286 Wake Forest College LIBRARY Class Nam^i N0.AZI21 Donated hy 7AC. /2^af.-zL*J. «a *Jb* M Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/centennialaddres01albr V. 1 / A Centennial Address i i \> V BT JOHN T. ALBRITTON. Delivered before Island Creek Baptist Church, Duplin County, North Carolina, Friday, June 5th, 1903, and published by request of the church. Fayetteville, N. C. N. C. Baptist, Publishers. 1903. Island Creek Baptist chureo is the out- come of the missionary spirit that pos- sessed and impelled our pioneer Baptist preachers of a hundred years ago. Had the churches, like the preachers, been likewise possessed a.nd impelled, and had the wolf of dissension never entered the Baptist fold to alienate and scatter the Lord's sheep, instead of there being only seventeen Missionary Baptist churches in Duplin county, there would have been a church in every neighborhood in the county today. With pardonable pride and devout gratitude to God, we look back upon the work of our fore-fathers, endur- ing hardships, undertaking long, weari- some journeys on foot and on horse-bacK, foregoing the rest and domestic felicity of home-life, that they might carry the tidings of salvation to the destitute and perishing. Their heroic and self denying labors were performed without any other compensation than the consciousness of doing good and of having the approval of their Divine Master. It was the mis- sionary spirit that brought Paul Palmer to North Carolina and led him to organize ths first Baptist church in the State at Shiloh, Camden county, in 1727. The Same spirit led him into Onslow county where he organized a Baptist church at New River. The same spirit moved Job Thigpen from Edgecombe to Duplin 27^73 count} 7 about 1781. There was at that date but one Baptist church in the county — the church on Bear Marsh, constituted in 1763. Thigpen settled in the neighbor- hood of the present Muddy Creek church. He and his wife were the only Baptists in that section at that time. He had been preaching about a year as a minister of the free-will order, say Burkitt and Read in their "History of the Kehukee Associ- tion.' 5 A considerable number were bap- tized by him as the fruit of his ministerial lahors. These, under the guidance of Robert Nixon. pastor of New River church, were received into the fellowship of the particular Baptist churches, and Nixon served them as pastor five or six vears-*- or until February 25, 1792, when they were constituted into an independent Baptist church of 30 members. That is, Muddy Creek church was probably a branch of New River church up to 1792, when she became an independent body. So was Island (Jreek church a branch of Muddy Creek up to 1815, when she be- came likewise independent. Eldor Thigpen was ordained as pas- tor of Muddy Creek May, 1793, the pres- bytery consisting of Robert Nixon, John Dillahunty, and Francis Oliver. These facts concerning Thigpen and Muddy Creek church may be found in the "His- tory of the Kehukee Association," pub- lished in 1803. Like other pastors of that period Elder Thigpen sought. +o cultivate the destitute fields within his reach. Among these was the Island Creek community Here several persons were led to embrace the Gospel as we hold it, and the earliest church records we can find, state that the members "met at Island Creek meeting house Friday before the fourth ford's day in November, IbO^, and chose Elder Francis Oliver moderator, and Bro. David Sloan clerk." Norhing is said about or- ganizing; but the body is spoken of as •'the members which afterwards composed this church " The fact that in 1802 they had a meeting bouse, and the nature of the business transacted indicate that the Island Creek body was a Baptist church for some time prior to the date of 1802. This earliest record states that letters of correspondence were received from Bull Tail,— now called Wells' Chapel,— Bear Marsh, and New River. Messengers were appointed to visit these churches. While the church considered herself a branch of Muddy Creek up to June 3, 1815, yet through all the intervening years, the brethree met at their own house, chose their moderator and clerk, and received, tried, dismissed, and expelled members just as any other Baptist church would do. In the minutes of July, 1803, they call themselves ''the church," In the latter part of 1803, a brother Murray was chosen by the church, and ordained by Elders Wells and Thigpen to serve them, September, 1804, Elder Thigpen read the letter to the (Neuse) Association, and the church raised two dollara for the Associa- tion fund. We conclude, therefore, that Island Creek was a Baptist church long before the date of 1815, and for sometime before the date of 1802; but that uu to 1815 she was under thft watch- care of Muddy Creek, tho mother church. I will now call the earliest roll found on records. Probably most of the names are