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No. 7

SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF REV. JAMES CRAWFORD.

THE Rev, James Crawford was a member of Princeton College, in the summer of 1777- A certificate from Dr. Witherspoon, under date of Sept. 23d, of that year, states, that his examination for the degree of A∙ B. had been approved, and would be conferred upon him in due form as soon as the circumstances of the country

would permit the Board of Trustees to meet. It is well known that this was an eventful period in American his. tory. That the British army, having had possession of New-York for upwards of a year, and having harassed and overrun New-Jersey, they entered Philadelphia - 26th Sept, 1777, only three days after the date of this certificate.

He was licensed by the Presbytery of Hanover, at Hampden and Sidney, Oct. 26th, 1779. He visited Kentucky for the first time in the fall of 1783, and returned with his family in the fall following.

In 1785, the Rev. Edward Crawford and Charles Cumming were appointed by the Presbytery of Hanc ver to visit Kentucky, and, in conjunction with father Rice, to form themselves into a Presbytery for a special purpose, They met as a Presbytery at Danville in November, and ordained James Crawford and Te ah Templin to the office of the holy ministry. The cer

tificate of Mr. Crawford's ordination is on a small slip of paper, and is in these words:—

This is to certify, that the Rev. James Crawford was regularly ordained according to the rules of the Presbyterian church, and is now in full connexion with us. Danville, Nov. 10th, 1785.

DAVID RICE, Moderator.

EDWARD CRAWFORD, Clerk. A certificate of church membership from Rev. John Craighead, under date of Oct. 15th, 1777, after the usual statements, adds:-And also, he appears well affected to the cause of American liberty.

He settled with his family at Walnut Hill, six miles from Lexington, in March, 1785. Two individuals are named by those who were intimately acquainted with him, as having been chiefly concerned in encouraging him to settle there. These are Gen. Levi Todd, who offered him land upon which he could support his family, upon more reasonable terms than he could procure it any where else, where he had any opportunity of exercising his ministerial office, and Bryant Ferguson, who was active in assisting him in collecting and organizing a church. The subscription paper which promised him an annual support for his ministerial labours, is also headed by Gen. Levi Todd, with £3 annexed to his His brother Gen. Robert Todd's subscription is £2 3s. There are three others with £1 10s. each, and the remaining names, thirty-five in all, vary from one pound to six shillings.

name.

He had been disabled from preaching a considerable part of his time while he was a licentiate, by an impos

thume in his side; this, though in a great measure removed at the time of his visiting Kentucky, was the oc casion of much weakness of body during the whole of his life. Yet he was active in serving his Master to the utmost of his strength. He preached not only publicly on the Sabbath, but also regularly preached and exhorted on week days from house to house. Nor did he labour in vain; besides being the instrument of collecting and organizing a church in the wilderness, a very considerable number were awakened under his ministry, and added to the number of those who gave evidence that they were partakers of God's salvation.

On the last Sabbath of March, 1803, he assisted at a sacramental occasion at Paint Lick, Garrard county. He preached the morning sermon to a large audience out of doors, and was under the necessity of elevating his voice considerably above its ordinary pitch. On Monday he preached again at the urgent request of the other brethren who were there. This was his last sermon. And at the close he took a final and awfully solemn, though most affectionate, farewell of all classes of his hearers. He rode that night, 16 or 18 miles, to the house of a friend, and felt much fatigued and unwell. Tuesday morning after breakfast, he rode home, and continued unwell through the week, though he did not complain of much sickness or pain. On the Sabbath he sent word to the meeting house that he was unable to preach, and many thoughtless people, both old and young, on receiving the notice, went home, little thinking that they were never more to hear the message of

salvation from his lips. On the Friday following some of the family were getting ready to go to a prayer meeting two miles distant. He went to the door and directed what horses to saddle, but before they returned he was in glory. He was sensible to the last, and had the petition which he was often heard to offer fully answered-by having an easy and joyful passage from time into eternity. Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

According to the custom of the country he had the pastoral charge of two congregations during the greater part of his life, dividing his Sabbaths and other services equally between them. The year previous to his death the people of Walnut Hill had finished a large and comfortable stone church, and had entered into arrangements to secure the whole of his services.

No. 8.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF REV. TERAH TEMPLIN (Facts furnished by JAMES H. RICE.)

IN page 82, reference has been made to the manner in which Mr. Rice spent his evenings among the Peaks of Otter previous to his having removed his family

there. A Mr. John Templin, a respectable farmer, had been peculiarly useful in promoting these evening exercises. To him the people of the neighbourhood, who were under serious impressions, generally made their cases known-and then he would at the meeting referred to propose to, Mr. Rice such questions, or such subjects for conversation, as would meet their varied ca

ses.

Mr.

After Mr. Rice had settled there he became acquainted with his son Terah, who was then 23 or 24 years old. Observing in him something promising, he proposed to the father that he should be sent to school with a view of being employed in the ministry. The reply was, that it was impossible, as the son was under a matrimonial engagement, and would soon likely have a family. to provide for. A few weeks after, a young woman in the neighbourhood died, and then the father informed Mr. Rice that the only obstacle to his son's commencing a course of liberal education was removed. Rice then took Terah, with one or two others, who were looking forward to the ministry, under his particular care. Some other gentlemen in the neighbourhood, who designed giving their sons a liberal education, applied to him also about this time, and he soon had a flourishing grammar school. These he collected and attended to chiefly with the view of keeping the youth of the country from being scattered into different colonies, until Hampden, Sidney, and Liberty Hall, now Washington college, Virginia, should be opened for their reception. To effect which, Hanover Presbyte

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