A history of the Protestant Episcopal church in America

Preface To The American Edition

To the American Editor of this volume it seems important, that the interesting historical facts contained in this " Church History," should be more extensively known in this country. In answer to the question, How is it that the history of the Church in these United States has been written by a Prelate of the Church in England ? We may be answered, that the opportunity afforded in England, to consult the works of the earlier writers upon America and the correspondence of the earlier missionaries to America, has been embraced by the Author and most laboriously improved. He has brought out many facts and selected many very interesting incidents before generally unknown. r > This cannot be called a complete History of the

saH Church in this country ; but it approaches nearer to m

?i

IV

it than any other work Before published. The character of the various Bishops who have, after having ruled over their respective Dioceses, " gone to their rest," is admirably drawn out and perhaps with more impartiality than would have been done, by a clergyman of our own Church. Members of the Church in this country ought to feel under great obligation to the distinguished Prelate, who, amidst so many cares and avocations has found time to compile this valuable work.

E. M. J.

Preface

In giving the following pages to the press, their Author desires, in the first place, to acknowledge the kindness which from many quarters, both in America and England, has supplied him with the materials for their composition. Never can he forget the ready aid which he has received from personal strangers on the other side of the Atlantic. To particularize any, where he cannot enumerate ail, he feels to be impossible. He can only express his earnest wish that his volume were more worthy of their several contributions; and his hope that, in stating openly and freely what seem to him to be the defects of the organization or conduct of their body, he shall give no needless pain to any one. Convinced as he is, that to draw a veil over such evils would be disloyalty to their common cause, he has felt under an imperative necessity of speaking openly and fully. But it would most deeply grieve him, were any cause of offence to be found in his words, or anything which could sever those who should be so closely united as the Churchmen of England and America. On the subject to which he here especially refers, namely, the treatment of the colored race, the use of the Church's moral influence in its behalf is that which alone he would claim. And this claim he advances under a humbling sense of the past deficiencies of members of his own communion. Still, in their case it must be urged, that they

VI PREFACE.

were afar from the sight, and therefore from the real knowledge, of the evils of colonial life. Those evils would not have been endured, had they been daily submitted to the eyes of the laity and clergy of the English Church.

On one other important point a few words must here be added to the following pages. Throughout their course the Author has felt oppressed by the recurring question, how he ought to deal with those other religious bodies by which the Protestant Episcopal Church in North America is so abundantly surrounded. To have entered into their history would, within the limits of this work, have been absolutely impossible ; and yet, to confine himself to the history of one department only of the vast host which bears the Christian name, must of necessity give to his work a narrow and one-sided appearance. To escape this imperfection, he believes to have been unavoidable, and he has therefore submitted to it : writing the history, not of religion, but of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Only would he here protest against being supposed to entertain any intention of contemptuously passing by the many great deeds for Christ's truth wrought in that western world by the members of other societies, or of pronouncing by the way a decisive judgment on any of the intricate questions to which the co-existence of these various bodies must give birth. He has dealt with them only as they directly affect that communion whose history he writes ; and in doing so, he has endeavored to treat them honestly and fairly, although, from his limits, it must be slightly and imperfectly.

Amongst those who in this country have assisted him with valuable materials, and to whom he would beg publicly to return his thanks, he may venture to enumerate his father's early friend, Thomas Clarkson : the Rev. H. H. Norris, of Hackney ; Petty Vaughan, Esq. ; the Lord

PREFACE. VU

Bishop of London, — who most liberally allowed him access to all the -ms. treasures of the Fulham library; the Rev. H. Caswall, — whose local knowledge made him able to revise those parts which touch upon existing institutions ; and the Hev. Ernest Hawkins, Secretary to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.

To the labors of that society the following pages repeatedly bear witness. They show oh this one stage how, throughout the coldness and negligence of the last century, when, in this land at least, no other body so made head against the general apathy as to think of the foreign advancement of the Gospel as a Christian duty, this venerable society ever followed in the wake of our colonial extension, watched for opportunities of sowing the good seed, labored ever noiselessly and unobserved in this great work, nurtured the faint beginnings of colonial piety, and has been, under God's grace, the one first instrument in preventing the upgrowth of positive infidelity, and in promoting the existence and spread of Christianity throughout those vast districts which make up our colonial empire — the widest empire and the greatest trust which God ever committed to any people.

