loo

CO

o

V

V ^

• • , . ..."...

,

i

OLD CHURCHES,

MINISTERS

AND

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.

r r \ s

BY BISHOP MEADE.

IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I.

PHILADELPHIA:

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1861.

Entered a™nrdJne,toAfit -"f-tongreWif m 4fr*»yflT ^SW^^y-*^1*^

QV B. LIPPIN CpTT ;& CO. > M /

\ L_. « .••.-;: • '•'"•• •• "• «

ictJ^ourt of thgJJaiteduSiat^s for tJl.e Easfet^ Jffstrict of

/

%\1988/

:

\

\ ~Q \ '

\ • \ j .

-: -'--'J

W

The profits of this work, if any, will be devoted to Missions.

PREFACE.

IN the fall of 1854, the author, heing solicited to furnish some personal reminiscences of the Episcopal Church in Yirginia, pro- mised two articles to one of our quarterly Reviews, which have most unexpectedly grown into two octavo volumes. He was led into this enlargement by the further solicitation of friends that he would extend his inquiries into former times; and by the discovery that there were materials, not yet lost to history, of which good use might be made. Besides the recovery of many old vestry- books, or fragments thereof, supposed to have been lost, he has, either by his own researches or those of friends, found interesting materials for his work in a number of the old records of the State, which may yet be seen, though often in a mutilated and moulder- ing condition, in the Clerk's Offices of various counties. One of these extends back to the year 1632,* and refers to acts of a still earlier date, while some approach within a few years of the same. Other documents, of general interest to all, and of special interest to Yirginians and their descendants wherever found, have been furnished from old family records and papers, never before used, and which must otherwise soon have perished. The author has also wandered, and not a little, nor in vain, amidst old churches or their ruins and the graveyards around them, and the old family seats. The accounts of these, and the inscriptions taken from them, form an interesting contribution to Virginia history. For nothing will the descendants of the old families of the State be more thankful than for the lists of vestrymen, magistrates, and others, which have been gathered from the earliest records, and by means of which the very localities of their ancestors may be traced. Nor has inquiry been limited to the records of our own State and

* In the county of Northampton.

4 . PREFACE.

country. The archives of Parliament, and of Lambeth and Ful- ham Palaces, have, through the kindness and labours of others, furnished many important, deeply interesting, and hitherto unpub- lished documents, belonging to the history of the State and Church of Virginia. I shall not here mention the names of those numerous friends in Virginia and elsewhere who have kindly rendered me service in the preparation of this work, as they are referred to in one or more of those places where their contributions are introduced.

The previous publication, in a weekly paper, of far the larger part of what is contained in these volumes has not only obtained very valuable contributions, but secured the correction of some errors into which the author could not but fall in such a work, so that it is believed no material mistakes now remain. While portions of the book may have less interest for the general reader, being occupied with things belonging especially to the his- tory of Virginia, yet it is hoped that even those may be found worthy of perusal, while far the larger part relates to what should be the subject of inquiry to all wrho wish to be informed on the ecclesiastical history of our country.

The table of contents will greatly facilitate a reference to the numerous topics which have been introduced.

It was the intention of the writer to have presented, in this pre- face, a general view of the most important subjects treated of, and to have stated the chief results to which his own mind had come in the investigation of the same, by way of improvement and appli- cation; but time and opportunity are wanting, and the reader must be left to judge and decide for himself after examination.

The work, which has cost much labour and research, and in the execution of which it has been endeavoured, and not without prayer, to deal fairly with all, is now commended to the blessing of Heaven and the candour of the public.

WILLIAM MEADE, D.D.,

Bishop of the P. E. C. of Va.

May 15, 1867.

CONTENTS OF VOL I.

ARTICLE I.

PAOB

UNFAVOURABLE circumstances of the Church from the first — Scarcity of ministers — Rev. Mr. Hunt's character — Want of a Bishop — Messrs. Whitefield, Davies, Jarrett — Causes of prejudice against the Church — Rev. Dr. Griffith chosen Bishop — Bishop Madison — General Convention of 1811 considered the Church of Virginia in danger of total ruin — Evil character of her clergy — The author's first recollections — Old chapel in Frederick — Rev. Mr. Balmaine — Rev. Mr. Thruston— Rev. Mr. Muhlenburg — Rev. Mr. Wiley — No family prayers at that day- — Mr. Philip Nelson's family — Bishop Madison's visit to Frederick — Rev. Mr. Addison and the author — Character of the preaching in Virginia — In- troduction of evangelical preaching — Bishop Porteus — Wilberforce — General Nelson and family — Author's ordination and previous correspondence with Bishop Madison — Williamsburg — Author's ministry in Alexandria — Rev. Bryan Fairfax and General Washington — Rev. Bernard Page — Author's set- tlement in Frederick, and missionary labours in surrounding counties — Ordi- nation to the priesthood by Bishop Claggett — Bishop Claggett's personal character 13

ARTICLE II.

My return to Frederick — Missionary labours — Mr. Balmaine — Bishop Madison's death — Convention of 1812 — Rev. Mr. Low— Second Convention — Third — Bishop Moore's election — Convention of 1815 — Code of laws revised — Names of the clergy who engaged in the work of reviving the Church — Theological Seminary — First at Williamsburg — General Seminary — Clerical associations — Conventions assume a religious character — Lay delegates required to be communicants — Tractarianism condemned — Use of the Liturgy and vestments in Virginia — Glebes and salaries withdrawn — President Madison's opinion and course of action — His mother — Low state of morals in the Church — The same in other denominations, North and South — Concluding remarks — The past and present — Means used for the revival of the Church — Death of Bishop Moore — Election of Bishop Johns 36

ARTICLE III.

Parish of James City — The first settlement in Virginia — Missionary spirit of its founders in England — Sir Walter Raleigh — Peter Martyr — Richard Hak- luyt — Sir Philip Sydney — Rev. Robert Hunt — Captain Smith — Early trials — Wingfield — Sack used for the Communion — First church — Rev. Robert An- derson— Colonial churches — Conway Robinson's visit to England, and dis- covery of valuable documents — Piety of Captain Smith — Rev. Mr. Bucke — Sir Thomas Gates — Lord De la War — Missionary sermons in England — Rev. Mr. Crashaw — Second and third churches at Jamestown — The two Ferrars, John and Nicholas — Laudian tendencies — Rev. Mr, Whittaker — Rev. George Herbert's interest in the colony 62

ARTICLE IV.

Kindness to the natives still urged — Prayer to be used by the watch on guard — Sir Thomas Dale — New Bermuda and Henricopolis established — Mr. Whit- taker's life and character — Rolph and Pocahontas — Places of her residence, baptism, and marriage — Visit to England — Death — Her descendants in Vir- ginia 73

5

CONTENTS.

ARTICLE Y.

PAQl

Reflections on the marriage of Rolpli and Pocahontas — Rev. Mr. Fontaine's and Colonel Byrd's opinion— Burke's account of her descendants — John Randolph

Journal of a meeting of Burgesses in 1619, discovered by Mr. C. Robinson,

of Richmond, while in London — Education in Virginia — College in Henrico

Liberal donations — Fifteen thousand acres of land on James River set apart

for the College— Rev. Mr. Copland— Rev. Mr. Hargrave — Massacre of 1622 — Proposed removal of all the colonists to the Eastern Shore — Entire change of eeling toward the Indians — Virginia ceases to be a missionary-field 81

ARTICLE VI.

Company sends over a number of virtuous young females to Virginia, King James as many convict men — First cargo of slaves from Africa — Reflections on the same in a note — The ministers deteriorate in character — Number of small parishes near Jamestown — Rev. Mr. Hampton — Rev. Mr. Gough — Bacon's rebellion — Colonel Mason and Captain Brent, of Stafford — Commis- sary Blair its minister — Rev. Mr. Le Neve — Rev. Mr. Berkeley — Rev. John Hyde Saunders — Bishop Madison — His reported infidelity untrue — Church on the main — The graveyard at Jamestown — The sacred vessels presented to that church 8&

ARTICLE VII.

Connection between the Amblers of Virginia and those of Yorkshire in England — Rev. George Ambler, of Wakefield, England — Connection of the Speaker, Shaw Lefevre — The Jaquelines of Huguenot descent — Edward Ambler, of Jamestown — Jaqueline Ambler, of Richmond — Their mother — Dr. Buchanon — Extracts from his sermon on the death of the Treasurer, Jaqueline Ambler — Jamestown as it now is — Recent visit to it — Most of the old town in the river — The old church, when built — The graveyard — Com- missary Blair's tomb — Mrs. Blair's, The Ludwells'. Lees', Jaquelines', Am- blers', &c.— Size of the island, value, &c.— The Main Church — Vault under it 103

ARTICLE VIII.

Further proofs of the religious spirit of the enterprise from the instructions of King James — The high character of its patrons in England — Bishop of Can- terbury, &c. — Further remarks on the Code of Laws, "Martial, Moral, and Divine" — The times and modes of daily worship among the people and sol- diers— Charge from the Chief-Marshal to his colonel — Troubles of the colony after Hunt's death ascribed to their want of a preacher, among other things — A fine passage, or God's providence over the colony — Letter to Edwin Sandis about the College 116

ARTICLE IX.

Henrico parish — Dale's gift — Ferrar's Island — Dutch Gap — Remnants of Sir Thomas Dale's house and that of Rolpli and Pocahontas still seen — Bermuda Hundred settled the same year — Whittaker — Rock Hall — Glebe — Letter of Rolph to Sir Thomas Dale about his marriage — Conway Robinson — Jefferson's Church — Journal of the Burgesses in 1619 — An important document — Letter of the Earl of Essex to the Earl of Southampton 123

ARTICLE X.

The Indian character, by Mr. Whittaker — Rolph's return to Virginia, and second marriage — His brother's petition to the Assembly — Preparations for the Col- lege— Mr. Thorpe — One hundred young women ordered over to Virginia — Wil- liam Randolph, and Bacon the rebel, early settlers in Henrico — Rev. Messrs.

CONTENTS. 7

PAOH

Wickam and Stockara ministers — Mr. Blair — Parish in 1724 — Rev. Mr. Stitli — Curls Church built by Richard Randolph — Sketch of the Randolphs — Rev. Miles Selden — St. John's Church, Richmond — Meeting of the Revolution- ary Assembly in it — First vestrymen after the Revolution — Dr. Buchanon — Richmond during the war — Blair and Buchanon the only ministers — The House of Burgesses the only place of worship — Bishop Moore — The Rev. Mr. Hart — Case of the Glebe — Font from Curls Church — Rev. Mr. Lee — Messrs. Peet, Croes, Morrison, Kepler, Nichols, Woodbridge, Norwood, Jackson, Jones, Empie, Bolton, Duval, Walker, Webb, Cummings, Peterkin, Minegerode 134

ARTICLE XI.

Williamsburg, Bruton parish — First minister known to us, Rowland Jones — Sides- men and vestrymen — First church — Present church — John Page — Autobio- graphy of Governor Page and genealogy of the family — Rev. Messrs. Sclater and Eburne — Beginning of the contest between vestries and Governors — Rev. Messrs. Doyley and Whately — Andros — Nicholson — Commissary Blair — Spottswood — State of the question between the vestries and Governors — In- duction— Though allowed, not enjoined, and seldom practised, at this day — Vestries prepared the way for the Revolution — The Convention of 1776 com- posed of vestrymen — A list of that Convention — Commissary Blair's character — Extracts from his sermons, showing what was the style of his preaching... 146

ARTICLE XII.

Mr. Blair, as Founder and President of the College — As one of the Council — His conflict with Andros — Their trial in London, before the Archbishop of Canter- bury and the Bishop of London — Triumph of Blair — Contest with Nicholson — His triumph — Nicholson and Miss Burwell — Many of the clergy against Blair — Governor Nott — Colonel Spottswood — The Commissary and himself soon disagree — Spottswood's high views of the Governor's power — Becomes unpopular — Blair and himself at open issue before the Convention — Journal of the Convention — Spottswood superseded by Drysdale — Character of the clergy of that day as set forth by Blair, Drysdale, the Rev. Mr. Forbes, and others — Rules proposed by which to decide when a minister was drunk — Governor Spottswood and family — Different accounts of it 157

ARTICLE XIII.

Commissary Dawson — President Dawson — Brothers — Best ministers educated at the College — Case of discipline — Rev. Mr. Davies, Presbyterian minister, comes to Virginia — Rev. William Yates, President of the College — Rev. William Robinson, Commissary — Rev. Mr. Horrocks, President and Commis- sary— Question of having a Bishop discussed — Convention called — Negatived — Opinion of Bishop White and Dr. Hawks — President Nelson's letter to his friend in London — Rev. Mr. Camm, President and Commissary— Dismissed by the Visitors, and Mr. Madison chosen President — Revolution coming on — Day of prayer and fasting appointed in 1774 — George Mason's letter on the sub- ject— Infidelity finding its way into Virginia — Infecting the College — Young men sent to Northern Colleges — Correspondence between the Bishop of London and the Visitors of William and Mary — Dr. Halyburton — Troubles in the Col- lege— Dr. Bracken — Drs. Smith, Keith, Wilmer, Empie — The Rev. Mr. Hodges — Mr. Ewell — Rev. Mr. Denison — Rev. George Wilmer — List of vestrymen 16*

ARTICLE XIV.

Notices of leading characters — Daniel Parke — John Custis — Daniel Parke, Jr. — His treatment of Mrs. Blair — His execution — Sir John Randolph — Peyton Randolph — Mr. Evelyn — Edmund Randolph — Letters to his children — George Nicholas — Robert ' C. Nicholas — Lord Botetourt — Mrs. Nicholas — Letter to her son, W. C. Nicholas— Mr. Burwell Bassett— Mr. Robert Saunders— Thoughts on the basis of the Virginia character — The fathers and founders of the fajnilies of Virginia, from whence came the great men of the Revolution,

g % CONTENTS.

PAGB

were men of education, ministers, teachers, lawyers, doctors, merchants, Huguenots, farmers, Cavaliers in the time of Cromwell, and some of his fol- lowers afterwards — Virginia no place for turning paupers into rich men, or ignorant men into learned ones — No education for the poor 180

ARTICLE XV.

Graveyard around the church — Mutilated condition of the tombs — Some buried in the church — Some in the College chapel — Names of persons with epitaphs — Rev. Roland Jones — Governor Nott — Philip Ludwell — Thomas Ludwell — Richard Kemp — Thomas Lunsford — Philip Ludwell, Jr. — Colonel John Page — Mrs. Alice Page — Francis Page — Mary Page — Michael Archer — Joanna Archer — Catherine Thorp — Thomas Thorp — Edward and Blumfield Barradall — Colonel David Bray — Elizabeth Bray — David Bray — John Greenhow — Tombs of Colo- nel David Parker and Nathaniel Bacon in adjoining fields — Tombs of Mrs.

. Bacon and the Rev. Thomas Hampton on the bank of York River — Chicka- hominy Church — Extracts from the old records of the court and the College.... 194

ARTICLE XVI.

York-Hampton parish — Change of name — Rev. Francis Fontaine first minister — Rev. John Camm — Rev. Mr. Shield — Mr. Graham Frank — Temple Farm — Go- vernor Spottswood's summer residence — York almost deserted of people and ministers after the war — Description of York — Old York House — Sketch of the Nelson family — President Nelson — Intimacy with Bishop Porteus — Mr. Camm's sermon at his death — Mrs. Nelson — Her pious character — General Nelson — Judge Tucker's biography of him — His generosity — His honourable character — His religious principles — The place of his burial — Chattellux's account of the family at Offley, in Hanover — Loss of documents relating to President and General Nelson — Inscriptions on the tombs around the old church in York 202

ARTICLE XVII.

The question of the Two-Penny Act, or Option-Law, considered — Mr. Camm the champion of the clergy — The principle tried by a suit with his vestry — Pre- vious Acts of Assembly prepared the way for it — Governor Dinwiddie con- demned the Act, but would not veto it — Mr. Camm sent to England — The Crown, Bishop of London, and Privy Council condemned it, but dared not take effective measures against it — Suits brought in Virginia by several clergymen — The case of the Rev. Mr. Maury — Patrick Henry — Pamphlets of Camm, Landon Carter, and Richard Bland — Mr. Wirt's opinion -of the case — Patrick Henry's religious character and Church-preferences — Roger Atkinson's letter about him and the other delegates from Virginia to the first Congress — Justi- fying reasons for the course of the clergy — Past and present condition of York — Its future prospects 216

ARTICLE XVIII.

Hampton, or Elizabeth City parish — Its early settlement — Records of the court,

1685 — Early ministers — Offences punished — Old church at Pembroke farm

Tombstones — Succession of ministers — Warrington and Selden — Condition in 1724 — Present church — Desecration by the English — Mrs. Carrington's letters about Commodore Warrington — Rev. Mr. Skyren's tomb — Revival of the Church

— Mr. Servant's letter — List of the vestrymen — Parishes in Warwick Visit to

Warwick — Denbigh House and Church — The Diggeses, Coles, and Carys Old

court records — Names of early settlers — Visit to Bellfield, on York River

Tombs and inscriptions of the Diggeses 229

ARTICLE XIX.

Lynnha-Ken parish— Cape Henry — Parish before 1642 — Oldest church and grave- yard Tinder water — History of it — Vestry-book, 1723 — List of clergy and vestrymen — The churches — Present condition — Causes of its decline 246

CONTENTS.

ARTICLE XX.

PAGE

Northampton — Early names — Sir William Berkeley's Asylum — Records of the court go back to 1632 — The oldest in Virginia — Strict discipline by the court — Instances of it — The whole subject considered — The treatment of the Quakers here and elsewhere — Instances of piety and charity — Stephen Charl- ton and the glebe — Colonel Norwood's visit to the Eastern Shore — Mr. Stringer and Major Custis — Succession of ministers — List of vestrymen — Parsonage — Case of the glebe considered — Bowdoin family — Custis family.. 252

ARTICLE XXI.

Parishes in Accomac — Ministers — Mr. Black in 1724 — Charity-school endowed by Mr. Sanford still existing — A premium for the baptism and instruction of every Indian or negro — Patriotism of the Episcopal clergy — Mr. Jefferson's testimony — Rev. Cave Jones — Rev. Mr. Eastburn — Letter from his brother, Bishop Eastburn — Principal families in Accomac 264

ARTICLE XXII.

Division of Norfolk in 1691 — Colonel Byrd's description of Norfolk in 1728 — Names of its ministers — Three parishes in Norfolk county — Dispute between "Whitehead and Bland — Mr. John Southgate's letter — Origin of the present constitution of Christ's Church, Norfolk — St. Paul's Church — Its history — Families in and around Norfolk — Commodore Dale — Ministers of Portsmouth parish — Yellow fever in 1856 — Rev. Messrs. Jackson and Chisholm 271

ARTICLE XXIII.

Nansemond — Its early settlement — Contiguity to North Carolina — Colonel Byrd's account of North Carolina — The character of the people and clergy — Christina — Mr. Griffin — Mr. Fontaine — His plan for converting the Indians — The Rev. Mr. Anderson's history of the clergy who were sent to North Carolina different from Mr. Byrd's account 282

ARTICLE XXIV.

Vestry-book begins in 1743 — First vestrymen — List of the vestry — Account of the churches — List and character of the clergy — Troubles of the vestry with unworthy ministers — Number of Reddicks in the vestry — Andrew Meade, the first vestryman and churchwarden on the list — His family — Sketch of it by Colonel David Meade, of Kentucky — The old church in Suffolk — The old graveyard at Mount Pleasant , 289

ARTICLE XXV.

Isle of Wight—Early settlement— Rev. Mr. Falkner in 1662— Destruction of records by Tarleton — Old Smithfield Church — An evergreen plucked from its walls — Other churches — Ministers — Annoyance from the Quakers — Fami- lies— Part of a vestry -book found — Its contents — Part of another vestry-book belonging to Chuckatuck parish — Its contents — Southampton county — Its parishes, churches, and ministers — Surrey county — Its churches- and minis- ters— Recent efforts to revive the Church — The Harrison family — Sussex county — The old vestry-book — It was born, lived, and died under the Rev. Mr. Willie 299

ARTICLE XXVI.

Parishes in Charles City — Early settlement — Divisions — Peter Fontaine — Colo- nel Byrd — The family of Byrd — The family of Fontaines — Annual meeting—

10 % CONTENTS.

PAGB

Peter Fontaine's temperance — Other ministers — Old Westover ^Church and graveyard — Present Westover Church — Other churches — Families — No ves- try-book 3:H

ARTICLE XXVII.

Gloucester— Petsworth and Kingston — Vestry-book from 1677 to 1793 — Pets- worth Church — The bricks removed when— A description of it — Its ministers

Extracts from the vestry-book — Names of the vestrymen — Kingston parish

— Mathews— List of ministers— Peculiar vestry meetings— Churches— Eliza- beth Tompkins — Names of vestrymen and families 321

ARTICLE XXVIII.

