USA > Connecticut > The history of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, Vol. II > Part 17
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next year, he had confirmed in all, three hundred and fifty-two, and visited twenty-three parishes.
His first tour was chiefly one of observation, and in travelling through different portions of the State and witnessing the number of vacant cures, and the de- pressed and feeble condition of churches which were only supplied with occasional ministrations, he could not but feel that the most pressing wants of the Dio- cese were missionaries and missionary work. The " Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge" had already accomplished enough to entitle it to con- fidence, and he therefore publicly urged more liberal collections in aid of its benevolent object of “ advan- cing the interests of religion and the prosperity of the Church."
The candidates for Holy Orders were beginning increase at this time throughout the country ; and Bishop Brownell, in 1820, gave the names of seven under his jurisdiction, two of them only being gradu- ates of a college. The General Convention, which met at New York in 1817, had decided that it was . expedient to establish a general theological seminary for the better education of these candidates, and a committee of nine, composed equally of bishops, priests, and laymen, was intrusted with the business of perfecting the plan and setting it in active opera- tion. The institution was to be located in the city of New York, and agents were appointed by the Con- vention to visit the several parts of the United States and solicit contributions towards its endowment. When the scheme was originally proposed in the General Convention, Bishop White, who was after- wards placed at the head of the committee of nine,
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differed from the majority of both houses as to the expediency of the measure, and he was supported by his own Diocese in suggesting a plan which would have left to local seminaries the whole matter of theological education. His reasons for the views he entertained, are given at length, in his " Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church,"1 and the progress of events has shown some of them to be of more prac- tical importance than the majority were disposed to think at the time.
But while Bishop White, on principle, was against the establishment of a general theological seminary, he acted earnestly with its friends after the question was settled, and took special pains to overcome the prejudices of those "who," as he said, "laying due stress on the religious qualifications called for by the ministry, and being laudably desirous of fencing the sanctity of its character in this respect, entertain the opinion that it requires but a slender furniture of in- tellectual information."
The Seminary, as originally organized, did not flourish in New York. Difficulties inseparably con- nected with all new undertakings surrounded it, and the efforts to establish the institution in that city not proving as successful as had been anticipated, the General Convention, which met at Philadelphia in 1820, resolved that it " be transferred to and located within the city of New Haven, in the Diocese of Con- necticut." The Bishops, in communicating to the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies their concurrence in this action, deemed it proper to declare that they did not mean to interfere with any plan then contem-
1 Page 237 et seq.
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plated, or that might " hereafter be contemplated, in any diocese or dioceses, for the establishment of theo- logical institutions or professorships."
On the 14th of July, nearly two months after the adjournment of the General Convention, Bishop Brow- nell, by order of the Board of Trustees, presented to the Christian public a plan for the organization of the Seminary, preceded by an address, and followed by resolutions. The institution was publicly opened at New Haven on the 13th of September, with an in- augural discourse by the Rev. Samuel H. Turner, D. D., at that time the only professor ; and ten students, to whom four others were soon added, were present on the occasion. Bishop Brownell had tendered his servi- ces gratuitously till the state of the funds would war- rant the appointment of another professor, and in the ensuing month he removed to New Haven, and aided Dr. Turner by meeting the students once a week, and instructing them in the delivery of sermons and the department of Pastoral Theology. He was deeply in- terested in its prosperity, and favored measures to endow a professorship in memory of the first Bishop of Connecticut. An extract from his address to the Annual Convention of 1820, will show his sense of its importance to the Church : -
" Without a learned, as well as a pious ministry, it is impossible that her character can be maintained, or her boundaries enlarged. The state of our country now demands higher theological attainments than our candidates have an opportunity of acquiring. In the institutions at Andover and Princeton, examples are presented to us of what a communion is capable of effecting, when its zeal and resources are concentrated
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on a common object. I feel confident that neither ability nor liberality are wanting in our Church, to establish such an institution as her exigencies require, and I trust there will not be wanting either unanim- ity or zeal to bring her resources into the most effi- cient operation. The high salaries necessary to sup- port competent professors in New York, and the ina- bility of most young men to support themselves, during a three years' course of study, in so expensive a city, rendered necessary an amount of funds alto- gether beyond the reasonable expectations of the friends of the Seminary ; especially while there ex- isted, in various parts of the Union, such strong objec- tions to its location. Influenced by these considera- tions, and by the consideration of the more moderate habits which the students would be likely to form in such a place as New Haven, as well as by various other motives of preference, the vote of the Conven- tion for transferring the Seminary to Connecticut, was almost unanimous. While this removal appears likely to prove highly beneficial to the Church at large, it seems especially calculated to be useful to the Church in this Diocese, and throughout New England, where so large a portion of the clergy of the Episcopal Church have been born and educated. But a great responsibility is thrown upon this Diocese; as both its clergy and laity will naturally be expected to take the lead in the patronage and support of the institu- tion. I trust that neither will be found wanting in their duty in so important a matter."
