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A HISTORY ( FEB g 191Q 
 
 OF THE ^^C^Cj;ir.f! ^^'X^^^^ 
 
 BAPTISTS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 
 EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 
 
 BY 
 / 
 
 B. F. RILEY, D. D. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 '■'■Alabama As It Is,'''' "■History of the Baptists of Alabama,'''' etc. 
 
 " Different statements of truth, different forms of worship, an altered out- 
 ward life, there may be ; but the spiritual affections, the sense of duty, the 
 charity, the penitent trust, the divine desire, the hatred of wrong, the faith 
 in the unseen, which constitute true religion, belong to all generations." 
 
 S. L. Caldwell, D. D. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY 
 
 1420 Chestnut Street 
 
 1898 
 
CopjTight 1898 by the 
 American Baptist Publication Society 
 
 iFrom tbe Society's own press 
 
3Fot 
 
 DISINTERESTED KINDNESS, SUBSTANTIAL 
 
 SYMPATHY, AND FATHERLY COUNSEL 
 
 GIVEN WHEN MOST NEEDED BY MY 
 
 ELDEST BROTHER 
 
 z. fm. 1R. 
 
 TO HIM THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTION- 
 ATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR 
 
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 dis- 
 trict indicated by the title. Throughout the vol- 
 ume, the relative importance of matter has con- 
 trolled the fullness or meagreness of detail with 
 which it has been treated. Because of the impossi- 
 bility 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 un- 
 folded under such subjects as admit of easy applica- 
 tion to all the States alike. By means of such 
 treatment, the essential facts of a general denomina- 
 tional 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 
 
 5 
 
b PREFACE 
 
 Convention," from 1845 to the present time; 
 Cathcart's " Baptist Encyclopedia " ; Armitage's 
 " History of the Baptists " ; Semple'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 Compen- 
 dium"; 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 Bap- 
 tist Missions " ; Tupper's " Foreign Missions of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention," also his "Decade of 
 Foreign Missions, 1880 to 1890" ; Taylor's "Vir- 
 ginia 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 in- 
 debted 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 
 
 III. Southern Baptists and the Revolution . . 80 
 
 IV. Denominational Expansion 110 
 
 V. Educational Work 131 
 
 VI. Divergent Views 165 
 
 VII. Interest in Missions Prior to the Separa- 
 tion 179 
 
 VIII. Formation of the Southern Baptist Con- 
 vention 199 
 
 IX. Work Under Changed Conditions .... 215 
 
 X. The Southern Baptist Theological Sem- 
 inary 241 
 
 XI. Sunday-school Work 266 
 
 XII. Collateral Agencies 285 
 
 XIII. Woman's Work 299 
 
 7 
 
8 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XIV. Colored Baptists and their Work .... 310 
 
 XV. Conclusion 329 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 Other Baptist Families 337 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 Institutions for Women and Value of Prop- 
 erties 361 
 
HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EARLY TRACES 
 
 ABOUT the year 1682 a body of respectable 
 and well-to-do immigrants left their homes in 
 the southwestern portion of England, and under 
 the lead of Humphrey Blake, a brother of the fa- 
 mous British admiral, set sail for America, Land- 
 ing upon the Carolina coast near the present site 
 of Charleston, they proceeded a short distance up 
 Cooper River and built their temporary homes upon 
 its western bank. The respectability of these im- 
 migrants led so competent an authority as Gra- 
 hame, in his " Colonial History of the United 
 States," to denominate them a " most valuable addi- 
 tion " to the Carolina population. From the same 
 source we learn that Mr. Blake so generously shared 
 in the convictions of the dissenters, whose leader he 
 became, that he " devoted his fortune " to the fur- 
 therance of the scheme to emigrate to America in 
 order that they might escape threatened persecu- 
 tion, the terrors of which were not a little enhanced 
 by the apprehended accession of the Duke of York 
 to the throne. 
 
 9 
 
10 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Among the colonists who landed near Charleston 
 was Joseph Blake, a nephew of the leader of the 
 party, who though not a Baptist, was nevertheless 
 in profound sympathy with the denomination in its 
 views respecting religious freedom. His wife, Lady 
 Blake, was a most earnest Baptist, as was also her 
 mother, Lady Axtell. Joseph Blake was destined 
 to play a conspicuous part in the future history of 
 the province. Already the friend and trustee of 
 Lord Berkeley, one of the lords-proprietors of the 
 province, he was afterward chosen, together with 
 Paul Grimball, a Baptist, and five others, to revise 
 "The Fundamental Constitution" originally framed 
 by the celebrated John Locke. The conduct of 
 Mr. Blake, from the beginning to the close of his 
 career as governor of the province, showed that he 
 was an uncompromising advocate of religious free- 
 dom. 
 
 About the time of the occurrence of the events 
 just noted, William Screven fled from Kittery, 
 Maine, with a party of persecuted folk and joined 
 the colony upon Cooper River. Indications favor 
 the presumption that it was the result of a mutual 
 understanding that these harmonious bodies of colo- 
 nists were thus brought together. One of the most 
 significant facts is that the locality of the combined 
 colonists was named Somerton. In his history of 
 the English Baptists, Ivimey mentions the congre- 
 gation at Somerton, in Somersetshire, England, as 
 co-operating with other congregations, in 1656, in 
 
EARLY TRACES 11 
 
 publishing a Confession of Faith. This Confession 
 was signed by twenty-five persons, among whom 
 was William Screven, of Somerton. Twenty-five 
 years later we find William Screven at Kittery, on 
 the Piscataqua River, in Maine, engaged in holding 
 religious meetings in his own house. There is little 
 doubt of the identity of the William Screven of 
 Old England with that of New England. 
 
 Subjected to a vigorous persecution, Mr. Screven 
 left New England for the South and reached 
 Charleston about the close of 1682. To a constitu- 
 tion and subscription of a church covenant adopted 
 at Kittery, September 25, 1682, the First Church 
 of Charleston traces its origin. The earliest avail- 
 able records indicate that the settlement of the 
 colony under Screven at Charleston, was regarded 
 as being only a transfer of the seat of worship of 
 the persecuted flock which had been gathered on 
 the Piscataqua. In a historical sketch of the First 
 Church of Charleston, which was inserted in the 
 original minute book of the Charleston Association, 
 it is particularly stated that most of the members 
 came with William Screven from the Piscataqua re- 
 gion. These Baptists on Cooper River, derived 
 partly from England and partly from Maine, were 
 the first to settle in the South. The strong proba- 
 bility is that while they observed social worship in 
 some form at Somerton, their seasons of stated wor- 
 ship were held Sunday after Sunday in Charleston. 
 
 Every Sunday morning the families of the Som- 
 
12 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 erton settlement would descend the river in their 
 boats, following the outgoing tide, spend a large por- 
 tion of the day worshiping in Charleston, and in the 
 afternoon row leisurely back up the river to their 
 homes. The time for beginning worship in the 
 morning was made to depend upon the capricious 
 subsidence of the tide, and it was as liable to take 
 place at high noon as at ten o'clock. Prior to the 
 erection of a meeting-house in Charleston, worship 
 was held "at the house of one William Chapman 
 on King Street." There is little doubt that the 
 Baptists were the first to erect a church edifice in 
 Charleston. 
 
 Naturally enough William Screven became the 
 pastor of the original Baptist church established by 
 the combined colonists at Somerton and thereabouts. 
 He served in this capacity until 1706, when he re- 
 tired to the head of Winyaw Bay, purchased land 
 and built a home where Georgetown now is, and 
 though quite an old man, continued to labor as a 
 missionary in the destitute settlements about him. 
 Upon the retirement of Mr. Screven from the pas- 
 torate of the church, a preacher from England, 
 named White, was called to succeed him. Mr. 
 White's pastoral career at Charleston was a brief 
 one, for he soon died. In their perplexity, the 
 membership turned again to their venerable ex- 
 pastor for a supply. About the same time Mr. 
 Screven received a call from the First Church of 
 Boston, to which he made reply, "Our minister 
 
EARLY TRACES 13 
 
 that came from England is dead, and I can by no 
 means be spared." In spite of the infirmities of 
 age, Mr. Screven served the church seven years 
 longer, and died October 10, 1713, at the age of 
 eighty-four. 
 
 Shortly after the colony under Humphrey Blake 
 left England, another under the direction of Lord 
 Cardross, a nobleman from the north of England, 
 came to Carolina, bringing with him a company of 
 North Britons, most of whom were Baptists, and 
 settled at Port Royal Island. But encountering the 
 hostility of the neighboring Indians and especially 
 that of the Spanish settlement at St. Augustine, 
 they removed their residence some time before 1686 
 to the mouth of the Edisto River.^ Many of these 
 became members of the First Church of Charles- 
 ton, thereby greatly increasing its strength and effi- 
 ciency. 
 
 In 1700 the population of Charleston and the 
 adjacent region numbered about five thousand five 
 hundred, the larger portion of which was within 
 the city proper. At that date all the facilities for 
 divine worship and all the schools connected with 
 the province were confined to the limits of Charles- 
 ton. The outlying population afforded an excellent 
 field for missionary labor, and right zealously was 
 the opportunity seized upon by the Baptists, who 
 were the pioneers of missions in South Carolina. 
 
 ^Hewit, "History of South Carolina and Georgia," Vol. I., 
 p. 89. 
 
14 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 The English Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel in Foreign Parts did not enter this field 
 until 1707, but wherever their representatives went 
 they found that they had been preceded by the Bap- 
 tists.^ 
 
 At the period of Mr. Screven's death there was 
 in the Carolina province a population of about fif- 
 teen thousand, fully one-half of which was slaves. 
 The virgin soil was productive of the most gratify- 
 ing harvests, the forests yielded an abundance of 
 the finest timbers for distant markets, the woods 
 abounded in game, and the streams and seas were 
 filled with excellent fish. Industry and thrift in 
 commercial quarters were equaled only by the dili- 
 gence of the local missionary. 
 
 William Peartt, who was second in the order of 
 pastoral succession to Screven, was a most assidu- 
 ous and enterprising advocate of church extension. 
 He was pastor of the church at Charleston for a 
 period of ten years, during which time he was in- 
 strumental in the erection of houses of worship on 
 Edisto Island, on Ashley River, and in Stono, six- 
 teen miles distant from Charleston.^ 
 
 As opportunity would offer, the Charleston pastor 
 would minister to these mission stations in person, 
 or else authorize some of its gifted members to do 
 80. In this way William Tilley, first as a licen- 
 tiate of the mother church in Charleston, and after- 
 
 1 Humphrey, pp. 88, 95, 108, etc. 
 ^Manly, " Two Centuries," p. 94. 
 
EARLY TRACES 15 
 
 ward as an ordained minister, rendered valuable 
 service on Edisto Island. None of these stations 
 became organized churches until some years after 
 this period. 
 
 Virginia. — Although Virginia was settled as 
 early as 1607, a Baptist church was not organized 
 until 1714, more than a century afterward. That 
 there were Baptists scattered throughout some por- 
 tions of Virginia seems quite clear. There were 
 dissenters in the province as early as 1648, but it is 
 claimed that they were for the most part Congre- 
 gationalists.' In the Assembly of 1661-62, there 
 was an act passed which seems to have been di- 
 rected against the Baptists : 
 
 Whereas, Many schismatical persons, out of their 
 aversion to the orthodox established rehgion, or out of 
 the newfangled conceits of their own heretical inventions, 
 refuse to have their children baptized, 
 
 Be it therefore Enacted, That all persons that in con- 
 tempt 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, 
 half to the public. 
 
 Notwithstanding the English Act of Toleration 
 was adopted in 1689, it did not become operative in 
 Virginia for twenty years. When the provisions of 
 the Act began to assume practical shape, in the 
 early years of the eighteenth century, the Baptists 
 
 'Newman, " American Church History," Vol. II., p. 229. 
 
16 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 of the province began to show themselves, espe- 
 cially in the Isle of Wight. 
 
 Responding to the first note of encouragement, a 
 small body of Baptists in Isle of Wight County 
 appealed to the London Association for missionaries. 
 Two missionaries, Robert Nordin and Thomas 
 White, were sent out from London in response to 
 this demonstration from Virginia, but the latter of 
 these died before he reached the shores of America. 
 Mr. Nordin, however, reached the province safely, 
 and at once threw himself zealously into the work 
 of evangelization. In anticipation of the advent 
 of pastors from England, a body of Baptists seemed 
 already to have been formed at Burleigh, on the 
 south bank of the James. The constitution of the 
 church, which is now known as Mill Swamp, was 
 promptly effected, the organization taking place in 
 1714. Later, Nordin was reinforced from England 
 by two other missionaries, Messrs. Jones and Mintz. 
 From Burleigh, in the county of Isle of Wight, 
 these ardent missionaries crossed over into the 
 county of Surrey, and constituted another church 
 at Branden. This is believed to be the same which 
 is known to-day as Otterdam's Church. 
 
 About 1743 Baptist missionaries from Maryland 
 entered the northern portion of Virginia, which was 
 now becoming thickly populated. The prime 
 movers in this evangelistic undertaking are sup- 
 posed to have been Edmund Hays and Thomas 
 Yates, of the Sater's Baptist Church, Maryland. 
 
EARLY TRACES 17 
 
 In the midst of the expanding settlements in Berk- 
 ley, London, and Rockingham counties, these Mary- 
 land missionaries found a fruitful field for evan- 
 gelistic effort. These ministers were succeeded in 
 this portion of Virginia by Revs. Loveall, Heton, 
 and Garrard, the last named of whom removed from 
 Pennsylvania in 1754. With consuming zeal they 
 went from house to house in the different settle- 
 ments delivering the message of salvation. As 
 opportunity would offer they would appoint occa- 
 sions for holding public services, which were almost 
 invariably attended with remarkable demonstrations 
 of interest. Not infrequently persons would ride 
 the distance of forty miles in order to hear the gos- 
 pel. Vast crowds would assemble under the shades 
 of wide-spreading trees, bush arbors, and even 
 under spacious stock sheds, in order to listen to 
 preaching. As a result of this missionary energy, 
 Opecon, Mill Creek, Ketocton, and other churches 
 along the northern border were constituted and 
 promptly became members of the Philadelphia 
 Association. 
 
 At this period two valuable accessions were 
 gained from the Pedobaptists in the persons of Shu- 
 bael Stearns and Daniel Marshall. Mr. Stearns 
 came to the Baptists from the New Lights, or Sepa- 
 rates, and was converted under the preaching of 
 Whitefield about the year 1740. As a New Light 
 he engaged in preaching for a number of vears, 
 when his attention was directed to the examination 
 
18 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 of the New Testament upon the matter of baptism. 
 The result led to the renunciation of his former 
 views and to his union with a Baptist church. He 
 was immersed by Wait Palmer, at Tolland, Con- 
 necticut, on May 20, 1751, and was at once or- 
 dained to the work of the ministry. After contin- 
 uing for a brief period in New England, Mr. 
 Stearns removed to Virginia, where he labored in 
 the counties of Berkley and Hampshire. Subse- 
 quently he settled in Guilford County, North Caro- 
 lina, where we shall have occasion to hear of him at 
 a later period. 
 
 Daniel Marshall was reared a Presbyterian, in the 
 ranks of which denomination he served as deacon 
 for a period of nearly twenty years. Brought under 
 the influence of Whitefield's preaching, he was fired 
 with new zeal and earnestly craved the opportunity 
 of breaking the bread of life to the Mohawk In- 
 dians near the headwaters of the Susquehanna, He 
 undertook a mission to the Indians, but hostilities 
 among the savage tribes prompted his removal to 
 Connogogig, Pennsylvania, and thence to a point 
 near Winchester, Virginia. Being led to an impar- 
 tial investigation of the faith and order of the Bap- 
 tists, he became united with a Baptist church, was 
 immersed, and straightway licensed to preach. Like 
 Stearns, he tarried for a period in Virginia, then 
 moved toward the South and settled at Hugwarry, 
 North Carolina. Marshall was a brother-in-law to 
 Stearns. 
 
EARLY TRACES 19 
 
 The earliest Baptist churches of Virginia, like 
 most of those first organized in the South, were 
 deeply infected with Arminianism. This was due 
 to the fact that many of the earliest preachers in 
 the South came direct from England and were the 
 exponents of the principles of the General Baptists 
 of Great Britain. While the ordinances of baptism 
 and the Lord's Supper were stoutly insisted upon 
 by these early preachers, faith and conversion were 
 not demanded as prerequisites. 
 
 To the Philadelphia Association the Baptists of 
 the South are chiefly indebted for a correction of 
 this laxness in doctrine. This Association deputed 
 Benjamin Miller and Peter P. Vanhorn to travel 
 southward among the Baptist churches " and to set 
 things in order among them." By some, these men 
 of God were received with distrustfulness, but gen- 
 erally they were most cordially welcomed by the 
 churches, and listened to with marked attention. 
 The result of their protracted tour through the 
 States of the South was a general abandonment of 
 flabbiness of practice and an adoption of the views 
 of the Regular Baptists. 
 
 Maryland. — When we turn to Maryland to 
 seek for the first traces of the Baptists in that 
 province, we find a condition of affairs entirely dif- 
 ferent from that which exists in the province oi 
 Virginia. In Maryland, the earliest Baptists were 
 favored with far greater freedom than was enjoyed 
 
20 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 by their brethren on the west side of the Potomac. 
 The civil and religious spirit of that early period 
 finds expression in an enactment of the Assembly 
 of Maryland in 1649 : 
 
 That no persons professing to believe in Jesus Christ 
 shall be molested in the respect of their religion, or the 
 free exercise thereof, or be compelled to the belief or 
 practice of any other religion against their consent, so 
 that they be not unfaithful to the proprietary, or conspire 
 against civil government. That persons molesting any 
 other in respect of his religious tenets shall pay treble 
 damages to the party aggrieved and twenty to the pro- 
 prietary. That the reproaching any with opprobrious 
 epithets of religious distinctions shall forfeit ten shill- 
 ings to the person aggrieved. That any one speaking 
 reproachfully against the Blessed Virgin, or the Apos- 
 tles, shall forfeit five pounds, but blasphemy against 
 God shall be punished with death. ^ 
 
 At the time of the enactment of this law, Mary- 
 land was under Roman Catholic domination. It is 
 a matter of surprise to find expressed such liberal 
 sentiments toward dissenters. This becomes more 
 remarkable still when we bear in mind that at this 
 time the Baptists were stoutly opposing the en- 
 croachments of Rome in different portions of Mary- 
 land. In 1709 a representative of the General 
 Baptists, named Henry Sater's, reached Maryland 
 from England and interested himself at once in the 
 propagation of Baptist principles. The result of 
 his labors was the constitution of a church at Chest- 
 iChalmer, "Political Annals," Vol. I., p. 218. 
 
EARLY TRACES 21 
 
 nut Ridge, in 1742, which was the first Baptist 
 church founded in Maryland. This church, to 
 which was given the name Sater's, is located 
 about ten miles north of Baltimore, where worship 
 is maintained to the present time. The church 
 thrived almost from the beginning, the membership 
 increasing so rapidly that within twelve years after 
 its constitution it was enabled to send forth a colony 
 to organize a church at Winter Run, in Harford 
 County. This church, which bore the name of Har- 
 ford, was ministered to by Rev. John Davis, who 
 died in 1809, greatly honored for his works' sake. 
 The members of the Sater's Church manifested 
 considerable missionary zeal in the early portion of 
 its history in bringing about the organization of 
 Baptist churches in the northern portion of Vir- 
 ginia. Its later history, however, has not been so 
 prosperous because of a defectiveness in faith which 
 has well-nigh sapped its life. Very soon after the 
 organization of these two churches, Baptist interests 
 in Maryland began to drift toward the city of Balti- 
 more. The First Baptist Church of that city was 
 organized on January 15, 1785. Its original mem- 
 bers, only eleven in number, were a colony from 
 the Harford Church, with the exception of the pas- 
 tor, Rev. Lewis Richards. The Harford Church 
 was the parent also of two other organizations, the 
 churches at Taneytown and Gunpowder. The Sec- 
 ond Church of Baltimore was constituted by Rev. 
 John Healey, in 1797. Two years previous to this. 
 
22 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Mr. Healey, in company with five others, came from 
 England to Baltimore. This eminently useful man 
 of God enjoyed the rare distinction of being pastor 
 of the same church for the period of more than 
 fifty years. He also enjoyed the honor of organ- 
 izing the first Baptist Sunday-school in Maryland, 
 and indeed in the South. Almost from the begin- 
 ning, Baptist interests in Maryland were centered 
 in the city of Baltimore. 
 
 North Carolina. — The exact date of the first 
 settlement of Baptists in North Carolina, we have 
 no means of knowing. In his " History of North 
 Carolina," Moore gives the date of 1653 as being 
 that of the advent of Baptists into the province. 
 Without indicating the period of their first appear- 
 ance in North Carolina, Morgan Edwards, who is 
 excellent authority, states that there ^vere Baptists 
 in the province in 1695, and Doctor Hawks, the 
 Episcopal church historian, mentions the names of 
 a number of Baptists in the eastern counties of 
 North Carolina in connection with a period preced- 
 ing the eighteenth century. The question of their 
 first entrance into the province has given rise to 
 much speculation. The suggestion is not without 
 basis of reason that Baptist churches existed in 
 North Carolina before they did in Virginia. The 
 religious liberty enjoyed by the inhabitants of 
 North Carolina exceeded that of many other colo- 
 nies. While this freedom so wddely and whole- 
 
EARLY TRACES 23 
 
 somely prevailed in this province, the dissenters of 
 Virginia were sternly repressed by the dominating 
 establishment and by statutes that were cruel and 
 exacting. The Carolinas were not divided until 
 1729, and yet we find Baptists at Charleston as 
 early as 1683, almost a half-century before. Is it 
 probable that a region so inviting as was North 
 Carolina would have been neglected by Baptists 
 while they flourished on the same coast both north 
 and south, in the one instance for almost fifty years 
 and in the other nearly a decade and a half, and 
 under the most oppressive conditions ? Still we are 
 not able to find an organic body of Baptists in 
 North Carolina earlier than 1727, at which time a 
 church, said to be the first, was constituted on 
 Chowan River in Perquimans County by the Rev. 
 Paul Palmer. It has usually been assumed that the 
 North Carolina Baptists were emigrants from Vir- 
 ginia when, for reasons already given, a reversal of 
 the presumption would be more credible. For from 
 the period when the church was established upon 
 the Chowan to 1755, a period of twenty-eight years, 
 the prosperity of the North Carolina Baptists was 
 phenomenal. They not only grew rapidly in num- 
 bers, but they were remarkably aggressive. Dur- 
 ing the same period the Baptists of tidewater Vir- 
 ginia were a struggling and unprogressive folk. 
 
 Paul Palmer, the reputed " father of the Baptists 
 of North Carolina," hailed from the Welsh Tract 
 Church, Pennsylvania, and was a correspondent of 
 
24 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 John Comer, of Newport, R. I. The probability is 
 not without strength that this remarkable man was 
 attracted to North Carolina because of the unmo- 
 lested enjoyment of freedom on the part of the 
 Baptists of that region. 
 
 Like those of the colonies already noticed, save 
 that of South Carolina, the Baptists of North Caro- 
 lina were General Baptists who held that the pro- 
 visions of the gospel were general in their nature. 
 Screven and his followers at Charleston were Par- 
 ticular Baptists, or Calvinists, who held rigidly to 
 the doctrines of predestination and particular elec- 
 tion. AVlien in 1728 the tide was turned against 
 the General Baptists, who had hitherto prevailed, 
 and the Particular Baptists assumed denominational 
 direction in America, which result was largely due 
 to Whitefield and the Calvinists, Philadelphia and 
 Charleston became two great centers of Calvinistic 
 influence. We have already noticed the action 
 taken by the Philadelphia Association in commis- 
 sioning Miller and Vanhorn to travel southward to 
 correct the evils growing out of the Arminian prin- 
 ciples held by the General Baptists. Tliis action 
 was taken by the Philadelphia Association in the 
 autumn of 1755. The Charleston Association had 
 taken the same step in the spring of 1755 when 
 that body sent John Gano and Robert Williams 
 upon the same mission. The combined efforts of 
 these evangelistic commissioners were eminently 
 successful. The year 1755 marks the date of the 
 
EARLY TEACES 25 
 
 reformation of the Baptist churches of North Caro- 
 lina. 
 
 The church formed by Palmer in 1727 was fol- 
 lowed by the constitution of the Meherrin Church 
 by Joseph Parker in 1729, and by the organization 
 of another at Sandy Run in 1740, which was made 
 up of a colony from the Meherrin Church, and by 
 still another under the auspices of William So- 
 journer in 1742, in Halifax County. Ten years 
 later w^e find that the number of churches had in- 
 creased to sixteen. 
 
 When Gano, Williams, Miller, and Vanhorn 
 reached North Carolina they found the Baptist 
 churches in a most deplorable condition. To bap- 
 tism and the Lord's Supper were added, as of about 
 equal authority, the rites of love-feasts, laying on 
 of hands after baptism, washing of feet, anointing 
 the sick, the right hand of fellowship, the kiss of 
 charity, and the public consecration of children 
 without christening. Induced by degrees to aban- 
 don these doctrinal appendages, the churches were 
 ultimately persuaded to adopt the London Confes- 
 sion of Faith. 
 
 The stoutest opponent of this reformatory move- 
 ment was Joseph Parker, who, in the lead of the 
 Meherrin Church, vehemently protested against the 
 adoption of the views of the Particular Baptists. 
 But with such overwhelming power did the reforma- 
 tion proceed, that even as doughty an opponent as 
 Parker succumbed, and Calvinism was permanently 
 
26 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 established among the Baptist churches of North 
 Carolina. Special distinction is to be accorded to 
 the Baptists of this province because of their rela- 
 tion to the prestige enjoyed by the denomination in 
 the South. 
 
 Under the leadership of Shubael Stearns and 
 Daniel Marshall, North Carolina became the center 
 and power of influence of the great movement for 
 liberty on the part of the Separate Baptists. This 
 spirit of freedom which came to pervade the ranks 
 of the denomination throughout South Carolina, 
 Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, ema- 
 nated from the counties of Guilford, Randolph, and 
 Orange, in North Carolina, where lived and labored 
 Daniel Marshall and Shubael Stearns. The fact 
 must not be overlooked that it was the Separate 
 Baptists who bore the brunt of the long and terri- 
 ble struggle waged for religious freedom on the part 
 of the Baptists of the South. 
 
 Georgia. — While Baptist principles were mak- 
 ing initial headway in Maryland, Virginia, and the 
 Carolinas, seed was being sown by diligent hands in 
 the province of Georgia. 
 
 In January, 1733, an English ship, with thirty- 
 four families containing one hundred and twenty- 
 six persons, touched at Charleston, South Carolina. 
 The passengers on board this good ship "Anne," 
 were under the direction of James Oglethorpe, 
 whose destination was the yet unoccupied territory 
 
EARLY TRACES 27 
 
 of Georgia, which was still unnamed except in the 
 sealed charter in the possession of Oglethorpe. 
 From Charleston the vessel conveyed the party of 
 colonists to the present site of Savannah, where 
 they established their first homes in these primitive 
 wilds. Among the original inhabitants of Georgia 
 were a few Baptists, who upon arrival were dispersed 
 here and there without the formation of a church. 
 Among the Baptists who first reached this new 
 province were William Calvert, AVilliam Slack, 
 Thomas Walker, Nathaniel Polhill, John Dunham, 
 and Sarah Clancy, of whom the last two named ac- 
 companied Oglethorpe. This number was grad- 
 ually increased by accessions from England and 
 from the northern colonies of America. 
 
 The original settlement of Georgia was based 
 upon the idea of benevolence. Oglethorpe pro- 
 posed to found in these Western wilds an asylum 
 for the poor but respectable Englishmen, in wdiich 
 plan he was supported by an association of his 
 countrymen. In order to provide for the penniless 
 children in these inhospitable wilds, it was pro- 
 posed privately by John Wesley and James Ogle- 
 thorpe to erect an orphans' home in the neighbor- 
 hood of Savannah. For some reason the project 
 was never undertaken by these worthy gentlemen, 
 but in 1740 Whitefield established such an asylum 
 at Savannah. It was this enterprise which evoked 
 from Rev. Mr. Lewis, of Margate, England, the 
 sneering remark, " There are descendants of the 
 
28 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Moravian Anabaptists in the new plantation of 
 Georgia." No formal declaration of Baptist prin- 
 ciples was heard from the colony, however, until 
 some years later. In 1751, a young Englishman, 
 who was just twenty-one years of age, was made the 
 superintendent of the Whitefield Orphan Home. 
 In the person of Superintendent Bedgewood were 
 combined the elements of a good classical education 
 and the gifts of an effective speaker. Shortly after 
 his assumption of the superintendency of the 
 Orphan Home, Nicholas Bedgewood was led to 
 embrace Baptist sentiments, but it was not until 
 1757 that he made a public profession of faith. 
 Doubtless this was due to the fact that there was no 
 Baptist church at this period in the province of 
 Georgia. But during the year named, 1757, we 
 find him going to Charleston and requesting bap- 
 tism at the hands of Oliver Hart, who at that time 
 was pastor of the First Baptist Church of that city. 
 His ordination to the ministry following two years 
 later, we find Mr. Bedgewood preaching, as he had 
 opportunity, in the region of the Orphan Home. 
 In 1763 he began to gather in the fruits of his 
 labors, for during that year he baptized a number 
 of candidates, among whom was Benjamin Stirk, 
 who afterward became a useful minister. It is most 
 likely that Mr. Bedgewood was authorized by the 
 First Church of Charleston, of which he was a 
 member, to administer the ordinances to such as 
 professed faith in Christ under his preaching. It 
 
EAELY TRACES 29 
 
 was a custom of the early Baptist churches of the 
 South to make incursions into unevangelized regions, 
 as the colonists would continue to increase, and es- 
 tablish what was known as " branch churches." 
 These mission posts were nursed by the parent or- 
 ganization until they became sufficiently strong for 
 independent existence. 
 
 After his baptism Mr. Stirk began to preach 
 and proved a most zealous and successful mission- 
 ary. Removing to Tuckaseeking, twenty miles into 
 the interior, he preached to such as he could gather 
 from time to time into his own house. Having be- 
 come a member of the Euhaw Church, on the Caro- 
 lina side of the Savannah River, he was not long in 
 establishing a mission station at Tuckaseeking, 
 which became a " branch " of that church. Mr. 
 Stirk spent the remainder of his life in this region, 
 preaching w4th unabated zeal until his death in 
 1770. 
 
 The little band of Baptists at Tuckaseeking hav- 
 ing learned, the following year, that Mr. Botsford, 
 a licentiate from the First Church, Charleston, was 
 visiting the Euhaw Church, sent an invitation to him 
 to visit them. Accompanied by Rev. Francis Pelot, 
 who was at that time pastor of the Euhaw Church, 
 Mr. Botsford visited the little flock and preached to 
 them on June 27, 1771. He was a missionar\^ 
 who was laboring under the auspices of the First 
 Church, Charleston, but it seems that up to this 
 time his evang-elistic effijrts had been confined to the 
 
30 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 eastern side of the Savannah. Being pressed by 
 the isolated band at Tuckaseeking to abide with 
 them, he consented to serve them for the period of 
 a year by being permitted to give a portion of his 
 time to preaching to the settlements on both sides 
 of the river. 
 
 While the cause was being thus nourished in the 
 southern portion of the province, an interest was 
 being developed on the eastern border in the neigh- 
 borhood of Augusta. Rev. Daniel Marshall, who 
 had been baptized thirty-five years before at Win- 
 chester, Virginia, and who had spent most of the 
 intervening period in North Carolina, was prompted 
 by apostolic zeal to follow the tide of civilization 
 westward, and had settled on Kiokee Creek, about 
 twenty miles northwest of Augusta. Previous to 
 his settlement in Georgia, he had lingered for a 
 while at Horse Creek, South Carolina, whence he 
 had made several visits to the settlements on the 
 west side of the Savannah, preaching as he could, 
 sometimes in outhouses, and at others under the 
 great trees of the forest. On one occasion, while 
 conducting religious service in a grove and while 
 upon his knees offering the opening prayer, he was 
 suddenly interrupted by a heavy hand being laid 
 upon his shoulder with the exclamation, " You are 
 my prisoner!" Rising from the posture of devo- 
 tion, the venerable man of God, with benignant face 
 and snow-white hair, stood front to front with a 
 stern officer of the law. The devout preacher was 
 
EARLY TRACES 31 
 
 informed that he was a transgressor of the law in 
 that he had " preached in the parish of St. Paul ! " 
 In brief, Mr. Marshall had violated the enactment 
 of 1758 which provided that worship in the colony- 
 should be " according; to the rites and ceremonies of 
 the Church of England." Thereupon he was forced 
 to give security for his appearance in Augusta on 
 the following Monday to answer for a violation of 
 the law. Having undergone his trial with meekness 
 and patience he was ordered to leave the province of 
 Georgia and to visit it no more in the capacity of 
 a preacher. With fervor and stern courage he 
 boldly replied, " Whether it be right to obey God 
 or man, judge ye " ; and fearlessly disregarding the 
 existing statute, the prisoner-preacher continued 
 persistently to proclaim the gospel.^ The sequel of 
 the scene of the arrest was that of honest indigna- 
 tion on the part of all present, to which sentiment 
 Mrs. Marshall gave earnest expression with solemn 
 denunciation of the law, quoting with fluency pas- 
 sage after passage of Scripture. The stern consta- 
 ble, Samuel Cartlege, was so impressed by the in- 
 spired words to which she gave utterance, that he 
 was pricked to the heart, and was ultimately led to 
 Christ. Five years later Mr. Marshall baptized 
 this same constable, and afterward he so commended 
 himself that he became a deacon of the church at 
 Kiokee. Later still, Mr. Cartlege was ordained a 
 
 1 Sketch by Rev. Abraham Marshall, "Analytical Reposi- 
 tory," 1802. 
 
32 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 preacher, and for half a century zealously proclaimed 
 the gospel. 
 
 The Kiokee Church was the first regularly organ- 
 ized Baptist church in the province of Georgia. 
 Its constitution took place in 1772 under the fol- 
 lowing Act of incorporation : 
 
 An Act for incorporating the Anabaptist church on the 
 
 Kioka, in the county of Richmond. 
 
 Whereas, A religious society has, for many years past, 
 been established on the Kioka, in the count}' of Rich- 
 mond, called and known by the name of "The Anabap- 
 tist church on Kioka" : 
 
 Be it Enacted, That Abraham Marshall, William Will- 
 ingham, Edmund Cartlege, John Landers, James 
 Simmes, Joseph Ray, and Lewis Gardener be, and they 
 are hereby declared to be, a body corporated, by the 
 name and style of "The Trustees of the Anabaptist 
 church on Kioka." 
 
 And be it further Enacted, That the trustees (here the 
 names already given are repeated) of the said Anabap- 
 tist church shall hold their office for the term of three 
 years ; and on the third Saturday of November in every 
 third year, after the passing of this Act, the supporters 
 of the gospel in said church shall convene at the meet- 
 ing-house of said church, and there between the hours 
 of ten and four elect from among the supporters of the 
 gospel in said church seven discreet persons as Trustees, 
 etc. 
 
 Seaborn Jones, Speaker. 
 
 Nathan Brownson, President Senate. 
 
 Edmund Telfair, Governor. 
 December 23, 1789.1 
 
 ^Watkin's "Digest," p. 409, and "Digest" of Marbury and 
 Crawford, p. 143. 
 
EARLY TRACES 33 
 
 Mr. Marshall became the first pastor of the 
 church and continued his labors in connection with 
 it until his death. Contemporaneous with Mr. 
 Marshall as true yoke-fellows were Sanders Walker, 
 Solomon Thompson, and Alexander Scott. 
 
 At first the early Baptists of Georgia were some- 
 what annoyed by the diiFerences which existed be- 
 tween the General and Regular Baptists, but these 
 differences were eventually settled by casting out 
 the Arminian features of the General Baptists. 
 
 Kentucky. — When we consider the earliest 
 traces of the Baptists of Kentucky, we discover 
 that they were the first actual settlers of that terri- 
 tory. These pioneer Baptists came over from 
 North Carolina. A brother of the archetype of the 
 hunter and wilderness wanderer, Daniel Boone, was 
 a Baptist preacher. 
 
 When the daring Boones ventured across the 
 AUeghanies which walled off the West and boldly 
 invaded the beautiful and fertile regions beyond, 
 they found that " it was a fair and smiling land of 
 groves and glades and running waters, where the 
 open forests grew tall and beautiful, and where in- 
 numerable herds of game grazed, wandering care- 
 lessly to and fro along the trails they had trodden 
 during countless generations." So far as the mem- 
 bers of the household of the Boones were Chris- 
 tians, they were Baptists, though the great Indian 
 fighter was never a member of any church. 
 
 c 
 
34 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 The first Baptist preacher who entered Kentucky 
 before the settlements began, excepting 'Squire 
 Boone, was Thomas Tinsley. He was doubtless the 
 first to preach the gospel in the region of " the dark 
 and bloody ground," and, so far as can be ascer- 
 tained, was the first to preach in all the region of 
 the West.^ It is not known from what quarter 
 Tinsley came, though it is supposed that he re- 
 moved from Virginia. William Hickman and 
 George Stokes Smith who became conspicuous in 
 the early annals of Kentucky Baptists, removed 
 from Virginia and settled in the new territory in 
 1776. Mr. Hickman was not a preacher until 
 some time after his arrival. He was induced by 
 Thomas Tinsley to enter the sacred work, and 
 proved to be one of the most active and efficient 
 ministers of the early Baptist preachers of Ken- 
 tucky. Among the colonists who continued to cross 
 the mountains to make their homes in Kentucky 
 was a goodly sprinkling of Baptists. Like their 
 fellow-pioneers they Avere partly actuated by a dar- 
 ing spirit and partly lured by the fertility and 
 grandeur of this newly discovered region. 
 
 Unlike most of the regions first settled by the 
 whites in the South, Kentucky was not occupied by 
 the Indians except as a common hunting-ground 
 for the tribes which inhabited the domains north 
 and south of it. At certain seasons roving war par- 
 ties or hunting bands from beyond the Ohio and the 
 
 1 Spenser, " History of Kentucky Baptists," Vol. I., p. 13. 
 
EARLY TRACES 35 
 
 Tennessee would visit this attractive section. Nat- 
 urally enough these wild tribes met with deter- 
 mined and bloody opposition the intrusion of the 
 white settlers upon their favorite hunting-grounds. 
 For the space of twenty years a perpetual conflict 
 was waged between the two races. Depredations 
 of every possible character prevailed. Crops w^ere 
 destroyed, stock was killed or driven off, homes 
 were pillaged and burned, and the inhabitants 
 cruelly butchered. Lurking savages would spring 
 from the most unsuspected quarters to wreak their 
 vengeance upon the whites. This perhaps is suffi- 
 cient explanation of the fact that though Kentucky 
 was settled as early as 1774, it was not until 1781 
 that a church was constituted. The disturbed con- 
 dition of the region was such that it was impossible 
 for the settlers to assemble without serious inter- 
 ference from the savages. 
 
 On June 18, 1781, eighteen Baptists met in the 
 wilderness under a greeii sugar-tree and constituted 
 the first church in Kentucky, and indeed in the en- 
 tire West. This church, which w^as named Severn's 
 Valley Church, was constituted by Rev. Joseph 
 Barnett, of Virginia. Rev. John Gerrard was at 
 once chosen pastor. A few weeks later, on July 4, 
 1781, came the organization of Cedar Creek Church, 
 and a little later still this was follow^ed by the con- 
 stitution of Gilbert's Creek Church. The spirit of 
 church organization spread rapidly. It was not 
 long before every populous community was favored 
 
36 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 with the presence of a Baptist churcli. This served 
 to accelerate immigration from the okler sections of 
 the South into this favored region. 
 
 At first the places of worship of these pioneer 
 saints were primitive enough. During the milder 
 seasons, they were God's own temples, the groves, 
 while during the cold or rainy periods of the year 
 the rude dwellings of the pioneers were the meeting- 
 places of these plain but pious worshipers. Imagine 
 a structure built of round logs of uneven size and 
 length, and sheltered partly with the skins of wild 
 animals, and partly with broad strips of bark, and 
 one has a conception of the home common to the 
 first settlers of Kentucky. No tools, no implements 
 of industry could be had, save an occasional long- 
 handled, light-headed frontier axe. It being impos- 
 sible to obtain lumber, wooden floors were out of the 
 question, hence these clumsy houses were built flat 
 upon the ground, and mother earth was the floor. 
 The furniture within partook of the roughness which 
 prevailed without. In these rude cabins the hardy 
 settlers of Kentucky lived, and for many years wor- 
 shiped. Surrounded by brute and human foes, they 
 owed their lives to sleepless vigilance and resolute 
 hearts. Within these cabin homes the primitive 
 worshipers would gather, while one or more would 
 keep sentinel at the door dividing attention between 
 the message of the preacher and the surrounding 
 forest. 
 
 The garb of the primitive worshipers was equally 
 
EAELY TRACES 37 
 
 as rude as their dwellings. In a region where 
 the arts were scant, recourse w^as had to any means, 
 however ludicrous, for covering the body. The 
 men made up their wardrobes partly from In- 
 dian costume, from whatever material came within 
 reach. Leather leggings, moccasins, coats and vests 
 of skins of animals with the fur turned inward, 
 caps of soft fur taken from the buifalo and rolled 
 about flexible strips of wood and tied with leather 
 thongs to hold the parts together — these constituted 
 the ordinary garb of the first Kentucky settlers. 
 The garb of the women was even more rude and 
 grotesque, if possible, than that of the men. Their 
 quaintly cut garments were entirely of dressed buf- 
 falo hides and deer skins. 
 
 Besides those whose names have already been 
 mentioned, there were conspicuous in these early 
 annals of Baptist history in Kentucky, William 
 Marshall, who was among the first Baptist preachers 
 to become a permanent resident of the territory, 
 Benjamin Lynn, John AVhitaker, and James Skaggs. 
 At the close of the year 1780 there were only six 
 Baptist preachers in Kentucky. Indeed, they were 
 the only preachers in the territory, for the Baptists, 
 for a period of years, were without a rival in this 
 newly inhabited district. The spirit of the early 
 Kentucky churches was seriously impaired by the 
 infection of Arminianism, which was introduced by 
 the General Baptists. The laxness engendered by 
 such a spirit was greatly enhanced by the gross im- 
 
38 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHEEX STATES 
 
 moralities which seemed to prevail throughout the 
 circuit of settlements of the new region. While 
 there were more than twenty thousand inhabitants 
 in the territory, no one had as yet been received 
 into a Baptist church upon profession of faith. It 
 was not because the early ministry was "wanting in 
 diligence, for they traversed the region in all direc- 
 tions, preaching as they went. It was a period of 
 gross disorder which was to be followed by a reac- 
 tion in 1785, such as has rarely been witnessed in 
 the history of Christianity. 
 
 Tennessee. — Doubtless the Baptists Avho moved 
 first into Tennessee were refugees from North Caro- 
 lina and came as fugitives from the battle of Al- 
 amance — the precursor of the revolutionary struggle. 
 At any rate we find that Baptists were in East Ten- 
 nessee prior to 1770. These pioneer Baptists are 
 said to have founded two churches, but they were 
 driven out by the Indians about 1774. It was 
 equally true of Tennessee as of Kentucky, that Bap- 
 tists were the first Christians within the territory, 
 and were the first to proclaim the gospel in that 
 wild region. No definite information earlier than 
 1781 can be obtained from existing records concern- 
 ing the early occupation of Tennessee by the Bap- 
 tists. At that time there were as many as six 
 churches in the territory, the associational connec- 
 tion of which was across the border in North Caro- 
 lina. Indeed five of that number were members of 
 
EARLY TRACES 39 
 
 the Sandy Creek Association in the province of 
 North Carolina. In 1786 we find these early 
 churches acting in connection with a few others in 
 the constitution of the Holston Association. We 
 gather from Asplund's Register for 1790, that at 
 that time the churches of the Holston Association 
 had a membership of eight hundred and eighty- 
 nine. Ten years later, the same Association em- 
 braced thirty-seven churches, the total membership 
 of which was two thousand five hundred. The in- 
 crease of Baptist strength was commensurate with 
 the growth of the population in the territory. 
 
 Writing of these early times in Tennessee, and 
 commenting upon the pioneer Baptist preachers of 
 that period, James R. Gilmore (Edmund Kirke) in 
 his " John Sevier as a Commonwealth Builder," 
 says : " Their theory of morals was condensed into 
 one phrase, ' Thus saith the Lord.' What he com- 
 mands is right ; what he forbids is wrong ; and the 
 Bible is his infallible word. A faith, how simple, 
 and yet how sublime ! " 
 
 Impelled by a common motive, it was not unusual 
 for an entire church membership to emigrate bodily 
 from Virginia, or the Carolinas, into the new and 
 inviting region of Tennessee. After locating in a 
 given portion of the country and after providing 
 rude shelters for their families, the next care of the 
 colonists was to erect a place of worship at some 
 convenient point. Here, as elsewhere, in the pio- 
 neer regions of the South, the cramped quarters of 
 
40 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 winter worship were abandoned for the freedom of 
 the groves when the warmth of springtime came. 
 
 During the week the preachers would till the 
 soil, and on Sunday occupy the pulpits. Among 
 the first preachers who came into the Territory of 
 Tennessee were Tidance Lane, who had been bap- 
 tized in North Carolina by Shubael Stearns, James 
 Keel, Thomas Murrell, Messrs. Mott and Talbott, 
 Isaac Barton, William Murphey, John Chastine, 
 and William Reno, all of whom came either from 
 Virginia or North Carolina. 
 
 While the Baptist standard was being planted in 
 East Tennessee, consecrated missionaries, such as 
 Ambrose Dudley and John Taylor, from Kentucky, 
 were operating in the middle and western portions 
 of the new territory. It was chiefly through the 
 agency of these missionaries that the first churches, 
 the Red River and Sulphur Fork, were constituted 
 in Tennessee. 
 
 Mississippi. — In 1780 seven Baptist families 
 emigrated from South Carolina to the Mississippi 
 Territory and settled at the mouth of Cole's Creek, 
 about twenty miles above Natchez. These daring 
 emigrants hailed from the region of the Great Pedce 
 River, South Carolina, where since the beginning of 
 the Revolution they had been special objects of 
 vengeance to the Tory raiders, in consequence of 
 their loyalty to the cause of freedom. Not only 
 were the homes of these devoted sons of liberty 
 
EARLY TRACES 41 
 
 frequently plundered, but they themselves were 
 hunted by the Tories from their hiding-places in the 
 swamps of the Great Pedee. Attracted partly by 
 the reports of the fabulous fertility of the soils in 
 the Natchez region, and partly by the fact that they 
 would enjoy exemption from the perpetual harass- 
 ments of such a wily foe as the Tories of South 
 Carolina, they turned their faces westward. At the 
 head of this intrepid band of pilgrims was Richard 
 Curtis, Sr. Making their way overland to the Hol- 
 ston River, they constructed boats in which to sail 
 down the Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers to 
 their destination just above Natchez. After en- 
 countering hostile tribes of red men on the route, in 
 consequence of which several of the party were 
 killed, the survivors finally reached the scene of 
 their future homes. After providing temporary 
 dwellings, the next care of the colonists was to ar 
 range for seasons of stated worship. Fortunately 
 Richard Curtis, Jr., had been licensed to preach 
 before leaving South Carolina, and naturally enough 
 he was called upon to officiate in the services. 
 From these informal meetings came Salem Church. 
 At this period the Natchez district was nominally 
 under the dominion of the English, having been 
 purchased in 1777 by the British Superintendent of 
 Indian Affairs from the Choctaws ; but religiously 
 it was under the control of the Spanish Catholics, 
 whose settlements were scattered here and there over 
 the broad area. Many of these were led to attend 
 
42 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 upon the worship of the Baptists because of its 
 freedom from formality, and because of the hearti- 
 ness in which it was engaged. Encouraged by such 
 favorable demonstrations, Mr. Curtis by degrees 
 extended his preaching tours farther into the in- 
 terior. His labors were greatly blessed, and after 
 some months a number of conversions occurred. 
 Being without an ordained minister, the perplexing 
 question arose as to who should baptize the new con- 
 verts, inasmuch as no ordained minister was avail- 
 able. Keferring the matter to the parent church in 
 South Carolina, from which these members had 
 come, they received the following answer : " There 
 is no law against necessity, and under the present 
 stress of circumstances the members ought to as- 
 semble and formally appoint one of their members, 
 by election, to ba})tize the young converts." Very 
 properly, Richard Curtis, Jr., who had been serving 
 the colony with such efficiency as a missionary, was 
 appointed to administer baptism to the candidates. 
 
 From this event sprang a sensation which came 
 well-nigh proving serious to the incipient colony. 
 Among the candidates baptized by Mr. Curtis was a 
 Spanish Catholic named Stephen d'Alvoy. This 
 gave oifense to the Catholic community, and doubt- 
 less punitive measures would have been taken ; but 
 as the region was under the domination of Great 
 Britain, of course the Romanists were utterly with- 
 out authority to inflict ])unishment. Had the matter 
 been allowed to rest, no trouble would have come 
 
EARLY TRACES 43 
 
 of it. But a little later the colony was reinforced 
 by a small baud of Georgians, among whom was a 
 Baptist preacher named Harigail who, with more 
 zeal than discretion, began a w^iolesale denunciation 
 of the corruptions of Romanism. Meanwhile the 
 territory had passed temporarily into the hands of 
 the Spanish. The conduct of Harigail, coming in 
 close connection with the active labors of d'Alvoy, 
 and directly following the provocation awakened by 
 the baptism of the latter, the Spanish authorities re- 
 solved upon making an example of Curtis and 
 d'Alvoy, whom they regarded as chief offenders. A 
 plan was accordingly concerted for sending them to 
 labor as convicts in the mines of Mexico ; but hav- 
 ing learned of the atrocious scheme, these unoffend- 
 ing men concealed themselves until preparations 
 could be made for their flight. The region was 
 thrown into consternation by such high-handed pro- 
 ceedings on the part of the Spanish officials. But 
 still intent upon vengeance, the Spanish made an 
 effort to seize the offending Harigail, and would 
 have succeeded but for the friendly disclosure of the 
 plot by a gambler, who was in turn seized and con- 
 fined in prison for several months. Barton Hannah, 
 another Baptist preacher, was also imprisoned, but 
 his courageous wife demanded his release with the 
 threat of a general uprising of the people if she was 
 denied, so that the governor deemed it prudent to 
 release him. Meanwhile arrangements were made 
 for the flight on horseback of Curtis and d'Alvoy 
 
44 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 across the country to South Carolina. So terrorized 
 was the population by the demonstrations of revenge 
 on the part of the Spanish authorities, that for a 
 time no one was found who was daring enough to 
 encounter the peril of conveying to the concealed 
 fugitives the horses and equipments for their jour- 
 ney. A brave woman, Mrs. Chloe Holt, finally 
 assumed the perilous undertaking and put them 
 in possession of the provisions, money, and horses, 
 thus enabling them to make good their escape. 
 
 Louisiana. — In no portion of the territory east 
 of the Mississippi were there greater barriers to the 
 introduction of evangelical religion than in Louisi- 
 ana. According to the notorious '' Black Code " 
 adopted in 1724, while Bienville was the French 
 governor of the province, no form of worship other 
 than that of the Roman Catholic was tolerated.^ 
 
 Baptists entered Louisiana from Mississippi as 
 early as 1798. The first preacher that ventured 
 across the border-line of the territory was Rev. B. 
 E. Chancy, who removed from the Cole's Creek 
 community, in Mississippi, to St. Feliciana Parish. 
 Beginning missionary labor in that region, he was 
 promptly arrested by the Roman Catholic author- 
 ities, but obtained his freedom upon promise to de- 
 sist from further efforts to preach within the prov- 
 ince. He died soon after this occurrence.^ 
 
 1 Gayarre's " History of Louisiana," Vol. I. (Appendix.) 
 - F. Paxton's " History of Louisiana Baptists," p. 36. 
 
EARLY TRACES 45 
 
 The next interest seems to have been the estab- 
 lishment of a Baptist church within nine miles of 
 Baton Rouge where a colony of South Carolinia 
 Baptists had settled. Rev. Ezra Courtney, himself 
 a South Carolinian, who had removed to the southern 
 border of Mississippi in 1802, where he founded a 
 church, at a later date served also the group in the 
 Baton Rouge community. Here again was encoun- 
 tered Roman Catholic interference. Mr. Courtney 
 was duly admonished to cease preaching in the prov- 
 ince, and was informed that persistency on his part 
 would ultimately lead to imprisonment. But pro- 
 curing the favor of the alcalde he was permitted to 
 prosecute his work, the result of which was the es- 
 tablishment of a church within a short distance of 
 Baton Rouge. 
 
 The next interest in the eastern portion of the 
 State, originated iu the Pearl River region where, 
 in 1813, Mount Nebo and Peniel churches were 
 constituted as the result of the labors of young mis- 
 sionaries from the adjoining Mississippi territory. 
 These were admitted into membership with the Mis- 
 sissippi Association in 1813, and the following year 
 Hepzibah Church, in Louisiana, was organized and 
 admitted into the same Association. About 1816 
 the Mississippi Society for Baptist Missions, domes- 
 tic and foreign, was organized, which society sent 
 Rev. James A. Ranoldson as a missionary into the 
 growing communities of Louisiana. Mr. Ranoldson 
 extended his labors as far south as New Orleans, 
 
46 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 where a church was organized in 1818. This 
 church, however, soon became extinct and it was 
 twenty-two years before another effort was made to 
 establish a church in the Crescent City. 
 
 In 1818 the Louisiana Association was formed 
 with a total membership of five churches. The 
 growing importance of New Orleans as a commer- 
 cial center attracted the attention of the Home Mis- 
 sion Board of the American Baptist Triennial Con- 
 vention as early as 1814. Rev. James Ranoldson 
 was its first missionary to this mart of the South- 
 west. He continued his labors for a number of 
 years in the midst of a population three-fourths of 
 which was Roman Catholic. But all efforts at 
 organization failed for a long period of years. 
 
 In 1842 Rev. Russell Holman, of Kentucky, 
 was sent as a missionary to New Orleans by the 
 Missionary Board of the Triennial Convention. 
 During the year following a church, the First, com- 
 prising ten members, was constituted. In 1854 
 another church, the Coliseum Place, was constituted, 
 with Rev. ^y. C. Duncan as pastor. 
 
 Alabama. — There were settlements of whites in 
 Southern Alabama as early as 1803, but we find the 
 presence of Baptists in the territory not earlier than 
 1808. The first representatives of the denomination 
 came from Tennessee on the North, and across the 
 eastern border from Georgia. It seems that the 
 colony from Tennessee preceded the advent of those 
 
EARLY TRACES 47 
 
 whose presence is discovered upon the Tombigbee 
 River, in the Southern portion of the territorv. 
 Revs. John Nicholson, John Canterbury, and Zad- 
 dock Parker were the pioneer preachers who first 
 proclaimed the gospel upon the northern frontier of 
 Alabama. Through the agency of Mr. Nicholson, 
 a church was organized on Flint River, near the 
 present site of Huntsville, on October 2, 1808, 
 being the first that was constituted in the territory. 
 Shortly after this period, William Cochrane, a licen- 
 tiate from Georgia, began preaching in the Tensas 
 settlement in Southern Alabama. Later he was 
 reinforced by such efficient laborers as James Court- 
 ney, Joseph McGee, Jacob Parker, and Alexander 
 Travis, These men were distinguished by apostolic 
 ruggedness and fire — elements which were indis- 
 pensable in a region without roads, abounding in 
 great bridgeless streams, and one in which the set- 
 tlements were widely separated, with intervening 
 tribes of hostile Indians. Courageous indeed was 
 the missionary who dared to thread his way on foot 
 following the trail of the Indian the distance of 
 forty miles sometimes, in order to meet an appoint- 
 ment to preach. The most noted of the group 
 whose names have been given was Alexander Travis, 
 in whom were combined to a remarkable degree ro- 
 bustness of courage and simplicity and gentleness of 
 spirit. To him perhaps more than to any other of 
 the pioneer preachers are the Baptists of Alabama 
 indebted for the fundamental basis upon which the 
 
48 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHEKN STATES 
 
 earliest churches were planted. The library of these 
 plain and earnest men of God was the English 
 Bible, which was studied at night by the glare of 
 pine-knot fires when the toils of the day were over. 
 
 Florida. — Early evangelistic work in Florida 
 began in the years succeeding the close of the Indian 
 troubles in that State. It is impossible to deter- 
 mine at the present time just when missionary work 
 began in Florida. The early records of the Asso- 
 ciations of Southern Alabama and Southern Georgia 
 show that, so soon as they could do so, missionaries 
 from these bodies were sent into upper and central 
 Florida to preach the gospel. These missionaries, 
 operating from both sides of the Chattahoochee, con- 
 sidered Florida an inviting field for evangelistic en- 
 deavor and made it one with the southern sections of 
 their respective States. Until a late period churches 
 in Florida Avere members of the Associations, the 
 territory of which embraced the southern portions 
 of Georgia and Alabama. 
 
 Work in Florida did not assume independent 
 formation until about 1841. The Florida Associa- 
 tion, the first in the State, was organized about that 
 time by the churches in the counties of Leon, Jeffer- 
 son, and Madison, together with some churches in 
 Thomas County, Georgia. This Association was 
 followed by the organization of Alachua in 1845 or 
 1846, and this again by the Santa Fe in 1854. 
 
 Efforts were made at an early date by mission- 
 
EARLY TRACES 49 
 
 aries from Alabama to establish a church in Pensa- 
 cola. But little headway was made in that Roman 
 Catholic stronghold, for all the coast cities of the 
 South fell under the dominion of the Roman Catho- 
 lics at an early day, and until the Civil War nothing 
 more than a feeble and struggling interest was main- 
 tained in that cosmopolitan town. 
 
 In 1854 the Florida Baptist Convention was 
 organized in the home of Rev. R. J. Mays, in Madi- 
 son County. It was not, however, until after the 
 close of the Civil War that the work assumed any 
 conspicuous proportions as distinctive State work. 
 
 West Virginia. — Baptists entered the territory 
 of what is now West Virginia, as early as 1774, at 
 which period Simpson's Creek Church was formed. 
 Seven years later. Rev. John Anderson, of New 
 Jersey, organized the Greenbrier Church, and in 
 1807 he was instrumental in the constitution of the 
 Greenbrier Association. 
 
 District of Columbia. — The first Baptist church 
 in the District of Columbia was constituted in Wash- 
 ington City on March 7, 1802, with only six mem- 
 bers. They were dependent for preaching upon 
 Rev. William Parkinson, then chaplain to Congress. 
 Five years after its organization Rev. O. B. Brown 
 was called to the pastorate of the church. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 
 
 IN seeking to discover tlie first traces of the Bap- 
 tists in the several States of the South, we 
 have been carried much beyond the period which 
 now comes under review. In considering the con- 
 flicts 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 through- 
 out a revolutionary future. While the liberty-lov- 
 ing 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 
 
 50 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 51 
 
 whom these several colonies were planted, were 
 largely members of the Church of England. Sup- 
 ported by the government of Great Britain, these 
 orio;inal 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 Cath- 
 olics 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 tyr- 
 anny 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 con- 
 tended for entire exemption from compulsory sup- 
 port of a system or creed of which they could not 
 approve. This opposition they did not hesitate to 
 express when occasion arose, though such opposi- 
 tion was frequently attended with extreme peril. 
 When, therefore, taxation on the part of the estab- 
 lishment 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, 
 
52 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 they may use it lawfully and against the contrary." ^ 
 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 harsh- 
 est restrictions upon Protestant religious worship 
 and was arbitrary, unequal, and unsystematic in its 
 provisions," still " it was the entering wedge to relig- 
 ious 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 con- 
 formity to the religion of the government was en- 
 forced by disabilities, pains, and penalties. In the 
 charter of 1 606 the Church of England was estab- 
 lished 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- 
 
 ^ Doctor Cutting, in Underbill's "Struggles and Triumphs of 
 Religious Liberty," p. 10. 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 53 
 
 lation, which denounced all such provision as hereti- 
 cal 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 be- 
 fore 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 wor- 
 ship except in the meeting-houses of the Episcopa- 
 lians. Taxes were levied on the goods of every 
 man, on his property, and on his crops, for the sup- 
 port of the Episcopal ministry or for the purchase 
 for them of glebes or parish farms. Should a dis- 
 senter 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 sup- 
 port of the clergy of the Establishment, compulsory 
 christening, attendance on public worship, the coer- 
 cive use of the book of Common Prayer, practi- 
 cal conformity to the order and constitution of the 
 Church of England, and forbidding preaching, offi- 
 
54 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHEEN STATES 
 
 ciation at marriages, and occasions of public wor- 
 ship of dissenters/ Nor was there existing the dis- 
 position to abate the vigor of these unjust statutes, 
 for when not checked by the softening influence of 
 Christianity, or awed into inaction by adverse pub- 
 lic sentiment, these oppressive laws were cruelly 
 executed.^ 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 estabhshed rehgion, or out of 
 the new-fangled conceits of their own heretical inven- 
 tions, refuse to have their children baptized. Be it there- 
 fore 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/ 
 
 This was originally intended for Quakers, but 
 was vigorously executed against the Baptists of the 
 Virginia colony. This conflict against dissent- 
 ers 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- 
 
 iHening's "Statutes," Vol. I., II., III., VI. 
 ^Semple's "History of the Baptists of Virginia," pp. 14-23, 
 294. 
 ^Hening's "Statutes," Vol. II., p. 165. 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 65 
 
 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 pre- 
 sented 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 con- 
 tinued in that province in which the Baptists re- 
 fused 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 ar- 
 rogant 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 importa- 
 tions, 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 
 
56 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 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 pre- 
 sumed 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 God- 
 given rights. A profound contempt coupled with a 
 bitter malice led to the perpetration upon the Bap- 
 tist ministry of the most cruel treatment. The 
 same individual held in high esteem by the Estab- 
 lishment 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 trust- 
 worthy 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 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 57 
 
 and to call down upon Mr. Harriss their fiery male- 
 dictions. 
 
 On one occasion he was arrested and taken into 
 court as a disturber of the peace. He was con- 
 fronted 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 prom- 
 ise, 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 dis- 
 turbed in Culpeper County, but on one occasion, in 
 Orange County, he was pulled down while preach- 
 ing 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.^ It was not 
 an uncommon occurrence for sacred worship to be 
 1 Taylor, "Virginia Baptist Ministers," Vol. I., p. 35. 
 
58 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 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 conduct- 
 ing worship in the woods, or in private dwellings. 
 On one occasion an Episcopal minister led the 
 tumult against a Baptist meeting.^ Frequently Bap- 
 tist preachers were insulted while performing the 
 most sacred rites. Their persecutors would ride 
 into the water while baptism was being adminis- 
 tered, 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 pro- 
 voke him into open reproof of their conduct that 
 they might find occasion to beat him." 
 
 The officers of the law transcended the limits of 
 their authority in imprisoning men for preaching, 
 as no law existed forbidding such exercise. Con- 
 sidering 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. 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 69 
 
 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 stat- 
 ute 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 ar- 
 rested as disturbers of the peace of the community. 
 It is believed that the first imprisonment for 
 preaching took place in Spottsylvania County, Vir- 
 ginia, 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.^ 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 in- 
 genious 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 
 1 Semple, p. 29. 
 
