USA > Connecticut > The history of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, Vol. II > Part 11
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The accessions to the Church at this period were VOL. II. 9
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stimulated both by religious revivals and the feverish state of public opinion. Some driftwood of course came in, which was afterwards found to be worthless, but the Episcopal clergy watched all the changes that were going on, and with a few exceptions, stood at their posts like men who remembered that they must give an account. It was yet a fashion common to the people of Connecticut to frequent the house of public
worship. The custom of their forefathers and the reverence for a Christian life required this; and the clergy, who were pastors as well as preachers, helped to keep it up by personal appeals and by familiar inter- course with their parishioners. The towns were not so populous, the habits of social life were not so con- strained and artificial, and the movements of men were not so rapid, as to make it difficult to find them in their homes and know their views of Christian truth and duty.1
On the 5th day of June, 1816, the Annual Conven- tion of the Diocese was held in Trinity Church, New Haven, when thirty-two clergymen and thirty-nine lay-delegates, representing thirty-six parishes, at- tended. The Rev. Jonathan Judd, at that time Rec-
1 " In the year 1816, New Haven contained about seven thousand inhab- itants. The distances from the centre of the city to any point of its circum- ference were short, and it was easy for a clergyman to ascertain the ecclesiastical relations of the people, and to discover families as well as individuals who did not consider themselves attached to any religious society or church. Both public opinion and statute law moreover, may be said then almost to have forced every one into some sort of connection with a professedly Christian congregation."-Rev. Dr. Harwood's Semi-Centennial Sermon, 1866, p. 9.
The law was still in force which empowered the " Standing Order " to collect for its support a tax from every citizen not duly enrolled in another denomination.
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tor of St. John's Church, Stamford, preached the sermon, and the Rev. Philo Shelton, the senior pres- byter present, presided agreeably to the Constitution, as he had done at all the conventions since the death of Bishop Jarvis. An effort was again made to obtain a charter for an " Episcopal College to be erected in this Diocese," and the Rev. Messrs. Chase and Bur- hans, Charles Sigourney, Asa Chapman and Nathan Smith, were appointed a committee to prefer a peti- tion in the name and behalf of the Convention, to the General Assembly at the next October session, " pro- vided they should think it expedient." The powers of the committee were continued for two succeeding years, and then the memorial was withholden for a time, while other objects of more immediate interest engrossed the attention of the Church.
It was impossible for the clergy and laity to come together in council at that season, without discussing the question of the Episcopate. So long had it been under consideration that some really wished it finally disposed of; but the influence of the larger parishes prevailed, and it was resolved to be inexpedient to proceed to the election of a bishop. In this vote re- gard was had to a temporary provision. The late visit of Bishop Hobart to Connecticut was before the minds of the clergy like an enchanting picture, and the prop- ·osition to call in his assistance had only to be mentioned to meet with general favor. It was “resolved unani- mously, that an invitation be given to the Right Rev. John Henry Hobart, Bishop of the Diocese of the State of New York, to visit and perform the Episcopal offices in this Diocese, according to the XXth Canon of this Church;" and two clergymen and two laymen
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were authorized to tender him the invitation, and, on his accepting the trust, to stipulate to pay him a suit- able compensation for his services. This was alto- gether unlike in character the resolution which au- thorized the Standing Committee to solicit, as occasion required, the services of " any Bishop in the United States." It put the whole Church in Connecticut under the charge of a provisional Diocesan.
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CHAPTER X.
SPECIAL CONVENTION, AND VISITATION OF BISHOP HOBART; DOC- TRINAL CONTROVERSY; AND STANDARD EDITION OF THE BIBLE.
A. D. 1816-1817.
BISHOP Hobart consented to take the Diocese un- der his Episcopal oversight, and a Special Convention was held in Trinity Church, New Haven, on the 16th day of October, for the purpose of completing the arrangement. Twenty-four clergymen, entitled to seats, and thirty-two lay-delegates were present. The Bishop preached the sermon and admitted to the Priesthood the Rev. William Cranston from Savan- nah, Georgia.
