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becomes more apparent each day. But if the changes are to be made successfully they should be made with due re- gard to the nature of our institutions. Above all things, the fact should be kept clearly in mind that the most brilliant parts and the most liberal understanding are powerless to do more than to change, mend, or modify. Nature alone can make the leaves of a tree, and time alone can make governmental institutions.
CHAPTER XXIII.
RELIGION IN TENNESSEE.
A HISTORY of the early days of the settlement of this country which did not take note of the first steps of its religious development would be as defective as a history of England which omitted all mention of Wielif, or of France which passed over in silence the massacre of the Waldenses and the expulsion of the Huguenots. There is no factor of our intellectual development which worked with so little disturbance, which brought about such im- portant results. The whole social organization of this State is tinged with the ideas which came from the influ- ence exerted by the pioneer preachers in much the same manner and to almost the same extent that our political institutions are affected by the bias given them by the school-teacher and the lawyer. The Bible and the rifle went hand in hand. The chapel arose in the wilderness with the school-house. The chancel which six days of the week during certain seasons of the year was occupied by the man of law, was on the seventh and for the rest of the year occupied by the man of God, whose congre- gations at first brought their rifles as a protection against sudden assaults by the Indians. Religion in this State was coeval with immigration. The Presbyterians at first had every outlook to obtain a complete ascendency in the religious thoughit and life of Tennessee. Internal and schismatie dissensions alone opened the way for the Meth- odists, who availed themselves of the opportunity with zealous enthusiasm and liberal proselytism. Southwest-
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ern Presbyterianism springs directly from the Scotch-Irish race, whose predominant influence can be traced through all the Southwest. The Protestants of Ireland, who had come from Scotland, had begun to seek in America a ref- uge as early as 1729. From this time on, the stream had poured continuously across the ocean, increased at various periods by the struggles and rebuffs of the unfortunate Stuarts. Presbyteries had been formed in Ireland as early as 1642, and as the Scotch-Irish came to America, they brought with them the Solemn League and Cove- nant, the Confession of Westminster, the gloomy and stern doctrines of Calvin. They settled through the west- ern district of Virginia, along the base of the Blue Ridge. John Caldwell, about 1736, brought over a colony from Ulster, that settled in Charlotte County, Virginia. These various settlements soon reached to Georgia and the Car- olinas along the fertile regions of the Yadkin and Ca- tawba. Another accession of Presbyterians came direct from the Highlands of Scotland and settled on the banks of the Cape Fear River. Large bodies of colonists settled in Pennsylvania, but soon the stream turned south and came pouring steadily into Virginia, settling along the Potomac and in the Shenandoah valley. From here they pushed on southward until they met those who were al- ready established on the Yadkin, the Dan, the Haw, and the Catawba. Here they also met the other moving stream which came by way of Charleston. Uniting, like the wa- 'ers of the Missouri and the Mississippi, they swept on, :. aching out in an overwhelming flood, until it poured over the mountains into Tennessee and over a thin skirt of Kentucky.
As they went they built churches, they established con- gregations, they formed presbyteries. The spirit of un- daunted resistance to the encroachments of civil power flamed out on all occasions, as at the Alamance, and came to a head as at Charlotte in Mecklenburgh County, when
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the members of seven Seoteh-Irish Presbyterian congre- gations planned and enunciated the declaration of inde- pendence, the inspiration for which had been drawn from Alexander Craighead, who strikingly exemplified the reli- gious zeal, the independent sturdiness, the earnest oppo- sition to illegal usurpation which distinguished the Scotch- Irish Presbyterians. In 1740, during the time of a renewed spiritual enthusiasm, which had been brought about by the celebrated Whitefield. Craighead was accused of irregularities. These irregularities consisted of too great vehemence and fervor in his admonitions. In the division which took place, and which was not healed until 1758, he was a member of the New Brunswick Presbytery and arrayed himself with the " New Side." Craighead was next a member of the Hanover Presbytery, formed in 1755, and for many years the centre from which radiated the religious influence that held sway in the Southwest. Shortly afterward he removed to what soon became Meek- lenburg County. A pamphlet from his pen in 1743, on the political rights of the people, which had been con- demned by the synod of Philadelphia as calculated to " foment disloyal and rebellious practices and disseminate principles of disaffection," paved the way for the Mecklen- burgh declaration of independence.
