Page images
PDF
EPUB

Elizabeth and Anne Makemie, at age, I do constitute, appoint and ordaine the Honorable Colonel Francis Jenkins of Somerset county, in Maryland, and Mary Jenkins, his Lady, and beloved Consort, Executors of this my last Will and Testament, and guardians to my said children during their minority, and till marriage, charging all persons concerned in the presence of Almighty and Omniscient God, to give and allow my said children a sober, virtuous Education, either here or else where, as in Britain, New England, or Philadelphia."

His daughter Elizabeth soon followed her father to the grave. The records of the court say that Mrs. Naomi Makemie applied for administration on the estate of her daughter Elizabeth, on the 6th of October, 1708.

His daughter Anne married a gentleman by the name of Holden. She lived to a great age, passing many years as a widow, and died possessed of a large estate. In her will, which bears date November 15th, 1787, she bequeathed one hundred pounds to the Pitt's Creek Congregation, the one that worshipped-"in the Meeting house near Mr. Edgar's,-to be disposed of by the Sessions for the support of a minister." This fund is still in existence. She made a donation of twenty pounds to the Rev. Jacob Ker. To the Rev. Samuel McMasters she gave "forty six pounds, a mahogany desk, a bed and furniture, and a Negro woman called Keziah and her children."

Col. Jenkins who is named with such marked confidence in the will, died soon after Mr. Makemie, and left no children. He bequeathed a great estate to his wife.

Mr. John Henry, the successor of Mr. Makemie at Rehoboth, came, in year 1710, an ordained minister, from the Presbytery of Dublin, and was installed pastor the same year. At the meeting of the Presbytery, Sept. 20th, 1710, in which Mr. Henry was received, three other ministers were also united with the judicatory, James Anderson from the Presbytery of Irvine in Scotland, Joseph Morgan from New England, and Paulus Van Vleek from the Dutch Reformed. After their admission there is the following-" Memorandum; Upon the admission of these ministers above mentioned; three Elders more sat in Presbytery, namely, Mr. Peerce Bray, Mr. John Foord and Mr. Lenard Van Degrift." Mr. Henry was at the meeting of the Presbytery in 1716. His death is recorded on the minutes of Synod in 1717. Of him Mr. Spence says—“I remember to have seen, seventeen years ago, a manuscript strongly bound octavo volume, of from three to five hundred pages, entitled-Common Place. It was a mass of religious instructions prepared by Mr. Henry for his descendants. From my recollections of the book it enforced the prominent

doctrines of the Confession of Faith, in their length and breadth, urged upon those who should inherit his name or blood, the faithful performance of the duties which result from them, with his advice as to the best manner of performing those duties." He left two sons.

Rev. John Hampton came to America in 1705, was regularly invited to the congregation at Snow Hill in 1707, but was not installed till 1708. The services of his installation were performed by Rev. Mr. McNish alone; the other member of committee, Mr. Davis, having failed to attend on the occasion. After the death of Mr. Henry, Mr. Hampton was united in marriage with the widow. He was present at the Synod in Sept. 1720. His will was admitted to record Feb. 24, 1721. His death was reported to Synod Sept. 1721, but the day of his decease is not mentioned.

Mrs. Mary Hampton, who had been connected in marriage, successively, with Colonel Jenkins, Rev. John Henry, and Rev. John Hampton, departed this life 1744. "Her maiden name" says Mr. Spence-" was King. She was the daughter of an Irish Baronet. She was a distinguished woman, or as I have heard her called-a great woman. She is uniformly called on the public records-madam. She left two sons, the only descendants of herself, or Mr. Henry; they both attained manhood; were married, and their descendants may be found. in Dorchester, Somerset, and Worcester Counties."

Rev. George McNish, the other "assistance" of Mr. Makemie, after declining calls from Monocan, Wicomoco-" the meeting house on Mr. Venable's land"-or Salisbury and Upper Marlborough, removed to Long Island in New York and became pastor of Jamaica in 1712. He resided in that place till his death in 1726. "By his exertions principally," says Mr. Webster, "the Presbytery of Long Island was formed consisting, besides himself, of the Rev. Samuel Pumry (or Pomroy) of Newtown, Rev. George Phillips of Setauket, and the Church in Southampton over which they ordained Rev. Samuel Gelston at their first meeting." Mr. McNish died in 1726.

Rev. Samuel Davis was a member of the Presbytery when the records commence, and was probably an original member. He was from Ireland. He preached in different places on the Eastern Shore and died in 1725.

Rev. John Wilson, another of the original members of Presbytery, was from Scotland. As early as 1704 was minister of New Castle on the Delaware. He died in 1712.

Rev. Nathaniel Taylor, another of the ministers that united to form the Presbytery, lived on the Patuxent. Dr. Balch of Georgetown gives a tradition that a colony of Scotch came to

this country, about the year 1690, under the auspices of Colonel Ninian Beall, and settled on the Patuxent. From these was formed Upper Marlborough. Mr. Taylor came with them, or soon after them, to be their minister. His last attendance in Presbytery was in 1709. Dr. Hill thinks the congregation at Upper Marlborough was organized at a later period, by Rev. Mr. Conn. It was of Scotch material.

