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THE HISTORY 



OF THE 



AMERICAN EPISCOPAL 



T I 



1587-1883. 



kk . 




FROM-THE- LIBRARY-OP 
TWNiraOLLEGE TORONTO 





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THE HISTORY 



AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH 



THE HISTORY 



AMERICAN 

EPISCOPAL CHURCH 



1587-1883 



BY 



WILLIAM STEVENS PERRY, D.D., LL.D. 



BISHOP OF IOWA 



IN TWO VOLUMES 



VOL. I 

THE PLANTING AND GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN 
COLONIAL CHURCH 

1587 1783 



PROJECTED BY CLARENCE F. JEWETT 



BOSTON 
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY 

1885 



Copyright, 1885 

JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY 
All rights reserved 



Press of Rock-ioell anJ Churchill, Boston 



THE RT. HON. AND MOST REV. EDWARD W. BENSON, D.D., 

ETC., ETC., 
LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, PRIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND AND METROPOLITAN; 



THE MOST REV. ROBERT EDEN, D.D., 

LORD BISHOP OF MORAY, ROSS, AND CAITHNESS, AND PRIMUS OF THE 
CHURCH IN SCOTLAND; 



THE RT. REV. ALFRED LEE, D.D., LL.D., 

BISHOP OF DELAWARE, AND PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH, 



75 RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 



PREFACE. 



rjlHAT the history of the American Episcopal Church is 
not more widely known, and more generally accessible, 
is not from the lack of earnest and painstaking inves 
tigators, nor from any want of abundant material. Pam 
phlets and volumes, "broadsides" and papers, letters, 
records and manuscripts, bearing upon our history and illus 
trating the annals of earlier or later days, exist in almost 
embarrassing profusion. Even the statutes at large of our 
jurists and the secular histories of our States or the Nation 
cannot be studied, or even casually examined, without the 
revelation of the connection of the Church of England with 
early maritime discovery and colonization, and the confession 
of the fact that the State and the Church grew up together 
among us from the first. In fact, our ecclesiastical history is 
necessarily coeval with that of the civilization and develop 
ment of the continent. One cannot turn the dingy pages 
of the 

" Small, rare volumes, black with tarnished gold," 

the coveted treasures of the bibliomaniac, and the "nuggets " 
of collectors of "Americana," without finding in black 
letter or in plain Roman the story of the Church s progress 
through trials and difficulties from her first transplanting on 
American shores to her present independence and promise. 



PREFACE. 

It is, nevertheless, true that with a rich and almost 
exhaustless store of material to draw from, and with a his 
tory of which we have no reason to be ashamed, the narrative 
of the Church s foundation and growth has been but partially 
told. The labors of the late Francis Lister Hawks, D D., 
LL.D., first historiographer of the American Church, prose 
cuted as they were among many discouragements, and 
received, as we must confess, with inadequate support, gave 
us the annals of the Church in Virginia and Maryland, and, at 
a Inter date, and in connection with the present writer, the 
documentary history of the Connecticut Church. The ven 
erable Bishop White, in his invaluable "Memoirs of the 
Church," placed within our reach an authoritative resume 
of the facts and principles of our organization as an inde 
pendent branch of the catholic Church of Christ. Others, 
whom it would be impossible to name, have supplied, in 
diocesan or parish histories, and in the biographies of our 
leading men, data of the greatest value and interest. But 
the only accessible history of the Church, as a whole, is the 
admirable summary of our annals, written by the celebrated 
Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford and Winchester, and since 
this admirable work was prepared nearly half a century of 
growth and development has already passed. 

The scheme of this History originated with Mr. Clarence 
F. Jewett, who entrusted the further development of the work 
to the writer, and it is now offered to supply, for a time at 
least, the confessed lack of a record of the Church s progress 
during its earlier days of planting and struggling as a feeble 
and somewhat neglected branch of the Church of England, 
and its history after the war of the Revolution as an organiza 
tion which has now closed its first century of independent 
life. In the presentation of this story of church life and 
growth there have been added to the narrative numerous im 
portant and valuable monographs, prepared by distinguished 



PREFACE. 



IX 



writers of our communion, and serving to elucidate the state 
ments of the text or to add to their fulness and accuracy. 

Other papers of this nature, of perhaps equal value and 
interest, were prepared; but, with a view to condensation, the 
results of these investigations have been incorporated in the 
narrative and illustrative notes. It is believed that by this 
division of labor a more satisfactory result has been attained 
than could possibly have been secured in any other way, and 
these noble volumes, which in their typography and careful 
illustration, attest the taste and liberality of the publishers, 
are therefore commended to the kind consideration of the 
members of our Church as the first complete history of our 
communion. 




x^C. ,/ x 3 r ^ 

&jUt&^^2M^- 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PREFACE vn 

Ejje panting antr 0rofotfj of tfje American Colonial Cjjurcjj. 

BY THE EDITOR. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE CONNECTION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND WITH AMERICAN 

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 1 

ILLUSTRATIONS : Sebastian Cabot, 3 ; Martin Frobisher, 6 ; The Arms 
of England, 8; Cavendish, 11; Sir Francis Drake, 14. 

AUTOGRAPHS : Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI., 2 ; Queen Mary, 
Queen Elizabeth, 4 ; Sir Francis Drake, 5 ; Martin Frobisher, 6 ; 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 8 ; Sir Walter Ralegh, 9 ; Ralph Lane, 10. 

NOTES, CRITICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL . 15 



CHAPTER II. 

SERVICES AND SACRAMENTS AT RALEGH S COLONIES AT ROANOKE, ON 

THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST 18 

CRITICAL NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION . ... 23 



CHAPTER III. 

FORT ST. GEORGE AND THE CHURCH SETTLERS AT THE MOUTH OF 

THE KENNEBEC 26 

ILLUSTRATIONS : Smith s Map of New England, 28 ; Ancient Pema- 
quid, 33. 

AUTOGRAPHS : George Waymouth, 27 ; Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 2!) ; Sir 



XII CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

John Popham, Rev. Richard Hakluyt, 30; William Strachey, 34; 
Lord Bacon, 37. 

CRITICAL NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 38 



CHAPTER IV. 
THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH. AND STATE IN VIRGINIA .... 42 

ILLUSTRATIONS : Capt. John Smith, 43 ; Jamestown, 44 ; Lord Dela 
ware, 61 ; George Percy, 55. 

ACTOGRAPHS : Capt. John Smith, 47; James I., 49; De la Warr, 53; 
Thomas Gates, 54 ; George Percy, 55. 

CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION 63 

CHAPTER V. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF HENRICO, AND EFFORTS FOR THE CONVERSION 

AND CIVILIZATION OF THE SAVAGES 66 

ILLUSTRATION : Fac-simile Seal of Virginia, 72. 
AUTOGRAPH : John Harvey, 72. 

CRITICAL NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION 78 

CHAPTER VI. 
PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND 81 

ILLUSTRATIONS: John Endicott, 83 ; Standish s Sword and a Match 
lock, 84 ; John Winthrop, 88; St. Botolph s Church, 89; John 
Cotton, 91; Winthrop s Fleet, 93; Fac-simile Letter of Thomas 
Lechford, 98; Petition of Robert Jordan, 106. 

AUTOGRAPHS: Robert Browne, 81; Thomas Morton, 82; John Endi 
cott, 83 ; Miles Standish, 84 ; William Blaxton, Thomas Walford, 
Samuel Maverick, 87; John Winthrop, 88; John Cotton, 91; 
William Hubbard, 94 ; Roger Williams, 95 ; Thomas Lechford, 
98; Ferdinando Gorges, Captain Mason, Roger Goode, Thomas 
Gorges, 100; Robert Jordan, 104; Signers of Covenant "First 
Church in Boston" (John Winthrop, John Wilson, Isaac John 
son, Thomas Dudley), 111. 

CRITICAL NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION 107 



CHAPTER VII. 
THE COLLEGE AT WILLIAMSBURG AND PRESIDENT BLAIR .... 113 

ILLUSTRATION : The College of William and Mary as it appeared a 
century and a half ago, 123. 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. XIII 

AUTOGRAPHS: William Berkeley, 114; James Blair, Robert Boyle, 
115; Thomas Dawson, John Camm, James Horrocks, 125. 

ILLUSTRATIVE AND CRITICAL NOTES 126 



CHAPTER VIII. 

COMMISSARY BRAY AND THE BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH IN 

MARYLAND 129 

ILLUSTRATIONS: Lord Baltimore, 130; The Baltimore Arms, 132; 
Cecil, second Lord Baltimore, 133; Fac-simile Title-Page of 
Tract, 139; Endorsement of the Toleration Act, 146; All-Hal 
lows Parish Church, Snow Hill, Maryland, 147. 

AUTOGRAPHS: John Harvey, Leonard Calvert, 131; John Lewger, 
Thomas Cornwaleys, 132; King Charles II., 135, 145; Sir George 
Calvert, William Stone, 145; Philip Calvert, 146. 

CRITICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES . . 145 



CHAPTER IX. 

BEGINNINGS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK AND THE MIDDLE COLONIES, 148 

ILLUSTRATIONS: Arms of Sir Francis Nicholson, 151; The Fort and 
Chapel, Old New York, 155; Sir Edmund Andros, 157; Arms of 
Andros, 158; Lord Bellomont, 163. 

AUTOGRAPHS : Richard Nicolls, 148 ; Charles Wolley, 150 ; Thomas 
Dongan, 152; King James II., 153; Lord Bellomont, 163; Gov 
ernor Fletcher, 170. 

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 170 



CHAPTER X. 

GOVERNOR ANDROS AND THE BUILDING OF KING S CHAPEL, BOSTON, 175 

ILLUSTRATIONS : Fac-simile of Earliest Record-Book of King s Chapel, 
Boston, 178; Great Seal of New England under Andros, 181; 
the first King s Chapel, 186 ; John Nelson, 188 ; Fac-simile Note 
frorii the Records of King s Chapel referring to the Rebellion 
against Andros, 190; Holy Table in Use in 1686, 191; Com 
munion Flagon, 192; Communion Plate given by King William 
and Queen Mary, 193. 

AUTOGRAPHS: Robert Ratcliffe, 175; Samuel Sewall, 176; Charles 
Lidgett, 177; Edward Randolph, 179; Edmund Andros, 181 ; Ben 
jamin Bullivant, 187; John Nelson, 188 ; Ministers, Wardens, and 
Vestry of King s Chapel, 1700, 194; Rev. Peter Daille, 195. 

ILLUSTRATIVE AND CRITICAL NOTES .... 195 



XIV CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE STATE OF THE CHURCH IN AMERICA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY 
FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS . . 197 

ILLUSTRATION : Seal of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in 
Foreign Parts, 198. 

ILLUSTRATIVE AND CRITICAL NOTES 205 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE MISSION OF KEITH AND TALBOT " FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE TO 

CARATUCK," NORTH CAROLINA 206 

ILLUSTRATIONS: The King s Missive, 1GG1, commanding the Release 
of the Quakers, 207 ; Rev. George Keith, 209 ; Joseph Dudley, 
211; Fac-simile Title-Page of Sermon preached by Rev. George 
Keith, 213 ; George Fox, 216 ; Increase Mather, 222. 

AUTOGRAPHS : Cotton Mather, James Allen, Joshua Moody, Samuel 
Willard, 208; Joseph Dudley, 211 ; John Talbot, 215. 

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES ..... 221 



CHAPTER XIII. 
THE PLANTING OF THE CHURCH IN PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE, 223 

ILLUSTRATIONS : William Penn, 223 ; Seal of Pennsylvania, 224 ; the 
Queen Anne Plate, Christ Church, 231; Clirist Church, Philadel 
phia, 236 ; Interior of Christ Church, Philadelphia, 238 ; Jacob 
Duch6, 241; Old Swedes Church, Wilmington, Delaware, 244; 
Gloria Dei (old Swedes) Church, 245 ; Old St. David s Church, 
Radnor, 246. 

AUTOGRAPHS: William Penn, 223; Evan Evans, 226; Peter Evans, 
Robert Hunter, 232 ; William Keith, 233 ; Edmund Gibson, Lord 
Bishop of London, 237 ; Robert Jenney, William Sturgeon, Ja 
cob Duche, 239 ; Richard Peters, 240 ; John Kearsley, Thomas 
Coombe, Jacob Duche, 241 ; Philip Reading, Thomas Barton, 
Charles Inglis, Hugh Neill, 242; William Thompson, Robert 
Jenney, William Smith, 243. 

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 244 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE CONVERSION TO THE CHURCH OF CUTLER, RECTOR OF YALE 

COLLEGE, AND OTHER PURITAN MINISTERS OF CONNECTICUT . . 247 

ILLUSTRATIONS : Timothy Cutler, 248 ; Christ Church, Boston, 252. 




CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. XV 

AUTOGRAPH : Timothy Cutler, 248. 
ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 255 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE TRIAL OF JOHN CHECKLET, AND THE STRUGGLES OF THE 

CHURCH IN MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND 257 

AUTOGRAPHS : John Checkley, Ezekiel Cheever, 257 ; William Dum- 
mer, Robert Auchmuty, 264. 

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 271 



CHAPTER XVI. 
CONTROVERSIES 273 

ILLUSTRATION: Rev. James McSparran, 280; Memorial Tablet to 
Rev. John Beach, 282. 

AUTOGRAPHS: George Pigot, 273; Samuel Johnson, 274; Charles 
Chauncy, 276; James Wetmore, 279; James McSparran, 281. 

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTE 282 



CHAPTER XVII. 

DOCTOR JOHNSON, OF STRATFORD, AND THE GROWTH OF THE CON 
NECTICUT CHURCH 283 

ILLUSTRATIONS : Samuel Johnson, 289 ; Christ s Church, Stratford, 
297. 

AUTOGRAPHS : Timothy Cutler, 285 ; Samuel Johnson, 289. 
ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 302 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE LEADING MISSIONARIES AND CLERGY AT THE NORTH AND SOUTH : 

THEIR LlVES AND LABORS 304 

AUTOGRAPHS: Hugh Jones, 307; James Honyman, 311; Matthias 
Plant, 312; Thomas Bacon, 317; Edward Bass, 321. 

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTE .-. 321 



CHAPTER XIX. 

MISSIONARY LABORS AMONG THE MOHAWKS AND OTHER INDIAN 

TRIBES 322 



XVI CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

ILLUSTRATIONS : Sir William Johnson, 331 ; the Lord s Prayer from 
tin- Mohawk 1 rayer-Book, 334. 

334 



ILLUSTKATIVE NOTE 



CHAPTER XX. 



THK WKSI.KYS AND GEOHGE WHITEFIELD, MISSIONARIES OF THE 

CHURCH IN GEOKGIA 3 <*5 

ILLUSTRATIONS : General James Oglethorpe, 336 ; Fac-stmile Title- 
Page of Wesley s Journal, 346; Rev. George W T hitefielil, 349; 
Whitefield s Orphan House or Bethesda College, 351 ; Fac-siinile 
Title-Page of Sermon Preached by Rev. Edward Ellington, 358 ; 
Fac-simile Title-Page of Journal of Voyage from London to 
Georgia, 367. 

AUTOGRAPH : George Whitefield, 349. 

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES 360 



CHAPTER XXI. 
COMMISSARY GARDEN AND THE CHURCH IN SOUTH CAROLINA ... 372 

ILLUSTRATIONS : St. Michael s Church, 374 ; Fac-simile Title-Page of 
Six Letters to Rev. George Whitefield, 389 ; Interior of the Goose- 
Creek Church, 391; St. Andrew s Church, 392; Ruins of St. 
George s Church, Dorchester, 393. 

AUTOGRAPHS: Affra Coming, 375; Alexander Garden, 385; South 
Carolina Clergymen, 1724 (Thomas Hasell, John La Pierre, 
Benjamin Pownall, William Dawson, Alexander Garden, Brian 
Hunt, Albert Powderous, Richard Ludlam, Francis Varnod, 
David Standish), 394. 

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES , 390 



CHAPTER XXII. 
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE EPISCOPATE 395 

ILLUSTRATIONS: Jonathan Mayhew, 411; An Attempt to Land a 
Bishop in America, 413. 

AUTOGRAPHS : Thomas Seeker, Archbishop of Canterbury, 407 ; 
Jonathan Mayhew, 411; Thomas Bradbury Chandler, 414. 

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTE 426 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

KING S COLLEGE, NEW YORK, AND THE COLLEGE AND ACADEMY OF 

PHILADELPHIA 428 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. XVII 

ILLUSTRATIONS: Benjamin Franklin, 429; Rev. Richard Peters, 431; 
Rev. William Smith, 434; Distant view of King s College in 1768, 
443. 

AUTOGRAPHS : Richard Peters, 431 ; Benjamin Franklin, 433. 

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTE 446 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE POSITION OF THE CLERGY AT THE OPENING OF THE WAR FOR 

INDEPENDENCE 447 

ILLUSTRATION : Dr. Joseph Warren, 452. 
AUTOGRAPH : William Stevens Perry, 468. 

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTE . 467 



Ellustrattfo 



MONOGRAPH I. 

THE RELATIONS OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY 

TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Robert C. Winthrop .... 469 

ILLUSTRATION: Pilgrim Relics, 478. 

AUTOGRAPHS : John Winthrop, 469 ; Margaret Winthrop, 470; Samuel 
Browne, John Browne, 476 ; Samuel Fuller, 477 ; Robert C. 
Winthrop, 478. 

MONOGRAPH II. 

EARLY DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS ON THE COAST OF NEW ENG 
LAND, UNDER CHURCH AUSPICES. Benjamin F. De Costa . . 479 

ILLUSTRATIONS: John Hawkins, 480; Ship of the Seventeenth Cen 
tury, 483; Blackstone s Lot, 498. 

AUTOGRAPHS: John Hawkins, 480; Samuel Maverick, 491; John 
Cotton, 493; James I., 494; Benjamin F. De Costa, 500. 

MONOGRAPH III. 

PURITANISM IN NEW ENGLAND AND THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Thomas 

Winthrop Coit 501 



519 



XVI| , \M> ILLUSTRATIONS. 

i Hugh Peters, :.o:!: Tl.mna* Shepard, 505; William 
III., .Ml ; Tliciinas \V. Coit, 518. 



MONOGRAPH IV. 

DKAX BKKKI.KY > S.MOURX IN AMERICA. 1729-1731. Moses Coit 
f ...... ...... ......... 

ILLUSTRATIONS : " Whitehall," the Residence of Dean Berkeley while 
in Rhode Island, 520; George Berkeley, 523 ; Dean Berkeley s 
favorite Resort at Newport, now called Berkeley s Seat, 533. 

AITOGRAPHS: George Berkeley, 523; Moses Coit Tyler, 540. 



MONOGRAPH V. 

TIIK NON-JURING BISHOPS IN AMERICA . John Fulton 541 

ILLUSTRATIONS : Episcopal Seal bearing the Name of Talbot, 541. 
AUTOGRAPHS : Charles GookSn, 549 ; John Fulton, 560. 

MONOGRAPH VI. 

YALE COLLEGE AND THE CHURCH. E. Edwards Beardsley . . 561 

AUTOGRAPH : E. E. Beardsley, 576. 

MONOGRAPH VII. 

SOME HISTORIC CHURCHES. NEW ENGLAND . 577 

ST. JOHN S CHURCH, PORTSMOUTH. N.H. Henri/ E. Hovey . . 577 

ILLUSTRATION : Interior of St. John s Church, 579. 
AUTOGRAPH : Henry E. Hovey, 580. 

UNION CHURCH, WEST CLAREMONT, N.H. Francis CJiase . . 580 

ILLUSTRATION : Union Church, West Claremont, 581. 
AUTOGRAPH : Francis Chase. 582. 

CHRIST CHURCH. BOSTON. Henry Burroughs 582 

AUTOGRAPH : Henry Burroughs, 588. 

CHRIST CHURCH, CAMBRIDGE. Nicholas Hoppin 588 

ILLUSTRATION : Christ Church, Cambridge, 589. 
AUTOGRAPHS: East Apthorp, 588; Nicholas Hoppin, 592. 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. XIX 

TKIXITT CHURCH, NEWPORT. R.I., AND ST. PAUL S CHURCH. 

KINGSTON, R.I. Thomas March Clark 592 

AUTOGRAPH : Thomas M. Clark, 594. 

THE OLD NARRAGANSETT CHURCH. Daniel Goodwin .... 595 

ILLUSTRATION : The Old Naragansett Church, 595. 
AUTOGRAPH : Daniel Goodwin, 597. 

SOME HISTORIC CHURCHES. THE MIDDLE STATES 598 

THE HISTORIC AND ANTE-REVOLUTIONARY CHURCHES OF LONG 

ISLAND. Henry Onderdonk, Jr 598 

AUTOGRAPH : Henry Onderdonk, Jr., 599. 

HISTORIC CHURCHES OF NEW JERSEY. George Morgan Hills . 599 
AUTOGRAPH : George M. Hills, 605. 

THE UNITED CHURCHES OF CHRIST CHURCH AND ST. PETERS, 
PHILADELPHIA. TJiomas F. Davies 605 

AUTOGRAPH : Thomas F. Davies, 610. 

SOME HISTORIC CHURCHES. SOUTHERN STATES 610 

MARYLAND (DIOCESE OF EASTON). Henry C. Lay . . . . 610 
AUTOGRAPH : Henry C. Lay, 613. 

MARYLAND. George A. Leakin 613 

ILLUSTRATION : All-Hallows Parish Church, Maryland, 613. 
AUTOGRAPH : George A. Leakin, 614. 

COLONIAL VIRGINIA. Philip Slaughter 614 

ILLUSTRATION: St. Luke s Church, near Smithfleld, Va., 624. 
AUTOGRAPH : Philip Slaughter, 633. 

DIOCESE OF EAST CAROLINA, ST. PAUL S PARISH, EDENTON, 

CHOWAN COUNTY, N.C. Robert B. Drane 633 

ILLUSTRATION :, St. Paul s, Edenton, North Carolina, 634. 
AUTOGRAPH : Robert B. J)rane, 637. 

ST. THOMAS S CHURCH, BATH, BEAUFORT COUNTY, N.C. Joseph 

Blount Cheshire, Jr 637 

AUTOGRAPH : Joseph Blount Cheshire, Jr., 638. 



XX CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

HI<TOI;I. (IHK.III- IN S,,I;TH CAROLINA. J. J. Pr ingle Smith, 638 
ILLUSTRATION : St. David s, Cheraw, S.C., c,44. 
AUTOGRAPH >J. .1. Pringlc Smith, 644. 

MONOGRAPH VIII. 

THK CHT-IJCII CHARITIES OK THK KIGHTEKNTH CENTURY . . . . 645 

THK BOSTON EPISCOPAL CHARITABLE SOCIETY. Thomas C. 

Amort/ 645 

AUTOGRAPH : Thomas C. Amory, 646. 

THE CORPORATION FOR THE RELIEF OF WIDOWS AND CHILDREN 
OF CLERGYMEN OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
John William Wallace 647 

AUTOGRAPH : John W. Wallace, 660. 

CHRIST CHURCH HOSPITAL, PHILADELPHIA. Edward A. Foyyo, 660 
AUTOGRAPH : Edward A. Foggo, fi61. 

THE ORPHAN HOUSE AT BETHESDA, GA. John Watrous Beck- 

with 661 

AUTOGRAPH : John Watrous Beckwith, 665. 



THE HISTOKY 

OF THE 

AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

of tfte Slmtrican 



(Colonial 

1587 - 1783. 

BY WILLIAM STEVENS PERRY, D.D., LL.D., 

Bishop of Iowa. 






CHAPTEE I. 

THE CONNECTION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND WITH 
AMERICAN DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

r I COWARDS the close of the sixteenth century the effort to found 
I an empire in the New World, which had more or less occupied the 
mind of England since the discoveries of the Cabots, began to as 
sume importance and promise results. It was an age of restless activity 
and far-reaching enterprise. In all departments of life men were wont, 
as was said of Ralegh, to "toil terribly." No pains were spared, whether 
the effort were to advance the glory of the State, or to increase the indi 
vidual s wealth or power. The great dramatist of the day, and of all 
time since as well, reflecting in his plays the humor of the times, alludes 
to those who were not willing to spend their youth at home, but went 

. . " To seek preferment out; 
Some to the wars, to try their fortune there ; 
Some, to discover islands far away." 

So universal was this temper of the times that each ambitious spirit 
felt that it 

. . " Would be great impeachment to his age, 
In having known no travel in his youth." 2 

Although the fairest and most inviting portions of the continent, 
which had been first discovered by English expeditions nearly a 
century before, were in the grasp of other and rival nations, and only 

1 Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act I., Scene III. * Ibid. 




SIGN BIANUAL OF 
HENRY Vn. 



2 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

the Virgin s land, Virginia, remained for those who sailed in the service 
of the Virgin Queen, in which to lay the foundations of England s 
dominion in the West, the work was attempted as a bounden duty 
of the State and Church. For Church and State went hand in hand in 
these efforts for discovery and settlement. Without doubt John Cabot, 
who, under the auspices of King Henry VII., on 
the Feast of St. John Baptist, 1497, first discovered 
the American continent, carried with him, in his 
ship "The Matthew," of Bristol, some minister of 
the Church of England, as yet unreformed ; while a 
year later the royal bounty was extended to a 
priest going to the New-found-land l of the western 
hemisphere. Early in the sixteenth century a canon 
of St. Paul s, London, Albert de Prato, appears 
upon the American coast, who addressed his patron, 
Cardinal Wolsey, in a letter not extant, from the 
harbor of St. John s, Newfoundland. But it was 
not destined that the Church of England, unre 
formed, should people with her sons and daughters these distant lands. 
A new spirit was to animate the nation ere the settlement of a land, 
designed in the providence of God 
to be the home of civil and religious 
liberty, was to be successfully at 
tempted. It was thus that the English 
Church, delivered " from the tyran- 
nye of the Bishop of Rome, and all 
his detestable enormities ; " 2 purified 

in the fiery furnace of the Marian persecutions from Romish error, as 
well as freed from Romish rule, entered upon the work of adding new 
realms to the dominions of the Cross, with the same intrepidity and tire 
less zeal which inspired the adventures of English captains sailing out 
in quest of mines, or fisheries, or furs. Discovery and settlement be 
came, in fact, acts of faith. The spirit in which 
these expeditions were undertaken is plainly dis 
closed in the instructions prepared by the vener 
able Sebastian Cabot, as governor " of the mysterie 
and companie of the Marchants aduenturers for the 
AUTOGRAPH OF discoueric of Regions, Dominions, Islands and 
EDWARD vi. places unknowen," under the direction of King 
Edward VI. , for the expedition under Sir Hugh 
Willoughby, despatched, in 1553, to attempt the discovery of the 
northern passage to Cathay. These brave explorers, who 

..." The passage sought, attempted since 
So much in vain, and seeming to be shut 
By jealous nature with eternal bars " 3 

i In Nicolas s " Excerpta Historica," pp. don, upon a prest for his shipp going towards the 
85-133j several curious entries compiled from New Ilande, 20." 

rth P ^ _ . ^e English Litany of 1549, King Edward 

the voyaged "to the West. One we subjoin: VI. s Prayer-book. 

" 1498, March 24, to Lanslot Thirlkill, of Lon- 3 Thomson s " Seasons," Winter. 




AUTOGRAPH OF HENRY VIII. 




CHURCH CONNECTION WITH DISCOVEHY AND SETTLEMENT. 3 

hud with them "Master Kichard Stafford, Minister ; " and the three ships 
of K)0, 120, and 90 tons burden, respectively, made up, as Fuller in his 
" Worthies " tells us, " the first reformed Fleet, which had English 




SEBASTIAN CABOT. 



prayers and preaching therein." It was strictly enjoined in Cabot s code 
of instructions " that the morning and evening prayer, with other com- 

1 This cut follows a photograph taken from 1824, Vol. n., p. 208, and a photo-reduction of 

the Chapman copy of the original. The original that engraving appears in Nicholl s " Life of Se- 

was engraved when owned by Charles J.Har- bastian Cabot." Other engravings have appeared 

ford, Esq., for Beyer s "Memoirs of Bristol," in Sparks s "Amer. Biog.," Vol. IX., etc. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



mon services appointed by the king s inajestie, and lawes of this realme, 
he read and saide in every ship, daily, by the minister in the Admiral!, 
and the marchant or some other person learned on the other ships, and 
the Bible or paraphrases be read devoutly and Christianly to God s 
honour, and for his grace to be obtained, and had by humble and heartie 
1 >r:iier of the Nauigants accordingly." l Tragic as was the result of this 
ill-fated expedition so far as the "Admiral" and his hapless crew were 
concerned, all of whom were frozen to death while wintering in the har 

bor of Arzina, in Russian Lapland, 
the great work of discovery, checked 
during the bitter and bloody reign 
of Queen Mary, was resumed with 

AUTOGRAPH OF QUEEN MART. vigor when the land was again free 

from the rule of Rome. "Good 

order" in the "dayly service " and prayers unto God for success were 
enjoined in the instructions given to the voyagers sent out by the Rus 
sian Trading Company, at the beginning of Elizabeth s reign, while the 



\f\ 
J 




AUTOGRAPH OF QUEEX ELIZABETH. 

incidental mention of this requirement, in the midst of other directions, 
proves that attendance upon the church s daily prayers was a recog 
nized duty incumbent upon all men. 

In the name and fear of God did these old explorers and advent 
urers put forth upon the almost unknown sea. The Body and Blood of 
Lhrist was their viaticum, and the last home-words that fell upon their 
ears were the prayers and praises of the "Book of Common Prayer." 
i cross, with the arms of England at its foot, marked their discoveries 
and their chosen sites of settlement; and the words of their English 
ok of Prayer were said at morn and even, wherever these dauntless 
voyagers pursued their way, -North, till the impenetrable ice barred 

h^ w ? Ut V- 111 ?* farthest P ints of both hemispheres were 
d ; West, till in the broad rivers and inland seas of the New 

1 Anderson s " Colonial Church," i., p. 25. 



CHURCH CONNECTION WITH DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 5 

World they dreamed of finding a speedier way to Cathay and the spice- 
yielding East. Everywhere these sailors and settlers went till the fame 
of England s Queen and the faith of England s reformed Church were 
known throughout the world. Each new acquisition of the unknown 
land, lying in the direction of the setting sun, was so much virgin soil 
rescued from Spanish thraldom and Rome s inquisitorial sway. Each 
city sacked, each galleon captured on the Spanish Main, took somewhat 
from the luxuries of the pampered priests, or held in check the growing 
rapacity of Philip s court. So thoroughly did this crusading spirit pos 
sess the English mind that the very freebooters of the age, such as 
Drake and Cavendish, who knew no peace with Spain " beyond the 




AUTOGRAPH OP SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 

line " that marked the Pope s gift of the Western World to that king 
dom, 1 carried chaplains among their motley crews, and numbered in 
their train not a few who dared to die by the rack or in the flames rather 
than give up, at the bidding of the pitiless inquisitors of Rome, the little 
faith they had. Thus was it with all the captains sailing to the Spanish 
Main, and finding amidst the islands and upon the seas of the West In 
dies, and all along the coast of South America, the spoils of successful 
contests with the galleons of Spain. The exploits of the noted captains 
who sought gold and glory in ceaseless strife with Spain, the nation s 
formidable foe, have each their record of daily common prayer and 
solemn services and sacraments, conducted by the adventuresome priests 
of the Church of England, who were the chaplains of fleets that ruled all 
waters, and sailed fearlessly around the globe. We cannot wonder at 
the mingling of religion and politics shown in this hatred of Spain and 
distrust of Rome. Memories of the Smithfield and Oxford fires had 
not died out from the popular mind. The racks and thumb-screws, 
and all the appliances of the Inquisition, found in the shattered hulks 
of the "Armada," and borne in open view through the streets of Lon 
don to the Tower, where they are still preserved, told plainly of 
Romish intolerance and the Spaniards cold-blooded hate ; and the 
humblest sailor of these ships of discovery felt that the victory or 
advantage of Spain would light anew the Marian fires and burn out free 
dom and faith from the land. As these men were in earnest in their 
work, so they were ennobled by it, and they did well their part, daring 

>In 1493 the western hemisphere was de- nius IV., in 1438, to the crown of Portugal, an im- 

clared, by a decree of Pope Alexander VI., to aginary line was supposed to be drawn from pole 

belong to the united kingdoms of Castile and Ar- to pole, a hundred leagues west of the Azores ; 

ragon. In order not to interfere, however, with all discoveries to the east of which were assigned 

a previous grant made by a bull of Pope Euge- to Portugal, and all to the west to Spain. 



6 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

danger and death in the strife, whose guerdon was a continent s redemp 
tion The old charters and letters-patent, the records of the trading 
companies, and the very log-books of the ships of adventure, display 
a peculiar mingling of evangelizing and commercial projects. Ihe 
printed accounts of these adventures, or the " advertisements," as they 




were often styled, designed to enlist the interest and sympathy of the 
public in the schemes for discovery and colonization, always refer to 
" the carriage of God s Word into those very mighty and vast countries " 
which is expressly stated as a primary object of the expedition of Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert in 1583, the first attempt of the English to colonize 
the New World. This deep, religious feeling was not suffered to ex 
pend itself in words. In the fleet of " fifteen sayle of good ships " which 
left Harwich on the 31st of May, 1578, under the command of Martin 



CHURCH CONNECTION WITH DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 7 

Frobisher, one of the most stirring spirits of the times, was, as Hakluyt 
quaintly tells us, "one Maister Wolfall, a learned man, appointed by 
her Majestie s Councell to be their Minister and Preacher," who, "being 
well seated and settled at home in his owne countrey, with a good and 
large liuing, hauing a good, honest woman to wife, and very towardly 
children, being of good reputation amongst the best, refused not to take 
in hand this painefull voyage, for the onely care he had to saue soules and 
to reforme these infidels, if it were possible, to Christianitie." This 
worthy man was the first missionary priest of the reformed Church of 
England who ministered on American shores, and the record of his ser 
vices among the ice-fields at the North, as given by the old chronicler 
we have already quoted, is full of interest, as indicating the spirit in 
which these adventurers essayed the settlement of the Meta Incognita 
they had found : ^ 

Maister Wolfall on Winter s Fornace, preached a godly sermon, which being 
ended, he celebrated also a Communion vpon the land, at the partaking whereof 
was the Captain of the Anne Francis, and many other Gentlemen, and Souldiers, 
Mariners, and Miners with him. The celebration of the diuine mysteiy was the first 
signe, scale, and confirmation of Christ s name, death, and passion euer knowen in 
these quarters. The said M. Wolfall made sermons, and celebrated the Communion 
at sundry other times in seuerall and sundry ships, because the whole company could 
neuer meet together at any one place. 

While this solemn service and sacrament were taking place far to 
the northward on the eastern coast, there were pressing on their way 
through the Straits of Magellan, and all along the western shores of 
the New World, the voyagers in the "Pelican," under the adventure 
some Francis Drake. The story of Drake s fulfilment of his purpose 
and prayer, when, at the first sight of the Pacific Ocean, " he fell upon 
his knees and implored the divine assistance that he might at some 
time sail thither and make a perfect discovery of the same," is written 
by his chaplain, Francis Fletcher, and the end and aim of this famous 
voyage, in which the world was circumnavigated, was, by capture, 
conquest, and sack, to wreak vengeance on Spain for injuries which 
diplomacy had failed to make good. It was while sailing to the north 
ward that the great seaman discovered, in 1579, the coast of Oregon 
and that part of California which now belongs to the United States. 
On this coast, in " a convenient and fit harbor," on the first Sunday 
after Trinity, June 21, they landed for repairs. Here, at a gathering 
of the natives, who seemed to regard their visitors as superior beings, 
Drake called his company to prayers. In the presence of the abo 
rigines of this distant land, these rough sailors, who scrupled not to 
plunder or murder every Spaniard they met, lifted their eyes and hands 
to heaven, to indicate by these symbolic gestures that God is over all ; 
and then, following their chaplain s lead, they besought their God, in 
the church s prayers, to reveal himself to these idolaters and " to open 
their blinded eyes to the knowledge of Him and of Jesus Christ, the 
salvation of the Gentiles." It is interesting to note that this strange 
service took place on the eve, or else on the Feast Day, of St. John 
the Baptist. 1 Later, on leaving the scene of their sojourn, it was only by 

1 Narrative and Critical History of America, in., p. 70. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 




THE ARMS OF ENGLAND. 



prayers and the singing of psalms that the departing voyagers were 
able to dissuade the simple natives from " doing sacrifice to them " as 
gods. 1 It was thus that the church s prayers were first heard on the Pa 
cific coast ; and in taking solemn possession, by the planting of the 
cross with the arms of England affixed thereto, of " New Albion," for 
England s Queen, the far west of our 
national domain was claimed for the 
Church of the English-speaking race. 
To Francis Fletcher, the priest of a 
motley crew, belongs the honor of 
being the first in English orders who 
ministered the Word and Sacraments 
within the territory of the United 
States ; and if, as is probable, the 
"fayre and good baye" where he 
repaired his ship, and where the 
events we have referred to occurred, 
was the bay of San Francisco, it was 
on this spot that the words of the 
Common Prayer were first heard 
on the Pacific coast. 

The attempt of Frobisher to mine for gold upon the inhospitable 
shores of Hudson s Bay failed, as did, a few years later, the efforts of 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, to whom was assigned by the Queen letters- 
patent, bearing date of June 11, 1578, "for the inhabiting and planting 
of our people in America." This gallant Christian knight, nearly allied 
with that " prince of courtesy," Sir Walter Ralegh, entered upon the 
work of peopling the New World with English immigrants, with an 
honest purpose of securing " the full possession of these so ample and 
pleasant countreys for the Crown and people of England." Among the 
motives urging him to undertake this labor were " the honour of God " 
and "compassion of poore infidels, captived by the deuill, tyrannizing 
in most wonderful and dreadful manner over their bodies and soules, it 
seeming probable that God hath reserved these Gentiles to be reduced 
into Christian civility by the English nation." It was for the spread of 

the Christian 
faith that Gil 
bert hazarded 
life and fortune 
in these schemes 
o f settlement ; 
and the preg 
nant clause of 
the first charter 
granted for the 
establishment of 
an English col 
ony on American shores that the laws and ordinances of the settle 
ment " be, as neere as conveniently may, agreeable to the forme of 

1 Narrative and Critical History of America, in., p. 70. 




AUTOGRAPH OF SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. 



CHURCH CONNECTION WITH DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 9 



the laws and pollicy of England ; and also, that they be not against 
the true Christian faith or religion now professed in the Church of 
England," attest both his loyalty and love of mother-church. Al 
though conceived and undertaken in this spirit, the expedition itself, 
in the familiar words of our prayers, quoted by the old chronicler, 
was " begun, continued, and ended, adversly." At the outset great 
delays and disappointments were experienced, and when at length 
the expedition had set sail, it was driven back by a Spanish fleet with 
loss of ships and men. A few years later the adventurers succeeded 
in reaching St. John s Harbor, Newfoundland, where Gilbert and 
his company landed on the tenth Sunday after Trinity, August 4, 
1583. On the following day Sir Humphrey took formal possession of 
St. John s and the neighboring country, and, in token of his feudal 
rights, received, " after the custom of England, a rod and a turffe of 
the same soile." Of the three laws he set forth for immediate observ 
ance, the first provided that the religion of the colony, "in publique 
exercise should be according to the Church of England ; " the others 
enjoined the maintenance of the royal prerogatives . Having thus settled 
the government and religion of Newfoundland, Sir Humphrey undertook 
the exploration of the coast of the main-land to the southward, but the 
loss of one of his ships forced him to change his course for England. 
The little " frigat " of ten tons burden, which carried this intrepid navi 
gator, foundered amidst the "outrageous seas," and Sir Humphrey, who 
was last seen by the crew of his companion vessel " sitting abaft with a 
booke in his hand," and crying out, " We are as neare to heaven by sea 
as by land," was prevented by this fate from being the first settler within 
the limits of the United States, and, possibly, from shaping the relig 
ious history of New England in the direction of conformity to the Church 
of which he was a faithful member. 

But death and disappointments could not check the spirit of ad 
venture now rife in England ; and the zeal for the evangelization of 
the heathen beyond the sea, which now animated the English Church 
and realm, soon found expres 
sion in acts as well as words. 1 
Ralegh, to whom may be given 
the proud title of " The Father 
of American Colonization," was 
impatient to win the prize 
which his half-brother had 
failed to secure. The year following Sir Humphrey s loss a fresh patent 
was granted by the Queen to her favorite courtier, vesting in him 
and his heirs the powers and privileges which had been bestowed 
upon Sir Humphrey. As before, provision was made that the laws 




AUTOGRAPH OF SIB WALTER RALEGH. 



1 " The carnage of God s word into those very 
mightv and vast countreys," to quote the word s 
of Haies, one of Gilbert s captains, and the chron 
icler of his ill-starred fortunes, was a labor of so 
high and excellent a nature as should, indeed, 
" make men well advised how they handled it," 
and Haies as well as Sir George Peckman, " the 
chief adventurer and furtherer of Gilbert s 
voyage," in their published reports of " the heavy 
succeise and issue of" this "first attempt" of 



England to plant a colony, show clearly that a 
moving cause in the enterprise was the wish and 
belief that it was destined, in the counsels of the 
Almighty, that England should bear the evangel 
of our L ord Jesus Christ to the savages of the 
western world. Thus is the first effort to 
found a settlement of the English race upon our 
American shores plainly proved to be an attempt 
to promote the spread of the Christian faith by 
the evangelistic labor of the English Church. 



10 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

" be not against the true Christian faith nowe professed in the Church 
of England." These letters-patent bear the date of Lady-day, 1584, 
and on the 27th of the following month two barks, well furnished with 
men and provisions, commanded by Masters Philip Amadas and 
A rtbur Barlowe, respectively, set sail from the west of England at the 
charge and by the direction of Ralegh. About two months were 
-pent by these adventurers on the coast of North Carolina, which they 
reached on the 4th of July (old style) ; and, having kidnapped two 
of the natives, Wanchese and Manteo, and gained some vague infor 
mation with respect to the natural productions of the country and the 
manners and customs of the people, they returned to England, where 
they arrived about the middle of September. The story of this voyage, 
written by Barlowe, spread far and wide the fame of the paradise dis 
covered in the New World. A rude map, made during the expedition by 
the adventurers themselves, a copy of which was afterwards published by 
De Dry, represents the large vessels riding at anchor outside the sound, 
while a single-masted pinnace, bearing at its prow a man holding an 
uplifted cross in his hand, is making towards the shore as if to testify the 
desire of the adventurers for the propagation of Christianity in the lands 
they had discovered. That this desire was no mere passing thought 
subsequent events fully proved. The Queen, deeming her reign 
signalized by the discovery of so fair a land, gave to it the name 
" Virginia." Ralegh soon obtained from the Parliament, in which he 
represented his native Devon, a bill confirming his patent of discovery. 
He was shortly afterwards knighted by his royal mistress, and the 
means were provided, by the grant of a profitable monopoly, which 
enabled him to prosecute without delay his schemes of settlement. 

Seven vessels, under the command of Ralegh s cousin, Sir 
Richard Grenville, a brave and gallant knight, whose life and death 
were heroic, comprised the fleet that set sail from Plymouth, on Good 
Friday, April 9, 1585, to plant a colony in the New Virginia. Master 
Ralph Lane, afterwards knighted by the Lord Deputy of Ireland for his 

military services in that unhappy 
land, was appointed governor 
of the one hundred and eight 
colonists who were to found the 
first settlement in the New World. 
Master Philip Amadas, who was 
one of the discoverers of the site 
of settlement, was commissioned as "Admiral of the Country." First 
on the list of those, "as well gentlemen as others, that remained one 
whole year in Virginia," is the honored name of " Master Hariot," the 
historian of the colony, and still remembered as the inventor of the 
system of notation used in modern algebra. It is to the keen observa 
tion of the natural products of the country by Thomas Hariot that the 
world owes the knowledge of the value of the tuberous roots of the po 
tato and the " many rare and wonderful " virtues of the tobacco-plant. 
Among the "principal gentlemen of the company" was Cavendish, 
its * High Marshall," who afterwards circumnavigated the world, and 
was knighted by the Queen ; and the wise forethought of Ralegh had 




CHURCH CONNECTION WITH DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 11 

provided that John White, an artist of merit, should accompany the 
expedition, whose water-color studies from life of the aborigines, their 
habits and modes of living, as well as of the plants, birds, and beasts of 




CAVENDISH. 



Virginia, are still preserved in the British Museum, 1 and were at the 
time reproduced in the fascinating pages of De Bry. Others, men of 
family and fortune, together with not a few "bad natures," as Hariot 

1 An interesting account of these one hundred collection in the British Museum, is found in the 
and twelve water-color drawings, in the Sloane " Archseolotf ia Americana," IV., pp. 20-25. 



12 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

styles them, made up the expedition, which had, at least, its outward 
recognition of religion in the appointed " prayers " at which, as we 
learn from the same chronicler, the aborigines were sometimes present 
as interested attendants on the settlers common prayer and praise. 
Anthony Wood, in his gossiping "Athenae Oxonienses," * has at 
tempted to impugn the orthodoxy of Hariot ; but this accusation is 
refuted, not only by contemporary authority, but by his own words, 
which, as the first published record of missionary effort among the 
aborigines of our land by a member of our mother-church, are well 
worthy of our notice. In "A Briefe and True Report of the New 
Found Land of Virginia," after describing the undisguised wonder of 
the simple natives at the sight of the mathematical instruments, the 
time-pieces, burning-glasses, fire-arms, and books of the colonists, 
Hariot proceeds as follows : 

They thought they were rather the workes of gods than of men or at the least 
wise they had bene giuen and taught vs of the gods. Which made many of them 
to haue such an opinion of us, as that if they knew not the trueth of God, and religion 
already, it was rather to bee had from vs, whom God so specially loued, than from 
a people that were so simple, as they found themselues to be in comparison of vs. 
Whereupon greater credite was giuen vnto that wee spake of, concerning such 
matters. 

Many times and in euery towne where I came, according as I was able, I made 
declaration of the contents of the Bible, that therein was set foorth the true and onely 
God, and his mightie workes, that therein was conteined the time doctrine of 
saluation through Christ, with many particularities of Miracles and chiefe points 
of Religion as I was able then to vtter, and thought fit for the time. And although 
I told them the booke materially and of itselfe was not of any such virtue, as I 
thought they did conceiue, but onely the doctrine therein conteined; yet would 
many be glad to touch it, to embrace it, to kisse it, to hold it to their breastes and 
heads, and stroke ouer all their body with it, to show their hungry desire of that 
knowledge which was spoken of. 

But even these evidences for God s Word were far from being the 
sole results of Hariot s zealous efforts in behalf of the natives, efforts 
designed, as he observes in the same narrative, that they "might live 
together with us, be made partakers of His truth, and serve Him in 
righteousness." A man of prayer himself, both by example and teach 
ing, he impressed these gentle savages with a sense of the value of 
prayer. 

The Wiroans (or chief) with whom we dwelt, called Wingina, and many of his 
people would bee glad many times to be with us at our prayers, and many times 
call vpon us both in his owne towne, as also in others, whither hee sometimes 
accompanied vs, to pray and sing Psalmes, hoping thereby to be partakers of the 
same effects which we by that means also expected. Twise this Wiroans was so 
grievouslv sicke that he was like to die, and as he lay languishing, doubting of any 
helpe by his owne priestes, and thinking hee was in such danger for offending vs, 
and thereby our God, sent for some of vs to pray and bee a means to ovr God, that 
it would please Him that he might Hue, or after death dwell with Him in blisse : so 
likewise were the requests of many others in the like case. 

If the leaders of the expedition had shared the high and holy pur 
poses and missionary zeal of Hariot its history would have been far 
different. Its appointed head soon showed himself unworthy of his 

Bliss s edition, n., p. 299. 



CHUKCH CONNECTION WITH DISCO VERY AND SETTLEMENT. 13 

position. With him words took the place of deeds, and his speedy 
desertion of his post appears in marked contrast with his professions 
of martyr-like devotion to the cause he had undertaken. 

From "Port Ferdinando, in Virginia," the governor addressed the 
following words to Sir Francis Walsingham, Her Majesty s Secre 
tary of State. We have modernized the orthography, which, in the 
original, is especially defective : - 

Myself hare undertaken, with the favor of God and in His fear, with a good 
company more, as well of gentlemen as others, to remain here the return of a new 
supply; as resolute rather to lose our lives than to defer a possession to her 
majesty, our country, and that our most noble Patron, Sir Walter Ralegh, of so 
noble a kingdom, as by his most worthy endeavor and infinite charge, as also of 
your honor and the rest of the most honorable the adventurers, an honorable entry 
is made into (by the mercy of God) to the conquest of; and for mine own part do 
find myself better contented to live with fish for my daily food and water for my 
daily drink in the prosecution of such one action than out of the same to live in the 
greatest plenty that the Court could give me ; comforted chiefly hereunto with an 
assurance of Her Majesty s greatness hereby to grow by the addition of such a king 
dom as this is to the rest of her dominions ; by means whereof likewise the Church 
of Christ through Christendom may, by the mercy of God, in short time find a 
relief and freedom from the servitude and tyranny that by Spain (being the sword 
of that Antichrist of Rome and his sect) the same hath of long time been most 
miserably oppressed with. Not doubting, in the mercy of God, to be sufficiently 
provided for by Him, and most assured by faith in Christ, that rather than He will 
suffer His Enemies the Papists to triumph over the overthrow of this most Christian 
action, or of us His poor servants, in the thorough famine or other wants, being 
in a vast countiy yetunmannered, though most apt for it, that he could command 
even the ravens to feed us, as He did by His servant the Prophet Habakkuk ( !) and 
that only for His mercy s sake. . . . From the Porte Ferdinando in Virginia the 
12th of August, 1585. 

On the same day the governor wrote to Sir Philip Sydney some 
further "ylle fashioned lynes," proposing an expedition against the 
island of St. John and Hispaniola, as San Domingo was then called, 
by which the forces of the King of Spain could be diverted from 
England to the West Indies, and begging the gallant Sydney, who had 
earlier contemplated leading a colony of settlers to the New World, not 
" to refuse the good opportunity of such a service to the Church of 
Christ, as the seizure of the mines of treasure, in the possession of 
Spain, would be." 

Deeply may we regret that these words of daring, and their promise 
of self-denying devotion to the mighty enterprise in hand, found so 
inadequate a fulfilment. A few weeks of loneliness in the wilderness 
unmanned both governor and colonists, and the high hopes of the 
moment of debarkation were forgotten in an overmastering longing to 
return to home and friends across the Atlantic. 

But little remains to mark the site of this first settlement upon 
American soil. The records of the colonists fix the location of the 
modest fort and village, erected by these early adventurers, not far 
from the northern point of the island of Roanoke, just enough removed 
from the shore to be sheltered from the ocean gales by the headlands 
and the forest, while the outlook upon the waters whence their supplies 
were to come was not obscured. Traces of the entrenchments are still 

* These interesting letters are found in " Arcuaeologia Americana," Vol. rv., pp. 8-18. 



14 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



to be s<3en, with here a gate-way, flanked by a deep trench, and there a 
bastion, thrown out at the angle of the fort. The pine, the live-oak, and 
other forest trees, draped with luxuriant vines, and standing in the midst 




SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 

of a dense undergrowth, have tilled the ditch and overgrown the site. 
In the rank grass a moss-covered stone, or a fragment of brick, are all 
the relics that remain of Ralegh s settlement on Roanoke Island. 

At this spot Lane and his little company remained until the 19th 
of June, 1586. The governor, by this time, had grown dissatisfied with 



CHURCH CONNECTION WITH DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 15 

the site chosen for the settlement. There was no harbor in which the 
ships of England, coming with succors and supplies, could ride at anchor 
in safety. To the northward the governor had found a fairer site. On 
the shores of Chesapeake Bay the difficulties and dangers environing 
them in their present location could be met and overcome. Lacking in 
sorely needed supplies, on ill terms with the natives, whom Lane had 
harshly treated, it was with no little joy that, on the 8th of June, the 
colonists discovered the horizon flecked with the white sails of the fleet 
of Sir Francis Drake. The noted freebooter at once offered to his 
countrymen the needed supplies. He added the proffer of some of his 
prizes ; but a sudden gale drove one of these ships to sea, while the 
others were of too great burden to enter the narrow roadstead, which 
was their only harbor. Suddenly the colonists determined to abandon 
their new home, and Drake assented to their request for transportation 
to the mother-land. A fortnight later the first supply-ship, sent by 
Sir Walter, reached the American coast, and shortly after followed 
Sir Eichard Grenville, with three ships, bringing the promised stores. 
It was in vain that Sir Eichard sought for the colonists, now half-way 
across the Atlantic, and, leaving fifteen men on the deserted island, 
amply provisioned for two years, he returned to England. Lane 
never revisited his American domain. By his inexplicable desertion 
he lost the opportunity of an immortality such as has fallen to 
but few. 






NOTES, CRITICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL. 

WE assume, as is generally conceded, that the Cabots 1 voyage of discovery took 
place in 1497, and was followed by a second voyage the following year. The 
patent granted by Henry VII. to John Cabot, or Zuan Caboto, as his name appears in 
the Venetian archives, his three sons, their heirs and assigns, provided that the expe 
dition was to be " at their own proper cost and charge." The " prima tierra vista" 
was taken possession of by the formality of planting a cross, with the insignia of 
England and St. Mark, and by the proclamation of the right of the King of Eng 
land to the new discovery. Though the discovery made by the Cabots was that of 
a continent, still the result of these voyages made under the royal patronage and 
those on private account were followed by few results. The sending of the little 
fleet, under Willoughby, in the spring of 1553, to the north-east, and the subsequent 
incorporation of the merchant adventurers with Sebastian Cabot as their head, were 
undertaken by the merchants of London, with a view of checking the decay of trade 
in England by opening a new outlet abroad for the manufactures of the nation . 
But this was not the only incentive urging Englishmen to attempt the colonization 
of the New World. Richard Eden, in his " Decades of the Newe Worlde or West 
India," etc., published in 1555, expresses the earnest desire that the faith of Christ 
may be extended by the conversion of the natives of these distant lands : 

" How much, I say, shall this sound unto our reproach and inexcusable sloth- 
fulness and negligence, both before God and the world, that so large dominions 
of such tractable people and pure Gentiles, not being hitherto corrupted with any 
other false religion (and therefore the easier to be allured to embrace ours) , are 
now known unto us, and that we have no respect neither for God s cause nor for 
our own commodity, to attempt some voyages unto these coasts, to do for our parts 
as the Spaniards have done for theirs, and not ever like sheep to haunt one trade, 
and to do nothing worthy memory among men or thanks before God, who may 



16 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

herein worthily accuse us for the slackness of our duty toward him." The plans 
ripe in London ere the year had closed in which the discovery of America was 
made, contemplated the fitting out by the king early in the following spring of an 
expedition to colonize the new discovery. " All the convicts " were to be placed at 
the disposition of Cabot, and with the expedition there were expected to go " sev 
eral poor Italian monks," who had "all been promised bishopricks." > The gos 
siping writer of these reports to the Duke of Milan thought the benefices in store 
for him "a surer thing" than the " archbishopric," which he felt confident of ob 
taining through his acquaintance with the " Admiral." This second voyage, evi 
dently*^ scheme of colonization, proved a failure. One of the ships, in which a 
" Friar Duel" sailed, returned to Ireland damaged, and the adventuresome ecclesi 
astic failed to secure the well-earned and promised mitpe. For years all schemes 
of discovery and colonization in the distant west were substantially abandoned. It 
was left, as we have said, to the men of the reformation to undertake and carry out 
successfully the colonizing and Christianizing of the shores of North America. 

