Winchester, from being a
small village for the convenience of the frontier settlements, in the
Valley of Virginia, soon arose to be a town of note by its relative
position and inherent advantages. The Scotch-Irish and the German
emigrants made up the population, and became the mechanics and merchants
for a large and beautiful country. For a long time the German population
predominated. The Irish Presbyterian families were connected with the
Opecquon Church, situated about three miles south from the village. For
their special advantage Mr. Legrand, soon after his removal to the
valley,' began to hold religious services in the village. As the
congregation increased, and the number of families on the north and east
of the village wishing to attend church there were multiplied, a stone
meeting-house was built in the eastern part of the town, on the ridge,
ornamented with two other church buildings, for the use of the German
population.
The congregation required
more service than could be given by the pastor of Cedar Creek and
Opecquon, unless the congregations should be greatly curtailed in their
privileges. The supply of Winchester became a fruitful source of
difficulty. Should Mr. Legrand appropriate every other Sabbath to the
village, or should some other minister be sought for the congregation
there in conjunction with some adjoining neighborhood on the north ? The
difficulties in the way of a harmonious arrangement seemed to increase
by discussion. Differences in religious opinions were developed; some
adhered to Mr. Legrand’s sentiments on the subject of revival and
experimental religion; and some thought he was approaching enthusiasm,
if not actually a devotee. A man by the name of Caldwell visited
Winchester. Orthodox in his creed, popular in his pulpit address,
gentlemanly in his manners, and pleasant in his intercourse with his
fellow-men, he soon had a strong party in his favor. His professed views
of experimental religion differed somewhat from the standard raised by
Legrand. The adherents of these two men suffered themselves to be
hurried to extremes, and to manifest tempers not in accordance with
their own professions.
In the midst of the
commotions, and after unsuccessful efforts by the Presbytery to quiet
the storm, a proposition was made, that both parties should drop their
favorites, and all their disputes, and unite in a call to Mr. Hill. To
the unexpected request from the congregation to make them a visit, with
a view to settlement, Mr. Hill spent a few days in Winchester, and made
a decision he supposed final, and against himself, that he would come on
one condition, that of entire unanimity in the call. To his surprise,
such an invitation was sent after him; and he felt himself under
obligations to give a favorable answer. In a short time he removed his
family, and in 1800 commenced his residence in Winchester. With some
intervals, Winchester was his place of residence for m6re than half a
century. In the passage of these years he experienced the full variety
of ministerial life, its excitements, its reverses, its successes, its
sorrows and its joys. In Winchester was a field, unchosen, selected for
him, appropriate for his energy, enterprise and zeal and pulpit powers.
He could not have desired a better. Here too was a crucible to refine
the imperfections he so bitterly lamented; he must master his fiery
spirit or be an unhappy man. He knew that he that ruleth himself is
greater than he that taketh a city; and that he, that could govern a
city, must first govern himself. There were families in his charge that
would love him for his occasional propensity to merriment and social
humor; and there were others that would delight in the extreme of his
passionate excitements on religion, for they loved to revel on the
confines of enthusiasm. There were some that admired his bold spirit,
which, like Peter, would meet with the sword him that came with the
sword; and others were charmed with the spirit with which he could bow
to the humble and lowly, and the outcast in their distress. ''All
appreciated his pulpit performances. His sermons came warm from his
heart and warmed every one that heard. His congregation were all united
in him, some admiring him for his real excellencies^ and some for the
very things over which he in private mourned.
This position had
advantages and disadvantages. The congregation, finding their principal
bond of union in their attachment to their pastor, undesignedly, and yet
necessarily, devolved a great amount of labor upon Mr. Hill. No one else
might take the lend ; all others were too high, or too low, too hot, or
too cold, too certainly wrong in something for the rest to follow. Woe
to the unhappy wight that rose in rebellion; he was levelled with a
blow, and all rejoiced in his fall. If there be enjoyment in power, in
all-prevailing influence, Mr. Hill had it in Winchester, for many years,
as he went out and came in before his people. He was the foremost man in
religious actions, in the estimation of his charge, and stood second to
no one among the other denominations. Like Baxter, he left no memoranda
of his labors; and there are no journals, or diaries, or letters, that
have come to light, from which might be gathered the delicate shadings
of the picture of his public or domestic life for the first fifteen or
sixteen years of his residence in Winchester. Till about the close of
this period he did not give all his Sabbaths to the village. The
increase of the congregation in town, and the settlement of other
ministers that occupied his old places of preaching, as Mr. Kennon at
Berry ville, and Mr. Matthews m Jefferson County, induced Mr. Hill to
listen to the wishes of the people and confine his labors on the Sabbath
to Winchester.
