USA > Connecticut > The history of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, Vol. II > Part 19
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little behind them save the recollection of their beauty and grateful fragrance. But the endowment of a seat of learning, and especially of Christian learning, is the planting of a tree whose fruits are perennial, whose roots strike deeply into the soil, and whose branches, spreading over the earth, and shoot- ing upward into the skies, continue from year to year, and from age to age, to reproduce and to commem- orate the benefaction.
Frequent emigrations from the State deprived many of the parishes of their most active members, and kept them weak and depressed. This led to frequent changes in the location of the rural clergy, and to a feeling in the depleted parishes that they were unable to make permanent arrangements for the ministra- tions of the Church. The contributions to the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, which had now become the missionary agency of the Diocese, would not yet warrant sufficient appropriations to render the connection between pastors and their peo- ple less slight and transient, and consequently much of the benefit that arises from long attachment and mutual intercourse was foregone and lost. The best that the weak parishes could do under such circum- stances was to unite and form themselves into conven- ient cures, but even this did not prevent the evil of frequent clerical changes, nor faintness from some- times coming upon the spirit of the people. In 1825, when the clergy of the Diocese numbered forty-six, and the congregations seventy-four, Bishop Brownell said to the Annual Convention, meeting at Hart- ford : -
" A great portion of our parishes are small and
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weak, when compared with the other religious socie- ties with which they are surrounded. Many of them are, consequently, but partially supplied with minis- terial services, and the burthen of support falls heavily on individuals. In addition to these considerations, it need not excite our wonder that some should be unwilling to hazard their popularity, by connecting themselves with a body, which is regarded by many of those around them as but a minor sect of Chris- tians. But religious prejudices still constitute the most formidable obstacle to the growth of our Church. There is no part of our country where these preju- dices might be expected to exist in greater force than in Connecticut. Settled originally by Puritans, who abandoned their native country, in abhorrence of Epis- copacy, and at a time when the principles of religious liberty were but little understood, they naturally regarded the introduction of any opinions different from their own, as an intrusion upon the asylum they had chosen. Their early institutions were calculated to foster these sentiments, and it is no way extraor- dinary that some traces of them should have been perpetuated to the present generation. In short, the preponderance of public sentiment has been hostile to our Church, and the tendency of the civil and religious institutions of the State has naturally been adverse to its interests. Under these circumstances, we have less cause to wonder that it advances so tardily, than that its growth should have been so rapid ; and we have less reason to complain of the prejudices, and other obstacles which have impeded its growth, than we have to admire the successful progress of what we deem to be truth, and the excel-
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lency of those doctrines and institutions which could overcome such difficulties, and surmount such obsta- cles. Time is the great remedy for all prejudices and errors. Possessing our souls in patience, and doing whatsoever our hand findeth to do, we may abide with confidence its salutary operations. The prejudices to which I have alluded, are, moreover, so intimately con- nected with the frailties of our common nature, and have resulted so naturally from the position in which our Church has been placed, that we ought to regard them rather in sorrow than in anger."
The pastoral relation was sundered in a few cases where no plea of inability to support public ministra- tions could well be set up. When age has crept upon the servants of God, and they cease to be attractive as preachers, a mere love of novelty will sometimes induce parishes to seek a change by pensioning their venerable rectors in retirement, or leaving them to provide for their own wants in the best way they can. Two presbyters, who were among the four candidates admitted to Holy Orders by Bishop Seabury at the first Episcopal Ordination held in America, after hav- ing served their churches, the one for more than forty years, and the other for more than thirty, withdrew to smaller fields, and left the posts they vacated to younger men.
The Rev. Philo Shelton, in 1824, resigned the Rectorship of St. John's Church, Bridgeport, and henceforth confined his services entirely to the parish in Fairfield, which had always formed a portion of his cure ; and the Rev. Ashbel Baldwin, in the same year, relinquished the charge of Christ Church, Stratford, and found employment elsewhere. They were neigh-
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bors and intimate friends, and had long been associ- ated together as members of the Standing Committee. They had labored faithfully in the Diocese during its darkest periods of depression, and, through the pro- gressive stages of its advancement, they had taken a leading and important part in its councils, as well as in the councils of the Church at large. Besides being frequently delegates to the General Convention, both of them had held office in that body, Mr. Shelton having been chosen Secretary by the House of Bish- ops in 1811, and Mr. Baldwin Secretary by the House of Clerical and Lay deputies at the same time, in which office he was continued until his resignation in 1823. The latter was also Secretary of the Dio- cesan Convention for nearly thirty years, and retired with cordial thanks for his services during the event- ful period he had thus officiated. His self-possession and readiness in clearly expressing his opinions, gave him great advantage, in a deliberative assembly, over many of his brethren who were not inferior to him in sound judgment and general information.
