Person:Charles Stone (16)

BIOGRAPHY: Genealogy of the Stone Family Originating in Rhode Island By Richard C. Stone 1866 Page 64/159/161 Note 175

Charles Stone (1322), the oldest son of Jeremiah (1051), was born in Cranston, and came with his father, when a boy, to Scituate. His opportunities for education, in that early day of Rhode Island History, were very limited, and , consequently, as the father saw no necessity of his son's becoming better educated than he himself was, no efforts were made to help the boy Charles, although he was decidedly a boy of superior mind. With no early encouragement or culture, he or his father, looked forward to nothing higher or beyond the level upon which his ancestors moved. True, he would not fall back behind and below, though little expectation was entertained of his advance. He disappointed his friends. His first step was advance. His father married when sixteen; Charles waited till he was eighteen, and then married Rachel Knight, a very worthy woman, commenced life in the same occupation of his father, and on a part of the same  farm. It was not in his nature, however, to rest down in the current level around him. He would rise, he would improve; not because he would ambitiously excel, but because he felt, intuitively felt, intellectually felt, that the god-given nature of man is progress, and this idea went with through life, and more or less guided his conversation, his reflection and his reading. He was the student of human nature as developed in our fallen and redeemed race, and graduated only when he passed over to the "Shining Shore." Previous to 1795, his attention was called to the subject of  religion; he experienced a work of grace and became a member of the Baptist church in the West part of Coventry, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Caleb Nichols. How long before the above time his conversion dates, or how long before, he made public profession of Faith in Christ, the writer is not informed. But, March 20, 1795, we find a petition signed by twenty-two members, to be set off and called "The Second Separate or Independent Baptist Church of Christ, in Coventry." Among these petitioners were Jeremiah Stone(1051), Charles Stone(1053), Henry Stone(1324), Mercy Stone(1326), William Stone(1053), Dinah Stone(1327), Dinah Stone (Knight), the wife of Jeremiah (1051); Rachel Stone (Knight), the wife of  Charles (1322), and  Lydia Stone (Blackmar), the wife of Henry (1324). The prayer of the petitioners was granted the July following, and, on the first day of August, 1795, the petitioners assembled at what was called Werden's Meeting House,  and organized the church by choice of William Stone (1053), Clerk; Nathaniel Price, Elder, and Charles Stone (1322), Deacon. The recognition of this church by the sister churches took place September 11, 1795. The record of which was signed and duly certified by Frances Fuller, messenger of the church in Foster, Council Scribe. Rev. Nathaniel Price remained with only till March, 1795, when he was , by mutual arrangement, dismissed. For more than a year, the church was without a settled pastor. Much of the time, however, they enjoyed the instruction and labors of their worthy deacon, whom they appointed on the day of their organization. On Saturday, December 23, 1797. they passed the following vote; "Chose Brother Charles Stone to be their Elder, declaring his qualifications to be satisfactory to their mind; they also believe he to be called of God and set apart to the work."
  The Ordaining Council met on the 20th day of June, 1798, and, after a very methodical examination; First, of the church in "their leanings of mind toward the candidate as their watchman and minister." Second, of the candidate, "his call from nature to grace," "his call to the ministerial work," "his call to the pastoral care of this church;" the vote was unanimous in the affirmative, and the act of ordination took place on the next day, June 21st. Of this church, he was the Pastor nearly forty-six years up to the time of his death, though he had assistance for a few years near its close. His labors were mostly at one place, in the same house, its name changing, by common consent, from "Elder Werden's Meeting House" to "Elder Stone's Meeting House," a name which it still retains, though the foundation where it once stood now only remains. Rev. Charles Stone, as a preacher, was a man of  much argumentative and persuasive power, easy, fluent in expression, though his style of delivery was somewhat antiquated, ahd his discourses possessed more of logical deductions and reasoning, than those generally of his day. He was not an extensive reader, nor did he ever become a man of general science. His study of God and man, as revealed in the "Divine Word," and the great truths which it reveals of mans duty and destiny. He was a Calvinist, rather of the Emmons or Hopkins school, and dwelt with an extra reverence on the writings and arguments of the Apostle Paul; but his was the Calvinism of a generous and expanded liberality, rather than the Calvinism of a diminutive, nutshell exclution. He was a man far in  advance of his age. He did not believe that the world, with its Christian Philosophy, or its statements of Chistian scientific truth, or its understanding of gospel order and Chistian duty, was fully understood, completely developed and stereotyped, when he was born. No; he believed in advancement, some new development of man's capacities to be  learned and brought out, some new truth to be discovered and made plain, and hence a noble charity tinged and beautified his whole mind. He did not view, with any degree of interest, the exclusive communion of the denomination to which he belonged. The following incident was related to the writer by the Rev. Charles himself. Two men called at the Church Covenant Meeting, on Saturday, introduced themselves to him as Congregatinalists and Agents for the Bible Society, and he courteously invited them to stop and take part in the meetings. They did so, remained over Sunday, stopped to the Communion Service, were waited upon by the Deacons, and received the Sacrament. Some three days after, his brother called and the following dialogue enused;

Br. Charles, did you know that those two men who communed with us last Sabbath were Congregationalists? Elder C. Yes. Br. Well, what are you intending to do about it? Elder C. Well, I guess not much.

  This shows, better than a volume could have done, his hearty fellowship for all those who love the Lord and are engaged in his work. He was decidedly in favor of improvements,- a practical man. The denomination, in his day, generally cherished the idea that study and preparation, especially written preparation, was inconsistent with a dispensation of Gospel Truth. He early saw and threw aside this foolish idea. He himself related to the writer the following fact. "I was going to an exchange," said he, "to the"Tin Top,'(a church near Warwick line,) when I overtook an aged man of some years acquaintance. 'I am going ," said the man, 'to hear you preach. I don't go to hear these College chaps, with their book-learning and their written sermons, but I heard you were to preach, and I am going.' I felt happy to meet him, though I had a prepared sermon for the afternoon. I went into the pulpit, which, fortunately for my friend, was quite elevated, and preached my sermon as I intended. As I came out of the house, he bade me good bye, saying, " There, that is what I call preaching; but if you had had one word written, I would have left the house.' I did not think it best to spoil his enjoyment of what he called a 'good sermon,' by giving him the facts." Elder Charles was one, while he gathered up and examined life in all its relations, that never grew old, but cherished a lovely freshness of spirit. Children knew him only to remember and love, and his easy, familiar approach never failed to secure their confidence, and remove the distance which to often obtains between the old and the young. As a social, genial companion and friend, he had few equals, no superiors. His conversation was vivacious, always tinged with religious trust, easy, fluent, very frequently interspersed with illustration and anecdote, but never overstepping the bound of religious propriety. As he approached the close of life, his Faith brightened into a brilliancy, and he was almost permitted to look beyond the veil, and listen to the echo of angel voices from the temple-arches of the New Jerusalem; and, in cheerfulness, in bright beaming hope, he heard the voice, "Child, your Father calls, come home."
  He died, 1844. His wife, Rachel Knight, was an excellent woman, of strong, social habits; of earnest, confiding faith, a loving companion, a firm friend, and an excellent mother. She died April 8, 1842.

The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton The Founders and the Founding of the Republic Philadelphia 1907 - Page 234