In his communication to the Convention, he quoted the resolution adopted at the annual meeting in June, and then said ; "I have considered it of so much importance that the respectable and important Diocese of Connecticut, which has supplied the Church in other States, and particularly the State of New York, with many most useful clergymen and lay members, should be furnished in its present ex- igencies with the regular exercise of Episcopal func- tions, that I have deemed it my duty to accept the invitation contained in the above resolution of your body, sanctioned as this resolution is by a Canon of the Church. In conformity, therefore, with the XXth
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Canon of the General Convention, I do hereby con- sent to exercise the Episcopal offices in the Diocese of Connecticut, agreeably to the Constitution and Canons of the Church."
The Convention, in a formal manner, accepted the terms, resolved unanimously to acknowledge him as the "Bishop of this Diocese " and through a commit- tee, communicated a copy of the resolution which had been adopted. Not to be misunderstood, he wrote in reply : "I deem it proper to observe, that, agreeably to the invitation to me, contained in your resolution, at your session in June last, and to the sentiments expressed in my former communication to you, I can consider myself as Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut, only according to the tenor of the XXth Canon of the Church. And on this view of the subject, I conclude your resolution of yesterday was founded. Permit me further to remark that, while it will be my duty, in conformity with that Canon, to bestow as much attention on the Diocese of Connecti- cut as shall be compatible with the paramount charge of the Diocese of New York, I shall be exceedingly gratified when, a bishop being elected and conse- crated for your Church, my Episcopal charge of it, according to the Canons, will be no longer necessary."
He commenced a visitation immediately after the close of the Convention, and passed from New Haven to Meriden where, on the 18th, he consecrated St. Andrew's Church, and confirmed thirty-eight persons. The next day, he crossed over to Southington and confirmed twenty-seven, and continued his journey to Waterbury, where he spent the Sunday. At that period, there were no railroads; and the passage
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from one place to another was necessarily accom- plished in stage-coaches and private conveyances. Peculiar interest and attraction marked the services in Waterbury. Not since Seabury made his first visi- tation to the same parish thirty years before, and confirmed two hundred and fifty-six candidates, had so large a class been presented in this Diocese, or per- haps in this country, for the Apostolic rite. It num- bered two hundred and twenty-six, and exceeded any single class which afterwards came before Bishop Ho- bart. The candidates were parishioners from the whole cure of the Rector, which then embraced the congre- gation in Salem, now Naugatuck. On Monday, the Bishop proceeded to Oxford, consecrated St. Peter's Church, and confirmed seventy-four persons. Wood- bury, Watertown, Plymouth, and Litchfield were suc- cessively visited, and some congregations within the limits of his own State also. On his return to the city of New York, he descended the valley of the Housatonic and took on his way New Milford, Brook- field, Ripton, New Stratford and Newtown. At St. Paul's Church, Norwalk, he held another Confirmation on the 4th of November, and admitted at the same time the Rector, Rev. Reuben Sherwood, to the order of the Priesthood.
The total number of persons confirmed in Con- necticut, during this visitation, which occupied less than three weeks, was eleven hundred and fifty-eight. The interest attending the progress of the Bishop was surprising. He won the admiration of all by the charms of his eloquence, and churchmen, not content with a single service, followed him to the adjacent towns, and seemed never satisfied with listening to
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the tones of his voice. In his address to the Annual Convention the next year, he noticed these official acts, and said, "I feel it my duty to express the high gratification which I received in my visitation of the Diocese, not only from the efforts of both the clergy and the laity to make my stay among them person- ally agreeable, but principally from the evidence which I received of the flourishing state of the churches which I visited. The services, though gen- erally on week- days, were attended by numerous congregations. The order and the solemnity with which divine worship was celebrated, have not been exceeded by any congregations in which I ever offici- ated ; and may, I trust, be considered as an evidence that the affections of the people were engaged in the sacred exercises in which, with so much impressive reverence and decorum, they united. The numbers confirmed in the respective churches were unusually great on these occasions. The highly gratifying spec- tacle was exhibited of a collection of young people, principally between the ages of fifteen and twenty, solemnly assuming their Christian obligations, and presenting themselves before God for his favor and blessing.
