USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 4th series, 1885-1902 > Part 4
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Rev. R. W. Bagwell, pastor of Buckingham Church, writes concerning Brother Taylor (who was called by his people "Uncle Taylor") as follows :
"He was a preacher of rare natural gifts. Possessing an attractive and commanding personal appearance, and a voice rich in volume and full of sweetness and pathos, he was animated in speech and gave evidence of possess- ing a strong, clear and discriminating intellect. From the very beginning of his ministry he was a notable preacher. Especially was he gifted in exhortation. His eloquence when he was stirred was almost overwhelming in its power. Brethren who were fitted to judge did not hesitate to say that if he had thrown off his reserve and applied himself more assiduously as a student he would have taken rank as a preacher with Witt, Jeter and Poin- dexter."
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JOHN SPENCER
John Spencer was born March 19, 1808, in Bucking- ham County, Virginia. The county of his birth was the arena of his life's career. The county is bounded on the north by James River, and is a section of undulating, broken country, the hills now and then assuming the dignity of low mountains. While there are many noble country seats in the county and many cultivated and refined people, there are vast stretches of woodland, and the roads leave much to be desired. At present deer are numerous, and it is not uncommon to meet men who have killed one or two, while one gentleman's score is thirty-five. When a hunt occurs it is not unusual for one or more preachers to be in the party. At the age of twenty-one Mr. Spencer was converted and joined the Baptist Church near him. The very next year he began to preach, and his active labors in the ministry continued for half a century. While he never had the advantages of a college training he was a most original preacher. Upon one occasion, when the James River Association met at Enon Church, the brother appointed to preach the introductory sermon was not present. Several ministers, who were college graduates, when called on to preach the sermon refused, saying they had had no time for preparation. When Mr. Spencer was asked he consented on certain conditions. A text was to be set down upon a slip of paper, which he was not to see until he was ready to begin to preach. This was done and when his sermon was finished the other preachers present agreed that the way in which he knew the Bible was wonderful, and that he preached it. For
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the most part, Mr. Spencer preached to weak, struggling churches. In the course of his ministry he was pastor of the Wilderness, Union and Cedar churches, in the James River Association, and before his career as a preacher was ended his son had succeeded him as pastor of at least one of these places. He did not attend the general meetings of the denomination, and was little known among his brethren of the ministry. He was instrumental in leading some 3,000 persons to Christ and he baptized nearly as many. He was married three times and was survived by his widow and six children. He was a subscriber to the Religious Herald, and used to say that it was the only paper he cared to read. He died November 1, 1889, paralysis being the cause of his death. "His end was calm and peaceful, and loving hands laid him to rest in the joyful hope of the resur- rection."
SAMUEL GRIFFIN MASON
Dr. Samuel Johnson was so fortunate as to have his Boswell. Without this faithful biographer his fame and name would never have reached as far and lived as long as they have. Samuel Griffin Mason had, through the larger part of his life, a dear friend, Thomas W. Sydnor. These two men died within four months of each other, Sydnor outliving Mason, and penning an interesting and lifelike picture of his friend and fellow- pastor. The present sketch could never have been as full as it is but for the tribute of Dr. Sydnor, which appeared in the Herald, and from which what follows is largely taken. Just three days before James Madi- son's second inauguration as President of the United States, in the midst of the "War of 1812," in the shadow of the Peaks of Otter, in Bedford County, on March 1, 1813, Samuel Griffin Mason was born, his parents being Lewis and Elizabeth Mason. In early life he was "born again," and was baptized by Rev. James Left- wich. Franklin County was for a season his home, where he wielded the rod of the pedagogue. While thus engaged his desire for the office of bishop arose in his heart, and he showed gifts worthy of this solemn work. At this point the influence of Rev. John Kerr led him to enter the Virginia Baptist Seminary, now Richmond College. Among his fellow-students here were Samuel Harris, T. N. Johnson, J. W. D. Creath, J. C. Bailey, J. C. Clopton, J. C. Hamner, J. N. Fox, Andrew Broaddus, Jno. O. Turpin, J. L. Shuck, R. D. Daven- port, Elias Dodson, A. P. Repiton, R. A. Claybrook, H. W. Dodge, R. H. Bagby, Putnam Owens, S. C. Clopton, James Parkinson, C. L. Cocke, W. H.
