A history of the Baptists in the southern states east of the Mississippi

Front matter

Glass

Book

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

Preface

In the preparation of this volume I have sought to adhere as far as possible to the intention of the series and to embrace as much as I could of the history of the Baptist denomination within the district indicated by the title. Throughout the volume, the relative importance of matter has controlled the fullness or meagreness of detail with which it has been treated. Because of the impossibility of comprehending within a work of restricted compass everything that might be of interest to the general reader, the author has been forced to leave untouched much valuable material.

It will be observed, from the plan of the work, that the history has been gathered around the most eventful epochs or periods that have distinguished the annals of the Baptist denomination in the older States of the South. The history has been unfolded under such subjects as admit of easy application to all the States alike. By means of such treatment, the essential facts of a general denominational history of the States of the South, east of the Mississippi, are easily presented.

Indebtedness is acknowledged mainly to such works as : " The Minutes of the Southern Baptist

6 PREFACE

Convention," from 1845 to the present time; Cathcart's " Baptist Encyclopedia " ; Armitage's " History of the Baptists " ; Scrapie's " History of the Baptists of Virginia " ; Spencer's " History of the Baptists of Kentucky " ; Paxton's " History of the Baptists of Louisiana " ; Campbell's " History of the Georgia Baptists/' and Boykin's " History of Georgia Baptists, with Biographical Compendium"; Vedder's " Short History of the Baptists"; Newman's "American Church History (Baptists)"; Carroll's "Religious Forces of the United States," in the "American Church History Series" ; Cook's "Story of the Baptists " ; Hervey's " Story of Baptist Missions " ; Tupper's " Foreign Missions of the Southern Baptist Convention," also his "Decade of Foreign Missions, 1880 to 1890"; Taylor's "Virginia Baptist Ministers " ; Foster's " Mississippi Baptist Preachers " ; Borum's " Baptist Preachers of Tennessee " ; J. L. M. Curry's " Struggles and Triumphs of Virginia Baptists" ; Broadus' " Memoir of James P. Boyce," and Sampey's " Southern Baptist Theological Seminary."

For special kindnesses shown, the author is indebted to Drs. Lansing Burrows, of Georgia, and H. F. Sproles, of Mississippi, Mr. J. L. Furman, of Louisiana, and the late W. G. Whilden, Esq.,

of South Carolina.

B. F. R.

University of Ga., Jan., 1898.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Early Traces 9

II. Struggle for Freedom . . . . 50

Chapter II

IN seeking to discover the first traces of the Baptists in the several States of the South, we have been carried much beyond the period which now comes under review. In considering the conflicts in which the Baptist fathers were engaged in order to the establishment of religious liberty in the South, we shall have somewhat to retrace our steps to reach the source of these troubles.

The era upon which we are now entering is at once the most eventful, the most thrilling, the most prolific, and the most vital in the history of the republic. It is a period in which were laid the foundation principles upon which the union of the States was to be established and maintained throughout a revolutionary future. While the liberty-loving of the Old World had fled to America in order to escape the oppression which resulted from the union of Church and State, the advocates of this unholy alliance had also come that they might transplant the same iniquitous principles on the shores of America.

In the original occupation of the States of the South the lords proprietaries, under the direction of whom these several colonies were planted, were largely members of the Church of England. Supported by the government of Great Britain, these original founders of American colonies were defiant of opposition and most rigorous in the execution of their demands upon all dissenters. To those of other communions than that of the establishment, the outlook for religious freedom was not, for a very long period, by any means assuring. Roman Catholics formed the only exception to this remark.

