History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 173

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224

USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 173
USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 173

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The society, well pleased with the landable zeal of these gentlemen, acquainted them "that as soon as they shall have provided an house with some acres of land round it, according to the standing rules of the society, to the £40 engaged for the support of a mis- sionary they will send one to be a resident with them." And in the mean time they commended them to the care of the neighboring missionaries.

In the society's report for the year 1749-50 it is stated "that the inhabitants of New Brunswick, having built a large and handsome church, raised £300 towards the purchase of a house and glebe, and obliged themselves to pay £40 per annum to the sup- port of a missionary, earnestly pray to have Mr. Wood, a gentleman of very good life and conversation, bred to physic and surgery, admitted to holy orders," and sent to them in that capacity.

We learn from the proceedings of the next year that the Rev. Mr. Wood had been appointed mission- ary to the churches of New Brunswick and Elizabeth- town. At the latter place he was able to officiate only every fourth Sunday, where, in his absence, the ser- vices of the church were performed by Mr. Chandler, who held the office of a catechist.

Mr. Chandler was then a young man, recently from Yale College, and a candidate for holy orders. He received ordination from the Bishop of London in 1751, and returned the same year. The chief sphere of his missionary labor was Elizabethtown, where he spent the greater part of his useful life, and where he died in 1790. His memory is still "green," and much revered in that venerable parish. But he is chiefly distinguished for the unremitting efforts he made to obtain from the home government the appointment of bishops for the colonial church. His efforts, like those of Bishop Butler, and of many other eminent men in the same good cause, did not succeed, in con- sequence of political jealousy and sectarian animosity.

The failure to accomplish this purpose has been always greatly lamented, and at first sight it appears most disastrous for the infant church in this country, which required the nurturing care and guidance of

1 By Rev. Alfred Stubbs, D.D., rector of the parish.

1841. Miles C. Smith.

712

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

wise ecclesiastical rulers. The members of our church had no Protestant bishop within three thousand miles of them,-a case which, as Archbishop Secker said, " never had its parallel before in the Christian world," yet the failure to obtain the episcopate, apparently so unfortunate, may have been owing not so much to the devices of designing men as to the foresight of a preventing, superintending Providence. If bishops had been appointed at the time, and they had acted when the Revolution occurred, like many of the clergy who came from England, who preferred their allegiance to the king of Great Britain to that of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and would not submit to the new government established, the effect would have been far more injurious to the church than anything else which afterwards happened. It seems a remark- able confirmation of this opinion that while at this time the opposition to the appointment of bishops came chiefly from New England, after the Revolution was accomplished the object so long desired was effected through the influence of Mr. Adams, the American minister with the British government. Thus in God's good time the prayers and efforts of Chandler were crowned with success, and " the wrath of man was made to praise Him."

Mr. Wood having removed to Nova Scotia, the so- ciety then "thought proper to fix on the Rev. Mr. Seabury, son of the Rev. Mr. Seabury, the society's missionary at Hempstead, on Long Island, to be their missionary to New Brunswick, out of regard to the request of the inhabitants, and to the united testimony of the Episcopal clergy of New York in his favor as a youth of good genius, unblemished morals, sound principles in religion, and one that had made as good proficiency in literature while in America as the pres- ent state of learning there would admit of. Mr. Sea- bury, being of full age for holy orders, presented him- self to the society from the University of Edinburgh, and upon examination being found worthy he was ordained deacon and priest, and soon after set ont for New Brunswick, where the society hopes he will follow the example of his worthy father, and prove a very diligent and useful missionary in his station."

" The Rev. Mr. Seabury, Jr., arrived happily there," says the report, " on the 25th of May, 1754, and was received with a most hearty welcome from the inhab- itants, who appeared very sensible of the society's goodness in sending a missionary to them, and dis- posed to do everything in their power to show their acknowledgments. The church is a handsome stone building, which when finished will conveniently hold a large congregation, and this was proposed to be done in that ensuing summer; it is generally well filled, and as there was no dissenting teacher at that time of any sort, he had the satisfaction of seeing several persons of various denominations come to church, and he hoped they would in time, through the grace of God, conform."

deacon," and his father a licensed minister among the Congregationalists of New England. His father be- came a convert to the Episcopal Church (like some other prominent men of that day, including the rector of Yale College), gave up his Congregational ministry, and went to England for holy orders.