In 1788 the Presbytery of Abingdon, formed in Au- gust, 1785, was united to the Synod of the Carolinas. Here we see the first introduction of Presbyterianism into Tennessee, for the Abingdon Presbytery lay almost en- tirely in this State. It was first upon the ground and its ministers were leading figures in the State. They were men of strong characters, and the minds of men had not yet been turned to spiritual affairs. Besides this. they were practical school-teachers. Subsequent events alone prevented the complete aseendeney of the Presbyterians in Tennessee and the Southwest.
In 1772, a few years after the erection of Bean's cabin,
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one, perhaps two, churches had been established by the Wolf's Hill or Abingdon settlement. The pastor was the Rev. Charles Cummins, a member of the Abingdon Pres- bytery. When Knoxville was laid off, a lot was reserved for the site of a church, which was subsequently built in 1810. The first minister who came to live in the State, who was at the same time the first and most prominent teacher in Tennessee, was Samuel Doak. His parents, Samuel Doak and Jane Mitchell, emigrated from the north of Ireland and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, from whence they removed to Augusta County, Virginia. They were both "Old Side " Presbyterians. In August, 1749, Samuel was born. Having received a thorough rudimentary education, he entered Princeton College in October, 1773, and remained two years. He returned to Virginia and married Esther, the sister of Rev. John Mont- gomery. He was for two years tutor in Hampden Sidney College, in Prince Edward County. Here he also studied theology. He was then licensed by the Hanover Presby- tery, preached for a while in Virginia, and removed to Sul- livan County, and in a short while to Washington County. Here he purchased a farm. He built a church, perhaps the first in the State, on his own land. He built also a school-house, which was not only the first in Tennessee, but " the first literary institution that was established in the great valley of the Mississippi." He also founded Salem Congregation. He took some part in the Revolu- tionary War, and was a prominent member of the Frank- lin convention.
In addition to Doak, among the earlier preachers who came to the State were Samuel Houston, Hezekiah Balch, Samuel Carrick, all of Scotch-Irish descent and all mem- bers of the Hanover Presbytery. About this time, Thomas B. Craighead, a son of Alexander, fixed his resi- dence at Spring Hill, not far from Nashville, and at once began that long pastorate which has made his name illus-
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trious among the sons of Tennessee. He was a graduate of Princeton, and had been carly ordained by the Presby- tery of Orange. He began his ministerial mission in Kentucky. From there he removed to Tennessee. A church built of rough stone was at once erected for his use, and for a time he combined the work of teacher and preacher. He was a man of stern character, indomitable will, and varied learning. His diction was clear, elabo- rate, unadorned, and often wearisome He possessed none of the pleading sympathy and humane fervor that distin- guished the pulpit oratory of M'Gready, and of the great Methodists of his day. He was tall and straight as an arrow, his features were cast in strong lines, his complex- ion was rough and ruddy, his eyes were blue, his hair sandy. His enunciation was clear and precise. His gen- eral bearing was dignified. In 1805 his orthodoxy was suspected, and he was examined by the Synod of Lexing- ton on thirty-one questions. His answers were satisfactory, though sometimes obscure. At a synodieal meeting at Lexington in 1806. he preached a sermon which was considered flagrantly heterodox. He was at onee brought before the committee of bills and overtures, of which he himself had recently been elected chairman. This pro- cedure resulted in Craighead's making an explanation, and the moderator dismissed him with an earnest entreaty to be more circumspect. Some years later he published a sermon on regeneration with an address directed to the synod, which was regarded as smacking strongly of what was known as " New Light " sentiments. He was also ae- cused of encouraging Shakerism, and of Pelagianism. In 1810 he was summoned before the Presbytery of Transyl- vania. He refused to obey and at the next meeting was suspended from the ministry. He spent many years in writing letters, sermons, and pamphlets, and prosecuting appeals to the General Assembly. But not till 1824 was he reinstated. He was earnestly opposed to the course of
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those who eventually founded the Cumberland Presby- terian Church. The dignity of his character, the un- yielding severity of his mind, rendered him averse to all emotional display. This in no wise lessened the kindness of his affection or the sineerity of his faith. "He was," said Philip Lindsley, " the most spiritual, heavenly- minded person I ever knew."
