USA > Virginia > Sketches of Virginia : historical and biographical > Part 52
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
From Statesville, North Carolina, he thus writes under date of Oct. 12th, 1829, respecting an agency he was induced to make im- mediately after the fall examination, in compliance with the wishes of the Board - "I wrote a very hasty note to you last Monday, just as I was setting out for Salisbury. I went that night to Mr. Staf- ford's, and next day to Lincolnton, a distance of forty-four miles. On Wednesday I preached at Lincolnton, and went ten miles to General Graham's, where I staid all night. Next day I went to a place called Unity, where I preached, and then went to Mr. Pharr's ; next day I went to Hopewell, and preached, after which I went to Mr. John Williamson's ; on Saturday I preached at a place called Centre, and went to the house of an old seceder named Young. At Centre I met with Albertus Watts, who came with me to Young's; from that house I came to Statesville, where I preached yesterday in church, and last night in a tavern. To-day I shall let my lungs have rest, and to-morrow I expect to preach at one of the late Mr. Kil- patrick's meeting-houses, called Third Creek; next day I am to preach for Mr. Stafford, at a church called Thyatira ; from which place I shall go to Salisbury, and on the day after expect to set out for home. It is little that is done by an agent who just preaches and goes his way. My plan has been to lay the matter before the people, and fix on some one who seems most excited on the subject as a local agent ; get such subscriptions as the people are ready to make at the time, and leave the subscription with the agent to do the rest. Some days I get $100, some $50, some $20. If on the whole we get $2000 subscribed, it will be more than I expect. Mr. Good- rich may succeed better, for he has gone to the best and thickest part of the Presbytery. The people here have many traits of character like those in the valley. They are hard to move, have strong local feelings, and many are not without the hope of having a theological seminary in Concord Presbytery." The avails of this agency by Dr. Rice and Mr. Goodrich were expended in preparing the dwelling for a professor at the east of the seminary, called the Carolina house, first occupied by Mr. Goodrich, and afterwards by Dr. Graham, and by Dr. Sampson.
Reaching home, Dr. Rice found Mrs. Rice keeping house in the newly-finished Boston house, in which Mr. Goodrich's family were also accommodated; and the whole of the east wing of the Semi- nary given up to the use of the students. On the 24th he met his
432
DIVISION OF HANOVER PRESBYTERY.
Presbytery in Hanover, and on the 28th he met the Synod of Virginia in Richmond. Together with Dr. Speece and Wm. Maxwell, Esq., he was appointed to communicate the action of the Synod to the Pre- sident of the Convention to form a new State Constitution - " Re- solved, unanimously, That the Synod of Virginia have observed with great satisfaction, that the Convention now assembled to form a new Constitution for the people of this Commonwealth, are proposing and doubtless intending to preserve and perpetuate the sacred principle, Liberty of Conscience, declared in the Bill of Rights, and developed in the act establishing religious freedom as a part of the fundamental law of the land : and they do hereby solemnly proclaim that they continue to esteem and cherish that principle for which the Presby- terian Church of this State, and throughout the United States, have ever zealously and heartily contended, as the dearest right, and the most precious privilege that freemen can enjoy."
On the second day of the session, Oct. 29th, 1829, the Presbytery of Hanover, the mother of Presbyteries, was again, by the act of Synod, at its own request, divided. The two Presbyteries were named East Hanover and West Hanover. The boundary line finally adjusted was on the lines of Brunswick, Nottoway, Amelia, Powhatan, Goochland, and Spottsylvania. By the agreement of Hanover Pres- bytery, in preparation for the division, two days before it took place -" The records to be copied at joint expense of the two Presbyteries, under the direction of the Stated Clerk of Hanover Presbytery. The Original Records shall be retained by the East Hanover Presbytery." There were two copies of the records-from the commencement of Presbytery down to about 1804. The one the original records by different clerks ; the other, a copy made by order of Presbytery by their stated clerk, Mr. Lacy. The copies to be made by this order were to be disposed of according to seniority. East Hanover, embracing the residence of the first preachers, Davies and Todd, took the older copy. It was agreed that the "permanent funds of the Education and Missionary Societies, and of the Book Concern, shall belong to that Presbytery within whose bounds they were origi- nally raised." Mr. B. H. Rice took his dismission from Presbytery to remove to the city of New York.
