Revival in Southern Virginia

RETURN HOME GREAT REVIVAL VISIT BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS — REVIVAL

SCENES — STRUGGLES OF SOUL SAMUEL MORRIS — JOHN BLAIR SMITH —

WILLIAM GRAHAM PROGRESS OF INWARD WORK.

THE period to which our narrative now brings us was remarkable, in the history of the Southern churches, for that wide-spread religions movement known as the Great Revival. As few were more familiar with this awakening than Dr. Alexander, and few have left more copious notes in regard to it, we feel justified in giving particulars which may sometimes lead us to deviate from the strict line of biography. Many of the sketches of eminent men are too interesting to be omitted, and belong to the characteristic history of the times. It must have been in the year 1789 that the young preceptor returned to his father’s house, with a determination to supply the defects of his intellectual training. We find him therefore retiring for days to the woods, and devoting himself to Euclid and Horace. But the year was to be signalized by higher progress. He found his eldest sister much changed, and earnestly engaged in seeking acquaintance with God. A startling death among the connection brought him into new terrors. At the same time he was thrown into confusion by Dr. Chauncy’s defence of universal salvation, which was officiously put into his hands by a latitudinarian doctor. There was at this time no church in Lexington; but he speaks of a funeral discourse which so affected his mind that he retired into a grove with a volume of Whitefield’s sermons, and spent the afternoon in reading and prayer; and with his characteristic attachment to localities, he adds that this grove is now cut down. On a vacant Sunday he heard one of Willison’s Sermons on the Lord’s Supper read to the congregation, and was convinced of his duty in regard to this ordinance, while he knew that he was destitute of preparation.

A rumour had come into the quiet settlement, of an extraordinary religious awakening, on the other side of the Mountain, as the great dividing Blue Kidge is familiarly called. The Kev. Mr. Graham prepared to visit the scene of these wonders, and proposed to take young Alexander among other companions. All such journeys were of course made on horseback, and amidst mountain scenes and in a hospitable country were sufficiently exciting. “On our journey,” says he,” Mr. Graham was very open and communicative; at first on philosophical subjects, in which he took great delight, and then upon religious matters, when he found me interested in these. We discoursed particularly on the subject of Justification by Faith and [Regeneration. My companion, Samuel Wilson, was astonished to hear me converse on topics, concerning which when together at the Academy neither of us had formed any opinions. Mr. Graham also 4

was surprised at the extent and accuracy of the knowledge which I appeared to have on subjects to which very few young men in our part of the country had turned their thoughts. The fact was, 1 purposely turned the conversation to those interesting truths on which my mind had been so much exercised, merely with a view to ascertain whether the conclusions to which I had come after much thought and inquiry were in unison with his views, and whether he agreed with Flavel and the other authors I had been reading. I had no thought of making any display of knowledge; for it never entered my mind that I had acquired any stock of theological doctrine. These conversations, however, had a depressing influence on my companion, who was several years older than myself, and who was conscious that he knew little about matters on which I talked so freely.”

The party was hastening to arrive at a celebration of the Lord’s Supper, at a place called Briery, near the borders of Charlotte and Prince Edward Counties. On their way they were entertained at Liberty, in the house of Michael Graham, father of the late Professor Samuel L. Graham, of the Union Theological Seminary. The whole time was spent in hearing from him and especially from his pious and more eloquent wife, accounts of the revival, with narratives of particular cases. Here they heard of the conversion of James Turner, afterwards known as one of the most remarkable masters of natural but irresistible oratory. Turner had been a profligate and a ringleader in all the profane and violent amusements of the time. But now he was holding meetings and exhorting. Pursuing their expedition they came to the house

of Major Trigg, whose aged mother was one of the Rev. Samuel Davies’ s communicants, a woman of great piety and goodness. She spoke of Mr. Davies with much reverence and affection. She said to Mr. Graham, “I have never attained to the faith of assurance, but only to the faith of reliance.” He answered promptly, “If you know you have the faith of reliance, you have the faith of assurance also.” The month was August, and our travellers were exposed to the rays of a Virginian sun, without the shelter of an umbrella, a convenience (our journalist notes) which had not then come into use. But they were joyfully welcomed to the house of Samuel Morris, a name sacred in the annals of American Presbyterianism, which may justly detain us for a little.

