USA > Delaware > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 14
USA > Pennsylvania > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 14
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dear to this clergyman, for two days his death scene was described by a clerical brother, while tears followed the narration. A clergymnn read the verses beginning :
"Stand up for Jesus ! Strengthened by His hand, Even I, though young, have ventured thus to stand. But soon cut down, as maim'd and faint I lie,
Hear, O my friends ! the charge with which I die : Stand up for Jesus !"
Awhile later than the funeral, Dr. Tyng preached a sermon commemorative of his son.
Dudley A. Tyng was born January 12th, 1825, at a country parsonage in Prince George's County, Mary- land. As a scholar at St. Paul's Sunday-school, in Philadelphia, his father noticed his intense enjoyment in singing Bishop Heber's beautiful hymn, "Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning." The lad was a grandson of Bishop Griswold and the spirit of his grand- father and of his father and his devoted mother shone out in his life. He had a precocious intellect, and at six read Latin authors. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania. His fine character displayed itself in every relation of life. He felt called to a high religious life in boyhood. He became a student in the Theo- logical Seminary of Virginia, near Alexandria, and was cheerful and energetic in mission work there, and that School of the Prophets has long been renowned for its missionary spirit, and many foreign missionaries have gone forth from its halls to heathen lands. In 1846 he was ordained at Alexandria by Bishop Mcade. The young clergyman assisted his father for eight months in New York, and went thence to labor in Columbus, Ohio, and thence to Charlestown, West Virginia, and thence to Cincinnati. His ministry was honored and successful.
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As he rode home from the city on the Sunday pre- ceding his fatal accident, he told his waiting wife of the sweet communion he had held with God in that evening ride, while she spoke of the early death of the devoted Summerfield, whose memoir she had been reading, little thinking that in a few days she should be called to bend over the sick-bed of her own husband and witness his departure. When told by his father that he must die, he replied that he had rather be with Jesus than with his dearest earthly friends. His dying message to the clergy and his congregation was, "Let us all stand up for Jesus.". When dying, he struck up the hymn "Rock of Ages," when those about him hesitated to do so in their sorrow, though they followed such a leader, and it was fitting that a song should close a life which was to be renewed in a land of sacred song. The dying clergyman addressed his wife and children tenderly, and gave them his parting kiss, and begged his father to kiss him, and then bade him a lasting good-night as when a child, tired of play, he had gone to his evening's rest. Later, when the name of father and wife failed to stir his failing powers, that of Jesus brought joy and an acknowledgment of calm trust, as in the like case of Bishop Beveridge, and he declared himself perfectly happy in the words which had been his mother's dying testimony.
Rev. Dr. Kingston Goddard preached a funeral sermon to over seven thousand persons. He dwelt on his perseverance, humility and forgiveness, and earnest- ness in the thought of death in addressing others when in full life himself, for he always loved to hold forth the Cross of Christ. Dr. Goddard expressed the wish, "May his death be the planting of a seed that shall spring up in a glorious harvest."
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Rev. H. N. Strong preached a sermon entitled a "Tribute to the Worthy Dead," at Peoria, Illinois, in St. Paul's Church, of which some of the Tyng family were members. The preacher declared that Dudley Tyng " Had not lived in vain, for his life was a gift to men. At his youthful feet the gray-haired sire listened and learned wisdom ; up to his high moral attainments, his compeers in years looked with earnest desires to emulate his worth ; and the lambs of his flock fed fear- lessly from his hand."
Dudley Tyng was an earnest preacher, as an extract from his sermon on "The True Refuge in the Day of Calamity," which I will quote, indicates : "Shall the exceedingly great and tender love of Christ our Saviour be unavailing to win back our souls from the sins for which He died to deliver us? Shall it be insufficient to attract the sinner from all earthly refuges to His own blood-stained cross ?"
This clergyman was very energetic and earnest in his advocacy of the cause of temperance. He resigned this parish in 1856.
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The Rev. William Otis Prentiss assumed the rector- ship of the Epiphany in 1857. The late Francis Wells, in his "Sketch of Fifty Years" of parish life, states that this clergyman was a friend of Mr. Fowles, and that he was a preacher of remarkable power. His parish esteemed and loved him, and he served his Divine Master to good effect. At the close of a year of peace- ful happiness personal matters of obligation drew him back to South Carolina whence he had come. Hc . , wrote a beautiful letter to the vestry concerning his pleasant intercouse with them and the congregation. He now resides in Charleston, and is rector of Trinity Church, Edisto Island, St. James's Church, Santee, and
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Christ Church, Wiltown. He has kindly furnished information for my sketch of Mr. Fowles, one of his revered predecessors in this parish.