" I was happy to find also that this was not the im- pulse of the moment. The persons who were con- firmed had previously been visited by their respective pastors, excited to take upon them their baptismal engagements, instructed in the nature of the obliga- tions which they were to assume, and prepared for receiving with an enlightened, fervent, yet sober faith and devotion, the Apostolic laying on of hands. I could not resist the conviction which I have since
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repeatedly expressed, excited by this circumstance, and justified by all the information I have obtained, of the laborious and faithful zeal of the clergy, in their pastoral and parochial duties."
While candidates were thus publicly and privately instructed by their pastors, it is evident that they were not all expected to become immediate partakers of the Lord's Supper. In that day more than in this, Confirmation was regarded as a rite which, in one sense, was to release parents and sponsors from the solemn engagements into which they had entered at the time of the baptism of their children. It was in- deed the commencement of a new and better life with the individual,- his voluntary assumption of religious obligations, - the first public confession be- fore the world that he had chosen the Lord, to serve Him, but it was not understood to be presently fol- lowed by strengthening and refreshing the soul with Eucharistical food. The approach to the Communion was a holier step that often lay quite in the future, and for this another preparation was generally to be made. For instance, the very next year after the large Confirmation in St. John's Church, Waterbury, the Rector, in his parochial report, stated the total number of his communicants to be one hundred and fifty-nine, - new communicants thirty-one ; and in St. Paul's Church, Norwalk, where one hundred and three persons were confirmed on the same visitation, the corresponding statistics gave a total of one hundred and twenty-two communicants, and fourteen additions. Undoubtedly many of the candidates had been pre- viously enrolled under the rubric which allows the ad- mission to the Holy Communion of those who are
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"ready and desirous to be confirmed." Very few of the parishes had been favored with an Episcopal visi- tation for a long time, and as, before the Revolution, they had learned to do without that rite which, in the order of the Church, forms a connecting link between Baptism and the Lord's Supper ; so now the law of necessity had governed the clergy, and compelled them to enroll persons as communicants without knowing when they would have an opportunity of welcoming the presence of a bishop.
The Christian education of children, however, at that period was by no means neglected. They were nurtured in the love of obedience to the divine com- mandments, and of lowly and reverent respect towards " all their betters." The day of Sunday-schools in this country was just beginning to dawn, and parents had not yet learned to turn over to the operation of this agency any portion of their own responsibilities and duties. Under the influence of domestic train- ing and faithful catechetical instruction, children were prepared, as they reached the years of discretion, to enter on the Christian life, and to become, through the exercise of faith and the renovation of the soul, " heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him." By some of the parochial clergy great diligence was used in teaching the young the government of the Church, and the mean- ing of her services. In self-defence, they explained her doctrines, and sought to promote a spirit of re- ligious inquiry, and of rational and pious devotion. They threw around their teachings fresh and happy illustrations, and if they were not aided in their work by a prolific press, they were not hindered by its con-
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tinual sensations and rapid reproduction of an un- christian literature.
In 1816, a revival prevailed in some parts of Con- necticut, which was attended with the usual excite- ments and extraordinary awakenings. It was con- ducted by ministers of the "Standing Order," and novel and alarming representations were made to excite the fears and arrest the attention of the young. In several places, schools and academies were visited and the students addressed in a pathetic manner, and not unfrequently in language which neither the word of God nor the judgment of charity would sanction. The nature of conversion and of regeneration was taught in a way which reflected upon the Episcopal Church and set inquirers to examining her doctrines and standards and comparing them with Scripture. The result was an increased attendance upon her worship, and many who before had believed that she was a teacher of bare morality and encouraged her members to expect salvation by their works only, were led to change their opinions, to relinquish their old associations, and eventually to connect themselves with her communion.