The religious spirit of the reformation age pervaded literature and life. Even 
the slave-traders went forth to their cruel work, as though it were a crusade. Sir 
John Hawkins, knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his success in this iniquitous traffic 
and for the wealth brought through his voyages to the realm, sailed in a ship named 
"Jesus," and his sailing orders close with words expressive of his religious faith, 
as well as his practical good sense: "Serve God daily; love one another; pre 
serve your victuals; beware of fire; -and keep good company." By the first in 
junction was meant the daily morning and evening prayer of the church, and it was 
after the use of these solemn forms of worship that they proceeded day by day to 
carry out their nefarious plans. In their reverses, as well as in their successes, they 
recognized the interposing of God, who never suffereth his elect to perish." 2 Even 
Hawkins s coat^armor, by its mingling of the pilgrim s scallop-shell in gold between 
two palmer s staves, would seem to indicate that, in the judgment of the Herald s 
Office, the capture of Africans and the sale of human flesh was the " true crusade 
of the reign of Elizabeth." 3 

It should be borne in mind, in explanation of the creed and practices of Hawkins, 
Drake, and other " freebooters " of the age, that there was " no peace with Spain 
beyond the line " ; and that both of these noted voyagers had been the victims of 
Spanish treachery when lying peaceably at anchor in the port of San Juan d Ulua. 
Attacked both by sea ana from the land, but two of the five ships composing the 
fleet escaped ; and the captives, at least a hundred in number, fell into the hands 
of the Inquisition, where their sufferings, save in a few exceptional cases, were 
only terminated by death. As Dr. Edward Everett Hale forcibly puts the case in 
" The Narrative and Critical History of America " (Vol. m. , p. 64) : " If Hawkins s 
account of the perfidy of the Spaniards at San Juan d Ulua be true, and it has 
never been contradicted, the Spanish Crown that day brought down a storm of 
misery and rapine from which it never fairly recovered. The accursed doctrine of 
the Inquisition, that no faith was to be kept with heretics, proved a dangerous doc 
trine for Spain when the heretics were such men as Hawkins, Cavendish, and 
Drake. On that day Francis Drake learned his lesson of Spanish treachery ; and 
he learned it so well that he determined on his revenge. That revenge he took so 
thoroughly that for more than a hundred years he is spoken of in all Spanish an 
nals as The Dragon, a play upon his name, Dracus, or Draco. " 

Numerous relics of Frobisher s voyages were obtained by Captain Charles F. 
Hall in his first expedition to seek for traces of Sir John Franklin, 1860-1862, some 
of which are deposited in the National Museum in Washington. The purpose of 
leaving a party to winter in these northern latitudes was shown by the erection of 
a house of lime and stone on the Countess of Warwick s Island, where numerous 
articles were deposited. Had the " ore," of which more than thirteen hundred 
tons were taken across the ocean, proved of value, the chill of winter and the dan 
gers of an almost unknown sea would not have deterred crowds of adventurers 
From seeking their fortune on these inhospitable shores. Lacking the stimulus of 
gold, further effort for the settlement of these lands was wanting, and the keen 
search of the sailors of England for the discovery of new territories in the Western 
World was elsewhere directed. 

The chief authority for the famous voyage of Drake is "The World Encom 
passed by Sir Francis Drake, . . . Carefully Collected out of the notes of Master 

1 Narrative and Critical History of America, m., p. 55. 2 find., p. 63. " Ibid. 



CHURCH CONNECTION WITH DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 17 

Francis Fletcher, Preacher in their employment, and divers others, his followers in 
the same ; Offered now at last to publique view, both for the honour of the actor, but 
especially for the stirring vp of heroick spirits, to benefit their country, and eternize 
their names by like noble attempts." London. 4to. 1628. This volume of upwards 
of one hundred pages was reprinted in 1653, and has been reissued by the Hakluyt 
Society, in 1855. The narrative of the voyage is found in the general collections of 
Hakluyt, Harris, and others. Mr. Froude, in his History of England (Volume xi., 




Register," gives a partial list of the companions of Drake, and in the "American 
Historical Record " (Vol. HI., pp. 344-353), under the title, " The First Englishmen 
in North America," reexamines the whole subject of the voyage and voyagers. Ilo 
pronounces "The World Encompassed" "as a literary performance " to be "of 
the first rank of that period." 

Ralegh is not only to be regarded as the founder of the transatlantic colonies 
of England, but also has the credit of securing for the colonists those guarantees 
of political rights and pi ivileges which formed the grounds on which, in later years, 
the people of North America made successful issue with the mother-land in the 
struggle which resulted in independence. 

In the charter granted to him on Lady-day, 1584, not only was he empowered to 
plant colonies upon " such remote heathen and barbarous lands, not actually pos 
sessed by any Christian prince nor inhabited by Christian people," as his expedi 
tions might discover, but the lands thus acquired by discoveiy were to be enjoyed 
by the colonies forever, and the settlers themselves were to " have all the privileges 
of free denizens and persons native of England, in such ample manner as if they 
were born and personally resident in our said realm of England," and they were 
to be governed " according to such statutes as shall be by him or them established; 
so that the said statutes or laws conform as near as conveniently may be with those 
of England, and do not oppugn the Christian faith or any way withdraw the people 
of those lands from our allegiance." It was through the far-seeing wisdom of this | 
accomplished soldier and statesman that the English in America were enabled from \ 
the veiy beginnings of settlement to claim all the privileges, franchises, and ini- / 
munities enjoyed and possessed by. the people of England. 

The subjects alluded to in this chapter are fully and authoritatively treated in 
the opening pages of "The Narrative and Critical History of America," Vol. in. 
To this exhaustive work we would refer for the latest and most judicial treatment 
of the many disputed questions which have arisen with reference to our early 
annals of discovery and settlement. The positions assumed in the text are those 
so ably maintained by Mr. Winsor and his collaborateurs. 



CHAPTER II. 

SERVICES AND SACRAMENTS AT RALEGH S COLONIES AT 
ROANOKE, ON THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST. 



pusillanimous desertion of the colony by Lane failed to dis 
courage the high hopes and purposes of Kalegh. The governor 
himself had borne testimony, in the freshness of his first enthu 
siasm, that it was "the goodliest soil under the cope of heaven; the 
most pleasing territory of the world." The climate was "whole 
some," and, with the presence of people and the domestic animals, "no 
realm in Christendom were comparable to it." Hariot, also, in his 
" Brief and True Report of the New Found Land in Virginia," dedicated 
"to the adventurers, favorers, and well-willers of the enterprise for 
the inhabiting and planting in Virginia," which was published in Eng 
land the following year, had attested the fertility of the soil and the 
healthiness of the climate. It was not difficult, therefore, for Ralegh 
to collect another party of settlers, numbering one hundred and fifty. 
Of this colony, which for the first time numbered among its members 
women as well as men, John White was appointed governor ; and twelve 
assistants, spoken of in the charter as " gentlemen," and " late of Lon 
don," were associated with him in the administration of the government. 
The charter of incorporation for the settlement contemplated the es 
tablishment of a municipality under the name of " The City of Ralegh, 
in Virginia," and a fleet of three transports, chartered for the advent 
urers, set sail from Portsmouth, on Friday, the 8th of May, the day fol 
lowing the Feast of the Ascension. In the charter given by Sir Walter 
to the adventurers there is mention of a donation of one hundred pounds 
sterling, made by Sir Walter Ralegh, to be invested by them as they 
pleased, the profits of the venture to be applied " in planting the Chris 
tian religion, and advancing the same." This is the first gift on record 
for the evangelizing of our American shores. By the last of July, after 
various mishaps, the colony had disembarked, not on the shores of 
Chesapeake Bay, as Sir Walter had proposed, but at ill-fated Roanoke, 
where the first sight that met their eyes was the bones of one of the fif 
teen men left in the fort by Grenville, after Lane s desertion of both 
fortification and settlement. The fort had been razed, the houses were 
tenanted only by the wild deer, attracted by the luxuriant growth of 
melons, which had clambered through the open doors and windows and 
covered the ruined palisade. The unfortunate fifteen, as was subse 
quently ascertained from the natives, had been attacked by the savages. 
The survivors, betaking themselves to their boat, floated to a small 
island near Hatteras, and, on their removal thence, probably in search 
of Croatoan, were lost sight of forever. 



SERVICES AND SACRAMENTS AT ROANOKE. 19 

" The sundry necessary and decent dwelling-houses," left by Lane, 
were at once repaired, while " other new cottages " were built ; and the 
colony under White, which numbered ninety-one men, seventeen 
women, and nine children, was soon established in its New- World home. 
We can without difficulty picture the daily life of these strangers in a 
strange land. We cannot doubt but that the " daily prayer," which 
Hariot tells us was attended by those who founded the earlier settle 
ment under Lane, was not omitted now, when, as we have every reason 
to believe, a priest of the Church of England formed one of the set 
tlers, or at least transferred his duties as chaplain of the little lleet to 
the shore, while seamen and settlers sought to lay the foundations of 
the city of Ralegh. The drum-beat was doubtless their summons to 
prayer, and the motley crowd of gentlemen and yeomen, the soldier in 
his light armor, the settler in his homespun, the friendly savage in his 
paint and feathers, the women thinking of the noble churches in the 
far-away home of their early days, the children wondering at all they 
saw and heard, these made up the grouping as the simple matins and 
even-songs of mother-church were ferventl} said. The day thus 
opened and closed would be spent in the effort to build and beautify 
the home, in striving to gain experience and alertness in the use of 
weapons of defence, in hunting the timid deer, or fishing from the 
rocks and in the little streams, or else in traffic with the aborigines. 
Expeditions of discovery along the coast or into the interior ; meetings 
with the friendly Indians in council, or preparations against the sudden 
attacks of those who had been alienated from the English by the ill- 
judged severity of Lane ; the cultivation of the virgin soil, or the 
preparation of the grateful narcotic so recently introduced to English 
use, in these occupations the days went on. The kindred of Manteo, 
a chieftain who had been taken to England by the first discoverers, and 
had returned to his home with Lane, lived on the island of Croatoan, 
and with them friendly relations were at once established. In contrast 
to the kindly disposition of Manteo was the implacable hate of Wan- 
chese, who had also been carried to England, but who, on his return, 
became the bitter foe of the colonists. Through his influence the efforts 
of the English to secure the friendship of the aborigines on the main 
land failed. Shortly one of the settlers, straying incautiously from 
the fort, was killed by the hostile natives. In the attempt to avenge 
this loss, by a night attack, one of the friendly savages was unfortu 
nately slain, having been mistaken for a foe. Thus untowardly the 
work of founding the city of Ralegh went on to its accomplishment. 

On the 13th of August the faithful Manteo was admitted to Christ s 
Church by holy baptism. This administration of the sacrament had 
been provided for by Ralegh ere the expedition sailed from England, 
and, in accordance with the proprietary s will, the neophyte was made 
Lord of Roanoke and Dasmonguepeuk, in recognition of his faithful 
and untiring service. This act of christening took place on the ninth 
Sunday after Trinity. On the following Sunday, Virginia, daughter 
of Ananias and Eleanor Dare, and granddaughter of the governor, 
White, who was born on Friday, the 18th of August, was christened, 
being " the first Christian borne in Virginia." We do not know the name 



20 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

of the faithful priest of the English Church to whom was given the 
honor of admitting to holy baptism, according to the English rite, the 
iirst Indian convert and the iirst child born of English parents in the 
New World. The list of those who remained at Roanoke is extant ; 
but there are no means of ascertaining who was the priest of the set 
tlement, if, indeed, a priest remained, to live and die with the unhappy 
settlers. But that there was some one in holy orders available for 
this solemnity is to be inferred, not only from the pecord of the 
administration of the sacrament, but also from the fact that Ralegh 
had, as we have seen, made provision for the baptism of Manteo prior 
to the departure of the expedition from England. It may have been 
the case that the clergyman who officiated at these baptisms was the 
chaplain of the fleet which brought over the colony, and shortly after 
returned with the governor, John White, on board. The departure of 
the fleet with the governor, who had reluctantly yielded to the urgings 
of the colonists in embarking, left behind eighty-nine men, seventeen 
women, and eleven children, two of whom had been born in Virginia. 
White certainly gave hostages for his speedy return, in leaving behind 
him his daughter and grandchild. Already it had been decided to 
abandon the present site of the colony and to remove to the main-land. 
It was among the last instructions of the governor that, in the event of 
this removal, the settlers should carve, on some post or tree, the name 
of the place of their new home, and if in distress to cut a cross above 
the letters. On the 28th of August the ships weighed anchor and set 
sail for England ; and on the 5th of November the returning voyagers 
landed at Martascn, near St. Michael s mount, in Cornwall. 

It was at a time of apprehension of invasion from Spain that 
White reached England. The "Armada" was afloat, and Ralegh, 
Grenville, and Lane were busied in measures for the defence of the 
homes and altars of their native land. Still, Ralegh found means to 
despatch two barks, under the command of White, with supplies for 
his colony. But these ships were more anxious to tight the Spaniards 
than to relieve the settlers at Roanoke, and in their search for prizes 
one of the two fell in with men-of-war from Rochelle, and after a 
bloody encounter was boarded and plundered by the foe. Both ships 
were forced to return to England, defeated in their purpose of reaching 
the North Carolina coast. The delay proved fatal, for, in the culmina 
tion of the struggle, which shortly followed, in which the independence 
of England and the existence of England s reformed Church were at 
stake, there could be no relief for the Roanoke colonists till after the 
final destruction of the " Armada." 

At length, when victory had been gained and security assured, in 
the complete overthrow of the Spanish fleet, Sir Walter Ralegh, who had 
already expended forty thousand pounds in his efforts for colonizing 
America, found himself too much impoverished to renew the attempt. 
Availing himself of the privileges secured by his letters-patent he 
granted to a company of merchants and adventurers his rights of pro 
prietorship in the Virgin s Land beyond the seas. But, notwithstand 
ing his large concessions, the company proved laggard in its schemes 
of colonization, lacking the lavish support and persevering counsels 



SERVICES AND SACRAMENTS AT ROANOKE. 21 

of the father of American colonization. It was not till more than 
another year had elapsed that White was able to return to the shores 
where he had left his daughter and her child. Touching, indeed, is 
the glimpse given us, in White s own words, of the fate of these ear 
liest English settlers on our American continent. The voyage had not 
been without mishaps, and at the approach to the shore the most 
of a boat s crew were drowned by a heavy sea : " This mischance did 
so much discomfort the sailors, that they were all of one mind not to go 
any further to seek the planters ; but in the end, by the commandment 
and persuasion of me and Captain Cooke. they prepared the boats, and 
seeing the captain and me so resolute they seemed much more willing. 
Our boats and all things fitted again, we put off from Hatorask, being 
the number of nineteen persons in both boats ; but, before we could 
get to the place where our planters were left, it was so exceeding dark 
that we overshot the place a quarter of a mile ; there we espied, tow 
ards the north end of the island, the light of a great fire through the 
woods, to the which we presently rowed. When we came right over 
against it, we let fall our grapnel near the shore, and sounded with a 
trumpet a call, and afterwards many familiar English tunes of songs, 
and called to them friendly ; but we had no answer. We therefore landed 
at daybreak, and coming to the fire we found the grass and sundry rotten 
trees burning about the place . From hence we went through the w oods to 
that part of the island directly over against Dasamongwepeuk, and from 
thence we returned by the water-side round about the north point of the 
island, until we came to the place where I left our colony in the year 1586. 
-In all this way we saw in the sand the print of the savages feet of two 
or three sorts trodden in the night ; and as we entered up the sandy 
bank, upon a tree, in the very brow thereof, were curiously carved 
these fair Roman letters, C. R. O., which letters presently we knew 
to signify the place where I should find the planters seated, according 
to a secret token agreed upon between them and me at my last depart 
ure from them : which was that in any ways they should not fail to 
write or carve, on the trees or posts of the doors, the name of the 
place where they should be seated ; for at my coming away they were 
prepared to remove from Roanoke fifty miles into the main. Therefore, 
at my departure from them in An. 1587, Twilled them, that if they 
should happen to be distressed in any of those places, that then they 
should carve over the letters or name a -f- in this form ; but we found 
no such sign of distress. And, having well considered of this, we 
passed towards the place where they were left in sundry houses, but 
we found the houses taken down, and the place very strongly enclosed 
with a high palisade of great trees, with curtains and flankers very 
fort-like ; and one of the chief trees or posts at the right side of the 
entrance had the bark taken off, and five feet from the ground, in fair 
capital letters, was graven CROATOAN, without any cross or sign of 
distress ; this done, we entered into the palisade, where we found many 
bars of iron, two pigs of lead, four iron-fowlers, iron locker-shot, and 
such like heavy things thrown here and there, almost overgrown with 
grass and weeds. From thence we went along by the water-side toward 
the point of the creek, to see if we could find any of their boats or 



22 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

pinnace ; but we could perceive no sign of them nor any of the last 
fulcons or small ordinance which were left with them at my departure 
from them. At our return from the creek, some of our sailors meeting 
us told us that they had found where divers chests had been hidden, 
and long sithence digged up again and broken up, and much of the 
goods in them spoiled and scattered about, but nothing left of such 
things as the savages knew any use of, undefaced. Presently Captain 
Cooke and I went to the place, which was in the end of an old trench, 
made two years past by Captain Amadas, where we found five chests 
that had been carefully hidden of the planters, and of the same chests 
three were my own, and about the place many of my things spoiled 
and broken, and my books torn from the covers, the frames of some of 
my pictures and maps rotten and spoiled with rain, and my armor almost 
eaten through with rust. This could be no other than the deed of the 
savages, our enemies at Desamongwepeuk, who had watched the depart 
ure of our men to Croatoan, and as soon as they were departed 
digged by every place where they suspected anything to be buried ; 
but although it much grieved me to see such spoil of my goods, yet on 
the other side I greatly joyed that I had safely found a certain token 
of their safe being at Croatoan, which is the place where Manteo was 
born, and the savages of the islands our friends." 

The hopes of a speedy reunion with child and grandchild, and the 
revival on a new site, and with happier auspices, of the city of Ralegh, 
and the scheme of colonizing on the American coast, so naturally excited 
by the results of this day of exploration, were to be crushed out for 
ever. The skies were overcast. The sailors with difficulty regained 
their ship. In the morning, as they weighed anchor for " Croatoan," 
the cable broke, and the gale drove them towards the shore. After a 
narrow escape from wreck, with a strained and leaking bark, and with 
not a single anchor left, they were forced to turn their course towards 
the West Indies, leaving the colonists to their fate. No further effort 
availed for their relief. A century later, as the historian of North 
Carolina relates, the Hatteras Indians, at Croatoan, were wont to tell 
"that several of their ancestors were white people, and could talk in a 
book as we do ; the truth of which is confirmed by gray eyes being found 
frequently among these Indians, and no others. They value themselves 
extremely for their affinity to the English, and are ready to do them 
all friendly offices." The tradition of these Indians may shadow forth 
the fate of some of these unfortunate colonists, or possibly may eluci 
date the mystery attending the disappearance of Grenville s fifteen men. 
But in the " History of Travaile into Virginia Britannia," by William 
Strachey, recently published l from a manuscript in the British Museum, 
there are incidental references and statements, which lead us to infer 
that the Iloanoke settlers survived amidst their savage friends till 
about the year 1607, at which tune " the men, women, and children of 
the first plantation at Roanoke were, by practice and commandment 
of Powhatan (he himself persuaded thereunto by his priests), miser 
ably slaughtered, without any offence given him, either by the first 
planted (who twenty and odd years had peaceably lived intermixt with 

i By the Hakluyt Society, 1849. 



SERVICES AND SACRAMENTS AT ROANOKE. 23 

those salvages, and were out of his territory ") . In another reference to 
this matter Strackey tells us that " at Ritanoe, the Weroance Eyanoco 
preserved seven of the English alive, four men, two boys, and one 
young maid (who escaped and fled up the river of Chanoke) , to beat 
his copper, of which he had certain mines at the said Ritanoe." Vague 
and imperfect as these and other incidental allusions contained in 
Strachey s history arc, they certainly imply that some of " these unfor 
tunate and betrayed people " escaped the " miserable and untimely des 
tiny " which involved the major part of them in destruction, and com 
municated in sonje way with the settlers at Jamestown. Certainly the 
" one young maid " may have been the first-born Anglo-American, 
Virginia Dare, or else the other child of Virginian birth, whose sur 
name was " Harvie," and who was doubtless born just before the em 
barkation of White. These are the only two on the list of settlers 
given us by White, who could have been spoken of as " maids" in 1607. 
Possibly, though, from the lack of authority, there can be no certainty 
of the fact, the scanty remnant of this unfortunate colony may have 
been incorporated with the Jamestown settlers. We may be thankful 
that there is even a gleam of hope that the first-born of the Virginia 
Church and State, may have found her way back to civilization and 
Christianity, after many vicissitudes and hardships, and in the rude 
church at Jamestown, and amongthose of her own race, though stranger 
to her than the savages, heard, with interest and delight, the words of 
the same " Book of Common Prayer " out of which had been read the 
office of her christening. 



CRITICAL NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 

rpHE connection of Sir Walter Ralegh with American colonization forms the sub- 
JL jectof an interesting chapter in The Narrative and Critical History of America." 
The stoiy of the voyages undertaken by this gifted man in furtherance of the task 
he had so much at heart is told from the original accounts, by the Rev. Increase N. 
Tarbox, D.D., in his " Sir Walter Ralegh and his Colony in America," issued by 
the Prince Society this present year. This volume contains, besides a Memoir of 
Ralegh : I. Charter in favor of Sir Walter Ralegh, Knight, for the Discovery and 
Planting of New Lands in America, 25 Mai ch, 1584. II. The First Voyage to Amer 
ica under the Charge and Direction of Sir Walter Ralegh, Knight, 1584 (by Arthur 
Barlowe). III. The Second Voyage to America under the Charge and Direction of 
Sir Walter Ralegh, Knight, 1585 (chiefly furnished to Hakluyt by Ralph Lane, 
Sir Richard Grenville possibly contributing a small portion of the narrative) . IV. 
The Third Voyage to America under the Charge and Direction of Sir Walter Ralegh, 
Knight, 1586. V. Inti-oduction to the Narrative of Thomas Hariot, by Ralph Lane. 
VI. Historical Narrative, by Thomas Hariot. VII. The Foui th Voyage to America 
under the Charge and Direction of Sir Walter Ralegh, Knight, 1587 (by John 
White). VIII. The Fifth Voyage to America under the Charge and Direction of 
Sir Walter Ralegh, Knight, 1590. The annotations by Dr. Tarbox are pertinent 
and valuable. 

The original sources of information respecting the Colony of Ralegh are as 
follows : I. Arthur Barlowe s Diary of the Voyage (April 9-October 18, 1584) , printed 
by Hakluyt, and reprinted by Dr. Hawks in his " History of North Carolina," and 
by Dr. Tai box, as noticed above. II. Governor Ralph Lane s two letters to Sir 
Francis W alsingham and his letter to Sir Philip Sidney, August 12, 1585, together 
with Lane s third letter to Walsingham, of Sept. 8, 1585, printed for the first time 
in " Archoeologia Americana," iv, pp. 8-18, and edited by the Rev. Edward E. Hale, 



21 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

D.D. ; and an extract from Lane s letter to Richard Hakluyt, of the Inner Temple, 
dated Sept. 3, 1686, printed by Hakluyt and reprinted by Dr. Hawks, in. " Harlot s 
Narrative;" first issued in 1588, and published by Hakluyt the following year, and 
by De I3ry in 1690. IV. Lane s Narrative, as given by Hakluyt. This account, and 
that by Hariot, will be found in Dr. Hawks s "North Carolina," and in Dr. Tarbox s 
Sir Walter Ralegh and his Colony." V. " A Summarie and Trve Discovrse of 
Sir Fram-is Drake s West Indian Voyage, wherein were taken the Townes of Saint 
Ja<>-o, Sancto Domingo, Cartagena, and Saint Augustine," by Thomas Cates, Lon 
don, 1589, and reprinted in the fourth volume of Ilakluyt, 1600. VI. " The original 
Drawing of the Habits, Towns, Customs of the West Indians ; and of the plants, 
birds, fishes, &c., found in Greenland, Virginia, Guiana, &c., by Mr. John White," 
preserved in the Sloane Collection in the British Museum. The " Critical Essay," 
appended to Mr. William Wirt Henry s chapter on Ralegh in " The Narrative and 
Critical History of America," gives in detail notices of the various sources of infor 
mation, both original and secondary. 

Between the years 1587 and 1G02 Ralegh fitted out, at his own charge, five ex 
peditions to Virginia. It "required a prince s purse" thus to attempt the coloniza 
tion of his Virginian domain, and he only ceased his labor and lavish expenditures 
in the prosecution of his plans when he lost the royal favor and became a prisoner 
under sentence of death. In the last year of Queen Elizabeth s reign he despatched 
Samuel Mace, a mariner of experience, with special orders to relieve the survivors 
of White s colony. On the return ot Mace, Ralegh s interest in the colony had es 
cheated to the crown by his attainder. Still his faith in the ultimate success of the 
efforts for colonization he had inaugurated was unchanged. On the eve of his own 
fall he had written, "I shall yet live to see it an English nation ; " and. though it was 
from the tower-cell and the scaffold, he lived to see his words fulfilled. 

It was provided in the charter granted to Ralegh, on Lady-day, 1584, that 
the statutes, laws and ordinances be "as ncre as conueniently may bee, agreeable 
to the forme of the lawes, statutes, and gouerment, or pollicie of England, and also 
so as they be not against the true Christian faith, nowe professed in the Church of 
England." Tarbox s Sir Walter Ralegh and his Colony in America, p. 100. We 
cannot doubt but that a priest of the English Church accompanied this expedition, 
and on occasion of the baptism of Manteo, as well as at the christening of Virginia 
Dare, performed the service as found in the " Book of Common Prayer." Although 
there is no indication of the name of this missionary priest in the list appended to 
White s narrative giving "the names of all the men, women and children, which 
safely arriued in Virginia, and remained to inhabite there, 1587, Anno regni lleginoe 
Elizabeths, 29," the absence of the title is no proof that there was no clergyman 
among the settlers. It may be that Roger Baily, whose name appears on the 
list next to that of the governor s, and before that of his son-in-law, Ananias Dare, 
was the one who ministered to the colony in spiritual things ; but this is only con 
jecture. It is quite unlikely that the mystery attending this question will ever be 
dispelled. Manteo, the first-fruits of the aborigines of our land to Christ and his 
Church, had been twice in England, having been taken in the first place by Captains 
Amidas and Barlowe, in 1584. Returning to his native land with Sir Richard Gren- 
ville, in 1585, he again crossed the Atlantic with Sir Francis Drake, the following 
year. In company with another savage, Towaye, he accompanied the expedition 
of White in 1587, and remained friendly to the English, while Wanchese became 
their implacable foe. There is reason to believe that in the removal of the Roan- 
oke settlers to Croatoan the advice of Manteo was followed, and that among his 
kindred and under his protection the colonists patiently awaited the expected relief 
from England, which never came. But for Powhatan s murderous interference, at 
the instigation of his priests, jealous, it may have been, of the influence of the Eng 
lish in leading others than Manteo to Christ, there might have sprung up an Anglo- 
Indian community, Christianized and civilized, and inaugurating: the conquest of"the 
New World to Christ and his Church. 

The references in Strachey s "Historic of Travaile into Virginia" to the 
Roanoke settlers, are as follows : 

I. In the author s " Cosmographie of Virginia," in his first chapter, he thus 
incidentally alludes to them: "This high land is, in all likelyhoodes, a pleasant 
tract, and the mowld fruictfull, especially what may lye to the so-ward; where, at 
Peccarecamek and Oehanuhoen, by the relation of Machumps, 1 the people have 

1 An Tndiun who had visited England, the brother of Winjrannskc, a favorite wife of Pow- 
hatan, and nn occasional guest at the house of the governor. Sir Thomas Dale. Vide Strachcy s 
Historic, \.\,. 26, 54, 94. 



SERVICES AND SACRAMENTS AT ROANOKE. 25 

bowses built with stone walles, and one story above another, so taught them by 
those Englishe whoe escaped the slaughter at Roanoak. at what tyme this our col 
ony, under the conduct of Capt. Newport, landed within the Chesapeake Bay, where 
the people breed up tame turkeis about their howses, and take apes in the moun 
tains, and where, at Ritanoe, the Weroance Eyanoco 1 preserved seven of the Eng 
lish alive fower men, two boyes, and one yonge mayde (who escaped and fled 
up the river of Chanoke), to beat his copper, of which he hath certain mynes at the 
said Ritanoe, as also at Pamawauk are said to be store of salt stones," p. 26. 

It would appear from this reference that, at the time of the landing of Captain 
Newport, in 1607, there were "Englishe whoe escaped the slaughter at Roanoak" 
living at " Peccarecamek and Ochanahoen," evidently incorporated among the In 
dians in these communities, and contributing to the comfort and civilization of their 
captors and preservers. Still, as the Rev. Edward E. Hale, D.D., in commenting 
on this passage in " Archseologia Americana" (Vol. iv., p. 36) observes, "it must 
be confessed that this tantalizing passage is very obscure." Another extract, still 
more obscure," is as follows : 

II. " Yet noe Spanish intention shalbe entertayned by us, neither hereby to 
root out the naturalls, 2 as the Spaniards have done in Hispaniola, and other parts, 
but only to take from them these seducers, .... declaring (in the attempt 
thereof) unto the several weroances, and making the comon people likewise to un 
derstand, how that his majestie hath bene acquainted, that the men, women, and 
children of the first plantation at Roanoak were by practize and comaunclement of 
Powhatan (he himself perswaded thereunto by his priests) misei-ably slaughtered, 
without any offence given him either by the first planted (who twenty and od yeares 
had peaceably lyved intermixt with those salvages, and were out of his territory) 
or by those who nowe are come to inhabite some parte of his desarte land," etc. 
Strachey > pp. 85, 86. 

In the third chapter of his " Historic," Strachey, describing " the great king, 1 
Powhatan, refers to the same massacre as follows : 

III. " He doth often send unto us to temporize with us, awayting perhapps 
a fit opportunity (inflamed by his furious and bloudy priests) to offer us a tast of 
the same cuppe which he made our poore countrymen drinck of at Ronoak." 
p. 50. 

Again, at the close of chapter fourth of the second book of his "Historic," 
Strachey refers to the return of John White to England, in 1589, in these words : 

IV. " Howbeit, Captaine White sought them no further, but missing them 
there, and his company havinge other practizes, and which those tymes afforded, 
they returned, covetous of some good successe upon the Spanish fleete to returne that 
yeare from Mexico and the Indies, neglecting thus these unfortunate and betrayed 
people, of whose end you shall yet hereafter read in due place in this decade." 
p. 152. 

From this reference, and another contained in the " Prsernonition to the Reader," 
to the effect that Ralegh " endeavoured nothing less then the relief of the poore 
planters, who afterward, as you shall read in this following discourse, came there 
fore to a miserable and untymely destiny" (p. 9), it is evident that Strachey was 
aware of the particulars of the fate of the Roanoke colonists. Unfortunately the 
remainder of the " decade" is imperfect, and we can only, by the careful compar 
ison of the extracts we have cited, infer that a number of the Roanoke settlers 
survived the massacre incited by Powhatan and were living among the savages at 
the time of the arrival of Capt. Newport, in 1607. It is possible that a second mas 
sacre may have occurred after this date, occasioned by the fear of the Indian chief 
tain that the later settlers might, if they learned of the hardships to which their 
countrymen had been subjected, avenge their wrongs. If this were so it would 
account for the silence in the early narratives of the Virginia settlement with ref 
erence to the subject. It is not impossible, however, that some of the survivors 
communicated with the settlers at Jamestown, if they did not escape from captivity 
and rejoin their countrymen in their new Virginian home. Certainly this is not an 
unreasonable supposition, and as such we have engrafted it in the text. We find 
the following statement on the margin of p. 1728 of Vol. rv. of " Purchas His 
Pilgrimes," "Powhatan confessed that hee had bin at the murther of that 
[Ralegh s] Colonie, and shewed a Musket barrell and a brasse Morter, and cer- 
taine pieces of iron which had bin theirs." Still, unless the missing portion of 
Strachey s " Historic " should be recovered, the fate of the Roanoke settlers will 
ever be shrouded in mystery. 

1 Commander or governor. 2 Aborigines. 



CHAPTER III. 

FOBT ST. GEORGE AND THE CHURCH SETTLERS AT THE 
MOUTH OF THE KENNEBEC. 

rjlHE beginning of the seventeenth century witnessed renewed and 
more successful efforts for American colonization. In the spring 
:iud early summer of 1602 Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, a mari 
ner of the west of England, with a company of thirty-two persons in all, 
spent several weeks on the island of Cutty hunk, situated at the south 
of Buzzard s Bay, on the Massachusetts coast. On this island, which 
was " overgrown with trees and rubbish," a site was fixed upon for a 
settlement, a cellar was dug and stoned, and a house built, which was 
thatched with sedge and fortified with palisades. Here wheat, barley, 
oats, and peas were sown, and in a fortnight the young plants M were 
sprung up nine inches and more." But when a valuable cargo of sas 
safras, cedar, furs, and other commodities had been obtained for the 
return voyage, there arose dissensions among the adventurers, and the 
number of those who had agreed to remain rapidly dwindled till " all 
was given over," and, on the 18th of June, the whole company set 
sail for England, where they arrived after a five weeks voyage to find 
themselves involved in the meshes of the law for their violation of Sir 
Walter Ralegh s patent. The lack of Sir Walter s permission would 
of itself have been fatal to the success of an attempted settlement, and 
the letter of Ralegh to Cecil, in which he invokes redress, clearly 
asserts that the expedition " went without my leve and therefore all is 
confiscate." l This letter indicates that a chief promoter of this unau 
thorized enterprise was the notorious Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham. 
No later reference to the settlers at Roanoke than that neither Gil 
bert, " Lord Cobham s man," who was Gosnold s associate, nor Mace, 
who had arrived at Wey mouth in Ralegh s pinnace, from Virginia, 
" spake with the people," appears in Sir Walter s correspondence. 
The toils were already enclosing him, which in time bound him for 
the slaughter, the victim of royal faithlessness. 

The following year, 1603, Martin Pring, under the patronage of 
the merchants of Bristol and with the formal consent of Ralegh, vis 
ited the New England coast, and spent nearly two months in the har 
bors of Plymouth and Duxbury. 2 Here Pring erected a " barricade," 
and, in emulation of Gosnold s experiment, sowed " wheate, Barley, 
Gates, Pease, and sundry sorts of Garden seeds, which for the time 
of our abode, being about seven Weeks, although they were late sown 

Edwards s " Life of Sir Walter Ralegh," " Gosnold and Prin?. 1602-3," inN.E. Hist. Gen. 
II., p. 253. Vide critical notes at end of chapter. Reg., xxxn., pp. 76-80. Vide, also, Ma. of Am. 
3 Vide the Rev. Dr. DeCosta s article on Hist., vin., Part n., pp. 807-819. 



FORT ST. GEORGE AND THE CHURCH SETTLERS. 27 

came vp very well." Accompanying these expeditions of Gosnold and 
Pring was Robert Salterne, who, shortly after his return to England, 
took orders in the English Church. As the sacred calling to which 
he so soon devoted his life was doubtless in his mind while seeking 
adventure or recuperation in these noteworthy voyages of discovery 
it is not an unlikely supposition that as a layman he conducted the 
services of the Church for his companions of travel, both at sea and on 
land. If this conjecture is correct and there is every reason in its 
favor the prayers and praises of the Leyden settlers, whose landing 
on Plymouth Rock has become historic, were anticipated by the forms 
of the Church of England in the very locality where the " Pilgrim 
Fathers " lived and died. Salterne s account of Pring s voyage, as con 
densed in Smith s " General History," concludes with the following 
pious couplet : 

" Lay hands vnto this worke with all thy wit, 
But pray that God would speed and profit it. " * 

On Easter-day, the last day of March, 1605, an expedition, under 
the command of George Waymouth, "weighed anchor, and put to 
sea in the name 
of God," from 
Dartmouth Ha- 
ven. The pro- 
moters of this 
enterprise were 
Henry Wriothes- 
ley, Earl of AUTOGRAPH OF GEORGE WAYMOTTTH. 

Southampton, 

the accomplished patron of Shakespeare, and his brother-in-law, 
Thomas Arundell, Lord Wardour. "The sole intent of the honor 
able setters-forth of this discovery," as we are informed by Rosier, 
the chronicler of the voyage, was "not a little present profit, but a 
public good, and true zeal of promulgating God s holy Church, by 
planting Christianity." In the middle of May the adventurers reached 
the shores of New England, discovering, as they sailed along the 
coast, the island of Monhegan, which they hoped would be " the most 
fortunate ever discovered." " The next day," proceeds the chronicler, 
" being Whitsunday," they anchored in "a convenient harbor, which it 
pleased God to send us, far beyond our expectation," and " all with 
great joy praised God for his unspeakable goodness, who had from so 
apparent danger delivered us, and directed us upon this day into so 
secure an harbor, in remembrance whereof we named it Pentecost 
Harbor." On " Whitsunmonduy, the 20th day of May," they landed 
and dug wells, planted peas, and barley, and garden seeds, lingering 
for more than a fortnight among "the pleasant fruitfulness." At 
length, on Wednesday, the 29th of May, the shallop, brought in pieces 
from England, was prepared for use, and, as a mark of discovery and 
possession, the record tells us "we set up a cross on the shore side 

*The Trve Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captain John Smith. Richmond 
reprint of the original edition of 1629, i., p. 109. 




28 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



upon the rocks." On Thursday, May 30, Way mouth, with thirteen 
men, "in the name of God, and with all our prayers for their pros 
perous discovery and safe return," departed in the shallop on a 
voyage of exploration up the river, doubtless the Kcnnebec, at 
whose mouth they had been riding at anchor. On Friday, the 



Jo; irillraflcfaojoji Smith* &4ck -to beare,) 
ju tliy JwH,tD niakc. J5ra/j6 Stcdc- outwears. 

%%%""?&. **to~i?~*.\ 



TheEiver CHARLES 




SMITH S MAP OF NEW ENGLAND, ISM. 



O 



the river for fort ^ miles - Mean- 
savages, and a mutual good-will 

er"inhi, 1 . ptain had two of the n ^ives at 

advice who"! U AT thC1 ^ demeanor a "d bad them in presence 
e . who behaved themselves very civilly, neither laughing nor 



FORT ST. GEORGE AND THE CHURCH SETTLERS. 



29 



talking all the time, and at supper fed not like men of rude education." 
The following morning trade was intermitted, " because it was the 
Sabbath day ; " but the week thus scrupulously begun was not half 
over when Way mouth kidnapped " five savages and two canoes, with 
all their bows and arrows ; " while on " Sunday, the 16th of June, the 
wind being fair, and because we had set out of England upon a 
Sunday, made the islands upon a Sunday, and as we doubt not (by 
God s appointment) happily fell into our harbor upon a Sunday ; so 
now (beseeching him still with like prosperity to bless our return 
into England, our country, and from thence with his good-will and 
pleasure to hasten our next arrival there) we weighed anchor and quit 
the land upon a Sunday." The names of these enslaved savages were 
"Tahanedo, a Sagamore, or commander; 4-m6ret, Skicowaros, Ma- 
neddb, Gentlemen ; Saffacomoit, a servant." l We are assured that they 
"never seemed discontented," but were "very tractable, loving, and 
willing." Their exhibition in England, together with the glowing 
recitals of the returned voyagers, who had seen the coast of Maine in 
the beautiful month of June, gave a new impulse to western ad 
venture. The presence of the captives at Plymouth, where Waymouth 
had brought them, enlisted the interest of the royal governor, Sir Fer- 
dinando Gorges, who was 
thus incited to a lifelong and 
most persistent devotion to 
schemes of American coloni 
zation. "And so it pleased our 
great God," wrote Gorges, 
that Waymouth "came into 
the harbor of Plymouth, 
where I then commanded. 
I seized upon the Indians ; 

they were all of one nation, but of several Parts, and several Fami 
lies. This accident must be acknowledged the means under God 
of putting on foot, and giving life to all our plantations." Gorges 
took three of the savages into his home, was at pains that they should 
be instructed in the English language, and " kept them full three years." 
From them he obtained information of the " stately islands and harbors " 
of their native country : " what great rivers ran up into the land, what 
men of note were seated on them, what power they were of, how 
allied, what enemies they had, and the like." It was thus that he was 
led to become, in the words Bradford, of Plymouth, records, "not 
only a favorer, but also a most special beginner and furtherer of the 
good of this country, to his great cost and no less honor." 2 

The condition of affairs in England was now favorable to schemes 
of colonization. There was a redundancy of population throughout 




AUTOGRAPH OF SCR FERDINAND GORGES. 



1 Of these unfortunate aborigines, the first and 
third, also styled Dehamda and Skitwarres, were 
returned in the Pophain expedition. The two 
last, whose names appear as Manuido and Assa- 
comoit, embarked with Capt. Henry Challons, 
Aug. 12, 1 006, and were taken as prisoners into 
Spain with the rest of the ship s company, where; 
we are told that both of the natives " were lost." 



Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., xxvi., p. 682. " Assa- 
cumct" appears to have come over with Capt. 
Hobsou ia 1614. Drake s Old Ind. Chronicle, 
p. 14. Vide, also, Me. Hist. Soc. Coll., V., p. 332, 
and Nar. and Grit. Hist., m., p. 180. 

- Bradford s Letter Book. Mass. Hist. Soc. 
Coll., first series, ill., p. 63. 



30 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



the land ; the parishes found it difficult to maintain their poor, and the 
cessation of warlike operations by sea and land, which during the 
days of Queen Elizabeth had given occupation to many in all depart 
ments of life and trade, threw out of employ a number of restless 
spirits, whose love of adventure led them to seize eagerly the 
opportunity to form a new empire in the West. Gosnold, who could, 
from personal knowledge, attest the fertility of the American shores, 
and who doubtless remembered with chagrin that it was only the timid 
ity or treachery of his associate, Bartholomew Gilbert, " Lord Cob- 

ham s man," as Ralegh styled him, 
that prevented his establishment 
of a colony when on the Massachu 
setts shores, had already associated 
with himself in a scheme of coloni 
zation a few brave spirits, afterward 
to be well and widely known in 
connection with the far-distant Vir 
ginia. These were Captain John 
Smith, Mr. Edward-Maria Wing- 
field, and the excellent Robert 
Hunt, a clergyman of the church. 1 

For upwards of a year these, and others of like mind, sought to 
effect their purpose, till, at length, reinforced by the assigns of 
Ralegh, among whom Richard Hakluyt, Prebendary of Westmin 
ster, the promoter and chronicler of American discovery and settle- 




AUTOGRAPH OF SIR JOHN popHAM. 



Ate 






h(J <**a*/{ 



/ 
<?$ . 








AUTOGRAPH OF REV. RICHARD HAKLUYT. 

ment, was preeminent, and gaining the countenance and support of 
the Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir John Popham, and Sir 
.berdinando Gorges, as similar schemers had earlier secured the sup- 
poit of the Earl of Southampton and Lord Arundel, the kin", 

irn!f S A ga ? the first charter of Virginia, on the 10th of Aprfl 
K>. At this period not an Englishman, save the captive sur- 
the Roanoke settlers, is known to have been in the belt of 
land comprising twelve degrees, and stretching from Cape Fear to 
Halifax. The Great Patent of Virginia" assigned the right of colo 
nization between the 34th and 45th degrees of north latitude to "two 
several Colonies and Companies." One of these, denominated in the 

1 William Simons, D.D., in Smith s Histoiy," i., p. 149. 



FORT ST. GEORGE AND THE CHURCH SETTLERS. 31 

charter the First Colony, consisting of " certain Knights, Gentlemen, 
Merchants and other adventurers of our city of London, and else 
where," was restricted to the territory lying between the 34th and 
38th degrees of north latitude, that is, from Cape Fear to the south 
ern border of Maryland. To the Second Colony was given the 
exclusive right to occupy the country between the 41st and 45th 
degrees. This company was composed of " Sundry Knights, Gentle 
men, Merchants and other adventurers, of our cities of Bristol and 
Exeter, and of our town of Plymouth, and of other places." The 
religious nature of the scheme is expressed at the outset: "We, 
greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for 
the Furtherance of so noble a work, which may, by the Providence 
of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Maj 
esty, in propagating of Christian Eeligion to such People as yet 
live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and 
Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, 
living in those parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and good 
Government: Do, by these our Letters Patents graciously accept 
of, and agree to, their humble and well-intended Desires." A council 
in England was charged with the general superintendence of the 
whole colonial system, while the appointment of a subordinate council 
for each colony provided for the local administration. The members 
of the Supreme Council were appointed solely by the king, and 
held their office at his pleasure ; the ultimate decision of all matters, 
whether grave or moral, rested with the monarch. The rights of 
free-born Englishmen were secured to the colonists and their descend 
ants. Provision was made for a revenue to be levied on vessels 
trading in the harbors of Virginia, while the colonists were permitted 
to import goods for their own use, free of duty. A fifth of the gold 
or silver, and a fifteenth of the copper, mined in either colony, was 
reserved for the Crown. The privilege of coining money was con 
ceded, and the seals of the Superior Council and its local subordi 
nates were minutely prescribed. 

In the list of the original patentees to whom " the Great Patent 
of Virginia " was granted, the names of Gorges and Popham do not 
appear. Hakluyt was one of the incorporators of the London Com 
pany, and the brother of the Chief Justice, George Popham, and Ralegh 
Gilbert, son of the eminent explorer Sir Humphrey, and nephew of Sir 
Walter Ralegh, were associates of the Plymouth Company. 

Although not included among the original patentees, the Lord 
Chief Justice despatched, within a month after the charter had passed 
the great seal, " a tall ship belonging to Bristol and the river Severne 
to settle a plantation in the river of Sagadahoc ; " and in the following 
August Sir Ferdinando Gorges sent out a ship, under the command 
of Henry Challons, with two of the savages brought over by Way- 
mouth as pilots, with a view to the same end. Both of these ventures 
came to naught, as the Spaniards captured the ships ere they reached 
the American coast. But another vessel, sent two months later by 
Chief Justice Popham, of which Thomas Hanham, one of the patentees, 
was in command, and Martin Pring, the master, reached the shores of 



32 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Maine in safety, and, after making a careful survey of the coast, 
returned with such glowing accounts of the land they had visited that 
it was determined to send out planters the following spring to found a 
settlement at the mouth of the Sagadahoc. 

It was in consequence of the mishaps of these voyages of explora 
tion that Virginia was settled a few months prior to the occupancy of 
the coast of Maine. 

Sailing from Plymouth on Trinity Sunday, May 31, 1607, on 
the first day of June, the " Mary and John," under Captain Ralegh 
Gilbert, and the "Gift of God," under Captain Popham, left the 
" Lizard," on their westward journey. Parting company at the Azores, 
where the " Mary and John " had a narrow escape from the Nether- 
landers, who detained Gilbert, under the charge of piracy, while the 
" Gift of God " sailed on without stopping to succor her consort, the 
two vessels met off the island of Monhegan on Friday, the 7th of 
August. At midnight of this auspicious day Gilbert, with a number 
of the adventurers and the native " Skidwarres," rowed to Pemaquid 
"amongst many gallant islands," the "weather being fair and the wind 
calm." Landing in a little cove, to which the savage had directed 
their course, the explorers crossed Pemaquid Point, and after a march 
of three miles reached the Indian village of Nahanada, one of Way- 
mouth s captives who had returned with Pring the previous year. 
Received at the first with distrust, as was but natural, an interchange 
of kindly words and offices followed, and the English remained for 
nearly two hours, visiting the wigwams and receiving every token of 
welcome. On the afternoon of Saturday the party returned to the 
ships. On Sunday, the tenth after Trinity, the settlers held a solemn 
service on Monhegan, where they had earlier found across, which they 
conjectured had been raised by Way mouth, but which it is more likely 
was erected by Pring. The record of the voyage, in the Lambeth 
Library, 1 whence we have drawn many of our particulars of this expe 
dition, gives us in full the story of this Sunday service : 

"Sunday being the 9th of August, in the morning the most part 
of our whole company of both our ships landed on this island, the 
which we call St. George s Island, where the cross standeth, and there 
we heard a sermon delivered unto us by our preacher, giving God 
thanks for our happy meeting and safe arrival into the country, and so 
returned aboard again." 

Strachey, in his narrative of this event, alludes to the preacher by 
name as Mr. Seymour, and speaks of" the chief of both the shipps with 
the greatest part of all the company " as forming the congregation of 
this first service of the Church, of which we have record, in the Eng 
lish tongue and on the New England coast. With deep solemnity must 
the words of common prayer and common praise have sounded on the 
ears of that little company of worshippers. Those words remain as 
our heritage, and we can call up the scene under the tall cross, the 
symbol of our salvation and a proof of English occupancy for Christ s 

" A Relation of a Voyage to Sagadahoc," now first printed from the original MS., in the 
Lambeth Lihrarv. Edited with Preface, Notes, and Appendices, by the Rev. B. F. DeCosta. 8. 
Cambridge, 1880i Pp.43. 



FORT ST. GEORGE AND THE CHURCH SETTLERS. 



33 



Church as well as for a Christian State, and recite the verba ipsis- 
sima, then for the first time echoing on the still air of our northern 
shores. Among the Psalms of the day was the Deus noster rsfugium, 
and its words of glad assurance must have had a meaning unknown 
before : " God is our hope and strength, a very present help in trouble. 
Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the 
hills be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof 




ANCIENT PEMAQUID. 

rage and swell, and though the mountains shake at the tempest of the 
same. ... Be still, then, and know that I am God: 1 will be 
exalted among the heathen, and I will be exalted on the earth. The 
Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge." What 
more fitting words could be found than those of the second morning 
lesson, for these worshippers in God s free temples? "Howbeit 
the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands ; as saith the 
Prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what 
house will ye build me? saith the Lord; or what is the place of my 



34 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

rest ? Hath not my hand made all these things ? " l It was hallowed 
ground where these few settlers for the first time raised the note of 
praise or voice of supplication to heaven, and we may well rejoice 
that the words then used were those of our own common prayer, with 
the English Bible, which was brought to our shores by these devout 
colonists. The preacher, Richard Seymour, there is reason to believe, 
was a great-grandson of theDuke of Somerset, who, as"Lord Protector," 
ruled the kingdom during the minority of his nephew, the boy-king, 
Edward VI. : and was " related to Gorges, the projector of the colony ; 
to Popham, its patron ; to Popham, its president ; and to Gilbert, its 
admiral, all through the common link of the family of his mother." 9 
Who would be more likely to offer himself as chaplain for this expe 
dition than this young priest of the English Church ? To him belongs 
the honor of being the first English preacher of the glad tidings of our 
holy faith in our New England territory. His name will go down to 
posterity linked with that of the saintly Robert Hunt, the apostle of 
Virginia, who, at Jamestown, was at this very time using the same 
prayers and preaching the same salvation. 

The week following the solemn service was spent in effo&ts to 
secure a safe anchorage, which was at length successful, the two ships 
anchoring side by side, at the mouth of the Sagadahoc, on Sunday, 
Aug-ist 16th. On the 18th of the month choice was made of a site for 
the settlement on the peninsula of Sabino, and, as the Lambeth "Rela 
tion " informs us, on " Wednesday, being the 19th of August, we all went 
to the shore, where we made choice for our plantation, and there we 
had a sermon delivered unto us by our preacher, and after the sermon 
our patent was read with the orders and laws therein prescribed ; then 
we returned aboard our ship again." 3 

Strachey, in his "Historie of Travaile in Virginia," gives us 
further particulars of this solemn inauguration of the new settlement 

by the forms of divine as well as human law. 

^l/Ji&JLfn. J?nx. dtc ^^ e " Present s commission " was read after 
jf the sermon, "with the lawes to be observed 
AUTOGRAPH OF WILLIAM and ^P*" and this Caving been done , " George 
STRACHEY. Popham, gent., was nominated President, 

Captain Ralegh Gilbert, James Davies, Rich 
ard Seymer, Preacher, Captain Richard Davies, Captain Harlow, were 
all sworn assistants." Thus was formally begun, in the fear of God and 
with due reverence to law, the first occupation and settlement of New 
England, and from this date, and by virtue of these acts, the title of 
England to this portion of the New World was assured. The " lawes 
to be observed and kept," read on this interesting occasion, are still 
extant ; they carefully provide at the outset for the spiritual welfare 
of colonists and savages : " Wee doe specially ordaine, charge, and 
require, the said presidents and councills, and the ministers of the 
said several colonies respectively, within their several limits and 

Actsvii. 48-50. 

* Bp. George Burgess, in " The Popham Memorial Volume," p. 103. 

A Relation, etc., p. 30. 



FOKT ST. GEORGE AND THE CHURCH SETTLERS. 35 

precincts, that they, with all diligence, care, and respect, doe provide, 
that the true word, and service of God and Christian faith be preached, 
planted, and used, not only within every of the said several colonies, 
and plantations, but alsoe as much as they may among the salvage 
people which doe or shall adjoine unto them or border upon them, 
according to the doctrine, rights, and religion now professed and 
established within our realme of England, and that they shall not 
suffer any person or persons to withdrawe any of the subjects or 
people inhabiting, or which shall inhabit within any of the said several 
colonies and plantations from the same, or from their due allegiance, 
unto us, our heirs and successors, as their immediate soveraigne under 
God." The conversion of the aborigines is again referred to in this 
document: "Wee doe hereby determine and ordaine, that every 
person and persons being our subjects of every the said collonies and 
plantations, shall from time to time well entreate those salvages in 
those parts, and use all good means to draw the salvages and heathen 
people of the said several places, and of the territories and countries 
adjoining, to the true service and knowledge of God, and that all 
just, kind and charitable courses shall be holden with such of them as 
shall conform themselves to any good and sociable traffique and deal 
ing with the subjects of us, our heirs and successors, which shall be 
planted there, whereby they may be the sooner drawne to the true 
knowledge of God, and the obedience of us our heirs and successors," 
etc. 1 In^this Christian manner was the settlement on the peninsula of 
Sabino, at the mouth of the Sagadahoc, begun. The following day 
they entered upon the work of entrenching the site of their new home, 
and the building of a fort and storehouse. The carpenters busied them 
selves in constructing a pinnace, and while these active operations 
were well under way, Gilbert, in his shallop, explored the coast, 
visiting Cape Elizabeth, noting the almost numberless islands in 
Casco Bay, and sailing up the Sheepscot and Penobscot rivers. Trade 
was carried on with the Indians, who were treated with kindness and 
consideration, even when threatening hostilities. 

A record, under date of October 4th, found in Strachey, gives us 
an interesting glimpse of the religious life of the settlers : " There came 
two canoas to the fort, in which were Nahanada and his wife, and Skid- 
warres, with the Basshabaes brother, and one other called Amenquin, a 
Sagamo ; all whome the President feasted and entertayned with all kind- 
nes, both that day and the next, which being Sondaye, 2 the President 
carried them with him to the place of publike prayers, which they were 
at both morning and evening, attending y 4 with great reverence and si 
lence." 3 As the year drew to its close, the " Mary and John," under the 
command of Capt. Robert Davies, was sent back to England, " with let 
ters to the Lord Chief Justice, ymportuninge a supply for the most nec 
essary wants to the subsisting of a colony to be sent unto them betymes 
the next yeare." On the 13th of December, the third Sunday in 
Advent, two days before the departure of the " Mary and John," the 

1 Vide Appendix to " A Vindication of the Claims of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, as the Father 
of English Colonization in America. By John A. Poor." New York : 1862. Pp. 134, 136. 

