USA > Connecticut > The history of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, Vol. II > Part 22
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by them, and appeals have constantly been made to the worst passions and prejudices of human nature ; yet it is still problematical whether it has not been as deeply injured by the erroneous views and mis- taken efforts of those who have professed the Chris- tian faith. The history of the Church is full of
instructive lessons on this subject. During the period emphatically designated the Dark Ages, the errors and the absurdities of the Romish faith became the occasion of a wide spread infidelity on the one hand, and of the grossest hypocrisy and superstition on the other. The glorious event of the Reforma- tion was soon marred by the metaphysical subtleties intermixed with the Christian faith, in Geneva, Ger- many, and Scotland. And these perversions have probably been the occasion, in later times, of more pernicious and fatal errors, which sap the very founda- tion of the Christian faith. There is too much reason to fear that the same theological views have led to the same dangerous errors, in some sections of our country. In the south of Europe, where the abuses of the Romish Church still maintain their sway, a secret infidelity is cherished by large portions of the community. A distinguished Congregational divine has expressed the opinion that, 'In England, the ex- travagances of the pious, in the time of Cromwell, threw back the cause of vital piety for two centuries.' And he warns the churches of his communion, in New England, and certain portions of the West, against the consequences to be apprehended from the encouragement of similar excesses." 1
A scheme to convert the Episcopal Academy at 1 Pages 14, 15.
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Cheshire into a self-supporting school, proposed at the previous Annual Convention, and intrusted to a committee, was rejected in 1832, as “ inexpedient, if not impracticable." Since the removal of Mr. Cruse from the Diocese, the office of Principal had been vacant, but it was decided to fill it at this time, and, before the ballot was taken, a resolution was adopted, requesting the Trustees of the Academy, in fixing the salary and duties of the Principal, to take into con- sideration " the expediency of making some provision whereby a portion, or the whole of the students, might contribute something towards their own ex- penses, by the performance of suitable manual labor." The Rev. Bethel Judd, D. D.,1 who was the originator of the self-supporting scheme, was chosen Principal. The election relieved the parish at New London of a venerable rector, whose services had ceased to be acceptable to a majority of the members, but it carried no vigor or prosperity to the church and institution in Cheshire. From 1828 to 1835, but two meetings of the Board of Trustees were held, and one only during the administration of Dr. Judd, and that to fix his salary and determine the conditions of his appointment. He tried the visionary project of providing for the support of necessitous young men, by adopting in part the manual labor system, but he failed to create any interest in his work, and, with the infirmities of age upon him, he could do little for the parish of which he was also the Rector. Not meeting,
1 The College at Hartford, in 1831, conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon Rev. Daniel Burhans, Rev. Harry Croswell, and Rev. Bethel Judd. They were the first American clergymen upon whom the corporation conferred this honor, but since that date, many of our bishops and presbyters have received it from the same source.
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therefore, with the success that he anticipated, Dr. Judd resigned to the Convention his office of Princi- pal, in October, 1835, and afterwards removed from the Diocese. He had not, for some months previous to this, resided in Cheshire, or interested himself in the concerns of the parish or the management of the in- stitution. The building, which had gone into decay, was then extensively repaired and remodelled, and a whole year was suffered to elapse, before the right man could be procured to fill the vacant post.
For half a century the Annual Convention had assembled in different parishes, according to the de- termination of the Bishop, on the first Wednesday of June, but, in 1831, a proposition was made to substi- tute for this date, the second Tuesday of October, and, the next year, the amendment was approved by the concurrent vote of both orders, and became a part of the Constitution of the Church in the Diocese. It carried the meeting to a season, when it was thought a better attendance of lay delegates might be secured, especially from parishes in the agricultural districts. The first Convention to be held under the amended Constitution, was appointed at Chatham, now Port- land, but no quorum assembled, for it appeared to be the general impression that all necessary business had been transacted at the previous meeting in June. The next year, 1833, it was appointed at Norwich, and as railroads had not yet taken the place of stages and private carriages, it was unfortunate, for testing the expediency of the change, that a place should have been selected so much out of the way, and in a part of the State where there were but few parishes.
