USA > New Jersey > Burlington County > Burlington > History of the church in Burlington, New Jersey : comprising the facts and incidents of nearly two hundred years, from original, contemporaneous sources > Part 11
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" We remain with the most profound respect
"May it please your Excellency " Your Excellencys most obed' humble Seryts
" ALEXR GRIFFITH Att. Genl. JOHN TALBOT Rector
ROWLAND ELLIS Sch. Mr.
DANI COXE
MANUELL SMITH
HU. HUDDY
RICH ALLISON
DAN- LEEDS
JONATHAN LOVETT
J. BASS
' ABRAHAM HEWLINGS."
"THE SPEEDY SENDING OF A BISHOP THE ONLY REMEDY." To his Excellney Gov" Nicholson. Extract.
" To mention no more of these ungrateful matters- we think it our duty lastly to complain to your Excellency of an affair which we believe will be a very great obstruction to the progress of the Gospel in the Government of the Jerseys viz. An Act of Assembly lately passed at Burlington entituling the Quakers to a part in the legislature with an Indulgence to them of the affirmation tho' rejected at home for the manifold injuries & wrongs done by it-this pernicious act was long aimed at but ineffectually by reason of the interposition of some honest Gen- tlemen members of the Church of England but these being by the restless malice of a party by indirect means viz. by accusing them most falsely of being disturbers of the peace of the Province procured to be removed from the Council at this time no friend of the Church being in the way this act passed without opposition.
" These and a great number of affronts offered to the Church of Christ and the injurious treatment of us the Ministers of it, put us under the necessity of crying aloud for succour and pro-
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tection and we have reason to bless God that your Excellency is now upon the spot invested with power to examine where the cause of all this lies.
" We have cause to fear that if a speedy stop be not put to those grievances the fruit of our labours here will be destroyed and the pious aims of the Venerable Society for promoting re- ligion and piety will be rendered frustrate. The only remedy we can see for preventing of these calamities is the speedy sending a Bishop into these parts to protect us and stand in the Gap against any person who may encourage or countenance any lawless designs against the Church. Sir the house at Burlington bought in the name of the Venerable Society for his habitation is compleately repaired for his reception according to their order, we must pray for such a person and the affairs of the Church languish for want of him and if notwithstanding all this we are not so happy as to have one sent to us, we are likely to run into independency and confusion. Manifold have been the represen- tations of this nature which we thought it our duty from time to time to offer to the prudent consideration of pious and ven- erable persons whom we believe immediately concerned in providing for our relief God knows not without great cause, but with great grief we speak it, all hitherto ineffectual-Sir we are a considerable body and should not be left destitute of a head, the cause is the greatest of all causes the glory of God and the good of Souls which our holy Church engages herself to promote ; it is owing to the alone mercy of the great and good God that it has flourished as we now see it, but as it is surrounded with Enemies attacked from many quarters by violent and restless inquiries of Satan we are not without reason and fear that the last state may be worse than the first, unless speedy succour be administred to our distresses.
"To you then Sir we have recourse in this our exigency and humbly entreat your Excellency who have upon all occasions demonstrated yourself to be a worthy Son friend and Patron to this best of Churches and its Ministers to transmit this our complaint with which we make bold to trouble your Excellency together with your sentiments upon the matter to the Venerable Society and all other Noble Patriots who have sincerely at heart
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the cause of God and religion and we shall acknowledge this in all humanity as the greatest obligation you can lay upon us to be for ever
" May it please your Excellency "your Excellencys " Most obliged and " most humble Servants " JOHN TALBOT " Rector of the Church of Burlington " ANDREW SANDEL " Minister at Wicaco near Philadelphia " FRANCIS PHILLIPS
" Minister of Christs Church in Philadelphia " JOHN HUMPHREYS " Minister of the Church at Oxford near Philadelphia."
DEATH OF THE QUEEN.