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Gwathmey, J. C. Schoolfield, T. W. Sydnor, and A. B. Clarke. Many of these men became ministers, and three of them missionaries to China. Sketches of not a few of these men appear in this book. Mr. Mason did not take first place in his classes, nor was he so gifted as some of his fellow-theologues, yet not one was held in higher esteem than was he. "Quiet, unobtrusive, sedate, dignified, affable, generous, studious, orderly, he won the respect, the confidence, the affection of students, teachers, and trustees-of all connected with the insti- tution." He graduated in 1837.
Charlotte County, where Mr. Mason held his first pastorate, with neighboring counties, was destined to be the field where his real life work was to be done. From this section he went several times to take charge of other churches, but all these absences, save one, were brief, and, while they were not devoid of valuable work, seemed to serve chiefly in showing how suited he was to southern Virginia and its needs. In 1844, he went to Kentucky upon the call of the Flemingsburg and Lewisburg churches. His stay in Kentucky was not long. In 1852, he yielded to another call and became pastor of the First Church, in Petersburg. After two years he came back, and took charge of Catawba, Mill- stone, Black Walnut, and Arbor, all in Halifax County. In 1859, two churches in North Carolina, Yanceyville and Trinity, secured him as their pastor. This was his most protracted absence from Virginia. Until 1873 he sojourned in the Old North State, serving his churches with great acceptance, and winning for him- self high place among the ministers of that state, hold- ing at one time the presidency of the Baptist State Con- vention. During these years at least one pilgrimage back to his beloved Southside Virginia was when one of his members, Judge Kerr, came to Nottoway County
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to be married, and brought his pastor with him to per- form the ceremony. Dr. Sydnor indicates several very helpful influences in the life of Mr. Mason in his first pastorate, at Mossingford, Ash Camp, Mount Tirzah, and Shiloh churches. Abner W. Clopton had been the pastor here years before, and his work was of so ex- cellent a character as to make the career of his successor, a kindred spirit, the more plain and pleasant. In 1841, Mr. Mason married the daughter of Archer A. and Elizabeth F. Davidson, of Charlotte Court-House. In finding a wife, who, in the providence of God, was to walk with him, his faithful helpmeet for almost half a century, he also came under the influence of Mr. and Mrs. Davidson, who were people of unusual character and piety. Mr. Davidson was "clear-headed, honest- minded, and true-hearted" to a very high degree. His wife recalled Solomon's picture of the model wife in Proverbs 31:10-31. Among the young pastor's asso- ciates and co-workers on this field were Daniel Witt and A. M. Poindexter. In Virginia, these two men, their work and their character, are so well known that to name them as Mason's associates is to speak volumes as to the inspiring fellowship and quickening companion- ship that were his. They believed in him as a man and as a preacher. Year by year he had them to help him in his protracted meetings, or went for the same work to them. In his prime Mr. Mason was a preacher of great power. If he lacked the flowing speech of Witt and the burning eloquence of Poindexter, in his lucid explanation of the great truths of the Gospel, in his apt quotation of Scripture, and in his pointed appeals to the unconverted he was their equal. His pulpit power was increased by his gift of song. Many a time a whole congregation would be melted down as by himself he would sing: "What wondrous love is this, O my soul,
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O my soul," or "O trust Him yet this one time more," or "O tell me no more of this world's vain store."