Letter from the Rev. Mr. Mann on Ware and Abington parishes — No vestry- book List of ministers from the tombs and elsewhere — Principal families —

Condition of Abington in 1724 — Age of Abington Church — Ware repaired —

Dr. Taliafcro Mrs. Vanbibber — Richard Kempe — Governor Page — Rosewell

Debt contracted by it — Folly of large and expensive houses — Major

Lewis Burwell, of King's Mill, guilty of the same — Governor Page's letters to his children — Old stone chimney built by Captain Smith at Timberneck — Powhatan's residence — Letter of Captain Smith to Queen Anne concerning Pocahontas — The Rev. Mr. Fontaine's sermon on the death of Mrs. Page — The Page family , 328

ARTICLE XXIX.

Selim, the Algerine — Early classical education at Constantinople — Taken by pirates and carried to New Orleans — Sent up the Ohio — Escaped and came to Staunton — Found nearly dead in the woods — Kindly treated, and taught the religion of Christ — Embraced it — Dissatisfied — Returned to Algiers — Dis- owned by his parents — Came back deranged — Went to Williamsburg — In- timate with the professors, with the families in York and at Rosewell, and with Councillor Carter, of Nominy — Goes with Governor Page to Philadelphia — His picture taken by Peale — Hung up at Rosewell — Now in Williamsburg —Death 341

ARTICLE XXX.

Visit to Gloucester — Examination of the old stone chimney — Convinced that it is the one built by Captain Smith — Question whether Timberneck or Shelly is the site of Powhatan's residence — Examination of the tombs at Timberneck — Inscriptions — Tombs at Rosewell — Inscriptions — Tombs at Carter's Creek or Fairfield — Inscriptions — Tombs in Ware Church concealed by the floor — Inscriptions on them , 349

ARTICLE XXXI.

Parishes in Middlesex — When established — First minister — Henry Corbin — Churches — Rev. Mr. Shephard — Major Smith — Rev. Mr. Read — His legacy — The Yateses — Their worth — Tombstone of Bartholomew Yates — Rev. Mr. Heffernon — Legacy of Mr. Churchill — The pretender Robinson 356

ARTICLE XXXII.

Middlesex a nursery for other parts of Virginia — List of vestrymen — Many members of the Council from it — Robert Beverley — Duty of vestrymen — Matthew Kempe — Claims of Governor Nicholson — Edward Northy's opinion — A few families owned all Middlesex — Brandon and Rosegill — Major John Grymes— Epitaph— Grymes family — Wormleys — Captain Bayley — Colonel Chewning — Rev. Messrs. Rooker and Carraway 364

CONTENTS. 11

ARTICLE XXXIII.

PAGE

Parishes in King and Queen and King William — Stratton Major — Rev. Mr. Skaife — Commissary Robinson — Robinson family — Speaker Robinson — His epitaph — Vestry-book — Vestrymen — Church near Corbin's — Recently removed — St. Stephen's parish — King William county — Its churches still standing — Rev. Mr. Dalrymple's account of them — Rev. Mr. Skyren — Letter concerning him 374

ARTICLE XXXIV.

Parishes in New Kent — St. Peter's and Blissland — Old vestry-book of St. Peter's — Governor Nicholson's imperious letters — Rev. Mr. Morgan's letter to the Bishop of London as to the morals of the clergy and people — Rev. Mr. Lang's letter — List of the clergy from 1696 — Rev. Mr. Mossom — Mr. Jarratt — List of vestrymen — Blissland parish — Little known of it 383

ARTICLE XXXV.

Parishes in Essex county — South Farnham — Two churches both destroyed ruth- lessly— Rev. Mr. Latane — Governor Spottswood's interference in his behalf — Succession of ministers — Latane family — Temples 389

ARTICLE XXXVI.

. St. Anne's parish — Rev. Mr. Bagge — Controversy with the vestry — Governor Spottswood espouses his cause, but fails — Rev. Robert Rose — His journal found — Executor to Mr. Bagge, Spottswood, and others — Benevolent and active character — Charity to the poor — Four brothers came with him from Scotland — His children — His wives — His journeyings — His death — Epitaph — Mr. Smelt succeeds him — Father of Caroline Smelt — Other ministers — Families in the parish — Dangerfield family — Lomax family — Micous — Matthews 396

ARTICLE XXXVII.

Parishes in Caroline county, St. Mary's, St. Margarett's, St. Asaph's, and Drys- dale — St. Mary's — List of ministers — Rev. Mr. Boucher — Rev. Mr. Waugh — Churches — Mount Church — Its organ — Its profanation — Present use — Reedy Greek Church — Joy Creek Church — St. Margarett's — Its ministers — Families — Letter from a friend about it — St. Asaph's and Drysdale — Ministers — Laymen — Judge Pendleton — Letter of his to Richard Henry Lee — Petition to the Legislature against using intoxicating liquors at elections, drawn up and headed by Judge Pendleton, signed by the leading men of Caroline county 409

ARTICLE XXXVIII.

Parishes in Hanover — St. Paul's and St. Martin's — Rev. Mr. Brooke first minis- ter— Rev. Charles Bridges next — His attention to the servants — Letter to the Bishop of London — Division of the parish — Ministers in them — The Revs. Patrick Henry, Robert Barrett, &c. — Character of the Rev. Mr. Philips — Families in Hanover — Old Mrs: Berkeley, of Airwell, and the Communion- plate — Old Mrs. Nelson — Her authority over her sons — Her poverty — Her death— Mr. Frank Nelson 419

ARTICLE XXXIX.

Dissent finds its way into Hanover — The treatment of Dissenters in Virginia considered — Misrepresentations of it examined — A case stated — Treatment of the Quakers misunderstood — Their treatment in Accomac — Governor Spottswood and the Quakers — The Baptists — Rev. Mr. Maury's pamphlet

12 • CONTENTS.

PAGl

concerning them — Mr. Sample's acknowledgment — Case of Rev. Samuel Davies and the Presbyterians in Hanover — Address of five Episcopal clergy- men to the House of Burgesses about Mr. Davies and his followers — Governor Gooch and the Presbytery of New Castle — History of the introduction of Presbyterianism into Virginia — Correspondence between Dr. Davies, the Bishop of London, and Dr. Doddridge — Result of the whole 426

ARTICLE XL.

Parishes in Prince George county — Martins Brandon and Bristol — No vestry-book of Martins Brandon — Rev. Mr. Finnie — His funeral-sermons — Other minis- ters— Churches, old and new — Bristol parish — Why so called — Its ministers — Robertson its minister for forty-six years — His account of the parish in 1724 — Succession of ministers — Churches — Old Blandford — Many others — Petersburg made up of four towns — Names of the vestrymen from the old vestry-book — Genealogy of the Blands — Old Mr. and Mrs. Grammar — Rev. Mr. Slaughter's history of the parish 437

ARTICLE XLI.

Parishes in Chesterfield — Dale and Manchester — Dale parish — Rev. George Frazer — Rev. Mr. McRoberts — His defection — Correspondence with Jarratt — Rev. William Leigh — The Watkins family — Churches — Old Saponey — Wood's Church — Controversy about it — Still standing — Manchester parish — Its ministers — Churches — Falling Creek Church — Affecting account of it — Old Mr. Patterson— The Cary family 448

ARTICLE XLII.

St. James Northam, Goochland county — Vestry-book — Rev. Mr. Gavin — His letter to the Bishop of London — Rev. Mr. Douglass — His register and notes — A letter from him — Rev. Mr. Hopkins and his descendants — Rev. William Lee — List of vestrymen — Churches — Parsonage the gift of Mr. William Boi- ling • 456

ARTICLE XLIII.

King William parish, or Manakintown — The Huguenot settlement — Sketch of the Huguenot history — Henry IV. — Huguenots in America — In Virginia — The Fontaine and Maury families — Succession of ministers at Manakin — The Dupuy family— Names of the Huguenot families of Virginia 463

ARTICLE XLIV.

Parishes in Dinwiddie and Brunswick counties— Bath parish— Succession of ministers — Sketch of the Rev. Devereux Jarratt — Mrs. Jarratt — St. Andrew's parish— Its churches— Its ministers— Its vestrymen— Meherrin parish, Green- ville— Its ministers and churches — Tarleton's visit to it 469

ARTICLE XLV.

Parishes in Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Charlotte— Cumberland parish— Vestry-book— Ministers and churches— Caution in employing ministers- Clement Read— Rev. Mr. Craig— His patriotism— Tarleton's visit to his mill -Rev. Dr. Cameron— His school— Hon. Duncan Cameron— Long list of vestrymen- -Mr. Buford— St. James parish, Mecklenburg— Principal families —Rev. Mr. Micklejohn— Anecdotes of him— Bishop Ravenscroft— The Nel- sons—Minister of the count

OP

VIRGINIA.

[From the Protestant Episcopal Quarterly Review.]

ARTICLE I.

Recollections of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Virginia, during the Present Century. With a Brief Notice of its Earlier History. By BISHOP MEADE.*

IT is a useful employment for societies as well as individuals to look back through their past history and mark the dealings of a kind Providence towards them. The History of the Episcopal Church of Virginia has been, from the very beginning, a most inte-

* Having been urged to furnish some personal recollections of the Church in Virginia for this Review, I have consented; and in this article commenced the delicate task. The candid and the charitable will make due allowance for the peculiar difficulties of it, especially that of avoiding the frequent mention of myself. Had I kept a diary for the last fifty years, and taken some pains during that period to collect information touching the old clergy, churches, glebes, and Episcopal families, I might have laid up materials for an interesting volume; but the time and opportunity for such a work have passed away. The old people, from whom I could have gathered the materials, are themselves gathered to their fathers. The vestry-books, from which I could have gotten much, and some of which I have seen, are, for the most part, either lost, or fallen into the hands of persons who use them for the establishment of land-claims or bounties, the regis- ter of baptisms and marriages sometimes rendering them assistance in their work. Small, therefore, is the contribution I can make to the ecclesiastical history of my native State. To Dr. Hawks's elaborate and able work I must refer the reader for the earlier history of the Episcopal Church of Virginia. A brief notice of that period is all that is necessary to prepare him for my own reminiscences, and that is furnished. W. M.

13

14 OLD CIHJRCHES, MINISTERS, AXD

resting and eventful one— beyond that of any other Diocese in the Union. I would briefly refer to some of its particulars, in order to raise our hearts in gratitude to God for its wonderful preserva- tion, and to make us more faithful and zealous in using the proper means for its further advancement.

The Episcopal Church of Virginia commenced with the first settlement of the first Colony. The code of laws of that Colony was drawn up at a time when "religion (as Bishop Taylor expresses it) was painted upon banners," for it was "divine, martial, and moral," all in one, being enforced, even among Protestants, by civil pains and penalties which we would fain now. banish from our recollections and blot from the page of history. That there was much of sincere piety moving the hearts of those who incorporated the forms of the Episcopal Church with the Colony of Virginia, as well as of those who established other forms among the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, I doubt not. Nor do I question the piety and fidelity of some of the people and pastors during its whole subsequent history. But that its spiritual condition was ever, at any time, even tolerably good, bearing a comparison with that of the Mother-Church, over whose defects also there was so much cause to mourn, faithful history forbids us to believe. Many were the disadvantages under which she had to labour, during nearly the whole period of her existence in connection with the government of England, which were well calculated to sink her character beneath that of the Church of England, and of some other churches in America. Immense were the difficulties of getting a full supply of ministers of any character; and of those who came, how few were faithful and duly qualified for the station ! One who was indeed so faithful as to be called the Apostle of Virginia at an early period of its settlement, lamenting over the want of ministers in the Colony, thus upbraids those who refused to come. " Do they not either wilfully hide their talents, or keep themselves at home, for fear of losing a few pleasures ? Be not there any among them of Moses and his mind, and of the Apostles, who forsook all to follow Christ?" The Council of Virginia also addressed the most solemn and pathetic appeals to the clergy of Engbm1, beseeching them to come over to the work of the Lord in the Colony — though, it is to be feared, with little success; for in the year 1655 it is recorded that many places were destitute of ministers, and likely still to continue so, the people not paying their "accustomed dues." There were, at this time, about fifty parishes in the Colony, most of which were destitute of clergy-

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 15

men, as there were only ten ministers for their supply. To remedy this evil it was proposed to establish in the English Uni- versities Virginia fellowships, imposing it as a condition, that the fellows spend seven years in Virginia ; but we do not read of its execution. That the ministers then in the Colony were men of zeal can scarce be supposed, as a law was required enjoining it upon them to preach constantly every Sabbath and administer the sacrament at least twice every year. If we proceed in the history of the Colony another fifty years, which will carry us beyond the first century of its existence, we shall find only a few more parishes established, and, though glebes and parishes had been provided, not more than one-half of the congregations were sup- plied with ministers, the rest being served by lay-readers. In some places indeed lay-readers were preferred to settled minis* ters, because less expensive to the parishioners. As to the un- worthy and hireling clergy of the Colony, there was no eccle- siastical discipline to correct or punish their irregularities and vices. The authority of a Commissary was a very insufficient sub- stitute for the superintendence of a faithful Bishop. The better part of the clergy and some of the laity long and earnestly peti- tioned for a faithful resident Bishop, as the Bishop of London was, of necessity, only the nominal Bishop. For about two hundred years did the Episcopal Church of Virginia try the experiment of a system whose constitution required such a head but was actually without it. No such officer was there to watch over the conduct and punish the vices of the clergy; none to administer the rite of Confirmation, and thus admit the faithful to the Supper of the Lord. It must be evident that the Episcopal Church, without such an officer, is more likely to suffer for the want of godly discipline than any other society of Christians, because all others have some substitute, whereas our own Church makes this office indispensable to some important parts of ecclesiastical government and discipline. Such being the corrupt btate of the Church in Virginia, it is not wonderful that here, as in England, disaffection should take place, and dissent begin. The preaching and zeal of Mr. Whitefield, who visited Virginia about this time, contrasted with the sermons and lives of the clergy generally, con- tributed no doubt to increase disaffection. The pious Mr. Davies, afterwards President of Princeton College, made the first serious inroad upon the unity of the Church. His candid testimony deserves to be here introduced. " I have reason to hope," he says, " that there are and have been a few names in various parts of the

16 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

Colony who are sincerely seeking the Lord and groping after re- ligion in the communion of the Church of England." " Had the doctrines of the Gospel been solemnly and faithfully preached in the Established Church, I am persuaded there would have been few Dissenters in these parts of Virginia, for their first objections were not against the peculiar rites and ceremonies of that Church, much less against her excellent Articles, but against the general strain of the doctrines delivered from the pulpit, in which these Articles were opposed, or (which was the more common case) not mentioned at all, so that at first they were not properly dissenters from the original constitution of the Church of England, but the most strict adherents to it, and only dissented from those who had forsaken it."

That there was at this time not only defective preaching, but, as might be expected, most evil living among the clergy, is evident from a petition of the clergy themselves to the legis- lature asking an increase of salary, saying "that the small encouragement given to clergymen is a reason why so few come into this Colony from the Universities, and that so many who are a disgrace to the ministry find opportunities to fill the parishes." It is a well-established fact that some who were discarded from the English Church yet obtained livings in Virginia. Such being the case, who can question for a moment the entire accuracy of the account both of the preaching and living of the clergy of his day, as given by the faithful and zealous Mr. Jarrett? and who could blame him for the encouragement afforded to the disciples of Mr. Wesley, at a time when neither he nor they thought there could be a separation from the Church of England? Dissent, from various causes, was now spreading through the Commonwealth ; dissatisfaction with the mother-country and the Mother-Church was increasing, and the Episcopal clergy losing more and more the favour of God and man, when this devoted minister, almost alone in preaching and living according to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was glad to avail himself of any aid in the good work he was endeavouring to per- form. For the time, however, his efforts were unavailing. The War of the Revolution was approaching, and with it the downfall of the Church. Many circumstances contributed to this event. The opposition to the Dissenters in times past had embittered their minds against the declining Establishment. The attach- ment of some few of the clergy to the cause of the king sub- jected the Church itself to suspicion, and gave further occa-

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 17

sion to its enemies to seek its destruction. The dispute about Church property now came on, and, for twenty-seven years, was waged with bitterness and violence. At the commencement of the War of the Revolution, Virginia had ninety-one clergymen, offi- ciating in one hundred and sixty-four churches and chapels; at its close, only twenty-eight ministers were found labouring in the less desolate parishes of the State. Whither numbers of them, had fled, and to what secular pursuits some of them had betaken themselves, it is not in our power to state. Had they been faithful shep- herds, they would not have thus deserted their flocks.

We come now to the efforts of the more faithful to strengthen the things that remained but were ready to die. In common with some other dioceses, the Church in Virginia resolved on an effort to obtain consecration from abroad for a Bishop who might complete her imperfect organization. A very worthy man, the Rev. Dr. Griffith, was selected for the purpose ; but so depressed was her .condition, so little zeal was found in her members, that, though for three successive years calls were made upon the parishes for funds to defray his expenses to England, only twenty-eight pounds were raised, a sum altogether insufficient for the purpose, so that the effort on his part was abandoned through poverty and domestic affliction. Even at a subsequent period, when renewed efforts, prompted by shame at past failures and a sense of duty to the Church, were made to secure what was necessary for Bishop Madison's consecration, a sufficiency, even with some foreign aid, was not obtained to pay all the necessary expenses of the voyage. The object, however, was accomplished, and at the end of almost two hundred years from the establishment of a most imperfect Church in Virginia a Bishop was obtained. But she was too far gone, and there were too many opposing difficulties, for her revival at that time. From the addresses of Bishop Madison to the Episcopalians of Virginia, it will be seen that he entered on his duties with no little zeal and with very just views of the kind of men and measures necessary for the work of re- vival. He plainly admits the want of zeal and fidelity in many of the ministers as one of the causes of the low condition of the Ohurch, and that the contrary qualifications were indispensable to her resuscitation. He made an ineffectual effort at bringing back into the bosom of the Church the followers of Mr. Wesley, for they had now entirely separated from her. After a few partial visitations of the Diocese, his hopes of the revival of the Church evidently sunk; and the duties of the College of William and

18 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

Mary, of which he was President, requiring his attention during the greater part of the year, at the Convention of 1805 he called for a Suffragan or Assistant Bishop. The subject was referred to the next year's Convention, but no such meeting was held, nor was there another until after his death. For seven years it seemed as if the worst hopes of her enemies and the most painful fears of her friends were about to be realized in her entire destruction. In the General Convention of the Church, held in the city of New Haven in 1811, there was no representation nor any report whatever from Virginia. The following entry is found on the journal : — " They fear, indeed, that the Church in Virginia is from various causes so depressed, that there is danger of her total ruin, unless great exertions, favoured by the blessing of Providence, are employed to raise her." And what more could be expected from the character of the clergy generally at that time, or for a long time before ? It is a melancholy fact, that many of them had been addicted to the race-field, the card- table, the ball-room, the theatre, — nay, more, to the drunken revel. One of them, about the very period of which I am speak- ing, was, and had been for years, the president of a jockey-club. Another, after abandoning the ministry, fought a duel in sight of the very church in which he had performed the solemn offices of religion.* Nothing was more common, even with the better

* Another preached (or went into an old country church, professing to do it) four times a year against the four sins of atheism, gambling, horse-racing, and swearing, receiving one hundred dollars — a legacy of some pious person to the minister of the parish — for so doing, while he practised all of the vices himself. When he died, in the midst of his ravings he was heard hallooing the hounds to the chase. Another, — a man of great physical powers, — who ruled his vestry with a rod of terror, wished something done, and convened them for the purpose. It was found that they were unwilling or unable to do it. A quarrel ensued. From words they came to blows, and the minister was victorious. Perhaps it is fair to presume that only a part — perhaps a small part — of the vestry was present. On the following Sabbath the minister justified what he had done in a sermon from a passage of Nehemiah: — "And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair."

This account I received from two old men of the congregation, of the most un- impeached veracity, one or both of whom was present at the sermon.

All indeed of the cases alluded to in the note and the text came so near to my own time and even ministry, that the truth of them was assured to me by those whose testimony was not to be doubted. Gladly would I be spared the painful reference to them and others, could it be done without unfaithfulness to the task undertaken. In consenting to engage in it, which I have done with reluctance, it became my duty to present an honest exhibition of the subject, and not misrepre- sent by a suppression of the truth. God has set us the example of true fidelity

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.