In 1714, on " the first day of August in the morning," says Smollett, with his usual particularity of statement, "ANNE STUART, queen of Great Britain, expired in the fiftieth year of her age, and in the thirteenth of her reign. * *
" The virtues of her heart were never called in question. She was a pattern of conjugal affection and fidelity, a tender mother, a warm friend, an indulgent mistress, a munificent patron, a mild and merciful prince, during whose reign no subject's blood was shed for treason. She was zealously attached to the Church of England from conviction rather than from prepossession, un- affectedly pious, just, charitable, and compassionate. She felt a mother's fondness for her people, by whom she was universally beloved with a warmth of affection which even the prejudice of party could not abate. In a word, if she was not the greatest, she was certainly one of the best and most unblemished sover- eigns that ever sat upon the throne of England; and well deserved the expressive, though simple epithet of 'The good Queen Anne.'" -History of England, Vol. I, pp. 502-3.
GEORGE, THE FIRST.
"The parliament," continues Smollett, " having assembled , pursuant to the act which regulated the succession, the lord- chancellor, on the fifth day of August, told them, that the privy- council appointed by the elector of Brunswick had proclaimed that prince under the name of king George, as the lawful and rightful sovereign of these kingdoms. *
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"It was the misfortune of this prince, as well as a very great prejudice to the nation, that he had been misled into strong pre- possessions against the tories, who constituted such a consider- able part of his subjects. They were now excluded from all share of the royal favour, which was wholly engrossed by their enemies : these early marks of aversion, which he was at no pains to conceal, alienated the minds of many who would other- wise have served him with fidelity and affection. An instan- taneous and total change was effected in all offices of honour and advantage.
* The king declared in council his firm purpose to support and maintain the churches of England and Scotland as they were by law established ; an aim which he imagined might be effectually accomplished, without impairing the toleration allowed by law to protestant dissenters.
" Meanwhile, the number of the malcontents in England was considerably increased by the king's attachment to the whig fac- tion. The clamour of the Church's being in danger was revived ; jealousies were excited ; seditious libels dispersed ; and danger- ous tumults raised in different parts of the kingdom.
"The Pretender took this opportunity to transmit copies of a printed manifesto. In this he mentioned the good intentions of his sister towards him, which were prevented by her deplor- able death. He observed that his people, instead of doing him and themselves justice, had proclaimed for their king a foreign prince, contrary to the fundamental and incontestable laws of hereditary right which their pretended acts of settlement could never abrogate. Religion was mingled in all political disputes. The high churchmen complained that impiety and heresy daily gained ground from the connivance, or at least the supine negligence of the whig prelates. The lower house of convocation had, before the Queen's death, declared that a book published by Dr. Samuel Clarke under the title of ' The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity,' contained assertions contrary to the Catholic Faith. * The dis- putes about the Trinity increasing, the archbishops and bishops received directions, which were published, for preserving unity in the Church, the purity of the christian faith concerning the Holy Trinity, and for maintaining the peace and quiet of the state. By these every preacher was restricted from delivering any other doctrine than what is contained in the Holy Scriptures with respect to the Trinity ; and from intermeddling in any affairs of state or government. The like prohibition was extended to those who should write, harangue, or dispute on the same subjects." -History of England, Vol : I, pp. 506, 508-510.
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MR. TALBOT SICK AND DISHEARTENED. Mr. Talbot to the Secretary. " Burlington, October 28th, 1714.
" SIR :
"I sent a letter by Mr. Evans, wherein I desired leave of the Honorable Society to come home. I have been long enough in these parts to see iniquity established by law, and that by some of your own members, and what good can your Missionaries do ? I have been sick a long time this fall with a burning fever, which made me so weak that I could scarce speak. I could not preach, nor read prayers, so the service of God ceased. In all this Province of West New Jersey there never was any minister of Christ's Church settled but myself. I have built three Churches since I came here, but have nobody to keep them, nor myself neither. We have had a very sickly time this year ; I have buried more than in ten years before ; and many Church people died that had nobody to visit them when sick, nor bury them when dead. Let them that have the watch look out, 'tis they must give account ; I am clear of the blood of all men, abroad and at home, and so I hope to keep myself. The Society were once upon a good resolution to send Deacons to be School Masters ; if they had done so to Burlington, to Bristol, to Hopewell, they might have kept the Church doors open, for they could read the Prayers and Homilies, Baptize and Cate- chize, they could visit the sick and bury the dead; but now they must bury one another; they have no where to go but to Quakers' meetings, which are as bad as Indians'; there's noth- ing but powawing and conjuring to raise a Devil they cannot lay again ; and now that this wickedness is established by law, what should we do here any longer? They do declare in the presence of God Almighty, they don't swear, call him to witness all they say is no more than yea or nay.