To Dr. Woods, of Andover, Dr. Rice writes, on the 12th of No- vember, 1829-"I was obliged to set out, the day after an exami- nation, (in September,) to North Carolina, to attend to the interests of our Seminary ; and I could not return till about the 20th of Oc- tober. It was then my duty to go to Presbytery and Synod. I have been just a week at home, nearly confined to my house with a bad cold. And what aggravates the case, we have weather as severe, as, in ordinary seasons, we have at Christmas. I have been obliged to overwork myself, and begin the present term worn down with exces- sive labor. But I do not repine. I only mention these things to show why I have been so slow in answering your last acceptable and affectionate letter." In the winter succeeding, the Professor was em- ployed in the duties of his office, and hastening to an unexpected
433
DR. RICE'S LETTER TO MR. TAYLOR.
close. The mortal frame, oppressed with the efforts of the mind, was even now tottering; and while the Professor never appeared better before his students, that exceeding interest was extracted from the essence of his life.
In the month of April, 1830, he commenced a Series of Historical and Philosophical Considerations on Religion. In addressing them to James Madison, Esq., late President of the United States, he says -- " I should not have presumed to bring your name before the public in this manner, had I not been permitted to observe you in the late Convention of Virginia, and to see in you the same pious, enlightened, and dignified friend of rational liberty, that you showed yourself to be forty years ago, in that celebrated Convention, which, after a most able discussion, ratified the Federal Constitution. It was principally your agency, which carried the Act for Securing Religious Liberty, through the Legislature of Virginia, in 1785. And as one impor- tant object of the following papers is to show how the freedom, which we now happily enjoy, may be perpetuated-I trust that you will pardon the presumption of inscribing these papers to you." These papers, received with marked approbation, were continued through fifteen numbers : the last appearing in Oct., 1830. A reprint was called for : and the Dr. made an effort to bring them to the proposed conclusion in Feb., 1831, but his sinking health forbade his putting a finishing hand to a work of extended usefulness, and not the least in ability, of his varied efforts to interest and instruct the public.
In March, 1830, to Mr. Knowles Taylor he writes - " My spirits have not been good since Christmas, and one reason is, that I have had too much to do; another is, that my health has been much less firm than common ; and for the last six weeks I have been consumed by a slow, debilitating fever, which has put it out of my power to do anything at all. This makes all my work move on slowly. We have this winter thirty-five students, and a very fine spirit of piety amongst them." This slow fever never left him; it finally laid him in his grave. In May he visited New York to attend to the collec- tion of the instalments for the Seminary. His health and strength were refreshed by the excursion. In the summer, besides the pro- fessor's duties, and the papers addressed to Mr. Madison, he com- menced the memoir of James B. Taylor, and left the work to be finished by his brother, Benjamin H. Rice. At the Commencement of the College in September he was complimented by his friends on account of his apparently improved health, in which they all rejoiced, not knowing that it was the insidious flush of fever. He went again to New York to finish the collection of the subscription to the Semi- nary. And it was ever a matter of thankfulness to him that, rebuked in the spring for leaving Mrs. Rice at home, he had taken her along with him on this his last visit. Visiting the towns on the North River, he encountered a succession of heavy rains. In Hudson he was seized with a severe cold, which fastened upon his lungs. His breast, throat and face became inflamed. Turning his face homeward, struggling with disease, he kept the great object of his 28
434
LAST LABORS OF DR. RICE.
journey in view. Passing through Princeton, he rested for the last time under the roof of his friend, Dr. Alexander. The enjoyments of friendship rose superior to the sufferings of his body, and this last interview was sweet. Dr. Rice was looking on his friend Alex- ander as leading on a Seminary to the highest excellence ; and Dr. Alexander rejoiced in his friend Rice, as doing for his native State a work far beyond his utmost imaginings. One who often witnessed the meetings of these men, thought that in dignity, simplicity, kindness, and unreserved frankness, he had never seen anything to compare. There was a blending of the old Roman Senators, fit to be kings, with the meekness and gentleness of Christian men, fit to be God's ministers.