The Author hopes that this may be, amongst others, one effect of his labor, that, seeing what was attempted, and what was effected, in America by this society, some of his readers may be aroused to consider what are indeed its claims upon their grateful and affectionate support.

Chapter I. Page

Interest of general subject— Times of Queen Elizabeth — Influence of the Reformation — Martin Frobisher — His first voyage — A native kidnapped — Second and third voyages — Master Wolfall — Black ore — Sir Humphrey Gilbert — Letters patent — Religious purpose of colonisation — Prospect of its late fulfilment — Gilbert's second voyage— His death — Sir Walter Raleigh— His expeditions — Tobacco — Settlements — Raleigh's troubles ; and death — Settlement of Virginia — Robert Hunt — James Town — Captain Smith— Trials of the Settlers — Starving time — Lord Delaware — Master Bucke — Whittaker— Pochahontas— Early Laws 15

Chapter II

Virginia Company — Measures of Sir E. Sandys, Nicholas Ferrar, and others — Churches endowed — College founded — Mr. Thorpe — Indian massacre — Indian Conquest — Effects of the massacre — Virginia in the Great Rebellion— Loyalty — Love of the Church— Effects of Puritan rule — KingCharles II. proclaimed — Enactments of Legislature in behalf of the Church — Popish plots suspected 34

Chapter III

Neighboring colonies — New-York — New- Jersey — Philadelphia — Carolina — Maryland — New-England — Its settlement — Rise of Puritanism in England — Emigration, to Leyden, to New-England — Piety of the early Puritans — Their hatred of Church Principles — Severity— Treatment of Indians- Proselyting spirit towards other communions 43

Chapter IV

Spiritual destitution of the colonies — Exertions of the Bishop of London, Hon. Robert Boyle, and others — Drs. Blair and Bray sent as commissaries to Virginia and Maryland — New-York conquered by English — Trinity Church endowed — Progress of the Church in New-En»land — Boston petition for Episcopal worship — Foundation of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel — Religious stote of the colonies — Labors of the Missionaries of the Venerable Society — Rev. Geo. Keith — Violence of Quakers — Opposition from New-England magistrates — Yale College — Leading Con- 1*

X CONTENTS

PACK.

gregationalists join the Church — Progress of the Church at Newtown under Mr. Beach — Violence of Congregationaiists — General state of the Church in Virginia — Mr. Whitefield — Spreading dissent — Rise of Anabaptists in Virginia — Resistance to the clergy — Low state of the Church — Its causes — Clergy dependent on their flocks — Want of bishops — Attempts to obtain an American episcopate, in the reign of Charles II., of Queen Anne — Bishop Berkeley opposed by Walpole — Supported by Archbishop Seeker — Efforts in the colonies — Zeal of northern colonies — Virginia refuses to join in the attempt — Causes of this refusal 72

Chapter V

Revolutionary war — Loyalty of the Northern clergy — Persecution — Virginian clergy generally loyal — Treated with Violence — Thomas Jefferson — Zeal of the Anabaptists — Their hatred to the Church — Repeal of all former acts in its favor — Incomes of the clergy stopped — They are stripped even of the glebes and churches — Conduct of the Methodists — John Wesley persuaded to consecrate Dr. Coke — Depressed state of the Church at the end of the war — Religion at a low ebb — The revolutionary war a consequence of the Church not having been planted in America . . .131

Chapter VI

Depression of the Church — Parties — And Opinions — attempted organisation in the south — Mr. White — Conventions in Virginia and Philadelphia — Agreement on common principles — First movements for general union — General voluntary meeting at New- York — Want of episcopate — Movement amongst the eastern clergy — They elect Dr. Seabury Bishop — He sails for England — Disappointed of consecration there — Dr. Berkeley and the Scotch bishops — Dr. Seabury applies to them — Opposition — His consecration— And return — First Convention at Philadelphia — Difference of Opinion— Dr. White — Proposed liturgy — Application to the English prelates for the apostolical succession — Their objections to some changes in the Liturgy — These reconsidered — Drs. White and Provoost embark for England— Are consecrated at Lambeth — Return to America, April 1787 . 142

