psalm 90,
13-
From the old metrical paraphrase, sung at the
Consecration of Bishop Seabury in Aberdeen, n
November 1784, and at the centennial commem-
oration of the Consecration, 1884, in Aberdeen
and in Connecticut.
OLORD, the Saviour and defence
Of us Thy chosen race,
From age to age Thou still hast been
Our sure abiding-place.
To satisfy and cheer our souls
Thy early mercy send;
That we may all our days to come
In joy and comfort spend.
Let happy times, with large amends,
Dry up our former tears,
Or equal at the least the term
Of our afflicted years.
To all Thy servants, Lord, let this
Thy wondrous work be known;
And to our offspring yet unborn
Thy glorious power be shown.
Let Thy bright rays upon us shine,
Give Thou our work success;
The glorious work we have in hand
Do Thou vouchsafe to bless.
To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
The God whom we adore,
Be glory; as it was, is now,
And shall be evermore. Amen.
r
MARIA SEABURY
At Newton Highlands, Mass., March 18, 1916,
in her eighty-third year, died MARIA SEABURY,
daughter of Charles Saltonstall and Ruth Haw-
kins (Mount) Seabury, late of Stony Brook, L. I.,
about three miles from Caroline Church, Se-
tauket, in the grave yard of which she was laid to
rest on the 21st of the same month. Her mother
was a sister of William and of Shepard Mount,
artists of distinction in their day, and among the
earliest of the members of the National Academy
of Design in New York. Her father was the
second son of Rev. Charles Seabury, the only son
of Bishop Seabury who left issue, and who
succeeded his father as rector of St. James', New
London, and for the last thirty years of his life
was rector of Caroline Church. Her Churchman-
ship was of the type of those men, and her faith-
ful devotion to all the duties of her life was a
beautiful exemplification of the principles which
by tradition from them she had received to hold.
Of deep and tenacious affections, strong char-
acter, luminous intelligence, and, in spite of her
very active habits, of no small literary cultiva-
tion, she afforded a remarkable instance of large
achievement, with very slender resources, and in
the face of constantly recurring adversities al-
ways mastered by her cheery forcefulness. In
the cares and labors of her life she may well be
said to have done a man's part, without the least
abatement of the grace and charm which emi-
nently belonged to her as a woman ; and to all
who were permitted to know her, either of her
own or later generations, the memory of her ex-
ample will always be as of the light that shineth
in darkness. W. J. S.
DIED
SEABURY Died in Boston, March 27th,
CATHARINE REGIXA SEABURY, of Mendon, Mass.,
daughter of the late Rev. Samuel Seabury,
D.D., of the General Theological Seminary,
and of Mary Ann Schuyler Jones Seabury, his
wife, and great grand-daugner of the Rt. Rev.
Samuel Seabury, D.D., first Bishop of the
American Church.
"Grant unto her, O Lord, eternal rest,
And let light perpetual shine upon her."
MEMORIAL
EXCERPT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE FACULTY OF
THE GENERAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Upon motion of Professor Edmunds the fol-
lowing resolution was unanimously adopted by a
rising vote :
"The faculty of the General Theological Semi-
nary desire to put on record, at the first meeting
of the academic year, their sense of the loss
which has come to them and to the seminary in
the death of the Rev. WILLIAM JONES SEABURY,
D.D. He has gone to his rest after a long life
^x faithful service to his Master and to the
Church. Of his seventy-nine years fifty were
spent in the ministry, and forty-four as instructor
and professor in this institution. Six of the
present faculty were undergraduate students
under him. The member next in seniority is his
academic junior by thirty years. To many of our
alumni he has been the single representative of
former days, while to his colleagues he has been
able to recall precedents and happenings in the
past which have shed light on the problems of the
present.
"He has been known in the Church as be-
came the bearer of his illustrious name as the
staunch upholder of its principles and order.
He has placed on record from the authentic and
abundant sources open to him the stories of
events connected with the beginnings of the
American episcopate. He has been the wise coun-
sellor of perplexed bishops and priests. He has
occupied places of honor and usefulness on the
governing boards of many institutions. Every-
where he has been held in esteem and regard.
But to his colleagues of the faculty have been
given a closer contact and a privileged intimacy.
They know in a special degree the vigor and
clearness of thought, seen in these later years
when they might have been lessened by age ; the
humor, always kindly, which banished dulness
and sometimes perhaps prevented differences of
judgment from becoming too sharp ; the firm con-
victions combined in a wonderful way with a
readiness to recognize new viewpoints and to
accept changed methods ; the consistent courtesy
as of a Christian gentleman ; the unfailing sym-
pathy and good will in all personal relations ; the
genuine humility, the perfect sincerity, the true
devoutiaess, which marked his character. They
will miss him greatly as counsellor and as friend,
and his name will be carved deep, not only on the
stone tablet near the altar where he delighted to
officiate but also on their hearts. May he rest
in peace."
Attest :
CHARLES N. SHEPARD, Secretary.
September 27, 1916.
SAMUEL SEABURY, the noted jurist
counsel for the Hofstader committee inves-
tigating the New York City administration,
as he appears spending a week-end of rest
at his home in East Hampton, L. I.
WiH. World nhoto
SAMUEL SEABURY BELL
BRONXVILLE, N. Y. At the age of 75,
Samuel Seabury Bell, retired banker and
cousin of the Hofstadter Legislative In-
vestigating counsel, died October 15th at
the home of his niece, Miss Gertrude
Slade, with whom he had resided for the
past ten years. He had been retired for
several years.
Mr. Bell, who was a son of the late
Samuel Peters Bell, was born in New
York. He was a great-great-grandson of
the Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury, the first
Anglican Bishop of the United States.
While his two brothers, Charles and
Frank Bell, joined the surveying part of
the Canadian Pacific Railroad when the
line was extended to the West Coast and
later became active in the development of
British Columbia, Samuel remained in
New York and engaged in banking.
Surviving him, besides his brothers, is a
sister, Miss Lydia Bell of Bronxville.
LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
OF
THE RT. REV. SAMUEL SEABURY, D.D.
WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut.
From 1635 to 1865.
Two volumes, 8vo .... $6.00.
Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson, D. D.
Missionary of the Church of England in Connecticut, and First President
of King's College, New York.
One volume, 8vo .... $3.00.
Life and Times of William Samuel Johnson, LL. D.
First Senator in Congress from Connecticut, and President of 'Columbia
College, New York.
One volume, 8vo .... $2.50.
LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
OF
THE RIGHT REVEREND
SAMUEL SEABURY, D.D
FIRST BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT, AND OF THE EPISCOPAL
CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
E. EDWARDS ^EARDSLEY, D.D., LL.D.
RECTOR OF ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH, NEW HAVEN.
BOSTON:
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY.
C&e Ktoermfce Press,
1881.
COPYRIGHT, 1880,
Br E. EDWARDS BEARDSLEY.
RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:
STEREOTYPED AND FEINTED
H. 0. HOUQHTON AND COMPANY.
To
THE MOST REVEREND ROBERT EDEN, D. D.,
PRIMUS, BISHOP OF MORAY, ROSS, AND CAITHNESS,
IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF THE BENEFITS WHICH HAVE FLOWED FROM THB
ACT OF HIS PREDECESSOR IN CONSECRATING THE
FIRST BISHOP EOR THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA;
AND IN TESTIMONY OF THE BOND OF INTEREST AND FELLOWSHIP
WHICH SHOULD EVER BIND TOGETHER CHURCHES OF THE ONE FAITH,
jts Mum*
IS RESPECTFULLY AND CORDIALLY DEDICATED
BY
THE AUTHOR.
M181331
PBEFAOE.
To very many persons it has been a matter of
wonder that so distinguished a prelate as Seabury,
who bore a most important part in the organization
and establishment of the Church in this country,
should be left so long without an extended biogra-
phy. It is not necessary to inquire into the causes of
this neglect. A brief and imperfect outline of his
character has been given in various publications ; but
this is the first attempt to bring together the leading
events of his earlier and his later life, and to trace
him, as he may be seen in his works and correspond-
ence, from colonial times to the end of his episcopate.
The lapse of a century has carried away some of
the materials for such a biography, and one may
therefore regret that it had not been commenced be-
fore all the great actors, with whom he was inti-
mately associated, had descended to the grave. I
have no doubt that the Bishop himself, like other
public men, destroyed many papers which he did not
believe essential to the history of the period in which
he lived, or which he did not care to have -fall into
other hands. Those that have been preserved and
PREFACE.
gathered by me are much more abundant and satis-
factory than was anticipated when the preparation of
this volume was projected. While the first part of
his journal as Bishop, ending with May, 1791, is miss-
ing, there are contemporary documents to supply, in
a sufficient measure, the details of his Episcopal acts
and complete the view of his character and services.
He began life as an enthusiastic royalist, and as-
serted his political opinions with a sturdiness and
ability which, in the heats of the Revolution, put him
in great peril and distress. As a fair historian, I
have allowed him to tell the story of his own suffer-
ings at the outbreak of the war which led to the in-
dependence of the colonies ; and the candid reader
will observe that no effort has been made to conceal
in the least degree this portion of his history, or to
distort the plain meaning of his words or his acts.
The time has long since gone by when there need be
any^ timidity or hesitation in speaking freely of those
upon whom obloquy was once heaped for conscien-
tiously espousing the cause of the crown.
The name of Bishop Seabury is identified with the
Church in Connecticut. It was in making researches
and collecting materials for the two volumes of his-
tory, which have already been published, that I first
conceived the idea of writing his life. I found valu-
able letters and documents which could not well be
used in the historic narrative, and it seemed to me
that it was due to his cherished memory to give them
the greater prominence of a distinct consideration and
PREFACE. ix
a separate work. Full justice cannot be done to the
character of an illustrious individual without pre-
senting, as far as possible, a complete picture of what
he thought and how he acted ; what he was in him-
self, in his principles, in his purposes, and in the
deeper sanctities of his inner life.
Not only is Bishop Seabury identified with the
Church in Connecticut : he belongs to the whole
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of
America, and the interest, therefore, in his biography
should be general, not local. No one who wishes to
understand thoroughly the character of the men who,
in our early ecclesiastical councils, held fast to great
principles, and worked steadily and prayerfully for
the union and consolidation of what appeared for a
time to be opposing parties, will fail to appreciate
this effort to bring out the influence of the first
Bishop of Connecticut, and to present the main facts
of his history in unbroken chronological order.
I am indebted to several gentlemen for kindly an-
swering letters of inquiry and furnishing me with in-
teresting incidents. My thanks are especially due to
the Rev. William J. Seabury, D. D., a great grandson
of the Bishop, for the loan of the MS. Letter-book,
and for information which has been of much service
to me ; to the Rt. Rev. Dr. William Stevens Perry,
Bishop of Iowa, for the use of the MS. volume of the
Society's letters, New York, now in his possession
as historiographer of the Church ; and to the Rev.
Samuel Hart, M. A., Professor in Trinity College,
X PREFACE.
Hartford, for valuable pamphlets and free access to
the archives of the diocese. The Kev. Dr. Thomas
W. Coit, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the
Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown ; Rev. William
Walker, of Monymusk, Scotland, and Mr. George
Grub, LL. D., of Aberdeen, should be included in my
acknowledgments, as they have favored me with
facts and papers which add t interest and value to the
work. Due credit has been given in the foot-notes
for all the matter drawn from " The Historical Notes
and Documents " which constitute the third volume
of Perry's " Half Century of the Legislation of the
American Church," or "Journals of General Conven-
tions."
The frontispiece was made expressly for this work.
The original portrait, now in the Library of Trinity
College, was engraved in 1786 by the celebrated
English engraver, William Sharp, and the plate af-
fectionately inscribed to Benjamin West, Esq., by
Duche*, his grateful friend and pupil. Copies of this
print have become exceedingly rare, and the engrav-
ing which forms the frontispiece of the present vol-
ume will supply, what many have long wished to
obtain, a good likeness of Bishop Seabury.
NEW HAVEN, November, 1880.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE; EDUCATION OF HIS FATHER, AND CON-
FORMITY TO EPISCOPACY ; MISSIONARY AT NEW LONDON,
AND REMOVAL TO HEMPSTEAD; THE SON GRADUATES AT YALE
COLLEGE, AND IS APPOINTED A CATECHIST; GOES ABROAD
AND IS ORDAINED FOR NEW BRUNSWICK; PROMOTION TO THE
LIVING OF JAMAICA, AND MARRIAGE; RELIGIOUS CONDITION
OF HIS CURE, AND WHITEFIELD'S ITINERANCY
A. D. 1729--1764.
CHAPTER II.
DEATH OF HIS FATHER, AND SCARCITY OF CLERGYMEN; PLEAS
FOR AN AMERICAN EPISCOPATE, AND DR. CHANDLER'S PUBLI-
CATIONS; REMOVAL TO WESTCHKSTER, AND INSTITUTION INTO
THE RECTORSHIP OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH; MISSIONARY WORK,
AND STATE OF HIS PARISH; POLITICAL TROUBLES, AND CON-
TINENTAL CONGRESSES ; DEFENSE OF THE CROWN, AND ANONY-
MOUS PAMPHLETS; CLERICAL FRIENDS AND THEIR INTIMACY 17
A. D. 1764-1775.
CHAPTER IH.
LETTER TO THE SECRETARY; FIRMNESS OF ALLEGIANCE; AR-
REST AND IMPRISONMENT; MEMORIAL TO THE GENERAL AS-
SEMBLY OF CONNECTICUT; RELEASE AND RETURN TO HIS
FAMILY ; FRESH TROUBLES, AND DECLARATION OF INDEPEN-
DENCE; CLOSE OF HIS CHURCH, AND ACCOUNT OF HIS PERSE-
CUTIONS 33
A. D. 1775-1776.
Xii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
ESCAPE TO LONG ISLAND, AND DESECRATION OF HIS CHURCH;
LETTER TO THE SOCIETY, AND DEATH OF MISSIONARIES; RES-
IDENCE IN NEW YORK CITY, AND MISSIONARY AT STATEN
ISLAND; APPOINTED CHAPLAIN, AND BURNING OF TRINITY
CHURCH; SUFFERINGS AND LOSSES OF THE CLERGY . . 48
A. D. 1776-1780.
CHAPTER V.
CONTINUED RESISTANCE OF THE COLONIES; TREACHERY OF AR-
NOLD, AND HIS PLOT TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN CAUSE;
EXPEDITION AGAINST NEW LONDON, AND MASSACRE OF THE
GARRISON IN FORT GRISWOLD; SIEGE OF YORKTOWN, AND
SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS; TREATY OF PEACE, AND
INDEPENDENCE OF THE COLONIES ; LOYALISTS AND THEIR
TREATMENT ; THE CLERGY AND THE CHURCH . . V . 62
A. D. 1780-1783.
CHAPTER VI.
CLERGY IN CONNECTICUT BEFORE THE WAR, AND AT ITS CLOSE;
CONVENTION IN WOODBURY, AND APPOINTMENT OF A BISHOP;
TESTIMONIALS FROM REV. MR. JARVIS AND THE CLERGY OF
NEW YORK IN FAVOR OF DR. SEABURYJ LETTERS TO THE
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, AND DEPARTURE OF DR. SEA-
BURY FOR ENGLAND . . .... . . .76
A. D. 1783.
CHAPTER VII.
SCHEME OF THE REV. MR. WHITE, AND OPPOSITION OF THE
CLERGY OF CONNECTICUT ; CONVENTION IN WOODBURY AND
NUMBER PRESENT; SYMPATHY IN MASSACHUSETTS, AND LET-
TERS OF REV. MR. FOGG; ARRIVAL OF DR. SEABURY IN LON-
DON, AND IMPEDIMENTS TO HIS CONSECRATION; CORRESPOND-
ENCE WITH THE CLERGY, AND CONVENTION IN WALLINGFORD 97
A. D. 1783-1784.
CONTENTS. xiii
CHAPTER VIII.
SETTLEMENT OP HIS FAMILY IN NEW LONDON, AND LETTERS TO
THE CLERGY OF CONNECTICUT ; SCOTTISH EPISCOPACY, AND
DR. BERKELEY'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH BISHOP SKINNER;
WAITING FOR AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT, AND NOTHING ACCOM-
PLISHED FOR HIS AID; THE DANISH SUCCESSION, AND CART-
WRIGHT OF SHREWSBURY; APPLICATION TO THE SCOTTISH
BISHOPS ....... . . . . . . 117
A. D. 1784.
CHAPTER IX.
BISHOP KILGOUR'S LETTER, AND DR. SEABURY'S REPLY; ARRIVAL
IN ABERDEEN, AND OPPOSITION OF DR. SMITH; CONSECRA-
TION, AND SYNOD OF BISHOPS; CONCORDATS, AND ADDRESS TO
THE CLERGY OF CONNECTICUT J PREACHES IN ABERDEEN, AND
BISHOP JOLLY'S PRAYER ; RETURN TO LONDON, AND LETTER
TO MR. BOUCHER 140
A. D. 1784-1785.
CHAPTER X.
ARRIVAL IN LONDON, AND NEW PERPLEXITIES J OPPOSITION OF
GRANVILLE SHARPE AND OTHERS; LETTER TO THE CLERGY
OF CONNECTICUT, AND FRIENDSHIP OF AMERICAN LOYALISTS;
PECUNIARY SUPPORT, AND LETTER TO THE VENERABLE SOCI-
ETY; BISHOP SKINNER'S INTEREST, AND LETTERS OF DR.
CHANDLER 163
A. D. 1 785.
CHAPTER XL
CONSECRATION SERMON, AND OBJECTIONS TO IT; LETTERS OF
BISHOPS LOWTH AND SKINNER; CHARLES WESLEY, AND HIS
OPINION OF BISHOP SEABURY; MEETINGS TO ORGANIZE THE
CHURCH IN MARYLAND AND PENNSYLVANIA ; CONVENTIONS
AT NEW BRUNSWICK AND NEW YORK; TITLE OF THE CHURCH,
AND DR. WHITE'S INFLUENCE 182
A. D. 1784-1785.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
LETTER OF BISHOP SKINNER TO MR. BOUCHER, AND HIS ANSWER;
ARRIVAL OP BISHOP SEABURY AT NEWPORT, AND LANDING
AT NEW LONDON; CONVENTION AT MIDDLETOWN, AND HIS
RECOGNITION BY THE CLERGY; ORDINATION, AND SERMON OF
MR. LEAMING; CONVOCATION, AND THE CLERGY OF MASSA-
CHUSETTS; COMMITTEE ON ALTERATIONS IN THE LITURGY,
AND BISHOP'S CHARGE .. . . . - . . . . 201
A. D. 1785-1786.
CHAPTER XIII.
COURTESIES TO THE SOUTHERN CLERGY, AND PROPOSALS TO
CHANGE THE LITURGY I BISHOP SEABURY'S LETTER TO DR.
SMITH, AND REASONS FOR NOT ATTENDING CONVENTION IN
PHILADELPHIA; CONVOCATION IN NEW HAVEN, AND RELUC-
TANCE TO ALTER THE LITURGY; ORDINATION OF SEVEN CAN-
DIDATES, AND LETTER TO THE SCOTTISH BISHOPS J BISHOP
SEABURY AND HIS CLERGY DENOUNCED AS NON-JURORS AND
JACOBITES, AND MR. LEAMING'S DEFENSE. . . . . 226
A. D. 1785.
CHAPTER XIV.
CONVENTION IN PHILADELPHIA, AND ADOPTION OF AN ECCLESI-
ASTICAL CONSTITUTION; APPLICATION FOR BISHOPS IN THE
ENGLISH LINE, AND " THE PROPOSED BOOK; " LETTER OF MR.
PROVOOST, AND HOSTILITY TO BISHOP SEABURY; FEARS OF
FRIENDS, AND REPLY OF THE BISHOPS ; ANOTHER CONVENTION
IN PHILADELPHIA, AND ITS PROCEEDINGS 244
A. D. 1785-1786.
CHAPTER XV.
BISHOP SEABURY'S COMMUNION OFFICE, AND CONVOCATION AT
DERBY; LITURGICAL CHANGES, AND LETTER TO GOVERNOR
HUNTINGTCN; SECOND CHARGE, AND EPISCOPAL RESIDENCE;
POVERTY OF THE CLERGY AND PEOPLE, AND SUPPORT OF THE
BISHOP . ... . . . . . . .263
A. D. 1786-1787.
CONTENTS. xv
CHAPTER XVI.
CONVENTION AT WILMINGTON, AND DOCUMENTS FROM ENGLAND;
BISHOPS ELECT, AND THEIR DEPARTURE FROM AMERICA; DR.
GRIFFITH, AND LETTER OF BENJAMIN MOORE; DRS. WHITE
AND PROVOOST CONSECRATED, AND CONVOCATION IN WAL-
LINGFORD; CORRESPONDENCE WITH BISHOPS SKINNER, PRO-
VOOST, AND WHITE 287
A. D. 1786-1787.
CHAPTER XVII.
CONVOCATION AT STAMFORD, AND ITS RESULTS; LETTER OF
LEAMING, AND EFFORTS TO CONCILIATE; OBSTACLES TO UNION,
AND BISHOP FOR MASSACHUSETTS PROPOSED; WORK OF SEA-
BURY, AND CONVOCATION AND CONSECRATION AT NEW LON-
DON; THE MITRE AND WHEN IT WAS WORN .... 304
A. D. 1787.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. PARKER, AND VISIT TO BOSTON;
CHARITY SERMON, AND ORDINATIONS ; STAY IN THE CITY,
AND CALL UPON DR. BYLES; LETTER OF LEAMING, AND CON-
VOCATION AT NORTH HAVEN 320
A. D. 1788.
CHAPTER XIX.
VALIDITY OF CONSECRATION, AND LETTER TO BISHOP DRUM-
MOND; DEATH OF CHARLES EDWARD, AND RELIEF FOR THE
SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH; ATTACHMENT OF HIS CLERGY,
AND LETTERS TO TILLOTSON BRONSON J CONVENTION TO MEET
IN PHILADELPHIA, AND CORRESPONDENCE WITH BISHOP WHITE 335
A. D. 1788-1789.
CHAPTER XX.
CONVENTION IN PHILADELPHIA, AND APPLICATION FOR THE
CONSECRATION OF REV. EDWARD BASS; DEATH OF DR. GRIF-
FITH, AND HIS FUNERAL; RESULTS OF THE CONVENTION, AND
xv i CONTENTS.
ADJOURNMENT; LETTER OF DR. SMITH, AND PERSISTENCE OF
BISHOP PROVOOST; BISHOP SEABURY AND THE EASTERN
CHURCHES IN PHILADELPHIA, AND LETTER OF LEAMING . 357
A. D. 1789.
CHAPTER XXI.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION, AND REVISION OF THE LIT-
URGY ; HOUSE OF BISHOPS, AND REJECTION OF THE ATHANA-
SIAN CREED; MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES,
AND PRAYER FOR THE PRESIDENT AND ALL IN AUTHORITY;
CHANGES IN THE COMMUNION OFFICE, AND BISHOP SEABURY'S
INFLUENCE J CONVOCATION AT LITCHFIELD, AND DR. LEAM-
ING'S RETIREMENT . . . . .- '-,...- . . 373
A. D. 1789-1790.
CHAPTER XXII.
CONVOCATION IN NEWTOWN, AND RATIFICATION OF THE PRAYER
BOOK; PROTEST OF REV. JAMES SAYRE, AND USE OF THE
NICENE CREED; DR. SEABURY DECLARED BISHOP IN RHODE ISL-
AND, AND LETTERS TO LAYMEN,' DR. COKE AND HIS PROPO-
SITION; OFFICIAL VISITATION, AND JOURNEY TO PORTSMOUTH;
PUBLICATION OF SERMONS, AND CONVOCATION AT WATERTOWN ;
PARISH IN STRATFORD, AND LETTER TO DR. DIBBLEE . . 389
A. D. 1790-1792.
CHAPTER XXIH.
CONTENTION IN STRATFORD, AND EFFORTS OF MR. BOWDEN
TO CONCILIATE THE PEOPLE ; INFLUENCE OF MR. SAYRE, AND
TROUBLES IN WOODBURY ; CONVENTION IN NEW HAVEN, AND
LAITY FIRST INTRODUCED ; SUPPORT OF THE BISHOP, AND
EPISCOPAL VISITATION J SERMON BEFORE GENERAL CONVEN-
TION, AND CONSECRATION OF DR. CLAGGETT ; CONVOCATION
AT HUNTINGTON AND PARISH INDEPENDENCE; CONVENTION
AT M1DDLETOWN, AND ORDINATION 411
A. D. 1792-1793.
CHAPTER XXIV.
OFFICE FOR BURIAL OF INFANTS, AND POINTED PSALTER; VISIT-
ATION TO RHODE ISLAND, AND DISORDER IN NARRAGANSETT J
CONTENTS. xvii
CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES, AND CONVOCATION IX NEW MIL-
FORD ; LETTER TO WILLIAM STEVENS, AND CONVENTION IN
NEW HAVEN; EPISCOPAL ACADEMY, CONVOCATION IN CHESH-
IRE, AND CONSECRATION AT WATERTOWN ; ANNUAL CONVEN-
TION, AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ACADEMY .... 430
A. D. 1793-1795.
CHAPTER XXV.
VISITATION, AND CONVENTION IN RHODE ISLAND; GENERAL CON-
VENTION IN PHILADELPHIA, AND NO DEPUTIES FROM NEW
ENGLAND; OFFENSIVE PAMPHLET, AND COURSE OF ITS AU-
THOR; CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES, AND LAST VISITATION;
DEATH AND FUNERAL; REMOVAL AND RE-INTERMENT OF HIS
REMAINS; CHARACTER AND CONCLUSION 447
A. D. 1795-1796.
APPENDIX A.
ADDRESS OF CONVENTION OF CLERGYMEN IN NEW YORK TO
THE VENERABLE SOCIETY ........ 463
APPENDIX B.
MONUMENTS TO BISHOP SEABURY 405
APPENDIX C.
BISHOP WHITE'S MS. NOTE ON THE CHURCH IN AMERICA, AND
LIST OF THE CONSECRATION OF SCOTTISH BISHOPS . . . 469
APPENDIX D.
BISHOP SEABURY'S COMMUNION OFFICE 474
APPENDIX E.
OFFICE FOR THE BURIAL OF INFANTS .- 488
b
LIFE AND OOEEESPONDENOE
OF
SAMUEL SEABURY.
CHAPTER I.
BIKTH AND PARENTAGE ; EDUCATION OF HIS FATHER, AND CON-
FORMITY TO EPISCOPACY ; MISSIONARY AT NEW LONDON, AND
REMOVAL TO HEMPSTEAD ; THE SON GRADUATES AT YALE COL-
LEGE, AND IS APPOINTED A CATECHISTJ GOES ABROAD AND IS OR-
DAINED FOR NEW BRUNSWICK ; PROMOTION TO THE LIVING OF
JAMAICA, AND MARRIAGE ; RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF HIS CURE,
AND WHITEFIELD'S ITINERANCY.
A. D. 1729-1764.
THE name of Samuel Seabury occupies an impor-
tant place in the early history of our American
Church, and it will be the object of the following
pages to bring together the memorials of his life, and
present them in their due sequence and order.
He was born in Groton, Conn., November 30, 1729,
and was the second son of Samuel Seabury, by his
wife Abigail, daughter of Mr. Thomas Mumford.
Groton was also the native place of his father, a son
of John Seabury who removed from Duxbury, Mass.,
about the year 1700, and first settled at Stonington;
but in 1704 he exchanged his plantation in that place
for one in Groton, opposite New London. Congrega-
2 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
tionalism was then the only form of religion in the
colony, and John Seabury, being its earnest supporter
and holding the office of deacon in the society at
Groton, taught his family the doctrines which he him-
self accepted, and, with a view to educating him for
the ministry, sent his fourth son, Samuel, to college.
It has been stated that he first entered Yale, and
was a member of that institution when Rector Cutler
and others announced their withdrawal from the Con-
gregational order, and their conformity to Episcopacy.
Much excitement and controversy ensued, and dur-
ing the disturbance, several students left, and among
them young Seabury, who is enrolled with the gradu-
ating class of Harvard College, in 1724, being at that
time eighteen years of age. 1 It is proper to men-
tion, however, that while this statement may be en-
tirely correct, nothing has been found to verify it
upon the records of either institution. Dr. Johnson,
of Stratford, in recommending him to the "Honor-
able Board," spoke of him as having " been educated
and graduated in the colleges in this country," and
Seabury himself, afterwards, in a letter introducing
Ebenezer Punderson, who took his bachelor's degree
in 1726, said, " He hath been educated at Yale Col-
lege, Connecticut, where I had a particular acquaint-
ance with him, and where he always had the charac-
ter of a sober person."
In 1726, he became the first preacher to " the
Second Ecclesiastical Society," organized by permis-
sion of the General Assembly of Connecticut, in that
part of the town called North Groton. About this
time he married and was brought in contact and as-
1 Hallam's Annals of St. James's Church, New London, p. 31.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 3
sociation with members of the Church of England.
His father-in-law, Thomas Mumford, came originally
from Narragansett, R. I., and was the uncle by mar-
riage of Dr. McSparran, the celebrated missionary of
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in that
region. When the New London parish was formed
under the auspices of this missionary, who was the
nearest and most accessible clergyman of the English
Church, Mr. Mumford as one of the founders figured
conspicuously, and subsequently, in the appointment
of officers, he was chosen the first warden. The re-
ligious predilections of his wife's family, or the public
agitation of the subject, perhaps both, led Mr. Sea-
bury to examine the claims of Episcopacy, and early
in the spring of 1730, he had ceased to officiate for
the Congregationalists in North Groton, and declared
his intention of crossing the ocean to obtain Holy
Orders. He appeared before the Honorable Society
on the 21st of August, 1730, was ordained deacon
and priest by the Bishop of London, and returned to
Connecticut with the appointment of a missionary to
New London, on a salary of .50 per annum, 1 the
churchmen of that place, Groton, and other parts ad-
jacent having built a church and petitioned for his
services as a gentleman born and bred in the colony,
whom they well knew and in whom they had great
confidence.
His son, the future bishop, was born while he was
ministering to the Congregationalists at North Gro-
ton, and was but an infant in the arms of his mother
when the father embarked for England. He was
baptized December 14, 1729, by Rev. John Owen,
1 Hawkins's Missions of the Church of England, p. 294.
4 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Congregational minister at Groton ; but his nurture
was wholly in the Episcopal Church, and his boyhood
was passed amid scenes of extraordinary religious ex-
citement. The followers of Whitefield, ignorant and
fanatical, seduced many of the inhabitants of New
London and its vicinity into the wildest extrava-
gances, and on one occasion, in the midst of their re-
ligious delirium, they assembled in a public street on
a Sunday, and burnt rich apparel and a large num-
ber of theological books, among which was included
Bishop Beveridge's " Private Thoughts on Religion."
The mission at Hempstead, on Long Island, be-
came vacant in 1742 by the removal of Dr. Jenney
to Philadelphia, and the elder Seabury, who had done
good service at New London, was transferred to this
important sphere of duty, where he was called to en-
counter a spirit of religious frenzy and intolerance
not unlike that which he had witnessed in Connecti-
cut. He passed the remainder of his days in Hemp-
stead, and as grammar schools had not then been es-
tablished in every important town, he did what many
of the clergy of the time were constrained to do : he
added to his pastoral work the duties of a teacher.
His son Samuel was admitted a member of the
freshman class in Yale College in 1744, and, soon
after he took his degree, the father informed the So-
ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel, that a num-
ber of people at Huntington, a town about eighteen
miles from his mission, had conformed to Episcopacy,
and built an edifice for the worship of Almighty God
according to the Liturgy of the Church of England.
He had frequently officiated in that place, and at the
desire of the people, his son had read prayers and
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 5
sermons there under his direction. The following
extract from a letter to the secretary, dated Septem-
ber 30, 1748, shows that he had already dedicated
him to the work of the ministry, and was giving him
the best advantages in his power for becoming useful
in that vocation.
My son is now studying Physic, and before he be of age
to present himself to the Society in person, I intend, God
willing, that he shall spend one or two years at Edinburgh
in the study of Physic. I have been led into this manner
of educating him, from an hint taken from one of the Hon-
orable Society's Abstracts concerning their designed economy
of their College at Barbadoes. I shall therefore esteem it a
great favor if the Society will be pleased to approve this
method, and give him a place on their books, and grant
what may be recommended in his favor by our Rev d< Com-
missary in regard to Huntington.
My son is not yet nineteen years of age, and as I believe
he may be employed at Huntington in reading prayers and
sermons, and in catechising to good purpose, before he will be
of age for Holy Orders, I presume to hope the Society will
employ him at Huntington with some small allowance. 1
He served in the capacity of a catechist nearly four
years, and was allowed a salary of 10 per annum.
His relinquishment of the position is thus noted by
his father in a letter dated at Hempstead, October
13, 1752 : "Agreeable to the Honorable Society's in-
structions to him, my son laid down his place of cate-
chist in July last, and embarked from New York for
Edinburgh in August, in order to spend one year
there in the study of physic and anatomy ; after that
intending to present himself to the Honorable Society
in order to make a tender of his future life to the
1 MSS. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
6 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
service of his great Master, under their direction.
With this intent he left me, and I hope he may be
found worthy of their notice and regard. The
church has gained in Huntington by his assistance." l
It was not a very uncommon thing for clergymen in
America at that period to acquire a certain degree
of medical science as a means of accomplishing good,
and the regular practitioners then, as now, had a
right to be displeased with this encroachment upon
the business of their profession. In an anonymous
letter to the Bishop of London, 1763, complaint was
made that some of the missionaries in the country
parishes acted as physicians and surgeons, to the det-
riment of the Church.
No evidence has been discovered in the records of
the University of Edinburgh that Seabury even en-
rolled, and he is not in the list of those who have
graduated in medicine from that institution. " As re-
gards enrollment or matriculation, the absence of his
name is not so decisive ; for the records of the uni-
versity at that time were not so sufficient as evidence
of at least occasional attendance by a student as they
would be now." 2 A little more light is shed upon his
connection with the institution in the Society's Ab-
stracts, where mention is made of his appointment as
a missionary to New Brunswick " out of regard to
the request of the inhabitants, and to the united testi-
mony of the Episcopal clergy of New York in his fa-
vor, as a youth of good .genius, unblemished morals,
sound principles in religion, and one that had made as
good proficiency in literature while in America, as the
1 MSS. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
2 MS. Letter, Prof. A. C. Fraser, March, 1879.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 7
present state of learning there would admit of ; and
he was gone for further improvement to the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh ; and Mr. Seabury, being of full
age for Holy Orders, presented himself to the Society
in the latter end of last summer from the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh, and upon examination being found
worthy, he was ordained deacon and priest, and soon
after set out for New Brunswick, where the Society
hopes he will follow the example of his worthy father,
and prove a very diligent and useful missionary in
his station." l It seems quite evident that while at
Edinburgh he first became acquainted with the Epis-
copal Church in Scotland, with whose College of
Bishops he was afterwards so closely identified. 2
He had attained the age of twenty-four years when
he applied for admission to Holy Orders. Dr. Sher-
lock, then occupying the metropolitan see, was bend-
ing under the weight of age and bodily infirmities,
and incapable of performing the functions of his
office, though his mind was still unclouded, and he
retained his powerful faculties and discriminative
judgment. Dr. John Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln,
1 Abstract of Proceedings from February, 1753, to February, 1754,
p. 57.
2 The story has often been told that, on the Sunday after his arrival,
he inquired of his host where he might find an Episcopal service. The
penal laws were then in force which prohibited the Episcopal clergy in
Scotland from officiating except in private houses for four persons only,
besides the family; or, if in an uninhabited building, for a number not
exceeding four. His host replied, "I will show you; take your hat and
follow me, but keep barely in my sight, for we are watched with jealousy
by the Presbyterians." He led him through winding, narrow lanes and
unfrequented streets, and finally disappeared suddenly into an old build-
ing several stories high, followed by Seabury, to an upper room where a
little band had gathered to worship God in the forms of the Liturgy ac-
cording to the dictates of their conscience.
8 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
therefore, acting in his behalf, ordained Mr. Seabury
a deacon on St. Thomas's day, 1753, and two days
after (Sunday, December 23d), he was advanced to
the priesthood by Dr. Richard Osbaldiston, Bishop of
Carlisle, acting also for the Bishop of London.
The Rev. J. Wetmore, of Rye, N. Y., who had sent
a testimonial to the venerable Society in his favor,
recommended him for the cure of New Brunswick, in
New Jersey, vacant by the removal of Rev. Mr. Wood
to Nova Scotia, and the Bishop of London, under date
of December 23, 1753, licensed and authorized him
to perform the office of a priest in that province ;
and the Society accordingly gave him the appoint-
ment to New Brunswick with a salary of ,50 per
annum. He returned to America and arrived at his
mission on the 25th of May, 1754, where he found a
stone church " nearly finished," and a congregation
that greeted him with a hearty welcome.
His ministry in this place was too short to be pro-
ductive of much good or to be marked by many
events. Having been promoted to the living of Ja-
maica, L. I., he was duly inducted into that parish
on the 12th of January, 1757, by Sir Charles Hardy,
at that time the provincial governor of New York.
This change brought him back to the neighborhood
of his youthful associations and "nearer to a most
excellent father, whom he dearly loved and whose
conversation he highly valued." It must have been
acceptable to him on other accounts, for he had as-
sumed new responsibilities and entered into the do-
mestic relations. On the 12th of October, 1756, just
three months prior to his induction into the living
of Jamaica, he married Mary, daughter of Mr. Ed-
ward Hicks, of New York.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 9
He found enough to do in the sphere to which he
had been transferred, and evils to contend with that
taxed his best energies and abilities. The circuit of
his ministerial labors reached out beyond his imme-
diate cure, and Flushing, in the same county, was
one of the stations where he was frequently called to
officiate. He gave a sad picture of its religious con-
dition in his report to the Society in 1759. " Flush-
ing," said he, " in the last generation the grand seat
of Quakerism, is in this the seat of infidelity, a
transition how natural ! Bred up in an entire neglect
of all religious principles, in hatred to the clergy and
in contempt of the sacraments, how hard is their con-
version, especially as they disown the necessity of any
redemption ! At Jamaica, open infidelity has not
made so great a progress ; a general remissness in at-
tending divine service, however, prevails, though I
know not from what particular cause."
This indifference to Christian truth and Christian
ordinances was a source of grief to him in his minis-
trations. No measure of fidelity on his part seemed
at first to awaken any direct interest in his work, or
to turn aside the broad current that was carrying
everybody along towards the awful vortex of unbe-
lief. Six months after he made the report referred
to above, he wrote again to the Society in the same
melancholy and discouraging strain : " Such is the
effect of deism and infidelity (for the spreading of
which Quakerism has paved the way), which have
here been propagated with the greatest zeal and the
most astonishing success, that a general indifference
towards all religion has taken place ; and the too com-
mon opinion seems to be that they shall be saved
10 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
without either of the Christian sacraments, without
any external worship of God, in short, without the
mediation of Christ, as well as with ; and even among
those who profess themselves members of the Church
of England, a very great backwardness in attending
her service prevails, and particularly with regard to
the holy sacrament of- the Lord's Supper ; so great is
their aversion to it, or neglect of it, that I fear the
number of communicants at present scarce exceeds
twenty."
It is easy to see that a young and zealous clergy-
man, who had the prosperity of the Church so much
in his heart, could not fail to be deeply affected by
the gloomy prospects of his mission. A new country
in a forming state needed, in a marked degree, all
the supports of a right faith and a right practice,
and hence he felt that any doctrine or set of princi-
ples which led people to look with indifference upon
religious rites was deleterious in its influence, and
corrupting in its nature. He saw no good in the
absence of liturgical worship, at least, in his view,
there was no good in a negative system of faith
which referred everything to the inward light, and
rejected alike the voice of the Church and all ex-
ternal revelation. His patient and steady ministra-
tions, however, after a time began to tell upon the
inhabitants, and at a later date, he was enabled to
make a better report of the spiritual condition of his
cure. " Things are considerably mended," he wrote,
" especially at Flushing, which has ever been the seat
of Quakerism and infidelity. Many young people of
both sexes have steadily attended divine service the
past summer (whose parents are either Quakers or
deists), and behaved with great decency."
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 11
Mr. Seabury was acquiring experience in his min-
isterial work, and fitting himself more and more to
grapple with the evils by which he was surrounded.
While he could not discern all the fruits which under
God he had hoped would come from his labors, he saw
improvement in many things, and in 1762 informed
the Society that the church was gradually gaining in
strength, and that a more serious turn of mind ?egan
to manifest itself, particularly in Flushing, where
the white congregation had increased from twenty to
eighty. At Jamaica, his principal charge, there were
one hundred and twenty families connected with the
church, from which came twenty-nine communicants,
more than one sixth of the whole number of fami-
lies resident in the place. The missionaries of the
Society were required by its rules to transmit a state-
ment of the number of their families, baptisms, and
communicants, together with such general informa-
tion in regard to the sects as might show their rela-
tive strength ; and thus the history of each mission,
as it was presented from time to time, was before the
authority at home, and carefully considered. This
rendered them exceedingly vigilant and observing,
and their details became something more than dry
statistics.
Whatever may now be thought of Seabury's opin-
ion of the tendency of Quakerism, it was deliberately
formed and honestly entertained. But a new source
of disquietude arose in 1764. In that year, White-
field, who for the sixth time had lately arrived in
America from England, visited his mission, and pro-
duced the usual excitement which everywhere at-
tended his ministrations. The populace followed him
12 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
and hung with enthusiasm upon his extraordinary
eloquence. Large congregations continually gathered
to hear him, and Whitefield himself, in a letter to a
friend, speaking of this visit, said, " My late excur-
sions upon Long Island I trust have been blessed.
It would surprise you to see above one hundred car-
riages at every sermon in the New World." l
There was no turning, for the time, the current of
popular feeling which set in the direction of White-
field's ministrations. Some from sympathy with his
doctrines, some from admiration of his earnestness
and power, and more from curiosity to hear the won-
derful man and join with the crowds, were drawn to
his sermons and helped to stimulate and extend the
public sensation. He was under no restraint, and
though episcopally ordained, such had been his er-
ratic course that the clergy of the Church of England
in the American colonies had opposed his policy and
refused to admit him to their pulpits. He was in
no way connected with the Society for the Propa-
gation of the Gospel, and was only mentioned in its
proceedings as his letters and conduct reflected upon
the character of its missionaries, and interfered with
their work. He left a legacy of discord and confu-
sion behind him wherever he went. No measure of
zeal and earnestness as a preacher, and no pretense
of spiritual illumination, could justify his neglect of
the solemn obligations assumed at his ordination, and
his disregard of the ritual and usages of the Book of
Common Prayer. His extravagances, great as they
were, excited the displeasure of those in England
who had befriended and aided him, and his censori-
1 Memoirs of Whitefield t p. 181.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 13
ousness and want of charity, added to his irregulari-
ties, alienated him from their confidence and affec-
tions. It was in reply to charges which he sent
home to the Society against its missionaries in this
country, that Seeker, then Bishop of Oxford, wrote
him in 1741 : " You must permit me to say, and I
do it with sincere good will to you, that I am per-
suaded you are much too severe in what you have
printed concerning your brethren of the clergy in
this nation, and therefore you may have been too
severe in what you have written concerning those
abroad, especially as I find that many accounts differ-
ent from yours are sent to the Society, concerning
their missionaries, by persons in all appearance well
deserving of credit."
Whitefield had lost his reverence for the teaching
and authority of the Church, and, like all enthusiasts,
he could discover defects in the theology of others
from which he fancied himself to be free. He as-
sailed the works of Tillotson, and " The Whole Duty
of Man," affirming that the archbishop " knew no
more of Christianity than Mahomet," and he im-
pugned the authority of writings which had been a
guide and solace to thousands of Christians of un-
doubted intelligence and piety. His followers im-
proved oftentimes upon his illiberality and enthu-
siasm, and the Presbyterians, or Congregationalists,
especially in New England, who at first favored his
evangelism, became divided in opinion, and, while
some adhered to him firmly, others rejected him as
interfering with the customs of the churches and the
peace and usefulness of the settled pastors. The op-
position to him among them was as violent as among
14 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
the clergy and members of the Church of England.
The General Association of Connecticut, which met
in June, 1745, expecting that he would make a tour
through the colony during the summer, passed a reso-
lution, declaring him to be "the faulty occasion of
many errors in doctrine and disorders in practice,"
and " that if the said Mr. Whitefield should make his
progress through this government, it would by no
means be advisable for any of our ministry to admit
him into their pulpits, or for any of our people to at-
tend his administrations." l The Old and New Lights
were parties which grew out of his itinerancy.
The feeling towards Whitefield at the time he vis-
ited Long Island appears to have changed with some
of the southern clergy of the Church of England.
He had either become less denunciatory of those w r ho
differed from him in regard to the system of itiner-
ancy and certain points of doctrine, or a score of
years had accustomed people to the effects of his ex-
travagances and worn away the edge of their resist-
ance. The Kev. Hugh Neill, a missionary at Oxford,
Pa., writing to the secretary of the Society, October
17, 1763, and speaking of the unity in his parish,
said : " How long it will continue so, God only knows.
'For Mr. Whitefield arriving lately among us, and
meeting with a most cordial reception from the Epis-
copal clergy of Philadelphia, has thrown the clergy
and laity in the country into a very great conster-
nation. The unanimity among the Church clergy,
both in city and country, for this three and twenty
years past in opposing him prevented his hurting the
Church (a few individuals excepted). The divisions
1 TrumbulPs History, vol. ii., p. 190.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 15
that he created among the dissenters in this province,
and all over America, were examples sufficient to warn
us from splitting upon the same rock. But such has
been the fatality of our city brethren that they have
received him with open arms and still continue to fol-
low him from the church to the meeting-houses, and
from thence to the church again, with a greater de-
gree of veneration (I really believe) than if his Grace
of Canterbury was to condescend to pay them a
visit." l
Seabury, like his northern brethren, was in entire
sympathy with the views of the writer of this letter.
His early education and love of order, to say nothing
about his abhorrence of canonical and rubrical irregu-
larities, led him to disapprove of Whitefield's course,
and to dread the effects of his preaching within the
limits of his parish. He knew too much of that
" continual succession of strolling preachers " among
the other religious bodies who had adopted his senti-
ments and method of instruction, and who misrep-
resented the Church as popish, to believe that no
mischief would come to the cause of truth by the
introduction of the great revivalist. He reported,
however, that none of his own people were finally
led astray, while many of them appear to have been
more seriously impressed by his earnest, yet concilia-
tory manner of presenting and defending the doc-
trines of the Church. A letter addressed to the
secretary, and dated October 6, 1764, very well ex-
presses his fears, and the actual result of this visit of
Whitefield:
Since my last letter to the Honorable Society, we have
1 Hist. Collections, Penn., p. 354.
16 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
had a long visit from Mr. Whitefield in this colony, where he
has preached frequently, especially in the city of New York,
and in this island, and I am sorry to say he has had more
influence than formerly, and I fear has done a great deal of
mischief ; his tenets and method of preaching have been
adopted by many of the dissenting teachers, and this town
in particular has a continual, I had almost said a daily, suc-
cession of strolling preachers and exhorters ; and the poor
Church of England is on every occasion misrepresented as
popish, and as teaching her members to expect salvation on
account of their own works and deservings. I have in the
most moderate manner endeavored to set these things in
their true light, and I think not without success : none of
my people have been led away by them, though I have not
been without apprehensions on their account, and I hope
that friendly disposition and mutual intercourse of good of-
fices which have always subsisted between the Church peo-
ple and dissenters since I have been settled here, and which
I have constantly endeavored to promote, will meet with but
little interruption.
An acquaintance of more than six years with the
people of his parish had led Mr. Seabury to look with
alternate hope and fear to its future condition. His
own support was not as liberal as he had anticipated,
and promises made when lie first entered upon his
ministry in the place were still unfulfilled. The in-
fluence of the Quakers had corrupted the principle of
Christian generosity, for they " considered it as a
mark of an avaricious and venal spirit for a minister
to receive anything of his people by way of support."
Men in all periods of Christendom have, for the most
part, shown themselves too ready to take advantage
of the least encouragement, to withhold from the
Lord the offerings which, in some shape, are justly
his due.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. . 17
CHAPTEK II.
DEATH OF HIS FATHER AND SCARCITY OF CLERGYMEN; PLEAS FOR
AN AMERICAN EPISCOPATE AND DR. CHANDLER'S PUBLICATIONS; RE-
MOVAL TO WESTCHESTER AND INSTITUTION INTO THE RECTORSHIP
OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH; MISSIONARY WORK AND STATE OF HIS PAR-
ISH; POLITICAL TROUBLES AND CONTINENTAL CONGRESSES; DEFENSE
OF THE CROWN AND ANONYMOUS PAMPHLETS; CLERICAL FRIENDS
AND THEIR INTIMACY.
A. D. 1764-1775.
THE death of his father, on the 15th of June, 1764,
was an event which not only filled him with per-
sonal sorrow, but deprived the neighboring parish at
Hempstead of its faithful missionary. More than
twenty years he had filled that post, and during seven
of them the son had been favored with the opportu-
nity of taking his immediate counsel and guidance in
troublesome matters. The following letter, written
by the bereaved widow to her brother-in-law in Rhode
Island, sheds some light upon the family history, and
the condition in which the children were left.
HEMPSTEAD, July 15, 1764.
DEAR, BROTHER, As you are to me in a double capacity,
both in regard to the relation between us, and in regard to
our unhappy condition, for I heard by report that my sister
is dead, but I have not had a line from you, at which I am
somewhat surprised. As to my own deplorable state, my
dear husband left me and his family, the 19th of June, to go
2
18 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
to England, from whence he returned the 7th of June, a
sick, and I may say, a dying man, for he lived one painful
week, and then resigned his soul into the arms of his dear
Saviour.
Dear Sir : Your own heart will better suggest to you
what I feel than any words I can make use of. I can only
say, I have lost one of the best husbands, and am left with
six children ; the eldest son and daughter married ; the
youngest son with a merchant in New York, and the other
three with me, one of which is a daughter of nineteen, one
a son of seventeen, and the other a daughter of six years.
Dear Sir: I am both a widow and a stranger. My husband
did not lay up treasures on earth ; though, I have reason to
think, he did in Heaven, where no rust doth corrupt ; and
my whole trust is in Him who hath said, " He is the Father
of the fatherless," and the widow's God.
Sir, as there is in your hands a legacy left me by my
mother, I should be glad to know of you what I may expect
from it, for I shall be in want of it by next May.
If you write to me, please direct to the care of Mr. Henry
Remsen, Jr., Hanover Square, New York, the gentleman
with whom my son lives, and he will forward the letter.
I have no more to say, sir, but to commend you and your
children to God Almighty, and, begging your prayers for me
and mine,
I am, sir, your affectionate sister and humble servant,
ELIZABETH SEABUBY. 1
To JAMES HELME, ESQ., SOUTH KINGSTOWN.
The vacancy at Hempstead very naturally imposed
upon Mr. Seabury the duty of looking out for a suit-
able minister to supply the place. For twelve years
he had been acquainted with Leonard Cutting, ed-
ucated at Eton and Cambridge, and for a long time
a tutor in King's (now Columbia) College, but then
1 Updike's History Narragansett Church, pp. 134, 135.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 19
serving as a missionary in his former cure at New
Brunswick, N. J. In the summer of 1765, he in-
closed to the Society a petition from the church
wardens and vestrymen of the parish of Hempstead,
asking that Mr. Cutting might be transferred to that
place. The people much desired him for their minis-
ter, and Seabury supported the petition with a state-
ment that he was well qualified to supply the parish,
and would do " real service therein to the cause of
virtue and religion in general, and to the interest of
the Church in particular." Accordingly the change
was authorized, and Mr. Cutting continued in charge
at Hempstead till 1784.
The want of clergymen of the Church of England
in the American colonies became more urgent as
death made inroads into their ranks. The necessity
of going home for Holy Orders deterred many from
entering the ministry, and of those who ventured on
the voyage so large a proportion fell by the way that
it was disheartening to think of the sacrifice. Sea-
bury did not hesitate to speak out his mind on this
subject, and, like other missionaries, to plead, as occa-
sion offered, for an American Episcopate. He was
present at the meeting of a voluntary association of
the Episcopal clergy of New York and New Jersey,
when the matter was fully discussed and the unani-
mous opinion reached, that " fairly to explain the plan
on which American bishops had been requested, to lay
before the public the reasons of this request, to answer
the objections that had been made, and to obviate
those that might be otherwise conceived against it,
was not only proper and expedient, but a matter of
necessity and duty."
20 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The Kev. Dr. Johnson, of Stratford, had previously
suggested to Dr. Chandler, the rector at Elizabeth-
town, the preparation of an appeal to the public in
behalf of the Church of England in America, and this
action of the clergy ripened the suggestion and led
him to write and publish the works which appeared
successively in 1767 and 1771, and provoked so much
opposition from the enemies of Episcopacy in this
country. " The Appeal to the Public," " The Appeal
Defended," and "The Appeal farther Defended"
were issued at a period when the minds of men were
agitated in the colonies with contests and jealousies
about political rights and privileges. Those who
wrote against the object of the Appeal endeavored
to take advantage of the existing troubles, and repre-
sented that the taxation of the colonies and the pro-
posal of sending bishops to America were parts of one
general system, and unfriendly to political and relig-
ious liberty.
It was before the controversy which sprung up on
the appearance of Dr. Chandler's publications, that
Seabury addressed a letter to the secretary of the
Society, dated April 17, 1766, from which the follow-
ing extract is made :
We have lately had a most affecting account of the loss of
Messrs. Giles and Wilson, the Society's missionaries, the
ship they were in being wrecked near the entrance of Dela-
ware Bay, and only four persons saved out of twenty-eight ;
their death is a great loss in the present want of clergymen
in these colonies, and indeed, I believe one great reason why
so few from this continent offer themselves for Holy Orders
is because it is evident from experience that not more than
four out of five who have gone from the northern colonies
have returned. This is an unaccountable argument for the
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 21
necessity of bishops in the colonies. The poor Church of
England in America is the only instance that ever happened
of an Episcopal Church without a bishop, and in which no
orders could be obtained without crossing an ocean of three
thousand miles in extent ; without bishops the Church can-
not flourish in America, and unless the Church be well sup-
ported and prevail, this whole continent will be overrun with
infidelity and deism, Methodism, and New Light, with every
species and every degree of skepticism and enthusiasm ; and
without a bishop upon the spot, I fear it will be impossible to
keep the Church herself pure and undefiled.
The clergy did their utmost to preserve the true
faith and convince the authorities at home of the un-
wisdom of leaving the colonies in such a deplorable
condition. Those in New York, with some of their
brethren from Connecticut and New Jersey, adopted
the plan of " holding voluntary and annual conven-
tions " for the purpose of considering the best meth-
ods of promoting the welfare of the Church of Eng-
land and thwarting the schemes of her adversaries. 1
The decease of the elder Seabury sundered one
strong tie that bound the son to Jamaica. Besides
this, the living was insufficient to meet the demands
of his growing family. The people had not redeemed
the pledge which they gave him on coming among
them, to provide a suitable parsonage, and there was
no prospect of any immediate effort in this direction.
He received, therefore, with favor, the overtures
made to him by the wardens and vestrymen of St.
Peter's Church, at Westchester, and intimated to the
Society his wish to accept the offer of that mission.
The proposition was readily acceded to, and he re-
moved to Westchester, and on the 3d of December,
1 Appendix A.
22 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
1766, was in due form "admitted, instituted, and in-
ducted " into the rectorship of the parish under the
authority of Sir Henry Moore, then captain-general
and governor-in-chief in and over the province of
New York and territories depending thereon. Here
he had an average congregation of about two hun-
dred, and adopted, as one means of imparting relig-
ious instruction, the practice of preaching at funerals
in the more remote districts, when people assembled
who never came together at other times.
His settlement at Westchester did not separate
him from association with his clerical friends, for ac-
cess to those who dwelt in New York and New Jer-
sey was as convenient as before, and with greater
care than in these days, the clergy, then few in num-
ber, visited each other to interchange hopes and fears
and confer together in a private way on the best in-
terests of the church. After he had been in this
mission nearly a year he wrote to the Society to give
information of its state, and the following extract
from his letter has its bright and its dark sides :
The congregation at Westchester is very unsteady in their
attendance ; sometimes there are more than the church,
which is a small, old, wooden building, can contain, at other
times very few, generally near two hundred. The communi-
cants are few, the most I have had has been twenty-two ;
two new ones have been added since I have been here. At
Eastchester, which is four miles distant, the congregation is
generally larger than in Westchester. The old church in
which they meet as yet is very small and cold. They have
erected, and just completed the roof of a large, well-built
stone church, in which they have expended, they say, seven
hundred pounds currency ; but their ability seems to be ex-
hausted, and I fear I shall never see it finished. I applied
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 23
last winter to his excellency Sir Henry Moore, for a brief in
their favor, but the petition was rejected. Since I came into
this parish I have preached every other Sunday at West-
chester in the morning, and have, after prayers in the after-
noon, catechised the children and explained the Catechism
to them. I was the more inclined to do this, as they have
never been used to any evening service at all, and as there
seemed to be but little sober sense of religion amongst the
lower sort of people, I was in hopes by this means to lay
some foundation of religious knowledge in the younger part
of the congregation. I cannot yet boast of the number of
my catechumens, which is but ten, but most of them repeat
the Catechism extremely well. There are also a considera-
ble number of young people who attend to hear, and are
very attentive. I should be very much obliged to the So-
ciety for a number of Lewis's Catechisms, and some small
Prayer Books, and such other tracts as they think proper ;
these things presented to the children and younger people
by their minister, I have found by my own experience, give
them impressions in his favor, and dispose them to come to
church and to make their responses.
At Westchester I have baptized six white children, and
one mulatto adult ; at Eastchester eight white, and at New
Rochelle seven white and two negro children. Before I left
Jamaica, I baptized there four adults and three infants. I
have made two visits there since, and baptized one adult, two
white children, and three black ones ; and I must do the peo-
ple at Newtown the justice to inform the Society, that since
my removal they sent me 20 currency. With regard to
the income of this parish, the salary, by an act of assembly,
is 50 currency the exchange from New York to London
being generally from 70 to 80 for 100 sterling. Burial
fees there are here none; but the more wealthy families
sometimes give the minister a linen scarf on these occasions.
Marriage fees from one to four Spanish dollars ; but far the
greater number go to an Independent teacher in the parish
of Rye, because his ceremony is short and they have nothing
24 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
to say. Possibly these fees may amount to .5 or < 6 a year.
The parsonage house is so much out of repair that it will cost
,100 currency to make it comfortable, and the glebe has cost
me near 20 to repair the fences ; when it is put in good
order, it would, I believe, rent for <25 per annum. Some of
the principal people have been endeavoring to prevail on the
congregation to make up the deduction from the Society's
salary by subscription, but have not succeeded, owing to the
great expense they have been and must be at here in buying
and repairing their parsonage house, for which they are yet
in debt 100, and to the necessity they will shortly be under
of rebuilding their church ; and the Eastchester people are
exhausted by the church they have undertaken to build.
I must defer writing concerning that part of the parish
which is under Mr. Munroe's care till my information is
more correct. The professed dissenters in this parish are not
numerous; some Calvinistic or Presbyterian French at New
Rochelle, a few Presbyterians at Eastchester, and some
Quakers ; at Westchester a good many Quakers. But there
are many families, especially among the lower classes, who
do not even pretend to be of any religion at all.
The missionaries, by the instructions of the Society,
were required to encourage the setting up of schools
for the teaching of children, and an important advan-
tage was gained where these were successfully estab-
lished. The Society appointed schoolmasters in some
places, and appropriated annually small stipends to-
wards their support. A brother of the rector, Na-
thaniel Seabury, held such a position in Westchester
and retired in 1768, when another gentleman was ap-
pointed, who continued his services in that capacity
for several years. The rector subsequently reported
this school to be in a prosperous condition and the
children to be advancing in knowledge.
The impolitic measures of the British government
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 25
were beginning to agitate the colonies and to fore-
shadow the troubles of the Revolution. The Stamp
Act had been passed and a Congress had been held in
New York, composed of delegates from nine of the
thirteen colonies, who considered the grievances of
the people and sent petitions to the king and Parlia-
ment for its immediate repeal. A year elapsed from
the time of its enactment before the odious measure
was rescinded, and then the repeal was accompanied
by a declaratory act, asserting the right of Parlia-
ment to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever,
and, as a consequence, the public irritation was by
no means allayed. Liberty was a word upon which
many changes were rung, and political questions were
discussed with excited feelings and widely opposing
views. Americans, for the most part,, claimed the
rights of British subjects and denied the power or
authority of Parliament to tax the colonies without
their consent. This was the real foundation of the
whole dispute which resulted in independence.
Seabury did not sympathize with the vehement
advocates for liberty. He knew that "unbounded
licentiousness in manners and insecurity to private
property " must be the unavoidable consequence of
extreme measures. So early as March, 1770, he wrote
the secretary of the Society : "The violent party heats
which prevail in this colony as well as in the others
engross at present the attention of the people. But
I think that even the disturbances will be attended
with some advantage to the interests of the Church.
The usefulness and truth of her doctrines, with re-
gard to civil government, appear more evident from
those disorders which other principles have led the
26 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
people into. This is particularly remarked and pub-
licly mentioned by the more candid and reasonable
people, who seem heartily tired with the great clam-
ors for liberty." And he added in the same letter :
" I hope the time is not far off when these matters
will be settled upon a firm and permanent founda-
tion ; but however that may be, I am confident the
behavior of the Church people, considered as a body,
has been such as has done her honor, and will be re-
membered many years in this country with approba-
tion."
An uneasy state of public feeling continued, though
appearances indicated that the colonies had been
brought into subjection and would not attempt im-
mediately any armed resistance to the British govern-
ment. Lord North was prime minister at the time,
and had popular tumults at home to look after, as
well as dissensions on this side of the Atlantic. He
believed in the omnipotence of the king and Parlia-
ment, and failed to see that coercion, if successful at
first, might end in uniting the colonies in a steady
and unyielding defense of their civil rights.
The missionary at Westchester in January, 1771,
reported the condition of his charge to be much the
same as at the date of his last letter. It was difficult
to draw the attention of the people to the subject of
religion or to persuade them that it was of any real
importance. The political animosities and disturb-
ances occupied their thoughts, and they seemed to be
more anxious about the future of the colonies than
about the interests of their souls and the advance-
ment of the Church. He endeavored to perform his
duty, hoping for better results from his labors, and
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 27
according to the abstracts of the Society, the number
of his baptisms in 1774 was forty-nine and of admis-
sions to the holy communion three.
New York was the most quiet and loyal of all the
colonies, at least, it had more friends of the Brit-
ish government in the beginning than any which fa-
vored the proceedings of the Continental Congress.
Her Assembly declined to take into consideration the
acts of that body at its first meeting in Philadel-
phia, September, 1774, and refused to choose dele-
gates to the second Congress, which was to convene
in the same city the following May. The policy of
the province was conservative ; and Seabury, from
the impulses of his nature and the convictions of his
conscience, took the side of the crown and resolutely
defended its measures, and used his influence in
Westchester County to quiet the people and prevent
them from joining the Sons of Liberty. He was
one of a number of persons who assembled at White
Plains in April, 1775, and his name is the third
on the list of three hundred and twelve signatures
affixed to an emphatic protest which the meeting
adopted as follows : " We, the subscribers, freeholders,
and inhabitants of the county of Westchester, having
assembled at the White Plains in consequence of cer-
tain advertisements, do now declare that we met here
to declare our honest abhorrence of all unlawful Con-
gresses and committees, and that we are determined,
at the hazard of our lives and properties, to support
the King and Constitution ; and that we acknowledge
no representatives but the General Assembly, to
whose wisdom and integrity we submit the guardian-
ship of our rights, liberties, and privileges."
28 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The protest and the proceedings of the meeting
were published in " Kivington's Gazette/' a newspaper
printed in the city of New York, which warmly es-
poused the royal cause, and had a great influence on
the public mind. Rivington was an Englishman by
birth, who had an extensive foreign correspondence
and a large acquaintance in Europe and America, and
he published, as he claimed, what was conformable to
his ideas of true liberty ; but he became obnoxious
to the patriots and was denounced, and finally " his
press was destroyed by a mob from Connecticut, who
carried off a part of his types, converted them into
Whig bullets, and compelled him to suspend the pub-
lication of his paper." 1
Prior to this, the colonial interests had been dis-
cussed in two pamphlets printed without the name
of the author or publisher, and one of them, entitled
" Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Conti-
nental Congress," was signed " A. W. Farmer," 2 and
attributed at the time and since to Isaac Wilkins,
then an influential member of the loyal Provincial
Assembly of New York, and an intimate friend of
the rector of the church in Westchester. He was a
fearless leader on the ministerial side in that body,
and when it was proposed to appoint delegates to
the second Continental Congress, he made a speech
against the proposition which was greatly admired
by his friends for its eloquence, clearness, and preci-
sion. A bitter feeling was excited towards the un-
known author of these pamphlets, which were exten-
sively and gratuitously circulated among the people
1 Sabine's Loyalists of the American Revolution, vol. ii., p. 216.
2 A Westchester farmer.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 29
of New York and other provinces. Vengeance was
denounced upon him, and failing to find him, copies of
the pamphlets were gathered and burnt, and in some
instances they were tarred, feathered, and nailed to
the whipping-post, as an indication of the treatment
which their author would receive if he were detected.
A month had scarcely passed away before an anon-
ymous answer to the "Farmer" appeared, written
with prudence and skill, and vindicating the measures
of the Congress from the calumnies and misrepre-
sentations of their enemies. Almost simultaneously
with this answer was issued another pamphlet entitled
66 An Examination into the Conduct of the Delegates
at their Grand Convention," and addressed to the
merchants of New York; and the " Farmer," who
wrote it, announced in an Appendix that he should
be pleased to defend his former publication and this
in the same reply, and he would therefore wait ten
days for his antagonist's remarks, which he supposed
would be ample time for so accomplished a writer.
The date of its publication Christmas Eve, 1774
shows that he was ready with his reply at the ap-
pointed moment, and it came from the press of Riv-
ington, and excited anew the curiosity of the public
to discover the authorship of the anonymous pam-
phlets. The controversy thickened, and a rejoinder
on the side of the colonies was eagerly anticipated,
and it soon appeared ; and to the surprise of some
and the delight of others, this too was issued from
the notorious press of James Rivington. The credit
of thus defending the colonies was given in the public
estimation to such men as John Jay, of Westchester
County, and his father-in-law, William Livingston;
30 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
but neither of these gentlemen held the polemic pen
in the dispute with the "Farmer." It was Alexander
Hamilton, so celebrated in American history, but at
that time a gifted youth, not yet nineteen years old,
born, like Isaac Wilkins, in the West Indies, and just
completing a course of academical instruction at
King's College under the presidency of that ardent
loyalist, Dr. Myles Cooper.
But who was the spirited writer that signed him-
self " A. W. Farmer " ? Seabury, at an earlier day,
had entered into a compact with his clerical friends,
Dr. Chandler, of New Jersey, and Dr. Inglis, rector of
Trinity Church, New York, to watch and confute all
publications in pamphlets or newspapers that threat-
ened mischief to the Church of England and the
British government in America. Out of this com-
pact undoubtedly sprung " Free Thoughts on the Pro-
ceedings of the Congress at Philadelphia," which was
from his pen, as were the other publications that im-
mediately followed on the same side of the question.
His object, as stated by himself, was " to point out,
in a way accommodated to the comprehension of the
farmers and landowners, the destructive influence
which the measures of the Congress, if acted upon,
would have on them and the laboring part of the
community," and he endeavored to persuade the New
York Assembly that "if they acceded to them, as
other assemblies had done, they would betray the
rights and liberties of their Constitution, set up a new
sovereign power in the province, and plunge it into
all the horrors of rebellion and civil war." l
The struggle for independence had actually begun,
1 Shea's Life and' Epoch of Hamilton, p. 299.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 31
and the battle of Lexington, on the 19th of April,
1775, thrilled through the land, and the people in
different places were preparing for united resistance
to the king's troops. The suspicion which had fallen
upon Seabury as the author of the obnoxious publica-
tions grew in strength, and his known intimacy with
leading loyalists brought him under the surveillance
of his enemies, and a body of troops, stationed at
Rye, a neighboring town, was sent to arrest him at
his residence, together with Isaac Wilkins, then a
member of the Provincial Assembly from Westches-
ter. They both escaped, having been advised of the
attempt upon their personal liberty, and kept them-
selves for a time in concealment. 1 Wilkins fled from
his home and embarked for England, issuing to his
countrymen at the moment of his departure, May 3,
1775, an address in which, among other things, he
said : " I leave America, and every endearing con-
nection, because I will not raise my hand against my
sovereign, nor will I draw my sword against my coun-
try ; when I can conscientiously draw it in her favor,
my life shall be cheerfully devoted to her service."
His wife and children were left behind. The follow-
ing letter from Seabury, dated the 30th of the same
month, is a brief but graphic description of his own
condition and of the feeling in the vicinity of New
York :
1 " In the old Wilkins mansion on Castle Hill Neck, Westchester, is
still shown the place where Drs. Cooper, Chandler, and Seabury man-
aged to secrete themselves for some time, notwithstanding the most
minute and persevering search was made for them ; so ingeniously con-
trived was the place of their concealment in and about the old-fashioned
chimney. Food was conveyed to them through a trap-door in the
floor." Bolton's History of the Church in Westchester County, p. 86,
ed. 1855.
32 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
MY EVER DEAR WILKINS, I hope you are safe in Lon-
don; may every blessing attend you. Mrs. Wilkins was
well last evening. Isabella has had a rash, but is better.
Everything here quiet. Reported that two thousand men
are ready in Connecticut for any operation for which they
may be wanted in this province. The Asia is arrived re-
ported that she has demanded a supply of provisions for Bos-
ton and it is agreed that they shall be furnished. The as-
sociations went on very heavily at W. C. ; very few signed.
The Provincial Congress have agreed to raise money upon
the province, as the representatives of the people. Mr. L.
Morris has published his remarks upon the Protest, etc.,
poor me you are safe I think I am too. If I knew any-
thing worth writing, I would write it. I think the present
scene will not last long. Drs. Cooper and Chandler sailed
last week. Tell Dr. Cooper I received his letter, and I will
write to him. When I can collect anything worthy your
notice you shall have it. God bless you, says your ever
affectionate SEABURY.
As often happens in perilous political revolutions,
families became divided on the question between
Great Britain and her colonies, parents being arrayed
against their children, and children against their par-
ents. Wilkins married a sister of Lewis Morris, a
signer of the Declaration of Independence, and of
Gouverneur Morris, a distinguished patriot also, but
the mother espoused tbe royal cause, and remained
within the British lines during the continuance of
hostilities. Her correspondence at this period with
her sons excited suspicion and occasioned them some
difficulty, notwithstanding their labors and sacrifices
in behalf of the colonies. 1
1 Loyalists of the American Revolution, vol. ii., p. 433.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 33
CHAPTER m.
LETTER TO THE SECRETARY; FIRMNESS OF ALLEGIANCE; ARREST
AND IMPRISONMENT ; MEMORIAL TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
CONNECTICUT; RELEASE AND RETURN TO HIS FAMILY; FRESH
TROUBLES AND DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ; CLOSE OF HIS
CHURCH AND ACCOUNT OF HIS PERSECUTIONS.
A. D. 1775-1776.
THE same day on which Seabury wrote to his
friend Wilkins he addressed a letter to the secretary
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and
expressed his fears about being able to perform his
duties in his parish. "We are here," he said, "in a
very alarming situation. Dr. Cooper 1 and Dr. Chand-
ler have been obliged to quit this community, and
sailed for England last week. I have been obliged
to retire a few days from the threatened vengeance
of the New England people who lately broke into this
province. But I hope I shall be able to keep my
1 The Rev. Dr. Myles Cooper, President of King's College, was threat-
ened with personal violence by a mob which went to his residence to
seize him; but the collegians had no sympathy with the attempt, and
Hamilton, one of them, spoke to the crowd from the steps of the porch
and remonstrated against such disgraceful conduct. It has been said
that at first Dr. Cooper supposed that he was inciting the turbulent peo-
ple, and cried out from an upper window: " Don't listen to him, gentle-
men; he is crazy." While Hamilton detained the crowd with his address,
the president escaped by the rear of the building to the river, and was
rowed to the Asia, a British vessel of war, riding at anchor in the
harbor. Vide Shea's Life and Epoch of Hamilton, p. 354.
3
34 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
station. The charge against the clergy is a very ex-
traordinary one, that they have, in conjunction with
the Society and the British ministry, laid a plan for
enslaving America. I do not believe that those peo-
ple who raised this calumny believe one syllable of
it, but they intend it as an engine to turn the popu-
lar fury upon the Church, which, should the violent
schemes of some of our Eastern neighbors succeed,
will probably fall a sacrifice to the persecuting spirit
of independency."
The influence of New England, especially of Massa-
chusetts, and its defensive measures was extending,
and some men, who at first were lukewarm and in-
clined only to plans for reconciliation, began to assume
a bolder front, and to say that the dispute with Great
Britain must end in the separation of the colonies,
and the acknowledgment of their independence. The
course of Seabury as a citizen and a minister of the
Church was dignified and determined. If others wa-
vered or changed, he was firm, and, like his clerical
brethren, felt it to be his duty to pray for the king
and his government, in obedience to the oath which
he had taken at his ordination.
It is true, his language in his political pamphlets
was more in the style of a violent partisan than of a
discreet and godly clergyman ; but he was writing in
the disguise of a farmer, and addressed himself to the
plain yeomanry of the land in a way which would be
sure to arrest their attention and work upon their
honest convictions. Speaking in his first pamphlet of
the recommendation to appoint committees in the sev-
eral colonies to inspect the conduct of the inhabitants
and see whether they violated the agreement of the
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 35
"grand Continental Congress/' he said: "Will you be
instrumental in bringing the most abject slavery on
yourselves? Will you choose such committees? Will
you submit to them, should they be chosen by the
weak, foolish, turbulent part of the country people ?
Do as you please ; but by Him that made me, I will
not ! No, if I must be enslaved, let it be to a king at
least, and not by a parcel of upstart, lawless commit-
tee-men. If I must be devoured, let it be by the
jaws of a lion, and not gnawed to death by rats and
vermin." 1
This was the strong language which the disturb-
ances of the times evoked, and the bitterness of the
controversy between the crown and the people seemed
to justify its use. The worst treatment fell upon the
clergy of the Church of England, and though no
greater opponents to the war for independence than
many of their sectarian brethren, they were marked
for closer restraint and subjected to sharper trials and
persecutions. The fears which Seabury had expressed
in his letter to the secretary were soon realized. He
had been serving, as best he could, his two dimin-
ished congregations, and working in another way to
obtain a partial support for his family, when an armed
force from Connecticut invaded the territory of New
York, seized him at his school-room, and carried him
to New Haven. The particulars of his arrest and the
recital of his wrongs and of the cruelties inflicted
upon him are so well stated in his petition to the
General Assembly, asking for relief, that no apol-
ogy is necessary for printing it here in full. It is
headed,
1 Free Thoughts, etc., p. 18.
36 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
To the General Assembly of the Governor and Company of
the Colony of Connecticut, now sitting in New Haven, in
said Colony, by special Order of his Honor, the Governor.
The memorial of Samuel Seabury, Clerk, A. M., Rector of
the Parish of West Chester, in the County of West Chester
and Province of New York, humbly showeth :
That on Wednesday, the 22d day of November last, your
memorialist was seized at a house in West Chester where he
taught a grammar school, by a company of armed men, to
the number, as he supposes, of about forty ; that after being
carried to his own house and being allowed time to send for
his horse, he was forced away on the road to Kingsbridge,
but soon meeting another company of armed men, they
joined and proceeded to East Chester.
That a person styled Captain Lothrop ordered your memo-
rialist to be seized. That after the two companies joined,
the command appeared to your memorialist to be in Captain
Isaac Sears, and the whole number of men to be about one
hundred. That from East Chester your memorialist, in com-
pany with Jonathan Fowler, Esq., of East Chester, and Nathl.
Underbill, Esq., of West Chester, was sent under a guard
of about twenty armed men to Horseneck, and on the Mon-
day following was brought to this town and carried in tri-
umph through a great part of it, accompanied by a large
number of men on horseback and in carriages, chiefly armed.
That the whole company arranged themselves before the
house of Captain Sears. That after firing two cannon and
huzzaing, your memorialist was sent under a guard of four
or five men to the house of Mrs. Lyman, where he has ever
since been kept under guard. That during this time your
memorialist hath been prevented from enjoying a free inter-
course with his friends ; forbidden to visit some of them,
though in company with his guard ; prohibited from reading
prayers in the church, and in performing any part of divine
service, though invited by the Rev. Mr. Hubbard so to do ;
interdicted the use of pen, ink, and paper, except for the pur-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 37
pose of writing to his family, and then it was required that
his letters should be examined and licensed before they were
sent off ; though on Friday last, Captain Sears condescended
that your memorialist should be indulged in writing a memo-
rial to this Hon. Assembly. That your memorialist hath re-
ceived but one letter from his family since he has been under
confinement, and that was delivered to him open, though
brought by the post.
Your memorialist begs leave further to represent, that he
hath heard a verbal account that one of his daughters was
abused and insulted by some of the people when at his house
on the 22d of November. That a bayonet was thrust through
her cap, and her cap thereby tore from [her] head. That the
handkerchief about her neck was pierced by a bayonet, both
before and behind. That a quilt in the frame on which the
daughters of your memorialist were at work was so cut and
pierced with bayonets as to be rendered useless. That while
your memorialist was waiting for his horse, on the said 22d
day of November, the people obliged the wife of your memo-
rialist to open his desk, where they examined his papers, part
of the time in presence of your memorialist. That he had in
a drawer in the desk three or four dollars and a few pieces
of small silver. That he hath heard that only an English
shilling and three or four coppers were found in the drawers
after he was brought away. That your memorialist thinks
this not improbable, as Jonathan Fowler, Esq., informed him
that a new beaver hat, a silver mounted horsewhip, and two
silver spoons were carried off from his house on said day.
Mr. Meloy, also, of this town, informed your memorialist,
that he, the said Meloy, had been accused by some people of
pointing a bayonet at the breast of a daughter of your memo-
rialist, desiring your memorialist to exculpate him from the
charge, to which request your memorialist replied that he was
not at his house but at his school-house, when the affair was
said to have happened ; but that a daughter of your memori-
alist met him as he was brought from the school-house, and
told him that one of the men had pushed a bayonet against
38 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
her breast and otherwise insulted her ; and your memorialist
remembers that when he left his house in the morning his
daughter had a cap on, but when she met him near the
school-house, she had none on, and her hair was hanging
over her shoulders.
Your memorialist, also, begs leave further to represent
that after he had been eight or ten days at New Haven, he
was carried by Mr. Jonathan Mix, to whose care he was com-
mitted, to the house of Mr. Beers, innkeeper, in said town,
where were Captain Sears, Captain Lothrop, Mr. Brown,
and some others, whose names he did not know, or does not
recollect. That several questions were asked him, to some
of which he gave the most explicit answers, but perceiving
some insidious design against him by some of the questions,
he refused to answer any more. That Captain Sears then
observed to him, if he understood him right, that they did
not intend to release him, nor to make such a compromise
with him as had been made with Judge Fowler and Mr.
Underbill, but to keep him a prisoner till the unhappy dis-
putes between Great Britain and America were settled. That
whatever your memorialist might think, what they had done
they would take upon themselves and support. That your
memorialist then asked an explicit declaration of the charges
against him, and was told that the charges against him
were :
That he, your memorialist, had entered into a combination
with six or seven others to seize Captain Sears as he was
passing through the county of West Chester, and convey
him on board a man-of-war.
That your memorialist had signed a protest at the White
Plains, in the county of West Chester, against the proceed-
ings of the Continental Congress.
That your memorialist had neglected to open his church
on the day of the Continental Fast.
And that he had written pamphlets and newspapers
against the liberties of America.
To the first and last of these charges your memorialist
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 39
pleads not guilty, and will be ready to vindicate his inno-
cence, as soon as he shall be restored to his liberty in that
province to which only he conceives himself to be amenable.
He considers it a high infringement of the liberty for which
the virtuous sons of America are now nobly struggling, to
be carried by force out of one colony into another, for the
sake either of trial or imprisonment. Must he be judged by
the laws of Connecticut, to which as an inhabitant of New
York he owed no obedience ? or by the laws of that colony
in which he has been near twenty years a resident ? or, if
the regulations of Congress be attended to, must he be
dragged from the committee of his own county, and from
the Congress of his own province, cut off from the inter-
course of his friends, deprived of the benefit of those evi-
dences which may be necessary for the vindication of his in-
nocence, and judged by strangers to him, to his character,
and to the circumstances of his general conduct in life ?
One great grievance justly complained of by the people
of America, and which they are now struggling against, is
the Act of Parliament directing persons to be carried from
America to England for ,a trial. And your memorialist is
confident that the supreme legislative authority in this col-
ony will not permit him to be treated in a manner so de-
structive to that liberty for which they are now contending.
If your memorialist is to be dealt with according to law, he
conceives that the laws of Connecticut, as well as of New
York, forbid the imprisonment of his person any otherwise
than according to law. If he is to be judged according
to the regulations of the Congress, they have ordained the
Provincial Congress of New York, or the committee of the
county of West Chester, to be his judges. Neither the laws
of either colony nor the regulations of the Congress give
any countenance to the mode of treatment which he has met
with. But considered in either light, he conceives it must
appear unjust, cruel, arbitrary, and tyrannical.
With regard to the second charge, viz. : That your memo-
rialist signed a protest against the proceedings of the Con-
40 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
gress, he begs leave to state the fact as it really is. The
General Assembly of the province of New York, in their
sessions last winter, determined to send a petition to the
king, a memorial, to the House of Lords, and a remon-
strance to the House of Commons, upon the subject of
American grievances; and the members of the house, at
least many of them, as your memorialist was informed, rec-
ommended it to their constituents to be quiet till the issue
of those applications should be known. Sometime in the
beginning of April, as your memorialist thinks, the people
were invited to meet at the White Plains to choose dele-
gates for a Provincial Congress. Many people there assem-
bled were averse from the measure. They, however, gave no
other opposition to the choice of delegates than signing a
protest. This protest your memorialist signed in company
with two members of the assembly, and above three hun-
dred other people. Your memorialist had not a thought of
acting against the liberties of America. He did not con-
ceive it to be a crime to support the measures of the repre-
sentatives of the people, measures which he then hoped, and
expected, would have had a good effect by inducing a change
of conduct in regard to America. More than eight months
have now passed since your memorialist signed the protest.
If his crime was of so atrocious a kind, why was he suffered
to remain so long unpunished ? or why should he be now
singled out from more than three hundred, to endure the un-
exampled punishment of captivity and unlimited confine-
ment ?
The other crime alleged against your memorialist is, that
he neglected to open his church on the day of the Conti-
nental Fast. To this he begs leave to answer : That he had
no notice of the day appointed but from common report.
That he received no order relative to said day either from
any Congress or committee. That he cannot think himself
guilty of neglecting or disobeying an order of Congress,
which order was never signified to him in any way. That
a complaint was exhibited against your memorialist to the
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 41
Provincial Congress of New York, by Captain Sears, soon
after the neglect with which he is charged, and that after
the matter was fully debated, the complaint was dismissed.
That he conceives it to be cruel, abitrary, and in the high-
est degree unjust, after his supposed offense has been ex-
amined before the proper tribunal, to be dragged like a
felon seventy miles from home, and again impeached of the
same crime. At this rate of proceeding, should he be ac-
quitted at New Haven, he may be forced seventy miles far-
ther, and so on without end.
Further your memorialist begs leave to represent : That
he has a wife and six children, to whom he owes, both
from duty and affection, protection, support, and instruction.
That his family in a great measure depend, under the provi-
dence of God, upon his daily care for their daily bread. That
there are several families at West Chester who depend on
his advice as a physician, to which profession he was bred.
That as a clergyman he has the care of the towns of East
and West Chester. That there is not now a clergyman of
any denomination nearer than nine miles from the place of
his residence, and but one within that distance without
crossing the Sound ; so that in his absence there is- none to
officiate to the people in any religious service, to visit the
sick, or bury the dead.
Your memorialist also begs leave to observe : That in or-
der to discharge some debts which the necessity of his affairs
formerly obliged him to contract, he, about a year ago,
opened a grammar school, and succeeded so far as to make it
worth one hundred pounds, York money, for the year past.
That he was in a fair way of satisfying his creditors and
freeing himself from a heavy incumbrance. That he had five
young gentlemen from the Island of Jamaica, one from Mont-
real, four children of gentlemen now in England, committed
to his care, among others from New York and the country.
That he apprehends his school to be broken up, and his
Scholars dispersed, probably some of them placed at other
schools, and that it may be difficult, if not impracticable,
42 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
again to recover them. That if there should be no other im-
pediment, yet if the people of West Chester are to be liable
to such treatment as your memorialist hath lately endured,
no person will be willing to trust his children there. That
in this case, your memorialist must lie entirely at the mercy
of his creditors to secure him from a jail, or must part with
everything he has to satisfy their just demands.
Your memorialist, thinking it his duty to use all lawful
and honorable means to free himself from his present con-
finement, mentioned his case to the judges of the superior
court, lately sitting in this town. Those honorable gentle-
men thought it a case not proper for them to interfere in ;
he has, therefore, no remedy, but in the interposition of the
Honorable House of Assembly.
To them he looks for relief from the heavy hand of op-
pression and tyranny. He hopes and expects that they will
dismiss him from his confinement, and grant him their pro-
tection, while he passes peaceably through the colony. He
is indeed accused of breaking the rules of the Continental
Congress. He thinks he can give a good account of his con-
duct, such as would satisfy reasonable and candid men. He
is certain that nothing can be laid to his charge so repugnant
to the regulations of the Congress, as the conduct of those
people who in an arbitrary and hostile manner forced him
from his house, and have kept him now four weeks a prisoner
without any means or prospect of relief. He has a higher
opinion of the candor, justice, and equity of the Honorable
House of Assembly, and shall they incline to inquire more
minutely into the affair, he would be glad to appear at the
bar of their house, and answer for himself ; or to be per-
mitted to have counsel to answer for him ; or, in such way
as they in their wisdom shall think best, to grant him relief.
And your memorialist, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.
SAMUEL SEABURY.
DATED IN NEW HAVEN THE 20TH DAY OF DECEMBER, 1775.
A letter from the President of the Provincial Con-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 43
gress of New York to the Governor of Connecticut,
demanding his " immediate discharge/' and dated the
12th of December, was read before the Lower House
of the Assembly, and six of its members, with Dr.
Wm. Samuel Johnson, of the Upper House, were
appointed to take it into consideration and' report
how it should be answered. The memorial of Mr.
Seabury was subsequently referred to the same com-
mittee, and, after due deliberation, they recommended
as expedient and proper that all parties concerned in
the matter of it " be heard by themselves or counsel
before both Houses of Assembly," and the question
being put in the Lower House on accepting the re-
port, it was decided in the negative.
The memorialist, however, was speedily released
from his confinement, and he returned to his family
after Christmas, arriving in Westchester on the 2d
of January. His absence had occasioned much anx-
iety and perplexity, and his private affairs were in
a distracted condition. He seems to have had lit-
tle hope that he could retain his place without fur-
ther molestation ; but he determined to perform his
ministerial duties at any sacrifice until he was driven
away. His papers were in a confused state, so that
he could make no formal report to the Society, but
he wrote to the secretary eleven days after his re-
turn to Westchester, and briefly mentioned, as it was
his duty to do, the hardships which had befallen him
and the personal inconveniencies to which he had
been subjected.
" Since my last letter," said he, " I have been
seized by a company of disaffected people in arms
from Connecticut, in number about one hundred, and
44 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
carried to New Haven. This happened on the 22d
of November, and I was kept under a military guard
till the 23d of December. The particulars of this
affair I will send you when I find a safe opportunity.
On the 2d of this month I returned to my family.
How long I shall be able to continue here is very
uncertain ; but I am determined to stay as long as I
am permitted to discharge the duties of my mission,
whatever personal inconvenience it may subject me
to. My private affairs have suffered much on this
occasion. I was compelled to bear my expenses, and
that has not been less than <10 sterling. My papers
were all examined, and are thrown into such confusion
that I can find none of my memoranda relating to my
mission or correspondence with the Society."
The critical state of the times made him exceed-
ingly cautious, and he did not write again to the So-
ciety until the close of the year. The quiet of a few
weeks after his return to his mission was succeeded
by fresh insults, and a perpetual watch was kept on
his movements to find new causes for treating him
with severity. His ecclesiastical character, though
venerated by many on the side of the colonies, did
not save him from persecution, and he was filled with
gloomy forebodings for himself and his brethren.
" God's providence," said he, " will, I hope, protect
his Church and clergy in this country, the disorder
and confusion of which are beyond description. But
it is his property to bring order out of confusion,
good out of evil; and may his will be done."
The Declaration of Independence on the 4th of
July, 1776, left no longer any room for the Provin-
cial Assembly of New York to hesitate about with-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 45
drawing from the support of the crown, and falling
in with the measures of the General Congress. The
popular voice was setting in the strong current of
united resistance to the invasion of the British troops,
and steps were taken to maintain, at any cost, the
war which had been for some time in progress. An
edict was proclaimed by the Provincial Assembly for-
bidding persons to contribute in any way to the sup-
port or comfort of the king and his forces under
penalty of death. This added to the terror of the
times, and compelled Seabury to discontinue his pub-
lic services, at least it was construed as prohibiting
him from the use of the full Liturgy of the Church of
England. His conscience would not allow him to mu-
tilate it; and he therefore absented himself from the
sanctuary, and directed the sexton to notify the peo-
ple who might come to worship of his determination
not to officiate until he was at liberty to pray for the
king. His own account of his trials and sufferings at
this period, contained in the letter already referred
to, dated December 29, 1776, is so complete, that at
the risk of repeating some things, it is introduced to
close this chapter.
Since my last letter I have undergone more uneasiness
than I can describe ; more, I believe, than I could well sup-
port again.
When the present unnatural rebellion was first beginning,
I foresaw evidently what was coming on the country, and I
exerted myself to stem the torrent of popular clamor, to
recall people to the use of their reason, and to retain them
in their loyalty and allegiance. Several pamphlets ap-
peared in favor of government, among others, some written
under the character of a Farmer, which gave great offense
to the Sons of Liberty, as the rebels then styled themselves.
46 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
These were attributed to me, and were the principal reason
of my being carried into Connecticut the last year. If I
would have disavowed these publications I should have been
set at liberty in a few days ; but as I refused to declare
whether I were, or were not, the author, they kept me till
they sent to New York and New London, and wherever they
could hear of a journeyman printer who had wrought for
Mr. Rivington at the time when those pamphlets were
published, and had them examined ; but, finding no suffi-
cient proof, upon my putting in a memorial to the General
Assembly at Connecticut, the gang who took me prisoner
thought proper to withdraw their guard and let me return.
I continued tolerably quiet at home for a few weeks, till
after the king's troops evacuated Boston, when, the rebel
army passing from thence to New York, bodies of them, con-
sisting of twenty or thirty men, would, every day or two,
sometimes two or three times a day, come through West
Chester, though five miles out of their way, and never failed
to stop at my house, I believe only for the malicious pleas-
ure of insulting me by reviling the king, the Parliament,
Lord North, the Church, the bishops, the clergy, and the
Society, and, above all, that vilest of all miscreants, A. W.
Farmer. One would give one hundred dollars to know who
he was, that he might plunge his bayonet into his heart;
another would crawl fifty miles to see him roasted ; but,
happily for the farmer, it was not in the power of any per-
son in America to expose him. This continued about a
month. Matters then became pretty quiet, till they got
intelligence that General Howe was coming to New York.
Independency was then declared by the grand Congress at
Philadelphia; and the petty Congress at New York pub-
lished an edict, making it death to aid, abet, support, assist,
or comfort the king, or any of his forces, servants, or friends.
Till this time I had kept the church open. About fifty
armed men were now sent into my neighborhood.
I was now in a critical situation. If I prayed for the
king the least I could expect was to be sent into New Eng-
OF SAMUEL SEABUKY. 47
land ; probably something worse, as no clergyman on the
continent was so obnoxious to them. If I went to church
and omitted praying for the king, it would not only be a
breach of my duty, but in some degree countenancing their
rebellion, and supporting that independency which they had
declared. As the least culpable course, I determined not to
go to church, and ordered the sexton, on Sunday morning,
to tell any person who should inquire, that till I could pray
for the king, and do my duty according to the rubric and
canons, there would be neither prayers nor sermon. About
half a dozen of my parishioners and a dozen rebel soldiers
came to the church. The rest of the people, in a general
way, declared that they would not go to church till their
minister was at liberty to pray for the king.
Soon after this, the British fleet and army arrived at
Staten Island. The rebels then became very alert in ap-
prehending the friends of government. Many had retired
to West Chester from New York. These were first sought
after; some escaped; many were seized. My situation be-
came daily more critical, as they began to take up the inhab-
itants of the country. At length two ships of war came into
the Sound and took their station within sight of my house.
Immediately the whole coast was guarded that no one might
go to them. Within a few days the troops landed on Long
Island, and the rebels were defeated. A body of them then
took post at the heights near Kingsbridge, in my parish, and
began to throw up works. Another body fixed themselves
within two miles of my house.
For some time before I had kept a good deal out of sight,
lodging abroad, and never being at home for more than an
hour or two at a time, and having a number of people whom
I could depend upon engaged, who punctually informed me
of every circumstance that was necessary for me to know.
48 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
CHAPTER IV.
ESCAPE TO LONG ISLAND, AND DESECRATION OF HIS CHURCH ;
LETTER TO THE SOCIETY, AND DEATH OF MISSIONARIES; RESI-
DENCE IN NEW YORK CITY, AND MISSIONARY AT STATEN ISLAND J
APPOINTED CHAPLAIN, AND BURNING OF TRINITY CHURCH ; SUF-
FERINGS AND LOSSES OF THE CLERGY.
A. D. 1776-1780.
AFTER the British troops had effected a landing
on Long Island and defeated the American forces,
Seabury contrived to escape from Westchester, and
sought protection within the lines of the king's army.
He could not have prevented the lawlessness and
ravages had he remained ; but it was a sad day for
his church and family when he withdrew. A com-
pany of cavalry, having been quartered at his resi-
dence, consumed all the produce of his glebe, and the
colonial troops, after burning the pews in his church
and injuring it in other ways, converted it into a
hospital. The school, which had been moderately
prosperous under his charge, was completely broken
up, and he and his family were deprived of all visible
means of support. Great as his privations and dis-
tresses were, he did not abate an atom of his loyalty
to the home government ; but continued to uphold its
designs and to hope for deliverance and the return
of peace and better days.
When the royal army passed over from Long Isl-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 49
and into Westchester County, his familiarity with the
roads and rivers of the region enabled him to furnish
maps and plans which were of essential service to
the commanding general. He knew the sentiments
of the bulk of his people, and believed that he was
right in doing everything to encourage their loyalty
and to deter them from embarking in a revolution
that was surrounded by so many terrors.