60 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 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 Fred- 
 ericksburg, 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 ap- 
 pealed to the deputy-governor, Hon. John Blair, to 
 release his comrades. Thereupon Mr. Blair ad- 
 dressed the king's attorney in Spottsylvania as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Sir : I lately received a letter signed by a good num- 
 ber of worthy gentlemen, who are not here, complain- 
 ing of the Baptists ; the particulars of their misbe- 
 havior 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 ad- 
 vising me to write to you : That their petition was a 
 matter of right, and that you may not molest these con- 
 scientious 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 li- 
 cense, and when the gentleinen who complain may 
 make their objections and be heard. 
 
 The act of toleration (it being found by experience 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 61 
 
 that persecuting dissenters increases their members) has 
 given them a right to apply, in a proper manner, for li- 
 censed 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 Sup- 
 per near the manner we do, and differ from our church 
 in nothing but in that of baptism, and in their renew- 
 ing 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 pro- 
 vide for his family as he ouglit, 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 assem- 
 bled W'ithout. Seeing that the multitudes were be- 
 ing singularly affected by the preaching done under 
 such novel circumstances, an opposing mob gath- 
 ered, and by hoots and yells sought to drown the 
 voices of the preachers. Released from prison, 
 these earnest men of God preached with more dili- 
 gence and zeal than before. Sympathy for the lib- 
 
62 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 erated men was now coupled with the power of 
 their preaching, and there was abundantly illus- 
 trated the suggestion made in the letter of Deputy- 
 governor Blair, that persecution was only produc- 
 tive 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 con- 
 scientious 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 through- 
 out 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 magis- 
 
STKUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 63 
 
 trate 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 sev- 
 eral Baptist preachers present upon the last-named 
 occasion, all of whom were arrested, the magis- 
 trate being supported by a clergyman of the Epis- 
 copacy, tAvo sheriffs, and a posse.' The preachers 
 who were seized by the officers on this occasion 
 were William Webber, John Walker, James Green- 
 wood, 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 as- 
 certain 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 prom- 
 ising 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. 
 
64 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 ing sacred Avorship, 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 preach- 
 ers though imprisoned were really the victors, for 
 these demonstrations of disorder aroused public 
 sympathy and gained respectful audience for Bap- 
 tist 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 davs' sufFerins: for 
 food and drink, their condition became known with- 
 out, and friends really overwhelmed them w^th sup- 
 plies of necessaries, so much so that the ministers 
 were able for several days together to feed the poor 
 of the towui of Urbana, in which they were im- 
 prisoned. 
 
 Every incident seemed to conspire to the further- 
 ance of the gospel. As has already been seen, pub- 
 lic sympathy was thoroughly stirred in behalf of 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 65 
 
 the prisoners and was deepened by the patience and 
 forbearance with which they endured their wrongs. 
 To all of this was added tlie 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 mal- 
 treated 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 con- 
 fined, and the attempt failed only because of its in- 
 sufficiency. At another time suffocation was at- 
 tempted 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 
 
66 HISTORY OP BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 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 win- 
 dows. In the same county of Culpeper, Sanders, 
 Craig, Maxwell, Corbley, and Amnion were impris- 
 oned for preaching ; two private members, Maxwell 
 and Banks, were arrested for holding a prayer meet- 
 ing ; and Delaney, who was not a Baptist, was ar- 
 rested 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 in- 
 stances are upon record of the struggles for con- 
 science' sake in Virginia, extending even to the 
 period of the dawn of the Revolution. Persecu- 
 tions similar to those already enumerated were rife 
 also in the counties of King and Queen, Lunen- 
 berg. 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 : 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 67 
 
 That diabolical, hell-conceived principle of persecu- 
 tion 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 we shall hereafter see, became 
 the champion of Baptist petitioners in the legislature 
 of Virginia, against the ablest advocates of the op- 
 position. 
 
 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 A^irginia, for wherever the bale- 
 ful 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 IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 the time, so clearly indicated by reason of the inco- 
 herent condition of society. The mistake was an 
 agreement on the part of the entire colony, includ- 
 ing the Baptists, of course, to suifer the passage of 
 a bill " allowing the Episcopal minister of Charles- 
 ton and his successors forever, a salary of one hun- 
 dred and fifty pounds sterling, together with a 
 house, glebe, and two servants." ' The bill secured 
 a passage during the administration of Joseph Blake 
 as governor of the province. Prompted by a de- 
 sire to preserve amicable relations among the dif- 
 ferent elements of the province. Governor Blake 
 greatly favored the measure, and through his in- 
 fluence, as the friend of the Baptists, he succeeded 
 in gaining their consent and co-operation. The in- 
 iquitous 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 dis- 
 covered that the proprietors 
 
 Concerted measures for endowing the church of the 
 mother countrj^, and for advancing it in South Carohna 
 to a legal pre-eminence ; and when it was known that in 
 order to that end they labored to obtain a majority of 
 Episcopalians in the provincial legislature, dissenters 
 
 ^B. R. Carroll, "History of the Colony of South Carolina," 
 Vol. I., p. 126. 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 69 
 
 took alarm. It was a matter of surprise to many that 
 the Episcoi3ahans, by energetic maneuvering, succeeded 
 in electing a majority of those to the provincial legisla- 
 ture who were friendly to their restricted views. ^ 
 
 Having the majority, these political ecclesiastics 
 at once took steps to perpetuate the power which 
 they had obtained. The advantage gained in the 
 outset encouraged them to take bolder strides in the 
 direction of a permanent establishment of churchly 
 power in the Carolina province. The next step was 
 the enactment of a law making it necessary for all 
 legislators thereafter chosen " to conform to the re- 
 ligious worship of the Church of England and to 
 receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper accord- 
 ing to the rights and usages of that church." Fail- 
 ure on the part of any candidate to comply with 
 this provision, no matter how great his majority 
 of the popular vote, rendered him ineligible to a 
 seat in the Commons' House of Assembly. The 
 name of such a one being dropped because of non- 
 conformity to the provision, the candidate receiving 
 the next highest vote was considered in the same 
 manner, and was dropped or retained according to 
 his compliance or noncompliance with the condition 
 already named. It is clearly seen that such a pro- 
 ceeding might make one a representative, though 
 he received the smallest number of votes. These 
 measures were enacted under the direction of Lord 
 Granville. 
 
 1 Ramsey, "South Carolina," Vol. II., p. 3. 
 
70 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 The result of this gross assumption on the part 
 of the Establishment was great popular indignation.' 
 But this did not deter the party in power from a 
 continuance of abuses, for the measures just named 
 were followed up by another arbitrary Act which 
 provided for extending and maintaining the mode of 
 worship of the Establishment. Money was pro- 
 vided by law for the erection and repairing of Epis- 
 copal meeting-houses ; lands for parochial farms and 
 for churchyards were provided for by donation,' 
 purchase, or grants from the proprietors at the pub- 
 lic expense ; salaries were fixed and made payable 
 out of the provisional treasury for rectors, clerks, 
 and sextons of the Established parishes. Episcopal 
 clergymen were encouraged by legislative enact- 
 ment to remove to the province and to exercise 
 their clerical functions in the several parishes desig- 
 nated by law. To such as were disposed to accept 
 governmental inducement, twenty-five pounds was 
 given from the provincial treasury immediately upon 
 their arrival, and the annual stipends, provided by 
 law, began at once. 
 
 But another measure, equally obnoxious with 
 those just quoted, was adopted. There was organ- 
 ized an arbitrary court of High Commission "for 
 the trial of ecclesiastical causes and the preserva- 
 tion of religious uniformity in Carolina." 
 
 Be it said to the honor of some churchmen that 
 because of different reasons, one or both of the last- 
 iRamsey, "South Carolina," Vol. II., p. 3. 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 71 
 
 named enactments met their strongest opposition. 
 The creation of the ecclesiastical court awakened 
 strenuous opposition on the part of the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and they 
 declined to send out other missionaries until that act 
 was repealed. Prompt steps were at once taken to 
 bring to the attention of the mother country the tyr- 
 anny which was prevailing in the province of Caro- 
 lina. So impressed was the House of Lords with the 
 presentation of these facts that the queen was advised 
 to annul the offensive laws. The annulment of the 
 proprietary charter was advised by the Board of 
 Trade. These obnoxious laws were finally an- 
 nulled, and it was manifest from this time that the 
 charter would be revoked and that the province 
 would pass directly under the control of the crown. 
 The issue was at once joined, and the people were 
 triumphant over the lords-proprietors and their rep- 
 resentatives as early as 1720, but the change was 
 not effected until nine years later. The utmost that 
 was secured by this popular victory was the tolera- 
 tion of evangelical forms of Christianity. The 
 Church of England, under the new charter, was es- 
 tablished and maintained in the province at public 
 expense, notwithstanding it is estimated that at that 
 time at least two-thirds of the population were dis- 
 senters. - 
 
 In North Carolina the condition of things was 
 very similar to that already described as obtaining 
 in South Carolina. As early as 1678 serious re- 
 
72 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 monstrance was made, under the lead of John Cul- 
 peper, against the encroachments of provincial au- 
 thority. In 1704 a partisan law was enacted by the 
 General Assembly, " disfranchising all dissenters 
 from any office of trust, honor, or profit." ^ A pre- 
 vious Assembly (1702) had enacted a law whereby 
 each precinct should raise thirty pounds to support 
 a minister of the Church of England. Naturally 
 enough this produced much public commotion, in 
 which all dissenters were united — Baptists, Quakers, 
 Presbyterians, and Lutherans. A clearer view of 
 religious intolerance in North Carolina is gained 
 by the following extract from Williams' " History," 
 published in 1812 : 
 
 Carolina had been settled many years, as we have 
 seen, before bigotry or pride, under the venerable cloak 
 of religion, began to vex the inhabitants. Provision 
 was made near the beginning of the eighteenth century 
 for the clergy of the Church of England. Magistrates 
 were authorized to join people in marriage in parishes 
 that had no minister, and dissenters from the estab- 
 lished church were permitted to worship in public. 
 
 In the year 1741 it was enacted that the freeholders 
 in every parish should choose twelve vestrymen on 
 Easter TVIonday, who were authorized to lay a poll-tax, 
 not exceeding five shillings per poll, for building 
 churches, buying glebes, and maintaining the clergy, 
 whose respective salaries was not to be less than fifty 
 pounds proc. per annum. It was increased by a subse- 
 quent law to one hundred and thirty-three pounds six 
 shillings and eight pence. By another law it was pro- 
 
 1 Wheeler, " History of North Carolina," p. 34. 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 73 
 
 vided that the fee of a clergyman for marrying with li- 
 cense should be ten shillings, or five shillings for marry- 
 ing by publication. The license was a device for in- 
 creasing the perquisites of the governor. It will readily 
 be conceived that in a parish where a great majority of 
 the people were dissenters they would choose vestrymen 
 who had no disposition to lay taxes for the support of 
 a church in which they did not worship. But when it 
 was found that the majority were not disposed to tax 
 themselves for the convenience of other people, a law 
 was devised for compelling them, under the sanction of 
 an oath, to do what they accounted wrong. Every ves- 
 tryman was to swear that he "would not oppose the 
 doctrine, discipline, and liturgy of the Church of Eng- 
 land " Every person chosen to be a vestryman and re- 
 fusing to serve was to pay a fine of three pounds, ami 
 another member was to be chosen by the vestry m his 
 place It was presumed that twelve Episcopalians, or 
 men who were ready to take the oath, would be found 
 in every parish, and it would follow that taxes would be 
 laid for the Episcopal church. 
 
 The law, unjust and artful as it was, did not serve the 
 intended purpose, for there were parishes in which no 
 vestrymen were chosen, except men who were called dis- 
 senters, and none of them tendered the oath to his 
 associates. Hence it was that in many of the western 
 parishes no provision was made for minis^ters of the 
 Episcopal church. As an Assembly had been found, 
 during the administration of Governor Dobbs, capable 
 of passing the shameful law to which we have referred, 
 there were people, at a future sitting of the Assembly, 
 ready to assist in making that law a more perfect system 
 of ecclesiastical tyranny. 
 
 In proof of this Dr. Williamson prints a copy of an 
 "Address to the Governor, his Majesty's Honorable 
 
74 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Council, and the House of Burgesses of North Carolina 
 from sundry inhabitants of the county of Rowan " pray- 
 ing for the enforcement of the law, or ' ' that means be 
 taken for compelling persons chosen vestrymen to take 
 the oaths prescribed, or such other means as may pro- 
 duce a regular lawful vestry." 
 
 ' ' There were, ' ' says Williamson, ' ' thirty-four sub- 
 scribers to the petition ; six of them made their marks, 
 and some of the other signatures are hardly legible. 
 When thirty-four such persons could propose that six or 
 seven hundred should be taxed for their accommodation 
 they certainly had need of the gospel that teaches hu- 
 mility." ^ 
 
 The most serious expression of persecution in 
 North Carolina occurred in Newbern, Craven 
 County, in 1740. It seems that three Baptist 
 preachers, Brinson, Fulshire, and Purify, upon ap- 
 plication for license to build a church in Newbern, 
 were confronted by certain accusers who 
 
 Made oath to several misdemeanors committed by the 
 sd Petitioners contrary to & in contempt of the laws now 
 in force. Upon which it was ordered by this court the 
 sd Petitioners be bound by Recognizance for their ap- 
 pearance at the next court of assize and Goale delivery 
 to be held in this Town then and there to answer to such 
 things as they shall be charged with and in the mean- 
 time be of Good behavior to all his Magesties Liege 
 People. 
 
 The old record, as examined in 1883, by H. S. 
 Nunn, editor of the " Newbern Journal," disclosed 
 
 iHugh Williams, "History of North Carolina," Vol. II., pp. 
 115-118. 
 
STKUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 75 
 
 the fact that these men were " publicly whipped, 
 bound over to keep the peace, and required to give 
 bond for their good behavior and also to take the 
 test oath." ' 
 
 There seems to be little doubt that the preachers 
 already named were not only whipped, but impris- 
 oned for the period of three months. The records 
 of the same court bear evidence of the fact that the 
 persecution of Baptists was quite common in that 
 region between the years 1730 and 1745. AVhile 
 North Carolina was comparatively free from severe 
 methods of persecution, still it was visited in a 
 variety of ways upon dissenters. One of the means 
 employed was that of the enforcement upon all dis- 
 senters of the tithe system, while another was the 
 enforcement of the muster laws of the province 
 against all dissenting ministers, while those of the 
 Establishment were exempt ; still another was, the 
 prohibition of officiation in marriage by Baptist 
 ministers. The last-named law was annulled in 
 1776. 
 
 Georgia Baptists were as firm in withstanding the 
 aggressions of the State upon the prerogatives of the 
 
 1 The truthfulness of this statement has been challenged. In 
 order to confirm it, the late Rev. C. Durham, of Raleigh, N. C, 
 visited Newbern, but found that the old record from which the 
 extract had been taken had " seemingly by design been mutilated 
 — a half-page cut or torn out — a page, two pages, and at a num- 
 ber of places from three to six pages, have been cut or torn out. 
 When or by whom this was done, or just what was their real 
 object we cannot here and now discuss " (Rev. C. Durham, in 
 " Biblical Recorder," for March 29 and April 5, 1893). 
 
76 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 church as were those of any other of the Southern 
 provinces. Their declination to pay a tax to the 
 State for the support of the church was at once firm 
 and positive. With equal stoutness they refused 
 the funds offered from the public treasury for the 
 support of tlieir own churches. The law which 
 prevailed in the other provinces relative to the levy- 
 ing of taxes for the erection and repair of churches 
 and for the payment of the salaries of church offi- 
 cials obtained in the province of Georgia also. 
 
 While a dissenting congregation might apply for a 
 grant of land whereon to build a church with some 
 assurance that the aijplication would not be alto- 
 gether unheeded, there was an evident intention on 
 the part of the government, both royal and colonial, 
 to engraft the Church of England upon the prov- 
 ince, and to contribute with partial hand to its 
 maintenance. 
 
 When on February 21, 1785, the legislature 
 passed an Act for the support of religion, providing 
 that " thirty heads of families " in any community 
 might choose a minister " to explain and inculcate 
 the duties of religion," and "four pence on every 
 hundred pounds valuation of property " should be 
 taken from the public tax for the support of such 
 minister, the Baptists of Georgia promptly protested. 
 It would have been easy to avail themselves of the 
 provisions of this Act, for they formed a large ma- 
 jority of the population in many portions of the 
 province ; but instead, they united in a remon- 
 
STRtJGGLE FOR FREEDOM 77 
 
 strance and sent it by the hands of Silas Mercer 
 and Peter Smith, praying that a law so obnoxious be 
 repealed, and it was done/ 
 
 The difficulties which encompassed the Baptists 
 who first settled in Mississippi were greatly increased 
 when they undertook to exercise the liberty of wor- 
 ship. As has already been seen the original Bap- 
 tists of Mississippi came from South Carolina and 
 Georgia. The headway rapidly gained in the 
 Natchez settlements, aroused the sturdy opposition 
 of the Romish priests. No violent demonstrations 
 were exhibited, however, until indiscreet attacks 
 were made by some of the Baptist ministry upon the 
 faith of the Catholics. This uncalled-for assault 
 furnished an occasion for the vent of Romish wrath 
 which had been accumulating commensurately with 
 the prevalence of Baptist principles in the new 
 settlements on the Mississippi. Nor was the situ- 
 ation in the least relieved by the conversion of 
 Roman Catholics to the Baptist faith. 
 
 After the flight of Curtis and d'Alvoy there was 
 quiet in the Natchez settlements for a brief period, 
 but the Baptists continued to hold their meetings 
 with more or less secrecy, and the Romanists grew 
 more vigilant. Owen, a Baptist preacher, was 
 forced to secrete himself for a season, in order to 
 escape the clutches of the watchful priests, and 
 Bailey Chaney fled the province lest he fall into 
 
 »" Public Recs. of Ga." MS. Vol. B, p. 284, "Marshall 
 Papers." 
 
78 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 their hands. Meanwhile converts to the Baptist 
 faith continued to multiply, and at one time a num- 
 ber of these remained unbaptized for a period, be- 
 cause all authorized administrators had fled ; but in 
 the emergency the church wisely chose Deacon 
 William Chaney to perform the rite. 
 
 Somewhat later, a minister named Mulkey made 
 his appearance in the Natchez district. He is said 
 to have been a preacher of more than ordinary 
 ability, and one possessed of excellent spirit. The 
 former interest in Baptist meetings, which had oc- 
 casioned so much concern on the part of the Cath- 
 olics, was revived under the preaching of Mr. Mul- 
 key. Emboldened by their late efforts in the sup- 
 pression of such religious demonstrations, the Cath- 
 olics sent an officer to arrest Mulkey on the occasion 
 of one of his meetings, but the assembly, aroused by 
 a spirit of honest indignation, boldly resisted such 
 unwarranted interference and drove the officer and 
 his guard away. Determining no longer to be kept 
 upon the defensive, the infuriated people seized their 
 arms and marched against the local fort which was 
 under the command of Gov. Don Manuel Gayoso de 
 Senies, at whose instigation all the previous trouble 
 had been fomented. Alarmed by the appearance of 
 so formidable a body of indignant people, and find- 
 ing himself too weak to resist them, the governor 
 consented to allow them to proceed unmolested with 
 their meetings, but sent a secret agent forthAvith to 
 Baton Rouge for reinforcements, and as soon as 
 
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 79 
 
 they arrived placed himself in a hostile attitude. 
 The Baptists were again routed, Mulkey and others 
 left the province, and tyranny was again dominant. 
 About 1796 Col. Andrew Ellicott was deputed a 
 special commissioner of the United States to confer 
 with the Spanish authorities of the Natchez dis- 
 trict, about which there was some dispute between 
 Spain and America. Upon the arrival of Col. 
 Ellicott, a Baptist minister. Rev. Mr. Hannah, ap- 
 plied to him for permission to preach in the camp 
 of his escort. Deference to Governor Gayoso 
 prompted the colonel to refer the matter to him, and 
 Gayoso consented. The sermon by Hannah led to 
 a subsequent discussion between himself and a 
 batch of Irish Catholics, who had previously beaten 
 him severely. Applying to Gayoso for protection, 
 Hannah was summarily arrested, thrown into prison, 
 and his feet were made fast in stocks. This led to 
 a disturbance between the governor and Colonel El- 
 licott, the latter threatening to destroy the Spanish 
 fort if matters Avere not speedily adjusted. After a 
 formal negotiation of two weeks, Mr. Hannah was 
 set at liberty. Upon the reluctant abandonment of 
 the Natchez district by the Spaniards, the Americans 
 promptly built a considerable arbor and appointed 
 Rev. Bailey Chaney to "preach under the Stars and 
 Stripes." An immense concourse of people greeted 
 him, and great was the enjoyment of the first relig- 
 ious service held in the Natchez district under the 
 government of the United States. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 SOUTHEEN BAPTISTS AND THE EE VOLUTION 
 
 THE contest for civil liberty in America followed 
 a long and bitter struggle for religious free- 
 dom. It would seem that the one was productive 
 of the other, if indeed it was not the same struggle 
 which came naturally to involve the question of 
 civil freedom in common with that of religious 
 emancipation in the outworking of the principle of 
 liberty in Arnerica. Hence it is easy to see how 
 the Baptists of the several colonies of the South 
 would become prompt contributors to the spirit 
 which kindled the fires of the Revolution. It was 
 the same spirit which had animated them for almost 
 a century in resisting the oppression of a tyrannous 
 power. Naturally enough they would regard the 
 impending struggle not as a political contest alone, 
 but as one involving all that was cherished by a 
 people seeking to be free. Great boon as political 
 liberty is, religious freedom is a greater. In a ver}^ 
 important sense then, the matter to be considered 
 now is only a continuation of that which engaged 
 our attention in the preceding chapter. 
 
 The first note of the American Revolution was 
 sounded at Alamance, North Carolina, on May 16, 
 
 80 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 81 
 
 1771. To this event sufficient prominence has 
 never been accorded, either in civil or religious his- 
 tory. 
 
 It was the first popular uprising of any consider- 
 able portion of the American colonists against the 
 encroachments of the representatives of the British 
 crown. The primary cause of this outburst of 
 popular indignation was the passage of what is 
 known as the "Vestry Act/' referred to in the 
 previous chapter, which was adopted by the As- 
 sembly in 1764, during the administration of Gov- 
 ernor Dobbs. The chief provision of that meas- 
 ure was the support of the Episcopal clergy and 
 the erection of Episcopal houses of worship ; but 
 the methods adopted for assessing and collecting 
 these taxes, and for the imposition of fines and pen- 
 alties, aroused at the very outset great popular op- 
 position. The initial provision was that every 
 freeholder who owned fifty acres of land was re- 
 quired by law to meet at the courthouse on Easter 
 Monday to elect twelve vestrymen. Failure to do 
 so subjected one to a fine of twenty shillings "to 
 be recovered by a warrant from any justice of the 
 peace within the limits of said county." In order 
 to exclude all dissenters it was provided that the 
 vestrymen be required to subscribe to an oath " not 
 to oppose the doctrine, discipline, and liturgy of the 
 Church of England, as by law established," To 
 these vestrymen was given power to levy taxes, to 
 build churches and chapels, pay ministers' salaries, 
 
82 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 purcliase a glebe, erect a mansion and convenient 
 outhouses, maintain the poor, pay clerks and readers, 
 and defray other incidental charges of the parish; 
 and the minister could bring suit against the vestry- 
 men if they should fail or refuse " to lay a sufficient 
 tax to satisfy " him. The sheriif was required 
 under a heavy bond to collect the taxes thus im- 
 posed. 
 
 The eifort to enforce such a law created wide- 
 spread dissatisfaction, and meetings were soon called 
 by the common people to confer about the opposi- 
 tion which was to be interposed. These were soon 
 formed into a popular organization known as the 
 Regulators. Instead of relenting in view of these 
 expressions of popular disapprobation, Governor 
 Dobbs became more exacting, and the complaints of 
 the masses grew apace. A paper was established at 
 Wilmington, in 1764, known as "The North Caro- 
 lina Gazette and Weekly Post Boy," which gave 
 the current news. This pioneer enterprise greatly 
 aided the people in their cause, as it informed them 
 of the measures which were from time to time 
 adopted for their oppression. Meanwhile extor- 
 tions became rife in every department of govern- 
 ment. Lossing says that " deputy surveyors, entry- 
 takers, and other officers of inferior grade, became 
 adepts in the chicanery of their superiors." Mat- 
 ters were growing rapidly worse and the situation 
 was not in the least relieved by the receipt of the 
 news of the passage of the Stamp Act, which infor- 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 83 
 
 mation reached the province in June, 1765. Popu- 
 lar gatherings became general. The people were 
 greatly agitated. After more than one popular as- 
 semblage, the people came together at Hillsboro, on 
 April 4, 1767, and passed resolutions to pay no 
 more taxes until they were sure of their legality ; 
 to pay officers no more fees than was rigidly re- 
 quired by law, unless forced to do so, and then to 
 show open resentment ; to be cautious in the selec- 
 tion of representatives ; to petition the governor, 
 council, king, and parliament for a redress of griev- 
 ances ; to maintain a continual correspondence 
 among the members ; to defray all necessary ex- 
 penses ; to submit all differences in judgment to the 
 whole Regulation, the judgment of the majority to 
 be final ; and closed by a solemn affirmation " to 
 stand true and faithful to this cause until we bring 
 things to a true regulation." 
 
 Commenting upon this action of the Carolina 
 patriots, Lossing says : 
 
 The resolutions passed at this meeting were almost 
 equivalent to a declaration of independence of the civil 
 power of the State. Tryon, who became governor of 
 the province in 1765, endeavored to crush out the Regu- 
 lation movement by bringing to bear undue influence 
 upon the North Carohna Assembly, and referred to the 
 " Regulators as a faction of Quakers and Baptists who 
 aimed at overturning the Church of England." 
 
 At the time of this period of agitation the Bap- 
 tists were by great odds more numerous than any 
 
84 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 other religious denomiuation in the province, for 
 there were twenty-two Baptist churches in seven- 
 teen of the twenty-three counties in North Caro- 
 lina. Some of these churches, like the Sandy Creek 
 Church, had a numerous membership. Even as 
 early as 1758 its membership numbered nearly nine 
 hundred members. Trifling as the numbers of the 
 Episcopacy were, when compared with those of the 
 Baptists, all the public offices were held by the 
 former by reason of the failure of the Baptists to 
 subscribe to the tenets of the Establishment. And 
 yet the Baptists paid a large portion of the taxes 
 by which the Establishment was maintained. 
 
 It is not difficult to see the inevitable tendency of 
 such a condition as prevailed for many years in 
 North Carolina. When the extreme of endurance 
 had been reached, the people openly rebelled. The 
 clash of arms came at Alamance. The Regulators, 
 composed largely of Baptists, were defeated by the 
 royal forces, and fled toward the West. The result 
 was that this portion of North Carolina from being 
 one of those in which Baptists were most numerous 
 was now almost altogether abandoned by them. 
 Fleeing westward into Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
 Georgia, Baptist churches sprang up wherever they 
 went. In accounting for this precipitate emigration, 
 Morgan Edwards, a Tory Baptist,^ said in 1775 : 
 
 The cause of this dispersion was the abuse of power 
 
 1 " He was the only Tory in the ministry of the American Bap- 
 tist churches." — Cathcart, " Baptist Encyclopedia,^' p. S62. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 85 
 
 which too much prevailed in the province and caused 
 the inhabitants at last to rise up in arms and fight for 
 their privileges ; but being routed, May 16, 1771, they 
 despaired of seeing better times and therefore quitted 
 the province. It is said one thousand five hundred 
 families departed since the battle of Alamance, and, to 
 my knowledge, a great many m.ore are only waiting to 
 dispose of their plantations in order to follow them. 
 This, to my mind, is an argument that their grievances 
 were real, and their oppression great, notwithstanding 
 all that has been said to the contrary. 
 
 An indication of the extent to which the thrifty 
 Baptist communities were thinned is afforded by the 
 fact that the membership of the Sandy Creek 
 Church, near which the battle was fought, was re- 
 duced from nine hundred to a membership of four- 
 teen. 
 
 Recoiling from the oppression visited upon them, 
 the Baptists of North Carolina came to question the 
 slightest assumption of human authority. Oppres- 
 sion had driven them to the extreme in the assertion 
 of the principle of soul-liberty. This spirit was 
 shown in the fact that the Sandy Creek Association, 
 during a period of thirty or forty years, and the 
 Yadkin, for a period of twelve years, refused to 
 elect moderators to preside over them. From a 
 position so extreme, they were dissuaded by John 
 Gano during his missionary tour through the South. 
 
 Contemporary with these revolutionary move- 
 ments in North Carolina was the activity in the 
 same direction on the part of the Baptists of Vir- 
 
86 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 ginia, and of other provinces of the South. Pro- 
 tracted oppression had made them vigilant of the 
 discovery of the slightest opportunity to contribute 
 to the growing complications between England and 
 the American colonies. Promptly seizing upon 
 these advantages, the Baptists of the South wisely 
 and vigorously pushed them toward the desired end 
 without halt or compromise. As citizens they 
 struggled for civil liberty ; as Christians, for relig- 
 ious freedom. 
 
 Of one thing the Baptists never lost sight — that 
 of the abolition of all legal ecclesiastical distinc- 
 tions. The political crisis induced by the growing 
 exactions of the mother country impelled the Bap- 
 tists to struggle more vigorously for the attainment 
 of that much desired end, which was sought for 
 themselves not only, but for all citizens, whether 
 Christian, Jew, or infidel. That for which they 
 contended was a divorcement of the Church from 
 the State, that the former might work out its own 
 destiny unaided by the government ; in short, their 
 ultimate object was absolute religious freedom. In 
 this contest Baptists were aided by the Presbyteri- 
 ans and other members of the community.^ That 
 the spirit of the Baptists was entirely exempt from 
 hostility to any other sect, and that they w^ere actu- 
 ated solely by principle, is shown by the fact that 
 at the session of the General Association of Vir- 
 ginia in 1784, public fast days were set apart "in 
 ^Semple, " Rise and Progress of Virginia Baptists," pp. 26, 73. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 87 
 
 behalf of our poor blind persecutors and for the re- 
 leasement of our brethren." ^ 
 
 In 1775 the General Association of Virginia 
 memorialized the Convention of the province to 
 make military resistance to Great Britain, setting 
 forth at the same time in a Declaration of Princi- 
 ples " that the mere toleration of religion by the 
 civil government is insufficient ; that no State re- 
 ligious establishment ought to exist ; that all relig- 
 ious denominations ought to stand on the same foot- 
 ing." Charged with a copy of the memorial, a 
 committee was deputed by the General Association 
 to attend the convention and to lay under tribute all 
 legitimate means for the accomplishment of the de- 
 sired end. All that was asked for was not granted, 
 but an extraordinary concession was made when the 
 Convention gave respectful answer, and adopted a 
 resolution granting that " dissenting clergymen be 
 permitted to celebrate divine worship and to preach 
 to the soldiers." This was the entering wedge to 
 religious equality in Virginia. Doubtless on the 
 part of the Convention this was intended so to con- 
 ciliate the Baptists that they would desist from 
 further effort. So far from that being true, how- 
 ever, it only served to stimulate them to greater 
 energy and more vehement protests. If it gave 
 hope and encouragement to Baptists, it must have 
 indicated to the clergy of the Establishment that 
 their power was already beginning to decline. But 
 
 1 Semple, " Rise and Progress of Virginia Baptists," p. 56. 
 
88 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 a supremacy so long and profitably enjoyed was not 
 to be easily surrendered. Accordingly the clergy 
 of the Establishment began at once an active can- 
 vass, circulating petitions to be signed in behalf of 
 the retention of the Episcopacy as a permanent 
 legal establishment, which in turn provoked the Bap- 
 tists to procure counter petitions. The efforts of 
 the Baptists resulted in procuring the names of ten 
 thousand persons who were chiefly freeholders. 
 
 The year 1776 marks the era of the adoption of 
 the Constitution of Virginia, which instrument en- 
 joys the distinction of being " the first written con- 
 stitution for a free, sovereign, and independent State 
 which the history of the world has called forth." 
 The constitution was prefaced by the Bill of Rights, 
 the sixteenth section of which, as written by George 
 Mason, provided for the " fullest toleration." But 
 through the instrumentality of James Madison, the 
 term " toleration " was stricken out and all men 
 were declared equally entitled to the free exercise of 
 religion. The famous section as amended by Madi- 
 son reads as follows : 
 
 That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Cre- 
 ator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed 
 only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence, 
 and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free ex- 
 ercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience ; 
 and that it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian 
 forbearance, love, and charity toward each other. 
 
 It will be remembered that Mr. Madison had 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 89 
 
 been a witness to the wrongs perpetrated upon Bap- 
 tists under the guise of toleration, and was therefore 
 the better prepared to give heed to the formal appli- 
 cation of that people to expunge a " term intrinsi- 
 cally fallacious and fraught with dangerous impli- 
 cations." 
 
 Animated by the victories already achieved, the 
 Baptists now took fresh courage throughout the 
 State of Virginia. Their work had just begun. 
 They became more aggressive. Endurance of pro- 
 tracted wrong deepened their determination to break 
 off the yoke of English tyranny. They stimulated 
 every possible agency of opposition and set in mo- 
 tion a strong popular current which was pressing 
 with increasing force against the Establishment, al- 
 ready quaking to its foundation. Others besides 
 Baptists, who had previously held themselves some- 
 what aloof and had regarded the long and trying 
 struggle with an air of conventional propriety, now- 
 joined the aggressive party against the Establish- 
 ment. This was notably true of the Presbyterians, 
 whose privileges had greatly exceeded those of the 
 Baptists. The Hanover Presbytery for 1776, 
 while entreating equal protection for all sects, asked 
 to be exempt from the payment of taxes for the 
 support of any church further than might be agree- 
 able to their choice as individuals or because of vol- 
 untary obligations.^ 
 
 The year 1776 being that during which the first 
 
 ^Foote, "Sketches of Virginia," p. 324. 
 
90 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 session of the independent legislative assembly con- 
 vened, was one of the most notable periods of our 
 denominational history. Anticipating the assembly 
 of the legislature, the Baptists were active for 
 months throughout Virginia circulating petitions for 
 the enrollment of the names of those who favored 
 the extension of the benefits of religious liberty to 
 every class of citizens. When the General Assembly 
 met in its initial session during this year, it found 
 itself overwhelmed with such a flood of petitions as 
 to compel the most serious consideration. This 
 strong array of petitioners from every portion of 
 Virginia, clearly forecast the approaching conflict. 
 The " crowding " petitioners were referred to a com- 
 mittee of seventeen, of which Jeiferson and Madison 
 were members. A long and bitter contest followed, 
 which is described by Jeiferson in his autobiography 
 as " the severest in which he had ever engaged." 
 He further says : " After desperate contests in that 
 committee almost daily from the eleventh of Oc- 
 tober to the fifth of December, a bill was brought 
 in repealing the laws which restrained freedom of 
 religious opinion or worship, exempting dissenters 
 from all levies, taxes, and impositions whatever for 
 the support of the Established Church." This was 
 an overAvhelming victory — a long stride toward 
 absolute freedom. 
 
 But gigantic as had been the struggle, and well 
 won as was the victory, the end of the contest was 
 not yet reached. Seeing that the foundations of 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 91 
 
 the Establishment were being gradually sapped, its 
 friends became desperate in their efforts to arrest the 
 tottering fabric. Consequently they succeeded in 
 securing the passage of a declaration to the eifect 
 that provision ought to be made for continuing the 
 succession of the clergy and for superintending their 
 conduct.' There was in the bill passed an " express 
 reservation whether a general assessment should not 
 be established by law, on every one, for the support 
 of the pastor of his choice ; or whether all should 
 be left to voluntary contributions.'' 
 
 Having gained so much, through legislative meas- 
 ures, the Baptists were willing to bide their time for 
 a season, persuaded that their ultimate object would 
 eventually be attained. But they were not idle as 
 patriots and in the expression of loyalty to the cause 
 of the colonies. Elder McClanahan, a Baptist min- 
 ister from Culpeper County, raised a company of 
 soldiers for the Continental service mainly from the 
 members of Baptist churches. While he led them 
 to battle as their captain, he ministered to their spir- 
 itual wants as their chaplain.^ In commenting upon 
 the preaching of Elder McClanahan, in connection 
 with his service as captain of a company of volun- 
 teers, Howe takes occasion to remark that " the 
 Baptists were the most strenuous supporters of 
 liberty." ^ The valuable service rendered by our 
 ministry to the cause evoked from Washington the 
 
 1 Jefferson, "Works," Vol. I., p. 39. 
 ^Howe, " Virginia Historical Collections," p. 238. ^ Ihid., p. 238. 
 
92 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 declaration that " Baptist chaplains were among the 
 most prominent and useful in the army." ^ Among 
 those who shouldered their muskets and entered the 
 ranks of the American army was Rev. David Bar- 
 row, one of the most eminent, as well as one of the 
 most useful, of the Baptist ministry of that period. 
 On the field of carnage he was as efficient as he had 
 been in his peaceful ministrations at home.^ Rev. 
 Daniel Marshall, though an old man, was unremit- 
 ting in his patriotic appeals in behalf of the struggle 
 for independence, notwithstanding he was several 
 times warned and threatened by the British soldiery. 
 So persistent was he in denunciation of the mother 
 country, that he was at last arrested and placed 
 under strong guard ; but having obtained leave to 
 speak, he so overwhelmed his enemies with his ex- 
 hortations and prayers, that they promptly set him 
 free. 
 
 The influence by the Baptists against the crown 
 was not restricted to any particular portion of the 
 country. They were actuated by the same spirit 
 throughout the entire South. The province of 
 South Carolina was among the first to give expres- 
 sion of her loyalty to the provincial congress. She 
 organized the " Council of Safety," as the executive 
 power was called, composed of a body of thirteen 
 eminent citizens. One of the chief concerns of this 
 Council was, by public speaking to bring the people 
 
 1 " Manning and Brown University," p. 136. 
 2 Semple, p. 359. 
 
SOUTHEEN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 93 
 
 into sympathy with the revolutionary movement by 
 conciliating them to the newly formed government, 
 enlisting their support of it, and removing their 
 pre'judice and misapprehension. From the begin- 
 ning of the Revolution, Rev. Oliver Hart and his 
 church, at Charleston, warmly espoused the cause of 
 the country. By reason of his acquaintance and in- 
 fluence in the back country, Mr. Hart was chosen, 
 together with Rev. William Tennent, another Bap- 
 tist, and Hon. William H. Drayton, to arouse the 
 patriotism of the Carolinians in behalf of the 
 American cause.^ Not less conspicuous for his in- 
 fluence and patriotism was Rev. Richard Furman, 
 Sr., D. D. Indeed he is said to have incurred the 
 wrath of Lord Cornwallis so seriously that the 
 British commander ofi'ered a considerable sum for 
 his apprehension. According to Thomas Jefferson 
 two-thirds of the inhabitants of Virginia were dis- 
 senters when the Revolution began ; ^ these were 
 composed almost entirely of Baptists and Presby- 
 terians. While the latter had a number of eminent 
 men, the number of their communicants was small 
 when compared with those of the Baptists. This 
 furnishes an indirect indication of the patriotism of 
 Baptists during the great struggle for freedom. 
 
 With 1777 came a renewal of the determination 
 on the part of the Baptists of Virginia to separate 
 Church and State. Having that end in view, the 
 
 1 Sprague, " Annals of the American Baptist Pulpit," pp. 48, 49. 
 ^Jefferson, " On the State of Virginia," p. 169. 
 
94 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 General Association of Virginia at its session in 
 1777 appointed a committee to ascertain and report 
 to that body whether there were existing in the 
 Commonwealth any oppressive or ecclesiastical laws. 
 The result of this action was an elaborate report 
 setting forth the fact that quite a number of laws 
 which seriously interfered with the exercise of re- 
 ligious liberty were still prevailing. This report 
 gave rise to a formal and respectful address to the 
 legislature by the General Association, calling atten- 
 tion to these oppressive and obnoxious laws, and 
 with the transmission of the address was another 
 inundation of petitions from the Baptists and Pres- 
 byterians protesting most vehemently against the 
 maintenance of a State Church. Against these 
 were arrayed the petitions from the Episcopalians 
 and Methodists, as the latter at that period co- 
 operated with the Establishment. The presentation 
 of these conflicting documents before the lawmakers 
 of Virginia occasioned no little interest. Out of 
 this came a law suspending the collection of taxes 
 for the support of religious teachers.^ While this 
 gave additional elation to the Baptists, it served to 
 embolden them for future aggression. 
 
 Two meetings of the General Association were 
 iield during the year 1778. Encouraged by what 
 had been accomplished at previous sessions, a com- 
 mittee on " civil grievances " was again raised, re- 
 sulting in the submission of a report remonstrating 
 1 Hawks, Vol I., p. 139. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 95 
 
 most stoutly against a general assessment for the 
 support of all denominations- — a conciliatory meas- 
 ure which had been set on foot by the supporters of 
 the Establishment to prevent the total wreck of that 
 fated institution. The report also strongly inveighed 
 against the law granting to Episcopal clergymen the 
 exclusive right, under the penalty of illegitimacy of 
 issue, to perform the marriage ceremony. These 
 solemn protests took the same course as those of the 
 year before — they were transmitted to the legisla- 
 ture by means of a most competent committee. It 
 seems that the most that M'as accomplished by this 
 Baptist delegation was favorable prospective action 
 on the part of the legislature ; for at the session of 
 the General Association the following year, the 
 draft of a bill establishing religious freedom was 
 placed before the members of the General Associ- 
 ation and it was generally approved. Here as 
 before commissioners were appointed to visit the 
 legislature, urging that body to legalize the mar- 
 riages which, under the advice of Patrick Henry, 
 dissenting; ministers had celebrated. The result of 
 this persistent activity of the Baptists was the 
 enactment of a law repealing all laws authorizing 
 the collection of taxes for the support of the clergy, 
 Jefferson's estimate of this action was that "the 
 Establishment of the Anglican Church was entirely 
 put down." This was the result of an intense 
 struggle on the part of the Baptists, which was pro- 
 longed through three years. 
 
96 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Some of those who entered into co-operation 
 with the Baptists when the issue was first joined, 
 forsook tliem when the matter of general assessment 
 was forced into the struggle. Dr. Hawks, the 
 Episcopal church historian, sums up the struggle 
 thus : 
 
 In each successive meeting of the Legislature from 
 1776 to 1779, this quxstio vexata was brought up for dis- 
 cussion. . . In 1779, all things being ready for a final 
 vote, the question was settled against the system of a 
 general assessment, and the Establishment was finally 
 put down. The Baptists were the principal promoters 
 of this work and, in truth, aided more than any other 
 denomination in its accomplishment. Their historian 
 boasts that they alone were uniform in their eff"orts to 
 destroy the system of an assessment and to introduce 
 the plan of a voluntary contribution. Whether this be 
 so or not, it is very certain that in the Associations of 
 that sect, held from year to year, a prominent subject 
 of discussion always was as to the best modes of carrying 
 on war against the Establishment. 
 
 The year following that of the overthrow of the 
 Establishment, the enactment of a law legalizing 
 marriage by dissenting ministers was procured. As 
 has been suggested, Patrick Henry urged Baptist 
 ministers to disregard the law in the celebration of 
 the marriage ceremony with the expressed opinion 
 that this was the speediest method of sweeping it 
 from the statute books — and it proved true. It is 
 a remarkable fact, however, that four years after the 
 Declaration of Independence, oppressive laws were 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 97 
 
 existing upon the pages of the colonial, or State, 
 statute books. 
 
 We have now reached a period (1780-81) when 
 the South was overrun by British troops. The 
 theatre of war in the Southern provinces was Vir- 
 ginia and South Carolina. The well-known loyalty 
 of Baptist preachers to the cause of freedom made 
 them conspicuous objects of vengeance to the British 
 commanders, and for some of these ministers hand- 
 some rewards were offered by the royal generals. 
 Baptist churches too were desecrated by being trans- 
 formed into storage houses, temporary magazines, 
 and field hospitals. Special delight seems to have 
 characterized the seizure of these temples of worship 
 and the reduction of them to hostile service. How- 
 ever, this ceases to be a matter of surprise when it is 
 borne in mind that Baptists were the most ardent of 
 dissenters and the most belligerent of patriots. In 
 Virginia and the Carolinas, during the two years, 
 1780-81, the greatest demoralization prevailed 
 among Baptist churches. Pastors were driven from 
 their stations, flying sometimes for their lives, while 
 many of them entered the army as chaplains or 
 commanders; and congregations were broken up 
 and scattered in every possible direction. The 
 -Revolution was the occasion of the early occupation 
 by Baptists of regions westward. This movement 
 preceded the opening of the Eevolution, because of 
 the exactions of the crown officers, and continued 
 throughout the years of the gigantic struggle. 
 
98 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 As we have seen, the utmost consistency was 
 maintained by the Baptists of the South during 
 the Revolutionary War. The struggle itself was 
 only a more emphatic and sanguinary expression of 
 the protests which had been made for a long period 
 prior to the clash of arms. Throughout the years 
 of the war Baptists were equally conspicuous in 
 pressing the claims of liberty before legislative as- 
 semblies and in resisting the invasions of the royal 
 armies. Speaking of the aggressive spirit of the 
 Baptists in Virginia during this stormy period, Dr. 
 Hawks, the learned Episcopal historian, says of 
 them : " After their final success in the matter of 
 voluntary contribution, their next efforts were to 
 procure a sale of the church lands, and their efforts 
 never ceased until the glebe lands were sold." ^ 
 
 The Baptist General Association of Virginia was 
 most unremitting in its efforts to snap the last bond 
 that united Church and State. During both ses- 
 sions, held in the years 1782 and 1783, committees 
 on " Civil Grievances " were appointed and the two 
 items, still dear to the Establishment — the retention 
 of glebe lands and the popular assessment for the 
 support of ministers of all denominations — were 
 made themes of firm remonstrance. The usual 
 committee was appointed to wait upon the legisla- 
 ture, but these measures were, for the time being, 
 disregarded in view of the pressing demands of the 
 political necessities of the time. In 1783 the Gen- 
 1 Hawks, Vol. I., p. 53. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 99 
 
 eral Association entrusted the matter of the direc- 
 tion of grievances to a General Committee composed 
 of not more than four delegates from each district 
 Association. This committee in 1784 renewed with 
 vigor its protests before the legislature, arraigning 
 before that body the proposed laws for general as- 
 sessment, and the incorporation of religious societies, 
 the vestry, and the marriage laws. A commissioner 
 was deputed to bear the memorials of this committee 
 to the legislature. This year, the General Assem- 
 bly went so far as to pass a law authorizing all min- 
 isters to officiate at marriages.^ 
 
 At the preceding session of the General Assem- 
 bly, in 1783, action upon the general assessment bill 
 was postponed in order that an expression from the 
 people might be had. This served to elicit the full 
 strength and influence of the Baptist denomination 
 in Virginia. It was fully realized Avhat was in- 
 volved in this popular expression and Baptist influ- 
 ence was strained to its utmost tension. Under the 
 direction and management of the General Commit- 
 tee, the people in the different counties were urged 
 to prepare petitions against the proposed assessment 
 as being repugnant to the spirit of the gospel and 
 the freedom of religion. The text of the resolution 
 upon which such action was based, in Virginia, read 
 as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That it be recommended to those counties 
 which have not yet prepared petitions to be presented to 
 
 iSemple, pp. 34,69, 70. 
 
100 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 the General Assembly against the engrossed bill for a 
 general assessment for the support of the teachers of the 
 Christian religion to proceed thereon as soon as possible ; 
 that it is believed to be repugnant to the spii'it of the 
 gospel for the legislature thus to proceed in matters of 
 religion ; that the holy author of our religion needs no 
 such compulsive measures for the promotion of his 
 cause ; that the gospel wants not the feeble arm of man 
 for its support ; that it has made, and will again, 
 through divine power, make its way against all opposi- 
 tion ; that should the legislature assume the right of 
 taxing the people for the support of the gospel, it will 
 be destructive of religious liberty. 
 
 The contest had been so ingeniously narrowed 
 down by the opponents of the dissenters as to 
 restrict the aggression almost entirely to the Bap- 
 tists, w^ho never stood more alone than now while 
 they strove to defeat these adroit measures. Up to 
 this time, the Baptists had been able to rely upon 
 the friendly co-operation of the Presbyterians, but 
 that communion was now divided. There were then 
 arrayed against the Baptists, the Episcopalians, the 
 Methodists, and a goodly portion of the Presby- 
 terians. The specious and insiduous pretext of the 
 opposition was that an assessment of the people 
 should be made to provide a remedy for the alleged 
 decay of morals and the general decline of religion. 
 
 The issue was squarely joined when a petition 
 from the Isle of Wight County appeared before the 
 legislature praying that every one be compelled to 
 contribute of his substance for the support of relig- 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 101 
 
 ion. Fortunately for the Baptists, they enjoyed the 
 co-operation of such eminent representatives as 
 James Madison, George Mason, and Thomas Jefi'er- 
 son. But they were in turn opposed by such 
 patriots as Patrick Henry, George Washington, 
 Richard Henry Lee, and John Marshall. The 
 general assessment bill was championed by Patrick 
 Henry, who was pitted against James Madison, who 
 appeared as the leader of the opposition to that ob- 
 noxious measure. It was a struggle of giants. The 
 discussion was vigorous and vehement. For a time, 
 it seemed that the battle was lost to the Baptists. 
 When the bill was ordered read the third time, that 
 it might be put upon its passage, its advocates were 
 confident. There was no hope left save in delay. 
 Rallying the opposition to the measure, its managers 
 succeeded in having action postponed to another 
 session. This led to a representation of the matter 
 to the masses of the people. Mr. Madison was 
 foremost in calling popular attention to the subject 
 in an admirable paper which was known as the 
 " Memorial and Remonstrance," which was exten- 
 sively circulated and read by thousands. Mean- 
 while the advocates of assessment were by no 
 means idle, for they circulated twenty-four copies of 
 the bill in each county in the commonwealth. Upon 
 the reassembling of the legislature in October, 1785, 
 the great table in the Assembly hall almost sank 
 under the weight of the petitions and remonstrances 
 against the general assessment measure. Public 
 
102 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 protests were so overwhelming that the advocates of 
 the measure surrendered without further struggle. 
 Baptists had finally won. 
 
 As the friend of soul-liberty, Jefferson seized 
 upon the opportunity which was now presented for 
 the submission of the following bill looking to the 
 establishment of religious freedom. This was 
 adopted December 16, 1785, and is still the funda- 
 mental law of Virginia : 
 
 AN ACT TO ESTABLISH RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. 
 
 Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That no man 
 shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious 
 worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall he be 
 enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body 
 or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his re- 
 ligious opinions or belief ; but that all men shall be free 
 to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions 
 in matters of religion, and that the same shall, in no 
 wise, diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. 
 
 There was not the slightest relaxation of effort on 
 the part of the Baptists to wipe out the remaining 
 traces of oppression and to thwart their enemies in 
 efforts to procure such legislation as would entrench 
 them in ecclesiastical supremacy. The General 
 Committee now turned its attention to the opposition 
 of the measure looking to the incorporation of the 
 Episcopal society. At the meeting of this commit- 
 tee held in 1786, it was resolved, 
 
 That petitions ought to be drawn and circulated in the 
 different counties and presented to the next General As- 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 103 
 
 sembly, praying for a repeal of the Incorporating Act, 
 and that the public property which is by that act vested 
 in the Protestant Episcopal Church be sold, and the 
 money applied to public use, and that Reuben Ford and 
 John Leland attend the next Assembly as agents in 
 behalf of the General Committee. 
 
 In this step the Presbyterians rejoined the Bap- 
 tists, insisting that the act be repealed and the 
 property distributed. In opposition to this pro- 
 nounced expression, the Episcopal Convention 
 recommended to the parishes throughout the State 
 that petitions be prepared and presented offsetting 
 the memorials of the Baptists and Presbyterians, but 
 to no purpose; for on January 9, 1787, the law- 
 was repealed. The w^ork to which the Baptists had 
 applied themselves so assiduously for a long period 
 was now^ almost completed, there being but one re- 
 maining element of the original Establishment 
 which demanded their attention, and that was the 
 settlement of the glebe land question. Passing 
 judgment upon this, the General Committee decided 
 that the glebe lands were the property of the people 
 — rightly belonged to the public — because bought 
 with money collected by taxes from the people gen- 
 erally. With this w^as coupled a solemn protest 
 against its exclusive use by the minister of the 
 parish in which the lands were located. This ques- 
 tion had to be brought to the attention of the public 
 in such way as to enable intelligent action to be 
 taken. 
 
104 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Baptists were as industrious in the urgent prose- 
 cution of the claims of this question as they had 
 been with every other. In 1799 their efforts were 
 rewarded by the passage of an act recognizing the 
 principle that all property belonging to the Episco- 
 pal Church devolved on the good people of the 
 commonwealth. This was followed by an act in 
 1802 ordering the sale of the glebes. In a sum- 
 mary of these events, Dr. Hawks says : 
 
 Persecution had taught the Baptists not to love the 
 Establishment. In their Association they had calmly 
 discussed the matter, and resolved on their course. In 
 this course, they were consistent to the end ; and the 
 war which they waged against the church was a war of 
 extermination. They seem to have known no relentings, 
 and their hostility never ceased for twenty-seven years. ^ 
 
 When the struggle began, there Avas little or no en- 
 couragement to prosecute the work dear to the Bap- 
 tists of the South. Almost hoping against hope be- 
 cause of the formidable odds opposing them, the Bap- 
 tists steadfastly pursued their claims, holding every 
 inch of ground gained, and gathering new boldness 
 with each advantage, until there was a complete 
 severance of Church and State. They were equally 
 active in the field and in the legislative chamber 
 for the consummation of the single purpose of se- 
 curing to the new republic the fullest freedom. The 
 ratification of the Federal Constitution by the Vir- 
 ginia Convention was largely due to the exertion 
 1 Hawks, Vol. I., pp. 137, 138. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 105 
 
 and self-sacrifice of a Baptist minister, John Le- 
 land. Mr. Madison being absent from the State on 
 public business at the time when a representative 
 was to be chosen, Leland was agreed upon as a can- 
 didate for the position which would have been occu- 
 pied by Madison in the Convention of 1788, which 
 convention was to ratify or reject the national con- 
 stitution. Upon his return to Virginia, Madison 
 visited Leland and spent some time with him, 
 which resulted in the withdrawal of the latter 
 from the race in favor of the former. Mr. Madi- 
 son's presence in the convention was most oppor- 
 tune, as it is quite sure that the ratification of the 
 constitution was due to that fact. The new consti- 
 tution encountered the opposition of Patrick Henry 
 who thought it " squinted toward monarchy." By 
 reason of his personal popularity and splendid ora- 
 tory he carried the people with him, and would 
 have defeated ratification but for the influence of 
 Madison. Commenting upon this, Senator John S. 
 Barbour, of Virginia, asserts : 
 
 That the credit of adopting the Constitution of the 
 United States, properly belongs to a Baptist clergyman, 
 formerly of Virginia, named Leland. If Madison had 
 not been in the Virginia Convention, the constitution 
 would not have been ratified, and as the approval of 
 nine States was necessary to give effect to this instru- 
 ment, and as Virginia was the ninth State, if it had 
 been rejected by her, the constitution would have failed 
 (the remaining States following her example), and it was 
 through Elder Leland' s influence that Mr. Madison was 
 
106 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 elected to that Convention. It is unquestionable that 
 Mr. Madison was elected through the efforts and resig- 
 nation of John Leland, and it is all but certain that 
 that act gave our country its famous constitution. ' 
 
 The national Constitution, while generally accept- 
 able, was not faultless. Naturally enough it was 
 most rigidly examined by those who had struggled 
 so long and sacrificed so much for the young nation 
 just now in its swaddling clothes. At the session of 
 the General Association of Virginia in 1788, the 
 General Committee had submitted for consideration 
 the question, " Whether the new Federal Constitu- 
 tion, which had now lately made its appearance in 
 public, made sufficient provision for the secure enjoy- 
 ment of religious liberty ? '* 
 
 A unanimous opinion was reached by the commit- 
 tee that it did not. This occurred three months pre- 
 viously to its ratification by the State Convention, 
 in doing which that body made certain reservations 
 among which was that the liberty or right of no de- 
 nomination can be abridged by the government. 
 Certain essential rights, among which was that of 
 liberty of conscience, cannot be abridged, restrained, 
 or modified. That there might be no doubt attend- 
 ant upon the action of the Virginia Convention, the 
 General Committee held a consultation with Mr. 
 Madison as to future action, and afterAvard addressed 
 a communication to President Washington on the 
 same subject. After reference to their struggles for 
 ^Sprague, " Annals of the American Baptist Pulpit," p. 179. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 107 
 
 religious freedom, and after respectful allusion to 
 the part taken by Washington in the contest, the 
 Committee said : 
 
 The want of efficacy in the confederation, the re- 
 dundancy of laws and their partial administration in 
 the States, called aloud for a new arrangement of our 
 systems. The wisdom of the States for that purpose 
 was collected in a grand convention, over which you, 
 sir, had the honor to preside. A national government 
 in all its parts was recommended as the only preserva- 
 tion of the Union, which plan of government is now in 
 actual operation. 
 
 When the Constitution first made its appearance in 
 Virginia we, as a Society, had unusual strugglings of 
 mind, fearing that the liberty of conscience (dearer to 
 us than property and life) was not sufficiently secured ; 
 perhaps our jealousies were heightened on account of 
 the usage we received in Virginia under the British 
 government when mobs, bonds, fines, and prisons were 
 our frequent repast. 
 
 Convinced on the one hand that without an effective 
 national government the States would fall into disunion 
 and all the consequent evils ; on the other hand, it was 
 feared we might be accessory to some religious oppres- 
 sion should any one Society in the union preponderate 
 all the rest. But amidst all the inquietudes of mind 
 our consolation arose from this consideration, the plan 
 must be good, for it bears the signature of a tried, trusty 
 friend ; and if religious liberty is rather insecure in the 
 Constitution, "the administration will prevent all op- 
 pression, for a Washington will preside." According to 
 our wishes the unanimus voice of the Union has called 
 you, sir, from your beloved reti'eat to launch forth again 
 into the faithless seas of human affairs to guide the 
 
108 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 helm of the States. Should the horrid evils that have 
 been so pestiferous in Asia and Europe — faction, ambi- 
 tion, war, perfidy, fraud, and persecutions for conscience' 
 sake — ever approach the borders of our happy nation, 
 may the name and administration of our beloved Presi- 
 dent, like the radiant source of day, scatter all those 
 dark clouds from the American hemisphere. 
 
 This letter to Washington was the wise and 
 timely product of John Leland, a man of fertile 
 resource, calm judgment, courageous disposition, 
 and of ripe piety. 
 
 In reply to the letter, of which the foregoing is 
 an extract. President Washington wrote : 
 
 If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension 
 that the Constitution framed by the convention where I 
 had the honor to preside might possibly endanger the 
 religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I 
 would never have placed my signature to it ; and if I 
 could now conceive that the general government might 
 ever be so administered as to render the liberty of con- 
 science insecure, I beg you will be persuaded that no 
 one would be more zealous than myself to establish ef- 
 fectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny 
 and every species of religious persecution. Tor you 
 doubtless remember I have often expressed my senti- 
 ments that any man conducting himself as a good citi- 
 zen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious 
 opinions, ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity 
 according to the dictates of his own conscience. 
 
 While I recollect with satisfaction that the religious 
 Society of which you are members have been through- 
 out America uniformly and almost unanimously the 
 firm friends to civil liberty and the persevering pro- 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 109 
 
 meters of our glorious revolution, I cannot hesitate to 
 believe that they will be faithful supporters of a free yet 
 efficient general government. Under this pleasing ex- 
 pectation I rejoice to assure them that they may rely 
 upon my best wishes and endeavors to advance their 
 prosperity. In the meantime be assured, gentlemen, 
 that I entertain a proper sense of your fervent supplica- 
 tion to God for my temporal and eternal happiness. 
 I am, gentlemen. 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 George Washington. 
 
 The outcome of this correspoudence was the 
 submission by James Madison, in the House of 
 Representatives, of the first amendment to the 
 Constitution of the United States. Although it en- 
 countered strong opposition at first, it was finally 
 passed by the House and afterward approved by 
 two-thirds of the States and became a law. The 
 Baptists have all along insisted that the credit of 
 this amendment belongs to them. It was for this 
 that the appeal was made to Washington, who 
 promptly recognized the wisdom of it. The request 
 commended itself to the judgment of Madison also, 
 and gave to him an additional opportunity to endear 
 himself to the Baptists of the South by submitting 
 the amendment and securing its passage. 
 
 The adoption of the first amendment to the Con- 
 stitution should have ended the struggle ; but it 
 was not until 1798 that all the barriers were swept 
 away and dissenters were admitted to equal priv- 
 ileges with the Episcopalians of America. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 DENOMINATIONAL EXPANSION 
 
 IN 1770 the Baptists of the South were, in point 
 of numbers, quite a weak folk. At that period 
 there were but few church organizations in the 
 States now covered by the territory of the South. 
 While a few of these were strong, relatively speak- 
 ing, the most of them were feeble. Of the seventy 
 Baptist churches reported for 1770, according to a 
 recent author,^ only seven were accounted as existing 
 in the South. There were, however, known to be 
 more than that. Still there were perhaps not so 
 many as ten thousand Baptists in the United States 
 when the Revolution began. The eifect of that 
 great struggle was to disperse the Baptist churches 
 of the Southern provinces. Baptists were intensely 
 enlisted in the cause of freedom, and almost none 
 of the churches observed stated seasons of worship. 
 For the most part, the pastors were enlisted as chap- 
 lains, or as soldiers in the ranks. 
 
 After the close of the war, however, there was a 
 speedy reaction. Differences were forgotten in the 
 single aim to unify the denomination in order to 
 
 iH. K. Carroll, ll.d., in "The Religious Forces of the United 
 States," p. 25. 
 110 
 
DENOMINATIONAL, EXPANSION 111 
 
 give a lasting effect to the achievements wrought. 
 The sufferings and struggles which all had under- 
 gone in common, served to weld them the more 
 easily after the gigantic contest had closed. This 
 was illustrated by the easy fusion of the " Separate " 
 and "Regular" Baptists of Virginia in 1787. 
 This was the signal for union throughout the prov- 
 inces, so that within a few years after the fusion in 
 Virginia the denomination presented a united front. 
 This spirit of unity which, in turn, was the result of 
 that singleness of aim for the princijjle for which 
 the Baptists of the South in common suffered and 
 contended, was the fountain source of the denomi- 
 national expansion with which the period following 
 the Revolution was signalized. A grateful senti- 
 ment everywhere prevailed because of the achieve- 
 ment of liberty. Places of worship which had 
 long been desecrated by the vile uses to which they 
 were subjected by the enemy, were venerated more 
 than ever before. Meeting-houses were rebuilt 
 where they had been demolished, repaired where 
 they had been damaged ; and congregations gathered 
 again with alacrity and gratitude, and resumed, 
 without fear of interruption, the worship of God. 
 Only the sufferers from persecution could realize 
 how precious was the boon of freedom, and it is but 
 natural that these people should be frequently found 
 at their places of worship. 
 