Chapter VII

Convention assemblies — Case of Dr. Bass — Bishop Seabury joins the Convention— The Liturgy — First and succeeding consecrations — Period of depression — Its causes — Ecclesiastical constitution — Parish — Diocese — Convention — Laity in Convention — Anglo-Saxon usage — Difficulties of true organization in America — Neglect of the mother-country . . . 166

Chapter VIII

Death and character of Bishop Seabury— Bishop White— Bishop Provoost — His character— Resigns the episcopal jurisdiction— Nomination and consecration of Bishop Moore — His character — Improvement of the state of the Church— Maryland— Bishop Claggett— Party Spirit —Bishop Clagget applies for a suffragan— Division of convention in 1812— Method of Electing a bishop— The laity negative the nomination of the clergy— Convention of 1813 — No attempt at an election made — Dr. Kemp elected suffragan in 1814— Consequent party feuds— Bishop Clasrgett's death— Dr.

CONTENTS. XI

PAGE.

Kemp succeeds — His death — Renewed contests as to the Episcopate — Bishop Stoi'.e elected — Troubles on his death — The see vacant — State of Delaware — No Bishop— Application to Maryland — Refused — Decay of the Church there — And in Virginia — Issue of the long struggle with the Anabaptists and others— The glebes confiscated — Prostration of the Church 193

Chapter IX. 1811, 12

Death of Bp. Madison— Renewal of diocesan convention — Election of Dr. Bracken to the episcopate — He refuses it — Dr. Moore elected — His early life — Ministerial success — He visits the diocese — Stirs up the spirit of Churchmen — Revival of the Church — Growth of Church principles — Improved canons — Theological seminary founded — And poor scholars fund — Dr. Meade elected suffragan, with a restriction — Conduct of the houso of Bishops — Removal of restrictions — Bishop B. Moore of New-York applies for an assistant Bishop — Dr. J. H. Hob art elected — His origin and youth — First ministerial charge in Pennsylvania — Removes to New-York His studies — Publications — Services in state and general Convention — Controversy with Dr. Mason — Elected Bishop — Opposition — Bishop Provoost's claim to the bishoprick of New-York — Disallowed by the Convention— Bishop White's treatment of Bishop Hobart — and high esteem for him . 206

Chapter X

Episcopate of Bishop Hobart — First two years of opposition — Rise of Church societies — Effect upon the laity — New tone of feelinjr and action — Bishop Hobart with his clergy— His language as to the Church of Rome — His visitations— General spread of the Church — Increase of bishoprics — State of " the West" — Need of missionary pastors — Pioneers of the Church — Lay readers — Samuel Gunn — His early years — Labors — Removal to Ohio- Consecration of Bishop Chase — His life — Founds Kenyon College — Its building — Students — Their missionary excursions — How received — Funds for domestic purposes — Jackson Kemper— Bishop Hobart's canon — His labors amongst the Indians — Oneida reserves — Eleazer Williams — His history— The Bishop's visit 228

Chapter XI

American education — Temper of American Youth — Jealousy of high educacation — Absence of theological training — Foundation of the General Theological Seminary — Its success — Bishop Hobart's connexion with it — His death — And character — Bishop B. T. Onderdonk succeeds — Increase of the episcopate — Bishops Ravenscroft and Ives of North Carolina — Bishop Meade of Virgiuia— -And H. U. Onderdonk, assistant bishop of Pennsylvania— Bishop Chase of Ohio — Resigns his bishopric — Consecrations of Bishops M'llvaine of Ohio. Hopkins of Vermont. Smith of Kentucky, and Doane of New-Jersey — Change of feeling" as to the episcopate — Convention of 1835— Bishop Chase of Illinois — Division of dioceses — New organization of missionary board — The missionary bishop — Bishop Kemper consecrated— Success of the new plan — Subsequent growth of the Church- Bishop White's illness — Death and character $61

Xll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XII. PAe»

