N. M. Crawford

Nathaniel Macon Crawford served as interim pastor of the Washington church from December 1844 to October 1845. He was born Oglethorpe County, Georgia, March 22, 1811; died Tunnel Hill, Georgia, October 27, 1871. This was probably his first pastorate after his ordination at age 33 by  Antioch Baptist Church, Greene County, earlier in 1844.

"After some thirty years of harmonious co-operation, the Baptists of the

whole country being united upon the provisions and principles of the Con-

stitution of the 'Baptist Triennial Convention,' organized in May, 1814,

some of the Northern brethren, moved by the then recent agitation of the

slavery question, gained new light as to the essential sinfulness of slavery,

came to regard Southern Baptists as sinners in countenancing that institu-

tion, and concluded that the original terms of fellowship in missionary

operations could not be consistently perpetuated.

" Southern Baptists came to regard Northern Baptists as sinners, because

of the repudiation of the compact of the Constitution, under whose pro-

visions they had worked together for more than a quarter of a century.

Hence the division. Hence the organization of the Southern Baptist Convention on substantially the same principles and Constitution of the ' Triennial Convention,' upon which both sides had been previously united.

" ORGANIZATION.

"On Thursday, the eighth day of May, 1845— just forty years ago — 328 delegates of 376, who had been appointed from nine States, including District of Columbia, assembled in this house, continued in session five days, and formally organized ' The Southern Baptist Convention.'

" 'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh.' There is only a small remnant of that assembly who greeted each other in that Convention yet remaining upon earth. They are waiting in heaven for our coming.

" The pastor of this church [Augusta], Rev. Dr. Brantly, who welcomed the delegates to the city and the homes of the people in one of those tender and felicitous addresses which characterized his spirit, has passed from earth.

"All the officers elected to preside over and to record proceedings of that Convention have ' entered within the veil.'

"The venerable and accomplished Dr. W. B. Johnson, the President;

the Vice-Presidents, Hon. Wilson Lumpkin, Hon. A. Dockery, Rev. Drs.

J. B. Taylor and R. B. C. Howell ; the Secretaries, Rev. J. Hartwell and

J. C. Crane ; the Treasurer, Dr. M. T. Mendenhall, have all ceased from

their labors. ' Their works do follow them.'

Biography of N. M. Crawford

He was born Oglethorpe County, Georgia, March 22, 1811; died Tunnel Hill, Georgia, October 27, 1871. Minister, theologian, and college president. As the son of William H. Crawford, a United States senator from Georgia, secretary of the treasury under James Monroe, American minister to France, and one-time candidate for the presidency, Nathaniel Macon Crawford enjoyed unique cultural and educational advantages in boyhood. He was educated in the schools of Washington, D.C., and at the University of Georgia where he graduated with highest honor in 1829 in a distinguished class which included George F. Pierce, a future Methodist bishop and college president; Thomas G. Scott, a future Episcopal bishop; and Shaler Granby Hillyer, a distinguished Baptist minister, educator and pastor of the Washington church 1881-1887.

Crawford studied law in his father's office and was soon admitted to the bar, but he never practiced. He procured a position in one of the state offices at Milledgeville, then the state capital. Shortly after 1837 he was converted during a revival meeting in Milledgeville. Influenced by his mother's teachings, he united with the Presbyterian church. In 1838 he became a professor of mathematics in the new Oglethorpe College, a Presbyterian institution at Midway, two miles from Milledgeville. In 1839 he married s sturdy young Baptist woman of limited education and an orphan, Anne Katherine Lazer. When their son was born his loyalty to his church made him want the baby christened; but his wife, no match for him in learning, would not agree unless he could prove to her that the New Testament taught the baptism of infants. He at once began to search his Greek Testament, thinking it would be easy to find clear teachings on the subject; but, when he found none, he not only came to believe that there was no authority for the baptism of infants, but also that there was none for sprinkling. He at once applied for membership in the Antioch Baptist Church, and was baptized by the pastor, Rev. Billington M. Sanders, in 1843. He was ordained to the ministry by the church in 1844.

From Shaler Granby Hillyer's "Reminiscences";

CHAPTER IX.

SECTION ONE.
N. M. CRAWFORD. 

In the month of January, 1826, when I was sixteen years and six months old, I first met Nathaniel Macon Crawford, then a boy perhaps eighteen months younger than myself. The place of meeting was Franklin College (now the State University).

He entered college with a prestige that no other student at that time could claim. He was the son of Hon. William H. Crawford, who was Georgia's great statesman—the idol of the party which then dominated the politics of Georgia. And it so happened that in 1826 a very large majority of the young men in college, though for the most part too young to vote, were in sympathy with that party. Hence when young Crawford came among them as a fellow student, they received him gladly, even proudly.