 The beneficent reaction from the turbulent period 
 of the Revolution was favorable to the production 
 
112 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 of the grateful feelings which prevailed universally 
 among the Baptists of the South. This sponta- 
 neous spirit which dictated an equally spontaneous 
 worship, was the starting point of the phenomenal 
 growth which characterized the denomination during 
 the subsequent periods throughout the Southern 
 States. 
 
 From this prevalent condition of the Baptist 
 churches inevitably sprang a revival which not only 
 greatly augmented the membership of the churches 
 already existing, but rapidly multiplied the number 
 of churches themselves. It seems that as early as 
 1784 there were in Virginia alone one hundred and 
 fifty-one churches and fourteen thousand nine hun- 
 dred and sixty members, and eight years later the 
 number of churches had increased to two hundred 
 and eighteen, with a membership of twenty thou- 
 sand four hundred and forty-three. The revival 
 wave swept into the opening years of the nineteenth 
 century, so that in 1810-12 we find Virginia with 
 two hundred and ninety-two churches and thirty-five 
 thousand six hundred and sixty-five members. 
 These numbers are furnished as to the resident 
 membership of Virginia Baptist churches, although 
 Semple estimates that between 1791 and 1810 fully 
 one-fourth of the Baptists of Virginia removed to 
 Kentucky. Notwithstanding that the Revolutionary 
 period found the Baptists of the North far out- 
 numbering those of the South, in 1814 there were 
 nearly twice as many members in the Baptist 
 
DENOMINATIONAL EXPANSION 113 
 
 churches of Virginia as in those of New York, and 
 there were many more in Virginia than there were 
 in all the New England States together. 
 
 The same spirit of revivalism extended into 
 North Carolina ; but it was not until 1800 that the 
 most memorable revival in the annals of that State 
 occurred. James McGready, a Scotch-Irish Pres- 
 byterian preacher, began a revival in North Caro- 
 lina in the first years of the nineteenth century, 
 which shook the State to its center, and which was 
 soon felt in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio. The 
 return of peace had brought to most of the Carolina 
 churches many demoralizing practices which re- 
 quired sturdy heroism to attack and expose. From 
 the labors of this wonderful man, the Baptists de- 
 rived immense increase to the membership of their 
 churches throughout North Carolina. 
 
 Attention has already been called to the organi- 
 zation of the earliest churches in North Carolina, 
 among which there were many struggling interests. 
 In 1784 we find in the State forty-two churches, 
 with a membership of three thousand two hundred 
 and seventy-six; eight years later, in 1792, the 
 number of churches had increased to ninety-four 
 and the membership to seven thousand five hun- 
 dred and three. The results of the McGready re- 
 vival are manifest in the figures furnished for 1812, 
 for then we find two hundred and four churches in 
 the State, with a membership of twelve thousand 
 five hundred and sixty-seven. As the churches of 
 
114 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Kentucky were recruited from those of Virginia, so 
 the churches of Tennessee derived their strength 
 from those of North Carolina. 
 
 Some of the churches of South Carolina were 
 almost extinguished by the Revolution. The part 
 borne in the great struggle by the leader of the 
 South Carolina Baptists, Oliver Hart, in arousing 
 the patriotism of the colonists and in inciting them 
 against the royal forces, so aroused the wrath of the 
 British commanders that on the approach of their 
 armies to Charleston, Pastor Hart was advised by 
 his friends to seek a safe retreat. He made his way 
 northward to Hopewell, New Jersey, and never 
 again returned South. His church, which had so 
 long been a center of evangelistic influence in 
 southern South Carolina, was almost destroyed. 
 With the restoration of peace, Mr. Hart was re- 
 called to the pastorate of the church, but declined. 
 Dr. Richard Furman was then called from the high 
 hills of the Santee to Charleston, where he entered 
 upon a career of marvelous usefulness on October 
 18, 1787. The membership was easily rallied and 
 Charleston again became a controlling center of in- 
 •fluence to the Baptist denomination in the South. 
 The churches throughout South Carolina shared in 
 the revival spirit which was now prevailing through- 
 out all the Southern settlements. McGready, th§ 
 noted revivalist, visited the State in 1802 and fol- 
 lowed up the work which had been accomplished in 
 North Carolina. Immense audiences thronged 
 
DENOMINATIONAL EXPANSION 115 
 
 upon his preaching, variously estimated from four 
 to eight thousand, drawn together from a group of 
 districts, and even from many counties in Georgia. 
 As was true in the AVest, here were the remarkable 
 physical demonstrations attendant upon the revival 
 meetings of the period. Sudden loss of strength, 
 swoons, outcries, groans, involuntary but violent 
 spasmodic jerkings of the body-; — all these mani- 
 festations were witnessed during these remarkable 
 meetings in the Carolinas. 
 
 The growth of the denomination in South Caro- 
 lina is indicated by the fact that in 1784 there were 
 in the State twenty-seven churches, with a member- 
 ship of one thousand six hundred and twenty ; by 
 1782, or within a period of eight years, the num- 
 ber of churches was almost trebled, there being then 
 seventy churches, with a membership of four thou- 
 sand one hundred and sixty-seven; in 1812 the 
 churches numbered one hundred and fifty-four, and 
 the total membership was eleven thousand three 
 hundred and twenty-five. 
 
 Only a passing notice has been given to Dr. Rich- 
 ard Furman, who became pastor at Charleston in 
 1787. Nothing could have been more fortunate 
 than his settlement in the Charleston pastorate just 
 at the time that he assumed the care of the church. 
 Just rallying from the ill effects of the war, and 
 realizing again its strength, for a long period the 
 center of denominational influence in the State, 
 with its opportunities and possibilities greatly in- 
 
116 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 creased by the changed conditions induced by the 
 return of peace, the church at Charleston needed a 
 master-hand, directed by consummate prudence, to 
 grasp the situation and wield eflPectively the agen- 
 cies within reach. These elements were combined 
 in Richard Furman, who readily became the leader 
 of Southern Baptists, and was the peer of any man 
 in the denomination of the entire country. He was 
 without university training, but was endowed with 
 a high order of intellect, which was studiously cul- 
 tivated by self-application until he became one of 
 the most cultured men of the period. His tastes 
 led him to retain the dress of the colonial gentle- 
 man long after it had been generally abandoned. 
 He never failed to appear in his pulpit with the 
 gown and bands. Favored wdth fortune, he made 
 a liberal and judicious use of his means and wielded 
 a commanding influence throughout the State. The 
 subsequent prosperity of the churches of South 
 Carolina is, in large measure, due to the influence 
 of Richard Furman, Sr., d. d. 
 
 The first churches constituted in Kentucky were, 
 for a considerable period, in a sluggish condition. 
 Though the population had increased to twenty or 
 thirty thousand, and though eight Baptist churches 
 had been in existence for years, still up to 1784 no 
 one had been baptized in Kentucky. Assiduous 
 missionary labors and earnest preaching seem to 
 have availed nothing in the way of quickening 
 spirituality in the churches or of arousing anxiety 
 
DENOMINATIONAL EXPANSION 117 
 
 among the masses. But a revival was experienced 
 in 1785 which drew the Baptist churches of that 
 State into closer union, for no community of inter- 
 est had up to this time bound them together. Two 
 years later John Gano removed from New York to 
 Kentucky, and contributed greatly to the efficient 
 organization of the Baptists of the State. He was 
 readily accorded the position of leadership in the 
 denomination and was profoundly venerated to the 
 close of his life. 
 
 Again, in 1789, a revival of profound and wide- 
 reaching power prevailed throughout Kentucky. 
 This revival was not restricted, however, to that 
 State, but was prevalent throughout the upper States 
 of the South, especially in Virginia. In some por- 
 tions of Kentucky it lasted through a period of three 
 years, and had the happy effect of blending the de- 
 nomination into greater unity and of giving it greater 
 efficiency. During the period of this remarkable 
 spiritual demonstration thousands were baptized and 
 many new churches were constituted. This revival 
 was followed by what is known as " The Great Re- 
 vival" of 1800, in which nearly all the States of 
 the South and West largely shared. This was the 
 revival which began under James McGready in 
 North Carolina, and which swept over the Southern 
 and Western States and Territories and shortly 
 changed the aspect of religious society. All oppo- 
 sition seemed to yield to the advancing tide of 
 spirituality. Haunts of evil were closed, and the 
 
118 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 obscenity and profanity so characteristic then of 
 the wayside inns and other places of popular resort 
 gave place to prayer and praise. The multitudes 
 of a given region would concentrate at the same 
 point, spread their tents, and establish a " camp 
 meeting." Persons rode on horseback and in wagons 
 a distance of a hundred miles sometimes to attend 
 these extraordinary gatherings. At a point near 
 Paris it was believed that there were concentrated 
 at one time as many as twenty thousand people. 
 One of the occasions of worship is thus described 
 by an eye-witness : 
 
 Here were collected all elements calculated to affect 
 the imagination. The spectacle jji-esented at night was 
 one of the wildest grandeur. The glare of the blazing 
 campfires falling on a dense assemblage of heads simul- 
 taneously bowed in adoration and reflected back from 
 long ranges of tents upon every side ; hundreds of candles 
 and lamps suspended among the trees, together with 
 numerous torches flashing to and fro, throwing an uncer- 
 tain light upon the tremulous foliage and giving an ap- 
 pearance of dim and indefinite extent to the depth of 
 the forest ; the solemn chanting of hymns swelling and 
 falling on the night wind ; the impassioned exhortations ; 
 the earnest jjrayers, the sobs, shrieks, or shouts, bursting 
 from persons under intense agitation of mind ; the sud- 
 den spasms which seized upon scores and unexpectedly 
 dashed them to the ground, all conspired to invest the 
 scene with terrific interest and to work up the feelings to 
 the highest pitch of excitement.^ 
 
 Here were the most marvelous manifestations of 
 1 " History Presbyterian Church," p. 137. 
 
DENOMINATIONAL EXPANSION 119 
 
 physical excitement connected with that great move- 
 ment. It is said that during a given service three 
 thousand persons were known to liave been pros- '■ 
 
 trated at one time upon the ground in an apparently ^. ' ^_J^ 
 lifeless condition. Others were thrown into violent /- 
 convulsions which were popularly called " the jerks," 
 while others rolled upon the ground or ran franti- 
 cally here and there ; others still, danced and sang ; 
 while still others barked like so many dogs. While 
 the revival was largely directed by the Presbyterian 
 ministry during its earlier stages, the Baptists w^ere 
 equally the recipients of its advantages. In 1790 
 we find in Kentucky forty-two churches, with an 
 aggregate membership of three thousand one hun- 
 dred and five; in 1800, at the beginning of "The 
 Great Revival," there w^ere one hundred and six 
 churches, with a membership of five thousand one 
 hundred and nineteen ; in 1803 there were two hun- 
 dred and nineteen churches, with a membership of 
 fifteen thousand four hundred and ninety-five. One 
 of the most salutary results of the series of revivals 
 in Kentucky was the obliteration of the trifling dif- 
 ferences which existed between the Separate and 
 Regular Baptists. Several attempts had been made 
 to bring about this fusion in Kentucky, but it was 
 not consummated until 1801. 
 
 The Baptists of East Tennessee retained their 
 associational connection with the Sandy Creek Asso- 
 ciation of North Carolina until 1786, when they 
 entered into the constitution of the Holston Associ- 
 
120 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 ation, which af^first embraced only seven churches. 
 This region shared in the gracious results of the re - 
 vival of 1800-1803, so that six years after its consti- 
 tution the Holston Association included thirty-six 
 churches, with a total membership of two thousand 
 five hundred. From this, in consequence of its 
 overgrown condition, was set off the Tennessee As- 
 sociation. Baptists did not become permanent in 
 Middle Tennessee until during the Revolution, and 
 about the year 1780. In 1791, Ambrose Dudley 
 and John Taylor rode on horseback from Ken- 
 tucky, a distance of two hundred miles, through an 
 uninhabited region, to assist in the constitution of 
 the Tennessee Church at the mouth of Sulphur 
 Fork River. For three years this church stood a 
 solitary outpost of evangelization, with no other 
 nearer than one hundred miles. But when in 1794 
 White's Creek Church was planted in Middle Ten- 
 nessee, this was the signal for an advance in the Bap- 
 tist cause. The last-named church emigrated bod- 
 ily from North Carolina under the lead of Elder 
 Dorris and settled at the source of Sulphur Fork 
 River. It appears that the removal of Mr. Dorris 
 to Middle Tennessee proved to be a misfortune to 
 the struggling cause in that region, for his presence 
 was a source of disturbance alike to his church and 
 to the Association of which it became a member. 
 It was in this portion of Tennessee that the rem- 
 nants of a disorganized church, which had been 
 formed in 1765, were found. This original organi- 
 
DENOMINATIONAL EXPANSION 121 
 
 zation had been forced to disband in 1774 because 
 of the atrocities of the Indians in that region. In 
 1797 there were five churches in Middle Tennessee 
 in such proximity as to enable them to constitute 
 the Mero Association. Subsequent to this the 
 Cumberland Association was formed, which had in 
 
 1806 a membership of thirty-nine churches. The 
 Elk River Association was created in 1806. In 
 1808 a sufficient number of churches withdrew from 
 the Cumberland to form the Red River Association, 
 and again, in 1810, another instalment severed their 
 membership with the Cumberland and constituted 
 the Concord Association. The expansion of the de- 
 nomination in Tennessee is indicated by the follow- 
 ing statistics : 
 
 In 1784 there were in the Territory of Tennes- 
 see six churches, with a membership of less than 
 four hundred ; in 1792 there were twenty-one 
 churches, with a membership of nine hundred ; in 
 1812 the churches had increased to one hundred 
 and fifty-six with a total membership of eleven 
 thousand three hundred and twenty-five. About 
 
 1807 Baptists had extended southward into the 
 Alabama Territor}^, where in the settlements, both 
 in the northern and southern ends of the Territory, 
 there was steady development. The denomination 
 in Alabama did not begin to grow rapidly until after 
 the battle of New Orleans and the consequent peace 
 with Great Britain. With the close of that struggle 
 and the attendant cessation of Indian hostilities in 
 
122 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 the South, immigration flowed rapidly into Alabama 
 from the older States toward the east as well as 
 from Tennessee. 
 
 But little progress Avas made by the Baptists of 
 Georgia until after the Revolution. From Tucka- 
 seeking, as a common center of his labors, Botsford 
 extended his evangelistic efforts up and down the 
 Savannah River, sometimes preaching in Georgia 
 and again in South Carolina. On the Georgia side 
 his labors extended as far north as the Kiokee 
 settlement, and as far south as Ebenezer. Mr. 
 Botsford was ordained to the full work of the min- 
 istry in 1773, by Oliver Hart and Francis Pelot. 
 For years he was a most zealous and efficient mis- 
 sionary in the populous settlements of Georgia and 
 South Carolina. When in 1780 Mr. Hart fled be- 
 fore the advancing British, Mr. Botsford accompa- 
 nied him as far north as Virginia, but returned 
 after the restoration of peace. The four or five 
 struggling churches of Georgia might have become 
 extinct during the stormy period of the war but 
 for the heroism of Daniel Marshall. He seems to 
 have been left alone by Abraham Marshall, his son, 
 Silas Mercer, and Edward Botsford, all of whom 
 sought safety in retreat during the hottest period of 
 the Revolution. But defy^ing all danger, Daniel 
 Marshall labored on as indefatigably and serenely as 
 if universal peace prevailed. To the three churches 
 of Kiokee, Botsford, and Red Creek, which were 
 constituted previous to the war, were added those of 
 
DENOMINATIONAL EXPANSION 123 
 
 Little Brier Creek and Fishing Creek, which were 
 formed by Daniel Marshall during the Revolution. 
 There was still one other church, the name of which 
 is not now known, which was situated on Buckhead 
 Creek, the pastor of which, Matthew Moore, was a 
 loyalist. During the Revolution the membership 
 was scattered and the church became practically 
 extinct. In 1787 it was revived through the 
 efforts of Revs. James Matthews and Benjamin 
 Davis, who gave it the name of Buckhead Creek 
 Church. 
 
 With these few organizations as a nucleus, ex- 
 tending in a line up and down the Savannah River, 
 the denomination began its marvelous development 
 in Georgia after the declaration of peace with Eng- 
 land. To Daniel Marshall more than to any other, 
 are Georgia Baptists indebted for the successful 
 planting of churches of our faith in the first period 
 of their history. He was an ideal organizer, and 
 was unremitting in his efforts to develop the churches 
 of which he had the oversight. Wisely calling into 
 exercise the gifts of the membership of a church, 
 he developed them as fully as the prevailing con- 
 ditions allowed. Embryonic indications were quickly 
 observed by the wise pastor, and gifts were nour- 
 ished into the fullest usefulness possible. From 
 such spiritual tutelage came some of the brightest 
 names of Georgia Baptist history — Alexander Scott, 
 Sanders Walker, Samuel Cartledge, Silas Mercer, 
 Abraham Marshall, Loveless Savidge, Samuel New- 
 
124 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 ton, William Davis, Jeremiah Reeves, Joseph 
 Baker, and others. Through the active missionary 
 labors of such men, the denomination entered upon 
 its new career in the years which followed the 
 Revolution/ 
 
 The organization of churches into Associations 
 was a fruitful means of expansion. This was nota- 
 bly true with the early churches of Georgia. In 
 1784 a meeting preliminary to the constitution of 
 the Georgia Association was held, though the body 
 was not formally organized until the following year. 
 The stimulation resulting from the annual gathering 
 of such bodies in these early times was shown in 
 the multiplication of churches within their territory. 
 For instance, in Wilkes County alone, within the 
 territory of the Georgia Association, there were 
 organized twenty-two churches during the brief 
 period of six years. By the year 1794, ten years 
 after its constitution, the Georgia Association con- 
 tained fifty-six churches, several of Avhich were in 
 South Carolina. The overgrowth of this body sug- 
 gested the formation of the Hepzibah Association, 
 and later still of the Sarepta, both of which were 
 created from churches drawn from the parent organi- 
 zation. This was a period of enthusiastic progress 
 
 ^ Beginning with one Baptist church in 1772, there were in 
 Georgia two in 1773; three, in 1774; four, in 1777; seven, in 
 1780; eight, in 1782; nine, in 1784; eleven, in 1785; fifteen, in 
 1786; twenty, in 1787; thirty-three, in 1788; thirty-five, in 1789; 
 forty-two, in 1790, and fifty-tliree, with a membership of nearly 
 four thousand five hundred, in 1794. 
 
DENOMINATIONAL EXPANSION 125 
 
 to Georgia Baptists. The State was fortunate in 
 having superior leaders from the beginning. Daniel 
 Marshall, a man of rare powers with the masses, 
 having died in 1784, his mantle of leadership fell 
 upon Silas Mercer, a man of sterner qualities than 
 his predecessor, but a preacher of great power and 
 influence with the people. Mercer had removed 
 from North Carolina to Georgia in 1775, and was 
 trained for his life-work through the silent agency 
 of Daniel Marshall. Mercer was cordially and 
 ably sustained by Abraham Marshall. 
 
 In 1786 Rev. Jeremiah Walker made his appear- 
 ance in Georgia after his deposition from the min- 
 istry in Virginia for unbecoming conduct. Just 
 before leaving Virginia, however, he had been re- 
 stored to the ministry. He was accompanied to 
 Georgia by Mr. Tinsley, who had been his fellow- 
 suiferer of persecution by imprisonment in Virginia. 
 The early churches of Georgia had been singularly 
 free from the taint of heterodoxy and had entered 
 upon a career of great promise when Walker and 
 Tinsley appeared upon the scene as the ardent ad- 
 vocates of Arminianism. They found ready sym- 
 pathizers in tAvo Baptist preachers, JNIatthew Talbot 
 and Nathaniel Hall. W^alker was a man of much 
 popular dash, was able, and possessed of a fascinat- 
 ing oratory. W^ith the assistance of those already 
 named in this connection, he undertook to promul- 
 gate Arminian views in Georgia. In the very out- 
 set these men encountered the most obstinate resis- 
 
126 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 tance, accompanied by aiFectionate renionstrauce on 
 the part of the leaders of the denomination, with 
 the hope of recovering the Arrainian advocates 
 from their error. For a period this was the occa- 
 sion of much disturbance. Finally, when the dis- 
 orderly elements refused to yield, they were finally 
 expelled and order restored. Walker soon after died 
 and his associates passed from public notice. Less 
 toleration was accorded the presentation of Arminian 
 views, perhaps, because the Methodists were contest- 
 ing every inch of territory with the Baptists in press- 
 ing their claims upon public attention. 
 
 Among those who were becoming conspicuous for 
 denominational leadership at that period was Sanders 
 Walker, Avho was perhaps the first Baptist preacher 
 ever ordained in Georgia. He was a Virginian by 
 birth, but was attracted westward by the alluring 
 reports prevalent in the other States of the advan- 
 tages enjoyed in the newer territory of the West. 
 He became a tower of strength in his adopted State. 
 
 Still farther westward, in Mississippi, the terri- 
 tory was rapidly occupied after the close of the 
 war of 1812. But little denominational progress 
 was made before that time. The cong-lomerate char- 
 acter of the population, coupled with the hostility 
 of the Indians, forbade rapid headway until order 
 was established. In the earlier years of the present 
 century New Hope Church was constituted in Adams 
 County ; Bethel Church, in Bayou Sara ; and New 
 Providence and Ebenezer, in Amite. 
 
DENOMINATIONAL EXPANSION 127 
 
 In briefly reviewing the causes which produced 
 this phenomenal growth of the Baptists, we may 
 name as a prime factor the reaction from the perse- 
 cution to which they were subjected during a large 
 portion of the preceding century. This strain of 
 long-continued persecution made the reaction one of 
 great force and energy. Such harsh treatment not 
 only gave a tremendous rebound to the persecuted, 
 but it elicited a popular sympathy, to which was 
 added an eager interest aroused by the uncurbed 
 fervor of the preaching of the Baptist ministry. 
 The conjunction of two such genial elements largely 
 accounts for the rapidity of denominational expan- 
 sion after the return of peace. 
 
 Another factor which operated to bring about 
 this great spiritual upheaval was the missionary zeal 
 of the early Baptist ministry of the South. The 
 world never witnessed more consecrated earnestness 
 than was displayed by these rude preachers of the 
 early days of the denomination in the Southern 
 States. Most of them came from the walks of 
 common life, and were, for the most part, tillers 
 of the soil. They would labor upon their farms 
 until near the close of the week, studying their 
 plain English Bibles at night, and at the proper 
 time would start to their appointments, often more 
 than forty miles away. Not infrequently in pioneer 
 regions, where the trail of the Indian was the only 
 means of uniting the diiferent settlements, these 
 hardy men would encounter streams swollen and 
 
128 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 bridgeless, but undaimted would swim to the oppo- 
 site side and prosecute their journeys with 'alacrity. 
 Their familiarity with the needs of the masses would 
 enable them readily to meet the demands of every 
 occasion. The popular esteem excited by their dis- 
 interested zeal made the utterances of these plain, 
 unlettered men almost oracular. Disturbances of 
 whatever character in the new settlements were 
 often submitted to the calm decision of the pious 
 Baptist missionaries, and the conclusions to which 
 they were led by their rugged sense of right, not 
 only enabled them to adjust difficulties, but gave to 
 them a wonderful hold upon the popular mind and 
 heart. 
 
 The strength and compass of this influence were 
 increased by the fact that the labors of these men 
 were uncompensated. Under the stress of existing 
 conditions this was unavoidable. Through self-ab- 
 negation alone could the gospel be given to the rude 
 settlers upon the frontier, as they were frequently 
 subjected, for the first few years, to great privation. 
 This unrequited labor gave to the early preacher 
 unusual liberty and plainness of speech which he 
 exercised without stint. Though advantageous at 
 this time, this failure to exact compensation from 
 the early churches proved a barrier in after years to 
 church development in the South. When, as the 
 result of such unflagging zeal and unremitting labor, 
 churches began to multiply throughout the early 
 settlements of the South and Associations began to 
 
DENOMINATIONAL EXPANSION 129 
 
 be organized, evangelization became more system- 
 atic and eiFective. A Baptist organization, whether 
 it was a church or a district Association, became at 
 once an evangelistic center, and so surely as an un- 
 evangelized district lay within reach, just so surely 
 did it fall under the influence of the progressive 
 home missionary of the Baptists. 
 
 Following up their success by preaching Sunday 
 after Sunday under the difficulties and embarrass- 
 ments already named, these men of fiery zeal would 
 quit their homes for weeks together, when their crops 
 would no longer demand rigid attention, and preach 
 day after day to assembled hundreds. 
 
 More rapid headway was gained by the Baptists 
 of the South in the periods immediately succeeding 
 the Revolution, by reason of the thorough accord 
 of the polity of Baptist churches with the genius of 
 the government and the republican spirit of the 
 masses. If Baptists did much toward achieving 
 American independence, the consummation of that 
 event in turn did much for their denominational 
 expansion. The reaction from royal dominion and 
 from everything that pertained to the crown was 
 terrible, and out of this condition sprang the re- 
 vivals which swept in succession over the South for 
 more than twenty-five years after the close of the 
 Revolutionary War. 
 
 The unremitting endeavors of the Baptist minis- 
 try of this early period were not a little stimulated 
 hy the presence of Methodist circuit riders in all 
 
130 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 the settlements of the South. Bold, active, enter- 
 prising, and aggressive, these early Methodist min- 
 isters ardently disputed every inch of ground with 
 the Baptist missionary. During the Revolution the 
 Methodists had not proved steadfast as dissenters, 
 and in the efforts of the Baptists to undermine the 
 Establishment, they were oftener than otherwise in 
 sympathy with the supporters of the crown. This 
 operated with no little eifect against the Methodists 
 after the close of hostilities, but they were unchecked 
 in sturdy effort. Baptists were more than a match 
 for them in the rural districts, but in the centers of 
 population the Methodists, for a period, gained a 
 firmer footing. Popularity of method, coupled with 
 an accommodation of requirement for church-mem- 
 bership, did much to favor the progress of the Metho- 
 dists in the growing towns of the South. There is 
 little doubt that the aggressive front of this Revo- 
 lutionary rival in the field of evangelism contributed 
 in no small measure to the weldiuo^ tog-ether of the 
 two divisions of the Baptists of the South. 
 
CHAPTER Y 
 
 EDUCATIONAL, WORK 
 
 THE phenomenal growth of the Baptist denomi- 
 nation in the South in the early periods of its 
 history, suggested to a few of the most prominent 
 among them the importance of providing for a better 
 equipped ministry with which to organize and direct 
 this great host which had enlisted under the de- 
 nominational banner. With rare exceptions the 
 ministry of the Baptists of the South at this period 
 was composed of illiterate, but earnest and devout 
 men. Among them were a few educated leaders 
 who were the first to formulate methods by which 
 the intellectual standard of the Baptist pulpit might 
 be elevated. On account of several particulars this 
 was a most formidable undertaking, which was as- 
 sumed by a few courageous spirits, for it was mani- 
 fest from the outset that such a praiseworthy enter- 
 prise would be resisted by the unlearned ministry. 
 Some among the illiterate ministers seemed to re- 
 gard such a suggestion as a reflection upon their 
 ability to preach ; others considered it as an im- 
 pious hint that the divine call to the ministry was 
 not complete without the patchwork of men ; while 
 others still looked upon such a proposal as a dispo- 
 
 131 
 
132 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 sition to pander to individual and public pride. 
 Thus it came to pass that a suggestion which was 
 capable of the greatest good became, in the hands 
 of the unenlightened and prejudiced ministry, a 
 cudgel to be used against pious and progressive 
 leaders. 
 
 Themselves illiterate, these very preachers, many 
 of them in their opposition, found hearty support 
 in the great uneducated masses which had been 
 brought into the churches. 
 
 The Baptist denomination in the South, after the 
 close of the extraordinary revival periods which dis- 
 tinguished the early years of the century, was a 
 great unorganized, undisciplined mass, the dominat- 
 ing purpose of wdiich seemed to be to do just as 
 they might wish. If they were to accomplish the 
 results for which, as a denomination, they seemed 
 providentially destined, then efficient organization 
 was necessary. But such organization was not pos- 
 sible without intelligent direction, and intelligent 
 direction must necessarily begin with the local pas- 
 toral leaders. Thus the more progressive of the 
 Baptist ministry thought in the beginning of the 
 present century. But how was such a project to 
 become operative when it was resisted largely by 
 the class of men whom it sought to benefit? These 
 men, sustained by the rank and file of the denomin- 
 tion, placed almost insuperable barriers in the way 
 of this disinterested plan of denominational pro- 
 gress. 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 133 
 
 There was nothing of malice in the opposition 
 shown by an unschooled ministry against intellect- 
 ual development. Men were never sincerer than 
 they. Herein lay the greatest factor of strength 
 on the part of the opposition. Ignorance is the 
 parent of prejudice, and prejudice is the foe of pro- 
 gress. United with religion this combination, in 
 which religion usually forms a subordinate part, is 
 generally resolved into a sublimated superstition. 
 These honest, though unlettered men, ignorant of 
 the laws of mental development and regardless of 
 the total absence of divine promise to support their 
 views, insisted that if called of God to preach there 
 would be supernatural provision for the duty as 
 occasion might require. This they honestly be- 
 lieved and earnestly advocated in the presence of 
 assembled multitudes as ignorant as their reputed 
 leaders themselves, if not more so. Undaunted by 
 these grave odds and realizing the immensity of 
 their undertaking, such men as Furman and Pelot, 
 of South Carolina, and Holcombe and Mercer, of 
 Georgia, together with a few others throughout the 
 South, resolved ujDon the creation of means for the 
 better equipment of the Baptist ministry. Without 
 concert of action these men, in widely separated 
 States, were moved by the same impulse because the 
 conditions were everywhere the same throughout 
 the States of the South. As a beginning, means 
 were raised with which to purchase books, and 
 wherever practicable ministers were gathered into 
 
134 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 classes and taught. In the course of time these 
 small beginnings were suggestive of ampler pro- 
 visions and finally of schools for the better training 
 of the Baptist ministry. From these crude orig-^ 
 inal plans grew the denominational colleges now to 
 be found in all the Southern States. 
 
 The earliest associational and conventional organ- 
 izations in the South were founded upon a dual idea, 
 denominational extension and the education of the 
 ministry. This work began as far back as the pas- 
 toral administration of Oliver Hart in Charleston 
 prior to the Revolution, for it was he who first 
 moved in the matter of constituting a distinct As- 
 sociation. Into this original organization three 
 churches entered — the First Church of Charleston, 
 Ashley River, and Welsh Neck. This action took 
 place as early as 1751. The chief agents in this 
 progressive movement were the pastors of the 
 churches named — Oliver Hart, John Stevens, and 
 Philip James. Early the following year they were 
 greatly reinforced by Francis Pelot, pastor of Eu- 
 haw Church, who was a man of ample means, for 
 according to Morgan Edwards, he " owned three 
 islands and about three thousand seven hundred and 
 eighty-five acres on the continent, with slaves and 
 stock in abundance." 
 
 In 1775 John Gano became an evangelist of the 
 Charleston Association. One of the chief cares 
 with which he was charged was that of seeking 
 out gifted young men called of God to preach and 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 135 
 
 to recommend them to the Charleston Association. 
 In 1756 an educational fund was raised by the 
 Charleston Association amounting to one hundred 
 and thirty-three pounds. Among those who be- 
 came the beneficiaries of this fund were Evan Pugh, 
 Samuel Stillman, and Edmund Botsford. These 
 early South Carolina pastors were liberal contribu- 
 tors to Rhode Island College during the presidency 
 of Dr. Manning, with whom Mr. Hart was inti- 
 mately acquainted. 
 
 These incipient efforts in education were cut short 
 by the Revolution. Manifestly the least possible 
 in educational matters had been done in the South 
 when the period of hostile agitation came. Con- 
 sidering that which had been accomplished, it is re- 
 markable that denominational progress in the South- 
 ern States up to the close of the Revolution was 
 due to the work of an uneducated ministry. The 
 success achieved during these trying times by men 
 untrained in the schools remained for a long period 
 a barrier to enlarged ministerial and pastoral devel- 
 opment. 
 
 In 1788 President Manning addressed a letter to 
 the Virginia Baptists through the general commit- 
 tee, urging them to take steps to establish a semi- 
 nary of learning. The only action taken, in conse- 
 quence of this communication, was the adoption of 
 a resolution to appoint a committee " to forward the 
 business respecting a seminary of learning." The 
 matter dragged its slow length along until 1793, 
 
136 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 when it was revived and committed to the hands of 
 Rev. John Williams and Mr. Thomas, who sub- 
 mitted a plan which was at the time deemed prac- 
 ticable, but was subsequently dropped, the question 
 being dismissed. The subject was revived in 1809, 
 when it seems that the only two subjects before the 
 General Meeting of Correspondence of the Virginia 
 Baptists were " the religious education of children 
 and the establishment of some seminary or public 
 school to assist young preachers to acquire a liter- 
 ary knowledge." The question which related to 
 the establishment of an institution of learning Avas 
 referred to a committee of two " to acquire infor- 
 mation and digest a plan for such a seminary." But 
 nothing came of all this until many years later. 
 The utmost that was accomplished by such action 
 was to keep the subject before the mind of the de- 
 nomination. In order to meet the deficiency, every 
 kind of makeshift was resorted to. The general 
 plan in a given section of country was to establish 
 a ministerial library by means of a common fund 
 and lend the books to such young ministers as might 
 be desirous of improvement. In not a few instances 
 the most learned of the ministry would assume the 
 task of the voluntary instruction of such as were 
 willing to accept it. 
 
 Among those who rendered valuable service to 
 young ministers should be named Dr. John M. 
 Roberts, pastor of the High Hills of Santee Church, 
 South Carolina. For a number of years this 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 137 
 
 scholarly preacher gave gratuitous instruction to 
 the beneficiaries of the Education Fund of the 
 Charleston Association. 
 
 During the first quarter of the present century 
 much time and thought was devoted by South- 
 ern Baptists to the matter of education. To the 
 need of the times, growing more imperatively mani- 
 fest every year, were added the fervid injunctions 
 of Luther Rice, whose devotion to the sacred cause 
 was equally divided between missions and educa- 
 tion. Nothing was more manifest than an increas- 
 ing need of preachers of ability and influence to 
 occupy the pulpits of the growing centers of popu- 
 lation ; but there was not sufficient unanimity of 
 sentiment in any of the States of the South to de- 
 vise a plan for denominational instruction. Reso- 
 lutions abounded, committees were appointed, and 
 reports were adopted without number ; but no prac- 
 tical shape was given to the matter. Added to the 
 difficulties, already named, was another which was a 
 silent barrier to the general plan of creating insti- 
 tutions of learning, that of the rapid develojmient 
 of the virgin resources of the new States of the 
 South. This brought general prosperity to the 
 entire region, and individual fortunes to thousands. 
 Among the favored ones were many Baptist preach- 
 ers who would come into the possession of lands 
 and slaves which gave to them both means and 
 leisure to prosecute their studies privately. The 
 most active and wide-awake in the management of 
 
138 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 temporal affairs, they were, as a class, the most pro- 
 gressive, ambitious, aud talented of the ministry. 
 Their interest in the matter was largely neutralized 
 by their failure to appreciate the emphatic necessity 
 of an institution for the betterment of the ministry 
 generally/ 
 
 In the revival of the spirit of denominational 
 education in the South near the close of the first 
 quarter of the present century, we find South Caro- 
 lina again in the lead. The same cause which led 
 to the constitution of Associations after the multi- 
 plication of churches, now operated to induce the 
 organization of State Conventions when Associations 
 had been greatly increased — that of giving stability, 
 regularity, and uniformity to denominational enter- 
 prise. Foremost in this work was Dr. Richard 
 Furman, who was instrumental in procuring an 
 assembly of delegates from the Charleston, Savan- 
 nah River, and Edgefield Associations, in the city 
 of Columbia in 1821. The result of this meeting 
 was the formal organization of the Baptist State 
 Convention of South Carolina, with Dr. Furman as 
 president. An address was prepared by the dis- 
 tinguished president to be submitted to the Baptists 
 of the State, in which address great emphasis was 
 laid upon the importance of an educated ministry. 
 Anticipating objections that might be raised against 
 this suggestion. Dr. Furman disposed of them, one 
 by one, in a most masterly way. Time was needed 
 1 Semple, pp. 116-117. 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 139 
 
 for this sentiment to take root. The year following, 
 Dr. \y. B. Johnson, who succeeded Furman as 
 president of the body, took up the same subject and 
 discussed it more fully still. 
 
 In order to ultimate success, and for reasons of 
 economy, the Baptists of South Carolina were de- 
 sirous of co-operating with those of Georgia in the 
 establishment of an institution of learning in 
 common, for the denomination in both these States 
 was agitating the question of providing means for 
 the better equipment of the ministry. The question 
 of ministerial education was that which underlay 
 all the denominational male colleges founded by the 
 Baptists in the South and to every one was there a 
 theological department attached until the institution 
 of theological seminaries in the country. The plan 
 for establishing a co-operative institution between 
 the Baptists of Georgia and South Carolina was 
 settled upon and negotiations entered into with 
 every indication of success ; but the obstruction of 
 State lines could not be overcome and the under- 
 taking fell through. 
 
 Consequently, in 1826 the Convention of South 
 Carolina established a school at Edgefield Court- 
 house and called it the Furman Academy and 
 Theological Institution, and Prof J. A. Warne was 
 placed in charge of it. The books which had been 
 gathered for the use of ministerial students by the 
 General Committee of the Charleston Association 
 formed the nucleus of a librarv for the new insti- 
 
140 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 tiition. But the enterprise was short-lived, per- 
 ishing after the second year. Still the better 
 training of the ministry remained a burning ques- 
 tion. What should be done under the stress of 
 circumstances ? A practical answer to this question 
 was undertaken by the retention of the theological 
 department of the extinct institution, over which 
 was placed Rev. Jesse Hartwell, after its removal 
 to High Hills. In 1829 Mr. Hartwell was form- 
 ally elected principal of the Furman Theological 
 Institution. During the following year, Samuel 
 Furman, a son of the late Charleston pastor, was 
 associated with Mr. Hartwell as co-principal. After 
 a struggle for life extending through two or three 
 years, the institution perished. Still the urgent 
 necessity of such an institution remained. In 1835 
 another effort was made in Fairfield district, where 
 there was associated with scholastic training the 
 idea of manual labor. For a period of years this 
 was a favorite scheme in the South — this union of 
 mental and manual labor — and yet no theory ever 
 failed more signally to eventuate in practical result. 
 Under the principalship of Prof. W. E. Bailey, late 
 of Charleston College, the mongrel institution, 
 manual, classical, and theological, was begun. It 
 was not without tokens of success. New buildings, 
 a well-equipped faculty, and encouraging patronage 
 gave to the young enterprise much assurance of 
 success; but the buildings were burned in 1837, 
 Professor Bailey resigned a year later, and the 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 141 
 
 school suspended in 1840. Subsequent enterprises 
 were undertaken with varying fortunes during the 
 next decade, with which, at different times, were 
 conspicuously connected Dr. Hooper, late of the 
 University of North Carolina ; Professor Maginnis, 
 who was afterward connected with the institutions 
 at Hamilton and Rochester, N. Y. ; and Rev. J. L. 
 Reynolds and Prof. Jeremiah Chaplin, Jr. From 
 these efforts and struggles was finally developed 
 Furman University which was established in 1851. 
 The Baptists of no State have made a better re- 
 cord in matters educational than those of Georgia, 
 nor have the Baptists of any State been more highly 
 favored with gifted leadership. One of the fore- 
 most promoters of education in Georgia was Dr. 
 Henry Holcombe, who was originally a Revolution- 
 ary officer. Born in Virginia and reared in South 
 Carolina, he entered the American army while quite 
 a young man and rose to distinction. Being led to 
 a study of the New Testament he was convinced of 
 his duty, and promptly mounted his horse and rode 
 twenty miles from camp in order to be baptized. 
 Returning he delivered a sermon to his command 
 while still sitting astride his horse. In 1785 he 
 was ordained to the ministry, and at once took a 
 conspicuous place in the denomination of his adopted 
 State, Georgia. He was chosen a delegate to the 
 State Convention which adopted the national consti- 
 tution. Afterward he became pastor of the Euhaw 
 Church, South Carolina, and later became pastor at 
 
142 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Savannah. It seems that the Baptist meeting-house 
 at Savannah was being rented by the Presbyterians 
 at the time of Mr. Holcombe's call. The few Bap- 
 tists of the city had suggested that a call be made 
 to Dr. Holcombe to serve jointly the Presbyterians 
 and the Baptists. Under these peculiar conditions 
 he accepted the call upon a salary of two thousand 
 dollars, which was perhaps the largest that had ever 
 been received by a Baptist pastor up to that time. 
 In 1 800 he organized a Baptist church with a mem- 
 bership of ten, which ran up to sixty within two 
 years more. He was a true yoke-fellow with Fur- 
 man in devising and prosecuting methods for de- 
 nominational expansion. Like the pastor at Charles- 
 ton, Holcombe was magnificent in his physical pro- 
 portions, being six feet two inches high, and weigh- 
 ing three hundred pounds. Among his public serv- 
 ices may be mentioned his origination of the Georgia 
 penitentiary system and the part borne by him in 
 founding the Savannah Female Orphan Asylum. 
 
 But the most signal services rendered by him 
 were in conjunction with the efforts of Jesse Mercer 
 to procure concert of action in the denomination 
 along the lines of missions and education. Hol- 
 combe was the first to give distinct expression to 
 denominational education in Georgia by founding 
 the Mt. Enon Academy for the education of Baptist 
 youth. Public interest in denominational education 
 did not begin to manifest itself in Georgia until 
 7 1825. Among the items contributed that year by 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 143 
 
 the Baptists of Georgia was the sum of seventeen 
 dollars and fifty cents for ministerial education. 
 Under the inspiration of a sermon preached the fol- 
 lowing year by Dr. W. B. Johnson, of South Caro- 
 lina, the sum of one hundred and eight dollars was 
 collected " for the education of pious young men." 
 A beneficiary was adopted in consequence, and the 
 executive committee was instructed "to prepare 
 some plan by which a fund for bestowing a theo- 
 logical education upon beneficiaries might be pro- 
 vided." This was the first step in the direction of 
 denominational education taken by the Baptists of 
 Georgia. The same conditions prevailed in Georgia 
 which existed elsewhere throughout the South — the 
 majority of the Baptist ministers were unlearned but 
 consecrated men, while some of them were very ig- 
 norant. Exceptional instances were found in such 
 men as W. T. Brantley, Sr., Jesse Mercer, Adiel 
 Sherwood, Henry J. Ripley, Iverson L. Brooks, J. 
 P. Marshall, B. M. Sanders, and J. H. T. Kilpat- 
 rick. These led in the first movement to establish 
 an institution of learning of high grade. While 
 many supported such a project, many more opposed 
 it. 
 
 The retirement of Holcombe from Georgia to 
 accept a call from Philadelphia left Jesse Mercer 
 the acknowledged leader of the Baptists of the State. 
 Henceforth he became the zealous apostle of de- 
 nominational progress, stoutly resisting the opposi- 
 tion which arose formidably from many quarters. 
 
144 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 While those whose names have been furnished gave 
 hira substantial aid and sympathy, his truest yoke- 
 fellow was perhaps Adiel Sherwood, who was both 
 a preacher and an educator. While pastor at Eaton- 
 ton he was principal of the academy at that place 
 and did excellent service in a variety of ways for 
 the denomination. He was an enthusiastic assistant 
 of young men looking to the ministry, and was in- 
 strumental in the preparation of a number for their 
 work, among whom was Jesse H. Campbell. 
 
 The Baptists of Georgia manifested their interest 
 in general educational matters during the twenties 
 by liberally contributing to Columbian College in 
 response to the appeals of Luther Rice, through 
 whom and Jesse Mercer they contributed not less 
 than twenty thousand dollars to that institution. 
 This liberality was in large measure due to the fact 
 that Jesse Mercer was a trustee of Columbian Col- 
 lege. Among the means employed with marked 
 success by Mr. Mercer to further denominational 
 interests was " The Christian Index," the columns 
 of which he employed with powerful effect in par- 
 rying the blows of the opponents of education and 
 missions, and making possible at that time those 
 interests among Georgia Baptists. 
 
 The Georgia Baptist Convention was organized 
 in 1822. The suggestion of the constitution of 
 such a body came first from the Sarepta Associa- 
 tion, but the year following it rescinded its action. 
 The Georgia Association, together with the Ocmul- 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 145 
 
 gee, met at Powelton in June, 1822, and formally 
 organized the body. By degrees other Associations 
 fell into line and evangelistic and colportage work 
 was pressed with all the vigor possible. A turn in 
 the tide of affairs came a little later, however, and 
 it seemed, from the great opposition encountered by 
 the supporters of the Convention, that it would go 
 to pieces. But a most propitious period of the Con- 
 vention was just ahead, for in 1829 Josiah Penfield 
 bequeathed to the Convention twenty-five hundred 
 dollars as the basis of a permanent fund for the 
 purposes of theological education, to be paid on 
 condition that an equal sum be raised by the Con- 
 vention. The sum was speedily raised, Jesse Mer- 
 cer heading the list with two hundred and fifty dol- 
 lars. Dr. Cullen Battle following with two hundred 
 dollars, and others still following with similar 
 amounts. At the session of the Convention for 
 1831 it was resolved, "That as soon as the funds 
 will justify it this Convention will establish in some 
 central part of the State a classical and theological 
 school." It was further provided that this was to 
 be connected with a manual labor department, and 
 that only those preparing for the ministry should l)e 
 admitted. Adiel Sherwood promptly pledged him- 
 self to raise by subscription fifteen hundred dollars 
 for the purchase of needed lands. In 1832 an 
 eligible site for the location of Mercer Institute was 
 purchased in Greene County, and in honor of Josiah 
 Penfield the village was named for him. 
 
146 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 The rapid progress of the denomination and the 
 preparations of the Presbyterians to establish a 
 college of high rank, prompted Jesse Mercer to 
 undertake greater achievements. He aroused much 
 popular enthusiasm by proposing the erection on a 
 magnificent scale of a great institution of learning 
 at his home at Washington, Georgia, to be known as 
 " The Southern Baptist College." A charter was 
 promptly obtained and agents went to work to raise 
 an endowment fund. One hundred thousand dol- 
 lars was soon subscribed, and no doubt the plan 
 would have been realized had a financial crash 
 not come at that time. As a result the value of 
 the subscriptions was depreciated, the charter had 
 to be surrendered, popular enthusiasm cooled, and 
 before the financial crisis had spent its force the 
 possibility of reviving the suspended interest had 
 passed. Such of the subscriptions as could be trans- 
 ferred to the institution at Penfield were diverted to 
 that purpose, and thus began Mercer University. 
 B. M. Sanders became the president, S. P. Sanford 
 one of the professors, and Adiel Sherwood was 
 elected professor of theology. Mercer gave to the 
 institution, including his bequest, about forty thou- 
 sand dollars. Several efforts were made to remove 
 the institution from Penfield ; but no change of loca- 
 tion was effected until 1870, when it was removed 
 to Macon. The presidents of the institution have 
 been : Sanders, Smith, Dagg, Crawford, Tucker, 
 Battle, Nunnelly, and Gambrell. 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 147 
 
 The avowed purpose of the formation of the Bap- 
 tist State Convention of North Carolina, was the 
 creation of means for denominational education. At 
 the meeting of the Convention in 1832 it was defi- 
 nitely recommended by the committee on education 
 and unanimously adopted by the Convention "to 
 purchase a suitable farm, and to adopt other pre- 
 liminary measures for the establishment of a Bap- 
 tist literary institution in this State upon the man- 
 ual labor principle." During the same year six 
 hundred and fifteen acres of land were purchased 
 in Wake County, but the school was not opened 
 until 1834. It was called AYake Forest Institute, 
 and Samuel Wail, of New York, was elected prin- 
 cipal. Beginning with an enrollment of twenty- 
 five students, the number was soon increased to 
 seventy. 
 
 At first the students were required to perform 
 three hours of manual labor daily ; this, however, 
 was soon reduced to one hour each day. The hoe 
 and the plow were, however, made the concomitants 
 of the desk and the blackboard throughout the year. 
 During the second year the school was blessed with 
 a revival which planted it deeply and permanently 
 in the hearts of the denomination. In 1838, by an 
 amendment of the original charter, the name of the 
 school w^as changed to that of Wake Forest College. 
 Ten years later the college was overwhelmed with 
 a debt of twenty thousand dollars and seemed ready 
 to sink. The outlook was sufficiently despairing to 
 
148 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 induce both the president of the Board of Trustees 
 and of the college to resign. At this juncture 
 Elder James S. Purefoy undertook a voluntary 
 agency to lift the burden, which he valiantly suc- 
 ceeded in doing the first year. With this the insti- 
 tution took a fresh bound forward, so that by 1861 
 it had an endowment of forty-six thousand dollars, 
 the raising of which was mainly due to the inde- 
 fatigable efforts of President Wingate. Wake For- 
 est College emerged from the wreck of war wdth an 
 available endowment of only fourteen thousand dol- 
 lars. By being wdsely administered the endowment 
 steadily increased, and by the close of 1883 the col- 
 lege had an endowment of one hundred thousand 
 dollars, one tenth of which had been a gift of Mr. 
 J. A. Bostwick, of New York. In 1886 he added 
 the princely gift of fifty thousand dollars, and yet 
 again in 1890, being desirous of aiding the college 
 and at the same time of stimulating the Baptists of 
 North Carolina to self-help, INIr, BostAvick offered 
 to add one-half to whatever amount up to fifty thou- 
 sand dollars might be raised for the endowment by 
 March 1, 1891. When the time expired there had 
 been raised twenty-six thousand dollars. The in- 
 stitution is at present in a most flourishing condi- 
 tion. The presidents of the college have been 
 Waite, Hooper, Wingate, Pritchard, Royall, and 
 Taylor. 
 
 The proximity of Columbian College to Virginia 
 and the interest shared in that institution by the 
 
EDUCATIONAL WOEK 149 
 
 Baptists of that State, doubtless had much to do 
 with the delay of the establishment of a denomina- 
 tional school in the State. But by the year 1830 it 
 was seen that Columbian College was inadequate to 
 the growing demands in Virginia for a better quali- 
 fied ministry. This consideration led to the found- 
 ing of the Virginia Baptist Education Society, with 
 a view of " devising and proposing some plan for 
 the improvement of young men who, in the judg- 
 ment of their churches, are called to the work of 
 the ministry." Of this Society John Kerr became 
 the president and James B. Taylor the secretary. 
 A committee, composed of W. F. Broadus, J. B. 
 Taylor, J. B. Jeter, and H. Keeling, was appointed 
 to draw up a plan and report upon the expediency 
 of distinct action relative to providing means for 
 the more efficient qualification of the ministry. In 
 its report the committee made declaration of the 
 fact that it recognized the importance as well as the 
 obligation of continued loyalty to Columbian Col- 
 lege. It further stated that in its judgment it was 
 not deemed expedient to undertake the immediate 
 establishment of an institution of learning under 
 the auspices of Virginia Baptists. As far as the 
 committee would venture was the suggestion of plac- 
 ing the ministerial beneficiaries " in the families of 
 experienced ministering brethren whose education, 
 libraries, and opportunities to give useful instruction 
 may enable them to render essential service to their 
 younger brethren." With this was coupled the 
 
150 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 idea of enabling ministerial students to become self- 
 supporting by laboring in the surrounding regions 
 of country. But this crude arrangement was neces- 
 sarily short-lived. Other States were pressing for- 
 ward in educational work and their young ministers 
 were being fitted for future labor under the most 
 encouraging conditions possible. It was soon dis- 
 covered that if Virginia Baptists were to maintain 
 the position which they had held for a half-century, 
 something more was needed to be done than to adopt 
 a haphazard plan like the one set forth, and none 
 were more ready to abandon it than the eminent 
 men who recommended it. That abandoned, the 
 inevitable plan of a manual labor school was 
 adopted. A site was bought in the neighborhood 
 of Richmond ; Robert Ryland, a graduate from Co- 
 lumbian College, was elected to preside over it ; and 
 the school was duly named the Virginia Baptist 
 Seminary. Mr. Ryland discouraged the attempt to 
 organize a school at once, but the j^opular current 
 in favor of the prompt opening of such an institu- 
 tion was too strong to be stemmed. Failing in this 
 objection he sought to have eliminated from it the 
 manual labor feature ; but he failed in this also. 
 While he detected in the existing plan elements of 
 failure, he wisely surrendered his convictions and 
 awaited practical demonstrations for a vindication 
 of his views. Mr. Ryland soon illustrated his prac- 
 tical knowledge of the science of agriculture by 
 seeking to enrich a field of corn with salt, placing a 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 151 
 
 handful at the root of each stalk and — killing it ! 
 He was not without the greatest diligence in seeking 
 to make the enterprise successful, but he soon found 
 himself almost alone in his eiForts, as the denomina- 
 tion left the institution largely to shift for itself. 
 After an experiment of two years the manual labor 
 feature was shown to be unpractical, as usual, the 
 farm was sold, and an attractive property was bought 
 within the city limits of Richmond. It was not 
 until 1840 that a college was established by the 
 Baptists of Virginia. Perhaps, after all, there was 
 advantage in the delay, as the denomination came to 
 have a loftier conception of a college at a later 
 period than it evidently had fifteen years before 
 Richmond College was founded. Additional advan- 
 tage was gained by the unsurpassed instruction 
 given at the University of Virginia, the influence 
 of which was most stimulating and elevating 
 throughout the State. The leading denomination 
 of Virginia with its splendid record could not 
 afford to establish an institution of inferior char- 
 acter within so short a distance of the famous uni- 
 versity. 
 
 The Civil War found Richmond College with an 
 endowment of one hundred thousand dollars, the 
 most of which was lost in consequence of that great 
 struggle. Prostrated as the people were by the war, 
 they rallied anew to the support of Richmond Col- 
 lege, and in 1866 it was enabled to open its doors 
 again to students. Like other denominational col- 
 
152 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 leges in the South, Richmond College has been the 
 recipient of Northern benefactions, without which it 
 could not have so speedily rallied ; but wdth such 
 assistance, it has been placed upon a solid basis and 
 is perhaps the most advanced, in its standard of in- 
 struction, of all the Baptist colleges of the South. 
 
 The Baptists of Kentucky were among the first 
 of the States of the South to take steps to found a 
 denominational school. A charter for Georgetown 
 College, then known as Georgetown Literary and 
 Theological Institution, w^as procured as early as 
 1829. Dr. William Staughton, a minister and edu- 
 cator of distinction, w'ho had been president of 
 Columbian College, was called to the president's 
 chair, but died in Washington while on his way to 
 Kentucky to assume the office to which he had been 
 elected. In 1830 Dr. Joel S. Bacon was elected to 
 succeed him. Dr. Bacon at once found himself in- 
 volved in serious complications with the Disciples, 
 w^io were at that time breaking with the Baptists 
 throughout the State, and wdiose claims against the 
 school were such as to plunge it into litigation. 
 After struggling against adverse conditions for two 
 years, he resigned. The institution dropped to the 
 level of a high school, in which condition it re- 
 mained until 1838. Rockwood Giddings having 
 now become president, he addressed himself to the 
 work of procuring subscriptions for an endowment, 
 and raised eighty thousand dollars. In 1840 Dr. 
 Malcom succeeded Giddings as president, and raised 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 153 
 
 the standard of the college above that which it had 
 ever enjoyed. Then followed the presidencies of 
 Drs. Reynolds, Campbell, Crawford, Manly, and 
 Dudley — the last named being a descendant of the 
 famous pioneer preacher, Ambrose Dudley. George- 
 town College is at present presided over by Dr. A. 
 C. Davidson and is in a most prosperous condition. 
 
 Bethel College, in the same State, was projected 
 by Bethel Association in 1849. Begun as a high 
 school, it was elevated to the standard of a college 
 in 1856, when Mr. Blewett became its first presi- 
 dent. With the exception of two years during the 
 war, the school has been in successful operation 
 ever since it began. Its presidents have been 
 George Hunt, Professor Rust, Noah K. Davis, 
 LL. D., at present professor of Moral Philosophy in 
 the University of Virginia ; Leslie Waggener, 
 sometime president of the University of Texas ; 
 and Dr. W. S. Ryland, who is the present incum- 
 bent of the presidential chair. The college enjoys 
 an endowment of one hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 In 1845 the Western Baptist Theological Insti- 
 tute was located at Covington, Kentucky, and had 
 the misfortune to be an object of contention as long 
 as it existed. Located on the border at a time 
 when sectional passion was highest, it was destined 
 to be short-lived. It ran a troublous course of ten 
 years, when the valuable property was sold and the 
 proceeds were divided between the irreconcilable 
 elements. The Ministerial Education Society of 
 
154 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Kentucky was constituted in 1844, and as is indi- 
 cated by its name, its object was " to aid in acquir- 
 ing a suitable education, such indigent, pious young 
 men of the Baptist denomination as shall give satis- 
 factory evidences to the churches of which they are 
 members that they are called of God to the gospel 
 ministry." Meagreness of resources limited the 
 operations of this society, yet in a quiet way it 
 rendered much valuable aid to young men fitting 
 themselves for the ministry. The final success of 
 Georgetown College obviated the necessity of the 
 continued existence of the society. 
 
 Like Kentucky, Tennessee had two institutions 
 of learning belonging to the Baptists — Union Uni- 
 versity, at Murfreesboro, and Carson College, in 
 JeiFerson County. After the accomplishment of 
 some excellent work under President J. H. Eaton, 
 and Dr. J. M. Pendleton as theological professor. 
 Union University became extinct. Its career was 
 doubtless shortened by the Civil War. In 1873 
 another institution was founded at Jackson, known 
 as the Southwestern University, Avhich is now under 
 the successful management of President M. C. 
 Savage. 
 
 Carson-Newman College, formerly Carson, was 
 founded near the town of Mossy Creek in 1850. 
 It was chartered under the patronage of the Gen- 
 eral Association of the State and derived its name 
 from its chief benefactor, Hon. James H. Carson, 
 who bequeathed to the institution fifteen thousand 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 155 
 
 dollars, the interest of which was to be used in the 
 education of young ministers. The institution has 
 of late years come into the possession of a partial 
 endowment, and is at present presided over by 
 President J. T. Henderson. 
 
 Early in the thirties, the Baptists of Alabama cA-JLa. 
 began the agitation of the question of establishing a 
 denominational school, suggested, as in other States, 
 by the growth of the Baptists and the inefficiency of 
 their ministry. In resolving to establish such a 
 school the Baptists of Alabama adopted the manual 
 labor plan, in spite of its failures in other States. 
 At this time the leaders of the denomination were 
 D. P. Bestor, Hosea Holcombe, Alex. Travis, J. 
 H. DeVotie, and A. G. McGraw. In 1834 pro- 
 vision was made for the contemplated school to go 
 into operation as soon as practicable with two de- 
 partments, literary and theological. W. L, Willi- 
 ford became the first principal, and D. P. Bestor 
 was elected to deliver lectures upon theology. 
 After a brief career the enterprise failed, and in 
 consequence, the Baptists of Alabama found them- 
 selves loaded with debt, after wrestling with which 
 for a period, the denomination sold the property 
 and for a number of years abandoned the matter of 
 education altogether. Meanwhile the deficiency was 
 met as far as was practicable by supplying young min- 
 isters with theological works. Driven by sheer neces- 
 sity to establish a school to meet the urgent demands 
 of the denomination, Howard College was organized 
 
156 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 in 1842. Under the able management of S. S. 
 Sherman, it was gradually developed into a respecta- 
 ble collegiate institution. From the period of its 
 establishment to the outbreak of the Civil War it 
 was ardently fostered by the Baptists of Alabama. 
 After an eventful history of almost fifty years, the 
 college was removed from Marion, its original 
 location, to East Lake, near Birmingham, where it 
 now is. At the outbreak of hostilities in 1861, the 
 college was in the enjoyment of a handsome endow- 
 ment, which was entirely wrecked by the war. 
 Efforts to endow the institution within the last 
 twenty-five years have been unavailing. In spite 
 of its vicissitudes the college has continued to do ex- 
 cellent work. Its presidents have been S. S. Sher- 
 man, H. Talbird, S. R. Freeman, J. L. M. Curry, 
 J. T. Murfee, B. F. Riley, and A. W. McGaha. 
 Not unlike that of the other States, the educa- 
 ., J . tional work of the Mississippi Baptists was at first 
 7'^"* fragmentary and unsatisfactory. The State Con- 
 
 vention was founded upon the dual idea of education 
 and missions. The school which ultimately came 
 into the possession of the Baptists had rather a 
 checkered career. Chartered in 1826 as Hempstead 
 Academy, its name was changed by legislative en- 
 actment the following year to that of Mississippi 
 Academy, for the endowment of which the Board of 
 Trustees was authorized to raise by lottery twenty- 
 five thousand dollars. For four years the rents 
 arising from thirty-six sections of the school fund 
 
EDUCATIONAL, WORK 157 
 
 donated by the national government to the State 
 was given to the academy. In 1830 the name of 
 Mississippi College was given to the institution, and 
 in 1842 it was transferred to the Presbyterians, 
 who retained it just eight years. Having been sur- 
 rendered to the State at a time when the Baptist 
 Convention of Mississippi was assembled at the cap- 
 ital, the college was tendered to that body and ac- 
 cepted. Once in their possession, the Baptists 
 promptly placed an agent in the field, who raised for 
 its endowment within ten years one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars in cash, and thirty thousand dollars in 
 subscriptions. With the war came a suspension of 
 operations and the destruction of the endowment. 
 In 1867 Dr. Hillman became president, and found 
 the institution encumbered with a debt of ten 
 thousand dollars, which he promptly liquidated, 
 placed the buildings in repair, and by 1873 raised 
 an endowment of forty thousand dollars. The col- 
 lege is located at Clinton and is a largely attended 
 and popular institution. 
 
 Until a comparatively late period the Baptists of 
 Louisiana were dependent upon institutions in other 
 States for the education of their youth. In the 
 pioneer movement of the denomination in this State 
 in the matter of education, there was an attempt 
 made to place an institution upon a higher plane 
 than had been made in most of the other States of 
 the South. A full-fledged university, at least in 
 name, was at first contemplated at Mount Lebanon, 
 
 
158 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 to be known as the Mount Lebanon University. 
 This enterprise was projected by Dr. B. Egan, who 
 was warmly supported by Rev. George W. Bains, 
 the pastor of the church at Mount Lebanon. For 
 five years, beginning with 1847, the subject was 
 agitated. Nor was anything done as late as 1852, 
 save to determine the establishment of a school of 
 high grade " with a theological department con- 
 nected therewith . . , and as auxiliary to the object, 
 a female seminary." ^ 
 
 Rev. W. H. Bayless was chosen financial agent 
 by a newly organized Board of Trustees, and soon 
 raised one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight 
 dollars and twelve cents. A lot was procured and 
 a building of sufficient capacity to accommodate two 
 hundred students was arranged for. William E. 
 Paxton, A. M., was chosen to institute the new 
 enterprise by opening the school for the preparatory 
 department. This he did in March, 1853, with an 
 attendance of about twenty-five students. At a 
 subsequent meeting of the State Convention in July 
 the sum of five thousand two hundred and eighty 
 dollars was subscribed to the theological endowment 
 fund. 
 
