USA > Virginia > Sketches of Virginia : historical and biographical > Part 25
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On the 4th of March, 1799, after a short illness, he closed his use- ful life, leaving a widow and six children, two sons and four daugh- ters, all young, and one an infant. His body lies in the burying- ground near Hebron Church ; and though the subject was frequently spoken of, and some steps once taken by his people, no tomb-stone has yet been erected over his ashes; and soon the inquirer will search for his grave in vain. His wife, a sister of the young Mr. Ramsey, that induced him to seek a home in Virginia, survived him but a few years. The care of the family then devolved upon his eldest child, a daughter. She opposed the scattering of the children among the friends, as was proposed by some well-wishers of the family ; and taking the direction of affairs and the management of the children, the sister became mother to the bereaved flock. With the advice and counsel of the ministerial brethren of her father, and the judicious relations that were near, and those gentlemen of the congregation who loved the children for the father's sake, she contrived to secure a classical education for the boys, and a suffi- cient course of instruction, in English, for the girls, refusing all offers of marriage till the education of the children was secured. One of the sons, long a successful and laborious minister of the gos- pel, attributes much of his usefulness to the kindness and energy with which that sister trained his early years, with exemplary devo- tion and care. During his life he reverenced her as a mother. "As I passed the place of our residence a short time since," said the son, who was too young at his father's death to know his loss, " I paused a while to ponder over the scenes of the young days of my orphanage, while my sister, M'Pheeters, now no more, was my sister and my mother. I loved and reverenced her then ; I thanked God for her again, with a heart full of unutterable emotion." Some pious females will be found at the last day, who in their silent and
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unobtrusive self-denial have won a crown that shall never fade away. Christ has said of Mary -" She has done what she could." How much that sentence means when applied to a sister that reared one brother for a useful and successful teacher, and three sisters, who were all comfortably situated as heads of families, and another bro- ther to be a minister in the Presbyterian Church, who in his declin- ing years looks upon three of his sons devoted to the work of the ministry, eternity alone can determine.
Bethel has shared in various precions revivals, and has sent forth some faithful ministers of the gospel, as Doak, the pioneer of the gospel and literature in Tennessee, the two Logans, M'Pheeters, and Mines. In the early revivals there was nothing peculiar. In that great revival, which prevailed in Virginia in the years 1802 and 1806, the bodily exercises were matters of great discussion. Baxter was in the midst, and was slow in saying they were from evil ; Erwin, of Mossy Creek, set himself strongly against them, and his congregation was never visited by them; Brown, of New Providence, was clear and decided against them, and his people were not troubled ; Wil- son, of Augusta, was much inclined to believe that they were accom- paniments of good, and might be themselves good, and his congre- gation was largely visited. Bethel was a vacancy for a time after Mr. Scott's death, and the people were somewhat divided in opinion about the nature of these exercises. At a meeting held there by Baxter of Lexington, Brown, of New Providence, and Mr. Boggs, a licentiate of Winchester Presbytery, under a sermon from Baxter, the whole congregation appeared deeply affected. During the sermon, delivered by Mr. Boggs, after a short interval, the bodily agitations began ; one of the elders rose and began to sing, and immediately the whole congregation was convulsed with various emotions and exercises ; groans and sighs and cries were heard in every part, and for awhile the worship was suspended. The congregation were greatly divided in their opinion about the proper course of pro- cedure ; some withdrew, and joined the Seceders at Old Providence, where there were no symptoms of the approach, or of a welcome of the exercises, should they make their appearance. In a few years all thought alike of them, as mere bodily affections, in some way connected with the mind. but not at all religious in their nature or bearing.
The Rev. WILLIAM M'PHEETERS, D. D., was born in Bethel, near the North Mountain, on the waters of Middle River, September 28th, 1788. He inherited the surname of his father and grandfather and great-grandfather, who emigrated from Scotland to Ireland, in the time of Oliver Cromwell. His grandfather married young in Ire- land, and emigrated to Pennsylvania, and finally settled in Augusta County, Virginia, bringing his family, a wife and eight children ; some of the children unmarried, and some heads of families. His father was born in Pennsylvania in 1729, and was married to Rachel Moore, with whom he lived to rear a large family ; served as magis-
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trate, and was a ruling elder in the congregation of which Archibald Scott was pastor. Dr. M'Pheeters was reared in the faith of his mother and grandmother. Rachel Moore was born in the year 1736 : her mother was a Walker, from Wigton, Scotland. Through the Walker family there is a connexion traced back to the illustrious Rutherford, of Scotland. The Doctor was more careful to preserve some written memorial of his mother's experience than of his own. She was of a lively disposition, cheerful, but never fond of trifling conversation, and much given to secret prayer, in which she had great enjoyment, before she was fifteen years of age.
