USA > Virginia > Sketches of Virginia : historical and biographical > Part 66
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At this spring meeting the Presbytery passed resolutions declar- ing adherence to the Assembly of '37 and their acts, and to that Assembly of '38, that was organized with Dr. Plumer, moderator, and condemning the principles of the law-suit. Sundry members put in a paper stating in very respectful terms their opinion respecting the constitutionality of the doings of the Assembly of 1837, and the rela- tion of the Presbytery to the two Assemblies ; the Presbytery received the paper, and put it on record as the expression of Pres- byters exercising their constitutional right, and thereby in no wise forfeiting their standing or amenability to the Presbytery. The
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brethren presenting the paper then asked a dismission for them- selves and the churches represented by them, to form a separate Presbytery, to adhere to that Assembly they recognized as the true Assembly. Whereupon it was, Resolved, "That while it is matter of regret that the deep and abiding division of opinion renders a separation necessary, nevertheless the Presbytery agrees to the depar- ture of the brethren, and that their connexion with the Presbytery do cease, their character and standing unimpeached." Rev. Messrs. A. D. Pollock, Henry Smith and Alexander Mebane, with Elders Samuel Reeve, Carter Braxton and George Hutchinson, withdrew. The churches represented by these brethren were the United Church on Shockoe hill, Third Church, Richmond, and Salem and Pole Green. The Presbytery organized soon after took the name of Hanover. To this new Presbytery some that had been connected with West Hanover attached themselves. With the exception of the churches that were in the bounds of Abington Presbytery, the minis- ters and churches in Virginia that adhered to the Assembly of '38, of which Dr. Fisher was moderator, were all connected with the Presbyteries of Winchester and Hanover.
Of the Presbytery of West Hanover, those opposed to the acts of the Assembly of '37, and not prepared to continue in connexion with the Presbytery, withdrew as opportunity and convenience prompted, and connected themselves with other Presbyteries, without that for- mal withdrawal or announcement which took place in the other Presbyteries.
In these separations of Presbyterial connexions, courtesy and kindness prevailed. In the condition in which the ministers and churches found themselves after the heated discussions and painful trial of feelings consequent upon a difference of opinion concerning the action of Assembly in relation to the four Synods, separation was a peace measure. As soon as it became evident that continued strife or separation were the only alternatives left, the angry feel- ings yielded, passion began to subside ; and men choosing their own ground, freely yielded to others the right of choice; and the muddy streams of charity flowed more and more pure. The unfor- giving spirit in the strife for mastery yielded to Christian courtesy and respect for sister denominations when the separation was com- pleted. There were only three cases in which the courtesy of Pres- bytery seemed to be withheld ; and in two of these it was unavoida- ble .. The pastor of Cook's Creek and Harrisonburg lost the sympathy of Lexington Presbytery because he permitted himself to be installed pastor of that church by the Presbytery a very short time before he renounced its authority, and long after the obnoxious act of Assembly took place. The editor of the Southern Religious Telegraph, in asking for his regular papers of dismission from East Hanover Presbytery, and the President of Hampden Sidney, in asking his from West Hanover, asked that they should be directed to the Third Presby- tery of Philadelphia. The Assembly of '37 having dissolved that Presbytery, and directed its members to be enrolled elsewhere, the
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Virginia Presbyteries were unwilling to recognise it as having any existence. The Presbytery of East Hanover dissolved the con- nexion of the applicant, and erased his name from their roll. The Presbytery of West Hanover refused to commend Dr. Carroll to the Third Presbytery, whose existence they did not recognise, but declared a willingness "to certify, and do hereby certify, that Dr. Carroll was a member in good standing in our connexion to the time of his making this application," which was September, 1838. In all cases the separation involved personal inconvenience rather than personal dislike. 1
To carry on the Seminary the Electors assembled on the 25th of September, and made choice of S. L. Graham D. D. as professor of Biblical Literature, and N. H. Harding, as professor of Church His- tory and Church Government. Both were members of the North Carolina Synod. Mr. Harding declined the offered chair. Mr. Graham speedily entered upon the duties of his office. Mr. Ballen- tine gave entire satisfaction to the Board, and the students, in his course of teaching ; and the universal desire was for his continuance in office. But as the year for which he was engaged passed, some fears arose in his own mind lest continuance in the Seminary should give cause of suspicion of the motives of his course, and thinking he should be more useful in another situation, he gave notice of his intention to leave his position, and with mutual kind feelings his con- nection with the Board was dissolved. Mr. F. S. Sampson of Gooch- land County, was appointed to succeed him as assistant teacher. This gentleman, from being teacher, became professor of Oriental Literature. His success as a teacher, was as splendid as his bear- ing as a man was modest. A ripe scholar and beloved member of the faculty of instruction in the Seminary, the Church mourned over his sudden departure in the spring of 1854.