Among the first who came from England to America, as we have seen, were Baptists. They were generally fugitives from the ecclesiastical tyranny of the old world. Believing that every one should be left at liberty to worship God as he might please, or to neglect to worship altogether if he might choose, they began the propagation of these principles. In harmony with these views they contended for entire exemption from compulsory support of a system or creed of which they could not approve. This opposition they did not hesitate to express when occasion arose, though such opposition was frequently attended with extreme peril. When, therefore, taxation on the part of the establishment was resisted by dissenters, which included others besides Baptists, the persecutions against such were oftentimes violent. The specious plea of these persecutors was that while magistrates " have no power against the laws, doctrine, and religion of Christ, yet for the same, if their power be of God, they may use it lawfully and against the contrary." x The passage of the Act of Toleration under William and Mary, in 1689, aroused great hope among the Baptists both of America and England. But for some mysterious reason that Act failed to become operative in America for quite twenty years. While, as Doctor Woolsey says, it " removed only the harshest restrictions upon Protestant religious worship and was arbitrary, unequal, and unsystematic in its provisions," still " it was the entering wedge to religious freedom." The passage of such an Act was a concession of Parliament to the dissenters both in England and America. If it did not bring the desired freedom, it had the effect of giving enlarged boldness of assertion to the Baptists. The colonies of the South, as well as those of the North, were modeled upon imitations of the mother country. The spirit of the laws, if not the laws themselves, were derived from England. In Great Britain conformity to the religion of the government was enforced by disabilities, pains, and penalties. In the charter of 1606 the Church of England was established in Virginia. It provided that "the true word and service of God and Christian faith be preached, planted, and used according to the doctrines, rights, and religion now professed and established within our realm."

This was strongly supported by subsequent legis-

1 Doctor Cutting, in Underbill's "Struggles and Triumphs of Religious Liberty," p. 10.

lation, which denounced all such provision as heretical and dangerous. Under the exclusive system of Episcopacy in Virginia, such oppressive laws were enacted as entailed the most cruel persecution upon all dissenters. One of these laws in 1611 required every person who settled in the colony to appear before an Episcopal minister and state his religious views. Should he refuse to do so, he should be publicly whipped. If still he refused, he was to be twice whipped. A third refusal led to his being whipped every day until he should confess. It was unlawful for dissenters to engage in religious worship except in the meeting-houses of the Episcopalians. Taxes were levied on the goods of every man, on his property, and on his crops, for the support of the Episcopal ministry or for the purchase for them of glebes or parish farms. Should a dissenter absent himself from the " service" of a church of the Establishment, he was fined fifty pounds of tobacco for one Sunday, and two hundred pounds for one month. The penalty for refusing to have a child christened was two thousand pounds of tobacco. The original statute books of Virginia abound in the records of the passage of laws for building houses of worship in the parishes, the support of the clergy of the Establishment, compulsory christening, attendance on public worship, the coercive use of the book of Common Prayer, practical conformity to the order and constitution of the Church of England, and forbidding preaching, officiation at marriages, and occasions of public worship of dissenters. 1 Nor was there existing the disposition to abate the vigor of these unjust statutes, for when not checked by the softening influence of Christianity, or awed into inaction by adverse public sentiment, these oppressive laws were cruelly executed. 2 That the galling nature of these laws may be more fully understood, quotation is here made of one of them :

Whereas, Many schismatic persons out of their averseness to the orthodox established religion, or out of the new-fangled conceits of their own heretical inventions, refuse to have their children baptized, Be it therefore Enacted, That all persons that, in contempt of the divine sacrament of baptism, shall refuse when they may carry their child to a lawful minister in that county to have them baptized, shall be amerced two thousand pounds of tobacco ; half to the informer and half to the public. 3

This was originally intended for Quakers, but was vigorously executed against the Baptists of the Virginia colony. This conflict against dissenters was indiscriminately waged in every possible direction. Dissenters who were members of the House of Burgesses were expelled because of their religious opinions. Men and women alike were haled before the courts and fined for failure to at-

1 Herring's "Statutes," Vol. I., II., III., VI. 2 Semple's "History of the Baptists of Virginia," pp. 14-23, 294. 3 Hening's "Statutes," Vol. II., p. 165.

tend upon the services of the Episcopal Church. A striking instance of this cruel enactment, as well as of the heroism of the oppressed, occurs in the records of Middlesex Court, Virginia : " Sister Lucretia Pritchett was true pluck : she was presented at every Court and fined each time."

