USA > Delaware > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 8
USA > Pennsylvania > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 8
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Philadelphia, March 24th, old style, 1747, or April 4th, 1748, new style. His " Reminiscences" to his special friend, Bishop Hobart, give an account of his early life. At seven he was in the preparatory school of the Col- lege of Philadelphia, under Ebenezer Kinnersly, and at ten in the grammar school taught by Paul Jackson, and at fourteen in college, graduating in 1765. His good mother instructed him religiously, and he was affected by the preaching of Whitefield. From childhood he was religious. In 1770 he went to England for ordination, finding at times a pleasant home with his father's sisters, who resided there, and seeing something of the English Church and of Oxford.
This pious lad, who had been baptized in Christ Church, the first English church built in Philadelphia, and had, like St. Timothy, as a boy praised God and prayed unto Him in those sacred walls, was ordained deacon by Bishop Young, of Norwich, and priest by Bishop Terrick, of London ; and was seven years assistant minister of the united churches, and fifty- seven years longer their rector. He and the Rev. Thomas Coombe became assistants to Rev. Dr. Peters. In the Revolution, Bishop White was chaplain to Con- gress, and held the post until its removal to Washing- ton. In 1779 he became rector, which position he occu- pied at his death. He was the first person who received a Doctorate in Divinity from the University of Pennsyl- vania, in 1782. He was consecrated Bishop in 1787 by Archbishops Moore and Markham, and Bishops Moss and Hinchcliffe. Drs. Provoost and White reached England in eighteen days, which is said to have been the shortest passage made up to that time. The last sermon of Bishop White was preached in St. Peter's Church, on the last Sunday in June, 1836. He died on
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the 17th of July following, on Sunday morning, when the churches had just been praying for their beloved ruler. He was in his 89th year. His dying faith in Christ was firm, and he asked that hymns should be sung in his sick room. He was buried in the family vault at Christ Church. His assistant, Rev. John W. James, read the Burial Service. The Bishop died in his house, on Walnut Street, above Third Street (No. 89, now demolished), where he had lived over fifty years. At the funeral the city stood still; the stores were generally closed where the procession passed. The public authorities and the clergy in general combined to honor the memory of the departed prelate, while silent thousands thronged the streets. Bishop Alonzo Potter compared the streets to " one hall of mourning." .Bishop Onderdonk, in his funeral sermon, said that while the Bishop had spent his life in one place from infancy to extreme age there was not a whisper against him. Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll mentions his "purity and single ness of purpose." Rev. James S. M. Anderson, in his "History of the Colonial Church," gives an English estimate of his character, which moved the praise of the Archbishop of Canterbury, when Dr. Hawks conveyed a letter from him to that prelate. Mr. Anderson speaks of the memory of Bishop White as a great benefit to Pennsylvania and the whole American church, and declares that his name "will ever be held in grateful memory .on either side of the Atlantic" for labors "to renew and strengthen" Christian bonds between Eng- land and the Colonies after the Revolution. The Bishop was a voluminous writer, because he was very industri- ous. He left many printed works behind him. Inman and Sully have given us portraits of him. Dr. Sprague describes his appearance as majestic, and his counte- nance as intelligent and lovely, lighting sometimes into
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sunbeams. He was amiable, and his manner was dignified, though winning ; while his conversation was edifying. Bishop Alonzo Potter says that in his old age he was erect and not attenuated, with a benignant face, and without self-consciousness, though beloved by all denominations in the city beyond anyone else, as the notice he received in walking the streets indicated. When the wrinkles multiplied, and the hairs whitened, and the step grew feebler, the brave old Bishop still tried to walk without the aid of others, but at last the clay cottage broke down and the spirit escaped heaven- ward.
The wife of Bishop White was Mary Harrison, of English birth, whose father was a warden of Christ Church, and mayor of the city of Philadelphia. She died in 1797.
Rev. William Sturgeon, assistant minister, graduated at Yale in 1745, in the class of Rev. Dr. Chandler and Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Leaming, and began to assist Dr. Jenney in 1747, continuing his work until 1766, resign- ing on account of ill health. He died Nov. 5th, 1772. He was ordained in England, and held his post for nine- teen years. He catechised the white children and the negroes, and was very useful. Dr. Jenney styles him "a very good man, sober in his conversation and dili- gent in his business." For over seventeen years he performed the pleasant duty of preaching the Gospel "to the poor" at the City Almshouse on Tuesdays. He officiated at the opening of St. Peter's Church. Dr. Jenney commends him as " a faithful and painful min- ister" who assisted him in his illness. Mr. Sturgeon wrote the Archbishop of Canterbury about conferences he had held with some Lutherans as to their uniting with the Church of England, and "one of their chief
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ministers " wrote him on the subject, and he sent a copy to Dr. Bearcroft, the secretary of the Propa- gation Society, asking him to lay it before the gov- ernors of the Church.
