USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Gardiner > One hundredth anniversary of the diocese of Maine, 1820-1920, Christ church, Gardiner, Maine, May thirtieth to June third > Part 5
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And now, on its hundredth birthday, the voices of architect and donor are silent, the faithful workmen who laid the stones and hewed the wood are taking their well-earned rest, and even the eyes of the chil- dren who daily watched its growth are closed in their last sleep. Gone are the builders, but not forgotten. This beautiful structure, with its gray stones, its sturdy tower and tapering spire, its vaulted ceiling and stained windows, reflects the glory of its makers. The echo of its bell, which for a century has sent men to labor, called them to refreshment, and lulled them to sleep, is one of our earliest recollections ; and to the ear of any child of this town, no other bell can have so sweet a sound.
To those of us who were born and have always dwelt in this city, the " old stone Church " seems like a part of our very existence; our mem- ory of it goes back to the dim and uncertain impressions of our earliest days ; and I believe we should more deeply regret its loss than that of any other structure in our city.
For many, many years, ay, for centuries to come, may the doors of this church swing open with a gracious welcome to the friendless and to "the stranger that is within its gates;" may its old spire remain sil- houetted against the evening sky; and may the tones of its bell, joy- fully ringing, float over this valley for our pleasure and comfort us in our sorrow.
May the members of this parish pass on to the children of the coming generations a rich legacy of unsullied achievement ; may they broaden in sympathy for others of less favored lives, and may they more and more stand for the unselfish, the noble things of life.
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THE RECTORS OF CHRIST CHURCH, GARDINER
1. The Rev. Joseph Warren, September 1, 1791-July 20, 1796.
2. The Rev. James Bowers, July 20, 1796-April 19, 1802.
3. The Rev. Samuel Haskell, July 11, 1803-June 1, 1809.
4. The Rev. Aaron Humphrey, June 1, 1810-April 19, 1814.
5. The Rev. Gideon W. Olney, September 27, 1817-April 10, 1826.
6. The Rev. Eleazar M. P. Wells, March 8, 1827-September 17, 1827.
7. The Rev. Thomas T. W. Mott, August 9, 1828-March 20, 1830.
8. The Rev. Isaac Peck, April 19, 1830-October 26, 1831.
9. The Rev. Joel Clap, May 12, 1832-March 24, 1840.
10. The Rev. William R. Babcock, July 8, 1840-October 1, 1847.
11. The Rt. Rev. George Burgess, October 4, 1847-April 23, 1866. 12. The Rev. John T. Magrath, April 23, 1866-October 18, 1868.
13. The Rev. Christopher S. Leffingwell, February 7, 1869-May 1, 1879.
14. The Rev. Leverett Bradley, September 14, 1879-September 12, 1884.
15. The Rev. Charles L. Wells, November 24, 1884-January 12, 1888.
16. The Rev. Allen E. Beeman, April 2, 1888-November, 1893.
17. The Rev. Robert W. Plant, February 4, 1894.
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THE BISHOPS OF MAINE BY RIGHT REV. BENJAMIN BREWSTER
I
O NE hundred years ago, "The Eastern Diocese" was the ec- clesiastical designation of the entire area of New England, with the important exception of Connecticut. Of this extensive Diocese the Bishop was Alexander Viets Griswold, in whose election at Boston, a decade earlier, after a long period of extreme depression, doubt, almost chaos, in the Churches of Northern New England, the Hand of God may be clearly discerned by the observant eye of faith.1 To Bishop Griswold, therefore, belonged the Episcopal jurisdiction of Maine in 1820, when this State was admitted to the Federal Union. It would appear that the actual exercise of that jurisdiction was little more than nominal prior to that date. This was probably inevitable when we consider the character of the Bishop's field, described in his "Life" as "a body of few, feeble and scattered parishes some of which were al- ready falling into ruins" in "four rugged states, and one bleak extensive Territory" (meaning Maine).2 Add to this, that the Bishop was obliged, for his maintenance, to continue in the position of rector of a parish at Bristol, Rhode Island, and we shall be indisposed to attach any blame to Bishop Griswold for his not visiting the "bleak, extensive Territory" of Maine in the early part of his episcopate.
