CHAPTER V. DENOMINATIONAL SCHOOLS. BAPTIST INSTITUTIONS. MERCER UNIVERSITY.' If to the University of Georgia must be accorded the first place among the schools for the higher education of the youth of Georgia, the second most certainly belongs to Mercer University at Macon. GEORGIA BAPTIST CONVENTION. This institution is the property of the Baptists, and owed its origin to the Georgia Baptist Convention, under whose auspices it was founded. At the annual session of that body at Buckhead Church, Burke County, in the spring of 1831, the Rev. Adiel Sherwood offered a resolution, which was adopted, to establish in some central part of the State, as soon as the funds should justify it, a classical and theological school, 1 1 Georgia Gazetteer, by Adiel Sherwood. 3d ed. Washington City, 1837. Pp. 324-5. Memoirs of Elder Jesse Mercer, by C. D. Mallary. New York, 1844. Pp. 160-78. Georgia Baptists-Historical and Biographical, by Jesse H. Campbell. Richmond, 1847. Pp. 195, 201-11. White's Statistics of Georgia. Savannah, 1849. Pp. 76-7. Thomas P. Janes's Hand-Book of Georgia. Atlanta, Ga., 1876. Pp. 186-7. History of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia, etc. (Compiled for the Christian Index.) Atlanta, Ga., 1881. Pp. 143-57, 199-201, 215-17, 247-55. The Baptist Encyclopædia, etc., by William Cathcart, D. D. Philadelphia, 1883. Pp. 782-4. President Battle's Sketch of Mercer University (prepared for Picturesque America in 1885). The Commonwealth of Georgia, etc., by J. T. Henderson. Atlanta, Ga., 1885. Pp. 269-70. Catalogue and Triennial Register of Mercer University, Macon, Ga., 1885-86. Historical Record of Macon and Central Georgia, etc., by John C. Butler. Macon, Ga., 1879. Pp. 299-302. American Baptist Register for 1852. Philadelphia, 1853. Pp. 426-8. Mercer University, by Rev. B. M. Sanders. Catalogues for 1856-57, 1858-59, 1874-75, 1879-80. 1 which would "unite agricultural labor with study, and be opened for those only preparing for the ministry." The idea of founding a manual labor school, where theory and practice should be taught,—a scheme much in favor with Georgia Baptists,-seems to have originated with Doctor Sherwood, who was the first to demonstrate its feasibility in the academy established by him near Eatonton, in Putnam County, early in 1832.3 His plan, as then presented, contemplated an institu tion exclusively for the benefit and training of young ministers. At the next meeting of the convention, however, which was held at Powellton in 1832, the resolution was modified so as to admit "others besides students of divinity." Lands and money having been subscribed, a site was chosen for the proposed school, seven miles north of Greensborough, in Greene County, identical with the location of the present village of Penfield, in Ogle. thorpe County. REV. JESSE MERCER. The school, called Mercer Institute, was so named in honor of the Rev. Jesse Mercer, a Baptist divine and philanthropist, well known throughout Georgia for his zeal, liberality, and piety. He was one of the earliest advocates of a thorough educational system, and of him it has been said that "he was the most influential minister of his day, and perhaps the most distinguished minister of the denomination ever reared up in the State."4 Deeply did Mr. Mercer appreciate the com pliment thus paid him, and of this his subsequent acts gave proof. "As it was determined by his brethren that the seminary should bear his honored name, from its first establishment it engaged his unremit ting solicitude. Indeed the part which he took in the nurture and endowment of this institution may be considered the most impor tant and prominent of the many and useful benevolent services of his whole life."6 * ** * 7 One of the objects of the Georgia Baptist Convention, as set forth in its constitution, was "to afford an opportunity to those, who may conscientiously think it their duty, to form a fund for the education of pious young men who may be called by the spirit and their churches to the Christian ministry." From 1826 to 1832 several beneficiaries were adopted by the Convention, and no less than eight received aid from the Convention in the last-named year. In 1828, Josiah Penfield, a de History of the Baptist Denomination, etc., p. 144. 2 Mallary's Life of Mercer, p. 165. 3 Georgia Gazetteer, 1837, p. 324. 4 Campbell's Georgia Baptists, p. 182. 5 He was by far the largest contributor, as he gave during his life and by will about forty thousand dollars. (Baptist Encyclopædia, etc., p. 782.) 