" I must observe/' wrote he at this time, " that
but few of my congregation are engaged in the re-
bellion. The New England rebels used frequently to
observe, as an argument against me, that the nearer
they came to West Chester the fewer friends they
found to American liberty, that is, to rebellion ;
and, in justice to the rebels of East and West Ches-
ter, 1 must say, that none of them ever offered
me any insult or attempted to do me any injury
that I know of. It must give the Society great sat-
isfaction to know that all their missionaries have
conducted themselves with great propriety, and, on
many occasions, with a firmness and steadiness that
have done them honor. This may, indeed, be said of
all the clergy on this side the Delaware, and, I am
persuaded, of many on the other. But the conduct
of the Philadelphia clergy has been the very reverse.
They not only rushed headlong into the rebellion
themselves, but perverted the judgment and soured
the tempers and inflamed the passions of the people
by sermons and orations, both from the pulpit and
the press. Their behavior hath been of great disad-
vantage to the loyal clergy."
It was impossible for Seabury to resume his clerical
duties or be safe in Westchester unless under military
50 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
protection ; and, accordingly, when the king's troops
departed from the neighborhood, he gathered what
little he could carry and retired with his family to
New York. His retirement was not a day too soon,
for scarcely had he reached the city when niany
persons in his parish and its vicinity were seized and
carried away, and the whole region for thirty miles
around was pillaged and laid waste by the marches
and depredations, sometimes of one army and some-
times of the other.
His next letter to the secretary of the Society was
dated at New York, March 29, 1777, and opened with
an apology for not giving in the previous one infor-
mation of the death of the neighboring missionary at
Eye, the Kev. Mr. Avery. He detailed the sad cir-
cumstances as he had received them, and placed the
cause of his death, whether justly or not is uncertain,
among the barbarities of civil war.
When the king's army was about to leave the county of
West Chester, the latter end of October last, our brigade, un-
der the command of General Agnew, pushed forward about
two miles beyond Rye, in hopes of bringing a large detach-
ment of the rebel army, which lay there, to an engagement ;
but not being able to come up with them, they returned on
a Sunday afternoon to join the royal army near the White
Plains. That evening the rebels returned to Rye, and as
Mr. Avery and many of the loyalists had shown particular
marks of joy when the king's troops came there, they be-
came very obnoxious to the rebels, who showed their resent-
ment by plundering their houses, driving off their cattle,
taking away their grain, and imprisoning some of them.
Among the rest, Mr. Avery was a sufferer, and lost his cat-
tle, horses, etc. On Tuesday morning he desired a maid-
servant to give the children their breakfast, and went out.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 51
Some time after, he was found, some say, under a fence or
in an out-house, with his throat cut, either dead or just ex-
piring. Many people are very confident that he was mur-
dered by the rebels ; others suppose that his late repeated
losses and disappointments, the insults and threats of the
rebels, and the absence of his best friends, drove him into a
state of desperation, too severe for his strength of mind.
He had, last spring, a stroke of the palsy, which deprived
him of the use of one hand, and affected his reason a good
deal. He also, about the same time, lost his wife, a pru-
dent and cheerful woman, which affected him so much, that
when I attended at her funeral I did not think it right to
leave him suddenly, but tarried with him several days till
he was more composed. I visited him again a fortnight
after and found him much better, and would have repeated
my visits ; but the times became too critical to admit of it.
He has left five or six helpless orphans, I fear, in great dis-
tress ; indeed, I know not what is to become of them. I
have only heard that the rebels had humanity enough to
permit them to be carried to Mr. Avery's friends at Norwalk,
in Connecticut.
In the same letter he reported the death of another
missionary, the Rev. Luke Babcock, who for six years
had been stationed at the manor of Philipsburg (now
Yonkers), and, like himself, was a sincere and active
loyalist. From his allegiance to the king sprung the
calamities which hurried him to the grave. " The
latter end of October," wrote Seabury, "he was
seized by the rebels at his house and carried off to
the Provincial Congress at Fishkill. His papers and
sermons were also seized and examined, but as noth-
ing appeared on which they could ground any pre-
tense for detaining him, he was asked whether he
supposed himself bound by his oath of allegiance to
the king : upon his answering in the affirmative, he
52 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
was deemed an enemy to the liberties of America,
and ordered to be kept in custody. About the mid-
dle of February he was taken sick, and as his confine-
ment had produced no change in his sentiments, he
was dismissed with a written order to remove within
ten days within the lines of the king's army, being
adjudged a person too dangerous to be permitted to
continue where his influence might be exerted in
favor of legal government. He got home with diffi-
culty in a raging fever, and delirious. In this state
he continued about a week (the greatest part of the
time delirious), and then died, extremely regretted.
Indeed, I knew not a more excellent man, and I fear
his loss, particularly in that mission, will scarcely be
made up."
As for himself and his people, it has already been
seen that the bitter fruits of civil war were reaped by
them in abundance. His description of the treatment
of women and children is too painful to be repeated.
This treatment must be ascribed to that spirit of law-
lessness which unhappily in times of great excitement
and disorder is somewhat beyond the control of mag-
istrates and military commanders. New York was
their place of refuge, where they found protection, if
not support. " Many families of my parishioners,"
said he, " are now in this town, who used to live
decently, suffering for common necessaries. I daily
meet them, and it is melancholy to observe the dejec-
tion strongly marked on their faces, which seem to
implore that assistance which I am unable to give.
To pity and pray for them is all I can do. I shall
say nothing more of my own situation at present,
than that I have hitherto supported myself and
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 53
family with decency, and will not distrust the good-
ness of God which has hitherto preserved me, nor
render myself unworthy of it by repining and discon-
tent."
On the 12th of November, 1777, he wrote again
to the secretary and mentioned that about a month
before, he had visited Westchester, and thought of
spending the winter there, but was compelled to re-
linquish his purpose and return to New York. He
requested that he might be allowed to remove to
Staten Island, if he found it safer than Westchester,
and the Society, " sensible of his great worth," read-
ily consented to his request and promised a contin-
uance of his salary of 50 per annum until the
existing disturbances should cease. In December of
the same year he officiated on Staten Island, admin-
istered the sacrament of baptism, and preached to a
devout congregation of nearly three hundred people ;
but his removal thither was felt to be unsafe, and he
continued to reside in New York, and applied him-
self, for the support of his family, to the practice of
medicine, as he had done to a limited extent in West-
Chester.'
His eye, however, was still on his work as a minis-
ter of the gospel, and he watched every opportunity
to resume his duties and serve the Church. It was
some compensation for being deprived of access to
his parish that Dr. Seabury, 1 on the 14th of Feb-
ruary, 1778, was appointed, by Sir Henry Clinton,
chaplain to the king's American regiment, raised and
commanded by Col. Edmund Fanning, and while act-
1 The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the
University of Oxford, December 15, 1777.
54 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
ing in that capacity, he preached a sermon in camp
from the text, "Fear God, honor the king," which
was printed by request of Gov. William Tryon. His
belief in the success of the British arms was strong,
but he admitted the f ormidableness of the opposition,
as appears from the following letter to the secretary,
dated
NEW YORK, November 22, 1778.
REVEREND SIR, I am obliged still to continue at New
York, it being impracticable for me to return to West Ches-
ter or reside with safety on Staten Island ; and though I am
strong in hope that the commotions in this country will soon
subside, yet I confess the present appearances seem to indi-
cate a fixed resolution in the Congress to support their inde-
pendency, as long as they possibly can. I am, however, con-
fident it could not be supported against the vigorous efforts
of Great Britain for one campaign, as the resources of this
country must be nearly exhausted.
The unhappy war went on four years longer, and
although the chances for American independence
often trembled in the balance, there were no signs
of a disposition to lay down arms and submit to the
demands of the British ministry. Shut up in New
York, Dr. Seabury knew but little of what was trans-
piring outside, and having no intelligence to commu-
nicate concerning any missionary labors, he wrote
no letters to the Society, and he could send none to
his brethren over the lines. It was only by reports,
not always to be relied upon, that any information
could be obtained of the condition of the clergy and
Church of England in the other colonies. Dr. Inglis
sent home a detailed account of the calamities which
befell both as far as he had been able to learn them,
and described the great conflagration that destroyed
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 55
one fourth part of the city of New York, about a
thousand houses, including Trinity Church, its rectory
and charity school, large and expensive buildings,
together with two hundred dwellings that stood on
church ground. The origin of the conflagration was
attributed to evil-minded patriots who, upon the oc-
cupancy of the city by the king's forces, secreted
themselves in the houses ; and on Saturday, the 21st
of September, 1776, a little after midnight, when the
weather was dry and the wind blowing fresh, they
kindled fires in several places at the same time, and
but for the providence of God, and the vigorous ef-
forts of the officers and men belonging to the army
and navy, the whole city would have been destroyed.
Trinity Church was not rebuilt until 1788 ; but
the corporation had two chapels, St. Paul's and St.
George's, which had escaped destruction, and these
were opened again for regular services, which had
been suspended for nearly three months, while Gen-
eral Washington was holding the city. The death of
Dr. Auchmuty, the rector, which was thought to have
been hastened by the persecutions and hardships he
underwent from the patriots, occurred about this
time, 1 and Dr. Inglis, the senior assistant, was elected
his successor March 20, 1777. He was duly admitted
and instituted into his office according to the forms
and custom of those days, and as there was no edifice
for him to enter, he was conducted to Trinity Church
and the ceremony made valid " by placing his hand
on the wall of the said church, the same being then
a ruin." 2
1 March 4, 1777.
2 Berrien's History of Trinity Church, p. 152.
56 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The friendship between Dr. Inglis and Dr. Seabury
was cemented by a participation in common trials,
and their political transgressions were so much alike
that they were equally hated and persecuted. Both
had used their pens vigorously in defense of the
measures and authority of the British government,
and in opposition to publications which they regarded
as virulent, artful, and pernicious. Dr. Inglis wrote
an answer to the famous pamphlet of Thomas Paine,
entitled " Common Sense," which advocated an inde-
pendent republic, and was perhaps more widely cir-
culated than any political publication in America up
to that time. The first edition of the answer was
seized and committed to the flames, but a copy was
sent to Philadelphia and another edition issued, which
put the author in so great peril that he attributed his
deliverance and safety to the hand of an overruling
Providence.
It has been seen how Dr. Seabury wrote against the
schemes of the Continental Congress and brought on
himself the hostility and persecution of the promoters
of American independence. His loyalty was founded
on the deepest convictions of duty, and he adhered
to it at the expense of his peace and comfort. What
he did to eke out his living by the practice of med-
icine in New York while the city was in possession
of the king's troops was a matter of necessity, and
enabled him to support his family with that degree
of decency of which he had spoken in one of his
letters to the venerable Society. But nowhere in
America during those troublous times was there any
luxury to be enjoyed by the clergy and members of
the Church of England. The clergy especially were
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 57
thrown into great embarrassment and distress, and
the sympathy of their brethren at home was so much
excited that a subscription was set on foot and money
contributed and sent over to be distributed among
a certain number for the relief of their immediate
necessities.
" At the breaking out of the war," says Hawkins,
" the Society was contributing towards the mainte-
nance of nearly eighty missionaries, at an average
little exceeding 40 a year for each. But in pro-
portion as the violence of party feeling increased, the
clergy, against whom it was more especially directed,
and who, with hardly an exception, remained un-
shaken in their allegiance to the king, were either
driven from their parishes by actual force, or induced
for the safety of their families to retire."
New York was the stronghold to which those who
had no other refuge fled for security, and in that ex-
pensive city many of them tarried, hoping that the
gloomy clouds of war would soon disappear and al-
low them to return to their families and their flocks,
and resume the duties of their sacred calling. Their
hearts sickened at the prospect as months and years
passed on without bringing the deliverance hoped
for, or any mitigation of their sufferings and sorrows.
The Eev. Thomas Barton, a missionary of the Soci-
ety in Delaware, was forced to surrender his loyalty
or find protection within the British lines ; and in a
letter to the secretary dated New York, January 8,
1779, he said : " The clergy of America, the mission-
aries in particular, have suffered beyond example, and
indeed beyond the records of any history in this day
1 Missions of the Church of England, p. 343.
58 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
of trial. Most of them have lost their all, many of
them are now in a state of melancholy pilgrimage
and poverty ; and some of them have lately (from
grief and despondency, it is said) paid the last debt
of nature We may exclaim, Quis furor, O
cives ! What have we done to deserve this treat-
ment from our former friends and fellow-citizens?
We have not intermeddled with any matters incon-
sistent with our callings and functions. We have
studied to be quiet and to give no offense to the
present rulers. We have obeyed the laws and gov-
ernment now in being, as far as our consciences and
prior obligations would permit. We know no crime
that can be alleged against us, except an honest
avowal of our principles can be deemed such, and for
these have we suffered a persecution as cruel as the
bed of Procrustes." l
It was in midsummer, 1779, that a fleet of vessels
of war under Sir George Collier, and transports with
troops under General Tryon, left New York, and,
arriving off New Haven, soon took possession of the
town, and scenes of bloodshed, plunder, and destruc-
tion followed. The same expedition, two days later,
July 7th, sailed away from New Haven, and the next
morning the troops disembarked at Fairfield, plun-
dered the houses of the inhabitants and then burnt
them, together with the two churches and all the
principal buildings of the place. The Rev. John Say re,
who had been the missionary of the Society at Fair-
field for five years, endeavored to use his influence
with General Tryon and prevent an indiscriminate
conflagration ; but his efforts wer.e unsuccessful, and
1 Historical Collections, Delaware, pp. 131, 132.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 59
with his church and dwelling in ashes, his library,
furniture, and other valuables entirely destroyed, and
no food and no means of support for his wife and
eight children, he was obliged to avail himself of the
military protection offered, and retire with them to
New York, where he obtained subsistence in part by
the practice of medicine.
The end of this cruel expedition had not yet been
accomplished ; for, after crossing the Sound to Hunt-
ington Bay, and remaining over Sunday, it returned
to Norwalk on the llth of July, and again applied
the torch of the invader, burning a larger number of
houses, barns, and shops than at Fairfield, together
with the meeting-house and the Episcopal church.
The Kev. Jeremiah Learning, the worthy missionary
at this place, was the victim of sufferings from both
friends and foes. Everything he possessed, except
the clothes on his back, was lost. " My loss on that
fatal day," said he in a letter to the Society, dated
New York, the 29th of the same month, "was not
less than 1,200 or 1,300 sterling. Although in
great danger, my life has been preserved, and I hope
I shall never forget the kind providence of God in
that trying hour. In this situation I was brought
by His Majesty's troops to this city, at which I shall,
with the greatest pleasure, obey the Society's com-
mands."
These clergymen, thus driven to a place of com-
mon refuge, must have often conferred together and
interchanged thoughts about the probable issue of
the struggle for independence. Every day it was
prolonged made them more uneasy; but Seabury,
with the practice of medicine and his duties as chap-
60 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
lain, had better opportunities than his brethren of
rising above the depths of despondency. He had
little or nothing to communicate to the Society, of
general interest, and his correspondence, like that of
other missionaries at this time, was confined to a
simple report of himself and of the unchanged condi-
tion of public affairs.
" Think not, good sir," said he in one of his letters
to the secretary, " that I repent of my loyalty to my
king, or of my attachment to the Church of England
or to the British government. Under the same cir-
cumstances I would again act as I have done, even
were I sure the consequences would be worse." Not-
withstanding the general treatment of the clergy had
been unkind and often severe without provocation,
they were distressed at the public calamities, and
could not but pity the sorrowful condition of their
countrymen who took the other side in the contest,
and were patiently waiting for peace and independ-
ence. It was a terrible time for all. " The judg-
ments of God," said Isaac Brown, one of the refugee
clergymen, " fall very heavy on the inhabitants of
this land in general, and seem to be yet increasing
daily. Even the brute creation groans and travails
in pain ; for all manner of cruelties are practiced
upon the beasts of the field, as well as their own-
ers, in this day of common calamity, and no pros-
pect of redress that I can see, either from heaven or
men ; for the inhabitants have not yet learned right-
eousness, and consequently remain very proper in-
struments to execute the divine vengeance on one
another."
Such a fearful state of things is hardly conceivable
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 61
by those who have never known from experience the
evils of civil war. The generation has passed away
that could tell the thrilling tales of the Revolution,
and stir up with painful memories the feelings of
children gathered around the old domestic firesides.
62 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
CHAPTER Y.
CONTINUED RESISTANCE OF THE COLONIES; TREACHERY OF AR-
NOLD, AND HIS PLOT TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN CAUSE; EXPE-
DITION AGAINST NEW LONDON, AND MASSACRE OF THE GARRI-
SON IN FORT GRISWOLD; SIEGE OF YORKTOWN, AND SURRENDER
OF LORD CORNWALLIS; TREATY OF PEACE, AND INDEPENDENCE
OF THE COLONIES; LOYALISTS AND THEIR TREATMENT; THE
CLERGY AND THE CHURCH.
A. D. 1780-1783.
IT is impossible to forecast the varying events and
fortunes of war. The strength of armies is often
strangely broken, and victory is not always given to
the side which has the best troops and the heaviest
artillery. " The rebellion," wrote Dr. Inglis to the
Society, May 20, 1780, " declines daily, and is near
its last gasp;" but there was more inherent life in
it than he was willing to acknowledge, or had any
means of ascertaining. Earlier than this, Jacob Du-
che, a clergyman of the Church of England, in Phil-
adelphia, who made the first prayer in the Conti-
nental Congress and read the Psalter for the seventh
day, so remarkably appropriate, addressed a letter to
General Washington, in which he pictured in gloomy
colors the utter hopelessness of resistance, and be-
sought him to cease his desperate and destructive
efforts. The letter was sent to Congress, and the
author was obliged to flee the country, and his estate
was confiscated.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 63
As time went on, the colonies became more firm
and determined, and submission to the king and his
ministry was further than ever from the mind of the
congressional government. Too much had been done
and too many sacrifices made to think of taking any
backward steps, and the advantages gained now and
then by the American troops were full of encourage-
ment, and enlivened their hopes.
In the autumn of 1780, the military posts along
the Hudson River above New York, as far as West
Point, presented a scene of unparalleled and surpris-
ing movements. The treachery of Benedict Arnold
and his artfully contrived plan to make it easy for
Sir Henry Clinton to capture the fortress and army
under his command were startling facts, developed
just in time to save the American cause and inspire
its promoters with new vigilance and energy. Had
West Point and the forces within and around it fallen
into the hands of the British general through the
treason of Arnold, the hopes of the colonies would
have been blighted, and the vision of their independ-
ence, for years at least, must have disappeared. The
unfortunate Major Andre not more beloved by his
friends than lamented by his enemies would have
indeed escaped the ignominious death of the gallows,
and all the region where Seabury had ministered and
was well known would have had a somewhat differ-
ent history and been consecrated to other memories.
But Providence was in the way of these results.
The conspiracy to surrender West Point was not des-
tined to succeed or to have any place in our Ameri-
can annals, except one as dishonorable to the head
and heart of the projector as to the commander who
64 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
should be willing to accept the laurels of victory
won by such atrocious treachery. Sir Henry Clin-
ton ought not to be held responsible for the violation
of the flag of truce, or for the course imposed upon
Major Andre*, without alternative, when Arnold sent
him back to New York by a circuitous route with a
pass under a fictitious name. He refused, however,
to save his adjutant-general at the price of surrender-
ing the traitor, and perhaps he was bound by honor
and every military principle to protect an officer who
had deserted from the enemy and openly espoused
the cause of the king. All the bravery which Ar-
nold had before shown and all the service he had
rendered to the American cause were at once forgot-
ten, and contempt and disgust were the only emo-
tions excited by his treason. With a folly equal to
his wickedness, he warned General Washington not
to execute the sentence of death upon the victim of
the complot. " If this warning," said he in his inso-
lent letter, " should be disregarded and he suffer, I
call heaven and earth to witness that your excellency
will be answerable for the torrent of blood that may
be spilt in consequence."
The threat thus uttered was, in a measure, exe-
cuted, when, a year later, Arnold was put in com-
mand of an expedition fitted out at New York,
the headquarters of Sir Henry Clinton and the Brit-
ish army, and sent to New London, Conn., four-
teen miles below Norwich, the place of the traitor's
birth and the scene of his boyhood. The town, by
his order, was burnt, Whigs and Tories suffering alike
from the conflagration, and the little garrison in Fort
Griswold, on the opposite side of the Thames, which
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 65
stood heroically to its guns and kept the enemy for a
time at bay, was finally forced to surrender, and the
indiscriminate massacre which followed forms one of
the bloodiest and most horrible chapters in the whole
history of the war.
Almost simultaneously with the movements of this
expedition, were commenced the investment and siege
of Yorktown by the combined French and American
armies under the command of General Washington.
For twenty days the siege was continued, and the in-
vestment was so complete and the batteries on the
colonial side so strong that nothing was left Lord
Cornwallis, the British commander, but to capitulate,
and then to surrender his whole force, consisting of
nearly eight thousand men, with all the munitions
of war. This happened on the 19th of October, and
virtually decided the struggle for independence in
favor of the colonies. The capture of so large a part
of the British army in America occasioned great re-
joicings throughout the land, and at home it made
the people more clamorous for the end of a war
which was destroying commerce and bringing no
glory to the realm of England. " It is all over," said
Lord North, with a fainting heart, when he heard of
the catastrophe.
The ministry hesitated about attempting to raise
troops to replace the army surrendered by Lord
Cornwallis, and early in 1782, a motion was made in
Parliament that an address be presented to His Maj-
esty praying that the war with the colonies should
terminate and measures be taken to restore tran-
quillity and effect a reconciliation. An earnest and
animated debate was entered into on both sides, but
5
C6 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
the motion was finally lost by a majority of only one
in favor of the ministry and for the prosecution of
the war. Such a vote was indicative of the public
sentiment of the English nation. It w;is the signal
for an immediate dissolution of the cabinet, and the
resignation of Lord North was followed by a total
change of ministry and measures. Gleams of peace
began to be seen in the near future, and the Con-
gress of the colonies appointed commissioners to ne-
gotiate a treaty whenever the temper of the crown
should be ready for such an event.
Early in May of this year, Sir Guy Carleton arrived
at New York to relieve General Clinton as command-
er-in-chief of the British forces in America, and the
pacific tone of his first letter to Washington showed,
if nothing more, a change in the views of Parliament
respecting the principles on which the war for seven
years had been conducted and the policy of its con-
tinuance. The clergy of the Church of England in
the city do not appear to have been at once apprised
of this change. Dr. Inglis wrote to the secretary of
the Society under date of May 6, 1782 : " Our new
commander-in-chief, Sir Guy Carleton, is arrived and
indicates a disposition to act with vigor ; and this
with a little judgment and common sense will soon
change the face of affairs here."
He had said before, in the same letter : " Our pros-
pects in Europe and America are rather gloomy at
present ; but they are not such as should make us
despond, nor do I by any means think our affairs
are irretrievable. It may be some satisfaction to
you to hear that the Church of England, notwith-
standing the persecutions it suffers, gains ground in
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 67
some places, particularly in Connecticut. This I can
assure you of as an indubitable fact. The steady,
uniform conduct of the Society's missionaries and of
a few clergymen who are not in their service, in that
province, their adherence to the dictates of conscience
by persevering in loyalty and preaching the gospel
unadulterated with politics, raised the esteem and
respect even of their enemies, whilst the pulpits of
dissenters resounded with scarcely anything else than
the furious politics of the times, which occasioned dis-
gust in the more serious and thinking. The conse-
quence is that many serious dissenters have actually
joined the Church of England. The increase in some
places has been surprisingly great."
So far as the Church in New York was concerned,
there was little to report. The refugee clergy con-
tinued to keep up good hopes and to encourage their
people with the prospect of better days. It was about
this time that a room was secured in the City Hall,
to accommodate those who could not obtain pews in
the churches, and the refugee clergy officiated in
turn to large and respectable audiences. It must
have been in view of the religious and not of the
military and political condition of the colonies that
Seabury wrote to the Society on the 24th of June,
1782 : " The situation of affairs in this country has,
for the last year, continued so much the same, that
I have nothing new of which to inform the Society.
Both West Chester and Staten Island remain in the
same ruined state, as much exposed to the incursions
of the rebels as ever, though these incursions have
not lately been so frequent as formerly.
" By what we can learn of the Society's mission-
68 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
aries they seem to be in a more quiet state at pres-
ent, and suffer no personal abuse unless perhaps from
some disorderly individuals."
This, however, was not for them the quiet that
precedes the storm, but rather the forerunner of un-
expected and surprising events. In the beginning of
August, General Washington received a communica-
tion from Sir Guy Carle ton, informing him that nego-
tiations for a general peace had been entered upon
at Paris, and though from that time preparations
for war ceased, and no further acts of hostility were
committed by either party, yet the American army
was not disbanded nor the posture of defense relin-
quished. So long as the result of the negotiations
was in suspense, it was necessary to maintain the
same caution and vigilance as before.
It was this intelligence which alarmed the loyalists
in New York, especially the clergy of the Church of
England. "It is impossible," wrote the Rev. John
Sayre, to the Society, August 14, 1782, " for words
to describe the universal consternation which was pro-
duced here by the communication of a letter from
His Majesty's Commissioner to General Washington,
in consequence of directions from England informing
him of the king's command to his minister plenipo-
tentiary at Paris, to propose the independency of the
thirteen provinces in the first instance, instead of
making it the subject of a general treaty. As there
can be little doubt of the acceptance of this proposal,
it is obvious that it must greatly affect the affairs of
the Church as well as those of the state." Others
expressed themselves in similar terms, and not only
looked to the venerable Society for advice and in-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 69
struction, but some of them, utterly hopeless of find-
ing any provision for their families in this country,
began to think of removing to England.
The rights and the tranquillity of France, Spain,
and Holland were involved in the settlement of the
many questions between the two great belligerents,
and before the fundamental articles of a definitive
treaty were agreed upon and a time for signing
fixed, the summer and autumn had passed. Dr.
Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, and Henry Lau-
rens were the commissioners to act for the colonies,
and they resisted the attempt of the British envoys
to obtain compensation for the loyalists whose prop-
erty had been confiscated, and many of whom had
been driven out of the country. Franklin claimed
that Congress had no power in the case, as the prop-
erty of the loyalists had been confiscated by the
States, and the remedy, if any, was to be sought
from the States. The utmost which was finally ac-
complished was simply to get an article inserted in
the treaty by which it was made the duty of Con-
gress to recommend to the States an indemnification
of the loyalists ; but the recommendation was of no
force, and it was declared at the time that there was
not the least probability that the States would be
governed by it or offer any restitution.
After all the preliminaries and articles had been
settled, the treaty of peace was signed at Paris by
both parties in due form on the 30th of November,
1782. It was approved and ratified by Congress,
and hailed with demonstrations of gratitude and joy
by the weary colonies. An official proclamation that
peace had been secured was made to the American
70 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
army on the 19th of April, 1783, precisely eight
years from the day of the memorable battle of Lex-
ington, when the first blood of the Revolution was
shed. "The treaty," says Bancroft, 1 "was not a
compromise, ' nor a compact imposed by force, but a
free and perfect solution and perpetual settlement of
all that had been called in question. By doing an
act of justice to her former colonies, England rescued
her own liberties at home from imminent danger, and
opened the way for their slow and certain develop-
ment. The narrowly selfish colonial policy which
had led to the cruel and unnatural war was cast
aside and forever by Great Britain, which was hence-
forward, as the great colonizing power, to sow all the
oceans with the seed of republics."
The supreme question for the clergy of the old
Church of England and their friends to consider was,
what to do in the changed position of civil affairs.
No notice had been taken of their religious rights in
the final treaty, but they were given over wholly to
the tender mercies of those who had been their en-
emies, and who, at this time, seem to have had no
generous sympathy for them in their ruined circum-
stances. "At the peace," says Sabine, "a majority of
the Whigs of several States committed a great crime.
Instead of repealing the proscription and banishment
acts, as justice and good policy required, they mani-
fested a disposition to place the humbled and un-
happy loyalists beyond the pale of human sympa-
thy." 2 He cites Massachusetts, Virginia, and New
York, as " adopting measures of inexorable severity."
1 History of the United States, vol. x., p. 591.
2 Loyalists of the American Revolution, vol. i., p. 88.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 71
Such was the violence threatened in New York
that Sir Guy Carle ton, before evacuating the city,
wrote to the President of Congress that the loyalists
" conceived the safety of their lives depended on his
removing them," and the crown, by way of doing
what could not be accomplished in the negotiations
for peace, offered them inducements to emigrate to
Nova Scotia and other British territory, where they
might begin settlements and found cities. Upwards
of twelve thousand men, women, and children are
said to have embarked from New York for Nova
Scotia and the Bahamas, before Sir Guy Carleton
withdrew his forces. Many of the clergy followed
their people and were appointed to new missions by
the venerable Society, with increased salaries, besides
receiving grants of land.
Dr. Inglis, whose private fortune through his wife
was ample, was included in the confiscation act of
New York, and, being compelled to abandon his
church and rectory, accompanied some loyalists of his
congregation to Annapolis in Nova Scotia. The in-
strument by which he relinquished his rights, sealed
and delivered in the presence of credible witnesses,
ran thus: "For certain just and lawful causes, me and
my mind hereunto specially moving, without compul-
sion, fear, fraud, or deceit, [I] do purely, simply, and
absolutely resign and give up the said rectory of the
parish of Trinity Church and my office of rector in
the said corporation." 1 And " agreeable to the de-
sire of the Whig Episcopalians," the Rev. Samuel
Provoost was subsequently called and inducted into
the office which he had in this manner vacated.
1 Berrien's History of Trinity Church, p. 161.
72 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
It was the 25th of November, 1*783, before Sir Guy
Carleton was ready to evacuate New York and de-
liver it into the charge of General Washington. He
had been delayed in this purpose by his care for the
loyalists and for the large amount of goods, stores,
and military supplies which had accumulated in the
city. The number that desired to be sent to Nova
Scotia was so great that their removal could not be
accomplished in a shorter time with the transports at
his command."
Dr. Seabury, whatever may have been his course
hitherto, had no disposition to flee from his country ;
but his parish at Westchester was so broken and
ruined that he could not return to it and resume
his ministry, and Staten Island was in a condition
scarcely better. He remained with his family in
New York, doing what he could for their support and
not yet knowing what work, in the providence of
God, he might be called to undertake.
Among the refugee clergy with whom he had been
in frequent association were Jeremiah Learning and
Richard Mansfield, both having been driven from their
missions in Connecticut, and both deeply interested in
the revival of the Church in that State. It has been
seen from the reports to the Society that it was less
depressed and deranged here than elsewhere, though
all the clergy, with the exception of John Beach, of
Newtown, had been compelled to disregard the oaths
assumed at their ordination, and to omit, in using the
Liturgy, the prayers for the king and royal family.
By nothing, however, which they did and suffered,
was their opinion of the Church and its organization
changed. They were all men who had crossed the
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 73
ocean to obtain Holy Orders, and they believed the
first step to be taken at this crisis was to secure
the apostolic office. They might think that the old
opposition of Presbyterians and Congregationalists to
the plan of an American Episcopate, so effectual with
the authorities at home before the Revolution, would
be renewed ; but they could not be restrained from
attempting to supply the Church in Connecticut with
a head, more necessary now than ever, before pro-
ceeding to revise the Book of Common Prayer, and
adapt it to the new civil circumstances.
No such establishment as existed in England was
expected or desired in this country. It was said by
Dr. Chauncy, before the revolt of the colonies, that
the Episcopalians " had in view nothing short of a
complete Church hierarchy after the pattern of that
at home, with like officers in all their various degrees
of dignity, with a like large revenue for their sup-
port, and with the allowance of no other privilege to
dissenters but that of a bare toleration." It was the
fear of such an imaginary hierarchy that kept the
adversaries of the Church perpetually on the watch
to prevent its consummation. In vain was it denied
to be any part of the plan. " The bishops proposed,"
said Dr. Chandler, " were to have no temporal power,
and consequently to hold no courts for the exercise of
it ; they were to have no jurisdiction at all over any
of the dissenters, but to govern the Episcopal clergy
only ; they were to have no maintenance from the
colonies in any form ; they were not to interfere in
any matters of civil government, but to be confined
to the exercise of their spiritual functions only."
1 Chandler's Appeal farther Defended, p. 233.
74 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
England finally lost her most valuable possessions
in America, notwithstanding her efforts by a subtle
state policy to retain them. The British cabinet
might acknowledge that an American Episcopate
was a measure right in itself, but the representations
of dissenters that sending bishops to this country
would be offensive to the people and incline them to
independence were strong enough to keep the simple
question in abeyance. There appeared to be no sep-
aration of Church from state in the diplomatic mind
of that day, and men on this side detected a foe un-
der the mitre and the Episcopal robes. " If Parlia-
ment," said John Adams, " could tax us, they could
establish the Church of England, with all its creeds,
articles, tests, ceremonies, and tithes, and prohibit all
other churches as conventicles and schism-shops." *
Undoubtedly the clergy in New York, after the
dismemberment of the colonies, came together in a
casual way and consulted about the course to be pur-
sued. Nothing was publicly or formally done, but
suggestions how to bring order out of confusion must
have been made, and thoughts interchanged on the
propriety of renewing the effort to obtain from Eng-
lish bishops the consecration of some suitable Amer-
ican clergyman to the apostolic office. Mansfield re-
turned to his church and family in Derby, Conn.,
before the cessation of hostilities ; but Learning and
John Sayre had only waste fields to re-occupy, and
they were deterred from going back to these and be-
ginning anew their self-sacrificing work. Graves, of
New London, another refugee, whose church was also
laid in ashes at the burning of the town by Arnold,
1 Works, vol. x., p. 287.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 75
had died in Ne'w York during the war ; and Peters,
of Hebron, who fled to England at the outbreak of
the Revolution to escape popular violence, remained
there, and published, in 1781, a " General History of
Connecticut," which is more of a curiosity for its
fabulous descriptions than a reliable authority for its
statements.
76 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
CHAPTER VI.
CLERGY IN CONNECTICUT BEFORE THE WAR, AND AT ITS CLOSE ;
CONVENTION IN WOODBURY, AND APPOINTMENT OF A BISHOP J
TESTIMONIALS FROM REV. MR. JARVIS AND THE CLERGY OF NEW
YORK IN FAVOR OF DR. SEABURY ; LETTERS TO THE ARCHBISHOP
OF CANTERBURY, AND DEPARTURE OF DR. SEABURY FOR ENGLAND.
A. D. 1783.
THERE were twenty clergymen of the Church of
England in Connecticut, with twice that number of
parishes or missions, when the war began. Besides
those mentioned in the previous chapter, we find
Samuel Andrews of Wallingford, Richard S. Clark of
New Milford, Ebenezer Dibblee of Stamford, Daniel
Fogg of Brooklyn, Bela Hubbard of New Haven,
Abraham Jarvis of Middletown, Ebenezer Kneeland of
Stratford, John Rutgers Marshall of Woodbury, Chris-
topher Newton of Ripton, now Huntington, James
Nichols of Plymouth, James Scovill of Waterbury,
John Tyler of Norwich, Roger Viets of Simsbury, and
to these must be added Gideon Bostwick of Great
Barrington, Mass., who always acted and was reck-
oned with the Connecticut clergy. Of these, Knee-
land died a prisoner to the patriots in his own house
on the 17th of April, 1777; and the venerable Beach,
of Newtown, who had never ceased to pray for the
king, lived till March 19, 1782, when he went to
his welcome rest in the grave. Mr. Mansfield, of
OF SAMUEL SEABURY.
77
Derby, preached the sermon at his funeral, which
was printed, the text being the significant one : " I
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith," -words in which the heroic
and saintly servant of God triumphed a few hours
before his death.
Fourteen clergymen were to be found in Connecti-
cut at the close of the war. They were ministering in
some way to their feeble and impoverished flocks, and
in the last week of March, 1783, ten of this number
met in the quiet village of Woodbury, at the house
House in which Dr. Seabury was chosen Bishop.
then occupied by the Rev. John Rutgers Marshall, a
missionary of the venerable Society and rector of
St. Paul's Church in that place. The house is still
standing, an interesting relic and reminder of an im-
78 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
portant event which was the head of a great epoch
in American ecclesiastical history.
No laymen were admitted to the gathering, and
it was so secret as to be known only to the clergy.
Who of the fourteen in the State were absent can-
not now be ascertained, for though Mr. Jarvis was
the secretary, no minutes were kept to be made pub-
lic, and consequently the names were not preserved.
The fear of opposition, and perhaps the fear of not
having the hearty concurrence of their lay brethren,
led to the secrecy of the movement. " Ten clergy-
men met," says Daniel Fogg, one of this number, in
a brief note to the Rev. Mr. Parker, of Boston, dated
July 2, 1783. " The Connecticut clergy have done
already everything in their power, in the matter you
were anxious about: would write you the particulars,
if I knew of any safe opportunity of sending this let-
ter, but as I do not, must defer it till I do."
They met in the lower front room of the house, on
the left side of the main entrance, and on the 25th
of March, without a formal election, selected two
persons, the Rev. JEREMIAH LEAMING and the Rev.
SAMUEL SEABURY, as suitable, either of them, to go
to England and obtain, if possible, Episcopal conse-
cration. Their secretary was commissioned and sent
to New York to consult the clergy in that city and
submit the letters which had been prepared and
adopted for their examination, and, if approved, to
request their concurrence and aid in the proposed
applications.
The two candidates were in New York, and . Mr.
Learning, to whom the appointment was first offered,
shrank at his time of life and with his infirmities from
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 79
undertaking responsibilities and burdens so great.
There was good reason for giving him the oppor-
tunity to decline the high and sacred office. For
twenty-one years he had been the faithful mission-
ary at Norwalk and had used his pen vigorously in
defending the Church against the bitter attacks of
her enemies. He was well known to the Connecticut
clergy and a long intercourse with him had won their
entire respect and confidence. As one of them said
at the time, " He is indeed a tried servant of the
Church and carries about him in a degree the marks
of a confessor." Though he had suffered much for
his loyalty, both, in person and in estate, he was as
little prepared to accept a comfortable home and sup-
port in the British provinces as to return to the scene
of his former ministrations, now laid waste, or to take
up the burden of an office which he believed to be
as necessary to the Church as the head to the body.
On the other hand, Dr. Seabury, though born and
educated in Connecticut, had exercised no part of
his ministry in that colony. He was twelve years
younger than Learning, without bodily infirmity, and
had all his boldness and*%eal and all his unflinching
adherence to primitive truth and apostolic order. It
was wisely ordered in the providence of God that he
should be the man to go on a voyage to England for
Episcopal consecration. He was every way qualified
to meet the emergencies of the time and to overcome
the obstacles that were to be thrown in his path ; and
if he failed in England, his original instructions au-
thorized him to apply to the non-juring bishops of
the Episcopal Church in Scotland, with which he be-
came acquainted many years before, while pursuing
his studies at the University of Edinburgh.
80 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The following documents, addressed to the Arch-
bishop of York, state very clearly the object of the
clergy of Connecticut, and give forcible reasons for
the success of their application :
NEW YORK, April 21, 1783.
MY LORD, The Clergy of Connecticut, deeply impressed
with anxious apprehension of what may be the fate of the
Church in America, under the present changes of empire
and policy, beg leave to embrace the earliest moment in
their power to address your Grace on that important sub-
ject.
This part of America is at length dismembered from the
British Empire ; but, notwithstanding the dissolution of our
civil connection with the parent state, we still hope to retain
the religious polity, the primitive and evangelical doctrine
and discipline, which, at the Reformation, were restored and
established in the Church of England. To render that pol-
ity complete, and to provide for its perpetuity in this coun-
try, by the establishment of an American Episcopate, has
long been an object of anxious concern to us, and to many
of our brethren in other parts of this continent. The at-
tainment of this object appears to have been hitherto ob-
structed by considerations of a political nature, which we
conceive were founded in groundless jealousies and misap-
prehensions that can no longer be supposed to exist ; and
therefore, whatever may be the effect of independency on
this country, in other respects, we presume it will be allowed
to open a door for renewing an application to the spiritual
governors of the Church on this head ; an application which
we consider as not only seasonable, but more than ever nec-
essary at this time ; because if it be now any longer neg-
lected, there is reason to apprehend that a plan of a very
extraordinary nature, lately formed and published in Phil-
adelphia, may be carried into execution. This plan is, in
brief, to constitute a nominal Episcopate by the united suf-
frages of presbyters and laymen. The peculiar situation of
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 81
the Episcopal Churches in America, and the necessity of
adopting some speedy remedy for the want of a regular
Episcopate, are offered, in the publication here alluded to,
as reasons fully sufficient to justify the scheme. Whatever
influence this project may have on the minds of the igno-
rant or unprincipled part of the laity, or however it may,
possibly, be countenanced by some of the clergy in other
parts of the country, we think it our duty to reject such a
spurious substitute for Episcopacy, and, as far as may be in
our power, to prevent its taking effect.
To lay the foundation, therefore, for a valid and regular
Episcopate in America, we earnestly entreat your Grace,
that, in your Archiepiscopal character, you will espouse the
cause of our sinking Church ; and, at this important cri-
sis, afford her that relief on which her very existence de-
pends, by consecrating a Bishop for Connecticut. The per-
son whom we have prevailed upon to offer himself to your
Grace for that purpose is the Reverend Doctor Samuel Sea-
lury, who has been the Society's worthy missionary for
many years. He was born and educated in Connecticut
he is personally known to us and we believe him to be
every way qualified for the Episcopal Office, and for the
discharge of those duties peculiar to it, in the present trying
and dangerous times.
All the weighty considerations which concur to enforce
our request are well known to your Grace : we therefore
forbear to enlarge, lest we should seem to distrust your
Grace's zeal in a cause of such acknowledged importance to
the interests of religion. Suffer us then to rest in humble
confidence that your Grace will hear and grant our petition,
and give us the consolation of receiving, through a clear and
uninterrupted channel, an overseer in this part of the house-
hold of God.
That God may continue your life and health, make you in
his Providence an eminent instrument of great and exten-
sive usefulness to mankind in general, a lasting blessing to
the Church over which you preside in particular ; and that
6
82 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
the present and future sons of the Church in America may
have cause to record and perpetuate your name as their
friend and spiritual father, and, when your sacred work is
ended, that you may find it gloriously rewarded, is and shall
be the devout prayer of the Clergy of Connecticut, by
whose order (in convention assembled) and in whose behalf
this letter is addressed to your Grace by your Grace's most
obedient, humble servant,
ABRAHAM JARVIS,
Minister of the Episcopal Church in Middletown, and Sec-
retary to the Convention.
TESTIMONIAL.
WHEREAS our well beloved in Christ, Samuel Seabury,
Doctor of Divinity, and missionary of Staten Island in this
Province, is about to embark for England, at the earnest re-
quest of the Episcopal Clergy of Connecticut, and for the
purpose of presenting himself a candidate for the sacred of-
fice of a Bishop ; and that when consecrated and admitted
to the said office, he may return to Connecticut, and there
exercise the spiritual powers, and discharge the duties which
are peculiar to the Episcopal character, among the members
of the Church of England, by superintending the Clergy,
ordaining candidates for Holy Orders, and confirming such
of the Laity as may choose to be confirmed. We the sub-
scribers, desirous to testify our hearty concurrence in this
measure, and promote its success ; as well as to declare the
high opinion we justly entertain of Doctor Seabury's learn-
ing, abilities, prudence, and zeal for religion, do hereby cer-
tify, that we have been personally and intimately acquainted
with the said Doctor Seabury for many years past that
we believe him to be every way qualified for the sacred
office of a Bishop ; the several duties of which office, we are
firmly persuaded, he will discharge with honor, dignity, and
fidelity, and consequently with advantage to the Church of
God.
And we cannot forbear to express our most earnest wish
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 83
that Doctor Seabury may succeed in this application, as it
will be the means of preserving the Church of England in
America from ruin, and of preventing many irregularities
which we see approaching, and which, if once introduced, no
after care may be able to remove.
Given under our hands, at New York, this twenty-first day
of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hun-
dred and eighty -three.
JEREMIAH LEAMING, D. D. ;
CHARLES INGLIS, D. D.,
Rector of Trinity Church, New York;
BENJAMIN MOORE, D. D.,
Assistant Minister of Trinity Church,
New York ; and others.
NEW YORK, May 24, 1783.
MY LORD, The Reverend Doctor Samuel Seabury will
have the honor of presenting this letter to your Grace. He
goes to England, at the request of the Episcopal Clergy of
Connecticut, on business highly interesting and important.
They have written on the subject to your Grace, and also to
the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop of London.
But, as they were pleased to consult us on the occasion, and
to submit what they had written to our inspection, request-
ing our concurrence in their application, their letters are
dated at New York, and signed only by the Rev. Mr. Jarvis,
the secretary to their convention, whom they commissioned
and sent here for that purpose.
The measure proposed, on this occasion, by our brethren
of Connecticut, could not fail to have our hearty concur-
rence. For we are decidedly of opinion, that no other
means can be devised to preserve the existence of the Epis-
copal Church in this country. We have therefore joined
with Mr. Jarvis in giving Doctor Seabury a testimonial, in
which we have briefly, but sincerely, expressed our sense of
his merit, and our earnest wishes for the success of his un-
dertaking.
84 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Should he succeed and be consecrated, he means (with
the approbation of the Society) to return in the character,
and perform the duties of a missionary, at New London, in
Connecticut; and on his arrival in that country, to make
application to the Governor, in hope of being cheerfully per-
mitted to exercise the spiritual powers of his Episcopal office
there ; in which, we are persuaded, he will meet with little,
if any opposition. For many persons of character in Con-
necticut, and elsewhere, who are not members of the Epis-
copal Church, have lately declared they have no longer any
objection to an American Episcopate, now that the inde-
pendency of this country, acknowledged by Great Britain,
has removed their apprehensions of the Bishops being in-
vested with a share of temporal power by the British gov-
ernment.
We flatter ourselves that any impediments to the conse-
cration of a -Bishop for America, arising from the peculiar
constitution of the Church of England, may be removed by
the King's royal permission ; and we cannot entertain a
doubt of his Majesty's readiness to grant it.
In humble confidence that your Grace will consider the
object of this application as a measure worthy of your zeal-
ous patronage, we beg leave to remind your Grace, that sev-
eral legacies have been, at different times, bequeathed for
the support of Bishops in America, and to express our hopes
that some part of those legacies, or of the interest arising
from them, may be appropriated to the maintenance of Doc-
tor Seabury, in case he is consecrated, and settles in Amer-
ica. We conceive that the separation of this country from
the parent state can be no reasonable bar to such appropria-
tion, nor invalidate the title of American Bishops, who de-
rive their consecration from the Church of England, to the
benefit of those legacies. And perhaps this charitable as-
sistance is now more necessary than it would have been, had
not the empire been dismembered.
We take this opportunity to inform your Grace, that we
have consulted his excellency Sir Guy Carleton on the sub-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 85
ject of procuring the appointment of a Bishop for the prov-
ince of Nova Scotia, on which he has expressed to us his en-
tire approbation, and has written to administration, warmly
recommending the measure. We took the liberty, at the
same time, of mentioning our worthy brother, the Rev. Doc-
tor Thomas B. Chandler, to his excellency, as a person every
way qualified to discharge the duties of the Episcopal office
in that province, with dignity and honor. And we hope for
your Grace's approbation of what we have done in that mat-
ter, and for the concurrence of your influence with Sir Guy
Carleton's recommendation in promoting the design.
We should have given this information sooner to your
Grace, but that we waited for Doctor Seabury's departure
for England, which we considered as affording the best and
most proper conveyance.
If Doctor Chandler and Doctor Seabury should both suc-
ceed, as we pray God they may, we trust that, with the
blessing of Heaven, the Episcopal Church will yet flourish
in this western hemisphere.
With the warmest sentiments of respect and esteem, we
have the honor to be, my Lord, your Grace's most dutiful
sons, and obedient humble servants,
JEREMIAH LEAMING, D. D. ;
CHARLES INGLIS, D. D.,
Rector of Trinity Church, New York ;
BENJAMIN MOORE, D. D.,
Assistant Minister of Trinity Church,
New York ; and others.
His GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK.
The letters written by the Rev. Mr. Jar vis and the
clergy of New York, to the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, were longer and more detailed in their state-
ments than those addressed to the Archbishop of
York. They were the same in spirit and yet so dif-
ferent in the text as to make it desirable to give
them a place in this chapter. Mr. Jarvis, who was
86 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
particularly skillful in the preparation of ecclesiasti-
cal documents, drew up, as the.ir secretary, the let-
ters for the clergy of Connecticut, and the original
draught of the one to the Archbishop of Canterbury
contained a few passages which were erased when it
came to be submitted to the inspection of the friends
in New York. This was an omitted passage, refer-
ring to the war of the Ke volution : " During the ar-
duous struggle, the Church in this country was passed
over without notice, and we grieve to find that in the
conclusion she was not thought worth regarding. In
the severest season of the conflict, none of her faith-
ful members conceived of this as possible, much less
did they dream of it as probable. But we mean not
here to dwell on unavailing complaint."
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR GRACE, In this day of anxiety
for the Church in America, the clergy of Connecticut, deeply
impressed with apprehensions of what will be her fate under
the present changes of empire and policy, beg leave to em-
brace the earliest moment in their power to address your
Grace with all the unaffected freedom which may become
the ministers of Christ when pleading the cause of that
Church; a cause wherein not only her interest is greatly
concerned, but on which her very existence depends.
America is now severed from the British empire ; by that
separation we cease to be a part of the national Church.
But although political changes affect and dissolve our exter-
nal connection, and cut us off from the powers of the state,
yet we hope a door still remains open for access to the gov-
ernors of the Church ; and what they might not do for us
without the permission of government, while we were bound
as subjects to ask favors and receive them under its auspices
and sanction : they may, in right of their inherent spiritual
powers, grant and exercise in favor of a Church planted
and nurtured by their hand, and now subjected to other
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 87
powers. As it is our only refuge, we are persuaded no just
exceptions can lie against the attempt to avail ourselves of
it ; and the uniform benevolent part the Bishops have taken
in order to transfer the Episcopal authority into America
fills us with the greater confidence of success in the applica-
tion.
To secure to our Church a valid and undoubted Episco-
pate, and that the several vacant churches may be furnished
with ministers as soon as possible, are what we have much
at heart.
A further reason, we beg leave to observe, that induces us
to take this early and only measure we can devise for this
purpose, is effectually to prevent the carrying into execution
a plan of a very extraordinary nature, lately come to our
knowledge, formed and published in Philadelphia, and, as we
suppose, circulating in the Southern States, with design to
have it adopted. The plan is, in brief, to constitute a nomi-
nal ideal Episcopate, by the united suffrages of presbyters
and laymen. The singular and peculiar situation of the
American Church, the exigence of the case, and the neces-
sity of adopting some speedy and specious remedy, corre-
sponding with the state of affairs in the country, are some of
the pleas which are adduced as adequate to give full sanc-
tion to this scheme. To what degree such a plan may oper-
ate upon the minds of the uninformed, unstable, or unprinci-
pled part of the Church, we can at present form no opinion ;
equally unable are we to conjecture what may be the lengths
to which the rage for popular right, as the fountain of all in-
stitutions, civil and ecclesiastical, will run ; sufficient for us it
is, that while we conscientiously reject such a spurious sub-
stitute for episcopacy, we also think it our duty to take every
step within our power to frustrate its pernicious effects.
Thus are we afloat, torn from our anchor, and surrounded
with shelves and rocks, on which we are in danger of being
dashed to pieces, and have but one port into which we can
look, and from whence expect relief.
The distinguished light in which we have been always
88 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
taught to view your Grace as an able and zealous patron of
the American Church, decidedly points out to whom, in this
crisis, we are instantly to make our request. Accordingly,
to your Grace we have recourse, and humbly present our
petition, that in your archiepiscopal character you will es-
pouse the cause of our sinking Church, and afford her re-
lief by consecrating the person for our bishop whom we
have prevailed upon to offer himself to your Grace for that
purpose.
The gentleman we beg leave to present to your Grace is
the Reverend Doctor Samuel Seabury, who has been the
Society's worthy missionary for many years. He was born
and educated in Connecticut ; he is personally known to us,
and we believe him to be every way qualified for the Epis-
copal office, and for the discharge of those duties peculiar to
it in the present trying and dangerous times.
Permit us to suggest, with all deference, our firm persua-
sion that a sense of the sacred deposit committed by the
great Head of the Church to her bishops, is so awfully im-
pressed on your Grace's mind, as not to leave a moment's
doubt in us of your being heartily disposed to rescue the
American Church from the distress and danger, which now
more than ever threatens her for want of an Episcopate.
We rely on your Grace's indulgence for the liberty we take
to assert that it is a real act of charity, while we humbly
trust, the blessing of her that is ready to perish will come
upon those that befriend her in this necessity. Well known
unto your Grace are all those irrefutable arguments that
have been so clearly stated, and strongly urged by the illus-
trious prelates who have, as our fathers in God, advocated
for us.
Wherefore as the whole of our case, and all the weighty
considerations which concur to enforce it, are present with
you, we forbear to enlarge, lest the multitude of our words
should imply a diffidence of success in the thing we ask.
Suffer us then to rest in humble confidence, that this our so-
licitude for a matter in itself so important to the Church of
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 89
God, will meet with your fullest approbation, and that your
Grace will feel affectionately for us, and from a pious zeal
to advance real religion, and propagate the true Church of
Christ, will judge it clearly your duty, in the exercise of
your high and holy office, to hear and grant our petition, and
give us the consolation of receiving, through a clear and
uninterrupted channel transmitted to us by your Grace's
hands, an overseer in this part of the household of God.
That God may continue your life and health, make you,
in his providence, an eminent instrument of great and exten-
sive usefulness to mankind in general, a lasting blessing to
the church over which you preside in particular, and that
the present and future sons of the Church in America may
have cause to record and perpetuate your name as their
friend and spiritual father, and when your sacred work is
ended that you may find it gloriously rewarded, is and shall
be the devout prayer of the clergy of Connecticut, by whoso
order and in whose behalf this letter is signed by your
Grace's most obedient, humble servant,
ABRAHAM JAEVIS,
Minister of the Episcopal Church in Middletown, and Sec-
retary to the Convention.
NEW YORK, May 24, 1783.
MY LORD, The Reverend Doctor Samuel Seabury will
have the honor of presenting this letter to your Grace. At
the request of the Episcopal clergy of Connecticut, he goes
to England on business highly interesting and important,
namely : to be consecrated by your Grace, and admitted to
the sacred office of a bishop ; after which, he purposes to
return to Connecticut, and there exercise the spiritual pow-
ers which belong to the Episcopal character.
Although the letter which Doctor Seabury carries from
the clergy of Connecticut to your Grace, and the testimonial
with which he is furnished, set forth his design, and point
out the necessity of carrying it into execution ; yet we con-
ceived it to be our duty, in a matter of such moment, to give
every support in our power to Doctor Seabury, by writing
90 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
to your Grace (as we have also done to his lordship of Lon-
don, and his Grace of York), and laying our sentiments on
the subject before you, especially as the clergy of Connecti-
cut chose to consult us on the occasion, and submit their
letter to our inspection, that we might act in concert with
them ; and this is the reason why their letter to your Grace
is dated at New York, and is only signed by the Reverend
Mr. Jarvis, the secretary to their convention, whom they
commissioned and sent here for the purpose.
The x separation of these colonies from the parent state
leaves the Church of England here in a most deplorable
situation. For as the event was unexpected, no provision
was made to guard against its consequences. Whilst the
colonies were dependent on England, they were thence sup-
plied with clergymen. The supply indeed was scanty, and
inadequate to the wants of the colonists ; yet the Church
was preserved in existence, and, through the blessing of
Providence, increased in many places. To remove the hard-
ships under which the Church labored, particularly in the
affair of ordination, and to procure a more ample supply of
clergymen, which would greatly promote the growth of the
Church, the clergy of several provinces repeatedly applied
that one or more bishops might be appointed to reside in
America. Their applications, though approved and warmly
supported by many illustrious dignitaries of our Church, and
others ; yet, either through inattention in government or
mistaken maxims of policy, were disregarded. Hereby the
Church in America is now utterly helpless, and unable to
preserve itself. As the colonies are become independent, no
ordination in the usual way can, as we presume, be procured
from England. A few years must carry off such of the
present clergy as can remain in the United States, and with
them the Church of which they are members will be extinct.
This melancholy event is inevitable if some remedy is not
applied ; and the only expedient that could be devised to
prevent it is the one now proposed. Should Doctor Seabury
succeed, and be consecrated, he means to return in the char-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 91
acter and perform the duties of a missionary at New Lon-
don, in Connecticut. This, we apprehend, will secure to
him at least a safe reception there, and prepare the way
gradually for exercising the spiritual powers of a bishop, by
superintending the clergy, ordaining candidates for Holy
Orders, and administering confirmation to such of the laity
as shall choose to be confirmed. To which, we are per-
suaded, the minds of people will be reconciled by the time
his Episcopal character is generally known. For, consist-
ently with our original plan for an American Episcopate, he
will have no temporal power or authority whatever. If a
bishop is once established in Connecticut, we are confident
that bishops will soon be admitted into the other colonies ;
so that the fate of all the churches in the united colonies is
virtually involved in the success of this application.
Such, my lord, is our state, and such are our views. It
remains now with your Grace to afford that relief to the
Church of God here, which it stands so much in need of,
and save it from utterly perishing in the United States of
America, by consecrating Doctor Seabury, and thereby con-
veying to us a valid and regular Episcopate. We have the
fullest persuasion of your Grace's zeal in whatever concerns
the cause of religion, as well as reliance on your firmness to
support that cause against groundless objections or inter-
vening difficulties. We consider the political impediments,
which formally obstructed the appointment of bishops in
America, as now entirely removed, they no longer exist.
England can have no apprehensions from the disgust that
may be given to dissenters by this measure. Whatever risk
shall attend it can only be incurred by Doctor Seabury and
the other members of the Church here ; and however hazard-
ous the attempt, they are willing to embark in it rather than
by their lukewarmness to become accessory to the ruin of the
Church of God. Indeed, it is but justice to mention that
many eminent dissenters in Connecticut and other provinces
have lately declared that they have no objections to bishops
here now, when the independency of America is acknowl-
92 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
edged by Great Britain. It is not from such, but from men
of an illiberal turn, in whom prejudice gets the better of a
sense of justice and right, that danger is to be apprehended ;
and of this latter sort there are too many in all places.
We flatter ourselves that the impediments to the consecra-
tion of a bishop, who is to remove out of the British domin-
ions, will be got over, when the necessity of the case and
the peculiarity of our situation are considered. Regulations
which are merely local, and designed to preserve order in a
particular state, should certainly be observed with regard to
bishops who are to reside in that state. But we humbly
conceive they do not apply to extraordinary emergencies like
the present; nor ought they to interfere with the general
interests of Christianity, especially when no inconvenience
can ensue. On this principle the practice of the Christian
Church, for many ages, seems to have been founded. For
the light of the gospel has been diffused and the Christian
Church planted and established in most nations of Christen-
dom, by bishops and other missionaries from such as had
no temporal jurisdiction in those nations. But should it be
thought that peculiar difficulties, in the present instance,
must arise from the constitution of the Church of England,
we doubt not but the king, as supreme head of that church,
is competent to remove them. His royal permission would
fully authorize your Grace to consecrate Doctor Seabury.
And when we reflect on his majesty's undeviating regard,
as well to the practice as to whatever may tend to promote
the influence of true religion, we cannot hesitate to believe
that his permission for the purpose may be obtained. Give
us leave to add, that such an indulgence, in a matter so ear-
nestly desired by people, whose attachment to his royal per-
son and government has involved them in many and great
difficulties, would be worthy of his princely disposition and
paternal goodness.
It may be proper to inform your Grace that the late con-
fusions have been fatal to great numbers of the American
clergy. Many have died ; others have been banished ; so
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 93
that several parishes are now destitute of incumbents. In
the four colonies of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania, we know at this time of no less than
seventy vacant churches, to say nothing of many large tracts
of country, where several congregations might immediately
be formed and churches built were there clergymen to offi-
ciate. We believe the case of other colonies, in this respect,
to be nearly similar, and it would be very difficult, perhaps
impossible, to procure such a number of clergymen from
England as are wanted, even supposing the former inter-
course were restored ; yet we are of opinion that all those
vacancies would soon be filled were bishops here to confer
Holy Orders. The demand for clergymen will be further
increased by the general disposition that prevails among dis-
senters at present, to join the Church of England. This is
most remarkable in Connecticut, where numbers are daily
added to the Church, and from the best information we are
assured that a similar disposition appears in other colonies.
We cannot omit another circumstance which is of great
moment. Some alterations in the Liturgy must be made in
consequence of independency ; particularly in the collects
for the king and royal family. The offices for November
5th, January 30th, May 29th, and October 25th must be
omitted. A revision of the canons will be expedient, be-
cause many of them, as they now stand, are wholly inappli-
cable to the state of things here. But it must be the wish
of every sound churchman that no alteration may take place,
except where it is indispensably necessary, and that an en-
tire uniformity be preserved among all the churches in the
several colonies. How these desirable objects can be ob-
tained without bishops, we are unable to see. It would be
improper for presbyters to make those alterations, suppos-
ing they were perfectly unanimous. But divisions will be
unavoidable where all are equal, and there is no superior to
control. The common bond which united the clergy being
now dissolved, some will think themselves at liberty to use
only such parts of the Liturgy, and adopt such rules as they
94 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
choose ; and hence the several congregations may become so
many independent churches, each varying from the other,
as the fancy of the clergyman may direct. We are sorry
to inform your Grace that some symptoms of this kind have
already appeared, though it is only in a few individuals.
The superintending authority of a bishop will guard against
those evils ; it will secure unanimity and submission, prevent
dangerous innovations and all unnecessary departure from
the established articles, rules, and forms of our excellent
Church.
But we shall not protract this letter by inserting more par-
ticulars relative to the state of the clergy and Churches here,
of which Dr. Seabury will be able to give you any informa-
tion your Grace may desire. We shall only beg leave to re-
mind your Grace that several legacies have been successively
bequeathed for the support of bishops in America ; and to
express our hopes that some part of those legacies, or of the
interest arising from them, may be appropriated to the main-
tenance of Dr. Seabury, in case he is consecrated, and re-
turns to Connecticut. We do not conceive that the separa-
tion of these colonies from the parent state can be a bar to
this appropriation, or invalidate the title of bishops of the
Church of England to the benefit of those legacies. And
perhaps this charitable assistance is more necessary now,
than formerly ; since American bishops must have more dif-
ficulties to struggle with, in consequence of the separation ;
and no other mode of support can be provided for them, until
our confusions subside, and the government of this country
assumes a more settled form.
Having thus with all plainness and sincerity represented
our case, we shall urge no further arguments for a compli-
ance with our request, as it would imply a doubt of your
Grace's readiness to promote a measure, in which the inter-
ests of Christianity in general, and of the Episcopal Church
in particular, are so much concerned. A miscarriage on
this occasion would preclude all hope of succeeding hereafter
in England, where duty and inclination lead us to apply
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 95
for an episcopate, and many bad consequences would un-
avoidably follow. It would forward the pernicious scheme
alluded to by the clergy of Connecticut in their letter to
your Grace ; it might probably give rise to applications for
an episcopate to foreign states, which must be attended with
many inconveniences ; or possibly the issue might be a total
extinction of the Episcopal Church in the United States of
America.
We shall only add, that we have consulted his excellency,
Sir Guy Carleton, the commander-in-chief, on this subject,
anc} on the appointment of a bishop to Nova Scotia ; both of
which have his entire approbation. As Nova Scotia is to re-
main a part of the British dominions, it was necessary that
application should be made to government before the ap-
pointment there could take place ; and the commander-in-
chief has, at our request, written very pressingly to admin-
istration, and warmly recommended the measure. We took
the liberty at the same time to recommend our worthy
brother, the Rev. Dr. Thomas B. Chandler, as a person well
qualified to discharge the duties of the Episcopal office in
that province with dignity and honor. And we hope for
your Grace's approbation of what we did in this matter,
and for your kind assistance in promoting the design ; of which
we should have given information to your Grace sooner,
had we not waited for Dr. Seabury's departure for England,
and we judged that the safest and best conveyance. If both
these appointments should succeed, we trust that, with the
blessing of Heaven, the Church of England will yet flourish
in this western hemisphere.
With sincerest wishes for your Grace's health and happi-
ness, that you may long continue an ornament and blessing
to the Church over which you preside, and with the most
perfect respect and esteem, we have the honor to be your
Grace's most dutiful sons and obedient, humble servants.
The foregoing letter was printed without signature
in " The Churchman's Magazine" for February, 1807.
96 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
It bears internal and unmistakable evidence of hav-
ing proceeded from the same clergymen who signed
the letter to the Archbishop of York, of even date.
A letter was also written by the clergy of Connecticut
in convention assembled, imploring the venerable So-
ciety to continue the stipends to its missionaries, and
urging this support as necessary in the present emer-
gency, but with how little success will be seen here-
after. Taking these letters and others that might be
of service to him, Dr. Seabury departed for England
in the flag-ship of Admiral Digby, and many prayers
went up to the " Eternal God who alone spreadeth
out the heavens and ruleth the raging of the sea,"
that He would keep him under his protection, and
conduct him in safety to the end of his journey.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 97
CHAPTER VII.
SCHEME OF THE REV. MR. WHITE AND OPPOSITION OP THE CLERGY
OF CONNECTICUT ; CONVENTION IN WOODBURY AND NUMBER PRES-
ENT ; SYMPATHY IN MASSACHUSETTS, AND LETTERS OF REV. MR.
FOGG'; ARRIVAL OF DR. SEABURY IN LONDON, AND IMPEDIMENTS
TO HIS CONSECRATION J CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE CLERGY, AND
CONVENTION IN WALLINGFORD.
A. D. 1783-1784.
ONE of the motives which influenced the clergy of
Connecticut in moving so early after the acknowl-
edgment of independence to secure a bishop in this
country was the publication of a pamphlet in Phila-
delphia which recommended a plan of a very extraor-
dinary nature. It was written by the Rev. William
White, afterwards the Bishop of Pennsylvania, and
issued from the press without his name, in the sum-
mer of 1782. It does not appear to have reached
the Northern States until peace had been declared,
but it was circulated in the region which gave it
birth and where the Episcopal atmosphere was less
impregnated with high views of the Christian minis-
try. According to the interpretation of the author,
the pamphlet " proposed the combining of the clergy
and of representatives of the congregations, in con-
venient districts, with a representative body of the
whole, nearly on the plan subsequently adopted. This
ecclesiastical representative was to make a declara-
7
98 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
tion approving of Episcopacy, and professing a deter-
mination to possess the succession when it could be
obtained ; but they were to carry the plan into imme-
diate act." l
To this scheme, as they had a right to understand
it, the Connecticut clergy were decidedly opposed.
The argument from necessity did not, in their opin-
ion, exist. For more than half a century candidates
from the colony had been sent three thousand miles
to obtain Holy Orders, and it would have been a re-
versal of all their history, and all their teaching and
belief in regard to the Church of Christ, to consent
for one moment to the main proposition of the pam-
phlet. At the meeting, therefore, in Woodbury, the
following document, addressed to Mr. White, was pre-
pared and adopted as an expression of their views
and as a reason for the steps they had taken to se-
cure a bishop.
REVEREND SIR, We, the clergy of Connecticut, met at
Woodbury in voluntary convention, beg leave to acquaint
you that a small pamphlet, printed in Philadelphia, has been
transmitted to us, of which you are said to be the author.
This pamphlet proposes a new form of government in the
Episcopal Church, and points at the method of erecting it.
As the thirteen States have now risen to independent sover-
eignty, we agree with you, sir, that the chain which con-
nected this with the mother Church is broken ; that the
American Church is now left to stand in its own strength,
and that some change in its regulations must in due time
take place. But we think it premature and of dangerous
consequence, to enter upon so capital a business, till we have
resident bishops (if they can be obtained) to assist in the
performance of it, and to form a new union in the Ameri-
1 Memoirs of P. E. Church, p. 91.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 99
can Church, under proper superiors, since its union is now
broken with such superiors in the British Church. We
shall only advert to such things in the pamphlet as we es-
teem of dangerous consequence. You say the conduct you
mean to recommend is to include in the proposed frame of
government a general approbation of Episcopacy, and a
declaration of an intention to procure the succession as soon
as conveniently may be ; but in the mean time to carry the
plan into effect, without waiting for the succession. But
why do you include a general approbation of Episcopacy in
your proposed new frame of government ? not because you
think bishops a constituent part of an Episcopal Church,
unless you conceive they derive their office and existence
from the king's authority ; for though you acknowledge we
cannot at present have bishops here, and propose to set up
without them, yet you say no constitutional principle of our
Church is changed by the Revolution, but what was founded
on the authority of the king. Your motives for the above
general approbation seem, indeed, to be purely political. One
is, that the general opinion of Episcopalians is in favor of
bishops, and therefore (if we understand your reasoning)
it would be impolitic not to flatter them with the hopes of
it. Another reason is, that too wide a deviation from the
British Church might induce future emigrants from thence
to set up independent churches here. But could you have
proposed to set up the ministry, without waiting for the
succession, had you believed the Episcopal superiority to be
an ordinance of Christ, with the exclusive authority of or-
dination and government, and that it has ever been so es-
teemed in the purest ages of the Church ? and yet we con-
ceive this to be the sense of Episcopalians in general, and
warranted by the constant practice of the Christian Church.
Really, sir, we think an Episcopal Church without Episco-
pacy, if it be not a contradiction in terms, would, however,
be a new thing under the sun ; and yet the Episcopal Church,
by the pamphlet proposed to be erected, must be in this
predicament till the succession be obtained. You plead
100 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
necessity, however, and argue that the best writers in the
Church admit of Presbyterian ordination where Episcopal
cannot be had. To prove this, you quote concessions from
the venerable Hooker, and Dr. Chandler, which their ex-
uberant charity to the reformed churches abroad led them
to make. But the very words you quote from the last
mentioned gentleman prove his opinion to be, that bishops
were as truly an ordinance of Christ, and as essential to
his Church, as the sacraments ; for, say you, he insists upon
it (meaning the Episcopal superiority) as of divine right;
asserts that the laws relating to it bind as strongly as the
laws which relate to baptism and the holy Eucharist, and
that if the succession be once broken, not all the men on
earth, not all the angels in heaven, without an immediate
commission from Christ, can restore it ; but you say he does
not, however, hold this succession to be necessary, only where
it can be had. Neither does he or the Christian Church
hold the sacraments to be necessary, where they cannot be
had agreeable to the appointment of the Great Head of the
Church. Why should particular acts of authority be thought
more necessary than the authority itself ? Why should the
sacraments be more essential than that authority Christ has
ordained to administer them ? It is true that Christ has
appointed the sacraments, and it is as true that He hath
appointed officers to administer them, and has expressly
forbid any to do it but those who are authorized by his ap-
pointment, or called of God, as was Aaron. And yet these
gentlemen (without any inconsistency with their declared
sentiments) have, and all good men will express their char-
itable hopes, that God, in compassion to a well-meant zeal,
will add the same blessings to those who, through unavoida-
ble mistake, act beside his commission as if they really had
it. As far as we can find, it has been the constant opinion of
our Church in England and here, that the Episcopal superi-
ority is an ordinance of Christ, and we think that the uni-
form practice of the whole American Church, for near a cen-
tury, sending their candidates three thousand miles for Holy
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 101
Orders, is more than a presumptive proof that the Church
here are, and ever have been, of this opinion. The sectaries,
soon after the Reformation, declared that the book of conse-
cration, etc., was superstitious and contrary to God's word,
and the moderation you mention in the articles and canons
consists in affirming that this declaration was entirely false ;
and would you wish to be more severe ? The instances you
adduce, wherein Presbyterian ordination has been tolerated
in the Church, have, by its best writers, been set in such a
point of view as to give no countenance to your scheme, and
the authorities you quote have been answered again and
again. If you will not allow this superiority to have an
higher origin than the apostles ; yet since they were divinely
inspired, we see not why their practice is not equal to a
divine warrant ; and as they have given no liberty to devi-
ate from their practice in any exigence of the church, we
know not what authority we have to take such liberties in
any case. However, we think nothing can be more clear,
than that our Church has ever believed bishops to have the
sole right of ordination and government, and that this regi-
men was appointed of Christ himself, and it is now, to use
your own words, humbly submitted to consideration, whether
such Episcopalians. as consent even to a temporary departure,
and set aside this ordinance of Christ for conveniency, can
scarcely deserve the name of Christians. But would neces-
sity warrant a deviation from the law of Christ, and the im-
memorial practice of the Church, yet what necessity have
we to plead ? Can we plead necessity with any propriety,
till we have tried to obtain an Episcopate, and have been
rejected? We conceive the present to be a more favorable
opportunity for the introduction of bishops than this coun-
try has before seen. However dangerous bishops formerly
might have been thought to the civil rights of these States,
this danger has now vanished, for such superiors will have
no civil authority. They will be purely ecclesiastics. The
States have now risen to sovereign authority, and bishops
will be equally under the control of civil law with other
102 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
clergymen ; no danger, then, can now be feared from bishops,
but such as may be feared from presbyters. This being the
case, have we not the highest reason to hope, that the whole
civil authority upon the continent (should their assistance
be needed) will unite their influence with the Church, to
procure an office so essential to it, and to render complete
a profession, which contains so considerable a proportion of
its inhabitants ? And on the other hand, is there any reason
to believe that all the bishops in England, and in all the
other reformed Churches in Europe, are so totally lost to a
sense of their duty, and to the real wants of their brethren in
the Episcopal Church here, as to refuse to ordain bishops to
preside over us, when a proper application shall be made to
them for it ? If this cannot be, why is not the present a
favorable opportunity for such an application ? Nothing is
further from the design of this letter than to begin a dis-
pute with you ; but in a frank and brotherly way to express
our opinion of the mistaken and dangerous tendency of the
pamphlet. We fear, should the scheme of it be carried into
execution in the Southern States, it will create divisions in
the Church at a time when its whole strength depends upon
its unity ; for we know it is totally abhorrent from the
principles of the Church in the Northern States, and are
fully convinced they will never submit to it. And indeed
should we consent to a temporary departure from Episco-
pacy, there would be very little propriety in asking for it
afterwards, and as little reason ever to expect it in America.
Let us all then unite as one man to improve this favorable
opportunity, to procure an object so desirable and so essen-
tial to the Church.
We are, dear sir, your affectionate brethren, the clergy
of Connecticut.
Signed by order of the Convention,
ABRAHAM JARVIS, Secretary.
WOODBURY, March 25, 1783.
An answer to this communication was duly re-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 103
turned, but when it was received in July, 1783, such
had been the change of circumstances since the pam-
phlet was published, that Mr. White no longer de-
fended his proposed scheme. 1 He asked for the in-
dulgence of his Connecticut brethren on the ground
of a supposed necessity, which, he now admitted,
had ceased to exist. He affirmed that he had been
misunderstood, but " no personal animosity," said
he, " became the result of this misapprehension, and
other events have manifested consent in all matters
essential to ecclesiastical discipline." Some twenty-
five years later the use made of statements in the
pamphlet by a writer controverting Episcopacy in
a secular newspaper 2 led the author to write two or
three letters to that publication for the purpose of
counteracting the mischievous effects which an incor-
rect citation was likely to produce.
Other clergymen in New England besides those
from Connecticut were interested in the proceedings
at Woodbury. The Kev. Samuel Parker, of Boston
(afterwards Bishop of Massachusetts, who died before
performing a single Episcopal act), appears to have
put himself in communication with the Rev. Daniel
Fogg, one of the ten clergymen who composed the
voluntary convention, and the brief letters which
passed between them, especially those of Mr. Fogg,
shed some light upon that important gathering. The
following was the second of these letters, the first
having given no particulars :
POMFRET, July 14, 1783.
DEAR SIR, I wrote you a few lines the 2d instant by
an uncertain conveyance, in which I mentioned that the
i Memoirs of P. E. Church, pp. 282-286. 2 Albany Centinel.
104 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Connecticut clergy had done all in their power respecting
the matter you were anxious about ; but they keep it a pro-
found secret, even from their most intimate friends of the
laity.
The matter is this : After consulting the clergy in New
York how to keep up the succession, they unanimously
agreed to send a person to England to be consecrated
Bishop for America, and pitched upon Dr. Seabury as the
most proper person for this purpose, who sailed for England
the beginning of last month, highly recommended by all the
clergy in New York and Connecticut, etc. If he succeeds,
he is to come out as missionary for New London or some
other vacant mission, and if they will not receive him in
Connecticut, or any other of the States of America, he is to
go to Nova Scotia. Sir Guy highly approves of the plan,
and has used all his influence in favor of it.
The clergy have even gone so far as to instruct Dr. Sea-
bury, if none of the regular bishops of the Church of Eng-
land will ordain him, to go down to Scotland and receive
ordination from a nonjuring bishop. Please to let me know
by Mr. Grosvenor how you approve of the plan, and whether
you have received any late accounts from England.
From your affectionate brother, D. FOGG. 1
Mr. Parker accepted, in general, the action of the
clergy of Connecticut, and only raised one or two
objections, which had been thought of and met. He
was a prominent and influential presbyter in Massa-
chusetts, and deeply solicitous for the proper organi-
zation and establishment of the Church in this coun-
try. It was natural for him to turn to Connecticut,
one of the New England States, where the battle for
Episcopacy had been early and well fought, and
where men understood and were prepared to assert
its claims. Another letter from Mr. Fogg gave ex-
1 Church Documents, Connecticut, pp. 212, 213.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 105
planatory reasons in support of the action at Wood-
bury, and indicated to Mr. Parker that he and his
brethren would not be compelled to come under the
jurisdiction of Dr. Seabury, if he succeeded in ob-
taining Episcopal consecration. This appears to have
closed the correspondence on the subject.
DEAR SIK, I am very glad that the conduct of the Con-
necticut clergy meets with your approbation in the main.
Dr. Seabury's being a refugee was an objection which I
made, but was answered, they could not fix upon any other
person who they thought was so likely to succeed as he was,
and should he succeed and not be permitted to reside in any
of the United States, it would be an easy matter for any
other gentleman who was not obnoxious to the powers that
be, to be consecrated by him at Halifax. And as to the ob-
jection of not consulting the clergy of the other States, the
time would not allow of it, and there was nobody to consult
in the State of New York, for there is not one clergyman
there except refugees, and they were consulted. And in the
State of Connecticut there are fourteen clergymen. And in
your State and New Hampshire, you know how many there
are, and you know there is no compulsion in the matter, and
you will be left to act as you please, either to be subject to
him or not. As to the matter of his support, that must be
an after consideration.
Your affectionate friend and brother, D. FOGG.
POMFRET, August 1, 1783.
Dr. Seabury arrived in London on the 7th of July,
and entered earnestly upon the business of his mis-
sion. He found that the dismemberment of the colo-
nies and the acknowledgment of their independence
had not removed the obstacles hitherto thrown in the
way of an American Episcopate. The old policy of
preferring political expediency to religious right still
106 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
paralyzed the energies of the Church of England, and
diminished the fervency of her zeal and the extent of
her charity. The bishops differed somewhat in their
views, and while they sympathized with the plan and
hoped for its success, they all saw impediments that
hindered them from proceeding to consecrate. The
dispensation of the king, or, yet more, an act of Par-
liament, they thought, was necessary to justify " the
omission of the state oaths in the ordination offices,"
and Dr. Seabury, therefore, was at once convinced
that he could not soon return to America if he waited
for the boon which he was then seeking from the
Church of England. His first letter to the clergy of
Connecticut after his arrival let them into the spirit
with which his application was met, and was dated
LONDON, July 15, 1783.
GENTLEMEN, In prosecution of the business committed
to me by you, I arrived in this city on the 7th inst. Unfort-
unately the Archbishop of York had left this city a fort-
night before, so that I was deprived of his advice and patron-
age. I waited on the Bishop of London and met with a
cordial reception from him. He heartily approved of the
scheme, and wished success to it, and declared his readiness
to concur with the two Archbishops in carrying it into exe-
cution : but I soon found he was not disposed to take the lead
in the matter. He mentioned the State Oaths in the Ordi-
nation offices, as impediments, but supposed that the 'King's
dispensation would be a sufficient warrant for the Archbish-
ops to proceed upon. But upon conversing with His Grace
of Canterbury, I found his opinion rather different from the
.Bishop of London. He received me politely, approved of the
measure, saw the necessity of it, and would do all he could
to carry it into execution. But he must proceed openly and
with candor. His Majesty's dispensation he feared would
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 107
not be sufficient to justify the. omission of oaths imposed by
act of Parliament. He would consult the other bishops ;
he would advise with those persons on whose judgment he
thought he could depend. He was glad to hear the opinion
of the Bishop of London, and wished to know the sentiments
of the Archbishop of York. He foresaw great difficulties, but
hoped there were none of them insurmountable. I purpose
to set out for York in a few days to consult the Archbishop,
and will do everything in my power to carry this matter into
a happy issue ; but it will require a great deal of time, and
patience, and attention. I endeavored to remove those diffi-
culties that the Archbishop of Canterbury mentioned. And
I am not without hopes that they will all be got over. My
greatest fear arises from the matter becoming public, as it
now must, and that the Dissenters here will prevail on your
government to apply against it: this I think would effect-
ually crush it, at least as far as it relates to Connecticut.
You will therefore do well to attend to this circumstance
yourselves, and get such of your friends as you can trust, to
find out, should any such intelligence come from hence. In
that case, I think it would be best to avow your design, and
try what strength you can muster in the Assembly to sup-
port it. But in this matter your own judgment will be a
much better guide to you than any opinion of mine.
I will again write to you on my return from York, and
shall then be able to tell you more precisely what is like to
be the success of this business.
I am, reverend gentlemen, with the greatest respect and
esteem, your most obliged humble servant,
SAMUEL SEABURY.
Nearly a month passed away before he wrote
again to the clergy of Connecticut and detailed the
difficulties which embarrassed the action of the Eng-
lish bishops. To us who look back upon their course
from this point of time, and in the light of later his-
108 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
tory, it seems strange that they should have felt
themselves to be so hampered by political considera-
tions as not to venture upon a spiritual act which
was intended to preserve the existence of the Epis-
copal Church in America. They could not separate
their office from the circumstances by which they
were surrounded, and though in apostolic days there
was no waiting for the consent of the Roman govern-
ment, they gravely made it an impediment to the
consecration of Dr. Seabury, that " it would be send-
ing a bishop to Connecticut, which they had no right
to do without the consent of the State." But read
his second letter to the clergy :
LONDON, August 10, 1783.
REVEEEND GENTLEMEN, In the letter which I wrote to
you after my interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury,
I informed you of the objections made, and difficulties men-
tioned by him, with regard to the business on which I came
to England. I also informed you of my intention to take a
journey to York that I might have the full benefit of his
Grace of York's advice and influence. This journey I have
accomplished, and I fear to very little purpose. His Grace
is now carrying on a correspondence with the Archbishop of
Canterbury, on the subject ; what the issue will be is not
certain ; but I think, unless matters can be put on a differ-
ent footing, the business will not succeed. Both the Arch-
bishops are convinced of the necessity of supplying the
States of America with Bishops, if it be intended to preserve
the Episcopal Church there ; and they even seem sensible of
the justice of the present application, but they are exceed-
ingly embarrassed by the following difficulties :
1. That it would be sending a bishop to Connecticut,
which they have no right to do without the consent of the
State.
2. That the bishop would not be received in Connecticut.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 109
3. That there would be no adequate support for him.
4. That the oaths in the ordination office cannot be got
over, because the king's dispensation would not be sufficient
to justify the omission of those oaths. At least there must
be the concurrence of the king's council to the omission ;
and that the council would not give their concurrence with-
out the permission of the State of Connecticut to the bishop's
residing among them.
All that I could say had no effect, and I had a fair oppor-
tunity of saying all that I wished to say.
It now remains to be considered what method shall be
taken to obtain the wished-for Episcopate.
The matter here will become public. It will soon get to
Connecticut. Had you not, gentlemen, better make imme-
diate application to the State for permission to have a
bishop to reside there ? Should you not succeed, you lose
nothing, as I am pretty confident you will not succeed here
without such consent. Should there be anything personal
with regard to me, let it not retard the matter. I will most
readily give up my pretensions to any person who shall be
agreeable to you, and less exceptionable to the State.
You can make the attempt with all the strength you can
muster among the laity : and at the same time I would ad-
vise that some persons be sent to try the State of Vermont
on this subject. In the mean time I will try to prepare and
get things in a proper train here. I think I shall be able to
get at the Duke of Portland and Lord North, on the occa-
sion. And should you succeed in either instance, I think all
difficulty would be at an end.
I am, worthy gentlemen, with the greatest respect and
esteem, your much obliged and very humble brother and
servant, SAMUEL SEABURY.
By tbis time Mr. Learning, whom Dr. Seabury left
in New York when he sailed for England, had re-
turned to Connecticut and was assisting the clergy in
shaping their movements and conducting their cor-
110 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
respondence with reference to the Episcopacy. At
Easter, 1784, he was chosen rector of the venerable
parish in Stratford, the oldest in the State, which Dr.
Johnson served for about forty years, and where he,
as one of his successors, faithfully ministered until
1790. The letter to him which follows is more
frank than any written to the other clergymen, and
breathes with affectionate remembrances of former
days.
LONDON, September 3, 1783. |
No. 91 WARDOUR STREET. ^
MY DEAR SIB, Though I have so lately written to you,
as well as to the clergy of Connecticut, explaining the sit-
uation of the business on which I came to England; yet I
must more fully open my mind to you, and you are to be
the judge, whether any, and how much of this letter is to
be shewed to any one else.
With regard to my success, I not only think it doubtful,
but that the probability is against it. Nobody here will
risk anything for the sake of the Church, or for the sake of
continuing Episcopal ordination in America. Unless there-
fore it can be made a ministerial affair, none of the bishops
will proceed in it for fear of clamor ; and indeed the ground
on which they at present stand, seems to me so uncertain,
that I believe they are obliged to take great care with re-
gard to any step they take out of the common road. They
are apprehensive that my consecration would be looked on in
the light of sending a bishop to Connecticut, and that the
State of Connecticut would resist it, and that they should be
censured as meddlers in matters that do not concern them.
This is the great reason why I wish that the State of Con-
necticut should be applied to for their consent. Without it,
I think nothing will be done. If they refuse, the whole
matter is at an end. If they consent that a bishop should
reside among them, the grand obstacle will be removed.
You see the necessity of making the attempt, and of making
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. Ill
it with vigor. One reason, indeed, why I wished the at-
tempt to be made in Connecticut, relates to myself. I can-
not continue here long : necessity will oblige me to leave it
in March or April, at furthest. If this business fails, I must
try to get some provision made for myself: and indeed the
State of Connecticut may consent that a bishop should reside
among them, though they might not consent that I should
be the man. In that case, the sooner I shall know it the
better : and should that be the case, I beg that no clergy-
man in Connecticut will hesitate a moment on my account.
The point is, to get the Episcopal authority into that coun-
try ; and he shall have every assistance in my power.
Something should also be said about the means of support
for a bishop in that country. The bishops here are appre-
hensive that the character will sink into contempt, unless
there be some competent and permanent fund for its sup-
port. Please let your opinion of what ought to be said on
that subject be communicated by the first opportunity, that
is, provided you think anything can be done in Connec-
ticut.
Dr. Chandler's appointment to Nova Scotia will, I believe,
succeed. And possibly he may go thither this autumn, or,
at least, early in the spring. But his success will do no good
in the States of America. His hands will be as much tied
as the bishops in England ; and I think he will run no risks
to communicate the Episcopal powers. There is, therefore,
everything depending on the success of the application to
the State of Connecticut. It must be made quickly, lest
the dissenters here should interpose and prevent it ; and it
should be made with the united efforts of clergy and laity,
that its weight may be the greater ; and its issue you must
make me acquainted with as soon as you can. Please to
send me one or two more testimonials from the copy which
Dr. Inglis has. Mr. Moore and Mr. Odell will assist in
copying and getting them signed ; and I may want them.
By Captain Cowper I expect to be able to acquaint you
with the result of the interview of the two archbishops in
112 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
my business. In the mean time, may God direct and pros-
per all the endeavors of his faithful servants, to the estab-
lishment of his true religion in the western world. Adieu,
friend of my heart ! May I see thee again in peace ! May
I again enjoy the pleasure of thy converse, and with thee be
instrumental in promoting the welfare of Christ's kingdom.
Adieu ! says thy ever affectionate, S. SEABURY.
Let application be made also to the State of Vermont, lest
that to Connecticut should fail.
The clergy of Connecticut assembled in convention
at Wallingford on the 13th of January, 1784, when
the Kev. Mr. Learning was chosen president and Mr.
Jar vis secretary. The object of the meeting was to
take into consideration the suggestions of the forego-
ing letter, and on the 14th it was "voted that Mr.
Learning, Mr. Hubbard, and Mr. Jarvis be a commit-
tee to collect the opinions of the leading members of
the Assembly concerning an application by the clergy
of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut for the legal
protection of a bishop for said Church, when they
shall be able to procure one agreeable to the common
rights of Christians, as those rights are now claimed
and understood by all denominations of Christians in
the State." The duty imposed upon these gentle-
men was promptly discharged, and the results com-
municated to Dr. Seabury in the following letter,
under date of Middle town, February 5, 1784 :
REVEREND AND DEAR, SIR, Since the receipt of your
letters, addressed to the clergy in Connecticut, we have, by
your letter to the Rev. Mr. Learning, a more explicit infor-
mation of the difficulties suggested by the bishops in Eng-
land, and which appear to operate upon their minds, against
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 113
complying with our petition, and to their giving you Episco-
pal consecration.
The clergy were immediately made acquainted with what
you had written, and shortly after met at Wallingford. In
convention it was voted that the leading members of both
Houses of Assembly, which was then sitting at New Haven,
should be conferred with, so far as the proposed difficulties
had reference to the civil government. We the subscribers
were appointed a committee of convention for the above
purpose, and, as a conventional answer to your letters, com-
municate to you the result of that conference, together with
our opinion, and what we could do, to obviate the objections
made by the bishops. Mr. Learning and Mr. Hubbard con-
versed freely and fully with a number of principal members
of both Houses of Assembly, and collected their sentiments
on the subject. They met with a degree of attention and
candor beyond our expectation ; and in respect of the need,
the propriety, or the prudence of an application to govern-
ment for the admission of a bishop into the State, their opin-
ions appeared fully to coincide with our own.
Your right, they said, is unquestionable. You therefore
have our full concurrence for your enjoyment of what you
judge essential to your Church. Was an act of Assembly
expedient to your complete enjoyment of your own ecclesi-
astical constitution, we would freely give our vote for such
an act. We have passed a law which embraces your Church,
wherein are comprehended all the legal rights and powers,
intended by our Constitution to be given to any denomi-
nation of Christians. In that act is included all that you
want. Let a bishop come ; by that act, he will stand
upon the same ground that the rest of the clergy do, or the
Church at large. It was remarked that there were some,
who would oppose and would labor to excite opposition
among the people, who, if unalarmed by any jealousies,
will probably remain quiet. For which reason it would be
impolicy, both in us and them, for the Assembly to meddle
at all with the business. The introduction of a bishop on
8
114 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
the present footing, without anything more, in their opinion
would be the easiest and securest way in which it could be
done, and we might be sure of his protection. This they
thought must be enough to satisfy the bishops, and all con-
cerned in the affair in England. We are further authorized
to say that the legislature of the State would be so far from
taking umbrage, that the more liberal part will consider the
bishops in this transaction as maintaining entire consistency
of principle and character, and by so doing merit their com-
mendation.
The act above alluded to, you will receive inclosed in a
letter from Mr. Learning, attested by the clerk of the lower
House of Assembly. It is not yet published. The clerk
was so obliging as to copy it from the journals of the House.
You were mentioned as the gentleman we had pitched upon.
The secretary of the state, from personal knowledge, and
others, said things honorable and benevolent towards you.
Now if the opinion of the governor and other members of
the council, explicitly given in entire agreement with the
most respectable members among the representatives, who
must be admitted to be competent judges of their own civil
polity, is reasonably sufficient to remove all scruples about
the concurrence of the legislature, we cannot imagine that
objection will any longer have a place in the minds of the
archbishops. We here understand, as we suppose, the part
which the government established among us, means to take
in respect of religion in general, and the protection it will
afford to the different denominations of Christians under
which the subjects of it are classed : and the lowest construc-
tion, which is all we expect, must amount to a permission
that the Episcopal Church enjoy all the requisites of her
polity, and have a bishop to reside among them. We feel
ourselves at some loss for a reply to the objection which re-
lates to the limits and establishment of a diocese, because
the government here is not Episcopal ; and because we do
conceive a civil or legal limitation and establishment of a
diocese, essentially attached to the doctrine of Episcopacy,
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 115
or the existence of a Bishop in the Church. The Presbyters
who elect the Bishop, and the congregations to which they
minister, may naturally direct his active superintendence,
and prescribe the acknowledged boundaries of his diocese.
Under existing circumstances, and utterly unable to judge
with any certainty what, in the course of divine providence,
may be the future condition of the Church in this country,
we can contemplate no other support for a Bishop, than
what is to be derived from voluntary contracts, and sub-
scriptions and contributions, directed by the good will and
zeal of the members of a Church who are taught, and do be-
lieve, that a Bishop is the chief minister in the kingdom of
Christ on earth. Other engagements, it is not in our power
to enter into, than our best endeavors to obtain what our
people can do, and we trust will continue to do, in propor-
tion to the increase of their ability, of which we flatter our-
selves with some favorable prospect. ^A Bishop in Connecti-
cut must, in some degree, be of the primitive style. With
patience and a share of primitive zeal, he must rest for sup-
port on the Church which he serves, as head in her minis-
trations, unornamented with temporal dignity, and without
the props of secular power.
An Episcopate of this plain and simple character, amid
the doubts and uncertainties which at present in a measure
pervade everything, we hope may pass unenvied, and its
sacred functions be performed unobstructed. Should what
we have now written be thought sufficient to do away the
objections which have been advanced, as a bar to your con-
secration : yet if you cannot find yourself disposed to come
to us under these circumstances, painful necessity must com-
pel us to wait patiently, until divine providence shall open a
door propitious to our wants. But in the mean time, with
the help of God, we will not remit in our endeavors to per-
severe, and, as far as in us lies, cherish this remnant of his
Church.
We herewith transmit to you two copies of our letter, and
two of the general testimonial, attested by the Secretary.
116 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Continuing fervently desirous of your success ; and with our
best wishes for your personal health and prosperity ; we are,
in behalf of convention, your affectionate brethren,
JEREMIAH LEAMING.
ABRAHAM JARYIS.
BELA HUBBARD.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 117
CHAPTER VIII.