2 The eighteenth after Trinity. 3 Historic of Travaile, p. 178. 



36 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

president addressed a letter in Latin to the king, in which he writes : 
" Optima me tenet opinio, Dei gloriam facile in his regionibus eluces- 
cere, Vestne Majestatis imperium amplificari, et Britannorum rempub- 
licam breviter augmentari." "My well-considered opinion is, that in 
these regions the glory of God may be easily evidenced, the empire of 
Your Majesty enlarged, and the public welfare of the Britons speedily 
augmented." l 

After the departure of the " Mary and John," the fort was com 
pleted and fortified with twelve pieces of ordnance. Five 2 houses were 
built, besides a church and storehouse, and "the carpenters framed a 
pretty Pynnace of about some thirty tonne, which they called the * Vir 
ginia ; the chief shipwright being one Digby, of London." 

On Saturday, the 5th of February, the eve of Quinquagesima, the 
president died. " He was well stricken in years," says Gorges, in his 
" Briefe Narrative," 3 " and had long been an infirm man. Howsoever, 
heartened by hopes, willing he was to die in acting something that might 
be serviceable to God, and honorable to his country." In the sonorous 
Latin which he employed in his letter to his king, his epitaph, cut in en 
during stone, records for all time to come, 

" Leges literasque Anglicanas 
Et fldem ecclesiamque Christ! 
In has sylvas duxit." 4 

The loss of so noble a leader was fatal to the new enterprise. The 
winter had proved exceedingly severe. So extreme was the cold that 
" no boat could stir upon any business." Still, on the return of Captain 
Davies, " with a shipp laden full of victuals, armes, instruments, and 
tooles," all things were found " in good forwardness." The barter-trade 
with the Indians had yielded " many kinds of furs ; " a " good store of 
sarsaparilla," a root much esteemed at that time, had been gathered ; 
and the new pinnace was "all finished." Gilbert, who had succeeded 
Popham as president, was compelled to return to settle the estate of his 
brother, Sir John Gilbert, who had lately died, and to whose property 
he was heir. Besides, the Chief Justice had died in England, ere his 
brother had passed away in America, and as there had been " noe mynes 
discovered, nor hope thereof, being the mayne intended benefit ex 
pected to uphold the charge of this plantacion, and the fears that all 
other wynters would prove like the first, the company by no means 
would stay any longer in the country," " wherefore they all ymbarked 
in the new arrived shipp, and in the new pynnace, the Virginia, and 
set sail for England." " And this," concludes Strachey, " was the end 
of that northern colony vppon the river Sachadehoc." 5 

It must not be overlooked that no mention of the return of " The 
Gift of God " to England is found in any of the narratives of this 
short-lived settlement. It has been conjectured with no little reason 
that upon the death of Popham and the succession of the London inter- 

1 ph t am Memorial Volume, p. 224. He brought into these wilds English laws 

btrachey says " fifty," an evident clerical and learning, and the faith and the Church of 

error. Christ." 

8 Maine Hist. Coll., n., p. 22. Historic of Tra vailc, pp. 179, 180. 




FORT ST. GEORGE AND THE CHURCH SETTLERS. 37 

est in the person of Gilbert to the presidency of the colony, the Bris 
tol men, with the Popham bark, the " Gift of God," left the peninsula 
of Sabino and Fort St. George, where the hostility of the Sagadahoc 
savages had been aroused, and sought a new home atPemaquid, under 
the protection of Nahanada and his followers. This agrees with the 
statement of the painstaking and accurate Prince, in his " Chronology," 
that all but forty-five planters departed for England, on the breaking 
up of the colony, in two ships, of which the " Virginia," the first Ameri 
can-built ship, was one. Thirteen years after the abandonment of the 
Sagadahoc plantation there was a hamlet of "fifty families," known as 
the " Sheepscot Farms," on the banks of the Sheepscot river ; while at 
Pemaquid there appear to have been settlers, or traders at least, almost, 
if not quite, from the time of the return of Gilbert and his followers 
to England. Year by year Sir Francis Popham, who, as we learn 
from Gorges "Brief Narrative," " cared not to give it over," sent ships 
" in hope of better fortunes," while the story of Gorges own efforts 
to found a loyal and a churchly colony on the shores of Maine proves 
that his perseverance was not wholly fruitless, though finally the iron 
heel of the Massachusetts settlers crushed out at once both Episcopacy 
and independence. 

Still the claim of the English for the possession of the territory 
of New England rests upon this settlement on the peninsula of Sabino, 
at Fort St. George ; and even the Puritan historian, Hubbard, dates 
the occupancy of the English upon our northern American shores from 
the year 1607. There has been no little discussion with reference to 
the character of the Sagadahoc colonists ; but nothing has been proved 
to their disparagement. Citations from a tract by Sir William Alex 
ander, and from Lord Bacon s famous essay on Plantations, have been 
adduced to prove that they were " pressed to that enterprise as endan 
gered by the law, or by their own necessities;" l or, in the stronger lan 
guage of Bacon, were convicted felons, 
who left their country for their coun 
try s good. But the words of Alex 
ander are far from implying that these 
planters, or any of them, were crimi 
nals, as the phrase he uses may, and 
AUTOGRAPH OF LORD BACON. doubtless does, refer to poor debtors ; 

and, at the time of the Popham expedi 
tion, there were no laws in force authorizing the transportation of crimi 
nals into Virginia. Besides, the great charter under which they sailed 
provided only for the sailing of such as went "willingly." If criminals, 
their return would have been to certain death, and even the "extreme ex 
tremities " 2 of a New England winter would have been preferred to this. 
There is nothing in the story of their abode at Fort St. George to indicate 
any want of principle or character from the first to the very last. They 
began their work with prayer and lessons of duty; they complied 
with all the forms of law ; the minister of religion was among them, 
and, by their reverent participation in the worship enjoined by their 

i Sir William Alexander s " Encouragement * Captain John Smith s " General Historic of 

to Colonies," London, 1624, p. 30. New England," London, 1624, p. 204. 




38 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

patent, even the wondering savages were impressed with the power of 
a faith they could not comprehend. Industry and good order were 
maintained. The tendency to discontent, consequent upon the loss of 
their storehouses and provisions, was restrained. The change of presi 
dents, on the death of the worthy Popham, was quietly and lawfully 
made. Their relations to the savages were friendly, and were main 
tained in good faith, and their record is unstained by the shedding of 
blood. Short as was their residence on the bleak coast of Maine, they 
have won their place in history as the first settlers of New England. 
They laid the foundations of State and Church at the North a year 
before the men of Leyden signed their solemn " compact " in the cabin 
of the " Mayflower," in Plymouth harbor, and began on a soil to which 
they had no claim, and without the presence of a minister of their own 
faith, the civil and religious history of Puritan New England. 



CRITICAL NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

WE are reminded by Dr. De Costa in his interesting chapter on "Norutnbega 
and its English Explorers," in the third volume of " The Critical and Nar 
rative History of America," that the first Englishman certainly known to have 
traversed the territoiy of Massachusetts and Maine was David Ingram. Landed in 
the month of October, 1568, on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, by Captain, after 
wards Sir John, Hawkins, with a lai ge number of companions in misery, Ingram 
and two of his fellows traversed the continent, following the Indian trails, fording 
the intervening rivers, and finding a pathway through interminable forests till 
Cape Breton and the St. John s river were reached. Here Ingram embarked in a 
French ship, the " Gargarine," commanded by Captain Champagne, and reached 
his native land by the way of France. Of the narrative of this extraordinary jour 
ney, which is embellished by marvellous tales of houses with pillars of crystal and 
silver, and cities three-fourths of a mile in length, we can only quote the caustic 
words of Dr. Edward Everett Hale, in " The Critical and Narrative History of 
America" (Vol. m., p. G4), as follows: 

" It is a real misfortune for our early history that no reliance can be placed on 
the fragmentary stories of the few survivors who were left by Hawkins on the coast 
of the Gulf of Mexico. One or two there were who, after years of captivity, told 
their wretched story at home. But it is so disfigured by every form of lie, that the 
most ingenious reconstructor of history fails to distil from it even a drop of the 
truth. The routes which they pursued cannot be traced, the etymology of geogra 
phy gains nothing from their nomenclatures, and, in a word, the whole story has to 
be consigned to the realm of fable." 

Ingram s Narrative was printed by Hakluytin 1589, but was omitted in his next 
issue. The " Rare Travailes " of Job Hortop, who was landed ou the Mexican coast 
with Ingram, and reached England after more than a score of years of wandering, 
is included in Dr. E. E. Hale s sweeping condemnation. Purchas, referring to 
Hakluyt s omission of these narratives in his later impressions, sums up the case in 
a word : " The reward of lying being not to be believed in truths." A copy of the 
" original manuscript," preserved in the Sloan Collection in the British Museum, was 
printed by Plowden Charles Gennet Weston as the first of his " Documents Connected 
with the History of South Carolina," one hundred and twenty-one copiesof which were 
reproduced at the Cheswick press for private distribution by the editor. Vide a review 
of Mr. Weston s volume by the author of this history in the Hist. Mag., I., pp. 376, 377. 
The title of this Narrative, as printed by Mr. Weston, is in " The Land Travels of 
Davyd Ingram and others in the vear 1568-69 from the Rio de Minas in the Gulph 
of Mexico to Cape Breton in Acadia." Mr. Sparks, who had a MS. copy in his col- 




FORT ST. GEORGE AND THE CHURCH SETTLERS. 39 

lection of historical documents, indorsed it thus: "Many parts of this narrative 
are incredible, so much so as to throw a distrust over the whole." Still the larger 
portion of the statements of this narrative appear to be true, though the writer, who 
had suffered much, doubtless saw many things with a diseased brain." There can be 
little doubt, in view of the strong religious sentiment of the age, shared by high 
and low alike, that these wanderers, whose adherence to the faith of England s 
Reformed Catholic Church had exposed numbers of their companions to the mer 
ciless rigors of the Inquisition, in their lonelv and dangerous journeyings, offered 
again and again to God the prayers of the cfiurch, which, as uttered by their lips, 
were first heard in the wilds through which they passed. Rude and ignorant though 
they were, they were loyal to the Crown and Church of England, and the church s 
story would be incomplete without a reference to their faith and fate. Vide, also, an 
interesting article on " Ingrain s Journey through North America in 1567-69," by 
Dr. De Costa, in the " Magazine of American History," ix., 168-176. 

Mr. George Bancroft, the historian of the United States, in the " Magazine of 
American History," ix., p. 459, reasserts the statement, in his revised history, 
that Gosnold s voyage was " undertaken with the permission of Sir Walter Ralegh." 
This assertion Mr. Bancroft proceeds to sustain as follows : 

"Immediately on Gosnold s return from this voyage, a report was made of it 
by one of Gosnold s companions, expressly for Raleigh, and was forthwith printed 
in London, and it bears this title : A Briefe and true Relation of the Discouverie 
of the North part of Virginia, being a most pleasant, fruitful, and commodious soile ; 
Made this present yeere 1602, by Captaine Bartholomew Gosnold, Captaine Bartholo 
mew Gilbert, and divers other gentlemen, their associates, 

BY THE PERMISSION 
OF THE HONORABLE KNIGHT 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH, ETC. 

Written by M. John Brereton, one of the voyage . . . Londini : Impensis 
Oeor. Bishop, 1602. Raleigh was displeased that Gosnold, or some of his compan 
ions, had infringed on his monopoly by bringing back sassafras wood for the Lon 
don market; but he favored every attempt to plant an English nation in America." 

Ralegh s letter, in Edwards, undoubtedly complains of the infringement of 
his monopoly, and his language seems to imply that, at least, Gilbert, " Lord 
Cobham s man," went without his authority, and " therefore all is confiscate." He 
had earlier said, " And it were a pitty to overthrow the enterprise ; for I shall yet 
live to see it an English nation." Ralegh claims, in his letter to Cecil, asking for 
the seizure of the 22 cwt. sassafras which had been taken to London, " I have a patent 
that all shipps and goods are confiscate that shall trade ther without my leve." 
Evidently if Gosnold and Gilbert had sailed with Ralegh s "leve," he could not 
have demanded the confiscation of the cargo brought back. 

Appended to Brereton s "Brief and True Relation " (reprinted in 3 Mass. Hist. 
Soc. Coll., vui., pp. 83-125), is " a brief note of the sending another Bark this present 
year, 1602, by the Honorable Knight, Sir Walter Ralegh, for the searching out of his 
Colony in Virginia 1 : 

" Samuel Mace, of Weymouth, a very sufficient mariner, an honest, sober 
man, who had been at Virginia twice before, was employed thither by Sir Walter 
Ralegh, to find those people which were left there in the year 1587. To whose 
succor he hath sent five several times at his own charges. The parties by him set 
forth performed nothing ; some of them following their own profits elsewhere ; 
others returning with frivolous allegations. At this last time, to avoid all excuse, 
he bought a bark, and hired all the company for wages by the month ; who depart 
ing from Weymouth in March last, 1602, fell forty leagues to the south-westward of 
Hatteras, in thirty-four degrees or thereabout, and having there spent a month ; 
when they came along the coast to seek the people, they did it not, pretending that 
the extremity of weather and loss of some principal ground-tackle forced and feared 
them from searching the port of Hatteras, to which they were sent. From that place 
where they abode, they brought sassafras," etc. 

In connection with the references to Waymouth s voyage we may allude, in 
passing, to the controversy which has arisen with reference to the particular river 
which he explored. It would be foreign to our purpose to enter upon this discus 
sion, with respect to which a difference of opinion may be quite allowable. The 
subject is fully treated in the " Narrative and Critical History of America," HI., pp. 
189-192. The " Magazine of American History," ix., pp. 459,460, contains the latest 
reference to this controversy in which Mr. Bancroft defends the statement in the 



40 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

revised edition of his History of the United States" : that the island Waymouth 
"struck was Monhcgan; that the group of islands among which he passed was 
the St. George s; that the river which he entered was the St. George s." In Mr. 
Bancroft s view, " Any one who knows the coast of Maine, and reads the descrip 
tion of Waymouth, with the charts of the Coast Survey before him, will see that 
the case is clear beyond a question." 

The connection of Richard Ilakluyt, Prebendary of St. Augustine, m the 
Cathedral Church of Bristol, not only with the various voyages to the western 
world, but also with the preservation in his priceless volumes of the records of dis 
covery is too interesting and too important to be lightly passed over. This pains 
taking priest and indefatigable chronicler of the maritime achievement of his native 
land was descended from an old family in Hertfordshire, and was brought up at 
Westminster School. Chosen to a scholarship at Christ Church, Oxford, he was, 
while at the University, a contemporary and friend of the gallant Philip Sidney, to 
whom he inscribed his collection of voyages and discoveries, printed in 1582. 
Hakluyt s interest in these subjects dates back to his boyhood. In his " Epistle 
Dedicatorie" to Sir Francis Walsingham, prefixed to his issue of 1589, he thus 
describes an interview he had, in his youth, with a kinsman of the same name, to 
whom he owed his taste for history and cosmography : 

" I do remember that being a youth, and one of her Maiestie s scholars at West 
minster, that fruit full nurserie, it was my happe to visit the chamber of M. Richard 
Ilakluyt, my cosin, a gentleman of the Middle Temple, well knowen vnto you, at a 
time when I found lying open ypon his boord certeine bookes of Cosmographie, with 
an vniversal Mappe. Ho seeing me somewhat curious in the view thereof, began 
to instruct my ignorance by showing me the diuision of the earth, into three parts 
after the olde account, and then according to this latter and better distribution into 
more : he pointed with his wand to all the knowen Seas, Gulfs, Bayes, Straights, 
Capes, Riuers, Empires, Kingdomes, Dukedomes, and Territories of ech part, with 
declaration also of their speciall commodities and particular wants, which, by the 
benefit of traffike and entercourse of merchants, are plentifully supplied. From the 
Mappe he brought me to the Bible, and turning to the 107th Psalm, directed mee 
to the 23 and 24 verses, where I read, that they which go downe to the sea in 
ships, and occupy by the great waters, they see the works of the Lord, and his 
woonders in the deepe, etc. Which words of the Prophet, together with my cousin s 
discourse (things of high and rare delight to my young nature), tooke in me 
so deepe an impression, that I constantly resolued, if ever I were preferred to the 
Vniuersity, where better time and more convenient place might, be ministered for 
these studies, I would, by God s assistance, prosecute that knowledge and kind of 
literature the doores whereof (after a sort) were so happily opened before me." 

This interview decided Hakluyt s after-life. With wnat cost of toil and labor 
he prosecuted his chosen vocation we may learn from the preface to the second 
edition of his voyages : 

" I do this second time, friendly reader, presume to offer vnto thy view this 
first part of my three- fold discourse. For the bringing of which into this homely and 
rough-hew en shape which here thou seest ; what restlesse nights, what painef ull 
days, what heat, what cold I have indured ; how many long and changeable jour 
neys I have travailed; how many famous libraries I have searched into; what 
varietie of ancient and moderne writers I haue perused ; what a number of old rec 
ords, patents, priuileges, letters, etc., I have redeemed from obscuritie and per 
ishing ; what expenses I have not spared ; and yet what grave opportunities of 
Eriuate gain, preferment, and ease, I have neglected ; albeit thyself can hardly 
nagine, yet I by daily experience do find and feel, and some of my entier friends 
can sufficiently testifie. Howbeit (as I told thee at the first) the honour and benefit 
of this common weale wherein I Hue and breathe, hath made all difficulties seem 
easie, all paines and Industrie pleasant, and all expences of light value and mo 
ment to me." 

It was, as Fuller, in his Worthies," well styles it, "a work of great honour to 
England," that Ilakluyt accomplished, both in his efforts to stimulate discovery in the 
West and to record its progress. It was all done in the faith and fear of God. In his 
epistles dedicatory to Ralegh, written from Paris in 1587, where he was Chaplain 
to the English embassy, and prefaced to his edition of " Peter Martyr s History of 
the New World," Hakluyt explicitly states that the glory of God was the great 
end to be had in view in undertaking to extend the bounds of a Christian Common 
wealth. No nobler monument could be raised, no brighter name left for posterity 



FORT ST. GEORGE AND THE CHURCH SETTLERS. 41 

than the proof given by Ralegh in these efforts for discovery and colonization 
that he sought to restrain the fierceness of the barbarian, and enlighten his 
darkened mind by the knowledge of the one only true God. We cite these words 
in the sonorous Latin of the time: " Judex rerum omnium tempus, diligensque 
tuorurn ministrorum inquisitio, inulta inopinata quae adhuc latent, modo Deus in- 
tersit, nobis aperient. Deum autem adfuturum non est cur dubites, quandoquidem 
de ipsius gloria, animarum infinitarum salute, Reipublicse Christianse incremento 
agitur. Eja ergo age ut coepisti et aeterni tui nominis ac famas apud posteros, 
quaa nulla unquam obliterabit astas, relinque monumenta. Nihil enim ad posteros 
gloriosius nee honorificentius transmitti potest quam barbaros domare, rudes et 
paganos ad vitse civilis societatem revocare, efferos in gyrum rationis reducere, 
hominesque atheos et a Deo alienos divini numinis reverentia imbuere." It was, as 
Hakluyt asserts in his English dedication, for " the glorieof God, and the saving of 
the soules of the poore and blinded infidels," that Ralegh undertook his scheme of 
Virginia colonization, and his purpose of sending "some good churchmen thither 
as may truly say, with the apostle, to the savages We seek not yours but you, " 
is mentioned in this prefatory epistle in such a way as makes it evident that pro 
vision was made for the spiritual needs of the colonists, whom this statesman and 
soldier sent forth. On Hakluyt s return to England he was appointed to a preben- 
dal stall in Bristol Cathedral, and was afterward preferred to the living of Weth- 
eringset-in-Suffolk. But, wherever his lot was cast, he was still occupied in his 
self-appointed work of recording the annals of exploration and colonization, and 
in giving a wise and salutary direction to the various schemes of discovery and 
settlement in which he took a prominent part. In 1605 he was appointed a Pre 
bendary of Westminster, and the following year became a member of the Com 
pany of Virginia, the interests of which he carefully watched over till his death 
in 1616. He is buried in Westminster Abbey, and his lifelong devotion to the 
affairs of the Western World is a notable instance of the religious and churchly 
aspect of Western discovery in his day and age. 

The story of the Sagadahoc settlers, under the leadership of Popham, as told by 
Strachey, and by a number of recent writers whose sympathies were with the 
Church, has given rise to a long and somewhat acrimonious discussion, which has 
but lately ceased. Prior to the publication by the Hakluyt Society of Strachey s 
"Historic of Travaileinto Virginia," in which the annals of the Popham Colony are 
simply told, all that was known of these early settlers on the coast of Maine was 
to be gathered from notices in Purchas s Pilgrimage ; " in the Brief Relation" of 
the President and Council for New England ; Smith s " Generall Historic ; " in Sir 
William Alexander s " Encouragement to Colonies," and Sir Ferdinando Gorges s 
brief narration. These notices are gathered together by Dr. De Costa in the 
Appendix to " A Relation of a Voyage to Sagadahoc," from a MS. in the Lambeth 
Collection. (Cambridge, 1880.) The publication by the Hakluyt Society of Stra- 
chey s " Historic " attracted attention to this colony, and made those interested in 
the history of the church aware that this settlement was undertaken under churchly 
auspices, and that its inception was accompanied by the services of the " Book of 
Common Prayer." Strachey s narrative was republished by the Historical So 
cieties of Massachusetts and Maine, with annotations ; and in 1863 the latter society 
published a "Memorial Volume." Three years later appeared " The Popham Colony : 
a Discussion of its Historic Claims," containing articles by William F. Poole, the 
Rev. Edward Ballard, D.D., and Frederick Kidder, with a bibliography of the sub 
ject up to 1866. Subsequently, as before, various articles appeared on the one side 
or the other, in the newspapers and magazines of the day ; and for several years 
the addresses at the Popham celebrations were issued in pamphlet form, and occa 
sioned not a little criticism and numerous replies. The main matter in point, so 
far as we are concerned, is the unquestionable priority of the services and sacra 
ments of the Church on the New England coast, years before the coming of the 
Leyden " Pilgrims," or the nonconformists of Massachusetts. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 

ON Friday, the 19th of December, 1606, an expedition consisting 
of three ships, the "Susan Constant," of one hundred tons 
burden; the "Good-speed," of forty; and the " Discovery," a 
pinnace of .twenty, sailed from Black wall for Virginia, under the com 
mand of Captain Christopher Newport, " a mariner well practiced for 
the waterrie parts of America." l The holydays were spent upon the 
coast, as unpropitious winds detained them for six weeks in sight of 
England, " All which time," proceeds the chronicler of the voyage, 
" Mr. Hunt our Preacher was so weake and sicke, that few expected his 
recovery. Yet although he were but twentie myles from his habitation 
(the time we were in the Downes) , and notwithstanding the stormy 
weather, nor the scandalous imputations (of some few, little better than 
Atheists, of the greatest ranke amongst vs), suggested against him, all 
this could never force from him so much as a seeming desire to leaue 
the busines, but preferred the service of God in so good a voyage, be 
fore any affection to contest with his godlesse foes, whose disasterous 
designes (could they haue prevailed) had even then overthrowne this 
businesse, so many discontents did then arise, had he not with the water 
of patience, and his godly exhortations (but chiefly by his true devoted 
example) quenched those flames of envie, and dissention." 2 Selected 
by the first president of the colony, Edward-Maria Wingfield, with the 
approval of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the celebrated Dr. Bancroft, 
as " a man not anywaie to be touched w th the rebellious humors of a 
popish spirit, nor blemished w th y e least suspition of a factius scis- 
matick," 3 this first missionary priest of the Church of England 
resident on our American shores, whose name is preserved, well 
deserved the eulogium of the famous Captain Smith, who further 
speaks of him as "an honest, religious, and courageous Divine ; dur 
ing whose life our factions were oft qualified, our wants and greatest ex 
tremities so comforted, that they seemed easie in comparison of what 
we endured after his memorable death." 4 Robert Hunt, A.M., who 
thus with the concurrence, and under the authority, of the primate of 
all England, went forth on the church s mission to Virginia, and whose 
home appears, from Smith s "Historic," to have been in Kent, was doubt 
less the Vicar of Reculver, whose appointment to that cure was dated 
Jan. 18, 1594, and whose resignation of the same took place in 1602, 
at which time he appears associated with Gosnold, Smith, and Wing- 

1 Smith s Gen. Hist, i., p. 150, Richmond ed. 2 Ibid. 

8 Wingficld s "Discourse of Virginia," in " Archseologia Americana," iv., p. 102. 

4 Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters, p. 33. 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 43 

field, in plans for the settlement of Virginia. 1 Well may the historian 
of the United States record his opinion of this excellent man as "a 
clergyman of persevering fortitude and modest worth." 2 There was 
need of every Christian virtue in the spiritual guide of so disorderly 
and ill-assorted a company as the little fleet of Newport bore to the Vir 
ginian shores. They were embarked on an expedition to found an em 
pire in the West ; but the composition of the colony was such that 




CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 



"gentlemen" were largely in excess of artificers, and, unlike the "Colony 
of Roanoke," there were no women to bind in families, and cement in 
heart and home-loves, these founders of a commonwealth. The long 
and tedious voyage was productive of discontent and dissensions, and it 
was not till Sunday, the third after Easter, April 26, that the voyagers 
entered the magnificent bay of the Chesapeake. Several weeks were 
spent in selecting a site for the settlement, but at length, on Wednes- 

1 Fide Anderson s "History of the Colo- * Bancroft s " Uuited States," I., p. 118. 

nial Church," 2d ed., I., pp. 169, 170. 



44 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



day, the 13th day of May, the peninsula of Jamestown, about lifty 
miles above the mouth of the river, already named in honor of the king, 
was determined upon. This decision made, the members of the M Coun 
cil " designated in the sealed orders, which were opened immediately 
on the first landing of the expedition, were sworn into office, with the 
exception of Smith, who had aroused the ill-will of the chief of the 
colonists ; and Edward-Maria Wingfield was chosen president. 

Quaintly does the chronicler proceed : "Now falleth every man 
to worke, the Councell contriue the fort, the rest cut down trees to make 
place to pitch their tents ; some provide clapbord to relade the ships, 
some make gardens, some nets, etc. . . . The President s overween 
ing jealousie would admit no exercise at armes, or fortification, but the 





JAMESTOWN. 



boughs of trees cast together in the forme of ahalfe moone, by the ex 
traordinary paines and diligence of Captain Kendall." 2 Agreeably to the 
directions of the council in England, on Thursday, the 21st of May, Cap 
tain Newport, with five gentlemen, Percy, brother of the Earl of Nor 
thumberland, Archer, Smith, Brooks, and Wotton, four " mariners," 
and fourteen sailors, ascended the James river in the " shallop " as far as 
the falls of the river, where Richmond now stands. The record of this 
exploration remains, and its quaint recital of the daily progress of this 
little band amidst the forest glades and along the water-courses of their 
new home, proves that Newport and his men were not unmindful of the 

1 This cut follows a sketch made about 1857 by a travelling Englishwoman, Miss Catharine 
C. Hoplcy, and shows the condition of the ruinea church at that time. 
Smith s "General Historic," Richmond ed., I., p. 157. 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 45 

fact that they were both Christians and Englishmen. Full of interest 
is the mention of " May 24, Sunday, Whit-Sunday ; " telling of their 
kindly intercourse with the savages, and their simple banquet of " two 
peeces of porke to be sodd ashore with pease," with w beere, aquavite, 
and sack, "to which the savage chieftain, Powhatan, was an invited guest. 
As the day declined they raised a cross " upon one of the little iletts 
at the mouth of the falls," with the inscription, " lacobus, Rex, 1607," 
and Newport s name below. " At the erecting hereof, we prayed for our 
Kyng, and our owne prosperous succes in this his actyon ; and pro- 
claymed him kyng with a great shoute." l To the narrative of this expe 
dition, which its gallant leader trusted would "tend to the glory of God, 
his majestie s renowne, our country e s profytt, our owne advaunciug, 
and fame to all posterity," 2 is appended, " A Brief Description of the 
People," from which we extract the following incidental proof of the 
religious character of the explorers : 

I found they account after death to goe into another world, pointing eastward 
to the element ; and, when they saw us at prayer, they observed us with great 
silence and respect, especially those to whome I had imparted the meaning of our 
reverence. To conclude, they are a very witty and ingenious people, apt both to 
understand and speake our language. So that I hope in God, as he hath miraculously 
preserved us hither from all daungers both of sea and land and their fury, so he will 
make us authors of his holy will in converting them to our true Christian faith, by 
his owne inspireing grace and knowledge of his deity. 3 

Among the turbulent and discontented settlers who had been sent 
to Virginia to form the nucleus of a new Commonwealth and a new 
church there seems to have been but one common bond of union, the 
faithful and devoted minister of the Prince of peace. Scanty and un 
satisfactory as are the notices of the life and labor of this most estimable 
man, it is a satisfaction that we can picture to mind the scene of his pub 
lic services. In Smith s " Advertisements for the Unexperienced Plant 
ers of New England," dedicated to Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
we have a description of the rude house of prayer, where the colonists 
repaired for worship each morn and even, and beneath whose canvas 
roof the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ was duly adminis 
tered according to the use of our mother-church : 

I have been often demanded by so many how we beganne to preach the Gospel] 
in Virginia, and by what authority, what Churches we had, our order of service, and 
maintenance for our Ministers, therefore I think it not amisse tosatisfie their demands, 
it being the Mother of all our Plantations, intreatmg Pride .to spare laughter, 
to understand her simple beginning and proceedings. When I first went to Virginia, 
I well remember, wee did hang an awning (which is an old saile) to three or four 
trees to shadow us from the Sunne, our walls were rales of wood, our seats unhewed 
trees, till we cut plankes ; our Pulpit a bar of wood nailed to two neighboring trees : 
in foule weather we shifted into an old rotten tent, for wee had few better, and this 
came by the way of adventure for new. This was our Church, till wee built a homely 
thing like a barne, set upon cratchets, covered with rafts, sedge, and earth ; so 
was also the walls ; the best of our houses of the like curiosity, but the most parte 
farre much worse workmanship, that could neither well defend wind norraine, yet 

1 Newport s " Discoveries in Virginia," in " Archaeologia Americana," iv., p. 47. 
* Ibid., p. 55. 8 Ibid., pp. 64, 65. 



46 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

wee had daily Common Prayer morning and evening, every Sunday two Sermons, 
and every three moneths the holy Communion, till our Minister died. But our 
Prayers daily, with an Homily on Sundaies, we continued two or three yeares 
after, till more Preachers came. 

It was under this canvas roof that, on the third Sunday after Trinity, 
June 21, 1607, the first sacrament was administered. It was a memo 
rable day in the history of this infant settlement. The wranglings 
and jealousies, which had been fomented during the voyage, were, for 
the moment at least, allayed. The kindly offices of the priest had re 
sulted in the quelling of consciences ill at ease, in the subduing of bitter 
strifes and envy ings, and in bringing men to be of one mind in an 
house. " Many were the mischiefes that daily sprung from their igno 
rant, yet ambitious spirits, but the good doctrine and exhortation of 
our Preacher, Mr. Hunt, reconciled them, and caused Captain Smith to 
be admitted of the Councell." " The next day," continues the chronicler, 
" all received the Communion," drawing near, as we may well believe, 
with faith and penitence, to take this holy sacrament to their comfort 
in this their new home. Surely there was a lesson for these turbulent 
men in the opening words of the epistle for the day, St. Peter s 
words to them, and to all men, " All of you be subject one to another, 
and be clothed with humility." Doubtless there came, also, with telling 
force to these wanderers, far from their homes, and in the midst of no 
mere figurative wilderness, the parable of the gospel of the day, 
Christ s story of the lost sheep sought and found, and the joy in heaven 
over the one sinner repenting of his sin. 

Five weeks had elapsed since the landing, ere at the table of their 
Lord the contentions and animosities of the colonists were forgotten, 
and on the next day supplications were again offered at their rude altar 
in behalf of Captain Newport "returned for England ; for whose passage 
and safe retorne wee made many Prayers to our Almighty God." * One 
hundred and four colonists were left at Jamestown to effect the begin 
ning of the English Empire in the New World. 

It was no easy task that these men had undertaken. The forests 
were to be felled ; the ground was to be brought under subjection by 
the will and labor of the agriculturists. There were homes to be built ; 
fortifications were required ; trade was to be opened with the crafty 
and treacherous savages. Meanwhile the midsummer heat was such that 
the fields could not be tilled. Disease, engendered by the dampness of 
the climate, prostrated nearly every one, and the lack of suitable food 
lessened the possibilities of cure. " Our drink," writes the chronicler 
of these unhappy days, " was unwholesome water ; our lodgings, castles 
in the air ; had we been as free from all sins as from gluttony and 
drunkenness, we might have been canonized for saints." Still, though 
during the summer there were not at any one time five able men to 
guard the bulwarks, the prayers at morn and even were not omitted. 
Even when on Sundays there was apprehension of an attack by the 
savages, and the sermon was necessarily omitted, the service was in 
variably performed, while "in the tyme of our hungar" when "the 

1 Win-jficld s "Discourse of Virginia," in " Archzcologia Americana," iv., p. 77. 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 47 

common store of oyle, vinegar, sack, and aquavite were all spent, sauing 
twoe gallons of each, the sack was reserued for the Communion 
Table." On the 22d of August Captain Bartholomew Gosnold died, 
" a worthy and religious gentleman." He was " honorably buried, 
having all the ordnance in the port shot off, with many volleys of 
small shot." 

One-half of the colonists had died before autumn, and pitiful, indeed, 
is the record of Percy : " If it had not pleased God to have put a 
terrour in the savages hearts, we had all perished by those wild and 
cruel Pagans, being in that weak state as we were ; our men night and 
day groaning in every corner of the fort, most pitiful to hear. If there 
were any conscience in men, it would make their hearts bleed to hear 
the pitiful munnurings and outcries of our sick men, without relief, 
every night and day for the space of six weeks ; some departing out of 
the world, many times three or four in a night ; in the morning, their 
bodies trailed out of their cabins, like dogs, to be buried. In this sort 
did I see the mortality of divers of our people." 1 

"The living were scarce able to bury the dead," says Smith, 2 who, 
at no little risk, made expeditions among the . v 

savages for corn. But even hunger was not the j 

only ill threatening the destruction of the infant "~J& 
colony. Early in January the rude church and \s 
the rude town described by Smith were de- AUTOGRAPH OF 
stroyedby tire. In this disastrous conflagration CAPT. JOHN SMITH. 

Good Master Hunt, our Preacher, lost all his Librarie, and all that hee had 
(but the clothes on his backe) yet none ever saw him repine at his losse. Upon any 
alarme he would be as readie for defence as any ; and till he could not speake 
he never ceassed to his utmost to animate us constantly to persist ; whose soule 
questionlesse is with God. 3 

The settlers, impoverished and homeless, wasted and worn by dis 
ease and privation, disappointed of their hopes of speedy fortunes, 
and fearing, in their well-nigh defenceless state, the attacks of the 
savages, bethought themselves of abandoning so ill-starred an enterprise ; 
but the fortunate arrival of Captain Newport, with supplies, gave the 
colony a further lease of life. The sailors were employed, under their 
leader s direction, in the erection of a " faire store house, "and the mari 
ners, "aboute a church," which "they finished cheerfully and in short 
tyme." Shortly after, Newport sailed for England, taking with him 
Wingfield, whose consolation was, that his " trauells and daungers " had 
" done somewhat for the behoof of Jerusalem in Virginia." 4 The church 
which Smith calls "a golden Church," built when the mariners were 
striving to load the ship with "golden dirt," as it proved to be, and of 
which the chronicler tells us that " the raine washed " it " neere to 
nothing in fourteen days," 5 shortly required rebuilding. Meanwhile, 
the saintly " Preacher " appears to have sickened and died. No mention 

1 Purchas, iv., p. 1690. * Wingfield s " Discourse," in " Archaeologia 

2 Historic, i., p. 682. Americana," rv., p. 103. 

8 Purchas, iv., p. 1710. Smith s " Historic," 5 Historic, i., p. 169. 

I., p. 168. 



48 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

of him is found save the reference to his death we have already quoted 
from Purchas. He may have lived to solemnize the first marriage in 
Virginia between John Laydon and Anne Burras, which took place 
towards the close of the year 1608 ; but of this we are by no means 
assured, and we cannot but agree with Anderson, " that, had he lived so 
long, some more distinct traces of his valuable ministrations would 
have been preserved." l Doubtless he was " taken away from the evil 
to come " early in the second year of the settlement he had labored so 
devotedly to found. His latest efforts appear to have been directed 
towards the rebuilding of the church, a work undertaken coincidently 
with the repair of the palisades and the planting of the cornfields and 
the re-covering of the storehouse ; and then, his labors ended, his life- 
work done, he "fell asleep." That he died as he had lived, encourag 
ing his fellow-settlers to persist in their effort to found a settlement, is 
on record, and we may, in adding our tribute to the memory of this 
pioneer mission-priest of the mother-church, express our accord with the 
old chronicler in the pious confidence that his soul "is with God." 

" Prayers daily, with an Homily on Sundays," were continued for 
the "two or three years after, till more Preachers came," and even on 
the expedition sent into the interior under the command of the ad 
venturesome Smith, " our order daily was to haue prayer with a Psalme, 
at which solemnitic the poore salvages much wondered ; our Prayers 
being done, a while they were busied with a consultation till they had 
contrived their business." 3 It is interesting to notice these evidences 
of a devotional spirit animating the better portion of this wild com 
munity. Amidst the strifes and wranglings of the office-holders and 
office-seekers, amidst perils and dangers threatening all alike, the words 
of common prayer were daily used, and in their hallowed phrases the 
worshippers were united with those of their faith and lineage across 
the sea, in supplication to a common Father in heaven. 

On Smith s return after one of these excursions into the country, 
to which we have referred, the office of president was assigned to him, 
and it well accords with other statements relating to this remarkable 
character, that we are told that "now the building of Ratcliffe s (the 
former president s) pallace stayed as a thing needlesse ; and the church 
was repaired." In the autumn of 1608 more settlers came, and among 
them two females, "Mrs. Forest, and her maid, Anne Burras." The 
farce of a coronation of Powhatan was enacted, under the direction of 
Captain Newport, for the third time on the Virginian coast, and the 
time of the settlers, which was not wasted in such senseless ceremonies 
as this, was devoted, by order of the council at home, to the search for 
gold. Search was also directed to be made for the recovery of the 
Roanoke settlers, but in vain ; and the company required immediate 
returns for their investments, threatening the settlers that, unless their 
orders were complied with, "they should be left in Virginia as banished 
men." 3 

The threats of the London Company were as futile as their hopes. 
Their anticipations of finding an El Dorado amidst the luxuriant forest- 
glades of Virginia were not to be realized. Dissensions, privations, 

1 Colonial Church, i., pp. 181, 182. Historic, I., p. 182. Bancroft, I., 135. 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 49 

the " accursed thirst for gold," and the stubborn unwillingness of the 
ill-assorted " first planters of Virginia " to submit to any power or 
rule save that of self, brought this settlement in the far-distant west 
into disfavor and distrust at home. The colonists, lacking the sweet re 
straint of the teachings and example of the saintly Eobert Hunt, changed 
only from bad to worse, and the story of their strifes and jealousies, 
their struggles for a miserable and precarious existence, and the failure 
of all the cherished expectations in England of the speedy reduction 
of the savages to civilization and Christianity, gave abundant occasion 
to the " enemy to blaspheme." The " malicious and looser sort," says 
a writer, but a little later in the history of Virginia colonization, "with 
the licentious stage poets, have whet their tongues with scornful taunts 
against the action itself, insomuch as there is no common speech, nor 
public name of anything this day, except it be the name of God, which 
is more widely depraved, traduced, and derided by such unhallowed 
lips, than the name of Virginia." 1 Still, no thought of abandoning 
the enterprise entered into the minds of the friends of colonization at 
home. The succession of misfortunes, which had attended every step 
of the scheme of settlement, served to deepen the enthusiasm and 
zeal of men who were determined to succeed. There rallied in support 
of the new plans for promoting the settlement of Virginia the leading 
men of the age. The royal assent to a new charter was obtained on 
Tuesday, in Rogation week, May 23, 1609, 
and "The Treasurer and Company of Ad 
venturers and Planters of the City of London 
for the first Colony in Virginia " were duly 
and formally created by the king s patent " a 
corporation and Body Politick." By this 
instrument not only were the limits of the 
colony extended, but the company itself 
was enlarged by the addition of numbers AUTOGRAPH OF JAMES i. 
of the nobility, gentry, and tradesmen, 

so that, whether we consider the rank and character of its members, 
or the rights and privileges with which the company was vested 
by the royal authority, it claims a place in history as one of the 
most important bodies ever created, either for trade or government. 
The names of twenty-one peers of the realm appear in the list of in- 
corporators, headed by the powerful Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, the re 
lentless foe, as he had earlier been the rival, of Ralegh, who, in his 
dungeon in the tower, doubtless felt a keen interest in these efforts for 
the successful accomplishment of a work to which he had long since 
given influence, wealth, and personal concern. The Bishops of London, 
the celebrated Abbot, afterward translated to Canterbury, Lincoln, 
"Worcester, and Bath and Wells, and Sutcliffe, Dean of Exeter, who had 
long been interested in the colonization of America, were associated in 
this scheme. Hakluyt, Prebendary of Westminster, was also a mem 
ber of the company, with William Crashaw, B.D., and other clergy 
men of the Church. The numerous companies of tradesmen of the 

1 Dedicatory Epistle to the " New Life in Virginia." 




50 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

city of London, the mercers, the drapers, the goldsmiths, the merchant 
tailors, the cutlers, and more than fifty others, were interested in this 
<rigantic corporation. Merchants, artificers, yeomen, were all repre 
sented in a list which comprised, not merely the great, but all sorts and 
conditions of men. To this company, in which all gradations of rank 
were merged in a common equality, was transferred the powers which 
had beenreserved to the king by the former patent. The execution 
of the privileges conceded by the charter was committed to a council 
of upwards of fifty, o f which Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, 
was :it the head, a position well deserved by the interest he had taken in 
the planting of Virginia from the first. To this council almost unlimited 
powers were intrusted. Under its direction the Governor of Virginia 
could exorcise well-nigh despotic rule, while in the event of mutiny 
or rebellion he was empowered, at his discretion, to proclaim martial 
law, and to carry into force all the rigorous provisions of this stern 
code. The life, liberty, and property of the settlers were wholly in the 
power of an officer owing his appointment and allegiance to a com 
mercial corporation. The lands heretofore conveyed in trust, or held 
in joint proprietorship, were now granted in absolute fee. But one 
restriction upon emigration was enjoined, and that was the requirement 
of the Oath of Supremacy from all voyagers previous to setting sail ; 
and the reason assigned for this injunction was as follows : 

Because the principal Effect, which we can desire or expect of this Action, is 
the Conversion and reduction of the People in those Parts unto the True Worship of 
God, and Christian Religion, in which Respect we should be loth, that any Person 
should be permitted to pass, that we suspected to effect the superstitions of the 
Church of Rome. 1 , 

It was at this juncture in the affairs of Virginia that the name of 
the devout and amiable Nicholas Ferrar appears in connection with the 
enlarged and re -chartered company. The father of John and Nicholas 
Ferrar had been a friend of Ralegh, Hawkins, and Drake, and from the 
first had shown himself to be " a great lover and encourager of foreign 
plantations." 2 It is an evidence of the zeal of the dignitaries and mem 
bers of the English Church in the missionary work in the New World, 
that we find associated, in this renewed effort for colonization, men 
holding the highest positions in Church and State, whose names are fresh 
in remembrance after the lapse of nearly three centuries. With the Fer- 
rars, whose memory the Church of England has ever held dear, and whose 
services to the American Church we, in this Western World, may well 
recall, we also find the name of Sir Edwin Sandys, son of an Archbishop 
of York, and pupil of the "judicious " Hooker. Certainly, if patient, 
untiring, and abundant exertions, springing from a full and earnest rec 
ognition of the bidding, sounding down the Christian centuries, from the 
Master s lips, " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every 
creature," could have met the aspersion cast on England s reformed 
Church by the Church of Rome, "that she converts no believers abroad," 

1 Stith s " History of Virginia," Sabin s Re- McDonough s " Memoirs of Nicholas Fer- 

print, Appendix, p. 22. rar." 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 51 

labors such as Hakluyt counselled, and the Ferrars seconded, and a host 
of others aided and approved, would have blotted out this slander for 
ever. 

With the grant of the new charter fresh interest attached to the 
work. Thomas, Lord De la Warr, a man of "approued courage, tem 
per, and experience," was created Governor, or Captain-General, of 
Virginia, and an expedition of "Adventurers," under his leadership, was 
at once fitted out, the expense of which was largely borne by the com- 




POKTRAIT OF LORD DELAWARE. 



mander-in-chief, while his zeal and interest were such as to " reuiue and 
quicken the whole enterprise by his example, constancy, and resolution." 
It was an age of pomp and circumstance, and yet it must have 
been an interesting pageant when the chivalrous De la Warr, and the 
Council of Virginia, with the "Adventurers," walked in solemn state to 
the Temple Church, where William Crashaw, the preacher of the Tem 
ple, and father of the poet whom Cowley praised and Pope was will 
ing to imitate, preached the first missionary sermon ever addressed by 
a priest of the Church of England to members of that church, about 
to bear that church s name, and carry that church s teachings to a distant 
land. The text was from St. Luke s Gospel, xxii. 32, and the true 



52 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

missionary spirit with which this unique discourse is filled may be 
judged by the following extract : 

If there be any that come in, only or principally for profit, or any that would so 
come in, I wish the latter may never bee in, and the former out again. If the plant 
ing of an English Colonie, in a good and fruitfull soil, and of an English Church in 
a heathen countrey ; if the conuersion of the Heathen, if the propagating of the Gos- 
pell, and enlarging of the kingdome of Jesus Christ, be not inducements strong 
enough to bring them into this businesse, it is a pitie they be in at all. I will dis 
charge my conscience in this matter. If any that are gone, or purpose to go in per 
son, do it only that they may Hue at ease and get wealth ; if others that aduenture 
their money have respected the same etfds, I wish for my part, the one in England 
again, and the other had his money in his purse ; nay, it were better that every one 
gave something to make vp his aduenture than that such Nabals should thrust in 
their foule f eete, and trouble so worthie a businesse. And I could wish, for my part, 
that the proclamation which God injoined to bee made before the Israelites went to 
battell, were also made in this case : namely, that whosoever is faint-hearted, let 
him returne home againe, lest his brethren s hart faint like his ; (Deut. xx. 8) for 
the coward not only betraieth himself, but daunts and discourages others. Priuate 
ends haue been the bane of many excellent exploits ; and priuate plots for the gaine 
of a few haue given hindrance to many good and great matters. Let us take heed 
of it in this present businesse, and all jointly with one heart aime at the generall and 
publike ends lest we finde hereafter to our shame and griefe, that this one flie hath 
corrupted the whole box of oyntment, though never so precious. Let vs therefore 
cast aside all cogitation of profit, let vs look at better things ; and then, I dare say 
vnto you as Christ hath taught me, that, if in this action wee seeke first the Kingdom 
of God, all other things shall be added unto us (Matt. vi. 33), that is (applying it 
to the case in hand), if wee first and principally seeke the propagation of the Gos- 
pell, and conuersion of soules, God will vudoubtedly make the voiage very profita 
ble to all the aduenturers, and their posterities, even for matter of this life : for the 
soile is good, the commodities many, and necessarie for England, the distance not 
far offe, the passage faire and easie, so that there wants only God s blessing to make 
itgainfull. Now the highway to obtain that, is to forget our owne affections, and 
to neglect our own priuate profit in respect of God s glorie, and he that is zealous 
of God s glorie, God will be mindful of his profit. 

Wise and titting words with which to preface an effort for the glory 
of God and the extension of the Church of Christ. The preacher was 
far-seeing. Earnestly does he deprecate the allowance of any Papists, 
"Brownists," and factious " separatists," then beginning to excite no 
tice and alarm at home, among these founders of a daughter Church 
of England in a New World. A touching reference to the leader of 
the " Adventurers" occurs at the close of this discourse. At the battle 
of Poictiers, as Froissart informs us, the French king was captured by 
an ancestor of the governor, Sir Roger la Warr, and John de Pelham . 
This incident of the family annals was thus " improved " : 



And thou, most noble Lord, whom God hath stirred vp to neglect the 
pleasures of England, and with Abraham to goe from thy country, and forsake thy 
kindred and thy father s house, to goe to a land which God will show thee, giue 
me leaue to speak the truth. Thy ancestor many hundred years agoe gained great 
honour to thy house ; but by this action thou augmentest it. He tooke a King 
prisoner in the field in his owne land; but by the godly managing of this businesse, 
thou shalt take the Diuell prisoner in open field, and in his owne kingdome ; nav 
the Gospell which thou carriest with thee shalt bind him in chaines, and his angels 
in stronger fetters than iron, and execute upon them the judgement that is written ; 
yea, it shall Icade captiuitie captiue, and redeeme the soules of men from bondage. 
And thus thy glory and honour of thy house is more at the last than at the first. 

Goe on therefore, and prosper with this thy honour, which indeed is greater 
than eueiy eie discernes, euen such as the present ages shortly will enioy, and the 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 53 

future admire. Goe forward in the strength of the Lord, and make mention of His 
righteousnesse only. Looke not at the gaine, the wealth, the honour, the aduance- 
ment of thy house that may follow and fall vpon thee ; but looke at those high and 
better ends that concerne the kingdom of God. Remember thou art a generall of 
English men, nay, a generall of Christian men ; therefore principally looke to 
religion. You goe to commend it to the heathen ; then practice it yourselues ; 
make the name of Christ honourable, not hatefull vnto them. 

In like burning words of high and holy encouragement had the 
Rev. Dr. Symonds, preacher at Saint Saviour s, in Southwark, a few 
months earlier, addressed the "many honourable worshipfull, the ad 
venturers and planters for Virginia," at White-chapel. The text was 
from Genesis xii. 1-3, the portion of Scripture which relates the call of 
Abraham and the promise of God s blessing on his going to a strange 
country. At the close of an earnest and impassioned discourse we 
find these words : 

What blessing any nation had by Christ, must be communicated to all nations ; 
the office of his Prophecie, to teach the ignorant ; the office of his Priesthood, to 
give remission of sinnes to the sinnefull ; the office of his Kingdome, by word, and 
sacraments, and spirit, to rule the inordinate ; that such as are dead in trespasses, 
may be made to sit together in heavenly places. . . . If it be God s purpose, 
that the Gospell shall be preached through the world for a witnesse, then ought 
ministers to bee carefull and willing to spread it abroad, in such good services as 
this that is intended. Sure it is a great shame vnto us of the ministery, that can 
be better content to sit and rest us heere idle, than undergpe so good a worke. 
Our pretence of zeale is clearly discoured to be but hypocricy, when we rather 
choose to mind unprofitable questions at home, than gaining soules abroad. 

These discourses illustrate the popular feeling with reference to 
the New World. The end and aim of the expeditions to the West was, 
as Crashaw declared, " the destruction of the deuel s kingdom, and 
propagation of the Gospell." "The planting of a church," 1 the 
" converting of soules to God," 
these were the objects held con 
stantly in view by the promoters 
and leaders of the successive 
schemes of colonization, and, if 
the same high and holy spirit 
failed to animate the rank and 
file of the settlers, the record 
tells us constantly of those who 
lived and labored for the Chris- AUTOGRAPH OF DK LA WARE. 

tianizing of the savages and the 
extension of Christ s Church in the New World. 

Circumstances prevented the entrance of De la Warr upon the 
duties of his office at the outset, and, consequently, the first expedition 
despatched under the new charter sailed from Plymouth on the 1st day 
of June, 1609, in nine vessels ; Sir Thomas Gates, who had been in 
the service of the United Netherlands, being lieutenant-general, and 
Sir. George Somers, admiral, of Virginia. Newport was in com 
mand of the fleet ; and the three were empowered to administer the 
aftairs of the colony until the arrival of Lord De la Warr. The ship 

1 Crashaw s sermon, quoted in Anderson s " Colonial Church," I., p. 193. 




, r )4 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

"Sea Adventure" carried Gates, Somers, and Newport. In the 
"Diamond " were Captains Ratcliffe and King; in the "Falcon," Cap 
tain Martin and Master Nelson. The " Bless- 

^ TV jj ing," with Captain Archer and Master Adams, 

* I fa /I (&ZM conveyed horses and mares ; while the " Unity," 

t-X td5_ the " Lion " the "Swallow," a "Ketch," and "a 

^^- boat built in the North Colony," atSagadahock, 

AUTOGRAPH OF w ^ Captain and Master Davies, who were 

THOMAS GATES. among the settlers of that northern colony, 

made up the fleet on which about five hundred 

colonists were embarked. The voyage was favorable until the 23d of 
July, when the "Ketch" was lost in a hurricane, while the "Sea Vent 
ure," driven before the storm, was stranded, on the 28th, upon the shores 
of " the still vcx d Bermoothes." Seven ships only reached Virginia. 
The lives of the shipwrecked colonists at the Bermudas were mar 
vellously preserved, and one and all were at once occupied in prepar 
ing the means of escape from the place of their detention. An excel 
lent priest of the English Church, recommended by Dr. Ravis, Bishop 
of London, was in the company, and " publique Prayer, every morn 
ing and Evening," was faithfully observed ; while on Sunday two sermons 
were preached by the Rev. Richard Bucke, a graduate of Oxford, and 
" a verie good preacher," as John Rolfe characterized him in a letter to 
the king, a little later. The chronicler of the expedition further tells us 
that " it pleased God also to give vs opportunitie to performe all the 
other Offices and Rites of our Christian Profession on this Island." On 
the 26th of November (the twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity) occurred 
a marriage. On the first of October (the sixteenth Sunday after Trinity) 
and on " ChristraasseEve," which fell on Sunday, the fourth in Advent, 
the holy communion was celebrated, "at the partaking whereof our 
Governor was, and the greatest part of our Company." On the llth of 
Feburary, Sexagesima Sunday, Bermuda, the child of "one John Rolfe," 
was christened ; Captain Newport, William Strachey, and Mistress 
Horton being godparents ; and on the 25th of March, which was both 
Passion Sunday and Lady-day, the son of Edward Eason, named Ber 
mudas, was christened, Captain Newport, William Strachey, and 
Master James Swift being godfathers. Six of the company were 
solemnly buried, with the church s rites. On leaving the island in the 
rude cedar ships they had builded, the governor, Sir Thomas Gates, 
erected " afaire Mnemosyon in figure of a crosse," made of some of the 
timber of the wreck, bearing on each side an inscription in Latin and 
English : " In memory of our great deliuerance, both from a mightie 
storme and leake ; wee haue set vp this to the honour of God." Thus 
piously leaving the harbor which had proved to them a safe haven, they 
sailed for Virginia, which they reached in safety on Wednesday, the 
23d of May, only to find the miserable remnant of the colony, which 
but a few months before numbered five hundred men. It was "the 
starving time." The fort was dismantled, the palisades torn down, the 
ports open, and the gates forced from their hinges. The new-comers 
proceeded at once, on landing, to the ruined and unfrequented church. 
The governor caused the bell to be rung, and the dispirited and starv- 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 55 

ing people dragged their enfeebled frames to the house of God, that 
they might join in the "zealous and sorrowful prayer" of the faithful 
Bucke, as in the church s words he pleaded, in that sad and solemn hour, 
for himself and his fellow-worshippers, before the Lord their God. At 
the close of this solemn service the commission of Gates was formally 
proclaimed, and the insignia of office was surrendered to him by Percy, 
the brother of the Earl of Northumberland, who had been acting 1 as 

O 

president since the departure, for England, of Captain Smith. A brief 




survey of the condition of the colony was sufficient to discourage any 
one. Driven to extremities, without provisions or the means of pro 
curing any, disappointed as to the past, and hopeless for the future, 
Gates determined to abandon the ill-fated settlement, and proceed to 
Newfoundland, where he hoped to distribute the pitiful remnant of the 
colony among the English fishing-vessels off the Banks. On Thursday, 
the 7th of June, at noon, the whole company embarked, Sir Thomas 
Gates last of all, "giving a farewell with a peal of small shott," none 
dropping a tear at leaving a spot where " none had enjoyed one day of 
happiness." At eventide the ships drifted down the river, and the 
abandonment of the first colony in Virginia was complete. 



