Daniel Marshall
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Articles Concerning Daniel Marshall
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Documents Concerning Daniel Marshall
James B. Taylor, Virginia Baptist Ministers
J. H. Campbell,Georgia Baptists: Historical and Biographical
Books Concerning Daniel Marshall
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Written by Abraham Marshall
Edited by J.H. Campbell
The conspicuous part which Daniel Marshall took in the early history of Virginia Baptists will make a brief notice of his life acceptable to our churches. He was instrumental in the conversion of many sinners, and the organization of several churches in the southern part of the State. The notice which follows was prepared by his son, Elder Abraham Marshall, and originally published in the " Georgia Analytical Repository" of the year 1802:
"In giving a biographical sketch of my honored father, we must look back to the distance of almost a century. His birth was in the year of our Lord 1706, in Windsor, a town in Connecticut . He was religiously educated by respectable and pious parents, and being hopefully converted at twenty years of age, joined the then standing order of Presbyterians in his native place. The natural ardor of his mind soon kindled into the fire of holy zeal; and, without the advantage of a liberal education, raised him so high in the esteem of his brethren, that they called him to the office of a deacon. In the exemplary discharge of his duty in this capacity he continued nearly twenty years. During this time he married; and lost a wife, by whom he had a son, named after himself, Daniel, who is still a useful member of society. At the age of thirty-eight years, our worthy parent was one of the thousands in New England who heard that son of thunder, Rev. George Whitefield, and caught his seraphic fire. Firmly believing in the near approach of the 'latter-day glory,' when the Jews, with the fullness of the Gentiles, shall hail their Redeemer, and bow to his gentle sceptre, a number of worthy
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characters ran to and fro through the Eastern States, warmly exhorting to the prompt adoption of every measure tending to hasten that blissful period. Others sold, gave away, or left their possessions, as the powerful impulse of the moment determined; and, without scrip or purse, rushed up to the head of the Susquehanna, to convert the heathens, and settled in a town called Onnaquaggy, among the Mohawk Indians. One, and not the least sanguine, of these pious missionaries, was my venerable father. Great must have been his faith! great his zeal! when, without the least prospect of a temporal reward, with a much-beloved wife and three children, he exchanged his commodious buildings for a miserable hut; his fruitful fields and loaded orchards for barren deserts; the luxuries of a well-furnished table for coarse and scanty fare; and numerous civilized friends for rude savages.
He had the happiness, however, to teach and exhort for eighteen months in this place, with considerable success. A number of the Indians were, in some degree, impressed with eternal concerns, and several became cordially obedient to the gospel. But just as the seeds of heavenly truth, sown with tears in this unpromising soil, began to appear in their first fruits, the breaking out of war among the savage tribes occasioned his reluctant removal to Connogogig, in Pennsylvania . From thence, after finding it much more difficult to benefit Scribes and Pharisees than Publicans and sinners, he removed to a place near Winchester , in Virginia .
"Here he became acquainted with a Baptist church belonging to the Philadelphia Association; and as the result of a close, impartial examination of their faith and order, he and my dear mother were baptized by immersion, in the forty-eighth year of his life. He was now called, as a licensed preacher, to the unrestrained exercise of his gifts; and though they were by no means above mediocrity, he was instrumental in awakening attention, in many of his hearers, to the interest of their souls.
"Under the influence of an anxious desire to be extensively useful, he proceeded from Virginia to Hugwarry, in North Carolina , where his faithful and incessant labors proved the happy means of arousing and converting numbers. Being evidently and eminently useful, as an itinerant preacher, he continued his
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peregrination to Abbott's Creek, -- in the same State, where he was the instrument of planting a church; of which he was ordained pastor, in the fifty-second year of his age, by his brothers-in-law, Rev. Messrs. Henry Ledbetter and Shubael Stearns. Soon after receiving this honor, my reverend father, traveling at different times into Virginia, baptized Colonel Samuel Harriss, with whom he immediately afterwards made several tours, and preached, and planted the gospel in various places, as far as James River. It was but a few years after his ordination, before, induced by appearances of increasing usefulness, he took an affectionate leave of his beloved charge, and settled on Beaver Creek, in South Carolina .