The son embraced the faith and the profession of his " worthy father." After graduating at Yale Col- lege he pursued first the study of medicine in the University of Edinburgh, then he prepared for the work of the ministry, and was ordained by the cele- brated Sherlock, Bishop of London, in 1753.

Seabury was of the purest Puritan extraction, his descent being traced from John Alden, "the first man that landed on Plymouth Rock." But he found a surer footing on another "Rock," that on which the church is built, and the chief effort of this "wise master-builder" here seems to have been to bring all Christian people of every name " unto that agreement in the faith and knowledge of God," unto that con- formity to the worship and order of His church to which he himself gladly submitted on his return home to the church of his fathers.

In 1756 the Rev. Mr. Seabury was collated to the cure of the church in Jamaica, L. I., of which he was inducted rector on the 13th of January, 1757.

In October of the same year he writes to the soci- ety : "I have constantly attended at Brunswick every seventh Sunday, and shall continue to do so, except the severity of the winter should render it imprac- ticable."

Under date of Jamaica, May 5, 1761, in another letter, he says, " When it was proposed to me to remove from New Brunswick, I was told it would prevent a good deal of uneasiness and confusion in the parish (at Jamaica), both with regard to the Dis- senters and the professors of the Church of England themselves, who were unanimous in their desire of having me for their missionary ; and as a further en- couragement, it was represented to me that the people would do everything that could be reasonably ex- pected to render my situation every way commo- dious. These motives, together with a desire of being near a most valuable and affectionate father, prevailed on me to solicit a removal to Jamaica."

Mr. Seabury, with apostolic zeal, “ went everywhere preaching the word," and on one of these missionary tours an incident occurred which proved nearly fatal to the career of this celebrated man. While returning in a sail-boat from Brunswick to New York a sudden gust of wind arose which threatened to upset the little bark. The danger was increased by the obsti- ; nacy of the steersman, who would not or could not govern the boat. Mr. Seabury submitted in patience as long as it could be done with safety ; at last he seized the helm, thrust the man away from it, and guided the vessel to the shore. A crowd of anxious spectators were gathered on the beach, who felt so

The grandfather of our eminent missionary was "a . indignant at the conduct of the helmsman, in expos-

713

CITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

ing the life of the faithful missionary, that they laid hands on him as soon as he reached the land and inflicted the punishment he so richly deserved.

Mr. Scabury was thus providentially saved "from perishing by water," to become long afterwards the guide of the ark of Christ's church, which has been more than once preserved by his firmness and skill from the winds and storms that threatened her de- struction.

To him more than to any other man, save good Bishop White, we owe it that she now lies moored in safety in the haven of peace.

Bishops Seabury and White seemed to have per- formed the same providential part in organizing the church in this country which Cranmer and Ridley did in reforming it in England.

" Opposite tendencies, widely differing views of party and doctrine, were to be reconciled and made to dwell in unity. This difficult result was obtained by the kindly co-operation of these two men, of very opposite constitutions of mind and habits of thought. By their mutual forbearance and concessions the happy mean between too much stiffness in refusing and too much facility in yielding was kept, and a re- sult reached which, in the main, has continued to be satisfactory to all the classes of views which the American Episcopal Church harbors in its bosom. Bishop Seabury was the conservative element in the church, the firm opposer of needless innovations, of a latitudinarian theology, and a lax estimation and treatment of her peculiar principles. And it has been wisely said by Dr. Hallam that perhaps that church owes him less for what he did than for what he prevented from being done."

