USA > Virginia > Sketches of Virginia : historical and biographical > Part 58
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He frequently addressed his fellow-citizens on the subject of tem- perance. In Augusta it was a great practical question, not so much of drinking' or not drinking, as of income. The region of country all around him was most productive in grain. The distance to market was great, the roads bad, and the demand for breadstuffs but limited. The farmers found it more profitable, with less labor, to have a por- tion of their grain distilled into whiskey, and in that form sent to market. In adopting the temperance principles the farmer would lessen his income, and must change his arrangements in managing his farm. The discussion of the principles that led to decline drink- ing, or making intoxicating liquors, or any way trafficking in them, involved the political and religious economy of the valley. Dr. Speece was a host. His weight of character was now used for the welfare of his fellow-citizens. His own excellent financial abilities were universally known, and gave influence to his arguments, per- suading the citizens of the valley to change the manner of sending their crops to market - because "the making, vending and using of ardent spirits as a drink are morally wrong." The last sermon he delivered was on Saturday, February 17th, 1836, at a temperance society meeting at Young's Chapel, on 2 Samuel, 16: 17, "Is this thy kindness to thy friend ?" "The powers of his mind," says a hearer, "were probably seldom more vivedly displayed in deli- neating the existing want of kindness which those who manufactured ardent spirits, and those who sell it for common use, knowing its destructive consequences, manifest towards their fellow-men."
On his way to the old Stone church the next morning, Sabbath, 14th, he was prostrated by a violent affection of the heart, from an attack of which he had but just recovered. Resting at the house of Mrs. Read till Monday evening, he was conveyed to the house of Dr. Allen, on his way to Major Nelson's. Between the hours of 31
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nine and ten at night the family retired, supposing his symptoms altogether favorable. Mrs. Allen delaying a little, and going again to see her friend, gave Dr. Allen the alarm that Dr. Speece was singularly affected. The agonies of death were upon him. “We spoke to him, but he did not answer. We called to him, but he seemed insensible. With anxious looks we stood by his bed for a few minutes, and the scene was closed. He spoke not. He died without a sigh, without a struggle." On Wednesday the corpse was taken to the church, and laid before the pulpit in which he had preached for more than twenty-two years. Mr. James C. Willson gave a discourse on the fight of faith and the crown, from 2 Tim. 4: 7, 8. Messrs. Hendren and Paul, each made a short address, and the body was carried to the old grave-yard, whither on the 2d of the preceding December, he had followed his predecessor William Wilson, crushed by the weight of eighty-four winters.
" When I first knew Dr. Speece," says Dr. Baxter, in a sermon prepared upon the occasion of his death, "he was just commencing the course of a liberal education. He had been incited to this by the advice of the Rev. Samuel Brown, who was perhaps the first man who discovered his merits, and made an effort to draw him from obscurity. In the beginning of his literary career, he gave evidence of his uncommon powers. Such was the clearness and com- prehension of judgment, the retentiveness of his memory, and the strength of his mental faculties, that his progress was surprising in every branch of study to which he turned his attention, and all eyes were fixed upon him. In the circle were he was known, it was a common remark in conversation, that a star of the first magnitude was about to rise, and it was believed that whatever department of learning he might cultivate, or whatever profession he might pursue, he would appear as a shining light in our country. At the time of which I speak, Mr. Speece was not the subject of religion. He had, indeed, enjoyed in a high degree the benefits of a religious education through the instrumentality of a pious mother. I have often heard him express his attachment to that mother, and his gratitude to God for giving him such a parent. He sometimes said, that when he got to heaven, he believed that after viewing the glories of his Redeemer, the second object would be to search out and find that mother in her glorified state."