The Episcopal clergy wisely confined themselves to their parochial duties and seldom took any notice of the revival, except in cases where it was necessary to instruct their parishioners and guide the minds of honest inquirers. But the Rev. Menzies Rayner, of Huntington, who held the pen of a ready writer, and was rather fond of controversy, published “ A Disser- tation upon Extraordinary Awakenings or Religious Stirs," in which he enlarged upon conversion, regener- ation, conference meetings, and topics of a kindred
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nature, growing out of the religious excitement of the times. The publication was issued on his own individual responsibility and without any encourage- ment on the part of his clerical brethren. He de- scribed quite graphically the theory of revivals, and reviewed concisely the doctrines of the Church, in whose defence he had not yet learned to falter. " With respect to extraordinary awakenings or relig- ious stirs," said he, " in the ideas which appear to be generally entertained of them, and in the manner in which they are usually carried on, the Episcopal Church knows but little about them. She has her ancient landmarks and rules, from which neither her clergy nor people are allowed to deviate. No pre- tences to immediate inspiration, - no extraordinary zeal or religious fervor, are supposed to supersede their utility, or cancel the obligation to adhere to them. Order is her first law ; with which, from Scrip- ture, as well as from long experience, she is convinced her Redeemer is well pleased. Neither the convul- sions of nations, the revolutions of governments, nor the ravings of fanaticism, have prevailed on her to depart from her well regulated forms and offices of devotion, the pride of her children and the admira- tion of strangers. With an even tenor, she pursues her course through this inconstant and changing world, marking the footsteps of her Saviour, and tracing his bright example, from the manger which first received his infant body, to the right hand of the Eternal Father, where he ever lives, her glorious Advocate and Intercessor." 1
All this was very true, and much more that might
1 Dissertation, pp. 20-21.
1
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be quoted ; but the Episcopal clergy of Connecticut would have preferred that the pamphlet had not been published. It was no help to them in their ministra- tions ; and the laity did not care to see or read any- thing which appeared like an attack upon the revival system, from the side of the Church. So long as the Congregational ministers confined their labors to their own flocks and refrained from printing any distortions or misrepresentations of personal religion as exempli- fied in our communion, Episcopalians were content. They knew that the clean page of a good life was better than a whole volume of metaphysical divinity, and in this conviction they were willing to rest. They would leave the Prayer Book to interpret itself, . and the Church to speak her own praises in opening a door of refuge for those who were ready to escape from the atmosphere of a rigid Calvinism.
Mr. Rayner, by the publication of his pamphlet, courted a battle, which he was obliged to fight almost alone. He was an unrelenting foe to Calvinistic theology, to fore-ordination, unconditional election and reprobation, and those doctrines which are neces- sarily connected with them, namely, a partial atonement, irresistible grace, and the final persever- ance of the saints. His quick wit and extensive read- ing supplied the deficiencies of early education, and he became a subtle and fearless polemic, who rarely omitted an opportunity of exposing what he conceived to be heresy and false doctrine. In 1816, the Rev. Nathaniel W. Taylor, pastor of the First Ecclesiastical Society in New Haven, was beginning to make for himself the broad reputation which his talents and peculiar theological views afterwards established. In
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that year, he preached and published a sermon, en- titled, " Regeneration, the Beginning of Holiness in the Human Heart," which with some imperfect extracts from the writings of Bishop Hobart, whose recent visit to New Haven was fresh in the minds of the people, contained an ingenious and unqualified attack upon the doctrines of the Church as inculcated in the Book of Common Prayer. He maintained that outward ordinances are not essential, and that persons once regenerated will certainly be saved; and then refer- ring to the Bishop's idea of the sense in which "as it respects a change of state, baptized persons are regen- erated," he said, "I ask again, what difference does baptism make in the state of the baptized ? Are not all men in a state of conditional salvation ? If they repent and believe the Gospel and are born of God, will they not be saved ? If you say, yes, then after all, baptism amounts to nothing as it respects a change of state. If you say, no (and this is the answer given), then no one can be saved without being baptized by one who has received a commission from the Bishop of the Church. You see, brethren, it is Episcopacy or perdition !"