From the first, the seeds of discord were implanted in the soil of Tennessee Presbyterianism. The members of the Abingdon Presbytery in 1788 were Charles Cummins, Hezekiah Balch, John Cossan, Samuel Houston, Samuel Carrick, and James Balch. Doak joined in 1793, Gideon Blackburn in 1794. In 1790 Houston was dismissed. In 1791 Cossan took issue with the presbytery upon some point of discipline. In 1792 the General Assembly de- termined, in answer to a question from the Synod of the Carolinas, that those persons who professed a belief in universal salvation through the mediation of Jesus Christ should not be admitted to the sealing ordinances of the gospel. In 1796 it was repeated to the synod that great excitement had prevailed in Abingdon Presbytery. and that Charles Cummins, Edward Crawford, Samuel Doak, Joseph Lake, and James Balch had withdrawn and formed an independent Presbytery of Abingdon because Hezekiah Balch had published some articles of faith which greatly scandalized many members of the church. The matter having been brought before the presbytery, Balch apolo- gized for certain abusive cpithets, explained his utterances as in accord with the confession of faith, and was suffered to go without further discipline. Hence the secession of the Independent Presbytery. This procedure was subse- quently condemned, but the dissatisfaction being great, a commission was appointed before whom the Independents appeared, and they renewed their submission. They were then reinstated. Abingdon Presbytery was divided into two ; Doak, Cummins, Lake, and James Baleh being
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members of one, Abingdon ; and Hezekiah Balch, Cossan, Carrick, Henderson, and Blackburn being members of the other, Union. The charges against Balch were renewed before the new presbytery, and he was eventually removed. In 1799 Thomas Bowman was suspended by the Abing- don Presbytery for unsound doctrine. "The subject of his dispute was the extent and manner of the offer of the gospel." The synod reinstated him.
It was evident that the time was ripe for new life, new vigor, a more liberal dispensation, a less doctrinal essence of Christianity. This came as naturally as the Reforma- tion, as the Presbyterian Covenant itself, as the Wesleyan reawakening of the slumbering and torpid spirit of the Church of England. Indeed, the Cumberland Presbyte- rian Church is to the Presbyterian what the Methodist Episcopal is to the Episcopal Church. The great learn- ing, the deep piety, the dauntless self-sacrifice of the Presbyterian ministers could not be doubted. But their passion and fervor throve only in the midst of danger and persecution. The white heat of their faith as an active force in human life appeared mitigated and tempered in those surroundings of individual liberty and freedom of worship for which they were prepared to battle with such intrepid fortitude and resolute audacity. Disputes involv- ing points of doctrinal belief and questions of discipline were constantly arising, and differences of opinion and va- riations even in non-essentials were frequently punished with the extreme rigor of ecclesiastical censure. The spirit- ual life of the Southwest was growing daily narrower and harder. The organization and temper and general spirit of the church was peculiarly adapted for a revival of activity and vigor. The so- called revival that in the early part of the seventeenth century spread from Antrim throughout Ulster and then to Scotland. and the visits of John Whitefield to this country had made this apparent. But this new light had soon flickered out : so completely
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that the son of Alexander Craighead, one of the leaders of the early revival, was the most determined opponent of the last. The forms remained, but there was no vital- ity-no flashing of the electric sparks of human sympathy - no trumpet calls to repentance - no attempts to touch those wonderful recesses in which are hidden the tears, the loves, the desires, the pains, the raptures, the tremors, the passions, and the joys of every human heart.