After giving at length the exercises of his mind on the subject of infidelity of the French school, Dr. Baxter goes on to say, " When he had rejected that system, he did not humbly submit himself at once to the teachings of divine revelation. In the native pride of the human intellect, he reasoned on the attributes and government of God. He soon came to the conclusion that God must be infinitely wise and powerful, and his decrees irreversible, that nothing can take place contrary to foreknowledge and permission. God in making the world must have had a plan, and no being could defeat the plans of infinite wisdom, backed by Almighty power. . But then the world is full of sin and misery, and how can this be accounted
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for under the government of infinite perfection ? Why did not God exert his omnipotence to prevent the existence of sin ? He was per- plexed by various unjustifiable questions of this kind until his rebel- lion arose almost to agony. God permits sin, but does not force any creature to the perpetration of it ; and the reasons of the permis- sion are, no doubt, worthy of himself, but they lie beyond our comprehension. For some years Mr. Speece puzzled himself in these presumptuous speculations, but at last he was brought to con- template this subject in the light of the gospel. In other words, he beheld the dispensation and character of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He saw that whatever misery and darkness might rest on the world in general, the gospel opens a new living way, by which the humble and penitent might find the favor of God; that where sin had abounded, grace had much more abounded, and that no man. was excluded from mercy and happiness who did not exclude him- self. The all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ, and his willingness to save, was the truth which brought peace and joy to his mind, and silenced all his complaints.
From the time when Mr. Speece found peace in believing, he determined at once to serve God in the gospel ministry. This, in his case, was a noble sacrifice. The prospects of the ministry were more discouraging in a temporal view at that time than at present. Our churches were more feeble and perhaps less liberal than they now are; and, on the other hand, the lucrative pro- fessions were not crowded; they stood open before him, holding out the almost certain prospect of immediate wealth and distinction, yet with all these allurements in view, Mr. Speece at once resolved to serve God in that course of self-denial in which his services promised to be most efficient. When he entered the ministry, our church seems to have been pervaded by a better spirit than it pos- sesses at present. Many young men at that day made the same sacri- fice which he made. They turned their backs on the allurements of worldly distinction, and devoted themselves to the self-denying work of the ministry. The world was astonished at their choice, and I have heard the reverend fathers of the church express their grateful wonder with tears, at determinations which could only proceed from the grace of God, and which seemed to promise that the grace of God would uphold the cause of religion. And on this subject I have often made another remark with pleasing wonder. Those young men, who gave themselves to the cause of the church when her pros- `pects were confessedly lower than they have ever been either before or since, were generally led through life by a kind Providence which never forsook them; and they often enjoyed even more of temporal comfort than other young men of the same day, who forsook the church that they might pursue the world. I am convinced the hand of the Lord was in the thing. It confirms the promise, 'Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed - your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have ueed of these things.'. After witnessing these things, I have become
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satisfied that in the common movements of divine Providence, sacri- fices made in his cause with pious prudence, will not bring his children to want."
While "new measures," by their novelty and apparent success, were gaining attention and popularity, Dr. Speece called the attention of the Synod at Harrisonburg to the whole subject. Dr. Baxter said of them, "that without having any virtue in themselves, he thought they might be advantageous ; that their efficiency depended on the manner of their use; and their final advantage depended on the prudence of those who used them; and, therefore, Synod was not called to pass any sentence upon them, particularly as ill-effects had not yet been seen in the Synod." Dr. Speece, without going into an argument, expressed an opinion decisively against them all, indi- vidually and collectively, as things uncalled for, and therefore use- less, if not positively harmful. "I wish to go along with my old friends and brethren, in all things pertaining to the ministry. I want to hear the strong reasons for these measures. I wish to be convinced if possible. I dislike being left alone by my old friends." A modified use was adopted by his brethren around; and to gratify his people who wished a trial to be made, and, if possible, to agree with those who believed in their advantage, he held a protracted meeting on' the improved plan. The success was apparently com -- plete. More than one hundred were added to the church. The Doctor was silent about "new measures." After a time some ill- effects began to appear; and the Doctor returned to his original position, and found his congregation ready to stand by him. Every- thing objectionable in the "new measures" speedily disappeared from any part of the Valley in which they may have found a partial and temporary welcome. The thing that most deranged the gospel order of the churches, was the hasty admission of members - that is - allowing people to make profession of religion, and hold church membership on profession of religious exercises, in a short space of time - their first apparent attention to the subject - and that, too, by persons not instructed in the doctrines of the gospel. This in its consequences was found so great an evil, that all that led to it became suspicious, and was ultimately discarded. Dr. Speece reiterated his opinion, "that the ordinary means of grace in the church were, with God's blessing, sufficient for the conversion of sinners ; and that in extraordinary cases, extraordinary means should be used with exemplary prudence; and that the greater the excite- ment on religious things, the greater the plainness and precision with which the doctrines of grace should be preached ; and that time should be given for due reflection before a profession of faith involv- ing church membership should be encouraged."
