USA > New York > Nassau County > Hempstead > History of St. George's Church, Hempstead, Long Island, N.Y. > Part 6
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Mr. Seabury having left some matters unarranged at New London, received permission from Governor Clarke to defer compliance with the requisition until he returned from attending to them ; and on Febru- ary 13th, 1743, he proceeded to fulfill this duty as the following certificate attests :
" Wee the Subscribers, Do hereby Certifye That Samuel Seabury, Rector of the Parish of Hempstead, in Queens County, upon the Island of Nassau, com- monly called Long Island, in the Province of New York, on the thirteenth day of February, 1742, [1743], being the Lord's Day, did Read in his parish church aforesaid-Openly, Publicly and Solemnly, the Morning and Evening Prayer, appointed to be read by and according to the book, entitled the Book of Common Prayer, &c., att the time thereby appointed, and Did Openly and Publicly before the Congrega-
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St. George's Church.
tion then assembled, Declare his unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained and pre- scribed therein, according to this form, viz. : 'I,. Samuel Seabury, do Declare my unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing Contained and prescribed in and by the Book Intitled the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacra- ments, and the other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England, together with the Psaltre and Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be Sung or Said in Churches,. and the Form and manner of making, ordaining and. consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons ;' and. these things we promise to testifie upon our Corporal Oaths, if at any time we shall be duly called there- unto. In witness whereof we have hereto set our hands this thirteenth Day of February, in the year of our Lord, 1742-3.
" BENJN. TREDWELL, JACOB SMITH, MICAH SMITH."
The translation of Mr. Seabury from New London to Hempstead, was regarded with interest by the friends of the Episcopal Church, and considered as very favorable to her welfare, as will be seen in the following extract from the proceedings of the Vener- able Society for 1742-3 :* " Mr. Commissary Vesey acquaints the Society that the Church Wardens and Vestry of Hempstead hath called the Rev. Mr. Sea- bury of New London ; and Mr. S. hath accepted the call on condition that it be approved by the Society, which Mr. Vesey earnestly beseeches them to do, as what will very much contribute to the peace and
* Abstract, p. 45.
85.
Rev. Samuel Seabury.
edification of the good people of Hempstead. And upon this recommendation, joined to the humble. petition of the Church Wardens and Vestry of Hemp- stead, and of Mr. Seabury, hath consented, &c."
Anderson says *- " The success which attended' Mr. Seabury's labors in New London, led to his ap- pointment to the more important sphere of duty at Hempstead, Long Island, when Dr. Jenney was re- moved thence to Philadelphia, in 1742. The like success waited upon him there ; and at Hempstead, Oyster Bay, and Huntington, congregations increas- ing in numbers and continuing for the most part stead- fast amid the wildest outbreaks of religious enthusi- asm then caused by many of Whitfield's followers, bore witness to its enduring character."
The Vestry of this parish expressed their gratifica- tion for the appointment of Mr. Seabury by the Ven- erable Society, by the following action :+
" At a meeting of the Rector, Church Wardens. and Vestrymen of St. George's Church, in Hemp- stead, at the house of Geradus Clowes, of Hempstead, on Friday, the 21st of October, Anno Domini, 1743 : " Agreed-That a letter of thanks be sent the Honorable Society from this Vestry for their favour in appointing the Rev. Mr. Samuel Seabury to be Missionary to this our Church of St. George afore- said, at which meeting the members present were the Rev. Mr. Seabury, Rector, Coll. Cornell and Justice Micah Smith, Ch. Wardens; Mr. Jacob Smith, Mr. Robert Mervin and Mr. Richard Thorn, Vestrymen :"
The following letter was sent accordingly :
* Church of England in the Colonies, V. 3, p. 426.
+ Records, pp. 39, 40.
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St. George's Church.
" HEMPSTEAD, Oct. 21, 1743.