This truly apostolic man, who began his missionary work here, was consecrated the first bishop of the American church by the bishops of the church in Scotland, Nov. 14, 1784. Immediately after his con- secration he entered upon his episcopal duties in the diocese of Connecticut, where he labored assiduously till 1796, when, on the 25th of February, his prayer for a speedy release was granted. " A voice from heaven was heard saying, Friend, go up higher," and he suddenly departed.

great pleasure they see the Church of England, by ; ting was appointed to succeed him. This gentleman

The church of New Brunswick by their letters, dated Dec. 20, 1757, return their thanks for the society's goodness to them in appointing the Rev. Mr. MacKean to succeed their late worthy missionary, Mr. Seabury; and write, further, "that it is with the benevolence of the society and the prudent choice they make of discreet men, raising its head in an in- fant country, where at its first settlement different sects, as well as Popery, had taken footing." And Mr. MacKean acquaints the society by his letter, dated Jan. 8, 1758, " that he arrived at New Bruns- wick on the 16th of December, and was kindly re- ceived by his congregation, and had officiated regu- larly to them from that time."

In 1761, Mr. MacKean reports that the congrega- tion of the church had obtained a charter of incor- poration. He remained in Brunswick until Feb- ruary, 1763, when he removed to Perth Amboy. There he died in I766. On the tombstone erected to his memory he is described as "unshaken friend, and in every relation of life a benevolent and honest man."

He informs the society on his removal "that the Hon. Edward Antill, Esq., a man of most exemplary life and singular piety, has undertaken to read prayers and a sermon every two Sundays at Brunswick, and every other two at Piscataqua, till the arrival of a Missionary."

The society directed their thanks to be returned to Mr. Antill for his pious labors.

It is to be lamented that so little is known of the history of this zealous and devoted churchman. His papers, which were in possession of a nephew, were nearly destroyed in the great fire of 1835 in New York. He left three sons,- Edward, John, and Lewis,-the first of whom became a colonel in the American army and served in the war. On one oc- casion he was taken prisoner and confined on board the English fleet. Happily for him John, who joined the British ranks, was sent to examine the prisoners, and the first person on whom he cast his eyes was his own brother. He succeeded in procur- ing his release. Lewis also retained his loyalty, and fell in the battle of Brandywine. John survived many years, and died, it is supposed, in Orange County, N. Y.

There is a large and handsome marble font in the church, on which is inscribed, "The gift of John Antill, Esq., as a token of his affection to his native place." The tradition in the family, however, was that this font was presented by his father, the Hon. Edward Antill, as a votive offering in consequence of deliverance from imminent danger. He died Ang. 15, 1770, and his remains are now deposited under the floor of the church near the tower.

A joint letter from the clergy of New Jersey, dated Dec. 5, 1762, was received the year following, repre- senting that the small congregation of Piscataqua have within a few years been at the expense of building a new church, and they earnestly recom- mend them to the society's favor. It was agreed to unite Piscataqua to the mission of Brunswick, which mission being vacant by the removal of Mr. Mac- Kean to Perth Amboy, the Rev. Mr. Leonard Cut- had for several years been a public tutor in the College of New York, and produced the most ample testimony to his character " for learning, piety, and virtue, and firm attachment to the present govern- ment in Church and State."

Under date of Oct. 3, 1764, Mr. Cutting gives a ! particular account of the state of his churches.

In New Brunswick, he says, there are about one hundred and thirty families, most of them in but in-

714

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

different circumstances. In this town are three places of public worship,-an English and a Dutch Church, and a Presbyterian meeting, the members of which live together in a friendly manner without dis- putes and animosities on account of religion. His own congregation seems to be composed of serious, zealous, and devont members, and is likely to flourish greatly. His communicants at present are about twenty-five. He catechises the children at Bruns- wick and Piscataqua every Sunday. The congrega- tion at Brunswick have given a bond for £40 a year, Jersey currency, and allow £20 currency for house- rent till they are able to purchase a glebe.

Nothing is here said of the land on which the church is built, which was given by Philip French, Esq., in 1745. During the Revolution the deed was lost, and only found a few years ago in the garret of an old house in New York. There is no evidence that either house or glebe were ever purchased. If so, church robbery and sacrilege stand to the account of some poor soul.

In his report of April 29, 1765, Mr. Cutting " with pleasure observes that in New Brunswick the same catholic spirit prevails, all denominations living to- gether in a friendly manner without disputes and animosities."

