USA > Connecticut > The history of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, Vol. II > Part 31
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"The cases, so far as I have been able to ascertain, where, with the ability to do, nothing was done, were altogether exceptional, and exceedingly few. The subject is one which we trust will not be lost sight of. It involves not more a Christian duty than it does the well-being of our parishes and our Diocese. A pro- vision, which was sufficient a few years since, is very far from being so to-day. I rejoice, however, in the belief, that this whole subject of clerical support may be safely left to the generosity and justice of the laity."
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Hitherto there had been no incorporation in the Diocese to receive and manage such donations and bequests as devoted friends of the Church might design for its benefit. Charities are sometimes per- verted or misused when those who bestowed them are out of the way, and this operates as a discourage- ment to benevolence. For Christians with liberal dis- positions may well hesitate to provide endowments for specific church purposes, where there is no security from the influence of individual or parochial selfish- ness. The subject was brought before the Diocesan Convention in 1863, and the preliminary steps taken to apply to the General Assembly for an act incor- porating a Board of "Trustees of Donations and Bequests for Church Purposes." The charter granted, enabled them to receive, hold, and manage all funds entrusted to them "for the support of the institutions, parishes, and missionary work of the Protestant Epis- copal Church in the Diocese of Connecticut, and for the promotion of any of its general interests accord- ing to the doctrines, discipline, rites, and usages of said Church." The net income of productive property was to be disbursed by them upon the conditions of the respective trusts as stated in the original gifts, bequests, or transfers. Thus benevolent churchmen, who apprehend the alienation of charities, may have through the incorporation of this Board a feeling of security that the donations which they would make for a specific purpose, will be sacredly applied accord- ing to their intention and desire.
The prosperity of the Diocese was visible in spirit- ual as well as temporal things. It is true of some men that they are often liberal in contributing to the
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erection of churches,' while they appear to forget the real object of public worship, and the claims of God upon us to "walk before Him in holiness and right- eousness all our days." But of the nine hundred and twenty-two persons confirmed during the preceding year, Bishop Williams said in his address to the Con- vention of 1864: "A very gratifying feature of the confirmations has been the large number of males who have come forward to receive that Apostolic rite. In several instances, they have composed the entire class ; and in most cases, their numbers have increased from those of previous years."
The preface to the order of Confirmation provides that those who are to receive it shall have been duly instructed in the principles of the Christian religion as taught by the Church, and the custom is not com- mon in Connecticut to present any for the rite whose age disqualifies them for a proper understanding of its nature and solemnity. Most rectors now prepare their candidates with special reference to the Holy Communion, and it is worthy of note that a great change in this respect has taken place during the lapse of half a century. In the same address above alluded to, Bishop Williams, glancing back over a period of ten years, mentioned that seven thousand six hundred and sixty-eight persons had been con- firmed in that time, and seven thousand two hundred and fifty-two persons admitted as new communicants. The figures for the last four of these years, as well as
1 " Though stone and brick and wood, are not salvation, they may become subsidiary to it in various ways. They not only furnish the oppor- tunity to recommend and urge it, but by a suitable employment and dis- position, they do themselves instruct and educate and refine." - Rev. Dr. Hallam's Anniversary Sermon, 1860, p. 11.
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for the year then closing, showed a more favorable comparison. " And this, my brethren," the Bishop went on to say, "it seems to me, is as it should be. For while it cannot be laid down, as an unalterable rule, that no one shall be received to confirmation, unless on the condition of immediately coming to the Lord's Table, yet, surely, all who are presented for that holy rite should be affectionately admonished that they ought to come, with the honest purpose of ' going on ' from ' baptism, and the laying on of hands,' to those 'holy mysteries,' by which we are 'assured of God's favor and goodness towards us, and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of His Son.'"
