USA > Virginia > The planting of the Presbyterian Church in Northern Virginia : prior to the organization of Winchester Presbytery, December 4, 1794 > Part 14
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
But while we admire the Divine grace in these men that kept them faithful to the teachings of their fathers, and made them zealous for the Kingdom of God, we must not forget that devoted band of earnest, self- denying preachers of the Word, by whose godly ministry the piety and zeal of these hardy pioneers was kept alive. In the whole history of the Chris- tian Church, abounding as it does, from first to last, with deeds of heroic devotion and self-sacrifice, there is scarcely anything better fitted to call forth our admiration than the faith, and endurance, and patient toil of these noble heralds of the cross, who were chiefly instrumental in carrying the Gospel into these solitudes and planting the church in the vallies, and on
.
127
IN THE NORTHERN NECK OF VIRGINIA.
the plains, and among the mountains, and by the water-courses of the New World. Though few in number, they set agencies in operation that have accomplished wonderful results. But they did it at a cost of time, and toil, and self-denial, that speaks volumes for their zeal, and consecration, and endurance. The places which they visited, and where congregations were gathered by them, which they were often sent to supply, were, many of them, hundreds of miles from their homes. To reach them the solitary journey must be performed on horseback, and often through pathless for- ests. Mountains had to be crossed by Indian trails. Swollen rivers had to be forded. Storms must be breasted, and the extremes of heat and cold encountered. Shelter for the night was not always assured. In our day, when we can travel to our appointments over the smoothest roads, with a speed that almost annihilates space, and, if we please, in a parlor coach; and at the end of an easy and rapid journey, are welcomed to a richly-furnished home, with its warm chamber and luxurious bed; we can hardly imagine the exposure, and weariness, and privation, and hardship that a missionary appointment meant to the men of that early day. The cheerfulness with which, under these forbiding circumstances, they accept- ed the mission and filled their appointments, challenges our highest admi- ration.
There was another hardship of a very different character from those just named, with which the pioneers of Presbyterianism had to contend in planting their church in Northern Virginia. I refer to the opposition they encountered from the civil government, inspired by the Established Church. For reasons already intimated this opposition was greatly relaxed in the Valley counties, but east of the Ridge it made itself seriously felt wherever an attempt was made to introduce any worship other than that of the Eng- lish Church. It is not pleasant to speak of this, and the subject has been avoided as much as possible in the previous pages. But the heroic spirit of the early fathers, and the true history of that period would be imper- fectly understood if silence were maintained in regard to the persecutions- sometimes petty, but often violent-which, in colonial days, were visited upon the men of our faith and order, when they undertook to worship God here after the manner to which they had been used at home.
It was under the auspices of the Church of England that the first colonists came to Virginia, and for nearly a hundred years no serious effort was made to introduce the faith and worship of any other Church. But when the effort was made it was met with the most determined oppo-
128
THE PLANTING OF PRESBYTERIANISM
sition. Existing laws, if not so intended, were so interpreted, as not only to discourage, but to forbid what was contemptuously called "dissent." These laws prevailed elsewhere, but they were more grievous and more rigidly enforced in Virginia than in any other Colony. Even under the Act of Toleration, the worship of dissenters was permitted, when permitted at all, only under restrictions of the severest and most humiliating character. The minister must obtain a license from the civil authorities and register the place of worship, and bind himself by various oaths, not only to ab- stain from teaching heresy, but to behave himself peaceably toward the government. Special permission must be secured to use even a private house as a place of worship. Every possible difficulty was placed in the way of obtaining this permission, and when obtained it gave no security against molestation. The most outrageous means were often employed to disturb and break up the meetings. On one occasion a hornet's nest was thrown into the room ; on another, a snake, and, in at least one instance, firearms were used to disperse the assembly. In frequent instances the preachers were imprisoned and beaten, and "cruelty taxed its ingenuity to devise new modes of punishment and annoyance."