Rev. John Hendren, D. D., long a near neighbor and intimate friend of Dr. Speece, says of him -"The mind of Dr. Speece was one of the first order. He excelled in soundness of judgment, and had a most ready discernment of right and wrong in human actions. His intellectual faculties were highly cultivated. Few had read
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more or digested it better than he. His taste for literary pursuits did not diminish with the increase of his years. Only a few years before his death he purchased Malte Brun's Geography, and was highly entertained with it, and remarked that his taste for such reading was unabated, and he seemed to regard it as a fact affording some surprise to himself. Of systematic writers on theology, I think he gave the preference decidedly to Turretine. He also esteemed Dwight's Theology. Knapp's Lectures on Christian Theology, translated by Leonard Woods, Jr., he did not value highly. He was an admirer of most of Sir Walter Scott's works, when they first appeared, and I know not that his relish for such reading had at all declined. He valued Henry as a. commentator ; yet I believe he preferred Scott, and regarded him as a commentator of a very sound judgment, and as a safe guide to the student of the Scrip- tures. Writers of genius, such as Robert Hall and Foster, who deal but little in common-place remarks, had his decided approba- tion." Somehow the idea got abroad that Dr. Speece had made a will, and that his valuable library was a bequest to the Union Theo- logical Seminary, in Prince Edward. After his death no evidence of a will appeared, and his large collection of books was disposed of at auction. Being such as became a minister's study, particularly the more valuable, the volumes found their way, for a moderate price, into the libraries of his brethren in the ministry, and are doing their work, perhaps, more effectually than in the alcoves of any literary or theological institution.
Dr. Speece was never married. Ever an admirer of the female sex, and once on the brink of matrimony, he passed his years lock- ing up in his breast the reason of his celibacy, and of his estrange- ment from the joys and perplexities of housekeeping, "the sunny and the shady side" of a pastor's life. In Powhatan he was an inmate of the family of Mr. Josiah Smith, and in Augusta he made his home with Major Nelson. The kindness and comfort of these families made him insensible of the natural loneliness of his single state. His sudden death, while as yet his congregations were uncon- scious of any waning of his powers, relieved him from that step he contemplated with pain, and believed was inevitably near, the asking to be dismissed from his charge on account of bodily infirmity. It also rendered unnecessary the careful preparation he had made by his economy and frugality for the wants of age. He died a beloved minister, to whom every act of kindness flowed spontaneously from his extensive charge, and was spared the decrepitude of increasing years.
" The last time I saw him," says Dr. Hendren, " was at a called meeting of Presbytery (Staunton, Jan. 22d, 1836). He looked very pale. I heard him pray, and though I had often heard him pray before, there was something, both in the prayer and in his manner, which struck me very much, especially the great humility, the sim- plicity, and the tender devotional feelings which he manifested. I have often thought of that prayer since. It reminds me of what the
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biographer of Robert Hall says of his prayers. No person who heard him could fail of being persuaded that he was really engaged in prayer, was holding communion with his God and father in Christ Jesus. He seemed to throw himself at the feet of the great Eternal, conscious that he could present no claim for a single blessing but the blood of atonement, yet animated with the cheering hope that that blood would prevail."
The latest of his poetic pieces bears date July 31st, 1835, about six months before his death :
J
FRIENDSHIPS OF ANCIENT DATE.
I love to reflect on my earlier time, When social affections all bloomed in their prime, When no cold suspicion had place in my breast, And heaven gave friendships, the dearest and best.
