USA > Virginia > Henrico County > Henrico County > The first century of the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia. 1780-1880 > Part 2
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and vitalizing man's whole being, and bringing it into accord with the will of God. Allusion was also made to the mani- fested interest of the Church in the objects of the "Jeter Memo- rial"-to wit, the providing a hall in the proposed addition to the college building, in which should be deposited, along with his bust or picture, the books and manuscripts bequeathed by Dr. Jeter to the College.
The pastor, Rev. Dr. J. B. Hawthorne, delivered an elo- quent address, in which he claimed that gratitude for the great mercies received from the Lord should impel his people to use means in the upbuilding of our College, than which nothing was more vitally important to the progress of a religious deno- mination and the extension of divine truth. And the interests of the College might be promoted, and a deserved and appro- priate monument, at the same time, erected to the memory of Dr. Jeter, one of the most efficient pastors of the Church, by adding another wing to the buildings, with a Hall to be called after the departed veteran. Dr. Hatcher followed in a brief and spirited address, Dr. Burrows conducted the collection, and over $6,000 were subscribed.
On Wednesday morning there was another meeting, at which the Rev. Dr. H. A. Tupper read a summary of an ex- cellent paper he had prepared, detailing the Connection of the Church with Missions during the century. The Doctor deli- cately declined to use the time needed for its entire reading, that others from a distance might have ample opportunity to be heard.
He divided the Centennial History of the Church into three periods, showing that during the first period, from 1780 to 1813, Joshua Morris and John Courtney were practical friends of Missions, and the Virginia Foreign Missionary Society was organized in this Church in 1813, the first, it is said, south of Philadelphia.
Second period, 1813 to 1846. Luther Rice represented funds of the Church in the General Convention. The Female Mis- sionary Society and the Sewing Society of the Church were
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organized before 1816. The latter has sometimes given $700 per annum, and the former has given some $11,000. This Church has been the largest contributor to the General Associa- tion, and may be called the mother of the Southern Baptist Convention, whose first anniversary was held in this building, and every officer of its Board of Foreign Missions, except three, has been given by this Church.
Third period, 1846 to 1880. The Mite Box Committee of the Woman's Missionary Society of Richmond has raised $1,300, and the Society itself has given over $5,000, the Young Men's Missionary Society has given over $4,000, the Young Ladies' Missionary Society contributes $500 a year, the Dorcas Society is one of the most efficient Missionary Societies of the Church, the Girls' Aid Society is just organized and has raised $17, the infant class of the Sunday-school has given in ten years some $500.
. Summary : The Church gives $3,200 per annum to missions. Since 1813 it has given over $60,000. At the close of the next centenary may it be said of her : " She hath done what she could."
The venerated Dr. Robert Ryland of Kentucky, for twenty years pastor of the First (Colored) Baptist Church, read a paper of great clearness and strength, tracing its organization and history, which we propose to publish in full, and, there- fore, will not anticipate.
Rev. B. Manly, D. D., Professor in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, then delivered an appropriate and pathetic address, recalling reminiscences of his pastorate, and urging enlarged and liberal education and Christian conse- cration. He was followed by Dr. E. W. Warren, of Georgia, pastor three and a half years, from 1875 to 1879, whose ad- dress of fraternal greeting was in the happiest vein. He congratulated the Church on the auspicious occasion, the pre- sence of so many former pastors, etc. Rev. Henry McDonald, D. D., of the Second Church, concluded the session with a fraternal address, full of generous, cordial feeling for the Old Mother Church.
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At night, Rev. T. T. Eaton, of Petersburg, delivered an able discourse on the necessity of worthy " ideals," based on the text, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is per- fect." The Rev. Thomas Hume, Jr., once a pupil in the Sunday- school, Rev. W. Harrison Williams, of Charlottesville, con- verted and baptized in the Church, Rev. J. William Jones, D.D., and the Pastor closed the pleasant exercises with addresses of affectionate greeting and farewell, which we regret our space does not allow us to allude to more particularly. Individuals and societies may well pause at long intervals, to review the past and look forward to the future. Thus gratitude is awakened, errors avoided, hope enkindled, and progress quickened.