 In 1856 the collegiate department w^as organized 
 and Dr. Bartholomew Egan was chosen as president 
 with a corps of four professors. Both the president 
 and the professor of theology agreed to serve gratui- 
 tously, while the other instructors served in the pre- 
 
 1 Paxton's " History of Louisiana Baptists," p. 446. 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 159 
 
 paratory department. Commendable zeal was mani- 
 fested by all engaged in the struggling enterprise, 
 and by the close of 1857 a fund equal to twenty-five 
 thousand dollars had been raised. The services of 
 Rev. Jesse Hartwell, d. d., as president, were pro- 
 cured in 1858. Strangely enough, in 1859 the Bap- 
 tist State Convention of Louisiana memorialized the 
 legislature for aid, and received as a donation from 
 the State treasury ten thousand dollars.^ 
 
 President Hartwell dying about this time. Rev. 
 W. Carey Crane was secured to succeed him at the 
 head of the college. The collegiate year of 1861 
 closed with one hundred and twenty-seven students 
 enrolled. The Civil War checked the growth of 
 the enterprise, and finally the school was suspended. 
 The building was impressed by the Confederate 
 authorities into service as a hospital and was thus 
 used until the close of the war. Ineifectual efforts 
 were made to revive the school after the close of the 
 struggle, under the less pretentious title of a high 
 school, but in the chaotic condition of the country it 
 collapsed and was finally abandoned. 
 
 In avoiding the Scylla of a manual labor school, 
 which was for many years a favorite project in so 
 many of the States of the South, the Baptists of 
 Louisiana had foundered in the Charybdis of a uni- 
 versity enterprise. 
 
 With less success and far less business sagacity 
 was another university undertaken by the Baptists, 
 
 ^ Paxton's " History of Louisiana Baptists," p. 480. 
 
160 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 at Shreveport, in 1870. The Helm School property, 
 embracing seventy acres of land, was purchased in 
 the suburbs of Shreveport, with a view of establish- 
 ing a university. Unfortunately, alike for the pro- 
 jectors and the Southern Life Insurance Company, 
 policies were taken in that corporation in favor 
 of the university, and the insurance company ad- 
 vanced the money with which to erect a college 
 building. The school opened in 1871. Three years 
 later no building had been erected, the railway 
 which was to connect the school with the city was 
 yet unbuilt, business depression came, the yellow 
 fever ravaged the city, the money panic of 1874 
 swept on apace, the insurance company by whose 
 generous aid the institution was to be set upon its 
 feet failed, all of which was succeeded by the 
 mechanics' liens and the foreclosure of the mortgage 
 created for the money already borrowed. Thus 
 ended the short but eventful career of Shreveport 
 University. 
 
 The chief institution of the Baptists of Louisiana 
 at present is Keachi College, a co-educational school. 
 The Keachi Female College and the Keachi Acad- 
 emy for boys were united in 1879, with Rev. J. H. 
 Tucker as president. Dying in 1881, President 
 Tucker was succeeded by Rev. T. N. Coleman, who 
 was followed by Rev. C. P. Fountain, and he in 
 turn by Rev. C. W. Tomkies, the present incumbent 
 of the administrative chair. 
 
 The Baptists of Florida were reduced to divers 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 161 
 
 makeshifts for education until 1887, when Mr. 
 John B. Stetson, of Philadelphia, founded at Deland 
 "The John B. Stetson University." Though the 
 youngest of the denominational schools of the States 
 of the South, it has made a most honorable record 
 since it was founded. John F. Forbes, A. m., ph. d., 
 is the gifted and progressive president of Stetson 
 University. 
 
 Columbian University, Washington, D. C, has had 
 a unique history. It was conceived by Luther Rice 
 as a National Baptist institution, which should derive 
 great importance from its surroundings in the na- 
 tion's capital. The chief purpose of the devoted 
 founder was to link into closest intimacy the great 
 interests of education and missions in such way that 
 they might mutually aid and supplement each other. 
 The original conception of such a plan was doubtless 
 due, in part, to the missionary enthusiasm aroused 
 by the enlistment of American Baptists in foreign 
 mission work in Burma and partly to the vast ad- 
 vantages arising from the availability of educational 
 appliances at Washington. With consuming zeal 
 Rice undertook to press the claims of these great in- 
 terests in conjunction, but the public mind failed to 
 grasp them in their dual capacity. Such enthusiasm 
 was aroused in behalf of the national Baptist uni- 
 versity that it became a rival of foreign missions 
 rather than a twin sister. For three years the de- 
 nomination. North and South, was stirred by ap- 
 peals in behalf of Columbian University. Local 
 
1G2 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 societies were organized throughout the country in 
 the interest of the national university, and large 
 sums of money were raised before the meeting of the 
 Triennial Convention for 1820. At the session of 
 that body the matter of a practical union of educa- 
 tion and missions was maturely considered, and it 
 was decided that education in America and missions 
 in Burma lay so far apart that they could never be 
 associated in a practical plan for the furtherance of 
 both, and a disjunction of these interests promptly 
 followed. Financial embarrassments soon menaced 
 the college and led to the suspension of its work in 
 1827, only to be revived, however, the following 
 year under the new administration of Dr. Stephen 
 Chapin as president, who was its presiding officer 
 for fifteen years, and who not only cancelled the in- 
 debtedness, but revived the institution. 
 
 Upon the retirement of Dr. Chapin from the pres- 
 idential office. Professor William Ruggles was placed 
 at the head of the institution temporarily, for in 
 1843 Dr. Joel S. Bacon became president. He found 
 the institution without debt, and equally without en- 
 dowment. Dr. Bacon remained president until 1854, 
 when Professor Ruggles was again called, for a sea- 
 son, to the head of the college. During the admin- 
 istration of Dr. Bacon the work of endowment was 
 prosecuted at different times by Drs. A. M. Poin- 
 dexter and William F. Broadus, of Virginia, the lat- 
 ter procuring subscriptions to the amount of twenty 
 thousand dollars, and by that means secured the 
 
EDUCATIONAL WORK 163 
 
 fulfillment of a conditional promise of John Withers, 
 of Alexandria, Virginia, for an equal amount. Rev. 
 G. W. Samson, d. d., became president in 1859, and 
 maintained the college with signal ability during the 
 troublous period of the war. In spite of the diffi- 
 culties of the peculiarly trying period during which 
 he was president, both the efficiency and the material 
 value of the institution were greatly enhanced. Dr. 
 Samson resigning in 1871, J. C. Welling, ll. d., 
 became president. In 1873, Hon. W. W. Corcoran 
 agreed to give to the university two hundred thou- 
 sand dollars provided its friends would raise an 
 additional one hundred thousand dollars. This con- 
 dition was complied with and the institution entered 
 upon a new career of prosperity. Rev. B. L. Whit- 
 man, D. D., is now (1898) the president of the Uni- 
 versity, and all indications point to an unprecedented 
 prosperity on the part of the institution. 
 
 The institutions for the education of girls and 
 young women conducted under the auspices, either 
 directly or indirectly, of the Baptists of the South, 
 are somewhat numerous. 
 
 Some of these schools sustain organic connection 
 with the State Conventions, while others are the 
 result of private or local enterprise. The latter 
 class are Baptist only by virtue of the fact that 
 their founders, or owners, are Baptists. It is im- 
 possible, for obvious reasons, to give to these schools 
 equal prominence with those which have been estab- 
 
164 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 lished directly by the denomination for the other 
 sex. The schools to which attention has been given 
 in the present chapter have been founded primarily 
 for the purpose of affording scholastic advantages to 
 the young ministry of each State, while the schools 
 for young women have come in response to a demon- 
 stration of public sentiment for womanly culture, 
 and usually irrespective of denominational lines. 
 
 It is not practicable in a work of restricted com- 
 pass like this to enlarge upon the histories of these 
 valuable schools for young women, but in an appen- 
 dix, pages 361-363, attention is called to such as 
 come practically or entirely under the direction of 
 the denomination in the several States of the South. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 DIVEEGENT VIEWS 
 
 WHILE essentially one, the Baptists of the States 
 of the South have never been in sentiment a 
 unit. There have been differences of views among 
 them from the beginning. Already occasions have 
 arisen for calling attention to the divergent views of 
 the early Baptists of Virginia, the Carolinas, and 
 Georgia. The original divergence of views came 
 between the General and the Particular Baptists, 
 the former advocating the doctrine of the possibility 
 of universal redemption in contradistinction to the 
 doctrine of a limited redemption, or the salvation of 
 the elect as held by the Particulars. 
 
 Adherents to both of these views came among 
 the earliest Baptists from beyond the Atlantic. The 
 principles and practices of the General Baptists 
 were characterized by more or less"Taxness. Re- 
 quiring no experience of grace, nor statement of 
 doctrine, the General Baptists were reckless in the 
 administration of the ordinances. They were im- 
 mersionists, and this was about the only point upon 
 which they and the Particular BajDtists were agreed. 
 The easy-going requirements of the General Bap- 
 tists involving little or no renunciation of one's 
 ' 165 
 
166 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 former life, made them papular. Their most noted 
 representative in the South, in its earliest history, 
 was Paul Palmer. Unfortunately but little is 
 known of this remarkable man, but the indications 
 are that he came direct from England to North 
 Carolina. While to him is usually accorded the honor 
 of being the pioneer Baptist preacher of North Caro- 
 lina, the strong probability is that he was attracted 
 to that province by the Baptist churches already ex- 
 isting, of which we have no definite record. The 
 remarkable exemption of the Baptists of North 
 Carolina from persecution possibly served as an in- 
 ducement to the liberty-loving Palmer, whose great- 
 est delight was found in preaching. The views 
 held by Palmer were in entire accord with those 
 held by the Arminian Baptists of England. Wield- 
 ing an immense inBuence over the colonists of 
 North Carolina, Palmer sowed broadcast the seeds 
 of Arminianism in the early churches of the prov- 
 ince. But after the advent of Whitefield the tide 
 was turned toward Calvinism. Alike from two 
 centers of influence, Philadelphia and Charleston, 
 there went forth Calvinistic missionaries, and the 
 result was a rapid and radical change to the stand- 
 ard of the Particulars. 
 
 The next division of sentiment was that which 
 existed between the Separate and the Regular Bap- 
 tists, the former being really Calvinistic Methodists, 
 and composed chiefly of Wiiitefield's followers. 
 They sprang up in 1750. and were first called New 
 
DIVERGENT VIEWS 167 
 
 Lights. Subsequently, however, they were organ- 
 ized into separate societies by Shubael Stearns, and 
 because of this independency of organization came 
 to be called Separates. A year after he originated 
 this new sect Stearns became a Baptist, as we have 
 already seen, and most of the Separates followed 
 him into that denomination. When this great leader 
 adopted the views of the Baptists, the Separates as 
 a sect became extinct. They, however, carried their 
 distinctive views with them into the Baptist fold, 
 which views were that believers are guided by the 
 immediate teachings of the Holy Spirit, such super- 
 natural indications being regarded by them as par- 
 taking of the nature of inspiration, and above, 
 though not contrary to, reason. The Separate Bap- 
 tists were by far the most conspicuous opponents of 
 the establishment during the period of persecution 
 in Virginia. It was the representatives of the 
 Separate Baptists who were imprisoned in the jails 
 of Virginia, who were whipped, and who, in spite 
 of these dire persecutions, preached from their 
 prison windows. In 1787 a union was effected be- 
 tween the Separate and Regular Baptists upon a 
 basis mutually satisfactory, and both designations, 
 as independent branches, were discontinued. 
 
 But the denomination was destined to still greater 
 distractions and fiercer internal dissensions than 
 were produced by original divisions. As has 
 already been shown there was much local evangeli- 
 zation accomplished by the Baptists during the 
 
168 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 pioneer period of Southern history. In the upper 
 and older regions of the South the Separate Baptists 
 carried with fervid zeal the gospel in the most re- 
 mote settlements. With increase of numbers, es- 
 pecially in the populous centers, came a desire for 
 improvement in ministerial qualifications, pastoral 
 / compensation, and enlarged ideas of missionary 
 operation. The advocacy of such views aroused 
 opposition which manifested itself in a general anti - 
 missionary spirit which did much to impede the 
 progress of the Baptists in the South. This class 
 of opponents threw themselves directly in the way 
 of all efforts to develop the denomination along 
 educational lines. It required a hard and protracted 
 struggle to establish a school of learning of any 
 character in the South. While ministerial educa- 
 tion was regarded by the most prominent among the 
 Baptists as being imperative, it was this which ex- 
 cited the most strenuous opposition on the part of 
 ^ the ignorant. 
 
 It is not difficult to see that the logical conse- 
 quence of all this was the factious and fiery opposi- 
 tion subsequently raised against all agencies for the 
 spread of the gospel. If human agency was ob- 
 jectionable in the equipment of the sacred ministry, 
 it was equally so in the creation of means for dis- 
 seminating the sacred gospel. Hence Sunday- 
 schools, Bible societies, and mission Boards were 
 ranked in the same objectionable category with min- 
 isterial education. It was at this point that the 
 
DIVERGENT VIEWS 169 
 
 fiercest struggle began on the part of the Baptists 
 of the South, and it may be said that it has been 
 continued to the present time. As local missionaries 
 the Baptists have never been surpassed by any other 
 people in the South. Their ministry has been the 
 most active and self-sacrificing in giving the gospel 
 to the destitute regions ; but if the effort were made 
 by the most progressive to urge the claims of the 
 remoter portions of the world, firm opposition would 
 ensue. Planting themselves steadfastly in this posi- 
 tion, those of more restricted views waged a steady 
 and relentless war throughout the States of the South 
 against foreign missions. 
 
 The strength of this opposition was increased by 
 the appearance of two journals upon the scene, 
 " The Signs of the Times " and '' The Primitive 
 Baptist." These factious organs came from States 
 outside the South, and their wild statements were 
 accepted by the gullible multitude as if they were 
 oracles. The anti-missionary element of the de- 
 nomination insisted upon being called " Old Side " 
 or " Primitive Baptists," the obvious purpose being 
 to'S-ssumetolKemselves the original principles of the 
 denomination, and to cast aspersion upon such as 
 had departed from the faith and practice of the 
 original standards by the introduction of new-fangled 
 practices. 
 
 The most ridiculous assumptions were entertained 
 by these anti-eifort Baptists, and fostered by the 
 organs already named, which found their way at 
 
170 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 , stated intervals into the South. One of these sheets 
 / insisted that the money collected by pastors, mission 
 agents, and others, was never applied to the objects 
 for which it was claimed to be raised, but was de- 
 voted to schemes of speculation in the cities of the 
 North. That was equaled only by the following 
 piece of vaporing which is a literal quotation from 
 the Minutes of the Pilgrim's Rest Association of 
 Alabama : 
 
 We view theological schools unwarranted in the word 
 of God and dangerous to religious liberty. And wher- 
 ever they have been organized, whether Jewish, Pagan, 
 Heathen, Roman Catholic, or Christian, they have been 
 a source of persecution and bloodshed on the church of 
 Christ. 
 
 And this effusion was the product of one of their 
 leaders. Another of their ministers wrote : 
 
 Do not forget the enemy (the missionaries) ; bear them 
 in mind ; the howling, destructive wolves, the raven- 
 ous dogs, and the filthy and their numerous whelps. 
 By a minute observation and the consultation of the 
 sacred, never-failing, descriptive chart, even their 
 physiognomy in dress, mien, and carriage, and many 
 other indented, indelible, descriptive marks, too tedious 
 at present to write. The wolfish smell is enough to 
 alarm, to create suspicion, and to ascertain ; the dogs' 
 teeth are noted, and the wolves for their peculiar and 
 distinct howl, etc. 
 
 Whatever there may or may not be in this jargon, 
 there can be no doubt of its bitterness and violence 
 
DIVERGENT VIEWS 171 
 
 against mission agents. One of their number 
 asserted on one occasion that if an angel should 
 come from heaven and declare the missionary cause 
 was of God he would not believe it. Where igno- 
 rance, prejudice, and blasphemy were dominant in 
 such a host as had been gathered into the Baptist 
 churches throughout the South it is not a matter of 
 wonder that the development of the missionary 
 spirit had been slow. 
 
 But unawed by these demonstrations, the advo- 
 cates of missions were firm and pronounced in the 
 enunciation of their principles. The two wings be- 
 came more separated as the intensity of sentiment 
 grew. There was, however, a perceptible growth 
 of the missionary spirit and a corresponding decline 
 in that of the opponents of missions. If the in- 
 crease encouraged and emboldened the one the de- 
 crease made the other more obdurate and reckless. 
 An occasional break would occur in the ranks of the 
 opponents and result in new accessions to the mis- 
 sionary Baptists. The change of sentiment, when 
 it came, was favorable to missions. There was, 
 however, one extraordinary exception to this rule in 
 Tennessee, where there was a decided reaction against 
 missions. It seems that Luther Rice, during his 
 tours of the South, had succeeded in arousing much 
 zeal in missions among the churches of Tennessee. 
 But about 1820 the current of sentiment changed 
 and the reaction assumed a most malignant form. 
 Indeed, so serious did the opposition become that it 
 
172 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 is said, " not a man ventured to open his mouth in 
 favor of any benevolent enterprise or action." The 
 result was that the work of organisation effected by 
 Rice went to pieces, a deplorably chaotic condition 
 in the churches followed, the friends of the opposi- 
 tion rallied, and the cause of missions was for a 
 long time paralyzed. The influence of this reaction 
 spread into adjoining regions. Largely in conse- 
 quence of this the churches of North Alabama almost 
 without exception became anti-missionary. 
 
 The lack of interest in missions has been accounted 
 for in various ways. 
 
 It has been alleged that the illiteracy of the 
 masses of the people was a serious barrier, which 
 was enhanced by the fact that their time was so ab- 
 sorbed in clearing the land and bringing it into cul- 
 tivation. Further, that the emphasis given to hyper- 
 Calvinism, which was pushed to such ridiculous 
 conclusions as to disparage all human effort, was a 
 serious obstruction to the progress of missions. 
 Under such an influence as that exerted by a strong- 
 willed and illiterate ministry, it is easy to see how 
 the hyper-Calvinists would come to prevail. 
 
 Again, the aggressive movements of the Meth- 
 odists, the Cumberland Presbyterians, and the 
 Disciples, with their Arminian teaching stiffened the 
 resistance of the hyper-Calvinistic Baptists, and 
 thus impaired the possibility of commanding the 
 necessary means for missionary enterprise. Lastly, 
 the activity of Daniel Parker, the apostle of opposi- 
 
DIVERGENT VIEWS 173 
 
 tion to missions was a most formidable obstruction 
 to the development of the spirit of missions. 
 
 To these may be aptly added that of worldliness, 
 which grew apace with the development of the 
 country and the accumulation of wealth. Any pre- 
 text was welcomed which served to lessen the out- 
 flow of money from private coffers. 
 
 Disorder and dissension reigned among the 
 churches and Associations of the South until about 
 1836 or 1838, which time is generally regarded as 
 the period of " the great split." By this time the 
 anti-mission forces had become very hostile, and in- 
 sisted upon a withdrawal from all churches and 
 Associations which favored missions. This cleavage 
 was most fortunate. The separation was the dawn 
 of a better day to the missionary Baptist churches of 
 the South. The difference between the histories of 
 the two branches of the Baptist family is most in- 
 structive. The one has grown with enlightenment 
 and development, has founded and maintained its 
 schools of learning, has established a most reputable 
 denominational press, has produced a type of schol- 
 arship which is equal to that of the most advanced, 
 has planted its churches in the most commanding 
 centers, and has sent its missionaries to the farthest 
 regions of the globe. The other has steadily kept 
 itself in the remote rural regions, beyond the con- 
 fines of enlightenment and progress. 
 
 Another most fruitful source of disturbance among 
 the churches of the South was the promulgation of 
 
174 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 the views of Alexander Campbell, who made his 
 advent as the founder of a new sect during the anti- 
 missionary agitation. Indeed, as far as he could, 
 Mr. Campbell appropriated the disturbance to the 
 furtherance of his own views. He coincided with 
 the anti-mission elements, both in their opposition 
 to missions and to pastoral support.. Through his 
 organ, "The Christian Baptist," a small religious 
 monthly, which appeared first in 1823, Mr. 
 Campbell, with an exceedingly pretentious regard 
 for literal conformity to Bible standards, put him- 
 self into direct alliance with the opponents of mis- 
 sions, Bible societies, education societies. Boards, 
 and, indeed, of all evangelical agencies. Possessed 
 of a voluble tongue and disputatious spirit, he soon 
 won his way to local renown as a debater. Making 
 a preaching tour through the States of Kentucky 
 and Tennessee as far South as Nashville, Mr. 
 Campbell created an ovation, and won for himself 
 considerable distinction.^ This w^as the beginning 
 of a notable career. Adroit in argument, incisive 
 in sarcasm and caricature, shrewd in repartee, and 
 possessed of an overweening confidence in his ability, 
 Mr. Campbell was a polemic Ajax in the region 
 where he began the propagation of his tenets. Aban- 
 doning the beaten tracks of discussion, he invested 
 his views with a charm and novelty that never 
 failed to catch the ear of the multitude. 
 
 1 Dr. A. H. Newman, "American Church History" (Baptist), 
 Vol. II., pp. 438, 439. 
 
DIVERGENT VIEWS 175 
 
 No season could have been more opportune for 
 the advent of such a reformer as Mr. Campbell 
 than the one in which he appeared. The churches 
 were ripe for a change. Hyper-Calvinistic or au- 
 tinomian views had been thundered from the pulpits 
 for many years together. The constant discussion 
 of so contracted views around the fireside and in 
 the home circle, as well as from the pulpit, had 
 worn away the patience of thousands of auditors. 
 The presentation of dry, dull speculations which 
 sprang from hyper-Calvinistic views, palled upon 
 the intellectual taste. The people hungered for 
 bread and were given a stone. 
 
 At this juncture Alexander Campbell flashed into 
 sudden prominence. To him the prevailing condi- 
 tions furnished a golden opportunity, and right well 
 did he improve it. Hundreds flocked to the stand- 
 ard of " the Reformer," a designation in which he 
 delighted. Under his direction a sect was gradually 
 formed which assumed the self-styled name of " Re- 
 formers," but opprobriously called by their oppo- 
 nents " Campbellites." The appearance of Mr. 
 Campbell was the signal for strife, divisions, aliena- 
 tion, and irritation. His disputatious supporters 
 were most active in proselyting. With more of 
 zeal than of propriety they were constantly thrust- 
 ing their views upon all with whom they met. This 
 movement came as a great shock to the churches of 
 Virginia and Kentucky. It rapidly spread into the 
 adjacent States. In some instances entire churches 
 
176 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 were caught in its toils. This was notably true of 
 the First Church of Nashville, Tennessee, which 
 for a season fell completely under the domination 
 of the Disciples. Doubtless the division between 
 the followers of Campbell and the Baptists would 
 have occurred in Kentucky earlier by three years, 
 but it was stayed by the great revival which begau 
 in 1827. By the severance of fellowship on the 
 part of Baptist churches from the adherents of 
 Campbell, the way to an independent organization 
 was made easy. 
 
 Professing to return to the original principles of 
 Christianity, the new sect assumed the name of 
 " Disciples." Accessions were gained to the ranks 
 of the new organization alike from the Baptists, 
 Methodists, and Presbyterians ; but the Baptists 
 furnished the greater number. For a period of 
 years the sect was very popular. It swept like a 
 prairie fire over the new West and far into the 
 States of the South. For a time it seemed that it 
 would overwhelm every other denomination. Ad- 
 herents continued to flock to it by the thousand. 
 In the acquisition of converts the utmost scrupu- 
 lousness was not always observed. Every means 
 was laid under tribute to arouse prejudice, engender 
 discord in churches and communities, and to pro- 
 duce confusion in the minds of the wavering. Bois- 
 terous in declamation, and brazen in the assertion 
 of their views, the followers of Mr. Campbell made 
 rapid headway with the excited multitudes which 
 
DIVERGENT VIEWS 177 
 
 thronged upon their preaching. Whatever else 
 may be said of this agitation, there is little doubt 
 that anti-pedobaptism and immersion were greatly 
 helped by it. The stress vehemently laid upon im- 
 mersion by the Disciples emphasized to the minds of 
 thousands of Pedobaptists the importance of a thor- 
 ough examination of the subject. The result was 
 the conversion of very many to the doctrine of im- 
 mersion. 
 
 An additional cause of distraction in the Baptist 
 churches of the South is what is known as " Old 
 Landmarkism," a term the honor of the authorship 
 of which is divided between Drs. J. M. Pendleton 
 and J. P. Graves. They were the first to give ex- 
 pression to the views which characterized a party of 
 Baptists who came well-nigh going sufficiently far 
 in the extremity of their views to form a distinct 
 sect. This party prevailed mostly in the Southwest. 
 The movement under Doctors Pendleton and Graves 
 was an attempted reaction from the growth of con- 
 servatism in the Baptist denomination South. The 
 principal features of " Old Landmarkism " were an ' ) 
 insistence of Baptist apostolic succession ; a declara- ^ ) 
 tion of the absolute necessity of properly authorized 
 administrators of baptism in order to the validity 
 of the ordinance; the refusal to accept as valid ^^ 
 baptism that which is administered by a Pedobaptist ; 
 a denial that Pedobaptist organizations are churches, > ) 
 and that their ministers are properly authorized 
 preachers of the gospel. At a later period Doctor 
 
 M 
 
 t^ 
 
178 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Graves sought to graft upon these views that of non- 
 intercommuuiou, iu which he denied the scriptural 
 riglit of a member of a Baptist church to commune 
 with any other than that of which he is a member. 
 
 These views were urged with great energy in the 
 valley of the Mississippi, finding an expression, for 
 the most part, tlirough "The Tennessee Baptist," 
 of which Doctor Graves had been the editor since 
 1846. Doctor Graves was a polemicist of no or- 
 dinary ability, and a speaker of much charming 
 magnetism. In liim were equally blended the facile 
 writer and eloquent speaker, so that through word 
 of mouth as well as through the columns of " The 
 Tennessee Baptist," he was able to sway multitudes 
 of those whose eyes and ears he was enabled to 
 reach. For many years his paper was an engine of 
 power among the Baptists of the Southwest. Nor 
 was he without some following throughout the States 
 of the South. His views boldly urged furnished a 
 fruitful source of discussion, not altogether un- 
 attended at times by bitter dissension. 
 
 For about a quarter of a century this spirit held 
 sway chiefly in the region of the great basin of the 
 Mississippi, but after that time a reaction set in and 
 enlig-htened conservatism reasserted itself. While 
 there are still to be found in diiferent portions of the 
 South and Southwest some who cling to the views of 
 the original " Landmarkers," they are few in com- 
 parison with those of a quarter of a century ago. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 INTEREST IN MISSIONS PRIOR TO THE SEPARATION 
 
 rpHE early Baptists of the South were noted for 
 -L their zeal in home missions. To this fact, 
 more than to any other, is due the marvelous ex- 
 pansion of the denomination during the first half- 
 century of its history. The early Baptist minis- 
 try of the South has never been excelled in its un- 
 quenchable zeal in providing the destitute with the 
 gospel. Hardy and heroic, these primitive preach- 
 ers of the South were in the advance guard of 
 Southern civilization, lured partly by the unexplored 
 but inviting region which lay toward the setting 
 sun, and in part by a desire to extend the limits of 
 Christian evangelization. Along with the redemp- 
 tion of the wilderness and the waste places was the 
 reclamation of the multitudes from vice. 
 
 These heroic men braved all dangers and endured 
 every hardship in their determination to preach. 
 Rarer exhibitions of missionary zeal were not illus- 
 trated even during the apostolic age. Already occa- 
 sions have arisen several times for reference to this 
 spirit of early evangelization. 
 
 Resistance to the work of home missions was 
 never made ; but when the matter of foreign mis- 
 
 179 
 
180 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 sions was suggested to the early churches, opposition 
 was at once aroused. Objections to such a move- 
 ment became vehement, as it was deemed a clear in- 
 fringement of the divine prerogative thus to under- 
 take the evangelization of the peoples of the remoter 
 portions of the earth. 
 
 It seems never to have occurred to these matter- 
 of-fact, but necessarily contracted, people that the 
 objections against foreign missions would admit of 
 equal application to home missions. The eifort to 
 lead the great mass of Baptists in the States of the 
 South to view the matter of missions as indivisible 
 and worldwide has been a protracted one; indeed, 
 in not a few localities the attempt up to this time 
 has been utterly without avail. There are thousands 
 of Baptists in the churches of the South who are 
 misnamed missionary Baptists. 
 
 The first organized effort in the South looking to 
 evangelization began in the Charleston Association 
 when John Gano was sent first to the Yadkin dis- 
 trict of North Carolina, as a missionary. The pre- 
 cedence of South Carolina Baptists in evangelistic 
 enterprise has been perpetuated to the present. 
 From the beginning they enjoyed the pre-eminence 
 of a distinguished leadershij) — a leadership as de- 
 voted as it was able. The churches of South Caro- 
 lina have never receded from the high plane of 
 beneficence to which they were led by Screven, Hart, 
 and Furman. Even in advance of the great inter- 
 est awakened in foreign missions by the conversion 
 
MISSIONS PRIOR TO THE SEPARATION 181 
 
 of Judson and Rice, Dr. Furman had shown com- 
 mendable zeal in raising funds for the publication of 
 the Bible translations of Carey and Marshman. 
 The wisdom of Richard Furman was conspicuous 
 in coupling with this praiseworthy labor that of 
 seeking to stimulate, on the part of the pastors of 
 that early period, a desire for better preparation for 
 their work. His sagacity prompted him to look 
 beyond immediate results in connection with this 
 missionary movement — he desired to see the spirit 
 becoming an abiding one. In order to that end, he 
 sought to elevate the ministry while he strove to 
 gather in contributions. The masterly manipulation 
 of existing agencies which resulted in the constitu- 
 tion of the South Carolina Baptist State Convention 
 in 1821, is an evidence of the splendid leadership 
 of Richard Furman. The Convention was founded 
 upon the two-fold idea of ministerial education and 
 missionary expansion. To the mind of Dr. Furman 
 they w^ere as inseparable as shadow and substance. 
 When Luther Rice visited the South, urging with 
 equal fervor education and missions, he found that 
 he had been preceded in the advocacy of those asso- 
 ciated ideas in at least one locality. 
 
 Together, as yoke-fellows, Rice and Furman 
 stood upon the floor of the Triennial Convention in 
 Philadelphia, in 1817, in advocacy of these insepar- 
 able interests. No one familiar with the Baptist 
 denomination can fail to see the wisdom of these men 
 of God in the equal urgency of the two claims. 
 
182 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Following close upon the organized efforts of the 
 South Carolina Baptists were those of the denomi- 
 nation in Georgia. Scarcely any organization was 
 undertaken before the advent of Jesse Mercer. 
 Like Furman, in the adjoining State, Mr. Mercer 
 associated with the evangelization of the world an 
 enlightened ministry. He was the prime mover in 
 the formation of the famous Powelton Conferences, 
 out of which grew the missionary and educational 
 organizations of the Baptists of Georgia. These 
 conferences were developed into the General Com- 
 mittee, which was composed of members from each 
 district Association in Georgia, with the distinct ob- 
 ject in view of promoting State missions by organ- 
 ized itinerant preaching, and to establish a school 
 among the Creek Indians, who occupied the terri- 
 tory stretching along the western confines of the 
 State. These movements gradually led to the con- 
 stitution of the State Convention and the founding 
 of Mercer University. 
 
 Abraham Marshall was made the chairman of the 
 General Committee of Georgia, and Henry Hol- 
 combe, secretary. A general address was issued di- 
 rected, in part, to the Baptists of the State and 
 partly to "all gospel ministers not of their order 
 within this State [who] wish the unity of the spirit 
 in the bonds of peace." The first portion of the 
 address related to the Baptist denomination, and was 
 intended to explain the nature of the movement, 
 and to invite co-operation in its furtherance. The 
 
MISSIONS PRIOR TO THE SEPARATION 183 
 
 second portion* addressed to the ministry of other 
 denominations said : " With the greatest respect and 
 affection, we invite you, Reverend Brethren, to an 
 investigation in order to a scriptural adjustment of 
 the comparatively small points in which we differ." 
 Praiseworthy as this movement was, and sincere as 
 were its promoters, it was impaired in the outset by 
 the attempt at denominational union. It failed 
 equally in commanding the approbation of the Bap- 
 tists and the members of other denominations. It 
 really did not represent the prevailing sentiment of 
 Baptists, and was repelled by the Pedobaptists. 
 The invitation was responded to at the next meeting 
 of the committee by two ministers of other denomi- 
 nations, one a Methodist and the other an Episco- 
 palian ; but the subject of denominational unity was 
 never once referred to. Attention was henceforth 
 devoted to missions and ministerial education. 
 
 But the serious blunder committed in the outset 
 in the attempted fusion of Baptists with other de- 
 nominations alienated the rank and file of the Bap- 
 tists throughout the State. Associations passed over 
 the matter with ominous silence which indicated the 
 grave suspicion that the Baptist denomination was 
 being betrayed into the rankest open communionism. 
 The members of the General Committee were never 
 able to repair the blunder to the satisfaction of the 
 denomination. This was followed by a period of 
 inaction in the churches. But in 1813 there was a 
 revival of interest in missions, originating in the 
 
184 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Savannah River Association. Under the lead of 
 Dr. William B. Johnson advanced steps were taken 
 in home evangelization, and it was also resolved, 
 '^ That the churches be exhorted to use their best 
 endeavors toward the support of foreign missions." 
 This was immediately followed by the organization 
 of a Baptist Foreign Mission Society in Savannah, 
 of which Dr. William T. Brantley became the cor- 
 responding secretary. A circular letter addressed 
 to the Baptist Associations throughout Georgia suc- 
 ceeded in arousing much missionary enthusiasm. It 
 at once became manifest that if anything was to be 
 accomplished there must be a more compact organ- 
 ization. This necessity was so universally recognized 
 that the General Association of Georgia was consti- 
 tuted in 1822, and this led, five years later, to the 
 formation of " The Baptist Convention for the State 
 of Georgia." 
 
 Repeated efforts had been made by the Baptists 
 of Georgia to institute means to Christianize the In- 
 dians whose tribes lay along both the eastern and 
 western banks of the Chattahoochee River. At last, 
 in 1823, an Indian Reform mission and school were 
 established in the Creek nation at Withington sta- 
 tion, about thirty miles south of the present site of 
 Montgomery, Alabama. These interests were as- 
 signed to the care of Rev. Lee Compere. 
 
 These struggling efforts, however, do not represent 
 all that was being accomplished by the Baptists of 
 Georgia for during, this entire period, extending from 
 
MISSIONS PKIOR TO THE SEPARATION 185 
 
 the opening years of the century to 1827, and much 
 later, they were generous contributors to the mission- 
 ary enterprises of the denomination at large. Much 
 skill was needed to generate a disposition to aid in 
 the causes fostered by the denomination, but this 
 was not wanting on the part of such leaders as 
 Holcombe, Brantley, Mercer, Sherwood, Marshall, 
 Sanders, and Kilpatrick. 
 
 During the earlier years of the century, and 
 within the period which folio w^ed immediately upon 
 the great McGready revival, the condition of affairs 
 was peculiar in North Carolina. From about 1812 
 to 1832 there was a stagnant spirit among the 
 churches of that State. They were possessed of 
 sufficient energy and vitality, however, to resist the 
 progress of missions, either local or foreign. During 
 the period named, embracing not less than twenty 
 years, there were not more than six thousand mem- 
 bers added to the Baptist churches of North Carolina. 
 An attempt was made about 1815 to arouse the 
 churches from their stupor, and to effect an organ- 
 ization for systematic missionary effort, but without 
 avail. Josiah Crudup and Robert T. Daniel, the 
 recognized leaders of that time, were unable to arouse 
 the slightest interest in missionary endeavor. 
 
 Again, in 1826, an effort was made to create zeal 
 in behalf of missions, which effort culminated in the 
 constitution of a struggling organization known as 
 the Baptist Benevolent Society, which in turn led to 
 the formation of the North Carolina Baptist State 
 
186 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Convention. This organization was effected in a 
 large barn, near the town of Greenville, on March 
 20, 1830. The enterprise was the result of the 
 wise direction and untiring zeal of Rev. Thomas 
 Meredith, who prepared the constitution in advance 
 of the meeting, and who had the satisfaction of 
 seeing it adopted substantially as it came from 
 his pen. 
 
 The purpose of the young organization was 
 plainly but forcibly presented in the second article 
 of the constitution : 
 
 The primary objects of this Convention shall be the 
 education of young men called of God to the ministry 
 and approved of by the churches to which they respec- 
 tively belong, the employment of the missionaries within 
 the limits of the State, and co-operation with the Bap- 
 tist General Convention of the United States in the pro- 
 motion of missions in general. 
 
 A mere handful constituted this original body 
 with full knowledge that such action would en- 
 counter stout opposition. The means with which 
 the proposed work was to be accomplished had yet 
 to be created. Within the State there were at that 
 date about fifteen thousand Baptists of all shades of 
 belief. They received the announcement of the 
 formation of the Convention with an indifference 
 well-nigh appalling. But the courage wdiicli had 
 nerved to the constitution of the body impelled to 
 the establishment of plans for the consummation of 
 the purposes proposed. With the utmost delibera- 
 
MISSIONS PRIOR TO THE SEPARATION 187 
 
 tion twelve men were appointed to canvass the 
 State in the interest of the proposed objects of the 
 Convention. Without compensation these men were 
 to traverse the State in every direction and urge the 
 claims of the Convention in the face of a most de- 
 termined opposition. Mr. Meredith prepared an 
 address which was to be sent to the Baptist churches 
 throughout North Carolina, setting forth the object 
 of the Convention and appealing for co-operation. 
 The struggle was a severe one and the progress 
 made not at all encouraging. But the promoters of 
 the movement were prepared for the worst, and 
 hence were not daunted by the resistance encountered. 
 The step proved the starting-point of the develop- 
 ment of the denomination in North Carolina, which 
 development has continued until the State has be- 
 come the third in numerical strength of the States 
 composing the Southern Baptist Convention. From 
 the churches of North Carolina have come many of 
 the wisest and ablest of Baptist leaders, among 
 whom may be named the Mercers, the elder Brant- 
 ley, the elder Basil Manly, John Kerr, R. B. C. 
 Howell, and" A. M. Poindexter. 
 
 The struggles of the Virginia Baptists both before 
 and after the Revolution served to sink out of view 
 their minor differences and to make them more 
 cohesive. But the progress of the missionary spirit 
 of that State was not unchecked by those opposed 
 to missions. 
 
188 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 After the subversion of the Establishment under 
 the auspices of the General Committee, another body- 
 was organized in 1800, known as the Committee 
 of Correspondence. This last-named organization 
 served somewhat as a Board in arousing interest in 
 the matter of missions and the general direction of 
 denominational affairs. The Committee of Corres- 
 pondence lasted until 1823, when the General Asso- 
 ciation of Virginia was organized. While the few- 
 ness of numbers entering into this organization must 
 not be altogether attributed to opposition to organ- 
 ized effort in evangelistic enterprise, yet it was sig- 
 nificant. Only fifteen delegates coming from a few 
 Associations entered into the constitution of the Gen- 
 eral Association. At the period of this organization 
 there were not less than forty thousand Baptists 
 and twenty district Associations in Virginia. R. B. 
 Semple was chosen as the first president of the Gen- 
 eral Association, and J. B. Jeter and Daniel Witt 
 were appointed the first missionaries. These devoted 
 men sought to accomplish two ends, that of convert- 
 ing the masses in destitute regions and that of edu- 
 cating the churches in the matter of missions. 
 
 It was about this time that Alexander Campbell 
 came into prominence as a doughty disputant ar- 
 rayed against salaried ministers and organized mis- 
 sionary effort. The public mind was greatly dis- 
 tracted by the utterances and conduct of Mr. Camp- 
 bell, who was withstood by Taylor, Jeter, Witt, 
 and Semple. While Mr. Campbell succeeded in 
 
MISSIONS PRIOR TO THE SEPARATION 18'J 
 
 urging some to the adoption of his views, and in 
 alienating others, the bulk of the denomination was 
 brought into sympathy with the general work of 
 the Baptists of the entire country. The Baptists 
 of Virginia shared largely in the enthusiasm 
 aroused by Luther Rice* in behalf of Columbian 
 College and the Burmese mission, and their leaders 
 were conspicuous members of the Triennial Con- 
 vention. 
 
 As has been shown, the Baptists of Maryland 
 have never been numerically strong, but they were 
 among the first in the States of the South to ex- 
 hibit a missionary spirit. As early as 1793 the 
 Baltimore Baptist Association was constituted and 
 soon put itself upon record as a missionary body. 
 Eventually, however, there grew up an anti-mis- 
 sionary spirit which continued to gain ground until 
 1836, when by a majority of seven the anti-mis- 
 sionary Baptists came into control of the Baltimore 
 Association. By a vote of sixteen to nine, the As- 
 sociation, in 1836, adopted resolutions against " unit- 
 ing with worldly societies," coupled with a declara- 
 tion of non-fellowship with such as had done so. 
 This meant a severance from all such agencies as 
 missionary organizations, Sunday-schools, and Bi- 
 ble, tract, and temperance societies. This action 
 brought about a rupture and terminated the mis- 
 sionary zeal of the Association. The organization 
 through which the Baptists have expressed their in- 
 
190 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IX SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 terest in missions is the Maryland Baptist Union 
 Association, which was organized as a distinctively 
 missionary body in 1836. Into this body were 
 gathered those who resisted the encroachments of 
 the anti-missionary Baptists, and since its inception 
 the Maryland Baptist Union Association has been 
 an enthusiastic missionary body. 
 
 At an early period Baptists recognized the ne- 
 cessity of planting churches in the national capital. 
 As early as 1802 a church was organized in Wash- 
 ington, then a town struggling into life, with all 
 the rude evidences of a frontier settlement, and 
 with a scattered population of four thousand. Only 
 six members entered into the constitution of the 
 First Baptist Church, founded in Washington on 
 March 7, 1802. For pastoral service and pulpit 
 supply the infant church was forced to rely upon 
 Rev. William Parkinson, who was then chaplain of 
 Congress. 
 
 Near the close of the year, an unpretentious 
 meeting-house was built on the corner of I and 
 Nineteenth Streets. For five years this struggling 
 interest was forced to depend upon the chaplain to 
 Congress for whatever of preaching or pastoral 
 oversight it enjoyed. But in 1807 Rev. O. B. 
 Brown assumed pastoral charge of the church and 
 served it during the remarkable term of forty- 
 three years. It was into this church that Spencer 
 H. Cone entered as a member after his conversion 
 and abandonment of the stage. From this church 
 
MISSIONS PRIOR TO THE SEPARATION 191 
 
 Mr. Cone received his license as a preacher. In 
 1814, Hon. O. C. Comstock, a member of Congress, 
 joined the church, was baptized, and licensed to 
 preach. The location of the church was changed in 
 1833 to Tenth Street, where a new meeting-house 
 was built. In 1859 the First and Fourth churches 
 were united. Its pastors have been Messrs. Brown, 
 Hill, Cole, Samson, Gillette, Cuthbert, and Stakely. 
 
 The Second Church, sometimes called the Navy 
 Yard Church, was constituted on June 10, 1810, be- 
 ginning with a membership of only five. The first 
 place of meeting of this small body was a diminutive 
 frame building. It was in this little house that 
 Spencer H. Cone began his career as a preacher. 
 At that time Mr. Cone was a clerk in the Treasury 
 Department, from which station he rose to the posi- 
 tion of chaplain to Congress. The names of Lynd, 
 Neale, Chapin, Maginnis, Poindexter, Bacon, 
 Adams, Sydnor, Boston, and Cole, appear in the 
 roll of the pastors of this church. 
 
 These enterprises represent the interests founded 
 in the national capital during the period now under 
 review. It was with great difficulty that the Bap- 
 tists were enabled to gain a permanent footing in 
 Washington, and but for the loyalty and devotion 
 of a few zealous men and women. Baptist settlement 
 in the national capital would have been greatly 
 delayed. 
 
 Other interests than those already named have 
 come into existence since the period now under con- 
 
192 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 sideration, but of these this is not the place to 
 make mention. In their associational connection 
 and missionary work, the Baptist churches of the 
 District of Columbia are divided in membership 
 between the Columbia Association and the Potomac 
 Association, of Virginia. 
 
 In the early periods of their history, the Baptists 
 of Kentucky were a most enterprising folk, espe- 
 cially in domestic missions. Their interest in gen- 
 eral missionary work dates from the great revival 
 of 1800. Prior to that time but little was at- 
 tempted by the itinerant Baptist preachers of Ken- 
 tucky beyond the borders of that State. Fired 
 with the enthusiasm of the great revival of 1800 
 which shook the State to its center. Baptist mission- 
 aries extended their labors beyond the Ohio and 
 into the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois on the 
 north, and Tennessee on the south. 
 
 According to Dr. J. M. Peck, Kentucky Baptists 
 were the first Protestants to enter the State of Illi- 
 nois. Rev. James Smith was the heroic missionary 
 who essayed to cross the border into the wilderness 
 which was afterward developed into that great 
 State. While thus engaged, he fell into the hands 
 of the Indians, from whom he was ransomed by his 
 brethren for the sum of one hundred and seventy- 
 five dollars. In 1801 the South Elkhorn Church 
 sent a request to the Elkhorn Association " to send 
 missionaries to the Indian nations." The matter 
 
MISSIONS PRIOR TO THE SEPARATION 193 
 
 received prompt attention by the appointment of a 
 committee 
 
 of five members to hear and to determine on the call of 
 any of our ministers, and if satisfied therewith, to give 
 them credentials for that purpose ; to set subscriptions 
 on foot, to receive collections for the use of said mission ; 
 and it is recommended to the church so to encourage 
 subscriptions for said purpose, and have the monej^ 
 lodged with the deacons to be applied for that purpose 
 whenever called for by the committee. The following 
 brethren are appointed : David Barrow, Ambrose Dud- 
 ley, John Price, Augustine Eastine, and George Smith. 
 
 The result was that John Young was sent from the 
 Elkhorn Association as a missionary to the Indians. 
 
 As early as 1816, when the subject of foreign 
 missions was being pressed upon the attention of 
 the churches throughout the South, we find in Ken- 
 tucky six missionary societies which were liberal 
 contributors to the treasury of the Board at Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 The churches of Kentucky having been blessed 
 again with a remarkable revival in 1817, their at- 
 tention seems to have been turned afresh to the 
 matter of missions, for it was immediately followed 
 by the creation of a school for Indian children near 
 Georgetown. This was the work of the Kentucky 
 Missionary Society, which gave to the new school 
 the name of Choctaw Academy. This new interest 
 prospered through a period of years, and sent out 
 to the Indians of the far West two missionaries, 
 
 N 
 
194 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERX STATES 
 
 Samson Birch and Robert Jones. Then came the 
 period of distraction attendant upon the advent of 
 Alexander Campbell. In close connection with Mr. 
 Campbell was the appearance in that region of 
 Daniel Parker, an illiterate but remarkable man, 
 whose chief purpose seems to have been the destruc- 
 tion of the missionary spirit among the churches. 
 With all the confidence of ignorance he boldly as- 
 serted the unscripturalness of missions, and chal- 
 lenged to disputatious combat any who dared con- 
 trovert his position. While Daniel Parker was 
 thus engaged he was diligent also in the inculcation 
 of the two-seed doctrine in the State. The com- 
 bination of two such agencies as those of Campbell 
 and Parker came well-nigh destroying the spirit of 
 missions in the churches of Kentucky. In 1832 
 the Baptist State Convention of Kentucky was or- 
 ganized, but it was soon rent in pieces by internal 
 dissension, and in 1836 was driven to dissolution. 
 The following year, however, an effort was made to 
 revive the suspended interest under the designation 
 of the General Association of Kentucky Baptists, 
 the organization being distinctively founded upon 
 the idea of State evangelization. This cautious 
 proceeding indicates that it was no longer prudent 
 or possible to press the claims of foreign missions 
 upon the churches. From being one of the most 
 progressive of the States of the South in the prose- 
 cution of missionary work, Kentucky became, for a 
 period, one of the most actively aggressive States 
 
MISSIONS PRIOR TO THE SEPARATION 195 
 
 against it, so strong was the influence of Campbell 
 and Parker. 
 
 Tennessee shared largely in the same spirit. The 
 Baptist churches of that State were among the first 
 warmly to espouse the cause of missions in foreign 
 parts, but this was followed by a most violent reac- 
 tion. During the visit of Luther Rice to the State, 
 the churches were greatly aroused upon missions, 
 and for a season their zeal was ardent ; but there 
 came a sudden turn, and the transformation was 
 complete, the rankest opposition possible to missions 
 coming to prevail. The churches suffered from this 
 spiritual paralysis for a long period of years, even 
 up to the outbreak of the war between the States. 
 True, there were churches here and there through- 
 out the State engaged in contributing to missions, 
 but they were the exception and not the rule. Re- 
 peated efforts were made to overcome this depres- 
 sion, but they were unavailing. 
 
 In Alabama, as in Tennessee, there was a strug- 
 gle long and bitter between the missionary and anti- 
 missionary Baptists, for the ascendency. The con- 
 test was fiercest in the northern and eastern portions 
 of the State, but no section was exempt from strife. 
 The annual meeting of every district Association 
 was the occasion of intense struggle between those 
 who favored and those who opposed missions. 
 Still, the more progressive elements of the de- 
 nomination were active in local missionary work, 
 and untiring in their efforts to cultivate benevolence 
 
196 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 on the part of the churches. The period of or- 
 ganized evangelistic effort in Alabama dates from 
 1816, when associational missionaries began work. 
 
 In 1823 the State Convention was organized 
 solely upon the basis of missions, and at once fifteen 
 evangelists were sent into different portions of the 
 State. They were everywhere met by hostile de- 
 monstrations, but were resolute in the prosecution 
 of their work. The leaders conspicuous at this 
 period were Travis, Bestor, and Holcombe, the resi- 
 dence of each of whom was respectively in the 
 southern, central, and northern portions of the 
 State. By concert of action they succeeded in 
 maintaining sufficient organization to hold in check 
 the opposition, and at tlie same time prosecute their 
 work. 
 
 Mississippi Baptists were among the last to con- 
 stitute a general State organization. Previous to 
 such organization, which took place in 1839, just a 
 few years before the constitution of the Southern 
 Baptist Convention, missionary work had been pros- 
 ecuted throughout the State by local Associations. 
 Considering the rapid growth of the population 
 after the battle of New Orleans and the subsequent 
 peace with Great Britain, and the difficulties en- 
 countered in a new region, a most praiseworthy 
 work was accomplished by the Baptists of Mississippi 
 in the cultivation of the home field. 
 
 The planting of the Baptist cause in Louisiana 
 
MISSIONS PRIOR TO THE SEPARATION 197 
 
 was so entirely due to missionary effort in the midst 
 of the most forbidding obstructions that it was 
 natural for those brought into the churches under 
 such conditions themselves to imbibe the missionary 
 spirit. For many years identified with the Baptist 
 organizations of Mississippi, the denomination in 
 Louisiana at last began to become distinctive in its 
 own local work. 
 
 The constitution of Associations began as early as 
 1818 when the Louisiana Association was organized. 
 This was followed by the constitution of similar 
 bodies on both sides of the Mississippi as the de- 
 nomination expanded. The Louisiana State Con- 
 vention was not organized until 1847 — two years 
 after the constitution of the Southern Baptist Con- 
 vention. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that during the long period 
 extending from the Revolution to the organization 
 of the Southern Baptist Convention the denomina- 
 tion in the South was especially active in the work 
 of local missions, and along the lines of advanced 
 missionary effort. The rapid increase of population 
 in the South made it necessary for much local effort 
 to be expended. So important, emphatic, and long 
 continued was this necessary work in the midst of a 
 raw and incoherent population, that it became more 
 difficult to divert attention to the equally important 
 matter of world evangelization. Then it cannot be 
 denied that the commercialism of the times acted 
 as a serious hindrance to the fostering of missions. 
 
198 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 It is not easy to enlist the devotion of men in 
 sacred work, the necessity of which is not visibly 
 manifest, when these men are engrossed in subduing 
 the harsher forces of nature, allured meanwhile by 
 the prospect of great gain. To such the injunctions 
 and admonitions of the pulpit respecting benevolence 
 are regarded as being merely functional. These 
 conditions may favor a spirit of worldiiness and do, 
 but proportionately they hinder the spirit of be- 
 nevolence. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 FORMATION OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVEN- 
 TION 
 
 THE Southern Baptist Convention was one of the 
 direct effects of the agitation of the question 
 of African slavery. Many years before the separa- 
 tion took place between Northern and Southern 
 Baptists, the question of slavery had been warmly 
 discussed in Baptist circles and councils. Many of 
 the largest owners of slaves in the South were Bap- 
 tists who were eminent in denominational ranks. 
 They were as pronounced and sincere in the defense 
 of the institution of slavery as were the Baptists 
 of the North in its denunciation. The counter- 
 sentiment of the two sections grew commensurately 
 during the last quarter preceding the outbreak of 
 the Civil War. The agitation of the question in 
 the columns of the journals both of the secular and 
 religious press, on the platform, in the pulpit, and 
 upon the floor of Congress, necessarily widened the 
 breach between the North and South. As an insti- 
 tution in the South, sl avery assumed three phases — 
 social, economic, and political. It had spent its 
 force as a social institution % the year 1835, while 
 to the end of its existence it continued to affect the 
 
 199 
 
 ^' 
 
200 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 South economically. It was as a political agency 
 that it was to effect the direst consequences. As 
 such, it split in twain great ecclesiastical bodies and 
 finally involved the country in bloody strife.^ 
 ■" The sway of wisdom and moderation in the 
 councils of the Triennial Convention held in abey- 
 V ance for many years the passions of the less dis- 
 V, creet. Except that now and then friction was pro- 
 duced by some injudicious utterance or production, 
 nothing occurred to mar the general harmony of the 
 Baptist denomination of the United States until 
 1844. This was due to the influence of wise and 
 cool spirits who studiously suppressed all initial 
 ^ manifestations of bitterness. The purpose was 
 j clearly deliberate on the part of the denominational 
 [ leaders, both of the North and South, to keep out of 
 \ sight as far as possible this impending trouble. 
 Up to 1844, Southern churches vied with those of 
 the North in their contributions to the treasuries of 
 the societies maintained by the Triennial Conven- 
 tion. 
 
 To some, however, it seemed clear that dissolu- 
 tion was inevitable ; to others, it was equally clear 
 that disruption could be averted. To the latter 
 class belonged that princely leader, Richard Fuller, 
 who in 1844 offered in the Triennial Convention 
 the following : 
 
 Whereas, Some misapprehension exists in certain parts 
 of the country as to the design or character of this Con- 
 
 1 " Southern Side Lights," Edward Ingle, p. 262. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION 201 
 
 vention, and it is most desirable that such misapprehen- 
 sion should be removed ; therefore, Resolved, That this 
 Convention is a corporation with limited powers for a 
 specific purpose defined in its constitution ; and there- 
 fore that its members are delegated to meet solely for the 
 transaction of business prescribed by the said constitu- 
 tion ; and that co-operation in this body does not involve 
 nor imply any concert or sympathy as to any matters 
 foreign from the object designated as aforesaid. 
 
 The resolution was promptly seconded by Spencer 
 H. Cone, of New York, and sustained by William 
 Hayne, of Massachusetts, and J. B. Jeter, of Vir- 
 ginia. But it was stubbornly resisted by Nathan- 
 iel Colver, of Massachusetts, who expressed the 
 desire that he be not handicapped respecting any 
 matter that might come for consideration before 
 the body. 
 
 After some discussion, the resolution was with- 
 drawn and the following was oifered and adopted : 
 
 Whereas, There exists in various sections of our 
 country an impression that our present organization in- 
 volves the fellowship of the institution of domestic 
 slavery, or of certain associations which are designed to 
 oppose this institution ; Resolved, That in co-operating 
 together as members of this Convention in the work of 
 foreign missions, we disclaim all sanction, either ex- 
 pressed or implied, whether of slavery or of anti- 
 slavery ; but as individuals we are perfectly free both to 
 express and to promote our own views on these subjects 
 in a Christian manner and spirit. 
 
 This evoked from Dr. Fuller upon the floor of the 
 
202 HISTORY or BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 / 
 
 / Convention the expression that he was perfectly 
 
 calm and dispassionate respecting slavery. While 
 he was unconvinced that slavery was a sin, person- 
 ally he considered it a great evil. He further said 
 that in this opinion his brethren in the South did 
 not share. He hoped and prayed that the institu- 
 tion might be abolished.^ 
 
 It was claimed by the pro-slavery advocates in 
 the Baptist denomination in the South that just sub- 
 sequent to the Triennial Convention for 1844, the 
 Board of Foreign Missions procured the retirement 
 from its service of Rev. John Bushyhead, a highly 
 respected Indian Baptist preacher, because he was 
 an owner of slaves. This created an impression 
 throughout the South that slaveholders would not 
 henceforth be admitted to appointment under the 
 Board. During the same year, 1844, the famous 
 controversy on slavery occurred between Way land 
 and Fuller. The latter replied to certain abolition 
 expressions which appeared in the columns of the 
 '' The Christian Reflector," and in doing so quoted 
 from Wayland's " Elements of Moral Science " to 
 sustain the Southern view of the question against 
 that expressed by the journal named. This called 
 for a reply from Dr. Wayland, and thus the contro- 
 versy began. The champions were the recognized 
 leaders of thought in the denomination North and 
 South. Both the ethical and scriptural grounds of 
 the great question were passed under review, and 
 ^A. H. Newman, "Am. Church Hist.," Baptist, Vol. II., p. 445. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION 203 
 
 opposite conclusions were of course reached. The 
 only good, perhaps, flowing from the controversy 
 was an exhibition of a courteous and Christian 
 spirit which distinguished it throughout. 
 
 The discussion of the most serious features of 
 the institution in so calm and courteous a manner 
 served, for a season, to allay bitterness of feeling. 
 But this was of brief duration. The secular press 
 fed the flame of public excitement. The halls of 
 Congress rang with oratory in the discussion of the 
 many-sided subject. Occasions for division, though 
 slight, were often magnified by the advocates of 
 both sides of this burning question. Arguments 
 flew to and fro like shots in battle. Any pro- 
 nounced action on either side repelled at a greater 
 distance the other. This was shown by the attri- 
 bution of certain utterances to Dr. R. E. Pattison, 
 the Home Secretary of the Boston Board, which 
 utterances intimated that the Acting Board of the \y/^ 
 Triennial Convention would no longer tolerate the 
 matter of slavery. It was these utterances which y 
 called forth the famous Alabama Resolutions. The 
 matter was brought to the attention of the Alabama 
 Baptist State Convention by a query from the 
 Tuscaloosa Church, the authorship of which was 
 attributed to Dr. Basil Manly, Sr. The query was 
 presented thus : " Is it proper for us, at the South, 
 to send any more money to our brethren at the 
 North, for missionary and other benevolent pur- 
 poses, before the subject of slavery be rightly under- 
 
204 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 stood by both parties ? " This was productive of sharp 
 and decisive action. This query, together with a 
 communication addressed to the Alabama Baptist 
 Convention from the Georgia Baptist Convention, 
 was referred to a committee of which Dr. Basil 
 Manly, Sr., was chairman. The result of the com- 
 mittee's action was embodied in the following reso- 
 tions : 
 
 Whereas, The holding of property in African Negro 
 slaves has, for some years, excited discussion as a ques- 
 tion of morals, between different portions of the Bap- 
 tist denomination united in benevolent enterprise ; and 
 by a large portion of our brethren is now imputed to 
 the slaveholders in these Southern and Southwestern 
 States as a sin at once grievous, palpable, and disquali- 
 fying ; 
 
 1. Resolved, . . . that when one party to a voluntary 
 compact among Christian brethren is not willing to ac- 
 knowledge the entire social equality w^ith the other, as 
 to all the privileges and benefits of the union, nor even 
 to refrain from impeachment and annoyance, united 
 efforts between such parties, even in the sacred cause of 
 Christian benevolence cease to be agreeable, useful, or 
 proper. 
 
 2. Resolved, That our duty at this crisis requires us to 
 demand from the proper authorities in all those bodies 
 to whose funds we have contributed or with whom we 
 have in any way been connected, the distinct, explicit 
 avowal that slaveholders are eligible, and entitled 
 equally with non-slaveholders, to all the privileges and 
 immunities of their several unions ; and especially to 
 receive any agency, mission, or other appointment 
 which may run within the scope of their operations or 
 duties. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION 205 
 
 It was further insisted that in the event of 
 the moral character of an applicant being chal- 
 lenged, such question should be referred for settle- 
 ment to the church of which he is a member. 
 The transmission of future contributions to these 
 societies was made contingent upon the satisfactori- 
 ness of the answer given to these questions. 
 
 The reply of the Foreign Mission Board was 
 made in a similar strain. It says : 
 
 In the thirty years in which the Board has existed, 
 no slaveholder, to our knowledge, has applied to be a 
 missionary. And as we send out no domestics or serv- 
 ants, such an event as a missionary taking slaves with 
 him, were it morally right, could not, in accordance 
 with all our past arrangements or present plans, possi- 
 bly occur. If, however, any one should offer himself as 
 a missionary, having slaves, and should insist on retain- 
 ing them as his property, we should not appoint him. 
 One thing is certain, we can never be a party to any ar- 
 rangement which would imply approbation of slavery. 
 
 The critical reader cannot fail to discover certain 
 caution and reservation in the deliverances from 
 both quarters. The language is charged with a re- 
 served force, and beneath the conventional courtesy 
 there slumber the fires of determination. The de- 
 liverance of the Alabama Baptist State Convention 
 was the most decisive utterance that had up to this 
 time emanated from either side. It is believed that 
 the incisive character of the challenge did inuch to 
 precipitate final separation. 
 
206 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Very soon practical emphasis was given to the 
 position taken by the Home Mission Society by its 
 refusal to appoint James E. Reeves, a missionary 
 within the Tallapoosa Association, of Georgia. 
 This refusal was made directly to the Executive 
 Committee of the Georgia Baptist Convention and 
 was based upon the ground that Mr. Reeves was a 
 slaveholder. The Executive Committee, composed 
 of J. L. Dagg, V. R. Thornton, J. B. Walker, 
 Thomas Stocks, and B. M. Sanders, promptly in- 
 structed the treasurer of the Convention to with- 
 hold all funds from Northern societies until fur- 
 ther instruction. This was followed by an address 
 to the people of the United States, reciting in de- 
 tail the action of the Home Mission Society. 
 
