Ebenezer Church divided when part of congregation wished to introduce Watts Hymns

Context

This passage from the Centennial History describes Ebenezer Church in York County, South Carolina, near present-day Rock Hill. Unlike the other extracts which describe ARP churches formed by those leaving Presbyterian congregations, this case shows the reverse: an existing Associate Reformed congregation that divided when some members wished to adopt Watts’s Hymns. The church was eventually disorganized around 1828.

Extract

Ebenezer Church, York Co., S. C.—Was situated about three miles west of the present city of Rock Hill, in the present village of Ebenezer. It was just across the road from the present Presbyterian Church by that name. It is probable that there was some sort of an organization there in the way of an A. R. P. church during the Revolutionary War, as the Presbyterians date their organization from 1786, and the A. R. Church occupied the place first. It was made up originally of Burghers, Antiburghers, some Presbyterians, and some Covenanters, and was said to have been the only church in all the surrounding country.

The wish to introduce the Watts Hymns by a part of the congregation caused trouble, which ended in the formation of a Presbyterian Church and some of the members also joined Tirzah Church.

Significance

This extract provides evidence of psalmody-driven realignment working in both directions. While most cases show families leaving Presbyterian churches for the ARP, Ebenezer demonstrates that the psalmody question could also divide existing ARP congregations. Those who wished to use Watts’s Hymns left to form a Presbyterian church, while those committed to exclusive psalmody joined the nearby Tirzah ARP congregation. The detail that the original congregation included “Burghers, Antiburghers, some Presbyterians, and some Covenanters” shows how diverse Presbyterian bodies had initially coexisted before psalmody became a denominational marker. The eventual disorganization of the church around 1828 underscores how the psalmody controversy could destroy congregations entirely. This bidirectional sorting supports the book’s thesis about psalmody as a denominational sorting mechanism.