»

portion of them, than to celebrate the holy ordinance of Baptism, not amidst the prayers of the congregation, hut the festivities of the feast and the dance, the minister sometimes taking a full share in all that was going on. These things being so, and the churches having been, on account of such things, almost entirely deserted or else occupied by those who only held our Zion up to derision, what but a firm conviction of God's watchful providence over her could keep alive hope in the most ardent of her friends ? How often, in looking at the present comparative prosperity of the Church, do we say, Surely God must have greatly loved this branch of his Holy Catholic Church or he would not have borne so long with her unfaithfulness and so readily forgiven her sins.

Having presented this brief sketch of the past history of the Church in Virginia, I now proceed to execute the task assigned me by stating some things which came more or less under my own personal observation.

My earliest recollections of the Church are derived from visits, while yet a child, to the Old Stone Chapel in Frederick county, (then the back-woods of Virginia,) either on horseback, behind my father, or with my mother and the children in my grandmother's English chariot, drawn by four /work-horses in farming-gear, — richer gear having failed with failing fortunes. Some of the neighbours went in open four-horse plantation-wagons, very dif- ferent from the vehicles to which they had been accustomed in Lower Virginia, whence they emigrated.* My father took an

in the biographical and historical notices which pervade the sacred Scriptures. The greatest failings of his best saints, as well as the abominations of the wicked, are there faithfully recorded as warnings to all ages ; though there are those who think that it had been better to have passed over some unhappy passages. I have gone as far as conscience and judgment would allow in the way of omission even of things which have passed under my own eyes. Some of those who are hostile to our Church have dwelt much, from the pulpit and the press, on the evil conduct of many of our old ministers, and doubtless have oftentimes overrated this evil, while making no acknowledgment of any good. Some of our own people, on the other hand, have been disposed to ascribe to malice much of that which belongs to truth. Let us seek the truth. It is not only mighty and will prevail, but will do good in the hands of the God of truth. Often and truly has it been said of the Church, in certain ages and countries where evil ministers have abounded, that but for God's faithful promise, those ministers would long since have destroyed it. It is some relief to my mind to be able to add, that in almost all the unhappy instances to which I have made reference, it pleased Providence to ordain that they should leave no posterity behind to mourn their fathers' shame.

* My father had considerable possessions in land and servants in Lower Vir-

20 OLD CIHJRCHES, MINISTERS, AND

active part in the erection of this house, which was about seven miles distant from his residence. It was here that I officiated during the first twenty-five years of my ministry. The con- gregation, which now worships in a larger one four miles off, makes a kind of pilgrimage to it on one Sabbath each summer. It is still used for service in behalf of coloured persons, and on funeral occasions. Near it lies the parish burying-ground, where many dear friends and relatives are interred, and where I hope to find a grave. The Rev. Alexander Balmaine, a chaplain in the United States Army during the War of the Revolution, and who was married to a relative of Mr. Madison, one of the Presidents of our country, was the minister of it for more than thirty years, during the last ten or twelve of which I was associated with him. He lived in Winchester, and preached alternately there, in a stone church of about the same size, and at the chapel.

There was a small wooden church very near the chapel, which was built before the war, and in which the Rev. Mr. Thruston offi- ciated. The Baptists were, in his day, establishing themselves in this part of the Valley of Virginia. With them, it is said, he had much and sharp controversy. On the declaration of war he laid aside the ministry and entered the army, attaining before the close of it to the rank of Colonel, by which title he was known to the end of his days. About twelve miles from my father's, in a direc- tion opposite to the chapel, there was another small log church, in which the Rev. Mr. Mughlenburg, afterwards General Mughlen- burg, occasionally officiated. He was the minister of the adjoining parish in Shenandoah county and lived at Woodstock. He also exchanged the clerical for the military profession and rose to the rank of General. Tradition says that his last sermon was preached in military dress, a gown being thrown over it, and that he either chose for his text or introduced into his sermon the words of

ginia, but lost nearly all during the War of the Revolution, in which he served ns aid to General Washington. At the close of it, gathering up what little remained of money, and a very few servants, he removed to the rich and beautiful Valley of Frederick, lying between the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains. The whole country was little else than a forest at that time. For a small sum he purchased a farm, with two unfinished log rooms, around which the wolves nightly howled. Laying aside the weapons of war, he took himself to hard work with the axe, the maul, and other instruments, while my mother exchanged the luxuries and ease of Lower Virginia for the economy and 'tiligence of a Western housewife.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 21

Ecclesiastes, " To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven," — "a time of war and a time of peace," and that, the sermon being over, he laid aside the gown and walked forth the soldier in dress and office. He was esteemed a very upright and patriotic man. I have often in my younger days, and indeed after my entrance upon the ministry, seen a poor old lady at the chapel in Frederick, who sat under his ministry and still lived near his log church. Being twenty miles off from the chapel, she would come on horseback either to Winchester or to the house of my elder sister over night. Her visits were gene- rally on communion-days, and she always partook of it fasting. She spoke well of her minister as one who was faithful to his duty, for he rode twenty miles to preach to a few poor people in one of the poorest parts of the country. My next recollections of the Church are in the person of my teacher, who was educated in General Washington's Free School in Alexandria, and afterward on account of his promising talents sent to William and Mary College. At the end of his literary course he was admitted to Deacons' orders by Bishop Madison. A year or two after this he became teacher to the children of those few families who composed almost the whole of the chapel congregation. He was faithful as a classical teacher, heard us our catechism once a week, and for some time opened the school with prayer. He officiated also for a period at the chapel on those Sundays which Mr. Balmaine gave to Winchester; but, his habits becoming bad, he ceased ever after to exercise the ministerial office, being fully conscious that he had mistaken his calling. He left no posterity to be wounded by this statement, or I should have forborne to make it.* During this

* Although there was no such thing as family prayers at that day, yet was the Catechism taught in many families of the Church ; pincushions to the girls and trap-balls to the boys were sometimes given, in the parish of Frederick, by the wife of the old parish clerk, as a reward for accuracy in saying it to the minister. My mother also (as was the case with many others) made her children get and repeat some of the hymns of the Prayer Book, especially Bishop Ken's, for morning and evening, and repeat some short prayer at her bedside. In my father-in-law's family (Mr. Philip Nelson, who has often been seen in our State and General Conventions) the practice of reading the Psalms, as arranged in the Prayer Book, was regularly practised each day by the females, so that my wife, at our marriage, could repeat nearly the whole book of Psalms. Her father used to hear his children the Cate- chism every Sabbath morning before breakfast ; and on the one after our marriage she took her accustomed place at the head of six or eight children and performed her part. She was then eighteen years of age. It was doubtless the practice of repeating the Catechism, reading the Psalms and other Scriptures daily, and using

22 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

period of my life I had no other means of gaining a knowledge of the Church and her clergy than from my parents at home. When there was no service at the chapel or we were prevented from going, my father read the service and a sermon ; and whenever a death occurred among the servants he performed the burial service himself, and read Blair's Sermon on Death the following Sunday. Of the character and conduct of the old clergy generally I have often heard them speak in terms of strong condemnation. My father, when a young man, was a vestryman in Prince George county, Virginia, but resigned his place rather than consent to retain an unworthy clergyman in the parish. Of two clergymen, however, in King George county, — the Stewarts, — I have heard my mother, who lived for some time under the ministry of one of them, speak in terms of high commendation, as exceptions to the general rule. At the age of seventeen I was sent to Princeton College, where, of course, I had no opportunities of acquiring any knowledge of the Church, as it had no existence there at that time, though it was while there that I formed the determination, at the instance of my mother and elder sister, to enter the Episcopal ministry, as they perceived from my letters the serious turn of my mind. I ought to have stated above that my confirmation took place at a very early period, during the first and only visit of Bishop Madison to this part of Virginia. I have but an indistinct recollection of his having heard some of us the Catechism at church, and, as I sup- pose, laying his hands upon us in confirmation afterward, perceiving that we said our Catechism well. But as to both of them, espe- cially the latter, I have relied more on the testimony of older persons than on my own certain remembrance. At the age of nineteen or a few months sooner my college course was over. Through my beloved relative and faithful friend, Mrs. Custis of Arlington, I heard of the great worth of the Rev. Walter Addison of Maryland and determined to prepare for the ministry at his house and under his direction. In him I became acquainted with one of the best of men and saw one of the purest specimens of the ministerial character. Mr. Addison was of English parentage, and born to large landed possessions on the Maryland side of the

the morning service on Sundays when there was no public worship, which kept alive the knowledge of and attachment to the Church in many families which might otherwise have been lost to it. Such families were found to be most effective auxi- liaries in its resuscitation.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 23

Potomac opposite to Alexandria. He also inherited a number of servants, whom he emancipated. Through mismanagement his other property wasted away. But the God whom he served never permitted him to want, though he was allowed to end his days in poverty. It required but little to serve him, for he was a man of content and self-denial. At a time when wine, whiskey, rum, and brandy were so commonly and freely drunken by all, especially by many of the clergy of Virginia and Maryland, he made a rule never to drink more than one small glass of very weak toddy at dinner, but this was equal to total abstinence now. Wine he had none. He was faithful and bold in reproving vice from the pulpit and elsewhere, though one of the meekest of men. He told me of some mistakes into which he ran in his earlier days. He was probably one of the first of the Episcopal clergy in the United States who denounced what are called fashionable amusements. Some years before my acquaintance with him he published a small volume against balls, theatres, gambling, and horse-racing, ad- ducing some high authorities from the Church of England. His opposition to duelling and the means he adopted to prevent it made him for a number of years very notorious among the members of our American Congress. Being pastor of the church in Georgetown, though still living in the country at the time, he had the opportunity of exerting himself in the prevention of duels on several occasions. He has often detailed to me the circumstances attending those efforts, — namely, his clothing himself with a civil office, in order the more effectually to arrest the duellists in their attempts to find some favourable place for the combat, his interview with Mr. Jefferson, when he had reason to believe that one of the parties was in the Pre- sident's house, his pursuit after them on horseback, his overtaking them just as the seconds were measuring the ground, their threaten- ing to bind him to a tree in the Arlington forest if he did not desist from the pursuit. These and such like things have I heard from his truthful lips. At the time of the threatened encounter between Mr. John Randolph and Mr. Eppes, he was fully prepared to prevent it, and if necessary deposit one or both of them in a place of confinement. Mr. Randolph was then an attendant at his church in Georgetown. Eleven o'clock on Sunday morning was se- lected for the combat, in order, as was believed, to evade Mr. Addi- son's vigilance, as it was supposed he would then be at his post of duty in the house of God. But he believed that his post of duty on that day was elsewhere, and did not hesitate about disappointing the congregation. For some time preceding the appointed hour he

24 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

was secreted near the hotel where Mr. Randolph boarded, ready to arrest him should he leave the house. But an adjustment of the difference took place about that time. Mr. Stanford, a worthy member from North Carolina, the steady and judicious friend of Randolph, was doubtless engaged in the adjustment. At any rate, he knew what was going on and when the pacification was effected. He knew also where Mr. Addison was and what he was prepared to do. He it was who informed Mr. Addison that he might go with a quiet conscience to his Sabbath duties, as the diffi- culty was settled. This I had from the lips of Mr. Stanford him- self, with whom I had the pleasure to be intimately acquainted for many years. Mr. Addison was equally opposed to strife in the Christian Church. Although he was a true lover of our own and most passionately devoted to her services, yet he was no bigot, but embraced all Christians and Churches in the arms of his wide-ex- tended charity. The unchurching doctrine he utterly rejected. Just before I lived with him an Episcopal paper was commenced in the North in which that position was taken. He either subscribed to it, or it was sent to him; but, on finding that it declared all other ministries invalid and all other churches out of the covenant, he returned the paper or declined to receive it any longer. He loved to see sinners converted, by whatsoever instruments God might employ. There was a certain place in the corner of his large country parish where neither he nor any other Episcopal minister had been able to make any impression. Some Methodists being there and desiring to build a church, he bid them God-speed and furnished some pecuniary or other assistance, hoping that they might do what he had not been able to do. Such was the man of God with whom it was my privilege to spend some happy and I hope not unprofitable months, the period of my stay being abridged by a weakness in the eyes, which altogether prevented study. He lived to a good old age, loving all men and beloved by all who knew him. Many of his last years were spent in darkness, but not of the soul. His eyes became dim, until at length all was night to him. But while only a glimmering of light remained, he rejoiced and thanked God for it far more than those do who enjoy a perfect vision. And when all was gone, he was still the happiest and most grateful of all the happy and grateful ones whom I have ever^seen or known. In my visits to the district afterward, I ever felt it to be my sacred duty, as it was my high happiness, to enter his humble dwelling. But this was never done without bursts of feelings and of tears on both sides.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 25

From this digression, which I am sure the reader will pardon, I return to the more immediate object of this article.

As I am engaged in presenting my recollections of the state of things in the Church of Virginia, I think this a proper time for some notice of the character of the sermons which were preached and the books which were read among the Episcopalians of Vir- ginia. This was the period when the poet Cowper upbraided the clergy of the English Church with substituting morality for reli- gion, saying,—

" How oft, when Paul has served us with a text, Has Plato, Tully, Epictetus preached !"

In the Church of Virginia, with the exception of Mr. Jarrett and perhaps a few others, I fear the preaching had for a long time been almost entirely of the moral kind. The books most in use were Blair's Sermons, Sterne's Works, The Spectator, The Whole Duty of Man, sometimes Tillotson's Sermons, which last were of the highest grade of worth then in use. But Blair's Sermons, on account of their elegant style and great moderation in all things, were most popular. I remember that when either of my sisters would be at all rude or noisy, my mother would threaten them with Blair's Sermon on gentleness. The sickly sensibility of Sterne's Sermons (and especially of his Sentimental Journey) was the favourite style and standard of too many of our clergy. After entering the ministry I heard several of such most faulty exhibi- tions of Christian morality. It is no wonder that the churches were deserted and the meeting-houses filled. But the time had come, both in the English and American Church, for a blessed change. There is something interesting in the history of one of the ways in which it was introduced into the Church of Virginia. The family of Bishop Porteus was Virginian — of Gloucester county — opposite old Yorktown, the residence of General Nelson. It is not certain but that Bishop Porteus himself was born in Vir- ginia and carried over when a child to England with his emigrating parents. Porteus became a tutor in the Eton school, and when General Nelson was sent to England for his education his father placed him under the care of Mr. Porteus. When Porteus was elevated to the rank of a Bishop he did not forget his former pupil and family, but sent them his first work, a volume of sermons, which were a great improvement on the sermons of that day. When Mr. Wilberforce, with whom he was intimate, published his

26 OLD CSURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

celebrated evangelical work, "Practical View of Christianity," this was also sent, and afterward I believe the Bishop's Lectures on the Gospel of St. Matthew, which were an improvement on his sermons. A beginning of more evangelical views of Christian doctrine was thus made in one of the best and most influential families of Virginia. By my intimacy with one branch of this family, which led to a matrimonial connection before my ordina- tion, I became acquainted with Wilberforce's "Practical View of Christianity," and I believe Porteus's Lectures. These I read during the time I spent with Mr. Addison, and well remember the impression made upon me by the same. I felt that, if ever per- mitted to preach, I had only to present the views set forth in these books, and my hearers must be converted, though I was soon brought to the experience of Melancthon, "That old Adam was too strong for young Melancthon." These books were, I believe, republished in America about this time, together with some of the writings of Miss Hannah More, and all contributed to elevate and evangelize the style of preaching in our Church. Those who undertook the resuscitation of the Church in Virginia certainly adopted and in their sermons exhibited these views. In this they were greatly encouraged by the sermons of Mr. Jarrett, two edi- tions of which had been published.*

* I will be pardoned, I hope, for placing in a note some facts in relation to the family of General Nelson, inasmuch as they are closely connected with the history of the Church in Virginia. His parents appear to have been pious persons. It is said that the mother was particularly attentive to the religious training of her chil- dren, teaching them to be punctual and conscientious as to their private devotions. If she had reason to fear that either of her sons neglected his morning prayers, instead of tempting him to untruth by asking if he had attended to this duty, she would say, " My son, if you have not said your prayers this morning, you had bet- ter go and do it," The grace of God has been poured out on great numbers of her descendants. General Nelson was blessed in a partner to whom, at his early death, he could confide with safety his large family of children. They inherited but a small portion of his once large estate,— that having been nearly expended in the service of his country, and for which no remuneration was ever received. But they were the adopted children of God, and became active and zealous members of the Church in different parts of the State, bringing up large families in the same way in which themselves had been trained, in the love of the Gospel and the Church. The widow of General Nelson lived to the age of eighty-seven, being blind during the last seventeen years. Having been twice connected in marriage with her grandchildren, I was led, during many of her declining years, to pay an annual visit to her humble abode. On such occasions many of her children and descendants, who before her death had amounted to one hundred and fifty, though not all alive at one time, assembled together at her house, where I always administered the Holy Communion. On one of these occasions, I remember to have counted in her

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 27

I am now brought to the period of my ordination, which intro- duced me to some things, in relation to the Church of Virginia, not without a painful interest to the lovers of true religion. But, before speaking of some circumstances attendant on my ordination, it may be well to allude to a correspondence between Bishop Madi- son and myself, some months before that event. It is the more proper so to do as it will serve to correct some misunderstandings which have gone abroad with respect to us both, and which have had a bearing on the reputation of the Virginia Churchmanship of that day. Passing through Philadelphia a year or more before my ordination, and staying at the house of an Episcopal clergyman, I heard some severe strictures on one or more of the ministers of our Church, in some other diocese or dioceses, for violating the rubrics of the Prayer Book by abridging the service. It was designated by no slighter term than perjury, in the violation of solemn ordi- nation vows. I learned afterward that such charges were made elsewhere. In examining the Canons of the Church I also found one which seemed positively to forbid, under any circumstances, the admission into an Episcopal pulpit of any minister not Episcopally ordained. I was aware that it was impossible to use the whole service in very many of the places where I might be called to offi- ciate, and well knew that ministers of other denominations preached in many of our old Episcopal churches, and, indeed, that it was questioned whether under the law our ministers had the exclusive right to them. I also saw that there was a canon forbidding ser- vile labour to the clergy, while from necessity — for the support of a young family — I was then taking part in the labours of the field, which in Virginia was emphatically servile labour. "Wishing to enter the ministry with a good conscience and correct understand- ing of my ordination vows, I wrote a letter of inquiry to Bishop Madison on these several points. To this I received a very sensible reply, nearly all of which, I think, the House of Bishops and the Church generally would now indorse, though there would have been some demurring in former times. On the occasion of my consecration to the office of Bishop it was objected by some that Bishop Madison had ordained me with a dispensation from canoni- cal obedience. Having his letter with me, — which the reader may

room and in the passage leading to it forty-three recipients of that rite, nearly all of whom were her descendents, — children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Four of her descendants are now ministering in the Episcopal Church, and one who 4id minister in it has gone to his rest.

28 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

see in the note, — the objection was not urged.* In the month of February, 1811, I proceeded on horseback to Williamsburg, about two hundred miles, and on Sunday, the 24th, — a clear, cold morn- ing,— was ordained. My examination took place at the Bishop's, before breakfast, — Dr. Bracken and himself conducting it. It was very brief. It has been asserted that Bishop Madison became an unbeliever in the latter part of his life, and I have often been

* DEAR SIR: — I received your letter by Mr. Bracken, and approve of your con- scientious inquiries respecting certain obligations imposed by the Canons. You know that every society must have general rules, as the guides of conduct for its members ; but I believe the Episcopal Church is as liberal in that respect as any other religious society whatever. The subscription required of the candidate is, that he will conform to the discipline and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. At the time of ordination he promises to conform to the Canons. With respect to the Book of Common Prayer, an adherence is re- quired, wherever the situation of the Chui-ch will permit : it happens, however, too often that the minister must be left to his own discretion, particularly on occasions when it may be necessary to abridge the service, or when there may be no Clerk, &c. No oath is administered or required, and that adherence to the book only is expected which may tend to further religion and good order in a religious society; for there can be no doubt of the superiority of forms of prayer for public worship. Before sermon many ministers, I believe, prefer a prayer of their own, and if it be well conceived I suppose no objection would be made. His private prayer, may cer- tainly be determined by himself. With respect to the use of our Church by other Societies, the general rule is often dispensed with, especially if the party wishing the use will assist in the preservation of the building, or the preacher be of known respectable character. Too often, indeed, our churches are now used en- tirely by other sects. The Canon could never intend that a minister should be pre- vented from following any occupation which was creditable. Hence the practice of physic, &c. is not deemed inconsistent with the ministerial profession, nor, I conceive, any other business which is free from a kind of public odium. It would be unfit for a minister to keep a tavern or grogshop, &c., but certainly not to follow any occupation where good may result both to the community and to the individual. The honest discharge of clerical duties, with a life preaching by ex- ample, are, in reality, the principal requisites : when these are manifested, and the piety and good behaviour of the minister cannot be questioned, he need not appre- hend the rigour of Canons, or any other spiritual authority.