Those Presbyteries formed by the New-School brethren were united in a Synod which took the name of Synod of Virginia. To Dr. Hill there was a charm in the name; to him the "rose by an- other name would not smell as sweet." With the name he claimed the true succession. And on that claim he acted when he refused to return to the Stated Clerk of the Synod of Virginia, Old-School, the old records of Hanover Presbytery, which he had borrowed from the Stated Clerk in the library of Dr. Rice in Prince Edward. He argued, and maintained through life, that the minority of Presby- teries separating from the majority on account of acts considered by them unconstitutional, in becoming Presbyteries were the true representatives of the Presbyteries before the alleged act; and that the Synod formed by these was the true Synod; and therefore the records belonged of right to the Stated Clerk of the new-school Synod, which he considered as the constitutional one. He acted ac- cording to his argument and gave the records to the Stated Clerk of that Synod, after a protracted correspondence with the Stated Clerk of the other Synod claiming to be the true inheritor of the name and records. Dr. Hill had loaned the records to a member
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of the Old-School Synod to aid in preparing the Sketches of Virginia. They were in his hands while the correspondence was proceeding. On being returned to Dr. Hill, according to special promise, he de- livered them to the Stated Clerk of the New-School Synod, as the proper person to receive them. That Synod justified his course, and on the ground he had professed to act. This proceeding of Dr. Hill was more criticised than any part of his actions respecting the doings of the Assembly of '37, or in promoting the separation in the Virginia Church. His opponents contended that while the Synod and Presbyteries remained in their adherence to the Confes- sion of Faith and Book of Discipline and Form of Government, as the Virginia Presbyteries and Synod did, no minorities, however large, seceding on account of difference of opinion respecting judi -- cial, and executive acts, claimed by the majority to be in accordance with the standards, could claim the possession of papers and pro- perty that had been lawfully in possession of the whole body. They might negotiate according to circumstances, and ought to have their proper proportion of common funds. As to names, every religious body might take what name it pleased. These records had been committed to him to assist in preparing the historical work, in the. preparation of which his Presbytery and the Synod had encouraged him; and on written condition that he would return them in due time to the Stated Clerk of Synod. This written obligation was asked and given merely as a memorandum, that in case of sickness or death, or change of place, or office, the records might be found ; and was attached to the cover of the book of records then in use. This occurred before the acts of '37, or any division or separation in the Virginia Synod was thought of, or would have been consider- ed practicable. The complaint against Dr. Hill was, that after the separation of the ministers and churches, and the formation of the separating brethren into a new Synod, when the Stated Clerk of the Synod, from which, numerically, a small minority had separated, demanded the records according to the memorandum, he refused to deliver them to him from whom he had received them, but gave them into the possession of the clerk of that Synod of which he was a member, who never before had had them in possession. The par- ticular value of those volumes consisted in their being the produc- tion of successive Stated Clerks. The Presbytery of West Han- over have a copy of the whole records by Mr. Lacy, their Stated Clerk, in beautiful manuscript.
Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, published the first number of his Constitu- tional History of the Presbyterian Church, in the spring of 1839. He had been, the previous summer, requested by some influential friends, to prepare the "the documentary history-of the formation of the first Presbytery,-of the Adopting Act,-of the Great Schism,-of the Union of the two Synods,-and of the formation of our present Con- stitution." It was supposed a large pamphlet would contain all the necessary facts. The materials collected demanded a greater space, and appeared in two successive octavo volumes. In the first num-
1.