those of constituent members Males:— Joseph Johnson, James Murray, Richard Chasten, David Sloan, David Quinn, Zachariah Carter Joseph Hodgeson, Amos Sheffield, S Evans, Wm Chasten Stephen Sanders, Aaron Hodgeson, George Evans, Wm. Streets and Simon Wood Females: — Nancy Sloan, Mary Norris, Rilla Cavenaugh, Eunice John- son, Esther Quinn, Anna Murray, Eliza- beth Costin, Phebe Mouse, Clara Stallings, Elizabeth Hodgeson, Bethany Evans, Elizabeth Sutliff, Mary Streets, Sarah Evans, Martha Jones, Mary Powers and Ann Harreli There were in all 32 mem- bers, — a goodly number with which to be- gin. Bear Marsh began in 1763 with 5 males and 5 females. The first Baptist church of Goldsboro began in 1843 with only 5 members. And the first baptist church on earth began in Galilee with only three members, — John, Andrew and the Saviour, — enough to claim the prom- ise in Matthew 18:20 Bengel well calls this trio "the first beginning of the Christian church." Island Creek church is fortunat in having preserved her records through nearly all the years of her existence. Many good and faithful men have served as clerks Among the earliest officers serving in this capacity were Jacob Teachey and Hiram Murray. Hiram Murray and Hiram Stallings served the church about 22 years each, — the former as clerk, and the latter as pastor, Among the ministerial brethren whose names are frequently found on the records of the first halt' of the last century, either as clerks, moderators, or pastors, are the following: Job fhigpen, Francis Oliver, Needham Whitfield, Joseph Johnson, Wm. Wells, Jacob Williams, Hiram Stallings, Wm. J Finley, Benajah Car- roll, David Rogers, and G. W. Hufham- There were, doubtless, others whose names do not now occur to me Much of the recoras up to the period of missionary awakening is dry and monot- onous, stating who were the moderators, clerks, and messengers received from and sent to sister churches, and then that they adjourned for want of ether business. their discipline. Now and then an offending member would be dealt with, and either excused or declared "ripe for excommunication " Frequently, alas! too, frequently, breth- ren would be reported f jr "transgression in drinking too much of spirituous liq- uors,"— a long phrase tenderly and deli- cately framed to express what we mean by the word drunkenness On the whole, the records indicate that there wa3 a good degree of spirituality among those old time brethren, and a promptness to reprove intemperance, dis- honesty, unchastity, and other disorderly or unchristian conduct. In 1816 the church arraigned a member on the charge of putting into the Associa- tion fund a non-passable 6 cent oit. He was promote expelled after the brethren became satisfied that the act was inten- tional. I % 6 In >#0£, a member was reported for cruel treatment of one of his slaves, Having failed to bring the offender to repentance, the church expelled him from her fellowship. The slave-holding breth- ren of Island Creek, like the great mass of slave holders in the South, were gen. erally kind to their slaves, and careful for their physical and moral welfare, building for them galleries and other apartments in their houses of worship. Many, like the Pettigrews and Collinses, of Washington county, built chapels and employed pious and intelligent ministers for the spirttual benefit of their s aveg In those days, such a monstrosity as a negro rapist was unknown among up. The good master was the rule: the bad master was the exception; and facts like the above give the lie to such vile sllin- dero as "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and other slanderous publications of a vitiated press. VALUABLE HISTORY. The records of Island Creek church are invaluable, as indicating the time at or near which the various churches within her reach sprang up; for it was a rule of the church o open cor.espondence with sister churches as fast as they came into being. Inl804and 1805 she corresponded with Thomas' meeting house and Wolf Branch. I know not where these churches were situated. Benedict mentions a Jon- athan Thomas, of Duplin One of these churches was probably in his neighbor- hood. There was correspondence between Island Greek and Nahunga, (now caPed Johnson), in 1807; and Concord in 1807; and Limestone, (now HallsviUej, in 1811; and Beaver Dam, (now Magnolia), in 1834; and Mt. .Holly, in 1835; and Kenans- villein 1839. Correspondence was kept up with Muddy Creek, the mother church, until 1833 NUMERICAL GROWTH. The records contain very meagre infor- raation about the growth of the member- ship. The oldest church roll contains the names of 32 members. Associational min- utes furnish the following statistics: The Cape Fear Minutes for 1822 reports 42 members. Richard Chasten and Hiram Murray were delegates The Goshen min- utes report 56 members in 1834; 43 mem- bers in 1842; and 71 