I am, sir, yours very respectfully, October 10, 1810. J. MADISON.

REMARKS. — Some years after my entrance on the ministry, I was conversing on the subject of dispensing with the regular service in preaching to the servants in their quarters, with one of our most eminent ministers, when he maintained, and I doubt not most conscientiously, that I had no right to open my lips in preaching to them, without first using the service according to the rubric. A very great change has recently come over the minds of many of our clergy on this subject, judging from some things seen in our religious papers, in which more latitudinarian views are taken than I ever remember to have heard of formerly.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 29

asked if it was not so. I am confident that the imputation is unjust. His political principles, which at that day were so iden- tified in the minds of many with those of infidel France, may have subjected him to such suspicion. His secular studies, and occupations as President of the College and Professor of Natural Philosophy, may have led him to philosophize too much on the subject of religion, and of this I thought I saw some evidence in the course of my examination ; but that he, either secretly, or to his most intimate friends, renounced the Christian faith, I do not believe, but am confident of the contrary. To proceed with the ordination. On our way to the old church the Bishop and myself met a number of students with guns on their shoulders and dogs at their sides, attracted by the frosty morning, which was favourable to the chase ; and at the same time one of the citizens was filling his ice-house. On arriving at the church we found it in a wretched condition, with broken windows and a gloomy, comfortless aspect. The congregation which assembled consisted of two ladies and abolit fifteen gentlemen, nearly all of whom were relatives or ac- quaintances. The morning service being over, the ordination and communion were administered, and then I was put into the pulpit to preach, there being no ordination sermon. The religious con- dition of the College and of the place may easily and justly be inferred from the above. I was informed that not long before this two questions were discussed in a literary society of the College : — First, Whether there be a God ? Secondly, Whether the Christian religion had been injurious or beneficial to mankind ? Infidelity, indeed, was then rife in the State, and the College of William and Mary was regarded as the hotbed of French politics and religion. I can truly say, that then, and for some years after, in every edu- cated young man of Virginia whom I met, I expected to find a skeptic, if not an avowed unbeliever. I left Williamsburg, as may well be imagined, with sad feelings of discouragement. My next Sabbath was spent in Richmond, where the condition of things was little better. Although there was a church in the older part of the town, it was never used but on communion-days. The place of worship was an apartment in the Capitol, which held a few hun- dred persons at most, and as the Presbyterians had no church at all in Richmond at that time, the use of the room was divided between them and the Episcopalians, each having service every other Sabbath morning, and no oftener. Even two years after this, being in Richmond on a communion-Sunday, I assisted the Rector, Dr. Buchanan, in the old church, when only two gentle-

30 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

men and a few ladies communed. One of these gentlemen, the elder son of Judge Marshall, was a resident in the upper country. One of the old clergy who was present did approach to the chan- cel with a view of partaking ; but his habits were so bad and so notorious, that he was motioned by the Rector not to come. In- deed, it was believed that he was not in a sober state at the time.

Before proceeding further in the narrative of such circumstances as may tend to throw light on the condition of the Church in Vir- ginia, I will, at the risk of being charged with even more of ego- tism than has already been displayed, make a few remarks, which, I think, are necessary to a right understanding of the whole subject I have taken in hand. So low and hopeless was the state of the Church at this time — the time of my ordination — but a few of the old clergy even attempting to carry on the work — only one person for a long time having been ordained by Bishop Madison, and he from a distance, and a most unworthy one — it created surprise, and was a matter of much conversation, when it was understood that a young Virginian had entered the ministry of the Episcopal Church. Even some years after this, when I applied to Judge Marshall for a subscription to our Theological Seminary, though he gave with his accustomed liberality, he could not refrain from saying, that it was a hopeless undertaking, and that it was almost unkind to induce young Virginians to enter the Episcopal ministry, the Church being too far gone ever to be revived. Such was the general impression among friends and foes. I had, however, throughout the State many most respectable and influential relatives, some still rich, others of fallen fortunes, both on my father's and mother's side,* who were still attached to the Church. My parents, too, were very popular persons, and had many friends and acquaintances throughout Virginia, who still lingered around the old Church. These things caused my ordination to excite a greater interest, and created a partiality in behalf of my future ministry. But still there were many who thought it so strange a proceeding, that they were ready to accept, as a probable mode of accounting for it, an

* My great-grandfather on the paternal side was an Irish Romanist. Emigrating to this country, he married a Quakeress, in Flushing, New York, and settled in Suf- folk, Virginia. From this alliance sprang a large family of Protestant Episcopa- lians. Through my grandmother an infusion of Anglican Protestantism entered the family, as she descended from Richard Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, after whom my father and many others of the family have been called. With scarce an exception, their descendants have all adhered to the Episcopal Church.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 31

opinion expressed by one or more and soon put in circulation, that there was something unsound in mind or eccentric in character, at any rate a want of good common sense, or I could not make such a mistake as to attach myself to the fallen and desperate fortunes of the old Church. Some strange speeches of this kind were made. Nor were they or their effects confined to Virginia, or to that time. E am not sure that their influence has ceased to the present day. One good, however, resulted from them, namely, that certain views of religion and certain modes of life adopted by me and contrary to what were supposed to be the doctrines of the Episcopal Church — certainly, contrary to the sentiments and practice of the people — were ascribed to this natural defect and kindly dealt with, instead of awakening hostility which, under other circumstances, might have been exhibited. Certain it is that my ministry, from the first, was received with a favour which neither my imperfect theological education nor my most unfinished sermons nor any thing else about me were entitled to. Under such favour, I commenced my ministry in the spring of 1811, in Frederick county, as assistant to Mr. Balmaine, in the two congregations belonging to his charge, while living and labouring on a small farm, and having no design or wish to go elsewhere. But in the fall of that year I consented to the very urgent solicitations of the vestry of old Christ Church, Alexandria, to take charge of it, with the privilege of spending a portion of the year in Frederick and not entirely relinquishing my engagements there. Very peculiar were the circumstances of that congregation, and very strong the appeal, or I should not have been moved to undertake even the partial and temporary charge of it. Its last minister was from the West Indies, and after having married in Alexandria was found to have left a wife behind him. On her pursuing and reaching him he fled, and I believe was heard of no more. His predecessor was of an unhappy temper and too much given to the intoxicating cup. His predecessor again was one of the old-fashioned kind in his preaching and habits, being fond of what was called good company and the pleasures of the table. In order to insure full and frequent meetings of the vestry- men— twelve in number and, for the most part, good livers — he got them to meet once per month at each others' houses to dinner. These meetings continued until after I took charge of the congre- gation. I was present at one of them. The old minister who had established them was also there, being on a visit. He then lived in a distant parish. It was not difficult to perceive why such vestry-meetings were popular with certain ministers and vestry-

32 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

men. I attended no more of them, and they were soon relin- quished. That a congregation having had three such ministers in succession should be desirous to try a young Virginian was not very wonderful. I should be guilty, however, if I did not pursue the history of the ministers of Christ Church further back. The next in order of time past was the good Dr. Griffith, of whom I have already spoken, as the first Bishop-elect of Virginia, but who was prevented by poverty from going to England for consecration. His predecessor was Lord Bryan Fairfax, of whom I have some- thing to say in another place. He was a pure and conscientious man, the friend and neighbour of General Washington, and a true Englishman. He attempted, in a series of private letters, which one of his children showed me and which have since been pub- lished, to dissuade Washington from engaging in or pursuing the war. General Washington dealt very tenderly with him in his replies, knowing how conscientious he was, and being much at- tached to him and the elder Lord Fairfax with whom he had lived. There was associated with Mr. Fairfax the Rev. Mr. Page, who afterward moved to Shepherdstown, and of whom I have heard that venerable old lady, Mrs. Shepherd, speak in the highest terms as an evangelical man of the school of Whitefield.

A few remarks on my ministry during the two years of its exercise in Alexandria may serve to cast some light on the pro- gress of the Church in Virginia from that time. 1st. The old Virginia custom of private baptisms, christening-cake, and merri- ment, had prevailed in Alexandria. The ground, however, was now taken that the rubric was entirely opposed to this and that the whole meaning and design of the sacred rite forbade it and that it could not be continued. There were demurrings and refu- sals for a time, but a little decision with kind persuasion completely triumphed, as they did afterward at a later period both in Norfolk and Petersburg, where private baptisms were made to give place to public ones, when I had the temporary charge of these two con- gregations, peculiar circumstances inducing me to undertake it. 2dly. The Gospel, it is to be feared, had not been clearly preached in times past. It was now attempted; and, though most imper- fectly done as to style and manner, God's blessing was granted. The services were well attended. Many were added to the Church of such as gave good proof afterward that they would be of those who should be saved. A goodly number of the members of Con- gress often came down on Sunday morning to attend the church,

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 33

among whom were Mr. John Randolph* and Dr. Milnor, with both of whom I became then and thus acquainted. In the mind of the latter there was at that time going on the great change

* It being known that there was a family connection and some intimacy and cor- respondence between Mr. Randolph and myself, I have been often asked my opinion as to his religious character. It is as difficult to answer this as to explain some other things about this most talented, eccentric, and unhappy man. My acquaint- ance and correspondence with him commenced in 1813 and terminated in 1818, although at his death he confided a most difficult and important trust to myself, in conjunction with our common and most valued friend, Mr. Francis S. Key. I pub- lish the following letter written in 1815, when his mind seemed to be in a state of anxiety on the subject of religion, and an extract from another paper in my possession, showing a supposed relief in the year 1818. Other letters I have, during the period of our intimacy, of the same character. The reader must judge for himself, taking into consideration the great inconsistencies of his subsequent life, and making all allowances for his most peculiar and unhappy temperament, his most diseased body, and the trying circumstances of his life and death.

"RICHMOND, May 19, 1815.

" It is with very great regret that I leave town about the time that you are con- fidently expected to arrive. Nothing short of necessity should carry me away at this time. I have a very great desire to see you, to converse with you on the sub- ject before which all others sink into insignificance. It continues daily to occupy more and more of my attention, which it has nearly engrossed to the exclusion of every other, and it is a source of pain as well as of occasional comfort to me. May He who alone can do it shed light upon my mind, and conduct me, through faith, to salvation. Give me your prayers. I have the most earnest desire for a more perfect faith than I fear I possess. What shall I do to be saved ? I know the answer, but it is not free from difficulty. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. I do submit myself most implicitly to his holy will, and great is my reliance on his mercy. But when I reflect on the corruptions of my nature I tremble whilst I adore. The merits of an all-atoning Saviour I hardly dare to plead when I think of my weak faith. Help, Lord, or I perish, but thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I know that I deserve to suffer for my sins ; for time misspent, faculties misemployed ; but, above all, that I have not loved God and my neighbour as we are commanded to do. But I will try to confide in the promises we have received, or rather to comply with their conditions. Whatever be my fate, I will not har- bour a murmur in my breast against the justice of my Creator. Your afflicted friend,

"JOHN RANDOLPH, OF ROANOKE.

"Rev. WILLIAM MEADE."

August, 1818. "It is now just nineteen years since sin first began to sit heavy upon my soul. For a very great part of that time I have been as a conscious thief ; hiding or trying to hide from my fellow-sinners, from myself, from my God. After much true repentance, followed by relapses into deadly sin, it hath pleased Almighty God to draw me to him; reconciling me to him, and, by the love which driveth out fear, to show me the mighty scheme of his salvation, which hath been to me, as also to the Jews, a stumbling-block, and, as to the Greeks, foolishness. I am now, for the first time, grateful and happy ; nor would I exchange my present feelings and assurances, although in rags, for any throne in Christendom."

3

31 OLD CHUKCHES, MINISTERS, AND

whose abundant fruits have so blessed mankind. 3d. It was during my stay in Alexandria that I procured from the library of Mr. Custis, of Arlington, the folio edition of Bishop Wilson's works, which had been presented to General Washington by the son of Bishop Wilson, and which works had been recommended to me by Bishop Madison. By the help of Mr. Edward McGuire, who, for more than forty-two years, has been the faithful and successful minister of the Church in Fredericksburg, and who was then pre- paring for the ministry with me, I selected from the various parts of that large book, a small volume of private and family prayers, which have gone through three editions, and which, being freely circulated among the families of Virginia, contributed greatly to introduce what was indeed a novelty in that day — the practice of family worship.* It was during my short stay in Alexandria that the Rev. William Wilmer assumed the charge of St. Paul's congre- gation, and at the close of my ministry there that the Kev. Oliver Norris took charge of Christ Church. These beloved brothers, coming from Maryland with those views of the Gospel and the Church which the evangelical clergy and laity of England were then so zealously and successfully propagating there, contributed most effectually to the promotion of the same in Virginia, and to them is justly due much of the subsequent character and success of the Church in Virginia, as is well known to all of their day. I cannot take leave of Alexandria without referring to my admission to priests' orders, which took place there a year or two after this, and which were conferred on me by Bishop Clagget, of Maryland, our faithful brother the Rev. Simon Wilmer preaching on the occasion. Bishop Clagget, so far as I know and believe, enter- tained sound views of the Gospel and was a truly pious man.

* Many of the sentences or petitions, making up these family devotions, are taken from short prayers found either before or after the printed sermons of Bishop Wil- son, and no doubt were used by him in the pulpit. They were evidently adapted to sermons. Such we know to have been the case with many if not all of the English clergy, for a long time. Specimens of the same may be seen in connection with a few of the homilies. Such is the practice of some of the English clergy to this day, as I know from having heard them while on a visit to England a few years since. It is well known that Bishop White did at one time, after the example of English Bishops and clergy, prepare and use such prayers after his sermons. Some of the Virginia clergy have done the same occasionally, and for it they have been denounced as transgressors of the law, and no Churchmen. I sincerely wish that so good a practice were generally adopted and that ministers would carefully prepare, either in writing or otherwise, a prayer suitable to the sermon. The col- lects might sometimes be found admirably adapted, but not always.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 35

There was much of the Englishman about him, I presume, from his wearing the mitre, and his mode of examining me, that con- forming so much to the character of the English University exa- minations.* Beside a number of hard questions in the metaphysics of divinity, which I was by no means well prepared to answer, but which he kindly answered for me, he requested that I would, in compliance with an old English canon, which had been, I think, incorporated somewhere into our requisitions, give him an account of my faith in the Latin tongue. Although I was pretty well versed in the Latin language, yet, being unused to speak it, I begged him to excuse me. He then said I could take pen and paper and write it down in his presence ; but he was kind enough to excuse from that also, and determined to ordain me with all my deficiencies, very much as some other bishops do in this day.

* A singular circumstance occurred about this time in connection with Bishop Clagget's consecration of old St. Paul's Church, Alexandria. Putting on his robes and his mitre at some distance from the Church, he had to go along the street to reach it. This attracted the attention of a number of boys and others, who ran after and alongside of him, admiring his peculiar dress and gigantic stature. His voice was as extraordinary for strength and ungoyernableness as was his stature for size, and as he entered the door of the church where the people were in silence awaiting, and the first words of the service burst forth from his lips in his most peculiar manner, a young lady, turning around suddenly and seeing his huge form and uncommon appearance, was so convulsed that she was obliged to be taken out of the house.

36 OLD CflURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

ARTICLE II.

Recollections of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia, during the Present Century.

ON leaving Alexandria I returned to my little farm in Frederick and to the tending, in conjunction with Mr. Balmaine, of the two small flocks at the chapel and in Winchester. During all the time of that joint rectorship I bestowed a considerable portion of my labours on five or six counties around, which were either destitute of ministers or very partially served. The continual presence of Mr. Balmaine in Winchester, and the lay-reading of my excellent father-in-law, Mr. Philip Nelson, at the chapel, enabled me to do this. In my absence from the chapel, the excellent sermons of Gisborne and Bradley and Jarrett were delivered by one of the best of readers, from its pulpit. I wras happy to be able, during my visit to England some years since, to communicate to the two former the fact that they had thus, without knowing it, preached so often and so acceptably in my pulpit in America. Such was the scarcity of ministers and churches around, that my chapel ser- vices were attended by families living at the distance of twelve and fifteen miles. There are now seven churches, with regular services by six ministers, within that district to which I was a debtor for all pulpit and parochial ministration. My connection with Mr. Bal- maine was most pleasant and harmonious. He was one of the most simple and single-hearted of men. Himself and his excellent part- ner were the friends of the poor, and indeed of all, and were be- loved by all who knew them. They had no children, and having some property, as well as a few hundred dollars rent for the glebe, might have lived in a little style and self-indulgence, but they were economical and self-denying in all things, that they might have something for the poor and for the promotion of pious objects. They did not even keep fire in their chamber during the coldest weather of winter. They had one family of servants, who were to them as children. As children they inherited, and some still live in, the old mansion. As to some things Dr. Balmaine had been weak, and at times led astray by those who surrounded him. But I can truly say, that for many of the last years of his life, a

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 37

more warm-hearted and exemplary man I knew not. Some of the most eloquent extempore effusions I ever heard were from his lips, while standing in the chancel on sacramental occasions, when he referred with tears to past errors and sought to make amends, by thus testifying to evangelical doctrine and holy living. In the spring of 1812, Bishop Madison died. And as Dr. Buchannon, of Richmond, was the Secretary to the last Convention, which was held. seven years before, Dr. Wilmer and myself united in a re- quest that he would call a special one in May. At that Convention fourteen clergymen and fourteen laymen assembled. It resulted in the election of Dr. Bracken as successor to Bishop Madison ; not, however, without opposition by some among us.* Another Convention was held in the following spring, at which only seven clergymen attended. To that Convention Dr. Bracken sent in his resignation. Our deliberations were conducted in one of the com- mittee-rooms of the Capitol, sitting around a table. There was nothing to encourage us to meet again, and but for that which I shall soon mention, I believe such profitless and discouraging efforts would soon have ceased. I well remember, that having just read

* A circumstance occurred at this Convention worthy of being mentioned, as showing the effrontery of an unworthy clergyman, even at that day. One such, from New York, came to Virginia a few years before this, and excited considerable attention by his eloquence in Eichmond, Norfolk, and elsewhere. He soon settled himself in the vacant church at Fredericksburg, and collected crowds by his pulpit- powers. After a while rumours came that he had left his first and true wife in New York, and that the one with him was unlawfully married to him. This he solemnly denied in the pulpit, and in a letter to the vestry. The thing being to a certain ex- tent proved upon him during the week, he was obliged to admit it as publicly the following Sabbath and in a letter to the vestry. He shortly after left Fredericks- burg, (which was soon supplied with another from the same State, who also turned out badly,) and went to one of the lower counties of Virginia, where he was too well received and preferred to the incumbent who had the glebe, but was an intem- perate man. He was encouraged to go to the Convention, and see if there was no method by which the incumbent might be ejected and himself be substituted. On coming to Richmond, an interview took place between himself and one of the clergy, in which he was told that if possible he himself would be brought before the Con- vention, for his violation of the laws of God and man. Enraged by this, he raised his stick, and, shaking it over the head of the clergyman, bid him beware how he proceeded. He afterward, however, sought another interview with the same cler- gyman, to whom, in the presence of a third, he acknowledged his transgression. He was told that he ought, at any rate, to abandon the ministry. He disappeared that night, and soon after died. He had by his first wife a son of considerable talents who was attached to the stage. By the grace of God he was .led to exchange the stage for the pulpit, and, in the providence of Ood, was led to prepare for the ministry in my house, and became an acceptable and useful minister in the large congregation at Norfolk.