Rev. Thomas Coombe became assistant.in 1772. He was commended with John Montgomery for holy orders in 1768. Both were educated at the College of Phila- delphia. They and three other young men had de- livered "Sunday Evening Exercises " so that about a thousand persons generally attended them. They were "excellent speakers," Mr. Coombe being especially strik- ing. Mr. Coombe, with his associate, Mr. White, was respected and beloved, but having espoused the Amer- ican side for a time, his conscience and his oath made him a Royalist, and he went to England and never re- turned. The vestry commended him to the Bishop of London for his good service. He resigned in 1778, and became chaplain to Lord Carlisle in Ireland. Trinity College, Dublin, made him a Doctor in Divinity. He was a Prebendary of Canterbury, and one of the numer- ous chaplains of the king. He loved Bishop White, and wrote affectionately to him from his English home.
Rev. Robert Blackwell, D.D., was assistant from 1781 to ISI2. This gentleman was eminent.in the early councils for the formation of the American. Church.
The great grandfather of Dr. Blackwell was Robert Blackwell, who took up much land on Long Island, opposite New York City, and the whole of Blackwell's Island, in the East River. Colonel Jacob Blackwell the father of the assistant minister of Christ and St. Peter's Churches, inherited these lands. The Doctor was born on the 6th of May, A.D., 1748. He graduated at Prince- ton in 176S. Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, rector of Trinity
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Church, New York, commended him to Rev. Richard Peters as one calculated to gain love and esteem from the people, and as being of a very pleasant disposition. He was ordained in England, and a missionary of the Propagation Society to Colestown, Gloucester and Clarksborough, in New Jersey, and was a chaplain of the American Army at Valley Forge. In 1781 he be- came assistant in this parish, where he worked for thirty years. The vestry and Bishop White commended him. He was a member of various benevolent societies, and Bishop White said that he had aided him in the noble Corporation for the Relief of the Widows and Children of the Clergy for fifty-six years, and after the close of the Revolution that aid was very effective, as pecuniary matters were greatly disturbed in the whole country.
Dr. Blackwell was the senior assistant in the united churches, and was a scholarly preacher. His first wife was the daughter of Joseph and Ann Harrison, of Gloucester, N. J. Her name was Rebecca. His second wife was the daughter of William Bingham. This clergyman died February 12th, 1831. He founded by will a scholarship in the General Theological Seminary. Charles R. Hildeburn's Inscriptions in St. Peter's churchyard furnish the materials which I have given you, as recorded by John William Wallace.
The other day I visited Dr. Blackwell's former resi- dence, 224 Pine Street. It is an antique brick house, two and a half stories high, with a semicircular window over the front door, and an ample hall and old-fashioned stairway within, while the wainscot and the beautiful woodwork over the inner doors tell of a former day. A door opened toward the Delaware River, on the cast, but a block of houses now crowd their ancient neighbor, and forbid a sight of the water. The black and red
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alternated brick wall in front is divided at cach story by a stone band. Here lived also Bishop De Lancey, and the house has hence a double interest to the members of this parish. At No. 238 Pine Street lived Mrs. George Willing, the daughter of Dr. Blackwell, and in olden times a garden extended where eight houses have now intruded. The last named dwelling has been modernized.
Rev. Joseph Grove John Bend, D.D., was assistant from 1787 to 1791. The Rev. Dr. Ethan Allen gave an account of him in Sprague, from the records of St. Paul's Church, Baltimore, and his letters, and from Hugh Davy Evans, LL.D., who was his parishioner. He was born in New York, educated in Barbadoes for commerce, but ordained in New York in 1787 in Bishop Provoost's first ordination, Bishop Moore, of Virginia, being ordained with him. He was a delegate from Pennsylvania to the General Convention. He became rector of St. Paul's Church, Baltimore, and a member of the Standing Committee of Maryland. Christ Church, Baltimore, grew up under his care, with an associate rector. He was very successful in his work, but died in his fiftieth year, in 1812. He was generous and liberal to the poor, and indefatigable in parish work.