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HISTORY OF AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM.
ber he noticed and controverted some statements and reasonings of Dr. Hill, which had appeared in the Southern Religious Telegraph, in relation to the same subjects. The documents and statements of Dr. Hodge show that the Presbyterian Churches in America were organized on the essential principles of the Scotch Presbyterian Church ; and that the influence exercised by emigrants from Hol- land and France was not inimical to this form of Presbyterianism- and that in New England there was in its early days both a ten- . dency to Presbyterianism and many Presbyterian ;-. that the Adopt- ing Act was a receiving of all the principles, and forms, and doc- trines essential to the Presbyterian Church as a Presbyterian Church ; that it was so understood by the Synod making it, the members of which are supposed to know the Presbyterianism of the mother coun- tries, and the majority of ministers and churches being of the Scot- tish origin and model.
Dr. Hill paused in the preparation of his volume of history em- bracing particularly the origin and progress of Presbyterianism in Virginia, which of necessity embraced the origin and progress of the Presbyterian Church in America ; and as speedily as practicable prepared a volume of History, reviewing and controverting the state- ments and opinions of Dr. Hodge, and sent it forth under the title of A History of the Rise, Progress, Genius and Character of American Presbyterianism, together with a Review of The Constitutional His- tory of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, by Charles Hodge, D. D., Professor in the Theological Seminary, at Princeton, New Jersey. The object of the volume was to show that the Presbyterian Church in America was not formed strictly on the Scotch model of Presbyterianism, but on others of less rigidity ; and that an important part of the first Presbytery was Congregational in sentiment ; and that the Adopting Act was, in intention and form, a softening down of the rugged Presbyterianism of Scotland, urged upon the American Churches.
In their researches both traced the origin of the first Presbytery in America to Francis Makemie, and his coadjutors, and Mr. An- drews. Both argue that Mr. Makemie was the member of that Pres- bytery earliest on the ground, and that he organized the first churches in the Presbytery. Both found documents to show that he was preaching in Maryland and Virginia as early as the year 1690. The time of his actual coming to America their researches did not discover. His activity, zeal, and success are stated by both-though much the most amply by Dr. Hill. Dr. Hodge supposes him to have been from Ireland, and a Presbyterian after the Scotch model; and that his coadjutors were from the same country, and of the same opinion in religious things. Dr. Hill comes to the conclusion, p. 98 : -1st. "Rev. Francis Makemie was led to come to America by the United Brethren of the Presbyterians and Congregationalists of London, at or about the time they formed the celebrated Plan of Union in 1689 or 1690. 2d. The negotiation or engagement entered into by Mr. Makemie and these brethren had long been laid aside,
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but was revived again when Makemie went over to England. 3d. The Rev. Messrs. Makemie, Hampton, and McNish, the first Pres- byterian ministers that came to America, being sent out from the United Ministers of London. We may learn what kind of Presby- terianism they brought over with them, and planted in the mother Presbytery which was organised principally through their agency. -These were all Union Presbyterians."
This union of Presbyterians and Congregationalists he thought pervaded all the American Churches, with few exceptions ; and that the struggle was to make the Presbyterians of America more rigid than the first Presbytery was. The Doctor reserved his views of the Schism for a succeeding number ; this on account of his infirmities he never prepared. The work of history from which he was diverted was never completed. Some sketches of ministers received his cor- rections, and have been used as documents and authority in the Sketches of Virginia, for the notices taken of Smith, Legrand, Tur- ner, and Allen, and some data respecting himself.
