- ing, even life forevermore. And who will say that the broad-mindedness and the orthodoxy of the Charleston Association and of the Bap- tists of the State are not largely due to the in-
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.