before he took charge of it, and at his return was almost
become extinct ; yet- it pleased God, by his ministry to
add a pleasing number to it in a few years. The account
Biography of Joseph Cook. 287
of additions, by baptism, presented to the Association,
for the five last years of his life, was 78 ; many of these
are persons of real worth and respectability.
In the September of 179O, he wrote a letter to Mr.
Rippon, of London, in which he gave a pleasing account
of the believing Negro church at Savannah, and then ad-
ded, " My sphere of action is great, having two congre-
gations to regard, at a considerable distance from each
other, exclusive of this where I reside ; as, also, friendly
visits to pay to sister churches, and societies of other de-
nominations, who are destitute of ministers, frequently
riding under a scorching sun, with a fever, twenty miles
in a morning, and then preach afterwards. Our breth-
ren in England, have scarcely an idea of what hardships
we struggle with, who travel to propagate the gospel. I
have been in a very poor state of health for two months,
but it has not prevented an attention to the duties of my
station. O, what a blessing is health ! We cannot be
too thankful for it."
This good man had now almost finished his course.
The circumstances of his dissolution may be collected
from a letter, written by one of his dear friends, of which
the following is an extract :
To the Rev. Mr. Rippon, London.
Euhaw, South-Carolina, Oct. 4, 17CO.
Rev. Sir,
I could have wished a more agreeable event than the present hud been the
occasion of my address to yen ; but, when I consider I am fnitilliiig tiie pr.;iu-
ise made to the Rev. Mr. Cook, of this place, now with Gi,d,it scums toarK.rd
a kind of melancholy pleasure. About ten weeks before his decease, lie 10-
turned in the middle of a sultry day, from preaching to a congregation, about
twenty nnics from hence, complaining of feverish symptoms, With a dry coi.i;!;,
a tightness of the breast, and great lassitude ; notwithstanding which, he re-
laxed not his labours. Jn this state lie continued, till two weeks befc.; K h:s exit,
when he delivered his last sernon irom Epb. i. 6. To (he /mtise of the glory
of Ids grace, ioh<rcin he hath made ua uwfUcd in the bcfovcd. Ik- was then
so \veak, that I reared he would not be able to proceed, but he was greatly sup-
ported, and much engaged. He reminded the congrc-^ati:):! of the truths lie
nad taught, assured them he felt acquitted of die blood of all men, having iuiiy
declared the counsel of God in his ministry. He pathetically addressed him-
self to his hearers of every ,;ge, rank and station, confident, as lie told them, uiat
this was to be the last sermon they were ever to hear from him ; and tlien o ,a-
cluded with a solemn farewell. The succeeding Sabbath lie was to huvu
preached on St. Helena Island.
On Thursday following, the symptoms began to b? so alarming, that I :
he could net continue long. He desired me t;> read to him the .JJ-kh in. run In
your Selection, entitled, The Christian rerr.L
has led him. Some time after, he assured me, he died in the firm beik-i' o; tiis
doctrines he. had, preached, and requested I would write to k: . iVIi-nds ia
England. He sent for Mr. Beater, aji amiable man, and DUU.COU 01 his cuu . :
288 Biography of Joseph Cook.
since dead, and consulted with him about the interests of the church, particu
larly about obtaining a successor to the pastoral office ; and as the following
Sabbath was the sacramental season, when he was assured the ordinance
would be administered by his brethren in the ministry, who were to be present
on the occasion, he said, " Next Sabbath, when you are feasting below, I shall
be at the banquet above." He fixed on the place of his interment, and re-
quested tint the Rev. Mr. (now Dr.) Furman, of Charleston, shnuld be de-
sired to preach his funeral sermon trom 2dTim. i. 12. For I know whom I
have believed, and I urn Jierxuaded that he is able to kecft that which I have
committed unto him against that day. From this time he inclined to be silent,
and seemed engaged in secret prayer. On Friday was rather easier ; and uu
Saturday morning, he joined in prayer with the Rev. Mr. (now Dr.) Holcombe,
of Philadelphia, who came to assist at an ordination. About noon he grew
worse. Dr. Mosse, one of the members of his church, who attended him iu the
last stages of his illness, writes thus, in a letter to a friend, concerning the last
day of Mr. Cook's life : " Mr. Cook appeared to me to have a heart fully re-
signed to the will of God ; some time before his death, he told me, that his
whole hope of eternal salvation was built on the sure foundation-stone, Jesus
Christ ; but I do not feel, said he, that great comfort and joy I have often ex-
perienced, and which I felt twelve or fourteen days ago, as noted in my diary."