The volumes of Dr. Hodge and Dr. Hill were read with great interest, and were highly esteemed by the respective parties in the Church. Later researches have, however, brought to light some facts respecting Makemie, that modify the conclusions of Dr. Hill. Dr. Reed, in his History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, tells us that Mr. Makemie was licensed by the Presbytery of Logan, in Ireland, in the year 1681. That applications had been made to that body by Col. Johnson, of Barbadoes, and Col. Stevens, from Maryland, for a minister ; and that in consequence of these applica- tions, Makemie was ordained an Evangelist, and removed to Ame- rica. From some printed productions of Makemie, preserved in the Library of Worcester, Massachusetts, he was in this country some six or eight years before the Union was formed, and was acquainted with the ministers in Boston. From the volume of records of the Presby- terian Church it appears that the Union in London agreed to assist in paying the expenses of the passage of Messrs. McNish and Hamp- ton, and of their support in this country for two years. That was the only assistance ever derived from the Union, Mr. Makemie having come over some six years before the Union was formed. The Congregational elements in the first Presbytery were from another quarter, emigration from New England, and that Makemie and his associates were strict Presbyterians, yet men of charity and kind- ness.
Dr. Hill and Dr. Baxter naturally desired their old acquaintances of the ministers and in the churches, and in fact the whole Synod of Virginia, to agree with them in opinion and action. Dr. Hill urged the parallel between the division of 1741 to 1758, and the present division ; that the principal matters in contention in the first schism were revivals, and experimental religion, on one side, and for- mality and dry orthodoxy on the other; and that the same things were in contention now, with the love of power cast into the scale. To these things Dr. Baxter replied, that in the schism of 1741 the
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doctrines esteemed fundamental were not in dispute. Mr. Tennent held, as appears from his own writings, in a volume of sermons, firmly to the doctrines avowed by the old side - the imputation of Adam's sin for condemnation, and of Christ's righteousness for sal- vation. But that fundamental doctrines were in dispute now. The dispute now about revivals, was not whether there were pure revi- vals, but what were the means to promote pure revivals, what doc- trines should be preached, and what agencies used. The old side cherished revivals, and believed that the principal doctrines of Cal- vinism were the proper doctrines to promote them, as Mr. Tennent believed and preached, as we have in print. And that it was against spurious revivals, and the doctrines that produced them, the Old School were now contending so earnestly. That the churches in the valley, that were so strongly Old School, held to the doctrines and love of revivals their ancestors brought from the ministry of Whitfield, and Blair, and Davies, and the Tennents.
This separation in Virginia, in its progress, and much more in the conclusion, gave pain to the older ministers and members. They had passed their youth and early manhood in cordiality and mutual esteem, characteristic of the Synod; and now in their age, men and women, ministers and elders were becoming estranged without any charge of moral delinquency. Should they divide on the consti- tutional question respecting the four Synods ? Over the younger members, the earnestness of discussion, the vigorous attack and firm defence of positions and opinions, and the warmth of theological debate, exercised the usual bewildering influence. Those believing that there was a radical difference, extending to the very vitals of religion, justified the separation of the Old School from the New, even if the Virginia Synod was divided from sympathy. Dr. Baxter mourned that any of his brethren could not agree with him on the important matters agitated in 1837. But with his views of freedom of conscience, he preferred open separation to secret dis- content ; and that by division it would perhaps sooner be determined which side held to the Confession of Faith in its appropriate mean- ing ; which held the faith of the Tennents, and Blairs, and Davies ; which were most active from the influence of their own principles ; which most charitable in the exercise of their faith; and finally, whether the separation of the four Synods was from sectarianism or love of the truth.
WILLIAM M. ATKINSON, D. D.
There were some embittering circumstances attending the division of the Winchester Presbytery. That there were no more was pro- bably owing to the influence of one, now with his Lord, who came into the Presbytery in the midst of the excitement, and used all his great capabilities in making less, to the true Church of God, the distresses of a division which all believed to be, at the time, neces- sary for the public peace. An intimate friend thus wrote of him, to the Watchman and Observer, while mourning his departure : -
1
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REV. WILLIAM M. ATKINSON, D. D.
