The Preacher of Morgantown: The Life and Writings of Bernard Gibbs

By Rev. Bernard Gibbs and J.R. Rothstein

Before the ministry of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (1929-1968), there were hundreds of other preachers that used the biblical tradition to promote a theology of equality and civil rights. This book, The Preacher of Morgantown, traces the life of one of these ministers, Rev. John Bernard Gibbs (1872-1944) of Morgantown, West Virginia. Reverend Gi

• Language: English
• Publisher: Redstone Publishing
• Release date: Dec 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781087869117

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© Copyright 2020 

The Preacher of Morgantown:

The Life and Writings of Bernard Gibbs 

registered by Invictus Holdings LLC.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner

without the written permission of the copyright owner 

except for use of quotations in a book or book review.

For more information, visit www.jrrothstein.com.

First Hardcover Edition, November 2020.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020921211

ISBN: 978-1-7353986-3-1

"Remember the days of old,

consider the years of many generations:

ask thy parents, and they will show thee;

thy elders, and they will tell thee."

Deuteronomy 32:7

Introduction

Before the ministry of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (1929-1968), there were hundreds of other preachers that used the biblical tradition to promote a theology of equality and civil rights. 

This book, The Preacher of Morgantown, traces the life of one of these ministers, Rev. John Bernard Gibbs (1872-1944) of Morgantown, West Virginia. Reverend Gibbs wielded the gospel as a means to encourage social change between black and white Americans. Contained within this book is a selection of Rev. Gibbs' sermons, some of which, in a small way, helped contribute to a generational and national discourse on race relations. His ministry, compounded by the works of others like him, helped lay the foundation of a civil rights theology more than a generation later.

I hope this book will bring his works to life and that his talents and ministry will be remembered forever.

J.R. Rothstein

New York, New York

November 15, 2020

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PART  I 

The Life and Ancestry of

John Bernard Gibbs

By J.R. Rothstein

Based, in part, on the research of Catherine Gibbs-Robertson

John Bernard Gibbs (1872-1944) was born on December 5, 1872, the second of four children of Pleasant Gains Gibbs (1839-1909) and Mary Catherine Graves (1851-1932). He was born in the hamlet of Maynardsville, Union County, Tennessee, which contained 155 people in 1870. He was the grandson of William Daniel Gibbs and Elizabeth Jane Johnston, the great-grandson of Nicholas Gibbs Jr. (1772-1814), and the great-great grandson of the famed pioneer, Johann Nichlab Nicholas Gibbs of Baden, Baden, Germany (1733-1817).

Although he was called Bernard, John Bernard carried the first name of his direct ancestor, John Nicholas Gibbs Sr., who at the age of 14, got into a fight with his father. Thereafter, Nicholas left the Village of Wallruth in the Duchy of Baden, Germany, and migrated to the new world. Nicholas Gibbs fought in the American Revolution at the Battle of Kings Mountain and ultimately settled in Tennessee.

Bernard also generally descended from numerous intermarried Anglo-German families that helped settle the area of what would become the States of North Carolina and Tennessee, including but not limited to: (i) Johan Sebastian Graff (1703-1804), who fought at the Battle of Alamance in 1771, through three different of his children; (ii) Boston Sebastian Graves (1747-1840), who fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780, and was captured by the British; (iii) John Jacob Graves, who was kidnapped by British troops during the American Revolution and forced to serve in their army but eventually escaped; (iv) Nicholas Gibbs Jr. (1772-1814), a friend of future President Andrew Jackson, who fought and died at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend after being killed by an Indian; (vi) Henry Honus Sharp (1735-1814), who fought with Count Pulaski’s Legion Dragoons during the American Revolution; and (vii) Johann David Ephland (1675-1761), an original settler of Hunterton County, New Jersey. The details of the lives of these individuals have been elaborated upon by others elsewhere.

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Early Years Of Bernard Gibbs 

Nothing is known about Bernard’s parents except that they engaged in small scale farming and that his father, Pleasant Gains, had lost his mother when he was only five. Similarly, little is known about Bernard’s childhood except that he, like many children, was particularly close to his mother, Mary Catherine Graves. Bernard shared siblings, William Ary Gibbs (1871 – 1943); Beecher Doyle Gibbs (1875 – 1945) and a precocious little sister, Lula Irene Gibbs (1882 – 1961). [1]

Facts, however, regarding John Bernard’s childhood can be found among his written sermons (the vast majority of which have been lost to history) and provide some insight into the early shaping of Bernard’s character. 

In one sermon, Bernard remarks, I grew up in Eastern Tennessee, where the land is so steep that we could work both sides of it – cattle would fall out of the fields and break their necks – [we] had to make holes for the dogs to sit in and bark. Lazy at times of any voluntary effort, [we] would have died of starvation, and they said, we ought to make a preacher out of him. He further related, I have always been of inquisitive turn of mind (i.e. my question about the incense burner – something that we do not have in our home). This made me to go on my way wishing that I had some for patent kicker that I could attach to a post and use on myself for a while." 

Bernard was a principled man by disposition, a great orator, bookish, a deep thinker with an introverted streak.[2] Reverend Gibbs related, [t]he world of folk [are] made up of two classes – those who want to be left alone, [and those who do not]. I shall not stop to tell you to which class I belong only that I do not enjoy speaking after dinner. Although, I have always felt that if I had a lot of money, I would make a good after-dinner speaker. Bernard lived in a world of faith and of ideas. But it was not enough for him to only live in a world of principles – he felt that action was necessary, too. 

P1-2 bernard childP1-3 lulaP1-4 gibbs brothersP1-5 pleasant gibbs fam

Bernard Abandons the Law &

Becomes A Minister 

It was this inquisitive spirit that led Bernard to seek out books and knowledge which, in turn, allowed him to excel in academics and ultimately, by the early 1890s, to the study of law. According to his daughter, Catherine Gibbs-Robertson (1924 – 2013), Bernard studied law at an institution in Chicago, and then later studied Divinity at Vanderbilt University. Others have said that he studied law at Vanderbilt University and his Divinity work elsewhere. According to the 1942 Official Journal and Yearbook of the Methodist Church, however, Bernard went onto receive his spiritual education at the University of Tennessee and at the University of Chattanooga. To date, no exact records have been located one way or the other to provide clarity on the subject. 

Bernard was restless in the study and practice of law. One day, he received a calling from the Lord. Unable to ignore that calling, Bernard began to slowly question the teachings of the Presbyterian church and considered abandoning the law in order to study and preach the gospel. Bernard believed God had created him to perform good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  Bernard believed it was his duty to learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. For Bernard, law, despite its prospects of lucrative financial rewards, did not adequately answer that calling. He is motivated by the command of the gospel that a Christian should go, sell all that he has, and give it to the poor. It inspired him to ultimately make a leap of faith and formally abandon the law and enroll in divinity school. 

But if each minister had a unique mission, what would his be? In the tradition of the Second Great Awakening and its social justice theology, Bernard thought deeply about the social issues of his day, and believed that their rectification could help usher in the redemption of mankind. From the moment of that great spiritual awakening, Bernard could do nothing but ponder the role that the gospel could play in healing society.  

It was through deep reflection about these larger questions of justice, that some of his