Present influence of the Episcopal Church — Rapid extension — Estimated numbers — Clergy — Extent and population of dioceses — Influence on the moral character of the people — Favorable symptoms — Sects— Revivals — Socinianism — Sober tone of* the Church — Duelling — Its character in America— Instance — Church resists duels — Canon — Instance — Unfavorable Symptoms — Divorce — Marriage — Treatment of the colored race — The great sore of America — State of negroes in the South, religious, moral, physical — Slave-breeding states — Internal slave-trade — Duty of the Church to testify— Her silence — Participation — Palliation of these evils — State of the colored population in the North — Insults — Degradation — Caste — Duty of the Church — Her silence — Case of General Theological Seminary — Alexander Crummell — Estimate of her influence — Her small hold on the poor — Architecture aud arrangement of churches — Pew-rent system — Prospects of the Church — Danger from indifference to formal truth — Chaplains to Congress — Thomas Jefferson — Romanism — Its schismatical rise in America— Spread in the West — Promises a refuge from the sects — Courts democracy— Main resistance from the Church — How she may be strong — Need of adhering to her own principles — Of a high moral tone — The slave-question — Favorable promise — Higher principles — More care of the poor — Colored race— Gains on the population — Conclusion 238

THE

AMERICAN CHURCH.

Chapter I

Interest of general subject — Times of Queen Elizabeth — Influence of the Reformation — Martin Frobisher — His first voyage — a native kidnapped — Second and third voyages — Master Wolfall — Black ore — Sir Humphrey Gilbert — Letters patent — Religious purpose of colonisation — Prospect of its late fulfilment — Gilbert's second voyage — His death — Sir Walter Raleigh — His expeditions — Tobacco — Settlements — Raleigh's troubles : and death — Settlement of Virginia — Robert Hunt — James Town — Captain Smith — Trials of the Settlers — Starving time — Lord Delaware — Master Bucke — "Whitaker — Pocahontas — Early laws.

Few subjects can be more full of interest to members of the Church of England than the history of the Church in America. Indeed, the Church in every daughter nation has large claims on the affections of the mother state ; and other circumstances here combine to strengthen the strait bands of Christian love. Our long neglect of our bounden duty, followed as it has been by God's merciful acceptance of our latest service, may well call out our affection for this child of our old age. Full of interest is it also to watch the up-growth of such a body amongst institutions so unlike our own ; to note its various nourishment and well-proportioned increase in the western wilderness, into which it has been given wings to fly.

Such a narrative is full also of instruction. Many are the grounds for self-upbraiding and humiliation which it brings before us ; and rich are its lessons as to the true treatment in religious matters of the dependent colonies of any Chistian people.

Thp age of Elizabeth, fertile in great men, produced especially great naval heroes : all the circumstances of the nation favored their production. The fierce hostility of Spain forced upon England especial attention to her navy. The service of the sea had not as yet grown into a separate profession ; to equip and to command a ship became a common practice of ambitious courtiers, and even of independent country gentlemen. The rich plate fleets of Spain often repaid the expense of fitting out an expedition, and not seldom was a goodly inheritance sold to furnish forth the daring adventurer. To this inducement was added the alluring hope of making profitable foreign settlements. The mines of Spanish America glittered before the eyes of many an ardent Englishman ; and he eagerly exchanged his patrimony here for the hope of those golden acres which he expected to possess on the other side of the Atlantic, on the easy terms of paying the Queen the fifth part of all precious metals.

Other causes, moreover, were at work preparing the way for extensive emigration. The reformation of religion had restored to its full vigor the national life of England, which even popery had not been strong enough to stifle utterly ; and one of the first fruits of this revival was, its sending forth its race beyond the narrow limits of their own land. This tendency to wander has always marked the Anglo-Saxon family ; and the formation of a middle class, by the diffusion of wealth and the spread of mercantile adventure, at once set the current into active motion. It was accordingly in the reign of Elizabeth that the first attempt was made to found an English colony on the shores of America.

The first steps which led to the vast undertaking are not a little curious. Among the stirring spirits of the time none adventured more in maritime exploits than Captain Martin Frobisher. He " being persuaded of a new and nearer passage to Cataya^ than by Cape de Buona Speranza, which the Portuguese yearly use, determined with himself to go and make full proof thereof."!