56 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Heaven interposed to save the future church and commonwealth of 
Virginia. On the morning of Friday, the 8th, when the ships freighted 
with the returning colonists lay at anchor at the mouth of the river, 
waiting the return of the tide, a boat was descried in the offing, which 
had been sent by the captain-general of the colony, Lord De la Warr, 
to announce his arrival from England. Gates and his company returned 
at once to the forlorn and dismantled town they had so lately quitted, 
and on the first Sunday after Trinity, June 10, 1610, the squadron of 
De la Warr, consisting of three ships, arrived off the fort, and he, with 
his retinue, lauded in the afternoon at the small gate of the palisade. 
In the spirit of true Christian chivalry did this excellent nobleman enter 
upon his work for Christ and his church in the New World. Though 
the lieutenant-governor and the few survivors were drawn up under 
arms to receive him, De la Warr, ere he acknowledged their courtesy or 
assumed any show of authority, fell on his knees on the ground, and in 
the presence of all the people offered long and silent prayer to God, 
and then marched in solemn state through the town to the little church. 
Here, after prayers and a sermon by the worthy Parson Bucke, the com 
mission of the governor was read, the seals of office were formally sur 
rendered to him, and he addressed the assembly with a few words of 
encouragement and admonition. 

Thus, solemnly and in the fear of God, did this excellent nobleman 
enter upon the duties of his thankless office. Strachey, the secretary 
and recorder of the colony, as well as its historian, gives us, among his 
earliest notices of the new regime_t}iiis inaugurated, the following quaint 
picture of the church and church-life at Jamestown, at this time : 

The Captaine General! hath giuen order for the repairing the Church, and at 
this instant many hands are about it. It is in length threescore foote, in breadth 
twenty-foure, and shall haue a chancell in it of Cedar, and a Communion Table of the 
Blake Walnut, and all thePewesof Cedar, with faire broad windowes, to shut and 
open, as the weather shall occasion, of the same wood, a Pulpet of the same, with a 
font hewen hollow, like a Canoa, with two Bels at the West end. It is so cast, as to 
be very light within, and the Lord Gouernour and Captaine Generall doth cause it to 
be kept passing sweete, and trimmed vp with divers flowers, with a Sexton belong 
ing to it : and in it euery Sunday we haue Sermons twice a day, and euery Thursday 
a Sermon, hauing true preachers, which take their weekly tnrnes ; and euery morn 
ing at the ringing of a bell, about ten of the clocke, each man addresseth himselfe 
to prayers, and so at foure of the clocke before Supper. Euery Sunday, when the 
Lord Gouernour and Captaine Generall goeth to Church, he is accompanied with all 
the Counsailers, Captaines, other Officers, and all the Gentlemen, with a guard of 
Holberdiers, in his Lordship s Liuery, faire red cloakes, to the number of fifty both 
on each side, and behinde him : and being in the Church, his Lordship hath his seate 
in the Quier, in a greene veluet chaire, with a cloath, with a veluet cushion spread 
on a table before him, on which he kneeleth, and on each side sit the Counsell, Cap 
taines, and Officers, each in their place, and when he return eth home againe, he is 
waited on to his house in the same manner. 2 

Of the " true " preachers referred to in this interesting extract 
Richard Bucke was surely one, and the other, or others, doubtless 
accompanied De la Warr. We have no record of the name or 
names. 

1 Evidently a clerical error for ;< tw>," the alternate being, doubtless, the chaplain of De la 
Warr s fleet. 

Purchas, iv., p. 1754. 




THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 57 

In the long and touching recital of affairs, sent by the Governor and 
Council to the London Company, dated "James Towne, July 7th, 1610," 
the request is made for " a new supply in such matters of the two-fold 
physicke, which both the soules and bodies of our poor people here 
stand much in neede of," and in the " Table of such as are required in 
their plantation," issued by the Council at home, the foremost entry is, 
" Foure honest and learned Ministers." One of these was Alexander 
Whitaker, who arrived in the colony on the 10th of May, 1611, 
with Sir Thomas Dale, the High Marshal of Virginia. He was the 
son of the celebrated William Whitaker, Master of St. John s College, 
and Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge, and 
although, to quote the words of Crashaw, "seated in the North 
Countrey, where he was well approued by the greatest and beloued of 
his people, and had competent allowance to his good liking, and was 
in as good possibility of better living as any of his time," having also 
" meanes of his owne left him by his parents," he, " without any per 
suasion (but God s and his own heart) did voluntarily leaue his warme 
nest ; and to the wonder of his kindred, and amazement of them that 
knew him, undertooke this hard, but to my judgment, heroicall reso 
lution to go to Virginia and help beare the name of God unto the 
Gentiles." Of his faithfulness and zeal we shall have occasion to 
speak again and again. We can well understand the purpose of 
Whitaker in leaving his " warme nest " to go to Virginia to assist that 
Christian plantation, in the function of a preacher of the Gospel. In 
the call for help, addressed by the Council to the people of England, 
the argument is employed that upwards of six hundred " of our Breth 
ren by our common mother the Church, Christians of one faith and one 
Baptism," have been exposed "to a miserable and inevitable death " in 
adventuring upon this plantation, whom it was the bounden duty of 
their countrymen to aid. At length, aware of the mistake of trans 
porting men of loose morals and depraved character to Virginia, the 
Council announced that they would receive " no man that cannot bring 
or render some good testimony of his religion to God, and ciuil man 
ners and behaviour to his neighbour with whom he hath lived." The 
spiritual wants of those already in Virginia, and the promised posses 
sion of worthy and religious settlers in the future, made the " planta 
tion of Religion " in the New World a worthy object of desire to zealous 
men filled with the love of souls, and of those who responded to this 
cry for spiritual help no one was more worthy of the work than was he 
who won the title of Apostle of Virginia, by his few years of devoted 
service. It was the glad response to the cheering words earlier borne 
across the ocean : " Doubt not God will raise our State and build our 
Church in this excellent clime- It is the arm of the Lord of Hosts, 
who would have his people pass the Red Sea and the wilderness, and 
then possess the land of Canaan." 

In June, 1611, there accompanied Sir Thomas Gates, on his second 
voyage to Virginia, " an approved Preacher in Bedford and Huntingdon 
shire, a graduate of Cambridge, reverenced and respected," 2 by the 
name of Glover. He was in easy circumstances and already somewhat 

i True Declaration, pp. 45, 46. * Crashaw s " Epistle Dedicatorie." 



58 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

advanced in years, but so earnest in his desire for missionary work that 
he sought the opportunity, and being " well liked of the Counsell " he 
went bravely to his post. But, as Crashaw tells us, " he endured not the 
sea-sicknesse of the countrcy, so well as younger and stronger bodies ; 
and so, after zealous and faithfull performance of his ministcriall dutie, 
whilest he was able, ho gave his soule to Christ Jesus (under whose 
banner he went to fight ; and for whose glorious name s sake he under- 
tooke the danger) , more worthy to be accounted a true Confessor of 
Christ than hundreds that are canonized in the Pope s Marty rologie." 

In the beginning of the year 1611 the health of the governor 
failed, under the cares and anxieties of his position, and the diseases inci 
dent to the climate, and after a lingering illness he was compelled to 
commit the administration of the government to George Percy, and on 
Thursday, in Easter- week, March 28, to sail for England. Necessary 
as was this step, ft could not but have a disastrous effect upon the 
colony, while it produced " a damp of coldness " in the breasts of the 
adventurers at home. Still " one spark of hope remained ; " for, before 
the departure of De la Warr was known at home, Sir Thomas Dale, " a 
worthy and experienced soldier in the Low Countries," had sailed for 
Virginia, with three ships, with men and cattle for the settlement at 
Jamestown. In June, 1G11, Sir Thomas Gates, who had been named 
first in the original patent for Virginia, embarked with his wife and 
daughter, in a fleet of six ships, carrying three hundred men, with large 
supplies of cattle and stores. The relief thus afforded was most grateful. 
Already had the mishaps of the colonists excited the derision of the 
public. " And whereas we have by undertaking this plantation under 
gone the reproofs of the base world," was the plaint coming from the 
dispirited and disappointed settlers, " insomuch as many of our owne 
brethren laugh vs to scorne," and "papists and players, . . . the 
scum and dregs of the earth," " mocke such as help to build up the 
walls of Jerusalem." l The new-comers were welcomed with general 
thanksgiving. For the first -time the settlement began to extend be 
yond the limits of Jamestown. A new plantation, seventy miles up the 
river, was founded, and a handsome church of wood was erected at the 
start. The " fair-framed Parsonage impaled for Master Whitaker," and 
the "hundred acres called Rocke Hall," set apart for the future support 
of the ministry in this new settlement, are referred to in the story of 
the first planting of Henrico. 

Sir Thomas Dale, under whose leadership this step in the advance 
was taken, was a man of no ordinary character, and when, on the return 
of Gates to England, the sole command of the colony devolved upon 
him, he displayed the earnest, patient, persevering Christian devotion 
of one who recognized "in whose Vineyard" ho labored, "and whose 
church with greedy appetite " he desired " to erect." In a letter to a 
friend, still extant, 2 he professes that the end of his exertions was " to 
build God a church ; " and, although we may \vell condemn the spirit 
and letter of "The Laws Diuine, Morall and Martiall," which, as 

1 From " A Praicr duly said Morning and Evening vpon the Court of Guard," appended to 
" The Laws Diuine, Morall and Martiall." 
Purchas, iv., pp. 1768-1770. 




THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 59 

drawn up by William Strachey, the secretary of the colony, were 
transmitted to Dale by Sir Thomas Smith, the treasurer, we cannot 
doubt that even this code, which was both impolitic and inhuman, was 
administered by the " High Marshall of Virginia " with as much mercy 
as was possible. With these laws, so far as they are "publique," or 
"martiall," we need not concern ourselves. Stern and inhuman as 
they appear, they reflect the spirit of the age, and their approval by 
Gates, who first enjoined them on his arrival, in 1G10, and by De la 
Warr and Dale, will surely lead one to infer that the disorders rife in 
the colony required a rigorous repression, and the exercise of a prompt 
and summary severity. This remarkable code is at the outset imbued 
with the religious temper of the time, and begins as follows : " First, 
since we owe our highest and supreme duty, our greatest, and all 
our allegiance to Him, from whom all power and authoritie is derived, 
and flowes as from the first, and onely fountaine, and being especiall 
souldiers emprest in this sacred cause, we must alone expect our suc- 
cessefrom Him, who is onely the blesser of all good attempts, the King 
of kings, the Comrnaunder of commaunders, and Lord of hostes, I do 
strictly commaund and charge all Captaines and Officers, of what 
qualitie and nature soeuer, whether commaunders in the field, or in 
towne or townes, forts or fortresses, to haue a care that the Alinightie 
God bee duly and daily serued, and that they call vpon their people 
to heare Sermons, as that also they diligently frequent Morning and 
Euening praier themselues, by their owne exemplar and daily life and 
dutie herein encouraging -others thereunto, and that such who shall 
often and wilfully absent themselues, be duly punished according to the 
martiall law in that case prouided." Among the offences punishable 
by the most severe penalties were speaking " impiously or maliciously 
against the Holy and blessed Trinitie, or against the knowne Articles of 
the Christian Faith ; " the utterance of blasphemy or " unlawful oathes ; " 
"the derision or despite of God s holy word ; " and disrespect " unto any 
Preacher or Minister." It was strictly enjoined that "euerie man and 
woman duly twice a day, vpon the first towling of the Bell, shall vpon 
the working daies repaire vnto the Church to hear diuine service." The 
Lord s day was to be duly sanctified and observed by individuals and 
families "by preparing themselves at home with private prayer, that they 
may be the better fitted for the publique, according to the commandments 
of God and the orders of our Church." Every one was required to " re 
paire in the morning to the diuine seruice, and sermons preached vpon 
the Saboth day, and in the afternoon to diuine service and catechising." 
It was ordered that "All Preachers or Ministers within this our Colonie 
or Colonies, shall in the Forts, where they are resident, after diuine Ser 
uice, duly preach euery Sabbath day in the forenoone, and Catechize in 
the afternoone, and weekely say the diuine service twice euery day, and 
preach euery Wednesday, likewise euery minister where he is resident 
within the same Fort or Fortresse, Townes or Towne, shall chuse vnto 
him, foure of the most religious and better disposed as well to informe 
of the abuses and neglects of the people in their duties and seruice to 
God, as also to the due reparation, and keeping of the Church handsome, 
and fitted with all reverent obseruances thereunto belonging ; likewise 



60 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

euery minister shall keepe a faithful and true Record, or Church Booke, 
of all Christnings, Marriages, and deaths of such our People as shall hap 
pen within their Fort or Fortresses, Townes or Towne at any time, vpon 
the burthen of a neglectfull conscience, and vpon paine of losing their 
Entertainment." Touching, indeed, was the prayer appended to these 
Laws and appointed to be " duly said Morning and Euening vpon the 
Court of Guard, either by the Captaine of the watch himselfe, or by some 
one of his principall officers." Words such as these, daily on the lips and 
in the hearts of the settlers, are of no little interest in determining the 
plans and purposes of the settlement. "And seeing Thou hast honoured 
vs to choose vs out to beare thy name vnto the Gentiles ; we therefore be 
seech Thee to bless vs, and this our plantation, which we and our nation 
haue begun in thy fear and for thy glory . . . And seeing, Lord, 
the highest end of our plantation here is to set vp the standard and 
display the banner of Jesus Christ, euen here where Satan s throne is, 
Lord, let our labor be blessed in laboring the conversion of the heathen. 
And because Thou vsest not to work such mighty works by vnholy 
means, Lord sanctifie our spirits, and giue vs holy harts, that so we may 
be thy instruments in this most glorious work . . . And seeing by 
thy motion and work in our harts, we haue left our warme nests at 
home, and put our Hues into our hands, principally to honour thy name, 
and aduance the kingdome of thy son, Lord giue vs leaue to commit 
our liues into thy hands ; let thy angels be about vs, and let vs be as 
Angels of God sent to this people . . . Lord blesse England our 
sweete natiue country, saue it from Popery, this land from heathenisme, 
and both from Atheisme. And Lord heare their praiers for vs and vs 
for them, and Christ Jesus our glorious Mediator for vs all. Amen." l 

The growth of the colony under the new regime was rapid and 
healthy. Its leaders were men of singleness of purpose, and no pains 
were spared to encourage industry, to extend the limits of the planta 
tions, and to provide, as we learn from "The New Life of Virginia," 
published in 1612, "for the honour and seruice of God, for daily 
frequenting the Church, the house of prayer, at the tolling of the bell, 
for preaching, catechizing, and the religious observation of the Sabbath 
day, for due reverence to the Ministers of the Word, and to all su- 
periours, for peace and love among themselves, and enforcing the idle 
to paines and honest labour . . . in a word, against all wrongfull 
dealing amongst themselves, or imperious violence against the Indians." 2 
The assignment of lands to the settlers for their individual use and 
ownership took the place of the former plan of cultivating the land in 
common, and good order and abundance were the result. The Indians 
were no longer hostile, and the strength of the colony was such that it 
no longer feared their assaults. In the quaint language of the writer 
of " The New Life of Virginia," "good " were " these beginnings where 
in God is thus before." 

It was at this epoch in Virginian settlement that the devoted Whita- 
ker, who had now spent nearly two years in the New World, contrib- 

1 This " Praier " is, without doubt, the composition of William Crashaw, several of its phrases, 
as well as much of its argument, being found in other writings of his. 
1 Force s " Historical Tracts," I., p. 13. 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 61 

uted to the London press, then teeming with tractates on colonization, 
a thin quarto, entitled, "Good News from Virginia." l It was " a pithie 
and godly exhortation," as Crashaw styled it, coming from one who 
" diligently preacheth and catechizeth," performing " daily and diligent 
service, acceptable to God, and comfortable to our people." 2 It coun 
selled self-sacrifice on the part of those at home, to relieve "the poore 
estate of the ignorant inhabitants of Virginia." It bespoke compassion 
ate efforts in behalf of the " poore Indians," " naked slaves of the devil." 
Simple, straightforward, homely even in its diction, it waxed eloquent in 
its appeals for English cooperation in the good work undertaken " for 
the glory of God, whose kingdom you now plant, and good of your 
countrey, whose wealth you seeke." "Awake, you true-hearted Eng 
lishmen I " is the impassioned cry ; " you servants of Jesus Christ, 
remember that the Plantation is God s, and the reward your countrie s." 
We can readily understand Crashaw s testimony to the zeal and ability 
of the mission priests of the Church of England who had emigrated to 
Virginia. " We see to our comfort, the God of heaven found us out, 
and made us readie to our hand, able and fit men for the ministerial 
function in this plantation, all of them Graduates, allowed preachers, 
single men, hauing no Pastorall cures, nor charge of children ; and, as 
it were, every w r ay fitted for that worke. And because God w r ould 
more grace this busincsse, and honor his owne w r orke, he prouided us 
such men as wanted neither liuing, nor libertie of preaching at home. 
. Hereafter, when all is settled in peace and plentie, what marvell, 
if many and greater than they are willing to goe ? But, in the infancie 
of this Plantation, to put their liues into their hands, and, under the 
assurance of so many dangers and difficulties, to deuote themselues unto 
it, was certainly a holy and heroicall resolution, and proceeded undoubt 
edly from the blessed spirit of Christ Jesus, who for this cause appeared 
that he might dissolve the works of the devill. And though Satan visi 
bly and palpably raignes there more than in any other knowne place of the 
world, yet be of good courage, blessed brethren, God will treade Satan 
under youi feet shortly, and the ages to come will eternize your names 
as the Apostles of Virginia." 

Foremost among these "Apostles of Virginia," and worthy of honor 
able mention and lasting remembrance on the pages of the missionary 
annalsof the Church of Christ, was Alexander Whitaker, to whom wehave 
already referred . It was by him that Pocahontas , the child of romance and 
song, was instructed in the faith of Christ, and admitted to holy baptism. 
Much has been written with reference to this Indian maiden whose name 
is inseparably connected with the history of the Virginia Church and 
State. There is little doubt but that the extravagant tales which find 
their place in Smith s " General Historic, " and many of which have this 
simple Indian girl for their heroine, are exaggerations and of a piece 
with the marvellous stories which, late in life, that egotistical writer 
tells at length of his own career on the confines of Christendom in the 
East; but, when the romance has all been eliminated, enough remains 
to make us grateful to God for the conversion of this gentle Indian 

1 Published in 1613. * Crashaw s " Epistle Dedicatoric." 



62 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

maiden, and her subsequent marriage to a young Englishman of family 
and repute. The unsuspicious girl had been betrayed by some of her 
own people into the hands of Argall, in 1612. Detained, with a view to 
secure from her father the return of men and stores which he had in 
possession, Pocahontas learned to love her captors, and in time an even 
more tender passion sprang up in her gentle breast for "an honest 
gentleman, and of good behaviour," named John Rolfe, a widower, 
whose struggle of mind in reference to marrying an "unbelieving creat 
ure," " one whose education hath been rude, her manners barbarous, 
her generation accursed, and so discrepant in all nurture " from him 
self, is quaintly set forth in his own inimitable letter to Sir Thomas 
Dale. 1 Carefully instructed in the Christian religion by order of the 
governor, after she had made good progress therein, Pocahontas "re 
nounced publickly her countrey Idolatry," and " was as she desired bap 
tised." Dale, writing to a London clergyman respecting this marriage, 
bears testimony to the worth and piety of the new convert : " She liues 
ciuilly and louingly with him, and I trust will increase in goodnesse as the 
knowledge of God increaseth in her. She will goe into England with 
mee ; and were it but the gaining of this one soule , I will thiuke my time, 
toile, and present stay well spent." This interesting marriage ceremony 
took place, we are told by Hamor, "about the 1st of April, 1613," and was 
solemnized in the little church at Jamestown, an uncle, Opachisco, and 
two brothers of Pocahontas, being present. The 1st of April was Maun- 
day Thursday, and there can be little doubt, in view of the natural re 
pugnance to marriages in Lent, that it was at Easter-tide w r hen this 
espousal took place. April 4, the date of the Easter feast in 1613, 
may well be held in remembrance, for in this union the future of the 
colony was assured. In 1616 Pocahontas accompanied her husband 
to England, in the train of Sir Thomas Dale, meeting with a gracious 
welcome, and finding, in the providence of God, a grave. Purchas, who 
grows garrulous in her praise, tells of the pomp and state with which 
Dr. King, then Bishop of London, entertained her : " beyond what I 
have ever seen in his great hospitalitie afforded to other ladies," and 
quaintly adds, " At her return towards Virginia she came to Graues- 
* end, to her end and graue, having given great demonstration of her 
Christian sincerity as the first fruits of Virginian conuersions, leaving 
here a godly memory and the hopes of her resurrection, her soule aspir 
ing to see and enjoy presently in Heaven what here shee had joyed to 
heare and beleeve of her beloued Saviour." Modest, dignified, and 
gracious, " the Lady Pocahontas," as she was called, carried herself " as 
the daughter of a king." Present at a representation at court of Ben 
Jonson s Masque, "Christmas," on the Feast of the Epiphany ; referred 
to by the same great dramatist in another play, 2 as " the blessed 

"Pokahontas, as the historian calls her, 
And great king s daughter of Virginia ; " 

and courted and caressed by all classes and conditions of men, her 
brief career in England won for her many friends, and in her early 
death, at the age of twenty-two, there was the consolation that an in- 

1 Appended to Ilamor s " True Discourse." * The " Staple of News," first played in 1625. 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. G3 

fant son survived, among whose descendants many of the highest social 
rank in Virginia have been proud to number themselves. It was for 
"the good of the plantation," as Rolfe anticipated, that this alliance 
resulted. A lasting peace with the aborigines followed, and the friends 
of the " holy action " of Christianizing and civilizing the natives of the 
American forests, whose hopes had long been " languishing and for 
saken," took heart again. The " pious and heroic enterprise " of bring 
ing to the savages the knowledge of the gospel of Christ was again un 
dertaken. The seed sown was at length beginning to take root, and 
spring up with the promise of a gracious harvest. 



CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 

E earliest book of American literature," as Professor Tyler > reminds us, is 
"A True Relation of such occurrences and accidents of noate as hath 
hapned in Virginia since the first planting of that Collony, which is now resident 
in the South part thereof, till the last return from thence. Written by Captaine 
Smith, Coronell of the said Collony, to a worshipfull friend of his in England, 
London, 1608." This black-letter tract, written on the spot by the leading spirit 
in the settlement, and covering the period 1 rom the arrival of the colonists at Cape 
Henry, on the 26th of April, 1007, to the return of Captain Nelson in the "Phoenix," 
on the 2d of June, 1608, is the first published work known to bibliographers relat 
ing to the Jamestown colony. The original edition is exceedingly rare, and as such 
its title is included in Mr. Payne Collier s " Rarest Books in the English Language," 
1865. Mr. Collier attributes its authorship to Thomas Watson, whose name appears 
on the title-page of some copies, but there is no reason to doubt that it was written 
by Smith, to whom Purchas assigns its composition. The work is made accessible 
by a reprint admirably edited by Charles Deane, LL.D., Boston, 1866, with a ful 
ness and accuracy of annotation which might be expected from so competent a hand. 
We cannot better indicate the contents of this interesting and important work than 
by citing the critical resume of its scope and style, given by Professor Tyler, in his 
" History of American Literature " : 

"Barely hinting at the length and tediousness of the voyage, the author 
plunges, with epic promptitude, into the midst of the action by describing their 
arrival in Virginia, their lirst ungentle passages with the Indians, their selection of 
a place of settlement, their first civil organization, their first expedition for dis 
covery toward the upper waters of the James River, the first formidable Indian 
attack upon their village, and the first return for England, two months after their 
arrival, of the ships that had brought them to Virginia. Upon the departure of 
these ships, bitter quarrels broke out among the colonists ; things were neither car 
ried with that discretion nor any business effected in such good sort as wisdom 
would ; . . . through which disorder, God being angry with us, plagued us 
with such famine and sickness that the living were scarce able to bury the dead. 
. . . As yet we had no houses to cover us ; our tents were rotten, and our cabins 
worse than naught. . . . The president and Captain Martin s sickness com 
pelled me ... to spare no pains in making houses for the company, who, not 
withstanding our misery, little ceased their malice, grudging, and muttering . . . 
being in such despair as they would rather starve and rot with idleness than be 
persuaded to do anything for their own relief without constraint. But the energetic 
captain had an eager passion for making tours of exploration along the coast and 
up the river ; and after telling how he procured corn from the Indians and thus 
supplied the instant necessities of the starving colonists, he proceeds to relate the 
history of a tour of discovery made by him up the Chickahominy, on which tour 
happened the famous incident of his falling into captivity among the Indians. The 

1 A History of American Literature. By Moses Coit Tyler, i., p. 21. 



64 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

reader will not fail to notice that in this earlier book of his, written before Powha- 
tan s daughter, the Princess Pocahontas, had become celebrated in England, and 
before Captain Smith had that enticing motive for representing himself as specially 
favored by her, he speaks of Powhatan as full of friendliness to him ; he expresslv 
states that his own life was in no danger at the hands of that Indian potentate ; and., 
of course, he has no situation on which to hang the romantic incident of his rescue 
by Pocahontas from impending death. Having ascended the Chickahominy for 
about sixty miles, he took with him a single Indian guide, and pushed into the 
woods. Within a quarter of an hour, he heard a loud cry and a hallooing of 
Indians ; and almost immediately he was assaulted by two hundred of them, led 
by Opechancanough, an under-king to the Emperor Powhatan. The valiant captain, 
in a contest so unequal, was certainly entitled to t\ shield; and this he rather un 
generously extemporized by seizing his Indian guide, and with his garters binding 
uie Indian s arm to his own hand, thus, as he coolly expresses it, making my 
hind my barricado. As the Indians still pressed towards him, Captain Smith 
discharged his pistol, which wounded some of his assailants, and taught them all 
a wholesome respect by the terror of its sound; then, after much parley, he sur 
rendered to them, and was carried off prisoner to a place about six miles distant. 
There he expected to be at once put to death, but was agreeably surprised by being 
treated with the utmost, kindness. For supper that night they gave him a quarter 
of venison and some ten pound of bread, and each morning thereafter three women 
presented him with three great platters of line bread, and more venison than ten 
men could devour. Though eight ordinarily guarded me, I wanted not what they 
could devise to content me ; and still our larger acquaintance increased our better 
affection. After many days spent in travelling hither and yon with his captors, he 
was at last, by his own request, delivered up to Powhatan, the over-lord of all that 
region. He gives a picturesque description of the barbaric state in which he was 
received by this potent chieftain, whom he found proudly lying upon a bedstead a 
foot high, upon ten or twelve mats, the emperor himself being richly hung 
with many chains of great pearls about his neck, and covered with a great covering 
of raccoon skins. At his head sat a woman ; at his feet, another ; on each side, sit 
ting upon a mat upon the ground, were ranged his chief men on each side the fire, 
ten in a rank ; and behind them, as^many young women, each a great chain of white 
beads over their shoulders, their heads painted in red ; and with such a grave and 
majestical countenance as drave me into admiration to see such state in a naked 
salvage. He kindly welcomed me with good words, and great platters of sundry 
victuals, assuring me his friendship and my liberty within four days. Thus day by 
day passed in pleasant discourse, with his imperial host, who asked him about the 
manner of our ships, and sailing upon the seas, the earth and skies, and of our God ; 
and who feasted him, not only with continual platters of sundry victuals, but with 
glowing descriptions of his own vast dominions, stretching away beyond the river 
and the mountains to the land of the setting sun. Seeing what pride he had in his 
great and spacious dominions, ... I requited his discourse in describing to 
him the territories of Europe which was subject to our great king, . . . the 
innumerable multitude of his ships. . . . Thus having with all the kindness 
he could devise sought to content me, he sent me home with four men, one that 
usually carried my gown and knapsack after me, two others loaded with bread, and 
one to accompany me. The author then gives a description of his journey back to 
Jamestown, where each man, with truest signs of joy, welcomed him; of his 
second visit to Powhatan ; of various encounters with hostile and thievish Indians ; 
and of the arrival from England of Captain Nelson in the Phoenix, April the 
twentieth, 1608, an event which did ravish them with exceeding joy. Late in the 
narrative he makes his first reference to Pocahontas, whom he speaks of as a child 
of ten years old, which not only for feature, countenance and proportion much ex- 
ceedeth any of the rest of his people, but for wit and spirit the only nonpareil of 
his country. After mentioning some further dealings with the Indians, he con 
cludes the book with an account of the preparations for the return to England of 
Captain Nelson and his ship ; and describes those remaining as * being in good health, 
all our men well contented, free from mutinies, in love with one another, and as we 
hope in a continual peace with the Indians, where we doubt not, by God s gracious 
assistance, and the adventurers willing minds, and speedy furtherance to so honor 
able an action, in after times to see our nation to enjoy a country, not only exceed 
ing pleasant for habitation, but also very profitable i or commerce in general, no 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE IN VIRGINIA. 65 

doubt pleasing to Almighty God, honorable to our gracious sovereign, and commo 
dious generally to the whole kingdom. 

" Thus, with words of happy omen, ends the first book in American literature. 
It is a book that was written, not in lettered ease, nor in the still air of delightful 
studies, but under a rotten tent in the wilderness, perhaps by the flickering blaze 
of a pine-knot, in the midst of tree-stumps and the filth and clamor of a pioneer s 
camp, and within the fragile palisades which alone shielded the little band of 
colonists from the ever-hovering peril of an Indian massacre. It was not composed 
as a literary effort. It was meant to be merely a budget of information for the 
London stockholders of the Virginia Company. Hastily, apparently without revi 
sion, it was wrought vehemently by the rough hand of a soldier and an explorer, 
in the pauses of a toil that was both fatiguing and dangerous, and while the inci 
dents which he records were clinging in his memory. Probably he thought little of 
any rules of literary art as he wrote this book ; probably he did not think of writing 
a book at all. Out of the abundance of his materials, glowing with pride over 
what he had done in the great enterprise, eager to inspire the home-keeping patrons 
of the colony with his own resolute cheer, and accustomed for years to portray in 
pithy English the adventures of which his life was fated to be full, the bluff 
captain just stabbed his paper with inken words ; he composed, not a book, but a 
big letter ; he folded it up, and tossed it upon the deck of Captain Nelson s depart 
ing ship. But though he may have had no expectation of doing such a thing, he 
wrote a book that is not unworthy to be the beginning of the new English literature 
in America. It has faults enough without doubt. Had it not these, it would have 
been too good for the place it occupies. The composition was extemporaneous ; 
there appears in it some chronic misunderstanding between the nominatives and 
their verbs ; now and then the words and clauses of a sentence are jumbled together 
in blinding heaps ; but, in spite of all its crudities, here is racy English, pure Eng 
lish, the sinewy, picturesque, and throbbing diction of the navigators and soldiers 
of the Elizabethan time." I., pp. 25-27. 

With this as the initial volume of the printed accounts of the Jamestown settle 
ment, the story was continued in " Purchas His Pilgrimes," rv., pp. 1685-1690, pub 
lished in 1625, under the title " Observations gathered out of a Discourse of the Plan 
tations of the Southerne Colonie in Virginia by the English, 1606, written by that 
Honorable Gentleman Master George Percy." As printed in Purchas, this is a meagre 
abridgment of the original narrative, which has not been preserved. A third account 
of the beginnings of this colony is entitled " Newport s Discoveries in Virginia," and 
was printed for the first time from copies of originals in the English State Paper 
Office, edited by the Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D.D., in " Archaeologia Ameri 
cana," rv., pp. 40-65. The same volume contains, pp. 67-163 : "A Discourse of Vir 
ginia," by Edward-Maria Wingfield, the first president of the colony. The dis 
covery of this interesting and important manuscript is due to the Rev. James S. M. 
Anderson, M.A., Preacher of Lincoln s Inn, the accomplished and accurate author 
of "The Histoiy of the Church of England in the Colonies and Foreign Dependen 
cies of the British Empire." Found among the MSS., in Lambeth Library, by this 
painstaking annalist of the Church in America, it was referred to in the first volume 
of his " History," and, thus attracting the attention of American scholars, was pub 
lished from a copy made by the permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury, under 
the editorship of Charles Deane, LL.D. Another contemporaneous account is " A 
Relation of Virginia," written by Henry Spelman, " the third son of the Anti 
quary." Spelman came to Virginia as a boy in 1609, lived for some time in cap 
tivity among the Indians, became an interpreter for the colony, and was killed by 
the savages in 1622 or 1623. The " Relation" was privately printed at the Chis- 
wick press, in 1872, at London, for J. F. Hunnewell, of Charlestown, Mass., from 
the original MS., at one time the property of Dawson Turner. 

For further bibliographical notices of the early-printed works, illustrative of 
this period of our civil and ecclesiastical annals, as well as those later issues con 
taining the story of Virginia to our own days, vide "The Narrative and Critical 
Histoiy of America," ra., pp. 155-166. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF HENRICO, AND EFFORTS FOR THE CON 
VERSION AND CIVILIZATION OF THE SAVAGES. 



strict, but upright, administration of Dale was succeeded by 
I that of Argall as deputy governor, whose avarice, tyranny, and 
obstinate self-will rendered life insecure, and made property sub 
ject to a rapacity which failed to discriminate between the possessions of 
the unhappy settlers whom he ruled, and those of the company he pro 
fessed to serve. At length, after a bitter struggle, the rule of Sir 
Thomas Smith, for twelve years treasurer of the company in London, 
was overthrown, and, in the strife of rival and antagonistic factions, 
the influence and character of Sir Edwin Sandys prevailed. Argall 
was displaced, and the government was intrusted to the popular, 
though inefficient, Yeardley. The new governor arrived in April, 1619. 
Scarce one in twenty of the emigrants, sent over at so great a cost, 
was still alive. In Jamestown there remained " only those houses that 
Sir Thomas Gates built in the tyme of his government, with one wherein 
the govemour allwayes dwelt, and a church, built of timber, being fifty 
foote in length and twenty in breadth." At Henrico there were only 
" three old houses, a poor ruinated Church, with some poore buildings 
in the islande." "For ministers to instruct the people only three were 
authorized ; two others had never received their orders." One of these 
was, as we learn from other sources, Mr. Richard Bucke, minister at 
Jamestown, "a verie good preacher." Mr. Alexander Whi taker, "a 
good diuine," who had had "the ministerial charge " at Bermuda Hun 
dred, had been drowned early in 1617. Mr. Glover had died long 
before. Mr. William Mease, the first minister at Hampton, had been in 
the colony since 1611. Mr. George Keith had arrived in the "George" 
in 1617, and was at Elizabeth City. 1 Mr. William Wickham, "minis 
ter " at Henrico, " who in his life and doctrine " gave " good examples 
and godly instructions to the people, "and Mr. Samuel Macock, "a Cam 
bridge scholar," appear to have had only deacon s orders. Wickham 
had served as curate to the apostolic Whitaker, and succeeded him. 
Mr, Thomas Bargrave, who came over, in 1618, with his uncle, Captain 
John Bargrave, and was also the nephew of the Dean of Canterbury. 
Dr. Bargrave probably succeeded Wickham at Henrico, and Whita 
ker at Bermuda Hundred. He died in 1621, leaving his library, 
valued at one hundred marks, or seventy pounds sterling, to the col 
lege at Henrico, thus anticipating the act of the young Puritan min- 

1 Neill, in his " History of the Virginia Com- latter does not appear to have come over before 
pany of London," gives the names of the three 1618, while Keith, according to Neill s " Virginia 
clergymen as Bucke, Mease, and Bargrave ; but the Colonial Clergy," p. 17, arrived the year before. 



EFFORTS FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE SAVAGES. 67 

ister of Charlestown, Massachusetts, who, a few years later, left his 
loved books to the struggling college at Cambridge, and by that act 
gained a name and remembrance wherever "Harvard" College is 
known. Would that "Henrico" had been as long-lived in its educa 
tional career, and that Bargrave s gift had won for him a like immor 
tality ! 

"From the moment of Yeardley s arrival dates the real life of 
Virginia," says the historian Bancroft. 1 He brought with him, not 
only the authority, but the instructions, "for the better establishment 
of a commonwealth" in Virginia. By proclamation he announced the 
abrogation of "those cruell lawes" by which the colony "had soe 
longe been governed." He secured to the oppressed settlers the res 
toration of their rights as Englishmen. With a view " that they might 
have a hande in the gouverning of themselves," the holding of a 
general assembly was provided for, comprising the governor and 
council, "with two Burgesses from each Plantation freely to be elected 
by the Inhabitants thereof." The assembly was empowered "to make 
and ordaine whatsoever lawes and orders should by them be thought 
good and profitable." 

In conformity with these instructions, and in accordance with the 
new policy thus inaugurated by the company at home, Sir George 
Yeardley " sent his summons all over the country, as well to invite 
those of the Councell of Estate that were absente, as also for the 
election of Burgesses," and on Friday, July 30, 1619, the first elective 
body convened upon this continent met in " the Quire of the Churche " 
at James City. 2 The records of this initial legislative meeting have 
been preserved, and their quaint details bring vividly before the mind 
the scene witnessed on that midsummer day in Jamestown, so fraught 
with blessings for the ill-starred colony. The governor is seated " in 
his accustomed place." The councillors are ranged on either side. The 
speaker sits before the governor, with the clerk on the one side, and 
the sergeant-at-arms "standing at the barre, ready for any service the 
Assembly should command." "But," proceeds the record, "for as 
muche as men s affaires doe little prosper when God s service is neg 
lected, all the Burgesses tooke their places in the Quire till a prayer 
was said by Mr. Bucke, the Minister, that it would please God to 
guide and sanctifie all our Proceedings to his owne glory and the 
good of this Plantation." " Prayer being ended " the Burgesses-elect 
retired into the body of the church, from whence " they were called 
in order and by name " to take the oath of supremacy, and thus " en 
tered the Assembly." 

Among the earliest measures which received the consideration of 
this body were provisions that the company at home should take care 
that the ministers glebes should be cultivated, and that the company 
should send " workmen of all sortes " for the " erecting of the Univer 
sity and College." The first enactment of this assembly was for the 
protection of the Indians from "injury or oppression." Idleness and 
gaming were made punishable offences. The minister was to reprove 

1 History of the United States, i., p. 153. 

- Colonial Records of Virginia. Richmond, 1874. 



68 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

drunkards, at first privately, and then " in the church," publicly. To 
restrain immoderate excess in dress it was provided that the rate for 
public contributions was to be assessed in the church, on the apparel 
of the men and women. Restrictions were placed upon the indiscrimi 
nate commingling of the savages with the settlers ; but, at the same 
tune, a special enactment provided for the education and Christianiz 
ing of the children of the natives : " Be it enacted by this present 
Assembly that for laying a surer foundation of the conversion of the 
Indians to Christian religion, eachetowne, citty, Borough, and particu 
lar plantation do obtaine unto themselves, by just means, a certaine 
number of the natives children to be educated by them in true relig 
ion and civile course of life of w cb children the most towardly boyes 
in witt and graces of nature to be brought up by them in the first 
elements of litterature, so to be fitted for the Colledge intended for 
them, that from thence they may be sente to that work of conversion." l 
It was further enacted that " All ministers shall duely read di 
vine service, and exercise their ministerial function according to the 
Ecclesiastical lawes and orders of the Churche of England, and every 
Sunday in the afternoon shall catechize such as are not ripe to come 
to the Communion. And whosoever of them shall be found negligent 
or faulty in this kinde shall be subject to the censure of the Govern r and 
Counsell of Estate." " Ungodly disorders " were to be " presented " by 
the minister and church- war dens. Persistence in open sin was to be 
punished by excommunication, arrest, and seizure of property : " Pro 
vided alwayes, that all the ministers doe meet once a quarter, namely, at 
the feast of St. Michael the Arkangell, of the Nativity of our Saviour, of 
the Annunciation of the blessed Virgine, and about midsummer, at 
James citty, or any other place where the Governo r shall reside, to de 
termine whom it is fit to excommunicate, and that they first presente 
their opinion to the Governo r ere they proceed to the acte of excom 
munication." For swearing, after "thrise admonition," a fine of five 
shillings was imposed on freemen, while servants were to be whipped and 
were required to make public acknowledgment of the fault in church. 
It was enacted that " all persons whatsoever upon the Sabbath daye 
shall frequente divine service and sermons, both forenoon and after 
noon, and all such as beare armes shall bring their pieces, swordes, 
poulder and shotte." The " Great Charter of lawes, orders and privi- 
ledges " granted by the company at home was accepted by the " general 
assent and the applause of the whole assembly," professing themselves 
" in the first place most submissively thankful to Almighty God " for 
"so many priviledges and favours." 

Full of interest are the records of this first elective legislative body 
that ever convened on the continent ; meeting, as it did, in the little 
church of the first settlers, with its proceedings begun with prayer by the 
church s minister, and providing for the preaching of the Word, and 
the administration of the sacraments, according to the church s usages 
and laws, more than a year before the " Mayflower," with its company 
of Leyden Separatists, left the harbor of Southampton to found upon 
the bleak shores of New England the Puritan theocracy. 

1 Colonial Records of Virginia, p. 21. 



EFFORTS FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE SAVAGES. 69 

In a plantation avowedly settled " for the glorie of God in the 
propagation of the Gospell of Christ," and for " the conversion of the 
savages," l there could not fail to be, from the first, the wish and pur 
pose for the provision of some institution where the higher learning 
then deemed indispensable for the exercise of the ministry, could be 
obtained without recourse to the universities of the mother-land, three 
thousand miles away. The Church whose " form of sound words " 
was first heard on our American shores, conveying to heaven the 
devotions of men of English speech and lineage, was foremost in the 
effort to meet this acknowledged want. In this attempt to lay the 
foundations of an educational system, by the provision of a public 
school and college, the cooperation of the colonists themselves was 
secured at the very outset. To that remarkable assembly in the choir 
of the church at Jamestown, on Friday, July 30, 1619, and from which, 
rather than to the cabin and " compact " of the " Mayflower," we may 
date the foundation of our popular government, we must look for the 
inauguration of efforts for popular and the higher education. It was in 
the course of its proceedings that measures were taken " towards the 
erecting of the University and Colledge," as well as for the education 
of Indian children, for whom, as well as for the sons of the settlers, 
these seminaries of learning were designed. All this was in accordance 
with the will and purpose of the Council of Virginia in England, to 
which was intrusted the rule of the infant commonwealth. The govern 
ment of the colony by Sir Thomas Smith, the treasurer of the Virginia 
Company, under which the settlers had languished for twelve hopeless 
years, was scarcely over, when, at the incoming of Sir George Yeardley 
as governor, orders were given for the establishment of a university 
in the colony, with a college for the instruction of the Indian youth. 
In letters from the council, previous to the accession of the new 
governor, reference is made to this design ; but we must date the 
beginning of active measures for its accomplishment to the accession 
of the excellent Sir Edwin Sandys to the treasurership of the com 
pany. Soon after the return of Sir Thomas Dale, a "King s letter," 
addressed to the archbishops, had authorized four collections to be made 
within the two following years, in the several dioceses of the two 
provinces of Canterbury and York, to enable the company to erect 
" churches and schooles for y e education of y e children of the Barba 
rians." This paper, which we give in full, in view of its interest and 
importance, both in an educational and religious point of view, was 
addressed to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York : 

"Most Reverend Father in God, right trustie and well beloved counsellor, 
wee greete you well. You have heard ere this time, of y e attempt of diverse 
worthie men, our subjects, to plant in Virginia (under y e warrant of our L"* 
patents) , People of this Kingdome, as well for y e enlarging of our Dominions, as 
for propagation of y e Gospel amongst Infidells : wherein mere is good progresse 
made, and hope of further increase : so as the undertakers of that Plantation are 
now in hand with the erecting of some Churches and Schooles for y e education of 
y children of those Barbarians, w ch cannot but be to them a very great charge, 
and above the expence w ch for civill plantation doth come to them. In w ch wee 

1 Vide " A Brief Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia," etc., in the " Colonial Records 
of Virginia," p. 69. 



70 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

doubt not but that you and all others who wish well to the encrease of Christian 
Religion will be willing to give all assistance and furtherance you may, and there 
in to make experience of the zeale and devotion of our Avell-minded subjects, espe 
cially those of y 8 Clergie. Wherefore wee doe require you, and hereby authorize 
you to write y or Letters to y 6 severall Bishops of y Dioceses in y or Province, that 
they doe give order to the Ministers, and other zealous men of their Dioceses, both 
by their own example in contribution and by exhortation to others, to move our 
people w^in their several charges to contribute to so good a worke in as liberall 
a manner as they may, for the better advancing whereof our pleasure is that those 
collections be made in all the particular Parishes four seuerall times wthin these 
two years next coming: and that the seuerall accounts of each parish, together 
wth the moneys collected, be retouraed from time to time to y e Bishops of y 6 
Dioceses, and by them be transmitted half yearly to you ; and so to be deliuered to 
the Treasurer of that Plantation, to be employed for the Godly purposes intended, 
and no other." 

In response to this appeal, said to be the first instance of the 
issuing of a "brief " in England for any charitable purpose connected 
with her foreign possessions, nearly 1,500 was received, and on the 
18th of November, 1618, the company in England gave these in 
structions to Yeardley, and placed them in full upon their records : 

" Whereas, by a special grant and license from His Majesty, a 
general contribution over this Realm hath been made for the building 
and planting of a college for the training up of the children of those 
Infidels in true Religion, moral virtue, and civility, and for other god 
ly ness, We do therefore, according to a former Grant and order, 
hereby ratefie, confirm, and ordain that a convenient place be chosen 
and set out for the planting of a university at the said Henrico in time 
to come, and that in the mean time preparation be there made for the 
building of the said College for the Children of the Infidels, according 
to such instructions as we shall deliver. And we will and ordain that 
ten thousand acres, partly of the land they impaled, and partly of the 
land within the territory of the said Henrico, be alotted and set out for 
the endowing of the said University and College with convenient pos 
sessions." 2 

Shortly after the preparation of these instructions to the newly 
appointed governor, the charge of the college was offered to the Rev. 
Thomas Lorkin, a ripe scholar, later distinguished as the secretary of 
the English Embassy in France, who was promised " 200 a year and 
better ; " 3 but Lorkin did not accept the tempting offer. On the 26th of 
May, 1619, within a month after the election of Sir Edwin Sandys 
as treasurer, and Mr. John Ferrar as deputy, the attention of the 
court was called by the treasurer to the fact that "1,500, or there 
abouts" had been contributed under the king s letters, "to erect 

Anderson s "Col. Ch.," i., pp. 255, 256. within three or four days a condition of going 
Vide, also, Stith s " Hist, of Va.," p. 162, who re- over to Virginia, where the Virginia Company 
fers to this Royal Letter. Neither author gives means to erect a College, and undertakes to pro- 
the date, which, in the copy in the State Paper cure me good assurances of 200 a year and bet- 
Office, from which the above transcript was made, tcr, and if I should find there any ground for 
is illegible. It would appear to have been issued dislike, liberty to return at pleasure. I assure 
at least as early as 1616, and probably even you, I find preferment coming on so slowly here 
earlier. at home, as makes me much inclined to accept 

Z MS. Instructions to Yeardley, quoted in it." Several interesting letters from this first 

Neill s " Virginia Company of London," p. 137. president-elect of the University at Henrico are 

Lorkin s letter is quoted in Neill s "History printed in the second volume of Bishop Good- 

of the Virginia Company of London," pp. 137, 138. man s "Court of James I." 
as follows : "A good friend of mine propounded 



EFFORTS FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE SAVAGES. 71 

and build a Colledge in Virginia for the training and bringing up 
of Infidells children in the true knowledge of God and understanding 
of righteousness." Upon consideration it was determined to se 
cure an annual revenue from the investment of the means in hand, 
and from this source to begin in time the erection of the college. The 
land previously assigned for the use of the college in Henrico was 
definitely granted for this purpose, and provision was made for fifty 
tenants to cultivate the same on shares. The grant of land embraced 
ten thousand acres. 

The zeal of Sandys in furthering every plan for the Christianizing 
of the Indians, and the ready will with which, under his lead, the 
company undertook the work of providing the means for their conver 
sion, could not fail to win the favor of all those in England who had 
this great work at heart, and benefactions began at once to come in to 
the company s coifers. At the meeting of the court, on the 21st of 
July, a service for the administration of the holy communion was 
presented by an unknown person, through the treasurer, with the 
following quaint communication : 

* 
I. H. S. 

SIR EDWIN SANDYS Thr** of Virginia. 

Good luck in the name of the Lord, who is dayly magnified by the experi 
ment of your zeale and piety in giuinge beginning to the foundation of the Col- 
ledge in Virginia, the sacred worke so due to Heaven and soe longed for on earth. 

Now knowe wee assuredly that the Lord will doe you good and blesse you in 
all your proceedings, even as he blessed the howse of Obed Edom and all that 
pertayned to him because of the Arke of God. Now that you seeke the Kingdome 
of God, all thinges shall be ministered unto you. This I well see allready, and 
perceuie that by this your godlie determinacon the Lord hath giuen you fauor in 
the sight of the people, and I knowe some whose hearts are much enlarged 
because of the howse of the Lord our God to procure you Wealth, whose greater 
designs I have presumed to outrun with this oblacon, which I humbly beseech you 
may be accepted as the pledge of my devocon, and as an earnest of the vowes 
which I have vowed unto the Almighty God of Jacobb concerning this thing, which 
till I may in part perform I desire to remayne unknowne and unsought after. 

The things are these : 

A Communion Cup with the couer and vase ; 
A Trencher plate for the bread. 
A Carpett of crimson veluett. 
A Linnen damaske table-cloth. 

In the following February, on the Feast of the Purification, an 
anonymous letter, addressed to " Sir Edwin Sandys, the faithful 
Treasurer for Virginia," was presented at the Quarter Court, which 
promised 550 for " the converting of Infidles to the fayth of Christe." 
The plan proposed by the donor, who signed himself "Dust and 
Ashes," was " the maynteuance of a conveyent number of younge In 
dians taken att the age of Seauen years, or younger, and instructed 
in the readinge and understandinge the principalls of Xtian Religion 
unto the age of 12 years, and then as occasion serueth, to be trayned 

l NciU 3 " Virginia Company of London," pp. 152, 153. 



72 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



and brought upp in some lawfull trade with all humanitie and gentle 
ness untill the age of one and Twenty years, and then to enjoy like 
liberties and pryviledges with our native English in that place." 
A few days later the promised gift was received in " new golde." 
Other gifts came swiftly in ; among them, "Faire Plate and other rich 
Ornaments," for the altars of the college and a church which pious 
benefactions had earlier founded. Mr. Nicholas Ferrar, Sen., a rich 
merchant of the city, in whose noble mansion the company usually 
met after Easter, 1619, had in his will bequeathed 300 "for the 
College in Virginia, to be paid when there shall be tenn of the Infidels 
Children placed in it, and in the mean time four and twenty pounds 
per year, to be distributed unto three discreet and godly men in the 
Colony w* h shall honestly bring up three of the Infidels Children in 
Christian Religion and some good course to live by." The Bishop 
of London, Dr. King, collected and paid in 1,000 towards Henrico 




NOTE. This is a fac-simile of the engraving used in the publications of the 
company. Cf . " Calendar of Virginia State Papers," I., p. xxxix ; Neill s Virginia 
Company," p. 156. An example of this seal with the same dimensions and devices, 
but with the different legend on the reverse of " COLONIA VIRGINS CONSILIO 





PRIMA," is in the collections of the Virginia Historical Society. It is of red wax 
between the leaves of a foolscap sheet of paper, and is affixed to a patent for land 
issued by Sir John Harvey, governor, dated March 4, 1638. 

1 Virginia Company of London, p. 182. 



EFFORTS FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE SAVAGES. 73 

College. Bibles, prayer-books, and works of divinity were given in 
for the use of the college or clergy ; and, early in 1620, an estimable 
and pious gentleman, Mr. George Thorpe, a relation of Sir Thomas 
Dale, and formerly holding a place of honor at the court, was sent 
over to take charge of the college, as superintendent, ample provision 
being made for his support, and for the successful accomplishment of 
his plans. 

The records of the " quarter sessions " of the Virginia Company, 
held in the rooms of the elder Ferrar s spacious house, in St. Sythe s 
lane abound in references to this favorite scheme of English church 
men for the conversion of the American aborigines, and the furtherance 
of the projected Indian school. Towards the close of the year 1620, 
"four great books," one of them, S. Augustine s w De Civitate Dei," 
translated into English, and the remaining three, the works of the cele 
brated William Perkins, D.D., of the University of Cambridge, were 
given by one of the company to " be sent to the Colledge in Virginia, 
there to remayne in saftie to the use of the collegiates thereafter." 
In the company s letter to the colonial authorities, under date of July 
25, 1621, the council wrote as follows : 

We exceedingly approve the course in taking in of Indian families as beinge 
a great meanes to reduce that nation to civility, and to the imbracing of our Chris 
tian religion, the blessed end wee have proposed to ourselves in this Plantation, 
and we doubt not of your vigilancie that you be not thus entrapped, nor that the 
Savadge have by this meanes to surprize you. 1 

In the same letter, which is signed by the Earl of Southampton, 
Sir Edwin Sandys, Mr. Nicholas Ferrar, and others, assurance is given 
of the company s purpose "to send to the College tennants a very 
sufficient minister," and the Superintendent Thorpe is desired to take 
steps "that a house may be ready for him, and good pro vision to 
entertaine him." 2 

On the 24th of October, 1621, the deputy treasurer, John Ferrar, 
informed the court that " one Mr. Copeland, a minister lately returned 
from the East Indies " and chaplain of the " Eoyal James," had pre 
vailed upon the officers and crew of this ship, when on their home 
voyage, to contribute seventy pounds towards the establishment of a 
church and school in Virginia. At a meeting, a few days later, it was 
determined that this offering, together with an anonymous gift of thirty 
pounds, should be devoted " towards the erection of a public free school 
in Virginia," " for the education of children and grounding of them in 
the principles of religion." Charles city was chosen as the site of the 
" East India School," as it was determined to call it ; and provision was 
made that it should depend upon the " College in Virginia." A thou 
sand acres of land were allotted for the maintenance of the master and 
usher, and three hundred acres were granted to Mr. Copeland. 