Visible tokens of dissolution inducing a friend to ask if he should pray with
him, he gave assent, and, at the conclusion, audibly said, AM EN ; after which,
he spoke no more intelligibly, but continued struggling with the last enemy till
half past three, Lord's day morning, Sept. 26, 1790 ; when he was released
from all his labours, leaving a disconsolate widow under great affliction ; an
only child, a son by his first wife, about 15 years of age, in whom all his earthly
hopes seemed to centre, as he possesses a love of religion, with a thirst for
learning,* and a church, almost every member of which looked to him as a
common father in Christ. His remains were interred the same evening, im-
mediately after the administration of the sacrament, when a very tender and
animated exhortation, to an audience dissolved in tears, was delivered at the
grave by Dr. Holcombe, who succeeded him in the charge of the church.
The funeral sermon, by Dr. Furman, was not delivered for a considerable time
after, owing partly to the distance of 80 miles, and partly to several unavoid-
able hindrances. Mrs. Cook survived her husband but a few weeks, being ta-
ken off by a short and severe illness. Mr. Cook was of a middle stature, and
slender make, but had acquired a degree of corpulency a few years before his
death. His mental powers were good, and had received improvement by an
acquaintance with the liberal arts and sciences, though his education had not
been completed. His conversation was free and engaging. As a preacher he
was zealous, orthodox, and experimental. He spoke with animation and much
fervour ; though his talent lay so much in the persuasive, that at the end of
his sermon he. frequently left the audience in tears. He was taken from his
labours at a time when his character had arisen to considerable eminence, and
a spacious field of usefulness was opening all around him, and at a time when
he- was greatly endeared to his people. He was a little iu advance of 40 years
at the time ot his death.
This account of Mr. Cook is found in ffifi/ion's Register, from which it has
been cofried, with little variation. Some ejc/iressio?is which regard affairs
in America have, been altered, to make the narrative conform to the present
time. What changes have taken filace in the persons and events described in
England, lam not able to state, only that Mr. Percy, who went back to En-
gland, is I conclude the name person who is now an Ejiiscofial minister in
Charleston, South- Carolina.
* This son, Joseph B Cook, was afterwards educated at Pi evidence College, R. L
and is now a respectable minister in South-Carolina.
Biography of Lemuel Ccvel. 289
LEMUEL COVEL was, it is believed, a native of the
State of New-York j he was sent out into the ministry
by the church in Providence, Saratoga county, thirty or
forty miles above Albany. He commenced his ministe-
rial labours under great disadvantages, being both poor
and illiterate ; and most of his life was spent under the
pressure of poverty and worldly embarrassments. But
notwithstanding he was obliged to labour almost con-
stantly for his support, such were the astonishing pow-
ers of his mind, that he became one of the most distin-
guished preachers in the Baptist connexion. His talents
were far above mediocrity, his voice was clear and ma-
jestick, and his address was manly and engaging. The
doctrine of salvation by the cross, was the grand theme
on which he dwelt with peculiar pleasure ; and his preach-
ing was of the most solid, perspicuous, and interesting
kind. He lived the religion he professed, and exempli-
fied by his conduct the rules he laid down for others.
As an itinerant preacher, his zeal and success were equal-
led by few ; and perhaps exceeded by none among the
American preachers. Missionary concerns lay near his
heart ; and in every thing pertaining to them, he seems
to have been a kindred spirit to the famous Pearce of
Birmingham. He travelled much among the churches
in New- York and New-England, and had often explored
new and destitute regions. A little while before his
death, the church in Cheshire, with which John Leland
is connected, had settled him as their pastor, had assum-
ed the debts in which misfortunes had involved him,
and his prospects for comfort and usefulness were never
greater. As he was much inclined to travel, the church
had settled him under the expectation, that he would be
with them but a part of the time, and the Missionary
Society of Boston most gladly afforded him their patron-
age what, time he wished to itinerate. Dark and mys-
terious indeed was that providence, which cut off, in the
meridian of life, and in the midst of usefulness, this wor-
thy man. His constitution, naturally slender, had been
much impaired by frequent attacks of disease, and by
his too extensive labours of various kinds ; and while
travelling as a missionary in Upper Canada, in October,
VOL. 2. 37
29O Biography of Lemuel Covel.
