PRESBYTERIANS DURING THE REVOLUTION. 443 proudly claim as Jerseymen-as a committee to present to the churches an appeal on behalf of the country. Though ministers of the gospel of peace, these committeemen in their address deemed it their duty to take a firm stand on the side of war, should a continuation of hostilities be necessary to preserve the united interests of the colonies. They further urged upon the people the duty of aiding in the execution of the measures proposed by continental congress. From then until 1783, when the synod issued another pastoral letter, congratulating the people upon the happy termination of the war, both clergy and laity were marked as special objects for British and tory persecution. Where is the Jerseyman of us all who can fail to have a realizing sense of the debt owing to the Presbyterians of his state for their sufferings and sacrifices during the struggle with Britain ? It was on the clergy that the direst evils fell, for with the death or running out of a "rebel parson" it was considered that one more of the seditious streams flowing from Presbyterian pulpits had been dammed. Among the ministers who fought with the army, or preached and prayed from drum-heads, stands conspicuously in the foreground, James Caldwell, pastor of the Elizabethtown church. The sad story of his privations and death-and what was worse, the murder of his wife-need hardly be retold in these pages. "Why, he had All the Jerseys aflame. And they gave him the name His church was considered a hot-bed of rebellion, and its congregation has a distinguished Revolutionary record. In it were such sturdy patriots as Governor William Livingston; Elias Boudinot, commissary-general of prisoners, president of congress and first president of the American Bible Society; Abraham Clark, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; Generals Elias and Jonathan Dayton; Colonels Spencer and Barber; and forty other commissioned officers, to say nothing of non-commissioned officers, privates and militia. In this connection it is interesting to note that this is the oldest English speaking congregation in the state, organized probably previous to the summer of 1665, and, without doubt, antedating that of Newark by two years. A majority of the first settlers came from New England and Long Island, and were of the congregational or independent communion. Such was the new church established in East Jersey, Presbyterianism not having yet been planted in the middle colonies. Up to 1709 the people of Elizabethtown had been of one mind as to religion, the affairs of the parish and the town being jointly discussed and settled at town-meeting. About this time a missionary of the church of England appeared in the settlement, and gathered about him a small following, which ultimately blossomed into St. John's Episcopal church. It was not until 1717 that the first church of Elizabethtown gave up its independence, and became connected with the Philadelphia presbytery, a denominational body organized about 1705, and patterned after the Presbyterians of Scotland. ance. Another clerical martyr for upholding his convictions with pen, tongue and sword was John Rosbrugh of Delaware Forks, the chaplain of the 3rd Battalion, Northampton, (Pa.), militia. He was captured at Trenton by a troop of horse on that January night when Washington stole away from the banks of Assunpink creek, and was savagely butchered, though incapable of resistThe "Pennsylvania Evening Post," in giving an account of the affair, states that the "damn'd rebel minister "-as his captors called him-after being thus massacred "was stripped naked, and in that condition left lying in an open field till taken up and buried by some of the inhabitants." One of his last letters to his wife, if not the last, is still in existence. It bears the superscription, "Mrs. Jean Rosbrugh, Delaware Forks," and is yellow, crumpled and much broken. In the following reproduction the words within brackets supply the place of those wanting in the original : [Monday] morning, 10 o'clock, at Bristol Ferry, Decem[ber thirtieth, My dear wife, I] haven't a minute to tell you [that the] company are all well. We are going over to N[ew Jerse]y you would think [it] strange to see your Husband, an old man, riding with a french fusee slung at his back. This may be ye la[st] ye shall receive from your Husband. I have committed myself, you [and the dear ple]dges of our mutual love to God. As I am out of doors [I cannot] write more. I send my compliments to you and children [and all our] friends. Pray for us. From your loving Husband. JNO. ROSB[RUGH]. Very many of the Presbyterian clergy of New Jersey suffered SUFFERINGS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CLERGY. 