Mr. Morris had removed from Hanover, and was now residing in the lower end of Campbell County. It was he who was instrumental in the revival of gospel truth, by the reading of evangelical books in the Keading-House of Hanover County, long before the arrival of any Presbyterian missionary. “As we approached through the fields, we saw the old gentleman walking homeward, as if like Isaac he had been meditating.”” Samuel Morris was at this time between seventy and eighty years of age, but had the appearance of firm health. But for his being bowed with age, his stature must have been six feet. His frame was large, his shoulders were broad, and though he was somewhat bald, the thick hair about the sides of the head was not gray. He had one son, and a number of daughters. Mr. Morris gave Mr. Graham a detailed account of the origin and progress of Presbyterianism in Hanover, before Mr. Davies came to settle there: the

same, I presume, which he put into writing for Mr. Davies, who included it in a letter to Dr. Bellamy. The old gentleman had heard of the revival in Prince Edward, and seemed to be much interested in it. He said he understood that one of the preachers, Mr. Lacy, resembled Whitefield,”

There had never been any revival in the Valley, and few of the Scottish Presbyterians there resident had much faith in these sudden awakenings. They had heard of a work of this kind in Western Pennsylvania, under the labours of the Kev. Joseph Smith, the Kev. John McMillan, and others; but the general impression was that these religious commotions would pass away like the morning cloud. John Lyle, an eminently vain, ostentatious, and dissipated young man, who had avowed infidel opinions, returned from Franklin, now East Tennessee, with a mind and character signally renewed, and this served to awaken new expectations of the scenes which they were about to visit.

As the travellers approached the place of their destination, there was an interesting meeting between the two great preachers of Virginia. Mr. Graham had enjoyed very little friendly intercourse with Mr. Smith for a number of years; indeed a certain coolness existed between them in consequence of some difference in Presbytery, which was not however of a personal nature.. But now Mr. Smith had specially invited Mr. Graham to come over and see the great works of the Lord. The Kockbridge party turned aside from the road to await the arrival of the people returning from the Saturday’s service, which usually preceded

the communion. “While we were here,” says the narrative, “a novel and solemn scene presented itself. A large company of young people on horseback, as they slowly passed along, were engaged in singing hymns. Most of this company, I afterwards learned, were young converts, who had come over from Caswell County, North Carolina, with the Kev. Nash Le Grand. They had travelled fifty or sixty miles to attend the sacrament, and were full of zeal and affection. The music resounded through the woods in an agreeable and impressive manner. Mr. LeGrand, who had been remarkably converted during the revival, having just finished his college course, was, with very little preparation, except an ardent zeal, brought into the ministry by Dr. Smith, and sent into North Carolina, where a powerful influence seemed to accompany his preaching. After nearly all the people who were returning had passed, came Dr. John Blair Smith, accompanied by several of the elders of his church, and other friends. As soon as he espied Mr. Graham, he stopped and received him with a hearty greeting.”

They were now in the very midst of revival scenes. Among the persons, then in youth, whom they here met, was William Hill, now the venerable Dr. Hill of Winchester.

But the prominent figure in every group was undoubtedly Dr. John B. Smith. It is unnecessary to adduce many facts concerning a man so well known in our history. He was a son of the Rev. Dr. Kobert Smith, of Pequea, Pennsylvania, and of course a brother of the Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, D. D., of Princeton. Smith, as well as Gra-

ham, was educated at the college of New Jersey, and when his brother Samuel founded Hampden Sidney College, John became a tutor or professor in the same, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Hanover. When his brother was called to Princeton, John Blair Smith was made President of Hampden Sidney.

“His natural disposition was full of vivacity, his temper quiet, and his action rapid. At the beginning of his ministry he did not manifest great zeal, and his preaching was less impressive than his brother’s; but at the commencement of the great revival in 1786 or 1787, he underwent a remarkable change in his own feelings and in the fervency of his preaching, so that he became one of the most powerful preachers I ever heard. In person he was about the middle size. His hair was uncommonly black, and was divided on the top and fell down on each side of the face. A large blue eye of open expression was so piercing that it was common to say Dr. Smith looked you through. His voice had an unusual solemnity, and always affected me, whatever was said. Dr. Smith was as fearless a man as ever lived, and his quickness of temper sometimes led him to act rashly, and incur enmity which might have been avoided. As a companion he was most agreeable. His treatment of young ministers was soothing to the diffident, and his manner of introducing them to strangers was peculiarly agreeable to their feelings. His preaching was far from being uniform, for sometimes he fell short of his usual force from the state of his feelings. His sermons were always well prepared, but nothing was written out, except the introduction, which he commonly prepared with great care; and its only fault was that it was grandiloquent. Within the leaves of a small Bihle which he held in his hand he had a small paper containing the introduction, all the divisions and subdivisions, leading thoughts, and cited texts, which last he always read out of the Bible. His speaking was impetuous; after going on deliberately for a while, he would suddenly grow warm and be carried away with a violence of feeling, which was commonly communicated to his hearers. If opposed to him in sentiment they were often aroused to great wrath. The most powerful sermon I ever heard from him was in defence of the revival as a work of God. It was directed more especially against the Seceders, who, to a man, set themselves in opposition to it. It was delivered in the grove near New Monmouth, immediately after the communion, to the largest congregation which had ever been collected in that county. Many of the leading Seceders were present. He told them of the opposition of their sect to Whiteneld, and to the revival at Cambuslang. Next day I heard one of them say that if ever any man was possessed of a devil in modern times, it was John Blair Smith when he delivered that sermon. He was eminently discriminating and perspicacious; but if he failed to see through a difficulty at the first glance, he commonly failed to do so by any further attempt. He was perhaps censorious in his judgment of professors who discovered any lukewarmness, and would often declare to his friends of such and such persons, that they did not possess a spark of religion. No man in Virginia was so much admired as a preacher; but after his removal to Philadelphia, where he bestowed more care on accuracy, he lost much of that impressive manner, which carried away and captivated his hearers during the revival.”