Such a reception with such a prestige as his would have turned the head and made a fool of many a youth. But it had no effect on N. M. Crawford. He did not seem to know that there was such a thing as prestige. I remember his very first recitation. It was in geometry. When it came his turn to go to the blackboard, he rose modestly, but with perfect self-possession, and walked across the room to where the board stood, picked up the chalk and drew the diagram. Then, returning to his seat, he faced the blackboard and proceeded with the demonstration. He went through with unerring accuracy. As he reached the Q. E. D., the professor passed on to the next in order, evidently charmed with the new-comer. All his recitations were of like character. It was soon apparent that he ranked among the best members of the class.

His college life was a model of propriety. His father had charged him when he was about to leave his home to this effect: "My son, when you enter college I want you to remember that you will become subject to its laws. I want you to be a law-abiding student. You know that I have allowed you and your brothers and sisters here at home to play certain games of cards; but at college you will find that such games are strictly prohibited and I want you to make up your mind to abstain from card-playing while you are in college." This timely admonition was faithfully observed by his son. Not only so, he generalized the principle. He was able to see that the principle applied with equal force to all the rules of the institution. Hence it came to pass that through his whole course, he never had a demerit mark scored against him.

When the class had passed its final examination in 1829, we were called before the faculty to hear of the awards which they had made of the commencement honors. Our venerable president, Doctor Waddell, after a few appropriate remarks, proceeded to read the decisions which the faculty had reached. The class numbered twenty-one young men. We were all waiting with intense interest. When the first announcement was made saying, "We have awarded the first honor to Nathaniel Macon Crawford," the class spontaneously gave a hearty and cordial applause. There was one valedictorian who stood among his classmates untouched by a breath of envy.

Young Crawford's first step in life was to prepare himself for the legal profession. This he did, and was admitted to the bar. But I am not sure that he ever entered upon the practice of that profession.

Nearly nine years after we had graduated, I became the pastor of the Baptist church in Milledgeville. And there I found N. M. Crawford acting as one of the clerks in the executive department, under the administration of Governor Gilmer. Our acquaintance was soon renewed and we enjoyed for two years many pleasant interviews. In the meantime Oglethorpe University was established in the village of Midway, only two miles south of Milledgeville, and Mr. Crawford was elected professor of mathematics in that institution.

His mother was a Presbyterian and he had been raised in that faith, but as yet he had manifested no concern about his own salvation. In his early years he would often use profane language and he seemed to be wholly indifferent to the subject of religion. But these facts serve to give an additional interest to the story of his conversion.

There was a protracted meeting going on in Milledgeville. One evening after the usual service an invitation was given to those who felt willing to seek the Lord to come forward to the front seat. While the people were singing I was standing near the pulpit looking over the large audience. I saw Professor Crawford, my friend and classmate, sitting far down the aisle. My heart prompted me to go to him. When I came near, I took his hand and said: "Macon, will you not go with me to the altar and let us pray for you ?" Rising promptly from his seat he went with me to the front and there we kneeled together in prayer. When the exercises were over, I learned from him to my surprise and yet to my great joy that very recently he had obtained a hope in Jesus. He told me briefly some of his experiences. He told me enough to give me confidence that he had become a new creature in Christ Jesus.

Not long afterwards he and I were again together. During our walk, I said to him: "Macon, take the New Testament and read it through and when you come to the verse that clearly teaches infant baptism, turn down the leaf and when you see me again show me the verse, and I will give you five hundred dollars." He smiled at my words but made no reply. I did not press him further, for 1 took it for granted that he had made up his mind to join the Presbyterian church, and this purpose he soon accomplished.

While living in Midway, he found a Baptist lady who won his love and it was my privilege to unite them in marriage. A few years later he resigned his seat in Oglethorpe University, and for a short time took his family to the old homestead at Woodlawn, where his mother was then residing. It was at Woodlawn that he became a Baptist. He and his wife had lived together in perfect harmony in Christian fellowship, though of different churches. But now he found himself a father and he knew that the rules of his church required him to have his children baptized. But he knew also that his wife was opposed to it.

