USA > Virginia > Sketches of Virginia : historical and biographical > Part 21
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 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
Saturday, 17th. - " Was unexpectedly called to preach at Nathan Womack's, on Great Guinea. The Lord enabled me to speak with some life and feeling. After I ceased Mr. Legrand preached an ex- cellent discourse. Mr. Smith then arose, and set the house in a flood of tears by his animating address.
Tuesday, 20th. - "Preached Robert Jackson's funeral sermon, but felt very little engagedness of soul. Rode to Major Read's, my good old home, in the evening ; spent the time in profitable conver- sation with my pious and estimable friend, Mr. Read ; felt Jesus to be precious to my soul this night, and went to sleep in a sweet frame of mind."
With Sabbath, August 1st, 1790, he began his missionary tour, preaching at Yuille's Meeting House, in Halifax. "Went in the evening to see an old aunt of mine I had never seen before. I think my aunt is a very pious woman. She and my uncle are both mem- bers of the Baptist Church ; but was much grieved to see how the Lord's day was desecrated and profaned by the family ; and from what I can learn it is a common case in these parts, and there is little or no difference between professors and non-professors. There are scarcely any other professors of religion about here but Baptists. It is a common practice to visit and converse upon worldly topics, while the children and young people are pursuing their sports and plays more extensively than on any other day in the week. I tried to remonstrate against these things. My old aunt joined me ; but my uncle defended these things, and said the Baptists did not ac- knowledge the obligation of the Sabbath day. Whether it was com- mon to that society or not, it certainly was in this neighborhood.
Tuesday, August 3d. - " Do not remember that I was ever more distressed about my situation since I first had a hope in Christ ; was awfully afraid I had not experienced religion myself, and the thought of preaching an unknown Christ was killing to me -'was so distressed that I had not the least appetite for food. Had to ride about twenty miles through a wet, rainy day, to reach an appoint- ment at Isham Breton's; preached to a few people who came through the rain, and then became quite prostrate by reason of a bad cold which I had taken by frequent preaching, riding through the rain, and last though not least, the agitated state of my mind.
August 5th. - He preached at Reedy Creek, and went to Mr. Breton's. In the evening worship he spoke on the words, " Into whatsoever house ye enter, first say peace be to this house," &c. " If I ever felt the spirit of prayer it was then - and if I was not awfully deceived, the love of God was shed abroad in my poor, un- worthy heart by the Holy Ghost, so that I could, 'rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:' I was so exercised at this time that I almost lost my bodily strength." When he went to rest, the
177
REV. WILLIAM HILL.
old gentleman, who was greatly agitated during the exhortation, and attracted Mr. Hill's attention by his trembling, followed him to his room, and confessed that he had been in a sharp quarrel with his wife that day, supposed he had heard of it, was very sorry, had confessed it to God, and was deeply humbled for it. An arrow shot at venture ; as Mr. Hill of course knew nothing of it.
With such alternations of light and darkness, joy and sorrow, stupidity and excitement, he made the tour assigned by Presbytery. Some were awakened by his preaching, some comforted. The arrows shot at venture often pierced the joints of the harness. At Franklin Court-House, Monday, September 6th, he says -"I attended the Court of Franklin County to despatch some worldly business, and look after some property which I hold in that County. It was election day. I saw much wickedness this day, and felt much con- cerned to see my poor fellow mortals drinking and degrading them- selves below the brutes that perish, and to hear them cursing and swearing, and using the very language of hell. Some were strip- ping and fighting, and tearing each other to pieces like incarnate devils. I saw one of the candidates walk through the court-yard with a large wooden can of stiff grog, and inviting the voters to come and drink with him; and what made the matter worse, this candidate had been an Episcopal clergyman before the Revolution. I was so disgusted at this sight, that I determined to go in and vote against him, and did so, though'it was the first vote I ever gave, and I had no intention whatever of voting when I came to the place, although the property I had in the County entitled me to a vote.' At Henry Court-house his appointment had been recalled by some mischievous persons. At the head of Smith's river, he preached with great life - " Many were deeply affected, and some old bigoted Presbyterians looked, and gazed, and wondered. Some came up and asked me to pray for them, and seemed earnestly to inquire what they should do to be saved." He went on through Bedford, and on Sabbath, 19th, preached at Pisgah, having met his old friend Mitchel with joy. "At night conducted social worship at Mrs. Trigg's, an old mother in Israel; Mr. Turner in his exhortation seemed to get at the heart of every person in the house."
