USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 4th series, 1885-1902 > Part 23
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question. As a result of this investigation, he published a pamphlet, entitled "Bible Societies and the Baptists." The denomination, after having done their Bible work for years first through the American and Foreign Bible Society and then through this organization and the Amer- ican Bible Union, finally held at Saratoga, in 1883, a great conference on Bible translation and publication. One result of this meeting was the committing of all this work to the American Baptist Publication Society. This Society elected Dr. Bitting as its Bible secretary, and in this relationship he worked until a year before his death.
Dr. Bitting was a man of active mind, genial heart and warm sympathies. He gloried in the fellowship of his brethren in the ministry and delighted in the inter- course of the social circle. There was sunshine in his face and smile, and he carried with him an atmosphere of enthusiasm. He was cordial and open in his man- ner, believing in expression rather than repression of one's affection. Many a young man was helped by his hearty sympathy. As has already appeared, he was a member of the Masonic order; in this society he rose to high rank. In his home splendid enthusiasm and high ideals obtained. Of his seven children, six grew up to manhood and womanhood, and each of these six received at the hands of their parents the best opportunities for college and professional education. "His preaching was after the manner of his time. He was oratorical in style, and yet calm and deliberate unless his whole soul was aflame by the message which he had. He often rose to great heights of power." A lady and gentleman who heard him preach in Murfreesborough when his minis- try was just commencing, sixty-five years afterwards were able to remember particular sermons that had made a deep impression on them as children. Dr. Bitting died at 8:55 A. M., December 24, 1898.
WILLIAM AYLETT WHITESCARVER
"They tell us of Saint Paul and Saint John. I know Saint William." Dr. John A. Broadus was speaking of his University roommate and brother-in-law, William Whitescarver. There are degrees of goodness. Despite the "Acta Sanctorum," true saints are rare and should have special distinction in our annals.
William Aylett Whitescarver was born in what was then Culpeper County, Virginia, but is now a part of Rappahannock County, September 26, 1816. He was the seventh child and sixth son. Their father was Fred- erick Whitescarver. He and two brothers, Cornelius and Robert, were sons of a German who bought one thousand acres of land in Culpeper and established himself and his sons in comfortable farms. The mother was a Brown- ing, daughter of a worthy captain in the Revolutionary Army, and granddaughter of General Strother of the same line. President Zachary Taylor was her first cousin. Frederick's brothers, Robert and Cornelius, re- moved to Kentucky in 1820.
William Whitescarver's preparatory education was gained in country schools, amongst them a high school conducted by Thomas Holtzman at Mount Salem. He was a teacher in his own neighborhood for one year. Early in life he was baptized on profession of his faith by Dr. William F. Broaddus at Mount Salem Church. We find him a student at Rector College, West Virginia, from which he passed to the University of Virginia, where, though he did not remain long enough for a de- gree course, he did good work, appropriating its scholarly methods and its best inspirations. Here he had the privi-
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lege of close association with John A. Broadus and his sympathy in studies and in the work of the ministry, which both of them had just entered. A brief experience of teaching in Clarke County was followed by pastoral service at Mountain Plain Church, Albemarle County. Meanwhile he had the good fortune of marrying Cath- erine Broadus, eldest sister of his friend. This happy union was broken by the early death of the wife and their only child.