The various papers read, with a full description of the cele- bration, will probably be published, we understand, in a per- manent form.
Verily "the little one has become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation." May the church membership discard all promptings to pride, derive new inspiration and energy from her thrilling history, "wait on the Lord, renew their strength, mount up with wings as eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint."
The frontispiece of this volume suggests the propriety of giving some more minute descrip- tion of the building where these Centennial services occurred, and of the unusually intel- esting dedication of it, than will be found in any of the papers to follow. Two days after the celebration, on the eleventh of June, an old communication of 1841 was reprinted in the Commonwealth of this city, which meets pre- cisely the demand, and is a document too valu- able not to have here a permanent record :
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The readers of The Commonwealth, who have, doubtless, been deeply interested in the ceremonies which have just oc- curred at the Centennial celebration of the First Baptist Church of this city, will no doubt read with pleasure a co- temporaneous account of the dedication of the said Church. The account is extracted from the Richmond Compiler of Oc- tober 19, 1841, and is from the pen of the then editor and pro- prietor of that paper, James A. Cowardin, Esq., at present of the Richmond Dispatch :
Among the most interesting events that has occurred in our city for a long time, may be classed the dedication of the magnificent Church just erected, through the munificence of the congregation of the First Baptist Church (of which the Rev. J B. Jeter is pastor) upon Twelfth Street, near the Pow- hatan House. This pleasing occasion took place last Sunday (October 17, 1841), and attracted one of the largest audiences ever congregated in our city.
The building is of the Doric order, and in all its parts so strictly consonant that it strikes the beholder with admiration. The architect is Mr. Thos. U. Walter, of Philadelphia, who has also furnished the plan for another religious edifice that is to be a superb ornament to our city, viz., the Second Baptist Church. Mr. Walter is the architect of the far-famed Girard College, and this fact will be a guarantee for the truth of the encomium we pass upon the evidences he has given us here of his taste and architectural knowledge. The Church just dedi- cated is calculated to hold twelve hundred people seated com- fortably, but with a little crowding will store away two thou- sand.
The interior is exceedingly chaste. The colors are white and blue, the white predominating-the pew cushions being blue. The walls are a glassy snow-white, and the mouldings and central ornament of the ceiling are both simple and ele- gant. The pitch of the ceiling is the very best in accordance with the general symmetry of the interior, and in its adapta- tion to sound ; a whisper from the pulpit can be heard to the
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extremes of the Church. The galleries are so pitched and graded that the portion of the audience seated in them seems to be brought more effectually within the range of the preach- er's address than usual. In most churches, owing to the height or some other cause, the gallery audience seems not to be so much a part of the audience-i. e., upon whom does not devolve, in so great a degree as upon those below, the respon- sibilities of order and attention to the church services ; they are more like "lookers-on in Vienna," and keep up sometimes a little chit-chat and titter among themselves on their own hook; but in this new Church this responsibility is felt, and the discourse of the preacher is shared alike by the audience above and below. This is decidedly an improvement.
The altar is very neat, and the sacred desk is one of the most unique inventions for the purpose we have ever seen. It is simply a desk, raised to a convenient height, and about four or five feet wide, white, with a damask cushion for the Bible to rest upon. It struck us that we had never seen a desk so well adapted to give the best effect to church oratory. It rests upon a broad, carpeted platform that is ascended by a flight of steps at either end. On the right and left of it, and a little in the rear, so as to form a triangle, are two massive Doric pil- lars, painted white, that give a fine effect. A recess extends back of these columns, the wall of which is ornamented with a large square of blue damask quilled, with a bright star in the centre. In this recess beneath the floor, which is movable, is the baptismal font, where the baptizing will take place in presence of the congregation. This is an invention that will be productive of great convenience, and by which the expo- sure and disadvantages attending the ceremony which is per- formed at a distant water-course will be happily avoided. There is a suite of rooms below, which comprise a large and well-ar- ranged Sunday-school and lecture-room, a study for the pastor, and dressing-rooms, to be used on baptismal occasions.
The exterior is of plain stucco, and the building is ornament- ed with a heavy-looking steeple of moderate height, to which
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some have objected, but which, nevertheless, appears to be in perfect keeping with the general style of the building. The front has a recess portico, graced by two immense fluted Doric columns, and is reached by a broad flight of granite steps. It has truly an imposing appearance. So much for this noble building, at once an ornament to the city, and an honor to the congregation that built it.