Hence, though not a season of tranquillity in na- tional affairs, it was a season of growth for the Church in Connecticut, and good impressions, through the sanctifying agency of the Holy Spirit, were produced upon the souls and characters, the life and conversa- tion, of her members. The list of the clergy, number- ing upwards of one hundred and forty, was chiefly composed of those in youth and middle age, and there were no rectorships in the Diocese at that time which began at so early a date as the consecration of Bishop Brownell. Death, and the changes incident to the fluctuations of human society, had often sundered the pastoral ties, so that seven only among the clergy could be found who had been connected with their parishes for a period of twenty-five years.1
1 The Rev. Dr. Bennett, Rector of Christ Church, Guilford, in his twenty-fifth anniversary sermon, preached July, 1865, says, p. 13: -
" At the present day, when the pastoral tie is so frail and so frequently severed, the rectorship of a quarter of a century's continuance is eminently noticeable. Of above one hundred and forty clergymen in this Diocese, only five besides your Rector have remained for that period in the same
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Prolonged rectorships generally leave behind them lasting fruits and blessed memories. They serve to increase the sacredness attached to the pastoral office. Members of a parish who were born and educated under the ministrations of the same clergyman come to regard him as their spiritual father, and to confide in his instructions even when they cease to be attrac- tive to other minds. But it is a privilege which very few are permitted to enjoy, to consecrate faithful labor through youth and through age, to the spiritual benefit of one people. John Beach, of Newtown, was the only Episcopal clergyman in Connecticut before the Independence of the Colonies was acknowledged, whose ministrations in the same cure were continued without interruption for half a century. Since the Revolution to this day, only three rectors in the Dio- cese - Dibblee, of Stamford, Mansfield, of Derby, and Tyler, of Norwich - have had a like experience, and these all, with Beach, were missionaries of the vener- able Society, and went beyond the limit of his ministry in the Episcopal Church. Hubbard, of New Haven, nearly reached it; and Croswell his successor, Fogg, of Brooklyn, and Shelton, of Bridgeport, were each forty years or more in unbroken charge of the same parish.
What is true of a protracted rectorship, is much more true of a protracted Episcopate. Though Bishop
field of labor : the Rev. Dr. Hallam, of St. James's Church, New London; the Rev. Dr. Mead, of St. Paul's Church, Norwalk ; the Rev. Dr. Clark, of St. John's Church, Waterbury ; the Rev. Dr. Emnery, of Trinity Church, Portland ; and the Rev. Dr. Camp, of Trinity Church, Brooklyn."
To this list should have been added the name of the Rev. B. M. Yarring- ton, Rector of Christ Church, Greenwich. His charge of that parish com- menced in April, 1839.
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Brownell had long been languishing under the infirmi- ties of age, and unable to discharge the full duties of his office, yet he still lived fresh in the affections of his clergy, and of all who knew him, and was revered and esteemed for his good example, his simple virtues, and unostentatious piety, not less than for his official character, his uniform prudence, and accurate knowl- edge of human nature. The lustre which Christian learning throws over talents and over station, beauti- fied the evening of his days, and the dignity and grace of his manners, which had always commanded respect and excited affection in the circles of rank and afflu- ence, lingered to the last. Among the lowly and the poor also he was deeply beloved for his generous kind- ness and ready sympathy.
But the worn thread is easily broken. Just before Christmas he became seriously ill and died, after much physical suffering, on the morning of the 13th of Jan- uary, 1865, surrounded by his family, and his assist- ant and successor, for whom as for others " he spoke words of farewell and of blessing never to be forgot- ten." Not only was the Diocese, by this event, be- reaved of its venerable head, but the Church through- out our land was deprived of its senior and presiding Bishop. It was a bitter cold day, on the 17th of the month, when he was carried forth to his burial. Thou- sands of persons thronged Christ Church to see the remains, which, clothed in the episcopal habit, had been " placed on a catafalque in front of the chancel."
When the hour appointed for the public service arrived, the Bishop of New York, and all the bishops of the New England Dioceses, except the Bishop of New Hampshire, together with the clergy of Connec-
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ticut and representatives from its parishes, and clergy- men from other States were present, and participated in the solemn and imposing ceremonies. Dr. Burgess, the Bishop of Maine, delivered the address - a fin- ished and graceful portraiture of the deceased prelate. No one could speak with a better understanding of his private and official character, for he had learned to love and esteem him when he was fulfilling under his immediate supervision the duties of a rector in Hartford.
