BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL,^ ETCHES OF SOME OF THE EARLY MINISTERS CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. A Q BY RICHARD BEARD, D.D. SOUTHERK METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENN. : PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR. 1867. PREFACE, The fruits of Christianity constitute its excellency. It is the developments and ameliorating influences of religion that give character and importance to its claims upon the confidence and consideration of man. The tree that pro duces no good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. That system of religion that does not improve the intellec tual and moral condition of its subjects, is without intrinsic merit — it has no recommending qualities, and as a consequence, the intelligent mind, in its pursuit of happiness; turns from it to something that promises positive good in this life, and salvation in the life to come. That the Christian Religion it a positive benefit ; that it does better the condition of man ; that it does elevate him in the scale of moral and intellectual being, may be regarded as axiomatic truths. If, however, evidence be necessary to illustrate this, tho lives of the good and the useful of every age may be presented ; for their pious walk, holy conversation, "work and labor of love," is Christianity in its practical developments. In tho following " Biographical Sketches " we have our holy religion exemplified. The characters of twenty-one ministers of the gospel are introduced. They wcro in some respects peculiar men — raised up in the providence of God, it may be, for a special and an important purpose. Some of PREFACE. The fruits of Christianity constitute its excellency. It is the developments and ameliorating influences of religion that give character and importance to its claims upon the confidence and consideration of man. The tree that pro duces no good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. That system of religion that does not improve the intellec tual and moral condition of its subjects, is without intrinsic merit — it has no recommending qualities, and as a consequence, the intelligent mind, in its pursuit of happiness; turns from it to something that promises positive good in this life, and salvation in the life to come. That the Christian Religion is a positive benefit ; that it does better the condition of man ; that it does elevate him in the scale of moral and intellectual being, may be regarded as axiomatic truths. If, however, evidence be necessary to illustrate this, the lives of the good and the useful of every age may be presented ; for their pious walk, holy conversation, " work and labor of love," is Christianity in its practical developments. In the following " Biographical Sketches " we have our holy religion exemplified. The characters of twenty-one ministers of the gospel are introduced. They were in some respects peculiar men — raised up in the providence of God, it may be, for a special and an important purpose. Some of IV PREFACE. them were the instruments in the organization of the Cum berland Presbyterian Church. They lived to see the vine which, in the hands of God, they planted, spreading its branches " far and wide," and the precious seed of truth which they had sown yielding a most bountiful harvest. Having finished their work, they were gathered unto their fathers, to be followed by others no less consecrated to the great work of saving souls. In the perusal of the following pages, the reader will discover interesting portraitures, drawn by a faithful hand — portraitures of the Fathers and their immediate successors in the ministry of our beloved Church. He will learn something of their early history, their incipient efforts in the ministry, their pious walk, their extensive labors, and their triumphant death. He will see what animated them in their progress through a world of suffering — how they endured hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ — what enabled them to resist temptation, to overcome difiiculties, and to brave persecutions. He will see in the lives of these worthies the great truths of our holy religion elucidated, not merely in the morality of their actions, but in the purity of their principles. Finally, he will see them witnessing a good profession, and in the darkest hour of trial bearing their testimony to the truth of Christianity, living by faith upon the Son of God, and dying in the triumphant assurances of his salvation. These things being true, we trust that this volume may receive a hearty welcome into hundreds and thousands of Christian families, and that it may be read with profit by them all, and that it may prove a blessing to the Church and the world. J. C. PEOVINE. Nasdvillb, April, 1807. CONTENTS. PAGE Rev. James McGreadt 7 Rev. William McGee 18 Rev. Finis Ewino 30 Rev. Samuel Kino 46 Rev. David Foster 62 Rev. Thomas Calhoon 76 Rev. Robert Donnei.l 101 Rev. Robert Guthrie 120 Rev. John Provine 135 Rev. James Johnson 145 Franceway Ranna Cossitt, D.D 154 Rev. Ezekiel Cloyd 192 Rev. James Smith Guthrie 198 Rev. Alexander Downey 215 VI CONTENTS. PAOE Rev. Robert Baker 219 Rev. Hiram McDaniel 235 Rev. George Donnell 245 Rev. Francis Johnston 263 Rev. John Morgan 273 Alfred McGready Brtan, D.D .'