6 Mallary's Life of Mercer, p. 165. "The Convention was incorporated under the act of December 22, 1830. vout deacon of the Savannah Baptist Church, offered to give twenty-five hundred dollars toward a fund for the education of young ministers, provided the Convention would contribute an equal amount. More than twenty-five hundred dollars were subscribed by the delegates at the Convention in Milledgeville in March, 1829. From this Penfield legacy, and from annual additions, grew the permanent fund for the education of young ministers, which at one time amounted to thirty-three thousand four hundred dollars. CLASSICAL AND THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL ESTABLISHED. Having an educational fund, the Convention, as before stated, resolved in 1831 to establish a classical and theological school to be connected with manual labor; and in the following year a subscription of fifteen hundred dollars was reported and a site was chosen. The executive committee who had charge of the matter from the first acted on the maxim "do not go in debt," and made the best arrangements which the means in hand would permit. The buildings were located in what is now the village of Penfield, and consisted of,"two double cabins, with a garret to each, for dwelling, for dining, and for study, for both teachers and students." THE FIRST PRINCIPAL, MR. SANDERS. "With these limited accommodations," continues the Rev. B. M. Sanders, the first and only principal of Mercer Institute, "I opened the institution in January, 1833, with thirty-nine students, having thirtysix of them to board in my own family. Among those were seven young men preparing for the ministry. "I shall ever remember with lively emotions of pleasure the patience and cheerfulness with which the students of this year sustained the privations and trials to which they were subjected by their cramped circumstances. They may be truly said to have borne hardness like good soldiers. While living as in a camp in their midst, and burdened with the charge and responsibility of the literary, theological, laboring, and boarding departments, I found no little support in all my cares and labors from witnessing that, while they lived upon the cheapest fare, had no place for study but the common school-room, no place to retire to for rest but a garret without fire in the coldest weather, and labored diligently three hours every day, no complaint was heard, but that the most entire cheerfulness ran through all their words and actions. "In a word, those favorable indications of the success of the enterprise soon began to inspire its friends with confidence, and to animate See Mr. Sanders's Valedictory Address delivered before the Trustees, Faculty, Students, and Friends of Mercer University, December 12, 1839 (given in part in Mallary's Life of Mercer, pp. 166–75). their efforts for the extension of its advantages. An amount was soon raised to erect another large wooden building, with eight comfortable rooms for dormitories, and a brick basement for chapel and school rooms. "The second year's operations were commenced with increased accommodations, with an additional teacher and eighty students, seventy of whom boarded in commons. During the second and third years, the building of a larger and more comfortable dwelling, a commodious dining-room, and two society halls, abundantly increased both the comforts and conveniences of the institution." The growth of Mercer Institute was gradual until 1837, when a new departure was made, the result of which was its elevation to the character and dignity of a college. Inspired by the example of the Presbyterians, who were contemplating the erection of a college at Midway,' near Milledgeville, in Baldwin County, the Baptists determined to build one at Washington (Wilkes County). Into this movement Mr. Mercer had gone with all earnestness, contrary to his usual principle of not dividing resources. A hundred thousand dollars had been subscribed for the school at Washington,2 when it was decided to give up the attempt, since it was feared that the denomination could not support both institutions. The great financial panic which overwhelmed the country in 1837, and delayed the operations of some of the most solid institutions for several years, was the chief motive for this determination. The establishment of the Southern Baptist College at Washington was, therefore, abandoned by its projectors, at a meeting of the Board in Athens in 1837, in consequence of the embarrassments of the times, the inadequacy of the means in hand, etc. It was then determined to connect a collegiate department with the Mercer Institute, continuing at the same time its academic system. Mr. Mercer was sorely disappointed at this, but magnanimously accepted the decision. "I cannot work alone," was his emphatic declaration; "I must go with my brethren;" and before the close of the year he subscribed five thousand dollars for the endowment of the Collegiate Department at Penfield. Application was made to the Legislature, and a charter was granted by that body in December, 1837,5 with the usual privileges to colleges. 