He was much employed in
classical and female schools. At first he was united with that much
loved man, Christian Streit of the Lutheran Church, in a large classical
school. Then for a time with Mrs. Nichols in a female school. And
finally for a series of years in conducting a large female school on his
single responsibility. His success in teaching was great. Incidents
illustrating his skill in discipline, and his power to impress great
truths upon the hearts and memories of his pupils, might be gathered to
fill a volume. The majority of his pupils have passed away from this
world of trial, and have met their teacher before the throne of Him, who
judges righteously and measures the due reward. There was a time when he
would meet a joyous welcome, in hundreds of families, in memory of
school days, m which he acted the most conspicuous part, and played it
too well ever to be forgotten.
The lovely things in Mr.
Hill’s character, his manly generosity, his sociablity, his warmth of
friendship, and his admiration of the great and the good, in the past
and the present — were fully appreciated in Winchester, accompanied as
they were with strict attention to his duties as a minister. He passed
through that gloomy period in the history of the country, when
infidelity claimed to be the guardian of Liberty. Youth were taught to
vindicate their independence by declining the authority of. the Bible,
and their manliness by refusing to bow their conscience to the word of
God. He saw the time, when he could look over Winchester, and not find
one young man known to bow .the. knee in prayer to God. He saw the time,
when aiming the professional and educated men, he knew of but one, who
held to the faith of his pious ancestry. He saw the time when silence,
on the subject of experimental religion according to his own creed,
reigned in the polished circles, or Unitarianism struggled for entrance.
“Have you seen this,” said a Judge who afterwards died firm in the
faith— “have you seen this?” referring to a tract on Unitarianism — “it
is very clever — rather hard to beat.” At this time of sadness, his
pulpit was entered by some wild and foolish boys, on a wager laid to
provoke each other’s bravery, and the Bible sadly mutilated, — and Judge
White, in warning his own young son, uttered the memorable words, “Those
young men can never prosper — no man that openly insults the Bible in a
Christian community will ever prosper;” one of the Judge’s abiding
decisions.
In this period, and amid
those things, in a dispute on the subject whether the Presbyterian
Church did not desire the aid of the law, for her advantage, in
obtaining salaries for her ministers, the insinuation of his want of
courage was made, in the assertion,—that Mr. Hill’s coat protected him.
“Gentlemen need not trouble themselves about my coat,” was his quick
reply; and that reply gained him the deference of a large circle in
Frederick County. “The parson has pluck, — I wronder if he would fight?”
— “If you wish to know what he will do, assault him.” Undoubtedly in
some cases he would have fought manfully if attacked ; and in others he
would have folded his arms upon his breast. His resistance depended on
many circumstances, other than his bravery.
He believed in revivals.
He came into the church in the midst of a memorable one. lie desired
revivals, as he believed the church would die without them. For a series
of years he was not blessed with anything that might be called a revival
in Winchester. The Rev. .Daniel Baker, 1). I)., now so universally known
in the church, while preparing for the ministry, assisted Mr. Hill in
his school. His wonderful talent to interest people on the subject of
religion, first showed itself in Winchester, when Mr. Hill was absent
transacting some business cast of the Ridge, and left Mr. Baker to
conduct religious meetings in the evenings, with those who might choose
to attend. On his return, Mr. Hill found a great many young people
enquiring what they should do to be saved. And in due time a goodly
number w^ere gathered into the church of Christ. From this time onward,
revivals of a greater or less extent were enjoyed by his congregation
while he continued their pastor. His prudence, discretion, and firmness,
were fully exercised in conducting these revivals. The tendency to
enthusiasm on the one hand, and formality on the other, hedged him in to
a very narrow path. If he should give himself up, as he desired, like
Legrand, and as he had. done in his youthful daw\ s, to the full
influence of religious excitement, he might carry some too far, and
might repel others; should he greatly restrain himself, he might
dishearten the godly and quench the smoking flax, and give occasion to
the enemy to blaspheme. In all the awakenings or revivals with which his
congregation was visited, Mr. Hill, according to the habit of his early
life in Cumberland, Prince Edward, and Charlotte, cheerfully united with
preachers and people of other denominations in religious exercises,
expressing an earnest desire that the blessing might spread.
Mr. Hill’s co-presbyters
at the time of his early residence in "Winchester were, Nash Legrand,
Moses Hoge, William Williamson, and John Lyle. These were all good men
and true to their Lord. Mr. Legrand could not be passed by in the first
series of Sketches of Virginia.