1806, he, after a short illness, finished his earthly course.
Elders Elkanah Holmes and David Irish were, at that
time, engaged in the same field of missionary labours ;
the last of whom thus describes the mournful event of
Mr. Covel's death.
" At this meeting, (that is, at Charlotteville) I heard
that my dear brother Covel was dangerously ill. E
therefore concluded to leave them, and go and see him,
and then return again. The attention appeared so great
in many places, that I could not believe it to be my duty
to leave them yet. Accordingly, on Wednesday I set
out, accompanied by two brethren. We were at this
time GO miles from the place where brother Covel was
sick. We rode until we came within about 20 miles,
when we heard he was dead and buried ! Oh, how my
poor heart felt ! I was left among strangers almost 30O-
miles from home, and one of the most dear and intimate
friends I ever had, taken away in such an unexpected
time ! But the Judge of all the earth has and will do*
ripht. Brother Covel had done his work, and went off in
the triumphs of faith. We came to the place the next
Tiring, and found Elder Holmes preaching his funeral
sermon, and a solemn time it was. After sermon we
attended to settling brother CbvePs business, and the
next day set cut to return to Townsend, where we ar-
rived the day following, and found the church met
together ; and when we informed them of the death of
brother Covel, the whole assembly appeared to be most
deeply affected. It appears that this church was mostly
the rVuit of his labours in his former visits. When he
\viis \v'vh them last year, he assisted in their constitution.
I think I may truly say, that there has never been any
preacher in these parts more highly and more universal-
ly esteemed than he was ^ and a greater and more uni-
versal lamentation I never heard in any place for any.
man, than in Upper Canada for him. But alas ! he is
gone. May God grant, that like Samson, he may slay
more at his death than he has done in all his life. Some
of the church in Xownsend, in their lamentation, would
break their silence and cry out, " O, my father in the
gospel !" " O that blessed minister of Christ, who was
used as God's instrument to open my eyes shall I never
'Biography of Elijah Craig. 291
see him again in this world !" We then joined and
sang the third hymn of the second berk of Dr. Watts,
and concluded the opportunity in prayer to Almighty
God, that he would sanctify this dispensation to the
good of many precious souls."
Mr. Covel left a widow and five children to mourn
his loss.
ELIJAH CRAIG was one of the first converts to the
Baptist preaching in Virginia. When Mr. Samuel Harris
came and preached an experience of grace in Pittsylvania,
he found his heart could testify to the truth of it, having
some time previously experienced a change, which he had
not viewed as conversion, but only the encouragement
of Heaven to go on to seek. He was now so strengthen-
ed, that, in conjunction with certain young converts in
his neighbourhood, who were of the Regular Baptists, he
undertook to exhort, &c. and to hold little meetings in
the neighbourhood. His tobacco-house was their chapel.
Being most of them labouring men, they used to labour
all day, and hold meetings almost every night, at each
other's houses, and on Sundays at the above-mentioned
tobacco-house. By these little prayer and exhortation
meetings, great numbers were awakened and several
converted.
Mr. Craig was one of the constituents of the Upper
Spottsylvania church ; he was also one of those who were
afterwards dismissed from it, to form the church on Blue
Run, over which he was soon afterwards ordained pastor.
He was certainly a great blessing to Blue Run church ;
for under his care they flourished. He was accounted a
preacher of considerable talents for that day ; which,
united to his zeal, honoured him with the attention of his
persecutors. They sent the sheriff and posse after him,
when at his plough. He was taken and carried before
three magistrates of Culpepper. They, without hearing
arguments, pro or con, ordered him to jail. At court, he,
with others, was arraigned. One of the lawyers told
the Court, they had better discharge them ; for that op-
pressing them, would rather advance than retard them.
292 Biography of Elijah Craig.
He said, they were like a bed of camomile ; the more
they were trod, the more they would spread. The Court
thought otherwise, and were determined to imprison
them. Sonie of the Court were of opinion, that they
ought to be confined in a close dungeon ; but the major-
ity wt-re for giving them the bounds. After staying
there one month, preaching to all who came, he gave
bond for good behaviour, and came out. He was also con-
fine, i '>ange jail, at another time. He was a preacher
of usef nines.? for many years after he commenced ; but
finally falling too much into land speculations, his min-
istry was p;reatly hindered. In 1786, he moved to Ken-
tucky, where, continuing his land speculations, that bewil-
dering pursuit, which has ruined the reputation and use*
fulness of so many in Kentucky and elsewhere, he became
obnoxious to the church, and was excommunicated 1791.