The reawaking Christian energy which ushered in the nineteenth century and which introduced a new method of spiritual propagandism and enlightenment into American Christianity was due to a man whose name has almost been forgotten by the great body of the people. This was James M'Gready, who was born in Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish parents. When young, he was removed to North Carolina, and was under the pastorate of John Caldwell. He was, as a boy, of a naturally grave and serious disposition, and was early destined for the minis- try. He thought himself devout and a true Christian. But he accidentally overheard a remark made by one whom he respected, that he had not a spark of religion in his, heart. He was aggrieved and surprised. He thought over what he had heard. Light began to dawn upon him. Returning to North Carolina he commenced preach- ing in earnest. In 1790 he married, and took charge of a church in Orange County. He was accused of "run- ning people distracted, diverting their attention from the necessary avocations of life, and creating unnecessary alarm in the minds of those who were decent and orderly in their lives." A letter written in blood ordered him to leave the country. His church was attacked. His
pulpit was set on fire. In 1796 he removed to Kentucky. Here he took charge of three congregations in Logan County - Gaspar River, Red River, and Muddy River. He infused new life into them. The people were aroused. His reputation spread. His influence grew. People came
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miles and miles to hear him. The walls of sectarian- ism were thrown down. He joined with Methodists in the work of reviving the love of Christ. William M'Gee, a Presbyterian, was located first at Shiloh, near Gallatin, Tennessee, then on Drake's Creek, in Sumner County. His brother, Jolin M'Gee, was a Methodist. In June, 1800, the two brothers assisted M'Gready at the Red River meeting-house, where the great revival fully devel- oped itself. The crowd was enormous, and many were compelled to sleep in the open air under the trees. It was noticed that some had brought tents and food. This suggested the idea of a camp-meeting. The next month the first camp-meeting the world had ever seen was held at Gaspar River church in Logan County, Kentucky.1 The spirit spread wider and wider, farther and farther. A peculiar physical manifestation accompanied these re- vivals, popularly known as the " jerks." They were involuntary and irresistible. When under their influ- ence, the sufferers would dance, or sing, or shout. Some- times they would sway from side to side, or throw the head backwards and forwards, or leap, or spring. Gen- erally those under the influence would at the end fall upon the ground and remain rigid for hours, and sometimes whole multitudes would become dumb and fall prostrate. As the swoon passed away, the sufferer would weep piteously, moan, and sob. After a while the gloom would lift, a smile of heavenly peace would radiate the countenance, and words of joy and rapture would break forth, and conversion always followed. Even the most skeptical, even the scoffers who visited these meetings for the purpose of showing their hardihood would be taken in this way. As the inspiration spread, the demand for new preachers was greater than the church could supply. In
1 There is a conflict of opinion as to the date of the first camp- meeting. Flint's Geography, p. 147, gives Cane Ridge, Tennessee, 1799. The weight of authority is in favor of Gaspar Creek, 1800.
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this demand the Cumberland Church had its origin. David Rice, the leading member of the Transylvania Presbytery, visited the Cumberland country. Convinced that the revivals were doing great good and appreciating the lack of preachers. he suggested that laymen possessing the proper qualifications for carrying on the work should be selected to apply for membership in the presbytery. Alexander Anderson, Finis Ewing, and Samuel King ap- plied and were licensed to exhort. During the revival, the Cumberland country, as it was called, was a part of the Transylvania Presbytery, but in 1802 this was divided, and Cumberland Presbytery established. It was composed of ten ministers, of whom five favored and five opposed the method of the revivals. The various stages by which the Cumberland Church was evolved from the Cumber- land Presbytery are too long to be given here in more than outline. The licensure of the young men to exhort excited adverse criticism. A difference upon doctrinal points acted as a dividing wedge. M'Gready, Hodge, M'Gee, Rankin. and M'Adow, accepted the Westminster Confession of Faith in so far as they believed it agreeable with the Word of God. by which they excluded the doc- trine of fatality. In October, 1804. Craighead, Bowman. and Donnell wrote a hearsay or common-fame letter to the synod, protesting against the actions of the revival members of the Transylvania Presbytery. After some time, and in an irregular manner, the synod passed what amounted to a vote of censure on the course of the reviv- alists, and appointed a commission to investigate the mat- ter. This commission censured the admission of the young men as irregular, and required them to submit to another examination touching their qualifications. They refused to submit, upon the advice of M'Gready, Ran- kin, Hodge, M'Adow, and M'Gee, who were thereupon cited to appear before the synod. The revival preachers formed themselves into a council. Subsequent attempts
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to effect a reconciliation failed. The Cumberland Pres- bytery was dissolved, and its members joined to the Transylvania Presbytery. On appeal to the General Assembly, they advised a review of its own proceedings by the synod. This was done, but their proceedings were confirmed. In 1810, at the residence of Samuel M'Adow, in Dixon County, Tennessee, it was proposed to establish a new and independent presbytery. This was done on the 4th of February. By 1813 the number of presbyteries had increased to three, and in October of that year the first synod of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church was formed. In 1829 the first General Assembly met at Princeton, Kentucky. Since then it has spread over the entire nation, and is especially powerful and influential in the Southwest. It is worthy of remark that M'Gready, in whose exertions the new church had its origin, never joined it. He made peace with the Synod of Kentucky and remained in the Presbyterian Church.