 The hour for dissolution had come. One by one 
 the Conventions of the Southern States began to 
 withdraw. Along with them went the missionary 
 auxiliary societies which had been such copious con- 
 tributors to the Boards of the Triennial Convention. 
 The Board of the Foreign Missionary Society of 
 Virginia, suggested that the Baptists of the South 
 be invited to meet in Augusta, Georgia, in May, 
 1845, to indicate a course of action for the future. 
 Meanwhile the national anniversaries of the de- 
 nomination met at Providence, Rhode Island. The 
 report of the committee appointed the year before 
 by the American Baptist Home Mission Society to 
 consider the subject of an amicable dissolution of 
 said Society, was submitted. It was as follows : 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION 207 
 
 Whereas, The American Baptist Home Mission So- 
 ciety is composed of contributors residing in slavehold- 
 ing States ; and, Whereas The constitution recognizes no 
 distinction among the members of the Society as to the 
 ehgibihty of all the offices and appointments in the gift 
 both of the Society and the Board ; and, Whereas, it has 
 been found that the basis on which the Society was or- 
 ganized is one upon which all the members and friends 
 of the Society are now willing to act ; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That it is expedient that the members now 
 forming the Society should hereafter act in separate or- 
 ganizations at the South and at the North, in promoting 
 the objects which were originally contemplated by the 
 Society. 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed to report a 
 plan by which the object contemiDlated in the preceding 
 resolution may be accomplished in the best way and at 
 the earliest period of time consistently with the preser- 
 vation of the constitutional rights of all the members 
 and with the least possible interruption of the mis- 
 sionary work of the Society. 
 
 The submission of tliis report gave rise to a pro- 
 longed discussion. Prominent in the lead of this 
 discussion was the able and conservative President 
 Wayland. He threw the weight of his powerful 
 influence against precipitate action in the matter of 
 dissolution ; but extreme abolition sentiments on 
 the part of Northern members and exacting de- 
 mands on the' part of members from the South 
 proved more than a match even for Francis Way- 
 land. The report was adopted and the hour for 
 final severance had struck. The Alabama resolu- 
 tions, to which answer had been made by the Exec- 
 
208 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 utive Committee of the Foreign Mission Board, 
 were taken up and considered and the action taken 
 by the committee was endorsed. This was the re- 
 sult of a report of a committee of which President 
 Wayland was chairman. The report was one that 
 breathed conciliation throughout. It said : 
 
 1. The spirit of the constitution of the General Con- 
 vention, as well as the history of its proceedings from the 
 beginning, renders it apparent that all the members of 
 the Baptist denomination, in good standing, whether at 
 the North or South, are constitutionally eligible to all 
 appointments emanating either from the Convention or 
 the Board. 
 
 2. While this is the case, it is possible that contin- 
 gencies may arise in which the carrying out of this prin- 
 ciple might create the necessity of making appoint- 
 ments by which the brethren of the North would either 
 in fact, or in the ojoinion of the Christian community, 
 become responsible for institutions which they could 
 not, with a good conscience, sanction. 
 
 8. Were such a case to occur, we should not desire 
 our brethren to violate their convictions of duty by 
 making such appointments, but should consider it in- 
 cumbent on them to refer the case to the Convention 
 for its decision. 
 
 In the discussion of this vital question, involv- 
 ing in great measure the benevolence of a large, in- 
 fluential, and wealthy body of Christians, the ablest 
 men of the denomination were engaged. It was 
 not a time for heated or precipitate action. The 
 utmost prudence and caution were needed. Much 
 as dissolution was deplored, it seemed unavoidable. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION 209 
 
 Conservatism was to be found in the ranks of the 
 representatives of both sections. Could their coun- 
 sel have prevailed, the rupture might not have 
 come quite so early. But as it was, no continued 
 co-operation could be had without a serious impair- 
 ment of the necessary enthusiasm as well as of the 
 copiousness of the benevolence on the part both of 
 the North and of the South. Between the two sec- 
 tions slavery had become a question of great irrita- 
 tion. Bitterness was engendered with advancing 
 time. The disturbing influence of slavery was felt 
 in every sphere. It was next to impossible, with 
 the country agitated as it was, for Northern aboli- 
 tionists and Southern slaveholders to dwell together 
 in unity. The quietness and wisdom with which 
 these matters were dealt, and the type of Christian 
 character displayed during these stormy times, re- 
 flect the ability and nobility of the men engaged. 
 
 Inevitable as the separation was between North- 
 ern and Southern Baptists, it was, for some reasons, 
 unfortunate. Had it not come, as it came, in 1844, 
 it must needs have occurred in 1861. Though if it 
 could have been delayed until 1861, the probability 
 is that the dissolution would have been only a tem- 
 porary one. While both sections have sustained 
 loss by the severance, it can scarcely be denied that 
 the South has suffered more. Considered from a 
 calm and dispassionate point of view, it is clear that 
 the South has suffered greatly by the loss of the 
 conservatism which has attended the councils of 
 
 o 
 
210 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Northern Baptists. Not that the South has been 
 without conservatism, for it has measurably pre- 
 vailed in spite of the tension to which Baptist lib- 
 erty in the South has been at times subjected. 
 That which else might have verged upon denomina- 
 tional dogma in some instances, has been counterbal- 
 anced by the conservative sentiment of such States 
 as Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas. 
 These Atlantic States have, since the formation of 
 the Southern Baptist Convention, represented the 
 cool conservatism in the Baptist councils of the 
 South, and have saved the denomination from the 
 very extreme from which it theoretically recoils. 
 
 May 8, 1845, marks a memorable epoch in the 
 history of Southern Baptists. In response to the 
 call made for the assemblage of Baptist representa- 
 tives from the South, three hundred and seventy- 
 seven delegates met at the time named, in the city 
 of Augusta, Georgia, for the purpose of forming 
 the Southern Baptist Convention. These delegates 
 were representatives from eight Southern States, 
 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro- 
 lina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, and 
 the District of Columbia. 
 
 It was an occasion of great enthusiasm. Dr. W. 
 B. Johnson, who had won distinction as a parlia- 
 mentary officer in the Triennial Convention, was 
 chosen president, Hon. W. Lumpkin, of Georgia, 
 and Dr. J. B. Taylor, of Virginia, were elected 
 vice-presidents, and Rev. Jesse Hartwell and Jamef- 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION 211 
 
 C. Crane were made secretaries of the new organ- 
 ization. 
 
 The genius of the body was voiced in a resohi- 
 tion which was the result of the work of a com- 
 mittee of two from each State. That resolution 
 was as follows : 
 
 That for peace and harmony, and in order to acenm- 
 pHsh the greatest amount of good, and for the mainte- 
 nance of those scriptural principles on which the Gen- 
 eral Missionary Convention of the Baptist denomination 
 of the United States was originally formed, it is proper 
 that this Convention at once proceed to organize for the 
 propagation of the gospel. 
 
 This was unanimously adopted. 
 
 An elaborate address was prepared, and appealed 
 " to the brethren of the United States ; to the con- 
 gregations connected with the respective churches ; 
 and to all candid men." The address opens with 
 the frank statement : 
 
 A painful division has taken place in the missionary 
 operations of the American Baptists. We would explain 
 the origin, the principles, and the objects of that division, 
 or the pecv;liar circumstances in which the organization 
 of the Southern Baptist Convention became necessary. 
 Let not the extent of this disunion be exaggerated. At 
 the present time it involves only the Foreign and Do- 
 mestic Missions of the denomination. Northern and 
 Southern Baptists are still brethren. They differ in no 
 article of the faith. They are guided by the same prin- 
 ciples of gospel order. Fanatical attempts have indeed 
 been made, in some quarters, to exclude us of the South 
 
212 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 from Christian fellowship. We do not retort these at- 
 tempts, and believe their extent to be comparatively 
 limited. Our Christian fellowship is not, as we feel, a 
 matter to be obtruded upon any one. We abide by that 
 of our God, his dear Son, and all his baptized followers. 
 The few ultra Northern brethren to whom we allude 
 must take what course they please. Their conduct has 
 not influenced us in this movement. We do not regard 
 the rupture as extending to foundation principles, nor 
 can we think that the great body of our Northern breth- 
 ren will so regard it. Disunion, however, has proceeded 
 deplorably far. The first part of our duty is to show 
 that its entire origin is with others. 
 
 Then follows a statement of the successive events 
 which gradually contributed to the formation of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention. In this was set forth 
 the charge that the Triennial Convention had broken 
 with the principles upon which it was founded. The 
 address declares concerning the original document 
 which was the basis upon which the Conv^ention Avas 
 established : " Its constitution knows no difference 
 between slaveholders and non-slaveholders." The 
 address further declares that the members of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention had not severed from 
 the constitution " of the original union." It further 
 claims that the founders of the Southern Baptist 
 Convention had " acted in the premises with liber- 
 ality " toward " the brethren of the North." Says 
 the same document, " Thrust from the platform of 
 equal rights between the Northern and Southern 
 churches, we have but reconstructed that platform." 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION 213 
 
 A little further on the emphatic declaration is 
 made: 
 
 We will not practically leave it on any account, much less 
 in obedience to such usurped authority, or in deference 
 to such a manifest breach of trust as is here involved ; a 
 breach of covenant that looks various ways, heavenward 
 and earthward. For we repeat. They w^ould forbid us 
 
 TO SPEAK unto THE GeNTILES. 
 
 Then follows a declaration which involves a firm 
 purpose to preach the gospel everywhere. Thus is 
 presented in analytical detail, the causes of the 
 separation, the principles of the Southern Baptist 
 Convention, and its objects. The elaborate address 
 concludes : 
 
 In parting with our beloved brethren and coadjutors 
 in this cause we could weep, and have wept, for ourselves 
 and for them ; but the season as well of weeping as of 
 vain jangling is, we are constrained to believe, just now 
 past. For years the pressure of men's hands have been 
 upon us far too heavily. Our brethren have pressed 
 upon every inch of our privileges and our sacred rights, 
 but this shall only urge our gushing souls to yield pro- 
 portionately of their renewed efforts to the Lord, to the 
 church universal, and to a dying world ; even as w^ater 
 pressed from without rises but the more within. Above 
 all, the mountain pressure of our obligations to our God, 
 even our own God ; to Christ, and to him crucified ; and 
 to the personal and social blessings of the Holy Spirit 
 and his influences, shall urge our little streams of the 
 water of life to flow forth ; until every wilderness and 
 desolate place w^ithin our reach (and what extent of the 
 world's wilderness, wisely considered, is not within our 
 
214 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 reach ?) shall be glad, even as this passing calamity of 
 division ; and the deserts of unconverted human nature 
 rejoice and blossom as the rose. 
 
 Two general Boards called the Domestic Mission 
 Board and the Foreign Mission Board were formed 
 and located respectively at Marion, Alabama, and 
 Richmond, Virginia. A vice-president for each of 
 the two Boards was appointed from each State repre- 
 sented in the Convention. The meetings were ap- 
 pointed to be held triennially after the manner of 
 the original convention of the United States. Rich- 
 mond, Virginia, was named as the next place of 
 meeting, and June 10, 1846, as the date. This 
 done and the first session of the Southern Baptist 
 Convention adjourned. 
 
 Although these devoted men had counted the 
 cost of such an immense undertaking, the contem- 
 plation of their grave responsibilities weighed upon 
 their spirits like the burden of the Lord upon the 
 prophets of olden time. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 WOEK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 
 
 WHEN they set themselves to organize the work 
 of the new Convention, the founders were 
 embarrassed with unavoidable complications. It 
 was not an easy task for the churches, Associations, 
 and State Conventions to sever at one blow the ties 
 which bound them to the Triennial Convention, and 
 at once adjust themselves to new conditions. 
 
 It was clear, from the beginning, that the peculiar 
 circumstances which invested the newly constituted 
 body would forbid a speedy entrance upon the pro- 
 posed work. One of the peculiar features was that 
 connected with the missionaries already upon the 
 field. Some of these were Southerners, but they 
 had been laboring under the auspices of the Trien- 
 nial Convention. Would they be invited to sever 
 their connection with the parent body, and place 
 themselves under the care of the new Convention ? 
 Even should they do so, would the Southern Con- 
 vention assume the work thus begun by the parent 
 body? Would this not be an additional occasion 
 for friction and prolonged disturbance ? 
 
 All these suggestions came to the sober-minded 
 leaders who recognized the necessity of an organiza- 
 
 215 
 
216 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 tion distinct from the Triennial Convention. These 
 difficulties had been considered in advance, and were 
 not discovered after the bridges had been burned. 
 Relief was sought, so far as the Southern-born mis- 
 sionaries were concerned, by a proposal to the North- 
 ern Board to enter into partnership in the work on 
 foreign fields ; but the Northern Board wisely de- 
 clined any such possibility of future complication. 
 Finally the settlement of the question was left to 
 the foreign missionaries themselves. If they should 
 desire to remain under the old Board, well ; if not, 
 they would be cordially received by the Southern 
 Board. 
 
 But slight extrication from prevailing difficulties 
 was found by the close of the first year of the Con- 
 vention, At the appointed time the delegates met 
 in Richmond. The meeting was one of dignity and 
 decorousness. About one hundred and fifty dele- 
 gates responded to their names. Representatives 
 were present from the American and Foreign Bible 
 Society, The American Sunday-school Union, The 
 American Baptist Publication Society, and the 
 General Association of Kentucky, all of which in- 
 dicated a willingness to fraternize the members of 
 the new Convention, and as far as practicable to co- 
 operate with them. 
 
 The delegates addressed themselves to work with 
 a solemnity befitting the occasion. This is indicated 
 by a series of solemn resolutions offered early in the 
 session, from which the following is an extract : 
 
WORK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 217 
 
 Resolved, That before the final vote upon questions of 
 vital importance (and at such other times as may be 
 deemed suitable by the body), the business of the Con- 
 vention shall be suspended, and prayer offered up to 
 Almighty God for the guidance of his Spirit. 
 
 No little enthusiasm was awakened by the pres- 
 ence of Rev. J. L. Shuck, missionary to China, 
 and Yong Seen Sang, a native Chinaman, who had 
 been converted and had accompanied Mr. Shuck to 
 America. Mr. Shuck had been in the employment 
 of the Northern Board, but now accepted appoint- 
 ment under the Foreign Board of the Southern 
 Baptist Convention. Thomas Simmons, recently 
 returned missionary from Burma, was also present 
 during the session. The China mission was rein- 
 forced by the appointment of the additional mission- 
 aries, S. C. Clopton and George Pearcy. 
 
 In consideration of the difficulties which invested 
 them, the members of the Convention found occa- 
 sion for gratitude in that they had been able to ac- 
 complish so much during the preceding year. The 
 provisional Boards, both foreign and domestic, had 
 done well. The Foreign Board reported collections 
 to the amount of seventeen thousand seven hundred 
 and thirty-five dollars, while the Domestic Board 
 closed the year with thirteen thousand one hundred 
 and ninety-three dollars, some of which amount 
 consisted of pledges. In order to facilitate its work 
 among the churches, the Foreign Board had insti- 
 tuted an organ of communication known as " The 
 
218 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Southern Missionary Journal," which afterward be- 
 came "■ The Foreign Mission Journal." In its first 
 report the Domestic Mission Board showed a com- 
 mendable spirit of enterprise by proposing to plant 
 mission stations along the Pacific coast, the shores 
 of California, and southward into Mexico. That 
 portion of the report was not adopted, however, for 
 fear of arousing suspicion of political combinations. 
 One of the distinctive features of the proceedings 
 of this session was the proposal to increase the 
 facilities for Christianizing the Southern slaves. 
 The belief being prevalent that a white man would 
 not be able to endure the climate of Western Africa, 
 it was deemed wise to send thither at least ten 
 colored missionaries from the South, and to main- 
 tain such a force all the while. The attitude of the 
 Baptists of the slave States to the Negro in 1846 
 may be judged by the following, which was earnestly 
 adopted : 
 
 Resolved, That in view of the present condition of the 
 African race, and in view of the indications of Divine 
 Providence toward that portion of the great fiimily of 
 fallen men, we feel that a solemn obligation rests not 
 only upon the Convention, but upon all Christians, to 
 furnish them with the gospel and a suitable Christian 
 ministry. 
 
 The Convention adjourned in the midst of hope- 
 fulness and enthusiasm, and yet with a profound 
 sense of the grave responsibility assumed. The 
 evangelization of a large portion of the American 
 
WORK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 219 
 
 Union had been undertaken. A ftiU share of the 
 work in foreign fields would have to be assumed by 
 the new body. Vast sums of money would have 
 to be raised and Avisely disbursed in the accomplish- 
 ment of these purposes. But the spirit of the Rich- 
 mond Convention aflForded a guarantee of ultimate 
 success. A basis was laid for extensive work. A 
 Foreign Board, duly equipped, was permanently lo- 
 cated at Richmond, Virginia, and a Board of Do- 
 mestic Missions was fixed at Marion, Alabama. A 
 committee was appointed " to consider and report 
 upon the expediency of organizing Boards of man- 
 agers for Bible and publication operations." 
 
 Steps were at once taken to occupy the destitute 
 territory of the home field as early as practicable. 
 Florida and Texas were, at this time, most inviting 
 fields for missionary endeavor. Into the former of 
 these States a few Baptists entered as early as the 
 first quarter of the century, and a Baptist church 
 was established, the first in the State, as early as 
 1825, in the county of Jackson. Governmental 
 liberality and protection gained for these new States 
 large accessions of population, which were scattered 
 in widely separated settlements over broad areas. 
 Toward such regions as these the Domestic Mission 
 Board directed its energies and resources, leaving 
 local destitution to be cared for by the district As- 
 sociations and State Conventions. As rapidly as it 
 could the Board followed in the wake of the ad- 
 vancing rank of population as it pressed westward. 
 
220 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Even as early as 1846, Mexico, as a missionary 
 field, was challenging the attention of Southern 
 Baptists. 
 
 The defined work of the new Convention was 
 the evangelization of the frontier regions of the 
 South, giving the gospel to the slaves. Christianizing 
 the Indians of the Territories, colportage operations, 
 and the extension of missionary work in foreign 
 fields. Vigorous activity in the new regions of the 
 South, which were thickening with a frontier popu- 
 lation, was not begun too early by the Southern 
 Baptist Convention. As the Domestic Mission 
 Board sought to draw to its allegiance the interior 
 churches of the South, it encountered much diffi- 
 culty. Church independency was asserted even in 
 the district Associations, and more vehemently in 
 regard to the State Conventions, and when it came 
 to an invited acquiescence with the general Boards 
 it seemed the nethermost of centralization, and 
 many openly protested. Indeed, that spirit has not 
 altogether departed from many interior churches in 
 the South to this day. The expanding strength of 
 the Boards of the Southern Baptist Convention is 
 due to the increasing acquiescence of the churches 
 of the South, and it is proper to state that this ac- 
 quiescence has been proportionate to the growing 
 efficiency of the Southern Baptist ministry. 
 
 Through the years, from the formation of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention to the present, there 
 has been in progress in the South what is known in 
 
WORK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 221 
 
 modern political phraseology as an " educational 
 campaign." In the presentation of the respective 
 claims of the two Boards the advantage has been 
 on the side of the Domestic Board, the visible 
 achievements of which in the new settlements of 
 the South have been all along strikingly manifest. 
 The Foreign Board was forced to await a fuller 
 development of missionary sentiment for the culti- 
 vation of which it is in no small measure indebted 
 to its twin sister — the Domestic Mission Board. 
 
 In the early history of the Convention there was 
 a great demand for patience, energy, sagacity, and 
 spiritual devotion. The territory covered by the 
 Convention was vast, embracing fourteen large 
 States, with an aggregate area of nine hundred and 
 fifty-five thousand six hundred and sixty-four square 
 miles, and with a population of eight millions, a 
 large portion of which was rural in character, and 
 thoroughly unevangelized. To reach this mass 
 there were at the period of the formation of the 
 Convention about two thousand Baptist preachers 
 of all grades and classes in the States of the South. 
 Only a few of this number were thoroughly edu- 
 cated, while many could barely read. Others were 
 superannuated, aiid hundreds of them were partly 
 or altogether secularized, and were employed as 
 teachers, physicians, merchants, farmers, mechanics, 
 and lawyers. These were unevenly distributed 
 throughout the South. In the older States they 
 were more efficient ; in the newer, they were alto- 
 
222 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 gether unequal to the demands of the prevailing 
 conditions. 
 
 Up to the period under discussion, Baptists were 
 almost entirely confined to the country. Not until 
 a later period in Southern history, when towns and 
 cities began to spring up and to grow, did many of 
 the most select elements of the rural population 
 begin to resort to these thriving centers. Baptists 
 being generally the dominant folk in the rural 
 regions, many representatives of that denomination 
 removed to the centers to improve their fortunes. 
 These of course were formed into churches. In the 
 selection of pastors they sought for those who were 
 the peers of the occupants of the pulpits of other 
 denominations. This gave increased emphasis to 
 the matter of ministerial education, and made neces- 
 sary the establishment of a theological seminary. 
 Inasmuch as the Baptists of the South were almost 
 altogether restricted to the country districts, it was 
 fortunate that many of their ablest ministers insisted 
 upon remaining in the country, though often 
 tempted by city churches, to become their pastors. 
 Some of these cultured gentlemen were owners of 
 plantations and large bodies of slaves, and they pre- 
 ferred the independence of country life to the most 
 inviting city pulpits. Some, like Andrew Broaddus, 
 of Virginia, persistently declined the most urgent 
 and tempting calls to the city, preferring the easy 
 conventionalities of rural life and worship. One 
 such man, here and there, was a tower of strength 
 
WORK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 223 
 
 in an educational process such as the Southern 
 churches were at that time passing through. The 
 circle of the influence of such a man was immense, 
 and at a time like the one under consideration, most 
 salutary. 
 
 When the detached work of evangelization was 
 undertaken, it was found that, in some regions of 
 the South, white inhabitants of matured age had 
 never heard the gospel preached. Colporters found 
 white adults of both sexes who had never heard a 
 sermon nor seen a minister of Christ. 
 
 The work of the organization of the incoherent 
 elements, especially of the new States of the South, 
 was slow and tedious. The Convention was most 
 deliberate in its choice of officials for its Boards. 
 The corresponding secretaryship of the Domestic 
 Board was first tendered to J. L. Reynolds, 
 but he declined to accept it. D. P. Bestor was 
 next invited to the charge of the interest, but he 
 frankly declined because he did not regard himself 
 suited to such a position. R. Holman was then 
 called upon and accepted the position. Upon his 
 retirement from the service of the Board, Joseph 
 Walker was chosen to succeed him. When Mr. 
 Walker resigned, Mr. Holman was recalled to the 
 office of the secretaryship, and successfully con- 
 ducted the affiiirs of the Board to the beginning of 
 the Civil War. M. T. Sumner was the next secre- 
 tary, and for almost a score of years gave success- 
 ful direction to the affiiirs of the Domestic Mission 
 
224 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Board. Having resigned, W. H. Mcintosh was 
 elected secretary, which position he held until the 
 removal of the Board to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1882, 
 when I. T. Tichenor became secretary. 
 
 The zeal and ability with which the aifairs of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention were conducted from 
 the beffinnino' are seen in the results of the work of 
 its agencies. For instance, during the first thirteen 
 years of the career of the Domestic Mission Board, 
 the contributions were seven times greater than 
 those contributed to the American Baptist Home 
 Mission Society by the same States during the thir- 
 teen years just preceding the organization of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention. The Board served 
 to give an impulse to every department of denomi- 
 national work by impressing the churches with a 
 sense of enlarged responsibility, and by arousing 
 greater confidence in the possibility of an early 
 evangelization of the South. Active agencies kept 
 the matter fresh before the churches, and in pro- 
 portion to the excitement of interest, the anti-mis- 
 sionary barriers gave way. Harmonious co-oper- 
 ation between the Domestic Board and the churches 
 opened the way to a fair consideration of the claims 
 of the Foreign Board. 
 
 Keeping pace with the tide of population which 
 moved steadily westward, the Domestic Board was 
 enabled to establish churches in the inception of 
 such centers as Houston and Galveston, Texas, 
 while older cities, like New Orleans, were entered 
 
WORK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 225 
 
 and interests were planted. Likewise in Arkansas 
 and Missouri successful work was accomplished by 
 the Domestic Board. Southward also, into Florida, 
 the attention of the Board was directed. Seizing 
 such commercial points as Key West and Tampa in 
 that State of growing importance, the interior of 
 the State was more easily reached. The evangeli- 
 zation of Florida was largely procured through the 
 agency of the Domestic Board. In occupying the 
 State, the Board was fortunate in finding a few or- 
 ganizations, such as the Florida Association, which 
 was constituted in 1841, as these furnished a van- 
 tage-ground for aggressive action. Eventually the 
 Indians came under the fostering care of the Do- 
 mestic Board, which still supplies them with mis- 
 sionaries. A summary of the work accomplished 
 by the Domestic Board from 1845 until 1861, the 
 period of the outbreak of civil strife, was, the ap- 
 pointment of seven hundred and fifty missionaries, 
 the adding of fifteen thousand members to the 
 churches, the erection of two hundred meeting- 
 houses, the constitution of two hundred new 
 churches, and the collection and disbursement of 
 three hundred thousand dollars.^ 
 
 The activity of the Board was, of course, crip- 
 pled during the Civil War, during which time it di- 
 rected its attention to the evangelization of the 
 Southern armies. Here its success was as signal 
 
 iDr. A. H. Newman, "Amer. Church Hist., Baptist," Vol. 
 II., p. 455. 
 
 P 
 
226 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 as it had been upon the fields of peace. Among 
 those whom the Board employed as army evangel- 
 ists were such distinguished men as I. T. Tichenor, 
 E. W. Warren, J. B. Hawthorne, R. Holman, W. 
 C. Buck, A. D. Sears, J. J. D. Renfroe, A. E. Dick- 
 inson, and J. L. Reynolds. 
 
 The Board shared in the general depression 
 which immediately succeeded the Civil War, and 
 in its gradual resuscitation had to rely chiefly upon 
 the border States of Maryland, Kentucky, and 
 Missouri. New vigor was given it upon its re- 
 moval to Atlanta. Dr. I. T. Tichenor was induced 
 to leave the presidency of the Agricultural and Me- 
 chanical College of Alabama to assume the secre- 
 taryship of the Board. As an indication of the 
 fresh vitality infused into the Board there were 
 thirty-six missionaries employed in 1881-1882, the 
 year before its removal, ninety-five in 1883, one 
 hundred and forty-four in 1884, one hundred and 
 eighty-seven in 1885, two hundred and fifty-five 
 in 1886, two hundred and eighty-seven in 1888, 
 three hundred and twenty-four in 1889, and four 
 hundred and six in 1891. Perhaps in no particular 
 has the Board rendered more signal service than its 
 agency in the creation of State mission Boards 
 throughout the South, for these were the direct out- 
 growth of the work of the Home Board.' In many 
 instances, these local organizations have been so ef- 
 
 iThe name was changed to that of Home Mission Board in 
 1873. 
 
WOEK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 227 
 
 ficient as to obviate the necessity of further opera- 
 tion of the Home Board in a number of the States. 
 A passing alkision has been made to the work of 
 the Home Board among the Indians of the West, 
 Fragments of original tribes still linger upon the 
 western confines of our country to which the Home 
 Board has been for many years devoted. Astonishing 
 results have been achieved by the missionaries who 
 have borne the gospel to the red men. Speaking 
 of the Indians, Secretary Tichenor says in one of 
 his reports : 
 
 The membership among them in proportion to popu- 
 lation is now equal to that of our strongest Baptist 
 States. They have been reclaimed from barbarism. 
 They support a well-organized government. They have 
 opened farms, builded houses, established schools, and 
 are prepared, if they so desired, to enter this great fed- 
 eration of States as a constituent member. Within the 
 Indian Territory there are now sixteen Associations and 
 three hundred and one churches, with a membership of 
 thirteen thousand eight hundred and forty-four. 
 
 What was said of the work of the Board in 
 Florida may be said equally of Texas. When the 
 Home Board entered this wild region west of the 
 Mississippi, there was a thinly scattered and mixed 
 population in Texas ; to-day the State has a Bap- 
 tist membership of one hundred and eleven thou- 
 sand one hundred and thirty-eight. 
 
 During the later years of its history the Board 
 has accomplished remarkable results through its 
 
228 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Cuban Mission. A captain in the insurgent army 
 during the rebellion of 1868-73 was surrounded by 
 a body of Spanish troopers upon a tongue of land 
 that protruded into the waters of the gulf. Prefer- 
 ring the casualties of the deep to the apprehended 
 cruelty of the Spanish soldiery, the captain w^ith 
 his sole companion seized a drifting plank and the 
 two were borne far out at sea. Through a long 
 dark night they were the plaything of the billows. 
 The dawn of day found them still clinging to the 
 friendly plank. Sick and exhausted the captain's 
 companion relaxed his hold and rolled into the 
 waters a dead man. Stretching himself as best he 
 could across the supporting timber, the captain him- 
 self sank into unconsciousness and when he awoke 
 found himself on board a fishing-boat, the crew of 
 which had picked him up. Being conveyed to New 
 York in a vessel to which he was transferred from 
 the smaller boat, he became violently ill of pneu- 
 monia and was taken to a hospital where his case 
 w^as pronounced hopeless. The youthful Cuban ap- 
 pealed strongly to the sympathy of Miss Alice 
 Tucker, a young Christian woman, who led him to 
 Christ by means of a Spanish New Testament. 
 Baptized in the Willoughby Avenue Church, Brook- 
 lyn, N. Y., Alberto J. Diaz returned to his native 
 land to preach the newly found truth. 
 
 Though rejected at first by kindred and friends, 
 he continued to preach to the Cubans while he en- 
 gaged in the practice of medicine, the art which he 
 
WORK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 229 
 
 had acquired before leaving New York. In spite 
 of persecution he laid under tribute every available 
 agency for the furtherance of the truth on the is- 
 land. A Baptist mission on the Florida coast at 
 Key West, established in the interest of refugee 
 Cubans attracted the attention of Diaz, which re- 
 sulted in the establishment of a correspondence be- 
 tween him and Secretary Tichenor. Mutual in- 
 terest led to the incorporation of Cuba into the 
 field of the Home Mission Board. This action fur- 
 nished the occasion of much enthusiasm on the 
 part of Southern Baptists, which was equaled alone 
 by the enthusiasm of the Cubans in behalf of their 
 distinguished young countryman. Taking practi- 
 cal advantage of the prevailing interest in the Cu- 
 ban mission throughout the South, Secretary Tich- 
 enor purchased a large theatre building at Havana, 
 at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars, and con- 
 verted it into a church. In addition to this interest 
 there have been established by the Board a school 
 for girls and a hospital for women. The mission in 
 Cuba was achieving extraordinary results until the 
 outbreak of the rebellion in 1895. In April, 1896, 
 Diaz was arrested and no doubt would have been 
 summarily dealt with but for demonstrations in his 
 behalf throughout the South and to a large extent 
 throughout the Union. 
 
 Another feature of the Home Mission Board is 
 that of planting mission stations in such of the 
 cities of the South as demand them. This is re- 
 
230 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 ceiving notable emphasis in New Orleans. Here 
 it has steadily fostered the work in the midst of 
 prevailing difficulties and has been instrumental 
 in maintaining permanent worship at the three 
 Baptist strongholds of the city — Coliseum Place, 
 First, and Valence Street Churches. For a num- 
 ber of years the Board published an organ known 
 as " The Home Field," which was consolidated 
 with the "Foreign Mission Journal" in 1895, 
 under the direction of the Southern Baptist Con- 
 vention ; but in 1896 the Convention again disso- 
 ciated the journalistic interests of the two Boards, 
 and left them to their discretion concerning the 
 adoption of organs for the future. The result was 
 that the Foreign Board re-established " The Foreign 
 Mission Journal," while the Home Board proposed 
 to adopt the columns of the State denominational 
 papers as a medium of communication with the 
 masses of the people. In entering upon its special 
 work in 1845, the Foreign Mission Board was re- 
 lieved of much embarrassment by finding a field al- 
 ready open by reason of the peculiar relations 
 which certain missionaries in China and Africa sus- 
 tained to the Baptists of the South. Messrs. J. L. 
 Shuck and I. J. Roberts, as a matter of choice per- 
 sonal to themselves, were transferred from the 
 Northern Board to the Foreign Board of the South- 
 ern Baptist Convention. 
 
 The difficulties encountered by the Foreign Board 
 in gaining headway in the South have already been 
 
WORK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 231 
 
 noticed. Especially in the early stages of its his- 
 tory, it was largely dependent upon the missionary 
 enlightenment imparted through the Home Board. 
 During the first eighteen years of its history, the 
 Foreign Board sent out twenty-two missionaries, 
 viz. : Messrs. Clopton, James, Gaillard, Holmes, 
 Bond, Roberts, Tobey, Whilden, Johnson, Shuck, 
 Pearcy, Cabaniss, Burton, Yates, Crawford, Schiel- 
 ding, Hartwell, and Graves, together with Mrs. 
 Shuck, Mrs. Graves, Mrs. James, Mrs. Whilden, 
 Mrs. Bond, and Miss Baker. Within the period 
 named five had died upon the field, Messrs. Clop- 
 ton, James, Gaillard, Holmes, and Bond. Mrs. 
 Whilden, Mrs. Shuck, Mrs. James, and Mrs. Bond 
 had also passed away, and Mr. Roberts had retired 
 from the service of the Board. Eight had returned 
 permanently to America, viz., Messrs. Tobey, 
 Whilden, Johnson, Shuck, Pearcy, Cabaniss, Bur- 
 ton, and Miss Baker. The China mission would 
 have been reinforced in 1861 by three others, but 
 the outbreak of the war interfered with their sail- 
 ing. During the period named twelve missionaries 
 were maintained upon the field : Messrs. Yates, 
 Crawford, Schieling, Hartwell, and Graves, with 
 their wives, together with Mrs. Gaillard and Mrs. 
 Holmes. Meanwhile the labors of several native 
 assistants were being enjoyed. 
 
 The first points occupied by the Board were 
 Canton and Shanghai, to which were subsequently 
 added the stations of Shin-Hing, Chefu, and Tung 
 
232 HISTOKY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Chow. In addition to preaching the gospel, the 
 missionaries were engaged in the establishment and 
 direction of schools, the erection of chapels, and the 
 distribution of literature. Tours were frequent into 
 the interior of the empire, where the gospel was 
 preached to many thousands. During the first 
 eighteen years of the operations of the Board in 
 China, more than one hundred converts had been 
 received, but the faithful labors of the missionaries 
 were regarded as prospective rather than as imme- 
 diate in their results. 
 
 From 1849 to 1863 there had been appointed 
 sixteen missionaries to Yoruba, Africa. In 1849 
 Missionary J. F. Bowen had founded this original 
 mission in Africa and had o])ened the way for future 
 operation. Among the earliest of the appointments 
 of the Board upon the African field was Missionary 
 Harden, a devoted colored preacher at Lagos, and 
 Messrs. Goodale and Denmore, together with Mrs. 
 Denmore, Mrs. Reid, and Mrs. Phillips, who died 
 upon the mission field in Africa. Of the sixteen 
 just alluded to, two were prevented from sailing. 
 This reduced the force of the African Mission to 
 Messrs. Harden and Stone and their wives, together 
 with Messrs. Reid and Phillips. Missionary sta- 
 tions had been established at Lagos, Abbeokuta, 
 Ijaye, Ogbomishaw, and Awyaw. Up to 1863 the 
 missionaries upon the African field could number 
 about fifty converts. Meanwhile an effort was made 
 to found a mission in Brazil, and J. T. Bowen was 
 
WORK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 233 
 
 assigned to that new field, but broken health forced 
 him to abandon it. Early in the sixties arrange- 
 ments were made for the establishment of a mission 
 in Japan, and Messrs. C. H. Toy, Johnson, and 
 Rhorer were appointed to that new field, but the 
 Civil War interfered with the sailing of the first 
 two, and the third perished at sea. The mission 
 was abandoned until 1889. 
 
 The Liberian Mission had been the most fruitful 
 in its results. It was among the earliest ventures 
 of the Board, and was conducted almost exclusively 
 by colored missionaries, though the Board had com- 
 missioned two white preachers, Messrs. Ball and 
 Kingdon, as special assistants to the work of the 
 mission. Mr. Kingdon soon fell a martyr to the 
 cause, as the African climate was entirely too severe 
 for his constitution. 
 
 Up to 1863 twenty-four stations had been estab- 
 lished in foreign parts by the Board, and twenty 
 pastors and twent}'-six teachers had been employed. 
 Twelve hundred members had been gathered into 
 all the churches upon the foreign field, and seven 
 hundred pupils had been brought into the schools. 
 This indicates the first work accomplished by the 
 Board, and represents the period up to the closing 
 of the Southern ports and the consequent suspension 
 of communication with the outside world. It was 
 a period of darkness and perplexity to the Board 
 when, as a result of the great American war, its 
 missionaries, laboring upon two distant continents, 
 
234 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 could not be communicated Avith, In China the 
 missionaries were not only perplexed by the sever- 
 ance of communication with their native land be- 
 cause of an American War, but were harassed also 
 by a prevailing Chinese war. With characteristic 
 courage, Mr. Crawford, one of the devoted mission- 
 aries, wrote : " War or no war, the mission must go 
 on. We can live notwithstanding the wars of China 
 and America." Taking advantage of their positions, 
 the Baptists of Maryland and of Kentucky trans- 
 mitted funds, from time to time, to the members of 
 the Chinese Mission. By means of this help and the 
 makeshifts which the missionaries in China were en- 
 abled to adopt, they tided over the period covered by 
 the years of conflict. The most formidable foe en- 
 countered by the missionaries of the Southern Board 
 during this trying period was the Asiatic cholera, 
 which served greatly to enhance the difficulties aris- 
 ing from the two wars from which the missionaries 
 suffered. It was a dismal period for the China Mis- 
 sion — congregations were scattered, schools broken 
 up, chapels burned, and one of the most devoted of 
 the missionaries, J. L. Holmes, was murdered near 
 Chefu. 
 
 With the restoration of peace came the enlarge- 
 ment of the missionary operations of the Foreign 
 Board. After mature deliberation, the Board re- 
 solved upon the establishment of a mission in Italy 
 in 1870. Dr. W. N. Cote, the son of a converted 
 Roman Catholic priest, was the pioneer missionary 
 
WORK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 235 
 
 to Italy. He succeeded in baptizing twelve con- 
 verts during the first year of the mission, and near 
 the close of the year was prepared to organize at 
 Rome a Baptist church with eighteen members. 
 Dr. John A. Broadus, who was at that time making 
 a European tour, and was present at the organiza- 
 tion of this original church, wrote from Rome in 
 January, 1871 : " I am thoroughly satisfied that 
 the Board has acted wisely in establishing this mis- 
 sion, and I should exclaim vehemently against any 
 idea of abandoning it." In 1873, Dr. Geo. B. Tay- 
 lor, of Virginia, was appointed superintendent of 
 Italian missions. He succeeded in opening a hand- 
 some chapel in Rome, in 1878, costing twenty-seven 
 thousand dollars, since which time regular services 
 have been held in that city. In November, 1880, 
 Rev. J. H. Eager, of Mississippi, was sent to rein- 
 force Dr. Taylor. The situation in Italy was por- 
 trayed thus by Mrs. Eager in 1887 : 
 
 Before 1848 there was not one publicly declared Evan- 
 gelical in the whole of Italy, except in the Waldensian 
 Valleys. From 1848 to 1859, the gospel was preached 
 in Piedmont only. Until 1870 not one Eoman dared 
 proclaim himself Evangelical, and no foreign Protestant 
 could worship within the Avails of Kome. Now, in 1887, 
 there are eight thousand seven hundred and eighty-one 
 church-members, one thousand two hundred and twenty- 
 two catechumens, four thousand seven hundred and 
 fifty-eight Sunday-school pupils, eighty-two colporters, 
 one hundred and ninety-two preachers, two hundred and 
 fifty-six churches and stations, five orphan asylums, and 
 nine religious newspapers, either monthly or weekly. 
 
236 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 On leaving America, whither he had come in 1889 
 to raise money for the erection of chapels in Italy, 
 Dr. J. H. Eager wrote : " Oh, for the one hundred 
 thousand dollars spent in the churches of New York 
 City on Easter Day for flowers ! " 
 
 The Brazilian Mission being abandoned in 1860, 
 in consequence of Missionary Bowen's health, it was 
 not undertaken again until 1879, when E. H. Quil- 
 lian was appointed a missionary at Santa Barbara. 
 In 1881 the Brazilian Mission was reinforced by 
 the appointment of W. B. Bagby and wife, and the 
 next year after by Z. C. Taylor and wife, all of 
 Texas. The mission has been a reasonably prosper- 
 ous one. 
 
 The most fruitful and progressive department of 
 work under the Foreign Mission Board is that of 
 the Mexican Mission. The way for the occupation 
 of that republic by the missionaries of the Southern 
 Baptist Convention was providentially opened by 
 the migration of a body of Texans into Mexico. 
 Establishing a chain of settlements, they organized 
 churches, and from the beginning received some 
 accessions from the Mexican population. The 
 leaders of this movement were the brothers, West- 
 rup, both of whom had been previously supported 
 in the State of Coahuila by the Texas Baptist State 
 Convention. One of these, John O. Westrup, hav- 
 ing been barbarously murdered by the Mexicans 
 and Indians, his brother assumed direction of the 
 entire work. Appealing to the Foreign Board for 
 
WORK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIONS 237 
 
 help, he was, in 1882, reinforced by W. M. Flour- 
 ney and wife. During the same year, W. D. 
 Powell and wife, of Texas, and Miss Annie J. 
 Mayberry were appointed to the same work, and 
 stationed at Saltillo. This was the beginning of a 
 grand onward march into Mexico. According to a 
 comprehensive and systematic plan, the region pro- 
 posed to be evangelized w^as divided into missionary 
 districts, and the missionaries were stationed at 
 certain commanding points. In this way, a line of 
 missions was established from the Rio Grande to the 
 Pacific Ocean. Between the years 1882-1889, the 
 following missionaries, together with Senors Car- 
 denas, Rodriguez, Gomez, and other natives, entered 
 the field of the Mexican Mission — Misses Tupper 
 and Barton, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. 
 McCormick, Miss Cabaniss, Mr. and Mrs. Mosely, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Watkins, Mr. and Mrs. Chastain, 
 and Mrs. Duggan. The qualities of leadership 
 possessed by W. D. Powell made him the acknowl- 
 edged director of the Mexican Mission. Wise in 
 conception, resolute of purpose, courageous in execu- 
 tion, irresistible in energy, and yet gentle in dispo- 
 sition and consecrated at heart — Powell combines 
 all the elements of a great missionary leader in a 
 region like Mexico. From the beginning, his 
 career in that new field of missions has been dis- 
 tinguished by the most signal success. He is able 
 readily to respond to the emergencies which neces- 
 sarily arise in such a region and amid such a people 
 
238 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 as the Mexicans. In the adohe hnt of the lowly 
 Mexican, npon the remote ranch, in the crowded 
 mart, before the frenzied mob, in the presence of the 
 highest officers of State, or in the most cultured as- 
 semblage — he is equally the master of the situation. 
 Fired with a consecrated earnestness, he sways the 
 Mexican mind with a magical power. Writing of 
 his work in 1889, he says : 
 
 We have carried the Avork from the Texas border to 
 the Pacific coast. Opposition is waning. I almost uni- 
 versally meet a warm welcome. The government gives 
 us full ijrotection. The leading dailies in the city of 
 Mexico, and throughout the republic, expose Eomanism 
 and defend our cause. The clergy have lost ground 
 rapidly during the past two years. All of our churches 
 and mission stations report progress and prosperity. 
 Our force of workers is insufficient to occupy the terri- 
 tory already open to us. We have eighteen American, 
 and fifteen native, workers. There are eighteen organ- 
 ized churches and some six hundred members. "Truly 
 this is the Lord's doing and marvelous in our eyes." 
 . . . All our central stations liave been established at 
 fine strategic points. 
 
 The youngest of the enterprises of the Foreign 
 Mission Board is the Japanese Mission. It was 
 undertaken in 1889 by Missionaries McCollum and 
 Branson, and their wives. Upon the retirement of 
 Mr. Brunson, the mission was reinforced by the 
 appointment of Messrs. Walne and Maynard, and 
 their wives. Up to this period, the work has been 
 of a preparatory character, but its progress had been 
 most encouraging. 
 
WORK UNDER CHANGED CONDITIOXS 239 
 
 Amoncr other eiforts made bv the Soathern Bap- 
 list Convention was the organization, in 1851, of 
 the Bible Board established for colportage purposes. 
 Previous to this, eiforts had been made in some of 
 the States, notably in Alabama and Virginia, to 
 establish and maintain local Bible Boards, but they 
 had failed. Nor did this larger and more preten- 
 tious undertaking succeed. Publication work by a 
 denomination is invariably attended by more or less 
 peril. After a struggle of twelve years, the Bible 
 Board of the Southern Baptist Convention was dis- 
 continued. The failure was largely due to the fact 
 that with increased facilities of transportation, the 
 American Bible Society established its auxiliaries 
 and its colportage system throughout the South. 
 
 The Southern Baptist Publication Society never 
 had organic connection with the Convention, but 
 was a private enterprise. It never succeeded. As 
 the American Baptist Publication Society came t.o 
 supply the demands for denominational literature 
 in the South, the other gradually retired and finally 
 disappeared altogether. In 1863, the Sunday- 
 school Board of the Southern Baptist Convention 
 was born. It likewise perished, its span of life 
 being measured by the period of a single decade. 
 There was a revival of this suspended interest at the 
 session of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1891. 
 This was the result of the agitation of the question 
 of Sunday-school literature, the Convention decid- 
 ing to organize its own Board for the publication of 
 
240 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 this matter, but distinctly adopted the conservative 
 proviso " that the fullest freedom of choice be ac- 
 corded to every one as to what literature he will use 
 or support, and that no brother be disparaged in the 
 slightest degree on account of what he may do in 
 the exercise of his right as Christ's freeman." Dr. 
 J. M. Frost, the author of the resolutions reviving 
 the Board, became its first secretary, but retired 
 after the lapse of a year, when Dr. T. P. Bell, then 
 assistant secretary of the Foreign Mission Board, 
 was elected secretary and treasurer of the Sunday- 
 school Board. Retiring in the latter part of 1895, 
 to take charge of the " Christian Index," at Atlanta, 
 Georgia, Dr. Bell was succeeded by Dr. Frost, who 
 was called again to the charge of the affairs of the 
 Board. The headquarters of the Board are in 
 Nashville, Tennessee. Under its auspices are issued 
 " The Teacher," the quarterlies of different grades, 
 leaflets and cards, together with " The Young 
 People's Leader." The receipts of the Sunday- 
 school Board for the year ending May, 1896, were 
 sixty-two thousand eight hundred and forty-one dol- 
 lars and twelve cents. The contributions to benevo- 
 lence were made as follows : To the Foreign Board, 
 two thousand one hundred and seventy-five dollars 
 and ninety-three cents ; to the Home Board, two 
 thousand one hundred and thirty-nine dollars and 
 twenty-one cents ; to Sunday-school Mission work, 
 three thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven dol- 
 lars and fifty cents. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE SOUTHEEN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 A S has already been shown, one of the matters of 
 -^^ chief concern with the denomination builders 
 of the South was that of preparing the way for a 
 more enlightened and better qualified ministry. 
 This subject engaged the attention of the most pro- 
 gressive of the Baptist ministry of the States of the 
 South as early as the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. With the opening years of the present cen- 
 tury, the importance of a more intelligent ministry 
 was emphasized by two imperative considerations — 
 the growing intelligence of the masses, and the 
 steady intellectual advancement of the ministry of 
 other denominations. At this early period plans 
 were devised for meeting existing demands, but they 
 were necessarily crude, as has been shown in a pre- 
 vious chapter. From this desire to possess a more 
 able ministry has grown all our denominational col- 
 leges for young men. Indeed this idea was the 
 germ of most of our denominational advancement, 
 for it was not dissociated from that of missions in 
 the minds of the founders of our general denomina- 
 tional organizations in all the States. While the 
 denomination was getting in readiness for this on- 
 
 Q 241 
 
242 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 ward movement, another event occurred in a distant 
 quarter of the globe which contributed most mate- 
 rially to the enhancement of its importance. Ado- 
 niram Judson and Luther Rice decided in India that 
 it would be necessary for one to return to America 
 and organize means for the support of the other 
 who might remain upon the foreign field. The 
 return of Rice, in whose mind lay the associated 
 ideas of intellectual advancement and denomina- 
 tional expansion, was most opportune for the pro- 
 motion of a cherished purpose which had long en- 
 raged the attention of the most advanced elements 
 of the denomination. Every Baptist college in the 
 South took root in these early plans and endeavors. 
 Founded originally upon the idea of a better pre- 
 pared ministry, the earliest Baptist schools were 
 soon forced to respond to a general demonstration to 
 provide means for the education of those looking to 
 other vocations than that of the ministry. This led 
 to the next stage of development, that of providing 
 a theological department in connection with a purely 
 literary course. Provision was made for a single 
 chair in connection with such a theological course as 
 was p-iven under such circumstances. This served the 
 purpose, after a fashion, for a period of years ; but 
 it eventually became unsatisfactory. Baptist can- 
 didates for the ministry in search of the most com- 
 prehensive scholarship attainable, began to go North 
 in order to avail themselves of the advanced instruc- 
 tion afforded at Newton, Hamilton, and Princeton. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 243 
 
 Among such as sought these better facilities may be 
 named J. P. Boyce, J. W. M. Williams, S. C. Clop- 
 ton, H. A. Tupper, Sr., E. T. Winkler, and Basil 
 Manly, Jr. The impression produced upon their 
 minds of the incomparable advantages enjoyed in a 
 theological seminary above those of a theological 
 annex to a literary institution, made them earnest 
 advocates of a seminary for the South. They found 
 ready co-operators in such, men as J. B. Jeter, W. 
 B. Johnson, and R. B. C. Howell. 
 
 The attention which had been devoted to the 
 general subject for so long a time, and the attempts 
 which had been made to meet the prevailing defi- 
 ciency in the denomination, had created a profound 
 conviction of the necessity of a separate institution 
 for the training of the Baptist ministry of the South. 
 Consequently one of the earliest questions con- 
 sidered, after the organization of the Southern Bap- 
 tist Convention, was that of the possibility of found- 
 ing a Southern seminary. At Augusta, Ga., in 
 1845, a conference of delegates from several States 
 was held in the interest of the proposed, institution. 
 The question came up for consideration two years 
 later, in 1847, at the meeting of the Indian Mission 
 Association at Nashville, Tenn. Two years later 
 still. Dr. W. B. Johnson sought to secure a meet- 
 ing of the delegates to the Southern Baptist Con- 
 vention from South Carolina, at Aiken, prior to 
 the meeting of the general body in order to gain 
 co-operation in urging the claims of the Furman 
 
244 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Theological Institution as a nucleus of such semi- 
 nary ; but the eifort failed. Similar attempts were 
 afterward made by other institutions, among which 
 was Mercer University, Georgia, but without suc- 
 cess. The question gradually became one of gen- 
 eral comment, and eventually led to a discussion in 
 the denominational papers between Drs. R. B. C. 
 Howell and Robert Ryland. The chief objection 
 urged by Dr. Ryland against the founding of such 
 an institution was that it would require an endow- 
 ment of one hundred thousand dollars, and that 
 could not be raised. 
 
 When the Southern Baptist Convention met at 
 Charleston, in 1849, Dr. W. B. Johnson, the pre- 
 siding offcer of the body, presented before an edu- 
 cational meeting, in a learned and elaborate address, 
 the claims of a theological seminary. He was sup- 
 ported by Basil Manly, Jr. Still no practical action 
 was taken. 
 
 In 1854 the General Association of Virginia 
 proposed that at the meeting of the Southern Bap- 
 tist Convention for that year, at Montgomery, Ala., 
 " the friends of theological education " consider 
 the claims of a seminary. This is understood to 
 have emanated from Dr. J. B. Jeter, who was an 
 earnest advocate of a theological seminary many 
 years before the consummation of the enterprise. 
 At Montgomery, resolutions were offered by Dr. A. 
 M. Poindexter and unanimously adopted to the eifect 
 " that in the opinion of this meeting it is demanded 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 245 
 
 by the interests of the cause of truth that the Bap- 
 tists of the South and Southwest unite in establishing 
 a theological institution of high grade." To this 
 was given the practical sanction of a meeting solely 
 in the interest of the proposed seminary, to be held 
 the following April in Augusta, Ga. There came 
 to this last-named meeting representatives from nine 
 States and the District of Columbia. A large and 
 able committee, of which Dr. Basil Manly, Sr., 
 was the chairman, reported "that from various 
 causes they found the subject embarrassed by diffi- 
 culties at every point, which it is useless here to 
 discuss, as it is impossible to decide whether they 
 are insuperable." But this declaration did not 
 afford satisfaction to many who were intent upon 
 the establishment of a seminary for theological in- 
 struction. 
 
 Another meeting still was appointed to be held 
 a year later, and in order to afford ample time for 
 the consideration of the matter, it w^as agreed to 
 meet two days in advance of the Convention. To 
 prepare the way for practical action, a committee, 
 consisting of B. Manly, Sr., A. M. Poindexter, and 
 J. B. Jeter, was directed to report to the said meet- 
 ing at Louisville : 
 
 1. What funds exist subject to the control of the Bap- 
 tists for theological instruction in each of the institutions 
 of the South and Southwest ; whether the trustees or 
 other parties holding legal control over these funds 
 can and will contribute them in any form — and if any, 
 
246 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 what — to the uses of a common theological institution 
 to be located at any other point within or without the 
 limits of their own States severally, should the aforesaid 
 Convention, to assemble at Louisville in 1857, adjudge 
 such different location best for the common good ; 
 whether these funds, in case they are limited to a spot, 
 can and will be placed within the control of such a Board 
 of trustees as may be appointed by competent authority 
 agreed upon for a common theological institution. 
 
 Besides this the committee was authorized and 
 requested, 
 
 2. To use adequate means for ascertaining what efforts 
 will be made in favor of any location, already occupied 
 or not, by the inhabitants and friends thereof, and what 
 pecuniary subscriptions or pledges will be given as a 
 nucleus in case such location should be selected for the 
 common institution ; the object of all these inquiries 
 being to ascertain, in the fullest manner possible, 
 whether such a demand is felt for a common institution 
 as may be a basis and encouragement for future united 
 action. 
 
 The plan thus proposed was the product of the 
 brain of James P. Boyce. Up to this time, the 
 hope had been indulged that the departments for 
 theological instruction connected with the Baptist 
 institutions throughout the South might be com- 
 bined into such an institution as was now contem- 
 plated. But this idea was now given up altogether. 
 
 When in July, 1856, the Baptist State Convention 
 of South Carolina met at Greenville, Prof. James P. 
 Boyce, of the theological department of Furman 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 247 
 
 University, induced the Convention to propose to 
 the contemplated Educational Convention to be held 
 at Louisville, Kentucky, to establish at Greenville, 
 South Carolina, a common theological mstitution, 
 proposing to turn over the funds, to the amount of 
 about thirty thousand dollars, then held by the 
 Board of Trustees for theological instruction, to the 
 proposed institution. To this amount it was pro- 
 posed to add such a sum as would make the total 
 one hundred thousand dollars, to be raised in South 
 Carolina, provided an additional one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars could be procured from the other States 
 
 of the South. 
 
 The matter was now beginning to assume practi- 
 cal shape, the whole question, however, turning upon 
 the possibility of collecting seventy thousand dollars 
 within nine months in South Carolina. 
 
 In May, 1857, the Educational Convention which 
 was to precede the meeting of the Southern Baptist 
 Convention, at Louisville, Kentucky, was held. 
 There were present eighty-eight delegates from the 
 States of Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Geor- 
 gia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, 
 Tennessee, and Kentucky. The proposal which 
 came from the South Carolina Convention furnished 
 the occasion for much enthusiasm, especially since 
 Professor Boyce and others assured the delegates 
 that the proposal as made by the South Carolma 
 Baptists would be fully complied with. The inter- 
 est deepened as the hope of founding a seminary 
 
248 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 grew brighter. At this juncture the executive skill 
 of James P. Boyce for the first time became con- 
 spicuous. He formed a plan for the establishment 
 of the seminary at Greenville, South Carolina, the 
 following year, provided the sum of one hundred 
 thousand dollars be raised in that State by May 
 1, 1858, ready to be placed in the hands of the 
 Board of Trustees. The interest accruing from 
 this sum, seven thousand dollars, was to be used for 
 the support of three professors, for the purchase of 
 books (not exceeding five hundred dollars annually), 
 and for paying a proper agency in other States to 
 raise the additional one hundred thousand dollars ; 
 provided also, that recitation and lecture rooms 
 could be secured in Greenville, for a number of 
 years, free of rent. It was finally arranged that 
 if the additional one hundred thousand dollars 
 should not be raised within the period of three 
 years, then the amount furnished by South Carolina 
 should revert to Furman University, to be devoted 
 to theological purposes, and the contributions col- 
 lected elsewhere, to their respective donors. The 
 wisdom of such a plan is at once apparent. Here 
 were checks and balances, bold inspiration and dis- 
 creet protection at every point. A special educa- 
 tional meeting was provided for at Greenville, South 
 Carolina, for May, 1858, to consummate the plans 
 already indicated, provided the South Carolina Con- 
 vention should accept the conditions. Committees 
 were appointed, meanwhile, to prepare a plan of 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 249 
 
 organization, to nominate a faculty, secure a charter 
 from the legislature of South Carolina, provide for 
 the canvass of the States of the South, and to issue 
 an address to Southern Baptists. It is a noteworthy 
 fact that the members of the committee on plan of 
 organization, named by the venerable president of 
 the meeting, Dr. Basil Manly, Sr., were afterward 
 elected to fill chairs in the seminary, viz., James P. 
 Boyce, John A. Broadus, Basil Manly, Jr., E. T. 
 Winkler, and William Williams. 
 
 It fell to the lot of Dr. Jeter to prepare the ad- 
 dress to the Baptists of the South. With his 
 usual vigor of style, he showed that an institution 
 like a theological seminary was needed, and that 
 Southern Baptists had been seeking to found such 
 for a number of years. He further showed the pro- 
 priety of establishing the seminary at Greenville, 
 South Carolina, because of its accessibility, health- 
 fulness, and cheapness of living. In presenting the 
 plan of organization, he insisted that the seminary, 
 
 being free from the shackles imposed by the old systems 
 and established precedents, and having all the lights and 
 experience and observation to guide us, we propose to 
 found an institution suited to the genius, wants, and 
 circumstances of our denomination, in which shall be 
 taught, with special attention, the true principles of ex- 
 pounding the Scriptures, and the art of preaching eflfi- 
 ciently the gospel of Christ. 
 
 Assurance was given that prevailing systems in the 
 denominational colleges would not be interfered 
 
250 HISTOEY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHEEN STATES 
 
 with, but would be encouraged by the proposed 
 seminary. 
 
 The South Carolina Baptist State Convention met 
 in July following the Louisville meeting, which gave 
 birth to the seminary. The proposal made to the 
 South Carolina Baptists to raise seventy thousand 
 dollars was accepted, and James P. Boyce was ap- 
 pointed agent to raise the amount. Accompanied 
 by a driver, he traveled South Carolina over in a 
 two-horse buggy to raise the quota of that State. 
 Though the task was a laborious one, it was cheer- 
 fully undertaken. In August, Messrs. Boyce, 
 Broadus, and Manly met at the home of the last- 
 named, in Richmond, to arrange an abstract of doc- 
 trinal principles to be signed by each professor, to 
 devise the legal and practical arrangements in regard 
 to trustees and professors, and to prepare an outline 
 of a plan of instruction for the seminary. 
 
 The year went past and the last of the educa- 
 tional conventions held in the interest of the estab- 
 lishment of a seminary, met at Greenville, South 
 Carolina, on May 1, 1858. Five days were spent 
 in the discussion of plans proposed for the seminary, 
 and the result was unanimity of sentiment and of 
 action throughout. So harmonious was the body, 
 after carefully reviewing each point, that every fea- 
 ture was adopted by a unanimous vote. Instead of 
 the original plan of three professors. Dr. Boyce now 
 advised the appointment of four. In every detail 
 of outline and execution the hand of James P. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 251 
 
 Boyce was actively guiding. He had raised almost 
 the entire amount of seventy thousand dollars. 
 Through his agency, the church building occupied 
 by the Baptists at Greenville, previous to their 
 entrance into their handsome edifice in another por- 
 tion of the town, was procured for the use of the 
 seminary. This building rendered valuable service 
 for years, affording space for lecture rooms and a 
 library. The wisdom of Dr. Boyce was conspicuous 
 in that he pronounced against the idea of the con- 
 sumption of funds in the erection of buildings until 
 an ample endowment for instruction had been se- 
 cured. Though the temptation was frequent to 
 swerve from this purpose, Dr. Boyce held firmly to 
 it, and the wisdom of such a course has been abun- 
 dantly vindicated by the events of thirty-five years. 
 In giving sanction to this pronounced expression of 
 Dr. Boyce, Dr. Thomas Curtis, then the principal of 
 Limeston (S. C.) Female Institute, said, with sonor- 
 ous English tones and rolling r's : 
 
 The requisites for an institution of learning are three 
 b's — bricks, books, brains. Our brethren usually begin 
 at the wrong end of the three b's ; they spend all their 
 money for bricks, have nothing to buy books, and must 
 take such brains as they can pick up, but our brethren 
 ought to begin at the other end of the three b's. 
 
 This expression was caught up and was soon spread 
 all over the country.^ 
 
 1 Dr. J. A. Broadus, " Memoirs of James P. Boyce," p. 153. 
 
252 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS liS' SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 According to the modified plan, four professors 
 were elected — J. P. Boyce, J. A. Broadus, B. 
 Manly, Jr., and E. T. Winkler. Two of these, 
 Broadus and Winkler, declined. This together with 
 other causes led to the delay of opening the semi- 
 nary another year. In May, 1859, the Board of 
 Trustees of the seminary met at Richmond, in con- 
 nection with the Southern Baptist Convention. 
 Drs. Broadus and Winkler were again elected to 
 chairs in the seminary, and again Dr. Winkler de- 
 clined, whereupon Dr. William Williams Avas 
 chosen, and in the fall of 1859 the first session was 
 opened. The leaders in the movement to establish 
 a seminary, besides those mentioned were, J. L. 
 Burrows, J. B. Taylor, G. W. Samson, R. Furman, 
 J. W. M. Williams, J. O. B. Dargan, J. H. De 
 Votie, D. P. Bestor, J. M. Pendleton, S. L. Helm, 
 J. L. Dagg, and Samuel Henderson. These men 
 represented the influential elements of the denomi- 
 nation throughout the South. From the outset the 
 system of instruction in the seminary was made 
 elective, and sufficiently flexible to be easily ad- 
 justed to the ability of any student who might 
 desire to take the course. The first session opened 
 prosperously with twenty-six matriculates. Of 
 these, ten came from Virginia, nine from South 
 Carolina, three from North Carolina, two from 
 Alabama, one from Florida, and one from Missouri. 
 " This was a far larger beginning than any theolog- 
 ical seminar}^ in America of whatever denomination 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 253 
 
 had enjoyed for its first two years." ^ By a combi- 
 nation of the influence of the powerful factors 
 already named, the additional hundred thousand 
 dollars was secured from the other States of the 
 South. This, together with the success which 
 crowned the initial session of the seminary, secured 
 its permanency. Before the close of the second 
 session, the Civil War began, and from 1862 to 
 1865 the work of the seminary was necessarily sus- 
 pended. The professors were requested to retain 
 their connection with the institution until the close 
 of hostilities, to prevent the dissolution of the 
 seminary. Meanwhile, their salaries were continued, 
 and were paid in Confederate money, the privilege, 
 however, being granted them to engage in such 
 other pursuits as they deemed advisable, while they 
 should hold official, though nominal, connection 
 Avith the institution. In consequence of this priv- 
 ilege, the faculty was dispersed in different direc- 
 tions. Dr. Boyce becoming chaplain of a Confederate 
 regiment, and later, a member of the South Carolina 
 legislature. Drs. Manly and Williams found partial 
 employment as country pastors in the regions adja- 
 cent to Greenville, while Dr. Broadus divided his 
 time between country pastorates, missionary work in 
 General Lee's army, and the corresponding secre- 
 taryship of the Sunday-school Board, which was at 
 that time located at Greenville. 
 