The Seminary had been in operation scarcely a year at New Haven, before the number of students had risen from ten to twenty-two. But, in the mean- VOL. II. 15
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time, discussions were going on, and conflicting state- inents were put forth in other quarters, which were calculated to interfere with its prosperity, and check the collection of funds for its endowment. Bishop Hobart, in a pastoral letter to his Diocese, reviewed the history of the General Theological Seminary, and then considered the right of every diocese to make provision for the education of students in divinity, the expediency of this provision being made by New York, and the mode in which it should be effected. The result of the Pastoral was the establishment of a " Protestant Episcopal Theological Education So- ciety of the State," with the principal school located in the city of New York, and a branch of it in the village of Geneva, each under its respective pro- fessors.
Nor was this all. Mr. Jacob Sherred, a vestryman of Trinity Church, New York, died in that city, March, 1821, leaving by his will, dated some thirteen months before, about sixty thousand dollars to a theological seminary to be established within the limits of the State, under the direction or by the authority of the General Convention " or of the Con- vention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New York." The bequest was thus in the alternative as it regarded the two conventions, and the question was raised whether a seminary to be established within the limits of the State by the General Convention, would be entitled to the legacy in preference to a seminary established by the Con- vention of the Diocese. Legal opinions were taken, and some of the most distinguished lawyers decided that the right to the legacy under the conditions of
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the will, was vested in the Theological Institution al- ready established in the State, and that it was not in the power of the General Convention to deprive the existing institution of the title thus acquired. But with a view to settle the difficulty, a special meeting of that body was held in Philadelphia on the 30th day of October, 1821, when it was agreed by the parties in interest, " all in the spirit of conciliation and mutual concession," that the Seminary should be removed from Connecticut, where it had been incor- porated by an act of the Legislature, back to New York, and a new institution organized by uniting it with the local school of that Diocese. This merging of the two into one was the formation of the present General Theological Seminary, which secured the legacy of the benevolent testator.
For several years the "Churchman's Magazine," which met with misfortunes after it was taken out of Connecticut, had ceased to be published. It was felt that its revival, under suitable management and con- trol, would greatly promote the interests of the Church ; and the Annual Convention of 1820 re- quested Bishop Brownell to call in the assistance of such of the clergy and laity as he might think proper, to arrange with some persons for its publication in the Diocese, and to take the superintendence of the same, " provided, however, that the whole risk and responsibility of the work shall devolve on the pub- lishers, without any direct or indirect obligation, on the part of the Convention, to make up losses or deficiencies." At this date, periodical literature of every kind was beginning to be more liberally en- couraged, and churchmen saw with what assiduity
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other denominations circulated their magazines, and propagated their peculiar views of religious truth. The Bishop, with five of his clergy and one layman, acted gratuitously as editors in issuing the work for three years, but at the end of that period, the patron- age having been barely sufficient to defray the ex- penses of printing, they terminated their responsi- bility, and the publication which had thus been " recalled from the tomb and reanimated by its legit- imate parents," was again suffered to fall asleep. The Convocation, however, which met at Cheshire on the 24th of November, 1824, revived it once more, and elected the Rev. Dr. Bronson editor, under whose auspices it continued to be published till the day of his death.