In Philadelphia he was seized with one of those painful strictures, which increased upon him during his life. His friends showed him all the kindness that a knowledge that this was his last visit could have prompted. In Baltimore he passed a night with his friend Mr. Wirt, and received his best attentions, full of tenderness becoming the last, but full of expectation of many meetings to come. Taking the steamboat to Norfolk, he parted with his friend Maxwell, who finally manifested the fulness of his friendship in a memoir of his friend. In Richmond he passed the Sabbath with " his own people," as he called them, and preached twice with great acceptance. The next day he set off, in his own small carriage, with Mrs. Rice, and on Tuesday reached the Seminary to go away no more. In the duties of his office he for a time forgot his disease. His last efforts seemed to his classes more and more full of excellence. His mind took a wider view and more powerful grasp of the subjects before him. In November, 1830, he wrote to Dr. Wisner, of Boston, on the condition of the Church and the world -"I regard the human race as at this moment standing on the covered crater of a volcano, in which elementary fires are raging with the intensity of the tophet ordained of old. Heaven has provided conductors of wonderful power, by which this heat may be diffused as a general warmth and a cheering light through the world. And the necessary process must be performed by the Church. Otherwise there will be an explosion, which will shatter to pieces every fabric of human hope and comfort. Nothing but one strong feeling can put down another. Our learned doctors may wear out their pens and put out their eyes, and they and their partizans will be of the same opinion still. The Church is not to be purified by controversy, but by love. I have, therefore, brought my mind to the conclusion, that the thing most needed at this present time is a revival of religion among Christians, and especially a larger increase of holiness among ministers."
On the second Sabbath of the following December he delivered his last sermon. His hearers were the citizens living in the neigh- borhood of the Seminary, assembled in the brick church. He pre- sented in striking language the contest about to take place between the Church and the world, as it appeared to his mental vision. With unusual earnestness he exhorted his hearers to come out more pal-
.
435
REV. JOHN H. RICE, D. D.
pably from the world. This sermon his hearers delighted to call to mind long after his voice was hushed in the grave. When the people found that this was the last they should hear from the beloved man, they all joined in the conclusion that he could not have closed his ministry more becomingly. Dr. Rice lay down upon his bed, a slowly dying man. Having actively done his master's will for years, he came now to suffer it, for many successive months.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
JOHN H. RICE, D. D. - HIS LAST SICKNESS AND DEATH.
THE active services of Dr. Rice were brought to a close on the 15th of December, 1830, the Wednesday after his last sermon. The pains that had followed the cold that came upon him in New York, returned this day with prostrating violence. He was never more a convalescing man. Drs. Farrar and Mettaux attended upon him carefully ; his brother-in-law, Dr. Morton, was assiduous in his attentions ; and his old instructor, Dr. Wilson, said encouragingly - " He will come out with the butterflies ;" all were trusting that his constitution would, with careful nursing, throw off the disease, and also recover from the over action, mental and physical, to which the zeal of Dr. Rice had prompted. He had commenced the work of the Seminary when not yet recovered from the effects of a long and wasting fever ; had tasked himself with labors equal to his strength in his best days ; stimulated by success, he had put forth greater and still greater efforts of mind and body; and now, when final success was crowning his gigantic exertions - the Boston house completed had been his residence for a year, -the North Carolina house was finished and occupied by Mr. Goodrich, - the Seminary building on a scale ample for the accommodation of a hundred students, hastening to its completion, - some forty-eight students assembled for instruction on subjects preparatory to the ministry of the gospel,- just then the machinery, while raising the top stone of the beloved fabric, gave way. Uncheered by the frost and snow of winter, that give renewed life to the fevered, - unaided by the genial warmth of Spring that brought out "the butterflies,"- more languid from the heat of summer-the autumn beheld him like a withered leaf dropping in the stillness of evening, to be seen in its place no more.
