The life of RevJames O'Kelly and the early history of the Christian church in the South . cept it be the subject of baptism. Many ofour brethren who were formerly Methodists or Pres-byterians are in favor of infant baptism; while myselfand several others are of a contrary opinion. I havethought proper to receive baptism by immersion on aprofession of faith, and have since my baptism bap-tized three or four preachers; others fear Methodist re-proach, etc. I make this communication that you mayknow how far we agree and how we differ in senti-ment. From this and other data at hand we can mark out
The life of RevJames O'Kelly and the early history of the Christian church in the South . cept it be the subject of baptism. Many ofour brethren who were formerly Methodists or Pres-byterians are in favor of infant baptism; while myselfand several others are of a contrary opinion. I havethought proper to receive baptism by immersion on aprofession of faith, and have since my baptism bap-tized three or four preachers; others fear Methodist re-proach, etc. I make this communication that you mayknow how far we agree and how we differ in senti-ment. From this and other data at hand we can mark outthe boundaries of the Christian Church in 1810 aboutas follows: Beginning at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,go to Pittsburg; thence through the settled portions ofOhio to the Mississippi River; thence down that streamto a point due west from the southern Georgia line;thence east to the Atlantic Ocean, and thence up thecoast to New Bern, North Carolina; thence to CapeHenry; thence up the Chesapeake Bay and the PotomacPiver to the neighborhood of Washington, D. C, andthence to THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 149 It seems that there were Christian churches in allthe States mentioned, and in some sections they werevery numerous. It is likely that many of the Christian churches in^orth Carolina began under different circumstancesfrom those in Virginia, most of them coming directlyfrom the Methodists. From a sketch of Popes Chapelwe find that it was first a Wesleyan Society meetinghouse, and of course when the Methodist EpiscopalChurch was organized in 1784 it became Methodist,and when the secession of 1792 took place it secededwith Mr. OKelly, and became a Christian church. Itis more than likely that Mr. OKelly organized theChristian church at that place, and may have been theregular pastor for some time. He had preached therebefore the secession, and often he and Mr. Asbury hadheld meetings there together. Some of the churches named returned to the Chris-tians about the year 1854.
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