The clergy and laity met in Christ Church, in that
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city, at the time appointed, and after morning prayer, and a sermon from President Wheaton, the roll was called, and twenty-one clergymen answered to their names, and then an adjournment followed till the afternoon. Upon reassembling, only seventeen lay delegates were found to be present, - not enough for the transaction of business, the Constitution requir- ing twenty of this order. The parochial reports, however, were read, and an informal discussion was had upon a communication from the Secretary of the General Convention, relative to certain alterations in the rubrics, but the evening was very stormy, and an adjournment took place till the next day. Wednesday came, and there was still no quorum. Another public service was held at eleven o'clock, and a sermon preached by the Rev. Dr. Croswell. In the afternoon, notwithstanding the nearest unrepresented parishes had been specially requested to send in delegates, two were yet wanting to enable the Convention to organize, - a number which would have been sup- plied but for a melancholy accident that occurred early that morning, and destroyed the lives of several persons, and among them two laymen, who were on their way from a remote section of the State to attend the Convention.1 Numerous meetings of the clergy were held, and the occasion was by no means without interest and profit, but the business of the
1 The steamboat New England, on her passage from New York to Hart- ford, having on board seventy-one persons, burst both her boilers near Essex, about 3 o'clock Wednesday morning, and eight persons were imme- diately killed, and thirteen seriously injured. Among the fatally injured were Mr. John M. Heron and Dr. Samuel B. Whiting, lay delegates from Redding, and they were within a mile of their landing-place at the time of the accident.
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Diocese was necessarily postponed, and the members finally adjourned, sorrowing over the intelligence which had reached them of the terrible disaster on the Connecticut River.
Bishop Brownell left New York, in a ship for New Orleans, November 18th, 1834, with a view to his wife's health, and at the request of the vestry of Christ Church in that city. He was absent during the win- ter and a part of the spring, and spent most of the time in New Orleans, collecting together the scattered congregation of Episcopalians, and encouraging them to erect a new church and elect a permanent rector. Alabama had been placed under his provisional charge, and he was present at the Annual Conven- tion, held at Tuscaloosa on the 19th of January, preached the sermon, and presided over its delibera- tions. He was also present at a special Convention of the Diocese of Mississippi, held at Natchez on the 23d of February, and took great interest in the steps which led to the formation of the Southwestern Dio- cese.1
The General Convention, which met at Philadelphia in 1835, took a long step forward in the work of Domestic and Foreign Missions. It was the last Con-
1 This was composed of the " Dioceses of Mississippi and Alabama, and the churches in the State of Louisiana," organized under a special Canon of the General Convention of 1832. Before Bishop Brownell left for the North, the Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D. D., had been elected Bishop of the Southwestern Diocese, and rector of the parish in New Orleans. But he declined the offices to which he was thus chosen, and "other un- toward events " happening, the organization failed, and was soon broken up.
Bishop Brownell, during this visit to the South, confirmed sixty-two persons - thirty-eight in New Orleans, seventeen in Mobile, and seven in Tuscaloosa, where he also consecrated the church.
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vention at which Bishop White presided, for he died the ensuing year; and, having witnessed the first efforts of the Church, in 1792, to " support mis- sionaries to preach the Gospel on the frontiers," and the establishment, in 1820, of a voluntary society, composed of contributors to its funds, that the work might be done more effectively, he now saw, in the progress of Christian zeal, the primitive ground taken, that the Church, as such, is our great Missionary Society, and that every person who is admitted within her pale by baptism, becomes by that act a member of the Missionary Society in the highest sense of the term. As the organ and representative of the Protes- tant Episcopal Church in the United States of Amer- ica, the General Convention of 1835 openly, in the face of all Christendom, recognized this principle, and assumed the corresponding duties. And thus our Church publicly pledged herself henceforth to fulfil, according to her ability, the divine injunctions of the Saviour, - "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature ; go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- manded you ; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
The Episcopal Church in the United States had then sixteen bishops and seven hundred and sixty- one clergymen. Of the latter, eighty were in Con- necticut, and this Diocese, next to New York, which was not yet divided, had the largest clerical list in the country. The world was the one field which the General Missionary Society, under its new organiza-
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tion, had in view, - the terms domestic and foreign, being only designations of the locality of its opera- tions. While the missionary spirit of Connecticut would be confined within no narrower limits than those thus pointed out, the state of her parishes, and the religious aspect of many populous towns, seemed to plead for paramount sympathy and more generous contributions. Bishop Brownell, in his annual address to the Convention of 1835, referring to these things, and to the want of a proper interest in the operations of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowl- edge, called upon the clergy of the Diocese "to come up to the work with a spirit adequate to the urgency of the times."
" It is certain," said he, "that there is nothing in this department of missionary operations, which ad- dresses itself strongly to the imagination. It is no region of romance. The results of our labor will not be magnified by distance, nor derive interest from associations with strange manners and a foreign lan- guage, yet they may not be less salutary to the souls of men, nor productive of less substantial benefit to the cause of Christ. It is not sufficiently considered, that in building up the Church in this Diocese, we are subserving the general cause of missions as effect- ually, though not directly, as though we were labor- ing among our scattered and destitute brethren of the West, or among the heathen of foreign lands. The whole Church of Connecticut has long been, in point of fact, a Missionary Church. Her lay emigrants, who have removed to adjacent States, and to the remoter West, have not failed to carry with them their love for the Church, and have ever been the first to rear VOL. II. 20
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up her institutions in the land of their adoption. She has, moreover, been a fruitful nursery of clergymen, and there is hardly a State in the Union where we may not find some of her sons ministering at the altar. Let it be borne in mind, then, that in extend- ing the Church within our own borders, we are, at the same time, advancing the general interest of mis- sions. Indeed, I may truly add, that with us every faithful parish minister is, in fact, a laborer in the missionary cause.
