The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-09-09
The Westminster Abbey Of South Carolina.
INTEIsEST TING SKETCH OF AN HIS.
TORIO CHURCH.

ZORRO CHURCH.
Old st. Philips in Charleston from
the Establishment OF tho Church
OF England Under tho Royal Char
ter Of 1906 to the Present Time.
Much Of the history of tho early col.
onies is written on the headstones OF
graves In quaint and crowded church
yards. These burial places were gen
orally close to tho doors of the church,
80 that living and dead might be In
touch, and the tOmbs afforded cOnven'
lent and appropriate material upon
which to inscribe the simple but i'm.
pOrtant annals of the parish.
days, grouped itself about the church.
This was the case with the Puritans in
Massachusetts,, the Baptist dissenters
in Rhode Island, the Quakers in Penn
sylvania, the Huguenots in South Car
Olina, and even with tho Cavaliers in
Virginia. 1t was a departure from
British precedent, ast 'Anglo-Saxon
communities elsewhere have sprung up
around the court house and the polling
place. In America, however, the
church was the motive of colonization,
and men fled to these wildernesses to
establish churches, rather than gov
ernments. And hence it Is that in re-
constructing the life Of those colonial
days, which are not distant in time, but
which we have permitted to become
very remote to our minds and feelings.
we must have recourse to church walls,
entablatures, memorial windows, and
tombstOnes, that have preserved for
future generations the story of these
conquerors Of the wilderness and of
tyrants.
Fresh interest has been added to this
branch of the study Of our colonial his
tory by the publication of small mon
Ograph on St. Philips Church of
Charleston, S. c., by Edward McCrady.
Mr.. McCrady is senior warden of the
church, distinguished lawyer, and is
now engaged upon an exhaustive his
tory Of the State. He is, therefore,
qualified for the task of writing the
story of the old church.
The early history of st. Philips
Church, says Mr. McCrady, sis but
part Of the colonial history of South
Carolina and as it has been said of
or the constitution of England, so ST.
Philips was interwoven into the very
fabric OF the province" ST. Phillips
was founded between 1852 and 1890. 1t
enjoyed the peculiar advantage, from
historic point Of view, of being the
centre and handspring of the life OF the
colony. Its communicates were the
chief persons of the colony and from
It's bosom went forth governors of the
Royal Province, and afterward of the
State; statesmen who planned and
soldiers who directed revolution and,
In later times, politicians who strug-
gled for and against notification and
secession, and soldiers who won fame
for themselves and their common
wealth. Its dead werc gathered back
to It's bosom; and the deeds OF its heroes
and statesmen, Of its ministers and
martyrs, and of its sons who had lived
anu striven for others, were fitly re-
corded upon its walls and tombs. The
church or parish represented the civil
and social life Of the community. The
author writes
"Ihe churchmen whoIsettled at Bar
Dados established parishes, and from
time to time adding civil to the eccles-
contented themselves with that organ
1zation as the basis alike of civil as of
ecclesiastical affairs. The parish thus
became the unit alike OF church and
State, and the election precinct of
members OF the Commons House of AS
sembly. The church act of 17O6 adopted
the names Of the parishes IL Barbados
Tor those in this province.
I'm 17l6 the assembly went further
and adopted the parish system Of Bar
bados as a model of the government of
this colony. From this time until the
Revolution, all elections in Charles
Town for members Of the general as
sembly, &C., were held at St. Philips,
the Parish Church, and we're conducted
by her wardens and various municipal
duties were imposed upon her vestry."
The first church was built on the site
now occupied by ST. Michaels. 1t was
replaced by a church on the site of the
present st. Philips in 1928. This
second edifice was destroyed by fire in
1885, and the present church almost
an exact reproduction of the former
structure, was rebuilt immediately and
consecrated November 8, 1888. The
church was seriously damaged during
late war the steeplcs of St. Philips
andSt. Michael's, the neutrality-suspicious.
objects in the city, served as targets for
the great guns with which the city was
bombarded. ST. Philips suffered par.
ticularly. Ten Or moro shells entered
It's walls. The chancel was destroyed,
the roof pierced In several places, and
the organ demolished" 1t was almost
destroyed by the earthquake of 1885,
but has been completely repaired.
In 1893 itwas provided by an act of
parliament that the rector SHOULD en-
Joy all the lands, houses, negroes, cat
tie, and moneys appointed for the use,
oeneht, and behoof of the minister Of
Charles Iown, and especially appro-
priated a salary of $50 pounds per an
mum TO MIN and his successors forever,
ana anu directed that negro man and wo.
mhn ana 1Our COWS and calves shoul6
be purchased for his use and paid for
out OF the public treasury"
Prior to the Revolution the church
was IN charge OF the Bishop Of London,
who had found it necessary to send over
"commissaries" to represent him. The
character OF the earliest representa-.
tives OF the church had not always been
of the best, and the province was used
as a sort of ecclesiastical pefal COLONY.
The author says:
"NO provision had been made by the
government or Church of England for
the episcopal supervision of the clergy
who came out to America, and it can