In Piscataqua, he says, the church is well filled, and the people appear serious and attentive.

During the next year this worthy missionary removed to Hempstead, L. I .; thence he writes that the church at Brunswick appears to increase in num- bers, and there were thirty-four communicants.

The society now appointed the Rev. Abraham Beach to this mission, where he arrived safe in the end of September, 1767. He reports that he was kindly received, and found an agreement among all denominations.

In his next letter Mr. Beach informs them " that his own churches are frequented by serious persons of all denominations, and that he hath in his mission a great number of negroes, to some of whom he reads at his own house every Sunday evening."

In the proceedings of 1773 it is reported that the people of New Brunswick have by a subscription repaired the church and very nearly erected the steeple.

In 1774 "the Rev. Abraham Beach's mission is in a good state. He endeavoreth, by a kind and candid treatment, to overcome the prejudices of the Dissent- ers, and hath experienced the good effects of it in sev- eral instances."

During the following year Mr. Beach represents " how hurtful the American disputes are to the clergy, and assures the society that he has endeavored to pro- mote moderation, peace, and good order, and trusts to Providence for the success."

Though Dr. Beach was, says his grandson, " liberal in his intercourse with his brethren of other denomi- nations, it appears from his correspondence that he

was tenacious of Episcopal ordination, and unwilling to accede, even as a temporary expedient, to the plan brought prominently forward in 1783 by Dr. (after- wards Bishop) White to organize the church and provide for the ordination of ministers without a consecrated bishop. Nor did he give a voluntary assent to all the alterations in the liturgy, and which, as the English bishops declared, went beyond the necessity of the case." Iu accordance with the advice of his friend, Dr. Chandler, he maintained " a firm and manly adherence to the true principles of the Church, a persevering activity in performing the duties of his station, together with prudence, candor, and good temper."

The last letter found among the proceedings of the society relative to this church was written by the Rev. Mr. Cook, missionary at Shrewsbury. It is dated at Brunswick, May I, 1777.

This gentleman states that he was confined to the army, unable to reach his mission or to see his family. He reports that for the last four months he had been at Brunswick, and had officiated occasionally in the church, the only one in the province in which di- vine service was then regularly performed. He adds " that although Mr. Beach had, from his prudent and good conduct, been permitted to stay at home, he was not free from insults, and being nearly two miles out of the British lines, was in a state of constant ap- prehension."

At the time of the Revolution everything that bore the English name naturally shared the dislike ex- tended to the English nation. When the nation was opposed and rejected, it was not to be expected that the national establishment would receive much favor.

The first missionaries of our church in this country were ministers of the Church of England. The church there is so closely connected with the state that they are very generally confounded together, and it is not wonderful, therefore, that when the govern- ment of the state was cast off the government of the church should be involved in the same fate.

This prejudice was aggravated by the fact that a great number of the ministers of the church at the time of the Revolution proved loyal to the parent country. In many instances they left their people and returned to Great Britain or her provinces rather than discontinue the public prayers for the king and the royal family. At their ordination they had taken the oath of fealty to the crown, and were ready to en- dure any degree of suffering rather than renounce their allegiance.

The Rev. Charles Inglis, rector of Trinity Church, New York, and afterwards the first Bishop of Nova Scotia, under date' of Oct. 31, 1776, thus describes the sufferings to which most of the ministers of the church were at this time exposed : "The clergy were everywhere threatened, often reviled with the most opprobrious language, sometimes treated with brutal violence. Some have been carried prisoners by armed

715

CITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

mobs into distant provinces, where they were detained in close confinement for several weeks, and much in- sulted, without any crime being even alleged against them. Some have been flung into jails by commit- tees for frivolous suspicions of plots, of which even their persecutors afterwards acquitted them. Some who were obliged to fly their own province to save their lives have been taken prisoners, sent back, and are threatened to be tried for their lives because they fled from danger. Some have been pulled out of the reading-desk because they prayed for the king, and that before independency was declared. Others have been warned to appear at militia musters with their arms, have been fined for not appearing, and threat- ened with imprisonment for not paying their fines. Others have had their houses plundered and their desks broken open under pretence of their containing treasonable papers. Whatever reluctance or pain a benevolent heart may feel in recounting such things, which are indeed a disgrace to humanity and religion, yet they ought to be held up to view the more effectu- ally to expose the baneful nature of persecution, make it detestable, and put mankind on their guard against its first approaches. Were every instance of this kind faithfully collected, says the writer, it is probable that the sufferings of the American clergy would appear in many respects not inferior to those of the English clergy in the time of the great rebel- lion."

