First Baptist Church
Charleston, SC
By Rev. Basil Manly, D. D., 1856
Chapter 3

ON a former occasion, we pursued the history of this church to the death of Mr. Chanler.

That was indeed a dark day. He had been for some time the only regular Baptist minister in all this part of the Province, and on his melancholy removal, the church had no visible prospect before them, but of a "famine of hearing the words of the Lord."

But, while God's dispensations are mysterious, they are all wise; and while it is the rule of his administration to interpose with seasonable aid in the hour of his people's extremity, he sometimes brings them into the greatest straits, that they may appreciate and improve the blessings he bestows. The Lord had provided an instrument by which he designed greatly to promote the cause of truth and piety in the province in the person of the Rev. Oliver Hart; and having selected the Charleston Church as the honored receptacle of such a gift, he prepared them to value it by quenching the only lamp that gleamed through the dark wilderness around. The feelings of the more reflecting part of the church, therefore, can be better imagined than described, when they discovered that on the very day on which "devout men carried" Mr. Chanler "to his burial and made great lamentation over him." Mr. Hart arrived in the city

REV. O. HART

This eminent minister was born in Wartminister Township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, July 5, 1723. It was his happiness to grow up at a period when God was remarkably reviving his work in this country, through the ministry of his servants Whitfield, Edwards, the Tennents; and we may add also, Abel Morgan and others of the Baptist Church. Some of these Mr. Hart used to hear, and was much impressed by their ministry; particularly that of Mr. Whitefield. It pleased God to arrest him early by his grace, and bring him to the knowledge of the truth; and being convinced of believer's baptism, he was baptized at the place of his nativity, by the Rev. Mr. Jenkin Jones, April 3, 1741, before he had completed his eighteenth year. In the same year, he united himself to a Baptist Church at Southampton.

It is probable, from some circumstances, that his mind was soon impressed with the great duty of preaching the gospel, and that he began at once to share in the duties of prayer and exhortation, on fit occasions. When he had been about five years and a half in the profession of religion, he was called out into the ministry, and licensed to preach, December 20, 1746. If, as Mr. Jones (History of the Philadelphia Association) says, he was a fellow student of Samuel and David Jones, James Manning, Hezekiah Smith, David Thomas, John Gano, the Suttons and others, at the institution established at Hopewell, N. J. under the care of the Rev. Isaac Eaton, it must have been about this period. For on October 18, 1749, he was solemnly ordained and set apart to the ministry of the word and ordinances; and immediately thereafter, impelled as it should seem only by his own feelings, (or rather conducted by the kind providence of God,) be set out for Carolina, and arrived in Charleston, as we have seen, December 2, 1749. Mr. Hart was now twenty-six years of age. He immediately began to preach to the destitute church; - and they were so edified by his ministry, as well as struck with the providential circumstances of his arrival, that they immediately called him to the pastoral care of the church, which he assumed, February 16, 1750.

CONSTITUTION OF THE CHARLESTON ASSOCIATION

Although not insensible to the extent and importance of the particular field assigned him, he yet was so convinced of the importance of united counsels and efforts to individual success, that one of the first objects which engaged his attention, was the union of the infant Baptist churches into an Association. In this enterprise, he found an able and ready co-adjutor in the Rev. Mr. Francis Pelot, of Euhaw, a man of classical education, and of kindred feelings and spirit with himself. These two, seconded by Mr. John Stephens, (installed pastor at Ashley River, June 22, 1750,) and by Messrs. John Brown, and Edwards, (ordained in the church at Welch, Tract¹ the one on May 7, 1740, the other June 15, 1751,) very soon impressed the churches with the importance of the plan they were meditating. Wherefore, having procured from Philadelphia, through the agency of Mr. Hart, a copy of Rev. Mr. Griffith's essay on the nature, powers, and duty, of an Association, as a guide to their proceedings, and the basis of their union, they fixed on October 21, 1751, as the time when the ministers and messengers of the four churches should meet in Charleston, to form their desired union. Thus originated that venerable and useful body "the Charleston Baptist Association;" of which Mr. Hart was the father, and which was a medium through which he continued to shed upon the denomination in South Carolina, the benign influences of his well balanced mind, for thirty years.