 ^Dr. John A. Broadus, in " First Thirty Years of the Southern 
 Baptist Theological Seminary," p. 11. 
 
254 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 During the summer following the capitulation of 
 the Confederate armies, the members of the semi- 
 nary faculty met at Greenville to consider the ad- 
 visability of attempting to resume work in the fall 
 of 1865. The endowment had been almost totally 
 destroyed in consequence of the war, five thousand 
 dollars alone remaining, and that was invested in 
 Georgia Railroad bonds which could be sold for 
 nearly par. In order to open the seminary in the 
 fall. Dr. Boyce generously contributed one thousand 
 dollars to the available resources of the seminary, 
 although his own private affairs were critically de- 
 ranged by the war, and the business outlook of the 
 country was quite gloomy. Fortunately no incubus 
 of debt was upon the seminary — a calamity which 
 had been averted by the sagacity of Dr. Boyce. 
 
 With 1865 began, on the part of the seminary, a 
 protracted struggle for life. Only seven students 
 were enrolled during the first session after the close 
 of the war. But the noble men of the faculty stood 
 at their posts. One of them said, " The seminary 
 may die, but suppose it be understood that we'll die 
 first." Fully aware of the arduous and self-sacri- 
 ficing labors which awaited them, the members of 
 the faculty cheerfully resumed the direction of the 
 affairs of the seminary. There was no abatement 
 of interest nor the slightest indifference to instruc- 
 tion because of the slim attendance. Professors 
 met their classes as promptly as they would have 
 done had the lecture rooms been crowded. Dr. 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 255 
 
 Broadus gave a pretty full course of instruction in 
 homiletics to one student during the first session 
 after the war, and that one was blind. The num- 
 ber of students slowly increased, year by year, but 
 the depressed condition of the country suggested 
 only failure continually. Money was exceedingly 
 scarce, and the spirit of progress seemed to have 
 departed from the South. In the midst of these 
 conditions, these brave and gifted men in the tem- 
 porary quarters at Greenville were barely able some- 
 times to keep the wolf from the door. At one time, 
 the payment of the salaries fell an entire year 
 behind, and the worst of it was there was no assur- 
 ance that they would ever be paid. Some of the 
 professors would ride on horseback considerable dis- 
 tances across the country to serve rural churches, 
 and not infrequently return laden with food for their 
 families. The lesson of rigid economy learned dur- 
 ing the years of the war was never more valuable 
 than at this time. Nor were the few students who 
 strayed through the halls, and occupied the seats of 
 the lecture rooms, any more fortunate, for they were 
 frequently reduced to very great straits. In this 
 extremity, friends were not wanting. Occasionally 
 the trying tension was relieved by the contribution 
 of some generous soul. To the frequent appeals 
 made by Dr. Boyce, favorable responses would now 
 and then come, but oftener they would not. How- 
 ever, there were never lacking some who gave of 
 their hard earnings to the seminary. 
 
256 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 About 1870 a few generous Baptists at the North 
 began to afford some aid. This was at first given 
 to defray the personal expenses of some of the 
 students, but afterward was contributed to the cur- 
 rent expenses of the institution. As soon as the 
 condition of the country would justify it, Dr. Boyce 
 began the organization, at the meetings of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention, of a general subscrip- 
 tion for the payment of a given amount each year, 
 for five years, to meet current expenses. This 
 course was pursued at two sessions of the conven- 
 tion, and served the purpose admirably of assisting 
 to tide the seminary over difficult straits. But it 
 was evident that this could not long continue. One 
 of two things soon became necessary — to give up 
 the seminary altogether, with no probability of re- 
 viving it for a whole generation, or to endow it. 
 If endowed, the seminary must be removed. The 
 idea of endowment suggested that foundation work 
 was as necessary as when the seminary was first 
 instituted. It was clear that in order to endow- 
 ment, the seminary would have to be removed to 
 some State that woukl be willing to contribute at 
 least one-half of the endowment fund. In the 
 deplorable condition in which South Carolina then 
 was, it would be impossible to realize the amount 
 necessary for the proposed object. At that time 
 Furman University was struggling to get upon its 
 feet, and it stood in urgent need of every dollar 
 which the denomination in South Carolina could 
 
SOUTHEEN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 257 
 
 command. While the question of removal was be- 
 ing discussed, offers were made by several cities in 
 different States to secure for themselves the location 
 of the seminary. It was finally decided to remove 
 it to Louisville, Ky. South Carolina was being 
 abandoned only in response to a call of stern ne- 
 cessity. All the members of the faculty were about 
 to sunder their connection with their former sur- 
 roundings, not without great grief. This was espe- 
 cially true of Dr. Boyce, who w^as devoted to his 
 native State, and the more so now because of her 
 prostrate condition. Dr. Boyce preceded the re- 
 moval of the seminary to Louisville, where he had 
 been engaged for several years in working up the 
 endowment. 
 
 In 1887 the seminary opened its doors in its new 
 home in the West. There was an increase in the 
 attendance from the beginning. This has steadily 
 continued from year to year. By degrees most of 
 the great body of Kentucky Baptists came to appre- 
 ciate the location of the seminary among them, and 
 personal pledges were given to the amount of three 
 hundred thousand dollars, of the half-million sup- 
 posed to be necessary to maintain the institution. 
 
 Many of the pledges made by the denomination 
 in Kentucky and elsewhere failing to be collected, 
 and the expenses having been materially increased 
 by reason of removal to a large city, a deficiency of 
 funds ensued. Really it seemed, for several years 
 after reaching Louisville, that the seminary might 
 
258 HISTOEY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 after all collapse. Just at this juncture, Gov. Joseph 
 E. Brown, of Georgia, contributed to it fifty thousand 
 dollars. This was the occasion of much enthusiasm 
 among the friends of the institution. Mr. George 
 W. Norton, one of the leading business men of 
 Louisville, was the next to act, and in such a way as 
 to secure gifts, which when added to those already 
 in hand would yield the increase necessary to sustain 
 the school. Mr. Norton and his brother, W. F. 
 Norton, had already been generous contributors to 
 the seminary, but his plan now was to give in such 
 a way as to secure two hundred thousand dollars of 
 invested funds. In order to command the confi- 
 dence of the business public, and at the same time 
 to secure any gifts to the seminary against any con- 
 tingency, Mr. Norton proposed that such changes 
 be made in the charter as to require that the princi- 
 pal of all contributions for endowment made subse- 
 quently to February 1, 1880, be held forever sacred 
 and inviolate, only the income to be expended, and 
 if any portion of the principal be used for expenses, 
 then the whole should revert to the original donors. 
 In order to give the greatest possible practical force 
 to this measure, it was further proposed that a finan- 
 cial Board of the seminary, composed of five busi- 
 ness men in Louisville, should be elected every year 
 to invest the principal, hold the securities, and pay 
 over the income to the treasurer of the seminary. 
 The purpose was to protect the principal against all 
 invasions, however urgent the need or grave the 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY '259 
 
 crisis. The legislature of Kentucky granted the 
 amendment to the charter. Having accomplished 
 thus much, the Norton brothers now proposed to 
 give each a generous sum toward securing the two 
 hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 From this time the seminary took on new life. 
 Without delay a vigorous canvass was begun. Dr. 
 Broadus went North and procured about forty thou- 
 sand dollars ; and within two years the two hundred 
 thousand dollars was collected and invested and the 
 seminary was saved. Up to this time the school 
 had been quartered in rented buildings in Louisville, 
 for the same policy was here adopted that had saved 
 the seminary from wreck at Greenville, which was 
 that building should not be undertaken until a per- 
 manent endowment was secured. For a period the 
 students were quartered in a hotel of moderate 
 dimensions, and lectures were delivered on the third 
 and fourth floors of the Library Hall, which space 
 had been rented for these purposes. The hotel and 
 the two floors of the Library Hall were rented for 
 the seminary for a term of years. 
 
 A substantial endowment being secured, Dr. 
 Boyce, in 1884, began to devise plans for building. 
 The Board of Trustees had appointed a committee 
 of fifteen, including the faculty and a number of 
 business men in Louisville, to select a location. A 
 division of opinion existed respecting the location of 
 the seminary — some contending for a suburban loca- 
 tion where the property would gradually enhance in 
 
260 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 value ; others, for a central location which would 
 give the seminary an independent and respectable 
 position from the beginning, and bring it frequently 
 under the observation of its friends and supporters. 
 Besides, it would give to the students the advantage 
 of all that was best in the social life of the city, and 
 place them within easy reach of the churches, Sun- 
 day-schools, and lecture halls of Louisville. A 
 central location would enable the students to reach 
 more readily the surrounding regions, where they 
 might desire to preach on Sunday, as it would 
 equally serve to enable them to resume more 
 promptly their work on Monday. The question 
 was the occasion of no little concern until President 
 Boyce found property in the city which could be 
 purchased at reasonable rates. This he quietly 
 gained the consent of the committee to purchase. 
 A judicious investment was made; the difficulty was 
 at once solved; the seminary was located. So em- 
 phatically did the location commend itself to the 
 business public that a number of gentlemen volun- 
 tarily contributed to the payment for the property. 
 
 The choice of location for the seminary was only 
 the beginning of a new struggle on the part of Pres- 
 ident Boyce, wdio had now to raise fifty thousand 
 dollars to pay for the purchased lots. Where should 
 he look for the amount? Louisville, it would seem, 
 had been drained of its generosity toward the sem- 
 inary; the churches had grown weary of appeals, 
 and the current expenses had still to be met. Mat- 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 261 
 
 ters were again brought to a standstill. The heart 
 even of the great Boyce was sorely tried under such 
 pressure. He needed twenty thousand dollars with 
 which to make a payment for the property, and no 
 means were in sight. Appealing to Mr. W. F. 
 Norton to start the subscription with twenty-five 
 hundred dollars Dr. Boyce wrote : 
 
 Getting this sum is really going to be fearful work ; 
 yet it is necessary to get it, if possible. If I can do this 
 then the hope of buildings in the future may be reason- 
 ably entertained. Without it, I do not believe I shall 
 ever see the day when these buildings can be completed. 
 I do wish before I die to see the seminary fully equipped 
 and at work. For this I have spent my whole life thus 
 far, and am willing to spend the remainder, if I can at- 
 tain the end. But my heart often sinks within me at 
 the difficulties to be overcome. My ftiith in the enter- 
 prise fails. I begin to think I must leave it incomplete 
 for some other man to finish. Oh, that I could get my 
 brethren to see its possibilities for good, with an ample 
 endowment ! I know it could do ten times its present 
 work. 
 
 He was overwhelmed with the burden at this junc- 
 ture because the time had arrived for making titles 
 to the lots, and the payments due were indispensable. 
 From here and there the money came, sometimes 
 from unconjectured sources. A visit from Dr. Ed- 
 ward Judson to Louisville about this time resulted 
 in arousing his interest in behalf of the seminary. 
 Returning to New York, he became the indirect 
 means of awakening the interest of Mr. John D. 
 
262 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Rockefeller, which found substantial expression 
 somewhat later. Mr. J. A. Bostwick's sympathy 
 was also quickened in consequence of a visit to 
 Louisville. This was followed by a visit of Dr. 
 Broadus to New York, where generous gifts — largely 
 conditioned upon local liberality in Louisville^ — were 
 obtained. Notwithstanding his broken health, Dr. 
 Boyce made gigantic efforts to meet the conditions 
 named. Unchecked in his zeal even by harsh 
 weather, which he had to encounter with shattered 
 health, he toiled as never before. Slight dribbles 
 gathered here and there gave but little hope of sub- 
 sequent relief. Finally the amount was raised and 
 sixty thousand dollars was realized in New York. 
 Senator Brown, of Georgia, again came to the res- 
 cue, sending his check for five thousand dollars 
 more for the contemplated building, and New York 
 Hall was an assured success. 
 
 In 1885 two bequests w^ere made to the seminary 
 which greatly increased its resources. Mr. D. A. 
 Chenault, of Madison County, Kentucky, bequeathed 
 to it fifteen thousand dollars, the interest of Avliich 
 was to be used in aid of needy students in attend- 
 ance. W. F. Norton, of Louisville, contributed ten 
 thousand dollars for the same purpose. On Decem- 
 ber 28, 1888, Dr. Boyce died at Pan, France, whither 
 he had gone with the hope of procuring relief from 
 the gout, from which he was a great sufferer. His 
 loss was greatly lamented throughout the States of 
 the South. His had been a career of remarkable 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 263 
 
 activity, usefulness, and honor. Endowed with the 
 highest qualities of intellect ; with courage and a 
 lofty spirit, a mastery of details which was phe- 
 nomenal, a quick apprehension and an unerring 
 judgment, indomitable firmness which never quailed 
 before the most menacing exigency, promptness, 
 punctuality, and perseverance which never failed ; 
 an energy rarely equaled, a capacity for labor which 
 was herculean, and a poise of character which made 
 him a prince among his fellows — James P. Boyce 
 was pre-eminent among the Baptist leaders of the 
 South. 
 
 Those elements in which he may not have been 
 the peer of others, were compensated for manifoldly 
 by the possession of other great qualities of which 
 the owners of special gifts alone never dreamed. 
 His qualities of mind and character were not only 
 many, they were great. Jurist, financier, philoso- 
 pher, theologian — he was all these to a pre-eminent 
 degree. He was petty in nothing; he was great 
 in all. 
 
 Dr. John A. Broadus succeeded Dr. Boyce as 
 president of the seminary. Under his administra- 
 tion the work went successfully on. Side by side 
 he had labored with Dr. Boyce from the inception 
 of the great denominational enterprise. His last 
 years were cheered by the decided progress which 
 marked the career of the seminary. He had seen it 
 grow from struggling infancy to the proportions of 
 a giant; for in 1894 there were in attendance two 
 
264 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 hundred and seventy students taught by eleven in- 
 structors. 
 
 At that time the vahie of the grounds and build- 
 ings was estimated at two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand dollars, the endowment had grown to four 
 hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, and the 
 library was valued at fifty thousand dollars, there 
 being twenty thousand volumes upon the shelves — 
 the total valuation being seven hundred and seventy- 
 five thousand dollars. 
 
 On March 16, 1895, Dr. Broadus died. His suc- 
 cessor to the presidential chair of the seminary. Dr. 
 Whitsitt, in the historical address delivered at 
 Washington, D. C, in May, 1895, on the occasion 
 of the fiftieth anniversary of the Southern Baptist 
 Convention, said of Dr. Broadus : 
 
 This year of our jubilee, with all its light and gladness, 
 has been sadly darkened by his departure. On the sev- 
 enteenth of March devout men carried him to his burial, 
 and made great lamentation over him. The foremost 
 leader of our history, great in the might of his greatness, 
 has passed away from us, but his fame and usefulness 
 shall go and grow throughout the years and ages. When 
 you, who sit here, shall be aged and feeble men and 
 women, little children will gather about your knees with 
 reverence and delight to look upon one who has seen 
 and heard and spoken with John A. Broadus. 
 
 In May, 1875, Prof. W. H. Whitsitt, d. d., ll. d., 
 was elected by the Board of Trustees the president 
 of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The 
 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 265 
 
 success of the first session of his administration was 
 phenomenal, the attendance being three hundred 
 and eighteen, representing twenty-eight States, the 
 District of Columbia, and the Indian Territory, to- 
 gether with one student each from China, England, 
 Nova Scotia, and Persia, and four from Canada. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 
 
 INFORMATION respecting the earliest Baptist 
 Sunday-schools in the South is scant. That 
 they existed in the earliest years of the present cen- 
 tury is easily ascertained, but to locate them in 
 every instance is not so easy. That so valuable an 
 auxiliary should have been suggested to a people so 
 alert respecting local evangelization as the Baptists 
 of the South have ever been, is altogether natural. 
 
 In the opening years of the century great rivalry 
 existed between the Baptists and Methodists of the 
 South. Their local missionaries and pastors vied 
 with each other in seeking to be the first upon the 
 ground in every new settlement, and they were 
 watchful of each other respecting any means which 
 might be employed for denominational advance- 
 ment. Any legitimate means which were laid under 
 tribute by one, were equally employed by the other 
 if the cause was thereby promoted. It is a matter 
 of record that a Sunday-school was organized in 
 1786, at the suggestion of Bishop Asbury in Han- 
 over County, Virginia. This is the first school of 
 that character of which we have an account in the 
 South. Again, in 1790 a resolution favoring Sun- 
 266 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 267 
 
 day-schools was adopted by the Methodist Confer- 
 ence, in Charleston, South Carolina. Baptists have 
 not been so careful to preserve their records as have 
 other people, only as these records are embodied in 
 the local proceedings of churches, and are therefore 
 inaccessible to the general chronicler ; hence we are 
 left for data to the occasional glimpses that are 
 afforded through indirect means rather than through 
 documentary evidence. The first third of the present 
 century was a period preparatory to the Sunday- 
 school interest which began to assume commanding 
 proportions about 1840. The development of the 
 interest was greatly hindered during the latter half of 
 the time named, by the perpetual struggle between 
 the progressive and the unprogressive elements of 
 the denomination. And yet it must not be inferred 
 that the young were left uninstructed in sacred 
 things during this long period. While there were 
 but few schools that approximated in efficiency the 
 Sunday-school of to-day, there were organizations in 
 which sacred instruction was given. In the cen- 
 ters of population, like Savannah and Charleston, 
 where presided such denominational representatives 
 as Holcombe and Furman, the young were regularly 
 trained in catechetical instruction. During his 
 Charleston pastorate. Dr. Richard Furman would, 
 every quarter, assemble the young people of his 
 charge for the purpose of having them recite from 
 Reach's Baptist Catechism. Standing over the 
 closed baptistery (which was then called the font) 
 
268 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 the honored pastor, in clerical robes and bands, 
 having the boys ranged face to face with the girls, 
 would alternately ply them with questions.^ 
 
 This exercise was statedly and solemnly conducted 
 in the presence of the assembled audience, and the 
 recitation served to excite much interest, especially 
 on the part of those most concerned in the reciters. 
 The prominence thus given to the teaching of the 
 youth of the church preserved a wide-awake interest 
 in sacred instruction among the Baptist homes of 
 Charleston. The lessons thus taught were never 
 forgotten. It was a period of thorough indoctrina- 
 tion. Under such conditions men and women grew 
 up robust Baptists. Though superior in many re- 
 spects, the Sunday-school literature of to-day is 
 not equal to that of the earlier periods with respect 
 to denominational culture. At that time but little 
 disposition was shown to simplify either the terms 
 or thought of the catechism in accommodation to the 
 capabilities of the youth. The cardinal doctrines 
 were presented alike to the mind of the child and 
 that of the matured theologian. It was not so much 
 a matter of comprehension — that could be left to 
 maturer years — it was a cramming process. Ques- 
 tions relative to the fundamental doctrines would be 
 as glibly answered by boys and girls in the old First 
 Church of Charleston, as by the thoughtful preacher 
 in his study. 
 
 1 Dr. 0. F. Gregory, "History of First Baptist Church, Charles- 
 ton, S. C," subject, Sunday-schools. 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 269 
 
 While these examinations in Keach were taking 
 place quarterly, the Presbyterians, Methodists, and 
 Baptists would unite in a weekly union Sunday- 
 school. By degrees, however, each denomination 
 withdrew and established its own school. 
 
 The first regularly organized Baptist Sunday- 
 school in the South was in the Second Church of 
 Baltimore. This organization took place in 1804, 
 at the suggestion of Elder Healy, the pastor, who 
 had emigrated from England in 1795, and was 
 doubtless largely influenced by the Sunday-school 
 activity then prevailing in Great Britain. 
 
 The next Baptist Sunday-school of which we 
 have any record was that of the First Church of 
 Charleston. It seems that prior to 1816, several 
 denominations were united in Sunday-school in- 
 struction, as has already been shown. It was in 
 1816 that a distinctively Baptist Sunday-school was 
 organized at Charleston. In 1819 still another was 
 organized by Dr. Adiel Sherwood at Trail Creek 
 Church, near Athens, Georgia. Dr. Sherwood had 
 just removed from New England, where he no doubt 
 had enjoyed the advantages which he was now seek- 
 ing to impart to others. 
 
 After 1820 Sunday-schools became more numer- 
 ous in different portions of the South, especially in 
 the upper tier of the Southern States. Oftentimes 
 they would continue until the winter months, when 
 they would suspend until the reopening of spring. 
 Again, they would be operated successfully for a 
 
270 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 period of months and then gradually become extinct. 
 In the populous centers schools generally began as 
 union organizations. The literature was such as 
 could be gotten from any source, and usually em- 
 braced a few old catechisms. 
 
 The expansion of the denominations, however, 
 compelled separate organizations to be made for the 
 different Sunday-schools. Beginning first in the 
 cities, schools gradually came to prevail in the town 
 and village churches, and finally in the country. A 
 Sunday-school in a rural church was rarely heard of 
 before 1825. This marks the date of the beginning 
 of the opposition to Sunday-schools on the part of 
 the anti-missionary Baptists of the South, which 
 opposition waxed in bitterness until 1838. 
 
 In some instances, ministers were silenced for ad- 
 vocating such institutions, and in others, members 
 were excluded from the churches for suffering their 
 J^ ' children to attend them. The temper of the oppo- 
 
 ^9* ^'^i. .-. nents of Sunday-schools at that time may be judged 
 i/ jL'*'^ from an extract from the Minutes of an anti- 
 
 '*'**. missionary church in Alabama, the record bearing 
 
 A I date, 1825 : 
 
 Breastwork Church petitioned in her letter that this 
 Association (the Ahxbama) take into consideration the 
 propriety or impropriety, and make consideration 
 thereon, of a declaration made by that church declining 
 an uncommunion fellowship with the Baptist State Con- 
 ventions, theological schools, Sunday-schools, Bible so- 
 cieties, tract societies, and all churches that hold mem- 
 bers of such societies in fellowship with them. 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 271 
 
 The organization of the American Sunday-school 
 Union in 1824 gave an impulse to the Sunday- 
 schools in the older States of the South. Agents 
 were appointed to canvass the most populous sec- 
 tions, not only to organize schools, but to solicit 
 funds for the furtherance of the objects fostered by 
 the Union, as well as to nourish the schools organ- 
 ized under its auspices. In the rural districts of 
 the South, these agents were not, at first, cordially 
 received. Sunday-schools were regarded as an in- 
 novation, and they were adopted slowly and cau- 
 tiously. The managers of the Sunday-school Union 
 displayed great wisdom by appointing some of the 
 denominational leaders in each of the older States 
 of the South to represent its interests. For a long 
 period it was difficult to maintain Sunday-schools 
 with any degree of permanency outside of the 
 churches of the cities. 
 
 As early as 1830 the North Carolina Baptists 
 were advocating Sunday-schools through reports 
 submitted to the general bodies. The Mississippi 
 Baptist State Convention, as early as 1838, made 
 this ringing deliverance : 
 
 Though the institution of Sabbath-schools is, as it 
 were, in its infancy, its advantages have been tested by 
 numberless experiments. It numbers now among its 
 friends, the statesman, the philanthropist, and the pious 
 of every name. 
 
 And that the great Head of the church regards it 
 with special favor is evident from the abundant success 
 
272 HISTORY OP BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 with which he has crowned it. Your committee would 
 recommend it to the warmest sympathies and most 
 hearty co-operation of this body as promising great good 
 to the rising generation and the general advancement of 
 the cause of Christ. We are aware of the discourage- 
 ments under which its friends must labor in this State. 
 Few comparatively are experienced in its operations ; it 
 is difficult to obtain books, and, in many parts, the 
 population is so sparse as seemingly to forbid its success- 
 ful introduction. But in every good cause obstacles 
 yield to resolute perseverance. If we look about our 
 State, we shall doubtless find that not one-sixth of the 
 children attend preaching regularly on the Sabbath ; so 
 that it is to them the most idle day of the seven. It 
 need not be said here that idleness is the parent of vice. 
 But could the children be brought into a Sabbath-school, 
 they would be restrained from profaning the Sabbath 
 and be employed in a most valuable process of mental 
 and moral culture. 
 
 As an aid to the friends of Sabbath-schools, we would 
 suggest to the Convention the expediency of establish- 
 ing a Sabbath-school repository within the bounds of 
 this State, believing that it would give birth to num- 
 bers of Sabbath-schools within the present year, be the 
 means of securing the greater vmiformity in books, and 
 such books too as are generally approved by our de- 
 nomination. 
 
 This admirable report, which was really a fore- 
 cast of the system as it was afterward developed, 
 closed with resolutions of high approval of the 
 system of Sunday-school instruction, and urged its 
 immediate attention upon the Baptist pastors 
 throughout the State. 
 
 This report was submitted on the occasion of the 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL VVOEK 273 
 
 second annual meeting of the Mississippi Baptist 
 State Convention. A few years later we have the 
 first expression concerning the Sunday-school, from 
 the Alabama Baptist State Convention. In 1844 a 
 report was submitted for the first time, which 
 report clearly indicates that schools have been for 
 some time existing in the State, but the writer is 
 led to regret " the absence of such statistical infor- 
 mation as would contribute to the usefulness and 
 interest of the report." In a closing resolution, the 
 report provides that the "Convention, impressed 
 with the value of the system of Sunday-schools, ear- 
 nestly recommended that it claim the immediate at- 
 tention of pastors, and that they be urged to consti- 
 tute a scliool in each church as early as practicable." 
 When, in 1831, Dr. William Vaughn was ap- 
 pointed the agent of the American Sunday-school 
 Union in Kentucky, the cause began to excite pub- 
 lic interest, though the schools were slow in form- 
 ing. The agitations of that period, arising from the 
 distractions occasioned by Alexander Campbell on 
 the one hand and by the anti-missionary Baptists 
 on the other, had made the Baptists of Kentucky re- 
 luctant to embrace any new measure. They looked 
 askant upon the introduction of any innovation or 
 departure, however great its promise of good results. 
 This extreme caution delayed denominational en- 
 dorsement of the Sunday-school for twenty years. 
 It was not until 1854 that we find the General As- 
 sociation of Kentucky bestowing the slightest atten- 
 
 s 
 
274 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 tion upon the institution. Even then the expression 
 was a feeble and dubious one. A report upon the 
 subject says: "From the best information we can 
 obtain, we are of the opinion that Sunday-schools 
 are not appreciated among our churches ; that a 
 very small proportion of the churches — probably 
 not one-fourth — have Sunday-schools, and many of 
 them in a very sickly condition, scarcely maintain- 
 ing an existence." No positive action was taken, 
 no aggressive interest manifested. In 1856, how- 
 ever, we find the General Association of Kentucky 
 adopting the following : 
 
 Resolved, That we recommend to our churches the im- 
 portance of organizing Sunday-schools whenever it is 
 practicable. 
 
 Resolved, That pastors of churches use their influence 
 by presenting to their respective congregations the sub- 
 ject of Sabbath-schools and aid in organizing a healthy 
 and efficient system. 
 
 This interest being at last aroused, an investiga- 
 tion of the literature which was being distributed 
 by the agents of the American Sunday-school Union 
 was had. The undenominational character of the 
 literature at once aroused the opposition of the Ken- 
 tucky Baptists, who were naturally sensitive at this 
 particular juncture to the slightest evasion of a 
 positive presentation of the principles of the Bible 
 as they were held by Baptists. This investigation 
 led to a vehement denunciation of the diluted char- 
 acter of the literature of the Sunday-school Union. 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 275 
 
 Now that interest was aroused, it was determined 
 to constitute a new organization to be known as the 
 Southern Sunday-school Union, which was established 
 at Memphis, Temiessee, in November, 1858. While 
 the depository was located at Memphis, the govern- 
 ing Board was appointed at Nashville. The resolu- 
 tions which follow emanated from the General Asso- 
 ciation of Kentucky, and clearly show the sentiments 
 which controlled the Baptists of the State at that 
 time. 
 
 Resolved, That while we recognize the excellencies of 
 the Sunday-school Union libraries, in the main we feel 
 the defect of an entire silence on many points of divine 
 truth, essential to the duty of Christians and to the 
 union of God's people. 
 
 Resolved, That we approve the principle of supplying 
 all our libraries with a literature entirely scriptural and 
 expressive on all points of duty, both of doctrine and 
 polity. 
 
 Resolved, That we recommend the patronage of the 
 Southern Baptist Sunday-school Union. 
 
 This new turn in the tide of aflPairs served to 
 quicken for a while denominational interest in the 
 subject. L. B. Fish, becoming the general agent of 
 the Memphis organization in 1860, succeeded in 
 arousing more enthusiasm in the work than had pre- 
 viously existed. This brings fully before us the 
 varying phases of the work within the territory 
 under consideration, until the outbreak of the Civil 
 War. Up to this time no uniformity characterized 
 
276 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 the work in the different portions of the South 
 where it existed. Wlierever a school was estab- 
 lished it adopted its own methods and its own course 
 of study. Independent of uniformity of system or 
 co-operative action, Sunday-schools gradually multi- 
 plied each year until the establishment of a system 
 under the auspices of the Southern Sunday-school 
 Board, There were occasional general expressions 
 of public interest in the work, such as was had at 
 Richmond, Virginia, in 1853, when a Sunday-school 
 convention of the Southern States met in that city. 
 The most that was accomplished by this meeting 
 was that it gave increased vigor to the institution. 
 The subject did not claim the attention of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention, however, until 1859. 
 Repeated, but incidental, allusions had been made to 
 Sunday-schools in the proceedings of the Convention 
 from its inception ; but they had not become suffi- 
 ciently prominent to claim official attention until the 
 session of the year just named. This is perhaps 
 due to two chief causes — the Convention up to this 
 period was engrossed in the formation of its plans 
 for missionary work at home and in foreign fields, 
 and the cause of Sunday-schools had not assumed 
 sufficient prominence throughout the States consti- 
 tuting the Convention to challenge attention. In 
 his annual report for 1859, as secretary of the 
 Home Mission Board, R. Holman shows that that 
 Board had already begun the work of the organ- 
 ization of Sunday-schools. He reported one hun- 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 277 
 
 dred and fourteen schools as organized up to that 
 date, with six hundred and one teachers and five 
 thousand five hundred and seventy pupils. The 
 same report alludes to the work previously done in 
 the South and claims that as a result of such work 
 seven hundred and forty-three pupils had been con- 
 verted and brought into the churches. From this 
 time forth the Sunday-school interest claimed more 
 the attention of the Southern Baptist Convention. 
 
 From the earliest years of the Convention Basil 
 Manly, Jr., had been greatly interested in the Sun- 
 day-school cause. He had made several ineifectual 
 efforts to bring the matter to the attention of the 
 general body. At last, in 1863, he procured the 
 appointment of a committee of seven, composed of 
 Basil Manly, Jr., Sylvanus Landrum, I. T. Tich- 
 enor, T. E. Skinner, J. L. Burrows, C. J. Elford, 
 E. T. Winkler, and W. T. Brantley, to report upon 
 the expediency of a more vigorous effort in behalf 
 of Sunday-schools. The result was an able and 
 elaborate report which emphasized the importance 
 of the Sunday-school as an auxiliary of church life. 
 The report raised three questions : (1) Whether it is 
 expedient for the Convention to attempt anything 
 in the direction of promoting interest in Sunday- 
 schools ; (2) whether the present is the proper time ; 
 and (3) in what way the effort should be made. 
 The conclusion was finally reached that a concentra- 
 tion and consolidation of the interest in all the 
 States of the South would induce economy, uniform- 
 
278 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 ity, and an expansion of salutary results. The out- 
 come of this action was the creation of a Board in 
 the interest of the work, which Board was located 
 at Greenville, South Carolina, with Basil Manly, 
 Jr.j as president. At the same session of the Con- 
 vention at which the Sunday-school Board was 
 formed, the Bible Board Avas abolished. An ar- 
 rangement w^as subsequently entered into for merg- 
 ing the Southern Baptist Publication Society, which 
 sustained no connection with the Convention, into 
 the Sunday-school Board. Hence the new organi- 
 zation came to be called the Sunday-school and Pub- 
 lication Board. 
 
 An address was at once issued to the Baptists of 
 the South defining the object of the new Board, ex- 
 plaining its plans, and appealing for "voluntary 
 agents and general help." Though beginning at a 
 most inauspicious time, the Board began its work 
 with confidence, and from the outset aroused great 
 public respect, and soon laid under tribute many 
 valuable agencies. Funds were raised for the sup- 
 port of the work of the Board ; such pastors as 
 could do so devoted much time to its interest ; and 
 the denominational press of the South rendered it 
 most efficient aid. The Board was fortunate in 
 being able to obtain a portion of the time of Dr. 
 John A. Broadus as its corresponding secretary. 
 Still the Board was greatly embarrassed because it 
 had no printing facilities, and no means with which 
 to obtain such. The Southern ports were now closed 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL WOEK 279 
 
 by a hostile fleet, and intercourse with the outside 
 world being cut off, it was next to impossible to 
 promote the interests of the Board. No literature 
 was to be had except the remnants of stocks left on 
 the shelves of the book dealers, together with an 
 occasional useful book found here and there in a pri- 
 vate house. But with the scanty material on hand, 
 and much of that crude, the Board resolved upon 
 the publication of a number of books. 
 
 Ten thousand Sunday-school primers were soon 
 exhausted, and a second edition was issued ; an 
 edition of fourteen thousand " Little Sunday-school 
 Hymn Books " was soon gone, and seventy thousand 
 more Avere called for. The " Confederate Sunday- 
 school Hymn Book" was issued in an edition of 
 three thousand, and afterward in an edition of ten 
 thousand, and they were rapidly taken. The best 
 talent in the South was invoked in behalf of the 
 struggling enterprise and some timely productions 
 were issued. Among these were the " Infant Class 
 Question Book," by L. H. Shuck ; " Little Lessons 
 for Little People" and the "Child's Question Book 
 on the Four Gospels," by B. Manly, Jr., together 
 with " A Brief Catechism of Bible Doctrine," by 
 James P. Boyce. 
 
 Just after the constitution of the Board, applica- 
 tion was made to the brethren at Baltimore to ar- 
 range for the purchase of twenty-five thousand 
 Testaments for its work in the South. In response 
 to this, the American Bible Society at New York 
 
280 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 made a donation of that number. These were sent 
 under a flag of truce " for the use of the Sunday- 
 schools of the Southern Baptist Convention." Ko 
 such contribution had been thought of, but so soon 
 as the American Bible Society learned of the desti- 
 tution in the South, it promptly made liberal re- 
 sponse. The society was informed that " the Board 
 did not think proper to accept them as a donation, 
 but informed the donors, with an acknowledgment 
 of their Christian courtesy, that they M'ould receive 
 and distribute the Testaments, and would pay for 
 them as soon as commercial intercourse should be- 
 come practicable." ^ Even after the Board had come 
 into the possession of these books, it found it diffi- 
 cult to distribute them. Mail facilities were in- 
 ferior and shipment, as freight, was perilous. But 
 most excellent results were reached by the Board. 
 By means of a competent Sunday-school missionary 
 in each State, much interest was aroused throughout 
 the South. The secular press everywhere lent its 
 potent aid, and every means possible was made to 
 do the Board service. Among the active mission- 
 aries of the Board were : W. E. Hatcher, of Vir- 
 ginia ; J. A. Chambliss, of South Carolina ; W. T. 
 Brantley, of Georgia ; and A. W. Chambliss, of 
 Alabama. 
 
 The exigency of the times contributed largely to 
 the success of the cause, as parents found in the 
 
 ^ "Report of the Sunday-school and Publication Board," for 
 1865. 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 281 
 
 Sunday-school at least a partial means of education 
 for their children, now that the secular schools were 
 closed. 
 
 During this stormy period Baptists were alone in 
 the prosecution of Sunday-school work in the South, 
 and the schools organized by the agents of the Board 
 were eagerly patronized by the people irrespective 
 of name or denomination. 
 
 With the capitulation of the Southern armies 
 came a cessation of the work of the Board. But in 
 January, 1866, it began, in a limited way, again 
 issuing the periodical known as "Kind Words." 
 This was a signal for a great demand upon the 
 Board for Sunday-school literature. Appealing to 
 the churches, the Board was able to get but meagre 
 response, because of the prostrate condition of the 
 country. Unwilling to lose its hold upon the people, 
 it promptly bought up what books it could from the 
 Sunday-school Union, the American Baptist Publi- 
 cation Society, the American Tract Society, as well 
 as from individual publishers. The brave efforts of 
 the Board under such adverse conditions won for 
 it sympathy, and efforts were made to restore it to 
 its position of influence and power for good. When 
 the Southern Baptist Convention met at Russellville, 
 Kentucky, in May, 1866, while the South was in 
 ruins, the following passage occurred in the report 
 of the Sunday-school and Publication Board : 
 "Sunday-schools for the colored people have, for 
 many years past, been conducted in different sec- 
 
282 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 tions of the South, particularly in the cities and 
 towns. Their recent emancipation furnishes in- 
 creased motives for establishing such schools, and 
 there can be no longer any disposition to restrict 
 them to oral instruction." ^ In the same connection 
 the reasons were shown that it was timely to teach 
 the Negroes the way of salvation more perfectly be- 
 cause of their increased responsibility. It was in- 
 sisted too, that the people of the South were under 
 obligation, as far as possible, to do this work for the 
 emancipated black man. It was finally urged that 
 the obligation was upon the Convention to organize 
 schools for the Negroes. 
 
 The Sunday-school Board now began a wrestle 
 for life. It had suffered in the common calamities 
 of the war, and nothing was now left it to fall back 
 upon but the affections of the people. An appeal 
 for help was issued, but not a dollar came in re- 
 sponse. A self-assumed indebtedness of two thou- 
 sand dollars hung over the Board by reason of its 
 refusal, in 1863, to accept the twenty-five thousand 
 Testaments which Dr. Fuller, of Baltimore, had 
 been instrumental in procuring from the American 
 Bible Society. Dr. Broadus having retired from the 
 service of the Board, Rev. C. C. Bitting was elected 
 to succeed him. With characteristic zeal he began 
 laying his plans for an extensive work. The in- 
 debtedness of the Board had first to be wiped out. 
 
 1 Some of the States of the South forbade by legal statute the 
 education of slaves. 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 283 
 
 Investigation showed that the Sunday-school Board 
 possessed, at the time of the receipt of the Testaments, 
 imperfect knowledge, and influenced by the highest 
 dictates of Christian honor had assumed the obliga- 
 tion of making payment for the books. But the 
 American Bible Society, on the other hand, insisted 
 that it was a donation and begged that it be so con- 
 sidered. This led to a formal acknowledgment of 
 the books as a donation, to which another was added 
 by the American Bible Society in 1867. 
 
 Steps were now taken to enter anew upon the 
 work of publication and missionary effort. In 1868 
 the Board was transferred from Greenville, South 
 Carolina, to Memphis, Tennessee. By the consoli- 
 dation of the Board with the Southern Baptist 
 Sunday-school Union, Dr. S. H. Ford became the 
 president of the new enterprise, and Dr. T. C 
 Teasdale was made secretary. The embarrassments 
 of the Board by reason of its crippled condition 
 were seriously enhanced by the occupation of the 
 South at this time by the American Sunday-school 
 Union, the American Bible Society, and the Amer- 
 ican Baptist Publication Society. Pressed on every 
 hand for aid. Dr. Teasdale appealed to Dr. Griffith, 
 of the American Baptist Publication Society, for re- 
 lief. Dr. Griffith at once responded : " If you re- 
 ceive more applications than your Board can supply, 
 encourage the applicants to appeal to us. We will 
 cheerfully consider each case and make grants as 
 long as we have anything to grant with." 
 
284 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Internal friction, complications, and inability to 
 cope with agencies possessed of fertile resources, led 
 to the extinction of the Sunday-school Board in 
 1873, by its being merged into the Domestic Mis- 
 sion Board. This led to the organization of Sunday- 
 school Boards in some of the States of the South. 
 Meanwhile the Domestic Board continued the publi- 
 cation of a cheap series of Sunday-school papers, of 
 which " Kind Words " was the chief periodical, all 
 of which were edited by Rev. Samuel Boykin. 
 
 With the returning tide of prosperity to the South 
 came the creation of new enterprises of evangelistic 
 endeavor. One of these was the State Boards 
 throughout the States of the South, which Boards 
 were based upon the Sunday-school work which had 
 originally been done. These new agencies, without 
 exception, were dependent upon the American Bap- 
 tist Publication Society for the supplies necessary 
 for their work. Without the timely aid of the 
 Publication Society, Sunday-school and colportage 
 work in the South would have been most seriously 
 retarded if not effectually blocked. It was destined 
 for almost a score of years to sustain the struggling 
 Sunday-school interests of the South, both of the 
 whites and of the blacks. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 COLLATERAL AGENCIES 
 
 THE forces which have contributed to the de- 
 nominational growth of the Baptists of the 
 South have been supplemented by yet other forces. 
 This last class, though subsidiary in character, have 
 been none the less effective. They have come into 
 operation, as occasion has demanded, and while the 
 creature of denominational growth, they in turn 
 have been productive of yet other means which 
 have contributed to the same end. One of the 
 most effective of these agencies in the South is the 
 Baptist press. The Baptists are thought to be the 
 pioneers of the religious press in the States of the 
 South. The first undertaking of journalism as an 
 engine of power in religious enterprises was by 
 Henry Holcombe, of Georgia, who established, in 
 1801, " The Analytical Repository." This was the 
 first venture of Baptist journalism in the United 
 States, the second being "The Massachusetts Baptist 
 Missionary Magazine," which appeared in 1803. 
 Though it was a most effective agent while it lasted, 
 " The Analytical Repository " was not long-lived. 
 To the more advanced and progressive elements of 
 the denomination in Georgia, it was most stimu- 
 
 285 
 
286 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 lative, but it was too far in advance of the condi- 
 tions of the times to be eifective with the masses of 
 the denomination. It was doomed by its prema- 
 turity. 
 
 "The Latter Day Luminary" was one of the 
 projects of Luther Rice for arousing an interest in 
 foreign missions. The "Luminary" made its ap- 
 pearance in Washington, D. C, in 1816, first in the 
 form of a quarterly, but afterward as a monthly. 
 It ran a useful but brief course, but failed for want 
 of support. This was followed by "The Colum- 
 bian Star," which was ultimately resolved into 
 "The Christian Index," and removed first to Phila- 
 delphia then to Georgia. In its new sphere it be- 
 came a powerful factor in the hands of Jesse Mer- 
 cer, whose position and ability made him the cham- 
 pion of progress in that early period. At a time 
 when plainness of speech and uncompromising 
 principle were needed to turn back the tides of 
 ignorance and prejudice, Jesse Mercer, with "The 
 Christian Index," most efficiently rendered the 
 needed service. More than any other, he aroused 
 and maintained among the Baptists of Georgia inter- 
 est in missions and education. In 1840 he pre- 
 sented the "Index" to the Georgia Baptist State 
 Convention, and through the subsequent eventful 
 periods it has served as a great engine of progress, 
 not in Georgia alone, but in the States adjacent as 
 well. 
 
 For nearly three-quarters of a century "The Re- 
 
COLLATERAL AGENCIES 287 
 
 ligious Herald" has rendered inestimable service 
 to the denomination toward the East. Started in 
 1828 by William Sands, a practical printer, it has 
 laid under tribute the ablest pens of the denomina- 
 tion from that period to this. By its ability im- 
 pelling the denomination toward the attainment of 
 the highest development, it has been equally serv- 
 iceable in restraining it by its 'conservatism. As 
 an advocate of progress, " The Religious Herald " 
 has inspired much zeal in the promotion of interest 
 especially in behalf of education and missions. 
 After the close of hostilities its tone of conservatism 
 did much to allay sectional animosity and to restore 
 a sentiment of co-fraternity between the North and 
 South. 
 
 " The Biblical Recorder " was brought into being 
 in response to a demand for such an organ in the 
 progressive period of 1834. Thomas Meredith, the 
 acknowledged leader of the North Carolina Baptists 
 of that time, recognized the necessity of a State 
 organ if he should expect to succeed in the accom- 
 plishment of the ends at which he aimed ; hence 
 " The Biblical Recorder." It was a connecting link 
 between " The Christian Index " on the one hand 
 and " The Religious Herald " on the other during 
 a period of years when they were the only denomi- 
 national exponents along the Atlantic board of the 
 South. These organs were simply indispensable 
 during the formative period just succeeding the 
 constitution of the Southern Baptist Convention. 
 
288 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 To the strong and uncompromising denomina- 
 tional views of " The Biblical Recorder " are the 
 Baptists of North Carolina largely due for their 
 uniform stability and progress. 
 
 Among the most useful of the denominational 
 organs in the western portion of the States of the 
 South has been " The Western Recorder." It had 
 its germ in " The Baptist Banner/' Avhich was 
 begun in 1825, and was therefore the pioneer of 
 Baptists journals west of the Alleghanies. The 
 paper did not become " The Western Recorder " 
 until 1851, being known by different names before 
 that time, as it was shifted from point to point. 
 During the troublous periods through which the de- 
 nomination in that quarter of the South had been 
 compelled to pass, " The Western Recorder " has 
 been an invaluable ally to the maintenance of Bap- 
 tist principles and a pronounced promoter of de- 
 nominational progress. 
 
 Later appeared in the southwest " The Tennes- 
 see Baptist/' the chief representative of the extreme 
 views of the Baptists of the South. It was the or- 
 gan of "Old Landmarkism/' and under the edi- 
 torial direction of Dr. J. R. Graves, swayed a mar- 
 velous influence in the Mississippi Basin and in 
 States bordering upon those watered by the great 
 river, both east and west. Graves was a born 
 polemicist, and his challenging tone, coupled with 
 his ready utterance and forcible diction, won easily 
 for him the popular eye and ear. He came upon 
 
COLLATERAL AGENCIES 289 
 
 the scene at a time when the conditions most favored 
 his polemical spirit. The incoherent character of 
 the bulk of the population reached by his paper, 
 its ringing notes of controversy so congenial to a 
 bustling and formative state of society, its fervid 
 declarations against all forms of doctrinal error, at 
 a time when both the South and the West were be- 
 ing swept by a storm of controversy, the location 
 of the " Tennessee Baptist " just where many of 
 these opposing influences met — these served to give 
 alike to the editor and to his paper a prominence 
 which they would not have enjoyed in calmer 
 times. Indeed, when calmness began to prevail, 
 the lustre of the editor as well as of his journal be- 
 gan to grow dim. But extreme as were the views 
 advocated by J. R. Graves, there can be no doubt 
 that he rendered some service in giving a proper 
 setting to Baptist doctrine in a region where, if the 
 sentiments had been less pronounced, they would not 
 have been so effective. 
 
 " The Southern Baptist," which was published so 
 long at Tuskegee, Alabama, was a valuable ally to 
 its denominational contemporaries. It had its origin 
 at Wetumpka, Alabama, in 1838, where it was 
 founded by Rev. John D. Williams. Removed to 
 JNIarion, Alabama, where it was known as the 
 " Alabama Baptist," and then as the " Alabama 
 Baptist Advocate" ; thence to Montgomery, where 
 it became the " Southwestern Baptist " ; and again 
 removed to Tuskegee, Alabama, the journal did 
 
290 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 much good in counteracting the extreme views of 
 the " Tennessee Baptist," while it was an able ad- 
 vocate of the enterprises of the denomination. The 
 value of its contribution to Baptist interests in this 
 newer region of the South and Southwest is beyond 
 estimate ; but it was not a whit less valuable in its 
 stalwart defense of Baptist principles in a region 
 where the Methodists were most progressive and 
 aggressive. The "Southwestern Baptist" was 
 merged into " The Christian Index/' as a result of 
 the Civil War. One of the signs of the growth of 
 denominational spirit in the lower basin of the Mis- 
 sissippi was the establishment of the " Southwestern 
 Baptist Chronicle/' by Rev. W. C. Duncan, in 1847. 
 The paper was ably conducted for three years, but 
 was discontinued in consequence of the failing health 
 of Dr. Duncan. 
 
 Feeling the need of a local organ in that quarter 
 of the South, Mr. L. A. Duncan, brother to the 
 former editor, undertook the establishment of the 
 "New Orleans Baptist Chronicle" in 1852. This 
 journal attained a considerable circulation in the 
 States of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, but 
 the paper was discontinued in 1852. Again in 1855 
 an effort was made to give the Baptists of the Peli- 
 can State an organ of intercommunication, hence 
 Rev. Hanson Lee began the publication, at Mount 
 Lebanon, of the " Louisiana Baptist." This enter- 
 prise proved to be more successful than the others, 
 for the paper attained the rank of one of the ablest 
 
COLLATERAL AGENCIES 291 
 
 of the Southern Baptist journals. The paper was 
 continued throughout the dark days of the Civil 
 War, even after the death of its gifted editor, in 
 1863, and was conducted subsequently by Rev. A. F. 
 Worrell, W. F. Wells, Dr. Courtney, and W. E. Pax- 
 ton, but in 1869 it was merged into the "Memphis 
 Baptist," the powerful organ of Dr. J. R. Graves. 
 
 Mr. J. L. Furman began the publication of " The 
 Southern Messenger," a semi-monthly periodical in 
 1876, but the enterprise was not a success for want 
 of patronage and was soon discontinued. 
 
 The organs already named were the chief journals 
 of the Baptists in the States of the South until the 
 revival of interest following the cessation of hostili- 
 ties. The concentration of resources and compact- 
 ness of organization which became necessary after 
 the social revolution Avrought in the South, required 
 a multiplication of educational agencies. Nothing 
 could serve so effectually to meet prevailing de- 
 mands as Baptist newspapers. Hence with the 
 revival of suspended interests in the South came a 
 reassertion of denominational spirit, which was 
 voiced in each State through journals instituted for 
 the purpose. One after another of the States began 
 the publication of official organs, until there is one 
 or more in each of those of the South. 
 
 Besides those already mentioned may be named 
 " The Baptist Courier," of South Carolina ; " The 
 Baptist and Reflector," of Tennessee; "The Ken- 
 tucky Baptist," of Kentucky ; " The Alabama Bap- 
 
292 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 tist," of Alabama ; " The Baptist Record/' of Mis- 
 sissippi ; " The Baptist Chronicle," of Louisiana ; 
 and " The Florida Baptist Witness/' of Florida. 
 
 All tliese have been valuable auxiliaries in de- 
 nominational development in the Southern States 
 during the last twenty-five years. In closest con- 
 nection with the State Boards, these agencies have 
 acted and reacted most helpfully upon each other, 
 and for the general promotion of the cause of God. 
 
 Besides these, there have been periodicals of a 
 more distinct character which have been co-opera- 
 tive with the State journals. Chief among such is, 
 " The Foreign Mission Journal," issued by the For- 
 eign Board from Richmond, Virginia. Since its 
 inception it has commanded a wide circle of readers 
 throughout the South. It occupies a sphere pe- 
 culiarly its own. By reason of its vital touch with 
 the missionaries in foreign parts, it has been able to 
 present to the churches just that information which 
 has aroused sympathy and interest in our foreign 
 mission work. 
 
 For a period of years the Home Mission Board 
 issued a neat organ known as " Our Home Field," 
 which sustained the same relation to that Board 
 that is sustained by " The Foreign Journal " to the 
 Board of which it is the organ. An attempt was 
 made in 1895 to unite these interests, but it proved 
 impracticable and the Boards were left in 1896 to 
 devise their own means of communication with the 
 churches. 
 
COLLATERAL AGENCIES 293 
 
 In the absence of a review in the South, the 
 "Seminary Magazine," of Louisville, Kentucky, 
 somewhat supplies that deficiency. It is issued by 
 the students of the Southern Baptist Theological 
 Seminary, and by its elevated tone has done much 
 to stimulate progress in theological thought in the 
 States of the South. 
 
 Besides the press, there have been other potent 
 agencies which have been closely allied to the de- 
 nominational papers in the promotion of Baptist 
 interests. The most conspicuous among these is 
 the American Baptist Publication Society. In its 
 origin, the Publication Society w^as Southern. With 
 the expansion of the denomination in the South 
 came, in due time, the suggestion of the imperative 
 necessity of a general publishing agency, by means 
 of which there might be presented, as well as per- 
 petuated, the principles of Baptists. These princi- 
 ples were extending ; thousands were every year 
 embracing them, but they were presented almost 
 exclusively by the preacher's lips. 
 
 It was not until 1824 that the matter of creating 
 a publishing agency took shape. Four years before 
 that time the subject had been considered in Phila- 
 delphia, but no definite action was taken. In 1823, 
 Noah Davis, of Maryland, wrote a letter to his 
 classmate, J. D. Knowles, of Washington, D. C, 
 urging the formation of a tract society, to be oper- 
 ated under the auspices of the Baptists. The idea 
 was suggested to Mr. Davis by seeing a tract fall to 
 
294 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 the ground from the hat of another. The letter 
 just referred to suggested that a call be issued for a 
 meeting to consider the feasibility of establishing a 
 publishing interest, and the call was made through 
 " The Columbian Star." In response thereto, 
 twenty-four persons met at the home of Mr. George 
 Wood, in Washington, D. C, February 25, 1824. 
 Among those present were William Staughton and 
 Baron Stow, the latter being at that time a student 
 in Columbian College. 
 
 A society was formed, George Wood became its 
 agent, and it began operations at once. The neces- 
 sity of such an agency was manifest from the readi- 
 ness with which it was responded to throughout the 
 States. Two years after its establishment, it was 
 removed to Philadelphia, where it has since re- 
 mained. 
 
 This is not the place to furnish a history of the 
 American Baptist Publication Society ; but it has 
 thriven commensurately with the growth of the 
 denomination and the prosperity of the country. 
 
 During the chaotic days subsequent to the close 
 of the Civil War, when the Baptist denomination 
 was seeking to rally its agencies, and when a new 
 beginning was to be made in the reorganization of 
 its work, the Publication Society came to its rescue. 
 The work of the Sunday-school Board of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention during the war showed 
 where means would accomplish the greatest good. 
 The inability of the Southern Board to meet these 
 
COLLATERAL AGENCIES 295 
 
 demands left the South in greatest need of supplies 
 for this important department of Christian labor. 
 Sentiment in favor of Sunday-schools had been 
 rapidly growing since 1863. A most remarkable 
 development of interest had been shown in this 
 sphere during the ten years following the period just 
 named. But just when the interest was most 
 intense, the source of supplies was cut oif by the 
 necessary extinction of the Sunday-school Board. 
 At that juncture, the American Baptist Publication 
 Society turned its attention to the cultivation of the 
 Sunday-schools in the South. It was a friend in 
 need. With unstinted hand it gratuitously supplied 
 hundreds of schools, both of the whites and of the 
 blacks. Hundreds of Sunday-school libraries also 
 were furnished in the same spirit. For more than 
 fifteen years this work was prosecuted by the So- 
 ciety alone in the States of the South. Coupled 
 with this was a colportage and missionary system 
 conducted under the auspices of the Publication So- 
 ciety. 
 
 So great w^as the demand for Sunday-school and 
 colportage supplies in the South, that it was deter- 
 mined in 1887 to establish a Branch House at At- 
 lanta, Georgia. This was earnestly advocated by 
 such men as Drs. Henry McDonald and H. H. 
 Tucker. The enterprise was begun somewhat as a 
 business venture, but when the receipts from sales for 
 the first fiscal year amounted to more than thirty- 
 two thousand dollars the experimental stage was 
 
296 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 passed^ and Atlanta became the center of a great 
 Sunday-school influence. A few years later, in re- 
 sponse to a growing demand for the literature which 
 the Publication Society was dispensing, another 
 Branch House was located at Dallas, Texas, which, 
 together with the one at St. Louis, constitutes the 
 three in the States of the South. A fair estimate of 
 the Society by Southern Baptists is expressed in an 
 extract taken from an address delivered by Dr. J. B. 
 Hawthorne at the opening of the new building of 
 "The Baptist Witness," at Ocala, Florida, in 1894 : 
 
 The corrupting influence of the world's bad books is 
 opposed by the purifying and the ennobling influence of 
 millions of volumes in which there is not a taint of im- 
 purity. In this connection it gives me great pleasure to 
 say that among the institutions which are providing the 
 world with a wholesome literature, there is not one that 
 deserves higher esteem and honor than the American 
 Baptist Publication Society. It is the one Baptist institu- 
 tion of which every Baptist in the wide world can afford 
 to be proud. Into every nook and corner of this great 
 country its books and periodicals have gone to enlighten 
 and elevate and save the people. With its magnificent 
 facilities, directed by many of the brainiest and best men 
 of the nation, and with the moral and material support of 
 nearly four millions of Baptists, it is destined to accom- 
 plish wonderful transformations in this and in other 
 countries. Working harmoniously with kindred insti- 
 tutions, it will do much to emancipate this land from the 
 dominion of an unclean and debasing literature. 
 
 Another benevolent agency in the South is the 
 American Baptist Home Mission Society. Its 
 
COLLATERAL AGENCIES 297 
 
 work is chiefly confined to the colored people, and 
 it is among them that work is most needed. It 
 has created a spirit of self-respect among Southern 
 Negroes by means of the establishment of schools. 
 The Society has rendered the help which could not 
 have been otherwise extended to the colored 
 people of the South, and in the most critical 
 period of their history. During the year 1893 
 alone it expended twelve thousand five hundred and 
 sixty-two dollars in mission work among the colored 
 Baptists of the South. It maintains for that people 
 in the Southern States twenty-nine institutions of 
 learning, of which fourteen are high schools and 
 fifteen secondary. An important feature of the 
 work of which the South has been a fortunate recipi- 
 ent from the Society is that of assisting, by gift and 
 loan, in the erection of houses of M^orship. 
 
 The American Baptist Education Society was or- 
 ganized in 1888, possibly for the purpose of ad- 
 ministering the educational gifts of Mr. John D. 
 Rockefeller for the promotion of Baptist schools. 
 Substantial and timely aid has been rendered to 
 struggling institutions in the South in the payment 
 of debts incurred and by the increase of their endow- 
 ments. The Society serves as an eliciting agency 
 by conditioning its donations, in almost every case, 
 upon the raising of several times the amount do- 
 nated from other and interested sources. 
 
 The Southern Baptist Young People's Union has 
 just begun as an organization. It promises to ac- 
 
298 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 complish much excellent work among the Baptist 
 churches of the South. Through its Christian Cul- 
 ture Courses it is affording to the young of the de- 
 nomination a more exalted and extensive view of 
 the sacred literature, denominational history, and 
 the history of missions. 
 
 The Southern Educational Conference is an or- 
 ganization which holds its sessions annually in con- 
 nection with the meetings of the Southern Baptist 
 Convention. It was organized at Birmingham, 
 Alabama, in 1891. At its annual sessions papers 
 of an educational character are read and discussed 
 by the representatives who come as Baptist educa- 
 tors from the schools of the South. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 woman's work 
 
 rriHE general organization of Baptist women in 
 -L the South into co-operative societies for mis- 
 sionary work, is of comparatively recent date. 
 Long prior to this movement the women in different 
 portions of the South were engaged, in numerous 
 ways, in contributing to the cause of missions. Un- 
 pretentious local societies would, from time to time, 
 be formed, and now and then a voluntary contribu- 
 tion would be made by some devout woman. Even 
 as early as 1823, women's missionary societies 
 existed in different portions of the then young State 
 of Alabama. When the Baptist Convention of that 
 State was organized, seven of the twenty delegates 
 were there as representatives of these societies. 
 These little societies were entirely independent of 
 any general organization. Among the contributions 
 made that year by the hands of devout women was, 
 on the part of one, 9, watch and chain, and, on the 
 part of another, two pairs of socks "knit with her 
 own hands." There was a Woman's Missionary 
 Society in Richmond, Virginia, as early as 1823, 
 doubtless there were others scattered here and there 
 through the South. 
 
 299 
 
300 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Even after new interest in woman's work had been 
 kindled in the South, there was, in many quarters, a 
 marked demonstration against it. The fears gener- 
 ally expressed were those of undue organization in 
 the churches, which would exhaust itself in that 
 alone, and that separation of the churches into dif- 
 ferent elements would tend to disintegration. And 
 the further fear was not disguised that there was 
 danger of according too great prominence to women 
 in the churches. Even after the work of organiza- 
 tion had begun in the South, in some quarters they 
 were knocking in vain at the doors of Associations 
 and State Conventions for permission and encourage- 
 ment to join in the general work of the denomina- 
 tion. So persistent did these appeals become in 
 some States, that efforts were made at conciliation 
 by the adoption of certain complimentary resolutions 
 as void of meaning as they were intended to be. 
 
 Under the inspiration of the new movement 
 which had been transmitted from the Woman's Mis- 
 sionary Society of Ncvvton Center, Massachusetts, 
 of which Mrs. Gardner Colby was the president 
 and Mrs. Alvah Hovey the corresponding secretary, 
 Mrs. Ann J. Graves of Baltimore, organized, in 
 that city, in 1867, a woman's missionary prayer 
 meeting for the support of native Bible women be- 
 longing to the Canton Baptist Mission. Mrs. 
 Graves was the mother of Dr. E,. H. Graves, the 
 missionary to China. This meeting, certainly un- 
 pretentious enough, was steadily maintained until 
 
woman's work 301 
 
 1869, when Miss Brittan, of Calcutta, India, visited 
 America, and was invited by Mrs. Graves to be 
 present at one of the prayer meetings. So profound 
 was the impression produced by Miss Brittan that 
 great interest was aroused in behalf of women in 
 heathen lands. This led to the formation of the 
 Baltimore Auxiliary of the Woman's Union Mis- 
 sionary Society, which included a number of earnest 
 women of the various Christian churches of that 
 city. This society was constituted in 1870 with 
 Mrs. J. W. M. Williams, as president, and Mrs. 
 Ann J. Graves, as secretary. Within a few years, 
 the contributions of this local society grew from six 
 hundred dollars to one thousand dollars annually. 
 
 In October, 1871, the Woman's Mission to Woman 
 was organized, with Mrs. Franklin Wilson as presi- 
 dent, Mrs. F. Crane as treasurer. Miss Jane W. 
 Norris as recording secretary, and Mrs. Ann J. 
 Graves as corresponding secretary. This work con- 
 tinued to grow in interest, which was not a little 
 heightened by the marriage of Miss Norris and Dr. 
 R. H. Graves, the missionary to China. 
 
 At the same date, October 23, 1871, Rev. John 
 Stout, pastor of the Baptist Church at Newberry, 
 South Carolina, organized a Woman's Missionaiy 
 Society. Mr. Stout was the first in the South to 
 undertake and to encourage such organization. 
 Through successive years he was engaged in the 
 organization of these societies in his native State. 
 
 Miss Edmonia Moon, of Virginia, having been 
 
302 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 accepted by the Foreign Mission Board, as a mis- 
 sionary to China, in 1872, the Baptist women of 
 Richmond, Virginia, at once organized the Woman's 
 Missionary Society of that city, for the support of 
 Miss Moon. The contributions, the first year, 
 amounted to one thousand two hundred dollars. 
 