"When my mother was about thirty years of age, on a certain communion Sabbath, her exercises during the day were unusually comfortable. Some pious friends from Walker's Creek accompanied her home; that night, their conversation till bed-time, was on the subject of religion. After retiring to her bed, my mother was favored with such overwhelming views of the beauty and glory of the heavenly inheritance, as to deprive her of nearly all her bodily strength. These rapturous views continued to recur, at short in- tervals, during the whole night, and sleep was entirely taken away from her. About daybreak her views were more rapturous and over- whelming than before. During the next day she experienced great composure of mind, and felt no inconvenience from the want of sleep. After this her exercises were various; sometimes she was happy in the enjoyment of religion, sometimes destitute of feeling, and sometimes backward in receiving, as coming from God, the com- forts bestowed upon her.
Her son David died from home, in his twenty-fourth year. Some short time after his death, on a certain Sabbath, while reclining on her bed, it pleased God to give her clear and satisfactory evidence of her acceptance in the Beloved. Being thus near to God, and enjoying in so great a degree the gracious smiles of his reconciled countenance, the thought occurred to her that she might now inquire respecting her son, and ask of God some evidence of his happiness in the world of spirits. But soon did she check her presumptuous inquiry, and felt reproved for attempting to pry into the unrevealed secrets of God's righteous government. 'With this great truth,' said she, 'I must be satisfied; the Judge of all the earth will do right.'
Then let my Sovereign if he please Lock up his marvellous decrees, Why should I wish him to reveal What he thinks proper to conceal ?
His mother died January 30th 1826, aged about 90 years, with- out a groan or struggle, as in a sweet sleep; literally falling asleep in Jesus. Her end was a fitting conclusion of her life, as some ex- tracts from a letter from her pastor to her son, some years after her death, will show. "She took great delight, as you know, in attend- ing at the house of God, especially on communion Sabbaths. But as she advanced in years she was not always able to be present on
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these occasions. On the Sabbath before alluded to, when we were celebrating the Lord's Supper, she being too infirm to be present, about the time, as I suppose, when we were at the table, she told me, that in musing she thought herself at the Lord's table, and seated at the end of it next to me; that she plainly saw the bread and the wine ; that as I handed the bread to her, and pronounced the words, 'Broken for you,' that those words came with such power to her mind as almost to overwhelm her; and that the delightful state of mind that followed continued the whole day. I remarked to her that I supposed she enjoyed the occasion as much as she sometimes did when she was actually at the table. O yes ! said she, I have been twenty times at the table when my enjoyment has. not been so great. I then said, Now when you are deprived of the op- portunity of attending on the ordinance, the Lord you see is giving you the enjoyment without it. At this her heart was filled and her utterance checked. On another occasion, July 1825, she told me, that recently, just before a severe turn of illness, she had such.a sense of nearness to God as she had scarcely ever experienced be- fore, or as she supposed was possible in the flesh. Indeed she thought her frail body could not have borne much more. At another time she told me - that as to the matter of dying, she had no fear about it; and that if she should be called off suddenly, she wished me to preach her funeral sermon from Amos 4th, 12th. Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. And from that text I did preach her funeral. Her piety was of the very highest order.
Your Brother, FRANCIS M'FARLAND.
March 12th, 1842.