* i. e. China.

f Hackluyt's Collection of Early Voyages, voL iii. p. 85.

MARTIN FROBISHER. 17

After many delays he accordingly set forth upon the 15th of June, 1576, in two barques of twenty and twenty-five tons burden, provisioned for twelve months, on this dangerous voyage. Deserted by his second barque, this gallant man pushed on in those unknown regions, amidst " cruel storms of snow and haile, great islands of yce, and mighty deere that seemed to be mankinde, which ranne at him so that hardly he escaped with his life :"* until he discovered the straits which bear his name.f Having advanced so far, and finding the cold still increasing, he turned his face homeward ; but first being desirous to bring thence some token of his travel, he wrought what, in the temper of the times, is termed by his biographer " a pretty policy." Knowing that the natives " greatly delighted in toyes and belles, he rang a pretty low bell, making signs that he would give him the same who would come and fetch it : and because they would not come within his danger for feare, he flung one bell unto them, which of purpose he threw short, that it might fall into the sea and be lost ; and to make them more greedy of the matter, he rang a louder bell, so that in the end one of them came neere the ship side to receive the belle, and was taken himself; for the captain being readily provided, let the bell fall, and caught the man fast, and plucked him with maine force, boat and all, into his barke ; which strange infidell, whose like was never seene, read, nor heard of before, was a sufficient witness of the captains farre and tedious travel. "$

But the native thus cruelly kidnapped was not the only specimen they gathered. They brought home also "some floures, some greene grass, and one a piece of blacke stone, much like to a sea-cole in coloure, which by the weight seemed to be some kind of metall or minerall.', This was " a thing of no account at first sight, in the judgment of the captain ;" but after his return " it fortuned a gentlewoman, one of the adventurers wives, to have a

* Hackluyt, vol. iii. pp. 67, 68, 87.

f Frobisher's Straits, lying to the north of Cape Farewell and West Greenland, long. 42 W., lat. 63 E. X Hackluyt, vol. iii. p. 87.

piece thereof, which by chance she threw and burned in the fire so long, that at the length being taken forth and quenched in a little vinegar, it glistered with a bright marquesset of gold ;" whereupon, having been adjudged by certain goldfiners in London " to holde golde, and that very nobly for the quantity," it inflamed the public mind with notions of the great wealth of those parts ; and in the hope of rivalling the mines of Peru, another expedition was shortly afterwards set forth.

The captain's " special commission" on this voyage was directed to the searching for this golden ore ; and so high was expectation raised, that he was admitted, before he sailed, into the Queen's presence ; and after " kissing her highness' hand, with gracious countenance and comfortable words, departed towards his charge." He sailed with three ships on May 26th, 1577, hoping to bring home vast spoils of gold from the frozen shores of the meta incognita. On reaching this inhospitable coast, these expectations were increased by their finding " spiders, which, as many affirm, are signes of great store of gold,"* and by the assurance that streams flowed into the sea beneath the frozen surface, " by which the earth within is kept warmer, and springs have their recourse, which is the only nutriment of golde and minerals."!

When, therefore, the expedition reached the straits, no new discoveries were attempted; but having, " with five poore miners and the help of a few gentlemen and soldiers," who labored so hard that, by " overstraining, they received hurts not a little dangerous," " reasonably well filled their shippes," they set sail with about 200 tons of ore, " every man therewithal well comforted," and reached home safely on the 23d day of September.

The captain of the returning expedition repaired to Windsor, " to advertise her Majesty of his prosperous proceedings." These were considered of so promising a character, that a larger expedition was soon planned, which was to carry out a " number of chosen soldiers and discreet men, who should be assigned to inhabit there." For this

* Hackluyt, vol. iii. pp. 63, 83. t Ibid. p. 64.

EARLY VOYAGES. 19

purpose forty mariners, thirty miners, and thirty soldiers, besides gentlemen, goldfiners, bakers, carpenters, and other necessary persons, were embarked on board of " fifteen sayle of good ships," which set off from Harwich on the 31st of May.