He had many elements of power. His presence was pleasant and commanding. In his prime he was "tall, erect, symmetrical, sinewy, and muscular, without a pound of superfluous flesh. His clean-shaven face was fair and comely, his nose of the Grecian order; his eye, a sort of hazel-blue, keen and penetrating, but yet in expression gentle and benignant; his brow, sometimes sternly knit, indicative of thought, decision, courage, and determination; his hair, a rich auburn, worn some- what long, thrown back from his massive forehead, would fall gracefully over his ears, a little down his neck; his voice clear, sharp, and strong, at times plaintive, melting, and melodious." In public speech he would "sometimes utter a word with a sort of explosive sound like the sudden crack of a pistol." He was an accomplished horseman. On Sunday morning he would ride up to the place of his appointment on his noble horse, dismount, tie his horse to a swinging limb, take his saddlebags, greet the brethren around the door, go in, conduct the service of prayer and praise, and then go up into the pulpit a very Saul in physical develop- ment. While not a man of highest culture or extensive scholarship, he had a vigorous intellect, and could grasp with ease and unfold with clearness intricate points in theology. Much might be said about his moral make-up. He was upright, faithful, just, sober, pure, good, "a candid man, sincere, frank, unaffected, open-hearted, and ingenuous." Surely he had his faults, but those who knew him only in his latter years when, by reason of certain sharp trials, these defects were brought into undue prominence, did not credit him with all the graces that were really his. That his children were not Christians was to him a great grief. He feared that some of his brethren in the ministry were departing
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from the faith once delivered to the saints. In the spring of 1888, he received an injury on his ankle, which proved more serious than it was first considered, which gave him great pain, and which was finally the cause of his death. During his long career as a minister of the gospel the blessing of God richly attended his labors and multitudes survived him who held him in grateful remembrance as their spiritual father. His public career as a preacher ended with a brief period of labor as an evangelist, under the State Mission Board, and his pastoral services for Antioch and Shiloh churches, in Charlotte; Scottsburg and Clover, in Halifax, and Providence, in North Carolina. The Appomattox Asso- ciation held him as one of its most esteemed members. In this Association, of which body he was more than once moderator, his life often touched that of his fellow- pastor, Samuel J. Atkins. Their lives were almost exactly of the same length and covered almost exactly the same period. It was fitting that a page, set apart in the minutes of the Appomattox Association, for 1890, should bear their names, the- dates of their birth and death, and words from the Book they loved and preached so long, describing their work for their Master.
On November 14, 1889, Mr. Mason reached Rich- mond, where he hoped to secure medical aid that would bring him back to health, and, accompanied by his wife, went to the home of his son. An operation was per- formed, but it did not have the desired result. On Sunday, January 26, 1890, he passed to his eternal reward. Two days later, the funeral, attended by nearly all the Baptist ministers of Richmond, took place at the West Main Baptist Church. On foot these brethren followed in the procession to Hollywood, where the burial took place. Deeply interesting memorial services were held at Scottsburg, in Halifax, and Antioch, in Charlotte. At this latter place an address was deliv- ered by Dr. Sydnor, which was published in the Herald.
DANIEL GRAY TAYLOR*
George Taylor left Wales, his native land, about the year 1772, and settled in the colony of Virginia. His son Reuben and Mary Gray were the parents of five sons, Daniel Gray being the oldest. He was born in the country home of his parents, in the southwestern part of Henry County, August 20, 1821. At that time the country roundabout was sparsely populated and enjoyed very few religious or educational advantages. There were no Sunday schools, no prayer-meetings, and but one house for religious worship, in which there was an occasional sermon by an old and infirm Baptist min- ister, by the name of Manaen Hill.
In a journal kept by Mr. Taylor, from which much of the information in this sketch is taken, this building is described as, "A rude structure, built of unhewn logs that had not been squared at the ends. The chinks had not been closed; and the batten door hung loosely on its wooden hinges. The boards of the roof were laid on poles, and held in their places by poles laid on them; and as the poles sagged the roof curved accordingly. The floor was the native earth, covered with sand from the road. The seats were puncheons riven from small trees and set on pins of the proper height, and were backless. The pulpit against the wall was boxed up quite high, a door being left at one end to admit the preacher. I suppose the sacred thing would have held about seventy-five bushels. In this old house I heard my first sermon. Years have elapsed, but the text on
*This sketch, somewhat abbreviated and with some verbal changes, is from the pen of Rev. J. Lee Taylor.
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that occasion is still fresh in my memory: 'God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.' "®
Reuben and Nancy Taylor, though highly respectable and possessed of ample means, did not understand or appreciate the advantages of education, and as a conse- quence the son, instead of being placed in school, was required to take his place with his father's negroes on the farm.
In the ordinary pursuits of farm life, and in the manu- facture of peach and apple brandy, with an occasional short term in a very poor school, the first sixteen years of Mr. Taylor's life were spent, during which time he had no recollection of a visit from any minister of the gospel, or of the mention of the subject of religion in his father's home.