William Williamson was a
Scotchman, and obtained his literary education in his native land. Upon
application of the gentlemen of Dr. Waddell’s congregation, in Lancaster
County, for a teacher, he came to America and taught in the families of
the Gordons and others for a series of years. Becoming acquainted, on a
visit to the Valley, with Mr. Hill and others, he was introduced to
Presbytery, and passing his trials with honor, was licensed on the 12th
of October, 1792, and to meet the demands of the churches he was
ordained in 1793. He for a time resided near Gordonsville, in the
neighborhood of Dr. Waddell in his blindness, and preached in the
adjoining congregations. Domestic afflictions induced him to remove to
the valley of the Shenandoah, that he might be near his child deprived
of its young and beautiful mother, and under the care of its
grandmother. He took his position in Warren County, near Front Royal,
and his charge bordered to the south and west, on the congregations of
Legrand. A man of great bodily activity, and greater endurance, of a
warm heart and vigorous mind, he preached with fervor and hopeful
success. He thought little of the labor “of riding forty miles a day and
preaching once or twice.” In a few years he was induced to remove to
Loudon County, to set up a classical school near Middleburg, and to
preach in the counties of Loudon and Fauquier, whenever he might find
opportunity. Sustaining himself with a numerous family by the proceeds
of his school, and the contributions of the congregations to which he
preached, he gathered churches in those two counties, and continued
active and laborious in the cause of the gospel till about his eightieth
year. Infirmity compelled him to put off the harness.
With no great thrilling
events in his life, beyond ordinary preachers, his course abounded with
those interesting events and providences that diversify and cheer the
minister’s path, try his heart, and build him up in the faith. In his
school he was very successful, training up some eminent men in
political, civil, and military life. In his ministry God gave him
success in many trying circumstances, and enabled dim to cast the seeds
of life widely over a country, where they took root and brought forth
fruit to eternal life. From his residence near Middleburg, a radius of
some forty miles, having the Blue Ridge for its base, sweeping round,
would embrace the general field of his labor; and all around in this
region were people to bless God for his ministry, though all that were
benefited by his labors did not ultimately belong to his church.
He was always considered
a strong man, either in the pulpit or the church judicatories. He
understood and believed, and defended the Presbyterian creed. He
baptized the little infant of a mother that had died in the faith; and
lived to see that baptized child the first to make a profession of
faith, in a neighborhood where the means of grace were hardly known. He
mingled argument and exhortation in his sermons with peculiar facility.
His face naturally stern, became severe in his age, except when the
excitement of some great truth, or some benevolent effort, lighted it up
with vivacity and kindness. The thoughtless and gay called him — “old
Sour;” and yet one of them, probably the very one that gave the name,
often said — “I do believe if I could have old Sour to live near me, he
would get me into heaven; he sets his face like a flint, and then if he
don’t give it to us; if I had him to live near me, I do believe he would
get me into heaven.” The ablest men in the community that listened to
Mr. Williamson, and most of them did, felt that he, in point of
intellect and information, was their peer.
He had not time to write
his sermons. He could arrange and remember his arrangement. His mind
acted both with readiness and vigor. His voice was strong, his
enunciation bold, and under excitement his action was vehement. His
sermons were never dull— often overpowering. On the text from Elijah’s
address, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve”—from which he often
preached— he was overwhelming. A man might well have heard that sermon
more than once, and not feel his interest abate. The charge, “Go not
from this door till you have made your choice !” would thrill the
stoutest heart. In argument, he excelled all men in his Presbytery; in
strength of style and expression, he had no superior. After a life of
great usefulness, he died calmly in his eighty-fourth year. He never
sought prominence, and was peculiarly fond of domestic life. His
greatest ambition appears to have been usefulness in the ministry.
Moses Hoge, the nearest
neighbor of Mr. Hill, while residing in Charlestown, held his position
at the lower end of the valley, till about the year 1807, and has a full
record in other pages of these series. .
John Lyle, that preached
in Hampshire County, was born in Rockbridge County. He was a soldier in
the expedition to Point Pleasant, and took part in the battle with the
Shawanees. He commenced preparation for the ministry late in life, was
taken under the care of Presbytery July 30th, 1791, and completed his
studies at Liberty Hall, under Mr. Graham. He pursued his theological
studies with Archibald Alexander, and for a time was his only companion
; Grigsby and Matthew Lyle, and Poage and Campbell, were afterwards
added. His trials were passed, part of them at the same time with Mr.