After Bishop White's death the rectorship of St. Peter's fell to the Rev. Mr. De Lancey, according to the arrangement when he became assistant. Those who knew this noble man need no description of him. He was every inch a bishop. In person and manner there was a quiet but commanding dignity about him. He was large and well-formed, and oneto draw the attention of a stranger. I was once at his hospitable board, and listened to his counsel, in Geneva, which, like its Swiss parent, lies on a beautiful lake. There, honored in his
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Diocese and by the church at large, this scholarly bishop ended his days on earth in 1865. His sermon at Bishop Eastburn's consecration on the faithful Bishop painted his own life. He was faithful to death, looking for the promised "crown of life." In that sermon he traced the Episcopate in Scripture and antiquity. He believed in his office, and discharged its weighty duties accord- ingly. While Bishop of Western New York, in 1861, he preached a most interesting centennial sermon in this church, which was printed.
Bishop Odenheimer succeeded Bishop De Lancey from 1839 to 1859 in this rectorship, when he was quite young. As Bishop of New Jersey, and afterward of Northern New Jersey, now Newark, he left a record of noble work for the Master, which fittingly followed his patient and successful rectorship here. He started the daily service.
From 1860 to 1867 the Rev. Dr. George Leeds held the rectorship of this ancient parish. He was a graceful and polished man, whose scholarship and knowledge of church affairs made him useful in the General Conven- tion, as well as in this Diocese. He has closed his earthly work.
The present assistant, Rev. A. J. Miller, son of Rev. A. A. Miller, who assisted Bishop De Lancey for a time, writes me that the following clergy are buried in St. Peter's churchyard : Rev. Hugh Roy Scott, of the Afri- can Mission, the Revs. Robert Mackic, Lewis C. New- man, Dr. James Abercrombie, Dr. Robert Blackwell, Dr. George Alexander Crooke, Rev. Joseph Jacquet and Rev. Julius Townsend. To these must be added the name of Rev. Augustus Foster Lyde, who may be said to be the originator of the China Mission, to which he had devoted himself. When told that he must die,
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BISHOP DAVIES.
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he wept and paced his room, crying, "Can it be so? Shall I never be allowed to preach the Gospel in China ?" He added that he would labor for the cause while he- lived. He did thus labor, and one of his fellow-students at the General Seminary went to China by his influ- ence, as Rev. S. D. Denison notes in his "History of Foreign Missions." St. Peter's holds a precious trust in the grave of this devoted man, to stimulate her zeal in calling the heathen to a knowledge of Christ and His salvation.
This church has had but eight rectors in one hundred and twenty-nine years. £ Dr. Davies succeeded Dr. Leeds in 1868, and is the only one of these rectors now living, and he has so approved himself to the church at large, in religious life and church work, that, like four of his predecessors, he has been called higher in position and duty as Bishop of Michigan. For about a score of years he has baptized your children, and presented them for confirmation, and broken for you the Bread of Life. He has blessed those who were entering into holy matrimony, and uttered the words of Christian hope over your dead. You are sadly, and yet joyfully, to lend him to the Lord. Your prayers and alms will follow him, and when invested with his new office may he often return, as "a Bishop in the Church of God," to bless you and to tell you of new conquests won over "sin, Satan and death" in the Diocese where Bishop Harris has so well prepared the way for his work. Canada lies next this jurisdiction, and there is an opportunity of continuing Bishop White's work in brightening the links which join the American Church with the Church of England, which gave us life and fostered us in our weakness, as St. Peter's "Church History " shows.
It is interesting to note that the great uncle of Dr. Davies, named Thomas Davies, was a missionary of the
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Propagation Society in Connecticut. Sprague has a sketch of him. He was born in England and brought to this land in infancy, but in mature years returned to be ordained by Archbishop Sherlock. He did a noble work, and an aged clergyman gave his opinion that if the time had then come for establishing the American Episcopate he might have been considered a fit person to receive it. His father, John Davies, Jr., built a church, and the clergyman's grandfather, John Davies, donated a tract of land to the church which still yields an income to Litchfield and several neighboring par- ishes. St. Michael's Parish was organized by the efforts of John Davies, Sr.