Rev. Jedediah Andrews was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, July 1674: was a graduate of Harvard in 1695; commenced preaching in Philadelphia 1698; was an original member of Presbytery and became its stated clerk; was Moderator of the first meeting of the Synod of Philadelphia in 1717; was Moderator of the Synod at the time the Rev. Robert Cross his copastor brought in the famous protest, by which the Presbytery of New Brunswick was excluded; remained with the majority when the minority withdrew; and lived to the advanced age of seventy-two years. Mr. Makemie expressed his great attachment to him, by the legacies of his will. Whether the church, of which Mr. Andrews was long pastor, was organized at time he began to preach in Philadelphia, or a few years afterwards, has been a matter of discussion. It is not necessary to decide the matter here. The churches of the Eastern Shore, at least some of them, are senior sisters. Mr. Andrews was preaching in Philadelphia at the time Mr. Makemie obtained his qualifications from the Court of Accomack. The church at Snow Hill was able to sustain a preacher when that of Philadelphia was not yet gathered. There can be no question of the talents and acquirements of Mr. Andrews. His long residence in Philadelphia, of itself speaks volumes for him. His education had been in New England, where Independency predominated. There were many elements of Presbytery in the churches of his fathers. The orthodoxy of New England was then entirely unquestioned, and of the strictest sort. The points of agreement between Makemie and Andrews were many; the subjects of difference few. Makemie had been the Evangelist of the Eastern Shore; Andrews the forming pastor in Philadelphia. Makemie had been accustomed to meet opposition, and, victorious or conquered, to hold unchanged his principles of faith and practice and forms of worship, he must gain the victory or be defeated. Andrews was a common friend chosen by warring elements, and was accustomed to consider how much could be yielded with a safe faith, and what could be done to harmonize professing christians who agree on great principles. Makemie fell in earlier life than Andrews; but Andrews might have wished to fall earlier than Makemie, could he have anticipated the cloud that would hang upon his age. Both orthodox in faith, Makemie was Presbyterian, by

education, ex animo; Andrews probably by position and expediency. Andrews closed his ministry and his life in 1746.

Rev. Francis Makemie held a peculiar position. He was the first in a long and rapidly increasing series of ministers that resulted in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in North America. He was first of a church, whose past history is full of events that have moulded rising generations. No civil State, or religious denomination, south of the Hudson, or perhaps in the Union, has done more for the advance of civil liberty, freedom of conscience and the public welfare. All these things give force to the inquiry-what was his creed? That he was Presbyterian in creed, and in church forms and church government, has never been doubted. The records of civil and ecclesiastical courts establish that fact. But how did he understand the Confession of Faith? Strictly or in latitude of meaning? In absence of direct testimony the appeal is to the circumstances of the case. During his trial in New York in 1707 he said-"As to our doctrines, my Lord, we have a Confession of Faith known to the Christian world, and I challenge the clergy of York to show us any false or pernicious doctrine therein." This Confession was the Scotch edition of the Westminster Confession, which was in use in Ireland. But how did he understand it? This question is answered by the following circumstances.

1st. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland was gathered by such men as John Livingston and Robert Blair,-men that acted a conspicuous part at the Kirk of Shotts in 1630. Seven hundred persons were hopefully converted at one meeting. And these two preachers were suspended by the prelates, for being there. The Irish Church took its form and fashion from Scotch materials, after the model of the Scotch Kirk, and its prototype in Geneva. What construction the Scotch put on their Confession then is not doubted.

2d. In 1643 the Solemn League and Covenant, was, with due forms, taken to some extent in England. It was pressed in Scotland, and those, that declined taking it, in that country, were considered enemies of civil and religious liberty. Experience proved the suspicion not to be groundless. Ireland by a particular clause was included in the league; and the Presbyterians of Ulster took the covenant joyfully. In 1644, it was offered to the congregations in Down, Antrim, Derry, Donegal, Tyrone, and Fermanaugh, by commissioners sent from Scotland for the purpose. It was received by the congregations with ceremony and great solemnity. It produced the same effects in Ireland as in Scotland. It drew the line between the friends and enemies of civil and religious liberty. 3d. The first Presbytery in Ireland was formed on the 10th

of June 1642, and consisted of five ministers. It was not slow to act. In 1654, when the Presbytery consisted of about twenty-four members, a resolution respecting ministers coming from abroad was passed, declaring that they must come well recommended for learning, piety, and prudence. Another resolution declared,-that young men from Scotland, received on trials for the ministry, should be particularly tried, so that they might not be received on slight testimonials, or small qualifications. Another resolution declared,-that previously to ordination, the candidates, having gone through their trials should declare their adherence to the Solemn League and Covenant.

4th. In 1664, four ministers of the Presbytery of Lagan, the original Presbytery having been divided into five, were put in confinement, by Leslie, Bishop of Raphoe, for their adherence to Presbyterial doctrine and practice. Their confinement lasted six years. Their names were John Hart, Thomas Drummond, William Semple, and Adam White; one of these, Mr. Drummond, was Makemie's pastor.

5th. In 1681, Mr. Makemie was licensed by the Presbytery of Lagan, and soon after ordained to come to America in answer to two applications for ministerial help. About the same time four ministers of this Presbytery were put in confinement for holding a fast, according to the resolution of Presbytery, on account of the state of the country then suffering under great grievances from the monarch and the prelates.

6th. The trials and sufferings of the Scotch and Irish Church, were not on account of their doctrinal creed. They might have been as Calvinistic in their doctrines of belief as they pleased, if they had yielded to the king and the prelates, and admitted diocesan bishops. The difficulties with the Independents, in the time of Cromwell, would have been avoided by giving up their church sessions, or elders. Rather than submit to these things, they fled from Scotland to Ireland, and from Ireland to Scotland, going and returning, as the difficulties lessened in one, or hope brightened in the other. At last they turned to America, and emigrated in crowds. They brought their religion and their principles of liberty along with them, and ranked among the firmest advocates and sufferers, in the American Revolution.

It is not unfair to conclude that a man trained in these circumstances, understood the Confession in the sense of the Scotch Church. In action, there was, of necessity, some modification in Ireland, and more in America, arising from the sparseness of the population, and the feebleness of the congregations. It can scarcely be supposed that a church, which, during the fifty years of its existence suffered from two oppo

« PreviousContinue »