Unable to use his pen, he occasionally dictated to some of the students, who cheerfully became his amanuenses. The labor of planning and scheming for the foundation of a Seminary, worthy of the cause, being over, his mind turned with energy, quickened by the approach of death, to the great subjects of benevolence that had
436
REV. JOHN H. RICE, D. D.
cheered and busied him while pastor in Richmond, and had not been lost sight of at the Union Theological Seminary. To his friend Maxwell, a member of the Senate of Virginia, he writes, urging on his attention the subject of public education, from the example of the great deficiency in Prince Edward. The latter part of January, 1831, a correspondent of the Telegraph writes, " three days ago we thought him nearly well ; he was able to ride. Since that he has been much worse again. He is now confined to his bed, and was worse last night than he has been before." In the same paper it was announced that the Letters to Mr. Madison would be continued. By the assistance of Dr. Morton two letters were prepared for the press, and appeared in the Telegraph; and then increasing pains with overpowering sickness cut short the series.
A few weeks preceding his last violent attack, in a long and most interesting letter to Dr. Wisner of Boston, Dr. Rice, among other things says, "I made a vow to the Lord, that in my poor way I would do what I could, to have next spring such a General Assem- bly as never before met on earth. I know this looks like presump- tion in me. But I hope many will aid in prayer and mighty effort, in this thing. I want some of my beloved New England friends to come to Philadelphia, just to try to get good and do good; to come without feeling they belong to New England, but that they belong to Christ and his Church ; not to say one word about any matter of dispute among Christians; but determined to know nothing but Christ and him crucified. And I wish that this meeting may be a subject of much prayer, and previous preparation. We must fight fire with fire, and kindle such a flame of divine love, that it will burn up every material for unhallowed fire to work on. I wish too that some plan might be devised for kindling up in the Presbyterian Church the true spirit of missions, and rousing this great sluggish body from its sleep. Here is a subject of delicacy and difficulty. The Presbyterian spirit has been so awakened up, that I began to apprehend that no power of man will ever bring the whole body to unite under a Congregational board. What can be done ? Here we want wisdom. I never will do any thing to injure the wisest and best missionary society in the world, the American Board. But can no ingenuity devise a scheme of a Presbyterian branch of the American Board ?" Convinced that he should not attend that Gen- eral Assembly, which he had hoped would be the best that ever met, he proceeded to adjust his thoughts and commit them to paper, by his amanuensis, and sent them to Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, for his perusal, and that of the other professors.
Project of an overture to be submitted to the next General As- sembly. "The Presbyterian Church in the United States of North America, in organizing their forms of government, and in repeated declarations made through their representatives in after times, have solemnly recognized the importance of the missionary cause, and their obligation as Christians, to promote it by all the means in their power. But these various acknowledgements have not gone to
437
REV. JOHN H. RICE, D. D.
the full extent of the obligation imposed by the head of the Church, nor have they produced exertions at all corresponding thereto. In- deed, in the judgment of the General Assembly, one primary and principal object of the institution of the Church by Jesus Christ was, not so much the salvation of individual Christians, - for, 'he that believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved,' but the com- municating of the blessing of the gospel to the destitute with the efficiency of united effort. The entire histories of the Christian so- cieties organized by the apostles, affords abundant evidence that they so understood the design of their Master. They received from him a command, 'to preach the gospel to every creature,' and from the Churches planted by them, the word of the Lord was sounded out through all parts of the civilized world. Nor did the mission- ary spirit of the primitive Churches expire, until they had become secularized and corrupted by another spirit. And it is the decided belief of this General Assembly that a true revival of religion in any denomination of Christians, will generally, if not universally, be marked by an increased sense of obligation to execute the com- mission which Christ gave the apostles. The General Assembly would, therefore, in the most public and solemn manner, express their, shame and sorrow that the Church represented by them has done comparatively so little to make known the saving health of the gospel to all nations. At the same time, they would express their grateful sense of the goodness of the Lord, in employing the instrumentality of others to send salvation to the heathen. Par- ticularly would they rejoice at the Divine favor manifested to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, whose per- severance, whose prudence, whose skill, in conducting this most important interest, merit the praise and excite the joy of all the churches. With an earnest desire, therefore, to co-operate with this noble institution ; to fulfil in some part at least, their own obliga- tions ; and to answer the just expectations of the friends of Christ in other denominations, and in other countries; in obedience also to what is believed to be the command of Christ,
"Be it Resolved, 1st, That the Presbyterian Church in the United States is a missionary society ; the object of which is to aid in the conversion of the world; and that every member of the church is a member for life of said society, and bound, in maintenance of his Christian character, to do all in his power for the accomplishment of this object. 2d, That the ministers of the gospel in connection with the Presbyterian Church, are hereby most solemnly required to present this subject to the members of their respective congrega- tions, using every effort to make them feel their obligations, and to induce them to contribute according to their ability. 3d, That a Committee of - be appointed from year to year by the General Assembly, to be designated 'The Committee of the Presbyterian Church of the United States for Foreign Missions,' to whose man- agement this whole concern shall be confided, with directions to report all their transactions to the churches. 4th, The Committee
-
438
BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.