Here was a dilemma. To settle it he sought for guidance in the New Testament. His conscientious mind could not be satisfied with anything less than divine authority for his decision. It may be he remembered the challenge which I had given in Milledgeville. Like many others who had ventured upon the same line of investigation, he failed to find the authority which he sought. At once he went to his wife and to her surprise informed her that he had concluded to join the Baptist church.
Accordingly he was soon baptized by Rev. B. M. Sanders into the Antioch Church, of Oglethorpe County. And not long afterwards he was ordained to the Baptist ministry.
Then began his career as a Georgia Baptist. His public life among us was truly brilliant, but it was so recent and is so well remembered by thousands of living Baptists, that I need not give its history in all its details. It must suffice to say that after holding a few important pastorates first in Georgia and then one in Charleston, South Carolina, he was elected to the chair of theology in Mercer University, and entered upon his duties in that institution in January, 1847. It was here he did his most valuable work. It was here he developed his full character as a scholar of profound and extensive learning, as a Christian of deep and fervent piety, and as a man of spotless integrity, adorned -with the most charming social virtues and with a charity that was as wide as the world.
It was at Mercer University that he first met the question concerning Christian paradoxes. He never lost sight of the subject till at length he added that most valuable book, "Christian Paradoxes," to the religious literature of the present century. It deserves tobe in every religious library.
Doctor Crawford lived only threescore years. When he reached his sixtieth birthday he said to some of his friends that he would not, if he could, add ten years to his life, preferring rather to leave himself wholly in the hands of God. He could speak of his own death with perfect cheerfulness, for the everlasting arms were around him. His death was sad only to his weeping friends; to himself it was rather like a bridal day.

Crawford was pastor at Washington, Georgia, in 1845, and at the First Baptist Church, Charleston, South Carolina, in 1846. In 1847 he became professor of biblical literature in Mercer University, then at Penfield, Georgia. In 1854 he became president, but was soon involved in difficulties that brought him into conflict with Professor Patrick H. Mell. After the resignation of several of the professors, Crawford himself resigned in 1856 and went to the University of Mississippi for a year to teach philosophy. Then he spent a year at Georgetown College, the Baptist college of Kentucky, teaching theology.

Crawford followed Dr. Manly as second pastor of First Baptist of Charleston, The following is from "Two Centuries of First Baptist Church of South Carolina" by Henry Allen Tupper:

In great candor I must say that this Church did not know Dr. Crawford. Others associated with him elsewhere did not know him. An intimate friend of his for fifteen years says: " He overspread his position with a broad margin. He was not inclined to unnecessary display. And hence while he was recognized in a general way as a man of power, the people had no idea of the extent of that power."

The extreme simplicity of his manner was misleading to many. But it was the simplicity of an humble, guileless, truthful, Christ-like nature, full of the unconsciousness of its own excellence. Dr. Shaver writes of him: " The chief charm of our intercourse was not his singular balance and poise of intellect, nor the thorough learning that gave him the tread of a master in every field of inquiry, nor the strong, ripe judgment which had wrestled prevailingly with all problems of ethics and theology—it was the equable temper, the dispassionate spirit, the transparent sincerity, the stainless sense of honor, the gentle affectionateness breathing through his utterances from first to last. More than almost any whom we have known he withheld no word which Christian candor demanded, and spoke no word which Christian charity forbade. Like that queenliest of graces, true greatness ' vaunteth not itself;' and he was clothed upon with humility, with freedom from pretension, with child-likeness as with a garment."

The easy and quiet way that he accomplished his ministry made the impression sometimes that he was not a man of labor. But he worked rapidly, seeing difficulties quickly and overcoming them readily; and he said nothing as to how he did his work. Dr. Church, for thirty years the president of the University of Georgia, from which Mr. Crawford was graduated at eighteen at the head of a class in which were men who in their future positions had few if any superiors, said that " he had never known a student who possessed such remarkable powers for the acquisition of knowledge." His preaching was animated talking ; but it was talking animated by not only the love of Christ, but by the thinking of a man who filled the chair of Moral Science in one University, and of Theology in two others, over which he presided as president, and of whom a brother president said: " He was a man of surpassing talents and wonderful attainments. He was, in the true sense of the word, a genius. . . .

In 1858, Crawford returned to Mercer and was its president from 1858 until 1865. He served as president of Georgetown College from the fall of 1865 until the spring of 1871, when his health failed. He suffered a stroke in 1851 or 1852 while preaching in the Baptist church at Lexington, Georgia, which necessitated thereafter some curtailment of his activities, but with no impairment to his brilliant mind. From Georgetown, Crawford retired to his farm near Tunnel Hill, Georgia, not far from Chattanooga, and made his home with his son. There he suffered a second stroke in September, 1871, which led to his death the following October 27.

Noted as a life-long student,Crawford was an accomplished linguist, mathematician, and philosopher as well as a theologian. He was described by his colleague, John Leadley Dagg, as a man of learning, talent, and popularity. Although he published one book, Christian Paradoxes, he wrote little, and his contributions to Southern Baptists were largely made as a classroom teacher, a counselor of men with ability and promise, and a college executive.