He summed up his reflections upon the " delicate subject " which he had discussed, in words that ought to be cited here, - for they show how a good man could be led by his feelings and zeal for his own com- munion, in a time of religious excitement, to misin- terpret the doctrines of the Episcopal Church. "I have thought," said he, "that a scheme fraught with so many and so great errors, a scheme which makes the terms and the promises of salvation palpably in- consistent; which denies that faith and repentance
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and regeneration are the work of God's Spirit; which places mankind in a state of salvation without a par- ticle of holiness ; which vests the power of doing this in the hands of a particular set of men; which in- cludes in this state of salvation all who are baptized by them, and excludes from it, and from final salva- tion, all who are not; which maintains that a change of heart is not the dividing line between sinners and saints - between the heirs of heaven and the heirs of hell; a scheme too, which with the face of liberality and charity is zealously maintained and propagated - I say I have thought that such a scheme needed expos- ure. I have felt that I, being set to watch for your souls as one who must give account, ought to show . you what that system of error is which you are so often invited to embrace. If any one thinks an apology necessary, mine is, my responsibility to my Divine Master." 1
The sermon which contained these extraordinary statements was reviewed by Mr. Rayner in a pamphlet of forty pages, and he produced numerous citations from Scripture, from the Westminster Confession of Faith, from the Saybrook Platform and the Cate- chism of John Calvin, to prove that Mr. Taylor had overlooked the standards of his own order, besides misrepresenting the Episcopal " scheme," and quoting unfairly the writings of Bishop Hobart.
As might have been expected, the review called forth a rejoinder, in which no new light was shed upon the question in doctrinal theology, while the reviewer was treated with a mixture of irony, ridicule and seriousness, that detracted from the dignity of
1 Sermon, p. 18.
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the controversy. Mr. Rayner, in his publications, was accustomed to write himself " Rector" of the parishes of which he had charge, and in the following passage there is an insinuation that he aspired to an office, then vacant in the Diocese, for which his name, among other candidates, had never been seriously mentioned by his brethren : "No sect have at any time set themselves up so high for orthodoxy as the Church of Rome, and her legitimate offspring, the Church of England ; and we know of no individual, of late, that has talked louder about orthodoxy than the Rector ; and we doubt not but by his great exertions for Episcopacy, he expects to add another title to those he already enjoys, and a better living than the barren rocks of Huntington afford. Indeed it is already a matter of wonder that such sterling talents as those possessed by the Rector, should have been so long neglected." 1
If the notice of this controversy has appeared to be fuller than its merits deserved, it will be seen here- after that it was the forerunner of events which threatened a more lasting disturbance of the peace of good neighborhood between Congregational ministers and those of the Church. It was narrowed down, at length, to one point of Calvinism, and in the defence of that, another champion was enlisted. The Rev. Bennet Tyler, pastor of the Congregational Church in Southbury, published a sermon in the year 1817, entitled, "Saints' Perseverance Vindicated and Estab- lished," which Mr. Rayner was quick to review with his usual ability ; and Thomas Thorp, then a Metho- dist minister in New Haven, came to his assistance in
1 The Reviewer Reviewed, p. 8.
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a pamphlet of pungent " animadversions," that had previously received the approval of his clerical breth- ren stationed in New York. The printers were kept busy for a time by the further discussion of the sub- ject; but in the end metaphysical divinity had lost ground with the people, and Mr. Tyler dropped the doctrine of the "Saints' Perseverance," and turned his thoughts to the preparation of a new scheme for stir- ring up his chief antagonist.
The General Convention met in New York, May 1817, and the delegates chosen to represent the Church in Connecticut were Rev. Dr. Bronson,1 Rev. Messrs. A. Baldwin, Searle, and Croswell, and Asa Chapman, Elijah Boardman, Burrage Beach, and Charles Sigourney. Dr. Bronson and two of the lay delegates were not in attendance. Among the resolu- tions adopted by that body was one which originated in this Diocese, and grew out of the action of the Connecticut Bible Society in issuing a large edition of " the common sized Bibles," without note or com- ment, but with the corrupt reading of Acts vi. 3, wherein the word ye was substituted for we,2 - a read- ing intended to pervert the whole order of apostolic ordination. The western country was flooded with the copies, particularly Ohio ; and at the instance of the Rev. Dr. Smith, then living in retirement at Nor- walk, and spending his time in writing treatises on chanting and church psalmody, the delegates to the General Convention from Connecticut were instructed to direct the attention of that body to the propriety
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