He presided, however, at the third Convention of the Church in this State, held in Portland, October 2, 1822, and on this occasion "deliv- ered an excellent sermon, and administered Confirmation and the Sac- rament of the Lord's Supper."3 It further appears from the records that in response to a committee formally appointed to wait upon the Bishop, and thank him for this discourse and request a copy for the press, the Bishop, with characteristic humility, declined to comply with the request.4
1 See the entire account of the proceedings leading to this historic event, and of the attitude of Griswold, in Memoir of Bishop Griswold, pp. 130-163 ; especially p. 131, and pp. 150, 151.
2 Stone, Memoir of Bishop Griswold, p. 162.
3 Journal of Convention of Diocese of Maine, MSS. Copy, p. 12.
4 Ibid., p. 14.
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It is worthy of note, as illustrating the unique ecclesiastical situation existing in the Eastern Diocese, that while the organization of the Church in Maine as an integral unit was consummated in 1820, with a Constitution formally adopted and delegates elected to the General Convention, nevertheless the Church here still considered itself, and was regarded without question, as belonging to the Eastern Diocese. Evidence of this was the election of the Rector of Christ Church, Gar- diner, as "a delegate of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this State to the Diocesan Convention to be held at New Port in the State of Rhode Island." Once more, however, so undeveloped and uncertain was this matter of canonical relation (possibly the uncertainty was con- nected with prevalent political notions about "states' rights"), that a special resolution was passed by this initial State Convention, "That the Right Reverend the Bishop of the Eastern Diocese be requested to exercise Episcopal jurisdiction over the Church in this State."1
That jurisdiction Bishop Griswold continued to exercise until his death in 1843. Ten Diocesan Conventions in Maine were presided over by him, and he made himself felt in the diocesan life, consecrating Trinity Church, Saco, St. John's, Bangor, and St. Mark's, Augusta, and furthering actively the promotion of missionary work in the State. In connection with the consecration of St. John's, Bangor, in October, 1839, the Bishop's biographer gives the following illustration of his neglect of his own convenience, where Church work was concerned:
"He was engaged to consecrate the new church at Bangor, Maine ; and several of his clergy had consented to accompany him. There were two ways of reaching that city of the East; the one by steamer, and the other by stage. And, as the season of the year made travelling by land extremely tedious and uncomfortable, his clergy chose the former, as being at once comfortable, and if wind and tide favored, expeditious. But, as there was an 'if' on that way, and as the mail-coach was ordi- narily sure of reaching its destination with punctuality, even though it were to be dragged through the night, as well as through the mud, the Bishop chose this; and the result was, that he reached Bangor in season, consecrated the Church at the hour appointed, and, with the departing
1 Journal. of Convention, MSS. Edition, p. 6. See comments by Rev. Dr. Stone in Memoir of Bishop Griswold, pp. 264, 265. He notes the record made by Bishop Griswold, that " agreeably to this request, they were annexed to the Eastern Diocese."
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congregation, was just leaving the Sanctuary as his more comfort-loving clergy reached the wharf of the steamer."1
In the matter of general missionary effort, Bishop Griswold wasamong the foremost to awaken the Church in this country to some sense of her duty. He was directly instrumental in the sending out of the very first foreign missionary from this American Church, - the Rev. Joseph R. Andrus, who in 1817 was sent to Ceylon by the English Church Mis- sionary Society; and, through his cordial correspondence with the Eng- lish Society, it came about that the sum of two hundred pounds was appropriated by that Society to encourage "The Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society in the United States for Foreign and Domestic Missions," upon its organization in 1820.2
Not wholly without point to-day are his remarks on giving to mis- sions in his Convention Address in 1820:
"In every State, should be a Missionary Society, encouraged by every parish, and supported by every Churchman. ... The apology, which is usually made, for not asking the people to contribute is, that the parishes are poor, and their burthens already heavy : facts, which we well know and sensibly feel. But this excuse, as I conceive, is founded on a misapprehension of what is required. It is not enjoined upon any parish, or individual, to contribute anything but what can be given with convenience, and with a 'willing mind.' It is required only that our people may have an opportunity to give. .. . Permit me, my clerical brethren, to ask, whether we are not the chief delinquents in this thing. . . . Are not the people more ready to give for this noble purpose, than we to ask ? Are we duly mindful of our Lord's command to preach His Gospel to every creature?"3
A few sentences from the same address, discussing the policy of a proposed Church paper of the Eastern Diocese, indicate the attitude of this truly evangelical Bishop in an era embittered by religious con- troversy and prejudice:
"Let us also be careful to manifest a spirit of candor, charity and Christian love. The best evidence that we are indeed Christians, is lov- ing those who love the Lord Jesus. We had never surely more occa-
1 Stone, Memoir of Bishop Griswold, pp. 353. 354.
* Ibid., pp. 240-247. 3 Ibid., pp. 266, 267.