Dr. M'Pheeters commenced his classical studies in Staunton, and completed his education at Liberty Hall nnder Mr. Graham. Oct. 1797, he commenced the study of medicine with his brother James . in Kentucky. In the course of the two years he pursued that study, he became deeply exercised on the subject of his salvation. Having professed his faith and united with the Church under the care of Wm. Robertson, his heart was drawn to the ministry of the gospel. Re- turning to Virginia he put himself under the care of Lexington Presbytery, and pursued his Theological reading with that logical man Samuel Brown of New Providence. His first piece of trial, on the words "Here am I, send me," was exhibited at Hebron, Oct. 12th 1801. He was licensed at New Providence, April 19th 1802, the Rev. Benjamin Erwin officiating. In' June 1803, he took charge of the Church in Danville, Kentucky; and to aid in his support taught school. In 1804 he visited Chilicothe. In September he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of John M'Dowell, near Lex- ington Kentucky, and returned to Virginia. After visiting the counties of Greenbrier and Monroe, and preaching for some time in Windy Cove and New Lebanon, he took charge in December 1805, of Bethel, his native congregation; and on Monday the 22d of April, was ordained to the full work of the gospel ministry, Dr.
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Baxter preaching the sermon, which was printed in the Magazine, and his theological teacher, Mr. Brown, delivering the charge. In the December following he laid the remains of his wife and child side by side, the first occupants of the grave-yard by Bethel Church now so full of mounds. In 1810, his second wife was taken from him leaving a young daughter.
"About this time," as he writes, "I received, by the hands of a special messenger, an invitation from the Trustees of the Academy, Raleigh, North Carolina, to preside over the institution as principal teacher ; and to preach to the town congregation, then vacant in consequence of the removal of Rev. Wm. L. Turner to the town of Fayetteville. Having visited the place and being pleased with the prospect, I accepted the invitation, and in the month of June 1810, took charge of the congregation and academy."
Dr. M'Pheeters resided in Raleigh from this time with one short interval till his death in 1842. In March 1812, he was united in marriage with Miss Margaret A. C. M'Daniel of Washington, North Carolina. She survives him, the mother of twelve children, seven of whom survived their father.
In June 1816, a Presbyterian Church was organized in Raleigh, consisting of four elders and eighteen members. In about two years from that time their spacious and neat house for worship was ready for occupation. The congregation continuing to increase, Dr. M'Pheeters, thinking that the duties required of the principal of the Academy and the pastor of the Church, were sufficient for two men, and believing that his proper sphere was in the Academy, on the 18th of March 1824, resigned the pastoral office. While he continued to supply the pulpit there appeared to him a slackness in ' efforts to procure a pastor, he therefore declined preaching to the congregation. The Rev. Thomas P. Hunt was induced to remove to Raleigh, Nov. 1828. He remained about two years. Rev. Michael Osborne ministered to the congregation for a few years. In 1836, Dr. M'Pheeters still refusing to become pastor, the congregation called the Rev. Drury Lacy D. D., who remained with them till in- vited to the Presidency of Davidson College, in 1853.
In 1836, Dr. M'Pheeters opened a female school in Fayetteville, and received extensive patronage. His health failing, he was suc- .ceeded by Rev. Rufus W. Bailey. Returning to Raleigh, he be- came agent for the Board of Missions of the General Assembly, and served about two years, with great bodily suffering. In 1840 he was elected President of Davidson College, successor of Dr. Morri- son. Though fond of giving instruction to youth, and desiring earn- estly the prosperity of the College, he, on account of his health, declined the offered honor. His habits of correctness, his amiable disposition, and deep sense of responsibility, qualified him in a pecu- liar manner for the office of teacher, which he occupied for so many years in Raleigh. As a member of Church judicatories he was in- valuable. Cool, deliberate, cautious, kind, in the exercise of sound sense and cheerful piety, as an adviser he was not surpassed. To
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a casual observer he would sometimes appear to be moving slug- gishly, while he was pondering the subject in hand, weighing causes and effects, and probable consequences, and moving on to a conclu- sion, which, once expressed, was not speedily changed. Few men, called to do so much, have had as little to undo. He was not a splendid man; but for the Church he was something better. He loved her interests, and labored for her through life, with a reputa- tion above reproach, too modest to perceive that his influence was increasing with his years, and that in his last days no man's opinion® weighed against his in that Synod of which he had been a member for more than thirty years.