" REVEREND SIR :- We, the Church Wardens and Vestrymen of St. George's Church, in the parish of Hempstead, beg leave to approach the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts with our most hearty thanks for the repetition of their favour to our Parish. We are the posterity of those who long ago partook of the benefit of your Charity, and we hope the repeated expressions of your Care for us, will be considered as an Obligation on our parish in general to make a good improve- ment of the Same. And we take this opportunity to assure the Honorable Society that it appears the greatest concern of our present Minister, the Rev. Mr. Seabury, that we may improve in true religion and piety, answerable to your great favour to us. And we hope the Honorable Society will be pleased to accept the tender of our thanks in behalf of the parish for appointing Mr. Seabury our minister, and believe yt we will endeavour by all means to express our reverence to the Honorable Society by our most Kind and obliging treatment of their Missionary.
"We are, Revd. Sir, yours, the Venerable Society's, most obedient and most humble servants, &c.
"To the Revd. Dr. Bearcroft, Secretary."
Having thus related the steps taken in connection with the Rev. Mr. Seabury's assuming the Rector- ship of the parish, we proceed to offer some account of his ancestry and history.
The Rev. Samuel Seabury's ancestors were of Por- lake, Devonshire, Eng. It has been affirmed that the ancient form of the name was Sedborough or Sea- berry. He was born in Groton,-now Ledyard- Conn., in 1706. He was a grandson of Samuel Sea- bury, a noted physician and surgeon of Duxbury,
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Rev. Samuel Seabury.
Mass. The father of Mr. Seabury was a man of prominence among the Congregationalists of New London, and held the office of a deacon among them. He appears not to have been entirely satisfied with the results of the religious excitement which had been brought about by the teaching of Whitfield and his admirers. It is related that on one occasion he arose in his seat in the church, and interrupted the noted Mr. Tennant, who was preaching, saying -- " Sir-You are continually crying-' Come to Christ,' -'Come to Christ,' 'Bring your sins to Christ ;' But, sir, you do not tell us how to come or how to bring our sins to Christ. You speak as if they were to be put in a basket, and taken somehow to Him. Let us have instruction, as well as exhortation."*
The change in his son's Church views did not, ap- parently, alienate the deacon's affection. He died aged eighty-six years, Dec. 17, 1759, while on a visit to his son at Hempstead, and his remains were interred in St. George's churchyard.
In Mr. Seabury's early manhood he officiated as a licensed preacher to the Congregationalists ; but, says Sprague, t was never Congregationally ordained. He married Abigail Mumford, a relative of his Episcopal neighbor, the Rev. Dr. McSparran. This lady was the mother of Bishop Seabury. She died in 1731.
In 1733 Mr. Scabury took as his second wife Eliza- beth, daughter of Adam Powell, a merchant of New- port, R. I., and a granddaughter of Gabriel Bernon. She survived her husband thirty-five years and at-
* MSS. of Rev. Dr. Sam. Seabury, p. 6.
+ Fpis. Pulpit, p. 149
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St. George's Church.
tained a venerable age, dying Feb. 6, 1799, in her 87th year. She was buried in St. George's church- yard, by the side of her husband.
Mr. Seabury's grandmother was Elizabeth Alden -a descendant of John Alden, who is said to have been the first man that landed on Plymouth Rock. Mr. Seabury was thus, remarks Dr. Hallam,* the de- 'scendant of a godly seed, the heir of an. hereditary piety.
Mr. Seabury's social relations with Dr. McSparran doubtless contributed towards the convictions he came to entertain concerning the divine constitution of the ministry and the Church. For Dr. McSparran, who was Rector of the Episcopal Church at Narragansett (Tower Hill) R. I., was a man of great mental ability and influence. And Mr. Scabury's attention had already been drawn to these subjects while he was a member of Yale College. For he was a student there at that memorable period, when the Congregational " standing order" were astonished, horrified, and in- tensely angered by the announcement of Dr. Cutler, the President of the College, that he had become an Episcopalian. In the bitter strife and confusion which arose in consequence of this avowal, Mr. Seabury found his studies interrupted, and therefore transfer- red himself to Harvard University, where he gradu- ated in 1724.
