USA > Virginia > Sketches of Virginia : historical and biographical > Part 40
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Mr. Rice had the pleasure of being the representative of the Bible Society of Virginia, and also of the auxiliaries in Petersburg,. Norfolk and Frederick County, in that Convention in the City of New York, in 1816, that formed the American Bible Society, "for the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, without note or comment ;" and greatly rejoiced in having his friend, William Wirt, Esq., appointed one of the Vice-Presidents.
A modest, devoted philanthropist, then unknown to fame, an effi- cient advocate of the African Colonization Society, visited Richmond in the summer of 1816. A lady residing at the time in the city, says, in a letter, "We had a visit from Mr. Samuel J. Mills, then unknown, and quite young. He had several schemes on hand, Colonization one of them. But I think he did most in private. Miss E. G. was staying with her cousin, Mrs. Wirt, and was very often with me. She has ever ascribed her conversion to Mr. Mills' conversation. She is now the wife of Governor G., of Georgia, and sometime since sent me word, she never passed a day without remembering me in prayer, since early in 1817. During this visit, Mr. Mills induced Misses H. M. and E. B. to commence a Sabbath- school. They went to a Methodist lady, Miss Polly Bowles, who taught a little day-school near Masons' Hall, and in her school-room commenced the school with prayer. Soon after, the school was removed to the Masons' Hall; and a better one I never. knew." After the death of Mr. Mills - dying on the ocean, his body was cast into the great deep - his worth began to be estimated. He had walked with noiseless step, and his benevolence distilled as the dew ; the recollection of him was precious, and men wondered they had not prized him more while living. Christians in Richmond may ask - have we ever made a special effort to do good, that a special blessing has not fallen upon us ? A Colonization Society was not formed in Richmond till November 4th, 1823, when Rev. R. R. Gur-
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THE MAGAZINE.
ley visited the city, and addressed the citizens assembled for the pur- pose of forming a Society ; Judge Marshall was the first President.
The first number of the Virginia Evangelical and Literary Maga- zine, a monthly periodical, appeared in January, 1818, with Mr. Rice as editor. With the same general platform of belief as the Chris- tian Monitor, it took a wider range in the literary and scientific departments. "'For God and our Country,' is the motto which would most adequately express our views and feelings. Acknow- ledging the United States as our country, we confess that we take a peculiarly lively interest in the prosperity and welfare of that sec- tion in which we were born and educated, and therefore we have prefixed the name ' Virginia,' to the general terms which characterize the nature of our work." Dr. Speece contributed largely to the pages of this periodical - more commonly over the signature of Melancthon ; Dr. Matthews over N. S .; Messrs. Hoge and Lyle made frequent contributions ; Messrs. Wirt and Maxwell, from the bar, lent their aid ; and able pens, from different parts of the coun- try, gave assistance. But the great labor was on Dr. Rice, whose powers were taxed, from month to month, through a series of years ; and the work remains a monument of his industry, piety, judgment and learning. Its last number was issued December, 1828; some of the latter volumes not having much of his supervision. The work is a Thesaurus of reference on the religious history of Virginia, and for specimens of the theology and literature of the period of its production.
With the Magazine, Mr. Rice embarked in another enterprise, of which he writes to Mr. Maxwell, January 10th, 1819 -- " I want you here in Richmond most egregiously. I have purchased a print- ing press, and have formed a little company for carrying on the machine. The capital necessary to commence is divided into eigh- teen shares of one hundred dollars. The press with all its fixtures of type, cases, book press, &c., cost fifteen hundred dollars. I have gotten seventeen shares of the stock subscribed; I taking five. There is the best job office in Virginia attached to the Office ; and it is calculated that this will yield a product of nearly thirty dollars per week. The magazine will pay sixty dollars per month. And these two items will pay expenses, supposing we employ four hands. But four hands will do just twice as much as the work stated. I shall employ them, then, in printing good things to be circulated through the country, and sold to the best advantage. The object is to promote learning and religion. What would you think of the republication of Smith's History of Virginia ? But my favorite plan is to publish a Pamphleteer. I wish several numbers thrown into circulation, calculated to answer these three questions - Why are you a Christian ? Why are you a Protestant ? And, why are you a Presbyterian ? The pieces should teach the Deistical, Catho- lic, Socinian, Baptist, Arminian, and Episcopal controversies; but all in the genteelest and most brotherly style." It was the desire of Mr. Rice to avoid controversy on denominational subjects in the
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THE PAMPHLETEER.