"In this place, likewise, a church was raised under his ministry; and until brought to a good degree of. maturity in divine things, was an object of his tender and unremitted care and solicitude. At the direction of divine Providence , as he conceived, and as subsequent events have proved, his next removal was to Horse Creek, about fifteen miles north of Augusta .
"The fruits of his labors in this place remain in a respectable church, some of whose sons, raised up under his care, have successfully diffused the light of divine truth through various benighted regions. From Horse Creek my aged father made his first visits to this State. On the second or third of these, while in prayer, he was seized, in the presence of his audience, for preaching in the Parish of St. Paul, and made to give security for his appearance in Augusta, on the. following Monday, to answer this charge. Accordingly, he stood a trial, and after his meekness and patience were sufficiently exercised, he was ordered to come, as a preacher, no more into Georgia .
"In the words of an Apostle, similarly circumstanced, he replied,'Whether it be right to obey God, or man, judge ye.' Consistently with, this just and spirited replication, he pursued his luminous course; and on the 1st of January, 1771 , came with his family, and took up his final earthly residence at the Kioke. The following spring the church here was formed, and it is famous for having furnished materials for several other churches. For this purpose many common members have been dismissed, and several ministers ordained. Among these are Rev. Messrs.
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Saunders Walker, Samuel Newton, Loveless Savage, Alexander Scott, and the writer of this article. Through God's blessing on the ministry of her indefatigable founder and pastor, this church continued to lengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes, breaking forth on the right hand and on the left, until our beloved country was unhappily involved in the horrors of war. No scenes, however, from the commencement to the termination of hostilities, were so gloomy and alarming as to deter my inestimable father from discharging the duties of his station. Neither reproaches nor threatenings could excite in him the least appearance of timidity, or anything inconsistent with Christian and ministerial heroism. As a friend to the American cause, he was once made a prisoner, and put under a strong guard. But, obtaining leave of the officers, he commenced and supported so heavy a charge of exhortation and prayer, that, like Daniel of old, while his enemies stood amazed and confounded, he was safely and honorably delivered from this den of lions. Even the infirmities of old age, and the evident approach of the king of terrors, were not sufficient to shake his faith or hope, nor in the least perceivable degree to abate his zeal.
A few months previous to his decease, rising in his pulpit, which he had frequently besprinkled with his tears, and from which he had as often descended to weep over a carelesss auditory, he said, 'I address you, my dear hearers, with a diffidence that arises from a failure of memory and a general weakness of body and mind, common to my years. But I recollect, "he that holds out to the end shall be saved;" and I am resolved to finish my course in the cause of God.'
"Accordingly, he attended public worship regularly, even through his lingering mortal illness, until the last Sabbath but one before his dissolution. In his family he invariably performed his usual round of holy duties, until the morning immediately preceding his happy change. Fully apprised of this, as at hand, and perfectly in his senses, he expressed, distinctly and emphatically, his steady and increasing confidence of future bliss.
"The following, taken by me in the presence of a few deeply affected friends and relatives, as he delivered them, were his last words:
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"'Dear brethren and sisters, I am just gone. This night I shall, probably, expire. But I have nothing to fear. I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith. And henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. God has shown me that he is my God; that I am his son; and that an eternal weight of glory is mine!'
"The venerable partner of his cares, and, I may add, faithful assistant in all his labors, sitting bedewed with tears, by his side, he proceeded: "'Go on, my dear wife, to serve the Lord. Hold out to the end. Eternal glory is before us.
"After a silence of some minutes, he called me, and said, 'My breath is almost gone. I have been praying that I may go home to-night. I had great happiness in our worship this morning, particularly in singing, which will make a part of my exercises in a blessed eternity.'
"Now, gently closing his eyes, he cheerfully gave up his soul to God, with whom, I doubt not, he walks, 'high in salvation and the climes of bliss.'