On arriving at the neighbourhood of Little Roanoke Bridge, the company addressed themselves to preparation for the approaching solemnities. There were strangers from every quarter, including fifty from Carolina. Some of them were newly converted young men, who spoke with warmth and freedom of their late worldliness or even infidelity, and their present faith and joy.” The meeting was very much crowded. Here (says the record) I first got a fair sight of Dr. John Blair Smith. His appearance was more solemn than that of any one I had ever seen, and caused a feeling of awe to come over me. As Mr. Graham was exhausted by riding in the heat, Dr. Smith called on a very young man, Mr. C, to pray. Next he called on William Hill to exhort. This astonished me. How a person so young should have the courage and ability to speak in public and before such an audience, I could not conceive; but he delivered a warm and pungent address, on the Barren Fig Tree, which affected my feelings very much. Then, after prayer, Dr. Smith himself addressed a powerful and solemn discourse to the company.

“My mind was considerably excited by what I saw and heard on the Saturday evening. The question of professing my faith returned upon me with force. Having never spoken freely to any one of my own religious exercises, I felt great backwardness to open the subject, and indeed I had had no opportunity of conversing with my pastor. On the morning of the Sabbath the roads were covered with multitudes flock-THE SACRAMENT. 57

ing to the place of worship, at Briery. The house was not sufficient to hold half the people; an arbour had been prepared, with a stand for the preachers, and the intention was to have the sacrament as well as the sermon out of doors. Dr. Smith preached the Action Sermon, as it was called in Scottish phrase. The text was Psalm li. 17, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise, It was especially intended to comfort diffident and discouraged believers. The evidences of piety which he laid down were such as I could for the most part find in myself; so that I felt much regret that I had not taken measures to partake of the ordinance. Though the morning was clear, the appearances of rain were threatening; after consultation it was therefore determined to administer the sacrament within the house. Notice was given that while arrangements were making, Mr. LeGrand would preach in the grove behind the church. I resorted to the place, where I first had a sight of this successful young minister. At this time there was much that was striking in his aspect. He was tall, but rather bending in his attitude, and his countenance was solemn and benignant, with a shade of melancholy. He stood upon a horse-block, and preached a discourse which, though inaccurate and incoherent, was delivered with peculiarities of voice that made their way to the feelings. After the communicants had retired, the Rev. Samuel Houston preached to the non-communicants under the arbour. After hearing Mr. Houston, whose sermon was interrupted by the rain, I pressed with much difficulty into the house, where Mr. Graham was preaching. Little did I think, that I should ever preach in that pulpit, and become the pastor of that people! There was on the face of the assembly an appearance of tender and earnest solemnity. Never had I heard my pastor speak with such warmth and pathos as on this occasion. His text was Isaiah xl. 1, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, etc. The part which I heard was the address to the impenitent, in which under a series of particulars he showed them their comfortless state. The good people of Briery were entranced. They had expected a very cold and dry discourse. Dr. Smith afterwards said to me of this sermon, that it was the best he had ever heard, except one; and the one excepted was preached during the revival by the Bev. James Mitchell, who was never reckoned a great preacher. Every mouth was rilled with expressions of admiration, and from this time, Mr. Graham was considered one of the ablest preachers in the land,”