Magazine, if possible. It was evident to him and others, that con- troversy on these subjects would come ; it could not be avoided in a community aroused to the enquiry, What does the Bible teach ? Mr. Rice preferred a pamphlet to a monthly periodical as the vehicle of address to the public on the agitated questions.
The first number of the Pamphleteer was on the Subjects and Manner of Baptism. On this theme Mr. Rice was familiar by his intercourse in College with Messrs. Alexander, Speece, and Lyle, while they were investigating the various departments of the great subject. He discusses the subject as a Biblical question for histori- cal investigation. While the second number of the Pamphleteer, on the question - Whether there be one order of ministers in Christ's Church, or more than one - was in course of preparation, to use the words of Mr. Rice to Mr. Maxwell, Dec. 30th, 1819, , "Some of the Transmontane people are so dissatisfied because I will not come out against the Episcopalians, that they are trying to set up another Magazine at Lexington. Proposals are issued, and they say that they will publish if they get four hundred subscribers. I am losing mine fast. But if I retain four hundred, I will publish. I have no doubt, however, that I shall have eight hundred to begin the year with.". The complaint from the Valley was, that the periodical, that circulated in the Presbyterian church, did not defend the doc- trines of that church when assailed, particularly that the claims lately set up for the divine authority of these orders of the clergy, "and the supremacy of a Diocesan Bishop, had not been opposed and shown to be futile. Mr. Rice admitted the necessity of setting aside those claims appearing to the brethren so arrogant, but pre- ferred a pamphlet devoted to the purpose as the medium of the con- troversy, to a periodical devoted to religion and literature. The appearance of the second number of the Pamphleteer, which was devoted to this particular subject of controversy, removed the cause of complaint. The ability and thoroughness of the discussion satis- fied the projectors of the new periodical, and the design of a new paper was abandoned. The Magazine struggled hard for existence; but survived the pressure. The article Something Curious in the closing number of the second volume, December, 1819, produced a great sensation. The negotiations in progress with the noted infidel Dr. Cooper, to become the leading professor at the University, were arrested, and the Doctor removed further South. The juxtaposition of the events led to the conjecture that the observations made by a Lunatic on the transactions of the people in the Moon, were closely related in antecedence and consequence as cause and effect with the departure of Dr. Cooper from Virginia.
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The Franklin press sent forth two pamphleteers ; and two works in octavo volumes, Smith's History of Virginia, and Sermons selected from the manuscripts of the late Moses Hoge, D. D. The design of the association in purchasing the press was admirable, but the difficulties were insurmountable. The products of the Southern press could not then compete with the Northern productions in the
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JOSIAH SMITH.
market in price, however they might in excellence. And the taste for religious reading had not been sufficiently cultivated in the South to awaken enthusiasm for the enterprise in Richmond. The Ameri- can Tract Society, and the American Sunday School Union, and the Presbyterian Board of Publication, with more ample funds and wider range of circulation, after many discouragements, and many efforts, have accomplished what Mr. Rice designed, beyond his utmost expectations. And though the enterprise in Richmond was in part a failure, it nevertheless was well that it was in the heart of Mr. Rice to plan and attempt the accomplishment of the grand design ; too great for his means, but not too large for his heart.
Having referred to the University of Virginia, it is proper to remark that Mr. Rice was in favor of a State University before any endowment was made; and desired it might be Christian, but not sectarian. In the January number, 1819, he says, "A bill has lately passed both houses establishing an University. Our next most earnest wish, nay, our fervent prayer is, that it may be an honor and a blessing to Virginia ; and that it may be a nursery of true science and genuine, virtue. May it please God to smile on the University and crown it with his favor! There is one thing which we hope will never be forgotten, namely, that it is the Uni- versity of Virginia. It is no local or private establishment, no institution to subserve the purposes of a party, it is the property of the people, and every citizen in the State has a right and a property in it. We hope that all will recognise this truth, and assert their right, and let their opinion be felt. On the one hand they will see to it that it shall not be partial to any society of Christians, and on the other, that infidelity, whether open or disguised under a Chris- tian name, shall not taint its reputation or poison its influence."