SETTLEMENT OF HIS FAMILY IN NEW LONDON AND LETTERS TO THE
CLERGY OF CONNECTICUT ; SCOTTISH EPISCOPACY AND DR. BERKE-
LEY'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH BISHOP SKINNER ; WAITING FOR AN
ACT OF PARLIAMENT AND NOTHING ACCOMPLISHED FOR HIS AID ;
THE DANISH SUCCESSION AND CARTWRIGHT OF SHREWSBURY ; AP-
PLICATION TO THE SCOTTISH BISHOPS.
A. D. 1784.
THE letter which closed the previous chapter raised
the clergy of Connecticut in the estimation of the
English bishops, but did not satisfy them that the
way was yet clear for their action. It was now
twelve months since Dr. Seabury had left America,
and he was becoming impatient of the delays to
which he was constantly subjected. His family his
wife died September, 1780 had been settled in New
London, and he was anxious to complete his mission
and return and take them again under his personal
care and protection. He worked vigorously and used
every argument in his power to overcome the objec-
tions to his consecration. He admired the frankness
of the English bishops in stating their reasons for
not proceeding to comply with his request ; but he
was as little able to see their force as they were to
comprehend the feelings and the political and relig-
ious situation of the people in this country. Every-
thing, both encouraging and discouraging, was com-
118 LIFE AND. CORRESPONDENCE
municated to his friends in Connecticut, and they
promptly sent back all the information that might be
needed to help him in the accomplishment of his ob-
ject. The two letters which follow, one written to
the Committee of the Convention at Wallingford, and
the other to Mr. Jarvis, show his activity and contain
the history of his movements.
LONDON, April 30, 1784.
GENTLEMEN, Your letter dated at Middletown, Feb. 5,
with the papers that accompanied it, came duly to me by
the packet. I also received a letter from Mr. Learning, but
no copy of the act of the legislature to which in your letter
you refer. I hope it is on the way.
I have communicated your letter to the Archbishop of
York, and the Bishops of London and Oxford ; the last did
not seem to think it quite satisfactory, but said the letter
was a good one, and gave him an advantageous opinion of
the gentlemen who wrote it, and of the Clergy of Connecti-
cut in general ; and that it was worthy of serious considera-
tion. The Bishop of London thought it removed all the
difficulties on your side of the water, and that nothing now
was wanting but an act of Parliament to dispense with the
state oaths, and he imagined that would be easily obtained.
The Archbishop of York gave no opinion, but wished that
I would lose no time in showing it to the Archbishop of
Canterbury. This happened yesterday. This morning I
went to Lambeth, but his Grace was gone out about ten
minutes before I got there. I shall go again to-morrow;
but if I stay till I have seen him, I shall lose this opportu-
nity of writing, which I am not willing to do.
Upon the whole, your letter will do good. It attacks the
objections in the right place, and answers them fairly ; and
will enable me to take up the business upon firmer ground.
I have determined with myself, that if the Bishops hang
back, to bring the matter before Parliament by petition,
and if that shall fail, the scheme will be at an end here, I
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 119
fear forever. Capt. Cowper will sail from hence in three
weeks, and by him I hope to be able to give you some satis-
factory accounts of my procedure.
You will, Gentlemen, inform my friends at New London
how matters are situated. I hope to be with them in the
course of this summer, and shall not hesitate to trust my
future prospects to God's good providence, and the kind
endeavors of my brethren to render my life comfortable,
nay, happy.
This is a very hasty letter. I have had only twenty min-
utes to write it in. My best wishes attend the Clergy of
Connecticut. Nova Scotia affairs, civil and ecclesiastical, go
on heavily. The Parliament is to meet May 18th. Mr.
Learning will forgive my not answering his letter now, be-
cause it is impossible. All the American Clergy here are
well.
Accept, my good, my dear friends, the most affectionate
regards of your most obliged humble servant,
SAMUEL SEABURY.
LONDON, May 3, 1784.
MY DEAR SIR, I embrace an opportunity, by the way
of Rhode Island, to address you as Secretary of the Con-
vention, and to inform you that I have received a letter of
the 5th of February, signed by yourself and my very good
brethren Learning and Hubbard, for which you all have
my most hearty thanks. I am also to inform you that I
wrote to you and them, as a committee, on the 30th of
April, under cover to Mr. Ellison, by a vessel bound to New
York (the ship Buccleugh), acknowledging the receipt of
the letter above mentioned. Mine was a very hasty letter
but in it I acquainted you that I had shown your letter to
the Archbishop of York. We were broken in upon by com-
pany and he gave me no opinion on the letter; but desired
that I would communicate it to the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, and to the Bishop of London, as soon as I conveniently
could. I called, in my way, on the Bishop of Oxford, who
120 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
has been very attentive to me, speaks his mind without re-
serve, and is communicative, and hears me with patience
and candor, is much of a gentleman, and a man of learn-
ing and business. He read the letter with attention said
he hardly thought it sufficient ground -to proceed upon. I
endeavored to explain the arguments you had used, and
to confirm them from the particular circumstances of the
Church in Connecticut. He read the letter again, com-
mended it, spoke handsomely of the gentlemen who wrote
it, and of the Clergy of Connecticut, who so anxiously strove
to perpetuate the Episcopal Church said it would be a
great pity that so much piety and zeal in so good a cause
should not obtain the wished for object that the letter
certainly gave an opportunity for reconsidering the mat-
ter, and merited attentive deliberation, and that possibly he
should yet come into the opinion of its writers. I am sorry
that he leaves town next week, as I shall thereby lose the
benefit of his advice and assistance.
From him I went to the Bishop of London, who is an
amiable man, but very infirm, and I think his memory and
other faculties are declining ; he avoids business as much as
possible. Having read the letter, he asked many questions,
and when he fully apprehended the matter, he said that he
thought that every objection was removed on the part of
the Connecticut Clergy, and that an act of Parliament,
which he thought might be easily obtained, would remove
the impediment of the state oaths, and that he hoped the
Archbishop of Canterbury would see the matter in the same
light that he did.
The next morning I went to Lambeth, but missed of see-
ing his Grace. On the first of May I went again. His
Grace's behavior, though polite, I thought was cool and
restrained. When he had read the letter, he observed that
it was still the application only of the Clergy, and that
the permission was only the permission of individuals, and
not of the legislature. I observed that the reasons why the
legislature had not been applied to were specified in the
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 121
letter, and that they appeared to me to be founded in reason
and good sense that had his Grace demanded the concur-
rence of the laity of the Church last autumn, it might easily
have been procured. That it was the first wish both of the
Episcopal Clergy and laity of Connecticut to have an Epis-
copate through the clear and uninterrupted channel of the
Church of England, and my first wish that his Grace and
the Archbishop of York might be the instruments of its con-
veyance but that if such difficulties and objections lay in
the way as it was impossible to remove, it was but lost time
for me to pursue it further ; but that I hoped his Grace
would converse with the Archbishop of York and the Bishop
of London on the subject. He said he certainly would as
soon as he was able, but that he was then very unwell. I
thought it was no good time to press the matter while the
body and mind were not in perfect unison, and rose to with-
draw, offering to leave the letter, as it might be wanted. I
will not, said he, take the original from you lest it should
fare as the letter you brought from the Clergy of Connecti-
cut Jias fared. I' left it with Lord North when he was in
office, and have never been able to recover it ; but if you
will favor me with copies of both letters I shall be obliged
to you. I promised compliance, and took my leave.
Dr. Chandler has been with him to-day on the subject
of the Nova Scotia Episcopate, which, I believe, will be ef-
fected. His Grace introduced the subject of Connecticut ;
declared his readiness to do everything in his power, com-
plimented the Clergy of Connecticut, and your humble serv-
ant, talked of an act of Parliament, and mentioned that
some young gentlemen from the Southern States, who were
here soliciting orders, had applied to the Danish Bishops,
through the medium of the Danish ambassador at the Hague,
upon a supposition that he was averse to conferring orders
on them ; but that the supposition was groundless, he being
willing and ready to do it when it could be consistently done.
These young gentlemen had met with every encouragement
to tempt them to a voyage to Denmark.
122 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Upon the whole, you will perceive that your letter has
done great service of itself ; and it has enabled me to open a
new battery, which I will mount with the heaviest cannon
and mortars I can muster, and will play them as vigorously
as possible.
I anxiously expect the next arrival from New York, in
hopes I shall receive the act you refer to respecting the
Church in Connecticut, and which his Grace thinks will be
necessary to enable him to proceed.
I hope, my dear friend, that I shall be with you in the
course of this summer, and be happy with you in the full
enjoyment of our holy religion. Make my most affectionate
regards to the Clergy as you have opportunity. No one es-
teems them more, or loves them more than I do. They are
the salt which must now preserve our Church from all decay,
and in perfect health and soundness.
I shall wait on his Grace on Wednesday this is Mon-
day and if I am fortunate enough to see him, shall put
a note for you into the mail which will close on Wednesday
night for New York.
Believe me to be your ever affectionate friend, and very
humble servant, SAMUEL SEABURY.
t
Dr. Seabury was wearied with words and longed
for action. To go repeatedly over the same ground
and find no real progress made was disheartening.
The two archbishops, when all other obstacles were
removed, would come back to the point of the king's
dispensation or an act of Parliament, and there was
no meeting this with any effective reasons. The min-
istry in power cared less for the Church than the
State, and could not be induced to take up matters
which were not calculated to promote the interests
of their own party. "This is certainly the worst
country in the world," said Seabury, " to do business
in. I wonder how they get on at any rate." The
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 123
tempting offers of the British government led several
of the clergy in Connecticut to remove with a portion
of their congregations to Nova Scotia. This fact was
referred to in a letter to Mr. Jarvis, dated
LONDON, May 24, 1784.
MY DEAR SIB, By the last packet I wrote to you as
Secretary of the Episcopal Convention in Connecticut, under
cover to Mr. Ellison at New York, and a day or two after
by a vessel to Rhode Island, under cover to Mr. Jona. Starr,
of New London. Both which letters, I flatter myself, will
get safe to you. Since those letters I have had two inter-
views with his Grace of Canterbury, the last this morning.
He declares himself ready to do everything in his power to
promote the business I am engaged in ; but still thinks that
an act of Parliament will be necessary to enable him to pro-
ceed ; and also that the act of the Legislature of your State,
which you mentioned would be sent me by Mr. Learning,
is absolutely necessary oa which to found an application to
Parliament. I pleased myself with the prospect of receiving
the copy of that act by the last packet, the letters of which
arrived here the 15th inst. ; but great was my mortification,
that no letter came to me from my good and ever dear
friends. What I shall do I know not, as the business is at
a dead stand without it ; and the Parliament is now sit-
ting. If the next arrival does not bring it, I shall be at
my wit's end. Send it, therefore, by all means, even after
the receipt of this letter; or if you have sent it, send a
duplicate.
His Grace says he sees no reason to despair ; but yet that
matters are in such a state of uncertainty that he knows not
how to promise anything. He complains of the people in
power ; that there is no getting them to attend to anything
in which their own party interest is not concerned. This is
certainly the worst country in the world to do business in.
I wonder how they get along at any rate. But if I had the
act of your State which you refer to in your letter, I should
124 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
be able to bring the matter to a crisis, and it would be de-
termined, one way or the other. And as it is attended with
uncertainty whether I shall succeed here, I have, in two or
three letters to Mr. Learning, requested to know, whether
in case of failure here, it would be agreeable to the Clergy
in Connecticut that I should apply to the nonjuring Bishops
in Scotland, who have been sounded and declare their readi-
ness to carry the business into execution. I hope to receive
instructions on this head by the next arrival, and in the mean
time must watch occasions as they rise.
Believe me, there is nothing that is not base that I would
not do, nor any risk that I would not run, nor any incon-
venience to myself that I would not encounter, to carry this
business into effect. And I assure you, if I do not succeed,
it shall not be my fault.
There is one piece of intelligence we have heard from
Nova Scotia that gives me some uneasiness, viz : that Messrs.
Andrews, Hubbard and Scovil are expected in Nova Scotia
this summer, with a large proportion of their congregations.
This intelligence operates against me. For if these gentle-
men cannot, or if they and their congregations do not choose
to stay in Connecticut, why should a Bishop go there ? I
answer one reason of their going is the hopes of enjoying
their religion fully, which they cannot do in Connecticut
without a Bishop.
I beg my most respectful regards may be made to the
Clergy of Connecticut, and that they will believe me to be
anxiously engaged in the fulfillment of their wishes in the
business of the Episcopate proposed.
Believe me to be, dear Sir, your hearty well wisher, and
very humble servant, SAMUEL SEABURY.
The foregoing letter had scarcely reached its desti-
nation when he wrote again to Mr. Jarvis, acknowl-
edging the receipt of the act of the General Assem-
bly, which he had been expecting with so much
solicitude. Liberal as it was, it was insufficient, in
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 125
the view of his Grace of Canterbury, to enable him to
proceed to consecrate without an act of Parliament ;
but it was the very thing that Dr. Seabury felt he
needed on which to found the application for such an
act. He was encouraged to wait for the issue of this
step, and in the mean time, he resolved, in case of
failure, which he had reason to anticipate, to turn his
face to Scotland and seek consecration there, where
the true succession derived of old time from English
bishops was carefully preserved.
It has been seen that this plan entered into his
original instructions from the clergy of Connecticut
before crossing the Atlantic ; but he desired the re-
newal of these instructions, or rather, he wished to
know if the clergy were ready to relinquish their
preferences for the Episcopacy in the direct English
line, and allow him to obtain it from a legitimate
branch of the Church of Christ, which fortunately
was not hampered by the entanglements of a state
alliance. They could not ask him to prosecute nego-
tiations that might involve him in further personal
sacrifices. The voyage to England was undertaken
solely at his own expense, and all the property which
he had was embarked in the enterprise. Their com-
munion in this country was known as the English
Church, and while they were strongly attached to it
and its succession of bishops, and had reason to be
grateful to the venerable Society for stipends, which
they hoped would be continued for a time at least,
they did not wish him to abandon the object for
which he had gone, and return to America without
the Episcopacy.
He knew the disposition of the Scottish bishops.
126 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The Eev. Dr. George Berkeley, the second son of the
celebrated Bishop of Cloyne, who had been interested
in the American Church from his early youth, wrote
to the Kev. John Skinner, of Aberdeen, in October,
1782, and expressed the hope " that a most impor-
tant good might erelong be derived to the suffering
and nearly neglected sons of Protestant Episcopacy
on the other side of the Atlantic from the suffering
Church of Scotland I would humbly submit
it," he went on to say, " to the bishops of the Church
in Scotland (as we style her in Oxford), whether this
be not a time peculiarly favorable to the introduction
of the Protestant Episcopate on the footing of univer-
sal toleration, and before any anti-Episcopal establish-
ment shall have taken place. God direct the hearts
of your prelates in this matter." l
This letter was addressed to Mr. Skinner as a pres-
byter, for Dr. Berkeley was not aware that he had
been raised a few days before to the Episcopal office,
having been consecrated September 25, 1782, as co-
adjutor to the Primus in the see of Aberdeen, at Lu-
thermuir, a secluded chapel near Laurencekirk in the
Diocese of Brechin, one of the few chapels which
escaped the ravages of the Hanoverian soldiers after
the insurrection of 1745. 2 The correspondence was
continued, and in answering objections which had
been made to the proposal, Dr. Berkeley said : " I am
as far removed from Erastianisrn and from democ-
racy as any man ever was ; I do heartily abominate
both of those anti-scriptural systems. Had my hon-
1 MS. Seabury papers quoted in Wilberforce's Hist, of American
Church, p. 149, Am. ed.
2 Grub's Eccl Hist, of Scotland, vol. iv., p. 91.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 127
ored father's scheme for planting an Episcopal col-
lege, whereof he was to have been president, in the
Summer Islands, not been sacrificed by the worst
minister that Britain ever saw, probably under a mild
monarch (who loves the Church of England as much
as I believe his grandfather hated it), Episcopacy
would have been established in America by a succes-
sion from the English Church, unattended by any in-
vidious temporal rank or power. But the dissenting
miscellaneous interest in England has watched with
too successful a jealousy, over the honest intentions
of our best bishops
"From the churches of England and Ireland,
America will not now receive the Episcopate ; if she
might, I am persuaded that many of her sons would
joyfully receive bishops from Scotland. The ques-
tion then, shortly, is, Can any proper persons be
found who, with the spirit of confessors, would con-
vey the great blessing of the Protestant Episcopacy
from the persecuted Church of Scotland to the strug-
gling persecuted Protestant Episcopalian worshippers
in America? If so, is it not the duty of all and
every bishop of the Church in Scotland to contribute
towards the sending into the New World Protestant
bishops before general assemblies can be held and
covenants taken, for their perpetual exclusion ? Lib-
er avi animam meam."
Bishop Skinner could not but listen with deep in-
terest to the suggestions of one so distinguished and
prominent among the clergy of the English Church.
Still he saw difficulties in the way, and said in his re-
ply : " Nothing can be done in the affair with safety
on our side, till the independence of America be fully
128 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
and irrevocably recognized by the government of
Britain; and even then the enemies of our Church
might make a handle of our correspondence with the
colonies as a proof that we always wished to fish in
troubled waters, and we have little need to give any
ground for an imputation of this kind." 1
On the 24th of March, 1783, at the very time
when the clergy of Connecticut were assembled in
Wood bury and were considering the plan of sending
abroad a presbyter to obtain the apostolic office, Dr.
Berkeley wrote again to Bishop Skinner, and, with
becoming deference, renewed his endeavor to bring
about a consecration in Scotland for the American
Church. "I believe," he added, " a secret subscrip-
tion could be raised adequate to the purposes of sup-
porting one pious, sensible, discreet bishop, at least
for a season #fter his arrival in Virginia ; and I think
I know one person competent and willing for the
great work."
Thus the way was opened for Seabury in Scotland
before he left his own country. Men, without know-
ing the movements of each other, were taking steps
to accomplish the same object, and a wise Providence
controlled events and directed them to successful is-
sues. No sooner had Dr. Seabury reached London
than he began to act on his primary instructions, and
applied, as his letters and testimonials required him
to do, to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York
for consecration. It does not appear that his affair
was made known in North Britain until the Novem-
ber subsequent to his arrival, when " a letter was dis-
patched by Mr. Elphinstone, a man of literary repu-
1 MS. Seabury papers quoted by Wilberforce.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 129
tation, the son of a Scotch clergyman, in which the
following question was put to the Primus or presid-
ing bishop of the Church in Scotland : ' Can consecra-
tion be obtained in Scotland for an already dignified
and well-vouched American clergyman, now at Lon-
don, for the purpose of perpetuating the Episcopal re-
formed church in America, particularly in Connecti-
cut?'"
At the same time, Dr. Berkeley wrote again to
Bishop Skinner with much earnestness, and said : " I
have this day heard, I need not add with the sincer-
est pleasure, that a respectable presbyter, well recom-
mended, from America, has arrived in London, seek-
ing what, it seems, in the present state of affairs, he
cannot expect to receive in our Church.
" Surely, dear sir, the Scotch prelates, who are not
shackled by any Erastian Connection, will not send
this suppliant empty away.
" I scruple not to give it as my decided opinion
that the king, some of his counsellors, all our bishops
(except, peradventure, the Bishop of St. Asaph), and
all the learned and respectable clergy of our Church,
will at least secretly rejoice, if a Protestant bishop
be sent from Scotland to America; but more espe-
cially if Connecticut be the scene of his ministry. It
would be waste of words to say anything by the way
of stirring up Bishop Skinner's zeal." *
Dr. Berkeley gave a ready and satisfactory reply to
inquiries about the personal fitness of the candidate,
as well as an assurance that nothing need be appre-
hended in the style of " opposition from the Eng-
lish government to their granting a consecration,
1 History of the American Church, pp. 153, 154.
130 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
which can contradict no law, for a foreign and inde-
pendent State."
Other clergymen interested themselves in the mat-
ter, and the Scottish bishops must have signified their
willingness to comply with the proposal when Dr.
Seabury wrote his letter to Mr. Jarvis, dated
LONDON, June 26, 1784.
MY DEAR SIB, I have now to inform you that I re-
ceived on the 17th inst. Mr. Learning's letter, inclosing the
act of the legislature of Connecticut, respecting liberty of
conscience in that State. Upon the whole, I think it a lib-
eral one; and, if it be fairly interpreted and abided by,
fully adequate to all good purposes. I have had a long con-
versation with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and another
with the Archbishop of York, on the act. They seem to
think the principal objections are removed as far as you or
I are concerned. They spoke handsomely of the clergy
of Connecticut, and declared themselves satisfied with your
humble servant, whom the clergy were pleased to recom-
mend to them. But I apprehend there are some difficulties
here that may not easily be got over. These arise from
the restrictions the Bishops are under about consecrating
without the King's leave, and the doubt seems to be about
the King's leave to consecrate a Bishop who is not to reside
in his dominions; and about the validity of his dispens-
ing with the oath, in case he has power to grant leave of
consecration. I have declared my opinion, which is, that
as there is no law existing relative to a Bishop who is to
reside in a foreign state, the Archbishops are left to the
general laws of the Christian Church, and have no need
either of the King's leave or dispensation. But the opinion
of so little a man cannot have much weight. The Arch-
bishop of Canterbury supposes that an act of Parliament will
be necessary ; yet he wishes to get through the business, if
possible, without it, and acknowledged that the opinion of
the majority of the Bishops differed from his. The ques-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 131
tions are referred to the attorney and solicitor-general, and
their opinion, should they agree, will, I presume, determine
the point. This opinion, I hope, will be obtained in a short
time, as the Archbishop of Canterbury has promised to con-
sult them. Should I know the result time enough, I will
give it you by the next packet, which will sail in a fort-
night.
I have had opportunities of consulting some very respect-
able clergymen in this matter, and their invariable opin-
ion is, that should I be disappointed here, where the busi-
ness had been so fairly, candidly, and honorably pursued,
it would become my duty to obtain Episcopal consecration
wherever it can be had, and that no exception could be taken
here at my doing so. The Scotch succession was named.
It was said to be equal to any succession in the world, etc.
There I know consecration may be had. But with regard to
this matter, I hope to hear from you in answer to a letter
I wrote to Mr. Learning, I think in April. Should I receive
any instructions from the clergy of Connecticut, I shall at-
tend to them ; if not, I shall act according to the best ad-
vice I can get, and my own judgment.
Believe me, there is nothing I have so much at heart as
the accomplishment of the business you have intrusted to
my management ; and I am ready to make every sacrifice of
worldly consideration that may stand in the way of its com-
pletion. I am, reverend Sir, with the greatest esteem, your
and the Clergy's most obedient servant,
SAMUEL SEABUKY.
A month passed away, and he wrote again, address-
ing his letter this time to the clergy of Connecticut,
and showing that he was near the end of his impor-
tunities with the English bishops. If the enabling
act, which he was encouraged to believe would be
introduced into Parliament then in session, should
be rejected, or, which was tantamount to the same
132 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
thing, should not be reached before adjournment, in
the press of purely political measures, it would be
useless for him to prosecute his undertaking fur-
ther in England. He would be justified in that case
in seeking consecration elsewhere, unless instructions
in the mean time came from the clergy of Connecti-
cut, directing him to wait still longer. 1 And so he
expressed his intention under date of
LONDON, July 26, 1784.
GENTLEMEN, I take the opportunity by Mr. Townsend
to write to you, although I have little more to say than I
have already said in my late letters.
On the 21st inst. I had an interview with the Archbishop
of Canterbury. I was with him an hour. He entered fully
and warmly into my business ; declared himself fully sensi-
ble of the expediency, justice, and necessity of the measure ;
and also of the necessity of its being carried immediately
into execution. An act of Parliament, however, will be
requisite to enable the Bishops to proceed without incurring
a Prcemunire. A bill for this purpose I am encouraged to
expect will be brought in as soon as the proper steps are
taken to insure it an easy passage through the two Houses.
The previous measures are now concerting, and I am flattered
with every prospect of success. But everything here is at-
tended with uncertainty till it is actually done. Men or
measures, or both, may be changed to-morrow, and then all
will be to go through again. However, I shall patiently
1 The Rev. Tillotson Bronson, ordained in this country a deacon Sep-
tember 21, 1786, closed the publication of the original documents in the
periodical of which he was editor, by stating that a letter from the clergy
of Connecticut directing Dr. Seabury, in case he failed with the English
bishops, to proceed to Scotland, and another from him to the clergy
communicating an account of his failure, were known to have been writ-
ten ; but they did not appear on file, and all attempts to recover them
had been unsuccessful.
See Churchman's Magazine for 1806, p. 276.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 133
wait the issue of the present session of Parliament, which, it
is the common opinion, will continue a month longer. If
nothing be done, I shall give up the matter here as unat-
tainable, and apply to the North, unless I should receive
contrary directions from the Clergy of Connecticut.
The various difficulties I have had to struggle with, and
the various steps I have taken to get through them, are too
long to communicate by letter ; but I htfpe to spend the next
winter in Connecticut, and then you shall know all, at least
all that I shall remember.
My best regards attend the Clergy and all my friends and
the friends of the Church. I hope yet to spend some happy
years with them. Accept, my good brethren, the best
wishes of your affectionate humble servant,
SAMUEL SEABURY.
The act of Parliament referred to in this letter en-
abled the Bishop of London to admit foreign candi-
dates to the order of deacons and priests, but gave
no permission to consecrate a bishop for Connecticut
or for any of the American States. That permission
was placed on a different footing, though it is difficult
to see wherein there was any real difference in prin-
ciple. It was said that before it would be granted,
the formal consent of Congress, or of the authority of
some particular State, was necessary, and that before
a bishop would be consecrated, a diocese must be
formed and provision for his support secured.
" A few young gentlemen to the southward," l who
had been educated for the ministry, but were detained
by the troubles of the Eevolution, embarked for Eng-
land after the acknowledgment of American inde-
pendence, and applied to Dr. Lowth, then Bishop of
London, for Holy Orders. The oaths of allegiance
1 Memoirs of P. E. Churchy p. 20.
134 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
were required, and he could not, without an act of
Parliament allowing him to dispense with them, pro-
ceed to ordain. Before the passage of the act above
mentioned, an offer from the Danish government and
clergy was received through Mr. Adams, Minister at
the Court of St. James, to ordain candidates from
America who should sign the Thirty-nine Articles,
"with the exception of the political parts of them,
the service to be performed in Latin, in accommoda-
tion to the candidates, who might be supposed unac-
quainted with the language of the country." The
offer had no reference to the Episcopacy, and the
Church in Denmark does not appear to have been
thought of in connection with the consecration of
Dr. Seabury. It has recently been stated to the con-
trary in a memoir of Dr. Kouth, 1 but we have not
found a particle of evidence in his own letters and
papers that he ever dreamed of betaking himself to
that quarter, if he failed in his application to the Eng-
lish bishops.
Overtures were made for him, without his knowl-
edge, to Cartwright, of Shrewsbury, an irregular non-
juror of the Separatist party in England, who with
Price was consecrated uncanonically in 1780 by a
single bishop, just as Robert Wei ton was consecrated
by Ralph Taylor, and John Talbot by Taylor and
Welton ; these men, Welton and Talbot, never being
recognized as bishops, however, by the rest of the
body, yet both coming to America and exercising
secretly Episcopal functions. 2 Providentially the ap-
plication to Cartwright was unnecessary, but Dr. Sea-
1 London Quarterly Review, July, 1878.
2 See Lathbury's History of the Non- Jurors, cli. ix.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 135
bury acknowledged his kindness in the following let-
ter, dated
LONDON, October (supposed) the 15^, 1784.
RIGHT REV. SIR, Some time ago a letter from you to
the Rev. Dr. Chandler respecting some queries proposed by
the Rev. Mr. Boucher was put into my hands. This was
the first information I had received concerning yourself or
Bishop Price. And as I am in spiritual matters totally in-
dependent OF ANY CIVIL POWER, and have no manner of ob-
jection ; but a sincere inclination to conform myself, as near
as possible, to the primitive Catholic Church, in doctrine and
discipline, that letter would have been immediately attended
to by me, had I not primarily entered into a negotiation
with the Bishops in the North, to obtain through them a free,
valid, and purely Ecclesiastical Episcopacy for the Church
in Connecticut. Till within a few days I have had no de-
cided answer from the North, and therefore did not sooner
write to you because I could make no certain reply to your
letter. But as the issue of the negotiation I was engaged in
is such that I cannot in honor retreat, I can only at present
return you my hearty and unfeigned thanks for the candid
communication and liberal sentiments which your letter con-
tained ; and to assure you that I shall ever retain the high-
est esteem and veneration, both for yourself and Bishop
Price, on account of the ready disposition which you both
show, to impart the great blessing of a primitive Episcopacy
to the destitute Church in America. Should any circum-
stances render it convenient to open a further correspondence
on this, or any other subject in which the interest of Christ's
Church may be concerned, I flatter myself with a continu-
ance of that spirit of liberality and Christian condescension
which your letter manifested; and shall make it my study to
return it in the most open and unreserved manner.
Be pleased to present my best respects to Bishop Price,
and to accept the tender of unfeigned regard and esteem
from, Right Rev. Sir, your most obedient and very humble
servant, S. S. 1
1 MS. Letter-Book.
136 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
On the 31st of August, 1784, Dr. Seabury wrote
from London to the Kev. Dr. Myles Cooper, his
friend and former fellow-sufferer for loyalty in this
country, and through him applied to the Scottish
bishops for the boon which he had failed to obtain in
England. His letter, transcribed from the copy in
his own handwriting, reads :
MY DEAR SIK, I hope this letter will find you safe at
Edinboro' in good health and spirits. Here everything, in
which I have any concern, continues in the same state as
when I saw you at your castle. I have been for some time
past, and yet am, in daily expectation of hearing from Con-
necticut, but [there] have been no late arrivals, nor shall I
wait for any provided I hear any favorable account from you,
but shall hold myself in readiness to set off for the North at
twenty-four hours' notice. With regard to myself, it is not
my fault that I have not done it before, but I thought it my
duty to pursue the plan marked out for me by the clergy of
Connecticut, as long as there was any probable chance of suc-
ceeding. That probably is now at an end, and I think my-
self at liberty to pursue such other scheme as shall insure to
them a valid Episcopacy, and such I take the Scotch Episco-
pacy to be in every sense of the word ; and such I know the
clergy of Connecticut consider it, and have always done so ;
but the connection that has always subsisted between them
and the Church of England, and the generous support they
have hitherto received from that Church, naturally led them,
though no longer a part of the British dominions, to apply
to that Church in the first instance for relief in their spir-
itual necessity. Unhappily the connection of this Church
with the State is so intimate that the Bishops can do little
without the consent of the Ministry, and the Ministry have
refused to permit a Bishop to be consecrated for Connecticut,
or for any other of the thirteen States, without the formal
request, or at least consent, of Congress, which there is no
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 137
chance of obtaining, and which the clergy would not apply
for were the chance ever so good. They are content with
having the Episcopal Church in Connecticut put upon the
same footing with any other religious denomination. A
copy of the law of the State of Connecticut, which enables
the Episcopal congregations to transact their ecclesiastical
affairs upon their own principles, to tax their members for
the maintenance of their clergy ; for the support of their
worship ; for the building and repairing of churches, and
which exempts them from all penalties, and from all other
taxes on a religious account, I have in my possession. The
Legislature of Connecticut know that a Bishop is applied
for; they know the person in whose favor the application is
made, and they give no opposition to either. Indeed, were
they disposed to object, they have more prudence than to
attempt to object to it. They know that there are in that
State more than forty Episcopal congregations, many of
them large, some of them making the majority of the inhab-
itants of large towns, and, with those that are scattered
through the State, composing a body of near, or quite, forty
thousand ; a body too large to be needlessly affronted in an
elective government.
On this ground it is that I apply to the good bishops in
Scotland, and I hope I shall not apply in vain. If they con-
sent to impart the Episcopal succession to the Church of
Connecticut, jthey will, I think, do a good work, and the
blessing of thousands will attend them. And perhaps for
thisTcause, among others, God's providence has supported
them, and continued their succession under various and great
difficulties ; that a free, valid, and purely ecclesiastical Epis-
copacy may from them pass into the Western world.
As to anything which I receive here, it has no influence
on me and never has had any. I indeed think it my duty
to conduct the matter in such a manner as shall risk the
salaries which the missionaries in Connecticut receive from
the Society here as little as possible, and I persuade myself
it may be done so as to make that risk next to nothing.
138 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
With respect to my own salary, if the Society choose to
withdraw it, I am ready to part with it.
It is a matter of some consequence to me that this affair
be determined as soon as possible. I am anxious to return
to America this autumn, and the winter is fast approaching,
when the voyage will be attended with double inconvenience
and danger, and the expense of continuing here another
winter is greater than will suit my purse. I know you will
give me the earliest intelligence in your power, and I shall
patiently wait till I hear from you. My most respectful re-
gards attend the Right Reverend gentlemen under whose
consideration this business will come, and as there are none
but the most open and candid intentions on my part, so I
doubt not of the most candid and free construction of my
conduct on their part. Accept, my dear sir, of the best
wishes of your ever affectionate, etc., S. S. 1
Dr. Cooper lost no time in transmitting this letter
to Bishop Kilgour, the Primus of the Scottish Episco-
pal Church, and acquainting him that to his knowl-
edge Dr. Seabury was recommended by several
worthy clergymen in Connecticut as a person fit for
promotion, and to whom they were willing to submit
as a bishop. Pains were taken to remove any fears
that had been suggested about the risk of proceeding
to the consecration. The zealous and kind-hearted
Dr. Berkeley, who knew the state of Episcopacy in
Scotland and the principles of the Scotch Episcopa-
lians better than any man at that time in England,
wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury, informing
him that Dr. Seabury had applied to the Scottish
bishops to be consecrated, and if his Grace thought
that there would be any risk in yielding to the appli-
cation, he begged that he would be so good as to re-
1 MS. Letter-Book.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 139
turn an immediate reply ; but if satisfied that no dan-
ger would accrue, a reply was unnecessary. No an-
swer was sent, and it was a fair inference that while
the English primate was not ready to give it a for-
mal sanction, he had nothing to say in opposition to
the consecration. 1
A careful writer stated the position of Dr. Seabury,
wearied with the long delay in England, thus : " Hav-
ing known before that there was a continued succes-
sion of bishops in Scotland, and finding, where he
then was, no objection to the validity of their Episco-
pal powers, whatever there might be to the propriety
of their political scruples, he contrived to have it in-
quired at second hand, what prospect there might be
of speedy success in an application to that quarter, if
such application should be formally made." 2
1 Wilberforce, in his History of the American Church, cites a MS. note
of Bishop Skinner on Dr. Seabury 's letter of application as authority for
this statement. The note was copied by Dr. Seabury in his MS. Letter-
Book.
2 Skinner's Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii., pp. 685, 686.
140 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
CHAPTER IX.
BISHOP KILGOUR'S LETTER, AND DR. SEABURY'S REPLY ; ARRIVAL
IN ABERDEEN, AND OPPOSITION OF DR. SMITH ; CONSECRATION,
AND SYNOD OF BISHOPS; CONCORDATS, AND ADDRESS TO THE
CLERGY OF CONNECTICUT; PREACHES IN ABERDEEN, AND BISHOP
JOLLY'S PRAYER ; RETURN TO LONDON, AND LETTER TO MR.
BOUCHER.
A. D. 1784-1785.
ALL objections on the part of the Scottish prelates
had been previously overcome. As one of them said,
" I do not see how we can account to our great Lord
and Master, if we neglect such an opportunity of pro-
moting His truth and enlarging the borders of His
Church." Bishop Kilgour wrote immediately to the
Rev. John Allan, of Edinburgh, by whom Dr. Cooper
forwarded the request of Seabury, and renewed in
the following letter the offer to proceed to the conse-
cration :
REV. AND DEAB SlK, I acknowledge by the first op-
portunity the receipt of yours of the 14th ult., inclosing Dr.
Seabury's letter to Dr. Cooper, which I doubt not you have
received in course.
Dr. Seabury's long silence, after it had been signified to
him that the Bishops of this Church would comply with his
proposals, made them all think that the affair was dropped,
and that he did not choose to be connected with them; but
his letter, and the manner in which he accounts for his con-
duct, give such satisfaction, that I have the pleasure to in-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 141
form you that we are still willing to comply with his propo-
sal ; to clothe him with the Episcopal character, and thereby
convey to the Western world the blessing of a free, valid,
and purely ecclesiastical Episcopacy ; not doubting that he
will so agree with us in doctrine and discipline, as that he
and the Church under his charge in Connecticut will hold
"communion with us and the Church here on catholic and
primitive principles ; and so that the members of both may
with freedom communicate together in all the offices of re-
ligion.
We are concerned that he should have been so long in de-
termining himself to make this application, and wish that in
an affair of so much importance he had corresponded with
one of our number. However, as he appears open and can-
did on his part, he may believe the bishops will be no less so
on their part, and will be glad how soon he can set out for
the North.
As I cannot undertake a journey to Edinburgh, and it
would also be too hard on Bishop Petrie in his very infirm
state, the only proper place that remains for us to meet in
is Aberdeen.
How soon Dr. Seabury fixes on the time for his setting
out, or at least how soon he comes into Scotland, I hope he
will address me ; as the Bishops will settle their time of
meeting for his consecration as soon thereafter as their cir-
cumstances and distance will permit. With a return of the
Bishops' most respectful regards to Dr. Seabury, please ad-
vise him of all this. May God grant us a happy meeting
and direct all to the honor and glory of His name and to
the good of His church. To His benediction I ever heartily
commend you, and am, Rev. and dear sir, your affectionate
brother and humble servant, ROBEBT KiLGOUR. 1
PETERHEAD, 2d October, 1784.
In response to this communication, Dr. Seabury
thus addressed Bishop Kilgour from London, October
14, 1784.
1 MS. Letter-Book.
142 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
RIGHT REV D - SIR, Three days ago I was made happy by
the receipt of a letter from my friend in Edinburgh, inclos-
ing one from you to the Rev d - Mr. John Allan, signifying
the consent of the Bishops in Scotland to convey, through
me, the blessing of a free, valid, and purely ecclesiastical
Episcopacy to the Western world. My most hearty thanks
are due to you, and to the other Bishops for the kind and
Christian attention which they show to the suffering Church
in North America in general, and that of Connecticut in par-
ticular, and for that ready and willing mind which they have
manifested in this important affair. May God accept and
reward them freely ; and grant that the whole business may
terminate in the glory of His name and the prosperity of
His church.
As far as I am concerned, or my influence shall extend,
nothing shall be omitted to establish the most liberal inter-
course and union between the Episcopal Church in Scotland
and in Connecticut, so that the members of both may freely
communicate together in all the offices of religion, on cath-
olic and primitive principles.
Whatever appearances there may have been of inattention
on my part, they will, I trust, when I shall have the hap-
piness of a personal conference, be fully, and to a mind so
candid and liberal as yours, satisfactorily explained.
I propose, through the favor of God's good providence, to
be at Aberdeen by the 10 th of November, and shall there
wait the convening of the Bishops who have so humanely
taken this matter under their management. My best and
most respectful regards attend them.
Commending myself to your prayers and good offices, I
remain, Right Rev d - Sir, with the greatest respect and es-
teem, your most obedient and humble servant, S. S.
On his arrival in Aberdeen, Dr. Seabury met with
new and unexpected opposition. A letter had been
addressed to the Scottish bishops by an American
clergyman, appealing to them, if they valued their
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 143
own peace and advantage as a Christian society, not
to meddle with the consecration. He affirmed that
it was " against the earnest and sound advice of the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York, to whom Dr.
Seabury's design was communicated ; they not think-
ing him a fit person, especially as he was actively and
deeply engaged against Congress ; that he would by
this forward step render Episcopacy suspected there,
the people not having had time, after a total de-
rangement of their civil affairs, to consider as yet of
ecclesiastical and if it were unexpectedly and rashly
introduced among them at the instigation of a few
clergy only that remain, without their being con-
sulted, would occasion it to be entirely slighted, un-
less with the approbation of the State they belong to ;
which is what they are laboring after just now, hav-
ing called several provincial meetings together this
autumn, to settle some preliminary articles of a Prot-
estant Episcopal Church, as near as may be to that
of England or Scotland." 1
The author of this letter was the Rev. Dr. William
Smith, a Scotchman by birth, formerly provost of the
college and academy of Philadelphia, but then at the
head of Washington College, in Maryland. He had
views of his own to promote, and hoped and made
efforts to be raised to the Episcopate in Maryland,
which he seems to have feared that the consecration
of Seabury might frustrate. The Scottish bishops
had too many evidences of the Christian character of
the candidate, and were too well persuaded of the
unreasonableness of not complying with his request,
to be hindered by such a communication.
1 MS. Seabury papers cited by Wilberforce, p. 157.
144 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The severe penal laws under which the non-juring
bishops in Scotland and their clergy fell, for not dis-
owning submission to the house of Stuart and swear-
ing allegiance to the house of Hanover, had not been
repealed a century ago. They were forbidden to of-
ficiate except in private dwellings, and then only for
four persons besides those of the household ; or, if in
an uninhabited building, for a number not exceeding
four. 1 In many rural places their houses of worship
were burnt by military detachments, and in towns
where burning was unsafe, they were shut up or de-
molished. While these severe laws against them had
not been repealed, their edge had worn away, and
they had become almost wholly inoperative, so that
new churches were erected, and larger assemblies
gathered.
In the year 1775, the Rev. John Skinner (after-
wards bishop) was invited to fill a vacancy in the city
of Aberdeen, and such was his zeal in his holy calling
that his charge, from being composed of but three
hundred people, had increased so much in twelve
months that additional accommodation was needed.
"But in 1776, even the idea of erecting an ostensible
church-like place of worship dared not be cherished
by Scotch Episcopalians. Hence was Mr. Skinner
'obliged to look out for some retired situation, down
a close, or little alley, and there, at his own indi-
vidual expense, to erect a large dwelling-house ; the
two upper floors of which, being fitted up as a chapel,
were devoted to the accommodation of his daily in-
1 A clergyman violating these laws was liable, for the first offense,
to six months' imprisonment, and for the second, to transportation for
life.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 145
creasing flock, and the two under floors to the resi-
dence of his family." l
This large dwelling-house was erected in Long-acre,
a narrow lane of the city, where public carriages
never passed, and in its sequestered chapel the Rev.
SAMUEL SEABURY, D. D., was publicly consecrated
on Sunday, the 14th of November, 1784, by Robert
Kilgour, Primus, assisted by Bishops Arthur Petrie
and John Skinner. The service was not performed
in secret and with bated breath. It was performed
"in the presence of a considerable number of re-
spectable clergymen and a great number of laity,"
and the sermon preached on the occasion was after-
wards printed and extensively circulated. 2 The last
four verses of the ninetieth Psalm, in the old ver-
sion of Tate and Brady, were sung at the conclusion
of the sermon, and were as applicable to the de-
pressed condition of the Scottish Church as to the in-
fant communion in America :
" To satisfy and cheer our souls,
Thy early mercy send ;
That we may all our days to come
In joy and comfort spend.
" Let happy times, with large amends,
Dry up our former tears,
Or equal, at the least, the term
Of our afflicted years.
" To all thy servants, Lord, let this
Thy wondrous work be known ;
1 Annals of Scottish Episcopacy, pp. 16, 17.
2 Two editions were printed, one in Edinburgh, the other in London,
the latter on fine paper, small quarto.
10
146 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
And to our offspring yet unborn,
Thy glorious power be shown.
" Let Thy bright rays upon us shine,
Give Thou our work success ;
The glorious work we have in hand,
Do Thou vouchsafe to bless."
The documents connected with the consecration,
though long, and before given to the public, are too
valuable and shed too much light upon the precise
history of the whole affair, not to be reproduced in
this place. They were recorded in the " Minute-
Book of the College of Bishops in Scotland," and a
duplicate of the original Concordate and of the letter
to the clergy of Connecticut, upon vellum, came to
this country, and both are still carefully preserved.
SYNOD 1784.
In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. Amen.
The American States having been by the Legislature of
Great Britain declared independent, the Christians of the
Episcopal persuasion in the State of Connecticut, who had
long been anxiously desirous to have a valid and purely
ecclesiastical Episcopacy established among them, thought
they had now a favorable opportunity of getting this their
desire effected.
With this view, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Seabury, one of the
Episcopal clergy in that State, was sent over to England
with ample certificates of his piety, abilities, and learning,
and fitness for the Episcopal office, and recommendations
by his brethren, both in Connecticut and New York, to the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York, requesting that he
might be consecrated for Connecticut. After a long stay in
England and fruitless application for consecration, Dr. Sea-
bury wrote and made application to the Bishops of Scotland,
who, after having seriously considered the matter, readily
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 147
concurred to encourage and promote the proposal. In conse-
quence of this, Dr. Seabury came to Scotland ; and having
notified his arrival, a day was fixed for his consecration, and
the place appointed was Aberdeen. On Saturday, the 13 th
of November of the year of our Lord 1784, the following
Bishops, viz : The Right Rev. Mr. Robert Kilgour, Bishop
of Aberdeen and Primus ; the Right Rev. Mr. John Skin-
ner, his coadjutor ; and the Right Rev. Mr. Arthur Petrie,
Bishop of Ross and Moray (the Right Rev. Mr. Charles
Rose, Bishop of Dunblane, 1 having previously signified his
assent, and excused his absence by reason of his state of
health and great distance), convened at Aberdeen, where
Dr. Seabury met them, and laid before them the following
letters and papers, viz : (1.) An attested copy of a letter
from the clergy of Connecticut to the Archbishop of York,
recommending Dr. Seabury in very strong terms, and re-
questing he might be consecrated for Connecticut. (2.) An-
other copy of a letter from the clergy of New York to both
the Archbishops, signifying their concurrence, and highly
approving of the measure. (8.) A full and ample testimo-
nial from the clergy of Connecticut and New York, jointly
certifying Dr. Seabury's learning, abilities, prudence, and
zeal for religion, and that they believed him to be every way
qualified for the sacred office of a Bishop. (4.) A letter
from the Committee of the clergy in Connecticut to Dr.
Seabury, acquainting him that they had made application
to the Assembly of the State of Connecticut as to what pro-
tection might be expected for a Bishop in that State if they
should be able to procure one. That their application met
with a degree of candor and attention beyond their expecta-
tion ; and that the opinion of the leading members of the
Assembly appeared to coincide fully with theirs in respect
of the need, propriety, and prudence of such a measure.
That these members told them they had passed a law con-
cerning the Episcopal Church, and invested her with all the
3 The Scottish bishops at this time were reduced to these four, and
their presbyters numbered but forty-two.
148 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
legal powers and rights that is intended by their constitu-
tion to give to any denomination. That the protection asked
for was necessarily included in the act ; that let a Bishop
come ; when he is there he will stand upon the same ground
that the rest of the clergy do, or the Church at large.
That the Legislature of the State would be so far from tak-
ing any umbrage, that in this transaction the Bishops would
meet their generous wishes, and do a thing for which they
would have their applause. (5.) A letter from the Commit-
tee of Convention in Connecticut to Dr. Seabury, amongst
other things, signifying their reliance on his zeal and forti-
tude to prosecute the affair in such way as he can, and beg-
ging he will remember that, however glad they shall be to
see him, and wish speed to the opportunity that may enable
them to bid him a happy welcome, yet that his coming a
Bishop will only prevent its being an unhappy meeting. (6.)
A letter from Mr. Jarvis, Secretary of the Committee, to
Dr. Seabury, accompanying the above letter, wherein Mr.
Jarvis says, You may depend upon it you will be kindly
treated in this State, let your ordination come from what
quarter it will. (7.) An attested copy of the above men-
tioned Act of the State of Connecticut for securing the
rights of conscience in matters of religion to Christians of
every denomination, passed in the January session, 1783.
The said Bishops thus convened, after reading and con-
sidering these papers, and conversing at full length with
Dr. Seabury, were fully satisfied of his fitness to be pro-
moted to the Episcopate, and of the reasonableness and pro-
priety of the request of these papers; and, therefore, the
day following, being Sunday, the 14 th of the said month of
November, after morning prayers, and a sermon suitable to
the occasion, preached by Bishop Skinner, they proceeded
to the consecration of the said Dr. Samuel Seabury in the
said Bishop Skinner's Chapel in Aberdeen, and he was then
and there duly consecrated with all becoming solemnity by
the said Right Rev. Mr. Robert Kilgour, Mr. Arthur Petrie,
and Mr. John Skinner, in the presence of a considerable
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 149
number of respectable clergymen and a great number of
laity, on which occasion all testified great satisfaction. 1 On
Monday, the 15th, a Concordate betwixt the Episcopal
Church in Scotland and that in Connecticut was formed and
agreed upon by the Bishops of Scotland and Bishop Seabury,
to their mutual satisfaction ; and two duplicates thereof,
wrote upon vellum, were duly signed and sealed by all the
four. One duplicate, together with the above mentioned
letters and papers respecting Dr. Seabury, was kept by the
Bishops of Scotland, to be preserved among the records ; and
the other double, together with a letter from the Bishops of
Scotland to the clergy of Connecticut, wrote also upon vel-
lum, and duly signed and sealed, was delivered to Bishop
Seabury : and so the Synod broke up. Copies of the Con-
cordate and letter are herein inserted and are as follows : 2
1 IN DEI NOMINE. Amen.
Omnibus ubique Catholicis per Presentes pateat, Nos Robertum Kil-
gour Miseratione Divina Episcopum Aberdonien. Arthur-urn Petrie Epis-
copum Rossen et Moravien et Joannis Skinner Episcopum Coadjutorem,
Mysteria Sacra Domini nostri Jesu Christi in Oratoris supradicti Joannis
Skinner apud Aberdoniam celebrantes, Divini Numinis Praesidio fretos
(presentibus tarn e Clero, quam e Populo Testibus idoneis) Samuelem
Seabury Doctorem Divinitatis. sacro Presbyteratus Ordine jam decora-
turn, ac Nobis prse Vitas integritate, Morum probitate, et Orthodoxia
commendatum, et ad docendum et regendum aptum et idoneum, ad sa-
crum et sublimem Episcopatus Ordinem promovisse, et rite ac canonice,
secundum Morem et Ritus Ecclesiaa Scoticanas, Consecrasse, Die Novem-
bris Decimo Quarto, Anno -ZErae Christianas Millesimo septingentesimo
octagesimo quarto. In cujus rei Testimoniurn, Instrumento huic (Chiro-
graphis nostris prius munito) Sigilla nostra apponi mandavimus.
ROBERTUS KILGOUR Episcopus et Primus. [L. s.]
ARTHURUS PETRIE Episcopus. [L. s.]
IOANNES SKINNER Episcopus. [L. s.]
2 See The Scottish Ecclesiastical Journal, October 16, 1851.
150 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
CONCORDATS.
IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY AND UNDIVIDED TBINITY,
FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST, ONE GOD, BLESSED
FOE EVEE. AMEN.
The wise and gracious Providence of this merciful God,
having put it into the hearts of the Christians of the Epis-
copal persuasion in Connecticut in North America, to desire
that the Blessings of a free, valid and purely Ecclesiastical
Episcopacy, might be communicated to them, and a Church
regularly formed in that part of the western world upon the
most ancient, and primitive model : And application having
been made for this purpose, by the Reverend D r> Samuel
Seabury, Presbyter in Connecticut, to the Right Reverend
the Bishops of the Church in Scotland : The said Bishops
having taken this proposal into their serious Consideration,
most heartily concurred to promote and encourage the same,
as far as lay in their power ; and accordingly began the pious
and good work recommended to them, by complying with
the request of the Clergy in Connecticut, and advancing the
said D r< Samuel Seabury to the high order of the Episcopate ;
at the same time earnestly praying that this work of the
Lord thus happily begun might prosper in his hands, till it
should please the great and glorious Head of the Church, to
increase the number of Bishops in America, and send forth
more such Laborers into that part of his Harvest. Ani-
mated with this pious hope, and earnestly desirous to estab-
lish a Bond of peace, and holy Communion, between the
two Churches, the Bishops of the Church in Scotland, whose
names are underwritten, having had full and free Conference
with Bishop Seabury, after his Consecration and Advance-
ment as aforesaid, agreed with him on the following Arti-
cles, which are to serve as a Concordate, or Bond of Union,
between the Catholic remainder of the ancient Church of
Scotland, and the now rising Church in the State of Con-
necticut.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 151
Art. I st - They agree in thankfully receiving, and humbly
and heartily embracing the whole Doctrine of the Gospel, as
revealed and set forth in the holy Scriptures : and it is their
earnest and united Desire to maintain the analogy of the
common Faith once delivered to the Saints, and happily pre-
served in the Church of Christ, thro' his divine power and
protection, who promised that the Gates of Hell should
never prevail against it.
Art. H d - They agree in believing this Church to be the
mystical Body of Christ, of which he alone is the Head, and
supreme Governour, and that under him, the chief ministers
or Managers of the affairs of this spiritual Society, are those
called Bishops, whose Exercise of their sacred Office being
independent on all Lay powers, it follows of consequence,
that their spiritual Authority, and Jurisdiction cannot be af-
fected by any Lay-Deprivation.
Art. III d ' They agree in declaring that the Episcopal
Church in Connecticut is to be in full Communion with the
Episcopal Church in Scotland ; it being their sincere Resolu-
tion to put matters on such a footing as that the Members of
both Churches may with freedom and safety communicate
with either, when their Occasions call them from the one
Country to the other : Only taking Care when in Scotland
not to hold Communion in sacred Offices with those persons,
who under pretence of Ordination by an English, or Irish
Bishop, do, or shall take upon them to officiate as Clergy-
men in any part of the National Church of Scotland, and
whom the Scottish Bishops cannot help looking upon, as
schismatical Intruders, designed only to answer worldly pur-
poses, and uncommissioned Disturbers of the poor Remains
of that once flourishing Church, which both their predeces-
sors and they have under many difficulties, laboured to pre-
serve pure and uncorrupted to future Ages.
Art. IV. With a view to the salutary purpose mentioned
in the preceding Article, they agree in desiring that there
may be as near a Conformity in Worship and Discipline
established between the two Churches, as is consistent with
152 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
the different Circumstances and Customs of Nations : And
in order to avoid any bad Effects that might otherwise arise
from political Differences, they hereby express their earnest
Wish and firm Intention to observe such prudent Generality
in their public Prayers, with respect to these points, as shall
appear most agreeable to Apostolic Rules, and the practice
of the primitive Church.
Art. V. As the Celebration of the holy Eucharist, or the
Administration of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of
Christ, is the principal Bond .of... Union among Christians, as
well as the most solemn Act of Worship in the Christian
Church, the Bishops aforesaid agree in desiring that there
"may be as little Variance here as possible. And tho' the
Scottish Bishops are very far from prescribing to their Breth-
ren in this matter, they cannot help ardently wishing that
Bishop Seabury would endeavour all he can consistently with
peace and prudence, to make the Celebration of this venera-
ble Mystery conformable to the most primitive Doctrine and
practice in that respect : Which is the pattern the Church
of Scotland has copied after in her Communion office, and
which it has been the Wish of some of the most eminent
Divines of the Church of England, that she also had more
closely followed, than she seems to have done since she gave
up her first Reformed Liturgy used in the Reign of King
Edward VI., between which, and the form used in the
Church of Scotland, there is no Difference in any point,
which the primitive Church reckoned essential to the right
Ministration of the holy Eucharist. In this capital Article
therefore of the Eucharistic Service in which the Scottish
Bishops so earnestly wish for as much Unity as possible,
Bishop Seabury also agrees to take a serious View of the
Communion office recommended by them, and if found
agreeable to the genuine Standards of Antiquity, to give his
Sanction to it, and by gentle methods of Argument and per-
suasion, to endeavour, as they have done, to introduce it by
degrees into practice without the Compulsion of Authority
on the one side, or the prejudice of former Custom on the
other.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 153
Art. VI. It is also hereby agreed and resolved upon for
the better answering the purposes of this Concordate, that a
brotherly fellowship be henceforth maintained between the
Episcopal Churches in Scotland and Connecticut, and such a
mutual Intercourse of Ecclesiastical Correspondence carried
on, when Opportunity offers, or Necessity requires as may
tend to the Support and Edification of both Churches.
Art. VII. The Bishops aforesaid do hereby jointly de-
clare, in the moil" solemn manner, that in the whole of this
Transaction they have nothing else in view, but the Glory
of God, and the Good of his Church ; And being thus pure
and upright in their Intentions, they cannot but hope that
all whom it may concern, will put the most fair and candid
construction on their Conduct, and take no Offence at their
feeble but sincere Endeavours to promote what they believe
to be the Cause of Truth and of the common Salvation.
In Testimony of their Love to which, and in mutual good
Faith and Confidence, they have for themselves, and their
Successors in Office cheerfully put their names and Seals to
these presents at Aberdeen, this fifteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and
eighty-four.
ROBERT KILGOUR, Bishop $ Primus. [L. s.]
ARTHUR PETRIE, Bishop. [L. s.]
JOHN SKINNER, JR., Bishop. [L. s.]
SAMUEL SEABURY, Bishop. [L. s.]
The following letter from the bishops of Scotland
"to the Episcopal Clergy in Connecticut, in North
America," is copied from the original document on
vellum, now in the archives of the Diocese of Con-
necticut, and, like the Concordate, is in the handwrit-
ing of Bishop Skinner.
REVEREND BRETHREN, AND WELL-BELOVED IN CHRIST,
Whereas it has been represented to us the Bishops of
the Episcopal Church of Scotland, by the Reverend Dr.
154 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Samuel Seabury, your fellow Presbyter in Connecticut, that
you are desirous to have the blessings of a free, valid, and
purely Ecclesiastical Episcopacy communicated to you, and
that you do consider the Scottish Episcopacy to be such in
every sense of the word ; and the said Dr. Seabury having
been sufficiently recommended to us, as a person very fit for
the Episcopate ; and having also satisfied us that you were
willing to acknowledge and submit to him as your Bishop,
when properly authorized to take the charge of you in that
character ; KNOW, therefore, DEARLY BELOVED, that WE
the BISHOPS, and under Christ, the governours, by regular
succession, of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, considering
the reasonableness of your request, and being entirely satis-
fied with the recommendations in favour of the said Dr.
Samuel Seabury, HAVE accordingly PROMOTED him to the
high order of the Episcopate, by the laying on of our hands,
and have thereby invested him with proper powers for gov-
erning and performing all Episcopal offices in the Church in
Connecticut. And having thus far complied with your de-
sire, and done what was incumbent on us, to keep up the
Episcopal succession in a part of the Christian Church,
which is now by mutual Agreement loosed from, and given
up by those who once took the charge of it, permitt us
therefore, Reverend Brethren, to request your hearty and
sincere endeavours to further and carry on the good work we
have happily begun. To this end, we hope you will receive
and acknowledge the Right Reverend Bishop Seabury as your
Bishop and spiritual governour, that you will pay him all
due and canonical obedience in that sacred character, and
reverently apply to him for all Episcopal offices, which you,
or the people committed to your pastoral care, may stand in
need of at his hands, till thro' the goodness of God, the num-
ber of Bishops be increased among you, and the State of
Connecticut be divided into separate Districts or Dioceses,
as is the case in other parts of the Christian world. This
Recommendation, we flatter ourselves, you will take in good
part from the governours of a Church which cannot be sus-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 155
pected of aiming at Supremacy of any kind, or over any
people. JJnacquainted as we are with the politicks of Na-
tions, and under no temptation to interfere in matters for-
eign to us, we have no other Object in view but the interest
of the Mediator's kingdom, no higher ambition than to do our
duty as messengers of the Prince of Peace. In the discharge
of tins duty, the example we wish to copy after is that of the
Primitive Church, while in a similar situation, unconnected
wlth^jand, unsupported by the temporal Powers. On this
footing, it is our earnest desire that the Episcopal Church
in Connecticut be in full communion with the Episcopal
Church in Scotland, as we, the underwritten Bishops, for
ourselves, and our successors in office, agree to hold commun-
ion with Bishop Seabury and his successors, as practised in
the various provinces of the Primitive Church, in all the
fundamental Articles of Faith, and by mutual intercourse of
ecclesiastical correspondence and brotherly fellowship, when
opportunity offers, or necessity requires. Upon this plan,
which, we hope, will meet your joint approbation, and ac-
cording to this standard of primitive practice, a CONCORD ATE
has been drawn up and signed by us, the Bishops of the
Church in Scotland, on the one part, and by Bishop Sea-
bury on the other, the Articles of which are to serve as a
bond of union between the Catholic Remainder of the an-
cient Church of Scotland, and the now rising Church in the
State of Connecticut. Of this Concordate a copy is here-
with sent for your satisfaction ; and after having duly
weighed the several Articles of it, we hope you will find
them all both expedient and equitable, dictated by a spirit
of Christian meekness, and proceeding from a pure regard to
regularity and good order. As such we most earnestly rec-
ommend them to your serious attention, and with all broth-
erly love intreat your hearty and sincere compliance with
them.
A Concordate thus established in mutual good faith and
confidence, will, by the blessing of God, make our Ecclesias-
tical union firm and lasting: And we have no other desire
156 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
but to render it conducive to that peace, and agreeable to
that truth, which it ever has been, and shall be, our study to
seek after and cultivate. And may the God of Peace grant
you to be like-minded. May He, who is the Great High
Priest of our profession, the Shepherd and Bishop of our
souls, prosper these our endeavours for the propagation of
his Truth and Righteousness : May He graciously accept our
imperfect services, grant success to our good designs, and
make His Church to be yet glorious upon earth, and the joy
of all lands. To his divine Benediction we heartily com-
mend you, your Flocks, and your Labors, and are, Rever-
end Sirs, Your affectionate Brethren and Fellow-servants in
Christ,
ROBERT KILGOUR, Bishop $ Primus.
ARTHUR PETRIE, Bishop.
JOHN SKINNER, JR., Bishop.
ABERDEEN, November 15, 1784.
Bishop Seabury preached in the upper room 1 at
Aberdeen, on the afternoon of the day of his conse-
cration, and produced a favorable impression. His
earnestness and manner of address, accompanied with
gesticulations, were somewhat new to the Scotch
1 The building in which the consecration took place is not now stand-
ing. In the minute-book of St. Andrew's Chapel, under date of May
13, 1794, is an entry " that the present chapel, dwelling-house and ground
in Long-acre, belonging to Bishop Skinner, be purchased from him, and
that with the materials of said house, as far as they can be useful, a new
chapel be built on said piece of ground for .... 780 people." See The
Scottish Guardian, January 30, 1880.
The "new chapel " was erected on the site of the former dwelling-
house and chapel, and, like its predecessor, was never consecrated. It
was sold to the Wesleyans when the congregation removed, in 1817, from
Long-acre to the present St. Andrew's Church, in King Street. The
foundations for a new chancel to this church .were begun in January last,
and it has been proposed to place in it, .with the aid of contributions
from this country, a suitable memorial of the consecration of Bishop
Seabury, as a testimony of the benefit derived from the Scotch Church
in giving us the first American bishop. See Appendix B.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 157
Episcopalians. " My father/' says the author 1 of
" An Ecclesiastical History of Scotland/' " then a
boy, was present, and has often spoken to me about
it. He recollected particularly that the bishop used
more gesture than was common in Scotland, and that
he waved a white handkerchief while he preached."
A deep and holy interest was felt in the results of
the consecration, and many blessings were invoked,
both publicly and privately, upon the person and
work of the first American bishop. He was not for-
gotten after leaving the chapel in Long-acre. The
Kev. Alexander Jolly, afterwards Bishop of Moray,
compiled a special prayer which may have been used
in the services of the Church, and which was in these
words :
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who hast pur-
chased to thyself an universal Church by the precious Blood
of thy dear Son, and by whose Spirit it is sanctified and
united into one body, of which Jesus Christ is the Head, let
the virtue and efficacy of His death and passion be extended
far and wide ; let thy ways be known upon earth and thy
saving health among all nations : Bless and prosper the en-
deavors of all, who, by thy divine aid, labor and endeavor to
propagate thy truth and promote the interest and enlarge-
ment of the Church and kingdom of Christ. In an especial
manner bless and prosper the labors and endeavors of the
Bishops and laity of that portion of the Church, whereof I
am an unworthy member, and of him who by thy divine
Providence, according to the institution of thy dearly be-
loved Son Jesus Christ, is now commissioned and appointed
to promote the interests of that Church and kingdom in the
western parts of the habitable world. Grant him a safe and
prosperous journey and voyage, and a happy arrival in that
country. Inspire him, and us, and all who are, or shall be
1 Dr. Grub, MS. Letter, November 20, 1879.
158 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
commissioned for that great work, with an apostolical zeal
for thy glory in maintaining that doctrine, government, wor-
ship, and discipline, entire, pure, and unblemished, which
Thou hast committed to their trust. Give us grace to con-
sider from whom we are sent, and whose successors we are,
and endue us with the apostolical spirit of courage and bold-
ness, together with such a holy and heavenly suffering frame
of mind, that we may be ready, not only to be bound, but to
die for the Lord Jesus, and for the doctrines which He hath
revealed, for the institutions which He hath appointed, and
for the principles and rights which He hath left to his
Church. Then shall thy people praise Thee, O God : Then
shall Kings fall down before Thee and all nations do Thee
service.
Hear us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, and receive these our
prayers and intercessions, which in faith and charity we pre-
sent unto Thee through his merits alone, who is the Head of
the Catholic Church and the High Priest of our prof essibn, "
Jesus Christ. Amen. 1
Thirty-two years later, when Bishop Jolly was an
old man, " whose business now," to use his own words,
" after a long day, was to say his penitential prayers
and go to bed in the dust," he received the degree of
Doctor of Divinity from Washington (Trinity) Col-
lege, Hartford. It was an entirely unexpected honor,
which " humbled him under a sense of his own empti-
ness," and in writing to Bishop Kemp, of Maryland,
to thank him for his good offices in obtaining it, he
referred with delight to its source and recalled an in-
cident of the consecration in the upper room at Aber-
deen : " Connecticut has been a word of peculiar en-
dearment to me since the happy day when I had the
honor and joy of being introduced to the first ever
1 Walker's Memoir of Bishop Jolly, pp. 35, 36, and MS. Letter, Au-
gust 19, 1879.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 159
memorable bishop of that highly favored see, whose
name ever excites in my heart the warmest venera-
tion. With a glad and thankful heart, I witnessed
his consecration, held the Book while the solemn
words were pronounced, and received his first Episco-
pal benediction."
On his return to London, Bishop Seabury stopped
at Edinburgh and must have preached in that city,
where his friend Dr. Myles Cooper and others were
ready to congratulate him on the accomplishment of
his mission. He addressed a letter to the Rev. Jona-
than Boucher, who, like himself, took the side of the
crown in the war of the Revolution, and conscien-
tiously believed that the resistance of the colonies
was unwise and against their best interests. In con-
sequence of his loyalty, he was ejected from his par-
ish in Maryland and returned to England, of which
he was a native, and was appointed vicar of Ep-
som, in the county of Surrey, and, as will be seen
hereafter, made himself useful to Bishop Seabury
and served as a medium of communication with his
friends. The letter gives ample proof of the bishop's
spirit and self-sacrifice, and mentions that, failing to
obtain consecration in England, "it was natural in
the next instance to apply to Scotland, whose Episco-
pacy, though now under a cloud, is the very same, in
every ecclesiastical sense, with the English." It is
copied in full from the MS. Letter-Book.
EDINBURGH, December 3, 1784.
MY VEKY DEAR SIE, I promised to write you as soon
as a certain event took place, and I have not till now made
good my promise. In truth, I have not had opportunity to
collect my thoughts on the subject on which I wished to
160 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
write you ; and even now, I expect every minute to be called
upon, and probably this letter will go unfinished to you.
Dr. Chandler, I suppose, has informed you that my conse-
cration took place on the 14th of November at Aberdeen. I
found great candor, piety, and good sense among the Scotch
Bishops and also among the clergy with whom I have con-
versed. The Bishops expect the clergy of Connecticut will
form their own Liturgy and Offices ; yet they hope the Eng-
lish Liturgy, which is the one they use, will be retained, ex-
cept the Communion Office, and that they wish should give
place to the one in Edward the Sixth's Prayer Book. This
matter I have engaged to lay before the clergy of Connect-
icut, and they will be left to their own judgment which
to prefer. Some of the congregations in Scotland use one
and some the other Office ; but they communicate with each
other on every occasion that offers. On political subjects
not a word was said. Indeed, their attachment to a par-
ticular family is wearing off, and I am persuaded a little
good policy in England would have great effect here.
Upon the whole, I know nothing, and am conscious that I
have done nothing that ought to interrupt my connection
with the Church of England. The Church in Connecticut
has only done her duty in endeavoring to obtain an Episco-
pacy for herself, and I have only done my duty in carrying
her endeavors into execution. Political reasons prevented
her application from being complied with in England. It
was natural in the next instance to apply to Scotland, whose
Episcopacy, though now under a cloud, is the very same, in
every ecclesiastical sense, with the English.
His Grace of Canterbury apprehended that my obtaining
consecration in Scotland would create jealousies and schisms
in the Church, that the Moravian Bishops in America would
be hereby induced to ordain clergymen, and that the Phila-
delphian clergy would be encouraged to carry into effect
their plan of constituting a nominal Episcopacy by the joint
suffrages of clergymen and laymen.
But when it is considered that the Moravian Bishops can-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 161
not ordain clergymen of our Church, unless requested so to
do, and that when there shall be a Bishop in America, there
will be no ground on which to make such a request ;__and
that the Philadelphia!! plan was only proposed on the sup-
position of real and absolute necessity ; which necessity can-
not exist when there is a Bishop resident in America, every
apprehension of this kind must, I think, vanish and be no
more. My own inclination is to cultivate as close a connec-
tion and union with the Church of England, as that Church
and the political state of the two countries shall permit. ^ I
have grown up and lived hitherto under the influence of
the highest veneration for and attachment to the Church of
England, and in the service of the Society, and my hope is
to promote the interest of that Church with greater effect
than ever, and to establish it in the full enjoyment of its
whole government and discipline.
And I think it highly probable that I may be of real serv-
ice to this country, by promoting a connection with that
country in religious matters without any breach of duty to
the State in which I shall live. I cannot help considering
it as an instance of bad policy, that my application for con-
secration was rejected in England; and I intend no offense
when I say, that I think the policy would still be worse
should the Society on this occasion discharge me from their
service, which his Grace of York, in my last interview with
him, 1 said would certainly be the case. That indeed would
make a schism between the two Churches, and put it out of
my power to preserve that friendly intercourse and commun-
ion which I earnestly wish. It might also bring on explana-
tions which would be disagreeable to me, and, I imagine, to
the Society also. However, should the Society itself be
obliged to take such a step, though I shall be sorry for it,
1 Before leaving for Scotland he called on the archbishop, .and frankly
stated to him the object of his journey. " Why, Dr. Seabury! " he ex-
claimed, " do you not know that these Scottish bishops are Jacobites? "
" Yes, my Lord," was the quick reply, "and if report says true, your
Grace's non-juring principles are the brightest jewel in your Grace's
mitre." The archbishop smiled and was silent.
11
162 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
and hurt by it, I shall not be dejected. If my father and
mother forsake me, if the Governors of the Church and the
Society discard me, I shall still be that humble pensioner of
Divine Providence which I have been through my whole life.
God, I trust, will take me up, continue his goodness to me,
and bless my endeavors to serve the cause of his infant
Church in Connecticut. I trust, sir, that it is not the loss of
<50 per annum that I dread, though that is an object of
some importance to a man who has nothing, but the conse-
quences that must ensue, the total alienation of regard and
affection.
You can make such use of this letter as you think proper.
If I can command so much time, I will write to Dr. Morice
on the subject. If not, I will see him as soon as I return to
London, which will be in ten days.
Please to present my regards to Mr. Stevens and all
friends, and believe me to be, with the greatest esteem, your
affectionate, humble servant, S. S.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 163
CHAPTER X.
ARRIVAL IN LONDON, AND NEW PERPLEXITIES ; OPPOSITION OF GRAN-
VILLE SHARPE AND OTHERS; LETTER TO THE CLERGY OF CON-
NECTICUT, AND FRIENDSHIP OF AMERICAN LOYALISTS; PECUNIARY
SUPPORT, AND LETTER TO THE VENERABLE SOCIETY; BISHOP
SKINNER'S INTEREST, AND LETTERS OF DR. CHANDLER.
A. D. 1785.
AFTER his arrival in London from Scotland, Bishop
Seabury began to make preparations for returning to
America. He had succeeded in obtaining consecra-
tion, but his path was not yet cleared of trials and
perplexities. There were those high in authority in
England who manifested dissatisfaction with the step
and presumed to think that it had been taken too
hurriedly. Dr. Home, then Dean of Canterbury and
the commentator on the Psalms, wrote to him on the
3d of January, 1785, and said: " You do me but jus-
tice in supposing me a hearty friend to the American
Episcopacy. I am truly sorry that our cabinet here
would not save you the trouble of going to Scotland
for it. There is some uneasiness about it, I find,
since it is done. It is said you have been precipitate.
I should be inclined to think so too, had any hopes
been left of obtaining consecration from England.
But if none were left, what could you do but what
you have done ?"
To this letter Bishop Seabury in reply, after briefly
164 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
referring to obstacles which have been noted in these
pages, remarked : " God grant that I may never have
greater cause to condemn myself than in the con-
duct of this business. I have endeavored to get it
forward easily and quietly, without noise, party, or
heat ; and I cannot but be pleased that no fault but
precipitancy is brought against me. That implies
that I have needlessly hurried the matter, but is an
acknowledgment that the measure was right in it-
self." And it showed his kindly spirit when he went
on to affirm : " From education and habit, as well as
from a sense of her real excellence, I have a sincere
veneration for the Church of England, and I am
grieved to see the power of her bishops restrained by
her connection with the state. Had it been other-
wise, my application, I am confident, would have met
with a very different reception."
A man so distinguished in the cause of suffering
humanity as Granville Sharpe, grandson of Dr. John
Sharpe, Archbishop of York, was opposed on political
grounds to the non-juring bishops in Scotland, and
attempted to throw discredit on the validity of the
Scottish consecrations. His biographer states that
Dr. Seabury, on coming to England, called on the
Archbishop of Canterbury for consecration, and as
his Grace hesitated, fearing to offend the Americans,
with whom peace had just been established, and
wished time to consider the request, " Dr. Seabury
very abruptly left the room, saying, If your Grace
will not grant me consecration, I know where to ob-
tain it ; and immediately set off for Aberdeen." I
A statement so wide of the truth was properly cor-
1 Prince Hoare's Memoirs of the Life of Granville Sharpe, p. 213.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 165
rected years ago. Mr. Sharpe, being a loyal Eng-
lishman, was desirous, and afterwards used his good
offices to this end, that the Episcopacy for America
should be obtained from the bishops of his own
Church. Five days after the consecration of Dr.
Seabury, he wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
and expressed his regret at the limitation of the late
act, authorizing only the ordination of priests and
deacons for independent States. "I should not,"
said he, " have troubled your Grace with so long a
letter on this subject, had I not lately been informed
that an American clergyman, who calls himself a
LOYALIST, is actually gone down to Scotland, with a
view of obtaining consecration from some of the re-
maining NON-JURING Bishops in that kingdom, who
still affect among themselves a nominal jurisdiction
from the Pretender's appointment ; and he proposes,
afterwards, to go to America, in hopes of obtaining
jurisdiction over several EPISCOPAL CONGREGATIONS
in Connecticut." 1
It has already been mentioned that Dr. Seabury
found unexpected opposition at Aberdeen from Dr.
Smith, and not long after reaching London, he re-
ceived a letter from Bishop Skinner, in which he
referred again to the course of that gentleman, es-
pecially in the Episcopal conventions in the United
States, and expressed the hope that he had "overshot
his mark in America, as his warm friend," the Rev.
Dr. Alexander Murray, had " lately done in London
by his opposition to him. These bustling spirits," he
continued, " often hurt their own cause by an over-
keenness to promote it." Dr. Murray was a loyalist,
1 Hoare's Memoirs, etc., p. 213.
166 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
a clergyman of Reading, Penn., and fled to Eng-
land, where in his zeal to further the interests of Dr.
Smith, who aspired to the Episcopate of Maryland,
he disparaged Bishop Seabury and his work, and rep-
resented that it was not to have been expected that
the English bishops would consecrate him " upon the
recommendation of a few missionaries in their ob-
scure private capacity."
Dr. Berkeley was not altogether satisfied with the
documents which were signed at Aberdeen, and in
the same letter, Bishop Skinner quoted the words he
had written to him thus : " With all due deference
to the prelates who have signed the Concordate and
pastoral letter, I beg leave to observe that (from my
knowledge both of the principles and prejudices of
the American Protestant Episcopalians) some parts of
that Concordate and letter, apparently calculated for
the conduct of a bishop to be employed in the first
publication of the gospel, rather than as Bishop Sea-
bury is to be occupied, may occasion schisms where
unity is most desirable."
The parts to which he excepted were not given,
and it is supposed that he referred to the articles
concerning the Eucharistic service. Bishop Skinner
felt that the cautious way in which everything was
worded ought to convince any unprejudiced person
that while they had a high regard for primitive doc-
trine and practice, their desire for peace and unity
was equally fervent, and they had no intention of
creating schisms. " If you think," he added, " it will
answer any good end to communicate this to the
worthy doctor, you may take a convenient opportu-
nity of doing it, as I do not choose, for obvious rea-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 167
sons, to enter into any altercations with him on the
subject, unless he had desired a further explanation
of the passages to which he alluded." l
Six weeks had now passed away since his conse-
cration, and Bishop Seabury had been waiting to
arrange his affairs, and fix upon a time for his de-
parture, before writing to the clergy of Connecticut.
They knew, however, by his last letter, the step he
was about to take, and they would not, therefore,
have been surprised to hear at any moment of his
arrival in this country clothed with apostolic author-
ity. The following is his first pastoral letter to them,
dated
LONDON, January 5, 1785.
MY VERY DEAR AND WORTHY FRIENDS, It IS with
great pleasure that I now inform you, that my business here
is perfectly completed, in the best way that I have been able
to transact it. Your letter, and also a letter from Mr.
Learning, which accompanied the act of your Legislature,
certified by Mr. Secretary Wyllys, overtook me at Edin-
burgh, in my journey to the north, and not only gave me
great satisfaction, but were of great service to me.
I met with a very kind reception from the Scotch Bishops,
who having read and considered such papers as I laid before
them, consisting of the copies of my original letters and tes-
timonial, and of your subsequent letters, declared themselves
perfectly satisfied, and said that they conceived themselves
called upon, in the course of God's providence, without re-
gard to any human policy, to impart a pure, valid, and free
Episcopacy to the western world; and that they trusted
that God, who had begun so good a work, would water the
infant Church in Connecticut with his heavenly grace, and
protect it by his good providence, and make it the glory
and pattern of the pure Episcopal Church in the world ; and
1 MS. Letter-Book under date January 29, 1785.
168 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
that as it was freed from all incumbrance arising from con-
nection with civil establishments and human policy, the fut-
ure splendor of its primitive simplicity and Christian piety
would appear to be eminently and entirely the work of God
and not of man. On the 14th of Nov. my consecration took
place, at Aberdeen (520 miles from hence). It was the
most solemn day I ever passed ; God grant I may never for-
get it !
I "now only wait for a good ship in which to return.
None will sail before the last of February or first of March.
The ship Triumph, Capt. Stout, will be among the first.
With this same Stout, commander, and in the Triumph, I
expect to embark, and hope to be in New York some time
in April ; your prayers and good wishes will, I know, at-
tend me.
A new scene will now, my dear Gentlemen, in all proba-
bility, open in America. Much do I depend on you and the
other good Clergymen in Connecticut, for advice and sup-
port, in an office which will otherwise prove too heavy for
me. Their support, I assure myself I shall have ; and I
flatter myself they will not doubt of my hearty desire, and
earnest endeavor, to do everything in my power for the wel-
fare of the Church, and promotion of religion and piety.
You will be pleased to consider whether New London be the
proper place for me to reside at; or whether some other
place would do better. At New London, however, I sup-
pose they make some dependence upon me. This ought to
be taken into the consideration. If I settle at New London,
I must have an assistant. Look out, then, for some good
clever young gentleman who will go immediately into dea-
con's orders, and who would be willing to be with me in
that capacity. And indeed I must think it a matter of pro-
priety, that as many worthy candidates be in readiness for
orders as can be procured. Make the way, I beseech you, as
plain and easy for me as you can.
Since my return from Scotland, I have seen none of the
Bishops, but I have been informed that the step I have
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 169
taken has displeased the two Archbishops, and it is now a
matter of doubt whether I shall be continued on the Socie-
ty's list. The day before I set out on my northern journey,
I had an interview with each of the Archbishops, when my
design was avowed ; so that the measure was known, though
it has made no noise.
My own poverty is one of the greatest discouragements I
haveT~ Two years' absence from my family, and expensive
residence here, has more than expended all I had. But in
so good a cause, and of such magnitude, something must be
risked by somebody. To my lot it has fallen ; I have done
it cheerfully, and despair not of a happy issue.
This, I believe, is the last time I shall write to you from
this country. Will you then accept your Bishop's blessing,
and hearty prayers for your happiness in this world and the
next ? May God bless also, and keep, all the good Clergy of
Connecticut !
I am, reverend and dear brethren, your affectionate
brother, and very humble servant,
SAMUEL SEABURY.
REV. MESSRS. LEAMING, JARVIS, AND HUBBARD.
Among the American loyalists in England, who
looked with favor upon the consecration of Dr. Sea-
bury, and tried to smooth the way for his reception
in the States, was the Rev. Jacob Duche. At the
outbreak of the Revolution he was on the side of the
colonies, and was rector of Christ and St. Peter's
Churches, Philadelphia. Writing from the Asylum
at Lambeth, of which he was chaplain, December 1,
1784, to his friend, the Rev. Wm. White, who had
been one of his assistants, and succeeded him as rec-
tor after his flight from this country, he spoke of the
consecration of Dr. Seabury, and said it was the sin-
cere wish of all who desired to see the American
170 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Episcopal Church formed on the model of the Church
of England, that he should be received with open
arms by the American clergy, and thus prevent di-
vision and the growth of sects. " Much more I have
to say to you on this subject," said Mr. Duche.
" Your American Bishop, for so I must now call him,
is a SCHOLAR, a GENTLEMAN, and, I am happy to be
able to say (what I only believe to be true), a REAL
CHRISTIAN. I hope you will take the earliest oppor-
tunity of calling together a Convention, or Synod, or
Convocation, or some general Ecclesiastical meeting
from the several States, to receive him, and at the
same time, to fix upon an Ecclesiastical constitution
for your future union and comfort. I have not time
to add more. I shall write again by Capt. Mercer, as
I expect Bishop Seabury in London the 17th of this
month."
Dr. Inglis, who was then in London, joined Mr.
Duche in recommending this course, and communi-
cated his views to Mr. White in a separate letter.
He had been his correspondent in this country, and
on the 22d of October, 1783, when he was hurrying
preparations to embark for England, with no hope of
ever returning to settle in any of the States, he wrote
him a long and candid letter, disapproving of the
manner in which he proposed to organize the Church
in America, and showing with much wisdom and dis-
interestedness the plan which ought to be adopted to
make it conform to primitive truth and Apostolic or-
der. Political questions were entirely put aside, and
the plea of necessity as stated in the pamphlet of Mr.
White was as stoutly opposed by Dr. Inglis as it had
been by the Episcopal clergy of Connecticut.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 171
These letters undoubtedly had their influence in
shaping the course of subsequent events. The con-
secration of Dr. Seabury was not recognized in Lon-
don, for reasons obvious to those who understand the
connection of Church and state. No English clergy-
man, however friendly he might be to his mission,
could ask him to preach for him, and if it had been
tendered him, he would not, as a matter of prudence
and propriety, have accepted an invitation. He con-
sidered himself, and was considered by others, as a
foreign bishop, and under the law as it then stood,
he was shut out from officiating in any public serv-
ice.
His detention in England afforded him the oppor-
tunity to consult his personal friends and interest
them in his support after reaching Connecticut.
Should the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
see fit to withdraw the annual stipend which had
been allowed him as one of its missionaries from the
date of his ordination, he would be left with little or
nothing to maintain the dignity of his office or to
meet the wants of his family. He seems to have
apprehended that this might be the case, and took
pains to prevent it, if possible. The following noble
letter to the secretary of the venerable Society is at
once a concise history of his mission to England and
a pathetic appeal for future remembrance and con-
sideration. A transcript in the bishop's own hand-
writing was made in his letter-book, from which our
copy is taken :
LONDON, February 27, 1785.
REV. SIB, When the Articles of the late peace were
published in America, it is natural to suppose that the mem-
172 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
bers of the Church of England must have been under many
anxious apprehensions concerning the fate of the Church.
The great distance between England and America had al-
ways subjected them to many difficulties in the essential ar-
ticle of ordination; and the independency of that country
gave rise to new ones that appeared insurmountable. Can-
didates for Holy Orders could no longer take the oath re-
quired in the English Ordination Office, and without doing
so, they could not be ordained. The Episcopal Church in
America must, under such circumstances, cease, whenever it
should please God to take their present ministers from them,
unless some adequate means could be adopted to procure a
regular succession of Clergymen. Under these impressions
the Clergy of Connecticut met together as soon as they pos-
sibly could, and on the most deliberate consideration, they
saw no remedy but the actual settlement of a Bishop among
them. They therefore determined to make an effort to pro-
cure that blessing from the English Church, to which they
hoped, under every change of civil polity, to remain united,
and commissioned the Rev. Mr. Abraham Jarvis, of Middle-
town, in Connecticut, to go to New York and consult such
of the Clergy there as they thought prudent on the subject,
and to procure their concurrence. He was also directed to
try to prevail on Rev. Mr. Learning or me to undertake a
voyage to England, and endeavor to obtain Episcopal Con-
secration for Connecticut. Mr. Learning declined on ac-
count of his age and infirmities ; and the Clergy who were
consulted by Mr. Jarvis gave it as their decided opinion
that I ought, in duty to the Church, to comply with the re-
quest of the Connecticut Clergy. Though I foresaw many
and great difficulties in the way, yet as I hoped they might
all be overcome, and as Mr. Jarvis had no instruction to
make the proposal to any one besides, and was, with the
other Clergy, of opinion the design would drop if I declined
it, I gave my consent, and arrived in England the beginning
of July, 1783, endeavoring, according to the best of my
ability and discretion, to accomplish the business on which I
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 173
came. It would be disagreeable to me to recapitulate the
difficulties which arose and defeated the measure, and to en-
ter on a detail of my own conduct in the matter is needless,
as his Grace of Canterbury, and his Grace of York, with
other members of the Society, are well acquainted with all
the circumstances.
Finding at the end of the last Session of Parliament, that
no permission was given for consecrating a Bishop for Con-
necticut, or any of the American States, in the Act enabling
the Lord Bishop of London to ordain foreign candidates for
Deacon's and Priest's orders; and understanding that a req-
uisition, or at least a formal acquiescence of Congress, or of
the supreme authority 'in some particular State, would be
expected before such permission would be granted ; and that
a diocese must be formed, and a stated revenue appointed
for the Bishop, previously to his consecration, I absolutely
despaired of ever seeing such a measure succeed in England.
I therefore thought it not only justifiable, but a matter of
duty, to endeavor to obtain, wherever it could be had, a
valid Episcopacy for the Church in Connecticut, which con-
sists of more than 30,000 members. I knew that the Bish-
ops in Scotland derived their succession from England, and
that their Liturgy, Doctrines, and Discipline scarcely differ
from those of the English Church. And as only the Script-
ural, or purely Ecclesiastical power of Episcopacy was
wanted in Connecticut, I saw no impropriety in applying
to the Scotch Bishops for consecration. If I succeeded, I
was to exercise the Episcopal authority in Connecticut out
of the British dominions, and therefore could cause no dis-
turbance in the ecclesiastical or civil state of this country.
The reasons why this step should be taken immediately
appeared also to me to be very strong. Before I left Amer-
ica a disposition to run into irregular practices had showed
itself; for some had proposed to apply to the Moravian,
some to the Swedish Bishops, for ordination ; and a pam-
phlet had been published at Philadelphia, urging the ap-
pointment of a number of Presbyters and Laymen to ordain
174 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Ministers for the Episcopal Church. Necessity was pleaded
as the foundation of all these schemes ; and this plea could
be effectually silenced only by having a resident Bishop in
America.
I have entered into no political engagements in Scotland,
nor were any ever mentioned to me. And I shall return to
America, bound indeed to hold communion with the Episco-
pal Church of Scotland, because I believe that, as I do the
Church of England, to be the Church of Christ.
It is the first wish of my heart, and will be the endeavor
of my life, to maintain this unity with the Church of Eng-
land, agreeably to those general laws of Christ's Church,
which depend not on any human power, and which lay the
strongest obligations on all its members to live in peace and
unity with each other. And I trust no obstacle will arise or
hinder an event so desirable and so consonant to the princi-
ples of the Christian religion, as the union of the Church of
England and the Episcopal Church of America would be.
Such a union must be of great advantage to the Church in
America, and may also be so at some future period to the
Church of England. The sameness of religion will have an
influence on the political conduct of both countries, and in
that view may be an object of some consideration to Great
Britain.
How far the venerable Society may think themselves jus-
tifiable in continuing me their Missionary, they only can de-
termine. Should they do so, I shall esteem it as a i'avor.
Should they do otherwise, I can have no right to complain.
I beg them to believe that I shall ever retain a grateful
sense of their favors to me during thirty-one years that I
have been their Missionary ; and that I shall remember with
the utmost respect the kind attention which they have so
long paid to the Church in that country for which I am now
to embark. Very happy would it make me could I be as-
sured they would continue that attention, if not in the same,
yet in some degree, if not longer, yet during the lives of
their present Missionaries, whose conduct in the late commo-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 175
tion has been irreproachable, and has procured esteem to
themselves and respect to that Church to which they be-
long.
The fate of individuals is, however, of inferior moment
when compared with that of the whole Church. Whenever
the Society shall wholly cease to interest itself in the concerns
of religion in America, it will be a heavy calamity to the
Church in that country. Yet this is to be expected ; and
the calamity will be heavier, if proper steps be not previ-
ously taken to secure to that Church various property of
lands, etc., in the different States (now, indeed, of small
value, but gradually increasing), to which the Society alone
has a legal claim. It is humbly submitted to them how far it
may be consistent with their views to give men authority to
assert and secure to the Church there the lands in Vermont
and elsewhere. This, it is hoped, might now be easily done,
but a few years may render their recovery impracticable.
The Society has also a library of books in New York, which
was sent thither for the use of the Missionaries in the neigh-
borhood. As there is now only one Missionary in that State,
and several in Connecticut, I beg leave to ask their permis-
sion to have it removed into Connecticut, where it will an-
swer the most valuable purposes, there being no library of
consequence in that State to which the Clergy can resort on
any occasion.
Whatever the Society may determine with regard to me,
I hope it will not be thought an impropriety that I should
correspond with them. I think many advantages would
arise from such a correspondence, both to the Church and to
the Society. Their interests are indeed the same, and I
trust that the Society will do me the justice to believe, that
with such ability as I have and such influence as my station
may give me, I shall steadily endeavor to promote the inter-
ests of both.
I am, with the greatest respect and esteem, Rev. Sir, your
and the Society's most obedient and very humble servant,
S. S.
176 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The secretary of the Society, Dr. Morice, briefly
replied, and, without recognizing his official charac-
ter, addressed his letter " To the Kev. Dr. Seabury,
New London, Connecticut." This, too, was copied
by the bishop in his letter-book, direction and all,
and ran thus : -
HATTON GARDEN, April 25, 1785.
REV. SIB, Your letter of February 27th was read to
the Society, etc., at their first meeting subsequent to my
receiving it.
I am directed by the Society to express their approbation
of your service as their Missionary, and to acquaint you that
they cannot consistently with their charter employ any Mis-
sionaries except in the plantations, colonies, and factories be-
longing to the kingdom of Great Britain ; your case is of
course comprehended under that general rule.
No decided opinion is yet formed respecting the lands you
mention. For the rest, the Society without doubt will al-
ways readily receive such information as may contribute to
promote their invariable object, the Propagation of the Gos-
pel in Foreign Parts.
I am, Rev. Sir, your affectionate Brother and most hum-
ble Servant, WM. MOBICE, Secretary.
The sermon preached by Bishop Skinner at the
consecration of Dr. Seabury was printed, and the au-
thor, who desired to send some copies of it to the
American prelate, wrote to Dr. Chandler, residing at
the time in the British metropolis, both to get direc-
tions and to invite his correspondence upon the re-
sult of the effort to establish a pure and primitive
Episcopacy in the western world. He expected that
Bishop Seabury, on his arrival in this country, would
fulfill his promise and write ; " But," said he to Dr.
Chandler, " as you will perhaps have occasion to
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 177
hear more frequently from him, I shall think myself
highly obliged to you for any intelligence respecting
him or his affairs which you may be pleased to com-
municate. For, besides my being very much inter-
ested in his matters, from a similarity of office and
character, the short time I had the pleasure of see-
ing and conversing with him here has given me such
a high opinion of his personal worth, as must ever
entitle him to my warmest esteem and most affec-
tionate remembrance."
Dr. Chandler dispatched an answer to this letter as
follows, from
LONDON, April 23, 1785.
About three days ago, I was honored with your very
friendly and obliging letter of the first instant. I feel my-
self greatly indebted to my excellent friend, Bishop Sea-
bury, for having mentioned me in such a manner as to occa-
sion the offer of so reputable a correspondence as is presented
in your letter ; and were I to remain in a situation that
favored it, I should embrace it with all thankfulness. But
I am soon to embark for America, and for a part of it
where, during my continuance there, I shall be unable to
answer your expectations.
You may, perhaps, have heard that after having been
separated eight years from my family, which I left in New
Jersey, I have been detained here two years, with the pros-
pect of being appointed to the superintendency of the
Church in our new country. This business, though the call
for it is most urgent, is still postponed ; and it appears to be
in no greater forwardness now than it did a year ago. In
the mean while I am laboring under a scorbutic disorder,
which renders a sea-voyage and change of climate immedi-
ately necessary. I therefore thought proper to wait upon
the archbishop a day or two since, to resign my pretensions
to the Nova Scotia Episcopate, that I might be at liberty to
12
178 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
cross the Atlantic and visit my family, consisting now of a
most excellent wife and three amiable daughters. His Grace
would not hear of my giving up my claim to the above-men-
tioned appointment, but readily consented to my visiting
my family, on condition that I would hold myself in readi-
ness to undertake the important charge whenever I might
be called for, which I promised in case my health should
admit of it. Accordingly, I have engaged a passage in a
ship bound to New York, which is obliged to sail by this
day fortnight. By this migration you can be no loser, if
you will be pleased in my stead to adopt for your corre-
spondent the Rev. Mr. Boucher, of Paddington, a loyal
clergyman from Maryland, the worthiest of the worthy, and
one of the most confidential friends of Bishop Seabury. I
have taken the liberty of showing him your letter, and mak-
ing him the proposal. He will think himself happy in an-
swering your inquiries from time to time, and will, as a
correspondent, be able to give you more satisfaction than I
could.
