Jesse Mercer was easily the most distinguished among the ministers of his day. He was born in Halifax county, N. C., December 16, 1769, the eldest of a family of eight children consisting of five sons and three daughters.Silas Mercer, his father, whose name will ever occupy an honored place in the record of American Baptists, was born near Currituck Bay, N. C., February, 1745. Silas Mercer's mother died when he was an infant and his early training devolved chiefly upon his father, who was a zealous member of the Church of England. Silas Mercer was from early childhood subject to serious religious impressions, but was not really converted until he attained manhood. Previous to this time in life he won devotedly attached to the rites of the Episcopal Church, and as violently opposed to other religious denominations, especially the Baptists. He shunned these people as a company of deceivers and as infected with absurd and dangerous heresies. Possessed of an independent spirit, however, he entered into a course of personal investigation. He soon began to question the validity of the traditions which he had so strongly adhered to, and finally had two of his children dipped for baptism. The first was Jesse, the subject of this sketch, who was immersed in a barrel of water at his father's home. The other was a daughter who was subjected to the same ceremony in a tub prepared for the purpose in the Episcopal meeting house. The father of Silas threw every possible obstruction in the way, and when finally the son attended a Baptist meeting, the father exclaimed with tears of grief and anguish: "Silas, you are ruined!" Not long after this. Silas Mercer moved with his family to Wilkes county, Ga.. and was soon thereafter immersed and became a member of the Kiokee Baptist church.
[p. 41]
As he left the stream when he was baptized, he ascended a log on the banks and exhorted the multitude. He began at once to preach the gospel as a Baptist minister. He was justly regarded as one of the most exemplary and pious ministers of the South. He died in the fifty-second year of his age, in the midst of active usefulness.Jesse Mercer's early life gave an indication of his future career and usefulness. He was a man of strong, native good sense, a tender conscience, and great self-control. He avoided all the gross excesses of youth and was a staid, discreet and sober young man. With great command of his passions, it is said he never had a personal quarrel with any one during his whole life. He set a beautiful example of obedience to parents, and in the absence of his father from home, gave implicit obedience to the command of his mother. At a very early age he came under religious convictions and for many years diligently sought for light upon this vitally important matter. Finally, in his eighteenth year, he became converted, of which he wrote, as follows: "While on the verge of despair, I was walking along a narrow, solitary path in the woods, poring over my helpless case and saying to myself, 'Woe is me, woe is me, for I am undone forever. I would I were a beast of the field.' I found myself wishing I was like the little oak when it died and crumbled to dust. At that moment light broke into my soul, and I believed in Christ for myself and not for another, and went my way rejoicing." He was baptized by his father into the fellowship of the Phillips's Mill church, July 8, 1787, being in his eighteenth year.
His first effort at public speaking was made in the home of his grandmother Mercer, an humble log cabin, the occasion being a Sabbath day prayer meeting. He spoke upon the general judgment. His grandmother was greatly pleased with this, his first attempt. He used frequent opportunities for exhortation. It is not known just when he was formally licensed to preach, but it was only a short time after his baptism.
On January 31, 1788, then only in his nineteenth year, he
[p. 42]
married Sabina Chivers, of Wilkes county. She was baptized about the same time that Mr. Mercer was and became a member of the same church. One who knew her well wrote: "She was indeed a helpmeet for her husband, for besides her ordinary domestic duties, she spun and wove with her own hands all the cloth he wore, and gained not a little renown through the country for the neatness and beauty of her manufacture. Notwithstanding she was a most affectionate wife and delighted in the company of her husband, she was very careful to throw no obstacle in the way of his fulfilling his appointments punctually, and was always mindful to have his clothes put up and everything ready. She submitted with great fortitude to the lonely life she led in his absence." Soon after his marriage his father gave him one hundred acres of land, upon which he erected a neat log cabin and opened up a small farm. In the meantime he prosecuted his ministerial labors.His first charge was New Sardis Church, Hutton Fork, Wilkes county. He served this church for more than twenty years. A contemporary said of him: "Never was a minister more immovably rooted in the respect, confidence and affections of his people. To all classes of the community he was an object of deep interest. The wise regarded him with admiration, whilst the most illiterate could see enough in him to revere and love. Such an exhibition as he made, for a long series of years, of high intellectual powers, sound discriminating judgment, engaging and amiable virtues, strict and unbending integrity in all his dealings with men, and, above all, of sincere, honest and undeviating devotion to the cause of his Divine Master, would naturally secure to him the position which he occupied in the hearts of his brethren and in the estimation of his fellow-citizens at large."