The "Act of Toleration," passed in 1689, was the measure of the lib- erties and privileges of the non-Episcopal churches of Virginia. And under that Act all dissenters were debarred from a seat in the Legislature, and were not allowed to hold a church building or a graveyard in their own name. The Book of Common Prayer must be read in all their assemblies, and the sacraments must be administered according to the rites of the Established Church. They were taxed for the building and repairs of Epis- copal churches, and a competent maintenance of the clergy, with a house and glebe in every parish, must be provided at the common charge. At every Court House a church must be built for the Establishment at the pub- lic expense, while dissenters were obliged to locate their houses of worship at some point removed from these positions of influence. In consequence of this requirement, down to the commencement of the Revolutionary War, there was not a Presbyterian church in any town in Virginia, though the ministers of that church were the most learned of any class of preach- ers in the Colony. The right to build outside the towns was sometimes de- nied ; and even when granted it was often done under conditions unneces- sarily harsh and annoying. It was against an opposition as exasperating and offensive as this that the fathers had to contend in planting Presby- terianism in the Northern Neck. Had their religious convictions been less deep, or their Christian fortitude less determined, they would have yielded
129
IN THE NORTHERN NECK OF VIRGINIA.
to the hostile forces arrayed against them and abandoned the effort in despair. But the cause was one for which their fathers had contended even unto blood, and which their father's God had blessed; and with a devotion which no persecution could weaken, and with a resolution which no violence could overcome, they moved calmly forward through scorn and obliquy and opposition and finally succeeded in establishing upon these western shores "a Church without a Bishop, and a State without a King."
And this indicates both their Presbyterianism and their patriotism, for there is no dispute as to the stand they took in the great struggle for the liberties of America. They espoused, with the greatest ardour and con- stancy, the cause of the Colonies against the aggressions of the mother country. This should not surprise us, after what we have seen of the op- pression to which they had been subjected from the civil government and the Established Church. The fact that their existence was merely tolerated and that they were subject to so many unjust demands, naturally weakened their loyalty and determined their attitude toward the Crown. When the controversy began, it is true, they avowed their allegiance to the King, but when there was no longer any hope of redress, they became the foremost advocates for the absolute independence of the Colonies. It was to them a question of religious as well as civil liberty, and they entered into the conflict with a determination not to lay down their arms until these liberties were fully secured. Their course was in striking contrast with that of the great majority of the clergy of the Church of England. They had no grievance of which to complain. There was no fear of the infringement of their ecclesiastical liberties. On the contrary, all their rights and privileges were secured to them by the fact that theirs was the National Church. It was at the greatest sacrifice, therefore, that any of them should side with the Colonies in their struggle ; and hence it should occasion no surprise that much the larger number of them remained faithful at once to their Church and to their King. It was decidedly to their interest to do so. One of them, Dr. Chandler, in defending the action of the British Govern- ment, toward the people of America, and the attitude of his own church in reference to that action, says: "Episcopacy and monarchy are, in their form and constitution, best suited to each other. Episcopacy can never thrive in a Republican Government, nor Republican principles in an Epis- copal church." But with the Presbyterians and other so-called dissenters, the case was entirely different. A change in the civil administration would be greatly to their interest ; and such was their zeal for deliverance from the
130
THE PLANTING OF PRESBYTERIANISM
foreign yoke that they were found in the forefront of the movement for total separation from the country that oppressed them. The Synod of New York and Philadelphia was prompt in putting itself on record for the independence or the Colonies. The Presbytery of Hanover, in a memorial to the Legislature of Virginia, expressed with earnestness its hearty en- dorsment of the cause for which the country was preparing to contend. The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, advocated and signed chiefly by Presbyterians, was more than a year in advance of the Declaration issued by the Continental Congress. The zeal of our people may have car- ried them too far in the action of their church courts; but surely no charge of lukewarmness or backwardness can be laid against them.
It is to be regretted that statistics are not now at hand to show the extent to which the Presbyterians of the Northern Neck embarked in the War of the Revolution. In the absence of these, we must be content with the sim- ple statement that all the facts that can be obtained bearing on the matter make it clear that they stood shoulder to shoulder with their brethren throughout the land, and faithfully upheld with their fortunes and their lives the cause they so zealously espoused. No shadow of suspicion has ever rested upon their patriotism, their fidelity, or their courage.