"This solemn event took place at the dawn of the second day of November, 1784, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.
"A suitable discourse to his memory was delivered from the above-mentioned passage of holy writ, by the late Rev. Charles Buffey.
"Whatever infirmities might appear in my certainly eminently pious and extensively useful father, it would not become me to bring them into view, except it were to show, as might easily be done, that'e'en his failings leaned to virtue's side.' And I handle too feeble a pen to delineate the various excellent qualities and graces which adorned him in every relation he sustained through life. I will only say "'Tho' no proud pile, learn'd pen, nor letter'd stone His virtues rare, to late-posterity reveals; He'll ever shine, and waxingly has shone, Through rolling years, in ministerial seals.'"
It may be proper to add, that Mr. Marshall was twice married. Concerning his first wife nothing is known. We copy a few lines
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from editorial remarks of the "Repository," in which, besides a reference to his family, there is found a eulogy, which is believed to be merited: "In 1748 Mr. Marshall married his second and last wife, Miss Martha Stearns, sister to Rev. Shubael Stearns. Mr. Marshall had the rare felicity of finding in this lady a Priscilla, a helper in the gospel. In fact, it should not be concealed that his extraordinary success in the ministry is ascribable, in no small degree, to Mrrs. Marshall's unwearied and zealous co-operation. Without the shadow of a usurped authority over the other sex, Mrs. Marshall, being a lady of good sense, singular piety, and surprising elocution, has, in countless instances, melted a whole concourse into tears by her prayers and exhortations.
"Another cause to which Mr. Marshall's distinguished utility is attributable, in a great measure, was his bold and independent method of procedure. With a soul expanded by contemplations on august objects, a boundless ambition directed to a correspondent prize, and the world completely under his feet, he was capable of the most difficult and arduous enterprises, and could be dismayed by no dangers. Superior to local attachments, he went from place to place, instructing, exhorting, and praying for individuals, families, and congregations, whether at a muster, a race, a public market, the open field, an army, or a house of worship; wherever he was able to command attention.
"Such conduct was, indeed, and may still, by many, be considered irregular, and little less than as savoring of insanity. But if he acted in some of these instances as if he were beside himself, it was for the sake of precious souls; and the fruits of his astonishing exertions have abundantly shown that he was constrained by the love of Christ.
"It may possibly be thought that Mr. Marshall was the subject of delusive hope; that he was culpably enthusiastic, when he left New England , with a family, to roam under the rising beams of the latter-day glory, as he supposed, for the conversion of souls. But let this matter be fairly considered, and it will appear that his most sanguine expectations must have so far been fully realized. Since the period at which Mr. Marshall commenced his career, many burning and shining lights have aroused a
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slumbering world, and liberally shed the lustre of truth in its darkest recesses; thousands of able and evangelical writers and preachers have been raised up, and as many gospel churches formed; a revolution in America has bestowed religious liberty on one quarter of the globe; the system of the man of sin has been almost demolished; liberty of conscience has made rapid advances in Europe; the shouts of all truly religious denominations have been mingled at the funeral of bigotry; the Scriptures have been translated into several barbarous languages; missionaries have gone out, literally, into all the world;. and sinners of all descriptions have fallen, by thousands, beneath the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
" Now, can it be reasonably presumed, that when Mr. Marshall, in the fervor of his piety, exchanged New England for the Mohawk nation, he expected, that by this time the kingdom of Christ would be more triumphant than the present advanced state of religion throughout the world fully justifies?
"As to any special confidence that Mr. Marshall might have had in God, as engaged to preserve and prosper a family devoted to His service, the reader will probably be of opinion that it could not have been stronger than it ought to have been, in view of the promises on which it was based."