shall have power to appoint a Chairman, Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, and other necessary officers. 5th, The Committee shall, as far as the nature of the case will admit, be co-ordinate with the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, and shall correspond and co-operate with that association in every possible way, for the accomplishment of the great objects which it has in view. 6th, Inasmuch as members belonging to the Presbyterian Church have already, to some extent, acknowledged their obligations, and have been accustomed, from year to year, to contribute to the funds of the American Board, and others may hereafter prefer to give that destination to their contributions ; and inasmuch as the General Assembly, so far from wishing to limit or impede the opera- tion of that Board, is earnestly desirous that they may be enlarged to the greatest possible extent; it is, therefore, to be distinctly understood that all individuals, congregations, or missionary asso- ciations, are at liberty to send their contributions either to the American Board, or to the Committee of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, as to the contributors may appear most likely to advance the great object of the conversion of the world. 7th, That every church session be authorized to receive contributions ; and be directed to state in their annual reports to the Presbytery, distinctly, the amount contributed by their respective churches for Foreign Missions ; and that it be earnestly recommended to all church ses- sions, in hereafter admitting new members to the churches, distinctly to state to candidates for admission, that they join a community, the object of which is the conversion of the heathen world, and to impress on their minds a deep sense of their obligations as redeemed sinners, to co-operate in the accomplishment of the great object of Christ's mission to the world."
The foregoing was sent to Dr. Hodge, with the following note:
" UNION SEMINARY, March 4th, 1831.
" DEAR SIR - The Rev. Dr. Rice had the above overture, which he indited while lying on a sick-bed, copied on a large sheet, intending, when Providence should restore his health, to occupy the blank space in laying before you more at large his views and feelings on the subject which the overture presents. But there is no prospect of his being soon at least able to write, and the time of the Assem- bly draws near. He is, therefore, compelled to send you the article as it is. He wishes you to submit it also to the other Professors of your Seminary, and desires a communication of your views with regard to it. His health does not sensibly improve. He is confined entirely to his bed. The physicians do not appear, however, to anticipate a fatal result. Respectfully,
"E. BALLANTINE, Amanuensis."
The overture was favorably received at Princeton; and came before the Assembly on the third day of its sessions, Saturday, May 21st, 1831, and was committed to Rev. Messrs. Armstrong, of North River, Calvert, of West Tennessee, Goodrich, of Orange, Dr. J.
439
DR. RICE'S ILLNESS. ,
M'Dowell, of Elizabethtown, and Dr. Agnew, elder from Carlisle. On Tuesday, 31st, a Committee was appointed "to attend the next annual meeting of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, and confer with that body in respect to measures to be adopted for enlisting the energies of the Presbyterian Church more . extensively in the cause of missions to the heathen; and that said Committee report the results of this conference, and their views on the whole subject, to the next Assembly." The gentlemen chosen by ballot on nomination, were - Rev. Messrs. John M'Dowell, of Elizabethtown, Thomas M'Auley, of Philadelphia, James Richards, of Newark, as principals; and Rev. Messrs. A. Alexander, John Breckenridge, and Elisha Swift, alternates. When Dr. Rice heard the names of the Committee, he said, smilingly, "that some of the alternates, he thought, understood his views better than some of the principals."
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.