The Rev. John W. Cracraft was elected to the rector- ship in December, 1858, and took up his work in January, 1859. He was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1822, being of English and Scotch descent. He studied in Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, and the Theological Seminary at Gambier, Ohio, graduating at Gambier in 1846.
Mr. Cracraft was ordained a deacon by Bishop McIlvaine, and entered on his labors at Mansfield, Ohio, organizing the parish, and building a fine brick church. In 1847 Bishop McIlvaine ordained him to the priest- hood. He was in Peoria, Illinois, where he built and afterward enlarged a church, closing a successful rector- ship to organize the Church of the Ascension, Chicago. I recollect hearing him preach in Chicago, and consid- ering him earnest and impressive. He was afterward chaplain of Kenyon College, and rector of. Harcourt parish, at Gambier. Many of the collegians were drawn to the Lord's service during his ministry, and several became clergyman, among whom was the Rev. Charles McIlvaine, the son the Bishop.
In 1862 Mr. Cracraft resigned the Church of the Epiphany, and returned to Ohio. He has since been at Galesburg, Illinois, and Elyria, Ohio, and is now rector at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where the Lord has blessed his labors. He has written two volumes, and several pamphlets of a religious character.
In 1862 the Rev. Dr. Richard Newton became rector of the Epiphany. He has but lately gone from us, his character was made up of cheerfulness, faith and carn- estness. His quick step and bright eye and lively
REV. DR. RICHARD NEWTON.
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manner betokened perpetual youth in old age, and he quaffed freely of "the river of life" which sustains life in apparent decay. He worked bravely to the end of life in useful writing and ministerial labor. He was plain and simple, but ardent, and saw Christ in every- thing as his facile pen delincated his thoughts for thous- ands to read. His beautiful sermon on " The Romance of Revelation " shows how he exultingly saw the poor . sinner raised from the dust to sit with princes by the grace of Christ.
The Rev. W. W. Newton has prepared a touching and simple Memoir of his father, which is prefixed to the book of the Doctor's sermons entitled, "The Heath in the Wilderness," that being the subject of the first sermon. This affords us means of giving details of the life of this rector, who for eighteen years ministered in this church. With good lay help the new rector paid a heavy debt which was a weight upon the parish.
Dr. Newton was a trustee of the University of Penn - sylvania, where he had graduated, and edited the peri- odicals of the Sunday-school Union, and wrote books for children, while the American Bible Society and the Philadelphia Divinity School, and the Episcopal Hos- pital were cared for by him. He also journeyed and labored for the Evangelical Knowledge, American Church Missionary and Evangelical Education Societies. Bishops A. Lee, Johns and Eastburn, and Drs. Vinton and Stone were special friends of his.
In 1870, Dr. Newton and Rev. Dr. Charles D. Cooper traveled in Europe and the Holy Land, and even in travel the indefatigable author kept his pen busy in the early morning. He loved to acquire and impart inform- ation, and it became the habit of his life. His Life of Christ for the Young was issued in numbers. Eighteen
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different languages spread abroad his books for children and in Paris, or Madrid, or Rome, or Siam, or Hindoo- stan, or China, or Japan, or Sweden, or Holland, you might behold children following the teaching of your rector, while the Dacota Indian, or the Zulu or Grebo, in Africa, read in his own tongue these Christian instruct- ions given with'life and power. His novelty and variety in addresses to children were remarkable, and his earnest manner fastened the thoughts. Spurgeon called him the " Prince of children's preachers." One has classed Dr. Newton's sermons for children with Bunyan's Pil- grim's Progress, in their power to interest the little folks. The wealth of illustration of this writer was the result of much study and carc.
Dr. Newton was hospitable, and also very charitable to the needy. In summer vacations he loved to secure the company of his friend, Rev. John Wilson, who was a fellow-pupil at the Manual Labor Training School, in Brandywine Hundred, Delaware, under the care of Rev. Dr. John B. Clemson.