Being convinced of the necessity of Episcopal or- dination to a valid ministry, he determined to seek it. With this purpose, leaving his family, he took passage for England in the spring of 1730. He carried with
* Quoted by Sprague, p. 150.
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Rev. Samuel Seabury.
him the following letter of commendation from the Rev. Dr. Timothy Cutler, of Christ Church, Boston, to the Secretary of the Venerable Society .*
" BOSTON, 23 March, 1729-30.
" SIR-This waits upon the Society, in the hands of one Mr. Seabury, a person who, upon true and regular conviction, is come into the bosom of our ex- cellent Church, and now humbly desires a Mission from the Society in her service. My acquaintance with him is earlier than my own Mission, and I have had further opportunity of informing myself of him from the Dissenters, among whom he has preached, and find everything in favor of his sobriety and good conduct, for which reason he has my ardent wishes. of success in the affair, and my intercession for him to the Society, with the deepest humility and respect due from
"Their and your obedient, &c., &c. "TIM. CUTLER."
Dr. McSparran also wrote to the Secretary of the Society, as follows :
" NARRAGANSETT, May 20, 1730.
" REV. SIR-Mr. Samuel Seabury, at whose hands you will receive this, was educated at the seminaries of learning here, and did, for some time, preach to. the Dissenters, by whom he is well reported of for a virtuous conversation. He has, for some time past, conformed to our Church, and, manifesting a desire of going upon the Society's Mission, I thought it be- came me to encourage a person of his merit by rec- ommending him to the Society's notice. The place of his birth and most intimate acquaintance is Groton,. in the neighbourhood of New London, which I
* His. Coll. Am. Col. Church, Mass., p. 256. .
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St. George's Church.
thought proper to observe, in hopes that it might prove an inducement to determine his Mission to that place, &c. &c."*
JAMES MCSPARRAN."
The application for orders was successful, and Mr. Seabury was ordained Deacon, and shortly afterwards, Priest, probably by the Bishop of London. And on the 21st of August, 1730, he appeared before the Venerable Society, and, after due examination and enquiry, was appointed a Missionary to New London, Conn. He remained in England a few months after his ordination. On the 30th of August, 1730, he preached in St. Michael's Church, Cornhill, from I Thess. 5 : 17 : " Pray without ceasing." This ser- mon, still in the possession of his descendants, shows Mr. S. to have been a preacher of great earnestness, directness of address, a devout spirit, and an excellent logician. These traits are manifested perhaps still more forcibly in another sermon, preached by him at. this period, in which he maintains with great lucidity in the arrangement and statement of his argument, that the use of a Liturgy and prescribed forms of prayer, are both Scriptural, and best adapted to the spiritual needs of men in public worship.
Returning to this country in 1732, Mr. Seabury commenced his labors in New London, as the first minister of St. James' Church, where, for the succeed- ing ten years, he prosecuted the duties of his calling with assiduity, and with an encouraging degree of success. Before leaving New London, he preached a
* Ch. Docu. Conn., Hawkes and Perry, p. 142.
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Rev. Samuel Seabury.
sermon which was "Published at the desire of some who heard it."
The few productions of Mr. Seabury's pen which have been preserved, make us regret that he had not published more. They show that he was a man of no ordinary mental capacity. He took hold of sub- jects with a firm grasp, and treated them with vigor- ous common sense, and was able to convey the im- pression that he was thoroughly convinced, himself, of those things of which he sought to convince others.