MR. HART'S SPIRITUAL EXERCISES

Mr. Hart's preaching attracted considerable attention in Charleston, and his character, universal respect. Had he possessed a less spiritual mind, he would have found enough food for self gratification in the general approbation with which he was received by all ranks.²

But this did not satisfy him. While his great end in life was the glory of God he viewed the salvation of sinners as a principle means of promoting it. He longed for the souls of men; and was jealous over them and himself, with a godly jealousy, lest by any means he should run in vain. The exercises of his mind now became intense, and the holy humiliation and strong desire which are the usual preparatives of a great blessing, are breathed in the following extract:

"Monday, August 5, 1754. I do this morning feel myself under a sense of my barrenness: Alas! what do I for God? I am, indeed, employed in his vineyard; but I fear to little purpose. I feel a want of the life and power of religion in my own heart. This causes such a languor in all my duties to God. This makes me so poor an improver of time. Alas! I am frequently on my bed, when I ought to be on my knees - to my shame. Sometimes the sun appears in the horizon, and begins his daily course, before I have paid my tribute of praise to God; and perhaps while I am indulging myself in inactive slumbers. O wretched stupidity! Oh that, for time to come, I may be more active for God! I would this morning resolve before thee, O God! and in thy name and strength, to devote Imyself more unreservedly to thy service, than I have hitherto done. I would resolve to be a better improver of my time than I have heretofore been: to rise earlier in the morning, to be sooner with thee in secret devotion, and Oh that I may be more devout therein! I would be more engaged in my studies. Grant, O Lord! that I may improve more by them. And when I go broad, enable me better to improve my visits; that I may always leave a savour of divine things behind me. When I go to thy house to speak for thee; may I always go full fraught with things divine, and be enabled faithfully and feelingly to dispense the word of life. I would begin and end every day with thee. Teach me to study thy glory in all I do. And wilt thou be with me also in the night watches; teach me to meditate of thee on my bed; may my sleep be sanctified to me, that I may thereby be fitted to thy service, nor ever desire more than answers this important end. Thus teach me to number my days, that I may apply my heart unto wisdom."

Very shortly after the date of this pious effusion, the great work of grace began under his ministry; and very many, especially of the young, were brought to the knowledge of the truth.

CONVERSION OF REV. SAMUEL STILLMAN

This revival is rendered memorable as having been the season at which that distinguished servant of God, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Stillman, late of Boston, was brought into the church. Born in Philadelphia, he was brought by his parents in his eleventh year, to this city, where he received the rudiments of his education in the academy of a Mr. Rind. He had had early impressions of religion, his parents being pious: - but under the ministry of Mr. Hart, to use his own words, his "mind was again solemnly impressed with a sense of his awful condition as a sinner. This conviction grew stronger and stronger. His condition alarmed him. He saw himself without Christ and without hope. He found that he deserved the wrath to come, and that God would be just to send him to hell. He was now frequently on his knees pleading for mercy. As a beggar he went, knowing nothing but guilt, and no plea but mercy." - He obtained soon a degree of hope, though not entire satisfaction; until one day he heard Mr. Hart preach from the words, Matthew i:21: "Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." During this discourse he found the blessing he had been seeking. - "Christ," says he, "then became precious to me, yea all in all. Then I could say of wisdom, her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. That, I still think, was the day of my espousal. Glory be to God for the riches of his grace. Why me, Lord? &c." He was accordingly baptized by Mr. Hart; and having views to the ministry, he was placed in a course of study under the patronage of a society formed in Charleston in 1755, called "The Religious Society." At the call of the church he was licensed; and he preached his first sermon, February 17, 1758.

BAPTISM OF REV. N. BEDGEGOOD

In the preceding year, Mr. Nicholas Bedgegood, a minister of education and popular talents, who had been employed by Mr. Whitefield in his Orphan House near Savannah, since 1751, came to Charleston; and, professing a change of sentiments on the subject of baptism, was baptized by Mr. Hart, and received into the church. With two such promising young men, under such a pastor, the church could not but feel herself rich in ministerial gifts; and, willing to make them more useful, called them both to ordination. Mr. Pelot was sent for, and the ordination of Samuel Stillman and Nicholas Bedgegood occurred in this church, February 28, 1759. Mr. Pelot preached the sermon, which was afterwards published.