I have often expressed my wish that your truly valuable
Consecration Sermon might be advertised for sale in this
city. If this had been done while the occasion was fresh,
I am persuaded that a large edition would have sold, and
much good would have arisen from it. I am of opinion
that, late as it now is, many copies would still be called for
were they known to be at hand. I should think Mr. Robin-
son, of Paternoster Row, might be properly employed in
that way, who has mostly published for Mr. Jones and
sometimes for Dr. Home. By the bye, it gives me pleasure
to see my two learned friends here mentioned, honored with
your notice. In this sermon you have ably, clearly, and un-
answerably explained the origin and nature of ecclesiastical
authority, and " he that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
This is a subject which I have repeatedly had occasion to
consider in the course of my publications in defense of our
claim to an Episcopate, and I am ashamed to find that it is
so little understood by the English clergy in general.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 179
Dr. Seabury, of whom you cannot have so high an opinion
as I have, because you are not so well acquainted with him,
left the Downs on the 15th of last month ; on the 19th he
was sixty-five leagues west of the Lizzard, with a fair pros-
pect of a good passage, at which time he wrote to me. It
appears from the late letters from America that there was
great impatience for his arrival, and no apprehension of his
meeting with ill-treatment from any quarter. In my opin-
ion, he has more trouble to expect from a certain crooked-
grained false brother (of whose character you must have
some knowledge), than from any other person. I mean Dr.
S th, late of Philadelphia College, now of Maryland. He
is a man of abilities and application, but intriguing and
pragmatical. His principles, with regard both to Church
and State, if he has any, are most commodiously flexible,
yielding not only to every blast, but to the gentlest breeze
that whispers! With professions of great personal esteem
for Dr. Seabury, made occasionally, he has always counter-
acted and opposed him as far as he dared, and I doubt not
but he will continue to oppose him in his Episcopal charac-
ter. He will be able to do this more effectually if he suc-
ceeds in his project of obtaining consecration himself, with a
view to which he is said to be about embarking for Britain.
His character is so well known by the Bishops here, that I
trust they would have the grace to reject him, even were he
to carry his point with the ministry, and I am sure there is
no danger of his imposing upon your venerable synod. Be-
fore I was aware I have got to the end of my paper, and
must now take my leave, but I hope only for a little while ;
for wherever or however Providence may dispose of me, I
shall be happy in any opportunities of proving myself your
very respectful and obedient servant. 1
When Bishop Seabury was about to sail for Amer-
ica, Dr. Chandler put into his hands a letter ad-
dressed to their mutual friend and companion in
1 Annals of Scottish Episcopacy, pp. 44-48.
180 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
former tribulations, Isaac Wilkins, Esq. It adds noth-
ing new to the history of the mission to England, but
it confirms the statements already made, and shows
how the scattered loyalists kept up the remembrance
of each other and watched the prospects of the Epis-
copal Church, so broken and cast down by the events
of the Eevolution. An extract from the letter, which
was dated London, February 25, 1785, may well be
introduced to close this chapter :
I hope that you may happen to be at Halifax when this
arrives there, both for your own sake and that of the bearer,
who is no less a person than the Bishop of Connecticut. He
goes by the way of Nova Scotia for several reasons, of which
the principal is that he may see the situation of that part of
his family, which is in that quarter, and be able to form a
judgment of the prospects before them. He will try hard
to see you, but, as he will not have much time to spare, he
fears that he shall not be able to go to Shelburne in quest
of you.
You were acquainted with this Bishop and his adventures
from the time of his leaving New York in 1783. He came
home with strong recommendations to the two Archbishops
and the Bishop of London, from the clergy of Connecticut,
and with their most earnest request that he might have Epis-
copal consecration for the Church in that State. Though
no objections could arise from his character, the Bishops here
thought such a measure would be considered as rash and
premature, since no fund had been established for his sup-
port, and no consent to his admission had been made by the
States ; besides, no Bishop could be consecrated here for a
foreign country, without an act of Parliament to dispense
with the oaths required by the established office. These dif-
ficulties and objections continued to operate through the
winter, and several candidates for Priests' orders, who had
been waiting near a twelve-month, were about going over to
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 181
the Continent to seek for ordination in some foreign Prot-
estant Episcopal Church. At length a short act was ob-
tained, authorizing the Bishop of London and his substitutes
to dispense with the aforesaid oaths in the ordination of
Priests and Deacons for the American States; but noth-
ing was said in it about the consecration of Bishops. The
Minister, it seems, was fearful that opening the door for the
consecration of Bishops would give umbrage to the Ameri-
cans, and, therefore, every prospect of success here was at
an end.
Dr. Seabury, with his wonted spirit and resolution, then
thought it his duty to apply elsewhere, and, by the inter-
vention of a friend, consulted the Bishops in Scotland, who
were equally without the protection and the restraint of
government. 1
1 History of the Church in Westchester County, pp. 102, 103.
182 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
CHAPTER XI.
CONSECRATION SERMON, AND OBJECTIONS TO IT ; LETTERS OF BISH-
OPS LOWTH AND SKINNER ; CHARLES WESLEY, AND HIS OPINION OF
BISHOP SEABURY; MEETINGS TO ORGANIZE THE CHURCH IN MARY-
LAND AND PENNSYLVANIA; CONVENTIONS AT NEW BRUNSWICK AND
NEW YORK; TITLE OF THE CHURCH, AND DR. WHITE'S INFLUENCE.
A. D. 1784-1785.
ALTHOUGH the sermon preached at the consecra-
tion of Dr. Seabmy bore not on its title-page the
name of the author, it attracted unexpected attention
in England. Bishop Skinner, without intending to
reflect upon the position of the English Church, drew
a picture of the duty of those situated as he and his
colleagues were, and said : " As long as there are na-
tions to be instructed in the principles of the gospel,
or a Church to be formed in any part of the inhab-
ited world, the successors of the Apostles are obliged,
by the commission which they hold, to contribute, as
far as they can, or may be required of them, to the
propagation of those principles, and to the formation
of every Church, upon the most pure and primitive
model. No fear of worldly censure ought to keep
them back from so good a work ; no connection with
any state, nor dependence on any government what-
ever, should tie up their hands from communicating
the blessings of that kingdom which is not of this
world, and diffusing the means of salvation by a
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 183
valid and regular ministry, wherever they may be
wanted." l
The consecration of Dr. Seabury was noticed in a
periodical of the time, 2 with a bad and unfriendly
spirit, and things were said about it which brought
forward an intelligent and able defender of the Scot-
tish Episcopacy, the Rev. George Gleig, who was
himself afterwards raised to the highest dignity of
the Church. The anonymous sermon was also at-
tacked by friends no less than foes, and the sharp
and perhaps unbecoming criticism which it received
at the hands of Mr. Gleig made a breach between
him and Bishop Skinner that prevented them for a
score of years from harmoniously cooperating with
each other in ecclesiastical councils. 3
But the sermon was noticed not so much in the
spirit of criticism as in its bearings on the welfare
of the Scottish Church, by one who did not give his
name, but is supposed to have been the learned Dr.
Lowth, Bishop of London. He died two years later,
and for this reason, probably, the implied pledge to
reveal himself was never fulfilled. The letter, which
was addressed to Bishop Kilgour, intimated that a de-
sign had been formed in England to do the Scottish
Church some service, when a suitable opportunity oc-
curred. Its tenor is best seen by giving it a place in
these pages.
LONDON, June 9, 1785.
RIGHT REV. SIR, The Consecration of Doctor Seabury,
by the Scotch Bishops, was an event which gave much pleas-
ure to many of the most dignified and respectable amongst
the English Clergy, and to none more than to him who now
1 Sermon, pp. 38, 39. 2 Gentleman's Magazine.
8 Walker's Memoir of Bishop Gleig, cla. ii.
184 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
has the honor to address you. A man who believes Epis-
copacy, as I do, to be a divine institution, could not but
rejoice to see it derived through so pure a channel to the
Western World.
Full of the greatness of this measure, I immediately sent
for the sermon preached at the consecration, on observing it
advertised. And I am sorry to say, that I perused it with
a mixture of satisfaction and deep concern. Much of it met
my entire assent. It exhibits principles which I have al-
ways entertained, and which every friend to Episcopacy
must approve. There are some passages in it, however,
which I sincerely wish it had not contained, and which I
cannot help thinking it was injudicious to publish, as I am
afraid they are calculated to hurt your Church, and danger-
ous to the interests of Episcopacy in North Britain.
Nor is this my own opinion merely, but of several of my
brethren, well affected to the Episcopal Church of Scotland,
who have read the discourse.
Many think they perceive in it the English Bishops
treated with contempt, for not consecrating Dr. Seabury at
every risk ; and the manner in which the Acts of the British
Parliament are mentioned, in a note, gives general offense.
For passages of this nature there is the less indulgence, be-
cause it is conceived, that, on such an occasion, they were
perfectly unnecessary, and cannot, in any view, possibly do
good.
Who the author of this performance is, I have not been in-
formed ; but I address myself to you, Sir, having been told
that you are one of the Scottish Bishops. My purpose is
not to criticise the sermon ; if such were my views, I might
justly be reckoned an impertinent meddler. I am actuated,
I hope, by better motives, and such as you will approve.
The Church of England, Sir, I am well authorized to say,
hath, of late years, looked on her sister in Scotland with a
pitying eye. Many of our Clergy have regarded her as
hardly dealt with, and wished for a repeal of those laws un-
der which she now suffers. I have good reason to believe
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 185
that there is an intention formed of endeavoring to do her
some service at a convenient season ; and I sincerely hope
no circumstance will intervene to frustrate that intention.
It pains me to say, however, that this sermon is not likely to
promote it. I cannot suppose that the Prelate who preached
it, meant by its publication either to alienate the English
Clergy from the society to which he belongs, or to insult the
British Government ; for I will not suppose that a Bishop
would write purposely to prevent the good of that Church
which, above all others, it is his duty to cherish. But surely
there are passages in this sermon not well fitted to induce
either the Clergy of England to apply for a mitigation of
those rigors of which the preacher complains, or the State
to grant that mitigation were the application made. It is
in this view, Sir, that many of us regret the publication of
the sermon, and think it imprudent. We wish our sister
church to prosper, and would be happy could we contribute
to her prosperity. But with what face could we apply for
relief to her, while her governors openly avow such senti-
ments? We flatter ourselves that they are not the senti-
ments of many of the Bishops and Clergy of Scotland ; and
we would hope, nay even beg and entreat (had we any
right to do so), that they would not themselves put it out
of our power to make use of those exertions which we are
much disposed to employ in their favor, and which we doubt
not might prove successful.
After what I have said, Sir, I hope I have no occasion to
apologize for this letter. I can affirm with truth, that it
is dictated by the warmest attachment to the interests of
Protestant Episcopacy, and has no other end in view but
the good of that Church over which you preside. Who the
writer of it is you may possibly hereafter learn ; at present
he can only assure you that he is, with every sentiment of
respect for your sacred character,
A DIGNIFIED CLERGYMAN OF THE CHUKCH OF ENGLAND.
P. S. May I claim your indulgence for franking this let-
186 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
ter only to Edinburgh. It is owing to my not being able to
learn the name of the place where you reside. 1
The words of Bishop Skinner in the note, which
gave the great offense, were to the effect that the
clergy of the Episcopal Church in Scotland had vent-
ured for a long time to show more regard to the Acts
of the Apostles, than to the Acts of the British Par-
liament.
It is proper to introduce here one more letter be-
fore entering upon other subjects. It has been seen
that when Dr. Chandler was about to embark for
America, he suggested to Bishop Skinner, if he wished
to obtain intelligence of the arrival and reception of
his friend in this country, to open a correspondence
with the Rev. Jonathan Boucher, and accordingly he
addressed him as follows from
ABERDEEN, 25th June, 1785.
Some time ago I wrote to your acquaintance, Dr. Chand-
ler, begging, as a singular favor, that he would be kind
enough to communicate to me any interesting intelligence
he might receive of our worthy friend, Bishop Seabury, of
whose welfare and success, you may believe, I will ever be
anxious to hear. The good Doctor lost no time in making a
most obliging return to my letter ; but informed me, to my
great regret, that his state of health was such as to render a
sea voyage absolutely necessary for the recovery of it, and
that he was to sail in a short time for New York, being
obliged to leave the great object of his coming to Britain un-
accomplished. Pity were it that a design so laudable, and
so essential to the interests of religion in the new province,
should thus be set aside by reasons of state, without any
other formidable impediment in the way of it.
With uncommon attention to my anxiety, after informing
1 Annals of Scottish Episcopacy, pp. 60-64.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 187
me of his intended departure from England, and the afflict-
ing cause of it, Dr. Chandler adds, " that by his migration I
can be no loser, if in his stead I will adopt for my corre-
spondent the Rev. Mr. Boucher, of Paddington," of whom
he gives a most amiable character, and, what endears you
still more to me, describes you as one of the most confiden-
tial friends of Bishop Seabury. As such, I now gladly em--
brace the opportunity of introducing myself to you, in hopes
that, by the time this reaches your hand, there will be some
account of the good Bishop's arrival in America, if it has
pleased God to grant him a speedy and prosperous voyage,
for which I doubt not the prayers of many have been de-
voutly addressed to heaven.
The Bishop promised to write me from Halifax, if he
found any vessel there for Scotland. But as you will proba-
bly hear of him, if not from him, sooner than I can expect,
and oftener than he will have occasion to write to me, it will
be doing me a very great favor if you will be so good as to
inform me, from time to time, what accounts you may re-
ceive either from him or of him, such as you think will be
acceptable to one who loves and esteems him, and wishes
his success and happiness, as I do. This is a task which
I would not have presumed to impose on you, had not Dr.
Chandler so kindly paved the way for it.
Our amiable friend, the Bishop of Connecticut, will have
many difficulties to struggle with, in the blessed work he
has undertaken ; and particularly from certain occurrences
in some of the southern states, which will, I fear, create no
small opposition to the conscientious discharge of his duty.
The busy, bustling President of Washington College, Mary-
land, seems to be laying a foundation for much confusion
throughout the churches of North America, and it will re-
quire all Bishop Seabury's prudence and good management
to counteract his preposterous measures. I saw a letter
from this man lately to a Clergyman in this country, wherein
he proposes to be in London as last month, and wishes to
know what the Bishops in Scotland would do, on an applica-
188 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
tion to them from any foreign country, such as America is
now declared to be, for a succession in their ministry, by
the consecration of one or more Bishops for them ! By this
time, I suppose, he knows both what we would do and what
we have done ; and perhaps is not ignorant, that, as our terms
would not please him, so his measures would be equally dis-
pleasing to us.
I have seen, in the " Gentleman's Magazine," various
strictures on the subject of Dr. Seabury's consecration ; and
the sermon preached on the occasion has been criticised, and
some passages in it found fault with, as disrespectful to the
English Bishops, and even to the authority of the British
Parliament. As the author intended not his discourse for
the meridian of London, he was at no pains to adapt it to
the notions that are cherished under the warm sunshine of
civil establishment ; it is sufficient for him, if it meets with
the approbation of the truly wise and worthy, wherever they
be, that look more to the things of Christ than to the things
of this world. 1
Two months after Bishop Seabury left the Downs,
Dr. Chandler followed him to America, and shortly
before his embarkation, he received a letter from the
Kev. Charles Wesley, reciting briefly his personal
history, and giving good reasons for not separating
from the Church of England. He disapproved of the
course pursued by his brother John in assuming, in
the eighty-second year of his age, the Episcopal char-
acter and its functions, and felt that he had " acted
contrary to all his declarations, protestations, and
writings ; robbed his friends of their boasting ; real-
ized the Nag's Head ordination ; and left an indelible
blot on his name, as long as it shall be remembered."
The postscript formed an important part of the let-
1 Annals of Scottish Episcopacy, pp. 48-51.
OF SAMUEL SEABUR1. 189
ter, and was in very significant language: "What
will become of those poor sheep in the wilderness,
the American Methodists ? How have they been be-
trayed into a separation from the Church of England,
which their preachers and tbey no more intended
than the Methodists here ? Had they had patience a
little longer, they would have seen a real primitive
bishop in America, duly consecrated by three Scotch
bishops, who had their consecration from the Eng-
lish bishops, and are acknowledged by them as the
same with themselves. There is, therefore, not the
least difference betwixt the members of Bishop Sea-
bury's Church and the members of the Church of
England.
" You know I had the happiness to converse with
that truly apostolical man, who is esteemed by all
that know him, as much as by you and me. He told
me he looked upon the Methodists as sound members
of the Church, and was ready to ordain any of the
preachers, whom he should find duly qualified. His
ordination would be genuine, valid, and Episcopal.
But what are your poor Methodists now ? Only a
new sect of Presbyterians. And after my brother's
death, which is now so very near, what will be their
end ? They will lose all their usefulness and impor-
tance ; they win turn aside to vain j anglings ; they
will settle again upon their lees, and, like other sects,
come to nothing."
Full two years had now passed away since Seabury
left this country, and he had been so intent on the
accomplishment of his great object, as to give but
little heed to the movements on this side towards a
general ecclesiastical organization. In Maryland and
190 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Virginia the Episcopal Church had legal establish-
ments before the Kevolution, and upon the return of
peace and the independence of the colonies, Governor
Paca, of the former State, brought to the notice of
the legislature at its session in May, 1783, the provis-
ions of the declaration of rights, and recommended,
as among the first objects proper for consideration,
"an adequate support of the Christian religion." The
clergy of the Church, who were fortunately convened
about that time at the first Commencement of Wash-
ington College, discussed the changes necessary to
be made in the Liturgy, and the question of organiz-
ing and securing a succession in the ministry so as
to command support with other Christian denomina-
tions. 1
Nineteen clergymen of the State met at Annapolis,
August 13, 1783, " agreeable to a vote of the Gen-
eral Assembly, passed upon a petition presented in
the name and behalf of the said clergy," and set
forth a declaration of certain fundamental rights and
liberties of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Mary-
land. The first signer to this document was " Will-
iam Smith, President, S. Paul's and Chester Parishes,
Kent County," and it affirmed the identity of this
Church with the Church of England, before estab-
lished in the province. Without contention with
other Christian bodies, these clergymen asserted for
themselves the essential right of a threefold ministry,
and claimed that none but such as are duly called
" by regular Episcopal ordination can, or ought to be
admitted into, or enjoy any of the ' churches, chapels,
glebes, or other property ' formerly belonging to the
1 Hawks's Ecclesiastical Contributions, Maryland, p. 291.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 191
Church of England in this State, and which by the
constitution and form of government is secured to
the said Church forever, by whatever name she, the
said Church, or her superior order of ministers, may
in future be denominated." The right was also de-
clared to revise the Liturgy, when the said Church
should be " duly organized, constituted, and repre-
sented in a synod, or convention of the different or-
ders of her ministry and people," it being the inten-
tion not to depart further from the venerable order
and forms of the English ritual than might " be found
expedient in the change in their situation from a
daughter to a sister church." *
In a letter to a friend from the Kev. Mr. Claggett,
afterwards bishop, dated September 20, 1783, the fol-
lowing statement is made : " I suppose you have long
ago heard that the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal
Church met last month at Annapolis, and that we
formed a bill of rights ; chose Dr. Smith to go to
Europe to be ordained an antistes, president of the
clergy, or bishop (if that name does not hurt your
feelings). He will probably be back some time next
spring."
No laymen were present at this meeting, but an-
other was held in June of the next year, when lay
representatives from the several parishes in the State
were admitted, and the previous steps were reviewed
and unanimously approved. A joint committee of both
orders was appointed to devise a system of ecclesi-
astical government, to "define the duties of bishops,
priests, and deacons, in matters spiritual," as well as
the rights of clergy and laity in conventions, and to
1 Fac-simile of original MS.
192 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
" prescribe some mode of administering discipline,
clerical and lay." The committee, for want of time,
did not report in full according to instructions, but
agreed on certain leading principles, among which
were, these : that ecclesiastical conventions ought to
be held at least once a year, and if any person of
Maryland should resort to foreign authority for con-
secration as a bishop, or for ordination, and in order
to obtain it should be obliged to take an oath of civil
or canonical obedience to such authority, he should
renounce the same and take an oath of allegiance to
Maryland before exercising ministerial functions in
any Episcopal church within the limits of the State.
On Monday the 29th of March, 1784, three clergy-
men, with four laymen, from the parishes in Phila-
delphia to which they respectively ministered, met
by appointment at the house of Dr. White for the
purpose of conferring together concerning the forma-
tion of a representative body of the Episcopal Church
in Pennsylvania. After considering the necessity of
speedily adopting measures for the plan, they de-
cided that a subject of so much importance should be
taken up, if possible, with the general concurrence of
the Episcopalians in the United States, and they re-
solved, therefore, to consult other "members of the
Episcopal congregations" in Pennsylvania, who might
then be in town, and invite them to attend a meet-
ing at Christ Church on the next Wednesday even-
ing at seven o'clock.
When the time arrived, and the body assembled,
two additional laymen were present, and the Eev.
Dr. White was elected chairman. Other gentlemen,
1 Hawks' s Ecclesiastical Contributions, p. 297.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 193
who had designed to attend, were detained by the
unexpected sitting of the legislature, of which they
were members, and the only business done was to ad-
dress a circular letter, signed by the chairman, to the
wardens and vestrymen of each Episcopal congrega-
tion in the State, requesting them, as preparatory to
a general consultation, " to delegate one or more of
their body to assist at a meeting to be held " in Phil-
adelphia on the 24th of the ensuing May.
Five clergymen and eighteen laymen met in re-
sponse to this request, and impowered a standing
committee to correspond and confer with representa-
tives from the Episcopal Church in the other States,
or any of them, and join in framing a constitution of
ecclesiastical government which should be binding on
all the congregations consenting to it, as soon as a
majority of them had signified their consent. These
were among the instructions or fundamental princi-
ples laid down for the guidance of the committee:
" that the Episcopal Church in these States is, and
ought to be, independent of all foreign authority,
ecclesiastical or civil ; . . . . that the doctrines of
the gospel be maintained, as now professed by the
Church of England, and uniformity of worship con-
tinued as near as may be to the Liturgy of the said
Church ; that the succession of the ministry be agree-
able to the usage which requireth the three orders
of bishops, priests, and deacons ; that the rights and
powers of the same respectively be ascertained, and
that they be exercised according to reasonable laws
to be duly made;" and, finally, "that no powers be
delegated to a general ecclesiastical government ex-
cept such as cannot conveniently be exercised by
13
194 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
the clergy and laity in their respective congrega-
tions." l
Earlier in the month (Tuesday, May llth), ten
clergymen and six laymen from the States of New
York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania met at New
Brunswick, professedly to look into the affairs of
" The Corporation for the Belief of Widows and Or-
phans," a society whose funds had vanished or been
deranged during the war, and the opportunity was
improved by the clergy from Pennsylvania, of com-
municating the measures recently adopted in that
State, tending to the general organization of the
Church. The meeting was informal, but Dr. White
presided and the Kev. Benjamin Moore acted as sec-
retary and kept brief minutes, from which it appears
to have been agreed to request him, the Rev. Abra-
ham Beach, and the Rev. Joshua Bloomer, " to wait
upon the clergy of Connecticut, who are to be con-
vened on the Wednesday in Trinity week next en-
suing, for the purpose of soliciting their concurrence
with us in such measures as may be deemed condu-
cive to the union and prosperity of the Episcopal
churches in the States of America."
The next morning Dr. White was taken aside be-
fore the meeting, by Mr. Moore, " who expressed the
wish of himself and others, that nothing should be
urged further on the subject, as they found them-
selves peculiarly circumstanced, in consequence of
their having joined the clergy of Connecticut in their
application for the consecration of a bishop." 2 This
was the first intelligence which the clergy from Phil-
1 Journal of the Meetings, ed. 1790.
2 Memoirs of P. E. Church, p. 78.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 195
adelphia had received of the movements in Connecti-
cut towards obtaining the Episcopacy, and bringing
the Church safe out of the confusions and conse-
quences of the Revolution. Before breaking up, how-
ever, it was determined to secure a meeting, as gen-
eral as possible, of representatives of the clergy and
laity of the different States, in the city of New York,
on the sixth day of the ensuing October, and pains
were taken to notify the brethren eastward and
southward of this proposed convention.
The three gentlemen requested to wait upon the
clergy of Connecticut fulfilled the purposes of their
appointment, and, as learned from a letter of Mr.
Beach to Dr. White, they found them raising some
objections with respect to lay delegates. The Con-
necticut clergy "thought themselves fully adequate
to the business of representing the Episcopal Church
in their State, and that the laity did not expect or
wish to be called in as delegates on such an occasion ;
but would, with full confidence, trust matters pure-
ly ecclesiastical to their clergy." They determined,
however, to " send a committee of their body to rep-
resent " them at the proposed convention ; but on the
28th of September, the Rev. Mr. Fogg, of Pomfret,
wrote to Mr. Parker, of Boston : " I was at Norwich
about ten days ago, and Mr. Tyler informed me that
the Connecticut clergy, who met at New Haven at
Commencement, did not propose to meet the South-
ern clergy at New York, as they expect Dr. Seabury
will succeed in the business he went to London for,
and at his return it will be time enough to revise the
Liturgy ; they, however, wrote by Mr. Marshall, one
of our brethren, giving reasons for their conduct."
196 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
NEW HAVEN, September 9, 1784.
GENTLEMEN, We hereby acknowledge your invitation
of the clergy of Connecticut to meet you in Convention,
appointed to be held at New York on the 5th of October.
The intention of this invitation we understand, from the re-
port of your Committee, and what we see done in a meet-
ing at Philadelphia, May 25th, was to collect as extensively
as at present is practicable, the voice of the professors of
the Church, in order to frame an ecclesiastical constitution,
a form of public worship, and a regimen of government.
While we ardently desire that the strictest uniformity
may obtain in the American Church, we shall be equally so-
licitous to do everything in our power, in conjunction with
our brethren in the other States, to promote that important
end and to lay a permanent foundation on which to continue
and perpetuate in her, unity of spirit in the bond of peace.
But to proceed with propriety in affairs of the above
nature, and of such momentous consideration, we observe,
that in our opinion, the first regular step is, to have the
American Church completed in her officers ; prior to that
we conceive all our proceedings will be unprecedented and
unsanctioned by any authoritative example in the Christian
church.
To avoid what we judge a procedure that no Episcopalian
would willingly adopt, but under circumstances that, with
him, decide the necessity for it, we have taken our measures
to obtain for Connecticut the principal officer in our Church,
whose arrival among us we flatter ourselves with the cer-
tainty of, and that the time is not very far distant. When-
ever this event hath taken place, we shall, being prompted
by sentiments of duty as well as by inclination, be forward
to meet our brethren of the other States, and, with our
bishop, deliberate upon every subject needful and salutary
to our Church. We would wish to be considered as having
warmly at heart the unity and prosperity of the Episcopal
Church in America, and that all things may be done de-
cently and in order, for the accomplishment of that most in-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 197
teresting object. We shall accordingly esteem it as a mark
of brotherly attention, and what will afford us a high satis-
faction, if our brethren in the united Convention at New
York should concur with us on this occasion, and agree to
suspend the entering upon those general points, until we can
properly meet them upon an affair of so great moment, and
joint concern to them, to ourselves, and the whole American
Church.
The Rev. Mr. Marshall, at our request, will deliver this,
and represent us in your Convention.
We are, with respect, your brethren and humble servants,
the clergy of Connecticut.
Signed by order,
ABEAHAM JARVIS, Secretary.
The meeting was held at the time and place desig-
nated, and sixteen clergymen and eleven laymen were
present. From New England went the Rev. Samuel
Parker, representing Massachusetts and Rhode Island,
and the Rev. John R. Marshall, who was impowered as
above mentioned by the clergy of Connecticut. The
Rev. Dr. William Smith, then of Maryland, was called
to the chair, and the Rev. Benjamin Moore appoint-
ed secretary. The first resolution adopted was to
create a committee "to essay the fundamental prin-
ciples of a general constitution of this Church," with
power to " frame and propose to the convention a
proper substitute for the state prayers in the Litur-
gy to be used for the sake of uniformity till a fur-
ther review shall be undertaken by general author-
ity and consent." The committee reported the next
morning, as " the fundamental principles of an ec-
clesiastical constitution," resolutions similar to those
previously adopted in Pennsylvania. Provision was
made for a general convention of " the Episcopal
198 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Church in the United States of America/' with dep-
uties from each State, consisting oJ clergy and laity,
and the primary meeting of this body was appointed
to be held at Philadelphia the Tuesday before the
Feast of St. Michael, 1785. It was laid down as
another fundamental principle, " that in every State
where there shall be a bishop duly consecrated and
settled, he shall be considered as a member of the
convention ex officio."
Mr. Marshall had special instructions to guide him,
and read to the assembly the letter which appears on
a preceding page.
The Kev. Mr. Parker, though put upon the gen-
eral committee, was in sympathy with the clergy of
Connecticut, and could not help being solicitous as
to the ultimate success of their chosen head. This
success had been several weeks achieved when the
Rev. Benjamin Moore, not knowing the fact, wrote
him from New York, December 21, 1784 : " Our
Church affairs remain as they were. The prospect
of an American Episcopate seems to be as uncer-
tain as ever. A letter from Dr. Seabury to a gentle-
man in this city has this expression : ' I have been
amused, I think deceived ; ' I am informed, however,
that the clergy of Maryland, in a late convention,
have fixed upon Dr. Smith as a candidate for Epis-
copal orders, and that he is to embark for England
next April. But if the gentleman who is there at
present cannot succeed, I should suppose it will pre-
clude every other attempt.
" Shall we have the pleasure of seeing you at Phil-
adelphia, at the general assembly of all the churches ?
I hope so ; that phrase General Assembly, I am not
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 199
very fond of ; it escaped me by chance. We will try
to give it a better "character."
He did not attend the meeting in Philadelphia, but
wrote to Dr. White more than a year before it was
held, and transmitted an extract of the proceedings
of a convention of the Episcopal clergy of the States
of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, adopting the fun-
damental principles, or instructions, set forth in New
York, but " adding a restriction or rather explana-
tory clause/' in these words: "It is our unanimous
opinion that it is beginning at the wrong end to at-
tempt to organize our Church before we have ob-
tained a head. Our churches at present resemble
the scattered limbs of the body without any common
centre of union or principle to animate the whole.
We cannot conceive it probable, or even possible, to
carry the plan you have pointed out into execution,
before an Episcopate is obtained to direct our motions
and by a delegated authority to claim our assent."
Dr. White and his associates in the " standing com-
mittee" of Pennsylvania resolved on the 7th of Feb-
ruary, 1785, to send an account of their proceedings,
in concurrence with the action of the meeting in
New York, to every clergyman and congregation
of the Episcopal Church in the State, and to recom-
mend that the clergy and duly authorized deputies
from the several congregations be present in Christ
Church, Philadelphia, on Monday the 23d of May
ensuing, for the purpose of organizing, " agreeably
to the intentions of the body assembled in New
York." Six clergymen and ten laymen met as thus
summoned and proceeded to adopt an act of associa-
tion, based on the fundamental principles which had
200 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
been set forth, to provide for an annual convention
of the clergy and the several congregations, and to
determine and declare that they " shall be called and
known by the name of The Protestant Episcopal
Church in the State of Pennsylvania." By this time
Dr. Smith had returned from Maryland, and partici-
pated in the business of this meeting. How much
influence he had does not appear, and his name is not
mentioned in the brief minutes except in the list of
those who are enrolled as present. 1
Dr. White, in his later days, took special credit to
himself for his exertions to restore what was brok-
en up, and left in a disordered condition. In 1832,
when he had been forty-five years bishop of the dio-
cese of Pennsylvania, he delivered a charge to the
clerical members of his convention on the subject of
Revivals, and began the concluding paragraph thus :
" Brethren, it is bordering on the half of a century
since the date of the incipient measures of your
bishop for the organizing of our Church out of the
wreck of the Revolution." He put these measures
back to the publication of his pamphlet, which was so
unacceptable to the views of other Northern clergy-
men besides those in Connecticut. 2
1 Journals of the first six Conventions, 1790.
3 Appendix C.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 201
CHAPTER XII.
LETTER OF BISHOP SKINNER TO MR. BOUCHER, AND HIS ANSWER ;
ARRIVAL OF BISHOP SEABURY AT NEWPORT, AND LANDING AT NEW
LONDON ; CONVENTION AT MIDDLETOWN, AND HIS RECOGNITION BY
THE CLERGY; ORDINATION, AND SERMON OF MR. LEAMING; CONVO-
CATION, AND THE CLERGY OF MASSACHUSETTS; COMMITTEE ON AL-
TERATIONS IN THE LITURGY, AND BISHOP'S CHARGE.
A. D. 1785-1786.
WE left Bishop Seabury three months ago depart-
ing from the Downs for America, and on the fourth
day after sailing, the vessel was sixty-five leagues
west of the Cornish shore. The voyage across the
Atlantic was a long one, and his friends on both sides
were anxious to learn of his safe arrival. In those
days the means of communication were not frequent,
and there was no way, except by accident, of reliev-
ing the painful suspense in which persons were often
kept. The first intelligence which Bishop Skinner,
who was deeply interested to hear of his arrival
in this country, received, was indirect, and came
through 1 the Eev. Jonathan Boucher, with whom he
had just opened a correspondence. It was conveyed
in the following letter, written from Epsom, Decem-
ber 6, 1785, and while it pleased the Scottish prelates
to get this intelligence, there still lingered in their
minds many apprehensions that the trials of the
Bishop of Connecticut were not yet ended :
202 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
When your very obliging and acceptable favor of the
25th June reached Paddington, I had just left it, to go on a
long tour into Germany and France, from which I returned
late in October. Your letter was delivered to a most valu-
able and confidential friend, William Stevens, Esq., who is
also the friend of all your friends. Mr. Stevens tells me he
acquainted you with my absence, which, I hope, would apol-
ogize for my not having sooner thanked you for what I
really consider as a very great favor.
No doubt you have long ago heard of good Bishop Sea-
bury's arrival, and most affectionate reception among the
poor scattered sheep of yonder wilderness. He carries him-
self with such a steady prudence, as to have commanded the
respect of even the nipst spiteful ill-willers of his order ; and
wilh" all the countless difficulties he has to encounter, yet by
the blessing of God on his firm mind, there is, I trust, little
doubt that the church will grow under his pastoral care. I
have as yet heard only of his having ordained five presby-
ters, one or more of whom are from the Southern States,
which I mention, as considering it as an acknowledgment of
his powers, even beyond the limits of his professed district.
A general convention of the Episcopal Clergy of all North
America, made up of an equal proportion of lay members,
was to meet in Philadelphia about Michaelmas, to form
some general plan for the whole Episcopal Church. Dr.
Seabury, I have understood, though not from himself, was
invited and pressed to attend this meeting ; but he very pru-
dently declined it, as, from its motley composition, he could
not be sure of things being conducted as they ought. He
will be there, however, or has been there (and Dr. Chandler
also), with his advice and influence ; and this is the only
reason I have to form any hopes of any good coming from
the meeting.
I hear of some very alarming symptoms attending the
poor church in the Southern States. The few Episcopal
Clergymen left there are not, as you may imagine, men the
most distinguished for abilities or worth. The enemies of
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 203
the Church see this, and avail themselves of it. I have sun-
dry late letters from thence, which all speak, far too confi-
dently, of some wild purpose of forming a coalition (too like
some other coalitions) between the Episcopalians and Pres-
byterians. I have, by every means in my power, put those
over whom I have any influence, in my old neighborhood of
Virginia and Maryland, on their guard against a measure
which I cannot but deem insidious, and therefore likely to
be fatal. And I have also called in the aid of those stout
champions, Drs. Chandler and Seabury. God grant that our
united efforts may all avail ! It adds not a little to my ap-
prehensions, that all these things are carrying on within the
vortex of Dr. S th's immediate influence, who is bent on
being a Bishop, " per fas aut nefas," and who, if he cannot
otherwise compass his end, will assuredly unite with the
P ns; and so Herod and Pontius Pilate shall again be
made friends !
You may not perhaps have heard, as I have, that he af-
fected to be much pleased with Dr. Seabury's having re-
turned to America, invested with the Episcopal character,
all which will be abundantly explained to you when I fur-
ther inform you of his having found out that one Bishop
alone may, in certain cases, consecrate another. The Eng-
lish of this is plain, and may account for your not having
seen him in Scotland ! The case is a ticklish one, and will
require poor Seabury's utmost skill to manage. He knows
S th well, and, of course, thinks of him as we all do.
Yet, if S th is thus properly consecrated, such is his influ-
ence, it may be the means of preventing that sad state of
things in Virginia and Maryland which I hinted at above.
Yet it is dreadful to think of having such a man in such a
station ! I daily expect further and fuller accounts, and, on
your signifying that it will not be disagreeable to you, I
shall have much pleasure in communicating them.
Bishop Skinner waited scarcely a month before he
acknowledged this letter and responded to the senti-
204 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
ments of Mr. Boucher. He was jealous for the cause
of Episcopacy, and somewhat alarmed at the irreg-
ularities which appeared to be springing up in the
Southern States. He could not, as he understood
them, reconcile their ecclesiastical proceedings with
a determination to settle their Church on a pure and
primitive basis, and to regulate their polity as well
as their doctrine and worship according to apostolic
institution. His fears about the course of one of his
countrymen, who had come into a position of influence
in America, had not yet subsided. But let his an-
swer speak for itself :
ABERDEEN, January 4, 1786.
I acknowledge, with much satisfaction, the favor of your
obliging letter of 6th December, which I received with the
greater pleasure, as the intimation given by your friend Mr.
Stevens of your absence had unluckily not come to my hand.
The accounts of good Bishop Seabury's favorable reception
in America, you may believe, were highly agreeable to me,
and my brethren of the Episcopal Church in this country ;
and though as yet we have not had these accounts confirmed
under his own hand, we have no doubt but that a little time
will bring us these refreshing tidings, and open up a happy
correspondence between the pastors of the truly "little
flock " here, and those of the " many scattered sheep of yon-
der wilderness." I observed in the newspapers the other day
a paragraph as quoted from the " Maryland Journal," which
gives no more, I hope, than a true account of our worthy
friend's proceedings, and the honorable reception he has met
with. The description you give of the alarming symptoms
appearing in the Southern States is indeed very affecting,
and shows such a miserable deficiency in point of knowl-
edge, as well as zeal, among the Episcopal Clergy in those
parts, as could hardly have been suspected among any who
had received regular Episcopal ordination. It gives me
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 205
some comfort to hear that such able advocates for primi-
tive truth and order as Dr. Chandler and yourself are step-
ping forth in opposition to the wild, undigested schemes of
modern sectaries. God, of his mercy, grant success to your
endeavors in so good a cause, and raise up many such to
strengthen the hands of his faithful servant, the Bishop of
Connecticut, while he stands single in the great work he has
undertaken. But is there no prospect of his getting some
fellow-workers of his own order, to assist him in stemming
that torrent of irregularity which seems to be pouring down
upon him from the Southern States ? What you mention of
my countryman, Dr. S th, is too much of a piece with his
former conduct, and plainly shows what some people will do
to compass the end they have in view.
As to what the Doctor has found out in favor of a sin-
gular consecration, I know nothing that can justify such a
measure but absolute necessity, which in his case cannot be
pleaded, because, in whatever way the Scottish Bishops
might treat an application in his behalf, there is no reason
to doubt of their readily concurring in any proper plan for
increasing the number of Bishops in America. And as Dr.
Seabury must be sufficiently sensible of their good inclina-
tions that way, I hope he will be the better able to resist the
introduction of any disorderly measure which might be made
a precedent for future irregularities, and be attended with
the worst of consequences to the cause of Episcopacy. If
S th must be promoted to the Episcopate at all hazards,
let him at least wait until there be a canonical number of
Bishops in America for that purpose. That thus, whatever
objections may be made to the man, there may be none to
the manner of his promotion.
You will oblige me much by communicating, from time to
time, what accounts you receive of these matters, as I shall
always be anxious to hear of our worthy friend in Connecti-
cut, and how things fare with him and the cause which he
has undertaken to support. And although I shall have lit-
tle to say in return worthy of your notice, I shall not fail to
206 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
acknowledge the continuance of your correspondence as a
very singular favor.
We have been lately flattered with the prospect of some
friendly notice from the Church of England, and are told
that at a convenient season it is intended to do us some serv-
ice with the people in power. An anonymous letter to this
purpose, signed " A Dignified Clergyman of the Church of
England," was last summer transmitted to our Primus,
Bishop Kilgour, at Peterhead. I wrote to Dr. B , at
Canterbury, wishing to know if he could inform us who the
author might be ; or what ground there appeared to him for
the assurances which the letter contains ; but as yet I have
received no satisfactory reply. Thus kept in the dark, it is
no wonder if sometimes we mistake friends for enemies, and
behave to them as such, not knowing whom to trust, or
where to look for that relief which the distressed condition
of our church has so long called for in vain. God pity and
protect us, and support his church in all places where the
hand of the oppressor lies heavy on it !
Wishing to hear from you as often as convenient, I am,
with great regard, etc.
Bishop Seabury landed at Newport, E. L, after a
voyage of three months, Monday, June 20, 1785,
and the next Sunday he preached in Trinity Church
the first sermon of an American bishop in this coun-
try, from Hebrews xii. 1, 2. More than half a cent-
ury prior to this, a great dignitary of the Church of
England, Dean Berkeley, after a voyage of nearly
five months from Gravesend, arrived at the same
port, and preached many times in the same church,
which is still standing. The missions of these men
had many points of resemblance ; but while one,
after a trial of more than two years and a half, failed
to accomplish his heroic object, and returned to the
land of his birth to be honored with a mitre in the
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 207
see of Cloyne, the other was blessed in his work and
lived to behold the Church in America united in the
adoption of a revised Liturgy, and settled upon the
old " foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."
Bishop Seabury reached New London, the place
of his destination, Monday evening, June 27th, and
writing a month later to John Bivington, St. Paul's
Churchyard, he said : " I found my family in good
health, and my reception such as I could wish it."
And again on the 25th of August, he wrote to the
same gentleman : "I am as comfortably situated here
as I have a right to expect, and am treated by the
inhabitants with attention and regard. This I men-
tion because I flatter myself you will for my sake be
pleased to hear it." The Episcopal church in New
London was destroyed when the town was burnt dur-
ing the Revolution, but the parsonage of the parish,
begun in 1745 at the instance of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel, and located on a distant
street, escaped, and was the residence of Bishop Sea-
bury during his Episcopate.
He lost no time in communicating with his clergy.
The first letter which he wrote after coming to the
end of his journey was addressed to the Rev. Mr.
Jarvis, who had acted as their secretary, and was
dated
LONDON, June 29, 1785.
MY VERY DEAR SIR, I have the pleasure of informing
you of my safe arrival here, on Monday evening, so that a
period is put to my long and tedious absence. I long much
to see you, and flatter myself that it will not be long before
you will do me the favor of a visit here. I want particu-
208 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
larly to consult with you on the time and place of the cler-
gy's meeting, which should be as soon as is practicable.
My regards attend Mrs. Jarvis. Accept my best wishes,
and believe me to be your affectionate, humble servant,
SAMUEL SEABUBY.
The clergy assembled in Middletown on the 2d of
August, and eleven were present, with the Kev. Ben-
jamin Moore, from New York, and the Rev. Samuel
Parker, from Boston. James Scovill, Samuel An-
drews, and Richard Samuel Clark were not in attend-
ance, having previously removed to new missions in
the British Provinces. It was a joyful meeting, and
the first step was to organize, and the Rev. Mr. Lea-
rning, rector of Christ Church, Stratford, as usual,
was chosen president, and Mr. Jarvis, secretary. The
ceremonial of the reception of the bishop was simple
and impressive, for according to the minutes, " The
Right Rev. Dr. Samuel Seabury attended upon this
convention, and his letters of consecration being re-
quested by the same, they were produced and read."
The next morning the clergy reassembled at eight
o'clock, and after their address to the bishop had
been reconsidered and approved, they repaired to the
church, and appointed four of their number to re-
turn to the parsonage with a declaration to the bish-
op that they confirmed their former election of him,
and now acknowledged and received him as their
Episcopal head. Two of the four immediately car-
ried back to the convention the answer of accept-
ance by the bishop, while the other two followed in
attendance upon him and conducted him to the
church. He was seated in his chair in the chancel
and the clergy were gathered in a group before him,
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 209
when the Kev. Mr. Hubbard read the following ad-
dress of congratulation and formal recognition :
To THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, SAMUEL,
BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE, BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL
CHURCH IN CONNECTICUT.
The Address of sundry of the Episcopal Clergy in the State
of Connecticut.
REVEREND FATHER, We, who have hereunto sub-
scribed our names, in behalf of ourselves, and other pres-
byters of the Episcopal Church, embrace with pleasure this
early opportunity of congratulating you on your safe return
to your native country ; and on the accomplishment of that
arduous enterprise in which, at our desire, you engaged.
Devoutly do we adore and reverently thank the Great Head
of the Church, that he has been pleased to preserve you
through a long and dangerous voyage ; that he has crowned
your endeavors with success, and now at last permits us to
enjoy, under you, the long and ardently desired blessing of a
pure, valid, and free Episcopacy : a blessing which we re-
ceive as the precious gift of God himself ; and humbly hope
that the work he has so auspiciously begun, he will confirm
and prosper, and make it a real benefit to our Church, not
only in this state, but in the American states in general, by
uniting them in doctrine, discipline, and worship ; by sup-
porting the cause of Christianity against all its opposers ;
and by promoting piety, peace, concord and mutual affection,
among all denominations of Christians.
Whatever can be done by us, for the advancement of so
good a work, shall be done with united attention, and the
exertion of our best abilities. And as you are now, by
our voluntary and united suffrages (signified to you, first at
New York, in April, 1783, by the Rev. Mr. Jarvis, and now
ratified and confirmed in this present convention) elected
Bishop of that branch of the catholic and apostolic Church
to which we belong : We, in the presence of Almighty God,
14
210 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
declare to the world, that we do unanimously and volunta-
rily accept, receive, and recognize you to be our Bishop, su-
preme in the government of the Church, and in the admin-
istration of all ecclesiastical offices. And we do solemnly
engage to render you all that respect, duty, and submission,
which we believe do belong, and are due to your high office,
and which, we understand, were given by the presbyters to
their Bishop in the primitive Church, while, in her native
purity, she was unconnected with, and uncontrolled by any
secular power.
The experience of many years had long ago convinced the
whole body of the clergy, and many of the lay members of
our communion, of the necessity there was of having resi-
dent Bishops among us. Fully and publicly was our cause
pleaded, and supported by such arguments as must have car-
ried conviction to the minds of all candid and liberal men.
They were, however, for reasons which we are unable to as-
sign, neglected by our superiors in England. Some of those
arguments were drawn from our being members of the na-
tional Church, and subjects of the British government.
These lost their force, upon the separation of this country
from Great Britain, by the late peace. Our case became
thereby more desperate, and our spiritual necessities were
much increased. Filial affection still induced us to place
confidence in our parent Church and country, whose liber-
ality and benevolence we had long experienced, and do most
gratefully acknowledge. To this Church was our immediate
application directed, earnestly requesting a Bishop to collect,
govern, and continue our scattered, wandering, and sinking
Church ; and great was, and still continues to be our surprise,
that a request so reasonable in itself, so congruous to the nat-
ure and government of that Church, and begging for an
officer so absolutely necessary in the Church of Christ, as
they and we believe a Bishop to be, should be refused. We
hope that the successors of the Apostles in the Church of
England have sufficient reasons to justify themselves to the
world and to God. We, however, know of none such, nor
can our imagination frame any.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 211
But blessed be God ! another door was opened for you.
In the mysterious economy of his Providence he had pre-
served the remamsjof the old Episcopal Church of Scotland,
under all the malice and persecutions of its enemies. In the
school of adversity, its pious and venerable BishopsTiacl
learned to renounce the pomps and grandeur of the world;
arid were ready to do the work of their heavenly Father.
As outcasts, they pitied us ; as faithful holders of the apos-
tolical commission, what they had freely received they freely
gave. From them we have received a free, valid, and purely
ecclesiastical Episcopacy, are thereby made complete in all
our parts, and have a right to be considered as a Jiving, and,
we hope through God's grace shall be, a vigorous branch of
thej^afcholic .Church.
To these venerable fathers our sincerest thanks are due,
and they have them most fervidly. May the Almighty be
their rewarder, regard them in mercy, support them under
the persecutions of their enemies, and turn the hearts of
their persecutors ; and make their simplicity and godly sin-
cerity known unto all men ! And wherever the American
Episcopal Church shall be mentioned in the world, may this
good deed, which they have done for us, be spoken of for a
memorial of them !
JEREMIAH LEAMING,
RICHARD MANSFIELD,
ABRAHAM JARYIS,
BELA HUBBARD,
JOHN R. MARSHALL,
and others.
MIDDLETOWN, August 3, 1785.
BISHOP SEABURY'S ANSWER.
REVEREND BRETHREN, BELOVED IN OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST, I heartily thank you for your kind congratula-
tions on my safe return to my native country ; and cordially
join with you in your joy, and thanks to Almighty God, for
212 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
the success of that important business, which j^our applica-
tion excited me to undertake. May God enable us all to
do everything with a view to his glory, and the good of his
Church !
Accept of my acknowledgments for the assurances you
give me of exerting your best abilities, to promote the wel-
fare, not only of our own Church, but of common Christian-
ity, and the peace and mutual affection of all denominations
of Christians. In so good a work, I trust, you will never
find me either backward or negligent.
I should, most certainly, be very apprehensive of sinking
under the weight of that high office to which I have been,
under God's Providence, raised by your voluntary and free
election, did I not assure myself of your ready advice and as-
sistance in the discharge of its important duties; grateful,
therefore, to me, must be the assurances you give, of sup-
porting the authority of your Bishop upon the true princi-
ples of flie primitive Church, before it was controlled and
corrupted by secular connections and worldly policy. Let
me entreat your prayers to our supreme Head, for the con-
tinual presence of his Holy Spirit, that I may in all things
do his blessed will.
The surprise you express at the rejection of your applica-
tion in England is natural. But where the ecclesiastical and
civil constitutions are so closely woven together as they are
in that country, the first characters in the Church, for sta-
tion and merit, may find their good dispositions rendered
ineffectual, by the intervention of the civil authority; and
whether it is better to submit quietly to this state of things
in England, or to risk that confusion which would probably
ensue, should an amendment be attempted, demands serious
consideration.
The sentiments you entertain of the venerable Bishops in
Scotland are highly pleasing to me. Their conduct through
the whole business was candid, friendly, and Christian ; ap-
pearing to me to arise from a just sense of duty, and to be
founded in, and conducted by the true principles of the
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 213
primitive, apostolical Church. And I hope you will join
with me in manifestations of gratitude to them, by always
keeping up the most intimate communion with them and
their suffering Church.
SAMUEL, Bp. Upl. Ch. Connect.
MIDDLETOWN, August 3, 1785.
The bishop having finished reading his reply, the
clergy kneeled down at the chancel rail and received
the apostolic blessing. The occasion was an extraor-
dinary one, and as the order of procedure, after the
ceremony of the addresses had been concluded, dif-
fered somewhat from the present manner of ordain-
ing deacons, it may be well to give the minutes as
we find them : " Then the clergy retired to their
pews, and the bishop began divine service with the
Litany, according to the rubric in the office for the
ordination of deacons; the four following persons,
Messrs. Vandyke, Shelton, .Baldwin of Connecticut,
and Mr. Ferguson of Maryland, being present to
be admitted to that order. The Litany being ended,
Mr. Bowden read the first communion service. The
bishop then read the service, consecrated the ele-
ments, and administered the bread. Mr. Bowden as-
sisted by administering the cup. The communion be-
ing finished, the bishop proceeded to the ordination.
Mr. Jarvis officiated as arch-deacon. After the ordi-
nation a sermon was preached by the Eev. Mr. Lea-
rning, and the congregation w r as dismissed by the
bishop. From the church, the clergy, preceded by
the bishop, returned to the parsonage."
There, after thanks had been given to Mr. Lea-
rning for his sermon, and a copy of it requested for
publication, " the bishop dissolved the convention and
214 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
directed the clergy to meet him at five o'clock in
convocation." They had assembled in what were de-
nominated conventions annually or oftener, for many
years ; but this was the first convocation, the first in-
stance of their being convoked by a bishop. It was
here the same body acting not so much in a legis-
lative capacity as in consultations about liturgical
changes and future ecclesiastical measures.
At eleven o'clock A. M., on Thursday, the fourth
day of August, divine service was held in the church,
when " Mr. Parker read prayers and Mr. Moore
preached a sermon, after which the bishop delivered
a charge to the clergy." Mr. Parker had come from
the clergy of Massachusetts with instructions which
he presented to the convocation and which were sub-
stantially these : " to collect the sentiments of the
Connecticut clergy in respect of Dr. Seabury's Epis-
copal consecration, the regulation of his Episcopal ju-
risdiction," and to indicate " their thoughts of con-
necting themselves with them under his Episcopal
charge." The communication was received with the
warmest expressions of welcome and of a desire on
the part of the Connecticut clergy for a union with
their brethren of Massachusetts.
The next day, " after appointing Mr. Bowden, Mr.
Parker, and Mr. Jarvis as a committee to consider of,
and make with the bishop some alterations in the
Liturgy needful for the present use of the Church,
the convocation adjourned to meet again at New Ha-
ven in September." This committee and the bishop
still lingered in Middletown, and entered carefully
upon the duties of their appointment. On Sunday,
Mr. Ferguson was advanced to the priesthood, Mr.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 215
Parker, Mr. Bowden, and Mr. Jarvis attending as
presbyters 5 and Mr. Thomas Fitch Oliver, of Provi-
dence, R. I., was admitted on the same day to the
order of deacons.
Such is a brief account of the proceedings at the
first meeting of the first American bishop with his
clergy. The sermon of Mr. Learning 1 was full of
wise counsels addressed to his brethren, and, coming
from one so venerable in years and so borne down
with the burden of varied trials, must have had a be-
nign influence upon their minds. While it breathed
with the spirit of charity, it insisted that they were to
proceed with the coolest deliberation, and the firmest
resolution. " The providence of God," said he, " was
not more conspicuous in preparing the world for the
reception of the gospel at the first, than it has been
in bringing about a method for perpetuating the
Church in this State. This might be painted in the
most lively colors, and in the most striking manner.
.... I have the pleasure to see the day when there
is a bishop here, to act as a true father towards his
clergy, supporting their dignity, as well as his own ;
to govern them with impartiality, as well as lenity ;
and to admit none to the altar by ordination but the
worthy ; to uphold a Church beaten with storms on
every side ; to support a Church that has been a bul-
wark against infidelity on the one hand, and Romish
superstition on the other. But by the divine provi-
dence it has continued to this day."
1 The addresses, the sermon of Mr. Learning, and the charge of the
bishop, with a list of the consecration and succession of SCOTTISH BISH-
OPS since the Revolution, 1688, under William III., to 1784, were printed
in a pamphlet of forty pages, of which there was an American and a
Scotch edition. The charge is reprinted from the Edinburgh edition.
216 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The charge of the bishop is of great importance,
both in its teachings and in its connection with
American Episcopacy, and therefore it is given in
full, as follows :
REV. BKETHEEN, BELOVED IN OUR LOUD JESUS CHRIST,
It is with very great and sincere pleasure that I meet you
here at this time, and on this occasion ; and I heartily thank
God, our heavenly Father, for the joyful and happy oppor-
tunity with which his good providence has favored us ; and
do beseech him to direct and prosper all our consultations
and endeavors to his glory, and the benefit of his Church.
At your desire, and by your appointment, I consented to
undertake a voyage to England, to endeavor to obtain those
Episcopal powers, whose want has ever been severely felt,
and deeply lamented by the thinking part of our communion.
The voyage has been long and tedious, and the difficulties
that arose, perplexing, and not easily surmountable ; yet, by
the favor of God, the important business has been happily
accomplished ; and the blessing of a free, valid, and purely
ecclesiastical Episcopacy procured to our infant Church ;
which is now completely organized in all its parts ; and, be-
ing nourished by sincerity and truth, will, we trust, under
the guidance of the Holy Ghost, grow up into him in all
things, which is the head, even Christ : From whom the whole
body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every
joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, will make increase of the body, unto
the edifying of itself in love. 1
As, under God, the Bishops of the remainder of the old
Episcopal Church of Scotland, which, at the Revolution, fell
a sacrifice to the jealous apprehensions of William III., were
the sole instruments of accomplishing this happy work ; to
them our utmost gratitude is due; and I hope the sense of
fRe* benefit we have, through their hands, received, will ever
remain fresh in the minds of all the members of our com-
munion to the latest posterity.
1 Eph. iv. 15, 16.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 217
Under the greatest persecutions, God has preserved them
to this day, and I trust will preserve them ; that there may
yet be some to whom destitute Churches may apply in their
spiritual wants; some faithful shepherds of Christ's flock,
who are willing to give freely what they have freely re-
ceived from their Lord and Master.
With us then, my venerable Brethren, it remains to make
this precious gift which we have received conducive to the
glory of God, and the good of his Church. Long have we
earnestly desired to enjoy the full advantage of our religious
constitution ; let us then carefully improve it, to all those
holy purposes for which it was originally designed by our
Divine Head, the august Redeemer of sinful men.
Sensible as I am of my own deficiencies, and of the in-
firmities of human nature, I shall, by God's grace, be al-
ways ready to do my duty, according to my best ability and
discretion ; and, I trust, I shall by him be enabled to avoid
everything that may bring a reproach on our holy Religion,
or be a hindrance to the increase and prosperity of that
Church, over which I am, by God's providence, called to
preside. On your advice and assistance, reverend Brethren,
next to God's grace, I must rely for support in the great
work that is before me, and to which I can with truth say,
I have devoted myself without reserve. Your support, I
know, I shall have; and I hope for the support of all good
men. Let us then trust that God will prosper our honest
endeavors to serve the interests of his Church, and to make
his Gospel effectual to the conversion of sinners to him, that
their souls may be saved by the Redemption and Mediation of
his Son. Worldly views can here have no influence either on
you or me. Loss, and not gain, may, and probably will be,
the consequence of the step we have taken to procure for
our Church the blessing we now enjoy. But however our
worldly patrons may be disposed towards us, our heavenly
Father knoweth whereof we are made, and of what things
we have need : and HE is able to open his hand, and fill all
things living with plenteousness. 1 Let us then seek first his
1 Psa. cxlv. 16.
218 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
kingdom, and the righteousness thereof, 1 and depend upon
the gracious promise of our Redeemer, that all things neces-
sary to our bodily sustenance shall, in the course of his
providence, be given unto us.
In our endeavors to promote the interests of Christ's
Church in this world, much I know will depend upon me :
Much also, my beloved in Christ, will depend on you. Per-
mit me then, in this my first Charge, to mention two or
three things of great importance in themselves, and which
require your immediate attention.
The first is, The obligations you are all under to be very
careful of the doctrines which you preach from the pulpit, or
inculcate in conversation. You will not suppose that I am
finding fault, or that I have reason so to do. General cau-
tions of this kind must make part of almost all the charges
from a Bishop to his Clergy. Should any Clergyman be
censurable in this respect, it would be ungenerous to attack
him in this public way, and unfair to correct him by wound-
ing the body of his brethren. Should such a case ever hap-
pen, which I pray God never may, there are other modes of
proceedings more likely to be effectual, and which therefore
ought to be adopted. But when you consider, as I doubt
not you do often and seriously, that many of the people un-
der your care have little or no other instruction in religion
but what they get from you ; that the care of their souls is
by Christ and his Church committed to you ; and that you
must give an awful account of them in the day of judgment,
you cannot think such cautions as I just now interposed can
at this or at any other time be either impertinent or unnec-
essary. You are, and it is expected of the people that they
account you as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mys-
teries of Grod ; 2 let us all then remember, that it is required
of stewards that a man be found faithful: And our own
hearts will inform us, that the first instance of fidelity is,
that the pure doctrines of the Gospel be fairly and earnestly,
and affectionately proposed, explained, and inculcated ; and
1 Matt. vi. 33. 2 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 219
that we suffer nothing else to usurp their place, and become
the subject of our preaching.
Another matter, which my duty requires me to mention,
relates to a business in which you will probably be soon
called upon to act ; I mean the very important one of giving
recommendations to candidates for Holy Orders. It is im-
possible that the Bishop should be personally acquainted
with every one who may present himself for ordination. He
must therefore depend on the recommendation of his Clergy,
and other people of reputation, for the character and quali-
fications of those who shall be presented to him. By qual-
ifications I mean not so much literary accomplishments,
though these are not to be neglected, as aptitude for the
work of tfce ministry. You must be sensible that a man
may have, and deservedly have an irreproachable moral char-
acter, and be endued with pious and devout affections, and
a competent share of human learning; and yet, from want
of prudence, or from deficiency in temper, or some singu-
larity in disposition, may not be calculated to make a good
Clergyman ; for to be a good Clergyman implies, among
other things, that a man be a useful one. A Clergyman
who does no good, always does hurt ; there is no medium.
Not only the moral character, and learning, and abilities of
candidates, are to be exactly inquired into, but also their
good temper, prudence, diligence, and everything by which
their usefulness in the ministry may be affected. Nor should
their personal appearance, voice, manner, clearness of expres-
sion, and facility of communicating their sentiments, be al-
together overlooked. These, which may by some be thought
to be only secondary qualifications, and therefore of no great
importance, are, however, those that will require your more
particular attention, and call for all your prudence. They
who shall apply for recommendations will generally be such
as have passed through a course of academical studies, and
must be competently qualified in a literary view. Exami-
nation, .however, will ascertain the matter with sufficient
certainty ; and it is improbable that the openly vicious, or
220 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
even they whose characters will not bear to be scrutinized,
will ever apply for your testimonials : but should they be so
hardy, the matter will soon be decided. You cannot recom-
mend them, and there is an end of it. But the other quali-
fications I mentioned, good temper, prudence, diligence, ca-
pacity and aptitude to teach, and all those requisites neces-
sary to make a worthy, useful clergyman, may probably be
sometimes doubted. And then a question arises, whether
such a person ought to be recommended ? The general con-
sideration, that a Clergyman should be useful to others, and
should not merely consult his own emolument, but the ben-
efit of Christ's Church principally, ought, in my opinion,
to determine this point ; and if there be real ground to sus-
pect that a person will not make a useful Clergyman, what-
ever his moral character and literary attainments may be, he
ought not to be recommended. He may serve God usefully
and acceptably in some other station ; and he cannot justly
esteem it an injury, that he was not admitted to a station in
Christ's Church, where the probable chance was, that he
would do more harm than good. It is always easier to keep
such persons out of the ministry, than to get rid of them
when once admitted. Open immorality exposes a man to
the public censure of his superiors, and he may, by due au-
thority, be deposed, and dismissed from the ministry. But
a Clergyman's conduct may be so guarded, as to be always
within such a line as shall screen him from public censure,
and yet be such as does manifest disservice to religion, and
brings reproach on the order to which he belongs ; and how-
ever uneasy you may be with having him in your number,
no fair occasion to get rid of him may ever present itself.
Lay hands suddenly on no man?- was one of the things St.
Paul gave in charge to Timothy, whom he had appointed
Bishop of Ephesus : And if not suddenly, without sufficient
deliberation and trial, certainly not in doubtful cases, espe-
cially where the probability is against the man, with respect
to his usefulness as a minister. And all the reasons why
* 1 Tim. v. 22.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 221
the Bishop should lay hands suddenly on no man, are so
many strong arguments against recommending any man sud-
denly, or in doubtful cases, to the Bishop for ordination.
The third thing which my duty calls upon me to mention
to you at this time, because it requires your immediate at-
tention, is that old and sacred rite, handed down to us from
the apostolic age, by the primitive Church, the Laying on
of hands upon those who have been baptized, and, by proper
authority, admitted into the Christian Church, and which is
now commonly called Confirmation : though, in truth, there
seems to me to be more in the rite than a bare confirmation
of the baptismal vow; and that it implies, and was origi-
nally understood to imply, the actual communication of the
Holy Spirit to those who worthily received it.
It has not hitherto been in the power of the members of
our Church to comply with this rite, for want of the proper
officer to administer it : and we trust that the mercy of God
will pardon those omissions of duty in his faithful servants,
which arose merely from the necessity of their situation.
But the case is now altered ; and, through his gracious
providence, that, and every other rite and ordinance which
he has instituted for the government and edification of his
Church, may be obtained and enjoyed. It becomes there-
fore our duty to attend to this matter ; and as it is unreason-
able to expect that people should comply with a rite before
they are convinced of their obligation to do so, it lies upon
us to explain to them its nature and meaning, the foundation
on which it stands, the obligations they are under to com-
ply with it, and the benefits they will receive from the in-
stitution, if they come worthily to it ; and then, it is to
be hoped, there will be no backwardness in the members of
our Church to submit to it.
It is, I am sensible, unnecessary to point out to you the
several arguments and reasons by which your instructions in
this point may be supported. You have undoubtedly often
and seriously reflected on them. But as your duty, in that
respect, is now to be more particularly regarded, and very
222 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
soon carried into execution, permit me, by way of remem-
brance, to make a few general observations on the authority,
nature, and benefits of the institution.
We suppose, and I think justly, that the rite is founded
on apostolical practice. In Heb. vi. 2, St. Paul enumerates
the fundamental principles of the Christian Religion, such as
were necessary for all Christians, viz., Repentance from dead
works, faith in G-od, the doctrine of baptisms, and of
laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the dead,
and of eternal life. No commentator or expositor of the
holy Scriptures ever understood this text of any other lay-
ing on of hands, but that in confirmation, till since the Ref-
ormation ; and the celebrated Calvin himself gives it as his
opinion, that this one text shows evidently, that Confirmation
was instituted by the Apostles}
In the 8th chapter of the Acts it is recorded, that when
many of the Samaritans had been converted and baptized by
St. Philip the deacon, the College of Apostles at Jerusalem
sent two of their own number, Peter and John, who, when
they had prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy
Ghost, laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy
Ghost.
In the 19th chapter, St. Paul, finding some disciples at
Ephesus who had been baptized only with the baptism of
John, had them baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,
and when he had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Crhost
came on them ; and they spake with tongues and prophesied.
I know that the usual way of evading the force of these
last two authorities is, by saying that this imposition of
hands was for the sole purpose of conferring the miraculous
gifts of the Holy Spirit: but this will not reach the first
case, where St. Paul mentions the laying on of hands among
the rudiments of the doctrines of the gospel. In the infancy
of Christianity, extraordinary, or miraculous gifts were nec-
essary for its establishment and propagation in the world.
But have we reason sufficient to justify the opinion, that all
1 Vid. Calvin, in loc.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 223
upon whom the Apostles laid their hands received these mi-
raculous powers ? Is it not surprising that twelve men at
Ephesus, who had not even heard that there was any Holy
Ghost till St. Paul's visit, should be pitched upon by him
for receiving these extraordinary gifts? The miraculous
powers of the Holy Spirit are communicated when, and
where, and how, it pleases Infinite Wisdom : And veiy
probably St. Paul was surprised at this extraordinary dis-
play of the power of the Holy Spirit upon the twelve men
at Ephesus, as well as St. Peter had been, when the Holy
Ghost fell upon the whole company of Cornelius to whom
he was preaching, even before they had been baptized. 1
Because God sometimes departs from the ordinary institu-
tions in his Church, are we to suppose that there is no vir-
tue in those ordinary institutions, except when God shall
please to accompany them with miraculous powers ? The
Holy Spirit is given for the sanctification of the heart, and
to lead all those who will be governed by him, from one de-
gree of holiness to another, till they shall become fit inhab-
itants of the kingdom of Heaven ; and, in truth, there is as
great a miracle in the conversion of a sinner from the error
of his ways, as in speaking with tongues and prophesying.
Both are beyond the power of nature, and both require Al-
mighty interposition.
In Confirmation, by the imposition of the hands of the
Bishop and prayer, we believe the Holy Spirit to be given
for sanctification, i. e., for carrying into effect that regen-
eration which is conferred in Baptism. By Baptism we
are taken out of our natural state of sin and death, into
which we are born by our natural birth, and are translated,
transplanted, or born again into the Church of Christ, a
state of grace, and endless life ; and by Confirmation, or the
imposition of the hands of the Bishop, when we personally
ratify our baptismal vow and covenant, we are endued with
the Holy Spirit to enable us to overcome sin, and to perfect
holiness in the fear of God. If it can be proved that the
1 Acts x. 44, etc.
224 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Holy Spirit is not necessary for these purposes, but that his
influence is only necessary when miraculous powers are to be
conferred, I will confess that Confirmation is unnecessary at
this time ; for it is not pretended that the miraculous powers
of the Holy Spirit are now conferred by the laying on of
hands.
You must have observed, that though the Samaritans
were converted and baptized by St. Philip the deacon, yet
the Apostles sent two of their own order to lay hands on
them. And St. Paul, when the twelve disciples at Ephesus
had been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, laid His
hands on them. For these reasons, the Christian Church
has always appropriated this rite to the successors of the
Apostles, the supreme order of the Christian priesthood.
The time when Confirmation is to be used is not re-
stricted to any particular age. When the person is of com-
petent reason and understanding to comprehend the nature
of the baptismal covenant, and is duly instructed in it,' and
sensible of his duty to fulfill it, and disposed to ratify and
confirm it before God and his Church, with full purpose of
continuing God's faithful servant to his life's end, he is prop-
erly qualified for the rite. And of these qualifications his
minister is to be the judge, and is to certify the Bishop
thereof. A godfather or godmother are to attend with
them, to witness their Confirmation, and to put them in
mind, if they perceive them to be afterward negligent of
their duty, or departing from the solemn vows and promises
they then made.
The benefits resulting from this institution have in some
measure been anticipated ; permit me, however, just to enu-
merate them. It enters us into a new engagement to be
the Lord's and to lead a holy and Christian life ; it is a last-
ing admonition not to dishonor or desert our profession ; it
preserves the unity of the Church, by making men sensible
of their obligations to maintain communion with those ec-
clesiastical superiors who are the successors of the holy
Apostles; and it is a testimony of God's mercy and favor
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 225
to them, if they receive it worthily ; because his minister
declares authoritatively, that God accepts their proficiency,
and, advancing them to the higher rank of the faithful,
gives them a right to approach his Table, and feast with
their brethren on the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist, the
memorials of Christ's death ; and by it also God condescends
to communicate supernatural strength, even the gift of his
blessed Spirit, to enable them to encounter and vanquish
their spiritual enemies, and fulfill the terms of the gospel.
These things, Reverend Brethren, you will explain and
inculcate in your several congregations, that all may be in-
formed of the nature of their duty, excited, on proper mo-
tives, to comply with it, and instructed how to come wor-
thily to this holy rite, that they may receive the full benefit
of it, and the Church be edified with sound and living mem-
bers.
You will also put godfathers and godmothers, as well as
the natural parents, in mind, to see that the children they
have answered for at the font be properly instructed, and in
due time brought to the Bishop to be confirmed by him,
that they may discharge themselves of the obligation which
their Christian charity excited them to undertake.
And the Grod of all grace, who hath catted us unto his eter-
nal glory by Jesus Christ make you perfect, stablish,
strengthen, settle you l bless and prosper your ministry in
his Church, and reward your faithful labors with the bless-
ings of his own heavenly kingdom. To him, the holy triune
God, be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
1 1 Pet. v. 10, 11.
15
226 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
CHAPTER XIII.
COURTESIES TO THE SOUTHERN CLERGY, AND PROPOSALS TO CHANGE
THE LITURGY; BISHOP SEABURY'S LETTER TO DR. SMITH, AND REA-
SONS FOR NOT ATTENDING CONVENTION IN PHILADELPHIA; CONVO-
CATION IN NEW HAVEN, AND RELUCTANCE TO ALTER THE LITURGY;
ORDINATION OF SEVEN CANDIDATES, AND LETTER TO THE SCOT-
TISH BISHOPS; BISHOP SEABURY AND HIS CLERGY DENOUNCED AS
NON-JURORS AND JACOBITES, AND MR. LEAMING'S DEFENSE.
A. D. 1785.
THE clergy of Connecticut, when the time for hold-
ing the convention at Middletown had been fixed
upon, invited their Southern brethren to meet them
for the purpose of considering measures tending to
the union and organization of the Church in the
thirteen States. " We have no views," said Mr. Lea-
rning, who was authorized to give the invitation, " of
usurping any authority over our brothers and neigh-
bors, but wish them to unite with us, in the same
friendly manner that we are ready and willing to
do with them. I must earnestly entreat you to
come upon this occasion, for the sake of the peace
of the Church, for your own satisfaction, in what
friendly manner the clergy here would treat you, not
to mention what happiness the sight of you would
give to your sincere friend and brother."
This was addressed to Dr. White, and included the
clergy of Pennsylvania. The only response to it was
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 227
an invitation to the bishop and clergy of Connecticut
to attend the general convention which was to meet
at Philadelphia the 27th of the ensuing September.
Of course no such invitation could be accepted by
men who had completed their own organization and
who believed that a bishop should have precedence
by virtue of his office in all ecclesiastical assemblies.
This was not permitted by the fifth of the funda-
mental articles set forth in New York, and which
were to come up again for consideration and adop-
tion. Speaking of the fifth article, Mr. Parker, in
a letter to Dr. White, September 14th, said : " Had it
stood as I proposed, that a bishop (if one in any
State) should be president of the convention, I make
no doubt there would have been one present. You
will be at no loss to conclude that I mean Dr. Sea-
bury, who, you must ere this have heard, is arrived
and entered upon the exercise of his offices in Con-
necticut. Being present in convocation at Middle-
town the 4th of August last, I much urged his attend-
ing the convention at Philadelphia this month, but
that article discouraged him so much that no argu-
ments I could use were sufficient to prevail with
him."
The alterations in the Liturgy and offices of the
Church agreed to by the bishop and clergy at Mid-
dletown were laid by Mr. Parker before a convention
of clerical and lay deputies from churches in Massa-
chusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, and in
the main adopted by that body, with directions that
a copy of its proceedings be forwarded to Dr. White
or the president of the general convention soon to
meet in Philadelphia. Bishop Seabury, now the rec-
228 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
ognized head of the Church .in Connecticut, lost no
time, after the meeting in Middletown, to write to
Dr. Smith, not so much to show the validity of his
consecration and his willingness to ordain candidates
who might be sent to him, as to criticise the precise
fundamental rules established in New York, and give
warning against the final approval of changes that
would lead to divisions, and prevent the Church in
America from becoming " united in government, doc-
trine, and discipline." He wrote also a briefer letter
to Dr. White, and both were inclosed to Dr. Chand-
ler, who by this time had returned to his family in
New Jersey, and was looking with intense interest to
the results of a convention which his health would
not permit him to attend.
In transmitting the letters to Dr. White, he said :
"That to Dr. Smith was sent open for my inspec-
tion ; and instead of sealing it, I have taken the lib-
erty to send it open to you, wishing that you also
may have a sight of it. You will, therefore, after
reading it, be so good as to seal and send it for-
ward." At the same time, Dr. Chandler gave free
utterance to his hopes and apprehensions, and advo-
cated adherence to the established maxims of ecclesi-
astical polity, and the general practice of the Church
in all ages. He enforced the views of the clergy of
Connecticut, and thought they had completed their
constitution upon right principles. "I wish," said he,
" that in the other States the example may be fol-
lowed, for I do not believe that the Christian world
affords one more conformable to the primitive pat-
tern, all things considered, than the Church in Con-
necticut."
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 229
The letter of Bishop Seabury to Dr. Smith is an
important one, frankly and carefully written, and
before sending it off, he transcribed it in his letter-
book, where it appears with all the precision of the
original. It has been several times printed, but it
is so necessary to a full understanding of his views
in regard to the interests, rights, and honor of the
Church that it cannot be omitted in this connection.
It was dated
NEW LONDON, August 15, 1785.
REVEREND AND DEAR SIR, It has not been in my
power, till this day, to pay that attention to your letter of
July 19th, which the importance of its several subjects de-
manded.
The grand difficulty that defeated my application for con-
secration in England appeared to me to be the want of an
application from the State of Connecticut. Other objections
were made, viz : That there was no precise diocese marked
out by the civil authority, nor a stated revenue appointed
for the Bishop's support : But those were removed. The
other remained for the civil authority in Connecticut is
Presbyterian, and therefore could not be supposed would pe-
tition for a Bishop. And had this been removed, I am not
sure another would not have started up : For this happened
to me several times. I waited, and procured a copy of an
Act of the Legislature of Connecticut, which puts all de-
nominations of Christians on a footing of equality (except
the Roman Catholics, and to them it gives a free toleration),
certified by the Secretary of the State: For to Connecti-
cut all my negotiations were confined. The Archbishop of
Canterbury wished it had been fuller, but thought it af-
forded ground on which to proceed. Yet he afterward said
it would not do; and that the minister, without a formal
requisition from the State, would not suffer the Bill, en-
abling the Bishop of London to ordain foreign Candidates
without their taking the Oaths, to pass the Commons, if
230 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
it contained a clause for Consecrating American Bishops.
And as his Grace did not choose to proceed without parlia-
mentary authority though if I understood him right, a
majority of the Judges and Crown Lawyers were of opinion
he might safely do it I turned my attention to the remains
of the old Scots Episcopal Church, whose Consecrations I
knew were derived from England, and their authority in an
ecclesiastical sense fully equal to the English Bishops no
objection was ever made to me on account of the legacies
left for American Bishops. Some people had surmises of
this kind, but I know not whence they arose.
I can see no good ground of apprehension concerning the
titles of estates or emoluments belonging to the Church in
your State. Your Church is still the Church of England
subsisting under a different civil government. We have in
America the Church of Holland, of Scotland, of Sweden,
of Moravia, and why 'not of England? Our being of the
Church of England no more implies dependence on, or sub-
jection to England than being of the Church of Holland im-
plies subjection to Holland.
The plea of the Methodists is something like impudence.
Mr. Wesley is only a Presbyter, and all his Ordinations
Presbyterian, and in direct opposition to the Church of Eng-
land : And they can have no pretense for calling themselves
Churchmen till they return to the unity of the Church,
which they have unreasonably, unnecessarily, and wickedly
broken, by their separation and schism.
Your two cautions respecting recommendations and titles
are certainly just. Till you are so happy as to have a
Bishop of your own, it will be a pleasure to me to do every-
thing I can, for the supply of your Churches : And I am
confident the Clergy of Maryland, and the other States, will
be very particular with regard to the qualifications and
titles of persons to be admitted into their own Order.
Should they think proper to send any Candidates hither,
I could wish that it might be at the stated times of Ordina-
tion ; because the Clergy here, living so scattered, it is not
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 231
easy on every emergency to get three of them together ; and
never without some expense which they cannot well afford.
I cannot omit to mention again the particular satisfaction
Mr. Ferguson gave, not only to me, but to all our Clergy.
I hope he will prove a worthy and useful Clergyman. I
flatter myself he got home without any disagreeable accident.
I thank you for your communications respecting Washing-
ton College, and the various Conventions you have had in
your State and neighborhood. The Clergy and Laity have
particular merit in making so great exertions to get our
Church into a settled and respectful state. But on objects
of such magnitude and variety it is to be expected that sen-
timents will differ. All men do not always see the same ob-
ject in the same light : And persons at a distance are not
always masters of the precise reasons and circumstances
which have occasioned particular modes of acting. Of some
things therefore in your proceedings I cannot be a compe-
tent judge without minute information; and I am very
sorry that my present circumstances, and duty here, will not
permit me to make so long a journey at this time ; because
by personal interview and conversation only can such infor-
mation be had.
But, my dear Sir, there are some things which, if I do
not much misapprehend, are really wrong. In giving my
opinion of them, I must claim the same privilege of judging
for myself w r hich others claim; and also that right of fair
and candid interpretation of my sentiments which is due to
all men.
1. I think you have done wrong in establishing so many,
and so precise, fundamental rules. You seem thereby to
have precluded yourselves from the benefit of after consid-
eration. And by having the power of altering fundamental
rules diffused through so large a body, it appears to me next
to impossible to have them altered, even in some reasonable
cases; because cases really reasonable may not always ap-
pear so to two thirds of a large assembly. It should also be
remembered that while human nature is as it is, something
232 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
of party, passion, or partiality will ever be apt, in some de-
gree, to influence the views and debates of a numerous and
mixed assembly.
2. I think you have too much circumscribed the power of
your Bishop. That the duty and Office of a Bishop differs
in nothing from that of other Priests, except in the power of
Ordination and Confirmation (Pamph. p. 16), and the right
of Precedency, etc., is a position that carries Jerome's opin-
ion to the highest pitch Quid facit Episcopus, quod Pres-
byter non faciat, excepta ordinatione ? But it does not ap-
pear that Jerome had the support of the Church, in this
opinion, but rather the contrary. Government as essentially
pertains to Bishops as ordination ; nay, ordination is but the
particular exercise of government. Whatever share of gov-
ernment Presbyters have in the Church, they have from the
Bishop, and must exercise it in conjunction with, or in sub-
ordination to him. And though a Congregation may have
a right and I am willing to allow it to choose their
minister, as they are to support him and live under his min-
istry, yet the Bishop's concurrence or license is necessary,
because they are part of his charge ; he has the care of their
souls, and is accountable for them ; and therefore the minis-
ter's authority to take charge of that congregation must
come through the Bishop.
The choice of the Bishop is in the Presbyters, but the
neighboring Bishops, who are to consecrate him, must have
the right of judging whether he be a proper person or not.
The Presbyters are the Bishop's council, without whom he
ought to do nothing but matters of course. The Presbyters
have always a check upon their Bishop, because they can,
neither Bishop nor Presbyter, do anything beyond the com-
mon course of duty without each other. I mean with regard
ttrar-particlar diocese; for it does not appear that Presby-
ters had any seat in general Councils, but by particular in-
dulgence.
The people being the patrons of the Churches in this coun-
try, and having the means of the Bishops' and ministers' sup-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 233
port in their hands, have a sufficient restraint upon them, i
In cases that require it, they can apply to their Bishop, who,
with the assistance of his Presbyters, will proceed, as the
case may require, to censure, suspension, or deposition of
the offending Clergyman. If a Bishop behaves amiss the
neighboring Bishops are his judges. Men that are not to
be trusted with these powers are not fit to be Bishops or
Presbyters at all.
This, I take it, is the constitution of the Christian Church
in its pure and simple state. And it is a constitution which,
if adhered to, will carry itself into full effect. This consti-
tution we have adopted in Connecticut ; and we do hope and
trust that we shall, by God's grace, exhibit to the world, in
our government, discipline, and order, a pure and perfect
model of primitive simplicity.
Presbyters cannot be too careful in choosing their Bishop ;
nor the People in choosing their minister. Improper men
may, however, sometimes succeed : And so they will, make
as exact rules, and circumscribe their power, as you can.
And an improper man in the Church is an improper man,
however he came there, and however his power be limited.
The more you circumscribe him, the greater temptation he
is under to form a party to support him ; and when his
party is formed, all the power of your convention will not be
able to displace him. In short, if you get a bad man, your
laws and regulations will not be effectual if a good man,
the general laws of the Church are sufficient.
Where civil States have made provision for ministers, it
seems reasonable that they should define the qualifications,
and regulate the conduct of those who are to enjoy the
emolument. But voluntary associations for the exercise of
such powers as your Convention is to have are always apt
such is the infirmity of human nature to fall into par-
ties ; and when party enters, animosity and discord soon fol-
low. From what has been said you will suppose I shall
object
3. To the admission of Lay members into Synods, etc. I
234 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
must confess I do, especially in the degree your fundamental
rules allow. I have as great a regard for the Laity as any
man can have. It is for their sake that ministers are ap-
pointed in the Church. I have no Idea of aggrandizing the
Clergy at the expense of the laity : Nor indeed of aggran-
dizing them at all. Decent means of living is all they have
a right to expect. But I cannot conceive that the Laity can
with any propriety be admitted to sit in judgment on Bish-
ops and Presbyters, especially when deposition may be the
event ; because they cannot take away a character which
they cannot confer. It is incongruous to every idea of Epis-
copal government. That authority which confers power,
can, for proper reasons, take it away : But where there is no
authority to confer power, there can be none to disannul it.
Wherever, therefore, the power of Ordination is lodged, the
power of deprivation is lodged also.
Should it be thought necessary that the laity should have
a aba. ifl foft *-finif*t H* i-n^ir Rigfrflp -if it can be put on a
proper footing so as fo frvnirl party ajif) ftnnfiision I see n(
buTthat it might be admitted. But I do not apprehend that
_-. | __rTT"^^^'''* ' '
this was the practice of the primitive Church, In short, the
TJghtsof the Christian Church arise not from nature or com-
pact, bui lropLb inBtjthfMMi nf ffirfat. ; and we ought ncft
to alter them, but to receive and maintain them as the holy
apostles left them. The government., sacraments, faith, and
doctrines of the Church are fixed and settled. We have a
right to examine what they are, but we must take them as
they are. If we new model the government, why not the
sacraments, creeds, and doctrines of the Church ; But then
it would not be Christ's Church, but our Church ; and would
remain so, call it by what name we please.
I do therefore beseech the Clergy and Laity, who shall meet
at Philadelphia, to reconsider the matter before a final step
be taken : And to endeavor to bring their Church govern-
ment aa near to jfcft f Tnl^f^ 'pjfarn ^ m^ fce. ^^rmy-wttl
Endit tjie simplest, and most easy to carry into effect ;~an3
if it be adhered to will be in no danger of sinking or failing.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 235
I do not think it necessary that the Church in every
State should be just as the Church in Connecticut is, though
I think that the best model. Particular circumstances, I
know, will call for particular considerations. But in so es-
sential a matter as Church government is, no alterations
should be made that affect its foundation. If a man be
called a Bishop who has not the Episcopal powers of govern-
ment, he is called by a wrong name, even though he should
have the power of Ordination and Confirmation.
Let me therefore again entreat that such material altera-
tions, and forgive me if I say, unjustifiable ones, may not be
made in the government of the Church. I have written
freely as becomes an honest man, and in a case which I
think calls for freedom of sentiment and expression. I wish
not to give offense, and I hope none will be taken. What-
ever I can do consistently to assist in procuring Bishops in
America, I shall do cheerfully, but beyond that I cannot
go ; and I am sure neither you, nor any of the friends of the
Church, would wish I should.
If any expression in this letter should seem too warm, I
will be ready to correct the mode, but the sentiments I must
retain till I find them wrong, and then I will freely give
them up. In this matter I am not interested. My ground
is taken, and I wish not to extend my authority beyond its
present limits. But I do most earnestly wish to have our
Church in all the States so ^settleJthat it may be one
C'hurcTT^TrrriLed in government, doctrine, and discipline
that there may be no divisions among us no opposition of
interests no clashing of opinions. And permit me to hope
that you will at your approaching Convention so far recede
in the points I have mentioned, as to make this practica-
ble. Your Convention will be large and very much to be
respected. Its determinations will influence many of the
American States, and posterity will be materially affected
by them. These considerations are so many arguments for
calm and cool deliberation. Human passions and prejudices,
and, if possible, infirmities, should be laid aside. A wrong
236 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
step will be attended with dreadful consequences. Patience
and prudence must be exercised : And should there be some
circumstances that press hard for a remedy, hasty decisions
will not mend them. In doubtful cases they will probably
have a bad effect. May the Spirit of God be with you at
Philadelphia, and as I persuade myself, the sole good of his
Church is the sole aim of you all, I hope for the best effects
from your meeting.
I send you the alterations which it has been here thought
proper to make in the Liturgy, to accommodate it to the
civil constitution of this State. You will observe that there
is no collect for the Congress. We have no backwardness
in that respect, but thought it our duty to know whether
the civil authority in this State has any directions to give in
that matter ; and that cannot be known till their next meet-
ing in October.
Some other alterations were proposed, of which Mr. Fer-
guson took a copy; and I would send you a copy had I
time to transcribe it. The matter will be resumed at New
Haven the 14th of September. Should we come to any de-
termination, the Brethren to the southward shall be in-
formed of it.
With my best regards to the Convention and to you, I re-
main your affectionate, humble servant,
SAMUEL, Bp. Epl. Ch. Connect.
I have taken the liberty to inclose a copy of my letters of
Consecration, which you will please to communicate to the
Convention. You will also perceive it to be my wish that
this letter should be communicated to them; to which, I
presume, there can be no objection.
His letter addressed to Dr. White was written a
few days later, and gave as reasons for not attending
the approaching convention that neither his circum-
stances nor his duty would permit it. He referred to
his sentiments in the communication to Dr. Smith,
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 237
and renewed the hope that the matters which he had
pointed out would be reconsidered, and such meas-
ures pursued as might prevent the Church from
" either falling into parties and dissolving, or sinking
into Presbyterianism."
Bishop Seabury met his clergy in convocation at
New Haven, according to adjournment, on Wednes-
day, the 14th of September, while Yale College was
holding its annual commencement. Dr. Stiles was
then the president of the institution, and the bishop
entering the meeting-house during the exercises,
some one suggested that he be invited, out of respect
to his office, to take a seat upon the stage among
other distinguished persons ; to which the president
replied : " We are all bishops here, but if there be
room for another, he can occupy it."
Not much was done at this convocation in the way
of proposing or adopting alterations of the Liturgy.
The feeling of the Connecticut churchmen on the
subject may be read in an extract from a letter, writ-
ten by Mr. Hubbard while the clergy were together,
and addressed to Mr. Parker, who had forwarded a
copy of the variations in Massachusetts from what
was agreed upon at Middletown : " As to the alter-
ation proposed by your convention in the good old
Book of Common Prayer, I can at present only say,
that our convocation are slow in taking up a matter
of so much consequence." And the bishop himself,
nearly three months later, wrote to the same gentle-
man, and spoke still more decidedly against hasty ac-
tion in these words : " Between the time of our part-
ing at Middletown and the clerical meeting in New
Haven, it was found that the Church people in Con-
238 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
necticut were much alarmed at the thoughts of any
considerable alterations being made in the Prayer-
book ; and upon the whole, it was judged best that no
alterations should be attempted at present, but to wait
till a little time shall have cooled down the tempers
and conciliated the affections of people to each other."
At that period, the case of candidates for Holy Or-
ders came directly before the bishop and clergy, and
it was a part of the business of convocation to exam-
ine and accept or reject their testimonials. Ordina-
tion by a bishop was a novel thing in New Haven,
and the old Trinity Church must have been filled
with people when, on the 16th of September, three
candidates, two from New Jersey and one from Mary-
land, were admitted to the order of deacons, and
three others advanced to the priesthood. On Sun-
day, the 18th, another large congregation assembled
in the same place, when the three deacons, with Ash-
bel Baldwin, were admitted to the order of priests.
" The solemnity of the offices," says a contemporary,
" and the devout behavior of the candidates, im-
pressed the minds of those who were present with
sensations of reverence and delight more easily to be
imagined than described." Necessity required that
these ordinations should follow each other in quick
succession. The men from New Jersey and Mary-
land were desirous of returning to enter upon work
in their respective States, and could not afford to be
detained longer than to be thoroughly examined and
pronounced qualified for the office whereunto they
had been called. Bishop Seabury sometimes took
the candidates under his personal supervision, and di-
rected their studies for months before proceeding to
ordain them.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 239
At the primary meeting in Middletown, the press-
ure of business was so great that no time was taken
to answer the affectionate letter of the Scottish bish-
ops, addressed to the clergy of Connecticut, and di-
recting their attention to the " Concordate " as an
instrument " dictated by a spirit of Christian meek-
ness, and proceeding from a pure regard to regularity
and good order." This matter, therefore, was entered
upon at the convocation in New Haven, and after
suitable deliberation, the following grateful acknowl-
edgment was approved and transmitted :
NEW HAVEN, IN CONNECTICUT, September 16, 1785.
RIGHT REVEREND FATHERS, The pastoral letter which
your Christian attention excited you to address us from
Aberdeen, November 15, 1784, was duly delivered to us by
the Right Reverend Bishop Seabury, and excited in us the
warmest sentiments of gratitude and esteem. We should
much earlier have made our acknowledgments had not our
dispersed situation made the difficulty of our meeting to-
gether so very great, and the multiplicity of business abso-
lutely necessary to be immediately dispatched, so entirely
engrossed our time at our first meeting at Middletown as to
render it then impracticable. We never had the least doubt
of the validity or regularity of the succession of the Scottish
Bishops, and as we never desired any other Bishops in this
country, than upon the principles of the primitive Apostol-
ical Church, we should, from the very first, have been as
well pleased with a Bishop from Scotland as from England.
But our connection with the English Church, and the kind
support that most of our clergy received from the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel, naturally led us to renew
our application to that Church, when we found ourselves
separated from the British Government by the late peace.
We are utterly at a loss to account for the backwardness
of the British Church and Government to send Bishops to
240 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
this country, which has long and earnestly been requested.
And we do think that their refusal to consecrate Dr. Sea-
bury, under the circumstances that we applied for it, was
utterly inconsistent with sound policy and Christian princi-
ples.
Greatly, then, are we indebted to you, venerable fathers,
for your kind and Christian interposition ; and we do heart-
ily thank God that He did of his mercy put it into your
hearts to consider and relieve our necessity.
We also gratefully revere and acknowledge the readiness
with which you gratified our ardent wishes to have a Bishop
to complete our religious establishment. We receive it as
the gift of God himself through your hands. And though
much is to be done to collect and regulate a scattered, and,
till now, inorganized Church, yet we hope, through patience,
diligence, and propriety of conduct, by God's blessing, in
due time to accomplish it, and to make the Church of Con-
necticut a fair and fruitful branch of the Church Universal.
Our utmost exertions shall be joined with those of our
Bishop to preserve the unity of faith, doctrine, discipline,
and uniformity of worship, with the Church from which we
derived our Episcopacy, and with which it will be our praise
and happiness to keep up the most intimate intercourse and
communion.
Commending ourselves and our Church to your prayers
and benediction, we are, Right Reverend and Venerable
Fathers, your most dutiful sons and servants.
Signed in behalf of the whole by ABRAHAM JARYIS,
Secretary to the Convocation of the Episcopal Clergy in Con-
necticut.
To THE RIGHT REVEREND ROBERT KILGOUR, BISHOP AND PRIMUS ;
ARTHUR PETRIE, AND JOHN SKINNER, BISHOPS, ABERDEEN.
The policy in England appears to have somewhat
changed after the heroic movement of Dr. Seabury
to obtain consecration from the Scottish bishops, and
the denunciation of him and the Connecticut clergy
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 241
as non-jurors and Jacobites was no excuse for the
course which the Society took in withholding sym-
pathy and support. " The reason you mention for
taking away our salaries," wrote Mr. Learning, one
week after the convention, of which he was president,
had received and acknowledged Dr. Seabury, "is a
paradox in all shapes I can view it. Our names were
never put to any papers, but to those directed to the
bishops in South Britain; and to them none put
their names but only myself, and Mr. Jarvis as sec-
retary of the convention of this State. And the other
reason (if it can be called so), offered for doing of it
is as unaccountable. Did they without our wish or
design make us non-jurors ? And then take away
our salaries because we were non-jurors ? Heaven
defend us from such sort of reason ! I do not know
how it is ; but great men can draw conclusions with-
out any premises. There is something so wicked for
them to entice the clergy of this State to leave their
flocks, which have been brought up by us to believe
that the Society had nothing more at heart than to
support true religion, without the least thought of
acting by a party spirit in the affair. However, I im-
pute all this to the influence of some crafty dissenter
over the Society, in order, now we have a bishop,
to stop the rapid growth of the Church here. Per-
haps you will not believe it ; but the Church here is
now the popular religion in the State. Had our sala-
ries been continued seven years longer we should
have been able then to have done without them.