[From James B. Taylor, Virginia Baptist Ministers, 1859, pp. 18-24. -- jrd]
Georgia Baptists: Historical and Biographical
It is a matter of sincere and deep regret, that the accounts we have been able to collect of this pioneer of the Cross are so very meager. We have learned only enough to make us earnestly
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desire to know more. He was born in 1706, in Windsor, a town in Connecticut . He was brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, by respectable and pious parents, and being hopefully converted at about twenty years of age, joined the then standing order of Presbyterians in his native place. The natural ardor of his mind soon kindled into the fire of a holy zeal, which raised him so high in the estimation of his brethren that they called him to the office of a deacon. In the exemplary discharge of his duty in this capacity, he continued near twenty years. He was in easy circumstances of life. During this period, he married his first wife, who soon died, leaving one son. At thirty-eight years of age, he heard that son of thunder, Rev. George Whitfield. With many other worthy people in New England , he became firmly fixed in the belief that the "latter-day glory" was just at hand, and that it was his duty to do all he could to hasten it on. Some sold, gave away, or left their possessions, as the powerful impulse of the moment determined, and, without scrip or purse, rushed up to the head of the Susquehanna to convert the heathen. Daniel Marshall was among those who became missionaries to the Mohawk Indians. Sustained by faith, and urged on by a burning zeal, without hope of reward on earth, he relinquished his comfortable home in New England for a hut in the wilderness--the pleasures of refined society for the company of savages--plenty for want. These things he bore cheerfully, with a wife and three children, for eighteen months, during which period several of the Indians became obedient unto the faith, having been hopefully converted. War among the savage tribes occasioned his reluctant removal from among them. He pitched his tent a short time in Pennsylvania , and removed thence to Winchester , Virginia . Here he became acquainted with a Baptist church, adopted their sentiments, and in the forty-eighth year of his life, he and his wife were immersed. This was followed by a license from this church to preach the gospel, wherever, in the providence of God, his lot might be cast. God owned his labors. Many souls were soon awakened and converted.
Once more his zeal impels him to plunge still deeper into the moral wilderness before him. We next find him at Hughwarry , North Carolina , where numbers were converted under his ministry.
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Thence, he proceeds to Abbott's creek, in the same State, where he was the instrument of planting a flourishing church, of which he was ordained pastor by his brothers-in-law, Rev. Henry Leadbetter and Rev. Shubael Stearns. In one of his excursions into Virginia about this time, he baptized that remarkable man, Colonel Samuel Harris, who, himself, immediately became a flaming torch amidst the surrounding darkness. Marshall and Harris made several tours together, and planted the gospel as far as James river . Not many years elapsed before he took an affectionate leave of his charge in North Carolina , and settled on Beaver creek, South Carolina . Here, also, a large church was soon raised up under his ministry, and which was, for a time, the object of his tender care and solicitude.
His next removal was to Horse creek, about fifteen miles north of Augusta . The fruits of his labors here also appeared in a respectable church, whose sons, raised up under his care, have diffused the light of divine truth through various benighted regions.
From Horse creek he made his first visit to Georgia , and preached the gospel in St. Paul 's parish. This parish extended from Bean's creek on the south to Broad river on the north, and to the Ogeechee on the west. During his first visits he preached in private houses; but about his second or third visit, he had meeting in the woods, under a grove. While engaged in prayer, in the opening of the service, he was arrested by Constable Cartlidge, (afterwards a physician, and baptized by Mr. Marshall, and who continued steadfast in the faith until his death in about 1825,) and security for his appearance at Court was given by Hugh Middleton,4. who resided just across the Savannah , on the South Carolina side. Mrs. Marshall, who was present, quoted several texts of Scripture with so much force as to confound the opposers and convict several persons. The services then went on, and after preaching two persons were baptized.
The Monday following, Mr. Marshall and his security went to Augusta and stood his trial before Colonel Barnard (or Barnet)
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and Parson Ellington, of the Church of England. The latter seemed rather to take the place of the magistrate, and began the trial by commanding the prisoner to read a chapter in the Bible. This done, he abused him considerably, and ordered him to desist from preaching in the province. In the words of the apostle, when similarly circumstanced, he replied, " Whether it be right to obey God rather than man, judge ye."