The Church in Connecticut had now entered on a new epoch, and her prosperity, like that of the Chris- tian denominations about her, was henceforth to be affected by great changes in the customs of society and the modes of administering to- personal comfort. In the milder climate of England, from which our an- cestors came, no artificial means had been employed for warming the sanctuary, and the first settlers natu- rally brought with them the practice of the mother country, and built their meeting-houses here without reference to the rigors of a northern winter. Gene- ration succeeded to generation, and still the churches, as if run in the same mould, were constructed on the principle that no heating apparatus was necessary or to be tolerated. The worshippers from a distance might gather in their rude "Sabbath-day houses," 1
1 These were small structures, divided into two rooms for the accommo- dation of the sexes, and erected by individuals, usually on the public
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during the intermission, and kindle their fires and consume their refreshments, but in the great temple there was to be nothing but the crowded assembly to take off the chill of an almost Arctic atmosphere. The little foot-stove was occasionally a luxury ; but with the thermometer at zero, worship must have been a sort of moral martyrdom. We may feel a cold shudder as we sit amid the comforts of these days and think of our forefathers, facing the wintry blasts and going up to the house of God, often perched on some bleak hill, and there, wrapped in furs and homespun coats, waiting devoutly through the long prayers and sermons of the minister. For nearly two hundred years after its settlement, the practice of warming churches was unknown in Connecticut, and when it began to be introduced there were prejudices to overcome, which in some places cost many a hard battle. A few of the smaller parishes in the Diocese provided themselves with stoves at an earlier date ; but Trinity Church, New Haven, had not the means of being warmed in the winter season, until 1822,1 and by that time all the denominations in New England
ground around the meeting-house ; the authorities of the town granting them permission.
1 Dr. Turner, speaking of his residence in New Haven, as Professor of the General Theological Seminary, says: " In the summer season I fre- quently visited some neighboring vacant parish and officiated ; but gene- rally I attended Trinity Church, of which Dr. Harry Croswell was rector. In the winter the building was excessively cold, as the practice of warm- ing places of worship had not then been introduced in Connecticut."- Au- tobiography, p. 105.
The vestry of Trinity, in the autumn of 1806, " allowed liberty to put up a stove in the church, provided it was done without expense to the par- ish," a liberty which seems not to have been used, or if used in the old wooden structure, the new stone edifice was occupied for six years, before decisive steps were taken to warm it in the winter.
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were gradually adopting the practice. No house of worship was thenceforth erected without reference to the comfort of those who were to occupy it, and a stove or a furnace soon became as much a necessity in the church as in the private dwelling.
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CHAPTER XVII.
MANNER OF PERFORMING DIVINE SERVICE; SUNDAY SCHOOLS; CHARGE OF THE BISHOP; AND PROSPERITY OF THE DIOCESE.
A. D. 1821 - 1823.
THE prejudices of a community in which Puritanism prevailed led to some laxity in the rubrical observances of the clergy. They and their people thoroughly un- derstood all questions pertaining to the ministry and doctrines of the Church, but in matters of the ritual they were not so careful or so tenacious of uniformity. The order of architecture, followed by parishes in the construction of their churches, had been for the most part a New England meeting-house, and arched win- dows were the principal mark to distinguish the edi- fices of Episcopalians from those that belonged to the sects. Chancel arrangements were made without re- gard to the convenience of the clergyman or to the proper manner of conducting divine service, and fre- quently in the smaller churches in rural districts a spacious pulpit, built next to the wall, and nearly mid- way between the apex of the roof and the level of the main floor, was used both for the prayers and the sermon. Sometimes lower down in front of the pulpit a high breast-work was raised for a reading desk, and outside of this stood the Lord's Table, which the priest never approached except on Communion Sundays. A recessed chancel was not to be seen, and where a
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surplice was worn, the clergyman generally passed the whole length of the church to reach the vestry- room and change it for the black gown.
