A scant four days later, he began studies at the Danville Theological Seminary,
enrolled there from 1858 to 1859. Here he began his studies in theology
under Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge and during these two years at Danville
he also served as co-principal of the preparatory department of Center
College. In the summer of 1859 he returned to South Carolina and married
Callie P. Kennedy , the wedding taking place in Itonia, South Carolina
on 30 August 1859. Miss Kennedy was the second daughter of his former
teacher in the Thalian Academy, the Rev. John Leland Kennedy [1]. Subsequent to the wedding, the young couple returned to Danville,
where Isaac returned to his studies and teaching.
Long was licensed by the Presbytery of Transylvania on 12 April
1860, as it met in Lebanon, Kentucky. With the arrival of the summer months,
he then resigned his position as co-principal of the Center College preparatory
department and returned with his wife and first child to South Carolina.
In October, he entered Columbia Theological Seminary as a resident licentiate,
continuing his studies in theology under the renowned Dr. James H. Thornwell.
That education was cut short by a lengthy battle with typhoid fever in
the winter of 1860. That, and the beginning of the Civil War brought a
change in his plans and he took on duties as Stated Supply at the Concord
Presbyterian Church in April of 1861. Accepting a call from that church,
he was ordained and installed as its pastor by Harmony Presbytery on 31
October 1861.
The Concord Church where Rev. Long served his first
pastorate was located in the Sumter District of South Carolina, and he
served there from 1861 to 1866. The timing of that pastorate is noteworthy,
in that the Civil War began with the engagement at Fort Sumter on April
12 and 13, 1861 and that later, from 1863 to 1865, Confederate forces
defended the Fort as Union troops laid seige for 22 months, finally reducing
the Fort to rubble. Thus Rev. Long's first pastorate was undoubtedly a
particularly trying time. A various times during the War he served as
a volunteer chaplain in the army, serving without rank or pay. Rev. Long's
own records indicate that during his time at Concord, he admitted eighty-eight
people into membership, and that of these, seventy-seven were African-Americans.
Of this number, ten united with the church in 1866 after emancipation.
During that same time he baptized thirty-two adult African-Americans and
twenty-eight infants born to the African-American members of the church.
With the conclusion of the War, the now renamed
Presbyterian Church in the United States began to turn its full attention
to the work of missions, both foreign and domestic. The Rev. J. Leighton
Wilson, serving as chair of both committees for the denomination, called
upon Rev. Long to tour the state of Arkansas and report on the needs of
the churches there. Arriving there by way of Memphis in July of 1866,
Rev. Long first went to Little Rock, where he interviewed Rev. Thomas
R. Welch, D.D., who was then Stated Clerk of the Synod of Arkansas. Rev.
Long next visited several churches, including the Presbyterian church
in Batesville, AR. Here he found a revival meeting in progress under the
direction of the Rev. A.P. Silliman of Alabama, and Long remained there
for ten days assisting him in that effort.
That exposure to the people of Batesville led to
their asking him to become their pastor. They issued an invitation which
stated "The undersigned members of the Presbyterian Church and
others, desiring the services of a Presbyterian minister, earnestly request
the Rev. Isaac J. Long to remove to Batesville and supply the church here,
and we hereby assure him that we will endeavor to give him a comfortable
support and render his situation pleasant among us." The invitation
was signed by thirty-four citizens of Batesville, twelve of whom were
Presbyterians; others were Baptist, Methodist, or of no affiliation. It
is noted that no specific salary was mentioned, and so in accepting the
invitation, Rev. Long gave evidence of his faith in God's provision in
this call.
Resigning his pastorate at Concord, he arrived in Batesville with his
family in April of 1867. Soon after, he also took on the charge of pastoring
the work at Jacksonport, spending half of his time there until 1868, when
relieved by the Rev. D.C. Boggs. Rev. Long remained at the Batesville
church for sixteen years and one week, at last resigning his pulpit there
to assume full-time work as the president of Arkansas College. Even after
that official resignation, he continued to serve the Batesville congregation
from time to time as Stated Supply up until his death in December of 1891.
| Arkansas College
was begun in 1872 under authorization of the Presbytery of Arkansas.
A provisional Board of Trustees was appointed, among whom was Dr.