Mr. Turner accompanied Mr. Hill across the Blue Ridge to Lex- ington. Both being of a cheerful turn, and glad to ride in company, they commenced a free conversation on their religious experience. They made mutual disclosures for each other's benefit, and spoke of their own short-comings and temptations. Both were gifted with a quick sense of the ludicrous, and both had the power of exciting ridicule ; Hill severe in sarcasm, and Turner unequalled in fun. Something was said that excited the sense of ridiculous, and was followed by peals of laughter. A spirit of laughter and fun seized the young men; and their mutual disclosures of trials, and temptations, and passions as men, and in their sacred office, and their failures in preaching, were all sources of ridicule and laughter. The effect was mutual. Their excited feelings went on with a 12
178
REV. WILLIAM HILL.
stronger and stronger tide, sweeping away the restraints that should have been a barrier, till levity in excess polluted their hearts, and gave their consciences weapons for terrible retribution. Their confess- ing their faults to one another had ceased to be a Christian virtue, and had become a snare and a defilement. At night both were sufferers ; the laughter was past, the excitement over ; and a sense of folly and degradation oppressed the heart. They retired to pray. For a time they could not. On conversing with Mr. Turner the. next day, Mr. Hill says - "Found he had spent just such a night as I did. We both resolved we would be more watchful and circum- spect for the future." The record of opinion which Mr. Hill made respecting himself, is -" This day's conduct was matter of grief to me on several accounts : 1st, Because it had no resemblance to that humble temper which every true disciple of Jesus ought to possess upon the review of former acts of wickedness, and discovering the indwelling sin and corruption of his nature, which should rather make him loathe and abhor himself in dust and ashes. 2d, I felt in my heart something so different from the gospel charity which rejoiceth not in iniquity, that I was rather pleased that my brother Turner felt the same evils I had, and felt as lightly about them as I did. 3d, I thought I was a stumbling-block in his way, and had led him astray, by which I had not only wounded my own soul, but destroyed the peace of my brother for whom Christ died. 4th, Because I was setting a bad example before some others, who were with us a part of the time, which must have made them have a contemptible opinion of us, but especially of me professing to be an ambassador of Christ. I desire to remember this day with sor- row and regret as long as I live, and humbly hope it will be a warn- ing I shall never forget. The good Lord forgive the iniquity of my sins ; remove me from the snare of the fowler, and enable me to be more watchful for the time to come." By Mr. Hill's account in another place, he did not recover serenity of heart and liveliness of hope till after he had endured an attack of sickness.
The Commission of Synod met at New Monmouth, Friday, Sept. 24th, 1790. They made choice of William Hill and Cary Allen, of Hanover Presbytery, and Robert Marshall of Redstone Presbytery, to be their missionaries, on the usual condition, that their respective Presbyteries recommend them, and put them under the care of the Commission. Rev. Messrs. J. B. Smith and Graham were to apply to Redstone Presbytery, and Mr. Smith to Hanover. Messrs. Hill and Allen were to labor east of the Blue Ridge, and Mr. Marshall on the west side, in Virginia proper, for six months. Mr. Hill preached before the Cominission ; his mind was dark and he went heavily ; he says his friend Marshall did well.
From Lexington Mr. Hill went to Winchester, to attend the meet- ing of the Synod, on Thursday the 30th of September; was sick most of the way, both in body and mind, and on reaching Win- chester the day Synod opened, took his bed, and did not attend any of the sessions, and only got to Church with difficulty on Sabbath.
179
REV. WILLIAM HILL.