In 1881 Dr. Newton resigned the rectorship of this church, as the mental strain of work had proved too great for endurance in his writing and his parochial labors. He was made Rector Emeritus, but in IS82 resigned that position to take up his final rectorship at the Church of the Covenant. As he had held the parish once occupied by Dr. Tyng so now he assumed one which Dudley A. Tyng, another Epiphany rector, had once had in charge. Here for five years he did a good work, toiling to the end of life.
The son of Dr. Newton well makes the morning and evening prayer and communion with God elements in his success in Christian work. To his trust in God, as he journeyed on to appear before Him in Zion, must
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be added that faithful system of work which could allow no waste of precious time.
The beloved wife of the Doctor died at their Chestnut Hill home, in 1887, and he soon followed her to the land where there are no separations. He preached a sermon in memorial of the wife, on "Equality with Angels, the Christian's Portion for the Future," and one more ser- mon at his celebrated children's service, and then those eloquent lips ceased to utter the truths of God in public with the exception of some burning words in favor of the Unity of Christendom, before the Church Unity Society, at St. Stephen's Church. One month from the day of his wife's funeral his soul left the body to be "with the Lord." In his last sufferings in his study, his prayer and communion with God grew stronger as the flesh grew weaker. Old parishioners conversed lovingly with the dying man concerning the years that were past. The good pastor's last act was to pray carn- estly for the present and absent members of his family by name, and then he slept on earth, to awake in glory. After death he lay among his precious books in his library, but he had now learned to read in a language which needs no such toilsome aids to thought, and the cquailty with angels of which he had just preached was his in prospect. The funeral passed from Chestnut Hill to the Church of the Covenant, on the 28th of May, A.D., 1887, and the burial was at Laurel Hill. The familiar black cap was on his head, as he lay in his coffin, while he was arrayed in his susplice, and a copy of his book, "The Rills from the Fountain of Life," was in his hand. At the funeral, the Rev. Dr. Benja- min Watson read a poem on a visit to the tomb of Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, written by his son, showing the power of the remembrance of a noble life.
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In family and church relations, Dr. Newton was ever faithful, and when his pure life closed many were ready to declare that his work had been well done, but the Master's commendation was better than the praise of men.
Dr. Newton had chosen his last resting place at Laurel Hill, on the bank of the beautiful Schuylkill, and there he rests by the side of his wife, waiting the time when Christ shall cail his people home. A granite block, with its blessed cross, marks the graves of these servants of God, who are pronounced blessed by the Spirit as among those happy ones who have died "in the Lord." Would that we all might know the power of such words, and that they might befit our epitaph.
Your present rector, Rev. George Herbert Kinsolv- ing, is the seventh rector of the parish. He came here in A.D., 1881, having then resigned the rectorship of St. John's Church, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His Christian name recalls one of the purest clergyman who ever adorned the annals of the church of England, while the father of your rector is a clergyman in Virginia, and one brother is rector of Christ Church, Brooklyn, while another is a missionary in Brazil. Your rector was educated in the University of Virginia, and at the The- ological Seminary at Alexandria, in the same State. He has continued the good work of your former rectors, and the pastoral reports show the varied labors of laymen and laywomen to aid him in advancing the interests of the parish. Give him an abundance of kindly words and helpful deeds, for the clergyman needs such assist- ance in his struggles against sin and Satan. Other parishes appreciate his carnest and faithful preaching, as the many invitations to preach among them indicate. May he be still more successful in building up the kingdom of Christ in your midst.
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We have been commemorating the clergy in this discourse, for they were shining lights, but the laity are also commanded to let their light shine. It is an indi- vidual duty to let your light shine in your house, and thus to glorify your Father in heaven. The angel said unto Daniel the prophet, "They that be wise shall shine as the brightne'ss of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever ;" and so this divine and heavenly light will shine more brightly in the perfect day.
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CHAPTER XVII.
BISHOPS OF DELAWARE.
RT. REV. ALFRED LEE, S.T.D., LL.D.
T HE sketches of St. Andrew's Church, Wilming- ton, and Grace Church, Brandywine Hundred, in this volume show that Bishop White and Bishop H. U. Onderdonk performed Episcopal duty in Delaware before it had its own bishop.
