Page images
PDF
EPUB

THE BOARD AT LEBANON reported as follows: The last official communication the Board had with the General Assembly was in May, 1861, and from that time to the present there has been none, because of the civil war that for four long years deluged this once happy country in blood. But now, that a kind Providence has blessed the country with the return of peace, the Board take pleasure in complying with their constitutional obligations.

During the period of blood and carnage referred to, the Southern States were the theatre of the fierce and angry strife, and consequently the Board were compelled to suspend operations. Indeed, so awful and absorbing was the combat, that nearly all the churches in the South were either occupied by the military authorities of the country or closed as places of public wor ship. The ministry were thereby forced to cease their legitimate labors, and consequently the flocks were left without shepherds. The Board were cut off from the northern portion of the Church by an impassable military blockade, and therefore they could do nothing but wait in sorrow and sadness until the raging storm of passion and bloodshed ceased, and the sunshine of peace and prosperity again dawned upon the country. During the fiery ordeal referred to, however, the Board had occasional meetings, and at no time have they ever been in a disorganized condition.

The Board made a desperate effort to sustain our foreign missionary, Rev. J. C. Armstrong, but failed in consequence of the blockade of the Southern ports, the impassable military line between the Board and Northern portion of the Church and the want of means. He was, therefore, compelled to abandon the field and return to his home; a circumstance which is deeply to be regretted in view of the rich harvest that he was almost ready to reap! That the General Assembly, however, may have a full and correct appreciation of the mission, the Board herewith submit an elaborate report from the missionary himself.

Report of Rev. J. C. Armstrong, dated Hartsville, Tenn., April 16, 1866: "I started from Nashville, Tenn, July 1, 1860, for New York; reached that city on the 20th and London August 30th; arrived at Constantinople, Turkey, near the end of the following month. We had letters to the American missionaries from the late R. Baird, D.D. We were kindly received, but advised to seek some other field of labor immediately. The next day after our arrival we began the study of the Turkish language. We both soon learned to speak it in a few months, and I began to teach it in my own house on a small scale at the end of April, 1861. In the mean time we had received many flattering calls from different parts of the Turkish Empire; one especially from Brusa, eighty miles from the city. Several thousand Greeks of that city (Brusa) had revolted from the Greek Church (among them twenty priests), owning three church edifices and schools attached. They besought us day and night with tears for weeks to come over and help them, and break to them and their children the bread of life, but we had learned the alarming state of affairs in America, and had already felt the pinchings of want, could not pay our board bill, and were compelled to take a house and had only fifty dollars to furnish it. Under these discouraging circumstances, with sad and disconsolate hearts, we had to decline. We received two remittances in May, 1861, which for the time relieved us.

66

During the spring and summer of 1861, as the news of battles began to reach us, the fanaticism of the American missionaries ran so high that all their religious services abounded in political and warlike harangues. They greedily adopted the most extreme views of such men as Greeley, Cheever and Beecher of subjugation and utter annihilation. Of course, at a very

early period we were compelled to absent ourselves from all religious meetings in which Americans participated in any part of the city. This led first to enstrangement, and, as matters progressed, to an open rupture, all of which took place about the time our Southern ambassador left for America and our funds gave out.

"The Americans refused all assistance, and the end came, the day arrived when we were to be ejected from our house, but deliverance was sent us by our heavenly Father, by the hand of one of the natives, a total stranger. Soon after the chaplain of the British embassy came to our relief; our wants were then supplied by the British residents until autumn, when money began to come through the blockade from your Treasurer, which, together with remittances from the North, sustained us through the winter of 1861-'62.

"December 3, 1861, I was attacked by Asiatic fever, which reduced me to the point of death, and from the effects of which I was confined to my bed until I was carried in a helpless state on board a ship, the morning of July 11, 1862, to embark for America via Great Britain, on a British vessel. We reached Quebec, Canada East, August 19, 1862.

"During my most severe illness we were treated with great kindness by Christians, of many nationalities, Americans included, who had entirely changed their course toward us. The money upon which we subsisted for some weeks prior to our departure, and with which, we started, was loaned us by the Treasurer of the American Missions, whose account is herewith appended.

The BOARD at Lebanon, Ill., reported as follows: Pursuant to the order of the last Assembly the Board met at the time appointed, to wit-Alton, Illinois, on the fourth Wednesday in June, A. D. 1865, at 8 o'clock, P. M., and organized under the charter obtained from the Legislature of said State of Illinois, by electing Rev. J. B. Logan, President; H. W. Eagan, Secretary; and S. P. Greenwood, Esq., Treasurer.

J. B. Logan, F. Bridgeman, F. Lack, S. P. Greenwood, Esq., H. W. Eagan, were appointed an Executive Committee.

The Board has met regularly once a month since its organization, except in the months of October and November. The business during these months was transacted by the Executive Committee.

The members of the Board, with one or two exceptions, have been very punctual in their attendance upon its meetings.