With other changes in the clergy, came those which were made by death. Mr. Shelton, whose latter days were embittered by severe trials, did not long survive the sundering of his pastoral relations. He was the founder of the church in Bridgeport, "and for forty years the continued promoter of its best interest, by the soundness of his doctrines, the zeal of his preach- ing, and the primitive simplicity of his conversation." He died on the 27th of February, 1825, and no words of eulogy were ever better deserved than those which Bishop Brownell spoke concerning him in his address at the ensuing Convention : "For simplicity of char-
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acter, amiable manners, unaffected piety, and a faith- ful devotion to the duties of the ministerial office, he has left an example by which all his surviving brethren may profit, and which few of them can hope to surpass."
His departure was soon followed by that of another whose name stood high up on the list of the clergy, and the wisdom, prudence, and moderation of whose counsels had contributed, in no small degree, to pre- serve the peace and promote the prosperity of the Church in Connecticut. Warned by the advance of years and the approach of bodily infirmity, Dr. Bron- son addressed a letter to the Annual Convention which met at Newtown on the 7th of June, 1826, and, as it shows the man and outlines the history of his minis- terial experience, it is quoted here entire.
" Next October will complete forty years that I have been in the ministry. During the whole of which time I have been blessed with such a measure of health as never to have been absent from Con- vention through bodily indisposition; rarely from any other cause, and never more than on three or four occasions from the public service of the Church, until within a few weeks past. At this time, there is but one clergyman in these States whose letters of orders from the American Episcopate are dated earlier than mine. During twenty years past, just one half of my clerical life, I have been honored with the confidence of the Convention in their choice of Standing Com- mittee. It is thus full time I should wish to retire from the trust. To this I am loudly admonished by increasing years, and more by a bodily infirmity which threatens to render me incapable of discharg- VOL. II. 17
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ing the incumbent duty. It is, therefore, my earnest desire no longer to be considered as a candidate for any appointment in the gift of the Convention. With all proper sentiments of respect and gratitude for the past, I beg the acceptance of my best wishes and prayers for the harmony, peace, and prosperity of the Church and Diocese, in which I have so long minis- tered. May the spirit of Divine Grace pervade all the deliberations of the Convention, to the breaking down of Satan's kingdom in men's hearts, and the enlargement of the Redeemer's reign upon earth. And may the Church in this Diocese continue, as heretofore, a sound member of the Church universal, until the time shall come when all the nations of the earth shall bow submissive to the heavenly kingdom of the Lord Christ. Though absent in body, believe me present in mind and desires."
To this communication, a suitable answer was re- turned, and in just three months from its date, after repeated attacks of paralysis, the venerable man passed to the reward of his labors. The light of his virtuous and holy life was some consolation to his friends, for the dark cloud which was thrown over his last moments. A few years later, his pupils and personal friends, bearing in affectionate remembrance his character and long continued services, marked his grave by an appropriate monument.
Dr. Bronson was a man of delicate sensibilities, and he would often weep like a child while reading pub- licly those appointed lessons in the Calendar that detail the history of Joseph and his brethren. As a scholar, his reputation was deservedly high. He was profound and correct, without being brilliant or pol-
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ished. His love of the classics increased with his years, but his favorite studies were mathematics and natural philosophy, and to these he would devote himself for hours, unconscious of external things and unmindful of his bodily comfort. He delivered to his pupils a series of lectures on the "history of the Manual Arts," which, begun at an early period of his labors as an instructor, were perfected as the advance- ment of science and his own researches furnished ma- terials. Detached parts of these lectures appeared in the "Churchman's Magazine," of which he was edi- tor at the time of his death. The last numbers of the volume which was in hand when the messenger came to call him, were compiled by a friend for the benefit of his family, and then the publication ceased to exist, and the " Episcopal Watchman," a weekly periodical, appeared in its place.
There was need of more frequent approaches to the people by the way of the press. A religious revival was sweeping the State, and out of it was springing, in many places, an uncharitable spirit to- wards the Church. More vigilance, too, was demanded on the part of the clergy, to check the progress of error and the abuses of religion. Two years before this time, Bishop Brownell had said to the Conven- tion : -
" Among the prevailing errors of the day, you can- not fail to have observed the pernicious effects of universalism, of fatalism, and of fanaticism. The denial of all future punishment relaxes the morality of the gospel, rejects its most awful sanctions, and gives the reins to every licentious passion. The doctrine that all the thoughts and actions of men are precisely
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fixed and determined by an eternal necessity, destroys all sense of accountability, and leaves men to the sole guidance of their own corrupt propensities. And a fanatical reliance upon imaginary revelations and im- pulses, supersedes and sets aside the revelation which God has given us in his Gospel. Thus do these errors create a tendency to infidelity in those that embrace them, while, by being held up to the world as a part of the Christian system, they produce, in the minds of the unreflecting, a strong prejudice against the truth of Christianity itself. It is true, indeed, that, in some of the scenes of the late French Revolution, the world has received such a lesson upon the effects of infidelity as should not soon be forgotten ; yet, though disgraced, it has not ceased to exist, and its principles are so congenial to the corruptions of the heart, so flattering to human pride, and so pleasing to the natural love of novelty, that they cannot be too strongly deprecated, or too strictly guarded against.