Among the causes of censure alleged against the revival- ists in the Cumberland Presbytery was too strong a lean- ing towards Methodism. Hawe, a Methodist preacher, had been received, and, it was charged, without renouncing his previous views. On the records of the Cumberland Presbytery were mentions of Finis Ewing's "circuit," " a device borrowed from the Methodists." The mode of licensing their preachers had been suggested if not borrowed from Methodistic usages. The Methodist Church at this time furnished undoubtedly the vitalizing influences among the great body of people. These influ- ences have never waned. That element of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church which gave it force and vigor was derived from the church of Wesley and Asbury. In
1785 the Methodist Church of America was placed upon an independent footing. In 1783 the first Methodist preacher came to the Holston circuit, which embraced East Tennessee and a part of Virginia. This was Jere-
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miah Lambert, who.was followed by Henry Willis, Mark Whittaker, and Mark Moore. At the end of the first year Lambert returned sixty members. In 1787 the Hol- ston circuit was divided into two, the Holston and Nol- lichucky. The next year two more were added. In 1787 Benjamin Ogden went to the circuit of Nashville, which was yet a small station struggling to preserve its existence. Ile was born in New Jersey and was twenty-two years old at the time of his advent. He had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War. After Yorktown, he had joined the Methodist Church, and was at once appointed to carry the gospel of salvation to the wilds of the far West. For a long time services were performed in the county jail at Nashville. In 1811 a small briek church was built, but being too far away it was in 1818 succeeded by another on Spring Street, of which John Johnson was pastor. In 1818 Nashville was made a separate charge. The number of traveling preachers in Tennessee at that time was thirty. The growth of the Methodist Church was rapid and wonderful.
The observant traveler who passes through Mexico and who sees the little shrines upon the roadside, the smooth-faced priest, or the mendicant friar with pendent rosary and bare feet upon the streets, the cathedral in the cities, and the eross upon every shrine, need not be told the religious life of the people. In like manner, the signs of Methodism, though in a measure now giving way before the incoming tide of a general laxity of faith, are equally apparent to him who studies the history of the present. What the Catholic Church is in Mexico, the Methodist Church is in Tennessee. To follow its steps would be foreign to our purpose, but it would be impossible to understand the inner life of the people and the organiza- tion of society unless we know the great instruments which first gave bent to the religious impulse of the early settlers. Perhaps it would be proper to say instrument.
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for without doing injustice to the able and Icarned succes- sors of Craighead, and without overlooking the Tennes- seans who added a powerful branch to the already nu- merous Protestant denominations of America, it may be said that the religious life of the State is to this day the direct outcome of the exertions of the early Methodist itinerants. Other denominations have followed in the wake of civilization. The Methodist circuit riders led it. What the friar, the adventurous padre, was in the early days of Mexican settlement, the circuit rider has been in this State, and the evidences of his work and influence are upon every hand. The Sunday of to-day is the Sabbath which we inherit from him. The silent theatre, the houses from which the sound of music and mirth are banished, the empty streets, the calm stillness of the day, in these things we see the signs of his influence. The career of the circuit rider both individually and collec- tively renewed in a great degree the romantic memories of the medieval church militant. There were indeed no glittering panoplies, no burnished helmets, no silken banners, no dappled palfreys, and no vows of celibacy. But the resemblance, in spite of the saddle-bags and the raw-boned horse, is apparent and suggestive. The circuit rider was the embodiment of a sacred and enthusiastic zeal which held in light esteem both the dangers and the allurements of this world. And indeed he was a man whose like has not often been seen. His limitations were decided and palpable, but they were not repulsive. He was bigoted as a Christian, but tolerant as a churchman. He believed in the Bible with a literal faith which in the present days of Renan and Strauss seems to have disap- peared from the face of the earth. He could not grasp symbolic meanings, and he felt no impulse to search for them. The nearness of Christ to man, the illuminating grace of God, the infinity of His love and mercy, the sanc- tification of the soul by faith, were actual and real facts
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