It is the church's duty to sow the seeds of usefulness, though she "know not which shall prosper, this or that, or whether they both shall be good alike." These young men were now in the morning of life, and of promise to the church; Mr. Stillman, twenty-two, and Mr. Bedgegood, twenty-nine years of age; and they both commenced their ministerial career among the Baptists together. But the issue of that career was not with equal honor, usefulness, and comfort. Mr. Bedgegood was retained in Charleston as assistant to Mr. Hart: and, by his popular talents and pleasing address, gained so much upon the admiration of a number of persons, that an attempt was made to supplant Mr. Hart, and to place the assistant in the pastoral office. Mr. Hart had the sagacity to penetrate Mr. Bedgegood's character, felt conscientiously bound to oppose this measure, and had influence enough to defeat it. His opposition, however, was attributed, by some, to envy and interested motives; and several of the wealthier members of the congregation withdrew, and left him. Mr. Bedgegood afterwards removed to the Pee Dee, and there married. It being reported that his wife in England (who had refused to follow him to America) was still living, the Association summoned him to appear and explain the matter. But, while he justified himself on the ground that he had heard of the death of his wife, he did not attend, and the Associatiou disowned him. He died in 1773 or 1774.

REMOVAL OF MR. STILLMAN

Mr. Stillman, after his ordination, preached on James Island, and with such good acceptance and success, that in the same year, 1759, a meeting house was erected for him on that Island, under the authority and care of the Charleston church on a lot purchased of Dr. William Brisbane. But in the course of eighteen months, and before the arrangements, which he was fast making for a permanent establishment, could be matured, be was seized with a pulmonary affection, which made a change of residence necessary for him. His settlement on the Island, though agreeable, he abandoned, as he afterwards wrote, under a clear conviction of duty: and removed, first, to Bordentown, New Jersey, where he served two congregations, two years; - next, to Boston, Massachusetts, where, from 1763 to the period of his death in 1807, he exercised his ministry, characterized by eminent piety, shining talents, fervid and impassioned eloquence, and almost unrivaled popularity and success. His first degree in literature was received from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1761, Harvard University, Cambridge, bestowed on him the honorary degree of A. M.; and the College of Rhode Island, of which he was both a Trustee and a Fellow, in 1788 gave him a diploma of Doctor in Divinity. He had the singular happiness of retaining the vivacity and attraction of his ministry to the age of seventy years; - and according to a desire he had publicly expressed while in health, his life and labors terminated together.

It was an honor to Mr. Hart and the church to have given to the world such a minister.

ITINERANT MISSIONS

In 1755, in consequence of a query sent by this church, the Charleston Association began their scheme of itinerant missions in South Carolina. Mr. Hart was empowered to procure a suitable person, who, on his arrival, should be required to preach before the Charleston and Ashley River churches. If they approved, he was to be commissioned to proceed; otherwise his expenses were to be paid, and he was to be dismissed. The first minister they obtained being the Rev. John Gano, it is unnecessary to say that he gave universal satisfaction. In 1802, the same work of benevolence, which had been suspended by the war, was revived by means of a query from this church. The present arrangement of the home mission took place, in consequence of a query from the Mount Pisgah church, in 1817.

MINISTERIAL EDUCATION

While the Philadelphia Association were organizing a systematic plan of ministerial education, (their first resolution on the subject was in 1756,) Mr. Hart and his church, and their friends in Charleston, had founded "The Religious Society" in 1755, with a view to the same important object. And in 1757, in order to engage their brethren throughout the province in common efforts with them, this church sent the following query to the Charleston Association; viz: "Whether there could not be some method concluded upon, to furnish with suitable degrees of learning, those among us who appear to have promising gifts for the ministry?" In answering this question, the Association commenced their Education Fund. The members took it up with such spirit that L60 were pledged from Charleston, L40 from Ashley River, L20 from Euhaw Indian Land, L5 from Lynch's Creek, the same from Cashaway, and L3 from Catfish church - in all, L133. Of this fund, Mr. Hart was the first Treasurer; and Messrs. Hart, Pelot, and Stephens were appointed trustees. It may be here remarked as matter of devout gratitude to God, that this church has ever since been able to continue its yearly contributions to that fund: and in about the same proportion to the whole amount contributed from all sources, as on occasion of its origin. What benefit to the church of Christ and to the souls of men is to be comprehended within the results of this important measure, can be known only by Him who "seeth the end from the beginning."

During all this period, the General Baptists had possession of the original meeting house, and it should seem of the parsonage house also, built on the same lot. But in the year 1758, an agreement took place between them and the church, (styled Particular Baptists,) by which the use of the meeting house was resigned to the General Baptists, and that of the parsonage secured to the church, as a place of residence for their minister. And this suited the church very well, as they had been obliged, twelve years before, to build themselves a house of worship.