A remarkable unanimity of feeling and oneness of purpose have characterized all our meetings, rendering them, as we trust, not only pleasant and profitable to the members of the Board, but useful to the Church in general.

The Board feels very much encouraged in looking over the missionary field. It is true that the contributions to this cause during the last year have fallen much below what they ought to have been, yet, everything considered, we have cause for rejoicing.

The plan adopted by the old Board to raise means to sustain the cause of missions has been readopted by the present Board, and we give it as our unqualified opinion that it is the best, if not the only plan that will ultimately succeed, to wit: the monthly concert. It is fast gaining favor with the churches; a goodly number have already adopted it, and others have promised to do so at an early day.

The Assembly adjourned, and another will meet in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Memphis, Tenn., May 16, 1867.

RICHARD BEARD, Moderator.

In Memoriam.

"PRECIOUS IN THE SIGHT OF LORD IS THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS.”Psalm cxvi. 15.

BEARD, JOHN-The son of David and Jane (Wallace) Beard, was born in Sumner county, Tenn., on Dec. 24, 1800. He was educated in the academy at Gallatin, Tenn., under the care of Rev. Mr. Bayne. He studied theology privately, being self-taught. He was licensed by Nashville Presbytery April 3, 1823, and ordained by the same Presbytery April 6, 1826. His first charge was Sugg's Creek, Tenn., and subsequently at Stoner's Creek, Tenn. After several years of labor in these fields, he moved to Illinois, preaching at Cherry Grove; thence to Missouri, and finally to Kansas, where he died at his home in Atchison county, Aug. 12, 1866, of diabetes.

He married Miss Margaret Cloyd, daughter of the late Rev. Ezekiel Cloyd, who, with four sons, survives him. He was a brother of Rev. Adam M. Beard, and a cousin of Richard Beard, D.D., Professor in the Cumberland University, Tenn., both of whom are Cumberland Presbyterian ministers. RICHARD BEARD, D.D., of Lebanon, Tenn., writes as follows: "He was a man of great moral and spiritual worth. His education was limited, but his talents were very respectable. His pretensions were not equal to his ability and his worth. He was a modest man, but a good and faithful preacher. In his early life he was highly useful as a traveling missionary. His eldest son was educated at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tenn. ; his youngest son has been a principal agent in the establishment of Lincoln University, at Lincoln, Illinois.

66

COSSITT, D.D.,* FRANCEWAY RANNA-Was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, April 24, 1790. He was educated in Middleburg College, Vt., graduating in 1813. He stood high as a scholar, and after leaving college he removed to New Jersey and taught school in Morristown. In 1815 he removed to North Carolina and became principal of Vine Hill Academy, on Roanoke river. He subsequently returned to New England, where he intended to engage in the study of law; but having made a profession of religion, he decided upon the Christian ministry, and entered upon the study of theology at New Haven, Conn. This institution is now the General Episcopal Seminary in New York City. Mr. Cossitt's ancestors were members of the Church of England. Bishop Brouness, of Connecticut, licensed him as a lay reader' in the Episcopal Church, after which he removed to Tennessee and established a school at a small place near Clarksville on the Cumberland river, called in its day New York. Here his school was a success, many young men being educated for the ministry. In 1821 he was interested in a camp-meeting on Wells Creek, Stewart county, Tenn., where he made the acquaintance of a number of Cumberland Presbyterian ministers. During this camp-meeting he preached occasionally. This was in 1821. The following year he was ordained by Anderson Presbytery, and henceforward fully identified himself with the Cumberland Presbyterians. He removed to Elkton, Ky., and established a school there, where he passed some very pleasant years. In 1825 the plan of Cumberland College was brought before the Cumberland Synod, and it was decided to establish it near Princeton, Ky. It was on a farm, and was to be a manual labor-school.

This memoir was prepared from facts gathered in "Brief Biographical Sketches of some of the Early Ministers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church," by RICHARD BEARD, D.D. 12mo., pp. 319. $1 75. Nashville, Tenn.: published for the author.

Arrangements were made and Mr. Cossitt was chosen president, and opened the college in March, 1826. He soon collected some of the best young men in the land, a large log building was erected for college purposes; and the students who were educated there during the early years of the institution were subjected to many inconveniences unknown to their brethren of later years. The success of Dr. Cosşitt as an educator was acknowledged by the large number of students in attendance, reaching in 1830 one hundred and twenty-five.

In 1831 the college was leased to Rev. John Barnett and Rev. Aaron Shelby. Mr. Cossitt continued to be one of the most earnest and zealous of its friends in the midst of the many difficulties by which it soon was surrounded. In 1830 the leading men connected with the college established the Religious and Literary Intelligencer, at Princeton, Ky. Mr. Cossitt was identified with it for a few months. The Assembly appointed Rev. David Lowry as editor. It subsequently became the Revivalist, and finally the Cumberland Presbyterian, Nashville, Tenn.