About this time, when the attention of so many in Church and 
State was turned towards Virginia, a young clergyman, nephew of the 
celebrated Bishop Hall, and the private secretary of that prelate at 
the Synod of Dort, published, in a thin quarto of eighty-four pages, 

1 Virginia Company of London, p. 228. 2 Ibid., p. 231. 



74 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

a rudimentary grammar for the schools projected or established 
amongst "the Virginians," as well as elsewhere among "barbarous 
nations." This labor of love for " our loving countrymen of Virginia " 
was presented to the "Court" on the 19th of December, 1621, as 
the work of " a painfull schoolmaster, one Mr. John Brinsley," and 
received the company s thanks. Prepared, as the compiler states, 
"for drawing the poor natives in Virginia and all other of the rest of 
the rude and barbarous from Sattan to God," this little volume had 
the commendation of no less a scholar and divine than " James Ussher," 
then " Doctour and Professor of Divinitie in the Universitio of Dublin," 
and afterwards archbishop. The following year a carpenter was sent 
out to erect " the East India Schoole ; " but the " monies would not 
reach unto the sending of an Vsher as was at first intended, and be 
sides, upon a second consideration, it was thought good to give the 
Colony the choice of the Schoolmaster or Vsher." In July, 1622, 
the "Court thought fit to bestow a freedom vpon Mr. Pemberton, a 
minister of God s word, intending forthwith to go to Virginia and 
there to employ himself for the conuerting of the Infedels." In the 
midst of these efforts for the conversion of Jhe Indians the spiritual 
welfare of the settlers demanded attention. The five or six clergymen l 
who were settled at the several settlements were unable to render the 
services required by the rapidly extending colonists. The number of 
boroughs was now eleven, and each required the ministrations of a cler 
gyman. Services and sacraments were in danger of a wide-spread neg 
lect, and, in this extremity, the company sought the aid of the Bishop of 
London, in supplying the colony with "pious, learned, and painful 
ministers." Bishop King, \vho then filled the See, had already shown 
his personal interest in the christianizing of Virginia, and in the estab 
lishment of the college for the Indians. Chosen a member of the 
king s council for Virginia, it was but natural that, in all matters 
ecclesiastical, his opinions should have great weight ; and there grew 
out of this personal interest and episcopal care the recognition of the 
spiritual jurisdiction of the Bishop of London over the colonies which 
existed, almost without question, until the issue of the war for inde 
pendence secured the ecclesiastical, as well as the civil, independence 
of the United States. Other measures for the advantage of the Colony 
were taken by the council. Provision was made for the increase 
of the number of tenants upon the company s domain. Boys and 
girls, indentured as apprentices, were sent out to meet the demand for 
servants, and an importation of young women, of blameless reputation, 
sent out under the auspices of the council, furnished the settlers with 
a much-desired supply of eligible wives. Unfortunately, at this 
juncture, the royal mandate required the transportation of a number 
of " dissolute persons ; " and thus, in the indignant language of Frank 
lin more than a century later, let " loose upon the New World the out 
casts of the Old." At the same time the purchase of twenty negroes 
from a Dutch trading-ship, by some of the settlers at Jamestown, in 
troduced into the colony the system of slavery. Thus, by an act of 

1 These were Whitakcr, Stockham, Mease. Bargravc, and Wickham. 



EFFORTS FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE SAVAGES. 75 

private cupidity, a measure was inaugurated which was to influence for 
all time the fortunes of the colony and country itself. 

On the expiration of Yeardley s commission, in 1621, Sir Francis 
Wyat, a man of character and reputation, was appointed to the gov 
ernorship of the colony; the faithful treasurer, Sir Edwin Sandys, 
was succeeded by the Earl of Southampton, to the great annoyance 
of the king, who was pleased to assert that " the Virginia Company 
was a seminary for a seditious Parliament," l and to style Sandys as 
" his greatest enemy." The arbitrary imprisonment of Sandys by the 
king, during the session of Parliament in 1621, and the committal of 
Southampton to the Tower after the dissolution, conclusively prove the 
hatred of the monarch against those members of the Virginia Company 
who resisted the encroachments of the royal prerogative, and sought 
to thwart the unwarrantable interference of the king in the affairs of 
the colony. Unfortunately, both for the company at home and the 
colony abroad, the ascendency which Spain had acquired through her 
wily ambassador, Gondomar, at the English court, was sufficient to 
secure the adoption of a policy on the part of the king, the result of 
which was the development of the Spanish colonies to the prejudice 
of his own. The last days of the Virginia Company s corporate 
existence were those of strife and bitterness. 

The new governor brought with him a new ordinance for consti 
tuting a Council of State, as well as regulations for the General 
Assembly. The first recommendation of his articles of instruction, 
addressed to the governor and council in Virginia, requires them 
"To take into their especial regard the service of Almighty God and 
the observance of His divine Laws ; and that the people should be 
trained up in true religion and virtue. And since their endeavours, for 
the establishment of the honour and rights of the Church and Ministry, 
had not yet taken due effect, they were required to employ their 
utmost care to advance all things appertaining to the Order and Admin 
istration of Divine Service, according to the form and discipline of 
the Church of England ; carefully to avoid all factious and needless 
novelties, which only tended to the disturbance of peace and unity ; and 
to cause that the Ministers should be duly respected and maintained, 
and the Churches, or places appointed for Divine Service, decently 
accommodated, according to former orders in that behalf. They were, 
in the next place, commanded to keep the people in due obedience to the 
King; to provide that justice might be equally administered to all, as 
near as could be, according to the forms and constitution of England ; 
to prevent all corruption tending to the perversion or delay of justice ; 
to protect the natives from injury and oppression, and to cultivate 
peace and friendship with them as far as it should be consistent with 
the honour of the nation and safety of the people. They further pressed 
upon them, in a particular manner, the using of all possible means of 
bringing over the natives to a love of civility, and to the knowledge of 
God and his true religion; to which purpose, they observed to them, 
that the example given them by the English in their own persons and 

1 " A short Collection of the most remarkable Passages from the Originall to the Dissolution 
of the Virginia Company," London, 1651, p. 4. 



76 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

families would be of singular and chief moment; that it would be 
proper to draw the best disposed among the Indians to converse and 
labour with our people, for a convenient reward ; that thereby, being 
reconciled to a civil way of life, and brought to a sense of God and 
religion, they might afterwards become instruments in the general con 
version of their countrymen, so much desired. That each town, 
borough, and hundred ought to procure, by just means, a certain 
number of their children to be brought up in the first elements of 
literature ; that the most towardly of these should be fitted for the 
College, in building of which they purposed to proceed, as soon as 
any profits arose from the estate appropriated to that use ; and they 
earnestly required their utmost help and furtherance in that pious and 
important work ; not doubting the particular blessing of God upon 
the Colony, and being assured of the love of all good men, upon that 
account." l 

Private subscriptions were not wanting on the part of the members 
of the Virginia Company to further these schemes of settlement and 
evangelization. The countenance and generous support of Southamp 
ton and Sandys were not withheld, and so successful and persistent 
were their efforts, and so acceptable were the conditions attached to 
grants of land, that numerous patents for new settlements were granted 
to actual and intending colonists, and during the years 1619, 1620, 1621, 
more than three thousand five hundred emigrated to Virginia . Of these 
settlers a number were Puritans, and the kindly treatment they received, 
in a colony avowedly and unequivocally churchly in its sympathies and 
principles, stands out in striking contrast with the narrow bigotry tow 
ards church settlers at the North, displayed at this very period by the 
separatists from Leyden who had settled on the bleak New England 
coast. It is the confession of the historian of the United States, the 
painstaking and accurate Bancroft, in speaking of this period, that " Vir 
ginia was a refuge even for the Puritans," 2 and, although the statute- 
book may have contained stringent provisions respecting the Establish 
ment, the temper of the government and the settlers was equitable and 
tolerant. 

The arrival of Wyat and his party in safety, and the successful 
initiation of the measures recommended by the council for the develop 
ment of the colony, were made the occasion of a solemn service of 
Thanksgiving at the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, in London, on the 
17th of April, 1622. The preacher was the Rev. Patrick Copeland, 
who, as chaplain of an East Indiaman, had secured, while at the Cape 
of Good Hope, a liberal offering from the officers and men of his ship, 
for the establishment of a school for the Indian children in Virginia. 
So full of missionary spirit was this excellent divine that he was soon 
afterwards invited by the council to go over to Virginia. With this 
end in view he was chosen one of the Council of State, and made 
rector of the college for the education and conversion of the Indians. 
The pastoral care of the tenants settled on the college domain was also 

1 Stitb s " History of Virginia," p. 94. 

1 History, I., 156 ; vide, also, i., p. 196 ; H., p. 459, note. 



EFFORTS FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE SAVAGES. 77 

assigned to him, and the tithe of the produce of their lands was 
pledged towards his support. 

It was in the midst of these glad auguries of success that a blow was 
struck, making the very foundations of church and state tremble. The 
Indians had long since, to all appearance, laid aside all thought of in 
flicting injury upon the settlers, and were on terms of friendship, and 
even intimacy, with them, guiding them through the forests in their 
quest for game, taking them in their canoes on their fishing expedi 
tions, learning from them the arts of husbandry and the use of the 
implements of agriculture, and professing their desire to gain a knowl 
edge and love of the Christian s God. All apprehension of danger 
from the savages was removed. Powhatan had been succeeded by Ope- 
cancanough, who professed himself a firm ally of the English, and on 
occasion of the death of an Indian at the hands of the settlers, through 
his own imprudence, gave assurance that he held the peace so firm 
" that the sky should fall sooner than it should be violated on his part." 
Even then the plans were matured for a general massacre. The sav 
ages waited but the signal from their perfidious chieftain to fall upon 
their unsuspecting victims. The 22d of March was fixed upon as the 
day of slaughter. In one hour, on that day, and almost at the same 
moment, there fell beneath the murderous assault of the savages three 
hundred and forty-seven men, women, and children. Among the vic 
tims was the excellent Thorpe, with five other members of the council. 
In the death of Thorpe, whose zeal, piety, and gentleness, and self- 
consecration to the work of evangelizing those who were his murder 
ers, had given promise of most happy results, a grievous wrong was 
inflicted by the savages on themselves. Such was his confidence in 
those who sought his life that he neglected the warnings given him of 
his danger, and failed utterly to realize his peril until it was too late to 
escape. 

The massacre would have been complete had it not been for a 
Christian Indian, who lived with his English master, Edward Pace, as 
a son with his father. Solicited, the night before the outbreak, by his 
own brother, to engage in the fiendish plot, the faithful convert found 
means to acquaint his master with the impending danger. Pace hast 
ened to Jamestown, before the dawn, to inform the governor, and the 
intelligence was at once forwarded in every direction. Wherever 
resistance was offered, the savages refrained from attempting to put 
their bloody purpose in execution. Where the news of their plans had 
not reached, the work of extermination was complete. Sickness and 
famine followed this wholesale slaughter. Out of eighty prosperous 
plantations but a tithe remained. Of the thousands who had come from 
England but eighteen hundred survived. A natural distrust of the 
natives was followed by the exercise of an unrelenting severity, which, 
in many instances, developed a fierce and unreasonable hatred of all 
measures for the conversion or the civilizing of the Indians. The ap 
pointment of Copeland as rector of the college at Henrico, and the 
erection of the Indian school at Charles city, were not proceeded with 
by the company at home, and, in fact, the clergy and colonists in 
Virginia, for a time at least, lost heart with respect to the advance- 



78 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

ment of Christian education, or the bringing of the natives to the faith 
and Church of Christ. 

The closing reference to educational matters in the records of the 
Virginia Company, ere its dissolution by the arbitrary interference of 
the king, is the recommendation of a grant of land to Richard Downes, 
who, " being bred a scholar, went over in hope of preferment in the 
College there." l He had " continued in Virginia these four years," 
and at length, his hopes dying out, he turned his attention towards 
other pursuits. The "University of Hcnrico," and the "East India 
Free School," were never to be built. In the words of Dr. Hawks, 
" The massacre of Opecancanough thus gave a death-blow to the first 
efforts made in America for the establishment of a college, and years 
elapsed before the attempt was renewed." 2 



CRITICAL NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 

rpHE records of the Virginia Company, of London, carefully copied from the orig- 
_L inals, which are supposed to be lost, and attested by the signatures of the secre 
taries, are to be found in two manuscript volumes in the Library of Congress. The 
history of these valuable papers is curious. They appear to have been transcribed 
at the time when the king, who had long been inimical to the company, gave signs 
of his purpose of annulling their charter, and the work of copying haa barely been 
completed when the king ordered the seizure of the papers of the company. Nicho 
las Ferrar, 3 with the assistance of Secretary Collingwood, procured the transcription 
of these records at the house of Sir John Danvers, in Chelsea. Collingwood compared 
and signed each page, and, when the copy was complete, committed it to the keeping 
of the president ot the company, Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. On 
the death of his son Thomas, Lord High Treasurer of England, these records were 
purchased in 1669 by William Bird, of Westover, Virginia, for sixty guineas, and 
it was from the Bird family that William Stith obtained them for use in the prepara 
tion of his " History of Virginia," which was completed in 1746. By some means 
these volumes came into the possession of Peyton Randolph, Stith s brother-in-law, 
and at his death, in October, 1775, his library was sold to Thomas Jefferson, who 
acquired these records as part of his purchase. On the sale of Jefferson s library 
to the United States these invaluable volumes became a part of the Library of Con 
gress. 

The importance of these papersled Mr. J. Wingate Thornton, in an article in the 
"Historical Magazine, "11., p. 33-35, and in a pamphlet published the following year, 
" The First Records of Anglo-American Colonization " (Boston, 1859) , to urge their 
publication. Ten years after the appearance of Mr. Thornton s suggestion, in May, 
1868, Mr. Edward D. Neill, who had made use of these volumes in the preparation 
of his " Terra Marias," memorialized Congress for their publication, under his edi 
torship. Failing in this purpose, Mr. Neill made these papers the groundwork of 
a "History of the Virginia Company, of London, with Letters to and from the 
First Colony, never before printed," Albany, 1869, which was subsequently reissued 
abroad with changes, as " The English Colonization of America during the Seven 
teenth Century," London, 1871. Interesting and important as are the extracts of these 
records, printed in Mr. Neill s volumes, the publication of the whole is still greatly 
to be desired. It is to be regretted that a second effort to secure this end, made by 
Senator John W. Johnston, of Virginia, in 1881, which passed the Senate, failed in 

1 History of the Virginia Company, pp. 379, Vide the " Memoir of Nicholas Ferrar," by 

380. Peter Peckard, London, 1790, a work full of refer- 

1 Hawks s " Eecl. Contributions," I., Virginia, ences to the early colonial history of Virginia, 

p. 42. Compare Palfrey s " New England," I., p. 192. 



EFFORTS FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE SAVAGES. 79 

the House of Representatives. As Mr. Thornton says : "The republication of this 
work would open a new volume of our earliest existence, a most valuable chapter 
in Anglo-American history, in its moral and social aspect; a phase, though most 
important, yet most difficult to preserve, because of its evanescent character ; it is 
not, cannot be, set forth in record and in diplomacy always and necessarily more 
or less deceptive and its spirit is only feebly discerned by the most elaborate 
analyses of the wisest student." The same authority refers to Nicholas Ferrar as 
deserving our grateful remembrance and demanding our highest regard, " as the 
very soul of Virginian .colonization," adding that his life is " of unparalleled in 
terest;" and closes his argument with these words: "As these volumes are of 
national rather than local interest, reaching back to the veiy foundation of the Eng 
lish companies for colonizing America ; as they have escaped the chances and mis 
haps of two centuries, on either side of the Atlantic ; as they have not been used by 
our historians, lying virtually unknown ; and as Providence has now placed them 
in the keeping of our National Congress, is it not our National duty to have them 
appropriately edited and published } Hist. Mag., n., p. 35. 

The spirit in which the intelligence of the massacre was received in England 
is indicated in a noble sermon preached before the Virginia Company by the cele 
brated poet and divine, Dr. John Donne, Dean of St. Paul s, on the 13th of Novem 
ber, 1622, from the text, Acts i. 8. We give some extracts of this quaint but excel 
lent discourse : " Those of our profession, that goe ; you, that send them who goe, 
doe all an Apostolic function. What action soeuer hath in the first intention 
thereof a purpose to propagate the gospell of Christ lesus. that is an Apostolicall 
action ; Before the end of the world come, before this mortalitie shall put on immor- 
talitie, before the creature shall be deliuered of this bondage of corruption, vndcr 
which it groanes, before the martyrs vnder the Altar shall be silenc d, before all 
things shall be subdued to Christ, his kingdom profited, and the last enemie (death) 
destroyed, the Gospell must be preached to those men to whom ye send ; to all men. 
Further and hasten you this blessed, this ioyful, this glorious consummation of all, and 
happie re-vnion of all bodies to their soules, by preaching the Gospell to those 
men. Preach to them doctrinally, preach to them practically, enamore them with 
your Justice, and (as farre as may consist with your securitie) your Ciuilitie ; but 
inflame them with your Godlinesse and your Religion. Bring them to loue and 
reverence the name of that King that sends men to teach them the wayes of Ciuilitie 
in this world ; but to feare and adore the Name of that King of Kings, that sends 
men to teach them the wayes of religion for the next world. Those amongst you 
that are old now, shall passe out of this world with this great comfort, that you con 
tributed to the beginning of that Commonwealth, and of that Church, though they 
liue not to see the growth thereof to perfection. Apollos watred, but Paul planted ; 
he that began the worke was the greater man. And you that are young now, may 
liue to see the enemy as much impeached by that place, and j~our friends, yea 
children, as well accommodated in that place, as any other. You shall haue made 
this Hand, which is but as the suburbs of the old world, a bridge, a gallery to the 
new ; to ioyne all to that world which shall neuer grow old, the Kingdome of 
Heauen. You shall adde persons to this Kingdome, and to the Kingdome of 
Heauen, and add names to the Bookes of our Chronicles, and to the Booke of Life." 

The laws of the House of Assembly, drawn up at the time when the king was 
seeking to effect the dissolution of the company at home, begin with the regulation 
of church affairs, and the first seven of the thirty-five articles in which they were 
comprised are wholly concerned with ecclesiastical matters. These enactments 
provide : " That in every Plantation, where the people were wont to meet for the 
worship of God, there should be a house or room, set apart for that purpose, and 
not converted to any temporal use whatsoever ; and that a place of burial be em 
paled and sequestered, only for the burial of the dead : That whosoever should 
absent himself from Divine Service any Sunday, without an allowable excuse, 
should forfeit a pound of tobacco, and that he who absented himself a month, should 
forfeit fifty pounds of tobacco : That there should be an uniformity in the Church, 
as near as might be, both in substance and circumstance, to the Canons of the 
Church of England ; and that all persons should yield a ready obedience to them, 
upon pain of censure : That the 22nd of March (the day of the massacre) should 
be solemnized and kept holy : and that all the other holidays should be observed, 
except when two fall together in the summer season (the time of their working and 
crops), when the first only was to be observed, by reason of their necessities and 
employment : That no Minister should be absent from his cure above two months 



80 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

in the whole year, upon penalty of forfeiting half his salary; and whosoever was 
absent above four months should forfeit his whole salary and cure : That whoso 
ever should disparage a Minister, without sufficient proof to justify his reports, 
whereby the minds of his parishioners might be alienated from him, and his min 
istry prove the less effectual, should not only pay five hundred pounds of tobacco, 
but also should ask the Minister s forgiveness, publicly before the Congregation : 
That, no man should dispose of any of his tobacco, before the minister was satisfied, 
upon forfeiture of double his part toward the salary ; and that one man of every 
Plantation should be appointed to collect the Minister s salary, out of the first and 
best tobacco and corn." Stith s Virginia, Sabin s reprint, New York, 1865, p. 319. 
These laws, doubtless taken, as Stith suggests, from the Articles sent over by 
Sir Thomas Smith, though in some respects severe and arbitrary, are far mom 




lished from the original MSS. in the State Paper Office (Colonial, Volume v., No. 
2), by the State ot Virginia (Richmond, 1874), we find the following clergymen 
recorded as living at that time, viz. : 

Grivcll (Greville) Pooley, Minister at Flourdien Hundred, Sir George Yeard- 
ley s Plantation ; Ilant Wyatt, Minister at James City; David Sanders (or Sandys), 
Minister at Hogg Island ; " Mr. Keth " (George Keith), Minister at Elizabeth City. 

Neill, in Ms Notes on the Virginia Colonial Clergy" (Philadelphia, 1877), 
gives the names of the clergy in Virginia up to the time of the massacre, as follows : 
Robert Hunt ; Glover ; Alexander Whitaker ; Richard Bucke ; William Wick- 
ham ; George Keith ; William Mease ; Thomas Bargrave ; David Sandys (or San 
ders) ; Jonas Stockton (or Stockham) ; Robert Paulet ; Robert Bolton ; Hant Wyatt ; 
William Bennett; Thomas White ; William Leate (or Leake), and Greville Pooley. 

A list such as this affords ample evidence of the interest taken by the clergy 
of the English Church in the work of ministering to the colonists and savages of 
Virginia. This solicitude for the spiritual wants of the settlers in America, shown 
by the mother-church of England, appears in striking contrast with the absence of 
any provision for months on the part of the Plymouth " pilgrims" for a minister s 
presence among^ them, although their coming to this country was professedly on 
religious grounds. 



CHAPTER VT. 

PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 



New England coast, which, during the eventful winter of 
I 1607-8, echoed the familiar words of the church s "Common 
Prayer" in the little chapel in which Richard Seymour ministered, 
at the mouth of the Sagadahoc, received, thirteen years later, the 
Ley den Brownists at Plymouth. Separatists from the Church, as they 
were, they, nevertheless, in their famous Leyden Articles, professed 
that " the authoryty of y e present bishops in y e Land wee do acknol- 
idg so far forth as y c same is, indeed, derived from his Majesty untto 
them." 1 But it is unnecessary to say that the first visitor to this 
cradle home of New England Puritanism, in holy orders, the Rev. 
William Morell, who came over in 1623, with Robert Gorges, saw no 
opportunity for the exercise of his ministry. 

Though armed with a commission from the ,-y, /> ^ . 

ecclesiastical authorities at home to exercise -^oCJ^ */3 t-O^Tt 
a quasi episcopal authority over the religious 

organization of the infant colony, Morell occupied his leisure in Plym 
outh in the composition of a Latin poem, closing with the expression 
of a natural aspiration, 

" To see here built, I trust, 
An English kingdom from this Indian dust," 

and only revealed the nature and extent of his commissarial power 
when on the eve of returning to his native land. Morell was " a modest 
and prudent priest," and during his year s residence contented him 
self with collecting such information as was within his reach ; and then, 
weary of living as a stranger in a strange land, where the strong ten 
dency to " separatism " could not well be resisted, he returned to 
England, baifled and defeated. There were churchmen among the 
early settlers at Plymouth ; but the ministrations of an English priest 
would hardly be permitted in behalf of those whose attempt at keep 
ing Christmas in default of prayers by out-door sports appropriate for 
a holiday had been received with evident disfavor by the authorities 
of the settlement. 2 

1 N.E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., xxv., p. Christmas-day y Gov r caled them out to worke, 
276. (as it was used,) but y most of this ne\v-com- 

2 " And herewith I shall end this year, pany excused them selves and said it wente 
Only I shall remember one passage more, rather against their consciences to work on y day. So 
of mirth then of waight. On y day called y e Gov r tould them that if they made it mater 



82 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

In June, 1622, probably in the ship " Charity," which brought over 
a number of Weston s men, sent out to establish a trading port in the 
vicinity of Plymouth, Thomas Morton, of "Clifford s Inn, Gent.," as 

he styled himself, and a " gentleman 



Boston, established himself, " with 

thirty servants and provisions of all sorts tit for a plantation, 1 upon 
Passonagesset, or Mount Wollaston , an eminence in the present town 
of Quincy, Massachusetts, overlooking the bay. Morton, whose mode 
of life and belief was not in accord with the rigid separatism of Plym 
outh, was deemed by them " a maine enemy to theire Church and 
State." 5 The lofty site of his settlement he named "Ma-re Mount," 
or Merry Mount. Here, on the feast of SS. Philip and James, he 
and his men, "with the help of salvages," set up a May-pole, "a 
goodly pine tree of eighty foote longe," with a pair of buck s horns 
nailed near the top, "as a faire sea marke for directions how to finde 
out the way to mine Host of Ma-re Mount." 3 Bradford, whose 
interruption of the out-door sports and games, attempted at Plym 
outh on Christmas, 1621, we have already referred to, looked with 
evil eye on the roystering Morton and his company. In the view of 
the Puritan magistrate " Morton became the lord of misrule and main 
tained (as it were) a School of Atheisme." The revels around the 
May-pole, in his judgment, were as bad " as if they had anew revived 
and celebrated the Feasts of y e Roman Goddes, Flora, or the beastly 
practices of y c madd Bachanalians." But is it not more than probable that 
the grave offence of the " Sachem of Passonagesset," as Morton styles 
himself, in the eye of Bradford, was that he " was a man that endeav 
oured to advance the dignity of the Church of England," one who pos 
sessed and valued the " sacred booke of common prayer," and used it in a 
laudable manner amongst his family, " as a practice of piety " ? The un 
prejudiced reader of Morton s quaintly written "New English Canaan" 4 
will not dispute the assertion with which he begins one of his chap 
ters : "In the year since the incarnation of Christ, 1622, it was my 
chance to be landed in these parts of New England, where I found two 
sorts of people, the one Christians, the other Infidels, these I found 
most full of humanity, and more friendly than the others." 5 The 
festivities about the May-pole were as summarily ended as the Christ 
mas-tide sports at Plymouth. "That worthy gentleman, M r . John 
Endicott," "visiting those parts caused y* May-polle to be cutt downe," 
and rebuked the revellers "for their profannes, and admonished them 

of conscience, he would spare them till they were hath been atcmptcd that way, at least openly." 

better informed. So he led away y* rest and Bradford s History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 

left them; but when they came home at noone 112. Tin s "new-company" referred to, was the 

from their worke, he found them in y e streete at body of immigrants brought over in the " For- 

play, openly; some pitching y barr, & some at tune," which arrived at Plymouth, Nov. 11, 1621. 
stoolc ball, and shuch like sports. So he went to New English Canaan, p. 41. Force s 

them, and tooke away their implements, and " Hist. Tracts," Vol. n. 
tould them that was against his conscience, that 2 Ibid., p. 100. 

they should play & others worke. If they made 3 Ibid., p. 89. 

y* keeping of if mater of devotion, let them kepe 4 Morton s " New English Canaan," p. 93. 

their houses, but thcr should be no gamcing or 3 Ibid., p. 15. 

revelling in y c streets. Since which time nothing 



PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 



83 



to look ther should be better walking." 1 The "Lord of Misrule," 
the merry " Sachem of Passonagesset," was arrested by the Puritans, 
under the command of the choleric Captain Miles Standish, whom 




Morton facetiously styled " Captain Shrimp" Left with scanty pro 
vision for his wants to winter on the Isle of Shoals, and succored by the 
Indians, whom he found more " full of humanity " than " these Christians," 
Morton made his way to England, where, as Bradford acknowledges, 
he was "not so much as rebukte," 2 arid whence he shortly returned, 



Bradford s " History of Plymouth Plantation," p. 238. 



* Ibid., p. 243. 



84 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

under the protection of one of the leading Puritans, Isaac Allerton, 
who, as Bradford complains, seems to have brought him " to y e towne 
(as it were to nose them) and lodged him at his owne house and for a 
while used him as a scribe to doe his bussiness." 1 But the opposition 
of the authorities compelled the friendly Allerton " to pack him away," 
as Bradford informs us, and "so he went to his old nest in y e Massa- 

chusets." This "nest" 
was his by patent, and 
but for the implacable 
hate of the 




might 



long 



Puritans it 
have been 
"Our mas 
the Bible 



said of him, 
ter reades 

and the Word of God, and useth the Booke of Common Prayer" 
within the limits of the Massachusetts Bay. But charges were 
made against this "proud insolent man," as Winthrop styles him, 
of "injuries done by him both to the English and Indians; and 
amongst others, for shooting hail-shot at a troop of Indians for 
not bringing a canoe unto him to cross a river withal ; whereby he 
hurt one, and shot through the garments of another." 2 This, of course,. 




STANDISH S SWORD AND A MATCHLOCK. 

is the testimony of his foes. If we may judge from his book, and 
from the fact that, though living near Weymouth, where Weston s men 
had been massacred by the savages, he was unharmed, and lived evi 
dently without fear, we should regard him as a friend of the red men, 
who were welcomed to Ma-re Mount, and there, initiated in a superior 
woodcraft, and dissuaded from the excessive use of aqua vitce, were 
instructed in the kindly religion of the "Book of Common Prayer." 
But the court decreed on the 7th of September, 1630, " that Thomas 
Morton, of Mount Wolliston, shall presently be set into the bilboes, and 
after sent prisoner into England, by the ship called the Gift, now re 
turning thither ; that all his goods shall be seized upon to defray the 
charge of his transportation, payment of his debts, and to give satis 
faction to the Indians for a canoe he unjustly took away from them ; 

i Bradford s " History of Plymouth Planta- Lincoln, quoted in Bradford s " Hist, of Plyin- 
" n. 2n3_ ou th Plantation," p. 253, note. 



2 Dudley, in his letter to the Countess of 



PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. gfl 

and that his house, after that his goods are taken out, shall be burnt 
down to the ground in the sight of the Indians, for their satisfaction, 
for many wrongs he hath done them from time to time." l In the 
words of a recent investigator, " these were high-handed acts of unmis 
takable oppression." 8 Evidently, to quote the same authority, "the 
probabilities in the case would seem to be that the Massachusetts mag 
istrates had made up their minds in advance to drive this man out of 
Massachusetts." 3 The cruel sentence was fully carried out, and, by a 
refinement of cruelty, it was ordered that Morton should " saile in 
sight of his howse " 4 " fired " by order of his pitiless foes, and thus be 
a witness of the ruin of his hopes and home. The captain of the 
" Gift " refused to carry him agreeably to the order of the court, and 
it was three months before the authorities could rid themselves of 
the distasteful presence of the offender. In England he naturally 
sought redress for the injuries he had received, and committed the 
further offence of writing what Bradford styles "an infamouse and 
scurillous booke against many godly and cheefe men of y e cuntrie ; full 
of lyes and slanders, and fraight with profane callumnies against their 
names and persons, and y e ways of God." 5 Returning "after sundry 
years," as Maverick tells us, "to look after his land for which he had a 
patent," he was, to quote the testimony of Bradford, "imprisoned at 
Boston for this booke and other things, being grown old in wickedness." 6 
Maverick testifies as to the severity of his treatment at the hands of his 
relentless and unscrupulous persecutors, by whom he was refused bail, 
and imprisoned in the common gaol without fire or bedding through a 
cold winter, "although there was nothing laid to his charge but the writing 
of this book." Even Winthrop s account would be sufficient to convict 
the Massachusetts authorities of the grossest disregard of justice. " Hav 
ing been kept in prison about a year, in expectation of further evidence 
out of England, he was again called before the court, and, after some 
debate what to do with him, he was fined 100 and set at liberty. 
He was a charge to the country, for he had nothing, and we thought 
not fit to inflict corporal punishment upon him, being old and crazy, 
but thought better to fine him and give him his liberty, as if it had 
been to procure his fine, but indeed to leave him opportunity to go 
out of this jurisdiction, which he did soon after, and went to Agamenti- 
cus, and, living there poor and despised, he died within two years 

1 Mass. Col. Records, quoted in Bradford, hoisted by a tackle, and ncare starned in the 
p. 253, note. passage. No thinge was said to him heare : in 

2 Mr. Charles Francis Adams, Jr., in the the tyme of his abode heare, he wrote a booke en- 
" Atlantic Monthly," 1877. titled New Canan, a good description of the 

s Ibid. Cuntery as then it was, only in the end of it he 

* Coll. N.Y. Hist. Soc., 1869. Publication pinched too closely on some in authoritie there, 

Fund, " Clarendon Papers," p. 40. We have the for W h some yeares after cominge ouerto look 

following account of Morton in a letter to the after his land for w ch he had a patent many 

Earl of Clarendon by Samuel Maverick, reciting yeares before, be found his land disposed of anil 

the acts of injustice done by the Massachusetts made a towncsbip, and himselfe shortly after ap- 

authorities : " One M r Morton, a gen* of good prehended, put into the gaole w lh out fire or bed- 

qualitie, vpon p tence that he had shott an Indian, dinge, no bayle to be taken, where he remained 

wittingly, W h was indeede but accidentally, and a very cold winter, nothing laid to his charge 

no hurt donn, they sentenced him to be sent fo r but the writings of this booke, w oh he confessed 

England prisoner, as one who had a designe to not, nor could theyproue. He died shortly after, 

sett the Indians at varienee w th vs, they fui ther and as he said, and may well be supposed on his 

ordered as he was to saile in sight of his howse hard vsage in prison." 
that it should be fired, he refusinge to goe in to ; Bradford, p. 254. 

the shipp, as havinge no busines there, was * Ibid., p. 253. 



86 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

after." l He had been robbed of his land, his house had been burned 
before his eyes, his goods had been distrained, he had been banished 
from a territory to which he had, by virtue of his patent, as good a 
right of eminent domain as those who sat in judgment upon him, and 
now, when "old and crazy," lie is considerately spared "corporal 
punishment" at the hands of those who winced beneath the lashes of his 
wit, and with the burden of a fine resting upon him, " poor " because 
spoiled of all he had by those in power, and " despised " only by those 
who were smartingunder the lash of his sarcasm, the worn-out old man 
sought refuge in the royal province of Maine, and died at Agamenticus. 
His " infamouse and scurillous booke " is still extant. Its perusal will 
not bear out the charge of the Puritan historian. If not better than 
his foes he was no worse, and churchmen may well remember that 
even if there were the May-time revels of Old England at Ma-re 
Mount, the reading of God s word and the use of the " Book of Common 
Prayer " were not forgotten by this motley crew of sportsmen and 
savages who fell under the displeasure of the zealots of Plymouth and 
the Massachusetts Bay. 

Meanwhile there had been other attempts to introduce the Church 
upon the New England coast, and within the limits of the patents of 
Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay. In 1623 the London advent 
urers sent over " a preacher," though, to quote Bradford s words, " none 
of the most eminent and rare, "to minister to the colonists at Plymouth. 
This was the Eev. John Lyford. He had been in Ireland before his 
coming to New England, and " had wound himself," as Bradford writes, 
" into y e esteeme of sundry godly and zelous professours in those parts, 
who, having been burdened with y c ceremonies in England, found there 
some more liberty to their consciences." 8 Here he had fallen into gross 
immorality, the proofs of which were readily furnished when he sought 
to " set up a publick meeting aparte, on y Lord s day," and " would goe 
minister the sacrements by his Episcopal! caling." There was no disposi 
tion at Plymouth to tolerate a schism, and Lyford and his friend Oldham 
were promptly banished from the colony. He became the minister, first 
of the little company at Nantasket, of which Roger Conant was one, and, 
Jater, of the unsuccessful settlement at Cape Ann, from whence he went 
to Virginia. There is no evidence that Lyford was any more of a con 
formist than to rely upon his ministerial commission imparted by the 
English Church. The records do not speak of his use of the prayer-book 
forms, or of his exercise of his ministry in Virginia, where none but 
conformists were admitted to parishes. Besides, the only charges of 
immorality brought against him were made during his espousal and 
advocacy of separatist views and practices, while of his career while in 
the " Episcopal calling," if we know little or nothing, we know nothing 
ill. 

About the year 1625 the present site of Boston was occupied by 
a " clerk in Holy Orders," and a graduate of Emanuel College, Cam 
bridge. The Rev. William Blaxton took the Bachelor s degree at the 
University in 1617, and his Master s degree in 1621 ; and we are told 

1 Winthrop s "Hist, of New England," 11., * Hist, of Plymouth Plantation, p 193. 



PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 87 

that when he appeared in America he was still less than thirty years 
old. 1 The researches of Mr. Charles Francis Adams, Jr., leave little 
or no doubt but that Blaxton, with his friends, and neighbors at a later 
date, Maverick and Walford, accompanied Robert Gorges in the expe 
dition which left Plymouth, England, in the midsummer of 1623, which, 
to quote the words of this accomplished and accurate writer, " repre 
sented the whole power and dignity of the Council for New England." 2 
It was but natural that the Rev. William Morrell, the ecclesiastical 
head of the new government, should be ac 
companied by a clerical assistant, the Rev. 
William Blaxton. That there was a close 
connection existing between Blaxton and 
Gorges is evident from notices of business 
transactions still extant. Blaxton s occupancy 
of " Shawmut " was known and recognized by 
the Puritans, who assessed him twelve shil 
lings towards the charges of arresting Thomas Morton of Ma-re Mount. 
This was on the 9th of June, 1028. Later, on the 29th of April, 1621), 
he was empowered by Gorges to put John Oldham,Ly ford s friend and 
companion in exile from Plymouth, in possession of lands near Boston, 
and in 1631 a similar authority was given him in favor of a settler at 
Dover, New Hampshire. 

Prior to 1629 Blaxton seems to have lived in solitude, apart from 
his kind, with only nature as his study, and the savages as her in 
terpreters. At length a 
churchman like himself, 
Thomas Walford, is re- 
ferred to as occupying a 
palisadoed and thatched 
house at Mishawum, now 
Charlcstown. Later, Samuel Maverick, an uncompromising church 
man, is found living at Noddle s Island, now East Boston, where he had 
built a small fort, " placing thereon some Murtherers, to protect him 
from the Indians." Thus the three peninsulas, now covered by the 
city of Boston , and part of the pat 
ent of Gorges, himself a churchman, At 
were occupied by men of the same O* m u JC ->/n 
faith, who thus, as it were, took 

possession of this important territory in fealty to the crown and church 
of the mother-land. Maverick was, as Savage informs us, " a gentleman 
of good estate," 3 but, as we learn from Johnson s " Wonder- Work ing 
Providence," 4 "an enemy to the reformation in hand, being strong for 
the Lordly prelaticall power," " though a man of a very loving and 
courteous behaviour," and " very ready to entertaine strangers." 
" Worthy of a perpetual remembrance " is the testimony given of him 
by Winthrop, 5 for his loving ministrations, and those rendered by his wife 

1 Dr. De Costa s "Monograph on William 3 Winthrop s "New England," I., p. 32, 
Blackstone, in his relations to Massachusetts note. 

and Rhode Island," p. 4. * Lib. r., Chap, xvn., in " Mass. Hist. Soc. 

2 Memorial History of Boston, i., p. 75. Coll.," 11., p. 86. 
Proceedings of the Mass. Hist. Soc., 1878, I., p. 143, Savage s ed. 
pp. 194-206. 




88 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



and servants, when the Indians in his neighborhood sickened and died 
of the small-pox. He " went daily," we are told, to the sufferers, " minis- 




tered to their necessities, buried their dead, s and took home many of their 
children." Josselyn, who visited this noble-hearted philanthropist, in 



1 The best portrait of Governor Winthrop is 
that iii the Senate Chamber of Massachusetts, 
always ascribed to Van Dyck. There is a mar 
ble statue of him, in a sitting posture, in the 
chapel at Mount Auburn, and another, stand 
ing, in the Capitol at Washington. A third, 
standing and in bronze, has been recently 
erected in the city of Boston. All the statues 
are by Richard S. Greeuough. See R. C. Win- 
throp s " Life and Letters of John Winthrop," 
n., p. 408. The portrait in the Senate Cham 
ber is that referred to in Mather s " Magualia." 



A descendant in New York has another likeness, 
much inferior, of which there is a copy, or 
duplicate, in the hall of the Antiquarian Society 
at Worcester. The family has also a miniature, 
thought to be an original, but it is in very 
bad condition. There are two copies of the 
Senate Chamber likeness in Memorial Hall at 
Cambridge; another in the Boston Athenaeum, 
and one in the gallery of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society. 

1 " Above thirty buried by Mr. Maverick, of 
Winesernett in one day." iViidhrop, I., p. 142. 



PIONEERS OF THE CHUECH IN NEW ENGLAND. 89 

July, 1638, speaks of him as "the only hospitable man in all the 
country, giving entertainment to all Comers, gratis" l He lived in his 
island home for many years, falling from time to time under the ani 
madversions of the authorities, for the too free exercise of the apos 
tolic virtue, "given to hospitality," and apparently continuing stead 
fast in his devotion to the church of his baptism and early love. 

In 1630 the quiet possession of the peninsula of Boston was broken 
by the appearance of Governor Winthrop and his followers at Misha- 
wuin. In their journey of exploration made on foot from Salem "to 
Mattachusetts, to find out a place for our sitting down," Winthrop re 
cords 2 that they "lay at Mr. Maverick s," and it was not long before 




ST. BOTOLPH S CHURCH. 

they had established themselves at their new home. The story of 
their change of location from Charlestown to Boston is recorded in the 
Charlestown Records : 

In the meantime, Mr. Blackstone, dwelling on the other side Charles River 
alone, at a place by the Indeans called Shawmutt, where he only had a cottage, at 
or not far off the place called Blackstone s Point, he came and acquainted the Gov 
ernor of an excellent Spring there ; withal inviting him and soliciting him hither. 
Whereupon, after the death of Mr. Johnson and divers others, the Governor, with 
Mr. Wilson, and the greatest part of the church removed hither: whither also the 
frame of the Governor s house, in preparation at this town, was also (to the dis 
content of some) carried ; where people began to build their houses against winter ; 
and this place was called Boston. 3 

1 Two Voyages to New England, p. 13. 3 Quoted in the " Memorial History of Bos- 
Boston, 1865. tori," i., p. 116. 

2 New England, I., p. 32. 



90 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

To this spot "a paradise," l as Winthrop styles it, when, for the 
first time sending a letter, dated from "Boston, "to his wife the solitary 
Blaxton welcomed his countrymen. His humble home was situated 
on the west slope of Beacon Hill, from which he commanded an unob 
structed view of the mouth of the Charles. Around him were culti 
vated grounds, and, it is said, an orchard. It was on the 7th of 
September, O.S., the 17th as we now reckon it, in the year 1G30, 
that the Court of Assistants ordered " that Trimountaine shall be called 
Boston," a name endeared to the new-comers from its associations with 
the Lincolnshire town of Boston, England, named for St. Botolph, 
from which the daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, the Lady Arbella 
Johnson, and her husband, had come to die in this distant land, and 
where one whose name was long to be held in honor in the new home 
of his adoption the Rev. John Cotton was still ministering as 
vicar of the noble parish church. 

The settlers at Shawmut were of the company which sailed from 
Southampton on the 22d of March in the year (1630), bringing both 
the governor and " the Company of Massachusetts Bay," and bearing 
with them the charter of Massachusetts. In the principal ship, the 
"Arbella," with the governor, were the Lady Arbella, from whom the 
vessel took its name, and her husband ; Sir Richard Saltonstall, the 
Rev. George Phillips, the minister ; Thomas Dudley, the deputy-gov 
ernor, and others ; while John Wilson, subsequently the first minister 
of Boston, was in one of the other vessels, which bore the names of the 
"Talbot," the " Ambrose," and the " Jewel." Detained by unfavorable 
winds at " the Cowes," and again while off Yarmouth, it was not until 
the second week in April that this memorable voyage, which brought to 
our shores "The Great Emigration," as it was called, was fairly begun. 

The delay had given opportunity for the members of the company 
on board the " Arbella" to address " The Humble Request of His Majesty s 
Loyall Subjects, the Governor and the Company lately gone for New 
England, to the rest of their brethren in and of the Church of England, 
for the obtaining of their Prayers, and the removal of suspicions, and 
Misconstruction of their Intentions." In this touching farewell and 
address, evidently prepared for the correction of misapprehensions which 
were rife as to designs of these emigrants, occurs the following striking 
profession of their intentions and belief: 

Howsoever your charity may have met with some occasion of discouragement 

through the misreport of our intentions, or through the disaffection or indiscretion 

of some of us, or rather amongst us (for we are not of those that dream of perfec- 

i tion in this world), yet we desire you would be pleased to take notice of the 

; principals and body of our company, as those who esteem it our honor to call the 

Church of England, from whence we rise, our dear mother ; and cannot part from 

: our native country, where she specially resideth, without much sadness of heart, 

and many tears in our eyes, ever acknowledging that such hope and part as we 

have obtained in the common salvation, we have received in her bosom, and sucked 

it from her breasts. 

We leave it not, therefore, as loathing that milk wherewith we were nourished 
there ; but, blessing God for the parentage and education, as members of the same 
body shall always rejoice in her good, and unfeignedly grieve for any sorrow that 

1 Memorial History of Boston, I., p. 117. 



PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 



91 



shall ever betide her, and while we have breath, sincerely desire and endeavor the 
continuance and abundance of her welfare, with the enlargement of her bounds in 
the Kingdom of Christ Jesus. 1 

Words such as these are conclusive as to the attitude of the leaders 
of w The Great Emigration " towards the Church on the " Easter Mon- 





day, Anno Domini 1630," when the excellent Winthrop began on the 
" Arbella," " riding at the Cowes, near the Isle of Wight," the invaluable 
journal whence we derive our fullest knowledge of the colony for 
nearly a score of years. It was not till the ocean was crossed that 
those stigmatized in this " Address " as indiscreet or disaffected were 
found to be in the ascendant in number and influence, and speedily 



Quoted in the " Mem. Hist, of Boston," i., p. 108. 
t., pp. 487, 488. 



Vide, also, Hutchinson s " Hist, of Mass.." 



92 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

drew to their side the very writer of this admirable "Address." It had 
been urged that "faction and separation from the Church" had been 
"secretly harboured" by those who were projecting this trans- Atlantic 
settlement, and that the colony was intended to become "a nursery of 
faction and rebellion, disclaiming and renouncing our church as a limb 
of Anti-Christ." White, in "The Planter s Plea," 1 answers this objec 
tion by a reference to " the letter subscribed with the hands of the 
Governour and his associates," as affirming the contrary ; and this 
"patriarch of New England colonization," as he is called, proceeds to 
defend the settlers from the imputations of " non-conformity " as well 
as " separation." " Some variation from the formes and customes of 
our church " might be hoped for or expected, but that the promoters 
of this enterprise were " projecting the erecting of this colony for a 
nursery of ScJtismaticks"* was indignantly denied. The assertion was 
made that at least " three parts of foure " of the planters were " able 
to justifie themselves to have lived in a constant course of conformity 
unto our church government and orders," and that the governor, "Mr. 
lo. Winthrop," had " beene every way regular and conformable in the 
whole course of his practise." " Neither all nor the greatest part of 
the Ministers are unconformable," 3 it was added. Thus earnestly did 
the adventurers themselves, at the outset of their enterprise, and their 
friends whom they left behind, disclaim the charge of separation or 
non-conformity. It is certainly noteworthy, in view of these profes 
sions of conformity and acquiescence in the teachings and practice of 
the mother-church, that but a few weeks elapsed after they had landed 
in the New World ere their " faction and separation from the Church " 
were openly confessed. 

The fleet that bore the company and charter of Massachusetts Bay 
and their fortunes had but barely reached the New England coast when, 
on the 30th of July, six weeks after their landing at Salem, the 
governor, his deputy, Mr. Isaac Johnson, the husband of the Lady 
Arbella, and John Wilson, the minister, organized, at their new 
home in Charlestown, a separatist, non-conforming "congregation or 
church." 

Sickness and death made havoc in the little community at Charles- 
town. The lack of fresh-water was sorely felt, and the invitation 
of the solitary Blaxton to the other side of the peninsula doubtless 
prevented the extermination of the colony. 

On the 19th of October, Blaxton and Maverick were admitted 
as "Freemen" ; 4 but the following May, Thomas Walford, the Charles- 
town blacksmith, a churchman who was not a freeman, was fined 40s., 
and, with his wife, banished from the " pattent," for " his contempt of 
authority and confrontinge officers, &c.," 5 and it was ordered, at the 
next meeting of the General Court, that " for time to come noe man 
shalbe admitted to the freedome of this body polliticke, but such as 

1 The Planter s Plea, London, 1630. Re- sympathy with the Puritan party, of which he 

printed in Force s " Hist. Tracts," n., pp. 33, 34. subsequently hccamc a prominent member. 

" The Planter s Plea" was written by the a Ihid., p. 37. 

Rev. John White, of Dorchester, En<r., who has 3 Ibid., p. 35. 

been styled the " father of the Massachusetts Records of Massachusetts, i., p. 79. Hist. 

Colony, and " the Patriarch of New England." Gencal. Register, in., pp. 41, 42. 
At this time he was a conformist, though in -"Records of Massachusetts, i.. p. 86. 



PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 



93 



are members of some of the churches within the ly mitts of the same." 1 
The cords of restraint were thus being tightened around the few old 
settlers who were churchmen. Even the cut of Blaxton s coat was 
offensive. We find, in Johnson s " Wonder- Working Providence," a 
quaint passage, throwing a little light on the manners and reputation 
of this eccentric, but amiable, scholar and recluse, who was the earliest 
settler of Boston. Eeferring to the spring of 1629, this writer adds : 

All this while little likelihood there was of building the Temple for God s 
worship, there being only two that began to hew stones in the Mountaines, the one 
named Mr. Bright and the other Mr. Blaxton, and one of them began to build, but 
when they saw all sorts of stones would not fit in the building, as they supposed, 
the one betooke him to the seas againe, and the other to till the Land, retaining 
no simbole of his former profession, but aCanonicall Coate. 2 




WINTHROP S FLEET. 

In the "Magnalia" Cotton Mather speaks of Blaxton as reckoned 
among the "godly Episcopalians," and refers to him as one "who by 
happening to sleep first in an hovel upon a point of land there, laid claim 
to all the ground whereupon there now stands the metropolis of the 
whole English America, until the inhabitants gave him satisfaction." 4 
The early settlers evidently recognized the existence of more than a 
claim on Blaxton s part, for, in the spring of 1633, the records state 
that "it is agreed, that M r . William Blackestone shall haue 50 acres of 

eight guns and fifty-two men, is in the fore 
ground, being towed to her anchorage. The 
"Talbot," the vice-admiral, riding at anchor, 
hides Governor s Island from the spectator. The 
" Jewell," the captain of the fleet, is the distant 
vessel on the right, where Castle Island appears. 
The time is late in a July day. The spectator s 
position is between Boston and East Boston. 
Fide " Memorial Hist, of Boston," i., p. 115. 

< Magnalia, Book m., Chap, xi., Hartford 
edition of 1855, p. 243. 



1 Records of Massachusetts, I., p. 87. 

2 II. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., n., p. 70. 

3 This cut is a reduction, by permission, from 
an oil-painting recently completed by Mr. Will- 
liam F. Halsall, representing a part of the fleet 
which brought Winthrop and his company to 
Salem just as they had come round to Boston 
Harbor and were dropping anchor. The vessels 
are a careful study of the ships of the period. 
The " Arbella," the admiral of the fleet, a ship 
of three hundred and fifty tons, carrying twenty- 




94 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

ground sett out for him neere to his howse in Boston, to inioy for 
euer." l And when, at a later day, Blaxton proposed to remove from 
his home in Boston, full payment for his property was made by a tax 
laid on all the inhabitants of the growing " metropolis." 

We have no record of services and sacraments performed by this 
solitary "clerk in Holy Orders," who seems to have spent much of his 
time in raising fruit and stock, and the rest among the tall folios and 
quartos that constituted his well-furnished library. A few allusions in 
the Puritan histories of the time, added to the reference to Blaxton 
and another clergyman who was among the settlers at Salem, which we 
have already cited from Johnson s " Wonder-Working Providence," 
afford us all the light we have with reference to Blaxton, or to those 

who with him clung to the church of 
f\ their baptism. Hubbard, in his " Gener- 
<Ji al History of New England," following 
Johnson, associated Blaxton with the 
Rev. Francis Bright, the conformist minister of Salem, of whom 
it is said that he, "not unlike Jonah, fled from the presence of the 
Lord, and went down to Tarshish." Finding that the settlers at 
Naumkeag, or Salem, were disposed to go to greater lengths in their 
separation from the Church than he approved, and, doubtless, having 
sympathized with those of the people who had already set up the 
" Common-Prayer-Worship after a sort," as Mather tells us, he re 
moved to Charlestown, and there meeting the same tendency to separa 
tion he " betooke him to the seas again," or in other words, returned to 
England. Hubbard, alluding to these abortive efforts on the part 
of Bright and Blaxton, one an Oxford and the other a Cambridge 
graduate, to introduce the Common Prayer, repeats the sneer of 
Johnson as to the ecclesiastical habit of the latter, adding that he 
" betook himself to till the ground wherin probably he was more 
skilled, or at least had a better faculty, than in the things pertain 
ing to the house of God." 2 Nor only this ; our critic waxes eloquent 
in his amplification of Johnson s words. " For any one," proceeds 
Hubbard, "to retain only the outward badge of his functions, that 
never could pretend to any faculty therein, or exercise thereof, is, 
though no honor to himself, yet a dishonor and disparagement to the 
order he would thereby challenge acquaintance with." 3 We cannot 
wonder that Boston soon became too strait for this churchman, who so 
pertinaciously clung to his " canonical coat." As Mather tells us, " this 
man was, indeed, of a particular humor, and he would never join him 
self to any of our churches, giving this reason for it : I came from 
England, because I did not like the lord-bishops; but I cannot join with 
you, because I would not be under the lord-brethren. " 4 Consequently, 
in 1634, he turned his back upon orchard and garden and spring, receiv 
ing " satisfaction " from the Bostonians he left behind, for his landed 
estate, to the amount of 30, every householder paying six shillings, 5 
and with his books and, tradition tells us, a herd of cattle, he pene- 

1 Records of the Col. of the Mass. Bay, i., 3 Ibid. 

p. 104. Masjnalia, Book in., xi. 

2 Hubbard. in n. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., Memorial History of Boston, I., p. 85, 
V., p. 113. notf. 





PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 95 

trated further into the wilderness, and among "God s first temples" set 
up his sanctuary and home. A few years later, in 1641, Lechford, a 
churchman, and the author of " Plain Dealing," writes as follows : 

" One Master Blakeston, a Minister, went from Boston, having lived there 
nine or ten yeares, because he would not joyne with the Church," adding " he lives 
neere Master Williams, but is far from his opinions. " * 

It was to a spot to which he gave the name of " Study Hill," 
within the limits of the present town of Lonsdale, Rhode Island, that 
Blaxton removed, thus becom 
ing the first white inhabitant, 
as well as minister, of that 
State. From time to time he 
visited Boston, where he mar 
ried Mistress Sarah Stephenson, July 4, 1659. He is said to have 
occasionally officiated at Providence, when he was old, gathering about 
him the children by gifts of fruit ; and, without doubt, the words of the 
Common Prayer were heard at stated times by the little community at 
"Study Hill." Hopkins, of Providence, who gives us traditionary 
tales of this simple-minded, gentle-hearted recluse, speaks of him as 
"an Exemplary Christian." Fond of tilling the earth, fond of the " low 
ing herd," fond of study, and fond of children, as these old chroniclers 
depict him, we may be proud of Boston s first inhabitant and Rhode 
Island s earliest settler, the Rev. William Blaxton, A.M. He died at 
Cumberland, Rhode Island, May 26, 1675, the Wednesday after Whit 
sunday, being upwards of fourscore years old, and having survived his 
wife nearly two years. His library, numbering nearly two hundred vol 
umes, together with his "paper books," ten in number, and inventoried at 
five shillings, were destroyed by the Indians shortly after his decease. 