At the close of the services in the church a proces- sion was formed, and moved towards the cemetery on the northern edge of the city. The body was borne upon a bier, and all who followed it, except the imme- diate family and friends, were on foot, the bishops in their official robes, and the clergy in their black gowns. " As the long procession passed on to the cemetery, the snow fell thickly on the pall, changing its blackness to the purest white." Thus were buried the mortal remains of the third Bishop of Connecticut.
He was the fifteenth in the line of succession con- secrated in these United States, and of all our prelates, with the exception of the patriarchal and saintly White, whose episcopate reached into the fiftieth year, he held the staff of his office the longest, and there was not a bishop in the Church of England at the time of his decease, whose consecration, like his, dated back to 1819. "The image of a pure and a long episcopate, left on the most sacred recollections in so many parish churches, in so many Christian families, in so many chambers of prayer, and in so many secret hearts, is something which an angel might almost emulate. What care or toil, what sacri-
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fice or burden, would it not recompense ?" But how great are the changes produced by death in the silent lapse of forty-five years. Three only of the clergy who welcomed him to the Diocese survived, and of the more than fifteen thousand persons upon whom he had laid his hands in the apostolic rite of con- firmation, a vast number had preceded him to the world of spirits, as had also full one third of those to whom he had given authority to execute the office of deacons and priests in the Church of God.
If it is the sad feeling of such a lengthened age to find itself alone among new generations, it is yet a privilege that it has witnessed the progress of human events, and the advance of the Church from weakness to strength and great prosperity. At the time when Bishop Brownell was invested with the oversight of the Diocese, there were but seven parishes in it capable of supporting full services; the rest were united in cures, and imperfectly sustained. Forty clergymen, scattered along the shore towns, and back in the interior of the State, led their thin flocks, and minis- tered to them in the rude wooden edifices, erected for the most part before the storms of the Revolution.
But what a change in these respects did he live to witness, the whole of which was accomplished under the blessing of his own Episcopate! Like a vine run- ning over and mantling the wall, the Church had covered the land where she was once so weak and de- pendent, once most bitterly and persistently opposed. The pages of this work have traced the successive steps of her growth, and the events which contributed to the establishment of her principles. From the summary of parochial reports in the Journal of the
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Convention for 1865, it appears that the parishes of the Diocese then numbered one hundred and twenty- nine, the clergy one hundred and fifty, and the commu- nicants twelve thousand five hundred. The amount of missionary and charitable contributions, for the same year, not including ordinary expenses and canonical assessments, was upwards of two hundred thousand dollars.
It would be wrong to say that this growth, in the order of Divine Providence, was due to Bishop Brow- nell. It was what he lived to see, and it was attained under his wise and paternal administration. Zealous laymen who confided in the wisdom of their spiritual overseers, a body of faithful and earnest clergy, and an energetic, self-sacrificing, and scholarly Assistant Bishop were the largest contributors, humanly speak- ing, to the later and more abundant prosperity of the Diocese. The senior prelate exercised a silent influ- ence, and did his work without knowing that the work had been done.
" He was endued with those natural attributes, physical and mental, which form the completeness of manhood, and come only from Him who made us, not from ourselves. The endurance and vitality of his frame he shared with a very numerous family of brothers and sisters, not one of whom died till an advanced period of maturity. In him it resisted, through fourscore and five years, the encroachments of decay, bending, at all times, rather than breaking, under every assault of disease. A manly stature, an attractive person, a noble aspect and voice, were easily united with a dignified bearing, a kindly manner, and a graceful elocution. The mind, corresponding with
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the outward frame, uttered itself in calm and lucid thought, in harmonious sentences, and in perspicuous arguments. These qualities were due to the direct gift of the Creator, in his very nature, or to the bless- ing which attended such a nature under the usual process of educational culture.