Long, and the school opened in September of 1872 with sixty-five students
enrolled. A.C. McGinnis comments regarding the school that, |
A charter for the college was
signed by Acting Governor Hadley, James Johnston, Secretary of
State, and Thomas Smith, superintendent of education. The first
campus of the college was between College Avenue and Boswell Street
and between Seventh and Eighth Streets. The first permanent building,
which is in regular use by the First Presbyterian Church in 1976,
is now known as Morrow Hall, honoring the family of the late John
P. Morrow, Sr., a member of the college board of trustees for
thirty-eight years at the time of his death in 1965. Two facts
concerning the college should be mentioned here. Although it was
under Presbyterian auspices, it was a non-sectarian school and
has remained so. When the school began, it had both elementary
and high school departments in addition to a four-year college
course, which made it possible for students to enroll in the primary
department and attend until graduation with a bachelor of arts
degree.
|
| That inclusion of preparatory departments
would appear to have been drawn from Rev. Long's own background and
training in Danville. |
In summary of the
ministry of the Rev. Isaac J. Long, it seems best to quote from the concluding
paragraph on his life found in The History of
Presbyterianism in Arkansas:
"As a scholar, Dr. Long was thorough, rather than
polished; as a preacher of the gospel, he was logical, forceful
and instructive, rather than ornate or rhetorical; as a presbyter,
he was wise, practical and effective, speaking comparatively little
in our church courts, but always with weight and effect. His familiarity
with the Bible and its teachings, both doctrinal and practical,
was both minute and comprehensive and a "Thus saith the Lord"
was to him the "End of controversy." Accepting the doctrinal
standards of the Presbyterian Church "As containing the system
of doctrines taught in the Holy Scriptures," and its form of
government as most logically conforming to that of the Apostolic
Church, he boldly and ably proclaimed them and was for them never,
in any sense, an apologist. Accepting the Bible as the very Word
of God, its teachings were to him practical rules of life, not mere
theoretical ethics. With this ever in mind, he erected no standard
of conduct for others that he did not apply to himself. To him "Duty
was the sublimest word in the English language." In illustration
of his faithfulness in the discharge of the duties which were his,
it can be stated that, during the twenty-four and a half years of
his membership in Arkansas presbytery, he was absent from but three
meetings of that body, and during the smae period, it is believed,
that he was absent from but two meetings of this synod, in each
instance for reasons entirely beyond human control." [History,
pg. 106] |
Sources:
McGinnis, A.C., A History of Independence County, Arkansas (Batesville, AR, 1976) [http://fly.hiwaay.net/~dmglenn/april76.htm]
Miller, S.G., et. al., : 1828-1902, pp. 100
- 106.
Scott, E.C., Ministerial Directory of the Presbyterian Church in the
United States, (Austin, TX: Press of Von Boeckmann-Jones Co., 1942),
pg. 414.
[1] The web site at http://www.e-familytree.net/f6408.htm
indicates that the parents of Mrs. Long were the Rev John Leland Kennedy
(1801-1877) and Jane Harvey Chamblin (1810-1858).
Bibliography:
Articles published in the Southern Presbyterian Review--
Powers of the General Assembly, 19.3 (July
1868) 395-403.
Other publications--
A discourse commemorative of the life, character and services of the
Rev. Thomas Rice Welch, D.D., delivered before the Synod of Arkansas at
Camden, Ark., November 17, 1886, (St. Louis, MO: Farris, Smith &
Co., 1886), 17pp.; HFM.
Outline of Ecclesiastical History: for the use of colleges, high schools,
and theological classes, (St. Louis: Printing House of Farris, Smith,
1888) 125pp.; 19 cm.; ASB;
AFU; AKC; CLU; FTO; KTS; MRT; VLA; AUP; DTM; IXA; VUT.
Sketch of Arkansas College, (s.l., s.n., 1876), 18 pp., AFU,
AUP.
William Wiley [biographical sketch], in Memorial
Volume of the Semi-Centennial of the Theological Seminary at Columbia,
South Carolina, (Columbia, SC: Printed at the Presbyterian Publishing
House, 1884), pp. 370-371. [HC]
See also:
Isaac J. Long letter book, 1857-1861. This item is a letter book
titled "Cherished Memories" owned by Isaac J. Long, a student at Centre
College in Danville, Kentucky. The book contains notes of friendship from
various young men with whom Long attended school from 1857-1861. Also
included within the book is a commencement program for Centre College
dated September 17, 1857.
1 volume; 25 cm. [Housed at the Kentucky Historical Society Library].
Notebooks, 1858-1859, 2 volumes, consisting of lecture notes taken
by Isaac Long when a student under E.P. Humphrey at Danville Theological
Seminary, for the course "On Biblical and Ecclesiastical History."
These volumes would be potentially formative for Long's own later work, Outline of Ecclesiastical History. [Housed at the Presbyterian
Historical Society archives, Montreat, NC. and cited in Robert Benedetto's
work, Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Presbyterian Church,
U.S., (New York: Greenwood Press, 1990), Collection #1012, pg. 274]. |