The materials from which to gain a just compre- hension of him are very scanty. Yet it is evident from even the little we have, that he was a person of superior endowments. It is the misfortune of the Church to have heard so little about him : so little, indeed, that to this day, where the name of Samuel Seabury is mentioned, it is by many persons sup- posed his son, the Bishop, must be meant. In fact, the conspicuous figure of the son, has really cast into the shade the name of his excellent father. Yet those qualities which made the son a man of mark, were inherited from his father. The only idea we have been able to obtain of Mr. Seabury's personal appear- ance was from the recollections of an aged parish- ioner * who was born in 1771, seven years after Mr. Seabury's death; and himself died in 1863, aged 92 years. He remembered the description given of Mr. Seabury by his father. "My father described him to me, as, seated on a strong sorrel horse, he made his way to Oyster Bay and Huntington, with his saddle-bags strapped to his saddle. He was strongly
,
* John Bedel, Esq., late Senior Warden.
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St. George's Church.
built, but not tall, and he had a countenance which was intelligent and kindly, and showed decision and firmness. He wore a three-cornered hat, and small clothes and top boots. He rode well, but sometimes he could not make the journey in time to have service and return the same day."
At the time Mr. Seabury became the minister of Hempstead, the labors and influence of his predeces- sors, Thomas and Jenney, had begun to bring forth increasing good fruits, a recompense to their devoted efforts. Prejudices and enmities had nearly expended themselves. Most of the inveterate opposers of those good men and of Christ's Holy Church had died. A more tolerant and intelligent generation occupied their places; and the services of the Church were not only accepted, but even sought after in all directions.
Mr. Seabury, who evidently possessed a most vig- orous constitution, endeavored to improve every opening ; and the church records show that his min- istrations were extended to all parts of Queen's. County east of Jamaica, to Huntington, and also to many places in Westchester and Dutchess Counties.
The parsonage, built in 1682, being in a ruinous state, one of the first acts of the Vestry under Mr. Seabury's ministration was to take proper measures for its repair. The following is the record of the proceedings in the matter :
" Whereas the Parsonage house in Hempstead is now very much out of repair, So that if immediate care is not Taken thereof great part of it will be inca- pable of being Inhabited if not in danger of falling Down. We therefore, whose names are here under
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Rev. Samuel Seabury.
written, Do hereby promise and Oblige ourselves, To pay unto such person or persons as shall be nomin- ated and appointed by the Major part of the Vestry of St. George's Church to receive the same and to manage the work, the respective sums of money here under mentioned against our several and respective names, towards the re-building of the said parsonage house, as to the said managers in their Discretion shall be thought fit. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands, the thirteenth Day of March, Anno Domini, 1743.
John Cornell £ S. d. 6 O O
£
s. d.
Jno. Wolley I O 0
Richard Thorn 5 O O
S. Pearsall
O 5
O
Rich'd Cornell 2 O
Dan'l Kissam I O O Jos. Hewlett O . 5
John Smith 3 O
John Seeving 2 O C S. Hewlett O
5 O
R'd Cornell O IO O
Jno. Peters O IO O
Z. Southward O 5
O
R'd Townsend 0 8 0
Benj. Lester I O O R'd Williams O IO 0
Henry Allen I 4
R. Marvin 2 IO O
Ben. Treadwell 5 O
Cornl. Cornell I 4 O
Benj. Hewlett I O
Jacob Smith 3 O O
Jos. Kissam 2 C
Thos. Lee I O O
Charles Peters 2 O
Benj. Cornell I O O
Mrs. Allyn I IO
Peter Smith, Sr. o IO 0
J. Sprung O 5
O
O Jos. Smith 3
O O
Micah Smith 2 O
Adam Mott 2 IO O
Benj. Lewis O
5
O
Ino. Mitchell O 8
Wm. Latham O 3
O
James Smith O IO
Jos. Valentine I O O
John Cornell I O
Uriah Mitchell I O
Henry Smith O 8
Jon. Smith I
O
O
Daniel Pine
3
O
C
Phil Allyn I O O Jno. Townsend O 5 O
Lefft. Hogewout I 10
O
James Hewlett 0 IO
Samuel Searing 0 IO
Tim'y Smith I O
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St. George's Church.