In the " First General Letter of the Governor and Deputy of the 
New England Company " to the settlers at Naumkeag, or Salem, in 
Massachusetts, under^ Endicott, written from Gravesend, April 17, 
1629, and beginning with the pious ejaculation, "Laus Deo," appear the 
names of " Mr. John and Mr. Samuell Browne," as members of " the 
Councell of the Mattachusetts Bay," 2 following next to the names of 
the ministers, Francis Higginson, Samuel Skelton, and Francis Bright. 
In a postscript to this important official communication the writers ap 
pend a special recommendation of " two Brethren of our Comp : Mr. 
John and Mr. Sam.: Browne, who, though they bee noe adventurers in 
the generall stock, yett are they men wee doe much respect, being 
fully perswaded of their sincere afieccions to the good of o r plantacion. 
The one, Mr. John Browne, is sworne an Assistant heere, and by vs 
chosen one of the councell there a man experienced in the lawes of 
o r kingdome, and such an one as wee are perswaded will worthy lie de 
serve yo r fauor and furtherance, w ch we desire he may haue, and that in 
the first devision of land there may be allotted to either of them 200 
acres." 3 

* Plain Dealing, or News from New Eng- 2 Records of Massachusetts, I., p. 387. 

land, Boston, 1867, p. 97. 3 Ibid., i., p. 398. 



96 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

The story of the Brownes, as given by the Puritan authorities, is 
as follows : 



ic of the passengers that came over, observing that the ministers did not 
the book of Common prayer, and that they did administer baptism and the 



Sonn 

at all use the 

Lord s supper without the ceremonies, and that they professed, also, to use disci 
pline in the congregation against scandalous persons, by a personal application of 
the word of God, as the case might require, and that some that were scandalous 
were denied admission into the church, they began to raise some trouble. Of these, 
Mr. Samuel Browne and his brother were the chief, the one being a lawyer, the 
other a merchant, both of them amongst the number of the first patentees, men of 
party and post in the place. These two brothers gathered a company together, in 
a place distinct from the public assembly, and there, sundry times, the book oi 
Common prayer was read unto such as resorted thither. The governour, Mr. Endi- 
cot, taking notice of the disturbance that began to grow amongst the people by this 
means, he convented the two brothers before him. They accused the ministers as 
departing from the orders of the Church of England, that they were separatists, 
and would be anabaptists, etc. ; but for themselves, they woum hold to the orders 
of the Church of England. The ministers answered for themselves, that they were 
neither separatists nor anabaptists ; they did not separate from the Church of Eng 
land, nor from the ordinances of God there, but only from the corruptions and dis 
orders there ; and that they came away from the common prayer and ceremonies, 
and had suffered much for their nonconformity in their native land, and, therefore, 
being in a place where they might have their liberty, they neither could nor would 
use them, because they judged the imposition of these things to be sinful corrup 
tions in the worship of God. The governour and council, and the generality of the 
people, did well approve of the ministers answer ; and, therefore, finding those two 
brothers to be of high spirits, and their speeches and practices tending to mutiny 
and faction, the governour told them that New England was no place for such as 
they ; and, therefore, he sent them both back for England, at the return of the ships 
the same year; and though they breathed out threatenings, both against the gov 
ernor and ministers there, yet the Lord so disposed of all, that there was no further 
inconvenience followed upon it. 1 

The records of the colony 2 show, in addition to the story as told 
above, that the letters of these brothers to "divers of their private 
friends in England," notwithstanding their official position and standing 
in the company and community, were " opened and publiquely read." 
Those of Mr. Samuel Browne were not delivered, by order of the com 
pany, w but kept to bee made vse of against him as occasion shalbe 
offered." Banished as " factious and evil-conditioned ; " their goods, left 
behind them in their summary and forced departure, were, as they 
alleged, " undervalued and divers things omitted to be praised ; " and, 
on their presentation of "a wryting of grevances," desiring recompeuce 
for " loss and damage sustained by them in New England," it need not 
surprise us that it was voted that, on their submitting their case to 
the company s " fynall order," two of the company should " sett 
downe what they in their Judg mt shall thinke requisite to bee allowed 
them for their pretended damage sustained, and soe to make a fynall 
end accordingly." The records contain no report of a committee thus 
constituted. 

The " fynall end " does not appear. Driven from their new home, the 
expenses of the outfit, voyage, and settlement were, of course, a total 
loss. Though they had remained in New England but five or six 

1 Morton s " N.E. Memorial," p. 147. in., pp. 50-54, 56, 65, 76. Vide, also, " Rccordsof 

Published in " Archseologia Americana," Massachusetts," I., pp. 51 *>4, 60-69 



PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 97 

weeks, the sacrifice of property was doubtless considerable. A learned 
American archaeologist, 1 in annotating on this portion of the Massa 
chusetts Records, says, that "it is probable that a reasonable remunera 
tion was allowed them ; " but of this there is no proof. In the view 
of those who perpetrated this flagrant outrage on personal liberty and 
freedom of conscience, the behavior of the Brownes was "offensive," 
and their loss and damage but "pretended." Careful to have "an 
obsequious eye " to " the State," the authorities at home were willing 
to caution the ministers and magistrates of Salem to be wary of their 
< scandalous and intemperate speeches," in " publique sermons or 
prayers in N. England," and " rash innovations begun and practised 
in the civil and I^cclesiastical Government;" 2 but for the aggrieved 
and injured brothers there was no redress, either for the wrong done 
to their persons, or the injury to their property. With their forcible 
ejectment from the settlement at Salem, the use of the Common Prayer 
and all efforts for conformity, of which any record is extant, ceased. 
The Rev. Francis Bright, either to escape a like fate, or despairing of 
any success with the determined separatists under the leadership of 
Endicott, Higginson, and Skelton, removed to Charlestown, and 
shortly afterwards sailed for England. 

During the years 1638-1641, Thomas Lechford, " of Clement s 
Inne, in the County of Middlesex, Gent," who had earlier, as he tells 
us, " suffered imprisonment, and a kind of banishment . . . for some 
acts construed to oppose, and as tending to subvert Episcopacie, and the 
settled Ecclesiasticall government of England," resided in Boston. The 
offence to which he refers, as we learn from a passing allusion in Mr. 
Cotton s " Way of Congregational Churches Cleared," was his " wit 
nessing against the Bishops, in soliciting the cause of Mr. Prynne." 
Lechford landed in Boston a little more than a year after Prynne s trial 
in the Star Chamber. He was accompanied from England, it is sup 
posed, by his wife. Almost from the very hour of his landing he was 
regarded with distrust by those of influence and authority in church 
and commonwealth. His profession was objectionable, " no advocate 
being allowed" in matters requiring legal process; and his views in 
ecclesiastical matters were soon found to be diametrically opposite to 
those which obtained in the Massachusetts Bay. 3 The " divine right of 
Episcopacy," which he maintained in conversations with the leading 
men of the colony, he sought to prove in a manuscript treatise, which 
he submitted to the deputy governor, Dudley, a man of marked 
conscientiousness, narrow vision, and intense prejudices, who saw in 
the toleration of novel opinions in theology "a cocatrice s egg," 

" To poison all with heresy and vice." 

Dudley pronounced the book " erroneous and dangerous, if not he- 
reticall," and sent it to Winthrop with the suggestion, "that instead of 
puttinge it to the presse as hee desireth, it may rather be putt into the 
fire as I desire." 4 This manuscript, with another of Lechford ^ theo- 

i S. F. Haven, LL.D., editor of a por- 2 Records of Massachusetts, i., p. 407-409. 

tion of the " Records of the Company of the Mas- s Winthrop s " New England," ir., p. 43. 

sachusetts Bay." Archaeologia Americana, in., *J. Hammond Trumbull s Reprint of 

p. 76. " Plain Dealing," pp. 22, 23. 



98 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 




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v . $tf. 




PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 99 

logical essays, was submitted to a council of the Elders ; but neither in 
conference nor in writing could the author be convinced of error, while 
the Elders would not admit that the opinions he advanced could be held 
" salvafide " Consequently the friend and supporter of Prynne was 
compelled to remain outside of the pale of the New England "church," 
and exclusion from church fellowship carried with it exclusion from the 
privileges of a freeman, and disqualification for civil office. " Kept 
from all places of preferment in the Commonwealth," he was "forced 
to get his living by writing petty things, which scarce found him 
bread." 1 By plying his pen as a conveyancer, scrivener, or draughts 
man, he eked out a scanty livelihood ; but regular employment as a 
clerk, or public notary, for which his studies and experience peculiarly 
qualified him, was denied him by the court, as he states, "for fear of 
offending the churches because of" his " opinions." Debarred from the 
exercise of his profession for his injudicious and unprofessional exer 
tions in behalf of a client s cause, his apology was received by the court, 
and he was suffered to practise again, with, it would appear, but little 
improvement of his " low and poor estate." In his capacity as a copy 
ist he was employed in writing " The court booke " for Mr. Endicott, 
and among other things, the " breviatof laws," subsequently adopted, 
with some amendments, as the Body of Liberties. It was during the 
execution of this latter work, which, as Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull 
says, "in his hands, we maybe sure, was something more than that of 
mere transcription," he " conceived it his duty, in discharge of his con 
science," and " as Amicus curia, with all faithfulness to present," to the 
governor and magistrates, his objections to certain laws proposed to be 
embodied in the code. But, though industrious, and evidently honest 
in his convictions of duty, and in his conscientious devotion to his opin 
ions, it was evident that he was daily becoming more and more 
dissatisfied with both church and commonwealth as they existed in 
New England. That his prelatical views, and his zeal in advocating 
them, made him obnoxious to the magistrates, to the ministers, and 
to the members of the Puritan church, is evident. The wonder 
is that he was tolerated at all. He was neither a freeman nor a 
church-member. He was not even a householder. In the eye of 
the law he was merely a " transient person," who could be warned 
out of the jurisdiction of the magistrates, if need be, without the assign 
ment of a reason. He questioned the validity of non-episcopal orders, 
and disapproved of the exercise by the " freemen," as they were con 
stituted in the Massachusetts Bay, of the right to elect their own rulers. 
These opinions he complacently communicated to Governor Winthrop, 
the deputy-governor Dudley, and the preachers, Mr. Cotton and Mr. 
Wilson ; and these views, with possibly some reserve in the expression 
of his " full mind in some things," he doubtless expressed to all who 
came in his way. At length the General Court was " pleased to say 
something to him, as for good counsel about some tenets and disputa 
tions which he had held, advising him to bear himself in silence and as 
became him." The records show that he confessed that " hee had over 
shot himselfe," and was " sorry for it," and on his promise "to attend 

1 Plain Dealing, p. 69. 



100 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



his calling, and not to meddle w th controversies," he was dismissed. 1 
The controversies in which he had " too far meddled " concerned 
" matters of church government and the like ; " " the foundation of the 
church and the ministry, and what rigid separations may tend unto." 
Shortly after these experiences he returned to England. It was sup 
posed that Prynne sent the money for his passage. He sailed from 
Boston on the 3d of August, 1641, touching at Newfoundland on his 
homeward route. On the Kith of November he was again an inmate 
of Clement s Inn, and had returned " humbly " " to the Church of 
England, for whose peace, purity, and prosperity" his daily prayers 
went up to heaven. His book was an attempt to prove that " all was 
out of joint, both in church and commonwealth," in Massachusetts. 
The book was not written in a wholly unfriendly spirit, and certainly 
does not deserve the sweeping criticism of Mr. Cotton, that it might 
be called " false and fraudulent." Dr. Hammond, his latest editor, 
pronounces him "conscientious, painstaking, tolerably exact, and 
almost always reliable." 

We know nothing of Lechford s career after his return save a 
single sentence in Mr. Cotton s " Way of Congregational Churches 
Cleared," which tells us that " when he came to England, the Bishops 
were falling, so that he lost his friends, and hopes, both in Old Eng 
land and New : yet put out his Book (such as it is) and soon after 
dyed." 2 The " Plain Dealing " is his sole legacy. It is certainly the 
work of an honest man, whose churchmanship was the result of con 
viction, and had the merit of 
being avowed at a time most 
inopportune for the convert s 
fortunes. 

But a little later than the 
settlement of the Ley den Puri 
tans at Plymouth, and under 
the authority of the Council of 
New England, a patent was 
granted to Captain Mason of all 
the territory from the river of 
Naumkeag, now called Salem, 
round Cape Ann, to the Mer- 
rimack, and extending up each 
of the rivers named to its 
source ; then crossing from the 
ne& d f one to the4iead of the 
other, and including all the 
islands lying within three miles 
of the coast comprised within 
these limits. This grant re 
ceived the name of Mariana, and was made in 1621. 3 The following 
year a grant was made to Gorges and Mason jointly of all the territory 
between the rivers Merrimack and Sagadahock, and extending back to 




1 Mass. Col. Records, i., p. 310. 
- Part I., p. 71 . 



3 Belknap s " New Hampshire," I , p. 4. 



PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW. ENGLAND. 101 

the great lakes and river of Canada. This domain received the name 
of Laconia. 1 

Under the authority of this grant Gorges and Mason, in connec 
tion with a number of merchants of London, and the leading eities in the 
west and south-west of England, organized the " Company of Laconia," 
and in 1623 attempted a colony and fishing-station at the mouth 
of the river Piscataqua. Two settlements were established, one on 
the southern shore of the river, near its mouth, called Little Harbor. 
Here a fort was erected, and a manor-house, called Mason Hall, was 
built on a commanding eminence protected by the fortification. A 
part of the original settlers, Ed ward and William Hilton, fish-mongers, 
of London, occupied a neck of land eight miles farther up the river, 
which they named Northam, and afterwards Dover. In 1629 the set 
tlers at the mouth of the Pascataqua combined for mutual protection, 
and set on foot a scheme of local government. Two years later up 
wards of fifty men were in the employ of Captain Mason, as stewards 
and servants. Some idea of the comparative importance of this church 
settlement, for such it was, can be drawn from the fact that, in the 
assessment of the settlers at various points, towards the charges of arrest 
ing Thomas Morton, in 1628, " Pascataquack " was rated the same as 
"Plimouth." Various efforts were made by Mason for the furtherance 
of the settlements made under his auspices, with but indifferent suc 
cess ; and in 1638 Winthrop, the Governor of the Colony of Massa 
chusetts Bay, records his death as that of "the chief mover in all 
the attempts against us ; " adding, " the Lord in mercy, taking him 
away." 2 The character of this sturdy old churchman, who was a rela 
tive of the Rev. Doctor Robert Mason, chancellor of the diocese of 
Winchester, to whom a reversionary interest was bequeathed in his 
will, may be better judged by his gift in trust of a thousand acres of 
land for the maintenance of " an honest, godly and religious preacher 
of God s Word," and a bequest of a similar nature and value for the 
support of a grammar school ; the first bequests in New England, on 
record, for religious or educational purposes. That there was a clergy 
man of the Church connected with these early settlements in New 
Hampshire does not admit of a doubt ; and the name of " John Mich- 
ell, a Minister," is found on the Privy Council Register, June 27, 1638, 
as having a claim on Sir Ferdinando Gorges for remuneration for advent 
ures in Laconia. 3 In 1640, May 25th, 4 a grant of fifty acres of land 
for a glebe was made by the governor, Francis Williams, and inhab 
itants of Strawberry Bank, since known as Portsmouth, to Thomas 
Walford, the "smith" of Charlestown, who had been banished from 
the spot where he had been the first occupant, by Winthrop and his 
associates, and Henry Sherburne, church-wardens of Portsmouth, 
and their successors forever as feoffees in trust, by virtue of which grant 
this land is still held. At this time there were a chapel and parsonage 
at Portsmouth. The church was furnished " with one great Bible, 
twelve Service Books, one pewter flagon, one communion cup and 
cover of silver, two fine table cloths and two napkins." 5 These had 

iBelknap s " New Hampshire," I., p. 4. 4 Belknap s " New Hampshire," i., p. 28. 

2 Savage s " Winthrop," I., p. 223. Batchelder s " Hist, of the Eastern Dio- 

8 Jenness s " Transcripts," etc.. p. 29. cesc," T., p. 134. 



102 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

been sent over by Mason, with that thoughtful care and reverent loy 
alty which marked a devout and earnest churchman. The erection of 
"the parsonage house, with a chapel thereto united," was the "free and 
voluntary " act of " divers and sundry of the inhabitants of the lower 
end of Pascataquack." 1 Twelve of the fifty acres granted to the 
church-wardens were adjoining the parsonage. The remainder was 
laid out at the head of " Strawberry-bank Creek." The right of pre 
sentation to the "living" was in the hands of the parishioners. The 
grant proceeds as follows : 

And for as much as the said parishioners have founded and built the said par 
sonage-house, chappell, with the appurtenances at their own proper cost and charges, 
and have made choyse of Mr. Richard Gibson to be the first parson of the said par 
sonage, soe likewise whensoever the said parsonage happen to be voyd by death of 
the incumbent, or his time agreed upon expired, that then the patronage presently 
and nomination of the parson to be vested and remain in the power and election of 
the said parishioners or the greater part of them forever. 8 

In the inventories of the property possessed by the settlers at 
" Ne witch wanicke " and "Pascattaquack," in July, 1633, we find in 
cidental evidence of the churchmanship of the colony. Record is 
made of " 1 Psalter" ; " 1 communion cup and cover of silver ; 1 small 
communion table cloth " 3 and " 2 service bookes. " In July, 1635, there 
were inventoried as belonging to the "Plantations at Piscataway and 
Newichewanock," " For Religious Use," " 1 great bible, 12 service 
books, 1 pewter fflaggon, 1 communion cup and cover of silver, 2 fine 
table cloths, 2 napkins." 4 

The independence, whether civil or ecclesiastical, of the church 
pioneers of New Hampshire was but short-lived. The settlements on 
the Piscataqua passed, in 1641, under the authority of Massachusetts. 
The power thus acquired was speedily and remorselessly exercised to 
crush out all tendencies towards " the hierarchy and descipline of the 
Church of England." 5 At the " General Court, " held in 1642, as Win- 
throp tells us, "appeared one Richard Gibson, a scholar, sent three or 
four years since to Richman s Island, to be a minister to a fishing 
plantation there, belonging to one Mr. Trelawney (Tretaway?) of 
Plimouth in England. He removed from there to Pascataquack, and 
this year was entertained by the fishermen, at the Isle of Shoals, to 
preach to them. He being wholly addicted to the hierarchy and dis 
cipline of England, did exercise a ministerial function in the same 
way, and did marry and baptize at the Isle of Shoals, which was now 
found to be within our jurisdiction. This man being incensed against 
Mr. Larkham, pastor of the church at Northam (late Dover), for 
some speeches he delivered in his sermon against such hirelings, etc., 
he sent an open letter to him, wherein he did scandalize our govern 
ment, oppose our title to those parts, and provoke the people, by way 
of arguments, to revolt from us (this letter being shown to many be 
fore it came to Mr. Larkham). Mr. Gibson being now showed this 

1 Batcbelder s " Hist, of the Eastern Dio- z Provincial Papers, I., pp. 78, 80. 

cese," I., p. 134. < Ibid., p. 116. 

Provincial Papers, New Hampshire, i., 5 Winthrop s "Hist. of N. E.," n.,p. 79. 
pp. 111-113. 






PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 103 

letter, and charged with his offence, he could not deny the thing, 
whereupon he was committed to the marshall. In a day or two after 
he preferred a petition which gave not satisfaction, but the next day he 
made a full acknowledgment of all he was charged with, and the evil 
thereof, submitting himself to the favor of the court. Whereupon, in 
regard he was a stranger, and was to depart the country within a 
few days, he was discharged without any fine or other punishment." l 
There is, as a late annotator 2 on the men and measures of this period 
of New England history aptly describes it, in his reference to a similar 
exercise of authority, " a grim solemnity " in the Puritan governor s 
record of the arrest and imprisonment of this " scholar," who was 
willing to lay aside his books to minister the word and sacraments .to 
the fishermen of the Isle of Shoals. Doubtless his sorrow for the 
offence of doubting the high-handed usurpation of the Massachusetts 
authorities over the churchmen of his cure, and scandalizing the 
government of Winthrop and his fellow-magistrates, was quickened 
by a realization of the despotic power at whose mercy he was placed. 
Even the "corporal punishment," thought unfit for Morton, "be 
ing old and crazy," as well as the winter imprisonment on scanty fare, 
and without either fire or bedding, added to* a heavy fine, which was 
ff awarded to a member of the legal profession, " whose offence, as stated 
by Winthrop, was that he had made a "complaint against us at the 
Council Board," might have been anticipated in the case of the "scholar" 
Gibson, but for his timely submission to the powers that were. To 
question the " right divine " of the Puritan theocracy ; to petition against 
gross abuses to the source whence whatever authority claimed or pos 
sessed under the Massachusetts charter was derived ; or to " provoke 
the people by way of arguments to revolt" against the unscrupulous 
usurpation, were no light offences. Well was it that the "scholar" 
was disposed to seek refuge in his home across the seas. Well might 
the non-conformist JBurdet, in his letter to the primate, speak of the 
Massachusetts government, at this very time, in language such as this : 
"She is not merely aiming at new discipline, but sovereignty ; for 
even her General Court account it perjury and treason to speak of 
appeals to the king." 3 

The time of Gibson s coming to New England is not known. 
Even his birthplace and college are not recorded. As we have seen, 
Winthrop asserts that he was sent over by Trelawney,or Tretaway, as 
another reading has it, to minister to the plantation on Richmond s 
Island, on the coast of Maine. Others say that he came at the in 
stance of Sir Alexander Rigby, "the patron of Episcopal ministers, 
and the friend of the enterprising, ignorant poor." 4 He was probably 
on the coast as early as 1636. It was at this time that Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges, under the authority of a royal grant, set on foot at Winter 
Harbor, on the Saco river, the first organized government within the 
limits of the present State of Maine. In common with the Provincial 
Charter, secured by Gorges in 1639, this grant provided for the estab- 

i Winthrop s " Hist, of N.E.," pp. 79, 80. Williamson s " Hist, of Maine," i., p. 270. 

* Charles Francis Adams, Jr., in his intro- Vide, also, Hutchinson s Mass., I., p. 85, and 

duction to " The New English Canaan," Prince Winthrop s, passim. 
Society s edition, p. 97. 4 Williamson, T., p. 209. 



104 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

lishment of the Church of England, and gave to the patentee the 
nomination of the ministers of all churches and chapels which might 
be built in the province. In the autumn of 1636 "a book of 
rates for the minister to be paid quarterly, the first payment to 
begin at Michaelmas next," was drawn up at Saco, and subscrip 
tions to the amount of 31 15s. were raised among the few 
settlers at this spot. The pioneer clergyman was accompanied by his 
wife, Mary Gibson, and the faithfulness of his ministrations, and his 
fidelity to his convictions, are both matters of record at the hand of 
the keen and observing historian of Puritan Massachusetts. The his 
torian of Maine, Williamson, although destitute of ecclesiastical affili 
ations with Gibson, speaks of him as " a good scholar, a popular 
speaker, and highly esteemed as a gospel minister." 1 

Gibson was succeeded, in part of his field, by the Rev. Robert 

Jordan. 8 The 

-y Jo- / f church interest in 

23 V >tv c /t^O^i^ fr*> *-**-*" New Hampshire 

V had faded out 

before the re 
pressive measures of the Massachusetts authorities. But at Scar- 
boro , Casco, now Portland, and at Saco, Jordan, who arrived about the 
year 1640, labored assiduously and with success. He was but twenty- 
eight years of age when he undertook the work from which Gibson had 
been practically banished. But the aggressions of the Puritan magis 
trates were not to cease with the obliteration of church ministrations in 
New Hampshire. The restless longing for further acquisitions of terri 
tory, und a wider range of power, could not be satisfied, while, as the 
author of "Ancient Pemaquid" asserts, "Maine was distinctively Episco 
palian, and was intended as a rival to her Puritan neighbors." 3 But the 
task of subjugation was not an easy one. Jordan bore no inconsiderable 
part in the opposition to the policy of Massachusetts and the Puritans ; 
and as by his marriage with Sarah, the only child of John Winter, 
the leading settler at Richmond s Island, he became one of the great 
landed proprietors and wealthy men of the colony, the faithful mission 
priest of the coast of Maine was in a position to wield a powerful influ 
ence in favor of the Church, as well as to contend against the intrigues 
of those who sought to overthrow the independence of Maine. 

At the time of Jordan s arrival on the coast Richmond s Island was 
an important commercial plantation. It is probable that a church was 
erected there. In an inventory of the property on the plantation at 
Richmond s Island and Spurwink, taken in October, 1648, mention is 
made of" The minister s bedding ; the communion vessels ; one cushion ; 
one table cloth ; \\ pint pot, 4." 4 In an account against " The plan 
tation," rendered by Jordan at this time, we find as follows : "Dr. for 
his charge, ^ a year, 20 ; for his ministry as by composition, ^a year, 

1 Williamson s " Hist, of Maine," II., p. 291. The signature of Jordan is copied from 

* Notices of the family of Jordan, contrib- an original deed executed by him in 1660, and 

uted by John Wingate Thornton, are to be preserved in the " Willis " collection of MSS., 

found in the first volume of the " Hist. Magazine " in the Public Library in Portland, 
for 18o7, p. 54. Vide, also, W. II. Whirmore s & Thornton s " Pemaquid," p. 175 

article, on the same subject, in the " N. E. Hist. 4 Maine Hist. Soc. Coll., i., p. 223. 

Geneal. Register," xiu., pp. 221. 222. 






PIONEERS OF THE CHUKCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 105 

10." Charge is also made for his tithe of "train or mackerel," and 
"share offish." l In 1648 Jordan removed from Richmond s Island to 
a place on the Spurwink river, adjoining the property of his late father- 
in-law. On the 18th of December, by virtue of a " Decree of the General 
Assembly of the Province of Lygonie, holden at Casco Bay," the pre 
ceding September, Mr. Jordan became possessed of "all the goods, lands, 
cattle, and chattels belonging to Rob . Trelawny, dec d," in payment of a 
debt of 609 Os. 10|^. The settlement of the estate which he inherited 
from his father-in-law involved Jordan in much litigation, but the respect 
shown to him by his fellow-settlers is attested by his frequent choice 
as assistant and justice. He lived in Falmouth thirty -one years, preach 
ing and administering the sacraments according to the usages of the 
Church of England, save when silenced by the Puritan authorities of 
Massachusetts. The baptismal basin brought from the old home, and 
used by this devoted churchman and colonist, is still preserved in the 
family of one of his descendants, and is an interesting memorial of the 
ministrations that proved so distasteful to the Puritan rulers. The " Rec 
ords of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England," under 
date of October 16, 1660, contain the following proof that the frontier 
priest was not forgotten in his exercise of his sacred calling : 

Whereas it appeares to this Court, by serueal testimoneys of good repute, 
that M r . Robert Jordan did, in July last, after excercise was ended vpon the Lord s 
day, in the house of M". Mackworth, in the toune of Falmouth, then & there bap 
tize three children of Nathanell Wales, of the same toune, to the offence of the 
gouernment of this Colnonwealth, the Court judgetb it necessaiy to beare wittnes 
ag e such irregular practises, doe therefore order that the secretary, by letter, in the 
name of this Court, require him to desist from any such practises for the future, and 
also that he appeare before the next Generall Court to ans what shall be layd ag 1 
him for what he hath donne for the tyme past. 8 

That the General Court did not confine itself to words may be in 
ferred from the testimony of Col. Cartwright, one of the Royal Com 
missioners in 1665, who, in his official report, preserved among the 
"Clarendon Papers ," 3 states that " They did imprison , and barbarously use 
M r . Jordan for baptizing children, as himselfe complayned in his petition 
to the Commissioners." A few years later, in 1671, a warrant was is 
sued against him, requiring his presence at the next court, "to render 
an account why he presumed to marry Richard Palmer and Grace Bush, 
contrary to the laws of this jurisdiction." 4 There is little doubt, from 
the documents of the period, that this intolerance and persecution pro 
duced its natural result. Exasperated at the treatment he had received, 
and impatient of the rule of the Puritans, whom he despised, bitter 
speeches of his against the ministers and magistrates of the Massachu 
setts Bay are on record, and charges of falsehood and profanity 5 were 
made against him by men who scrupled at nothing to silence, or even 
annoy, a man so influential and so difficult to control. It is but just 
to state that the witnesses to these charges were Falmouth men, who had 

1 Maine Hist. Soc. Coll., I., p. 230. 8 Published by the New York Historical 

*Shurtleff s "Records," Vol. rv., Pt. I., Society, " Collections," 1869, p. 84. 
p. 436. Ballard s " Church iu Maine," p. 16. 

8 Maine Hist. Soc. Coll., i., p. 108. 



106 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



little or no reputation, and their violence was discountenanced even by 
those whose interests they sought to serve. Complained of and silenced 
by the usurpers, he, in his turn, brought a complaint to the court against 
the Puritan minister at Scarborough, for " preaching unsound doctrine 




PETTTION OF ROBERT JORDAN TO THE COURT OF ASSISTANTS, 
AT BOSTON, SEPTEMBER 4, 1663. 

to the settlers." -But enough of these recriminations. It is pleasant to 
turn to other representations giving us a kindlier view of this stout 
hearted and fearless champion of the Church. When even the cele 
brated Lord Chief Baron, Sir Matthew Hale, and Sir Thomas Browne, 
the famous physician of his time, were not superior to the belief in witch 
craft, and favored the punishment of those supposed to have dealings 



PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 107 

with familiar spirits, the clear-headed and sensible minister of Spur- 
wink, when a " drunken preacher " sought to convict a witness of his 
unfaithfulness of this offence, " unriddled the knavery and delivered the 
innocent." 1 

In the Indian war, excited by the Chieftain Philip, Jordan s house 
was attacked by the savages. The aged clergyman, with his family, 
barely escaped the fury of the assailants. His house was destroyed, and 
he and his family were forced to take refuge on Great Island (now New 
castle), near Portsmouth, N.H. Invited, in 1677, by the Governor 
of New York, to settle at Pemaquid with his friend, Giles Elbridge, he 
preferred to remain in his quiet retreat. Old age had crippled his 
physical powers, and, after a residence of four years at Great Island, he 
died, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, in 1679. His will was made 
on the 28th of January, and proved on the 1st of July, 1679. Enfeebled 
and infirm, he had lost the use of his hands before his death, and was 
unable to sign the will that divided between his widow and his six sons 
a landed domain comprising several thousand acres. " Weak in body, 
but of sound and perfect memory, praysed be God," the old preacher 
professed himself to be at the time of making his last will and testament, 
and the document in which he bequeaths his " soule to God, hopeing by 
the merits of Christ " his " Saviour, to enjoy eternal life," recognized the 
fact that the temporalities he possessed were his "all by y e providence 
of Almighty God." He died as he had lived, the sole priest of thei 
Church on New England soil who was faithful to his ordination vows, ; 
and when his utterance of the words of Common Prayer was hushed in 
death, there was no voice to take up the familiar words, and the century 
drew near its close ere their sound was heard again. In April, 1688, 
a lay reader, John Gyles, reported that " ever since June last " he " had 
read prayers at the garrison, on Wednesdays and Fridays, and had not 
received anything for it." 8 No further reference to Church, to clergy 
men, or to the common prayer, appears in the history of the times. 
Thus ended for years the Church s possession of the coast of New 
Hampshire and Maine. 



CRITICAL NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 

MR. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, JR., who had already, in one or two ex 
ceedingly clever papers, ref erred to the points at issue between Morton and his 
assailants, has recently (1883) edited for the " Prince Society,"-of Boston, a reissue 
of "The New English Canaan." The volume is carefully prepared, and the 
annotations throw no little light on obscure allusions and metaphorical subtleties 
of this "most careless and slipshod of authors." But Mr. Adams, who, in his 

1 Vide "A Modest Inquiry into the Nature England Historical Genealogical Kefirister."xni. 

of Witchcraft By John Hale. p. 19. 

Quoted by W. H. Whitmore, in the " New * Ballard s " Church in Maine," p. 22. 



108 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

earlier notices of Morton, had shown some sympathy for his hard usage, in this 
later and more elaborate treatment of the subject essays the complete vindication 
of Morton s opponents, and has only unstinted blame for this ill-starred adventurer. 
So plainly does Mr. Adams recognize the fact that the Puritans themselves are on 
trial, even by their own showing, that he feels it requisite to reproduce the ungener 
ous surmises and slanders respecting Morton that have no foundation other than 
the testimony of the men who persecuted him to death. The charge that Morton 
had fled to New England "upon a foule suspition of murther," is dwelt upon at 
length and pronounced not "improbable," although Mr. Adams is forced to 
acknowledge that, " though he was subsequently arrested and in jail in England, 
the accusation never took any formal shape." Forced to disavow much of Bradford s 
abuse of Morton s views, as well as his mode of life, Mr. Adams is certainly in 
consistent in his charge that " he cared little for either law or morals," and then in 
confessing that he was " better versed in the law of England than those who ad 
monished him," and in one of the two points at issue with Bradford and his people 
was " clearly right." Nor is this all that Mr. Adams is forced to concede. In regai d 
to the second point in question, " that the King s proclamation died with him," he 
admits that " this distinction was, a century and a half later, stated by Hume to have 
existed in James s time." Confessedly wrong in their legal exceptions to Morton s 
practices in his trade with the Indians, the deience is urged that " the question with 
the settlers was one of self-preservation." It is difficult to see why the necessities 
of self-preservation did not apply as well to Morton s smaller colony, and, in fact, 
to all the scattered i-epresentatives of the Gorges interest, as to the compact and 
well-fortified settlement at Plymouth. Bradford admits that, so far as the Plymouth 
people were concerned, they "had least cause of fear or hurt." But for the 
"straggling plantations," as Bradfoixl says, of "no strength in any place," the 
Plymouth settlers were willing to interfere, carefully assessing the costs of their 
undertaking on those whom they proposed to aid. Even Blaxton, the church cler 
gyman who first settled upon the site of the present city of Boston, was assessed 
twelve shillings towards this martial exploit of which the doughty Captain Standish 
was the leader, and life as well. There is no proof, however, that Blaxton paid this 
arbitrary assessment, or had any share in the persecution of his fellow-churchman. 
There is not a little reason to infer that Morton s success in the peltry trade was a 
moving cause in this interference on the part of the Puritan settlers, quite as much 
as their dislike of the Maypole revelry. Sent to England with Oldham, whom, as 
Bradford intimates, he "foold," there is no question that Mr. Adams is correct in 
stating that "Bradford s letter and complaints were quietly ignored ; and his lord 
of misrule, and head of New England s first schoole of Atheisme, escaped 
without, so far as could be discovered, even a rebuke for his misdeeds." And yet 
this was net an age when offences were likely to be condoned or lightly punished. 
The inference is certainly strong that Bradford s charges were found to be too 
trivial or too much exaggerated to be made the foundation for legal process, and 
"that unworthy man and instrmnente of mischeefe, Morton," was almost imme 
diately found domiciled in Allerton s house in Plymouth, brought over, as Bradford 
admits, "as it were to nose them." From Plymouth Morton returned to Mount 
Wollaston, and was soon embroiled with Endicott in his controversy with the " old 
planters." Required, in common with the other " old planters," to subscribe the 
articles drawn up by Skelton, to the effect " that in all causes, ecclesiastical as well as 
political, the tenor of God s word should be followed," on pain and penalty of banish 
ment, he refused to set his hand to these papers without the proviso, " So that nothing 
be done contrary or repugnant to the laws of the kingdom of England." Thus were 
the very words of the royal charter made use of in thwarting the establishment of 
the Massachusetts Theocracy. Morton also refused compliance to the dictation of 
Endicott with reference to trading with the natives. For a time he was unmolested. 
But Endicott was not a man to forget one so open in his opposition to the Massa 
chusetts " Church and State." Apprehended by order of the court, " set into the 
bilboes," his house burned before his eyes, "that the habitation of the wicked 
should no more appear in Israel," sent to England in a ship, as Adams states it, 
" unseaworthy and insufficiently supplied," we can certainly agree with the editor 
of the "New English Canaan," though not in the meaning he intends, that this 
" second arrest of Morton was equally defensible with the first." Certainly, the 
statement that " he had systematically made himself a thorn in Endicott s side," or 
that he had refused to enter into any covenants, whether for trade or govern 
ments," or even the charge that " he had. openly derided the magistrate and eluded 



PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. 109 

his messengers," are not a sufficient warrant for the high-handed measures of 
Endicott and his followers. That even the forms of law were disregarded may be 
inferred from Mr. Adams s words, that " he was apparently cut short in his defence 
and protest by impatient exclamations and even bidden to hold his peace and hearken 
to his sentence." We may further quote Mr. Adams, whose sympathies are wholly 
with the Puritan authorities, and acquiesce in his judgment of the proceedings of 
the so-called "court": "Nothing was said in the sentence of any disregard of 
authority or disobedience to regulation. No reference was made to any illicit 
dealings with the Indians or to the trade in fire-amis. Offences of this kind would 
have justified the extreme severity of a sentence which went to the length of 
ignominious physical punishment, complete confiscation of property, and banish 
ment ; leaving only whipping, mutilation, or death, uninflicted. No such offences 
were alleged. Those which were alleged, on the contrary, were of the most 
trivial character. They were manifestly trumped up for the occasion. The accused 
had unjustly taken away a canoe from some Indians ; he had fired a charge of shot 
among a troop of them who would not ferry him across a river, wounding one and 
injuring the garments of another; he was a proud, insolent man, against whom a 
multitude of complaints were received for injuries done by him both to the English 
and the Indian. Those specified, it may be presumed, were examples of the rest. 
They amount to nothing at all, and were afterwards veiy fitly characterized by 
Maverick as mere pretences." It was " a serious blunder," Mr. Adams 
confesses, to send Morton to England; but "the Massachusetts magistrates had 
made up their minds before he stood at their bar." They " proposed to purge 
the country of him," and in doing it they regarded, as in other cases, neither 
law nor right. 

In England Morton naturally sought redress. His Puritan foes had underes 
timated his abilities, and they soon found reason to tremble for themselves. It was 
in evidence that " the ministers and people did continually rail against the state, 
church and bishops," and among the men of note arrayed against the Puritan theoc 
racy was the celebrated Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury. To Morton s testimony, 
and that of others who, like him, had felt the relentless persecutions of the Puritans, 
was added this significant fact, that Endicott had dared to cut the red cross from the 
standard of England. The apologists for the Puritan settlers were styled " impos- 
terous knaves." Winslow was imprisoned, and the charter, which had been sur 
reptitiously taken to Massachusetts, was declared void. Morton was in a fair way 
to be avenged. 

It was at this juncture that the "New English Canaan " appeared. Bradford, 
with characteristic strength of expression, is pleased to style it as " an infamouse 
and scurrillous booke against many godly and cheef e men or the cuntrie ; full of lyes 
and slanders, and f raight with profane callumnies against their names and persons, 
and the ways of God." Written before the close of 1635, the New English Canaan " 
was printed at Amsterdam, by Jacob Frederick Stam, in 1637. It was reprinted by 
Peter Force, in the second volume of his " Tracts on American History." Mr. Force, 
following the " Bibliothecas Arnericanae Primordia," of White Kennett, erroneously 
assigns the publication to the year 1632. This is disproved by internal evidence. It 
was not entered in the " Stationers Register," in London, until November 18, 1633, 
and was, doubtless, incomplete at that time. Copies appear to have been issued with 
the imprint "Printed for Charles Greene, and are sold in Paul s Churchyard." The 
work is of exceeding rarity. 

In the summer of 1G43 Morton again appears in New England, and at Plymouth. 
The civil war had begun. Gorges was a royalist, and it may have been in the interests 
of the king that this restless churchman and politician revisited the scenes of his 
earlier experiences and trials. Edward Winslow, whom eight years before he had 
" clapte up in the Fleete," on the llth of September, wrote to Winthrop as follows : 
" Concerning Morton, our governor gave way that he should winter here, but before 
as soon as winter breaks up. Captain Standish takes great offence thereat, espe 
cially that he is so near him at Duxbury, and goeth sometimes a fowling in his 
ground. He cannot procure the least respect amongst our people, liveth meanly at 
tour shillings per week, and content to drink water, so he may diet at that price. 
But admit he hath a protection, yet it were worth the while to deal with him till we 
see it." Winslow proceeds to style him one of "the arrantest known knaves that 
ever trod on New England shore," devoted "to the ruin of the country," "this 
serpent," and " the odium of our people." Winslow feared lest " God, who hath 
put him in our hands," might make them " suffer for it" if they fostered him. 



110 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

In June, 1644, Morton was in the vicinity of Casco Bay. In August he was 
in Rhode Island, advocating his royalist views, and indulging, as Coddington wrote 
to Winthrop, in " bitter complaints," that " he had wrong in the Bay [to the] value 
of two hundred pounds." He professed his willingness to " let it rest till the gov 
ernor came over to right him, and did intimate he knew whose roasts his spits and 
jacks turned." Five weeks later, on the 9th of September, he was in custody in 
Boston. We turn to Mr. Adams for his explanation or extenuation of this arrest. 
His account of the transaction is as follows : 

1 The prisoner now arraigned before the magistrates had, fourteen years before, 
been arrested and banished ; he had been set in the stocks, all his property had been 
confiscated, and his house had been burned down before his eyes. He had been sent 
back to England, under a warrant, to stand his trial for crimes it was alleged he 
had committed. In England he had been released from imprisonment in due course 
of law. Having now returned to Massachusetts, he was brought before the magis 
trates, that the country might be satisfied of the justice of our proceedings against 
him. As the result of this proceeding, which broke down for want of proof, the 
alleged offender is again imprisoned, neavily fined, and narrowly escapes a whip 
ping." 

There is a grim sarcasm in this resume of the case, of which Mr. Adams, in his 
anxiety to befriend the cause of the Massachusetts authorities, is evidently uncon 
scious. 

The sequel is soon told. Kept in prison about a year in expectation of further 




as he complains in his petition to his oppressors for release, the only mercy meted 
out to him by these vindictive men of Massachusetts, was to refrain from the inflic 
tion of " corporal punishment upon him," and to connive at his removal to Maine, 
where, " poor and despised," he shortly died. It will require a more trenchant pen 
than that of Mr. Adams to refute the charge that Morton s churchmanship did not 
enter into the account in the vindictive treatment he received from the Puritans, or 
to prove that he was not unfairly dealt with in life and most foully slandered when 
dead, by the men whb persecuted him to the bitter end. 

In connection with Winthrop s testimony to the devotion of Maverick to the 
Indians when sick and dying, it should be noted that in the manuscript there appears 
to have been an attempt at the erasure of the epithet " worthy of a perpetual re 
membrance." We append the words of Mr. Savage, Winthrop s editor, " that Mav 
erick was not in full communion with our churches, was not, we may hope, the 
cause of striking a pen through this honorable epithet. No man seems better enti 
tled by his deeds to the character of a Christian. The MS. appears to testify that the 
mutilation was not Winthrop s." Note to Savage s Ed. of Winthrop s History, I., 
p. 143. 

In the " Memorial History of Boston " (i., pp. 83-86), Mr. Charles Francis 
Adams, Jr., gives, in his chapter on " The Earliest Settlement of Boston Harbor," 
an interesting account of Blaxton, to which Mr. Justin Winsor contributes annota 
tions of great value. Dr. De Costa s monograph on "William Blackstone in his rela 
tion to Massachusetts and Rhode Island " (New York, 1880) is a reprint of articles 
originally published in "The Churchman" newspaper, and is interesting and accurate. 
A pamphlet published in Pawtucket, R.I., 1855, by S. C. Newman, bears the fol 
lowing title : "An address delivered at the formation of the Blackstone Monument 
Association, together with the preliminaries and proceedings at Study Hill, July 4, 
1855." This address eulogizes the first settler of Boston, and gives many inter 
esting details of his life and labors. No history of Boston can ignore the existence 
of this amiable recluse and simple-hearted churchman. His name must live forever 
with that of the city of which he was the earliest inhabitant. 

We cite from " The Memorial History of Boston" (i., p. 114) the following 
notice of the organization of " The First Church in Boston " : 

"Here, in Charlestown, on the 30th of July, six weeks after their landing at 
Salem, after appropriate religious exercises, Governor Winthrop, Deputy-Governor 
Dudley, Isaac Johnson, and John Wilson adopted and signed the following simple, 
but solemn church covenant : 

" In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in obedience to his holy will, and 
divine ordinances : We, whose names are here underwritten, being by his most 
wise and good providence brought together into this part of America, in the Bay 



PIONEERS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. Ill 

of Massachusetts, and desirous to unite into one congregation or church, under the 
Lord Jesus Christ, our head, in such sort as becometh all those whom he hath 
redeemed, and sanctified to himself, do hereby solemnly and religiously, as in his 
most holy presence, promise and bind ourselves to walk in all our ways according 
to the rule of the Gospel, and in all sincere conformity to his holy ordinances, and 
in mutual love and respect to each other, so near as God shall give us grace. 






AUTOGRAPHS OF THE SIGNERS. 

" The church thus formed is now known as the First Church of Boston. 
Winthrop, in his History (i., pp. 36-38), thus records the completion of the or T 
ganization the following month : 

" Friday, 27. We of the congregation, kept a fast, and chose Mr. Wilson our 
teacher, and Mr. Nowell an elder, and Mr. Gager and Mr. Aspinwall, deacons. 
We used imposition of hands, but with this protestation by all, that it was only as 
a sign of election and confirmation, not of any intent that Mr. Wilson should 
renounce his ministry he received in England. The Rev. John Wilson was a 
graduate at King s College, Cambridge. He was ordained again the following 
year (1632), as appears from Winthrop (i., pp. 114, 115), November 22. A fast 
was held by the congregation of Boston, and Mr. Wilson (formerly their teacher) 
was chosen pastor, and [Thomas] Oliver, a ruling elder, and both were ordained 
by imposition of hands, first by the teacher and the two deacons, (in the name of 
the congregation) upon the elder, and then by the elder and the deacons upon the 
pastor. " 

Dr. Henry Martyn Dexter, in his admirable volume, entitled " Congregation 
alism, as seen in its Literature," gives us further light upon what he styles "the 
curious change which the New England air wrought." Besides citing the words of 
John Higginson, as given by Cotton Mather in the " Magnalia," as follows : 

" We will not say as the Separatists were wont to say at their leaving of Eng 
land, Farewell Babylon ! Farewell Rome ! But we will say, Farewell dear Eng 
land ! Farewell the Church of God in England, and all the Christian friends f 
there ! We do not go to New England as Separatists from the Church of England ; \ 
j though we cannot but separate from the Corruptions in it ; but we go to practise j 
the positive Part of Church Reformation, and propagate the Gospel in America." J 
) Dr. Dexter calls attention to the fact that "the company which came ovei* to 
f\ Salem in 1629 was non-conformist, but not separatist, in its tastes and intentions. 
So rigid, in fact, on this point was the policy of the New England Company, that 
the Rev. Ralph Smith, who afterwards became the first pastor on this side of the 
sea of the church at Plymouth, having desired passage in the ships with the Salem 
people, and his request having been granted, and it afterwards com ing to the knowl 
edge of the Governor and Council of the Company that his views inclined towards 
separatism, or, as they phrased it, that he had a difference of juclgm in some 
things from o ministers, it was at first thought best to forbid his coming, but 
afterwards judged better to let him come, with the order that vnless hee wilbe con 
formable to o r governm , yo u suffer him not to remaine w^in the limitts of o 
graunt. " Quoting the strong expressions of the " Arbella" letter, Dr. Dexter pro 
ceeds to state that " the Rev. George Phillips was one of the signers of this Humble 
Request, and he acted as a chaplain, preaching twice on Sunday, and catechising on 
board of the " Arbella," during the voyage over; and yet, within sixteen days after 



112 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

his landing, we find him privately telling Deacon Doctor Fuller, who had been 
again summoned from Plymouth to attend the sick among these new-comers, that 
4 u they will have him stand minister, by that calling which he received from the 
prelates in England, he will leave them ; and Winthrop another signer hoping 
that the Plymouth church will not be wanting in helping them toward their 
necessary church organization ; and four weeks later we find Fuller, who had been 
at Mattapan, letting blood and talking polity till he was weary, writing from Salem 
to Bradford and Brewster, that after counselling with Winslow, Allerton, and himself, 
and with the Salem brethren, Winthrop s company had decided to form a church by 
covenant on the next Friday, and that the company do earnestly entreat that the 
church at Plymouth would set apart the same day for fraternal prayers that God 
would establish and direct them in his ways. " Congregationalism, etc., p. 417. 

The development from non-conformity to separatism, under the persuasive in 
fluences of the Plymouth settlers, proved easy and speedy. The Rev. John Cotton 
had advised the Massachusetts settlors "that they should take advice of them at 
Plymouth, and should do nothing to offend them ; " and, in accordance with the advice 
thus had, a separation from the Church was effected almost as soon as the New World 
was fairly reached. In what light this was regarded by the company at home Dr. 
Dexter informs us. In letters from the home authorities, of date some months later, 
we find alarm expressed at some innovations attempted by yo w , with the intimation 
that they vtterly disallowe any such passages, 1 and entreat them to look back upon 
their miscarriage w th repentance ; while they add that they take leav to think that 
it is possible some vndigested councells haue too sodainely bin put in execucion w" 
may haue ill construccion w th the state heere and make vs obnoxious to any adver 
sary. The plain English of all which was, that the patentees in England were surprised 
and offended that the colonists should so suddenly and so widely have departed 
from the Church as by law established ; and were apprehensive of the royal dis 
pleasure therefor, and of consequent harm to the secular interests they were seeking 
to promote." p. 419. In the words of Cotton, as addressed to Skelton, we have the 
whole story simply told: " You went hence of another judgment and I am afraid 
your change hath sprung from New Plymouth." 

In 1882 an interesting and most valuable contribution to our knowledge of 
the pioneer mission-priest of Maine appeared under the following title: The 
Jordan Memorial. Family Records of the Rev. Robert Jordan, and his Descendants 
in America. Compiled by Tristram Frost Jordan. (Boston, 1882.) From this 
painstaking and accurate work we cite the following introductory notice of its 
subject : 

" The Rev. Robert Jordan, a priest of the Church of England, came to Maine 
about the year 1640. In that year he became the successor of the Rev. Richard 
Gibson. It is evident that he found but little countenance as a representative of the 
Church of England. The exercise of his functions led to imprisonment, and he sought 
a maintenance by the employment of his talents in the way of business. Marrying 
Sarah, the daughter of John Winter, prominent in the settlement of the Spurwink 
river, and himself a large proprietor and merchant, he succeeded to a portion of 
Winter s estates, and developed great capacities as a manager and trader. For 
many years he held a prominent position in all the affairs of Richmond s Island 
and the adjacent region, and the early history of Maine shows him to have been a 
man able to conduct difficult enterprises, and to administer important trusts at a 
time when the unsettled condition of a new country, the imperfect execution of the 
laws, and the terrors of warfare with savage Indians, were combined and formidable 
obstacles to success. The nature and magnitude of the trusts committed to him, 
the journeys, law-suits, and contests to which he was subjected, and the fact that, 
at the conclusion of a long life, he left to numerous heirs a large and very valuable 
estate, sufficiently exhibit nim as a man of no ordinary powers." 

It is evident that the testimony of Edward Godfrey, who was long associated 
with Jordan as a magistrate, given in a letter to the authorities at home under date 
of March 14, 1660, that he was " equal with any in Boston," and that he was " an 
orthodox divine of the Church of England, and of great parts and estate," is fully 
borne out by the records of the time. As Godfrey proceeds, we may not doubt but 
that " he was conceded by all to be an active, enterprising man, placed by education 
above the mass of the people with whom he connected himself." 

From the Jordan Memorial we have, with the author s kind permission, taken 
the illustrations on p. 106. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE COLLEGE AT WILLIAMSBURG AND PRESIDENT BLAIR. 

TOO great praise can hardly be ascribed to the members of the Vir 
ginia Company of London, when we remember their unflagging 
zeal for the introduction of religion and culture into their trans 
atlantic domain. With them the propagation of the faith, and the 
support of that faith by the institutions of learning, and that, too, under 
the care and nurture of the Church of Christ, were objects for which 
they labored assiduously. In the many resolutions on their private 
records, providentially discovered after years of forgetfulness, to 
attest this faith and zeal ; in their instructions to the governors they 
sent out ; in the annual sermons they listened to in the Bow Church, and 
applauded to the echo, from the most famous preachers of the day, such 
as the noted Dean of St. Paul s, Dr. Donne, and others of like spirit and 
prominence ; in their personal gifts and wise administration of the charity 
of the nation and the Church, they deserved well of posterity. JVon 
sibi, sed aliis, was the motto of their lives and labors ; and the names of 
the Ferrars, of Sandys, of Thorpe, of Copeland, and the Earl of South 
ampton, Shakespeare s friend and patron, must ever be inseparably 
connected with the introduction of letters as well as religion upon our 
shores. Nor should it be forgotten, in connection with the mention of 
these honored names and all we owe their memory for their actual 
efforts and successes and their ever higher and holier intentions in be 
half of the Church and cause of Christ in America, that on the James 
river, where now a few mouldering ruins of church and fort recall the 
historic past, George Sandys, son of an Archbishop of York, and treas 
urer of the colony, completed in moments " snatcht from the howers of 
night and repose," his " Ovid s Metamorphosis Englished, Mythologiz d, 
and ^Represented in Figures," which, with the "First Book of Virgil s 
./Eneid," was the first poetical offering to the Old World from the New. 
In view of this service to letters and literature, well may old Anthony 
Wood hold that the author s " memorie " should 

a relique be 
To be ador d by all posteritie." 

It was a dark day both for Church and college, as well as for the 
commonwealth itself, when, shortly after the Indian massacre, the 
proprietary government was dissolved by the arbitrary exercise of 
the royal prerogative. Years passed, and in the midst of the trials 
preceding and attending the civil war in England, in which the colony 
bore its part, there was no further mention of a college in Virginia 




114 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

until the year 1660-61, when the "Grand Assembly," held at James 
City, on the 23d of March, amidst the rejoicings attending the restora 
tion of church and monarchy at home and in the colony, passed an act 
entitled "Provision for a Colledge," as follows : 

Whereas the want of able and faithful ministers in this country deprives us 
of those great blessings and mercies that alwais attend upon the service of God ; 
which Avant, by reason of our great distance from our native country, cannot in 
probability be alwais supplyed from thence ; Be it enacted, That for the advance of 
learning, education of youth, supply of the Ministry, and promotion of piety, thei e 
be land taken upon purchases for a colledge and free schools, and that there be, 
with as much speede as may be convenient, houseing erected thereon for entertain 
ment of students and schollers. 

At the same session of the Assembly a further act was adopted, 
quite in the spirit of the action of the House of Burgesses half a century 
before, entitled "A petition in behalf of the Church," in these words : 

Be it enacted. That there be a petition drawn up by this Grand Assembly to 

the King s Most Excellent Majes- 

o ^- tie, for his letters patients, to col 

lect and gather the charity of 
. . well disposed people in England, 
^/ for the ei ecting of colledges and 
schooles in this countiy, and also 
for his Majestie s letters to both 
Universities of Oxford and Cam 
bridge to furnish the Church here with ministers for the present, and this petition be 
recommended to the Right Honorable Governor, Sir William Berkeley. 