 In 1872, in his first annual report to the Southern 
 Baptist Convention at Raleigh, North Carolina, as 
 corresponding secretary of the Foreign Mission 
 Board, Dr. Tupper alluded to the importance of 
 organizing Bible women at our missionary stations 
 and suggested that the women of our churches 
 might be aroused to the importance of " redeeming 
 their sister women from the degrading and destroy- 
 ing thraldom of paganism." 
 
 A report upon woman's work read at the session 
 of the Convention in 1872, by Dr. J. \y. M. Wil- 
 liams, appealed to the delegates present to take im- 
 mediate steps to organize women's missionary soci- 
 eties. Rev. John Stout was present at this session 
 of the Convention and was greatly interested in the 
 woman's movement, as he had shown by his efficient 
 work in the organization of societies in South Caro- 
 lina. The work which was done in this direction 
 for several years afterward was confined almost ex- 
 clusively to South Carolina and to a single pastor — 
 John Stout, the originator of the movement in the 
 South. The matter claimed the attention of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention again in 1875, when 
 the work of organizing woman's missionary societies 
 
woman's work 303 
 
 was formally commended. In 1876 the South 
 Carolina Central Committee of Missions was consti- 
 tuted at the suggestion of Mr. Stout. This was 
 the first central committee organized in the South. 
 It received that year the sanction of the South 
 Carolina Baptist State Convention. 
 
 In 1878 the matter was again before the Southern 
 Convention, which met that year at Nashville, Ten- 
 nessee. At this time the first positive step was 
 taken by the Convention respecting this important 
 work. In a report submitted by Dr. J. W. M. 
 Williams, of which committee Mr. Stout was a mem- 
 ber and who no doubt influenced the suggestion, it 
 was urged that central committees be organized in 
 each State to co-operate with the two general 
 Boards, as auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Con- 
 vention. The following year, 1879, the chairman 
 of the committee on woman's work was Dr. T. T. 
 Eaton. The committee emphasized the action of 
 the one of the preceding year, repeating the impor- 
 tance of women's organizations. 
 
 Meanwhile the work was assuming greater pro- 
 portions. Under the lead of Rev. John Stout, 
 South Carolina was greatly in advance of the other 
 States of the South, in some of which the Conven- 
 tions declined to give encouragement to the move- 
 ment. The segregated condition of the societies 
 which had been formed throughout the South, sug- 
 gested the propriety of a general co-operative or- 
 ganization, but it was not effected for several years. 
 
304 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 In 1881, Secretary Tupper, in his annual report, 
 called the attention of the Southern Baptist Conven- 
 tion to the movement going on in the South and 
 stated that so far as could be ascertained, three hun- 
 dred and fifty of these societies had been organized, 
 and they had contributed to foreign missions six 
 thousand two hundred and forty-four dollars and 
 thirty cents. 
 
 Still the Convention was tardy about doing more 
 than to give verbal endorsement. Resistance to the 
 movement continued in a number of the Southern 
 States, and difficulties were overcome only by the 
 quiet organization of societies in almost all these 
 States. In 1883 the question was again before the 
 Southern Baptist Convention, at Waco, Texas. 
 This time it aroused more interest than had pre- 
 viously prevailed, which interest found expression 
 very soon afterward in the organization of central 
 committees throughout the States of the South, 
 Organization gave additional strength to the grow- 
 ing cause. The work grew apace until the occur- 
 rence of a little episode in the Southern Baptist 
 Convention, in 1885, at Augusta, Georgia. At that 
 session a portion of the Arkansas delegation to the 
 Convention was composed of women. There was 
 nothing in the constitution of the Convention to 
 prevent their recognition as delegates. The ripple 
 of agitation produced by the occurrence, was lulled 
 by the reference of the matter to a committee of one 
 from each State, of which Dr. J. William Jones, of 
 
woman's work 305 
 
 Virginia, was the chairman. After clue deliberation 
 the committee reported the following : 
 
 Your committee to whom was referred the whole ques- 
 tion of the eUgibility of women to seats as delegates in 
 this body, have considered the matter and have unani- 
 mously agreed to the following : As some doubt has 
 arisen as to the proper construction of the Constitution, 
 we recommend the following amendment : In Article 
 III., of the constitution, strike out the word "members " 
 in the first line, and insert instead thereof the word 
 ' ' brethren. ' ' 
 
 The report was adopted, and the matter was set 
 at rest. Many Baptist women from the South were 
 present at this session of the Convention not with 
 the view of being recognized as delegates but to 
 confer together about the work throughout tlie 
 South. Holding a meeting, in which the ladies 
 from Arkansas heartily joined, all these noble 
 women present at that time sent a communication 
 to the Convention, disclaiming any purpose to form 
 a separate and independent organization, and an- 
 nouncing as their purpose to work directly through 
 the churches and through all the appointed chan- 
 nels of the Convention. 
 
 Whatever misapprehensions may have previously 
 existed were removed by this action on the part 
 of the women at Augusta, and a fresh impulse was 
 given to the movement in every portion of the 
 South. Prior to 1890 the general organization for 
 the South was known as the Executive Committee 
 
306 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 of Woman's Mission Societies. Later, it assumed 
 the more dignified designation of Woman's Mission- 
 ary Union. 
 
 After the meeting of the Southern Baptist Con- 
 vention at Augusta, Georgia, in 1885, woman's 
 work received appropriate recognition. It became 
 a prevailing custom for the representatives of the 
 women's societies from each State to assemble at 
 the same time and place of meeting of the Southern 
 Baptist Convention. While auxiliary to the Con- 
 vention, the women hold their meetings separately, 
 and in another portion of the city. Partly through 
 modesty, and partly because they wish to transact 
 their business in a manner satisfactory to themselves, 
 they forbid the attendance of members of the other 
 sex. If one enters a meeting of the Union it is 
 because he is invited to do so. The headquarters 
 of the Woman's Missionary Union is in the city of 
 Baltimore. Mrs. A. M. Gwathmey is the president 
 of the body, and Miss Annie W. Armstrong is the 
 corresponding se(5retary. Besides the collected 
 funds which are contributed directly to the treas- 
 uries of the two general Boards, much valuable serv- 
 ice is rendered by the union in the distribution of 
 religious and missionary literature, and in furnish- 
 ing stores of supplies to the missionaries of the 
 Home Board laboring upon the Western frontier. 
 The orranizations in some of the States assume the 
 support of missionaries upon the foreign field, while 
 others attend to the education of their children. 
 
woman's work 307 
 
 The j^ear 1888 marks the date of the distinct 
 organization of the woman's movement in the South. 
 All the efforts which preceded that date were pre- 
 paratory to a general organization. Within a few 
 of the States the work had been thoroughly and 
 efficiently organized long before that time, but the 
 movement did not become general until the date 
 named. As the organization increases in numerical 
 strength, it gains in popularity and multiplies in its 
 agencies for work. In the larger cities much mis- 
 sionary work is done, and much benevolence is 
 expended among the poorer classes. 
 
 The following recommendations of the Executive 
 Committee adopted at Washington, D. C, in 1895, 
 clearly set forth the spirit and purpose of the 
 Woman's Missionary Union. 
 
 1. Believing that through the influence and power of 
 the Holy Spirit great things can be accomplished for 
 the Lord, we suggest that the first week in January, 
 1895 — the World's Week of Prayer — be observed by the 
 woman's mission societies Avith special reference to the 
 guidance of the Spirit in the extension of interest in 
 missions ; and to make our prayers more specific, that 
 the Mission (Prayer) Card be more generally used. 
 
 3. That the recommendations of the Foreign and 
 Home Boards asking for total collections from woman's 
 mission societies of thirty thousand dollars and twenty- 
 five thousand dollars respectively, be heartily com- 
 mended ; and we further suggest, to give definiteness, 
 that these sums be proportioned among the States. 
 
 4. Believing that in the young people is our future 
 
308 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 strength, we earnestly recommend that the work of 
 organizing mission societies and bands among young 
 women, girls, and boys be vigorously prosecuted. That 
 central committees appoint one of their number, or elect 
 one to be of their number, to take charge of this work 
 in each State. 
 
 5. Encouraged by the enthusiasm with which the 
 week of self-denial was entered upon, and the results 
 following, it is again recommended that a week of self- 
 denial be observed by the societies. 
 
 6. That mothers' meetings and industrial schools be 
 organized among foreign populations and colored women 
 and children ; and that Sunday-schools be instituted for 
 the Chinese wherever found, whether there be one or 
 more. 
 
 Thus, from a crude and tangled form, doubtful of 
 its issue in 1888, the woman's movement in the 
 South has become one of the most efficient arms of 
 sacred work. Foremost in the establishment of the 
 success of the union has been Mrs. Ann J. Graves, 
 Miss M. E. Mcintosh (Mrs. Bell), Miss Annie W. 
 Armstrong, Mrs. A. M. Hillman, Miss Fannie E. 
 Heck, Mrs. M. D. Early, Mrs. Geo. B. Eager, Mrs. 
 John Stout, and Mrs. J. P. Eagle. Many others 
 there are whose names are known to the Master. 
 The commendable aim of the union is understood 
 to be " to make of every Baptist woman an intelli- 
 gent and active friend of missions, and to induce 
 in such a regular, systematic habit of remembering 
 this work both in their prayers and gifts." ^ 
 
 ^The development of woman's work in the South, so far as it 
 pertains to the contributions of funds, is shown in the following 
 
woman's work 309 
 
 table. Totals for home and foreign missions since organiza- 
 tion : 
 
 1888 $21,039.16 
 
 1889 30,773.69 
 
 1890 31,237.76 
 
 1891 38,990.34 
 
 1892 44,282.80 
 
 1893 (Centennial Year) 62,336.75 
 
 1894 45,128.59 
 
 1895 48,449.25 
 
 Grand Total $322,238.34 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 COLORED BAPTISTS AND THEIR WORK 
 
 ONE of the most interesting features of denomi- 
 national history in the South is that of the col- 
 ored Baptists. The beginning of their spiritual 
 history antedates their political emancipation more 
 than a century. True, the enslavement of the 
 black man was a monstrous evil alike to slave and 
 owner, and yet there were incidental advantages 
 springing even from slavery that were incalculable 
 to the Negro. American slavery is dead, never to 
 be revived, and there could be no satisfaction de- 
 rived from a reproduction of arguments in its de- 
 fense, even if the disposition should exist ; yet 
 there were advantages incidentally derived from the 
 institution, without which the colored people must 
 have remained barbarians. While many thousands 
 of them were subjected to the most exacting labor, 
 and oftentimes to cruel treatment, there were yet 
 many other thousands whose labor was light, who 
 were exempt from cruel servitude, and who were 
 favored by being brought into daily contact with 
 the highest culture of the South. In the capacities 
 of maids, housekeepers, seamstresses, and nurses, of 
 hostlers, coachmen, and attendants, they served by 
 310 
 
COLORED BAPTISTS AND THEIR WORK 311 
 
 the ten thousand in the most cultured of Southern 
 homes. Docile, gentle, and impressible, these peo- 
 ple became the unconscious possessors of innumera- 
 ble advantages which rendered them excellent serv- 
 ice when the period of emancipation came. 
 
 Associated with the youth of the whites, thou- 
 sands not only secured the rudiments of an educa- 
 tion, but many became musicians, speakers, reciters, 
 and writers, and many were enabled to absorb the 
 conventionalities of social life. Easily receptive 
 and deeply emotional, many bright slave boys caught 
 the spirit of oratory from the numerous rehearsals 
 of the white youth, and when the restraints of 
 slavery were lifted, they flashed into sudden promi- 
 nence as preachers and as public speakers. To 
 many of them the transition was an easy one from 
 the incidental benefits of slavery to a response 
 to the demands made upon them when they were 
 thrown upon their own resources. Back of much 
 of the phenomenal advancement of the black man 
 lay the numerous small advantages enjoyed during 
 his enslavement, which advantages, in the aggre- 
 gate, were considerable ; so that the Negro was 
 not an untutored savage when liberation came. 
 Many there were who had been imbruted by cruel 
 masters ; many who suffered from lack of the neces- 
 saries of life ; many who were degraded by the 
 most vicious impositions ; still there was a large 
 favored class whose gain was immense, and without 
 the enjoyment of which the race would have been 
 
312 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 deplorably helpless when the boon of emancipation 
 was received. 
 
 In recording these facts, there is no desire to rob 
 the colored man of any merit which justly belongs 
 to him. That he deserves much credit is true ; that 
 he deserves the meed of praise for his prompt and 
 appropriate use of means placed within his reach 
 the fair-minded will not deny ; and that he has been 
 able to accomplish so much in the midst of adverse 
 conditions, is a matter of no small wonder and an 
 occasion of much commendation. 
 
 In order to a proper estimate of the history of 
 the evangelization of the colored people of the 
 South, and in order fully to understand the nature 
 of their work, we shall have to gather up the scat- 
 tered threads of history and knit them together. 
 
 Just before the beginning of the Revolutionary 
 War a colored man, and a slave, named George 
 Liele, was converted in Burke County, Georgia, 
 under the preaching of Matthew Moore, a pioneer 
 Baptist preacher. Having been baptized, Liele was 
 permitted to preach, and his efforts were attended 
 with the happiest results. Liberated by his mas- 
 ter, Henry Sharpe, about the time of the outbreak 
 of the Revolution, Liele went to Savannah and be- 
 gan preaching with great acceptance at Bramton 
 and Yamacraw, near the city, as well as upon the 
 outlying plantations. Continuing his work in this 
 region to the close of the Revolution, Liele accom- 
 panied the British to Jamaica as the body-servant 
 
COLORED BAPTISTS AND THEIR WORK 313 
 
 of an English officer. Deeply moved by the degra- 
 dation of the unchristian masses about him on the 
 island, Liele began preaching to them. Wherever 
 he could gather a crowd, whether upon the com- 
 mons or the race-course, on the streets or in his 
 own hired house, he earnestly presented the claims 
 of the gospel. His efforts were rewarded by his 
 ability to gather a church of four members, who, 
 like himself, were refugees from America. 
 
 He now threw himself with consuming zeal into 
 gospel work, and while he supported himself, was 
 enabled within seven years to baptize five hundred 
 converts. In 1793 he erected the first dissenting 
 chapel ever built in Jamaica. Meanwhile he was 
 the victim of much sore persecution, having been 
 imprisoned and loaded with irons more than once, 
 and once tried for his life. From Jamaica, George 
 Liele was instrumental, through correspondence with 
 Drs. Ryland and Rippon of England, in intro- 
 ducing the gospel into Africa. 
 
 Before leaving America for Jamaica, Liele bap- 
 tized in the neighborhood of Savannah, Andrew 
 Bryan, a slave who, nine months after his conver- 
 sion, began preaching at Yamacraw. 
 
 Many converts were the result of his efforts. Ob- 
 taining permission to preach in a barn at Bramton, 
 the good work went on until he was interfered with 
 by some disreputable whites, who attacked the crowd 
 under the pretense of suppressing sedition. This 
 disturbance was summarily checked by the slave- 
 
314 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 owners of the community, and the meetings were 
 encouraged to proceed. During all this time Bryan 
 w^as not licensed to preach. Thomas Burton, an 
 aged white minister, having heard of this w^ork of 
 grace among the slaves, visited them and baptized 
 eighteen. Later, in 1788, Abraham Marshall, of 
 Kiokee Church, accompanied by Jesse Peter, a 
 young colored preacher of Augusta, visited the 
 Bramton community and baptized forty-five more, 
 organized a church, and ordained Bryan to the full 
 work of the ministry. This became the parent of 
 two other strong colored churches in Savannah. 
 Bryan died at the age of ninety and was buried 
 with marked respect by the white Christians of the 
 city in which he had spent his life as a slave 
 preacher. Slave though he was, Bryan left an 
 estate of three thousand dollars when he died. 
 
 In recognition of the valuable services of this 
 slave preacher, the Savannah Association (white) on 
 the occasion of his death, in 1812, adopted the fol- 
 lowing resolutions : 
 
 The Association is sensibly affected by the death of 
 the Rev. Andrew Bryan, a man of color, and pastor of 
 the First Colored Church in Savannah. This son of 
 Africa, after suffering inexpressible persecutions in the 
 cause of his divine Master, was at length permitted to 
 discharge the duties of the ministry among his colored 
 friends in peace and quiet, hundreds of whom, through 
 his instrumentality, were brought to a knowledge of the 
 truth as "it is in Jesus." He closed his extensively 
 useful and amazingly luminous course in the lively exer- 
 
COLORED BAPTISTS AND THEIR WORK 315 
 
 cise of faith and in the joyful hope of a happy immor- 
 tality. 
 
 The mantle of Andrew Bryan fell upon his 
 nephew, Andrew Marshall, who prosecuted with 
 vigor the work in the midst of the slave population 
 in Southern Georgia, until his death in 1856. 
 
 One of the most notable of the colored Baptists of 
 the South was Lot Gary, who was the first colored 
 missionary to go from America to Africa. Gary 
 was born near the close of the eighteenth century, 
 and in his early manhood was notoriously corrupt 
 and vicious. In 1804 he was laboring as a com- 
 mon slave in a tobacco warehouse in Richmond, 
 Virginia. Gonverted in 1807, he became a mem- 
 ber of the First Baptist Ghurch (white), of Kich- 
 mond, there being at that time no organized colored 
 churches in the South. ^ 
 
 From the galleries of the old First Ghurch in 
 Richmond, Gary heard a thrilling sermon based 
 upon the conversation of our Lord with Xicodemus. 
 Here was born in his heart a desire to preach, that 
 he might tell this thrilling story to others. Finding 
 a friendly tutor in a young white man, Gary was 
 soon able to read the New Testament, and was 
 licensed to preach. He became enthusiastic in his 
 work among the blacks in Richmond, and was soon 
 
 1 When converts among the slaves began to multiply, galleries 
 and adjoining compartments to the main audience rooms of the 
 churches were providetl for the accommodation of the colored 
 people, who attended upon the same services vi'ith the whites. 
 
316 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 a controlling factor among them. His avidity for 
 reading led him to purchase a small but indiscrim- 
 inate lot of books which he usually picked up from 
 the shelves of cheap venders. This scanty and 
 heterogeneous library he kept within easy reach, 
 that no opportunity might be lost for mental im- 
 provement. Every snatch of leisure in the ware- 
 house was devoted to his books. A passer-by in 
 the warehouse happened to pick up one of Gary's 
 books on one occasion and found that he had been 
 cudgeling his brain with Adam Smith's " Wealth 
 of Nations." It was a book — something to be 
 read — and that was sufficient to the enslaved stu- 
 dent. He had chanced upon it, no doubt, at some 
 cheap book-stall, or at a miscellaneous auction, and 
 was seeking to unravel its contents. Like his 
 namesake, William Carey, he numbered among his 
 possessions " The Voyages of Captain Cook." Who 
 can deny that in the unfolding of the life of this 
 wonderful man God's hand was in the direction of 
 his tutelage? 
 
 By a careful preservation of the bits of tobacco 
 lying about the floor of the warehouse, which were 
 given him, and by an economical hoarding of the 
 generous " tips " of the merchants whom he served 
 in divers ways, Gary finally accumulated eight 
 hundred and fifty dollars, with which he purchased 
 his freedom and that of his children, his wife having 
 been previously freed by the hand of death. He 
 had no difficulty in obtaining work, as his reputation 
 
COLORED BAPTISTS AND THEIR WORK 317 
 
 for honesty was well known in the business circles 
 of Richmond. He was one of the principal agents 
 in the formation of the African Missionary Soci- 
 ety of Richmond, which society was organized in 
 1815 — one of the first organized in America. 
 Within five years this society raised seven hundred 
 dollars, which was made up largely of the con- 
 tributions of the Christian slaves. 
 
 Though the possessor of a pleasant home, which 
 he had purchased, and though pro.'?}:)erous in business, 
 Gary felt desirous of going to Africa as a missionary. 
 His employer having learned of this desire, sought 
 to dissuade him from such a purpose, and increased 
 his wages by way of inducement to reconsider ; but 
 the consecrated preacher could not be moved. He 
 surrendered his position, sold his attractive home, 
 and offered himself to the Triennial Convention for 
 work in Africa. In company with Colin Teage, 
 another colored preacher, Cary sailed for Africa 
 in January, 1821. These men began their labors 
 among the Bassas, at Monrovia, Liberia, in 1822. 
 After laboring for one year they baptized six, and 
 the year succeeding nine more were baptized. Of 
 the wonderful career of these ex-slaves more cannot 
 be said than that a marvelous work was done in the 
 conversion of many native Africans and in instruct- 
 ing them in the principles of government. 
 
 The numerical increase of the colored Baptists of 
 the South is largely due to the interest which was 
 manifested in the Negro in the early stages of 
 
318 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IX SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 Southern history. White missionaries were engaged 
 by the district Associations to visit the populous 
 plantations and to preach to the blacks. Many of 
 our most devoted home missionaries were preachers 
 to the slaves upon the plantations. Sometimes the 
 owner of many slaves would engage, upon a stated 
 salary, the services of such men, and again the 
 churches and Associations would assign them to 
 such work. Again, where ministerial gifts were 
 developed among converted slaves they were some- 
 times liberated and appointed to labor as mission- 
 aries. Respectful consideration was not withheld 
 from the Christian slaves even from the earliest pe- 
 riods of Southern history. So early as 1793 a 
 church composed exclusively of colored people in 
 the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, was admitted 
 into the Dover Association, and they have continued 
 all along to send delegates to the annual meetings 
 of that body.^ 
 
 In 1828, the Alabama Association purchased a 
 slave named Caesar, at the cost of six hundred and 
 twenty-five dollars, and set him apart to the gospel 
 ministry to labor among his people. This man of 
 God, though as black as Erebus, was the companion 
 in labors for many years of James McLemore, a 
 white evangelist of local note in Alabama. Csesar 
 was universally respected alike for his piety and his 
 ability as a preacher, and not infrequently would 
 address audiences composed entirely of whites. 
 
 * Semple, " History of the Baptists in Virginia," p. 12G. 
 
COLORED BAPTISTS AND THEIR AVORK 319 
 
 Another slave, Dock Phillips, who was a preacher 
 of power and of commanding influence among his 
 people, the Tuskegee Association undertook to pur- 
 chase in order that he might be appointed a mission- 
 ary ; but he declined to be severed from his master, 
 who allowed him whatever time he might desire for 
 preaching. 
 
 At this period there were but few separate organ- 
 izations of the blacks in the South. In the centers 
 of population an occasional colored church was to be 
 met with. In Savannah, Georgia, there were three 
 such churches, the pastors of which were sustained 
 by one-third of the Negro population of the city, at 
 salaries ranging from eight hundred to one thousand 
 dollars a year.^ At other points colored churches 
 were presided over by white pastors, as was true 
 of the Anthony Street Church, Mobile, Alabama, 
 where Rev. Keidor Hawthorne was pastor. Another 
 notable instance is afforded by the First African 
 Church of Richmond, Virginia, of which Dr. Robert 
 Ryland, then president of Richmond College, served 
 as pastor. He sustained this relation for a period 
 of twenty-five years, a fact that denotes devotion and 
 affection on the part of both, and baptized during 
 that time not less than three thousand blacks. 
 
 The custom of licensing and ordaining colored 
 
 ministers was prevalent in the South up to 1825, 
 
 after which date the practice was abandoned and in 
 
 some of the States of the South, laws were enacted 
 
 ^ Edward Ingle, "Southern Sidelights." 
 
320 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 forbidding slaves to be taught to read/ Tliis grew 
 out of the apprehension that if thus taught they 
 would chafe under the restraint of servitude, and 
 possibly beget insurrectionary trouble. As has been 
 seen, these statutes, however moderate or severe, 
 were utterly ignored in thousands of instances, and 
 housemaids and butlers were taught to read and 
 write. The easily impressionable nature of the 
 Negro has made him readily susceptible to the 
 gospel, and he is usually a most enthusiastic auditor. 
 During slavery in the South Negroes attended in 
 vast throngs services held on the plantations. Their 
 stentorian melody of praise, unrestrained by conven- 
 tionality, was often heard at considerable distances as 
 they would heartily throw their souls into the worship. 
 When the slaves attended upon the same churches as 
 the whites, the former generally outnumbered the lat- 
 ter, and when the Lord's Supper was observed, slaves 
 communed with their masters. Among the notable 
 instances of the devotion of colored Baptists to 
 their principles may be mentioned the fact that, 
 in portions of Louisiana which were completely 
 under the domination of the French Catholics 
 where the religion of the Romanist alone pre- 
 vailed, the Negro slaves of these people were al- 
 lowed to engage in no other form of worship than 
 that of the Roman Catholic. 
 
 ^ The States of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Caro- 
 lina, and Virginia had express provisions in their laws against 
 the instruction of free Negroes. 
 
COLORED BAPTISTS AND THEIR WORK 321 
 
 After their emancipation the fact became known 
 that these enslaved people had secretly maintained 
 Baptist worship for a long period of years. They 
 had their regular organizations upon the planta- 
 tions — their preachers, their deacons — all. Under 
 the cover of darkness in unfrequented quarters these 
 Baptist slaves would hold their services as noise- 
 lessly as possible, and observe the ordinances in due 
 form. One feature of Romish worship greatly im- 
 pressed these benighted slaves, and that was the 
 baptism of infants. To the ignorant slave there 
 was a fetich fascination in this ceremony, and long 
 after the period of emancipation, colored Baptist 
 preachers in some portions of Louisiana used the 
 ceremony of the sprinkling of infants with water as 
 an act of the consecration of the child to the Lord. 
 
 The records of the Baptist organizations in the 
 South, prior to the Civil War, abound in allusions 
 to provisions made for Christianizing the Negro. 
 Believing that more could be accomplished by mem- 
 bers of their own race in Africa than by white mis- 
 sionaries, two colored men — J. Day and A. L. 
 Jones — were sent in 1846, by the Southern Baptist 
 Convention, to the Dark Continent. These were 
 followed by others at later periods. 
 
 Considered as a body, the colored Baptists of the 
 South, according to the eleventh census, 1890, con- 
 stitute the most numerous section of Regular Bap- 
 tists in the world. Multitudinous as these figures 
 show the colored Baptists to be, they do not include 
 
322 HISTOEY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 all American Negro Baptists. Many of these reside 
 in the North and are quite generally members of 
 white churches and are counted with them without 
 distinction, in the census aggregate. 
 
 There are many others who are not included in 
 the great national count, because of obscure rural 
 churches and of Associations of colored Baptists 
 which were not reached by the census officers. 
 Many again failed, for divers reasons, to respond 
 to repeated requests made by the national officials 
 to clerks or moderators for statistics. It is pre- 
 sumed that a third or more of the colored Baptist 
 Associations of the South failed to furnish adequate 
 statistics of numbers and of property. Notwith- 
 standing this, we have the figures given below.^ 
 
 1 Georgia leads with 200,516 colored Baptists ; Virginia, 199,. 
 871 ; Alabama, 142,437 ; Mississippi, 136,647 ; North Carolina, 
 134,445; South Carolina, 125,572; Tennessee, 52,183; Kentucky, 
 50,245 ; Florida, 20,828 ; District of Columbia, 12,717 ; Maryland, 
 7,750 ; West Virginia, 4,233 ; Louisiana, 68,008. The grand aggre- 
 gate for the States named, together with the District of Columbia, 
 is 1,087,445. The following table furnishes additional data of in- 
 terest respecting colored Baptists : 
 
 ORGANIZA.- CHURCH SEATING VALUE CHURCH 
 TIONS. EDIFICES. CAPACITY. PROPERTY. 
 
 Alabama 1,374 1,341 376,839 $ 795,384 
 
 District of Columbia.. 43 33 18,600 383,150 
 
 Florida 329 295 61,588 137,578 
 
 Georgia 1,818 1,800 544,546 1,045,310 
 
 Kentucky 378 359 109,030 406,949 
 
 Louisiana 865 861 191,041 609,890 
 
 Maryland 38 34 12,389 150,475 
 
 Mississippi 1,385 1,333 371,115 682,541 
 
 North Carolina 1,173 1,164 362.946 705,512 
 
 South Carolina 800 836 275,529 699,961 
 
 Tennessee 569 534 159,140 519,923 
 
 Virginia *1,001 977 356,032 1,192,035 
 
 West Virginia 79 50 14,175 59,090 
 
COLORED BAPTISTS AND THEIR WORK 323 
 
 For reasons already assigned, the colored Bap- 
 tists of the South were not wholly unprepared to 
 withdraw from the churches of the whites and to 
 enter into independent organizations, when the 
 period of emancipation came. This was clearly 
 seen to be the wisest step possible on the part of the 
 blacks, and yet they were not left wholly uncared 
 for by the whites. Wherever aid was sought, and 
 it could be extended, it was cordially given to the 
 struggling blacks. In the work of organization, 
 both of churches and of Associations, in the ordina- 
 tion of ministers and deacons, and in the erection 
 of schoolhouses and church buildings, substantial 
 aid was cheerfully rendered. 
 
 There has been, on the part of the colored Bap- 
 tists, a most commendable progress in the develop- 
 ment of church life. So soon as they were able to 
 do so, they organized themselves into district Asso- 
 ciations, then into the more general bodies of State 
 and national Conventions. The colored Baptists of 
 North Carolina were the first to organize a State 
 Convention, M'hich was done in 1866, with Alabama 
 and Virginia following in 1867. Later, there came 
 in point of time Arkansas and Kentucky, to be fol- 
 lowed by the other States of the South still later. 
 
 As soon as this spirit of organization began to 
 prevail in the States of the South, representative 
 colored men came from the North to assist and 
 direct in the matter of affiliation with the larger 
 bodies. 
 
324 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 In August, 1866, the twenty-sixth anniversary of 
 the colored Missionary Convention was held in 
 Richmond, Virginia, when it was determined to 
 consolidate all of the general interests of colored 
 Baptists — the Missionary, Northwestern, and South- 
 ern Conventions — into one body, which was called 
 the Consolidated American Baptist Missionary Con- 
 vention. Eleven years later, this consolidated body 
 met again in Richmond, when some very decided 
 diiferences of opinion arose respecting questions of 
 management and extent of jurisdiction. Disruption 
 for a time threatened the body, but it was pre- 
 served. Dissolution ultimately came, however, until 
 now the field embraced by the States of the South is 
 included in the Baptist Foreign Missionary Conven- 
 tion of the United States, which body was formed 
 in 1880. In 1883, this Convention sent six mis- 
 sionaries to Africa — J. H. Presley and W. W. 
 Colley, together with their wives, and J. J. Coles 
 and H. McKinney. 
 
 The American National Baptist Convention was 
 organized in 1886 in St. Louis. It was a large 
 representative body of six hundred delegates from 
 seventeen States. The advancement of the colored 
 people was indicated by the fact that there were 
 present " graduates in law, medicine, and theology ; 
 professors of philosophy, German, French, Latin, 
 Greek, and Hebrew ; a number of State ex-repre- 
 sentatives and ex-senators ; two lieutenant-govern- 
 ors ; editors and teachers, not a few ; a Baptist 
 
COLORED BAPTISTS AND THEIR WORK 325 
 
 senator from Mississippi ; and a Baptist missionary 
 from London, England." Rev. T. L. Johnson, one 
 of the speakers of the occasion said : " Knox lifted 
 up Scotland ; Luther lifted up Germany ; and it is 
 for us to lift up the heathen in the land of our 
 fathers." ^ 
 
 The genuine orthodoxy of this body was set forth 
 in 1890, when a resolution was adopted recommend- 
 ing that the practice of receiving into membership 
 persons immersed into Pedobaptist churches be 
 discontinued, on the ground that Pedobaptist or- 
 ganizations are not churches, and therefore have no 
 power to administer baptism. The exchange of 
 pulpits with Pedobaptists was also condemned as 
 " inconsistent and erroneous." ^ 
 
 The colored Baptists of all the States of the 
 South have nearly thirty schools of high grade, 
 which are largely devoted to the preparation of 
 preachers and teachers. The first of these to be 
 organized was that of Roger Williams University, 
 at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1864. It has a col- 
 lege property valued at two hundred and five thou- 
 sand dollars. The next two schools were founded 
 respectively at Raleigh, N. C, and Washington, 
 D. C, in 1865; the first, Shaw University, hav- 
 ing a property valued at two hundred and fifteen 
 thousand five hundred dollars, and the second, 
 Wayland Seminary, the property of which is valued 
 
 1 Dr. Cook's " story of the Baptists," p. 423. 
 2 Dr. H. K. Carroll, " The Religious Forces of the U. S.," p. 28. 
 
326 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 at one hundred and thirteen thousand dollars. In 
 1867, the Atlanta Seminary was founded, and now 
 it has a property, the total valuation of which is 
 eighty-five thousand five hundred dollars. The 
 Benedict College, at Columbia, founded in 1870, 
 has a property estimated at one hundred and twelve 
 thousand dollars. In 1873, the Florida Institute 
 Avas established at Live Oak, and its property valu- 
 ation is ten thousand and fifty dollars. In Jackson, 
 Mississippi, is Jackson College, organized in 1877, 
 and its property is estimated to be worth twenty- 
 five thousand dollars. The Selma University was 
 established at Selma, Alabama, in 1878, and it owns 
 a property valued at twenty thousand two hundred 
 and fifty dollars. The college of Kentucky for 
 colored Baptists, is located at Louisville, and is 
 known as the State University. It was founded in 
 1879, and owns a property valued at thirty thousand 
 five hundred dollars. Spelman Seminary, of At- 
 lanta, Georgia, was instituted in 1881, and owns a 
 property the valuation of which is one hundred and 
 fifty-three thousand dollars. Leland University 
 was established in 1870 at New Orleans, Louisiana, 
 and possesses a most valuable property, estimated 
 to be worth one hundred and sixty thousand dol- 
 lars. These are the principal schools which are 
 under the management of the colored Baptists in 
 the Southern States east of the Mississippi. Most 
 of these schools are the result of Northern bene- 
 factions, and most of them, as well as others of less 
 
COLORED BAPTISTS AND THEIR WORK 327 
 
 note, are maintained by the American Baptist Home 
 Mission Society. 
 
 Among the periodicals owned and conducted by 
 the colored Baptists of the region of country under 
 consideration may be named : " The African Expos- 
 itor," Raleigh, N. C. ; " American Baptist," Louis- 
 ville, Ky. ; " Baptist Messenger," Jackson, Miss. ; 
 "Georgia Baptist" and "Weekly Sentinel," Au- 
 gusta, Ga. ; " Baptist Signal," Greenville, Miss. ; 
 "The Living Way" and "Memphis Watchman," 
 Memphis, Tenn. ; " Richmond Planet " and " Afri- 
 can Missions," Richmond, Va. ; " West Virginia 
 Enterprise," Charlestown, W. Va. ; " Baptist Trib- 
 une," Columbia, S. C. ; " Baptist Leader," Mont- 
 gomery, Ala. ; and " Baptist Review," Atlanta, Ga. 
 The most of these are strictly denominational in 
 character. A large number of papers are issued by 
 the colored Baptists of the South which are politico- 
 religious, while others are entirely political. One 
 of the most promising features of the race is that 
 they are omnivorous readers. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the fondness which 
 the colored man has for meetings of a religious 
 character. Coupled with this, was his equal fond- 
 ness for the diversion afforded by the " shuffle " and 
 "the breakdown." It was the care of many mas- 
 ters during the days of slavery that diversions be 
 had by the slaves on Saturday night. In order to 
 this, labor was often suspended before the close of 
 the day. As a result the Negro quarters upon the * 
 
328 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 plantations of the South woukl resound every Sat- 
 urday night with tlie music of " the fiddle and the 
 bow/' the clapping of hands, the rattling of bones, 
 and hilarious laughter. This was responded to by 
 the shuffle and thump of agile dancers. Often till 
 the wee sma' hours was this hilarity indulged in. 
 But all this has changed. One rarely hears now 
 the tumult of the dancers in the Negro quarters of 
 the South. The rude frolic of former days has been 
 almost entirely supplanted by the religious gather- 
 ing. Instead of the strains of the banjo and violin, 
 one hears now the song of praise and the voice of 
 exhortation. The changes wrought in this people, 
 and the progress made under such conditions, make 
 them one of the most remarkable races of history. 
 In their religious inclinations, the Negroes are 
 Baptists. Even when becoming members of other 
 denominations they frequently insist upon immer- 
 sion as the only baptism. In his work entitled — 
 " Men of Mark — Eminent, Professional, and Eis- 
 ing," Dr. W. J. Simmons, the well-known colored 
 preacher, insists with evident satisfaction : " I claim 
 that there are in the United States, more colored 
 Baptists than white Baptists, and more colored Bap- 
 tists than all Pedobaptists together." 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 Having traced the development of the Baptist 
 denomination in the Southern States east of the 
 Mississippi, through a period of more than two 
 hundred years, we are able, from the present ground 
 of advantage, to review the eventful eras through 
 which we have come, and to study with interest, and 
 perhaps with profit, the causes which have contrib- 
 uted to our growth. Far beneath the movements 
 of men and communities, of churches and conven- 
 tions, lie the philosophy of deeds and the instruction 
 of events 
 
 That on the stretched forefinger of all Time 
 Sparkle forever. 
 
 It is a fact worthy of attention that, though in 
 the beginning the principles of liberty advocated 
 by Baptist pioneers in America were stoutly resisted 
 at every step, they have become the fundamental 
 law of the land. Consistent and meritorious ag- 
 gression has overborne the most forbidding obstruc- 
 tions and has contributed, in the largest degree, to 
 the freedom now enjoyed throughout this broad 
 land of States. Along with the inculcation of these 
 
 329 
 
330 HISTOKY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 principles 'which underlie our national framework, 
 has been a development of the people who were 
 their chief supporters in the outset ; and have been 
 their uncompromising patrons to the present. Nay, 
 the denomination has vastly outgrown the nation. 
 While in the United States the population has in- 
 creased sixteen-fold, the Baptists of the country 
 have grown fifty-six-fold, or nearly four times as 
 fast as the population of the country. 
 
 Nor can this marvelous growth be attributed to 
 immigration, for statistics abundantly show that 
 while other denomiuations have derived great nu- 
 merical increase from immigration, Baptists have 
 derived little or no benefit therefrom. In the sec- 
 tion of States under review in this work, the number 
 of regular Baptists alone has reached the enormous 
 figure of one million eight hundred and eight thou- 
 sand three hundred and seven. 
 
 In their relation to the outlying heathen world, 
 Baptists sustain missionary facilities that do great 
 honor to the wisdom of the fathers of the denomi- 
 nation. Systems well constructed and properly 
 adapted to the evangelization of the heathen have 
 been founded and are in successful operation. Im- 
 mense organizations established upon the most im- 
 proved methods of success for eliciting, combining, 
 and directing beneficent agencies, are under Baptist 
 control, and are directed with methodical success. 
 Missionary representatives are at work in the 
 crowded centers, the neglected districts, and on the 
 
CONCLUSION 331 
 
 remote frontier regions of America — in Mexico, 
 Cuba, Brazil, China, Italy, Africa, and Japan. 
 
 In the early settlement of the country and until 
 a considerable period after the Revolution, American 
 Baptists, as a body, were an illiterate folk. Their 
 ignorance won for them the contempt of ecclesiasti- 
 cal opponents. But, at diiferent times, there were 
 developed a few great leaders like Manning and 
 Maxcy, and later, of Wayland at the North, and 
 of Furman, Holcorabe, and Mercer at the South, 
 who combined scholarship with sturdy good sense, 
 and were denomination builders, on the educational 
 side. Directing with skill the scanty resources at 
 command, and marshaling with adroitness every 
 encouragement developed, these earnest men of God 
 provided a leverage for the future elevation of the 
 Baptists of America. While with a great people 
 who had obtained a popular foothold in every 
 State, there must needs have been blunders, es- 
 pecially where so much was undertaken in educa- 
 tional work, still the close of the second century of 
 Baptist history finds the denomination with many 
 institutions of high grade, attaining indeed to the 
 highest, most widely distributed and deservedly pop- 
 ular throughout the country. 
 
 While in the South many of these interests were 
 prostrated as a result of the Civil War, most of 
 them have been revived, and are to-day among the 
 most powerful and salutary forces of our civiliza- 
 tion. With the freedom of the slave came the 
 
332 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 establishment of schools for his elevation in the 
 scale of moral and intellectual excellence. These 
 give to colored Baptists numerous advantages over 
 those colored representatives of other denominations 
 in the States most populous with that race. 
 
 Baptists were the first of the denominations of 
 the South to lay hold of the press as an engine of 
 strength and progress. As the region has grown in 
 population and in prosperity, this agency has im- 
 proved, and its influence has broadened, until it has 
 become a stupendous factor in the States of the 
 South. 
 
 Among the chief elements of success which have 
 come into the possession of Baptists is that of wealth. 
 Prior to the Civil War, many Baptists in the South 
 were very wealthy ; but with the crash of Southern 
 institutions came the destruction of most of the 
 wealth of this section. But there has been a grad- 
 ual rehabilitation of thousands of estates together 
 with the production of wealth from many new 
 sources. In this, Baptists who constitute so large 
 a percentage of the population have, of course, 
 shared. By reason of their overwhelming numbers 
 in some of the States, they own a preponderance of 
 property as compared with other denominations. 
 Combined with other advantageous elements, this 
 gives to Baptists social position. 
 
 But the chief source of visible strength to the 
 Baptists is the firm hold which they have upon the 
 sturdy middle class of the country. They reach 
 
CONCLUSION 333 
 
 and control more of that class perhaps than any 
 other denomination of Christians on the continent. 
 From the beginning this has been a basal element 
 of denominational strength, and to this fact may be 
 largely attributed Baptist achievements in America. 
 
 Such are some of the chief advantages enjoyed by 
 the Baptists of America. Should denominational 
 success continue at the same ratio of increase to the 
 close of the twentieth century, Baptist influence will 
 be beyond competition. 
 
 But while these advantages exist, and they are 
 considerable, are there no possible drawbacks to 
 Baptist growth and influence ? Are there no snares 
 besetting the future? In a land of unparalleled 
 prosperity there is grave danger arising from a 
 spirit of worldliness. Baptists have endured the 
 ordeal of struggle and affliction and have thriven ; 
 will they be able to thrive with the increasing pros- 
 perity of the country ? 
 
 The solidity of church life has been preserved by 
 the exercise of a wholesome discipline in the local 
 organizations. The inroads of worldliness will in- 
 evitably impair this distinct feature of our churches 
 and invite decay. One of the direct results of 
 worldliness is a decline of benevolence. Should 
 that spirit decline rather than increase with the 
 material prosperity with which the churches are 
 blessed, disastrous results will follow. Upon Bap- 
 tists more than upon others rests the responsibility 
 of meeting this strain. If so much has been accom- 
 
334 HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 plished in spite of persecution and opposition, how 
 much greater should be denominational success with 
 these obstructions entirely removed, and with im- 
 mense prosperity at ready command. 
 
 Another danger springing from the spirit of the 
 times is that of superficiality of results. The appre- 
 hension is not without foundation that as we increase 
 numerically there is danger of a corresponding spir- 
 itual loss. Church progress has come to be esti- 
 mated too much by the enrollment upon the church 
 register. There is a widespread desire for increased 
 numbers rather than for increased efficiency. Pas- 
 tors are sought who " draw " rather than those who 
 build. In the craze for large accessions, organiza- 
 tion is neglected, discrimination and caution are not 
 exercised in the reception of members, and convert 
 culture goes for naught. 
 
 Kruramacher is credited with the saying, " The 
 Baptists have a future." The statement of the 
 German theologian is suggestive of the fact that 
 Baptists are charged with a peculiar mission which 
 is as yet unfulfilled. They have succeeded as a 
 people in making their impress upon the world 
 alone by their fidelity to the sacred trusts com- 
 mitted to them. Their influence is discovered by 
 the practical adoption of their view^s by a large 
 number of Pedobaptist churches. The steady and 
 consistent observance of the principles held all 
 along by Baptists has gradually brought into dis- 
 repute infant baptism ; and in proportion to the 
 
COXCLUSION 335 
 
 decline of this practice has been the growth of the 
 doctrine of immersion. In consideration of their 
 numbers, influence, resources, and opportunities, the 
 possibility of future achievement seems boundless. 
 
 The story of the Baptists of the South for two 
 hundred years is one unequaled by that of any 
 other people in the annals of time. From a few 
 struggling outposts along the Atlantic, in the begin- 
 ning scarcely daring the deed of self-assertion lest a 
 storm of persecution be invoked, they have become 
 a people multitudinous in number, and of immense 
 resources. Pitied and despised by an arrogance 
 that accounted their forefathers the offscouring of 
 the earth, resisted by an intolerance whose self- 
 devotion blinded it to the noblest elements of char- 
 acter, and overridden by a haughtiness whose self- 
 ishness withheld all suffrage save that doled out by 
 stinted hands. Baptists have thriven in this goodly 
 land and have expanded as the garden of the Lord. 
 Opposition has made them great. The benediction 
 has come to the reviled and persecuted. 
 
 To-day we are confronted by the danger of undue 
 consciousness of greatness that may be a reversal of 
 the law by which we have attained the commanding 
 heights. There is appprehension lest our humility 
 be transformed into the very intolerance against 
 which an humble spiritual ancestry strove and 
 became great. Insidious pride follows fast upon 
 human success, and multiplies pitfalls in exact 
 proportion to achievement. The Chaldean mon- 
 
336 HISTOEY OF BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES 
 
 arch was within a single stride of the level of the 
 grazing herds when puffed with vanity he paced his 
 capital walls and gloried in his grandeur; while the 
 Hebrew prophet was greatest in his dungeon with 
 the command ringing in his ears : "■ Buy the field 
 that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is 
 thine to buy it." 
 
 Kestraint of independent thought and an arbi- 
 trary erection of barriers against expressed indi- 
 vidual opinion — barriers as inexorable as the ram- 
 parts of the sea, saying, "Thus far shalt thou go 
 and no farther/' is akin to the intolerance that built 
 the Inquisition. 
 
 Questions and problems, grave and complicated, 
 are destined to be raised in the future as in the 
 past. These cannot be met with fiery zeal and im- 
 petuous intolerance. In matters of grave import 
 the wise counsel of Gamaliel is suited alike to all 
 times : " If this counsel or this work be of men, it 
 will be overthrown : but if it is of God, ye will not 
 be able to overthrow them ; lest haply ye be found 
 even to be fighting against God." ' 
 
 iActs5:38, 39., R. V. 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 OTHER BAPTIST FAMILIES 
 
 Besides that great family of Baptists, the history 
 of which is briefly presented in this volume, there 
 are others, ten in number, each of which bears a 
 distinct name, and are expressive of the professed 
 principles of each. These are : the Seventh Day, 
 Six Principle, Freewill, Original Freewill, General, 
 Separate, United, Baptist Church of Christ, Anti- 
 missionary, and Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predes- 
 tinarian Baptists. 
 
 All these agree in two particulars, viz. : 
 
 1. That the only subjects of Christian baptism 
 are those who have been converted and profess per- 
 sonal faith in Christ, and 
 
 2. That the only scriptural baptism is immersion. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that they reject in- 
 fant baptism as invalid, and sprinkling or pouring 
 as unscriptural. 
 
 There are still other denominations, akin to the 
 
 Baptists, which accept these principles wholly, or in 
 
 part, such as the Disciples of Christ, Christians, 
 
 Mennonites, and others, but they are not Baptists, 
 
 and are never so classified. 
 
 w 337 
 
338 APPENDIX A 
 
 The Disciples of Christ accept the principles 
 named, but they also insist that only through baptism 
 does " divine assurance of remission of sins and ac- 
 ceptance with God" come. The Christians generally 
 insist upon the immersion of believers, but will accept 
 pouring or sprinkling. The Mennonites believe in 
 pouring and usually adopt this. The Regular Bap- 
 tists are divided into Northern, Southern, and Col- 
 ored. In doctrine, they are Calvinistic. The Free- 
 will Baptists, in both its branches, together with the 
 General Baptists, and others, are Arminian. The 
 Anti-missionary Baptists, of which there are two or 
 three bodies, are hyper-Calvinistic. 
 
 The Seventh Day Baptists. — Originally these 
 were called Sabbatarian Baptists. They appeared 
 in England in the latter part of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. They derive their name from the observance 
 of Saturday as a sacred day, or as a day of rest. 
 This body was known as Sabbatarians, or Sabba- 
 tarian Baptists, until the General Conference of the 
 body in 1818, when the name was changed to that 
 of Seventh Day Baptists. The first Seventh Day 
 Baptist church established in America was founded 
 at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1671. Stephen Mum- 
 ford, of England, was its founder. From this colony 
 have come all the people of that name to be found 
 to-day in different portions of the United States. 
 Reaching southward, Philadelphia, and Piscataway, 
 New Jersey, became other distributing centers. 
 
OTHER BAPTIST FAMILIES 339 
 
 They entered the South in 1754, when Rev. John 
 Gregory led a colony from Pennsylvania and New 
 Jersey into South Carolina, and they organized a 
 church on Broad River, in St. Mark's Parish. In 
 1769 or 1770, eight other families removed from 
 Chester (now Delaware County), Pennsylvania, and 
 joined them. A revival of religion followed this 
 event, when twenty-four members were added to 
 the church. At that time they were a prosperous 
 community of eighteen families. This is as far as 
 trustworthy records can trace them. 
 
 From this time they disappear from history. 
 They were located possibly not far from the present 
 town of Manning, South Carolina. The principal 
 families of the colony were named Price, Hughes, 
 Johnston, Owen, Jackson, Gregory, Nelly, Seymour, 
 and Noble. Were they absorbed by the Regular 
 Baptists of that region ? 
 
 In 1759 Rev. Richard Gregory led a company of 
 eight families into the Tuckaseeking region, about 
 forty miles north of Savannah, and organized a 
 Seventh Day Baptist church. Richard Gregory 
 preceded Daniel Marshall at Kiokee about twelve 
 years. This colony of Seventh Day Baptists left 
 Kiokee in 1765 and returned across the Savannah 
 River and settled at Edisto, South Carolina. Other 
 traces of these people are found in North Carolina, 
 but they are dim. 
 
 The Seventh Day Baptists hold the views gen- 
 erally held by the great Baptist family, and differ 
 
340 APPENDIX A 
 
 from the others chiefly by observing the seventh 
 instead of the first day of the week, as a sacred day. 
 " They believe that the seventh day is the Sabbath 
 of the Lord, that it Avas instituted in Eden, promul- 
 gated at Sinai, made binding upon all men at all 
 times and is, in the nature of its relation to God 
 and to man, irrepealable. They hold that any at- 
 tempt to connect the Sabbath law and obligation 
 with any other day of the week is illogical, and 
 tends to destroy the Institution." ^ 
 
 These people have suifered persecution in some of 
 the States for the disregard of Sunday as a sacred 
 day. This has been true both in Tennessee and in 
 Georgia. 
 
 They have two collegiate institutions, one located 
 at Milton, Wisconsin, and the other at Alfred Cen- 
 ter, New York. The denomination is represented 
 in twenty-four States. Of the States which come 
 within the compass of treatment in this volume, in 
 which the Seventh Day Baptists exist, are Alabama, 
 Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, 
 West Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee, having a 
 total membersliip in the States named of nine hun- 
 dred and thirty. 
 
 The Freewill. Baptists. — This organization 
 sprang up in New Durham, New Hampshire, in 
 1780. Its representatives derive their name from 
 the doctrine held by them concerning the will. The 
 
 1 Dr. H. K. Carroll, " Religious Forces in the U. S.," p. 31. 
 
OTHER BAPTIST FAMILIES 341 
 
 founder of the sect, Benjamin Randall was at first 
 a Congregationalist, but his views undergoing a 
 change, he became a Baptist. Refusing to accept 
 the doctrines usually held by the Baptists at that 
 time, concerning predestination, election, a limited 
 atonement, and the final perseverance of the saints, 
 he was accounted unsound and fellowship was 
 promptly denied him. This occurred in 1779. 
 The following year he secured ordination at the 
 hands of two Baptist ministers who coincided with 
 him in his views. The Freewill Baptist church 
 which he forthwith organized was, like all others in 
 New England at the time, spoken of simply as a 
 Baptist church. Within the next twenty years, the 
 members of these churches being popularly called 
 " Freewillers," the distinctive name of " Freewill " 
 Avas adopted. From New England, the Freewill 
 Baptists gradually extended into the West. No 
 doubt headway would have been made in the South 
 in the early periods of the century, but the founders 
 of the organization were vehemently opposed to 
 slavery. This opposition found pronounced expres- 
 sion in 1835, when the general conference of the 
 Freewill Baptists put the stamp of condemnation 
 upon African slavery. 
 
 The Freewill Baptist churches multiplied from the 
 beginning. After the lapse of half a century they 
 had four hundred and fifty churches, with twenty-one 
 thousand members. In 1 841 they united mth the 
 Free Communion Baptists of New York, and their 
 
342 APPENDIX A 
 
 numbers were increased by the addition of fifty-five 
 churches and two thousand five hundred members. 
 Later, however, the Freewill Baptists sustained 
 losses by local dissensions through the Adventist 
 movement. They suffered also as a result of the 
 war, as both ministers and members largely enlisted 
 in the Union armies. Having a membership of 
 sixty thousand in 1845, they had the same number 
 in 1870. During the intervening quarter of a 
 century the denomination had grown, and yet, by 
 varying fortune, it had lost. Since that time, its 
 numbers have gradually increased until, in 1890, 
 there were, in the United States, eighty-seven thou- 
 sand eight hundred and ninety-eight Freewill Bap- 
 tists. As early as 1791 women began to labor 
 among this people as preachers. It is a custom 
 with them to grant ordination to such women as 
 desire to serve as ministers. 
 
 Freewill Baptists hold that while man cannot, in 
 his fallen state, become a child of God by natural 
 goodness and personal effort, redemption and regen- 
 eration are freely provided for him. This admits 
 of application to every one, for the " call of the gos- 
 pel is coextensive with the atonement to all men," 
 so that salvation is "equally possible to all." They 
 insist that the " truly regenerate " are " through in- 
 firmity and manifold temptations " in " danger of 
 falling," and "ought therefore to watch and pray 
 lest they make shipwreck of faith." Their position 
 upon baptism and the Lord's Supper is that they 
 
OTHER BAPTIST FAMILIES 343 
 
 hold immersion alone as baptism, and insist upon it 
 that it is the " privilege and duty of all who have 
 spiritual union with Christ " to participate in the 
 observance of the Supper. 
 
 AVitli emphasis they declare that " no man has a 
 right to forbid these tokens to the least of his dis- 
 ciples." This declaration, of course, indicates that 
 the denomination advocates what is usually known 
 as " open communion." 
 
 The Articles of Faith provided for the churches 
 declare that the " human will " is " free and self- 
 determined, having power to yield to gracious in- 
 fluences and live, or resist them and perish." They 
 declare that the doctrine of election is not an " un- 
 conditional decree " which fixes the future state of 
 man, but that it is simply God's determination 
 " from the beginning to save all who should comply 
 with the conditions of salvation." 
 
 The general meetings of the Freewill Baptists are 
 called conferences. They hold quarterly and yearly 
 conferences, and a general Conference, which meets 
 every two years. These are representative bodies. 
 A quarterly Conference represents a restricted terri- 
 tory embracing a given number of churches. Its 
 functions are almost altogether advisory. 
 
 The quarterly Conference inquires into the condi- 
 tion of the churches and is empowered to advise, ad- 
 monish, or withdraw fellowship from them. It may 
 not, however, " deprive a church of its independent 
 form of government, nor its right to discipline its 
 
344 APPENDIX A 
 
 members nor labor with individual members of 
 churches as such " ; to deal with the churches only 
 as churches and not with individuals, is what is pro- 
 vided for in the polity of the denomination. The 
 quarterly Conference selects delegates for the annual 
 Conference. It sustains the same relation to the 
 quarterly Conference that the quarterly Conference 
 does to the individual churches. The general Con- 
 ference, which has the oversight of all the interests 
 of the denomination, derives its delegates from the 
 annual Conference. While it has a general over- 
 sight of the denomination, its disciplinary jurisdic- 
 tion is limited to the yearly meeting. It cannot 
 reach beyond these and interfere with the action 
 either of the quarterly meeting or of the churches. 
 It is absolutely without power to reverse the de- 
 cisions of any of the subordinate bodies. Candi- 
 dates for the ministry derive licenses, for a year 
 only, from the quarterly meeting. Ordination is 
 granted by a council of the quarterly meeting. The 
 church officers are those of pastor, clerk, and treas- 
 urer, together with an elected Board of deacons who, 
 besides attending to the temporalities of the church, 
 assist at baptism, serve at the Lord's Supper, and 
 take charge of meetings during the absence of the 
 pastor. The strength of the denomination is chiefly 
 in the North and West. Of the States under review 
 in this volume, the statistics are as follows : Ala- 
 bama has a membership of eight hundred and forty- 
 seven ; Florida, a membership of twenty-two ; Ken- 
 
OTHER BAPTIST FAMILIES 345 
 
 tucky, a membership of one thousand six hundred 
 and forty-one ; Maryland, a membership of ninety- 
 eight ; Mississippi, a membership of one thousand 
 three hundred and thirty-nine ; North Carolina, a 
 membership of eleven ; Tennessee, a membership of 
 two thousand eight hundred and sixty-four ; Vir- 
 ginia, a membership of four hundred and seventy- 
 eight ; and West Virginia, a membership of one 
 thousand six hundred and sixty-eight. 
 
 The Original Freewill Baptists. — These 
 are a remnant of the General Baptists who settled in 
 North Carolina in the first half of the eighteenth 
 century. The territory in North Carolina occupied 
 by them lay contiguous to that which was occupied 
 by the General Baptists in Virginia. 
 
 In each of these colonies they formed an Associa- 
 tion. In 1787, the General and Regular Baptists 
 united upon a Calvinistic basis. There were a few 
 Freewillers who did not go into the coalition. 
 Eventually they came to be known as Original 
 Freewill Baptists. Probably the term " original " 
 carries with it the idea that they precede, in point 
 of time, the existence of those who afterward came 
 to be known as Freewill Baptists. 
 
 In doctrine they declare that Christ " freely gave 
 himself a ransom for all, tasting death for every 
 man " ; that God desires that all come to repentance ; 
 that " all men, at one time or another are found in 
 such capacity as that through the grace of God they 
 
346 APPENDIX A 
 
 may be eternally saved " ; that those " ordained to 
 condemnation " are only the unrighteous who refuse 
 to accept the gospel offer of salvation ; that infants 
 who die are not subject to the second death ; that 
 God has not decreed any person to everlasting 
 death or everlasting life out of respect or mere 
 choice, only as he appoints " the godly unto life and 
 the ungodly who die in sin unto death " ; that only 
 believers are to be baptized, and that immersion 
 alone is baptism. They also observe foot-washing, 
 and anoint the sick with oil. Foot-washing and 
 communion are observed every quarter. 
 
 Conference for church business is held quarterly. 
 Every member is allowed a voice in the transaction 
 of the business of the church. The officers of a 
 church are, a pastor, clerk, treasurer, and deacons 
 who look after the temporal affairs and prepare for 
 quarterly communion. Besides these, they have a 
 sort of judicial eldership, the members of wdiicli 
 are called " ruling elders " whose duty it is to settle 
 controversies. Discipline is theoretically rigid. 
 Members of churches are not allowed to frequent 
 the "race track, the card table, shooting matches, or 
 any other place of disorder." In the administration 
 of discipline it is provided that " no person of color 
 within the pale of the church shall give testimony 
 against any person " (except one) " of color." Pro- 
 vision is made whereby only male members shall 
 hold office in the church. Once a year a general 
 conference is held for settlement of church difficul- 
 
OTHER BAPTIST FAMILIES 347 
 
 ties, for the reception of new churches, and for the 
 trial and discontinuance of elders, or pastors. This 
 yearly conference is composed of all the pastors, or 
 elders, ministers, (ordained) preachers, (licentiates) 
 in good standing, and of delegates chosen by the 
 churches. 
 
 Besides the work already named, this annual con- 
 ference alone has power to silence preachers. The 
 churches of the Original Freewill Baptists are con- 
 fined to North and South Carolina. In the former, 
 there is a membership of ten thousand two hundred 
 and twenty-four ; in the latter, there is a member- 
 ship of one thousand six hundred and forty. 
 
 The General Baptists. — The name of this 
 body is meant to imply its liberality in contradis- 
 tinction from the Particular or Regular Baptists 
 who are Calvinistic. The General Baptists are 
 Arminian in creed. They have eliminated every 
 vestige of Calvinism from their articles of faith. 
 
 We find General Baptists in New England at the 
 close of the seventeenth century. Near the begin- 
 ning of the century following they organized them- 
 selves into a General Association. A little later, we 
 find them establishing churches in Maryland, Vir- 
 ginia, and the Carolinas. A marked revolution was 
 effected in the last-named States by the visits of 
 such missionaries as Gano, Van Horn, Miller, and 
 others. Under the instruction of such men the 
 most of them became Calvinistic in faith. 
 
348 APPENDIX A 
 
 During the first quarter of the present century 
 the drift of the General Baptists was toward the 
 West, where they are now concentrated. The first 
 Association of the General Baptists organized in the 
 West was the Liberty, of Kentucky, in 1824. They 
 adopted the practice of open communion in 1830, 
 and fifteen years afterward so changed one of their 
 articles of faith as to embrace idiots and infants in 
 the covenant of grace. It seems that in the creed 
 formulated at the constitution of the Liberty Asso- 
 ciation, this specification had been omitted. In 
 order to give more emphasis to the tone of Armin- 
 ianism, another article was changed so as to declare 
 that " he that shall endure to the end shall be 
 saved" instead of saying, "the saints will finally 
 persevere from grace to glory." The purpose of 
 these changes evidently was to wipe out from the 
 creed the last vestige of Calvinism. 
 
 In 1870 they formed a General Association in 
 which all the Associations of the general body are 
 represented. The object of such organization is 
 declared to be that of bringing " into more intimate 
 and fraternal relation and effective co-operation 
 various bodies of literal Baptists." 
 
 So closely akin are the General and the Freewill 
 Baptists that each readily receives into its com- 
 munion and fellowship the churches of the other. 
 The growth of the General Baptists, has within the 
 last quarter of a century been rapid. In 1870 they 
 numbered eight thousand; ten years later, twelve 
 
OTHER BAPTIST FAMILIES 349 
 
 thousand three hundred and sixty-seven; and ten 
 years later still, twenty-one thousand three hundred 
 and sixty-two. 
 
 They are scattered through the States of Indiana, 
 Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, 
 and Nebraska. One fails to discover but slight 
 diiference between the General Baptists and the 
 Freewill Baptists from a comparison of the Con- 
 fessions of Faith. They hold that the Bible is the 
 only rule of faith and practice; that there is one 
 God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; that man 
 is "fallen and depraved," and is totally unable to 
 save himself; that he that endures to the end shall 
 be saved ; that reward and punishment are eternal ; 
 that immersion alone is baptism ; that only believers 
 are proper subjects of baptism ; that none can share 
 in the benefits of the atonement, though made for 
 all, except through repentance and faith, save idiots 
 and infants only. 
 
 In Kentucky the General Baptists have four 
 thousand four hundred and fifty-five members ; in 
 Tennessee, one thousand and eight members. 
 