When St. Peter's was opened, Pittsburgh was a fort, and the empire of Pennsylvania mostly unimproved. Now it has three dioceses and hundreds of clergy. Michigan was a desert, the home of the savage and the wild beast ; now it is entering on the third million of population ; while Detroit, with its many churches, has about a quarter of a million inhabitants. When your ancestors came to the opening of St. Peter's in their Continental dress they passed gardens and yards adorned with flowers where now are solid blocks of houses. Their lives and business varied from ours, but the same sins led them to the same Saviour, and the same joys brought them hither to thank God. They needed the plaintive Litany, and cheerful Psalm, and jubilant Te Deum, and instructive Scripture lessons which we have heard to-day ; and they came here and heard them, and stepped heavenward by their aid. Perhaps those who are buried around us join in our devotions this morning, for a thin wall separates carth and paradise. The church below thus becomes "the gate of heaven," and introduces to heaven, where the
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laity and clergy of past generations shall meet to continue their ceaseless worship of Christ, and
" Pastors and people shout His praise, Through the long round of endless days."
It is St. Michael and All Angels' Day, and while we try to learn to join "with angels and archangels" in worshiping God here, let us hear how Waller, in his "Art of Divine Poesie," blends the adoration of men and angels :
" The church triumphant and the church below In songs of praise their present union show ; Their joys are full, our expectations long, In life we differ but we join in song ; Angels and we assisted by this art, May sing together, though we dwell apart."
In closing this sketch it is worthy of note that three clergy, Bishops White and Odenheimer and Bishop- elect Davies, held the rectorship for about a century, though not consecutively. Few parishes can show such a record. The loyalty of the parish to its clergy has been constant and is commendable, while Bishop De Lancey noted that its wardens had been in general men of age and experience, and so the parish has stood firm, not given to change in any way, like St. Peter, the Rock-man, whose name it bears.
The large graveyard, where the trees lovingly shelter the dead in Christ, who, as Dr. Duche's inscription beautifully expresses it, "have passed from temporal to eternal and angelic life," has a country look in a city street, as Trinity churchyard faces busy Wall Street, in New York, teaching of something more important than worldly wealth. As the thoughtful observer passes St. Peter's yard he may be thankful that there were those who, like Abraham at Sarah's burial, wished a sure
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resting place for their beloved dead. Just above lies the Pine Street Presbyterian cemetery, and for over a hundred years those who had been friends in life have quietly slept under the summer green covering and. winter's pure snow. As their monuments look on each other in the broad sunlight or under the still moon, may we not imagine their spirits as associated in paradise, and hope and pray for a time on earth when God's peo- ple may be one. The quiet and dignified St. Peter's, and the simple and staid Presbyterian Church which is its neighbor, are old landmarks. When good Dr. Brain- erd, the faithful pastor for many a year of the Pine Street Church died, Dr. Leeds wrote a letter testifying to his worth, which I have read in the memoir of that clergyman, written by his wife. The bell of St. Peter's Church tolled on the day of his funeral. Is this not a premonition of the time when "there shall be one fold under one Shepherd, and when believers in Christ shall fulfill the dying prayer of their Lord, that they may be one, as He and the Father are One, may we all come to those "still waters" and "green pastures" where strife ends and eternal love reigns ; and then shall we better understand what is meant by All Angels' Day.
Since this discourse was delivered Dr. Davies has been consecrated and Rev. Dr. W. H. Vibbert, has become rector of St. Peter's, having resigned St. James's Church, Chicago to enter on this work and may the Lord give him great success in continuing the labors of his illus- trious predecessors for Christ and His Holy Church.
It is pleasant to note that Bishop Morris, of Oregon, was present in the chancel at the delivery of this sermon. He was once called to St. Peter's Church, and has written valuable notes on the history of the Church in Pennsylvania, as may be seen by a reference to "Penn- sylvania " in the Church Cyclopedia.
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CHAPTER XIII.
ST. JAMES'S CHURCH.
"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." -- St. James, 1: 1.
T HE saints and the suffering but triumphing Christ who glorify the east window of this church fitly introduce our theme. St. James was a saint because he was the "servant of God ;" and the saintly nien who have ministered at this altar have striven to follow the example of him who was honored in the naming of this church by Bishop White. Their faith is also to be followed, considering that "the end of their conversation " was Christ, who changes not in the passing generations.