" But it is not through the medium of emigrations alone, that our building up the Church at home con- tributes to promote its advancement abroad. By multiplying the number of our congregations, and by increasing their strength, we not only augment the number of those who will spread abroad the insti- tutions of the Church, but we increase our own direct ability to add to the amount of her missionary funds. This is another consideration that is not sufficiently borne in mind, because the effect is not so immediate, direct, and obvious ; but it well deserves the attention of reflecting and judicious churchmen.
" It is true, the field of missions is the world. But we cannot reach the whole world at once. We must operate in the fields that are most accessible to us, and in places where our labors will, ultimately, turn to the best account. By extending the Church in our own State, and in our own country, we increase our ability to carry the light and the blessings of the gospel to the heathen nations. We may grieve at the slowness of our progress, and be impatient to leap from the means to the end. But both should be kept in view by the discreet Christian. Next to the
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salvation of our own souls, our great concern should certainly be to spread abroad the knowledge of the gospel, and to assist in building up the Christian Church, as it was originally founded upon the Apos- tles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. Whenever we are conscientiously en- gaged in this work, in whatever field it may be, we may rest assured that we are in the performance of our duty, and we may confidently look to the great Head of the Church for His blessing on our labors."
The Diocesan Convention of 1835 was thoroughly missionary in its tone. Besides the Bishop's address, and the usual sermon in behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, the discourse before the Convention was on the subject of Missions, and each parochial clergyman, by a specific resolution of that body, was desired to take the earliest oppor- tunity of carrying into " effectual operation," in such way as he might deem expedient, the principle pub- licly acknowledged and practically adopted by the General Council of the Church. The fruits of this new impulse to the cause of missions were visible, the next year, in every part of the Diocese.
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CHAPTER XXII.
USE OF THE GENERAL CONFESSION; THIRD CHARGE OF THE BISHOP; ANOTHER VISIT TO NEW ORLEANS; AND MAINTEN- ANCE OF THE CLERGY.
A. D. 1835- 1840.
THE construction of the rubric admitted of a doubt, whether the General Confession in the Daily Morning and Evening Prayer was designed to be the joint act of minister and people. Hence a practice had arisen, borrowed from the usage of the English Church, whereby the minister pronounced each sentence of the Confession by himself, -the people not beginning until he had finished it, and then concluding the whole with the word "Amen," as their response, in which the minister did not unite. The attention of the House of Bishops was called to this practice, in 1835, by the other branch of the General Convention, and an opinion solicited with a view of promoting uni- formity in the performance of all the offices of public worship.
The Bishops unanimously concurred in an opinion, which was thus expressed : " A regard to uniformity with what is practiced in other parts of the Liturgy, and also to the avoiding of a needless addition to the length of the service, and to its most decent perform- ance, requires, that in repeating the General Confes- sion in the Morning and Evening Prayer, the people
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should unite with the minister in saying it after him, in the same manner as is usually practiced in saying the Creeds, the Lord's Prayer, and the Confession in the Communion Service." A further opinion was given that, in those parts of the Liturgy in which the minister and people are to unite audibly, “ as in the Confessions, the Creeds, the Lord's Prayer, the Gloria in Excelsis, the Trisagion, and the last prayer for Ash-Wednesday," the word "Amen " should be printed in the Roman letters, and the minister unite with the people in saying it, and wherever it is the response of the people to what the minister alone says, it should be printed in italics. A declaration that it is expedient to omit the Collect and Lord's Prayer, before the sermon, was annexed to the same opinion.
These proposed changes were carried into effect in most of the parishes of Connecticut on the afternoon of the third Sunday in October, 1835, and they were at once appreciated, both by the ministers and their congregations. Since that date, the Diocese has been marked by great uniformity in the performance of public services, and no serious departures from the rubrics have been noted.
The Annual Convention of 1836, composed of thirty-two clergymen and forty-six lay delegates, met in Christ Church, Hartford, and the Bishop delivered his "Third Charge." It was strongly imbued with the missionary spirit, and reiterated much that he had put forth on former occasions. The new vigor produced by the recent action of the General Con- vention, seemed to invite him to the consideration of this subject, and the kindred subject of an increase
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in the number of the clergy. He felt, with others, that our communion now, unfettered by any ties of human policy, and prospering with the prosperity of the country, was well situated to bear the tidings of Redemption into " waste and perishing borders."