After resigning the pastoral office, knowing as he must, the kind feeling of the whole community to him, he was particular never to propose anything to the attention of the congregation, or advocate anything proposed until he was satisfied that the approbation of the pastor had been fully expressed. Honor to whom honor is due, was the maxim of his heart and life. Of course he lived on the most friendly and intimate terms with his successor. He took a lively interest in the erection of a parsonage for the minister of the church, and encouraged the lady, by whose means it was accom- plished, with more earnestness than if it had been erected for himself.
In his domestic relations he was pre-eminently happy and lovely. Could an open, or secret enemy have passed a few days under his roof, witnessing the untiring efforts of the father to lead his family to the love and service of the Lord Christ, he must have felt it im- possible longer to contend with such a man; that even in the mistakes into which, as a man, he might fall, the mercy of a cove- nant-keeping God was a shield and defence. His daughter that passed away before him, in her mature years, gave evidence of con- version to God in early life. In her fourteenth year she wrote to a young friend.
April 19th, 1831.
MY DEAR MARY ANN : - I do hope your prayers and the prayers of my other dear friends have been answered in my behalf. Yet my dear Mary Ann continue to pray for me that I may not be deceived ; for you know that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. On Sunday last I heard Mr. Beard, of Philadelphia, preach twice. In the morning he preached to Chris- tians ; and in the afternoon he addressed sinners from the text - "And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, go thy way for this time, when I have a convenient season I will call for thee." Oh! he preached an awful sermon about grieving the spirit. I was afraid I had grieved him, and that he would take his final flight. My dear friend, you cannot tell what feelings I had. Oh! I felt if I did grieve him he would leave me forever, for I know that God hath said in his holy word -"My spirit shall not always strive with man :" and when I considered how often I had been warned of my
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danger, I thought, if I did grieve the Holy Spirit, that he would never return any more. So I determined through God's strength, that I would never rest till I should give myself away to the Saviour.
That evening after sermon a young female acquaintance came home with me, and Satan told me I had better let it alone until the next day, that it would not do for me to leave my company. But I thought with myself - is not the soul of more value than anything else ? Yes. I knew it was. So I determined that nothing should hinder me. I went to my room up stairs, and did not come down till the family were ready to go to night-meeting. In my retirement I felt I could give up all to the Saviour. But I did not feel so happy as I wished to feel. So I determined I would give myself away again. The next morning I went alone, and tried to give my whole heart to the Saviour. I hope I did so. I felt that he was able and willing to save me. But I was so afraid lest I might be deceived, that I said nothing about it to any body. I did wish, however, that you were here that I might talk with you. After breakfast, I visited two of my pious female friends, and staid with them till nearly-dinner time. Then I came home, and after dinner retired again, and gave myself away, and all that I had unto the Lord, for time and eternity. Oh, then I was happy, happier than I had ever felt in my life before. But still I had not yet courage to tell any body. The change in my feelings, however, was noticed by the family ; and my mother the next day called me into the room and asked me what made me so happy. I then told her all about it. She prayed with me, and you may be sure we were both happy. But my dear friend I can't tell you all. I must save the rest till I see you. Mrs. M - -, I hear has obtained a hope, and several others are very serious.
O, that all might believe, And salvation receive, And their hope, and their joy be the same. i.
My dear Mary Ann pray for me that I may grow in grace, and love the Saviour more and more, who has done so much for me. Farewell dearest friend, and pray for me. .
MARGARET ANN M'PHEETERS.
The hope of this young girl strengthened with her years and cheered her in death. In about a year after her marriage with Mr. John Wilson of Milton, she was called into the presence of her Lord, and went cheerfully.
In October, 1836, Dr. M'Pheeters lost by death a son, David Brainerd, in his seventh year. From very early in his life this little boy manifested deep religious feeling. As he drew near his end, his exercises became more interesting. His parents were more than usually exercised at the time of his baptism; and the attention of the little child had from the first been turned to the work, in
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which, that good man. whose name he bore, had been engaged. His infant feelings were all enlisted in the cause. He knew himself to be a sinner. After worship he was often found in tears. To his mother, who one day inquired of him what was the matter, he replied, " I am afraid God will not love me, I am too sinful." Being directed to the Saviour, and urged to pray for a new heart, he replied - " I do love him, and have prayed to him for a new heart." He felt the duty of prayer to a great degree of tenderness. One night observing that his little brother, in bad humor, was retiring without prayer - he refused to sleep with him, and sat up in bed till the offender arose and attended to his neglected duty. A short time before his death he called for his purse, having about fifty cents in it. "If you die," said his mother, "what shall be done with your money ?" Looking at her for a moment - " Mother, if I die, give all my money to send the gospel to the heathen ;" and then he earnestly repeated -" Mother, if I die, give all my money to send the gospel to the heathen."