" At a meeting of the Rector, one of the Church Wardens and Vestry of St. George's Church in Hempstead, at the house of G(eradus) Clowes, on Tuesday, 29 May, 1744 :
" Agreed, To proceed in building the parsonage house, in hempstead, this present year.
" Agreed, That the Rev. Mr. Samuel Seabury, the church warden Micah Smith, and Mr. John Dorland, be the Managers for the building the parsonage house and be authorized to receive the money subscribed, in a subscription for that purpose.
" Dated in Hempstead, the 13th day of March, Anno Domini, 1743."
The subscriptions of £66 Ios were apparently not all that were made for the re-building. And it appears that the amounts obtained were not quite suf- ficient to meet the outlay required, for :
" At a meeting of the Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of St. George's Church, in Hempstead, the 25th March, 1746:
Present, Mr. Seabury, Rector. Micah Smith Richard Thorne
Church Wardens.
Joseph Smithı
Robert Marvin
John Dorland Vestrymen.
Leffert Haugewout
" Agreed, That Mr. Richard Thorne (having Dis- bursed and paid off Sundry persons having Demands on Account of Building the parsonage house in Hempstead, and has also undertaken to Discharge all other Debts which are due on that account), shall be repaid him by the first day of May next, and if there happen to be any unpaid at the time, from thence,
95
Rev. Samuel Seabury.
Lawful Interest shall be allowed him until the same be Discharged, and that if any money be paid by him after the said first day of May towards the said par- sonage, the same shall be Remitted to him in manner aforesaid, to be paid in equal proportion by the Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen present at the meeting above said."*
It is to be supposed that this agreement was com- prehended by the parties to it, though its language is rather ambiguous to us.
Immediately after this agreement is the following entry, by another hand :
" May 30, 1739 .- Then received from the Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen Seven pounds fifteen, in full of the above obligation.
" RICHARD THORNE."
" 1739," here is clearly an error in writing, as the undertaking was not begun until 1743.
Mr. Seabury made reports regularly to the Vener- able Society, which had appointed him its missionary. But in those forwarded by him during the first two years of his ministrations in Hempstead, we do not find any statements of the condition of the Parish differing from those which had been already given by Dr. Jenney. But the following extracts from his com- munications to the Society will afford an interesting account of Mr. Seabury's experience and labors in the years following. In 1746, he thus wrote :
"The people have imbibed Quaker notions, and are loth to come to the sacrament. I had two new com- municants, and want copies of the 'Reasonable
* Church Records, p. 43.
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St. George's Church.
Communicant.' I have baptized many adults and a vast many children since my mission at Hempstead, many of whom are grown to years to join in the public worship. It is a genuine work of charity to give them prayer books. I want catechisms with questions, to try whether the catechumens understand the answers."
" The sectaries of all sorts (who abound in this parish) and professed infidels exert themselves to the utmost to hinder the growth of the Church ; and the more diligence I use, the more the infidels particular- ly seem to be inflamed, yet the Church manifestly gets ground."
The following is the first reference we find to Mr. Seabury's son Samuel-afterward the Bishop of Con- necticut, and who at the time of his father's removal to Hempstead was about 14 years old.
" September 30, 1748 .- My son is now studying physic, and before he be of age to present himself to the Society, I intend he shall spend one or two years at Edinboro' in the study of physic. I wish the Society to give him a place in their books, and grant what Commissary Vesey may recommend in regard to Huntington. He is not yet nineteen. He may be employed at some small allowance, as I presume to hope at Huntington, in reading prayers and ser- mons, and in catechising, to good purpose, before he will be of age for Holy Orders."
Enlarged accommodations for an increasing con- gregation being necessary, an additional gallery was built in 1753. The following being the subscribers for the necessary outlay :
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Rev. Samuel Seabury.
s.