By far the fiercest struggle for freedom was made by the Baptists of Virginia. For the period of almost three-quarters of a century the conflict continued in that province in which the Baptists refused to desist until the last vestige of the coalition between Church and State had been wiped out. The lofty and boastful cavalier, concerning the courtly polish of whose manners, and the gentler blood of whom so much has been said and written, was the arrogant fellow who meted out only brutal intolerance to the unoffending folk of Virginia, called Baptists. Booted and spurred and of lofty port, he looked with disdain upon the plain and simple, but honest and worthy Baptists of Virginia. The treatment which was accorded these unoffending people for the period of more than half a century was largely due to the contempt with which the cavalier importations, who were also members of the Establishment, regarded them. They were the objects of " cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment," because they were regarded as the refuse of the earth. Indeed, these same Baptists so profoundly excited the contempt of the austere members of the Establishment in some quarters that they escaped persecution altogether. With a sneer it was said that none but the weak and wicked would join the intolerable Baptists. It was presumed that their position in the scale of social excellence was such that they would soon come to naught by reason of unseemly wrangles among themselves.

In many other localities, however, the penal code was strained to its utmost tension to suppress the Baptists, who resisted the invasion of their Godgiven rights. A profound contempt coupled with a bitter malice led to the perpetration upon the Baptist ministry of the most cruel treatment. The same individual held in high esteem by the Establishment so long as he was loyal thereto, became suddenly transformed into an object of ridicule and contempt so soon as he embraced the principles of the despised Baptists. Samuel Harriss, before his conversion to the Baptist faith, was a most trustworthy citizen of the Virginia colony. This is shown by the several prominent positions which he held in society. No other than a most reputable citizen could have at different times occupied the several positions of church-warden, sheriff, justice of the peace, burgess for the county, colonel of the militia, captain of Mayo Fort, and commissary for the fort and army. But at thirty-four years of age he was led to Christ, was baptized, and ordained a Baptist preacher. This was sufficient to arouse the contempt and the ire of the Episcopal clergy and to call down upon Mr. Harriss their fiery maledictions.

On one occasion he was arrested and taken into court as a disturber of the peace. He was confronted by one Captain Williams, who " vehemently accused him as a vagabond, a heretic, and a mover of sedition everywhere." Mr. Harriss made his own defense. The Court proposed to dismiss the case upon the condition that Mr. Harriss would not preach in Culpeper again for the space of a year. The persecuted preacher stated that as his home was distant two hundred miles he would possibly not disturb them for that period of time. Crossing the Blue Ridge he preached in the Shenandoah Valley, but Providence soon led him again into Culpeper where, in violation of his extorted promise, he again preached, saying : " I partly promised the devil a few days past, at the courthouse, that I would not preach in this county again during the term of a year. But the devil is a perfidious wretch, and covenants with him are not to be kept : and therefore I will preach." He was no more disturbed in Culpeper County, but on one occasion, in Orange County, he was pulled down Avhile preaching and ruthlessly dragged about, sometimes by the hair of his head and again by the leg, but was finally rescued by his friends. On another occasion he was knocked down while preaching. 1 It was not an uncommon occurrence for sacred worship to be 1 Taylor, "Virginia Baptist Ministers," Vol. I., p. 35.

seriously interfered with, and sometimes broken up by representatives of the Episcopacy.