How long he stayed out, is not known. He was, how-
ever, restored ; and continued in the church until the
year 1 8O8, when he died.
He was naturally of a censorious temper ; and always
seemed better pleased to find out the faults than the vir-
tues of mankind. This, however, so long as he was warm
in religion, was checked by a superior principle ; but
after he declined in his religious exercises, and became a
land speculator, he could seldom be pleased. As good a
proof as any that can be named, of this peevish temper,
may be gathered from two pamphlets, his only writings
that have ever been published. In the one, he under-
takes to prove that stationed preachers or pastors of
churches, are precluded, by the Scriptures, from receiv-
jng any compensation for their services. In this pam-
phlet, he takes so many opportunities to condemn preach-
ers for being money-seekers, that it would seem the main
design of the publication was, to indulge a fault-finding
temper. The maintaining of such a sentiment was cen-
surable, because it is contrary to Scripture and reason ;
and it was certainly ridiculous to advance it in Kentucky,
where preachers are so much and so generally neglected
by the churches. A person, acquainted with the negli-
gent spirit and parsimonious maxims of the Kentucky
Baptists, in viewing the title-page of this pamphlet, would
be led to think that the author intended ironically to re
Biography of Samuel Ecclcs. 203
prove the churches, rather than to censure the avarice of
their ministers. His other pamphlet was a personal phi-
lippic against Jacob Creath, on account of some private
dispute between Creath and a Mr. Lewis ; the former the
pastor, and the latter one of the principal members of the
Town-Fork church, in the neighbourhood of Lexington.
Without saying any thing about the merits of the case, or
the provocation given by Mr. Creath, candour compels us
to say, that no provocation can justify the style of this
pamphlet. It is written with a pen dipt in poison. The
Baptists are a free people ; and every one in these mat-
ters, says and does that which seemeth right in his o\vn
eyes : but it is to be hoped, that the present, nor any
other generation, will ever witness another publication,
written in the style or temper of the above pamphlet ;
and that, too, by one Baptist preacher against another.
SAMUEL ECCLES was a native of Roscommon, in Ire-
land, and began professional life in the capacity of a mer-
chant, in his own country ; but proving unfortunate in
trade, soon after his engaging in it, he went to France,
and as a friend to liberty, took an active part in the rev-
olutionary war, in which that country was then engaged.
But the enormities practised there, under the name of
liberty, both by the government and army, induced him,
in a little time, to resign his commission, and come to
America. He landed in South-Carolina ; and here it
pleased God, shortly after his arrival, to impress his mind
with the importance and excellence of religion ; and,
from being a man of the world and a soldier, he became
eminent for piety and devotion. Having made a seri-
ous profession of religion, his attention was turned to the
ministry ; and that he might be qualified to perform the
duties of this important station to advantage, he availed
himself of the opportunity afforded by the establishment
of the Baptist Education Fund, belonging to the Charles-
ton Association, and engaged in the course of classical
and theological studies, which he pursued about four
years, with close application, under the Rev. Mr. Roberts,
near Stateburg. He had been for some time pastor of
294 Biography of Morgan Edwards.
a church in the upper part of this State ; and though liv-
ing at a distance, preached at stated times in Orange-
burg, where he was solicited to settle ; but having, about
two months before his death, married a daughter of the
late Rev. Timothy Durgan, of Jeffer's Creek, he had just
changed his residence to that place, and was entered on
an apparently extensive field of usefulness, when it pleas-
ed God, who is infinitely wise and sovereign in his coun-
sels and dispensations, by a short but sharp illness, to
remove him to the world of spirits, August 12, 1808.
Mr. Eccles' age is not mentioned, but he was, probably,
about 4O years eld.