Before closing our history of the planting of Presbyterianism here, it is important that some definite account should be given of the various Presbyterial relations these churches have at different times sustained. These relations have been so numerous, and have changed so often, in the course of our history, that no little confusion must arise where the facts are not distinctly known. The following brief statement will help to re- lieve the reader of much of his perplexity.
The first Presbytery in America was constituted in Philadelphia in 1705 or 1706. For a period of ten or eleven years this was the only Pres- bytery in this country. In 1716 it was sub-divided and the three addition- al Presbyteries of New Castle, Snow Hill (in Maryland) and Long Island were constituted and the Synod of Philadelphia was formed. The evan- gelistic work of the church was carried on for several years by the Pres- byteries and Synod alike. But as the work in Virginia began to grow, the
.
131
IN THE NORTHERN NECK OF VIRGINIA.
Synod, which had had it in charge, committed it, in 1724, to the Presby- tery of New Castle, whose undefined southern boundary extended beyond the Potomac. Of the first work of this Presbytery in Virginia we know really nothing, as the volume recording it is lost. In 1732 the Presbytery of Donegal was formed out of the Presbytery of New Castle; and while its boundaries were not carefully defined, it at once began to exercise jurisdic- tion in Maryland and Virginia west of the Blue Ridge. In 1755, while the rupture of the Synods lasted, the Presbytery of Hanover was formed by the Synod of New York, out of the Presbytery of New Castle. At that time the only churches east of the Blue Ridge, in the territory that afterward belonged to Winchester Presbytery, were those in Lancaster and Northum- berland counties; and these fell under the care of Hanover Presbytery. After the re-union of the Synods, the churches of the Upper Valley, which had been founded and fostered by Donegal, also fell into the bounds of Hanover. The missionaries and supplies of this new Presbytery were also sent occasionally along the South Branch. This was not regarded as an intrusion upon the jurisdiction of Donegal. At that time, and until a later period, the Presbyterial bounds south of the Potomac were not strictly defined; and it seems to have been understood, that no offence would be given if the members of one Presbytery should sometimes be found labor- ing in the bounds of another. For a number of years the territory between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers seem to have been common ground for the missionaries of Donegal, New Castle, Hanover, and even other Presbyteries; but as it was more accessible to the ministers of Donegal, it gradually came under the jurisdiction of that Presbytery.
In 1765 Donegal Presbytery was dissolved, and out of it the Presby- teries of Lancaster and Carlisle were formed. The churches south of the Potomac were placed in connection with Carlisle. But this action was re- scinded the next year, and the Presbytery of Donegal was restored to the roll of the Synod. In 1786, however, this Presbytery was divided by the Synod into the Presbyteries of Baltimore and Carlisle, and the name of Donegal finally disappears. Mr. Keith, the pastor at Alexandria, was assigned to Baltimore, but all the other Virginia members of Donegal were assigned to Carlisle. At the same session of the Synod, the Presbytery of Lexington was constituted out of that part of the territory of Hanover which was west of the Blue Ridge. It was to be bounded on the north by the Presbytery of Carlisle (just constituted). The churches assigned to it are not named. But among the ministers of which it was to consist are the names of John Montgomery, pastor of Opecquon, Cedar Creek, and Win-
ยท
132
THE PLANTING OF PRESBYTERIANISM
chester, and Moses Hoge, pastor of Concrete, on the South Branch. This seems to be a recognition of a change of boundary lines, of which there is no official record. When the Presbytery of Hanover was formed in 1755, it was ordered by the Synod of New York, " that any members settling to the southward and Westward of Mr. Hoge's congregations (i. e., John Hoge, pastor of the Opecquon charge) shall have liberty to join said Pres- bytery of Hanover." Before 1786, and apparently without any direct act of transfer by the Synod, some of the churches belonging to Donegal had gotten under the care of Hanover, and were embraced in the new Presby- tery of Lexington. This was true of the congregations of Opecquon, Cedar Creek, Winchester and Moorefield, with all the territory south of them.
When, in 1788, the old Synod of New York and Philadelphia resolved itself into four Synods, and formed the General Assembly, the Presbyterial relations of the churches in Virginia were not disturbed. In the reports made to the General Assembly at its first meeting in 1789, we find the churches in the territory in which we are interested, reported as belonging to the following Presbyteries, viz:
To Carlisle-Tuscarora, Falling Waters, Back Creek, Charlestown, Shepherdstown, Romney, Patterson's Creek and Cool Spring.