On Monday October 4th, he set out for Prince Edward with Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and his friend Mrs. Read ; unable to ride on horseback, he was accommodated with a seat in Mrs. Read's carriage. He slowly gained strength. His sickness did not have that effect upon his spiritual condition he had hoped. " I expected to feel the import- ance of eternal things, and to be entirely dead to the world and all its enjoyments, and that if I lived to get well, I should feel abundantly more for poor sinners. But when sickness came an awful hardness of heart and insensibility of soul came with it; for I could neither pray nor think, nor converse, with any satisfaction at all; but my mind was shut up and dark, and Satan himself, at times, seemed to be let loose upon me, with temptations of infidelity and blasphemy, so that I became awfully afraid at times that I should become a castaway. By this I see God can bless health as well as sickness, and that no affliction of itself, notwithstanding its natural adapta- tion to awaken sinners to reflection, would ever prove a real blessing without its being sanctified by the grace of God." He did not re- cover his peace of mind until Sabbath the 17th, at a communion at Briery, where Mr. Smith and Mr. Mitchel were present. On his way to Prince Edward, he went by Newtown, Gaines Cross Roads, Orange Court House, Colonel Cabell's, Warminster and on to Mr. Smith's, and did not attend the Presbytery in Goochland, which met October 8th, at the Bird meeting-house, the sessions being held mostly at the house of Robert Lewis, Elder. Messrs. Hill and Allen were recommended to the commission of Synod for further service.
" Tuesday, Nov. 2d. Was employed in settling and arranging some secular affairs, preparatory to a six month's tour of missionary labor, which I am just about to undertake, in the lower Counties of Virginia, upon the Chesapeake Bay. Wednesday, 3d. Rode to Guinea neighborhood and had a society meeting at Mr. Nathan War- nock's, a place dear to me by many sacred recollections. In this house I first obtained a hope that I had passed from death unto life ; and my dear friend Nash Legrand, and many others professed to obtain religion about the same time, and at the same place." On Friday he preached at Gentry's meeting-house, about the borders of Cumberland and Powhatan, where Davies used to preach. On Tuesday 9th, he rode into Richmond-" there was no place of wor- ship there, for any denomination, except the capitol. As I found no door open for me, or any one to take me by the hand, I rode in the afternoon six or eight miles to the Rev. John D. Blair's." On Thurs- day 11th, he preached in the house once occupied by Davies, and was oppressed by the thought that the once flourishing Church was now so small.
Visiting Mrs. Brame in Caroline County, an old disciple, and hearer of Davies, firm in her faith though solitary in its exercise, he set off for the Northern Neck, to visit the congregations once flourishing under the charge of Dr. Waddell, in the Counties of Lancaster and Northumberland. For a travelling companion he had Mr. David Smith from Western Pennsylvania, a member of
180
REV. WILLIAM HILL.
Hampden Sidney College, having the ministry in view, seeking by the excursion to recruit his health, a godly and discreet young man, who might check his companions' tendency to levity and be cheered by his mirthfulness. Crossing the Rappahannock at Port Royal, Friday 19th, they passed through the lower end of King George, held a meeting for prayer and exhortation in Westmoreland, at Leeds, on Saturday, the 20th, "Rode constantly all day, and after being lost and perplexed in finding the right road, arrived at night at Col. James Gordon's in Lancaster County, where a letter of introduction procured us a hearty welcome. His house was full of company, relatives and other friends, when we arrived. They were generally persons who moved in the higher circles, and appa- rently unusually gay and showy in their dress and manners. The Col. took me and my young friend Smith, in succession, around the room and introduced us to each of his guests, and the members of his family, one by one, in the most formal and stylish manner. This placed us in rather an awkward situation, as we had both of us been accustomed to the plainest and simplest dress, so that we were a little disconcerted, when we were received in this manner by Col. Gordon, whom we expected to find a very plain and pious man, from the accounts we had heard of him."
" After supper we were conducted to bed, without having an op- portunity of forming much acquaintance with any, except from what we saw. After we had got to bed, my young friend proposed that we should be off in the morning, as he supposed they were only the gay fashionable people of the world, who cared very little about religion, and among whom he supposed there was very little pros- pect of doing good ; but I told him we would try them awhile and see what could be done." The next day -Sabbath, Mr. Hill preached at the Presbyterian Church nearest Col. Gordon's, some- times for distinction called the Upper meeting-house. A Methodist minister, having an appointment there, also preached. The audi- ence was large and respectful. Dr. Waddell removed from Lan- caster to the mountains about the year 1778. He had no successor in the pastoral office. Many of the congregation, urged by the inroads made by the British vessels of war, and induced by the fertility of the soil, sought the neighborhood of the mountains. The able session, Messrs. Chichester, Thomas and Dale Carter, Mitchell, Gordon and Selden, wasted away by removals, age and sickness, and was never renewed. Some of the Church members died, others, despairing of having a pastor of the Presbyterian order,' had united with the Methodists, and some with the Baptists. Di- minished in all these ways, the large Church of Dr. Waddell was reduced to about a dozen members retaining their position as church members, when Mr. Hill visited the counties.