Further action in support of this plan for "the colledge" in Vir 
ginia is recorded under the same date, in the following preamble and 
resolution : 

Whereas, for the advancement of learning, promoting piety, and provision 
of an able and successive ministrie in this countrie, it hath been thought fit that a 
colledge of students of the liberal arts and sciences be erected and maintayned ; in 
pursuance whereof his Majestie s Governor, Council of State and Burgesses of the 
present Grand Assembly have severally subscribed several considerable sums of 
money and quantities of tobacco (out of their charity and devotion) to be paid to the 
Honorable Grand Assembly, or such treasurer or treasurers as they shall now, or 
their successors hereafter at any time appoint, upon demand, after a place is provided 
and built upon for that intent and purpose ; it is ordered, that the commissioners of 
the several! county courts do, at the next follovvinge courts in their severall countys, 
subscribe such sums of money and tobacco toward the furthering and promoting the 
said persons and necessary worke, to be paid by them or their heirs, as they shall 
think fitt, and that they also take the subscriptions of such other persons at their 
said courts who shall be willing to contribute toward the same. And that after such 
subscriptions taken, they send orders to the vestiys of the severall parishes in their 
severall countys for the subscriptions of such inhabitants and others who have not 
already subscribed, and that the same be returned to Francis Morrison, Esq. 

Thus do we find the Church and the college again, as from the first, 
in fact, in closest connection. The troubled days of the Puritan rule 
felt, indeed, but lightly in the " Old Dominion," where Church and State 
alike resisted the edicts of the English Commonwealth, when all other 
opposition had been crushed out, but yet felt had passed, and in the 



THE COLLEGE AT WILLIAMSBURG AND PRESIDENT BLAIR. 115 

reestablishment of the authority of the Crown and the Common Prayer, 
there were these initial measures thought of for the establishment of 
"a colledge of the liberal arts." 

The following year the act of the preceding session was reenacted, 
and, although in consequence of fresh troubles, in the colony, and the 
"rebellion" of Bacon, which for a time engrossed all thought, these 
endowments and subscriptions, coupled with the legislative approval, 
were not followed by immediate and noticeable results, still we find 
from the preamble to the royal charter, granted, in 1693, to William 
and Mary College, that a site was actually selected, which was afterward 
changed, doubtless after some trial as to its fitness for collegiate use, 
to that of Williamsburg. 

Thus "the Colledge " was created by legislative act, and endowed by 
individual and public charity, as early as 166061. Possibly there may 
have been at "Townsend s Land, "the site already referred to as origi 
nally named in the charter of 1693, and doubtless purchased with the 
original subscriptions authorized in 1660-61, some earnest of the future 
College of William and Mary. Be this as it may, the action of the 
Assembly, and the favorable reception accorded to the plan throughout 
the colony, are gratifying proofs of a wide-spread interest in church 
education at this early date. 

In the year 1685 the Rev. James Blair, a graduate of one of the 
Scottish Universities, and a priest of the (Episcopal) Church in Scot 
land, came over to Virginia at the 
suggestion of Dr. Compton, the 
Bishop of London, and became the 
rector of Henrico. Here he con- 
tinued in the exercise of his ministry 
for nine years, removing thence to 
Jamestown, and finally to Bruton parish, that he might be near and 
useful to the college which owed its very corporate existence to his zeal 
and patient toil. Traditions of the earlier promise of Henrico, the 
scene of his first ministerial labors in Virginia, may have inspired the 
restless brain of this indefatigable clergyman to plan the realization of 
these hopes of the past. In any event, in 1688-89 the further sum of 
twenty-five hundred pounds sterling was subscribed towards the estab 
lishment of " The Colledge " by a few wealthy Virginians, aided by the 
benevolence of some English merchants. The Colonial Assembly, in 
1691, approved the scheme, and sent the Rev. Mr. Blair to England to 
solicit a charter from the crown. In these efforts, both in Virginia and 
in England, the assistance of the lieutenant-governor, Francis Nich 
olson, was freely given, and no little encour 
agement was found in the will of the Hon. 
Robert Boyle, Esq., dated July 18, -1691, 
which directed his executors, "after debts 
and legacies paid," to dispose of the residue 

of his personal estate "for such charitable and pious uses as they 
in their discretion should think fit." These executors agreed to 
lay out five thousand four hundred pounds sterling in land, and to apply 
the yearly rent thereof " toward propagating the Christian religion 





116 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

amongst Infidels," and after some delays, assigned the annual rents of 
their purchase, subject to a charge in perpetuity of ninety pounds per 
annum to be paid to the company for Propagating the Gospel in New 
England, to the president and professors of the College of William and 
Mary, in Virginia, for the maintenance and education of Indian pupils. 
The agency of the Kev. Mr. Blair in securing both the charter and this 
appropriation may be inferred from the interesting letters we print from 
the original MSS. in the Library of the Bishop of London at Fulham. 
They were addressed to the governor of the colony, whose unfriendly 
offices, at a later date, were made the subject of more than one "me 
morial" for his removal, addressed to the home authorities by the 
zealous commissary : 

LONDON, Deer. 3d, 1691. 

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOR : In my last from Bristol I gave your Honour an 
account of our passage, our landing in Ireland, my passage from thence to Bristol, 
with all the news I had then heard. This letter I left with M r Henry Daniel, who 
promised to take care of it & to send it by a ship that he said was there, almost ready 
to sail from Bristol to Virginia. M r . Randolph, of New England, & M r . Sherwood, 
who are now both bound for Virginia, will save me the trouble of writing news, so that 
I shall need only to give your Honour an account of my proceedings in the affair of 
the College. When I came first to London, which was the first day of September, 
there were many things concurred to hinder my sudden presenting of the address about 
the College, for M r . Jeoffreys was in Wales & did not come to Town to present the 
address upon their majesties accession to the crown ; the Bishop of London thought 
it not so proper to present an address about business ; then the King was in Flan 
ders; my friend, the Bishop of Salisbury, was at Salisbury; the Bishop of St. Asaph 
at his diocese in Wales, and before M r . Jeoffreys came to Town the Bishop of Lon 
don was taken very sick, so that for a month s time he was not able to stir abroad ; 
upon all which accounts I found it necessary to delay in the beginning, for which I 
had one reason, which was enough of itself if there had been no more, and that was 
that I found the court so much altered, especially among the Bishops (who were the 
most proper persons for me to apply myself to) , that really I found myself obliged 
to take new measures from what 1 had proposed to myself. The Bishop of London 
was at this time under a great cloud, and mighty unwilling to meddle in any court 
business, for notwithstanding his great merit from the present government, he had 
been passed by in all the late promotions, & the two archbishopricks had been 
bestowed upon two of his own clergy, viz., D r . Tillottson & D r . Sharp, so y not 
withstanding the Bishop of London s great kindness to Virginia, yet I found he was 
not at this time in so fit circumstances to manage a business at court as we expected. 
1 found that the Archbishop of Canterbury was the man who was wholly entrusted 
by the King and Court for all Ecclesiastical affairs, & I was told by everybody who 
had skill in Business that it was absolutely necessary to get him to be our friend. 
Thus the time past on, & I did nothing but make friends in private against the 
King s coming over, which was expected about the beginning of October, but hap 
pened not till the 19th of that month. 

All this while I waited duely on the Bishop of London, as knowing well that 
whenever this business came to be done he must appear cordially in it, or else no 
interest that I could make could prevail to get it done without him, it belonging so 
entirely to his province. I both discoursed him at large, and plyed him with me 
morials till I got him to be very perfect in the business of the College, but at the 
same time I disliked the method in which he was g^oing to put it, which was this. 
He advised me to put in the address by way of petition to the King in Council, & 
the council he said would defer it to the committee for plantations where he did not 
doubt but that it would pass. I told his Lordship that I never doubted the obtaining 
of the charter, but the great difficulty would be in obtaining a gift of such things 
from his Majesty as we had a mind to ask for the College, and that in order to this, 
the best way seemed to me to be to engage the Bishops about Court zealously in 
the thing & to get the King so prepared that when the address was presented to him 
he should consult the Bishops in it, it being an Ecclesiastical affair, & that bj 



THE COLLEGE AT WILLIAMSBURG AND PRESIDENT BLAIR. 117 

their advice the whole business should be approved by his Majesty & all promises 
for the encouragement of it that we had a mind to ask, & then at last, if it was 
necessary, that it might be brought before the Committee of Plantations to see what 
they had to say against it, but for the council and the Committee of Plantations to be 
the first meddlers & contrivers of the business I did not like it, because as his Lord 
ship told me himself the church of England party was the weakest in the council, 
& if there is any of the revenue to be spared the courtiers are more apt to beg it 
for themselves than to advise the bestowing of it upon any publick use. But all 
that I could say could not prevail with the Bishop of London to have the business 
managed in this manner with the King himself. This was the first week in October 
when the King was daily expected, & I was really in a great deal of trouble & 
knew not how to help myself, when by God s good providence, by means of a min 
ister of my acquaintance, I was introduced to Dr. Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, 
one thought to be as much in favour with the Queen as any Bishop in England. I 
found the Bishop of Worcester exceeding well prepared to receive me kindly. 
The very first word he said to me was that he was very glad of this opportunity of 
beinf acquainted with me, that he had heard a great deal of me from the Bishop of 
London, of good things I had done and still designed to do for the Church in America, 
& he freely proffered to do me all the service that lay in his power. 

After some discourse with him I found that we had already run into one 
error, & seemed like to run into another. The first was, that all this time we had 
neglected the Queen, who he assured me would be the best friend that I could find 
in a business of this nature, as being a person that is a very great encourager of all 
works of charity. The other was that, as I told him, we intended to bring it before 
the council & committee of Plantations, which he assured me, was the ready way 
to spoil all. For the first I had this to say, that by my instructions I was to depend 
upon the Bishop of London, who presently after my coming to London was taken 
sick and was but just now beginning to stir abroad again. I desired him to be so 
kind as to acquaint her majesty with it, & withal to ask whether her majesty would 
have the address presented to her, or whether we must wait for his majesty s com 
ing, who was now expected every minute. He promised me that he would do it, 
& for the other wrong step we were like to make I was as much convinced of it as 
he could be, but I showed him the difficulty and begged that he would make use of 
. his interest with the Bishop of London to persuade him to take another course. 
About the same time I received a letter from the Bishop of Salisbury (whose as 
sistance I had desired) with one enclosed for the Archbishop of Canterbury-, wherein 
he recommended me & the business of our college to his Grace. And upon my 
address to him I was received very kindly ; he told me that he remembered me 
since I was with the master of the rolles. He heard me very patiently discourse 
the business of our college, and enquired concerning the state of our clergy in 
Virginia ; he assured me that he would do me all the kindness that he could in my 
afi aTr, & desired me to draw him up a couple of memorials, one about the college, 
and another about the clergy, and withal told me that if I would follow his advice 
he did not question but the business would do very well. He told me I must 
have patience for the King at his first coming would be full of his Parliament busi 
ness, but if I would leave it to him he would tell me when was the proper time to 
deliver the address, & would before hand prepare his majesty. He was utterly 
ao-ainst the making of it a council business, and promised me to talk with the 
Bishop of London in it, and to shew him the necessity of manageing it first 
with the King himself. Both these Bishops were as gooa as their words, for the 
Bishop of Worcester opened the business of the college to the Queen who seemed 
to like it extraordinarily, promised to assist in recommending it to the King, but 
ordered that the address should not be presented till the King came himself. And 
the Archbishop took an occasion to speak to the Bishop of London about it in the 
presence of the Bishop of Worcester. They all commended the tiling & for the 
right managing of it, the Archbishop proposed that the King should be prepared 
and then the address delivered to him, & if he thought fit to make a council business 
of it he might. The Archbishop desired leave of the Bishop of London to manage 
it with the King, to which the B p of London willingly assented to & so the thing 
was put again into a right method. The Archb p told me afterwards that he never 
saw the King take anything better than he did the very first proposal of our college, 
& that he promised frankly if I could find any thing in that country which was fit 
for him to give towards it lie would give it. After which I made it my whole busi 
ness to wait upon those Bishops & to give them memorials of my affair. I have 



118 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

already writ out three quires of paper in this sort of work, and all things seem to 
be in a right disposition towards it. 

After the heat of the parliament business was a little over, the Archbishop 
got the King himself to name a day for presenting the address. It was Nov r . 12 th , 
in the Council chamber, before the council sat. I was introduced by the Archbishop 
of Canterbury & my Lord Effingham (the Bishop of London should have been there, 
but was that day taken again with a fit of the stone) . I kneeled down & said these 
words, "Please your majesty, here is an humble supplication from the Government 
of Virginia for your majesty s charter to erect a free school & college for the educa 
tion of their youth," & so I delivered it into their hand. He answered, " Sir, I am 
glad that that colony is upon so good a design, & I will promote it to the best of my 
power." The King gave it to the principal Secretary, my Lord Nottingham, at whose 
office, within two days, I had it again, with this account from M r . Warre, my Lord s 
Secretary, that the King had ordered me to give in to the Bishop of London, both a 
scheme of the college, and an account what was expected of him toward the en 
couragement of it ; & if I could conceit the matter with the Archbishop and the 
Bishop of London, then it should be brought before the committee for plantations, 
& pass, if they had nothing to object against it. The parliament sits so close that it 
is an hard matter to find anybody at leasure, yet I persuaded the Bishop of London, 
on Wednesday last to come for half an hour to his chamber at Whitehall, where I 
presented & read to him a memorial I had prepared for his majesty s use, & the 
Archbishop & he were to wait an opportunity to speak to the King about it. Every 
one thinks it is in so good a way that it cannot well miscarry. I make it my whole 
business to wait upon it, & if I hear further before the ships go, your honour may 
expect another line about it. I find there will be a great deal of difficulty in 
finding of able masters, & yet I am sensible the life of the business lies in this. In 
England their masters of their colleges have a much easier life than is designed for 
the masters and professors of our college in Virginia. I can have several young 
men that are fit enough to be ushers, but cannot perswade any of the Eminent, ex 
perienced masters to go over. I have two in my eye that are very fit for it, if I can 
prevail with them to undertake it. 

There was one thing which was forgot in my instructions (and it was my fault, 
for I was not sensible of the necessity of it at this time), that is that I should have 
been ordered to provide a president of the college at the same time with the school 
master & usher. I thought y* at first a Grammar school, being the only thing we 
could go upon, a good Schoolmaster & Usher were enough to manage that. But 
the Bishop of London and some other Bishops and a great many other skillfull men 
whom I have consulted, have undeceived me, & persuaded me that the president 
of the college ought to be the first man of all the masters we provided for it. 
Their reasons are these : First, that the good success of the whole business depends 
upon the setting up & executing of a good discipline at first both among masters 
& Scholars, which, if it be left wholly to the Schoolmaster, he will be sure to make 
it easy enough for himself, & will contrive to lead the scholars in such a method as 
will keep them a great deal longer at school than they needed to be kept, only for 
his own advantage. Most of the masters here in England keep their scholars seven 
years at the Latin, which might be as well taught in four if they pleased. 2"*, It 
may so happen y* the school master & usher may want as much to be instructed them 
selves as any of the scholars. . . . 

LONDON, Feb*. 27, 1C91-2. 

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOUR : By the Virginia fleet which put to sea 
about six weeks ago, I sent you a whole packet of letters, which if they are come 
to hand will give you a very particular account of what I am doing here. Since 
that time my patience has been sufficiently exercised, for our college business (as 
indeed all business whatsoever), has been at a stand, the King being so wholly 
taken up with the thoughts of the war & the transportation of the household & the 
army, that for a long time he allowed not the Lords of the Treasuiy to lay any 
other business before him till all affairs of that kind were dispatched. There was 
another reason too why my business was delayed, &y l wasthatmy Lord Archbishop 
of Canterbury, who is the person I depend upon for managing of it with the King & 
Queen, was for five weeks frozen up at Lambeth so that he could neither get to 
Court nor Parliament but by coming round by the bridge, which he found to be so 
long and so bad a way that he choose for the most part to stay at home. But to 



THE COLLEGE AT WILLIAMSBURQ AND PEESIDENT BLAIR. L19 

make up this loss of time there happened two accidents in it, by which I believe I 
shall get 500 to our college, of which I should not have had one farthing if I had 
been out of the way. M r - Boyle died about the beginning of the last month, & left 
a considerable Legacy for pious uses, which, when I understood, I made my inter 
est with his executors by means of the Bishop of Salisbury, and I am promised 200 
of it for our college. Tne other is y* Davis & his partners having been long kept in 
suspense about that money which Captain Roe seized in Virginia, & their friends 
being quite tired interceding for them, & no money was like to come at last, I 
undertook to get them their money provided they would give a considerable share 
of it to our Virginia College. They engaged to give 300 pound, & I presently em 
ployed the Archbishop of Canterbury & Bishop of London who have so managed it 
with the council that the council is very glad of the expedient & I am assured it will 
take effect. This day their petition was read before a committee for plantations & 
I subscribed it signifying that the petitioners had devoted 300 of the money towards 
the carrying on the design of a college in Virginia if they might have an order for 
the rest, and the thing would have past but y the Lords thought they offered too 
little money ; so I am desired to try if I can bring them up to 500. So y* tho my 
main business is not yet finished, yet I make use of my time for some thing else 
than mere waiting. But I confess the trouble of managing the affair is so vastly 
great beyond expectation, that I doubt, could I have foreseen it, I should never 
have had the courage to have undertaken it. 

The chief news here since the Virginia fleet sailed is the disgrace of my Lord 
Marleborough. The reasons of it are not divulged, but it is said he is suspected by 
the King to nave made his peace with France. His place of Lieutenant-General of 
the English & Scotch forces is bestowed upon Coll. Talmagh, his troop of Guards 
upon my Lord Colchester, his regiment of fusil eers upon L d George Hamiltoune, 
one of Duke Hamiltoun s Sons, & his place of the bed chamber, for aught I know, 
is still void. My Lady Marleborough was likewise forbid the court, & the Princess 
Anne was desired by the Queen to dismiss her from her services, which the Prin 
cess took so ill that she has left the cockpit upon it & gone out to live at Sion house. 
But the news which concerns your Honour most nearly to be informed in is y my 
Lord Effingham has suddenly laid down the Government of Virginia which was im 
mediately conferred upon Sir Edmund Andros who is to sail from hence with all 
expedition along with Coll. Fletcher, Gov r of New York. M r Blathwayt is agoing 
for Flanders with the King s Secretary of War. On Wednesdav last the Parliament 
was adjourned till the 12 th of April, & it is expected that it will be adjourned from 
time to time till the King s return. I received yours of Nov r 19, shall be carefull 
of the contents. My Lord Bishop of S . Asaph has not yet been in Town, but is 
now shortly expected being to preach at the chapel on Easter day. I give my ser 
vice to all my masters of the council & house of Burgesses, & hope to give you 
shortly a good account of my proceedings in the affair wherewith I am entrusted. 
This with my prayers for your honour s health & prosperity being all at present, 
from 

Yours, Sir, &c., &c., 

JAMES BLAIR. 

Vivid, and amusing even, as are these notices of court intrigues 
and the intricacies of the paths leading to political preferment and suc 
cess, it is evident from their perusal that the interests of the College of 
William and Mary were in safe hands. Dr. Blair, from the time of his 
coming to Virginia, had been prominent both as a priest and preacher 
and as a politician as well. His ministry of upwards of half a century 
was so intimately connected with the history, not only of the city, the 
college, and the Church, of which he was the commissary and leading 
divine, that we cannot separate his public and official career from that 
of a devoted and faithful service of souls. As a preacher he won no 
little reputation. His four printed volumes of discourses upon our 
Saviour s " Sermon on the Mount," containing upwards of one hun 
dred sermons, went through two editions in England. The celebrated 
Waterland published a preface to the second edition, and Doddridge 



120 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

refers to them with high praise. As specimens of practical divinity, 
couched in scholarly language, and enforced with earnestness and 
power, they are worthy of commendation ; and in their original deliv 
ery before the colonial authorities, and the leaders of the political and 
fashionable world of Virginia, or as read in the homes and by the 
hearth-stones of the godly, both in the colony and in the mother-land, they 
must have had no little influence for good, in advancing the cause of 
practical and personal holiness they were intended to serve. Few men 
and few ministers had more difficulties to contend with than the rector 
of Bruton Parish ; but an indomitable will, a tireless persistence, a 
patience and perseverance almost unexampled, enabled him to sur 
mount all opposition, and to secure for himself and the Church of which 
he was the representative the respect and sympathy of those with whom 
he was brought in contact. Brought constantly into conflict with cor 
rupt and tyrannical men, the arbitrary, and often vindictive, officials 
sent from England to rule the colonists ; fighting manfully the battles 
of the Church and the college against indifference or obstructiveness 
in high places ; made by his position and prominence the object of 
envy and malevolent criticism, we have, both in the annals of the 
time and in the documents on either side of the controversies in which 
he was again and again engaged, abundant proofs of his sincerity of 
purpose, his devotion to his work, and his blamelessness of life. As 
commissary and representing the vaguely defined Episcopal authority 
of the Bishop of London, he was constantly hampered by the inter 
ference of the governor in his efforts for the maintenance of godly dis 
cipline among the clergy of his charge. As President of the "Royal 
College of William and Mary," as well as its founder, he found him 
self again and again forced into an attitude of determined opposition 
to the measures of the representative of the crown, which threatened 
the loss of chartered rights, or the subordination of the college to the 
vice-regal will. As a member of the council, brought into intimate 
and personal relations with the leading men of the province, and repre 
senting there the church s interest in debates and in decisions affecting 
the interests, civil and religious, of the commonwealth, he proved himself 
to be conscientious and incapable of corruption. One thus pure-minded 
and devoted to the cause of the Church and crown could not fail of 
being misrepresented and misunderstood, and of becoming person 
ally obnoxious to a venal or a time-serving administration. That one 
of his marked ability, his personal influence, and his official position, 
should, for more than half a century, be so intimately connected with 
the affairs of Church and State without frequent collisions with those 
in power, whose schemes he thwarted, and whose malfeasance in office 
he unsparingly proclaimed, was not to be supposed. The folios of 
manuscript telling the story of his trials, his labors, his dffiiculties, 
and disputes, still on file among the records in England, or repro 
duced in print in late contributions to our American ecclesiastical 
annals, arc to be numbered by scores and hundreds. That throughout 
his career he retained the respect and confidence of successive primates 
and bishops of London, with whom he was in constant and most un 
reserved communication, attests his character and worth. Accused 



THE COLLEGE AT WILLIAMSBUEG AND PRESIDENT BLAIR. 121 

again and again by indignant and disappointed officials, or by envious 
and iniquitous clergymen, he never failed to justify his conduct, and 
to turn the tables upon his assailants. At the outset of his labors 
in behalf of the college he was brought in conflict with Andros, who 
had come from the North, where he had been driven ignominiously 
from his government, to try his hand in ruling the Virginians. By virtue 
of his instructions the royal governor was not only the representative 
of the crown, and consequently the civil head of the province, but he 
was also the " ordinary," the representative of the crown and Church 
as well in spiritual things, the commissary being subordinated to 
him. Against Andros, the fearless commissary, while in England, 
brought charges in detail, and amply supported his accusations by tes 
timony, representing the governor as an enemy to religion, to the 
clergy, the Church, and the college. The record of the examination 
of the commissary before the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 
Bishop of London, with reference to these charges, in which the gov 
ernor was represented and defended by colonial officials and gentle 
men of distinction, is still extant. Two days were spent at Lambeth 
Palace in this searching investigation, in which the astuteness and 
ability of Blair appear as more than a match for the four able men 
arrayed against him. Never was vindication more complete than that 
of the commissary ; never was an indictment more fully sustained than 
that in which in full detail and with logical precision he assailed the 
character and conduct of the royal governor. The result was, as might 
have been anticipated, the commissary was sustained, and Andros was 
recalled in disgrace. The successor of Andros was Sir Francis Nichol 
son, elsewhere a friend and patron of the Church, and still remembered 
for his munificent benefactions towards the erection and support of 
churches all along the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Virginia. 
Vain, conceited, passionate, and changeable, an affair of the heart, 
which resulted in an unlooked-for disappointment, made of the govern 
or a madman, of whose conduct both the council, the commissary, 
and a portion of the clergy complained. Nicholson had been in con 
flict with Dr. Bray, while Governor of Maryland, and complained 
of his usage " by a parcel of Black Coats." In his defence he re 
ferred with no little bitterness to the Bishop of London s commissaries, 
whose names are "monosyllables and begin with B." 1 ; but neither 
his conduct nor his explanations found favor at home. Again 
was the commissary successful, and the irascible and lovesick 
governor was recalled. His successor, Gov. Nott, an amiable and ex 
cellent man, died shortly after entering upon his duty, and was fol 
lowed in 1710 by Col. Spots wood, a man of resolute character and 
noble bearing, who for some years seconded all the efforts of the com 
missary on behalf of the Church and the college, and received in turn 
the commissary s support and sympathy- It was not till nearly ten 
years had passed that any disagreement arose, and then, as had been 
always the case, the commissary again triumphed, and the governor 
was recalled from his post. 

J Hist. Coll. Am. Col. Ch., i., p. 182. 



122 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Meanwhile the college, established with this comprehensive object 
in view, as expressed in its charter, " to the end that the Church in 
Virginia may be furnished with a seminary of ministers of the Gospel, 
and that the youth may be piously educated in good letters and 
manners, and that the Christian faith may be propagated amongst 
the Western Indians, to the glory of Almighty God," was formally 
opened, and began its beneficent career. Its charter named the com 
missary as its first president, and appointed the Lord Bishop of Lon 
don, Dr. Henry Compton, as its first chancellor. Towards the endow 
ment her Majesty contributed out of the quit-rents of the colony, 
1,985 14s. lOd. ; a penny per pound on all tobacco exported from 
Virginia and Maryland ; the office of surveyor-general, with all " its 
issues, fees, profits, advantages, conveniences, liberties, places, privi 
leges, and preeminences whatsoever ;" ten thousand acres of land lying 
on the south side of Blackwater swamp, and ten thousand acres on 
Pamunkey Neck, between the forks of York river. The right of repre 
sentation in the House of Burgesses was also granted to the faculty, 
who could elect one of their own number, or " one of the better part 
of the inhabitants of the colony." The college building was planned 
by Sir Christopher Wren, and was designed "to be an entire square 
when completed." Professorships of the ancient languages, mathe 
matics, moral philosophy, and divinity were provided for in the charter ; 
and another endowment, called the "Brafferton," the gift of the cele 
brated Robert Boyle, had for its object the instruction and conversion 
of the Indians. 

In 1700 the first commencement was held at the College of Will 
iam and Mary, 1 attracting a great concourse of people. The neigh 
boring planters came in coaches to witness this unwonted spectacle, and 
other visitors, from the provinces of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and even 
from distant New York, arrived in sloops, or by other means of convey 
ance, it being, as the chronicler tells us, "a new thing in that part of 
America to hear graduates perform their Exercises." Even some of the 
Indians, to whom commissioners had been sent to secure the attendance 
of a number of their children at the new college, upon the foundation 
established by Boyle, had the curiosity to join the crowd at Williams- 
burg upon this interesting occasion, and " the whole country rejoiced, as 
if they had some relish of learning." Two years later the death of King 
William was made the occasion of a suitable observance in the college 
hall, in the presence of the Governor, the Council, the House of Bur 
gesses, and others. A " Pastoral Colloquy in English Verse " was spoken 
by some of the younger scholars. Other scholars spoke a "pastoral" 
upon the " succession of her Sacred Majesty Queen Ann," while the 
commissary delivered a " funeral oration," which excited the governor s 
ire, in consequence, as Dr. Blair asserts, of his "making use of that op 
portunity to commend the mildness and gentleness of the King s reign, 
which our great man took to be a tacit reflection on himself for his furi 
ous and mad way of government." 2 

The General Assembly of Virginia was held at " his Majesty s 

Campbell s Va., pp. 361, 362. " Hist. Coll. Am. Col. Ch., i., p. 126. 



THE COLLEGE AT WILLIAMSBURG AND PRESIDENT BLAIR. 123 

Royal College of William and Mary," from 1700 until 1705, when, to 
gether with the library and philosophical apparatus, the college build 
ing was destroyed by fire. This occurred during the first year of 
Gov. Nott s administration. " The fire broke out about ten o clock at 
night, in a public time. The Governor, and all the gentlemen that 
were in town, came up to the lamentable spectacle, many getting out 
of their beds. But the fire had got such power before it was dis 
covered, and was so fierce, that there was no hope of putting a stop to 
it, and therefore no attempts were made to that end." The college 
was not rebuilt until Gov. Spotswood s time. To accomplish this 
end it was found necessary to hoard the revenues, which else would 
have gone for salaries, while the president " freely parted " 1 with his 




THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY AS IT APPEARED A CENTURY 
AND A HALF AGO. 

salary for this purpose. But during this period of depression the 
care of the Indians was not forgotten. An expedition against the 
aborigines, under the command of the gallant Spots wood, re 
sulted, as the governor reported to the General Assembly, in 
November, 1711, in compelling the Indians "to give pledges of a 
faithful peace by yielding up several of their chief ruler s children 
to be educated at our college." 2 " This fair step towards their conver 
sion," as the governor styled it, which was " the more valuable by how 
much all attempts of this kind have hitherto proved ineffectual," was 
undertaken with the conviction, we are assured, that " whilst by kind 
and gentle means we endeavor to change the savage nature of their 
youth, they will imbibe with the English language, the true principles 
of our Excellent Church, from whence will arise two of the greatest 
benefits, the salvation of many poor souls, and withal the best of se 
curities to our persons and estates, for once make them good Christians 



i Hist. Coll. Am. Col., Ch. I., p. 183. 



* Ibid., p. 129. 



124 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

and you may confide in them." The worthy governor was as good as his 
word. At no little pains and personal cost he established an Indian 
school, at Christanna, on the south side of the Meherrin river, in 
Southampton county. Here, under the protection of a fort, built on 
rising ground, in the form of a pentagon and enclosed with palisades, 
on which five cannon were mounted, and where twelve men kept guard, 
a school-house was erected. The Rev. Charles Griffin was appointed 
to the charge of this school, in which, the governor writes to the Bishop 
of London, there were in 1712 fourteen Indian children and six more 
expected. In 1716 Mr. Griffin reports to the Bishop of London, as 
follows : 

We have here a very handsome school built at the charge of the Indian 
Company at which are at present taught 70 Indian children, and many others from 
tho Western Indians, who live more than 400 miles from hence, will be brought 
hilher in the spring to be put under my care in order to be instructed in the religion 
of the holy Jesus. The greatest number of my scholars can say the Belief, the 
Lord s Prayer and Ten Command* perfectly well, they know that there is but one 
God and they are able to tell me how many persons thei e are in the Godhead and 
what each of those blessed Persons have done for them. They know how many 
Sacraments Christ hath ordained in his Church and for what end he instituted them. 
They behave themselves reverently at our daily Prayer and can make their re 
sponses ; which was no little pleasure to their great and good benefactor the Gov ., 
as also to the Rev*. M". Jn. Cargill, M r . Attorney General and many other gentle 
men who attended him in his progress hither. 1 

The celebrated William Byrd, of Westover, in his "History of 
the Dividing Line," 2 attests the excellence of Griffin, who was " a Man 
of a good Family who by the innocence of his life, and the sweetness 
of his temper, was perfectly well qualified for that pious undertaking." 
Byrd, whose only idea of christianizing the Indians was, as appears 
from repeated allusions throughout his work, their intermarriage 
with the settlers, speaks of " the bad success Mr. Boyle s charity has 
hitherto had towards converting any of these poor Heathens to Chris 
tianity." On the return of the pupils to their tribes, whether from the 
school from Christauna, or from the college at Williamsburg, " they 
have immediately relapsed into infidelity and barbarism themselves." 
He adds, that " as they unhappily forget all the good they learn, and 
remember the ill, they are apt to be more vicious and disorderly than 
the rest of their Countrymen." 3 We cannot but hope that the testi 
mony of the worthy surveyor may have been a little cojored by preju 
dice. 

The new building was sufficiently advanced for occupancy by the 
convention of the clergy, which met in April, 1719, and in 1723 it was 
completed, the delay arising from the want of means and the scarcity 
of skilled workmen. The Eev. Hugh Jones, in his " Present State of 
Virginia," published in 1722, gives the following description of the 
edifice : 

The College, which looks due east, is double and is one hundred and thirty- 
six feet long. At the north end runs back a long wing, which is a handsome hall, 
answerable to which the Chapel is to be built. The building is beautiful and com- 

1 Hist. Coll. Am. Col. Ch., I., pp. 196, 197. * Dividing Line, i., pp. 74, 75. Ibid. 




THE COLLEGE AT WILLIAMSBURG AND PRESIDENT BLAIR. 125 

modious, being first modelled by Sir Christopher Wren, adapted to the nature of the 
country by the gentlemen there, and since it was burnt down, it has been rebuilt, 
nicely contrived and adorned by the ingenious direction of Governor Spotswood, 
and is not altogether unlike Chelsea Hospital. 

The college being fully equipped for its work, the transfer of cor 
porate rights contemplated in the charter was made to the faculty, and 
the trustees became in form and in fact " the visitors and governors 

of the College of William and Mary 
m Virginia." The first entry in the 
oldest record book of the faculty 
begins with the pious invocation, 

" IN NOMINE DEI, PATRIS, FILII ET 

SPIRITUS SANCTI. AMEN." Its presidents were the Commissaries of the 
Bishop of London till the war of Independence ; and the names of Dr. 
James Blair, William Dawson, William Stith, the historian of Vir 
ginia, Thomas Dawson, William 
Yates, James Horrocks, and John 
Camm, who filled this honorable post 
prior to the breaking out of the war, 
have their place in a list which after 

the war comprised two Bishops of Virginia, James Madison and John 
Johns. Thus closely connected with the Church was the nursery of 
religion and learning from the first. 

The chapel to which reference has been made, in the quotation from 
Jones s description of the college buildings, was opened on Wednesday, 

June 28, 1732. The President, 
* Dr. James Blair, preached from 

V- c >^ _. ^ .+ J / the text : " Train up a child in the 

s/44lt +& \//0rf~0f*r u i , i . 

j/ ^~^~ :2 > wav should go, and when he is 

^ old he will not depart from it." 

Prov. xxii. 6. At this time Will- 

iamsburg was a copy of the Court of St. James, the seat of the royal gov 
ernment and of learning. The culturing influences of the college were 
felt throughout the colony. Its scholars became men of mark in all 
departments of letters and life. To Washington, William and Mary 
gave, in his untried youth, the commission by which he bore the sur 
veyor s staff into the trackless wilds of his native State, while the father 
of his country gave back in turn to her the latest public services of his 
honored and reflective age. She was the alma mater of Jefferson and 
Monroe and Tyler, Presidents ; of Marshall, Chief Justice ; of Peyton 
Randolph, first President of the American Congress ; of Edmund Ran 
dolph, who drew up the original draft of the Federal Constitution ; of 
Madison, the first bishop of Virginia, and of countless others, distin 
guished on the field, at the bar, as divines and men of letters. Her records 
note the bestowal of academic honors on Benjamin Franklin, who received 
the degree of A.M., conferred upon him in person on the 2d of April, 
1756, the first instance in which an honorary degree was given by the col 
lege. But the highest praise of this ancient institution of learning, second 
alone in point of years to Harvard, is the testimony of Bishop Meade, the 
historian of the Church in Virginia. " One thing is set forth in praise of 



126 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

William and Mary which we delight to record ; namely, that the hopes 
and designs of its founders and early benefactors in relation to its being 
a nursery of pious ministers were not entirely disappointed. It is posi 
tively affirmed by those most competent to speak that the best min 
isters in Virginia were those educated at the college and sent over to 
England for ordination." The names of Indian students educated at 
" Brafferton " appear in the list of alumni before the breaking out of the 
war for Independence ; and in connection with the names of Boiling, 
Byrd, Carter, Harrison, Page, and Randolph, in the class graduated in 
1776, are the suggestive names of Baubes, Gunn, and Sampson, who 
were the last of the long list of aborigines to receive the fruits of the 
pious bounty of Robert Boyle. 



ILLUSTRATIVE AND CRITICAL NOTES. 

r\ EORGE SANDYS was of high social connection in England, his father being 
VJT Archbishop of York and an elder brother being the Sir Edward Sandys referred 
to in the text as the treasurer of the Virginia Company. As Tyler, in his " History 
of American Literature " (i., pp. 51-58), informs us, " At the time of his arrival in 
America, ^George Sandys was forty-four years old, and was then well known as a 
traveller in Eastern lands, as a scholar, as an admirable prose writer, but especially 
as a poet. His claim to the title of poet then rested chiefly on his fine metrical 
translation of the first five books of Ovid s Metamorphoses, the second edition of 
which came from the press in that very year (1621) in which the poet sailed away 
to America in the retinue of Sir Francis Wyatt. This fragment was a specimen of 
literary workmanship in many ways creditable. The rendering of the original is 
faithful ; and though in some places the version labors under the burden of Latin 
idioms and of unmusical proper names, it often rises into freedom and velocity 
of movement, and into genuine sweetness, ease, and power. How great a pity, 
perhaps some of his readers thought in 1621, that a man of such gifts and ac 
complishments should banish himself to the savagery of the Virginia wilderness, 
when, by staying at home, he might give us, in a version so pure and masterful, 
the remaining ten books of the Metamorphoses ! But there was one great poet 
then in England, Michael Drayton, who did not take so melancholy a view of the 
departure of George Sandys for Virginia. He, too, wished the translation of Ovid 
completed by that same deft and scholarly hand ; but he saw no reason why the 
lamp of letters should not burn on the banks of the James river as well as on 
those of the Thames. Therefore he addressed to his dear friend a poetical epistle, 
in which he exhorts him to keep up his literary occupations, even in the rough 
desert to which he had gone : 

" And, worthy George, by industry and use, 
Let s see what lines Virginia will produce ; 
Go on with Ovid as you have begun 
With the first five books ; lot your numbers run 
Glib as the former ; so shall it live long, 
And do much honor to the English tongue. 
Entice the Muses thither to repair ; 
Entreat them gently ; train them to that air 
For they from hence may thither have to fly. 1 

" These exhortations were not wasted on the gentle poet. His vocation to the 
high service of letters was too distinct to be set aside even by the privations of 
pioneer life in Virginia and by the oppressive tasks of his official position there. 
And yet those privations and those tasks proved to be greater, as it chanced, than 

1 Drayton s Works, Anderson s ed., p. 542. 



THE COLLEGE AT WILLIAMSBURG AND PRESIDENT BLAIR. 127 

any human eye had foreseen ; for, only a few months after his arrival, namely, in 
March, 1622, came that frightful Indian massacre of the white settlers along the 
James river, which nearly annihilated the colony; which drove in panic into 
Jamestown the survivors from the outlying settlements ; which turned the peaceful 
plantations, just beginning to be prosperous, into an overcrowded camp of half-fed 
but frenzied hunters, hunting only for red men with rifle (?) and blood-hound, and 
henceforward for several years living only to exterminate tnem from the earth. It 
was under these circumstances, the chief village thronged with the panic-struck and 
helpless peopie, all industry stopped, suspicions, fears, complaints filling the air, 
his high official position entailing upon him special cares and responsibilities, with 
out many books, without a lettered atmosphere or the cheer of lettered men, that 
the poet was to pursue his great task if he was to pursue it at all. It is not much 
to say that ordinary men would have surrendered to circumstances such as these ; 
George Sandys did not surrender to them ; and that he was able during the next few 
years, robbing sleep of its rights, to complete his noble translation of the fifteen 
books of Ovid s Metamorphoses, is worthy of being chronicled among the heroisms 
of authorship. It is probable that Sandys returned to England in 1625 ; at any 
rate, in the year 1626 he brought out in London, in a folio volume, the first edition 
of his finished work ; and in his dedication of it to King Charles, he made a touch 
ing reference to the disasters in Virginia from which he had only just escaped, and 
to the great difficulties he had overcome in the composition of the book that he 
thus laid at his sovereign s feet. He speaks of his translation as "This .... 
piece learned by that imperfect light which was snatched from the hours of night 
and repose. For the day was not mine, but dedicated to the service of your great 
father, and yourself, which, had it proved as fortunate as faithful in me, and others 
more worthy, we had hoped, ere many years had turned about, to have presented 
you with a rich and well peopled kingdom, from whence now, with myself, I only 
bring this composure : Inter victrices hederam tibi serpere laurus. It needethmore 
than a single denization, being a double stranger; sprung from the stock of the 
ancient Romans, but bred in the New World, of the rudeness whereof it cannot but 
participate, especially having wars and tumults to bring it to light instead of the 
muses. 

" This production, handed down to us in stately form through two centuries 
and a half, is the very first expression of elaborate poetry, it is the first utterance 
of the conscious literary spirit articulated in America. The writings which precede 
the book in our literary history the writings of Captain John Smith, of Percy, 
of Strachey, of Whitaker, of Pory were all produced for some immediate 
practical purpose, and not with any avowed literary intentions. This book may 
well have for us a sort of sacredness as being the first monument of English poetry, 
of classical scholarship, and of deliberate literary art reared on these shores. And 
when we open the book, and examine it with reference to its merits, first, as a 
faithful rendering of the Latin text, and, second, as a specimen of fluent, 
idiomatic, and musical English poetry, we find that in both particulars it is a work 
that we may be proud to claim as, in some sense, our own, and to honor as the 
morning star at once of poetry and scholarship in the New World. " 

Bishop Burnet, in his "History of his own Times," styles Commissary Blair 
" a worthy and good man," and this eulogium cannot be gainsaid. His voluminous 
correspondence, from which the two interesting specimens in the text are quoted, 
fills many pages of the first volume of the " Historical Collections of the Ameri 
can Colonial Church," edited by the author of this present work, and giving the 
documentary history of the Virginia Colonial Church. Bishop Meade, in his " Old 
Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia," gives frequent references to the life 
and labors of this " worthy" of the Virginia Church; and, in fact, the story of our 
.ecclesiastical, educational, or literary annals, is incomplete without notices of this 
eminent divine. 

The difference between the commissary and Governor Nicholson gave rise to 
a memorable controversy, which culminated m the preparation of charges of malfea 
sance in official duty and personal conduct, especially in the matter of his attach 
ment to Miss Burwell, and his ill-treatment of the Rev. Stephen Fouace, which were 
transmitted to England, and formed the indictment against him which occasioned 
his recall. No little feeling was occasioned in the colony, as quite a number of the 
clergy, with whom the commissary, a strict disciplinarian, was unpopular, espoused 
the cause of the governor, who had also ingratiated himself with these disaffected 
clergymen, by taking sides with them against the vestries. A convocation was sum- 



128 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

moned, and the friends of the governor prepared an answer to the charges made 
by the commissary and the council. Their meeting was satirized in a ballad, which 
set forth the unelerical hilarity of the gathering, and depicted the participants in the 
merrymaking in most unfavorable colors. 

This piquant brochure soon appeared in London, and contributed towards the 
downfall of the governor, whose supporters were represented in so disgraceful a 
light. Although but six of the clergy espoused the side of the commissary, while 
seventeen arrayed themselves on the side of the governor, the integrity and indom 
itable energy and perseverance of Dr. Blair triumphed, and upon the complaint 
signed by six of the council and the commissary, the governor was recalled in Au 
gust, 1705. After several years of active military service, the governor received 
the honor of knighthood in 1720, and as governor of South Carolina, Sir Francis 
Nicholson conducted himself so as to throw a lustre over the closing years of his 
American cai-eer. Returning to England in 1725 he died in March of the following 
year. His character is summed up by Campbell , the historian of Virginia, as brave, 
and not penurious, but narrow and irascible ; of loose morality, yet a fervent sup 
porter ot the Church. 11 History, p. 369. 

The efforts for the instruction of the Indians were productive of but little per 
manent results, though the names of a number of Indian students appear on the 
catalogue of the College of William and Mary. In 1754 there were seven scholars 
at the Indian school. The name of one is found recorded as attending the college 
in 1764, another in 1765, and two are enrolled in 1769. One appears in 1771, two 
in 1775, and three in 1776. At Christanna, there were at one time, according to 
Jones s " Present state of Virginia," seventy-seven Indian children at school, and on 
the removal of the master, Mr. Charles Griffin, and his school to the college, there 
continued, from year to year, a number of the natives under instruction. " These 
children could all read," says Jones, " say their catechism and prayers tolerably 
well, but this pious Design being laid aside thro the Opposition of Trade and In 
terest, Mr. Griffin was removed to the College to teach the Indians instructed there 
by the Benefaction of the Honourable Mr. Boyle. The Indians so loved and adored 
him, that I have seen them hug him and lift him up in their arms, and fain would 
have chosen him for a King of the Sapony Nation." The success so evidently 
attained at Christanna was not maintained at Williamsburg. In 1728, Col. William 
Byrd, in the " Westover Manuscripts," laments the "bad success Mr. Boyle s charity 
has hitherto had towards converting any of these poor heathens to Christianity. 1 
"Many children of our neighboring Indians," he proceeds to say, "have been 
brought up in the College of William and Mary. They have been taught to read 
and write, and have been carefully instructed in the principles of the Christian 
religion, till they come to be men. Yet, after they returned home, instead of civili 
zing and converting the rest, they have immediately relapsed into infidelity and 
barbarism themselves." This testimony is accordant to that of the Rev. Hugh 
Jones, who, at the same time, gives them credit for "admirable capacities, when 
their humors and tempers are perfectly understood." 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

COMMISSARY BRAY AND THE BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH 

IN MARYLAND. 

PRIOR to the founding, on the 27th of March, 1634, of St. Mary s, 
by the " Pilgrims of Maryland," under the leadership of Leonard 
Calvert, or even the earlier landing on St. Clement s, and the 
raising of the Cross after "Mass" had been said on "Lady-day," the 
25th March, and the formal occupancy of " Terra Mariae, 1 in the Name 
of the Saviour of the World, and the King of England," a settlement 
had been made by Virginians and churchmen on the " Isle of Kent," on 
the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay, at the mouth of Chester river, 
opposite the city of Annapolis. Here ministered the Rev. Richard 
James, who, at the age of thirty-three years, embarked for Virginia in 
August, 1635. 2 But not only on the Isle of Kent were there church 
men. It is evident, from records and documents still existing, that a 
large number of the " Pilgrims of Maryland " were members of the 
National Church of England, and, although no clergyman appears to 
have been sent over to care for their souls, the ordinances of the re 
formed faith were not neglected, even at St. Mary s. A chapel was 
erected, and the more zealous members of the reformed church met 
from time to time for worship and the reading of sermons. In July, 
1638, some "redemptioners," 3 or servants of Captain Cornwaleys, a 
member of the council, were in charge of a zealous Romanist named 
William Lewis, in whose house they were quartered. Among the 
number were Francis Gray and Robert Sedgrave. While reading aloud 
from Henrie Smith s sermons, where the writer alludes to the Pope as 
Anti-Christ, and to the Jesuits as Anti-Christian ministers, Lewis in 
terrupted them with the assertion " that it was a falsehood, and came 
from the devil, as all lies did, and that he that writ it was an instru 
ment of the devil, and he would prove it, and that all Protestant min 
isters were of the devil," and forbade them reading any more. At the 
request of Gray, Sedgrave drew up a petition, to be signed by the 
Church of England members on the following Sunday, at the chapel, 
couched in the following language : 

Beloved in the Lord, etc. This is to give you notice of the abuses and scan 
dalous reproaches which God and his ministers doe daily suffer by William Lewis, 
of St. Maries, who saith that our ministers are the ministers of the divell, and that our 
books are made by instruments of the divell ; and further saith, that those servants 

1 Named for Queen Henrietta Maria, wife island by Claibome, between the years 1631-1636, 

of Charles I. inclusive. Allen s Maryland Toleration, p. 25. 

* N.E. Hist. Geneal. Register, xv., 144. Allen gives (pp. 29, 30) an interesting account 

The Rev. Mr. James may not have been tho first, of Mr. James. 

and was not the only, minister of the Church at 3 Settlers who had sold themselves for a 

the Isle of Kent. In the depositions taken in term of years to pay the expenses of the voyage 

Virginia in 1640, " allowances for ministers " are over, 
sworn to as among the expenses incurred on the 



130 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



which are under his charge shall keepe nor read any booke which doth appertaine 
to our religion, within the house of the said William Lewis, to the great discomfort 
of those poor bondmen, which are under his subjection, especially in this heathen 
country, where no godly minister is to teach and instruct ignorant people in the 
grounds of religion. And as for people which cometh unto the said Lewis, or other 
wise to passe the weeke, the said Lewis taketh occasion to call them into his cham 
ber, and there laboreth with all vehemency, craft, and sublety to delude ignorant 




LORD BALTIMORE. 



persons. Therefore, we beseech you, brethren in our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus, 
that you who have power, that you will doe in what lieth in you to have these 
absurd abuses and the rediculous crimes to be reclaymed, and that God and his 
Ministers may not bo so heinously troden downe by such ignominious speeches : 
and no doubt but he or they, which strive to uphold God s ministers and word, he 
shalbe recompenced with eternall joy and felicity, to reigne in that eternall king- 
dome, with Christ Jesus, under whose banner we fight for evermore. (All which 
words aforesaid, which hath been spoken against Wm. Lewis, the parties hereunder 
written wilbe deposed when time and opportunity shalbe thought meete.) Chris- 



BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH IN MARYLAND. 



131 



topher Carnoll, Ellis Beache, Ro. Sedgrave, and others which hereafter may be 
brought forth. 1 

On the morning of the sixth Sunday after Trinity, July 1, 1638, 
Lewis informed Capt. Cornwaleys that some of his servants had pre 
pared a paper with a view of effecting a combination of the Church of 




England men in a petition to Sir John Harvey and the Council of Vir 
ginia, for the arrest of himself, on the charge of having spoken dis 
respectfully of the clergy of the Establishment, and forbidden his 
servants to read authorized productions of divines of the English 
Church. Secretary Lewger, 2 himself a convert to the Church of Rome 
by the persuasions of his friend the celebrated William Chillingworth, 
was sent for, and, as Sedgrave and Gray were passing the house on 
their way to the chapel, they were brought face to face with their 
accuser. Sedgrave acknowledged the preparation of the paper which 
he had given to Gray, with the purpose of communicating its contents 
to some of the freemen, through whose intervention the redress of these 
grievances was expected. At a formal investigation before the gov 
ernor and secretary the latter pronounced Lewis " guilty of an offensive 
and indiscreete speech in calling the author of the booke read in his 
house an instrument of the divill ; and in calling Protestant ministers 
the ministers of the divill ; " that he had exceeded his authority in for 
bidding the reading of " a book otherwise allowed and lawful to be 
read by the State of England ; " adding, "and because these his offensive 
speeches and other his unseasonable disputations in point of religion, 
tended to the disturbance of the publique peace and quiett of the 
colony, and were committed by him against a publique proclamation 
sett forth to prohibite all such 
disputes ; therefore he fined 
him 500 weight of tobacco to 
the Lord of the Province ; 
andtoremaine in the Sheriff s 
custodie untill he found suffi 
cient sureties for his good be 
haviour in those kinds in time 
to come." 3 The Governor, 
Leonard Calvert, concurred 

wholly in this sentence with the Secretary, although both, and Corn- 
waleys as well, were Roman Catholics themselves. 

1 Streeter s Papers relating to tbe Early or Lewgar, is found in Streeter s Papers, quoted 
History of Maryland. Md. Hist. Soc. Fund above, pp. 218-276. Vide, also, pp. 147, 148. 
Publication No. 9 ? pp. 212, 213. Ibid., p. 216. 

2 An interesting Memoir of John Lewger, 




132 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 




In 1642 a petition from the Church of England colonists, or the 
"Protestant Catholics," as they styled themselves, at St. Mary s, 
was brought before the Assembly, complaining of Mr. Thomas 
Gerard, a prominent Roman Catholic, for having taken away the key 

and removed the books 

j belonging to their chap- 

/! el. Influential as was 

\5;I ft>wf~y f the offender his station 
Ls* failed to secure him from 

being adjudged guilty of 
a misdemeanor. Compelled to restore the key and books, and to re 
linquish all title to them and to the building itself, he was also amerced 
a fine of 500 Ibs. of tobacco "towards the maintenance of the first 
minister that should arrive." 1 
The same year "the chapel 
of St. Mary s," with other 
buildings and land adjoin- 
ing, was purchased "in the 
name and for the use of the 

Lord Proprietary," for the sum of two hundred pounds sterling ; but 
Lord Baltimore refused to complete the purchase on the plea that 
there " were certain mistakes in the business " 2 which he proposed to 

rectify on his approaching 
visit to the province. But 
troubles with the Indians 
and the political changes 
at home, consequent upon 
the overthrow of the mon 
archy, prevented or inter 
fered with the adjustment 
of this matter, and we hear 
nothing more of the " Prot 
estant Catholics" or their 





chapel. In a few years the 
proprietary government 
was overthrown. Officers 
were appointed of Protes 
tant, if not Puritan, pro 
clivities ; a large immigra 
tion from Virginia was 
encouraged ; the principles 
of religious toleration were 
recognized by legislative 
enactments, and the pre 

ponderance of Romanists in positions of power or trust was gradually 

overcome. 

Years passed, and in the reestablishment of the monarchy and the 

restoration of the authority of the Proprietary in Maryland we find but 



THE BALTIMORE ARMS. 



Streeter s Papers, pp. 164, 165, 255, 256. 



Ibid., pp. 183,184. 



BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH IN MARYLAND. 



133 



little mention of the Church, though the records inform us that about the 
year 1650 the Rev. William Wilkinson, "clerk," fifty years of age, with 
his wife and family and servants, arrived in the colony and engaged in 
trade for his support. Notices of his officiating are to be found. It 




CECIL, SECOND LORD BALTIMORE. 



would seem that Mr. Wilkinson was the first resident clergyman of 
the Church in the province, other than the ministers of Kent Island, 
during Clayborne s rule, and prior to the landing of the "Maryland 
Pilgrims." At length there appear to have been in the colony in the 
year 1675 three clergymen of the Church of England, and a letter 
from one of the number, the Rev. John Yeo, of Pautuxent, addressed 
to Sheldon, then in the closing years of his primacy, was laid by 



134 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Compton, Bishop of London, before the Committee of Plantations, and 
is preserved in the State Paper Office. This letter is as follows : 

MOST REVEREND FATHER 

Be pleased to pardon this presumption of mine in presenting to y r serious 
notice these rude and undigested lines, w eh (with humble submission) are to ac 
quaint y r Grace with y* deplorable estate and condition of the Province of Mary 
land, for want of an established Ministry. Here are in this Province ten or twelve 
countys, and in them at least twenty thousand soules, and but three Protestant Min 
isters of us y are conformable to y* doctrine and discipline of y* Church of Eng 
land. Others there are (I must confess) y 1 runne before they are sent, and pre 
tend they are Ministers of the Gospell, y never had a legall call or ordination to 
such an holy office, neither (indeed) are they qualified for it, being, for the most 
part, such as never understood any thing of learning, and yet take upon them to 
be dispencers of y Word, and to administer y 6 Sacrament of Baptisme ; and sow 
seeds of division amongst y* people, and no law provided for y suppression of 
such in this Province. Society here is in great necessitie of able and learned men 
to confute the gainsayers, especially having soe many profest enemies as the Popish 
Priests and Jesuits are, who are incouraged and provided for. And y Quaker 
takes care and provides for those y are speakers in their conventicles, but noe care 
is taken or provision made for the building up Christians in the Protestant Religion, 
by means whereof not only many dayly fall away either to Popery, Quakerisme or 
Phanaticisme, but also the Lord s Day is prophaned, religion despised, and all 
notorious vices committed, so that it is become a Sodom of uncleannesse and a pest- 
house of iniquity. I doubt not but y r Grace will take it into consideration and do 
y" utmost for our eternal wellfare ; and now is y* time y y or Grace may be an in 
strument of a universall reformation with greatest facillity. Csecilius Lord Barren 
Baltemore, and absolute Proprietor of Maryland, being dead, and Charles Lord 
Barron Baltemore and our Governour being bound for England this year (as I am 
informed) to receive a farther confirmation of jr" Province from His Majestic, at 
w ch time, I doubt not, but y r Grace may soe prevaile with him as y* a maintenance 
for a Protestant ministry may be established as well in this Province as in Virginia, 
Barbados, and all other His Majestie s plantations in West Indies, and then there 
will be incouragement for able men to come amongst us, and y some person may 




brought by degrees to a uniformitie, provided we had more ministers y were truly 
conformable to our Mother y* Church, and none but such suffered to preach 
amongst us. As for my own p (God is my witness) I have done 7 my utmost en 
deavour in order thereunto, and shall (by God s assistance), whiles I have a being 
here, give manifest proof of my faithful! obedience to the Canons and Constitu 
tions of our sacred Mother. 