Josiah Smith of Montrose, Powhatan, was held in peculiar estima- tion by Mr. Rice. The brother of Mrs. Mary Morton, reared with the same pious care, he was of like precious faith. Montrose early took the place next to Willington, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith next to Major and Mrs. Morton in the heart of Mr. Rice. On the occasion of his death Mr. Rice writes - " We speak what we do know, when we say that, what many are in obituary notices, Josiah Smith was in his manner of living. The virtucs which others talk of he prac- tised. He was not a man of words, but of deeds ; not of promises, but of performance. That man does not, and never did live, who was his enemy. All who knew him were his friends. His gentle- ness and kindness insured universal good will; his integrity com- manded universal confidence. His removal has diminished the moral worth of his county, and left a chasm in its society, which it will not be easy to fill. Old and young, far and near, regarded his death as a bereavement. But chiefly does his amiable family bow down under this bereavement. It was in the domestic circle that the most admirable traits in his character were exhibited. There the devotion of the husband, the affection of the father, the kind- ness' of the master, the ardor of the friend, and the open-hearted
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YOUNG MEN'S MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
hospitality of the Virginian, were mingled with the meekness, and faith, and charity of the Christian: for Josiah Smith was a Chris- tian. Without making a parade of profession, he carried the principles of his religion into all the relations and the whole business of life." He managed his affairs, and made his bargains, and laid all his schemes as a Christian. "The close corresponded with the tenor of his life; he died full of peace," on 4th of January, 1819, aged 55 years. His amiable wife survived him many years an exemplary Christian, and departed at last in the hope of a joyful resurrection. In meekness and piety Mr. Smith resembled Dr. Hoge; and " his worth was equalled only by his modesty." His parents were the people that often rode fifty miles to hear Davies, going on horse- back, fording James river, and often carrying each a child too small to be left at home, or to ride alone ; and he probably went that way more than once when a child. Had Mr. Rice said less of him, he had not been true to himself or his friend.
A visit of the Rev. William Chester to Richmond in January, 1819, cheered the spirits of Mr. Rice, saddened by the loss of his friend, Josiah Smith. " He gave me"-says Mr. Rice to Dr. Alexander - " the 3d Annual Report of the Young Men's Mis- sionary Society, of New York. I read it with much interest. Chester preached at an evening-meeting, for us, and a number of young men were present. While he was preaching, I felt in my pocket for my handkerchief, and took hold of this report. At once the thought rushed into my mind - I will try when Chester is done, if the young men here can be roused to any feeling on the subject of establishing a Missionary Society. As soon as the preacher closed. I rose and delivered an address. It set Chester in a flame. Several young men were kindled by it. The result was that a society has been organized, denominated the Young Men's Mis- sionary Society of Richmond. It consists now of forty members. The officers are all such young men as I approved. We regard it as an event of some consequence, inasmuch as we hope the example will be followed in Norfolk, Petersburg, and Fredericksburg." This Society flourished beyond the fondest anticipations of the pastor. The first annual meeting was held in the following May; at which time it had upwards of one hundred members enrolled. Societies were formed in other places. Those in Richmond and Petersburg were particularly active, and successful in supplying large districts of West Hanover Presbytery with efficient missionaries. It has been a subject of reflection and enquiry whether such organizations might not be desirable as permanent means of supplying a great number of neighborhoods.
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Mr. Rice attended the General Assembly in Philadelphia, May 1819, and was chosen Moderator; and in performing the duties won the esteem and respect of the Assembly. On the 24th of the month, he delivered a sermon before the Board of Missions. This sermon was preached again in Richmond at the request of the young men ; and published for their advantage. It is of permanent value. 22
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REV. JOHN H. RICE, D. D.