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sion for the exercise of forbearance; but though we are reviled, let us not revile again; but, as much as lieth in us, live peaceably with all men." 1יי
In 1832, eleven years before Bishop Griswold's death, it was an indi- cation of the growth of the Church within his field, and also of the recognition of its unwieldy size, that the Convention of the Eastern Diocese recommended that the several Dioceses composing it withdraw as soon as might be, and erect themselves into distinct diocesan units.
Vermont was the first to withdraw, and its first Bishop (the Right Rev. J. H. Hopkins) was elected and consecrated that same year, 1832. In 1836 Maine voted to ask permission " to withdraw from the Eastern Diocese whenever we can attain the appointment of a resident Dio- cesan;" and also appointed a committee to "ascertain how large a sum can be secured for the support of a Bishop."2
At the death of Bishop Griswold, February 15, 1843, Maine was still too weak to elect, or to support, a resident Bishop, and after Bishop Eastburn, who had been consecrated Assistant Bishop of Massachu- setts at the end of 1842, declined the additional responsibility of Maine, our Diocese turned to the Right Rev. John Prentiss K. Henshaw, Bishop of Rhode Island, who was consecrated in August, 1843.
II
Bishop Henshaw for four years did very faithful work in Maine, pre- siding at all the annual Conventions, consecrating St. Paul's Church, Brunswick, and making five missionary journeys in the Diocese. His careful addresses to the Conventions show not only diligent attention to the details of organization, but a deep solicitude for the matters of highest import, as in his exhortations to the clergy to "preach the Word in simplicity, in purity and in power," and to labor in season and out of season "in the administration of discipline and Sacraments, in the catechising of the young, in the visitation of the sick and the whole within their cures, and in the exercise of all the high functions of their holy office."3 His episcopate fell in a season of controversy within the
1 Stone, Memoir of Bishop Griswold, p. 269.
2 MSS. Journals, p. 108.
3 Journal of Convention, 1847, p. 11.
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Anglican Communion; but we find Bishop Henshaw witnessing to his faith in this Church of his love:
"The severe trials to which she has been subjected, whether from in- testine treachery or outward assaults, . . . have served only to bring out in bolder relief those conservative principles which are inwrought in her divine constitution, to display the power of her hidden but divine bond of unity -indestructible, because divine; and to demonstrate, more con- clusively than ever, that, as a Church founded upon the Rock, the gates of Hell shall never prevail against her."1
We see him promoting systematic offerings, not only for the extension of missionary work, "but also to keep up within the limits of the Dio- cese, a supply of Sunday School books, of Prayer Books, and tracts illustrative of the doctrines of the Church."2
From the first, Bishop Henshaw had felt the importance of a resident Bishop for Maine, as soon as the canonical requirements for an election should be fulfilled.3 In 1847 the conditions for the realization of this long-deferred hope had arrived; and at a special convention on Octo- ber 4, attended by eight clergymen of the Diocese4 and twenty-four lay- men representing the seven parishes then composing the Diocese,5 by the unanimous votes of both orders, on the first ballot, the Rev. George Burgess, D.D., of Hartford, Connecticut, was duly elected the first Bishop of Maine.6
III
Rich indeed was the spiritual endowment brought to the episcopate by Bishop Burgess. His was an alert mind trained by diligent study, a spirit without guile deepened by constant prayer. The old-fashioned training of a New England college, the logical discipline of a course in the law, German university life under such teachers as Schleiermacher and Neander, had all contributed to his intellectual culture. Stedfast in the evangelical faith that had drawn to the Church his boyish loyalty, con- vinced in his reasoned attachment to Apostolic Order, he had the gift
1 Journal of Convention, 1845, p. 12. 2 Ibid., 1844, p. 16.
3 See Convention Address in 1844, Journal for 1844, p. 16.
4 There were two others not present, one, Rev. John Blake, a chaplain in the U. S. Navy, and one, Rev. D. R. Goodwin, a professor in Bowdoin College.
5 Journal of Convention, 1847, p. 5. 6 Ibid., p. 5.
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of speaking the truth in love. The fine literary sense which beguiled his rare leisure hours, prompting the composition of graceful poems redo- lent of classic lore, was balanced by a practical judgment, brought un- ceasingly into submission to the will of God.