And now I am persuaded we shall be able to carry a
sufficient sway to support the Church. A bishop is
no objection here."
16
242 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The effort to remove the obstacles in England to
the consecration of bishops for America was not re-
newed without throwing doubt upon the validity of
the Scottish Episcopacy. Granville Sharpe, with all
his philanthropy, had not ceased his opposition to
what he called " the pretensions of Dr. Seabury and
the non-juring bishops of Scotland," and in his di-
ary, under date of September 10, 1785, he wrote :
" Waited on the Archbishop at Lambeth and commu-
nicated to him Mr. Manning's letter respecting the
convention of the Episcopal clergy this month at
Philadelphia; also Dr. Franklin's letter on the subject
of Episcopacy and the Liturgy. He assures me that
the Administration would be inclined to give leave to
the bishops to consecrate proper persons."
Mr. Manning was a Baptist minister, at the head
of the college in Providence, R. I., and it was a sin-
gular procedure to apply to him in a matter of this
kind. As one said at the time who was deeply inter-
ested : * " Has Mr. Sharpe no correspondence with
any clergyman of the Episcopal Church in this coun-
try, that he writes on a subject of that nature to a
Baptist minister ? He seems to be dubious as to the
validity of consecration obtained through that chan-
nel [non-juring bishops], but if the succession has
been preserved, I cannot perceive why it should not
be sufficient." Advantage was taken of the views of
Mr. Sharpe to discredit the orders of Bishop Seabury,
and set him aside, and some things were written and
done, as will be seen hereafter, which unhappily sa-
vored more of the spirit of personal and political ani-
mosity than of Christian candor and intelligence.
1 Mr. Thomas Fitch Oliver, of Rhode Island, to Rev. S. Parker.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 243
Dr. Franklin had notions of his own about a Lit-
urgy, and with the assistance of an English noble-
man prepared an abridgment of the Book of Com-
mon Prayer, which was printed in London in 1773 ;
but, as he himself said, was " never much noticed."
Whatever may have been his private faith and doc-
trine, his reverence for religion and Christian institu-
tions was constantly shown, and he was desirous of
seeing the Church in this country, with which he
was nominally connected, complete in its organization.
In a letter written from Paris, July, 1784, to a couple
of his young countrymen who were waiting in vain
for Holy Orders in London, the oaths of allegiance
being the impediment, he said with his proverbial
wisdom : " An hundred years hence, when people are
more enlightened, it will be wondered at that men
in America, qualified by their learning and piety to
pray for and instruct their neighbors, should not be
permitted to do it till they had made a voyage of six
thousand miles out and home, to ask leave of a cross
old gentleman at Canterbury."
The century has nearly gone by since these words
were written, and all who are not familiar with the
political and religious history of England at that pe-
riod will, indeed, wonder that a Church which had
kings for her nursing fathers and queens for her
nursing mothers was so backward to extend her pol-
ity and give completeness to a branch of her own
planting.
244 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
CHAPTER XIV.
CONVENTION IN PHILADELPHIA, AND ADOPTION OF AN ECCLESIASTI-
CAL CONSTITUTION ; APPLICATION FjOR BISHOPS IN THE ENGLISH
LINE, AND "THE PROPOSED BOOK;" LETTER OF MR. PROVOOST,
AND HOSTILITY TO BISHOP SEABURY; FEARS OF FRIENDS, AND RE-
PLY OF THE BISHOPS ; ANOTHER CONVENTION IN PHILADELPHIA,
AND ITS PROCEEDINGS.
A. D. 1785-1786.
THE convention which met in Philadelphia, Sep-
tember 27, 1785, was composed of sixteen clergymen
and twenty-six laymen, who represented parishes in
seven of the old thirteen States, namely, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Vir-
ginia, and South Carolina. Ten of the clerical and
fourteen of the lay order were from the two States of
Maryland and Pennsylvania, and the convention was
organized with the Rev. William White, D. D., as
president, and the Rev. David Griffith, of Virginia,
as secretary. The record of the proceedings makes
no mention of the action of the New England clergy,
and contains not the slightest reference to the pres-
ence in this country of a bishop who ten days before
had ordained three candidates from Maryland and
New Jersey, and was shortly to ordain others from
the same quarter.
While the journal is thus silent in regard to Bishop
Seabury, the letter which he addressed to Dr. Smith
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 245
was presented to the convention, as he had requested,
and produced some feeling and animadversion. " A
few of the lay gentlemen," says Dr. White, " spoke
more ' warmly than the occasion seemed to justify,
considering that the letter appeared to contain the
honest sentiments of the writer, delivered in inof-
fensive terms." The business to which the body ad-
dressed itself fell under three heads, to frame and
adopt an ecclesiastical constitution; to revise and
alter the Liturgy ; and to prepare and report a plan
for obtaining the consecration of bishops in the Eng-
lish line of succession, together with an address to the
archbishops and bishops of the Church of England
for that purpose. These three branches were in-
trusted to the same committee, composed of one cler-
gyman and one layman from each of the States rep-
resented in the convention, and after continuing
together for ten days, the session was brought to a
close with " divine service in Christ Church, when
the Liturgy, as altered, was read by the Rev. Dr.
White, and a suitable sermon was preached by the
Rev. Dr. Smith."
The ecclesiastical constitution and the draught of
an address to the English bishops appear in full on
the journal. They show the spirit which animated
the body, and the influence of the laity in shaping
the measures that were adopted. As for the Episco-
pacy, it was well understood that it could be obtained
from Scotland ; but "the majority of the convention,"
says Dr. White, " certainly thought it a matter of
choice, and. even required by decency, to apply, in
the first instance, to the Church of which the Ameri-
can had been till now a part. No doubt, the senti-
246 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
ment was strengthened by the general disapproba-
tion entertained in America of the prejudices which,
in the year 1688, in Scotland, had deprived the Epis-
copal Church of her establishment, and had kept her
ever since in hostility to the family on the throne.
As to Bishop Seabury's failure in England," he con-
tinues, " the causes of it, as stated in his letter,
seemed to point out a way of obviating the difficulty
in the present case." l
It was proper to make every effort to obtain the
succession from English bishops. The alterations in
the Liturgy, which were attended with warm contro-
versy and resulted in setting forth what is known in
the early history of the American Church as " The
Proposed Book," none of the members of the conven-
tion at first entertained thoughts of, according to Dr.
White, " any further than to accommodate it to the
Revolution." " On this business of the review of the
Book of Common Prayer and the articles," are his
words, " the convention seem to have fallen into two
capital errors, independently on the merits of the al-
terations themselves. The first error was the order-
ing of the printing of a large edition of the book,
which did not well consist with the principles of mere
proposal. Perhaps much of the opposition to it arose
from this very thing, which seemed a stretch of
power, designed to effect the introduction of the book
to actual use, in order to prevent a discussion of its
merits. The other error was the ordering of the use
of it in Christ Church, Philadelphia, on the occa-
sion of Dr. Smith's sermon at the conclusion of the
session of the convention. This helped to confirm
1 Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church, p. 101.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 247
the opinion of its being to be introduced with a high
hand, and subjected the clergy of Philadelphia to ex-
traordinary difficulty ; for they continued the use of
the Liturgy, agreeably to the alterations, on assur-
ances given by many gentlemen that they would
begin it in their respective churches immediately
on their return. This the greater number of them
never did, and there are known instances, in each of
which the stipulation was shrunk back from, because
some influential member of a congregation was dis-
satisfied with some one of the alterations. This is
a fact which always shows very strongly how much
weight of character is necessary to such changes as
may be thought questionable."
Great pains were taken to prepare the way for a
successful application to the English bishops. It was
an objection raised in England to the consecration of
Dr. Seabury, that the cooperation of the laity and
sanction of the civil authority had not been secured,
and therefore the convention made the removal of
this impediment a matter of special attention. It
was resolved " in order to assure their lordships of
the legality of the present proposed application, that
the deputies now assembled be desired to make a re-
spectful address to the civil rulers of the States in
which they respectively reside, to certify that the
said application is not contrary to the constitution
and laws of the same."
The aid of Mr. John Adams, the American minister
at the British court, was sought, not in his official
character, but as a private citizen of high dignity,
and he presented the address of the convention to
the Archbishop of Canterbury in person, and accom-
248 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
panied it with such explanations and documentary
supports as were calculated to promote the object of
his countrymen.
In deference to the popular notions of republican
simplicity all the highest titles accorded to bishops in
the British realm were to be discarded, and such only
assumed as were due to spiritual employments. The
Rev. Dr. Murray, formerly a presbyter in Pennsylva-
nia, wrote from London to his old friend and corre-
spondent, Dr. White, after news of the action of the
convention had reached that city : " I would fain
hope the day is not far distant when I shall have the
honor of addressing you, Right Reverend ; you meet
my wishes more and more."
The following extract from a letter written by the
Rev. Mr. Provoost to Dr. White, dated New York,
November 7, 1785, not only shows that no time was
lost in forwarding the address of the convention to
England, but discloses the spirit of the author and
the animosity borne by him towards one whose mis-
fortune it was to be on the other side of the question
in the war of the Revolution.
The address was sent by the Packet with recommenda-
tory letters from the President of Congress, and John Jay,
Esq., who have interested themselves much in our business.
I have also inclosed a copy I had taken of the address, with
some other papers relating to the Church in America, in a
letter to the Bishop of Carlisle.
I expect no obstruction to our application but what may
arise from the intrigues of the non-juring Bishop of Connec-
ticut, who a few days since paid a visit to this State (not-
withstanding he incurred the guilt of misprision of Treason,
and was liable to confinement for life for doing so), and took
shelter at Mr. James Rivington's, where he was seen only
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 249
by a few of his most intimate friends : whilst he was there,
a piece appeared in a newspaper under Rivington's direction,
pretending to give an account of the late Convention, but
replete with falsehood and prevarication, and evidently in-
tended to excite a popular prejudice against our transactions,
both in England and America.
On Long Island, Dr. Cebra appeared more openly,
preached at Hempstead Church, and ordained the person
from Virginia I formerly mentioned, being assisted by the
Rev. Mr. Moore, of Hempstead, and the Rev. Mr. Bloomer,
of Newtown, Long Island.
I relate these occurrences, that when you write next to
England, our friends there may be guarded against any mis-
representations that may come to them from that quarter.
Dr. White had honestly differed from Dr. Seabury
as to the policy of the colonies in the struggle for in-
dependence ; but he had no thought of allowing the
issues of the past to affect him in the organization
and settlement of the Church, and he soon had rea-
son to believe that the suspicious and unkind judg-
ments of Mr. Provoost were due to his own personal
and political prejudices. His persistent misspelling
of the name of Bishop Seabury whether accidental
or designed was inexcusable and beneath the dig-
nity of a Christian gentleman, and an examination of
the piece in the newspaper does not sustain his as-
sertion tbat it w r as " replete with falsehood and pre-
varication." l
1 The entire article, as it appeared, reads thus: "We are informed
that about twenty of the Episcopal clergy, joined by delegates of lay
gentlemen from a number of the congregations in several of the South-
ern States, lately assembled at Christ Church, Philadelphia, revised the
Liturgy of the Church of England (adapting it to the late Revolution),
expunged some of the Creeds, reduced the thirty-nine Articles to twenty
in number, and agreed on a letter addressed to the Archbishops and the
Spiritual Court in England, desiring they would be pleased to obviate
250 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The intelligence which came from England in re-
sponse to the address of the convention was unex-
pected and somewhat discouraging. "I tremble,"
wrote Dr. Murray, "for the consequences after you
have, as it is reported, laid violent hands on the ven-
erable fabric of your mother Church, which has with-
stood the attacks of ages, without any very material
alterations since Elizabeth." Other warm friends of
the American Church in London were alarmed at the
haste with which the revision had been made, and
more than one refugee clergyman wrote for fuller
explanation of the doings of the convention, and dis-
approved of certain articles in the general ecclesias-
tical constitution, which were esteemed to be funda-
mentally wrong.
Mr. Duche feared for the success of the application,
and foresaw an unpleasant disunion, if nothing was
done to recognize Dr. Seabury, and bring him in to
assist in making further regulations for discipline,
worship, and a " general uniformity in the Episcopal
Church throughout the States." Dr. Inglis looked
with astonishment upon the article which sunk a
any difficulties that might arise on application to them for consecrating
such respectable clergy as should be appointed and sent to London from
their body to act as Bishops on the Continent of America, where there
is at present only one Prelate dignified with Episcopal powers, viz., the
Right Reverend Dr. Samuel Seabury, Bishop of the Apostolical Church
in the State of Connecticut. Hitherto Mr. Pitt, the British minister,
has vehemently opposed all applications preferred for consecration to
Sees in America; this discouragement occasioned Bishop Seabury to
secure his consecration from three of the Bishops in Scotland, which
proves as perfectly valid and efficient as though obtained from the hands
of their Right Reverences of Canterbury, York, and London, and is in-
contestably proved by a list of the consecration and succession of Scots
Bishops since the Revolution in 1688, under William the Third." (The
New York Packet, October 31, 1785.)
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 251
bishop to the level of a layman, and wrote Dr. White
a long letter, pleading for the preservation of a sound
faith and primitive order. " When I first saw the
regulation," said he, " made on this head, I was as-
tonished how any people, professing themselves mem-
bers of an Episcopal Church, could think of degrad-
ing their bishop in such a manner. No Episcopal
power whatever is reserved for him but that of ordi-
nation and perhaps confirmation. He is only a mem-
ber, ex officio, of the Convention, where he resides,
but is not to take the chair or preside unless he is
asked : whereas, such presidency is as essential to his
character as ordination. St. Paul's bishop was to re-
ceive and judge of accusations brought against pres-
byters, as hath been the case of bishops ever since.
But your bishop has nothing to do with such mat-
ters, the convention, consisting mostly of laymen,
are to receive and judge of accusations against him.
In short, his barber may shave him in the morning,
and in the afternoon vote him out of his office."
The Bishop of Connecticut, who was not influenced
so much by a desire to be properly recognized on ac-
count of his office as by solicitude for the true in-
terests of the Church in this country, wrote to Dr.
White, as follows, from
NEW LONDON, January 18, 1786.
DEAR SIB, I should have paid the earliest attention
to your letter of the 18th of October, but that I flattered
myself I would have been favored with a copy of the Jour-
nal of the Convention at Philadelphia, and a letter from Dr.
Smith on the subject ; but as I have unhappily been disap- 1
pointed in both expectations, I will no longer delay writing
to you, lest what has hitherto been only apparent, should
become a real neglect.
252 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
On the business of your Convention I can at present say
nothing, because I know nothing but from report, and that
I hope has exaggerated matters ; for I should be much af-
flicted to find all true that is reported. You mention my
disapprobation of your including the Laity in your represent-
ative body. Your extending the power of the lay-delegate,
so far as your fundamental rules have done, I did then, and
do now, most certainly disapprove of, particularly in the ar-
ticle relating to the Bishop, who, if I rightly understand, is
to be subject to a jurisdiction of presbyters and laymen. I
hope the general desire to harmonize which you mention will
produce good effects. I assure you no one will endeavor
more to effect the cordial union of the Episcopal Church
through the Continent than I shall, provided it be on Epis-
copal principles.
I am, Rev. Sir, with regard and esteem, your very humble
servant, SAMUEL, Bp. Epl. Ch. Connect.
The formal answer to the address of the conven-
tion, returned by the archbishops and bishops, nine-
teen in all, was dated February 24, 1786, and while
it expressed a Christian affection for the petitioners
and a wish to promote their spiritual welfare, it
opened up the subject in a light which showed how
cautiously they intended to proceed in granting the
prayer of the address and conferring the Episcopal
character.
" With these sentiments," said they, " we are dis-
posed to make every allowance which candor can
suggest for the difficulties of your situation, but at
the same time, we cannot help being afraid that, in
the proceedings of your convention, some alterations
may have been adopted or intended, which those dif-
ficulties do not seem to justify.
" These alterations are not mentioned in your ad-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 253
dress, and as our knowledge of them is no more than
what has reached us through private and less certain
channels, we hope you will think it just, both to you
and to ourselves, if we wait for an explanation. For
while we are anxious to give every proof, not only of
our brotherly affection, but of our facility in forward-
ing your wishes, we cannot but be extremely cau-
tious lest we should be the instruments of establish-
ing an ecclesiastical system which will be called a
branch of the Church of England, but afterwards
may possibly appear to have departed from it essen-
tially, either in doctrine or discipline."
The letter of the English prelates was received in
New York on the 12th of May, and, detaining the
original till it had been presented to a convention of
presbyters and laymen soon to assemble in that city,
Mr. Provoost hurried off a copy to Dr. White by the
hands of a Presbyterian minister traveling south-
ward, and said in the brief note which accompanied
it, " Pains have been taken to misrepresent our pro-
ceedings, yet I flatter myself from the seeming can-
dor of the bishops that these misrepresentations will
do us no material injury." His brother in Philadel-
phia was more cautious as well as more charitable,
and evidently did not think it wise at this stage of
the correspondence to allow so much publicity. The
following letter to Dr. White, dated May 20, 1786,
just one week after Mr. Provoost had sent him a copy
of the address, shows the drift of things in New York
and New Jersey, and a determination to set Bishop
Seabury aside, if possible :
I wrote by Dr. Rodgers, and am now to acknowledge the
receipt of yours of the 14th and 16th instant, with the in-
254 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
closed from our worthy friend, Richard Peters, Esq. The
Bishops' reply to our address had been communicated to our
Convention, and copies taken by some of the clerical breth-
ren before your cautionary letter arrived, but with no inten-
tion of publishing it. The Convention, after sitting two
days without doing anything very material, adjourned to
the second Tuesday of next month in expectation of a more
numerous meeting and to give the different congregations
an opportunity of perusing the new Prayer Book before the
question for adopting it came forward. The package with
the fifty books (viz., 45 in black and 5 red bound) was
brought safe to me early last Wednesday morning. But I
can get no account of the hundred which were first sent.
Your best friends in this city approve of your conduct in
not admitting persons ordained by Dr. Cebra to your pulpit.
The clergy in New Jersey act with the same precaution.
Mr. Spraggs and Mr. Roe were not to be received as mem-
bers of their Convention.
The Archbishop, by not choosing to answer private in-
quiries, has left the matter in Dubio, and you may still act
literally even in that respect upon the principle of sub Judice
Us est.
But I really think our line of conduct is plain before us.
As the General Convention did not think proper to acknowl-
edge Dr. Cebra as a Bishop, much less as a Bishop of our
Church, it would be highly improper for us in our private
capacities to give any sanction to his ordinations. It would
also be an insult upon the Church and to the truly venera-
ble prelates to whom we are now making application for the
succession. For my own part I carry the matter still fur-
ther, and, as a friend to the liberties of mankind, should
be extremely sorry that the conduct of my brethren here
should tend to the resurrection of the sect of Non- Jurors
(nearly buried in oblivion), whose slavish and absurd tenets
were a disgrace to humanity, and Grod grant that they may
never be cherished in America, which, as my native country,
I wish may always be saved to liberty, both civil and relig-
ious.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 255
Eight only of the clergy and three of the laity,
who formed part of the convention which met in
Philadelphia to frame a constitution and revise the
Book of Common Prayer, were members of the con-
vention which assembled in the same city June 20,
1786, to hear and act upon the letter from the arch-
bishops and bishops of the Church of England. The
seven States were again represented, but not a lay-
man from Maryland appeared, and John Jay had
taken the place of James Duane as a delegate from
New York. The whole number of members was
fourteen clergymen and twelve laymen, and the Rev.
David Griffith was elected president, and Francis
Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, secretary.
The very first action, after the organization, was
an indirect assault upon Bishop Seabury, contained
in a motion " that the clergy present produce their
letters of orders, or declare by whom they were or-
dained." Though the motion was lost, another, of-
fered by the Rev. Mr. Provoost, who had secured
authority to this effect from the convention in New
York, struck at the validity of ordinations by the
Bishop of Connecticut; and finally, to allay the op-
position, which was attended with bitter feeling, Dr.
White presented a resolution which was unanimously
adopted : " That it be recommended to this Church
in the States here represented, not to receive to the
pastoral charge, within their respective limits, clergy-
men professing canonical subjection to any bishop in
any State or country other than those bishops who
may be duly settled in the States represented in this
Convention."
256 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The only members to be affected by this resolution
were the Kev. William Smith, the younger .gentle-
man of that name in the convention, who had been
ordained by a Scottish bishop, and the Rev. Joseph
Pilmore, ordained by Bishop Seabury, and a repre-
sentative from Pennsylvania, who utterly denied that
any pledge of canonical obedience had been required
of him other than the simple vows in the ordinal
which every presbyter was accustomed to take.
This ought to have ended the matter ; but the next
morning the Kev. Robert Smith, of South Carolina,
introduced a more stringent resolution, which was
also adopted with unanimity: "That it be recom-
mended to the convention of the Church represented
in this general convention, not to admit any person
as a minister within their respective limits, who shall
receive ordination from any bishop residing in Amer-
ica, during the application now pending to the Eng-
lish bishops for Episcopal consecration."
The convention then entered upon the business of
reviewing the proceedings of the previous meeting
and of considering the letter of the English prelates
in response to the application for the Episcopacy.
The ecclesiastical constitution was amended in some
of its most important articles, a bishop, if present, al-
lowed his proper place in the convention, and " The
Proposed Book " permitted to be used, " till further
provision is made, in this case, by the first general
convention which shall assemble with sufficient power
to ratify a Book of Common Prayer for the Church
in these States." A committee of correspondence
was appointed, with authority to convene a general
convention in Wilmington, Del., whenever a majority
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 257
of them should deem it necessary ; and an answer to
the letter from the archbishops and bishops of Eng-
land was adopted, and, having been duly engrossed,
was signed by all the members of the convention ex-
cept two clergymen and three laymen. It is due to
the views of the signers to cite in this place nearly
the whole of their answer :
It gives us pleasure to be assured that the success of our
application will probably meet with no greater obstacles
than what have arisen from doubts respecting the extent of
the alterations we have made and proposed ; and we are
happy to learn that as no political impediments oppose us
here, those which at present exist in England may be re-
moved.
While doubts remain of our continuing to hold the same
essential articles of faith and discipline with the Church of
England, we acknowledge the propriety of suspending a
compliance with our request.
We are unanimous and explicit in assuring your Lord-
ships that we neither have departed nor propose to depart
from the doctrines of your Church. We have retained the
same discipline and forms of worship as far as was consist-
ent with our civil constitutions ; and we have made no al-
terations or omissions in the Book of Common Prayer, but
such as that consideration prescribed, and such as were cal-
culated to remove objections, which it appeared to us more
conducive to union and general content to obviate, than to
dispute. It is well known that many great and pious men
of the Church of England have long wished for a revision of
the Liturgy, which it was deemed imprudent to hazard, lest
it might become a precedent for repeated and improper al-
terations. This is with us the proper season for such a re-
vision. We are now settling and ordering the affairs of our
Church, and if wisely done, we shall have reason to promise
ourselves all the advantages that can result from stability
and union.
17
258 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
We are anxious to complete our Episcopal system by
means of the Church of England. We esteem and prefer
it, and with gratitude acknowledge the patronage and favors
for which, while connected, we have constantly been in-
debted to that Church. These considerations, added to that
of agreement in faith and worship, press us to repeat our
former request, and to endeavor to remove your present hes-
itation, by sending you our proposed Ecclesiastical Consti-
tution and Book of Common Prayer.
These documents, we trust, will afford a full answer to
every question that can arise on the subject. We consider
your Lordships' letter as very candid and kind ; we repose
full confidence in the assurance it gives ; and that confidence,
together with the liberality and Catholicism of your vener-
able body, leads us to flatter ourselves that you will not dis-
claim a branch of your Church merely for having been, in
your Lordships' opinion, if that should be the case, pruned
rather more closely than its separation made absolutely nec-
essary.
We have only to add that as our Church in sundry of
these States has already proceeded to the election of persons
to be sent for consecration, and others may soon proceed to
the same, we pray to be favored with as speedy an answer
to this, our second address, as in your great goodness you
were pleased to give to our former one.
The proceedings of this convention were not cal-
culated to promote a good understanding between
the clergy of New England and those of New York,
Pennsylvania, and the South. They rather widened
the breach that was begun, and put Bishop Seabury
aside in a manner which his friends regarded as the
forerunner of a schism in the American Church.
The Eev. Mr. Parker, of Boston, was outspoken in
his reproof of the course pursued, and expressed in
a letter to Dr. White his sorrow at the coolness and
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 259
indifference with which some of the gentlemen in
the convention spoke of the Bishop of Connecticut.
" However eligible it may appear to them/' said he,
" to obtain the succession from the English Church,
I think there can be no real objection to Dr. Sea-
bury's consecration or the validity of orders received
from him ; and I am firmly of the opinion, that we
should never have obtained the succession from Eng-
land, had he or some other not have obtained it first
from Scotland."
The judicious and temperate memorial from New
Jersey, drawn by Dr. Chandler, and presented to this
convention, opened the eyes of many to the danger
of disorganization on account of the proposed Litur-
gical changes, and the more the new Prayer Book
was examined and circulated among intelligent
churchmen, the less was the favor shown to the alter-
ations and omissions that had been set forth. We
" are very apprehensive," is the language of that me-
morial, " that until alterations can be made consistent
with the customs of the primitive Church, and with
the rules of the Church of England, from which it is
our boast to have descended, a ratification of them
would create great uneasiness in the minds of many
members of the Church, and in great probability
cause dissensions and schisms."
The political condition of the country was now
somewhat alarming, and the minds of good men were
exercised about the establishment of a new and per-
manent form of government. Dr. Bowden, a great
champion of the Church, and the author of " Works
on Episcopacy," returned, December, 1784, to Nor-
walk, where he spent some time in retirement at the
260 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
outbreak of the Revolution, and assumed the charge
of the parish in that place. Under his rectorship
the church was rebuilt " in an elegant manner " with
voluntary contributions, notwithstanding about thirty
families of Episcopalians had removed to Nova Scotia
and other places, and those who remained had been
reduced in their circumstances by the war, and the
destruction of their property when the town was
burnt. The following letter, dated Norwalk, August
2, 1786, and written to one who could appreciate the
signs of discontent in New York, is a graphic descrip-
tion of the public confusions and dangers, at the same
time that it expresses fears for the unity and welfare
of the Church. The tribute to the energy and char-
acter of Bishop Seabury was well deserved, and fixes,
very nearly, the date of the first consecration of a
church in Connecticut, and the large number of per-
sons confirmed at the first visitation of a bishop to
Norwalk.
DEAR SIR, The accounts from your part of the country
are not as favorable as from S. John's. Your government is
not well spoken of. Numbers have come away exasperated,
complaining of injustice and breach of faith ; and it is said
that a large part of the refugees to this day have not drawn
their lands. Refugees, I know, are a very discontented set
of mortals, and I have no doubt that much of their clamor
is groundless. But yet, I fear, your Governor is exceed-
ingly faulty, and too deficient in all the requisites for good
government. I wish that you were his mentor, then, I
am sure, a benevolent intention to promote the happiness of
the community would mark the whole administration.
It is probable you have heard of my being in Connecticut.
In a political view, this is by far the most eligible State
to live in. Distinctions have entirely ceased, all oppressive
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 261
laws are repealed, and Whig and Tory stand upon equal
ground. Not so in New York. That State is indelibly
marked with infamy. The highest Whigs in the city exe-
crate the conduct of the Legislature, and it is not uncommon
to hear those who stood foremost in promoting the Revolu-
tion, sigh their discontent, under all the splendor and ad-
vantages of independence. I once thought that I should see
no more trouble in my day, but I have altered my mind.
All things seem to tend to a state of anarchy ; and unless I
take my flight to another world pretty soon, I believe I shall
see the political system here in much such a condition as the
natural was at the creation, " without form and void ; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep."
The Eastern States bid fairest for a continuance under
their present form of government. The manners of the peo-
ple are simple, and their mode of living frugal. But from
New York westward, luxury and dissipation have made a
rapid progress. All ranks are vieing with one another in
extravagance. We have put on the fashionable manners
and assumed the gay complexion of an old established na-
tion, long flowing in wealth, and arrived at the last period
of folly and vice, whilst in our political infancy. If this
state of things does not produce ruin, there will be one ex-
ception in the history of mankind to that position : " the
same causes produce the same effects."
Amidst all these disorders, nothing affects me as much as
the state of the Church. It is much to be feared, that there
will be a separation of the Eastern and Western Churches.
The former, steadfast in Episcopal principles, would send no
delegates to the grand Convention at Philadelphia last Sep-
tember, because, the year preceding, the Convention held
at New York departed wholly from the principles of the
Church in regard to government. (The pamphlet herewith
will give you the particulars.) Yet that Convention had
the modesty to apply to the English bishops to invest per-
sons sent from this country with Episcopal powers. The
answer was a civil put off. The bishops said that they un-
262 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
derstood great alterations had been made in the government
and constitution of the Church, but as the Convention had
sent no authentic copy of their proceedings, a decisive an-
swer could not be given. An authentic copy has since been
sent, and great hopes are entertained of success. But I am
fully satisfied that the English bishops will never give their
sanction to a plan of government which leaves out the Epis-
copal character. Bishop Seabury makes a very respectable
figure at the head of this Church. His abilities, firmness,
diligence, and circumspect conduct give churchmen great
hopes, dissenters great fears. He consecrated, about a month
since, the church lately built in this town, and confirmed
near four hundred persons. Nothing is wanting to make this
Episcopate flourish, but a little pecuniary assistance. The
loss of the Society's bounty is severely felt.
From your sincere friend, and humble servant,
JOHN BOWDEBT.
ISAAC WILKINS, ESQ.
OF SAMUEL SEABUEY. 263
CHAPTER XV.
BISHOP SEABURY'S COMMUNION OFFICE, AND CONVOCATION AT
DERBY; LITURGICAL CHANGES, AND LETTER TO GOVERNOR HUNT-
INGTON; SECOND CHARGE, AND EPISCOPAL RESIDENCE; POVERTY
OF THE CLERGY AND PEOPLE, AND SUPPORT OF THE BISHOP.
A. D. 1786-1787.
IN 1786, Bishop Seabury set forth "the Commun-
ion Office, or order for the administration of the Holy
Eucharist/' and recommended it to the Episcopal con-
gregations in Connecticut. It followed the Scotch of-
fice and was in accordance with the compact entered
into at Aberdeen after his consecration. The fifth
article of the " Concordate " states that Bishop Sea-
bury agreed to take a serious view of the communion
office recommended by the Scottish bishops, " and, if
found agreeable to the genuine standards of antiquity,
to give his sanction to it, and, by gentle methods of
argument and persuasion, to endeavor, as they have
done, to introduce it by degrees into practice without
the compulsion of authority on the one side, or the
prejudice of former custom on the other."
The clergy met in convocation at Derby, the latter
part of September, 1786, and the office was put forth
at that time and gradually came into use in the dio-
cese. Those who were contemporaries with Bishop
Seabury formed a strong attachment for it, and
traces of this attachment lingered in Connecticut for
264 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
half a century. 1 It has been seen that the clergy as
well as the laity were indisposed to alterations in the
Prayer Book, and the recommendation of the office
had all the more weight with them from the single
fact that it was not urged with " the compulsion of
authority." The private ejaculations and prayers
which accompanied it appear to have been composed
by the bishop, and the office was convenient, in its
original form, for use by the people on occasions of
celebrating the holy communion. Whether more
than one edition of it was printed at the time has not
been discovered ; probably a second edition was not
called for, as the present order in the Book of Com-
mon Prayer was settled upon three years later, and
accepted by the whole Church in the United States.
At this convocation in Derby, some Liturgical
changes were adopted which the new civil relations
of the country rendered necessary. The meeting was
not a hurried one. Time was taken to examine care-
fully the matters proposed, and while no minutes
have been preserved, there are contemporary docu-
ments to prove that the best part of a week was
given to the discussion of the subjects which, came up
for consideration. As a result of the deliberations it
was ordered that the following supplication be in-
serted in the Litany :
1 When I began my ministry as a deacon in the autumn of 1835, in
St. Peter's Church, Cheshire, the Rev. Reuben Ives, a former rector of
the parish, ordained by Bishop Seabury and for a time his assistant at
New London, was living in retirement at the place, and I requested him
to officiate in the communion service. He invariably read what is
called the prayer of Humble Access immediately after consecrating the
elements, and just before communicating, as it stands at present in the
Scottish office.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 265
" That it may please Thee to bless and protect the
United States of America in Congress assembled ;
and to direct and prosper all their consultations to
the advancement of the public welfare and the pro-
motion of thy true religion and virtue :
" We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord."
If the Litany should not be read the direction was
to use as a substitute for the supplication, this Col-
lect :
66 Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness, we
humbly beseech Thee to bless the United States of
America in Congress assembled, together with the
Governor and Kulers of this State ; endue them with
thy Holy Spirit; enrich them with thy heavenly
grace ; prosper them with all happiness ; and grant
that under their wise and just government, we may
lead godly and quiet lives in this world, and by thy
mercy obtain everlasting happiness in the world to
come, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 9 '
Bishop Seabury was mindful of what belonged to
the Church in its relations to the State, and took an
early opportunity to acquaint the Governor of Con-
necticut with the action of the convocation at Derby.
He was now the head of a religious body which had
been proscribed during the war of the Revolution for
sympathy with the cause of the crown; and he
would show his readiness and that of his clergy to
submit to the powers that be, and to join as heartily
in the support of the new form of government as be-
fore they had been opposed to the independence of
the colonies. He wrote the following letter to his
266 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
" Excellency, Samuel Huntington, Esquire, Governor
of the State of Connecticut," dated
NEW LONDON, October 14, 1786.
SIR, The Convocation of the Episcopal Clergy of this
State having in their late meeting in Derby directed the in-
closed forms of Prayer for the United States of America in
Congress assembled, to be inserted in the Liturgy, and used
in the celebration of Divine Service, I have taken the lib-
erty to make this communication to your Excellency, think-
ing it my duty to lay all our transactions in which the State
is in any wise concerned, before the Supreme Magistrates.
We feel it to be our duty, and, I assure your Excellency, it
is our willing disposition, to pray for, and seek to promote,
the peace and happiness of the Country in which we live,
and the stability and efficacy of the Civil Government under
which God's providence has placed us : And we persuade
ourselves, that in the discharge of this duty, we have not
derogated from the freedom, sovereignty, or independence of
this State. Should your Excellency's sentiments be differ-
ent, I shall presume to hope for a communication of them,
that due regard and attention may be paid to them.
Begging the best blessings of Heaven for your Excellency,
both in your private and public capacity, I remain, with
great regard and esteem, your Excellency's most obedient
and very humble servant, S., Bp. Connect}-
On Monday afternoon, the 2d of October, the
bishop arrived in New Haven from attending the
convocation in Derby, and from visiting a number of
the Episcopal parishes in the northeastern part of the
State. Tarrying for a single night, he set out the
next morning for New London by the way of North
Haven, where the rite of confirmation was adminis-
tered the same day. 2 No list of the number of can-
1 MS. Letter-Book.
2 See The Connecticut Journal for October 4, 1786.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 267
didates upon whom he laid his hands here and in
other places during this visitation has been discov-
ered, and the sermons he preached have not been
noted. He admitted four persons to the order of
deacons, September 21st, and on Sunday, the 24th,
he ordained another to the same office. One impor-
tant document was published, as the title-page shows,
" at the earnest desire of the Convocation," and it is
from a rare and dingy copy of the original impres-
sion a that we reproduce in these pages " Bishop Sea-
bury's Second Charge to the Clergy of his Diocese,
delivered at Derby, in the State of Connecticut, on
the 22d of September, 1786."
REVEEEND BEETHEEN, It having pleased Almighty
God, our heavenly Father, that we should again come to-
gether, to compare the progress each of us has made in the
great work committed to his charge, the preaching the
Gospel of Christ, and reclaiming sinners from the errors of
their ways , to deliberate on the most prudent and effect-
ual means of building up the Church, and enlarging the
kingdom of our Redeemer ; and to encourage each other to
proceed with steadiness and zeal in the arduous undertaking
most sincerely do I bless GOD for the happy meeting,
earnestly beseeching him to enable us by his grace to pros-
ecute our business with prudence and meekness, and a sin-
cere love for the souls of them that are under our care ; and
that he would bless and prosper our endeavors, and render
them effectual to the purpose for which they are intended.
In the Charge delivered the last year at Middletown, par-
ticular mention was made of the necessity of Confirmation,
and of the propriety of your explaining to your people the
nature of the holy Rite, and the authority on which it
stands, that so they might come to it with due preparation,
and a mind convinced of its reasonableness and usefulness.
1 New Haven: Printed by Thomas and Samuel Green.
268 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
I have every reason to suppose that this has been done with
the greatest care and fidelity. The numbers of serious and
well-informed persons who have presented themselves for
Confirmation in the various Churches where it has been
ministered are a sufficient and pleasing proof that the sub-
ject has not been neglected. This is a matter of sincere joy
to me; and must be so to you, and to all good men; and
opens a fair prospect of my finding all those Congregations
ready for the Holy Solemnity, which I shall at this time be
able to visit.
The general state of the Church, however, is such as must
fill every serious mind with anxious concern for its prosper-
ity. Its old patrons, who, under GOD, were its great sup-
port, have withdrawn their countenance, and left it to stand
by its own strength. The time, and sudden manner of do-
ing this, are attended with such circumstances as really
double the inconveniences. The members of the Church had
in no degree recovered from the loss and damage sustained
in the late commotions. Nor had time enough elapsed, to
give them an opportunity of arranging any matters, or es-
tablishing any funds, for the supplying of that deficiency,
which the withdrawing of the salaries from England would
necessarily make in the support of their ministers. One
year's notification previous to the withdrawing of the sala-
ries would in a great measure have prevented the inconven-
iences which we now feel : And it is hard to conceive that
this would materially have injured the Society's funds, or
have disobliged those benevolent persons who so generously
contribute to that excellent institution.
But duty requires that everything relating to that venera-
ble body, in whose service many of us were lately employed,
should be considered in the most favorable light. And, in
justice to them, it ought to be noted, That their Charter en-
ables them to send Missionaries only into the British Colo-
nies, Plantations, and Factories, beyond sea. When there-
fore the American States ceased to belong to the British
empire, they ceased, in a legal sense, to be the objects of
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 269
their Charter. Thus candor obliges us to think and say.
But gratitude has further obligations on us. We ought to
bless GOD for his mercy in raising up that Society for our
assistance. We have been benefited by it : And we ought
to be grateful to him, and to those worthy characters who
composed and supported it. The memory of those that are
dead ought to be revered by us : Nor should the present ap-
parent unkindness obliterate the sense of the former benefits
we have received from the present members. May GOD re-
ward them ! And as they are now exerting their benevolence
in other countries may HE bless and prosper their en-
deavors to establish true religion, piety, and virtue in them.
On our part, this, as well as every other misfortune, is to
be received as the dispensation of GOD as the chastise-
ment of our heavenly Father : Whether intended to correct
something amiss in us and the congregations to which we
minister ; or to exercise and prove our faith and patience,
must be left to every person's judgment and conscience to
determine for himself. Probably something of both may be
in the case. Our duty therefore requires, that we call our-
selves to account, and see wherein we have offended; that
we humble ourselves before GOD for our negligences and
omissions for our want of diligence and zeal in our Mas-
ter's service ; that we beg of him his merciful forgiveness of
all that is past, and the grace of his Holy Spirit, to amend
our lives, and make us more careful and exact in our duty
for the time to come. And let us inculcate the same senti-
ments and conduct on the people of our several cures.
Let this dispensation also teach us patience, and humility,
and resignation, and faith ; and excite us to obtain that pov-
erty of spirit to which the heavenly kingdom is promised.
We shall thereby resemble him the more, who humbled
himself, that he might exalt us ; who became poor, that he
might make us rich ; who patiently resigned himself to the
will of his Father, that he might pay the ransom of our
souls, and redeem us from destruction : Setting us an exam-
ple that we might follow his steps.
270 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Our dependence must now be on our own efforts, the be-
nevolence of our Congregations, and the merciful providence
of him who " openeth his hand and filleth all things liv-
ing with plenteousness." He has cut off one resource, and
he can open others : And he will open others, should he see
it best for us. To him let us commit ourselves and our
Church, in humble confidence that he who feeds the ravens,
who clothes the grass, who protects the sparrow, who num-
bers the hairs of our heads, who knoweth whereof we have
need, who hath promised all necessary things to them who
seek his kingdom and the righteousness thereof, will extend
his providential care to us also. And while we thus put our
trust in GOD, let us not be negligent in using all honest and
decent means for our own support, that shall be in our
power. Little indeed can a Clergyman do, out of the line
of his profession, to increase his income ; and out of the line
of his profession, it is not always right and proper that he
should step. His principal efforts then must be in the way
of economy and frugality : By moderation in his enjoyments
and expenses, to make his income go as far as possible in the
support of himself and family, and so that something also
may be left to answer the necessary demands of benevolence
and charity. If these efforts fail us, and our present income
be really too little to support us as becomes the Ministers of
GOD, we must, with all meekness and patience, explain our
circumstances and situations to the Congregations where we
officiate ; and endeavor to convince them of their duty to
exert their abilities in making some further provision for our
support ; that so we may attend on our duty without anx-
ious solicitude for the comforts of life, and they may enjoy
the public worship of GOD, and the sacred offices and ordi-
nances of Religion, which he has appointed in his Church,
for their growth in grace and Christian knowledge. It is to
be hoped and presumed, that these representations will have
their influence. Should they not, I know of no human rem-
edy, but a removal to some place where there is a chance of
doing better. But be the issue whatever it may, let us re-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 271
member that it is the dispensation of our heavenly Father,
who knows, and who will do, what is best for us. And,
'That we may with the more confidence look to him for his
gracious protection, we must take especial care faithfully to
do our duty to him, as good stewards of those heavenly mys-
teries with which he has entrusted us. Now,
One great instance of fidelity in our duty, and which we
have all solemnly engaged at our ordinations, attentively to
regard, is to drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines,
by which the truth of the Gospel may be obscured or cor-
rupted, and the salvation of the people endangered. And
certainly there never was greater need of the discharge of
this duty, or of contending earnestly for the faith, as it was
once delivered to the saints, than at this time.
Deism, with its necessary consequence, no religion at
all, or rather adverseness to all religion, if I am rightly in-
formed, has within a few years made great advances in the
United States. Other causes may have occurred ; but I
cannot help thinking, that the wild, ill-founded, and incon-
sistent schemes of religion, and systems of divinity, which
have obtained in the world I fear I may say, particularly
in this country have opened the way for the progress of
infidelity. People of sober reason and common sense may
hence be tempted to think, that Reason and Religion can
never be reconciled. They too who have been beguiled into
a belief of such ill-founded systems, or enthusiastic opinions,
finding that they cannot be supported, when properly at-
tacked, may be led to suppose that all religious principles
are equally unfounded with their own. The next step is to
become proselytes to the opinion that all religions are equal,
and no religion as good as any.
Our only weapons are sober reason and fair argument
drawn from the nature of GOD and of man from the rela-
tion we stand in to GpD from our real state and condi-
tion in this world and from that immortal state which
awaits us in the next. That our reasons and arguments
may have effect, they should be proposed with perspicuity,
272 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
and urged with meekness and good temper. All ostenta-
tion, and vanity, and every appearance of superiority, should
be carefully avoided. We must therefore understand our re-
ligion, and be able to give a good account of it, or we shall
not be able to defend it, or to convince gainsayers. And
we must understand ourselves too, be acquainted with
our own tempers, and able to command our passions, - or
we shall probably be foiled, through want of knowledge, or
through the impetuosity of passion. Religious disputes, no
doubt, ought commonly to be avoided : But sometimes duty
requires us to enter into them : And that we may do so
with advantage, we ought to be acquainted with the princi-
ples and doctrines of our religion, the ground on which they
stand, and the topics from which reasons and arguments
may be drawn, to illustrate and defend them.
Duty obliges me to take notice of another circumstance
that will call for our attention, the prevalence of Arian-
ism and Socinianism. The former of these heresies early
infested the Church, and nearly destroyed the true faith.
The latter sprung from the former, and is the produce of
more modern times : And their advocates seem now to be
incorporating their systems, and joining their efforts, to dis-
card the divinity of Christ from the Christian system.
It is something extraordinary, that men who profess to
believe the Holy Scriptures should discard a doctrine so
plainly and strongly asserted in them, and on which the
whole structure of our religion is apparently built. To get
rid of the positive declarations of Holy Scripture in favor
of Christ's divinity, the patrons of these heresies are obliged
to recur to forced and unnatural constructions of particular
passages, and to affix new meanings to words and phrases,
of which the early Christians had no knowledge. Attach-
ment to philosophical systems, first adopted, and then made
the standard of truth, seems to be the source of these, as
it is of many other evils to Christianity. Objections have
been made to the Mosaic account of the creation, because it
was thought not to comport perfectly with the system of
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 273
Copernicus. And, if I rightly remember, Dr. Priestly in
his letters to the Archdeacon of St. Alban's attempts to over-
throw the doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in the God-
head, because he supposes it inconsistent with mathematical
principles : 1 -f- 1 + 1 3 : therefore there cannot be
THREE persons, and ONE GOD.
It would be well if men would reserve positive assertions,
and dogmatical positions, for those subjects they do under-
stand ; and would learn to speak with more modesty and
diffidence of matters which it is impossible they should
fully comprehend. We know nothing of GOD but what he
has been pleased to reveal to us. And though there must of
necessity be many things mysterious in his nature, and
works, and revelations, when contemplated by such limited
understandings as we possess ; yet as his revelations are in-
tended for our information, we must suppose the terms in
which they are conveyed are, as much as possible, accommo-
dated to our capacities, and to be understood according to
the analogy they have to our own mode of expression, and
not in a sense totally different from, and utterly incongru-
ous with that in which we are accustomed to use them.
When Christ says, "I and my Father are one" are we to
suppose that he intended to convey an idea that he and his
Father were as absolutely distinct in essence as are two
mathematical units? When St. John says, "There are
three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost : And these three are taie " (eV eiVt)
one thing one substance one essence are we to sup-
pose them to be totally distinct, so that if the Father be
God, and the Word be God, and the Holy Ghost be God,
there shall be three Gods? Three distinct witnesses they
are, and therefore they must be three distinct personalities :
But they are one essence, and therefore one GOD. 1 We
cannot comprehend this mystery must we then refuse to
1 I am not ignorant that the authenticity of 1 John v. 7 is disputed.
Nor am I ignorant that it has been incontestibly established by the Rev.
Mr. Travis, in his letters to Mr. Gibbon.
18
274 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
believe it ? Let us also refuse to believe our eyes, for we
can as little comprehend how they perceive objects at ten or
twenty miles distance.
When Dr. Priestly can by searching find out GOD ; when
he can comprehend the Almighty to perfection, then let
him pronounce positively oh the nature of GOD, and adjust
it as school-boys adjust their sums in addition. He may
then too be qualified to correct the errors of expression in
divine revelation, and teach the Almighty to express himself
better. But let us bow in humble reverence before the maj-
esty of heaven and earth : And as we know nothing of his
nature, or of his will, but by revelation, let us attend to
that be content to submit our ignorance to his knowledge,
and to think of him, and believe in him, as he has repre-
sented himself to us.
It is always a disagreeable task to be obliged to mention
any matter with censure, or even disapprobation ; and I am
very happy that the measure of which I am now to take
notice, can call for animadversion, only by way of caution.
A number of the Clergy and Laity in the southern States
have undertaken to revise and alter the Liturgy, and Offices,
and Government of the Church ; and have exhibited a
Prayer-book to the public. The time will not permit me to
say anything of the merit of the alterations in the Liturgy :
But, I am persuaded, by an unprejudiced mind, some of
them, will be thought for the worse, most of them not for
the better. But the authority on which they have acted is
unknown in the Episcopal Church. The government of the
Church by Bishops, we hold to have been established by the
Apostles, acting under the commission of Christ, and the di-
rection of the Holy Ghost ; and therefore is not to be altered
by any power on earth, nor indeed by an angel from heaven.
This government they have degraded, by lodging the chief
authority in a Convention of clerical and lay Delegates
making their Church Episcopal in its orders, but Presbyte-
rian in its government.
Liturgies are left more to the prudence and judgment of
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 275
the governors of the Church: And the primitive practice
seems to have been, that the Bishop did, with the advice, no
doubt, of his Presbyters, provide a Liturgy for the use of
his diocese. This ought to have been the case here. Bish-
ops should first have been obtained to preside over those
Churches. And to those Bishops, with the Proctors of the
Clergy, should have been committed the business of compil-
ing a Liturgy for the use of the Church, through the States.
This would have insured unity in doctrine, worship, and dis-
cipline through the whole, which upon the present plan will
either not be obtained, or, if obtained, will not be durable.
And should we ever be so happy, through the merciful
providence of GOD, to obtain such a meeting, great regard
ought to be had to the primitive Liturgies and Forms, in
compiling a book of Common Prayer. The Christians who
lived in the next age after the Apostles must have conversed
with apostolic men, i. e., with those who had conversed with
the Apostles, and were acquainted with their opinions and
practice, in the conduct of the public worship, and adminis-
tration of the sacraments, and discipline of the Church.
Nor is it likely that they would easily or quickly depart
from that mode which they knew had been approved by
them ; especially at a time when perpetual persecution and
distress kept men close to GOD and their duty : And the
world and its concerns could have but little power over
those who daily expected to yield up that life in martyr-
dom, which they passed in continual devotion to GOD, and
in the service and edification of his Church. It would
therefore be a good rule, in altering anything in our stated
Liturgy that might be thought to need it, to go back to
early Christianity, before it was corrupted by Popery, and
see what was then the practice of the Church what its
rites and ceremonies and to conform our own as nearly to
it as the state of the Church will permit ; always remember-
ing that the government, and doctrines, and sacraments of
the Church are settled by divine authority, and are not sub-
jected to our amendment, or alteration.
276 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
And the best way to ascertain the Government, doctrines,
Liturgies, or forms of public service of the primitive Church
is to consult and attend to the early Christian writers.
They were the best judges of apostolic practice, because
they lived nearest to the apostolic times ; at least, they
could not be mistaken with regard to the practice of their
own times and churches. And whenever we find by these
writers, that the Churches of Asia, Africa, and Europe
agreed in any particular relating to government, doctrine,
discipline, or public worship, we may conclude it to have
been according to apostolic usage and judgment. For these
Churches were settled by different Apostles and Evangelists ;
and consequently, what they did, and held, and taught, in
common with each other, must have been from the general
doctrine, practice, judgment, and authority of the Apostles.
We ought therefore to be very careful not to weaken that
government, or warp those doctrines, or contravene the prin-
ciples of the public liturgies of the early period of the Chris-
tian Church : For the probable chance is, if we do, we shall
run counter to apostolic doctrine and practice.
You see, that it is not my aim to set up the judgment or
opinions of particular men of Origen, Chrysostom, or Je-
rome, for instance as the foundation of our religious prin-
ciples, but the general judgment and practice of the primi-
tive Church, as the best standard of apostolical practice.
It is upon the authority and testimony of the primitive
Church that we settle the canon of the New Testament.
Give up this authority and testimony, and there will be no
good proof left, that the several books of the New Testament
were written by the persons whose names they bear. But
when it is known from the primitive writers, that these
books were universally received by, and read in, all the
Churches, as the writings of those persons to whom they are
ascribed, their authenticity and divine authority will be es-
tablished beyond all reasonable dispute.
The same mode of reasoning will apply to the interpreta-
tion of Scripture. The present seems to be the age of re-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 277
finement, and of 'what is called reformation, but which does
not always prove to be for the better. Everything human
and divine seems to be in the way of being new -modeled.
Religion, in particular, is turned and twisted into a variety
of appearances ; some of them awkward enough ; and some
tending to very mischievous consequences the destruction
of true religion and virtue, by confounding truth with error,
right with wrong, good with evil. Yet all appeal to the Bi-
ble, and from it pretend to derive proof to their system.
None that I know of have professedly set about making a
new Bible, i. e., writing a new book, with that title : But if
they alter the old one, in its sense and meaning, they, in
truth, make a new one. And what better do they do, who
put new and strange meanings on old words and phrases
who alter the translation, or force the sense, till it bows and
bends into a compliance with a favorite system ; and where
this fails, boldly charge the original with error and interpo-
lation. The surest way to guard against this mischief is to
attend to the interpretations of the oldest Christians, and of
the universal Church. Having conversed with the Apostles,
or with apostolic men, they were best acquainted with the
mind and intention of the writers. They knew the force
and idiom of the language in which those books were writ-
ten. The manners and customs to which many passages al-
lude were familiar to them : For they were the language,
and manners, and customs of their own country, and nearly
of their own age. A prudential regard to our own charac-
ters, justice to the sacred books, and to the people of our
charge, will therefore require, that we pay a due regard to
the more early interpretations of the Holy Scriptures in the
primitive Church : For we may rest assured, that those doc-
trines, and that interpretation of Scripture, which was com-
mon to all Churches in their early period, was from the
Apostles, and therefore may be depended on by us. By this
conduct we shall secure ourselves against new-fangled no-
tions in religion ; against its corruption by vain philosophy,
metaphysical reasonings, and the perplexities of school di-
278 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
vinity, which have, one or other of them, been the perpetual
corrupters of true religion : And let us remember, that in
religion, novelty and truth can scarcely come together : For
nothing in religion is now true, that was not true seventeen
hundred years ago. Philosophy may shift its fashion, meta-
physics may be in or out of vogue, or may change its princi-
ples, or its appearance, school divinity may be nice in its
definitions, exact in its methods, and positive in its decisions,
but none of them alter the nature of the Christian Religion ;
that remains the same, and its true principles, doctrines, and
practice continue the same now that they were in its early
period. It teaches the means of reconciliation with GOD,
through Christ : And it teaches the same things now which
it ever did, and none other. It is therefore our business to
hold the same faith, teach the same doctrines, inculcate the
same principles, submit to the same government, recommend
the same practice, enforce the same obedience, holiness, and
purity, and to administer the same sacraments, that the
Apostles and primitive Christians did. And we ought to do
all this, plainly and fully, leaving ourselves, our own inter-
ests, and honor, and aggrandizement, out of the case. If
men will receive our testimony, we must bless GOD, and be
encouraged in our duty: If they reject it, we must pray
more earnestly to GOD for them. But let us never think of
accommodating our systems, or our sermons to popular hu-
mor or fancy ; nor to the flattering of the pride and vanity
of the human heart ; nor to the bolstering of men up, in an
opinion of their own worthiness, ability, or sufficiency ; nor
to the lessening of the obligation of holiness and purity ;
nor to the weakening of the influence of the government and
discipline of the Church, or of the necessity and efficacy of
the holy sacraments. If we do, we shall be false to GOD
and our Saviour, to the people under our care, and to our
own most solemn vows and promises ; and we must expect
to receive the recompense of traitors the condemnation of
unfaithful stewards.
Having mentioned the sacraments of our holy religion,
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 279
forgive me, if I trespass a few minutes longer on your pa-
tience, in speaking more particularly on that subject. The
inattention of many to these holy institutions must be a
matter of grief to all good Clergymen.
I hope that the members of our own Church are not gen-
erally reprehensible with regard to the presenting of their
Children to holy Baptism. But the instances of adult Bap-
tisms that do occur, show that there is somewhere a blamable
remissness. If children are suffered to grow up to maturity
without being initiated into the Christian Church, the want
of due consideration too often keeps them away from the
solemn Rite, or bashf ulness induces them to insist on its pri-
vate administration. And should they, while unbaptized,
become masters or mistresses of families, their children will
probably grow up in the same unregenerate state. We
ought therefore to be constant, and earnest, in explaining
the nature of Baptism to our people ; pointing out its bene-
fits, and, in all meekness and love, urging them to a consci-
entious compliance with their duty : That being regenerate,
and made members of Christ's mystical body, by baptism,
they may be sealed with the seal of the Holy Spirit, in Con-
firmation, advanced to the rank of adult Christians, and
entitled to the privilege of celebrating the Holy Eucharist
with their brethren, commemorating the death and sacri-
fice of their dear Redeemer, and participating in all the
blessings of his atonement. And,
Was the nature of this last mentioned institution better
understood, I must suppose people would more generally
comply with it. In some congregations the number of
Communicants is indeed respectable ; in others but small. 1
1 It must be acknowledged, in honor to the female sex, that they are
much more numerous in their attendance at the Holy Communion, than
the men. It may be said that the softness and tenderness of heart
which they possess, the nature of their education, and their mode of
life, render them more susceptible of religious impressions, and dispose
them better to the exercise of gratitude and devotion. Should it be so,
the fact remains the same. They were the first believers, witnesses, and
preachers of our Saviour's resurrection, and seem always to have been
280 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Be it our care, then, to set this matter in its true light, by
explaining the nature and design of the Holy Communion to
our several Congregations, making them sensible of the ines-
timable blessings to be thereby obtained.
Some writers on this subject, under the idea of making it
plain to ordinary capacities, have, I fear, banished all spirit-
ual meaning, by discarding all mystery, from it making it
a mere empty remembrance of Christ's death. Others have
considered it as an arbitrary command, and an instance of
GOD'S sovereignty over us requiring our obedience for
wrath's sake. Others represent it simply as the renewal of
our Christian Covenant, and expecting no particular benefits
from it. The primitive Christians had very different senti-
ments from these, concerning the Holy Communion, and so
I suppose our Church has also. They considered it not as
the renewal of the Christian Covenant, but a privilege to
which the Christian Covenant, into which we had been ad-
mitted by Baptism, and which had been ratified in Confir-
mation, entitled us. Nor as an arbitrary command of GOD,
to show his sovereign authority over us. Nor as a bare re-
membrance of Christ's death. But as the appointed means
of keeping up that spiritual life which we received in our
New-birth ; and of continuing that interest in the benefits
and blessings of Christ's passion and death, which was made
over to us, when we became members of his mystical body.
They called and esteemed it to be the Christian Sacrifice,
commemorative of the great sacrifice of atonement which
Christ had made for the sins of the whole world ; wherein,
under the symbols of bread and the cup, the body and blood
of Christ which he offered up, and which were broken and
the chosen instruments of God, to keep up a sense of religion, piety, and
devotion in the world. May God bless and reward them, and grant that
their example may have a proper influence on the other sex! It is cer-
tain the same truths do not make the same impression on them. And
yet they have the same need of redemption and salvation the same
sinful nature, from which to be delivered are under the same curse
and condemnation for sin, and must be saved by the same means, and
the same Saviour.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 281
shed upon the cross, are figured forth ; and being presented
to GOD our heavenly Father, by his Priest here on earth,
the merits of Christ for the remission of sins are pleaded by
him, and we trust, by our great High Priest himself in
heaven : And being sanctified by prayer, thanksgiving, the
words of institution, and the invocation of the Holy Spirit,
are divided among the Communicants as a Feast upon the
Sacrifice. And they did believe, that all who worthily par-
took of the consecrated Elements, did really and truly,
though mystically and spiritually, partake of the Body and
Blood of Christ. Our Church evidently teaches the same
thing in her Catechism, defining " the inward part, or thing
signified," by the bread and wine in the Holy Communion,
to be " the body and blood of Christ, which are verily and
indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Sup-
per." This doctrine seems to be founded on what our Sav-
iour said in the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel, concern-
ing eating his flesh and drinking his blood, which when
compared with the institution of the blessed Eucharist, as
recorded by the Evangelists, will sufficiently justify the
Church in her opinion and judgment. We have therefore a
right to believe and say, that in the Holy Communion, the
faithful receiver does, in a mystical and spiritual manner, eat
and drink the Body and Blood of Christ, represented by the
consecrated bread and wine ; and does thereby partake in
the atonement made by the passion and death of Christ,
having remission through him, of all past sins, and eternal
life assured to him.
And now, Reverend Brethren, that you may see how
necessary it is for you to exert yourselves in support of the
Holy Catholic Faith^ let me request you to direct your at-
tention particularly to this country ; and when you observe
how low some have set the doctrines and principles of re-
ligion How others are depressing the Offices, corrupting
the Government, and degrading the Priesthood of Christ's
Church on the one side, his divinity denied on the
other, Two of the old Creeds, the guards of the true faith
282 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
against Arianism and Socinianism, thrown out The de-
scent of Christ into Hell, the invisible place of departed
souls, by which his perfect humanity, and our perfect re-
demption, of soul, as well as of body, are ascertained, re-
jected from the Apostles' Creed Baptism reduced to a
mere ceremony, by excluding from it the idea of regen era-
ion And you will own with me, that the strongest obli-
gations lie upon us, to hold fast, and contend earnestly for,
;he faith as it was once delivered to the Saints To abide
the government, support the doctrines, retain the princi-
ples, explain the true nature and meaning of the sacraments
and offices of the Church, and endeavor to restore them to
hat station and estimation, in which the primitive Chris-
ians placed and held them. Error often becomes popular
and contagious, and then no one can tell how far it will
spread, nor where end. We must in such cases recur to first
principles, and there take our stand. The Bible must be
the ground of our faith. And the doctrines, practices, and
old Liturgies of the primitive Church will be of great use to
lead us to the true meaning of the Holy Books. Judgment
and prudence must no doubt be exercised : But truth must
not be sacrificed to prudence, nor must judgment be warped
by attachment to system, or compliance with popular error
and prejudice.
This was the last formal charge given by Bishop
Seabury to the clergy of his diocese, and its teach-
ings were valuable, whether considered in reference
to the unbelief of the times, or to the movement of
the clergy and laity in the southern States to revise
and alter the Liturgy and government of the Church.
The part in the conclusion that relates to the Holy
Eucharist was in conformity with the main doctrine
of the communion office which he had just set forth,
and which he must have used himself to be consistent
with his own recommendation.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 283
His residence in New London was the parsonage
built in 1743, and still standing in good condition,
though recently somewhat modernized, and now
passed out of the hands of the Church. While the
new house of worship was in the process of erection,
to take the place of the one destroyed when the town
Residence of Bishop Seabury during his Episcopate.
was burnt, the bishop was permitted to hold his serv-
ices in the court-house ; " but he is said, I know not
on what authority, to have celebrated the holy com-
munion every Sunday, after morning service, in the
large parlor of the parsonage where he lived. 1 " This
could only mean " every Sunday " when he was not
on a visitation to other parishes. He usually had a
deacon for his assistant, and the Rev. Reuben Ives
was one of the first who served him in this capacity.
1 Hallam's Annals of St. James's Church, New London, p. 71.
284 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Writing May 1, 1787, 1 to his friend and classmate,
Tillotson Bronson, ordained with him on the same
day at Derby, Mr. Ives, by way of apology for not
meeting him at the approaching convocation, said :
" But when I consider the distance, the trouble, and
other trifles, and the little advantage my company
would be, and above all the opinion and desire the
bishop has of keeping the church open, I may as well
content myself where I am for the present. How-
ever, I hope, with the blessing of God, to see you be-
fore long I wish one thing might be brought
to pass, and that is, that the bishop might be more in
the centre of the churches. I think it would be a
great advantage, and help to keep a union among
them."
Poverty was the inheritance of the clergy of that
time, and the income of the writer of this letter at
New London was very small and eked out by the in-
struction of a few private scholars during the sum-
mer. The condition of the bishop in this respect was
scarcely better than that of his clergy. The parish
allowed him a small salary as rector, and contribu-
tions towards his support were made by some of the
larger churches of the diocese. In October, 1785,
Trinity Parish, New Haven, voted " that the sum of
ten pounds be paid unto the Right Rev. Samuel Sea-
bury, Bishop of this State ; " and two years after-
wards a like amount was voted him by the Vestry ;
but the vote contained a proviso that this " dona-
tion" should not be considered as a precedent for
any future claims by the bishop upon Trinity Church.
At a convention of lay representatives from several
1 MS. Letter.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 285
of the parishes, held in Waterbury, February 13,
1788, to devise ways and means for his support, it
was resolved to recommend that each Episcopal
church of the State raise " the sum of one half penny
on the pound on its grand levy/' as a salary to the
bishop, this recommendation, if confirmed by sub-
sequent votes in parish meetings, to be continued in
force for two years. How much was obtained under
this action cannot be determined. Probably not
much, as the people generally were in depressed cir-
cumstances and unwilling to be burdened with a tax
which they could so easily decline. In a letter to
a friend in Dublin, as early as April 17, 1786, the
bishop said : " I am at present at New London, in
Connecticut, where I find everything easy and quiet,
and, as far as I know, everybody satisfied with me.
My situation, however, is rather disagreeable, as
there is no settled support for me, as the poverty of
the people is so great since they have obtained their
independency, and daily increasing."
Bishop Seabury received from the British govern-
ment 50 half pay as a chaplain in the king's Ameri-
can regiment ; and a few friends in England, among
them Dr. Home, then Dean of Canterbury, Kev.
Jonathan Boucher, and William Stevens, Esq., associ-
ated themselves together and engaged to send him
annually 50 from the date of his arrival in Connect-
icut. This engagement was faithfully kept to the
day of his death, and was an equivalent for the sti-
pend which had been withdrawn by the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel. He put in a claim
for extraordinary service rendered to the crown in
the beginning of the war, but it does not appear to
286 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
have been favorably considered. The following let-
ter shows this, and comes very properly in this con-
nection :
NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, December 15, 1788.
CHAKLES COOKE, ESQB. :
DEAK SIR, I am much obliged to you for your kind let-
ter of the 2d September last, inclosing the notification, etc.,
from the Office of American Claims, Lincoln's Inn Fields. I
now send you an affidavit according to the form transmitted
to me, which you will please to present at the Office with
my acknowledgments. I never knew whether any tempo-
rary allowance was ever made me at that Office, and beg
you will inquire about it for me, and give me any informa-
tion you may get.
I herewith transmit a power of Attorney, authenticated
in the best manner I could think of. It is dated more than
a year ago particular circumstances having prevented its
being sent sooner. I also send a certificate for Half-pay
from June, 1787, to June, 1788. There is a Certificate for
a half year before in the hands of . George Chamberlain, Es-
quire, of Wimbledon, Surrey, which he will deliver to you.
I owe to the Estate of Col. Hicks, my late agent, fifteen
shillings, which you will please to pay to Mr. Chamberlain,
the Executor, as soon as you shall be in cash on my account.
Please also to make my acknowledgments to Mr. Chamber-
lain.
The power of attorney I have sent is a general one, as
well as to receive my half pay, because I shall have some
other business to transact which will require it, and of which
I will write to you immediately after Christmas, and shall
then send a half year's certificate.
Remember me to my friend Roome. Tell him I will
write to him at the same time. Wishing you health and
prosperity, I remain your affectionate, humble servant. 1
1 MS. Letter-Book.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 287
CHAPTER XVI.
CONVENTION AT WILMINGTON, AND DOCUMENTS FROM ENGLAND ;
BISHOPS ELECT AND THEIR DEPARTURE FROM AMERICA; DR.
GRIFFITH, AND LETTER OF BENJAMIN MOORE; DRS. WHITE AND
PROVOOST CONSECRATED, AND CONVOCATION IN WALLINGFORD;
CORRESPONDENCE WITH BISHOPS SKINNER, PROVOOST, AND WHITE.
A. D. 1786-1787.
A GENERAL convention was held in Wilmington,
Del., October 10 and 11, 1786, consisting of ten
clergymen and eleven laymen, a smaller number
than assembled at Philadelphia in the preceding June
and then adopted a second address to the arch-
bishops and bishops of the Church of England. It
was not considered a new convention, but an ad-
journed one, and the first business was to attend to
the reading of the letter of the archbishops with the
forms of testimonials and the act of Parliament, re-
ceived since the last meeting. While a readiness was
shown to give Episcopal consecration to persons from
this country, properly recommended, and the way
prepared, the changes in the Liturgy, as appeared in
" The Proposed Book," were far from being accepta-
ble to the English prelates. " It was impossible,"
said they in their letter, " not to observe with con-
cern that if the essential doctrines of our common
faith were retained, less respect, however, was paid to
our Liturgy than its own excellence, and your de-
288 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
clared attachment to it, had led us to expect. Not
to mention a variety of verbal alterations, of the ne-
cessity or propriety of which we are by no means
satisfied, we saw with grief that two confessions of
our Christian faith, respectable for their antiquity,
have been entirely laid aside ; and that even in that
which is called the Apostles' Creed, an article, is
omitted which was thought necessary to be inserted,
with a view to a particular heresy in a very early
age of the Church, and has ever since had the vener-
able sanction of universal reception."
The action of the clergy and laity at the meeting
in June, changing the offensive article of their eccle-
siastical constitution so as to allow a bishop a seat in
the general convention by virtue of his office, and
the right of presiding in the same, if one of the order
should be present, had not been received in England
when the archbishops wrote the second letter. Hence
they referred to this in connection with other mat-
ters, and strongly urged that the necessary changes
be made before repeating the declaration which bish-
ops-elect from America were expected to subscribe
according to the tenth article of their constitution.
" We should forget the duty which we owe to our
own Church," said the two archbishops, speaking
for themselves and all their brethren in office, " and
act inconsistently with that sincere regard which we
bear to yours, if we were not explicit in declaring
that, after the disposition we have shown to comply
with the prayer of your address, we think it incum-
bent upon you to use your utmost exertions also for
the removal of any stumbling-block of offense which
may possibly prove an obstacle to the success of it.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 289
We therefore most earnestly exhort you that previ-
ously to the time of your making such subscription,
you restore to its integrity the Apostles' Creed, in
which you have omitted an article merely, as it seems,
from misapprehension of the sense in which it is un-
derstood by our Church ; nor can we help adding
that we hope you will think it but a decent proof
of the attachment which you profess to the services
of our Liturgy, to give to the other two creeds a
place in your Book of Common Prayer, even though
the use of them should be left discretional. We
should be inexcusable, too, if at the time when you
are requesting the establishment of bishops in your
Church, we did not strongly represent to you that
the eighth article of your ecclesiastical constitution
appears to us to be a degradation of the clerical, and
still more of the Episcopal character. We persuade
ourselves, that in your ensuing convention some
alteration will be thought necessary in this article,
before this reaches you ; or, if not, due attention will
be given to it in consequence of our representation."
The letter containing these and other recommenda-
tions, and the accompanying papers, were referred to
a committee consisting of one clerical and one lay
deputy from each State ; and the convention, in ac-
cordance with their report, restored to the Apostles'
Creed the article, " He descended into Efell," and
inserted in the " new proposed Book of Common
Prayer" immediately after that creed the Nicene,
prefaced by a rubric permitting its alternative use.
When all the changes had been completed, an answer
was prepared and signed by Samuel Provoost, Presi-
dent, in behalf of the members of the convention,
19
290 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
offering unanimous and hearty thanks to the Arch-
bishops of Canterbury and York, for the continuance
of their Christian attention to this Church, and par-
ticularly for having so speedily acquired the legal
capacity to consecrate bishops for countries out of his
majesty's dominions. " "We have taken," they pro-
ceeded to say, " into our most serious and deliberate
consideration, the several matters so affectionately
recommended to us in those communications, and
whatever could be done towards a compliance with
your fatherly wishes and advice, consistently with
our local circumstances, and the peace and unity of
our Church, hath been agreed to, as we trust will
appear from the inclosed act of our convention,
which we have the honor to transmit to you, to-
gether with the journal of our proceedings."
The next step was to call upon the deputies from
the several States to ascertain if any persons had
been elected in their conventions and recommended
for Episcopal consecration. It appeared that the
Kev. Samuel Provoost, D. D., had been chosen and
recommended in New York, the Rev. William White,
D. D., in Pennsylvania, and the Rev. David Griffith,
D. D., in Virginia. Testimonials in the form pre-
scribed by the archbishops of England were then
duly signed in favor of each of these gentlemen, and
after some routine business the convention adjourned
to meet again in Philadelphia at the call of the
special committee of correspondence. Dr. Griffith,
whose sad history forms a touching episode in the an-
nals of our Church, was not provided with funds to de-
fray the expense of a voyage to obtain consecration,
and his poverty would not allow him to undertake
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 291
it at his own cost. He was therefore left behind
when the others embarked for England, and the fol-
lowing letter of the Eev. Mr. Moore, an assistant
minister of Trinity Church, to the Kev. Mr. Parker,
of Boston, not only fixes the date of their departure,
but shows the feeling still cherished in New York
towards the Bishop of Connecticut.
NEW YORK, November 4, 1786.
MY DEAB, SIR, The day before yesterday Dr. White
and Dr. Provoost embarked on board the Speedy packet for
Old England with the expectation of obtaining consecration
from the English bishops. You know there is an act of Par-
liament authorizing either of the archbishops, together with
such of the bishops as they may desire to call to their assist-
ance, to consecrate bishops for the American States. When
his Grace of Canterbury sent a copy of the act, in a letter
which accompanied it he intimated that it was expected, be-
fore persons were sent for Episcopal Orders, every obstacle
should be removed by a full compliance with the requisitions
which had been made. In the late convention at Wilming-
ton all objections were obviated, excepting only that it was
resolved not to re-admit the Athanasian Creed. The gen-
tlemen, however, thought they might venture to go, and I
dare say they will succeed. It sometimes happens in doubt-
ful cases that to act as if you were sure of success is the
most effectual way to obtain it. Possunt quia posse viden-
tur. Dr. Griffith, who is another bishop-elect, through some
mistake did not obtain the necessary testimonials from the
State Convention, and is, on that account, detained a few
months longer.
I have my fears, but am not so very apprehensive as you
appear to be, that a schism must take place in our Church.
A few people in this State, from old grudges on the score of
politics, have determined to circumscribe, as far as they pos-
sibly can, the authority of Bishop Seabury. But they will
not be able to effect their purpose to any great degree.
292 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
His Episcopal powers have already been acknowledged by
most of the Southern States, and truth and justice will in
due time get the better of prejudice and partiality.
Your affectionate friend and servant,
B. MOOKE. 1
Dr. Smith had made strenuous efforts to be rec-
ommended for consecration as Bishop of Maryland,
his election having taken place in 1783 ; but owing
to certain indiscretions or derelictions from duty,
he failed to secure the requisite testimonials. Some
who had signed a document in his support, at the
time he was chosen, now withdrew their names and
gave the reason for changing their opinion. In the
case of Dr. Griffith, it was the want of funds and
the neglect of the Church in Virginia to provide
them, which delayed his voyage to England, and
eventually he relinquished the hope of it altogether.
The two bishops-elect, Drs. White and Provoost,
arrived in London on Wednesday, the 29th of No-
vember, and, after the various preliminaries had been
duly settled, they were consecrated in the chapel of
Lambeth Palace, February 4, 1787, by the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, in the presence of his family
and household, and a few others, among whom was
the Kev. Mr. Duche. " I had asked the archbishop's
leave to introduce him," says Dr. White in his Me-
moirs, " and it was a great satisfaction to me that he
was there ; the recollection of the benefit which I
had received from his instructions in early life, and a
tender sense of the attentions which he had shown
me almost from my infancy, together with the im-
pressions left by the harmony which had subsisted
1 Perry's Historical Notes and Documents, p. 342.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 293
between us in the discharge of our joint pastoral
duty in Philadelphia, being no improper accompani-
ments to the feelings suited to the present very inter-
esting transaction of my life. I hope that I felt the
weight of the occasion. May God bless the medita-
tions and the recollections by which I had endeav-
ored to prepare myself for it, and give them their
due effect on my temper and conduct in the new
character in which I am to appear."
The clergy of New England were deeply interested
in all the proceedings of their southern brethren.
In none of them was there shown much desire for the
union of the whole Church in the United States, but
rather evidence of a disposition to keep aloof from
the Bishop of Connecticut, and from recognizing the
validity of his consecration. At least he felt alarmed
at the spirit of innovation which had crept into the
southern conventions, and if his own See should be-
come vacant by his death it could not be foretold
what troubles might ensue. Accordingly he con-
voked his clergy at Wallingford on the 27th of Feb-
ruary, and with a view of vindicating their rights
and preparing for a possible schism in the Church,
they decided to send another presbyter to Scotland
for consecration as coadjutor bishop to the zealous
Seabury. The venerable Learning, tried and faith-
ful in the service of the Church, was first asked to
assume the responsibility ; but age and infirmities
were in the way, and he declined ; then the saintly
Mansfield was chosen, but he was unwilling to take
up a burden so heavy ; and, finally, the Kev. Abra-
ham Jarvis was elected and deputed to proceed to
Scotland " to obtain consecration that the Episcopal
294 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
office might be canonically conferred." " It was in-
tended," said his learned son, remarking on the
movement, " to obtain the canonical number of bish-
ops in New England of the Scottish line, and thus
preserve a purely primitive and Apostolic Church,
holding fast the form of sound words, and the faith
once delivered to the saints."
This measure, which was to be a last resort, was
not hurried to completion. Time was taken for fur-
ther reflection, and the development of events proved
the wisdom of delay. Bishop Seabury wrote at once
to Bishop Skinner to inform him of the action of the
clergy and to know how it would be received in Scot-
land. His letter was dated from
WALLINGFORD, CONNECTICUT, March 2, 1787.
I write a short and hasty letter from this place, where I
have been attending a meeting of my Clergy. They are
much alarmed at the steps taken by the Clergy and Laity
to the south of us, and are very apprehensive that, should it
please God to take me out of the world, the same spirit of
innovation in the government and Liturgy of the Church
would be apt to rise in this State, which has done so much
mischief in our neighborhood. The people, you know, es-
pecially in this country, are fond of exercising power when
they have an opportunity ; and should this See become va-
cant, the Clergy may find themselves under the fatal neces-
sity of falling under the Southern establishment, which they
consider as a departure from Apostolical institution.
To prevent all danger of this, they are anxious to have a
Bishop coadjutor to me, and will send a gentleman to Scot-
land for consecration as soon as they know that the measure
meets with the full approbation of my good and highly re-
spected brethren in Scotland. It has not only my approba-
tion, but my most anxious wishes are, that it may be soon
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 295
carried into execution. You will, I know, consult the
Right Rev. Bishops Kilgour and Petrie, and will give me
the necessary information as soon as possible. In the mean-
time we shall be making the proper arrangements here, that
the person fixed on may avail himself of the first opportu-
nity of embarking after receipt of your letter.
I can, at this time, say no more, than to request you to
remember me most respectfully and affectionately to our
good Primus and Bishop Petrie, to Mrs. Skinner and family,
and to all who think so much of me as sometimes to inquire
about me.
To this letter, Bishop Skinner, after consulting his
Episcopal brethren, returned the following careful
and judicious reply. It did not reach the Bishop of
Connecticut till " the English Consecrate " had ar-
rived in America and he had extended courtesies to
them which were a testimony to his efforts for union
and peace.
ABERDEEN, June 20, 1787.
Anxious, as I ever am, to hear of your welfare, I was
much refreshed some weeks ago, even by a short letter from
you, dated the 2d March, at Wallingford, where it would
seem you had been attending a meeting of your Clergy. I
lost no time in communicating to our worthy Primus this
agreeable intelligence ; but it came too late for good Bishop
Petrie, who, to the great regret of this poor and desolate
Church, was taken from us by death on the 9th of April
last, after a long and painful struggle with a complication of
bodily infirmities.
Happily for us, and through the good Providence of God,
he was enabled to assist at the consecration of a Coadjutor,
about six weeks before his death. Your good friend, Mr.
Macfarlane, at Inverness, was the person made choice of for
this office, who accordingly was promoted to the Episcopate,
in the Primus' chapel at Peterhead, on the 7th day of March
last. He has now succeeded to the districts that were un-
296 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
der the charge of Bishop Petrie ; and, I make no doubt, will
prove a zealous and faithful member of our small Episcopal
College.
Last year, Bishop Kilgour, deeming himself too weak for
the burden of this diocese, resigned the whole charge of it
into my hands, but still continues to act as Primus, and I
hope will yet be spared for some time with us. I sent your
letter to him and a copy of it to Bishop Macfarlane, and,
having received answers from both, shall now lay before
you our joint sentiments on the subject of your proposal.
It has given us great concern to hear of the ecclesiastical
proceedings in some of your Southern States. We fondly
hoped that Episcopal Clergymen would have gladly em-
braced the opportunity of settling their Church on a pure
and primitive footing, and of regulating their whole ecclesi-
astical polity, as well as their doctrine and worship, accord-
ing to Apostolical institution. In this hope, however, we
have been sadly disappointed, by the accounts we have re-
ceived of the nature and design of their several conventions ;
and some extracts which were published from their new
Liturgy increased our dread of a total apostasy, giving us
ground to apprehend a total departure, not only from an-
cient discipline, but even from " the faith once delivered to
the saints."
Hearing of their intended application to the English hier-
archy, we were full of anxiety for the event of it. The
character of the present Archbishop of Canterbury gave us
reason to think that he would not "lay his hands suddenly "
on any one; and farther information confirmed our good
opinion of his Grace's orthodoxy, which, we are informed,
would bend to no solicitation in favor of Socinian principles,
or the tenets of those who " deny the Lord that bought
them." Nay, we have farther learned, and we are led to
think from good authority, that Drs. White and Provoost,
the two new American Prelates, before they left Lambeth,
became bound in the most solemn manner not to lay hands
on Dr. S th, or on any other man who calls in question
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 297
the doctrine of the Trinity, or of our Saviour's atonement.
And we are even made to understand that it was recom-
mended to the two Prelates to hold communion with the
Bishop of Connecticut, to which recommendation a consider-
able degree of credit seems to attach, from the circumstance
of no more than two being invested with the Episcopal of-
fice.
It is moreover said that a second edition of their Book of
Common Prayer has appeared, and on a plan much more un-
exceptionable than the first, there being no alteration to the
worse, and some even to the better. It is presumable, that
the English Consecrators have both seen and are satisfied
with the Liturgy which the new Bishops are to use ; and,
provided the analogy of faith and the purity of worship be
preserved, it were a pity, we should think, to interrupt Epis-
copal union and communion in any part of the Catholic
Church. We do not read that the liturgical variations,
which are known to have prevailed in the primitive times,
occasioned any breach of communion among Bishops, while
no essential corruptions were introduced, or impure addi-
tions imposed as terms of communion. Wherefore, all these
things duly considered, we are humbly of opinion that the
objects which our good brother of Connecticut and his
Clergy have in view may be now obtained, without putting
any of them to the trouble and expense of coming to Scot-
land.
We can hardly imagine that the Bishops of Philadelphia
and New York will refuse their brotherly assistance in the
measure which you propose to us, or yet take upon them to
impose their own Liturgy as the sole condition of compli-
ance. Should this be the case, and these new Bishops
either refuse to hold communion with you, or grant it only
on terms with which you cannot in conscience comply, there
would then be no room for us to hesitate. But fain would
we hope better things of these your American brethren, and
that there will be no occasion for two separate communions
among the Episcopalians of the United States.
298 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
"We are well persuaded that neither you nor your Clergy
would wish to give any unnecessary cause of disgust on
either side the Atlantic ; and prudence, you must be aware,
bids us turn our eyes to our own situation, which, though it
affords no excuse for shrinking from duty, will, at the same
time, justify our not stepping beyond our line any farther
than duty requires.
Before this reaches your hand, the English Consecrate
will not only have arrived in America, but will also have
probably taken such measures as will enable you to judge
of the propriety of an application to them for the end you
have in view. We shall therefore expect to hear from you
at full length on this interesting subject, and doubt not but
you will believe us ever ready to contribute, as far as is
necessary or incumbent on us, to the support of primitive
truth and order in the Church of Christ.
I wrote you in June last year, to the care of a friend at
New York, who informs me that he forwarded my letter to
you, together with a small publication of mine which accom-
panied it. I shall send this by the packet, and will be glad
to hear from you how soon it comes to hand ; if you have
leisure for a long letter it will be doubly welcome. All
whom you met here remember you most kindly, particu-
larly your friends in this family, to whom you will be ever
dear ; accept of their and my warmest wishes for your
health and happiness, and believe me ever
Bishop Seabury was alive to the interests of the
Church in Connecticut and allowed none of the per-
plexing questions that had been raised to divert him
from his parochial and Episcopal duties. He was
preparing to visit the parishes in the southwestern
part of the State, and to meet his clergy in convoca-
tion, when the two bishops, recently consecrated in
England, landed at New York on the afternoon of
Easter Sunday, April 7th, after a wearisome voyage
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 299
of precisely seven weeks.- He lost no time in ad-
dressing to each of them letters of congratulation,
and inviting a personal interview for the purpose of
considering some plan of " uniformity in worship and
discipline among the Churches of the different States."
Both letters bear the same date and breathe the
same spirit ; and it will be enough to copy from his
letter-book the one written to Bishop Provoost, as
follows :
NEW LONDON, May 1, 1787.
RIGHT REVEREND AND DEAR SIR, It is with pleasure
I take this opportunity of presenting my congratulations on
your safe return to New York, on the success of your appli-
cation to the English Archbishops, and your recovery from
your late dangerous illness.
You must be equally sensible with me of the present un-
settled state of the Church of England in this country, and
of the necessity of union and concord among all its members
in the United States of America ; not only to give stability
to it, but to fix it on its true and proper foundation. Possi-
bly, nothing will contribute more to this end, than uniform-
ity in worship and discipline among the churches of the dif-
ferent States. It will be my happiness to promote so good
and necessary a work; and I take the liberty to propose,
that before any decided steps be taken, there be a meeting
of yourself and Bishop White and me, at such time and
place as shall be most convenient, to try whether some plan
cannot be adopted that shall, in a quiet and effectual way,
secure the great object which I trust we should all heartily
rejoice to see accomplished. For my own part I cannot
help thinking that the most likely method will be to retain
the present Common Prayer Book, accommodating it to the
civil Constitution of the United States. The government
of the Church, you know, is already settled. A body of
Canons will, however, be wanted, to give energy to the gov-
ernment and ascertain its operation.
300 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
A stated Convocation of the clergy of this State is to be
held at Stamford on tbe Thursday after Whitsunday. As it
is so near to New York, and this journey may contribute to
the reestablishment of your health, I should be much re-
joiced to see you there ; more especially as I think it would
promote the great object, the union of all the churches.
May God direct us in all things !
Believe me to be, Ht. Rev. and dear Sir, your affectionate
Brother and humble servant,
SAMUEL, Bishop of Connecticut.
There was some solicitude in New England to
know whether these bishops had returned to this
country hampered by any restrictions. Bishop Sea-
bury himself seems to have expected that his friends
in London would give him information on this point ; -
but after waiting in vain to hear from them, he dis-
patched the following letter to his benefactor and
correspondent in Old Broad Street, William Stevens,
Esq.
NEW LONDON, May 9, 1787.
MY VERY DEAR SIR, It is so long since I heard from
any of my friends in London, that I cannot help feeling
some uneasiness on that account. I did hope that I should
have received some intelligence respecting the two Ameri-
can Bishops, and particularly, whether they were held under
any restrictions, and if so, what those restrictions were?
Those gentlemen have returned, but I do not find their ar-
rival has made much noise in the country. I have written
to them both, proposing an interview with them, and an
union of the Church of England through all the States, on
the ground of the present Prayer Book, only accommodating
it to the civil Constitution of this country ; and the govern-
ment of the Church to continue unaltered as it now is, with
a body of Canons to give energy to it, and direct its opera-
tions. I know not what effect this overture may have. But
my fears are greater than my hopes. Everything I can
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 301
fairly do to preserve union and uniformity shall certainly be
done.
My last letters were accompanied by a packet of Charges
directed to my good friend, the Rev. Mr. Boucher, which I
hope came safely to him. I shall set out in a week to at-
tend a meeting of the Connecticut clergy at Stamford. I
have invited the two Bishops to visit us ; and as I shall then
know how my proposals are likely to be relished, I will from
Stamford write to Mr. Boucher by the way of New York.
This goes via Boston.
Your affectionate humble servant,
S., Bp. Connect.
It does not appear that any response was given
by Bishop Provoost to the courteous letter inviting
him to Stamford and to considerations of union and
amity. Bishop White replied at considerable length,
and though adhering to the general principles of the
Ecclesiastical constitution which had been agreed
upon, he yet showed a willingness, if it should be
thought advisable by the whole body of the Church,
to retain the English Book of Common Prayer with
the exception of the political parts. Still his letter
lacked warmth and clearness, and Bishop Seabury,
evidently not pleased with its tone, made a copy in
full and sent it without comment to Mr. Parker of
Boston :
PHILADELPHIA, May 21, 1787.
There is nothing I have more at heart than to see the
members of our communion throughout the United States
connected in one system of Ecclesiastical Government ; and
if my meeting of you, in concurrence with Bishop Provoost,
can do anything towards the accomplishment of this great
object, my very numerous engagements shall not hinder me
from taking a journey for the purpose. But I must submit
it to your consideration whether it will not be best pre-
302 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
viously to understand one another, as to the views of the
Churches in which we respectively preside.
We have been informed (but perhaps it is a mistake)
that the Bishop and Clergy of Connecticut think our pro-
posed Ecclesiastical Constitution essentially wrong in the
leading parts of it. As the general principles on which it is
founded were maturely considered and compared with the
maxims which prevail in the ecclesiastical system of Eng-
land, as they have received the approbation of all the Con-
ventions southward of you, and of one to the northward ; as
they were not objected to by the Archbishops and Bishops
of the English Church, and as they are generally thought
among us essential to the giving of effect to future ecclesias-
tical measures, I do not expect to find the Churches in many
of the States willing to associate on any plan materially dif-
ferent from this. If our Brethren in Connecticut should be
of opinion that the giving of any share of the Legislative
power of the Church to others than those of the Episcopal
order is inconsistent with Episcopal Government, and that
the requiring of the consent of the Laity to ecclesiastical
laws is an invasion of Clerical rights, in this case, I see no
prospect of doing good in any other way than contributing
all in my power to promote a spirit of love and peace be-
tween us ; although I shall continue to cultivate the hope of
our being brought at some future day to an happy agree-
ment.
As to the Liturgy, if it should be thought advisable by
the general body of our Church to adhere to the English
Book of Common Prayer (the political parts excepted) I
shall be one of the first after the appearance of such a dispo-
sition, to comply with it most punctually.
Further than this, if it should seem the most probable
way of maintaining an agreement among ourselves, I shall
use my best endeavors to effect it. At the same time I
must candidly express my opinion, that the review of the
Liturgy would tend very much to the satisfaction of most of
the members of our communion, and to its future success
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 303
and prosperity. The worst evil which I apprehend from a
refusal to review is this, that it will give a great advan-
tage to those who wish to carry the alteration into essential
points of doctrine. Reviewed it will unquestionably be in
some places, and the only way to prevent its being done by
men of the above description is the taking it up as a general
business. I have been informed that you, Sir, and our
Brethren in Connecticut think a review expedient, although
you wish not to be in haste in the matter. Our Brethren in
Massachusetts have already done it. The Churches in the
States southward of you have sufficiently declared their sen-
timents ; for even those which have delayed permitting the
use of the new book, did it merely on the principles of the
want of Episcopal order among them.
If, Sir, we should be of a different opinion in any matter,
I hope we shall be so candid as mutually to think it consist-
ent with the best intentions, and a sincere desire to promote
the interest of our holy religion. This justice you have
always received from, &c., &c.
(Signed) WM. WHITE.
The above, my dear Sir, is the whole of a letter from
Bishop White, that relates to the subject. It is in answer
to one from me to him, in which I proposed a personal in-
terview with him and Bishop Provoost previously to any de-
cided steps being taken respecting the Liturgy and Govern-
ment of the Church, and mentioned the old Liturgy as the
most likely bond of union. I send it to you without a com-
ment, and shall be glad of your opinion respecting it.
Your affectionate, humble Servant,
S., Bp. Connect. 1
1 Perry's Historical Notes and Documents, pp. 346, 347.
304 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
CHAPTER XVII.
CONVOCATION AT STAMFORD, AND ITS RESULTS; LETTER OP LEAM-
ING, AND EFFORTS TO CONCILIATE; OBSTACLES TO UNION, AND
BISHOP FOR MASSACHUSETTS PROPOSED; WORK OF SEABURY AND
CONVOCATION AND CONSECRATION AT NEW LONDON; THE MITRE
AND WHEN IT WAS WORN.
A. D. 178T.
THE overtures of Bishop Seabury for union and
comprehension served to strengthen him with his
friends and to weaken the arm of his opponents.
"My faith," wrote Mr. Parker, of Boston, to Mr.
Hubbard, of New Haven, that " the brethren of the
lawn " would " accede to the proposal was not very
strong ; though I think," he continues, " had not the
invitation been made quite so soon after their arrival,
and before matters were arranged among themselves,
Bishop White would have accepted it, he having fre-
quently expressed his mind to me by letter, of a
readiness to coalesce with his Northern brethren, and
to form one Church in all the essentials of doctrine,
discipline, and worship. Some strong prejudices,
upon the old score of politics, still remain in the
minds of the New York gentlemen against Bishop
Seabury, and therefore of their bishop your deponent
saith not. The grand obstacle to a union, I foresee,
will be in matters of government. The southern
States have admitted laymen to take part with them :
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 305
Connecticut has not. ^hey cannot rid themselves of
the lay brethren, and you will not admit laymen.
This will keep you apart. I impatiently wait to
hear the result of your meeting."
The convocation at Stamford could do nothing, un-
der the circumstances, beyond what had been already
attempted. The clergy were inclined to leave the
matter very much in the hands of their bishop, in
whom they had entire confidence, and to let time
work the changes necessary to reconcile discordant
opinions. They had taken steps to secure the suc-
cession in the Scottish line, and until they should
hear from their application they might well be con-
tent to rest in quietness and cherish good hopes.
Individual effort, however, was made to create a
stronger feeling to the southward in favor of union,
and the venerable Learning, among other reasons,
urged it as a defense against the enemies of the
Church. He foresaw what could not be unknown to
the most intelligent observer, that continued division
would be in the way of all prosperity, and a virtual
surrender of the very principles which the Church in
this country had long sought to establish. His letter
to Bishop White, written a month after the meeting
at Stamford, will give his views and his desire for an
early and private conference of the bishops to adjust
matters and correct misunderstandings.
STRATFORD, July 9, 1787.
MY VERY DEAR AND REV. SIR, I have received your
kind favor of tlie 21st of last month, for which you have
my hearty thanks. Your views of a union of the Church in
these States give, me the greatest pleasure, and you are
pleased to desire me to consider what will be the best
20
306 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
method to accomplish the end desired, and to communicate
it to you.
It appears to me, that if you, Bishop Provoost, and
Bishop Seabury could have a private meeting, all matters
might be adjusted in such a manner that a union might be
easily effected. For all those difficulties which disturb that
mutual concord, which ought to "be among -Christians, have
their rise from some little misunderstandings. And^pro-
vided the parties were brought together, and would explain
themselves to each other, in meekness and lw., all disagree-
able passions would subside and be extinguished forever.