S
David Allgeo IO
Joseph Kissam 3
Josiah Martin 20
John Brown
3
Richard Thorne 5
James Wood 2
Leffert Hagawout 8 Samuel Seabury 2
Benjamin Hewlett 2
Jacob Johnson 0
8
James Smith I IO
Daniel Pine 5
Isaac Golden I
Valentine H. Peters 3
John Peters
5
Richard Ellison I
Robert Marvin
5
The number of communicants at this time was seventy-eight.
In 1748, Mr. Seabury informed the Venerable Society that at Huntington a considerable number of people had conformed and built a church for the worship of God, according to the liturgy of the Church of England, and that he had frequently offici- ated there. But he could not give them as frequent visits as was desirable for them. That their need might be in a measure supplied, the Churchmen at Huntington, addressed a petition to the Venerable Society that Mr. Samuel Seabury, Jr., might be ap- pointed as catechist for them-of which the following is an extract :
" We are inhabitants of a town, which, till of late, has been under great prejudices against the Church of England, a few excepted ; but by late enthusiastic confusions,* which mightily prevailed here, Some of us have been awakened to consider the consequences of those principles in which we had been educated, and by the assistance of the Reverend Mr. Seabury, the Society's missionary at Hempstead, who has been
* Referring to Whitfield's operations.
5
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St. George's Church.
very ready to visit us on week days, and to perform divine service among us, we have most heartily em- braced the established Church, and think it our duty, for our own improvement in true religion, for the good of our country, and for the honour of God, to join with our neighbours, conformists, and do all in our power for the promotion of the interests of the established Church; in our zeal for which, we have built a church, that, in a little time, will be commodi- ous for public use ; but as we are eighteen miles dis- tant from Mr. Seabury, who is the nearest Mission- ary, and he being obliged to attend two churches in his own parish, viz., those of Hempstead and Oyster Bay, we, therefore, most humbly beg the Society to attend to our prayers, which is, that Mr. Samuel Sea- bury, the son of your worthy Missionary, a young gentleman (lately educated and graduated at Yale College) of a good character and excellent hopes, may be appointed the Society's Catechist at this place, and perform divine service among us in a lay capacity, with some allowance from the Honourable Society for that service.
" In testimony of our sincerity, we have to this af- fixed our subscription of such sums of money as each of us respectively promise and oblige ourselves to pay to Mr. Samuel Seabury aforesaid, yearly, in half yearly payments, for the space of three years, for officiating amongst us; which subscription, we beg the Honourable Society to believe, will be punctually paid by the Honourable Society's most humble petitioners, the subscribers.
" H. LLOYD,
and others."*
Mr. Lloyd started the subscription towards the
* Ch. Doc. Conn., Hawks and Perry, p. 247.
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Rev. Samuel Seabury.
church he mentions by a gift of £145. The sum of £5 was paid to John Davis for the site. The re- quest for the appointment of Mr. Seabury as catechist was granted, and the sum of £10 was ordered by the Society.
When the Rev. Mr. Seabury began to officiate at Huntington, a severe attack was made upon him by a preacher at that place as being an intruder, and as one who was a destroyer of souls and a hinderer of Christ's work. This virulent attack, which was but the manifestation of the evil temper towards the Epis- copal Church which had been excited by Whitfield's preaching, who, although himself a minister of that Church, could not recognize the existence of real piety as being possible to her members, and who re- sembled the Maronites of Asia Minor, who declare that every Maronite will be saved and every one else will be accursed. Mr. Seabury is said to have pub- lished a reply to this assault which was couched in gentle terms and manifested a forbearing and kindly spirit, well adapted to convince a gainsayer. But " Leviathan is not so tamed." The man of bitter spirit proposed to Mr. Seabury a public discussion of their different religious systems. To this proposition Mr. S. replied : " I have no leisure for controversy- nor delight in it. My great desire is (so far as God will enable me) to prosecute the commission and command of our Lord as given in Luke 24 : 47: " That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations."
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