" I find my Church," said the Rev. Dr. Jarvis, on his return to the United States, after an absence in Europe of nearly ten years, "once the feeble offspring of missionary labor, now, in her turn, extending the blessings of the Gospel to heathen lands, and repay- ing to another member of Christ's body, a portion of that aid which she herself formerly received. I find my country advanced in prosperity to a degree unim- aginable and inconceivable by any who have not seen it with their own eyes. I find a life, and activity, and enterprise, a youthful ardor and vigor, arising from the freedom of our institutions, and our peculiar position, which, elsewhere, it would be in vain to look for. And from this united view of my Church and my country, I am constrained to ask, who are better situated than ourselves to become the heralds of the Cross ? This life, and activity, and enterprise, and ardor, and vigor, which is the characteristic of our countrymen, needs only to be directed into right channels. In proportion as a lively sense of the unsearchable riches of Christ is diffused through our nation, in the same proportion will these energies be properly and successfully directed. In proportion as our Church is extended and strengthened in our own country, will the share be increased in which Chris- tian America will act for the conversion of the world." 1
1 Sermon before the Church Scholarship Society, 1835, pp. 31, 32.
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But the great want of the Church, in order to meet the exigencies of the times, was still the want of more ministers. The love of money, and the love of distinction, were absorbing passions that cast all the gentler occupations of life into obscurity and neglect, and it was natural that young men of afflu- ence, education, and intelligence, should be tempted to other pursuits, and indisposed to undertake the toils and self-denials of the priestly office. 1
"Fortunately," said Bishop Brownell, "for the purity of the gospel ministry in our country, it holds out few pecuniary allurements to induce men to enter on its sacred functions. Though it requires an expen- sive education, and a long period of laborious pre- paratory study, the pecuniary compensation of a clergyman is barely adequate to his humble support. The mechanic, who learns his profession at little cost, is better paid, and has greater opportunity of laying up in store an adequate provision for his family. There is, therefore, no pecuniary inducement to call forth a supply proportioned to the demand. But, in this case, the maxim of political economy must be, in fact, reversed. We must procure a supply, in order to create a demand. It will not do to wait till the parish is organized, the church built, and the clergy- man's salary provided. In the ordinary course of affairs, these things would never be done. The pres- ence, the zeal, and the influence of the clergyman, are required to effect these arrangements. The first evangelists were not instructed to wait till the way should be thus prepared for them, and they called forth to enter on their ministry."
In this connection, he spoke of the necessity of
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training and educating young men "for the altars of our Church by the liberality of her members," and in seminaries friendly to our religious principles. Then, too, there were other auxiliary means, which he would not have overlooked or neglected in seek- ing to promote the general prosperity of the Church.
" Christian parents," said he, " may do much to- wards directing the inclinations of their sons to the ministry of the sanctuary. They can dedicate them to God, in their infancy, and rear them up 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' They can be instant in prayer for the renovation of their hearts, and they can lead their minds and direct their studies to this holy end. Were there more pious Hannahs in the Church, there would be more youthful Samuels consecrated to the service of the temple. The father of Hannibal was able to inspire an undying hatred to the Romans, when he was only nine years old. Can- not the Christian father be equally successful in filling the heart of his son with a prevailing love for the souls of men, and for the service of the altar.
" The ministers of Christ may do much towards filling up the thin and scattered ranks of their order. They can seek, through their Sunday-schools and their parishes, for youth of promising talents, to whom, in the morning of their days, the renewing influences of divine grace have been imparted. They can lay before them the destitutions of the Church, and the spiritual wants of the world; and, if they find any who feel themselves moved of God to labor in his vineyard, they can direct their studies, and facilitate their preparation for the work.
" But, above all, the prayers of the whole Church
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should be put forth for the enlargement of her bor- ders, for the increase of her zeal, and for the multipli- cation of her ministers." 1
In November, 1836, Bishop Brownell consented to undertake a third journey to New Orleans. On the occasion of his visit to that city, two years before, he was instrumental in collecting together the scattered members of the Episcopal Church, and uniting them in an effort to erect a new house of worship. The edifice was now completed and ready for consecration, and, as there was not an Episcopal clergyman in the whole State of Louisiana, he was strongly urged by the vestry of the parish to make another visit, admin- ister confirmation, and consecrate the new church, and officiate in the same so long as it might suit his convenience. He was absent from his Diocese five months, during which time he visited Mobile and con- firmed several persons; and, before his departure for the North, the parish in New Orleans had extended an invitation to the Rev. Dr. Wheaton, President of the College at Hartford, to become its rector, and his acceptance had been received.
Dr. Wheaton left behind him many marks of his zeal and activity, and his exquisite taste was visible in an improvement of the grounds about the College. He was indefatigable in soliciting funds for its benefit, and, when he withdrew from its charge, he had laid the foundation of a system of judicious endowments, which his own private benefactions, subsequently yet unostentatiously bestowed, helped to foster.
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