But to reconcile differences, when they are come to their
full growth, is attended with so many difficulties, that it
seldom proves successful. Will it, therefore, be a matter
of wisdom or prudence to put this business off to some fut-
ure day, at a great distance ? I must say, that I wish this
meeting might be as soon and as private as possible, that no
evil angels might have any knowledge of it, who would be
glad of an opportunity to throw in the firebrands of dissen-
sion.
If this meeting could be effected as proposed, I doubt not
but a union would take place so far as is necessary. That
peace which consists in union of mind and agreement in
judgment, in every point, is rather to be wished than hoped
for, in this imperfect state.
There are more persons that are now laboring with all the
insidious arts which they can muster up, for the ruin of tire
Church of England, than you can conceive. All the Infidels
and Dissenters in England and these States are our most
mortal enemies. However they disagree in sentiment, they
unite for our destruction. And you will soon find they are
engaged as much to divide as you are to unite us.
These enemies have always opposed the scheme of the
Bishops of America. It was by their machinations that
Bishop Seabury failed in obtaining his desire. These ene-
mies supposed, when he had applied and was refused, there
was an end to the Church in this country. But when they
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 307
found he had obtained the favor of the old Scotch Bishops,
and had received the Apostolical power, they started and
cried out, What shall we do now ? for the Americans will
have bishops, and we cannot prevent it. An expedient was
soon found. We are resolved what to do. Let there be an
act of Parliament granting liberty to the Bishops of Eng-
land to consecrate Bishops for America, and then set up a
huge cry, that Bishop Seabury is a Non-juror. By this
means we shall divide the Church and they themselves will
demolish it.
Shall we be made tools by these designing men, to do that
which they cannot do without our help ? The Church has
always received her wounds from her own sons, who sup-
pose that other men are as honest as themselves. When
our enemies cry up moderation, they mean nothing more or
less than that we should renounce our own principles and
embrace theirs. When all is considered, said, and done
upon the subject, we shall find that the Church of England
is the best model we can find, as it is regulated so exactly
according to the Scriptures, by which the order of the first
Church was fixed.
Theodosius, though a great patron of the Church, by as-
suming to himself the power of erecting new models in the
government of it, thereby destroyed the being and constitu-
tion of a Christian Church ; for if it rests upon Divine
right derived from our Saviour and his Apostles, it is then
in no man's power to alter it ; if it does not, it is no Chris-
tian Church, for there can be no such thing unless it came
from Heaven. My kingdom is not of this world, says our
Saviour. If the religion we profess, the officers to adminis-
ter, and the ordinances are not all divine, it is all a mere de-
lusion at the best. These points are so clear in Revelation,
that we must hold them or renounce all Revelation itself.
The Church in this State would be pleased to have the
old forms altered as little as may be ; but for the sake of a
union they will comply as far as they possibly can. And I
do not see how a union can be more advantageous to us than
308 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
it will be to you. If it is reciprocal, both ought to give
way, and not to be too rigid. And I trust this will be the
result, when matters are maturely considered.
I am, with every sentiment of esteem, regard, and friend-
ship, Right Rev. Sir, your most obedient, humble Servant,
JEKEMIAH LEAMING.
BISHOP WHITE.
Bishop White was not disposed to turn a deaf ear
to these importunities, but he seems to have been so
hampered by his association with Bishop Provoost
and by his implied obligations to the English prelates
that he was reluctant to take any decisive steps or to
commit himself in any way, lest his action might be
misunderstood or misconstrued. If he was ready for
a private interview with the Bishop of Connecticut,
he was not ready for it independently of the wishes
and presence of his less amiable brother. He had
evinced a like fear of independent action, when, be-
fore going to England, he postponed asking the Rev.
Mr. Pilmore to preach in his churches, though, as
he wrote to a friend, 1 " I cannot say I have any
doubt of the validity of Bishop Seabury's consecra-
tion; but I thought it might be inconsistent with
the measures we are taking, to be instrumental in
the settling of clergymen among us, who come to us
under obligations which may perhaps be considered
as restricting them from joining in the said measures ;
and although I knew Mr. Pilmore did not construe
his engagements in such a sense, yet I thought it my
duty to found my conduct on the general state of
the question and not on the construction of any
particular gentleman." The congratulations which
1 MS. letter to Rev. A. Beach, May 6, 1786.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 309
poured in upon him from every quarter that he had
returned with the accomplishment of his object were
not without expressions of a hearty desire that the
three bishops now in this country would unite in con-
secrating a fourth, and save Virginia, for instance,
the expense of sending Dr. Griffith to England.
One thing in which Bishop White was interested
had failed to meet his expectations, and that was the
sale of the " proposed " Prayer Books, which were
forwarded, soon after they were printed, in parcels to
different States and publicly advertised. Dr. Grif-
fith had a poor account to render of the disposal of
them in Virginia, and Mr. Parker, of Boston, . was
equally discouraging in his report. " What the prob-
ability is," said he, " of a further sale will depend
very much upon the future movements of the Church
in this State. Should a union take place between
the Southern and Northern States upon the plan of
these alterations, no doubt they will meet a quick
sale here ; but as they are not yet adopted, even by
some of the States represented in the convention
which proposed them, I cannot promise that they
will be in demand here. I cannot myself consent to
any further alterations till a uniform Liturgy is
agreed upon by the whole Church in these States,
and to effect this I shall be willing to give up every-
thing but the essential doctrines of our Church, and
to adopt anything not repugnant thereto. But I
fear from the opposite dispositions of Connecticut
and the Southern States this will not be effected,
though I cannot see why, upon the supposition of
a different ecclesiastical form of government, the
bishops of the several States may not agree on one
310 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
common Liturgy, and a uniformity of worship be pre-
served, if not of discipline."
Mr. Parker had adopted the Psalms as set forth in
the new Prayer Book, and the Psalter was reprinted
for use in his church ; but in Connecticut there was
a steady and universal adherence to the old English
Liturgy except as to the political parts. " Our peo-
ple," wrote Learning to Mr. Beach, of New Jersey,
" esteem it next to inspiration, if not actually such."
The suggestion of consecrating a bishop for Massa-
chusetts had been several times made, and Mr. Par-
ker was fixed upon by many as the most proper per-
son to fill the high office. It was thought this step
would be the connecting link between the separated
churches, and even Bishop White, as early as July
5, 1787, wrote to him : "I wish most sincerely that
Massachusetts would unite with us, and choose a per-
son for consecration, not merely as it would tend to
cement the Church throughout the whole continent,
but because I think it would add to the wisdom of
our determination whenever a general convention
shall be held for the final settlement of our ecclesias-
tical system."
There is no intimation in this statement that he was
prepared to join with Bishop Seabury in the act of
consecration, if his brother of New York would con-
sent. Rather is it to be inferred that he would ex-
pect Mr. Parker to cross the ocean and complete the
number of three bishops in the English line, which
had been indicated to be desirable and canonical.
But this plan was not acceptable to the party most
interested. " Nothing," said Mr. Parker, in reply,
" will be determined in this State respecting a bishop
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 311
till we see how matters are settled between you and
the Bishop of Connecticut. We are but six clergy-
men in the whole State (exclusive of Mr. Bowen) and
are divided in our sentiments respecting the expedi-
ency of obtaining a bishop. Two seem to adhere to
Connecticut, two to your States, and the other two
will join either party that will bid fairest to cement the
whole. Should the case happen that a person should
be chosen for consecration for this State, will it be
necessary for him to go to England to obtain it, or
can two bishops confer it authentically ; or is Dr.
Griffith on his way to England, or will the Southern
Bishops unite with Bishop Seabury in this act? If
this last question is premature or impertinent, I beg
pardon, and request not an answer to it. The reason
of my proposing these questions is, that the answers
may operate very considerably in the determinations
of the clergy here."
The effort was still pursued to bring the bishops
together for a private conference. The indefatigable
Learning sought the interposition and aid of his ac-
complished parishioner, Dr. William Samuel Johnson,
a delegate from Connecticut to the convention which
was then in session at Philadelphia to frame the Fed-
eral Constitution. The following letter is a proof of
his earnestness, and of his belief in the good results
which must flow from a private interview :
STRATFORD, July 30, 1787.
I am so anxious, my dear and Rev. Sir, for the prosperity
of the Church, that I cannot do less than acknowledge im-
mediately the receipt of your favor by Dr. Johnson, who
informs me that your sentiments are the same with ours in
respect of the union.
312 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
If you, Bishop Provoost, and Bishop Seabury could be
brought together, at the meeting of the gentlemen who have
the care of the fund for Clergymen's widows, all matters
might be adjusted. And whatever may be agreed upon by
you three, each Bishop may bring his own Clergy to acqui-
esce in it ; and by that means matters would be fixed upon
a permanent basis.
You are the only person who can prepare the way to effect
this scheme. And nothing is wanted to do it, but only to
bring Bishop Provoost to adopt it. And I cannot think he
would hesitate a moment, if he knew the sentiments of his
own Clergy in that respect as fully as I do. They all, to a
man, would be overjoyed to find such a plan taking place.
There is no one thing he can possibly do, that would raise
his character so high among his Clergy, as this will. And
there can be no risk in undertaking the affair. You would
do essential service to the Church in general, and Bishop
Provoost in particular, provided you can effect this business,
and convince him of the wisdom he will manifest in taking
such a step now as will fix the willing obedience of his Clergy
to him all his life after. The act at his first setting out, that
pleases and strikes the attention, will be of more advantage
to him than he can imagine.
When you have persuaded Bishop Provoost to acquiesce
in the measure of having a private conference with you and
Bishop Seabury, upon the subject of a union, be so good as
to write to Bishop Seabury and invite him to meet you, and
I doubt not he will attend. As he first proposed it, will it
not be proper to^acquaint him you are now agreed to have
such a meeting, which, in my opinion, is the only method by
which the end desired can be effected ?
One thing further, provided you should bring about a
union, which I doubt not will be the event, if you are brought
together, it will save Dr. Griffith the trouble and expense of
going to England, for he can be canonically consecrated
here.
I have written now lest if I put it off till Dr. Johnson's
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 313
return, you may not have time to prepare matters before the
meeting ; and it appears to me there ought not to be any de-
lay in this affair. I hope you will not esteem me over offi-
cious in this business ; if you do, my apology is this ; I
have been forty years in the service of the Church, and I
believe I am the oldest Clergyman in America, and I am
very desirous to see it complete before I die.
God bless your labors for the converting of sinners and
the building up of saints. Thus prays, Right Rev. Sir,
Your most obedient, humble Servant,
JEREMIAH LEAMING.
BISHOP WHITE.
An extract from a letter of Bishop White to another
gentleman will serve as an answer to Mr. Learning.
" I will be very explicit with you/' said he, writing to
Mr. Parker, August 6, 1787, " on the questions you
put in regard to an union with Bishop Seabury, and
the consecration of Dr. Griffith. On the one hand,
considering it was presumed a third was to go over to
England, that the institutions of the Church of that
country require three to join in the consecration, and
that the political situation of the English prelates pre-
vents their official knowledge of Dr. Seabury as a
Bishop, I am apprehensive it may seem a breach of
faith towards them, if not intended deception in us,
were we to consecrate without the actual number of
three, all under the English succession : although it
would not be inconsistent with this idea, that another
gentleman, under a different succession, should be
joined with us. On the other hand, I am most sin-
cerely desirous of seeing our Church throughout these
States united in one Ecclesiastical Legislature ; and I
think that any difficulties which have hitherto seemed
in the way might be removed by mutual forbearance.
314 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
If there are any further difficulties than those I al-
lude to of difference in opinion, they do not exist with
me ; and I shall be ready to do what lies in my power
to bring all to an agreement.
" As to Dr. Griffith, he is ready to go to England as
soon as he shall be provided with money for the pur-
pose ; and it was contrary to his opinion the writing
to Bishop Provoost and to me, requesting us or either
of us to consecrate him. My answer was to this pur-
port : that our Convention, by adopting the English
Book of Ordination and Consecration, had made it
necessary for us to adhere to the canonical number,
that besides this, I should be very cautious of break-
ing down such a bar against consecrations on surrep-
titious elections, the evil against which the canonical
number was intended, and that it would be indeli-
cate to the English bishops. I find from Bishop Pro-
voost that he wrote a similar answer. There the mat-
ter rests for the present. I remain in hopes that they
will now take effectual measures for raising the nec-
essary supplies."
While these efforts toward reconciliation and union
were prosecuted by individual clergymen, Bishop Sea-
bury was caring for his work in Connecticut, and stir-
ring up the people wherever he went. His visitations
could not be rapid, travelling as he did on horse-
back, or in a chaise or sulky, over rough and hilly
roads, but they were circuitous and extensive, and
occupied much of his time. The parish at New Lon-
don had claims to his services as rector, and the
church, the erection of which he found entered upon
when he returned to this country, was now, after
many hindrances, completed and ready for consecra-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 315
tion ; he convoked his clergy to be present, and the
ceremonies, which were of an imposing character, took
place September 20, 1787. It was the second church
consecrated by him in Connecticut, and some idea of
the interest excited by the occasion, and of Episcopal
labor as well, may be gathered from the familiar and
rather humorous letters written by Ashbel Baldwin to
his friend, the Eev. Tillotson Bronson, then a deacon
officiating in Strafford, Yt., and looking back with
eager longings to the better fields of his native State.
The " tour " into Litchfield County spoken of in the
ensuing extract from one of these letters, 1 dated No-
vember 15, 1787, was undertaken after the consecra-
tion of the church in New London.
Bishop Seabury has not been in Vermont ; therefore 't is
no wonder if you have not heard of him there ; so much
for a duplicate of my answer to your second letter. I men-
tioned in the inclosed of the 14th instant, of our convening
at New London. The Clergy were not in general present.
The Bishop preached the consecration sermon, and was
universally applauded : he has a most excellent talent at
sermonizing. No ordinations. Brother Ogden, from Ports-
mouth, applied for Priest's orders, but was rejected. Tom-
linson was not there : had he been there, I think he would
have met with an opposition. Todd expects to be conse-
crated [ordained] in June. Bishop Seabury has at last
made a tour into our quarter. And was unhappy that you
had moved. An acquaintance of his wrote to have him
send a Mathematical genius to Elizabeth Town (New Jer-
sey), to take charge of the Church in that place and an
Academy lately established there. He had mentioned you
to them with high expectations of its being agreeable to you
and them. However, I hope all is for the best, and that
1 MS. Letters.
316 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
you may make a figure where you are. I mentioned in my
last that you must provide me a place of refuge I am in
earnest. I expect (God willing) to wait on Bishop Seabury
into your State next summer. He has thoughts of fixing
himself there, if he should find his lands to his mind ; this
must be Inter nos. His visit among us was attended with
great applause to himself and much pleasure to the church
people. At Simsbury confirmation was administered to
about two hundred persons ; Harwinton, 40 ; Cambridge, 56 ;
Northbury, 103 ; Litchfield, 165. An amazing throng of
people attended with us ; there was supposed to be fifteen
hundred people present. His subject was the doctrine of
atonement, on which his observations were so striking that
it was almost impossible to restrain the audience from loud
shouts of approbation. Whilst with me he was visited by
the most respectable people in town. I escorted him to
Goshen, Salisbury, and Sharon, where we parted, after hav-
ing spent a fortnight in the most agreeable manner that I
ever was acquainted with. He is sensible and agreeable,
and if the Church was not at the bottom of the hill in point
of zeal, I think they have the highest prospect of rising
triumphant with such a Head. Ives was with him, and has
concluded to spend the winter at New London, and, I be-
lieve, his days at Cheshire. Belden has visited me, and is
yet undetermined. Young Marsh has been home. He has
an appointment of Tutor in Cokesbury College, a large and
respectable seminary lately founded in Maryland ; inclosed
is a map of the building ; he is much improved, and I think
bids fair for a shining character. He wishes to be remem-
bered to you.
The public mind was greatly agitated at this pe-
riod about the adoption of the new Federal Constitu-
tion. The convention in Philadelphia had finished
its work and sent it to the old thirteen States for ap-
proval and ratification. The instrument, as it came
from the hands of its framers, was not considered by
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 317
any one to be perfect in theory, but it was the best
that could be made under the circumstances to estab-
lish a system of national government. Political feel-
ing ran high, and when the people of Connecticut
came to choose delegates to the State convention,
which was to ratify or reject the Constitution, they
were much divided, and it was impossible to foretell
the issue. Mr. Baldwin, in his next letter to his
clerical friend in Vermont, written the same month,
gave a characteristic description of the popular agita-
tion, and then passed to ecclesiastical matters.
The new Constitution is out, the Egg-shell is broke but
't is impossible as yet to determine how it is relished yes-
terday members for a State Convention were appointed. It
was a day " big with the fate of Cato and of Rome." There
will be powerful oppositions to it in Connecticut. But the
struggles against it in Virginia and Pennsylvania are vio-
lent. The Southern Papers are red hot ; nothing is said on
either side but " Firebrands, Arrows and death." I am
alarmed at the consequence of its being either received or
rejected, the majority will not be sufficiently large on either
side for a subject of such vast consequence. The members
of State Convention in Litchfield are avowedly in favor of
it. The Yeas and Nays in several adjacent towns were
taken, and a great majority against it, and members ap-
pointed accordingly ; in short we are much divided ; anar-
chy, I am afraid, is approaching. But why should we be
anxiously troubled " Whatever is is right." What would
it avail us if we knew what our situation would be ; it could
neither alleviate nor mitigate our sufferings. The most in-
fluential characters in New York are against the Constitu-
tion.
In number 2 I mentioned the present situation of Ives.
The Blakeslees are still at Derby. I can now and then hear
of them prowling at Northbury and its vicinity. Prindle
318 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
continues peaceably in his own country. Depend not on
rumors ; the Clergy in Connecticut are well pleased with
their Bishop, and will run the risk of a disunion with the
Southern gentry, rather than forsake him, if he will stay
with us. We hope, however, better things than that. A
correspondence is now open on the subject, between Sea-
bury, Provoost, and White, and we expect the issue will be
a friendly coalition in Episcopal consecration, if not in
Church government. Convocation agreed there might a
Christian agreement take place so far as to establish the
Church in America, if they could not agree on the particu-
lar mode of exercising the right of that Church. I am
happy to find the assembly of your State acting upon so lib-
eral a plan respecting the Church Lands ; for I think it will
be productive of most salutary consequences to you. We
shall all swarm from Connecticut unless the political wheel
rolls in a different way from the present. I know of no asy-
lum but Vermont. May we all once more meet together in
that romantic country and be able to behold our flocks upon
a thousand hills. To-morrow is Thanksgiving Day : re-
member St. Pumpkin's, and give one sociable glass for us.
I perform divine service at Harwinton. Their Church is al-
most inclosed. I forgot when speaking of Convocation to
say anything of their Church in New London ; 't is a pretty
one, I think the neatest building in the State : elegantly fin-
ished. The consecration service was amazingly grand. The
Bishop had on his royal attire. The Crown and Mitre were
refulgent. The reading Psalms were beautifully chanted.
The most of the Clergy present were clothed in their Robes,
and the whole day was pleasing. Good Night.
This was the first occasion on which Bishop Sea-
bury wore the mitre ; at least there has been found
no positive proof that he appeared with it prior to
the consecration of the church in New London. It
has, indeed, been stated on the authority of one who
was present as a spectator, that it was upon the head
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 319
of the bishop when he held his first ordination in
Middle town. " In 1785, at the first ordination in
this country," said the late Rev. Isaac Jones, of Litch-
field, standing before it in the library of Trinity Col-
lege, Hartford, where it is now deposited, " I saw
him wearing his scarlet hood and that mitre, and
though I was then a dissenter, his stately figure and
solemn manner impressed me very much." 1 Prob-
ably the memory of this good man in his old age
failed him and he mistook the occasion. For Bishop
Seabury " did not use the mitre at first, nor did he
bring one with him when he came home after his
consecration ; but when he found many of the non-
Episcopal ministers about him disposed to adopt the
title of bishop, in derision of his claims, he adopted a
mitre as a badge of office which they would hardly
be disposed to imitate." 2 It does not appear to have
been used by him in his ordinary visitations, but
only on a few great occasions when imposing ceremo-
nies took place.
1 Coxe's Christian Ballads, p. 216.
2 Hallam's Annals of St. James's Church, New London, p. 73.
320 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
CHAPTER XVIIL
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. PARKER, AND VISIT TO BOSTON; CHARITY
SERMON, AND ORDINATIONS ; STAY IN THE CITY, AND CALL UPON
DR. BYLES; LETTER OF LEAMING, AND CONVOCATION AT NORTH
HAVEN.
A. D. 1788.
THE tenacity with which Bishop Seabury adhered
to the "good old Book of Common Prayer" led him
to wholly distrust the unauthorized changes which
were made and set forth at Philadelphia. He had
been invited by Mr. Parker to pass the Easter festival
in Boston and to preacb the annual sermon before
the Episcopal Charitable Society; but learning that
there was some irregularity in the mode of con-
ducting the service in Mr. Parker's church, especially
in using a portion of " The Proposed Book/' he ex-
pressed his unwillingness to accept the invitation, as
his presence at such a crisis might be construed into
countenancing improper departures from the old Lit-
urgy. The bishop does not appear to have known
the extent of these departures, but he could not help
thinking that if uniformity among the churches was
hereafter to be attained, it was unwise for individual
parishes to adopt changes which might tend to em-
barrass so good a work. His first letter to Mr. Parker
has not been preserved, but the answer shows the
character of the contents and is withal a most valua-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 321
ble contribution to the ecclesiastical history of that
period. The stateliness of its tone and a lack of the
usual warmth of expression looked like a breach
between the Bishop of Connecticut and the leading
clergyman in Massachusetts.
BOSTON, January 28, 1788.
RT. REV'D SIR, Your favor of the 15th did not reach
me till the evening of the 21st instant, and the departure of
the Post the next morning prevented my answering it the
last week.
I am very sorry to find that you have any reluctance to
pass the festival of Easter at Boston, on account of any ir-
regular or unprecedented conduct in our Church. I know
not what accounts may have come to your ears respecting
the great alterations we have made in the Liturgy of the
Church. I flatter myself you have heard more than is really
true. I had the honor of transmitting to you, Sir, a copy
of these alterations, adopted by a Convention held in this
State, Sept. '85 : no others have been since added, except the
Psalms. The gentlemen of the Charitable Society would
think themselves honored with your company at their annual
festival ; but I cannot feel myself at liberty to promise a
recession from our present mode of carrying on the service,
as I apprehend it would be attended with great convulsions
in our Church. And if you will indulge me in the state-
ment of a few facts relating to those alterations we have
really made, and the grounds upon which they were adopted,
you will be the better able to judge how far our conduct has
been reprehensible.
In the year 1T85, I think in the month of June or July,
there being then but four Clergymen of the Episcopal Church
in the three States of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New
Hampshire, and there being in those States eighteen or
twenty Churches, three of the Clergymen of Massachusetts
thought it advisable to invite a Convention of all the
Churches to consult upon some plan for maintaining unif orm-
21
322 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
ity in Divine Worship, and adopting such other measures as
might tend to the union and prosperity of the Episcopal
Church. There being but four Clergymen, and so many
Churches without, it was absolutely necessary to call in the
Wardens and delegates from those Churches who had no
Clergymen. This Convention was proposed to be held on
Sept. 7, 1785. In the mean time, being informed that the
Bishop of Connecticut proposed to meet his Clergy in Con-
vocation, on August 3, in that year, I was requested by my
brethren in the ministry, and the wardens and vestry, to
attend that meeting, in order to learn what proceedings that
body would take, that the proposed Convention in this
State might be able to act in unison with them. The atten-
tion and politeness I received from yourself, Sir, and the
Clergy of your diocese, demand my grateful acknowledg-
ments. I had the honor of a seat in the first Convention
ever held in America. Upon discussing the subject of the
expediency of some alterations in the Liturgy of the Church,
it was proposed and agreed to, to choose a committee to
attend the Bishop, to propose such alterations as should be
thought necessary, and to report them to the next meeting
of the Convocation. Having the honor of being named on
that committee, in conjunction with Rev. Messrs. Jarvis and
Bowden, you will recollect, Sir, that we spent Friday and
Saturday in that week upon this subject, and that most, if
not all the proposed alterations were such as we were under
obligations to you for, or such as you readily agreed to.
These proposed alterations were to be reported to the next
meeting of your Convocation, and, by your express desire, to
the Convention that was to meet in this town the following
month, and were, I think, transmitted by you to the Rev.
Dr. Smith, of Maryland, to be communicated to the Conven-
tion to be held at Philadelphia, in the month of October.
The substitutes for the State prayers were to be immediately
recommended to the Churches of Connecticut ; and your
injunction was received and adopted, with the alteration of
one single word by our Convention. The other proposed
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 323
alterations were also agreed to, and were to be sent to
all the Churches in those States for their ratification. In
our peculiar situation, without a Bishop, and most of our
Churches without a Clergyman, what other mode could we
devise ? Till then I had not made, and did not think myself
at liberty to make, any alterations, even in the State prayers,
otherwise than by omitting the prayers for the King, etc.
Give me leave, Rt. Rev'd Sir, to ask what other mode we
could have devised, in our peculiar situation, without a
Bishop, and most of our Churches without a Clergyman ? As
we could not proceed in the most regular way of having our
Liturgy altered by a Bishop, we thought we had taken the
next most regular step, that of gaining the consent of a neigh-
boring Bishop, who, we were led to suppose, would enjoin the
same in his Diocese. We kept our Convention under ad-
journments till July following, in order to see what would
take effect in Connecticut, and at the southward. The Con-
vention held in Philadelphia, in October, went more thor-
oughly into alterations than we had proposed, which termi-
nated in reprinting the Prayer Book. The Churches in
Connecticut, taking the alarm at the proceedings of the
Philadelphia Convention, began to think it best not to start
from the old ground; and, if I am rightly informed, sent
memorials to the Bishop in Convocation, not to accede to
any alterations in the Liturgy, further than the substitute
for the State prayers.
When our Convention met in July, by adjournment,
we found that we were left by our brethren in Connecticut
that they thought it not advisable to make any altera-
tions. The Convention at the southward, though they ac-
ceded to some of our alterations, had gone much further,
and did not adopt the substitute for the State prayers ; and
the Churches in this and the neighboring States had readily
come into our proposed alterations, as they had signified to
the Convention, one only excepted: what was there, in the
power of the Convention, then left to do, to preserve a uni-
formity ? For my own part I was nonplussed ; we found we
324 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
missed our object, and the only thing left to our choice was,
to leave it to the option of the several Churches to adopt
the new alterations, or continue the old Liturgy, as should
be most agreeable.
My Church chose the alterations, and on the first Sunday
in August, 1786, they were introduced, and have been
strictly adhered to ever since. With those alterations sug-
gested by yourself, and adopted by this Convention, it was
judged best by some of our Church, to take the Psalms as
selected by the Convention at Philadelphia. The reasons
adduced for this procedure were, the great length of the
morning service, which the reading the Psalms thus se-
lected would considerably shorten, and that certain passages,
which were peculiar to the state of the Jewish Church, and
in particular those called the cursing Psalms, and not so
well adapted to worship under the Christian dispensation,
were omitted.
This, Sir, being the true state of facts, you will be able to
judge how far we have acted irregularly, and whether you
can with propriety visit us under these' circumstances. I am
not, for my own part, so much attached to our alterations,
as to be unwilling to part with them, save in two instances :
I mean the omission of the Athanasian Creed, and the fre-
quent repetition of the Lord's Prayer. To return to these I
should feel a reluctance ; but still would be willing to sacri-
fice my own sentiments to the general good.
I am at the same time confident that, should I attempt it,
it would cause a convulsion in my Church, [such] as would
go near to its total destruction. And sure I am, that is an
event you would not wish to see take place. But let us
suppose.it might be effected without this risque. Will our
returning whence we have departed produce a uniformity
through these States ? If this was probable, I should most
surely advise it. You value us in this State at much too
high a rate, by supposing that our joining either side will
bring about the desired uniformity. The Church is incon-
siderable here, compared with what it is in yours or the
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 325
southern States. And would not our returning, without
producing the intended end, discover an instability and
fondness for change, that would be greatly prejudicial to
the welfare of the Churches ? This I will venture to assert,
that when the several Bishops in America have agreed upon
a uniform Liturgy, it will be adopted by the Churches in
this State.
Thus, Rt. Rev. Sir, I have taken the liberty to lay before
you this statement of facts, and the probable consequences
of our compliance with what you wish ; and however mis-
taken I may be, I have endeavored to do it with all that re-
spect due to your character and office. Your known good-
ness and candor will excuse me if my pen has let anything
slip that is improper, for I assure you it was not intended.
I can only now add, Sir, that the gentlemen of the Chari-
table Society, and particularly myself, would think ourselves
honored with your company at the annual festival, and highly
favored by your preaching to them on that day (and I will
add, on the Sunday preceding, if you can make it conven-
ient) ; but at the same time they cannot authorize me to
promise a recession from our present mode of performing
the service, as they are apprehensive that such a measure
would, especially at the present time, when the Episcopal
Church is peculiarly situated, tend to create divisions and
parties among ourselves.
A committee of the Society was chosen at the last yearly
meeting, to appoint some other gentleman to preach, in case
you should not accept the invitation. You will, therefore,
please to let me know, as soon as convenient, the result of
your determination.
And believe me to be, with all possible respect and es-
teem, Rt. Rev. Sir, your most obedient and very humble
Servant, S. PARKER. 1
KT. REV. BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT.
Bishop Seabury was not a man to permit any mis-
1 Perry's Historical Notes and Documents, pp. 364-366.
326 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
apprehension of his motives to go uncorrected.
Frank and independent as he always was in the ex-
pression of his own views, he was ever ready to re-
spect the honest independence of others, and where
he could not agree with them, he maintained his
Christian dignity and cherished no unfriendly feel-
ings. In his letter-book is to be found transcribed a
portion of the candid reply which he sent to Mr. Par-
ker just two weeks after the date of the foregoing
epistle :
February 13, 1789.
.... It was not my design to excite any resentment, or
create any coolness, and I hope I have not done so. Indeed,
I have no suspicion of it from any expression in your letter.
But I could not help observing that it was written with
more formality than you used to write. Notwithstanding
the statement of matters in it, I cannot help thinking you
have been too hasty in adopting the alterations as you have
done that it has rendered a union among the Churches
the more difficult, and clouded the small prospect of uni-
formity, which gave any encouragement to aim at it. That
some of our Clergy have been too backward in accommodat-
ing the service of the Church to the state, or rather the
temper of the country, I will not deny ; I have more than
once told them so. But errors may be committed through
haste, as well as by delay. I am far from ascribing ill -de-
signs to you, or to any one who acted with you : but you
must forgive me if I repeat it such alterations as have
been made are unprecedented in the Episcopal Church,
without the concurrence of your Bishop. Forgive me, too,
if I say, I did not flatter myself with having any steps
taken in returning to the old service for my sake. I have
been too long acquainted with my own unimportance to ex-
pect it. But I did and do wish to have as great a uniform-
ity as possible among our Churches ; and I was grieved at a
measure which I thought impeded so good a work. I never
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 327
thought there was any heterodoxy in the southern Prayer
Book: but I do think the true doctrine is left too un-
guarded, and that the offices are, some of them, lowered to
such a degree, that they will, in a great measure, lose their
influence.
The invitation to pass the Easter festival in Boston
was accepted, and Bishop Seabury preached in Trin-
ity Church before the Episcopal Charitable Society
at the anniversary meeting, Easter Tuesday, March
25, 1788. The sermon was on " Charity," and by re-
quest of the Society was printed. A brief extract
will give some idea of its character and of the insti-
tution in whose behalf it was delivered :
However strong and indispensable the obligations of Chris-
tian charity may be however great the ability of the rich,
and the liberality of their dispositions no one can relieve
everybody. Among a multitude of objects the generous
mind will undergo some uneasiness because all cannot be
relieved, or because a particular one cannot be relieved to a
sufficient degree. The desire, too, of bestowing what he has
to give where it may do the most good, will occasion a per-
plexity disagreeable enough to a tender heart. From hence
will appear the usefulness and propriety of charitable Insti-
tutions and Societies. Their attention is limited by the
nature and rules of their institution, and only objects of
a particular description can come under their observation.
Instead of confining Charity, this, in fact, renders it more
extensively and permanently useful. Its supplies are con-
stant, though possibly not very large ; for the end of Charity
is to relieve, not to enrich. By increasing the number of
these institutions, and varying the descriptions of persons to
be relieved by them, all the poor who are not provided for
by public law may be brought within the reach of relief.
The object, too, of these Societies being limited, and their
ability increased by union, their efforts will be more con-
328 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
centred, and, like the rays of the sun in a burning-glass, the
more powerful : And that relief which no individual could
give will be easily and effectually obtained by the joint en-
ergy of the whole.
The respectable Society before which I have, this day, the
pleasure of preaching, is an eminent instance of the justness
of these sentiments. Formed more than sixty years ago, for
the benevolent purpose of relieving the members and bene-
factors of the Society, and other persons of the Episcopal
Church, from the distresses of poverty and misfortune, to
which, through the various changes and chances of this mor-
tal life, we are all continually exposed, it has pleased God
so to bless its pious efforts and proper conduct, that it has
been the happy means of giving ample relief and comfort to
many who had no earthly resource, and is now enabled to
continue and to increase that support to the indigent, which
was the blessed object of its first design. A design so di-
rectly springing from the true spirit of Christian benevolence,
and conducted by that Charity whose greatest glory is, that
it seeJceth not its own, but the good of others, could not fail
of His blessing who openeth his hand and filleth all living
things with plenteousness. Nor have we any reason to doubt
he will continue to bless and support it, and direct its mem-
bers by his grace and Holy Spirit, worthily to continue the
benevolent work they have hitherto so worthily conducted.
Societies like this, by collecting the smaller efforts of be-
nevolent hearts, and combining them together, to be again
distributed for the purposes of charity, resemble mighty
rivers, rolling their waters, collected from brooks and springs,
to the great reservoir of moisture which the Almighty has
prepared for the refreshment of the earth. And the worthy
members of this pious institution will reflect with pleasure
upon the singular goodness of God in making them, without
distressing themselves, the instruments of alleviating the dis-
tresses of others cooperators with him in the great work of
promoting human happiness by abating the pains of human
misery. May their example inspire, their zeal warm, and
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 329
their prudence direct others to form and conduct similar
Societies, till every class and denomination of distressed
poor are, as far as human infirmity will permit, rescued
from their sufferings, and enabled with thankful hearts and
cheerful voices to praise their God for his goodness, and bless
their benefactors for their humane attention. 1
This first visit of Bishop Seabury to Boston was
prolonged several weeks, and the opportunity was
improved by him and Mr. Parker to confer together
and consider well the condition of the Church in New
England and the States to the southward. An ordi-
nation was held on Thursday, the 27th of March, and
the Rev. John C. Ogden, deacon, advanced to the
priesthood. It was the first ordination in Massachu-
setts by an American bishop, and no doubt attracted
as much attention as when two years before he went
to Rhode Island and admitted a young candidate to
the order of deacons, and three days later to the
priesthood. " Last Wednesday morning," said a cor-
respondent under date of Newport, March 20, 1786,
" the Right Rev. Dr. Seabury, Bishop of the Episco-
pal Church in Connecticut, held a special ordination
in Trinity Church in this city, at which time Mr.
John Bissett, a young gentleman lately from Scotland,
was admitted to the priesthood. We do not recollect
ever seeing so crowded a congregation as collected
upon this occasion." 2 If Trinity Church, Boston, was
not crowded when Mr. Ogden was ordained, the serv-
ice was one which interested Episcopalians generally,
and had its value as an example.
Before the bishop left the city, he called upon Dr.
1 Sermon, pp. 17-20.
2 The Connecticut Journal, March 29, 1786.
330 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Mather Byles, then living in retirement, who, though
a Congregational divine, was yet a sturdy loyalist
during the Kevolution, and had a son who entered
the ministry of the Church of England and was pro-
scribed and banished for entertaining the political
views of his father. Dr. Byles was a noted wit, and
so ready with his puns and sarcasms that seldom did
any one try to match him in this line without coming
off the worse for the conflict. When Seabury paid
him the compliment of a visit, he received him very
cordially, and said with a mixture of irony : "I am
happy to see, in my old age, a bishop on this side the
Atlantic, and I hope you will not refuse to give me
the right hand of fellowship." To which the bishop
replied : " As you are a* left-handed brother, I think
fit to give you my left hand;" which he accordingly
did. The conversation soon turned upon the general
subject of the church, and it being St. Mark's day,
and public services as usual, the doctor inquired,
" Why is it that you churchmen still keep up the old
Koinish practice of worshipping saints ? " " We do
not worship saints," was the quick reply ; " we only
thank God that the church has had such worthy advo-
cates, and pray him to give us hearts and strength to
follow their example." " Aye," exclaimed the other,
" I know you are fond of traditions ; but I trust we
have now many good saints here in our church, and
for my part, I had rather have one living saint than
a half dozen dead ones." "May be so," rejoined the
bishop, " for I suppose you are of the same mind with
Solomon, who said that ' a living dog is better than a
dead lion/ "
So zealous and vigilant a man as the venerable
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 331
Learning could not allow his pen to rest while the
Church was in a divided state and enemies were rising
up to take advantage of disagreements and dissen-
sions. He renewed his correspondence with Bishop
White by writing him the following letter :
STRATFORD, June 16, 1788.
MY REV. AND DEAR SlK, I have received your kind
and obliging letter, dated the 10th of last February, and I
should have answered it before this time, but have waited to
hear how the affair turned out, after the Convention in Vir-
ginia, with Dr. Griffith.
As to the affair upon which our correspondence com-
menced, it appears to me that the union of the Churches is,
at present, a matter that cannot be effected. I was in hopes
to see it accomplished soon after your return from England.
But you inform me some object, and will have nothing to do
with the Scotch Succession. Dr. P y is at the bottom
of the plan. He has contrived it to make this country all
Unitarians ; for, to accomplish that he must demolish the
Church in these States. However, if we do not lend him a
helping hand, he cannot do it. The Church will never fall,
unless it is pulled down by her own members.
Perhaps you will say, you cannot think there is any such
scheme on foot. It will not be long before you will find
that what I have told you is fact. The Presbyterians are
employed by , to fill all the Southern States with their
sort of Ministers, before the Church is supplied with Episco-
pal Clergymen. Where people have no principles about the
nature of a Christian Church, a man ordained by the Laity
is as good as any. And a man who professes to believe no
creed, but only this, that he believes not in any creed, is as
good a Christian as any man can be. By this scheme the
Unitarian doctrine is to take place. In order to preserve
the Church, the members should be vigilant, lest the foun-
dation should be undermined by clandestine enemies. If
true Christianity is not preserved by the Episcopal Church,
332 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
it will soon take its flight from these States, for Unitarians
will be the whole.
In order that the common people, members of the_Church
in This State. n^Tl*- "iufc^lft" 1 ^ ^ ie nature of the Christian
Church, and some of its leading doctrines, I have lately pub-
lished a small treatise upon various subjects, a copy of
which I now send you. This I should not have presumed
to do, if you had not in a familiar manner expressed your
desire that I would communicate to you any matters that
might turn up with regard to our Church.
If you should, upon the reading of it, approve what I have
advanced, I should be glad to know if reprinting of it would
be of any advantage to the people of your State, who are
under your care. If we desire to preserve the Church, we
must acquaint the people for what end the Church was ap-
pointed, and what the doctrines of a Christian Church are,
in order that they may understand them.
Thus I have expressed my sentiments freely, and perhaps
have been too open. But this must be my apology : in love
I have done it, and in love I hope it may be received.
I am, with every sentiment of esteem and regard, Right
Rev. Sir, your sincere friend and very humble Servant,
JEREMIAH LEAMING.
RIGHT REV. BISHOP WHITE.
A convocation was held at North Haven, in Octo-
ber of this year, and the clergy were generally pres-
ent, but no new steps were taken in the way of
facilitating a union with the Church in the other
States. Two deacons were advanced to the priest-
hood, one, Samuel Nesbitt, had formerly been a
medical practitioner in New Haven, and influential as
a layman in securing some provision for the support
of the bishop. In a letter to his friend and corre-
spondent in Vermont, giving a brief account of the
convocation, Ashbel Baldwin said, " The bishop's
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 333
daughter (Mrs. Taylor) has been dangerously sick
this summer, which was the cause of our not making
you a visit as was proposed. When we shall be in
your quarter is at present uncertain ; possibly next
spring."
Soon after the meeting at North Haven, Bishop
White renewed his efforts to change the position of
things in Massachusetts. A general convention was
to be held in July of the next year at Philadelphia,
and he was desirous of the presence and aid of the
clergy from that important State. With a view to
this he urged upon Mr. Parker that they should se-
lect a suitable presbyter and send him to England for
consecration, and thus supply what the indifference
of the Church in Virginia, in the case of Dr. Griffith,
had permitted to be frustrated. " I have formerly,"
he said, "expressed to you another reason for my
wishing you with us ; and the reason still exists : the
effecting of a junction with our brethren of Connecti-
cut." He seemed to lay the blame of keeping at a
distance from their councils upon the clergy of New
England, and Mr. Parker must have communicated
the contents of his letter to Bishop Seabury, who
was conscious of having made the first overtures for
union, and was not willing to be put in the wrong
in this way. Without going into detail, he wrote in
reply, December 16, 1788, "I can now only observe,
that, as it appears to me, all the difficulty lies with
those churches, and not with us in Connecticut. I
have several times proposed and urged a union. It
has been received and treated, I think, coldly. And
yet I have received several letters urging such a
union on me, as though I was the only person who
334 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
opposed it. This is not fair. I am ready to treat of
and settle the terms of union on any proper notice.
But Bishops White and Provoost must bear their part
in it actively as well as myself; and we must come
into the union on even terms, and not as under-
lings." 1
MS. Letter-Book.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 335
CHAPTER XIX.
VALIDITY OF CONSECRATION, AND LETTER TO BISHOP DRUMMOND;
DEATH OF CHARLES EDWARD, AND RELIEF FOR THE SCOTTISH
EPISCOPAL CHURCH ; ATTACHMENT OF HIS CLERGY, AND LETTERS
TO TILLOTSON BRONSON ; CONVENTION TO MEET IN PHILADELPHIA,
AND CORRESPONDENCE WITH BISHOP WHITE.
A. D. 1788-1789.
THE anxiety of Seabury to have another bishop
consecrated in Scotland for Connecticut arose from a
general dislike among his clergy and people of the
new Prayer Book, and from a desire to stand on equal
terms with his Episcopal brethren of New York and
Pennsylvania. No one could possibly foresee the shape
which events would ultimately take. But as far as
he might, he would be prepared for every emergency,
and while acquiescing in the judgment of his Scottish
friends as to the consecration of another bishop, he
was determined to adhere to sound ecclesiastical prin-
ciples, and not give up anything essential to the true
government of the Church.
The validity of his Episcopacy had been assailed,
and fearing a renewal of the question, he thought
necessity might be laid upon him to establish the
Scottish succession from the restoration of Charles II.
to the Revolution in 1688 under William III. He
had already obtained a list of the succession of Scot-
tish bishops from 1688 down to his own consecration
336 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
at Aberdeen, but he wished to go farther back over
a period where some might pretend doubt still rested.
The following letter, written to Bishop Abernethy
Drummond, not only touches this point, but makes
other references of peculiar interest in the history of
that period : l
NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, November 7, 1788.
RIGHT REVEREND MY DEAR BROTHER AND FRIEND,
It is so long since you have heard from me that I apprehend
you and my good friends in Scotland will think their mem-
ory erased from my mind. Their memory is, however, dear
to me, and the recollection of their attention to me always
fills my heart with pleasure.
Your letter which informed me of your consecration for
the See of Edinburgh gave me great joy. I heartily bless
my God and Lord for that event, and I beseech Him to ena-
ble you to do all that good to His Church which your heart,
I know, anxiously wishes to do. Accept my thanks for your
kind expressions and intentions toward me. God, I hope,
will assist me to become in some degree worthy of the regard
you express for me.
The public papers have informed us of the compliance of
the Episcopal clergy in Scotland with the legal requisition of
praying for the reigning king, etc. I know them so well
that I am sure they never will sacrifice conscience to con-
veniency ; and I cannot but rejoice in the event, which, as it
will free them, I hope, effectually, from a great embarrass-
ment, so it will, I trust, open the door to great accessions to
the Church of our dear Redeemer, miserably torn by divis-
ions and defiled by polluted and unauthorized worship and
sacraments. Come that day, gracious God, when all who
1 The original letter, indorsed in the handwriting of Bishop Jolly,
" Good Bishop Seabury's," is in possession of Rev. John Dowden, D. D.,
Pantonian Professor, Theological College, Edinburgh, to whom I am in-
debted for a correct copy. Bishop Jolly bequeathed his valuable library
to this institution in 1838.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 337
worship Thee shall do it in the unity of Thy Church, in the
bond of peace, and in righteousness of life !
Our state in this country is still unsettled, and like I fear
to continue so. Bishop White, of Philadelphia, seems dis-
posed to an Ecclesiastical Union, but will take no leading or
active part to bring it about. He will risk nothing ; and
Bishop Provoost seems so elated with the honor of an Eng-
lish Consecration that he affects to doubt the validity of
mine. This may oblige me to establish the Scotch succes-
sion from the Restoration of King Charles II. to what is
called the Revolution ; and I must beg you to enable me to
do so. How this may best be done you can judge better
than I can. I should suppose a certificate from the bishops
in Scotland would be sufficient, naming those who were con r
secrated in England under King Charles the Second and
their successors till Episcopal Government was abolished by
William the Dutchman. Bishop Collier's Eccl. Hist., v. 2,
lib. ix., p. 887, says about this time September 6, 1661
Mr. James Sharp, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Barwell, and Mr.
Loughton were consecrated bishops (i. e., for Scotland) by
the Bishop of Winchester, with the assistance of two other
English Prelates ; now, who were their successors till the
establishment of Presbyterianism ? To ascertain this point
is all I want.
Another objection Bishop P 1 makes against me is
that I was an enemy to my country, i. e., I did not disregard
my oaths and run headlong into the late Rebellion, now glo-
rious Revolution. This may answer for itself I broke no
oaths, nor did I trample on sacred obligations God be
praised for His grace.
We have some talk here of getting an edition of the
Prayer Book printed, with the Canons and the Rubrics ac-
commodated to our state. The book would scarcely be so
large as the present. We wish to know what a common
edition of about 5,000 could be done for at Edinburgh. I
have also an idea of publishing two Volumes of Sermons cal-
culated for this meridian, as soon as I can get a little more
22
338 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
leisure, the volumes to contain about 400 pages each.
What would be the Edinburgh terms if I took 300 copies
what if the whole edition ? You see with how little cere-
mony I lay burdens on you your goodness, I trust, will
excuse me. I wish to get this Church into better order be-
fore I die, and to leave something behind ine to keep it so
when I am gone.
I send you twelve copies of a Charity Sermon preached in
Boston. Please to send one to the Rt. Revd. Bishop Kil-
gour, with my dutiful regards, to Bishop Skinner, Bishop
McFarlane, the Rev. Mr. John and Alex. Allan, Dr. Web-
ster, and the Rev. Mr. Jolly, of Bishop Skinner's diocese, I
believe. These gentlemen have all my hearty love and es-
timation. I send also two copies of a letter of one of my
Presbyters on the old subject of Episcopacy a battle which
we shall have to fight over again in this country. We are
therefore about trying whether our poverty will permit us to
establish a clerical library here, to consist of the Fathers of
the primitive Church, the controversial writers with the Dis-
senters and Papists, and the standard authors of the Church
of England, especially of the last century. I wish you to
send one of these letters to Bishop Skinner.
We have now sixteen Presbyters in this Diocese, and four
Deacons who will soon be put into Priests' orders. Four
more, i. ., twenty-four in the whole, will be as many as the
present ability of the Church can support. It does however
grow, and converts from Presbyterianism are not unfre-
quent.
We are also endeavoring to establish an academy for the
education of our own clergy, etc. ; and perhaps if we can
raise .14. or 1500 sterling by subscription in the course
of the winter, of which we have good hopes, to set it a-going
in the course of the next summer ; and flatter ourselves that,
by making it a general School for fitting young gentlemen
for the various occupations of life, it will support itself.
My regards attend on your Lady. Remember me to the
Mr. Allans and families, Dr. Webster, and all who are kind
enough to think about me.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 339
When you do me the favor to write to me, could you do
so by the way of Glasgow to Boston, directed to the care of
the Rev. Mr. Samuel Parker, it would come securely and
without expense to me. Mr. Bowden is now publishing
" Remarks on Dr. Chauncy's (late of Boston) (distorted)
View of Episcopacy." If I knew how to get such little
matters to you readily it would be a means of letting you
know how we go on. Pray for me, my dear brother, and
believe me to be your ever affectionate, humble servant,
SAMUEL CONNECT.
The death of Charles Edward, the last of the royal
House of Stuart, occurred at Rome on the 31st of
January, 1788, and there was no longer any reason
for the Scottish bishops and clergy to refuse allegiance
to the reigning sovereign of the House of Hanover.
They had experienced the benefits of his mild sway
and a practical relaxation of the rigor of those penal
laws enacted against the Scottish Episcopal Church,
but till now they had been unwilling to make any
change and recognize the title of King George in
their public prayers.
After some preliminary measures by the different
diocesan synods, which, with great unanimity, favored
the change, the Primus (Bishop Kilgour) summoned
an Episcopal synod to meet at Aberdeen on the 24th
of April, and the deans of the several dioceses, as rep-
resentatives of the presbyters, were also requested to
attend. The result of the meeting was a unanimous
agreement to submit to the present government as
invested in the person of George the Third, and to
testify this submission by praying for him and the
royal family in the express words of the English Lit-
urgy, hoping thereby to remove all suspicion of dis-
340 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
affection, and to obtain a repeal of the severe penal
enactments under which the Church in Scotland had
suffered during the long period of disputed succession
to the crown. In compliance with the determination
of this synod, the bishops issued circulars to the clergy
and enjoined them to publicly notify their respective
congregations, on the 18th of May, that upon the
following Sunday " nominal prayers for the King are
to be authoritatively introduced, and afterwards to
continue in the religious assemblies of this Episcopal
Church." Accordingly on the 25th of May every
clergyman, with one exception, " prayed by name for
King George, the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and
all the royal family." l
The exception was the Rev. James Brown, of Mon-
trose, who subsequently inspired a little band of mal-
contents in Edinburgh, and not only assumed the pas-
toral charge of them, but made a most daring attempt
to perpetuate a schism " by invading the right of
the Episcopate itself, having the hardihood to repair
to the village of Downe, in Perthshire, where Bishop
Rose resided, in the extreme of dotage, and causing
him to perform the office of consecration! " 2
When the question was put soon after to the ven-
erable prelate whether the case were so or not, he
answered in all the simplicity of childhood, "My sis-
ter may have done it, but not I." Bishop Rose was
a bachelor, and an aged sister was his housekeeper
and guardian. With the death of Brown and a few
of his adherents, the attempt at schism came to an
end, and the seed of political disaffection ceased to
exist among the Episcopalians of Scotland.
1 Stephen's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. iv., p. 414.
8 Annals of Scottish Episcopacy, p. 83.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 341
Bishop Seabury rejoiced to hear of the change in
the relations of the Scottish Church to the king on
the throne. He wrote to Bishop Skinner, November
7, 1788, and said, " The public papers have an-
nounced that the Episcopal clergy in Scotland now
pray for the king by name. I hope it is true, and
flatter myself that it will free them, erelong, from
many embarrassments. " It was an unequivocal proof
of their loyalty and steady determination to support
his majesty's government at all times and by every
means in their power, and the next step was to ap-
ply in due form for relief from the penal disabil-
ities. Letters were addressed to the archbishops of
Canterbury and York and to the Lord Chancellor
and other temporal peers of influence in the British
realm, and a bill was introduced into Parliament pro-
viding for a repeal of the oppressive statutes, and
that the oaths ordered by the Toleration Act of
Queen Anne, " so far as they had a retrospective
effect, might be adjusted in such a manner that the
Episcopal clergy would be able sincerely and consci-
entiously to enjoy its benefit." This bill passed
through the House of Commons without opposition,
but failed of a second reading in the House of Lords.
The strong hope of ultimate success was still cher-
ished, and Bishop Skinner, the Primus, chosen to
that office in December, 1788, on the resignation of
Bishop Kilgour, renewed his efforts and felt encour-
aged by the continued aid and sympathy of three
personal friends, whose acquaintance he had formed
during his stay in London, watching the fate of the
defeated bill. These gentlemen were the Rev. Dr.
George Gaskin, secretary to the Society for Promot-
342 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
ing Christian Knowledge, Sir James Allan Park, a
distinguished barrister, and William Stevens, Esq., the
friend and correspondent of Seabury, and a kins-
man of Dr. Home, the Dean of Canterbury, who
said of him that he " knew the trim of the times,"
and a better adviser could not be had. They consti-
tuted themselves a London committee of correspond-
ence with the Scottish committee, and kept the lat-
ter well informed of every turn in political events
that seemed favorable to the promotion of the desired
object. " Your Church," wrote Dr. Gaskin to Bishop
Skinner, April, 1790, " is now better known on this
side of the Tweed than it has been for many years
past. The spiritual character of yourself and your
worthy colleagues is most explicitly recognized by
the prelates of our Bench, and I am persuaded they
are most willingly ready to lend their helping hand
towards the accomplishment of your wishes. The
business, however, they all agree, must be considered
as a state measure, and without the great officers of
state nothing can be done."
The proposition to introduce into Parliament a
new bill of relief was postponed from time to time ;
but finally an opportunity presented itself when the
Lord Chancellor Thurlow, though still opposed to its
passage, consented to the introduction, and Bishop
Skinner, the leading spirit in the whole movement,
repaired again to London, to watch the progress of
the bill. It went through the various stages of
amendment and acceptance in both Houses, and on
the 15th of June, 1792, received the royal assent.
" The act repealed certain clauses of the statutes of
Queen Anne, George the First, and George the Sec-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 343
ond. It then provided that all persons exercising
the functions of pastors or ministers in any Episcopal
congregation should take and subscribe the oaths of
allegiance and abjuration, and the assurance, and
should subscribe a declaration of assent to the Thirty-
nine Articles of the Church of England, and, during
divine service, should pray for the king and royal
family in the same form as in the English Liturgy."
It was a complete relief for the laity, and the clergy
were only " declared to be liable in certain penalties
in the event of their contravening the provisions of
the act."
Thus an end was put to the long embarrassments
of the Scottish Episcopal Church and to the extreme
severity of the penal laws, which political considera-
tions could no longer in any measure justify. The
change in the attitude of the non-jurors of Scotland
towards the Crown removed one obstacle to a recon-
ciliation between Bishop Seabury and the Church
outside of New England. Allegiance to a foreign
prince had now actually terminated forever, and they
were professedly as dutiful subjects as any in the
realm of Great Britain.
While Learning, Parker, and others continued to
use their pens in the interests of a united Church in
this country, Bishop Seabury was looking on and
holding himself in readiness to take advantage of the
first movement on the part of his opponents that in-
dicated a disposition to recognize his just claims.
The twenty clergymen in his diocese were resolute
supporters of his independence, and the fatherly re-
gard which he manifested for them, as well as for
1 Grub's Eccl. Hist, of Scotland, vol. iv., pp. 108, 109.
344 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
those whom he admitted to Holy Orders, won their
entire confidence and affection. One of the latter
number Tillotson Bronson spent the first two
years of his ministry in Vermont, where he had a
most discouraging field of labor, and he applied to
the Bishop of Connecticut for his aid in obtaining a
better situation. The aid was cheerfully rendered,
and his good offices secured for Mr. Bronson the po-
sition of a supply for the Eev. Mr. Montague, rector
of Christ Church, Boston, during the absence of that
gentleman for several months in Europe. The fol-
lowing letter, given in full, shows the value put upon
such ministerial services in the largest city of New
England one hundred years ago :
NEW LONDON, April 29, 1789.
DEAB, SIR, By a letter from the Rev. Mr. Montague,
of Boston, I am informed that he is unprovided with a cler-
gyman, and wishes you would take charge of his Church
during his absence. His terms are four dollars a week and
the perquisites of the Church, and a small favor relative to
board. How well this will do for you, you must judge. I
wish it was more. It may be of some advantage to you to
spend a few months in Boston, and this allowance may
probably enable you to live there. If you think to accept
it, you had better come on. You can stay here without ex-
pense till you hear from him. He expects to sail in three or
four weeks. Let me hear from you by next Post.
Your affect' friend and serv't,
S., Bp. Connect. 1
Mr. Bronson accepted the position, and was soon
at work in a sphere where he needed, as he sought,
the advice and guidance of the bishop. A young
1 MS. Letter.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 345
man of superior education, but without personal
means, he was naturally desirous of a permanent set-
tlement when his temporary engagement at Boston
had closed. Another letter from Bishop Seabury,
written in answer to inquiries with a view to this
end, is characterized by great good sense, and is not
inappropriate as a brief exhortation to young clergy-
men of the present day.
July 2, 1 789.
REV. AND DEAK SIR, I should have written to you
this morning in answer to yours of June 29th, but the Post
going out an hour earlier than usual deprived me of the op-
portunity, and also of the opportunity of sending a letter
which I had written to Mr. Parker. Inform him, if you
please, of this circumstance.
My advice in the matter you mention is that as it is proba-
ble Mr. Montague will be some time absent, may you be
very attentive to your duty in his church, and endeavor to
acquit yourself in the best manner you can, both in reading
prayers and preaching, without being over-solicitous to court
Mr. Parker or any one else. Pay him, however, due respect,
and treat every one with attention. A steady course of
proper conduct without servility or negligence will recom-
mend you more than any studied behavior; and you will
probably obtain the Assistant's place without appearing to
aim at it much sooner than by all the court you can make.
Let me, however, caution you not to set your heart on it,
nor make any direct interest for it, but trust to your general
good conduct. In the mean time make the most of your
present situation, endeavor to take the manners of the town,
and study the art of conversation, thereby to make yourself
agreeable, and your company desirable. Employ your leis-
ure time in reading, and if you have not already done so,
read Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity. And if you can find
the works of Joseph Mede, study them with all your might.
Should an opportunity to provide for you present itself, you
346 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
shall not be neglected. But if you can support yourself
where you are, I think it will be best for you, at least for
some time. My opinion on any matter you shall have,
whenever you apply. Commending you to God's grace and
protection, I remain your friend and humble serv't,
S., Bp. Connect. 1
In another letter, he advised him not to " preach
long sermons," though he would not have them " re-
markably short." The advice seems to have been
given on general principles, and not simply to deter a
young clergyman from introducing into his earliest
discourses too many topics.
As the time for holding a general convention in
Philadelphia approached, the signs of reconciliation
and union grew brighter. A better and truer repre-
sentation of the Church in New York was secured,
and the delegates from that State were instructed,
much to the annoyance of Bishop Provoost, " to pro-
mote union by every prudent measure consistent with
the constitution of the Church and the continuance of
the Episcopal succession in the English line." Pro-
voost was still hostile to Bishop Seabury, and unwilling
to accept a proposition to bring into the council rep-
resentatives from all the New England States. In a
letter to Bishop White, February 24, 1789, he said :
" An invitation to the Church in Connecticut to meet
us in general convention I conceive to be neither
necessary nor proper, not necessary because I am
informed that they have already appointed two per-
sons to attend the next General Convention without
any invitation ; not proper, because it is publicly
known that they have adopted a form of Church
1 MS. Letter.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 347
government which renders them inadmissible as mem-
bers of the Convention or union."
At that date no formal appointment of persons from
Connecticut to attend the convention appears to have
been made, but an invitation had been extended by
Bishop White to send representatives, and Bishop
Seabury, in a note to Mr. Parker of April 10th, said :
" I believe we shall send two clergymen to the Phila-
delphia Convention to see whether a union can be ef-
fected. If it fail, the point will here be altogether
given up." The annual convocation was held in the
following June, when the matter was carefully con-
sidered, but the action contemplated by the bishop
was not taken. He convoked his clergy at other
times as he had occasion to confer with them, but the
annual convocation in June was regarded rather as a
fixed appointment, and looked forward to with more
general interest. The venerable Learning, who was
not present at this meeting, though still anxious to
bring about a reconciliation, wrote to Bishop White,
as follows, from
STRATFORD, June 9, 1789.
REV. AND DEAR SIR, The circumstances of my family
have prevented my attendance upon the two last Conven-
tions in this State, but I hear Bishop Seabury had a letter
from you, in which you observed that you had received a
letter from me and had answered it ; but as you heard noth-
ing from me, supposed it had miscarried. You are right in
that conclusion, for that letter hath not come to hand.
I am unacquainted with the subject of your letter to
Bishop Seabury ; but report says there was something in it
concerning the union of the Churches, which thing I most
reverently wish might take place upon that plan that we
may worship God according to our consciences. I have no
348 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
doubt that such an event would be agreeable to Bishop Sea-
bury, and to all the clergy of this State, and to the Church
Universal.
I cannot conceive the reason why you should apply to the
Bishops of England to consecrate a Bishop for these States,
when we have three Bishops in them already. It appears
to me that we ought to be united in order that the line of
succession of the English and Scotch Bishops might unite
in America, as they were derived from the same line orig-
inally.
Bishop Seabury has twenty Clergymen in this State, and
a very respectable body of people under their care, who are
true sons of the Church; and if any State should send to the
English Bishops to consecrate a Bishop, it would cast such
a face upon affairs, as would exclude all possibility of a
union : for such a measure would not be adopted unless they
designed to keep up a separation from us. We shall do
everything in our power for a union, that is consistent with
prudence, benevolence, and religion. More than this no one
can expect.
I am not able to see why there may not be a general
union, although we did not agree in every little circum-
stance. I suppose you agree with us in all Articles of Faith.
Although you have cast out two of our Creeds, I imagine
you do not mean to deny the Divinity of our blessed Lord :
for if we are ever justified, it must be by the merits of
Christ, and no created being can do anything by merit for
another. All he can do is only to act up to the dignity of
his nature ; and God has a right to all this, because he gave
all the ability.
I do not wish this letter to be laid before the General Con-
vention ; but if you think proper, I should have no objection
to its being seen by some gentlemen of candor, that wish a
union of this Church with yours.
I am your most obedient, humble Servant,
JEREMIAH
1 Perry's Historical Notes and Documents, p. 384.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 349
Before the month had ended, Bishop Seabury wrote
a long letter to Bishop White, giving his reasons for
not appearing with representatives from Connecticut
at the approaching Convention in Philadelphia, and
going into a somewhat critical review of " The Pro-
posed Book," and its doctrinal tendencies. He re-
newed his proposal for union and uniformity, and
hoped that such measures might be adopted as would
remove all obstacles, and enable both parties to come
together on fair and honorable terms. The letter
was dated at
NEW LONDON, June 29th, 1789.
RIGHT REV. AND DEAR SIR, Your favor of December
9th, 1788, came safely to me, though not till the middle of
February. I heartily thank you for it, and for the sentiments
of candor and Christian unity it contains, and beg you to
believe that nothing on my part shall be wanting to keep up
a friendly intercourse, and the nearest possible connection
with you, and with all the Churches in the United States,
that our different situations can permit.
That your letter has not been sooner attended to has not
been owing to disrespect or negligence. I was unwilling to
reply to the great and interesting subject of union between
the Church of Connecticut and the Southern Churches,
merely on the dictates of my own judgment ; and as we
were about to call a Convention of Lay delegates from our
several congregations, to provide for the support of their
Bishop, and to consider of the practicability of instituting
an Episcopal Academy in this State, it was thought best
that the point of sending Lay delegates to the General Con-
vention should come fairly before them. The annual Con-
vocation of our Clergy was also to meet in June, and I de-
termined to take their sentiments on the subject of sending
some of their body to your Convention.
When the matter was proposed to the Lay Convention,
after some conversation, they declined every interference in
350 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Church government or in reformation of Liturgies. They
supposed the government of the Church to be fixed, and that
they had no right to alter it by introducing a new power
into it. They hoped the old Liturgy would be retained,
with little alteration ; and these matters, they thought, be-
longed to the Bishops and Clergy, and not to them. They
therefore could send no delegates, though they wished for
unity among the Churches, and for uniformity of worship ;
but could not see why these great objects could not be better
secured on the old ground than on the new ground that had
been taken with you.
The Clergy supposed that, in your Constitution, any rep-
resentation from them would be inadmissible without Lay
delegates, nor could they submit to offer themselves to make
a part of any meeting where the authority of their Bishop
had been disputed by one Bishop, and probably by his in-
fluence, by a number of others who were to compose that
meeting. They therefore must consider themselves as ex-
cluded, till that point shall be settled to their satisfaction,
which they hope will be done by your Convention.
For my own part, gladly would I contribute to the union
and uniformity of all our Churches ; but while Bishop Pro-
voost disputes the validity of my consecration, I can take
no step towards the accomplishment of so great and desir-
able an object. This point, I take it, is now in such a state
that it must be settled, either by your Convention, or by an
appeal to the good sense of the Christian world. But as this
is a subject in which I am personally concerned, I shall re-
frain from any remarks upon it, hoping that the candor and
good sense of your Convention will render the further men-
tion of it altogether unnecessary.
You mention the necessity of having your succession com-
pleted from England, both as it is the choice of your Churches,
and in consequence of implied obligations you are under in
England. I have no right to dictate to you on this point.
There can, however, be no harm in wishing it were other-
wise. Nothing would tend so much to the unity and uni-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 351
formity of our Churches, as the three Bishops now in the
States joining in the consecration of a fourth. I could say
much on this subject, but should I do so, it may be supposed
to proceed from interested views. I shall therefore leave it
to your own good sense, only hoping you and the Conven-
tion will deliberately consider whether the implied obliga-
tions in England and the wishes of your Churches be so
strong that they must not give way to the prospect of secur-
ing the peace and unity of the Church.
The grand objection in Connecticut to the power of Lay
delegates in your Constitution is their making part of a
judicial Consistory for the trial and deprivation of Clergy-
men. This appears to us to be a new power, utterly un-
known in all Episcopal Churches, and inconsistent with their
constitution. That it should be given up, we do not expect ;
power, we know, is not easily relinquished. We think, how-
ever, it ought to be given up ; and that it will be a source
of oppression, and that it will operate as a clog on the due
execution of ecclesiastical authority. If a Bishop with his
Clergy are not thought competent to censure or depose a
disorderly brother, or not to have sufficient principle to do
it, they are unfit for their stations. It is, however, a pre-
sumption that cannot be made, and therefore can be no
ground of action.
If the power with which your Constitution invests Lay
delegates be conformable to the sentiments of some of our
best writers, I confess I am unacquainted with them ; and as
I profess myself to be always open to conviction and infor-
mation, I should be glad to know to what writers I am to
apply for that purpose. And as to the principles which have
governed in the English Church, I have always understood
that the Liturgy and Canons and Articles were settled and
agreed upon by the Convocation, and were then, by Act of
Parliament, made part of the English Constitution. I know
not that the Laity had anything further to do with it.'
With regard to Massachusetts and Rhode Island, I never
understood your Constitution has been adopted in either of
352 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
them. Mr. Parker, in Boston, and I suppose the other con-
gregation there, adopted your Liturgy with but little varia-
tion ; but I know not that it was done elsewhere. And an
attempt to introduce it into Newport, I speak my own opin-
ion, has laid the foundation of such dissensions in that con-
gregation as, I fear, will long continue.
Was it not that it would run this letter to an unreason-
able length, I would take the liberty to mention at large the
objections that have been here made to the Prayer Book
published at Philadelphia. I will confine myself to a few,
and even these I should not mention but from a hope they
will be obviated by your Convention. The mutilating the
Psalms is supposed to be an unwarrantable liberty, and such
as was never before taken with Holy Scriptures by any
Church. It destroys that beautiful chain of Prophecy that
runs through them, and turns their application from Mes-
siah and the Church to the temporal state and concerns of
individuals. By discarding the word Absolution, and mak-
ing no mention of Regeneration in Baptism, you appear to
give up those points, and to open the door to error and delu-
sion. The excluding of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds
has alarmed the steady friends of our Church, lest the doc-
trine of Christ's divinity should go out with them. If the
doctrine of those Creeds be offensive, we are sorry for it,
and shall hold ourselves so much the more bound to retain
them. If what are called the damnatory clauses in the lat-
ter be the objection, cannot those clauses be supported by
Scripture ? Whether they can, or cannot, why not discard
those clauses, and retain the doctrinal part of the Creed?
The leaving out the descent into hell from the Apostles'
Creed seems to be of dangerous consequence. Have we a
right to alter the analogy of faith handed down to us by the
Holy Catholic Church ? And if we do alter it, how will it
appear that we are the same Church which subsisted in
primitive times? The article of the descent, I suppose, was
put into the Creed to ascertain Christ's perfect humanity,
that he had a human soul, in opposition to those heretics
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 353
who denied it, and affirmed that his body was actuated by
the divinity. For if when he died, and his body was laid in
the grave, his soul went to the receptacle of departed spirits,
then he had a human soul as well as body, and was very and
perfect man. The Apostles' Creed seems to have been the
Creed of the Western Church ; the Nicene, of the Eastern ;
and the Athanasian, to be designed to ascertain the Catholic
doctrine of the Trinity, against all opposers. And it always
appeared to me, that the design of the Church of England,
in retaining the three Creeds, was to show that she did re-
tain the analogy of the Catholic faith, in common with the
Eastern and Western Church, and in opposition to those
who denied the Trinity of persons in the Unity of the Di-
vine Essence. Why any departure should be made from
this good and pious example I am yet to seek.
There seems in your book a dissonance between the Of-
fices of Baptism and Confirmation. In the latter there is a
renewal of a vow, which in the former does not appear to
have been explicitly made. Something of the same discord-
ance appears in the Catechism.
Our regard for primitive practice makes us exceedingly
grieved that you have not absolutely retained the sign of the
Cross in Baptism. When I consider the practice of the an-
cient Church, before Popery had a being, I cannot think
the Church of England justifiable in giving up the sign of
the Cross, where it was retained by the first Prayer Book
of Edward VI. Her motive may have been good ; but
good motives will not justify wrong actions. The conces-
sions she has made in giving up several primitive, and I
suppose apostolical usages, to gratify the humors of fault-
finding men, show the inefficacy of such conduct. She has
learned wisdom from her experiences. Why should not we
also take a lesson in her school? If the humor be pursued
of giving up points on every demand, in fifty years we shall
scarce have the name of Christianity left. For God's sake,
my dear Sir, let us remember that it is the particular busi-
ness of the Bishops of Christ's Church to preserve it pure
23
354 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
and undefiled, in faith and practice, according to the model
left by apostolic practice. And may God give you grace and
courage to act accordingly !
In your Burial Office, the hope of a future resurrection to
eternal life is too faintly expressed, and the acknowledgment
of an intermediate state, between death and the resurrec-
tion, seems to be entirely thrown out ; though, that this was
a catholic, primitive, and apostolical doctrine will be denied
by none who attend to this point.
The articles seem to be altered to little purpose. The
doctrines are neither more clearly expressed nor better
guarded ; nor are the objections to the old articles obviated.
And, indeed, this seems to have been the case with several
other alterations ; they appear to have been made for alter-
ation's sake, and at least not to have mended the matter
they aimed at.
That the most exceptionable part of the English book is
the Communion Office may be proved by a number of very
respectable names among her Clergy. The grand fault in
that office is the deficiency of a more formal oblation of the
elements, and of the invocation of the Holy Ghost to sanc-
tify and bless them. The Consecration is made to consist
merely in the Priest's laying his hands on the elements and
pronouncing " This is my body" etc., which words are not
consecration at all, nor were they addressed by Christ to the
Father, but were declarative to the Apostles. This is so
exactly symbolizing with the Church of Rome in an error ;
an error, too, on which the absurdity of Transubstantiation
is built, that nothing but having fallen into the same error
themselves could have prevented the enemies of the Church
from casting it in her teeth. The efficacy of Baptism, of
Confirmation, of Orders, is ascribed to the Holy Ghost, and
His energy is implored for that purpose ; and why he should
not be invoked in the consecration of the Eucharist, espe-
cially as all the old Liturgies are full to the point, I cannot
conceive. It is much easier to account for the alterations
of the first Liturgy of Edward VI., than to justify them ;
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 355
and as I have been told there is a vote on the minutes of
your Convention, anno 1786, I believe, for the revision of
this matter, I hope it will be taken up, and that God will
raise up some able and worthy advocate for this primitive
practice, and make you and the Convention the instruments
of restoring it to His Church in America. It would do you
more honor in the world and contribute more to the union
of the Churches than any other alterations you can make,
and would restore the Holy Eucharist to its ancient dignity
and efficacy.
I shall close this letter with renewing a former proposal
for union and uniformity, viz : that you and Bishop Pro-
voost, with as many proctors from the Clergy as shall be
thought necessary, meet me with an equal number of proc-
tors from Connecticut. We should then be on equal ground,
on which ground only, I presume, you would wish to stand,
and I doubt not everything might be settled to mutual satis-
faction, without the preposterous method of ascertaining
doctrines, etc., etc., by a majority of votes.
Hoping that all obstructions may be removed by your
Convention, and beseeching Almighty God to direct us in
the great work of establishing and building up His Church
in peace and unity, truth, and charity, and purity,
I remain, with great regard and esteem, your affectionate
Brother and very humble Servant,
SAMUEL, Bp. Connect.
I presume you will lay this letter before the Convention,
and I have to request that I may be informed of their pro-
ceedings, as soon as convenient, as all our proceedings will
be suspended till then, or, at least, till November.
The remarks on your Prayer Book are the principal ones
I have heard made. They are here repeated from memory,
and I have not your Book at hand with which to compare
them.
I observe you mention that the authority of Lay delegates
in your Constitution is misunderstood. We shall be glad to
be better informed, and shall not pertinaciously persist in
356 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
any unfair constructions, when they are fairly pointed out
to us. That the assent of the Laity should be given to the
laws which affect them equally with the Clergy, I think is
right, and I believe will be disputed nowhere, and the
rights of the Laity we have no disposition to invade. 1
This letter was followed, a month later, by another
addressed to the Rev. Dr. Smith, in which his atten-
tion was directed to the unhappy course of Bishop
Provoost and to the action of a former convention
at Philadelphia, whereby a distinction was made be-
tween English and Scotch ordinations. " Before I
wrote to Bishop White," said the Bishop of Connecti-
cut, "I took the most deliberate pains to obtain the
sentiments of both clergy and laity ; and I should
not now think myself at liberty to act contrary to
their sentiments, even did not my own coincide with
theirs. I have, however, the strongest hope that all
difficulties , will be removed by your Convention
that the Connecticut Episcopacy will be explicitly
acknowledged, and that Church enabled to join with
you without giving up her own independency."
The spirit of Dr. Smith had become eminently
conciliatory, and henceforth he was to be a great
power in composing the differences which once threat-
ened to be permanent. He and Seabury kneeled to-
gether and were ordained deacons and priests in the
palace at Fulham by the same bishops, acting for
the disabled Bishop of London, on the same days in
1753; and if their p&ths had sometimes crossed each
other since, they were now to run side by side and
lead to peace and unity in the Church,
1 MS. Letter-Book.
OF SAMUEL SEABUKY. 357
CHAPTER XX.
CONVENTION IN PHILADELPHIA, AND APPLICATION FOR THE CONSE-
CRATION OF KEV. EDWARD BASS; DEATH OF DR. GRIFFITH, AND HIS
FUXKRAL; RESULTS OF THK CONVENTION, AND ADJOUKXMENT;
LETTER OF DR. SMITH, AND PERSISTENCE OF BISHOP PROVOOSTJ
BISHOP SEABURY AND THE EASTERN CHURCHES IN PHILADEL-
PHIA, AND LETTER OF LEAMING.
A. D. 1789.
THE convention referred to in the previous chap-
ter met at Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 28th, and the
Church in seven States was present, as heretofore, by
representatives, numbering eighteen of the clerical
order and sixteen of the laity. From New York ap-
peared the Rev. Dr. Abraham Beach and the Rev.
Dr. Benjamin Moore, both in sympathy with the
bishop and clergy of Connecticut rather than with
the views of Bishop Provoost, whose indisposition pre-
vented him from attending the convention. Among
the deputies from Pennsylvania and Maryland were
Joseph Pilmore, Colin Ferguson, and John Bisset, all
of whom had been ordained by Bishop Seabury, and
their admission to seats without regard to former res-
olutions was a tacit recognition of the validity of or-
ders conferred in the line of the Scottish non-jurors.
But this was not all. A measure had been taken
which was to bring the convention to a direct vote
on the question of the Scottish Episcopacy and the
358 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
relative situation of the Church in Connecticut. Six
presbyters of Massachusetts and New Hampshire,
guided by the wisdom and sagacity of the Rev. Sam-
uel Parker, on the 4th of June, 1789, " nominated,
elected, and appointed " the Eev. Edward Bass, of
Newburyport, to be their bishop, and in the act duly
signed and laid before this General Convention they
said, " We now address the Eight Reverend the
Bishops in the States of Connecticut, New York, and
Pennsylvania, praying their united assistance in con-
secrating our said brother, and canonically investing
him with the apostolic office and powers. This re-
quest we are induced to make from a long acquaint-
ance with him and from a perfect knowledge of his
being possessed of that love to God and benevolence
to men, that piety, learning, and good morals, that
prudence and discretion, requisite to so exalted a sta-
tion, as well as that personal respect and attachment
to the communion at large in these States, which will
make him a valuable acquisition to the order and, we
trust, a rich blessing to the Church."
Bishop White, by virtue of his office, presided in
the convention, and presented the address and also
letters from Bishop Seabury to himself and the Rev.
Dr. Smith, intimating at the same time his own readi-
ness to join in any measures that might be adopted
for the formation of a permanent union, but express-
ing his doubt of the propriety of " proceeding to any
consecration without first obtaining from the English
prelates the number held in their Church to be ca-
nonically necessary to such an act."
Upon reading the letters it appeared, according to
the language of the journal, "that Bishop Seabury
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 359
lay under some misapprehensions concerning an en-
try in the minutes of a former convention as intend-
ing some doubt of the validity of his consecration."
This certainly was a mild way of stating the case, con-
sidering all the circumstances ; but the doubt was
now entirely removed by the adoption, unanimously,
of a resolution " that it is the opinion of this con-
vention that the consecration of the Eight Rev. Dr.
Seabury to the Episcopal office is valid." The chief
obstacle to consecrating Mr. Bass, in compliance with
the request of the Eastern clergy, was apparently
overcome by the adoption of this resolution. Bishop
White found himself, as he said, " in a very delicate
situation, standing alone as he did in the business,
and as president of the assembled body. Many
speeches were made, w r hich implied that the result of
the deliberation must involve the acquiescence of the
two bishops of the English line ; while it was thought
by the only one of them present that no determina-
tion of theirs would warrant the breach of his faith
impliedly pledged, as he apprehended, in consequence
of measures taken by a preceding convention." l
Dr. Griffith, whose consecration, two years before,
was desired by Virginia without incurring the expense
of a voyage to England, had wholly relinquished his
appointment, and came to this convention, the sole
clerical deputy, as hitherto, from that State. His
sudden death, at the house of Bishop White, on the
Monday after the session commenced, produced a sor-
rowful effect upon the members, and they arranged
for the funeral with much solemnity, and appointed
Dr. Smith to preach a sermon on the occasion, a copy
of which was requested for publication.
1 Memoirs of P. E. Church, p. 142.
360 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
The day after the funeral the Convention resumed
the consideration of the application from the clergy
of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and the minds
of members had been prepared by private confer-
ences in the interval to act upon a series of resolu-
tions offered by the Kev. Dr. Smith, and which were
in substance as follows : that " a complete order of
bishops, derived as well under the English as the
Scots line of Episcopacy, doth now subsist within the
United States of America ; " that Bishops White, Pro-
voost, and Seabury are fully competent to every
proper act and duty of the Episcopal office and char-
acter in this country as well in respect to the conse-
cration of other bishops, and the ordering of priests
and deacons, as for the government of the Church,
according to such rules, canons, and institutions as
then existed, or hereafter might be duly made and
ordained ; and that in Christian charity and from ne-
cessity and expediency as well, "the churches rep-
resented in this convention " ought to contribute in
every possible manner " towards supplying the wants
and granting every just and reasonable request of
their sister churches" in New England. Another
resolution embraced a formal petition to Bishops
White and Provoost to join with Bishop Seabury in
consecrating the bishop-elect of the Eastern clergy,
proposing, however, that, previous to such consecra-
tion, the churches in the New England States should
meet in this convention, to be adjourned for that pur-
pose, and settle certain articles of general union and
discipline. If any difficulty or delicacy remained
with the two first named bishops, or either of them,
concerning their compliance with the request, the
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 361
convention resolved to address the archbishops and
bishops of England, hoping thereby to remove the
difficulty and obtain their approval.
The adoption of these resolutions unanimously was
the most important business transacted by the con-
vention. Whatever else was done was subordinate
to the idea of reconciliation and union. A commit-
tee was appointed to prepare an address of congratu-
lation to General Washington on his election to the
chief magistracy of the United States, and another
to prepare an address of thanks to the archbishops of
Canterbury and York for their good offices in procur-
ing the consecration of the American bishops, and at
the head of each of these committees was placed the
Eev. Dr. Smith. But all other business entered on
at this time was left incomplete, especially the con-
sideration of the proposed Book of Common Prayer
and administration of the sacraments.
The convention adjourned to meet in Philadelphia,
Tuesday, the 29th of September ensuing, having em-
powered a committee to answer the letters of Bishop
Seabury as far as was necessary, and the application
of the Eastern clergy for the consecration of their
bishop-elect, and to acquaint them with the proceed-
ings of the convention, and request their attendance
at the adjourned meeting " for the good purposes of
union and general government."
No time was now to be lost. Bishop White wrote
at once to the Bishop of Connecticut and expressed a
strong belief that he would accept the invitation to
attend the convention. "However conscious," said
he, " of rectitude in the part I have taken, and
which will appear to you from the journal, I am not
362 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
without apprehension that it will be misunderstood
by a brother for whom I entertain a sincere esteem,
and with whom I wish to be united in religious la-
bors. I can conscientiously declare that my professed
obligations are not supposed either without due de-
liberation, or with a desire to create difficulties."
The official invitation to Bishop Seabury informed
him that the second article of the printed constitu-
tion, as now amended, removed his chief objection as
to lay representatives, and that everything except
what was designed immediately to open the door of
union had been postponed for future consideration.
Dr. Smith accompanied the invitation with a private
letter, and not only recited some particulars of the
action taken, but offered Bishop Seabury the hospi-
tality of his house during the session of the conven-
tion. The letter was dated
August 16, 1789.
RIGHT REV. AND DEAR SIR, I was happy to receive
your letter of 23d July, in answer to mine of the 13th, from
New York, which came to hand at a very critical moment,
viz : the first day of our Convention, and enabled me to be
more effectually instrumental in projecting and prosecuting,
I trust, to a nobler issue, the plan of an union of all our
Churches, than your letter of a prior date to Bishop White
gave us room to hope. The healing and charitable idea of
" an efficacious union and communion in all Essentials of
Doctrine, as well as Discipline, notwithstanding some differ-
ences in the usages of Churches," in which your letter as
well as mine agreed, and which was at the same time
strongly held up in the Address of the Churches of Massa-
chusetts and New Hampshire, and also in Dr. Parker's Let-
ter, gave an opening at last, as well by a new clause, viz :
the 2d in our ecclesiastical Constitution, as by 5 Resolves
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 363
imanimously passed, to lay the foundation of an union,
whereon a superstructure may be raised, against which even
the gates of Hell shall never prevail.
The 4th of those Resolves, inviting you, through the door
so widely opened, to meet us in the Convention at Philadel-
phia, adjourned for that end to September 29th, is the pre-
liminary Article of this union ; and I scarce entertain a
doubt but that the great Head of the Church will, by His
blessed Spirit, so replenish our hearts with love, and so bless
our joint councils, that we shall attain a perfect uniformity
in all our Churches : or, what is, perhaps, alike lovely in
the sight of God, a perfect harmony and brotherly agree-
ment wherever, through local circumstances and use, smaller
differences may prevail.
You will see from our printed journal, herein enclosed,
that, in a committee of the whole, the business of the
Eastern Churches engaged our attention for the first five
days of our sitting, and though a desire of union was every-
where evident among the members, yet much difficulty and
variety of sentiment and apprehension prevailed as to the
means, in-so-far that there appeared more than a probability
of coming to no conclusion. In this stage of the business,
I requested a postponement for one night, on the promise
of proposing something against next morning which might
meet the apprehensions of all ; as we all had but one great
object of union in view : and I shall ever rejoice in it as the
happiest incident of my life, and the best service I have ever
been able to render to our Church, that the Resolves which
were offered the next morning were unanimously and almost
instantly adopted, as reconciling every sentiment, and re-
moving every difficulty which had before appeared to ob-
struct a general union.
Bishop White, whom I consulted in framing the Resolves,
and Dr. Moore, of New York, and Mr. (now Dr.) Smith,
of South Carolina, were particularly zealous in whatever
tended to promote this good work ; and I am well assured
that you are in some mistake respecting Bishop White's
364 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
having declined a " Proposal " for your joining with him
and Bishop P. in consecrating a fourth Bishop. He has as-
sured me, and also declared in Convention, that no such
proposal was ever made to him ; and I believe he has writ-
ten, or will write, to you on this subject. His whole con-
duct, wherever your name and Episcopate have been men-
tioned, does him honor, and is perfectly agreeable to his
well-known excellent temper and zeal for the peace and
unity of the Church. It was Dr. White who seconded, on a
former occasion, my motion for not suffering any question in
Convention, which might imply even a doubt of the valid-
ity of your consecration, and that at a time when admitting
a doubt of that kind was considered by some as a good
means of forwarding his own and Dr. Provoost's consecra-
tion.
Now I cannot have the least doubt of your attending the
adjourned Convention, according to the truly respectable
invitation given you. I must again repeat the invitation,
that you will make my house your home, or place of resi-
dence, during your stay in Philadelphia. The Rev. Dr.
Moore, of New York, will be my other and only guest, in
the chamber adjoining yours, and he will accompany you
from New York or Elizabeth to my house in Philadelphia,
as you may agree : and I trust you will be with us a day or
two before the 29th of September, rather than a day after,
as we shall be pressed in respect of time.
I have enclosed some printed Proposals for publishing a
body of sermons, in 4 or 5 volumes, and have written on a
blank leaf (after the recommendation given to the design
by Convention) what would be my wish respecting your ap-
probation and recommendation of it to your Clergy.
The College of Philadelphia have, on Dr. White's recom-
mendation and mine, granted the degree of D. D. to the
Rev. Mr. Bass and Mr. Parker, which we thought a proper
compliment to the New England Churches. We are sorry
we forgot to pay the same compliment to the venerable old
Mr. Learning, of the Connecticut Church. I hope he will
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 365
accompany yon to Philadelphia, and receive the compliment
from us in person, if he has nowhere else received it before. 1
This letter had scarcely reached its destination
when the Bishop of Connecticut addressed a commu-
nication to Mr. Parker, which was finished with bet-
ter hopes than it began. He was desirous of know-
ing what answer he had received to the request for
the consecration of Mr. Bass, and so he wrote him as
follows :
NEW LONDON, August 26, 1789.
REV. AND DEAR SIR, Have you yet heard the result
of your application to the southern Bishops respecting Mr.
Bass's consecration ? The Rev. Dr. Moore, of New York,
informs me the application was referred to the Convention,
and directions given to write to the English bishops for their
opinion. These steps to me look queer, and show a degree
of thraldom, both to the Convention and English Arch-
bishops, that ought not to be. Dr. Moore urges me very
strongly to go to the adjourned Convention at Philadelphia,
Sept. 29th. And as they have removed the objections I
made, I should be much inclined to go, was it not for the
promise I made of visiting Portsmouth at that time. Hav-
ing before twice disappointed them, I know not how to
apologize again. Let me have your opinion on that matter,
and also whether I ought to go to Philadelphia without an
official invitation, which yet I have not received.
So far had I written when the post brought me the proper
official invitation, with the various communications from the
Convention. These, I suppose, you will also receive by the
post. I have determined to go to Philadelphia, and hope to
see you there. Time will not permit me to add more than
that I am
Your affectionate, humble servant,
S., Bp. Connect. 2
On the same day Bishop Provoost dispatched a let-
1 Perry's Historical Notes and Documents, p. 404. 2 Id., p. 408.
366 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
ter to his Episcopal brother in Philadelphia, and
uttered sentiments that showed he was highly dis-
pleased with the course of the New York delegates,
and resolutely opposed to any measures for concilia-
tion and union. " How far I shall be able in future,"
said he, " to act in concert with the General Conven-
tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church will depend
upon the proceedings at their next meeting. The
delegates from New York have grossly deviated from
their instructions, which were worded with their con-
sent, and at my particular request, in a manner that
was intended to prevent their accession to any scheme
of union which might be purchased at the expense of
the general constitution, which had been ratified in
the Church of New York since my return from Eu-
rope, or which might endanger the preservation of
the succession of our bishops in the English line. I
shall only add upon the subject that it is not an ab-
solution from the archbishops and bishops of England
that will induce me to sacrifice the principles upon
which I first entered into the union and upon which
I have since uniformly acted."
Bishop White used gentle efforts to overcome the
prejudices of Bishop Provoost and reconcile him to
the movements in progress for uniting the Church in
all the States. But he was inflexible. " As to what
you style an implied engagement to the English bish-
ops," he wrote three weeks before the assembling
of the adjourned convention, " I look upon it, in re-
gard to myself, as a positive one. I entered into it
ex ammo, upon principle, and do not wish to ask or
accept a releasement from it." This determination
settled the question about joining with the other two
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 367
bishops in consecrating a fourth for Massachusetts
and New Hampshire. He would not do it or unite
in any consecration until the complement of three in
the English line had been filled.
Seabury communicated to Bishop White, the day
after receiving it, his most willing acceptance of the
official invitation, and said, " The time is so short
that I fear we shall not be able to get our dispersed
clergy together ; but everything shall be done that
can be done, and I presume, on so sudden an emer-
gency, any little informality in the appointment of
their representatives will be overlooked.
" Accept my wishes for your health and usefulness,
and my acknowledgments for your kind attentions.
Will you do me the favor to acquaint Dr. Smith that
I have received his communications, and to thank
him for them ? It is impossible for me to write now
to him, and, indeed, it is unnecessary, as I hope so
soon to have a personal interview with him."
A special meeting of the clergy of Connecticut was
held in Stratfield (now Bridgeport), September 15th,
and the bishop being absent the Rev. Dr. Learning 1
was chosen president and the Rev. Mr. Jarvis secre-
tary. The object of the meeting was to consider the
invitation to attend the general convention soon to
assemble in Philadelphia, and the letters and docu-
ments having been read it was resolved, on motion
of the Rev. Mr. Bowden, to send clerical delegates.
Accordingly, the next day, Wednesday, the Rev.
Messrs. Hubbard and Jarvis were chosen and " em-
powered to confer with the General Convention on
the subject of making alterations in the Book of
1 He received the degree of D. D. from Columbia College, New York,
1789.
368 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Common Prayer ; " but " the ratification of such
alterations " was " expressly reserved to rest with
the bishop and clergy of this Church."
The convention assembled in Philadelphia pursu-
ant to adjournment on the 29th of September, and
Bishop Seabury with his two presbyters and the Kev.
-Dr. Parker, from Massachusetts, appeared agreeably
to the invitations they had received, and produced
their respective testimonials. Before the subject of
the proposed union with the churches in New Eng-
land, as thus represented, was taken up, an unex-
pected danger on the score of politics was threatened.
Some laymen had learned that Bishop Seabury was
in the receipt from the British government of half-
pay as a chaplain to a loyal regiment during the war,
and they professed to have scruples in regard to the
propriety of admitting him to a seat in the conven-
tion. Through the influence and private reasoning
of Bishop White, these scruples were happily re-
moved, and the next day, in a committee of the
whole, and for the better promotion of the desired
object, it was resolved that the general constitution
established at the previous meeting is yet open to
amendment and alterations by virtue of the powers
delegated to this convention. The third article of it
provided that whenever the bishops of this Church
numbered three or more they should form a house of
revision, with power simply, in cases of disagreement,
to set aside the acts of the other house unless by a
majority of three fourths of that body it should ad-
here to them.
The deputies from New England objected to the
terms of this article, and after " a full, free, and
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 369
friendly conference " with a committee appointed for
the purpose, the convention modified it so as to de-
clare explicitly " the right of the bishops, when sit-
ting in a separate house, to originate and propose
acts for the concurrence of the other house," and to
negative such acts of the other house as might not
receive their approbation. By a vote of four fifths
instead of three fifths, this negative was to be inef-
fectual, and then a resolution was adopted to make it
known to the several state .conventions that it is pro-
posed to consider and determine, at the next meet-
ing, the propriety of investing the house of bishops
with a full negative upon the proceedings of the
other house.
This action having been laid before Bishop Sea-
bury and the deputies from the churches in New
England for their approval and assent, they soon de-
livered, duly subscribed, the following brief but im-
portant testimony : " We do hereby agree to the
Constitution of the Church, as modified this day, in
Convention, 2d October, 1789." On this testimony
great results for the Church in America depended.
Other changes in minor points might have been de-
sired ; but it was not easy, if advisable, to remove
what had been fixed in the constitution from the be-
ginning, and apparently accepted without much de-
bate or consideration. The title Protestant Episco-
pal Church was distasteful to some of the Connecticut
clergy, and as far back as 1786, Mr. Learning wrote
to the Rev. Abraham Beach a letter which is worth
producing in this connection as showing his anxiety
to have all mistakes avoided, and everything put on
the right basis.
24
370 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
STRATFORD, September 12, 1786.
MY DEAR SIR, Your favor of the 28th of August did
not come to hand till this day. I wish it had arrived imme-
diately ; for I had a great desire to have seen you before
any of your Conventions ; but that is now impossible : the
time is so short.
However, I will communicate to you a few observations
which I did not intend to commit to paper. Your Constitu-
tion as it now is, the 4th of July is to be observed as a
day of Thanksgiving forever, for the liberty we enjoy.
This necessarily implies that before that time we were in a
state of slavery. The Bishops of England would appear in
a strange attitude to set to their hands that the King, Lords,
and Commons were a pack of tyrants ; and kept us in a
state of slavery, till we threw off the yoke. This is worth
attending to in season. It is rny solid opinion that your
general Convention will act wisely to lay aside even the
thought of a day of Thanksgiving on that account, as it
will be an insuperable difficulty in their way, and will, if
appointed, in a little time be laid aside.
If you can inspire the members that are to represent the
State of N. Y. and the Jersies, in the general Convention,
with the necessity of laying aside that whimsical appoint-
ment, you will ever be pleased with your success.
It must forever be kept private, both in the Southern
States, and in Connecticut, that you and I have corre-
sponded upon these affairs, if we intend, as I have no doubt
we both do, to promote the general good of the whole.
Many things may be done where there is no suspicion, that
cannot be effected where there is.
There is another thing your general Convention ought to
take into consideration, that is, the style they have given to
the Church, which is this : the Protestant Episcopal Church.