To Baltimore-The Alexandria Church.
To Lexington-Winchester, Opecquon, Cedar Creek, and Concrete (Moorefield).
To Hanover-Fauquier and Lancaster.
It will be observed that the churches of Northumberland, Kittocktin, and Gum Spring east of theRidge, and of Capon, Springfield and Elk Branch west of the Ridge, are not mentioned at all.
The incongruity, however, of leaving so many of the Virginia churches in a Pennsylvania Presbytery, and a Pennsylvania Synod, was so apparent that, in 1792, the General Assembly ordered " that the river Potomac be the boundary line between the Synods of Philadelphia and Virginia, except the congregation of Alexandria, which shall belong to the Synod of Phila- delphia." The effect of this order was to change the boundary lines of the three Presbyteries of Carlisle, Lexington and Hanover. At its next meeting Lexington added to its roll of churches, "Carmel (Shepherdstown), Martinsburg, Tuscarora, Back Creek, Falling Waters, Charlestown and Hopewell." Cool Spring had, the year before, petitioned for a transfer to Lexington and as its name is not mentioned here, we infer that its peti- tion was granted. In this transfer no mention is made of Romney, Spring- field, Patterson's Creek, Back Creek or Capon; we do not know why.
.
133
IN THE NORTHERN NECK OF VIRGINIA.
Under this order of the General Assembly Hanover promptly extended its northern boundary to the Potomac.
The action of the General Assembly in making the Potomac River the boundary line between these two Synods seems so suitable and proper, that we are not a little surprised to find the next year, "a petition from the congregations of Tuscarora and Falling Waters, praying to be re-united to the Presbytery of Carlisle." This petition was granted; and in that old connection these two churches remained until May, 1804, when, on their own petition, they were transferred to the Presbytery of Winchester, in which relation they have happily continued for a hundred years.
Before this transfer was made, however, there was another disturbance, though only temporary, of the Presbyterial relations of these two churches. The Synod of Philadelphia, in the Fall of 1792, recommended to Carlisle its division into two or more Presbyteries, and the next August, 1793, Car- lisle concluded to divide into four Presbyteries, viz: Carlisle, Huntingdon, York and Franklin. In this division, Tuscarora, Martinsburg and Falling Waters were assigned to the care of Franklin Presbytery. But the Synod disapproved of this division and restored our Virginia churches to their old relation with Carlisle Presbytery.
We have now completed our self-imposed task. We have sketched, so far as the material at our command would enable us to do it, the history of the planting of Presbyterianism within the territory originally covered by the Presbytery of Winchester, down to the time of the organization of that Presbytery in 1794. We are fully sensible of the imperfections of this work, and we sympathize with our readers in the disappointment many of them will feel at the meagre and unsatisfactory character of the sketches here presented. Our excuse is, the surprisingly scant material we have found, out of which to construct a history. And yet it is hoped that the facts we have been able to rescue from an oblivion-into which some of them were rapidly falling-few as they are and insignificant as many of them are-may pos- sess a certain interest and even value to some, who are eager to learn all that can be known that bears even remotely upon the history of their be- loved church.
It remains for us, in concluding this little volume, to record the organ- ization of that Presbytery, to which was to be committed the training of those churches, the history of whose planting has been imperfectly given.