At the age of sixteen he attended a boarding-school, at Sandy Ridge, N. C., of which he says: "My departure was a great event. I had never stayed from home longer than a day and night at any one time, and the thought of so long an absence thoroughly aroused me. The teacher was a Presbyterian minister.
His school numbered about forty boys and girls, and some of the older pupils studied Latin and Greek. I took spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic, and enjoyed the work of the school and the companionship of the pupils. The end of the term, of eight months, ended my school days."
Upon his return home he resumed the pursuits of agricultural life, and thus matters went on until September 9, 1841, when he was happily united in mar- riage with Miss Martha King, daughter of Hon. Joseph Seward King, of Henry County, and granddaughter of Elder John King, who is mentioned in Semple's "His- tory of Virginia Baptists," and in Taylor's "Lives of
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Virginia Baptist Ministers."
This union extended through nearly fifty years, and whatever good he accom- plished in life was due more largely to his wife than to any other human agency. Soon after his marriage he began building on a part of the paternal estate, and a year later he moved into the house. It was home until he entered into the Father's house.
When he entered his home, in 1842, he did not own a book of any description. Early the next year he and his wife went on a visit to her father's family. On this trip Mrs. Taylor borrowed a Bible from her brother, and for some time that was his only book. The record says: "From my boyhood I was a dear lover of ardent spirits, and was an habitual drinker. But soon after I went to housekeeping I dropped that practice totally and finally. And although I have been a housekeeper more than forty years, and have raised nine children to be grown, I have not used one gallon of alcoholic liquor in that time."
In 1844, Elder John Robertson, pastor of the Baptist Church, at Leaksville, N. C., came over to Mr. Taylor's neighborhood, to baptize Mr. John Watkins and wife, who had gone all the way from their home into North Carolina to unite with the Baptists. It was a notable event. Many of those present had never before wit- nessed a baptism, and they were deeply impressed by the solemn scene. Soon after his baptism, Mr. Watkins secured the cooperation of Reuben and Daniel Taylor in an effort to build a house of worship. The record says : "My father gave the land on which the church was to be built. He and I became the contractors, and by the first of October we had the house completed. Up to this time I had no concern upon the subject of religion." Elder John S. Lee, who had recently been sent into the county by the Baptist State Mission Board, sent an ap-
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pointment for Elder John Robertson and himself to begin a protracted meeting in the new house on the second Sunday in October.
For miles around the people were interested and they came to hear. Of this meeting Mr. Taylor said: "Soon the word preached began to affect large numbers, among them my father, a younger brother, and my wife. I, too, was affected, but in a different way. I considered it a desperate outrage that the preachers should introduce such trouble among the people; some were crying as if their hearts would break; others were on their knees in an agony of prayer, and the whole community per- vaded by a deep solemnity. I got mad, and felt that if I had those fellows off by themselves I would teach them a lesson which they would not soon forget. But I smothered my rage. On the third day, as I did not like what was going on, I decided to stay at home. As I was preparing to go to the field my father said: 'Daniel, let the work alone and go to meeting.' But my mind was made up, and I went to gathering corn. In a short time, I began to think of my condition, and arrived at the conclusion that I was the worst sinner in the neigh- borhood. My condition seemed almost hopeless, and I felt if I should die in that state I would surely be lost. The next morning I was anxious to attend the meeting, and was deeply interested in the sermon. At its close the preacher invited those who felt anxious about their souls to come forward for prayer and instruction. I went. Others found relief, but I could not, and the meeting closed leaving me in great perplexity and trouble, but I was determined to settle the matter, and on the 17th of November, 1844, I found peace by trust- ing in the Lord Jesus Christ."