The Church of England is not called a Protestant Church,
but a reformed Church: they never entered any protest
against the civil powers : they reformed as a nation : it
never had the title of Protestant given to it by any sensible
writer, unless he was a Scotchman.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 371
It will be a great pity that we should commit any blun-
ders of this sort, at first setting out, for posterity to laugh
at, after we are forgotten for everything but the mistakes
which we committed, and left behind us as monuments that
we wanted proper sagacity. Perhaps this may be little
thought of, but if we commit any mistakes now, we must
bear the blame forever. It actually appears to me that your
general Convention proceeded precipitately in many things ;
or they wanted old soldiers that knew the strength of every
fortification, and the method how to defend it.
I wish it might suit your affairs to come here the begin-
ning of October, as in the middle I must attend our General
Assembly. Mrs. Learning joins in love to Mrs. B. and you.
Am your sincere friend and aff. brother,
J. LEAMING. 1
More than twenty years later, Dr. Jarvis, then the
Bishop of Connecticut, was writing to Bishop Clag-
gett and apologizing for not being able to attend the
General Convention which was to be held at Balti-
more, in his diocese. Keferring in this letter to the
provisions of the constitution in regard to the decla-
ration required of a person to be ordained, he said,
" That constitution, I confess, has always appeared to
me a very awkward thing. Why could it not be
placed with and in front of the canons, and each ar-
ticle make one canon ! The whole headed by Con-
stitution and Canons of the reformed instead of the.
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States ?
I am confident such a head would be more consistent
with correct notions of the Church." 2
After Bishop Seabury and the Eastern clergy had
taken their seats, the convention, in accordance with
1 MS. Letter.
2 MS. Letter, April 7, 1808.
372 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
the constitution as amended and confirmed, sepa-
rated into two houses, the bishops withdrawing
and forming one house and Provoost being counted
to make the requisite number, though unable by in-
disposition to be present. Thus was begun a new
era in our ecclesiastical legislation, and the records of
each house, separately kept, were printed with the
new, but now old, title-page, "Journal of the Pro-
ceedings of the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of
America."
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 373
CHAPTER XXI.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION, AND REVISION OF THE LITURGY;
HOUSE OF BISHOPS, AND REJECTION OF THE ATHANASIAN CREED;
MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES, AND PRAYER
FOR THE PRESIDENT AND ALL IN AUTHORITY; CHANGES IN THE
COMMUNION OFFICE, AND BISHOP SEABURY'S INFLUENCE; CONVO-
CATION AT LITCHFIELD, AND DOCTOR LEAMING'S RETIREMENT.
A. D. 1789-1790.
THE chief business of the adjourned convention,
after effecting the union, was the preparation of the
Book of Common Prayer, as now set forth for use in
this Church ; and the two houses entered upon it
with somewhat different views of proceeding. The
three simple rules adopted by the bishops for their
own government were drawn by White, and to pre-
vent all future discussions he made the point of
precedency in that body to rest on the seniority of
Episcopal consecration. Thus Seabury became the
first president of the House of Bishops, and though a
different principle was asserted and followed at the
next General Convention, yet the original rule was
re-adopted in 1804, and has ever since been contin-
ued in force.
The two bishops, with a spirit of mutual accommo-
dation, were disposed to dispatch business with much
celerity, and the first entry in the journal, after com-
pleting their /organization, was : " This house went
374 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
into a review of the Morning and Evening Prayer,
and prepared some proposals on that subject." The
English Liturgy, altered and adapted to the Church
in this country arid to the new form of civil govern-
ment, was in their minds, and when they carne to
other parts of the service, it was the Litany, the Col-
lects, Epistles, and Gospels, and the order for the
administration of the Holy Communion which they
considered; and still further, their minutes on the
third day speak of their " going into a review of
the service for the public baptism of infants and pre-
paring proposals on that subject."
In the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies the ac-
tion, whatever it may have been really, was appar-
ently different. At the outset, Dr. Parker, no doubt
in accordance with the wishes of the clergy of Con-
necticut and with his own as well, submitted that, in
the appointment of committees on the several depart-
ments of the Book of Common Prayer, the English
book should be the basis of proceeding, without any
reference to that gotten up and proposed in 1785,
and which had not been adopted. Objections were
made to this by some members, who contended that
a Liturgy ought to be formed without regard to any
existing book, but with liberty to select from any
whatever the convention might deem fit. The de-
bate resulted in so framing their resolutions that the
different committees " were appointed to prepare a
Morning and Evening Prayer, to prepare a Litany,
to prepare a Communion Service, and the same in
regard to the other departments, instead of its being
said to alter the said services, which had been the
language in 1785." Bishop White called this " an
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 375
incident .... which had an unpropitious influence
on all that followed." " It. was very unreasonable,"
said he, " because the different congregations of the
Church were always understood to be possessed of a
Liturgy, before the consecration of her bishops, or
the existence of her conventions. It would have
been thought a strange doctrine in any of the clergy,
had they pretended that they were released from all
obligation to the use of the Book of Common Prayer
by the Ke volution. It is true that Dr. Parker had
carried the matter too far in speaking of the pro-
posed book as a form of which they could know noth-
ing, considering that it had been proposed by a pre-
ceding convention from a majority of the States." l
Bishop White evidently felt that the House of
Deputies had treated the book in an ungracious man-
ner, and it was natural that he would be displeased
when he thought of the time he had spent upon it,
and the pains he had taken to have it well circulated
with a view to its amendment and ratification at this
convention. The bishops exercised freely their right,
under the constitution, to " originate and propose
acts for the concurrence of the House of Deputies,"
and in this way changes were avoided which, if made,
might have been disastrous to the Church. It was
after all a review of the old Liturgy which the two
houses entered upon and prosecuted to the end.
The bishops spent no time in speeches, but looked
carefully at each point as it came into view. With
minds and characters differently constituted and
moulded, they were just the men to be brought to-
gether in such an emergency. One was frank and
1 Memoirs of P. E. Church, p. 147.
376 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
fearless in adhering to his settled convictions, and
resolute in upholding the faith and preserving the
ancient landmarks of the Church, but not so self-
willed and tenacious of his opinions that he could not
gracefully relinquish them where no essential princi-
ple was involved. The other had a less rigid temper-
ament, and from natural kindness of heart, and per-
haps personal inclination, he might have been led
without this check to yield to the pressure of cir-
cumstances at the expense of a true conservatism.
Bishop White, however, was not more gentle and
generous than capable of appreciating the character
of his Episcopal brother, and the testimony which he
bore long years after was that he " had ever retained
a pleasing recollection of the interviews of that period,
and of the good sense and Christian temper of the
person with whom he was associated." l
It is not the place in these pages to give a minute
history of the changes in the Book of Common
Prayer, adopted and set forth at this convention.
But the most important, and those in which Bishop
Seabury was particularly concerned, should be noted.
He was in favor of retaining the Athanasian Creed,
and thought that without it the Church would be
liable to the introduction of the errors which it was
designed to oppose. Bishop White maintained a
contrary opinion, and though avowing his intention
never to read it himself, he was willing, " on the
principle of accommodation to the many who were
reported to desire it, especially in Connecticut," to
amend the draft sent in by the House of Deputies,
and insert it with a rubric permitting its use. But
1 Sermon at the Consecration of Rt. Rev. T. C. Brownell, 1819, p. 20.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 377
this action was of no avail ; for the amendment was re-
jected in the other house, and when the matter came
to be considered in conference afterwards, " they
would not allow of the creed in any shape, which
was thought intolerant by the gentlemen from New
England, who, with Bishop Seabury, gave it up with
great reluctance."
An article in the Apostles' Creed occasioned some
perplexity and misunderstanding. The words, " He
descended into hell," had been stricken out in the
" proposed book," and the omission was one of the
things which the English prelates disapproved of in
their answer to the application for the Episcopacy.
At the convention in Wilmington, which received
and acted upon that answer, the proposition to re-
store the article occasioned considerable debate ; but
it was finally accepted, and now it came up again in
the general review and assumed a new shape. The
bishops amended the form adopted by the House of
Deputies, and the president, on its being communi-
cated, accidentally omitted to read the article in its
full force with the explanatory rubric. As nothing
was said on this point when it was returned, concur-
rence was taken for granted. " But Bishop Seabury,
before he left the city, conceived a suspicion that
there had been a misunderstanding. For on the
evening before his departure he took Bishop White
aside from company, and mentioned his apprehen-
sion, which was treated as groundless on ^the full
belief that it was so. It was a point which Bishop
Seabury had much at heart, from an opinion that the
article was put into the creed in opposition to the
Apollinarian heresy; and that, therefore, the with-
378 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
drawing of it was an indirect encouragement of the
same." No such opinion was held by Bishop White ;
but he was desirous of retaining the article for the
sake of peace and good faith to the English Church,
with the rubric explaining it as referring to the state
of departed spirits generally.
When the committee 1 came together to prepare
the book for the press, all were greatly surprised to
find that the two houses had entirely misunderstood
each other. " The question was, What is to be done ?
And here the different principles on which the busi-
ness had been conducted had their respective opera-
tion. The committee contended that the amendment
made by the bishops to the service as proposed by
their house, not appearing to have been presented,
the service must stand as proposed by them, with the
words ' he descended into hell ' printed in italics and
between hooks, and with a rubric permissory of the
use of the words, ' he went into the place of departed
spirits.' On the contrary, it was thought a duty to
maintain the principle that the creed, as in the Eng-
lish book, must be considered as the creed of the
Church until altered by the consent of both houses ;
which was not yet done. Accordingly, remonstrance
was made against the printing of the article of the
descent into hell, in the manner in which it appears
in the book published at that time.
"When the convention afterwards met in New
York, in the year 1792, this matter came in review
1 Rev. Dr. William Smith, Rev. Dr. Magaw, Rev. Dr. Blackwell,
Mr. Hopkinson, and Mr. Coxe, all of Philadelphia, were appointed, and
Bishop White, of the other house, " agreed to assist the committee in
preparing the book for publication."
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 379
before them ; and the result was the ordering of the
creed to be printed in all future editions, with the
article not in italics and between hooks as before,
but with the rubric, leaving it to discretion to use or
to omit it, or to use instead of it the words consid-
ered by the rubric as synonymous." 1
Among the first things to receive attention in the
revision of the Liturgy were the changes in the
prayers for civil rulers. A newly constituted govern-
ment was to be recognized, and care must be taken to
make these prayers conform to its existence. In the
" proposed book " what is now " a prayer for the
President of the United States and all in civil author-
ity " was " a prayer for our civil rulers," which fol-
lowed in language more closely the corresponding
prayer in the English Liturgy, and was not to be
used when the Litany was read. There was no Pres-
ident at that date, and hence it was a petition for
" all in authority, legislative, judicial, and executive,
in these United States ; " but in 1789 the government
was settled under the Federal Constitution, with Gen-
eral Washington at its head, and the prayer was
changed accordingly, and " health and prosperity "
substituted for " health and wealth." The colloca-
tion of the rubric was changed also, not, it has been
claimed, by authority of the convention, but of the
committee appointed to prepare matters for the press
and superintend the printing. The tradition is very
well authenticated that Dr. Smith, who was specially
charged with the publication, deliberately changed
the order, assigning this, among other reasons, that
General Washington never attended church except
1 Memoirs of P. E. Church, p. 151.
380 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
in the morning, and therefore would never hear the
prayer unless it was appointed to be used on Sundays
and all Litany days.
The late Kev. Dr. Samuel Seabury, a grandson of
the bishop, who inherited his intellectual qualities,
wrote a letter in the autumn of 1868 to a clergyman
of the Church 1 who had become interested in the
history of the rubric, and an extract from it bears so
strongly on the question in hand that the temptation
to produce it in this connection cannot be resisted :
The use of the Collect for the President on a day when
the Litany is said is a palpable violation of the principles on
which the services of the Prayer-Book are arranged.
Moreover the General Convention which first put forth
the Prayer-Book never intended that the said Collect should
be used on a Litany day. My father more than once told
me that when the Prayer-Book was first printed he and
others were examining it in the Bishop's (Seabury) parlor,
the Bishop walking up and down the room at the time that
he or some one of the company expressed surprise that the
Litany did not come in at its old and proper place ; that his
father (the bishop) told them that it did so come in, and
that the Collect for the President was not directed to be
used when the Litany was used ; that they then showed
him the book, that he looked at it and gave a tremendous
scowl and said not a word.
The fact is that the Collect was, I believe, foisted into
the present place by the Whig Dr. Smith, who was on the
committee of Publication, contrary to the intention of and
order of the Convention.
I have often mentioned this circumstance and I thought it
well to give it in writing.
The surprise and disapprobation of Bishop Seabury at the
1 Rev. James A. Bolles, D. D., then rector of the Church of the Ad-
vent, Boston, who has kindly furnished me a copy.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 381
time are undoubted. That the Collect was smuggled in by
the Committee is perhaps less certain, though to my mind it
hardly admits of a doubt.
Whatever may have been the truth in regard to
the original collocation of the rubric, the action of
the General Convention in 1792 fixed it, and author-
ized anew the prayer itself. 1 " On the subject of the
Prayer Book/' says Bishop White, writing in his Me-
moirs of this session, " there was nothing which
could properly come before the convention without
another review, and this was not intended, except the
seeing that the book had been properly executed.
In the correcting of anything amiss touching this
matter, there could be no ground of difference except
in the article of the descent into hell, which had been
settled as already related, and the subject of the
exclusive copyright of the book, which had been
granted by the committee, in order to render the
book the cheaper, and to raise a small sum for a
charitable use." So far as the copyright was con-
cerned, the action taken was generally censured, and
therefore reversed. But a joint committee was " ap-
pointed to compare the printed edition of the Com-
mon Prayer Book with the original acts of the last
General Convention where they may judge it neces-
sary, and to adopt a mode of authenticating the
1 A good anecdote will serve the purpose of illustration, told on the
authority of the late Rev. Dr. Jarvis, son of Bishop Jarvis, who was a
member of the convention of 1789. Bishop Seabury desired to retain the
words "in health and wealth;" Bishop White insisted on changing
" wealth " into "prosperity." At dinner, Bishop Seabury said to Mrs.
White, " Hereafter, I suppose I must address your husband as Bishop
of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Common prosperity of Penn-
sylvania. ' '
382 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
book by some certain standard," and among those
composing this committee on the part of the House
of Deputies were the Rev. Dr. Magaw and Rev. Mr.
Jarvis, members of the convention of 1789, and from
the other house were Seabury and White, the two
bishops present when the revision was made, and
who acted with so much wisdom and Christian har-
mony. It is fair to presume that they looked
sharply for errors, and only consented to those things
in the Prayer Book w r hich had been approved in the
first instance, and were now, with their sanction, to
be re-affirmed. At least, they did not judge it neces-
sary to meddle with the arrangement of the " prayer
for the President of the United States and all in civil
authority," and both bishops conformed to the rubric
in their own practice.
The distinctive feature of the American Liturgy
which bears the impress of Bishop Seabury is in the
Order for the administration of the Holy Communion.
He regarded it as a grand defect in the English of-
fice that there was not a more formal oblation of the
elements as well as an invocation of the Holy Spirit
to bless and sanctify them, and he advocated a
change in this respect with great earnestness. His
own office, 1 framed after the model of the Scotch in
pursuance of the compact entered into at Aberdeen,
had been in use in Connecticut for three years, and
the clergy had become familiar with it and attached
to its provisions. But independent of these consid-
erations, he wished to effect the changes in the Eng-
lish office on doctrinal grounds, and to restore to the
service of the American Church those parts which
had been omitted in the second book of Edward VI.
1 Appendix D.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 383
" Bishop Seabury's attachment to these changes/'
says White in his Memoirs, " may be learned from
the following incident. On the morning of the Sun-
day which occurred during the session of the conven-
tion, the author wished him to consecrate the ele-
ments. This he declined. On the offer being again
made at the time when the service was to begin he
still declined, and smiling, added, ' To confess the
truth, I hardly consider the form to be used as
strictly amounting to a consecration.' The form was,
of course, that used heretofore ; the changes not hav-
ing taken effect."
The office which he set forth in his own diocese,
however, followed not the arrangement in the first
book of Edward but that of the later communion office
of the Scottish Episcopal Church. In the first book,
the collocation was the Invocation, the Institution,
and the Oblation. In the Scottish office as in our
present order, the words of Institution and Invoca-
tion are transposed, and placed before and after Obla-
tion, a significant and becoming change which may
be regarded as a protest against the Komish dogma
of transubstantiation and propitiatory sacrifice. So
in the service of Bishop Seabury the Invocation fol-
lowed the Oblation of the Elements, and began with
a humble entreaty to the merciful Father that He
would vouchsafe to bless and sanctify with His word
and Holy Spirit His gifts and creatures of bread and
wine " that they may become the body and blood of
Thy most dearly beloved Son." l With the exception
1 "There is no ground from Christ's words to infer any tran sub-
stantiation, or conversion of the bread and wine into his natural body
and blood, by his pronouncing the words, ' This is my body ; this is my
384 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
of the words quoted, the whole prayer of consecration
was the same in that office as in the one adopted,
and which is now a part of our Book of Common
Prayer.
It has been said that when the proposition to alter
the English ritual and insert the Scottish form of
consecration was sent to the other house, some sur-
prise was manifested and signs of discontent began
to appear ; but the president, Dr. Smith, rose, took
the paragraph and read it so emphatically and so
admirably, commenting as he proceeded, that all op-
position was in a measure silenced, and the change
acquiesced in with little or no debate. Bishop White
did not share in the feeling of his Episcopal brother
that the English service, as it stood, was essentially
defective, but he recognized the beauty and impres-
siveness of the Scottish form, and saw in it no super-
stition. Writing afterwards of what was done, he
said : " The restoring of those parts of the service
by the American Church has since been objected to
by some few among us. To show that a superstitious
blood,' over them. His natural body and blood were then present, his
body unbroken, his blood unshed, and absolutely distinct from the bread
and wine ; for in his natural hands he held the bread and the cup, even
when he declared them to be his body and blood then given for the re-
mission of sins. And if those words, when pronounced by Christ, did
not change the bread and the cup into the natural body and blood of
Christ, no such effect is to be expected from them when pronounced by
a priest.
"That there was, however, a great and real change made in the
bread and the cup by our Saviour's blessing, and thanksgiving, and
prayer, cannot be doubted. Naturally they were only bread and wine,
and not the body and blood of Christ. When he had blessed them, he
declared them to be his body and blood. They were, therefore, by his
blessing and word, made to be what by nature they were not." Sea-
bury's Discourses, vol. i., pp. 148, 149.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 385
sense must have been intended, they have laid great
stress on the printing of the words, ' which we now
offer unto thee,' in a different character from the rest
of the prayers. But this was mere accident. The
bishops, being possessed of the form used in the
Scotch Episcopal Church, which they had altered in
some respects, referred to it to save the trouble of
copying. But the reference was not intended to
establish any particular manner of printing, and ac-
cordingly, in all the editions of the Prayer Book since
the first, the aforesaid words have been printed in the
same character with the rest of the prayer, without
any deviation from the original appointment."
The General Convention, having finished its busi-
ness, adjourned on the evening of the 16th of Octo-
ber, and Bishop Seabury and his delegates returned
to Connecticut, and awaited the publication of the
revised Prayer Book before submitting the changes
to a convocation of the clergy. The English Lit-
urgy, with the omissions and substitutions agreed
upon at Middle town in 1785, and with the additions
recommended at Derby the next year, was meanwhile
continued in use. The original changes, which have
not been particularly mentioned, were few in number,
arranged under eight heads, and consisted, first, in
making the suffrage after the Creed in the Morning
and Evening Prayer, that read, " Lord, save the
king," to be " Lord, save the Church." The four
petitions in the Litany concerning the king and royal
family were omitted, and in the twentieth petition, for
" Lords of Council and all the Nobility," were sub-
stituted " Governors and Rulers of this State ; " and
in the twenty-first, for " Magistrates," " Judges and
25
386 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
all inferior Magistrates." Every prayer that related
to the king and his government was either omitted
or changed to suit the circumstances, and the obser-
vation of all days connected with the memory of
special mercies and deliverances in the realm of Great
Britain was to be discontinued. The child was taught
in the Catechism that his duty to his neighbor was
not " to honor and obey the king," but " to honor
and obey my civil Rulers."
The manner of introducing these changes was by
a printed pastoral, addressed to the clergy, and " done
at New London, August 12th, 1785." It began thus :
" SAMUEL, by divine permission, Bishop of the
Episcopal Church in the State of Connecticut, to the
clergy of the said Church, GREETING. It having
pleased Almighty God that the late British Colony
of Connecticut should become a free, sovereign, and
independent State, as it now is, some alterations in
the Liturgy and offices of our Church are necessary
to be made to accommodate them to the civil Consti-
tution of the country in which we live, for the peace,
security, and prosperity of which, both as good sub-
jects and faithful Christians, it is our duty constantly
to pray. WE, the Bishop aforesaid, have thought
fit, by and with the advice and assistance of such of
our clergy as we have had opportunity of consulting,
to issue this INJUNCTION, hereby authorizing and re-
quiring you, and every one of you, the Presbyters
and Deacons of the Church above mentioned, in the
celebration of Divine Service, to make the following
alterations in the Liturgy and offices of our Church." l
It is not known that there was any variation by
1 Original printed copy.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 387
the clergy of Connecticut from the terms of this in-
junction, and from the additions to the Liturgy rec-
ommended at the convocation in Derby, September,
1786. But when the revised Prayer Book came in,
and was accepted by the Church in all the States, a
change commenced. Then a new order of things was
to be observed, and Connecticut was expected to re-
ceive and use the Liturgy, which she, by her Bishop
and delegates, had helped to prepare, perfect, and
set forth.
The first convocation of the clergy, after the ad-
journment of the General Convention, was held at
Litchfield on the 2d of June, 1790. Fifteen were
present besides the Bishop, and " by particular de-
sire, divine service was attended at the Presbyterian
meeting-house." The sermon was preached by Bishop
Seabury, and the Kev. Truman Marsh was advanced
to the priesthood. The secretary was directed to
enter the minutes of proceedings in a blank book
to be provided for that purpose, and to produce
the same at each meeting of the convocation. The
next day the constitution and canons of the Church,
formed by the late General Convention at Philadel-
phia, were read and briefly examined, and the further
consideration of them deferred till the 26th of August,
to which time the convocation adjourned, to meet in
Newtown. Rules and canons for regulating the dis-
cipline of the Church in Connecticut were necessary,
and the Rev. Dr. Learning, the Rev. Messrs. Jarvis,
Mansfield, and Hubbard were appointed with instruc-
tions to have them in readiness to present at the ad-
journed meeting.
Dr. Learning had worked faithfully and unceasingly
388 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
to effect a union of the Church in this country, and
he was now prepared to seek in retirement the rest
and quiet which his age and bodily infirmities invited,
and to watch, during the little time that was left him,
the progress of a communion for which he had suf-
fered, written, and prayed so much. He relinquished
his charge at Stratford, in 1790, having held it for
six years, and he is not again reported as present and
participating in any of the convocations or conven-
tions of the Church in Connecticut. He lived on into
the present century, and, as one who had the oppor-
tunity of knowing his habits in his last days said of
him, he " spent most of his time in his own room, and
never entertained his younger auditors with stirring
tales of his earlier manhood." He died in New Haven,
September 15, 1804, and his controversial and theo-
logical works are his best monument.
As the time for the adjourned meeting drew near
intelligence came from Bishop White that the Prayer
Books would not be bound soon enough for that date,
and therefore the convocation was postponed, by di-
rection of Bishop Seabury, to the last day of Septem-
ber. It was important to have in hand the printed
copies, that the clergy might examine them, and be
prepared when they came together to ratify or reject
the changes which had been made. The question to
be considered was a serious one, and signs of opposi-
tion already appeared which might end in a trouble-
some disaffection among the laity. They had stood
fast by the old Liturgy, and feared more than they
welcomed the prospect of a new Prayer Book.
OF SAMUEL SEABUEY. 389
CHAPTEE XXII.
CONVOCATION IN NEWTOWN, AND RATIFICATION OF THE PRAYER
BOOK; PROTEST OF REV. JAMES SAYRK, AND USE OF THE NICEXE
CREED; DR. SEABURY DECLARED BISHOP IN RHODE ISLAND, AND
LETTERS TO LAYMEN ; DR. COKE AND HIS PROPOSITION ; OFFI-
CIAL VISITATION, AND JOURNEY TO PORTSMOUTH ; PUBLICATION
OF SERMONS, AND CONVOCATION AT WATERTOWN ; PARISH IN
STRATFORD, AND LETTER TO DR. DIBBLEE.
A. D. 1790-1792.
THE convocation met at Newtown, September 30,
according to the postponement, and resumed the con-
sideration of the constitution and canons which was
begun at Litchfield. Bishop Seabury and three of
the clergy arrived in the afternoon of the second
day, making eighteen in all who attended, a num-
ber equal to that of the clerical deputies to the Gen-
eral Convention which revised and adopted the Book
of Common Prayer. The alterations were read and
examined, and then the whole question of approving
them, and accepting and ratifying the constitution,
was put in these words : " Whether we confirm the
doings of our Proctors in the General Convention at
Philadelphia on the second day of October, 1789?"
It was decided in the affirmative by the votes of all
the members present except that of the Kev. James
Sayre, who entered his solemn protest against the
signature of the constitution and the action of the
390 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
convocation, and at his desire, and by order of the
clergy, it was recorded in full on the journal. The
reasons alleged in this protest were that the constitu-
tion as signed and approved was repugnant to the
true principles of Episcopal government ; that it
would be found disagreeable and distasteful to num-
bers of good Christians, late members of the Church
of England in Connecticut ; and that it put in peril
all the sacred matters of the Church, her doctrines,
discipline, liturgy, sacraments, rites, and offices.
Very little importance was attached to these rea-
sons by the bishop and clergy, but the end, as will be
seen hereafter, was not when Mr. Sayre the next
morning withdrew and left the convocation. In the
remainder of the proceedings there was entire har-
mony, and the chief thing to be determined was the
mode of introducing the constitution and canons and
liturgy into the several parishes. It was finally
agreed that each of the clergy might adopt that
method which should appear to him the most eligi-
ble, but that in the use of the new Prayer Book
there should be as much uniformity as possible, and
for this purpose as near an approach to the old Lit-
urgy as a compliance with the rubrics of the new
would permit.
The experience of a year revealed diversity of
practice and a disinclination in some instances to de-
part from the old ways. When the clergy met in
convocation the next October, the only action bear-
ing on this subject was a formal vote that "in the use
of the Common Prayer Book, we will use the Nicene
Creed on Communion Sundays," a usage which has
been perpetuated in Connecticut, and that follows
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 391
the spirit of both the Scotch and English ritual. At
this convocation a standing committee was appointed,
as required by the sixth canon of the General Con-
vention, and publicity ordered to be given to the acts
relative to the establishment, at the meeting in New-
town, of a college of doctors, to " be considered the
Bishop's council " and to be consulted in any emer-
gency that might arise. The first four doctors were
the Rev. Messrs. Dibblee, Mansfield, Hubbard, and
Jarvis, but for some reason the scheme was unpopu-
lar, and the body was not continued by " the instal-
ment" of new doctors.
The bishop needed the advice and help of his best
clergy to bring all the parishes into a full and cordial
adoption of the changes which had been made, and
to give peace and quiet where discontent and un-
easiness prevailed. Not. only was he called upon to
exercise his Episcopal influence in Connecticut, but
his interposition was sought in parochial feuds and
difficulties outside. There was no other bishop in
New England, and it was natural to flee to him for
guidance and counsel when troubles sprung up be-
tween a minister and his people which they could not
amicably settle among themselves. By this time he
had jurisdiction in Rhode Island, for " in 1790 the
churches in Newport, Providence, and Bristol, met in
convention and declared the Right Rev. Samuel Sea-
bury, D. D., Bishop of Connecticut, Bishop of the
Church in this State." 1 He had already been asked
to interpose his advice in the matter of settling the
Rev. William Smith, the younger, at Newport. Mr.
Smith was in charge of the church in Narragansett,
1 Updike's History of the Narragansett Church, p. 406.
392 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
and in May, 1789, was invited to visit Trinity Church
every other week, an invitation which he accepted
with the consent of his own parish, and the result
was a call, in the ensuing December, to become the
rector, which he also accepted. Three gentlemen,
Messrs. Samuel Freebody, Thomas Freebody, and
Benjamin Gardiner, were not pleased with the pros-
pect, and attempted to frustrate the connection.
The judicious letter which follows was the first from
Bishop Seabury in reply to their importunities.
NEW LONDON, Feb. 3rd, '90.
GENTLEMEN, .1 am very sorry to find, by your letter of
Jan. 25th, that any uneasiness has arisen in your Church, on
account of the settlement of the Rev. Mr. Smith, or on any
other account. As that matter had been so long in agita-
tion, I had pleased myself with the hope that all animosities
and discords, which had long perplexed the congregation,
would escape and be forgotten ; and that the happy time
would come, when you would all worship God together, in
unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness
of life. Whose the fault is that this is not the case I know
not. But certainly a grievous fault there is somewhere.
God forbid that I should decline to promote peace and unity
amongst you, by all reasonable means that are within my
power. You will recollect that my best endeavors were un-
successful in the case of Mr. Sayre, 1 and I then determined
with myself not to intermeddle in such a case again, unless
1 The Rev. James Sayre, who entered upon his duties as minister of
Trinity Church, Newport, October, 1786. The congregation came to
an open rupture with him in 1788, and judged from his conversation that
he would never consent to any plan for establishing the union of the
Episcopal Church in America if the Liturgy of the Church of England
was not entirely adopted, except in the prayers for the King. He after-
wards removed to Connecticut and succeeded the venerable Dr. Learn-
ing, at Stratford, where he was officiating when he read his u protest "
before the convocation in Newtown.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 393
on positive assurance that due regard would be paid to my
opinion. And to my opinion, it is unreasonable that Mr.
S should be obliged to submit, and no such obligation
lie on you. Besides, Mr. S is not the only person con-
cerned in this matter : the Vestry and Congregation are con-
cerned in it, and they most certainly ought to have the priv-
ilege of explaining, and justifying, if they can, their own
conduct. Unless they and you request my interference, and
will promise to regard and abide by the decision, you must
see the impropriety of my taking any step in it, further
than my earnest exhortation to peace and unity, and my
prayers to God to incline the hearts of you all thereto.
There is a sentiment with which your letter ends, which
hurts me exceedingly it intimates that unless Mr. S
is removed, you must withdraw from Church, and go some-
where else, or stay at home. Why, my dear gentlemen, did
you ask me to interfere after you had taken your own reso-
lution ? But this is not what troubles me. It is to think
that YOuraJtacliment is so slight to the Church which you
have so long esteemed, as to be broken off on any occasion.
This is not right ; your second thoughts, I persuade myself,
will renounce it.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God. Be persuaded, my friends, to pursue the
things that belong to peace : it will give you pleasure in re-
flection, and will recommend you to the love and favor of
God. Whereas, if you persist and drive away Mr. S ,
as Mr. Sayre was before him, you will have no comfort nor
satisfaction in it. In the way of peace, you shall have every
assurance I can give, and everything I can do for your satis-
faction. And the God of peace be with you, keep you in
the unity of his Church bless and preserve you in body
and soul. So prays, for Christ's sake, your affect' humb.
serv't. S., Bp. Conn.
P. S. I have thought with myself, that as your letter
affects the proceedings of the Vestry, they ought in justice
394 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
to be informed of its contents. This, however, I did not
choose to do without your knowledge ; and I hope, by the
return of Post, to have your permission to send your letter
to them.
Three weeks later he wrote again to these gentle-
men, and directed their attention to points which
they appear to have overlooked or not fully under-
stood. This letter, like the preceding, he copied in
his letter-book, from which both have been tran-
scribed for these pages.
NEW LONDON, Feb. 24th, 1790.
GENTLEMEN, I received your letter in course of Post,
but not time enough to write to you by his return.
I did not misunderstand the purport of your first letter.
I perceived its intention was that I should prevail with the
Rev'd Mr. Smith not to go to New Port, but to continue at
Narragansett. And my intention was to intimate to you,
without saying so in direct terms, that I conceived it to be
unreasonable for me to do so. Apparently, the Vestry and
Congregation of your Church had invited him to be their
minister, and he had a right to accept their invitation if he
chose it. Where, then, would be the propriety of my pre-
venting his removal, at least without the knowledge of the
Vestry, etc., who had invited him ? Any uneasiness that
subsisted with you on Mr. Smith's account, I was ready to
try to adjust, provided proper assurances were given that
my interference should be effectual and final, but not other-
wise. The Vestry, etc., have certainly a right to vindicate
their proceedings if they can ; and consequently they ought
to have an opportunity of doing so before they are deprived
of Mr. Smith's ministry. I did not say there had been no
interruption in the negotiation with Mr. Smith, though I
knew of none at the time of my writing. I understood, and
I thought from good authority, that proposals were made to
Mr. Smith as long ago as the latter end of the last spring,
or the fore part of the Summer, and that is enough to jus-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 395
tify me in saying that the settlement of Mr. Smith had been
long in agitation.
With regard to the prayer which Mr. Smith uses at the
Consecration of the Eucharist, I use the same myself, and
after October next it will be used throughout the United
States. Nor can I see why the warmest friend of the Church
of England should object to it. I have no wish to depre-
ciate the Church of England. She has, I believe, few faults
but the prayer of Consecration in her Communion office
is deficient, even in the opinion of her ablest vindicators. I
shall mention but one deficiency in her Consecration prayer,
viz : that it is not put up to the Almighty Father through
the Mediation of Jesus Christ. I could mention more, but I
had rather conceal than expose even the appearance of a
blemish in a Church which I love and honor, and of which
I profess myself a member. The prayer Mr. Smith uses is
nearly the same with that in Edward VI. 's Prayer Book,
composed by Cranmer, Ridley, etc., which was altered to its
^present form to please the Presbyterians of Geneva, "Ger-
many, and England, who gave encouragement that they
would come into the Church on that ground: but were not
as good as their word. I do not speak by guess when I say
that a great number of the Clergy and Laity in England
would rejoice to have the same prayer, which you complain
of, in the English book ; and whenever it shall please God
that they shall have another reform of the Prayer Book, it
will most certainly take place. Let me again recommend
peace and amity and brotherly love. And I hope you will
not turn a deaf ear to my entreaties. You will find satisfac-
tion in nothing else. You may make a party, and keep your
Congregation divided and uneasy, and what will you get
by it ? no pleasure, nor comfort, nor credit. Your late
divisions have given your Church no good character, for
God's sake, let them be healed. The congregation, I am
sure, would rejoice to be at unity with you, and on terms no
ways dishonorable to you. God give you peace, my friends,
here and hereafter. Your affectionate
S., Bp. Connect.
396 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Bishop Seabury, while wishing to be on friendly
terms with Christians of other denominations, was not
disposed to sacrifice principle to charity. He did not
believe that anything would be gained in the end for
good neighborhood much less for the true interests
of the Church by mixing services, and he was
quite unwilling to encourage an infraction of estab-
lished rules for the sake of pleasing ministers who
assumed a roving commission to preach. The^ vestry
of the parish at Poquetannock, near Norwich, submit-
ted to him folTns"15pIm61i asTo the pro-
priety of allowing the use of their church on week
days to ministers not Episcopally ordained, and the
answer given was explicit.
NEW LONDON, Sep. l%th, 1791.
GENTLEMEN, Mr. Ebenezer Punderson has informed me
that there are some Ministers, not Episcopally ordained, who
are desirous to preach in your Church on week-days, when
it is unoccupied ; and that, though the Generality of your
Congregation are willing that their inclination, in this re-
spect, should be complied with, that good neighborhood may
be preserved, yet you wish to have my opinion with regard
to the propriety of the measure ; I am, therefore, to acquaint
you, That, though it will always EeTaT pleasure to me, when
it can be done consistently with duty, to gratify your incli-
nations, and the inclinations of those who wish to have the
use of your Church, with whom it is my desire to keep up
the best terms of good neighborhood and charity, yet, in the
present case, to have the Church opened for public worship
and preaching, to any but Clergymen in Episcopal Orders, is
against the Rules and Constitution of the Episcopal Church,
of which you profess to be members, and in unity with which
you will always, I hope, think it your duty to continue.
Commending you, Gentlemen, to the protection and bless-
ing of Almighty God ; beseeching him to preserve you and
OF SAMUEL SEABUKY. 397
the Congregation to which you belong, in the unity of his
Church, blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
I remain your affec. Pastor and very humble serv't.
S., Bp. Connect.
In an " Address to ministers and congregations of
the Presbyterian and Independent persuasions in the
United States of America/' printed in 1790, Bishop
Seabury made a plea for union and invited them, as
they had departed from the Church and created a
schism, to take the first steps in the way of return.
This, he claimed, would not be giving up the religion
of their forefathers, not even of their New Eng-
land forefathers, but " only relinquishing those
errors which they, through prejudice, most unhappily
imbibed." He did not expect to escape public ani-
madversion for his views, but he was heroic enough
to meet any controversy on the merits of the cause
of Christian unity. The address, which was written
without authority from " any public body or particu-
lar cognizance of private friends," closed in words
that are quoted to show his spirit and determination.
Though my partiality for the Church of England and her
form of public worship must be evident from what I have
written, I am not so enthusiastically attached to it as to
suppose no other form can be proper for public worship, or
acceptable to God. Some things in it might probably be
changed so as to be better adapted to the state of this coun-
try ; and these alterations, I mean not those only which its
political situation requires, it is hoped, have been pru-
dently and cautiously made by the late General Convention
of the Episcopal Church at Philadelphia. If they have used
their power discreetly, the Church and country will be
under great obligations to them. If they have made many
needless alterations, much mischief is to be dreaded. But a
398 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
good man will hope for the best event in so important a con-
cern ; and I cannot help indulging an expectation that you,
gentlemen, will attend to their Book of Common Prayer,
which, I understand, is now in the press, with the eye of
candor, and see whether you could not with a good con-
science adopt the use of it in your public worship. If you
could, one great difficulty would be over. What gives me
the more hope is the declaration which some of your minis-
ters are said to have made, viz., that they could read the
Liturgy of the Church of England in their assemblies, and
~woulcTbe willing to do so, one half of the day, if the congre-
gation desired it. That many of your laity do decidedly pre-
fer the Liturgy of the Church of England to extempore pray-
ers, I know assuredly, for I have heard them declare it.
These are certainly encouraging circumstances, and would
justify some prudent attempts to introduce that, or a similar
liturgy into your public worship. And though uniformity
in public worship would be much preferable to a diversity
of liturgies in the same country, as it would be a greater
security to the unity and peace of the Church, and to the
brotherly love and affection of its members ; yet any liturgy,
in which a due regard was paid to the analogy of the Christ-
lan laith, and the approved practices and usages of the
primitive Church, would be much better than extempore
prayer, where everything is left to the prudence and judg-
ment of the minister. I see not, however, why Christians
jjhould. break unity on account of diversity of modes of
worship.
It would be a great satisfaction to me to be able to join
in worship and communion with all Christians with whom
I have intercourse ; and I would do so occasionally with
you, gentlemen, notwithstanding your extempore prayers, as
much as I am attached to forms, were it not for two con-
siderations : the one is, that I should thereby depart from
the unity of Christ's Church, and become an abettor of art
unjustifiable separation from a true branch of it. The
other is, the doubts I have of the validity of the ordination
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 399
of your ministers, and consequently of the sacraments they
dispense. These are serious points, and the serious consid-
eration of them can do you no harm. It was to bring you
to this serious consideration this address was written ; it was
the design, too, of some expressions in it which to you may
appear harsh. I repeat it, they are the words of truth and
benevolence. I repeat, also, that truth fears no inquiry;
and I add, that the Church to which I belong will endure
the most exact scrutiny, try it who will.
A movement of great importance, which was kept
secret for the time, was made in 1791. It was noth-
ing less than a proposition to reunite the Methodists
in this country with the Protestant Episcopal Church,
and it took the form of an application from the Kev.
Dr. Thomas Coke, an Oxford graduate, and a presby-
ter of the Church of England, who for fourteen years
had been following John Wesley, and, like him, not
intending to promote a separation, which had now
been actually accomplished. Discovering his error,
he publicly recanted, and repeated his recantation in
the largest chapels of London and other parts of
Great Britain. His position in America was that of
a superintendent, having been set apart and recom-
mended " as a fit person to preside over the flock of
Christ" by the imposition of the hands 1 and by the
prayer of Wesley, assisted by other ordained minis-
1 This was the beginning of Methodist Episcopacy, fons et origo. The
" imposition of hands" was not done publicly in a church, but in Wes-
ley's bed-chamber at Bristol, England. It was soon reported, however,
that he had made a Bishop, and his brother, the Rev. Charles Wesley,
who was not in the secret, and did not approve of schism, wrote the
witty epigram,
" So easily are Bishops made,
By man's or woman's whim ;
Wesley his hands on Coke hath laid,
But who laid hands on him ? "
400 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
ters. The proceeding took place on the 2d of Sep-
tember, 1784, and Dr. Coke four months later set
apart, in a similar manner, Mr. Francis Asbury ; and
Wesley appointed them both "to be joint Superin-
tendents over our brethren in North America." As
no one can communicate what he does not himself
possess, so neither Wesley nor Coke, being presby-
ters only of the Church of England, could bestow the
Apostolic office, and hence the adoption of the title
of Bishop afterwards was as presumptuous as the or-
dination was invalid.
Dr. Coke evidently felt that he was merely a su-
perintendent and had no authority as a bishop in the
Church of God, and this feeling and other considera-
tions prompted him to write, nearly two months after
the death of John Wesley, first to Bishop White, and
then, three weeks later, May 14, 1791, to Bishop
Seabury, proposing measures for a reunion of the
Methodists with the Episcopal Church. In the last
letter, which is the longest, written shortly before
embarking for England, he said : " I love the Metho-
dists in America, and could not think of leaving them
entirely, whatever might happen to me in Europe.
The preachers and people also love me, many have a
peculiar regard for me. But I could not, with pro-
priety, visit American Methodists, possessing in our
Church on this side of the water an office inferior to
that of Mr. Asbury. But if the two houses of the
convention of the clergy" meaning the General
Convention "would consent to your consecration
of Mr. Asbury and me as bishops of the Methodist
Society in the Protestant Episcopal Church in these
United States (or by any other title, if that be not
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 401
proper), on the supposition of the reunion of the two
Churches, under proper mutual stipulations, and en-
gage that the Methodist Society shall have a regular
supply, on the death of their bishops, and so, ad
perpetuum, the grand difficulty in respect to the
preachers would be removed they would have the
same men to confide in whom they have at present,
and all other mutual stipulations would soon be set-
tled."
Bishop White briefly answered the letter which he
received, but Seabury appears to have sent no reply ;
probably for the reason that the proposition was a
confidential one, not made in a shape to be at once
entertained ; or it may be that his engagements were
such as to prevent him from giving it the considera-
tion which it deserved until too late to be of any
avail.
On the 30th of May, 1791, the bishop set out by
water for Newport, accompanied by his daughter
Maria, to whom was entrusted the charge of his
house in New London, and who occasionally attended
him on his visitations. His principal design in this
journey was to make an official visitation to the
churches in Newport, Bristol, and Providence, that
had recently put themselves under his superintend-
ence, and after a fatiguing voyage of sixteen hours,
he arrived at his destination about two o'clock in the
morning, and was welcomed under the hospitable roof
of Mr. Srmttl7Tector~t>f Trinity Church. Here he
tarried for several days, and spent three of them in
visiting, and particularly in endeavoring to remove
the prejudices and misunderstandings of two laymen
respecting Mr. Smith's settlement, and it is entered
26
402 LIFE AND COKRESPONDENCE
in his journal: "By God's goodness, succeeded so
far as to see them "both with their good ladies at
the holy altar on Sunday the 5th, the Sunday after
Ascension-day. At communion sixty or seventy
were present. No sermon in the morning, preached
in the afternoon, and after sermon administered con-
firmation to about forty, all young people except
three or four." From Newport he passed to Bristol,
where he found an unfinished church erected to suc-
ceed the one burnt by a party of British troops
during the Revolution, but no rector. The lay
reader, Mr. John Usher, a son of the late worthy
minister, was ready to take Orders, and the congre-
gation had long desired that he might do so, and be-
come their minister. But an unhappy resentment
on the part of his brother, which originated many
years before in the division of their father's books,
had hitherto been a bar to the ordination. "So
much bitterness/' said Bishop Seabury, "I think I
never saw in any human creature. ^Howjdreadful a
state to cherish malice for sixteen years, malice, too,
conceived without any provocation, exerted against
a brother, and to the hindrance of the peace and
prosperity of God's Church." l
It was an unpleasant feature of the visitation thus
far that he found various dissatisfactions and paro-
chial quarrels submitted to him for adjustment, but
at Providence, where he spent Whitsunday, preached
twice and administered confirmation to fifty, there
were no wounds to heal and no strifes to compose.
He left the rector, Rev. Moses Badger, on the 15th
of June in the post-coach for Boston, and was fortu-
1 MS. Journal.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 403
nate enough to arrive safely in the evening at the
house of his friend, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Parker,
rector of Trinity Church. For him he preached the
following Sunday, at both services, and the next day
proceeded on his journey to Portsmouth, stopping for
a couple of nights at Newburyport, and enjoying the
hospitality of the Rev. Dr. Bass.
The rector of St. John's Church, Portsmouth (Mr.
Ogden), met him at Newburyport and conducted him
to his own home, and on Sunday, the first after
Trinity, he preached twice to large congregations
and administered the rite of confirmation to seventy-
two persons. The visit had long been anticipated by
the people, and the interest in it had not yet reached
its height ; for on the festival of St. Peter, one of the
three Saints' days " in the leafy month of June," he
again administered the rite of confirmation, thirty-
three persons receiving it, and advanced to the
priesthood Rev. Robert Fowle, a native of Newbury-
port, and a graduate of Harvard College, whom
eighteen months before he had ordained a deacon at
New London. He made a note of the occasion in his
journal in these words : " The crowd at church was
very great. The novelty of the scene (an Episcopal
ordination never having been before held in that part
of the country) attracted the attendance of some
who little regarded the solemnity of the office, or the
prosperity of the Church. Dr. Bass made the pres-
entation. The sermon was preached by me from
St. Matt, xxviii. 18, 19, 20.
" After church, several Presbyterian ministers dined
and drank tea with us at Mr. Ogden's. All was good
humor. That evening, however, I heard some were
404 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
offended at the sermon, and threatened to attack it.
Conscious of the soundness of the principles on which
it was built, it was a matter of no importance to me
whether they attacked, or let it pass off quietly."
Returning by the way of Newburyport, he spent
the Sunday with Dr. Bass, and preached both parts of
the day to very large congregations. That in the
afternoon was supposed to consist of more than two
thousand people. The church was so crowded that
the aisles were impassable to those in the remote
parts who expected to be confirmed, and only fifty
received the rite, but notice was given that the other
candidates might repair to the church the next day,
and accordingly about fifty more were confirmed.
The Bishop reached Boston on his homeward jour-
ney the 5th of July, and was again the guest of Dr.
Parker. He wrote in his journal a few paragraphs
which are cited to show the bigotry and spirit of the
times, in contrast with the better charities of these
later days : " While I was at Boston, Mr. Osborne's
paper, of Portsmouth, July 6, and Mr. Russell's, of
Boston, of the same date, I believe, accused me of
saying in the sermon at Portsmouth, < That the belief
of the truth spoken by one not inducted into the
priestly office in an Episcopal form is not the faith of
God or a divine faith/ The sermon, I suppose, will
soon be public, and will speak for itself. One posi-
tion I shall enter here from the Portsmouth paper
because of its extraordinary tendency : ' If a devil
should deliver a good Gospel sermon, shall we disbe-
lieve because the preacher is a devil, and not a Church
priest ? ' Again : ' I am as much bound to believe
the truth spoken by his Plutonic Majesty, as I am to
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 405
believe the same truth when delivered by his Lord-
ship of York, or his Holiness of Rome/ To expose
the nonsense and profaneness of these assertions
needs not a word. They speak for themselves, and
evidently show what spirit they are of. To bear
abuse and reviling language and misrepresentation
for His sake who bore them all for me is my duty.
Enable me, gracious God, to bear them with patience
and resignation to thy will in humble dependence on
thy grace." *
After an absence of six weeks and four days, the
Bishop, with his daughter, arrived at New London on
the 15th of July, having travelled out and home, by
land and by water, three hundred and ninety-seven
miles, confirmed three hundred and eleven persons,
and admitted one to the priesthood.
The two volumes of sermons, the preparation of
which had been some time in his mind, were pub-
lished in 1793, and he conceived the idea of having
them reprinted in England, and sent six discourses
in manuscript to his friend and correspondent, the
Rev. Mr. Boucher, to be added to them, if a book-
seller could be found to engage in the enterprise.
They passed through two or three editions in this
country, but there was no prospect that there would
be a foreign demand for them, and hence no English
publisher was willing to risk any money in such an
undertaking. They were dedicated, " To the Episco-
pal clergy of Connecticut and Rhode Island, .... in
token of the regard and esteem of their affectionate
Diocesan," and embraced a variety of subjects, among
them, the authority and duty of Christ's ministers,
1 MS. Journal.
406 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
the Apostolical Commission, Baptism, Confirmation,
and the Holy Eucharist. Lay readers of that period
used them freely in the vacant parishes of Connecti-
cut, and they helped to form that type of church-
manship of which Seabury was an admirable expo-
nent and defender. A posthumous volume of sermons
from manuscripts prepared by himself was published
in 1798.
The Bishop, after returning from his eastern jour-
ney, continued in New London until Monday, the 3d
of October, when he started for Watertown to meet
his clergy in convocation, and make official visits to
several parishes in the State. He passed the first
night at East Haddam, and the next day rode to the
house where the people usually assembled for divine
service, and preached to a large congregation on the
subject of confirmation, administered the rite to
twenty-five, all elderly people, and " the communion
to twenty-seven, twenty-four of whom had never re-
ceived it in the Church before, being late converts
from Presbyterianism." He rode on to Middle town,
and had the pleasure of meeting and passing the
evening there with his old friend Dr. Learning, at the
house of Mr. Jarvis. The next morning he took up
his journey for "Watertown, and found the clergy as-
sembled for divine service when he arrived.
Much of the business transacted at this time has
been already mentioned. It was here that the first
step was taken to introduce the laity into the coun-
cils of the Church, and the tenor of the action shows
how cautiously the thing was done. It was " voted
that each clergyman recommend it to the people of
his cure to choose one or more persons to represent
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 407
them at a convocation to be holden at the Church in
New Haven on the 30th of May next, at 10 o'clock
A. M., which representatives are to be considered as a
Committee of Conference, to confer with the convo-
cation, at that time and place, on all matters that re-
spect the temporal interest of the Church."
The clergy returned to their respective homes and
parochial duties on Saturday, but the Bishop remained
at Watertown, and confirmed on Sunday thirty-three
persons, and admitted Mr. Seth Hart to the order of
Deacons. The following day he preached to a large
congregation at Waterbury, on the unity of Christ's
Church, a favorite theme with him, and con-
firmed fifty-four. Passing down the valley of the
Naugatuck, he stopped a day and a night at Gunn-
town, confirmed fourteen, and was welcomed by the
venerable Dr. Mansfield, on the 12th, at Oxford,
where, as at Derby, he preached to a small congrega-
tion, and administered in each place the apostolic rite.
Crossing the Housatonic, he was met at the ferry by
the Kev. Mr. Clarke and his two church-wardens, and
conducted to Bipton. From thence he proceeded to
Stratfield, now Bridgeport, and on Sunday, the 16th,
preached there both parts of the day to large congre-
gations, confirmed twenty, and advanced the Rev.
David Perry, Deacon, to the priesthood. During the
week he visited Fairfield and Weston, parishes an-
nexed to Stratfield, forming the cure of Mr. Shel-
ton ; and Tashua, a part of Mr. Clarke's charge, con-
firming in the last-named place, seventy-two persons.
He spent the next Sunday in New Haven, " preach-
ing all day for Mr. Hubbard, who went to West Ha-
ven ; " and by resting and easy stages, stopping a
408 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
day at Branford, and another at Killingworth, he
reached home on the 27th, having been absent the
whole month, travelled two hundred and twenty-three
miles, and confirmed three hundred and three per-
sons.
Though he was the guest of the Rev. Mr. Bowden
in Stratford, and continued with him for two days, he
did not enter the church, or attempt to hold any ser-
vice in the place. The parish, the oldest in the dio-
cese, was now under the ministrations of Mr. Sayre,
the " protesting " clergyman, whose violent course
towards Bishop Seabury was as lamentable as it was
unjust and causeless. The people followed his guid-
ance to their own detriment, and the question was,
what could be done to save the parish from division
and strife, and bring it to the acceptance of the Con-
stitution and Prayer Book. A convocation was held
at East Haddam, February 12, 1792, and the subject
of establishing an Episcopal Academy came up for
consideration, but the most important business, and
that which really called the clergy together, was the
situation of the Stratford parish, and its relations to
the Church in Connecticut. It was resolved " that
unless the wardens and vestrymen of Christ Church
in Stratford shall transmit to the Rt. Reverend, the
Bishop of Connecticut, within fourteen days after
Easter Monday next, a notification that the congre-
gation of said church have adopted the Constitution
of the Protestant Episcopal Church, as settled by the
General Convention at Philadelphia, in October, 1789,
they (the congregation) will be considered as having
totally separated themselves from the Church of Con-
necticut."
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 409
There was no other clergyman in the State who
had a thought of arraying his people in opposition to
the Bishop. Dr. Dibblee, of Stamford, could hardly
be reconciled to the use of the new Prayer Book, and
continued in the old ways without meaning to be re-
fractory. His health was broken, and he ceased to
attend the meetings of his brethren, but the following
excellent letter reveals his character, and at the same
time the lenity of the Bishop in dealing with his prej-
udices :
Feb. 22, 1792.
REV'D AND VERY DEAR SIR, Did I not know to whom
I am writing, I should fear doing hurt and not good by this
letter. But when I consider you, as I have ever esteemed
you, as an old, and worthy, and good friend, who has a re-
gard for me as a fellow-minister with me of the Church of
Christ, and equally with me solicitous for her welfare, and
the peace and quiet and Christian lives of all her members,
as a gentleman whom strong abilities, a candid mind, long
experience in the world, and the long and constant practice
of all Christian virtues, hath deservedly raised to a good and
eminent character, every apprehension that I shall give
you pain, or excite in you any resentment, or any idea that
I wish to interfere needlessly in your affairs, vanishes and
disappears. My earnest desire is that you would review in
your own mind the ground and principles on which you have
hitherto refrained from the use of the Prayer-book of the
Church of the United States to consider whether you can-
not use that book in divine service with a good conscience,
and so as to offer to God an acceptable service ? If you can,
whether Christian charity, the love of peace and unity, and
the edification of the body of Christ, do not require that you
should use it and whether the peace and prosperity of
your own congregations, and consequently your own peace
and quiet, do not also require it ? To use particular argu-
ments with you is unnecessary. They will occur to you,
410 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
probably, with more force than I could give them. If you
cannot use the book with a good conscience, I have not a
word to say to prevail on you to do so. But if you can, re-
member, my dear sir, the peace of the churches in Connecti-
cut, and your own peace, and the quiet and Christian temper
of your own people, are nearly concerned, and sooner or later
will suffer by your refusal. The question is not which book
is the best in itself, but which will best promote the peace
and unity of the Church. Such was the temper of the peo-
ple to the southward, that unity could not be had with the
old book. Is not, then, the unity of the whole Church
through the States a price sufficient to justify the alterations
which have been made? supposing (and in this I believe
you will join with me) that there is no alteration made but
what is consistent with the analogy of the Christian faith.
Let me, therefore, intreat you as a father, to review this
matter, and I have no doubt but that you will join with your
brethren, and walk by the same rule in your public ministra-
tions. This will rejoice their hearts and mine also. May
God be your director in all things, and grant that we may
meet together in his own heavenly kingdom.
I am, Rev'd and dear Sir, your affectionate brother and
very humble serv't. S., Bp. Connect. 1
1 MS. Letter-Book.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 411
CHAPTER
CONTENTION IN STRATFORD, AND EFFORTS OF MR. BOWDEN TO
CONCILIATE THE PEOPLE ; INFLUENCE OF MR. SAYRE, AND
TROUBLES IN WOODBURY ; CONVENTION IN NEW HAVEN, AND
LAITY FIRST INTRODUCED ; SUPPORT OF THE BISHOP, AND EPIS-
COPAL VISITATION ; SERMON BEFORE GENERAL CONVENTION, AND
CONSECRATION OF DR. CLAGGETT ; CONVOCATION AT HUNTINGTON,
AND PARISH INDEPENDENCE; CONVENTION AT MIDDLETOWN, AND
ORDINATION.
A. D. 1792-1793.
THE opposition to the Prayer Book and the pro-
ceedings of the General Convention still continued in
Stratford, and nothing could be done to remove the
misapprehensions of the people while Mr. Sayre re-
mained in charge of the parish. The Rev. Mr. Bow-
den wrote an address to them which was read pub-
licly on the very day when the question was to be
decided whether they would unite with the Protestant
Episcopal Church or not, and though the arguments
contained in it were strong and irresistible, the con-
gregation voted to continue in the old way.
This address was afterwards printed, with a letter
to Mr. Sayre appended, written by the same hand,
and faithfully exhibiting the methods used to deceive
the people and lead them to disregard the peace, the
unity, and the authority of the Church. " I set out
in this business," said Bowden, " with this great ad-
vantage : It is well known in Stratford, and by many
412 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
who do not live here, that I did not come to this
place with any prejudices against you ; but, on the
contrary, with those sentiments of regard for you
which a long intimacy would naturally cherish. Nay,
you yourself know that to enjoy the society of your
family was my principal reason for coming here. I
knew, indeed, before I returned from the West Indies,
that you did not like the alterations in the Prayer
Book, nor some things in the constitution of the
Church, but it never entered into my mind that you
could have gone to such an extravagant length as to
break off all ecclesiastical communion with your
brethren, and to have formed a plan to separate this
church from the diocese." 1
Mr. Sayre finally withdrew from the scene of con-
tention, and the parish, in the exercise of a sober
judgment and under the influence of better counsels,
ceased its opposition and conformed to the new reg-
ulations and the action of the General Convention.
But he was not yet silenced. He sowed the seeds of
discontent and controversy in another parish with
which he had connection, and where the evil effects
lingered longer. The people at Woodbury were par-
tial to his ministrations, and sympathizing with him
in his troubles and believing in the sincerity of his
course, they adhered to him, and thus became iso-
lated and without pastoral care. For at a convoca-
tion in New Milford, September 25, 1793, the clergy
decided that in the exercise of their ministerial office
they could not pay any attention to the parish in
Woodbury until it acceded to the constitution of the
Church in Connecticut. It was voted at the same
1 Address and Letter, p. 25.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 413
time, that " whenever a certain paper relative to the
Eev. Mr. James Sayre be transmitted by the Bishop
to the several clergymen of the Church in Connecti-
cut, they shall read it in the several congregations
under their care on the first Sunday subsequent to
their receiving it."
Months passed away and the spirit of opposition
was unbroken. The following letter, written on the
eve of the annual convention in New Haven to Mr.
John Clark, clerk of the parish, will shed some light
upon the history of the dissatisfaction :
NEW LONDON, May 27th, 1794.
Sin, Your letter, by the direction of the Episcopal
Church in Woodbury, dated April 26th, 1794, came not to
my house till four days ago. The notification your congre-
gation received from the Rev. Mr. Hart was such as I pre-
sume the Convocation directed him to deliver to them. It
is now too late to enter on the discussion of the points on
which that notification was founded before the meeting of the
Convention at New Haven, on the first Wednesday of June.
The situation of your Church will then come before them ;
and I should be glad that one of your members would attend
at that time in the name of the congregation when I trust
every thing may be settled to your satisfaction, and the sat-
isfaction of the Convention. For my own part, I should be
glad to do you any service in my power, consistently with
the general interest of the Church in Connecticut, and that,
I trust, your congregation hath no disposition to contravene.
This I am confident is also the disposition of the Clergy
toward you ; and will be the disposition of the Gentlemen of
the laity who shall meet in Convention.
You observe that your congregation have objections to
some parts of the Constitution. Let those objections be
be made known. It ought to have been done a year ago at
Middletown. It was sent to you for that purpose, and a
414 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
year allowed for you to consider of it, and make your objec-
tions if you had any. As you made none, it was to be pre-
sumed you had none. That Constitution will, I suppose, be
this year taken up by the Convention, amended, if necessary,
and adopted, or rejected, as shall appear best.
Having no other conveyance I send this letter by the Post.
I pray God to direct your congregation in this business, and
keep them in the unity of his Church. Accept the best
wishes of Sir, your very humble Serv't,
S., Bp. Conn. $ RJio. Isl 1
The clergy at their next meeting in New Haven,
June 5, 1794, appointed three of their number " a
Committee for the purpose of accommodating matters
with the Episcopal congregation at Woodbury, and
reconciling them to a union with the Protestant Epis-
copal Church." In the fulfillment of the appoint-
ment, this committee met the people in their church
on the 7th of July, and suspending, for the time, the
operation of the original vote, went into a review of
the constitution and explained it in a manner so sat-
isfactory that all former objections were removed,
and the parish with great unanimity adopted it, and
thus regained its old position in the diocese.
On the 2d of June, 1792, Bishop Seabury was in
New Haven, and the next day, Trinity Sunday, offici-
ated for Dr. Hubbard and allowed him to go to a par-
ish in the vicinity, where the communion for several
months had not been administered. A convention,
into which lay delegates were introduced for the first
time, met the following Wednesday, in Trinity Church,
and the Bishop delivered the sermon from the text :
" Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact to-
1 MS. Letter Book.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 415
gether." The whole number present, including the
bishop, was forty-five, of whom twenty-four were
laymen, representing parishes which had adopted the
Constitution of the General Convention. This was
the beginning of a new era in the legislation of the
Connecticut Church, and Seabury, who had looked
forward to it with much interest, entered in his jour-
nal that " on this day and the next the business of
the Convention was happily finished, rules were
agreed upon for the conduct of ecclesiastical affairs,
respecting both clergy and laity, and Delegates were
appointed to attend the General Convention at New
York in September."
One measure, to which there is no reference in the
printed minutes, was adopted by the laity in a sepa-
rate meeting. It related to the support of the bishop,
which had hitherto been very little so far as the par-
ishes were concerned. The lay delegates came to-
gether, and appointing John Wooster, of Derby,
chairman, and Jonathan Ingersoll, of New Haven,
clerk consented to the following recommendation,
which was printed on the same sheet with the proposed
" Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in
the State of Connecticut," and sent out to the par-
ishes :
This convention being deeply impressed with the necessity
of contributing towards the support of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Sea-
bury, Bishop of Connecticut ; and taking into consideration
that a few years since a convention of lay delegates recom-
mended to the several Episcopal societies in this State, that
a sum equal to one half -penny on the pound on the grand
list of said societies should be annually raised, for said sup-
port ; and taking into consideration, also, that many societies
416 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
through inattention have not altogether complied with said
recommendation :
It is therefore strongly and earnestly desired and requested
by the members of this convention, that the several Episcopal
societies in this State do use their utmost endeavours to raise
by contribution, or otherwise, a sum equal to one half-penny
on the pound, on the grand list of said societies, towards the
maintenance and support of the bishop, the current year,
commencing on this sixth day of June : And that said sum
be raised in quarterly payments.
This convention cannot but believe, that every good
churchman will be desirous to contribute his quota, for so
laudable a purpose.
And as it is uncertain how great a sum can be raised, ac-
cording to the above proposition, it is requested that the sum
total of the grand list, of the several Episcopal societies be
returned to the next convention.
The above recommendation, voted in convention, to be
sent to the several Episcopal societies in this State.
From the report of the lay delegates to the next
diocesan convention, it appeared that the grand list of
the parishes which they represented amounted, ac-
cording to a general estimate, to " one hundred and
fourteen thousand nine hundred pounds ; and if all
had acquiesced in the recommendation and paid their
respective quotas, a handsome sum would have been
realized. But it was an uncertain provision at best,
and steps were taken at this very time to establish a
fund for the support of the Episcopate, and a commit-
tee was appointed to apply to the General Assembly
for an act of incorporation with a view to this end.
The grave, however, closed over the first bishop of
Connecticut, before even the prayer of the petition-
ers was granted.
An Episcopal visitation was usually made in con-
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 417
nection with a convention or convocation, and Bishop
Seabury lingered in New Haven after the adjourn-
ment, and on Sunday ordained David Butler and Rus-
sel Catlin, Deacons, and confirmed fifty-one persons.
Leaving the city on the 12th of June, he proceeded
north through Cheshire, Southington, Farmington,
Simsbury, and down by the way of Hartford and He-
bron to New London, having been absent twenty-
two days, travelled one hundred and seventy-four
miles, and confirmed in all one hundred and fifty-
three persons.
With scarcely two months' rest, in the heat of sum-
mer, he left home Monday morning, August 13th, to
attend the General Convention, which was to meet in
New York the second Tuesday of September, and be-
fore which he had been requested to preach a sermon.
He took the route by land through the shore towns,
and visited the clergy in the way, among them
Mr. Bowden at Stratford, with whom he passed a
night, and who had been appointed one of the depu-
ties from Connecticut, but attended the Convention
as a representative of the Church in Rhode Island.
On the 16th he reached Norwalk, and the next day
" embarked at Old Well for Huntington on Long
Island," but contrary winds obliged the captain of the
vessel to stop at one of the Norwalk Islands and re-
main all night. For nearly three weeks he was with
his kindred and friends at North Hempstead, and
amid the scenes of his youthful associations. His
mother was yet alive, in good health, and those who
remembered him as a lay reader and missionary must
have been glad to see and hear him in his Episcopal
character, and after the trials through which he had
27
418 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
passed in getting his orders recognized and the
Church in this country settled and united.
Going to New York, he visited his old friend, James
Eivington, and on Sunday, the 9th of September,
preached in the morning for Dr. Benjamin Moore in
Trinity Church, and in the afternoon in St. George's
Chapel. The convention met the following Tuesday,
and Seabury was the only bishop present. After pray-
ers both houses adjourned till ten o'clock the next
morning, to await the arrival of other members. In
the mean time a question of etiquette came up for set-
tlement, and Bishop White, speaking of it in his Me-
moirs, terms it " an unpropitious circumstance attend-
ing the opening of this Convention." The political
principles of Bishop Provoost, and his course in regard
to the validity of the Scottish consecration, kept him
aloof from Seabury, and if he ever had the courtesy
to answer one of his letters, it is certain he did not
exchange friendly visits with him when he knew of
his presence in New York at different times, or pay
him any respect as the Bishop of Connecticut. There
may have been no personal affront on either side, but
the absence of official recognition was in itself enough
to discourage the first attempts at civility on the part
of Seabury. The issue of the affair is thus described
by Bishop White :
" The prejudices in the minds of the two bishops
were such as threatened a distance between them
which would give an unfavorable appearance to them-
selves, and to the whole body, and might perhaps
have an evil influence on their deliberations. But it
happened otherwise. On a proposal being made to
them by common friends, and through the medium of
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 419
the present author, on the suggestion of Dr. Smith,
they consented without the least hesitation, Bishop
Seabury to pay, and Bishop Provoost to receive, the
visit which etiquette enjoined on the former to the
latter ; and was as readily accepted by the one as it
had been proffered by the other. The author was
present when it took place. Bishop Provoost asked
his visitant to dine with him on the same day, in com-
pany of the author and others. The invitation was
accepted, and from that time nothing was perceived
in either of them which seemed to show that the for-
mer distance was the result of anything else but dif-
ference in opinion."
The sermon of Bishop Seabury before the conven-
tion was from the text, " And above all these things
put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness."
It was printed by the request of both houses, and
glowed with the true spirit of Christian love, with
that perfect and comprehensive charity which tends
to preserve the peace and unity of the Church under
all possible circumstances. An extract from the con-
cluding portion will show that the errors which he
condemned were not limited to those times, but even
such as may be found in all periods of Christian his-
tory.
There are two extremes into which men are apt to run in
the management of the Church. One is to depress the gov-
ernment and priesthood, and lay them open to all claimants ;
to relax the doctrines and faith, according to the prevailing
tenets of philosophy and metaphysics, and I may add,
according to the fashionable system of divinity, to explain
away the sacraments, till they become merely empty and
vain shadows, without substance or reality, to weaken the
1 Memoirs ofP.E. Church, pp. 161, 162.
420 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
obligations of holiness which Christianity lays on us, thereby
encouraging people to rest in decency of manners, according
to the mode of the times, without regarding that self-denial
which restrains all tendencies to evil, or that mortification
which subdues and keeps under the unruly appetites and
desires of body and mind. This conduct is utterly inconsis-
tent with the prosperity of our holy religion, and must be
carefully avoided, lest we make shipwreck of faith and a good
conscience, and betray the Church into a corruption of that
truth, of which God hath made her the pillar and ground.
The other extreme, to which I adverted, is the setting of
the terms of admission and continuance in the Church higher,
and making them more rigid than Christ and his Apostles
have set and made them ; thereby excluding persons from
the unity and communion of the Church, who by a fair and
candid construction of the rules given in Scripture have a
right to be admitted to the fellowship and all the privileges
of Christ's religion. Those Christian professors who insist
on having a pure Church in this world, and who, to obtain
their point, have formed narrow and rigid and very partic-
ular rules for the faith and practice of their members,
who admit into, and reject from, their communion by a vote
of their church members, not always making due allowance
for the weakness of human nature, the violence of sudden
and unexpected temptation, or the nature of things indiffer-
ent, which a good Christian may do or forbear without
wounding his integrity, are on this ground to be condemned.
They forget that Christ hath compared the Church in this
world to a net cast into the sea, which encloseth fishes
good and bad, to a field, in which tares grow with the
wheat ; that to separate the good from the bad is the prop-
erty of God only ; because He only knoweth the heart, and
hath ability to make the distinction ; and that He hath re-
served this separation to the judgment of the last day, when
it will be effectually made. They consider not that the
affairs of the bad and good are intimately mingled together
in this world, and have absolute dependence on each other,
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 421
even as the roots of the tares are mixed and tangled with
the wheat, so that it exceeds all human prudence to root out
the former without injuring the latter. They must grow
together till the judgment of God shall decide upon them.
Then shall Christ " present," that is, take u it to himself a
glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such
thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."
The business of the convention was not much pro-
longed ; for a week was deemed sufficient to consider
the subjects brought before it, and accomplish all that
was done. The Ordinal of the Church of England
was reviewed, and alterations made to accommodate
it to local circumstances. " The only thing I have to
regret," says Bishop Seabury, " is that the form of
words at the imposition of hands in ordaining Priests,
as it stands in the English book, is not made absolute
in ours, but an alternative or another form, similar to
that in making Deacons, is permitted to those Bishops
who choose it."
The Eev. James Madison, D. D., President of Will-
iam and Mary College, was chosen Bishop of Virginia
on the 7th of May, 1790, and a sum not exceeding
200 was directed by the convention of that State
to be advanced to him for the purpose of defraying
his expenses in obtaining consecration. He went to
England, and was consecrated in the Chapel of Lam-
beth Palace, September 19th, and had been two years
in the exercise of his office when he took his seat in
the General Convention at New York. The question
about having three bishops in the English line of suc-
cession in this country before proceeding to a conse-
cration was thus put to rest \ and by this time the
penal laws, which had so long embarrassed the Scot-
422 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
tish non-jurors, were repealed, and the English pre-
lates, unrestrained by political considerations, could
now recognize their brethren in Scotland, and concede
that there might be bishops in the Church of God
without the authority of the king.
At a convention held in Annapolis, May, 1792,
the Eev. Thomas John Claggett, D. D., was elected
Bishop of the Church in Maryland, and the clerical
and lay deputies from the State appeared with him
at the Session in New York, and, with the necessary
documents in hand, presented him to the House of
Bishops, " requesting that his consecration might be
expedited." It was a movement intended to unite
Episcopalians more closely together by blending the
two lines of succession, and forever preventing the pos-
sibility of a question arising in the American Church
as to the relative validity of the English and Scotch
Episcopacy. For the application to consecrate Dr.
Claggett was not made to those only who received
their authority in the Chapel at Lambeth, but the
whole four were requested to join in the act, which
was solemnized in Trinity Church, Monday, Septem-
ber 17th, and from that day not a bishop has been
consecrated in this Church " who must not, to make
his consecration canonical, claim the succession, in
part at least, through the Scottish Episcopate." l
It has been mentioned that Seabury was the only
bishop present at the opening of the convention.
When they all met Wednesday morning in the ves-
try-room of Trinity Church, it appeared that two of
the four Provoost and Madison were dissatisfied
with the rule which had been established in regard to
1 Hawks's Ecclesiastical Contributions, Maryland, p. 312.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 423
the presidency, and wished its repeal. The point
was not decided during the day, and as much of it
was occupied with the religious service, followed by
an adjournment, no inconvenience was experienced
in leaving it so far undetermined. But the next
morning, Bishop Seabury sent a message to Bishop
White and requested a private interview with him
previous to the hour when the convention was to as-
semble. " It took place at Dr. Moore's, where he
lodged. He opened his mind to this effect That,
from the course taken by the two other bishops on
the preceding day, he was afraid they had in contem-
plation the debarring of him from any hand in the
consecration expected to take place during this con-
vention ; that he could not submit to this, without an
implied renunciation of his consecration, and con-
tempt cast on the source from which he had received
it; and that the apprehended measure, if proposed
and persevered in, must be followed by an entire
breach with him, and, as he supposed, with the
Church under his superintendence." l
In the belief of Bishop White, no such design was
contemplated ; and he assured him that in no event
would he himself take any part in the approaching
consecration if Bishop Seabury should be precluded
from uniting in the act. It would not weaken the
English chain to bring in another link, and while he
had been desirous of fulfilling his implied engagement
to his own consecrators, he was now resolved to stand
by the Scottish succession, the validity of which he
had never doubted. His opinion of the rule which
had been adopted was unchanged, but as Bishop Sea-
1 Memoirs of P. E. Church, p. 162.
424 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
bury intimated that he should not be tenacious of
the mere matter of the presidency, and would waive
his right to it, he suggested that one of them should
be absent from the meeting that morning and allow
the rule to be rescinded. Accordingly Seabury, as
more directly interested, absented himself, and the
change was made, " reference being had to the presi-
dency of the house in the last convention." No other
business was done that day, and the bishops adjourned
after this action.
It will be doing Bishop Seabury fuller justice to
produce here his own record of the affair : " At this
Convention, Eight Reverend Dr. Claggett, of Mary-
land, was consecrated bishop, in Trinity Church, by
Bishops Provoost, White, Madison, and Seabury. All
glory be ascribed to God for his goodness to his
Church in the American States. In his goodness I
confide for the continuing of that holy Episcopate
which is now begun to be communicated in this
country. May it redound to his glory, and the good
of his Church, through Jesus Christ. Amen. At the
last General Convention, at Philadelphia, it was pro-
posed by Bishop White, and agreed to by me, that
the eldest Bishop present (to be reckoned from his
consecration) should be president of the House of
Bishops. The agreement seemed to be displeasing to
Bishops Provoost and Madison, and it was proposed
by them that the presidency should go by rotation,
beginning from the North. I hadno inclination to
contend who should be the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven ; and therefore readily consented to relin-'
^quish the presidency into the hands of Bishop Pro-"
grace on this occasion,
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 425
and beseech him thatjio self -exaltation or envy of
^otHersmay ever"lead Ine intodebate and contention^
but thliTTln^vever be willing to be the least "when
flie peaceofliis Church requires it." I
-The" bishop returned after the adjournment of the
convention and spent a few more days among his
kindred and friends at Hempstead, and then crossed
over the Sound at Sands's Ferry to New Rochelle,
where he passed the night. As he entered Connecti-
cut, he commenced a visitation to the parishes in
Fairfield County, preaching first at Horseneck, and
proceeding to Stamford, where he had large congre-
gations, Sunday, September 30, and confirmed forty
persons. Two days later he rode out to New Canaan
and confirmed fifty-two : " And here," said he, " I
parted with good old Dr. Dibblee, who had accom-
panied me from Stamford." In the same week he
confirmed sixty-two at Ridgfield, eight at Danbury,
twenty-eight at Redding, and sixty-five at Norwalk.
On the homeward journey, he met the clergy in
convocation at Huntington, October 10, confirmed
there thirty-one persons, and advanced Mr. Seth
Hart to the priesthood. The candidate was presented
by the Rev. Mr. Clarke, rector of the parish, and the
sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. Shelton, 2 " a very
good one," as the Bishop entered in his journal,
from the text, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whose-
soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ;
and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained."
Leaving Huntington, he lodged for a night at Der-
1 MS. Journal.
2 The Rev. Philo Shelton and the Rev. Abraham L. Clarke married
sisters, daughters of Philip Nichols, Esq., the first lay deputy from
Connecticut to the General Convention.
426 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
by with Dr. Mansfield, and reached East Haven soon
enough the next day to preach and hold a confirma-
tion, as he did also successively in North Guilford,
Guilford, and Killing worth. He thus recorded his
gratitude on the completion of this circuit of duties.
" October 20th, I got safe home to New London, hav-
ing travelled in this journey four hundred and fifty
miles, confirmed two hundred and sixty-five persons,
and preached twenty sermons. Glory to God for his
goodness to me. Make me, my God, ever ready to
serve thy Church without regard to my own profit or
honor, but merely to thy glory, through Jesus Christ.
Upon my return home, I found my family in deep
affliction for the death of my son-in-law, Mr. Charles
Nicoll Taylor, who died in September last at Norfolk
in Virginia."
The winter passed away with very little necessity
for strictly Episcopal service. But his mind was at
work, and he left nothing untried which was calcu-
lated to promote the unity and advancement of the
Church. The following letter to his friend, William
Stevens, Esq., speaks of a plan which he had devised
for bringing the laity together to confer on subjects
of mutual advantage :
NEW LONDON, April 9^, 1793.
DEAE, SIR, My last letter to you was of the 28th of
December, 1792. At that time I drew on you for <25 Ster-
ling in favour of Mr. William Ustick, Junior. I am now to
inform you that I have drawn on you this day for .12 10s.
Sterling by three Bills of Exchange in favour of the same
gentleman, Mr. William Ustick, Junior, or Order.
The state of the Church in this country is much the same
as when I wrote last. The great difficulty is to get the sev-
eral congregations to consider themselves as parts of one
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 427
body, and to act in unison with each other. While they
were missions of the Society in England, their whole Eccle-
siastical business was transacted with that Society, as dis-
tinct congregations ; and they seldom had much intercourse
with each other. A spirit of independency on each other
hath, by that means, been introduced, which can only Iw
overcome by time and patience. In order to remedy this in-
convenience, which weakens the influence of the Church, I
have prevailed with some of the principal and more under-
standing laity of the several congregations to meet annually
on this subject ; that by conversing on it, and on such sub-
jects within their line as relate to the general good of the
Church, they may become acquainted with each other and
with the general state of the several congregations. I have
reason to hope this will promote union and intimate connec-
tion among them.
We have just had accounts by the Feb. packet from Fal-
mouth of war between Great Britain and France. I pray
God to keep you in peace and unity at home, and foreign
enemies, I think, cannot hurt you.
Please to remember me to Mr. Boucher. I am, Dear Sir,
with great affection, your very humble servant. S.
On the way to attend the diocesan convention at
Middletown, Bishop Seabury was put in imminent
peril by the fall of his horse in the sulky, and one of
his eyes badly hurt. He escaped without permanent
injury, and mentioned it with gratitude to God as the
first accident which had befallen him in all his jour-
neyings. This was on the 1st of June, 1793, and
the next day, being Sunday, he preached in the new
and unfinished church at East Haddam, and tarried
for three nights with a friend in that place. In com-
pany with his host, a lay delegate to the convention,
his son Charles Seabury, who had come on from New
London to join him, and the Rev. S. Blakeslee, he
428 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
reached Middletown, and became the guest of the
Rev. Dr. Jarvis. The convention met the next
morning, Wednesday, eighteen clergymen, besides the
bishop, and twenty-one laymen, being present, and,
after divine service and a sermon, he admitted Daniel
Burhans, and his own son, Charles Seabury, to the
order of Deacons. 1 The usual business was soon com-
pleted, but he had a duty yet to perform, and on
Sunday, the 9th, advanced Edward and Solomon
Blakeslee, Russel Catlin, and David Butler to the
1 The ambition of choirs to exhibit themselves on great occasions was
apparent nearly a century ago. It was thought to be the proper thing
to honor a visitation of the bishop with unusual music, though it should
be at the expense of devotion. About this time a singing-master came
to Middletown, and being employed by the Congregationalists, he cast
aside the rich old tunes familiar to all worshippers, and introduced a
new set of repeating ones which attracted the attention of some of the
young people of the Episcopal Church. An arrangement was made
whereby the singing-master agreed to teach them, and appear with his
whole school in church on the day of the bishop's visit, and conduct
the music. The chefd'ceuvre of the occasion was a tune set to the 133d
Psalm, in metre, the second stanza reading : .
" True love is like that precious oil
Which, poured on Aaron's head,
Kan down his beard, and o'er his robes
Its costly moisture shed."
All the parts, tenor, treble, alto, bass, appeared in solo, and the words,
"ran down his beard ran down his beard," were repeated no less
than eight times. The teacher was delighted, and flattered himself that
the bishop had heard no such music this side of London. He was
anxious to know what he thought of it, and a gentleman standing by
offered to inquire. So, stepping into the adjoining room where he was
sitting with a number of clergymen and others, he said, " Bishop, what
did you think of our singing?" "I am not prepared to give an opinion,"
was his reply; "my sympathies were so much excited for poor Aaron
that I did not listen attentively enough to be a competent judge."
"And why such sympathy for Aaron?" "Why, Sir, I was afraid
that by running down his beard eight times they would not leave a single
hair on his face."
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 429
priesthood, and in the afternoon preached and con-
firmed eight persons, the ordination sermon having
been delivered by the Rev. Mr. Ives. He visited
Chatham and Middle Haddam, confirming in the first-
named place nineteen, and in the other twenty-five,
and was home again in New London on the 13th of
June. His son now in orders was taken as his assist-
ant, and relieved him of many parochial duties.
430 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
CHAPTER XXIY.
OFFICE FOR BURIAL OF INFANTS, AND POINTED PSALTER; VISITA-
TION TO RHODE ISLAND, AND DISORDER IN NARRAGANSETT; CON-
SECRATION OF CHURCHES, AND CONVOCATION IN NEW MILFORDJ
LETTER TO WILLIAM STEVENS, AND CONVENTION IN NEW HAVEN;
EPISCOPAL ACADEMY, CONVOCATION IN CHESHIRE, AND CONSE-
CRATION AT WATERTOWN; ANNUAL CONVENTION, AND ESTABLISH-
MENT OF THE ACADEMY.
A. D. 1793-1795.
AMONG the liturgical services prepared by Bishop
Seabury was an office for the burial of infants " who
depart this life before they have polluted their bap-
tism by actual sin." It was shorter than the ap-
pointed office in the Prayer Book, and omitted the
anthem and lesson. One of the prayers followed
mainly the first in the regular service, and the other
was made up in part of the Collects for Easter Even
and Easter Day. The same sheet, upon which the
original edition without date was printed, contained
prayers for the legislature and courts of justice ; but
the office was not probably used to any great extent,
as it was not set forth and recommended to the
clergy of Connecticut. 1
It is proper to notice here another work of a litur-
1 A reprint was issued at Newburyport, Mass., in 1809, preceded by
a Service for Fast Day, the Catechism, and Selections from the Book of
Common Prayer for the use of families, the whole making a little
32mo pamphlet of 32 pages. See Appendix D.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 431
gical character by Bishop Seabury, though it was not
issued until January, 1795. It bore the title of "The
Psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be
sung or said in the Churches," that is, with the mu-
sical colon dividing each verse of the Canticles or
Psalter, as in the Scotch and English Prayer Books.
The order for Morning and Evening Prayer daily
throughout the year, with the Creed of St. Athana-
sius, was included, the rubrics omitted, and the word
Priest substituted for Minister before the versicles,
except in the Litany. The chief variations, however,
from the authorized book were in the imprecatory
Psalms, where he took for his guide the criticisms and
opinion of those celebrated commentators, Dr. Ham-
mond and Dr. Home. " Supported by the authority
of men so eminent for their abilities, learning, and
piety," said he in his preface, " the following edi-
tion of the Psalter is published with the alterations
they have recommended, the imperative mood being
changed for the future tense in all the imprecations
which occurred in the Psalms. Besides which, a few
old words are changed for those which are more mod-
ern, and two or three expressions hard to be under-
stood are altered, still retaining the spirit and mean-
ing of the Psalm."
This Liturgy was not in the least degree intended
to supersede the Prayer Book, and no evidence has
been found that it was ever followed for a single day
in the public worship of any parish within the juris-
diction of Seabury. It was probably designed for
private or family use, and he may have adopted this
method for the purpose of meeting objections, some-
times raised to the divine imprecations in this part oi
432 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Scripture. " In fact, if tradition may be trusted, his
special design in setting forth this revision of the
Psalms was to quiet the mind of an influential mem-
ber of his congregation, who was a relation of
his." l
In company with his daughter Maria he made an-
other visitation to Rhode Island, going by water July
23, 1793, and arriving at Newport after a good pas-
sage of eight hours. The first exercise of duty was to
admit in Trinity Church, on Sunday, 28th, Mr. John
Usher to the order of Deacons, the same gentleman
who had hitherto been deterred by a brother's hatred
and opposition from presenting himself for the sacred
office. He confirmed twenty-five in the afternoon of
that day, and on Monday left Newport for Provi-
dence, where the convention of the Church in the
State was soon to assemble. A troublesome question
came up for consideration at this time, the case of
Mr. Walter C. Gardiner, of Narragansett, who had re-
fused to join with the other churches in Rhode Isl-
and and with the majority of his congregation, in
acknowledging the jurisdiction of Bishop Seabury.
It appeared that he had privately obtained a testi-
monial and been recommended by the Standing Com-
mittee of Massachusetts to Bishop Provoost for the
diaconate, without any concurrence of the congre-
gation in Narragansett ; and having been ordained,
he associated himself with the Church in Massachu-
setts. The convention in Khode Island declined to
recognize him as one of its clergy, unless he sub-
scribed to the constitution and acknowledged the su-
periiitendency of Bishop Seabury, and he was given
1 Hart's Appendix to Bishop Seabury' s Communion Office, p. 62.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 433
a limited time to consider the matter and decide
upon the course he would take.
The Church in Narragansett became very much
dissatisfied with Mr. Gardiner, " as no congregation
would attend with him " for divine service, and his
connection with it was terminated in 1794. Bishop
Seabury regarded his ordination, in the manner it
was secured, as an infringement of his Episcopal
rights, and wrote a letter to Bishop White during the
sitting of the General Convention, in 1795, " respect-
fully and affectionately complaining of the matter."
It was communicated to Bishop Provoost, who said,
" that on receiving the letter from the clergy of Mas-
sachusetts, he had doubted of the propriety of the
proposal in it ; but that on consulting the clergy of
New York, and especially those in the most intimacy
with Bishop Seabury, he was advised by them to
compliance ; but that he perceived objections to such
conduct in individual congregations, and would ap-
prove of a canon to prevent it. Such a canon was
accordingly prepared and passed. It is believed that
no dissatisfaction remained." 1
The convention finished its business on the 1st of
August, and having advanced Mr. Usher to the priest-
hood, and confirmed twenty-eight persons, the bishop
returned to New London, intelligence of the illness of
one of his sons rendering it necessary and hurrying
him away.
He was not long in the quiet of his home, for he
set out in a sulky, Thursday, September 12th, to
meet the clergy in convocation at New Milford, his
son Edward accompanying him as far as New Haven.
1 Memoirs of P. E. Church, p. 172.
28
434 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
He passed the Sunday in the latter place, officiating
twice for Dr. Hubbard, and confirmed " ten eight
whites and two blacks." With Dr. Hubbard he jour-
neyed to Stratford, stopped there and dined with Mr.
Bowden, and then proceeded to the house of Mr.
Shelton, where they lodged for the night, and the
next day all went to Newtown, the scene, in the time
of John Beach, of sharp religious controversy, and
the battle-ground for great principles. He conse-
crated the new church in that place on the 19th, by
the name of Trinity, a " large and attentive congre-
gation " listening to his sermon from the text, " The
Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the
dwellings of Jacob." l He made an entry in his jour-
nal thus : " The church well finished, 68 feet in
length, in breadth 48. Steeple 140 feet high, con-
firmed 31. A stranger presented me with two dol-
lars toward travelling expences."
The bishop rode to New Milford, the limit of his
journey, on the 21st; and the following day, Sunday,
preached twice for the rector of the parish. The con-
vocation met on Wednesday, when he consecrated
" St. John's Church, being decently finished," and de-
livered the same sermon as at Newtown. Only eight
of the clergy were present, for an influenza had at-
tacked many of them, and disabled them so that they
could not travel. Very little business was done at
this meeting. The bishop started on his return Fri-
1 This church, built of wood, was occupied until 1870. In February
of that year the present beautiful one of stone was opened, and the au-
thor, who preached the sermon on the occasion, by a singular coinci-
dence selected the same text, not then knowing that Bishop Seabury
had used it for his consecration sermon three quarters of a century be-
fore.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 435
day, and passing a night at Derby, and the Sunday
with Dr. Hubbard, he was home again by Tuesday,
the last day of the month, thankful to God for the
favor of his protection and the good health of himself
and his family.
How little can it be realized at this period that
such journeys were wearisome, and attended with
many hardships and sacrifices. Days must be spent
on the rough and hilly roads in going from place to
place, and the only compensation for lack of speed
and comfort in the modes of conveyance was the
cheerful hospitality which everywhere awaited him.
In moving about among the people, he was not sim-
ply the Christian bishop and the agreeable compan-
ion. He acquired influence with them by his knowl-
edge of subjects outside of theology, and within the
range of philosophical study. He was a careful ob-
server of new discoveries in science, and at Edin-
burgh was a fellow-student with Joseph Black, the
distinguished chemist, who introduced the name and
the theory of latent heat, and made and published
experiments which were subsequently applied to
great practical uses. No doubt Seabury watched his
brilliant career, and profited by his discoveries. 1
1 He was once on his way to New York in an old-fashioned packet,
when the vessel was becalmed, and, the weather being intensely hot,
many were sighing for a drink of cool water. The bishop called for a
jug, filled it, hung it on the shrouds in the sun's blaze, and began pour-
ing water on it from the long-handled dipper with which sailors wet
their sails.
" What is the old fool up to? " said some youngsters standing by and
whispering among themselves. Not a word was spoken by the bishop,
but he kept steadily at work, and after a while took the jug down,
turned out some of the water into a tumbler, and offered it to his critics.
They were amazed on finding it quite cold, never having learned any-
436 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
In a letter to his friend William Stevens, dated Oc-
tober 9, 1793, and transcribed in his letter-book, he
gave a brief account of the condition and progress of
the Church in Connecticut, and referred with a meas-
ure of satisfaction to his late visitation :
Though no great boasts can be made of the rapid growth
of the Church in this State, yet its gradual increase is un-
doubted ; and I flatter myself the union of its congregations
is also growing, and with that its weight and influence in the
government and among the people at large.
However, since I have been in Connecticut, three new
congregations have arisen. One at East Haddam, on the
East bank of Connecticut River, about 14 miles from its
mouth. Four years ago, there was not a Churchman there ;
and now they have raised and enclosed, and in the course of
another year will finish, an elegant wooden church, and do
now, in conjunction with a small congregation eight miles
distant, give a clergyman <87 Sterling a year. He resides
among them. Their numbers are still increasing by new
accessions, and they will, I trust, in a few years, be a very
considerable congregation. At Chatham, 15 miles higher
up, on the same side of the river, and at Hartford, 15 miles
higher still, and on the other side of the Connecticut, new
congregations are engaged in building large and elegant
churches, i. e. for this country. These churches will prob-
ably be both finished by Christmas, and then they intend
to procure Clergymen for them. Hartford is the principal
town in the State the seat of their government, and the
fortress of Presbyterianism : and though a small number of
Church people have been long in it, not more than six fam-
ilies, their efforts to build a church have for these 40 years
been baffled by the arts and violence of the Presbyterians.
thing about the process of evaporation. " There, young gentlemen,"
said he, "I think you have found out that I am no fool, and that you
are no philosophers." The anecdote was widely circulated at the time,
and helped him not a little with young people.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 437
Their influence there is now over, and the congregation in
Hartford will probably become equal to any in the country.
The last month, in a visitation of the Westward churches,
I had the pleasure of consecrating a large new church at
Newtown, the Society's old mission 68 by 48 feet. That
congregation is in a flourishing condition, and supplied by
a very worthy clergyman. The Church at New Milford,
another old mission, was also consecrated, having never been
finished till the last Summer. It is now in a prosperous
state, and a good clergyman resides with them, who also
officiates at two neighbouring small churches. Requesting
your prayers to Almighty God for me, wishing you health
and prosperity, I remain your most affectionate and obliged
humble Servt. S .
During the winter he remained in New London,
and devoted himself without interruption to the duty
of ministering to his people. His son in orders re-
lieved him of a portion of his work, but it was chiefly
in taking the service on the occasions of public wor-
ship. The preaching and the spiritual succors were
still confined to him, and the poorest and humblest
parishioner, when he needed it, was sure to command
his attention.
With his son Charles, and a lay deputy from his
parish, the bishop started Monday morning, June 2d,
1794, to attend the annual convention of the Dio-
cese in New Haven. He lodged that night at the
house of Mr. George Morgan in Killingworth, a
host to whom he was frequently indebted for hospi-
tality whenever he left New London for a journey
westward. The convention met on the 4th, and the
main business under consideration was the establish-
ment of an Episcopal Academy in the State.
As far back as May, 1788, a committee was ap-
438 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
pointed by a convention of lay delegates from the
several parishes, which met at Wallingford, to open
and solicit subscriptions for an Episcopal Academy ;
and the Eev. Dr. Hubbard and John Welton, in be-
half of this committee, issued proposals the ensuing
January, showing the branches to be taught ; the
conditions of admission ; the freedom from religious
restraint, except that it was to be under the direc-
tion of the Bishop of Connecticut ; and the number
and character of the governors to be chosen. No
subscription was to be binding unless two thousand
pounds should be secured ; and in order to determine
the location of the Academy two columns were opened,
one for those who would give absolutely without re-
gard to the place where it might be fixed, and the
other for conditional subscriptions, providing that it
be located in a town to be named by the signers. It
shows the poverty of the times, and yet the earnest-
ness of the projectors : " That all kinds of merchant-
able country produce, West India goods, and lum-
ber shall be received in payment of subscriptions at
cash prices. For which purpose receivers will be ap-
pointed at the public landings and principal towns."
The amount required was not obtained within the
limited period of twelve months, and while, for that
time, the scheme failed, it was kept in mind and
taken up again at a convocation of the clergy in 1792,
with better prospects of success. The bishop was the
more urgent on the subject from the conviction that
the religious predilections of the youth of the Church
should not be endangered in the academical course.