His natural and acquired abilities were respectable ;
his character fair ; his disposition amiable, and his use-
fulness conspicuous. As a preacher he was zealous and
active, and manifested an extensive acquaintance with
the heart and conscience, which he addressed with creat
o
seriousness. In his preaching, he insisted much on the
great peculiarities of the gospel, considered as a dispen-
sation of free, sovereign, and glorious grace, extended
through a Redeemer to guilty, dying men, and strongly
enforced the necessity of experimental, practical godli-
ness. One who knew him well and felt as a friend, in
giving, information of his death, writes, " He bore his
last affliction with placid resignation and unrepining pa-
tience."
MORGAN EDWARDS, A.M. The following biograph-
ical sketch of this truly eminent man, and distinguished
promoter of the Baptist cause in America, was drawn by
Dr. William Rogers of Philadelphia, in a sermon preach-
ed at his funeral, and by him communicated to Dr. Rip-
pon, of London, who published it in the 12th No. of
his Annual Register, from which it is now extracted.
The sermon, which for some cause was not printed, was
preached in the 1st Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Feb.
22, .1 7i5, on 2 Cor. vi. 8. By honour and dishonour ; by evil
report and good report ; as deceivers and jet true. The
Doctor, after a general and pertinent illu -ration of his
text, thus proceeds : " My highly esteemed friend
Biography of Morgan Edwards. -8-95
and father, the Rev. Mr. Morgan Edwards, requested,
as you have already been informed, that these words
should be preached from, as soon as convenient after
his decease. I presume he found them descriptive of
what he -net with in the course of his ministry.
" Honour^ Mr. Edwards certainly had, both in Europe
and America. The College and Academy of Philadel-
phia, at a very early period, honoured him as a man of
learning, and a popular preacher, with a diploma, consti-
tuting him Master of Arts ; this was followed by a degree
ad cundcin in the year 1769, from the College of Rhode-
Isu'iid, L.itfg the first commencement in that institution.
In this seminary he held a fellowship ^ and filled it with
reputation, till he voluntarily resigned it in 1789; age
auJ distance having rendered him incapable of attend-
ing the meetings of the Corporation any longer.
" He alo met with dishonour ; but he complained not
much i/ this, as it was occasioned by his strong attach-
ment to the Royal Family of Great Britain, in the be-
ginning of the American war, which fixed on him the-
name of a Tory : this I should have omitted mentioning,,
had not the deceased expressly enjoined it upon me.
For any person to have been so marked out in those
days, was enough to bring on political opposition and
destruction of property; all of which took place with
respect to Mr. Edwards, though he never harboured the
thought of doing the least injury to the United States,
by abetting the cause of our enemies.
" A good report our departed brother also had. The
numerous letters brought with him across the Atlanticky
from the Rev. Dr. John Gill and ethers, reported hand-
some things of him ; and so did, in return, the let-
ters that went from America to the then parent country*
" Evil reports also fell to his share ; but most of these-
were false reports, and therefore he gave credit for them
as a species of persecution. And even the title of de-
ceiver did not escape him. Often has he been told that
he was an Arminian, though he professed to be a Calvin,
ist ; that he was a Universalist in disguise, &c. Yet he
was true to his principles. These may be seen in our
confession of faith, agreeing with that republished by
the Baptist churches assembled at London, in the year
296 Biography of Morgan Edwards.
1689. He seldom meddled with the five polemical
points ; but when he did, he always avoided abusive
language. The charge of Universalism brought against
him was not altogether groundless ; for though he was
not a Universalist himself, he professed a great regard
for many who were, and he would sometimes take their
part against violent opposers, in order to inculcate mod-
eration.
" Mr. Edwards was born in Trevethin parish, Mon-
rr.outhshire, in the principality of Wales, on May 9th,
17^2, old style j and had his grammar learning in the
same parish, at a village called Trosnat j afterwards he
was placed in the Baptist seminary at Bristol, in Old-
England, at the time the president's chair was filled by
the Rev. Mr. Foskett. He entered on the ministry in
the sixteenth year of his age. After he had finished
his academical studies, he went to Boston in Lincoln-
shire, where he continued seven years, preaching the
gospel to a small congregation in that town. From
Boston, he removed to Cork, in Ireland, where he was
ordained, June 1, 1757, and resided nine years. From.
Cork he returned to Great-Britain, and preached about
twelve months at Rye, in Sussex. While at Rye, the
Rev. Dr. Gill,* and other London ministers, in pursu-
ance of letters which they received from this church,
(Philadelphia) urged him to pay you a visit. He com-
plied, took his passage for America, arrived here May