Of the compliment of D. D., from the College of New Jersey in the following summer, he writes - "I have never valued, and of course never coveted, academical honors. But anything, that be- tokens the esteem and friendship of good men, is grateful to my heart. So far as a degree betokens this, I prize it, and no further." The next year a similar compliment was paid Mr. Speece, of which Mr. Rice says to Mr. Maxwell: "The Princeton folks have doctored brother Speece. He is now D. D. I am glad of it. I did not like to wear this thing tacked to my name, like two packs on the back of a strolling pedlar, until Speece was acoutred in the same way. With him to accompany me I shall do tolerably well." Mr. Rice while Moderator, was made Director of the Seminary at Princeton ; and served till 1824, when his duties in the Seminary in Prince Edward rendered it proper to resign.
Dr. Rice having attended the meeting of the Bible Society in New York, and the examination of "above seventy students in divinity" at Princeton, proceeded to Philadelphia, May, 1820, to open the Assembly, according to custom, having been Moderator the preceding year. He preached from the words-" Let us therefore follow after the things that make for peace, and things whereby one may edify another," Rom. 14, 19. In perusing the sermon one knows not which to admire most, the good sense and piety embodied in the dis- course, or the independence of the man in preparing and delivering it. Its appropriateness was felt at the time. The greater part of it might be read with great propriety at the opening of every General Assembly, particularly what is said-on official pretensions-on the love of distinction-and influence-on parties in the church-disco- veries in religion -- uniformity of opinions-and on the spirit and forms of doing business in the Assembly. Two sentences may commend the rest. "If I might be permitted to recommend such a thing to my fathers and brethren, I would most earnestly and solemnly recommend to all not to propose a single measure, or rise to make a speech during the session of Assembly, without first attempt- ing to realize that God takes cognizance of our thoughts and motives, and without ejaculating a prayer to the hearer of prayer for direction and assistance." The second is-"A congress of plenipotentiaries from all the states in Christendom, held to deliberate on the political interests in the world, would attract universal attention, and create universal ex- pectation. But all that their deliberations would or could involve, whether of war or peace, of liberty or slavery, in comparison with the mighty, the incomprehensible interests, which here claim our attention, is no more than the dust on the balance, the atom on the sunbeam, compared with the solid dimensions of the material universe. Why, brethren, it is not the temporary interests of worms of the dust, it is not the concerns of a perishing world that claim our attention ; it is the concerns of many, very many immortal souls ; it is the interests of the kingdom of our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ ; it is the honor of our God, that engage our deliberations and demand our very best affections."
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REV. JOHN H. RICE, D. D.
The truly benevolent spirit of the speaker won the hearts of the Assembly ; all parties, for there were parties there ready to engage in combat, reverenced the man, and desired his friendship. If the greatness of a sermon is to be measured by its permanent efforts, this was one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, of Dr. Rice's public efforts. His own deportment in the Assembly was in accord- ance with his sermon. When, in succeeding years, he visited the churches to obtain their assistance for building the Union Theologi- cal Seminary, he was received as a man of a peaceable and lovely spirit.
As a delegate, he attended the Assembly again, in 1822, and was deeply engaged in the business of the sessions, as-" nearly three- fourths were young members, and of the rest, a considerable number were unacquainted with the routine of business." In a letter to Mr. Maxwell, the preceding April, he expressed his wish-" I am going to the North to endeavor to make arrangements for a better and more regular supply of missionaries. I shall of course be at Prince- ton. From the General Assembly I intend to get a commission to go to the associations of Connecticut and Massachusetts-and as far as Andover. My object in all is to promote religion in Virginia." He was chosen delegate according to his wish. Remaining in
Princton long enough to arrange the materials for the June number of his Magazine, he entered New England with a mind awake to ob- servation. It was at the meeting of the association of Massachu- setts, in Springfield, he delivered the sermon, the recollection of which. is thus penned by Dr. Sprague, after an interval of about thirty years.