The name of one other adventurer must not be left unrecorded, since a higher object than the thirst of gold led him to face the dangers of the frozen sea. This was one " Master Wolfall, a learned man, appointed by her Majesty's council to be their minister and preacher, who, being well seated and settled at home in his owne countrey, with a good and large living, having a good honest woman to wife and very towardly children, being of good reputation amongst the best, refused not to take in hand this painfull voyage, for the only care he had to save soules and to reform those infidels, if it were possible, to Christianitie."^

Frobisher again acted as admiral ; but the season was less favorable than it had been in former years. The straits were closed ; and they were " forced many times to stemme and strike great rocks of yce, and so, as it were, make way through mighty mount aines." The icebergs were so vast, that, under the action of the sun, their tops melted and poured down streams " which made a pretie brooke, able to drive a mill." One bark was struck by such a floating island, and " sunk down therewith in the sight of the whole fleete ;" whilst the rest "were faine to submit themselves and their ships to the mercy of the unmercyful yce, strengthening the sides of their ships with juncks of cables, beds, mastes, plankes, and such like, which being hanged overboard, on the sides of their ships, might the better defend them from the outrageous sway and stroke of the said yce."t "The brunt," however, "of these so great and extreme dangers, the painfull mariners and poore miners overcame," and about the beginning of August, they reached their former harbor hi safety ; for which " they highly praysed God, and altogether, upon their knees, gave Him due, humble, and heartie thanks." Upon such occasions, "Master Wolfall celebrated a communion upon land, at

* Hackluyt, voL iii. p. 116. f Hackluyt, vol. ill. p 109, <fec.

the partaking whereof was the captaine and many other gentlemen, and souldiers, mariners, and miners, with him. The celebration of the Divine mystery was the first signe, seale, and confirmation of Christ's name, death, and passion ever knowen in these quarters."

But it was soon found that the main object of the expedition must be abandoned. The fear of death from cold and hunger possessed those who were selected to remain, and they threatened a mutiny. In the quaint language of their historian, they did "greatly feare being driven to seek sowre sallets amongst the cold cliffs ;" and it was at length resolved that they should defer the intended settlement until another year, and return home, laden with the black ore which promised gold. When this delusion was discovered we are not told ; but after this voyage, the "black ore" is never mentioned farther.

Such were the first attempts at forming an English settlement in America; fruitless in themselves, and yet preparing the way for wiser and more successful efforts. Men with nobler aims than finding ore of gold were soon engaged in the work. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, himself a courtier of Glueen Elizabeth, and nearly connected with that "prince of courtesy," Sir Walter Raleigh, was "the first of our nation that caused people to erect an habitation and government in these countreys." Instead of seeking to discover mines and acquire great riches suddenly, he desired "to prosecute effectually the full possession of these so ample and pleasant countreys for the crown and people of England." Amidst the motives given for this his so " virtuous and heroical minde," are " the honor of God, compassion of poore infidels captived by the devil (it seeming probable that God hath reserved these Gentiles to be reduced into Christian civility by the English nation), advancement of his honest and well-disposed countrymen willing to accompany him in such honorable actions, and reliefe of sundry people within this realme distressed."

These were great and noble ends, and they were not lightly undertaken; he knew that "the carriage of God's word into those very mighty and vast countreys was a high

RELIGIOUS PURPOSE OF COLONIZATION. 21

and excellent matter, likely to excite God's heavy judgments if it were intermeddled in with base purposes."

His preparations were suitable to these convictions. He sacrificed the bulk of his fortune at home, in order to complete the equipment of his ships ; and gathered a numerous party of volunteers to settle this new land. The letters patent, which were granted to him by the Q,ueen, proceed upon the supposition, that the spread of the Christian faith amongst the natives justified such settlements. His patent granted him "free power and liberty to discover all such heathen lands as were not actually possessed by any Christian prince or people." To his settlers were secured the rights of Englishmen ; whilst to himself was assigned the sole jurisdiction, civil and military, of the country within 200 leagues of his settlement, "provided always, that the statutes he devized should be, as near as conveniently might, agreeable to the laws and policy of England ; and provided also, that they be not against the true Christian faith professed in the Church of England."