Colonel Barnard, the magistrate, was afterwards hopefully converted, and though deterred by the opposition of his wife from being baptized, was a zealous christian, and used to exhort his neighbors to flee the wrath to come.
Thus it appears that it was not without stern opposition that Baptist sentiments were introduced into Georgia ; that it was at the cost of much toil, and sacrifice, and insult, that our fathers purchased for us the religious privileges which we now so richly enjoy.
On the first of January, 1771 , Mr. Marshall came with his family and took up his final earthly residence at the Kiokee. The following spring the church was constituted, and is famous for having furnished materials for several other churches, and for having produced several eminent ministers of the gospel. Among these were Sanders Walker, Samuel Newton, Loveless Savidge, Alexander Scott and Abraham Marshall. This church prospered greatly, until the country became involved in the horrors of the revolutionary war. Even those troubles were not sufficient to drive her faithful pastor from his post. Like John, he stood by his master, while all men forsook the province and fled. As a friend to the American cause, he was once made a prisoner and put under a strong guard, but obtaining leave of the officers to have religious service with the guard, he spoke with such power and demonstration of the Spirit that officers and guard were amazed and confounded, and he was safely and honorably discharged. No fear of man could make him forsake his duty; for such, in his view, was the providence of God, that every bullet had its commission, and every individual person could but accomplish his will. Hence, on one occasion, when a party of tories demanded of him where he had concealed his horses, he sullenly refused to utter a word, although repeatedly threatened with death. This scene continued
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until his wife could bear the suspense no longer, and undertook herself to make the disclosure.
The testimony on all hands is, that he was not remarkable for native strength of mind, but that he had high moral courage, untiring perseverance, flaming zeal, and that he was strictly pure in his manner of life. These qualities were at that time (and indeed are at all times,) more commanding of the respect of the world than the most splendid talents and the richest stores of learning. Such a man was needed in those times to stand up for religious toleration, to introduce the light into vast regions of moral darkness, and through the agitating times of the revolution to be the embodiment, and, as it were, repository of the principles of the gospel. He accomplished the work for which God seems to have protracted his life, and at his departure, having reached a good old age, and seen one descended from his loins, taking up his work, it is no wonder he had a peaceful and happy death.
That event is thus described by his son, Rev. A. Marshall, "In his family he invariably performed his usual round of holy duties, till the morning immediately preceding his happy change. Fully apprised of this as at hand, and perfectly in his senses, he expressed distinctly and emphatically his steady and increasing confidence of future bliss. The following, taken by me, in the presence of a few deeply affected friends and relations, were his last words: 'Dear brethren and sisters, I am just gone. This night I shall probable expire; but I have nothing to fear. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; and henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. God has shown me that he is my God, that I am his son, and that an eternal weight of glory is mine.'"
"The venerable partner of his cares, (and I may add, faithful assistant in all his labors) sitting bedewed with tears by his side, he proceeded, 'Go on, my dear wife, to serve the Lord. Hold out to the end. Eternal glory is before us!'
After a silence of some minutes, he called me and said, 'My breath is almost gone. I have been praying that I may go home to-night. I had great happiness in our worship this morning, particularly in singing, which will make a part of my exercise in a blessed eternity.' Now, gently closing his eyes, he cheerfully
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gave up his soul to God, with whom, I doubt not, he walks high in salvation and the climes of bliss. This solemn event took place at the dawn of the 2d day of November, 1784, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. A suitable discourse to his memory was delivered by Rev. Charles Bussey."
Mr. Marshall, after all his sacrifices for the cause of Christ, was blessed by a bountiful Providence with a sufficiency of the meat that perisheth, and left behind him an estate of considerable value. This was not the result of any special efforts of his to acquire property, and still less the benefits of his arduous labors in the ministry. But it was owing chiefly to the advantageous settlement he made at a time when the price of land was low, and to the quantity of land he was induced to take up on account of his numerous sons.
[From J. H. Campbell, Georgia Baptists: Historical and Biographical, 1874, pp. 173-178. -- jrd]
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