The church now enjoyed a steady season of peace and prosperity; while Mr. Hart continued to grow in the affection and esteem of all parties. Had the records been preserved, it is probable they would have presented but little beyond the ordinary experience of all churches similarly circumstanced.

In the year 1766, the church received into its membership Mr. Edmund Matthews. He was a native of Bristol, England; had been converted to God after his emigration to this country, and was baptized by the Rev. Philip Mulkey. The church in Charleston, perceiving in him gifts and graces, which, with God's blessing, might make him "helpful in the ministry," licensed him to preach, November 7, 1767. He married Martha Hinds, and on February 7, 1770, he was ordained as an evangelist; and presently removed his residence to Hilton Head Island, where was a meeting house owned by the Baptists, (according to Morgan Edwards,) in which Mr. Matthews officiated for some time. This meeting house had been built by persons connected with the Euhaw church, and was still under their authority; and Mr. Matthews was considered as an assistant to Mr. Pelot. It is worthy of remark, that this minister was a grandson of the famous Thomas Hobbes, author of the "Leviathan;" who, without aiming any of his publications directly against revealed religion, did more than almost any other man to spread infidelity. Whether the grandson had imbibed his sentiments previous to his conversion, is not known. Mr. Matthews was living as late as 1775, and in that year was one of the delegates to the Association from this church. But, of his subsequent course, and of the period of his death, we find no account.

About the period of Mr. Matthew's reception into the church, an important accession, as it proved, was gained in Mr. Edmund Botsford. He had arrived in Charleston in the preceding year, January 28th, 1766, then in the twenty-first year of his age; and, under the ministry of Mr. Hart, he became a subject of grace. The day signalized by this instance of saving mercy was November 1, 1766; "a day," says Mr. Botsford, "of light, a day of joy and peace." He was baptized by Mr. Hart, the 13th of March following; and as circumstances soon developed his predilections for the ministry, together with the possession of suitable gifts he was encouraged by Mr. Hart, and the church, to devote himself to that holy calling. Preparatory to it, he was placed under the gratuitous instruction of Mr. David Williams, then a member of the church, a learned and excellent man, father of the late Gen. David R. Williams. Mr. Hart directed his theological studies.³ He was licensed in February 1771, and on March 14, 1772, was ordained as a minister of Christ; the Rev. Messrs. Oliver Hart and Francis Pelot assisting at the ordination. The life of Mr. Botsford is of sufficient interest in itself to require a volume. His usefulness to this church, at a period of great destitution and need, demands for his memory our profound esteem and warmest gratitude: and notwithstanding our inadequacy to be his biographer, we should feel bound to record some humble tribute to his memory, in connexion with the history of this church, were we not able to refer to an interesting memoir of him, published in this city, and written by the Rev. Charles D. Mallary, who inherited that privilege from an alliance with Mr. Botsford's grand-daughter. Suffice it to say of him, here, that, after his ordination, he spent some time on Brier Creek, Georgia; in Edgefield District, S. C.; at Society Hill on the Pee Dee, where he was pastor of the Welsh Neck church until 1796: - and, after having preached the gospel in various parts of the southern States, with eminent success, he closed his valuable life at Georgetown, S. C., where he had been the honored, beloved, and useful pastor of the Baptist church, for twenty-three years, on the 25th of December; 1819, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.
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Notes

¹ Now Welsh-Neck - constituted in 1738.
² A very pleasing evidence of the light in which he continued to be regarded in Charleston, occurred some years after, about 1770. "He was robbed of about L30. When the fact was known in town, the gentlemen of other societies made him a present of L730, which they raised among themselves, without the help of his own people."
³ It was then customary to place young men, who were approved of their churches as having a call to preach, under instruction, for sometime, before they were licensed. And by common consent they were usually not ordained, until they had visited "some of the churches in union, and preached before the Association, and obtained their approbation." This method had been agreed on in 1755, and the Association say that "it would have a tendency to keep novices, weak and disorderly persons out of the work; and to detect those who would intrude themselves; and thus prevent the ministry from being brought into contempt." A similar recommendation was repeated in l808.

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[Taken from American Baptist Memorial, Basil Manly, editor, 1856, pp. 267-272.

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