The first building occupied by St. James's Church was on Seventh Street, just above Market Street, on the east side. It was consecrated in A.D., 18cg. Christ Church, St. Peter's and St. Paul's were the only other Episcopal Churches then in the city. The General Convention of ISI4 met here in the opening of that body, and Bishop Moore, of Virginia, was then conse- crated, Bishop Hobart preaching the sermon.
Bishop White was the rector of Christ Church, St. Peter's, and St. James's, which were united. He preached the sermon when St. James's Church was consecrated. Bishop Alonzo Potter styled this patriarch, "The Legislator and Sage of the Church." The other bishops paid him deference. This learned and wise man presided at the General Conventions, and consecrated twenty-six
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bishops. In Bishop White's house the meeting was held to prepare the Constitution of the American Church, and it has been beautifully said that, while the clergy appeared "as a grain of mustard seed," the seed sown in faith and watered with prayers, is now a Great Trec, "stretching out her branches unto the sea, and her boughs unto the river." Bishop White was for many years the only living link between the English and American Churches, being the only survivor of the four bishops consecrated abroad. The courage of the good bishop in the yellow fever and cholera visitations should be remembered. When eighty-five years old, he was working faithfully among cholera patients, and striving to point others to that Paradise, which he was so soon to enter. This venerable and saintly man died in 1836.
According to Rev. Dr. Dorr's list, in his excellent History of Christ Church, Rev. Dr. James Abercrombie was assistant minister of the united churches from 1794 to 1832. A photograph of him, presented by F. Gurney Smith, may be seen in the vestry-room of St. Peter's Church. Much of Dr. Abercrombie's work was per- formed at St. Peter's as Bishop Davies informs me. He was more than thirty-eight years assistant minister and an annuity for life was granted him on his resignation. An extract from a sermon of Bishop De Lancey, quoted by Dr. Dorr, says of Dr. Abercrombie, who was asso- ciated with Bishop De Lancey in the care of the united churches : "Long admired for his unrivalled excellence as a reader of our admirable liturgy, for his ability as a writer and his eloquence as a preacher ; and exhibiting in his long continued, active and steady discharge of ministerial duty, an unbroken attachment to the cause of Christ and of His Church."
In Rev. Dr. Sprague's valuable Annals of the Episco- pal Clergy there is a sketch of the life of this clergyman
LEVYTYPE CAPRINO
ST. JAMES'S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA.
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gathered from a paper by his son, Rev. Dr. R. M. Aber- crombie, and Bishop De Lancey's funeral sermon, and Dr. Dorr's History of Christ Church. We will condense it.
James Abercrombie was born in Philadelphia, January 2d, A.D., 1758. His father was named James, and was a native of Dundee, Scotland and a relative of Sir Ralph Abercrombie. I find in Boswell's Johnson a notice of some correspondence between a gentleman of this name and the literary Doctor. Mr. Abercrombie was in the East India trade, and was also an officer in the navy of Great Britain. In 1753 he settled in this country, and in 1760 "was lost in the German Ocean." James was then two years old. He was an only child, and his pious and intelligent mother educated him with a hope that he might enter the ministry. Would that other mothers would follow her example. From childhood the lad had a leaning toward the clerical life, and on Sunday evenings he used to put a white apron on his shoulders to imitate a surplice, and endeavor to conduct a service.
The boy studied at Dr. Gardiner's Academy, and at the College of Philadelphia, where he graduated in 1776. He studied theology under Bishop White. Trouble with his eyes, and the difficulty of going to England for ordination suspended the time of entering the sacred ministry. Mr. Abercrombie became a merchant, and a member of the Common Council. In 1793 Bishop White ordained him a deacon in St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia. In 1794 he became assistant minister in Christ Church and in St. Peter's, and was ordained priest. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society, and received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the College of New Jersey.
In 1806 Dr. Abercrombie officiated monthly at Trinity Church, Oxford, and All Saints', Lower Dublin, near
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Torresdale. This continued for three years, until 1810, when the charter of Christ Church and St. Peter's was made to include St. James's Church. With Rev. Dr. Samuel Magaw, once Rector of St. Paul's, Dr. Aber- crombie founded the Philadelphia Academy, and taught in it for several years. In 1832 he retired from his work at Christ Church and St. Peter's and St. James's. He lived in this city the rest of his life, with many friends about him. He died on the 26th of June, in 1841, aged eighty-three. In 1783 he married Anna Baynton, the daughter of a Philadelphia merchant. His wife died in 1805. In 1817 he was married to his second wife, Mary Jane Mason.
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