" He came to the North as a delegate from the General Assembly to the General Associations of Connecticut and Massachusetts. I was present at both meetings, and saw and heard him both in private and in public. The General Association of Connecticut met at Tolland. Dr. Rice's high character was well known to most of the ministers assembled there, and everything he said and did abun- dantly sustained it. His preaching was deeply serious and impres- sive, and was received with great favor. His address, tendering to the Association the assurance of the sympathy and kind feeling of the General Assembly, was in his usual and felicitous style, and was responded to with great apparent cordiality. The next week I saw him in Springfield, at the meeting of the General Association of Massachusetts, where he appeared to still more advantage. On that occasion he preached a sermon in connexion with the administration of the communion, on the text -'The love of Christ constraineth us.' He began by asking each person in the house who had an interest at the throne of grace to lift up his heart at that moment, and silently implore a blessing upon the preacher and the message he was about to deliver ; and though the request seemed to be heard with great attention and solemnity, it was so great a departure from what is commonly heard in a New England pulpit, where everything is staid and according to rule, that I was not without some appre- hension, at the moment, that the desired effect would not be realized.
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THE MESSRS. RANDOLPH.
I perceived, however, almost immediately, that the Doctor was in such a frame for preaching as I had not seen him in before, and he continued constantly to rise from the beginning to the end of the sermon. Besides being exceedingly rich in the most precious truths of the gospel, it was an admirable specimen of lucid reasoning, and every sentence of it was spoken from a heart which was actually glowing and heaving with a sense of the love of Christ. Notwith- standing it was a kind of eloquence to which my New England friends were not used, they were still free to acknowledge its remarkable power, and I have rarely seen an audience more entirely melted and subdued than on that occasion. The impression which Dr. Rice made at that meeting was exceedingly favorable, and I doubt not had much to do with the rather uncommon success which subsequently attended his application in that region for aid for establishing the Union Theological Seminary in Virginia." From Dr. Sprague's sketch, and Dr. Rice's notes, published in the Magazine, it is evident that the estimation of the Southern Doctor and the New England theologians and congregations was mutually favorable. They met- prepared to be pleased ; they parted friends in the service of their common Lord.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE MESSRS. RANDOLPH.
THEODORE TUDOR RANDOLPH became a pupil in the school of Mr. Rice, in Charlotte, some time in the year 1809, and a member of his family. His mother, Mrs. Judith Randolph, widow of Richard Randolph, lived at Bizarre, near Farmville. With her, John Ran- dolph, "of Roanoke," the brother of her husband, had his residence. Her husband, the only brother of the Matoax branch of the family that married, had died in 1796, when twenty-six years old, leaving her a young widow, with two sons. The elder son, afflicted from his birth, deaf and mute, gave no promise of usefulness in manhood, shut out from instruction with other children, and depending on ma- ternal fondness and care ; the other endowed with faculties and dis- positions fitting the station and responsibilities of one, the hope of his mother, the pride of his uncle, and the last stay of his branch of the family, and the heir apparent of his father and uncle.
This youth, Theodore, was taken with a fever. His mother visited him. Anxiously waiting on him, watching the slow progress of the fever from day to day, she became particularly acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Rice, having long known, by reputation, him as a classical and religious teacher of merit, and her as a member of a family of unspotted integrity. She herself had seen affliction by
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THE MESSRS. RANDOLPH.
the rod of God's hand; and was then, and had been, in trouble about the present and future condition of her soul in relation to her God. While watching with her son in this family, she found peace in believing in Jesus. Writing to a friend in Richmond, she says - "I wish very much that you could both hear and see my excellent friend, Mr. Rice ; for I can with truth date the perfect recovery of my long lost peace of mind to the period when my child's illness called me to the abode of rational piety and real happiness." A mutual friendship was formed that lasted through life. Mr. Rice says, in a letter to her in 1811 - "I have considered you as one who, having been tried in the school of adversity, knew the value of real unpretended friendship; and who, of course, would not, like some whom I have known, veer about in affliction as suddenly and as capriciously as the winds in our climate. I have considered you as a person, too, convinced of the insufficiency of all that we call good on earth, to satisfy the human heart, and amidst many difficulties and embarrassments, earnestly desiring and sincerely endeavoring to obtain a portion in that inheritance which is incorruptible, unde- ยท filed, and which shall never fade away, reserved in heaven for all who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. I could not become acquainted with you without at once feeling for you that affectionate regard which is ordinarily the result of long habits of intimacy."
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