" His equability, his sagacity, the impartiality of his determinations, the largeness of his views, the avoid- ance of needless collisions, the decision of his conduct, when decision became needful, had their result in this strong and united and confiding Diocese. He sought no constrained uniformity. He entertained no fanciful ideal. He leaned towards no extreme ten- dency, He was steadfast, because his mind was clear. He brushed away all that was not essential to any question or purpose, or smiled, and suffered it to pass by. He recognized the rights of all. No one had cause to suppose himself wronged with him by any prejudice ; and when 'swift to hear, slow to speak, and very slow to wrath,' he spoke at length, the Church listened and was satisfied." 1
This extract gives a just though brief outline of his " qualities" and character. What it lacks may be well supplied by applying to him in his connection with the Church and its institutions in the Diocese of Connecticut, that passage of the Psalmist, which Bishop Williams, in his commemorative sermon, 2 said he never could read without the involuntary applica- tion : "So he fed them with a faithful and true heart, and ruled them prudently with all his power."
1 Address of Bishop Burgess, pp. 8, 9. 2 Page 14.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX A.
THE following letter was addressed to the Rev. Ashbel Baldwin, Stratford, Ct. : -
" CROOM, 12th January, 1807.
" REV. AND DEAR SIR, - I had the honor to receive a letter from the Reverend Convocation of the Diocese of Connecticut, together with a resolve of that body, requesting you as their Secretary, to forward a similar one to all the bishops who sat in the last General Convention of our Church. This letter I received about three months ago, and for reasons which will appear below, I have hitherto declined answering it. In their letter the Convocation inform me of the step the Convocation of the Church of Connecti- cut had in the year 1804 thought themselves authorized to take in Mr. Rogers's unhappy affair, in consequence of its being referred to them by the House of Bishops, of their reasons for taking that step, and the consequent misunderstanding that had arisen between them and two of the House of Bishops on the subject, by which a great danger of a schism in the flourishing Church of Connecticut had arisen. They go on to profess the purity of their intentions in that transaction, and in the true spirit of the Gospel, their hearty desire to do everything in their power for the peace and prosperity of the Church, and conclude their letter by requesting that I, in conjunction with the other bishops, concerned in that business, would as soon as convenient transmit a statement of our view of the whole subject, together with our advice to Connecticut, how it would be prudent in the present state of things to proceed, and particularly, whether it would be advisable to give Mr. Rogers a new trial on the ground of nullity in the Act of Degradation.
" For reasons which will presently appear, however desirous I may be, it is impossible that I should at present, with my stock of infor- mation on the subject, comply with this request. However, I think it my duty to state to you the view I myself had of the cause, and the part I took in it. You will recollect, my dear sir, the very ill state of health I was in during the whole session of that Conven-
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tion. Notwithstanding which, as I conceived Mr. Rogers's appeal to be amongst the most important affairs which the House of Bishops had to transact, I attended closely to it, and endeavored to view it in all its bearings. On the last day of the session of Convention, just before its adjournment, the deputies from the Church of Connecticut, and Mr. Rogers, were desired to retire out of the House of Bishops, when, according to the best of mny recol- lection, every bishop present, except Bishop Jarvis (who I pre- sume, thought himself too much implicated to give any opinion), expressed a decided conviction of his guilt, and I then thought nothing remained to be done but to award the sentence denounced by our Canon law against such criminals. But in this particular I was mistaken ; for I was invited to dine in the evening of that day in which Convention adjourned, together with the rest of my Rt. Rev. Brethren, with the Rt. Rev. Bishop Moore, and told that Mr. Rogers's business would be then and there finished. In the course of the morning, I was informed by some clergyman (I have forgotten whom), that it was the wish of some of the bishops to have the cause referred back to some of the State Conventions. This gave me some uneasiness, for my illness having increased, I had determined to return by the first opportunity, and before the meeting at Dr. Moore's. Thus circumstanced, I sent for my Rt. Rev. Brother Dr. Parker, to my friend Dr. Beach's, where I lodged, took him into a private room, and informed him of my situation, and of my intention to leave town immediately, and also of what I had heard concerning the wish of some of the bishops, respecting Rogers's cause. I told him that I was pointedly against the adop- tion of such a measure for the following reasons. Because, as I understood the matter, Mr. Rogers did not hold himself amenable to the Church, either of Connecticut or New York, and had on that ground appealed from the prosecution commenced against him by the Church of Connecticut, to our House, so that the cause appeared to me to come very properly before us, and that it did appear to me also after what had passed in our House in it, that we could not possibly refer it to any earthly tribunal whatever, without derogat- ing from that authority given by the great Head of His Church to His Apostles collectively, and through them to their successors in office to the end of the world, when He delivered to St. Peter the keys of the Church, which authority I conceive was by his appoint- ment paramount to that of any single Bishop or Church in our
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Union, and therefore, in cases of this sort, especially, not transfer- able by them to any earthly tribunal. I added, that if it should appear that a majority of the House of Bishops was determined to refer this cause to some State Convention, I hoped they would not refer it to the Church of Connecticut, as I was persuaded that such a measure would have a direct tendency to make the confusion already occasioned by it in that flourishing Church still more con- fused, and endanger a schism.