. 292 Herschel S.Porter, D.D 307 BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. REV. JAMES M'GREADY.* si 1788—1817. Rev. James McGreadyvvus of Scotch-Irish descent) and was born in Pennsylvania. When he was quite young, his father moved from Pennsylvania, and settled in Guilford county, .North Carolina. Here young McGready passed his early years. He is represented to have been of a thoughtful and serious habit of mind, and otherwise promising, whilst still a youth. An uncle, who was on a visit to his father's family, from Pennsylvania, thought that a boy of such habits and promise ought to be edu cated for the ministry, and prevailed on his parents to allow their son to accompany him to Pennsylvania, with a view to the accomplishment of that object. The more reliable tradition is, that about the time of his commencing his studies preparatory to the work of the ministry, he was convinced by a sermon * Annals of the American Pulpit, Smith's History of the Cumberland Presbyterians, Foote's Sketches of North Carolina. 1 (7) 8 REV. JAMES M GREADY. of a Rev. Mr. Smith, of the unsoundness of his previous religious hopes. Smith, in his history of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, says that his awakening to a true sense of his spiritual state was attributable to a conversation of two friends, over heard by Mr. McGready, in which they expressed their fears that he was not a truly converted man. Foote, in his Sketches of North Carolina, confirms the latter account. Whatever may have been the means of his awakening, he became an earnest inquirer, and soon, without doubt, a true Christian. In the fall of 1785, Mr. Smith, who, according to the first tradition, was the means of his awakening, opened a school for the purpose of assisting young men in preparing for the ministry, and young McGready immediately became one of his pupils. He remained here for some time, and then entered a school recently opened by Rev. Dr. McMillan, with whom he had spent some time after his arrival with his uncle from North Carolina. Dr. McMillan's school grew into what is now Jeftersou College. The subject of this sketch having completed his literary and theological course of studies, was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Redstone, on the 13th of August, 1788, when he was about thirty years of age. In the autumn or winter following, he returned to North Carolina, and on his way spent some time with Dr. John Blair Smith, at Hampden Sidney College, in Virginia. Dr. Smith had been extensively counected with a powerful revival of religion, which occurred in his neighborhood about REV. JAMES M'OREADY. 9 that time, and the mind of Mr. McGready seems to have been deeply affected by what he saw and heard of the manifestations of Divine grace in that revival. On his arrival in North Carolina, he found the churches in a low state. A great spiritual dearth prevailed, and his preaching was the means of awakening increased interest on the subject of religion. From one of my authorities we have the following :." His labors at an academy under the care of Dr. Caldwell, were instrumental in pro ducing a revival of religion, in which ten or twelve young men were brought into the fold, all of whom became ministers of the gospel, and some of them were subsequently his fellow-laborers in the far West." About the year 1790 Mr. McGready married, and became the pastor of a congregation in Orange county.- "Here he labored with his wonted zeal, and often with great success." His zeal provoked opposition. The cry was raised against him that he was running the people distracted, diverting their attention from their necessary avocations, and cre ating unnecessary alarm in the minds of those who were decent and orderly in their lives. "A letter was written to him in blood, requiring him to leave the country at the peril of his life ; and a number of wicked men and women of the baser sort, on a certain occasion during the week, assembled in his church, tore down the seats, set fire to the pulpit, and burnt it to ashes." On the following Sabbath, when the congregation met for worship, a scene 10 REV. JAMES M'GREADY. of confusion and desolation presented itself. He, however, proceeded with the service, using a very appropriate and solemn psalm, and delivering a sermon from the following text: "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not ! Behold your house is left unto you desolate." In 1796 Mr.