In 1794 the conditions were favorable for a separate Presbyterial organi- zation in the Lower Valley. There were twenty congregations fully organ-
134
THE PLANTING OF PRESBYTERIANISM
ized for worship, and about one-half of them organized as Presbyterian churches. Fourteen of these congregations were in the Valley of the Shenandoah-all of which, except Gerrardstown, were served by the five pastors then settled here. The other six congregations were in the Valleys of the South Branch and Capon. Those in Hampshire County were under the ministry of Rev. John Lyle. The two in Hardy County, Concrete and Lost River, were vacant. Rev. Moses Hoge had, for seven years, served the Carmel (or Shepherdstown) church with such fidelity and acceptance that he had gathered there a large and growing congregation, and largely through his influence and labors the neighboring congregations were greatly enlarged and strengthened. At Charlestown the Rev. William Hill had been settled for two years or more, and under his energetic min- istry that field, which embraced also Hopewell (or Smithfield) and Bull- skin, was rapidly growing in numbers and importance, although Bullskin had already begun to transfer its families to the other two churches, thereby strengthening them, but resulting, in a few years, in its own extinction. At Opecquon and Cedar Creek and Winchester, Rev. Nash Legrand was carrying forward most successfully that brilliant ministry under which his two venerable churches reached their highest stage of prosperity, while Winchester, which for twenty years or more had been an appendage of that field, was beginning to manifest some restiveness at a relation which did not allow the amount of service to which so large and important a town was entitled, and had very distinctly indicated her wish and purpose to become an independent church. A few miles to the southeast of Mr. Legrand, the Rev. William Williamson was diligently preaching to the congregations of South River and Flint Run, and, against the rivalry of both Baptists and and Methodists, who were on the field before him and whose influence was growing, was quietly building up a vigorous and active church of our faith and order. Passing westward to the Lower South Branch Valley, we find the Rev. John Lyle, who had recently begun his memorable ministry to the churches of Springfield, Romney and Patter- son's Creek (or Frankfort, as this church is sometimes called) and whose labors, in fact, extended to the whole of Hampshire County.
Returning now to the Shenandoah Valley, we find the Rev. John Boyd just settled over the churches of Falling Waters and Tuscarora, including the important congregation which had been gathered at Martinsburg. In this interesting field, Mr. Boyd's ministry continued for six years. His . churches, however, were not a part of Lexington Presbytery, and they had so decidedly expressed their unwillingness to be separated from their
1
IN THE NORTHERN NECK OF VIRGINIA.
old associates across the Potomac, when the General Assembly, in 1792, had reconstructed the Synodical lines and thrown these churches into the Virginia Synod and into a Virginia Presbytery ; that now when they would have been very important to the Presbytery about to be formed, and when that Presbytery would have been very convenient to them, no movement was made to disturb their Presbyterial relations. It was not until ten years afterwards that, of their own motion, they were united to our Presbytery.
The number of congregations and ministers now found in the Lower Valley and their proximity to each other, made their formation into a sep- arate Presbytery a matter of great convenience, while their distance from the churches and ministers of the Upper Valley made such an organization almost a necessity.
Accordingly, the Synod of Virginia, at its sessions in Harrisonburg, September 26, 1794, took the following action, viz :
"On motion it was proposed that the Synod should divide the Pres- bytery of Lexington and constitute another Presbytery of a portion of its members. The proposition was agreed to, and the division is as follows:
"The dividing line shall begin on that part of the boundary of the Presbytery of Redstone, on the Alleghany Mountains, where Hardy County is divided from Pendleton, running thence with the said line until the same reaches the corner of Rockingham County; from thence a direct course to the place where the great road through Keizletown to Winches- ter crosses the river of Shenandoah ; from thence to Swift Run Gap on the Blue Ridge, which reaches the boundary of the Presbytery of Han- over.
"The members lying northeast of said division shall be constituted a Presbytery, and shall be known by the name of Winchester Presbytery, consisting of the Rev. Messrs. Moses Hoge, Nash Legrand, William Hill and John Lyle, and they shall hold their first meeting at the town of Win- chester on the first Thursday of next December. Mr. Hoge, or in his absence, the next senior member present, shall preach a sermon on the occasion and preside until a new moderator be chosen.
"On motion, Mr. William Williamson was added to the number mentioned in the above minute constituting the Presbytery of Winchester.
"A true copy, certified by "SAMUEL HOUSTON, "Synod's Clerk."
The new Presbytery met, as ordered by Synod, "in the Presbyterian Meeting House in the town of Winchester, Thursday, December 4, 1794."
135
136
THE PLANTING OF PRESBYTERIANISM
There were present three ministers, viz: Messrs. Hoge, Legrand and Williamson, and three Ruling Elders, viz : William Buckles, of Shepherds- town; James Perry, of South River; and Alexander Freely, of -
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.