I love to remember old friends far away, With whom I would gladly converse every day ; Their features and smiles, which no longer I see, Yet pictured by fancy, are precious to me.
I love to sit down with a friend of my youth, Long tried and found steadfast in kindness and truth ; To talk while we heed not the march of the sun, Of what we have seen, and have felt and have done.
I love more than all to look up to the sky, And think of the friendships that never shall die ; Which here give us pleasure still mingled with pain, But there in perfection for ever shall reign.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
GOING INTO CONVENTION.
FROM the time of the Inauguration of Dr. Baxter the attention of the Virginia Synod, and the Synods further south, was turned with increasing earnestness, and deepening interest, to the questions that were agitating the more northern portions of the church. It became from time to time manifest that the tendencies exhibited by the two speakers at the Inauguration were becoming currents, whose direction and power might not be easily defined. Delegates from the Presbyteries to the Assembly were compelled by virtue of their office to hear the overtures, and complaints, and appeals laid before the highest court in the Presbyterian Church, and pass sentence as responsible officers of the Church of Christ. And, in some of the ways recognized in the form of government, all these subjects in dispute were laid before the assembled delegates.
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EXAMINATION OF MINISTERS.
1st. THE EXAMINATION OF MINISTERS.
In the General Assembly of 1832, the month succeeding Dr. Bax- ter's inauguration, a reference from the Synod of Philadelphia, in relation to the right of Presbyteries to require every minister or licen- tiate, coming to them by certificate from another Presbytery, or other ecclesiastical body, to submit to an examination before he could be received, was presented and read, and after considerable discussion was committed to Dr. Hill, Dr. Spring, Mr. Baird, Dr. M'Pheeters, and Mr. Wisner. Drs. Green and Beman, were afterwards added. This committee reported and re-reported, and after much discussion the matter was indefinitely postponed. On the one side it was claimed that such examination was the inalienable right of Presbytery in order to know the doctrinal opinions of those offering to become members ; and that its exercise was peculiarly necessary at a time abounding in innovations in the doctrines, and forms, and practices of the church. On the other side it was replied, that a certificate of mem- bership and good standing had hitherto been a passport from one Presbytery to another, and a change now would be an assumption of authority, and an expression of suspicion not called for by any of the circumstances of the church. In 1834, this matter was brought again to the notice of the Assembly, by a memorial sent up by sundry Presbyteries and Sessions, and signed also by about 18 ministers, and 100 elders in their individual capacity. The report of the committee, of which the Rev. James H. C. Leach was chair- man, was adopted, declaring -" that a due regard to the order of the church and the bonds of brotherhood, require that ministers dismissed in good standing by sister Presbyteries, should be received by the Presbyteries they are dismissed to join, upon credit of their testimonials, unless they shall have forfeited their good standing subsequently to their dismissal." In the succeeding year, 1835, the same subject was brought before the Assembly by memorial and petition, and the report of the committee of which Dr. Miller of Princeton, was chairman, was adopted, by yeas 130, nays 78, affirming " the right of every Presbytery to be entirely satisfied of the sound- ness in the faith, and the good character in every respect, of those ministers who apply to be admitted into the Presbytery, as mem- bers, and who bring testimonials of good standing from sister Pres- byteries, or from foreign bodies with whom the Presbyterian Church is in correspondence. And if there be any reasonable doubt respecting the proper qualifications of such candidates, notwith- standing their testimonials, it is the right, and may be the duty of such a Presbytery to examine them, or to take such other methods of being satisfied in regard to their suitable character, as may be judged proper ; and if such satisfaction be not obtained, to decline receiving them." This discussion renewed from time to time had the form of an abstraction, but the effect was practically evincing the existence of different views of theological subjects in the Presby- terian Church, and a growing conviction of the necessity of drawing the line of distinction.
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CHURCHES FORMED ON THE PLAN OF UNION.
2nd. THE CHURCHES FORMED ON THE PLAN OF UNION.