38 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," as I took my solitary way homeward on horseback, I found myself continually saying, in relation to the Church of Virginia, in the words of the elvish page, "Lost — lost — lost;1' and never expected to cross the moun- tains again on such an errand. But in the course of that year, or in the early part of the following, it was suggested to Messrs. Wil- mer and Norris, and by none other than that unhappy man, the Rev. Mr. Dashiel, of Baltimore, (whom they then highly esteemed, but whom they abandoned as soon as his unworthiness was known,) that the Rev. Dr. Moore, of New York, was the man to raise up the Church in Virginia. Mr. D. had become acquainted with Dr. Moore at a recent General Convention, heard him eloquently advo- cate the introduction of more hymns into the Prayer Book, and preach the Gospel with zeal and power in several large churches. Dr. Wilmer and myself entered into a correspondence with Dr. Moore, which led to his election at the next Convention. Some objections, however, were privately made to Dr. Moore. It was said that Bishop Hobart had complaints against him for some irregularities in carrying on the work of the ministry, and that he was somewhat Methodistical. It so happened, however, that Bishop Hobart had written a most favourable letter concerning Dr. Moore to some one present, which being shown, all opposition was silenced and he was unanimously elected as Bishop of the Diocese, and im- mediately after, or perhaps before, as Rector of the Monumental Church, which had been reared on the ruins of the Richmond Theatre. Bishop Moore was consecrated in May of 1814, and en- tered on his duties in the summer of that year. Our organization was now complete, but on a diminutive scale. Besides the few older clergy, who had almost given up in despair, there were only the Rev. Messrs. Wilmer and Norris, in Alexandria, the Rev. Mr. Lemmon, who had just come to Fauquier, Mr. Edward McGuire, acting as lay-reader in Fredericksburg, (preferred by the people in that capacity to another importation from abroad,) and the one who makes this record. But from this time forth a favourable change commenced. Hope sprung up in the bosoms of many hitherto desponding. Bishop Moore had some fine qualifications for the work of revival. His venerable form, his melodious voice, his popular preaching, his evangelical doctrine, his amiable disposition, his fund of anecdote in private, and his love for the Church, all contributed to make him popular and successful, so far as he was able to visit and put forth effort. His parochial engagements and bodily infirmities prevented his visiting many parts of the diocese.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 39

He never crossed the Alleghany Mountains, although he sometimes visited North Carolina, which then had no Bishop. In the spring of 1815, the first Convention under his Episcopate assembled in Richmond. It must be evident to all, from the account given of the past history of the Church in Virginia, that much prejudice must have existed against it, and that the reputation of both clergy and people for true piety must have been low, and that it was most proper to take some early occasion of setting forth the principles on which it was proposed to attempt its resuscitation. The last Convention, which was held under Bishop Madison, and which was followed by an intermission of seven years, had prepared the way for this, by declaring the necessity of a reform in the manners of both clergy and laity and by establishing rules for the trial of both. Wherefore, among the first things which engaged the consideration of the Convention of 1815, was the establishing a code of disci- pline. The Diocese of Maryland, from which two of our brethren, the Rev. Messrs. Wilmer and Norris, came, had already been en- gaged in the same work, and we did little else than copy the regu- lations there adopted. But although they were only the grosser vices of drunkenness, gaming, extortion, &c. which it was proposed to condemn, yet great opposition was made. The hue and cry of priestly usurpation and oppression was raised. It was said that the Clergy only wanted the power, and fire and fagot would soon be used again — that we were establishing a Methodist Church, and that the new church needed reformation already. The opposition indeed was such at this and the ensuing Convention, that we had to content ourselves with renewing the general resolutions of the Convention of 1805, under Bishop Madison. In two years after this, however, in the Convention held in Winchester, when the number of the clergy and the piety of the laymen had increased, the subject was again brought up, and the condemnation of those things which brought reproach on the Church was extended to theatres, horse-racing, and public balls, by an overwhelming ma- jority. The same has been renewed and enforced at a more recent one. The Church now began to move on with more rapid strides. In looking over the list of the clergy who were added to our ranks in the few following years we see the names of such men as Haw- ley, Horrell, the two Aliens, the Lowes, Ravenscroft, Smith, now Bishop of Kentucky, Wingfield, the elder Armstrong, of Wheeling, Charles Page, Keith, Lippitt, Alexander Jones, Cobbs, George Smith, William Lee, John Grammer, J. P. McGuire, Brooke, the Jacksons, and others. The itinerant labours of some of them de-

40 OLD CHTJRCHES, MINISTERS, AND

serve special notice. Benjamin Allen's labours in the Valley of Virginia, Charles Page's in the counties of Amherst, Nelson, &c., Mr. Cobb's in Bedford and the counties round about, William Lee's in Amelia, Goochland, Powhatan, and others, Mr. Grammer's in Dinwiddie, Brunswick, Greenville, Surry, and Prince George, and J. P. McGuire's between the Kappahannock and James Rivers, were such as few professedly itinerant preachers ever surpass. Without such self-denying labours, the Church could never have been revived in these places. The faithful and zealous men, whom I have enumerated above, were accompanied and have been fol- lowed by other faithful ones, too numerous to mention.

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.

It is time that I should now advert to the origin and progress of one great instrument of the Church's prosperity in Virginia, — the Theological Seminary at Alexandria. As Bishop Moore was about leaving New York for Virginia, in the summer of 1814, Dr. Au- gustine Smith, a native of Virginia, who had been for some years Professor in a Medical School in New York and who was then about to take charge of William and Mary College, met him in the street and proposed that the Church in Virginia should establish a Theological Professorship in Williamsburg, and thus make the Col- lege, what its royal patrons designed, a School of the Prophets. Bishop Moore encouraged the proposal, and a deputation of one of the Professors was sent to the Convention of 1815 for the purpose of promoting the plan. The Convention approved it, and the Rev. Dr. Keith became the minister of the Episcopal congregation in Williamsburg, and was prepared to instruct any candidates for the ministry who might be sent there. During a stay of two years only one presented himself. On various accounts Williamsburg was found to be an unsuitable place. The Convention of Virginia had appointed Col. Edward Colston and myself a Committee to correspond with the Bishop of Maryland and some leading laymen in North Carolina, proposing a union with Virginia in the establish- ment and management of the Seminary at Williamsburg. From North Carolina we received no answer. From the Bishop of Mary- land* we received a prompt and decided refusal, accompanied with such severe strictures on the religion and morals of Virginia that we did not present it to the Convention, but only reported our

* Bishop Kemp.

FAMILIES OP VIRGINIA. 41

failure. Williamsburg especially was objected to on account of its infidelity as altogether unfit to be the seat of such an institution. Those of us who were engaged in the resuscitation of the Church were also said to be extravagant in some of our notions, as is apt to be the case with those who in flying from one extreme rush into the other. There was much in the letter but too true of the laity and clergy, both of Maryland and Virginia, in that and past days. Having failed in our experiment at Williamsburg, we determined to make trial of it in Alexandria, by the help of our Education Society — Dr. Keith, Dr. Wilmer, and Mr. Norris, being the Professors. The General Theological Seminary was now getting under way, and its friends were afraid of some interference with its prosperity. The ground was taken that this was the institution of the Church, and its claims paramount to all others. Most threatening letters were addressed to Bishop Moore, calling upon him as a Bishop of the General Church, bound to guard its unity, to interpose and prevent the establishment of the Seminary at Alexandria. Hap- pily for us, Mr. Kohn had bequeathed a large fund for the General Seminary in New York, where it was located when the will was written ; but, meanwhile, it had been removed to New Haven, and it was contended that it could not inherit a legacy which was given to an institution in New York. Bishop Hob art now took the field in favour of Diocesan Seminaries and wrote a pamphlet on the subject, claiming the legacy for one to be established in New York, under Diocesan rule. A General Convention was called to settle the question, and it was compromised by restoring the General Seminary to New York, on certain terms, which, as it was foreseen and predicted, made it and has continued it, virtually, a New York Seminary. But we heard no more after that of the schismatical character of the Virginia Seminary, nor have we since that time heard any other objections of the kind to those established in Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and Connecticut. Our Seminary continued for several years in the town of Alexandria, until we raised sufficient funds to purchase its present site and erect some of its buildings. We are indebted to the zeal of Mr. John Nelson, of Mecklenburg, for the first moneys collected for that purpose. He visited a con- siderable part of the State, and raised a handsome contribution to it. In the year 1828 I took my turn, and visited a still larger portion of the State, realizing a greater amount. Other calls have at successive periods been made, and always with success. An attempt to raise an Episcopal fund for a time interfered with

42 OLD CHTJRCHES, MINISTERS, AND

and postponed this, but it was soon evident that this was the favourite with the people, and the other was relinquished.

CLERICAL ASSOCIATIONS.

Next in the order of time, and agreeably to a recommendation in one of the Conventions in Bishop Madison's time, comes the establishment of Clerical Associations. The first of these was in the Valley of Virginia, consisting of the ministers of Berkeley, Jefferson, and Frederick — Dr. Balmaine, the Kev. Benjamin Allen, Enoch Lowe, Mr. Brian, and myself, — Benjamin Smith, now Bishop Smith, coming among us soon after. We assembled quar- terly in each other's parishes; preaching for several days and nights ; having meetings among ourselves, and at private houses, for special prayer; taking up collections for missionaries to the western part of Virginia. The two first who went to Virginia beyond the Alleghanies — the Rev. Charles Page and William Lee — were sent out by our Society. These Associations were attended by much good and no evil, so far as I know and believe. I have ever encouraged them since entering the Episcopate, and Bishop Moore did the same before and after that time, as being most important auxiliaries to the Bishops, especially in large dioceses. I regard it as an evil omen, when ministers, favour- ably situated, are averse to such means of their own and their people's improvement, though I do not mean to say that there are not some good and pious men who regard them in a different light.

OUR CONVENTIONS COME NEXT.

For the first few years after our reorganization our Conventions were not only small as to numbers, but sad and gloomy in charac- ter, attracting no attention. A succession of the rainy seasons in May attended them for so many years that the two were closely associated in the public mind. For some years they were held in Richmond ; but the proverbial and profuse hospitality of that place was not then generally afforded them. For the most part, both clerical and lay delegates were to be seen only at the taverns, and but few religious services were held. The Convention at Frede- ricksburg — the first after the system of rotation commenced — was kindly and hospitably entertained, and from that time onward they became not only delightful to the clergy and laity composing them,

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 43

but attractive to others. To understand aright the history of such large assemblies as our Conventions attract, and the reasons which justify our encouragement of them by making religious exercises so large a part of their doings, it must be stated that not only are the Virginians a people given to visiting, but that the Episcopalians are peculiarly so by reason of the fact that, for the most part, they have sprung from a comparatively few families, who, by mar- riages and intermarriages, though scattered all over the State, make up one great family of tenderly-attached relatives, who are always pleased at a good excuse, if the ability allows, to assemble together. The bond of Christian fellowship and of Church feeling also is very strong, even where the other is not, as well as where it is. Hospitality also is a strong principle with them, and it is easier here than in most places to throw open the doors and welcome all who will come in on such occasions. A more innocent mode — nay, a more religious mode — of gratifying the social feeling cannot be than that of meeting together at our Conventions ; and an impera- tive duty rests on the ministers to afford the people the most fre- quent and edifying services in their power, so that they may take up the song of God's ancient people, when going by Divine com- mand to the great feasts of His own appointment : —

"Oh! 'twas a joyful sound to hear

The tribes devoutly say, Up, Israel ! to the temple haste, And keep the festal day."

Sometimes they have been most edifying as well as joyful occa- sions. The presence of God has been felt. The word preached has been attended with great power. Many have remembered them as the means of their awakening, and many as the channels of more grace to their already converted souls. Long may they continue to be thus used. Even if some dioceses are so small, or the conveyances so convenient and rapid, that a few hours or at most a day can bring them all to the place of meeting, and a very short time may suffice for legislation and business, let it be remem- bered how very large are the dimensions of the Diocese of Virginia, how difficult and tedious the journey of many of its members to the Convention, and it will be felt and acknowledged that to meet on mere business for a few hours or a day would not be sufficient to induce and remunerate the attendance of either clergy or laity.

44 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

THE REQUIRING OF LAY DELEGATES TO BE COMMUNICANTS.

We have already spoken of the measures adopted for the purifi- cation of the Church from evil-livers, among hoth clergy and laity, hy the passage of wholesome canons. At three successive periods was this done, opposition being made each time, and six Conven tions in all being in part occupied in the discussion and contest. We now refer to the method adopted, after a considerable time had elapsed, for the purification of our Conventions from unworthy lay delegates, by requiring that they be in full communion with the Church, and not merely baptized members or professed friends, whether baptized or not. No law, either of the General or State Conventions, forbade an infidel or the most immoral man from being the deputy from a parish in the Diocesan Convention, although ques- tions might come before them touching the Creed and Articles and worship of the Church, or the trial of bishops, clergy, and lay- men. The strange anomaly of persons legislating for others and not being themselves subject to such legislation was allowed in the Church, when it would have been resisted in any and every other society. The consequence resulted, that, although there was a great improvement in the general character of the Church and the respectability of the lay delegation to our Conventions, we were still distressed and mortified at the occasional appearance of one or more unworthy members, who were a scandal to the Church, the scandal being the greater because of the number of attendants. The frequenters of the race-ground and the card-table and the lovers of the intoxicating cup sometimes found their way through this unguarded door into the legislative hall. It was proposed to close it ; but strenuous opposition was made by some, as to a measure assailing individual and congregational rights. It was discussed for three successive years, and though a considerable majority was always ready to pass the proposed canon, that ma- jority yielded so far to the minority as to allow of delay and further consideration, which only resulted in the final passage of it by increased and overwhelming numbers. An incident occurred, during one of the discussions, showing how the consciences of even those who are not in full communion with the Church approve of wholesome legislation and discipline. A worthy clergyman, who was opposing the canon, referred to his own lay delegate as a proof of what excellent men might be sent to the Convention, who were nevertheless not communicants. When he was seated, the lay dele-

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 45

gate, a very humble and good man, who had never spoken before in Convention, rose and expressed his entire dissent from his min- ister, and, as it was proposed to postpone the question until the next day, begged that there might be no delay, as he should sleep more quietly that night after having given his vote in favour of so necessary a regulation. He lived to appear in our body once more in full communion with the Church. We have never, since the adoption of this rule, had cause to repent of our legislation, or to blush for the scandal cast upon us by unworthy members.

POLICY OF THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY OF VIRGINIA IN REGARD TO

TRACTARIANISM.

At an early period Bishop Moore called the attention of the clergy and laity of Virginia to this heretical and Romish move- ment, when it overhung our horizon only as a cloud no larger than a man's hand. But it was a black and portentous one. The Con- vention in Norfolk, with a few exceptions, agreed with him in the propriety of warning against the giving of any encouragement to the circulation of the insidious tracts. At the meeting in Alexan- dria, the following year, when they had been circulated through the land, having already done much evil in our Mother-Church, a call was made upon all to expose and condemn the false doctrines thereof. The Bishops and ministers did their duty in sounding the alarm, and the faithful Professors of our Seminary did theirs. The consequence is that the Church of Virginia has been preserved from the ill effects of the erroneous and strange doctrines taught by that school.

THE USE OF THE LITURGY AND VESTMENTS IN VIRGINIA.

From what has been said in the foregoing pages as to the deplorable condition of the Church in Virginia, it may well be imagined that its liturgical services were often very imperfectly performed. In truth, the responsive parts were almost entirely confined to the clerk, who, in a loud voice, sung or drawled them out. As to the psalmody, it is believed that the Hundredth Psalm, to the tune of Old Hundred, was so generally used as the signal of the Service begun, that it was regarded as the law of the Church. A case has been mentioned to me by good authority, where a new minister, having varied from the established custom, gave out a different psalm ; but the clerk, disregarding it, sung as usual the Hundredth. So unaccustomed were the people to join in the Ser-

46 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

vice, that when I took charge of the congregation in Alexandria in 1811 I tried in vain to introduce the practice, until I fell on the expedient of making the children, who in large numbers came weekly to my house to be catechized, go over certain parts of the Service and the Psalms with me, and, after having thus trained them, on a certain Sabbath directed them to respond heartily and loudly in the midst of the grown ones. They did their part well, and complete success soon attended the plan. Throughout the State, when not only the friends of the Church were rapidly dimi- nishing and Prayer Books were very scarce, but even clerks were hard to be gotten, I presume that the Services were very irregu- larly performed. I knew of an instance where the clergyman did not even take a Prayer Book into the pulpit, but, committing to memory some of the principal prayers of the Morning Service, used them in the pulpit before sermon, after the manner of other deno- minations. I am unable to say whether it ever was, or had been for a long time, the habit of any or of many of the ministers to use what is called the full Service, combining what all acknowledge to have been originally the three distinct parts of the old English cathedral Service, and used separately at different portions of the day, namely, the Morning Service proper, the Litany, the Ante- Communion Service, and which, without law, were gradually blended into one, for the convenience of those who preferred one long to three short services. The probability is, that in a church without a head and any thing like discipline, the practice may have been very various, according to the consciences, tastes, and conve- nience of those who officiated. The practice of those who engaged in the resuscitation of the Church in Virginia, was to use the two former portions of the Liturgy — the Morning Service and Litany — and to omit the Ante-Communion Service, except on communion days. This was introduced among us by the brethren who came from Maryland, the Rev. Dr. Wilmer, Norris, and Lemmon, who doubtless believed that it was according to the design of those who arranged the American Prayer Book. They quoted as authority the declaration and practice of the Rev. Dr. Smith, who, as may be seen in the journals of our earliest General Convention, took a leading part in the changes of the Prayer Book. Dr. Smith, after leaving Philadelphia, settled in Chestertown, Md., where it was declared he never used the Ante-Communion Service. Dr. "VVilmer was one of his successors, and said that it was also affirmed that Dr. Smith avowed himself to have been the author of one or more of the Rubrics, on the meaning and design of which rested the

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 47

question of obligation to use the Ante-Communion Service every Sabbath, and that he had in view the permission to leave it optional with the minister. I am aware that Bishop White has expressed a different opinion, and that his practice was otherwise, nor do I pur- pose to discuss the question or take sides, but only to state the authority on which the Virginia custom was advocated. Neither do I mean to appropriate this custom exclusively to Virginia and a part of Maryland. In other parts of the land there were those who adopted it. I had it from the lips of Bishop Hobart himself, that a portion of the clergy of New York omitted that part of the Ser- vice, and, as I shall show hereafter, it was this fact which had much to do with his proposition to abridge the Service in other parts, in order the more easily to enforce the use of this favourite portion. The Bishop acknowledged to me that the Virginia clergy were not the only transgressors in this respect. This much I can say, that if they did err in the understanding of the rubric, they made amends for the abridgment of the Service by seeking to perform what was used in a more animated manner, and to intro- duce a warm and zealous response among the people, and also by more lengthened, animated, and evangelical discourses from the pulpit. Nor was there any attempt to enforce upon all the practice thus commenced. From the first, every minister has been allowed the free exercise of his conscience and judgment in regard to it. For a time, Bishop Moore, who had been accustomed to the fuller ser- vice in the city of New York, was disposed to urge the same upon the clergy of Virginia, but, after some observation and experience, became satisfied that it was best to leave it to the discretion of each minister, and, though in his own parish he always used it, never required the same in his visits to others.

As to the vestments, the same liberty and the same variety has ever existed in the Church of Virginia, without interruption to its harmony. It is well known that the controversy in our Mother- Church concerning the use of the surplice was a long and bitter and most injurious one; was, indeed, considered by some of her ablest Bishops and clergy as that which was the main point which caused the final secession ; that if the obligation to use it had been removed, the Church would, for at least a much longer period, have been undivided. Various attempts were made to abolish the canon or rubric enforcing it, but it was thought improper to humour the dissenters by so doing, and alleged that if this were done other demands would be made. At the revision of the Prayer Book by our American fathers, this and other changes, which had long been

48 OLD CH¥RCHES, MINISTERS, AND

desired by many in England, and still are, were at once made, and the dress of the clergy left to their own good sense, it being only required that it should be decent. I believe it has never been at- tempted but once to renew the law enforcing clerical habits. Soon after I entered the House of Bishops some one in the other House proposed such a canon. A warm but short discussion ensued, which ended in the withdrawal of what found but little favour. During the discussion the subject was mentioned among the Bishops, who seemed all opposed to it, and one of whom, more disposed, perhaps, to such things than any other, cried out, "De minimis non cur at lex.'1 That the old clergy of Virginia should have been very uniform and particular in the use of the clerical vestments is most improbable, from the structure of the churches and the loca- tion of their vestry-rooms. The vestry-rooms formed no part of the old churches, but were separate places in the yard or neigh- bourhood, sometimes a mile or two off. They were designed for civil as well as religious purposes, and were located for the conve- nience of the vestrymen, who levied taxes and attended to all the secular as well as ecclesiastical business of the parish. The setting apart some portion of the old churches as robing or vestry-rooms is quite a modern thing, and it is not at all probable that the min- isters would have gone backward and forward between the pulpits and the former vestry-rooms in the churchyards, to change their garments.* The clergy of Virginia, from the first efforts at resus- citating the Church, have been charged by some with being too indifferent to clerical garments ; nor have they been very careful to repel the charge, thinking it better to err in this way than in the opposite. Bishop Hobart once taunted me with this, though at the same time he acknowledged that there were times and places when it would be folly to think of using the clerical garments, saying? that in his visitations, especially to Western New York, he some- times dispensed not only with the Episcopal robes but even with the black gown. The Bishops of Virginia have sometimes been condemned for not requiring the candidates to be dressed in sur- plices at the time of their admission to deacons' orders, although there is no canon or rubric looking to such a thing. They are at least as good Churchmen, in this respect, as the English Bishops. When in England, some years since, I witnessed the ordination of fifty deacons, by the present Archbishop of Canterbury, in Durham

* In the year 1723 the Bishop of London inquires of the clergy of Virginia con- cerning this. Some reply that the surplice is provided, and others that it is not.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 49

Cathedral, not one of whom was surpliced ; some of them, as well as I remember, having on their college gowns, answering to our black gowns, and others only their common garments. There is, I think, less disposition to form and parade there than is sometimes seen in our own country. I only add that Bishop Moore, in his visitations, always took his seat in the chancel in his ordinary dress, except when about to perform some official act, and thus addressed the congregation after the sermon. I have seen no cause to depart from his example.