In 1852 he was called to the Fork Church of Fluvanna County, whose foundations had been laid as far back as 1774, and in that garden of the Lord filled seventeen years with fruitful service. His marriage with Miss Sally A. Perkins, daughter of one of the most prosper- ous and highly respected citizens, increased his pastoral usefulness. A deep spiritual knowledge of the Scriptures and thoughtful reading, especially of devotional litera- ture, qualified her for intelligent sympathy with the man and the preacher, and for several years she was an active inspiration and ally. His quiet dignity was fortified by studious method. He suggested a pastor's class for Bible study to be held during the week and old and young en- tering it heartily received the permanent stamp of his own character and work. He kept the balance between visitation of the flock and preparation for the pulpit. An accomplished gentleman, now one of the veterans of the church, says: "He was of inestimable service to me in my Latin and in his religious instructions, and I recall him during the four years he was an inmate of my father's family with his fine courtesy and gentle firm- ness." You did not hear of his eloquence. There was never a hint of sensation, but continual suggestion of the convincing power of truth, supplemented by the right- eous life of the pastor. He had his earnest convictions and knew how to affirm them from the pulpit, but his
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walk with God, his reasoning from the inspired page, his assertion of the Spirit's call and of the unquestioning re- sponse which duty required led many souls to Christ, and the intelligent community clustered about Fork Union, representing many religious denominations, united in acknowledging that both sweetness and light radiated from him with compelling power. Rev. Dr. George White, of the Presbyterian Church, wrought with him in revival sevices in close fellowship. According to the report of a very interesting lady, Rev. Richard Mason, the lovely Episcopal rector, Bishop John's son-in-law, made vigorous protest against his resignation of the sev- enteen-year-long pastorate and declared that his going meant the loss of an incalculable spiritual force. Mr. John Randolph Bryan, a distinguished vestryman, de- scribed him as "a Christian and a man you could pin your faith to." The hospitable Baptists gave the Episcopalians the privilege of holding regular service in their comfort- able house of worship and both their congregations sat alternately under pastor and rector. Without abatement of conviction or of faithfulness to truth, they cultivated Christian unity of spirit. Mr. Whitescarver's church grew and prospered. His own home was blessed by the coming of two children before the shadow of a long in- validism settled upon his wife.
The services and work of the Fork Church had been maintained during the Civil War with some regularity. The desolating flood of battle had scarcely reached its comparative seclusion, but, like all Virginia, it felt the loss of men and resources. While the pastor counted the years of his happy experience he felt that a new worker might give fresh inspiration to the flock and strengthen the things that remained. Thus, when in 1869 the Vir- ginia State Mission Board invited him to revive our feeble interest in Harrisonburg, it seemed to him the call of
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duty to leave the old sacred associations. Perchance the wife might rally in the change of climate and the chil- dren might have wider educational advantages at the transition period of their career. It was an interesting but very difficult field. Mr. Whitescarver's Harrisonburg pastorate continued for eight years. Until recently, eighteen months was the average length of a pastorate there. Mount Crawford and Bridgewater Churches, in Rockingham County, united with Harrisonburg in this
field. Two years before, in 1867, the Harrisonburg Church was organized by Rev. Joseph Chambliss with sixteen members. Mr. J. C. Staples was the one male working force for many years and remains to rejoice in the strong additions to the membership within the last three years. All manner of religious denominations flour-
ished in the surrounding country. The German Bap-
tists, or Dunkards, were strong in rural neighborhoods, and Primitive or Old School Baptists were still in evi- dence. There were a few outcroppings of our regular or missionary Baptists. In the town itself Presbyterians and Methodists had numbers and weight; there was a Lutheran church and the Episcopalians were strengthen- ing their stakes under earnest rectors. With his brave handful of believers, the new pastor must move on very different lines from those of the well-organized work in Fluvanna. It was necessary to labor and to wait, to take a hard-won salary and go forth "without fear and with a manly heart." It is the old story of one or two faith- ful men pressed by business duties and a few self-deny- ing women burdened by domestic cares, fighting their way inch by inch to a higher ground and a wider out- look. Mr. Whitescarver secured a house of worship by the purchase of an old Presbyterian church and raised part of the money. Rev. J. F. Kemper, who followed him with effective work, showed his executive ability in completing the payment.
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For eight years Mr. Whitescarver did his faithful serv- ice in Harrisonburg. He had stood for Christian char- acter and genuine personal religion and the cause felt the impulse of his consecrating influence. An Episcopal neighbor was wont to say: "I saw him as one descend- ing from the mount of vision and bringing in his very presence a gracious benediction." The virtues, the graces, the Christian life of the pastor's household are still the theme of grateful recollection in Harrisonburg. The savor of his good name has comforted the people who have held up a wavering standard until they have planted it on firmer ground and are beginning to see the promise of a brighter day.
In 1877, Mr. Whitescarver accepted the appointment of the State Board to a community not unlike Harrison- burg in its constituency and in the relation of the Bap- tists to it-a difficult town pastorate with few members helped by an older and promising country church.