Alexander and his fellow-students. He was licensed at New Monmouth April
29th, 1791. Under the direction of the commission of the Virginia Synod,
to whose care he was recommended, by Presbytery, his appointment bearing
date October 6th, 1791, at Winchester, he travelled “on the waters of
the Potomac, Jackson’s River, Green Brier and Roanoke, until our next
meeting.” Being pleased with the prospects in Hampshire County, he
listened to the invitation from the residents on Patterson’s Creek and
the Potomac, and took his residence among them. On Saturday, the 30th of
November, 1793, he was ordained in Springfield, one of his preaching
places, and his permanent residence till his death. A Mr. Campbell, from
Pennsylvania, preached the ordination sermon. Messrs. Hoge and Legrand
were present, and took part in the communion and in the preaching, which
was continued for some days with much interest.
Mr. Lyle had a wide range
through the mountains of Hampshire, and along the water courses, and had
seals of his ministry scattered throughout the county. For some years he
taught a school, in Springfield, of great celebrity. He was married to a
sister of Rev. Joseph Glass, and grand-daughter of the emigrant from
Ireland, Samuel Glass, whose monument stands in Opecquon burying-^round,
near Winchester, and whose descendants are numerous in Virginia,
Kentucky and Indiana. Mr. Lyle was called from his labors in 1807,
leaving a widow and a large family of young children, and lies buried in
Springfield. The family, in a few years, were removed to Kentucky; and
his sons have not been unknown in the church.
For a few years, these
laborious men went on, each in his course, assisting each other,
spending and being spent. First, the health of Mr. Legrand began to
fail; his domestic afflictions, from sickness and death, and his great
labors as a minister, were too much for his strength. He sought relief
in vain, in various journeyings in Virginia, and in Kentucky, on a visit
to that numerous company of emigrants from his charge, that was
spreading out in that flourishing State, and finally resigned his
charge, and removed to Hanover Presbytery. Moses Hoge listened to the
invitation from Hampden Sidney College, and in the year 1807 removed
from Shepherds-town. "William Williamson, about this time, removed to
Loudon County, but was still a member of Winchester Presbytery. Mr. Hill
now stood first in the Presbytery as a popular preacher. Young men came
in to occupy the churches. Joseph Glass settled at Gerardstown, Berkeley
County; Mr. Samuel B. Wilson commenced his labors in Fredericksburg; Mr.
Mines in Leesburg; John Matthews, afterwards Professor of Theology at
New Albany, removed from North Carolina to Berkeley County; and Mr.
James Black took the places in Hampshire vacated by the death of John
Lyle, and John B. Hoge went to Martinsburg. These men worked in harmony
for a series of years, and enjoyed a comforting success in their
ministry.
In looking over the
congregation in Winchester, in the year 1817, the prospects were more
pleasing than at any previous period. Old and fierce prejudices had
been, in part, buried in the grave, and in part were weakening with age,
and in part yielding to the genial influence of gospel benevolence. The
late additions to the church were full of promise ; the congregation had
appropriated the entire services of their pastor. Winchester was a seat
of the Chancery Court; and in and around her were gathered a
constellation of legal abilities, not surpassed by the talents and
acquirements of the capital of the State. Along the western hills that
skirt the town, were seated Judges White, Holmes and Carr; and here were
the » two pre-eminent clerks, Lee and Tidball; and the members of the
bar, the two brothers Magill, and Tucker and Powell, each eminent in
their profession and their social relations; and then the two leading
physicians, Baldwin and Conrad. The families of all these were
occasional hearers, a part were connected with the congregation, and
some of the members adorned the church with which they were connected.
Mr. Hill encouraged his
congregation to take part in elevating his Alma Mater, under the
auspices of Dr. Hoge, and to assist Dr. Bicc in founding the Union
Theological Seminary, whose interests, as director, he carefully watched
over for years. In the American Bible Society and its auxiliary, or
rather one of its forming bodies, the Frederick County Bible Society,
the Colonization Society, the Tract Society, and the Foreign Missionary
Society, he took an active part, being familiar with them from the
beginning, and aiding in their formation. In the education of young men
for the ministry, he was forward of most men of his day. The example of
his early patroness, Mrs. Bead, afterwards Legrand, the wife and widow
of two of his early friends, was always before him ; and the memory of
the benevolent efforts of his beloved instructor, Smith, in leading
young men into the ministry, was always exciting him ; and the calls for
ministerial services, that came upon him from every side, urged him on,
and he sought out proper persons to be educated for the ministry: and if
they were poor, he gathered funds for their support. Many are dead, and
many are living, whose progress to the ministry was aided by his
Counsels and his purse.