GLEBES AND SALARIES WITHDRAWN.

It has been made a matter of great complaint against the Legis- lature of Virginia, that it should not only have withdrawn the sti- pend of sixteen thousand-weight of tobacco from the clergy, but also have seized upon the glebes. I do not mean to enter upon the discussion of the legality of that act, or of the motives of those who petitioned for it. Doubtless there were many who sincerely thought that it was both legal and right, and that they were doing God and religion a service by it. I hesitate not, however, to ex- press the opinion, in which I have been and am sustained by many of the best friends of the Church then and ever since, that nothing could have been more injurious to the cause of true religion in the Episcopal Church, or to its growth in any way, than the con- tinuance of either stipend or glebes. Many clergymen of the most unworthy character would have been continued among us, and such a revival as we have seen have never taken place. As it was, together with the glebes and salaries evil ministers disappeared and made room for a new and different kind. Even in cases where, from some peculiarity in the manner in which the glebes were first gotten and the tenure by which they were held, the law could not alienate them from the parish, they have been, I believe, without an exception, a drawback to the temporal and spiritual prosperity of the congregations, by relaxing the efforts of the people to support the ministry and making them to rely on the uncertain profits of their contested or pillaged lands. The preju- dices excited against the Church by the long contest for them were almost overwhelming to her hopes, and a successful termination of that contest might have been utterly fatal to them for a long pe- riod of time. Not merely have the pious members of the Church taken this view of the subject, since the revival of it under other auspices, but many of those who preferred the Church at that day,

4

50 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

for other reasons than her evangelical doctrine and worship, saw that it was best that she be thrown upon her own resources. I had a conversation many years since with Mr. Madison, soon after he .ceased to be President of the United States, in which I became assured of this. He himself took an active part in promoting the act for the putting down the establishment of the Episcopal Church, while his relative was Bishop of it and all his family connection attached to it. He mentioned an anecdote illustrative of the pre- ference of many for it who still advocated the repeal of all its peculiar privileges. I give his own words. At a time when lobby members were sent by some of the other denominations to urge the repeal of all laws favouring the Episcopal Church, one, an elder of a church, came from near Hampton, who pursued his work with great fearfulness and prudence. An old-fashioned Epis- copal gentleman, of the true Federal politics, with a three-cornered hat, powdered hair, long queue, and white top-boots, perceived him approaching very cautiously one day, as if afraid though desirous to speak. Whereupon he encouraged the elder to come forward, saying that he was already with him, that he was clear for giving all a fair chance, that there were many roads to heaven, and he was in favour of letting every man take his own way ; but he was sure of one thing, that no gentleman would choose any but the Episcopal. Although I am far from assenting to the conclusion that no gentlemen are to be found in other denominations, or that there were none in Virginia at that time who had become alienated from the Episcopal and attached to other churches, yet it cannot be denied that the more educated and refined were generally averse to any but the Episcopal Church, while many, of whom the above- mentioned was a fair representative, were in favour of equal privi- leges to all.* It may be well here to state, what will more fully appear when we come to speak of the old glebes and churches in a subsequent number, that the character of the laymen of Virginia for morals and religion was in general greatly in advance of that of the clergy. The latter, for the most part, were the refuse or more indifferent of the English, Irish, and Scottish Episcopal

* Mr. Madison's mother was a pious member of the Episcopal Church. She lived with him, but was of such feeble health that she could not attend public worship for many of her latter years. On this account, as doubtless from a general principle of hospitality, Mr. Madison, who was very regular in his attendance at worship, which, during his day, was held at the court-house in Orange county, there being no church for some time, always invited our ministers to his house, where they ad- ministered the Lord's Supper to his venerable mother.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 51

Churches, who could not find promotion and employment at home. The former were natives of the soil and descendants of respectable ancestors who migrated at an early period. For high and honour- able character and a due appreciation of what was required in ministers of the Gospel there were numerous influential laymen who would favourably compare with those of any part of the land. Some of the vestries, as their records painfully show, did what they could to displace unworthy ministers, though they often failed through defect of law. In order to avoid the danger of having evil ministers fastened upon them, as well as from the scarcity of ministers, they made much use of lay-readers as substitutes. In some instances, as will be seen, such readers were very successful in strengthening the things which remained after the Church was deprived of her possessions and privileges and the clergy had abandoned their charges. The reading of the Service and sermons in private families, which contributed so much to the preservation of an attachment to the Church in the same, was doubtless pro- moted by this practice of lay-reading. Those whom Providence raised up to resuscitate the fallen Church of Virginia can testify to the fact that the families who descended from the above-men- tioned have been their most effective supports. Existing in greater or less numbers throughout the State, they have been the first to originate measures for the revival of the Church, and the most active and liberal ever since in the support of her ministers. More intelligent and devoted Churchmen, more hospitable and warm-hearted friends of the clergy, can nowhere be found. And when in the providence of God they are called on to leave their ancient homes and form new settlements in the distant South and West, none are more active and reliable in transplanting the Church of their Fathers.

SOME REFLECTIONS GROWING OUT OF THE FOREGOING PAGES.

The desertions from the Episcopal Church in Virginia on the part of many who were awakened to a deeper sense of religion, the violent opposition made to it, the persevering and successful efforts for its downfall, the advantage taken by politicians for pro- moting their objects, the abandonment of their charges by far the greater part of the ministers so soon as their salaries were with- drawn and when only unprofitable glebes remained to them, are events in history which must have resulted from some powerful cause or causes. The leading one must be found in the irreligious

52 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

character and defective preaching of the clergy, operating more or less on the laity, for it will always be, in some degree, " like priest like people." The ignorance, superstition, and corruption of the Romish clergy and people invited that grand assault of the great enemy of God and man upon the Christian Church and religion in Europe, by the agency of Voltaire and his host of followers, which led to the French Revolution with all its horrors. It is not won- derful that the same great foe and his active agents should have turned their attention to the Church and people of Virginia, in their then most irreligious state, and made an effective assault upon them. Infidelity became rife in Virginia, perhaps beyond any other portion of the land. The clergy, for the most part, were a laughing-stock or objects of disgust. Some that feared God .and desired to save their souls felt bound to desert them. Persecution followed, and that only increased defection. Infidels rejoiced at the sight, and politicians made their use of the unhappy state of things. The Church fell. There was no Episcopal head to direct and govern either clergy or people. No discipline could be exerted over either. It is not surprising that many should think it was deserted of God as well as of man. Such a view has been taken of it by some ever since, and most diligently and suc- cessfully urged to our injury. Although our present condition ought to be sufficient proof that the Episcopal Church itself is not an offence unto God, — while at one time it came under his dis- pleasure by reason of the unworthiness of many of its ministers and members, — yet it may be well to advert, not in a spirit of retaliation but in the love of truth and justice, to some facts, showing that the Episcopal Church is not the only one in our land which has had its unworthy ministers and members, and been of course so far an object of the Divine displeasure. The history of the whole Christian Church, as one of our opponents has said, is the "history of declensions and revivals." The Baptist Church in Virginia, which took the lead in dissent, and was the chief object of persecution by the magistrates and the most violent and persevering afterward in seeking the downfall of the Establishment, was the first to betray signs of great declension in both ministers and people. The Rev. Robert Sample, in his History of the Bap- tists of Virginia, is faithful in acknowledging this. He informs us that at an early period Kentucky and the Western country took off many of their ministers in pursuit of gain. Some of these ministers had dishonoured the profession. "With some few ex- ceptions," he says, "the declension (among the people) was general

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 53

throughout the State. The love of many waxed cold. Some of the watchmen fell, others stumbled, and many slumbered at their posts. Iniquity greatly abounded." At another time he says, " The great revival had now subsided, and the axe was laid at the root of the tree. Many barren and fruitless trees were already cut down. In many of the churches the number excluded sur- passed the number received." Again, he speaks of the undue dwelling on some highly Calvinistic doctrines. "Truth is often injured by an unsuitable application of its parts. Strong meat should not be given but to men. To preach the deep, mysterious doctrines of grace upon all occasions, and before all sorts of people, is the sure way to preach them out of the parts." Again, he says, in the same connection, " Unguardedness respecting preachers, in various ways, but especially as to impostors, has injured the Bap- tists in many parts, but in none more than on the Eastern Shore. They have probably suffered more by impostors than any other people in Virginia." He then mentions several sad instances of shameful misconduct, adding others afterward. I am also com- pelled in honest truth to say, that at a later period, many others coming within my own knowledge and observation must be united to the above ; but I am also rejoiced to declare, from the same knowledge, that the character of the ministry of that denomination for piety and ability, and no doubt that of the people with it, has been most manifestly improving for many years. I trust that with the acknowledged improvement of our own, there will be an in- creased disposition to forget all former animosities, to think and speak charitably of each other, and only strive which shall most promote the common cause of true religion.

Leaving my own State and Diocese, I proceed to speak of some at a distance who have experienced like declension from the true faith and practice. Col. Byrd, of Virginia, in his "Westover Manuscripts," concerning a tour through the State in the year 1733, speaking of the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, says, " Though these people may be ridiculed for some Pharisaical pecu- liarities in their worship and behaviour, yet they were very useful subjects, as being frugal and industrious, giving no scandal or bad example, at least by any open and public vices. By which excel- lent qualities they had much the advantage of the Southern colony, who thought their being members of the Established Church suffi- cient to sanctify very loose and profligate morals. For this reason New England improved much faster than Virginia." Strict, how- ever, as were the morals, and evangelical as were the doctrines, of

54 OLD C&URCHES, MINISTERS, AND

the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, the time of declension in both came on. We may trace the declension in doctrine to that which was the Mother- Church to many of them, — the Church of Scotland. The moralizing system began there, as it had done in the English Church. I remember to have heard Mr. Balmaine — once a member of that Church — often compare together the moral- izing and evangelical parties of his early days, — now a hundred years ago. Dr. Blair and Mr. Walker were the representatives of the two parties, though associate ministers in the same church in Edinburgh. He had heard them both. The more worldly and fashionable delighted in the sermons of Dr. Blair, who preached in the morning. The more zealous and evangelical attended in greater numbers the services of Dr. Walker, who preached in the afternoon. Dr. Witherspoon also, former President of Princeton College, has, in his work entitled "Characteristics," exercised his unsurpassed wit as well as pious zeal in portraying the two parties, — the one, calling itself the "Moderate Party," which he charges with being "fierce for moderation" and zealous in nothing else. The same soon began to exist in New England. Low views of the qualification for baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the ministry, gradually crept in. The moralizing system took the place of the evangelical. The distinctive principles of the Gospel were kept back, and thus the way was prepared for the Unitarian heresy. The morals also of the Church, as might be expected, began to fail. The labours and preaching of Edwards and others and the great revival under them did much to arrest the downward ten- dency ; but the evil went on. The love of pleasure in the young and of strong drink in both young and old increased in many places. Deacons and elders sold rum by wholesale, and other members by retail. Nor did the clergy lift up their voices in solemn warnings, as they should have done, but very many freely used the intoxicating draught. That aged and venerable man, the Rev. Leonard Woods, of Andover, states that at a particular pe- riod previous to the temperance reformation he was able to count nearly forty ministers of the Gospel, none of whom resided at a very great distance, who were either drunkards or so far addicted to intemperate drinking, that their reputation and usefulness were very greatly injured if not utterly ruined. He mentions an ordina- tion at which he was present, and at which he was pained to see two aged ministers literally drunk and a third indecently excited by strong drink. "These disgusting and appalling facts," says this most esteemed minister of the Gospel, "I could wish might be

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 5O

concealed. But they were made public by the guilty persons ; and I have thought it just and proper to mention them, in order to show how much we owe to a compassionate God for the great deli- verance he hath wrought."* (The Ninth Report of the Am. Tern. Society, as quoted in the Temperance Prize Essay, "Bacchus," pp. 79, 80 ; edition of 1840.) To this I add a testimony of my own. About thirty-five or thirty-six years ago, I devoted some time to the service of the Colonization Society, forming the first auxiliaries and selecting the first colonists in some of the larger cities of the Union, North and South. Of course, I mingled freely with minis- ters and members of different denominations and had opportunity of knowing what I now affirm, — namely, that many ministers of respectable standing, and not confined to any one denomination, were in the habit of using themselves and offering to others who visited them, not merely at the hour of dinner, but long before, brandy and other drinks. I have special reference to one large city, where, in a few years, the evil effects were seen and felt, in the reproach brought on several denominations by the partial if not total fall of some of their chief leaders. In proof of the pre- valence of such a ruinous habit I mention the fact, that in a funeral sermon preached about that time over a deceased minister, and

* In the life of Mrs. Huntington, recently published, we have complaints of de- fection among the dissenters of England as far back as the beginning of the last century. After quoting from Bishop Burnet a strong passage as to the ignorance, want of piety and Scripture knowledge of the clergy of the Establishment, it is added : — "No less mournful utterances came up from the bosom of dissent. Hear its voice of lament : — ' The dissenting interest is not like itself. I hardly know it. It used to be famous for faith, holiness, and love. I knew the time when I had no doubt, into whatsoever place of worship I went among dissenters, but that my heart would be warmed and edified. Now I hear prayers and sermons which I neither relish nor understand. Evangelical truth and duty are old-fashioned things. One's ears are dinned with "reason," "the great law of reason," l( the eternal law of reason." Oh for the purity of our fountains!' " When Wesley and Whitefield and others began to preach the Gospel in its power and purity, they found as little favour with the dissenters as with the churchmen. Dr. Doddridge, after quoting the advice of some one of the English Church as to the best method of resisting encroaches on their flocks, namely, more fervent prayer, holy living, and evangelical preaching, says, "Let us of the dissenting churches go and do likewise." Seeing, then, that there is such a tendency to declension in all, we should learn to be charitable, and, even if it should be only a mote in our own eye, compared with the beam in our brother's, be very careful to eradicate that, remembering how soon it may increase so as to obscure our vision. We speak not this to prevent the honest declaration of truth and faithful warnings to churches, as well as individuals, but to put all on their guard, not to assign an undue portion of error and corruption to any one.

56 OLD CIHJRCHES, MINISTERS, AND

published to the world, it was mentioned to his praise, that such was his hospitality that he never permitted even a morning visit to be paid him without offering wine and other refreshments. How thankful we should be to God for the great change which he has caused to take place in the hospitalities of our day ! As for myself, I can never hear without pain a slighting remark made by any one, especially by a minister, and more especially by one of our own Church, concerning that society which I believe God has raised up in our land, as one instrument by which so much has been done for the diminution of this great evil.

From this digression, if it be a digression, I return, and draw this article to a close.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

Having thus presented a brief sketch of some of the most inte- resting incidents in the past history of the Church of Virginia, let us with deep humility and lively gratitude compare together our past and present condition, saying, "What hath God wrought!" Toward the close of two hundred years after its first establishment there were nearly one hundred ministers and one hundred and sixty churches, and then in seven years after only a few faint- hearted ones serving in the few remaining and almost deserted sanctuaries ; now again, after the labours of less than half a cen- tury, our hundred ministers are restored and more than one hun- dred and seventy churches are open for the people of God. For two hundred years not a Bishop ever visited the diocese, and even after one was sent only a few ministrations were performed ; now, two Bishops have full employment in visiting two hundred churches or stations. It was for years found impracticable to raise sufficient funds for the consecration of one Bishop ; now, funds are raised for the annual support of two, independent of parochial charges. It was once proposed, in a declining state of the Church, but in vain, to raise funds for the education of only two candidates for the ministry ; now, numbers are annually receiving preparatory in- struction at our Seminary. Formerly we were entirely dependent on foreign parts for our supply of clergymen, insufficient as to numbers and worse as to character ; now, by the blessing of God on our Seminary, we are enabled to send forth to the decayed churches of Greece, or to the heathen of Asia and Africa, a goodly number of faithful and zealous missionaries of the cross. Formerly,

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 57

and for at least a century, numbers were deserting our communion, as that which had deserted God, and was deserted of God ; now, for the last forty years, either themselves or their children or chil- dren's children have in considerable numbers been returning to our fold, as to one which God himself was keeping and blessing. Whereas once almost all men thought and spoke ill of our clergy and communicants as devoid of piety, now, only those who are misinformed, or most prejudiced, refuse to acknowledge that through God's grace there is at least as large an amount of true piety in both ministers and people as is to be found in those of any other denomination. Whereas once we had for many years no Conventions and then for some years a few faint-hearted ministers and people meeting together, now, what numbers of clergy and laity delight to assemble, not for the dry business of legislation only, or for religious controversy, but chiefly for the blessed privi- lege of joining hearts and voices in the sweet exercises of God's word and worship, and thus becoming knit together in love ! Thus graciously hath God dealt with us. Out of gratitude to him, and that we may continue to enjoy his smiles, it becomes us ever to bear in mind by what means this hath been done ; how our Jacob arose, when he was not only so small, but crushed to the earth, trodden under foot of man, after having been betrayed by friends and dishonoured by the very ministers of God who were appointed to defend him. In the character, habits, views, and history of the man whom God sent to us from a distance to be our head and leader in this work, and in the views of those, whether from our own State or elsewhere, who entered into the service, may be seen the religious principles and methods of action by which, under God, the change has been effected ; and it need not be said how entirely different they were from those by which the disgrace and downfall of the Church had been wrought. Of the efficacy of these means we are the more convinced from the peculiar and very great diffi- culties to be surmounted, which have nevertheless in a great mea- sure been surmounted. We are persuaded that in no part of our own land were there such strong prejudices and such violent oppo- sitions to be overcome as in Virginia, in consequence of the former character of the Episcopal clergy, and the long and bitter strife which had existed between the Church and those who had left its pale, which latter were never satisfied until the downfall of the former was accomplished.

Let me briefly recapitulate the means used. Bishop Moore, in his previous correspondence, and his first sermon and address,

58 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

declared his determination to preach as he had ever done, when God so greatly blessed his ministry, the glorious doctrines of grace, instead of a mere morality, such as many of the English clergy had once preached, and such as had been but too common in Virginia. The young clergy, who engaged in the revival of the Church of Virginia, took the same resolve and made the great theme of their preaching "Jesus Christ and him crucified," on the ground of a total apostasy from God on the part of man which required such a sacrifice, as well as the renewing of the Holy Ghost in order to ineetness for the joys of Heaven. But they did not turn this grace of God into licentiousness and think that either priest or people might indulge in sin. Among the first acts of the earlier Conventions, it was at once set forth before the world that the revival of the Church was to be undertaken on principles entirely different from those which had hitherto pre- vailed, and under the influence of which religion had been so much dishonoured. It was plainly declared that there was need of discipline both for clergy and laity, and canons were provided for the exercise of the same. Not merely were grosser vices stig- matized, but what by some were considered the innocent amuse- ments of the world and which the clergy themselves had advo- cated and practised were condemned as inconsistent with the character of a Christian professor.

Baptism, by which we renounce the pomps and vanities of the world as well as the sinful lusts of the flesh, and which had been customarily celebrated in private, directly in opposition to the rubric and often amidst ungodly festivities, was now sought to be performedN only in the house of God, and with pious sponsors instead of thoughtless and irreligious ones. Candidates for con- firmation, instead of being presented because they had reached a certain age and could repeat the Catechism, were told what a solemn vow, promise, and profession they were about to make, and that it was none other than an immediate introduction with full qualifications to the Lord's Supper. Of course very different views of the Lord's Supper and of the conduct of communicants were inculcated, and the ministers bound, by express canon, to converse with each one before admitting for the first time to the Lord's Supper. Thus were the whole tone and standard of religion changed, to the dissatisfaction and complaint, it is true, of some of the old members of the Church, and not without the condemnation of some from abroad. In due time, the important measure, requiring that all who enter our Convention to legis-

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 59

late for Christians and Christian ministers should themselves be Christian professors, was adopted, though there were those at home who feared the attempt, and those abroad who prophesied evil in such a manner as to encourage disaffection at home. But God was with us and has granted most entire success.

As to the manner of exciting zeal in Christians and awakening interest in those who were not, it was thought that no better example could be followed than that of the apostles, who preached not only in the temple and synagogues, but from house to house, as occasion required and opportunity offered. As to the manner of preaching, written sermons were generally pre- ferred in the pulpit, while extemporaneous exhortations were often resorted to in smaller assemblies. Without slighting the excellent prayers of our Liturgy, there were many occasions, both in private families and in social meetings, when extemporaneous petitions seemed edifying both to the pastor and his flock. As to the great benevolent and religious institutions of the age, our ministers felt that they were doing well to encourage their people to a lively participation in them. The Missionary and Bible Societies, the Colonization and Temperance Societies, received their most cordial support, and they considered it a subject of devout thankfulness to God if their congregations took a deep interest in the same. To provoke each other and their con- gregations to zeal in all good works, and especially to awaken the careless to a sense of their lost condition, the ministers would meet together occasionally, and for several successive days make full trial of prayer and the word, expecting the blessing pro- mised to two or three who come together and ask somewhat of God.