The exercises of the dedication were opened with the an- them, "Before Jehovah's Awful Throne," by an excellent choir, aided with instrumental music. Then a portion of Scripture was read, after which the following hymn, by Dodd- ridge, was sung by the congregation, to Old Hundred, that most inspiring old sacred air, which is always welcome to the ear :
And will the great, eternal God, On earth establish his abode ? And will he, from his radiant throne, Avow our temples for his own ?
These walls we to thine honor raise.
Long may they echo to thy praise. And thou, descending, fill the place With choicest tokens of thy grace.
Here let the great Redeemer reign With all the graces of his train, While power divine his word attends, To conquer foes and cherish friends.
And on the great decisive day, When God the nations shall survey, May it before the world appear That crowds were born to glory here.
The Rev. George B. Ide, of Philadelphia, then offered up to the Throne of Grace a most appropriate prayer, which was succeeded by the anthem, by the choir, " Be joyful in God, all ye lands."
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Rev. Mr. Ide then delivered the dedicatory sermon-his text, " Blessed are they that dwell in thy house "-lxxxiv. Psalm, 4th verse.
Of this sermon we may with truth say that it was happy in its style and peculiarly so in its adaptation to the occasion. It was remarkable for its solid ability, as well as its sublime passages, its bold and striking similes, and the forcible lan- guage in which it was conveyed. We thought there was some- thing decidedly Websterian in the latter feature of the sermon.
The reverend gentleman entered at large into the influences of the sanctuary upon society in all its ramifications-intel- lectual, political, social, and moral. The attention of the audience enchained throughout, was, perhaps, deepest with regard to the discussion of the influence of religion upon the body politic ; its agency in enlightening public judgment, the necessity of a correct public sentiment to the maintenance and enforcement of just laws, and the impotency of laws, how- ever wise, not so sustained. The politician might have learned from this part of the sermon the value to set upon the salutary influences of religion ; how necessary they are to give efficiency to his measures for the preservation of peace and order, and the maintenance of a just equilibrium between the different powers of our free and happy Government, and how a corrupt public sentiment and depraved and vicious passions, unre- strained by the precepts of virtue, and unchecked by the en- lightened view of the duty of man to his Maker and his fellow, imparted by true religion, would break down all the restraints of order, peace, and justice, and whelm the land with the greatest curses that can be visited upon a nation.
An intensely interesting portion of the sermon to the mem- bers, was the picture, we may call it, drawn of the happiness, the consolations, social enjoyments and endearments, and the refreshing and soul-purifying effects of the sanctuary, where men come up in the light of the holy effluence, to meet one another in a capacity from which the cares and vexations of life are shut out, and where the feelings and thoughts are ele-
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vated above this scene of life to higher objects-where man looks on himself as a spiritual being-the heir of eternity- and has his soul ennobled, enlarged, and enlightened, drawn away from the contentions of this fleeting existence of a few years, to the contemplation of the higher destiny in that better country, for which man is fitted and which he may secure if he will.
After such a picture, the heart was filled with deep emotions at the presentation of its opposite, of the desolation that must prevail where there is no sanctuary, and where the inspiring peals of the church-going bells are never heard.
The reverend gentleman concluded with a touching appeal to the unreligious part of his audience. He threw into this the bright fire of feeling, and disdaining the restraints of writ- ten words, uttered a thrilling peroration, which must have made a deep impression. His concluding words were an ex- hortation to be prepared for the long account and escape that bitter taunt, "Ye knew your duty, but ye did it not."
Rev. Mr. Jeter offered up a feeling prayer, and the cere- monies were closed with another anthem and the benediction.
Thus ended the dedication services of this fine church. Long may its works survive the mutation of time, and when time shall be no more-
" May it before the world appear That crowds were born to glory there."
The next communication explains itself, and the connection of the writer with this memorial volume :
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH,
Richmond, Va., June 28, 1880. To H. A. TUPPER, D. D., 1002 Capitol Street, City.