Stones and other missiles were sometimes hurled at the heads of the Baptist preachers while conducting worship in the woods, or in private dwellings. On one occasion an Episcopal minister led the tumult against a Baptist meeting. 1 Frequently Baptist preachers were insulted while performing the most sacred rites. Their persecutors would ride into the water while baptism was being administered, and make sport of the most solemn rite. When on one occasion Robert Ware was engaged in preaching he was confronted by two men who stood before him with a bottle and drank, now and then offering the bottle to the preacher and railing at him with oaths. Unable to disconcert him in this way, they drew from their pockets a pack of cards and began to play upon the platform upon which he had been preaching, just so soon as he had closed. It is said that the object of these disturbers was to provoke him into open reproof of their conduct that they might find occasion to beat him. 2

The officers of the law transcended the limits of their authority in imprisoning men for preaching, as no law existed forbidding such exercise. Considering the unreasonable extremity of the penal code in many particulars, it is somewhat remarkable

1 Bitting, " Religious Liberty and the Baptists.''

2 Semple, "History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists of Virginia," p. 36.

that there should have been the omission of a law against the preaching of dissenters. In the absence of such a law the persecutors fell back upon a statute upon which was placed a forced construction in order that they might be justified in such procedure. The statute behind which they took refuge to sustain such action was that relating to the preservation of the peace. Consequently Baptist preachers were arrested as disturbers of the peace of the community. It is believed that the first imprisonment for preaching took place in Spottsylvania County, Virginia, on June 4, 1768. At that time John Waller, Lewis Craig, James Childs, and others, " were seized by the sheriif and hauled before three magistrates who stood in the meeting-house yard, and who bound them over in the penalty of one thousand pounds to appear at court two days after. 1 At court they were arraigned as disturbers of the peace, and on their trial were vehemently accused by a certain lawyer, who said to the court: "May it please your worships, these men are great disturbers of the peace ; they cannot meet a man upon the road but they run a text of Scripture down his throat." One of the number, Walker, made an ingenious defense of himself and of his companions. Indeed, so adroit was the line of defense that the persecutors were thrown into perplexity, and finally adopted the expedient of proposing to release them upon a " promise to preach no more in the county temple, p. 29.

for a year and a day." But this proposal they finally declined to accept and were consequently sent to jail. As they moved along the streets of Fredericksburg, surrounded by the guard who escorted them to prison, these inoffensive preachers sang the hymn beginning, "Broad is the road that leads to death."

Upon being liberated after the lapse of a month, Mr. Craig repaired to Williamsburg, where he appealed to the deputy-governor, Hon. John Blair, to release his comrades. Thereupon Mr. Blair addressed the king's attorney in Spottsylvania as follows :

Sir : I lately received a letter signed by a good number of worthy gentlemen, who are not here, complaining of the Baptists; the particulars of their misbehavior are not told any further than their running into private houses and making dissensions. Mr. Craig and Mr. Benjamin Waller are now with me and deny the charge ; they tell me that they are willing to take the oath as others have ; I told them I had consulted the attorney-general, who is of opinion that the General Court only have a right to grant licenses, and therefore, I referred them to the court ; but on their application to the attorney-general, they brought me this letter advising me to write to you : That their petition was a matter of right, and that you may not molest these conscientious people so long as they behave themselves in a manner becoming pious Christians and in obedience to the laws till the court, when they intend to apply for license, and when the gentlemen who complain may make their objections and be heard.

The act of toleration (it being found by experience that persecuting dissenters increases their members) has given them a right to apply, in a proper manner, for licensed houses for the worship of God, according to their consciences ; and I persuade myself that the gentlemen will quietly overlook their meetings till the court. I am told they administer the sacrament of the Lord's Supper near the manner we do, and differ from our church in nothing but in that of baptism, and in their renewing the ancient discipline, by which they have reformed some sinners and brought them to be truly penitent. Nay, if a man of theirs is idle and neglects to labor and provide for his family as he ought, he incurs their censures, which have had good effects. If this be their behavior, it were to be wished we had more of it among us. But at least I hope all may remain quiet till the court. I am with great respect, To the gentlemen, etc., Your humble servant,

John Blair.

Williamsburg, July 16, 1768.