To these I will only add a few words as to the spirit cherished and the course pursued toward our Christian brethren who walk not with us in all things of Church order and worship. Long and bitter was the strife that subsisted between them and our fathers, violent the prejudices that raged against us, and it would have been easy to enter on the work of revival in the spirit of retalia- tion and fierce opposition. But would it have been right, and as our Master would have had us do? Our forefathers had done religion much and them some wrong. God made use of them for good. Many of them were doubtless most sincere in their fear of us and opposition to us. It became us rather to win them over by love, and secure their esteem by living and preaching dif- ferently from our predecessors. Such was the conciliatory course

60 OLD CHJJRCHES, MINISTERS, AND

pursued by our deceased father in God, and followed by those who perceived the good effects of his example, and most happy was the effect of the same. But while we have reason, at thought of our present by comparison with our past condition, to exclaim, "What hath God done!" "to thank him and take courage," yet should we beware of boasting, or of supposing that all is done, or that what remains will certainly and easily be done. I consider it as the great error of many in our Church, that we are too much given to boasting, too apt to overrate our own successes, and cal- culate too largely on far greater, while underrating the present or probable future successes of others. God will, in his own way, correct us, if we be guilty of presumption. Our Jacob is still small, and it becomes us now, as of old, to ask, By whom shall he arise ? Much is yet to be done, and there are many difficulties in the way. Though we have a goodly number of ministers, yet there are by no means enough to carry on the work of enlargement as we could wish, and as the door seems opening to us. Although we have many churches, yet how many of the congregations are small and not rapidly increasing, being still unable to afford even a moderate support to the ministry ! Many are the discourage- ments which meet us in our efforts to sustain some of the old and to raise up new congregations. Among the most painful is the difficulty of attaching the poor of this world to our communion. When our Lord was on earth he gave, as one of the signs of his heavenly descent, the blessed fact that " to the poor the Gospel is preached," and "the common people," it is written, "heard him gladly," — " the multitudes followed him." Such should be ouT- constant endeavour; and if, from the causes alluded to in the past history of our Church, one description of the poor of Vir- ginia have been almost entirely alienated from us, let us rejoice to know that there is another description not less acceptable in the sight of Heaven, who, if we are kind to them and will take due pains to win them over, may more easily be led to come under the faithful preaching of the word. The poor servants will, if we persevere in our labours of love toward them, and be to them what God's faithful pastors in every age have been to the poor, be benefited by our ministry, and may — if we will, in con- junction with their owners, attend to them betimes, as we do to our own children — become regular and pious members of our com- munion. But whether we think of the rich or of the poor, or of those of any and every condition and character among us, with the hope of converting them to Christ and attaching them to

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 61

the communion of our Church, we need not expect much success without great zeal and diligence, such as was put forth in our first efforts for its resuscitation. Our State is not one of those whose population is rapidly increasing, in which flourishing villages are springing up in every direction calling for neat churches to fill up the measure of their beauty and excellency, and where the sup- port of the ministry is sure, so that our Zion must needs lengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes. Very different is it with us now, has it been for many years, and will it in all probability be for many years to come. It is only by patient perseverance in well-doing that we can hope to make advances in the establish- ment of our Church. Much self-denial and enduring of hardship and abounding in labours and itinerant zeal and contentedness with a little of this world's goods, on the part of many of our ministers, are indispensable to the growth of the Church in Vir- ginia much beyond her present attainment. Without these things she may, except in the towns, continue stationary, or even retro- grade in some places, during years to come.

To the foregoing I only add that in the summer of 1829 I was consecrated Assistant Bishop of Virginia, and continued to perform the duties of that office until, by the death of Bishop Moore, in 1841, I succeeded to the place which he occupied. During all that time, I can with truth say that not the slightest circumstance ever occurred to interrupt for a moment a most har- monious and pleasant relation between us. Bishop Johns was consecrated Assistant Bishop in the fall of 1842 ; and I can as truly say that thus far the same harmony has existed, and I feel confident that it will exist until death or some other circumstance shall dissolve the connection. Such is the extent of the Diocese, and such was the difficulty of traversing it, that, for the first twelve or thirteen years, I was engaged in visitation during eight months of each year, travelling over large portions of it on horse- back, or in an open one-horse carriage. During the latter period, six months suffice for such duties as devolved upon me, and these could not possibly be performed but for the greatly-improved modes of conveyance. I need not add, what is so well known, that they are most imperfectly performed.

OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

ARTICLE III.

The Parish of James City.

I NOW enter upon the Parish of James City — the landing-place of our first forefathers — the seat of the first civil and religious es- tablishment on the shores of North America. It dates its begin- ning about two hundred and fifty years ago. But it found a place in the hearts of pious and philanthropic men at a still earlier period, and we must go back to that period with our preparatory remarks. We are greatly mistaken, if we suppose that the mis- sionary spirit, after slumbering from the early ages, was aroused to life and action only within the last hundred years. Instances may be shown, in which Kings and Queens of our mother-country and Church, moved to it by the pious zeal of Bishops and other ministers, have commanded, that together with the sword and artil- lery of war, and the implements of commerce and husbandry, the sword of the Spirit and the trumpet of the Gospel should be sent, with armies and navies and colonists, to the uncivilized nations of the earth. I confine my references to what the religious principle has done in behalf of the Colony of Virginia.

The domestic troubles of the English State and Church, the controversies with Romanists, Puritans, and other disaffected bodies, delayed and hindered any great schemes for Christian colonization and missionary enterprise, just as civil wars prevent foreign ag- gressions and conquests. To the Rev. Richard Hakluyt the chief praise is due, for stirring up the minds of Christian statesmen and people to the duty of finding out barbarous countries, in order to their conversion to the Christian faith. To his friend, Sir Philip Sydney, he dedicates his first collection of voyages and discoveries, in 1570. In 1587, he republishes Peter Martyr's history of the New World, with a preface, dedicating it to Sir Walter Raleigh, together with another work on Florida, in which he urges him to persevere in the good work he had begun in Virginia.* In both of them he urges Sir Walter to prosecute the work from the only true

* In the year 1588, Sir Walter Raleigh gave £100 for the propagation of Chris- tianity in Virginia.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 6d

motive and design, the extension of Christ's religion, — " The glo- rie of God, and the saving of the soules of the poor and blinded infidels." The numerous volumes collected and published by this laborious and zealous man on this subject have come down to our day, and are a most valuable depository of missionary information. After holding various preferments, he settled down as Prebendary of Westminster, and continued till his death, in 1616, to watch over the infant Colony of Virginia. The honour of being buried in Westminster Abbey was conferred on this man of a large soul. It deserves to be mentioned, that he not only by his pen and the press urged on the Christian colonization of Virginia, but sought and obtained the honour of being one of those to whom Virginia was consigned, by letters-patent from King James, that he might the more effectually labour for her welfare. To his exertions the expeditions in 1603, and again in 1605, may in a great measure be ascribed. The language used by the King, in the terms of the patent for Virginia, in 1606, shows also the religious character of the movement. One design was, that " so noble a work may, by the Providence of God, hereafter tend to the glorie of his divine majestic, in propagating of Christian religion to such people as sit in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge lind worship of God, and may in time bring the infidels and savages (living in those parts) to human civility and quiet government." Another evidence of the operation of the religious feeling in those who first engaged in the settlement of Virginia may be seen in what one writes, who went out with Weymouth in 1605, in regard to a proposal of some of the natives, that " the company would push their discoveries further." It was declined, he says, on this ground: — "We would not hazard so hopefull a businesse as this was, either for our private or particular ends, being more regardful of a public goode, and promulgating God's holy Church, by plant- ing Christianity, which was the interest of our adventurers as well as ours."*

In the following year, December, 1606, the first little colony came to Virginia, bringing with it the first minister of James City, the Rev. Robert Hunt. Mr. Wingfield, the first President of the Colony, gives the following account of his appointment: — "For my first worke, which was to make right choice of a spiritual pas-

* In the instructions of the King, in 1606, it was enjoined, that "all persons should kindly treat the savages and heathen people in these parts, and use all pro- per means to draw them to the true service and knowledge of God."

64 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

tor, I appeal to my Lord of Canterbury, — his grace, — -who gave me very gracious audience in my request. And the world knoweth whom I took with me, truely a man, in my opinion, not any waie to be touched with the rebellious humour of a papist spirit, nor blemished with the least suspicion of a factious schismatic." In a narrative, kept by Stukeley and others, it is written, " On the 19th of December, 1606, we set sail from Blackwell, but by unpros- perous winds were kept six weeks in sight of England ; all which time Mr. Hunt, our preacher, was so weake and sicke that few ex- pected his recovery. Yet allthough we were but twenty miles from his habitation, (the time we were in the Downes,) and notwithstand- ing the stormy weather, nor the scandalous speeches of some few, little better than atheists, of the greatest rank among us, suggested against him, all this could never force from him so much as a seeming desire to leave the businesse, but preferred the service of God, in so good a voyage, before any affection to contest with his godless foes, whose disastrous designs, could they have prevailed, had even then overthrown the businesse, so many discontents did there arise, had he not only with the water of patience and his godly exhortations, but chiefly by his devoted example, quenched those flames of envy and dissention."* It is very certain, that notwithstanding the piety which prompted the expedition, and the devotion of Mr. Hunt and some others who embarked in that vessel, there was a considerable proportion of most unworthy materials on board, as shown by their opposition to Hunt and Cap- tain Smith, two men who seemed to know no fear, but that of God. The future conduct of the larger portion of the Colonists, after their arrival, too well established this fact. The company in Eng- land appears to have apprehended something of this, from their instructions, in which they say to the Colonists at their departure, that athe way to prosper and have success was to make themselves all of one mind, for their own and their country's good ; and to serve and fear God, the giver of all goodness, since every planta- tion which he did not plant would certainly be rooted out." Al- though Captain Smith was appointed one of the Council of the

* The log church first erected was burned down the following winter, with many other houses. Mr. Hunt lost all his books and every thing else but the clothes on his back. " Yet none ever saw him repine at his loss." " Upon any alarm he was as ready at defence as any, and till he could not speak he never ceased to his ut- most to animate us constantly to persist, — whose soul, questionless, is with God." — Captain Smith's History of Virginia.

FAMILIES OP VIRGINIA. 65

Company, a violent opposition was made to his having a seat on their arrival. "Many," it is said in the narrative already quoted, " were the mischiefs which daily sprung from their ignorant yet ambitious spirits ; but the good doctrine and exhortation of our preacher, Mr. Hunt, reconciled them, and caused Captain Smith to be admitted of the Council." The next day, the Holy Communion was, for the first time, administered in Virginia. The number composing the first congregation at Jamestown was one hundred and four or five. "A circumstance," says the Rev. Mr. Anderson, author of three most laborious and interesting volumes on the Colonial Churches, " is mentioned in President Wingfield's manuscript, which I cannot find recorded elsewhere, which shows, in a very remarkable manner, the careful and pious reverence mani- fested by the Colonists for the due celebration of Christ's holy ordinance, in their sad extremity." He says that when "the com- mon store of oil, sack, vinegar, and aqua-vitae, were all spent, saving two gallons of each, the sack was reserved for the com- munion-table."*

* The Rev. James S. M. Anderson, of England, one of the Queen's Chaplains, has been for some years, with great labour and research, preparing the history of the Colonial Churches. In a letter just received, he informs me that his third and last volume is in print. Being consulted by him, a few years since, in relation to the Episcopal Church of Virginia, and receiving his first two volumes, a channel has been established through which I obtain information, on some points, only to be gotten by those who have access to old documents in England. The manuscript of Wingfield, the first President of the Colony, from which some of the foregoing extracts are taken, has been discovered by his careful research. I shall be indebted to his volumes for many passages concerning the early history of the Church of Virginia. To our worthy fellow-citizens, Mr. Conway Robinson, of Richmond, and Mr. Charles Campbell, of Petersburg, both of whom are imbued with a large share of antiquarian spirit, I am already indebted for some documents which will be of much service to me in the preparation of these notices. Mr. Robinson visited Eng- land a few years since, mainly, I believe, on this errand, and the first acquaintance he formed was with the Rev. Mr. Anderson. Mr. Robinson not only sought out and copied some things of interest in the civil and religious history of Virginia, but established a channel through which much else may be procured, which would help to accomplish a work much needed in Virginia, viz.: a full history of the Co- lony and State from the beginning, consisting of the most important parts of those numerous documents, some of which have never been published, and others lie scattered through old volumes in England and America, but which are inaccessible to numbers whose patriotic and Virginian feelings would delight to read them. Such a work should be executed under the patronage of the State, as an accompa- niment to Henning's Statutes at Large, which is at present our best history, in connection with the brief one by Mr. Campbell. If such a lover of antiquities and go laborious a workman as Mr. Robinson were appointed to this duty, and fur- nished with sufficient means, and would undertake it, a great desideratum would be

5

66 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

In proof of the religious character of Captain Smith, as a part of the history of James City Parish, I quote the following account of the first place of worship in the same, in a pamphlet published in 1631, by Mr. Smith, some years after his History of Virginia, and entitled, "Advertisements for the unexperienced planters of New England, or elsewhere, &c." To the Rev. Mr. Anderson's labours we are indebted for the revival of this pamphlet.

" Now, because I have spoken so much for the body, give me leave to say somewhat of the soul ; and the rather, because I have been demanded by so many, how we began to preach the Gospel in Virginia, and by what authority, what churches we had, our order of service, and maintenance for our ministers ; therefore I think it not amiss to satisfie their demands, it being the mother of all our Plantations, entreating pride to spare laughter, to understand her simple beginnings and proceedings. When I went first to Virginia, I well remember, we did hang an awning (which is an old sail) to three or four trees, to shadow us from the sun ; our walls were rails of wood, our seats unhewed trees, till we cut planks, our pulpit a bar of wood nailed to two neighbouring trees ; in foul weather we shifted into an old rotten tent, for we had few better, and this came by way of adventure for new. This was our church, till we built a homely thing like a barn, set upon crotchetts, covered with rafts, sedge, and earth, so was also the walls. The best of our houses were of the like curiosity, but the most part far much worse workmanship, that could neither well defend wind nor rain, yet we had daily Common Prayer morning and evening, every Sunday two sermons, and every three months the holy communion, till our minister died, (the Rev. Mr. Hunt.) But (after that) our prayers daily with an homily on Sundays, we continued two or three years after, till more preachers came, and surely God did most mercifully hear us, till the continual inundations of mistaking directions, factions, and numbers of unprovided libertines near consumed us all, as the Israelites in the wil- derness." " Notwithstanding, (he says,) out of the relicks of our mercies, time and experience had brought that country to a great happiness, had they not so much doated on their Tobacco, on whose furnish foundation there is small stability."*

Of the piety of Captain Smith we have further evidence, in the account given of the survey of Virginia, when he and his valiant comrades fell into so many perils among the Indians. " Our order was daily to have prayer with a psalm, at which solemnity the poor savages much wondered." On Smith's return to Jamestown, not- withstanding all former opposition, such were his merits and such its difficulties, that the Council elected him President of the Co-

supplied to all true Virginians and the lovers of history everywhere through the land.

* Of the many evils to Church and State, resulting from the culture and use of tobacco, we have some account to give before we close these pages.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 67

lony ; and the first thing done was to repair the church, which, during his absence among the Indians, had, with other houses, been destroyed by fire. Characteristic, and evincive of piety in him, is the statement of it : — "Now the building of the palace was stayed as a thing needless, and the church was repaired."

In what year the first minister, Mr. Hunt, died, is not now known, but that there was a vacancy for some years is declared in the foregoing passage from Captain Smith's last pamphlet. The next was the Rev. Mr. Bucke, who came over with Lord De la War, in the year 1610. The many disasters which had befallen the first emigrants to Virginia, so far from discouraging either the statesmen or the Christians in England, and causing them to aban- don the enterprise, only stirred them up to more active exertion. In the year 1609, a new company, called the London Company, was formed, and a new charter, with a larger territory and more privileges, was granted. Twenty-one of the peers, including a number of the bishops, and many of the first clergy and mer- chants of the kingdom, were among those who are mentioned in the charter. Mr. Edwin Sandys, the pupil of Hooker, the two brothers John and Nicholas Ferrar, one of them a pious divine, and both of them most active members of the board which managed the concerns of the company, are worthy of special mention. That a spirit of true piety to God and love for the souls of the heathen burned in the breasts of many of the members of the company, cannot be questioned. It is evident from the selection of the Go- vernor, who was a man of sincere piety ; and had his health been continued, so as to allow of a longer residence in America, much might have been expected from his example and zeal. The spirit which predominated in the company may also be seen in the minis- ter chosen for the new expedition, the Rev. Mr. Bucke, a worthy successor to Mr. Hunt, and from the sermons preached at their embarkation. Two of them were published, and are still extant. One of them, the first ever preached in England on such an occa- sion, was by the Rev. Mr. Crashaw, preacher at the Temple. "Remember," he says, "that the end of this voyage is the de- struction of the devil's kingdom, and the propagation of the Gos- pel." After upbraiding those who were anxious for acquiring wealth by voyages, but indifferent to this, he says, " But tell them of planting a church, of saving ten thousand souls, and they are senseless as stones ; they stir no more than if men spoke to them of toys and trifles ; they laugh in their sleeves at the silliness of such as engage themselves in such matters." To Lord De la War

08 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

himself, who was present, he speaks as follows : — "And thou, most noble Lord, whom God hath stirred up to neglect the pleasures of England, and, with Abraham, to go from thy country and forsake thy kindred and thy father's house, to go to a land which God will show thee, give me leave to speak the truth. Thy ancestor many hundred years ago gained great honour to thy house, but by this action thou augmentest it. He took a king prisoner in the field of his own land, but by the godly managing of this business thou shalt take the Devil prisoner in open field and in his own kingdom ; nay, the Gospel which thou earnest with thee shall bind him in chains, and his angels in stronger fetters than iron, and execute upon them the judgment that is written ; yea, it shall lead cap- tivity captive, and redeem the souls of men from bondage, and thus thy glory and the honour of thy house is more at the last than at the first. Go forward therefore in the strength of the Lord, and make mention of his righteousness only. Looke princi- pally to religion. You go to commend it to the heathen : then practise it yourself; make the name of Christ honourable, not hateful unto them." Another sermon was preached at White Chapel, London, in the presence of many honourable, worshipful adventurers and planters for Virginia. At its close he says, "If it be God's purpose that the Gospel shall be preached through the world for a witness, then ought ministers to be careful and willing to spread it abroad, in such good services as this that is intended. Sure it is a great shame to us of the ministry, that can be better content to set and rest us here idle, than undergoe so good a worke. Our pretence of zeal is clear discovered to be but hypocrisy, when we rather choose to mind unprofitable questions at home, than gaining souls abroad." From the above we shall see that the true missionary spirit, and missionary sermons and addresses to those about to embark on some foreign work, are not peculiar to our day, though, blessed be God, they are increased among us. For some cause, which need not now be dwelt upon, Lord De la War did not sail until the following year, though Mr. Bucke went over sooner, in a vessel with Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Summers. On reaching there, after having been wrecked themselves, and long detained at the Bermuda Islands, they found the Colony in a most deplorable condition, the greater part having been cut off by the Indians, and the remainder almost in a state of starvation.* On

* When Captain Smith left the Colony, driven away by ill-usage, there were five hundred persons in it. When Lord De la War reached it, six months after, there

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 69

landing, the first place visited by Gates was the ruined and unfre- quented church. " He caused the bell to be rung, and such as were able to crawl out of their miserable dwellings repaired thither, that they might join in the zealous and sorrowful prayer of their faithful minister, who pleaded in that solemn hour for his afflicted brethren and himself, before the Lord their God." After a few days, the provisions being nearly out, the whole Colony embarked for Newfoundland, " none dropping a tear, because none had en- joyed one day of happiness." "When this departure of Sir Tho- mas Gates, full sore against his heart, was put in execution," says Mr. Crashaw, " and every man aboard, their ordnance and armour buried, and not an English soul left in Jamestown, and giving, by their peal of shot, their last and woeful farewell to that pleasant land, were now with sorrowful hearts going down the river, — be- hold the hand of Heaven from above, at the very instant, sent in the Right Honourable De la War to meet them at the river's mouth, with provision and comforts of all kind, who, if he had staid but two tydes longer, had come into Virginia and not found one Englishman." They all now returned to Jamestown. On landing, Lord De la War, before showing any token or performing any act of authority, fell down upon his knees, as Paul upon the sea-shore, and in presence of all the people made a long and silent prayer to himself. After which he arose, and, going in procession to the church, heard a sermon by the Rev. Mr. Bucke ; at the close of which he displayed his credentials to the congregation, and ad- dressed them in a few words of admonition and encouragement. The author from whom the above statement is taken, and who was Secretary and Recorder of the Colony, (Strachy, who wrote a narrative of all the proceedings of the same,) gives us the following sketch of the church, which he says the Governor had given order at once to be repaired: —

" It is in length threescore foot, in breadth twenty-four, and shall have chancel in it of cedar, a communion-table of black walnut, and all the

were only sixty remaining, in a most wretched condition, famine and the natives hav- ing destroyed the rest. It was always afterward called "the starving- time." Truly was it said of this Colony at this and other periods, that "it grew up in misery." One of the historians of that day, Dr. Simons, assures us, that "so great was our famine, that a salvage (savage or Indian) we slew and buried, the poorer sort took him up again and eat him, and so did divers one another, boiled and stewed with roots and herbs. And one of the rest did kill his wife, powdered her, and had eaten part of her before it was known, for which he was executed, as he well deserved "

70 OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

pews of cedar, with fair broad windows, to shut and open, (as the weather shall occasion,) of the same wood, a pulpit of the same, with a Font hewn below, like a canoe, with two bells at the west end. It is so caste, as it be very light within, and the Lord-Governor and Captain-General doth cause it to be kept passing sweet, and trimmed up with divers flowers, with a sexton belonging to it; and in it every Sunday we have sermons twice a day, and every Thursday a sermon, having true preachers, which take their weekly turns ; and every morning, at the ringing of the bell about ten o'clock, each man addresseth himself to prayers, and so at four o'clock before supper.* Every Sunday, when the Lord-Governor and Captain-General goeth to Church, he is accompanied by all the counsel- lors, captains, other officers, and all the gentlemen, with a guard of Hal- berdiers in his Lordship's livery, (fair red cloakes,) to the number of fifty, on each side, and behind him. His Lordship hath his seat in the Quoir, in a great velvet chair, with a cloth, with a velvet cushion spread before him, on which he kneeleth, and on each side sit the council, captains, and officers, each in their place, and when he returneth home again, he is waited on to his house in the same manner."