In 1799 he traveled and preached in the States of South Carolina and Virginia, covering more than three thousand miles in the tour. Practically, the founder of the Georgia State Convention, he was a regular attendant upon its annual sessions, his own Association, and visited other Associations in the State
[p. 43]
in so far as the demands upon his time would permit. There was a great lack of satisfactory hymn books in those early days, and Mr. Mercer compiled a book, which he called "Mercer's Cluster." This book was first published in Augusta. Later, two more editions were published. While in attendance upon a General Convention in Philadelphia, in 1817, he published a revised edition of two thousand five hundred copies. Subsequent editions were published in 1820, 1826 and 1835. The book had an extensive circulation in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.While Mr. Mercer generally kept aloof from politics, he did not consider himself excluded from the rights of citizenship, and on proper occasion took active part. In 1798 he was a member of the convention that formed the Constitution of the State of Georgia, which in itself was an honor to any man, in view of the great work performed by that convention. It is related that during the session of the convention some lawyer moved that ministers be ineligible to the office of legislator. Mr. Mercer amended this motion by inserting doctors and lawyers. He finally withdrew his amendment on the condition that the original proposition should also be withdrawn. In 1816 he was a candidate for the office of State Senator, but was fortunately defeated. In 1833 some of his friends desired to announce his name as a candidate for the office of Governor. He would not listen to this proposition.
In 1826, Mr. Mercer took up his residence in Washington, Wilkes county. There was no organized Baptist church in that place and his services had been less appreciated by the people at Washington than at any other community that he visited. Vet he was deeply impressed that the Lord desired his locating there. In December, 1827, a church was organized with ten members, and Mr. Mercer was called to the pastoral charge. The church steadily grew during his pastorate.
In 1833 the Christian Index, which had been published at Philadelphia and edited by Rev. W. T. Brantley, was bought by Mr. Mercer. Editorial duties were not congenial to him, and
[p. 44]
he called to his assistance the Rev. W. H. Stokes, whose name gave character to the editorials and the general conduct of the paper. In 1840 he generously tendered the Christian Index, with the press and all its appendages, to the Baptist State Convention. The gift was accepted and the paper moved to Penfield.In 1835 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon Mr. Mercer by the Board of Fellows of Brown University, Providence, R. I. He was seldom recognized, however, or addressed as Dr. Mercer.
From the beginning of his career he was at all times an able and indefatigable advocate of education. He was untiring in his efforts to disseminate correct views on this subject among the Baptists of the State. He made strenuous efforts to establish an academy at Mount Enon, Richmond county. It was opened in 1807, but after a few years of usefulness became encumbered with debt and failed. Mr. Mercer was especially impressed with the importance of a well-educated ministry, and in the effort to establish a college in the District of Columbia he was active, became a trustee, and through his influence large contributions of money were secured in Georgia. The Baptist State Convention of South Carolina wanted the cooperation of Georgia Baptists for the establishment of a literary and theological institute in that State, and though Mr. Mercer was inclined to favor the plan it did not become popular in Georgia. At that time the plan most advocated by the Baptists of Georgia involved a manual labor department. At the annual meeting of the State Convention at Buckhead, Burke county, April 1831, the following resolution was adopted: "Resolved, That as soon as the funds will justify, this Convention will establish in some central part of the State a classical theological school, which shall unite agricultural labor with study, and be opened for those only who propose to enter the ministry." At the next meeting of the Convention, this plan was so amended as to admit others. This was not Mr. Mercer's plan. Indeed, he opposed it, but finally took hold of it with his accustomed zeal. It was soon determined that the institute when established
[p. 45]
should bear his name, as much of its success depended upon his liberality and generous support.Josiah Penfield, a wealthy Baptist, residing in Savannah, who died in 1829, left a bequest of $2,500 to aid in the education of poor young men preparing for the ministry, under the direction of the Convention, and to be used only after an equivalent sum had been raised by that body. The requirement was met at once. In 1832 a site was chosen, in Greene county. Two double log cabins were constructed and the school was opened in 1833, with Rev. B. M. Sanders in charge, aided by two assistants. There were thirty-nine students in attendance. The school prospered and grew in favor. In 1837 there was a movement to establish a Baptist College, at Washington, and $100,000 was subscribed. It was then determined to add a collegiate department to the school in Greene county and if possible divert the money contributed to the Washington enterprise. This was accomplished, and sixty thousand dollars were added to the endowment of the Greene county school. A town was laid out around the institution and named Penfield in honor of the donor of the first contribution. Mr. Mercer strenuously opposed the defeat of the college at Washington, but finally yielded, and, before the end of the year, subscribed five thousand dollars for the endowment of the Collegiate Department at Penfield, From that time he turned toward the institution his warm support and his princely munificence. From that time forward the institution had the untiring devotion of Mr. Mercer's great soul, as a member of the Executive Committee and of the Board of Trustees.
