Patrick Hues Mell - The Reformed Reader

Patrick H. Mell was born July 19th, 1814, in Walthourville, Liberty county, Georgia. His father, Major Benjamin Mell, was raised at Laurel Hill, one mile from Midway Church; and his mother, Cynthia Sumner Mell, was the grand-daughter of Edward Sumner, who moved from South Carolina to Liberty county with the early settlers of that portion of Georgia. P.H. Mell was the second in age, and the eldest son. Major Benjamin Mell died when Patrick was only fourteen years of age, and but sixteen or seventeen at the time of his mother's death. A mere youth without experience, he was forced to rely solely upon his native genius to provide a means of support for himself and dependent brothers and sisters.

At the age of seventeen he taught, for a time, a primary school in a log hut with a dirt floor and thus secured the fuinds required to supply the absolute necessities of life, and was enabled also to add a small sum to the income for the benefit of his brothers and sisters. Remembered by his dear friend, Dr. John Jones, the eminent Presbyterian minister, Patrick was said to be of intelligence, vivacity and ready wit. When he made a promise he fulfilled it; he was true to his friends, and his integrity won the love and confidence of his schoolmates.

Though spending several years in a spiritual struggle, Patrick came to realize his condition and finally surrendered his life to the Master's service.

Patrick H. Mell survived his early years without parents, the Civil War, the ravages of war and cultural chaos from both the North and the South, slavery, and academic acceptance and rejection to become one of the original founders and many times president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is truly one of the "shapers" of our Southern Baptist heritage.

portions of this biographical sketch are from the book;
"The Life of Patrick Hues Mell", by P.H. Mell Jr."

Asahel Nettleton was a leading figure in one of the most important half-centuries in American Church history. From the late 1790s to the early 1840s a succession of revivals transformed the spiritual prospects of the nation.

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Calvinism: An Essay
An essay read before the Georgia Baptist Ministers' Institute, August 13, 1868

A Southern Baptist Looks at the Doctrine of Predestination

I have been pained to notice, for some years past, on the part of some of our ministers, in some localities in the South, a disposition to waive the doctrines of Grace in their public ministrations. While some have been entirely silent about them and have even preached, though not ostensibly, doctrines not consistent with them, others have given them only a cold and half-hearted assent, and some few have openly derided and denounced them...

The Life of Patrick Hues Mell

The work of compiling this biography has been one of peculiar pleasure to the writer. His own affection and veneration for his noble father have been greatly intensified by the close study of this admirable character. There was a certain degree of hesitation in undertaking the work, and considerable embarrassment during its progress, for fear that the partiality of the son would overdraw the admirable traits of the father. Because of this embarrassment the author has, in many instances, simply incorporated documents and opinions from others without comment, feeling satisfied that this evidence would speak in sufficiently forcible language. Dr. Mell was so often thrown into controversy with his brethren in discussing great questions of religious and secular importance that it has been difficult to avoid personal allusions. It is hoped these may not be misconstrued and open anew long buried unpleasant differences which time and circumstances have healed and reconciled.

Corrective Church Discipline

The views which are presented in the following pages are such as have been held by the Baptist churches from time immemorial. The Author attempts to do no more than to exhibit the sentiments of our Fathers, and to defend them by showing that they are sustained by the Scriptures. It is not asserted, however, that in no instance have the principles herein set forth been departed from. In times of excitement, when party spirit ran high, or personal resentment swayed men?s minds, revolutionary measures have been resorted to in some few of our churches, and these principles have been trampled under foot. Such irregularities have never failed to be disastrous to those who perpetrated them, and their influence upon the cause of Christ has been only evil, and that continually. One of the unhappy effects is that they are taken as precedents by those who are not well informed, and quoted as instances of Baptist usage.

A Manual of Parliamentary Practice (a work in progress)