" BROTHER GILDERSLEEVE : - You have announced in your paper the death of Rev. William Mayo Atkinson, D. D. It is a fact that cannot be contradicted. On Saturday night, March 3d, 1849, one "of the kindest hearts that ever beat in the Ancient Dominion ceased its motions. Death stepped noiselessly ; he left no track and cast no shadow; and we were not alarmed. We saw him shivering in the deep waters before we could realize that his sickness might be unto death. Some few that loved him according to his worth were with him. Other some, that loved him no less, could not be called to his bedside, so hastily was the work of death performed, when we became convinced that he must die. ?
"That he contemplated a fatal issue of his disease, long before his friends and family admitted the suspicion, is undoubted. It is now about a year since he paid me a short visit, on his return from a long journey on the business of his agency. He appeared ex- hausted. It was evident he must have rest. His exposures had been great, and his labors, as he summarily recounted them, exces- sive. The seeds of his disease, as it now appears, were then sown. I did not then think so. In the course of our conversation, he referred with emotion unutterable to the prospect of a speedy dissolution. From what circumstances that impression arose I did not learn. He was not melancholy ; but my heart ached as I heard his impassioned reference to death. It was the first time I had ever heard him speak of his own death.
"Rest at home for the few weeks he had appropriated did not restore him. He prolonged it, and with evident advantage. In the summer he suffered a severe sickness, brought on more immediately by exposure to a light rain, while fulfilling in Hampshire the appoint- ments of brother Jennings, who had gone to fill his for the Board of Education in North Carolina. He had often been exposed to storms of rain without harm; but his reduced strength was not equal to a gentle shower. His disorder seemed to be in his lungs, and for a time was violent. He rallied from this attack, and we all were hoping that his vigor would return. The disease had not, however, left the system ; it. had only changed its form. During the fall and early winter, he suffered repeated attacks, as from a cold. Being providentially detained a Sabbath in Winchester, in December, I heard him preach in Mr. Lacy's pulpit. He gave utterance to deep feelings on the brevity of human life and the futility of human plans and expectations, and turned the heart to God, the unexhausted foun- tain of goodness and life.
"From an attack in January he thought himself recovering, with hope of soundness. But the attack in February took from him all hope, and from the physician all expectation of prolonged days. He forthwith set his house in order. It was a solemn thing for him to die. It was affecting. It was afflicting. By nature and by edu- cation he was fitted to enjoy, with the greatest zest, the socialities of life. The intercourse of the honorable and the good gave him unmixed pleasure. The world was full of beauty to him - full of
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enjoyments. He found pleasure everywhere. The path of duty always presented to him flowers. He saw the beauty and glory of God in earth and in the heavens. He had been blessed with a vigor- ous constitution, and almost uninterrupted health. To him the sweet light of heaven contrasted, strongly and sadly, with the cold, dark, silent, cheerless grave. He loved the members of his family. He delighted in them. They enlarged his heart and purified his affec- tions. It was bitter to leave his wife, and his eight children - six with their education yet to be acquired in part or whole - two quite young -one an infant. He loved the church of God, in which he was laboring, and for which he broke his constitution, and for which he would have labored indefinitely. He loved his fellow-men ; he desired their salvation ; and was willing to make great sacrifices to ensure future blessedness to any of his race. All these things made it affliction to die. But when he saw it was his Lord's will that he should now depart, he bowed in submission and addressed himself for the last act of life. He had committed himself to Christ to save him from the guilt of his nature, and the sins of his life. And now, in these solemn hours, when he looked for death, and few dared hope for life, he rested on him. 'Christ, the Cross, and the Cove- nant,' fell from his lips as he looked back upon his life, as he con- templated the present, and. looked forward to the future. Christ was his refuge, his hope, his trust, and the covenant his consolation. They formed the ground on which he trusted for himself, his wife, his children - his little children - his infant son.
" When a message I could no longer mistake, for I had resisted the belief that he would die, came and told me that he was evidently near his departure, I left my appointments, and rode down on Sat- urday to visit him. 'I wished to hear a few words from his lips. I reached his dwelling about sunset. He was living, sensible, speech- less. When told I was in the room he gave me his nod of recog- nition. At about a quarter after ten his pulse suddenly ceased to move, and the struggle was over.
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