In March, 1840, he commenced the Banner of Peace. At first it was a monthly. It existed a year in this form. In December, 1841, its publication was renewed, as a weekly, and he by extraordinary effort sustained it. In 1843 he removed to Lebanon, Tenn., and took charge of Cumberland College, which soon after became the university. He continued as president of the university till 1844, when he resigned, and devoted all his time to his paper, enlarging it and increasing its usefulness. He gave up the paper December, 1849, and the rest of his life he passed in the many pleasant duties and occupations incident to that of an educated, intelligent Christian. In 1853 he published the "Life and Times of Rev. Finis Ewing," and the same year he was elected Professor of Systematic Theology in Cumberland University, Tenn. This he declined on account of age and its infirmities.

He died at his residence in Lebanon, Tenn., Feb. 3, 1863, of the decay of the vital powers. He was married twice: first, on Feb. 19, 1822, to Miss Lucinda Blair, of Montgomery county, Tenn.; she died in 1833. Second, Jan. 19, 1834, to Miss Matilda Edwards, of Elkton, Ky., who survives him. As an educator his principal work was performed at Cumberland College, where for seventeen years he labored under disadvantages which can hardly be understood or appreciated at this time. It was literally for several years a log college, as rough in its exterior as a very ordinary barn. Its interior corresponded with its exterior; the dormitories of the students were coarse cabins furnished with straw beds, a very small library and no apparatus for several years. Still, his power attracted many young men around him year after year, and many of the best in the land. As a public journalist he was kind, respectful and dignified. He engaged in no petty strifes, he indulged in no personal abuse. His paper was indeed a "Banner of Peace." He was a catholic Christian, and his life was an illustration of his catholic spirit. He was a Christian gentleman; he respected the feelings of others, and labored to promote the happiness of those around him.

NOTE.-It is a subject of regret that the Minutes of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church do not contain a complete list of the Ministers and Licentiates. In 1861 I prepared from a great variety of sources a list, which was published in The Presbyterian Historical Almanac for 1862. At that time the Ministers, &c., rosided in the following States:

Alabama........ 82 Georgia............ 3 Kentucky.......110 Missouri.........188 | Tennessee...... 234
Arkansas.......... 72 Illinois........ .139 Louisiana........ 2 Ohio............... 24 Texas......... 125
California......... 22 Indiana........... 44 Minnesota..... 2 Oregon.......... 13 Virginia........
1 Iowa........ 34 Mississippi...... 56 Penusylvania.. 34 Africa............... 1

Florida.

TOTAL, 1187

THE CANADA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

THE SIXTH SYNOD was held in the Central Presbyterian Church, Hamilton, C. W., June 5, 1866.

Rev. D. INGLIS, of Hamilton Presbytery, was elected Mode

rator.

BILLS AND OVERTURES.-No 1. From Montreal and Hamilton Presbyteries, setting forth that Paraphrases and Hymns were now in use in the Canada Presbyterian Church; that the Basis of Union in 1861* provided for the administration of worship in the Church as had hitherto been observed by the two branches now comprised in the united Church; that the hymn-book of the (late) United Presbyterian Church was used in certain of the congregations, while others were not at liberty to use it; and praying the Synod to take such steps as it might see fit to extend the same liberty to all the congregations with respect to hymns, and to prepare a hymn-book based, if deemed proper, upon that already recognized. It was

Resolved, That in view of the desirability of uniformity in the worship of God in the congregations of this Church, we approve generally of the object contemplated by those who advocate a revisal of the hymns and paraphrases at present used as part of public praise, and appoint a committee to consider maturely the whole subject, correspond with Presbyterians in kirk sessions, and report to next meeting of Synod.

UNION OF PRESBYTERIANS.-No. II. From Cobourg Presbytery, setting forth the duty of Churches agreeing in doctrine and discipline to enter into union, and that there was reason for believing that such a union could be effected without compromise of principle. It was, on a division, agreed that the Synod recognize the desirableness of union among Presbyterian Churches in this Province, but deem it inadvisable to do more at this time than to appoint a small committee. who shall be ready to consult with or receive overtures from any similar committee that may be appointed by the other Presbyterian Churches in these Provinces.

SUSTENTATION OF THE MINISTRY.—No. III. From Toronto and Brockville Presbyteries, on the importance of properly sustaining the ministers. These were referred to a special committee. They reported as follows, which was adopted:

1. That Presbyteries be enjoined to visit by deputation or otherwise all the congregations within their bounds which they have reason to think are not doing their duty toward the support of their pastor, and to see that an efficient system of raising funds for this purpose is brought into operation. 2. That the Synod strongly recommend first, that in cities and towns weekly or monthly offerings be introduced, and the contributions thus given for the salary of the minister be taken up along with the usual Sabbath col

* See The Presbyterian Historical Almanac for 1862, page 310.

« PreviousContinue »