" Tuesday, 22d. Preached at Downing's meeting-house in North- umberland. Had some agreeable meditations by the way, but in preaching was cramped and shut up again. Went home with Ma- dame Sekden, an old disciple with whom we should lodge. Wednes-
181
REV. WILLIAM HILL.
day, 24th. Preached at Lowry's ware-house. At night I attempted to preach at Col. Gordon's. Began with a cold heart and went on like an ox going to the slaughter for a while; but before I ended the Lord was pleased to favor me with considerable liberty, so that I was enabled to speak with some life and feeling. I have often found my cheerful and lively feelings have been very much confined to the line of public exercises. My feelings before have been cold and lifeless, and as soon as I retired they returned to the same state, so that I have come to the conclusion that the assistance which I felt in speaking to others, was rather a favor designed by God for others, of which I was but the voice of one crying in the wilder- ness, than any evidence of the exercise of a gracious affection in my own heart; which has made me fear sometimes, that after I had preached the gospel and been useful to others, I myself might be a castaway." On Thursday night, at "Mrs. Berryman's a widow lady living immediately on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Spent the evening very agreeably with that excellent woman and her pious Baptist sister, Mrs. Maxwell, in religious conversation, singing and prayer."
Mr. Hill remained preaching in the two counties till Tuesday, Jan. 11th, 1791, visiting the few Presbyterians left, and making acquaintance with pious people of other denominations. He had frequent interviews with the noted Baptist preacher, Mr. Lunsford, whom he greatly admired as a Christian man and minister ; visited Judge Henry who was beset with infidel objections, and perplexed the young, minister with his difficulties and metaphysical inquiries. The Judge was a professor of religion, but was feeling that trial of his faith, which in the novel form of French infidelity, tested the hearts of Christian men, the latter part of the eighteenth century. Mr. Hill had heard but little of such matters till he heard them on the Bay Shore, and they were strange to him. He attended the death-bed of old Mrs. Selden, whom he thought one of God's jewels ; and visited old Mrs. Miller, about 90 years of age, and blind about 7 years, and confined to her room. "She professed religion under Mr. Waddell, when he was pastor in the congregation, and had not heard a Presbyterian minister since his removal. I do not think I ever saw a Christian so ripe for glory before. I then visited Mrs. Tapscott again," (a lady wasting away with consump- tion and inquiring for salvation); "after conversing and praying with her I rode to see Dr. Robertson, an old Scotch Presbyterian, who is very infirm, and prevented from attending public worship any more." (See a notice of him in the Sketch of Waddell.)
Mr. Hill frequently visited Col. Gordon's family, and his final opinion may be given in his own words-" I find notwithstanding the unfavorable impressions made upon Mr. Smith and myself the night of our arrival, there were some eminently pious persons in that gay and fashionable circle into which we were introduced with so much formality. This style of dress and manners was so entirely different from what we had ever witnessed among professors
182
REV. WILLIAM HILL.
of religion, the first impression upon us was very unfavorable. I find this also, that I had attached too much importance to dress and manners, and had identified them too much with genuine piety ; and that our good friends in Lancaster, being shut out from the regular means of grace and religious instruction, and mingling almost exclusively with men of the world and fashionable life, had only conformed too much to the spirit of the world, which they readily saw and acknowledged, when it was suggested to them as incom- patible with the seriousness and simplicity of the gospel of Christ. We found a few precious Christians in these parts, to whom our com- ing and conversation was as life from the dead."