The Mayo Baptist Church having been organized on the 19th of November, 1844, Daniel G. Taylor and his
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wife, on the 30th of March, 1845, it being the fifth Sunday in the month, were baptized by Elder John Robertson. He did not wait to be baptized, but began at once to hold prayer-meeting, and deliver exhortations as he had opportunity. A visit to the Strawberry Asso- ciation the next year kindled his soul with warmer as- pirations for usefulness. His deep interest and dignified bearing excited confidence and expectation in the minds of his brethren, and this reacted on his own spirit. The call was growing louder and the voice more distinct, but there were difficulties in the way. He had an excellent farm and was comfortably settled. He could work in wood, brick, stone, iron, and leather. There was money in the tobacco business in which for a time he had engaged, and he was no sluggard. By attention to busi- ness, prosperity and abundance, and quiet happiness lay within easy grasp. He was not ignorant of the situa- tion. The record says: "The duty of preaching the gospel was upon me, but the outlook was far from cheering. Having no early religious training, no edu- cation to speak of, no useful books except the Bible, and but little money to buy them, and, being dependent in a measure on my own labor for the support of my family, I did not see how I could perform the work to which I felt called; but I determined to do the best I could. Brother Lee gave me the benefit of his counsels, and furnished me such books as I could pay for. As I went about the farm I carried a small Testament in my pocket, and improved every spare moment by reading. When the day's work was done I continued my studies till late bedtime, striving to enhance my usefulness." On October 30, 1847, at Mayo Church, he was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry, by a presbytery com- posed of Elders John S. Lee, Thos. C. Goggin, and Pleasant Brown.
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Meanwhile, he had not been idle. Beside other preach- ing stations, in July of that year he had an appointment at Leaksville, N. C., and continued his visits to that place for nearly two years. In September he made his first visit to Floyd County, and preached at a private residence. He says: "I found a few Baptists who had come from Bedford County. The people seemed eager to hear the truth, and the harvest is plenteous." In December of this year he was called to the pastorate of Mayo Church, in which capacity he served with slight interruption till the end of his life.
Some of his earliest ministerial labors were per- formed in the adjoining counties of North Carolina, and, in connection with the Mayo pastorate, he became a mis- sionary of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention, to labor in the counties of Stokes and Rockingham.
On account of failing health, Elder Lee resigned his missionary work, and the Board at once turned to Elder Taylor. At his ordination he had preached from Mark 16:15. His soul caught the spirit of the text. His zeal kindled. He was in some sense a child of the Board. It was not strange he should become its servant. So resigning his work in North Carolina, he devoted his unoccupied time to missionary work in the counties of Floyd and Patrick. With some variation in fields of labor, his connection with the State Mission Board con- tinued for ten years or more, during which time he was instrumental, under God, in planting the standard of the cross in many destitute communities, and organizing several churches.
At the organization of Blue Ridge Association, in 1858, he was chosen moderator, an office which he held for eighteen years, and from which he was relieved only at his own request. He was in a sense the father of the Association, manifested an abiding interest in all that
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pertained to its prosperity, attended all its meetings, and rejoiced greatly in its development and growth. The meeting of 1877 was the last over which he presided. At this meeting he vacated the chair to urge the claims of State Missions, Foreign Missions, Ministerial Sup- port, and Temperance. In 1888, he attended the Asso- ciation for the last time. At this meeting, as he had often done before, he preached the introductory sermon. Isaiah 11 :9 was chosen as the text: "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." One who heard the sermon said: "As the speaker portrayed the peaceful sway, the onward march, and the final glorious triumph of Messiah's kingdom, and pointed out the agencies through which this was to be accomplished, all the powers of his mighty mind and noble soul were brought into play, and he seemed for the time to live amid the splendors of the latter-day glory, and his auditors were swayed like leaves in the autumn breeze."
For ten years before his death, Mr. Taylor did not enjoy vigorous health. Hard work, exposure and two attacks of serious illness had left their mark upon him. Through all his pastoral career he rarely failed to meet an engagement. He served in the pastoral relation the Leaksville, Providence, Ayersville, Beaver Island, Peter's Creek, and Oak Ridge churches, in North Carolina; and in Virginia, New Haven Church, in Floyd County; Friendship, Sycamore, Rock Spring, and Meadows of Dan, in Patrick, and New Leatherwood, True Vine, Ridgeway, Blackberry, and Mayo, in Henry County. He was a New Testament preacher. From his nearly completed journal, which has been carefully consulted, it appears that in the course of his ministry he preached from 534 different texts, only seventy-two of which were taken from the Old Testament.
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