The disadvantages under which they were compelled
to labor at Yale College, on account of their faith, had
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 439
deterred him from seeking for his son Charles the
educational privileges of that institution, and conse-
quently he had given him the benefit of a private
course of study, first with Dr. Mansfield of Derby,
and afterwards with Dr. William Smith of Narra-
gansett.
The matter was brought before the convention
of the clergy and lay delegates for the first time at
New Haven, and took the definite shape of a refer-
ence to a committee with power to address the mem-
bers of the Church in the State on the importance of
establishing an Episcopal Academy, to present them
with a plan of it, " and also with subscription papers
for the purpose of raising a sufficient fund." Seabury
made an entry in his journal concerning this con-
vention which sheds more light upon the origin of
the institution: "Among other things, the subject of
an Episcopal Academy was canvassed, and measures
were directed for opening one at Stratford, under the
direction of the Rev. Mr. John Bowden. A son of the
Rev. Mr. Bostwick, deceased, of Great Barrington, was
ordered to be placed at this Academy, to be bred for
the Church at the charge of the clergy for his ex-
pences I became accountable, Mr. Bowden kindly
offering to bestow his tuition gratuitously."
The bishop continued in New Haven for several
days after the adjournment of the convention, and on
Saturday, the 7th, some symptoms of a paralytic nat-
ure attacked him in the street and alarmed him very
much, Though weak and languid, he was enabled to
go through his duties the next day, Whitsunday, and
to preach twice in Trinity Church, advancing Daniel
Burhans to the priesthood, and confirming thirty-
440 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
five persons. He made this unusual note on the oc-
casion : " Dr. Hubbard consecrated the Eucharist."
He had designed to visit Woodbridge on Monday, a
town a few miles distant, but a rain prevented him,
and he entered in his journal the remarkable fact :
" This is the first appointment in which I have failed
since I have been in Connecticut, such has been
the goodness of God." He was at West Haven and
Northford during the week, and confirmed in each
place eighteen persons. On Friday he proceeded to
North Guilf ord, one of the parishes forming the
charge of Mr. Butler, and here three gentlemen
from Branford came to him to explain some matters
respecting their church, which had been thrown into
confusion by Mr. James Sayre 1 and Mr. Kalph Isaacs.
" I hope," said he, " matters will return to a bet-
ter state. But I fear their fickleness, or rather the
insinuations of Mr. Isaacs." He spent the Sunday
in North Guilf ord, preached twice and confirmed
twenty-four, and the next day at Guilf ord adminis-
tered the rite of confirmation to four more.
All the places above named were in the county of
New Haven, and most of them could be visited with-
out going out of his way in returning to New London.
At Guilf ord his son, the clergyman, joined him, and
with Mr. Butler they went to Killingworth, where he
" preached in the afternoon in the meeting-house,"
and confirmed twenty-seven persons.
In just a month after reaching home, the bishop
spent a Sunday, July 18, in the neighboring town of
Norwich, and confirmed forty-one, chiefly young peo-
ple. It was the last of his appointments for the sum-
1 Mr. Sayre died Feb. 18, 1798.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 441
mer, and he took a little time to rest and regain his
strength.
The public mind is easily drawn off from sacred to
secular things. It is human nature to be inclined to
the world and its passing events, and to let religion
stand aside in seasons of political excitement and
peril. Men are then much more ready to take up
arms in defense of measures that affect the national
honor or the rights of citizenship than to be valiant
for the truth and for the Kingdom which endureth
forever. Seabury had cause to lament the temporary
decline of interest in spiritual things, and the slow
growth of the Church in his jurisdiction, on account
of events which absorbed the popular attention. This
was explained in a letter to William Stevens, dated
NEW LONDON October 10, 1794.
VERY DEAR SIR, I wish I had the materials for a long
and pleasing letter to you. But so much is the attention of
almost every one taken up with public and political matters
- some exulting, others dejected, at the successes of the
French arms on the continent of Europe, and at the prospect
of war between Great Britain and this country that relig-
ion seems to be neglected, and that neglect, I fear, increases.
Indeed I am apprehensive our Church is not in so flourish-
ing a state as it has been. The number of candidates for
Holy Orders is at present small, and the vacant congregations
remiss in supplying themselves with resident clergymen.
I hope it will please God, of his mercy, to put a stop to de-
vastation and bloodshed in Europe, and prevent the further
spreading of war : Then, I trust, the minds of men will return
to the consideration of that point on which their true inter-
est depends.
I am preparing some manuscript discourses for Mr.
Boucher. I hope I shall be ready to send them off by the
first of November. Remember me to him. He will then
hear particularly from me.
442 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
I am now to inform you that I have drawn on you for 25
Sterl. by three Bills of Exchange of this date, in favour of
Mr. William Ustick Jun. or order.
With the highest regard and esteem, I remain, dear sir,
your affect, and devoted humble servt.
S. S. Bp. Connect. c.
On Thursday, Nov. 6, he set out from New London
to meet the clergy in convocation at Cheshire, and
took his usual route through East Haddam and Mid-
dletown. He remained over Sunday with Dr. Jarvis,
preached for him, and administered confirmation to
nine persons. At this period he never travelled
alone, but always had an attendant, either a clergy-
man or one of his sons, even when he rode in his
sulky, as on this occasion. Dr. Jarvis accompanied
him to Cheshire, and the convocation met on the
12th, eighteen of the clergy being present. There
was a public service that day, and the bishop preached
to a large congregation and confirmed thirty- three.
An entry in his journal at this time may be quoted
for the example it commends : " The communion was
large and the communicants very devout, reflecting
great honor on their worthy Rector."
The " worthy Rector " was the Rev. Mr. Ives, who
accompanied him on Saturday to Waterbury, that
parish being now vacant, leaving Dr. Hubbard to
supply his own place in Cheshire. Here the bishop
passed the Sunday, preached, administered the Holy
Communion with the assistance of his attendant, and
confirmed thirty-seven persons. The next day they
were joined by Dr. Hubbard and others, and pro-
ceeded to Westbury (Watertown), and in the presence
of seven clergymen and a " very large and attentive
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 443
congregation/' he consecrated the new church in that
place on Tuesday, and confirmed thirty-two persons.
" An adult and an infant were baptized and a woman
churched " at the same time, and the communion ad-
ministered. The church was consecrated by the name
of the former one, and the bishop said of it in his
journal that it " is not only a decent but an elegant
building, and was completely finished in two sum-
mers. It reflects great honor on this congregation,
that though their old church was in good repair, yet
standing inconvenient for them, they have by volun-
tary subscription in a short time finished one of the
best churches in Connecticut, and zealously dedicated
it to the service of God."
In his homeward journey he lodged a night at Wal-
lingford, and another at East Haddam, holding a ser-
vice in the latter place, and confirming twenty-one
persons. As he was riding along on the last day of
his return, the axle-tree of his sulky broke at Hadlyme
without doing him any injury, but he was obliged to
borrow a saddle and a bridle and proceed on horse-
back for the rest of the way to New London.
These minute details may not seem to be necessary,
but they are important as illustrating the history of
the times, and developing the Episcopal life of the
first bishop of Connecticut. The prayer to God in
the Litany, that he would be " pleased to preserve all
who travel by land or by water," was not less appli-
cable to the condition of things one hundred years
ago, and it was framed for such a condition, than to
the manifold perils by rapid transit in these days of
steamboats and railroads. If more time than now was
used to reach different points, more time was given
444 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
to each parish in a visitation, and more was needed,
for the congregations were few in number and of min-
isters there were scarcely enough to feed the flocks.
Often the bishop was obliged to officiate and conduct
the whole service, that a rector might not leave his
charge to assist him ; or he would take the service and
send the rector to preach and administer the sacra-
ments in a neighboring parish where the church was
kept open by lay readers.
The winter was again spent in New London, and
nothing of unusual importance arrested his attention.
The signs of the times foreboded an incoming flood
of speculations in morals, religion, and politics, and
the best way to meet it, as he taught his clergy, was
to " hold fast the form of sound " words and cherish
the " faith once delivered to the saints." He was es-
pecially earnest in his defense of the doctrine of the
Holy Trinity, and appeared to feel in his latest days
that a time would come when in New England it
would be extensively corrupted and denied. He es-
teemed creeds to be safeguards of true religion, and
had been desirous of retaining that of St. Athanasius
in our Liturgy, for the reason that it was generally
received by the Church, and had been of great ser-
vice in preserving, as in an inviolable casket, the
precious verities of the Christian faith. Any teach-
ing that obscured the doctrine of the incarnate Word,
or made it, like the natural world, a subject for hu-
man reasonings, was heretical and of dangerous tend-
ency. Men were certain to fall into error if they
attempted to speculate on the mysteries of the God-
head, or to reduce them to the ordinary forms of
logical conclusion.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 445
The annual convention of the Church in Connecti-
cut was held at Stratford, June 3, 1795. Bishop
Seabury set out from New London to attend it on
Monday, the 25th of May, in company with his son
Charles, and having been disappointed in his inten-
tion to visit Branford, he proceeded to New Haven,
and " continued with Dr. Hubbard over Trinity Sun-
day." " The only business of consequence," said he,
" at this convention related to the Episcopal Academy,
which had been long projected. The difficulty which
now presented was its location; Stratford, Walling-
ford, and Cheshire being competitors for it, and mak-
ing generous offers for its establishment in their town.
The business was finally referred to a committee ap-
pointed by the convention to meet on a fixed day in
Hamden." The Academy was ultimately located in
Cheshire, and was the first educational institution in
this country organized under the auspices of a dio-
cesan convention. It was the design of the founders
to erect it into a college, and the idea was entertained,
especially after his death, of giving it the name of
the first bishop of Connecticut. But no charter, ex-
tending its powers, could be obtained from the Legis-
lature, and it was left as it has been since, to do its
good work for the Church as a school where young
men are prepared for College or for the active busi-
ness of life.
This convention, which was the last that Seabury
attended, resolved to send " three deputies only of
each order" to the General Convention, which was
to meet in Philadelphia in the ensuing September.
After the adjournment he continued several days
in Stratford, and on Sunday admitted Caleb Child,
446 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Alexander V. Griswold, and Manoah Smith Miles to
the order of Deacons. The next morning, attended
by a number of the clergy, he went to Tashua, where
he consecrated the new church, and then set his face
homeward, taking Derby and Woodbridge in the
way. " In this journey of one hundred and fifty
miles out and home, my good God was graciously
pleased to preserve me from accidents and sickness,
to give me much satisfaction in the pleasing appear-
ance of the congregations I visited, and in the sight
of many valued friends. I kept no exact account
of the number confirmed, but suppose them to have
been at least one hundred and fifty at New Haven,
Stratford, Tashua, Derby, and Woodbridge." l
1 MS. Journal.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 447
CHAPTER XXV.
VISITATION, AND CONVENTION IN RHODE ISLAND; GENERAL CON-
VENTION IN PHILADELPHIA, AND NO DEPUTIES FROM NEW ENG-
LAND; OFFENSIVE PAMPHLET AND COURSE OF ITS AUTHOR; CON-
SECRATION OF CHURCHES, AND LAST VISITATION; DEATH AND
FUNERAL; REMOVAL AND RE-INTERMENT OF HIS REMAINS; CHAR-
ACTER AND CONCLUSION.
A. D. 1795-1796.
SHOKTLY after reaching home, Bishop Seabury vis-
ited the churches in Rhode Island, going by stage to
Providence, and preaching there on Sunday, the 5th
of July, and administering the rite of confirmation.
There were only four parishes or cures at this time,
including Narragansett, in the whole State, and in
two of these the elements of discord and controversy
had been so rife as to occasion him much displeasure,
and render his visits to them unsatisfactory. They
required more of his care and attention than the
peaceful churches ; and submitted to him questions,
the decision of which, no matter what it might be,
was sure to leave some seeds of discontent in one
party or the other.
The convention was held in Bristol on Wednesday,
whither he went in a chaise, accompanied by Mr.
Clarke, who preached the sermon, and the next day,
having finished the business, he proceeded in the
afternoon to Newport, passed the Sunday with Mr.
448 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Smith, and preached and confirmed in Trinity Church.
His visitation was completed by taking the Narragan-
sett region in his return, and spending a few days
among those whom he wished to consult about the
interests of their church, and to persuade, if possi-
ble, to cease the unhappy divisions which had been
hindering its prosperity. No minister was there to
meet him, but he found in George Brown, who lent
him a horse on which he rode to New London, and in
other zealous Episcopalians, followers of the late Dr.
McSparran, friends who were glad to give him enter-
tainment and to unite in any efforts for the renewal
of religious services under his superintendence. He
officiated in the parish church on Sunday and admin-
istered confirmation, and having rested till Tuesday
at the house of a good mother in Israel, he set out for
his home, thirty-six miles distant, and reached it in
safety, thankful that he had been mercifully pre-
served in this journey of one hundred and fifty-seven
miles, and permitted to lay his hands in the apostolic
rite on more than one hundred persons.
The General Convention met in Philadelphia Sep-
tember 8, 1795, and four bishops, sixteen clerical, and
eight lay deputies were present. There was no rep-
resentation from the Church in any of the New Eng-
land States, and from New York but two clergymen
attended besides Bishop Provoost, who had been ap-
pointed to preach the sermon. It was not from a
lack of interest in the proceedings, or an unwilling-
ness to take the journey, that Seabury and his dep-
uties failed to attend. But in consequence of the
prevalence of epidemic disease, intercourse between
New York and Philadelphia had been suspended by
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 449
public authority some time before the meeting, and
there was no way of getting from Connecticut to the
convention directly without going through New
York.
It has been seen in a previous chapter that Sea-
bury wrote to Bishop White, complaining of intrusion
into his jurisdiction, and though he was not there to
advocate it, a canon was adopted at this time forbid-
ding congregations in future from uniting themselves
with the Church in any other State or diocese than
that within the limits of which they are located. The
session continued for ten days, and on the Sunday
after it began, the Rev. Robert Smith, D. D., was
consecrated Bishop of South Carolina, a State
which originally entered into the general compact
with the condition that no bishop should be imposed
upon it, and there was reason to fear that a sinister
design lay at the bottom of the request for his con-
secration. It was founded on a circular letter by " a
select committee " of two clergymen and one layman,
addressed to the members of the Church in South
Carolina, threatening that when once the power of
administering confirmation and conferring orders had
been secured, Virginia and that State would secede
from the general Church if the absolute negative of
the House of Bishops, asked for by the Eastern clergy,
should be admitted into the constitution. It was as-
certained upon inquiry that the offensive sentiments
of the printed circular had not been adopted by the
convention of South Carolina, and therefore the
bishops proceeded to consecrate Dr. Smith, Bishop
White acting as the consecrator and the other three
joining in the ceremony.
29
450 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
On Friday, the fourth day of the session, the Eev.
Dr. Andrews, of Pennsylvania, called the attention of
the House of Deputies to a pamphlet lately published,
entitled, " Strictures on the Love of Power in the
Prelacy, by a member of the Protestant Episcopal
Association in the State of South Carolina." He de-
clared it to be " a violent attack upon the doctrines
and discipline of our Church/' and libelous in its
character. " The personal abuse in the licentious
pamphlet," says White, "was principally leveled at
Bishop Seabury ; and the ground of it was his sup-
posed authorship of a printed defence of the Episco-
pal negative, written and acknowledged by another
respectable divine of the Church." l
The author of this pamphlet was a member of the
House of Deputies, Eev. Dr. Henry Purcell, of
Cha/rleston, a signer also of the circular threatening
secession ; and that body fixed a day when, in a com-
mittee of the whole, the subject was seriously consid-
ered, and a resolution adopted that the pamphlet
contained " very censurable and offensive matter."
The further action would have been immediate ex-
pulsion had it not been for the interposition of the
bishops and the presentation of a paper by Dr. Pur-
cell, in which he made ample apology, and professed
his sorrow for the publication. Whereupon the House
of Deputies decided that in their opinion the paper
should be " accepted as a satisfactory concession."
But subsequent events proved the insincerity of his
penitence, though " accompanied with a profusion of
tears," for on the rising of the convention, this bel-
ligerent clergyman, burning with indignation at Dr.
1 Memoirs P. E. Church, p. 177.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. ,451
Andrews, who had fearlessly exposed his conduct,
challenged him to mortal combat, and the civil au-
thorities consequently arrested him and bound him
over to keep the peace. Whatever may have been
the cause, whether mortification at this shameful af-
fair, or indifference to the interests and legislation of
the Church, it is a remarkable fact that from that
time till 1814, South Carolina had no representative
in any General Convention.
It was well, perhaps, that Bishop Seabury and his
deputies were not present, for it left his vindication
in the hands of those who could not but feel after
this that his name was all the brighter when set in
the light of truth. He had probably received a full
account of the proceedings before he started from
New London, Friday, October 16, to meet the clergy
in convocation at Bristol or East Plymouth. His son
Charles accompanied him as far as East Haddam, and
remained to be present on Sunday at the consecration
of the new church, called St. Stephen's, the rain hav-
ing prevented it from being consecrated on the day
appointed in the previous week. The bishop made
an entry in his journal in connection with this service,
which shows his practice and the view he entertained
of the validity of lay baptism.
" An adult person, who had in his infancy received
baptism among the Presbyterians, was in the congre-
gation baptized by me. After sermon he presented
himself for confirmation, and came to the Holy Com-
munion. Eight others were confirmed with him, and
most of them communicated that day. From a full
persuasion of the invalidity of lay baptism, and that
the ordination of the Presbyterian ministers is no
452 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
better than lay ordination, and that consequently
their baptism is no better than lay baptism, I have
never hesitated to baptize any persons who have been
uneasy with their situation under that baptism and
have applied to me. Their number has been consid-
erable in Connecticut. May God's grace ever be with
them."
His son left the next morning and returned to
New London, and the Rev. S. Blakeslee accompanied
him to Middletown, where the rain detained them for
the night. They reached East Plymouth soon enough
Wednesday for the religious services, which were to
open with the consecration of the new church in that
place. Bishop Seabury preached the sermon, one
of his best, which was highly commended by the
large number of clergymen in attendance. The Rev.
Alexander V. Griswold, who had been officiating in
the parish, was advanced to the priesthood and ap-
pointed its rector, and this was the last ordination
by the first bishop of Connecticut. It proved to be
the ordination of one who was afterwards elevated to
the apostolic office, and held the great See of what
was known as the Eastern Diocese. Confirmation
was administered, and the public services having closed
the clergy gathered together for their business, and,
as the bishop said, " peace and harmony and joy were
with them."
They adjourned to meet the next day at Harwin-
ton, where another new but small church had been
built, and was awaiting consecration. The attendance
of people here was not large, and some inconvenience
was experienced by messengers being sent to call out
persons who " had strayed and gotten into the church,"
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 453
and who were wanted to assist in the election of two
deacons, which " the Presbyterian minister had con-
trived " to take place at that time. Among the
doings of the convocation was a resolution requesting
the bishop to compose two Collects for the use of the
clergy : one to be used at the sitting of the General
Assembly, and the other to be used at the courts.
Such Collects may have been privately authorized be-
fore, but this resolution was in accordance with an
act of the recent General Convention, empowering
bishops to issue forms of prayer and thanksgiving for
extraordinary occasions.
With three of his clergy he proceeded to Litchfield
on the 23d, and rested there till Sunday from a
fatiguing journey over rough and hilly roads. Mr.
Baldwin, a former rector of the parish, being with
him, " preached in the morning, a very good sermon,
both in matter and manner, to a very full congrega-
tion, and the communion was administered to a large
number of communicants." He made a further entry
in his journal thus : " Under the prudent care of the
rector, Mr. Butler, the congregation appears to be
increasing in number, and in piety and devotion. I
preached in the afternoon, and administered confirma-
tion to ninety-nine persons, chiefly young, the future
hope of the Church."
He had now gained the utmost limit of his visita-
tion, and was ready to set out on his return home..
The clergy were kind enough to be his attendants as
he passed from place to place, lodging a night with
one and then with another. On Wednesday, the 28th
of the month, he was in Wallingford, where he
preached, and confirmed nineteen persons, and the
454 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
next day, at North Haven, confirmed twenty more.
Here he was met by Dr. Hubbard, who conducted him
to his residence in New Haven, where he tarried for
the remainder of the week, preached on Sunday, and
on Monday, in company with the Rev. Mr. Miles, pro-
ceeded to Branford. " Passing through East Haven,"
said he, " my horse fell and threw me, or rather
obliged me to jump out of the sulky. By the mercy
of God I escaped with only a slight bruise on my
face." At Branford he held a service and confirmed
twenty-one persons, and this was the last occasion on
which he administered the rite, as the visitation which
he thus closed was his last. Mr. Miles accompanied
him all the way to New London, where he arrived on
the 4th of November, after an absence of almost four
weeks. " In this journey," said he, " I travelled one
hundred and thirty-four miles, preached ten times,
administered the communion five times, and confirmed
one hundred and ninety-eight persons." l
Some indications of declining health were noticed
on this visitation with concern, but his naturally
sound and vigorous constitution and his unimpaired
mental faculties afforded encouragement to believe
that his life might be prolonged for years. It pleased
Divine Wisdom to order otherwise. The winter
months were well-nigh ended, during which he had
been quietly attending to his parochial duties, when
death suddenly came to him and terminated his faith-
ful labors. He spent the afternoon of Thursday, the
25th of February, in making visits to several of his
parishioners, and in the evening walked with his
daughter Maria to the house of one of his wardens,
1 MS. Journal.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 455
the father-in-law of his son Charles. He complained,
when there, of an extreme pain in his breast, and, at
the moment of rising and retiring from the tea-table,
fell in an apoplectic fit, and expired in forty minutes
after he entered the house. A young physician near
by, Dr. Coit, 1 was first summoned to his side, and
dared not take the responsibility of using the lancet
without the judgment and concurrence of an older
practitioner. But all agreed that it was a hopeless
case, beyond the reach of human skill, one of those
sudden deaths, in the providence of God, from which
some good men never pray to be delivered. The
funeral was attended from the church on Sunday, and
this circumstance, and the impediments of travelling
at that season of the year, joined with the few facili-
ties for conveying intelligence, prevented the clergy
of the diocese from gathering in mourning and sorrow
around his grave. A sermon was preached, but the
only entry in the parish register is in these words :
" February 28, 1796. Buried by the Eev. Mr. Tyler
of Norwich, Right Rev. Samuel Seabury, D. D., Bishop
of Connecticut and Rhode Island."
The interment was in the old public cemetery of
New London, and a table monument of gray marble
was placed over his grave, with an inscription written
by his life-long friend, the Rev. Dr. John Bowden.
In the autumn of 1849, his remains were disinterred,
and deposited in a crypt prepared for their reception
under a division of the chancel of the new church,
then approaching completion, and a handsome monu-
ment, in the form of an altar-tomb, underneath a
canopy surmounted by a mitre, was erected at the
1 Father of Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Coit.
456 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
joint expense of the diocese and parish, over his final
resting-place. 1 A period of three-score years had
brought great changes in the relative condition of
things. The unpretending wooden church, " elegant "
for the day, built under his direction and consecrated
by him, had given place to a noble structure of stone,
which will be associated in all tune to come with the
memory of a man who had the honor to live and die
the first bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United
States of America.
If he had lived fourteen months longer, he would
have seen the Kev. Dr. Edward Bass reflected Bishop
of Massachusetts, and receiving consecration, Bishop
Claggett, the friend who esteemed Seabury highly,
and adopted his mitre as a badge of office, joining in
the act of consecration, and thus perpetuating the
Scottish succession. If he had lived over into the
present century, he would have seen elevated to the
Episcopate, as the successor of Dr. Bass, his own com-
panion and grand ally in the efforts to settle the
Church in this country upon the old foundations,
though Dr. Parker died three months after being con-
secrated, and did not perform a single Episcopal act.
He would have seen his friend, Benjamin Moore,
elected and consecrated Bishop of New York; and
Isaac Wilkins, the fearless loyalist, who was compelled
to leave the land he loved and retire to the British
provinces, back again in Westchester County, ordained
a priest by Bishop Provoost, chosen president of the
Lower House of the General Convention, and estab-
lished in the rectorship of the very parish where he,
as a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of
1 Appendix B.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 457
the Gospel, was serving when the troubles of the
Ke volution broke out and drove him from the field.
It must be admitted that Seabury was a man for
the times, far-reaching in his views, of a bold and
resolute spirit, who thought and spoke for himself and
spoke what he thought. He entertained a high opin-
ion of the Church whose most dignified office he sus-
tained, because he believed that she was " built upon
the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." He
greatly deplored the growing indifference and infidel-
ity of the age, and did everything in his sphere to
counteract them. "Theological niceties, and conject-
ural divinity, were ever his aversion, because too re-
fined and visionary either to be felt or comprehended.
His one object, and therefore his chief care, was to
explain the great articles of faith and rules of life,
what we must believe and how we must live, that we
may be eternally happy.
His own vital sense of religion infused itself into
his discourses, and animated them with the same di-
vine passion that warmed his own breast. His mind
was too great to seek popular applause ; he only
wished to have his labors well received, that he might
do good ; that he might prevail upon people to seek
their own spiritual welfare ; that he might promote
the cause of Christ's Church and advance pure and
undefiled religion. Confident of the solid grounds on
which his religion rested, he was, agreeable to the
natural firmness of his mind, inflexible in his princi-
ples : these he accounted sacred ; from which on no
occasion would he allow himself to deviate, yet with
a graceful ease he could give up anything but the
458 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
truth, and even that he would support, if possible,
without giving offense." l
His scanty income, received largely from England,
would not allow him to be charitable to the extent of
his heart's desires, and yet he was charitable in other
ways than by scattering pecuniary gifts. Besides
watching as the rector of the parish for the spiritual
welfare of the needy and the unfortunate, he applied
his medical knowledge gratuitously for their relief in
seasons of sickness, so that it was recorded of him,
when he died, by one of the public journals of the
day, " the poor will miss him as a physician and a
friend." If no pomp surrounded his burial, the grief
and tears of the many to whom he thus ministered
testified to a better sentiment than the hollow pride
which indulges in a vain show and makes a mockery
of human sorrow.
It may be needless to add that he was a great loss
to the Church in Connecticut at that crisis, as he was
to the Church in the whole country. Those who had
come to know him best as a bishop held him in the
highest estimation, and appreciated warmly his emi-
nent talents and excellent traits of character. " This
day, my brethren of the clergy," said Mr. Jarvis in
his sermon, " we are able and as willing to declare
one to another, and to the world, how happy we were
under him as our spiritual father, brother, compan-
ion, and friend. With manners engaging, and by a
method judicious and easy, he would commonly col-
lect our opinions, and if different in any matter, bring
them together, and so accommodate them to his own,
1 Discourse before a Special Convention in Trinity Church, New Haven,
by Rev. Abraham Jarvis, A. M., May 5, 1796, pp. 21, 22.
OF SAMUEL SEABURY. 459
as, with very few exceptions, to maintain a most
pleasing harmony and union among us. His visita-
tions to all the churches in his diocese were frequent,
more so perhaps than consisted with his health, usu-
ally preaching wherever he went. The people always
received him with pleasure, and a numerous audience
heard him gladly."
The friends who had stood by him in his darkest
trials, and shared in some of the bitter persecutions
which he endured for his loyalty to the king, kept
him in remembrance, and followed him with interest
and affection to the end of his days. It has been seen,
that after the independence of the colonies was ac-
knowledged and the Federal Constitution established,
he transferred his allegiance to the new government
in his native country, and was as sincere and con-
scientious in its support as before he had been in re-
sisting the Revolution and vindicating the rights of
British subjects under the crown of England. He
made no undue complaints, but he had reason to feel
that his loyalty had not been properly rewarded ; and
one of his foreign correspondents, Jonathan Boucher,
who sympathized with him, and thought him a man
of such transcendent abilities as to be an ornament
and a blessing to any country, said of him with a
touch of pathos and a little exaggeration : "As the
Bishop of Connecticut, he was supported by an hum-
ble eleemosynary pittance contributed by a few pri-
vate friends in England, and in February, 1796, died
as unnoticed as he had lived. Farewell, poor Sea-
bury ! However neglected in life, there still lives
one at least who knew thy worth and honors thy
memory ! " l
1 Boucher's Thirteen Discourses on the American Revolution, p. 557.
460 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF SAMUEL SEABURY.
His family, of course, was left with no worldly
wealth ; but the inheritance of his virtues was a price-
less treasure. Three sons and three daughters lived
to maturity, and some of them died before him ; but
Charles, the youngest child, who married a daughter
of Eos well Saltonstall, of New London, was the only
son who perpetuated his honored name. 1 He suc-
ceeded him in the rectorship of the parish, and re-
tained it for twenty years, though at the disadvan-
tage of coming after a father who had much more
brilliant acquirements, and greater powers to attract
and fascinate men.
The stature and personal bearing of a public man
who lived nearly a century ago must be wholly learned
from tradition and contemporary records. It was ob-
served, when the grave of the bishop was opened in
1849, that his frame displayed extraordinary physical
power ; and one who, because he was born, brought
up, and ministered forty years in the parish at New
London, had good opportunities of gathering reminis-
cences, has written thus : " Bishop Seabury was not
in person very tall, but stout, robust, and massive.
His presence and bearing inspired reverence, and his
clear and sonorous voice added much to make him
impressive and commanding. Such he was : and I
will only add that it is time pitiful detraction should
come to an end, and all Churchmen should unite in
that tribute to his memory which his character and
service justly deserve." 2
1 The late Rev. Samuel Seabury, D. D., well known as a vigorous
writer and profound theologian, was a son of Charles ; and the Rev. Wil-
liam J. Seabury, D. D., the only son of Samuel, and great grandson of
the bishop, is now Professor of Ecclesiastical Polity and Law in the
General Theological Seminary at New York.
2 Hallam's Annals of St. James's Church, New London, pp. 74, 75.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX A.
N. YOKK, May 22, 1766.
REVD. SIR, The Clergy of the Province of New York
having agreed, in conjunction with some of our brethren of
Connecticut and New Jersey, to hold voluntary and annual
conventions in the province of N. York, for the sake of con-
ferring together upon the most proper methods of Promot-
ing the welfare of the Church of England, and the interest
of religion and virtue, and also to keep up as a body an ex-
act correspondence with the Honorable Society, we embrace
with pleasure this opportunity, which our first meeting hath
furnished us with, to present our duty to the ven'ble Soci-
ety, and doubt not but this, our voluntary union for these
important purposes, will meet with their countenance and ap-
probation. With the greatest satisfaction we assure the So-
ciety that the Church in this Province is in as good a state
as can be expected, considering the peculiar disadvantages
under which it still labours. We cannot omit condoling with
the Society, upon the great loss which the Church has sus-
tained in the death of Messrs. Wilson and Giles, who per-
ished by shipwreck near the entrance of Delaware Bay.
From the Character of these two Gentlemen we had pleased
ourselves with the prospect of having two worthy clergymen
added to our number ; which to our great grief we find too
small to supply the real wants of the people in these colo-
nies. This loss brings to our mind an exact calculation,
made not many years ago, that not less than one out of five
who have gone home for Holy Orders from the northern Col-
464 APPENDIX.
onies have perished in the attempt, 10 having miscarried out
of 51 ; This we consider as an incontestible argument for the
necessity of American Bishops, and we do in the most earn-
est manner beg and intreat the Ven'ble Society to whose
piety and care under God the Church of England owes her
very being in most parts of America, that they would use
their utmost influence to effect a point so essential to the
real interest of the Church in this wide extended country.
As we esteem it our indispensable duty to give the Society
ev'ry information relative to the state of religion in this
Country, we are now to inform them that there are at pres-
ent a great many Independent and Presbyterian teachers as-
sembled at this place to the number of about 60 and many
more expected who call themselves a synod and we are cred-
ibly informed, that the grand point they have in view, is to
apply to the general assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, to
use their utmost influence with his majesty and the British
parliament that they may be incorporated or established, and
endowed with most ample privileges and immunities. As
we foresee the greatest mischiefs from this scheme, should it
succeed we humbly assure ourselves, the Society will use
such metho.ds as they think proper to prevent these aspiring
men from accomplishing their pernicious designs ; With the
warmest sentiments of gratitude we acknowledge the Soci-
ety's constant care and attention to the interests of Religion
and of our most excellent Church, and we beg leave to assure
them that we shall jointly and severally use our best en-
deavours to answer their pious and benevolent purposes.
We are Rev d - Sir the Society's and your most dutiful and
most obdt. Servants SAMUEL JOHNSON,
President of the Convention.
ABRM. JAR vis, SAMUEL SEABURY,
RICHD. CHARLTON, ROBT. McKEAN,
SAM L - AUCHMUTY, CHAS. INGLIS,
MYLES COOPER, LEO. CUTTING,
JOHN OGILVIE, HARRY MUNRO,
SAML. COOKE, EPHM. AVERY.
THOS. B. CHANDLER.
APPENDIX. 465
APPENDIX B.
THE inscription by the Rev. Dr. Bowden on the monu-
ment in the public cemetery reads as follows :
Here lieth the body of
SAMUEL SEABURY, D. D.,
Bishop of Connecticut and Rhode Island,
Who departed from this transitory scene, February 25, 1796,
In the sixty-eighth year of his age.
Ingenious without pride, learned without pedantry,
Good without severity, he was duly qualified to discharge the duties
of the Christian and the Bishop.
In the pulpit, he enforced religion ; in his conduct,
he exemplified it.
The poor he assisted with his charity ; the ignorant he
blessed with his instruction.
The friend of man, he ever desired their good ;
The enemy of vice, he ever opposed it.
Christian ! dost thou aspire to happiness ?
Seabury has shown the way that leads to it.
The monument, subsequent to the removal of the remains
of the bishop, was transferred and fixed " within the enclos-
ure on the north side of the present church." According to
the inscription the Bishop was one year older at the time of
his death than appears from the date of his birth. It has
been said that he was not inclined to make his age public.
A good woman in Litclifield, on one of his visitations to
that parish, put to him the direct question, " Bishop, how
30
466 APPENDIX.
old are you ? " and was no wiser when he answered,
" Madam, I am old enough to be a better man than I am."
A tablet, in the form of an obelisk, was originally placed
near the pulpit in the old church, and after the erection of
the new one it was removed to the chapel in the basement,
where it now stands. The epitaph is not to be commended,
and in one of its expressions is a fair subject of criticism :
SACRED
May this marble long remain
(The just tribute of affection)
to the memory
Of the truly venerable and beloved
Pastor of this Church,
THE RIGHT REVEREND SAMUEL SEABURY, D. D.,
Bishop of Connecticut and Rhode Island,
Who was translated from earth
to heaven
February 25, 1796,
In the sixty-eighth year of his age and twelfth of his consecration ;
but still lives in the hearts of a grateful diocese.
On the slab above the tomb in the church is engraved :
The Right Rev. Father in God,
SAMUEL SEABURY, D. D.,
First Bishop of Connecticut,
And of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States ;
Consecrated at Aberdeen, Scotland, Nov. 14, 1784;
Died Feb. 25, 1796; aged 67.
The Diocese of Connecticut recorded here
its grateful memory of his virtues and services,
A. D. 1849.
And the brass plate inserted in its upper surface has an
inscription prepared by the late Rev. Dr. Samuel Farmer
Jarvis, as follows :
APPENDIX. 467
Sub pavimento altaris
Ut in loco quietis ultimo usque ad magni diei judicium
Exuviee mortales praesulis admodum reverendi nunc restant,
SAMUELIS SEABURY, S. T. D., Oxon.,
Qui primus in rempublicam novi orbis Anglo- Americanam
Successionem apostolicam,
E. Scotia trans tulit XVIII. Kal. Dec. A. D. CIQIQCCLXXXIV.
Diocesis sua
laborum et angustiarum tarn chari capitis nunquam oblita
in ecclesia nova S. Jacobi majoris Neo Londinensi olim sede sua
hoc monumentum nunc demum lougo post tempore honoris causa
anno salut. nost. CIOIOCCCXLIX ponere curavit.
The following is a translation :
" Under the pavement of the altar, as in the final place of rest
until the judgment of the great day, now repose the mortal remains
of the Right Rev. Prelate, Samuel Seabury, D. D., Oxon., who first
brought from Scotland, into the Anglo- American Republic of the
New World, the Apostolic Succession, Nov. 14, 1784. His diocese,
never forgetful of the labors and trials of so dear a person, in the
new church of S* James the greater at New London, formerly his
See, now at last, a long time afterward, has taken care to place this
monument to his honor in the year of our salvation, 1849."
Elsewhere, the name of Seabury and his apostolic mission
have not been forgotten. One of the eleven double-light
windows in the nave of S* Paul's Church, within the walls,
at Rome, Italy, was placed to his memory, with an inscrip-
tion commemorating the fact of his being the first of the
bishops of the holy Catholic Church in America, with the
dates of his consecration at Aberdeen, and of his death,
concluding with the expressive words FIDEM SERVAYIT. It
was the gift of Mr. J. C. Hooker, an American residing in
Rome.
468 APPENDIX.
The new chancel of S* Andrew's Church, Aberdeen, will
have a very large east window in five divisions, a memorial
of Bishop Seabury, of his three consecrators, and also of
Bishop William Skinner, the late Primus. One of the di-
visions will be filled with the aid of contributions from the
diocese of Connecticut, and duly inscribed to the memory
of Seabury,
APPENDIX. 469
APPENDIX 0.
A PEINTED copy of the charge was found among the pa-
pers left by Bishop White, and the following note in his
handwriting appeared on the blank pages at the end. I am
indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Thomas H. Montgomery,
a grandson of the bishop, for a photo-lithographed copy.
Those measures began with the author's pamphlet, enti-
tled " The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United
States considered."
The circumstances attached to that publication are the
following :
The congregations of our Communion throughout the U.
States were approaching to Annihilation. Altho' within
this city, three episcopal clergymen, including the Author,
were resident and officiating ; the Church over the rest of
the State, had become deprived of their clergy during the
war, either by Death, or by Departure for England. In the
eastern States, with two or three exceptions, there was a
cessation of the exercises of the Pulpit ; owing to the neces-
sary disuse of the Prayers for the former civil Rulers. In
Maryland and in Virginia, where the Church had enjoyed
civil Establishments, on the ceasing of these, the Incumbents
of the Parishes, almost without exception ceased to officiate.
Further South, the condition of the Church was not better,
to say the least. At the time in question, there had oc-
curred some circumstances, which prompted the hope of a
discontinuance of the War ; but, that it would be with the
acknowledgment of American Independence, there was little
reason to expect.
470 APPENDIX.
On the 6th of August, 1782, the Congress, as noticed on
their printed Journal of that day, received a communication
from Sir Guy Carleton and Admiral Digby, dated the
2d of that month, which gave the first opening of the
prospect of peace. The pamphlet had been advertised for
sale in the " Pennsylvania Packet " of the sixth, and some
copies had been previously handed by the author to a few of
his friends. This suspended the intended proceedings in
the business ; which, in the opinion of the author, would
have been justified by necessity, and by no other considera-
tion.
It was an opinion commonly entertained, that if there
should be a discontinuance of military operations, it would
be without the Acknowledgment of Independence as hap-
pened after the severance of the Netherlands from the
crown of Spain. Of the like issue there seemed probable
causes, in the feelings attendant on disappointed efforts for
conquest ; and in the belief cherished, that the successes of
the former colonists would be followed by dissentions, in-
ducing return to the domination of the Mother Country.
Had the War ended in that way, our obtaining of the suc-
cession from England would have been hopeless. The rem-
nant of the Episcopal Church in Scotland, labouring under
penal laws not executed, would hardly have regarded the
bringing down on themselves of the Arm of Government.
Fear of the like offence would have operated in any other
quarter to which we might have had recourse. In such a
case, the obtaining of the succession in time to save from
ruin, would seem to have been impossible.
A LIST OF THE CONSECRATION AND SUCCESSION OF SCOTS
BISHOPS, SINCE THE REVOLUTION 1688, UNDER WILLIAM
m., AS FAR AS THE CONSECRATION OF BISHOP SEABURY
IS CONCERNED.
1693. Feb. 23. Dr. George Hickes was consecrated Suf-
fragan of Thetford, in the Bishop of Peterborough's Chapel,
in the Parish of Enfield, by Dr. William Loyd, Bishop of
APPENDIX. 471
Norwich ; Dr. Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely ; and Dr.
Thomas White, Bishop of Peterborough. . N. B. Dr. Loyd,
Dr. Turner, and Dr. White were three of the English Bish-
ops who were deprived at the Revolution by the Civil power,
for not swearing allegiance to William III. They were also
three of the seven Bishops who had been sent to the Tower
by James II. for refusing to order an illegal Proclamation to
be read in their Dioceses.
1705. Jan. 25. Mr. John Sage, formerly one of the Min-
isters of Glasgow, and Mr. John Fullarton, formerly Minister
of Paisley, were consecrated, at Edinburgh, by John Pater-
son, Archbishop of Glasgow ; Alexander Rose, Bishop of
Edinburgh, and Robert Douglas, Bishop of Dunblane.
N. B. Archbishop Paterson, Bishop Rose, and Bishop Doug-
las were deprived at the Revolution, by the Civil power, be-
cause they refused to swear allegiance to William III.
1709. April 28. Mr. John Falconar, Minister at Carn-
bie, and Mr. Henry Chrystie, Minister at Kinross, were con-
secrated at Dundee, by Bishop Rose of Edinburgh, Bishop
Douglas of Dunblane, and Bishop Sage.
1711. Aug. 25. The Honourable Archibald Campbell
was consecrated at Dundee, by Bishop Rose of Edinburgh,
Bishop Douglas of Dunblane, and Bishop Falconar.
1712. Feb. 24. Mr. James Gadderar, formerly Minister
at Kilmaurs, was consecrated at London, by Bishop Hickes,
Bishop Falconar, and Bishop Campbell.
1718. Oct. 22. Mr. Arthur Millar, formerly Minister at
Inveresk, and Mr. William Irvine, formerly Minister at Kirk-
michael, in Carrick, were consecrated at Edinburgh, by Bishop
Rose of Edinburgh, Bishop Fullarton, and Bishop Falconar.
After the Bishop of Edinburgh's death.
1722. Oct. 7. Mr. Andrew Cant, formerly one of the
Ministers of Edinburgh, and Mr. David Freebairn, formerly
Minister of Dunning, were consecrated at Edinburgh, by
Bishop Fullarton, Bishop Millar, and Bishop Irvine.
1727. June 4. Dr. Thomas Rattray, of Craighall, was
consecrated at Edinburgh, by Bishop Gadderar, Bishop Mil-
lar, and Bishop Cant.
472 APPENDIX.
1727. June 18. Mr. William Dunbar, Minister at Cru-
den, and Mr. Robert Keith, Presbyter in Edinburgh, were
consecrated at Edinburgh, by Bishop Gadderar, Bishop Mil-
lar, and Bishop Rattray. N. B. They who were deprived
of their parishes at the Revolution are in this list called Min-
isters ; but they who had not been Parish-ministers under the
Civil establishment are called Presbyters.
1735. June 24. Mr. Robert White, Presbyter at Cupar,
was consecrated at Carsebank, near Forfar, by Bishop Rat-
tray, Bishop Dunbar, and Bishop Keith.
1741. Sept. 10. Mr. William Falconar, Presbyter at
Forres, was consecrated at Alloa, in Clackmannanshire, by
Bishop Rattray, Bishop Keith, and Bishop White.
1742. Oct. 4. Mr. James Rait, Presbyter at Dundee, was
consecrated at Edinburgh, by Bishop Rattray, Bishop Keith,
and Bishop White.
1743. Aug. 19. Mr. John Alexander, Presbyter at Alloa,
in Clackmannanshire, was consecrated at Edinburgh, by
Bishop Keith, Bishop White, Bishop Falconar, and Bishop
Rait.
1747. July 17. Mr. Andrew Gerard, Presbyter in Aber-
deen, was consecrated at Cupar in Fife, by Bishop White,
Bishop Falconar, Bishop Rait, and Bishop Alexander.
1759. Nov. 1. Mr. Henry Edgar was consecrated at
Cupar in Fife, by Bishop White, Bishop Falconar, Bishop
Rait, and Bishop Alexander, as Co-ad jutor to Bishop White,
then Primus. N. B. Anciently no Bishop in Scotland had
the style of Archbishop, but one of them had a precedency,
under the style of Primus Scotice Episcopus : And after the
Revolution they returned to their old style, which they still
retain ; one of them being intitled Primus, to whom prec-
edency is allowed, and deference paid, in the synod of
Bishops.
1762. June 24. Mr. Robert Forbes was consecrated, at
Forfar, by Bishop Falconar, Primus, Bishop Alexander, and
Bishop Gerard.
1768. Sept. 21. Mr. Robert Kilgour, Presbyter at Peter-
APPENDIX. 473
head, was consecrated Bishop of Aberdeen, at Cupar, in
Fife, by Bishop Falconar, Primus, Bishop Rait, and Bishop
Alexander.
1774. Aug. 24. Mr. Charles Rose, Presbyter at Down,
was consecrated Bishop of Dunblane, at Forfar, by Bishop
Falconar, Primus, Bishop Rait, and Bishop Forbes.
1776. June 27. Mr. Arthur Petrie, Presbyter at Meikle-
folla, was consecrated Bishop Co-adjutor, at Dundee, by
Bishop Falconar, Primus, Bishop Rait, Bishop Kilgour, and
Bishop Rose ; and appointed Bishop of Ross and Caithness,
July 8, 1777. N. B. After i>he Revolution, the Bishops in
Scotland had no particular Diocese, but managed their ec-
clesiastical affairs in one body, as a College ; but finding
inconveniences in this mode, they took particular Dioceses,
which, though not exactly according to the limits of the Dio-
ceses under the former legal establishment, still retain their
old names.
1778. Aug. 13. Mr. George limes, Presbyter in Aber-
deen, was consecrated Bishop of Brechin, at Alloa, by Bishop
Falconar, Primus, Bishop Rose, and Bishop Petrie.
1782. Sept. 25. Mr. John Skinner, Presbyter in Aber-
deen, was consecrated Bishop Co-adjutor, at Luthermuir, in
the Diocese of Brechin, by Bishop Kilgour, Primus, Bishop
Rose, and Bishop Petrie.
N. JB. The foregoing list is taken from an attested copy,
in the possession of Bishop Seabury.
1784. Nov. 14. Dr. Samuel Seabury, Presbyter, from the
State of Connecticut, in America, was consecrated Bishop, at
Aberdeen, by Bishop Kilgour, Primus, Bishop Petrie, and
Bishop Skinner, as, by the deed of consecration, now in
his possession, does fully appear.
SAMUEL, Bp. Epl Ch. Connect.
NEW-LONDON, August 26, 1785.
474 APPENDIX.
APPENDIX D.
THE COMMUNION-OFFICE, OR ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRA-
TION OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST OR SUPPER OF THE LORD.
WITH PRIVATE DEVOTIONS. RECOMMENDED TO THE EPIS-
COPAL CONGREGATIONS IN CONNECTICUT, BY THE RIGHT
REVEREND BISHOP SEABURY.
THE COMMUNION-OFFICE.
IT The Exhortation.
DEARLY beloved in the Lord, ye that mind to come to the
holy Communion of the body and blood of our Saviour
Christ, must consider how St. Paul exhorteth all persons
diligently to try and examine themselves, before they pre-
sume to eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For as the
benefit is great, if with a true penitent heart and lively faith
we receive that holy sacrament, (for then we spiritually eat
the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood ; then we dwell in
Christ, and Christ in us ; we are one with Christ, and Christ
with us ;) so is the danger great, if we receive the same un-
worthily, not considering the Lord's body ; for then we are
guilty of the body and blood of Christ our Saviour ; we kin-
dle God's wrath against us, and bring his judgments upon
us. Judge therefore yourselves, brethren, that ye be not
judged of the Lord ; repent you truly for your sins past ;
have a lively and stedfast faith in Christ our Saviour ; amend
your lives, and be in perfect charity with all men ; so shall
ye be meet partakers of those holy mysteries. And above
all things, ye must give most humble and hearty thanks to
APPENDIX. 475
God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for the re-
demption of the world, by the death and passion of our Sav-
iour Christ, both God and man, who did humble himself even
to the death upon the cross for us miserable sinners, who lay
in darkness and the shadow of death, that he might make us
the children of God, and exalt us to everlasting life. And
to the end that we should always remember the exceeding
great love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus Christ thus
dying for us, and the innumerable benefits which by his pre-
cious blood-shedding he hath obtained to us, he hath insti-
tuted and ordained holy mysteries, as pledges of his love, and
for a continual remembrance of his death, to our great and
endless comfort. To him, therefore, with the Father, and
the Holy Ghost, let us give (as we are most bounden) con-
tinual thanks, submitting ourselves wholly to his holy will
and pleasure, and studying to serve him in true holiness and
righteousness all the days of our life. Amen.
IT Then the Priest, or Deacon, shall say,
Let us present our offerings to the Lord with reverence and
Godly fear.
TT Then the Priest shall begin the offertory, saying one or more of
these sentences following, as he thinketh most convenient in his
discretion.
In process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of
the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And
Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the
fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his
offering : but unto Cain and to his offering he had not re-
spect. G-en. iv. 3, 4.
Speak Unto the children of Israel, that they bring me
an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his
heart, ye shall take my offering. Exod. xxv. 2.
Ye shall not appear before the Lord empty. Every man
shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord
your God which he hath given you. Deut. xvi. 16, 17.
476 APPENDIX.
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name : bring
an offering, and come into his courts. Psal. xcvi. 8.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through
and steal : but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
do not break through nor steal. Matt. vi. 19, 20.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven : but he that doth the will of
my Father which is in heaven. Matt. vii. 21.
Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the
people cast money into it : and many that were rich cast in
much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw
in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto
him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you,
that this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which
have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their
abundance : but she of her want did cast in all that she had,
even all her living. Mark xii. 41, 42, 43, 44.
Who goeth a warfare at any time of his own charges ? who
planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof ? or
who f eedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock ?
1 Cor. ix. 7.
If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great
matter if we should reap your carnal things ? 1 Cor. ix. 11.
Do ye not know, that they which minister about holy
things, live of the sacrifice ? and they which wait at the al-
tar, are partakers with the altar ? Even so hath the Lord
ordained, that they who preach the gospel, should live of the
gospel. 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14.
He that soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly : and
he who soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully. Every
man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give ;
not grudgingly, or of necessity : for God loveth a chearf ul
giver. 2 Cor. ix. 6, 7.
Let him that is taught in the word, communicate unto him
that teacheth, in all good things. Be not deceived : God is
APPENDIX. 477
not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap. Crdl. vi. 6, 7.
Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not
high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living
God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy: That they
do good, that they be rich in good works, ready fco distribute,
willing to communicate ; laying up in store for themselves a
good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay
hold on eternal life. 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18, 19.
God is not unrighteous, to forget your work and labour of
love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have
ministered to the saints, and do minister. Ifeb. vi. 10.
To do good, and to communicate, forget not; for with
such sacrifices God is well pleased. Heb. xiii. 16.
1T While the Priest distinctly pronounceth some or all of these sen-
tences for the offertory, the Deacon, or (if no such be present}
some other Jit person, shall receive the devotions of the people, in
a basin provided for that purpose. And when all have offered,
he shall reverently bring, and deliver it to the Priest ; who shall
humbly present it before the Lord, and set it upon the holy table,
saying,
Blessed be thou, O Lord God, for ever and ever. Thine,
O Lord, is the greatness, and the glory, and the victory, and
the majesty ; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is
thine : thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted
as head above all : both riches and honour come of thee, and
of thine own do we give unto thee. Amen.
IT And the Priest shall then offer up, and place the bread and wine
prepared for the sacrament upon the Lord's table, putting a little
pure water into the cup : and shall say,
The Lord be with you.
Answer. And with thy spirit.
Priest. Lift up your hearts.
Answer. We lift them up unto the Lord.
Priest. Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.
478 APPENDIX.
Answer. It is meet and right so to do.
Priest. It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty,
* These words tnat we should at all times, and in all places,
x give thanks unto thee O Lord, *[holy Fa-
Almighty, everlasting God.
IF Here shall follow the proper preface, according to the time, if
there be any especially appointed ; or else immediately shall
follow,
Therefore with angels and archangels, &c.
IT Proper Prefaces.
IT Upon Christmas-day, and seven days after.
Because thou didst give Jesus Christ thine only Son, to be
* During the born * [ as on ^ s ^ a j] ^ or us who, by the
*S s ?S,ly r ,M operation of the Holy Ghost, was made very
at this time. ' man ^ o f tne su bstance of the blessed Virgin
Mary his mother, and that without spot of sin, to make us
clean from all sin. Therefore with angels, &c.
IT Upon Easter-day, and seven days after.
But chiefly are we bound to praise thee, for the glorious
resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord : For he is
the very Paschal Lamb, which was offered for us, and hath
taken away the sin of the world ; who by his death hath de-
stroyed death, and by his rising to life again, hath restored
to us everlasting life. Therefore with angels, &c.
If Upon Ascension-day, and seven days after.
Through thy most dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord ; who, after his most glorious resurrection, manifestly
appeared to all his apostles, and in their sight ascended up
into heaven, to prepare a place for us; that where he is,
thither might we also ascend, and reign with him in glory.
Therefore with angels and archangels, &c.
APPENDIX. 479
IF Upon Whitsunday, and six days offer.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord ; according to whose most
true promise the Holy Ghost came down * [as * During the six
on this day] from heaven, with a sudden great fay^say^Y^^l
sound, as it had been a mighty wind, in the time '
likeness of fiery tongues, lighting upon the apostles, to teach
them, and to lead them to all truth, giving them both the gift
of divers languages, and also boldness with fervent zeal con-
stantly to preach the gospel unto all nations, whereby we are
brought out of darkness and error into the clear light and true
knowledge of thee, and of thy Son Jesus Christ. Therefore
with angels, &c.
IF Upon the feast of Trinity only.
Who art one God, one Lord; not one only person, but
three persons in one substance. For that which we believe
of the glory of the Father, the same we believe of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost, without any difference or inequality.
Therefore with angels, &c.
IF After which prefaces shall follow immediately this doxology.
Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the
company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name,
evermore praising thee, and saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord
God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory
be to thee, O Lord most high. Amen.
IF Then the Priest standing at such a part of the holy table as he
may withthe most ease and decency use both his hands, shall say
the prayer of consecration, as follow eth.
All glory be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
for that thou of thy tender mercy didst give thy only Son
Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemp-
tion ; who made there (by his one oblation of himself once
offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and
satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world ; and did institute,
480 APPENDIX.
/
and in his holy gospel command us to continue a perpetual
memory of that his precious death and sacrifice until his
(a) Here the Priest coming again. For, in the night that he was
into % k s e hand p s ten betrayed, (a) he took bread ; and when he had
And here to given thanks, (5) he brake it, and gave to his
ay disciples, saying, Take, eat, (*) THIS IS MY
the ^ad up n "* BODY, which is given for you : DO this in re-
(d) Here he is to membrance of me. Likewise after supper (d)
take the cup into his i_ .1 j i i i i
hand: he took the cup ; and when ne had given
thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye
^1 of this, for (0 THIS IS MY BLOOD, of
the new testament, which is shed for you, and
for many, for the remission of sins : DO this as oft as ye
shall drink it in remembrance of me.
Wherefore, O Lord, and heavenly Father, according to the
institution of thy dearly beloved Son our Sav-
iour Jesus Christ, we thy humble servants do
celebrate and make here before thy divine majesty, with
these thy holy gifts, WHICH WE NOW OFFER UNTO THEE,
the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make ; having
in remembrance his blessed passion, and precious death,
his mighty resurrection, and glorious ascension; rendering
unto thee most hearty thanks for the innumerable benefits
procured unto us by the same. And we most
humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to
hear us, and of thy almighty goodness vouchsafe to bless
and sanctify, with thy word and Holy Spirit, these thy gifts
and creatures of bread and wine, that they may become the
body and blood of thy most dearly beloved Son. And we
earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness, inerci&lly to accept
this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, most humbly
beseeching thee to grant, that by the merits and death of
thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we
(and all thy whole church) may obtain remission of our sins,
and all other benefits of his passion. And here we offer and
present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies,
to be a reasonable, holy and lively sacrifice unto thee, hum-
APPENDIX. 481
bly beseeching thee, that we and all others who shall be par-
takers of this holy Communion, may worthily receive the
most precious body and blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be
filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made
one body with him, that he may dwell in them and they in
him. And although we are unworthy, through our mani-
fold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice ; yet we beseech
thee to accept this our bounden duty and service, not weigh-
ing our merits, but pardoning our offences, through Jesus
Christ our Lord: by whom, and with whom, in the unity of
the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory be unto thee, O Father
Almighty, world without end. Amen.
TT Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church.
Almighty and everliving God, who by thy holy Apostle
hast taught us to make prayers and supplications, and to
give thanks for all men ; We humbly beseech thee most
mercifully to accept our alms and oblations, and to receive
these our prayers, which we offer unto thy divine majesty;
beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal church
with the spirit of truth, unity and concord; and grant that
all they who do confess thy holy name, may agree in the
truth of thy holy word and live in unity and godly love.
We beseech thee also to save and defend all Christian
Kings, Princes, and Governors ; and grant that they, and
all who are in authority, may truly and impartially minister
justice to the punishment of wickedness and vice, and to the
maintenance of thy true religion and virtue. Give grace, O
heavenly Father, to all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, that
they may both by their life and doctrine set forth thy true
and lively word, and rightly and duly administer thy holy
sacraments : and to all thy people give thy heavenly grace,
that with meek heart, and due reverence, they may hear
and receive thy holy word, truly serving thee in holiness
and righteousness all the days of their life. And we com-
mend especially to thy merciful goodness the congregation
here assembled in thy name, to celebrate the commemora-
31
482 APPENDIX.
tion of the most precious death and sacrifice of thy Son and
our Saviour Jesus Christ. And we most humbly beseech
thee of thy goodness, O Lord, to comfort and succour all
those who in this transitory life are in trouble, sorrow, need,
sickness, or any other adversity. And we also bless thy
holy name for all thy servants, who, having finished their
course in faith, do now rest from their labours: yielding
unto thee most high praise and hearty thanks, for the won-
derful goodness and virtue declared in all thy saints, who
have been the choice vessels of thy grace, and the lights of
the world in their several generations: most humbly be-
seeching thee to give us grace to follow the example of their
stedfastness in thy faith, and obedience to thy holy com-
mandments, that at the day of the general resurrection, we,
and all they who are of the mystical body of thy Son, may
be set on his right hand, and hear that his most joyful
voice, Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Grant
this, O Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only Mediator
an d Advocate. Am en.
As our Saviour Christ hath commanded and taught us, we
are bold to say,
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in
heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us
our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation ; but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, for-
ever and ever. Amen.
IT Then shall the Priest say to them that come to receive the holy com-
munion, this invitation.
Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins,
and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and in-
tend to lead a new life, following the commandments of
God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways : Draw
near with faith and take this holy sacrament to your com-
fort ; and make your humble confession to Almighty God.
APPENDIX. 483
1T Then shall this general confession be made, by the people, along
with the Priest ; all humbly kneeling upon their knees.
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker
of all things, judge of all men; We acknowledge and be-
wail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time
to time most grievously have committed, by thought, word,
and deed, against thy divine Majesty ; provoking most justly
thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly
repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings ; the
remembrance of them is grievous unto us ; the burden of
them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, have mercy
upon us, most merciful Father ; for thy Son our Lord Jesus
Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past ; and grant, that we
may ever hereafter serve and please thee, in newness of life,
to the honour and glory of thy name, through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
If Then shall the Priest, or the Bishop, (being present,) stand up,
and turning himself to the people, pronounce the absolution as
followeth.
Almighty God our heavenly Father, who, of his great
mercy, hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them that
with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him ; Have
mercy upon you; pardon and deliver you from all your sins;
confirm and strengthen you in all goodness ; and bring you
to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
1F Then shall the Priest say,
Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto
all that truly turn to him :
Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden,
and I will refresh you. Matt. ix. 28.
Private ejaculation.
Refresh, Lord, thy servant wearied with the burden of sin.
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. John iii. 16.
484 APPENDIX.
Private ejaculation.
Lord, I believe in thy Son Jesus Christ, and let this faith purify me from
all iniquity.
Hear also what St. Paul saith.
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1
Tim. i. 15.
Private ejaculation.
/ embrace with all thankfulness that salvation that Jesus has brought into
the world.
Hear also what St. John saith.
If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for
our sins. 1 John ii. 1, 2.
Private ejaculation.
Intercede for me, blessed Jesu! that my sins may be pardoned, through
the merits of thy death.
IT Then shall the Priest, turning him to the altar, kneel down, and
say, in the name of all them that shall communicate, this collect
of humble access to the holy communion, as followeth.
We do not presume to come to this thy holy table, O
merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy
manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much
as to gather up the crumbs under thy table : But thou art
the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy.
Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy
dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sin-
ful bodies may be made clean by his most sacred body, and
our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that
we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.
If Then shall the Bishop, if he be present, or else the Priest that cele-
brateth, first receive the communion in both kinds himself, and
next deliver it to other Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, (if
there be any present,) and after to the people in due order, all
humbly kneeling. And when he receiveth himself, or delivereth
the sacrament of the body of Christ to others, he shall say,
APPENDIX. 485
The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for
thee, preserve thy soul and body unto everlasting life.
1[ Here the person receiving shall say, Amen.
U" And when the Priest receiveth the cup himself, or deliver eth it to
others, he shall say,
The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for
thee, preserve thy soul and body unto everlasting life.
IT Here the person receiving shall say, Amen.
IT If the consecrated bread or wine be all spent before all have com-
municated, the Priest is to consecrate more, according to the
form before prescribed, beginning at the words, All glory be to
thee, etc., and ending with the words, that they may become
the body and blood of thy most dearly beloved Son.
IT When all have communicated, he that celebrates shall go to the
Lord's table, and cover with a fair linen cloth that which re-
maineth of the consecrated elements, and then say,
Having now received the precious body and blood of Christ,
let us give thanks to our Lord God, who hath graciously
vouchsafed to admit us to the participation of his holy
mysteries ; and let us beg of him grace to perform our
vows, and to persevere in our good resolutions ; that being
made holy, we may obtain everlasting life, through the
merits of the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ.
IT Then the Priest shall say this collect of thanksgiving, asfottoweth.
Almighty and everliving God, we most heartily thank
thee, for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us, who have duly
received these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the
most precious body and blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus
Christ ; and doth assure us thereby of thy favour and good-
ness towards us, and that we are very members incorporate
in the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed com-
pany of all faithful people, and are also heirs through hope
486 APPENDIX.
of thy everlasting kingdom, by the merits of his most pre-
cious death and passion. We now most humbly beseech
thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace and
Holy Spirit, that we may continue in that holy communion
and fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast
commanded us to walk in, through Jesus Christ our Lord;
to whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and
glory, world without end. Amen.
IT Then shall be said or sung, Gloria in Excelsis, asfolloweth.
Glory be to God on high, and in earth peace, good will
towards men. We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship
thee, we glorify thee, we give thanks to thee, for thy great
glory, (3 Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Al-
mighty ; and to Thee, O God, the only begotten Son Jesu
Christ ; and to Thee, O God, the Holy Ghost.
O Lord, the only begotten Son Jesu Christ; O Lord God,
Lamb of God, Son of the Father, who takest away the sins
of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away
the sins of the world, receive our praj T er. Thou that sittest
at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us.
For thou only art holy, thou only art the Lord, thou only,
O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory
of God the Father. Amen.
IT Then the Priest, or Bishop, if he he present, shall let them depart,
with this blessing.
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep
your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God,
and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord: and the blessing of
God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost be
amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.
PRIVATE DEVOTIONS FOR THE ALTAR.
Blessed Jesus ! Saviour of the world ! who hast called me to the par-
ticipation of these thy holy mysteries, accept my humble approach to
thy sacred table, increase my faith, settle my devotion, fix my contem-
plation on thy powerful mercy; and while with my mouth I receive the
APPENDIX. 487
sacred symbols of thy body and blood, may they be the means of
heavenly nourishment to prepare my body and soul for that everlasting
life which thou hast purchased by thy merits, and promised to bestow
on all who believe in and depend on thee. Amen.
Prayer to God.
O Gracious and merciful God, Thou supreme Being, Father, Word
and Holy Ghost, look down from heaven, the throne of thy essential
glory, upon me thy unworthy creature, with the eyes of thy covenanted
mercy and compassion: O Lord my God, I disclaim all merit, I re-
nounce all righteousness of my own, either inherent in my nature, or ac-
quired by my own industry: And I fly for refuge, for pardon and sancti-
fication, to the righteousness of thy Christ: For his sake, for the sake of
the blessed Jesus, the Son of thy covenanted love, whom Thou hast set
forth to be a propitiation for fallen man, and in whom alone Thou art
well pleased, have mercy upon me, receive my prayers, pardon my in-
firmities, strengthen my weak resolutions, guide my steps to thy holy
altar, and there feed me with the meat which perisheth not, but endur-
eth to everlasting life. Amen.
After Receiving.
Blessed Jesus ! Thou hast now blest me with the food of thy own
merciful institution, and, in humble faith of thy gracious promise, I have
bowed myself at thy table, to receive the precious pledges of thy dying
love ; O may thy presence go with me from this happy participation of
thy goodness, that when I return to the necessary labours and employ-
ments of this miserable world, I may be enabled by thy grace to obey
thy commandments, and conducted by thy watchful care through all
trials, till, according to thy divine wisdom, I have finished my course
here with joy, that so I may depart out of this world in peace, and in a
stedfast dependence on thy merits, O blessed Jesus, in whose prevailing
words I shut up all my imperfect wishes, saying,
Our Father, &c. Amen.
488 APPENDIX.
APPENDIX E.
A BURIAL OFFICE FOR INFANTS WHO DEPART THIS LIFE
BEFORE THEY HAVE POLLUTED THEIR BAPTISM BY ACT-
UAL SIN. BY BISHOP SEABURY.
The Priest going before the corpse into the churchyard ; either
into the church or to the grave^ shall say^
All flesh is grass, and all its glory like the flower of the
field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth when the wind
of Jehovah bloweth upon it. Isaiah xl. 6, 7.
Suffer little children to come unto me. Matt. xix. 14.
Whosoever cometh to me, said the blessed Jesus, I will in
nowise cast out. John vi. 37.
I am the resurrection and the life. John xi. 25.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Psa. cxvi. 15.
Blessed therefore are the dead who die in the Lord. Rev.
xiv. 13.
They are taken away from the evil to come. Isaiah
Ivii. 1.
Coming to the grave shall be said or sung>
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
"While the corpse is made ready for interment shall be said by
the Priest, or sung^
Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to
live, and is full of misery. He cometh up and is cut down
APPENDIX. 489
like a flower ; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never con-
tinueth in one stay.
In the midst of life we are in death. Of whom may we
seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art
justly displeased?
Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy
and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter
pains of eternal death.
Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts. Shut not
thy merciful ears to our prayers ; but spare us, Lord most
holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour,
thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not at our last
hour for any pains of death to fall from thee.
While earth is cast on the body, the Priest shall say,
In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in whose likeness man was
created, we commit this body to the ground ; earth to earth ;
ashes to ashes ; dust to dust ; in sure and certain hope of its
resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the resurrection and the life ; who at his second com-
ing shall change this vile body, according to his most gra-
cious promise, by raising it from the dead, and transforming
it into the likeness of his own glorified body, according to
the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things
to himself.
Lord of life and glory, Jesus, eternal Son of God, have
mercy on us, and hear the prayer of thine own appointment.
Our Father, &c.
O Almighty God, who through thine only begotten Son
Jesus Christ, hast overcome death and opened unto us the
gate of everlasting life, mercifully grant, that as this deceased
infant hath been baptized into the death of thy beloved Son
Jesus Christ, and thereby made his disciple, and the heir of
eternal glory, and now at thy command hath gone out of this
mortal life before he hath done good or evil ; the garment of
his regeneration remaining pure and unspotted, and his soul
490 APPENDIX.
having already found admission, through the merit of the
Redeemer, into thy paradise, so his body may have a happy
passage through the grave and gate of death to a joyful res-
urrection at th6 last day, and may then be made partaker of
everlasting glory, through Him who died, and was buried,
and rose again for us, Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord and
Saviour. AMEN.
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
Almighty God with whom do live the spirits of those who
depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the
faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the
flesh, are in joy and felicity ! we give thee hearty thanks for
all the gracious dispensations of thy wise Providence ! And
we beseech thee, by this and every other instance of daily
mortality, to teach us who are yet alive to consider how frail
and uncertain our condition is ; that seriously numbering our
days, we may earnestly apply ourselves to attain thy heav-
enly promises, and at the tremendous appearing of the great
God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ, may with all those who
have departed hence in Him, have our perfect consummation
and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlast-
ing glory, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.
Our deceased infants who have been baptized into the
death of Jesus Christ, shall all be delivered from the hand of
the enemy, the great destroyer death, and shall return to
their own border, 1 thy heavenly kingdom, O God ; for this is
the will of the Father, that of all that he hath given to the
Son, he shall lose nothing, but should raise it up again at
the last day.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all ever
more. AMEN.
1 Jeremiah xxxi. 16, 17.
INDEX.
A.
Aberdeen, See of, 126 ; Episcopal Sy-
nod at, 339.
Adarns, John, 69, 74, 134, 247.
"Address to Ministers and Congrega-
tions of the Presbyterian and Inde-
pendent Persuasions," 397.
Address to the English Bishops, and
Application for the Succession, 245 ;
Second Address, 257, 258.
" A Dignified Clergyman of the
Church of England," 185, 206.
Allan, Rev. Alexander, 338.
Allan, Rev. John, 140, 142, 338.
American Bishops, 19, 84, 94, 464.
American Church, 1, 87, 88, 100, 126,
128, 196, 197, 211, 258, 382, 384,
422.
American Episcopacy, 163.
American Episcopate, 19, 73, 74, 80,
84, 91, 105, 198.
American Independence, 54, 133.
Andre, Major, 63, 64.
Andrews, Rev. Dr. John, 450, 451.
Andrews, Rev. Samuel, 76, 124, 208.
" An Examination into the Conduct
of the Delegates at their Grand
Convention," 29.
Answer of the English Bishops to the
First Address of the Convention at
Philadelphia, 252; answer to the
Second Address, 287-289.
Archbishop of Canterbury, 85, 86.
Archbishop of York, 80/85.
Arnold, Benedict, 63, 64, 74.
Asburv, Francis, 400.
Athanasian Creed, 324, 353, 376, 431,
444.
Auchmuty, Rev. Dr. Samuel, 55, 464.
Avery, Rev. Ephraim, 50, 51, 464.
B.
Babcock, Rev. Luke, 51.
Badger, Rev. Moses, 402.
Baldwin, Rev. Ashbel, 213, 238, 332 ;
letters of, 315-318.
Bancroft, George, 70.
Barbadoes, College at, 5.
Barton, Rev. Thomas, 57.
Barwell, Mr., 337.
Bass, Rev. Edward, 358, 359, 364, 365,
403, 404, 456.
Beach, Rev. Abraham, 194, 195, 310,
357, 369.
Beach, Rev. John, 72, 76.
Belden, Rev. David, 316.
Berkeley, Dean, 206.
Berkeley, Rev. Dr. George, 126-129,
138, 166, 206.
Bishops of Scotland, letter of, to
Clergy in Connecticut, 153-156.
Bissett,*Rev. John, 329, 357.
Black, Joseph, 435.
Blackwell, Rev. Dr., 378.
Blakeslee, Rev. E., 317, 428.
Blakeslee, Rev. S., 317, 427, 428,452.
Bloomer, Rev. Joshua, 194, 249.
Bolles, Rev. Dr. James, A. 380.
Book of Common Prayer, 12, 73, 237,
243, 246, 255-258, 264, 297, 301,
302, 320, 373-376, 398 ; changes in
376-379, 388-390, 412.
Bostvvick, Rev. Gideon, 76, 439.
Boucher, Rev. Jonathan, 135, 159,
178, 186, 187, 201, 204, 285, 301,
405, 427, 441, 459; letter of, 202,
203.
Bowden, Rev. John, 213-215, 259, 322,
339, 367, 408, 411, 417, 434, 439,
455, 465 ; letter of, 260-262.
British Provinces, 208.
Bronson, Rev. Tillotson, 132, 284,315,
344.
Brown, George, 448.
Brown, Rev. Isaac, 60.
Brown, Rev. James, 340.
Burhans, Rev. Daniel, 428, 439.
Butler, Rev. David, 417, 428, 440,
453.
Byles, Rev. Mather, 330.
492
INDEX.
C.
Carleton, Sir Guy, 66, 68, 71, 72, 84,
95, 104, 470.
Cartwright, of Shrewsbury, 134.
Catlin, llev. Russell, 417, 428.
Chamberlain, George, 286.
Chandler, Rev. Thomas B., 30-33, 73,
85, 95, 100, 135, 160, 176, 186, 188,
203, 205, 228, 259, 464 ; publications,
20; appointed Bishop, 111, 121 ; let-
ters of , 177-181.
Charles II., 335, 337.
Charles, Edward, Death of, 339.
Charlton, Rev. Richard, 464.
Chauncey, Dr. Charles, 73, 339.
Child, Caleb, 445.
Church in America, 135, 170.
Church in Connecticut, 76, 120, 122,
135, 137, 142, 160, 162, 167, 173,
235, 298, 387, 388, 390, 408, 412,
436, 458.
Church in Massachusetts, 432.
Church in Rhode Island, 417, 432.
" Churchman's Magazine," 95.
Church of England, 3, 10, 12, 14, 16,
19-21, 30, 60, 66-68, 70, 74, 80-84, 90,
92-95, 100, 106, 121, 127, 136, 160,
161, 172, 174, 184, 188-191, 193,
206, 210, 230, 245, 255, 257-259,
299, 300, 306, 353, 395, 397-400,
463, 464; liturgy of, 4, 45, 190, 191,
195, 242, 243, 245, 339, 343; clergy
of, 35, 54, 56, 60, 68, 76.
Claggett, Rev. Thomas John, 191,
371, 456; chosen Bishop, 422; con-
secrated, 424.
Clark, John, 413.
Clark, Rev. Richard S., 76, 208.
Clarke, Rev. Abraham L., 407, 425,
447.
Clinton, Sir Henry, 53, 63, 64, 66.
Coit, Dr., 455.
Coke, Rev. Dr. Thomas, 399, 400.
College of Doctors, 391.
Collier, Bishop, 337.
Collier, Sir George, 58.
Communion Office, 263, 474-487.
Concordate, 150-153, 166, 263.
Congregationalists, 3, 13, 73.
Congress, 39, 40, 54, 66, 69, 71.
Connecticut, Bishop of, 180, 255, 415,
445, 452, 459.
Connecticut, clergy of, 80, 82, 86, 89,
97, 102, 106, 107, 109, 112, 117-
125, 128, 130-133, 136, 146, 147,
149, 150, 153, 172, 194-197, 214,
226-228, 240, 301-303, 318, 322.
Connecticut, lay delegates introduced
into Convention, 414.
" Constitution of the Protestant Epis-
copal Church in the State of Con-
necticut," 415.
Continental Congress, 27, 28, 35, 38,
42, 56, 62.
Continental Fast, 38, 40.
Convention in Middletown, 208.
Convention in Philadelphia, 244, 255,
357, 368.
Convention in Rhode Island, 432.
Convention in Stratford, 445.
Convention in Wallingford, 112.
Convention in Wilmington, Del., 287.
Convention in Woodbury, 77.
Convocations, 214, 237, 263, 265, 293-
295, 305, 332, 387, 389, 406, 408,
412, 414, 434,442,453.
Cooke, Charles, 286.
Cooke, Rev. Samuel, 464.
Cooper, Dr. Myles, 30-33, 136, 138,
140, 159, 464.
Cornwallis, Lord, 65.
Cowper, Capt., Ill, 119.
Coxe, Tench, 378.
Cutler, Rector, 2.
Cutting, Rev. Leonard, 18, 19, 464.
D.
Danish Bishops, 121.
Declaration of Independence, 44.
Denmark, Church in, 134.
Dibblee, Rev. Ebenezer, 76, 391, 409,
425.
Digby, Admiral, 96, 470.
Diocesan Convention, Connecticut,
427, 439.
Diocese of Connecticut, 153.
Drummond, Abernethy, Bishop, 336.
Duane, James, 255.
Duche, Rev. Jacob, 62, 169, 170, 250,
292.
Edward VI., First Prayer Book of,
353, 354, 395.
Ellison, Mr., 119, 123.
Elphinstone, Mr., 128.
English Book of Ordination and Con-
secration, 314.
English Church, 173, 182, 239, 259.
English Consecrate, 295, 298.
English Cousecrators, 297.
Episcopacy, 2-4, 20, 81, 98, 99, 103,
125, 127, 134, 143, 159, 165, 167, 184,
185, 205, 209, 216, 242, 335, 338.
Episcopal Academy, 349, 408, 437-
439, 445.
INDEX.
493
Episcopal Charitable Society, 320;
sermon before, 327-329.
Episcopal Church in America, 4, 21,
108, 147, 172, 174, 180, 181, 190,
192, 193, 195, 196, 199, 204, 207,
209, 250, 251 ; in Scotland, 7, 79,
126, 127, 129, 142, 149, 174, 183,
184, 186, 211, 230, 246, 339, 340,
343, 385, 470.
Episcopal Clergy, 6, 7, 14, 19.
Erastianism, 126.
F.
Fanning, Col. Edmund, 53.
Federal Constitution, 311, 316, 317,
379, 459.
Ferguson, Rev. Colin, 213, 214, 231,
357.
Fogg, Rev. Daniel, 76, 78, 195; let-
ters of, 103-105.
Fowle, Rev. Robert, 403.
Fowler, Jonathan, 36-38.
Franklin, Dr., 69, 242, 243.
"Free Thoughts on the Proceedings
of the Congress at Philadelphia,"
30.
" Free Thoughts on the Proceedings
of the Continental Congress," 28.
G.
Gardiner, Rev. Walter C., 432, 433.
Gaskin, Rev. Dr. George, 341, 342.
General Assembly of Connecticut, 2,
35-37, 46, 124, 416, 453.
General Assembly of New York, 27,
40.
General Association of Connecticut,
14.
General Convention, 366, 367, 380,
381, 385, 387, 389, 397, 400, 408,
411, 412, 415, 417, 421, 424, 425,
433, 445, 448, 451, 453, 456.
" General History of Connecticut,"
75.
"Gentleman's Magazine," 188.
George I., 342.
George II., 342.
George III., 339, 340.
Giles, Rev. Mr., 463.
Gleig, Rev. George, 183.
Graves, Rev. Matthew, 74.
Griffith, Rev. David, 244, 255, 290-
292, 309, 311-314, 331, 333, 359.
Griswold, Rev. Alexander V., 446, 452.
Grosvenor, Mr., 104.
H.
Hamilton, Alexander, 30, 33.
Hamilton, Mr., 337.
Hammond, Dr., 431.
Hanover, House of, 144.
Hardy, Sir Charles, 8.
Hart, Rev. Seth, 407, 425.
Harvard College, 2, 403.
Hicks, Colonel, 286.
Hicks, Edward, 8.
Hicks, Mary, 8.
Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, 345.
Hopkinsou, Francis, 255, 378.
Home, Rev. Dr. George, 163, 178,
285, 342, 431,
House of Bishops, 373.
House of Deputies, 375-377.
Howe, General, 46.
Hubbard, Rev. Bela, 36, 76, 112, 113,
116, 119, 124, 209, 211, 237, 304,
367, 387, 391, 407, 414, 434, 435,
438, 440, 442, 445, 454.
Huntington, Samuel, 266.
Ingersoll, Jonathan, 415.
Inglis, Dr. Charles, 30, 54-56, 62, 66,
71, 83, 85, 111, 170, 250,464.
Isaacs, Ralph, 440.
Ives, Rev. Reuben, 264, 283, 284, 316,
317, 429, 442.
J.
Jarvis, Rev. Abraham, 76, 78, 83, 85,
112, 116, 118, 123, 124, 130, 148,
172, 207-209, 211, 213-215, 322,
367, 371, 381, 382, 387, 391, 406,
428, 442, 458, 464 ; secretary to the
Convention, 80-82, 86-90, 98-102,
196, 197, 239-241 ; elected Bishop,
293.
Jarvis, Rev. Dr. Samuel Farmer, 381,
466.
Jay, John, 29, 69, 248, 255.
Jenney, Rev. Dr., 4.
Johnson, Rev. Dr. Samuel, 2, 20, 110,
464.
Johnson, Dr. William Samuel, 43, 311,
312.
Jolly, Rev. Alexander, 336, 338 ;
prayer of, 157, 158.
Jones, Rev. Isaac, 319.
Jones, Mr., 178.
494
INDEX.
K.
Kemp, James, Bishop, 158.
Kilgour, Robert, Primus, 138, 140,
141, 145, 147-149, 153, 156, 183,
206, 240, 295, 296, 338, 339, 341.
King's College, 18,30.
Kirk of Scotland, 464.
Kneeland, Rev. Ebenezer, 76.
Lauren s, Henry, 69.
Learning, Rev. Jeremiah, 59, 72, 74,
78, 79, 83, 85, 109, 112, 114, 116,
118, 119, 123, 124, 130, 131, 172,
208, 211, 213, 215, 226, 241, 293,
343, 364, 367, 369, 387, 406; let-
ters of, 305-308, 311-313, 331, 332,
347,348,370,371.
Lexington, Battle of, 31, 70.
List of the Consecration and Succes-
sion of Scots Bishops, 470-473.
Liturgy, 7, 243, 388, 431 ; alterations
in, 214, 227, 246, 247, 257, 259, 264-
266, 282, 287, 288, 379, 385-387.
Liturgy of Edward VI., 354.
Liturgy, New, 296, 297.
Livingston, William, 29.
Lothrop, Captain, 36, 38.
Loughton, Mr., 337.
Lowth, Dr., Bishop of London, 133,
183.
M.
Macfarlane, Mr., 295, 296, 338.
Madison, Rev. James, consecrated bish-
op, 421, 422, 424.
Magaw, Rev. Dr., 378, 382.
Manning, Mr., 242.
Mansfield, Rev. Richard, 72, 74, 76,
211, 293, 387, 391, 407, 426, 439.
Marsh, Rev. Truman, 316, 387.
Marshall, Rev. John Rutgers, 76, 77,
195, 197, 198, 211.
McKean, Rev. Robert, 464.
McSparran, Rev. Dr. James, 3, 448.
Mede, Joseph, 345.
Methodism, 21.
Methodist Episcopacy, 399.
Methodists, 189, 230, 399, 400.
Miles, Rev. Manoah Smith, 446, 454.
" Minute Book of the College of Bish-
ops in Scotland/' 146.
Mitre, first worn, 318.
Montague, Rev. Mr., 344, 345.
Montgomery, Mr. Thomas H., 469.
Moore, Rev. Benjamin, 83, 85, 111,
194, 197, 198, 208, 214, 357, 363-
365, 418, 423, 456; letter of, 291,
292.
Moore, Rev. Mr., 249.
Moore, Sir Henry, 22, 23.
Moravian Bishops, 160, 173.
Morgan, George, 437.
Morice, Rev. Dr. William, 162, 176.
Morris, Gouverneur, 32.
Morris, Lewis, 32.
Mumford, Thomas, 1, 3.
Munro, Rev. Harry, 464.
Murray, Rev. Dr. Alexander, 165, 248,
250.
N.
Nag's Head Ordination, 188.
Neill, Rev. Hugh, 14.
Nesbitt, Rev. Samuel, 332.
New London Church burnt, 207.
New London, Consecration of Church
at, 314, 315.
Newton, Rev. Christopher, 76.
Nicene Creed, 390.
Nichols, Rev. James, 76.
Nichols, Philip, 425.
North, Lord, 26, 46, 65, 66, 109.
Nova Scotia Episcopate, 177.
0.
Odell, Mr., 111.
Office for the Burial of Infants, 430,
488-490.
Ogden, Rev. John C., 315, 329, 403.
Ogilbie, Rev. John, 464.
Old and New Lights, 14, 21.
Oliver, Rev. Thomas Fitch, 215.
Osbaldiston, Dr. Richard, Bishop of
Carlisle, 8.
Owen, Rev. John, 3.
P.
Paca, Governor of Maryland, 190.
Paine, Thomas, 56.
Park, Sir James Allen, 342.
Parker, Rev. Samuel, 78, 103-105,
195, 197, 198, 208, 214, 215, 227,
237, 258, 291, 301, 304, 309, 310,
313, 320, 326, 329, 333, 339, 343,
345, 347, 352, 358, 362, 364, 365,
368, 374, 375, 403, 404, 456 ; letter
of, 321-325.
Perry, Rev. David, 407.
INDEX.
495
Peters, Richard, 254.
Peters, Rev. Samuel, 75.
Petrie, Arthur, Bishop, 141, 145, 147-
149, 153, 156, 240, 295, 296.
Philadelphia College, 179.
Pilrnore, Rev. Joseph, 256, 308, 357.
Pointed Psalter, 431.
Portland, Duke of, 109.
Presbyterians, 7, 13, 73, 203, 331, 395.
Presbyterians, French, 24.
Price, Bishop, 134, 135.
Prindle, Rev. Chauncey, 317.
Private Thoughts on Religion, 4.
Protestant Episcopal Church, 190, 191,
200, 366, 369-371, 399, 400, 408,
414,415.
Provincial Assembly, 28, 31, 44, 45.
Provincial Congress in New York, 39-
43, 51.
Provoost, Rev. Samuel, 71, 255, 289,
291, 296, 299, 301, 303, 306, 308,
312, 314, 318, 334, 337, 346, 350,
356, 358, 360, 364-366, 372, 418,
419, 422, 424, 432, 433, 448, 456;
chosen Bishop, 290 ; embarks for
England, 292; letters of, 248, 249,
253, 254.
Punderson, Ebenezer, 396.
Punderson, Rev. Ebenezer, 2.
Purcell, Rev. Dr. Henry, 450.
Q-
Quakerism, 9-11.
Quakers, 10, 16, 24.
Queen Anne, 341, 342.
R.
Remsen, Henry, Jr., 18.
Rivington, James, 29, 46, 248.
Riviugton, John, 207.
Rivington's Gazette, 28.
Rodgers, Dr., 253.
Roe, Rev. Mr., 254.
Rose, Bishop, 147, 340.
Routh, Dr., 134.
S.
Saltonstall, Roswell, 460.
Sayre, Rev. James, 389, 390, 408, 411-
413, 440.
Sayre, Rev. John, 58, 68, 74.
Scotch Episcopacy, 360, 422.
Scottish Bishops, 215, 239, 240, 348.
Scoville, Rev. James, 76, 124, 208.
Seabury, Rev. Charles, 427, 428, 437,
439,451,455,460.
Seabury, Edward, 433.
Seabury, Elizabeth, letter of, 18.
Seabury, John, 1, 2.
Seabury, Nathaniel, 24.
Seabury, Samuel, 1-4, 21 ; death of,
17; letter of, 5.
Seabury, Samuel ; birth, 1 ; baptism,
3 ; graduates at Yale College, 4 ;
Catechist, 5 ; at Edinburgh Univer-
sity, 6, 7 ; ordination, and mission-
ary at New Brunswick, 8 ; marriage,
8; at Jamaica, 8-21 ; at Westches-
ter, 21-48, 464; outbreak of the
Revolution, 25-27 ; A. W. Farmer's
pamphlets, 28-30; suspected and
watched, 31 ; arrest, and memorial,
35-42 ; release and return to West-
chester, 43 ; church closed, 45 ; es-
cape from Westchester, 48 ; chap-
lain, 53 ; sermon, 54 ; practices med-
icine, 56 ; chosen Bishop of Connec-
ticut, 78 ; testimonials in support
of, 80-95 ; embarks for England,
96; arrives in London, 105; imped-
iments to consecration, 108, 109 ;
application to Scottish Bishops, 128 ;
consecrated, 1 45 ; returns to Lon-
don, 163; embarks for America,
1 88 ; lands at Newport, 206 ; recog-
nition by his Clergy, 209-211 ; an-
swer to his Clergy, 211-213; first
ordination, 213; first charge, 216-
225 ; Communion office set forth,
263 ; liturgical changes, 264, 265 ;
second charge, 267-282 ; salary and
income, 285, 286 ; use of mitre, 318,
319 ; extract from sermon, 327-329 ;
first visit to Boston, 329 ; appears
in Convention at Philadelphia, 368 ;
first President of House of Bishops,
373 ; opinion on the use of creeds, 376,
377 ; secures a change in the Com-
munion office, 382-385 ; pastoral ad-
dress to his Clergy, 386 ; extracts
from address, 397-399 ; chosen Bish-
op of Rhode Island, and visitation to
the churches, 401 ; ordination at
Portsmouth, N. H., 403 ; sermon be-
fore General Convention in New
York, and extract, 4 19-421 ; joins in
consecration of Dr. Claggett, 422 ;
Office for the Burial of Infants, 430 ;
pointed psalter, 431 ; last Conven-
tion, 445 : visits churches in Rhode
Island, 447 ; preaches at East Plym-
outh, and last ordination, 452 ; vis-
itations, 453, 454 ; declining health
and death, 454, 455 ; character, 457-
496
INDEX.
459 ; personal appearance, 460 ; in-
scriptions on monument, tablet, and
window, 465-468 ; extracts from
letters, 15, 20-24, 50, 51 ; letters to
Isaac Wilkius, 32 ; to Society, 45-
47, 54, 171-175; to clergy of Con-
necticut, 106-112, 118-124, 130-
133, 167-169, 207, 208; to Cart-
wright, 135 ; to Myles Cooper, 136-
138; to Bishop Ivilgour, 142; to
Jonathan Boucher, 159-162 ; to Dr.
Smith, 229-236 ; to Dr. White, 251,
252, 349-356 ; to Governor Hunt-
ington, 266 ; to Bishop Skinner,
294, 295 ; to Bishop Provoost, 299,
300; to William Stevens, 300, 301,
426, 427, 436, 437, 441, 442; to
Samuel Parker, 303, 326, 327, 365 ;
to Bishop Drummond, 336-339 ; to
Tillotsou Brouson, 344-346 ; to New-
port gentlemen, 392-396 ; to E. Pun-
derson, 396, 397; to Dr. Dibblee,
409, 410 ; to John Clark, 413, 414.
Seabury, Samuel, Eev. Dr., 380, 460.
Seabnry, William J., Kev. Dr., 460.
Sears, Captain Isaac, 36-38, 41 .
Seeker, Thomas, Bishop of Oxford, 13.
" Second Ecclesiastical Society," 2.
Sharp, James, 337.
Sharpe, Granville, 164, 165, 242.
Sharpe, John, Archbishop of York,
164.
Shelton, Rev. Philo, 213, 407, 425.
Sherlock, Thomas, Bishop of Lon-
don, 7.
Skinner, Bishop John, 126-129, 144,
145, 147-149, 153, 156, 165, 166,
176, 182, 183, 201, 240, 294, 338;
letters of, 186-188, 204-206, 295-
298; Primus, 341,342.
Skinner, Bishop William, 468.
Smith, Rev. Robert, 256, 363, 449.
Smith, Rev. Dr. William, 143, 165,
166, 179, 190, 197, 198, 200, 203,
205, 228, 229, 236, 244-246, 251,
292, 296, 322, 356, 358-362, 367,
378-380, 419 ; chosen Bishop, 191 ;
President, House of Deputies, 384 ;
letter, 362-364.
Smith, Rev. William, the younger,
256, 391-395, 439, 448.
Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel, 3-9, 12-15, 20, 21, 23-25,
27, 33, 34, 46, 49, 50, 54, 56, 57, 59,
60, 66-68, 72, 171, 176, 207, 285,
456, 463, 464.
Sons of Liberty, 27, 45.
Spraggs, Rev. Mr , 254.
St. Andrew's Chapel, 156.
Starr, Jonathan, 123.
Stevens, William, 162, 202, 285, 300,
342, 426, 436, 441.
Stiles, Dr. Ezra, 237.
Stratfield, special meeting of clergy
in, 367.
" Strictures on the Love of Power in
the Prelacy," 450.
Stuart, House of, 144, 339.
Swedish Bishops, 173.
Talbot, Rev. John, 134.
Taylor, Charles N, 426.
Taylor, Ralph, 134.
" The Appeal to the Public," 20.
" The Appeal Defended," 20.
" The Appeal farther Defended," 20.
" The Corporation for the Relief of
Widows and Orphans," 194.
" The Proposed Book," 246, 256, 287,
320,349, 361.
" The Whole Duty of Man," 13.
Thirty-nine Articles, 343.
Thomas, Dr. John, Bishop of Lincoln, 7.
Thurlow, Lord Chancellor, 342.
Todd, Rev. Ambrose, 315.
Townsend, Rev. Epenetus, 132.
Trinity Church, New York, 55, 71.
Tryon, Gov. William, 54, 58.
Tyler, Rev. John, 76, 195, 455.
U.
Underbill, Nathaniel, 36, 38.
Unitarians, 331, 332.
University of Edinburgh, 6, 7, 79.
Usher, John, 402 ; ordained, 432, 433.
Ustick, William, Jr., 426, 442.
V.
Vandyke, Rev. Henry, 213.
Viets, Rev. Roger, 76.
W.
Washington, General, 55, 62, 64-66,
68, 72, 361, 379.
Washington College, in Maryland, 143,
187, 190.
Washington (Trinity) College, Hart-
ford, 158, 319.
Webster, Dr., 338.
Welton, John, 438.
Welton, Robert, 134.
INDEX.
497
Wesley, Rev. Charles, 188, 399.
Wesley, Rev. John, 188, 230, 399, 400.
Westchester, 21-24, 26, 31, 36, 41-43,
46-48, 53, 54, 67, 72.
Westchester, St. Peter's Church at,
28.
Westchester County, 27, 29, 38, 39,
49, 50.
West Point, conspiracy to surrender,
63.
Wetmore, Rev. J., 8.
White, Rev. William, 103, 169, 170,
192, 194, 195, 199, 226-228, 236,
245, 246, 248, 249, 251, 253, 255,
258, 292, 296, 299, 304, 305, 308-
310, 331-334, 337, 346, 347, 349,
356, 358-364, 366-368, 373-378, 381-
384, 388, 400, 401, 418, 423, 424,
433, 449, 450, 469 ; pamphlet on Epis-
copacy, 97, 98, 200, 469; president
32
of Convention in Philadelphia, 244 ;
chosen Bishop, 290; embarks for
England, 291 ; returns to New York,
298 ; letters, 301-303.
Whitefield, Rev. George, 4, 11, 12, 14-
16.
Wilkins, Isaac, 28, 30-33, 180, 262,
456.
William III., 335.
William and Mary College, 421.
Wilson, Rev. Mr., 463.
Wood, Rev. Mr., 8.
Wooster, John, 415.
Wyllys, George, 167.
Y.
Yale College, 2, 4, 438.
Yorktown, siege of, 65.
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