Leaving his friend David Smith at Col. Gordon's, a cripple by the falling of his horse on the ice, he crossed the Rappahannock at Urbanna, in company with an old Baptist preacher, Mr. Sutton, and proceeded on through Middlesex, and in Gloucester lodged at a public house. "We asked permission to have family worship with them. The good lady of the house said she had fixed a room for us, and we might go and do what we pleased there. But we said we had a desire to pray with the family if they had no objec- tion. She said we might do as we pleased as to that ; but made no movement of any kind. Her husband was lying on the bed, and she and her daughters were sewing, and a number of little negroes were picking cotton about the room. As they made no movement, we knelt down and prayed while they all continued at their work, as if nothing out of the usual way was going on." Detained by high wind he crossed the river late, and reached Williamsburg in the night. Calling at the house of Mr. Holt, brother-in-law of Mr. Davies, the only Presbyterian in the place, and accounted a pious man, Mr. Hill, under misapprehension, though offering a letter from Col. Gordon, was turned from the door. Not knowing where to go, he accosted a negro man in the street, "I asked him if he knew any religious man, a good Christian in Williamsburg. After study- ing awhile he said he did not know any such in town, but there was a very good old man about a mile from town. I told him I would give him a quarter of a dollar if he would conduct me to his house, which he did much to our satisfaction and comfort. This good old man was a Mr. Wilkeson, living about a mile north of the town, whom we found to be just such a man as we took him to be- a plain, artless, unaffected, hospitable, pious Methodist, who received us very cordially, and treated us with every possible kindness." His request next day for the use of the Episcopal church was refused : the court-house was refused; and permission to visit an insane person at the asylum refused, because - it was such persons as I who sent so many persons to bedlam." A room in the deserted old capitol was fixed on as the place, and notice circulated. The two preachers went at the hour, and began singing - a few people came in-and they each gave a short sermon. He obtained an interview with some members of the college who had been his fellow students at Hampden Sidney, and was not favorably impressed with
183
REV. WILLIAM HILL.
the morals of the college. Mr. Holt became sensible of his misapprehension, and made the amende honorable to Mr. Hill, having spent the night sleepless when he understood that he had turned a Presbyterian minister from his door. From particular circumstances and the singularity of a man coming at that time of ยท night, to his house, professing to be a Presbyterian minister, in a place where one had not been seen or heard of for many years, he thought it was a hoax for a particular purpose practised by some persons in the city and neighborhood. But nothing could be done to assist Mr. Hill in getting a hearing in the city in the short time he could stay. Previous notice and some arrangement were abso- lutely necessary. The excitement on religion from which Mr. Hill had gone was entirely unknown there, and the remains of a Presby- terian congregation could not be found as in the Northern Neck ; and the only Presbyterian in the place to whom he had an introduction had moved there for purposes of trade, and not then in a position to gather a congregation on short notice, as the Sheriff was seeking to accomplish a peaceable entrance to his house for some special purposes not the most agreeable to Mr. Holt. In the apology he made Mr. Hill he exhibited a Christian spirit. Mr. Hill's next visit was more agreeable.
Hearing of a Methodist quarterly-meeting, in James city, he rode over, and passed the 15th and 16th of January, Saturday and Sab- bath, with them. The cordiality which he had experienced from that denomination in Lancaster and Northumberland, and in all his previous mission, was not exhibited here. The preachers professed the greatest aversion to the Calvinistic creed, telling him his doc- trine " was forged in hell and beat out on the devil's anvil." At the close of worship on Sabbath, "two young men from the pew in which I sat, stepped upon the bench and gave notice there would be preaching that night at Mr. Hales' in the neighborhood. I asked them who was to preach, and was told they meant to preach them- selves. These young strangers were Mr. Robert Sample and Mr. Andrew Broaddus, Baptists, who had just commenced preaching, and this was one of their first excursions." These young men after- wards became prominent men in the Baptist Church. "As their pro- posed track was on the same route Mr. Hill had arranged for himself, for some days they joined company and preached together. They visited, and were kindly received at Hampton and Portsmouth, and preached a number of times to large audiences. The attempt to preach in Norfolk afforded little encouragement, for either Pres- byterian or Baptist, to renew the effort at that time. Mr. Hill found that the people in this section were generally Baptists, and thought their tendencics were to the opposite extreme of the Metho- dists he had encountered, bigoted antinomianism. "I find," he says, " that it has a very pernicious effect, especially amongst igno- rant people, to be continually preaching up the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, without enforcing Christian duties, or having it clearly understood, that the perseverance of the saints
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.