" The Church at New Bristol, over against Burlington, was opened about St. James' day, and so called St. James' Church, by the Rev. Mr. Philips, who preached the first sermon. The Church was full of people from all parts, who were liberal con- tributors to it. I went now and then to preach there on Sun- days in the afternoon before I was sick, but since that I have
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not been able, so the Church has been shut up, almost ever since it was opened. The Church at Hopewell has been built these ten or twelve years, and never had a minister settled there yet, though they have sent several Petitions and Addresses to the Society ; but I understand since, that Hopewell, Maidenhead, &c., were kept under the thumb for Cotton Mather and the rest of the New England Doctors to send their emissaries ; and those hirelings have often come there, and as often run away, because they were hirelings, and cared for no souls but themselves.
" As for the Church at New Bristol, it was first begun by the zealous Thorowgood Moore, of pious memory ; and when he was taken away by this same cursed faction that is now rampant, I was unwilling any of his good works should fall to the ground, so I crossed the water at my own cost to serve those poor people, who lived in Darkness and the shadow of death, in the midst of Heathenism, Atheism, and Quakerism ; but it pleased God by our preaching the word in season and out of season, some came to believe and were baptized, they and their children, and two of the Chief people there, Mr. John Rowland and Mr. Anthony Burton, were willing to undertake to build a Church, which since they have done, and I believe they will endow it too if they get a minister before they die. I gave them five pounds and a pulpit of black walnut, which cost as much more, to en- courage them ; I promised to lay their case before the pious society, that they may take some care of them, that they be not a reproach to the heathenish Quakers, who are too apt to reflect upon us, 'where is your Priest, where is your Minister, and where is your Church, it may serve us for a meeting house,' &c. Pudet hæc opprobria nobis dici potuisse et non potuisse repelli.
" But the History of the Church at Burlington, &c., has been so much better done by Colonel Jeremiah Bass, Esq., Secretary of this Province, and transmitted home, by the hands of the Honorable General Nicholson, that I need say no more at present, but desire the prayers and blessing of the venerable Society for their
" Most humble and faithful Missionary " And servant,
" JOHN TALBOT."
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IN BURLINGTON.
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH AT BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY, BY JEREMIAH BASS, ESQ., DELIVERED BY GENERAL NICHOLSON.}
"SOLI DEO GLORIA.
" After a long season of Ignorance, Superstition, and Idolatry had covered this Province, it pleased that Infinite Being whose. goodness is over all his works, and who hath promised to give unto our Blessed Saviour, the Immaculate Jesus, the Heathen for his Inheritance, and the utmost parts of the Earth for his possession, to illuminate these Provinces with some Rayes of his Glory and Goodness, by sending the glorious light of the Gospel amongst us. The first European inhabitants of this River were the subjects of the King of Sweden, who in their first settlement in this River, brought with them the Religion of their country, in which, to their commendation, and the care of their Missionaries, they have yet continued ; few of them having at any time from their first settlement to this day, apostated from their Christian Faith, to the envy of Quakerism.
" The next Inhabitants were the Dutch, who having taken the River from the Swedes, introduced their Laws, Government, and Religion, which again suffered an alteration, by the coming in and conquest of these parts by the English, who in their first settlement of this Province, seemed to mind more the business of their Trade and Plantation, than that great concern of their souls. There being in the Western Division, no settled Society or congregation of any of the Church, or any Dissenters, except Quakers ; and although some Reverend Divines, as they occa- sionally passed through this Province, preached the Gospel and administered the ordinance of Baptism to some few persons, and by that means sowed the seeds of the Gospel, that have since sprung up amongst us, and excited the desires of some of the Inhabitants to make a more diligent enquiry into the true way of worshipping God, and had in some measure taken off those prejudices that most of the Inhabitants laboured under, by education, example and reading the Books and hearing the dis- courses of such as had misrepresented both the Doctrine and
+ "Copied from a MS. obtained by me in England, from the papers in the possession of the Lord Bishop of London, at Fulham. F. L. HAWKS, 1836."