Mr. Inglis himself, in reply to a message from Gen. Washington, requesting a change in the liturgy, that prayers might be omitted for the king and royal family, declared to the general in person "that it was in his power to close their churches, but by no means in his power to make the clergy depart from their duty."

Such conduct as this a man of Washington's firm- ness and valor was capable of appreciating. It did not diminish his reverence for the men, nor for the church of which they were ministers. He was him- self, like many of our eminent patriots and statesmen, devotedly attached to it, partaking of her commu- nion and serving as a vestryman ; her ministers were chosen for his chaplains, and in her solemn forms of devotion he offered up his thanksgivings for victory or for peace.

It is not wonderful, however, that this loyal con- duct of many of the clergy should have excited against them and the church the hostility of the mul- titude, and it cannot but be lamented that they should have taken this view of their duty, that they had not restricted themselves to the discharge of their clerical functions, and placed the service of Christ and His church before that of their king and country. By this course they would have better promoted the in- terests, temporal and spiritual, of all concerned.

But we, who live in peace and quietness, are hardly competent to judge of the conduct of men whose lot was cast in those days of trouble and confusion. It

may be they foresaw that " the children's teeth would he set on edge" by "the grapes" of which "their fathers ate," and they forbore. At any rate, we cannot but respect men of such uncompromising principles, even while we pity their mistakes or con- demn their errors. It is not just to charge their mis- takes or their errors upon the church of which they were ministers, or to desert her altars because they would not desert their country.

This, however, has been the case in too many in- stances, and the church in this place has in times past shared the obloquy extended to her elsewhere. Political prejudices have kept great numbers from joining her communion, which to this day is denom- inated by some of the older inhabitants "the English Church."

During all these troublous times Mr. Beach re- mained at his post of duty, having a sweet home- stead and retreat on the banks of the Raritan, where in the bosom of a large and happy family he found peace and solace amid surrounding perils, discord, and confusion.

He continued to officiate in Brunswick till 1784, when he became an assistant minister of Trinity Church, New York. On resigning this office he re- tired to the old homestead, that mansion of hospi- tality, where his declining years were spent, and where he rested from his labors.

A tablet has been erected to his memory in the church, with the following epitaph from the pen of the late James A. Hillhouse, Esq. :

" In the adjoining church yard lie interred the remains of

· ABRAHAM BEACH, D. D., Who was ordained in London, in 1767, to officiale in this church, where he faithfully performed his duty for 17 years. After devoting 25 years more to his Sacred profession in the City of New-York, he returned to close his days amidst the scenes of his youthful exertions. Having completed his 88th year, he departed on the 14th of September, 1828, in the humble but assured hope of entering in the enjoyment of those promises, of which he was so long the Herald. He was born in Cheshire Conn. Sept. 9th 1740."

On the same tablet are inscribed the names of Ann Van Wickle, the wife of Dr. Beach, who died in New : York, Jan. 22, 1808, and of their daughters, Ann Chandler Beach, wife of the Rev. T. Lyell, who died Dec. 23, 1821, and Maria Beach, who, with her hus- band, the Rev. A. Carter, fell a victim to the yellow fever in Savannah, Ga., 1827. Another daughter, the venerable Mrs. Rattoone, on the 12th of October, 1848, was reunited to this happy family circle "in the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love;" and more recently the eldest daughter of Dr. Beach, Mrs. Isaac Lawrence, has been added to that numerous gathering in Paradise.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 173

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts Number of Pages: 1224

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224