He was a man of princely liberality. In all he gave between thirty and thirty-five thousand dollars for the maintenance of Mercer University. He gave at one time $5,500 to foreign missions, and subsequently another contribution of $5,000 to the same cause. He was deeply interested in the higher education of the generation of the day. Possibly he was moved to this course because of his own personal lack. He had really received but little mental training, because his opportunities
[p. 46]
were limited and meager. Married at nineteen years of age, this contributed an additional hindrance to his education. Even after marriage, however, he attended the school of Mr. Springer, a Presbyterian minister, and, later he studied languages one year, under the direction of a Mr. Armor.Mr. Mercer was a capable man in a business way, and accumulated some property.
After years of a happy married life he lost his wife, and later married Mrs. Nancy Simons, widow of Capt. A. Simons. Mrs. Simons was a woman of large wealth, who shared fully in his spirit of liberality toward worthy enterprises, and her means added to his own, not only relieved him from secular care, but enabled him to make large donations which were of such immense value in those early days.
Jesse Mercer was not the founder of the Baptist Church in Georgia. That honor belongs to Daniel Marshall, who organized the first Baptist Church in the State. Perhaps second to him comes Silas Mercer, father of Jesse Mercer, but while it is true that Jesse Mercer was not the founder of the church, it is also true that the Baptist Church owes more to him than to any other man. He published the first hymn book. It was through him that in 1823 the Baptist State Convention was organized. Through him in 1833 the Christian Index, the first religious paper in the State, was founded, a paper which now having passed the three-quarter century mark is still sending out its weekly issues for the edification of the people. To him, Mercer University, which is an honor to the State, owes everything. A liberal contributor to it during his life, when he died, he left his entire estate to its endowment, and as long as the institution stands, Jesse Mercer will not be forgotten in Georgia. He has the distinction of having given the largest amount to Christian education of any Georgian, living or dead. He founded the first missionary society and was its most liberal supporter. He found the Baptist Church in Georgia a weakly infant, struggling for life, and he left it a stalwart youth ready to enter and to cultivate all fields. He was essentially an organizer
[p. 47]
and his work abides. Not its most eloquent preacher, not its greatest orator, Jesse Mercer easily stands first as the greatest man the Baptist ministry in Georgia has yet produced. In May, 1841, his faithful wife died and he was left a lonely old man. He continued the work, however, according to his strength, and in August he left Penfield and journeyed to Indian Springs, where on the last Saturday in that month he attended the meeting held by James Carter, at the Springs, and from there went to the residence of Mr. Carter, eight miles from the Springs. Hero he fell ill, and on the sixth of September, 1841, he died. In his last moments he threw his arms around the neck of a nephew who was present and drawing him close to his lips, he said: "I have no fears."========= W. J. Northen, editor, Men of Mark in Georgia: A Complete and Elaborate History of the State, 1906, pp. 40-47. Document from Google Books. Scanned and Formatted by Jim Duvall]
Jesse Mercer Index
Baptist History Homepage