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Discipline of the Church of England ; yet we cannot properly begin any History of the Church but from the arrival of the Reverend Mr. Edward Portlock, who at the desire of several of the Proprietors of the Eastern Division of this Province, came over, ordained by the Right Reverend Henry, Lord Bishop of London, to take the care and cure of souls, as rector of a Church to be built at Perth-Amboy, the Metropolis of the Eastern Divi- sion of this Province, who arrived in this Province, and made his application to the Governor, for the Proprietors, in the year -; who with the consent and approbation of the Agents, for the Proprietors, called the council of Proprietors, set apart one of the Houses (that had been formerly built at the charge of the general Proprietors) for the peculiar service and worship of God, according to the Laws of England, which House, by the Contribution of several pious and well-disposed persons, was soon covered, and glazed, and fitted with seats and a Pulpit, and Mr. Portlock put into possession of the same, (which by the way is the only Church they have to this day at Perth-Amboy); in the interim, the said Mr. Portlock preached sometimes at the Governor's House, sometimes at a House belonging to Mr. Dockwra of London, Merchant, sometimes in the neighbouring Towns of Woodbridge, Piscataway, Elizabeth Town, and when the Governor's business called him into the Western Division, accompanied him to Burlington, where the public Town House was allowed him for that service. This good work was at the same time carried on by the Rev. Mr. Vesey, in the Eastern Division, and the Rev. Mr. Clayton, Minister of Christ Church, in Philadelphia. These beginnings of Light, which through the Blessing of God were not unsuccessful, and the division that at this time happened amongst the people called Quakers, by Mr. George Keith's opposing some of their principal errors, occasioned several pious and well disposed Christians to think of erecting a place in Burlington, peculiarly dedicated and set apart for the service and worship of God, according to the usage of the best of Churches, the Church of England ; who were herein much encouraged and assisted by the pious discourses and ser- mons of the Rev. Mr. Evan Evans, Rector of Christ Church in Philadelphia, who frequently came over into this Province,
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preached and baptized both Infants and Adult persons, and the Rev. Mr. John Talbot, our worthy Minister, a Missionary of the Honorable Society for the propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; this good work was very much forwarded by the generous contribution of his Excellency Francis Nicholson, Esq., then Governor of Virginia, who we must own to be our first and best Benefactor, and indeed he gave life and motion to the whole work, by a generous contribution of nigh £50, to be laid out towards that service ; and since, I have the just occa- sion to mention that worthy patron of our Churches (in whose commendation on this score too much can hardly be said). I may be therefore bold in affirming, that no Church in these parts hath wanted assistance towards its foundation, reparation, or beautifying but hath on application tasted of his bounty; no Missionaries or Ministers, that have had the happiness of his acquaintance, have parted from him without some mark of his favour ; nor no devout and pious member, in any exigency or distress, has applied to him for relief or support in vain. On this encouragement, and the assistance of some considerable benefactions of £50, from the members of the Church at Phila- delphia ; £12 10s. from the Rev. Mr. Myles at Boston, and the courteous care and diligence of Mr. Robert Wheeler, of Bur- lington, merchant, since deceased, (who has sometimes been in advance above £150, out of his own pocket), and the contribu- tions of several other persons, who though not particularly men- tioned, will be rewarded by Him, who has promised a reward for a Cup of Cold Water, given to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple.