"It is our part and duty, my brethren, to guard ourselves and our flocks against the prevailing errors of the times, to exhibit Christianity as it is in the gospel, and to see that its real spirit and temper be wrought in our own hearts."
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CHAPTER XIX.
SUPPORT OF THE EPISCOPATE; ACADEMY AT CHESHIRE; MENZIES RAYNER; AND HIS SUSPENSION FROM THE MINISTRY.
A. D. 1826 - 1828.
THE Diocese stipulated to pay Bishop Brownell an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars, and the Fund, with the additions which were made to it soon after his consecration, was nearly sufficient to yield this income. But misfortunes befell it, and, in the autumn of 1825, the Eagle Bank at New Haven, in which the Trustees had invested five thousand five hundred dollars, failed, and the failure involved other banks in the State, and diminished, for a while, the dividends from those in which the remainder of the Fund was chiefly invested. The consequence was that the an- nual deficiency in the sum which the Diocese bound itself to raise for the support of the Bishop, was consid- erably increased, and the several deficiencies amounted, on the first of July, 1828, to two thousand seven hundred and thirty dollars, without computing the interest thereon, which was justly due. The incon- venience to the Bishop was less felt, for the reason that, at this time, he was receiving a salary from the College as its President, but the Convention was dis- satisfied with the constant deficiency, and took fre- quent steps to provide for it and perform to the letter the terms of the original obligation.
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Agents were appointed and authorized to settle equitably, according to their present circumstances, with those parishes which had failed to comply with the assessment laid upon them in 1813, in exact pro- portion to the several amounts of their grand list. That assessment rested solely on the recommendation of the Convention - a body which possessed no power to enforce a performance of the obligation, so that, after all, the payment of it was nothing more than a voluntary gift on the part of those who had at heart the best interests of the Church. Many of the par- ishes submitted to the assessment with cheerfulness, and paid promptly and without hesitation their re- spective dues, but others, weak, without the stated services of ministers, and unrepresented, perhaps, in the Convention which imposed the tax, found them- selves in no condition to meet the full claims upon them, however willing they might be to bear their proportion in the support of the Episcopate. A few parishes that possessed ample ability, under the influ- ence of illiberal advisers, declined to recognize any obligation, and these, with the other delinquent par- ishes, were badgered for years by acts and agents of the Convention until 1823, when the Rev. Stephen Jewett, then Rector of the Church in Derby, was appointed to visit them and "make a settlement of their arrearages." He was indefatigable in his nego- tiations by letters and repeated visits, and made a final settlement with about twenty of the parishes, thus adding to the Fund nearly one thousand dollars. After the failure of the Eagle Bank, the remaining delinquents were again importuned to assist in restor- ing the loss, but the result was unsatisfactory, and
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provoked some irritation without drawing forth much money. The proceeds from the lottery grant, re- ferred to in a previous chapter, came in about this time, and helped to relieve "the present distress," but the Trustees, with all their economy and diligence in endeavoring to collect the old assessments, could not raise the income of the Fund to an amount equal to the annual salary pledged to the Bishop. The charter under which they acted made them a close corpora- tion, and they filled their own vacancies, and only reported to the Convention by courtesy, and as exi- gencies seemed to require. This was unfavorable to a completion of the endowment of the Episcopate, and tended to produce uneasiness in the minds of those who always dislike anything that savors of secrecy in the management of public funds.
Besides involving in loss the various parishes which had made permanent investments therein, the failure of the Eagle Bank impaired the endowment of the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire. The Trustees of that institution held stock in the bank to the amount of several thousand dollars, which thus became value- less, and the death of Dr. Bronson occurring soon after, and the College at Hartford being now estab- lished and in full operation, the Academy languished, and, for a time, its doors were shut. The Convention originally had the power of appointing the Principal, and Bishop Brownell, alluding in his address for 1827 to the vacancy, said : "It will be a matter of no small difficulty to find a person suitably qualified to fill this important station. If it should be hastily and im- properly filled, the evil cannot be easily remedied ; and if no candidate can be found who shall receive
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the decided approbation of the present Convention, I would recommend that the Trustees of the institu- tion be requested to procure some proper teacher to supply the vacancy till the next Annual Convention."