The plan of union between Presbyterians and Congregationalists in the new settlements adopted in 1801, by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and the General Association of Con- necticut, for the convenience of the new settlements, in forming churches and obtaining pastors, after having been in operation about thirty years, became the subject of enquiry and discussion in con- nection with the disputed matters already agitating the Church. In 1831, the committee on commissions reported, "a commission from Grand River for a member of a standing committee instead of a Ruling Elder." After considerable discussion the person named in the commission was enrolled among the list of members. Mr. Ro- bert J. Breckenridge, a Ruling Elder from West Lexington Presby- tery, on the ninth day of the session, entered a protest against the decision of the Assembly, by which the standing committee-man was admitted as a regular member of the Assembly, and also against the right of said committee-man to sit in that body.
THIS PLAN OF UNION was contained in four articles prepared for the convenience of new settlements on the frontiers, now the heart of the State of New York ; and as the frontiers moved westwardly, by tacit consent the plan of union, having been expressed in general terms, was applied to the congregations gathered among emigrants, from different sections of country, settling in the same or convenient neighborhoods.
Article 1st. It is strictly enjoined on all their missionaries to the new settlements, to endeavor, by all proper means, to promote mutual forbearance and accommodation, between those inhabitants of the new settlements who hold the Presbyterian and those who hold the Congregational form of Church Government.
Article 2nd. If in the new settlements, any Church of the Con- gregational order shall settle a minister of the Presbyterian order, that Church may, if they choose, still conduct their discipline ac- cording to Congregational principles, settling their difficulties among themselves, or by a council mutually agreed upon for that purpose ; But if any difficulty shall exist between the minister and the Church or any member of it, it shall be referred to the Presbytery to which the minister shall belong, provided both parties agree, to it; if not, to a council consisting of an equal number of Presbyterians and Congregationalists, agreed upon by both parties.
Article 3d. If a Presbyterian Church shall settle a minister of Congregational principles, that Church may still conduct their dis- cipline according to Presbyterian principles ; excepting that if a dif- ficulty arise between him and his Church, or any member of it, the cause shall be tried by the Association, to which the said minister shall belong, provided both parties agree to it; otherwise by a coun- cil, one half Congregationalists and the other half Presbyterians, mutually agreed on by the parties.
Article 4th. If any congregation consist partly of those who hold
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the Congregational form of discipline, and partly of those who hold the Presbyterian form, we recommend to both parties, that this be no obstruction to their uniting in one Church and settling a minister ; and that in this case the Church choose a standing committee from the communicants of said Church, whose business it shall be, to call to account every member of the Church, who shall conduct himself inconsistently with the laws of Christianity, and to give judgment on such conduct; and if the person condemned by their judgment be a Presbyterian, he shall have liberty to appeal to the Presbytery ; if a Congregationalist, he shall have liberty to appeal to the body of the male communicants of the Church; in the former case the determination of the Presbytery shall be final, unless the Church consent to a further appeal to the Synod, or to the General Assem- bly ; and in the latter case, if the party condemned shall wish for a trial, by a mutual council. And provided the said standing com- mittce of any Church, shall depute one of themselves to attend the Presbytery, he may have the same right to sit and act in the Pres- bytery, as a Ruling Elder of the Presbyterian Church.
The protest of Mr. Breckenridge affirmed that the articles of agreement on which this committee-man claimed a seat, stipulated for a seat for such a person only in the Session and Presbytery ; and as these persons were not Elders or Bishops, they could have no constitutional right to a seat in any judicatory, nor any conven- tional right farther than the strict import of the terms of the agree- ment. Without discussing the constitutionality of the articles as interpreted - the protest declared- "if, however, they are so con- strued as to place members here, who are by our constitution for- bidden to be here, or as in any degree to affect the principles of the organization of this house as clearly defined in our books, then it is manifest that the articles must be considered utterly null and void." Sixty-six members of Assembly united with Mr. Breckenridge in this protest. Two days after, the assembly resolved, "That in the opinion of the General Assembly, the appointment by some Pres- byteries, as has occurred in a few cases, of members of standing committees to be members of the General Assembly, is inexpedient, and of questionable constitutionality, and therefore in future ought not to be made."
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