“On Monday after the Communion, we went to Hampden Sidney, in the county of Prince Edward, where Mr. Lyle, already named, showed us much attention and introduced us to the Rev. Drury Lacy, who then as Vice-President had charge of the institution, in consequence of Dr. Smith’s having resigned the presidentship. I was much pleased with the free and candid manners and conversation of Mr. Lacy. By the early loss of his left hand, from the bursting of a gun when a boy, Mr. Lacy had been led to fit himself for teaching an English school. In this calling he early acquired a high reputation, especially as he wrote an incomparably beautiful hand. As he taught for some time in Cumberland, where Dr. Smith preached on the alternate Sabbaths, he received

an invitation to come and learn at the College. Having about that time experienced a change of heart, he joyfully accepted the offer, immediately began the study of Latin, rapidly passed through the curriculum and was licensed to preach as a probationer. Having a voice which was loud and clear, and a very distinct articulation, with a warm heart, he was from the first very popular and effective as a preacher. And as the great revival in the vicinity soon commenced, Mr. Lacy was much employed in various places, but being fond of teaching continued his residence at the College. By many, his preaching during the revival was preferred even to that of Dr. Smith; it was plain and experimental, and there were manifest seals to his ministry. Though deficient in accuracy he was unusually acceptable abroad, and at presbyteries and synods, when the assemblies were large and the services in the open air, he was commonly chosen for the work, as his penetrating tones could reach the outskirts of any congregation. He was a man of great humility, remarkably exempt from envy, of a sociable and friendly temper, and greatly esteemed and beloved by his brethren. Having suffered long with a calculous affection, he resorted to the surgical aid of the celebrated Dr. Physick of Philadelphia; but a fever ensued, and in a few days he expired. I had at his request taken my passage in the stage-coach for Philadelphia to see him; but before the hour of departure I received a note from his kind host Mr. Robert Kalston, advising me not to come, lest it should agitate him too much, especially as I had received from Dr. Hoge the sad intelligence that Mrs. Lacy, whom he left in health,

had died of the putrid fever. He left the world in ignorance of this bereavement, to enjoy the surprise of meeting his beloved wife in the invisible state. His remains lie in the cemetery of the Arch Street Church. Two of his sons, and three of his grandsons are in the ministry.”

During this excursion, Mr. Alexander was taken by Mr. Graham to visit the celebrated orator, Patrick Henry; to whose eloquence he had several opportunities of listening, at a later period. Mr. Graham remained more than a week in Prince Edward, and preached several times at private houses. His sermons were intended to discriminate between what was essential and what was incidental in religious experience. He was careful to show that true religion consisted more in the strength of the habitual purpose of soul, than in high affections. “I understood his discourses,” it is here added,” and thought I could find the evidences of vital piety, as proposed by him, in myself. But hearing much of sudden conversions, and of persons being convulsed with severe conviction, I concluded that the hopes which I entertained must be fallacious, and that they prevented my being truly convinced of sin. This occasioned great perplexity, and I felt a strong desire to make my case known to Dr. Smith. As we were to journey together to Bedford, I hoped for an opportunity to have his judgment. Mr. Graham had hitherto said nothing to me about my personal feelings; but when we returned to Charlotte, at our lodging at old Mrs. Morton’s at Little Eoanoke Bridge, he took me out and conversed with me. I freely related my difficulties, but he made little or no reply. Dr. Smith was to preach the funeral sermon of

an unfortunate young woman, who had been killed by falling from a horse as she was returning from an entertainment. To this solemnity I looked forward, as one well suited to produce conviction. On the way I fell into company with Susan Watkins,” afterwards by a second marriage the wife of the Bev. Dr. Hoge,” and found her remarkably communicative, so that I could open my mind to her with less restraint than to any one I had met. She told me her own experience and encouraged and exhorted me to go forward in seeking religion. My expectations of being deeply affected by Dr. Smith’s sermon on this sorrowful occasion were utterly disappointed. I was not only conscious of no suitable emotion, but my thoughts were to an uncommon degree wandering. I however had the opportunity of conversing with Dr. Smith. I related to him my various exercises, but added that I had still fallen into sin after these exercises; upon which he said, in his decided, peremptory way, that then they were certainly not of the nature of true religion, which always destroys the power and dominion of sin; and he proceeded to account for the joy I had experienced, on other principles. From this time I abandoned all persuasion that I had experienced regenerating grace. My desire now was to be brought under such alarming convictions of sin, as I had heard of in the case of others. But that evening, which I spent in the forest, I was greatly distressed on account of my exceeding hardness of heart. I rolled on the ground in anguish of spirit, bewailing my insensibility. We lodged at the house of a pious man, a nephew of Samuel Morris, and the next day went on to Bedford.