1 Viz, Oglethorpe University (incorporated by act of December 21, 1835; see Prince's Digest, pp. 877-8). According to Mr. Butler (History of Macon, p. 299), fifty thousand dollars were subscribed to this object in 1836, which amount was increased to one hundred thousand dollars during the following year. 3 Such was the name of the proposed institution, the act incorporating it having been passed December 29, 1836. (Prince's Digest, p. 879.) It seems that, in addition to liberal contributions to the enterprise, he had likewise tendered a beautiful situation in the suburbs of the town or Washington, as a home for the purposed institution. 5 See Act to amend an Act, entitled an Act to incorporate the Baptist Convention of the State of Georgia, approved December 22, 1837. (Laws of 1836-37, pp. 152-3.) OFFICIAL BEGINNING OF MERCER UNIVERSITY. 1 Under this charter the Baptist Convention of the State of Georgia at its session in May, 1838, elected the first Board of Trustees of Mercer University. The first meeting of this Board was held at Penfield, in July of the same year, when they assumed the management of the institution; and this date may be regarded as the official beginning of Mercer University, though the college classes were not organized until January, 1839. Intermediately an agent had succeeded in securing the transfer of sixty thousand dollars cf the subscriptions which had been made to the college at Washington to the University, and in 1838 the institute assumed the title of Mercer University, in honor of its great promoter, the Rev. Jesse Mercer. About the same time a town was laid out around the institution and named after Josiah Penfield, the founder of the school, who was also the donor of one of the first contributions to "aid in the education of poor young men preparing for the ministry." Many lots were at once sold, and the proceeds were appropriated to build a female academy. A condition was attached to all the sales of lots prohibiting the keeping thereon of gambling-houses or tippling shops, on pain of forfeiture of title. In consideration of the wholesome influence which Mr. Sanders's administration had exerted in the institute, and for the reason that, dur ing the six years of its existence, students had been attracted to it from all parts of the State, twenty young men having been sent out to preach the Gospel, religious revivals among the students having been frequent, and "nearly one hundred of them," to use Mr. Sanders's own words, "having been hopefully transferred from the kingdom of darkness to that of light," it was thought that no better man than Mr. Sanders could be selected as president of Mercer University. He was accordingly chosen, and he entered upon his duties carly in January, 1839. His retirement from the presidential chair of the college in December of the same year occasioned a temporary suspension of its exercises. He had then held the position for almost eleven months, and under his able direction the infant University, like its parent, the institute, had enjoyed a fair measure of prosperity, ninety-five students having been in attendance during this first year of its scholastic work. In February of the following year Mercer University was reopened with one hundred and thirty-two students in the collegiate and academic 1 The late Thomas Stocks, so long a prominent member in the Georgia Senate and House of Representatives, was the first president of this Board, continuing in that office about twenty-five years. Among the other members of the Board, twenty-seven in all, may be mentioned C. D. Mallary, V. R. Thornton, J. H. Campbell, Jesse Mercer, B. M. Sanders, Mark A. Cooper, Adiel Sherwood, and J. E. Dawson. The members of this Board were fair representatives of the Baptist denomination in Georgia in piety, wealth, intelligence, and in social and political influence. They gave the University its shape and character, and to their wise counsel, in its formative period, is due much of its past success. |