The death of Dr. M'Pheeters was preceded by the distressing pains that accompany the successive stages of calculus. He was under the. scientific operations of distinguished physicians. He had a distinct view of his approaching dissolution, and through the power of un- broken faith contemplated it with entire resignation. On Wednes- day, 9th of November, 1842, an immense congregation was assembled in the Presbyterian Church, Raleigh, to attend his funeral. The stores of the city were closed : the church was in mourning attire. Rev. Drury Lacy pronounced a sermon, and delineated the character of his predecessor and friend. That stern integrity, that uncom- promising adherence to truth and right, that modesty that kept him from pride and vanity, and that piety which clung to Christ as his Lord, that amiable deportment in his intercourse with man, which had been the crown of his life, seemed brighter when contemplated from the grave.
The University of North Carolina, some time before his death, conferred upon him the title, D. D., one richly deserved, if successful training of youth has any merit, and a life of piety any charm, and success in building up the church of Jesus Christ any admiration. Dr. M'Pheeters did not seek wealth for his children ; and he left his family the inheritance of a good name, and the blessing of a covenant-keeping God.
In the agitations of the Presbyterian Church, which for some ten or twelve years before his death absorbed the attention of the Judi- catories, Dr. M'Pheeters always was decidedly in favor of that system of doctrine and practice commonly called "Old School," and was in advance of his Virginia brethren.
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CHAPTER XVI.
ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER - HIS LICENSURE AND SETTLEMENT IN CHARLOTTE.
ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER made his first efforts, as a licensed min- ister, in the extensive contiguous congregations of Moses Hoge, William Hill and Nash Legrand. From his narrative, told in all the simplicity of truth, we learn that the people were willing to hear the gospel; that he must have been an acceptable preacher ; that although the congregations gave him no further remuneration for his services than his board and horse-keeping, leaving him to pay, after his return to Lexington, for a pair of pantaloons he purchased in Shepherdstown, he was yet contented with the temporal result of his labors; that he felt himself under obligations to Mr. Hoge, for the benefit derived from intercourse in his family, and that he left the lower end of the valley improved in his theology, or rather con- firmed by Mr. Hoge in a full belief of the immediate and personal action of the Holy Ghost on the heart of man in regeneration.
The eighth session of Lexington Presbytery was held at Brown's meeting-house, now Hebron, commencing Tuesday, Oct. 26th, 1790. Members in attendance were Rev. Messrs. Scott, Crawford, Mont- gomery, Erwin and Houston; with Elders William M'Pheeters, William Yuell and Thomas Shanklin. On account of the cold the Presbytery convened at 2 o'clock in the afternoon at the house of William M'Pheeters ; and Mr. John Lyle read part of his trials. Rev. Messrs. Brown and Graham, with William Alexander as Elder, came in the next day. The record says that "Information was made by a member that Mr. Archibald Alexander, of Lexington, desired to be taken under the care of this Presbytery, as a candidate for the gospel ministry, and Presbytery having a favorable account of his moral and religious character, and literary accomplishments, intro- duced him to a conference, in which, having given a narrative of his religious exercises, and of his evidences of faith in Christ and repentance towards God, together with his call and motives to the gospel ministry, and a specimen of his skill in cases of conscience ; Presbytery having considered the same, do approve thereof, and agree to take him under their care as a candidate for the gospel ministry. Mr. Alexander is appointed as parts of trial an exegesis on the following theme -' An fide sola Justificamur ?' and an homily on this theme - 'What is the difference between a dead and living faith ?' to be delivered at our next." This application was made at the earnest request of his teacher, Mr. Graham. Mr. Alexander was averse to taking the lead in religious meetings. Mr. Graham supposed his aversion would be less, if not removed en- tirely, after he should be acknowledged as a candidate for the ministry, and proposed that he should be a candidate under the
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