members in 1843. During this year 31 additions resulted from revival services Tne minutes of the Union, (now Eastern). Association for 1853 report 100 membeis; for 1883 172 members; for 1892 154 members; for 1902 229 members This is tne largest number found on the recored as belonging to this church THE PASTORS OF THE CHURCH. Elder Job Thigpen was pastor from the beginning to the year 1815 About this date he moved into another ears. He was the honored father of Elder J. N. Stallings, a brother known to many of you. Elder W. M. Kennedy was called to supply the pulpit in 185-i. Elders G. S Best and H. R. Kornegay are mentioned as preaching and presiding from 1857 to 1863. Elder John R. Oliver became pastor in 18G3; Oliver Matthews in 1868, and Alfred Guy in 1869. The first mention of pastor's sa^ry was in i870, when the church agreed to pay Bro. Guy §100 a year. H. M. Croom became pastor in 1876, and G S Best again in 1878. Your humble servant was pastor from June, 1883 to the close of 1892. From 1892 to the present, brethren VanHoy, Carroll, Stewart and Tolar, and possibly others, whose names I do not now recall, have served the church. Brother J. X. Tolar, the present pastor, is leading the church forward in evan- gelistic work BENEVOLENT WORK. The records show that, for half a century or more, this church, like too many others in the State, did compara- tively nothing for the spread of the Gos- pel in the regions beyond. Too long did our Baptist fathers seem to be ignorant of the world wide significance of the Re- deemer's last command. We long seemed to be under the influence of the narrow spirit that moved the old brother to pray : "Lord! bless me and my wife, my son, John, and his. wife- us four, and no more!" Our attitude towards the great missionary enterprise was that of indif- ference or non-recognition, rather than of open hostility. The earliest mention of a movement for the spread of the Gospel is found in the minutes of November, 1822, where Richard Chasten moved to raise a fund for traveling preachers. Bro. Chasten was one of the most Godly men ever con- nected with this church. After nearly fifty years of fellowship and service among you, he departed this life in 1851, in the 83rd year of his age. The church spread upon her minutes a resolution ex- pressive of her great affection for him and her sense of irreparable loss in his departure. In 1853 this church paid to the Exec- utive committee $12 60 for Associationa! missions. In 1857 she gave $4.00 for the same object, and $16.00 for Warsaw High School. Soon after becoming pastor in 18S3 ? I persuaded the brethren to take up public collections for the various Associational and Conventional objects. Although it was feared by some that such a measure would diminish the congregation, they agreed to try quarterly collections. k By 1889 we had moved up to monthly collec- tions In 1883 we reported to the Associa- tion $18.00; in 1884 $23.00; in 1885 $17.35. (This year 23 members were dismissed to fo r m a new church.) In 1891 we sent up $37.87. Under my successors in the pas- torate, the contributions have continued to increase, those of 1898 amounting to $60 45. During my pastorate, the breth- ren were burdened with the expense of re- building their house of worship, at a cost of about $600= At the close of my ten yea,rs 5 work among them they did not owe their pastor a cent. Happy is the pastor who has such co-workers as were Chauncy Harrell, Enoch He dn, the Mal- lards, the Teacheys, the Wallaces, the Browns, the Hancheys, the Weils, the Cooks, etc., besides honorable women not a few SOME PIONEER PREACHERS. It is a matter of deep regret that we know so little about the foundation build- ers to whose sacrificing labors this old church owes her beginning. Then, we would like to know more about John Dillahunty and Robert Nixon, the two men who, with Francis Oliver, set apart to the full work of the Gospel ministry, Job Thigpen, the first pastor of Island Creek. NEEDHAM WHITFIELD was a wealthy planter living near White Hall. Wayne countv. He was a member of Bear Marsh church up to about 1805 or 1808. In 1811, according to Benedict, he was pastor of Pleasant Plains in Wayne county. ROBERT NlXOtf, of Onslow county, was pastor of New River in said county, the church planted by Paul Palmer, and of a church on White Oak river in Jones county. Bur- kitt and Read, in their ' 'Kehukee Associa- tion," speak of Elder Nixon as being a remarkably pious and zealous minister of the Gospel. Dr. J D. Hufham says that "during the war of the revolution, the Committee or Council of Safety made an appropriation of ten pounds or fifty dol- lars for his voluntary services in minis- tering to the soldiers who were defend- ing the coast " After a long and useful life, he was called home by the Master December 4th, 1794, — or about a year and a half after his service in the ordination of Island Greek's first nastor. JOHN DILIiAHUNTY was born in Kent county, Maryland, December 8th, 1728, of Catholic parentage. About the middle of the 18th century he came to North Carolina and settled on Neuse river about thirty miles above Newbern. He became sheriff of the county. When God converted him, he became a Baptist, to the grief and amaze- ment of his friends. In 1756 he and oth- ©rs organized a church on South- west creek, Lenoir county. In 1781 he gath- ered ten members at Chinquapin Chapel, Jones county Here he was ordained to the full work of the ministry by Abraham. Baker and Robe.