In the foregoing, it is said that there were true preachers, who took their weekly turns, which shows that there were more than the Rev. Mr. Bucke in the Colony at this time ; and we do read of a most venerable old man, by the name of Glover, who came over with Sir Thomas Gates, upon his second return to Virginia, and who was doubtless one of the true preachers (perhaps it should read two) spoken of above. In the account of the decora- tions of the church under Lord De la War, and the pomp and cir- cumstance of his own attendance at church, the reader will not fail to perceive some of the peculiarities of the Laudian school. That school was not very far off, in our Mother-Church, at this time. Some of those concerned in promoting and preparing this expedition of Lord De la War were, I doubt not, somewhat inclined to it. The secretary, Strachy, who has given this account, was, it is believed, the person who had much to do in drawing up the code of "Laws, moral, martial, and divine," which is so much tinctured with Romish and martial discipline, and which has ever been the reproach of the Church and State of Vir- ginia, though its penalties were so seldom enforced, and the worst of them were soon abolished. One, at least, of those excellent men, "the Ferrars," was somewhat inclined to a monkish religion. This, however, is the only instance in which such decorations and pomp are mentioned in the history of Virginia. Only a few years after this, the Rev. Mr. Whittaker speaks of the simplicity of our

* They were then all living together, in one small place, with little work to do.

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 71

worship and liberality of our discipline in the following words :— " But I much more muse, that so few of our English ministers that were so hot against the surplice and subscription come hither, where neither of them are spoken of."

Having alluded to the Ferrars, the two brothers, as zealous and active friends of the Colony, and especially labouring for its religious condition, it is due not only to them, but to the whole family, to add a few more words. The father was a wealthy merchant in London, and a promoter of all the good works in which the sons were engaged. The mother was also lite-minded. The two sons, John and Nicholas, were highly-educated and talented men, labouring zealously, as members of the London Company, until it was dissolved by the tyranny and covetousness of King James, by a kind of Star Chamber operation, in the year 1624, the year before his death. John, the elder, then entered into the House of Commons, and sought to promote the best interests of the Colony in that place. Nicholas, after debating the question whether he should remove to Virginia and seek her welfare here on the spot, or devote himself to the ministry at home, determined on the latter. In the words of Mr. Ander- son, who duly appreciated his worth, I make the following statement : —

" In 1626, Ferrar was ordained by Laud, then Bishop of St. David's. From that period, to the time of his death, which took place in 1637, he gave himself up to those duties, with an ardour and steadfastness of devo- tion which the world has never seen surpassed. It forms no part of the present history, to relate the particulars of the economy which he then established in his house, and in the church; still less can it be required to enter into any explanation of the personal austerities exercised by himself and the members of his family — austerities not exceeded, as his biographer justly observes, by the severest orders of monastic institutions. It is clear that such rigorous observances were not required by that branch of the Church Catholic of which Ferrar was an ordained minister, and the exaction of them on his part may, therefore, have justly been dis- approved of by many who loved and snared the piety which prompted them. There is reason also to think that his own life was shortened by the hardships of fast and vigil which he endured."

As it is well known that such a type of personal religion is often accompanied by an excessive regard to the ceremonial, the pomp and show of public worship, decoration of churches, &c., we may thus account for the fact that Lord De la War, who may have sympathized with the rising school of Laud, in England, introduced some parade, which had never been before, and, as we

T2 OLD GHUBCHES, MINISTERS, AND

believe, never was afterward seen in the Colony. In connection with this, we add that when George Herbert, a brother in soul to Nicholas Ferrar, was about to die, he sent some poems to Ferrar, which were published, and which showed how he sympathized with him, in his hopes from America. The two following lines are evincive of this : —

" Religion stands tiptoe in our land, Ready to pass to the American strand."

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 73

ARTICLE IV.

The Parish of James City.— No. 2.

As it is an important object with the writer to furnish proofs of the benevolent and religious spirit which actuated the friends and patrons of the Colony, before proceeding with our narrative we invite the attention of the reader to the two following docu- ments. The first was written in the year 1612, and may be found in a pamphlet entitled "The New Life of Virginia," and shows the spirit of the author toward the Indians.

"And for the poor Indians, what shall I say? but God, that hath many ways showed mercy to you, make you show mercy to them and theirs, and howsoever they may seem unto yon so intolerably wicked and rooted in mischief that they cannot be moved, yet consider rightly and be not dis- couraged. They are no worse than the nature of Gentiles, and even of those Gentiles so heinously decyphered by St. Paul, to be full of wickedness, haters of God, doers of wrong, such as could never be appeased, and yet himself did live to see that by the fruits of his own labours many thou- sands even of them became true believing Christians, and of whose race and offspring consisteth (well-near) the whole Church of God at this day. This is the work that we first intended, and have published to the world, to be chief in our thoughts, to bring those Infidel people from the worship of Devils to the service of God. And this is the knot that you must untie or cut asunder, before you can conquer those sundrie impediments that will surely hinder all other proceedings, if this be not first pre- ferred.

"Take their children and train them up with gentleness, teach them our English tongue and the principles of religion. Win the elder sort by wisdom and discretion ; make them equal to you English in case of protection, wealth, and habitation, doing justice on such as shall do them wrong. Weapons of war are needful, I grant, but for defence only, and only in this case. If you seek to gain this victory upon them by stratagems of war, you shall utterly lose it, and never come near it, but shall make your names odious to all their posterity. Instead of iron and steel, you must have patience and humanity, to manage their crooked nature to your form of civility ; for as our proverb is, ' Look, how you win them so you must wear them ? if by way of peace and gentleness, then shall you always bring them in love to youwards, and in peace with your English people, and, by proceeding in that way, shall open the springs of earthly benefits to them both, and of safety to yourselves."

7-i OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND

The following extracts are from "A Prayer for the Morning and Evening Use of the Watch or Guard, to be offered up either by the Captain himself, or some one of his principal men or officers." It was probably prepared by Mr. Crashaw, and sent out with Mr. Whittaker. It furnishes a just view of the religion of that day, — at any rate, of those who were engaged in this enter- prise. It is also a fair specimen of the theology and devotion of the English Reformers. While it is in faithful keeping with the prayers of our Common Prayer Book, it shows that our fore- fathers did not object to, but freely used, other prayers besides those in the Prayer Book. The reader is requested not to pass over it, but to read it in a prayerful spirit : —

" Merciful Father, and Lord of Heaven and Earth, we come before thy presence to worship thee, in calling upon thy name, and giving thanks unto thee. And though our duties and our very necessities call us hereunto, yet we confess our hearts to be so dull and untoward, that unless thou be merciful to us to teach us how to pray, we shall not please thee, nor profit ourselves in these duties.

" We, therefore, most humbly beseech thee to raise up our hearts with thy good Spirit, and so to dispose us to prayer, that with true fervour of heart, feeling of our wants, humbleness of mind, and faith in thy gracious promises, we may present our suits acceptably unto thee by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

"And now, 0 blessed Lord, we are desirous to come unto thee, how wretched soever in ourselves ; yea, our very wretchedness sends us unto thee, with whom the fatherless and he that hath no helper findeth mercy. We come to thee in thy Son's name, not daring to come in our own. In his name that cares for us we come to thee, in his mediation whom thou hast sent. In him, 0 Father, in whom thou hast professed thyself to be well pleased, we come unto thee, and do most humbly beseech thee to pity us, and to save us for thy mercies' sake in him.

"0 Lord, our God, our sins have not outbidden that blood of thy Holy Son which speaks for our pardon, nor can they be so infinite as thou art in thy mercies ; and our hearts, 0 God ! (thou seest them,) our hearts are desirous to have peace with thee, and war with our lusts, and wish that they could melt before thee, and be dissolved into godly mourning, for all that filth that hath gone through them and defiled them.

"OLord! 0 Lord our God! thou hast dearly bought us for thine own self : give us so honest hearts as may be glad to yield the possession of thine own, and be thou so gracious, as yet to take them up, though we have desperately held thee out of them in time past; and dwell in us and reign in us by thy Spirit, that we may be sure to reign with thee in thy glorious kingdom, according to thy promise, through him that hath pur- chased that inheritance for all that trust in him.

"And now, 0 Lord of mercy! 0 Father of the spirits of all flesh! look in mercy upon the Gentiles who yet know thee not ! And seeing thou hast honoured us to choose us out to bear thy name unto the Gen-

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 75

tiles, we therefore beseech thee to bless us, and this our plantation, which we and our nation have begun in thy fear, and for thy glory. We know, 0 Lord ! we have the Devil and all the gates of Hell against us ; but if thou, 0 Lord, be on our side, we care not who be against us ! Oh, therefore vouchsafe to be our God, and let us be a part and portion of thy people; confirm thy covenant of grace and mercy with us, which thou hast made to thy Church in Christ Jesus. And seeing, Lord, the highest end of our plantation here is to set up the standard and display the banner of Jesus Christ even here where Satan's throne is, Lord, let our labour be blessed in labouring for the conversion of the heathen. And because thou usest not to work such mighty works by unholy means, Lord, sanc- tify our spirits, and give us holy hearts, that so we may be thy instruments in this most glorious work.

" And whereas we have, by undertaking this plantation, undergone the reproofs of this base world, insomuch as many of our own brethren laugh us to scorn, 0 Lord, we pray thee fortify us against this temp- tation !

" And seeing this work must needs expose us to many miseries and dan- gers of soul and body by land and sea, 0 Lord ! we earnestly beseech thee to receive us into thy favour and protection, defend us from the delusions of the Devil, the malice of the heathen, the invasions of our enemies, and mutinies and dissensions of our own people. Knit our hearts alto- gether in faith and fear of thee, and love one to another; give us patience, wisdom, and constancy to go on through all difficulties and temptations, till this blessed work be accomplished for the honour of thy name and glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ !

" And here, 0 Lord ! we do upon the knees of our hearts offer thee the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for that thou hast moved our hearts to undertake the performance of this blessed work with the hazard of our person, and hast moved the hearts of so many hundreds of our nation to assist it with means and provision, and with their holy prayers. Lord, look mercifully upon them all, and for that portion of their substance which they willingly offer for thy honour and service in this action, re- compense it to them and theirs, and reward it sevenfold into their bosoms, with better blessings. Lord, bless England, our sweet native country ! save it from Popery, this land from heathenism, and both from Atheism. And, Lord, hear their prayers for us, and us for them, and Christ Jesus, our glorious Mediator, for us all. Amen \"

We now proceed with the history.

The services of Lord De la War were of short duration, being obliged to return to England • early in 1611, by reason of ill health. Before his arrival in England, the Council had sent Sir Thomas Dale, giving him the title of High-Marshal of Virginia, with a fresh supply of men and provisions, and with the Rev. Alexander Whittaker, between whom and Sir Thomas there appears to have ever been a strong attachment. They remained together at Jamestown until the arrival of Sir Thomas Gates, in the same year, with full powers as Governor, when Sir Thomas Dale, the High-Marshal, by agreement with the Governor, went

76 OLD CHUBCHES, MINISTEBS, AND

higher up the river, with Mr. Whittaker and three hundred and fifty men, to establish two new positions, — one of them called New Bermuda, in what is now Chesterfield county, in the angle formed by James River and the Appomattox, and which after- ward assumed and still retains the name of Bermuda Hundred; the other was five or six miles higher up, on the opposite side of the river, on what was called Farrar's Island, though it was, as Jamestown, only a peninsula. This was called Henrico City. In both of them churches were built, and small villages established, and Mr. Whittaker was the minister of both, alternately residing at each of them. As these were the first establishments after Jamestown, and are intimately connected in their history with that of Jamestown, the governors sometimes residing at Bermuda, we shall unite them together in our notices, until the destruction of Henrico in the great massacre of 1622. The Rev. Alexander Whittaker was the son of that eminent theologian of Cambridge who took part in drawing up the Lambeth Articles in the year 1595, and was, as his various writings show, one of the first theo- logians and controversialists of his day. He was the friend and companion of Hooker, and sympathized with him in his doctrinal views. The son, Alexander Whittaker, was a graduate of Cam- bridge, and had been for some years a minister in the North of England, beloved and well supported by his people, with a hand- some inheritance from his parents. Crashaw says, " that having, after many distractions and combats with himself, (according to his own acknowledgment,) settled his resolution that God called him to Virginia, and therefore he would go, he accordingly made it good, notwithstanding the earnest dissuasions of some of his nearest friends, and the great discouragements which he daily heard of, touching the business and country itself." Again, says the same, " He, without any persuasion but God and his own heart, did voluntarily leave his warm nest, and, to the wonder of his kindred and amazement of them that knew him, undertook this hard, but, in my judgment, heroical resolution to go to Vir- ginia, and help to bear the name of God to the Gentiles. Men may muse at it, some may laugh, and others wonder at it ; but well I know the reason. God will be glorified in his own works, and what he hath determined to do, he will find means to bring it to pass. For the perfecting of this blessed work he hath stirred up able and worthy men to undertake the manning and managing of it." Mr. Whittaker had given himself to this work for three years, but at the end of that time, instead of returning to Eng-

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 77

land, as too many of the governors and other officers did, being weary of their banishment, he preached a sermon and sent it over to England, exhorting others to come over to his help, and declaring his intention to live and die in the work here. His text is, " Cast thy bread upon the waters, and thou shalt find it after many days." Pleading for the nations, he says, "Wherefore, my brethren, put on the bowels of compassion, and let the lamentable estate of these miserables enter into your consideration. One God created us. They have reasonable souls and intellectual faculties as well as we. We all have Adam for our common parent ; yea, by nature the condition of us both is all one, the servants of sin and slaves of the Devil, Oh, remember, I beseech you, what was the state of England before the Gospel was preached in our country." The whole sermon is full of such passages. In the year 1614, after having spent three years at Bermuda Hundred and Henrico, Sir Thomas Dale now removed to Jamestown, and, as Mr. Anderson affirms, Whittaker returned with him to that place. If so, he must, either before or after Sir Thomas's return to England in 1616, have gone back again to his old con- gregations, for, in the year 1617, Governor Argal, who succeeded Sir Thomas Dale, writes to the Council, from Bermuda Hundred, begging that a minister may be sent there, as Mr. Whittaker was drowned, and Mr. Wickham was unable to administer the sacra- ments. From this, it is probable that Mr. Wickham had been his curate, in deacons' orders. I am aware that there is a letter ascribed to a Rev. Mr. Stockam, and said to be dedicated to Mr. Whittaker, at a later period. But this letter of the Governor, declaring his death by drowning, would seem to be of higher authority. Within the period of which we have been discoursing, and during the ministry of Mr. Whittaker and the office of Dale as High-Marshal, there occurred some things in the Colony which deserve to be considered, — viz. : the conversion of Poca- hontas to the Christian faith, her baptism, and marriage to John Rolph. The places of her residence, and of her baptism and mar- riage, have been matter of discussion, and are not unworthy of notice. As to the place of her birth and residence, there ought to be no doubt. Her father, the great King Powhatan, lived chiefly on York River, on the Gloucester side, some miles above York. Here, or at a place higher up, it was that Captain Smith was brought captive, and that Pocahontas saved his life. From one of these places, she occasionally visited Jamestown, and there doubtless became acquainted with Rolph, a young man of good

78

family and education from England, between whom and herself an attachment was formed. In the year 1612, Captain Argal, after- wards Governor for a short time, went up the Potomac River in quest of provisions, and finding, accidentally, that Pocahontas was there, artfully contrived to get her on hoard of his vessel, and carried her prisoner to Jamestown, in order by that means to get back from her father some of our men and arms, and implements of husbandry which he had, from time to time, stolen from the Colony. But he did not succeed in the effort. At this time, Sir Thomas Dale and Mr. Whittaker were up the river, engaged in their duties at Henrico and Bermuda Hundred. It is most pro- bable that Pocahontas was carried up the river to Sir Thomas and Mr. Whittaker, as being a more distant place, and one of greater safety, since her father might have attempted her rescue, or she her escape from Jamestown, the place being so much nearer to Powhatan's residence. Certain it is that, in the following year, Sir Thomas himself went on the same errand, up York River, — then called Charles River, — in a vessel, and succeeded in getting the prisoners and property from Powhatan. He took Pocahontas with him, and got her brothers to come on board and see her. She did not now wish to return to her father, (for she was engaged to Mr. Rolph,) and she did not go on shore to see him, as he might have forced her to stay. Sir Thomas, however, on leaving, caused the fact of her engagement to be made known to her father, who was quite pleased, and, in ten days, sent over his old uncle, Opachisco, and two of his sons, to bear his consent, and be present at the marriage. It is, therefore, altogether probable that the marriage took place at Jamestown, where Sir Thomas would stop to deliver to Governor Gates an account of the suc- cess of his expedition. From thence, they no doubt returned to Henrico, which was their residence until they went to England, with Governor Dale, in 1616. This I think to be the true account, from an examination of all the documents on the subject. As to the question whether her baptism was before or after mar- riage, there are some conflicting testimonies. Mr. Stith, in his History of Virginia, says, —

"All this while, Sir Thomas Dale, Mr. Whittaker, minister of Ber- muda Hundred, and Mr. Rolph, her husband, were very careful and assiduous in instructing Pocahontas in the Christian religion ; and she, on her part, expressed an eager desire and showed great capacity for learning. After she had been tutored for some time, she openly renounced the idolatry of her country, confessed the faith of Christ, and

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA. 79

was baptized by the name of Rebecca. But her real name, it seems, was originally Matoax, which the Indians carefully concealed from the English, and changed it to Pocahontas, out of a superstitious fear, lest they, by a knowledge of her true name, should be enabled to do her some hurt. She was the first Christian Indian in these parts, and perhaps the sincerest and most worthy that has ever been since. And now she has no manner of desire to return to her father ; neither could she well endure the brutish manners or society of her own nation. Her affection for her husband was extremely constant and true; and he, on the other hand, underwent great torment and pain, out of his violent passion and tender solicitude for her."

From the foregoing, we would infer that her marriage preceded her baptism. On what authority Mr. Stith (who wrote his work in 1746) relied, I know not, but the following testimony from Sir Thomas Dale, in 1614, is certainly to be preferred. In a letter to the Bishop of London, dated June 18, 1614, he thus writes : —

" Powhatan's daughter I caused to be carefully instructed in the Chris- tian religion, who, after she had made some good progress therein, renounced publicly her country's idolatry, openly confessed her Christian faith, was, as she desired, baptized,