DEAR SIR : At the regular business-meeting of the Church, held this evening, the following resolution offered by Mr. R. H. Bosher was adopted :
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Resolved, That Rev. H. A. Tupper, D. D., be requested to collect, arrange, and edit the papers read, and the addresses delivered, at our Centennial Anniversary : and, that he be authorized to have the same published.
[ Copied from the Minutes.] D. O. DAVIS, Church Clerk.
Acquiescing in the above request of his Church, which has a right to every service that he can properly render to it, the undersigned, having given a sketch of the occasion which called forth the papers, now presents the papers themselves, in the order in which they were delivered, and in as near their original forms as is consistent with the arrangement and object of the work. He has inserted the paper on the " Franklin House," to which reference has been made; and appended "Supplementary Statistics and Statements," which seemed important to complete the historic view of the Church.
The book is commended to the Church, the Christian public, and the grace of God. Should it prove helpful to the Church in perpetuating the impulse received at the Celebration to a grander future; or, in stimulating other churches, or a single soul, to a higher and broader Chris- tian life, the preparation of the volume for pub- lication will receive a superabundant reward. RICHMOND, VA., July 26th, 1880. H. A. TUPPER.
II. DISCOURSES,
SKETCHES AND ADDRESSES.
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
BY J. L. BURROWS.
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 1780-1880.
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A BRIEF general view of the condition of Virginia and Richmond in 1780 will be helpful in apprehending the circumstances under which this First Baptist Church was organized.
In population, political influence, and com- mercial enterprise, Virginia was the foremost Colony of the thirteen. Yet this most populous of the States had only about five-hundred thousand inhabitants, of whom one-half were blacks, although its territory extended west- ward and northwestward to the Pacific Ocean and to the great lakes. A few of the landed proprietors had comfortable, some of them elegant, residences, the brick, flooring, and fur- niture of which were imported from England. The homes of the farmers and laborers were 5
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structures of logs, sometimes hewn, oftener in their primitive rough-roundness, the intervals between the logs chinked with loose rock, and daubed with mortar, with huge stone chimneys and pine log fires. The floors were often laid with hewn puncheons or formed of the original soil, leveled or rammed. The kitchens were separate structures, out in the yard.
The full dress of gentlemen included satin short trousers, fastened at the knee, long silk stockings, low quarter shoes with silver buckles ; and on the streets, fair top boots, bag wigs, terminating behind in a ribbon-bound queue, and cocked hats.
The agricultural implements were of the rudest kind. The "bull tongue plough," with wooden mould-board, sometimes sheathed with sheet iron, and sometimes with a short wrought iron coulter, was the best until Thomas Jeffer- son, ten years later, and after several years of study and experiment, invented one more serviceable. The grain crops were sown broad- cast, reaped with sickles or scythes, threshed with flails or by the trampling feet of oxen, winnowed by flapping a blanket to raise a breeze against the uptossed grain to drive off the chaff. Three men could reap, bind, and shock an acre
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of wheat a day, and by extra hard work an acre and a half. Lumber was sawn in pits by two men, the despotic " boss sawer" mounted on the log jerking the long saw up, which his subordi- nate beneath jerked down again. Cotton and wool were raised in small quantities for domestic use, carded by hand, spun on treadle wheels, woven on hand looms, dyed in butternut or oak bark, cut out and made up by the women of the household.
Travelers rode on horseback, a few in car- riages, and a few in stage coaches on the main routes. The swift couriers that bore the news of Cornwallis' surrender, in 1781, from Yorktown to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, made the journey in the unprecedented time of five days (Oct. 19th to 23d,) and in thirty-seven days (Oct. 19th to Nov. 25th,) the news reached England by the way of France.
The manufactories of Virginia were black- smiths' shops, and, at wide distances, grist and saw mills, with slowly revolving overshot wheels, on some of the upland streams.