- 1 Nixon. In 1790 DiPa- hunty left the State for Tennessee, and the folio wing year organized a Baptist church on Richland creek. Benedict says of this church that it was "the first Baptist church wlrch was gathered on the South side of the Cumberland river. The Rev. John Dillahunty took the care of this church at its commencement, and he con- tinues their much respected pastor." — Benedict's History, of 1813. After a long and useful ministry of nearly fifty years, he died in 1816, at the advanced age of 88 years. WILLIAM WELLS was born about the middle of the 18th century. On the West side of the W. & W. Railroad, not far from the public road leading from Magnolia to Concord Baptist church, there stands an old, di- lapidated building, — if indeed it is yet standing, — which has been pointed out to me as the old home of this consecrated minister of the Gospel. The first years of his ministry were spent with the Meth- odist denomination. I have in my pos- session an old Methodist Discipline, print- ed about 1797, which was once his prop- erty. There is a tradition, as I learned from Mrs. James Heath, his grand-daugh- ter, several years ago, that while Bro. Weils was a Methodist ministrr, he and one of the Coopers — William or Fleet — agreed to have a public debate od. bap- tism at Bull Tail, now called Wells' Chapel. Brother Wells, to fortify him- self, began a diligent and prayerful search of the Scriptures, — a dangerous thing for a Pedobaptist to do, who wishes to re- main steadfast in his views upon that subject. The result was that on the day appointed for the debate, the disputants fourd themselves on the same side of ehe question; and consequently, the debate was called off, and Brother Wells hence- forth became a devout believer in, and. defender of, the Baptist faith. One peculiarity of Bro. Weils was his refusal to accept compensation for minis- terial and pastoral labor. He had seen the evii of "compulsory support" by taxa- tion during the existence of the State establishment, and had swung, like many others, from that extreme to the opposite extreme of ib no support" at all from the churches. On one occasion, Bro. Wells, after having preached, and before leaving: the. house was tendered a purse of about $20.00. He reluctantly took it, and then passed it to a poor widow near him. The brethren were aggrieved. "Why," said he, '''after you gave it to me, was it not mine to dispose of as I pleased?" "Yes," said they. "Besides,' 5 he continued, "you will readily admit that this poor widow needs the money worse than I do. " Thus he silenced them. ELDER FRANCES OLIVER came from Virginia to Onslow county in early life. He came to Duplin county about 1783 and settled upon a plantation near Bear Marsh church, which is still held and occupied by some of his descend- ants. Mr. Joseph B. Oliver, one of his grand-sons, and one of Duplin's foremost citizens, now lives upon the plantation. Frances Oliver served his adopted State as a member of the Convention to consider the Federal Constitution. He was ordained to the pastorate of Bear Marsh church May 17, 1792. During his pastorate he was actively engaged in mission work among those destitute of Gospel privileges. Pleasant Plains, Na- hunga, (now called Johnson), and Thun- der Swamp churches wer« some of the fruits of his missionary labois Elder Oliver, while on a visit to kin- dred in Georgia, was attacked by a sick- ness which terminated in his death. This occurred in 1808 in the State of Georgia. Brethren, I have lingered to tell you what little I know about some of the brethren who were often moved by the spirit to come to Island Creek to worship God and enjoy the sweet fellowship of your fathers. Brethren, while we honor the fathers for the great work they accomplished in their clay of limited opportunities and ad- vantages, let us not forget that the gr^at Head of the church expects of us far greater results with our far superior facilities and wide open doors of opportu- nity. Christ has m?de the fulfilment of His gracious will in the furtherance of His Kingdom the burden of the daily prayer of His people. Oh! that He may bless you with an over-mastering desire and purpose to be faithful to Him, and to the solemn obligations you voluntarily as- sumed as members of His church!