An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, of April Ist, 1887, states that Bishop Lee was born in Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 9th, 1807, in the mansion which is the subject of Longfellow's poem, "The Old House by the Lindens." He graduated at Harvard University, and practiced law in New London, and afterward studied theology in the General Theological Seminary in New York, and was ordained deacon by Bishop Brownell, in Trinity Church, Norwalk, Conn., and priest by the same bishop in Christ Church, Hartford, Conn. He became rector of Calvary Church, Rockdale, Pa., in 1838, and was called from this parish bordering on Delaware, to the Episcopate of Delaware in IS41, by an election held at Georgetown, Bishop Onderdonk being present. He was consecrated in St. Paul's Chapel, New York, by Bishop Griswold, (who was then the presiding bishop), R. C. Moore, Chase, Brownell, H. U. Onderdonk, Meade and McIlvaine. Bishop Lee was the youngest of the twenty-one bishops of the House of Bishops. In 1884, when Bishop Smith died, he became the Senior Bishop in date of consecration.
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BISHOP LEE.
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He put forth volumes on the Lives of St. Peter and St. John, and a Memoir of Miss Susan Allibone, and a book entitled " Voice in the Wilderness," and another called " Eventful Nights of Bible History."
Bishop Lee attended the Lambeth Conference in England in 1878, where he received much attention. He died in Wilmington, April 12th, 1887, in his Soth year, and the 45th of his Episcopate. The Churchman, (of April 23d), traces his ancestry to England, his grand- mother being Mary Pitt of the family of the two noted statesmen. His father was an English midshipman associated with Nelson and Collingwood. Bishop Lee married Julia White, daughter of Elihu White, of Hart- ford, Conn. The degree of S.T. D. was given him by Trinity College, Hartford, and Hobart College, Geneva, while Harvard University granted him the title of D.D., and Delaware College that of LL.D. In 1863 the Bishop visited Hayti to perform Episcopal duty, and in 1874 assisted in consecrating Dr. Holly as Bishop of Hayti. In 1875 he visited Mexico for ordination and , confirmation, and took a deep interest in that mission work. Bishop Lee was a fine scholar and a devoted Christian and a patient worker in Christ's vineyard. His dying hour was solaced by the Psalm declaring that the Lord was his Shepherd, and the soul commended to God went to " dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
Bishops Williams, H. C. Potter, Whitaker, M. A. DeW. Howe, Scarborough, Peterkin, William Boone, Paret and Walker, and a host of clergy and laity attended the funeral of the good Bishop at St. Andrew's Church on the ISth of April.
Bishop Howe's touching address is given in substance in The Church, of April 30th, in which he painted the young Bishop at his consecration when Dr. Wainwright,
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afterward Bishop of New York, holding the Ordinal for Bishop Griswold, the consecrator to read. He described also his faithful life. In the same paper Rev. B. J. Douglass well notes the Bishop's scholarship, gentle- manly and fatherly bearing, love of nature and Christian purity.
RT. REV. LEIGHTON COLEMAN, S.T.D., LL.D. 4
Bishop Coleman was born in Philadelphia, May 3rd, 1837, his father being the Rev. John Coleman, D.D., for many years rector of Trinity Church, in the same city, and editor of the Banner of the Cross.
Educated at the Episcopal Academy and at the Gen- eral Theological Seminary, New York, from which latter institution he graduated in June, 1861.
On July Ist, 1860, he was ordered deacon by Bishop Alonzo Potter, in St. James's Church, Philadelphia, and during his senior year at the seminary was missionary to the public institutions of New York on Blackwell's and Randall's Islands. He became the first rector of St. Luke's Church, Bustleton, Phila., in which church he was advanced to the priesthood by Bishop Alonzo Potter on May 15th, 1862. From Advent Sunday 1863 to 1866 he was rector of St. John's Church, Wilmington, Delaware. . From Advent Sunday 1866 to 1874 he was rector of St. Mark's Church, Mauch Chunk, Pa. He then removed to Toledo, Ohio, where he was rector of Trinity Church until 1879, when, on account of his wife's health he went abroad, and remained there until 1887. While in Europe, he was constantly engaged in ministerial work, and was for several years the Organ- izing Secretary for the Diocese of Oxford of the Church of England Temperance Society. In IS87, he became rector of the Church of the Redeemer, Sayre, Pa.,
ESANT CORE DIFENIL
BISHOP COLEMAN. (By permission of' James Pott, publisher.)
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" BISHOPSTEAD."
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remaining there until he was consecrated on St. Luke's Day, 1888, Bishop of Delaware. In 1875, he was chosen first Bishop of Fond du Lac but declined the election. Received the honorary degree of A.M. from Trinity College in 1865, of S.T.D. from Racine College in 1875, and of LL.D. from Hobart College in 1887. In July 1861 he was married to Frances E., oldest child of Alexis I. du Pont, of Delaware.