" In these sentiments Bishop Parker appeared at the time to coin- cide with me, and I concluded the conversation by requesting him to set my name to the act, if the bishops should determine to do the only thing in my opinion remaining to be done, namely, to award the sentence against Mr. Rogers, required by our Canon law ; but if a reference to any Convention, or any other half-way measure was adopted, not to put my name to the deed, as I was exanimo against them all. The good Bishop promised to conform to the premises, and I have not had any information since on the subject, excepting what has been afforded me by the journals of the last General Convention, and the letter of your Convocation. I did think it possible, that in consequence of the resolution of your Convocation lately sent me, some of my Right Reverend friends might have stated to me by letter their motives for referring this cause, as also their intentions with respect to the powers to be vested in your Convention by the act of Reference, and this cir- cumstance delayed my answer to the Convocation.
" All expectations of information on the subject sufficient to ena- ble me, conjointly with the other bishops concerned, to give any further statement of that unhappy business, being now at an end, I have thought it my duty, by way of apology to your Convoca- tion, to make this candid communication of the subject to you, and through you to them.
" The conversation with Bishop Parker above cited, contains the substance of my sentiments on the subject at the time, and with great deference to the opinion of the three learned prelates, who finally determined the matter in the House of Bishops, I have seen nothing as yet to induce me to alter them. There is a wide dif- ference to be sure between us ; but this difference may be accounted for by supposing, what their determination, as they call it, would lead us to suppose, that a Canon of the General Convention was necessary to clothe them with authority in this case, which I did
VOL. II. 29
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and do suppose Christ himself gave them independently of any lay or clerical authority whatever.
"As for advice, my dear sir, insulated as I am from all intercourse with my Rt. Rev. Brethren, placed in a corner of the country where I can seldom, except at church meetings and visitations, see my own presbyters, and at the same time, in an ill state of health, I should consider it a high degree of presumption to offer it indi- vidually to the good Bishop of your Church, aided as he is by his truly pious and learned presbyters. However, my solicitude for the preservation of the ancient principles of the Church, impels me to hint a wish that your Bishop and learned presbyters would make a solemn pause, and well weigh the consequences to the Church of Christ before they suffer themselves to be induced to pronounce their own degradation a nullity, for I think it may well be questioned, whether they or any other power upon earth, in cases of this sort, are competent to such an act. Mr. Rogers, indeed, upon his true repentance, might be loosed from those sins which occasioned his degradation, but nothing but reordination can, in my judgment, restore him to his former standing in the Christian ministry. In this sentiment, I think I am supported, not only by the nature of the commission given to the Church by Christ, to bind and loose, but also by the practice of the Primitive Church. Sure I am, that such a step, was it to be taken by your Convention at this time, and in this country, when and where the minds of men on the subject of Church discipline are so very unsettled, and tremblingly alive to what they call Liberty, would militate strongly against all ecclesiastical authority whatever, so necessary to the well-being of the Church of Christ upon earth.
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