Sunday Among Christians.
Philip Vickers Fithian. 1774.
Fithian was a tutor in the Nomini Hall household of Robert Carter, grandson of Robert "King" Carter. Located in the Northern Neck peninsula of Virginia, this great house was the center of an entire system of plantations that once encompassed 330,000 acres of land. Nomini Hall was at the center of Eighteenth Century Tidewater plantation life, and his tutorship there gave Fithian an unparalleled opportunity to observe every aspect of the social, political, economic, family and religious life of the Virginia gentry. His duties included the education of nine of the Carter children, serving as mentor and companion to the children, and as social confidant of the Carters. He took part in the active social life of the Carters, travelling with them and participating in their entertainment of the many guests who accepted the hospitality of this great estate. The first selection here is from his Journal; the second from a letter to a friend who is about to become a tutor in Virginia. Fithian had studied theology at Princeton and after his year as a tutor at Nomini Hall was ordained by the Presybtery of Philadelphia and served as a chaplain in the Revolutionary army.
Sunday 6.I rose at eight--The morning cold & stormy. . . .Breakfasted at half after nine. Mr. Lane the other Day informed me that the Anabaptists in Louden County are growing very numerous; & seem to be increasing in afluence; and as he thinks quite destroying pleasure in the Country; for they encourage ardent Pray'r; strong & constant faith, & an intire Banishment of Gaming, Dancing, & Sabbath-Day Diversions. I have also before understood that they are numerous in many County's in this Province & are Generally accounted troublesome--Parson Gibbern has preached several Sermons in opposition to them, in which he has labour'd to convince his People that what they say are only whimiscal Fancies or at most Religion grown to Wildness & Enthusiasm!--There is also in these counties one Mr. Woddel, a presbiterian Clergyman, of an irreproachable Character, who preaches to the people under Trees in summer, & in private Houses in Winter, Him, however, the people in general dont more esteem than the Anabaptists Preachers; but the People of Fashion in general countenance, & commend him. I have never had an opportunity of seeing Mr. Woddel, as he is this Winter up in the Country, but Mr. & Mrs Carter speak well of him, Mr. & Mrs. Fantleroy also, & all who I have ever heard mention his Name. . . .
Sunday 10.A Sunday in Virginia dont seem to wear the same Dress as our Sunday to the Northward--Generally here by five o-Clock on Saturday every Face (especially the Negroes) looks festive & cheerful--All the lower class of People, & the Servants, & the Slaves, consider it as a Day of Pleasure & amusement, & spend it in such Diversions as they severally choose--The Gentlemen go to Church to be sure, but they make that itself a matter of convenience, & account the Church a useful weekly resort to do Business--I am told, for I have not yet been to Church since my Return, that all the Sermons are in the forensic Style, & on political Subjects. . . .
From Fithian's letter to John Peck (August 12, 1774)
--In this place I think it needful to caution you against hasty & ill founded prejudices. When you enter among a people, & find that their manner of living, their Eating, Drinking, Diversions, Exercise &c, are in many respects different from any thing you have been accustomed to, you will be apt to fix your opinion in an instant, & (as some divines deal with poor Sinners) you will condemn all before you without any meaning or distinction what seems in your Judgment disagreeable at first view, when you are smitten with the novelty. You will be making ten thousand Comparisons. The face of the Country, The Soil, the Buildings, the Slaves, the Tobacco, the method of spending Sunday among Christians; Ditto among the Negroes; the three grand divisions of time at the Church on Sundays, Vis. before Service giving & receiving letters of business, reading Advertisements, consulting about the price of Tobacco, Grain &c, & settling either the lineage, Age, or qualities of favourite Horses 2. In the Church at Service, prayrs read over in haste, a Sermon seldom under & never over twenty minutes, but always made up of sound morality, or deep studied Metaphysicks. 3. After Service is over three quarters of an hour spent in strolling round the Church among the Crowd, in which time you will be invited by several different Gentlemen home with them to dinner. The Balls, the Fish-Feasts, the Dancing-Schools, the Christnings, the Cock fights, the Horse-Races, the Chariots, the Ladies Masked, for it is a custom among the Westmorland Ladies whenever they go from home, to muffle up their heads, & Necks, leaving only a narrow passage for the Eyes, in Cotton or silk handkerchiefs.