Bishop Coleman resides at Bishopstead, which was the abode of Bishop Lec. It lies on the Brandywine Creek in a beautiful situation. The Chapel of the Good Shepherd has been added by the munificence of a lay- man. It was consecrated on Easter Tuesday, 1890, (April 8th), Bishop Paret, of Maryland, preaching the sermon from Exodus, 28: 28-29. "Every Evening" gave an interesting account of the service, and how the Bishop showed that Israel's worship pointed to the Christian Church, and the work of Christ.
The chapel is lined with glazed brick, and has gothic windows. The slate roof is surmounted by a spire with a bell. The oak furniture, and English Cathedral glass, and Bishop's seat and altar, and the credence-table in memory of Bauduy Simmons, and the paneling of the altar painted by Dr. Alexander C. Stuart, representing saints and Christ, the "King of saints" add to the beauty of this architectural gem. The altar commemorates Bishop Seabury and Bishops White and H. U. Onder- donk, while a brass tablet honors Bishop Lee. The altar-cross keeps up the memory of Bishop Coleman's parents, and the bronze candle-sticks Mrs. Coleman's parents, and the vases Miss Mary J. Bradford. The Standard of the Cross notes these facts.
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CHAPTER XVIII.
EARLY CLERGY OF DELAWARE."
T HE Historical Collections of Bishop Perry relat- ing to the American Colonial Church contain one volume on Delaware. The Rev. Dr. Francis L. Hawks, the Historiographer of the American Church, was sent to England to secure copies and originals of records which have been "carefully followed" as is stated in Bishop Perry's work, which may be seen in the Library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The references in this book add much to its value, and show the pains which the distinguished writer has taken in his task. I shall select and condense this narrative ' as to the carliest days of the church in this diocese, and . the Bishop says the early writings "give minutely a vivid description of the growth both of the outward fabric and the Spiritual Temple of the Church in Dela- ware." The reports of the Missionaries of the Vener- able Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts are the basis of the volume, and we can never be too grateful to England for her fostering care of her distant sons, and we ought to return the favor by sending out missionaries to places yet destitute of the blessed Gospel.
*A lecture delivered before the Church Club of Delaware composed of laymen, under the Presidency of E. Tatnall Warner, Frank G. du Pont being Secretary.
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In A.D., 1706, Rev. Thomas Crawford reports from Dover Hundred, in Kent County, that he is gathering Quakers into the church, baptizing whole families of them. His church was full on Sundays.
He visited Sussex County, and "preached several times where," he writes, "I find a people mighty civil, and a great many well inclined to the Church," and the gentlemen, at his request, asked the Bishop of London, who was in charge of this country, "for a minister."
Mr. Crawford wrote Rev. Mr. Stubbs that he preached at " Captain Hil's house, then at Lewistown, and on a third time in another place." The people were about to build a church. "Fifty or sixty miles riding" were then needed to reach the point from the clergyman's home. The residents of Lower Delaware knew what long drives meant for generations before the railways came, and good Bishop Lee used to drive his two ponies around on his early visitations. He resided at first in Georgetown.
Mr. Crawford said that he lived " in the country where no ships come, and under a hundred miles scarce can have a letter delivered or put on board of any vessel." Compare the daily papers now running every morning into the country districts. This earnest missionary held services in three places regularly on Sundays. He sometimes taught the Negroes at the church porch. In the old country let us remember that the church porch was a place where early schools were held, and true education should lead into the Church of God.
In 1708 Rev. Thomas Jenkins writes from New Castle, Pa. In Penn's day Delaware was a part of Pennsylvania, though any one who reads the early history of the province can see that there was much friction in the endeavor to make "The three lower
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counties," as Delaware was styled, work with the three upper counties of Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester, which then constituted Pennsylvania. Mr. Jenkins was eleven weeks in sailing from Portsmouth, England, to Virginia, where a boat was hired to go to Bohemia Landing, in Maryland. Colonel Evans, the Governor of Pennsylvania, was at Bohemia when the missionary arrived. New Castle is described by this English clergyman as "formerly a place of great trade," still owning some vessels, and mostly inhabited by merchants. There were hundreds of church people in town and country. Mr. Jenkins died the next year.
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