Waynesboro, in Augusta County, is beautiful for sit- uation, the center of a rich farming and grazing country and of a sturdy and worthy people. This region had also its diversified religious complexion, in which Baptists were not conspicuous. In the town the Methodists were already reaping the fruits of the zeal and devotion of active leaders. The Baptists were few and weak. There were no other organized churches except the Presby- terians, a stalwart body, at the front of religious move- ments. The country roundabout was studded with stone or brick Presbyterian churches and their nearby manses. the homes from generation to generation of theologians, scholars, able preachers of the gospel, like the Dabneys, the Stricklers, the Prestons, the Handys, the Smiths- heroic spirits who passed from these haunts of peace to seminary professorships and great city pastorates. Neat Lutheran churches and parsonages indicated the progress
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of their people. The United Brethren and the Dunkards had large followings and well-sustained services with striking annual convocations and feasts. The German Reformed and other societies appeared in this variegated denominational life. It required deep conviction and earnest purpose to keep aloft the unfamiliar Baptist standard. At Staunton, twelve miles distant, and in some rural neighborhoods there were promising churches. Dr. George B. Taylor, our Staunton pastor, pressed by the claims of his own field, yet gave of his wisdom in com- forting, visitation and services to the Waynesboro Church. It was in 1873 that the church was regularly constituted, Dr. Charles Manly presiding at the meeting. Rev. John H. Taylor became the efficient pastoral supply twice a month. From the other side of the Blue Ridge the old Hillsboro Church of Albemarle County united with Waynesboro and added its hopeful note to the call, each church being supplied with preaching twice a month. The almost inaccessible location and unattractive church building did not warn the people away from the Waynes- boro services and the little contingent took fresh heart of grace, while the good Piedmont church rallied well to the pastor. But the critical illness of his wife seemed to turn to a fatal issue, and in 1878 his son-in-law, Dr. Thomas Hume, resigning his Norfolk charge, came to Mr. Whitescarver's relief as substitute pastor and served both his churches for nearly a year. A revival at Hills- boro resulted in large additions to that church. The Waynesboro congregations grew apace. Its services were multiplied and the community outside the pale of our church began to take interest in it. The unselfish pastor and his working substitute determined to exhort the brethren to seek the aid of the State Mission Board in maintaining every-Sunday services, and Dr. Hume had the satisfaction of presenting to the Board and the church
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Rev. Henry Grady Ferguson. The courage of their con- victions was justified by the success that attended his self- denying labors and that was crowned at last by the more efficient organization and the beautiful church edifice.
Hillsboro still claimed Mr. Whitescarver's labors and he gave some pastoral service to Goshen in Augusta County. Handicapped by illness in his family, he preached when he could the gospel he loved so well, but accepted with serene patience the double cross laid on him. When he had passed his eightieth year he could not be restrained from activities which would have taxed younger strength. The path of the just shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. It was not until his eighty-fourth year, in 1899, that he "fell on sleep," hav- ing scarcely rested from the passion of devoted service to the beloved invalid who survived him. "The end of that man was peace," an abundant entrance his into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Thomas Hume, Jr.
ASA ROUTH
On March 10, 1899, the earthly career of Asa Routh, a veteran minister, came to an end at Piney Flats, Ten- nessee. He was born in Clinch Valley, Grainger County, Tennessee, July 23, 1818, his mother being of Irish ex- traction and his father of Welsh descent. Welsh fire and Irish humor flashed in the small black eyes of this man of-God. He was especially gifted as an evangelist. Dur- ing his ministry of some fifty years he led to the Saviour over 5,000 persons, of which number he baptized 3,000 into the fellowship of Baptist churches. His early op- portunities for an education were limited, but he did the best he could with his chance and was well versed in the Bible. In 1846 he was licensed by the Puncheon Camp Church (Grainger County) and a little later ordained by the same body, James Greenlee and Daniel P. Morris being the presbytery. He served as pastor the following churches : Elm Spring, Puncheon Camp, Buffalo, Little Sycamore, Tazewell, Rob Camp, Independence, Blount- ville, Holston Valley, Bluff City, Bethel, Johnson City, Old Union, Boon's Creek, Fordtown, Buco Grove, Chaly- beate Spring, Liberty, Friendship, in Tennessee; and in Virginia, Clear Spring, Wallace, Castle's Woods, Sulphur Springs, Independence, Bethel, Oak Grove, Mendota, and Lebanon.