The gradual advance in architecture brought with it many improvements, but at the time when Bishop Brownell entered upon the duties of his office, this description would apply, with a few exceptions, to all the churches in Connecticut. In the absence of any artistic skill, popular opinion governed, and the same authority affected the practices of the clergy, who had then nowhere in the land been accustomed to a ritual relatively above the prevailing style of eccle- siastical architecture. At a Convocation held in Cheshire, September 6, 1821, a committee was ap- pointed to take into consideration "such known diver- sities of practice as may exist among the clergy of this Diocese, and to suggest those particulars on which in their judgment it is desirable that there should be uniformity." The resolutions growing out of this ac- tion, and adopted by the Convocation, were in sub- stance as follows: That the clergy use the ante- communion service every Sunday in the year, except under those circumstances which necessarily prevent, and that it be read from the chancel on Communion Sundays; that the congregations be dismissed pre- vious to the communion service with a collect and the shorter benediction ; that the Lord's Prayer be omit- ted before the sermon and a collect only used ; and that the clergy instruct their choirs to close every psalm and hymn with the doxology.
The due performance of the music of the Church received early attention in Connecticut. One of her clergy - Dr. Smith, formerly Principal of the Episco-
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pal Academy at Cheshire - addressed a petition to the General Convention which met at New Haven in 1811, relative to a volume of music composed by him, entitled "The Churchman's Choral Companion to his Prayer Book." The object of the work was to favor the introduction into our churches of "chanting and the singing of anthems ;1 and though it was decided to be inexpedient to take any action thereon, yet according to Bishop White,2 the book was well es- teemed; and "it was not from any dissatisfaction with it that the application was rejected, but because the request to enjoin the use of the chants and tunes exclusively of all others was thought unreasonable," and to have granted it would have been a high exer- cise of power. Still Dr. Smith persevered in his efforts, and in 1816 published a smaller work to aid the first, of which he thus spoke in the introduction : " As the experiment has been made, and almost all our churches show an increasing disposition to adopt this primitive and once universal way of setting forth the most worthy praise of Almighty God, it hath become incumbent on the author to ameliorate his former publication by means of the present."
Not more than half a dozen churches in the Dio- cese supplied with organs could be found at the beginning of the century, and their number was not
1 At the annual meeting of Trinity Parish, New Haven, Easter Mon- day, 1802, an organist was appointed with a fixed salary, and required to substitute always an anthem for the voluntary, which " has been usually played."
This vote had no reference to the voluntaries before and after divine service, but to a practice which had long prevailed of playing a voluntary after the second lesson of the Morning and Evening Prayer, in conformity with an English custom.
2 Memoirs, etc. p. 213.
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much increased for twenty-five years. A few rectors, skilled in music, took great pains to cultivate a taste for chanting, even where there was no instrumental accompaniment, and soon volunteer choirs, composed principally of the young, grew familiar with the prac- tice, and congregations learned to crave something beside the metrical psalms and hymns. The old choristers were at first the greatest obstacles in the way of introducing the chants, and in some parishes troubles arose on this account which extended into many families and lasted long. But intelligent churchmen stood by their rectors, who simply ad- hered to the plain construction of the rubrics, and only " said or sung" the anthems and doxologies as the Prayer Book prescribed. If the people anywhere objected to chanting, it was not so much from a feel- ing that it was a Popish innovation, as from the want of a suitable number of competent persons to lead in it and render it really an offering of praise. Sacred music differs from all other kinds of music in that it is an act of devotion. Found in all ages and asso- ciated with all forms of Christian faith, it is the most subtle and powerful collateral influence connected with the offices of public worship. Instead of being a matter of. mere entertainment or vain show, it is a mysterious and potent agency, having the same silent aim as religion, and awakening the heart, con- centrating the thoughts, and elevating and enchanting the soul. The theory of the Protestant Episcopal Church is, that her members should join in the song of praise as well as in the act of prayer; but the churchmen of Connecticut, who fifty years ago were unable to do this, were no worse off than their
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descendants of the present day, who find quartette choirs and operatic performers practically depriving them of all participation in singing or chanting.