His suggestion was followed, but the temporary provision was uncertain, and failed to attract students and to produce that benefit to the Church which those who contributed towards the endowment of the insti- tution had a right to expect. The desire to increase the members in the classes of the new College, and the feeling that the centre of education for the Church in the Diocese was changed, may have led, for the time, to some apparent, if not real neglect of the venerable seminary which the Episcopalians of a preceding generation had founded. The parish in Cheshire, also, was too ready to seize upon the Principal, whoever he might be, and elect him its rector. Bishop Brownell called special attention again to the matter in 1829, and remarked: -
"Whether, under present circumstances, the Acad- emy can be put in successful operation, seems ex- tremely doubtful. The expedients which have been adopted by the Trustees, have hitherto failed of suc- cess. The funds of the Academy were raised for the education of youth under the auspices of the Church, and it is obvious that they ought to be sacredly ap- plied to this object. They cannot be diverted to the support of a parish minister, nor to constitute a sine- cure for a nominal Principal. It therefore becomes a question of no little embarrassment, how this Conven- tion and the Board of Trustees shall best fulfil their duty to the founders of the institution, and especially to those inhabitants of Cheshire who contributed to-
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wards the endowment. If no better resources can be devised, I recommend the continuing the funds at interest till the sum lost by the failure of the Eagle Bank shall be restored."
The remarks of the Bishop were referred to a com- mittee, who made a report of considerable length, meeting the various points of the case, objecting to the scheme of leaving the funds to accumulate, and concluding in these words : -
" Under the conviction before expressed of the ill consequences resulting from the union of the Acad- emy and church, your committee respectfully and unanimously recommend the adoption of the following resolution : Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Con- vention, it is inexpedient that the same gentleman should fill the office of Principal of the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire, and pastor of the Episcopal congregation in that place."
This resolution, which the Convention adopted, was good on paper, but the year had not ended before both its spirit and letter were violated in the appoint- ment of the Rev. Christian F. Cruse to the united charge of the Academy and the church. His con- nection in this capacity was of brief continuance, for he removed from the Diocese early in the winter of 1831, having been invited to a more congenial field of labor. His successors and the changes in the organization and management of the institution will be noted hereafter in their proper places.
An effort to revise the Canons and establish a more specific code was begun in 1821, and continued through a period of five years. The progress of events in the Church seemed to render some legislation of this kind
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necessary, and the call for fuller parochial statistics, and for more care in the maintenance and regulation of cures, could be met in no way so directly as by a canonical provision. Since the accession of Bishop Brownell to the Episcopate, the number of the clergy had increased from forty to upwards of fifty - but some of these were infirm, and others, perhaps from insufficient support, were inclined frequently to change their positions in the Diocese without due regard to the welfare of the parishes, or without consulting the ecclesiastical authority. The worldly inducements to enter on the office of the Christian ministry, never a matter of temptation in this country, were in no part of it more humble than in Connecticut. The salaries of rectors, from the establishment of the Church, had been small, especially in the rural districts, but with the prosperity of the State and the contributions to the Christian Knowledge Society, came a better pro- vision for their support.
The Annual Convention which met at Norwalk in 1828, arranged all the parishes into forty-four cures, and enacted a canon making it "the duty of the Convention, from time to time, to examine and declare the limits of the several cures within the Diocese, and, in the settlement and maintenance of clergymen," the parishes were required not to depart from " such arrangement except in cases of imperious necessity, and with the advice and consent of the ecclesiastical authority." This legislation was intended, while the dearth of clergymen continued, to reach, with stated ministrations, the destitute portions of the Diocese.
The "Church Scholarship Society," founded in pur- suance of a communication by the Bishop to the
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Annual Convention of 1827, offered its first report the ensuing year, in which the Directors said: -
" Many members of the Convention had long seen the need of an Education Society, to be formed on principles somewhat varying from others then in being; and the interest which they took in its estab- lishment has received substantial approbation in every portion of the Church where its claims have been pre- sented. If the object were one of doubtful utility or success; if, while promoting the good of our fellow- men, it did not exercise and improve some of the best of human feelings, or if it did not promise, in some good degree, to advance the interests of true religion, the Directors would hesitate to urge its further con- sideration. But if there be truth in the maxim that knowledge is power, and if it be important to enlist this power in the cause of the Church, surely we cannot falter in our endeavors to procure the means for so desirable an end. That meritorious young men, members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, studying under the embarrassments of poverty, may be assisted and prepared for usefulness, either as members of our laity or clergy, the friends of the Church Scholarship Society hope, by the blessing of Heaven on their labors, abundantly to accomplish.
"It will be recollected that the Constitution requires no restraint on the choice of a profession at so early a stage in education as to render an unbiassed decis- ion difficult or improbable. It will not be disguised that we may earnestly desire to educate many minis- ters for our altars, but we would put no such bond on the conscience of any, and, least of all, would we apply to any mind an unworthy motive to a choice,
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