Forty-three days elapsed after the receipt of this letter before any step whatever was taken in behalf of the imprisoned preachers ; but at the expiration of that time they were released without a word. While confined in the Spottsylvania jail these men preached through prison bars to the crowds assembled without. Seeing that the multitudes were being singularly aifected by the preaching done under such novel circumstances, an opposing mob gathered, and by hoots and yells sought to drown the voices of the preachers. Released from prison, these earnest men of God preached with more diligence and zeal than before. Sympathy for the liberated men was now coupled with the power of their preaching, and there was abundantly illustrated the suggestion made in the letter of Deputy-governor Blair, that persecution was only productive of richer results to the persecuted.

In December, 1770, two ardent young preachers, William Webber and Joseph Anthony, were invited by some of the inhabitants of Chesterfield County to visit that region and hold a series of meetings. The character of their preaching was such as to arouse the opposition of the magistrates, who charged Webber and Anthony with " turning the people to madness." They were promptly arrested and thrown into prison. Certain terms having been submitted, they declined to accept them for conscientious reasons and remained in prison for four months. But they were not idle. Curious and sympathizing crowds hung about the jail windows day after day, and were preached to by Webber and Anthony. The imprisonment of these young men led to results which utterly defeated the object of their incarceration, for it was the beginning of a mighty work in Chesterfield County, and led to an extensive prevalence of Baptist principles throughout that region of country. After the release of Webber and Anthony from Chesterfield jail, they repaired to Goochland County. Thence Webber proceeded to Middlesex County where we find him again thrown into prison.

While preaching he was approached by a magistrate with a drawn club, who would have felled the preacher to the ground had not the instrument been caught by some one from behind. There were several Baptist preachers present upon the last-named occasion, all of whom were arrested, the magistrate being supported by a clergyman of the Episcopacy, two sheriffs, and a posse. 1 The preachers who were seized by the officers on this occasion were William Webber, John Walker, James Greenwood, and Robert Ware. They were accompanied to the meeting by Thomas Wofford, a layman, who was severely beaten with a whip by the officers, and turned loose with a number of severe wounds. Diligent search was made through the contents of the saddle-bags of these traveling ministers to ascertain if they bore treasonable papers. Failing to discover such, an attempt was made to extort from each one separately, in a room apart, a promise not to preach in the county again, the magistrates promising liberation upon condition that such assurance be given. But the proposal was met by a prompt and firm refusal. The four preachers were at once thrown into a prison swarming with vermin. On the following day, which was Sunday, their friends vied with each other in seeking to contribute to the comfort of the imprisoned preachers. While these sympathizers were gathered within the precincts of the jail, the opportunity was seized upon for hold-

1 Semple, "History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists of Virginia," p. 34.

ing sacred worship, and services were announced to be held from the jail windows every Wednesday and Sunday thereafter. The multitudes thronged in such numbers upon their preaching that their enemies were thoroughly enraged and caused a drum to be beaten, during the service, in order to drown the voice of the preacher. In all this, the preachers though imprisoned were really the victors, for these demonstrations of disorder aroused public sympathy and gained respectful audience for Baptist preachers ever afterward in that region. This sympathy on the part of the people at large was not a little enhanced when these prisoners were led forth to trial attended by armed guards, as if they had been ordinary criminals.

In the courts, personal pleas were denied them, and choice was given between abandonment of preaching in the county, and returning to jail. They quietly chose the latter alternative and were thrust into prison upon a scanty and restricted diet of bread and water. After four days' suffering for food and drink, their condition became known without, and friends really overwhelmed them with supplies of necessaries, so much so that the ministers were able for several days together to feed the poor of the town of Urbana, in which they were imprisoned.

Every incident seemed to conspire to the furtherance of the gospel. As has already been seen, public sympathy was thoroughly stirred in behalf of the prisoners and was deepened by the patience and forbearance with which they endured their wrongs. To all of this was added the sickness of Mr. Webber which, when taken in connection with the serious regard with which the public considered the unjust imprisonment of these men of God, served to invest the old jail with an air of solemnity and made it the most honored locality in all the town. The multitudes which continued to gather about the jail windows became more curious and anxious still, and, by degrees, came to regard the prison with somewhat of superstitious reverence. After remaining in jail a month and a half longer, these men were set free upon condition of giving bond for future good behavior.