Mr. Hill was never fond
of close logical discussion of doctrines in the pulpit, unless it were
in relation to the Divinity and advocacy of Christ. And, even about
these, he thought the plain, full announcement, with illustrations,
sufficient. He declined to press very far, or very frequently, the
doctrines of election, and the imputation of Adam s sin and of Christ’s
righteousness. He thought that the subjects of faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ and repentance towards God, urged in gospel terms, and with
illustrations, together with the promises and warnings to promote holy
living, were better calculated to do good than the stronger and more
abstruse doctrines of the Bible, lie believed the sinner’s call-is from
God' —that God’s spirit gives life to the sinner’s soul in a way not
explained in Scripture; but truly the spirit acts:--that God had
multitudes of agents to influence men, but the giving spiritual life was
his own work. He saw, he felt, he deplored, the deep depravity of the
human heart; and had no hope that it could be purified but by the spirit
of God and the blood of Christ.
One intimate with his
family in the summer of 1818, thus describes him when in the height of
his influence and the full tide of domestic enjoyments. Mr. Hill
excited my admiration, and Mrs. Hill my love. He had the most fire and
ardor by constitution, she the most perseverance. He possessed the
keenest sagacity, she the most common sense; he the most discernment,
she the most prudence ; he had the best knowledge of human nature, she
made the best use of what she had; his piety was most striking, hers the
most constant; his zeal like a flame sometimes raging, sometimes dying
away, hers like the steady flame on the altar of the tabernacle. In the
family both were in their peculiar way charming; in conversation he was
very spirited, often provoking a smile and laughter, quick in repartee
and full of anecdote, she gentle, cheerful, sociable, and winning in her
manners. It seemed impossible to live with them and not love them.
“Mr. Hill preached
without notes. His words might be printed, but his tones could not.
However good his sermon in the delivery, it would appear less impressive
in print. He stormed the soul through the passions, and overawed the
judgment by the force of his appeals. He never excelled in argument made
up of a long train of consecutive particulars. His arguments were short
and rapid.
His views of things were
vivid, though sometimes not distinct; his gush of feeling overwhelming,
though not always entirely free from modifying circumstances. When
awaked by some important subject, by some powerful impulsive
circumstance, he was irresistible in his address; and however divided
the audience might be at first, there was likely to-be but one sentiment
in the conclusion. In public bodies and in private circles, by his
powerful appeals to the strong passions, by his wit and humor, by his
confident and sometimes his persuasively yielding manner, Mr. Hill would
make his hearers feel that what was uttered by him was the voice of
their own heart and judgment, perhaps in sweeter terms than they had
ever before heard. Sometimes he would bear down, with that unexpected
force of manner, and voice, and sentiment, that would sweep away doubts
and arguments; and confound and alarm by his impetuosity, and the
vividness of his caricature. The hearer would seem to himself to have
got new views of the subject, and be ashamed to express anything to the
contrary. ”
“Mr. Hill’s influence
this summer was at its height; and its extent can hardly be measured. It
reached every congregation in Presbytery, every minister, and multitudes
of persons scattered over the State; and in Synod his influence was not
small.” At this time Mr. Hill enjoyed as much domestic happiness as
falls to the lot of mortals. He had reared two daughters, a son and
perhaps a daughter had passed away in infancy. The two daughters were
reproductions of their parents, the one with the characteristics of the
father, and the other of the mother. One was married and lived in
Winchester; the other remained at home. A large circle of acquaintances
fully believed that the almost doting fondness of the parents for that
daughter was not misplaced. In the bloom and beauty of maidenhood, her
cheerful spirit was refined by the deep sense of religion she cherished,
from the time of the revival, under the teaching of Mr. Baker. Her
winning manners more surely captivating by the perceptible cast of
sedateness her religion wrought into her bearing; and her cheerful
simplicity found its way to the strong hold of the affections. The
parents rejoiced in their child, their earthly treasure, the gift of
God, the hopeful child of Christ.”
“They all sang with
spirit; Mr. Hill with the silver trumpet’s voice, and Mrs. Hill and
Elizabeth with sweetness and tenderness. Newton’s Hymns were sometimes
sung, in that domestic circle, in tones and manner to have delighted
that old .saint himself. The social worship of morning and evening was
one of the exquisite charms of the family. The hymn — “Jesus, let thy
pitying eye call back a wandering sheep,” sung by the three, in the
twilight of a summer’s evening, opened the fountain of tears in the
distressed heart of one that now lives and preaches the gospel of
Christ.” |