Christ Church, Hartford, was his only parish in the thirteen years of ministry before his episcopate. The atmosphere of Connecticut church- manship could not fail to influence Burgess in his outlook upon the burning ecclesiastical questions of his time, helping to steady him, and to modify to some extent his attitude towards that evangelical school in the Church to which his training and his disposition inclined him. And not to be forgotten, in this summary, are those indispensable qual- ities belonging to the parish priest-faithful care for the individual souls of his flock, diligent and systematic preparation of sermons-which this happy pastorate in Hartford developed in him, and which charac- terized him to the end of his life.
For the situation in Maine required that the Bishop of the Diocese should also be the rector of a local parish. Here in Gardiner he minis- tered as the priest and pastor of the people. For eighteen years this stately edifice gathered attentive congregations for his scholarly instruc- tion and the inspiration of his genuine though sober eloquence; while the families of his flock welcomed him as a frequent guest, and received his untiring ministrations in seasons of sickness or sorrow. Who can measure the spiritual debt which this venerable parish, including hun- dreds who have gone out from here far and wide through our land, owes to this man of God!
In the first paragraphs of Bishop Burgess' first Convention Address, in 1848, he sounded some notes which should still find a response in our minds and hearts :
"High thoughts, in this our day of weakness, would seem impossible; but we cannot forget that, in ages to come, a great commonwealth may look back to this day, as no unimportant point in its religious history. The progress and permanence of the Protestant Episcopal Church in these regions is no matter of conjecture, nor even of mere hope; it is in the hands of time and truth. . . . I would urge that, now and hereafter, our Conventions should be occasions, not of a simple discharge of canon- ical requisitions, but of fervent supplication, of fraternal communion,
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of full deliberation, and of free consultation or discussion. .. . It is im- portant, in the community in which we labor, where the nature of the Episcopal office is sometimes so greatly misapprehended by strangers, that it should be with some distinctness understood by all, that no authority resides in that office which is at variance with the free spirit of our national institutions, or with the conscientious exercise of the duty of private judgment and action. When we meet, my brethren, let it be with the temper of brethren,-'in honour preferring one another.""1 In the Convention Address of the following year he gives utterance to his ideal of the Church's Mission:
"We wish to lift high and spread abroad the simple unchanged Gos- pel of Christ, as it was held in the beginning; not burdened with super- stitious additions, nor narrowed within sectarian bounds, nor widened into unmeaning generalities ; the Gospel of the Old and the New Tes- tament; the Gospel, as it is seen by the honest eye of common sense throughout these Scriptures, one great, amazing, awful, enrapturing sys- tem of light, holiness, and peace; the Gospel, perpetuated in the sacred volume, sealed by the sacraments of the Lord Jesus, and proclaimed by His ambassadors and ministers. We do not fear, and we only wish, to make our appeal, with the Bible in our hands, to the conscience of our fellow-men. All else we leave to the power of God and of His Word."2
If to-day a critical mind, familiar with ideas of development to which that age was a stranger, may detect herein a suggestion of rigidity, nevertheless some principles are set forth which our facile and undoc- trinal temper needs seriously to take account of. And altogether fine and wholesome is this passage, which must be the limit of our quota- tions from this notable address:
"But a wider task remains. Our sermons should be instructive, and therefore well-prepared, as well as earnest; our Sunday Schools intelli- gently maintained, with the best aid of our best members; our catecheti- cal teaching very thorough; our youth familiar with the elements of the doctrine of Christ; our service performed with an impressive propriety and a solemn harmony; and our congregations, as far as is in our power,
1 Journal of Convention, 1848, p. 8. 2 Ibid., 1849, p. 16.
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enriched with spiritual wisdom. Let them be the best instructed Chris- tians of their neighborhoods; such, with the aids they possess, they ought to be; and as such, if such they be, they will be known with an ever- widening influence."1
In addition to his diversified duties as a diocesan Bishop, and as the active rector of a parish, Bishop Burgess had important responsibilities in the affairs of the National Church.