In Culpeper again James^Ireland was arrested and brought before magistrates who grossly maltreated him and then thrust him into jail. The harsh treatment to which he was subjected came well-nigh costing him his life. More than one attempt was made upon his life while confined in prison, but each effort failed. Gunpowder was used to blow into atoms the jail in which he was confined, and the attempt failed only because of its insufficiency. At another time suffocation was attempted by the use of brimstone, and at another still his destruction was sought by the use of poison. These repeated deliverances from death, coupled with the tokens of love from his brethren without, converted his cell into a spiritual hermitage. His vivacity of spirit led him, while writing from prison, to address his letters " From my palace in Culpeper." Like his imprisoned brethren, Ireland preached to the crowds from his iron-barred windows. In the same county of Culpeper, Sanders, Craig, Maxwell, Corbley, and Ammon were imprisoned for preaching ; two private members, Maxwell and Banks, were arrested for holding a prayer meeting ; and Delaney, who was not a Baptist, was arrested for allowing a meeting to be held in his home, so utterly intolerant and filled with the spirit of persecution had the authorities become.

The irony of history is illustrated in the fact that upon the identical spot where the old jail stood in Culpeper, a Baptist church is now located. A similar retributive justice has been visited upon the original location of the jail of Urbana, in the county of Middlesex, where were imprisoned Waller, Ware, Greenwood, and Webber. Numerous other instances are upon record of the struggles for conscience' sake in Virginia, extending even to the period of the dawn of the Revolution. Persecutions similar to those already enumerated were rife also in the counties of King and Queen, Lunenberg, Orange, Fauquier, Caroline, Richmond, and others.

In 1774 James Madison was so profoundly aroused by the prevailing persecutions in different portions of his native State, that he wrote to a friend in Pennsylvania :

That diabolical, hell-conceived principle of persecution rages among some, and to their eternal infamy be it said the clergy can furnish their quota of imps for such purposes. There are, at this time, in the adjacent county, not less than five or six well-meaning men in close jail for publishing their religious sentiments, which, in the main, are very orthodox.

Be it said to the honor of James Madison, that he was the inflexible friend of soul-liberty in the midst of the most stirring periods of Virginian history. He sanctioned to the utmost, the views advocated by the early Baptist fathers, and on more than one occasion, as Ave shall hereafter see, became the champion of Baptist petitioners in the legislature of Virginia, against the ablest advocates of the opposition.

Up to this time our attention has been fixed upon the struggles of the early Baptists of Virginia to procure freedom from ecclesiastical oppression. Great prominence has thus been given to these struggles, because of all the regions of the South, the greatest oppression was experienced by the people of that province. But ecclesiastical cruelty was not confined to Virginia, for wherever the baleful union of Church and State existed, there was oppression in some form.

In 1698 a serious blunder was committed by the Baptists of Charleston in acquiescing in a measure which was fraught with much future evil. That it would lead to such serious consequences was not, at

68 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS Itf SOUTHERN STATES

the time, so clearly indicated by reason of the incoherent condition of society. The mistake was an agreement on the part of the entire colony, including the Baptists, of course, to suffer the passage of a bill " allowing the Episcopal minister of Charleston and his successors forever, a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling, together with a house, glebe, and two servants." 1 The bill secured a passage during the administration of Joseph Blake as governor of the province. Prompted by a desire to preserve amicable relations among the different elements of the province, Governor Blake greatly favored the measure, and through his influence, as the friend of the Baptists, he succeeded in gaining their consent and co-operation. The iniquitous measure derived additional support from the amiable character and popularity of the rector of the Episcopal church at Charleston at that time, Rev. Samuel Marshall. This last fact, coupled with the conservative policy of Governor Blake, blinded the dissenters to all apprehensions of subsequent mischief. But when, at a later period, it was discovered that the proprietors