 The United Baptists. — This is a small body 
 of communicants who retain the designation as- 
 sumed when the Separate and Regular Baptists 
 were united in Virginia, Kentucky, and elsewhere. 
 But there was such general concession to the prin- 
 ciples of the Regular Baptists, that the sections thus 
 combined were eventually called Regular Baptists. 
 
350 APPENDIX A 
 
 Later, they were additionally called Missionary 
 Baptists to distinguish them from the Anti-mission- 
 ary. Some have persisted in clinging to the name 
 United Baptists and have preserved a continual ex- 
 istence in that way. 
 
 An additional reason for their independent exist- 
 ence is found in the fact that in Kentucky the fu- 
 sion of the Separates and Regulars was not upon a 
 purely Calvinistic basis. While in their doctrinal 
 platform they did declare the final perseverance of 
 the saints, they did not distinctly set forth election 
 or reprobation. However, the fusionists did stipu- 
 late that the doctrine of a general atonement, as de- 
 clared in the fact that "Christ did taste death for 
 every man," should be " no bar to communion." 
 
 As a distinct denomination the United Baptists 
 are moderate Calvinists. They hold that Christ 
 " suffered and died to make atonement for sin," but 
 do not say whether this atonement was general or 
 particular. They further declare that though the 
 gospel is to be preached to all nations, and men 
 everywhere are to be urged to repentance, such is 
 their opposition to the gospel that they deliberately 
 and voluntarily choose a state of sin. 
 
 They further insist that God in his " mere good 
 pleasure" elected or chose in Christ a great mul- 
 titude among all nations, and that through the 
 operation of the Holy Spirit, God " effectually calls 
 them " and they " freely choose Christ for their 
 Saviour." They urge that those who are united to 
 
OTHER BAPTIST FAMILIES 351 
 
 God by a living faith are forgiven and justified 
 " solely on account of the merits of Christ," and 
 that those who are justified and regenerated will 
 persevere to the end. On the subject of baptism 
 their views are in common with all other Baptists — 
 immersion of believers only. Concerning the Lord's 
 Supper they claim that it should be " observed by 
 those who have been regenerated, regularly bap- 
 tized, and become members of a gospel church." 
 They also hold to the observance of washing the 
 saints' feet. 
 
 The United Baptists are found in Alabama, Ar- 
 kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee. There 
 are in Alabama seven hundred and two members ; 
 in Kentucky, six thousand four hundred and forty- 
 three members ; and in Tennessee, three thousand 
 one hundred and eighty members. 
 
 The Baptist Church of Christ. — This is a 
 small body, the majority of the members of which 
 are to be found in Tennessee. The first two Asso- 
 ciations of the Baptist Church of Christ were the 
 Elk River and the Duck River, both of which were 
 organized in Tennessee in 1808. They assert that 
 they are the oldest body of Baptists, and that no 
 others existed in Tennessee until 1825, "when the 
 Two-Seed churches came into existence as the result 
 of what is know as the Antinomian Controversy." 
 
 The Articles of Faith of the Baptist Church of 
 Christ are conservative in tone. They hold that 
 
352 APPENDIX A 
 
 " Christ tasted death for every man/' and so con- 
 ditioned the means of grace as to make it possible 
 for God to exercise mercy toward all who come unto 
 him on the terms of the gospel ; that justification is 
 by faith ; that saints will persevere. They agree 
 with the entire Baptist brotherhood upon the sub- 
 ject of immersion, and believer's baptism. They 
 insist upon three ordinances — baptism, the Lord's 
 Supper, and washing the feet of the saints. These 
 are to be observed until the second coming of 
 Christ. A few members of this body are to be met 
 with in the States of Alabama, Arkansas, Missis- 
 sippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, and 
 Texas. In Alabama there are seven hundred and 
 eighty-two members ; in Mississippi, three hundred 
 and sixty-eight members ; in North Carolina, six 
 hundred and fifty-nine members ; and in Tennessee, 
 five thousand and sixty-five members. 
 
 The Anti-Mission Baptists. — This body of 
 Baptists is known by a variety of names, such as 
 "Primitive," -''Old School," "Anti-Mission," and 
 " Hard Shell." Their tenets are characterized by 
 narrowness and rigidity. They owe their existence 
 as a distinct body, to their pronounced opposition, 
 begun more than fifty years ago, to missions, Sun- 
 day-schools, Bible societies, and all similar institu- 
 tions. They denounce them as human institutions, 
 modern innovations, as unauthorized by the Scrip- 
 tures, and unnecessary. 
 
OTHER BAPTIST FAMILIES 353 
 
 The severance of the anti-effort Baptists from the 
 missionary organizations was a gradual process. It 
 found open expression in the Chemung Association, 
 the churches of which were partly in New York 
 and partly in Pennsylvania, as early as 1835. It 
 adopted a resolution insisting that as associational 
 bodies with which it had been in correspondence 
 had "departed from the simplicity of the doctrine 
 and practice of the gospel of Christ, uniting with 
 the world and what are falsely called benevolent 
 societies, founded upon a monied basis," and en- 
 gaged in preaching a gospel "differing from the 
 gospel of Christ," it declined further fellowship 
 with them. It followed up this declaration with an 
 earnest appeal to all Baptists who did not approve 
 these innovations to withdraw from those hold- 
 ing them. A year later this was followed by a 
 similar protest from the Baltimore Association of 
 Maryland. 
 
 Set over against these deliverances was a declara- 
 tion from the Warwick Association, New York, in 
 1840. By this time the battle was waxing hot, as 
 the tenor of the Warwick declaration shows. Ex- 
 pressing itself in a circular letter, the Warwick 
 Association, in opposition to the Anti-missionary 
 element, charges them with entertaining hyper- 
 Calvinistic doctrines, and insists that such views of 
 predestination as they held practically relieved man 
 of any responsibility for his conduct or condition. 
 It charges upon them that they insist that God ex- 
 
354 APPENDIX A 
 
 ecutes his plans " without the least instrumentality 
 whatever/' and that " all the preaching from John 
 the Baptist until now, if made to bear on one unre- 
 generated sinner " could not " quicken his poor, 
 dead soul." 
 
 What was taking place in the East at this time 
 was also taking place in the West and South. The 
 separation was finally brought about by the with- 
 drawal of the Anti-mission elements of the denom- 
 ination. No objection exists on the part of the 
 Anti-mission forces to the preaching of the gospel, 
 but they stoutly hold that God will convert the 
 world in his own way, and in his own good time, 
 independent of human agency. 
 
 It has been popularly supposed that the inaction 
 which such views necessarily engender, is leading 
 to a gradual extinction of this people. This is 
 corroborated by the fact that the masses of the 
 Anti-mission Baptists being illiterate, attach no 
 importance to denominational statistics. But the 
 supposition of their gradual disappearance is erro- 
 neous. They are endowed with amazing vitality. 
 We are indebted to the national census for the in- 
 formation, which we possibly would not othenvise 
 have, concerning this peculiar peoj)le. In his ad- 
 mirable work, " The Religious Forces of the United 
 States," in the American Church History Series, 
 Dr. H. K. Carroll conclusively shows that if past 
 statistics concerning this people are correct, the 
 census of 1890 exhibits a remarkable increase. 
 
OTHER BAPTIST FAMILIES 355 
 
 In their Articles of Faith the Anti-mission Bap- 
 tists declare that by the fall of Adam " all his pos- 
 terity become sinners in the sight of God " ; that 
 the " corruption of human nature " prevents man 
 by the exercise of his own will and ability from re- 
 instating "himself in the favor of God" ; that "God 
 elected, or chose, his people in Christ before the 
 foundation of the world"; "that sinners are justi- 
 fied only by the righteousness of Christ imparted to 
 them"; that the saints will finally persevere and 
 " not one of them will ever be finally lost" ; that 
 baptism, the Lord's Supper, and washing the saints' 
 feet, are ordinances of the gospel, and should be con- 
 tinued until Christ's second coming ; that " the in- 
 stitutions of the day are works of man " ; and that it 
 is " wrong to join them." They further insist that 
 no fellowship should be had with churches which 
 fiivor these human agencies. Indeed an article of 
 the constitution declines fellowship with any church 
 or churches which support any " missionary, Bible, 
 tract, or Sunday-school union society, or advocates 
 State Conventions, or theological schools," or " any 
 other society formed under the pretense of circu- 
 lating the gospel of Christ." 
 
 As may be readily judged from the foregoing, the 
 Anti-mission Baptists have no State Conventions or 
 theological seminaries. They vehemently oppose the 
 preparation of their ministry for more effectively 
 preaching the gospel. They are one with all Bap- 
 tists respecting immersion and the precedence of 
 
356 APPENDIX A 
 
 faith to baptism, and that this is a prerequisite to 
 the Lord's Supper. They further contend that no 
 minister has authority to administer the ordinances 
 unless he has been " called of God/' " come under 
 the imposition of hands by a presbytery," and is 
 "in fellowship with the church of which he is a 
 member." 
 
 The denomination is distributed through twenty- 
 eight States. It is strongest in Georgia, Alabama, 
 Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky. It has 
 disappeared from almost every Northern State 
 except Indiana and Illinois. The denomination 
 aggregates one hundred and twenty-one thousand 
 three hundred and forty-seven.^ 
 
 The Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian 
 Baptists. — This is the most peculiar and distinctive 
 of all the bodies called Baptist. They hold no fel- 
 lowship with any other body of that name. They 
 entertain the most extreme views upon the subject 
 of Calvinism, giving great emphasis to the doctrine 
 of predestination, as their name indicates. Their 
 conception of good and evil is expressed by the 
 
 ^ Of the Anti-mission Baptists there are in Alabama a mem- 
 bership of 14,903; in the District of Columbia, a membership of 
 34; in Florida, a membership of 1,997; in Georgia, a member- 
 ship of 18,535 ; in Kentucky, a membership of 10,605 ; in Mary- 
 land, a membership of 373 ; in Mississippi, a membership of 
 3,259; in North Carolina, a membership of 11,740; in South Car- 
 olina, a membership of 531 ; in Tennessee, a membership of 13,- 
 972 ; in Virginia, a membership of 9,950 ; in West Virginia, a 
 membership of 2,777. 
 
OTHEE BAPTIST FAMILIES 357 
 
 phrase "Two seed." One of these represents good, 
 and the other, evil. Daniel Parker, of Virginia, 
 is regarded the founder of this branch. In 1826 
 he published a pamphlet in which were embodied 
 the doctrines of this denomination. In 1829 an- 
 other pamphlet appeared from his pen, entitled 
 " Second Dose of the Doctrine of Two Seeds." 
 
 The following is supposed to embody the views 
 held by the Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predesti- 
 narian Baptists. 
 
 The essence of good is God ; the essence of evil is the 
 devil. Good angels are emanations from, or particles 
 of, God ; evil angels are particles of the devil. When 
 God created Adam and Eve, they were endowed with an 
 emanation from himself, or particles of God were in- 
 cluded in their constitution. They were wholly good. 
 Satan, however, infused into them particles of his es- 
 sence, by which they were corrupted. In the beginning, 
 God had appointed that Eve should bring forth only a 
 certain number of offspring ; the same provision applied 
 to each of her daughters. But when the particles of 
 evil essence had been infused by Satan, the conception 
 of Eve and her daughters was increased. They were 
 now required to bear the original number, who were 
 styled the seed of God, and an additional number who 
 were called the seed of the serpent. The seed of God 
 constituted a part of the body of Christ. For them the 
 atonement was absolute ; they would all be saved. The 
 seed of the serpent did not partake of the benefits of 
 the atonement and would all be lost. All the manifesta- 
 tions of good or evil in men are but displays of the es- 
 sence that had been infused into them . The Christian 
 warfare is a conflict between these essences. 
 
358 APPENDIX A 
 
 This body is known by other names than the one 
 already given. Some of the representatives call 
 themselves " Regular," others are called " Regular 
 Predestinarian," still others designate themselves, 
 " Regular Two-Seed Predestinarian Primitive Bap- 
 tists." The Articles of Faith held by these dif- 
 ferent divisions vary somewhat. One set de- 
 clares that God is the Creator of all things and 
 governs all things in righteousness ; that man was 
 created holy, but by reason of sin fell, and became 
 corrupted, from which corruption he was unable to 
 recover himself; that the elect were chosen in 
 Christ before the world began, and "appointed to 
 faith and obedience in love " by the Spirit of God 
 because of the " righteousness, life, death, resurrec- 
 tion, and ascension" of Christ; that God's elect 
 will, in due time, be effectually called and regener- 
 ated, the righteousness of God being imputed to 
 them ; that they will never finally fall away ; that 
 good works are the fruits of faith and grace in the 
 heart, and follow regeneration ; that ministers 
 should receive " legal authority " through the im- 
 position of hands of the presbytery acting for a 
 gospel church, and should be subject to the disci- 
 pline of the church ; that the " eternal work of the 
 Holy Spirit " is manifested externally as well as in- 
 ternally, in experimental religion and the call to 
 the ministry, and the true church should distinguish 
 itself from all " false sects " and have no fellowship 
 with them ; that the church is a spiritual kingdom 
 
OTHER BAPTIST FAMILIES 359 
 
 which men in a state of nature cannot see, and it 
 should therefore receive as members only those who 
 have hope in Christ and experimental knowledge 
 of salvation ; that the ceremony of footwashing 
 ought to be observed, and that the joys of the 
 righteous and the punishment of the wicked will 
 be endless. 
 
 We have said that the Two-Seed Predestinarian 
 Baptists are unlike all others. They seem more 
 nearly to approximate the Anti-mission Baptists in 
 the doctrine of predestination, and yet they diifer 
 from them in that which seems to bring them more 
 nearly together. 
 
 The Two-Seed Predestinarian Baptists hold that 
 God predestined all his children to eternal life, and 
 the devil and all his spiritual children to the eternal 
 kingdom of darkness ; that he foreordained all 
 events whatever, from the creation to the consum- 
 mation of all things, not suifering, in his infinite 
 wisdom and perfect knowledge anything to occur to 
 change his plans. The Anti-mission Baptists do 
 not go so far. They hold that while God predesti- 
 nated some to eternal life, his predestination did 
 not extend absolutely to all things, for this doctrine 
 would, they insist, blasphemously impute to the 
 Almighty the existence of evil and do away with 
 sin and human accountability. Among the claims 
 of the Old Two-Seed Baptists is that of including 
 Waldo, Calvin, Bunyan, Wycliffe, and Knox as 
 " elders " who held the views of the Two-seed 
 
360 APPENDIX A 
 
 doctrine. They regard Arminius as a perverter 
 and corrupter of the faith. Generally the Two- 
 seed Baptists are opposed to a salaried ministry. 
 Their interpretation of the all-sufficiency of Christ 
 is that human agency is not needed to eifect the re- 
 demption of men. They are purely antinomian in 
 belief. Their idea of the function of the ministry 
 is that of comforting Zion, feeding the flock, and 
 contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to 
 the saints. 
 
 They agree fully with the Anti-mission Baptists 
 in their opposition to " modern institutions/' by 
 which are meant Sunday-schools, theological semi- 
 naries, Bible societies, missionary Boards, as w^ell as 
 missionary endeavor. They are scattered through 
 twenty-four States of the Union, but are strongest 
 in the South. The States in which they are most 
 numerous are Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missis- 
 sippi, and Arkansas.^ 
 
 1 In the States represented in the group, the history of which 
 is considered in this volume, they are numbered as follows : 
 Alabama has 538 members ; Florida, 39 members ; Georgia, 330 
 members ; Kentucky, 2,401 members ; Mississippi, 840 members ; 
 North Carolina, 183 members ; Tennessee, 1,270 members ; Vir- 
 •ginia, 142 members ; and West Virginia, 806 members. 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 INSTITUTIONS FOR WOMEN AND VALUE OF 
 PROPERTIES 
 
 Hollins Institute, founded in 1842 ; located at Botetourt 
 Springs; Charles L. Cocke, a. m., president; value of property, 
 $150,000 ; value of library and apparatus, $2,500. 
 
 Roanoke Female College, founded 1859 ; located at Danville ; 
 C. F. James, d. d., president; value of property, $25,000; value 
 of library and apparatus, $1,500; number of volumes in library, 
 1,000. 
 
 Southside Female Institute, founded 1888 ; located at Burke- 
 ville; Rev. R. W. Cridlin, president; value of property, $15,000 ; 
 value of library and apparatus, $2,000 ; number of volumes in 
 library, 1,200. 
 
 Southwest Virginia Institute, founded 1884 ; located at Bristol ; 
 Samuel D. Jones, b. l., president; value of property, $150,000; 
 amount of endowment, $7,500 ; value of library and apparatus, 
 $1,000 ; number of volumes in library, 712. 
 
 Woman's College, founded 1854 ; located at Richmond ; value 
 of property, $65,000 ; number of volumes in library, 400. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Chowan Female Institute, founded 1848 ; located at Murfrees- 
 boro ; value of property, $50,000. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Cooper- Limestone Institute, founded 1880 ; located at Gaffney 
 City; H. P. Griffith, president; value of property, $.50,000; 
 value of library and apparatus, $2,000 ; number of volumes in 
 library, 250. 
 
 Greenville Female College, founded 1854 ; located at Green- 
 ville; Rev. M. M. Riley, d. d., president; value of property, 
 $20,000 ; value of library and apparatus, $500. 
 
 361 
 
362 APPENDIX B 
 
 Monroe Female College, founded 1840 ; located at Forsyth ; 
 value of property, $15,000 ; value of library and apparatus, $600. 
 
 Shorter College, founded 1880 ; located at Kome ; A. J. Battle, 
 D. D., LL. D., president; value of property, $130,000; amount of 
 endowment, $45,000 ; value of library and apparatus, $3,000 ; 
 number of volumes in library, 1,500. 
 
 Southern Female College, founded 1843 ; located at La Grange ; 
 G. A. Nunnelly, d. d., president. This school has been located 
 in the town of La Grange for fifty-two j^ears. For many years 
 it was conducted by Prof. I. F. Cox, a. m., who had control of the 
 institution from 1857 to 1887, at which date he died. He was 
 worthily succeeded by his son, Prof. C. C. Cox, who conducted 
 the school with signal success until 1895, when he removed with 
 his faculty and outfit to the handsome college building at College 
 Park, near Atlanta. The new institution is known as Cox College. 
 It is a magnificent structure and handsomely equipped. 
 
 KENTUCKY. 
 
 Bethel Female College, founded 1854 ; located at Hopkinsville ; 
 Rev. T. S. McCall, a. m., president; value of property, $30,000; 
 value of library and apparatus, $1,000; number of volumes in 
 library, 1,000. 
 
 TENNESSEE. 
 
 Boscobel, founded 1889 ; located at Nashville ; J. G. Patey, a. b., 
 president ; value of property, $75,000 ; value of library and ap- 
 paratus, $1,500 ; number of volumes in library, 1,000. 
 
 Brownsville Female College, founded 1851 ; located at Browns- 
 ville; value of property, $20,000; value of library and appa- 
 ratus, $500. 
 
 Sweetwater Seminary, founded 1886 ; located at Sweetwater ; 
 William Shelton d. d., ll. d., president; value of property, 
 $20,000 ; value of library and apparatus, $2,000 ; number of vol- 
 umes in library, 500. 
 
 ALABAMA. 
 
 Judson Institute, founded 1839 ; located at Marion ; S. W. 
 Averett, ll. d., president; value of property, $61,000 ; amount of 
 endowment, $540 ; value of library and apparatus, $20,000 : 
 number of volumes in library, 1,400. 
 
 MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 Blue Mountain Female College, founded 1873 ; located at Blue 
 Mountain; W. T. Lowry, d. d., president; value of property, 
 
INSTITUTIONS FOR WOMEN 363 
 
 $25,000 ; value of library and apparatus, $5,000 ; number of vol- 
 umes in library, 1,500. 
 
 Hillman College, founded 1853 ; located at Clinton ; Walter 
 Hillman, d. d., president; value of property, $30,000; value of 
 library and apparatus, $3,000 ; total value of property, $33,000. 
 
 In addition to these, there are many schools of a minor grade 
 such as academies, institutes, and seminaries under the care of 
 the denominational local bodies in all the States of the South. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Alabama : first Baptist settlements 
 in, 46 ; first church organized in, 
 47 ; denominational education 
 in, 155; Judson Inst, in, 362; 
 anti-missionary spirit in, 70, 195 ; 
 evangelistic effort in, 196; Con- 
 vention organized, 196; early 
 leaders, 196; " Resolutions," 203, 
 201 ; deliverance upon slavery, 
 205; "Resolutions" discussed, 
 206, 207. 
 
 Alamance, germ of Revolution, 80. 
 
 Alexandria, Va., 163. 
 
 Anti-missionary Baptists : their 
 spirit, 168 ; factious opposition 
 of, 169, 170 ; assumptions among, 
 1G9 ; prevalence of, accounted 
 for, 172 ; unprogressiveness of, 
 173. 
 
 Anti-mission Baptists, The, 352-356. 
 
 "Apostolic succession," views on, 
 held, 177. 
 
 Arminianism : Churches infected 
 with, 19 ; prevalence of, in Ken- 
 tucky, 37; advocates of, cause 
 trouble, 127. 
 
 Asplund's Register, 39. 
 
 Ashley River, 14. 
 
 Association : Baltimore, consti- 
 tuted, 189 ; anti-missionism of, 
 189 ; Charleston, raises an edu- 
 cational fund, 135; Concord, 
 Tenn., formed, 121 ; Cumberland, 
 formed, 121: Edgefield, men- 
 tioned, 138 ; Elk River, formed, 
 121 ; Georgia, 124 ; Green Brier, 
 49 ; Hepzibah, Ga., 124 ; Holston, 
 Tenn., formed, 39, 119; Mero, 
 
 112; Philadelphia, 17, 19; Red 
 River, Tenn., formed, 121 ; Sandy 
 Creek, N. C, 39, 85 ; Sarepta, Ga., 
 124, 144 ; Savannah River, 138. 
 
 Averett, S. W., ll. d., 362. 
 
 Axtell, Lady, 10. 
 
 Bailey, Prof. W. E., 140. 
 
 Baltimore, First Church of, or- 
 ganized, 21. 
 
 Baptists : General laxness of, in 
 North Carolina, 24, 161 ; churches 
 of, few in number, 110 ; heroism 
 and influence of their ministry, 
 110, 127; uneducated ministry 
 among, 131 ; better equipment 
 provided for, 133 ; Particular, 
 165, 166 ; found most in rural dis- 
 tricts, 222; rivalry between, and 
 Methodists, 266; robust culture 
 of, 268 ; Anti-Missionar\% opposed 
 to Sunday-schools, 270 ; in North 
 Carolina advocating Sunday- 
 schools, 271 ; entering Louisiana, 
 44 ; of Mississippi reporting on, 
 271, 272; attitude of, in Ken- 
 tucky toward Sunday-schools, 
 273, 274 ; denouncing undenomi- 
 national literature, 274, 275 ; ad- 
 dress to, concerning Sunday- 
 school Board, 278 ; chief jour- 
 nals of, 285-293 ; colored,. 310- 
 328 ; principles advocated by, 
 now fundamental law, 329 ; 
 growth of, 330 ; missionary spirit 
 among, 330; illiteracj' among, 
 331 ; institutions of learning 
 among, 331, 332 ; appreciating 
 365 
 
366 
 
 INDEX 
 
 press, 332 ; elements of success 
 among, 332; chief source of 
 strength among, 332, 333 ; dan- 
 gers to be encountered by, 333- 
 336; the future of, 334; the 
 story of, 335 ; counsel for, 336 ; 
 The Seventh Day, 338-340; The 
 Free Will, 340-345 ; The Original 
 Free Will, 345-347 ; The General, 
 347-349 ; The United, 349-351 ; 
 The Anti-Mission, 352-356; The 
 Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predesti- 
 narian, 356-360. 
 
 Baptists, The Colored : beginning 
 of their history, 312, 313 ; work 
 of Bryan among, 313, 314 ; Lot 
 Cary one of the most notable of, 
 315, 316 ; numerical increase of, 
 317, 318 ; churches of, having 
 white pastors, 319 ; representa- 
 tives of, sent as missionaries by 
 Southern Convention, 321 ; sta- 
 tistics of, 321, 322 ; withdrawing 
 from whites, 323 ; commendable 
 progress of, 323 ; organization 
 of Convention among, 324, 325 ; 
 scholars among, 324, 325 : schools 
 possessed by, ,325, 326; periodi- 
 cals owned by, 327 ; meetings 
 among, 327, 328; great number 
 of, 328. 
 
 Baptist Church of Christ, The, 351, 
 352. 
 
 Baptist : The Tennessee, 288 ; The 
 Southern, 289. 
 
 Battle, Dr. Cullen, liberality of, 
 145. 
 
 Bestor, D. P., Dr. : mentioned, 155 ; 
 declines secretaryship of Domes. 
 Miss. Board, 223. 
 
 Blair, Hon. Jno., letter from, 60, 61. 
 
 Blake, Humphrey, 9, 13. 
 
 Blake, Joseph, 10, 68. 
 
 Board of Domestic Missions : lo- 
 cated at Marion, Ala., 219; diffi- 
 culties of, 220; removal of, to 
 
 Atlanta, 224; zeal and activity 
 of, 224-226 ; assumes care of 
 work among Indians, 225 ; work 
 of, depressed, 226, 227 ; work of. 
 among Southern armies, 225, 226 ; 
 its distinguished evangelists, 
 226 ; agency of, in creating State 
 Boards, 226; name of, changed, 
 226 ; Cuba included in its work, 
 229 ; buys Havana theatre, 229. 
 
 Board, Bible, organized, 239. 
 
 Board, Foreign Mission: located 
 at Richmond, 219; dependence 
 of, on Board of Domestic Mis- 
 sions, 221 ; mission journal estab- 
 lished by, 2;i0; difficulties en- 
 countered by, 230, 231 ; mission- 
 aries sent by, 231, 233 ; points oc- 
 cupied by, 231, 232; stations es- 
 tablished by, up to 1863, 233; 
 operations of, hindered by 
 cholera, 234 ; enlargement for, 
 234 ; most fruitful department of, 
 236 ; journal issued by, 292. 
 
 Boards, Southern Convention : 
 men chosen as officials of, 223 ; 
 contributions to, 224 ; new 
 churches established by, 225 ; 
 contributions of Sunday-school 
 Board to, 240. 
 
 Board, Sunday-school : organized 
 and revived, 239; headquarters 
 of, 240 ; contributions of, to other 
 Boards, 240; literature of, 240; 
 receipts of, 240; made Sunday- 
 school and Publication Board, 
 278; employing Dr. Broadus as 
 secretary, 278 ; crippled by war, 
 279 ; literature issued by, 279 ; 
 Bibles to, from American Bible 
 Society, 280 ; active missionaries 
 of, 280 ; cessation and resumption 
 of work by, 281 ; its wrestle for 
 life, 282 ; Dr. Bitting appointed 
 secretary of, 282 ; removed from 
 Greenville, 283 ; help to, from 
 
INDEX 
 
 367 
 
 American Baptist Publication 
 Society, 283 ; merged in Domestic 
 Mission Board, 284. 
 
 Boone, Daniel, 33. 
 
 Boston, first church of, 12. 
 
 Bostwick, J. A., gifts of, 148. 
 
 Botsford, Rev. E. : mentioned, 29 ; 
 work of, in Georgia, 122, 135. 
 
 Boyce, Dr. J. P. : originating plan 
 for theological seminary, 246 ; 
 executive skill of, 248; guiding 
 hand of, 251 ; chaplain in Con- 
 federate army, 253 ; devising 
 plans for seminary buildings, 
 259; struggles of, for seminary, 
 260-262; death of, 262; career 
 and character of, 263. 
 
 Brantley, W. T., Sr., 143. 
 
 Brazil : effort to found mission in, 
 232 ; mission abandoned and re- 
 sumed, 236. 
 
 Broaddus, Rev. Andrew, declines 
 call to city churches, 222. 
 
 Broaddus, Rev. W. F., 149, 162. 
 
 Broad us. Dr. John A. : writing 
 from Rome, 235 ; one of com- 
 mittee on theological seminary, 
 249 ; one of the professors in 
 theological seminary, 252; em- 
 ployment of, during war, 253; 
 giving instruction to one stu- 
 dent, 255 ; going North for semi- 
 nary, 259; becoming president 
 of the seminary, 263 ; death of, 
 264. 
 
 Bryan, Rev. Andrew, 313, 314. 
 
 Burma, 161. 
 
 Calvinistic Methodists, 166. 
 
 Campbell, Alex. : opposes mis- 
 sions, 174; edits the "Christian 
 Baptist,"' 174; begins a notable 
 career, 174 ; shrewd debater, 174 ; 
 conditions favoring his advent, 
 175 ; forms a new sect, 175 ; dis- 
 rupts churches, 175, 176 ; follow- 
 
 ers of, called " Disciples " and 
 Campbellites, 175, 176; character 
 of his followers, 176 ; contributes 
 to anti-pedobaptism and immer- 
 sion, 177 ; distraction occasioned 
 by, 188. 
 
 Camp-meeting, early, described, 
 118. 
 
 Cardross, Lord, 13. 
 
 Carroll, Dr. H. K., 110. 
 
 Carson, Hon. J. H., 154. 
 
 Cary, Rev. Lot, 315-317. 
 
 Chaplin, Prof. Jere, Jr., 141. 
 
 Chapman, Wm., 12. 
 
 Charleston: First Church in, 11; 
 population of, in 1700, 13 ; serious 
 blunder of Baptists in, 67, 
 
 Chenault, Mr. D. A., bequeath- 
 ing fifteen thousand dollars to 
 Southern Seminary, 262. 
 
 China : missionaries appointed 
 to, 231 ; dismal period for mis- 
 sion in, 234 ; mission in, hindered 
 by war, 234. 
 
 "Christian Index," 144. 
 
 Churches : Baton Rouge, La., 45 ; 
 Buckhead Creek, Ga., 123 ; Ce- 
 dar Creek, Ky., 35 ; Chestnut 
 Ridge, Md., 21 ; Chowan River, 
 N. C, 23; Coliseum Place, La., 
 46; Euhaw, S. C, 29; Pensa- 
 cola, Fla., 49; Gilbert's Creek, 
 Ky., 35 ; Green Brier, W. Va., 49 ; 
 Gunpowder, Md., 21 ; Harford, 
 Md., 21 ; High Hills of Santee, 
 S. C, 136; Ketocton, Va., 17; 
 Kiokee, Ga., 32 ; Meherrin, N. C, 
 25; Mill Creek, Va., 17; Mill 
 Swamp, Va., 16; Opecon, Va., 
 17; Otterdams, Va., 16; Sandy 
 Creek, N. C, 84; Sandy Run, 
 N. C, 25; Saters, Md., 16; Sev- 
 ern's Valley, Ky., 35 : Simpson's 
 Creek, W. Va., 49 ; Sulphur Fork 
 River, Tenn., 120 ; Taneytown, 
 Md., 21 ; Tuckaseeking, Ga., 29 ; 
 
368 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Welsh Tract, Pa., 23; Winter 
 Run, Md., 21. 
 
 " Civil grievances," committee on, 
 94. 
 
 Civil War : interfering with mis- 
 sion work, 233 ; causing suspen- 
 sion of theological seminary, 
 253. 
 
 Cocke, C. L., A.M., 361. 
 
 Clopton, Rev. S. C, foreign mis- 
 sionary, 217. 
 
 Colleges, denominational : germ 
 of, 134; Bethel, Ky., founded, 
 and presidents of, 153 ; Carson- 
 Newman, 154 ; Columbian, 144, 
 148, 161-163; Georgetown, Ky., 
 152, 153, 154 ; Howard, 155, 156 ; 
 Keachi, La., 160; Mercer Uni- 
 versity, 146 ; Mississippi, 157 ; 
 Rhode Island, 135; Richmond, 
 151 ; J. B. Stetson University, 
 161 ; Wake Forest, 148. 
 
 Committee of correspondence, or- 
 ganized, 188. 
 
 Comer, Jno., 24. 
 
 Comstock, Hon. O. C, leaves Con- 
 gress for ministry, 191. 
 
 Cone, Rev. Spencer H. : abandons 
 the stage, 190 ; position of, on 
 slavery, 201. 
 
 "Constitution of Virginia," 88. 
 
 Convention. Southern Baptist: oc- 
 casion of its formation, 199 ; con- 
 servative element in, 210; or- 
 ganized, 210 ; first resolution in, 
 211 ; addresses Baptists of the 
 Union, 211 ; charges made by, 
 212; its Boards, 214; difficulties 
 of, 215 ; meets in Richmond, 216 ; 
 devotional spirit of, 217 ; pro- 
 posed operations of, on Pacific 
 coast, 218; efTorts of, to Chris- 
 tianize slaves, 218 ; outline of its 
 proposed work, 220 ; territory of, 
 221; conditions afTectiug, 222; 
 deliberate in choice of officials. 
 
 223 ; zeal and ability in affairs 
 of, 224 ; missionaries of, entering 
 Mexico, 236 ; Bible and Sunday- 
 school Boards organized by, 239 ; 
 claims of theological seminary 
 advocated before, 244 ; subscrip- 
 tions at, for seminary, 256 ; Sun- 
 day-schools claiming attention 
 of, 276 ; committee of, to con- 
 sider Sunday-schools, 277 ; con- 
 sidering women's work, 302 ; at- 
 titude of, toward women repre- 
 sentatives, 305 ; women's work 
 recognized by, 306 ; Negro mis- 
 sionaries commissioned by, 321. 
 
 Cooper River, 9, 10. 
 
 Corcoran, Hon. W. W., 163. 
 
 Cornwallis, Lord, 93. 
 
 Cote, Dr. W. N., pioneer mission- 
 ary to Italy, 234. 
 
 " Council of Safety," 92. 
 
 Cox, C. C, 362. 
 
 Cruelties to Baptists, 55. 
 
 Curtis, R., Sr., 41. 
 
 Cuba, Diaz sent as missionary to, 
 228. 
 
 Declaration of principles, 87. 
 
 Desecration of Baptist churches, 
 97. 
 
 Determination of Baptists, 86. 
 
 Diaz, Rev. A. J. : adventure and 
 conversion of, 228, 229 ; sent as 
 missionary to Cuba, 228 ; arrest 
 and imprisonment of, 229. 
 
 District of Columbia, first church 
 in, 49. 
 
 Dobbs, Gov., 82. 
 
 Doctrine, laxness of North Caro- 
 lina in, 25. 
 
 Dorris, Eld., removes from North 
 Carolina to Tennessee, 120. 
 
 Dudley, Rev. Ambrose: conse- 
 crated missionary, 40; in Ten- 
 nessee, 120. 
 
 Duke of York, 9. 
 
INDEX 
 
 369 
 
 Eager, Dr. J. H. : reinforcing Dr. 
 Taylor, 235 ; quotations from, 
 235 ; calling for money, 236. 
 
 East Lake, Ala., 156. 
 
 Edisto Island, 14 ; Edisto River, 13. 
 
 Edwards, Rev. Morgan, 22, 84, 136. 
 
 Education : beginning of denomi- 
 national, in Virginia,136 ; fund of 
 Charleston Association, 137 ; fail- 
 ure of project for, in Louisiana, 
 159. 
 
 Ellicott, Col. Andrew, 79. 
 
 English : Baptists, 10 ; Act of Tol- 
 eration, 15, 52; society for the 
 propagation of the gospel in for- 
 eign parts, 14, 71. 
 
 Episcopalians, irersecute Baptists, 
 53. 
 
 Establishment, hostile activity of. 
 
 Financial crisis, 146. 
 
 Florida : education in, 160, 161 ; 
 proposed work in, by Southern 
 Baptist Convention, 219; first 
 church in, established, 219 ; As- 
 sociation organized, 225. 
 
 Forbes, Pres. J. F., 161. 
 
 Frost, Dr. J. M., secretary of Sun- 
 day-school Board, 240. 
 
 Fuller, Dr. R., resolution of, on 
 slavery, 200, 201. 
 
 Furman, Dr. R. : called to Charles- 
 ton, 114; gifts and leadership of, 
 116, 138; zeal and wisdom of, 
 180, 181 ; founds the South Caro- 
 lina Convention, 181; precedes 
 Luther Rice in missionary in- 
 terest, 181 ; instructing young 
 people, 267. 
 
 Furman, Samuel, 140. 
 
 Furman Theological Institute : 
 founded, 140 ; suspended, 141. 
 
 Furman University, established, 
 141. 
 
 Free Will Baptists, The, 340-345. 
 
 Gano, Rev. John : in Charleston 
 Association, 24 ; removes to Ken- 
 tucky, 117 ; in South Carolina, 
 134 ; missionary in N. C, 180. 
 
 General Association of Virginia : 
 action of. 86 ; memorializes Con- 
 vention of province, 87 ; per- 
 sistency of, 94 ; firm remon- 
 strance of, 98 ; organized, 188. 
 
 General Committee : activity of, 
 99 ; superseded by committee of 
 correspondence, 188. 
 
 Georgia: first Baptist settlement 
 in, 27 ; firmness of Baptists in, 
 75 ; statistics, 124 ; leaders, 141 ; 
 beginning of denominational 
 education in, 143 ; Convention 
 organized, 144 ; schools for girls 
 in, 362 ; slavery occasions trouble 
 in. Convention, 206. 
 
 General Baptists, The, 347-349. 
 
 Gilmore, Rev. J. R., 39. 
 
 Graves, Dr. J. R. : one of the found- 
 ers of "Old Landmarkism," 177; 
 novel views of, on Communion, 
 178; editor of the "Tennessee 
 Baptist," 178 ; ability of, 178. 
 
 Great Pedee, 41. 
 
 "Great Split, The," 173. 
 
 Greenville : theological seminary 
 proposed to be established at, 
 248 ; educational meeting held 
 at, 248 ; seminary established at, 
 251 ; members of seminary fac- 
 ulty meeting at, 254 : seminary 
 removed from, 257 ; Sunday- 
 school Board removed from, 283. 
 
 Griffith, H. P., 356. 
 
 Grimball, P., 10. 
 
 Hamilton and Rochester, N. Y., 
 
 141. 
 Hanover Presbytery, 89. 
 Hart, Rev. Oliver: pastor at 
 
 Charleston, 28, 134 ; flight of, 114 ; 
 
 mentioned, 135. 
 
370 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hawks, Dr., 22, 96, 98. 
 
 Hawthorne, Dr. J. B. : quotation 
 from, 296. 
 
 Henderson, Pres. J. T., 155. 
 
 Henning, quoted, 54. 
 
 Henry, Patrick : advice of, 95 ; op- 
 position of, to Baptists, 101. 
 
 " Herald, The Religious," 286, 287. 
 
 Hillsboro, resolutions, 83. 
 
 Holcombe, Dr. Henry : conver- 
 sion of, 141; first pastorate of, 
 141 ; description of, 142 ; public 
 service of, 142 ; goes to Philadel- 
 phia, 143 ; secretary of general 
 committee of Georgia, 182; his 
 mistaken zeal, 183. 
 
 Holman, Rev. R. : secretary of Do- 
 mestic Board, 223 ; retires, 223. 
 
 Holt, Mre. C'hloe, her heroism, 44. 
 
 Hooper, Dr., 141. 
 
 House of Burgesses, Baptists ex- 
 pelled from, 54. 
 
 House of Lords, action of, 71. 
 
 Howe, quoted, 91. 
 
 Indians : depredations of, in Ken- 
 tucky, 35 ; efforts to Christianize, 
 184. 
 
 Influence of South Carolina Bap- 
 tists, 92, 93. 
 
 Impositions practised, 70. 
 
 Imprisonment, Baptist ministers, 
 59-65. 
 
 Jail, attempt to blow up, 65. 
 
 Japan: establishment of mission 
 in, 233 ; mission in, youngest, 238. 
 
 Jefferson, Thos., 90. 
 
 "Jerks," 115. 
 
 Jeter, Rev. J. B. : mentioned, 
 
 ■ 149 ; local missionary, 188 ; posi- 
 tion of, on slavery, 201 ; prepar- 
 ing address concerning theologi- 
 cal seminary, 249. 
 
 Johnson, Dr. W. B. : discussing 
 education, 139, 143 ; leadership of. 
 
 184 ; president of S. B. Conven- 
 tion, 210. 
 Jones, S. D., 361. 
 
 Keling, H., 149. 
 
 Kentucky : Baptists first in, 33 ; 
 early meeting-houses of, 36 ; pri- 
 vations in, 37 ; revivals in, 117 ; 
 interest of, in education, 152; 
 ministerial education society, 
 153 ; school in, for girls, 362 ; mis- 
 sionary zeal of, 192, 193 ; Conven- 
 tion organized, 194 ; aggressive 
 opposition in, to missions, 194 ; 
 attitude of Baptists in, toward 
 Suuflay-schools, 273-275. 
 
 Kiokee Creek, 30. 
 
 Kittery, Maine, 10. 
 
 " Landmarkism, Old " : author- 
 ship of, 177 ; decline of, 178. 
 
 Lee, Richard Henry, opposition of, 
 to Baptists, 101. 
 
 Leland, Rev. John, letter of, to 
 Washington, 107, 108. 
 
 Liberia, mission established at, 
 233. 
 
 Locke, John, 10. 
 
 Lossing, quoted, 82, 83. 
 
 Louisiana : Roman Catholicism 
 in, 44, 45 ; first Baptist preacher 
 in, 44 ; Baptist churches organ- 
 ized in, 45; Association organ- 
 ized, 46 ; education in, 157-160. 
 
 Louisville : educational conven- 
 tion held at, 247 ; theological 
 seminary removed to, 257 ; 
 " Seminary Magazine " pub- 
 lished at, 293. 
 
 " Luminary, The Latter Day," 286. 
 
 Madison, James: quoted, 67; loy- 
 alty of, to religious liberty, 88; 
 allusion to, 109. 
 
 Manning, Dr., 135. 
 
 Manly, Dr. B., Sr., position of, on 
 slavery, 204. 
 
INDEX 
 
 371 
 
 Manly, Basil, Jr., interested in 
 Sunday-school work, 277. 
 
 Marion, Ala., 156. 
 
 Marshall, Rev. Daniel : becomes a 
 Baptist, 17 ; leadership of, in 
 North Carolina, 26 ; arrested, 30, 
 31 ; work of, during Revolution, 
 122, 123 ; an organizer, 123 ; died, 
 125. 
 
 Marshall, Rev. Abraham : allusion 
 to, 122, 125 ; chairman of the gen- 
 eral committee, 182 ; blunder of, 
 183. 
 
 Marshall, John, opposition of, to 
 Baptists, 101. 
 
 Maryland : missionaries from, to 
 Virginia, 16 ; freedom from per- 
 secution in, 20; numerical 
 strength of Baptists in, 189; 
 Baptist Union Association or- 
 ganized in, 190. 
 
 Mason, George, aids Baptists, 101. 
 
 McClanahan, Eld., patriotism of, 
 91. 
 
 McGready, Rev. Jas., 113. 
 
 Mcintosh, Dr. W. H., 224. 
 
 Memorial and remonstrance, 101. 
 
 Mercer, Rev. S. : allusion to, 122 ; 
 character of, 125. 
 
 Mercer, Jesse: influence of, 142, 
 146 ; leadership of, 143, 144 ; was 
 chief founder of denominational 
 work in Georgia, 182 ; a prime 
 mover in the Powelton confer- 
 ence, 182. 
 
 Meredith, Rev. Thos. : able advo- 
 cacy of education by, 186. 
 
 Methodists: alliance of, with Epis- 
 copalians, 94 ; zeal of their min- 
 istry, 130. 
 
 Mexico: contemplated as a field 
 for missions, 220 ; establishment 
 of mission in, 236; names of 
 missionaries in, 237 ; mission 
 work in, 238. 
 
 Miller, Benj., 19. 
 
 Ministers : Anderson, John, 49 ; 
 Anthony, Joseph, 62; Bedge- 
 wood, N., 28 ; Brooks, I. L., 143 ; 
 Brown, O. B., 49; Campbell, J. 
 H., 144; Canterbury, Jno., 47; 
 Cartlege, Samuel, 31; Chapin, 
 Dr. S., 162; Childs, Jas., 59; 
 Compere, Lee, 184; Courtney, 
 Jas., 47; Courtney, E., 45; 
 Craig, Lewis, .59; Cridlin, R. W., 
 361 ; Curtis, Richard, Jr., 41 ; 
 Davidson, Dr. A. C, 153 ; Davis, 
 Jno., 21 ; DeVotie, Dr. J. H., 155 ; 
 Egan, Dr. B., 158; Eaton, Dr. J. 
 H., 154; Gerrard, Jno., 35; Gid- 
 dings, Rockwood, 1.52; Harriss, 
 Samuel, .56; Hays, Edmund, 16; 
 Healy, Jno., 21 ; Hickman, Wm., 
 34; Hillman, Dr., 157; Hillman, 
 W., 363; Holcombe, Hosea, 155; 
 Holman, R., 46 ; Ireland, James, 
 65; James, C. F., 361; Keel, 
 James, 40; Kerr, Jno., 149; Kil- 
 patrick, J. H. T., 143; Lane, 
 Tidance, 40; Lowry, W. T., 362; 
 Lynn, Benj., 37; Malcolm, Dr„ 
 152; Marshall, Wm., 37; Mar- 
 shall, J. P., 143; McCall, T. S., 
 362 ; McGraw, A. G., 155 ; McGee, 
 
 Jos., 47 ; Mott, , 40 ; Murphey, 
 
 Wm., 40; Murrell, Thos., 40; 
 Nicholson, Jno., 47; Nordin, 
 Robt., 16; Nunnelly, Dr. G. A., 
 362: Palmer, Wait, 18; Parker, 
 Jos., 25; Parker, Z., 47; Parker, 
 Jacob, 47 ; Parkinson, William, 
 49 ; Peartt, Wm., 14 ; Pugh, Evan, 
 135 ; Purifoy, J. S., 148 ; Ranold- 
 son, J. A., 45; Reno, Wm., 40; 
 Richards, Lewis, 21 ; Riley, M. 
 M., Dr., 361; Ripley, H. J., 143; 
 Ryland, W. S., Dr., 153; Sater, 
 Henry, 20; Scott, Alex., 33; 
 Shelton, Wm., 362; Skaggs, Jas., 
 37; Smith, G. S., 34; Stillman, 
 Samuel, 135; Stirk, Benj., 28; 
 
372 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Talbott, , 40; Thomas, , 
 
 133 ; Thompson, Solomon, 33 ; 
 Tilley, Wm., 14 ; Tomkies, C. W., 
 160 ; Walker, Sanders, 33 ; Wal- 
 ler, Jno., 59; Ware, Robt., 58; 
 
 Webber, Wm., 62; White, , 
 
 12 ; White, Thos., 16 ; Whitaker, 
 Jno., 37; Williams, Jno., 136; 
 Williams, Robt., 24 ; Yates, 
 Thomas, 16 ; Reynolds, J. L., 
 223, 226 ; Bestor, D. P., 223 ; Hol- 
 mau, R., 223, 226, 276 ; Walker, 
 Joseph, 223 ; Sumner, M. T., 223 ; 
 Mcintosh, W. H., 224 ; Tichenor, 
 I. T., 224, 226, 229, 277 ; Diaz, A. J., 
 228, 229; Frost, Dr. J. M., 240; 
 Bell, Dr. T. P., 240; Boyce, Dr. J. 
 P., 243, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251- 
 253, 262 ; Williams, Dr. J. W. M., 
 
 243, 302, 303 ; Clopton, S. C, 243 ; 
 Tupper, H. A., 243, 302 ; Wink- 
 ler, E. T., 243, 249, 277 ; Manly, 
 Dr. Basil, Jr., 243, 244, 249, 277, 
 278, 279; Jeter, Rev. J. B., 243, 
 
 244, 245, 249; Johnson, Rev. W. 
 B., 243, 244 ; Howell, Dr. R. C. B., 
 244; Ryland, Robert, 244, 311; 
 Poindexter, Dr. A. M., 244,245; 
 Manly, Dr. Basil, Sr., 245, 249; 
 Broadus, Dr. John A., 249, 250, 
 252, 253, 263, 264, 282 ; Whitsitt, Dr. 
 W. H., 264 ; Vaughn, Dr. William, 
 273; Bitting, Dr. C. C, 282; Grif- 
 fith, Dr. Benjamin, 283; Ford, 
 Dr. S. H., 283; Teasdale, Dr. T. 
 C, 283; Graves, Dr. J. R., 288, 
 289 ; McDonald, Dr. Henry, 295 ; 
 Tucker, Dr. H. H., 295; Jones, 
 Dr. J. William, 304 ; Bryan, 
 Andrew, 313-315. 
 
 Ministry, The ; desire for a better 
 qualified, 241 ; colleges founded 
 for, 242 ; theological course pro- 
 vided for, 242; candidates for, 
 going North, 242 ; necessity of a 
 separate institution to train, 243. 
 
 Missionaries: Shuck, Rev. J. L., 
 230; Roberts, Rev. I. J., 230; 
 twenty-two sent to China, 231 ; 
 sixteen sent to Yoruba, Africa, 
 232 ; Cote, Rev. W. N., 234 ; Tay- 
 lor, Dr. Geo. B., 235 ; Eager, Dr. 
 J. H., 2;i5, 236; sent to Brazil, 
 236 ; sent to Mexico, 236, 237 ; 
 Rice, Luther, 242, 286; Judson, 
 Adoniram, 242 ; Cary, Lot, 315- 
 317 ; six, sent to Africa, 324 ; ap- 
 pointed to different stations, 231, 
 232, 233; names of, in Mexico, 
 237 ; of Sunday-school Board, 280 ; 
 colored, sent to Africa, 321, 324. 
 
 Missionaries, zeal of local, 169. 
 
 Missions : conflicts of, with educa- 
 tion, 161 ; zeal of early Baptists 
 in, 179; folly of objections to, 
 180 ; fostered before conversion 
 of Judson and Rice, 181 ; early, 
 184 ; opposed by commercialism, 
 197, 198. 
 
 Mississippi : Baptists settle in, 40 ; 
 struggles of Baptists in, 42 ; per- 
 secutions in, 77-79 ; progress of, 
 126; steps to found school in, 
 156; Academy, 156; schools for 
 girls, 362, 363 ; Convention or- 
 ganized, 196. 
 
 Moore, Rev. M., 123. 
 
 Negroes, The : relation of slavery 
 to, 310-312; not savage when 
 liberation came, 311 ; work of 
 Bryan and Cary among, 313- 
 317 : plantation services among, 
 320 ; laws against instruction of, 
 320; amusements and meetings 
 among, 327, 328. 
 
 New England, compared with Vir- 
 ginia, 113. 
 
 "New Lights," 17. 
 
 New Orleans, battle of, 121. 
 
 New Y''ork, compared with Vir- 
 ginia, 113. 
 
INDEX 
 
 373 
 
 North Carolina: lirst Baptists in, 
 22; couditiou of, described, 72; 
 persecutions in, 74, 75 ; revivals 
 in, 113 : increase of members, 
 113 ; educational movement in, 
 147 ; schools for girls, 301 ; pecu- 
 liar conditions in, ISo ; Baptist 
 Benevolent Society in, 185 ; Con- 
 vention organized, ISO ; minis- 
 terial education and missions in, 
 180. 
 
 Norton, Mr. W. F., contributing 
 ten thousand dollars to Southern 
 seminary, 258, 201, 202. 
 
 Northern benefactions, 152. 
 
 Officiatiou at marriages allowed, 
 99. 
 
 Oglethorpe, James, 26. 
 
 Original Free Will Baptists, The, 
 345-347. 
 
 Organization : slow and tedious, 
 223 ; of Bible Board, 239 ; of Sun- 
 day-school Board, 239 ; of first 
 Sunday-school, 269; of Sunday- 
 school Union, 271 : of Baptist 
 women, 299 ; of Woman's Mis- 
 sion to Woman, 301 ; of woman's 
 movement, 307 ; of American 
 National Baptist Convention, 
 324 ; other Baptist families, 337. 
 
 Palmer, Paul ; from Pennsylvania, 
 antecedents uni^nown, 166; het- 
 erodox influence of, 166. 
 
 Parker, Daniel : apostle of opposi- 
 tion, 172; work in Kentucky, 
 194. 
 
 Patey, J. G., 362. 
 
 Pearcy, Rev. George, foreign mis- 
 sionary, 217. 
 
 Peck, Dr. J. M., reference to Ken- 
 tucky Baptists, 192. 
 
 Pelot, Rev. Francis: allusion to, 
 122; wealth of, 134. 
 
 Pendleton, Dr. J. M. : a professor 
 
 in Union University, 154 ; a 
 founder of Old Laudmarkism, 
 177. 
 
 Penfleld, Josiali, bequest of, 145. 
 
 Persecution : mentioned, 52, 63 ; 
 results from, 127. 
 
 Petitions, immensity of, 98. 
 
 Piscataqua River, 11. 
 
 Poindexter, Dr. A. M., 162. 
 
 Powelton, Ga., Convention organ- 
 ized at, 145. 
 
 Powell, Rev. Dr. W. D., mission- 
 ary leader in Mexico, 237, 238. 
 
 Presbyterian division, 100. 
 
 Press, the religious : Baptists first 
 to establish, 285; early examples 
 of, 285 ; " The Latter Day Lumi- 
 nary," 286 ; " The Religious Her- 
 ald," 287; "The Biblical Re- 
 corder," 287,288; "The Western 
 Recorder," 288; "The Tennes- 
 see Baptist." 288, 289; "The 
 Southern Baptist," 289, 290; 
 other examples of, 290-293 : 
 American Baptist Publication 
 Society closely allied with, 293- 
 296; early appreciated by Bap- 
 tists, 332. 
 
 Publication Society, American 
 Baptist : aid from, to Sunday- 
 school Board, 283; needed aid 
 extended by, 284 ; allied to de- 
 nominational press, 293-296 : aid- 
 ing work in South, 295; estab- 
 lishing branches, 295, 296 ; liter- 
 ature of, helpful, 296. 
 
 Ramsey quoted, 69. 
 
 Regulators, 82. 
 
 Revivals: after Revolution, 112; 
 
 " the great," 117. 
 "Recorder: The Biblical," 287, 
 
 288; "The Western," 288. 
 Revolution, Baptist strength in 
 
 beginning of, 110. 
 Reynolds, Rev. J. L., 141, 223. 
 
374 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Rice, Luther, 137, 144, 181. 
 
 Rights denied, 64. 
 
 Roberts, Dr. J. M., 136. 
 
 Rockefeller, Mr. J. D. : interested 
 in Southern seminary, 262 ; giv- 
 ing to Educational Society, 297. 
 
 Ruggles, Prof. W. M., 162. 
 
 Ryland, Dr. Robert, 150. 
 
 Samson, Dr. G. W., 163. 
 
 Sanders, B. M., 143, 146. 
 
 San ford, S. P., 146. 
 
 Savage, Pres. M. C, 154. 
 
 Savannah, First Baptist Church, 
 142. 
 
 Schools, denominational : Furman 
 Academy, 139: Georgetown Lit- 
 erary and Theological Institute, 
 152 ; Hempstead Academy, 156 ; 
 Mercer Institute, 145 ; Mt. Enon 
 Academy, 142 ; Southern Baptist 
 College, 146 ; Wake Forest Insti- 
 tute, 147 : Women's, 163, 164. 
 
 Screven, William, 10, 11. 
 
 Seminary, Southern Theological : 
 steps leading to, 243, 244; claims 
 of, advocated before Conven- 
 tion, 244 ; committee appointed 
 to consider, 245, 246 ; proposal to 
 establish, at Greenville, 247 ; 
 plans proposed for, 250 ; estab- 
 lished at Greenville, 251 ; three 
 "Bs" concerning, 251; funds 
 raised for, 251 ; leaders in the 
 establishment of, 252 ; professors 
 chosen for, 252; suspended by 
 Civil War, 253 ; faculty of, meet- 
 ing at Greenville after war, 254 ; 
 protracted struggle of, 254, 255 ; 
 aid from North for, 256 ; removal 
 of, agitated, 256 ; removed to 
 Louisville, 257 ; generous dona- 
 tions to, 258 ; new life for, 259 ; 
 endowment secured for, 259 ; 
 choice of location for, 260 ; ad- 
 dition to resources of, 260-262 ; 
 
 removal of Dr. Boyce from, by 
 death, 262 ; Dr. Broadus becom- 
 ing president of, 263 ; value of 
 property of, 264; Dr. Whitsitt, 
 president of, 264 ; attendance of, 
 265. 
 
 Semple, R. B., 112, 138. 
 
 Separates : Stearns, founder of, 167 ; 
 oppose establishment, 167 ; zeal 
 of, 168. 
 
 Separates and Regulars : fusion of, 
 111 ; in Kentucky, 119. 
 
 Seventh Day Baptists, The, 338- 
 340. 
 
 Sherman, S. S., 156. 
 
 Sherwood, Dr. A., 143, 144, 146. 
 
 Shuck, Rev. J. L., 217. 
 
 Slavery ; factor in denominational 
 affairs, 199 ; three phases of as 
 an institution, 199, 200 ; efforts 
 to avert trouble because of, 200 ; 
 occasions trouble in Triennial 
 Convention, 202 ; Foreign Mis- 
 sion Board of Triennial Conven- 
 tion upon, 205 ; occasions disso- 
 lution between Northern and 
 Southern Baptists, 206 ; irrita- 
 tion concerning, continues, 209. 
 
 Smith, Rev. James, his missionary 
 zeal and capture, 192. 
 
 Somerton, 10. 
 
 Society : American Baptist Publi- 
 cation, 293-296; American Bap- 
 tist Home Mission, 296, 297 ; 
 American Baptist Education, 
 297 ; Woman's Missionary, 299 ; 
 African Missionary, 317. 
 
 South Carolina: first Baptists in, 
 10 ; growth of denomination in, 
 after Revolution, 115 ; leads in 
 education, 138 ; organization of. 
 Convention, 138; establishes 
 denominational school, 139 ; 
 schools for girls in, 361. 
 
 "Southern Missionary Journal," 
 218. 
 
INDEX 
 
 375 
 
 Stearnes, S., 17, 26. 
 
 Stetson, J. B., 161. 
 
 Staughton, Dr. William, 152. 
 
 Sumner, Dr. M. T., 223. 
 
 Sunday-schools: first, in Mary- 
 laud, 22 ; information concern- 
 ing earliest, scant, 266 ; first one 
 of, organized, 269 ; becoming 
 more numerous, 269 ; opposition 
 to, 270 ; impulse to, by Sunday- 
 school Union, 271 ; advocated by 
 North Carolina Baptists, 271 ; 
 deliverance concerning, from 
 Mississippi Baptists, 271, 272 ; ex- 
 pressions concerning, from Ala- 
 bama, 273 ; opposition to, in 
 Kentucky, 273, 274 ; improved 
 attitude toward, 274 ; unde- 
 nominational literature for, de- 
 nounced, 274 ; claiming atten- 
 tion of Southern Convention, 
 276 ; appointment of committee 
 for consideration of, 277 ; culti- 
 vated in the South by Publica- 
 tion Society, 295 ; address con- 
 cerning, to Baptists of South, 
 278. 
 
 Taylor, Rev. John, 40, 120. 
 
 Taylor, Dr. J. B., Sr., 149, 210. 
 
 Taylor, Dr. Geo. B., 235. 
 
 Tennessee: first Baptists in, 38; 
 statistics, 121 ; Southwestern 
 University in, 154; schools for 
 girls in, 362; reaction against 
 missions in, 171, 195. 
 
 Tensas Settlement, preaching in, 
 47. 
 
 Texas : University of, 153 ; pro- 
 posed occupation of, 219. 
 
 Tichenor, Dr. I. T. : secretary of 
 Home Mission Board, 224; re- 
 marks of, quoted, 227. 
 
 Travis, Alexander, 47, 155. 
 
 Triennial Convention, 162. 
 
 Tories, 41. 
 
 Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestina- 
 rian Baptists, The, 356-360. 
 
 Union, Woman's Missionary : con- 
 stitution of, 305, 306 ; headquar- 
 ters of, 306; recommendations 
 concerning, 307, 308 ; women 
 foremost in establishment of, 
 308. 
 
 United Baptists, The, 349-351. 
 
 University of Virginia, 151. 
 
 Union University, 154. 
 
 Vanhoru, P. P., 19. 
 
 Vestry Act, 81. 
 
 Vii-ginia : persecution in, 15 ; first 
 missionary operations in, 16 ; 
 President Manning's letter to 
 Baptists of, 135 ; general meeting 
 of correspondence, 136; Baptist 
 Educational Society of, 149; 
 cautionary measures taken in, 
 149; manual labor school in, 
 150; Baptist Seminary, 150; 
 Richmond College founded in, 
 1-51 ; schools for girls, 151 ; Bap- 
 tist separation suggested in, 206. 
 
 Walker, Rev. J., causes trouble, 
 125. 
 
 Walker, S., ordination of, 126. 
 
 Warne, Prof. J. A., 139. 
 
 Washington, D. C. : denomination 
 begins in, 190 ; difficulties in, 191. 
 
 Washington, George : opposition 
 of, to Baptists, 101 ; letter from, 
 108, 109. 
 
 Wayland, Dr. Francis : discussion 
 of, with Fuller, 202 ; champion 
 of opposition to slavery, 207. 
 
 Welling, Dr. J. C, 163. 
 
 Wesley, John, 27. 
 
 West Virginia, Baptists enter, 49. 
 
 Western Baptist Theological Insti- 
 tute, 153. 
 
 Westrup, Rev. J. 0. and I. W., 236. 
 
376 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Whitsitt, Dr. W. H., becoming 
 president of Southern Theolog- 
 ical Seminary, 264. 
 
 Whitefleld, George, 18; Orphan 
 Home, 27, 28. 
 
 Whitman, Dr. B. L., 163. 
 
 Wil'.iford, W. L., 155. 
 
 Wingate, President, 148. 
 
 Winyaw Bay, 12. 
 
 Witt, Daniel, 188. 
 
 Woolsey, Dr., 52. 
 
 Women, Baptist: organization of, 
 299; feeling against worlc of, 
 300 ; movements connected with, 
 300-302 ; report upon work of, 
 
 302; work of, considered by 
 Southern Convention, 302-305 ; 
 representation of, in Southern 
 Convention, 305 ; work of, recog- 
 nized by Southern Convention, 
 306; movement of, organized, 
 307 ; recommendations concern- 
 ing, 307, 308 ; work of, efficient, 
 308; funds contributed by, 308, 
 309; institutions for, 361-363. 
 
 Young, Rev. John, 194. 
 Yoruba, Africa: missionaries ap- 
 pointed to, 232. 
 
 Zeal of Baptist ministry, 47. 
 
I. A History of the Baptists in New England. 
 By Henry S. Burrage, D. D. Published. 
 
 II. A History of the Baptists in the Middle 
 States. 
 By Prof. Henry C. Vedder. Published. 
 
 III. A History of the Baptists in the Western 
 
 States East of the Mississippi. 
 By Justin A. Smith, D. D. Published. 
 
 IV. A History of the Baptists in the Southern 
 
 States East of the Mississippi. 
 By Prof. B. F. Riley. Published. 
 
 V. A History of the Baptists in the Trans- 
 Mississippi States. 
 By Lemuel Moss, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 These volumes are uniform in style and price, 
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 Price per set, $4.50 (net). 
 
 The volumes are independent histories. Each is 
 complete in itself, with index, etc. At the same 
 time they form a complete history of the denomi- 
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