Yet one thing cannot be obtained here, (viz.) Consecration of Churches and 
Church-yards, to y" end y Christians might be decently buried together, whereas 
now they bury in the severall plantations where they lived ; unless y r Grace thought 
it sufficient to give a Dispensation to some pious Ministers (together with y manner 
and forme) to doe y same. And confident I am y you will not be wanting in any 
thing y* may tend most to God s glorie and the good of the Church, by w cb you 
will engage thousands of soules to pray for y ot Grace s everlasting happiness, but 
especially y" most obedient Son and S ervant. 

JOHN YEO. 1 

Patuxant River, in Maryland, 25th day of May, 1676. 

A letter from Archbishop Sheldon to the Bishop of London, Dr. 
Henry Compton, requesting him to lay this letter and Lord Balti 
more s reply before the Committee of the Privy Council, is still ex 
tant. The proprietor had pleaded in his answer the impossibility of 
applying an immediate or complete remedy to the evils complained of, 

Anderson s " Col. Ch.," n., pp. 394-396. 



BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH IN MARYLAND. 135 

the existence of which he does not appear to have attempted to deny. 
The character of the statutes then in force and the incongruous opinions 
of the members of an Assembly made up of Eomanists, Independents, 
and Quakers, as well as Churchmen, combined to prevent the adoption 
of the measures desired for the church s relief. The four clergymen in 
the province his lordship affirmed were " in possession of plantations 
which offered them a decent subsistence." l Already the majority of the 
settlers in Maryland were Protestants, and in the very year in which 
Yeo addressed the Archbishop of Canterbury Mr. Jeremiah Eaton de 
vised five hundred acres of land for the first Protestant minister settled 
in Baltimore County, 2 and during the following year another churchman 
conveyed his personal estate to the corporation of St. Mary s " for the 
maintenance of a protestant ministry from time to time among the 
inhabitants of St. George s and Poplar Hill hundred." 3 Besides the 
correspondent of the archishop, there appear to have been in the 
province, from the statement of Lord Baltimore, three other church cler 
gymen . One of them may have been the infamous John Coode , though it 
is to be hoped that one so profligate and abandoned in life and so avowed 
a disbeliever in religion, though at one time in holy orders, was not 
included in this enumeration. A clergyman, whose name has not been 
preserved, h;id been 
sent over by King 
Charles II., and 
Wilkinson, of whom 
we have spoken, 
may have been still 
alive. Yeo shortly 
left the province, 
and officiated for a 
time at Lewes in 

Delaware. After a few years absence he returned to Maryland, where 
he died, in Baltimore County, about the year 1686. In 1681 an allow 
ance was made from the king s secret-service fund for the payment of 
the passage of the Rev. Jonathan Sanders to Maryland, and there is 
among the records in the State Paper Office a recommendation of the 
Rev. Ambrose Sanderson by the Privy Council, dated October 8th in 
the same year, as a suitable minister for Maryland ; while two years 
later the Rev. Duell Pead and the Rev. William Mullett were desig 
nated for service in the province. Sanders, after a little, removed to Vir 
ginia. Pead was a faithful clergyman in Maryland for a number of years ; 
but of Sanderson and Mullet no trace has been found. In 1685, as 
we learn from a letter addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, by 
Mary Taney, the wife of the Sheriff of Calvert County, and an ancestor 
of the late distinguished Chief Justice of the United States of America, 
there was no church clergyman residing in her neighborhood. In this 
appeal from a Christian mother for the ministration of the Word 
and sacraments, the words of the faithful Yeo, pleading for the set 
tlers souls, were echoed with no uncertain sound: 

1 Maryland MSS., State Paper Office, quoted * Griffith s "Annals of Baltimore," p. 9. 

by Anderson s " Col. Ch.," n., pp. 397, 398. Hawka s " Eccl. Contrib." Md., pp. 51, 52. 




136 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

May it please your Grace: 

. . . Our want of a minister, and the many blessings our Saviour de 
signed us by them, is a misery, which I and a numerous family, and many others 
in Marylana, have groaned under. We are seized with extreme horror when we 
think, that for want of the Gospel our children and posterity are in danger to be 
condemned to infidelity or to apostasy. We do not question God s care of us, but 
think your Grace, and the Right Reverend your Bishops, the proper instruments of 
so great a blessing to us. We are not, I hope, so foreign to your jurisdiction, but 
we may be owned your stray flock; however, the commission to go, and baptize, 
and teach all nations is large enough .... I question not but that your Grace 
is sensible, that without a temple it will be impracticable, neither can we expect a 
minister to hold out, to ride ten miles in a morning, and before he can dine, ten 
more, and from house to house, in hot weather, will dishearten a minister, if not 
kill him. 

Your Grace is so sensible of our sad condition, and for your place and piety s 
sake, have so great an influence on our most religious and gracious King, that if I 
had not your Grace s promise to depend upon I could not question your Grace s inter 
cession and prevailing. 500 or 600 for a church, with some encouragement for a 
minister, will be extremely less charge, than honor, to his Majesty. 

Our Church settled according to the Church of England, which is the sum of 
pur request, will prove a nui-sery of religion and loyalty through the whole Prov 
ince. But your Grace needs no arguments from me, but only this, it is in your power 
to give us many happy opportunities to praise God for this and innumerable mercies, 
and to importune His goodness to bless His Majesty, with along and prosperous reign 
over us, and long continue to your Grace, the great blessing of being an instrument 
of goodness to his Church. And now that I may be no longer troublesome, I hum 
bly entreat your pardon for the well-meant zeal of 

Your Grace s most obedient Servant, 

MARY TANEY. 

Accompanying this letter was a petition to the archbishop and 
bishops, reciting that the province of Maryland was "without a church 
or any settled ministry," and that the minister whom King Charles n. 
had sent (together with a " parcel of Bibles and other church books 
of considerable value ") was dead, and praying " that a certain parcel 
of tobacco, of one hundred hogsheads or thereabouts, of the growth 
or product of the said Province may be custom free, for and towards 
the maintenance of an Orthodox Divine, at Calvert Town." To this 
was added the request that their lordships, to whom the petition was ad 
dressed, would " contribute towards the building of a church at Calvert 
Town." Shortly after this earnest petition was received, on the 29th 
of September, 1695, an allowance was granted, from the secret-service 
fund of the king, to defray the passage of the Rev. Paul Bertrand to 
Maryland. The report of the clergyman, written in French, addressed 
to the Bishop of London, under date of September 12, 1689, is still 
extant, describing the condition of religion in the province at that time. 
A little later, among the host of "grievances " forwarded to King Will 
iam by a self-appointed convention, the outgrowth of the so-called 
" Protestant Revolution," was the allegation that " this church, which, 
by the charter, should be consecrated according to the ecclesiastical laws 
of England, was converted to the use of popish idolatry." The revolu 
tion was successful. " The convention " meeting in 1689, and again in 
1690, did not attempt to organize the government, but sought the in 
terference of the crown. In June, 1691, King William complied with 
the popular wish, and Maryland was constituted a royal colony. The 
following year, on the arrival of the royal governor, Sir Lionel Copley, 



BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH IN MARYLAND. 137 

the crown was finally recognized as the sole source of authority, the 
Protestant religion was established, and with it " the inviolability of the 
rights and franchises of the church ; " the ten counties were divided into 
thirty-one parishes ; the constitution of vestries was provided for, and 
a poll-tax of forty pounds of tobacco was laid, as a fund for the build 
ing or repairing of churches, the support of the clergy, or other pious 
uses. In July, 1694, Sir Francis Nicholson succeeded Copley. The 
new governor was a liberal and devoted patron of the Church, hasty in 
temper, utterly lacking in self-restraint, naturally imperious and arbi 
trary ; in demeanor, vain and conceited, and often tyrannical . There were 
still many redeeming qualities in his character, which made him popular 
among those over whom he bore rule, and secured for him the respect 
and admiration of men of widely differing opinions and beliefs. The 
purse and pen of Nicholson were ever at the service of the Church. 
More than a score of churches scattered throughout the colonies owed 
in great part their existence to his encouragement and liberality. His 
letters, many of which are still extant, manifest a solicitude for the 
church s welfare, and a disposition to further her growth, quite unusual 
among the correspondence of the times. While his foes were not 
backward in blazoning his faults and in exposing to public gaze the in 
firmities of a temper far from perfect, his friends, in equal numbers 
and with equal devotion, ascribed to him "every virtue under heaven." 
Energetic, intelligent, refined and courtly in manners, and possessing 
a statesman-like wisdom, he would have deserved well of the Church, ot 
which he was so ardent a supporter, had his life been more in accord 
ance with her holy teachings. 

At the coming of Governor Nicholson there were but three clergy 
men of the Church in the province. These three clergymen had, to 
quote their own language in a representation to the Bishop of London, 
"made a hard shift to live" "some time after they came" over, but 
" did afterwards marry and maintain their families out of the planta 
tions they had with their cures." 1 These three representatives of the 
Church had to contend with double their number of priests of the Church 
of Kome. Half-a-dozen clergymen accompanied the governor on his 
coming to the province, or were at once attracted by the new life of the 
Church, consequent upon the favor of vice-regal authority. Eight 
clergymen were speedily settled in the newly formed parishes, and at 
Annapolis, which was made the provincial capital in place of St. Mary s, 
the governor began at once the erection of the only brick church in the 
province. The establishment of a " free school " at the new capital of 
Maryland was another result of the change in administration which thus, 
in the language of the Council and House of Burgesses addressed to the 
Bishop of London, sought "to make learning an handmaid to devo 
tion." 2 Addressing the same source, recognized by the House of 
Burgesses as " our Diocesan," the clergy represented " the great and 
urgent necessity of an ecclesiastical rule here, invested with such ample 
power and authority from your lordship as may capacitate him to re 
dress what is amiss, and to supply what is wanting in the church." 3 

iHist. Coll, Am. Col. Church iv. (Mary- * Ibid., p. 1. 

land), p. 9. * Ibid., p. 12. 



138 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

This prayer for more direct episcopal supervision, which was not new, 
and which was heard continuously during the century just about to open, 
till in the "upper room" at Aberdeen, nearly a hundred years later, 
Samuel Seabury was made a bishop of the Church of God, was listened 
to so far as to secure the appointment by the Bishop of London of a 
commissary for Maryland. The choice fell on one most worthy of the 
office, and most willing to undertake the work. Dr. Thomas Bray, 
first commissary of Maryland, was born at Marton, in Shropshire, in 
1656. Prepared for the University at Oswestry, he was entered at 
Hart Hall in Oxford ; but narrowness of means required his removal 
from college soon after he had commenced Bachelor of Arts. Enter 
ing upon the work of the ministry, his. zeal and abilities commended 
him to the notice of Lord Digby, from whom he received the living of 
Sheldon. In this parish he prepared and published a series of Cate 
chetical Lectures, which, by their popularity and merit, won for the 
author the notice and patronage of the highest dignitaries of the Church. 
It was at this time that the Governor and Assembly of Maryland had 
unanimously agreed upon "a petitionary act" for the appointment and 
support of a "superintendent, commissary, or suffragan," and had ad 
dressed the Bishop of London, Dr. Compton, with the request that he 
would appoint and send to the province some experienced and unex 
ceptionable clergyman for this purpose. In April, 1696, the bishop 
offered the appointment of commissary to Dr. Bray. In accepting this 
post, which he did at no little social and pecuniary sacrifice, he made 
as a condition the provision of parochial libraries for the ministers who 
should be sent out to the province. It was by means of this provision 
that he hoped to be able to secure from among the unbeneficed and 
poorer clergy studiou% and sober men to undertake the service of the 
Church in America. The wisdom of this plan was apparent. In the 
library at Lambeth is still preserved a paper bearing the signatures of 
Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury ; and Sharp, Archbishop of York ; 
of Compton, Bishop of London ; of Lloyd, Bishop of Lichfield ; of Still- 
ingfleet, Bishop of Worcester ; of Patrick, Bishop of Ely ; and of 
Moore, Bishop of Norwich, expressing the readiness of these eminent 
divines and scholars to " contribute cheerfully towards these Parochial 
Libraries," and adding the hope that "many pious persons, out of love 
to religion and learning," would do the same. The wish thus expressed 
was fully realized. Nor this alone. The indefatigable commissary 
spared neither labor nor time in securing mission-priests for the work of 
the Church abroad. Detained for several years from visiting the prov 
ince under his spiritual charge he was by no means idle. Through his 
exertion the number of the clergy was increased to sixteen ere he set 
foot upon the soil of Maryland ; and besides other labors of love and 
devotion he formed the design of a Church of England "congregation, 
pro fide propaganda by charter from the king." This design, out of 
which grew within a few years the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts, was laid aside for a time, while the busy brains 
of its author were occupied in another scheme, which, ere he left Eng 
land, took form in the establishment of the Society for Promoting 
Christian Knowledge. The original sketch in manuscript, prepared by 




BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH IN MARYLAND. 139 

Apoftoh cR Charity, 

1 1 <^ 

turr an& Cfyteflemt 

CONSIDER D. 

DISCo u RSE 

Upon D*H n. j, 
Preached a St. 7W&, at the Donation 

of fome ?rott(unl MifFtcmdties to be fenbfntQ the 
Plantations. 

To wh ich is 



i Colonies 

Religion \ in order fo jhttYvdrok Trvvif on L J wanting fir Me 
ptgation of Ckrift&nify in tlitfe ParfS. 

hh TkotofiJsfir th* Prv7nohi?g th&fymi : And to I 
-ttfo t-heCfeTgyjjf-fiijfantgdoitiy as an* PerJoTjS ofSofc/tfy and 
Abi(i\/et to dccepc o^ 



S Circular ttlltr Lc/tyfent- to t/ie C(o>gyi-tie+t. 



L N D AT, 
Printed for V/tl&*9Haw& &.* th-e $igx of rhe Refi 



1 A copy of this exceedingly rare tract is in that the above fac-simile has been furnished by 

the library left by the late Bishop Whittingham, the accomplished custodian of the library, Miss 

of Maryland, to the diocese of which he was for Whittingham, of Baltimore, Md. 
years the honored head. It is from this copy 



140 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

the Maryland Commissary, detailing the plan of this now vener 
able organization, is still extant in the Library of Sion College, 
London; and Dr. Bray was one of the five members who met 
together for the first time, March 8, 1698-9, to inaugurate this noble 
charity. On his return from his first visit to Maryland, charged -with 
important business for the Maryland Church, the opportunity offered 
for entering upon the department of labor earlier marked out, and the 
unwearied commissary lost no time in soliciting and securing from the 
king a charter for the incorporation of a society whose special duty 
should be to propagate the gospel throughout the colonies and foreign 
dependencies of the British empire. The influence of Tenison, Arch 
bishop of Canterbury, and Compton, Bishop of London, was exerted 
in behalf of this application ; but nothing can take from Thomas Bray 
the distinguished honor of being the originator and founder of the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Reaching 
Maryland on the 12th of March, 1700, the commissary directed his 
attention at the outset to the settlement and maintenance of the parochial 
clergy. Convening the clergy on the western shore for consultation, 
at a time when their assembling was feasible, the commissary then pro 
ceeded on a visitation, throughout the progress of which he was received 
by the community with every demonstration of respect and regard. 
The result of his inquiries and observation was that but a twelfth of 
the entire population were Romanists, and a similar proportion were 
Quakers ; while almost the entire residue were at least nominal adherents 
of the Establishment, including many of the leading families of the 
province. That this was the case might be inferred from the unanimity 
with which laws for the establishment of the Church had been again and 
again adopted by the assembly. 

When the assembly convened, and the question of the establishment 
of the Church was under discussion, -the course of the commissary was so 
judicious and conciliatory that the formal thanks of the body were 
tendered him, and the attorney-general ordered to advise with him in 
preparing a draft of the bill desired. The act provided " that the Book 
of Common Prayer and administration of the Sacraments, with the rites 
and ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of 
England, the Psalter and Psalms of David, and Morning and Evening 
Prayer therein contained be solemnly read, and by all and every min 
ister, or reader in every church or other place of public worship within 
this province." The closing words of this clause proved fatal to the 
approval of the act by the crown. To require the use of the common 
prayer " in every church or other place of public worship" in the prov 
ince was to deny all toleration to dissenters from the Establishment. 
Upon the completion of this act of legislation, by the Legislature, the 
commissary summoned all the clergy of the province to a visitation at 
Annapolis, on Thursday, in Whitsun-week, the 23d of May. Seven 
teen clergymen answered to their names at the opening of the session, 
to whom the commissary delivered a charge enforcing his views with 
reference to catechising, preaching, and private ministerial instruction. 
It was resolved by the clergy that they would preach to their respective 
flocks a " scheme of divinity ; " that they would " more religiously 



BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH IN MARYLAND. 141 

observe the great festivals of the Church" by preaching " upon the sub 
jects proper to such days : as at Christmas, upon the Incarnation of the 
Son of God ; on Good Friday, on the Death, Sufferings, and Satisfac 
tion of Christ ; on Easter-day, on the Eesurrection ; and on Ascension- 
day, upon the Ascension of Christ into Heaven ; on Whitsunday, upon 
the Divinity and Operations of the Holy Ghost ; and upon Trinity 
Sunday, on the Doctrine of the Holy and ever Blessed Trinity." 1 The 
nature and necessity of the sacrament of holy baptism and the re 
moval of prejudice against the assumption of the sponsorial relation 
were also to be made subjects of sermons, while profaneness and im 
morality were to be openly rebuked from the pulpit. The maintenance 
of discipline among the clergy was made a theme of discussion, and 
deeds were added to words in a strict enforcement of the needed re 
forms in this matter. The case of a clergyman who had fled to Virginia, 
to escape the consequences of his misconduct, was brought before the 
clergy, who united with the commissary in his effort to expose and 
punish the offender. Nor was this the only evidence of a disposition 
to maintain godly discipline. Solemnly addressing one of the assembled 
clergy, the commissary charged him in open session with a grievous 
crime, and assigned a time for the trial of the accused. In pressing 
home upon the offender the heinousness of his guilt, the commissary 
urged as an aggravation of the offence : "First, That it is done by a per 
son in Holy Orders ; Secondly, By a missionary (which, by the way, 
my brethren, should be a consideration of no small weight with all of 
us) ; Thirdly, As to time, that this Scandal is given at a Juncture when 
our Church here is weakest, and our friends seem to be fewest, and 
our Enemies strongest; And lastly, as to place, it so happens that you 
are seated in the mid^t of Papists, nay, within two miles of the Chief 
amongst the numerous Priests at this time in the Province ; and who, 
I am credibly informed by the most considerable Gentlemen in these 
Parts, has made that advantage of your scandalous living that there 
have been more perversions made to popery in that part of Maryland, 
since your Polygamy has been the talk of the country, than in all the 
time it has been an English colony." 2 Turning from these evidences 
of the need of episcopal restraint and oversight in this missionary 
outpost of the Church, it is pleasing to find the story of this important 
visitation closed with proofs of a zeal for Christ s Church on the com 
missary s part which knew no bounds. The same love for souls and 
generous interest in, and care for, all who needed spiritual guidance, 
leading the worthy commissary to send two of the clergy who applied 
to him for work at the first instance, the one to Pennsylvania and the 
other to North Carolina, induced him to propose that the Maryland 
clergy, out of their penury, should contribute for the support of an 
additional missionary among the Quakers in Pennsylvania. It hardly 
need be added that the commissary s subscription was nearly equal to 
that of all the others whose names are appended to this first mission 
ary offering made in any portion of the American Church for carrying 
the gospel to "unbelievers." 

i The Acts of Dr. Bray s visitation, held Appendix to Hawks s "Eccl. Contributions," 
at Annapolis, in Maryland, May 23, 24, 25, Anno Maryland. 
1700. London : 1700. Folio. Reprinted as an - Acts of Dr. Bray s Visitation. 



142 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

The visitation closed with the earnest and repeated request of the 
clergy that the commissary would return to England to care for the 
interests of the Church at home, by securing fitting action with refer 
ence to the law establishing the Church, and to obtain a further supply 
of clergy for the vacant cures. Though the journey was undertaken 
at his own cost, and at the sacrifice of his commissarial stipend while 
absent from his post, Dr. Bray acceded to the request of the clergy, 
and, by his presence in England, was able to defeat the machinations 
of the Quakers and Romanists in opposition to the Church, and after 
the present law had been refused the royal assent, to secure, at length, 
the passage of a bill which, approved by the authorities at home, was 
finally passed in Maryland, and confirmed by the king. The royal 
assent was given in the following terms : " Have the Quakers the bene 
fit of a toleration ? Let the Established Church have an established 
maintenance." It was during the discussion at home of the questions 
involved in the passage of this act that the tireless commissary pub 
lished "A Memorial Representing the Present State of Religion on the 
Continent of North America." This important paper, by its timely 
appearance and its careful presentation of facts, went far to awaken 
the attention of earnest members of the establishment to the spiritual 
wants of the American colonies. It described the needs of the Mary- 
laud Church in detail. There were seventeen clergymen. Churches had 
been erected in most of the parishes. These parishes were of large ex 
tent, and often but thinly inhabited. In these sparsely settled parishes 
the livings would yield but 25 or 30 per annum, the payments being 
made in tobacco, the staple article of produce in the province. In the 
better class of parishes the clergyman s income was, at that time, 
about 80, though a depreciation in values was apprehended in the 
near future. Not more than a twelfth of the population were Roman 
ists, though the number of their priests had been largely increased. 
The Quakers numbered about a tenth of the whole population, and 
were far from wealthy, when compared with the members of the 
establishment. At least forty mission-priests were required for Mary 
land alone, and the commissary detailed at length the qualifica 
tions of head and heart that they should possess. "Common 
men," he asserted, "the refuse of the clergy in England, would 
not do for American missionaries." The clergymen required for 
work in the colonies must be exemplary in their outward walk and 
conversation : men of the world, prudent, experienced in pastoral 
work and duty, and possessing " a true missionary spirit, having an 
ardent zeal for God s glory and the salvation of men s souls." Strength, 
learning, and youth were required for a work, the importance of which 
could not be over-estimated. The fertile mind of the commissary de 
vised a scheme for the selection of missionaries and their support, and 
although the plan thus originated was not literally carried out, the end 
proposed was attained, through the agency of the Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, which, on Dr. Bray s 
petition, was incorporated by the king, and of which the commissary 
was both the founder and a life-long friend. Of these exertions in 
Maryland and at home he was at length, after expending the greater 



BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH IN MARYLAND. 143 

part of his private fortune, constrained to say : "The expense as well 
as fatigue had been insupportable. But as what has been hitherto 
done does but let ine into the view of so much more which is still 
wanting to propagate and maintain Christianity in those parts ; if any 
effort of mine shall contribute anything to promote the design, I shall 
obtain an end, to accomplish which I could be content to sacrifice my 
life, with the remainder of my small fortunes." 1 The issue of circular 
letters to the clergy, enforcing the subjects discussed and approved at 
the recent visitation, occupied a portion of the commissary s time ; 
but these official communications and subsequent efforts in the direction 
of the appointment of others in his place poorly supplied the lack of 
Bray s return to the Province of Maryland. It was in no spirit of 
shrinking from duty that he remained at home, but in deference to the 
judgment of those, his superiors in the Church, who thought his in 
fluence would be more wisely exerted in England than in America. 
His efforts to secure the blessings of the Episcopate for America ; 2 his 
untiring interest in missionary work of every kind ; his connection with 
charitable efforts for the education of the negroes, out of which grew 
the chartered body known as the "Associates of Dr. Bray ; " and his 
labor for the relief, release, and colonization in America of poor debtors, 
from which the colony of Georgia took its origin, added to his literary 
and clerical work, made up an honored and most useful life, the 
memory of which is still fragrant, after the lapse of years. What 
might not have been the story had the Church of England, instead of 
retaining the devoted Bray in London, sent him back, not merely with 
commissarial, but with episcopal, powers, to win to Christ and his 
Church the province and the people he so patiently served and so ably 
vindicated ! 

In 1702 the law drawn up under the direction of Dr. Bray, and 
approved in England, and then transmitted to Maryland to be enacted 
by the Assembly there, was duly returned, and received the royal as 
sent. Then, at length, was the Church in Maryland established by 
law. By the provisions of this act the "Book of Common Prayer" was 
ordered to be read in all the churches of the establishment, and every 
place of worship or congregation, for the maintenance of whose min 
isters a certain revenue or income was directed by law to be raised, was 
to be deemed part of the established church. Every minister having 
no other benefice, and "presented, inducted, or appointed" by the 
governor, was to receive forty pounds of tobacco per poll, out of 
which he was to pay yearly a thousand pounds to the parish clerk. 
For the prevention of "all illegal and unlawful marriages, not allowable 
by the Church of England, but forbidden by the Table of Marriages," 
copies of the Table of Affinity were to be set up in the churches ; jus 
tices and magistrates were forbidden to solemnize matrimony, and the 
exaction of a fee of "five shillings sterling, and no more," was author 
ized, " provided such persons come to such parish church or chapel at 
time of divine service, for solemnizing such marriages." The sheriffs 



_ 3 pr 
sity of one to superinteud the churdTand clergy Am. Col. Ch., rv., pp. 51, 52. 



144 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

of the several counties were required to collect and pay over the min 
isterial tobacco to the incumbent of the cure. Select vestries, of at 
least six members, were to be chosen for each parish by the free 
holders who " contribute to the public taxes and charges of the said 
parish," the incumbent, being ex officio, "one of the vestry, and prin 
cipal " thereof. On the death or resignation of a vestryman the free 
holders supplied the vacancy, and on every Easter Monday two of the 
vestry who had served the previous year retired, and two were chosen 
to fill their places. Provision was made for a registrar of the vestry, 
and " the true and fair registry " of the proceedings of the vestry, "and 
of all Births, Marriages, and Burials (Negroes and Mulatoes excepted") . 
Record books were to be provided. Vestries were ordered to hold 
monthly meetings under penalties for unexcused absences. Church 
wardens were to be appointed yearly, who were to take the oaths of 
office, and to serve under penalty of fine. The church- wardens and 
vestry were to provide for the "Parochial charges," and "all necessary 
repairs," and improvements of churches, chapels, or church-yards, for 
which purpose all fines and forfeitures were to be appropriated; and, 
if required, rates were to be levied on the taxables of the parish, not 
exceeding ten pounds of tobacco per poll in any one year, to be col 
lected by the sheriff, and paid over for the uses named. No clergyman 
was to hold more than two livings, and the consent of both vestries was 
necessary for the union of two. A " sober and discreet person " might 
serve as lay-reader in the case of there being no incumbent who should 
be approved by the Ordinary, and to whose use a portion of the min 
isterial tobacco might be applied. The licensed lay-reader, on taking 
the oaths, was permitted to " read Divine Service, Homilies and such 
other good authors of practical divinity as shall be appointed." Eleven 
o clock A.M. of the first Tuesday in each month was appointed as the 
time for vestry meetings. The vestry books and accounts were to be 
open to inspection of the parishioners. The acts of toleration were 
extended to Protestant dissenters and Quakers, provided that they 
respectively conformed to the provisions of the acts, and their places 
of meeting were certified to, and registered at, the county courts. 1 

Such was the nature of the " Establishment " in Maryland, under 
which the Church existed, until the war for independence placed all 
religious beliefs and organizations on the same footing, in the eyes of 
the law. Some features of this carefully drawn act have survived the 
dis-establishment of the Maryland Church, and have become part and 
parcel of the "common law" of the American Church. We owe a 
debt of lasting gratitude to the life and public services of Dr. Thomas 
Bray. 

1 Bacon s " Laws of Maryland," 1702, Chap. i. Hist. Coll. Am. Ch., rv., pp. 139-148. 




BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH IN MARYLAND. 145 



CRITICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 

TO Maryland belongs the honor of having been the first government which pro 
claimed and put in practice the novelty of religious toleration. This grant of 

religious freedom was secured by the 
Charter given by Charles I., in 1632, 
to Cecilius, second Lord Baltimore. 
It will be borne in mind that this Char 
ter, though given to a professed mem 
ber of the Roman Catholic Church, 
was granted by the head of the re 
formed Church of England, and that 
the two references to religion, con 
tained in this important patent, were the exact phrases earlier used in the Avalon 
grant, issued to Sir George Calvert, when he was still a member of the English 
Communion. These references to religion in the Charter are found, in the first 
instance, in the fourth section, giving the proprietary the liberty of erecting 
churches, and the advowsons of all that should be built, and requiring the conse^ 
cration of the said 
churches according to 
the ecclesiastical laws 
of England; and, in 
the second place, the 
twenty-second section 
provided that no law 
should be made preju 
dicial to God s holy 
and true Christian re 
ligion. The original 
is as follows : Proviso 
semper, quod nulla fiat inlerpretatio, per quam sacro sancto Dei, et vera Christi 
ana religio . . . immutatione, prejudicio vel dispendio patiantur. Certainly 
the holy service of God and the true Christian religion, as understood by the power 
using these words to limit rights and privileges elsewhere conferred, could only 
mean that which was held by the established Church of England. The very exer 
cise of the Romish faith at this time was contrary to law. The Charter, by this 
somewhat vague proviso, secured, though it by no means directly enjoined, tolera 
tion, and the "Protestant Catholics," as we have seen, were not slow in claiming 
the protection of law, in the exercise of their religious freedom, and the Romish 
authorities were equally prompt in allowing and enforcing their claim of right. 

The Assembly of 1639 declared that the " Holy Church within this Province 
shall have her rights and liberties." A similar law was enacted the following year. 
Each of these provisions is founded on the first clause of Magna Charta, which 
expresses the same idea, and applies, of course, to the Church of England. This 
could not be otherwise in a legislative enactment, made by subjects of the English 
crown, who were, by their very common law of the kingdom, required to recognize 
the establishment as the national church. Besides, the continuity of the Church 
of England as reformed, with the Church of England prior to the Reformation, 
was asserted by the highest authorities of the realm, both legislative and legal. In 
these very references to " Holy Church," the church settlers of Maryland found 
their rights protected and their religious faith acknowledged. 

In April, 1649, the Assembly met under the new governor, William Stone. 
The faith of the members of this body, which passed " the first law securing religious 

liberty that ever passed a legally constituted 
legislature" (Narrative and Critical History 
of America, m., p. 534), has been a matter of 
dispute ; but it is certain that out of the sixteen 
members, including the governor, nine bur 
gesses and six councillors ; the governor, three 
of the council, and at least two of the burgesses, were Protestant, while of the rest 
the faith of two is doubtful. If the governor and council sat as a separate house, 
as is probable, the claim of the Roman Catholics to the enactment of this law is 




146 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



overthrown, and, in any event, the Romish element in the Assembly is not likely to 
have been in majority. The words of this act, so far as it relates to toleration, are 
as follows : 

"Whereas, the enforcing of the conscience in matters of religion hath fre 
quently fallen out to be of dangerous consequence in those commonwealths where 
it hath been practiced, and for the more quiet and peaceable government of this 
province, and the better to preserve mutual love and unity amongst the inhabitants 
here "it was enacted that no person " professing to believe in Jesus Christ shall, 
from henceforth, be any waies troubled, molested, or discountenanced for, or in 
respect of, his or her religion, nor in the free exercise thereof within this province, 
.... nor any way compelled to the beleefe or exercise of any other religion, 
against his or her consent." By other sections of this act of toleration, blasphemy 
and the denial of the divinity of Christ, or the Trinity, were made punishable with 
death, and those using reproachful words concerning the Blessed Virgin or the 
Apostles, or applying epithets to any one in matters of religion, were punished by a 
fine, and in default thereof by whipping or imprisonment. It does not appear that 
these penalties were ever inflicted, and they were far less severe than those 
attached to an act of Parliament passed the year before for preventing the spread 
of heresy and blasphemy. Later, when the rule of the Commonwealth was 
extended over Maryland, the Puritans, who had been welcomed to a home by 

Governor Stone in 1649, when fugitives 
from penal laws in Virginia, exempted 
/ t 1 S\/ //I -.^ /o the Romanists from the privilege of tol- 

/7L rrf XV/i ///. /H i * eration. On the restoration of the monar 

t/J *r> 2WV/t**fcfe* chy there wag a return to the previous 

state of things. 

Following Chalmers, who was the 
earliest historian of Maryland, the Assem 
bly of 1649 has been generally regarded 
as containing a Roman Catholic majority. 
Mr. Sebastian F. Streeter, in his " Mary 
land Two Hundred Years ago," claimed 
that this Assembly was Protestant by 
majority. This question was carefully 
discussed by Mr. George Lynn-Lachlan 
Davis in his "Day Star of American 
Freedom ; or, The Birth and Early Growth 
of Toleration in the Province of Mary 
land ; " a work based on an examination 
of wills, rent-rolls, and other records. 
Dr. Richard McSherry, in an article 
originally published in the " Southern 
Review " and afterwards reprinted in his 
"Essays and Lectures," attacked the 
position of Streeter. The Rev. Edward D. Neill contributed an article on the rela 
tions of Protestants and Roman Catholics to the spirit of toleration in his " Lord 
Baltimore and Toleration in Maryland," printed in the " Contemporary Review," 
September, 1876. The Rev. B. F. Brown has added a valuable contribution to the 
discussion in his "Early Religious History of Maryland; Maryland not a Roman 
Catholic Colony," 1876. The Rev. Dr. Ethan Allen, Historiographer of the Mary 
land Church, in his "Who were the Early Settlers of Maryland?" published by 
the Historical Society in 1865, shows that the vast majority of the settlers from the 
very first were Protestants. The lato John P. Kennedy, in his discourse on the 
" Life and Character of the First Lord Baltimore," 1845, delivered before the His 
torical Society, maintained that toleration was in the Charter and not in the Act of 
1649, and that as much honor was due to the king who granted this boon as to the 
nobleman who received it. Reviewed in 1846, by Mr. B. U. Campbell, Mr. Kennedy 
felt called upon to reply. In 1855 Dr. Ethan Allen published in pamphlet form his 
"Maryland Toleration," which had earlier appeared in the "Church Review, in 
which he denied that Maryland was a Roman Catholic colony, and claimed that 
protection to all faiths was guaranteed by the royal charter. The subject received 
attention in the discussion between Mr. W. E. Gladstone and Cardinal Manning 
concerning the Vatican decrees, in 1875. The cardinal had appealed to the tolera 
tion granted, as he assumed, by Roman Catholics in Maryland, to meet the charge 




INDORSEMENT OF THE TOLERATION ACT. 



BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH IN MARYLAND. 



147 




ALL HALLOWS PARISH CHURCH, SNOW HILL, MARYLAND. 



of the premier that the Roman Church would, if it were in her power, enforce by 
pains and penalties the acceptance of her creed. In his " Vaticanism " Mr. Glad 
stone replied, and in his reissue of his essay, under the title "Rome and the New 
est Fashions in Religion," reiterated his arguments. Numerous other publications 
might be named, if it were worth while to attempt the bibliography of this interest 
ing subject. The notes to Chapter xni. of the " Narrative and Critical History of 
America," Vol. HI., pp. 553-562, and the chapter itself by W. T. Brautley, ibid., 
pp. 518-553, are full of valuable and important references to the whole subject of 
the early history of Maryland. 

"The deplorable state and condition of the Province of Maryland for want 
of an established ministry," referred to by the Pautuxent priest, is shown by the 
statements of the two Labadists, Jasper bankers and Peter Sluyter, who visited 
Maryland in 1680, and left on record their impressions of the religious condition 
of the province as follows : " The lives of the planters in Maryland and Virginia 
are very godless and profane. They listen neither to God nor his commandments, 
and have neither church nor cloister. Sometimes there is some one who is called 
a minister, who does not, as elsewhere, sorve in one place, for in all Virginia and 
Maryland there is not a city or a village but travels for profit, and for that pur 
pose visits the plantations through the country, and then addresses the people ; but 
I know of no public assemblages being held in these places ; you hear often that 
these ministers are worse than anybody else, yea, are an abomination." Memoirs 
of the Long Island Historical Society, i., p. 218. 

Dickinson, a Quaker preacher, as quoted by Neill, in his " Founders of Mary 
land" (p. 171), under date of "8th 11 mo. 1695, O.S.," writes from the Downs: 
" Several priests were going over into Maryland, having heard that the government 
had laid a tax of forty pounds of tobacco on each inhabitant for the advancement 
of the priest s wages." These were, possibly, the clergy ordained at Saint Paul s 
for the mission-work in America. 



CHAPTER IX. 

BEGINNINGS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK AND THE 

MIDDLE COLONIES. 




annals of the Church in New York begin with an amusing 
I episode. Hudson, who, in the "Half Moon," discovered the 
island of Manhattan, was an Englishman and an English church 
man, and at the outset of his earliest voyage of discovery received 
the sacrament as his Viaticum; 1 but the Dutch, in whose employ he 
sailed, reaped the advantages of his discovery, and on the settlement of 

New Netherlands the faith of 
si ./ / the National Church of Hol- 

iLA^L, <2*c GC land was ^ rst intr0( iuced. At 
* the conquest of the colony by 
the English, under Colonel 
Richard Nicolls, in 1664, guarantees of liberty of conscience in "di 
vine worship and church discipline," 2 thus including the rights of the 
transplanted church, were granted to the vanquished. 

Still the occupancy of the town by the English was followed by the 
introduction of the Church of England Service, and as there was no 
place of worship but the Dutch church within the fort, it was cordially 
arranged by the articles of capitulation, that after the Dutch had fin 
ished their use of the building, the chaplain of the British forces should 
have the occupancy of the same. "This," says Brodhead, "was all 
the footing that the English Episcopal Church had in New York for 
more than thirty years." 3 

Recaptured by the Dutch in 1673, and again surrendered to the 
English the following year, it is to be noted that stipulations were made 
by Governor Colve in his communications with Major Edmund Andros, 
that the inhabitants " be allowed to retain their customary church privi 
leges in Divine Service and Church Discipline ; "to which Andros replied, 
that " the usuall discipline of their church bee continued to them as 
formerly. 4 The pastor of the old Dutch Church in New York at this 
time was Domine Wilhelmus Van Nieuwenhuysen, who had been sent 
out from Holland by the classis of Amsterdam, in 1671. In the ship 
which brought Governor Andros.froin England there came a clergyman 
who had both Dutch and English orders, Domine Nicolaus Van Rens- 
selaer, a younger son of the first Patroon of Rensselaerswyck. Meet 
ing King Charles II., when the latter was in exile, at Brussels, and 
predicting the restoration of the monarch to his hereditary rights and 

Anderson s " Col. Ch.," I., pp. 343, 344. Doc. Hist, of New York, Quarto Ed., in.. 

Brodhcad s " Hist of N.Y., r i., p. 762. p. 49. 
;! Ibid., n., p. 44. 



BEGINNINGS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 149 

throne, the domine accompanied the king on his return and served as 
chaplain to the Dutch ambassador, Van Gogh, and afterwards as minis 
ter of the Dutch Church at Westminster and lecturer at St. Margaret s, 
Lothbury, London. While in England he received both deacon s and 
priest s orders at the hands of John Earle, Bishop of Salisbury, between 
the years 1663-5, and sailed for America in company with Andros, 
bearing a letter from the Duke of York recommending him, at his own 
request, " to be minister of one of the Dutch churches in New York or 
New Albany, when a vacancy shall happen." 1 The duke had provided 
for a chaplain for the garrison at New York, with a stipend of 121 
6s. Sd. per annum, 2 and it is probable that a clergyman accompanied 
Andros on this expedition ; but no record of the name of either of these 
is extant, nor is there mention of any other prior to the induction of 
the Rev. Charles Wolley, in 1678. 

Domine Van Rensselaer appears to have remained only a short time 
in the city of New York, but proceeded soon after his arrival to his 
father s colony at Albany, where, in accordance with the mandate of 
the Duke of York and by order of Governor Andros, he was subse 
quently inducted into the charge of the Dutch Church in that city as 
associate with Domine Schaats. 3 On Domine Van Rensselaer s propos 
ing to baptize some children in New York the pastor of the Collegiate 
Church interposed with a peremptory refusal ; the matter reaching the 
council, on Van Rensselaer s complaint, the Dutch minister, who had on 
the street asserted that Van Rensselaer "was not aLawfull minister, nor 
his admittance at Albany to be Lawfull," 4 stoutly maintained that "no 
one y* only had orders from y e Church of England had sufficient Authority 
to be admitted a Minister here, to administer y e Sacraments without a 
certificate " from the classis. The irregularity of the proceedings in 
the induction of Van Rensselaer is evident from the fact that, instead of 
claiming his right to baptize on the ground of his ordination in Hol 
land, he produced his English letters of orders and certificates of his 
ministering in London, together with the Duke of York s recommen 
dation to any vacancy either in New York or Albany. The question 
before the council was " whether the ordination of y e Church of Eng 
land be not sufficient qualification for a minister comporting himself 
accordingly, to be admitted, officiate and administer y e Sacraments ac 
cording to y e Constitution of y Reformed Churches of Holland." 5 
Finally, though with evident reluctance, the Dutch domine, with his 
elders and deacons, presented in writing the following amended answer, 
with which all the parties litigant appeared to have been satisfied, to 
wit: 

To the Noble, High, Honorable Sir, the Major EDMUND ANDROS, Governor- 
General of all His Royal Highnesses Territories in America : 

NOBLE, HIGH, HONORABLE SIR, A minister, according to the Order of the 
Church of England lawfully called, is sufficiently qualified to be admitted to the 

N.Y. Col. Docs., in., p. 225. Brodhead s 4 O Callagkan s "Doc. Hist, of N.Y.," in., 

" Hist, of N.Y.," H., p. 272. pp. 526, 527. 

2 N.Y. Col. Docs., ni., p. 220. s Council Minutes in " Doc. Hist, of N.Y.," 

3 Brodhead s "History of New York," u., in., pp. 526, 527. Munsell s "Annuls of Albany," 
p. 228. vi., pp. 67-74. 



150 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 




jording 

Noble, High, Honorable Sir, 

Your Excellency s servants and subjects, 
THE CONSISTORY OF THIS CITY OP NEW YORK, 
IN THE NAME OP ALL, 

WILHELMUS VAN NIEWENHUYSEN, 

Pastor. 
NEW YORK, October 1, 1675. 

On the following day Van Rensselaer yielded the point in contro 
versy, by subscribing the following agreement : 

I, the undersigned, have promised, and hereby promise, to conduct myself in 
my Church service as Minister of Albany and Rensselaerswyck according to the Low 
Dutch Church, conformably to the public Church service and discipline of the 
Reformed Church of Holland, pursuant to that which I have solemnly promised in my 
public installation before the whole congregation of Albany, etc. 

Done in the presence and view of Domine Wilhelmus Van Nieuwenhuysen, 
minister of the Word of God within New York, and Jeronimus Ebbing, Elder, and 
the Burgomaster Oloff Stevensen Van Cortlandt. 

NICOLAUS VAN RENSSELAER, 

Minister of the Word of God of New Albany and Rensselaerswyck. 
NEW YORK, October 2, 1675. 

The subject of all this controversy, a minister on whom the vows 
of ordination seemed to rest but lightly, was shortly brought before the 
court for " false preaching." On being imprisoned by the magistrates at 
Albany for " some dubious words in his sermon or doctrine," the 
court required accuser and accused to " forgive and forget." In 1677 
Andros deposed Van Rensselaer from his ministry " on account of 
his bad and scandalous life," 2 and the following year he died. 

It being evident that little good to the Church could be expected 
from the services of the eccentric Van Rensselaer, on the return of 
Governor Andros to New York, in August, 1678, he was attended by 

a Cambridge graduate, in holy or- 



pointed by the Duke of York, chaplain 
of the forces at Fort James. The 

HANDWRITING OF B.A. DEGREE, place of worship was the chapel in 

the fort, shared as it was for many 

* /7 9- >#? years with the Dutch minister and 

~itf fr & " s con g re g a tion, and, doubtless, the 
(/ place in which the Episcopally or 

dained Van Rensselaer was forbid- 
HANDWRITING IN M.A. DEGREE. 3 den to minister the sacrament of 

baptism. Among the first acts of 
the new incumbent was the compliance with the governor s " Brief" 

1 Hist. Mag., ix., pp. 351-354. sizar, 13 June, 1670." He was matriculated a 

Brodhead, " Hist, of N.Y.," II., p. 300. sizar of Emmanuel College, on the 9th of July, 

3 The signatures copied above are from the 1670. He took the B.A. degree in January, 

" degree-book " at the University of Cambridge, 1673-4, and proceeded Master of Arts in July, 

where, as we learn from the records, " Ch. Wol- 1677. 

ley of Liuc." (Lincolnshire) was "admitted 



BEGINNINGS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 



151 



of the 17th of August, 1678, authorizing and requiring the collec 
tion of the charity of the well-disposed towards the redemption 
of Jacob Leisler, and several other inhabitants of New York, who had 
been taken captive by Turkish corsairs. The appeal was successful, 
and the captives were speedily released from slavery. An interest 
ing, if not flattering, account of Mr. Wolley s ministrations is furnished 
us in the journal of two Dutch "Labadists," 1 Jasper Dankers and 
Peter Sluyter, who had come from Wiewerd in Friesland, to select in 
the New World a site for the settlement of a colony of their people. 
Shrewd and observing men as these humble travellers were, their 
quaint narrative of the church service at New York, on the 20th Sunday 
after Trinity, October 15, 1679 (N. S.) is well worthy of reproduc 
tion in our pages : " 15th. Sunday. We went at noon to-day, to 
hear the English Minister, whose services took place after the Dutch 
Church was out. There were not above twenty-five or thirty 
people in the church. The first thing that occurred was the read 
ing of all their prayers and ceremonies out of the prayer-book, as 
is done in all Episcopal Churches. A young man then went into the 
pulpit and commenced preaching, who thought he was performing 
wonders ; but he had a little book in his 
hand out of which he read his sermon, which 
was about a quarter of an hour or half an 
hour long. With this the services were con 
cluded, at which we could not be sufficiently 
astonished. This was all that happened 
with us to-day." 2 Peter Sluyter is reported 
by Dankers, the writer of the journal, as 
having attended the church service again 
and again, with a view of " exercising him 
self in the English language." 3 On the return 
of these simple-minded enthusiasts to New 
York they had occasion to call on the govern 
or, which they did on the afternoon of Palm 
Sunday, about five o clock, "who was still 
engaged, at our coming, in the Common 
Prayer; but as soon as it was finished he 
came and spoke to us." 4 

But, in spite of his use of "a little 
book" in preaching and his failure to win the 
praise of the critical Labadist missionaries, 
Chaplain Wolley is entitled to kind remem 
brance for a contribution to the literature of the time, which, 
though encumbered with pedantry, and fuller of notices of the 
savages than the European settlers, still gives us valuable infor 
mation of the state of the city and province at the period of its 
composition. " A Two Years Journal in New York, and part of the 
Territories in America," by C. W., A.M., published in London, in 
1701, assures us with respect to his American home that it is "a place 

1 Followers of Jean De Labadie, a French 3 Ibid., pp. 160^ 164. 

enthusiast. 4 Ibid., p. 284. 

8 Long Island Hist. Soc. Coll., I., p. 148. 




ARMS OF SIR FRANCIS 
NICHOLSON, 1693. 



152 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

of as sweet and agreeable air as ever I breathed in, and the inhabitants, 
both English and Dutch, very civil and courteous, as I may speak by 
experience, amongst whom I have often wished myself and family, to 
whose tables I was frequently invited, and always concluded with a 
generous bottle of Madeira." ! The chaplain s kindly disposition is shown 
.by his participation in the effort for the erection of the new Dutch 
church, to which the governor, despite his churchly inolinings, con 
tributed liberally, and for which he applied the surplus moneys raised 
in response to his brief in behalf of the captives in Turkey. Wolley 
bore with him, on his return, the following attestation of his worth 
and services : 

A Certificate to Mr. Charles Wolley to goe for England in the Hopewell. 

S Edmund Andros, Kn ., &c. Whereas M r . Charles Wolley (a Minister of the 
Church of England) came over into these parts in the month of August, 1678, and 
hath officiated accordingly as Chaplaine under his Royall Highnesse during the 
time of his abode here. Now upon applicaQon for leave to return for England, in 
order to some promoQon in the Church to which hee is presented, hee having 
liberty to proceed on his voyage, These are to certify the above, and that the s d 
M r Wolley hath in this place comported himselfe unblameable in his Life and Con- 
versa<jon. In testimony whereof 2 1 have hereunto sett my hand and seal of the 
Province in New Yorke, this 15 th day of July, in the 32 d yeare of His Maj tJ " Raigne, 
Annoq. Doinine, 1680. Examined by mee, M. N. Sec . 3 

It is possible that Chaplain Wolley returned to New York. In 
the preface to his published journal he speaks of having been " taken 
off, from the proper studies and offices of his Function, for his un- 
profitablenes;" and, whatever this may mean, the records of New 
York show that "Charles Wooley " was admitted a freeman in 1702. 
If this was the former chaplain, it is evident that he did not resume 
the exercise of his ministry, and it is probable that death soon closed 
his career. 

Two years elapsed ere the vacant chaplaincy was filled. Andros 
had been superseded by Colonel Thomas Dongan, who was a Roman 

Catholic, and who arrived in New 
York on Saturday, the 25th of Au 
gust, 1683. Accompanying him was 
an English Jesuit priest, Thomas Har 
vey, of London. In the same frigate, 
the "Constant Warwick," and accom- 
panying the new governor came the 

Rev. Dr. John Gordon, who was commissioned as chaplain to the forces at 
New York. Dr. Gordon remained but a short time with his charge, and, 
on his return, the Rev. Josias Clarke received the appointment. Mr. 
Clarke was commissioned on the 16th of June, 1684, and his cer 
tificate, or " Letter-dimissory," on record at Albany, 4 may be taken 
to indicate the term of his service. This document bears date of 

1 A reprint of Wolley s Journal was pub- Albany, xxxn., p. 83. Contributed by Dr. O Cal- 

lishcd by W. Gowans, of New York, in 1860, la<rhan,inthe"IIist.Mag. "i., pp.371, 372. Wol- 

with an* Introduction by Dr. O Callaghan. ley s salary ceased October 6, 1683. Camrlen 

* Vide Dr. O Callaghan s Introduction to Soc. Secret Services. Charles II. and James II., 

Wolley s Journal, p. 15, and Valentine s " Hist. p. 128. Brodhead, n., p. 375, note. 
of New York," p. 377. N. Y. Col. MSS., xxxin. 

3 General Entries in Sec. of State Min.. 




BEGINNINGS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 153 

October 7, 1686. Mr. Clark s character and disposition may be in 
ferred from an incident occurring soon after his arrival at his post. 
Among the emigrants brought from Scotland in the " Seaflower " was 
an enthusiast, named David Jameson, who, though liberally educated, 
had allied himself with a body of ranters, -who abjured the various 
creeds of Christendom and rejected as well the received version of the 
Holy Scriptures. Having been examined before the Duke of York, at 
Edinburgh, Jameson was condemned to transportation to America, and 
Dr. George Lockhart, one of the proprietors of the " Seaflower," was 
authorized to sell him as a " Eedemptioner " to any one who would pay 
the cost of his passage. With the humane and kindly impulses of a 
Christian and a scholar, Clark, on the arrival of Jameson, promptly 
paid the redemption money, which "the chief men of the place "at 
once repaid to the charitable chaplain. The Scotch exile, thus saved 
from slavery, found occupation and a livelihood as master in a Latin 
school, for which position he was well prepared. 

While the Church was being quietly introduced into New York by 
the services of the successive chaplains at Fort James, the crown had 
passed into the hands of the Duke of York, who, as James II., was 
seeking at home the tolera 
tion, if not the establish 
ment, of the Roman faith 
he professed. When, at 
length, it was the royal 
pleasure to attend to the af 
fairs of the plantations, the 
Church of England, rather 

than that of Rome, seemed the object of the sovereign s concern and care. 
The " Rose " frigate brought to Boston, with the hated Edward Ran 
dolph, both the order vacating the charter of the colony and the Rev. 
Robert RatclifFe, a clergyman recommended by the Bishop of London. 
For the first time the service of the Church of England was regularly 
celebrated in the Town Hall of Boston, with Bibles and Service Books 
provided by the Roman Catholic king. In place of Sewall, who had 
controlled the press in Massachusetts, Randolph became its censor. 
Dudley and his associates quietly replaced the magistrates of the the 
ocracy, and while a baffled and defeated oligarchy sullenly mourned 
the loss of authority, the new government entered into place and 
power " with the general consent and applause of the people." l The 
" Instructions " to Andros and Dongan from the king were of similar 
effect. 

You shall take especiall care that God Almighty bee devoutly and duely 
served throughout yo r Government ; the Book of Common Prayer, as it is now 
establisht, read each Sunday and Holyday, and the Blessed Sacrament administered 
according to the Rites of the Church of England. You shall be careful that the 
Churches already built there shall bee well and orderly kept and more built as y 6 
Colony shall, by God s blessing, bee improved. And that besides a competent main 
tenance to bee assigned to y 3 Minister of each Church, a convenient House bee 
built at the comon charge for each minister, and a competent Proportion of Land 
assigned him for a Glebe and exercise of his Industry. 

1 Brodhead s " New York," n., p. 445. 




154 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

And you are to take care that the Parishes bee so limited and settled as you 
shall find most convenient for y^ accomplishing this good work. 

Our will and pleasure is that noe minister oee preferred by you to any 
Ecclesiastical Benefice in that Our Province, without a certificat from ye Most Rever 
end the Lord Archbishop of Canterburv of his being conformable to y e Doctrine 
and Discipline of the Church of England, and of a good life and conversation. 1 

The n Instructions " proceed to give the governor the power of 
removing scandalous incumbents. They provide that the ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction of the primate should prevail throughout the province in 
everything but collating to benefices, granting licenses for marriages, 
and the probate of wills , which were made the prerogative of the 
governor. The archbishop s license was also required for school 
masters. Tables of Affinity were ordered to be hung up in the churches 
and copies of the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Homilies were to be 
kept and used in the various parishes. 

It is evident that, although the monarch was a papist, the policy 
of the Commissioners of Plantations was that of the Establishment. 
The restriction respecting school-masters appears to have been adopted 
at the instance of Dr. Compton, Bishop of London, on the 15th day 
of April, 1685, and is found in the instructions to Sir Philip Howard, 
as Governor of Jamaica, April 27, 1685. a It was thus that the Church 
of England was " established " in New York. A noticeable variation 
from the usual form of these " Instructions " is seen in the mention 
of the Primate of All England, as having jurisdiction in the colony, 
instead of the Bishop of London. A measure of ecclesiastical authority 
appears to have been designated by successive sovereigns to the in 
cumbent of the See of London from the early days of discovery and 
colonization, when the zeal of the prelate filling that bishopric was 
naturally excited in behalf of the adventurers setting forth for the New 
World, from the docks and ship-yards of the Thames. Unti