cation at "Clio's Nursery," in Rowan county, under the instructions of James Hall. Dr. McWhorter subsequently became his teacher. In 1785, he entered as a student of Mount Zion College, at Winnsborough, in South Carolina, and in 1789 was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of that name. He first labored in connection with the congregations of Hopewell and Amwell, in South Carolina, subsequently at Unity and Goshen, in Lincoln county, and, finally, as pastor of Steel Creek Church. Earnest, though unassuming, and often eloquent, with a talent for refined sarcasm and a mind of much originality, he was loved by the good and feared by the evil, and in devotion to his work was surpassed by few of his contemporaries.

The name of (Dr.) Robert M. Cunningham is more familiar to us in connection with the history of the Presbyterian Church of Kentucky, in which the strength of his manhood was spent. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Dickinson College (1789). In 1792, he was licensed by the South Carolina Presbytery, and in the autumn of that year went to Georgia and organized a church in that part of Green county now called Hancock, and ordained elders to a church called Ebenezer. In this neighborhood he settled, preaching a portion of the time at the church at Bethany, twenty miles distant. Here he labored faithfully as one of the missionaries of the Synod. At the same time, James Hall and Samuel C. Caldwell were employed in North Carolina, John Bowman in North Carolina and Tennessee, and Robert McCulloch in South Carolina.

In 1794, there appear on the list of the Synod's members some names worthy of especial notice. Besides those of William Williamson and Robert Wilson, we find those of Moses Waddel and John Brown. Moses Waddel was born on the banks of the South Yadkin, in

1770. His mind was remarkably precocious. At the age of fourteen he was named by Dr. Hall as the fittest linguist educated at "Clio's Nursery" for a vacant tutorship in Camden Academy. For some years he taught in the neighborhood of Bethany, Ga., and afterward in South Carolina. He was graduated at HampdenSidney in 1791, and licensed by Hanover Presbytery in the following year. For the greater part of his life he was engaged in teaching; and under his instructions some of the most eminent civilians and clergymen of the South received their education. Among these may be mentioned John C. Calhoun, William H. Crawford, McDuffie, Legaré, Pettigru, Butler, Longstreet, Carey, &c. In 1819,' he was elevated to the post of President of the University of Georgia, which he continued to occupy for ten years. Few men,

through their pupils, have wielded a more extensive influence over the country. Yet, while mainly employed as a teacher, he did not withdraw from the pulpit. Almost to the close of his life there was scarcely a Sabbath when he was not engaged in the duties of the ministry. A severe student, a high-minded, honorable Christian man, unremitting in his devotion to the cause of learning and religion, the Presbyterian Church has abundant reason to honor his memory.

John Brown was a native of Ireland, and while yet a child migrated with his father to Chester district, S.C. In the scenes of the Revolutionary conflict he was an active participant, sharing with his countrymen generally their sympathies for his adopted country. He studied theology under Dr. McCorkle, near Salisbury, N.C., and was licensed to preach in 1788. For ten years he labored in the pastorate of the Waxhaw

1 He was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Wilmington, S.C., from which he was called to the Presidency of Georgia University.

church of South Carolina, and, while popular in the pulpit, rose to high literary distinction. In 1809, he was elected to a professorship in the University, of South Carolina, and two years subsequently he was chosen President of the University of Georgia. Many of the citizens of these and of the adjoining States will long remember him with gratitude.

In 1795, the Synod was still further strengthened by the accession of new members. These were John Robinson, James Bowman, John M. Wilson, and John Carrigan, from the Presbytery of Orange, and Robert B. Walker, William Montgomery, and David Dunlap, from the Presbytery of South Carolina.

Robinson was the father of the Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville. A native of Mecklenburg county, he pursued his studies at Winnsborough, S.C., and was licensed by the Presbytery of Orange in 1793. Benevolent, humble, consistently and devotedly pious, he was firm in purpose, and possessed of an intrepidity that would quail before no danger. Striking anecdotes are told of his fearless courage. For more than forty years, as a missionary, as a teacher, and as pastor alternately at Fayetteville and Poplar Tent, his labors were abundant and largely blessed.

John Makemie Wilson, like Robinson, was a native of Mecklenburg county, and but one year his junior. At the age of twenty-two he was graduated at Hampden-Sidney with the highest honors, and then commenced the study of theology under Dr. James Hall. In 1793, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Orange, and sent out on a missionary tour through the lower counties of the State. For several years he resided and labored in Burke county, until, in 1801, he accepted a call from the congregations of Rocky River and Philadelphia. Many new churches had been gath

ered by his efforts, and those which before were weak had been strengthened.

His labors as a teacher were popular and successful. In 1812 he opened a classical school, which he continued twelve years. Fifteen young men from Rocky River congregation entered the ministry in about as many years, and twenty-five of his pupils became cler

gymen.

The Presbytery of Orange had now become so large and extended that a division of it seemed advisable. Accordingly, in 1795, the Presbytery of Concord was set off from it. Of this new body, McCorkle, Hall, McRee, Barr, S. C. Caldwell, Wallis, Kilpatrick, L. F. Wilson, A. Caldwell, J. M. Wilson, and Carrigan, were members. In the following year the Presbytery of South Carolina was also divided. The members living west of the Savannah River, John Newton, John Springer, Robert M. Cunningham, Moses Waddel, and William Montgomery, constituted the new Presbytery of Hopewell. The Presbytery of South Carolina reported, as new members, John Foster, George G. McWhorter, John B. Kennedy, Samuel W. Yongue, and James Gilliland, the last of strong and decided antislavery sentiments, and on this account, a few years later, leaving for a Northern field. His name occurs again in connection with the history of the Presbyterian Church in Ohio.1

At its meeting in November, 1796, the Synod was largely engaged in the consideration of questions pertaining to slavery. While an order was passed enjoining upon heads of families the religious instruction of slaves and teaching them to read the Bible, it was also decided to be inexpedient "to admit baptized slaves as

1 Settled at Red Oak, Ohio, a few miles from Ripley, and a member of that Presbytery during the last years of his life.

witnesses in ecclesiastical judicatories, where others cannot be had." The case of James Gilliland was also brought to the attention of Synod. The Presbytery of South Carolina, of which he was a member, had enjoined upon him to be silent in the pulpit on the subject of the emancipation of slaves. This injunction he declared to be, in his apprehension, contrary to the counsel of God. The Synod took up his memorial for deliberation, and endorsed the action of the Presbytery, advising him to be content with using his utmost efforts in private to open the way for emancipation. It was of opinion that "to preach publicly against slavery, in present circumstances, and to lay it down as the duty of every one to liberate those who are under their care, is that which would lead to disorder and open the way to great confusion."

During the two following years the Synod was strengthened by the accession of several new members. George Newton and Samuel Davis had been ordained by the South Carolina Presbytery, and the erratic but eloquent William C. Davis had united with that body. The Orange Presbytery had added to its list of members the names of William T. Thompson, William Paisley, John Gillespie, Samuel McAdow, and Robert Tate.

It was under Paisley, the successor of William Hodge in the pastorate of Hawfields, that the great revival of 1802 commenced. For twenty years he was a successful laborer in this field. Tate occupied the sphere once filled by McAden, and under his ministry "Rockfish, Keith, and Hopewell sprang up, and opened the doors of the sanctuary to a large region of country." Black River congregation was long a sharer in his ministerial labors.

The Synod now (1800) embraced seven Presbyteries. In 1797, the Presbytery of Abington, west of the moun