Our History
What a beginning! The Reverend S. S. Ralston describes the unusual spectacle in this manner:
On the first morning of the contemplated meeting of Presbytery, the good people in the church-yard were astonished at the appearance of a gentlemen of commanding mien, in full clerical costume in black cloth, and a powdered wig, surmounted by a cocked hat.
In their amazement, all were disposed to enquire “who is this?” But presently the spell was dissipated and the still wondering people recognized their pastor in the person of the supposed stranger! Thereupon one of the elderly men approached him with the remark, “Why, Doctor, it will not do for you to go into the pulpit today!”
“Oh,” said he, “I always told you we should live to see a meeting of Presbytery here, and now I am rejoicing!”
The man so dressed and happily celebrating the establishment of the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia on 24 February 1790 was none other than the Reverend Doctor Thomas Clark. His joyful reaction on the first day of that Presbytery summarizes his honest hope for the fledging denomination known as the Associate Reformed Synod. That Synod at Philadelphia had received a letter with Clark’s request for organizing the presbytery. On 20 May 1789 the Synod resolved, “That the Rev. Thomas Clark, Rev. Peter McMullan, of South Carolina, together with Mr. John Boyse, probationer, who is to be ordained this summer, be authorized to form themselves into a presbytery under the inspection of this Synod, as soon as convenient.”
Clark, McMullan (McMullen), and Boyse, together with David Bothwell and ruling elders James McBride and William Dunlap took part in the Presbytery organization ceremonies. The Presbytery brought together North Carolina (with fourteen churches), South Carolina (with twenty-two churches), and Georgia (with eight churches) along with other preaching posts. Dr. Robert Lathan stated that “its consummation filled their minds with joy.” The Presbytery was a blending of backgrounds – Burghers, Antiburghers, Covenanters but a communion of core convictions and commitments. However, Dr. Lathan continues, “in its infancy (of the Presbytery), it was called to lament the death of the venerable Clark and the lovely Boyse.”
Yet the Presbytery did endure some trying early years. In October 1800, the Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia divided into two presbyteries: First Presbytery and Second Presbytery. Second Presbytery organized on 8 April 1801. The line marking the boundaries between Second Presbytery and First Presbytery was supposed to be the Broad River though that was not completely followed among a few congregations. On 21 October 1802, the Associate Reformed Synod authorized First and Second Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia to “constitute a Synod to be called the Synod of the Carolinas.” On 9 May 1803 at the Brick Church near the banks of Little River (from which it was originally named the Little River Church), Reverend James Rogers, the pastor and the current moderator, preached from Jeremiah 3:15: “I will give you pastors according to mine heart which will feed you knowledge and understanding.” With that Scripture and its continuing challenge, the beginnings of Second Presbytery remain so interwoven into the history of the ARP Church. What a beginning (and a blessing) indeed.