As a member of the Commission of five Bishops, to whom in 1853 was referred the famous Memorial of the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg and other presbyters, the Bishop of Maine rendered conspicuous service in preparing the way for such progress as has been made since then in ritual flexibility and in the direction of Church Unity. This Memorial, point- ing to such facts as the divided state of Protestant Christianity, new and subtle forms of unbelief, and the gross ignorance of the Gospel among masses of the population, suggested the consideration of modifications in the modes of public worship, to render the Church more "competent to the work of dispensing the Gospel to all sorts and conditions of men, and so to adequately fulfil the mission of a Catholic Church in this land and this age."? We are to-day so hospitable (as some think, unduly so) to shortened services, ritual variety, and adaptation of the Prayer Book to diverse needs, that it may seem strange to us that serious opposition arose in the Church to such suggestions. The very moderate action of the House of Bishops regarding this Memorial in 1856 -recommend- ing that "the order of Morning Prayer, the Litany and the Commun- ion Service being separate offices, may, as in former times, be used sep- arately under the advice of the Bishop of the Diocese"3 - was viewed by many with alarm. " In 1859 the House of Deputies claimed that this action had disturbed the minds of many, both as to its effect and as to its constitutionality."4
Bishop Burgess, in connection with Bishop Alonzo Potter, was espe- cially responsible for the resolutions accompanying the Commission's report and for the suggested additional collects (including that "for the
1 Journal of Convention, 1849, p. 17.
2 See statement of Dr. Muhlenberg, in Memoir of Bishop Burgess, p. 125.
3 Journal of General Convention, 1856, pp. 169, 181 (twenty-one Bishops voted for this resolution and eight against it).
4 The Church in America, by the Rt. Rev. Leighton Coleman, p. 329.
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Unity of God's People"1 which now has place in the Prayer Book). In his individual statement as a member of the Commission, the Bishop took account, sympathetically, of the opposition to liturgical changes arising from "the preference for all which is already ancient, and connected with the dearest associations," from "the peculiar sense of stability which has become a glory of our Church," from "the dread of innova- tions, more and more serious," and from "the dread, greatest of all, of changes of doctrine." On the other hand, he presented weighty counter- vailing arguments, namely: "the desire to try all means of reaching the hearts of men;" the comprehensiveness of the Church within the limits of "a firm adherence to the truth;" "reluctance to fasten .. . unchange- able perpetuity to that which is but human;" "comparisons between the usages of our Church and those of other communions or other ages;" and, finally, "the broad principle that Catholicity must imply variety as well as uniformity, that the Church of Christ cannot always be re- strained within "any limits which at any one period may have been expedient and excellent." 2
I have resisted the temptation to extend these quotations so as to do full justice to the Bishop's well-considered attitude. Perhaps enough has been said to justify the terse remark of Dr. Muhlenberg in his apprecia- tion of Bishop Burgess: "He was constitutionally conservative, and on principle progressive."3
A very congenial task to one with his poetic taste and wide acquaint- ance with literature was the enrichment of the hymnody of this branch of the Church. He was chairman of a joint committee appointed by the 1859 Convention on this subject, this committee officially continuing the work voluntarily initiated, more than two years before, by a group with whom he was most actively associated, having been foremost in the publication of an unofficial collection, entitled " Hymns for Church and Home." The result of his strenuous labor in this regard -falling far short of what he had hoped, but the utmost which the conservatism of the day would allow-was the " Additional Hymns," sixty-five in num- ber, bound up after 1868 with the metrical psalms and hymns at the
1 Journal of General Convention, 1856, p. 353.
2 See the whole passage in Memoir of Bishop Burgess, pp. 126-128.
3 Memoir of Bishop Burgess, p. 126.
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back of the Prayer Book.1 A member of the committee, Rev. Dr. Fran- cis Wharton, has written of "the deep impression produced on us all" by the spirit of Bishop Burgess at the final meeting in August, 1865, when already disease had laid its hold on him:
"Sometimes, in reading or quoting a hymn, his face seemed to be lit up as with a glory, and, on one occasion, when repeating the hymn of Keble, 'Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear,' his voice and face seemed almost transfigured, and remain on my mind with a vividness that can never be effaced."2
When the Civil War burst upon the nation, Bishop Burgess at once took a firm stand for the Union. "Our Church," he said, "has never been accustomed to seek a neutral ground, when treason and revolt were on one side, and on the other was fidelity to rulers, laws, oaths and the com- mon rights of all human beings. We must not say that our religion has no concern with things like these."" A year later (July 9, 1862), when things looked dark for the Union cause, his Convention Address closed with an eloquent passage, setting forth the duty of the Church at such an hour,-"to bow herself in the dust,"-"to plead importunately with God,"-"to sustain the overburdened hands of Christian rulers,"-"to give her blessing to those who . . . offer their lives on the high places of the field;"
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