445 cruelties because of their zeal. Azel Roe of Woodbridge, taken prisoner, was confined in a New York sugar-house. Nehemiah Greenman of Pittsgrove was obliged to hide in the woods to escape the enemy; Mr. Richards of Rahway also escaped capture by flight, but Charles McKnight of Shrewsbury was not so fortunate; he was wounded at Princeton, and afterwards was carried off, and treated with such brutalities by his captors as to result in his death. In fact, indignities of every kind were the portion of Presbyterian clergymen throughout the entire country, as in them was supposed to be concentrated the very essence of rebellion. The continental army was sprinkled with ministers of this denomination; many as chaplains, some as surgeons, while others did not hesitate to carry a musket in the ranks. New Jersey furnished its full quota of soldier-parsons. Caldwell and Rosbrugh of Trenton have already been mentioned. McWhorter of Newark for a time was chaplain of Knox's brigade; Rodgers of Lamington, early in the war, of Heath's brigade; while Armstrong afterwards of Elizabethtown, preached, prayed, and marched with the one from Maryland. Ashbel Green, president of Princeton college, was in his youth an orderly sergeant in the militia; Asa Hillyer of Orange acted as an assistantsurgeon, and so the list of clerics among the New Jersey Presbyterians who preached to, or practiced with, the soldiers, the doctrine of being "faithful unto death," might be greatly extended. Mentioning Aaron's having communed with Lamington Presbyterians recalls the fact that in the last century the partaking of this sacrament by that denomination was made a much greater occasion than it is at present. At Lamington it was the custom at such seasons to secure the assistance of another minister. The Friday preceding communion Sunday was observed as a fast, and the regular pastor preached in the church at twelve o'clock. On Saturday afternoon the visiting clergyman delivered a preparatory sermon. On Sunday morning came the action sermon, after which the ordinance was administered, often to five successive tables, long addresses being made at each. Then there was the usual half hour intermission, giving the people an opportunity for regaling themselves with cake and beer at the always well supplied stand of Betty McCoy. On Monday morn ing at ten o'clock the visitor preached a farewell sermon, and thus ended the four days' services. Betty McCoy was an old Scotch woman, and a noted character in the congregation. She acted as a sort of pewopener, church-cleaner, purveyor, and, at times, general exhorter. When not so occupied she was usually visiting and gossiping among the people of the neighborhood, by whom she was welcomed as a worthy creature for over one-third of a century. Many stories are told of the acidity of her tongue, of the innateness of her wit, the excellence of her appetite, and the fervor of her religion. Rumor has it, that at one time at Pluckamin she put to flight an entire troop of British horse, one of the men having endeavored to take from her a package of much cherished tea. There were other ways prevalent among Presbyterian congregations of the last century that would now excite surprise, if not reprehension. What would you think of an installation ball? Whether such a custom was one more 66 honored in the breach than in the observance," I cannot say, but Doctor S. W. Boardman, in an address in 1887 at the Centennial of the Hackettstown Presbyterian Church, referred to an ancient custom of concluding the installation services of a minister by giving a ball in the evening, at which the new pastor and his wife were expected to open the dance. Unless I am incorrectly informed, the descendants of a minister who occupied the Wethersfield, Connecticut, pulpit for about half a century, preserve the tickets or invitations issued for the ball that was given in honor of his installation. Evidently in social customs this denomination was not in accord with the more severe views of their Reformed Dutch neighbors. Many pleasing pictures are fashioned in the mind by the contemplation of the days of long ago; but here is one in which the lights seem harsh, the tones garish, and the colors inharmonious. It is not an agreeable vision, this, of the sedate brothers of the Presbyterian sessions and their wives, solemnly advancing and retreating, bowing and curtsying, scraping and tip-toeing, through the stately figures of a minuet, while younger and more frolicsome members of the communion cut pigeon wings in contra-dances and reels? We know that the good book says "Let them praise His name in the dance," and Eccle THE MINISTER TREATS THE ELDERS. 447 siastes announces a season for everything, but these religious hops seem a broad, rather than an evangelical, interpretation of the scriptures, and we can hardly agree with the early New Jersey disciples of John Knox in thinking that the installation of a new minister over a congregation was properly "a time to dance." Many other curious customs and observances connected with churches in Revolutionary days could be narrated. As is well known, the word temperance, as relating to drinking, was not yet coined, and it was considered that liquor was necessary to health. Ministers or laymen would swallow a glass of applejack as unhesitatingly as they would a piece of bread. The story is current in Bedminster that one Sunday a clergyman was sent to supply Lamington church, who preached an excellent sermon. On descending the pulpit stairs the elders gathered about him, and, as was customary, paid his fee in crisp half pound notes. "Gentlemen," said the minister, "will you walk out with me?" Whereupon, crossing the road they entered the tavern and ranging themselves in front of the bar all took a drink with the clergyman. He then handed the tavern-keeper a half pound note, saying "take your pay out of this bank note, I have just received it for preaching the sermon." They then all returned to the church and soon afterwards were engaged in the afternoon service. Later on there will be more to say regarding the drinking habits of our ancestors. |