The year 1780 was one of the gloomiest years of the Revolutionary War. Washington in New Jersey was holding back the British forces concentrated in New York City. Arnold's
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treason had created consternation and doubt in the hearts of the people. The British and Tory forces under Cornwallis had overrun Georgia and South Carolina, and were now in North Carolina burning, plundering, massa- cring the people, and confiscating their pro- perty; and though temporarily checked at King's Mountain, Oct. 6th, and harassed by the onslaughts of Marion, Sumter, Pickens, and Harry Lee, they were driving Generals Green and Gates before them, and steadily ad- vancing into Virginia. Recruits for the army were raised with difficulty; provisions and cloth- ing for the army, in scanty supplies, could only by most strenuous measures be collected or for- warded; and the Continental money was of even less value than Confederate money in 1865.
Among the Acts passed by the Legislature in that year, was one calling out twenty-five hundred militia men, to aid in repelling Corn- wallis' army, marching toward Virginia. The number was portioned among the several counties, of which Henrico County was required to furnish eighty three, Hanover one hundred and thirty-five, and Bedford two hundred and two; indicating the relative population of the several counties. An Act, too, was passed for
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supplying clothing, in which each county was assessed for a certain number of suits, one pair of overalls, two pairs of stockings, one pair of shoes, one wool, fur, or felt hat or leather cap. Each county was required to furnish a definite number of these suits-thus, Henrico, fifty-five; Caroline, ninety-three; Amelia, one hundred and twelve. They were to be collected by distress warrants as taxes. As the women had to spin, weave, dye, and make them up in their homes, they must have had a busy time in that year. Each district was assessed, also, one beef, three hundred pounds, net weight, one wagon and four horses with a driver. Provisions seized by commissioners for the army were to be paid for at the following rates: Wheat, $662/3 per bushel ; corn, $20 ; peas, $30 ; oats, $15 ; pickled beef, $8 per pound; bacon $20 per pound; salt pork, $12; brandy, $60 per gallon ; whiskey, $40 ; West India rum, $80 ; white biscuit, $300 per hundred weight; ship bread, $200 ; fine flour, $200; seconds, or ship stuff, $150 per hundred weight. Some of us, remember prices comparing well with these in 1864.
In 1780, Acts were passed dividing Kentucky County into three counties, viz. Jefferson, Fay-
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ette, and Lincoln, which comprised what is now the whole State of Kentucky; and for establish- ing the town of Louisville at the Falls of the Ohio, on one thousand acres of land, forfeited property of one John Connolly, and providing that $30 per acre, if the land sold for so much, should be paid into the Treasury of this Com- monwealth. In 1780, the grounds for the pub- lic square, upon which to erect the Capitol and .Governor's house, were set apart on Shockoe Hill, and streets ordered to be opened, "whe- ther straight or curved," for "communicating with the streets above the brow and below the foot of each hill."
The most important Act of the Assembly in 1780 was one authorizing Dissenting Ministers to celebrate the rites of marriage, and declaring all previous marriages by them legal and valid, and allowing them a fee of "twenty-five pounds of tobacco, and no more," for each marriage- ceremony. The battle for religious liberty had been fought, and this was the almost final sur- render of the State-forces to the warriors for soul-freedom. Joshua Morris could now receive and bless the wedding vows of members of his congregation, without liability to legal penalties, in the first year of his pastorate of this Church.
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In 1780, the only preacher regularly officia- ting in Richmond, of whom I can find any trace, was Joshua Morris. This was the only organ- ized Church in the town, if we except the Parish Church of St. John, which was without any resi- dent rector, and had service only at long inter- vals. The small rear section of the present building on Church Hill was the only church- edifice in the village. Five years later (in 1785) the first meeting of the Episcopal parish- ioners was held, and a vestry appointed for St. John's Church, who elected Rev. John Buchanon rector. That he very seldom officiated in the Church is clearly indicated in the following ex- tract from a letter written by Mrs. Colonel Ed- ward Carrington to a friend in London, in the year 1792, as quoted in Bishop Meade's "Old Churches," etc .:
"We have not left in our extensive State three churches that are decently supported. Our metropolis even would be left destitute of this blessing, but for the kind offices of our friend Buchanon, whom you remember well as an inmate of our family. He, from sheer benevolence, continues to preach in our Capitol to what we now call the New School-that is to say, a set of modern philosophers, who merely attend because they know not what else to do with themselves. But blessed be God, in spite of the enlightened, as they call themselves, and in spite of Godwin, Paine, and others, we still, at times, and particularly on our great church-days, repair with a choice
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