He came to Virginia in 1860, settling at Lebanon. Here, as a missionary pastor, first under the Virginia State Mission Board, and then under the Home Mission Society of New York, he labored for many years. Part of this time his salary was only $300. His family was a large one. Upon one occasion a stranger spent Saturday
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night at Mr. Routh's home, and the next morning, see- ing the whole family gathered, asked who was the super- intendent of the Sunday school. The preacher answered : "I am." Little wonder that the visitor thought it was a Sunday school-there were twenty-nine children. With such a family doubtless the gift of thirteen jacket-pat- terns of home-spun check cotton and turkey red was most acceptable. His wife made him one or two jackets from the turkey red patterns and thought of putting some of the others together into a pair of pants so that the sisters of the "Dutch Settlement" might see that their pastor needed something besides jacket-patterns.
He conducted many meetings in which there were scores and hundreds of conversions. In a meeting at Buffalo in which there were 112 conversions and 99 ap- proved for baptism, he facetiously remarked that if a right respectable hypocrite had offered to join he might have been tempted to receive him in order to make an even hundred. Once Mr. Routh, with Elder W. A. Keen to help him, went to hold a meeting at a place as wicked as its name, Sodom, would suggest. Other attempts at a meeting at this place had failed. There was wealth, but great wickedness. The meeting was a powerful one, resulting in the weakening of the whiskey trade and in the establishment of a church of eighty members.
ROBERT RYLAND
Robert Ryland, the son of Samuel and Catharine Peachey Ryland, was born March 14, 1805, at "Farming- ton," King and Queen County, Virginia. Most of the material in this sketch is taken from articles and ad- dresses by Dr. Ryland.
Of his home life, he says: "In my father's family morning and evening worship, consisting of reading, singing, and prayer, was from my early infancy a uni- form habit. It was also his constant practice to attend public worship with all his family when his church was open. His house was the common resort for preachers, whose discourse in the private circle often turned upon spiritual topics. Never has a ripple of discord disturbed the placid wave of his domestic life." His father had the record of missing the Saturday church meeting but once in fifty years, then on account of severe illness.
In his sixteenth year he was deeply concerned re- ligiously and made up his mind to become a Christian. The preaching of the day dwelt much on overwhelming conviction of sin and sudden conversion. This being lacking in his case, it was three years before he united with the church and was baptized. "For two years my constant prayer was to see my condition in its true light and to feel the horrors of a guilty conscience driving me almost to despair. In other words, I mourned because I could not mourn." Finally becoming convinced that the Spirit of God worked differently in different cases, he united with the church and was baptized in August, 1824.
On December 23, 1826, he graduated from Columbian College and entered the ministry as his life work. "My call to the ministry has been devoid of that 'necessity' of
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which Paul speaks and to which the old preachers often alluded. When I began to cherish the hope of divine mercy the thought of preaching occurred to me and I shook it off as a vile presumption. It came back again and again as affording the highest and holiest pleasure if I were only fit for the work, but I could not venture. I concluded to give myself to study so as to qualify myself as far as possible for the ministry, to make it the subject of constant prayer for divine guidance, and to submit the final question of my life work to the decision of the church and the rulings of Providence. Thus I was led into the work of preaching without a sudden and full persuasion that the call was a definite work of the Holy Spirit. Except for a painful conscious- ness of unfitness which has followed me in every step of my pilgrimage and sometimes well-nigh overwhelmed me, I have enjoyed supreme pleasure in preaching the gospel.
I would to-day rather be the humble pastor of an appreciative and progressive gospel church than to wear the brightest diadem that ever. sparkled on a monarch's brow." This quotation is taken from an article written in his eighty-fifth year.