“When we arrived at Liberty, we met nearly thirty of our friends from Kockbridge who had come over to the sacrament among whom was my eldest sister. They seemed already under a solemn impression, even before attending any services. The preaching was continued several days at the Peaks Meeting-House, and the communion was on the Sabbath. It was a time of great emotion, and none seemed more affected than the Kockbridge company.

“While I was at Liberty I experienced exercises of mind which were remarkable. The place was a little out of the town in a thicket, at the edge of a wood. I had in the morning walked out into this grove, and while thus engaged in meditation and prayer, I was suddenly visited with such a melting of heart as I never had before or since. Under a lively sense of Divine goodness my eyes became a fountain of tears. The most prominent feelings were a sense of ingratitude for the innumerable mercies which had been richly and constantly showered upon me. When I now reflect upon it, it seems like a sudden change in the animal system, and a relief arising from a vent found for tears. The immediate result was a sweet composure of spirit. I cannot remember that I had any thought of Christ, or much contrition for my sins; and this melting frame, the counterpart of which I never experienced, led to no permanent change in my condition; in a few hours I felt much as before it occurred,”

The progress of this mental conflict may be noted in the following record, concerning a later day, in the same journey.” The former part of the day I spent in the woods, ruminating on my sad condition and future prospects. The train of my thought was, that I had enjoyed the very best means and opportunities of salvation, but these had produced no good effect; that I was now going where all were careless of these things, and where the means would be far less favourable. The conclusion forced itself upon me that I should certainly be lost for ever. My mind was calm and my thoughts deliberate, and when I came to this result I was nowise agitated, but began to contemplate the justice of God in my condemnation. It was evident to me that as a righteous Governor he could not do otherwise than condemn me to hell; and I could not but approve the sentence of my own condemnation. Yet I felt that I could never entertain any hard thoughts of God, even when suffering under his heavy displeasure. These views were so far from increasing my distress, that I experienced a degree of composure which I had not had for a long time. The awful question in regard to my destiny appeared now to be settled, and I felt no need of prayer or further waiting on God. I returned to the house, and there found the Kev. James Mitchell, pastor of the Presbyterian church in that county. He had never been introduced to me, but invited me into an adjoining room. He then began to enumerate the high privileges which I had enjoyed in my visit to Prince Edward, and said he hoped I had received abiding impressions from the many powerful sermons which I had heard, and from seeing so many young people engaged in religion and forsaking all for Christ. I answered deliberately, that what he had remarked about my privileges was very true; but that however great the means, they had proved of no avail to me; I had not yet in any

degree experienced those convictions without which I could not expect to be saved, and that being now about to leave all these means, I had that day come to the conclusion that I should certainly be lost; that I knew it would be just, and that I had no one to blame but myself. To which he answered, that no certain degree of conviction was prescribed; that the only purpose which conviction could answer was to show us our need of Christ, ’ and this, added he, ’ you have, He then represented Christ as an Advocate before the throne of God, ready to undertake my cause, and able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. A new view opened before me at this moment. I did feel that I needed a Saviour, and I knew that Christ as an Advocate was able to save me. This mere probability of salvation, after having given up all hope, was like the dawn of morning upon a dark night; it was like life from the dead. From that instant I entertained a joyful hope that I should yet be saved. These new views affected me exceedingly. I was like a man condemned to die, who is unexpectedly informed that there is a friend who can obtain a reprieve. I was unable to say any thing. My tears prevented utterance.”

In continuing the journey, “I rode along alone,” says he, “and my mind was in a state of delightful repose; cheering promises came into my mind, as though they dropped from heaven. When Mr. Mitchell commenced the prayer-meeting, at a town on the way, he called upon my companion, Samuel Wilson, to pray. After a word or two of exhortation, and a hymn, I was in like manner called upon, and did not hesitate to make the attempt, although in any other state of mind in which I had ever been, I should as soon have agreed to rise and preach extempore. I was astonished at myself, and though altogether unaccustomed to pray, I was delivered from the fear of man, and was enabled to get through without serious obstruction. This manner of treating young persons under religious impressions, I have always disapproved. It was intended to bring us to take a decided part, before we returned home; and it no doubt had the effect of causing us to feel that we were now committed. The next morning we set out for Lexington, about thirty in number, and sang revival hymns as we rode along. On the top of the Blue Kidge we halted at a spring to partake of a viaticum, which some of the company had been provident enough to bring along. Mr. Le Grand appeared to be very happy, and talked freely with us all, exhorting us to persevere boldly in the cause of Christ when we reached home.”