" The Church of St. Mary in Burlington, in the Western Division of the Province of New Jersey, had the foundation stone laid by the Rev. John Talbot, Missionary from the Hon- orable Society for propagating the Gospel, on the 25th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1703; being a day sacred to the memory of the Annunciation of the Conception of our Blessed Saviour to the Virgin Mary, which gave name to the Church. This beginning was carried on with that Industry and Diligence, chiefly by the said Mr. Wheeler, that it was inclosed, covered,
I
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ceiled, and glazed, and the Holy Sacrament administered therein, by the Rev. Mr. John Talbot, on Whitsunday, the 4th of June, 1704; the Divine Service having been read and Sermons preached in the said Church ever since the 22d of August, in the preceding "year, 1703. Thus the work of God and his Church was carried on amongst us, with great alacrity. The Burying ground purchased for the Church, containing in all about three acres, being well fenced in, and Pews and Seats in the Church, the members began to think it convenient to form themselves into a regular Society, according to the Law and Customs of England, and thereupon addressed themselves by Petition to his Excellency, Edward, Lord Cornbury, (since Earl of Clarendon,) her Majesty's Governor of this Province, and a real friend of our Church, who on the 4th October, 1704, granted his Warrant for a Patent to Incorporate them, under his Privy Seal, with all requisite and necessary powers for their encouragement and support .; The Church thus settled, under
+ This "Patent"-which Mr. Bass, in a subsequent portion of his History, in- forms us was not passed-is in the office of the Secretary of State at Trenton, and reads as follows: "EDWARD VISCOUNT CORNBURY Captain General & Gover'r in Chief in & over the Provinces of New Jersey New York and all the Terri- tories and Tracts of Land depending thereon in America and Vice Admiral of the same &c. Whereas Several of the Inhabitants of the Town and County of Burlington in her Majestys Province of Nova Casaria or New Jersey out of a Pious Zeal for the promoting the Worship of God according to the Usage of the Church of England as by Law established, Have by Voluntary Contribu- tions erected a Church in ye Town of Burlington for the performing of Divine service according to the usage of the said Church ; And there being as yet no Settlement of Officers necessary for the well Governmt of the same: I Have Therefore thought fitt for the better Regulation and Encouragemt of the In- habitants to Constitute and appoint for this Year Robert Wheeler & Hugh Huddy Gentlemen to be Church Wardens of the said Church called by the name of Saint Annes Church in Burlington to continue for one year. And I do likewise appoint the Honble Coll Richard Ingoldesby Esqr Lieut: Gover- nor of Her Majesty's Provinces of New Jersey New York &c Nathaniel West- land Thomas Revell Danl Leeds William Budd Esqs John Roberts George Willis William Bustill John Hamell Edmond Steward Gents to be Vestry men of the said Church, Authorizeing and Impowering the Church Wardens & Vestry or any Six of them to meet together and Transact with the Assistance of the Minister all things necessary for the benefit and Incouragemt of the said Church and at ye Expiration of the Term of one Year All the Commu- nicants of the sd Church shall be appointed to meet in the said Church upon a Certain Day to Chuse Church Wardens and Vestry men for the Year Ensueing which said Day shall be declar'd by the Minister immediately after Divine Service the next Sunday before the Day for the Intented election, and so from year to year, which said Church Wardens and Vestry men are hereby
,
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the care of the Rev. Mr. John Talbot, through the Blessing of God, on his ministry, grew and increased so that we had sub- scriptions made, and the foundation laid, for a Church at Hope- well, in the upper part of the County of Burlington, which hath been since finished, which was for some time supplied by the Rev. Mr. May, but is now without any minister. We had another begun at Salem, which by some unhappy accidents, hath been since discontinued, though not without some hopes of being revived, when it shall please God to send some one amongst us, that careth for the welfare, and seeketh the good of the Churches ; to both of which Churches we find his Excellency, Colonel Nicholson, one of the first and chiefest Benefactors ; and here I cannot omit mentioning the Honorable Colonel Coxe, then one of Her Majesty's Council for this Province, who was one of the frst subscribers to our Church at Burlington, and has given the like assistance to that at Hopewell, together with the assurance of settling 200 acres of Land, out of the nighest and most con- venient part of his Land, contiguous to the said Church, for a glebe for the Minister, whenever it shall please God a mission- ary be sent over, to take care of that Church, or sooner if it be desired. I might also mention the Churches of Chester, New Castle, Dover River, Apoquimony, Oxford, and Bristol, that about the time, were either begun or finished ; but designing to confine myself to Burlington only, I purposely omit any par- ticulars of them. Our Reverend Minister's affairs calling him for England, in the year of our Lord 1705, he appointed the Rev. Mr. Thorowgood Moore to serve the Church in his room, a person of morals, exemplary meekness, piety and charity. Our Vestry thought it their duty, by the Rev. Mr. Talbot, to send home Addresses to Her Majesty, and a Letter of Thanks to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the Honorable the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which
vested with all Requisites and necessary powers and Priviledges usually En- joyed by Church Wardens and Vestry men in ye Kingdom of England.
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