His first pastorate was a Baptist church of nineteen members in Lynchburg, Virginia, formed by a split in the First Church, "whose house, unsightly and uncom- modious, was located on the extreme western verge of the town as far off from the residents as it could pos- sibly get." Those nineteen members were worshiping in the Masonic Hall by courtesy of that brotherhood. With the exception of one family, they were poor people, and the Baptist cause in Lynchburg was far from flour- ishing.
Dr. Ryland reached Lynchburg in May, 1827, after a four-day horseback ride from his home in King and Queen County. His first sermon was preached from the
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words: "For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified," in the old Masonic Hall to an audience which, "sitting around on the edge of the room and leaning against the walls, left the middle space a blank. A slight survey of the situa- tion brought to his mind a single ray of hope that the only change that could possibly occur would be for the better." "The only thing said about salary, and that was not put on record, was that Mr. and Mrs. Hollins were to furnish him a home, including everything, and the other eighteen his wardrobe." The total amount of money received for his five years of service was $500.00. "In the midsummer of 1827 it became manifest that God was among the little band of nineteen. Without the aid of an evangelist or revivalist or a protracted meeting (these things were not known in that day), a solemn still- ness came over them when they convened for worship, the congregations increased, prayer-meetings began to be held every night in private homes, the songs became more tender, the petitions more earnest, and the Christians more faithful, and without manipulations sinners were heard to sob and cry for mercy. Early in August the pastor baptized his first convert."
During his remaining service in Lynchburg he baptized every month, except one, a few converts, ranging from one to six, and aggregating about thirty each year, and just one hundred and fifty in the five years. He resigned in June, 1832, to take charge of the Virginia Baptist Seminary, leaving a church of one hundred and twenty members in a comfortable and respectable house. This church is now the First Baptist Church of Lynchburg. These quotations are taken from an address delivered at the dedication of the new church September 12, 1886.
The first of July, 1832, Robert Ryland took charge of the Virginia Baptist Seminary (it was chartered in 1840
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as Richmond College) on the newly purchased Spring Farm, near Richmond, and on the fourth of July this institution was opened with nine students. A quotation from a letter written by Dr. Ryland soon after taking charge of the Seminary gives a glimpse of its work. "Our internal regulations are these: The bell rings at half-past four to wake the students, at five to call them to worship, at six for breakfast, at seven for recitation, at ten for recitation, at one for dinner, at half-past two for recitation, at half-past three for manual labor, at half- past six for evening worship, and, when this is done, for tea. These hours, of course, will be regulated with the seasons. The time appropriated for study is as long as in most of our colleges, but the hours they use for recrea- tion we appropriate to useful labor." All the students at this time were ministerial students, and it was expected that in this way they would be able to defray a part if not all of the expenses.
In an address delivered before the College in 1890, Dr. Ryland says: "One of the most useful and inexpensive methods of instruction adopted was that at our meals questions were proposed that would turn the conversation into channels of usefulness. The boys, like most other youths that enter our academies, were painfully deficient in orthography. Words were, therefore, given out to be spelled and passed around until all had mastered them, never to be forgotten. It was here that I first heard pho- netic spelling practically illustrated. One of the boys, who afterwards became somewhat distinguished for lit- erary attainments, told me that up to that time he had never known that there was or ought to be more than one way to spell a word, and that was the shortest. From spelling we advanced to orthoepy, to grammar, to ety- mology, to history, and even to simple Bible exegesis. These were our table talks."
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In 1834 the Trustees purchased "Columbia," the prop- erty of Mrs. Clara Haxall, and moved to its present loca- tion. Subsequent purchases gave the College a campus approximately bound by Broad, Franklin, Lombardy, and Ryland Streets. In 1849 the first commencement was held and diplomas granted to two graduates, P. S. Hen- son and Josiah Ryland.
In 1866, Dr. Ryland resigned the presidency of the College, after thirty-four years of service, during which the College had grown from its humble beginning as a Seminary at Spring Farm, with one teacher, to a worthy college. "The endowment had reached $100,000.00 at the opening of the War, and was, with the tuition fees, supporting moderately a faculty of six professors and one tutor, the number of students averaging about one hundred and twenty. The War, bellum horrendum, sus- pended our operations, scattered the pupils, threw the teachers out of employment, ruined the library and appa- ratus, defaced the buildings, and destroyed most of the endowment.
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