Bishop Brownell, in his primary address to the Convention in 1820, called attention to the subject of Sunday-schools, and urged their establishment in all the parishes. "I believe," said he, " that they are already very generally established throughout the Diocese; and much praise is due to the clergy, and others who have promoted them, as well as to those generous individuals who have taxed their charity with the labor of instruction. To withdraw the young from profane amusements, or a thoughtless indolence on the Lord's day; to assemble them to- gether for religious worship; to store their minds with the elements of Christian knowledge; to excite in their hearts devout affections, and to familiarize them to the pious and evangelical services of our liturgy, are objects which may well call forth the charities of the friends of religion."
It was then only forty years since the system of Sunday-schools had been first instituted, and they owe their origin to a pious and philanthropic layman of Gloucester, England - Robert Raikes, a printer and the son of a printer. He saw in the state of the population by which he was surrounded, the necessity of something more than the ordinary teachings of the parish minister to check the progress of vice in the lower classes, and the deplorable profanation of the Lord's day. His benevolent heart, therefore, turned to some means of gathering together and teaching the poor and neglected children, and with the aid of a clergyman of the Church of England he planned this
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system and set it in operation. It was originally very simple. Mr. Raikes had distinguished himself by va- rious efforts for the relief of human misery, and he stipulated for a shilling a day with a few well-dis- posed women, living in those suburbs of the city where the lowest of the people dwelt, to receive as many children as he should send on Sunday, and in- struct them in reading and the Church Catechism. The clergyman of the parish engaged, for his part, to go round to the schools in the afternoon for the pur- pose of examining the progress that was made, and enforcing "order and decorum among such a set of little heathens." It was really an effort at civilization, and the originator of it often derived great pleasure from discovering genius and innate good dispositions among the children, which he called "botanizing in human nature."
The system thus conceived and operated com- mended itself to the minds and consciences of all, and soon Christians every where welcomed it with zealous approbation ; and wondering that it should never have been devised before, they " seemed de- termined to repair, as much as possible, the mischief of past neglect, by applying with the utmost dili- gence the benefits of this new discovery in the world of morals and religion." The wealthy bestowed on it their contributions, noblemen lent their influence to its extension, and the labors and prayers of all, as well as the energies of the press, were freely enlisted in its behalf, so that within two years from its origin, it was computed that 250,000 children in our mother country were every Sunday receiving instruction in this way.
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It has been seen that the first Sunday-school teach- ers were hired, and this practice was continued until about the beginning of the century, when voluntary gratuitous instruction became general in Great Britain, and the pecuniary expense otherwise entailed upon the system ceased to be an objection. The first Sun- day-school in the United States was commenced in Philadelphia by the "First Day or Sunday-school Soci- ety," in 1791, and the name of Bishop White appears among the founders of the institution. The move- ment of Connecticut towards its adoption was not prior to that of other Dioceses. Her system of com- mon schools, from which religious instruction had not been entirely discarded at so early a date, rendered it difficult to find any of mature age who were unable to read and write. Knowledge was brought within reach of the masses, and ignorance -the parent of vice-fled before the demands of a virtuous and intel- ligent people. As far as the Sunday-schools, upon their first establishment in Connecticut, were confined to instruction in the rudiments of secular knowledge and the fundamentals of religion, they were under- taken by benevolent Christians without regard to de- nominational differences. But the times were charged with excitement, and Episcopalians, who had nothing to gain but much to lose by such a union, chose to organize their own Sunday-schools, and they made them at once a prominent feature in parochial work, especially during the summer months.
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